On the eve of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the obnoxiously-titled “Sarah Palin: You Betcha!” has been acquired by Freestyle Releasing. Their aggressive planned strategy involves debuting the film on September 30th in New York and Los Angeles before expanding, though, come on, who are we kidding here? Nick Broomfield, the man behind acclaimed docs “Biggie And Tupac” and “Kurt And Courtney,” co-directed with Joan Churchill, and if the trailer to this doc is any indication, they is preaching to the choir.
Whether it’s a hit job or a thinly-veiled political commercial, people don’t want to spend full price to watch Sarah Palin on the big screen. Her ardent propaganda film “The Undefeated,” (which cannily featured zero on-camera interviews with her) never expanded past fourteen theaters (none of which were in, ahem, “media elite” states) and it ended up with $116k. Of course, “You Betcha!” is bound to perform lower than that by virtue of not playing in as many theaters, but also because it states the obvious: this woman is embarrassing.
One of the easiest things in the world is to keep your integrity and still make a mockery of Ms. Palin, but “You Betcha!” feels like dirty pool. The trailer showcases interviews not with her political associates, but her parents and extended family members. In addition, there’s a smug tone to the proceedings, and a jokey rudeness that implies they don’t take seriously the cult of zealotry this woman defines or the institution of democratic politics themselves. In other words, there was a straight path to a doc that mocked the former Governor, and they took the obnoxious scenic route.
cause i haven\’t deleted them… yet.
Actually it looks like you do allow links in your comments….
AlaskanOne, there is nothing wrong with liking Sarah Palin the person. I find her sort of interesting and I\’m sure she is nice enough. The real issue most people have with her is her political positions, which they then turn on her because she appears to be somewhat dim. But I don\’t care if a politician is polished, 25 and beautiful or sloppy, 75 and ugly the key is where do they stand on the political issues that are important to me.
Broomfield, of course, is more interested in the fact that Palin is a celebrity he can attack. Not interested….
This is a pathetic video. Did Broomfield honestly expect to find anything new about Palin? So far Palin has been the subject of 50+ books, tens of thousands of articles, hundreds of hours of air time, and 24,000+ pages of her emails have been gone through with a fine tooth comb. It seems to me that all Broomfield is trying to do is make a few bucks off those who are suffering from Palin Deranagment Syndrome.
The author is wrong that no one will want to see this film.
Broomfield uses humor, irony and actually interviews Palin\’s family members.
Just from the clips, it will be a riot.
Just because the author thinks Palin is an easy target does not diminish the fact that this ignorant woman had a detrimental effect on national political discourse. Her own stroke piece was dismissed because it was indeed a stroke piece.
I\’m ready to laugh at Klondike Kardashian. You Betcha!
Just for the record, I\’m a 27 year Alaskan – 46 year old, educated, Independent thinking, non-partisan woman who lives in Anchorage (formerly from New Hampshire). And I\’m unapologetic – I like Sarah Palin. I like what she has to say. No matter what decision she makes, and who cares if she makes it this week or 3 weeks from now, I believe she will have an influence on the upcoming election. If she decides not to run, that\’s okay too, she\’ll keep fighting for America. But I\’m certainly not worried that Palin is taking too long to decide. Didn\’t Clinton enter in October? I\’m just tired (fatigued) by all the Palin bashing. For me, it just solidifies what I already feel for the whiney, liberal left. I voted for Clinton, so I\’m not stuck on Republicans. I\’m also Pro-Choice and I believe if two people love each other, who cares if they are gay. They deserve to celebrate that love and have the securities that married couples enjoy. So, we don\’t always agree on everything, but really, who does? Yes, the liberal left are helping Palin whenever they bring on the Bash. Whatever Palin\’s role in the upcoming election, mark my word, she will be a significant force.
I was assuming AlaskanOne was Bristol until I realized everything was spelled correctly.
(Also, Viper1: calling someone \”embarrassing\” isn\’t \”libel\”, you pussy.)
I\’ll pay full price to see this. I hope it comes to the SF bay area.
To start with the obvious, Gabe Toro is a film critic and apparently one that doesn\’t like Sarah Palin–or respect her–a great deal. It\’s axiomatic with the majority of these guys, indifferent to whether they review films, stage plays, or television, that they have a finely honed ability to gut someone with \”backhand compliments\”.
