SENTIMENTALITY 1 CRITICS 0
Happy New Year!
I’m going to nail my colours to the mast here. I am a sentimentalist and I say that with pride! There are two interpretations of sentimentality, one positive, one pejorative. For the most part what I (we all?) look for in a story film or TV show is something that engages me emotionally, that appeals to my sentiments because after all that’s what we want art to address – helping to make sense of our unregulated emotional outpourings and responses.
I also get fed up with mainstream media film and TV critics. As with everything, there is a range of good and bad but I have found that it’s better not to read most reviews, particularly of shows I know I will want to see, because reading a review in advance will significantly spoil my viewing experience. So many reviews major on a detailed recounting of plot. Why?! How is this helpful? They must realise that doing this will seriously detract from the show when we get to watch it. Often it reads like laziness – they haven’t got enough that is interesting to say so they pad it out with flat synopsis. I also get fed up with the critics who write reviews like it’s their chance to show off their movie watching credentials, endlessly referencing other movies that they’ve (been paid to) see/n.
I get frustrated with their ove- praising bad films but much more so, belittling truly excellent work – so causing me / us to miss out. There are certain critics whose taste astounds me (there is one particular TV reviewer – if they recommend a show I know it’s not for me, if they pan it, I know it will be worth watching). And why is it in ‘Sight and Sound’s monthly ‘ten best films ever’, they always seem to be picking from the same unimaginative pool of about 50 films? On my 2-day screenwriting course, I ask writers to come prepared to tell the room what their favourite film is. Their choices are always so much more inspiring and surprising, as each of the 20 writers tells us with passion about their favourite film (as of that particular day anyway). I always leave with a new list of films that I’m keen to see.
So why this particular rant now? Because of three shows I watched over the Christmas break –
The Offer – a Paramount + 10-part series now on ITVX, a dramatization about the making of The Godfather. I loved this, so entertaining with a great cast and performances and so much to say about film storytelling, the agonies of creativity and film production, as well as being an extraordinary historical record of the making of one of the most successful films of all time. Joyous, inventive and accessible. Ten hours spent utterly pleasurably.
Much of the ‘professional’ critical response to The Offer is scathing (while so many viewer reviews seem to be glowingly positive).
Song Sung Blue I also loved this. Adapted / inspired by a true story (and documentary film) about a blue-collar couple and their Neil Diamond tribute act, this was the ultimate emotional rollercoaster. Two wonderful central performances, lovely writing and a story full of credible and compelling twists. Both my wife and I were a complete emotional mess by the end.
Finally, Goodbye June. Everything about this film from its OTN emotive title, the family connection between director and writer, to its blatantly sentimental subject matter almost feels designed as the red rag to the critical bull. And while I didn’t love this quite as much as SSB, I still think it’s one of the best British films I’ve seen recently. For a start, hats off to a film that simply and starkly explores and dramatises one family’s response to the death of the matriarch. This subject matter is both universal and largely ignored, it’s something we will all have to go through (the death of a parent or loved one) this is surely what art and story are for? And so few films or TV shows have the courage or honesty to deal with this so straightforwardly. The script had so many relatable, well observed, family nuances and tensions.
And completely unsurprisingly both Song Sung Blue and Goodbye June have been panned by the critics. Not only are many mainstream press reviews primarily comprised of spoilers – they are also steering us away from genuinely excellent films and TV.
I highly recommend all the three above shows – for me, all examples of screenwriting of the highest order. End of rant.
FORTHCOMING COURSES
CREATIVITY FOR SCRIPTWRITERS – London Saturday January 31st 2026
Course guest – playwright, novelist, screenwriter and political activist ANDERS LUSTGARTEN. A day of creative exercises to supercharge your creativity and add to your bank of inspiring ideas.
https://script-consultant.co.uk/creativity-for-scriptwriters/
ONE DAY INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING – London Saturday February 14th 2026
Guest speakers – script editor KATE LEYS and writer NATHANIEL PRICE. Both a celebration of and an introduction to the craft of screenwriting.
https://script-consultant.co.uk/one-day-introduction-to-screenwriting/
The next newsletter will be on Friday January 23rd,
Best wishes
Phil
PHILIP SHELLEY
NB You can follow me for all my latest news on Linked-In, Blue Sky and Twitter.
Friday January 9th 2026