Paramount's "Jackass The Movie," the big-screen adaptation of an MTV show mixing scary stunts and body parts, kicked butt at the box office this weekend with $22.7 million in estimated opening grosses.

DreamWorks' horror pic "The Ring" was runner-up in its soph sesh with an estimated $18.8 million. And Warner Bros./Village Roadshow creep-fest "Ghost Ship" docked in third place with an $11.7 million opening.

Industrywide, the pre-Halloween frame scared up $105 million in estimated total grosses -- a big 22% improvement from the same frame a year ago, according to data from B.O. tracker Nielsen EDI. Year-to-date, 2002 is 13% ahead of the same portion of last year with $7.24 billion in B.O.

Elsewhere, Universal's "The Truth About Charlie" -- Jonathan Demme's remake of "Charade" -- unspooled with a barely wide 752 engagements and failed to make the top 10. Mark Wahlberg starrer grossed an estimated $2.3 million for a limp $3,105 per venue.

Disney's Reese Witherspoon romancer "Sweet Home Alabama" managed a fourth-place showing in its fifth frame with $6.4 million as cume hit $107.2 million.

And IFC laffer "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" -- which shed a few screens for the first time over its 28th sesh in release -- finished fifth with $6.3 million from 1,967 playdates. "Wedding" now has $177.8 million in its gift satchel, with distrib predicting a $200 mil domestic haul.

Par soph-sesher "Abandon" fled the top rankings with a 54% drop to $2.3 million, as cume reached $8.3 million.

Mindless allure

"Jackass" cost an estimated $5 million to make, so its studio backers were ecstatic with pic's hefty opening.

"It feels like the country was in the mood for some good, mindless escape, and we were happy to provide it," MTV Films prexy Van Toffler said.

Par distrib topper Wayne Lewellen called pic's bow "beyond even our highest projections."

Built-in avid fan base for Jeff Tremaine-helmed laffer may be sufficiently sated after the inaugural weekend that soph-sesh drop could be sizeable, however. That was the case with previous MTV/Par pics "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" and "Beavis & Butt-head Do America."

Biggest "Jackass" grosses came Friday, when pic kicked up $9.8 million. Saturday coin totaled $8 million, and distrib expected another $5 mil on Sunday.

Almost half of the patrons for the "R"-rated laffer were males aged 17-24.

DreamWorks' distrib boss Jim Tharp called it "phenomenal" that "The Ring" posted a 5% B.O. uptick in its second weekend.

"It's continued to get stronger and strong," Tharp said.

Naomi Watts starrer was helped by a 33% boost in playdates.

"Ghost Ship," toplined by Gabriel Byrne and Julianna Margulies, is the third in a horror series produced by Joel Silver's and Robert Zemeckis' Dark Castle Prods. Its auds were evenly split among males and females, with 59% of patrons under age 25.

"We're thrilled with the success," Warners exec VP distrib Jeff Goldstein said.

Additional franchise installments are planned for future Halloweens, Goldstein said.

'Charlie' needs traction

U execs were disappointed in the "Charlie" bow, and distrib maven Nikki Rocco said she won't expand its screen count further unless pic shows signs of greater market traction.

"I think this is the kind of film that needs a little time," Rocco observed. "It's like a specialty film."

One U insider estimated pic's negative cost at under $60 million, despite production's French location and helmer's meticulous working style.

"Charlie" and other current players had to contend with prospective moviegoers' preoccupation with telecasts of the baseball World Series this weekend. And there's also been considerable marketplace clutter -- though that's not going to improve measurably for some time.

Next weekend marks the unofficial start of the holiday B.O. season with a pair of tentpolers hitting theaters. Sony sends out its big-screen adaptation of the classic TV series "I Spy," and Disney unspools Tim Allen laffer "The Santa Clause 2."

LOS ANGELES (AP) "Jackass" has pulled its craziest stunt yet, debuting in first place at the box office. 

