Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“It’s more than a comedy,” Cheryl insisted in so many words, this tale of a delusional schmo with an inflatable girlfriend and the patronizing locals who help keep his fantasy alive. “Kind of a compressed metaphor for life. And look at the words you’ve been choosing: delusional, patronizing—already the argument’s skewed in the wrong direction.” Except they’re the right words—and since when is it commendable to abet the self-deceptions of others, what in more pejorative language we’d normally call “enabling” behavior? “But their intentions are so noble and caring!” Like George Bush’s in Iraq, anything to keep the missionary impulse pacified. But what becomes of candor and transparency, or—a more narcissistic consideration—”authenticity” and trust? Because once you’ve been patronized so shamelessly, can you ever find “truth” in what such obviously “caring” people are willing to unload?
So I guess you liked the film a lot? “Not really—only it goes deeper, beyond the surface, as a story to be told and retold, than you’d think a comedy would.” Which must be a good thing, since I hardly laughed once. But a lot of that‘s been going around lately …
