Here’s a little high-brow cultural critique for you. Lauren and I were watching “Mission: Impossible 3” the other day. In general it was a lot more fun than I expected. After Tom Cruise broke down the wall between actor and personality, making it difficult to watch his films anymore, I decided to take a pass. But on a lazy Saturday one will make exceptions. Aside from Mr. Cruise, there was another jarring element though. They got really cute with the MacGuffin. That would be fine in a knowing film like “Ocean’s Twelve,” but was just plain out-of-place in this straight thriller.

The MacGuffin is the object that everyone chases in a book or film. The Maltese Falcon is probably the easiest example, but anytime someone is chasing “the microfilm” or “the plans for the bomb,” and it could just as easily be “the golden screwdriver” or “the ficus,” you have a MacGuffin. (more…)