An Open Letter To Larry Miller

Dear Larry Miller,

Not to be confused with the brilliant comedian, the Larry Miller who I wish to address is a noted philanthropist from Utah who is the owner the state's basketball team, the Utah Jazz, but most importantly (for the sake of this letter) owner of Megaplex Theaters which has a large string of movie theaters across the Salt Lake City area.

In 2005, you came under heat when you refused to show the film Brokeback Mountain in your theaters because you felt that it "crossed the line". This was a regrettable event, to be sure, but a reminder of just how blind many Americans are toward homosexuals. Now, in 2008, your theater chain is in the news again, because they refuse to show Kevin Smith's new film Zack and Miri Make a Porno because "it's very close to an NC-17 with its graphic nudity and graphic sex." That was a statement from the theater manager, Cal Gunderson, since I assume you, Mr. Miller, wished to ignore the limelight of being a complete ass.

Now, I'm almost certain that you have never taken the time to watch either film yourself--radicals of your nature never take the time to criticize something that you know anything about. I'm coming at you strictly from a cinematic point-of-view. Your same theater chain, Megaplex Theaters, that refuses to show Zack and Miri is probably making thousands of dollars in profits off of the recently released, and exceedingly violent Saw V. It's strange since the Saw films are essentially porno themselves--with hacked limbs and psychopaths. Let's flash back to 2005, when you refused to show Brokeback, but that same time, were totally fine with showing the revolting cesspool of deviant behavior that was Hostel. Exactly what message are we supposed to get from this, Mr. Miller? Homosexual relationships, stories satirizing pornography: bad. Someone hacking off their own leg with a saw, naked corpses and rape: totally cool and appropriate.




I hope I'm not the first, nor the last to say that your blatent hypocrisy and dogmatic behavior ruins cinema. Nobody like you deserves to own a theater chain. Provocative films are what makes the film industry beautiful, and if people like you continue to substitute them with "torture porn", then you are fundamentally adding to the systematic "dumbing down" of this nation. Not only that, but you are making a profit off of it. Shame on you, Mr. Miller. Turn your attention toward things that you are reportedly good at, like cutting checks for charities or running an annually underachieving basketball franchise. There is no room in the movies for bigots who refuse to accept the sexuality of others, and certainly no room for those who refuse to see the sense of humor behind a good-natured comedy. Open your eyes and your mind, and maybe you will see what a giant idiot you have been these last couple of years.

Yours Truly,

James C.