Young men flocked to "Jackass: The Movie," the big-screen version of the MTV show whose stars specialized in bizarre and risky behavior, which debuted with $22.7 million. 

Last weekend's winner, Naomi Watts' horror film "The Ring," slipped to No. 2 but actually raised its gross by adding about 650 more theaters. The movie took in $18.8 million, up $3.8 million from opening weekend, pushing its 10-day total to $39.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. 

Another fright flick, "Ghost Ship," opened in third place with $11.7 million. The movie stars Julianna Margulies and Gabriel Byrne as leaders of a salvage crew that finds a haunted ocean liner. 

Debuting in much narrower release was Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton's "The Truth About Charlie," a remake of the Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn crime caper "Charade." Directed by Jonathan Demme, "The Truth About Charlie" opened out of the top 10 with $2.3 million. 

"Truth About Charlie" played in 752 theaters, averaging $3,105 a cinema. "Jackass" averaged $9,047 in 2,509 theaters, "The Ring" did $7,137 in 2,634 theaters, and "Ghost Ship" did $4,203 in 2,787 theaters. 

The overall box office rose for the seventh straight weekend. The top 12 movies grossed $88 million, up 21 percent from same weekend last year. 

Produced for just $5 million, "Jackass" features Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and others from the now-defunct MTV show doing such hazardous or crude acts as roller-skating with bottle rockets attached or urinating on a snow cone. 

"People love to watch a train wreck. They can't take their eyes off any horrible thing where you can sit on the sidelines and watch without actually putting yourself in jeopardy," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. 

Two-thirds of the movie's audience was male, and young men from 17 to 24 accounted for nearly half the crowds, according to distributor Paramount. 

Executives at Paramount and its MTV subsidiary had expected "Jackass" might gross $20 million at best. 

"We didn't expect to exceed $20 million for a film called `Jackass.' Especially a film with no plot, no Oscar-caliber performances and no real writing," said Van Toffler, MTV president. "What they do in the movie sort of feels to me like what the Three Stooges would be doing if they were alive. Kind of slapstick twisted on its head in an extreme form." 

The R-rated movie carried warnings urging viewers not to try the stunts themselves, and Paramount offered to provide guards at theaters that wanted extra security to keep those younger than 17 from sneaking in, said Wayne Lewellen, the studio's head of distribution. 

Adam Sandler and Emily Watson's quirky romance "Punch-Drunk Love" broke into the top 10 after two weekends in limited release. The film expanded to 481 theaters, up about 400 from last weekend, and came in at No. 7 with $3.5 million. 

The Harlem drug tale "Paid in Full," featuring Mekhi Phifer and Wood Harris, premiered with $1.4 million in 268 theaters for a $5,224 average. 

Debuting strongly in limited release was "Frida," starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera. The film, directed by Julie Taymor (Broadway's "The Lion King"), took in $200,000 at five theaters. 

Also opening well was "Rodger Dodger," starring Campbell Scott as an odious womanizer, which grossed $52,000 at four theaters. 

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday. 

1. "Jackass: The Movie," $22.7 million. 
2. "The Ring," $18.8 million. 
3. "Ghost Ship," $11.7 million. 
4. "Sweet Home Alabama," $6.4 million. 
5. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," $6.3 million. 
6. "Red Dragon," $4.7 million. 
7. "Punch-Drunk Love," $3.5 million. 
8. "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie," $2.9 million. 
9. "The Transporter," $2.85 million. 
10. "Brown Sugar," $2.8 million. 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If you vomit and defecate in public places, they will come. 

That could be the new mantra in Hollywood as the anarchic reality film "Jackass: The Movie" opened at No. 1 and put a new spin on the term "box office gross." 

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Jackass" earned $22.7 million in the three days beginning Oct. 25. If estimates hold when final data are released on Monday, it will rank as the third-highest October opening ever. 

