The Duke Boys and Clueless Filmmakers.

One of the first substantial conversations that Stephanie and I ever had, was about the lack of female directors in the movie business. Especially considering that there are quite a bit of movies that are made for women, about women. (more on this later) This doesn't just stop at women though. It would seem that there are a lot of movies that are made by people who just clearly don't know what they are talking about.
Heres one:
The Dukes of Hazzard. I saw this movie today. First let me say, that this was THE show of my childhood. Ok, this and the Muppet Show. I have been looking forward to seeing it, but I'll admit that I did not have high expectations. It was not particularly great. In fact it really wasn't very good. If you know the Dukes well, you might find enough in jokes to make it ok. Which is how I felt. Otherwise, I can't imagine someone liking it very much. Unless of course you are not from the South and enjoy laughing at dumb hicks.

I have read a little from the director Jay Chandrasekhar, who says that he loved the show as a kid growing up outside of Chicago. He says all the right things. He says that he wanted to cast as many Southerners as possible. He says the studio wanted the movie to be like Super Troopers, which he made and wanted to be like Smokey and the Bandit. Another Southern Classic. But I saw this movie, and I don't get any of that. Here's a movie about Southerners that just felt like a cartoon from start to finish.

Oh I realize that in most ways, it was meant to be a cartoon. But the problem is, that it was made to be so shallow that all that is left is just a series of jokes. And all the jokes are based around hicks being dumb. I watched Man of the House this weekend, and that movie was an absurd and silly movie too, but at least Tommy Lee Jones got to have some motivation. Some growth. I'm not saying that I wanted Dukes of Hazzard to be Citizen Kane, but it could have been a little more than what it was. A series of Hillbilly jokes.

And no Southern person in the history of the world every used the word Y'all to refer to just one person. Ever.


-T