Critics give movie studios a thumbs-down for twisting their words.
And nothing is sacred, not even Gene Siskel's and Roger Ebert's thumbs. Some critics say the real enemy is within, and that even well-known critics write positive reviews in order to ensure seeing their names in lights. The thumb has been totally devalued. The credits sequence, with its jumpy frames and near-subliminal flashes of psychoparaphernalia, is a small masterpiece of dementia. But to anyone who has seen half the movies he appropriates, and can therefore guess every twist of the plot miles before it happens, Foul Play 's frenetic eagerness to please is about as refreshing as the whiff of an exhaust pipe on a hot city afternoon.