“Sneak Previews” movie critic Michael Medved doesn’t think a mainstream publisher would have printed his Hollywood vs. America if he had been a Christian. A practicing Jew, Medved exercises moral judgment in evaluating films—something quite out of fashion in critical circles. Fortunately, although Christian-bashing is part of basic training for life in Tinseltown, anti-Jewish attitudes are not politically correct. Thus Medved can get a hearing.
Nevertheless, this renegade critic is not without his critics. Even as a Jew, he is vilified as a secret agent for Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.
Medved says his wife, Diane Medved, has made keeping people’s marriages together “her purpose in the world.” As a clinical psychologist and the author of The Case Against Divorce, she often joins her husband in battling Hollywood’s pernicious values. Recently she counseled a man who left his wife, not for another woman, but for the “myth of ‘Studs.’ ” Those who have watched Fox TV’s hit program of that name or who have seen almost any recent movie about single adults know the myth.
Michael Medved summarizes that lie: “Single people are having a wonderfully orgasmic time, because there is a plethora of available babes just waiting to jump in the sack with any available man.” As usual, Hollywood needs a reality check. And Diane Medved’s counselee is getting one, too.
Medved enjoyed his interview with CT’s Michael Maudlin so much that their scheduled 45 minutes stretched to two-and-one-half hours. Excerpts from their conversation begin on page 22.
DAVID NEFF, Managing Editor
Cover painting by Paul Turnbaugh.
