The core of Opposable Thumbs is the relationship between Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and how it turned into the entity “Siskel & Ebert” that still dominates the movie review and criticism landscape more than a decade after the death of its last surviving member. It is the nature of that professional relationship, born from a natural wellspring of competition, which turned into decades of increased media literacy. It began in earnest in 1975, when the two men met for lunch in a Chicago pub with a producer from the local PBS affiliate who had an idea to pitch them. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awarded to a film critic—for his work at the Chicago Sun-Times.
In Opposable Thumbs Singer details the historical fact of that meeting – and the various “truths” of it from parties involved, as well as the personal histories of the men who arrived at that table. Siskel and Ebert eventually agreed to collaborate on the show with PBS, and Singer goes on to document the decades of sparring off-camera as well as on that viewers eventually tuned in in droves to witness weekly. As the book blurb indicates, “Their often-antagonistic partnership (which later transformed into genuine friendship) made for great television. In the years that followed, their signature “Two thumbs up!” would become the most trusted critical brand in Hollywood.” Partly because the viewer was welcomed into the intellectual and emotional debate behind each rating. Perhaps the thing I appreciate most about this book is the page space Matt Singer spent on topics important to his subjects, specifically underseen movies, the dangers of creative laziness, and the harm possible in tropes and clichés – particularly those centered on violence against women and minorities.
Matt Singer has the bona fides to tackle this topic. In addition to being the editor and critic at ScreenCrush, he was also the on-air host of IFC News on the Independent Film Channel and has been a frequent contributor to the television shows CBS This Morning Saturday and Ebert Presents At the Movies. Singer is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and his writing has appeared in print and online at The Village Voice, The Dissolve, and Indiewire. But even with all those credentials, this was not a five-star read for me even though I have a fondness for both the author’s work and his subjects. It read to me, particularly in the first third, as though the chapters had been reviewed separately from each other and that there had not yet been a read to smooth the transitions and address the repetitions. For example, I mentioned above that Roger Ebert won the first Pulitzer in criticism for film. Singer mentions it many times over the first few chapters to the point where I was saying aloud “yes, Matt, we remember.”
But at the end of the day, that also makes this an enjoyable book. We do remember, because Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were memorable, and worthy of being remembered.
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected the contents of this review, only its timing. Opposable Thumbs publishes October 24, 2023.
Bingo Square: Relation”ship” because this is all about their relationship to each other and their relationship to movies.