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Tomato Red review – Ozarks lowlife drama a little too beautiful for its own good

Adapted from a novel by Daniel Woodrell, this film about a man who falls in love with a crimson-haired girl he meets in a bar doesn’t quite match its source

H ere’s that rare thing: an adaptation of a Daniel Woodrell novel that doesn’t live up to the source material. Woodrell’s work, focused almost exclusively on the challenges of working-class life in the mountainous American Ozarks, has previously provided the source material for two fine films: Ang Lee’s historical drama Ride With The Devil and the Oscar-nominated Winter’s Bone. But Tomato Red (adapted from the 1998 novel of the same name) to do justice to Woodrell’s austere vision. Jake Weary stars as Sammy Barlach, an ex-con who spends his time drifting through various dead-end jobs and drinking himself into a stupor. His life is altered dramatically when, while on a bender, he encounters the free-spirited Jamalee (Julia Garner), whose striking crimson hair give the book and the film its title, and her gigolo brother Jason. He falls in with them and their jaded mother (Anna Friel, playing distinctively against type), and he’s soon drawn into a world of long cons and deals gone bad. Tomato Red is admittedly lovely to look at; Irish director Juanita WIlson captures truck stops and trailer parks in all their elegant, rust-ridden decay. But its depiction of hardscrabble southern life is sepia-tinged and shallow. Cliches are eagerly delivered - witness Barlach’s portentous voiceover croaking hackneyed lines like “Heroes have a knack of knowing the right thing to do” - and the series of scrapes and hijinks the group get into sometimes comes off as playing dress-up as poor people. Ultimately it’s a case of all surface, no feeling.

• Drama films
• Film adaptations
• Julia Garner

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T he Rotten Tomatoes ratings system―good or bad? Well, I’d say it’s a bit better than the original way tomatoes were used to judge entertainment. Because even if we want to throw fruit at the screen, 21st century technology reminds us we don’t have to. Rotten Tomatoes will provide us with a fair Critic consensus before we even get to the theatre (saving us a ton of food and money).

So how does Rotten Tomatoes work, exactly? Is it a reliable judge of… characters … Okay, okay, hold your tomatoes please. Let’s get a behind the scenes look at how it all works.

What do the Rotten Tomatoes symbols mean? Read on

Rotten tomatoes ratings system.

Rotten Tomatoes started in 2000 and it quickly became moviegoers go-to for reviews. But ever since Fandango acquired the company, it’s become even more well-known adding something called a “Tomatometer” score next to every movie and ticket listing. 

Critics have suggested that there is much more nuance and complication when it comes to the correlation between a Rotten Tomatoes rating and ticket sales. And while we will not get into that in this article, I think there is something to be said psychologically about seeing a rating right before you make your choice.

But I digress. 

I know for me, the ubiquitous nature of a Rotten Tomatoes score has made me feel like they hold more weight than they once did. But do they really hold more weight? How is the score actually calculated? And how are critics curated? 

Let's break it down.

Tomatometer Breakdown

Rotten tomatoes rating system, how does the tomatometer work.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating system uses a scale better known as the “The Tomatometer.” This represents the percentage of positive reviews for a given film or show. The Tomatometer score is calculated after five reviews.

As the reviews come in, The Tomatometer measures the positive reviews against the negative ones and assigns either an overall score of fresh or rotten rating to the film or television show. 

A red tomato score indicating its fresh status, is designated when at least 60% of the reviews are positive. 

A green splat indicating rotten status, is displayed when less than 60% of the reviews are positive. 

If there is no score available, it usually just means the movie or show hasn’t been released or there aren’t enough reviews yet. So, now that we know how they’re calculated, who’s doing the reviewing? 

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How Does Rotten Tomatoes Rate Their Movies

How is rotten tomatoes rated .

Rotten Tomatoes is careful in its Critic curation. It won’t include just any critic’s review. It aggregates those who have been regularly putting out movie reviews over the last two years, and those who are considered active by Rotten Tomatoes standards. This just means they’ve published a review within the last year. While there are about 3,000 accepted reviewers (see the Tomatometer-approved critics criteria), usually only several hundred are actively reviewing for any given film. 

Many times, it’s much less. And Top Critics are counted with a separate score. So while the the Rotten Tomatoes rating system is really just general consensus, you can see some of the more renowned critics in a different space.

But it’s not just about the critics! You also get a fully rounded out review because you can also see how the audience feels. 

What is the Tomatometer?

Popcorn rating explained, rotten tomatoes audience score.

This is a great feature of the site because it provides information from everyday moviegoers but also gives you some insight to see how close this score is to the critics’ scores. It can help you gauge if it’s truly a must-see or probably-pass. And it’s calculated similarly to critic reviews.

The Audience Score is designated by a popcorn bucket.

The score is the percentage of users who have rated the movie or show positively. There is also a section for Verified Ratings which includes those that have actually bought tickets. 

To receive a full popcorn bucket , at least 60% of users give a film or show a star rating of 3.5 or higher.

A tipped over popcorn bucket indicates that less than 60% of users have given it a 3.5 or higher. 

The most interesting finds are the ones that have a green splat for critics, and a full bucket of popcorn from the audience. 

While it’s rarely ever vice-versa, it happens, and it’s then when Rotten Tomatoes ratings may seem more subjective, and we wonder if the system works. And while reviews are opinion to some extent, the site boasts something called Certified Fresh, which brings a little more objectivity to the critique. 

Audience Score Breakdown

Certified rotten tomatoes score, what is certified fresh.

What does Rotten Tomatoes mean by Certified Fresh?

If a film or television show is awarded a Certified Fresh status, it’s being acknowledged that it’s met these requirements:

• It has at least five reviews from Top Critics
• A steady Tomatometer score of at least 75%
• Limited release films must have at least 40 reviews
• Wide release films must have at least 80 reviews
• TV shows are eligible by season and must have at least 20 reviews per season

Of course these stats could fluctuate, especially within the first few days or weeks of a film’s release. If it meets these requirements, it is automatically flagged for review.

When the Rotten Tomatoes staff can determine the movie or show is unlikely to fall below these numbers, it achieves its Certified Fresh status.

Similarly, if the Tomatometer score ever falls below 70%, it will lose this status. Because the Rotten Tomatoes ratings system is so general, RT certified fresh consideration gives the site more objective credibility. 

What does Rotten Tomatoes mean for movies

Is rotten tomatoes good for movies.

So, what's the bottom line? With the movie theater business under constant assault from the rise of streaming services, audiences are less and less likely to venture out to the movies. If they do happen to make it outside the house, they'll likely be extra picky about how they spend their money.

Will they choose an "untested" wildcard movie or one that has general approval from fans and critics? The answer is self-evident. On its surface, the Rotten Tomatoes rating system and Tomatometer seem to be a legitimate resource for the discerning consumer. 

However, there is also a legitimate concern for low-budget indie movies who already have the cards stacked against them in distribution. Since they don't have the marketing budget of the Hollywood tentpoles, curious moviegoers have little else to go on besides the Tomatometer. These "little fish" movies live or die by this system, which is ultimately opinion-based and subjective.

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What is a Cliche? Learn from Examples

If you’re a filmmaker or just love the movies, using cliches are a sure fire way to get awarded a nice big green splat, or a tipped over popcorn bucket.  Next up, are some examples of these tired situations and ways to avoid them.

Up Next: Cliche explained →

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The Top 20 Highest-Rated Movies on Rotten Tomatoes

What are the movies with the highest rating on RT and why have they endured for so long?

With the sheer amount of content permeating every facet of media, from streaming to physical media, it’s hard wading through everything to find the best of the best. Thankfully the folks at Rotten Tomatoes have created a handy list of the top-rated features on their site to give audiences a starting point for finding the enduring classics that might connect with them.

But the list is just a starting point. A bird's eye view. So we wanted to look closer at the list itself and the movies on it. What is it about them that has allowed them to rise to the top and become the highest-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes?

It's important to note that the ranking of the list—as crafted by Rotten Tomatoes itself—was created using a movie's "Adjusted Score." RT officially explains the score as follows:

Each critic from our discrete list gets one vote, weighted equally. A movie must have 40 or more rated reviews to be considered. The Adjusted Score comes from a weighted formula (Bayesian) that we use that accounts for variation in the number of reviews per movie.

This adjustment is made to account for the volume of reviews a movie receives. So if a movie only has four reviews, but all are positive, it technically has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. But if a movie has 483 reviews and a 96% score, that average is technically harder to achieve given the sheer number of reviews that exist.

So without further ado, let's dig into the top 20 highest-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes.

20. All About Eve (1950)

RT Score:  100%

One of the quintessential features about show business, All About Eve is the Single White Female of the 1950s. Legendary actress Bette Davis plays legendary actress Margo Channing who takes a shine to a sycophantic fan named Eve ( Anne Baxter ). But as Margo and her friends soon realize, Eve has more than just friendship on her mind; she actually wants to steal Margo’s career from her, and everything that comes with it.

Directed and written by Joseph Mankiewicz , All About Eve was a critical darling upon release in 1950. Critics praised the acid-tongued dialogue and the acting of all involved. It would eventually win six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Since its release it’s often called one of the smartest films to exist with its insider-view of the theater world that many believe is synonymous with filmmaking. It holds a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Roger Ebert cited it as Bette Davis’ finest work. It’s a crackling story that reminds everyone to watch out because your friends and enemies might just be one and the same.

19. Dunkirk (2017)

RT Score:  92%

It might surprise many to realize this is the only feature directed by Christopher Nolan to enter this list. Nolan’s tenth feature film follows the various men from Belgium, Great Britain, and France who fought and died during the battle of Dunkirk in WWII. The film was a long-time passion project for Nolan who initially conceived of it in the early 1990s. The film’s visceral imagery was often compared to Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan , and Nolan crafted the entire narrative as something of a time puzzle. The all-star cast often takes a backseat to the sheer power of the cinematography and technical prowess.

