Living in the Pacific Northwest (Washington), I’m ecstatic when I see movies that take place in my backyard. No, I don’t care if they’re actually filmed in Vancouver (about 2 1/2 hours north of Seattle), but as long as they portray my home in good terms I’m fine.
It’s when people don’t respect this area is when I get mad.
You see, if a film is made in New York, people pay attention to details. New Yorkers complain if during the course of a film someone says a restaurant on the wrong street. Of course, here in Washington (state, not D.C. Washington D.C. is called, D.C. not Washington), people don’t notice if new cities are created. If only I could think of one. Oh, wait, I can. The “city” of Woodburn, Washington as seen in The Contract.
Wow, this city looks nice. Woodburn looks like it might even be big enough to host a minor league baseball team, and has a great mall, maybe even two TV stations. I wish I could visit it. Only, no, I can’t. It’s as fake as an 18 year old girl in a chat room.
Look it up on Wikipedia, Google, wherever. There’s a Woodburn Oregon, but not Washington. If you’re going to create a fake town, create a fake capital where everyone’s from as well. Don’t let it be Washington (D.C.); call it, Lincoln (D.C.)
And don’t assume that everyone in Washington are idiots. Especially cops. Don’t write dialog for a that cop says, “The people at the coffee shop didn’t know what a croissant was.” Excuse me? The land of coffee, where Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee, and Tully’s started, don’t know what a pastry was? The kind that’s served at every continental breakfast and Burger King for breakfast? No, we peons on the other side of the continent don’t have any class and knowledge of such foods. Even though your government agent in Washington (D.C.) is in a coffee franchise that looks alot like Starbucks. But it couldn’t be, since we don’t know what a latte is…
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Hollywood doesn’t care about pleasing us in the Northwest. In Code Name: The Cleaner, they have a cell phone number for the restaurant El Pollo Loco, where the nearest restaurant is 500 miles away, in Reno (Nevada). In 10.5 (a movie you’ll see on this site soon), they talk about Ellensberg being a suburb of Seattle. Because all suburbs have mountain ranges in them. At least 10 Things I Hate About You tries (even though I’ve never seen a paintball setup at Gasworks Park, it seems plausible).
But in Spider-Man 2, the pizza place that Peter Parker woks at, is not only real, they put the actual phone number in the movie, not a 555 number. Is that fair? You decide. Am I being a little anal and too geeky? Sure, but this is the internet.
The movie itself wasn’t that bad. Nothing new, but if you’re looking for a movie where Morgan Freeman is a bad guy, here you go. Rent Shooter if you want an action movie that is a little similar, but with more guys getting shot.
I’m on a week vacation (to Canada, you know, that country to the north?), and I’ll be back late next week. So, the Back Up Plan for the Weekend will be delayed (good luck renting 300 or Hot Fuzz after Thursday next week, (hint, hint)), though I’ll try and get a classic clip for Monday up before I leave. There will be a sense of normalcy on this site one way or another. So, be safe, and enjoy the sun.
First off, I’ve got to say bravo for nailing the issue I [born and raised a proud Washingtonian] noticed instantly when watching “The Contract”. I think if you’re going to make up a name and try to make the people look stupid/hick-like… 1) you could come up w/ a better state than WA and 2) make the city ridiculous - such as Winchestertonfieldville or somethin [courtesy of Mr Deeds].
Anywho, the first post basically covered what I was thinkin, I’m just writin to say good job. Oh and also… im not sure why they chose the state who has the richest man in America, the most advanced computer research/technology, has a freakin airfield for just Boeing, AND is host to where dozens of enormous .com companies emerged from. Somethin tells me WA may have been portrayed just a tad bit less than what it is: freakin amazing.
ps. CA is so overrated.
I, being from Washington, also was excited to see my home state portayed in a new movie. But I was left feeling that this movie did a disservice to my state. It portrayed us as ignorant. And the whole jab at the Westcoast having bad coffee and only sugar-type foods compared to Eastcoast… What the hell? Is not Starbucks and Tullys coffee part of our heritage and in our blood? And our state help start the “organic food” trend. Also why makeup a city? We have several cities that could have work for the script. But no, they made one up so that they could make look like fools and not have any city get angry. Yeah, I was a little put-off my this movie.
Washington sucks anyways… so quit ya yappin…
This city everyone is crying about is spokane in case anyone didn’t know. Its not uncommon for movies to make up ficticious places like the movie stand by me. Filmed in Brownsville Oregon which was renamed Castle Rock for the movie.
The industry considers Washington State hostile when it comes to film makers, especially indi film makers in the south western part of the state (Olympia). It’s just not the red tape that entagles film makers, it’s more like trying to film in the old DDR, (East Germany).
I totally agree with many aspects of criticism about this film, since I was born and raised in Oregon!!!! I laughed that they made up “Woodburn, Washington” and thought of immediately of the drag strip in Oregon. I was insulted of the lack of true coffee knowledge, and anyone who would what a decaf latte is stupid!!!! And to think that the cops wouldn’t know what the hell a croissant was is ridiculous. Even in Centralia there are espresso stands next to the trailer parks! I’m sorry about the ignorance of people from other realms and don’t do our beloved Cascadian Utopia justice.
The positive side of all this is that the people that live in DC and New York will watch this movie and never dream of moving to the Northwest. “Oh, No they don’t have lattes! What heathens!” So we can sit and watch the rain and sip in peace.
Ditto to everyone but Bobby who has clearly never visited the Pacific NW. Regarding David’s comment about Brownsville, OR renamed to Castle Rock: there is actually a location in Oregon just downstream on the Columbia from Boardman, OR called Castle Rock. So at least it wasn’t ENTIRELY made up.