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Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Thursday, May 01, 2008

See a movie before recommending it

By Matt Wagner | Winona

I recently read a column under the “Connections” section of the paper on April 27, “It’s time for some chick shtick,” by Kari Knutson.

The article had two main points, the first how the role of women in motion picture comedies doesn’t feel quite as embraced in society as movies that men play.

I agree with this statement completely.

The second point discussed how we should all see the movie “Baby Mama” because it is indeed a strong comedy starring women. I went along with this until I hit paragraph eight.

It reads as follows: “That’s why we need to go see this movie. I haven’t seen it yet, but I plan to by the time you read this. The reviews have been all right, with one calling it pleasantly predictable.”

What?

How can you tell readers they should see a movie, when you haven’t even seen it yourself? I don’t care if you will have seen it “by the time you read this.” That doesn’t do us much good, does it?

I don’t know if this column was pressed for time, but let’s be serious here; don’t tell readers to see a movie when you haven’t seen it yourself. A movie I recommend to see with strong women roles is “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (although it is crude) and — lo and behold — I have seen it; a key point when making recommendations to others.