Bret Easton Ellis is losing his patience with the current state of film criticism.
In a recent episode of The Brett Easton Ellis Podcast, the “American Psycho” and “Less Than Zero” author sounded off about what he sees as a consensus-based approach that is killing originality among critics. He explained that he no longer relies on critics to determine which movies to see, preferring to read select reviews after he has already watched a movie.
“I read far less reviews than I used to unless I’ve already seen the movie and then, and only then, I’ll scan the top critics on Rotten Tomatoes and read the reviews of the critics that interest me,” Ellis said. “A long time ago, reading reviews of movies that had just opened and that I hadn’t seen, often influenced me on what movies to see first or what movies to ignore, but I’ve been burned so many times in the past decade or so by the advanced critical consensus of the entertainment press, that I now just navigate on certain friends’ recommendations or who directed it or the subject matter.”
Ellis explained that he thinks review aggregation sites like Rotten Tomatoes have made dissent and disagreement less common and often give the false impression that a film is universally beloved.
“Critics don’t guide me in the ways they used to,” he said. “Really? 99% of you top critics listed on Rotten Tomatoes actually liked ‘Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret?” Which I bought because of that 99%. I turned this cutesie adaptation off after 15 minutes at a cost of $5.99. Ditto ‘Creed III,’ 88%, which I watched 20 minutes of. Ditto ‘Evil Dead Rise’ which I saw for 30 minutes, 83%, high for a horror film.”
Ellis’ most recent novel, the serial killer autofiction saga “The Shards,” was generally hailed as a return to form for the cult author (even if it was accompanied by the messiness that his loyal readers have come to expect). He might soon find himself at the mercy of film and TV critics again when the planned miniseries based on the book comes to HBO in the near future.
