You know, I'm annoyed and angered by conservative commentators all the time. But nothing pisses me off more than the too cool for school liberal. Slate magazine has made an art form out of it: the person who's general idealogical temperment is to the left, but doesnt spend his or her time actually arguing against the right. All the ink goes towards critiquing the left.

Now, I think its incredibly important to be self critical, especially when it's done constructively. But I hate it when it's done with snark. If the point is just to score cheap points by going after soft-headed liberals, I'll just stick to David Horowitz, thanks. It's a cheap way to achieve "bite"-- using the insider status to deliver withering commentary on those other, self-obsessed lefties.

And really, does anyone need to hear this? Does anybody not know that there is a lot of guilt in a movie like Crash? I mean its not easy to pick a more vulnerable target than Hollywood leftism. And frankly I think our society could use a little more guilt. Better guilty navel gazing than a full speed ahead, never mind the consequences style favored by the right.

It's true, Crash is awful.

If Salon still devoted any serious analysis to the depredations of the great rightwing noise machine then maybe I could stomach this gratuitous swipe at a straw man. But it doesn't so I can't.

Maybe tomorrow you can claim that Al Gore says he invented the Internet and make snide fun of that. Equally original and funny! Put O'Hehir on it!

Surely the struggling single mother taking on the corporate evil empire and the failure of even the proper forces to do anything must qualiy for the sap award.

Then the ending made Theron's character the most persecuted character since the Passion of the Christ's titled role. It turns out thew only reason she was a single mother that she was raped!

The smarmies is an award given to the author of the most smarmy article. The author must assume that the readership agrees with his opinions without reservation. First we nominate the author. Then the readership writes a lot of letters to the editor in response to the smarmiest article. The result is the author, not being paid by the publisher to write the next article...and of course his or her teary acceptance speech.

I nominate...drum roll please...

The only one of the movies listed here that I saw was Crash, and God was it awful.

Besides the fact that it was lazy and contrived, its message is one that simultaneously browbeats and condescends to the viewer. And that's the cardinal sin of failed entertainment: no respect for the audience. Here in the middle of the country we've got a love-hate relationship with Hollywood. On one hand it's our main source of entertainment nourishment - it's the only mechanism with the production values and the star power worth our eight bucks - but on the other we're treated like idiots.

A Big Point in a movie is fine. It's the theme. It's a nice thing to have. But if you want to get your Big Point across, you can't make it the main character. I think that's the point of O'Hehir's article. Remember how seemlessly social commentary was worked into the sharp, funny entertainment of Mr. Deeds Goes To Town or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? What about My Man Godfrey? Ham-fisted, overly-simplified populism? Hell yes! But well-paced, well-written, well-acted and funny as hell. And as you're walking up the aisle when the movie's over you can't help but feel warmth for all those lovely ideals of liberalism and social justice.

So when these moralizing race plays get shoved down our throats, nominated for awards and all that, we start getting pissed. We buy into the right-wing pundits' arguments about coastal arrogance because, well, it's kind of true. And we start voting Republican, even if it takes money out of our pocketbooks, because darn it we want good entertainment - it's the meager dividend at the end of our demoralizing work week - and Hollywood isn't living up to its promise. It's treating us like garbage. We wait all year for a handful of mainstream films that are made for reasonable, middle-class adults and this is the image of America we're delivered? Ugh.

I don't think I'm exaggerating at all by saying that movies like Crash do much more harm than good.

Andy,

I hope Ann Coulter rewards you for being her bitch. I hope you finally get to hang with Rove. Your observations are worthy of that erudite wit and well known star of thought, George W (and I am not speaking of George Will). Sorry that some movies have a left of center point of view.

Maybe he ought to try a real job for a while. Just take a break from all this movie-watching drudgery. How about pave asphalt in New Jersey, or deliver the mail in Nebraska? He needs to get away from all that Hollywood nonsense. Why keep patting yourself on the back for being so superior to people who you think are patting themselves on the back for being so superior, and then get so angry and vindictive about the whole thing? Just stop it and do something else for a change. Maye after some time away, you'll miss it. Or not.

I don't know how many of my friends I've heard piously recommend "Crash." What a pandering piece of crap that film is. And I agree -- "Brokeback's" message is not the one that the Christian Coalition or GLAAD say it is.

Nice piece!

I agree with the persons above who decried the "too cool for school" liberals. This doesn't seem the right time for it with what's going on in the world. But oh what fun it would be to go back in time to 1999 and that racist Horowitz screed that got him called a racist in Newsweek (I think it was)...only with a blog-"Letters" section like we have today. HAHAHA I bet there would be 500 letters.