Dumpster Diving: Deleted Scenes that should have stayed in the final film.

One of the common threads that has come out of the recent DVD/Blu Ray release of Star Trek, aside from the video/audio scores and the quantity of extras, is the unexpected quality of the deleted scenes. While most deleted scenes reels simply show how on-target the filmmakers were in terms of what to keep and what to cut, the deleted footage of Star Trek was obviously cut for time. First of all, aside from the extension of the Kobayashi Maru test that makes Kirk come off like even more of a prick, the scenes are all rock-solid bits that expand characterization. Second of all, at least one segment fills in major plot holes concerning the villainous Nero. Since his lack of development and the somewhat arbitrary time-line of his scheme was a major flaw in the picture, I'm baffled why at least that segment was not kept in the theatrical-release print. Still, let us take a moment to point out several deleted scenes that didn't deserve to end up on the cutting room floor. Scenes that became part of an official extended or director's cut need not apply.

The Sixth Sense (1999) - Toy Soldiers.

Since M. Night Shyamalan himself explains why this bit was trimmed, I won't rehash it here. I don't disagree with Night's reasons for cutting it: the scene would have risked revealing the supernatural angle much sooner than intended. But it's a beautiful character moment, as well as the kind of 'big scene' that might very well have won Haley Joel Osment a much-deserved Oscar ten years ago. Frankly, the film should darn-well have won every one of the seven Oscars it was up for that year. The three-hour network television cut of The Sixth Sense contains this and three other deleted scenes cut back in.

Dirty Dancing (1987) - The parents get fleshed out.

I never actually saw all of Dirty Dancing until just a few years ago. Truth be told, it's only in the final act that the film goes completely off the rails, but the picture is a definitive piece of female-escapist fantasy regardless. Ironically, one of the biggest problems I had with the picture was the lack of dimensionality given to Baby Houseman's mother (Kelly Bishop) and father (Jerry Orbach). Astoundingly, each had a terrific and revealing scene that ended up on the cutting-room floor. In Mrs. Houseman's big third-act moment, Bishop admits that she knows full well what her daughter has been up to. She admits that she had at least one torrid affair in her youth, and it's just something that Baby needs to get out of her system before settling down with a more proper husband. Orbach wrings sympathy in his big second-act scene, where he explains that the reason he has such issues with the lower-class kids like Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) is that they remind him of the punks who used to beat him up for being Jewish. It's a shame that these two revealing moments didn't make the final cut, as it would have gone a long way into preventing the parental units from coming off as cartoon characters.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) - Birth of the Rebel Alliance.

It would have been just five extra minutes in the already 140-minute Star Wars finale, but George Lucas cut this subplot involving the birth of what would eventually become the Rebel Alliance. These scenes would have accomplished three goals. First of all, it would have further connected the two trilogies. Second of all, the finale of this plot gave extra shadings to Anakin's eventual turn to the Dark Side, as it seemed that even his wife was theoretically out to betray him. Third of all, most importantly, it would have given Natalie Portman something to do other than sit around literally barefoot and pregnant, worrying and crying while the galaxy fell into dictatorial rule.

The Incredible Hulk (2008) - Banner gets his head examined.

I've complained at length about the butchered 110-minute cut of The Incredible Hulk. As I wrote back in November, the most grievous offense was done to the character of Dr. Leonard Samson (Ty Burrell), the boyfriend of Betsy Ross. Much of the forty-two minutes of deleted footage worked to flesh out his character. Even in the final film, Dr. Samson ended up being a smarter, warmer, and more sympathetic character than either Bruce Banner or Betsy Ross. Upstage the stars at your peril. Anyway, the scene above is a two-minute scene where Banner sits down with the lover of his ex-girlfriend and lets the psychiatrist do some armchair diagnosing. The quality of the dialogue and the naturalistic acting of both parties should have made this a keeper. Ironically Edward Norton (who wanted the longer, more character-driven cut) recently made a cameo on Burrell's new sitcom Modern Family. By the way, with Scrubs officially over (that mediocre revamp 2.0 is something else entirely); Modern Family is currently the funniest show on television).

Blade (1998) - When everyone is a vampire, what will vampires eat?

