The Weinstein Co. bashes in a “New York Times” advertisement a professional film critic who pans its drama film “Philomena,” which triggered a battle in the press.
Film distributor TWC urges readers to see the movie to “Decide For Yourself.” In a lengthy opinion article today, New York Post critic Kyle Smith defends his review. “I found the film lazy, contrived, with a dull odd-couple road-trip structure dabbed with insipid humor,” he writes. His original review called the movie “90 minutes of organized hate” toward the Roman Catholic church.
The drama follows the search by an elderly woman for the son she gave away for adoption at age three after she gave birth out-of-wedlock in 1950s Ireland.
TWC takes aim at critic Smith, using as its messenger the real-life subject of “Philomena,” who wrote in an open letter that the movie is “quite real.” Philomena Lee continues, “This is not a rally cry against the church or politics. In fact, despite some of the troubles that befell me as a young girl, I have always maintained a very strong hold on my faith.”
The PG-13-rated movie is well reviewed—with Smith a rare dissenter. Philomena received a lofty 92% positive rating from critics compiled by the Rotten Tomatoes film website. However, its box office is mediocre with a $4,402 per screen average on 835 screens in its second weekend of release. Its total gross was $6.7 million after one full week of release and two weekends. Judi Dench stars in the British import movie.
“For three-day weekend figures that often are cited in newspaper reports, films that don’t average at least $2,000 per screen usually are considered commercial disappointments,” says the third edition of the “Marketing To Moviegoers” book. “Philomena” is nearly that low in its first weekend of wide release–which is a bad omen for its commercial prospects (its first weekend was just four screens).
An un-bylined story in Hollywood news website Deadline.com suggests that the controversy is stoked by TWC chief Harvey Weinstein in a bid to lift box office. “Gotta hand it to Harvey: When he sees an angle to boost the profile of his movies, he goes for it… The ‘NYT’ ad excerpts Lee’s letter to Smith that…comes complete with a call to action — ‘Decide For Yourself’— even though the movie’s been in the marketplace since the week before Thanksgiving.”
Let’s point out the obvious. Any film review is just one person’s opinion, although in this case both sides knock the accuracy of the other side’s facts.
Critic Smith rips “Philomena” for assuming true-story credentials. The film “starts with a weaselly disclaimer about situations being ‘reconstructed to the best of my ability,’ along with a cheeky confession that ‘gaps have been filled, characters extrapolated and incidents surmised.’ ”
Perhaps explaining why he is a lightning rod for controversy, Smith adds that “as far as I know, (I’m) the only conservative film critic in the entire United States who writes regularly for a general-interest newspaper or magazine.”
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