From the At the Movies archive
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http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html ?sec=1&subsec=285
"and at this point, the movie executives...hearing this story, say sounds good...keep talking!"
"A truly sick movie, The Stepfather."
Shocking...Siskel & Egghead wrong again.
shareOh my God! It's so "brutal"! Give me a friggin' break. Arrogant as sholes.
O'Quinn delivers the performance of a lifetime and they hardly even MENTION it. Useless, these two.
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Wait a minute... who am I here?
>>O'Quinn delivers the performance of a lifetime and they hardly even MENTION it. Useless, these two.<<
Well, Ebert DID say that O'Quinn's performance was good and that he thought it was the only good thing about the movie. Siskel criticized the bludgeoning of the shrink with the 2x4 by saying that it was too excessive for O'Quinn's character to strike four times instead of once. But his character was a psychopathic serial killer. Excessive force is only adequate. Not only was Siskel a snob, but he was stupid.
Screw Siskel and Ebert
shareI forgot what pompous bastards they were until I saw this clip and was 'oh-so-quickly' reminded.
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Wait a minute... who am I here?
This is the first time I've ever seen their review of The Stepfather. I would expect Siskel to dump all over it, because he was always pretty narrow-minded when it came to horror movies (he actually compared The Stepfather to I Spit On Your Grave!!!) But I sure would have expected a much better review from Ebert, because he was always a little more open-minded. After all, this is the same man who gave a rave review to Last House On The Left, so it doesn't really make much sense that he would trash a first-rate thriller like The Stepfather.
shareI too was surprised by their shallow review. What they say boils down to, "Give us cookie-cutter, cartoon characters to watch, because those are okay to kill. These complex, well-rounded characters don't deserve to be killed, so this movie is BAD."
Who cares if they do or don't deserve to be killed? He's a psychopath! That's what the movie is about, brainiacs! Ebert should have to pay back all the money he's ever earned.
Well Gene Siskel gave a near-thumbs up to "People Under the Stairs", but yeah he didn't like excessive violence in movies. That's not really a bad thing. But they weren't alone in their dislike of the film "the Stepfather." A lot of critics hated the movie, praising O'Quinn. Ebert's print review is interesting to read, too.
share>>>Well, Ebert DID say that O'Quinn's performance was good and that he thought it was the only good thing about the movie. Siskel criticized the bludgeoning of the shrink with the 2x4 by saying that it was too excessive for O'Quinn's character to strike four times instead of once. But his character was a psychopathic serial killer. Excessive force is only adequate. Not only was Siskel a snob, but he was stupid.
WOW, I know Ebert is (and always has been) a pompous loudmouthed idiot (who sometimes makes no sense in his decision to give trash a "thumbs up" if he's in a weird mood that week) but HEY ROGER HOW ABOUT YOU AVOID THE SPOILERS IN YOUR REVIEWS MKAY? (even back then, wow, idiot...)
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Chipping away at a mountain of pop culture trivia,
Darren Dirt.
It's great to hear you say that. I remember when I first saw this movie, everyone on this site was downing it. I thought it was really good, and I was surprised in had less than a 7.x average. It was 6.2 at the time, IIRC.
shareHaha Siskel sums it up as "a truly sick movie." Yeah right, there were movies that came out a few years later that made this pale in comparison and Siskel never used such words then. I would have liked him better if he wasn't such a hypocrite.
shareWhat was sick about this movie? Really, it was quite tame for the time.
shareRoger Ebert gives it a 21/2 stars (only half a star away from a thumbs up), and praises Terry O'Quinn.
Unlike what most critics and some people here will probably say, 2 and a half star is more than enough for a movie that doesn't come close to being as good as the critics say.
If not for Terry O'Quinn (who is awesome) this would have been a run-of-the-mill borefest. The kind that videoshelves used to be stuffed with.
And that music...my god, that music. That music must have been the most annoying, the cheesiest music in any horror or thriller since "Last House on the Left".
Downright awful. As if director Joseph Ruben hired his brother-in-law to do it because the kid needed a job or because the budget was already used.
Be honest. Just replace Terry O'Quinn with any random, mediocre actor and see how "good" this movie would've been. "The Stepfather" is Terry O'Quinn. Nothing more.