Jimmy Kimmel Roasted Nicole Kidman's AMC Theatres Commercial At The Oscars, So Maybe It's Over Now
If you've gone to an AMC movie theater in the past two years, then you've had an unusual guest — Nicole Kidman. The acclaimed actress starred in an ad for AMC Theatres itself, one where she sits in an empty theater and rhapsodizes about the magic of movies, culminating in screenwriter Billy Ray's self-professed magnum opus — "Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this."
Due to its bizarre earnestness, the ad has become a meme — "Saturday Night Live" even did a sketch on it in October 2022. I'll admit I've had a mixed relationship with it. I used to roll my eyes and even cringe in my seat, but it's one of those jokes that becomes funnier the more you hear it. Sometimes, I'll even whisper a recitation of it when it comes on at a screening, all with a half-sarcastic grin on my face.
Kidman has signed on to be AMC spokesperson until at least August 2023. However, at the 95th Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel took aim at the ad in his opening monologue — maybe it's time to pack it up?
The final heartbreak?
Kimmel opened his monologue with support for theatrical exhibition, describing 2022 as the year, "the world finally got out of the house to see films you worked so hard to make the way you intended them to be seen, in a theater." However, when he turned to his audience and shouted out Nicole Kidman, he turned that praise on its head.
Kimmel joked, "I'm happy to see Nicole Kidman has finally been released from that abandoned AMC where she has been held captive for almost two full years." This isn't just poking fun at Kidman for doing the ad, but also its content — the theater is suspiciously empty (likely for cost or social-distancing purposes), which undercuts the intended message of movie theaters as a place of community.
Kimmel continued, "Thank you for encouraging people who were already at the movie theater to go to the movie theater." Indeed, the words Kidman says are pretty much the definition of preaching to the cinephile choir, while more casual movie viewers might roll their eyes.
To be fair, during the reaction close-ups of Kidman, she seemed to be taking it in good humor — she even pumped her fist after the first joke. Kidman previously told GQ:
"I can't tell you why it worked or why it's gone viral. But what I can tell you is that the reaction is a direct result of the amount of people going back to theaters to enjoy the movies. And that is exciting."
The ad's day in the sun may finally be over, but theaters will hopefully be here for a long, long time.