Lawrence has an awesome idea for a new movie about ice cream. If you want to find out his suggestion for what they should title it, you’ll have to vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics.
I can’t decide if the joke in today’s comic is a little too obscure or not only because I’m not sure how aware audiences are of the movie Fighting coming out on Friday.
The movie sticks out to me primarily because it’s my job to know about such things. But also because I think it’s one of the laziest titles in movie history.
“What’s your movie about?”
“Fighting.”
“What’s it called?”
“Fighting.”
Fighting wins the award for the movie with the lowest set expectations ever. All it has to do is put at least one fight sequence on screen and it will have fulfilled the promise of its title. Who else but a simple-minded 5 year-old could come up with something so literal?
The last time I recall running into a title this dim-witted was (appropriately) the 2007 Mark Wahlberg action film Shooter. But at least that was more of a title and less of a verb. I’d probably respect Fighting more if it were renamed “Fighter.” At least then it would communicate that the movie is about a specific person that I should care about.
But Fighting? I leaves me with a “Yeah? So what?” vibe. What action movie these days DOESN’T already feature lots of fighting?
Am I the only one for whom this is a problem? Am I too far inside my own head? Does the title of this movie strike you weird or are you psyched about seeing it this weekend?
Leave your comments below and we can iron this out.
We can no longer afford brainstorming sessions to determine the titles for our upcoming movies.
So I've brought in my 5 year-old nephew Lawrence as an "unpaid intern" to help us out.
First, we have our movie about a kid who falls into the world of underground street fighting, so Lawrence suggested we call it...
FIGHTING!
Second, we have our movie about a hostage negotiator trying to talk a falsely accused police officer out of killing innocent people.
TALKING!
Lastly is our period drama set in Victorian England starring Keira Knightly as a girl from the countryside who...
"Boring."
I’ve actually been seeing a lot of spots on tv for Fighting. And those are pretty much my thoughts when the title popped up the first time I saw the spot. “Wow, Fighting? Care to elaborate? š “
You forgot about another horribly named and horrible in it’s self movie; Happening. Also, conveniently starring Mark Wahlberg too. I mean how vague can you get
Oh, you’re right! I totally forgot about The Happening!
Maybe they only pitch movies to Wahlberg in the most general terms to get him on board. “Shooter? Yeah, I get that. The Happening. Okay, something happens. Sign me up.”
All I know is that there better be all kinds of fighting in the movie. I mean, I want parents getting bitterly divorced, altercations after traffic accidents, kid on playgrounds ninja spin kicking each other, bosses and subordinates having it out, I want to see boxing and dance wars, cats chasing mice, dogs chasing cats, old ladies chasing both cats and dogs, just everything fighting. And there better be some manly big guys with Rollie-Fingers-style mustaches pugilisting all over this thing. Seriously though, it’s pretty easy to guess what the porn version of this flick would be titled…
Oh yeah, and I really dig the beat of the joke pacing in the third panel. I can so hear the excitement of Lawrence pitch perfect in my head.
I think your comments on the title are a bit unfair. While I doubt the movie will be anything mindblowing, they could be trying to use “Fighting” to show that the character has battles beyond the physical. Seems there is some classism and love, life on the streets and survival, all things that you have to fight for or against. I believe they had more insight making up the title than writing the script.
The Fat White Movie producer makes my day every time.
You also missed “Taken”. However, “Taken” was an awesome movie.
because “Ironman” leaves a lot to the imagination?
Tyler, Iron Man is a person. Like I pointed out using Shooter for an example, at least it references something or someone specific.
Fighting, to me, feels very general.
I’m glad someone brought up “The Happening”. When a friend and I first saw the trailer for that, we developed this little bit we do now and then together, still to this day.
“Wha happen?!”
“Da Happening happen!”
“AHHH Whas happening?! Maak Waaburg, wha happen?!”
“Its happening! AHH!”
For some reason we do it with really bad stereotypical Chinese accents… dunno how that became a part of it, but that’s what it is. We never saw the movie, and never will… and all we know is that SOMETHING Happens. Not so sure if there’s a cause though.
