Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust trailer riffs on Gears of War

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 17th 2008 at 5:00PM }

If any of you didn't get a chance to see the incredible trailer for Gears of War featuring Gary Jules and Michael Andrews' version of the classic Tears for Fears song "Mad World", then you missed out on one of the best video game advertisements to date -- as well as the source for the parody above. Nearly shot for shot, the debut trailer for Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust clowns on Epic's tear-jerking commercial, with obvious nods to John Hughes' classic film, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".

We don't know whether we should be incensed or amused. On one hand, the whole Happy Madison brand of humor doesn't really appeal to us -- but on the other, we have to admire Sierra's chutzpah for alluding the sleazy series to the 2006 Game of the Year. We can't help but wonder -- could LSL:BOB be the "Scary Movie" of the video game realm?

Tags: adventure, boxofficebust, leisure-suite-larry, leisuresuitlarry, leisuresuitlarryboxofficebust, sierra

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Double J @ Feb 17th 2008 5:05PM

So, what? Did they decide it was time to make Larry a Teenager now?

Leo-Jay @ Feb 17th 2008 5:21PM

That's probably not Larry Laffer. More likely it's Larry Lovage, Laffer's nephew and the "star" of the uber-crap-fest Magna Cum Laude.

Leggo @ Feb 18th 2008 12:56PM

I can't even tell, the art style in this new game is so bad. The originals had a great art direction, the animated Love For Sail looked like a dirty Disney movie, and even MCL had an appealling, if entirely anime-inspired aesthetic (along with borrowing the Warner Bros' ElmerFudd-style for the protagonist...).

This... This looks like they gave an intern two weeks and a copy of 3D Studio Max. It wasn't even an art intern.

Honestly, if this entire video were done with stick figures, it would have been more entertaining, appealing, and truer to the IP than this crud.

Larry is supposed to be a short, balding, dorky, pot-bellied loser in his 40s. He's not a lanky, spikey-haired big-nosed kid who has probably never even *heard* of a leisure suit. Meh!

COV3RT SN1P3R @ Feb 17th 2008 5:05PM

OMG that was so funny lol. The best part was at the end were the brumaks glowing eyes was a bra with sparkles.

The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Feb 17th 2008 5:13PM

My friend used that Ferris Bueller song for his senior class president campaign.

He lost

Kizzle @ Feb 18th 2008 11:02AM

Comment of the week.

Tha Key @ Feb 18th 2008 6:49PM

No one see the influence of Michael Jackson's Thriller video

ncxcstud @ Feb 17th 2008 8:19PM

I watched the trailer on Gametrailer TV on DirecTV, my wife and I thought it was pretty funny. She's not a gamer and she knew what it was parodying

Jeff @ Feb 17th 2008 5:15PM

Let's hope it's not more of the same (crap) that was Magna Cum Laude. I live in a world of puns, and I can see one in the title of this game even now.

Justin B @ Feb 17th 2008 5:18PM

I always hated that Gears of War commercial. That song only vaguely applies to it and the tone of the game is absolutely nothing like the song.

HighFiveJesus @ Feb 17th 2008 6:15PM

Agreed. It only works in Donny Darko and thats for a good reason. It was just slick marketing and it bothered me. Felt cheap.

upz @ Feb 17th 2008 10:28PM

Does anybody remember an early version of the GoW commercial that didn't have the Mad World song? The first few times I saw that video, it had sound effects that went along with what was happening on-screen. When I saw the Mad World version for the first time, I was wondering where the hell the sound went. Please tell me I didn't just dream this...

Alucard @ Feb 18th 2008 6:47AM

well it worked when the Gears Of War commercial came out
the song Mad World was one of the best sellers in itunes
and it help to sell copy's of the game. somehow i think it was a good move by Epic/M$ to add that song to the commercial.

Mr.ESC @ Feb 18th 2008 11:45AM

Screw you guys I loved that ad.

The song itself is weird just watch the original video.

Most Gow ads were pretty cool but Mad world was just awesome.I liked the edit.

