Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / CausticCritic

Go To

1[[quoteright:200:[[Creator/RogerEbert https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/your-movie-sucks-777018-193x300.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:200:Spoken in his [[SophisticatedAsHell official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner]].]]
3
4->'''Statler:''' I like the movie fine so far.\
5'''Waldorf:''' It hasn't started yet.\
6'''Statler:''' That's what I like about it!\
7'''JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf:''' Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!
8-->-- ''Film/TheMuppetMovie''
9
10%% One quote is sufficient. Please place additional entries on the quotes tab.
11
12On paper, the job of a {{review}}er of any medium is to provide an evaluation of a given work in the medium, outlining its good and bad points and whether you should check it out. Useful, succinct, and an integral part of any entertainment industry.
13
14And then there's the Caustic Critic.
15
16This is a reviewer who not only savagely criticizes the work in question but also calls it names until it bawls. Why? Because it's [[RuleOfFunny funny]], and the Caustic Critic is first and foremost out to entertain an audience. That said, the Caustic Critic is almost always rather divisive, especially when they [[HePannedItNowHeSucks take on a generally well-liked]] game / show / movie / album / book / manga / anime / webcomic / webcartoon / fanfic / [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall lamp]].
17
18Most Caustic Critics belong to one of three types of reviewers: those who thrive on BileFascination and give only negative reviews, those who review both good or bad recent works but consider merciless panning the only [[BrutalHonesty honest]] way to criticize the bad ones, and those who don't really care about honestly reviewing anything (without necessarily only panning, either) and are doing the whole thing for RuleOfFunny alone. They need not necessarily be reviewers; they might be essayists discussing trends, but the spirit is the same.
19
20Also note that some (perhaps even many) of the below examples do have human moments where they admit some of the things they review aren't all that terrible. Some may even have special segments dedicated to positive commentary. And some genuine ConstructiveCriticism can be given. Moments where the snark is dropped to point out something legitimately, unacceptably bad or [[DudeNotFunny offensive]] hit all the harder, and moments when genuine ''praise'' is meted out [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness are all the more precious for their rarity]].
21
22On the opposite end, some might go into ComicalOverreacting.
23
24Alternately, as the above quote implies, a usually constructive critic is tempted to bring out the sarcasm guns by an unusually bad work or product.
25
26Compare SturgeonsLaw, which might either be the cause or the result of these critics (or both). See also StrawCritic, HarshTalentShowJudge and AccentuateTheNegative.
27
28This trope tends to be [[PopularityPolynomial cyclic in popularity]]. At times, it's considered entertaining, especially if the audience already agrees that the target of the caustic review [[GuiltyPleasure probably deserves it]]. At other times, audiences will prefer a more educational, no nonsense, objective review of a product that they may consider purchasing or watching. This is why a lot of current Youtube reviewers have dispensed with [[StylisticSuck comedic interludes, quirky deliveries, and other filler]], thus being able to focus on informative content over stage persona. Or they [[FandomHeresy might be offended]] by a caustic negative review of something that is considered CultClassic of FairForItsDay, especially if the caustic reviewer in question is [[BeforeMyTime obviously too young to remember]] when it was a new thing.
29
30If the critic says that they're accentuating the negative out of tough love to help their victim improve, that's a CompassionateCritic. They still can seem just as mean, but at least they (supposedly) [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold have their target's best interests at heart]].
31
32Some Caustic Critics can be PlayedForLaughs. Their over-the-top reactions to everything from [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd video games]] to [[WebVideo/UrinatingTree sports]] to [[Wrestling/JimCornette professional wrestling]] can be just as entertaining as anything they say about a given work, organization or event. Their reviews become {{Sadist Show}}s where half the fun is watching them suffer meltdowns at whatever they're discussing.
33
34In-Universe, Caustic Critics are frequently portrayed as {{jaded washout}}s dumping their SourGrapes onto [[IHatePastMe younger versions of themselves]], individuals with extreme OpinionMyopia who have [[SmallNameBigEgo declared themselves the ultimate judge of quality in a particular field]], and/or {{attention whore}}s mostly interested in [[ItsAllAboutMe drawing an audience]] by wiping their feet on the coattails of [[ItsPopularNowItSucks anything moderately popular]]. This can occasionally be TruthInTelevision.
35
36Contrast ConstructiveCriticism, which actually aims to be useful to a {{creator|s}} rather than entertaining to an audience. Unfortunately, many people confuse one for the other, due to the popularity of the Caustic Critic trope.
37
38Caustic Critics tend to be more inclined to apply a CriticBreakdown to underscore when they really do feel that a work is irredeemable, as opposed to simply something they would pan for other reasons.
39
40A darker variant is BadReviewThreat, when someone leverages the threat of a caustic review in order to get some sort of special treatment. (This would in fact be considered unethical by journalistic standards, but that doesn't stop the BadInfluencer.)
41
42When their targets decide to [[FlippingTheBird repay them in kind]], you get the case of TakeThatCritics.
43
44Not to be confused with Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike, though [[BiasSteamroller some Caustic Critics do admittedly indulge in it at times.]]
45
46[[SoYouWantTo/BeACausticCritic Here's]] the guide for those who want to be one of them.
47
48----
49!Examples:
50
51[[foldercontrol]]
52
53!!Real-Life Examples:
54
55[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
56* Creator/JamieKennedy's documentary ''Film/{{Heckler}}'' takes aim at caustic critics, equating them with annoying hecklers at a comedy show. He confronts a few internet critics who wrote particularly vitriolic critiques of his films and demands to know why they needed to be so mean.
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Literature]]
60* German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno is probably the patron saint of the caustic critics of popular culture. He is slaughtering popular culture as a whole in one of his most notorious essays.
61* Ellsworth Toohey of ''Literature/TheFountainhead''. Creator/AynRand was one herself, which becomes obvious if you've ever read her denouncing anyone who didn't think like her in her essays.
62* Creator/DorothyParker made her living as a literary and theatre critic, as well as writing several books of poetry and short stories. Famous for her acerbic wit, she's one of the most quoted writers in US literature. She's also known as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, the most prominent New York literary circle prior to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. In 1920, she was fired from ''Vanity Fair'', because her savage theater reviews offended powerful producers too often.
63-->"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be [[BaitAndSwitchComment hurled with great force.]]"\
64"It is at that word 'hunny', my darlings, that marks the first place in ''The House at Pooh Corner'' at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up."\
65(on Creator/KatharineHepburn) "She ran the gamut of emotions from A to B"\
66"There must be criticism, for humor, to my mind, is encapsulated in criticism."
67* One classic literary examples is Creator/MarkTwain's "Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffenses", ripping into a then-popular series of adventure novels:
68-->"Wasn't it remarkable! How could he see that little pellet fly through the air and enter that distant bullet-hole? Yet that is what he did; for nothing is impossible to a Cooper person. Did any of those people have any deep-seated doubts about this thing? No; for that would imply sanity, and these were all Cooper people."
69* When not writing himself, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe was a well-known literary critic that ''tore apart'' everything, to the extent that he was known as "[[HangingJudge The Executioner]]". Such was his reputation that when other authors, as critics, reviewed Poe's work when he was active, they gave him [[TheDogBitesBack retaliatory negative reviews]], diminishing Poe's chances at lifetime success as an author.
70* Theatre critic George Jean Nathan unabashedly described himself as a destructive critic. For one week in 1912, he went so far as to review several plays in the person of {{Satan}} judging whether they were fit for inclusion in Hell, remarking on one musical: [[EvenEvilHasStandards "I wouldn't even let it cross the threshold of my place. I've got to draw the line somewhere!"]] He ended his disapproving review of the big-budget patriotic pageant ''The American Way'' (1939) by saluting Hitler, Mussolini, Goering, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Stalin, the Chicago Fire, and the San Francisco Earthquake. When he was caricatured with other reviewers in a sketch in the 1945 revue ''Seven Lively Arts'', he disapproved of it as being much too gentle.
71* Creator/LeoTolstoy, like Poe, is more famous for his own fiction, but he also mounted some scathing assaults on ''Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen'' and ''Theatre/KingLear''.
72* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove''. See the [[Quotes/CausticCritic quotes page]] for details.
73* Nicolas Slominsky, who is almost as famed for his sly sense of humor as his considerable contributions to musicology, compiled an entire book of bad reviews: ''A Lexicon of Musical Invective''. It is absolutely hilarious, especially if you have even a cursory knowledge of the music in question.
74* In the 1980s and 1990s, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had Joe Pollack, who seemed to hate nearly every film that was released and came off as a bitter old man most of the time. He would especially pick apart films on small details (for example, he trashed ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' and ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' because of their violence and nothing else) and hate for the sake of hating.
75* The now-defunct horror 'zine ''Gore Gazette'' was this towards just about everything, to the point where the reviews were less reviews and more attacks towards people they didn't like (victims included Creator/StevenSpielberg, Creator/GeorgeLucas, Creator/StephenKing and Creator/RogerEbert). They also hated anything that wasn't a low-quality Z-grade gorefest and trashed Hollywood fare for being crowd-pleasing blockbuster fare, making them an early form of the hipster in a way (despite all of the racist comments they made in their reviews).
76* Creator/AmbroseBierce was one, his most famous example being a review that consisted of only ''one sentence'':
77-->The covers of this book are too far apart.
78* The late German CoolOldGuy Marcel Reich-Ranicki was called ''Literaturpapst'' (pope of literature) in Germany and made himself a name for his television reviews as a CulturedBadass LargeHam. Boy howdy, he was a master of AccentuatingTheNegative, ''especially'' when he already was [[GrumpyOldMan well beyond 80 years old]].
79* Kenneth Tynan had this reputation in British theater circles through the '50s and '60s. Many felt that his reviews could make or break a play, and he didn't hold back in excoriating works he didn't like.
80* S.T. Joshi is known largely as biographer and editor of Creator/HPLovecraft, as well as a firm believer that, with a few exceptions (Creator/WHPugmire and Creator/ThomasLigotti among them), the horror/weird fiction field has been a steady drop downhill since the Gentleman of Providence. His vitriolic responses to Lovecraft critics such as Daniel Jose Older and Charles Baxter are proudly displayed on his blog.
81** He did not take the World Fantasy Convention's retiring of its Gahan Wilson-designed Lovecraft image for its major award well, mailing back his own and promising to boycott the convention from now on, even calling the decision "[[GodwinsLaw fascist]]."
82** He doubled down when the Necronomicon convention invited Nalo Hopkinson (the author who first decried the use of Lovecraft for the WFA) as a guest of honor, refusing to do any more official programming for the convention holders for giving a platform to "Lovecraft Haters".
83** At least one writer (Stanley Sargent) almost quit his craft after a particularly caustic review by Joshi.
84* Deconstructed in Richard Wolkomir's autobiographical story "The Best Criticism I Ever Received" published in a 1986 ''Reader's Digest'' issue. Wolkomir, as a young man, thought that imitating the Caustic Critic style of his school newspaper editor was the best way to write his own reviews and completely savaged a theater production [[AccentuateTheNegative in spite of]] recognizing that the actors were sincerely doing the best they could with their limited experience and budget. He felt smugly proud about how creative his insults in the review had been, until the manager of that theater production told him bluntly, [[WhatTheHellHero "You hurt a lot of people."]] This incident motivated him to avert this trope in his later professional reviews by being more [[ConstructiveCriticism constructive]] and positive in them.
