Friends don't let friends drive their cars...

[Brian Minkin]

From The Yahoo Buzz:

In the annals of movie promotion, no publicity stunt is too over-the-top. Borat attempted to enter the White House with a camera crew to plug his eponymous flick, Steve-O urinated on the red carpet at the "Jackass 2" premiere, and Tom Cruise glibly went bananas during his promotional tour for "Mission Impossible 3." But is the destruction of a priceless automobile worth a bump in grosses? The promotional push for the soon-to-be-released "Redline" put Eddie Griffin's acting abilities to the test.

When Griffin rammed an Enzo Ferrari worth $1.5 million into a wall during a promo event for "Redline," he also smashed square into the Search box. Queries on the reckless thespian jumped from zero into the thousands and he also managed to cause search spikes on "eddie griffin car crash," "eddie griffin ferrari video," and "eddie griffin movies." That last query is of paramount importance, because Griffin's big bummer boosted interest on his latest cinematic achievement.

Gossip blogs are speculating that his calamity was a coldly calculated maneuver designed to drive searches on "Redline." The standard fast-cars-fast-girls flick was crawling along in the slow lane of Buzz, but Griffin's accident caused searches on the film to burn rubber. Buzz on the movie doubled immediately and we're sure the mangled Ferrari will be a hot topic as the film gasses up for an April 13 release. We've also seen increased interest in "redline trailer," "redline cars," and "redline soundtrack"—proof positive that the Enzo imbroglio paid off handsomely in Buzz.

Was it a planned stunt? We'll leave that for you to decide, but the true test will take place at the box office. If Griffin's wreck pays off, we're sure the producers will forgive him...