December 3rd, 2008
Sitting on my desk is the Nov. 24-30 edition of Variety with a giant, wrap-around ad for Milk. The ad pictures Sean Penn’s smiling, slightly addled mug and a long, laudatory quote from Peter Travers, who calls Milk “a total triumph, brimming with humor and heart.” “An American classic.” And, “If there’s a better movie around this year, with more bristling purpose, I sure haven’t seen it.”
Which has to be the most unsurprising review ever. Maybe Milk really is the best movie of 2008. I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know. What I do know is that Milk will be the best-reviewed movie of 2008, no matter what. It’s from indie darling Gus Van Sant. It’s a true story. It’s about a gay-rights pioneer. A gay-rights pioneer who was assassianted! It deals prominently and happily with homosexuality. And it stars Sean Penn. The only way this picture could be more critic-friendly is if Harvey Milk had been an alcoholic and/or physically disabled.
Seriously, who in the world would have the stones to pan this movie? I was sort of amazed to see that it had only a 94 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
Who are the 7 critics who dared to say Milk didn’t do a body good?
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