Throwing Stones at a Sinner
"Does The Widow of St. Pierre depict Christlike mercy or an abhorrent offense to justice? Plus: Spy Kids makes the theater safe for the whole family, and critics respond to The Tailor of Panama, Someone Like You, Tomcats, and Series 7."
Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 4/01/2001 12:00AM
5 of 5
* * *
As the weekend's fourth-highest-grossing film, the crass, locker-room-humor comedy Tomcats is—sadly—drawing enough of an audience that it merits a mention here as well. Michael Elliott writes, "I would think that the audience old enough to see this R-rated film would have long stopped being titillated by such immature and misogynic humor." And Phil Boatwright shakes his head. "Boys just can't seem to get enough of sexual innuendo mingled with flatulence jokes. Girls, I can only hope that those backwards-ball-cap-topped, baggy-pants-wearing high school heartthrobs of yours will outgrow their taste in movies. But it doesn't look like Hollywood is going to."
Side Dishes
Series 7 is a violent satire in which reality television becomes survival of the fittest … with shotguns. Brooke Smith, who screamed in The Silence of the Lambs and then illuminated Vanya on 42nd Street, plays the film's central contestant.
The folks at Preview object to the film for the violent nature of its characters: "Few of the killings are graphic. But the suggested images often imply gruesome deaths, such as a girl being beaten with a club." The reviewers at CultureWatch.net, meanwhile, find valuable insights in Series 7's ideas. "We are reminded repeatedly in the Bible not to test God—Jesus says this to the devil when he is tempted. Series 7 illustrates how we as humans do this repeatedly. America is quite fond of this concept as we test God with extreme sports and whenever we place something sacred that he has given us at unnecessary risk."
Meanwhile, mainstream critics seem unsure of the film. The New Yorker's review calls the film "harsh and strident, but it's not without some very funny moments. The film eventually trips over its own feet: it wants to play a joke on the audience ('Why are you laughing?') but also to be just a joke ('Please laugh')."
Coming soon: Critics respond to the Morgan Freeman thriller Along Came a Spider and Johnny Depp's new film about drugs, Blow.
Jeffrey Overstreet is on the board of Promontory Artists Association, a non-profit organization based in Seattle, which provides community, resources, and encouragement for Christian artists. He edits an artists' magazine (The Crossing), publishes frequent film and music reviews on his Web site (Looking Closer), and is at work on a series of novels.
Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere
See earlier Film Forum postings for these other movies in the box-office top ten:Heartbreakers, Exit Wounds, The Brothers, Enemy at the Gates, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Traffic, and The Mexican.
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