OPINION: Amid the cringe-worthy, blokey, back-slapping platitudes that punctuate the launch of any blockbuster movie, good old Kiwi boy Taika Waititi's comments about his homeland this week went down like someone peeing in the swimming pool.
Or, in this case, further soiling our already dodgy waterways.
Even our own AM Show host Duncan Garner labelled Waititi's outburst - a condemnation of Godzone's wholesome image - as "treasonous".
At the very least, it was completely out of step with the typical promotional patter for his latest movie - Thor: Ragnorak.
"I'm not very proud of coming from a place that everyone overseas thinks it's this pure clean, green country, but in reality, all our lakes and waterways are poison," he told Maori affairs show Marae.
"We've got a lot to learn about looking after the environment. We've got a lot to learn about our depression rates, our suicide rates, teen suicide rates, child poverty numbers and the housing crisis."
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Waitiiti also referenced the alarming ease with which foreign investors could buy land in New Zealand.
To be fair, most of these are the same issues and same viewpoints that talkback radio (and TV) hosts rail about every day from their respective platforms.
Indeed, they were the same ones debated by most political parties during the recent election campaign.
By just about any measure, New Zealand's poor mental health record is fact.
Earlier this year, Unicef found us to have, by far, the worst youth suicide rate in the 'developed world', whatever that means.
At 15.6 per 100,000 people, it was twice that of the US and five times that of Britain.
Child poverty has been exposed as our dirty little secret, with a third of New Zealand children or 300,000 living below the poverty line.
"We've normalised child poverty as a society," Unicef NZ executive director Vivien Maidaborn complained to The Guardian last year.
If you don't think there's a housing crisis, then you haven't tried to buy in Auckland lately, and more and more Kiwis feel marginalised in their own country by a seemingly free flow of immigration.
Perhaps the only slightly disputable point made by Waititi relates to poisonous waterways, but he's far from the only one to make this claim. Just ask our new Prime Minister.
When the (old) Government pledges $2 billion over the next 23 years to make 90 percent of our waterways swimmable, there is obviously some kind of problem.
In all of these areas highlighted by Waititi, we can clearly do better and what better time to make that point than a week in which our next Government is anointed.
What a coincidence that is also a week in which Waitiiti has never been in greater demand with the media…
One of the biggest criticisms often levelled at celebrities is their reluctance to use their fame to promote worthwhile causes.
We're seeing a great example of that happening in the US right now, with NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem to protest for civil rights.
Like Waititi, they've been branded traitors for disrespecting their country, but hey, sometimes you've got to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
Those footballers have used their unique platform to make a point - they've certainly raised it to the forefront of national (and international) consciousness - and so has Waititi.
Let's be clear, it's not like he dragged New Zealand across the red carpet at the Oscars.
Without meaning to disparage, Waititi fired his shots on a show that speaks to a very specific demographic back here in NZ.
While his comments became quite a big deal in our local market, they were never likely to be picked up by international media, where he has continued to represent us in his quirky and typically Kiwi manner.
More power to him, not less.
Grant Chapman is a senior online producer for Newshub.
