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Directed by: Arthur Bradford Starring: Robert Bird, Sean Costello, Susan Harrington, Larry Perry, Ronnie Simonsen How's Your News? has become my favorite documentary of all time. This movie stars five retarded adults who embark on a journey across the country from Maine to California in an RV. Along the way, they conduct on-the-street interviews for the news program How's Your News?, asking passersby about any topic that interests them. Because the five people have a range of speech and motor impairments- Larry is bound to a wheelchair and cannot talk, while Susan holds a job as a receptionist- these interviews take many forms. How's Your News? is hilarious and would be offensive if it did not treat its stars with the utmost respect. Instead, it leaves us with an insight into the life of a retarded person as well as people's attitudes towards them. I would give it the full five stars if the production quality didn't border on "home movie" at times. RATING: 4.5 PROS: Hilarious, original CONS: Low-budget quality ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.howsyournews.com
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Oct 6, 2004 15:55
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 11:44 |
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I must strongly disagree with the above review. If this isn't exploitation, then I don't know what it is. There is no laughing with the stars of the movie, it's all laughing at them, and the producers drat well know it. There is no deep message here. Is it trying to show that the mentally handicapped can do anything we can do? Of the five, one is almost normal but oddly disconnected from the world around her, one can only ramble on about celebrities, one is at a constant loss for words, and the other two can't speak coherently at all. So these aren't profiles of folks overcoming their disabilities. Then is it meant to make us feel disdain for the people who avoid them or feel awkward around them? OF COURSE the retarded make people uncomfortable. You don't want to condescend to them and yet they can't engage in regular adult conversation, so you're left with nothing to do except humor them and hope they leave you alone soon. If someone came up to me on the street and started asking me weird questions about Chad Everett, I'd feel awkward no matter what they looked like or talked like. Is that so shameful? I don't think so. So what's the point of this movie? It's laugh at the retards, plain and simple, even if the producers themselves don't realize it. One might feel some kind of affection for them, but it would be a patronizing, almost parental kind of affection. Witness the woman who "dances" with the wheelchair-bound, incomprehensible Larry. Is she really interested in Larry? No, she's doing her good deed for the day, and as a bonus she's getting it memorialized on camera for the whole world to see. Rating: 2
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Feb 2, 2005 23:49
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