Losin' that McLovin feeling By
Lee Cataluna
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Utility poles were snapping like twigs on the Leeward Coast, neighborhoods were without power, commuters were stuck on the road for hours, potholes were appearing like a contagious skin disease and city officials were up in arms about McLovin.
The DVD of the movie "Superbad" was released this week and Wal-Mart offered a two-disc package with a souvenir fake Hawai'i driver's license similar to one that appeared in the movie. The city administration got mad.
Mostly, they got mad because news reports egged them on, not because anything actually happened.
What kind of movie is "Superbad"? Fan sites report that the F-word is used 146 times in the 118-minute story and the movie poster boasts "From the guys who brought you 'The 40-Year Old Virgin' and 'Knocked Up.' " So no, it's not literary cinema. It's "Porky's," but even more so.
In the movie, an underage boy uses a fake Hawai'i driver's license to buy booze. The name on the license is "McLovin" (no first name) and it says he's 25 years old (because 21 is too obvious), an organ donor and a resident of Momona Street, Honolulu. (And he's not even momona.)
First off, it's just about impossible to imagine anyone falling for the ridiculous, cheesy-looking fake ID packaged as a promotional item with the DVD. It looks fake. The thing has a hologram photo that changes between two faces.
Second, it's nice that Mayor Mufi Hannemann got Wal-Mart to take his phone calls ("We're grateful that Wal-Mart was very responsive to our concerns and even took this matter to the very top of the corporate headquarters,") but the template for making your very own McLovin Hawai'i ID has existed online for months and it's even better than the card that came with the DVD because you can just click your own photo in. Not a good thing, but again, anyone who would fall for a Photoshopped driver's license shouldn't be in a position to sell liquor to anybody.
Third, in the movie, the fake Hawai'i ID was used to buy liquor on the Mainland, where they don't see many real Hawai'i IDs. That was the point, to get a license that was unfamiliar. Here, it looks bogus because we see the real ones all the time.
The whole thing was just silly and funny in a "Wow, these guys don't have anything better to do?" kind of way. Meanwhile, the streams were running fast and the roadways were crumbling.
During a quiet, sunny week, McLovin might merit mayoral attention. But this week, the weather seriously affected people's lives and Honolulu needed some Harry Kim action, not Harry Hall Monitor worrying about fake-looking fake IDs.
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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