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).

14 comments:

  1. Dan Suitor9:12 PM

    Whatever. This movie had me at "An emotionally-stunted manchild adopts a black child and Buster Bluth is there and Malin Akerman has alopecia."

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  2. Meghan9:22 PM

    Oh, Buster.

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  3. Matt B9:46 PM

    Wow, just...wow.

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  4. Wow. The trailer alone is insufferable. But it won a Sundance award! Poor Tony Hale.

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  5. spacewoman10:09 PM

    It's official: I am the only person on earth who likes Ted.  Am I the mother?

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  6. Doesn't every movie at Sundance win an award?

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  7. "audiences will be taking sides depending on what coast they don't live on"

    Is this a joke about flyover states? I can't tell because I live an unsophisticated distance from the ocean. I'm really sick of being dismissed as having no taste for living in the middle, though.

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  8. It's only being released in NYC  and LA right now.

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  9. Dan Suitor11:15 PM

    <p>Don't worry, there are people with insufferably precious and vapid twee tastes all across the midwest (see: Austin, Boulder, Kansas City, Madison, Minneapolis/Twin Cities, etc). No need to restrict pretentiousness to the coasts.
    </p>

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  10. isaac_spaceman12:14 AM

    That snide comment (the indecipherable one about which coasts people don't live on) deserves its own set of critical reviews.

    By the way, is Commenter Robin the Princess of America?  That's kind of what her avatar looks like tome.

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  11. Even in the Deep South! Come to Athens and meet the indierexic crafter vegans!

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  12. I like Ted! And some friends of mine saw this movie and enjoyed it.

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  13. Paul Tabachneck5:30 PM

    Robin, you're not dismissed as having no taste for living in the middle.

    You're dismissed as having no taste for hating dogs.  :-)

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  14. Paul Tabachneck5:34 PM

    Robin's pre-fashionable sense of patriotism is one of her more awesome qualities (of which there are many), and I think Princess of America would be a perfect stepping-stone title for her.  :-)

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