Monday, December 29, 2008

Chris Lee of The Los Angeles Times asks the question, "Is Ben Lyons the most hated film critic in America?"

Lee then expends much verbiage on explaining how Lyons, the 27-year-old celebrity interviewer and co-host of the de-Ebert-ized "At the Movies," has earned the derision of viewers, other critics and movie fans (including an entire blog devoted to slagging him).

Lyons is accused of being a celebrity suck-up, a kid who got his job by family connections (his father is Jeffrey Lyons, also a movie critic with his own TV show), and being a "quote whore" who heaps praise on movies to be used in studio ad campaigns. (Will Smith's "I Am Legend" was, according to young Lyons, "one of the greatest movies ever made.")

But "the most hated film critic in America"? No. To hate someone, one has to truly care about that someone. If the ratings for "At the Movies" are a guide, nobody cares about Ben Lyons.

To be hated, Lyons would have to have influence, the way Roger Ebert did when he co-hosted the TV show. But Ebert wasn't influential because he was a TV star; he became a TV star because his intelligent, thoughtful and compelling reviews were influential.

Now, no single critic on a TV show - especially a mental lightweight like Lyons - wields that much influence. Thanks to the Internet, the influence belongs to the mob of criticism, counted by such aggregators as Rotten Tomatoes or MetaCritic. So why waste energy hating him?