Critics just can't let it go

First things first - TF2 is now sitting at $371,089,745 after 30 days of release, and should finish this weekend close to $380m, keeping it in line to bust 400m. Woot.

Now on to the topic at hand: "professional movie critics" and their hatred of the movie. I just visited msnbc.com, and their resident critic has posted his review of "G-Force" - a movie about guinea pigs who talk like people and are spies. The header of this review is "At least ‘G-Force’ is better than ‘Transformers 2'".

I should mention that this critic, Alonso Duralde, is a complete asshole, and I've thought that about him long before TF2 was released. He seems to enjoy being a prick, as his reviews generally are among the most negative I read about any film. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a review of his where he seemed to actually enjoy the movie - which is odd, because his job is to watch movies. Imagine having a job where you got paid to do something you hated... doesn't make much sense, but to each his own I suppose.

Then there is Lisa Schwarzbaum over at ew.com, who posted a blog a few days ago about TF2. She claims that everyone (italics hers) she has talked to about this movie has said it was awful... and yet wonders how a movie so reviled can be making so much money. She claims to have "hung out" with a family of four who all thought the movie stunk, despite all being Transformers enthusiasts.

Now I don't mean to call Lisa out for being full of shit, but she's kinda full of shit. First off, not only has she not seen TF2, she hasn't even seen TF1. So it doesn't make sense that she'd post a blog about a movie that she hasn't seen. Second - I know several people who have seen TF2, and they all thought it was great. Maybe not great in a "Citizen Kane" sense, but in a sense that they got their money's worth - they were entertained, and highly so. I'm not clamoring for the movie to take Best Picture, but the movie has performed remarkably well, and it's doing so because people enjoy the movie.

So critics, get over it. Lighten up, and learn to enjoy movies.