Richard Roeper, new guy in the balcony

A critical task for Ebert's new partner

Richard Roeper

In this story: 'Not a movie critic' Mixed reviews RELATED STORIES, SITES

By David John Farinella
Special to CNN Interactive

(CNN) - Whoever says celebrity doesn't change things is lying. Take Richard Roeper, for instance. One day he's a mild-mannered newspaper columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, the next he's screaming at the television.

"I heard Jeff Bridges on 'The Tonight Show' a couple weeks ago, and he was telling Leno, 'Well, the new guy liked "The Contender" a lot.' Then Leno was fumbling around trying to remember my name and I was yelling at the screen, 'It's Roeper!'" says Roeper with a laugh.

"It's all sort of a cartoon version of real life, hearing that kind of stuff," he adds.

The nonanimated, affable Richard Roeper, 40, was picked to join Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert on the newly christened "Ebert & Roeper and the Movies." Roeper takes the seat once filled by Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel, half of the famed "Siskel & Ebert" team, who died 18 months ago. Appearing weekly, the two had compared films for 24 years.

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Roeper has been a columnist at Sun-Times since 1987, and has appeared on a number of local and national radio and TV programs. He is also the author of "He Rents, She Rents" and "Urban Legends."

Though he'd worked with Ebert for more than a decade at the Sun-Times, Roeper never envisioned himself sitting in the hallowed balcony where Siskel and Ebert for years had passed judgment on films.

"People would sometimes say to me, 'You oughta go on with Roger, it would be fun'" Roeper recalls. "I would answer, 'Well, I'm not a movie critic.'"

Ebert was getting the same kind of prompting, so he eventually tapped his colleague for a guest spot.

"Even after doing a couple of those it never even occurred to me that it would become a full-time gig," says Roeper. "That might be one of the reasons it worked out, because I wasn't auditioning. ... I was just doing it for the fun experience of doing it."

Just as passionate as the critical team of Ebert and Roeper are for the movies, so are the show's fans. Roeper, as a result, approaches the show carefully.

"I do realize that there are some people out there who are never going to get used to me, it's not going to work for them," he says. "All I can say is that I'm going to give it my best shot every week. I'm not trying to replace Gene, because you can't replace Gene."

One of those fans is David Letterman, who has alluded to the fact that he is not comfortable with the show continuing.

"I think he really felt it was 'Siskel & Ebert,' and that's the way it always should have been," says Roeper. "Although I wonder if Dave would stop doing his show if Paul (Shaffer, the music director for the CBS Orchestra) left, but that's his choice to make. So, if and when we go on with Dave, I think he's probably going to be a little rough on me. But, again, that would be pretty cool -- Dave Letterman taking a shot at you."

Roeper, whose name recently has been the stuff of celebrity cocktail party chatter, has heard both positive and negative reviews from longtime fans.

Professional critics have generally been favorable. Roeper is "smart, confident and itching to dole out the occasional zing," Michael Speier wrote recently in the trade publication Variety. "... The new 'skinny one' flashes -- and flashes often -- his knowledge, sense of humor and enthusiasm for pop culture. The torch has definitely been passed."

Richard Roeper was handpicked to join Roger Ebert in the balcony for the syndicated movie review show

"I've heard from people who have said some of the nicest things I've ever heard in my career and I've heard vicious things," says Roeper. "But, hey, we're doing the same thing to the movies every week, so if I can't take it I'd better deal."

"If the worst thing that happens to you in a typical day is that somebody out there doesn't like your style on a nationally syndicated TV show about the movies, you're having a pretty good day."

The new job has meant adjustments. In addition to spending more time in front of the camera, Roeper has had to get used to seeing an abundance of movies -- not all of them Academy Award contenders.

"There are some times that you're sitting there watching the third bad movie in a row and thinking, 'There's no hope for Hollywood.' Then something comes along like "Almost Famous" or "The Contender" or even something like "The Cell," which had a completely different look to it, and you get really jazzed about it again," he says.

Roeper's revved up now.

"I haven't changed the way I go to the movies," he explains. "I mean, I'm not going there now with a big, fat notebook and one of those pens that lights up in the dark, taking copious notes. I don't think that's what the show is about. It's about experiencing the movies and then talking about them the way you would talk about them coming out of the theater."

Nothing, says Roeper, has changed, never mind that his face is appearing across the nation these days and his opinions suddenly matter in Hollywood and on Main Street USA.

Nothing? Well, he says, maybe a few things have changed. "I've dumped all my friends," he says emphatically. "Friends? Those losers from the past?"

Then he laughs. "No, no, no, my friends now are Alyssa Milano and Winona Ryder."

He's quick to straighten up. "No, I'm 40," he says. "Maybe if this had happened to me when I was 25 I'd turn into a miniature version of somebody in Motley Crue and be getting into all kinds of trouble.

"This is a great professional thing," Roeper says. "It's a personal thrill, but it's not changing my life in the most important ways. It shouldn't."

Roger Ebert on digital movies
August 2, 2000
Film critic Gene Siskel dead at 53
February 20, 1999

Ebert & Roeper and the Movies

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