By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Shameless cricket: I also appreciate Schneider's supporting work in the Adam Sandler canon
Carla Meyer of the Sacramento Bee raises her hand for crickets with everyday bad taste: “Not having to review a throwaway vampire flick allows me to focus on more worthy films. Of the times I have rushed to see and review a film upon its Friday opening, I have yet to uncover a gem—though The Wash, starring Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, had its moments. My blase attitude shifted upon learning that two films I planned to review recently—Phat Girlz and >The Benchwarmers—were not being shown in time for reviews.” Meyer quotes a Colpix rep: “Most of our movies are screened for critics as a courtesy, but like other studios, on occasion, when our target audience is not very influenced by critical opinion, we may opt not to show the film early.” I understand the reasoning, having seen critical snobbery firsthand a few times, most notably at a screening for a David Spade comedy several years ago. Frequent laughter among critics in the audience led, inexplicably, to pans of the film. Critics, after all, have reputations to protect. Not all critics. I enjoy a nice broad comedy, so much so that I graded… the widely—and wrongly—despised Sorority Boys higher than almost any other critic.” She thinks she would’ve liked Phat Girlz and Benchwarmers, “the kind of breezy films I always look forward to seeing—as opposed to some gritty independent films that might be of quality but feel like medicine. As much as I like Mo’Nique for making the mostly awful Domino bearable, I like Benchwarmers star Rob Schneider even more. I have seen Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and The Hot Chick too many times to count, and I also appreciate Schneider’s supporting work in the Adam Sandler canon. His co-star Spade is a harder sell, though I tend to enjoy him in a wig…” [Further brave persistence at the link.]