Three citations, “secret downer” edition
“Even more striking is [The Nutty Professor]’s pessimistic and sorrowful conclusion—that everyone, including Stella Stevens’ character and us, prefers the greasy and aggressive braggadocio of [Buddy] Love to the gentle and klutzy fumblings of [Julius] Kelp.” — Jonathan Rosenbaum
“You know, The Artist is pretty much a TOTAL DOWNER about a depressed guy getting left in the dust. Why’s everyone think it’s so cuddly?” — LexG
“That we’re supposed to accept [the Dujardin character’s] film-closing rebirth as an Astaire-esque dancing movie star — contracted by the same mogul who all but left him for dead — as a happy ending and not a humiliation, is a baffling turn of events, if we’re also supposed to sympathize with his plight as an independent artist. The Artist, then, is a film in which an iconoclast hits rock bottom by staying true to himself, and learns via near-death experience to embrace conformity.” — Karina Longworth
