Sordid Affairs

DAVID O. Russell’s wretched first film, Spanking the Monkey— about masturbation and incest—was made on the cheap but garnered considerable acclaim. On the strength of it, Russell was given a chance to make a major, all-star movie, Flirting with Disaster, which proves equally smutty, sophomoric, and witless. That the vast majority of reviewers found it delightful and hilarious attests to the sorry state of our film criticism, if not indeed our entire culture.

Mr. Simon is NR’s film critic.

JS

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John Simon

DAVID O. Russell’s wretched first film, Spanking the Monkey— about masturbation and incest—was made on the cheap but garnered considerable acclaim. On the strength of it, Russell was given a chance to make a major, all-star movie, Flirting with Disaster, which proves equally smutty, sophomoric, and witless. That the vast majority of reviewers found it delightful and hilarious attests to the sorry state of our film criticism, if not indeed our entire culture.

Mr. Simon is NR’s film critic.