In the end, no one can hurt you more than your family.
Rupert Murdoch’s finding that out this morning. His company has spent millions already preparing the public for Oliver Stone‘s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” The $100 million plus film was moved from April until today for release to get Oscar buzz. Fox spent millions more promoting it at Cannes.
The results: the film has a decent 58% rating at Rottentomatoes.com. My own quote was used in Fox’s ad and they don’t even like me.
But the review from the New York Post, Murdoch’s in house newspaper? A lousy two and a half stars. “Stone is childlike in the simplicity of his view that anyone on Wall Street can take down an enemy simply by planting a false rumor on a message board, with no consequences. Financial savants will find the movie way too facile, and yet there is too much jabber about CDOs and moral hazard for the average viewer.”
Yikes!
However: over at the NY Daily News, which hates Murdoch and is the cross town rival tabloid: five stars. Five. Cinco.
And the New York Times, also, a rave review. Murdoch is trying to kill them with the Wall Street Journal.
It’s a tough business, that show business.
PS It’s a really great movie. Go see it, and “Howl” this weekend.
