"Since the movie in quesiton is a satire of Hollywood actors who portray disabled people in movies to gain sympathy and perhaps win Oscars, the movie does not appear to be unsympathetic to disabled people. The only question is whether or not the satire will be clear to all viewers" I have not seen the movie, though I intend to this weekend, but my understanding is that the complaint isn't about the Simple Jack film within a film Oscar-committee sycophant joke, but the comments made by the other characters about Simple Jack. It's easy to say after the fact what the intention of the film was but that is all just spin on the part of the makers, no doubt pre-prepared in case it was needed for the black-face issue and simply tweaked for the unforeseen "retard" backlash. The fact that they didn't see it coming is an indication of the real meaning behind the use of the word, as is the fact that it isn't "Simple Jack" and the stupidity of the Stiller character in making such a film that is "funny" but the derisive comments made by the rest of the cast about such stupidity. Sure, they expected the ridiculousness of that character to be seen and laughed at by the audience, but the real punch line was the way he was called "retarded" for making such a film.