Most 17 year-olds have no idea what they want to do with their lives; few if any are already doing it. Sam Bear is a junior at Oakton High School in Vienna, Va. For the last three years he’s been writing movie reviews, almost 200 now, and posting them on a website he created.

Launched in 2001, Joe Critic offers movie reviews from a slightly different viewpoint. “The idea behind the site was to provide movie reviews (and occasionally TV reviews) from the perspective of an average movie fan for the average moviegoer,” said Bear. “I was sick of seeing movies I loved get terrible reviews… I thought I could do a better job.”

Recently, Bear caught the attention of a radio producer in Perth, Australia. “They found the website, and contacted me with a question. I told them I couldn’t help with their question, but on a whim decided to tell them about myself. The producer was fascinated and invited me onto the show that very day.” Sam loved being on the radio, and at that point decided that he wanted to work on expanding his career.

Receiving around 25,000 hits a month, Joe Critic is a pretty impressive achievement for such a young man, but Sam wants more. He’s begun writing letters to TV talk shows, newspapers, and radio stations looking to publicize the site, “If you have the opportunity to launch a career at this young an age you’re really lucky,” said Bear. “I’d love to write for a newspaper or a magazine like Entertainment Weekly one day, and if I can use my age to get attention for myself now, it’ll be a lot easier to find an audience later.

“My age has made it hard for some people to take me seriously, but hopefully it’ll open doors as well. It’s rare for someone to come into a career with as much experience as I already have.”

Bear has loved movies since he was a young child. Some of his favorites include: I Am Sam, Memento, The Truman Show and The Royal Tenenbaums. “Movies are just something I love, and to be able to write your opinions on them and have people read them is a great feeling… It’s not that I’m desperate for attention, it’s just something I enjoy doing and something I’m good at,” said Bear.
Running a website isn’t a cheap business; between the costs of the domain name and the hosting, a website owner can amass a rather large bill. Joe Critic is ad supported, but with very few pop-ups (because its owner doesn’t like them), and is also supported by Sam’s parents.

“We support Sam wholeheartedly,” said Tobi Bear, his mother. “It’s been amazing watching the site grow over the years, and watching [Sam’s writing improve. He works incredibly hard, and does a great job.”

Sam isn’t Joe Critic’s only writer; he’s invited other online movie critics to write for the site, but they never stay for long. He has even gotten his family to pitch in; his mom writes summaries of American Idol episodes, and now he’s trying to give his brother a job. “He’s trying to get me to write movie previews for the site,” said brother Josh, “we’ll see what happens.”
Sam said, “One time I got an email from a movie’s screenwriter thanking me for a positive review. It was a brief message, but it was really exciting and it made me feel great. Don’t worry though, I’ll stay unbiased.”

So what’s next for Sam? “Long term? College, career, kids… Short term? Just a lot of homework!”