Leo-Jay @ Feb 17th 2008 5:21PM

This trailer tells me jack donkey about the game itself, and given I've no respect for the LSL franchise left, a few minutes poorly rendered non-game footage excites me about as much as a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread.

Without Al Lowe on-board and the blatant switch from Lovable Larry Longing for Lust and a Little Lay to this stupid college-kid and his beer drinking penis jokes, LSL needs to be put out to pasture and forgotten.

It's like Elvis, man. I'd like to remember LSL when it was tight and funny and interesting, but it just HAD to pull that comeback tour, and now I'm forever stuck with the image of a fat, greasy drug addict in ill-fitting clothes.

Comrade @ Feb 17th 2008 5:21PM

that trailer is almost as tacky as the gears commercial, awesome!

Jechtshot78 @ Feb 17th 2008 5:33PM

Fantastic! I wonder if Epic will sue over this too...

Chris @ Feb 17th 2008 5:39PM

The fact that this could be the "Scary Movie of video games" has just destroyed any chance of me ever picking up this game... or whatever it is. I'd rather watch nothing but Gigli for the rest of my life than pay money for any of the Scary Movies. I wouldn't even waste my hd space downloading it illegally.

Diskoboy @ Feb 17th 2008 5:42PM

Thank God for Yellow, and 'Oh Yeah!'.

That song can make anything good. :)

David @ Feb 17th 2008 5:48PM

I was expecting more Thriller. He had the suit and everything.

Lone Starr @ Feb 17th 2008 5:49PM

Host shotgun.

Obie @ Feb 17th 2008 5:56PM

Wow, that looked cheap, low budget and just plain awful....but it has boobs so I will probably rent it.

Lone Starr @ Feb 17th 2008 5:58PM

That's how I rationalize hiring prostitutes.

waynski1457 @ Feb 17th 2008 7:52PM

@lone starr: best comment ever! you win at life!

Joshua Earles-Bennett @ Feb 17th 2008 6:18PM

Does this mean they will using marketing slogans like "Cumming Soon"?

HighFiveJesus @ Feb 17th 2008 6:18PM

Stray from the mold more.

markhill66 @ Feb 17th 2008 6:45PM

I don't get how they call it "Box Office Bust," which relates to movies, but they parody a video game and a music video (it looks like he's wearing the outfit from Thriller and running from zombies).

mike @ Feb 17th 2008 7:10PM

not to mention gears is hardly a bust, selling over 5 million copies I think.

ThornedVenom @ Feb 17th 2008 7:13PM

Leisure Suit Larry is the Quagmire of videogames.

Giggity giggity goo!

rowd149 @ Feb 17th 2008 8:39PM

I don't know if you realized it, but both meanings that can be construed from reading your comment work frighteningly well.

Guybrush Threepwood (Sega Defense Force - Infallibility Ring) @ Feb 17th 2008 7:50PM

This trailer almost made me cry.

LSL is a classic IP and they're pissing all over it. Such a sad story.

Organic_Shadow @ Feb 17th 2008 8:05PM

So I guess nobody is allowed to run past women, and then come back for a sec to say hi to them or something without being labeled as nodding to ferris bueller's day off? Seems like a pretty simple scene a 10 year old could throw into a script. Not exactly genius material that becomes a gold standard as so many people seem to feel.

Oh... LSL.... ummm... STILL not interested in the series.....? Sorry.

Autopsy15 @ Feb 18th 2008 12:14AM

Actually, the song was the nod to Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

John McPoop @ Feb 17th 2008 11:44PM

Leisure Suit Larry will certainly have a single player campaign story unlike all of the unreal/gears games. Don't get me wrong they are awesome for online play.

Dave Silva @ Feb 18th 2008 1:22AM

Er. Unreal I and II HAVE single player story modes. Of course, nobody remembers those games...

Mr.ESC @ Feb 18th 2008 11:52AM

If you ask me GOW single player or co-op mode was great, the multiplayer mode was lame thanks to the idiots using xbox live.

It seems people only liked 3 maps of GOW for multiplayer and the host advantage was undeniable not to mention that if the host was a f*g the moment he disconnected all your kills went down the drain.

Damn I think Gears null me 200 kills that way.