American Gangster: Murder Victim of Misdirected Movie Marketing

The Oscar buzz surrounding the highly anticipated Ridley Scott movie American Gangster is ostensibly doing the production plenty of favors. Rarely is a movie slated to be released in November the beneficiary of such publicity and fanfare.

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment will likely be pleased with the opening weekend returns if the preceding publicity translates to box office performance.

Unfortunately, the word of mouth that is likely to spread subsequent to opening weekend will not be as favorable as the hype will have you believe…and that's not necessarily a failure on the part of the movie, but more a function of misdirected marketing by the producing companies involved.

By now all of us have had the opportunity to see the movie trailer for American Gangster, one that is very specific in its depiction of what to expect come November 2.

Despite what the movie trailer suggests, American Gangster is NOT a violent, “action” movie. It has some flurries of violent hyperactivity, but the OTHER 2 hours of non-action make a stronger argument for characterization as anything BUT an “action” movie. In fact, the movie has less violence overall than any movie with “Gangster” in its title should be allowed to have.

The violence and action are reasonable expectations too. Drugs, mafia, guns and the depiction of murder all line the trailer of a movie with “Gangster” in the title. One would think that's an invitation for classic, violent “gangster” cinema.

But trust Mo'Kelly…this is NOT an action movie and in many ways completely divorced from the “gangster” genre. If you attend this movie expecting something akin to Casino, Goodfellas, or any of the cookie-cutter urban dramas, you'll be thoroughly disappointed.

But it's not necessarily your fault…or the movie's for that matter. You're being misled.