Over the last few years, the death of film criticism has been mourned on a semi-regular basis. With the changing times and a shift from print to on-line media, the traditional film critic writing for a newspaper is slowly disappearing. While some critics are moving into the on-line arena, many more are simply walking away from the work in search of something else. Considering the changing tide of the industry, one may assume that Gerald Peary’s documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism is an attempt to underline the importance of film criticism though if that was Peary’s intention, he has failed rather miserably at it. One can look, however, at the documentary as a record of the shifting tide of criticism.

Peary builds his film as a sort of history lesson on the rise and development of film criticism from the early days prior to the release of The Birth of a Nation, the Sarris/Kael war, to Bowsley Crowther’s 27-year reign as top critic at The New York Times and even touching a little on the New World of the internet where everyone has the potential to be a critic. It’s an interesting enough trip and admittedly, it was great fun listening to critics discuss their love for not only the movies themselves but writing about them but the film lacks any conviction. It never takes a position on whether the changing tide is a good or bad thing and though it provides some interesting perspectives, they still don’t provide enough information for the audience to make a decision either way leaving you wondering: what’s the point?

Essentially, For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism lacks direction. The film doesn’t know what it wants to be and the result is a seemingly half hearted attempt to cover too many bases. For those of us who care about film criticism, it’s provides an overview, a very basic one at that, while the general film goer will likely get bored.