Sometimes movie trailers seem designed to keep movie lovers out of theaters. In reverse order, here are 10 previews that should get the job done.
10 Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Aug. 15
George Lucas charges fans to see the pilot for a Cartoon Network series debuting this fall. Makes me think of Space Ghost on steroids.
9 Mamma Mia!
July 18
The trailer appears to take the musical’s fluke success seriously. Please don’t say cool dudes Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth will sing ABBA.
8 The House Bunny
Aug. 22
A deposed Playboy bunny (Anna Faris) moves into a sorority house, performing a Legally Blonde makeover on smart wallflowers. There is not enough jiggle in the world to make this trailer fun.
7 Sex and the City: The Movie
May 30
Sorry, fashionistas, but watching saber-toothed cougars prancing through Manhattan doesn’t thrill me.
6 Hamlet 2
Aug. 22
A possible candidate to defy its trailer’s lameness. A failed actor (Steve Coogan, above with Elisabeth Shue) turned drama teacher leads students through a blasphemous makeover of Shakespeare’s play.
5 Get Smart
June 20
Despite the brand name and Steve Carell (above), this remake of the 1960s TV show looks like something Chevy Chase would do back when he could be hired.
4 Step Brothers
July 25
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly (“Talladega Nights”) can’t be desperate enough to reunite for an idiotic premise and unlimited mugging. Maybe they are.
3 The Love Guru
June 20
Mike Myers reportedly spent years creating this consciousness-training character. Apparently all he came up with were smug puns, playground snaps and groin gags.
2 Space Chimps
July 18
A trailer strains to impress when it boasts that a movie comes “from one of the primates who brought you Shrek.” That’s producer John H. Williams.
And the worst summer movie preview trailer is …
1 Meet Dave
July 11
Eddie Murphy plays an alien cyborg controlled by a miniature version of himself inside his head. Tiny people come out of his ears and nose. Does the name Pluto Nash ring a bell?
