Sony faces lawsuit in phoney critic debacle

Two filmgoers are suing Sony Pictures, saying they were duped into seeing A Knight’s Tale by ads promoting praise from a phoney film critic.

Sony has admitted that certain advertisements featured a quote from non-existent film critic David Manning that declared the film’s lead actor, Heath Ledger, as ‘‘this year’s hottest new star’’.

The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by Omar Rezec and Ann Belknap who said it was on behalf of all film fans ‘‘tricked’’ by the ads.

Sony has now expressed regret and suspended two executives for 30 days without pay.