“Shall I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool? Will I seem hopelessly square if I find “Kick-Ass” morally reprehensible and will I appear to have missed the point?”

via Kick-Ass :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews.

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Richard Clark

Richard Clark is the Founding Editor of Christ and Pop Culture. He is also the managing editor of Gamechurch and a freelance writer for Unwinnable, Paste, and other outlets. He lives with his wife in Louisville, KY and has a MA in Theology and the Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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3 Comments

  1. Yes, he will have missed the point. Hopelessly square? Probably not (though he’s of an age where he is almost by definition square—so that shouldn’t really concern him overly much). As for having feelings or pretending to be cool? I suppose it’s really up to him. Clearly he does have feelings (as do all sentient beings), but having feelings and pretending to be cool are absolutely not mutually exclusive. In fact they go hand-in-hand. But if he does appear to be cool, we’ll know he’s just pretending, because the person who’s really and truly cool does not ever ask the question: what shall I do to appear cool. The cool person just is cool.

    Roger Ebert is too self-conscious to be cool, so if he looks cool, we’ll know he’s faking it. Fortunately for him, I don’t think he’s in any shape to be mistaken for cool at any time in the near future.

    I know: load off all our minds.

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  2. All in all, it is surprising to see that he does not really review the movie, though. Surely he’s seen movies that are tasteless to his point of view (though from his description, this movie does sound like a candidate for the “All time Worst Movie to Show a Kid” award).

    Will Ebert find more and more movies that are as tasteless to him? I would have to think so, and this may be the beginning of the end for him as a movie critic. That said, I don’t necessarily read a lot of his reviews, so I don’t know how to compare this one to his others.

    But I think it raises a good point. To what extent do we view tasteless things. To the point that we recognize their tasteless-ness? How long do we stare at it, repulsed, until we may have to admit that we are fascinated by it and perhaps even enjoy it.

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  3. Yeah, taking a child to see Kick-Ass would be right up there with taking a child to see Kill Bill. For me though, this is one of the two comic-book movies that interest me this year (neither of which are appropriate fare for children).

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