HE HATED, HATED, HATED THIS MOVIE: The Kevin Spacey/Kate Winslet anti-death penalty propaganda exercise "The Life of David Gale" has been awarded the rare rating of Zero Stars from Roger Ebert. According to his search page, it's the first film to strike out with Ebert in such a way since last spring's comedy "Slackers," and only the 13th in the last 10 years (others included "Freddy Got Fingered," "Tomcats," Larry David's directorial debut "Sour Grapes," and Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," for which Ebert himself wrote the screenplay.) The 1999 re-release of John Waters' "Pink Flamingos" is the one and only film to receive a rating from Ebert of "Stars Irrelevant."
Normally Roger has a soft spot for liberal message movies; he previously gave four stars to the 2000 political thriller/gangbang drama "The Contender," which I consider probably the worst Hollywood film of the past five years. But apparently he doubts the sincerity of the film's anti-death penalty position. The Kevin Spacey post-Oscar losing streak continues; good thing it looks like he's finally got his Bobby Darin biopic off the ground.