Why You Should Embrace This Summer's Worst Film

Why You Should Embrace This Summer's Worst Film

When archeologists attempt to understand the values of a culture, the trash they unearth often provides the most revealing clues. And so, as we approach the dog days of a summer dominated by chicken friction, let us take the pulse of our nation's attitude toward gay Americans by diving into Hollywood's dumpster of late-August releases.

For pure garbage, we need look no further than writer/director/star Dax Shepard's extraordinarily clumsy Hit and Run, co-starring Bradley Cooper and Shepard's off-screen sweetheart Kristen Bell, and opening Aug. 22. Its poster showcases three glowing quotations -- "Ridiculously Funny!"... "The Best Comedy of the Year!"... "The Perfect Comedy Duo!" -- all attributed to the same discerning critic: Chapin Young at MySpace.com. Although I respectfully disagree with Ms. Young, the summer's worst film does showcase an unlikely and enlightened plea for gay tolerance.

In this painfully unfunny "comedy," Bell plays Annie, a professor of conflict resolution who gets dragged into a shoot-'em-up car chase to Los Angeles when her redneck fiancé (Shepard) decides to prematurely leave the Witness Protection Program. Minutes into the film, Shepard's character makes an off-hand remark using the word "fags." The line, much like every other one that precedes and follows it, is witless, and if it appeared in any other mainstream American comedy, it would likely go unnoticed by the other characters.

But astute Annie turns this aside into a teachable moment: "You just said 'fags,'" she says.

"But not in a homophobic way," he attempts to rationalize. "I used it instead of 'lame.'"

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