2/27/2005

edited post

[first part of this post now deleted for privacy reasons]

My regular readers know that I thoroughly enjoy certain kinds of genre films and comedies. Yes, I'm a super-smart literary critic -- but I see all of Snoop Dogg's films. (That's not an apology, but an explanation to those of you who are only invested in Serious Filmaking.) So we caught the cheap matinee of Man of the House today and laughed ourselves silly. I love any movie with a dance showdown (from Electric Boogaloo to Honey, there's a whole history of contemporary film to be written about the transformation from sheriffs with guns to girls with big booties). The dancing and cheering is only small part of this film, which makes loving nods to a whole range of popular genres. But what really tickled me? First off, a hot female English professor (Anne Archer) who doesn't sound like an idiot when she's talking to her class; and Tommy Lee Jones as a Texas Ranger who at one point gives a rousing anti-plagiarism speech to one of the cheerleaders in his charge. Say this in Jones's thick Texas accent for full effect: "Plagiarism? That's an academic criiiiiime. Punishable by academic deeaaath." Awesome. If it weren't copyright fraud, I'd love a clip of that to put on my course website.