Secretariat: American values movie gives liberal reviewer hives

Hollywood has made another family-friendly, American-spirited, hard work, "you can do anything you set your mind to" type of movie again. And that just ticks some people off.

"Although the troubling racial subtext is more deeply buried here than in 'The Blind Side' (where it's more like text, period), 'Secretariat' actually goes much further, presenting a honey-dipped fantasy vision of the American past as the Tea Party would like to imagine it, loaded with uplift and glory and scrubbed clean of multiculturalism and social discord. In the world of this movie, strong-willed and independent-minded women like Chenery are ladies first (she's like a classed-up version of Sarah Palin feminism), left-wing activism is an endearing cute phase your kids go through (until they learn the hard truth about inheritance taxes), and all right-thinking Americans are united in their adoration of a Nietzschean Überhorse, a hero so superhuman he isn't human at all."

In other words, according to Salon.com reviewer Andrew O'Hehir, the movie sucks because people are too optimistic. Women are classy. The horse makes history. And there's a happy ending.
If only there could have been more profanity, explicit sex scenes, drug usage, an ignorant and blatantly racist white man who was also a military veteran, a whimpy priest or pastor, and a burning picture of Richard Nixon.

Those in the dark, love the dark. And despise the light.



Here's what the conservative reviewer Carl Kozlowski at BigHollywood.com said,

"That rich cast is a testament to the strength of Mike Rich’s screenplay, one in which Rich builds on his record of uplifting sports movies such as 'The Rookie.' He also pulls off the impressive feat of not needing a single swear word or other impressive element to tell his tale, making it a perfect family film, while in no way making the film seem sugar-coated or condescending. He also gets in some solid digs against the hippie and anti-war movements of the film’s time frame. Put it all together, and 'Secretariat' shows that sometimes a solid, sturdy ride can still beat the flash in the pan entertainment around it by a country mile."

A movie worth the money to watch it, a rare quality. I'll be sitting in the seventh row with my popcorn.