ROTTEN TOMATOES: Meet a Critic: USA Today's Claudia Puig Surveys The Critical Landscape Comments

Meet a Critic: USA Today's Claudia Puig Surveys The Critical Landscape

by Jen Yamato | April 01, 2008

Summary

In a profession traditionally dominated by cineastes and older white males, a former beat reporter and mother of two has risen to become the only full-time film critic at America's largest newspaper. More inside with USA Today's Claudia Puig. Back to Article

(1-21 of 21 posts) | Reply

Ali_G writes:
on Apr 01 2008 06:17 PM

I liked the interview. I don't always agree with her reviews, but I don't think she is a mean cynic like a lot of reviewers. She's a pretty lady too :)

(Reply to this)

eddieb writes:
on Apr 01 2008 07:49 PM

Magnolia!!! Hells Yeah!!!

(Reply to this)

iakobos writes:
on Apr 01 2008 08:24 PM

I travel a lot so I get the USA Today all the time in my hotels. Consequently, I read her reviews weekly and almost never like them. Our tastes are far too different. As someone who likes action movies, Puig is someone who seldom if ever does too.

(Reply to this)

seattlebill writes:
on Apr 01 2008 09:50 PM

well, i guess Puig and i won't be friends (yes, MAGNOLIA was pretentious and THERE WILL BE BLOOD was overrated). she makes no mention of her colleague at USA TODAY who got bumped to DVD reviews, Mike Clark. Clark is a superb critic, while Puig writes like one who merely fell into the assignment. her directors choices indicate a pretty short memory.

(Reply to this)

Wanted and Desired writes:
on Apr 01 2008 10:22 PM

I hope she's joking about that Magnolia comment! If not, she's an idiot. You cannot adequately judge someone's film taste based on their opinion of one movie (irregardless of how much you may love this particular film).

Pretty much all your comments are correct seattlebill. Her list of favorite directors indicates a lack of film knowledge period. So all the best directors come from the last ~20 years (at most) of film??

(Reply to this)

Broadway Danny Rose writes:
on Apr 01 2008 11:23 PM

"As a woman of color,"...

What "color" are we supposed to realize that she is?
The only thing the photo indicates is that she ought to be dropping the value-size popcorn bucket.

(Reply to this)

tomwaitsjr writes:
on Apr 02 2008 06:01 AM

In reply to this comment (#1665256)
Magnolia was pretentious, pointless, and had too many frogs.

I really don't understand people that like that film over the far superior "Boogie Nights."

I also found Punch Drunk Love incredibly un-funny and at times painful to watch.

I did like "there will be blood" though. . .

(Reply to this)

eddieb writes:
on Apr 02 2008 08:02 AM

Uhu. Magnolia was suppose to be pretentious. PTA has even commented on it saying that he just wanted to make a "look at me. watch me dance" kinda film. its suppose to be self confident and over the top. that was the whole point.

And humor is an opinion. I personaly found Punch Drunk Love to be very funny and very intersting. Even my mother watched it one day and loved it. She laughed the whole way through.

Why tear movies down like these? PTA isnt a director and writer who makes films for money. Non of his films our "mainstream". He makes and writes what he wants to.

Who are you guys to say weather the effort of a writer/director like PTA is good enough or not. Sure, there are some horrible movies out there but its pretty clear that films like Boogie nights and Magnolia wernt small efferts. these were films done on small bugets with the effort and collaboration of many people. Magnolia alone was done for less that half a million dollars which is obviouly alot of money but not in the movie world.

How about one of you write for several months, take a camera, get a crew together, recieve the sufficent funds, and make a movie. We'll see how it turns out. Lets see how it compares to one of PT Anderson's films.

Sure i love reading reviews and seeing what critics say about a film but when a movie that was clearly a full effort and the filmakers point plenty of time into their film, why cast it down. It irritates the hell out of me when is see that a film like Schindler's List or Memento and the tomato meter is not 100. And i realize that not Every single critic is going to give a film(most films) a positve review but when i see that one has give films like those a negative review i just wanna wring their neck and yell 'Dont you realize its HARD to make a film! Why dont You go make a movie like Momento. lets see what your effort produces!'

the end

(Reply to this)

Some guy you dont know writes:
on Apr 02 2008 09:22 AM

She's an awful person and critic.

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Apr 02 2008 10:07 AM

seattlebill, Puig did mention Mike Clark moving over to USA Today's DVD section during the course of our discussion. It was my decision to leave it out of the final article.

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Apr 02 2008 10:14 AM

BDR, Bruce Campbell - that kind of comment does not make for respectable discourse on RT. I'd like to think our readership is more thoughtful and intelligent than that.