Dunkirk went on to win three Academy Awards for sound and editing and made over $500 million worldwide. Though it holds a 92% on RT, critics at the time cited its script, direction, cinematography, and score as worthy of praise, with many considering it Nolan’s best as well as one of the foremost features on WWII.

18. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

RT Score: 98%

One of the most iconic images of cinema is little Elliott ( Henry Thomas ) and his friends traveling across the moon to help their alien buddy E.T. “phone home.” The Steven Spielberg -directed feature is a heartfelt, funny, and compassionate story of friendship wrapped up in a coping with divorce narrative (heavy stuff for a kid’s film). On a scant budget of just $10 million, E..T the Extra-Terrestrial has netted nearly $800 million since its release in 1982 (it was re-released in 1985 and 2002) and surpassed Star Wars as the highest-grossing film of all time. It also won four Oscars, mainly in effects and sound as well as the John Williams -created score that’s endured alongside the movie.

It’s a film that connected with audiences so much it was screened at the White House for then-President Ronald Reagan, made Princess Diana cry, and was showcased at the United Nations. Interestingly, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial won universal acclaim upon release but boasts a 98% on RT with one negative review.

17. Coco (2017)

RT Score:  97%

The first of three Disney films on this list (excluding the Fox merger), Coco tells the story of a little boy named Miguel who wants to be a musician. Unfortunately his family, for reasons unknown to him, has placed a ban on music. So when Miguel steals the guitar of a long-dead and famous Mexican musician he is accidentally sent to the Land of the Dead where he must reunite with his ancestors and learn about his family’s past.

Coco marked the first motion picture to boast an all-Latino cast and have a nine-figure budget. It was also Pixar’s first film with a Latino lead character. Like all Pixar features Coco is a blend of humor and heart, with a final scene that is an emotional gutpunch. The songs, penned by Frozen lyricists Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez , are spunky and infectious with the track “Remember Me” going on to win Best Original Song at the 2018 Academy Awards; the film also won Best Animated Feature.

Coco boasts a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes receiving praise for its rich characters and colorful animation.

16. Modern Times (1936)

Whether you’ve seen one of his films or not, nearly everyone can identify Charlie Chaplin’s “the Tramp” character. The kind-hearted vagrant with a mustache and bowler hat had been Chaplin’s bread and butter since the mid-1900s. Interested in the nature of machinery, especially in the midst of the Great Depression’s unemployment, Chaplin assembled a movie wherein his Tramp character plays a factory worker struggling to deal with modern technology and the aftermath of losing his job. Chaplin hoped Modern Times would be his first “talkie,” but decided to abandon the idea and keep the Tramp silent for as long as he could. (The character’s first sound film would be four years later in The Great Dictator .)

Though it won no awards in 1936, Modern Times is considered Chaplin’s best feature and is his most popular, boasting a perfect 100% on RT. Reviews at the time were positive, though not overly effusive and it was not commercially successful in the United States with its political views on labor being cited as controversial. Modern Times is often championed for prophesying our increased dependence on machinery and automation, all seen through the eyes of one little Tramp.

15. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Another 100% feature on the list, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a silent German Expressionist film about a somnambulist (or sleepwalker) played by Conrad Veidt , who commits murders at the behest of the evil Dr. Caligari ( Werner Krauss ).

A landmark in horror history, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is usually taught in film schools as the best example of German expressionism. The movement is commonly identified for its reliance on dark and twisted imagery, sharp and oblique angles, and shadows painted directly on the sets themselves. The film is perceived to be a war allegory, with Veidt’s Cesare the German soldiers fighting in WWI and Dr. Caligari the government sending them off to their deaths. Today the feature is a creepy tale of control with a dreamlike atmosphere and stark cinematography. It’s a highly memorable silent film.

Surprisingly, the film was marketed as a standard horror film, free of artistic pretensions and captured an audience upon release in 1920. It was distributed in the U.S. the next year but was pulled from theaters after protests regarding the presentation of German features during wartime. It’s unclear how the movie was received in 1920. Some film theorists have said it was a commercial and critical success while others maintain it was a critical failure that was “too high-brow to become popular in Germany,” this per Siegfried Kracauer. Regardless, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has become a foundational film and a must-see for any fans of horror.

14. Casablanca (1942)

RT Score:  98%

When asked to say the first classic era film you've seen, the usual answer is this 1942 war drama directed by Michael Curtiz . Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Blaine, an apathetic bar owner in the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca. When he’s reunited with Ilsa ( Ingrid Bergman ), the woman who got away, Rick is forced to reconcile with his past and his own response to the events going on in the city.

Casablanca remains a perfect example of why studio-era cinema has endured. Its stars are A-list and utterly flawless, the directing isn’t technologically focused but geared towards the performances, and it has serious stakes. However, while filming it was assumed that Casablanca would just be another war drama in a decade dominated by them. You might say the studio didn’t think it’d amount to a hill of beans.

Reviews in 1942 were pleasant with resident critic Bosley Crowther applauding its sentiment. Other papers, like The New Yorker , simply called the film “pretty tolerable.” With a budget of a little over $1 million the grosses were good but not spectacular. It wasn’t until the late-’50s that audiences started to appreciate the movie for the classic it is. Here’s looking at you, kid!

13. It Happened One Night (1934)

One of the funniest screwball comedies out there, there’s nothing better than It Happened One Night . Claudette Colbert plays heiress Ellen Andrews who runs away from home because she can’t marry who she wants. She meets up with reporter Peter Warne ( Clark Gable ) and the two strike a deal: if she gives him an exclusive he won’t rat her out to her dad. Thus the two end up on a cross-country adventure with Ellen realizing her privilege and the two falling in love.

Screwball comedy was popular during the Depression as it positioned the wealthy in positions of goofiness (how times have changed). Colbert’s Ellen is relatable, a princess running away from the strictures of her rigid life. Gable’s Peter is scrappy, a man’s man. The two’s chemistry is fantastic and makes for some unforgettable comedy.

Interestingly, Colbert thought the movie was “the worst picture in the world and home studio Columbia didn’t think much of it either. Reviews were pleasant, with Variety saying there wasn’t a “particularly strong plot.” Word-of-mouth and the Depression creating a need for heartwarming stories helped the film do brisk business, eventually turning it into a hit. It won five Oscars, including both Best Actor and Actress for its leads, as well as Best Picture and is labeled as one of the best comedies ever made.

12. Eighth Grade (2018)

RT Score: 99%

Director Bo Burnham blew audiences away in 2018 with his feature directorial debut, Eighth Grade . The film follows Kayla ( Elsie Fisher ), who is about to finish her last week of middle school. As the tween prepares to transition to a new school, she's forced to confront all her social awkwardness and the problems she doesn’t want to follow her to high school.

Burnham was inspired to make Eighth Grade by his own adolescent anxieties. He translated that into a feature examining the generation of children who came of age with social media. Newcomer Elsie Fisher, who’d previously been known for voicing one of the little girls in Despicable Me , became an instant star after the film’s release for her performance as Kayla, garnering a Golden Globe nomination in the process (the film would receive no Oscar nominations). Eighth Grade holds a 99% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with reviews praising its “supreme awkwardness” and “achingly honest” script.

11. Inside Out (2015)

In 2015, Disney and Pixar got psychological with Inside Out , the colorful tale about the anthropomorphic feelings that control the minds of every being on this planet. In this case, the audience meets the emotions of a girl named Riley. Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler ) wants Riley, who is moving from her hometown of Minnesota to San Francisco, to have the perfect transition. But when Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith ) messes things up it’s up to Joy to get the little girl’s mind back in order.

With the success of the 2009 film Up director Pete Doctor was able to pitch this movie, inspired by his daughter Elie personality change as she became a teenager. The film was a bit of a game-changer for the studio, the first to not be intensely overseen by Pixar’s former chief creative officer John Lasseter and the first to have half the story crew be comprised of women.

Inside Out premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 and grossed over $850 million worldwide with the biggest opening gross for a Pixar movie at the time. It holds a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the critical consensus being that it’s “another outstanding addition to the Pixar library of modern animated classics.”

10. Wonder Woman (2017)

RT Score: 93%

After several decades in development, Warner Bros. announced in 2010 plans to adapt Wonder Woman for the screen. With an at-the-time untested director in Patty Jenkins and a leading lady who wasn’t a household name in Gal Gadot , Wonder Woman was considered a gamble that paid off big time.

Gadot plays Diana of Themyscira, a princess living on an island of Amazonian women warriors. When a WWI spy (played by Chris Pine ) crash-lands on Themyscira it kicks off a series of events that sees Diana leave home to travel to England. Diana hopes to find a “Godkiller” weapon to stop the evil god Ares from destroying humanity.

Wonder Woman connected with audiences everywhere but none more so than women, who found the movie’s predominantly female cast and lack of male gaze to be refreshing. In a time where politics were making women fear everything, Diana and the women of Themyscira gave them hope. The film was a success financially and garnered incredibly positive reviews despite the online discourse that dominated social media. It was considered DC’s best feature at the time and kick-started a wave of discussion on the roles of women, both in front of and behind the camera.

9. Moonlight (2016)

RT Score:  99%

The Oscars mistake heard round the world is usually cited as overshadowing the sheer power of Barry Jenkins’ powerful tale of love between two African-American men. Everything in Moonlight , from the performances to Nicholas Britell’s score, to the luminous cinematography, is astounding.

Director Barry Jenkins was reluctant to tackle a second film after his 2008 feature, Medicine for Melancholy , debuted. After that he wasn’t able to get a script into production. Urged on by his producer, Jenkins took a shot at adapting Tarell Alvin McCaraney’s play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue . The finished product pointedly discussed black masculinity, particularly where it regards homosexuality, poverty and struggle, and the relationships between families.