If you had a scene that explained away a massive plot hole, wouldn't you keep it in the final film? Stephen Norrington felt otherwise, leaving this breakthrough Marvel-adaptation with a major storytelling gap. Relatively late in the game, it's revealed that the evil Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) plans to turn the entire world's human population into vampires. So once the world is turned into vampires, what will vampires eat? Great question. Well, there is actually a deleted scene where Frost shows off a giant room filled with captive humans who are being harvested and slowly bled out. Ironically, Norrington's cut is the Spierg Brothers gain, as their upcoming Daybreakers uses this exact concept as the jumping-off point for its entire story.

Final Destination (2000) - Alternate Ending.

The flaw of the Final Destination series is that it's always tried to have it both ways. On one hand, it portends to be a serious mediation on mortality and predestination. On the other hand, it expects you to whoop and holler when characters get bumped off in over-the-top gore spectacles. Well, the first film in the series really tried to be a real movie, with thoughtful characters, a pall of tragedy, and a tragic but appropriate ending. But dumb test-screening audience members got in the way, more or less forcing New Line to shelve the original tonally-consistent finale in favor of an audience-pleasing 'gotcha' moment. And the die for this popular series was cast.

Iron Man (2008) - Stark and Obadiah get a final moment.

For those of us who felt that this comic-book adventure crapped out at the end, trading character and narrative for soulless robot-smashing, this extended version of Jeff Bridges's death scene is bittersweet. It's not much, but it allows the hero and villain to actually have a final scene together, which is the kind of thing that these pictures should thrive on. But for whatever reason Jon Favreau felt the need to omit this lone character moment amidst the high-tech mayhem. Oh well.

Galaxy Quest (1999) - Dr. Lazarus's Quarters.

By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, this is my favorite deleted scene of all-time. I can't imagine why this was trimmed from the final film. No spoilers, just enjoy this deleted gut-buster (about 2:14 in) from the very best Star Trek film ever made.

I'm sure I left off any number of your favorite deleted scenes. I'm also partial to the extended Ian Holm moments in the first act of Garden State, as well as a brief moment in Away From Her that explains the surprising connections between a few major characters ("Life is... complicated."). And considering that I'm not all that crazy about the movie, I was shocked at the bounty of riches in the thirty-five minute deleted scenes collection for Love Actually. Your turn to share. What are your favorite deleted scenes?

Scott Mendelson

About those deleted scenes...

For those who care, there is a live-community screening of Terminator: Salvation tonight at 6pm PST. Considering how verbose and chatty McG is on the Maximum Movie Mode, this will probably be a more engaging chit-chat than last year's snooze-a-thon with Chris Nolan. Just make sure SOMEONE asks about that fabled lost footage and make sure that not everyone asks dumb questions about Christian Bale's temper.

Scott Mendelson

Review: Up in the Air (2009)

Up in the Air
2009
109 minutes
rated R (language and sexual content)

by Scott Mendelson

On the surface, Jason Reitman's Up in the Air is another variation of an oft-told tale, that of a workaholic who must learn to stop and reevaluate what he really wants from life and why he's really so driven in his chosen career. But the picture has two things going for it. First of all, it ends up being just a little bit deeper than that, going beneath the surface level moralizing of 'everyone should want a spouse and 2.5 kids and a dog'. Second of all, even if we concede that it tells a relatively unoriginal story, this is an awfully good variation on said template. It's sharply written and superbly acted, so there is much to appreciate and enjoy even if we acknowledge that its wisdom is not entirely groundbreaking.

A token amount of plot - Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a corporate downsizer, flying cross-country in order to lay off employees when their supervisors are unwilling to do the deed. Although his job is relatively ghastly on the surface, Ryan relishes his ability to give those fired a measure of dignity at their lowest moment. Moreover, he cherishes his nonstop travel, living in airports, hotels, and airplanes. Alas, a new employee, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) has devised a system of employee termination via video conferencing, which would eliminate the need for Bingham to travel at all. A more positive development is an unexpected relationship with Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), his apparent frequent-flier doppelganger. As Alex and Ryan hit it off during various stops in their respective business travels, Ryan brings along young Natalie for an up-close look at why the work he does cannot be replicated from a computer screen. As his two most defining traits - nonstop travel and personal isolation - are threatened, Ryan finds himself questioning the very tenets of his personal philosophy.

