In 1988, Rudnick began producing satiric film criticism for "Premiere Magazine" under the name Libby Gelman-Waxner, a deranged Manhattan wife, mother and "Assistant Buyer of Juniors Activewear." A collection of Libby's columns was published in 1994 under the title "If You Ask Me", and Janet Maslin, in "The New York Times", wrote that, "Mr. Rudnick weaves many a trenchant thought into Libby's comic screeds." "Premiere" folded in 2007, but Libby resumed writing a monthly column for "Entertainment Weekly" in 2011 and occasionally contributes reviews to "The New Yorker".