Rosie O'Donnell--Less Cutie, More Patootie

Rosie O'Donnell has been intellectually overboard for quite some time now. In fact, I don't know that there was ever a time when she was not. Her recent comments regarding the supposed joint British/American naval prisoner conspiracy is only more evidence that this is the case. She claims that the truth behind the facade is that the U.S. wanted to bully Iran into escalation, so we pressed our old fallguys, the British, into doing the dirty work for us. Now, I don't admit that this is beyond the realm of possibility anymore than, say, Hugo Chavez being hired to drive Al Gore around in an all-electric Toyota Prius. It could happen if the planets align just right.

Unfortunately, Rosie has turned The View into her bully pulpit, or Big Rosie's Playpen. She is one of those people who just has to speak their mind without consideration of others. I watched a show not too long ago where the gals interviewed Dennis Miller. Now, I'm no huge fan of Miller's, but I think he is an intelligent and reasonable guy. He appeared especially so when paired with Rosie O'Donnell, who felt it necessary whenever possible to try to steal some of Miller's building gusto. Her futile effort caused her to come off as bitter and childish. Her closing remarks didn't help matters as she threw in some comment to the effect that while Miller is an okay guy, his political views are drastically different from hers. This raised an interesting question of what's worse--her views or that many people in America actually care about them.

That Rosie has so much cultural capital when one would be hard-pressed to think of any redeemable thing she has done to deserve it kinda bums me out. It reminds me of a similar situation involving another rather big, umm, creature of Hollywood's imagination--the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. In Ghostbusters , Ray is told by the villain that the first thing that comes to his mind will be the thing that destroys the world. Ray imagines Stay Puft because he thinks there's nothing more harmless than a big marshmallow. Boy, was he wrong.

At the risk of exploding my analogy, our cult of celebrity magnifies Rosie's puffery to a status it doesn't deserve and, worse, seemingly justifies more of the same.

I'm Back (and with a movie review, no less)

Okay kiddos and kiddettes, I've finally completed my thesis, defended that sucker, and now I'm almost out the door. I'm still teaching, but the lion's share of my writing energy has returned, so I'm going to start posting to my blog again.

I'm going to review a movie I just saw on date night with my wife--Reign Over Me. First, a guilty confession and digression. The only reason I was remotely interested in this flick was that Adam Sandler looked a dead ringer for Bob Dylan in the previews. Having seen the movie, the resemblance is uncanny at times and also a bit disconcerting, too. The feeling I had can only be compared to the feeling I have while watching a Tom Cruise movie. I can never look past Tom Cruise enough to enjoy any film with him in it. He's that absurdly ubiquitous in our culture. However, so is Bob Dylan (at least to music fans), and I lost the immersion factor a few times.

Overall, though, I'd have to say the movie was very enjoyable. The cast is strong, led by Sandler, Don Cheadle, Liv Tyler, Jada Pinkett Smith, and, in a minor appearance, Donald Sutherland. However, this movie is primarily about the relationship between Sandler's character, Charlie Fineman, and Cheadle's, Alan Johnson. It is an odd coupling, to say the least, but the divergent personalities of the two (Fineman is borderline insane while Johnson is a reserved family man) work well against each other.

The storyline is plausible as the two former roommates link up only to find that their once close relationship is non-existent because of the events of Sept. 11th, 2001. Fineman lost his wife and three kids in that tragedy and has developed a post-traumatic stress disorder. Johnson tries to help him find his way back while dealing with some issues of his own. The misadventures that follow are entertaining, comic, and, ultimately, heartwarming.

However, there is a struggle at times to sympathize with Sandler's character because of his repetitive outbursts against those who both love and try to help him. Yet, just when I thought I couldn't handle another emotional tempest, the plot was gradually brought to a resolution. What is revealed throughout these episodes is the scope and size of Fineman's struggle (symbolized by his addiction to a video game where he fights enemies of colossal dimensions)and the difficulty he has not only with processing his loss, but with learning to trust and love again. And the struggle to relate is not only his, for the inability of well-meaning people to understand him is painfully obvious as well.

Sandler plays Fineman with a depth that surprised me honestly, having only seen him in movies like Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and Big Daddy. He captures the fragility of psychosis during moments almost simultaneously charming and chilling. Cheadle turns in his usual excellent, although understated, performance. This guy is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood, and his comments on Captain America's black sidekick in the movie can be taken as a metatextual remark on his star status.

So, to bring this windy exposition to a close, I'd give Reign Over Me two-thumbs up.