I usually hesitate to make fun of other writers (unless they’re factually incompetent), partially because the Gawker sites and Huffington Post already have that territory covered, and partially because 99% of what I write is also nonsense (oops! Ignore that sentence — please keep coming to the site, loyal readers!)
Sometimes, though, I read something that just makes me laugh out loud (no time to abbreviate) and I just have to call attention to it on BWE, and the New York Magazine review of Public Enemies falls squarely into this exclusive category. The whole review isn’t ridiculous, but the following paragraph is the most hilariously forced, unnecessary Michael Jackson reference in the history of posthumous praise:
But the best rejoinder to Public Enemies is Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal video, which I watched again after the singer-dancer’s inevitable, untimely death. It’s a tommy-gun gangster fantasia with a touch of Guys and Dolls, and it’s everything Public Enemies isn’t: madly inventive, genre-bending, a passionate tribute to the artist as outlaw-loner. The video reminds you why the gangster has become an existential hero in pop culture: It’s how he seizes the space.
Ok. Couple things:
The author is essentially arguing that Public Enemies isn’t as good as Michael Jackson’s 20-year-old “Smooth Criminal” music video. Regardless of anyone’s opinion of Public Enemies, how are the two even the slightest bit comparable? Because they both involve people dressed up as gangsters and moving around?
Could you imagine if Michael Jackson hadn’t died last week and a critic randomly compared a full-length film to a two-decade-old music video because it kind of involved gangster people? “Sure, 28 Days Later had some action, but it failed to capture the unwavering, zombie collective mind the way the breakdown in the Thriller music video did. I think we can all agree this is a relevant comparison.”
Yes, we all loved Michael Jackson’s music videos — they’re timeless, they’re classic, they’re legitimately artistic, etc. — but I think we can find other comparisons for Public Enemies that don’t reek of extreme “must get this MJ-tribute in there at all costs” desperation.
Brilliant Charlie’s Angels episodes, perhaps?
