Sneak Preview: "Starsky & Hutch"

Ever since the first night of this sneak preview program when the host mentioned that Starsky & Hutch was amongst the film lineup (of the ten total movies), I had been quite curious as to how this mostly 50 - 70 aged audience would respond to the flick. Considering that I first saw the movie back in September with a good crowd, I wasn?t so hesitant about this screening, as usually I like to see these types of movies with the best crowd possible in the first viewing.

Prior to this session, we?ve been shown Made-Up, Against the Ropes, Easy (a session I was not present for), and Twisted. Made-Up was enjoyable but nothing special and the audience liked it a lot, while Against the Ropes was very mediocre and the audience didn?t react as strongly. Twisted was slightly more tolerable than Ropes but not by much, and the audience didn?t seem overly excited. And surprisingly enough, Starsky & Hutch was the most well received movie so far.

There were a few changes in the movie from when I first saw it, and they efficiently add to its comedic flare. The movie initially opened to the beat of ?Sweet Emotion? (by Aerosmith), but that was taken out and moved to another spot; and though I had really dug that tune placement at the opening, what is in place does the job as well.

The crowd first started off a little humble towards the movie, but it didn?t take too long before a solid mount of chuckles and laughter flowed throughout the auditorium. The movie is not exactly a laugh-a-minute affair, but the crowd?s reactions strengthened over time. Though no official applause resulted throughout the film?s duration, there were a few occasions when many people were clapping while they laughed. Starsky & Hutch did, however, receive a very good applause when the movie concluded, and I heard many enthusiastic comments afterwards.

Director Todd Phillips (Road Trip, Old School) was present for the Q&A session afterwards, which wasn?t quite as involving as the session for Made-Up, but it was a drastic improvement from when Philip Kaufman was present the week before to discuss Twisted.

Phillips said that he had once gotten a call from Ben Stiller since the two of them had been interested in working together. Stiller told him over the phone that he had a great idea for a movie and that it simply involved five words: ?You, me, Owen, Starsky, and Hutch.? Stiller had been a great fan of the 70?s television series and it would be a dream come true for him to actually play Starsky. Phillips then went to his usual co-writer, Scot Armstrong (who had collaborated with him on Road Trip and Old School), and started writing the script with Stiller and Wilson in mind.

Though Phillips was only four years old at the time of Starsky?s airing time on television, he said his great inspiration was to work with the comedic duo of Stiller and Wilson. He noted that both of them have different comedic sparks that bounce off each other very well; Stiller has a fairly serious approach to comedy while Wilson has a more relaxed, cool approach.

Phillips wanted to make a buddy-buddy comedy that worked, and stressed that such a formula doesn?t always translate well on the screen. He mentioned I Spy as an effort that failed, as he didn?t think the interplay between Wilson and Eddie Murphy was believable. He said that Owen was also hesitant to do Starsky & Hutch given that he has been typecast in this genre for many years. Phillips nevertheless convinced him to do it and wanted to establish a key differentiation factor that would separate Starsky from I Spy, which was simply to make the movie funny.

Phillips commented that he likes to work with comedians, as they have a lot of wit to bring to the table and it makes the set one hell of a fun place to work. He noted that his main area of interest (when telling stories) is comedy, as the audience can participate in the movie with their enthusiasm, which can?t be said about every genre. He mentioned that with action movies, you watch explosions on the screen while eating your popcorn, but that such an experience can be impersonal; he likes the energy that can be extracted from audiences with jokes and gags.

For the same reason, Phillips doesn?t like how some people will watch some comedies for the first time on a DVD by themselves, as your home is nothing like that of a movie theater. He believes that the audience?s reaction is part of a moviegoing experience, as the reactions can create a fun environment, and depending on the crowd, the experience can be very memorable.

The Q&A session was then opened up, and someone asked him what his directing approach was when developing Starsky & Hutch, given that it?s different than his two previous movies. Phillips said that he wanted to stick to the facts that were most important regarding the show, but didn?t necessarily care if he had all the details. He wanted to take the essence of Starsky & Hutch and stay true to some extent, but wanted to have some leeway and just have fun with the story.

Phillips commented that with the Charlie?s Angels adaptation, there were a lot of CGI effects in an effort to make the movie look updated, but he didn?t think that an adaptation like Starsky needed to look updated. He didn?t think the CGI did much good for Charlie?s Angels and he didn?t want to take a 70?s show and ruin it with technology that wasn?t even discovered back then. He simply wanted to take a 70?s show and make the movie look like it was filmed in the 70?s, naturally.

Concerning the movie being his first PG-13 flick, Phillips didn?t believe that the adaptation required an R-rating to be funny, whereas his two previous comedies were college-related which you sometimes need to be R-rated for. He thought the under-17 crowd should be allowed to see a movie like this without their parents being present, but he also didn?t want to hold back too much with the material. He claimed that Warner Bros. didn?t outright tell him to go PG-13, as it was more of a personal judgment.

