May 1, 2023
In 1975, Gene Siskel, the film critic for the Chicago Tribune, and Roger Ebert, newly awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his film criticism at the Chicago Sun-Times, met for the first time and gingerly agreed to work together on a film review show. An editor and film critic at ScreenCrush.com, Singer follows the success of the project from the participants' swords-crossed beginnings to close friendship and the triumph of their trademark "two thumbs up!" assessment. Prepub Alert.
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Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 14, 2023
In this studious history, film critic Singer (Marvel’s Spider-Man) examines the ingenuity and influence of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s TV show At the Movies and its various iterations. Crediting the duo with originating the adversarial debate format that saturates modern cable news, Singer argues that Siskel and Ebert democratized film criticism by turning “an art form that had previously only existed as a series of monologues into an ongoing dialogue.” The author profiles both critics, presenting Ebert as precocious and a superior writer (he started his own neighborhood newspaper while in grade school) and Siskel as ambitious and competitive (he insisted that his name appear first in the title of their 1982 syndicated show, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert). Anecdotes illuminate the pair’s at times contentious behind-the-scenes dynamic (one volatile exchange ended with Ebert vomiting on set and Siskel quipping, “You really didn’t like that one, did you, Roger?”), and interviews with colleagues and loved ones offer insight into the critics’ psychologies (Siskel & Ebert executive producer Stuart Cleland shares his belief that the death of Siskel’s parents before he was 10 left him “guarded and wary”). This deserves two thumbs up.
September 1, 2023
How "two schlubby film critics from Chicago" rose to unlikely fame. According to film critic Singer, author of Marvel's Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular: The Definitive Comic Art Collection, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert "had chemistry--the kind that causes glycerol to explode when it's mixed with nitric and sulfuric acid." The author rides this hyperbole throughout this diverting yet overlong book, which begins with the critics' inauspicious pilot at WTTW, Chicago's PBS affiliate, in 1975, and ends with an assessment of their legacy. The pair were famously in conflict with each other both on screen and off, and Singer reels off countless anecdotes documenting their bickering--what they should eat for lunch, who had more lines in a Saturday Night Live skit, who got to sit next to the host during one of their many talk-show appearances, etc.--to the point that they begin to feel like padding. Interspersed are insights into the design of their iconic balcony set, their journey from PBS to syndication and the contractual disputes behind their show's evolution, and how the two print journalists adapted their reviews for TV. It's an unashamedly admiring treatment, with analysis running to declarations such as, "Surrounded by phony chumminess, they cut through the bullshit with unflinching honesty" and "Now...they are still the most famous film critics on the planet." (Singer acknowledges a professional relationship with Ebert.) The author's fulsome praise aside, there's no questioning that Siskel and Ebert were a cultural phenomenon, and while it's debatable that they "invented an entirely new kind of film criticism," they certainly had an impact. Since both critics were dead at the writing of this book, Singer relies on copious previously published accounts--and YouTube-archived episodes of their shows--for their voices. Interviews with both men's widows and with former production staff help flesh out the history. Readers who recall Siskel and Ebert will be delighted by this opportunity to reminisce.
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Starred review from September 1, 2023
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert talked, debated, argued, and, above all, promoted the art of film. Siskel and Ebert, as they came to be forever linked, started their television careers in 1979 as film critics for rival Chicago newspapers and, up to their final taping more than two decades later, maintained a natural, kinetic antagonism, while still finding common ground in alerting the public of what they should (and should not) spend their money on at the box office. In Opposable Thumbs, Singer, a film critic himself, zooms in on the stories of both men and the top-rated television show that bore their names, showcasing how the cross-talking pair changed how the average moviegoer looked at movies, through not only their bluntly honest reviews, but their determination to highlight foreign films and documentaries that were often overlooked otherwise. Singer interviews producers and those who were close to the men, providing an expansive portrait of how two movie critics became unlikely stars themselves. The book ends with a rundown of some of the films that Siskel and Ebert gave glowing reviews to that have now entered relative obscurity. Recommended for wide purchase with, what else, an enthusiastic thumbs up.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
October 1, 2023
Spoiler alert: Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert did not like each other; this book makes that perfectly clear. Yet their broadcasts of unrehearsed confrontations over newly released films, characterized by verbal roughhousing and ribbing, occasionally produced consensus. Film critic Singer (Marvel's Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular) recounts the relationship between the two, who for decades thrived on their TV series Sneak Previews and At the Movies and as comedic guests on talk shows. Remembered for their trademarked "thumbs up" to indicate approval, Siskel (1946-99), film critic for the Chicago Tribune, and Ebert (1943-2013), his counterpart at the Chicago Sun-Times, prove that professional antagonists can be useful collaborators. When Ebert wrote the screenplay for Russ Meyer's film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Siskel dismissed it as "a cesspool on film" and blamed--without naming him--"a screenwriting neophyte." Ebert later won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded for film criticism in 1975. Singer's dual biography is written in a jocular, irreverent style. VERDICT Nostalgic for some, revelatory for others, this account demonstrates how film evaluators can influence popular culture as much as the films themselves did.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr.
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