From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

"San Francisco Chronicle", thirty-three points, "If you are a girl between the ages of twelve and fourteen, you will like it, but only within that range."

Opening with a critical strike.

Without spoilers, the review uses the most concise and direct language to criticize, sharply grasping the key points and pointing directly to the essence of the movie.

Media review websites have their own characteristics. If it's a good review, it's green; if it's a bad review, it's red; if it's a mediocre review, they use yellow.

Clear at a glance.

On the review page of "The Princess Diaries", the glaring red color is immediately visible, hanging high at the top, and emotions immediately tense up.

Brad couldn't help but exclaim, reacting half a beat late, covering his mouth, and secretly glancing at Anson with worried eyes.

That look and action made Anson couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's not the end of the world." Anson comforted Brad instead.

Brad was a little anxious, "But..."

It's impossible not to be anxious. Even if he kept telling himself that there was no need to make a fuss over a review, human nature is such that the praise of ten good reviews cannot outweigh the damage brought by one bad review.

What's more, it's a bad review strike right from the start.

Anson, however, had a calm expression.

From the moment he accepted the role in "The Princess Diaries", Anson knew that this was not a crowd-pleasing hit. This type of commercial popcorn movie has a very clear market positioning; it is to satisfy the daydreams of young boys and girls. It has no profound meaning and lacks artistic value; it's just for a laugh.

Such works cannot possibly receive unanimous applause in media reviews, and it can even be foreseen in advance that the film will encounter scolding, accusations, and criticism.

Of course, although he had already prepared himself mentally, seeing that glaring red color was still somewhat disappointing; but under Brad's exaggerated performance, everything became relaxed, and a smile crept onto his lips.

Anson joked, "Which actor hasn't starred in two or three bad movies?"

Brad looked speechless, "Anson!"

Whoa!

Suddenly, James woke up from his sleep again, sitting up straight like a zombie, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Anson looked at James, "It's nothing. Brad saw a bad review of the movie."

James yawned, "Where is it from? It's not from 'The Times', is it?"

In Los Angeles, "The Times" specifically refers to "The Los Angeles Times"; in the entire North American region, "The Times" specifically refers to "The New York Times", but no matter which "Times", its influence is one of the best in the entire North American region.

More accurately, the two Times plus "The Wall Street Journal" are the top three most influential media in North America, and "The Washington Post" is still slightly inferior.

If it is a bad review from "The Los Angeles Times", then the impact on the movie's box office is very direct, after all, it has a large user base and is trusted and favored by users.

Anson looked at Brad, "It's not 'The Times'."

Brad rolled his eyes unhappily, "The 'San Francisco Chronicle' is bad enough, okay?"

On the West Coast, "The San Francisco Chronicle" also has a large number of subscribers.

Anson gently pressed his right hand down, "It's okay, it's okay, this is just one media outlet."

Then, the webpage slowly refreshed, and the air became quiet——

Twenty-seven points, "Immature, stupid, sugar water with no concentration."

Thirty-six points, "If you use bubble gum to describe it, this is simply insulting bubble gum, because at least bubble gum has sweetness, chew it and spit it out, but this movie doesn't even have the value of chewing."

Forty points, "Garry Marshall should stop making such nutritious visual garbage, not colorful, not dazzling, not romantic, and not good-looking."

Forty-three points, "If you have hope for the movie because of Julie Andrews, then it is best to extinguish that hope, that is the best way."

Seventeen points, "Please don't get me wrong, I am very much looking forward to and welcome Julie Andrews' return to the big screen; but if it is such a work; I would rather she not come back."

Forty-eight points, "A valueless daydream, the movie is not only simple but also stupid, unrestrained spoofing and nauseating humor is like a cheap middle school stage play, the psychological age of this script is at most fifteen years old, no more."

Bad reviews. Bad reviews. Still bad reviews.

Bad reviews meet bad reviews, bad reviews completely wash the page, such a page is really shocking, Brad even forgot to exclaim, completely stunned.

Including Anson.

Moreover.

Brad noticed a movie review, and Anson also noticed it——

From Robert Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times".

In the entire North American film market, there is one professional film critic who is very special.

He is the first and only film critic in history to win the Pulitzer Prize for film criticism. He has his own books, columns, websites, and even film festivals. Although saying that his film reviews are the bible is a bit too exaggerated, it is undeniable that his film reviews do have a profound impact.

The reason is nothing else, he insists that the quality of a movie is a relative value rather than an absolute value.

A simple example, as a disaster movie, "Twister" is inferior to "Titanic"; but compared to "Volcano", it is an excellent movie.

In addition, he also believes that a movie with mediocre reviews does not mean it is not worth watching, because some commercial popcorn movies are worth enjoying a moment of relaxation in the cinema; a movie with outstanding reviews does not mean it is a must-see, some art films were not created for wide dissemination from the beginning.

Thanks to such unique insights, he has indeed won a place in the film industry, not only the audience, but even producers, directors, and actors are willing to refer to his opinions.

This film critic is Robert Ebert.

And Robert Ebert doesn't like "The Princess Diaries".

Thirty-eight points, "A swamp monster pieced together after recycling a bunch of discarded rotten stories, sometimes falling into sitcom-style farcical scenes, sometimes lingering on stupid and self-destructive spoofs."

The worst thing, after all, still happened.

Although the bad review from "The Los Angeles Times" that James was worried about did not happen, the appearance of Robert Ebert's bad review is still a fatal blow.

Obviously, the debut of "The Princess Diaries" did not usher in applause and cheers. After experiencing the praise and pursuit of "Friends", is choosing such a role as "The Princess Diaries" a wrong decision? Has Anson's acting career officially hit a wall before he even had time to gain a firm foothold?

So, what to do, what will happen next?