Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Business Lessons from Emily Giffin

By Amanda Bala

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Emily Giffin, her novel and the movie based on it, Something Borrowed.  I want to revisit Emily once again this week.  When you look at what she has done to help the promotion of this movie, it is truly amazing.  All business owners could take a lesson or two from her. 

First of all, Emily is not above getting right into the trenches, so to speak, when it comes to promoting Something Borrowed.  I am both a friend and fan of hers on Facebook and every day she is posting something about the movie.  She keeps her fans up to date on the revenue the movie has brought in.  She lets us know how much more it needs to make in order for the sequel, Something Blue to be made.  She posts interviews with the cast and reviews from different sources.  It keeps us invested in the movie and all the inside scoops are wonderful! 

Another thing that Emily does well is to get us excited about the movie.  Every weekend since it has been out, I see her post which theatre she will be seeing the movie at in Atlanta, her home town.  She invites all her friends and fans to come out and join her if they are in the area.  She also has fans send in pictures of themselves with their ticket stubs and posts them on her website.  Additionally, she held a contest to see who had the most original picture and that lucky gal received a personal phone call from Colin Egglesfield (read the article from the winner here).

One of the most ingenious ideas she has come up with recently is that if a girl has a husband or boyfriend who will not take them to see Something Borrowed, they can email Emily herself via Facebook and she will call the significant other and convince them to take their wife/girlfriend!  It is great to see her posts about her calling husbands and boyfriends to get them to take their girls!  She even recently may have spurred one on to propose! 

Emily obviously has a lot invested in Something Borrowed doing well.  However, it is more than that.  You can see that she truly loves her work and enjoys what she does. She is great to her fans and in return, they are extremely loyal to her.  She is dedicated to making this movie and success does what it takes to make that happen.  Business owners, look, listen and learn!

No Comments »

Is Something Borrowed Actually Something Borrowed From Emily Giffin’s Fans?

By Amanda Bala

Movie goers were treated to the opening of Something Borrowed this past weekend, a romantic comedy based on Emily Giffin’s best selling novel of the same title.  The story takes us through the main character, Rachel’s (portrayed by Ginnifer Goodwin) journey of self discovery.  Always taking back seat to her flamboyant and often clueless best friend, Darcy (played by Kate Hudson), Rachel does the unthinkable when she sleeps with Darcy’s fiancé of the eve of her surprise 30th birthday party.  The story then takes us through the twists and turns of Dex (played by the gorgeous Colin Egglesfield) and Rachel’s affair and subsequent falling for one another.  As they battle their feelings of love as well as their guilt over the pain they may cause their family and Darcy, we find ourselves hoping for a happy ending. 

As a huge fan of Emily Giffin’s books, I was so excited to see the movie adaptation of Something Borrowed. For the most part, I was not disappointed.  I thought that the movie conveyed the deep emotion that Giffin puts into her work as well as the complicated relationships of the characters.  I especially liked John Krasinski as Ethan, Rachel’s long time best male friend and confidant.  The comedic element he added to the film was wonderful. 

However, despite my enthusiasm, the film critics were overall pretty ruthless.  Most did not have much good to say for the movie.  So, how is it that the film grossed close to 14 million opening weekend as well as surpassing expectations this past week and pulling millions more?  The answer is simple; the loyal following that Emily herself has created.  On Facebook, Emily has over 65,000 fans.  She also has nearly 13,000 followers on Twitter.  The general consensus of all is that the movie was fantastic and will be seen over and over again.

This is exactly what needs to happen in order for the sequel, Something Blue, to be made.  In this story, we watch Darcy’s coming of age and transformation.  Fans of Giffin want to see the movie made.  I want to see the movie made.  And I think I speak for all of her fans when I say that even if I have to see the Something Borrowed again and again, I will do it to be sure that Something Blue happens!  And, considering that I really liked the movie, that won’t be too hard!

No Comments »

“The Social Network” – Fan or Flop?

By Amanda Bala

The Delicious Marketing staff recently took a fieldtrip to see The Social Network, a film by screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin.  This utterly engrossing movie details the birth of the social media giant we all know today as Facebook.  You have to be living under a rock to not know what Facebook is.  We know that it has changed the world.  From interpersonal relationships to marketing, buying and selling, Facebook has a toehold in it all.  But how did this come to be? 

The Social Network takes us through Harvard student, Mark Zuckerberg’s (played by Jesse Eisenberg) idea to take the social experience of Harvard and turn it into a website.  The story is told via flashbacks of two separate law suits filed over the rights to Facebook. One lawsuit is filed by Zuckerberg’s best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who supplies the startup capital, only later to be manipulated in a way that he loses most of his stock in the company. The second suit is filed by Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra three seniors at Harvard.  The Winklevii twins and Narendra seek out Zuckerberg’s programming expertise to assist them in building a website called the Harvard Connection.  They accuse Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing he would help them build their site while all along stealing their ideas to build a competing website.

The movie takes the viewer through a range of emotions.  You feel for all those involved and many times over change your mind about who is right and who is wrong.  The one thing that you certainly take away is that although Zuckerberg became a billionaire from the creation of Facebook, he truly ends up alone because of his creation.  The loss of personal relationships is heartbreaking as you watch the story unfold.  The irony that Facebook is a site built on friendship and personal relationships, but that these seem to have no place in Zuckerberg’s own life, is certainly not lost.

The outstanding acting performances are what truly make this a great film.  Jesse Eisenberg, who portrays Mark Zuckerberg, does a phenomenal job of taking a character that is dark and narcissistic and making you feel empathy for him.   He turns what could be a very unlikeable character into someone that you can understand, although his awkwardness and complete lack of social skills will make you cringe at times.  You can see what drives and motivates him even if you do not agree with the decisions he makes.  Andrew Garfield plays Zuckerberg’s best friend, Eduardo Saverin.  He is a business major who is the complete opposite of Zuckerberg.  Outgoing and likeable, he is the one you find yourself rooting for.  It is heartbreaking this somewhat naïve kid’s trusting nature is ultimately his downfall.  Justin Timberlake does an admirable job of portraying Sean Parker, the inventor of Napster, who works his way into Facebook and ultimately changes both the company and Zuckerberg and Saverin’s friendship and lives.  Finally, Armie Hammer does a fantastic job of playing both Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, delivering one of the best lines in the film.  When arguing that they should go and beat up Zuckerberg for stealing their idea, Tyler states, “I am 6 foot 5, 220 pounds and there are two of me”!  Hammer does an admirable job of making you like this privileged twosome who do somewhat get taken by Zuckerberg in the movie.

Overall, this was a great film with many complex lessons and underlying messages.  It will keep you thinking long after it ends about the social media complexities that are such an integral part of our lives today.  It is a must see for everyone of this generation.

2 Comments »