Richard Roeper

Richard Roeper
Roeper at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Richard E. Roeper (1959-10-17) October 17, 1959 (age 65) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Columnist
Alma mater	Illinois State University
Subject	Film criticism
Website
chicago.suntimes.com/authors/richard-roeper

Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959)^[1] is an American columnist and film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. He co-hosted the television series At the Movies with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's successor.^[2][3] From 2010 to 2014, he co-hosted The Roe and Roeper Show with Roe Conn on WLS-AM.^[4] From October 2015 to October 2017, Roeper served as the host of the FOX 32 morning show Good Day Chicago.^[5]

Early life

Roeper was born in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in south suburban Dolton, Illinois and attended Thornridge High School before graduating from Illinois State University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. While still a student at the university, he auditioned for the movie review program Sneak Previews when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (his future co-host on At the Movies) left the program, for which he was turned down.^[6]

Career

Roeper began working as a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1986.^[7] The topics of his columns ranged from politics to media to entertainment. He has been voted the best columnist in Illinois by the Associated Press on numerous occasions.

He has also written seven books on topics ranging from movies to urban legends to conspiracy theories to the Chicago White Sox. In 2009, Roeper appeared on Howard Stern's show and said he had written a book on gambling, entitled Bet the House,^[8] which was released in the first quarter of 2010.

Roeper was a radio host on WLS AM 890 in Chicago. He also hosted shows on WLUP-FM, WLS-FM, and WMVP-AM in Chicago.In the early 2000s, he was the film critic for CBS in Chicago for three years.

His columns have been syndicated by The New York Times to worldwide publications. Roeper has written for a number of magazines, including Esquire, Spy, TV Guide, Playboy, Maxim, and Entertainment Weekly. In 2001, he was named one of People magazine's most eligible bachelors.^[9]

Roeper was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, The O'Reilly Factor, and countless other national programs. He also hosted Starz Inside, a monthly documentary series that aired on the Starz network. Roeper appeared on the first episode of the fifth season of Entourage, where he reviewed a fake movie titled Medellin with Michael Phillips on At the Movies.^[10] In April 2008, Roeper was the central figure on an episode of Top Chef, where contestants served up movie-themed dishes to Roeper and his friends (including Aisha Tyler).^[11]

In February 2009, Roeper launched his website, which features movie reviews, blog entries, photos, and Twitter posts. In December 2009, he launched a video section that featured on-camera reviews of movies.^[12] The video segments were originally produced in partnership with the Starz premium cable channel.^[12] Roeper announced that the reviews would appear first on his site, then on the Starz channel.^[12]

In December 2009, it was reported that Roeper had signed with ReelzChannel to be a regular contributor.^[13] Beginning in December 2010, Roeper began producing video reviews for ReelzChannel. He stopped reviewing movies for ReelzChannel in February 2015; his final review was for the Jude Law disaster film Black Sea.

From April 12, 2010, to October 7, 2014, he co-hosted The Roe & Roeper Show with Roe Conn on Chicago's WLS 890 radio station from 2-6 pm CST.^[4]

In October 2015, Roeper joined the cast of the Fox Chicago morning TV show Good Day Chicago.^[14] He signed off from that morning TV show on October 18, 2017.^[5]

Roeper was suspended from the Sun-Times on January 29, 2018, pending an investigation into allegations that he had purchased Twitter followers.^[15] On February 2, the Sun-Times released a statement stating that their investigation did find that Roeper purchased over 25,000 fake followers. The paper later reinstated him, though he was required to begin using a new account on which he was explicitly disallowed from buying followers.^[1]

Film critic

After Gene Siskel of Siskel & Ebert died on February 20, 1999,^[16][17] Roger Ebert co-hosted the show with nearly 30 guest critics.^[18] After ten appearances on the program,^[19] Roeper was offered the opportunity to co-host the popular film review show with Ebert permanently.^[20] The series was renamed Ebert & Roeper and the Movies in 2000.^[20] The title was shortened to Ebert & Roeper in 2001. Before this, he conducted an interview in 1995 with Siskel and Ebert to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their partnership.^[7][21][22]

