History Main / CausticCritic

* The Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick was extremely conservative in his tastes, and thus hated the more innovative composers such as Music/FranzLiszt and Music/RichardWagner. He condemned Music/AntonBruckner's music as 'stinking of hellish sulphur' and similarly condemned Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky's later works. He was instead a huge fan of Music/JohannesBrahms, and contributed to the FlameWar between Brahms' fans and Wagner's, despite the two composers respecting one-another. Wagner parodied Hanslick as [[TakeThatCritics the annoying, talentless critic Beckmesser]] in ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', and [[UnfortunateImplications more ominously]] used Hanslick's Jewish heritage as a negative example in his anti-Semitic essay ''Jewishness in Music''.

* Creator/RexReed of ''The New York Observer'' fame is rather infamous for embodying this trope, and controversial for mixing it together with ablest, sexist, and racist rhetoric. As an example, Reed spent [[http://observer.com/2012/09/the-master-rex-reed-philip-seymour-hoffman-joaquin-phoenix-paul-thomas-anderson/ the entirety of his review]] of ''Film/TheMaster'' personally attacking several modern directors and actors and declaring [[NewMediaAreEvil new films as utter tripe]]. In fact, most of his negative reviews contain personal attacks on the actors and directors. He's also had a weird habit of hating foreign films [[ForeignQueasine based on cuisine alone]] (saying ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and ''Film/TheHost2006'' were garbage, ''as expected'' of countries that make sushi and kimchi, [[SarcasmMode the horror]]), and said [[UnfortunateImplications Koreans were too ignorant to make good movies]]. In 2013, he had another firestorm of controversy as he bashed Melissa [=McCarthy=]'s performance on ''Film/IdentityThief'' (and the film as a whole) for being fat, and refused to recount his statements in a later interview. His 2017 review of ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' also saw him referring to people with disabilities as "defective creatures", and he claimed that Creator/{{Sally Hawkins}}' mute character in the aforementioned film was actually mentally handicapped. Funnily enough, Reed himself had something of an acting career on the side, and two of his credits are in films that have almost universally appeared in numerous "Worst Films of All Time" lists -- ''Film/MyraBreckinridge'' and ''Film/{{Inchon}}''.

* One of ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'''s Elusive Targets, [[https://youtu.be/1vzLHvru8xE?t=30s Wen Ts'ai]], is an influential and notoriously harsh food critic, infamous for not even ''eating'' the food he's supposed to review, as he considers rating a meal by such "vulgar" attributes as taste or flavor to be "too plebian". Instead, Ts'ai judges the restaurants he reviews clinically by their overall presentation, grousing over tiny, nitpicky details and punishing any small deviation from his perfectionist standards with [[AccentuateTheNegative full-length, relentlessly scathing reviews]]. He's already driven one aspiring chef to suicide for being served some slightly over-chilled ''ice water'', which is why he's been marked for death by the ICA. Notably, when the briefing shows various comments about him, there's a quote from an earlier Target (a sadistic, short-tempered chef modeled after Gordon Ramsey), [[HorrifyingTheHorror stating that he would "F*CKING SH*T MYSELF" if Ts'ai set foot in his restaurant]].

* One of ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'''s elusive targets is an influential and notoriously harsh [[https://youtu.be/1vzLHvru8xE?t=30s food critic]] infamous for not even ''eating'' the food he's supposed to review, as he considers rating a meal by such "vulgar" attributes as taste or flavor to be "too plebian". Instead, he judges the restaurants he reviews clinically by their overall presentation, grousing over tiny, nitpicky details and punishing any small deviation from his perfectionist standards with [[AccentuateTheNegative full-length, relentlessly scathing reviews]]. He's already driven one chef to suicide for being served some slightly over-chilled ''ice water'', which is why he's been marked for death by the ICA. Notably, when the briefing shows various comments about him, there's a quote from an earlier Elusive Target (a sadistic, short-tempered chef modeled after Gordon Ramsey), [[HorrifyingTheHorror stating that he would "F*CKING SH*T MYSELF" if the critic set foot in his restaurant]].

* [[invoked]] Before he got outed as a sexual predator, Creator/JohnKricfalusi was widely known for his rabid criticisms of other animators and cartoons that don't meet his very specific, exacting standards. The sheer amount of vitriol he threw at other people and their work, along with his own cartoons having had chronic ScheduleSlip problems and a serious overall decline in quality, has led many people to believe that most of the success of his more beloved projects, like ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', [[MyRealDaddy could be attributed more to other contributors]] like Bob Camp and Creator/RalphBakshi.

* Robert Christgau is a music critic renowned for often harsh and controversial reviews. He freely admits that there are some entire genres that he is not partial to. Music/SonicYouth wrote a song about him entitled "I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick" after he labelled their music, pigfucker music. Also, Music/LouReed ranted about him on a live album. Christgau will toss out cheap insults toward the musicians he's reviewing, even in positive reviews (see his review of The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1).

