Reviewing the Reviewers

Writing ethical movie reviews is not brain surgery (“Scathing Reviews of Junkets,” July 20). There is a known system for doing it. Pauline Kael, the famed reviewer for the New Yorker, did it throughout her career. You simply take your money or your publication’s money and go to a theater, stand in line and buy a ticket. Then you go in and watch the movie with regular moviegoers, not stars, not industry insiders, not publicists, not even other film critics.

The obvious disadvantage of this system for a daily newspaper is that by avoiding not only junkets, but free movie studio pre-release screenings, the review cannot appear on the morning the film opens in theaters. However, if The Times were to adopt this policy, it would go a long way toward assuring readers that the review was as untainted by industry spin as is humanly possible.

Rich Seeley

Palm Desert