LOL: Jon Stewart Skewers 'Noah' Haters On 'The Daily Show'
Even before it opened, Noah was raising the ire of moviegoers who felt that Darren Aronofsky's take on the classic Bible story wasn't "literal" enough. The controversy hasn't died down now that the movie's actually hit theaters, and last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart took a moment to fire back.
With his trademark wit, the host skewered those who complained that Noah wasn't a documentary and didn't have enough God in it. But best of all is when he takes on the Fox commentator who remembered the original as a story in which "the sun comes out and everybody lives happily ever after." "Everybody?" Stewart responds with mock shock. "Nobody lives!" Watch him rip the haters a new one after the jump.
Comedy Central posted the clip on their website.
Jon Stewart Noah Critics Video
Most of these people's problems with Noah can be boiled down to either a misunderstanding of the film, a misunderstanding of the original Biblical text, or both. But in fairness, Stewart seems to do some misunderstanding himself here.
Kevin McCarthy, the critic shown in the segment saying that Noah is "not a documentary," responded to Stewart's segment during an appearance on Fox's Washington, D.C. affiliate.
The strange part of what's going on there — it's a compliation of people basically hating on Noah. They're calling it "Haters of the Lost Ark." I loved Noah! I thought it was a great film. What I was talking about is the idea of artistic liberties. The filmmaker clearly took a 15-minute story in the Bible and made a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute film, so I used the term 'it's not a documentary.' We're not watching some literal translation of what's going on. So clearly, it's very out of context.
But McCarthy doesn't sound too upset about it. "I'm honored to be made fun of on that show," he laughed. McCarthy does have some support within the religious community for his pro-Noah view. Speaker Phil Cooke put together an entire featurette last month of quotes from various Christian leaders praising the movie and urging people to see it.