Dear Ms. Kael: I offer my sincere apologies

I came in to work this morning, picked up my phone-mail messages and listened to my first dear-Dan-you-(your favorite adjective goes here)-head diatribe directed at my “Hangman’s Curse” review, which ran Friday The woman, who left her name but no contact information — which is all too typical — said that she was “disappointed” at my review. And then she proceeded to list everything that I had taken such great pains to mention, as if it had never occurred to me that this film might have something going for it that, say, your typical Hollywood exercise in special-effects-laden thriller does not.

In fact, here is the key paragraph of my review : “To be fair, if you’re looking for a family-friendly film that gives off the occasional chill and boasts a couple of witty moments, a message of racial tolerance and language no more shocking than ‘hell’ and ‘butt,’ then ‘Hangman’s Curse’ fits your needs.”

Of course, I continued on to write what I didn’t like: “Hangman’s Curse” isn’t scary, the acting is barely serviceable, the film is poorly directed and looks “like the low-budget production that it is.” So the truth is that what she was really “disappointed” in wasn’t my review but simply the fact that I didn’t agree with her. And she wanted to vent.

I understand the desire to vent. I grew up reading the late Pauline Kael and screaming at what she wrote because I seldom agreed (which was a good exercise because it forced me to actually think about what I liked and disliked). The difference is that Kael cared nothing for what others thought and even less for their feelings. I don’t have that luxury. I write for a family newspaper in an insistently mainstream kind of town, and so I try hard to write reviews of films such as “Hangman’s Curse” that reflect my opinions and yet don’t condescend to those who might disagree.

It’s enough to make me want to apologize … to Pauline Kael.