How much do you believe film critics and why or why not?

I have always looked at them a little askance as I find my taste does not match theirs, but lately I think they have all either gone on drugs or been paid off by Hollywood.

Instead of calling Wall E a great movie, how about mentioning it is a great kids movie or great compared to much of what’s out there, but is very shallow plotwise, and is incredibly derivative in terms of imagery and ideas?

Today we watched (me for the seond time) Ten Things I Hate About You. The guide gave this delightful movie with a young Julia Stiles (love her), Heath Leger (already steamy) and David Krumholz from Numbers (painfully young), crisp writing, good acting, and good cinematography one and a half stars.

So, what gives?