Vince Vaughan has taken a lot of heat over the past few weeks. With the recent string of LGBT teen suicides attributed to bullying, the supposed funny man's trailer for The Dilemma couldn't have come at a worse time. While people have taken issue with the use of term "that's so gay" to describe something as stupid for years now, not a whole lot seems to be changing. Fox (the studio behind the film) has reportedly cut it from the trailer, although there is no word yet on whether it will make an appearance in the movie itself. Personally? There are a couple of issues I have with this whole debate. Watch the trailer for The Dilemma
As a gay man growing up in small town Ohio, "that's so gay" was thrown around a lot. Did it sting a little? Sure it did, but then again, teens can be pretty mean spirited. No, I'm not going to bore you all with my story of "oh, it's so painful being different," but that's probably at least a little part of it. Instead, I'd like to address something else, something revolutionary. Okay, maybe not revolutionary, but let's just say I have a different bone to pick with The Dilemma.
First and foremost, I agree with the indignation over Vaughan's line in the trailer. I'm not going to storm into the whole kids become violent because of video games and movies tirade, but I think it's generally accepted that kids do pick up some things from movies. Things aren't made much better when everyone looks dumbfounded as if Vaughan has said the most mind blowingly innovative thing ever when he delivers the line. So, just to be clear, I share the general indignation that most people have over the line. I just want to know where the rest of the outrage is over The Dilemma.
It's the movie itself. Let's not get too political. There are plenty of people that find the line offensive and then there are others who believe that the P.C. police are overreacting. I'd just like to take a break from the usual controversy and discuss something near and dear to my heart. The idea that, pure and simple, this is not funny. Sure, I bet I'd get a whole lot more people to rally around me if I was talking about the typical controversy surrounding this trailer, but the thing that disturbs me the most is that this is what passes for comedy these days. Can I at least get a little support that the stunning lack of humor in yet another Vince Vaughan comedy is my source of outrage? I mean, you've got Vaughan being the affable, freakishly tall guy and Kevin James is being the goofy fat dude, while the women just look hot. Where's the comedy there? I mean, what's there that we haven't seen before? Can we just take the time to address that?
I understand if people are a little too busy being politically correct which is all well and good, but I just figured I'd throw my two cents in on the topic. I don't know about you but whether the movie boasted "that's so gay" or not, it'd be tough to get me into that theater... unless by some cruel twist of fate it ends up being me job to review it.