* Bill & Doug ([=RVDTito4Life=]) and Kent Jones, who claimed to be the first Website/YouTube "shooter", which is a misnomer since he's not in the professional wrestling business. Bill & Doug, meanwhile, actually became shooters when they were hired by Wrestling/{{TNA}} to host their online show, ''TNA Addicts''.

** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick started out as the Critic's DistaffCounterpart, though she later broke out of the GirlShowGhetto and started criticizing whatever she wanted. Since then, however, the Chick's creator Creator/LindsayEllis has [[CreatorBacklash turned against the style]], seeing it as having popularized a toxic brand of online media discourse in the 2010s. With the exceptions of her episodes on ''Film/FreddyGotFingered'' and the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' films, she's made all of her old Nostalgia Chick videos private and accessible only to her Patreon subscribers, while her videos since 2016 (first on Website/YouTube and then on the streaming service Nebula) have been less caustic and more analytical video essays about pop culture.

** The Distressed Watcher, a former contributor, is even more of a caustic critic than anybody on the website, covering trailers specifically. Also known as WebVideo/TheAmazingAtheist, he has made a number of caustic videos on religion and politics on Website/YouTube.

* WebVideo/SarahZ started out making videos in this style, but has since moved beyond them to more analytical video essays. Much like the aforementioned Creator/BobChipman, in her video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsIKdZZxmZ8 "Bad Media Criticism"]] she states that she feels that many critics on Website/YouTube (including herself in her early videos) focus on negativity in order to get more views and mistake nitpicking for criticism, and that this has produced an unhealthy focus on stories not having {{plot hole}}s over things like characterization and broader themes. It doesn't help that, in the lesser examples of this style of criticism, some of these criticisms can themselves run afoul of poor research, revealing that the critic doesn't know what they're talking about. Worse, she feels that this has started to bleed into storytelling, as stories made with an eye towards preemptively responding to critics on [=YouTube=] have taken to [[ShowDontTell over-explaining every minor detail to their detriment]].

* ''WebVideo/TheHappyVideoGameNerd'': Inverted, as his reviews are (generally) positive in tone.

** In one story, a 'Rap [=McNasty=]' demeans their style as nothing more than 'bubblegum rock'. The Archies fight back by making a music video of them surrounded by bubbles while chewing bubblegum, in a 'We're bubblegum and proud' manner. The video is a huge hit, and as apology McNasty went to interview them while chewing bubblegum.

* Stuart Campbell built up a reputation for scathing game reviews in ''Magazine/AmigaPower''. He gave a 4% score to ''European Champions'' in a partial-page review, a 2% score to ''International Rugby Challenge'' in a three-page review, and, in the magazine's final issue, a 1% score to ''Kick Off '96'' in a four-page review where he argued before a KangarooCourt that games like this, not reviewers, were responsible for the death of the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}.

* ''Series/TheBigLeap'' has Mallory Jansen, a mean Australian and former ballerina who demands the same perfection from her cast of amateur dancers that was demanded of her.

Also note that some (perhaps even many) of the below examples do have human moments where they admit some of the things they review aren't all that terrible. Some may even have special segments dedicated to positive commentary. And some genuine ConstructiveCriticism can be given. Moments where the snark is dropped to point out something legitimately, unacceptably [[DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible bad]] or [[DudeNotFunny offensive]] hit all the harder, and moments when genuine ''praise'' is meted out [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness are all the more precious for their rarity]].

Caustic Critics tend to be more inclined to apply a CriticBreakdown to underscore when they really do feel that a work is DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible, as opposed to simply something they would pan for other reasons.

[[quoteright:193:[[Creator/RogerEbert https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/your-movie-sucks-777018-193x300.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:193:Spoken in his [[SophisticatedAsHell official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner]].]]

* Creator/RexReed of ''The New York Observer'' fame is rather infamous for mixing this trope together with ablest, sexist, and racist rhetoric. As an example, Reed spent [[http://observer.com/2012/09/the-master-rex-reed-philip-seymour-hoffman-joaquin-phoenix-paul-thomas-anderson/ the entirety of his review]] of ''Film/TheMaster'' personally attacking several modern directors and actors and declaring [[NewMediaAreEvil new films as utter tripe]]. In fact, most of his negative reviews contain personal attacks on the actors and directors. He's also had a weird habit of hating foreign films [[ForeignQueasine based on cuisine alone]] (saying ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and ''Film/TheHost2006'' were garbage, ''as expected'' of countries that make sushi and kimchi, [[SarcasmMode the horror]]), and said [[UnfortunateImplications Koreans were too ignorant to make good movies]]. In 2013, he had another firestorm of controversy as he bashed Melissa [=McCarthy=]'s performance on ''Film/IdentityThief'' (and the film as a whole) for being fat, and refused to recount his statements in a later interview. His 2017 review of ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' also saw him referring to people with disabilities as "defective creatures", and he claimed that Creator/{{Sally Hawkins}}' mute character in the aforementioned film was actually mentally handicapped. Funnily enough, Reed himself had something of an acting career on the side, and two of his credits are in films that have almost universally appeared in numerous "Worst Films of All Time" lists -- ''Film/MyraBreckinridge'' and ''Film/{{Inchon}}''.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has a theater critic who wrote a very negative review of the title character's mother, who is a Broadway actress.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Moody Foodie", Bob gets a bad review from the eponymous food critic (voiced by Creator/PattonOswalt, amusingly enough), whose scathing reviews have caused trouble for Bob's fellow restaurant owners. HilarityEnsues when Bob, in a moment of desperation, barges into the critic's house to force him to give Bob a "do-over".

