Hollywood movies are all starting to feel the same these days, but in some cases almost literally. Just check out "White House Down," a "Die Hard"-in-D.C. popcorn flick that is almost exactly the same movie as "Olympus Has Fallen," which was released earlier this summer. Great minds think alike, as they say, but based on the evidence of these two films, weak minds do too.
Roland Emmerich is no stranger to flag-waving jingoism ("The Patriot") and wanton destruction ("Independence Day"), and as he did with both those films, he released "White House Down" just in time for America's July 4 weekend, knowing there's nothing Americans like better for holiday entertainment than watching their landmarks get destroyed by evildoers and then cheering "USA! USA!" when the bad guys are toast.
But there was just one little flaw in his plan this time: The president, played by Jamie Foxx, comes off as more than a little Obama-esque, while the bad guys are presented as tea-baggish right-wing nut-jobs, which pretty much guaranteed that conservatives would knee-jerk hate on it. The result: weak box office and days of talk-show uproar about "liberal Hollywood."