Ann Coulter: Brewer. Patriot. Film Critic

On November 9, 2005, Ann Coulter offered a review of sorts of "Good Night and Good Luck." I say "of sorts," because apparently she didn't actually, you know, watch the film. I'll leave her politics to bloggers who focus on this sort of thing, but one of her quotes jumped out at me:

"I don't intend to see his movie because — except for the McCarthy parts — it sounds like a snoozefest. (Half the reviewers so far have said "good night" to Clooney, and the other half have said "good luck.")

Indeed? I remembered reading Ebert's review, which was pretty upbeat. As was The Washington Post, USA Today, and the LA Times. But, I figured Miss Ann is better informed than I, so I checked out other reviews of GNAGL, looking for the dreadful ones that she mentioned.

I searched throught 117 reviews, in fact. And I found a negative one. One. Out of 117. Phil Hall, from FilmThreat, describes the film as "a travesty." Intrigued, I pored over his review, expecting the kind of outrageous indignation provided by Miss Ann. What I found was that Hall felt the film did a poor job of portraying Murrow, and accurately depicting the real threats of McCarthyism. Hall finshes his review with:

"THE PARALLELS FROM THEN TO NOW. Some people have been itching for controversy in trying to link the McCarthy parallels of the 1950s to the reign of Dubya today. Forget it, because it doesn’t fit. The shame of yesteryear’s politics bear little resemblance to the shame of today’s (and, of course, there is no Murrow on today’s TV). “Good Night, And Good Luck” does not play as a warning against contemporary government, so Bush-bashers have to look elsewhere.

Those who wish to know what Murrow accomplished should seek out the recent DVD collection of his most famous broadcasts to see the original man in action. “Good Night, And Good Luck” does not do Murrow justice. In fact, the film is a travesty.

What to conclude? Well, a cynic might say that Miss Ann was simply fabricating all those horrific critics of GNAGL, from critics as offended as she that Clooney would canonize Edward R. Murrow. Not being a cynic, I must therefore conclude that... um... she saw some other reviews... besides the 117 that I saw.