JLo gets booed and boo-hoos

Mon19Feb2007

JLo gets booed and boo-hoos

17:05 H | Topics: Celebrities - Chismes - Movies - World

I never thought I'd say this, but I feel really sorry for JLo. It seems that the superdiva was made to feel like Jenny from the Block at the screening of her new movie, Bordertown, at the Berlin International Film Festival. Several media are reporting that the movie was booed after the screening, with many audience members leaving before the end (the same thing actually happened to her Bordertown co-star, Antonio Banderas, during the screening of his film, but without the boos) and later had to field questions from a group of German reporters:

Jennifer Lopez defended her new movie, "Bordertown," against a screaming group of reporters at the Berlin Film Festival today, who were not showing the Puerto Rican hottie the proverbial love. The critics were annoyed by her alleged "ludicrous plot turns and wooden dialogue" according to Deborah Cole in Berlin for the Agence France-Presse.

...Though noble in subject matter and despite the good intentions of the filmmakers, the reporters at the world premiere "roared at the subtle-as-a-sledgehammer dramaturgy and greeted the ending with loud boos," reported the Agence France-Presse.

According to Monsters and Critics, viewers were also disappointed in various unrealistic things in the script:

The critics noted the bilingual dialogue was flawed as one of the poor factory workers suddenly begins speaking perfect American English, and Lopez's character takes over as editor-in-chief of a Mexican newspaper with her admittedly bad Spanish.

No one ever said that Berlin was an easy festival, and I may be an overly empathetic American, but as someone who is not a huge fan of JLo, I think it's disrespectful that this film in particular receive such a nasty response. However bad the directing or even the acting might be, it's a movie that's meant to bring to light an issue that has been widely ignored by the world, and bringing it to light could potentially save the lives of countless women in Mexico. And that, regardless of the quality of the film, is commendable. Critics have plenty of opportunities to blast the film in their columns, or simply not nominate the movie for an award. They didn't have to do it in the screening room.

A Socialite's Life has the full array of photos of JLo crying at the Berlinale. Check out their post. You can also see a video on YouTube in which JLo says why it was hard to "keep her composure" in the face of the bad audience reaction.

At least JLo got props from Amnesty International, and the parents of the victims, some of whom attended the festival with her and Antonio Banderas.

Via / Monsters and Critics and The Latin Americanist

Image via A Socialite's Life - Spiegel.de