Dan Fogelman responds to poor reviews of 'Life Itself'

Director Dan Fogelman has slammed the "white male critics" for their poor reviews of his upcoming feature "Life Itself".

The drama, which features an ensemble cast of Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Olivia Cooke, Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas, has been criticised by the reviewers for its melodramatic plot and acting.

Fogelman, best known for creating "This is Us" and writing "Crazy, Stupid, Love", said something is "inherently a little bit broken in our film criticism right now".

"I also think it's somewhat broken in our television criticism, I think that the people with the widest reach are getting increasingly cynical and vitriolic and I think there are a couple of genres and a couple of ideas that they (attack, which) doesn't speak to not just a mainstream audience, but also a sophisticated audience," Fogelman told TooFab.

"There's a disconnect between something that is happening between our primarily white male critics who don't like anything that has any emotion," he added.

He said the critics indulge in "group speak" to deride his film and label it as "emotionally manipulative".

"And it's concerning because it is important, it tells people what to go see. I don't feel that often now our pop and film critics are speaking for a sophisticated audience anymore," Fogelman said.