On a budget of just $4 million, Moonlight grossed $65.3 million worldwide in 2016. It holds a nearly perfect 99% on Rotten Tomatoes with several reviews praising the film’s authentic and personal story. It would win three Oscars, including Best Picture where it infamously was thought to have lost to La La Land . A presenter snafu led to the most controversial Oscars ceremony in years.

8. The Third Man (1949)

Directed by the acclaimed British auteur Carol Reed with a script by Grahame Green , The Third Man is a landmark in British film noir. The Third Man follows Holly Martins ( Joseph Cotten ), a man sent to Vienna on the behest of his friend Harry Lime ( Orson Welles ). But when Holly discovers Lime’s been murdered it kickstarts a twisted and wholly unpredictable mystery.

With its stark black-and-white cinematography and heavy use of Dutch angles, The Third Man is considered one of the most expressive and cynical features to come out of post-WWII Britain. The feature is not only regarded for its look, but its acting, and a third-act twist that is still a highlight for fans today.

The Third Man became the most popular film in Britain in 1949, though the reviews were tepid elsewhere. Critics in the U.S. praised it, even if a few thought the cinematography was overwhelming. Surprisingly, the film was nominated and won just one Oscar for Robert Kasker’s “deliriously tilted” cinematography. Since its release the film is considered a masterpiece and a must-watch for film aficionados.

7. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

In 1979 Australian director George Miller debuted Mad Max about a post-apocalyptic world. The film had two sequels, 1983’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome . The films made Miller a cult favorite who would go on to direct The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Happy Feet (2006). Miller also was offered a chance to make a big-scale Justice League movie that legendarily crashed and burned . But in that time Miller was always working on a fourth Mad Max film. After obtaining the rights in 1995 he spent the next 20 years attempting to get the film made.

It wasn’t until 2009 that Warner Bros. offered to help Miller with the film and in 2011 Mad Max: Fury Road entered production. The film followed a new incarnation of Max (this time played by Tom Hardy ) and a woman named Furiosa ( Charlize Theron ) attempting to liberate a group of female prisoners. The intense action and physical effects remain remarkably revolutionary in an age of CGI, and numerous essays have been written on the film’s feminism.

With a $200 million dollar budget it would have been difficult for the feature to turn a significant profit and only grossed $378 million worldwide. It was cited by Forbes as “too expensive, but not really a flop.” Reviews were strong with several critics championing Fury Road as the greatest action feature ever made. The film won six Academy Awards in the tech field, including Best Costumes and Production Design and, more importantly, has introduced Max and his gang to a whole new generation. The movie has a 97% on RT.

6. Get Out (2017)

Before he was an Oscar-nominated director,  Jordan Peele was best known as one half of the comic duo  Key and Peele . After his comedy show went off the air in 2015, Peele transitioned to directing and burst out the gate with a movie that challenged audiences’ thoughts on race, history, and the nature of the horror movie. In  Get Out , Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris, a black man invited to meet the parents of his white girlfriend. But what starts out as an awkwardly weird weekend turns into a terrifying tale of cultural appropriation.

Get Out flew under the radar right up until the moment of release, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival a month before hitting theaters nationwide. Upon release in 2017, reviews were extremely enthusiastic. Writers were praising the film from every angle, from its presentation of the white savior trope to how it looks at black culture butting up against white society. Get Out was a box office success, a critical darling and, more importantly, made Jordan Peele the fifth Black man nominated for Best Director. He won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and the film currently stands at 98% on RT.

5. BlacKkKlansman (2018)

RT Score:  96%

Spike Lee has been challenging audiences’ thoughts on race since the 1980s, but it wasn’t until he adapted the story of Colorado Springs police officer Ron Stallworth that he nabbed his first Best Director nomination.

In the 1970s, Stallworth (played by John David Washington ) was the first Black man hired to the Colorado Springs police department. When he stumbles upon an ad for the Ku Klux Klan, Stallworth decided to infiltrate the organization with the help of a white fellow officer ( Adam Driver ). BlacKkKlansman is at times both painfully humorous and utterly terrifying. Lee and screenwriters Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz create something that feels timely and, unfortunately, timeless.

A box office success upon release, BlacKkKlansman drew as much criticism as it did praise. Lee’s provocative story drew rave reviews from critics, while director Boots Riley took to social media to decry the director’s use of inaccurate facts for narrative entertainment. Regardless, the film holds a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for six Academy Awards. Lee didn’t win for Best Director but did get a chance to make a speech at the awards ceremony when the film won for Best Adapted Screenplay.

4. Citizen Kane (1941)

RT Score: 100%

If you’ve studied film in any capacity you’ve seen and/or heard “Rosebud,” the plaintive cry that anchors Orson Welles ’ filmic monument, Citizen Kane . Welles was just 25 when he wrote, directed, starred and produced Citizen Kane . Inspired by the life of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst , Welles created newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane, an ambitious man who reaches the heights of professional glory at the expense of personal relationships.

Citizen Kane is a marvel of filmmaking from its directing to its cinematography, with director of photography Gregg Toland creating several new techniques that have become de rigueur in cinema today. The film’s release history already has several books written on it, but the movie irked Hearst immensely. He attempted to have the film stopped and when that didn’t work he banned all advertising, reviews, or mentions in any of the newspapers he owned. Several major theaters refused to screen it for fear of running afoul of Hearst and his lead gossip columnist, Louella Parsons .

When Citizen Kane finally did open it was a box office disappointment, playing to near empty houses in rural areas and major cities. Despite several good reviews at the time the film was the first (though far from the last) time Welles would be in the red. It was nominated for nine Oscars regardless of Hearst’s campaign, though it only won one for Best Original Screenplay. Now Citizen Kane is regarded as a masterpiece, the film by which all other films are judged, and Welles’ name is positioned firmly as one of the greatest directors of our time.

3. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

It’s hard to believe but The Wizard of Oz only has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes! Who could possibly dislike the most charming, fun, sweet movie to ever exist? One that’s made a legion of children smile and has inspired nearly every movie to follow? It’s just baffling. The story of Dorothy ( Judy Garland ) and her trip over the rainbow to the land of Oz has countless books written on its production, which involved numerous directors, costume changes, and actor swaps, but the finished product remains just as dazzling today as it did in 1939.

The Wizard of Oz came out in one of the best years for cinema and, interestingly enough, is the only feature from the Golden Year to make this list. This was home studio MGM’s pony (alongside Gone With the Wind ). The movie was a massive undertaking with numerous worlds created on a studio backlot (and a revolving door of directors). Judy Garland was just 16 when she got the role of a lifetime as Dorothy Gale, taking on a role that initially was offered to Shirley Temple .

It isn’t surprising that the movie received huge praise in 1939; not from The New Yorker though who called it a “stinkeroo.” Because of its large budget it took several years for the movie to reach a profit, aided by subsequent re-releases throughout the ‘40s. It did only win two Oscars (out of a low six nominations) for Best Song and Score. But no matter because the movie now is cited as one of the best films ever made with nearly all of its cast becoming legends.

2. Lady Bird (2017)

For a generation of women in 2017, watching director Greta Gerwig’s feature Lady Bird was like being sent right back to their high school. The story of a confident young woman named Lady Bird ( Saorise Ronan ) and her desire to leave her Sacramento hometown was relatable, funny, cringe-worthy at times but always delightful. Gerwig, the star of films like Frances Ha and Mistress America , had been working on the script for years and was determined to make it her first solo directorial effort.

Lady Bird grossed nearly $80 million worldwide and was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Greta Gerwig became just the fifth woman nominated for Best Director, the first since Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman Best Director winner for The Hurt Locker in 2009.

1. Black Panther (2018)

RT Score: 96%

By the time Black Panther was released the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been a presence for ten years. And yet, in all that time, audiences were still asking for a superhero lead of color.

All that changed with the release of Ryan Coogler ’s Black Panther , an exuberant, rich, and highly entertaining story about the citizens of the fictional country of Wakanda. Led by T’Challa ( Chadwick Boseman ) as the eponymous Black Panther, the nation of Wakanda must band together to stop the evil Killmonger ( Michael B. Jordan ).

In development since 1992 - Wesley Snipes wanted the role badly - Black Panther went through its fair share of development hell . With Snipes leaving the project in the early 2000s, Marvel finally greenlit it as part of their phase two slate in 2014 with Boseman, who had previously played Jackie Robinson and James Brown , as King T’Challa.

Black Panther grossed over $1 billion dollars in 2018, becoming the highest-grossing solo superhero film and the highest-grossing film by a black director. More iconic was its winning of three Academy Awards, including Ruth Carter ’s fantastic costume design. It also marked the first time a Marvel feature was nominated for Best Picture.

Tomato Red: Blood Money (2017)

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Oppenheimer First Reviews: Breathtaking, Ballsy, and One of the Best Biopics Ever Made

Critics say this may be not only christopher nolan's most impressive film but one of the best of the year, period, anchored by an award-worthy performance from cillian murphy..

TAGGED AS: blockbusters , First Reviews , movies

Here’s what critics are saying about Oppenheimer :

Is this possibly the best movie of the year?

“ Oppenheimer isn’t just an epic masterpiece but one of the most important films of the year.” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“The most breathtaking film of the year.” – Jordan Hoffman, The Messenger

“This is a big, ballsy, serious-minded cinematic event of a type now virtually extinct from the studios.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Unless Hollywood has a sleeper hit waiting in the wings, Oppenheimer is primed to be 2023’s best film.” – Maggie Lovitt, Millennial Falcon Reviews

“The film stands as the best of 2023.” – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

“2023’s best.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“The best film of 2023 and one of the greatest biopics ever.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

(Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/©Universal Pictures)

Will Christopher Nolan fans enjoy it?

