Does working in L.A. tend to place special demands on a critic?
MD: It’s tougher here than in New York for a several reasons. First, because so many people who live in Los Angeles seem to work in the industry or are somehow involved with the industry, even peripherally, they tend to be very attentive, very involved and very unforgiving of film reviews. I was queen of hate mail at the Weekly – one of the paper’s long-time copy editor once told me I had received more hate mail than anyone in the paper’s history, which is kind of bizarre. And I’ve already racked up a sizable number of hate letters and e-mails in the three months since I started writing for the Times. For the most part, the criticism doesn’t bother me. I just wish that my hate mail was more interesting, more of a spur to discussion than the usual blanket rebuttal. The other demands are subtler and more difficult to negotiate since they involve the human factor. You’re more likely in Los Angeles to meet people whose work you’re reviewing, which is not something I relish. Unless I’m writ
