The Media Mishmash

I apologize to all…five people that ready this blog (Hey, M, B, E, J and Mom) for not updating for two days. I know the world was severely lacking without my crazy, rambling opinions. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of opinions to go around!

The Hoax—Movie Review

I went to see “The Hoax” starring Richard Gere aka the legenday lover of women who angered an entire country with a sloppy dip and a few smooches and Alfred Molina as his brainy sidekick. The movie—about one unremarkable author’s escalating lies to write the “most important book of the 20th century” (the autobiography of Howard Hughes)—is an entertaining hybrid, both lighthearted buddy comedy and a dramatic exploration one man’s desire to be successful, important and powerful. It’s a buddy flick for the babyboomer’s generation that’s lousy with the serious side of infidelity, the common man’s lack of power, and how easy pulling scams were before the internet, but pokes fun at stealing files from The Pentagon. And Stanley Tucci’s in it! He uses the word “BALL FUCK.” It’s awesome.

I’m proud of myself for making it through the first twenty minutes of the movie without hyperventilating, because the protagonist’s first book didn’t sell and a powerful executive killed his second book that was an assured bestseller by his editor. (I’m in the process of writing my book, and have waking nightmares about my book—two years of tireless work—not even being published). Clifford Irving is no spring chicken, and wants something to show for his career. After he’s ousted from his hotel room in the Bahamas by the billionaire/genius/recluse, he spontaneously comes up with a plan a…well, hoax, and pulls the wool over an entire nation’s eyes with anxious Doc Oc backing him up.

The film prods the audience progresses an amusing, unpredictable rabbit hole, and when we emerge Irving believes he’s Howard Hughes, seduced by his character and accomplishments. At some point, you want him to get away with it. He’s fought so hard and crafted beautiful stories by bending the true emotions. At other points, he’s so painfully convincing, you believe he actually is in cahoots with Hughes and has been given the task of taking down a PRESIDENT. Gere is furiously talented and with an awful dye-job and a partial-prosthetic nose, he’s not the suave AIDS activist, but a lackluster Every-Man.