The critics rave!

Updated on November 8, 2007 By Ken Begg 7 Comments

If I thought Lions for Lambs was lucky to get rave reviews from Maxim and The Movie Minute, I was more impressed by the tremendous roster of positive notices Fred Claus quotes in its full page print ad in Time Out Chicago this week.  Amongst the critical luminaries giving it their approval:  NBC’s Reel Talk, The Comcast Network, WJBK/Fox-TV, KVBC NBC-TV, Film Advisory Board, WDAF Fox-TV and Teen Hollywood.  Whew!

All kidding aside, I’m actually a bit bummed out.  Fred Clause has the pieces to have been a great holiday comedy.  Too bad they’ve apparently screwed the pooch.  Frankly, Sweeny Todd is about the only movie this entire holiday season I’m looking forward to.

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  • BeckoningChasm

    I dunno, Fred Clause looked like someone said, “Hey those Tim Allen movies make money, don’t they? Let’s rip those off!”

  • Well, I like Vaugnn and Giamotti, and I think the idea of being Santa’s loser brother is something you could do something with.

    And I’ll admit, I didn’t think The Santa Clause was all that bad. Better than, for instance, Jingle all the Way, much less whatever that Dan Ackroyd / Jamie Lee Curtis thing was a few years ago.

  • Josh

    That was everybody they could bribe? Hmm, low budget ;)

  • Actually, the system is set up so you don’t have to bribe anybody. First, there are so many ‘critics’ around now–see how many of the quotes are from individual local TV stations–that you can nearly always find *somebody* who liked your film.

    And then, of course, there are the quote whores, like Movie Minute, who get a kick or make a buck somehow by appearing in zillions of ads for movies nobody else liked. That why years ago I started paying attention to who was being quoted in movie ads.

    My favorite is when they say, “The critics call it…” (it’s always critics, plural) and then they put up two or three different quotes…but they are from the same review!!

  • Josh

    Okay, I’ve always wondered whether “less reputable” critics (the local news critic for East Nowhere, Iowa) give recommendations to more films, or if they review less and recommend some of them, or if everybody likes something. From your answer (to my snark and run post), it seems that it’s the last. Is that correct?

  • will

    Whatever happened to good old Earl Dittman? I never see him around anymore. Shame. Where would Marci X have been w/out him?

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Hey, leave the East Nowhere, Iowa critics alone! They’re a damn sight more reputable than, say, the West Nowhere, Nebraska or Just About Anywhere=Nowhere, Texas critics!

    HAWKEYE RAGE~!!!