BY MARK BLANKENSHIP |
Does "Turn Down for What" Make 'Horrible Bosses 2' Seem Gangsta?
The plot and the actors are all very nice, but a movie trailer's impact often relies on its soundtrack. Let's explore the latest trailer tunes and see how well they're working.
This Week's Trailer: An extended look at Horrible Bosses 2, which gets Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, and Jason Bateman back together to pull off another crazy scheme. This time, they're pretending to kidnap a rich dude so they can split the ransom money. Somehow, Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston's characters from the first movie get shoehorned into the story. (In theaters November 26)
This Week's Tune: "Turn Down for What," a club-thumping jam from DJ Snake and Lil Jon, who got his career resurrected when this hit the top ten earlier this year.
How Literal Is It? Oh, not at all. This song isn't about anything except refusing to turn down the music in the club, so unless it's used for a Step Up movie, it'll never directly relate to a film. Instead, "Turn Down for What" is just the latest hip-hop song that's supposed to communicate how dorky the white dudes are in an R-rated comedy. The joke is that while these guys may think they're really hard, they're actually idiots. When we see them pantsing around to a legitimately dope beat, it just makes them seem even more foolish. Like, "Jason Bateman thinks he's bad enough for Lil Jon? BWAHAHA!"
You may recognize this joke from every movie since Office Space.
How Emotional Is It? For some people, this kind of joke never gets old, and I understand that. This is not my thing, but I have my popcorn genres, too. If this were a snappy comedy about smart-alecky brainiacs who listen to old Gin Blossoms albums, I'd be right there.
So if you're already in the tank for the Hangover-Wedding Crashers approach, then "Turn Down For What" will probably get you amped for Horrible Bosses 2. If you are, in fact, a white dude who blasts hip-hop from your Ford Focus, then you may also enjoy the joke this trailer is making at your expense.
Will We Associate It With This Movie? No way. This song has already served the exact same purpose in 22 Jump Street, and I'd bet a thousand dollars that at least two more bro comedies will use it in the next few years. Or maybe that Amy Shumer movie that's coming out next summer. My point is that this song will be the go-to white-person-looking-foolish song until Ludacris or somebody drops their next album.
Overall Trailer Tune Effectiveness: For me... ? Not so effective. It tells me that this movie is going to be just what I think it is, and that's not what I want. But like I said, if this is your particular flavor of junk food, it's probably doing what it needs to do.