Inception opened with a huge $60 million haul, finding critics and audiences nearly unanimous in its praise. “Nearly” being the key word. Take it away, Rex Reed:

The hilarious title of the review is “Can Someone Please Explain Inception to Me?”; a good tipoff that the reviewer is out of his depth. In his ensuing rant against Nolan, Reed goes on to describe Memento as “brainless”, Insomnia as “inert”, The Prestige as “contrived”, Batman Begins as “idiotic”, and The Dark Knight as “baffling”.

Can Someone Please Explain How Rex Reed Gets Paid to Write About Movies? What, exactly, was “baffling” about The Dark Knight? It has a straightforward, compelling plot. How “contrived” was The Prestige, one of the most enigmatic and original blockbusters since, perhaps, Memento? “Baffling” I would accept. The Prestige was kind of baffling! But contrived?

Look, Rex, just think about it for a second, switch your insults and slime The Prestige as “baffling” and The Dark Knight (a comic book movie) as “contrived”. Then you’ll have an argument slightly more difficult to refute. But apparently, you reach randomly into your bucketful of malicious index cards when intelligent arguments escape you. Who cares about the meaning of words like “contrived” or “inert”, when the purpose is simply to be spiteful?

Oh well, I’m biased. I consider Christopher Nolan to be the most visionary director working today, with films as interesting as they are exciting. I can’t wait to see Inception, and Rex Reed’s predictable attack only confirms that it’ll be great. But what do you all think?