This is not a review of any movie but a generic take on what exactly are the responsibilities of a movie reviewer?

Let me set the context first. Suppose I am a great fan of a screen idol A, and I go to one of his movies on the day of its release - find that it was the worst movie I've seen till date - and say so in my review afterwards, am I cheating anybody?

For that matter, consider the second hypothetical scenario. Screen idol B, a rival hero to A, comes up with a movie that I find very good. If I mention this in my review, am I guilty of double crossing my favorite hero "A"?

What follows next is just my personal opinion on this issue. As a human being, I can have my own favorites - but when I don the hat of a movie reviewer, I need to approach the movie as a neutral person and judge it solely based on the movie - not based on the history of the actors in it.

Calling it a spade itself is quite an art. To do so without being bogged down by people's expectations on YOU and YOUR REVIEW is probably the toughest job you as a reviewer should take care of. Before entering the movie hall, you need to leave behind all baggages including your own favoritism.

Also you should resist from posting a detailed line by line account of the movie's plot. Avoid speculating on the movie's box office stamina because you simply are in no position to "predict" the audience response. If possible try not to get into the usual rating game (3 stars out of 5) etc because these ratings are seldom based on scientific analysis. It is often the gut feel of the reviewer. While I have nothing against the gut feel, (In fact I feel the gut feel should drive the tone of your review) it is wrong to assign a rating to the movie based on this. However you can do so by specifying clearly that it is your personal rating of the movie.

Either way - decimal points in a rating do not make any sense at all. It will only result in "Why 3.25 for this movie and 3.5 for that movie" discussions. Decimal points signify a more accurate number. When the whole rating fiasco is just a subjective take based on your gut feel, reducing the movie to a decimal point rating is doing a great disservice to the movie and to yourself.

If you have to have a rating, have a descriptive one instead. Something like Bad -> OK -> Good -> Very Good.

Remember, you need not bash a hero to bash the movie. And you need not bash a movie to bash a hero. These are two different things and try to separate these two when you are set to write your review.

Signing off....
Platy.