The Disparity Between Rotten Tomatoes Critics And American Audiences Is Hilariously Revealing

Almost immediately upon inception in 1998, the critic-based movie website rottentomatoes.com (RT) began its love/hate relationship with the film studios. If the aggregate score for a particular title was “fresh” — 60 percent or higher — studios were more or less happy; anything at 59 percent or lower was deemed “rotten” resulting in exasperated pouting by filmmakers and distributors.

For tent pole franchises (think Marvel, “Lord of the Rings,” or anything with “Star” in the title) what the critics think really doesn’t matter as these movies (along with most horror and Christian films) are largely considered to be “critic-proof.” No amount of critical praise or scorn will have any noticeable effect at the box office for these types of releases; the respective fan bases simply don’t care what critics think.

When it comes to low-visibility, “art-house” titles and those released during awards season (September through November), the studios depend greatly on critics’ opinions and RT scores; they can make or break their movies. Audiences that do not favor big-budget action extravaganzas tend to read critics more than mainstream fans.

In 2019, RT began including capsule-length reviews of movies by audiences; something its quasi-competitor imbd.com stopped doing in 2017. While many critics bemoaned this move, I couldn’t have been more pleased. For the duration of my 27-year career as a movie critic, I only line up with RT critic scores a little over half of the time and more recently have found myself agreeing more with audiences.

While there is no finite indicator of whether a movie is good or bad, as everyone has an opinion, if enough critics and fans reach a consensus, it’s usually correct. On the other hand, what happens when the critics’ score is positive and audiences think differently and vice versa?

Movies that Critics Love to Hate

Labeled as “torture porn” by most critics, “The Passion of the Christ” (2004) was nonetheless embraced by (largely Christian) general audiences and at one point was both the highest-grossing “R” rated and foreign language feature ever produced. Some believe the critics took issue with the largely negative portrayal of the Jewish clergy and critic’s consensus: “Director Mel Gibson’s zeal is unmistakable, but ‘The Passion of the Christ’ will leave many viewers emotionally drained rather than spiritually uplifted” simply underestimated the overall positive reaction from audiences, made evident in the 31 point difference.

An even larger gap (48 points) occurred just last month with the fact-based comedic drama “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” (2022). Set in the late ‘60s, it stars Zac Efron as an ex-Marine who returns to Vietnam as a civilian to hand out beer to a handful of his fellow Long Island, New York brethren. It’s a tad too long but unabashedly upbeat and patriotic, yet the consensus spoke otherwise: “Far from intoxicating, The Greatest Beer Run Ever reduces its fun fact-based story to a flat, flavorless brew.”  

Sporting three fan-friendly leads (Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot), “Red Notice” (2021) is a rollicking action comedy hybrid