Joe Keohane, Editor of the Weekly Dig, writes about seeing Good Night and Good Luck in Cambridge. (I’m a recent Cambridge expat, with mostly fond memories.)
After having lived in the storiedIsle of Cantabrigia?oftentimes several hundred miles from anyrecognizable ideological land mass?I should have known that this film,possibly more so than any film that would play this year, was trouble.For one, people?s dander is rightfully up about witch-hunt politics.Secondly, people in Cambridge are completely incapable of keeping theirpolitics in their pants. Even for 90 minutes. That meant applause.Frequent applause. And exhortations to characters onscreen to keepdoing the right thing, whatever the odds. I predict that there will befewer people yelling at the screen in inner-city screenings of Get Rich or Die Tryin? than there were here.
… However far we are out of thesupposed mainstream, I think we have this in common with the Biblethumpers: a total inability to shut up about one?s beliefs for a second.
Ow! Of course, that resembles absolutely no one who posts or comments here, naturally…
Not too mention the fact that Good Night and Good Luck was insanely disappointing. What an interesting time they chose to deal with, and what a boring and flatline movie they produced. Really a shame.
Yowsers. Tough commentary.It ain’t cool to make noises in a theatre if you can help it. Laugh, shriek, cough; don’t whisper, have a ring tone, or clap in the middle. It’s simply an issue of manners and respect for your fellow theatregoer.
stormv, that is not his point.Hard core left wingers can be just as obnoxious as hard core right wingers. In and out of movire theaters.
Well, alright, did Joe go on opening night? I’ll bet he did. Let me just remind him that — except for members of the media — people go to a film on opening night specifically for the social crowd experience of it. Opening night is enthusiasts’ night.For the record, I went to this film at Harvard Sq Cinema at 9:30 or so on a Friday night (not opening night) and did not experience anything like what Joe describes. Too bad, I probably would have enjoyed it.
I also saw this movie in the third most liberal town in MA (Williamstown)and while there was no hooting and hollering (lots of appreciate laughs and groans as we saw the parallels to today) but you know what? Liberals don’t have a lot to laugh or cheer about these days. So if the emotion affected your experience, go see it again. I thought the Patty Clarkson/Robert Downey Jr. story line wasn’t clear, but with that exception David Strathairn was BRILLIANT and Clooney has done us a service to remind us once again (on the heels of Rosa Parks’ death) that one person CAN make a difference.