The idea of a somewhat cold executive realizing that he missed out on personal relationships isn't a new one. The difference is in the details, as Up in the Air is a refreshingly old-fashioned star vehicle that also works as a refreshingly old-fashioned character-driven comedy. It's simply the kind of movie that 'they just don't make anymore'. Clooney is in peak form, acting with silence as much as with witty wordplay. And Farmiga is the rare romantic interest who is more entertaining than the lead. Like the best romantic comedies, we actually get a true sense of why these characters like each other and why they might work together. Natalie Keener gets a star-making turn here. Even her somewhat contrived moments (such as a post-breakup meltdown) are handled with charm and wit. And while I'd prefer that so much of her arc not have involved (off-screen) romantic relationships, the character remains fully three-dimensional throughout. Plus, the scene after said breakup, where Natalie basically gets schooled by Ryan and Alex on the realities of 'settling', is one of my favorite moments in any movie this year.

To director Jason Reitman's credit, the film takes the world of corporate lay-offs as seriously as possible. With the exception of a few star cameos (J.K. Simmons, Zach Galifianakis), the masses of the fired are filled out by actual laid-off employees who were instructed to basically say to the camera what they never had the courage to say to their bosses upon their termination. The dreaded 'your position is no longer available' introduction becomes strikingly prescient, as Ryan wonders whether or not he is about to become a useless dinosaur in his own chosen profession. Jason Bateman plays the immediate supervisor, and he once again takes what could have been a stock cliche and makes him into a complete human being who completely understands Ryan's frustration but refuses to spend millions in wasted travel expenses just to assuage one employee's lifestyle choices. Over the last three years, Jason Bateman has become my absolute favorite character actor. Between this, Juno, Hancock, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and State of Play, there is no one better at making mediocre films into good ones and making good films great.

Up in the Air is not revolutionary and its thesis, however insightful, is not one-of-a-kind. It also makes an all-too common mistake as it reaches a natural conclusion but continues for another reel. But it is the kind of thing we used to take for granted in Hollywood. It is well-written and sharply observational about the terrain in which it exists. It has big stars delivering solid movie-star turns and noted character actors making themselves noticed. It is funny, sweet, moving, and occasionally thoughtful. It is by adults and for adults, refusing to talk down to any demographic group. Up in the Air is just a darn good movie.

Grade: B+

The Mask of Zorro finally arrives on Blu Ray today.

Nearly two years after the Blu Ray release of the less-successful (but still pretty darn good) sequel, The Legend of Zorro, Sony finally feels fit to release the original modern classic on Blu Ray today. It's no secret that I probably love this film more than anyone else on the planet. Heck, it's probably my favorite film of the 1990s and perhaps my all-time favorite superhero adventure. Before I got married, The Mask of Zorro used to be the litmus test. You didn't have to like Batman, Star Wars, Airplane!, or The Silence of the Lambs. But if you couldn't see the obvious quality at work in this Martin Campbell reinvention, then it just wasn't going to work out.

This film is why I'm such a hardcore Martin Campbell junkie. Everything about it just works. The action is full of real stunt work, and it's shot in long, fluid takes. The special effects are mainly practical and you can see the blood, dirt, and sweat on each and every actor. The swordplay is copious and varied. And while the film is pretty violent (especially in the first act), the body count is just low enough for it to be shocking whenever a life is lost (like all Martin Campbell action films, the violence stings and the dead are mourned).

Although there are four major action set pieces, the 135-minute film is long enough to have ample heapings of plot and character development. Even the villain (Stuart Wilson) is given shadings and moments of empathy, and his grand scheme is both brilliant and logical. Eleven-and-a-half years after its release, The Mask of Zorro remains Antonio Bandaras and Catherine Zeta Jones's finest hours, and it contains one of Anthony Hopkins's best performances. If by some fluke you haven't seen this one yet, you now have absolutely no excuse. If you value my opinion at all, you'll buy or rent The Mask of Zorro today.

Scott Mendelson

Iron Man 2 gets a teaser poster.

Neat. I'm presuming that the first theatrical teaser will debut either December 18th with Avatar or Christmas Day with Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes. Amusingly, the reason we probably haven't seen a teaser earlier is because Paramount moved its two major holiday films (Shutter Island and The Lovely Bones) into 2010.

