Siskel & Ebert (TV Series)

The Worst Films of 1997 (1998)

Roger Ebert: Self - Host

Quotes 

• Gene Siskel - Host : [reviewing "Jungle 2 Jungle"]  The kid, played unctuously by Sam Huntington, is such a complete bore, that you wish he'd really go play in a dangerous neighborhood and get mugged.

  Roger Ebert - Host : [chuckles]  Oh no...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Oh yes I did. Seeing this, and remembering the little, original "Little Indian, Big City", a surprise French hit, I'm even more impressed by the success of "Crocodile Dundee", which is an example of how this formula story can be done very well.

  Roger Ebert - Host : I've been reconsidering my vote, Gene, and I REALLY WOULD rather see "Jungle 2 Jungle" again...

  Gene Siskel - Host : No you wouldn't.

  Roger Ebert - Host : ...Than see "Year of the Horse" again.

  Gene Siskel - Host : You're lying.

  [chuckles] 

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yes I would. Yes I would. Truth.

  Gene Siskel - Host : I know what to get you for your birthday now.

• Gene Siskel - Host : And for all of the objects to hit people in the head in "Home Alone 3", this film should've had one of those subtitles: "Home Alone 3: Concussion City." It was dreadful.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Now on this one, we disagree, because of course, I gave it thumbs up, and I thought it was very entertaining for its target audience.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Did you think it had a little bit too many lumps in the head?

  Roger Ebert - Host : It's what it's about.

  [shrugs] 

• Roger Ebert - Host : [reviewing "The Man Who Knew Too Little"]  Y'know, I knew I was in trouble towards the end of the movie when I realized the funniest thing so far... had been the title.

• Roger Ebert - Host : [reviewing "Starship Troopers"]  There's a lesson here: The better special effects get to be, the more they require a firm directorial hand.

  Gene Siskel - Host : You liked "Home Alone 3", the one I knocked just a minute ago? I liked "Starship Troopers". And I wanna note this: You said there was sly wit in "Starship Troopers", and there was. There's NONE in "Home Alone 3". For "Starship Troopers", for me, I thought the special effects were exciting, done by the guy who won the Oscar for "Jurassic Park".

  Roger Ebert - Host : Even you admitted they went on too long.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Yeah, but, BUT, not like the lumps in the head in "Home Alone 3". Okay.

• Gene Siskel - Host : [reviewing "U-Turn"]  This film has the same highly-stylized violence as Stone's "Natural Born Killers", but without that film's intellectual content. "U-Turn" seems like Stone's attempt at a commercial hit, and he failed. Miserably.

  Roger Ebert - Host : I agree, and I also think we probably penalize a guy like Oliver Stone, because he's such a brilliant director, and he makes great films that are so important to us, that we're disappointed when he seems to take a holiday with a film like this.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Well, yeah, because, uh, y'know, it's, it's one film, it's one film he ISN'T gonna make. In other words, it's...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yeah.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Two years out of his life, or whatever it was, a year out of his life, and uh...

  Roger Ebert - Host : For what? For what, yeah.

• Roger Ebert - Host : [reviewing "Flubber"]  In the paper, I gave it one star, and I got an email from a guy who accused me of going soft and being too generous! Yet, the movie made a fortune at the box office, and I guess that's a tribute to Robin Williams's drawing power as a star. But then he makes a movie like "Good Will Hunting", and shows you how good he really can be.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Yeah, and also, the box office can be the result of the film company cleverly finding a niche where it's the only youthful film, uh, being available. And y'know, who wouldn't want it to be good? But if you're gonna make a remake, okay? Do something special.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yeah, you know you're in trouble when the flubber is upstaged by the personal digital assistant.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Make THAT the real love story, don't recycle the basketball game. The film was a disaster.

• Roger Ebert - Host : [discussing a scene in "Wild America" where the characters encounter a bear]  Any bear still hibernating in August is a dead bear.