My 2 cents

The movie Tropic Thunder has already garnered some controversy. (And not from the re-emergence of Black face as an art form either.)

Apparently, advocates for the disabled have said they will picket the movies premiere in Los Angeles. They are also encouraging others not buy tickets to see this film.

In TROPIC THUNDER, Ben Stiller plays a character called "Simple Jack" and as part of a subplot of the film is constantly being referred to as "RETARDED". This has some worried that people with learning disabilities will be offended by this picture.

{Representatives of the Special Olympics, the Arc of the United States, the National Down Syndrome Congress, the American Association of People with Disabilities and other groups met with studio executives last week to discuss the film, but DreamWorks did not make any changes.----YAHOO}

Ben Stiller, who also directed the picture, in my opinion is just trying to be entertaining. This is the guy who made Jim Carey scary in THE CABLE GUY. AND did bad impressions of celebrities on his canceled sketch comedy show. (Which I thought was funny at the time).

We (yeah me too) are all guilty of satirizing the limitations of others. Is this possibly the most offense film ever made? No. I have seen and heard of worse. But I have not seen the movie TROPIC THUNDER, yet. Do I want to? Well, yeah.

I can remember in the not so distance past a certain film in which Johnny Knoxville played a guy pretending to be (dare I used the word) DISABLED so he could win at the Special Olympics. I think it was called THE RINGER. Where were the committees and naysayers then, huh?

Look see the movie or don't see the movie. Put your money to better use or go have a look see at this film and hopefully (or not) enjoy.

This is not going to win any Oscars. This is not another BIRTH OF A NATION. This is not a call to arms or for alarm.

For the record, I am African American (who has been called retarded once or twice in childhood) and I approved this blog entry.