“It’s hard to know how the Nolan fanboys will respond to a movie as heady, historically curious, and grounded in gravitas as Oppenheimer which has little in common with the brooding majesty of his Batman movies or the tricky mindf–kery of films like Inception or Tenet . In terms of its stirring solemnity, it’s perhaps closest to Dunkirk , while its melding of science and emotion recalls Interstellar .” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“ Oppenheimer feels like the culmination of everything the director has done so far in his already remarkable career.” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

“ Oppenheimer is nothing if not a biopic as only Christopher Nolan could make one. Indeed, it would seem like the ideal vehicle for Nolan’s career-long exploration into the black holes of the human condition — the last riddles of a terrifyingly understandable world.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Is it one of his most impressive films?

“ Oppenheimer —a film of endless contrasts and contradictions—is the fullest expression of the writer/director’s artistry to date… surely the finest and most inspired film of Nolan’s career.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“Nolan has created not just one of his best films, but easily the most mature film of his career.” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

“With Oppenheimer , Nolan might just be at his most experimental… [He] is now in the conversation for the greatest director of all time.” – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

“It may just be Nolan’s magnum opus… [his] most profound and career-defining film to date.” – Maggie Lovitt, Millennial Falcon Reviews

How is the screenplay?

“In what could be Christopher Nolan’s best screenplay thus far, Oppenheimer weaves through a three-act structure that can be divided into these unique entities; a rich character-driven deconstruction, a tense-filled thriller, and a politically laced courtroom drama.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

“It is undoubtedly his strongest script and most cohesive plot.” – Maggie Lovitt, Millennial Falcon Reviews

“Nolan has crafted an incredibly dense script that never manages to feel too convoluted or overwhelming—a feat in itself, considering how many timelines and characters are thrown into the mix.” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

Is it difficult to understand?

“While the four-act structure asks a lot of the film’s audience, our patience and concentration are amply rewarded.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Considering the subject of Oppenheimer involves quantum mechanics, the film does a reasonable job explaining scientific concepts for laymen.” – Fred Topel, United Press International

How is Cillian Murphy in the title role?

“Cillian Murphy leads the ensemble for Oppenheimer with a career-defining performance… a tour de force, encapsulating the complexities of the man with a haunting intensity and continuous dead look in the eye.” – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

“A tour de force… It’s a performance that demands his name to be called on Oscar nomination morning.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

“Murphy’s performance is every bit as inspired as his casting.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“Murphy’s take on Oppenheimer will go down as one of the best performances ever captured by Nolan’s camera.” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

“Cillian Murphy, with a thousand-yard beam, the half-smile of an intellectual rake, and a way of keeping everything close to the vest, gives a phenomenal performance as Oppenheimer, making him fascinating and multi-layered.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“It’s a magnificent marquee turn from the Peaky Blinders star (and frequent Nolan collaborator), providing a micro and macro concept of the physicist’s internal and external battles.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

Do any of his co-stars particularly stand out?

“In a mighty ensemble of heavy-hitters, Downey gives the drama’s standout performance as Strauss, a founding member, and later chair, of the Atomic Energy Commission.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Downey should be a shoo-in for the awards circuit. A Best Supporting Actor nomination might just be a lock.” – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

“Downey offers a thunderous, Oscar-worthy performance that is one of his career’s best.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

“Special mention goes to David Krumholtz as Isidor Isaac Rabi.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“David Krumholtz is extraordinary…[and] in one of his best roles in years, there’s Matt Damon as Leslie Groves.” – Jordan Hoffman, The Messenger

“It speaks to the caliber of this cast that there’s not enough room to praise the excellent Kenneth Branagh, Casey Affleck and Rami Malek, all of whom make a porterhouse out of a slice of roast beef.” – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

How is the movie’s representation of women characters?

“Though efforts were made, one can’t deny this movie ignores the women characters.” – Jordan Hoffman, The Messenger

“Despite attempts to include three significant female characters in a male-dominated story, all three women fare poorly enough to suggest it might have been less glaring to stick to the military story.” – Fred Topel, United Press International

“Nolan still has problems with substantial female roles, and that does continue in Oppenheimer .” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

“Emily Blunt’s role at first seems limited to the supportive wife, urging her husband to fight harder for his reputation. But she has a knockout scene in the hearing.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

How does it look and sound?

“The major draw for hardcore film geeks will be the visuals… DP Hoyte van Hoytema brings visceral intensity to the Trinity sequence and extraordinary texture and depth of field to the many dialogue-driven scenes.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Hoyte van Hoytema continues to impress as one of the best cinematographers. The film, shot with 70mm IMAX cameras, stands as one of the crowning achievements of IMAX with astonishing visuals that are set to leave with cinephiles upon the film’s conclusion.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

“Every frame is breathtaking, and just when you think you’ve seen all the tricks Nolan and van Hoytema have up their sleeves, they shock with another.” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

“Shot with grandeur by regular cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, the film is sensorially overwhelming, its titanic visuals matched by Ludwig Göransson’s bellowing score of anxious ticking, thunderous foot-stomping, discordant buzzing, and strident Psycho-esque strings.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“Ludwig Göransson wrote a good score, but the constant use of it is exhausting… Nolan may have taken criticisms about his films’ inaudible dialogue to heart and strove to keep dialogue at least as audible as the music.” – Fred Topel, United Press International

(Photo by ©Universal Pictures)

What about the pacing?

“Nolan begins with a flurry of borderline avant-garde cutting between spaces, places, and faces (courtesy of stellar editor Jennifer Lame), and he never lets his foot off the gas… I can recall no biopic ever hurtling forward at such a scorching clip” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“At no point did this film ever feel slow because it had my attention for every single minute.” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“It’s more slow-burn than explosive.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Does it have any surprises?

“Perhaps the most surprising element of this audacious epic is that the scramble for atomic armament ends up secondary to the scathing depiction of political gamesmanship.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Many unbelievable scenes fill the entire screen.” – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

Do we need to see it in IMAX?

“If you’re lucky enough to be near one of the 30 screens worldwide showing the film in IMAX 70mm, you’ll experience a movie that, even at its talkiest, exerts an immersive hold, pulling you in to absorb the molecular detail of every shot.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“See it in IMAX on 70-millimeter film — you’ll be very glad you did.” – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

“It’s a film that must be experienced on the biggest screen possible!” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

Oppenheimer opens in theaters everywhere on July 21, 2023.

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Against gossip & scandal, independent media network, global stories from local perspective, factual culture news, how to understand rotten tomatoes: an in-depth guide to help you decide what movies to watch next.

Caroline is currently a writer and contributor for Hollywood Insider. She believes in constant critical thinking and applied analysis when it comes to media consumption. Her goal aligns with Hollywood Insider’s mission statement, and she strives to educate readers on the nuances of the entertainment industry and to hopefully encourage them to form their own opinions on the media they consume daily.

Mar 10, 2021

Table of Contents

Photo: Rotten Tomatoes

In 2020 alone, there were more than 320 films released in the United States and Canada. That was with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent movie theater closures. The year before, there were over 800 films released. With the ever-growing number of films to watch both in theaters and on streaming platforms , it’s becoming a harder decision for viewers to pick what they want to watch. The overwhelming nature of choice has dominated the movie market for years now, but the aim of critical review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes , is to help make that choice a little easier. 

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Rotten Tomatoes was launched in August 1998 with the goal of merging critical reviews into an easily-readable and understandable score that viewers could use to determine whether a movie was worth their time or not. It is important to note that, in 2016, Fandango , a movie ticketing company, acquired Rotten Tomatoes and now displays their scores next to films when you’re deciding on which tickets to purchase, so to say that Rotten Tomatoes scores are incredibly influential would be an understatement. They, in front of IMDB , are one of the most trusted sources for accurate, critical ratings on all your favorite movies. But where exactly do all the critical scores come from? And what do they mean? Let’s break it down.

What Are Critical Scores? How Are They Calculated?

When you click on a movie on Rotten Tomatoes, the first thing you see are two independent scores. One signifies an aggregation of critical ratings of a film (the “Tomatometer” ) and the other, denoted by a popcorn bucket, displays audience consensus on a film. In regards to critical reviews, there are three categories that a film can fall under: rotten, fresh, and certified fresh. To put it simply, if a film is marked as “rotten”, it means that under 60% of the total reviewers left a positive review. A positive review is usually marked by a score of 6 or more out of 10, but there is also room for interpretation as to what a positive score can be due to the wide variety of rating systems that critics use.

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Some critics use a letter grade such as “A”, “B”, “C”, or “D” to judge films and others use a rating system out of 4 instead of 10. Ultimately, it falls to the curators of Rotten Tomatoes to clarify whether a review is positive or negative, and categorize it as such. As a side note, the overall percentage that you see at the top of the screen is the total amount of reviewers that scored the film positively. For example, ‘Coming 2 America’ currently holds a critical rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning that of the 182 reviews, only 52% of them ranked the film positively. Got it? Great, let’s move on. If a film qualifies as “fresh”, that means that more than 60% of reviewers ranked the film positively.

That number increases to 75% or more if a film is “certified fresh”, however, that title is also accompanied by a different set of qualifying rules. For example, the film in question must have been reviewed 80 times or more, as well as have reviews by five of the “top critics” to qualify as certified fresh. But let’s back up even further to examine who these critics are and what qualifying categories they have to meet in order to be accepted into the Rotten Tomatoes club.

Who Are the Critics?

Rotten Tomatoes deems that all critics meet a set of eligibility guidelines that are meant to exemplify that this person or publication is influential (and experienced) enough to write well-articulated reviews. They do this through an application-based system with some of the requirements being: you must have been writing reviews for at least two years that are being published through a non-self-published source, whether that be online or print. For social media influencers, these qualifications are different in that you must have a subscriber count of at least 30,000 to be considered “widespread” enough in your audience scope. To put it simply, most Rotten Tomatoes reviewers are qualified to review films and have already been doing so, consistently, on a different platform. 

