So last night I watched The Interpreter, a pretty passable thriller with a really, really bad ending. I can almost imagine some asshat movie executive saying, “Hmm… How to best wrap up a story about corruption and international politics? I know… With an out-of-nowhere love story!”
As soon as the end credits started rolling I made my way back to the main DVD menu and quick as I could selected the alternate ending—which wasn’t exactly mind-blowingly different but was at least consistent with the rest of the film.
Hollywood has an unfortunate history of bad tack-on endings for otherwise classic films—Taxi Driver and Blade Runner are two that spring immediately to mind—and after watching The Interpreter I’m left wondering if the future of DVD movie releases will see entirely different endings for different market segments, so that any flick could potentially be a romance, thriller, horror or comedy depending on what gets you off, so to speak.
… Kind of takes that whole “customer is always right” thing a bit too far, dont’cha think?