Beginning in August 2006, while his co-host Roger Ebert was recovering from cancer surgery,^[23] Roeper was joined by numerous guest critics, including Clerks director Kevin Smith, The Tonight Show host Jay Leno, and singer-songwriter John Mellencamp. On Sunday, July 20, 2008, Roeper announced that he was leaving the show in mid-August and would return with a new show later in the year.^[24] However, plans for a new program starring Roeper failed to materialize.^[25]

Between 2009 and late 2010, Roeper contributed video reviews to Starz.^[12] In December 2010, he moved to ReelzChannel, where he contributed a segment titled Richard Roeper's Reviews every weekday at 5:00 pm ET.^[13] Roeper remained with the network until early 2015. In early 2013, Roeper began contributing film reviews to RogerEbert.com. On September 12, 2013, it was announced that Roeper will replace Roger Ebert as the main movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times after his death on April 4, 2013 at the age of 70.^[26] In August 2014, Roeper became first-string film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, where he made his debut reviewing Guardians of the Galaxy.^[27] He is a member of Chicago Film Critics Association.^[28]

Preferences

Favorites

Roeper has cited The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather trilogy, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off as among his favorite films.^[7][29] On Ferris Bueller's Day Off he stated that, "It has one of the highest 'repeatability' factors of any film I've ever seen...I can watch it again and again. There's also this, and I say in all sincerity: Ferris Bueller's Day Off is something of a suicide prevention film or, at the very least, a story about a young man trying to help his friend gain some measure of self-worth...Ferris has made it his mission to show Cameron that the whole world in front of him is passing him by and that life can be pretty sweet if you wake up and embrace it. That's the lasting message of Ferris Bueller's Day Off."^[30] Roeper pays homage to the film with a license plate that says "SVFRRIS".^[31]

In a 2000 interview, he cited Woody Allen as a hero of filmmaking.^[7] Among his favorite films from the 1990s are Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Heat, Good Will Hunting, and Notting Hill.^[32] In November 2004, on a special segment of Ebert & Roeper, Roeper stated that his all-time favorite film about Thanksgiving is Planes, Trains and Automobiles.^{[citation needed]}

Best films of the year

Since 2000, Roeper has compiled an annual film list which provides an overview of his critical preferences.^[33][34]

