The Real Cancun
Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox film
The Real Cancun is a 2003 American reality film directed by Rick de Oliveira and written by Brian Caldirola. Inspired by the reality television genre, this film followed the lives of sixteen Americans from March 13 to 23, 2003 as they celebrated spring break in Cancún, Mexico's Hotel Zone and experienced romantic relationships, emotional strife, or just had a good time.<ref name="variety.com">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The film received negative critical reviews and was a box office flop, earning a little over $5 million in the United States from a $7.5 million budget.<ref name=mojo/> It was the film debut of Laura Ramsey.
Cast
- Brittany Brown Hart
- Benjamin "Fletch" Fletcher
- Nicole Frilot
- Roxanne Frilot
- David Ingber
- Jeremy Jazwinski
- Amber Madison
- Paul Malbry
- Marquita "Skye" Marshall aka Skye P Marshall
- Laura Ramsey
- Matthew Slenske
- Alan Taylor
- Heidi Vance
- Casey Weeks
- Sarah Wilkins
- Jorell Washington
- Adam Miller
- Grant George as Miscellaneous voices
- Hot Action Cop
- Simple Plan
- Snoop Dogg
Release
The Real Cancun was released theatrically only a month after filming was completed,<ref name="variety.com"/> and was released on DVD and home video only a couple of months after that.
Box office
The film earned $2,108,796 in its opening weekend from 2,261 venues, ranking tenth in the North American box office and fourth among the week's new releases.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It closed a month later, having grossed $3,825,421 domestically and $1,519,662 overseas for a worldwide total of $5,345,083, coming well short of its $7.5 million production cost.<ref name=mojo>Template:Cite web</ref>
Critical response
Template:Section-expand The Real Cancun received generally negative reviews from critics (with Variety's Scott Foundas causing to remark in his review that The Real Cancun billed itself as "the first reality feature film" is "apparently ignoring last year's Jackass: The Movie").<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 34% score based on 91 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's consensus states: "The footage is predictable and rather tame, and most of the people are uninteresting."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Metacritic reports a 34 out of 100 rating based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for Worst Picture and Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie (All Concept/No Content) at the 24th Golden Raspberry Awards. It lost both awards to Gigli for the former and The Cat in the Hat for the latter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Soundtrack
Thematic analysis
Carol Siegel, a professor of English and American Studies at Washington State University Vancouver, interpreted The Real Cancun as about society's expectations of juveniles' sexual behaviors; despite visuals such as near nudity and simulations of the act, the characters try to present themselves as being abstinent and not "slut"-ty, and only two couples make love by the end.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Aftermath
A reality movie based upon the Girls Gone Wild video series that MGM bought the rights to was never put into production, while the Universal Pictures effort Drunken Jackasses: The Quest was delayed after the flop of Cancun<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and ultimately went straight to video.<ref>The Very Long Legs of 'Girls Gone Wild' Template:Webarchive, MIREYA NAVARRO, The New York Times, April 4, 2004.</ref><ref>Moviegoers resoundingly reject reality of 'Cancun' Template:Webarchive, Scott Bowles, USA TODAY, 4/28/2003.</ref>