85* An OlderThanRadio example: the Victorian critic, politician and historian Thomas Babington Macaulay's classic kicking of the then-popular poet Robert Montgomery pointedly demonstrates Montgomery's incoherent thought, garbled imagery, and occasional outright plagiarism, and has been described as "an annihilating so Jove-like that the victim automatically commands the spectator's rueful sympathy." Can be read [[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2333/2333-h/2333-h.htm#link2H_4_0015/ here]]. He is also infamous for being this towards ''[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaulayism the entire Indian civilization]]''.
86* An OlderThanFeudalism example: Zoilus of Amphipolis was a Greek philosopher and critic from [=4th=] century BC infamous for his venomous critique of Homer. His infamy reached {{Flanderization}} level, as despite his writings being lost to time, his name became a synonym for this trope and he was still called a "slanderer" as late as [=16th=] century AD by the Spanish poet and playwright Creator/MiguelDeCervantes.
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
90* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' is the TropeCodifier as far as the application of this trope to film and other entertainment media goes. The premise is that the evil [[MadScientist Dr. Forrester]] has forced a hapless man to watch all manner of bad old movies in order to find a film so bad it will drive people insane and let him TakeOverTheWorld. Said man (Joel Robinson, then later Creator/MikeNelson) stays sane by making fun of the movies with some robot friends.
91* ''Series/PennAndTellerBullshit'': The show looks at people like mediums, the war on porn, anti-video game crusaders, people who are hoaxes scammers and liars, PETA and the like and viciously tear down and tear apart those they think are frauds, extremists and dangerous. The more sensitive and important the issue is to them, [[AdHominem the more personal they get]] in the name of entertainment: certain issues such as chiropractic surgery on children makes Penn legitimately upset and calmly states how wrong it is.
92* ''Series/{{Room 101}}'' does this for everything people bring in and complain in a lot of detail how said thing annoys them.
93* ''Series/TopGear'' does this, particularly the modern incarnation and to older cars. Jeremy Clarkson has related a story about car manufacturers getting angry and retaliating by threatening to "take all our advertising off Creator/TheBBC". The BBC doesn't have any advertising. For example, Jeremy Clarkson (and presumably the rest of the Top Gear team) passionately hates the Toyota Prius and [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=718900859924733158 went out of his way]] to prove how absolutely terrible the car was in every way (including the obvious, but even fuel efficiency).
94* Adam Sessler of ''Series/XPlay''
95---> "I'd rather french kiss my grandma than play this game."
96* Creator/CharlieBrooker, of ''Website/TVGoHome'', ''Charlie Brooker's Series/{{Screenwipe}}'' and "guy who inspired WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation" fame.
97* The judges on ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' have received this reputation for being ''very'' picky; although they have [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness lightened up significantly compared to in the earlier seasons]]. Their harshness is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] - in that the contestants on ''Chopped'' are all professional chefs and have completed Culinary Arts school. On episodes and series with non-cook contestants such as a few CelebrityEdition episodes, ''Junior'', as well as ''Cooks vs. Cons'' & ''Bakers vs. Fakers'', the judges are ''much'' more forgiving and give more ConstructiveCriticism.
98* On most of his various series (''Series/KitchenNightmares'', ''Series/HellsKitchen'', ''Series/HotelHell'') Creator/GordonRamsay is absolutely vicious to the chefs and creators he interacts with, tearing their ideas and work down in fits of rage. But he only does this to those who present themselves as professional chefs and hoteliers, and repeatedly harps on how mistakes in these professions can put customers at risk of illness or (in the case of undercooked shellfish) ''death''. By contrast, he's gentle and supportive when he's dealing with amateurs or kids, who aren't claiming to possess skills they [[LethalChef don't have]].
99* John Taffer of ''Series/BarRescue'' has careened into this territory. Early seasons dealt much more with the "bar science" aspect of the show, with Taffer explaining more or less calmly how particular decisions the bar owners made negatively affected the business and how hi changes resolved the issue. Later seasons devolved into Taffer screaming into the faces of owners over even the most trivial of problems.
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:Music]]
103* Robert Christgau is a music critic renowned for often harsh and controversial reviews. He freely admits that there are some entire genres that he is not partial to. Music/SonicYouth wrote a song about him entitled "I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick" after he labelled their music, pigfucker music. Also, Music/LouReed ranted about him on a live album. Christgau will toss out cheap insults toward the musicians he's reviewing, even in positive reviews (see his review of The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1).
104* Italian neuroscientist and spare-time cultural critic Creator/PieroScaruffi is well-regarded for his insanely comprehensive [[http://scaruffi.com/ ''knowledge base'']], that features biographies for ''8,000'' bands and artists, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and that's just the musical department]]. His most (in)famous biography is [[http://www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beatles.html this essay]] on Music/TheBeatles in which he calls them out as "overrated", much to the displeasure of the Beatles' fans. He even compares the fandom to religious fundamentalists.
105** The essay starts with the [[MemeticMutation now iconic]] claim: ''"The fact that so many books still name the Beatles "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art."'' Any more questions?
106* Besides being viewed as an eccentric composer, Music/HectorBerlioz was infamous for being this trope. His reviews have been said to be unnecessarily abrasive and often outrageous.
107* Lesser-known critic [[http://starling.rinet.ru/music/index.htm George]] [[http://only-solitaire.blogspot.co.uk/ Starostin]] has some really brilliant moments of caustic reviewing. His best moments are his reviews of Uriah Heep (on the first site) and 10cc (on the second).
108--> (on 10cc's "Ten out of 10") "It's just a bunch of mid-tempo, mid-volume, mid-relevance, mid-everything mid-pop songs written by two mid-aged gentlemen that seem to be but mid-knowing what they're mid-doing."
109* Bob Lefsetz, known for his nonsensically elaborate analogies and love of the caps lock button. Taylor Swift's song "Mean" was rumored to have been directed at him.
110* Creator/JessGulbranson's work at [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Crappy Indie Music: The Blog]], now in [[http://zeen.com/read/RqtFI5/please-cease-your-existence-conversations-with-fans-of-cage-the-elephant?utm_campaign=issue&utm_medium=onsite&utm_source=profile online coffee table book format]]! Taking ownership of the blog seems to have softened him somewhat towards the indie bands themselves, with the vitriol being reserved for PR companies and [[WhatTheHellHero David Bowie's]] [[http://crappyindiemusic.blogspot.com/2013/01/crappy-indie-contest-remix-david-bowies.html most recent graphic designer]].
111* Get a critic to talk about stadium music [[http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-chicago-blackhawks-chelsea-dagger-kernkraft-400-20130617,0,6242452.htmlstory and his snark will get beyond the scale]].
112* Tim Minchin's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJiINMitt0Q For Phil Daoust]] is a satire on the entire concept of how Caustic Critics affect artists and how the artists react.
113* The Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick was extremely conservative in his tastes, and thus hated the more innovative composers such as Music/FranzLiszt and Music/RichardWagner. He condemned Music/AntonBruckner's music as 'stinking of hellish sulphur' and similarly condemned Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky's later works. He was instead a huge fan of Music/JohannesBrahms, and contributed to the FlameWar between Brahms' fans and Wagner's, despite the two composers respecting one-another. Wagner parodied Hanslick as [[TakeThatCritics the annoying, talentless critic Beckmesser]] in ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', and [[UnfortunateImplications more ominously]] used Hanslick's Jewish heritage as a negative example in his anti-Semitic essay ''Jewishness in Music''.
114* The late Polish music critic Robert Leszczyński was so infamous that he wound up as a target of a TakeThat in songs ''twice'', with the same "unpleasant fish" allusion - once by punk rock band Pidżama Porno, and another time in a collaboration between ''Hey'' frontwoman Katarzyna Nosowska and punk rocker Kazik. The latter song, "Zoil" ([[ViewersAreGeniuses titled after the infamous Caustic Critic from Ancient Greece]]), is one big Take That against Leszczyński.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Print Media]]
118* In an example of how this trope is OlderThanTelevision, the writer Creator/EdgarAllanPoe first gained prominence as the editor of a Richmond-based periodical, the ''Southern Literary Messenger'', where he established himself as an especially harsh reviewer of literary works submitted to the magazine.
119* ''Magazine/PrivateEye'''s "Literary Review" (by "Bookworm") and "Eye TV" (by "Remote Controller"). On one occasion when Bookworm quite liked a book, the letters page was filled with complaints that this wasn't like him at all.
120* Lucius Shepard, who writes film reviews in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.'' Blockbusters are analyzed as representing problems with American culture.
121* The 1920s humor magazine ''Judge'' shows us that caustic critics were nothing new. In [[http://wondermark.com/true-stuff-metahumor-1927/ Don Herold's "A Criticism of the Theatrical Criticism in this Morning’s Paper"]], he wonders (with tongue firmly in cheek), "When shall we have dramatic critics who will condemn ninety-five plays out of 100? (It makes little difference which ninety-five. They all need it.)"
122* Stuart Campbell built up a reputation for scathing game reviews in ''Magazine/AmigaPower''. He gave a 4% score to ''European Champions'' in a partial-page review, a 2% score to ''International Rugby Challenge'' in a three-page review, and, in the magazine's final issue, a 1% score to ''Kick Off '96'' in a four-page review where he argued before a KangarooCourt that games like this, not reviewers, were responsible for the death of the Platform/{{Amiga}}.
123* Creator/RexReed of ''The New York Observer'' fame is rather infamous for embodying this trope, and controversial for mixing it together with ablest, sexist, and racist rhetoric. As an example, Reed spent [[http://observer.com/2012/09/the-master-rex-reed-philip-seymour-hoffman-joaquin-phoenix-paul-thomas-anderson/ the entirety of his review]] of ''Film/TheMaster'' personally attacking several modern directors and actors and declaring [[NewMediaAreEvil new films as utter tripe]]. In fact, most of his negative reviews contain personal attacks on the actors and directors. He's also had a weird habit of hating foreign films [[ForeignQueasine based on cuisine alone]] (saying ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and ''Film/TheHost2006'' were garbage, ''as expected'' of countries that make sushi and kimchi, [[SarcasmMode the horror]]), and said [[UnfortunateImplications Koreans were too ignorant to make good movies]]. In 2013, he had another firestorm of controversy as he bashed Melissa [=McCarthy=]'s performance on ''Film/IdentityThief'' (and the film as a whole) for being fat, and refused to recount his statements in a later interview. His 2017 review of ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' also saw him referring to people with disabilities as "defective creatures", and he claimed that Creator/{{Sally Hawkins}}' mute character in the aforementioned film was actually mentally handicapped. Funnily enough, Reed himself had something of an acting career on the side, and two of his credits are in films that have almost universally appeared in numerous "Worst Films of All Time" lists -- ''Film/MyraBreckinridge'' and ''Film/{{Inchon}}''.
