Ben Stiller’s honor is intact, courtesy of Owen Wilson
It is rare that a reviewer slams not one film but instead an actor’s entire life’s work. Not that I should the one to throw stones — I’m often a sourpuss and contrarian in regards to pop culture, but it does seem above and beyond to write an entire essay in a publication with a wide audience the sole purpose of which is to criticize a single performer and the people who enjoy his work. The overzealous negativity made the essay an interesting read. The mismatches between the impression the author projected on his subject and my own impression of Stiller’s work felt to me to be revealing of its author. Denby came across as a bit of an elitist crank.
The essay included, among other bizarre notions, a condescending comparison between the intellectual merits and commercial successes of Mr. Stiller and Martin Short. I am not sure when Mr. Short become the incarnation of highbrow comedy, and I have never thought of him as anything but a very commercially successful and funny comic, but in the essay he is praised as a comic genius who has not had his share of commercial recognition while Stiller’s formula for his less deserved commercial success is revealed to be: “he’s willing to aim lower”.
Owen Wilson, a very funny man in his own right, wrote a letter in response to Denby’s essay that is both hilarious and effective. Fun stuff.
