Somebody Stop This Man!

Anyone who reads Anthony Lane knows how painful his incessant rib-tickling can be. But his review of The Chronicles of Narnia hits a new low.

He begins by saying of C.S. Lewis, "The one thing delaying any attempt to film his Narnia novels was the lack of technology; until recently, for example, there was no computer-imaging program powerful enough to re-create a wholly convincing wardrobe." Har! He ends with an unforgivable pun: "Thus does Lucy, over toast and honey, learn the lesson known to the heroine of every horror flick: Don’t answer the faun."

Okay, the guy can be funny. He can even be astute, particularly when writing about books. But that "faun" kicker is so excruciatingly, mind-bogglingly lame that I can't believe a New Yorker editor let it stand, and must assume Lane slipped the whole thing in under the radar while Harold Ross, William Shawn, and Pauline Kael spun wildly in their graves.

When Lane's collection, Nobody's Perfect (aww, so self-deprecating!), was published, several reviewers pointed out that a zippy prose style isn't enough to evaluate movies: you also have to care about them. As Kent Jones put it in Film Comment: "This is a very funny collection of criticism for people who have no use for criticism." That was three years ago. For God's sake, when will it end?

Comments

[Emily]

I bet this lively gal could teach Anthony a thing or two.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/linaerys/368356.html

[girish]

I love that Kent Jones line. It's perfect.

And Monsieur Looker must indeed have dozed off during "L'Avventura", since Marcello isn't in it. :-)

[Filmbrain]

I'm really glad you wrote this post. Lane is a talented writer, but utterly useless as a film critic. It's gotten worse over the years. I can remember when he was writing knee-jerk reviews -- if it was English, masterpiece. If Irish, shite.

That Kent Jones line is indeed perfect, and a reminder why he is one of my critical heroes.