124* Bosley Crowther of the ''New York Times'' fell into this habit later in his career. After decades as one of America's most respected critics who regularly championed foreign movies and spoke out against UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist in his column, by TheSixties he had grown into the role of "crotchety old man completely out of touch with trends and developments in Hollywood." Most notoriously, Crowther hated ''Film/BonnieAndClyde'' so much (mostly for its graphic violence) that he wrote ''three separate reviews'' trashing it. His reviews were so forcefully negative that they nearly crushed the movie's box office chances until Creator/PaulineKael's long-form essay defending ''Bonnie and Clyde'' reversed critical and public opinion. Watching it become a smash hit regardless turned him into a {{Moral Guardian|s}} late in his life, campaigning against violence in cinema.
125* Even Creator/RogerEbert has been in on the act; he said that in many cases it's more fun to write a review of a bad movie than it is to write a review of a good one (a sentiment voiced by several other critics). Many of his most negative reviews have been collected in his books, ''I Hated, Hated, '''Hated''' This Movie''; ''Your Movie Sucks''; and ''A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length''.
126* Creator/PaulineKael, longtime critic for ''The New Yorker'' in the sixties and seventies. She had a specific academic habit where she would come up with an interesting-but-flawed idea, seemingly spur of the moment, and then over-commit to it because she's confident in how good her ideas are, and that confidence is ultimately rooted in her academic position.
127* John Simon spent decades as a critic for various New York publications up until his death at age 94 in 2019. He long had a reputation as a very hard-to-please DeadpanSnarker with ultra-snobbish tastes and a take-no-prisoners nature. For his part, he claimed that he was no more negative than most reviewers, he just came up with better quips -- usually involving the actor's physical appearance (Carol Burnett, Liza Minelli, Wallace Shawn). In this respect, Music/BarbraStreisand has been the perennial giant to Simon's Don Quixote. Even other critics seemed to dislike him, and Simon has boasted of doors being slammed in his face. (“But who cares? It’s wonderful to be hated by idiots.”)
128* Michael Riedel, aka the Enfant Terrible of the New York Post. A cross between Tim Gunn and Karl Rove, he mostly writes gossip pieces about {{Troubled Production}}s and makes no bones about his search for "juicy" column fodder. He made waves for his one-man crusade against ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'' (which he spent ''two years'' pillorying, but ended up [[CriticalDissonance being a smash nonetheless]]). Unsurprisingly, Reidel's mentor is John Simon. He also co-hosts a public access show, ''Theater Talk'', where he and a co-host interview actors and producers. In the off-season, Reidel devotes a few episodes to chatting with critics from other New York magazines, creating an Event Horizon of snark.
129* Armond White of the ''New York Press'' is the anti-Kael (e.g [[MoralGuardians conservative hack]] as opposed to liberal blowhard), though he considers her a role model. He is notable for comparing every film to some black & white production from the distant past -- specifically, ''his'' past, spent watching old movies with his father at the local cinema. Suffice to say, he has a long memory, so watch out. He is also known to go against the prevailing critical views for most films, such as giving ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' a negative review and ''Film/JackAndJill'' a positive one. ''Website/RottenTomatoes'' no longer features him among its reference pool -- officially, because the ''New York Press'' didn't renew a license with Rotten Tomatoes, but most people say that it's because he gives contrarian reviews to whatever was highest rated on the site.
130* Magazine/TheOnion parodies this with the article [[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/awful_man_offers_witty_acerbic "Awful Man Offers Witty, Acerbic Take On Everything He Sees"]], portraying the said critic as a {{jerkass}} killjoy who claims to get away with everything he says just out of how funny he does it.
131* ''Magazine/TheNewYorker's'' film review section, particularly Anthony Lane's reviews. Like [[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/29/060529crci_cinema this one]].
132* Will Self [[GodwinsLaw compared]] ''Film/LoveActually'', a fluffy Richard Curtis Christmas romcom, to ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill'', based on the "emotional manipulation" of mentioning September 11th in the opening narration.
133* ''New York Times'' food critic Pete Wells is normally actually quite reasonable, but [[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/dining/reviews/restaurant-review-guys-american-kitchen-bar-in-times-square.html?_r=0 this memetically caustic review]] of [[Series/DinersDriveInsAndDives Guy Fieri]]'s restaurant in Times Square will cement him a reputation for being venomous (when warranted).
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
137* Bryan Alvarez from [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Wrestling Observer Radio/F4W]] can best be described as tough but fair. Though when he sees something stupid he lashes out at it like a shark smelling blood.
138* Chris Hyatte from Scoops Wrestling and the early days of 411 Mania was a mixture of this and a rare example of a malicious {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. From placing a bounty on the daughters of Tony Schiavone's Daughter to turning the Villanos into an infamous [[MemeticBadass crime family]] Hyatte's columns were a mixture of NonSequitur and RefugeInAudacity. Sadly the end of Scoops and his falling out with several websites, have made his body of work [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes hard to find.]]
139* Bill & Doug ([=RVDTito4Life=]) and Kent Jones, who claimed to be the first Platform/YouTube "shooter", which is a misnomer since he's not in the professional wrestling business. Bill & Doug, meanwhile, actually became shooters when they were hired by Wrestling/{{TNA}} to host their online show, ''TNA Addicts''.
140* Noah Antwiler from WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment, his short-lived spin-off ''Wrestle! Wrestle!'', and a sister series ''It Came From Beyond Midnight'' (in which he played a fictitious cardigan-wearing critic, Leslie Styker).
141* Wrestling/JimCornette. The emotion of "vague or minor but tolerable dislike" does not seem to exist for this man.
142* ''The World Famous Flea Market''. If you're a decent wrestler to good wrestler, it won't save you from being cut down anyway but they will acknowledge your strengths and skills, because the main focus of the show is people they think have neither, and these people are torn down so hard they feel a need to save the reputations of the merely flawed. They're affiliated with ''Bad Wrestlers Exposed'' and ''You Are Not Getting Booked'', in case you wanted more criticism.
143[[/folder]]
144
145[[folder:Radio]]
146* Creator/MarkKermode of Creator/TheBBC has a (deserved) reputation for this (especially regarding ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'') including some suggestions that everyone involved with the film hang their heads in shame, that a film be buried in an underground bunker filled with toxic waste, and that a film was akin to the experience of smashing one's head into a glass door elongated to ninety minutes. See also his rants, er, opinion of all ''Transformers'' films, ''Film/SexAndTheCity2'', ''Film/AngelsAndDemons'', etc.
147* In 2007, {{Wrestling/WWE}}'s "revival" of {{Wrestling/ECW}} made Bryan Alvarez of ''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter'' so angry he actually directly messaged and emailed WWE personnel to complain to them directly. He said the resounding response could be summed up as "Yup, it sucks." That said, WWE did spend the next three years trying to improve the program before giving up.
148[[/folder]]
149
150[[folder:Theater]]
151* In 1964, Israeli critic Khayim Gamzu wrote a review about a play named ''Sammy Will Die At Six O’Clock''. The play was praised and glorified by pretty much every critic, except Gamzu, whose entire review was, ‘As far as I’m concerned, he could have died at five o’clock.’ This review was a huge surprise to many, and Efraim Kishon coined the word ''ligmoz''[[note]]לִגְמֹז[[/note]], meaning ‘to criticise brutally’.
152[[/folder]]
153
154[[folder:Web Original]]
155* WebVideo/MovieRehab: Played straight in earlier episodes, but got parodied in his Film/MeetDave and Religion Inc. review. Up to that point, he became calmer and laid down.
156* Gregg Easterbrook, who is not a film reviewer, but a loquacious ESPN commentator who sometimes slags off movies. (The man makes Creator/DennisMiller sound like Creator/LarryTheCableGuy.) He made headlines when he accused "[[GreedyJew Jewish movie executives]]" of somehow promoting Neo-Nazism by distributing ''Film/KillBill''. Since then, GQ/Deadspin writer Drew Magary has made it a personal mission to haunt Easterbrook in his own column, titled ''Gregg Easterbrook Is A Haughty Dipshit''.
157-->'''Gregg''': ''But how many times in the real world has [[MacGuffin a single small object]] controlled the fates of millions?''\
158'''[[http://deadspin.com/one-day-well-be-too-lazy-to-watch-football-1679448981 Drew]]''': Never! Totally ruined the movies for me. And to think, I cared about this magic [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings “ring”]] when no such magic rings occur in nature! And that spaceship in ''[[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind Close Encounters]]''! How many times have YOU seen a spaceship in real life? Laughable.
159** The column was retired in 2015 after Easterbrook was fired from ESPN. Like Dracula, he is sure to rise again.
160--->"WHOA! No more haikus? No more [[{{Scandalgate}} cognomen]]? No more lectures about going to church? I’ve been goofing Gregg Easterbrook for so long that I feel a tremendous sense of … Nope. Nope, I don’t feel anything."
161* ''Webcomic/CinemaBums'' features JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf in a meta-example, providing caustic criticism to caustic critics in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160306201611/http://www.cinemabums.com/?p=180 this]] comic.
162* Maddox of Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse in his heyday, thrashing the second and third ''[[Film/TheMatrix Matrix]]'' films
163* Being a collection of caustic critics is the stated mission of Website/{{Pajiba}}. Their tagline is "Scathing Reviews. Bitchy People."
164* Professor Otaku of the Website/DesuDesBrigade, with anime.
165* In the same fashion: WebVideo/KlausVonHohenloe, anime and game reviewer… who [[http://psohb.blip.tv/file/4851611/ literally despairs]] when he has nothing to complain about. Nor does he know what he should rate a good anime with.
166* WebVideo/{{Jontron}}, as of late. Though in his earlier days he was rather non-caustic, with rare examples. Jontron's videos that aren't video game reviews are not so full of complaints, though!
167* [[http://www.mrcranky.com/ Mr. Cranky]]. Rather than scale his ratings with stars, where more is better, he uses a scale of 1-4 bombs where more is worse (with a bundle of dynamite and then a mushroom cloud when needed in extreme cases). One bomb stands for "Almost tolerable", and it just gets worse from there.
168* Although they are not official critics, some gamers readily give games a complete 0/10 on [=MetaCritic=], despite not having actually played the game in question. Some have even been known to downrate games on principle, because of a vendetta against a certain publisher or company, or because of popular opinion. Since there are very few games that deserve an absolute zero, and Metacritic users generally don't vote between 1 and 10, the "User Score" is generally not the most reliable barometer of game quality.
169** Before that, [=Lemon64=] had similar users. They ended up getting categorized under 1 term ([[HateDumb downvoters]]). The behavior has only increased since they organised a list of the "top 100 best Commodore games", which has made some users give the competition a 1 out of 10 (the absolute minimal score that a game can have) to make their favorite game look better. As you can imagine the situation quickly escalated and since then lemon attempts to prevent those type of users from using their sites.
170* [[http://www.bigempire.com/filthy/ The Filthy Critic]], who applies his withering criticism and wanton misanthropy not only to movie reviews but episodes from his (mostly fictionalized) daily life as well. Well-known for his obsessions with porn, beer, and at times disturbingly graphic metaphors, perhaps used most eloquently in his [[http://www.bigempire.com/filthy/jeeperscreepers.html/ Jeepers Creepers review]].
