Good (not so) Clean Fun, Ruined!

Perhaps there is a down side to walking the cultured path. With all my focus on art and its profound importance and meaning, have I lost the ability to simply be entertained? Herein I confess to my summer’s guilty pleasure – BIG Hollywood Films. I don’t have much downtime, but I have made time to see X-men 3 (wow!), Devil Wears Prada (fun!) and yesterday I saw Miami Vice (hated it!). The reason I even bother to think about this film, I mean, movie for more than 2 minutes after leaving the theater is because I keep hearing from film critics that it is good. I know, what do they ever know? But this morning, on CBS Sunday Morning, a show I highly respect and enjoy, there was a review of Michael Mann’s big screen adaptation of the super cool hit 80s TV show. I sat at attention, certain that a show as refined as CBS Sunday Morning would echo my own reaction to the movie. WRONG! The film was praised for its visual aesthetic, darker and grainier than the TV show. Can anyone say, disorienting? And I was shocked that comments about the movie’s supposed love story were made with a straight face. While not a complete waste of my time, if only because two hours spent looking at Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell can never be exactly painful, the movie lacked authenticity and intelligence on every level – plot, relationships, characters, dialogue… Random acts of sex and violence appeared sprinkled throughout the film in a disconnected manner. And worst of all, the central purpose for all the action in the entire movie is forgotten and never acknowledged or addressed in the end. Of course I deserve this, because I should have spent my afternoon watching something like Heading South. At least then I could engage in a conversation ABOUT something and reflect about the intersection of sex, race, age, power, money and exploitation. Today all I am thinking about is how much I’d love a ride in Sonny Crocket’s speed boat.