Movie Jail: This week's defendant is...Garry Marshall!

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http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/movi...y-marshall-182

The Case

The Prosecution: New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, Georgia Rule, Raising Helen, Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, The Princess Diaries, The Other Sister, Exit to Eden, Dear God, Beaches

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Garry Marshall is known for mostly directing romantic-comedies and chick flicks, and nearly all of them have received abysmal reviews from critics. Mr. Marshall is responsible for the recent ensemble films New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day, as well as plenty of other negatively reviewed movies like Georgia Rule, The Other Sister and Exit to Eden.

Mr. Marshall made his directorial debut with 1984's The Flamingo Kid, which is also his highest reviewed movie. Think about that for a second: the director has been a part of Hollywood for over 30 years now, however his "best" film is still his first one. The only reason Mr. Marshall continues to find work is because many of his movies have done well at the box office, despite less than stellar reviews. And it's not as if Mr. Marshall has been working with unproven or limited actors either.

You could argue that a few of his movies belong on the defense's side, but in the prosecution's opinion Mr. Marshall bad films definitely outweigh his good ones. The prosecution doesn't have a problem with rom-coms, but we do have an issue with awful films (regardless of the genre), and that's exactly what the Pretty Woman director has been pumping out for the past two-plus decades.

The Defense: Runaway Bride, Frankie and Johnny, Pretty Woman, Overboard, Nothing in Common, The Flamingo Kid, Young Doctors in Love

Ladies and gentlemen, yes, Mr. Marshall has "pumped out" a few turds during his career, however the defense doesn't think the director belongs in prison. My client has for the most part stuck with female-driven movies, and although the prosecution claims he isn't being considered Movie Jail because of his rom-com work, the defense does wonder if Mr. Marshall would still be facing jail time if he was an action or horror movie director.

Critics usually don't have great things to say about Mr. Marshall's films (especially his recent ones), but there are a lot of people who enjoy his movies. For example, Georgia Rule and Raising Helen are under 25% at Rotten Tomatoes, however the audience scores for both films are over 50%.

Mr. Marshall also helped launch both Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks' careers with Pretty Woman and Nothing in Common (respectively), and he created/co-created several hit television series, including Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and Mork & Mindy.

The defense understand why the prosecution is going after Mr. Marshall, but the defense just doesn't think he deserves to go to Movie Jail.

Read more at http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/movi...rLkclfzSYKd.99