Palin Documentary Bombs. On All Levels.

In case you were looking for a movie about a witch with a magical plot line, and Harry Potter is sold out at your local theater, you may want to consider 'The Undefeated'.  As you can probably guess by the title, the infomercial documentary paints Sarah Palin in a positive light.  In fact, it's narrated using clips from the audiobook version of Palin's 'Going Rogue'.



The film opened on 10 screens nationwide on Friday.  It isn't fairing so well when it comes to reviews from critics.  At the moment, it has a  0% score on Rotten Tomatoes.  Speaking for myself, in the years I have been following reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, I have never seen a 0% favorable rating.  To put that into perspective, the new Kevin James movie 'The Zookeeper', the one where he takes the talking gorilla to TGI Friday's, has a score of 13%.

A reporter for the Atlantic caught one of the first showings at an AMC Theater in Orange County, CA.

"But inside, the theater was empty. I sat there alone for 20 minutes, at which point an usher stuck his head in the door, gave me a quizzical smile, and said, "How come you're not watching Harry Potter?" Then he left me by myself again, and without any good answer.

It isn't strictly accurate to say that I sat through the whole movie alone. Just as the previews started, two young women walked in giggling together and took seats three rows behind me. Afraid that they'd ruined the only story I had at that point -- What If Sarah Palin Starred in a Movie and No One Showed Up?"

Turns out, the ladies purchased tickets not knowing "The Undefeated" was a Sarah Palin fluff piece, thinking it was an action movie instead.  They left about twenty minutes in.  Another couple came in towards the end of the film and made out in the back of the theater, but eventually got up and left themselves.

If you think about it, the movie should have been called 'Two Weeks Notice:  The Story of the Snowbilly Queen'.

Can't wait to see how Fox News spins this one.

Update:  Early indications show that 'The Undefeated' had an opening box office weekend between $60,000 and $75,000.  Compare that to the $168.6 million that 'Harry Potter' took in this weekend, and the film drew in .0035% of the audience that 'Potter' did. (As best as I can figure out with my calculator erroring out.)  So, for every 30,000 people that saw 'Potter' this weekend, one saw 'The Undefeated'.  I call that "defeated", wouldn't you?