Ebert on trailers

As part of his excellent essay on the rules film critics should at least try to follow, legendary writer Roger Ebert includes the following notes about trailers and how much attention should be paid to them:

Trailers. Have nothing to do with them. Gene Siskel hated them so much he would stand outside a theater until they were over. If he was already seated in the middle of a crowded theater, he would shout “fire!” plug his ears and stare at the floor. Trailers love to spoil all the best gags in a comedy, hint at plot twists in a thriller, and make every film, however dire, look upbeat..

A trailer is not a movie. Thus, when urged to select your “picks of the week,” you must never pick a trailer for an upcoming film. You must actually wait to see the film itself.

I should mention that I agree with him whole-heartedly about trailers and the role they can/should play in the actual review of the movie. But I also want to take this opportunity to remind people that what you read on MMM is a review of the marketing components of a movie and not the movie itself. What I try to do is look at how that marketing campaign achieves its goal of reaching target audiences, conveying branding and other objectives.