 "Jackass the Movie," based on the controversial MTV stunt series, follows a gang of inebriated urban warriors who eat a snow cone soaked in urine, defecate in a toilet displayed in a home-supply store, and pole-vault into a wall. 

Not surprisingly, moviegoers of a certain age and gender loved it, said officials at the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures. Almost half the audience for the R-rated comedy consisted of males aged 17 to 24. Overall, males made up two-thirds of the audience, and almost three-quarters were under 25. 

But exit polling indicated women who watched it loved the movie just as much as the men, said MTV President Van Toffler. 

"We produced a good mindless escape for the weekend," said Toffler, who had hoped the movie would open with $15 million. 

The music cable network's feature film arm, MTV Films, produced the project for Paramount. Both are units of Viacom Inc . The budget was just $5 million, as evidenced by the shaky camera work. 

"Jackass" did not screen in advance for critics, a tactic occasionally used when studios fear bad reviews will kill the opening weekend. In this case, the producers decided the film was an underground effort driven by word of mouth. 

'RING' DIALS UP MORE DOLLARS 

Last weekend's champion, the killer-videotape horror "The Ring" slipped to No. 2. But its three-day haul of $18.8 million represents an unprecedented 25 percent boost from its bow last weekend, thanks in part to a similarly sized increase in theaters. Genre movies generally lose more than half their audience in the second weekend, but sales were steady at existing theaters, said Jim Tharp, distribution president at privately owned DreamWorks. 

The film, budgeted at about $43 million, should end up with about $80 million, Tharp said. 

The top 10 contained two other new entries. Just in time for Halloween next Thursday, "Ghost Ship" opened at No. 3 with $11.7 million, a surprisingly strong figure given the bad reviews. The $20 million-budgeted haunted-ship tale stars Julianna Margulies and Gabriel Byrne. The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc . 

And the acclaimed Adam Sandler romantic comedy "Punch-Drunk Love" jumped eight places to No. 7 with $3.5 million after two weekends in limited release. Now playing in a moderate 481 theaters, the film will expand to more than 1,000 outlets next weekend, said a spokesman at Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. . It has earned $6.1 million to date. 

SAD BUT TRUE FOR 'CHARLIE' 

Not doing so well was "The Truth About Charlie," a remake of the Audrey Hepburn-Cary Grant caper "Charade." It opened at No. 14 with just $2.3 million, albeit from just 752 theaters (vs. more than 2,500 for each of the top four films). "Charlie," which starred Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton, was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA 

The top five was rounded out by two romantic comedies: "Sweet Home Alabama" (Touchstone Pictures) fell two places to No. 4 with $6.4 million, and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (IFC Films) fell one to No. 5 with $6.3 million. Their respective totals are $107.2 million after five weekends, and $177.8 million after 28 weekends. 

Touchstone is a unit of Walt Disney Co . IFC FIlms is majority owned by Cablevision Systems Corp . 

Overall box office receipts rose for the seventh consecutive weekend, according to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 grossed $88 million, up 21 percent from the year-ago weekend, when the Kevin Spacey bomb "K-Pax" opened at No. 1 with $17.5 million. 

New releases next weekend include the comedies "I Spy," starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson, and "The Santa Clause 2," starring Tim Allen. 

HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The opening of "Jackass: The Movie" topped a moderate weekend box office, with an estimated $22.7 million at 2,509 theaters during the Friday-Sunday period, studio sources said Sunday.

The Paramount release, an adaptation of the MTV stunt series starring Johnny Knoxville, performed at the top end of expectations following a campaign that was aimed primarily at young male adults and teens.

"For a movie that had a somewhat limited demographic appeal, 'Jackass' turned in a fairly respectable performance," said industry analyst Arthur Rockwell of Rockwell Capital Management.

"Jackass," which cost a reported $3 million to produce, had by far the best per-location average of any wide-release film with $9,047.

