Critics give away the endings to movies all the time. Heck, most trailers tell all the good jokes when advertising a comedy. Ebert himself says that American audiences love to see what they expect to see, which is why most trailers give away the plot of a film before you pay money to see it.
Chris Reeves did in real life what the script wouldn't allow Maggie Fitzgerald to do in a movie: find a reason and a will to live.
RE: "Critics give away the endings to movies all the time. Heck, most trailers tell all the good jokes when advertising a comedy. Ebert himself says that American audiences love to see what they expect to see, which is why most trailers give away the plot of a film before you pay money to see it."
Show me another recent example of a major film critic giving away the intentionally suprising plot developements of a first-run movie, and I will condemn it as I have Medved's spiteful blunder. And I generally don't think much about the sorry state of the American movie trailer nowadays, either. The Man on Fire trailer, as a recent example, was filled with so many blatant plot giveaways that it ruined the desire for me to watch the movie itself.
Trailers treat moviegoing audiences like they were dumb children who need to have the whole story spoonfed to them before they'll bother to watch a new movie, and I hope that's not true.