Uncompleted Works

This one has been sitting on my mind for a while.

As an editor watching a movie my discerning eye (and ear) can inadvertently take me out of the moment. It can be a continuity mistake, an incongruous plot device, a really obvious over-dub or just a jarring edit. But when I see them during a movie, it kills it for me. Similarly, suspension of disbelief is such an important element of story telling in film that breaking it, even for comedic purposes, can be the death knell of a movie.

With this in mind I’d like to share some examples I’ve recently encountered.

Last month I was re-watching Casino Royale to refresh for Quantum of Solace. (Note: Solace plays second fiddle for Royale in every way.) There is a particular scene where Bond is chasing a man through an airport. It is a tense cat-and-mouse scene, but something is a little off.

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Did you see it? Bond slings off his jacket and the next cut he’s wearing it again. (The implication in the scene leading up is that he’s in a security line at an airport.) In a tense real-time sequence the edit just looks silly and jarring. It is likely there was more footage of Bond placing his personals into the x-ray basket. Though, if the edit kept that in you’d have to deal with pesky facts like Bond is likely armed with a hand-gun. (How does he get through security?)

Moving along, last week I was cajoled into watching Mike Myers’ latest comedic travesty The Love Guru.  The story meanders around Myers’ character, a self-help guru, who wears a chastity belt while helping others find love. The heavy clinking chastity belt sets up such obvious gags as the “erection gong sound.” (See the film trailer.) Ultimately the film is a luke-warm love story leading up to the inevitable removal of aforementioned chastity belt. But what bothered me the most was the following scene.

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Can somebody please tell me how Verne Troyer’s character magically managed to punch through the chastity belt? Adding a goofy “gong” sound doesn’t excuse that the entire premise of the movie is based on removing this impenetrable heavy metal belt. You can’t punch through metal, even if it’s a crotch hit gag. How exactly is the the “Guru Pitka” in so much pain? Wouldn’t the belt act as an impregnable cup? (A note to comedy writers: your movie still needs to maintain a certain level continuity and believability, just as any other type of movie. As a viewer I’m willing to suspend my disbelief to a point, but don’t insult your viewers for a cheap senseless gag.)