The Da Vinci Nap–A Review (Sort of)

Da-Vinci-Man.jpgI wasn’t going to go see that movie this past weekend. I’m just not a bandwagon kind of guy. I’ve studied a little (well, actually a lot) of church history on my own, and when I read the book a couple of years ago, I laughed out loud at the bogus story line.

But then through a weird set of circumstances, I came about two free tickets, so off Eyegal and I went to follow the herd. I figured that it must have been God’s will.

But here’s the truth: I fell asleep. Not once, but twice (I think Eyegal might have punched me the second time thinking that I was about to snore).

Oh, it has its moments, but all in all I was underwhelmed just as I was at the book. Tom Hanks should probably fire his agent, Audrey Tatou was cute as a button and Ian Mckellan saved the movie from total implosion.

Christianity has parried worse threats than this. Note to picketing Christians: take a collective deep breath, relax, put down your placards and head straightway to the Gulf Coast or your local inner city and do something more constructive with your time.

I just can’t take this seriously enough to raise my hackles. Advice: Save your money and instead go rent The Family Stone and Elizabethtown. You won’t regret it.

As Forrest Gump, that great philosopher and first-citizen of the state of Alabama once said: “That’s all I have to say about thaaaut.”

6 Comments

  1. Donna

    This is one of the things I don’t understand what all of the fuss is about. I didn’t read the book I won’t see the movie….but I don’t care if others do. Can it really be more harmful than 85% of what comes out of Hollywood.

    MI3 on the other hand was a GREAT movie. Not a moment to breathe….

  2. Ed

    That’s funny. Be careful … Opie Dei will be looking for you and asking why you slept during his movie. The last movie I fell asleep in was something with the Muppets. Story with pirates from the little that I remember. Scared my son and made me sleep.

  3. GREG

    I’m still a little amazed at some of the polls, which appear to indicate that people are willing to believe all of this (apparently based on nothing other than Brown’s claims in the book). Perhaps it has to do with the love of conspiracy theories in this day and age. Nevertheless, I read the book, so I’ll eventually see it. But with people laughing out loud and falling asleep, it seems to sound worse every time I hear more about it…

  4. Hal

    Since I rarely go to the movies I like to be sure that, 1. a movie has been highly recommended by a reliable source, or 2. one or both of my children really want to see it, or 3. I’m very interested in the story. This movie does not satisfy any of these criterion for me. Thanks for the recommendation (or lack thereof).

    I suppose if I came across two free tickets, then I would have a great exuse for the nap.

  5. scott

    I have been asked repeatedly to do a class on it, so tomorrow night we will take a look at it. I’m really indifferent on the whole matter. My tack will be to give as much background on the gnostic gospels as possible.

  6. Mike the Eyeguy

    Donna–

    Excellent point, and in fact it is probably less harmful than much of what comes out of Hollywood. The camera-work is good and I’m a sucker for history even if it is bad. There’s essentially no gratuitous sex, only a full shot of Paul Bettany’s bum which I did find a little surprising for a PG-13 flick.

    Ed–

    Opie Dei–heh, that’s clever.

    Yeah, you’ll be going to those kid flicks in the theater for a few more years won’t you?!

    Greg–

    People are going to believe what they’re going to believe for the most part, I think. Polls are always suspect anyway. I saw a Barna Poll that estimated that 2 million people who had read the book had changed their belief system as a result. That sounds like a lot, but it still represented only 5% of the sample they were referring to.

    Just go see it and get it over with. 🙂

    Hal–

    I can take a nap at the drop of a hat these days, with or without free tickets.

    Scott–

    I’m going to cover it for a week or two in my Sunday School Class as well. I’m not saying it doesn’t deserve some kind of response, just not a histrionic one. I plan to take Tebing’s version of early church history and deconstruct it point by point.

    In the movie, this scene in Tebing’s study has been altered from the book to include at least some mention of more orthodox Christian views. This is probably the result of the producer’s use of focus groups to determine what elements of Brown’s fiction needed to be altered to lure more Evangelicals and Catholics into the theater.

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