Variety editor Peter Bart, who has replaced Jack Valenti as Hollywood’s blowhard-in-chief, once again panders to the studio suits (i.e., his biggest advertisers) by attacking the New York Times’ A.O. (Tony) Scott and the legion of other critics (including our own Kyle) who failed to appreciate the artistic subtleties of a movie that grossed $70 million during its opening weekend.
“The reviews of ‘300’ remind us that the literature of disdain is much more fun to turn out,” Bart writes in his weekly column, which amplifies a “think” piece about the supposed gap between critical and popular tastes that he commissioned earlier in the week. “Scott, the Times critic, for example, predicted that the movie would become ‘an object of camp derision,’ and would appeal mainly to ‘devotees of the pectoral, deltoid and other fine muscle groups.’
Hmm — Bart seems to have conveniently forgotten the review by Variety’s own Todd McCarthy that we found so amusing we linked to it back on March 10. While Todd was bullish on the film’s box-office prospects and praised its visuals, he also didn’t seem to think “300” had much between its ears. He called the movie “steroid-filled fever dream” and, like Scott, mocked the filmmakers’ obsession with bodies: “Possibly nowhere outside of gay porn have so many broad shoulders, bulging biceps and ripped torsos been seen onscreen as in “300,” a fact that will generate a certain bonus audience of its own…”
That doesn’t stop Bart from lacing into such naysayers as Ken Turan of the Los Angeles Times, Stephen Holden of the New York Times — and The Post for having the temerity to slap the headline “Cheesy Rider” on Kyle’s pan of “Ghost Rider,” which Bart crows has passed $165 million worldwide (on a reported negative cost of $120 millions and maybe $40 million in promotion).
“Box office data this year suggests that filmgoers seem to be having a great time at the multiplexes,” Bart says. “The critics, by contrast, may be shopping around for a line new of work.”
Watch out, Todd McCarthy! And surely Tony Scott will be cowed, or at least head for the gym, after reading Bart’s closing zinger: “And, by the way, if you’ve ever met a film critic, you’ll know they’re not big on either the pectoral, deltoid or other muscle groups.” Maybe not, but we’re always happy to try and stop you from throwing away $11.
