By Debbie Schlussel

Two out of three new movies debuting in theaters today are decent. So things are definitely getting better.

* “McFarland, USA“: I had mixed feelings about this. I mostly liked it and do recommend it. But, while it is an incredibly uplifting and positive movie (and if I had kids, I would take them to see it), it also contains several scenes using the stock narrative that most White people are prejudiced and bigoted (in this case, against Hispanics of Mexican descent). This Disney movie has an overall positive message: that no matter who you are or where you come from, through hard work and doing what’s right, you can succeed in America. And, for that reason alone, it’s worthy. I thought that this was going to be a propaganda film for illegal alien amnesty. But, thankfully, it wasn’t. In fact, immigration and the immigration status of those in the movie are never mentioned (even though in real life, they were probably issues).

Based on a true story, Kevin Costner plays coach Jim White, a high school teacher who coaches his high school cross country team to winning the first ever California state championship in the sport in 1987, the year the movie takes place. White moves his family to McFarland, California, a town dominated by immigrants from Mexico, who work the fields picking produce. He notices that, after school, the kids–running to the fields to help their families pick the produce–run at incredibly fast speeds, faster than the top runners in the State of California. And he convinces the local high school to start a cross country team. Despite naysayers, doubters, and bigots on competing teams, his runners work hard, stay the course, and win the state championship. And, on top of that, despite the fact that none of their parents were educated beyond the ninth grade, all of those on the team got college scholarships to run cross country and all of them graduated.

What bothered me: every single scene of competition between the McFarland team and others in California, includes some sort of racism or bigotry on the part of the other teams, all of whom are completely White. It’s the usual stock narrative that all Whites–except, in this movie, the coach and his family–are bigots. But there is little shown in the reverse, even though we know that, in real life, there is also bigotry against Whites in the Mexican immigrant community. (Ever hear of La Raza (The Race)?) This typical Hollywood plot line and the lack of balance on this issue troubled me. But it is a small part of the movie when compared to the positive parts of it.

One other thing: Jim White says that his relationship with his players involved a lot of Christianity and group prayers with his runners. None of that is shown, other than one scene toward the end, in which his runners engage in a brief, pre-race prayer to G-d. White told USA Today that this faith aspect of his team’s success is largely erased in the movie. And, today, he’d probably be sued by the ACLU over it.

Like I said, this movie is overwhelmingly positive and moral, typical of Disney fare and suitable for family viewing. And if it did not include the narrative of constant White bigotry, I would give it THREE or even THREE-AND-A-HALF REAGANS. Because it does include that, I give it . .

TWO-AND-A-HALF REAGANS

Watch the trailer . . .

* “The DUFF“: I (and probably you) have seen a million versions of this movie before–ostracized nerdy girl is persecuted at school, but eventually becomes a swan and gets the hot guy (not necessarily in that order). But, still, I enjoyed this movie, despite some minor raunchy humor. The movie is funny and has a good message: that your inner worth and morality is valuable and important above outer beauty and materialism.

I must point out that I do NOT like the director of this film, Ari Sandel. I interviewed the vapid, self-hating Jew Sandel, when he was nominated for an Oscar for his dumb moral equivalence movie, “West Bank Story,” which essentially says that Jewish-Israeli victims of Islamic terrorism and Palestinian terrorists and their supporters are morally equivalent. And if they would only make and eat falafel together and sing, dance, and romance like “West Side Story,” all would be good with the world. Read about my interview with Sandel, the typical Hollywood dhimmi leftist.

The story: a high school student, Bianca (Mae Whitman), who has two better-looking best friends, is told by her next door neighbor that she is the “DUFF”–Designated Ugly Fat Friend–for her clique of friends. At first, she is angry. But, then, she researches it, and realizes that she probably is the DUFF. The funniest part of the movie is when she searches “DUFF” online and popping onto the screen is a photo of Chris Christie a/k/a Chris ChrispieCreme with Barack Obama.

Bianca is persecuted and ostracized by the “popular” girl at school, and can’t bring herself to talk to the guy at school on whom she has a crush. So, she hires her next door neighbor–a good-looking jock, who strongly resembles Tom Cruise (Robbie Amell)–to coach her out of DUFFdom. Unfortunately, it backfires, after an embarrassing video of her is released by the popular girl, and all of the high school laughs at her. The bullying via social media, at first, crushes her. But she is strong and moves on. Ultimately, Bianca realizes what’s important in life and that beauty, as the trite saying goes, is only skin deep. She also realizes that she needs to be herself and not let haters get her down. Although the ending of the movie is predictable and probably not realistic regarding what would happen in real life, I liked it.

Beware that this movie is aimed at adults under thirty, so if you aren’t in that group, you aren’t the target demo. But for teens and 20-somethings, it’s uplifting stuff with a decent message and happy ending.

TWO REAGANS

Watch the trailer . . .

* “Hot Tub Time Machine 2“: High quality Gitmo torture material. Sooooo bad. Just absolutely awful. I hated the first “Hot Tub Time Machine” (read my review), but this second installment (um, who decided we needed a second one?) makes that one look like a cinematic masterpiece. Barf. Methinks the purpose of this movie was to show us shots of penises and women’s breasts. ‘Cuz the “story” is incredibly stupid, ridiculous, and nonsensical. There are a few funny lines, but mostly this movie is dumb and disgusting. Men being forced to anal rape each other on a futuristic virtual reality TV show–this is funny how? A painting of a man raping a tiger–again, how is this funny? (And where is PETA when you need it?)

In the first installment, a few male friends and relatives are at a resort and discover that the hot tub is a time machine, taking them back in time. In this sequel, the men have gotten rich because they went back in time, stealing ideas from the present, to make money. Lou (Rob Corddry) invented a search engine, “Lougle.” And that was after he was the lead singer of “Motley Lou.” Nick (Craig Robinson) “wrote” a bunch of very popular songs, all of which he stole and went back to the past to “pre-plagiarize.” That includes a song by Lisa Loeb (she makes a cameo–must’ve been pretty desperate for a paycheck), who is now a cat wrangler for Nick’s video for the song he stole from her. Everyone hates Lou, and someone shoots him in the penis. So, all of the characters go into the hot tub time machine to try to save Lou’s life. They end up in the future, and lots of idiocy ensues to find out who is Lou’s shooter (and to try and stop it).

Lewd and ridiculous. This movie is an IQ test. If you like it, you fail. A total waste of time and two hours of my life I’ll never get back.

FOUR MARXES PLUS FOUR ISIS BEHEADINGS

Watch the trailer . . .