Volume 43, Number 14 · September 19, 1996
Hollywood's Trap
By Louis Menand
AMONG THE MOVIES DISCUSSED IN THIS ARTICLE
The Nutty Professor
a film by Tom Shadyac
Independence Day
a film by Roland Emmerich
Mission: Impossible
a film by Brian De Palma
The Rock
a film by Michael Bay
Twister
a film by Jan De Bont
The Cable Guy
a film by Ben Stiller
It would be edifying to learn what William Bennett, whose expertise as a moral diagnostician is currently on loan to the Dole campaign, has to say about The Nutty Professor, which has become one of the top moneymakers of the summer season and which is essentially a movie about—let us not mince words, my fellow Americans—farting. I am unclear where flatulence jokes stand in the list of virtues. Nothing human, of course, should disgust us; I feel confident that Mr. Bennett would agree on this point, one that is well established in the Western canon. On the other hand, do we want Americans to leave movie theaters under the impression that it's 'cool' to fart in the middle of, say, church? Surely we do not. What exactly is the message here?
Review, 3936 words
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