Back to Puig: Magnolia is totally a love it or hate it movie, and while I didn't love it, I don't hate it either. PT Anderson is definitely one of those divisive filmmakers...I love just about every other film of his.

(Reply to this)

El Pajaro Con Suelas writes:
on Apr 02 2008 10:29 AM

Bruce Campbell is right. What's the point of interviewing someone this trifling?

(Reply to this)

tomwaitsjr writes:
on Apr 02 2008 10:43 AM

I think people are getting too touchy. I've even seen Hard Eight once I realized PTA was involved with it(but hated the edit). He's a gifted director when it comes to letting actors act, and not doing ridiculous jump-cuts, etc. He's almost a throwback in that sense.

But, c'mon, let people criticize and voice their opinions about films, other people's opinions, etc. Otherwise how are they going to improve?

Except SCREECH (Dustin Diamond). I'd rather see a Uwe Boll film than that annoyance in so much as a commercial.

(Reply to this)

homeimp writes:
on Apr 02 2008 11:50 AM

Why does RottenTomatoes persist in believing I want to meet a critic? Honestly, I'd rather meet a genuine movie lover, in other words a fan.

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Apr 02 2008 12:14 PM

homeimp, if you didn't want to meet a critic, why click on the article?

The point of this column is to bridge the gap between film critics and film audiences - a divide that has gotten to be far too wide, in my opinion. People complain that critics are out of touch with what movie goers like/think/want to see. You, homeimp, would rather talk to another fan than a professional critic. That's fine. I love talking to other movie lovers as well. But most critics ARE movie lovers, and not all of them only like highfalutin' art movies, as I've often seen generalized in our forums and comments on RT.

In fact, Claudia Puig named her personal favorite films above and the reply from some seemed to complain that she didn't name more "esteemed" directors and films.

So, where's the balance here, readers? Many of you have the same interests and reactions and favorites and dislikes as the critics who are, en masse, sometimes dismissed as being movie snobs. Why is it that when we talk to critics as we do in this column, the reverse seems to happen?

(Reply to this)

Dunk writes:
on Apr 02 2008 01:19 PM

In reply to this comment (#1666058)
Jen,

Thanks for the comedic post above (Magnolia is a love it or hate it movie--but I don't love it or hate it--priceless! You were meaning that to be funny, weren't you?). Anyhow, I agree with Jen that bridging the gap between critics and audiences is noble goal and this woman seems to be far less offensive than most of the other critics that have been interviewed (at least she actually named a movie as the worst she has ever seen that most would agree is a terrible movie--unlike many of the other critics that named movies that have over 50% tomato meters). But, I do dislike Magnolia quite a bit, so I guess the two of us will never hang out (Oh well).

(Reply to this)

davechung writes:
on Apr 02 2008 03:02 PM

I really enjoyed this Meet a Critic and Mr. Puig comes across as a really nice person who is taking an honest step-back at life as a movie critic as an industry and the whole print industry as a whole (something that happens to be of interest to me). Those were not easy questions to answer and she handled them very well!

I'm with Ali-G, Ms. Puig is a bit of a looker! :) I'm going to have to check out Magnolia this weekend.

(Reply to this)

davechung writes:
on Apr 02 2008 03:03 PM

In reply to this comment (#1666548)
Oh man, Ms. Puig. Bad typo!

(Reply to this)

Blake writes:
on Apr 02 2008 04:26 PM

In reply to this comment (#1665916)
Claudia Puig is a very good writer, concise and to the point with the limited number of words USA Today allows her for spacing considerations. I generally check what she has to say about a film before I go off to see it. Most times I agree with her reviews.

(Reply to this)

Boss Fan writes:
on Apr 02 2008 06:19 PM

Jen Yamato writes:
on Apr 02 2008 10:07 AM

"Puig did mention Mike Clark moving over to USA Today's DVD section during the course of our discussion. It was my decision to leave it out of the final article."

Um, the obvious question here then is 'why?' That is the main thing I clicked on this interview to find out about, as I have been wondering what the deal was with his decline in reviews since I noticed them beginning to disappear probably 3 years ago now. I know he's been around awhile, perhaps he is easing into retirement, and he has made no secret he prefers DVD viewing and classic films, so perhaps that is it, and perhaps USA Today just sh*t-canned him. Either way, I'd like to know, and if she said, in all fairness to us, your readers, you should print it. Unless she asked otherwise, it seems journalistic ethics would dictate we are entitled to know what she said about this. Or are you saving that for "Meet Critic: Mike Clark"?

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Apr 17 2008 10:45 AM

Point taken, Boss Fan. I appreciate above all else you letting us know that you'd care to hear about Mike Clark and the assignments over at USA Today.

(Reply to this)

Related Links

Claudia Puig

Related Articles

Most Discussed

Latest News

Latest Interviews

Latest Features

Sponsored Links