Arts On Not Reviewing Phat Girlz
The P-I carried a brief AP story today about the many movies this season that studios are deciding not to screen for critics.
Since we’re a weekly, AP’s description of “scrambling” to write a review the day the film opens doesn’t really apply to us. (We have more problems with the big movies that studios choose to screen for critics the week of the opening, with a theater packed full of revved-up fans.) In fact, on occasion we’ve given a long review to one of these blind openers the following week—such as my essay on the fascinations of Tyler Perry.
Do people care about this critic fatwa? Would it actually be better if movie reviews came out the week after the film opened, like it works in theater? The phenomenon irritates me in some ways, but in other ways it’s all right. Did you really need someone to tell you that Doogal was gonna suck?
Wait, so I sat through Doogal for nothing? (Well, besides the paycheck.) I'm still trying to shake off the wary anti-ped rays shot my way by all the parents in the audience.
Thanks for pointing out the PI article. I've been meaning to post something about this for a while, actually. As a critic, it obviously messes with my wallet and opportunities for expression, and doesn't exactly give me a positive vibe for when I finally see the product. (The first non-screened movie I can personally remember was Van Sant's Psycho. At Friday's first matinee, the only people in the audience were, you guessed it, critics, none of whom seemed to happy to be there on their own dime.) As a reader, it bums me out that the studios seem to be lumping legit critics in with the spoiler-happy, not to be trusted, internet folks, or possibly giving them even less respect. When Harry Knowles has the only day and date review of a film, something's deeply awry.
On the other hand, David Thomson once quite reasonably pointed out that film criticism was the only reviewing faction where EVERYTHING that came out was supposedly due an analysis. Scads of albums, books, and plays are allowed to fall through the critical cracks every week; should, say, Benchwarmers be any different? I'm conflicted, as usual.