Woman Files Lawsuit Over Misleading Trailer for Drive

Posted by on October 11th, 2011   Filed under: Industry News
Source: The Guardian

I’m sure we’ve all experienced this before: you watch a trailer or commercial for an upcoming movie, and then later when you actually see that movie, it’s not exactly what you were expecting. Maybe it’s worse than you thought it would be, or maybe it’s actually better, but in either case, the advertising was not a fair indication of what you ended up getting. I assume most people would probably just accept this as a normal part of being a moviegoer, or in the worst case scenario you might walk out of the movie and ask for your money back. Well, this week a woman in Michigan decided to take things a step further after being disappointed with the movie Drive: she has filed a lawsuit against FilmDistrict, the distributor of the film, essentially claiming that the trailer served as false advertising.

Michigan resident Sarah Deming had apparently gone in to see Nicolas Winding Refn’s film with the expectation that it was going to be a Fast & Furious-style action movie. In her lawsuit, she says that the film “bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film … having very little driving in the motion picture.” As if that wasn’t enough, she also claims that the movie is antisemitic as it showcases a lot of gratuitous violence against people of the Jewish faith. She is hoping to turn her lawsuit into a class action suit, meaning that other moviegoers would also be able to sue if they had similar complaints.

Clearly this would be a very bad precedent to set, as films are artistic experiences with subjective interpretations, not consumer products that can simply be labeled as faulty. Fortunately, I really don’t think she has any hope in hell at winning this thing. The most she could probably do is get her money back, which the cinema already said they would be more than willing to do. What do you think, is this woman completely off her rocker? What are some of the more misleading trailers you’ve seen?



  • Matt McNeely

    This makes me even more confident that this is one of the best films of the year.

    When I can walk down a street in my neighborhood and spot a guy sporting Jinco pants, bleached blonde 2-feet high hair (basically looking just like the dude from Powerman 5000) and his apparent wife and child in tow; when I live in a world where both Metallica and Lou Reed as well as Jack White and ICP are collaborating; when patrons of art-house theaters need a sign reminding them that Tree of Life is, well, an art-house film, I am not surprised by anything. Of course a woman is suing over the discrepancy between Drive’s trailer and it’s feature length counterpart and of course she isn’t crazy for doing so.

    I was very misled by the Shining trailer. I expected a heart-warming family dramedy. Whoever is responsible for that horrible movie deserves to die.

  • Bas

    RIght! I saw this “Shining” trailer too!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA

  • Maopheus

    I would agree only in the sense that the movie had much less driving action than one would be led to believe. Is it worthy of a lawsuit? I don’t think so. Also, I don’t think the movie was very accurate in its depiction on automotive sound effects. You could hear gearshifts when clearly none would have been performed in reality, especially during the scene at the racetrack.

  • Lisa R.

    I don’t know if the bigger idiot is this woman or the lawyer who filed her lawsuit. The case will get thrown out and the woman and her lawyer should be fined for being morons and for filing such a frivolous lawsuit.

  • This is why the rest of the world hates Americans.

  • Colin

    Just rewatched the trailer… it’s essentially a stripped-down version of the entire film.

    No idea what she thought she was getting into.

  • Sarah Deming wasn’t going to the theater to see Drive. Sarah Deming is just a die hard Fast & Furious fan hoping for another knock off. Thank God she was disappointed. There are enough F&F movies out already.

  • To quote Jay, “What a stupid bitch!”

    In all seriousness… I wonder how many lawsuits she files on a regular basis. I have a friend who constantly talks about suing people whenever something goes marginally wrong in his life. I wonder if this is the same kind of person.

  • Vlad

    Cool! Then, could I sue Warner Bros. for having a misleading trailer for Sucker Punch? The Sucker Punch trailer was misleading because it made the movie seem really awesome, when it was, in fact, truly terrible!

  • Derek McFarland

    Sucker Punch was way better than that boring ass
    Drive movie. This film was like 5 times slower than
    A History of Violence. Fortunately I was one of the few that actually enjoyed Sucker Punch

  • patrik

    what an idiot bitch. Might as well sue people for not being what they present themselves to be, once you get to know them.

  • Jonny Ashley

    There are a lot of tracking shots that follow Ryan Gosling as though he is in a car, even though he is walking.

  • Anthony

    While I thought the trailer was misleading and definitely made the movie seem like it’d be more up-tempo and, you know, better than it actually ended up being (Lettuce be cereal, the first half of the movie was beyond boring), Lawl @ this woman. Lawl @ Fast and Furious comparison, and Lawl @ lawsuit.

  • kyri

    I should sue Captain America for being Anti-Nazi..

  • Greg

    I’m going to sue every kid that comes to my door on Hallowe’en because they are misrepresenting themselves. ‘What do you mean you’re not actually Harry Potter, a goblin, Sookie Stackhouse and the Situation?”

  • Logan

    Next she’s going to sue Steven Spielberg over Shindler’s List.

  • Gil

    This lawsuit is like a twisted version of The Accused. “Look at how she was dressed and how she talked to me, she wanted it. Honestly! I didn’t rape her.”
    Of course, the victim in this case are the distributors of the film and the rapist is Sarah Deming.

  • Brendan

    So, she’s suing because the film wasn’t shitty?

    I assume she’s trying to get a class action suit because she wouldn’t be awarded much on her own, and it seemingly legitimizes her cause if a lot of people jump on. And though everyone else in the class would likely be awarded pennies (if she won, which she won’t), I believe the person that starts a class action suit is entitled to a bigger share. And she’s probably just hoping the studio settles just to make it go away.

    This is clearly a cash grab, maybe a fame grab too, but nothing else.

  • swarez

    @Derek McFarland: “Fortunately I was one of the few that actually enjoyed Sucker Punch”

    That’s not something to be proud of.

  • LUDY

    “You go get a court order, and I’ll SUE your ass for wrongful prosecution!”

  • robbrandon

    I have recently been thinking that this year has not been particularly good for cinema. Until i saw Drive, i thought it was mind blowingly tense, really intriguing characters and brilliantly paced.
    I would like to find out where Sarah Deming lives, sneak into her house whilst she is sleeping, stand over her bed, take a brick, and smash her f*cking teeth into her head with it. Its idiots like her that scare major studios from releasing interesting movies.
    Lets hope vin diesel runs that bitch over on her way to court.

  • Greg

    @swarez: “That’s not something to be proud of.” Zing!

  • Tony

    I hated Drive but I also hated Fast and the Furious. From Drive I was expecting a good story with gripping dialog with some decent car scenes in between.

    What i saw was Ryan Gosling and other stars starring at or just away from the camera for extended periods of time. Bonding through silence and sentence fragments.

    The casual stroll at the beginning of the movie isn’t a chase scene. So there is only ONE chase scene in the entire movie and it was VERY timid. It doesn’t need to be Fast and the Furious, but having at least one high quality chase scene is required when you call your movie “Drive”.

    That being said, suing over it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I see her point, but if she can sue over this they need to give M Night Shammadong the death penalty.