“20/20” takes on freeloading movie critics

John Stossel’s “Give Me a Break” commentary, broadcast during Friday’s ABC news magazine 20/20, criticized unknown movie critics who write glowing reviews of flops in exchange for invitations to junkets. But one of the reviewers he singled out, Bonnie Churchill, is widely known through her syndicated radio feature (carried by numerous CBS news stations) and, according to studio figures, at least two of the films he cited as “flops” or “bombs” performed reasonably well at the box office internationally, including Luc Besson‘s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, which earned more than $50 million worldwide (and eight nominations for France’s César Awards including Best Picture), and The Beach, which earned more than $100 million worldwide.