John Podhoretz thinks the makers of the insanely costly Evan Almighty have erred seriously in making (as his headline has it “A $200 Million Comedy About Evil Republicans,” which “basically writes off and insults the political views of one-third of the United States.” And how does the movie do this? Well, here’s the plot summary J-Pod’s reacting to:

Freeman’s God calls upon Carell’s Congressman to build the ark to prepare for the big rains on September 22nd. And then the rains come and then…perhaps I shouldn’t say. Suffice that the real focus of this film isn’t God’s wrath but Man’s greed. It turns out there’s been a man-made dambreak that causes this gigantic flood, and it’s mainly the fault of a pro-business Congressman played by John Goodman who’s been helping his fat-cat pallies buy lots of land in parks and then winking at their short-cut moves (i.e., not building a dam properly).

So, conservatives viewers are supposed to be offended, to feel as though their views are under attack, because the film’s heavy is a corrupt politician? I can’t help but think of something J-Pod’s colleague Jonah Goldberg wrote in response to claims that the Lord of the Rings films had racist overtones:

One is tempted to ask who is the real racist here? On the one hand we have people — like me — who see horrific, flesh-eating, dull-witted creatures with jagged feral teeth, venomous mouths, pointed devilish ears, and reptilian skin, and say, “Cool, Orcs!” On the other hand we have people, like [writer John] Yatt, who see the same repugnant creatures and righteously exclaim “black people!” Maybe he should spend less time vetting movies for signs of racism and more time vetting himself if, that is, he free-associates black people with these subhuman monsters.