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Once a critic has been approved to write for Rotten Tomatoes, they either self-submit reviews to the website or continue to publish reviews via the medium they were previously published through. In the case of the latter, Rotten Tomatoes has a team of expert curators determine whether or not the review is “fresh” or “rotten”. This team of curators poses a morally gray area as they introduce a middleman who opens the reviews to the possibility of misinterpretation. Mostly, however, Rotten Tomatoes critics submit scores themselves in order to rule out any areas of miscommunication. 

Audience Scores Versus Critical Scores: Different Guidelines

Let’s switch gears a bit to talk about what an audience score is and what it means. Similarly to critical scores, the percentage at the top of the page (next to the popcorn bucket) represents the overall number of audience members who gave a film a positive review. However, it’s important to note that audience reviews have a different rating system than those described for critics, one that is universal and easier to aggregate. All audience reviews must score the film in question out of 5 stars. This shifts the rating system to a 3.5 out of 5 counting as a positive review while anything below that counts as a negative review. In this instance, and throughout this article, I’ve been using “positive” and “fresh” interchangeably as well as “negative” and “rotten” interchangeably too. Just a side note for anyone who feels confused! Luckily, the rest of the audience rating system is easier to digest. There’s a full popcorn bucket for any film that receives 60% or higher positive reviews from audience members while a spilled popcorn bucket denotes a film where less than 60% of reviewers scored the film positively.

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How You Can Use Rotten Tomatoes in Your Everyday Life

Okay, so now that I just rattled off a bunch of confusing numbers and percentages to you, let’s talk about why you should care. The main takeaway I hope you have from this article is that Rotten Tomatoes, at its core, is a review aggregator, which means that ultimately those percentages you see at the top of the screen are general estimates meant to give you an overall idea of what critics think about this film. Obviously, films with higher scores that are certified fresh, and films that fall to the other extreme of the rotten scale, are easier to judge because critical consensus is more unanimous. However, all these gray areas and film critics opinions shouldn’t matter to you unless you know for certain that you like their opinions. If you are a more traditional cinephile, aka a fan of the Criterion collection or HBOMax’s lineup, then you will probably benefit from looking at solely critical scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

For example, ‘L’Avventura’ directed by Michaelangelo Antonini in 1960, has a critical score of 94%, but an audience score of 88%. In a more abstract sense, if you prefer fun, entertaining blockbusters like the majority of the general public, you may not like this film as much as the professional critics who rated it very highly. At the end of the day, Rotten Tomatoes is in no way, shape, or form a Bible that determines a film’s quality. It is best used in a subjective way that accounts for nuances and personal taste. However, in this time of ever-growing film releases via all sorts of platforms, it can be helpful to look at a number and use it to make a quick judgment of a film before you dedicate an hour or more of your life to it. 

By  Caroline Adamec

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Caroline is currently a writer and contributor for Hollywood Insider. She believes in constant critical thinking and applied analysis when it comes to media consumption. Her goal aligns with Hollywood Insider's mission statement, and she strives to educate readers on the nuances of the entertainment industry and to hopefully encourage them to form their own opinions on the media they consume daily.

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The Two Unblemished Science Fiction Films as Declared by Rotten Tomatoes

I n a split where movies are judged as either “Fresh” or “Rotten,” Rotten Tomatoes provides us with a unique, if not somewhat trivial, system for appraising films: the elusive “perfect” score. The annals of horror have inscribed that only two films wear this crown, and now we have it on good authority that the realm of science fiction shares a similar fate. The distinguished titles holding the perfect score in science fiction are “The Terminator” helmed by James Cameron and “Stalker,” the cerebral work of Andrei Tarkovsky.

So, what exactly constitutes a “perfect” Rotten Tomatoes score? It all boils down to an aggregation system that compiles reviews from accredited critics to formulate the well-known Tomatometer score. The rules are simple:

“If the positive reviews for a film or television show comprise at least 60% of its total, the production earns a Fresh status with a red tomato icon. Conversely, if the positive reviews fall below 60%, the production is deemed Rotten, represented by a green splat icon.”

Those productions that sustain a “Tomatometer score of 75% or higher,” have a minimum of five reviews from Top Critics, among other stipulations, may also receive the “Certified Fresh” recognition. However, this achievement is not as prestigious as the perfect RT score, which implies a 100% consensus on the Tomatometer. “The Terminator” and “Stalker” are the sole sci-fi productions to have acquired this distinguished honor, which is noteworthy, if not a bit surprising. It raises the question of the degree to which Rotten Tomatoes scores should really sway public opinion and industry perspective.

FAQ Section

In the expansive universe of film criticism, Rotten Tomatoes has carved out a prominent niche with its Fresh and Rotten ratings. The existence of only two science fiction movies with perfect scores—James Cameron’s “The Terminator” and Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Stalker”—highlights the rarity of unanimous critical praise. It underscores the importance of recognizing that while Rotten Tomatoes’ rankings can provide a snapshot of critical consensus, they are just one of many tools audiences can use to discern the quality and impact of a film.

IMDb vs. Rotten Tomatoes vs. Metacritic: Which Movie Ratings Site Is Best?

IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic are the three most popular ratings sites for movies, but they aren't all equal.

Thanks to online ratings, it's easier than ever to know whether or not a movie is worth watching. A quick Google search brings up plenty of websites offering their opinions on the latest films.

The three most popular are IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic. But how do these sites differ, and which should you trust for information on movies? Here's everything you need to know.

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is a gigantic compendium of movies, TV shows, and video games. Its primary use is to find detailed information about any actor, producer, or piece of media content.

When you pull up a movie, you'll see a synopsis, trailers, photos, a cast list, trivia, and much more. What makes IMDb so useful is its cross-referencing. Upon opening the page for an actor, you'll see their best-known roles. Thus, IMDb is great for those "what else have I seen her in?" moments.

The IMDb mobile app takes this a step further. If you create an account and give ratings to movies and other media, you'll see a You may know them from field on an actor's page if you've rated something they appeared in.

With a free IMDb account, you can also create a Watchlist of movies you want to see. Along with contributing to the 10-point rating scale with other users, IMDb has many other useful features to offer if you're interested.

Pros of IMDb

Unlike the other two sites, IMDb's reviews come solely from users. It only takes a minute to sign up for IMDb and leave a review, so there's little barrier to entry.

Thus, IMDb's biggest strength is that its scores gives you a good idea of what normal consumers think of it. Professional critics have no influence on IMDb scores.

IMDb has a weighted average system to prevent users from rigging the score, but the service doesn't make it clear exactly how this works. Click the review count next to the star icon on any movie's page to see a breakdown of how people rated it.

Below the overall star average, you can see how the ratings break down by a few demographics, including age and gender.

Cons of IMDb

IMDb's biggest problem is that like other platforms, most people only leave reviews if they love or hate a film. Thus, this skews the scores in favor of either fanboys or haters.

People who want to boost a movie's perception will likely rate the movie a 10, while those who didn't like it will give a rating of one. This means you should read a handful of reviews to get a full picture of the movie's quality.

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a trusted source for movie reviews sourced from critics. Every movie uses the "Tomatometer" to score the quality of a film. If the critic liked the movie, a red tomato appears by their review. When they don't like it, you'll see a green splat instead.

As long as 60 percent or more of critics like the movie, it earns an overall Fresh score with a red tomato. If under 60 percent of critics rate the movie favorably, it earns a Rotten score with a green splat.

Meanwhile, a Certified Fresh badge appears next to titles that are of particularly high quality. They must hold at least a 75 percent favorable score after 80 reviews, including at least five from top critics.

Open any movie's page, and you'll see the overall score plus its number of reviews at the top. Click See Score Details for a deeper breakdown. The Critics Consensus , present for most movies, is a great summary of why the movie received its score.

Rotten Tomatoes also providers a user score, shown by the popcorn bucket. When at least 60 percent of users rated it 3.5 stars (out of 5) or higher, it shows a full bucket. A tipped-over bucket represents that under 60 percent of users gave it under 3.5 stars. Since you can use half-star ratings, this is close to the IMDb score.

In 2019, Rotten Tomatoes made some changes to reduce "review bombing" of movies. There's no longer a Want to See percentage, and you'll also see a check next to user reviews where the site has confirmed that the person actually bought a ticket to the movie.

At the bottom of a movie's page, you can read excerpts from the critic reviews, filter by fresh or rotten, or only show top critics. Search for your favorite actors, and you can check the scores of films they appeared in.

Related: Sites Like Rotten Tomatoes to Find Average Ratings and Reviews for Anything

Pros of Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes has the advantage of sourcing its reviews from trusted critics. The Rotten Tomatoes criteria page explains that the site only takes reviews from trusted newspapers, podcasts, and websites. In theory, this means that only the opinions of the most-trusted movie critics influence the Rotten Tomatoes review.

The Top Critic designation lets you filter by the absolute best critics if you prefer. You can't get a more professional opinion than from these folks.

Overall, Rotten Tomatoes does a good job of letting you know at a glance whether or not a movie is worth your time. The easily identifiable icons, overall score, and consensus summary only take a moment to scan.

Cons of Rotten Tomatoes

The biggest issue with Rotten Tomatoes is that it breaks down complex opinions into a Yes or No score. It scores a critic who thought the movie was decent but had some flaws (say, a 59 percent rating) the same as one who thought the movie was absolute garbage (a zero percent score).

You'll notice this with the Average Rating under the score. Take Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as an example. Of the 232 critic reviews, 177 of them are positive. This gives the movie a score of 76 percent. However, the critics rated the movie an average of 6.2/10---quite a bit under the 76 percent displayed on the page.