DreamWorks' second weekend of horror-thriller "The Ring," which led last weekend with $15 million, also delivered an impressive total with $18.8 million at 2,634 theaters as the studio added 653 locations. "They were able to take advantage of the nearness of Halloween simply because people are more inclined to see this kind of movie on this particular weekend," Rockwell noted.

Warner Bros.' opening of "Ghost Ship," set on an abandoned luxury liner, finished a distant third with a moderate $11.7 million at 2,787 sites as the strong performance by "The Ring" may have drawn away some potential fans. 

Two holdover comedy hits took the next two spots, with Disney's fifth weekend of comedy "Sweet Home Alabama" in fourth with $6.4 million at 3,182 theaters to edge IFC's 28th weekend of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with $6.3 million at 1,967 sites.

"Alabama" has taken in $107.2 million so far.

"Wedding" has totaled $177.8 million and ranks as the 64th highest domestic grosser of all time, after "Pretty Woman."

"Alabama" fell 33 percent from its fourth weekend while "Wedding" fell only 12 percent from its 27th weekend.

Universal's fourth weekend of "Red Dragon" followed in sixth with $4.7 million at 2,886 sites, declining 46 percent as its total moved to $85 million.

Sony's third weekend of offbeat romantic comedy "Punch-Drunk Love," starring Adam Sandler, finished seventh with $3.5 million" at 481 theaters as the studio added 403 screens. The film, which had a strong $7,276 per-location average, will move into another 500 theaters next weekend. 

Artisan's fourth weekend of "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie" came in eighth with $2.9 million at 1,625 theaters to edge 20th Century Fox's third weekend of "The Transporter" with $2.85 million at 1,880 sites and Fox Searchlight's third weekend of "Brown Sugar" with $2.78 million at 1,149 locations.

Four other films were contending to crack the top 10, led by DreamWorks' fifth weekend of "The Tuxedo" with $2.7 million at 1,707 theaters, followed by Disney's third weekend of "Tuck Everlasting" with $2.6 million at 1,460 sites, Universal's opening of "The Truth About Charlie" with $2.33 million at 752 locations and Paramount's second weekend of "Abandon" with $2.3 million at 2,347 theaters. 

Rockwell noted that Universal faced a complex task in marketing "The Truth About Charlie," a mystery-comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton in an updated remake of "Charade."

"There just does not seem to be a mass audience for that particular type of film," he added. 

Overall, business was moderate with the top 10 taking in $82.6 million.

Still, that was almost $15 million ahead of the same weekend last year, and it brought the year-to-date total to $7.2 billion, or 13 percent ahead of the same period for 2001. 

"Business was pretty decent considering the lack of any major new movies," Rockwell noted. 

On the art-house circuit, Miramax's drama "Paid in Full" opened well with $1.4 million at 268 theaters and its "Frida" took in an impressive $200,000 at five screens. But its comedy "Waking up in Reno" generated little interest with $125,000 at 197 sites.

Artisan's comedy "Roger Dodger" performed well in its opening with $52,000 at four locations. United Artists' "Bowling for Columbine" continued to draw impressively with $1.2 million at 111 theaters as did Miramax's "Comedian" with $215,000 at 30 theaters.

"Jackass" and "The Ring" will face serious competition next weekend with openings of Sony's adaptation of the TV series "I Spy," starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson, and Disney "The Santa Clause 2" with Tim Allen. 

He's the "anti-Cary Grant", according to his The Truth About Charlie director Jonathan Demme. When we spoke with Mark Wahlberg recently he was looking very polished and Cary Grant-ish in a great black suit with grey shirt and mauve tie. Mark has taken a lot of ribbing for playing the Cary Grant role in this re-make of the popular film Charade but he doesn't let that get him down. From Three Kings to Perfect Storm and Planet of the Apes, Mark has impressed movie-goers as a rugged action type. Now, as the mysterious Joshua Peters in "Charlie", he gets to add undercover operative to his resume, romance gorgeous Thandie Newton, wear some great hats, and run wild in Paris.

