7 October, 2005

Shot in the foot

The Guardian* asks the entirely reasonable question that, since professional critics have unanimously ridiculed 'Revolver' as a truly awful film, how is it that the film posters feature a quote from the Sun saying it's "Brilliant... Guy Ritchie back to his best!"?  It's an interesting point, which offers some insight into how such accolades are generated for any film.

To save you reading the full story, the poster's small print conceded that the quote is from the tabloid's website, not the printed newspaper. The word "brilliant" can be traced to a topless model (who appears in the film) attending the premiere, whilst the "... back to his best" part is drawn from the introduction to an interview with the director, published before the film was released – anticipating a successful release.

That interview is the objectionable part. Further research by the Guardian reveals that the interview itself was commissioned by a PR firm, not the Sun itself. Hence, the film's own publicists are generating their own quotes, to be merely validated by being published under the mastheads of their 'media partners'. This may seem a strange thing to say, considering it's the gutter press, but this sort of thing can only damage the Sun's credibility – if readers can't trust that their favourite film critics really provided the praise cited, it defeats the point of reviewing films at all.

*: I know I've been addressing a lot of Guardian stories recently, but don't worry; it's not deliberate, and won't last indefinitely!