171* [[http://necrocritic.webs.com/ The Necro Critic]]. He reviews both bad movies AND bad videogames. And, as of recently, is even reviewing anime.
172* Many of the reviews on Website/RottenTomatoes for ''[[Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg Epic Movie]]'', ''[[Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg Meet the Spartans]]'', and ''[[Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg Disaster Movie]]'' ended up like this.
173* ''Screw These Comics'' was a site that did this for sprite comics, and had a group of characters review a given in dialogue. Eventually, the creator quit after realizing his own reviews had degenerated into the same kind of things that he criticized bad sprite comics for overusing. Where once the team would look at a comic's points legitimately while making fun of it, toward the end many reviews consisted solely of variations of the exchange:
174-->'''Nes''': Well, I think the comic is--\
175'''[=EvilNes=]''': SHUT THE FUCK UP NES YOU STUPID FAG THIS COMIC SUCKS!
176* WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}} is this for LetsPlay.
177* ''{{Creator/Seanbaby}}'' was one of the original online personalities to do this.
178* Comixology's Tucker Stone, he is well educated and uses the full extent of his thinking power to utterly take apart mainstream comic books.
179* Website/SomethingAwful's reviews of movies and older videogames go here.
180* Noah Antwiler, also known as The Spoony One, of WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment, who has given many movies, VideoGames (including the later Franchise/FinalFantasy series and some old FMV games) this treatment. He has reviewed ProfessionalWrestling in his spin-off series ''Wrestle Wrestle'', as noted above.
181* Erik Olund, aka [=ShogunGin0=], of ''WebVideo/InfamousAnimation''. He's not afraid to deliver punishing reviews of horrid WesternAnimation movies (such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Delgo}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TitanicTheLegendGoesOn'').
182* [[http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com Television Without Pity]]
183* [[http://sturgeonawards.blogspot.com/ The Sturgeon Awards]]. The blogger will review anything he hates. However, he has written a positive review of ''VideoGame/{{Genetos}}''.
184* Despite repeated claims from ''Creator/TwoSetViolin'' that they're not a roasting channel, when they get down to reviewing fake/cringy musical performances in movies, TV shows and talent contests, they are quite capable of scathing, rapid-fire snark and pointing out ArtisticLicenseMusic everywhere, even in the most minute details, thanks to their being trained classical violinists.
185* [[http://www.facebook.com/pages/FireBlog/154468544591691 The FireBlog]] gives text reviews of overrated TV shows, and is currently working on ''Series/TheMiddle''. It will also make fun of idiots on Website/IMDb. Apparently, nobody is safe from the Blog/FireBlogger.
186* [=YouTuber=] Smudboy has gained a(n in)famous reputation of being [[AccentuateTheNegative a virtually unpleasable snob.]] His channel focuses heavily on story analysis and is known for critiquing Bioware games, especially [[HePannedItNowHeSucks the Mass Effect series.]]
187* Website/ChannelAwesome has many such reviewers
188** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic did this to old kids’ shows and movies till the show ended in 2012. With its subsequent reboot in 2013, he started to include more modern films as well. Also deconstructed, as his job has made him ''miserable'', and he only did it so that people would like him.
189** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick started out as the Critic’s DistaffCounterpart, though she later broke out of the GirlShowGhetto and started criticizing whatever she wanted. Since then, however, the Chick's creator Creator/LindsayEllis has [[CreatorBacklash turned against the style]], seeing it as having popularized a toxic brand of online media discourse in the 2010s. With the exceptions of her episodes on ''Film/FreddyGotFingered'' and the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' films, she's made all of her old Nostalgia Chick videos private and accessible only to her Patreon subscribers, while her videos since 2016 (first on Platform/YouTube and then on the streaming service Nebula) have been less caustic and more analytical video essays about pop culture.
190** WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob.
191*** The Snob himself is the most direct comparison: He actually ''is'' modeled on snobbish film critics who refuse to adjust their standards, even when reviewing schlock. He has made frequent jibes at the hypocrisies of real-life critics, as well.
192*** In ''WebVideo/MidnightScreenings'', Angry Jake is the most caustic of the bunch, since he has to review sloppily made kiddie flicks.
193** [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]], who reviews old comic books that suffer from poor writing, bad artwork, and various other problems. Though not unusually vitriolic for this trope (he's notably the only Channel Awesome member who doesn't use "hard" swear words in his videos), Linkara is somewhat more dedicated to it than others listed here, having initially rejected fan requests to review good comic books stating that the whole point of his regular feature is to rant about the bad stuff. Though he has increasingly [[DownplayedTrope toned down]] the vitriol in recent years in favor of a more balanced approach, but can still get incredibly caustic for truly awful works.
194** WebVideo/JesuOtaku, who normally reviews anime, can be seen as one both in and outside of his target medium. He is infamous in otaku circles for his outspoken and harsh opinions of {{moe}} culture. Other victims included such shows as ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', and ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', among several others. In fairness, most of these opinions were expressed through his Twitter account, but it has soured his relationship with WesternAnimation fans who had previously deemed him JustForFun/OneOfUs.
195** The Distressed Watcher, a former contributor, is even more of a caustic critic than anybody on the website, covering trailers specifically. Also known as WebVideo/TheAmazingAtheist, he has made a number of caustic videos on religion and politics on Platform/YouTube.
196** [[WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh Oancitizen]], during his slow slip into a HeroicBSOD during his review of ''{{Film/Melancholia}}'', ended up [[DiscussedTrope discussing this trope]], talking about how the internet is a great medium to hate things, and how you're almost expected to not enjoy anything without riffing the hell out of it.
197** WebVideo/BennettTheSage, who reviews anime from the 80s and 90s on ''Anime Abandon'', savagely dissecting the bad and pointing out the flaws in the good. He also lampshades the negative reactions of fans when he professes his dislike of popular titles such as ''Anime/PerfectBlue'' or ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies''. Later on, however, he moved the show in the direction of analysis and dissection rather than pure criticism, and even talked a bit in some videos about how one eventually hits a creative wall when it comes to just crapping on bad stuff.
198* ''WebVideo/{{Animerica}}'''s Phoenix, with a heavy emphasis on caustic, savagely eviscerating whatever shows he reviewed, and this even extends to his real-life actor Will Ryan. He is infamous in Otaku circles for his outspoken and harsh opinions of popular titles such as ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' and ''Manga/ElfenLied''.
199* WebVideo/PieGuyRulz very rarely gets really mad, but the last minute or so of his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHeGmrtK8n0 Awesomeness TV Rant]] must be seen to be believed.
200--> I haven't gotten this angry in a really long time, guys.
201** His entire [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4qizzscmoY Problem Solverz Rant]] IS this.
202--> I've never seen a show so disgusting, unappealing, ugly, not funny, weird, stupid, or SEIZURE INDUCING as this one. [[SelfDeprecation I'd rather go back to reviewing comic books than watch this show]].
203* John Solomon of the now-defunct webcomic ReviewBlog, ''Your Webcomic Is Bad and You Should Feel Bad''.
204* [[Creator/BenCroshaw Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'', with a heavy emphasis on "caustic", generally having this trope PlayedForLaughs through presenting his AuthorAvatar as a [[ComedicSociopathy comically sociopathic]] {{Cloudcuckoolander}} SerialKiller. He has even joked that his job is to ruin the retirement plans of game developers, and he usually [[AccentuateTheNegative goes overboard on the negative things]], even if they are minor, in his videos. His opinions are also in a frequent state of flux, which is why he often revisits old reviews while talking about a similar game. Further, Yahtzee has stated that he only tends to focus on the negative because that's what his fans want. When he has done the rare positive reviews, reception has usually not been that positive. Therefore, he says to freely assume that anything he ''doesn't'' rip on about a game is well-executed and not worth complaining about.
205-->"You don't call a sewer technician to redecorate your bathroom, and you don't come to me to hear about how a game is good."
206** Interestingly enough, he actually deconstructs this entire way of thinking in his review of the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' remake, where he insists that just because he's a caustic critic that doesn't necessarily mean that anything he gives the slightest nod of approval to is a brilliant genre-defining masterpiece. When he's saying that a game is "just fine" or "good", ''he means it.''
207--->This is the part where all the cockthroats swoop down on the comments like flies to a dead dog and go, "Ooh, an 'alright' from Yahtzee is high praise anywhere else! Buzz, buzz!" ''[[SuddenlyShouting Eat that dead dog's last panicky burst of diuretic shit, cockthroats!]]'' ''Resident Evil'' at [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard its best]] is something I found electrifying, and this conflux of old ideas and slightly-less-old-but-still-old ideas is [[DamnedByFaintPraise barely two licks of a 9-volt]].
208* Troy from ''Blog/BloggerBeware'' reviews the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' books. He... doesn't like many of them. The blog started out as an affectionate nostalgia site, as evidenced by the first few, relatively sedate reviews until Troy realized how bad most of the series is upon re-reading it as an adult. He was particularly infuriated by the ''Series 2000'' books, which he ''didn't'' read as a child.
209* Parodied in WebAnimation/TheFlashTub's [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/flash-tub/furious-famicom-faggot.php Furious Famicom Faggot]].
210* Parodied in [[http://xninjared.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Valentine-from-XNinjaRed-153934205 this comic]] where the Ninja is being a harsh critic over a Valentine card saying there's no plot, feeling or charm and says he can do better, only to basically make a threat card rather than a Valentine's card.
211* ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'''s Mister Plinkett. He's also a {{deconstruction}} and a satire of the stereotypical wannabe-critic Youtuber's usual online persona: what kind of person would be as devoted, nerdy and angry to actually write a 60 minutes long review of ''Franchise/StarWars'' Episode 1, carefully deconstructing all of its flaws? Answer: [[SerialKiller Not a nice one]].
212* [[http://mike-smith.livejournal.com/profile Mike Smith]] went through the entire ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, chapter by chapter, and gave detailed analysis as to why he thought they all stink (largely because of its {{padding}} to DoorStopper levels).
213* The former [=WoW=] podcaster [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit TotalBiscuit (aka TotalHalibut aka the Cynical Brit)]] loved the game back when he did podcasts. But he would not hesitate to rag on every perceived slip-up, and outright told anyone who didn't like his reviews "there's the door". It was his belief, indeed, that reviews had to be critical to be effective.
214* Although not formal critics, pretty much every user at the RPG Codex forum is this for any video game even nominally considered an RPG. Generally they consider most modern games, especially ones by Bethesda, to be "bland, banal, boring, shit" and refer to them as 'popamole' (whack-a-mole with guns, referring to the modern tendency of games to have enemies duck in and out of chest-high cover, often requiring the player to do the same). [[SchmuckBait Bioware fans are welcome, though. No, really]].
215* In Website/FanFictionDotNet, there are various fanfics that [[FollowTheLeader follow]] the initiative of WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5448410/1/The_Insane_Critic The Insane Critic]] and [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5967099/1/E350s_Happy_Fluffy_Reviews_of_Really_Bad_Fanfics E350]] are a special case because they review [[SturgeonsLaw bad fanfics]] and they are the most known in their niche.
216* WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew: He makes a point of targeting movies that were better reviewed and received than he thought they should be. He actually ends up playing devils advocate occasionally on movies that he feels got an excessive negative reaction. The common opinion he disagrees with is what has him confused.
217* Wanna see someone try to be a caustic critic only to have the work he's harping on turn out to be a classic game which he never actually played? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxLgFbNPB9s Here ya go]].
218* Mark of ''Blog/MarkReadsTwilight'' was this towards ''Twilight'', but only because, in his opinion, it deserved it. He's noted himself that every other review of books he's made after that has been positive.
219%% * Website/IshkursGuideToElectronicMusic. Please add context before un-hiding.
220* Chuck Sonnenberg of Website/SFDebris fame, although what he mainly seems to be caustic towards is poor writing and idiocy. When he reviews something that is actually good, Chuck tends to lapse into impassioned monologues about why the work is so good. Even in otherwise terrible works, he takes time aside to point out things that are done well.
221* ''Busy Street'' represents a Meta example of this. Thrashing and picking apart other internet "Angry Reviewers".
222* [[http://www.filmtracks.com/ Filmtracks]]. When he doesn't give a positive review to an established composer, the sole writer of this site will mercilessly trash a score by a newcomer, a score that features guitars and scores by Music/HansZimmer and his company (though the third one is done by most film score circles). He also infamously trashed ''Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross''' score to ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' and suggested that the soundtrack would make better use as a frisbee.
223* [[http://www.sorrywatch.com/ SorryWatch]] is very mocking when it comes to bad apologies, ripping them apart and throwing strongly-worded jabs at the elements of the apology [[NotHelpingYourCase that destroy any chance of forgiveness in their standards]].
224* The Bad Webcomics Wiki is an entire wiki based on this. Due to the fact that it has many people, most of whom aren't qualified critics, the quality, accuracy, and fairness of the reviews may vary, but it doesn't change the fact that a considerable percentage of the webcomics reviewed there are simply bad, one way or another. It got to the point where John Solomon of "Your Webcomic is Bad and You Should Feel Bad" actually demanded that they remove quotes of his, as he felt that the "nasty critic" schtick was overdone.
225* Website/TheEditingRoom: nitpicks, attacks on all your favorite stars and directors, and mocking {{alternate character interpretation}}s of the main characters galore.
226* In ''WebVideo/WarningReadersAdvisory'', Derek the Bard is caustic towards terrible books (and sometimes terrible movies based on good books).
227* ''WebVideo/MrCoatAndFriends'', although to a much lesser degree than similar sites.
228* {{Website/Reddit}}, Hacker News, and Slashdot are full of programmers who love to rip their least favorite programming languages, coding paradigms, etc.
229* ''WebVideo/TheyMadeMeWatchThis'' loves to tear into stuff his kids and other people on the web make him watch, particularly the kiddie ''{{Franchise/Barbie}}'' films.
230* Dan Schneider of [[http://www.cosmoetica.com/ Cosmoetica]] criticizes poetry, books, movies, other critics, and ''[[http://www.cosmoetica.com/B1257-DES880.htm even his own readers]]''. He primarily reviews materials that are considered "classic" and thus escape critical attention.
231* [[http://theficcritic.blogspot.com/ The Fic Critic of Blogspot]] does this. Worth noting is his ClusterFBomb chain when [[TrollFic Web of Shadows]] author Artemis Leige started [[RonTheDeathEater character bashing]] Mary Jane Watson and the I Don't Want to Live on This Planet Anymore/Ten rating he gave [[TrollFic Carolina and Penni]].
232* There are quite a few websites dedicated to bad movies; here are a just a select few:
233** [[http://www.mutantreviewers.com Mutant Reviewers from Hell]]
234** [[http://www.jabootu.com Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension]]
235** [[http://www.ruthlessreviews.com Ruthless Reviews]]
236** [[http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport The Bad Movie Report]]
237** [[http://www.badmovies.org Badmovies.org]]
238** [[http://www.agonybooth.com/ The]] [[Website/TheAgonyBooth Agony Booth]], also throws in bad TV (such as ''Franchise/StarTrek'') in small doses. The site owner, Dr. Winston O'Boogie, is probably the most merciless of the critics, skewering Hollywood values in the ''Jabootu'' tradition. On the other side of the coin, you have Sofie Liv, who makes a concerted effort to find positives in anything.
239** [[http://www.spill.com/ Spill.com occasionally falls into this category.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1HFpZS6exk Case in point...]]
240%%* WebVideo/{{CriticAndProud}}. Please add context before un-hiding.
241* Le WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier (a.k.a.: The gamer from the Attic) brought the figure of the caustic critic to the French region (he's one himself, actually). He's openly inspired by the Angry Video Game Nerd.
242* Sofie Liv of ''WebVideo/MovieDorkness'' averts this most of the time, but is not above it, especially with ''Film/{{Twilight}}''.
243* WebVideo/TheMusicVideoShow is also this. The show is where one girl reviews one music video a week, points out the flaws in the video and, occasionally, the lyrics. In the end, she states whether or not she would watch it again.
244* WebVideo/BroTeamPill [[invoked]] is very caustic with triple-A releases, and [[CuckoolanderCommentator nonsensical with everything else]]. His ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' review is a rap of the ObviousBeta state of the game, dumbed down mechanics, and short. The ''War Z'' review mocked the [[RevenueEnhancingDevices microtransactions]] in a paid-for game, [[ObviousBeta broken mechanics]], and so on - even calling it a [[TheMockBuster scam]] [[FreezeFrameBonus in a frame]]
245* [[https://www.youtube.com/tasted Tasted's]] Noah Galuten and Ti, host and producer respectively of "Food Feeder", eat a lot of bad food and drink a lot of awful alcohol. When they actually eat something good, the viewers tend to complain the show is boring, sort of forcing the Caustic Critic thing on them. [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Ti herself]] gives movies the drunken ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' treatment on sister channel Cinefix.
246* mpn1990's now-defunct game review show Unlicensed Garbage, which parodied ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''.
247* Satirized by stanburdman's Angry Gamer persona.
248* ''WebVideo/TheIrateGamer'''s reviews are peppered with emphasis of the flaws of the game.
249* ''WebVideo/ThirdRateGamer'', being a StylisticSuck satire of ''WebVideo/TheIrateGamer'', is a parody of these. He often [[AccentuateTheNegative nitpicks minor details that have little to do with the game.]]
250* [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/174412/the-critique The Critique]]: he reviews bad ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfics (although occasionally deviating to review something else, like the unproduced Creator/JamesCameron script to ''Film/SpiderMan1''). Even fics that are generally considered good are reviewed (although not as harshly as stories such as ''Fanfic/MyBravePonyStarfleetMagic''), and the series does contain a meta plot about Bad [=OCs=] coming to kill the reviewer.
251* The Review Reviewer of WebVideo/ThoseDudesWithAHat.
252* ''WebVideo/StuffYouLike'': Inverted. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ursa usually does reviews on stuff she likes]]. Usually.
253* While [[http://www.sonicgear.org/ Sonic Gear]], a fansite dedicated to detailing ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' [[TheMerch merchandise]], is usually positive when commenting on ''Sonic'' merch, it ''does not like'' [[ShoddyKnockOffProduct bootlegs]] and [[OffModel mutants]] any bit and will be quick to bash them with heavy-handed words.
254* Creator/CTPhipps of Blog/TheUnitedFederationOfCharles went out of his way to avert it but has since developed a reputation which plays it straight. When he really dislikes something, which is frequent, he comes across as DamnedByFaintPraise with hefty doses of passive-aggressive snark.
255* Creator/ShanaFesta of the Website/TheBookieMonster is famous across the web for being one of the few reviewers to ''avert'' this in horror review websites. In a field dominated by Caustic Critic types who love savaging works, she's developed a reputation as the NiceGirl and TeamMom.
256* The Podcast/WeHateMovies gang.
257* An Iranian [=Lemon64=] user called Ali Pouladi became rather famous for his negative reviews. He also made positive reviews (even if he attracted controversy for the fact that he considered ''VideoGame/ZakMcKrackenAndTheAlienMindbenders'' to be average) and even managed [[http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/ to interview a few people who worked on Commodore 64 games he liked]], but as you can tell from [[http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php%3Fid%3D578 his review index,]] the majority of his reviews were negative.
258* Brazilian website [=ZeroZen=] reviewed a bit of everything (film, music, games...) and badmouthed pretty much everything they ever reviewed, even if it received widespread acclaim. They even had a special section only for TheEighties, which according to them, was "the worst decade ever". The page's still active, actually, but hasn't been updated since early 2012 (they came back in 2017, but updates since then have been very sparse).
259* Per Arne Sandvik from [[http://www.encyclopedia-obscura.com/ Encyclopedia Obscura]] (active between 2001 and 2004). It contains reviews of basically any kind of media - from obscure NES games to crappy tie-in toys - most of them negative and full of snark, though sometimes he comes across genuinely good or interesting things.
260* WebVideo/DarkLordJadow1 on [=YouTube=] mostly reviews bad games, but will review a good game on occasion--usually when he wants to highlight a game that's not well known. His negative reviews vary in how caustic they are, depending on how badly they personally piss him off.
261* WebVideo/{{Yuriofwind}} has a segment called Bullshit Creepypasta Storytime, in which he reads bad creepypastas. Odds are, when he's not [[{{MST}} MSTing]] the story, he's doing this. This is most notably what he did before he stopped reading ''Fanfic/SonicExe'', to declare how bad the story was.
262-->'''Yuri:''' Now I'm going to stop here for a second and say something; I can't read the rest of this. Do you wanna know why? This story is fucking terrible! I mean, Christ, we're only through what I'm gonna call, "The First Arc, The Tails Arc" and I already wanna kill myself!
263* Alex from ''WebVideo/IHateEverything'' hates "everything", from terrible movies to specific fandoms to entire websites, all while maintaining a deadpan, but still angry tone.
264* ''Forbes'' online film critic Scott Mendelson tends to be this from time to time. In fact, user comments to his negative review of a critically acclaimed film (for example, one of the reasons why he gave a negative review of ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' is due to him personally not being a fan of ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}'' and that he loathed every time that Charlie Brown failed, which is actually a popular RunningGag in the comic strip) tend to be directed towards him. However, he is far more respected as a box office pundit.
265* ''WebVideo/TheRageaholic'' reviews and critiques movies, videogames, and music with no hesitation to AccentuateTheNegative to something he freely admits to not liking, with the added twists of [[MotorMouth a witty, fast-talking nature]], [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness a very large vocabulary]], and a liberal usage of pictures to get his point across. He proudly lists Creator/DennisMiller as his main inspiration, but [[BerserkButton woe betide to those who call him a clone of]] [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]]. He also has a [[BerserkButton chip on his shoulder]] towards large videogame publishers.
266** Uniquely, he's also not afraid to mock, comedically or seriously, other Caustic Critics like Yahtzee, Creator/JimSterling, Website/ChannelAwesome (specifically [[WebVideo/TheAngryJoeShow Angry Joe]]), and many others.
