COMMENTARY | After three weekends at the box office, Sarah Palin's documentary, "The Undefeated," has barely managed to gross over $112,000, according to Box Office Mojo . It is, by all accounts, a cinematic flop, regardless of the protestations of director Stephen Bannon. But will the dismal results at the theaters have any effect on whether or not the former Alaska governor will run for president?
If anything, the fact that only a few diehard fans and movie critics (both professional and amateur) went to see the movie will work right into the spin cycle of the Palin camp. She will be able to use both the fact that Left-wing establishment "lamestream" media shot her movie down and the fact that they did so because there were no liberal celebrities like Tina Fey and Susan Sarandon to drive ticket sales.
In fact, a cinematic flop at the box office in the spin zone can be made to look like Palin is both a victim of ill treatment by the left-controlled press and the fact that she is such a political maverick.
But the movie itself barely stood a chance, coming out in the midst of summer and running against blockbusters like "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," "Captain America" and "The Smurfs," among others.
After its first weekend, when the oddly titled (Palin, instead of being truly "The Undefeated," lost a political bid for the vice presidency in 2008) film grossed over $65,000 and Bannon was calling it a success around anyone who would listen, the movie scored a "0" rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website in both the critical review and the audience reaction sections. After three weeks, the movie still retains a "0" in the critical review list -- although it has seen a rise to "38" on the audience reaction side.
But there were high hopes when the movie premiered in Pella, Iowa, in late June that the movie would be a springboard for Palin to enter the 2012 Republican presidential race. Her daughter, Bristol, allowed at the time that her mother had made her decision, but that was all that was said.
The former Alaska governor has said on numerous occasions that she will announce her decision in August or September, maintaining that she will not be pressured into a quick decision. She says she plans to run an unconventional campaign should she decide to enter the 2012 race.
But if she does, she will not be doing it riding on a wave of cinematic success.
Perhaps if she had written a book.
Still, the premiere in Iowa was a success. She can always borrow Bogey's line from Casablanca to paraphrase: "We'll always have Pella."
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