Is Ben Lyons the most hated film critic in America?

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 6:55pm

Critic Ben Lyons gets many thumbs down
The new 'At the Movies' reviewer's detractors find him a celeb-loving shill for film marketers.

By Chris Lee
December 28, 2008
Is Ben Lyons the most hated film critic in America?

In the four months since the fresh-faced 27-year-old "movie dude" for the E! Entertainment Network was installed to co-host a revamped version of the venerable movie review program "At the Movies," he has gotten a resounding thumbs down from an angry mob of film bloggers, columnists, professional movie critics and fans of the show. Consensus is that Lyons, the son of New York film critic Jeffrey Lyons, is unworthy of the balcony seats once occupied by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel on the TV mainstay that has rallied audiences into theaters for more than three decades.

"His integrity's out the window. He has no taste," said Erik Childress, vice president of the Chicago Film Critics Assn. "Everyone thinks he's a joke."

Lyons became infamous in film circles for calling Will Smith's 2007 zombie-vampire movie "I Am Legend" "one of the greatest movies ever made." That appraisal became a key part of the movie's print advertising campaign.

"One of the 'greatest movies ever made'?" said Childress, who's also a movie reviewer for eFilmCritic.com. "Next to 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Citizen Kane'? The only way you can say that with a straight face is if you've only seen 50 movies in your life. Or you're trying to give quotes to appease someone who can do you a favor later."

Lyons declined to be interviewed for this story. But among the accusations flung his way: that he landed his job through nepotism, is unknowledgeable about movies, sucks up to celebrities and, most damaging, is a "quote whore" -- a shill for movie marketers whose all-too-frequent raves are repurposed as gushy pull quotes on movie ads, usually accompanied by several exclamation points.
Critic Ben Lyons gets many thumbs down

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 7:11pm

The show has gone downhill since Ebert left. Roeper was fine, but the guy who filled in for the majority of the time Ebert was out was too elitist. Now they've swung the other way with Lyons who likes everything. They're just never going to get the magic back that Siskel and Ebert had.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 8:26pm

He's a douche. So smug and brown-nosing it makes me gag.

Yes he's a joke.

But so is Ryan Seacrest, and look how well he's doing.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 9:06pm

Yes. Yes, he is.

[romantico]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 9:16pm

I hate Michael Medved more.(or as I call him the inspiration for Ned Flanders)

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 9:27pm

Actually, I can think of very film few critics I like anymore.

Roger Ebert is still by far the best. And I don't agree with him all the time. But I at least know that he genuinely loves movies.

Most film critics are in love with the sound of their own keyboards. And they don't know squat when it comes to film.

And I mean just the basics.

[mikem]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 11:08pm

There is a website called "Ben Lyons Quote of the Week" that says Lyons had this comment about the film Doubt:

“You know what’s frustrating in the film though? You don’t get to hear the little boy’s side of the story at all and I felt like he was kinda pushed to the side and was almost an afterthought even though he’s the subject of the film.”

As the website says, he may as well get a giant tattoo across his forehead that reads “I DON’T GET IT.” I've never seen Lyons's show, but if this is a typical comment, I can understand why people can't take him seriously.
Ben Lyons Quote of the Week -- go to the comments under 12/16/08

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 11:50pm

While I'd never call I Am Legend one of the greatest movies ever made, I sure as hell liked it better than dull as dishwater Lawrence of Arabia and the most overrated, Citizen Kane. Meanwhile, I don't have a clue (not even a hint) as to who this Ben Lyons is.

[pab]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 12:38am

Why is it always assumed that because your parent did it that you can do it as well. I know that has worked for some families but it's not the rule by any means.

As for the "most overrated" Citizen Kane and the "dull as dishwater Lawrence of Arabia", as they say, there's no accounting for taste.

[Hest882]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 12:56am

As a once faithful "At the Movies" viewer who removed the show from her TiVo list after watching the first episode of the revamped show...I have to say this LA Times article fills me with unholy glee.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 10:19am

I can't believe he called Synecdoche New York one of the worst movies of '08.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 10:35am

Regardless of opinion, this controversy though is EXACTLY what the producers of At the Movies must want...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 10:41am

I think there is a case to be made that while taste is personal and can't be "wrong," calling Citizen Kane 'overrated' shows a complete and utter lack of knowledge of film history, film making and film itself.

Of course, as a statement to throw out to prove you're a douche, it works fine.

So considering that, I guess that makes JohnBoy2 worse than Lyons.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 10:44am

Yay! JB2 wins!

He had some serious competition though.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 1/14/09 at 11:58am

I remember watching Jeffrey Lyons review Marie Antoinette and complaing how Sofia Coppala hired her cousin to be in the movie. And he went on and on about...like it was his main criticism of the movie. And then...the next words out of his mouth were "Now let's go to Ben Lyons out in Hollywood...."