'This happened to my buddy Eric': The absurdity of film review in the age of Letterboxd
Out with the old, in with the new: Film review is getting shorter, sillier, and more widely consumed than ever before.
Arguably the most famous Letterboxd review of all time, CloserLook Media’s Joker (2019) review ‘This happened to my buddy Eric’. Courtesy of @scoobydoofruits on Instagram.
If you’re a film buff, it’s been nearly impossible to escape Letterboxd’s influence in the past few years. Evolving from a niche app known only in cinephile circles, it’s now become commonplace to see the person in front of you at the cinemas writing their review as soon as the credits start to roll. It’s been dissed in Scream VI, adored (allegedly) by celebrities such as Margot Robbie, and even served to function as a dating app.
A Melbourne couple who met in the most film-buff way possible: sliding into Letterboxd DMs. Courtesy of @letterboxd on TikTok.
Initially billed as ‘Goodreads for movies’, Letterboxd has arguably become the preeminent social media platform for film buffs, for Gen Z in particular it has undeniably dethroned iMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. The app allows users to catalogue the films they’ve seen, sort them into lists, rate and review movies, and like and comment on the reviews of others.
I myself am ashamed to admit Letterboxd is the social media platform where I have found the most infamy, likely for such deep and insightful reviews as
“Absolutely no men in sight. Just people vibing.” (Portrait of A Lady On Fire (2019), dir. Céline Sciamma)
“the baby looks like an airpod” (Eraserhead (1977), dir. David Lynch)
“If Cillian Murphy threatens me and chokes me in an airplane bathroom, DO NOT PROSECUTE HIM! He caught ME slipping!!!” (Red Eye (2005), dir. Wes Craven) *This is unfortunately the top review for this movie. I’m sorry Cillian.*
As silly as these reviews may be, they’re indicative of a certain aesthetic quality a Letterboxd review is likely to have; short, lowercase, usually referencing a meme of some kind. While traditional long-form critical writing is favoured on the app by established critics like Indiewire’s David Elrich, joke reviews are by and large the most liked posts on the app, to the chagrin of those who pour their heart and soul into essays that will inevitably receive two likes.
“Why people make reviews like this?” says one commenter under my light-hearted review for Saw II (2005). “We have no idea how you feel the film.”
Apparently my three-star rating was not enough of an indicator.
But I couldn’t help but wonder, was this commenter right? Were reviews like “jigsaw is honestly so insane you could accidentally cut him off in traffic one day next minute you’re waking up in The Knob Twister™” really contributing anything to the cultural canon?
Joke reviews are lower effort, it’s true. There was a time where the top reviews of every film would algorithmically show a small number of popular accounts, regardless of the quality of the review (Karsten Runquist, bratpitt, Lucy were all repeat offenders). There’s also the kind of reviews designed purely to be reposted onto accounts like Insane Letterboxd Reviews, a collection of unhinged reviews that was also trending on TikTok. Ultimately, the goal is virality.
Similarly, the other emerging player in film criticism circles, FilmTok, consists of many accounts on a self-proclaimed “mission to combat film snobbery”. The videos often come in the form of easily-digestible filmed listicles, rather than straightforward film reviews.
‘The worst movie posters of all time.’
‘Easter Eggs in *insert latest Marvel movie* you might have missed.’
‘The best performances of all time.’
(the latter usually features a compilation of men shouting).
“[Critics] watch movies and are just looking for something to critique,” one TikTok influencer notes in a NYT article. “Fans watch movies looking for entertainment.”
That is not to say good old-fashioned film criticism is dead; The New Yorker’s Richard Brody recently joined TikTok, and whilst his recommendations are limited by the medium to two minute videos, his eloquence and filmic knowledge is immediately evident to the viewer.
The very first TikTok post by New Yorker film critic Richard Brody; his three favourite films of 2023 so far. Courtesy of @newyorker on TikTok.
“I love the way he describes these films,” says one commenter. “Great communicator with excellent word choices. Just scratches an itch in my brain!”
The increasing abridgment of film criticism is not necessarily a bad thing. In my mind, the true benefit of Letterboxd is the rating system. Where Rotten Tomatoes solely collates the opinions of a few hundred critics on a certain movie, and sites like RogerEbert.com containing ONE person’s opinion, Letterboxd is advantaged by its expansive user database, like iMDB.
Unlike iMDB, Letterboxd users are just as likely to give a five star rating to hypersexual camp classic Showgirls (1995) as they are to The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Toeing the line between general audience and stuffy critic, Letterboxd is the perfect app for Pulp Fiction loving film bros and Pride and Prejudice (2005) truthers alike. In other words, it’s for film lovers.
Film reviews are getting shorter, and sillier. There’s still excellent essays being written about film, posted on Letterboxd no less. It’s archaic to mourn the loss of an art form that has more people than ever discussing and writing about film. I say we embrace the absurd.