Buyer beware

I am an indiscriminate movie viewer, but I'm usually not a clueless viewer. I go to see almost everything, but since I'm a film nerd, I usually read about it quite a bit before going — reading plot summaries, watching trailers and, at times, reading reviews.

But sometimes I lead out blind. I have, on a couple regrettable occasions, listened to hype and gone to see films blind or, worse, purchased DVDs blind. Rarely does it work out. Most of the time you end up with what I like to call buyers remorse. This last weekend was just such a situation.

I am a loyal subscriber to Entertainment Weekly. I like reading the articles, the TV and movie previews, and the weekly reviews. I don't always take it seriously — often comparing my own take on shows and films with the reviewers in the magazine to see where they're coming from and how we differ. But it's a great way to get information about upcoming and popular projects.

Three issues ago, the cover featured a strange novel — "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." It wasn't the first time the magazine had featured a piece on the novel, from Swedish author/journalist Stieg Larsson. It was on the must read list for the summer. I had read a bit about it, but this article was much bigger.

"Dragon Tattoo" is the first in a trilogy of books by Larsson. The story in EW was about who the novels were written, the author who created them, and the films made in Sweden, teasing about the soon-to-come Americanized versions. I was fascinated by the creation of the books, coming from a journalist that decided to write these books — all three — then see if anyone would want to publish them. He found that they did and, on the cusp of the first novel's release, Larsson died of an unexpected heart attack. He didn't live long enough to see his work become a worldwide phenomenon.

I was fascinated and curious. I considered the book but decided maybe I could catch the first film, made in Sweden, that was released on DVD last week. So on Sunday, I readied myself and sat down to watch it. The only problem is, I didn't really know what it was about.

You see, I knew the story of how the novels were created, just not really what they were about. Turns out, that was a problem. To say the content of the story is unsettling is to put it mildly. The film is quite graphic in its telling of the story too, which made the whole episode a disappointment.

You see, one thing I failed to notice in my research is that they had changed the first book to give it a friendly title for America. The Swedish title is "Men Who Hate Women." I think I would have had a different impression of the whole experience if I read that other title... which turned out to be more accurate in terms of plot description as well.

The world hypes a lot of things. It can be easy to get caught up in the bandwagon. A few people tell you something is great and you have to have it/see it/read it and you start to believe it's true. That's a path that leads to disappointment.