267%%* ''WebVideo/StopSkeletonsFromFighting'': Inverted, as his reviews are (generally) positive in tone.
268* [[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} Jim Sterling]] (back when they did reviews) would heavily tear into video games that were of bad quality and they had a gold mine of them back when Steam Greenlight (a service that helped indie games get exposure) existed. They also would mock developers that [[CantTakeCriticism could not handle their criticism and attacked them]]. As Jim changed how they did their content, they cut back on the caustic side of their personality and only lets out in full force if a game is ''extremely'' bad.
269* ''WebVideo/SidAlpha'' is what if Jim didn't cut back on the caustic side, instead goes on full force with the caustic side. Mostly involving bad Steam games, bad Steam practices, and the so-called "Dirty Devs".
270* [[Creator/BobChipman Bob "Moviebob" Chipman]] has been known to unload on movies he hated (his scathing review of ''Film/{{Pixels}}'' even went viral for the sheer vitriol he threw at it), but overall, he's not a fan of this trope, [[DefiedTrope tries not to act as one]], and has even been vocal in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FzzIDgVLm8 his criticism of it]]. While he likes some caustic critic shows, overall he feels that such reviewers, himself included at times, have fueled stereotypes of the StrawCritic who [[AccentuateTheNegative looks for any excuse to bash a work]], specifically calling ''WebVideo/CinemaSins'' "[[TakeThat a blight on movie discourse]]". He's even created the video series ''Really That Good'' and ''Good Enough Movies'' specifically to serve as a SpiritualAntithesis to this style, and even refused to review ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'' because he felt that it, while undoubtedly a bad movie, was only about as bad as ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' or ''WesternAnimation/TheBossBaby'', not some groundbreakingly awful dumpster fire that could get him worked up into a righteous rage like so many people had been saying.
271* Blogger and Goodreads user [[https://starsbeetlesandfools.blogspot.com/ J. G. Keely]] has a reputation as a contrarian snob, due to writing long, negative reviews of well regarded books such as ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' and ''Literature/TheGiver''. He has even written long explanations of why he has chosen not to read certain books based purely off of other's reviews.
272* Youtuber ''[=DWTerminator=]'' might be one of the straightest examples in all of amateur game journalism. He's unabashedly posted negative reviews for a number of SacredCow games (such as ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' and ''VideoGame/FableII'') and is particularly notorious for snarkily defending his positions when people angrily comment on his videos (sometimes even crossing into borderline FanHater territory). And even with games that he genuinely enjoys, such as ''VideoGame/TheWitcher2'', he'll rarely gush heaps of praise and will happily lobby criticisms when he feels they're warranted. Needless to say, he gets a lot of HePannedItNowHeSucks accusations from fans of the games he posts negative reviews of.
273* ''WebVideo/NC17Productions'': Kenny can't go a minute without swearing.
274* WebVideo/{{Rerez}} invokes this in his "[[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzx_ak-EKl1ybrVUXKi7PItI49zaHzImM Worst Consoles Ever]]" and "[[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzx_ak-EKl1zAjC0018-PiZVg9nFqLIos Just Bad Games]]" review series.
275* WebVideo/JoCat has his original creation "[=JoCrap=]", who is depicted as a musclebound loudmouth foul mouth in gear from ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' including his iconic wiggler head. He has guides to how to play (so far) ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'', ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' with useful tips, but saying it in the most unnerving (and hilarious) ways.
276* WebVideo/SarahZ started out making videos in this style, but has since moved beyond them to more analytical video essays. Much like the aforementioned Creator/BobChipman, in her video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsIKdZZxmZ8 "Bad Media Criticism"]] she states that she feels that many critics on Platform/YouTube (including herself in her early videos) focus on negativity in order to get more views and mistake nitpicking for criticism, and that this has produced an unhealthy focus on stories not having {{plot hole}}s over things like characterization and broader themes. It doesn't help that, in the lesser examples of this style of criticism, some of these criticisms can themselves run afoul of poor research, revealing that the critic doesn't know what they're talking about. Worse, she feels that this has started to bleed into storytelling, as stories made with an eye towards preemptively responding to critics on [=YouTube=] have taken to [[ShowDontTell over-explaining every minor detail to their detriment]].
277* WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows started out like this. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNUzqkJAQB8 his list]] of the worst hit songs of 2022, he noted that he'd mellowed out over the years to the point that he considered retiring his year-end worst list, only to see a music critic who he once respected for his caustic reviews reduced to writing clickbait for ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='=]s Twitter account, causing him to stick to it out of tradition and spite.
278* [[https://www.youtube.com/@TheCriticalDrinker The Critical Drinker]] is usually pretty upset or confused if he doesn't like a particular work, though he ''is'' willing to actually say things to the credit of works he doesn't like when he feels it's due, like admitting ''WesternAnimation/MastersOfTheUniverseRevelation'' has gorgeous animation, and that ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'' was ambitious and took a lot of risks in an era when most writers are terrified to step outside the box.
279* WebVideo/SpaceIce's bread and butter is making highly caustic summaries of DirectoToVideo action shlock (mostly Creator/StevenSeagal's)
280* WebVideo/KarolinaZebrowska is a Polish fashion historian the sight and comments (the latter often accompanied by snark) of which no amount of fashion ArtisticLicenseHistory in fashion from modern shall escape.
281[[/folder]]
282
283[[folder:Western Animation]]
284* [[invoked]] Before he got outed as a sexual predator, Creator/JohnKricfalusi was widely known for his rabid criticisms of other animators and cartoons that don't meet his very specific, exacting standards. The sheer amount of vitriol he threw at other people and their work, along with his own cartoons having had chronic ScheduleSlip problems and a serious overall decline in quality, has led many people to believe that most of the success of his more beloved projects, like ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', [[MyRealDaddy could be attributed more to other contributors]] like Bob Camp and Creator/RalphBakshi.
285[[/folder]]
286
287!!In-Universe Examples
288
289[[folder:Comic Books]]
290* ''[[ComicBook/ArchieComics The Archies]]'' have had to deal with music critics once or twice.
291** In one story, a 'Rap [=McNasty=]' demeans their style as nothing more than 'bubblegum rock'. The Archies fight back by making a music video of them surrounded by bubbles while chewing bubblegum, in a 'We're bubblegum and proud' manner. The video is a huge hit, and as apology [=McNasty=] went to interview them while chewing bubblegum.
292** In another, Veronica turns down a date offer from one Virgil Venom, and as revenge Virgil starts writing bad reviews of The Archies. (According to Veronica, her reply "Put a large hole in his ego") They get back at him by playing songs written by the son of Virgil's publisher, said to be a great songwriter, but keep that fact hidden until ''after'' the reviews are finished and about to be released. Sure enough, the idea that he's insulted his boss' 'baby boy' sends Virgil fleeing from town.
293* Issue 4 of the ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries'' has Fluttershy forced to endure the scorn of Praiser Pan, a snooty Canterlot art critic who initially dismisses her knitted sculpture as mere "craft" rather than art.
294* Fulliautomatix in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' is a variation. He is frequently described as a 'music critic', and is said in a promotional one-shot to be the ancestor of all music critics. In practice, this just means he beats up the village DreadfulMusician whenever he tries to sing.
295[[/folder]]
296
297[[folder:Fan Works]]
298* ''Fanfic/AMoonAndWorldApart'': A food critic of this type is mentioned in Chapter 11, whose motto is effectively "The blander, the better". Word of God is that it's actually Zesty Gourmand from Season 6.
299* Zig-zagged in ''Blog/MiraculousRewrite''; while Annalise and Danielle are highly critical of the Ladybug movie, it's shown that their opinion is shared by almost everyone else that watched it, and they're friendly towards the main characters. The only person that sees them as this trope is the movie's director, and that's only because he's so egotistical that he refuses to acknowledge that his work has ''any'' flaws.
300* ''Fanfic/AshAndSerenasAtomicOdyssey'': The Contest Judge panel in the Tandor region includes Ambrose Reigns, an S-Class Connoisseur who never seems to have anything good to say about the Coordinators' performances.
301* ''Fanfic/CrimsonAndNoire'': Plagg becomes this once he gets access to the Internet; he [[PapaWolf has no affection for Alya or her Beetle Blog after she writes Lady Noire as a destructive menace or ex-villain]], so his only motivation for getting an account is tearing her articles to pieces. Coincidentally, this happens around the time [[JerkassRealization Alya was realizing that she needed to be less biased in her reporting]], but that doesn't stop Plagg. He ''does'' note that it's harder to find points to criticize after he's banned from the forums ''24 times'' but "he would find a way."
302[[/folder]]
303
304[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
305* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSoHkadTAxc&feature=related Anton Ego]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}''. His last name is apt, considering he expects any restaurant he gives a negative review to go out of business in short order - and given his opinion is ''very well-respected'' to the point he gave a chef a fatal heart attack upon being downvoted, the ego is enforced. When he finds out that the restaurant he previously panned is not only open but thriving, he considers it a personal insult. Then again, this trope is lampshaded to a T during [[https://youtu.be/Ih6jcKd7VwU his final review]] in the film. While he may be vicious in his criticism of substandard food, when presented with genuinely great work he is completely honest about it.
306[[/folder]]
307
308[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
309* Addison [=DeWitt=] in ''Film/AllAboutEve''.
310* ''Film/CloudAtlas'': Felix Finch. It gets him killed in the end.
311* In ''Film/TheDeadPool'', one of the victims is Molly Fisher, based on Creator/PaulineKael, who accused [[Film/DirtyHarry the first film]] of promoting fascism.
312* ''Film/DrTerrorsHouseOfHorrors'' has a very thought-provoking story that *ahem* criticizes critics who are more concerned with impressing others with their bitter wit, rather than doing any objective evaluation of an artist's work. Creator/ChristopherLee plays the main character who embodies this to the extreme and completely tears apart and degrades a painter's work, [[spoiler: until the painter humbles him by making him review another piece of incomprehensible art which the critic compares favourably to the painter's work for its taste and quality... and then sees that the creator was a chimp. [[MoralEventHorizon He doesn't respond well to being on the receiving end of criticism...]]]]
313* ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI'' couples this with TakeThatCritics, as the birth of the first artist is followed by "the inevitable after-birth: the first art critic." Said critic promptly pisses on the newly-made painting, expressing his disapproval.
314* ''Film/MerlinsShopOfMysticalWonders'' features a caustic critic as the husband of a main character -- bizarrely, he seems to review everything, including small magic shops located in non-descript strip malls. He publicly dictates his blistering reviews into a tape recorder. The movie was riffed in a final season episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', and Mike and the bots are incredibly amused by the guy, with Crow at one point shouting, "My reviews have destroyed whole cities!"
315* One scene in ''Film/Scream2022'' has Richie watching a pair of [=YouTubers=] ([[TheCameo played by]] James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca of ''WebVideo/DeadMeat'') who host a show called ''Film Fails'' where they rage against the movies they hated. In this episode, they're bashing ''[[ShowWithinAShow Stab 8]]'', which they believe ruined the franchise.
