Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide
Cover of the 2010 edition
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| Author | Leonard Maltin |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Film reviews, synopses |
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biennially after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally called TV Movies, which became Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide, and then Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, before arriving at its final title. Film critic Leonard Maltin edited it and contributed a large portion of its reviews.
The book used a star rating system. The lowest rating was "BOMB", followed by one and a half stars, rising in half-star increments to a maximum of four stars. The sole exception to this was Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, which was rated with two and one third stars out of four, referencing the film's title. Made-for-television films were also included in the guides for many years, though in the early 2000s, Maltin gradually began to phase them out to make room for current feature film releases. All had been removed by the early 2010s, and no TV movies made after 2004 were included in new editions. Maltin used a different system for rating TV movies: "Below average", "Average" or "Above average", with select variants for highly rated films, including "Way above average" for The Day After and Special Bulletin, and "Outstanding" for Minstrel Man. Certain theatrically-released films (usually low budget, obscure, foreign, concert, or serial films), as well as the majority of films based on Edgar Wallace novels, were also removed from the guide over time to allow the inclusion of new titles.
Another notable feature of the Guide was that each review included a reference to the source material for the film if it was based on previously published material. Films were listed alphabetically letter-by-letter, ignoring punctuation and spaces. Articles were also ignored and transposed to the end of the title.
The Guide was notable for containing what the Guinness Book of World Records calls the world's shortest movie review. His 2 out of 4 star review of the 1948 musical Isn't It Romantic? consisted of the word "No". Another very short review concerned the film Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed where Maltin wrote, "It is what it is." Yet another was of Are Husbands Necessary? in which he wrote "And what about this film?", and one more right behind these is Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol where, in comparing it to the previous installments, he commented, "More of the same, only worse."
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