The First Annual Critics’ Summer Movie Face/Off

Read it here because you’re not going to read it anywhere else: This was an excellent summer for the movies.

Given the flood of morose, woe-is-us stories appearing in Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and the New York Times, not to mention this paper, that statement probably sounds not so much misguided as frankly delusional. Variety, with its enviable gift for clever headlines, as usual summed up the conventional wisdom best. “Summer B.O. Quickly Losing Its Will to Live,” insisted one story, followed just two weeks later by “Burnout Blistering Studios’ Summer Slate.”

Yet a calm and rational examination of the summer that is coming to a close (an unusual act in and of itself) reveals a different story. From any number of points of view, this summer was a much stronger one than anyone seems willing to acknowledge.

First off, it can’t be forgotten that this is the summer we’re talking about, the popcorn season, when kids are out of school and audiences of any age tend to avoid anything too demanding. The criteria for a satisfying summer film are not necessarily the ones Oscar voters prefer to lionize.

And in case anyone needs reminding what a disappointing summer film looks like, this season had several to chose from: “Speed 2” and “Batman & Robin,” the sequels that had no reason to be; “Con Air,” as loud and forgettable as yesterday’s Excedrin headache; and “The Lost World,” the only $200-million-plus-grossing film about which almost no one has anything good to say.

What this summer had to balance against those was a perhaps record number of solidly successful and entertaining films that delivered on expectations and did not make audiences wish they could get their time and money back. Listed in order of release, with grosses as of last weekend in parentheses, they are:

* “Hercules” ($88 million). Surprised to find this on the list? That probably means you haven’t seen it. One of the smartest and most satisfying of the Disney animation epics, its public perception has been clouded (see below) by factors out of its control.

* “My Best Friend’s Wedding” ($113 million). Julia’s back and Rupert’s got her. Sort of. A sly romantic comedy with a few unexpected twists.

* “Face/Off” ($105 million). The joy John Woo takes in the cinema of action and the wizardry with which he brings it off overshadow everything else.

* “Men in Black” ($218 million). Science-fiction comedy with the right attitude and stars to match.

* “Contact” ($83 million). Yes, its story could be stronger and its payoff isn’t quite there. But the film is intelligent, Jodie Foster is as strong as she’s ever been and Bob Zemeckis’ craft level is beyond reproach. If this is your idea of a major disappointment, you haven’t been going to the movies recently.

* “Air Force One” ($110 million). Old-fashioned and proud of it, with Harrison Ford doing what comes naturally.

No masterpieces, no films without problems, maybe not even many with year-end 10-best potential, but six--count em, six--consistently diverting films, with all of them, maybe even “Contact,” having the chance to hit $100 million in domestic gross, a mark called by Variety “a hit by virtually any standard.” What, then, is the problem? How did this become the summer from hell?

Part of the answer is that what is most noticeable about this summer--strength across the board--is a concept that doesn’t register in Hollywood’s supercompetitive, knockout-oriented consciousness. Never mind that each film occupies a different niche, and that the existence of so many successes speaks to the health of the industry and the contentment of audiences. Hollywood doesn’t care.

Like heroin addicts who need more and more juice to get off, Hollywood has been taken over by grosses junkies who’ve become addicted to greater and greater highs, by executives and journalists so addicted to the rush of big numbers that they don’t recognize a good thing, even a fiscally sound good thing, when they see it.

What everybody misses this year is the jolt of last summer’s “Independence Day,” the excitement of a film that very ostentatiously went through the roof. The fact that, special effects aside, “Independence Day” had some of the most pathetic dialogue, situations and characters in memory has been conveniently forgotten. “Independence Day” got everyone high, and that’s all anyone wants to think about.

Remember the other films of last summer? Probably not. For the truth about “Twister,” “Mission: Impossible,” “The Rock,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Eraser” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” is that as a group they were less impressive than their counterparts this year. But no one seems to focus on that.

“Hercules” is a good example of where that kind of addictive thinking can lead. An entertaining film that performed in a way “Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag” can’t even imagine, “Hercules” got caught in several kinds of backlash, none of which has any bearing on its qualities as a film.

Audiences were not at record levels because of competition, because the subject matter doesn’t sound as interesting as it turns out to be, and because of what feels like a grass-roots backlash against the Disneyization of America. As for the record-addicted industry, it chose to ignore the Disney executive who quite reasonably told Variety, “You don’t compare every Paramount film to ‘Forrest Gump.’ ”

It’s not only studio people who get hooked on this kind of thinking, but movie journalists as well. Though pundits ignore the box office at their peril, there is no reason they have to be slaves to unrealistic ideas about the marketplace, no reason they should be so willing to call a film that satisfies its audience and grosses $100 million a failure because it’s not perceived as hot.

Also a factor here is the unfortunate reality that in the heavily competitive film coverage market, no journalist wants to be the second person to write a story. Combine that with a backloaded summer, where the stronger films came out later in the season, and you get a series of stories determined to spot a trend before the trend had a chance to develop. If everyone had enough nerve to wait till closer to Labor Day to write about the warmer months, a more realistic picture might emerge.

Still not convinced about the summer of 1997? Would it help you to know that a small, well-reviewed picture like “Ulee’s Gold” has already grossed $7 million (more than three times its budget) and shows no sign of stopping. Or that an even smaller film, Belgium’s remarkable “La Promesse,” was able to play for more than a month in L.A. in a season and a city not always friendly to artful fare. When you call this a weak summer, stranger, smile.