Right. That's why we see movies. To walk away with a moral to the storey.

...that's why I go to see movies. To walk away with a moral to the storey.

And when I've walked away I hop on my horsey. And I ride it to the lorrey. And hop on a ferrey.

I'm not really sure how I ended up reading Buckley's book, but it's sort of amazing to me how much this review reminds me of the experience of reading the book -- rather than actually being funny, it had many set-pieces taking the form of jokes but not delivering. Rather like Tom the Dancing Bug's (brilliant) Super Fun-Pak Comix, or Buckley's (or Bruce McCall's) unfunny work for the New Yorker.

Incidentally, there's a smoking-through-a-tracheotomy scene in the amazing "Ong-Bak: the Thai Warrior" as well.

I have to disagree - this seems like a great movie. The sort of fun, lighthearted fare that Hollywood is always trying to make, but for once it's actually clever. So what if it doesn't make a real point? Neither did Austin Powers, neither did American Pie, yet both were fun movies that, while not making any serious points about our society, entertained. Isn't that why we go to the movies? To be entertained?

I saw it last night...it was very funny and well acted. It doesn't really have much of a plot, but I don't think that was the point.

I enjoyed your review and it raises several points, one of which I would like to address, and that is, that lately, post 911, you would be hard pressed to find a movie that does satire effectively. I think most writers and producers are still reeling from the 'broad spin', hyperbole, ergo "fox news" style that seems to be downright effective in creating a loyal sheep following; hence the cardboard effects we've been noticing lately. Movies have to make money, and to do so, they must ensure that they appeal to the general public.

That, my dear, is the Right Wing ripple, the effect of having a government that condescends to its people.

Call it "Liberal" if you must, but in Clinton's days we saw the finest satire. There was no "lock-step" adherance to government thinking, no fear of being thought unpatriotic for thinking our own thoughts. Alas, the Repusgs have turned that around on us; using that to their advantage, but it is the cockroaches' nature to survive, no matter what the body count.

History has shown that after great repression comes a revolution led by the artists and free thinkers, leading to a heightened level of creativity...

If so, it is time for our 'Renaissance'.

re "Incidentally, there's a smoking-through-a-tracheotomy scene in the amazing 'Ong-Bak: the Thai Warrior' as well."

Also: The Smoking Man, near the end of the X-Files series - his nurse obligingly holds a cigarette to his trach hole.

Yuck!!

Pixieladyoct8

I own stock in companies that don't produce unicorns and sunshine as their only product. I drive a car that belches noxious fumes. I eat vegetables probably picked by less than documented workers. I wear clothes made in Bangladesh by who knows which 12 year old chained to a loom. I live in a house at least partially built by illegal Mexican labor. I fail to see the concience in the equation there. So lobbyists carry their money and the message of gloom and death to politicians only too happy to lap it up. As opposed to the electronics lobby that helps their industry dump toxic waste in Taiwan? As opposed to the defense contractors? The oil companies and automobile industry? I suspect the crusade against smoking has a lot less to do with public health and a lot more to do with sanctimonious browbeating.

The movie was brilliant and it DID make a point--albeit an unobtrusive one: In spite of its subject matter, not one cigarette is lit during the film.

Macy's character is from Wisconsin. I haven't seen the movie yet, but the crowd was on Charlie Rose recently and they had a scene where the cigarette guy accuses Wisconsin cheese of being artery-cloggin and Macy gets all shook up and says, "Wisconsin will not apologize for its cheese!"

Macy's character is really a senator from Vermont, not Wisconsin.