What are people expecting?

So lately I've found myself frustrated with a lot of peoples' takes on recent movies. The most recent movies that this pertains to are Where the Wild Things Are, and Funny People.

The primary problem that many people have found with both of these movies is that "it wasn't what [they] expected". For Where the Wild Things Are, it seems that people were expecting a more kid-oriented film... something for the whole family to watch and enjoy together. In terms of Funny People, a lot of people expected an outrageous, non-stop comedy similar to Superbad. Instead they got something that they didn't expect.

What I've found to be similar between these two movies is that they both have a large emphasis on depicting the reality of the situation presented in the stories. In Funny People, we witness an iconic comedic celebrity realizing all of the aspects of a normal life that he missed out on due to his egregious lifestyle. Much of the movie deals with this struggle, as the audience witnesses serious fights between major characters, as well as an intense internal struggle within the lead protagonist. Many reviews claimed that because there was this intense, dramatic element included in the movie, director Judd Apatow's direction for the movie wasn't clear. But why is it that both comedy and drama cannot be seen through the same lens without protest? Most of the people that I spoke with about the movie encountered the same problem saying, "It wasn't funny enough" or "It was a lot more depressing than I expected".

Where the Wild Things Are, faces a similar problem with many people complaining that it was way too sad for them. In fact, when asking my roommate the reason for his negative response to the film, he gave me that exact reason: "It was way too sad". But does that qualify it to be an unliked film? That it was too sad? My personal take on film in general, is that if a film evokes a certain strong emotion within the audience and it is in some way intentional, there must be something commendable regarding the film.

The larger question however, is what is the audience looking for? Yes, someone could argue that maybe the movies weren't properly marketed in order to reach a larger demographic than the movie possibly speaks to. However, it also seems like the general public has found more entertainment in the cheap gimmecks of film (think computer-graphics based Transformers) rather than in the art, or emotion behind it. We should be able to look at a film without having to label it under a certain genre and we should be more willing to welcome raw emotion into our viewing experience.