A New Yorker film critic evaluates the cultural consequences of the sarcastic language that has become pervasive in the media and on the Internet, in an assessment that cites the importance of developing true wit.
Maggie vowed to never marry a man who can’t laugh or dance, but when she and the dull new doctor in town, Everett Dulanis, wind up spending the night together in an abandoned dugout house, all that changes. Her father is the best man and his shotgun is the bridesmaid at the wedding where a union has been made, but there’s certainly no unity. Everett was engaged to Carolina Prescott, a southern lady in...