While she’d certainly had small parts before, 2015’s Trainwreck really announced Amy Schumer’s accession from her TV show to the big screen. Now she’s a regular presence and this week she’s back in the comedy Snatched. Schumer stars as Emily, a woman who has been dumped by her boyfriend just before they were supposed to leave on vacation. Not wanting to completely lose out, Emily opts to invite her mother Linda (Goldie Hawn) to join her.

At first, the only problem Emily has is that her mother is smothering and overprotective but this is an opportunity to work through their differences. Things take a turn, though, when the two are kidnapped and held hostage by local criminals. The two must now not only get along but work together to escape and get back to civilization.

The Posters

The first and only poster shows Schumer and a heavily-photoshopped Hawn – this isn’t age-shaming, she’s been airbrushed to look as much like her daughter Kate Hudson as possible – leaning into each other, with copy explaining “This is the closest they’ve been in years.” Both appear slightly dirty and disheveled, showing that they’re living rough for some reason and hints at the dynamic between the two.

The Trailers

The first trailer out of the gate was a red-band version that starts off as Emily is dumped by her boyfriend because his band is getting too popular and he wants to..umm…enjoy the side benefits. They were about to take a trip to South America and so to salvage things she convinces her mom to go with her. Her mom can’t help being a bit of a stick in the mud and while she eventually loosens up, the two wind up being kidnapped by some form of criminals. The rest of the trailer is about them trying to escape and the hijinks that ensue while doing so.

Schumer looks like Schumer, a somewhat inappropriate person who has a ton of self-confidence. It’s great to see Hawn back in action, though, giving it her all as the mom to the kind of character she would have played much more broadly 30 years ago. The story is…whatever, unfortunately. It’s too bad all these comedies feel like they need some big crime-laden plot to act as the crutch for the humor. Not everything needs to be so high-concept.

A green-band version was released at the same time that hits many of the same beats, just with a few changes here and there.

The second trailer skips some of the establishing shots and gets right to the mother/daughter dynamic on vacation. They’re quickly kidnapped and that’s where the hilarity begins as they try and escape and get back to the real world.

It’s just as funny as the first one, with some different shadings around the edges.

A third hit many of the same notes, just slightly rearranged. The focus is still on the dynamic between Schumer and Hawn, though, which is good.

Online and Social

I think it’s a little odd that the top of the official website just features the title treatment, not a photo of Schumer, Hawn or both. Have to wonder what the strategic thinking is there. On the stripe below that are buttons to watch the trailer or get tickets along with links to the movie’s Facebook and Twitter profiles.

Moving down the page, the first section of material is “Videos,” which is where you can watch all the trailers, some clips, TV spots and more. Keep scrolling down and the “About” section will offer you a synopsis and cast and crew list.

There are five stills in the “Gallery” and just the one poster in the “Posters” section. “KLOVEUBYE” is a promotion for a movie-themed keyboard app for your phone that allows you to choose from a number of conversation starter texts or send pictures or GIFs from the movie to someone you’re chatting with.

There’s a section with all the companies that have signed on as promotional partners and then finally the “Social Updates” section that pulls in updates from the movie’s Twitter account. There are additional links to that Twitter account as well as Facebook and Instagram.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

TV spots like this one take the core elements of the trailers and put them in a shorter running time. It plays up the mother/daughter dynamic and show it to be a pretty funny movie filled with deadpan comedy and lots of outrageous situations.

There were also some promotional partners on the movie, including:

  • Moovit, which added theaters showing Snatched to its app and otherwise made it easy for people to find public transportation options to go see it.
  • Ruelala, which offered some movie-inspired fashions and gave the movie plenty of social and other promotion.
  • Schofferhofer, which offered a sweeps giving the winner a trip to L.A. to tour the Fox studios.
  • Palm Beach Tan, which offered a sweeps awarding the winner a tropical vacation for two.
  • Blurb, which offered a sweeps with a hometown screening of the movie and $2,000 to put toward a vacation as well as other prizes.

Online and outdoor ads used the key art to drive interest as awareness while social media ads used the trailer and TV spots to do likewise.

Media and Publicity

The movie received plenty of press during production, mostly for the fact that this was Hawn’s first movie in 15 years. That continued through the release of the first stills.

A big cover story in Entertainment Weekly constituted one of the bigger pops for the movie, offering interviews with Hawn and Schumer about working together, the former’s long absence from the screen and more.

Hawn got a long-overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that helped cement, so to speak, her return to the big-screen.

Both Schumer and Hawn also did the usual talk-show and other press rounds to talk up the movie, comment on Hawn’s return to movies and lots more. The pair appeared at the recent “MTV Movie and TV Awards” to make one last appeal to that demographic as well.

Overall

The movie looks…not great. The idea that you can’t have laughs without some high-concept scenario is an unfortunate trend that weighs down otherwise funny ideas and this looks like it falls into that trap. There’s nothing particularly “funny” about what’s presented here, we’re just supposed to laugh because of the people involved and because we’re being told it’s a comedy. But take out a few lines and reactions and you have a variation on Taken and that’s not particularly light-hearted.

That means the best part of the campaign is Hawn. All the focus on her returning to the big screen and the appreciation of her career and talents that’s reemerged in the press is wonderful to see and should remind everyone what a comedic force she was and still is. The main draw here, unless you’re a dyed-in-the-wool fan of Schumer and her style of comedy is the chance to see Hawn in action, and that may not be a strong enough call to action to make a big impact in theaters.

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