Charlie Rose

Jay_In_PA  09/12/2008 12:23 PM Report

Saw the movie and thought it was funny. As for the controversy, you can only please some of the people some of time, you can’t please all the people all of the time.

GQtaste  08/20/2008 02:18 AM Report

Also Stiller and Matthew should have switched roles. But I can see why w/ Stiller being in charge why he wanted to play an action star but that is one character he couldn't pass off ever.

GQtaste  08/20/2008 02:16 AM Report

Some of you guys are real babies. You need to get a life too because it's a comedy not Iraq or the recession or war on drugs, etc. And yes you are way too sensitive and are barking up the wrong tree. I thought liberals were against censorship? And art should have no boundaries whatsoever. But everybody loves to get mad at such silly and zany things these days.

scripts7  08/18/2008 02:09 PM Report

Mr. Charlie Rose really persists. He wants to know why all these powerful creatives keep saying the script is the problem. Like any executive producer, he doubts. I have my theories -- I want to know too. (Mr. Stiller is a top guy. He's following the "script".) And so it goes. The search for answers continues.

As for this film, it's good work. Unfortunately, count out Asia. Please ask the question of the next commercial movie people guest: what can Asia be counted on to deliver for money? What proportion of box office?

It's interesting how the creatives balanced the gutsy stereotype issues with the commercial boundaries. It worked. Hats off to them for not shying away from the gutsy stuff like market-based race casting and Oscar hypocrisy. How often do we get a film that tries to deal with some homegrown serious stuff in a funny way. Newfound respect for Mr. Stiller. With that said, it's very hard to both act and direct in your own films, especially when you've given yourself the second-most controversial part. Praiseworthy film, nevertheless.

For the sake of inquiry, the inclusion of international (commercial, not just art) film would be welcome. Answers related to what's behind the creative curtain might be more forthcoming.

Lisa D  08/17/2008 07:02 AM Report

Yes, the word "retard" is offensive and is used in this movie to show how offensive people are who use the word casually and thoughtlessly. Herein lies the danger of protesting a movie without bothering to see it. What he is mocking here is not people with special needs, but the cynical and offensive attitude that is prevalent in Hollywood that stories about said people are simply award season fodder. After "Rainman" got an Oscar for Dustin Hoffman, there were a slew of movies that were trying to copy his sincere work with far less sincere work of their own. THAT is the mockery that is happening in this movie. Ben stiller is not making fun of Vietnam veterans, black people or those with special needs; he is making fun of the strange often cynical business that he has seen his while life and he knows it well. If anything he is in the same side as the very groups that are attacking his film. He is not participating in exploitation; he is arguing against it. No one who saw the movie with an even remotely open mind could think otherwise.

Judy Jeong  08/17/2008 12:01 AM Report

"Retardation" is a word that is offensive. It's that simple.

And it is even more offensive the way the word was used in movie.

Not all movies and their contents using people with developmental disabilities or cognitive disaiblities are all offensive - but this one is.

Just like "N" (Negro) - word has to be avoided, this "R" word has to be avoided as much as possible.

I am disappointed to see Ben Stiller could not say, "I am sorry for what happened." or "I'm sorry that I overlooked at this issue but now I learned from it."

Mike Koss  08/16/2008 09:09 PM Report

There is an "anti-PC" backlash now that is pervading popular culture. Its about time, I think. How did Americans become so thin-skinned in the 90's that we had to banish whole pages from the dictionary in fear of offending some of them?

This movie is designed to offend as many people as possible - and it's damn funny doing so.

Mary  08/16/2008 07:03 PM Report

Mr. Rose, I was saddened to see you give Ben Stiller a pass over the controversy revolving around his frequent use of the word "retard" in his film Tropic Thunder. He didn't actually tell the truth. The disability groups that were supposed to screen the film on the Friday before the premiere were put off until the day of the premiere. The studio knew exactly what it was doing, they knew how upsetting the film would be to anyone who is part of a special needs family, and why give them the weekend to organize. Why didn't you push him more? Why didn't you ask why they didn't have anyone on the set involved in the special needs community. Ben Stiller pretty much just tells a half truth about the screening process. He says that the film was screened hundreds of times and this issue never came up. Could it be because the audience was asked about Robert Downey Jr.'s blackface, and no one was asked about how people would perceive someone with an Intellectual Disability? I was very disappointed in your interview. You sucked up to Ben Stiller and didn't stand up for people who can't stand up for themselves.

Tom  08/16/2008 11:26 AM Report

Mary, et al., it's a movie. Not Gospel, not a handbook on how to conduct oneself, its not even representative of the actors personal beliefs or opinions. You and all the rest, who are compelled to protest as soon as your moral feathers are ruffled, need to stop, take a breath and relax. Movie making is a business, true. But remember this, movie making is an art first! Art has been interpreted and misinterpreted since the beginning of time. Art is many things, it excites inspires, angers, thrills. Has the movie been screened by the 'Challenged Crowd'? I am willing to bet they enjoyed it from the opening scene to the final frame. Mary I am not saying you are an idiot. I am simply asking you and your kind to stop pissing on everything everybody else is trying to enjoy. See ya at the movies, or at the very least the protest outside the theater.

TABS  08/16/2008 03:54 AM Report

Mr Stiller is quiet erudite. His sense of comedy is that of Gen X, and is quiet lost on someone who was brought up on the likes of "Kiss Me Stupid." The premise of his new movie seems to be broadly the same as the Bill Murray vehicle "The Man Who Knew To Little." However from the trailers shown it does seem like a workman like effort.