Previews That Don't Depict What the Movie Actually Is (Use Spoilers Tags)

[iam1bearcat]

I watched American Gangster the other night and while thinking about it, I realized how much the previews didn't match the movie at all. At least to me.

What I saw in the previews were numerous scenes that seemed to depict Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) having a long, drawn out back-and-forth relationship in which both characters tried to outwit each other. The lasting impression in my mind from the previews was when Lucas walks out of a building and sees Richie resting against a car. I just assumed that they had met before and knew each other from the way it was filmed and how the men looked at eac other. But then once i was done watching the film (which is great by the way) I realized that they never once talked or met before. Richie knew OF Lucas, but Lucas had never heard or seen him before.

So my question to you is: has this ever happened to you with any films? and has it made you think less of said film when it turned out to not be what you thought it was about?

I knew the whole time (obviously) that American Gangster was a crime drama film, but I had the impression the two main characters knew each other and interacted throughout the film. But they did not.

So is this just me thinking too much from a simple preview? Or do you think the studio did this on purpose to maybe get more people to come see it?