And no, I dont mean that as a compliment.
I love Paul Rudd.
I grew up on his movies like I Love You, Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Anchorman.
The problem is that its going for reheated nostalgia, just like so many Super Bowl ads do.
Reheating The Super Nintendos Nachos
The original commercial Paul Rudd starred in for theNintendo SNEShad an idea.
Rudd plays them on a huge movie theater-sized screen.
His face is lit like a movie star against the nighttime backdrop.
Rudd gets to be an individual, the desirable in-the-know player who summons the magic of a new console.
Everyone else are merely drones, on the outside looking in.
It has a concept, and it executes upon it with gorgeous cinematography.
It looks better than most movies released today, honestly.
The Switch 2 commercial, by contrast, looks boring.
But the originalSwitchs iconic first commercialdid a much better job of showing off people playing together.
The new commercial looks like… well, a commercial.
The lighting is attempting to be moody, but just looks flat in comparison to its reference point.
Rudd looks like hes wearing a costume.
Where the original was sincere and cheesy, the new one is winking and referential.
And thats the biggest problem with 2020s culture: its predominantly backwards-looking.
ViaNintendo of America.
The Switch 2 looks like an awesome console.
Tears of the Kingdom’s final trailer still gives me goosebumps every single time I watch it.
