Advice on Film Criticism (an ongoing series)

I decided to start this segment both to answer a common question I get and to discuss some of the mistakes that many aspiring (and occasionally professional) critics make. I'll keep this segment going with 5 or so points at a time to keep it at a manageable size.


1. You must love film.

It's an obvious statement but one that's often overlooked. If being a film critic simply meant watching the movies you like (or love to hate) and then giving an opinion, anyone would do it. But to review movies successfully, you have to go far beyond that. You need to a have a true passion for the medium that drives you to learn and understand far more than the average person. This means knowing the traditions that inspire your favorite and least favorite trends, watching countless movies you'll inevitably hate just to gain a bit of perspective on the ones you'll like. But above all, you have to understand what it takes to make a film, and just as importantly, what it takes to ruin one. And this takes dedication that goes well beyond the point when the average viewer would lose interest.

2. Your opinion can be wrong, but not for the reasons you think

As a critic it's not your job to praise the 'right" movies and skewer the "wrong" ones. It's also not your job to convert others to your taste or to uphold a mainstream or contrarian viewpoint. You're not right or wrong for preferring Ed Wood to Stanley Kubrick or vice versa, but you're wrong if you can't justify either stance. Your opinion can be wrong if it's based on incorrect information or fallacious logic or if your scores seem inconsistent or arbitrary to the majority of your readers. Your job, in the simplest terms, is to evaluate a film in a way that's honest and reliable. The former is self-explanatory; the latter, on the other hand, requires practice and understanding and I'll have more to say on that in point three. If you do this right then you can absolutely trash a film while still informing some viewers why they might enjoy it. And that's what will keep people returning to read your reviews even after they rage and fume about how you got any given movie all wrong.

3. Criticize consistently

The quality of any review is half content and half context. While any individual review can win you some fans and gain you credibility, it's the complete body of your work that will give your opinions and observations meaning. Every review you write should be consistent with a larger scheme so that readers can infer what they know about your tastes and apply them to your reviews. However, it's usually the content of criticism that determines critic's merit, and while everyone reviews a little differently, a few core rules are almost always applicable:
- Know the relevant criteria for any movie and give weight accordingly. A review of an action movie should not touch on the same points in the same proportions as a review of a serious drama or a screwball comedy. If you're reviewing 300 there's only so much that readers want to know about the script, but they'll want an in-depth analysis of the action. The converse goes for, say, The Social Network.
- Explain what your scores mean (unless you're convinced it's completely obvious) and be sure that the score never contradicts the content of the review. The reader should be able to guess the score intuitively just by reading your comments on the movie.
- Keep your personal pet peeves personal and don't give them more weight than they deserve. The reason Armond White, for example, is such an unpopular critic despite his extensive knowledge of film  is not simply because he's a contrarian but also because his criteria for good or bad films are so specifically geared to his personal tastes.
- Check to see if your scoring differs among genres and time periods. If they do, make sure those scores reflect your opinion on that genre at that time.


4. Criticize constructively

As almost any critic will tell you, writing an especially brutal review can be fun and provides great catharsis after feeling cheated by a bad film. Unfortunately this tactic has become so common that negativity and grumpiness have become shorthand for criticism so don't take it as a requirement. Note that even Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) who specifically reviews notoriously bad movies knows not to go overboard with his rants and occasionally concedes when a movie exceeds his expectations. That said, don't be too so positive that you get caught up in your own hyperbolic prose or else fans and detractors alike will see you as biased. Your language should be exactly as positive or negative as your estimation of the film. Here are a few tips on how best to avoid that.
- Don't use any word that roughly means good or bad interchangeably. Each one means something slightly different.
- Don't stoop to ad-hominem attacks against actors and filmmakers. A film review is not your place to spread rumors or criticize their appearances or personal lives. There's a place and a context for that, but in a film review it's not only irrelevant but a clear sign of bias.
- Don't be afraid to voice offensive opinions, but never go out of your way to offend, especially not to get a reaction.
- You fans' comments are likely to offer some insight on this. Don't take each one as an imperative, but look at the ones that are made about you most consistently.

5. Don't star-gaze

Since this is a personal pet peeve, I'll follow my own advice and keep this relatively short. Basically, just know that a film review is not a place for Hollywood gossip. While the occasional comment is acceptable, don't spend any significant amount of space on actors' appearances, insider anecdotes, or personal ramblings about any experiences you might have had with the cast and crew. Again, there's a time and place for all of those things, but in a film review they'll only make you look biased and unprofessional.