Why didn't "Life of David Gale" sell?

This is one of movies that I watched just because I had nothing to do but to watch the movie. Unexpectedly I really liked the movie. I was staying at my friend's place for a reason, and one day I didn't really feel like doing anything. I could have sat in front of the computer and done some work or read some book. I could have gone to take a walk. I had a bunch of things I could have and/or should have done, but it was one of those days that I didn't feel motivated to do anything. So, I looked at his DVD collection and picked up this movie. The movie did not get good reviews. It did not sell in box office, either. Now I kind of know why, but still the movie did really poorly in box office. You know, these shouldn't have affected whether I would watch this movie or not, since most movie reviews is just a reflection of how much investment was made in the marketing for that movie, but it did. No good review, no box office record. I didn't watch it until I had nothing else to do. Anyway ...

Fantasy. Essentially, the whole story(movie script) is written to describe what fantasy is. Something you desire, you dream of, something high up there, but you can never ever get in your life. David Gale, played by Kevin Spacey is a philosophy professor. He is an activist as well, but we learn that he is more of a philosopher than an activist at the end of the movie. His friend, Constance Harraway, played by Laura Linney and her friend basically stage suicide that looks like a murder to prove that death penalty is a false system, and that's what journalists, Bitsey Bloom played by Kate Winslet and Zack Stemmons played by Gabriel Mann, who go down to Texas to write about David Gale who is about to be executed, believe until after he is executed. I don't describe how this is set up, since it's a long story, but those of you who watched the movie know what I'm talking about, and those of you who haven't watched the movie but want to know what I'm talking about before you watch this movie, let me know; I'll explain it in the forum.

What it turns out in the end is that everything was staged by David Gale; it was not his friend who staged it. His fantasy is that he just wants to be remembered as a great activist who did nothing wrong. That was his fantasy. Kind of confusing story, but it does make sense when you watch the movie.

I thought that this is an interesting story. Acting was good; Kate Winslet does look like a journalist who lives in New York (while she is actually an English). Kevin Spacey looks like a philosophy professor, though the real philosophy professor probably has a more worn out look. As I think about this movie again, I'm not so sure why this movie did so poorly in box office. I can understand why this didn't sell like Spider Man or Passion of Christ, but I personally think that the movie deserved a little more recognition and commercial success.