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Vacancy
- (2007) Nimrod Antal - Director and Hal Liebermann - Producer
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  We so-called "cinema-buffs" have picked up that nick-name because we spend a large part of our free time at the movies - it goes unspoken that we do this because the silver screen is a great source of entertainment. For the most part.... As it works out, quite often we pick a movie that looks good, only to find ourselves saying afterward, "Why did I waste my money on that crapola....?" With Vacancy, however, we find ourselves asking a more fundamental question, "Why was this film made?"
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The only plausible answer is that the producers thought Vacancy would, somehow, make money. Fright sells - hey, look at the number of times Hollywood have made horror movies about a bunch of stupid teenagers (but I repeat myself) who get trapped in a haunted house? This being the case these guys can remake Psycho with a few twists so they don't infringe on copyright.... Hey, they can even have a Norman Bates-type as the motel manager - who will notice?
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Vacancy starts off by David (Luke Wilson) deciding to take a 60 mile 'shortcut' into the wilderness in the middle of the night because there is a traffic jam on the "Interstate". But then again, he needs a map, because he doesn't have a clue where this "shortcut" road goes. Time for a reality check, gents - what, then, possesed David to think it might be a shortcut? To compound this absurdity, his wife, Amy (Kate Beckinsale) somehow accepts his cockamamie explanation. And with this delightfully dumb bit of preamble, we are supposed to buy into the premis of the story? Asking an audience to suspend disbelief is one thing, asking us to suspend incredulity is, well, downright impossible.
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Ten minutes into Vacancy, and the viewer will have locked on to the genre, know the story and be able to guess the ending. The viewer would therefore be forgiven if he were to get up and leave at this juncture (provided he had finished his popcorn). And by the same token, future viewers would be forgiven if they didn't actually become future viewers.
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LEAST
Enduring Line or Phrase: "Can't a car run without a fan?"
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