How to Go to the Movies

In this collection of film reviews from Christopher Street magazine, Crisp ( The Naked Civil Servant ) declares that ``the way to go to movies is incessantly . . . reverently . . . critically,'' yet he follows only two of his dicta. His almost compulsive movie-going is the basis for highly entertaining reviews that reveal a shameless appreciation for stars--the bigger the name, the better--as well as a fairly simplistic critical approach. But what sets Crisp's work apart from most film reviews is humor ( My Dinner with Andre is ``as boring as being alive''); his eye for style (actor Richard Gere looks like Errol Flynn ``with the edges beveled''); and a store of off-the-wall remarks (``Mr. Proust was a weirdo''). Unfortunately, the repetition of certain pet peeves (especially the evils of television) underscores a lack of judicious editing, and Crisp's star-worship reveals a fairly reactionary view of the sexes, as in his lamentation that women's liberation ``was the final nail hammered into the coffin of stardom.'' (Jan.)