"Tough Questions"

When asked whether he would be making "more political" movies, George Clooney responded (paraphrasing. This happened on the E! red carpet show): "There are tough questions out there. I'm glad there are studios out that are brave enough to let me ask them."

I'm not sure if George is hearkening back to the days of McCarthy here where the Senator was asking all the questions, but really what Mr. Clooney is doing is making statements. His movies have been roundly criticized for taking liberties with the truth and creating a completely one sided picture of an issue. I suppose this is easy to do when no one watches these movies.

• Good Night and Good Luck has grossed $24,108,987 since August of 2005.
  
• Syriana has grossed $42,079,173 since November (it also cost $50,000,000 to make. Ouch.)
  
• Neither movie made more than $500,000 in its opening weekend

To be sure, big money and big revenue does not a good movie make. Lost in Translation only grossed $44,566,004 (it cost $7,000,000 to make) in its box office run. The difference is that Lost in Translation has wide appeal: breadth but not depth. Mr. Clooney's (and Mr. Moore's) movies have depth but not breadth. That is, people who agree with them attend in droves; people who don't... don't.

And that's when you know you have a polemic. Neither movie will be watched in 2020 (or 2007 for that matter. "Hey it's a rainy day, pop in Good Night and Good Luck or maybe Syriana. But which to choose?!"). They're about as timeless as this Sunday's editorial page in the New York Times, and I haven't heard any Oscar chatter about that issue.