Scott Mendelson

Blu Ray Review: Terminator: Salvation (2009)

Terminator Salvation: The Director's Cut
2009
118 minutes
Rated R
Available Tuesday, December 1st on DVD, Blu Ray, On Demand, and ITunes Download

by Scott Mendelson

Terminator Salvation is arguably the closest thing to non-stop action since The Mummy Returns. It opens in the thick of a military operation and barely slows down for its 115 minutes. Character development is almost non-existent and the picture relies on our prior knowledge of the previous Terminator pictures. The characters are paper thin and the film has obvious signs of tinkering. Ironically, for a film that constantly opines about the strength of the human heart, the film lacks the very heart and soul that brought humanity to the first three pictures. It is occasionally a first-rate action spectacle, but it is only the spectacle that merits recommendation. Full Theatrical Review (the director's cut makes no difference to the film's quality).

The Blu Ray:
The film looked spectacularly bleak when I saw it in theaters, and that bleached, gray hopeless image is repeated on the Blu Ray. The kind of perfection from this image is very different from the colorful nirvana of Star Trek or a Spider-Man picture, but it's beautiful in its own way. Since I don't have surround sound, the best I can say for the audio is that it was loud and crisp, with dialogue properly separated from sound effects at all times. The biggest extra of note is a three-minute longer 'director's cut'. Considering the 45 minutes of footage that was cut prior to the theatrical release, this is a pretty shabby turn from Warner. Even Universal put the infamous deleted footage from The Incredible Hulk on the DVD/Blu Ray as a separate supplemental.

Frankly, aside from a couple extra splashes of blood, I couldn't tell you what was different in the two versions (but movie-censorship.com can). The only other extras are two featurettes running about 30 minutes total and an In-Movie Experience, which is quickly taking the place of traditional commentaries at Warner Bros (unfortunately, this is available on the theatrical cut only). To be fair, it's actually a pretty solid movie-in-movie feature, as it runs pretty much nonstop with interviews, fly-on-the-wall footage, and director McG literally pausing the film and talking you through various sequences and reminding you that he's a pretty solid filmmaker (he loves long scenes that feel like a single take). And three cheers for Warner for providing English and French subtitles for the commentary portions as well as the feature. The total In-Movie gimmick runs about ten-minutes longer than the movie itself. The only portions available separately are the 'Focus Points', which run about 29 minutes combined. All in all, this smells like a candidate for an 'ultimate edition' double-dip within a couple years, hopefully with all of the missing footage either put back into the movie or offered as a bonus.

Blu Ray Review: Shorts (2009)

Shorts
2009
89 minutes
Rated PG (for mild action and rude humor - should have been a G)
Available Tuesday, December 1st on DVD, Blu Ray, On Demand, and ITunes Download

by Scott Mendelson

Shorts is a gloriously old-fashioned kids flick made with a knowing cleverness. The picture is fast-paced, funny, colorful, exciting, and absolutely appropriate for children while entertaining for adults. Shorts is no classic, but it clearly does not want to be. It aims purely to be a breezy and pulpy children's adventure film, no more and no less. Robert Rodriguez again proves himself a jack of all trades, as his family pictures (Shorts, the Spy Kids series) are every bit as imaginative and often more entertaining than his R-rated action pictures (the Mariachi trilogy, Planet Terror, From Dusk Till Dawn). Full Theatrical Review

The Blu Ray:
As is becoming the pattern these days, Shorts is presented in a double-disc collection which contains the Blu-Ray and a standard definition DVD also containing a digital copy. Both the DVD and the Blu-Ray contain Rodriguez's standard '10-Minute Film School' and '10-Minute Cooking School' featurettes (the latter features a recipe for chocolate chip volcano brownies). The Blu Ray contains those two bonus features plus two exclusives, "The Magic of Shorts" (a making-of which concentrates on the technical and fx aspects) and "Shorts Show and Tell" (a making-of which concentrates on the young cast). The combined extra load totals less than forty-minutes, which is unfortunate for fans of this under-seen gem. There is alleged BD-Live capabilities, so there may eventually be some kind of additional content at some point. The film looks and sounds lovely, although I'm not sure why Warner didn't think to include a Spanish 5.1 Dolby TrueHD to compliment the respective English track. Point being, unless you collect Rodriguez's films or have the kind of kids who like to watch the same movie over and over again, this disc is purely a rental.

