<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Movie critics took out their knives and sliced up Transformers: Age of Extinction last week, leaving the film with a dismal 17-percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (Despite the largest opening-weekend box office return of the year and an audience-granted &amp;quot;A-&amp;quot; CinemaScore.) Yet every once in a while, the movies strike back. Given the feelings they sometimes hurt with their less-than-positive reviews, critics are frequently turned into targets of mockery and censure by the movies, as well as TV shows, plays, books, or other art forms open to scrutiny (pretty much all of them). Though often imagined as villains defined by their self-absorption, pretentiousness, and secret jealousy of those whom they cover, critics have also been portrayed as one-liner-slinging clowns, egomaniacal buffoons, and \u2014 in at least one animated example \u2014 noble spokesmen for the value of informed analysis. In honor of Life Itself, the new documentary about Roger Ebert, perhaps the world&amp;#039;s most well-known critic, we present our choices for the ten greatest fictional critics, be they scoundrels or otherwise. Jay Sherman, The Critic  The Critic gave hilarious voice to Jon Lovitz&amp;#039;s Jay Sherman, an absurdly pompous, mean-spirited, snobbish movie critic whose TV show Coming Attractions and catchphrase \u2014 &amp;quot;It Stinks!&amp;quot; \u2014 made him an obvious riff on both Roger Ebert and his partner Gene Siskel. Though its movie parodies are now a bit out of date, the short-lived series, full of rat-a-tat-tat references and allusions to mainstream and classic cinema, remains a loving spoof of the film critic profession.  Addison DeWitt, All About Eve   A far less affectionate portrait of criticism came via 1950&amp;#039;s All About Eve. Joseph L. Mankiewicz&amp;#039;s sterling drama about the treacherous stage world is narrated by George Sanders&amp;#039;s Addison DeWitt, a witty theater critic whose devious machinations (and use of his own column to elevate or destroy those he deems worthy) solidified a public conception of the critic as a power-playing schemer. Men on Film, In Living Color    On the other side of the spectrum are Blaine Edwards (Damon Wayans) and Antoine Merriweather (David Alan Grier), the hosts of the &amp;quot;Men on...&amp;quot; sketches featured on the 1990s TV hit In Living Color. A flamboyantly gay pair whose analysis focused on works&amp;#039; homosexual content, their tag-team slams on movies, art, and pop culture were punctuated with hilarious &amp;quot;Snaps Up&amp;quot; grades and their unforgettable negative-appraisal catchphrase, &amp;quot;Hated It!&amp;quot; Statler and Waldorf, The Muppet Show  With all due respect to Kermit, Ms. Piggy, and Fozzie, the funniest Muppets characters have always been Statler and Waldorf, the old, cranky upper-balcony critics whose role was simply to mock their fellow puppet comrades. Hecklers extraordinaire, they never met a pun they didn&amp;#039;t love, or a Muppet performance they didn&amp;#039;t think was ridicule-worthy.  Wayne and Garth, Saturday Night Live  While Wayne and Garth&amp;#039;s Wayne&amp;#039;s World cable-access show was a vehicle for all sorts of random extreme-close-up-embellished nonsense, the Saturday Night Live characters also functioned as dim-bulb pop culture critics, at least when it came to babes and movies, who could receive no higher rating than the duo&amp;#039;s trademark &amp;quot;Schwing!&amp;quot; Ramsey Michel, Chef       Sometimes movies just can&amp;#039;t help but make critics the prime bad guy, as in Jon Favreau&amp;#039;s recent Chef, in which Oliver Platt plays a fussy critic, Ramsey Michel, with Favreau&amp;#039;s cook in his sights. It&amp;#039;s an ideal role for Platt, given that his brother Adam is New York magazine&amp;#039;s longtime restaurant critic.  Jedediah Leland, Citizen Kane       Based in part on real-life drama critic Ashton Stevens, Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton) finds himself at the crux of Orson Welles&amp;#039;s Citizen Kane. Increasingly disillusioned about the newspaper magnate&amp;#039;s methods, Leland proves the moral counterweight to Kane&amp;#039;s increasing lack of integrity, and, in the process, turns out to be one of cinema&amp;#039;s most estimable critical characters. Sheridan Whiteside, The Man Who Came to Dinner  Far less venerable than Citizen Kane&amp;#039;s Jedediah Leland is Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Woolley), the infamous radio critic who finds himself an unlikely houseguest of a well-to-do Ohio family during Christmastime in 1942&amp;#039;s The Man Who Came to Dinner. An insult-spewing charlatan, Woolley&amp;#039;s critic is nothing short of an unbearable creep who drives everyone around him mad.  Speed and Tyrone, Hollywood Shuffle       A hilarious bit from Robert Townsend&amp;#039;s inspired 1987 satire Hollywood Shuffle finds two young black men, Speed (Townsend) and Tyrone (Jimmy Woodard), giving their thoughts on movies that they snuck in to see at the local theater. Suffice it to say, they don&amp;#039;t like Amadeus, in part because, well, the film&amp;#039;s title is too difficult to pronounce.  Anton Ego, Ratatouille  With his long, slender face and perfectly enunciated verbal cadences, Anton Ego (Peter O&amp;#039;Toole) is the embodiment of art-critic snootiness, and seems to be the potential villain of Brad Bird&amp;#039;s 2007 Ratatouille. Until, that is, a finale of graceful insight in which he transforms from a figure of withering condescension and impossible standards to one of critical virtue and courage.  Dishonorable Mention: David Manning, Sony&amp;#039;s Fake Movie Critic Because it&amp;#039;s no small feat to be quoted in print campaigns while, you know, not actually existing. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a29236/fictional-critics/>