Sunday, October 01, 2006

A Word About Misleading DVD Covers



This just might be one of the worst-assembled DVD covers I have ever seen. The Great New Wonderful, a brilliant and quite dark film about New Yorkers coping with the hassles of everyday life one year after 9/11, is in no way, shape or form the "brilliant comedy" the front of the box proclaims it to be. Also, I can't think of a single moment in the film where Maggie Gyllenhaal is smiling, nor can I think of any scenes where Tony Shalhoub is anywhere but in an employee breakroom (please note the background; I don't think they have bottles of fine wine in breakrooms). They also make it look like those two actors meet each other in the course of the film, but they don't.

I swear, the people that assembled this cover art most definitely did not see the film in question. It reminds me of the cover to Layer Cake, another brilliant thriller starring soon-to-be-James-Bond actor Daniel Craig as a middleman in London drug deals. Not only does the box give away important plot points in its description, it propels actress Sierra Miller to the forefront, making it look like she has a leading role (she's only in three scenes). Likewise, in The Great New Wonderful, Stephen Colbert, hilarious man that he is, only receives about six or seven minutes of screen time, but you'd never tell by his top billing on the DVD cover.

What are some other misleading DVD covers you've come across? I can't think of any more off the top of my head, but I know they're out there.

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