It was a case of art imitating “Live.”
Tired of sitting through Tinseltown’s latest interminable monstrosity? Not to worry: Netflix has devised a novel way to appease viewers with fleeting attention spans — by rolling out a “Short-Ass Movies” category featuring films that are 90 minutes or less.
They were inspired by last week’s “Saturday Night Live” sketch, appropriately titled “Short-Ass Movies.” In it, Pete Davidson, Chris Redd, musical guest Gunna and actor Simon Rex rap about not wanting to watch movies longer than an hour and a half.
“I heard ‘The Batman’ was great, so I went to a theater and saw it,” rapped Davidson, 28, referring to Matt Reeves’ nearly 3-hour-long superhero epic. “I pissed my pants twice; that s–t was longer than ‘The Hobbit.’”
“Gimme that short-ass movie, a 90-minute movie,” the comedian continued, before rattling off the names of films with 90-minute run times, from “Evil Dead” to “Eraserhead.”
Davidson and pals were lampooning the recent trend in which movies — especially comic book flicks — paradoxically seem to be getting longer as the average human attention span shortens worldwide.
The Netflix Is A Joke official Twitter account even retweeted a clip of the satirical hip-hop number with the caption: “good idea.” They also included a link to their “short-ass” movie section.
And, no, it’s not a belated April Fool’s gag: Viewers who click on the URL will be redirected to a selection of flicks that last approximately 90 minutes. The “short-ass” titles include “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Movie,” “Stand By Me,” the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Zoolander.”
Blockbuster-beleaguered Netflix fans appeared to be on board with the decision, with one tweeting, “I’m all about that.”
“Not all heroes wear capes,” seconded Jägermeister USA’s official Twitter account.
“Netflix this is why we love you even tho you keep increasing your prices,” quipped another in reference to the streaming giant recently raising its subscription costs in the US and Canada.
