When Did Critics Stop Having Fun?

This summer, more than any before it, I started paying more attention to a troubling trend – Critics seem to really hate their jobs anymore.  I have been reviewing films for about a decade now and I have to say: This is starting to irk me.

I do not mean all of them, of course, but there are many.  The more reviews I read for films and the more I see the films they reviewed, the more I wonder if they even really like going to work anymore.  I am convinced that critics look for more that is wrong with a movie nowadays, than they look for what is right. What works, what makes the film entertaining despite its flaws.

Do not get me wrong; online and niche critics have to be critical as well, but we really try to be fair and ALWAYS see the film from a film lover’s point of view.  Don’t you want to read a review to know its minuses AND pluses?  Isn’t that what you really want in a film recommendation?  To know that ‘Hey, this is not the most well-made thing you are ever going to see…but MAN, is it ever entertaining!’

Films like Transformers, The Lone Ranger, R.I.P.D., hell even Battleship – They may not be cinematic genius, but they each had more entertainment than ‘Top Critics’ reviews would ever lead you to believe. Review after review I have read on films such as those just trashed them for not being original or repeating past film clichés.  How many original concepts do you really think there are anymore?  Just because a film costs a fortune and doesn’t reinvent the wheel gives no critic the ammo to destroy it…as many feel empowered to do nowadays.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find outside critics that I can count on to steer me away from a true disaster (yes, even people who review films have guys they trust to guide them).  Mainstream critics I have already given up on.  Unless someone OD’s 30 minutes in or there is a child with a horrible birth defect, it is hard to find a mainstream critic that is willing to recommend an entertaining Blockbuster about a lone man fighting off the alien antagonists of Mars.

The question is – Why?  Where are these guys at?  Have they just reviewed too many movies and now see it as nothing more than a job?  What happened to the days when a critic could mention a film’s issues but ultimately see the bigger picture?  What happened to those top critics who went into a film and left his baggage at the door?  The one who got into this business because he LOVES MOVIES?

If Star Wars came out now, with its cheesy story and spotty acting (be fair, Hamill was never a thespian), would today’s critics curse the classic film into the ground and call it an epic failure of a pedestrian adventure?  Would they critique the continuity errors of The Wizard of Oz?  Moan about how racist Gone With the Wind really is?

Yes, filmmaking has changed.  Special effects are more prominent every year, taking away some of the human element.  But just as our phones, televisions and PC’s have – they continue to evolve and entertain.  Not every film needs to be Citizen Kane (a vastly overrated film by my standards) and ‘Crowd Pleasing’ does not always indicate a lack of quality.  There are plenty of times we walk into a theater, see much of what we have seen in years past; yet still smile at the WAY it is now being presented.  Almost every film is derivative of something if you truly put your mind to it.  To hear some of these Negative Nancy’s tell it, big budget filmmaking is too empty, too thin, to recommend to the mass audiences.

My point is this: Mr. Critic.  If you do not enjoy watching certain kinds of films, then please do us all a favor and stop reviewing them.  If you do not appreciate genre films, stop watching them.  The car is obviously not built for you, so stop trying to take the wheel. Your voice is simply not relevant to us if you do not appreciate the films that we do.  It’s nothing personal, you are just too damn cranky.  So sit down and relax with all of your Oscar nominees, drug addicted artists or overcoming a medical miracle films and find new ways to try to convince us all that THIS biography is TRULY different.

We’ll be sitting at the theater, watching that random guy finally fight back the alien attack in 3D, save mankind, probably say something snarky AND get the girl.  When it is all over, and the lights come up – We’ll look at whomever we brought with us to savor this glorious entertainment…and we’ll smile.

You should try it.

 

Aaron Peterson

The Hollywood Outsider

www.TheHollywoodOutsider.com