Michael Winn

Richard Dreyfuss's characterization of a pugnacious Jewish businessman stands out. His name is "Pug" Maccabee and his hypocrisy is an accurate satire. U.Chicago law professor, Martha Nussbaum (Upheavals of Thought, etc.) was the film's technical advisor and references to the canon of western philosophy are keen as are satires of various cultural elements, a quality that is true of films by the Coen bro, Wes Anderson, Stanley Kubrik, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, etc. Exaggerated but not cartoons. The story hangs its morat hat on Whitman's analogy of humanity as leaves of grass but it doeesn't evoke this experience as Whitman's writing did for me. It satisfied my thirst for social criticism in a way and I encourage you to see it. Ignore the last two scenes. Instead, sit in meadow somewhere with Whitman's book.