Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Salon: "Won't Back Down" is an offensive, lame union-bashing drama, which somehow stars Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal

Someone needs to launch an investigation into what combination of crimes, dares, alcoholic binges and lapses in judgment got Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal into this movie” -- Salon
Leonie sent this along (here is her own review of the film and FAQ about its backers and their political agenda.)
Scathing Salon review.  Some excerpts:

“offensive, lame union-bashing drama”…

“inept and bizarre “Won’t Back Down,” a set of right-wing anti-union talking points disguised (with very limited success) as a mainstream motion-picture-type product. Someone needs to launch an investigation into what combination of crimes, dares, alcoholic binges and lapses in judgment got Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal into this movie”

“…. script that has that disconnected, amateurish quality distinctive to conservative-oriented entertainment and plays written by fourth-graders”

“….simpering, pseudo-inspirational pap, constructed with painful awkwardness and disconnected from any narrative plausibility or social reality…”

Go read the rest! Let’s hope other reviewers follow in  similar vein


Salon review: “Won’t Back Down”: offensive, lame, America? http://shar.es/5nEwI

“Won’t Back Down”: Why do teachers’ unions hate America?

"Won't Back Down" is an offensive, lame union-bashing drama, which somehow stars Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal


2 comments:

reality-based educator said...

Huffington Post panned the movie too:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120926/us-film-review-won-t-back-down/

That's two bad reviews so far.

One wonders what Frank Bruni was watching when "Won't Back Down" inspired him to write his inane "Teachers Suck" column in the Times a few weeks back.

Maybe he was watching the video to Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down"?

reality-based educator said...

NPR gave it a bad review as well:

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/26/161546081/wont-back-down-takes-a-too-easy-way-out