Mr. Cranky

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Mr. Cranky is a satirical film critic persona, created in 1995 by Jason Katzman and Hans Bjordahl. Cranky's reviews consist of relentless pans of current releases; the idea is that he hates all movies except for a very select few.

The movies are rated on a six-step scale. When Cranky actually has to admit that he liked a movie, it gets one bomb. The number of bombs go up (up to four bombs) as Cranky's tolerance of the movie goes down. Movies that are especially unlovable get the Dynamite or "Boomstick" rating. Movies that are an utter waste of everyone's time get the dreaded Animated Explosion or "Kaboom!" rating.

In the Autumn of 2001, a "guest reviewer" named Mr. Smiley appeared. Mr. Smiley is the opposite of Mr. Cranky in that all his reviews are hyperbolically positive. He is a stereotypical smiley face smelling a pink Freesia flower, he appears every year around Halloween, and he has a rising five-step scale going from one smiley face to the "Prozacerrific!" Happy Pill. He is generally agreed to be Mr. Cranky's evil twin by fans.

[edit] Origins

Mr. Cranky, who takes the form of a self-gagging purple frowny-face, appears on the website Shadowculture's Mr. Cranky Rates the Movies. The character was created for a Colorado-based website named XOR. Katzman, the primary writer, and Bjordahl, his editor, purchased the rights to the feature in 1998 and established Cranky's website, which includes an archive of reviews, editorials, and message boards. The website launched on October third, a date that Crankylanders (see below) sometimes refer to as "Cranktoberfest".

The Mr. Cranky reviews also appear on the Chicago Tribune website. They can be found in print in both the Tribune's free publication Redeye and in the self-published trade paperback book Shadowculture's Mr. Cranky Presents: The 100 Crankiest Movie Reviews Ever (Author House, 2004; ISBN 1-4184-4812-5)

Jason Katzman is employed at the University of Colorado and also contributes articles to MSNBC. Hans Bjordahl worked on Where the Buffalo Roam, the first internet comic strip, and is currently employed by Microsoft.