Movies and masses

After watching 'The Bourne Identity' a couple of days back, I started thinking about 'mass appeal'. The movie is nowhere close to Ludlum's book 'The Bourne Identity' by any standard, but that doesn't really matter since the pace is good, and the background music/sound kept the flow going. I was surprised to see India in the movie since I don't remember reading references to India in the book. Anyway, its a long time since I read the book. I found the movie very interesting probably coz I knew the storyline beforehand.



The best thing about 'The Bourne Identity' is the plot that surrounds shattered memories. For those who haven't seen the movie: he hero is a CIA agent who forgets everything in an accident. In the meantime there is a plot within CIA to kill him. The hero, as you might expect, comes out victorious.

Take an other movie with a similar storyline for comparison. Fifty First Dates (FFD). Drew Barrymore at her charming best. A famed comedy. Again, for the benifit of people who haven't seen the movie: Barry has a short term memory loss and forgets everything during sleep. She even forgets her own lover and has to be reminded every morning about it. [Do I hear a 'duh!'?]



As far as my ratings are concerned, Bourne Identity was a far far better movie any day. The plot was good, the music was good, the movie was riveting. Other hand, FFD, apart from the Barrymore element and some jokes interspersed, didn't have much. Adam Sandler brought his usual nasty jokes with him. There wasn't anything close to a story or a take away element in the movie.

But then, markets feel otherwise. Fifty First Dates supposedly appeals so much to audience, and hardly anyone saw Bourne Identity. It didn't even wait for me for 10 days in the theatres. I'm still wondering what appeals to the audience en masse...