Film distributors can sometimes err towards the hysterical when promotional material appears to mirror recent traumatic news events. One can, however, understand why 20th Century Fox has reined in its Florida campaign for the upcoming comedy Neighbourhood Watch.
The trailer finds Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, neighbourhood watch nuts, driving around the suburbs looking for trouble. The boys eventually perform a citizen's arrest on a wandering teenager. Parallels with the Trayvon Martin case, in which a neighbourhood watch official killed a young Floridia man, are impossible to avoid.
After the campaign was pulled, a spokesperson for Fox commented: "We are very sensitive to the Trayvon Martin case, but our film is a broad alien-invasion comedy and bears absolutely no relation to the tragic events in Florida." The film is set to open here in late summer.
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