The 1991 movie that “dishonestly distorted” Roger Ebert’s review: “They quote me in big letters”
Reviewing movies can be tricky… Sometimes, it’s easy to get carried away with writing harsh words about a film that, really, was enjoyable enough, and you forget that there’s a person out there who you might deeply offend, but isn’t that the risk of making art?
Many artists detest the critics. Why should one person’s opinion take precedence? Who gave them the authority? But when it boils down to it, criticism can aid our creative process, it can unite others in discussing a piece of art for all of its merits and all of its flaws, and it can simply give us an indication as to whether a movie or an album is worth our time. And oftentimes, a great piece of writing about art can be a piece of art in and of itself.
Roger Ebert was a leading critic in Hollywood for decades, only rivalled by someone like Pauline Kael, who wasn’t afraid to be harsh if she believed it necessary. Ebert was similar, although he took a slightly more accessible approach, writing very personable, humorous reviews. His honesty is what attracted people to reading his articles, even if he said some ridiculous things at times.
In some cases, his words got him into trouble with filmmakers, most notoriously – and hilariously – Vincent Gallo, who feuded with the critic over his bad review of The Brown Bunny. Gallo claimed to have hexed Ebert’s colon, as well as referring to him as a “fat pig with the physique of a slave trader.” It was brutal. Ebert said he’d rather watch a colonoscopy than The Brown Bunny.
But one thing that really bothered Ebert was when his words were misinterpreted or taken out of context. Despite the jokes he often littered his reviews with, he took his job very seriously, and he wasn’t happy to find that a movie had used a line from his review for advertising purposes that totally misrepresented his opinion on the film.
“I was reviewing a skilful but reprehensible movie named The Last Boy Scout,“ he wrote. “I had to acknowledge the craft of the movie even while deploring its debasement of women and its basic indecency. As a polemicist, if you will, I disagreed with the film. But as the man who was watching the movie, I had to admit that it delivered.”
“I wrote: ‘This film panders with such determination to the base instincts of the action crowd that it will, I am sure, be an enormous hit.’”
Roger Ebert
So, Ebert was annoyed to discover that his words were swiftly extracted without the context of his whole review, making it look like he had said something he hadn’t: “The ads for The Last Boy Scout have dishonestly distorted that sentence… They quote me in big letters: ‘An enormous hit!’ Well, at least I can live with what I did write.”
The Last Boy Scout was a buddy action comedy featuring Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans, who form an unlikely pair – one is a former private investigator, the other a disgraced football player – as they take on a political investigation. It wasn’t particularly well received, so I guess the producers really needed all the good press they could get, even if that meant totally warping Ebert’s original comments.
