Pajiba

That is so offensive...and awesome.

And for good measure....

...FUCK NIC CAGE

Sorry for posting twice!

What about Juliette Lewis in The Other Sister? That movie was painful to watch b/c a) I kept laughing at her horrendous performance, and then feeling guilty for laughing at a "retard", and b) it had Diane Keaton in it, and she's just the worst. I find the tagline for the movie hysterical... A love story for the romantically challenged.

Thank you, Dustin.

If there's one thing that drives me batshit crazy, it's over the top portrayals of the mentally disabled in movies. I refused to watch Radio out of hand, and of course there was no way I was going to watch anything with The Beast in it, but at the end of I Am Sam, when everyone was crying and sobbing with heartfelt emotion, I was seething with righteous indignation. It's the grossest form of emotional blackmail, I'll have no part of it. How dare they think they can make me feel sorry for the handicapped based solely on an overly emotional and frankly wholly unrealistic portrayal? I REFUSE to succumb to a genre of film that uses a MENTAL HANDICAP as an excuse for a laxity of plot development and characterization. It's lazy, and moreover, it's insulting.

Jackasses.

My college roommate used to watch The Other Sister over and over again just to torture me. She loved how it made my eyeballs bleed.

My little cousin has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound and has some mental deficiencies...I don't get offended by portrayals of the handicapped in movies, but sometimes it's hard not to cringe. Mainly I think of Connor and how he'd likely laugh about the performances and then school me in baseball knowledge.

I know I'm digging in the back of the vault, but anyone remember "Like Normal People" with Sean Cassidy and Linda Purl? Whoo-boy!

RE: Warren

...and then he goes on to rip out that dude's eye in Deadwood.

I was catching up on my Pajiba earlier today and I posted this defence of Cage in the Knowing trailer comments, but I think it still applies to this. It probably makes me a wanker for just posting the same thing again, but I'll just have to live with it. Here we go with a defence of Nic Cage ...

Ok, look, I'm a bit tired of the totally irrational Nic Cage hate-on. I am well aware that Cage has done an awful lot of bad films, but I find the intense contempt and scorn that any mention of him produces to be bordering on the pathological. I don't wish to attempt to defend Cage's career as a whole, largely because that would be a) idiotic and b) impossible, but I think we have to cut him the same slack that we do for other prolific Hollywood actors who regularly make shitty movies. Consider, for example, John Cusack; everyone loves Cusack, heck, even I love Cusack, but I think it is only fair to say that this love comes from a handfull of outstanding roles and not for his body of work as a whole. Where Cage can do no right, Cusack can do no wrong.
In the past decade, Cage has done Bringing Out the Dead, Adaptation, Matchstick Men, Lord of War, and the Weather Man; he has also forced us to endure 8mm, Gone in 60 Seconds, the Family Man, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Windtalkers, World Trade Center, the Wicker Man (!), Ghost Rider, and Next. I think Bringing Out the Dead and Matchstick Men are both badly underrated, and that Cage was intentionally hamming it up for Ghost Rider, but I think it is fair to say that there is more bad than good. But not everything is at the Wicker Man end of the spectrum. And I do mean "end" ...
At the same time, Cusack gave us Cradle Will Rock, Being John Malkovitch, High Fidelity, and the Ice Harvest; on the other hand he also gave us Pushing Tin, America's Sweethearts, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, Must Love Dogs, and 1408. There are a few others in there that could go either way, and frankly I haven't seen (Grace is Gone, War Inc, etc), but that alone implies that they are mediocre at best, and certainly not something that I must see.
Now, I'm not saying that we all need to start hating Lloyd Dobler. All I'm getting at is that both actors have made a lot of crap for each quality film that he has done, but it is Cage who is regularly assaulted by the contributors and commenters. It's about fairness, Pajibans. Let's all try to hate everyone equally, and not just save it for the easy targets like Cage.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled commenters.

I agree with Snath--I just snorted soup on my keyboard. Thanks...

...and then he goes on to rip out that dude's eye in Deadwood.

Well, if Daniel Tosh's extensive scientific research is correct (and I've no reason to assume it isn't), the mentally handicapped have superhuman strength, so we really should have expected that sort of thing from Warren.

Daniel Tosh seems like he's a bit of a douchebag, but I can't help but find him hilarious whenever I see him on TV. I love his style.

Wait a second...Rosie O'Donnell was ACTING?! Well, you could have fooled America! I mean, have you "read" her blog lately?

To Gin Monkey, I have to say I think it's the hair.

Honestly though, people are willing to give Cusack a break because he seems like a nice guy and he doesn't seem full of himself. Also, his bad movies are more like mediocre chick flicks. If you're gonna have Nic Cage's attitude you better put out some effing good movies, hombre.

I liked Juliette Lewis in that movie Kalifornia (yes, with a 'K'). She was cute. She was only half retard in that one though.

She probably thought she should go full retard because she saw Leo do it in What's Eating Gilbert Grape and then get an Oscar for it. Not everyone can go full retard.

beaverplatz- i worked in columbus, OH from 1991 to 1996.

also- i agree the dicaprio was awesome in gilbert grape. otherwise, i can't think of a decent performance.

I didn't have a chance to read all the entries but did somebody nominate Corky from Life Goes On? Man, he was terrible!

hee hee hee.....

poor taste but I was born without a heart so fuck off.

Jay you and Liz Lemon need to get married and have babies.

I learned everything I know about mental retardation from "Retardation: A Celebration", narrated by Wilford Brimley. Who wants cake? They all want cake. And they love shiny things.

I know I'm digging in the back of the vault, but anyone remember "Like Normal People" with Sean Cassidy and Linda Purl? Whoo-boy!