Toro, seemingly, finds Nick Broomfield\’s \”smug\” and \”obnoxious\” attitude towards Palin repugnant and yet Toro himself is apparently indifferent to, or ignorant of, the fact that he shares the same sentiments.
\”This woman is embarrassing… . One of the easiest things in the world is to keep your integrity and still make a mockery of Ms. Palin.\”
Perhaps Mr. Toro finds it easy to maintain his intergirty while ridiculing others from the confines of the cocoon that critis of all manner inhabit. They are virtually asured that they can ridicule, demean, or libel with almost absolute impugnity.
I would find it a hard thing to do but apparently my integrity is not as malleable as Mr. Toro\’s and seems to abandon me when I impugn anopther for no other reason than I can.
Hey nutjob, we don\’t allow links in our comments section. Take a hike.
A barrel of deception.
This may be shocking, but here are 5 things you’re most likely wrong about.
You never heard of Sarah Palin before she was announced as McCain’s running mate. If you believe that her name is really Sarah Palin, you’re wrong.
Palin and McCain said they were going to reform Washington. If you think they were going to do this by getting elected, you’re wrong again.
Obama disappeared for 2 weeks after winning the election only to reappear looking exhausted sitting next to a John McCain, with a bad poker face, for a press photo shoot. If you believe Obama has free will and the feds aren’t writing his teleprompter, you’re also wrong.
If you believe that we caught Bin Laden immediately following the release of Obama’s birth certificate, you’re wrong again.
If you believe that the feds haven’t recruited editors, journalists, and moderators to write the headlines and control the commenting on major news sites in an effort to suppress this information, you’re seriously wrong.
This is the real story that the media is not and cannot report on. Learn what Osama, Obama, Biden, Bin Laden, the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists, and Sarah Palin had to do with the last election and the military’s overthrow of our government.
http://PalinsDirtyLittleSecret.blogspot.com/
Re: Christy:
So, buying the DVD is going to be a \”message sent to the world\” that you find Sarah Palin embarrassing.
That\’s a hell of a plan.
Here\’s what\’s likely to happen: you\’ll likely buy the DVD, watch it once, and it will be buried in some drawer with Al Gore\’s \”An Inconvenient Truth\”.
Want to REALLY send the world a message: buy 10,000 copies of \”The Undefeated, put them in a box, rent an airplane, and jettison them into the Bering Sea.
Now that will be a story editors want to see–and it may even get you gigs on O\’Reilly and Hannity.
But, one copy? I think you\’re overestimating the magnitude of your political clout..
Hell, I\’ll buy tickets and see this. Sarah Palin is an embarassment and I want to send the world a message that Americans acknowledge that she is.
Kudos to the guy who made this. I\’ll buy the DVD.
What\’s hilarious is that it is Freestyle Releasing putting the film out. For those of you who don\’t know, Freestyle doesn\’t buy a movie to release it, you have to PAY them to release your movie. That\’s right, you pay them to get your movie in theaters. That means no distributor had any interest in this film, and they resorted to paying out of their own pocket to get it in theaters. That says all you need to know about the film\’s quality.
Oh boy, here we go again, isn\’t America getting fatigued by all the Palin bashing? And if anyone should write something complimentary about her, they\’re attacked by her detractors (haters). Okay, let\’s put this into perspective, we have the ex-brother-in-law (that\’s an obvious negative), Lyda Green (OMG, the woman has been jealous of SP for as long as anyone can remember, another obvious negative – by the way she\’s the one saying people are afraid to talk about SP). REALLY, Afraid? All you have to do is read the Anchorage Daily News (a left leaning newspaper) to realize noone\’s afraid to say something. What I see is that Broomfield didn\’t want to do a fair piece, he just wanted the dirt. There are two sides to everything. There are a lot of people (even in Alaska) who love Sarah Palin and believe in her. She\’s tough as nails, and a savvy politician, so of course there are going to be people along the way who dislike or disagree with her. She\’s also young and beautiful, so there are others who can\’t stand that either. I suggest if you really want to get to know Sarah Palin, look at both sides of the story, and make your own decision. Don\’t just listen to the haters, because you will not hear the truth.
She was a governor, not a senator.