I Am Willing To Apologize For Paul Blart: Mall Cop

This administration has been trying to reach out to Iran, and, predictably, it's led to Iran demanding we apologize for how we've treated them. I don't believe we have too much to apologize for--in fact, it's the other way around--but no matter. Because at least this insistence on apologies has given us a good laugh:

A bunch of movie industry people--including Annette Bening and Alfre Woodard in the photo--are visiting Iran on a goodwill tour. (I'll give Iran credit--they do have lively, imaginative filmmakers.) And Iran is demanding an apology for our films.

Without an apology, members of Iran's film industry should refuse to meet with representatives from the nine-member team, said Javad Shamaqdari, the art and cinema adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"In my viewpoint, it is a failure to have an official meeting with one who is insulting," Shamaqdari told The Associated Press.

The film "300," portrays the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece for three days. It angered many Iranians for the way Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks.

Iranians also criticized "The Wrestler" starring Mickey Rourke as a rundown professional wrestler who is preparing for a rematch with his old nemesis, "The Ayatollah." During a fight scene, "The Ayatollah" tries to choke Rourke with an Iranian flag before Rourke pulls the flagpole away, breaks it and throws it into the cheering crowd.

I have to wonder if the AP didn't single out these two films because they're the silliest imaginable to complain about. Or is it simply that there are no films Hollywood has put out that actually show Iran in a bad light.