New York Times movie critic Jeanette Catsoulis demonstrated her simplistic liberal politics once again in her brief Friday review of the gay marriage documentary "The Right to Love," picking on mild concern from the subject's parents and grandparents as proving themselves "enemies of progress."
She found the movie itself "squishy" and the soundtrack "regrettably saccharine," but described left-wing MSNBC host Rachel Maddow as an "arrow of lucidity."
Arrows of lucidity -- like Rachel Maddow’s insisting that rights exist independently of the whims of a majority -- are few and far between, and the crucial legal void between marriage and civil unions is never addressed.
Coming upon opportunities for depth or nuance, Ms. Jaye seems unsure how to proceed. When Mr. Leffew’s magnificently ambivalent father confesses that he’s not sure what all the fuss is about, and his grandmother fervently hopes her grandson won’t “flaunt anything,” the film misses a golden opportunity to recognize that the enemies of progress are not always those who shout the loudest.
Is it really that shocking to find that not every senior citizen in America is presently 100% reconciled to a radical social movement (gay marriage) that was virtually non-existent only 20 years ago? Or is Catsoulis just naive?
Catsoulis has a history of expressing hostility toward social conservatism in her reviews. She didn't even try to hide her outrage over the anti-abortion movie "October Baby" last March: "...the film communicates in the language of guilt and fear."
