Nottie as Advertised: Major Marketing Muff?

By Jefferson Reid Feb 16, 2008 6:40 PMTags
The Hottie and the Nottie: Paris Hilton, Christine LakinRegent Releasing

Okay, we admit it, the Paris Hilton pile-on is a surefire gambit for all of us gossip slingers. But did our rush to joke-ment actually shortchange a worthy little romantic comedy.

So says Christine Lakin, star of The Hottie and the Nottie, in an interview this week for Yo on E! (which aired on XM and Sirius). Pitched as a Paris vehicle, the film bombed horribly and was voted worst movie of all time by IMDb.com users.

Asked about the flick's fast flameout, Christine said: “With any project you take, you can't think about reviews and you can't think about the way a studio is going to market a film. I have no control over that. At the end of the day, people either love or hate Paris Hilton, and they will either want to go see the movie or they don’t.”

But did Paris' high profile doom the film?

“I don’t know if it necessarily hurt the movie for what this movie is. I think it actually could have helped for the genre. I think it was the way that maybe the whole movie was marketed. It’s an ensemble romantic comedy, and I think everyone who has seen the movie actually finds it to be really charming and really funny and very sweet in the end.

"But when it’s marketed as a vanity piece that’s not what you think it is, you think it’s going to be one big music video, and it's not at all. The thing that’s hard about it is I think she actually does a really nice job. She’s much more relaxed and real then you have ever seen her onscreen. It's very endearing. It's kinda how she is in real life behind the scenes.”

Now, we haven't seen the flick. After the reviews, who would? But did we dismiss this as a mess prematurely? You decide:

Poll

Hilton Heat Check

Does The Hottie and the Nottie deserve another shottie?
Yessie, even Paris deserves to face the public without prejudice
22.7%
No wayee, this kind of high-concept, low-rent schlock is played out
77.3%