Critics Say: “Ferrell is right, Bush is stupid.”
by Larry O'ConnorI know what’s going on in the advertiser’s office for “You’re Welcome America, A Final Night With George Bush“. Every morning after a show opens the producers assemble with the agency and dissect the reviews pulling out the best quotes to be used in ads, posters and banners on the theatres doors and marquee. Based on the raves, I’m sure they’re having a pretty fun time.
But, as your trusted, center/right theatre observer here at Big Hollywood, I read the same reviews and pulled out my own quotes. You see, the content of the reviews I’ve been reading reveal less to me about what’s going on up on the stage at the Cort, it’s says more to me about the bias of the critics. They are taking the opportunity of this show to send their own, gratuitous shots at “W.”
Here are the quotes I’d like to pull for a poster proving theatre critics are leftists:
“The days when criticism of Mr. Bush could be censured as unpatriotic may be long gone…” – Ben Brantley, NY Times
“Right in line with Bush’s reinvention of himself as a tried and true Texan—who happened to have been born in Connecticut and then went to Yale University…” – Michael Kuchwara, AP
“Chronicle of a political career carved out of nepotism, cynicism, chutzpah and careful management, and marked by a series of colossal blunders and false achievements.” – David Rooney, Variety
“…the prospect of spending an evening in the company of George W. Bush hardly sounds appealing…” – Frank Scheck, NY Post
“…right on time for both silly fun and smart summing-up of an epoch the country just voted overwhelmingly to change.” – Linda Winer, NY Newsday
“…reflects all of Dubya’s key traits—it’s tacky, cocky, defensive, a little half-assed here and there, utterly full of itself … ” – Scott Brown, New York Magazine
It makes you wonder if the anticipated critical reception is one of the reasons more conservative plays aren’t produced on Broadway.
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54 Comments
Will Ferrell hasn’t been funny in years. His movies are all the same and suck big time. I think you should send John Ridley to this show for a review. I’m sure it will be a rave.
I have not seen one single Ferrell movie, I can’t get past the trailers that show just how gay he is!!!
I’ll go with Christopher Hitchens and his smackdown of Bill Maher and his audience on this same subject not too long ago.
Enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HECI4QK_mXA
’stage right’
do you post anonymously because of your fear of backlash or because your an idiot and you know your an idiot but you don’t want everyone else to know your an idiot?
bias against bush? i don’t know if you’ve read a paper or anything in the last 8 years, but there is literally only a handful of people left in the entire world that still don’t get it.
it’s like complaining of negative coverage of a train wreck.
I’m a big Ferrell fan, but quite frankly I don’t understand this.
Rev. Hatchell: Probably a little of both…
But, this is not a post about liberal bias in the press per se, it is about how the bias of powerful theatre critics could possibly be another reason why center/right voices are not heard in the theatre business, isn’t that something we are supposed to discuss at Big Hollywood?
This is about how theatre critics are leftist and take opportunities to inject it into their reviews. I’ve previously written about it regarding Frank Rich’s old reviews of Andrew Lloyd Webber. When the theatre-going public is looking for a review of a play and they are hit with leftist jabs, it calls into question how these reviewers allow their political biases to also affect how they view a production. As I state in the post above: “It makes you wonder if the anticipated critical reception is one of the reasons more conservative plays aren’t produced on Broadway.”
This is a perfectly appropriate and rather innovative opinion on the overwhelming liberal content we find in the theatre, and, if I say so myself, it is exactly why this site exists and why I’m here analyzing the theatre industry.
Oh, and speaking of idiocy, my bio explains why I post anonymously, just one more little click and you’d have your answer.
Thanks for reading!
revhatchell you said:
“do you post anonymously because of your fear of backlash or because your an idiot and you know your an idiot but you don’t want everyone else to know your an idiot?”
FYI:
“your” means belonging to, i.e., “your opinion is ridiculous.”
“you’re” is a contraction of you and are, i.e., “you’re the one who should be called an idiot.”
