Movie Review: Fools on the Hill

Part of: To Live and Write in LA

“Finally, something liberals and conservatives can agree on.”

No such thing, you might be thinking, especially in the current hyper-volatile pre-election atmosphere. You might be even more skeptical when you find out this claim comes from a Hollywood script entrepreneur.

But you’d be wrong.Fools on the Hill DVD

My initial contact with Jerrol LeBaron was because I had scripts to sell and he has a unique way of doing it. But before anybody is a writer, they are a citizen of their country. Jerrol didn’t like what he saw happening in Congress and state legislatures and he came up with a radical idea: Legislators should read a bill before they vote for it.

Seems kind of like an obvious proposition, but in the wake of Nancy Pelosi's now infamous remark about the health care bill, that “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it”, Jerrol discovered that hardly any legislators were reading any bills.

What he decided to do about this and why it is important is the theme of Fools on the Hill, a film by writer/director Jed Rigney (The Delicate Art of Being Single, Non Sequitur) and Jerrol LeBaron.

The film documents Jerrol’s efforts to have a bill requiring legislators to read a Jerrol delivering petitionsbill before they vote for it passed in North Dakota. Why North Dakota? You’ll have to see the film. But between segments of Jerrol’s almost one-man effort to turn-around a century of legislative malpractice (presented in black and white, so we can feel his pain), we meet the people who validate the argument that this is something liberals and conservatives can agree about.

In interviews revolving around the damage not reading the bill can do, we see extremes such as Rick Perry supporter (and former Superman) Dean CainDean Cain of Lois and Clark agreeing with Democratic and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. (St Elsewhere, Pineapple Express). Talk about strange bedfellows: other unlikely combinations agreeing with Jerrol on his crusade are the Heritage Institute with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Wall Street Journal with National Public Radio.

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Article Author: LeoOfMars

Leo of Mars, living and writing in LA, brings the perspective of a strange, out of this world creature to film industry news and reviews: a conservative screenwriter.

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