Anyways, I agree Tom. Even though Atomsk has a good point, it’s still a title that poorly communicates to the audience. So I share Stefan’s feeling here: “Wow, fighting? So what.” Having a simple verb as your title takes away any emotional connection, where as a noun form “fighter” may connect you to that mug on the poster. I know I’m repeating Tom, but man… I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Have we already forgotten “Knowing”?
I honestly prefer movies with a short to the point title. and If I see “Fighting” on a poster or marquee i pretty much know what I am getting. Others have listed “Taken” and “Knowing”. And Knowing certainly takes the vagueness prize. To the uninitiated movie patron that or “Watchmen” would be way more misleading than “Fighting.”
I also favor short titles as a theater emplyoee who changes marquees in the rain. š
Seeing the ads for “Fighting” I keep thinking “Well it looks like it’ll deliver what it promises…”
I was just on my way to come point out “The Happening”, but I guess someone beat me to the punch. In a similar vein, this season of Lost has their finale entitled “The Incident” which makes sense to Lost fans as a title, but even the producers were making fun of it with “Here’s why it’s called The Incident: because something is going to happen, perhaps.”
The problem is that “Fighting” is a gerund: the weak-willed noun version of a verb.
The gerund of “Taken” would be “Taking” (or possibly “Takening” if the writers were really stupid).
So the title is bad. I don’t want to completely condemn the movie because of it. However…this is one I’ll wait to rent…particularly since if it’s bad, I can just mute it and watch Channing Tatum.
*shrug* I’m a girl.
Liz, I’m not trying to condemn the movie. For all I know, it could be great. But I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” If the title is our first impression, the rest of the movie has some ground to cover!
And let’s not forget “Haunting in Connecticut”. It fits so perfectly into the premise of this comic too!
“Okay, next we have a movie about a family moving into a house in Connecticut where they’re terrorized by ghosts …”
“Haunting!”
“Um, I think there’s already a movie with that title…”
“Okay … Haunting in Connecticut!”
You are not alone. When I first saw that title I thought that Hollywood had become so unoriginal that they couldn’t even make up decent titles anymore. It’s bad enough that theaters are flooded with remakes and adaptions.
I think the title makes sense. If it was called The Fighter, it would lead me to believe that this is a guy that’s been a fighter all of his life, that fighting has become his life, that HE is a fighter (like The Wrestler). By being called Fighting, it makes me think more about WHY the guy is fighting, what led him to fight to claw his way out of problems. It’s more something he does than something he is. That’s my perception at least.
Not again…. it’s KEIRA!!! How can everybody get it wrong? It’s not funny even when deliberate!
What about John Cena’s tour-de-force playing a Marine in… “The Marine”?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought the title was stupid.
I never liked these movies were it condones fighting just as the answer to everything or as sport, like “Never back Down”. “Fight Club” is the only good one because it had actual substance and amazing actors.
Fight Club really isn’t about fighting, though. It’s about emotionally neutered men trying to find meaning in their materialistic lives by tapping into something primal. The clubs are then just a set up for the twist of destabilizing conformity while illustrating that non-conformity is itself a form of conformity.
Every time I see trailers and TV spots for this movie I cringe. But my local alternative newspaper printed a rather favorable review of the movie that almost makes me want to see it. Almost.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/on-screen/Content?oid=1473755
Then again, they liken it to the first Fast & Furious movie. Which I can’t even come close to tolerating anymore. I mean, I love Vin Diesel (for some ungodly reason), but anything that contains a Paul Walker instantly loses my attention.
So I watched the movie Fighting last night and lo and behold, the fighting going on wasn’t primarily fisticuffs ( tho the fights that were there were brutal and intriguing if poorly shot). BUt it is primarily about Terrance Howard and Channing Tatum’s characters fighting for respect and closure of old wounds, respectively. Interesting, not great. but not a waste of time. catch it on cable in a few months.