Because American Sniper, with its $105 million opening weekend and high-profile criticisms from Michael Moore and Seth Rogen, is suddenly the biggest thing in popular culture, we feel like there's something we need to talk about.
The movie's storytelling suffers from time to time, especially in scenes that take place Stateside. But on an even more important level, Clint Eastwood's depiction of real-life American solider Chris Kyle as a black-and-white war hero is problematic, and the way that Eastwood paints al Qaeda in broad strokes, almost as a villain from a 1950s Western film is—OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT BABY!?
1.
That's not a real baby moving its hand up and down. That's Bradley Cooper using his thumb to move a plastic doll's hand up and down. No wonder the dude got an Oscar nom.
This is unforgivable (GET IT???), Clint. How hard is it to find a real baby for a quick scene? Did they even try to find a living human being for the movie, or did Eastwood just grit his teeth and go, "Nah. Real babies cry, all the time for the first three years of their lives. That's basic science. We'll just have to go to Toys 'R' Us and pick up a fake one. Only way to get this movie done."
We shouldn't have to stand for this sort of failure of verisimilitude in 2015. Sweet dreams, FAKE BABY.
UPDATE: Vulture has directed us to a since-deleted tweet from Sniper screenwriter, Jason Hall. He explained FakeBabyGate, saying, "hate to ruin the fun but real baby #1 showed up with a fever. Real baby #2 was no show. (Clint voice) Gimme the doll, kid."
Still not a great excuse.
