Steve Pond reports that The Fighter was given a thumbs up by the viewers at ShoEast in Florida. My first thought on this was that not only is everyone now a critic, but everyone is an Oscar predictor. Pond makes this clear as well in his piece, “They weren‚Äôt exactly playing to an audience of Academy members or avid Oscar watchers,” he writes. All the same, one of them noted, “It‚Äôs a likely Best Picture nominee, with a pair of performances that will definitely figure into the Supporting Actor and Actress races,” Pond writes.
I am hoping it is so, but might I also say that this news must be treated with a HUGE grain of salt because these people are in the business of finding films that will make them money. If a film is an Oscar movie, it will make them money, so everybody wins. Still, since we’re all dying for any kind of news on The Fighter and True Grit, why not float the good buzz? It certainly can’t hurt.
I do find myself chafing slightly at statements like “no awards potential.” Unless it’s Harvey Weinstein telling me that I am not going to take anyone’s word for it before A) the film is screened for critics, or B) it opens to the public – preferably both. Sure, some things can be assumed – but don’t make me start citing examples of films that had “awards potential” long after they opened to the public.
