In “The Holiday,” Cameron Diaz’s character is one of the hottest directors of trailers in Hollywood. While that set-up seemed mildly improbable, it got us wondering: What if movies were as good as their previews promised?
Crazy, we know. But for the winter-spring preview we decided to judge a film by its come-on and rank our interest in this season’s fare by how much the trailer made us want to see the flick.
Of course, this doesn’t cover every movie coming out between now and May, when sequel-itis will hit Hollywood in a pandemic not seen before. And some films, such as the Oscar-nominated “The Lives of Others,” deserve attention no matter how somber the preview.
Here are 10 movies the previews made us want to see, ranked in order of the trailer’s appeal. Release dates subject to change.
1. Reign Over Me (March 23):
The facts: Dentist Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) runs into his college roommate, who seems to be something of a lost soul. Turns out Charlie (Adam Sandler) lost his family in a plane crash. The question is, what will this renewed friendship do to Alan’s relationship with his wife (Jada Pinkett Smith) and family.
Teaser: Charlie: “We were roommates?” Alan: “Yeah, and you slept naked and you were a sleepwalker. It was the worst two years of my life.”
The fine print: Writer-director Mike Binder proved with the tart, smart “The Upside of Anger,” he knows his way with the authentic emotions of guys.
2. Breach (Feb. 16):
The facts: Young FBI agent Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) finds himself in the dangerous position of ferreting out a mole. Inspired by the true story of Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent sentenced to life in prison for spying for the Soviet Union.
Teaser: “What if he’s smarter than me?” O’Neill asks a superior played by Laura Linney. “He spent the last 20 years outthinking Russian spies. He’s smarter than all of us.”
The fine print: Chris Cooper plays Hanssen. Then there’s Linney. Those two performers are more than enough for the price of the ticket. But director-cowriter Billy Ray, who had a impressively nuanced debut with “Shattered Glass,” promises this should be a thoughtful thriller.
3. The Astronaut Farmer (Feb. 2):
The facts: Former NASA astronaut Charles Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) must return to the family farm to save it. Still holding fast to his dream of space, he begins building a rocket in his barn. Jay Leno cracks wise about the guy and government honchos begin fretting.
Teaser: “Mr. Farmer, how do we know you aren’t building a WMD?” asks a politico. “Because if I was building a weapon of mass destruction you wouldn’t be able to find it.”
The fine print: This spry tale feels like a departure for the idiosyncratic Polish brothers (“Twin Falls, Idaho” and “Northfork”). Yet twin writers Mark and Michael (the director) have a sweet sensibility about fly-over-state verities that should give their movie, also starring Virginia Madsen, a rooted hope and truth.
4. Zodiac (March 2):
The facts: Based on Robert Graysmith’s true-crime books about the self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer who terrorized San Francisco in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Jake Gyllenhaal’s journalist thinks he can help crack the killer’s code.
The teaser: “I’m not the Zodiac and if I was I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”
The fine print: Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. bring the front-of-the-camera allure. But it’s dark, thorny director David Fincher (“Se7en,” “Fight Club”) who is the main attraction.
5. Lucky You (March 16):
The facts: Eric Bana plays Huck Cheever, an overachiever when it comes to gambling but a novice when it comes to relationships. Drew Barrymore plays singer Billie, his love interest. Robert Duvall steals the trailer when he arrives to take on his son at the world championship of poker.
The teaser: Billie: “Is he related to you?”
Huck: “Why do you ask?”
Billie: “Because your eyes went all quiet.”
Huck: “In poker we call that a tell.”
The fine print: From “L.A. Confidential” to “The Wonder Boys” to “In Her Shoes,” director Curtis Hanson is deft at any style of movie he takes on.
6. Pride (March 23):
The facts: Terrence Howard stars in this reality-based inspirational about schoolteacher Jim Ellis, who began a swim team for disadvantaged kids in Philadelphia in the 1970s. The trailer uses Staple Singers gold and Aretha Franklin’s version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” to hook you on this tale of urban struggle and uplift.
The teaser: “Elston, why don’t you come swim with us?” “Jim, where I come from they swim naked and I don’t want to embarrass nobody,” Bernie Mac’s character replies.
The fine print: With the exception of writer Norman Vance Jr., the slate is clean on director Sunu Gonera and the three writers who dove into “Pride.” So the burden falls on Terrence Howard to shine – a responsibility he has yet to fail.
7. Grindhouse (April 25):
The facts: “Grindhouse,” the trailer for this B-movie homage explains, is a noun describing the dilapidated movie theaters that survived on B-flick double bills. It’s the sort of tarnished dream-palace fare directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez ate up. Here the two give us “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof: “Two no-holds-barred feature-length pictures for the price of one.”
The teaser: “Do I frighten you?” Kurt Russell’s character asks a young woman at a bar in “Death Proof.” She nods. “Is it my scar?” She shakes her head. “It’s your car.” Vroom.
The fine print: The growling voice-over says it all: “Tarantino. Rodriguez.” The first is a great filmmaker. The other aspires to be. But they share an illicit – yet joyous – love of ’70s B-movie excess.
8. The Number 23 (Feb. 23, naturally):
The facts: Jim Carrey plays Walter, a man whose life starts unraveling when he becomes convinced a book about the number 23 is the story of his life – and that the tale bodes ill.
The teaser: “I dreamt I killed you,” Walter tells his wife (Virginia Madsen). “You would never hurt anyone,” she replies. “How do you know?” he says.
The fine print: His hits are solid, but director Joel Schumacher’s misses are nearly as intriguing. Here the guy behind “Flatliners” and “The Lost Boys” returns to the sort of psychological horror he’s done well.
9. Music and Lyrics (Feb. 14):
The facts: One-time pop idol Alex Fletcher has one last shot at fame: He can win the Battle of the ’80s Has-Beens. Drew Barrymore plays Sophie, the woman who will help him find that hit song. The trailer uses a fabulous cheat – wall-to-wall ’80s pop – to create an instant bond with a certain generation’s one-hit-wonder. It worked.
Teaser: Sophie: “That was remarkably sensitive, especially for a man who wears such tight pants.”
Alex: “It forces all the blood to my heart.”
The fine print: The last movie Marc D. Lawrence directed was the awful sequel to “Miss Congeniality.” But then all three of his movies have featured Sandra Bullock, so this is a chance to see him working apart from a star known to be hands-on.
10. Amazing Grace (Feb. 23):
The facts: This biographical saga tells the story of English abolitionist William Wilberforce’s fight to end Britain’s slave trade. Stirring bagpipes and crisp snare drums bang out the famous hymn written by friend John Newton (Albert Finney).
Teaser: “They do this to let you know that you no longer belong to God but to a man,” says Olaudah Equiano, a former slave turned abolitionist.
The fine print: Director Michael Apted gives U.S. audiences a glimpse at how another country dealt with its slave trade.
