Before I read this book, I had no idea of the existence, let alone the popularity, of the Siskel & Ebert film criticism TV show and its various iterations such as Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, Sneak Previews, and at last simply Siskel & Ebert. The rise of their renown as the nation’s most famous film critics coincided with my departure for other continents in the 1970s and my return in 2012. Although I watched a lot of English-language TV when I was living in Europe, I never came across Siskel & Ebert’s shows. While raising a family in Greece, though, I did become aware of and learn to appreciate Roger Ebert’s written film criticism by means of his website RogerEbert.com. I didn’t agree with some of it, but I liked the way he expressed his ideas, and I often sought out his opinions after I’d seen a film and formed my own. I also read and enjoyed his memoir, Life Itself.

The title Opposable Thumbs refers to Siskel and Ebert’s “thumbs up, thumbs down” rating system, which became so famous that they trademarked the “two thumbs up” top rating. One of the main points that this book makes is that though these two men worked together for decades, they were often at odds with each other. In fact, their near-constant bickering on camera about the merits or drawbacks of various films is what fueled their popularity and drew millions of viewers to every episode.

In the beginning, Siskel and Ebert both worked as film critics at rival Chicago papers. Shortly after Ebert won a Pulitzer Prize for his film criticism, the local PBS station decided to initiate a show in which critics discussed movies, and these two were the obvious choices to star in it. The show eventually moved from PBS to national syndication, until it ultimately ended up at Disney’s Buena Vista studios. Siskel and Ebert became very wealthy and influential men, and also recognizable celebrities who made frequent appearances on top late-night talk shows.

As I progressed through this book, all of this was new to me. As I said, I never encountered mention of the show in Europe, and to this day I don’t think I’ve ever read one of Gene Siskel’s written reviews. I’ve also never seen an episode of the show. (Interlude: While writing this review, I took a quick side-trip to YouTube, and sure enough, you can find episodes of Siskel & Ebert there. I took three minutes to watch their review of the movie The Shawshank Redemption, which, by the way, they both loved.) The point is, though, that the true story of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s unlikely but wildly successful partnership unfolded for me without any preconceptions on my part, just like a film that I’m seeing for the first time.

I love movies too; I always have. However, I am not enamored of most film critics. Nowadays, in this era of social media when anyone can post anything, there are simply too many people all offering their opinions at once, and it is hard to know who to trust. Back in the closing decades of the twentieth century, this was not the case; Siskel and Ebert reigned supreme. This book is a fascinating account of their rise from obscurity to celebrity. The one thing I would like to have seen is a list of their specific opinions about various famous films, perhaps in an appendix or whatever. Otherwise, this is an interesting account of an era that social media, in some ways, has rendered obsolete.