The December 2009 issue of Esquire includes an interview with Jason Reitman (director of Thank You for Smoking and Juno), the son of Ivan Reitman (director of Stripes and Ghostbusters).

It was a short interview, no more than a few hundred words, and in it, Reitman the younger attempted to explain how his father’s films and his own differ, as follows:

The difference between my father’s movies and mine is this: If you imagine my father and I each as musicians, my father wants to take your favorite song and play it better than you’ve ever heard it. I want to take a song that you hate and play it so well that you learn to like it.

At first I thought, oh, what an interesting metaphor. But then I thought, what’s with all this liking? I already complained to you about that type of thing earlier this week.

Tell me you want to move me to laugh, cry, dance, or sing along … but don’t just tell me you want me to like you.

Liking is overrated.

Oh, not where you and I as human beings are concerned. But when we’re talking about art in any form, “like” is far too neutral a word. Sort of the way the word “nice” is when applied to people. If I ask you about your friend, and all you can tell me is that he or she is nice, you’ve told me far more than you really meant to.

So a truce, universe, OK?

Don’t let me read any more this week about people who want their stories, movies, songs, or restaurants to be liked, and I’ll try to be … well … nicer.