Thanks, Eric. Having reread Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism, I’ve become obsessed with idea of irony as a genre rather than merely an attitude. It seems like it’s all around us but people just don’t know how to talk about it. That may explain why someone as thoroughly given over to irony as Todd Solondz can’t quite get it together to make a decently enjoyable picture. It’s as if the various parts of his brain weren’t communicating with each other. I give him credit for the effort, but prefer Payne, who knows exactly what it’s all about.
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