Being in the business of writing for comedians, I see this Ferrell show as what it probably truly is. Though Ferrell is clearly a liberal, he’s doing what any capitalist would do, having a Bush Impression Going Out of Business Sale. It’s what he does and now it’s the last chance he has to capitalize on it. During the Bush years the only thing I could stomach about the left is that the fact that they were criticizing the President. We don’t have a king here so it’s all of our duty as Americans. What I hated about it is the uninformed, ape like, mob like, sinister nature of their criticism. The fact that they never seemed to account for is that if you read their criticism literally they thought Bush was an idiot for not elevating the so called rights and ideas of terrorists to those of the rest of us. I’d love to see a show about Bush that made me laugh at him in a way I hadn’t thought about but this probably isn’t one of them. Now a funny show about Al Gore…where is it…I want tickets!
The office of President deserves our respect regardless of party affiliation. Reagan was under-estimated and so is Bush. History will give him credit for keeping us safe for 7 years. Citizens need to be responsible, learn their history and be objective adults. Our republic can only be sustained by an educated, caring citizenry. The “shining city of the hill” will only be realized if each man leads a life of virtue and holds his leaders to the same.
Jana, I’ve noticed that other Obama supporters use the word “overwhelmingly” to describe his victory. I’d say that Reagan won overwhelmingly, but not Obama, at least not in the popular vote. I read that Obama got 52.9 percent of the vote. Is there an accepted definition of “overwhelmingly” somewhere?
Hey Stage, hatchell is a mindless liberal troll, ignore him/her.
I like Ferrell, think he’s funny, but I’m disappointed in his sour nature in attacking the President. Dana Carvey, others took it as almost an honor to do so. Ferrell’s parody is full of nothing but invective.
That said, the dumb-comedian schlock has a short lifespan. Just look at Jim Carrey. When it’s over all Ferrell will have left is his Bush-bashing bona fides.
Bush managed to learn how to fly an F-102 by himself. Graduated from Yale and Harvard by himself. Ferrel is drama student from S.C.. Ya, I’d say the ex-Pres is incalculably smarter than Ferrel. It’s empirical.
Only in Hollywood can an idiot who dropped out of high school or college call a Harvard MBA stupid and be lauded for it.
I read about the audience reactions to this at Gateway Pundit and while a few have walked out, the NYC libs are eating it up apparently. It disgusted me.
The next time NYC gets attacked, there will be no donations coming from me. Let Hollywood and Michael Moore save their own.
Will’s humor is about on the level of fart jokes. 11 yr old boys love that kind of humor.
“Nuff said.
BTW-Can you imagine if any comic made fun of BO’s penis? The great one cannot be mocked in any way.
stage right-
why would people involved in theater lean left? seriously?
let us see. they probably have gay friends. republicans are officially hostile to those friends. constitutional amendment to keep people from marrying, perhaps?
they probably have friends that are different colors and from different countries and speak with accents. republicans are officially hostile to those friends. ‘barack the magic negro’ anybody? round up mexican families and deport them? xenophobia de jour.
then we have your leaders; rush limbowl, bill oreally, and little annie c***or. very attractive.
you should really look at your ‘big tent’ from the outside, and see why no one wants to enter its cookie cutter door.
this is all fairly obvious to everyone, literally everyone else in the world.
you’re the last to know.
and thus, idiocy.
Republicans have friends who are different colors, speak with different accents, and come from different countries.
Hollywood Democrats have underpaid illegal alien servants.
The Times’ review linked to on “Big Hollywood” actually does get down to the truth of the matter about the play — that parts are quite tedious and stupid in that Will Ferrell/Failed-but-overextended SNL skit type of way. The review does do the usual Bush-bashing (in part, apparently, to prove that Brantley’s not some GOP mole inside the 40th & 8th headquarters), but does leave you with the impression at the end that unless you hate George W. Bush with a passion to the point you’ll laugh at anything about him, the results are decidedly mixed.
Ferrell’s a overgrown frat boy whose sub par talent and intelligence can’t move him beyond gutter humor, and trailer trash entertainment. And when Obama’s appeasement and whimper ninny policies bring the terrorists to our door, Ferrell and his ilk will still have their heads up their arses bashing Bush.
So if a reviewer enjoys the show and says so in the review they are showing their ‘bias’ Is it the same if a Conservative reviewer reviewed ..say…”An Inconvenient Truth” and didn’t like it then they are showing their ‘bias’ and I’m allowed to point it out and…I don’t know…get angry??