TeenHollywood: How did you like Paris?

Mark: I miss it so much. I committed to doing an extra long press junket for Planet of the Apes so I could stay in Paris for a while. I fell in love with it so much.

TeenHollywood: What is special about shooting in Paris?

Mark: Paris itself. I hated traveling between even New York and LA the first 18 years (of my life). I ate my mother's cooking. I didn't want to go anywhere. The first time I went to Europe I stayed for an hour. I was supposed to be there for four weeks on a promotional trip. I couldn't take it. I didn't like the smell, nothing. Certainly not the food. But I was able to grow up a little and this time it was just fantastic. The food, the wine, the architecture, the nightlife. I was single after a week of being there. I had a relationship of three years but broke up with my girlfriend. I fell in love four or five times.

TeenHollywood: We hear that Director Jonathan Demme didn't let you know exactly who the other actors were playing. How weird was that?

Mark: I would learn my lines and have an approach to the scene but I was totally open to serving his vision. I kind of had an idea but there were constantly people showing up and I didn't know what side they were on.

TeenHollywood: Did you see Charade or did you purposely not see it?

Mark: I hadn't seen it. I spoke to Jonathan and he said, you can see if it you want. It's not going to help you much (for this role). It's a wonderful movie, so why not?

TeenHollywood: Do you try to play characters that are different from film to film?

Mark: They may seem like a risk from the outside looking in. It's certainly a no-risk situation for me working with a filmmaker of (Demme's) caliber or working with Tim Burton. I'd go back to something similar to work with an interesting filmmaker. My whole thing is to learn as much as possible. I'm willing to take any sort of risk. Once I decided to do Boogie Nights, I was willing to do anything. To me it's about the filmmaker. I would make a mediocre script with a great filmmaker because I think he could make it into a great film. I wouldn't make a great piece of material with a bad filmmaker because who knows what's going to happen. We've all seen it happen.

TeenHollywood: You did Boogie Nights with director PT Anderson before he was well known.

Mark: I was sitting with Julianne Moore and William H. Macy and all these amazing actors. I read the first 35 pages and I said, either this is the most incredible thing in the world and this guy thinks I can act or this is a guy who is just trying to get Marky Mark to finally take off his underwear. You know the first wardrobe fitting I went to they had me in a Speedo and cowboy boots. It was all kind of frightening. My whole thing was I was just worried about what the guys in the old neighborhood would think of me.

TeenHollywood: Your character's constantly reinventing himself in the movie. Was it easy because you'd done it before in real life?

Mark: No. Jonathan can explain it better because I didn't completely figure it out. But he said, there are a lot of secrets. It became somewhat confusing to me. There's the fine line of keeping the audience wondering what's going on.

TeenHollywood: You moved recently to the West Coast and bought a house?

Mark: I have. I bought a house. Lovely. I was just a hardheaded kid from Dorchester. Didn't want to go anywhere. Didn't think that anything else mattered outside of Dorchester. Now I love it here.

TeenHollywood: Do you have an anti-drug in your life?

Mark: Church.

TeenHollywood: Your belief or physically going to church?

Mark: Both. It's great.

TeenHollywood: What was it like working with Thandie Newton?

Mark: (snaps fingers) Oh, she's married. She's wonderful. She was very much like Audrey Hepburn, I thought, after watching the original and seeing her. We weren't trying to do the Cary Grant thing, obviously. She's fantastic. Extremely smart and very giving as an actress, which I don't see often.

TeenHollywood: Did you meet famous singer Charles Azvanour (who sings in the film)?

Mark: Yes. We had lunch a few times. I was a big fan of his. Originally we were going to do a duet so I learned a few songs. We shot it but we reshot it and it didn't stay in. I did a lot of practicing. I had to learn the French version.

TeenHollywood: Did you learn your lines in French and did you know what you were saying?

