2 hrs Satire is a funny thing. At least it used to be. For satire is all about topicality, about the timely poke at the familiar.
Satire skewers the esteemed, pops the balloon of pretension, blows down the doors of exclusivity.
Even the word sounds like a sharp thorn, catching and tearing the garments of society's overvaunted ideals and idols, bringing all back to earth with a bit of a laugh. Add a dose of time to the mix, however, and what was once incisive ages and softens, reducing satire to something tamer, less funny, a little unsure of itself, nice. Merton of the Movies , written in 1922 by George Kaufman and Marc Connelly, follows young naif Merton Gill from a little shop in Simsbury, Illinois to stardom on the silver screen. It's peopled with feed-store clerks and soda jerks wanting to make it in Hollywood. And the story of a nobody turning into filmdom's next big thing never fails to amaze us, despite our suspicions of the false glamour and hollow artistry that pervade studio life.