So what if the reviewers show their bias. Everyone does. Why are you Righties getting your knickers in a twist about it?
so what
how boring is all this ive just read the rest of the world needs to also vote in your elections we are all affected
Michael…assuming from your post you’re from another country. I am honored to say for the first time something I’ve not had the pleasure to say to someone from another country. STAY THE HELL OUT OF OUR ELECTIONS! I don’t give two cares in the world what the world thinks about our elections. The only reason we have so much influence over your countries is because you either decided to trade with us and our products were more pleasing to your populace or we saved your butt in some war. The only reason your country’s media or government is so against us it’s to distract you from the fact that their likely socialist policies and high taxes are keeping them from ever being as prosperous as we are. And I’m not being partisan, I don’t care how much you like or dislike Obama either. And before you blast me as a quote “American” this or that, remember AMERICANS ARE “YOU.” We are the offspring of people from all over the world or are people who escaped from the places you lived. I’m second generation Polish myself. We even elected a black President despite our past. I love people from other countries and their cultures. But as far as you having a say in our election…we’ve already voted…with our feet!
Bush was a class act. For years he has been butchered in the media/movies/late night shows/SNL/Broadway/Newspapers/College Campuses – whatever. Never a peep out of him about it. O has been in office a few short weeks and he cries like a little girl over talk radio and the ONLY station that dares question him, Fox News, every chance he gets. Now the “open minded free speech” lovin libs will go after the “fairness doctrine” to silence any opposition speech in direct conflict to their own Bush years mantra of “opposition is Patriotic”. Absolutely amazing. Have a good day comrades.
Let me get this straight, W wins two national elections over the lefties, yeah, he’s the stupid one.
I think Breitbart is right, in his assertion that our culture is being corroded by the left. And, one of the biggest corrosives is the left’s control of the content of movies, TV shows, and plays.
But, I hope Breitbart keeps this in mind: IMO, one reason conservatives have decoupled from today’s media environment, is that we’re repulsed by the people who are driving it.
In my opinion, this play shows Will Ferrell to be a failed person. Only a failed person would put something together like this. Only a failed person would go to a play this mean, this juvenile and find enjoyment in it.
(Full disclosure: I have not seen the play, and have no plans to. I am basing my assessment on reviews by conservatives. I will revise my opinion if I see a positive review of it from a source I trust—but something tells me there’s little chance that I’ll have to issue a mea culpa.)
I want nothing to do with such people. IMO they’ve abrogated their responsibilities as adults and as American citizens. Our Founding Fathers invested American voters with the duty to behave and choose responsibly.
I shudder to think what the spririt of Jefferson thinks as he gazes upon the set of Will Ferrell’s play, or Real Time With Bill Maher.
I submit that many conservatives have turned their back on popular media because we want nothing to do with people like these. We dread the thought that our children might grow up like them.
These people derive a not-insignificant measure of their self-worth from mocking others. Their motto should be “I Mock [insert name of Wal-Mart, George Bush, Dick Cheney, etc...], so Therefore I Am.”
How pathetic. What failures. Frankly, I fear being contaminated if I spend any real time with people like these.
Andrew, as you move forward with Big Hollywood, you should emphasize the importance of dealing head-on with people like Will Ferrell and Bill Maher and Matt Damon and Ashley Judd and Ben Affleck.
There is a natural human predisposition to shun failed people like the ones I’ve just listed. To not want to spend time in a world contaminated by their presence.
But, we must steele ourselves and wade in there. We must take on and deal with the Damons and Ferrells and Mahers. For they are corroding the world we live in
And, this is the only world we have.
To the point the show is lazy writing/comedy, a couple of liberal friends, both unsolicited and not in a discussion about politics, opined that the idea of Ferrell doing a Bush show was boring and quote “time for him to give it up.” It is very uninspired art.
W’S VICTORY WAS A SOLID 51%–OBAMA’S 52% CONTAINED LIKELY 4% ACORN FRAUD.
Like him or not, President Bush showed one hell of a lot of class during the transition to the current administration. In oter words none of the letters were removed from the White House typewriters and items were not stolen from Air Force One.
Did he make mistakes? Yes! However, contrary to what Jimmy Carter thinks, W is not the worst President, in my opinion. Mr. Carter, you have the title locked up tight.
I find the last line in the clip referenced by JIMMY ARONE above quite interesting. Bill Maher stated that “Sometimes a cigar is just a Cigar.” May I suggest that Slick Willie turned the cigar into a Sex Toy?
i luv miley she
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU Miley.
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