The movie does have drug references despite a lack of language, but Phillips noted that had Stiller in one scene purposely consumed drugs (rather than doing so accidentally), the movie would have gotten an R-rating. The MPAA didn?t want the movie to be pro-drugs, as their focus was simply on the intentions of some scenes, and they were rather lenient in that regard.

Someone asked Phillips what his directing signature is, and after a brief moment of thought, he expressed that he likes a group of comedic actors. He said that as a director, a lot of your job is casting the right people and establishing a proper tone for the movie, and part of that comes from the writing process, but also finding the right music and pacing to suit the concept. He said that music can be essential for a movie, as it can set the mood and immediately put the viewer in the mindset that you want them to be in. He tries to put together a collection of good music for his movies and wants a tone and pace that the audience is familiar with (from his previous movies).

Asked about improvisation, Phillips noted that he always welcomes improv on the set to see what ideas work, as it allows the moviemaking process to be more of a community/family effort rather than simply the director?s effort. He specifically mentioned that not allowing someone like Will Ferrell to play around with the script could be a bad move, as he?ll have random things to say on the spot that you would never think of but which are golden to the humor in a scene.

Phillips said that when the screenplay was completed, Juliette Lewis didn?t have any lines, as he had only written for her character to perform vague actions in scenes. And when he sent her the script, she was confused as to what he wanted her to do since her character never said anything. He simply told her that she could say anything she wanted to, and not to worry since Vince Vaughn would be there with her, and that it would be a fun time.

After a woman mentioned that she really liked the dance scene in the movie, Phillips commented that Stiller had been hesitant about that scene since Along Came Polly had something relevant featured in it, along with Zoolander. Phillips still went along with the idea without feeling intimidated by the comparisons. He said that his intention was not to rip off or simply utilize ingredients that had worked before, but rather to create a scenario that worked on its own.

On the topic of the real Starsky & Hutch being featured in the movie, Phillips said that when you?re adapting such a concept, it?s a respectful gesture to include any moments as such, and that it also allows the fans to experience the nostalgic factor. He figured that whenever he brought in the real duo, it would likely take the audience out of the movie momentarily, so he decided to feature them at the end when he doesn?t have to worry about viewers being distracted.

Phillips? intention with the movie was not so much to parody but to make a fun movie with a good share of laughs. He wanted to pay homage to the films of the 70?s and around that period, but didn?t want to criticize ? he just wanted to incorporate the general ideas involved in those movies.

Phillips was asked about the writing process, and he said that he and Scot Armstrong bounce ideas back and forth to each other all the time when writing. Both of them try to come up with material that?ll make each other laugh, and he said for comedies you really need a team like this (or even more people) to get the material solid so you can get several perspectives. Since comedy is subjective, you?re never sure if what you come up with is funny to anyone else but you, so bouncing the ideas off of others gives you more evidence to whether or not you?re succeeding.

He said that if you go along writing the script with a certain edge in the humor and you find out later on that nobody but you finds the material funny, you have wasted time and it takes longer to go back and rearrange the tone. He suggests bouncing off ideas with others while you write it. Regarding test screenings, Phillips noted that those screenings are a good indicator of whether or not you?ve gone too far with certain comedic notes, or if you even need to push more buttons.

He said that there are some filmmakers who refuse to test their movie in front of crowds before it gets released because they have a certain stature in their name, but he feels that testing his movies is a solid way to figure out what?s working and what?s not. Phillips said that in the first cut of the movie, Snoop Dogg had a limited number of scenes and after a few audiences were really enjoying his presence, they wrote one additional scene for him which allowed for more comedy. He commented that if you don?t test the movie, you?ll realize this stuff too late when you can?t go back and fix it, and then you?ll regret the changes you could?ve made to make the movie better.

Also regarding test screenings, Phillips mentioned that surprisingly of all the demographics, women over the age of 25 have responded to the movie the best. Considering Old School and Road Trip?s more exclusive appeal to college males, he thought it was a unique discovery, but also thinks it might be because of Stiller and Wilson?s character relationship being pretty close.

He said that Snoop Dogg is very excited about this movie given that he has more of an important role than what he?s used to, and as a result has been out promoting it enthusiastically. Phillips felt that the movie gives Snoop the opportunity to cross over a little bit into a different audience and hand over a little bit of acting, as his presence in the previous movies have been very brief.

That wrapped it up for the evening, but since I do want to see how Starsky & Hutch plays in Westwood on Friday night, there?s a pretty good chance of a crowd report for Saturday. Next week we are going to be shown an independent film called Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (which is a unique little title), and that will be the next session I?ll be reporting on.