5 ms·

. I'll just leave one of my favorite quotes from Ebert about a movie that is actually one of my all time favorite comedy. "This movie doesn't scrape the botto

. I'll just leave one of my favorite quotes from Ebert about a movie that is actually one of my all time favorite comedy. "This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels." [1] - Roger Ebert review of "Freddy Got Fingered"; April 20, 2001 [1] http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20010420/REVIEWS/104200304/1023 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20...

tptacek 14y ago
"It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and [Vincent Gallo] will still be the director of The Brown Bunny."
- jusben1369 14y ago
  Which is stealing/paraphrasing Winston Churchill "yes I may be drunk. But my Dear in the morning I'll be sober and you'll still be ugly" or something close to that.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    At the risk of dissecting the frog, the wit is in the assumptive twist about The Brown Bunny. He was right, by the way: he did indeed get thin (he stopped being able to eat after losing his jaw to a surgical mishap), and Vincent Gallo is indeed still the director of The Brown Bunny.
    - ethomson 14y ago
      To be pedantic, he lost a lot of weight before he lost his ability to eat. After his initial cancer diagnosis (and treatment), he went on the Pritikin diet and lost almost 90 pounds between the diet and weight loss from treatment. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-08-29/online-extra-eberts-big-thumbs-up-for-pritikin http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-08-29/online-extra-...
- deltron 14y ago
  Ebert really was an eloquent wordsmith.
smacktoward 14y ago
My favorite line of his is the one he ended his review of 1996's Mad Dog Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dog_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dog_Time) with: "Mad Dog Time should be cut up to provide free ukelele picks for the poor."
- cafard 14y ago
  Not half bad, but drawing on a line of S.J. Perelman's about a movie that "... provided a snug return for its investors, and was retired to be cut into ukulele picks." And if you like entertaining reviews, the "Cloudland Revisited" pieces from The Most of S.J. Perelman are well worth the price.
- nsxwolf 14y ago
  Also: "'Mad Dog Time' is the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time."
  - philwelch 14y ago
    Later, he wrote about a different movie: "I was reminded of Mad Dog Time (1996), another movie in which well-known actors engaged in laughable dialogue while shooting one another. Of that one, I wrote: " `Mad Dog Time' is the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time." Now comes Frogs for Snakes, the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of Mad Dog Time."
atonse 14y ago
I always preferred his 0-1 star reviews to his 4 star reviews, only because he would skewer them with such masterful language. Ahh now what do I do when I want to laugh at a review about a woefully bad movie?
- smacktoward 14y ago
  You can always buy the two books Ebert published that are nothing but collections of reviews he wrote for movies he gave 2 stars or less: I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie and its follow-up, Your Movie Sucks. There's enough skewering between their covers to keep you occupied for quite some time :-D
chjj 14y ago
I'm just going to link to one of my favorite reviews of his. You can __taste__ the contempt he has for this movie and all its characters in his words: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981211/REVIEWS/812110301/1023 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19... I'll also never forget when Ebert lambasted that ridiculous "Benjamin Button" movie. At the time, I felt like he was the only one on earth that agreed with me. The film recieved nothing but praise, and I was sitting there wondering if I had seen the same film as everyone else. I was so delighted to read his review: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081223/REVIEWS/812239995/1023 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20...
- enneff 14y ago
  While it was satisfying to watch him hate the films I hate, it was incredibly validating to see him love the films I love. Synecdoche, New York http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081105/REVIEWS/811059995 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20... Paris, Texas http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19840101/REVIEWS/401010366/1023 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19... (I just notice the similar form of those film titles. Curious!)
- tptacek 14y ago
  What do you ask a snowman inhabited by your father? After all, Dad's been dead a year. What's it like on the other side? Is there a heaven? Big Bang or steady state? When will the NBA lockout end? Elvis--dead? What's it like standing out on the lawn in the cold all night? Ever meet any angels? Has anybody else ever come back as a snowman? Do you have to eat? If you do, then what? Any good reporter could talk to that snowman for five minutes and come back with some great quotes. But Charlie, self-centered little movie child, is more concerned with how Jack Frost (his father's real name) can help him. His dad has been dead for a year and comes back as a snowman and all he can think of is using the snowman to defeat the school bully in a snowball fight. Also, the kid tries to keep Dad from melting. (What kind of a half-track miracle is it if a snowman can talk, but it can't keep from melting?) Does the snowman have any advice for his son? Here is a typical conversation: Jack Frost: "You da man!" Charlie: "No, YOU da man!" Jack: "No, I da SNOWMAN!"

