Why Do People Make Bad Movies? And Who Are Critics to Judge?

A common criticism aimed at film critics themselves is that their opinion is worth no more than anyone else's. This is absolutely true. I need hardly add 'in my opinion', but I will anyway. Another frequent criticism is that critics know absolutely nothing about actually making movies and certainly very little about how difficult it can be. And with the exception of Truffaut, Godard and others in the French New Wave who are helpfully facetious exceptions, this is usually true as well. I for one know pretty much diddly about actual movie making. Sure I can spot great technique, cheerfully dissect the precise reasons I love or loathe something, look at the rhythm of the editing, analyse the cinematography and production design and figure out how the performances are working (or not). But I'm not a professional critic and neither do I pretend to actually know anything about film making or its trials. In a recent Vanity Fair profile, writer/ demi-God Aaron Sorkin suggested that director/ A N Other demi-God David Fincher doesn't like most movies, very possibly a little more eloquently than that. But he goes on to say that David Fincher doesn't talk badly of films he doesn't like as he respects just how difficult making movies is. So who are critics to judge movies and why on earth would anyone make bad ones?

The answer to the first of those questions is pretty easy. No matter how clear a director and crew are in their intentions for a movie, it doesn't amount to anything (not even the proverbial hill of beans) until someone views it - the 'art' actually happens in the screening process. An unscreened movie is just the cat in the box, waiting for us to figure out whether or not it's alive. And since everyone's experience is subjective, that make everyone a critic. Even you. And me. And yes, that does actually make me you. Scary, huh? As long as no-one pretends that their opinion is actually worth any more than any other then I think we'll be OK.

As for bad movies? Interesting. Francis Ford Coppola said in an interview promoting The Godfather Part III ("not the best one" - even advert copywriters are critics apparently, see?) that there was no such thing as 'good' and 'bad' art, that the only possible categorisation of art was as either 'sincere' or 'insincere' and that all sincere art should be considered of value. Although this was pretty ironic considering it's been suggested that he instigated that movie at least partially to ward off the fallout from a second bankruptcy, I think the comment has a lot of truth to it. For the record, I still love that chapter of The Godfather, albeit no, nowhere near as much as the first two, but then again I vastly prefer interesting or ambitious failures over mediocre successes any day of the week. I don't think anyone actually sets out to make bad movies, but sadly there's a lot (and by that I mean a LOT) of film making where the only apparent motive appears to be selling tickets. It's this kind of movie that I think we can safely describe as insincere art; many of these movies seem to be made under the ethos that audience enjoyment or artistic merit aren't remotely important. And before you accuse me of snobbery or elitism, I love at least as many blockbusters as you do and would happily defend their artistry to the hilt.

Personally, I've never been much of a believer in 'best' movie lists of any description or star ratings, even when I've found myself using the latter when both reading and writing about movies. I absolutely adore 'Citizen Kane', but it doesn't make me laugh anywhere near as much as 'When Harry Met Sally' or excite me as much as half a dozen Bond movies I could mention. And does it really matter whether the lobotomising 'Transformers 2' - see above - is described with half a star or no stars at all? I think it's safe to say that a lot of lists and comparisons, whether positive or negative, aren't always helpful when talking about movies.

Hence I'd suggest that one of the only valid criteria against which a movie can be evaluated is probably how successfully each member of the audience feels it measures up to the filmmakers' original intentions. And the only person that can determine that is, well, you. I'll let you be the judge of that.