Year	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9	#10
2000	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	Traffic	The Claim	The Contender	Wonder Boys	Finding Forrester	You Can Count on Me	Sunshine	Cast Away	Almost Famous
2001	Memento	Vanilla Sky	Mulholland Drive	A Beautiful Mind	In the Bedroom	Amores perros	Dinner Rush	Happy Accidents	The Deep End	Shallow Hal
2002	Gangs of New York	25th Hour	Minority Report	Y tu mamá también	Adaptation	Signs	Rabbit-Proof Fence	About Schmidt	One Hour Photo	About a Boy
2003	In America	Mystic River	Lost in Translation	21 Grams	Elephant	The Barbarian Invasions	The Station Agent	Whale Rider	Monster	Seabiscuit
2004	Hotel Rwanda	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	The Aviator	Sideways	House of Flying Daggers	Million Dollar Baby	The Terminal	Kill Bill: Volume 2	Spanglish	Collateral
2005	Syriana	The New World	Crash	Munich	Nine Lives	Capote	Brokeback Mountain	A History of Violence	Walk the Line	The 40-Year-Old Virgin
2006	The Departed	The Queen	Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima	United 93	The Lives of Others	Babel	Notes on a Scandal	The Good Shepherd	Little Miss Sunshine	Blood Diamond
2007	Michael Clayton	No Country for Old Men	The Lookout	Juno	American Gangster	Gone Baby Gone	Zodiac	Superbad	Once	Paris, je t'aime
2008[35]	Slumdog Millionaire	The Dark Knight	The Wrestler	In Bruges	I've Loved You So Long	Gran Torino	Milk	The Visitor	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Frozen River
2009[36]	Brothers	Up in the Air	The Hurt Locker	(500) Days of Summer	Inglourious Basterds	Up	Avatar	Adventureland	An Education	The Informant!
2000s[37]	The Departed	In America	Traffic	Memento	House of Flying Daggers	Mystic River	Slumdog Millionaire	25th Hour	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	Hotel Rwanda
2010[38]	Inception	The Fighter	The Social Network	The Kids Are All Right	The Town	Toy Story 3	127 Hours	True Grit	The King's Speech	Somewhere
2011[39]	Drive	The Artist	Contagion	The Tree of Life	The Descendants	Young Adult	Source Code	Moneyball	The Beaver	Hugo
2012[40]	Zero Dark Thirty	Argo	The Grey	Life of Pi	The Dark Knight Rises	Django Unchained	Flight	The Sessions	Prometheus	Lincoln
2013[41]	American Hustle	Out of the Furnace	Mud	Gravity	The Spectacular Now	Captain Phillips	Nebraska	All Is Lost	12 Years a Slave	The Counselor
2014[42]	Boyhood	Interstellar	Locke	Birdman	The Drop	Whiplash	A Most Wanted Man	Foxcatcher	A Most Violent Year	Guardians of the Galaxy
2015[43]	Room	Inside Out	The Revenant	The Big Short	Mad Max: Fury Road	The Hateful Eight	Sicario	Spotlight	Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens	Straight Outta Compton
2016[44]	Manchester by the Sea	Hell or High Water	Moonlight	La La Land	Sully	Lights Out	Zootopia	The Infiltrator	Silence	Arrival
2017[45]	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	The Post	Wind River	Dunkirk	Baby Driver	Blade Runner 2049	The Big Sick	Molly's Game	It	Detroit
2018[46]	Widows	Roma	BlacKkKlansman	Leave No Trace	Lean on Pete	A Star Is Born	Black Panther	Blindspotting	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse	Mission: Impossible – Fallout
2019[47]	The Irishman	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood	The Farewell	Uncut Gems	Waves	Booksmart	Fast Color	Little Women	Parasite	Queen & Slim
2010s[48]	The Social Network	Boyhood	Widows	The Irishman	Mad Max: Fury Road	Room	Moonlight	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood	American Hustle
2020[49]	Nomadland	The Trial of the Chicago 7	News of the World	Soul	Da 5 Bloods	The Midnight Sky	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	Saint Frances	Let Them All Talk	Palm Springs
2021[50]	Belfast	Licorice Pizza	West Side Story	Pig	The Card Counter	Those Who Wish Me Dead	Old Henry	In the Heights	The Harder They Fall	A Quiet Place: Part II
2022[51]	The Whale	The Banshees of Inisherin	Aftersun	Nope	To Leslie	X and Pearl	Emily the Criminal	Tár	The Black Phone	The Fabelmans
2023[52]	Oppenheimer	Killers of the Flower Moon	Air	The Killer	Maestro	May December	Dream Scenario	The Color Purple	Joy Ride	Barbie

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000-2008	At the Movies	Host/Guest Host	411 episodes
2000; 2006	Chicago Tonight	Himself	2 episodes
2000	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Guest	Episode: "Roger Ebert & Richard Roeper/Bernie Mac/Tara MacLean"
	Charlie Rose	Guest	1 episode
2001-2013	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno	Guest	23 episodes
2001	The Daily Show	Himself	1 episode
2003-2008	E! True Hollywood Story	Himself	4 episodes
2003	Sex at 24 Frames Per Second	Interviewee
2004	101 Biggest Celebrity Oops	Himself
	101 Most Unforgettable SNL Moments	Himself
	Retrosexual: The 80's	Himself
	Non-Denominational All-Star Celebrity Holiday Special	Himself
	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Himself	1 episode
2005	Dennis Miller	Himself	1 episode
	The Factor	Himself	1 episode
	The Tony Danza Show	Himself	3 episodes
2006	Supertwink	Himself	Uncredited
	The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...	Himself	Episode: "Bob Knight for his repeated outbursts"
	2006 Independent Spirit Awards	Audience Member
	Howard Stern On Demand	Judge	Episode: "The Howard Stern Film Festival"
2007-2008	Live with Regis and Kelly	Himself	2 episodes
2007	Heckler	Himself
2008	An Evening at the Academy Awards	Co-Host
	Top Chef	Guest Judge	Episode: "Film Food"
	Entourage	Himself	Episode: "Fantasy Island"
2009-2010	Richard Roeper & the Movies	Himself	85 episodes
2009	This Is Our Moment: Election Night 2008	Commentator
	The Hour	Himself	1 episode
	Don't You Forget Me	Himself
	The Jay Leno Show	Himself	1 episode
	Clarkworld	Himself
2010-2011	ReelzChannel Spotlight	Host	5 episodes
	Hollywood's Top Ten	Reelz Channel Movie Reviewer	9 episodes
2010	Richard Roeper's Reviews	Himself	5 episodes
	Prime 9	Himself	2 episodes
2011-2013	ReelzChannel Specials	Himself	3 episodes
2014	Madzilla!	Himself
2015-2017	Poker Night in America	Himself	17 episodes
2015-2018	Roeper's Reviews	Himself	162 episodes
2016	The Timeline	Himself	Episode: "The Fog Bowl"
2020	Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies	Himself

