HOOKED

Another collection of acerbic and X-ray perceptive film commentary from the veteran New Yorker film critic. The nearly 200 film reviews included here, covering July 1985 to June 1988, run the gamut of genres from high drama (Platoon, etc.) to tow comedy (Pee-wee's Big Adventure, etc.), from hard horror (Re-Animator, etc.) to soft porn (Dirty Dancing, etc.) and everything in between. As in her previous collections (Reeling, 5001 Nights at the Movies, etc.), here Kael trounces Oscar winners ("Out of Africa dribbles on—adult, diligently cryptic, unsatisfying") and lightly applauds otherwise-panned lowbrow films (finding Arnold Schwarzenegger's Raw Deal "enjoyable"). And if Kael's scowling does sometimes overwhelm her judgment (she has special problems with comedies, finding Peggy Sue Got Married, for example, to be "sad crap"), she always digs deep and never bores.