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On a cold Saturday evening in late February, a line snakes out of the Gem Theater and onto 18th Street. People wait in anxious knots. The rumor, passed from way up front: There's no room left. Volunteers dash in and out of the packed theater, bringing word of open seats to the crew at the doors; they squeeze in two or three more people accordingly.

Inside, the party is equal parts community and showbiz. As preshow entertainment for the premiere of his film No Joke: The Fifty Funniest Black Movie Comedies Ever, Shawn Edwards, the nationally known film critic for Kansas City's Fox 4 News, has lined up a dancer and a marching band as well as quick testimonials from City Council reps, comedians, Fox 4 management and black entrepreneurs.

Several presenters mention that Edwards and his Fox 4 partner, Russ Simmons, were recently honored by the Los Angeles Press Club as "Best Critics" in the television category of its first National Entertainment Journalism Awards. This stirs applause from the mostly African-American crowd. But the real excitement comes when Edwards' biggest coup strides out onto the stage: Nick Cannon, star of Drumline and host for the evening. Riffing about doing stand-up at a white club down south, Cannon scores big laughs; when he mentions that he's proud to be wearing an Obama pin, he brings down the house.

Next up is Edwards' film. Throughout it, the Gem shakes with laughter. Between clips from Edwards' one-on-one interviews with celebrities such as Will Smith and Denzel Washington, scenes from Stir Crazy, Coming to America and Madea's Family Reunion have the crowd laughing, cheering and — especially in the case of the Tyler Perry movies — speaking the punch lines along with the characters.

Shawn Edwards is a film critic, but he prefers the term "reviewer." At a screening like this, he seems something else: a film celebrant, a champion of movies unchampioned. He's responsible for two documentaries: this and last year's The 100 Best Black Movies Ever (click play below for the trailer). They were inspired by those American Film Institute lists of American movies — lists Edwards considers exclusive. The AFI's comedy list particularly incenses him.

"Are you really telling me that this entire list doesn't have one representation from Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy?" he asks. "They're arguably not only the most entertaining and popular but also the most influential comedians ever! Are you really trying to tell me that Friday couldn't make that list? Friday's universally loved!"

Edwards can get worked up talking about movies. "When Blockbuster stores were big, people would check out Friday and never bring it back. For that alone, it goes on the list — it's the most stolen DVD ever! It's the most never-brought-back DVD in the history of DVDs!"

This is Edwards, who often hears he might be a first. He tells The Pitch, "A lot of people are like, 'Oh, my God! He's the first black movie critic!' When I talk to older African-Americans, anyone 60-plus, it's like, 'We're so proud!'" He shakes his head, thinking: a black film critic. "When I was a kid, it was all Siskel and Ebert. I never even saw one, either."

A first. He chats with the stars, finds his name on full-page movie ads in The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. He raises money for scholarships, inspires standing-room-only crowds to show up at 18th and Vine. Why in the world would anybody not like Shawn Edwards?

Why, just a couple of months before being named a "Best Critic," was he also named 2007's "Whore of the Year"? Edwards speaks in superlatives. Like most critics, his conversation reels through favorite movies, obscure titles and the names of who directed what. Unlike most, though, he's also big on industry dish: buzz, box-office numbers, the stuff he follows in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

His casual conversation purls up into blurbs ready for the ads in some alternative universe. There is that riff on Friday's status among thieves, for example, or when he jokes, "You know what the most realistic movie about military existence is? Stripes."

Of When the Levees Break, Spike Lee's wrenching Hurricane Katrina documentary: "One of the most powerful movies I've ever seen. I had to stop watching because I would break down and start crying."

That last one is dead-serious, but he means all three. He feels all three. But when you speak in superlatives, the ones you feel most hardly stand out from the rest.

When Edwards gushes professionally, these superlatives wind up in ads. Sometimes, when a movie he likes is widely panned, he's the only critic quoted, as in a full-page New York Times ad in Febru­ary for Martin Lawrence's Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins. His assessment — "Totally hilarious!" — took up a quarter-page. The attribution that follows, in tinier print: "Shawn Edwards, FOX-TV."

The ad left out "Kansas City."

Write Your Comment show comments (28)

  1. i stole a copy of Friday once. awesome movie. "you got to be a stupid motherfucker to get fired on you're day off."

    Comment by gus — April 2, 2008 @ 06:27PM

  2. I've watched him review sometimes on the FOX4 mornings on Fridays I think it is. Whether he's black or white, I think his mannerisms and way of presenting feedback on films is terrible. I don't know what's to be celebrated about a lukewarm critic.

