Movie Madness: Lawsuit Says “Drive” didn’t Drive Enough

October 13th, 2011. By AbiK

Been to a movie lately that you thought, quite frankly, sucked?

Did you file a lawsuit over it? Or even request a refund at the box office? Probably not. But Sarah Deming from Michigan did.

Seems she saw the trailer for the movie, Drive, and subsequently put it on her “must see” list. Deming’s apparently a Fast and Furious (the movie, not the federal gun-running op), hit-the-accelerator type of gal. For most, Hollywood darling Ryan Gosling would’ve been reason enough to hit the box office. But Deming sought the action aspect, and well, unfortunately, when she saw the full movie, she was less than wowed.

Deming’s beef—there are actually a couple—was that the Drive trailer promoted a race action film—i.e., one that would have a lot of fast driving in it—but in reality, Drive had “very little driving” in it. Deming’s complaint actually stated that Drive was promoted as being like Fast and Furious but in reality it was not.

The second part of her lawsuit—which somehow seems completely off-topic from what she’s seeking damages for (i.e., allegedly misleading trailer)–states that there was “extreme gratuitous defamatory dehumanizing racism directed against members of the Jewish faith.” Something tells me the likes of Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman wouldn’t be associated with such a movie—but what do I know?

If you’ve seen the Drive trailer, it doesn’t, IMHO, make you think the movie is just going to be driving a-go-go. There’s actually this little thing called a storyline going on—and you get that from the trailer. Thinking about it now, in fact, most car action movies I recall have a bit more than the driving going on. Heck, even Speed Racer has a plot that puts the cars in “park” for large chunks of the movie.

But my perception does not equate Ms. Deming’s perception. And therein lies the crux of the matter here. Was the trailer for Drive misleading? Was it false advertising?

One has to imagine that Deming could’ve just gotten a refund (reports don’t mention whether Deming sat the whole movie out or if she got up midway through it and left the theater). But Deming is on a rant here so she’s suing. She wants her ticket refunded, and apparently an end to misleading movie trailers—whatever that really means. And, according to kcra.com, she’ll be seeking class action status on this one.

Hard to imagine that this one will really go anywhere—if it does, what’s to stop an onslaught of copycat lawsuits? And, what’s next? Read some cover notes at Barnes & Noble, buy the book, read the book, and…?

Next time, perhaps Ms. Deming should just stay home, grab her remote, and watch some NASCAR.

Tags: Class Action Lawsuit, Consumer Fraud, Drive, Drive Trailer, false advertising, Fast and Furious, Movie Trailers, Ryan Gosling, Sarah Deming

This was posted on Thursday, October 13th, 2011 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Class Action, Consumer Fraud, lawsuits . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.