It’s bad enough to hear hundreds and hundreds of critics run their mouths about what movies they think should get a thumbs up or a thumbs down. But now, there’s a person who doesn’t even exist giving us, the viewers, his opinion.

The summer is a time when moviegoers look forward to the big multibillion-dollar blockbusters. There is a lot of hype when these movies come out and some are interested in how the experts rate them. When the previews come out, many people pay attention to what the critics have to say about the film.

Last week, “Newsweek” challenged the authenticity of critic David Manning, who supposedly writes for the Ridgefield Press, a Connecticut weekly. Sony admitted it had invented the critic, in hopes of enhancing Sony Pictures such as “Hollow Man,” “Vertical Limit,” “A Knight’s Tale” and recently “The Animal.”

Sony used fictional quotes to create a better image for its films. Here is an example of a quote used to describe “The Animal”: “The producing team of ‘Big Daddy’ has delivered another winner!”

To me this quote really doesn’t seem to be that effective. “Delivering another winner” are not exactly words of flattery. Not only is this critic made up, but his reviews are not even that good.

Two employees were suspended without pay last Thursday for one month for their roles in this scandal. One is believed to be the vice president of advertising. The other was the one who came up with the name; which turned out to be the name of a college friend.

The movie industry is already gouging money out of the pockets of admiring viewers at the theater. Ticket prices continue to climb and the audience still comes out. Now we are getting advice that movies are great because someone who doesn’t exist tells us they are. When is it going to stop?

Movie critics are probably not the most glamorous members of the motion picture industry, but nonetheless they have a role. When this story first broke, I didn’t really know how movie critics go about their work.

I caught a piece from a news program that reported some critics are being sent all-expense-paid trips from movie companies to come and hang out with the crew and members of the movie world, all of which is used to sway the critic into giving a good review. It’s astonishing to me this actually happens.

I am fed up with people telling me what’s good and what isn’t. I want to make a decision about a movie by myself and I don’t know if I want to trust movie critics anymore. If someone can just make up a critic to help get people to the film, there is no telling where this could go.

But I’m not done yet.

Two Los Angeles residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against Sony for deceptive, unfair and unlawful business practices.

Now I have seen it all. Just when I thought this story couldn’t get any better, two moviegoers have decided to stand up to the movie industry, which in their eyes has done them an injustice.

According to their lawyer, the purpose of the lawsuit is to compensate for those people who relied on the fake quotes while choosing to see a movie.

I can’t say I completely agree with filing a suit, but I am glad someone has decided to take a stand. It’s obvious Sony violated advertising ethics and it’s going to face some harsh criticism, but this situation needs to be solved before it gets out of hand.

Movies are meant to entertain us. They make us laugh, cry and scream, and that is at their purest form. Now that imaginary critics are telling us to feel these emotions, I’m not so sure if movies are catering to the audience as much as they used to.

I am concentrating on Sony Pictures, and how their blatant attempt to boost ratings didn’t work and they got caught. But I am also talking about the whole movie industry. Maybe this will show the other motion picture companies that the public is still the one they are entertaining and they should start using better business practices in order to get a review.

This particular case probably won’t stop me or anyone else from going to the theater, but I do think it will cause more people to question what a critic has to say. Maybe this is good or maybe it isn’t, but Sony tried to pull the wool over the audience’s eyes and it got caught.

Ryan Wallace, a State News intern, can be reached at wallac89@msu.edu