Bibliography

• He Rents, She Rents: The Ultimate Guide to the Best Women's Films and Guy Movies, with Laurie Viera (1999)
• Hollywood Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Delightfully Persistent Myths of Films, Television, and Music (2001)
• Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Deliciously Entertaining Myths That Are Absolutely, Positively, 100% Not True (2001)
• Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character Is Doomed, and Other Surprising Movie Lists (2003)
• Schlock Value: Hollywood At Its Worst (2005)
• Sox and the City: A Fan's Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of '67 to the Wizards of Oz (2006)
• Debunked!: Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, and Evil Plots of the 21st Century (2008)
• Bet the House: How I Gambled Over a Grand a Day for 30 Days on Sports, Poker, and Games of Chance (2010)^[8]

Accolades

In 1992, he was awarded the National Headliner Award as the top newspaper columnist in the country. He won two Chicago / Midwest Emmy Awards awards for his news commentaries on Fox.^[5] On April 11, 2020, Roeper was awarded the Roger Ebert Award at the 2020 AAFCA Special Achievement Award Luncheon.^[53]

References

1. Feder, Robert (February 2, 2018). "Sun-Times reinstates Richard Roeper after Twitter investigation". Robert Feder.
2. Rosenthal, Phil (January 23, 2011). "'Ebert Presents At the Movies' a work in progress". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 25, 2011.
3. "Ebert and Roeper leaving 'Ebert & Roeper'". CNN. July 21, 2008. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
4. Feder, Robert (March 11, 2010). "It's 'Roe & Roeper': WLS adds new afternoon star". Vocalo.org. Archived from the original on March 13, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
5. Feder, Robert (October 18, 2017). "Richard Roeper says goodbye to 'Good Day Chicago'". Robert Feder.
6. Raftery, Brian (August 25, 2021). "Gene and Roger: 8. Something Wonderful Is Coming to an End". The Big Picture (Podcast). The Ringer – via Podbay.
7. "A Q&A WITH RICHARD ROEPER CO-CRITIC, 'EBERT & ROEPER AND THE MOVIES'". Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
8. Roeper, Richard (February 15, 2010). "Almost time to Bet the House". blog.richardroeper.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
9. "Cover Story: America's Top 50 Bachelors – Vol. 56 No. 1". People.com. July 2, 2001. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
10. "Fantasy Island". Entourage. Season 5. Episode 1. September 7, 2008.
11. "Film Food". Top Chef. Season 4. Episode 4. April 2, 2008.
12. Feder, Robert (November 24, 2009). "Rich gets richer: Roeper to review movies again". Vocalo.org. Archived from the original on November 27, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
13. Belloni, Matthew (February 1, 2011). "Kennedy's Miniseries Lands Home, Will Air on ReelzChannel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
14. Feder, Robert (October 19, 2015). "Richard Roeper set to join Fox 32's 'Good Day Chicago'". Robert Feder.
15. Janssen, Kim (January 29, 2018). "Sun-Times halts Richard Roeper column to investigate allegation he bought Twitter followers". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
16. McG Thomas, Robert Jr. (February 21, 1999). "Gene Siskel, Half of a Famed Movie-Review Team, Dies at 53". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
17. "In Tribute: Legendary film reviewer leaves thumbprint on a nation of moviegoers". The Star Press. March 27, 1999. Retrieved June 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
18. Perrone, Pierre (February 23, 1999). "Obituary: Gene Siskel". The Independent. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
19. "AWARD-WINNING CHICAGO SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST RICHARD ROEPER STEPS INTO CRITIC'S CHAIR OPPOSITE ROGER EBERT". Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
20. "Columnist to become foil to Roger Ebert". Tampa Bay Times. July 14, 2000. Retrieved May 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
21. Roeper, Richard (October 15, 1995). "Thumbs Up! 20 Years in the Balcony". Chicago Sun-Times.
22. Roeper, Richard (January 16, 2009). "From the archives: When I interviewed Siskel & Ebert". blog.richardroeper.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
23. Ebert, Roger (August 17, 2006). "E-mail from Roger". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2006. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
