Larry Wilmore opened Monday’s edition of “The Nightly Show” with a discussion of the divisive reception of Clint Eastwood’s Iraq War drama “American Sniper.”
“American Sniper raises the question, is this guy an asshole or a hero?” Wilmore began. “Some people are angry that ‘American Sniper’ doesn’t accurately criticize the Iraq War.”
“Here, I’ll do it for you,” he said. “It’s bad!”
Later on, Wilmore tried to explore the complex relationship between war and culture in America.
“I do get it: movies can have a powerful effect on how people feel,” he said. “With World War II, movies like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ solidified our feelings about those vets—they were heroes, there was no moral ambiguity.”
“Matt Damon was worth saving, Tom Hanks wasn’t,” he added.
But Wilmore noted that movies about Vietnam questioned the heroism of American troops and the country’s foreign policy at large.
“I guess what it is, I just don’t take movies that seriously,” he concluded. “You know, if I did, every time I got on a motherfuckin’ plane there would be some motherfuckin’ snakes.”
“Which I do,” Wilmore said, “but that serves me right for flying Spirit.”
Watch the clip below, courtesy of Comedy Central:
