What If They Forget?

Patrick Goldstein’s “How ‘Double Take’ Got More Than a Second Look” (Jan. 9) gives a good picture of the twisty path a project takes before it gets to the screen, and the doggedness that is often required to navigate through creative roadblocks.

Given the difficulty in developing projects that appear to be speculative, it makes me wonder why Hollywood movie executives would ever sit on a hit, stifling its box office. For example, Sony Pictures Classics’ insistence on following a “slow-drip” release plan for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a particularly odd choice, given the critical acclaim and strong box office that the film has earned. And other studios’ recent habit of bunching New York/Los Angeles-only releases of “prestige” films during the Christmas holiday season, delaying a wider release until January or February, can hurt a film more than it might help it.

It seems to me that every week that a film is in limited release gives potential viewers a reason to forget about the film altogether and to seek out something that they can see right away.

OLLAMON C. ALEXANDER

Pasadena

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Goldstein’s article angered me to the point of sickness. There was an actual physical discomfort in my stomach from reading yet another article in which some writer, executive or other agent of black exploitation in the media, in this case writer-director George Gallo, is quoted as saying something as ignorant as, “When kids see Eddie Griffin and Orlando Jones, the last thing they think about is race. This movie isn’t about two black guys. It’s about two funny guys who happen to be black.”

I am a guy who happens to be black. I saw a trailer for “Double Take” and was not only appalled by the stereotypical characters but also shocked at the reception it received from the predominantly young white audience, which was a cacophony of approving wails and laughter and applause. It was then that I was reminded of the omnipresent willingness of our country to embrace and laud black stereotypes.

SHAWN MICHAEL HOWARD

Los Angeles