Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.

I’m a big fan of the Rocky film series.  The first one is nearly perfect, the next three are all good fun (the less said about the 5^th one, the better) and I absolutely love Rocky Balboa, the 6^th film in the series which was released in 2006 and featured an aged Rocky returning to the ring to face a young champion based on an ESPN computer simulation.  I also happen to like Raging Bull, the Jake LaMotta biopic by Scorsese which featured a tour de force performance by Robert De Niro.  However, I had no desire to see the two films combine into the travesty of a trailer that I was presented with at the theater this weekend.  Take a look and read on for my comments:

Despite the fact that Rocky Balboa got decent reviews, I felt like one of its only defenders in the months after its release.  I felt like the story was the perfect ending to the character, and that I skillfully handled the emotions involved with aging.  And even though the idea of 60 year old Sylvester Stallone boxing against a current champion was ludicrous, the scenario was just plausible enough for me to suspend disbelief.  It also helped that even at 60 Stallone has an impressive physique that looked like it could stand up to a boxing match.  But in Grudge Match they are almost remaking that film but with two older guys instead of one.  Rocky Balboa used a computer simulation to inspire a return to the ring for the character, while Grudge Match uses a videogame based on the characters in their prime (like getting to play as Michael Jordan in the latest NBA games).

Watching Stallone and De Niro face off against each other just looks ridiculous.  While De Niro bulked up for Raging Bull, his strength and presence was always a result of his acting and not his body.  Stallone, on the other hand, is built like a boulder, and has always been a physically imposing figure.  (The two actors are the same height, however.)  It’s hard to imagine a boxing match between them lasting more than one punch, no offense to De Niro.  I’m usually pretty good at suspending disbelief, but this is pushing things too far.

It doesn’t help that the trailer can’t seem to decide on its tone.  It’s clearly set up as a comedy, especially with the casting of Kevin Hart and Alan Arkin, but it wants to be a drama, too.  It has a few laughs (particularly the scene where Alan Arkin won’t let Stallone hit the sides of meat), but the trailer doesn’t give off the tone of an honest parody/comedy.  Given its Christmas release date, it’s obviously aiming at getting an audience looking for a sentimental, inspirational, feel-good movie, and there are parts of the trailer which seem geared towards that.  But all I can think is that I’ve seen this one before, and it was a lot better than this one looks to be.

What do you think?  Does Grudge Match look like fun to you?  Can you believe Stallone and De Niro in a ring together?  Do you think the trailer is trying to make a drama into a comedy, a comedy into a drama, or is the film really this unbalanced?  And am I the only one who loved Rocky Balboa?  Let me know in the comments!