Two thumbs up for ‘The Passion’ from Ebert and Roeper.

Yeah, I deride Ebert a lot for his opinions, which are often biased and snobby. Still, he did attend a Catholic school and often has good opinions on films which feature faith messages, so I don’t mind checking out what he thinks on this film. You can also hear their review online.

I’m sure Michael Medved’s “Eye On Entertainment” will have a review very soon, but one is not posted yet. Medved has weighed in on the controversy for USA Today last July. Medved is a devout Jew (Orthodox, I believe) who often champions religious movies of all faiths, but he also gives hard-hitting opinions when they’re deserved so I’ll be interested in his review.

Roger Friedman of FoxNews’ Fox411 has had a mad on for this movie for some time. I’m not sure of the source of this venom. It could be that he is taking offense on religious grounds, or it could be due to some personal grudge against Mel Gibson, who knows? I won’t assume he’s Jewish, because plenty of people have the last name Friedman and have never seen a synagogue, and at the same time Friedman has displayed some pettiness in his columns from time to time. But he seems to have made up his mind some time ago that it is anti-semitic. I think this explains why Roger links to all the negative reviews for today’s column. (And people think I never say anything bad about FoxNews.)

Final word on the controversy goes to Larry “Mr. Jew” Miller. (If you don’t get the ref, it’s from an appearance of his on Bill Maher’s show.) Larry’s piece is funny, and inspiring, and wistful, and wise.

Will “The Passion” play to the beliefs of anti-Semites? Probably, but they’ll see what they want to see anyway. Jesus could break the fourth wall, tell the audience “By the way, don’t blame the Jews!” and the anti-semites will see and hear what they already believe.

Anti-semitism still rages in nations like France and Saudi Arabia, and The Passion may indeed inflame the hateful there. But I think this country will survive “The Passion” debuting this Wednesday. Here in America, anti-semitism has been greatly squelched over the last few decades.

I can even see a time soon when we’ll have a Jewish president. Whenever Larry Miller decides to run.