If it's so great, how come you never watch it?

Rating: 4/10 (14 September 1999)

This movie is the darling of the beret-and-baguette crowd in every self-important college town in America. Cineaste wannabes trip over each other between sips of chardonnay to gargle its praises. That should tell you something right there. It's a ridiculously overpraised "B" movie, and if you listen carefully you'll hear the tones of above-it-all irony in the cineaste wannabes' voices. Still, if asked to name the greatest "films" of all time, be sure to put Casablanca up near the top, along with Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life, just so you won't have to listen to it.