316* In ''Film/YouCantTakeItWithYou'', Kolenkhov's dour criticism of everything, to the point of a catchphrase, is, "It ''stinks.''"
317[[/folder]]
318
319[[folder:Literature]]
320* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': Book #1 (''The Cat Who Could Read Backwards'') features the art critic Mountclemens, who is very much this. He has managed to offend just about everyone on the art scene in town except for a select few artists he's propping up, but is kept because his columns draw huge readership. His targets include a wealthy donor whose work he describes as "drugstore art". Of a sweet old butcher called "Uncle Waldo", he comments that "age is no substitute for talent". He also targets private collectors who are "less dedicated to art preservation than tax avoidance". Even his full name, George Bonifield Mountclemens III, pisses off some people, as it must be set line-by-line in the type on his byline and he insists on no abbreviations.[[note]]The book was written in the 1960s when all of this still had to be done by hand.[[/note]]
321* In the ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' trilogy, the character of literary critic Epiciene Wildeblood, who frankly admits to his editor that he hasn't read the book as such, but has given it a "thorough skimming", and who then proceeds to destroy it on every level he can think of. The fact the in-universe book is clearly the Illuminatus trilogy itself is probably Robert Shea and Creator/RobertAntonWilson's TakeThat at insensitive and incompetent literary critics in the real world.
322* In the last novel of the ''Series/BabylonFive'' [[ExpandedUniverse Psi-Corps Trilogy]], Bester, now a wanted war criminal, ends up in Paris and gets a job as a literary critic, who makes a point of never giving a positive review to anyone. After Garibaldi tracks him down to Paris by tracking purchases of a medication that treats a telepath-only condition, he identifies "Claude Kaufmann" as Bester when he recognizes Bester's particular style of insults in the reviews (one notable quote being "The plot is revealed on a need-to-know basis. You don't need to know.")
323* ''Literature/ATwistOfTheKnife'': Taken to the extreme with theater critic Harriet Throsby, a mean and vicious person who takes pleasure in writing nasty reviews. Her husband Arthur says she liked it better when the plays weren't any good.
324* In his commentary of ''Literature/TheKlingonArtOfWar'', famed author K'Ratak speaks of being incessantly harassed by a critic who disparaged not only his writing but also everything else imaginable. Said critic then had the temerity to ask K'Ratak for advice on a story of his own. That's when K'Ratak finally killed him.
325* In ''Literature/TheScumVillainsSelfSavingSystemRenZhaFanpaiZijiuXitong'', Shen Yuan was a self-proclaimed "anti-fan" of the trashy webnovel series ''Proud Immortal Demon Way'' and constantly posted scathing teardowns online of the series' bad writing and plot holes. Then he meets with the ironic fate of being [[MediaTransmigration transmigrated]] into the very webnovel he so vocally denounced.
326* The ''Literature/NikkiHeat'' novel ''Naked Heat'' centers around the murder of one; Rook's suggestion on how to find people who might want her dead is to take the Manhattan phone book and start with A.
327[[/folder]]
328
329[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
330* ''Series/Alice1976'': An early episode, "The Last Review", sees a newspaper restaurant critic with a nasty reputation review Mel's chili, making none-too-flattering comments about the diner, the service he receives, Mel's crusty character, et cetera... only to suddenly become ill and then non-responsive at his table shortly after finishing his meal. [=EMT=]s pronounce the critic dead at the table; after his body is removed, Mel worries that it was his food that caused the critic's sudden illness and that he'll surely face a lawsuit by his family and forced to close. [[spoiler:Good news: Alice later gets a call regarding the autopsy saying that the critic had a congenital heart defect, and it was a sudden heart attack that killed him -- Mel's cooking had nothing to do with it.]]
331* ''Series/HannahMontana'' has music critic Barney Bittman, played by the legendary Creator/GilbertGottfried.
332* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' has a theater critic who wrote a very negative review of the title character's mother, who is a Broadway actress.
333* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': In "Malcolm Films Reese", the dude ranch Francis works at is savaged by Charles Cutler. He comes back, supposedly to give them a second chance, but starts smugly dictating another mean-spirited review within seconds of being greeted. Upon being told that Francis and Piama are married, Cutler sneers about how his hosts aren't content on ruining the experiences of one generation of vacationers and insist on breeding. In response, Francis and Otto give the guy a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. As he's taken away on a stretcher, Cutler insults the color of the ceiling, as well as the sloppiness of the mauling he just received, remarking that he'd seen fiercer beatings meted out at a preschool playground. He also proceeds to write a nasty review of the hospital that treats his injuries. All of this backfires on Cutler, as his bad reviews have made him HatedByAll. All of the other local hoteliers and merchants (whom Cutler savagely reviewed) are delighted by his misfortune, resulting in Otto and Francis receiving all kinds of gift baskets ''and'' having so many guests lined up at their dude ranch that they will be booked full for seemingly eons to come.
334* ''Series/TheNanny'' had Frank Bradley in "Sunday in the Park with Fran", who pans virtually all Broadway plays. C.C. Babcock tries to curry favor with Bradley by making Maxwell Sheffield's youngest daughter, Gracie, go on a play-date with Frank's son, Frank Jr., despite Gracie's insistence that she doesn't like him and Fran supporting her. During the play-date, Frank Jr. is bullying Gracie, so Fran stops him by (gently) hitting him with a baguette. When C.C. and Maxwell learn about this, they try to make Fran apologize to Frank Sr., though it becomes obvious that winning over Bradley is a lost cause, and as he gets hostile towards Fran, Maxwell tells him off about him and his son.
335* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': Recurring Weekend Update character Jedediah Atkinson, the critic who panned UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln's Gettysburg Address in 1863 (calling it "silly"), comes on to pan other things.
336-->Fourscore and seven yawns ago... let's be "Honest," Abe, you dropped a real Lincoln Log. Do you know what the real Gettysburg Address is? 115 West Boring Street.
337* The ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "[[Recap/MurderSheWroteS4E21Deadpan Deadpan]]" had a theatre critic played by Dean Stockwell, who was known for dismissing everything - although Jessica would be the first to admit that in the case of ''Maine-ly Murder'', the play ''very loosely'' based on her ''Murder Comes to Maine'', he had a point.
338* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
339** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E4AThingAboutMachines A Thing About Machines]]", Bartlett Finchley is a misanthropic critic for a gourmet magazine who never misses an opportunity to denigrate people to their faces or humanity in general. He is ultimately [[LaserGuidedKarma destroyed by the very machines that he hates]].
340** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E22APianoInTheHouse A Piano in the House]]", the drama critic Fitzgerald Fortune is a cruel, callous man. He takes delight in humiliating his much-abused wife Esther, his friends Greg Walker and Marge Moore and his butler Marvin by using the piano player to force them to reveal their most private thoughts and feelings. The tables are turned when Esther uses the piano to force Fitzgerald to admit that he is essentially a frightened little boy who lacks emotional maturity.
341* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E14 The Misfortune Cookie]]", a nasty food critic named Harry Folger delights in writing awful reviews, which can make or break local restaurants. He's so cruel that he starts writing negative reviews of new eateries ''before he goes to them,'' often immediately following a glowing review by his rivals. He meets his match at Mr. Lee's Chinese Cuisine, which provides magical fortune cookies which predict the future. Mr. Lee warns that the cookies will give [[LaserGuidedKarma "due fortune"]] to those who read them, but Harry refuses to change his ways, even after getting a cookie that reads "You're going to die". As he storms out of Mr. Lee's, he is suddenly overcome with a horrible hunger, and finds himself on a street surrounded by Chinese restaurants: he eventually realizes he's dead, and is going to spend eternity [[IronicHell eating the food he derided in life, but still starving.]]
342* ''Series/OneHundredThingsToDoBeforeHighSchool'': In the episode "Always Tell the Truth (but Not Always) Thing!", Crispo becomes one of these in his cooking class. His teacher initially liked his BrutalHonesty but Crispo went overboard.
343* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' has Bill Needle, played by Dave Thomas, who doesn't like anything.
344* ''Series/TheBigLeap'' has Monica Jansen, a mean Australian and former ballerina who demands the same perfection from her cast of amateur dancers that was demanded of her.
345* ''Series/{{Frasier}}:'' An early episode is called "I Hate Frasier Crane", and details Frasier learning a Seattle columnist has written a scathing review of his show (along with a side-attack on Roz while he's there). Frasier being Frasier, he decides to respond with an attack on the critic on air. Then it turns out the critic is listening in, and he challenges Frasier to a fight.
346* ''Series/SisterBonifaceMysteries'': In "My Brother's Keeper", one of the suspects is caustic art critic Dicky Whitfield, who was involved a very public feud the VictimOfTheWeek, egocentric artist Gerry Ardwell.
347[[/folder]]
348
349[[folder:Music]]
350* "The Critic" by Music/RedHook portrays the singer's own insecurities and self-doubts as this:
351--> Yeah, I got that freak cursing at me,\
35224/7, wish she would just SHUT THE FUCK UP!
353[[/folder]]
354
355[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
356* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'':
357** [[JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf Hecklers]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpYEJx7PkWE&feature=related Statler and Waldorf]] added a grumpy (and extremely popular) streak of critical humour to the show.
358** One episode sees the Muppets plagued by the [[TheatrePhantom Phantom of the Muppet Show]], a malevolent ghost of a performer whose work was "killed" by the critics.
359[[/folder]]
360
361[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
362* In ''Rival Restaurants'', the "Negative Critic" action card allows you to send one of these to an opponent's restaurant, knocking a victory point off their score in the process.
363[[/folder]]
364
365
366[[folder:Theater]]
367* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Cyrano critiques your artistic work without any pity, and given the play is a PeriodPiece, [[ForegoneConclusion Cyrano is always right]] [[HistoricalFiction in his critiques]]: [[GiftedlyBad Montfleury]] was a ''"An actor villainous!"'' (and then Cyrano kicks him out the theater), [[FanDumb les Précieuses]] could ''"Inspire our verse, but—criticise it not!"'', [[SturgeonsLaw playwright Baró’s]] ''"verses are not worth a doit! I'm glad to interrupt"'' (Baró’s play). [[MagnificentBastard Cardenal]] [[SmallNameBigEgo Richelieu]] ([[ManBehindTheMan famous politician]], [[RenaissanceMan wrote plays as a hobby]]) ''"is an author. 'Twill not fail to please him that I should mar a brother-author's play"''. Cyrano also is fair, of his own talent he thinks: ''"Not to mount high"'' and about Creator/{{Moliere}}, Cyrano thinks he’s a ''"genius"''.
368* Mortimer Brewster of ''Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace'' seems to be one of these, from the descriptions of his typical reviews.
369* Blair Daniels, from ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge'', is an [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of this trope. She does offer some unpleasant comments about George's latest Chromolume--largely that he's stagnating by repeatedly doing the same thing--but she's also knowledgeable about art (it's mentioned that she's written "a piece on Neo-Expressionism"), has supported George in the past, and makes it clear that she sees potential in the young artist--if he was simply ''bad'', she wouldn't bother with him at all. George ends up agreeing with her remarks.
