Freaky Fridays in The NY Times...Critics Binging on Adjectives

Every Friday the Arts & Leisure section of the The New York Times features reviews of eight to ten new movies. I am always bemused (and sometimes amused) by the fact that the reviews pretty much, for various reasons, bash the hell out of most of them. I am also bemused by the fact that all of the movies are the result of years of work and the expenditure of millions of dollars and this one review in The Times can make or break it even though, sometimes, one short paragraph filled with negative adjectives is all it gets.

Although I rarely go see even well-reviewed movies I still avidly read what the folks at The Times have to say and they have quite a good-sized staff covering the field with, I might add, good writers who would be first-string critics on any other newspaper in the country.

In the very same issue of the paper there are ads for these movies with sterling and inspiring quotes from various other media sources. What I like to do, and shame on me, is winnow out quotes that should be used for these current movies; I even use a yellow highlighter. For instance, using today’s Times as an example:

The Heartbreak Kid, “a lame, long, ugly joke of a movie.” A.O. Scott

The Good Night, “sour and joyless.” Stephen Holden

Broken, “defies basic credibility.” Stephen Holden

Sea Monsters, “efficient but bland.” Matt Zoller Seitz

The Seeker, “frequently dreary,” and “feels passé and lacks a charismatic lead.” Jeannette Catsoulis

For The Bible Tells Us So, “won’t win any prizes for technique.” Matt Zoller Seitz

Finishing the Game, “mired in absurdity,” and “never gets off the ground.” Jeannette Catsoulis

The only fairly good review (by Manohla Dargis; a Times first-stringer) covers the new George Clooney flick Michael Clayton. She has some caveats but it would not be fair to cherry-pick them in my ad quotes since, overall, the review is positive. The problem with me is that I really don’t see enough movies (maybe ten-twelve a year) to want to trust my puny dollars to what could be a dud, including Michael Clayton. But I’m enough of an idiot to play my little Friday afternoon game anyway. OMG, millions of dollars and film reputa-tions shot to hell by, very truly yours, Peebstuff! Yeah...as if.