SALON

Friday, Feb 8, 2013 11:02 PM UTC

Rex Reed: A career of offensiveness

The film critic made headlines for calling Melissa McCarthy a "hippo." But he's been outrageous for years

By

Topics: rex reed, film critics, Melissa McCarthy, movie reviews, the new york observer, The Observer, Identity Thief, Gore Vidal, Movies, film criticism movie criticism, Media Criticism,

Rex Reed: A career of offensiveness (Credit: Kathy Willens)

Long-time film critic Rex Reed — who incidentally acted in one of the worst films ever made, the 1970 adaptation of Gore Vidal’s novel “Myra Breckinridge” — is making headlines today for his particularly offensive review of “Identity Thief,” in which he called comedian Melissa McCarthy “humongous,” “tractor-sized,” and a “female hippo.” He continued to focus on nothing but her weight, trivializing her fame to the point of calling the “Bridesmaids” star “a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success.”

As support for McCarthy poured in via Twitter and comments, Gawker’s Rich Juzwiak called Reed’s description “uncivil and the product of an intolerant mindset”; critic Christopher Campbell tweeted: “Seriously, there are too many writers losing their jobs (and those of us who can’t get good ones) for Rex Reed to get away with that junk”; Chad Lowe called the comments “vile and unnacceptable,” asking for the Observer to fire Reed.

But Reed’s unabashed offensiveness, while extreme, is nothing new. As film buffs have long known, the critic has been writing incendiary, ill-informed and poorly conceived reviews for decades. Below is a collection of some of inciter’s greatest worst offenses over the years:

1. In 2000, a 61-year-old Reed was caught and charged for trying to shoplift three Mel Torme, Peggy Lee and Carmen McRae CDs. According to the Chicago Tribune, he “allegedly put the CDs in his jacket pocket and tried to leave the store without paying for them. Store security officials stopped Reed and called the police. Reed was charged with larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.”

2. He penned a “smug, confused” review of “Cabin in the Woods” that was “literally about 50 percent inaccurate,” according to fellow critic Henry Stewart, who wrote:

He can’t even get the basics of the plot down; his review is literally about 50 percent inaccurate — factually, objectively wrong. “Vampires circle the moon and suck the hot stud’s blood,” he writes, describing a dream he had while nodding off during the movie, which features no vampires circling the moon. “What they fail to notice is the hidden cameras,” he writes about the characters who notice the hidden cameras. “It’s all part of an elaborate video game that allows paying customers to watch real people slaughtered according to the horror of choice. The five kids in the cabin are innocent pawns to test the mechanics of the game,” he writes of a movie without an elaborate video game, paying customers or pawns testing anything’s mechanics.

3.  He was apparently unable to understand what a film remake is  (“Bat to the Future,” 2008):

Writer-director Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” with its surreal and mystical mumbo-jumbo about playboy Bruce Wayne’s beginnings, remains the worst Batman movie I’ve ever seen, although the comic-book addicts disagree. “The Dark Knight” takes up where it left off, but if it’s a follow-up that introduces a comprehensive sociopath called the Joker, then how do you explain the fact that the Joker made his debut years ago as Jack Nicholson? It’s just one of the things that makes no sense, but hey-ho, since when did Batman and logic morph?

4.  He revealed his views on getting involved with people with Asperger’s syndrome (“Hugh Dancy Is on His Way to Superstardom,” 2009):

It is lethal to get involved romantically with any person with Asperger’s syndrome, since they care nothing about other people’s feelings, needs or priorities. Almost without exception, they leave you perplexed, riddled with doubt and totally depressed.

5. He perpetuated the baseless rumor that Marissa Tomei’s 1992 Oscar win for “My Cousin Vinny” was a mistake and part of a “massive cover up.” Roger Ebert said of the long-maintained lie, “Not only is the rumor untrue, it is unfair to Marisa Tomei, and Rex Reed owes her an apology.”

6. He dismissed Wes Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited” as “pretentious” and “rotten”:

Mr. Anderson’s approach to filmmaking is from the same brain-dead school inhabited by Charlie Kaufman screenplays and the head-scratching direction of Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jonze and David O. Russell: Throw incoherent ingredients in the air, talk all of your Hollywood friends into joining the frolic and let the pieces fall all over the place with the camera turning. They all seem to be making it up as they go along, between visits to the catering truck. Mr. Anderson’s co-writers are Jason Schwartzman and his cousin Roman, who is Sofia Coppola’s brother. It all smacks of incest and sinks in a puddle of sluggish superficiality. High time Mr. Anderson, 38, grew out of this childish phase and used his word processor to achieve some kind of script indicative of what you might call a maturity of vision.

In other words, Melissa McCarthy, don’t let Rex Reed get under your skin — we’ve got your back.

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 33 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations