Great New Disappearance

Sometimes if you want to see a film, you have to move fast. "The Great New Wonderful," a narrative flick about New Yorkers dealing with their lives after 9/11, came to my local theater and disappeared within a week. When this movie debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, I remember reading uniformly positive reviews. In fact, New York Magazine described the Altmanesque film as "brilliant" and "may be the best fiction film about post-9/11 life." OK, I'm sold. Well, something must have happened within a year. When the film was officially released two weeks ago, reviews suddenly weren't so glowing. In addition, the movie is playing in only eight theaters and has brought in a meager $40,000. Who knows. Maybe the film stunk, and I'm lucky that it left the theater after a week.