Posted by turtle at dialup-63.214.110.138.dial1.boston1.level3.net on August 21, 2001 at 18:46:09:
The board turned over while I was writing. Hate when that happens :)
Anyway, Bill Maher is a fucking genius.
His job is to agitate people and get them to defend their stances on current issues. And that's what he did with this question on dumbing down of movies.
Think about it, if he'd gone in and said "Kevin, you made a film which has complex symbolism on several different levels, what does everyone think about that?" no one would watch the show.
And, Maher has an excellent point about the dumbing down of main characters in Hollywood these days. You gotta admit that many of the most popular movies (15-25 age-bracket movies anyway) feature some pretty big idiots, including Jay and Bob (lovable as they are). If trends continue this way, pretty soon we'll be watching slapstick comedies filmed on location, in group homes for the mentally handicapped. (Not a trend I'd be too interested in, personally.)
Maher may also have been wondering what made Kevin go in this direction, after having made two fairly serious/intelligent movies in a row. (Sure, WE know the backstory behind Kevin's choice, but Maher probably doesn't get much of a chance to hang out around the Askerniverse.)
-turtle
who is just wondering why all of the ohter panelists were such losers