Sandra Bullock Blind Sides New Moon, while newbies generally open OK. Thanksgiving weekend box office in review (11/29/09)

It was just seven-and-a-half years ago that Spider-Man became the first film to gross over $100 million in a single weekend. Now, we have a movie that has in fact dropped $100 million between its first and second weekend. That's right; Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed $42.5 million over the Fri-Sun portion of the long Thanksgiving weekend. That's a drop of 70.2%, the 52nd biggest drop of all-time and a difference of $100.3 million. Yes, the second-weekend gross was lessened by the holiday Wednesday and Thursday that preceded it (the film grossed $65 million from Wed-Sun), but this is still an astonishing statistic (like Lost in Space, it now becomes the answer to a fun trivia question). Not that it matters in the long run. The Dakota Fanning vehicle has already grossed $230 million, with about $475 million in global grosses in well under two weeks. As of now, it's close enough to the 62% second-weekend plunge of the first Twilight to be judged as having a similar run. By the end of its second weekend, Twilight had grossed 62% ($119.7 million) of its eventual $192.7 million total. Should New Moon follow suit, it's looking at a final domestic gross of around $370 million. So let's just assume that it will be slightly more frontloaded due to it being a sequel and the eventual end-of year competition and peg it at $350 million in the end.

But the big news of the weekend is the incredible legs of Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side. Following a larger than expected $34 million opening weekend and incredible word of mouth, the 'based on an incredible true story' football drama capitalized on the overly niche Thanksgiving offerings to become the one movie that the whole family could agree on this weekend. With $40 million in its second weekend (up 17% from its opening stretch), the well-reviewed heart-warmer just barely crossed the $100 million mark in its tenth day of release. Nevermind what I said last weekend about it crossing $150 million. This looks like an even bet for $200 million and a Best Actress nomination for Sandra Bullock, plus an outside shot at a Best Picture nomination should enough of the holiday 'Oscar bait' pictures (The Lovely Bones, Invictus, Nine, etc) disappoint. It will also soon top the $154 million-gross of Jerry Maguire to become the highest-grossing sports drama of all-time. Sandra Bullock is now, fifteen years into a varied and interesting career, the biggest female star on the planet. And please, let's not turn this film's refreshing success (wow,a $29 million, big studio, star-driven drama... who knew?) into a The Blind Side vs Precious debate, with alleged implications for Barack Obama and/or Sarah Palin in the next election cycle. Don't be that idiot. Anyway, Precious is still pulling in $10,000 per screen on 634 screens, although it plunged 34% implying that the film may have reached its pre-awards peak. Still, the 'other' critically acclaimed drama that kinda-sorta deals with racial issues has now grossed $32 million without even reaching 1,000 screens. Where it goes from here will be decided by its success at the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

2012 was in third place, using the holiday weekend as a buffer and dropping just 32%. The mega-budget disaster movie to end all disaster movies has now grossed $138 million in the US and $594 million globally. Now, all the way in fourth place, we get to the new movies (openers rarely win the box office during the Thanksgiving holiday). The critically reviled ("if it were a person, I'd stab it in the face") Old Dogs could only muster $16 million over three days and $24 million over five. It's not a bad opening, but considering that the $35 million-budgeted film is supposed to be hell on Earth, I'm curious as to how general moviegoers respond. Still, it has no competition in the harmless family comedy demo for a good long while, so it might just hold its own. The redundantly-titled Ninja Assassin pulled in $21 million worth of nerds, Spike TV watchers, action-junkies of both genders, prurient fans of lead-actor Rain, and unwilling women who got dragged along as payback for dragging their significant others to New Moon last weekend. The film cost just $40 million, so it should be fine once overseas money comes in, as it'll be a cult rental and cable favorite for years to come.

