There is probably no better (or controversial) marketer or movie hustler in the business than Harvey Weinstein. The man is capable of spinning almost anything into buzz about his movies (see last year’s NC-17 rating of “Blue Valentine” which he promptly turned into a rallying point around the film), and putting Harvey into the awards season with a project to shill is like putting together peanut butter and chocolate. It’s a no-brainer. And while movies that come out during the rest of the year may not get the full Harvey Weinstein treatment, if they can turn a modest profit and live a long life on DVD and digital, the honcho is more than happy. But that said, we don’t think we’ve ever seen him personally get involved in promoting a film like has here.
With “Our Idiot Brother” arriving in theaters in a couple of weeks, Harvey has teamed with the film’s lead star, Paul Rudd, and created a modestly funny viral video in which the actor pitches the studio honcho his own ideas on how to market the film. Yeah, it’s definitely too long, intermittently amusing (though it has a couple of strong laugh-out-loud moments) and doesn’t even scratch the surface of Harvey’s legendarily prickly demeanor (a missed opportunity), but it’s certainly worth a few minutes of your time, if only for the Photoshopped poster at the end.
Co-starring a massive ensemble including Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Rashida Jones, Emily Mortimer, Adam Scott, Steve Coogan, T.J. Miller, Kathryn Hahn, Hugh Dancy and Janet Montgomery, our man in Sundance James Rocchi called the film “Apatovian, pleasureable and a real surprise.” While the trailers and marketing have played the comedy much, much more broadly, we’re hoping that there is a lot more beneath the surface. Featuring a score by Shudder to Think guitarist Nathan Larson and Eric D. Johnson, the movie caps off the summer, landing in theaters on August 26th.
