David Poland has written that Rachel Abramowitz‘s L.A. Times piece about a series of adult dramas tanking or underperforming with the public (a story that HE readers had a field day with yesterday) is “a mixed bag of truths, falsehoods, spin, and reaction to one piece of mean-spirited, self-serving gossip mongering.

“There is a real discussion to be had about how independent-minded movies are being released, how screens are held and lost, and what the future for this kind of product really might be,” Poland allows. “But hysteria over a few films that didn’t catch in limited releases is short-sighted hooey. There is no real story here. It’s a little more crowded and there is a little more star power in some of these misses, but it’s business as usual when you take a real look at it.”

Poland makes a couple of fair points (I agree that Michael Clayton has performed semi-decently, or at least that it doesn’t qualify as a tank), but the central obser- vation in Abramowitz’s piece — there’s too much product flooding the market, and that diminished ticket sales are part of the cause-and-effect — is unquestionable.

Knowing the Poland songbook as I do, I should add that if I had a quarter for every time I’ve heard Poland slam an article about some business-of-Hollywood topic by saying “there’s no story here,” I could afford a down payment on a new car.