Mark: Yes. I knew what I was saying and what people were saying to me. Luckily, towards the end of Planet of the Apes we were shooting a lot of action stuff so I was able to study while I was finishing up with that movie. I had a month and a half almost two months before I got to France and knew all of my lines. They were scripted. While shooting the movie, we'd add a lot, so I had a coach. It's a beautiful language. I picked it up pretty quickly.

TeenHollywood: What was the most challenging scene for you in this film?

Mark: The tango. It was hard for a number of reasons. I like to have things figured out and we were changing stuff as we went along. That was a bit frustrating. I didn't adapt.

TeenHollywood: There is a scene in the rain in the film and it looks like everyone is miserable!

Mark: (laughs) That took three days and we were pelted by fire hoses and soaked. My eyes were stinging.

TeenHollywood: Are you glad you switched from music to acting?

Mark: When I finally decided that's what I was going to do, I tried to choose roles that were as far away (from his rapper persona) as possible. It's taken a while; I'm still working on it. Some people still recognize me more from that than from my film work. Some people remember me from running around in my underwear for Calvin Klein. It is what it is.

Mark Wahlberg got into trouble with his latest director, Jonathan Demme, when he went on David Letterman and said he was playing Cary Grant in the remake of Charade. Well, Demme didn’t see it that way. Yes, The Truth About Charlie is a remake of Charade, but the character are supposed to be different. So, Wahlberg took this opportunity to explain himself. 

“It was a mistake,” Wahlberg said. “What happens when you’re on David Letterman, or talk shows like that, is they want to tell funny little stories about stuff that happened, and hopefully if you’re lucky you get to show a clip. But they just want to know when your mom threw your favorite blankie out or something. So, you’re dealing with that, and they ask you a question. And he brought up the movie, and I’m just trying to get to the clip so I’m just like trying to say whatever and get on to the next subject. Jonathan wasn’t very happy about that. He wrote me a four page letter which I don’t think was a good idea because you don’t put things in writing. The one thing I learned, even as a 13-year-old hoodlum on the street, I know you don’t write sh*t down. So, now I had this letter and probably the next time I go on Letterman, I’m going to read it. And its not flattering, because it says, ‘Had I wanted to do the Cary Grant thing, there’s so many other actors I could have cast instead of you.’ But it is what it is. Take it up with Dave, man.” 

Wahlberg had not seen Charade before meeting Jonathan Demme. He just wanted to work with the director. “I said, ‘Jonathan, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to say it? French or English?. And say action.’ While I was working on Planet of the Apes, I had the luxury of studying French for a couple of months before I got there [to Paris]. But the day I wrapped Planet of the Apes, I was in Hawaii and an hour after I wrapped, I was on a plane to France. And I got off the plane, I went directly to the set, said hi to Jonathan and went to a wardrobe fitting. Th next day, I was shooting. I certainly wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing that if it wasn’t with a guy like Jonathan, because I do like to take a lot of time to prepare. But I knew that he had very specific ideas and I’m very flexible when it comes to that. I’ll know my lines, and I’ll have my take on the scene so if he wants to see something, I got a couple of different ideas and I’ve got an approach to it. But, you know, I’m open minded to just doing whatever, throwing stuff away, adding stuff. And that’s always helped me. I’ve seen a lot of actors who have a very specific idea, especially a lot of technical actors, people who have trained a lot. They come in with something and if it doesn’t work, they have a problem shaking that, and doing something different. It’s certainly something I learned early on and realized that I didn’t want to find myself in that position. There’s a certain amount of preparation and homework, you’ve got to know your stuff, but at the same time you have to be able to let all of that go and to be versatile.” 

But what about that Cary Grant comparison? “I have no response to that. Jonathan cast me in this movie obviously to do the complete opposite of Cary Grant, because he was the guy in the original. People have to understand what we were trying to accomplish which was do the complete opposite and people can do, say or think whatever they want. I just decided to do it because Jonathan thought I was the right guy for the part and I wanted to work with him.” 

