I LOVE MY DEAD GAY SON

Mark Wahlberg isn’t up to the emotional legwork of the anti-bullying drama Joe Bell

You eat apples, right? That’s great! I produce Entourage!

Its been trendy to hate him since he declared that 9/11 wouldn’t have happened had he been on the planes

Fuck Marky Mark. 

So him trekking with his dead son is a sort of a Sixth Sense move? Seems tasteless either way.

“A bullying film? You betcha, I’d love to star in ... oh, it’s *anti* bullying? What the heck, I’ll do it anyway.”

Oh lord, yes! The principal at my old high school would call an assembly for any damned thing. I found out from some teachers i ran into after graduation that he would sometimes decide do call an assembly minutes before classes started for the day and just expected all the first period teachers to deal with it.…

Funny you should mention Crowe. Early in his career he played a gay character in another movie about a father/son relationship - The Sum of Us. The twist was that his dad, played by Jack Thompson, was completely supportive. I remember it being pretty good, but that was over 25 years ago.

I think it’s apropos for Wahlberg to star in a film all about a guy feeling guilty about making something all about himself, and finding redemption by still making it all about himself.

I think it’s worth it to call out that factor, it’s the first place my mind went to when I saw the subject matter & Wahlberg starring. I think the expectation that a professional in an industry can provide a perspective deeper than an initial thought’s worth is not too much of an ask though.

Yup.

You argument might be more compelling if his past actually made an impact on his career. He got a slap on the wrist for serious crimes because he is white. Any PoC in the same situation would’ve had their life ruined.

Between the racist assault and the “If I’d been on that 9/11 flight there’s no way the plane would have went down” comments it paints a picture of a guy who at his core lacks human empathy and also is a fucking idiot.

I don’t want to say that there’s no way Mark Wahlberg can be forgiven, but the issue raises a lot of important questions. What does forgiveness look like? How is it earned? What form could redemption take for something so plainly cruel as committing a hate crime? Whose forgiveness ultimately matters? He could’ve made…

“would a school principal really offer no context to an assembly of students for why this particular father is here to speak to them about the dangers of bullying?”

The trailer fully shows you what’s it is too, so it’s especially pointless. The trailer makes it look like it’s something that happens in the first 10 minutes, not a twist the film has to try and hide.

Just a guess, but is his son dead?

I had heard they recut this movie after the poor reaction to the premiere last year; I was hoping they would get rid of the whole twist aspect of it, which seems in poor taste.