In "The Language Instinct", Steven Pinker criticized Simon for reviews obsessively focusing on actors' physical appearances to the detriment of critical acumen. Carol Burnett wrote a letter to "Time" responding to an attack on Liza Minnelli, whose face Simon had compared to that of a beagle, and she closed with "Could Mr. Simon be suffering from a simple case of heart envy?" Nevertheless, nearly a quarter of a century later, Simon gave an unqualified rave review to "Hollywood Arms" (2002), an autobiographical play which Burnett had co-written.