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In elementary school, teachers assign book reports to their students. A kid reads a book, then writes an essay about the book, generally giving a plot synopsis, and maybe telling whether the book was “good” or not. These book reports serve a few functions: they get kids reading literature. They indicate reading comprehension. They begin to foment critical skills. They prepare students for more of the take-it-in, spit-it-out learning that our schools require. This is good stuff for elementary school. It is not good stuff for a review. Far too often, in book, movie, and theater reviews professional writers revert back to their elementary school assignments. All over the world, book reports are being passed off as critical reviews.
Reviews are meant to be critical. Critical in this context does not necessarily mean disparaging and negative. Rather, critical means using exacting evaluation, bringing to bear discrimination upon questions of skillful, artful, stylistic execution. A great review dissects a work and looks at each element singly and then at the gestalt as an organic whole. A great review tells the reader a bit about what the journey that the work sets out on, but mostly a great review tells the reader if the work is worth the time, money and effort.
A reviewer must first consume and digest the work in question be it book, movie or performance. Too many reviews seem to be written by people who have not done their homework. So, the first part of a good review is familiarity with the work to be reviewed.
If reviewing a literary work, look at all the elements of style – diction, syntax, and tone. How did the words chosen serve to further the purpose of the creator? (Ten dollar words in public pool rules will not be understood by many of the patrons.) How did the structure of sentences, paragraphs, chapters, scenes work in their own attempts to carry out the writer’s vision? (Long complex sentences and paragraphs do not fit in a VCR instruction manual.) Was the tone of the text appropriate for achieving the desired response in the audience. (An informal tone will not win over a parole review board.) A reviewer must spend time discussing the level of mastery of mechanics employed by the creator -- literary style as enumerated above, even typeface, cinematography and sound track/effects(if relevant), set design, etc. Evaluate all the elements for their ability to support the content and effect the intended reactions in an audience.
This brings up another critical detail of review writing. Intent. It is ever so sad when a reviewer misses the point. For a fictional example of this mistake, imagine reading a review of the horror movie, Nightmare on Elm Street and finding the following: “This movie is a terrible failure. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and not because I couldn’t wait for the next wonder, but because I was scared. The movie terrified me. In fact, I found it difficult to sleep after seeing this movie. I kept expecting the main character, Freddy Kruger, to pop out of nowhere and attack me with his pointlessly gruesome knife-glove. Where are the love story and the happy ending?” This review is putting down (as if it were a mistake) the very intent of the piece. It is possible for a hater of horror to write a positive review if the horror hater keeps in mind the intention of the creator -- both the nitty-gritty detailed intentions and the bigger, package intention -- and evaluates the work based on the success or failure of meeting these objectives.
A reviewer may find that a creator has succeeded in all her intentions, and still pan the creation if the reviewer thinks poorly of the intentions themselves. Once the reviewer takes into account the intent of the creator and evaluates the success or failure of the piece accordingly, the reviewer may make a value judgment, because why be a reviewer if such judgments are not allowed? Thus a respectable review of Nightmare on Elm Street might read, “This movie succeeded in what it set out to do. It scared me silly. After the adrenaline wore off, however, I found myself with nothing to think about. There is no subtext, no subtlety to this film whatever. While it accomplished its goals, I find this film has little value as a piece of art. Therefore, I give it one star.” Fine. This review does not neglect to take into account the intentions of the creator. It acknowledges them, gives credit for accomplishing them, and moves on to pan the film based on the merits of its content.
Writing about content is the trickiest part of the review and where many reviewers fall into the book-report trap. While writing about content, it is best to give few details (though not none) and remain largely abstract. Write about the themes. Yes, themes. Write about the plot. Do not write the plot. Write about the characters. Do not write the characters. Write about the conflict. Do not write the conflict. For goodness sake do not write the resolution. Do not even write about the resolution. Thus, a review of Snow White should not look like this. “This is a story about a beautiful young woman named Snow White whose evil stepmother cannot abide the fact that her stepdaughter is more beautiful than she. The evil stepmother sends her out into the forest to be killed, but the would-be assassin cannot carry out his charge because he is not wicked. Snow White cannot return home, so she ends up in the woods, alone. She finds a small cottage, joins up with its residents who are seven dwarves each named after his most distinguishing character trait. Eventually, the wicked stepmother learns of Snow White’s survival and still jealous of her superior beauty, sets out to kill Snow White herself. Poison nearly kills the beautiful innocent, but she is saved in the end by Prince Charming. Want to know how? You’ll have to see it for yourself.”
No, the content section should look more like this. “Snow White is a fairytale struggle between good and evil dealing with questions of greed and envy. The protagonist, Snow White, finds herself in a battle for her very life with a jealous woman of great power. It will take courage, friendship and other such unconventional defenses if she is to keep her life. These conflicts are riveting from start to finish. Further, this story is an allegory with a lesson for everyone. Not until the story is over, and you catch your breath will you realize that not only have you had great entertainment from this story, but you’ve learned something as well.”
When writing about an expository piece, it may be prudent to be a bit more detailed in relating the content, but only a bit. Remember, never write a synopsis in a review. Again for emphasis, never write a synopsis in a review.
Throughout the review it is important to strike a balance. No work is completely without merit, and none completely without fault. Even as a reviewer pans a work, she should laud each small success. A good review of the movie, Point Break, then would likely point out the inconsistent characters, the implausibility of the plot and the fact that Kianu Reeves cannot act his way out of a cardboard box. It would also appreciate some snappy and witty dialogue, particularly in the first fifteen minutes, and some truly adrenalizing action and suspense sequences.
It is important when writing a review to remember what purpose a review serves for readers. People read reviews in order to know where to invest their precious time and money. The world is full of too many books and movies and so-on for anyone to imbibe them all. Therefore, people require a filter. It is the purpose of a review to be that filter. When someone reads a review that includes too many details of the work being reviewed (A.K.A. a book report) he is likely to say, “Thanks to this reviewer, I cannot fully enjoy the work itself since I cannot discover these details on my own. Just tell me if this piece of work is worth my while. If it is, I’ll learn these details when and how the creator wishes me to and not before. If it is not worth my while, then who cares about the details. It’s not worth my while.”
Write a critical review. Eschew the book report.
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