This doesn't mean the scores on Rotten Tomatoes are useless, of course. But it's important to remember that there's nuance in individual reviews, and the Fresh/Rotten system effectively turns every rating into a 100 or 0 score.

Metacritic aggregates reviews of movies and TV shows, plus video games and music albums. It's one of the best sites for gamers , but it can give you a good idea on the quality of movies too.

The site collects reviews from many sources and aggregates them into one "metascore" from 0 to 100. It displays a color and one-line indication of quality based on the overall score, with the following used for movies, TV, and albums:

• 81-100: Universal Acclaim (Green)
• 61-80: Generally Favorable Reviews (Green)
• 40-60: Mixed or Average Reviews (Yellow)
• 20-39: Generally Unfavorable Reviews (Red)
• 0-19: Overwhelming Dislike (Red)

Unlike Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic uses a weighted average system. Nobody knows the exact details, but the service assigns more importance to some sources than others. Like the other two sites, Metacritic also includes a separate user score, which does not influence the critic score.

The Pros of Metacritic

Metacritic avoids the Rotten Tomatoes problem of scoring every review as simply "good" or "bad." A review of 50 percent gets mixed in with the rest to create the metascore. Thus, the score you see on Metacritic is closer to the average review, as opposed to the percentage of critics who simply liked the movie on Rotten Tomatoes.

Additionally, among these three sites, Metacritic is the only one to feature full user reviews right next to critic reviews. This makes it easy to compare what the general public thinks compared to the professionals.

The Cons of Metacritic

While it's easy to translate a score from a five-star or 10-point scale, Metacritic's way of translating letter grade is questionable. We can see how this works on the About Metascores page :

While scoring an A as 100 percent makes sense, note the scores for B- and F , for instance. A 67 percent score for a B- seems a bit harsh. In most schools, a score of 67 percent is closer to an F than it is a B- .

And scoring an F as 0 percent seems unfair. Something like 20 percent for an F might be more appropriate. Because every site has different scales for scoring (some might not even use pluses and minuses), this could skew a reviewer's original meaning.

Also, unlike Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic seems to have few public standards. There's no detailed information on where it sources it critics from. Thus, the score potentially doesn't have as much weight behind it as Rotten Tomatoes does.

What Is the Best Movie Rating Website?

So we've now taken a look at IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic, and listed their major pros and cons. As you might have guessed, there's no one website that's best for everything.

However, we can recommend each of these sites for different reasons:

• IMDb is great for seeing what general audiences think of a movie. If you don't care what the critics say and want to see what people like yourself thought of a film, then you should use IMDb. Just be aware that fans often skew the vote with 10-star ratings, which may inflate scores somewhat.
• Rotten Tomatoes offers the best overall picture of whether a movie is worth seeing at a glance. If you only trust the opinions of top critics and just want to know if a movie is at least decent, you should use Rotten Tomatoes. While the Fresh/Rotten binary can oversimplify the often complex opinions of critics, it should still help you weed out lousy films.
• Metacritic offers the most balanced aggregate score. If you don't mind which critics' opinions go into the final score and prefer seeing a general average, then you should use Metacritic. Its standards are mostly unknown, but Metacritic makes it easy to compare professional and user reviews side-by-side.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with checking all three of these sites every time you're thinking of seeing a movie. Over time, you should figure out which site's tastes most match yours; then you'll know which is best for you personally.

Personal Taste Still Matters Most

Remember that movie scores aren't everything. All three of these sites don't, for instance, paint an accurate picture of movies that are so bad they're good. Because those movies are objectively terrible, they carry low scores even though they have ironic value.

Plus, it's impossible to sum up complex opinions from dozens of people into a single number. And no matter what the critics or general public think, your preferences might be totally different anyway. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a movie that most people find stupid. So while these sites are helpful, don't take them too seriously.

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Rotten Tomatoes, explained

Does a movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score affect its box office returns? And six other questions, answered.

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In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes — the site that aggregates movie and TV critics’ opinions and tabulates a score that’s “fresh” or “rotten” — took on an elevated level of importance. That’s when Rotten Tomatoes (along with its parent company Flixster) was acquired by Fandango , the website that sells advance movie tickets for many major cinema chains.

People had been using Rotten Tomatoes to find movie reviews since it launched in 2000, but after Fandango acquired the site, it began posting “Tomatometer” scores next to movie ticket listings. Since then, studio execs have started to feel as if Rotten Tomatoes matters more than it used to — and in some cases, they’ve rejiggered their marketing strategies accordingly.

It’s easy to see why anyone might assume that Rotten Tomatoes scores became more tightly linked to ticket sales, with potential audiences more likely to buy tickets for a movie with a higher score, and by extension, giving critics more power over the purchase of a ticket.

But that’s not the whole story. And as most movie critics (including myself) will tell you, the correlation between Rotten Tomatoes scores, critical opinion, marketing tactics, and actual box office returns is complicated. It’s not a simple cause-and-effect situation.

My own work is included in both Rotten Tomatoes’ score and that of its more exclusive cousin, Metacritic . So I, along with many other critics , think often of the upsides and pitfalls of aggregating critical opinion and its effect on which movies people see. But for the casual moviegoer, how review aggregators work, what they measure, and how they affect ticket sales can be mysterious.

So when I got curious about how people perceive Rotten Tomatoes and its effect on ticket sales, I did what any self-respecting film critic does: I informally polled my Twitter followers to see what they wanted to know.

Here are seven questions that many people have about Rotten Tomatoes, and review aggregation more generally — and some facts to clear up the confusion.

How is a Rotten Tomatoes score calculated?

The score that Rotten Tomatoes assigns to a film corresponds to the percentage of critics who’ve judged the film to be “fresh,” meaning their opinion of it is more positive than negative. The idea is to quickly offer moviegoers a sense of critical consensus.

“Our goal is to serve fans by giving them useful tools and one-stop access to critic reviews, user ratings, and entertainment news to help with their entertainment viewing decisions,” Jeff Voris, a vice president at Rotten Tomatoes, told me in an email.

The opinions of about 3,000 critics — a.k.a. the “Approved Tomatometer Critics” who have met a series of criteria set by Rotten Tomatoes — are included in the site’s scores, though not every critic reviews every film, so any given score is more typically derived from a few hundred critics, or even less. The scores don’t include just anyone who calls themselves a critic or has a movie blog; Rotten Tomatoes only aggregates critics who have been regularly publishing movie reviews with a reasonably widely read outlet for at least two years, and those critics must be “active,” meaning they've published at least one review in the last year. The site also deems a subset of critics to be “top critics” and calculates a separate score that only includes them.

Some critics (or staffers at their publications) upload their own reviews, choose their own pull quotes, and designate their review as “fresh” or “rotten.” Other critics (including myself) have their reviews uploaded, pull-quoted, and tagged as fresh or rotten by the Rotten Tomatoes staff. In the second case, if the staff isn't sure whether to tag a review as fresh or rotten, they reach out to the critic for clarification. And critics who don't agree with the site’s designation can request that it be changed.

As the reviews of a given film accumulate, the Rotten Tomatoes score measures the percentage that are more positive than negative, and assigns an overall fresh or rotten rating to the movie. Scores of over 60 percent are considered fresh, and scores of 59 percent and under are rotten. To earn the coveted “designated fresh” seal, a film needs at least 40 reviews, 75 percent of which are fresh, and five of which are from “top” critics.

What does a Rotten Tomatoes score really mean ?

A Rotten Tomatoes score represents the percentage of critics who felt mildly to wildly positively about a given film.

If I give a film a mixed review that’s generally positive (which, in Vox’s rating system, could range from a positive-skewing 3 to the rare totally enamored 5), that review receives the same weight as an all-out rave from another critic. (When I give a movie a 2.5, I consider that to be a neutral score; by Rotten Tomatoes' reckoning, it's rotten.) Theoretically, a 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating could be made up entirely of middling-to-positive reviews. And if half of the critics the site aggregates only sort of like a movie, and the other half sort of dislike it, the film will hover around 50 percent (which is considered “rotten” by the site).

Contrary to some people’s perceptions, Rotten Tomatoes itself maintains no opinion about a film. What Rotten Tomatoes tries to gauge is critical consensus.

Critics’ opinions do tend to cluster on most films. But there are always outliers, whether from contrarians (who sometimes seem to figure out what people will say and then take the opposite opinion), or from those who seem to love every film. And critics, like everyone, have various life experiences, aesthetic preferences, and points of view that lead them to have differing opinions on movies.

So in many (if not most) cases, a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score may not correspond to any one critic’s view. It’s more like an imprecise estimate of what would happen if you mashed together every Tomatometer critic and had the resulting super-critic flash a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

Rotten Tomatoes also lets audiences rate movies, and the score is often out of step with the critical score. Sometimes, the difference is extremely significant, a fact that's noticeable because the site lists the two scores side by side.

There’s a straightforward reason the two rarely match, though: The critical score is more controlled and methodical.

Why? Most professional critics have to see and review many films, whether or not they’re inclined to like the movie. (Also, most critics don’t pay to see films, because studios hold special early screenings for them ahead of the release date, which removes the decision of whether they’re interested enough in a film to spend their hard-earned money on seeing it.)

But with Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score, the situation is different. Anyone on the internet can contribute — not just those who actually saw the film. As a result, a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score can be gamed by internet trolls seeking to sink it simply because they find its concept offensive. A concerted effort can drive down the film’s audience score before it even comes out, as was the case with the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters .

Even if Rotten Tomatoes required people to pass a quiz on the movie before they rated it, the score would still be somewhat unreliable. Why? Because ordinary audiences are more inclined to buy tickets to movies they’re predisposed to like — who wants to spend $12 to $20 on a film they’re pretty sure they’ll hate?

