Nobody Is Less Qualified to Talk About Movies Than Bill Maher

While streaming services like Netflix offer a shockingly small number of films made before the advent of the Chicken McNugget, thankfully Turner Classic Movies is still showcasing the “greatest classic films of all time from one of the largest film libraries in the world.” And the cable channel doesn’t just air movies, they regularly feature interviews with filmmakers, critics, and this week, the star of Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.

Yes, Bill Maher just sat down with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz to chat about Warren Beatty’s progressive historical drama Reds. Of course, Maher didn’t actually leave the confines of his mancave compound for the interview, forcing Mankiewicz to film the segment while sitting in one of the Club Random chairs that hopefully gets disinfected every now and again. Thankfully, Maher didn’t once get confused and start ranting about the woke mob, or how he doesn’t care for women with “giant asses.”

Judging from the online response, not all cinephiles were thrilled to have the Real Time host and his garish affront to the art of interior decoration interrupting their TCM time. And it seems very possible that it was arranged to satisfy the whims of the channel’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, which also happens to own Maher’s TV home, HBO. 

Mostly, people pointed out that, in spite of his fine work in Cannibal Women, D.C. Cab and Pizza Man, Maher is probably the worst person in the world to share a serious conversation about movies with, as evidenced by the litany of asinine cinematic takes he’s shared on Club Random over the years. Like the time that he smugly suggested that Akira Kurosawa is “one of the most important directors that you need to pretend you care about.” When asked whether or not he actually dislikes the legendary filmmaker’s work, Maher replied, “I have no idea, I’ve never seen the movies.”

Quick reminder: Maher once sung the praises of Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie.

He also hates Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, but positively loves the Halle Berry-starring Catwoman.

Okay, sure, taste is subjective, but it does seem like every time Maher attempts to discuss a movie in earnest, he just ends up embarrassing himself. Like when he posted a lengthy review of Barbie, which amounted to him complaining that the patriarchy doesn’t really exist because he misread some Google results. He also recounted how his female movie date said of Barbie, who lives in a fantasyland populated by plastic playthings, “I don’t know a single woman of any age who would act like that today.”

Even putting all that aside, Maher seems like an especially baffling choice to introduce Reds, considering that it’s a movie about a communist revolution, and Maher proudly claims that he “speaks for the vast middle.” But then again, when it comes to going on TV and saying a bunch of ill-informed nonsense, Maher really can’t be beat.

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