It's official.

I am an old fuddy-duddy.

Up until now I thought I had retained a bit of youthful edge. But no, it's gone.

I came to this realization when a woman dropped off a letter about Tom Green's new movie, "Freddie Got Fingered."

In the letter she decried the way members of our society seem to be attracted to tasteless, immoral forms of entertainment. Further, she was upset that those who aren't attracted to it sit idly by and do nothing to stop it.

I tended to agree with her letter.

Then I noticed that "Freddie" finished at No. 5 in the top movies last weekend, pulling in about $7.1 million.

We'll see how it does this weekend, but it will probably do OK.

All the teen-to-25 crowd who saw it last weekend will tell their friends about it and it will probably have a little traction.

It most likely won't be a bomb.

So how do I know I have achieved fuddy-duddydom?

Because I fail to see the humor in a man masturbating a horse - and an elephant - on screen.

Those are a couple of the scenes in the movie. There are plenty of other tasteless scenes, too, like when Green skins a dead deer lying on the road and runs around screaming with the bloody hide draped over himself.

Or when he delivers a baby, cuts the umbilical cord with his teeth and swings the baby around by the cord before taping the cord to his own belly button. All the while the mother is being splattered with blood.

Or when he beats his paraplegic girlfriend's dead legs with a bamboo cane to sexually arouse her. (It's OK, she likes it.)

And oh, by the way, "Freddie" is Green's little brother in the film. Green falsely accuses his father of sexually molesting Freddie, hence the name of the movie. That is apparently Green's way of getting back at his dad because his dad is mean to him. His dad is mean to him because Green's, well, a worthless, basement-dwelling loser.

False accusations of child molestation, sado-masochism, bestiality, all wrapped into one.

Now that's comedy!

I haven't seen the movie. I won't see the movie.

What I did was surf up a few reviews on the Internet.

The interviewers were all very cruel.

Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post wrote: "There is only Tom Green, and a comic sensibility so pitiful it's neither comic nor a sensibility. It's just a humiliation for people on both sides of the screen."

Rob Blackwater of Spliced Wire: "Some greedy idiot at (20th Century Fox) gave Green carte blanche to make his own movie, hoping brainwashed teenagers would flock to see it no matter how bad it might turn out to be. All I can say is, I hope that studio exec has been fired."

Paul Clinton, of CNN: "Co-written, directed by and starring Green, this train wreck disguised as a movie is a case study of an annoyingly vibrant attack of arrested adolescent development. There is not one single moment in the entire 86 minutes of this film that is the least bit redeemable on any level."

Did I mention that the film made $7.1 million last weekend?

One thing I read noted that Hollywood is watching this movie very closely. I mean really, nobody likes to lose money.

And some Hollywood types are a bit worried because it seems that perhaps the "gross-out comedy" film genre aimed a teens may be waning a bit.

There have been several of those films recently.

These films generally have small budgets, low-salary stars and big profit margins.

Films like "There's Something About Mary," "American Pie," "Road Trip," "Dude, Where's My Car" and "Tomcats" have become somewhat of a Hollywood staple.

"Tomcats" pretty much bombed, so Hollywood has its eye on "Freddie."

If "Freddie" doesn't have traction, it may be the beginning of the end of the "zit pix" genre.

We can only hope.

One must wonder how films like this make any money at all, much less become a popular film genre.

I think it says a lot about our culture and our sense of morality.

I think it says a lot about a hedonistic, anything-goes attitude completely devoid of the slightest sense of decency.

Hollywood has to shock audiences to sell audiences.

We have become so desensitized - anesthetized, if you will - to blood, gore, sex and violence, we can sell animal masturbation and child abuse as comedy.

That's right. We sell it. People profit from it. People pay to see it. There is a market for it.

Did I mention the film made $7.1 million last weekend?

How sick is that? And what next? Where can it possibly go from here?

What must Hollywood do next to draw us into the theater? How can they ratchet up the level of deviance?

Whatever happens, be assured, however, that I have given up on being cool or hip. I just can't keep pace.

Edgy has passed me by. [[In-content Ad]]