COnsidering the public spectacle that Joel Siegel made of WALKING OUT (and telling others at the screening they should also walk out) of Clerks II, the lead post at Kevin Smith's online diary:

http://www.silentbobspeaks.com/

is probably well-deserved.

Some highlights:

"So last night, at a press screening of “Clerks II” in New York City, “Good Morning America” movie critic Joel Siegel decided he’d had enough of my shenanigans, and walked out of the flick at the forty minute mark. You’d imagine this would bother me, and yet, I’m as delighted by this news as I was with the eight minute standing ovation “Clerks II” received in Cannes.

I mean, it’s Joel Siegel, for Christ’s sake. As Paul Thomas Anderson once said of the man, getting a bad review from Siegel is like a badge of honor. This is the guy who stole his mustachioed critic shtick from Gene Shalit years ago, and still refuses to give it back. This is a guy who seemingly prides himself on being “punny” - that is, he likes to add his own nyuk-nyuk wordplay into the reviews he writes/gives.

For “Pirates 2″, he made us all titter with “Yo, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Fun”.

...

I can’t fault Mr. Siegel for feeling “revolted” (his producer’s description of Joel’s reaction) by our flick; in truth, there is a donkey show in it, and I recognize that brand of whimsy might not be for everybody. Film appreciation is very subjective, and maybe Joel just isn’t into ass-to-mouth conversations.

However, I CAN fault him for the manner in which he left the screening."

I'm not defending Clerks II, because I haven't seen it and I'm not optimistic that it will be good, but I think Smith hits the nail on the head when he points to the level of disrespect a critic shows by making a public spectacle of himself.

Personally, I'll go farther than Smith does: I tihnk Siegel is the lowest-common denominator of film critics. He has nothing interesting to say, and his taste is crap. But I appreciate Smith's politically smooth way of avoiding making Siegel out to the bad guy, in general.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: philosopherEric,

I realized I misspelled Siegel's name in the title of the thread.

Can I fix that? If so, how?

If you edit the original post, pE, it will let you edit the title, too.

Of course, if you are captured, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of you and your mission.

This post will self-destruct in 10 seconds...

Danke!

I personally thought that the donkey-show scene was hilarious. You know how in comedies (particularly gross-out comedies) there are the scenes were EVERYTHING goes wrong?

Well, the donkey-show scene is the best such scene I have seen in quite a while. See the movie, everyone, I recommend it.