tptacek 14y ago

"It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and [Vincent Gallo] will still be the director of The Brown Bunny."

jusben1369 14y ago
Which is stealing/paraphrasing Winston Churchill "yes I may be drunk. But my Dear in the morning I'll be sober and you'll still be ugly" or something close to that.
- tptacek 14y ago
  At the risk of dissecting the frog, the wit is in the assumptive twist about The Brown Bunny. He was right, by the way: he did indeed get thin (he stopped being able to eat after losing his jaw to a surgical mishap), and Vincent Gallo is indeed still the director of The Brown Bunny.
  - ethomson 14y ago
    To be pedantic, he lost a lot of weight before he lost his ability to eat. After his initial cancer diagnosis (and treatment), he went on the Pritikin diet and lost almost 90 pounds between the diet and weight loss from treatment. http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-08-29/online-extra-eberts-big-thumbs-up-for-pritikin http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-08-29/online-extra-...
deltron 14y ago
Ebert really was an eloquent wordsmith.

smacktoward 14y ago

My favorite line of his is the one he ended his review of 1996's Mad Dog Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dog_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dog_Time) with: "Mad Dog Time should be cut up to provide free ukelele picks for the poor."

cafard 14y ago
Not half bad, but drawing on a line of S.J. Perelman's about a movie that "... provided a snug return for its investors, and was retired to be cut into ukulele picks." And if you like entertaining reviews, the "Cloudland Revisited" pieces from The Most of S.J. Perelman are well worth the price.
nsxwolf 14y ago
Also: "'Mad Dog Time' is the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time."
- philwelch 14y ago
  Later, he wrote about a different movie: "I was reminded of Mad Dog Time (1996), another movie in which well-known actors engaged in laughable dialogue while shooting one another. Of that one, I wrote: " `Mad Dog Time' is the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time." Now comes Frogs for Snakes, the first movie I have seen that does not improve on the sight of Mad Dog Time."

atonse 14y ago

I always preferred his 0-1 star reviews to his 4 star reviews, only because he would skewer them with such masterful language. Ahh now what do I do when I want to laugh at a review about a woefully bad movie?

smacktoward 14y ago
You can always buy the two books Ebert published that are nothing but collections of reviews he wrote for movies he gave 2 stars or less: I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie and its follow-up, Your Movie Sucks. There's enough skewering between their covers to keep you occupied for quite some time :-D

chjj 14y ago

I'm just going to link to one of my favorite reviews of his. You can __taste__ the contempt he has for this movie and all its characters in his words: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981211/REVIEWS/812110301/1023 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19... I'll also never forget when Ebert lambasted that ridiculous "Benjamin Button" movie. At the time, I felt like he was the only one on earth that agreed with me. The film recieved nothing but praise, and I was sitting there wondering if I had seen the same film as everyone else. I was so delighted to read his review: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081223/REVIEWS/812239995/1023 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20...

enneff 14y ago
While it was satisfying to watch him hate the films I hate, it was incredibly validating to see him love the films I love. Synecdoche, New York http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081105/REVIEWS/811059995 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20... Paris, Texas http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19840101/REVIEWS/401010366/1023 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19... (I just notice the similar form of those film titles. Curious!)
tptacek 14y ago
What do you ask a snowman inhabited by your father? After all, Dad's been dead a year. What's it like on the other side? Is there a heaven? Big Bang or steady state? When will the NBA lockout end? Elvis--dead? What's it like standing out on the lawn in the cold all night? Ever meet any angels? Has anybody else ever come back as a snowman? Do you have to eat? If you do, then what? Any good reporter could talk to that snowman for five minutes and come back with some great quotes. But Charlie, self-centered little movie child, is more concerned with how Jack Frost (his father's real name) can help him. His dad has been dead for a year and comes back as a snowman and all he can think of is using the snowman to defeat the school bully in a snowball fight. Also, the kid tries to keep Dad from melting. (What kind of a half-track miracle is it if a snowman can talk, but it can't keep from melting?) Does the snowman have any advice for his son? Here is a typical conversation: Jack Frost: "You da man!" Charlie: "No, YOU da man!" Jack: "No, I da SNOWMAN!"