Todd’s Movie Blog

Leave it to comic strip to put movie reviews in perfect context.  One of my favorite strips is Darby Conley’s Get Fuzzy, a humorous comic about a guy living with a friendly but not too bright dog and a self-centered, bad tempered cat (you know, real pets).  The strip has always been a satirical updating of Garfield, and this past week they have set their sights on movie reviewers and the people that read them.   Main character Rob has pulled up nothing but negative reviews of films he likes and then gets angrier and angrier at what he reads and commenting on line about how stupid the reviewer is.  Helpful Satchel the dog wants to know why Rob is intnetionally making himself angry, which Rob can not explain, and finally Bucky the cat comes in to put everything in perspective, which is that they are disturbing his noon time nap and need to shut up.  In the short space of a week’s daily strips Conley has dismantled the entire concept of reviews and readers.  We don’t go to sites to research if we would want to see a new movie coming out, we go to see our opinion vindicated, or as with this story arc, we go to pick a fight.  The deep, dark, truthful mirror always hurts, but at least this time it also makes you laugh, which is always the best kind of satire.  Thanks Mr. Conley for holding up that mirror.