Two thumbs down

If you missed "Gigli," don't fret--you can still be one of the first in your state to watch "VoIP: The Movie."

Actually, right now you can only view a 30-second teaser, but that may be enough. The "movie" is actually an ad by Covad, a provider of broadband connections that is now pushing a technology called VoIP, which allows people to make phone calls over those same high-speed connections.

Covad has run some television commercials that appear to be an ad for a Hollywood thriller. Like many trailers, viewers are invited to get more info on the Web. The clip posted on the Web is done in the style of a homicidal thriller, with the telephone as the villain. I guess; it's a bit hard to tell. A tag line, "After 14 years someone had to take a stand," fails to clear up this G-rated mystery.

Covad is hardly the first to use the movie-on-the-Web trick. BMW did it more than three years ago. But I don't recall it being used to promote a technology that is probably a mystery to most Americans. At least everyone knows BMW. But VoIP? Then again, that's probably the point.

Maybe Covad will actually be seen as a trendsetter. Perhaps we'll soon see "movies" for Wi-Fi, RFID or .Net. And then the boxed DVD set. And they might actually attract more viewers than "Gigli."