The Real Cancun

The Real Cancun
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rick de Oliveira
Produced by	Mary-Ellis Bunim Jonathan Murray Rick de Oliveira Jamie Schutz
Written by	Brian Caldirola
Starring	see below
Music by	Michael Suby
Edited by	James Gavin Bedford Joe Binford Jr. Joe Shugart Eric Spagnoletti Dave Stanke Dan Zimmerman
Production companies	FilmEngine Bunim/Murray Productions
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	April 25, 2003 (2003-04-25)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7.5 million[1]
Box office	$5.3 million[1]

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]

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] Most of the film's cast returned to general obscurity after release, with the exception of Laura Ramsey, who launched an acting career.

Cast

Production

Some early media reports suggested that this film was a theatrical spin-off of The Real World reality series, also produced by Bunim-Murray Productions, but in fact there was no direct link between the two productions.

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,^[3] marking one of the fastest turnarounds ever from production to theatrical release to home video. The movie is also notable as one of the first American mainstream, major studio releases to show non-simulated intercourse between "cast members", although nothing explicit is shown on screen. The DVD release contained additional footage, but the producers chose not to include any explicitly pornographic images.

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. 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."^[5] Metacritic reports a 34 out of 100 rating based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[6]

Film director Michael Tully argued that the timing of the film's release during the U.S. invasion of Iraq makes the film's depiction of young American hedonism "one of the more unintentionally brilliant statements of hypocrisy of the decade" and the film itself "a disturbingly relevant historical document".^[7]

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 Worst Picture to Gigli and Worst Excuse to The Cat in the Hat.

References

External links

• The Real Cancun at the Internet Movie Database
• The Real Cancun at Box Office Mojo
• The Real Cancun at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Real Cancun at Metacritic