Say Anything Blog

Harold And Kumar Go To...Gitmo?

The conflict in Iraq may go on for years, but it appears the end is nigh for Hollywood’s ponderous, heavy-handed treatment of the war on terror. That’s because most new movies about the subject this season are lowbrow and cringe-inducing comedies.

Over the next few weeks, theaters will be screening far-out fare such as an Osama bin Laden documentary by the maker of “Super Size Me”; an absurdist slam against merchants of war featuring John Cusack; a zombie soldier flick with XXX star Jenna Jameson; a stoner movie about Guantanamo Bay; and a Sept. 11 parody — yes, parody — made by Uwe Boll, a little-known filmmaker often ridiculed as the worst director in Hollywood since Ed Wood.

Just how off-the-wall is the genre getting? Over the past six months, filmgoers have been turned off by overearnest snoozers (“Lions for Lambs,” “A Mighty Heart”), low-budget losers (“Redacted”) and far worse.

With the arrival of a half-dozen comedies, however, the post-Sept. 11 movie has quite possibly reached a new low.

Remember all those comedies made after the Pearl Harbor attacks?  How about movies making light of the Oklahoma City bombing?  Yeah, me neither.

I’m normally a optimistic guy, but sometimes I wonder if we aren’t a culture in decline.  Of course, maybe that decline is limited to Hollywood given that they keep pumping crap like this out and Americans keep not watching it.