Word: squirm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...confession is in order: there are movies whose feel-good sentiments and slick craft annoy me so deeply that I know they will become box-office successes or top prizewinners. I call this internal mechanism my Built-In Hit Detector. I squirm through these masterpieces of emotional pornography, jotting down derisive notes. Oh, if the contrivance is blatant enough, I may get a bit teary; it is, after all, no more difficult for filmmakers to make an audience cry by depicting, say, a child in jeopardy than it is for a lap dancer to evoke an erection in her client...
...lands in hot water and so on until we reach a crescendo of comic discomfort. The humor is minutely observed, but the improv reminds you how much nonactor Jerry Seinfeld benefited from comic backup and tight scripts. At his best, though, David can still make you laugh till you squirm...
...latest and most telling outrage--a spuming fulmination on the racial stereotypes that Americans, black and white, endure and perpetuate. A political parody of media venality, it's The Producers crossed with In Living Color, or Network meets Bulworth. And despite its sternest intentions and laudably high squirm content, the movie is often fun. Just as Mel Brooks had to turn the Springtime for Hitler production number into a giddy riot of goose steps, the polemicist in Lee occasionally surrenders to the entertainer in him and allows his sour minstrel travesty to effervesce. He points fingers but can't help...
...wanted to abandon the high road altogether tonight, he got the job done there, too. Lazio really hammered home the Bill-Hillary link; it's hard to say whether his efforts, combined with those of host Tim Russert, pushed the boundaries of good taste. The most squirm-worthy moment came when Russert played a clip of Clinton's infamous 1998 "right-wing conspiracy" interview on the "Today" show, showing the First Lady in full denial over her husband's adultery. Back onstage, Russert pressed Clinton over the circumstances: Why did she lie? "I didn't know," she said...
GOING THE DISTANCE It's enough to make a skeptic squirm. After analyzing the results of two dozen trials, researchers say there may be some merit in the alternative art of "distance healing," which includes praying for someone's well-being and "therapeutic touch," in which healers move their hands over (but not on) a patient's body. In 57% of the studies, these practices appeared to accelerate recovery or reduce pain. As for how distance healing may work, that's for a higher authority...