Must There Always be “Excellence”?

    Recently, reviewing the DVD of the hit film The Fast and the Furious, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette motion-picture critic Barbara Vancheri asserted: “The flimsy story is just an excuse for [hijacks and speeding cars], with dialogue that never delves too deeply.” She later contended, parenthetically: “[T]here is not one but two party scenes with women making out…puhleeze.” She concluded with: “On DVD, it makes for mindless summer entertainment; no heavy lifting or thinking required.”   

    Vancheri’s critique is quite noteworthy. Not because she spoke the absolute truth–as I, I hope, will prove, she by no means was–but because it revealed a consistent attribute those of us who look at and talk about popular creative works, whether on a full- or part-time basis, possess. In point of fact, those of us who follow and discourse upon popular culture, whether on a regular or an irregular basis, have a tendency to become overly stiff-necked. Indeed, those of us who pass judgement upon pop culture, whether in a professional or a knowledgeable-amateur capacity, tend to be terribly prim about it. When a creative work that isn’ t laden with intellectualism or social pertinence appears–and especially if said work becomes a hit–we bleat and whine about the decline of culture, about the prevalence of philistinism and on and on and on. The reality is, a creative endeavor can entirely deserve to exist, and even to score big, without having either of the aforementioned qualities. It was the high-profile, venom-slinging critic John Simon who, during the preface to a compilation of his reviews of foreign films, asserted: “[T]he majority of American movies, even the superior ones…are…just devices for killing a couple of hours…just movie-movies…[Most American pictures] merely entertain.” Why on Earth is this so terrible? It was Simon’ s sister critic Marya Mannes who once observed: “Television entertainment provides a mindwsh, a release from the cares of the world.” What, what, what is wrong with films filling this function, especially since TV has been and continues to be up to its neck in seven-dollar-bill-phony “reality” shows and, judging by what our newsmagazines and our newspapers and our television-news programs have been telling us and continue to tell us, the world has been and still is coming apart at the seams? (Indeed, following modern news for only a brief period brings to mind Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales’ s comment concerning a clutch of made-for-television films centering on rape, bondage, child abuse, and teen-age prostitution: “One gets a warped and depressing view of what it means to be alive”) In our Puritanical demands for incessant “excellence,” (such Puritanism is also at the heart of our relentless preference for Pure Love and Absolute Commitment in male-female relationships over sheer pleasure and just plain fun and games) we’ ve forgotten that there are things which can be savored without any “significance” being attached to them, that the principle of enjoyment for enjoyment’ s sake is not dirty or in any sense wrong.   

    A personal note. There reside in my (vast) DVD/video collection a total of 10 DVDs/videos that I treasure above all the rest, that head the list of those I cherish, that, should my apartment ever catch fire, I would gladly brave the flames to gather up and take with me. They are, in order of quality:   

    Boomerang–Eddie Murphy portrays a veteran womanizer whose new boss, portrayed by Robin Givens, turns the tables on him.   

    Good Luck Chuck–Dane Cook portrays a womanizing dentist struggling to break free of a cast-during-childhood spell in which any female he has sex with goes on to marry somebody else, so that he can be with the woman of his dreams, portrayed by Jessica Alba.   

    Blake Edwards’ s Skin Deep–A celebrated L. A. writer, portrayed by the iconic comedic actor John Ritter, experiences the chilly blasts of advancing age (he’ s 42), the full consequences of his habits (drinking and chasing women) and the for-now blockage of his talent (his writing ability has, for the moment, dried up).   

    The Penthouse–A rich, pampered, sheltered young woman, enacted by Robin Givens, is held hostage in her penthouse suite by a loony ex-boyfriend.   

     The Sweetest Thing–Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, and Selma Blair portray three footloose-and-fancy-free L. A. she-babes grappling with romantic misadventures.   

    Flirting With Forty–Television queen Heather Locklear essays the part of a turning-40 divorced mother who finds new love and new life with a twentysomething surfing instructor she meets while on a vacation in Hawaii.   

    Fired Up and American High School–Two of the livelier, sexier teen films. Enough said.   

   View From the Top–Gwyneth Paltrow portrays a small-town charmer following her dream of being a big-time flight attendant, all the while in Coffee, Tea, or Me? fashion.   

  My Best Friend’ s Girl–A “professional asshole” (Dane Cook) whom friends hire to date their ex-girlfriends and be, well, an assahole, so said women will go back to said friends goes into action for his roommate (Jason Biggs) only to find that, this time, the roommate’s former girlfriend (Kate Hudson) is genuinely the asshole’ s counterpart.   

    Are any of these DVDs/videos intellectually stimulating? Not in the slightest. Are any of these DVDs/videos socially relevant? Not in the slightest. What they are are fun, light, vivacious entertainments that feature gorgeous, engaging folks byplaying with each other and that make absolutely no pretense to be anything else. However, I would rather see any 10 minutes of any of these DVDs/videos than see all of any self-important, self-righteous, good-for-you Cannes/Sundance winner.   

    It was big-screen sex symbol Sharon Stone who, during her forward to Edward Margulies and Stephen Rebello’ s classic compilation Bad Movies We Love, remarked: “[W]hat makes a movie ‘good’? I’ ll tell you. It’ s ‘good’ because you enjoy it, because it made you laugh (at it or with it) or scream or cry or howl or remember or forget or just simply to escape within it. That’ s why I make them anyway, ‘good’ or ‘bad.’”   

    So, Barbara Vancheri, kindly dismount from your high horse. The definition of what makes a film worth seeing is not as rigid as you apparently suppose.     Duane Brooks    www.yahoo.com