Posted by: jimbob at December 17, 2008 1:33 PM

"Rah-Jah!"

Even though I only saw this once when I was nine, we would quote the hell out of this movie for the next 20 years.

"No babies Rah-Jah, they say we will eat them."

Hell yeah.

"Rah-Jah!"

I have a friend who remembers this movie very well, and says this to me all the time. It kills me every time. And then I feel horrible for laughing. Largely because I now work for an organization that runs group homes and programs for the developmentally disabled (in NY state, which is why I was curious, glittergirl), and it just kills me to see these guys get made fun of.

And yet... "Rah-jah!" will continue to kill me. I'm going straight to hell.

Hey now, don't make me a sitcom widow! As with any cats showing up at the door, children must have a woman with them.

One of the Educational Archives Sex & Drugs dvd's has an old short about "Training Specials". It's informative and ridiculous and scary and....at one point you're just kinda frozen.

First of all....Rosie O'Donnell's turn in Shamu has a Bus Pass is hilarious!!!! My brother and I will call each other from time to time and yell out lines from that movie.

"DO YOU LIKE MARSHMALLOWS"
"MY TOILET SEAT IS BROKEN"

Oh the times we have.....

Let's add a couple to the list:

1. Any Paris Hilton movie....bitch is retarded, ain't she?

2. Stallone in his later films....wait, he may not be retarded, maybe it was a stroke.

3. Anyone involved in making, acting in or seeing a Tyler Perry movie.

4. Nathan Fillion in Firefly.

5. Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Kitsch

I fear expulsion from the Pajibaverse for taking a stand, but the truth must be told.....,

My late uncle was severely mentally retarded, and I get so fucking frustrated when retarded adults portrayed by actors seem to get relegated to shouty, goofy comic relief. Talking in a funny voice (or that barking shit Rosie was doing), rolling the head around, and saying cutesy things...grrrr frustrating. My uncle wasn't magical or surprisingly wise or inspirational. Sometimes he was damn unpleasant to be around.

The only movie I can think of featuring a mentally challenged character that didn't piss the shit out of me was Sling Blade, and even that got borderline a few times.

alabama pink- i like what you said about your uncle. the way you describe him is the way i'd describe 99.9% of the general human population.

people used to ask me if i was "inspired" by the folks i worked with. i'd tell them about the 90% blind/deaf guy who won medals in special olympic swim meets, but also like to ask if he could touch my bellybutton and wanted to smash my car for some reason.

he could hear if you screamed your name into his ear. my name is jennifer, and he called me "furniture".

"FURNITURE! I WANT TO TOUCH YOUR BELLY HOLE!!! THEN I WILL SMASH YOUR CAR AND YOU WILL CALL THE POLICE!!!!"

ah....heartwarming good times.....

"The 5 Worst Depictions of a Mentally-Handicapped Person" was the caption.

And somehow in my mind's eye I read;

"The 5 Worst Decapitations of a Mentally-Handicapped Person"

Is it wrong that I'm slightly disappointed now?

DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape AND Shia Lebeouf in Disney Channel Original Tru Confessions! Best.Movie.Ever.

"I wanna fly the kite Tru!"

OMG, how could you put I Am Sam on this list?! That might be the BEST film about a mentally handicapped person (except for Rain Man)!

we do need a separate thread for the cerebral palsy interpretations, we do we do! daniel day-lewis being the very best, of course, and Music Within was pretty bad. also, that guy in the tom solondz movie who calls the girl, "just another white cunt."
the "facts of life" girl is actually, honest-to-gosh CP, though.

My sister and I have often discussed sitting down to watch "Riding the Bus with My Sister" - now I'm sold. I love the "sister" theme - as though the "normal" sibling is somehow saddled with the mentally challenged sibling. "The Other Sister" is not to be believed.

I'd like to add, also, Corky in "Life Goes On." Yes, I know he legitimately has Downs Syndrome, but I always felt he was milked for laughs, i.e. the cringe-worthy "Fight the Power" debacle.

Wow, I've never seen any of Riding the Bus with my Sister until I saw that trailer. She sounds like that little girl Amy Poehler used to play on SNL: "Rick! Rick! Rick!"

I think an upcoming random list should be dedicated to the non-annoying actors that have portrayed "challenged" characters and have done a good job. Billy-Bob Thornton in Slingblade has always been one of my favorite movies. I reckon it is. Mmm.

Of course Nic Cage is first! Didn't I ask you guys to boycott any mention of him!? I know he sucks but even mentioning him on here might put a curse on Pajiba and then all the reviewers will be sure to write something that sucks each time his name is mentioned on her. Okay, I'm not putting a curse on here...but really...!

FUC NIC CAGE!

Disagree with The Ringer pick, Knoxsville was supposed to play a 'retard' in the typical Hollywood style, there was no milking from where I was sitting,

For best portrayals, what about Edward Norton's turn in The Score, the largely unimpressive heist film with Marlon Brando and Bob De Niro. Again, his character was only pretending to be handicapped, but what a brilliant and amazingly realistic turn it was.

He's scheduled to direct and star as a detective with Tourette's Syndrome in Motherless Brooklyn next year too, a condition that Hollywood and tv manipulate and falsify just as much,

Talking of the wicker man i finally got around to seeing the original a few days ago and wow what a film. I'd somehow managed to avoid the climatic ending and the fact that the whole thing was a ploy from the start and it was all the better for it, although seeing Britt Ekland prancing around in the buff was just as good.

Now I can't bloody wait to see the Nicolas Cage trainwreck version just to see how bad they have f*cked it up. Oh man, that will be a treat, I do love a butchered remake.