Assumptions

My friend Lin Swimmer commented on my Keanu Reeves post:

Any post that begins with the unspoken assumption of Reeves being an actor of quality gets an immediate, wide-grinned thumbs up from me.

I was thinking of this this morning while reading a few posts on a messageboard that were based on the assumption that Dumb and Dumber is a really bad movie. In the context of the conversation there, Dumb and Dumber is used as an example of a stupid, crowd-pleasing bad movie compared to Requiem for a Dream as an example of a difficult, challenging good movie.

That's the kind of conversation I really have to hold myself back from joining in on. I mean, it's so obvious to me that Dumb and Dumber is one of great comedies of its era, that I wouldn't even know where to begin. Maybe by talking about how educated, cultured Americans have a long tradition of turning their noses down at homegrown arts and entertainment? So, Jim Carrey and the Farrelly Brothers - truly (North) American originals - get a thumbs down, but Darren Aronofsky's microwave version of European art cinema gets a thumbs up.