Karina Longworth (born July 10, 1980) is an American film critic, author, and journalist based inLos Angeles. Longworth writes, hosts and produces the podcastYou Must Remember This, about the "secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood's first century".
She is one of the founders of the film culture blogCinematical[2][3] and formerly edited bothCinematical and the film blogSpoutBlog[1] and, while living in New York, was heard regularly on thePublic Radio International showThe Takeaway.[4] From 2010 to 2012, she was the Film Editor and lead critic atLA Weekly.[1][5]
When she was still a web critic forSpoutBlog, Longworth appeared in the documentaryFor the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism,[11] explaining the virtues ofblogging – for creating a back-and-forth dialogue with readers. About blogging she went on to say, "I have a Master's Degree inFilm Studies, but I’m no more qualified to blog than a high school student in Vermont."The New York Times has called Longworth "freakishly smart",[12] andVariety said, "... it's the ever-proliferating bloggers –Spout,Cinematical,Movie CityNews and Hollywood Elsewhere – that have become the instant barometers for how a film plays."[13]
In 2007,Variety said, "As the pool of well-paid print critics shrinks in size, the next generation of film fans may come to trust critic/bloggers like … Spout's Karina Longworth, who helped to create the major film blog Cinematical".[14]The New York Times has commented, "Are print critics really so all-important and sacrosanct with the Web full of debates about all manner of film in places like indiewire.com, cinematical.com and blog.spout.com?"[15]
In April 2014, Longworth launchedYou Must Remember This, apodcast that covers lesser-known Hollywood stories from the twentieth century. Distributed by thePanoply network in association withSlate Magazine, there have been over 200 episodes as of 2025, all written and narrated by Longworth.[16] It has become one of the top film podcasts; theWashington Post called it "knowledgeable and laceratingly funny".[17]Podcast Magazine gave the show five out of five mics.[18] The show won the 2016 award for "TV & Film" at the Academy of Podcasters Awards and was a finalist in the 2017.[19][20] The podcast's most talked-about series to date was adapted from the unfinished memoir ofAcademy Award nominatedproduction designer andfilm producerPolly Platt.[21]
Longworth was born to Duncan Longworth, a British father, and Joan Lee Sheiman, an American Jewish mother.[22] She married directorRian Johnson in 2018.[23] She received a special thanks in the credits of Johnson's filmKnives Out.