-->-- ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'' (1979)

* In ''[[Literature/TheScumVillainsSelfSavingSystemRenZhaFanpaiZijiuXitong The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System]]'', Shen Yuan was a self-proclaimed "anti-fan" of the trashy webnovel series ''Proud Immortal Demon Way'' and constantly posted scathing teardowns online of the series' bad writing and plot holes. Then he meets with the ironic fate of being [[MediaTransmigration transmigrated]] into the very webnovel he so vocally denounced.

* ''Series/{{Alice}}'': An early episode, “The Last Review,” sees a newspaper restaurant critic with a nasty reputation review Mel’s chili, making none-too-flattering comments about the diner, the service he receives, Mel's crusty character, etc. … only to suddenly become ill and then non-responsive at his table shortly after finishing his meal. [=EMT=]s pronounce the critic dead at the table; after his body is removed, Mel worries that it was his food that caused the critic’s sudden illness and that he’ll surely face a lawsuit by his family and forced to close. [[spoiler: Good news: Alice later gets a call regarding the autopsy: The critic had a congenital heart defect and it was a sudden heart attack that killed him, and Mel’s cooking had nothing to do with it]].

** The second tie-in novel centered around the murder of one, to the point where the Castle expy's suggestion on how to find people who might want her dead was to take the Manhattan phone book and start with A.
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle:'' In "Malcolm Films Reese", the dude ranch Francis works at is savaged by Charles Cutler. He comes back, supposedly to give them a second chance, but starts smugly dictating another mean-spirited review within seconds of being greeted. Upon being told that Francis and Piama are married, Cutler sneers about how his hosts aren't content on ruining the experiences of one generation of vacationers and insist on breeding. In response, Francis and Otto give the guy a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. As he's taken away on a stretcher, Cutler insults the color of the ceiling, as well as the sloppiness of the mauling he just received, remarking that he'd seen fiercer beatings meted out at a preschool playground. He also proceeds to write a nasty review of the hospital that treats his injuries. All of this backfires on Cutler, as his bad reviews have made him HatedByAll. All of the other local hoteliers and merchants (whom Cutler savagely reviewed) are delighted by his misfortune, resulting in Otto and Francis receiving all kinds of gift baskets ''and'' having so many guests lined up at their dude ranch that they will be booked full for seemingly eons to come.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E40AThingAboutMachines A Thing About Machines]]", Bartlett Finchley is a misanthropic critic for a gourmet magazine who never misses an opportunity to denigrate people to their faces or humanity in general. He is ultimately [[LaserGuidedKarma destroyed by the very machines that he hates]].
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E87APianoIntheHouse A Piano in the House]]", the drama critic Fitzgerald Fortune is a cruel, callous man. He takes delight in humiliating his much abused wife Esther, his friends Greg Walker and Marge Moore and his butler Marvin by using the piano player to force them to reveal their most private thoughts and feelings. The tables are turned when Esther uses the piano to force Fitzgerald to admit that he is essentially a frightened little boy who lacks emotional maturity.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The Misfortune Cookie", a nasty food critic named Harry Folger delights in writing awful reviews, which can make or break local restaurants. He's so cruel that he starts writing negative reviews of new eateries ''before he goes to them,'' often immediately following a glowing review by his rivals. He meets his match at Mr. Lee's Chinese Cuisine, which provides magical fortune cookies which predict the future. Mr. Lee warns that the cookies will give [[LaserGuidedKarma "due fortune"]] to those who read them, but Harry refuses to change his ways, even after getting a cookie that reads "You're going to die". As he storms out of Mr. Lee's, he is suddenly overcome with a horrible hunger, and finds himself on a street surrounded by Chinese restaurants: he eventually realizes he's dead, and is going to spend eternity [[IronicHell eating the food he derided in life, but still starving.]]
* ''Series/OneHundredThingsToDoBeforeHighSchool'' In the episode Always "Tell the Truth (but Not Always) Thing!", Crispo becomes one of these in his cooking class. His teacher initially liked his BrutalHonesty but Crispo went overboard.