Whose fault was it?


as to why this film failed.

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yours

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Good question. Cosby was quoted as having placed the blame for it's failure on it's "young and inexperienced" director Paul Weiland. However, Cosby co-produced it and co-wrote the story for the script. That makes him partially responsible. And he later made the talk show rounds telling people to stay away from it and not go see it. However, he did personally accept the three Razzie Awards the film got, Worst Actor, Worst Picture, and Worst Screenplay. Also, Weiland was quoted years later as saying: "It was a terrible mistake. ... When anyone gets into that position (Bill Cosby's position of power in the 1980s), they are surrounded by sycophants and no one tells them the truth. But Cosby just wasn't funny. I couldn't tell him directly. I'd say it feels slow, and he'd say 'You worry about construction, let me worry about funny.'" Weiland was also nominated for the Worst Director Razzie Award. And Caryn James of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Cosby and the director, Paul Weiland, were reportedly at odds while filming Leonard Part 6, but there's plenty of blame for them to share. Mr. Weiland's direction, Mr. Cosby's story and Jonathan Reynolds's screenplay seem equally trite."

I hope this helped.

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It was a bad idea that shouldn't have been made. Cosby was even involved behind the scenes, so he can't just disown it.

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Really it's not as horrible as the reputation. The negativity is mostly about the ridiculous product placement, so I would say the fault lies with whoever agreed to that. Reviewers, especially Roger Ebert, were clearly angry about a movie being turned into a commercial and trashed it to head off that becoming the norm.

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