24. "Roeper to part ways with 'At the Movies' after 8 years'". Chicago Sun-Times. July 21, 2008. Archived from the original on July 22, 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
25. Ebert, Roger (November 25, 2009). "Time keeps on slip, slip, slippin' away". Roger Ebert's Journal. Archived from the original on November 30, 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
26. "Richard Roeper Replacing Roger Ebert at Sun-Times". Associated Press. September 12, 2013. Archived from the original on September 15, 2013. Retrieved June 22, 2022 – via ABC News.
27. Roeper, Richard (July 30, 2014). "'Guardians of the Galaxy': A giddy space oddity makes the summer sunnier". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
28. "Members". Chicago Film Critics Association. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
29. Ponce, Phil (April 4, 2013). "Web Extra: Roger Ebert (July 19, 2000)". Chicago Tonight. Retrieved July 9, 2022 – via PBS.org.
30. Roeper, Richard (August 7, 2009). "Ferris, Kevin, Samantha and Uncle Buck are in mourning. Saying goodbye to John Hughes". blog.richardroeper.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
31. Roeper, Richard (August 7, 2009). "Save Ferris". blog.richardroeper.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
32. Best 90s movies | Chicago film critic Richard Roeper picks 5 decade-defining films
33. "Ebert and Roeper Top Ten Lists (2000-2005)". Innermid.com. May 3, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
34. "Roeper and Scott Top Ten Lists (2006-2007)". Innermind.com. May 3, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
35. Roeper, Richard (December 22, 2008). "The Best and Worst of 2008". RichardRoeper.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
36. Roeper, Richard (December 27, 2009). "The Best (and Worst) of 2009". RichardRoeper.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
37. Roeper, Richard (December 31, 2009). "The 100 best movies of the decade". blog.richardroeper.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
38. "The Best Movies of 2010". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
39. "The Best Movies of 2011". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
40. "The Best Movies of 2012". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
41. "The Best Movies of 2013". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
42. Roeper, Richard (December 18, 2014). "BEST OF 2014: The 10 movies that moved me". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
43. Roeper, Richard (December 23, 2015). "The Year in Review: Richard Roeper's Best Movies of 2015". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on December 25, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
44. Roeper, Richard (December 23, 2016). "Richard Roeper picks the 10 best movies of 2016". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
45. Roeper, Richard (December 27, 2017). "Roeper: The 10 surprising best movies of 2017". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
46. Roeper, Richard (December 26, 2018). "Richard Roeper's best movies of 2018: an instant Chicago classic tops them all". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
47. Roeper, Richard (December 24, 2019). "Richard Roeper: The best movies of 2019". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
48. Roeper, Richard (December 30, 2019). "5 movements in the 2010s that changed where movies come from and who's in them". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
49. Roeper, Richard (December 24, 2020). "Richard Roeper: The best movies of 2020". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
50. Roeper, Richard (December 23, 2021). "Richard Roeper: The best movies of 2021". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 9, 2022.
51. Roeper, Richard (December 23, 2022). "Richard Roeper's best movies of 2022". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
52. Roeper, Richard (December 21, 2023). "The 10 best movies of 2023: 'Oppenheimer' made with detailed care that no film can match". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
53. "Richard Roeper to Receive the Roger Ebert Award at AAFCA's Special Achievement Awards Luncheon". RogerEbert.com. October 30, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Biography from TV Tome
• Richard Roeper at IMDb