Rex Reed Shows Those Wily Asians Who's Boss

New York Observer movie reviewer, Rex Reed, is by all accounts a nice guy. Unless you're Asian. His review of the recently released Korean revenge flick OLDBOY was a lovely stew of racist generalizations garnished with a generous helping of bizarre ethnic putdowns. Try his first paragraph on for size:

"For sewage in a cocktail shaker, there is Oldboy, a noxious helping of Korean Grand Guignol as pointless as it is shocking. What else can you expect from a nation weaned on kimchi, a mixture of raw garlic and cabbage buried underground until it rots, dug up from the grave and then served in earthenware pots sold at the Seoul airport as souvenirs?"

In paragraph two he starts really serving up the goodies, gleefully mixing and matching countries, probably figuring that all Asians look the same, anyways.

"Blood flows, there is much vomiting...and more screams than Japanese kabuki. Part kung fu, part revenge-theme Charlie Chan murder mystery, part metaphysical Oriental mumbo-jumbo, all of it incomprehensible."

Guess he didn't like the movie.

If you'd like to suggest to the editors that Reed be put out to pasture, feel free to email them at:  comments@observer.com