Will Ferrell vs. insurance CEOs

“Feeling sorry for insurance company executives?” said Katherine Q. Seelye in The New York Times. If so, you can “weep along” with a new online ad from Will Ferrell, some fellow actors, and MoveOn.org that “pretends to stand up for corporate titans and their business practices” (watch “Protect Insurance Companies PSA”). MoveOn says the ad’s humor should remind us—or at least younger adults—what’s at stake in the health-care debate.

Humor? said Allahpundit in Hot Air. Like all “spot-the-celebrity political spots,” the Ferrell-MoveOn video is “boring and three times longer than it needs to be.” And how is it that actors who “make millions churning out one unwatchable piece of bilge after another” feel no shame in “accusing insurance executives of being overpaid?”

Sure, cue the “predictable” sniping at Will Ferrell and Co. from Hot Air and others in “Right Blogtopia,” said Tyrone Steels II in The Moderate Voice. I personally don’t care if they are rich “latte liberal elites,” or whatever, but I do think they could put their “sizable cash reserves” where their mouths are—by starting a better insurance company, or a hospital or clinic.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Oh, lighten up, said Jane Wells in CNBC. For a group “not known for its sense of humor,” this effort from MoveOn is “funny. Very funny.” Of course, whether you find it humorous probably depends on “how you feel about the president’s health-care plan.” If you’re against it, Will Ferrell—who “ends up, as always, with the best lines”—and friends look silly. But if you support it, the ad is a “potent weapon” for persuading any friends still “on the fence.”