370* In ''Critic's Choice'' by Creator/IraLevin, Parker Ballantine prides himself on writing the most devastatingly worded play reviews of any New York drama critic. At his house, with some paid assistance from John (his son by a previous marriage), he keeps a white box full of phrases to be used in glowing reviews and a black box full of phrases to be used in scathing reviews; he makes a habit of taking one handful of slips from each box whenever he goes out to watch a new production. Much of the drama revolves around the question of whether or not he will review the play written by his wife Angela (who at one point accuses him of playing "God and George Jean Nathan rolled into one"), after he makes numerous disparaging remarks at home about it and its director and producer. At first he agrees to her demand that he should refrain from reviewing it, and gives up his opening night tickets. Later he has a dramatic change of heart, empties the black box and stuffs every pocket he has with the hundreds of slips in it before leaving for the Forty-fourth Street Theatre. He then writes the most damning review of the play without using any of his previously written phrases.
371[[/folder]]
372
373[[folder:Video Games]]
374* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'': Jasper Rolls from Gloria's Theatre, a mental construct that represents her inner critic who is constantly mocking the construct of her inner beauty and muse, Bonita Soliel. Bonita remarks that Jasper's always been around, but he's become too gigantic (literally and metaphorically) to ignore ever since Gloria's mother was DrivenToSuicide. Raz eventually discovers that [[spoiler:Jasper is secretly the Phantom, a shadowy figure who's been sabotaging the plays Gloria stages (and thus her memories and sense of self), making him the AnthropomorphicPersonification of extreme self-doubt and guilt. The young Psychonaut defeats Jasper by bathing him in light (which represents positive power and joy), eventually reducing him to a tiny, squeaking nuisance that everyone ignores.]]
375* ''Videogame/Psychonauts2'' has the Gluttonous Goats in Compton's Cookoff, who are Compton Boole's perception of how Hollis, Ford and Otto see him as filtered by his anxiety. They serve the role of food critics in a cooking show who are constantly berating him, putting him under intense pressure and whose compliments only go as high up to "Moderately Pleasant". [[spoiler:Their defeat reveals that they're ultimately just hand puppets controlled by Compton's own hands, showing how he's his own worst critic]].
376* One of ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'''s elusive targets is an influential and notoriously harsh [[https://youtu.be/1vzLHvru8xE?t=30s food critic]] infamous for not even ''eating'' the food he's supposed to review, as he considers rating a meal by such "vulgar" attributes as taste or flavor to be "too plebian". Instead, he judges the restaurants he reviews clinically by their overall presentation, grousing over tiny, nitpicky details and punishing any small deviation from his perfectionist standards with [[AccentuateTheNegative full-length, relentlessly scathing reviews]]. He's already driven one chef to suicide for being served some slightly over-chilled ''ice water'', which is why he's been marked for death by the ICA. Notably, when the briefing shows various comments about him, there's a quote from an earlier Elusive Target (a sadistic, short-tempered chef modeled after Gordon Ramsey), [[HorrifyingTheHorror stating that he would "F*CKING SH*T MYSELF" if the critic set foot in his restaurant]].
377* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': The food critic Tommy Flayton shows up for a {{Sidequest}} where the PlayerCharacter must convince him to give a restaurant a bad review. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- his insufferable pretension, he's quite easy to manipulate, even just by insinuating that he's going soft. The game gives you no end of ways to screw with him, just for kicks - everything from convincing him [[Film/TheLostBoys he's eating maggots]] to, if you're playing as [[LooksLikeOrlok a Nosferatu]], walking up and introducing yourself as the chef.
378* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'': A knick-knack critic is spawned on the top floor of the knackatory in the third act. Put any knick-knack on the stand and talk to him. Then party chat, and laugh.
379* Jaques Huseau from ''VideoGame/HellPie'' is a haughty food critic that, by simply being in Flavor Peaks, attracts a crowd.
380* ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw'' has The Dumpster, a page dedicated to making fun of Hypnospace and its users. It's somewhat akin to Website/SomethingAwful. That said, the person running the page does have some standards, as they have a rule not to mock any kids, only breaking that rule for Zane because he's such a {{Jerkass}}.
381[[/folder]]
382
383[[folder:Web Original]]
384* ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' reviews old console (primarily NES) games in this fashion, critiquing such things as poor (for the time) sound and graphics, badly thought out gameplay and [[NintendoHard tremendous difficulty]]. Many of his reviews culminate in [[ClusterFBomb profane rants]] and him physically assaulting the game cartridge. He pokes fun at his own status in one of his videos, where he finds a video game he actually likes and reacts with utter bewilderment.
385--> '''AVGN''': I...like this. ...I ''like'' this?
386* ''WebVideo/PittsburghDad'' rips the first ''{{Film/Twilight}}'' movie to shreds in his spoiler-laden review.
387* Sonty Mick from ''Website/TheseWebComicsAreSoBad'' is a StealthParody of caustic critics, particularly of John Solomon's ''Your Webcomic Is Bad and You Should Feel Bad''. Sonty dislikes everything he reads, and he has completely illogical reasons for every single one.
388* ''WebVideo/FunnyOrDie'': Creator/AlfredMolina as Arthur H. Cartwright, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kF-MVZlC5g children's theater critic]]. He proceeds to tear apart each show and child as though they were performing live on Broadway. [[spoiler:He actually ''does'' end up liking one show, but only because it runs on TrueArtIsIncomprehensible.]]
389* Peter Pilbeam, the resident hotel reviewer of ''Podcast/TheJohnDredgeNothingToDoWithAnythingShow''. Although some of his criticism is rather outlandish, it has to be said...
390--> Well the first thing I noticed, when I got to the hotel, was the awful stench. This later turned out to be the result of a sandwich that had been left in my pocket for several weeks, but nevertheless it did not bode well.
391* ''WebOriginal/SeventeenThousandSevenHundredSeventySix'' features the podcast ''Garbage Football'', where two hosts relentlessly mock bad football matches.
392* ''WebVideo/{{Criticized}}'': Darian Stonehall is one and even discusses this, saying he writes his reviews that way to entertain. He tries to explain to Arthur Lemments that he never meant to cause him embarrassment.
393* ''WebVideo/{{Halloweenie}}'' (starring Halloweenie and his various temporary replacements) is a show that reviews Halloween stuff.
394[[/folder]]
395
396[[folder:Western Animation]]
397* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Albus Duckweed is the Wartwood newspaper’s restaurant critic, and takes a particularly sadistic glee in writing scathing reviews of local restaurants to drive them out of business. In “Lily Pad Thai”, he shows up at Stumpy’s Diner to leave one of his usual negative reviews. While Stumpy’s become too jaded to care, Anne, herself the daughter of restaurant owners, demands a chance to earn a better review. In her effort to impress the critic, she prepares a meal that turns out to still be alive, which nearly kills the critic; however, Duckweed finds the experience to be [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible so avant-garde that he gives the place his best review ever.]]
398* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Moody Foodie", Bob gets a bad review from the eponymous food critic (voiced by Creator/PattonOswalt, amusingly enough), whose scathing reviews have caused trouble for Bob's fellow restaurant owners. HilarityEnsues when Bob, in a moment of desperation, barges into the critic's house to force him to give Bob a "do-over" which escalates into Bob and his family holding him hostage.
399* Jay Sherman of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'', whose catchphrase is "It stinks!" (Although most of what he [[ShowWithinAShow was reviewing]] [[StylisticSuck really did look absolutely terrible]].) In one early episode, a little girl gets mad at him because he didn't like ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'', and in another, he mentioned that the highest rating he gives a movie is 7 out of 10.
400* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'' involved such a critic of cartoons having his life threatened. In fact, this critic criticized ''everything''; when Lucky interviews anyone with a motive, he ends up talking to every Toon who had gotten a bad review ("We must have spoken with every Toon in Hollywood"). And as it turns out, the attacker was the only Toon whose show was being cancelled because of bad reviews.
401* Venomya from the second season of ''WesternAnimation/WorldOfWinx'' is a nasty sort who seeks to sabotage the Winx' concerts. [[spoiler: She is actually [[GreaterScopeVillain a witch called Baba Yaga.]]]]
402* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when Homer Simpson became food critic he was at first the opposite of this and praised everything, but when another critic told him to be more critical he took it too far and started giving negative reviews to everything. The food critic he replaced was herself an example, as evidenced by her retirement party where she criticized the cake.
403* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
404** In the episode "Spice Up Your Life", Rarity and Pinkie Pie try to help a failing ethnic restaurant, the Tasty Treat, impress Zesty Gourmand, a super-snooty food critic with very particular tastes in food (in short, she thinks that if it has ''any'' real flavor, it's automatically bad) and decor. Ultimately, though, they convince the citizens of Canterlot to give the Tasty Treat a chance and reject Zesty's strict, cookie-cutter ideas of what a fancy restaurant should look like.
405** In another episode, "Honest Apple," Rarity plans a big fashion show for some up-and-coming designers, and invites Applejack to be one of the four judges, believing that getting an outsider's opinion will help keep the contest grounded. Unfortunately, Applejack quickly becomes a Caustic Critic, openly deriding everyone's work and calling fashion itself silly, [[KnowNothingKnowItAll even though she knows absolutely nothing about designing clothes]]. She tries to defend herself by pointing out that Rarity asked her to be a judge for this kind of opinion, but Rarity counters that it's possible to offer sincere criticism without being a JerkAss by acknowledging the hard work and talent demonstrated in creative projects.
406* ''WesternAnimation/ThePatrickStarShow'': "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS1E26BubbleBassReviewsPatricksPrisonPals Bubble Bass Reviews]]" takes the form of a review show that resident BasementDweller Bubble Bass makes about Patrick's show. He spends the entirety of it screaming over how bad the Patrick Show is, that Patrick and Squidina should be thrown in jail for making it, and that it's the worst show on television.
407* Percival in ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'' episode "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." He is an obvious {{Expy}} of Simon Cowell of ''American Idol'' fame, voiced by Creator/TimCurry, who often shuns tweens who are auditioning to be in "Tween Idol", leading Michael to conclude that he's evil. To be fair, though, one of the tweens he sends out the door, Dijonay, really is HollywoodToneDeaf. Even so, when he hears [[HollywoodHomely Agatha Ordinario]] sing in the finals, he cries ManlyTears as he says to her, "You, Agatha, are perfection."
408* [[AlphaBitch Chloé]]'s mother Audrey Bourgeois in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' is a renowned fashion critic who's infamous for being impossible to please and uncompromising in her criticisms. She's also just a [[{{Jerkass}} thoroughly malicious and unpleasant person all around]] and in a rare moment of sanity for the show's villains, they're boggled that she is willing to be Akumatized and go on a rampage [[EvilIsPetty because Gabriel Agreste did not gave her the seating arrangements she wanted]].
409* Emma Glamour from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' is a notoriously hard-to-please critic who hosts a gala every year in order to determine what trends will make it onto her "It" List. She also doesn't let up on her criticisms when it comes to kids (as demonstrated when she gives a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Louie over the unoriginality of his plan to get the Caballeros on the list) or [[spoiler:her own family (with the implication that her parenting is what turned Mark Beaks into the AttentionWhore he is now)]].
410[[/folder]]

Top