Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Being There

1979
Directed by Hal Ashby
Starring Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine

Peter Sellers plays a gardener who has lived with a rich guy his whole life, and has never been in the real world. The rich guy dies and the house is seized, leaving the gardener homeless an thrown into a new and scary world. He is possibly mildly retarded or autistic, but no one notices. Instead, the world thinks he is totally profound and he becomes friends with president.

I think this movie is supposed to be commenting on how easily Americans will believe in and trust someone, even if what they are saying is bullshit. Cute, I guess, but not a new idea. This movie is absurd and postmodern and Peter Sellers-y, but it was tedious and tiresome and I do not recommend it.

C+

No comments:

Post a Comment