Sorkin's 'Farnsworth Invention' likened to 'an animated Wikipedia entry'
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- December
- 24
It’s a good thing Aaron Sorkin is Jewish, because he got the equivalent of a half dozen lumps of critic coal after the debut of his new Broadway play, “The Farnsworth Invention,” which came out at the beginning of this month.
The play is about the birth of the modern TV set and let’s just say that it was met with about as much warmth as Sorkin’s last foray into TV land, “Studio 60.”
NY Times critic Ben Brantley ripped the Scarsdale native a new one, comparing the production to “a classroom presentation on a seven-figure budget.” Actually it was even harsher than that:
With billionaire parents now producing bar mitzvah celebrations and sweet-16 parties as if they were major motion pictures, it’s only a matter of time before this spare-no-expense approach is applied to their kids’ school projects. The resulting effort might well be something like ‘The Farnsworth Invention.’
He goes on to say “you’re likely to leave ‘The Farnsworth Invention’ feeling that you have just watched an animated Wikipedia entry, fleshed out with the sort of anecdotal scenes that figure in “re-enactmentsâ€? on E! channel documentaries and true-crime shows.”
Slate wasn’t any nicer: “It’s typical that Sorkin wrings optimal tension from the mission-control countdown—and also that the play ends before liftoff.”
Fortunately, there was one holiday surprise for the LoHud native: “Charlie Wilson’s War” nabbed a Golden Globe nomination for best screenplay. Undoubtedly that means his chances at winning his first Academy Award are rising, too. Ho, ho, ho.
(’Farnsworth Invention’ photo of Jimmi Simpson, left, as Philo T. Farnsworth and Hank Azaria as David Sarnoff; AP Photo/Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Joan Marcus)
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 12:03 pm by Ted Mann.
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