    Comment by David — April 3, 2008 @ 08:02AM

  3. Who's celebrating him? It is pretty clear from the article that he is a blurb ho.

    Comment by Not AO Scott — April 3, 2008 @ 08:11AM

  4. I just want to thank Shawn Edwards for, like, supporting me when my career was just taking off LIKE A COMET! And in his defense, I just want to add my own blurbs to this hatchet job on this handsome, virile, compassionate, understanding man. Please feel free to use these quotes as you wish.
    "Shawn Edwards is...THE GREATEST!"
    "When you're with Shawn, You Laugh, You Cry, You're Glad To Be Alive!"
    "Shawn's writing soars like a comet above every writer since God created the Ten Commandments!"
    "The most incredible film reviewer of all time -- Shawn Edwards."
    I just felt that I have to be there for my best friends. Love ya' Shawn. :)

    Comment by Britney Spears — April 3, 2008 @ 01:38PM

  5. I must say Brit, I thoroughly agree with your opinion and would like to add a blurb of my own:
    "In England, we care about three things: God, the Queen and Shawn Edwards!"
    We must all meet up for a pint!

    Comment by Colin Farrell — April 3, 2008 @ 01:40PM

  6. Touche, Colin! I'd like to make Shawn Edwards a Knight of the Royal Garter! Here's my blurb:
    "Shawn Edwards is Hollywood Royalty...PURE GOLD!"

    Comment by Queen Elizabeth II — April 3, 2008 @ 01:43PM

  7. Shawn Edwards is the Britney Spears of film critics!!eleven. He rates 5 uncooked popcorn kernels!!1.

    Comment by Jack Nickel's Son — April 3, 2008 @ 02:03PM

  8. I stole a copy of "No Joke: The Fifty Funniest Black Movie Comedies Ever" once. My Mom said, "You gotta be a stupid motherfucker."

    Comment by Shawn Edwards — April 3, 2008 @ 02:10PM

  9. "...he (was) also named 2007's "Whore of the Year""

    The article left out the widely known fact that Britney Spears was the runner-up for this award. Sloppy journalism and/or more evidence of an anti-Britney mindset among the effete snobs of faux-hyphenated-pitch-slapped-activist-editors.

    Comment by Britney's Mom — April 3, 2008 @ 02:19PM

  10. Stop givin' us whores a bad name. We don't want Shawn Edwards. No decent, self-respecting ho' would do the shit that he prides himself on doin.' If he was a real workin' ho, I'd see him down on Independece Avenue, selling blurbs for a vial (or two) of crack. And by the way, if you sees that old John Tibbles, he owes me $50. The fool ran off without paying me last night. And I left my dental bridge on his back seat.

    Comment by A Real Crack Whore — April 3, 2008 @ 02:34PM

  11. I find it quite offensive that Shawn Edwards lavishes in praise when people call him the first black movie critic. Their have been many before and since Shawn Edwards including Elvis Mitchell who puts Shawn Edwards to shame. Anyone can like a movie that everyone will see anyway. Dumbing down your reviews by "keeping it real" means that you think the population needs to be talked down to. It is pompus and will eventually lead to Shanw Edwards being another blip on the radar of shitty movie "reviewers". By the way Shawn, the reason Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor were not on the AFI top 100 movies of all time is reflected int eh list itself, because there are actually very few comedies on the list period. Both of those actors have movies that appear on the AFI's 100 laughs list. You can believe what you want, but reviewing for your neighbors is not what people like to here.

    Comment by Nathan Chadwick — April 3, 2008 @ 02:56PM

  12. Re: Comment by A Real Crack Whore — April 3, 2008 @ 02:34PM

    What additional proof do you need that Shawn's credibility as a bonifide whore is assured by his regular appearance on a Fox Network affiliate? This alone should be enough evidence to convince any skeptic, let alone the massive volumes of blurbjism that he has spewed over his career, both on and off the screen.

    What have you got to offer in the way of credentials, Bitch?

    Comment by Who's yo' Daddy now, Bitch? — April 3, 2008 @ 03:26PM

  13. is anyone here a real person?
    does the pitch monitor its comments?

    Comment by gus — April 3, 2008 @ 03:29PM

  14. Here, now! Let's have three great cheers for Shawn!

    Hip, hip hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray.

    There, now. Doesn't that feel better?

    Comment by Farrell's Colon — April 3, 2008 @ 03:34PM

  15. Persons are like breasts, gus. They're not fake if you can actually touch them. Reach out and touch yourself, gus, and see if you are really real.

    Do you feel better?

    Comment by A Real Person — April 3, 2008 @ 03:37PM

  16. Gus, I'm as real as the Magna Carta, the Tower of London, the Globe Theater and Shawn Edwards. Please feel free to visit me at Buckingham Palace the next time you're visiting Great Britain. I'm having tea with Shawn Edwards and Colin Farrell and the Loch Ness Monster tomorrow.