The former music artist is proud of his accomplishments in film, especially because he never set out to act. “When I became successful in the music world, people were approaching me to act, but it was like play the white rapper in Sister Act 2. And I had such a hard time, obviously because of the connection with my brother and New Kids on the Block, I was having a hard time being looked at for who I really was anyway. So, to go and act, I thought would only confuse the issue more. But then I realized I couldn’t make the records that I wanted to make and then met Penny Marshall and Danny DeVito who thought that I could really do this thing. They didn’t want me to play a rapper. They were going to allow me to do something completely different. At that point, I knew I was going to have to wait six years to get out of my contract and I couldn’t record until then anyway. I said why not? Let’s give it a shot. Then after that experience [making Renaissance Man, I thought, ‘This is all I want to do. If in seven years I’m in a position where I can make another record, great. I’ll make the kind of record I want. But when that day came around, I had no real interest in doing it. I thought it would take away from all the work that I had done.” 

Now that Wahlberg has achieved success, he tries to make a difference in his old neighborhood. “I have an opportunity to make a different the lives of kids like myself, and that’s wonderful. [I do it] just by going back. I never had anybody to look up to. There was a guy at the boy’s club who dedicated his whole life to bettering these kids’ lives, but he just was not cool like the guys on the street. He doesn’t have a nice car. I never saw him with a good looking girl. He doesn’t have nice clothes and all the things that I thought I wanted. These kids, they can relate to me. They know that I’m one of them and they know the fact that I’m there and still very much one of them, it inspires them in so many different ways.” 

Wahlberg will next be seen in a remake of The Italian Job. So, what’s with all these remakes? “It’s always the same story. It’s just how it’s told anyway.” 

The Truth About Charlie is now playing in theatres. 

There are two ghost ships this weekend…

One is – duh! – Ghost Ship.  The other is The Truth About Charlie, which will remain - for now, at least – a ghost of Charade… whether it’s fair or not.

The less interesting title is the action/horror movie, produced by the Zemeckis/Silver/Adler company that they started for just this kind of film… the B-movie chiller thriller.  And damn it, this one starts out incredibly promisingly.  

The film starts in the past… ghost ship is in the past, in its time.  Men and women laugh and dance, dressed to the nines.  An Italian torch-singing knockout moves seductively in her electric red dress… and then the movie begins, not with a bang or a whimper… with something much, much worse.  And something really original, but gloriously reminiscent of the great ghouly Brit horror flicks of the 60s and 70s… worthy of Dario Argento.  

Second-time director Steve Beck still suffers from first-time-director disease. (Close-up, close-up, close-up, close-up… there is a table scene early on and I swear, the master must have been burnt or something.)  But he has some really nice ideas.  He also has great taste in actors.  Gabriel Byrne and Isaiah Washington are both quite high on my list.  Ron Eldard can bring it when he wants to.  Juliana Margulies may have been an in-house, inexpensive choice, but she shows here that she can carry the weight, basically playing the lead.  

So I was very frustrated when Beck & Co. just kept making the wrong decisions.  Some things were too underdone.  I found the little girl whose been at the center of the banner campaign and her relationship with her human just about right.  But the haunting of the rest of the players…. Just not daring enough.  The movie proves that it can be pretty twisted, but it just isn’t twisted enough.  Yet, there are way overdone elements as well.  Watching the movie, you get the feeling that Steve Beck would have kept the whole movie scored in the 50s lounge music style.  But as soon as we get a desperate montage, here comes the heavy metal.  You can practically hear the meeting.  “It’s too slow.  The kids love that loud shit!”  Maybe.  But it still feels more like desperation editing and really irritating.