So audience scores at Rotten Tomatoes (and other audience-driven scores, like the ones at IMDb) naturally skew very positive, or sometimes very negative if there’s any sort of smear campaign in play. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But audience scores tend to not account for those who would never buy a ticket to the movie in the first place.

In contrast, since critics see lots of movies — some of which they would have gone to see anyhow, and some of which they would’ve never chosen to see if their editors didn’t make the assignment — their opinion distribution should theoretically be more even, and thus the critical Rotten Tomatoes score more “accurate.”

Or at least that’s what Rotten Tomatoes thinks. The site displays a movie’s critics’ scores — the official Tomatometer — at Fandango and in a more prominent spot on the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes landing page. The audience score is also displayed on the Rotten Tomatoes page, but it’s not factored into the film’s fresh or rotten rating, and doesn’t contribute to a film being labeled as “certified fresh.”

Why do critics often get frustrated by the Tomatometer?

The biggest reason many critics find Rotten Tomatoes frustrating is that most people’s opinions about movies can’t be boiled down to a simple thumbs up or down. And most critics feel that Rotten Tomatoes, in particular, oversimplifies criticism, to the detriment of critics, the audience, and the movies themselves.

In some cases, a film really is almost universally considered to be excellent, or to be a complete catastrophe. But critics usually come away from a movie with a mixed view. Some things work, and others don’t. The actors are great, but the screenplay is lacking. The filmmaking is subpar, but the story is imaginative. Some critics use a four- or five-star rating, sometimes with half-stars included, to help quantify mixed opinions as mostly negative or mostly positive.

The important point here is that no critic who takes their job seriously is going to have a simple yes-or-no system for most movies. Critics watch a film, think about it, and write a review that doesn't just judge the movie but analyzes, contextualizes, and ruminates over it. The fear among many critics (including myself) is that people who rely largely on Rotten Tomatoes aren't interested in the nuances of a film, and aren't particularly interested in reading criticism, either.

But maybe the bigger reason critics are worried about the influence of review aggregators is that they seem to imply there's a “right” way to evaluate a movie, based on most people's opinions. We worry that audience members who have different reactions will feel as if their opinion is somehow wrong, rather than seeing the diversity of opinions as an invitation to read and understand how and why people react to art differently.

Plenty of movies — from Psycho to Fight Club to Alien — would have earned a rotten rating from Rotten Tomatoes upon their original release, only to be reconsidered and deemed classics years later as tastes, preferences, and ideas about films changed. Sometimes being an outlier can just mean you're forward-thinking.

Voris, the Rotten Tomatoes vice president, told me that the site is always trying to grapple with this quandary. “The Rotten Tomatoes curation team is constantly adding and updating reviews for films — both past and present,” he told me. “If there’s a review available from an approved critic or outlet, it will be added.”

What critics are worried about is a tendency toward groupthink, and toward scapegoating people who deviate from the “accepted” analysis. You can easily see this in the hordes of fans that sometimes come after a critic who dares to “ruin” a film's perfect score . But critics (at least serious ones) don't write their reviews to fit the Tomatometer, nor are they out to “get” DC Comics movies or religious movies or political movies or any other movies. Critics love movies and want them to be good, and we try to be honest when we see one that we don't measures up.

That doesn't mean the audience can't like a movie with a rotten rating, or hate a movie with a fresh rating. It's no insult to critics when audience opinion diverges. In fact, it makes talking and thinking about movies more interesting.

If critics are ambivalent about Rotten Tomatoes scores, why do moviegoers use the scores to decide whether to see a movie?

Mainly, it’s easy. You’re buying movie tickets on Fandango, or you’re trying to figure out what to watch on Netflix, so you check the Rotten Tomatoes score to decide. It’s simple. That’s the point.

And that’s not a bad thing. It's helpful to get a quick sense of critical consensus, even if it's somewhat imprecise. Many people use Rotten Tomatoes to get a rough idea of whether critics generally liked a film.

The flip side, though, is that some people, whether they’re critics or audience members, will inevitably have opinions that don't track with the Rotten Tomatoes score at all. Just because an individual's opinion is out of step with the Tomatometer doesn't mean the person is “wrong” — it just means they're an outlier.

And that, frankly, is what makes art, entertainment, and the world at large interesting: Not everyone has the same opinion about everything, because people are not exact replicas of one another. Most critics love arguing about movies, because they often find that disagreeing with their colleagues is what makes their job fun. It's fine to disagree with others about a movie, and it doesn't mean you're “wrong.”

(For what it’s worth, another review aggregation site, Metacritic, maintains an even smaller and more exclusive group of critics than Rotten Tomatoes — its aggregated scores cap out around 50 reviews per movie, instead of the hundreds that can make up a Tomatometer score. Metacritic’s score for a film is different from Rotten Tomatoes’ insofar as each individual review is assigned a rating on a scale of 100 and the overall Metacritic score is a weighted average, the mechanics of which Metacritic absolutely refuses to divulge . But because the site’s ratings are even more carefully controlled to include only experienced professional critics — and because the reviews it aggregates are given a higher level of granularity, and presumably weighted by the perceived influence of the critic’s publication — most critics consider Metacritic a better gauge of critical opinion.)

Does a movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score affect its box office earnings?

The short version: It can, but not necessarily in the ways you might think.

A good Rotten Tomatoes score indicates strong critical consensus, and that can be good for smaller films in particular. It’s common for distributors to roll out such films slowly, opening them in a few key cities (usually New York and Los Angeles, and maybe a few others) to generate good buzz — not just from critics, but also on social media and through word of mouth. The result, they hope, is increased interest and ticket sales when the movie opens in other cities.

Get Out , for example, certainly profited from the 99 percent “fresh” score it earned since its limited opening. And the more recent The Big Sick became one of last summer's most beloved films, helped along by its 98 percent rating. But a bad score for a small film can help ensure that it will close quickly, or play in fewer cities overall. Its potential box office earnings, in turn, will inevitably take a hit.

Yet when it comes to blockbusters, franchises, and other big studio films (which usually open in many cities at once), it’s much less clear how much a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score affects its box office tally. A good Rotten Tomatoes score, for example, doesn't necessarily guarantee a film will be a hit. Atomic Blonde is “guaranteed fresh,” with a 77 percent rating, but it didn‘t do very well at the box office despite being an action film starring Charlize Theron.

Still, studios certainly seem to believe the score makes a difference . Last summer, studios blamed Rotten Tomatoes scores (and by extension, critics) when poorly reviewed movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales , Baywatch , and The Mummy performed below expectations at the box office. ( Pirates still went on to be the year’s 19th highest-grossing film.)

2017’s highest grossing movies in the US

But that correlation doesn’t really hold up. The Emoji Movie , for example, was critically panned, garnering an abysmal 6 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. But it still opened to $25 million in the US, which put it just behind the acclaimed Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk . And the more you think about it, the less surprising it is that plenty of people bought tickets to The Emoji Movie in spite of its bad press: It's an animated movie aimed at children that faced virtually no theatrical competition, and it opened during the summer, when kids are out of school. Great reviews might have inflated its numbers, but almost universally negative ones didn't seem to hurt it much.

It's also worth noting that many films with low Rotten Tomatoes scores that also perform poorly in the US (like The Mummy or The Great Wall ) do just fine overseas, particularly in China. The Mummy gave Tom Cruise his biggest global opening ever . If there is a Rotten Tomatoes effect, it seems to only extend to the American market.

Without any consistent proof, why do people still maintain that a bad Rotten Tomatoes score actively hurts a movie at the box office?

While it’s clear that a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score and box office earnings aren't correlated as strongly as movie studios might like you to think, blaming bad ticket sales on critics is low-hanging fruit.

Plenty of people would like you to believe that the weak link between box office earnings and critical opinion proves that critics are at fault for not liking the film, and that audiences are a better gauge of its quality. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, co-star of Baywatch , certainly took that position when reviews of the 2017 bomb Baywatch came out:

Oh boy, critics had their venom & knives ready . Fans LOVE the movie. Huge positive scores. Big disconnect w/ critics & people. #Baywatch https://t.co/K0AQPf6F0S — Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) May 26, 2017

Baywatch ended up with a very comfortably rotten 19 percent Tomatometer score , compared to a just barely fresh 62 percent audience score. But with apologies to The Rock, who I’m sure is a very nice man, critics aren't weather forecasters or pundits, and they’re not particularly interested in predicting how audiences will respond to a movie. (We are also a rather reserved and nerdy bunch, not regularly armed with venom and knives.) Critics show up where they’re told to show up and watch a film, then go home and evaluate it to the best of their abilities.

The obvious rejoinder, at least from a critic’s point of view, is that if Baywatch was a better movie, there wouldn’t be such a disconnect. But somehow, I suspect that younger ticket buyers — an all-important demographic — lacked nostalgia for 25-year-old lifeguard TV show, and thus weren't so sure about seeing Baywatch in the first place. Likewise, I doubt that a majority of Americans were ever going to be terribly interested in the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (which notched a 30 percent Tomatometer score and a 64 percent audience score), especially when they could just watch some other movie.

A pile-up of raves for either of these films might have resulted in stronger sales, because people could have been surprised to learn that a film they didn’t think they were interested in was actually great. But with lackluster reviews, the average moviegoer just had no reason to give them a chance.

Big studio publicists, however, are paid to convince people to see their films, not to candidly discuss the quality of the films themselves. So when a film with bad reviews flops at the box office, it’s not shocking that studios are quick to suggest that critics killed it.

How do movie studios try to blunt the perceived impact when they’re expecting a bad Rotten Tomatoes score?

Of late, some studios — prompted by the idea that critics can kill a film’s buzz before it even comes out — have taken to “ fighting back ” when they’re expecting a rotten Tomatometer score.