    HRH Elizabeth

    Comment by Queen Elizabeth II — April 3, 2008 @ 03:38PM

  17. i would point out that it's kind of sad that there's someone hanging out on this article posting message after messgae to make fun of Shawn edwards, but that would be the pot calling the kettle black I guess.

    shawn called the kettle black. And also the Best Kettle of the Year.

    that's a better joke than what you got, queen of england. shawn agress, he called it 'best joke of the thread.'

    Comment by gus — April 3, 2008 @ 03:49PM

  18. Lemme see...That is your third post gus, and this makes two for me. That makes me 2/3 as sad as you. Sad gus is sad.

    Tell me gus, are you able to look inside the soul of QE2 and divulge if she is really real, gus?

    Tell me, Queenie, are you really the Queen of England and are you also Britney's Mom and Farrell's Colon and the illegitimate offspring of Jack Nickel? Who are you really, and what does your therapist say about your scepter fetish?

    Or are you really gus? Or is this the last reel of this vintage motion picture, "High School Madness"? Shawn sez, "It's the Year's Best! Five bags full!"

    Don't Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

    Comment by A Real Person — April 3, 2008 @ 04:29PM

  19. Blurb Whores? On My Fox 4? It's more likely than you think!

    Congrats, KC! And to think that we have been honored by the attentions of Queen Elizabeth II, Britney Spears, gus, Colin Ferrell's colon, a gen-u-wine KC crack whore, gus, A Real Person, Britney's Mom, gus, Regis Philbin (coming soon!), and last but not least, ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Shawn Edwards hisself!

    "I give it five popcorn bags out of a possible five!"
    "Kansas City's Finest Hour!"
    "A cross between the style of Britney Spears and the class of Will Ferrell!"
    "KC Proud!"
    "Shawn Edwards is KC's Perez Hilton!"

    Comment by Rupert Murdoch — April 3, 2008 @ 06:53PM

  20. To answer your question, Gus: Yes, we do monitor the comments here at The Pitch. But we don't censor them. So even though some of these comments sound written by the same person (is that you, A.O. Scott?), we don't take them down.

    Comment by Eric Barton — April 4, 2008 @ 08:10AM

  21. say what you will about Shawn, but he's dead right about the Hulk. GET MAD, TURN GREEN, TEAR STUFF UP!

    Comment by bee's knees — April 4, 2008 @ 08:59AM

  22. I'm bettin' that gus is fake and the Queen is real.

    Comment by The Last Reel — April 4, 2008 @ 12:00PM

  23. I love how the interviewer is always trying to give Edwards a break but Edwards keeps screwing it up and looking worse. How many times does he not answer the Britney Spears question? Christ, the interviewer was helping him by the end, and Edwards still couldn't come up with an answer.

    Comment by mark d — April 4, 2008 @ 12:40PM

  24. So, about that headline. He isn't "just" a blurb whore? Meaning he is one but he's more than that? Or meaning that he isn't one at all even if other people say he is? I'm not used to Pitch trying to be all nuanced.

    Comment by wumble — April 7, 2008 @ 11:42AM

  25. Nuts, I missed Shawn's broadcast on Friday. Can anyone tell me what this week's "The Year's Best! Five bags!!" whoredown pick is?

    Comment by Cinematic Titanic — April 9, 2008 @ 03:52PM

  26. I was the best actor that year, but even I want to know how popcorn bags are a measure of anything other than a chance of adult onset diabetes.

    Comment by DMX — April 11, 2008 @ 04:08PM

  27. I'm updating my resume to see if I can get a national gig.

    Can anyone advise me on where "blurb whore" should go on my resume? Is it a job qualification? An award for industry achievement? A special skill? An endorsement from my peers?

    Help me out, folks. I don't want to spend the rest of my life stuck here in Kansas City.

    Comment by Shawn Edwards — April 12, 2008 @ 01:02PM

  28. Hey KC! Me an Joy just got into town to do some sightseeing along the Blue River and check out the concrete vistas.

    What do you know, but on a promotional visit to Fox 4, we ran into Shawn Edwards! He gave Joy and me five bags of popcorn each, then turned to me and announced that I was, "This Year's Best!". Of course I was pretty thrilled about that until he turned to Joy and told her that she was, "This Year's Best!". We both kinda chuckled about it, and I asked Shawn, "Is that your final answer?". He never responded, and just wandered off into the Fox 4 studios, handing out popcorn bags in lots of five and telling everyone he came across that they were, "This Year's Best!". You guys here in Kansas City sure are a wacky bunch!

    Well, I gotta go. I'm meeting up with the Pope later this week, and we're going to exchange fruitcake recipes. Stay wierd, KC.

    Comment by Regis Philbin — April 18, 2008 @ 05:34PM

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