This was one of those movies where the really clever third act just never materializes.  I don’t want to give anything specific away, but there is one character who is killed and this movie would have been a lot better if he had come back to ghost life for an entire act, finally free of some of the restraint he felt in life.   But no… he’s just dead.   Yawn.  

Thing is, a movie like this has to be a step ahead of us because this territory is so well trod.  The golden oldie twist is great.. but they give up on it.  The maniacally extreme violence can be fun… but we only get it once.   And if you are going to make a “count movie” – a movie in which one character has to achieve a numbered goal – there had better be a clear count and there had better be clear consequences.  Cause if Beck thought he was riffing on The Devil’s Advocate, he didn’t come close to the very underrated Taylor Hackford/Pacino-scenery-chewing movie.  Francesca Rettondini’s breasts are bigger than Connie Nielsen’s and Charlize Theron’s combined… but they are not used to anywhere near as smart an effect.

I didn’t hate Ghost Ship… and many will.  But it was like a bright kid who should be doing better than C- work.

The Trouble With Charlie has a whole different series of problems.  And they begin before you walk into the theater.  Newsflash!  Mark Wahlberg isn’t Cary Grant.  Do you think Jon Demme is a moron?  Me either.  So, he must know that Mark Wahlberg isn’t Cary Grant.  Right?  Okay… so give him a freakin’ break!!!  

Now, Demme makes a film that is much more about sex than romance… a modern element.  No fading to black these days.  Thandie Newton is a woman into whom men instinctively, elementally want to insert their penises.  Ladies, it is not our fault.  When you aren’t being taken by those massive eyes, or her skin… the color of rich, dark coffee softened with sweet rich cream… there is that body that is just plain nutty!   There is a scene in the police station where the men are ogling her and she has this sweet innocent thing going, but when she gets up her erect nipples are unavoidable… and she is sex.  And all she wants to do after finding out that her husband has been murdered is to sleep with Mark Wahlberg. Do you think that Jon Demme is a moron?   Me either.  So why doesn’t he realize that if Wahlberg was hung like Dirk Diggler and she knew it, he would have a hard time getting to first base with this woman.  There is no sexual chemistry here.  The dead husband, Charlie, isn’t exactly gorgeous.  But he seems to be clever and charming, whereas Wahlberg comes across as a retired underwear model.  I’d much more quickly believe that she was doing Tim Robbins in the merry-go-round.  Far more her type.  Clooney? Absolutely.  Colin Farrell?  Sure.  Ewan MacGregor.   Uh-huh.  Boy Scout with pecs?  No.

Thing is, The Truth About Charlie is not about finding out the truth about Charlie.  We figure that out in the opening sequences.  The heart of this film seems to be a romp around Paris with a stunningly sexy woman being chased by a parade of men and women who have a mission but can’t help sniffing her like a bunch of horny dogs when they get close.   But it never gets out of dock.  Mad Dog And Glory got it.  A Fish Called Wanda got it.  The Truth About Charlie doesn’t get it.  The adaptation is kind of loose… it should have been looser.  

Critics are going to savage this film out of respect to Charade and that’s not really fair.  But if Demme had gone to Paris with the 24p DV camera that he frequently uses in the film and made the much looser, more Paris-loving, lighter-hearted movie that he seemed to be aiming at, critics would be wetting their pants and throwing bouquets his way.  Instead, they are going to see this bloated, big studio, not-up-to-snuff remake of a movie they revere… even if they haven’t bothered to see it in the last 20 years.  

I still can’t say that waiting for video/DVD isn’t the right call.  But you should see it when that time comes, because there are some lovely, fun, movie movie touches.  Now, if Wahlberg and Tim Robbins had switched roles….

P.S. Sorry for the double boob-mention reviews… I guess it’s really a triple boob day, including Wahlberg’s role.  But the exposure in Ghost Ship in intriguing and, ultimately, completely gratuitous.  But it/they is/are given as much attention as any of the other special effects.  And that Thandie Newton… well… she is somethin’ special too.