Hollywood Cannot Be Found on Your GPS

I know, that's not true. But it does get your attention.
In reality, the adverse is true. Hollywood cannot find you on its GPS, and that is the truly sad part.
(CAUTION: POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERTS INCLUDED.)
I went to the movies for the first time in a few months on Friday night. My wife and I saw "The Vow," starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. "The Vow" is "inspired by actual events," and says that right at the beginning of the film. To not give too much of it away, here is the part consistent with the actual story. A young couple meet, fall in love, and get married. One day they have an accident, giving her an injury that causes her to lose every memory she has with him.
That's about it as far as the "inspired by actual events" part.
I have not read the story, but my wife has. She relays the story to me quite well. The actual couple, Kim and Krickett Carpenter, had been married ten weeks when the accident happened. It's true, she had no memory of who he was. But she knew this: she made a vow, and intended to keep it. The couple had to learn to fall in love with each other all over again.
It makes a good story. It would have made a good film. But Hollywood had other plans.
Now Channing Tatum plays a great character in Leo. I wanted him to succeed in winning his wife back. I could see the undying "fierce" love he had for his wife, and wanted to see him rewarded for it. I also wanted to see the Christian elements of the true story played out. Instead, we got a couple of profane words slipped in, Channing's naked backside (any ladies that read my blog just put their computer down and ran to the nearest theater), and a divorce that never happened in real life. We also got an ending that left it up to the imagination of the viewer. After watching the series finale of "Chuck" a couple of weeks previously, I had to deal with this same dissatisfaction AGAIN, and I was not thrilled with that.
This movie had great potential. There could have been the chance to show the world the powerful force that love is, the power of the wedding vow, and how wonderful the commitment to marriage no matter what is. It could have been much better than what it turned out to be.
But Hollywood missed the mark. It tends to do that.
Right now I'm looking at the Pay-Per-View Choices on TV: "Harold & Kumar Christmas: 'The stoner pals search New York City for the perfect Christmas Tree.'" "Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1," "Paranormal Activity 3,""What's Your Number? 'A woman wonders if one of her past 20 boyfriends could be her true love.'" Coming soon to theaters: "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."
Coming out this weekend: "Star Wars Episode I" in 3-D. Previously released? "Beauty & the Beast" in 3-D. Coming soon? "Titanic" in 3-D. There is a new Spider-Man relaunch coming this year, a new Batman movie (no lying- I am excited about that, but anyway) a 21 Jump Street movie, a Three Stooges movie, etc.
What am I saying? Hollywood has no good new ideas. The best-selling things they have are re-releases of old movies, or new versions of old ideas.
When they do get good ideas for a good movie, they have to ruin it. On top of that, you have to give up a week's paycheck to go see the blasted things!
In other words, they are out of touch with you. The funniest part of that is, they don't think they are. They think you're out of touch with them. If you don't believe that, tune into the Academy Awards in a couple of weeks. But when you do, don't forget to have a barf bag close by.