Changing Your Mind

Jonathan Rosenbaum has republished his original review of Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct (1992) to show his surpise at how much he disliked the film when it came out. He's now a fan (indeed in his book Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons he listed it in his 1,000 favourites) and it raises the interesting topic of a critic changing his or her mind.

Pauline Kael famously never did (largely because she - also famously - rarely saw a film more than once), David Thomson believes it's why rewatching films is so worthwhile and often does. Probably one of the most famous examples is Joseph Morgenstern who wrote Newsweek's review of Bonnie and Clyde. In the August 25 1997 edition of the Los Angeles Times he explains what happened next:

'I think I subconsciously sensed that I’d missed something. When we went out on Saturday and my wife asked what movie I wanted to see, I said “Bonnie and Clyde.” The audience just went wild, and the cold sweat started forming on my neck. I knew I’d blown it.

On Monday morning, I went into Newsweek and wrote a six-column review. It began with a description of the previous review, and then I said, “I am sorry to say I consider that review grossly unfair and regrettably inaccurate. I am sorrier to say I wrote it.”

That night I met Pauline Kael at a Chinese restaurant and she said, “I read your review and you really blew it.” And all I could say was, “Wait until you see the one next week.”'