For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Gerald Peary

Writer:

Gerald Peary (written by)

Genre:

Documentary

Cast

Jami Bernard	...	Herself
Kevin Carragee	...	(voice)
Jason Carter	...	(voice)
Patricia Clarkson	...	Narrator (voice)
Richard Corliss	...	Himself
David D'Arcy	...	Himself
Roger Ebert	...	Himself
Otis Ferguson	...	Himself
Owen Gleiberman	...	Himself
Molly Haskell	...	Herself
J. Hoberman	...	Himself
Ed Hoopman	...	(voice)
Harlan Jacobson	...	Himself
Stanley Kauffmann	...	Himself
Stuart Klawans	...	Himself
Harry Jay Knowles	...	Himself (as Harry Knowles)
Karina Longworth	...	Herself
Leonard Maltin	...	Himself
Janet Maslin	...	Herself
Elvis Mitchell	...	Himself
Wesley Morris	...	Himself
Lisa Nesselson	...	Herself
John Powers	...	Himself
Rex Reed	...	Himself
B. Ruby Rich	...	Herself
Kim Romano	...	(voice)
Jonathan Rosenbaum	...	Himself
Andrew Sarris	...	Himself
Richard Schickel	...	Himself
Lisa Schwarzbaum	...	Herself
A.O. Scott	...	Himself
David Sterritt	...	Himself
Mike Szymanski	...	Himself
Kenneth Turan	...	Himself
Scott Weinberg	...	Himself
Lewis D. Wheeler	...	(voice)
Michael Wilmington	...	Himself

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

AG Flims

We're dealing with a TV program

'For the Love of Movies' is no more than a pedestrian low-budget TV program written slapdash style and directed by an untalented first-timer. After paying to watch this cheesy video production in a theater, I think it safe to advise anyone interested in the subject that they should wait until it's aired on TV or available on DVD. As a critic and academic, Peary is only competently mediocre at best and, frankly, it comes as no surprise that his first effort as a documentary director is marred by an over-abundance of talking heads (do we really need another sound-bite by the omnipresent endlessly-interviewed Roger Ebert?), clichéd narration based on paint-by-numbers pedagogy, irritating whining over the rise of internet criticism, cheesy production values, poor cinematography and lighting, and the general sense of an essay on film criticism in which logic has been split-haired by a muddled filmmaker who couldn't see beyond his editor's shoulders.

Nothing's treated in depth here and the talking heads are rarely given time to develop their arguments, at least not on-screen. This is a fault often perpetrated by first-time documentary directors in the mistaken belief that the more heads they can cram on-screen, the better chances they have to improve rhythm and pacing. This method works well with DVD featurettes (puff-pieces by definition) but not with ambitious, well-constructed films by Errol Morris or Ken Burns (among other professionals) at their best.

Sure, the program has value as some sort of historical document on American criticism but this rich and potentially fascinating subject ought to have been conceived and helmed by someone with cinematic talent to justify its theatrical release. Desperately lacking visual imagination, originality and daring, 'For the Love of Movies' won't win any significant awards (other than Roger Ebert's embarrassing self-endorsement) and will no doubt be re-edited to a 52' version for TV. You mark my words.