10 Things Movie Critics Won't Tell You

Ever notice that film critics who ply their trade on the TV infotainment circuit seem to love everything they see? In the past few years the Today Show’s Gene Shalit has gushed over such forgettable clunkers as the universally panned Fantastic Four (“Fantastic Four . . . everyone!”) while over at Reel Talk, Alison Bailes raved about big-budget flops like Beowulf (“I was gripped and on the edge of my seat!”).

Why would these critics be willing to risk their credibility by championing bad movies? To be fair, TV reviewers’ tendency to speak in sound bites highly suitable for movie ads is, to some extent, based on the limitations of the medium they work in. Fast-paced entertainment shows spare scant seconds for coverage of anything; you’ve got to get to the point and make it snappy. Ebert & Roeper at least allowed for extended, even passionate, discussion of films up for review.

But TV personalities have to worry about furthering their own brand— themselves. Thus, they tend to play it safe by embracing middling fare or worse. So the next time you hear Larry King praise such low-chuckle-count fodder as Monster-in-Law as “hysterically funny,” you’ll know to take his opinion with a barrelful of salt.