It's unfortunate that Lange's article has a title that suggests fans of
Phantom Thread are insincere or whatever, but it's worth noting that editors occasionally choose titles, so that might not even have been her decision. That point is not repeated in the article itself. Anyway, if she did come up with the title, then it's a poorly-chosen rhetorical device that fits in with the tenor of certain parts of social media and the online discussion of films, so it's at least understandable why such a title exists. I think it's part of the argot nowadays, unfortunately. Still, I don't think this warrants harsh responses or anger -- even Mark Harris' snarky tweet seems ill-considered because, again, who knows if she even picked the title.
Also, she is a critic, regardless of her official job title. I mean, she's criticizing the film in the context of an article, so she's a critic. I don't think she's inherently wrong about anything, either. I disagree with her perspective, but it's art, so it's debatable. If there was no voice of dissent in the case of this film then that'd be weird. I think the fact that these kind of takes show up is, for me, just a reminder that PTA is doing good work and, as Anthony Lane once put it in his review of
Inherent Vice, following his own star. He's taking artistic risks, and this is what happens when artistic risks are taken. Godfrey Chesire's review of TWBB: same thing -- he wants a more straightforward film, which misses the joy of PTA's movies, but whatever, my tastes aren't universal.
Again, though, I disagree with her take. This bit, for instance, is about as far from my own impression as possible:
Here's looking at you, kid, this is not.
The lines she's referring to are actually top-tier in my estimation. I mean, let's see how they hold up over time, but I'll make the claim that this particular exchange ranks among the great bits of film dialogue (or, more precisely, from the selection of movies I've seen).