Thursday, March 3, 2011

HOW I MET THE CRITICS: I am shocked, shocked that a romcom written by, directed by and starring HIMYM's Josh Radnor could be described by critics as "insufferable," "looks and sounds like a flop pilot for a television," "nothing of substance," "implausible, cutesy-poo," "sentimental," "preposterous," "tepid," "relentlessly cheery," "reeks of desperation"  (NYT); "like a sitcom, but without the burning narrative urgency," "the epitome of 'indie,' and not in a good way," "gives new meaning to self-indulgence and self-infatuation," "audiences will be taking sides depending on what coast they don't live on," "the characters are uniformly annoying, their stories insubstantial and the tone one of smug contentment" (Variety); "twee," "problematic," "horribly disjointed," "the film's principal project is to trade in questionable racial characterization as a catalyst for its white protag's personal fulfillment" (Slant); and "treating their problems like they're the most important crises in the world is what people in their 20s do, but that doesn't mean we have to go along for the ride" (LA Times).