A Christmas Carol also benefited from the holiday, crossing the $100 million mark and increasing its weekend take by 30%. Amazingly, it's still tracking just ahead of The Polar Express at this point. $180 million is not out of the question, but it will have to weather the loss of its 3D and IMAX screens to Avatar in just three weeks. Planet 51 dropped just 17% in weekend two, so the 'who-cares' animated stinker has now grossed $28 million. The lone flop opener of the weekend was Fox's The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Despite great reviews and a solid two-week run in limited release, the Wes Anderson animated fable grossed just $7 million over three days and $9.4 million over five. On the plus side, the theaters will be all the emptier should my wife and I take the chance and take our two-year old with us this afternoon (she laughed at the trailer and wanted to see 'more fox'). We've had success with the local second-run theater, but we have yet to brave a first-run release.

There were four limited releases of note this weekend. First off, The Road had a targeted 111-screen release, scoring a $1.5 million three-day and $2 million five-day opening. I've long surmised that the Weinsteins intentionally opened this grimmest of grim post-apocalyptic dramas over Thanksgiving in order to ensure it would flop, thus preventing them from having to spend money on a costly Oscar campaign. This last-minute switch from national release to targeted opening seems to verify that. We'll see what expansion plans are in store, if any, for this relatively well-reviewed, but long on the shelf adaptation of the beloved novel. The all-star drama The Private Lives of Pippa Lee opened on twelve screens and grossed just $96,000 over the long holiday. The Zach Efron vehicle Me and Orson Welles opened on four screens, grossing just $64,000 per. To be fair, the target demo for a Zac Efron film isn't the sort to be found at art-house theaters, so this could still do okay if it ever goes wide. The other limited release was Disney's The Princess and the Frog, which annoyingly (for my family) opened on just two super-expensive venues in New York and LA. Yes, it scored the third-biggest per screen average of all time, with $356,000 per screen for three days and $571,000 per screen for the whole holiday. But movies tend to do that when they open in two theaters that charge $30-$50 per ticket. The critically acclaimed 2D throwback opens wide on December 11th.

That's pretty much all the news that's fit to print. Join us next weekend, when The Blind Spot likely takes over the top spot as New Moon continues to fall and the openers (Armored, Brothers, Everybody's Fine) struggle for third place on less than 2,300 screens a piece. Jason Reitman's Up in the Air opens in ten theaters as it attempts to cement its status as an Oscar front runner (barring unforeseen variables, a review is coming Tuesday night or Wednesday morning). For a look at what happened last Thanksgiving, to listen to a radio interview I conducted concerning New Moon, Precious, and gender role models, or just to see what you've been missing, check out Mendelson's Memos.

Scott Mendelson

Scott Mendelson is officially a pundit.

This is a phone interview that I conducted with Jesse Wente of Canada's Q Radio. It's my first real interview, so there are plenty of first-timer hiccups. First of all, it was conducted at 6:30am while I had sniffles-related laryngitis. Second of all, I allowed the conversation to get sidetracked and ended up basically failing to discuss the issue at hand (my article stating that male film characters aren't expected to be role models). So while there is much room for improvement should I be welcomed back, I enjoyed it more while I was listening to it than when I recorded it. I've embedded it here for your enjoyment (if the embed stops working, here is an archived version). By the way, I meant 'more reluctant' at 9:16, not 'less reluctant'. Be gentle, it's my first time.

Scott Mendelson

To pimp Ryan Reynolds, MTV blogger randomly makes up record-breaking statistic for The Proposal...

Did Terry Schwartz just randomly make this up? In a random post published September 1st (linked to in a Thanksgiving article concerning Ryan Reynolds), Schwartz proclaims that The Proposal is the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all-time. Well, since it outgrossed Sex and the City: The Movie, then it must be the biggest ever, right? Uh... no. Aside from the fact that the author has no clue that Sandra Bullock is an actual box office draw (a film made money, let's give the man all the credit!), The Proposal is actually the sixth-highest grossing romantic comedy of all time. Sixth. Not first, not second or third... sixth place. From Box Office Mojo's list:

1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding ($241,438,208)
2. What Women Want ($182,811,707)
3. Hitch ($179,495,555)
4. Pretty Woman ($178,406,268)
5. There's Something About Mary ($176,484,651)
6. The Proposal ($163,958,031)
7. Sex and the City ($152,647,258)

Was that so hard? Ten seconds on Box Office Mojo was all it took. What exactly caused Terry Schwartz to think that The Proposal was the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time? And more importantly, who the hell let her print that without asking her to check the numbers to make sure that the entire article wasn't completely and totally false?