Whatever Works, 3 clips

Is it smart marketing to take three brief samples of annoying behavior and combining them for a triple punch of lengthier annoyance? Alex Billington at firstshowing.net says he usually doesn’t like to post clips and I’m starting to feel the same way. I’m not wild about the new studio trend of showing us so many teases as sneak peek promos that we begin to get a little sick of the movie before it even opens. I love Larry David, I expect to like Whatever Works, and I imagine that these scenes are a lot funnier in context. But all this video does is make me wish for 3 clips of Patricia Clarkson.

All set up and no pay-off, it’s like a really bad porn preview that only shows the pizza boy knocking on doors. Show me the money shot! I’ll keep posting “first looks” because they’re good launch pads for discussion, but isn’t there anybody in LA who knows how to edit a trailer anymore? The teasers appeal to lowest common denominator and the bland clips they let leak feel like they were picked up off the cutting room floor.