CALL ME SNAKE

I haven't seen "Rocky Balboa" and, though I'm not a prayin' man, I do pray for the strength to avoid seeing it and thereby not succumb to the lowest common denominator or lower (if there is anything lower than the lowest common denominator, which as I recall from grade school math is getting down there). Some movies are great fodder for jokes, and this appears to be one of them. Here's what I've heard so far: From DAVID LETTERMAN last night (a paraphrase): "This movie is doing so well, they're going to make a Rocky 7 and in it Rocky gets a hip replacement." On Fresh Air [NPR], David Edelstein said: "You have to halve your IQ to enjoy this movie. And you want to halve your IQ." From Rolling Stone: "there is much to cringe at here." The Village Voice: "patently, even proudly, absurd." L.A. Times: "a film for gluttons for punishment."

If you have any comments to add, please speak up. Maybe we'll turn it into a joke contest as advertised (perhaps falsely) in the title above. And speaking to you here, from this special segment of At the Movies, the balcony is now closed. I hope you enjoyed this halve as much as I did. Please put your motion sickness bags, well, wherever you think they ought to be put...