Their biggest strategy isn’t super obvious to the average moviegoer, but very clear to critics. When a studio suspects it has a lemon on its hands, it typically hosts the press screening only a day or two ahead of the film's release, and then sets a review “embargo” that lifts a few hours before the film hits theaters.

Consider, for example, the case of the aforementioned Emoji Movie . I and most other critics hoped the movie would be good, as is the case with all movies see. But once the screening invitations arrived in our inboxes, we pretty much knew, with a sinking feeling, that it wouldn’t be. The tell was pretty straightforward: The film’s only critics' screening in New York was scheduled for the day before it opened. It screened for press on Wednesday night at 5 pm, and then the review embargo lifted at 3 pm the next day — mere hours before the first public showtimes.

Late critics’ screenings for any given film mean that reviews of the film will necessarily come out very close to its release, and as a result, people purchasing advance tickets might buy them before there are any reviews or Tomatometer score to speak of. Thus, in spite of there being no strong correlation between negative reviews and a low box office, its first-weekend box returns might be less susceptible to any potential harm as a result of bad press. (Such close timing can also backfire; critics liked this summer's Captain Underpants , for example, but the film was screened too late for the positive reviews to measurably boost its opening box office.)

That first-weekend number is important, because if a movie is the top performer at the box office (or if it simply exceeds expectations, like Dunkirk and Wonder Woman did this summer), its success can function as good advertising for the film, which means its second weekend sales may also be stronger. And that matters , particularly when it means a movie is outperforming its expectations, because it can actually shift the way industry executives think about what kinds of movies people want to watch. Studios do keep an eye on critics’ opinions, but they’re much more interested in ticket sales — which makes it easy to see why they don’t want risk having their opening weekend box office affected by bad reviews, whether there’s a proven correlation or not.

The downside of this strategy, however, is that it encourages critics to instinctively gauge a studio’s level of confidence in a film based on when the press screening takes place. 20th Century Fox, for instance, screened War for the Planet of the Apes weeks ahead of its theatrical release, and lifted the review embargo with plenty of time to spare before the movie came out. The implication was that Fox believed the movie would be a critical success, and indeed, it was — the movie has a 97 percent Tomatometer score and an 86 percent audience score.

And still, late press screenings fail to account for the fact that, while a low Rotten Tomatoes score doesn’t necessarily hurt a film’s total returns, aggregate review scores in general do have a distinct effect on second-weekend sales. In 2016, Metacritic conducted a study of the correlation between its scores and second weekend sales , and found — not surprisingly — that well-reviewed movies dip much less in the second weekend than poorly reviewed movies. This is particularly true of movies with a strong built-in fan base, like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , which enjoyed inflated box office returns in the first weekend because fans came out to see it, but dropped sharply in its second weekend, at least partly due to extremely negative press .

Most critics who are serious about their work make a good-faith effort to approach each film they see with as few expectations as possible. But it's hard to have much hope about a movie when it seems obvious that a studio is trying to play keep-away with it. And the more studios try to game the system by withholding their films from critics, the less critics are inclined to enter a screening devoid of expectations, however subconscious.

If you ask critics what studios ought to do to minimize the potential impact of a low Rotten Tomatoes score, their answer is simple: Make better movies. But of course, it’s not that easy; some movies with bad scores do well, while some with good scores still flop. Hiding a film from critics might artificially inflate first-weekend box office returns, but plenty of people are going to go see a franchise film, or a superhero movie, or a family movie, no matter what critics say.

The truth is that neither Rotten Tomatoes nor the critics whose evaluations make up its scores are really at fault here, and it’s silly to act like that’s the case. The website is just one piece of the sprawling and often bewildering film landscape.

As box office analyst Scott Mendelson wrote at Forbes :

[Rotten Tomatoes] is an aggregate website, one with increased power because the media now uses the fresh ranking as a catch-all for critical consensus, with said percentage score popping up when you buy tickets from Fandango or rent the title on Google Market. But it is not magic. At worst, the increased visibility of the site is being used as an excuse by ever-pickier moviegoers to stay in with Netflix or VOD.

For audience members who want to make good moviegoing decisions, the best approach is a two-pronged one. First, check Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic to get a sense of critical consensus. But second, find a few critics — two or three will do — whose taste aligns with (or challenges) your own, and whose insights help you enjoy a movie even more. Read them and rely on them.

And know that it’s okay to form your own opinions, too. After all, in the bigger sense, everyone’s a critic.

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Rawson Marshall Thurber ’s “Red Notice” should work on paper. It’s got a charismatic cast sent globe-hopping to beautiful places on a treasure hunt straight out of an “Indiana Jones” movie. How could it go wrong? Well, for starters, Thurber and everyone involved forgot a little thing called personality. Rarely have I seen a movie that feels more processed by a machine, a product for a content algorithm instead of anything approaching artistic intent or even an honest desire to entertain. And while there have been quality blockbusters produced by the Hollywood machine for generations (I miss those days), it feels like we’re increasingly reaching the point where they are so calculated and programmed that the human element is completely drained from them, making them as disposable as a fast food cheeseburger. Worst of all, that “content” approach is pulling the life from stars who have shown so much of it in the past. When the poster for “Red Notice” was released, most people lamented its Photoshopped, bland nature. They didn’t realize how honestly it captured the movie.

Thurber, the director of “ Central Intelligence ” and “ Skyscraper ” (two movies I enjoyed enough on their own terms, for the record), reunites with his muse, Dwayne Johnson , who plays the FBI’s top profiler John Hartley. The film opens with an awkwardly inserted info dump about three coveted eggs that were once the property of Cleopatra. Only two have been discovered, making the missing golden egg into a Holy Grail for treasure hunters, including one of the world’s most notorious criminals Nolan Booth ( Ryan Reynolds ). In the film’s relatively effective opening sequence, Hartley catches Booth trying to steal one of the eggs, inadvertently tying the two for the rest of the film into a classic buddy comedy dynamic—the muscle guy and the fast talker. They battle the authorities, a few bad guys, and another criminal mastermind nicknamed The Bishop ( Gal Gadot ) as they bounce around the world, trying to obtain all three eggs and sell them to the highest bidder.

Films like “ Raiders of the Lost Ark ” and “ National Treasure ” were clear inspirations on “Red Notice” but to say this movies lacks the identity of great action/adventure movies would be an understatement. Thurber’s direction seems to have been simply to put Reynolds, Johnson, and Gadot on camera and allow their screen presence and familiar techniques to carry the story, and one can literally see the weight of that on their shoulders. Johnson has never been this wooden, unable to find the hero or everyman in a non-character. He needs to figure out what's next because he seems to be tired of parts like this one and he's too charismatic to convey tired for the next chapter of his career. Reynolds makes out a little better, but you can almost see him growing weary of his attempts at witty schtick as more of his attempts at humor thud than usual. It feels like everyone thought casting would be all it took to make “Red Notice” charming and then forgot to give their actors charming things to actually do. Oh, there’s a lot of running and a lot of banter, but it starts to blend into cinematic paste.

People have lamented the growing sensation that Netflix increasingly makes product that’s designed to be watched with a phone in your hand, and I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this more strongly than while watching “Red Notice.” Made for $200 million, none of that fortune was spent on anything that retains a human touch—it’s the iPhone app of action movies. Look up and see a beautiful person in a beautiful place running or shooting something—go back to your phone. While there are some truly goofy and yet somehow predictable twists, there’s almost no real story here, certainly not a memorable one. And the settings, while often gorgeous, somehow lack personality too. Even the title sounds like something grabbed out of an Action Movie Screenwriter program.

So much money, so much charm, so much movie, and yet it adds up to so very little. “Red Notice” is as disposable a movie as you’ll see this year, something that most Netflix subscribers will have trouble remembering exists weeks later. It sets up a potential franchise in its final scenes (because of course it does)—let’s hope everyone involved forgets about that too.

In theaters tonight, November 4 th . On Netflix on November 12 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Red Notice (2021)

Rated PG-13 for violence and action, some sexual references, and strong language.

116 minutes

Dwayne Johnson as John Hartley

Ryan Reynolds as Nolan Booth

Gal Gadot as Sarah Black

Ritu Arya as Inspector Urvashi Das

Chris Diamantopoulos as Sotto Voce

• Rawson Marshall Thurber
• Michael L. Sale
• Julian Clarke

Cinematographer

• Markus Förderer
• Steve Jablonsky

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Camila Mendes' new movie debuts with 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating

"Transcending many of the barriers of the genres it represents."

The musical comedy, which has been released on Prime Video today (April 4), and stars the Riverdale actress Mendes alongside her real-life partner Rudy Mancuso – who also wrote and directed the film.

Música follows Mancuso's character, also named Rudy, a Brazillian-American who has synesthesia, a condition which causes him to hear musical rhythms in his head from everyday sounds.

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The film received early critical acclaim after premiering at SXSW, debuting with a perfect 100% score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It's since slipped to a near-perfect 95% from 19 reviews.

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"Mancuso is a revelation. The multi-hyphenate filmmaker manages to carry the entire plot, be charming, silly, compelling, and a character you easily want to root for. Música heralds the arrival of a filmmaker, an actor, and a musician worth paying attention to, while also delivering a winning and visually inventive musical comedy."

" Música exceeds all expectations, becoming the biggest surprise of the year to date, and serving as a showcase for Rudy Mancuso's immeasurable talent.

"A multi-department success that elevates a semi-autobiography about love, family, and Brazilian-American culture, transcending many of the barriers of the genres it represents, and revealing the world of synesthesia in a truly cinematic manner."

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"As formulaic as the narrative is, the rhythmic dancing infused with bright theatrical set pieces shows how this little gem is cut from a cloth above the rest.

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Música is available to stream now on Prime Video .

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