This 119 minutes of drive-in drivel is rescued here and there by actors reaching beyond their trite lines and roles, the irony being that the underused Voigt embodies the real voice of America, and the rest is a pseudo-liberal attempt at redemption, with Hounsou playing the worldly wise "good dog" with a history, a pooch the whites can pat (now wash your hands) so as to expiate their centuries of sin. This is cultural and spiritual expropriation at every imaginable level. Founded on murder and plunder, the United States still serves up this gratifying pap, and there's the rub. Gravy on the turkey, maple syrup on the waffles, mayonnaise on the salmon: the land of sauces that miraculously mask whatever dross lies beneath (72+ ingredients in the BigMac, for starters). Spoiler: you can cook a meal for ten using a dozen natural, fresh ingredients. Djimon does his parody of the wild man with a big heart ("Your mean old daddy has got a good heart in him"): the rich white family conscripts the former Black slave to redeem the entire WASP dynasty. And just to keep the audience comfortable, the "tragedy" shifts to the white woman with terminal cancer, with Denver's infinite compassion. Echoes of the egregious yet (slightly) more honest "Blind Side" (2009, J. L. Hancock). Ron Hall's account is seedy and manipulative, the classic white spin on redemption: Look how noble we are, rescuing the lame dogs eating scraps from under the table (Matthew 15:27). Her project is possible through money. Wealth. She surveys a beautiful pasture and decrees this will be the site of her future project, her "heritage" to the world. The rich, whose wealth was accrued through exploitation of the Other, are once again the saviours of mankind. Noble husband, dying mother, Kardashian children. Unfortunately, this Gospel trash turns out to be eminently watchable! Bravo bravo corny Carney. Oh, by the way, if you pat the stray dog, please remember to wash your hands afterwards.
Review of Same Kind of Different as Me
