# Scathing reviews **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885 "2002-03-18T16:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885/21 "2002-03-19T13:28:30Z")
[Roger Ebert’s review of _North_](http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1994/07/931635.html) is a fairly famous example: > [@](#): > > I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it. I wrote often scathing [“reviews” of my third-year med school rotations](http://www.thejtrain.net/rotations.html) for my [web site, The J Train](http://www.thejtrain.net). It was therapeutic. Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![stofsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@stofsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stofsky)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885/22 "2002-03-19T13:40:30Z")
From Rolling Stone: Michael Bolton needs to learn that singing soul does not require sounding like you’ve herniated yourself. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885/23 "2002-03-19T14:41:13Z")
Apparently there was a play in the 60s entitled **Bang!**. One reviewer wrote, simply: **Ouch!** ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885/24 "2002-03-19T14:47:50Z")
On _Practical Magic_, a loathesome romantic comedy starring Nicole Kiddman and Sandra Bullock as two witches: > [@](#): > > … has two more laughs than _The Crucible_ ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885/25 "2002-03-20T01:17:14Z")
May I humbly nominate [my own _Battlefield Earth_ review](http://moviegeek.homestead.com/files/battlefieldearth.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885/26 "2002-03-20T02:26:23Z")
_Bloom County’s_ Opus reviewing Francis Ford Coppola’s _One From the Gut_: “Did for cinema what Jonestown did for Kool-Aid.” ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885/27 "2002-03-20T02:36:41Z")
A lot of those negative reviews feel forced; as if instead of reviewing honestly, the critic went for a cheap laugh. Like the **Blow** example, for instance: The movie wasn’t great, but it wasn’t that bad either. The reviewer sacrificed his honesty for a cheap pun. In a word, lame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scathing-reviews/98885.md?page=1)