Reviewers Find Tea Party Link In 'Prince of Persia'

The movie "Prince of Persia" hit theaters this week.  And although it's based on a decades-old video game and set in the sixth century, reviewers across the nation have identified a very contemporary link: The Tea Party.

McClatchy Newspapers's Connie Ogle writes that Alfred Molina, in the role of Amar, "plays a sort of cross between Han Solo with dental-hygiene issues and a Tea Party supporter."  According to the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips, the character "spews anti-government and tax rhetoric straight out of a tea party rally."  The Catholic News Services's John P. McCarthy notes: "Only the anti-government chatter of a mercenary sheik named Amar (Alfred Molina) elicits a few chuckles, since it echoes the contemporary Tea Party movement."

At gwinnettdailypost.com, Michael Clark views the Molina character as "an ancient conspiracy-theory fearmonger who would fit in quite well with today’s tea party mind-set."  Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey observes: "between this (movie) and 'Robin Hood,' you would think Hollywood was run by the 'tea party.'"  Christopher Lloyd of Florida's HeraldTribune.com reports:

Alfred Molina turns up as a shady sheikh who runs an ostrich-racing operation, has a deadly African knife guy as his best friend, and delivers a lot of angry tirades about the government taking all his money through taxes to spend on stuff he doesn't like. I think the Tea Party just found its Adam.

Writing at Salon.com, Steven Boone finds "Molina is just this side of heaven flashing a gold tooth while dispensing Tea Party rhetoric and conspiracy theories."

We know that many in the media hold the Tea Party movement and its goals in contempt. Apparently, though, they just can't stop thinking - and writing - about it.