‘The Campaign’ Trailer and Why Comedies are so Hard to Market.

UK Release Date: 28th September 2012.

Stars: Jay Roach (director), Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd.

Plot: In order to gain influence over their North Carolina district, two CEOs seize an opportunity to oust long-term congressman Cam Brady by putting up a rival candidate. Their man: naive Marty Huggins, director of the local Tourism Centre.

Will Ferrell is a pretty bankable name in comedy, everybody knows who he is thanks to his films like Anchorman, Step Brothers or Talladega Nights. Ferrell is seen as someone who has a real talent for acting in comedies and will, nine out of ten times, grant success to a film. Zach Galifianakis has pretty much guaranteed himself success by always playing an idiot (see The Hangover, Due Date) and here he seems to be doing the same thing once again.

Comedy films aren’t something that usually excite me and The Campaign does nothing to change my opinion of that. There are a few jokes in this trailer but this trailer serves mainly to introduce the audience to the main characters. What jokes are there, minus one or two, feel like they have been recycled so many times they are no longer funny and because of this they have to resort to toilet humour which is always guaranteed to pick up a laugh here and there, who doesn’t enjoy toilet humour?

With a pretty good cast it’s hard to see The Campaign failing and it will no doubt find an audience among teenage boys especially but there is a problem with marketing comedies that a lot of audience members have grown wise to now these days I think. Everybody knows that trailers are composed of the best bits of the movie, that’s the studio’s intention to bring in the crowds. However, I, and a lot of other people for sure, are sceptical more of comedy trailers than any other genre. This is because so many comedy films in recent years have put all the funny parts and good jokes into the trailer and when you go see the film you can’t help but be disappointed by the lack of jokes elsewhere in the film, but if the trailers aren’t full of funny moments why would you go and see the film in the first place? It’s a catch 22, a no-win situation and this does seem to happen in comedy films. I don’t think anyone who sees a trailer for an action film say “but what if all the fight scenes are in the trailer?” yet when the comedy trailer airs it’s always “they put all the funny parts in the trailer though”. Comedy is looked down upon in the genre hierarchy and this could be one of the reasons that makes them so hard to market but audiences will always go, even if they are disappointed it still looks good for the studio.

A Look at Michelle Monaghan’s Career So Far

Michelle Monaghan is one of my favourite actresses of recent years. She is obviously a very beautiful woman but she also has the acting abilities to match, yet not many people would know who you meant if you mentioned her name. I consider her to be a much underrated and outrageously underused actress.

Michelle, as so many film stars do, began her career with a few small roles on television, most notable in Young Americans and Law and Order. She had small roles in the films Perfume and Unfaithful but her big break came in 2002 when she starred in the hit television series Boston Public.

Boston Public set up Michelle Monaghan’s return to the big screen. She starred in It Runs in the Family (2003), Winter Solstice (2004) and had a small part in spy thriller The Bourne Supremacy (2004). Although she filmed scenes for Constantine and Syriana, they did not make the final cut unfortunately. In 2005 Monaghan appeared in North Country and Mr & Mrs Smith.

2005 also brought us Kiss Kiss Bang Bang which is one of my favourite films. Not only does it feature one of my favourite actors in Robert Downey Jnr. it also features Michelle Monaghan. Here, Monaghan plays an aspiring actress caught up in a murder investigation and she brings the character to life with a sort of alluring innocence and cute humour. This performance gained Monaghan recognition as she was nominated for both a Saturn Award and Satellite Award for her performance.

After appearing in Mission Impossible III, Monaghan made another film that I really enjoy and consider to be one of the best written pieces of drama I have had the pleasure of viewing; the film I am talking about is Gone Baby Gone. Monaghan plays the female protagonist, Angie Gennaro opposite Casey Affleck as the two private detectives investigate the case of a missing child. Monaghan received plenty of acclaim for her performance.

She returned to comedy in The Heartbreak Kid opposite Ben Stiller before making Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey. Her role in the drama Trucker won her an SDFCS Award for Best Actress and she then went on to star in Eagle Eye and had a part in Due Date, reuniting her with Robert Downey Jnr.

It seems like Michelle Monaghan has a taste for action films as she starred in Source Code, which I thought was a clever, very interesting film and again, she put in a fantastic performance. And before having a miniscule cameo in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Monaghan made Machine Gun Preacher with Gerard Butler.

Looking over Michelle Monaghan’s career and at her upcoming projects it becomes clear that she is a very talented actress with a wide range of skills; be it comedy, drama, action or thriller you can guarantee that she will deliver a great performance. In my mind it is saddening that not enough people know about this woman. Monaghan has great acting ability and a couple of her films are among my favourites. I hope she can carry on at such a high standard and I recommend anyone to watch some of her films. It is impossible not to fall in love with this woman.