a good moment

One of my favorite scenes from Todd Solondz's "Storytelling":

after the boy with cerebral palsy reads his short story:

AMY
I thought it was really good,
Marcus...Really moving and
emotional.

ELLI
Yeah, I thought it was really
emotional, too.

AMY
And I mean, really good word
choices. It kind of reminded me a
little of Faulkner, but East Coast
and disabled.

LUCY
Or Flannery O'Connor. She had
multiple sclerosis.

JOYCE
And Borges. He was blind.

Pause.

ETHAN
Updike has psoriasis.

Pause.

CATHERINE
Um...Maybe I'm wrong, but, um, I'm
afraid I found the whole thing to
be a little trite. Its earnestness
is, well...it's a little
embarrassing. And those
adjectives, they're a little
flatfooted. And redundant. I'm
sorry, but...Anyway, what do I
know? Don't even listen to what I
say. I mean...

Pause.

MR SCOTT
Anyone else?

No response.


MR SCOTT
Catherine is right. The story's a
piece of shit. You express nothing
but banalities and, formally
speaking, are unable to construct
a single compelling sentence. You
ride on a wave of clichés so worn,
in fact, it actually approaches a
level of grotesquerie. And your
subtitle, 'the rawness of truth'
is that supposed to be a joke of
some sort? Or are you just being
pretentious?
(beat; then checking his class book)
OK. Who's next?