The shocking secret of 'The Da Vinci Code': It stinks

St. Paul Pioneer Press ^ | May 21, 2006 | DOMINIC P. PAPATOLA

[Caleb1411]

Almost unfair, it is. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

[bicyclerepair]

Sometimes I wonder about the intelligence of Americans...

not on Freerepublic though!

[Froufrou]

~SNORRFLE~!

I saw several people posting here about the abysmal failure the book was...sad that Hanks finally is in a flop, though...

[longtermmemmory]

Its a book written for the leftist feminists who populate the chic bookstores and reflect on the ovarian symbolism of the egg.

The subtitle to the DAvinci code is "the emperor has no clothes."

[dmz]

How many people look to their "read at the beach/airport" thrillers to be examples of incredible literature?

I don't. I want to the storyline to be moderately interesting, but not overly complex. Overly complex is not good when you're trying to juggle the book and a rum punch on the beach while checking on your kids/wife/cute babes.

What a hoot. If anyone is "embarrassed" to be seen reading this book, perhaps you should think a little less about what a group of total strangers think about you or your reading material.

[NavyCanDo]

Imagine the bomb this movie could have been if not for the attention brought to it by the public outcry to boycott it. The banned in Boston effect was in play.

[dmz]

sad that Hanks finally is in a flop, though...
__________

77 million in the first weekend is hardly a flop. What was it, 250 million worldwide, so they've already doubled production costs (I thought I read it cost 125 million to make). In the first weekend, not bad.

Paying attention to critics is like paying attention to polls. Interesting to talk about buy ultimately meaningless.

[Caleb1411]

How many people look to their "read at the beach/airport" thrillers to be examples of incredible literature?

Well, Papatola leans leftward in most of his critiques, so we'll chalk this one up to liberal hauteur. He does nail the underwhelming attributes of the book and movie, though.

[Catholic Canadian]

The only reason I find the Da Vinci code threatening is exactly because it's such crap. It's plainly written for morons, and the same morons believe it.

[adiaireton8]

Faith is the acceptance of things we can't see, after all, and the idea that someone would suddenly believe that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married just because "Da Vinci" actor Ian McKellen said so suggests a faith that probably wasn't all that strong to begin with.

So go ahead and cause those with weak faith (or no faith) to stumble. What did Jesus say about causing people to stumble?

-A8

[Froufrou]

Love what you said! And I have to agree: John Grisham is about as deep as I want to get, or perhaps Crichton.

Don't want to spill that Rum Punch [actually, I prefer Cape Cods: cranberry juice is good for the bod, doncha know!]

;o)

[Froufrou]

$$$ wise, not a flop, maybe. But I hardly think he'll put it high up on his resume.

[BenLurkin]

"But as a practicing Catholic, I find the idea of corrupt churchmen and Holy Grails far less troubling than the insinuation that any person with any cartilage whatsoever in their spiritual spine would find "The Da Vinci Code" the least bit threatening to their faith."

Threat to a Christian's faith is NOT the problem. The problem is that non-Christians are lapping up the outrageous lies concerning the history of the church and the divinity of Christ.

[Last Dakotan]

Blissfully oblivious to the controversy, I didn't even know what the book was about until a couple of weeks ago...

Not many reviews start out with the writer identifying himself as a moron.

[tallhappy]

But as a practicing Catholic, I find the idea of corrupt churchmen and Holy Grails far less troubling than the insinuation that any person with any cartilage whatsoever in their spiritual spine would find "The Da Vinci Code" the least bit threatening to their faith.

I don't think the issue is that it is threatening to anyone's faith or to anyone with faith.

[Arkinsaw]

Faith is the acceptance of things we can't see, after all, and the idea that someone would suddenly believe that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married just because "Da Vinci" actor Ian McKellen said so suggests a faith that probably wasn't all that strong to begin with.

Yep, my feelings exactly. It says "Fiction" on the spine. Anyone who's faith is challenged by a fictional work needs to rethink. More damage is done by the protests than just ignoring it, it shows a lack of faith in the strength of the faith to those watching. "Hmmm, if this fiction book scares them so much, then what they believe must be pretty weak." The Christian reaction has been of weakness. As if the 2000 year old faith is somehow in danger from a faddish pulp novel...bah. The faith has been through LOTS of stuff and survived.....wars, schisms, inquisitions, bad clergy, scandal, controversy....and has weathered them all just fine. This is not even worth mentioning and will be off the radar in weeks.

Silliness.

I will say this. The book caused me to go out and look up Mary Magdalene and find out various biblical aspects that I was not aware of. So in that, it did spur me to look up the actual stuff as opposed to fiction. Which is not a bad thing.

[Caleb1411]

So go ahead and cause those with weak faith (or no faith) to stumble. What did Jesus say about causing people to stumble?

See post 9: urbane, sophisticated, usually left-leaning Papatola wouldn't catch that theological nuance (and wouldn't want to be named among the group that catches it).

[Aquinasfan]

To call the thing a piffle is to insult piffles.

Unfortunately, 1/3 of the Brits or Canadians (I forget which) who've read the book believe it to be historically accurate.

And while the plot may be idiotic, the book addresses very serious issues and slanders Christ's Church and Opus Dei, while presenting Jesus as married.

Hopefully the box office receipts will drop as word gets out.

[Caleb1411]

Not many reviews start out with the writer identifying himself as a moron.

He was attending to works with greater literary heft.