Have you ever seen a poster for a rubbish movie and wondered where the fawning press quotes came from? "That most certainly wasn’t ‘A Rip-Roaring Rollercoaster Ride Of Thrills And Spills,’" you inevitably think as the credits go up, "That was a lot of wank".
Who actually watches these dreadful films and thinks that they’re masterpieces of modern cinema? Well, in Sony’s case it was a critic called Dave Manning. But he doesn’t exist – he was a fake critic created by Sony employees.
One of the rubbishest films loved by Dave Manning was A Knight’s Tale (DVDs): Heath Ledger stars in
a medieval chunk of nonsense soundtracked by Robbie Williams singing
Queen songs. It was weak. But Dave Manning liked it. He
apparently said that Heath was "this year’s hottest new star".
And then there was The Animal (DVDs) – another generic "Rob Schneider plays
Rob Schneider but with something a little bit wrong with him" film – in this case a
man who acts a bit like an animal. We’ve made it sound better than it is.
Dave Manning supposedly called The Animal "another winner".
Other films – including Hollow Man ("One Hell Of A Scary Ride"), Vertical Limit and The Patriot –
were all given the "Dave Manning of The Ridgefield Press" thumbs-up
treatment. But employees at The Ridgefield Press, a small newspaper based in Connecticut, say that nobody by the name of Dave Manning had ever
worked for them.
Now that Dave Manning has been exposed as being a non-existent fake
critic, a judge has finalised a settlement worth $1.5 million in which
anyone who saw these films in the US can claim a $5 refund. Any money
not claimed will go to charity.
Sony did not claim liability in the case – this was an out-of-court agreement – and have not commented on the matter.
[story by Stuart Heritage]