The critics who judge film are wildly left. That’s obvious from their glowing reviews for any leftist film with even the mildest touch of art; it’s glaringly obvious from their reviews of Dinesh D’Souza’s latest documentary, America. Here are just some of the reviews – and note that these pans are based entirely on the politics of the film:
- Rafter Guzman, Newsday: “You could bother debating D’Souza on history and semantics and rudimentary logic, but chances are you’d end up feeling like Meathead arguing with Archie Bunker.”
- Martin Tsai, Los Angeles Times: “It’s ‘Sesame Street’-style show and tell, complete with highly suggestive musical cues.”
- Peter Sobcynski, RogerEbert.com: “The cinematic equivalent of one of those forwarded e-mails of mostly discredited ‘facts’ that you receive from an uncle.”
Now, here are those same outlets on Michael Moore’s Sicko:
- Gene Seymour, Newsday: “What’s most striking about Sicko is how composed, even serene it is compared with Michael Moore’s previous acts of cinematic insurgency.”
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: “We Americans inevitably feel we know the best way to do everything, but the great accomplishment of Sicko is that it is difficult to watch this slyly confrontational film and remain sure.”
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: “Moore’s films usually make conservatives angry. This one is likely to strike home with anyone, left or right, who has had serious illness in the family.”
Right. Moore’s a genius, and D’Souza’s a hack. Because, according to the left, D’Souza’s film is too political, while Moore’s has universal appeal.
It is absurd to have movie critics critiquing the politics of documentaries professionally; they seem unable to separate their artistic sensibilities from their political ones. Conservatives are routinely accused not having enough a sense of humor when they criticize Jon Stewart as a partisan hack (which he is), yet leftist critics are taken at face value when they dismiss D’Souza’s work because they hate his politics.
Just to demonstrate how absurd it is for professional film critics to judge the politics of Dinesh D’Souza, here are ten films from this summer that critics ranked higher than America – which RottenTomatoes currently has pegged as the summer’s worst blockbuster, at 10% approval:
Blended. Putting the two worst actors on the planet – Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore — in a film with each other is a bad start. Combining them with children borders on crime against humanity. But at least the film didn’t say that Hillary Clinton studied Saul Alinsky. NOTE: Sandler is known in Hollywood as a quasi-conservative. Did that play a role in these reviews? Every Sandler movie for the last few years has been widely – and in some cases, viciously — panned.
Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return. If you were dying for a cartoon about an overdone topic and starring the voices of Lea Michele and Jim Belushi, you’re in for a treat. NOTE: Kelsey Grammer, openly conservative, is in this film as well.
Transformers: Age of Extinction. Do you like explosions? Do you like muscles? Do you like explosions and big noises and muscles? Then this film is for you. But it wasn’t for the critics, who seem to constantly expect Michael Bay to become Ingmar Bergman. Nonetheless, this film, which was openly mocked at release, clocked in at 17% on RottenTomatoes. NOTE: Bay’s films are openly patriotic. Which means they must be bad. And Grammer is the film’s baddie.
Mom’s Night Out. NOTE: The movie stars Patricia Heaton, who like Sandler and Grammer, is known as a conservative. That means it must be bad.
So, just to get this straight – five of the five worst-rated films of the summer have some conservative connections. Coincidence, surely.
Moving on:
Tammy. Melissa McCarthy’s homeless fat person shtick finally gets old. Still, she more than doubles D’Souza’s documentary on RottenTomatoes, at 23%.
Think Like a Man Too. Steve Harvey’s book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, spawned this Satanic sequel. It kicked D’Souza’s film in the rear in a straight RottenTomatoes comparison, however.
A Million Ways To Die In The West. Seth MacFarlane is still attempting to figure out how humor works when he can’t rely on idiotic cartoon cutaways of nonsense. Still, his gross-out Western, starring the ever-irritating Sarah Silverman, among others, triples D’Souza’s score on RottenTomatoes.
Historically speaking, America clocks in behind all-time dud Ishtar (26%) – a movie so bad that Roger Ebert called it “a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy.” America received a rating significantly less than half of Ishtar‘s.
Yes, D’Souza brings up the rear. But these artistic critics are unbiased observers of the cinematic scene. Or they’re partisan hacks who let their hackery infuse their critiques. One of the two.
Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.