The Real Cancun

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 13–23, 2003 as they celebrated spring break in Cancún, Mexico and experienced romantic relationships, emotional strife, or just had a good time.[2][3]

The Real Cancun
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRick de Oliveira
Written byBrian Caldirola
Produced by
Starringsee below
Edited by
  • James Gavin Bedford
  • Joe Shugart
  • Eric Spagnoletti
  • Dave Stanke
  • Dan Zimmerman
Music byMichael Suby
Production
companies
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release date
  • April 25, 2003 (2003-04-25)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7.5 million[1]
Box office$5.3 million[1]

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.[1] It was the film debut of Laura Ramsey.

Cast
  • 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,[2] 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.[4] 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.[1]

Critical response

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").[5] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 35% score based on 88 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."[6] Metacritic reports a 34 out of 100 rating based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.[8]

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.[9][10]

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.[11]: 188 

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[12] and ultimately went straight to video.[13][14]

References
  1. "The Real Cancun (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  2. "The Real Cancun Review - Read Variety's Analysis Of The Movie The Real Cancun". Archived from the original on March 16, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  3. "TV Guide". Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  4. "Weekend Box Office Results for April 25-27, 2003". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. April 28, 2003. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  5. The Real Cancun Archived May 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Scott Foundas, Variety, April 20, 2003.
  6. "The Real Cancun (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  7. "The Real Cancun Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  8. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  9. "2004 Razzies - Photo 1 - CBS News". CBS News. Archived from the original on June 15, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  10. "- 2004 Razzies - CBS News". CBS News. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  11. Siegel, Carol (2005). Goth's Dark Empire. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253111562. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
  12. "My Year of Flops Case File #56: The Real Cancun|AV Club". August 7, 2007. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  13. The Very Long Legs of 'Girls Gone Wild' Archived May 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, MIREYA NAVARRO, The New York Times, April 4, 2004.
  14. Moviegoers resoundingly reject reality of 'Cancun' Archived June 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Scott Bowles, USA TODAY, 4/28/2003.
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