Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Showbiz Today Reports: Critic Gives 'Pearl Harbor' 'Zero Stars'
Aired May 25, 2001 - 11:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Time to talk showbiz.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Laurin Sydney's in New York. I'll give you two guesses what she's talking about, and the first guess doesn't count.
KAGAN: "Pearl Harbor" -- there you go.
O'BRIEN: You win. You win.
LAURIN SYDNEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are right on both counts, both of you.
KAGAN: Hi, Laurin.
SYDNEY: Hello, everybody.
Obviously, this is the Memorial Day weekend and that Disney hoped to have a "Titanic" of their own, but now we'll see if "Pearl Harbor" sinks or swims. The $140 million World War II epic opens at over 32,000 theaters today. Disney hopes to break box office records.
The movie, which the filmmakers insist is a love story, didn't come to the big screen easily. Its budget ballooned as the filming hit snags. Director Michael Bay deferred his salary and quit four times.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BAY, DIRECTOR: You quit once, to rattle the studio, to get them to start spending money. The second time, they fired my crew. I was mad about that, because I've working with these guys for years. Then it got dicey because we couldn't get the budget down, and I didn't want to chinz on this movie. If I couldn't do it right, I didn't want to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The movie is taking its hits. Japanese-American organizations have voiced concern about possible anti-Asian backlash, but the worst is from movie critics. "Variety" said, "'Pearl Harbor': a film that will go down in infamy." Another review is headlined "War Isn't Hell, 'pearl Harbor' Is." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SYDNEY: As we've heard, all eyes in Hollywood will be on the box office this weekend, to see exactly how "Pearl Harbor" does in its opening.
Joining us now with his thoughts on "Pearl Harbor" and other new offerings on the big screen is "Rolling Stone" magazine's Peter Travers. You can also see Peter Saturday mornings at 10:30 Eastern on our "HE SAID/SHE SAID." It's very hard to say "HE SAID/SHE SAID."
PETER TRAVERS, "ROLLING STONE": I'm not going to do it. You're going to do it.
SYDNEY: OK, I did it twice.
"Pearl Harbor" -- bomb?
TRAVERS: How can I do -- I can do all the things: thumbs down, zero stars. I don't know how many things, or how many expressions, I can use to say how bad this movie is, what a major days disappointment it is.
SYDNEY: What is it about it that disappointed you?
TRAVERS: It's history. When Michael Bay and the producer Jerry Bruckheimer get together, they usually make movies like "Armageddon" or "The Rock," or something that isn't historical. Here they've taken a genuine World War II tragedy, the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. This is history, and they've made a really trivial popcorn movie about it. We don't learn a thing; we just see planes, we see torpedoes, we watch a lot of special effects, for 40 minutes in a movie that runs over three hours.
And you're asking me what's the rest of the movie filled with. A love story, a romantic triangle, that goes on way past the tolerance level of sappiness, to me. This is Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett playing two fighter pilots. They look very attractive. They have a lot of Hawaiian shirts. They photograph beautifully.
And they're in love with the same nurse, played by a British actress named Kate Beckinsale, who I usually like. In this movie, she does an American accent, and she doesn't have a single credible line to wrap that American accent around.
You watch them whine and whimper at each other for three hours plus. It's unendurable.
SYDNEY: Peter, you said that you didn't learn anything. Where is the rule that you have to go to the movies, pay your $8, $9, or $10, and learn something.
TRAVERS: No rule. Absolutely no rule, except when you say you're doing historical. Why is it "Pearl Harbor," then? If this movie were called "Armageddon II," I probably wouldn't protest it as much, except I would say why make a love story that has so nothing about it.
Right from the first phony, calendar-art sunrise in this movie to Faith Hill singing the "Love Theme From 'Pearl Harbor,'" at the end, this movie is deep-down phony. And the worst thing that I can say about it is a tragedy, a real life story -- you leave after three hours, and you don't feel a thing. That's bad.
SYDNEY: I think we understand what you feel.
TRAVERS: It's bad.
SYDNEY: Let's go to "Shrek." Is it going to make a dent into the box office or "Pearl Harbor" numbers?
TRAVERS: I think it's going to be a dent. The whole business about "Pearl Harbor" is that it's supposed to, this weekend, make $100 million, which would make it the biggest opening of all time. Last week, a little animated movie called "Shrek" opened, and did $40 million, which is very nice for an animated movie. The difference is this movie, which teases Disney films, because it was made by DreamWorks, and the people there once worked at Disney -- so it has a lot of fun with the idea of Disney characters, and a calling them, basically, theme parks -- you laugh at this movie. Everybody can go to it. You don't just take the kids and say, You go watch this movie; you go with them, and you go back.
And here's the secret: "Shrek" is a movie that generate repeat business. With "Pearl Harbor," if you've seen that once, you're never going to go back. And "Pearl Harbor" thinks it's "Titanic"; it patterns itself on it. It wants that love story to be so much like it, because people went back over and over again. But James Cameron when he did "Titanic" had a feeling for what was happening historically, so it worked.
SYDNEY: I think that Daryn has a feeling and a question in Atlanta -- Daryn.
KAGAN: I have a feeling I have a movie coming on this weekend, Peter, and you've saved me the $8 on "Pearl Harbor." If I'm not taking the kids to the movie, and don't want to do "Shrek," what else can I go see this weekend?
TRAVERS: When you do have kids, you should see "Shrek," but there's a little movie, a foreign language movie, called "Under the Sand," with Charlotte Rampling. It's a French film. It's tiny; it's about characters. In 90 minutes, it says more about the human condition, says more about who we are, and gives us a sense of romance and feeling, more than anything you'll see in all those three incredibly long, bombastic hours of "Pearl Harbor".
SYDNEY: And right before we went on, Daryn, Peter said that's the film I have to see this weekend.
KAGAN: I think that's the one where the husband disappears, and nobody knows why.
TRAVERS: That's it.
SYDNEY: Don't tell me the ending, only the beginning.
TRAVERS: No more.
KAGAN: That's all I know.
SYDNEY: Back to you -- Daryn.
KAGAN: It was great to have both of you guys on, Laurin and Peter. Thank you so much.
SYDNEY: Have a great weekend.
KAGAN: Thanks -- you too.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
