Ebert — The Craft review (1996)

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 3 May 1996. Two stars out of four.

Good for

A first-audience reading from a critic who was not the film's target market and said so. Useful precisely because it is unimpressed: it records what the film looked like in 1996, before the cult reappraisal decided it was a classic.

What he actually says

On the performances — the part of his verdict that has aged best:

All four are convincing performers, Balk relishes her character's loathsome behavior, and Rachel True has the sunniest smile since Doris Day.

On where it goes wrong:

The movie's failure is one of imagination. It tilts too far in the direction of horror and special effects.

And the objection he raises against the whole genre, which is the most quotable thing in the review:

What I have always wondered about supernatural characters in movies is why their horizons are so limited […] they limit their amazing powers to getting even.

He also files the film as "the underside of the coin from Clueless" — a useful 1996 coordinate for The Craft (1996), since both are Los Angeles high-school films released within a year of each other.

Use with care

Ebert is reviewing the film he was shown, not the film it became. Set his verdict against the reappraisal (The Craft got better as it got older) rather than treating either as the final word — the gap between them is the interesting object.