Comingsoon.net has come up with a collection of all the movies with Rotten Tomatoes scores that are either way too high or a bit too low. Check out our picks in the gallery below!
Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes has lived in infamy for a while now. The go-to site for an overview of what critics have to say about any given film or TV show, Rotten Tomatoes is less specific than other review aggregators like Metacritic because of its more subjective take to criticism: instead of taking the actual star rating or letter grade a critic assigns a film, they determine whether or not the review is positive or negative and assign a “fresh” or “rotten” rating accordingly.
Because of its incredibly nondescript approach to review aggregation, Rotten Tomatoes tends to have quite a few overreactions each year. Whether it be a much higher or a much lower review than what a movie actually deserves, one can be sure that a Rotten Tomatoes rating is likely pretty extreme in one direction or another. Let’s take a look at some of the most obvious examples of this throughout recent years.
RT overreactions
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A Quiet Place (2018)
John Krasinski’s unique thriller is undoubtedly a good time at the movies. However, the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score of 95% is a total overreaction. Is there anyone out there who seriously feels that the film is on the same level as films like 1992’s Reservoir Dogs and other 95 percenters?
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Fantastic Four (2015)
The same goes for Josh Trank’s genuinely inspired take on Fantastic Four back in 2015. Fox clearly butchered the filmmaker’s final cut of the film in post-production, but the first 80% or so of the film stands up as a solid and chilling take on the superhero origin story formula. Still, it earned itself a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Logan (2017)
The conclusion to the Hugh Jackman Wolverine saga, 2017’s Logan is a very good superhero movie. Does that mean it’s a very good movie, though? It’s up to the viewer to decide, ultimately, but its much more reasonable score of 77 from Metascore might be more accurate.
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The Big Sick (2017)
A fine-enough romantic comedy about a young Pakistani man and his American girlfriend who finds herself in a coma not long after the end of their relationship, The Big Sick was met with relatively high praise back in 2017—but is this flawed film really good enough to deserve a 98%, otherwise known as a near-perfect score?
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The Last Airbender (2010)
Like Nicolas Cage, M. Night Shyamalan will probably never recover from the hate generated online every time he puts out a movie. His take on Avatar: The Last Airbender is considered by most to be the worst thing he’s done, sitting at a 5% on Rotten Tomatoes, but you honestly have to respect his direction on the film and the risks he was willing to take. He’ll no doubt continue to get hate—the negative reviews surrounding his 2019 film Glass reportedly made him cry—but it’d be nice if some critics were willing to give his past work another look.
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The Mummy (2017)
2017’s remake of The Mummy stars Tom Cruise and was initially supposed to kick off a new cinematic universe for Universal. However, its much too harsh Rotten Tomatoes score of 16% squashed any chance of that. Sure, it’s not spectacular (or even as good as 1999’s take on the 1932 film of the same name), but is it really fair to call it one of the worst movies of all time?
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The Wicker Man (2006)
Nicolas Cage will probably always have a bad reputation for no particular reason other than the fact that YouTubers seem to favor him for their movie compilation videos. As a result, Cage’s films often get panned especially hard. Such is the case with 2006’s The Wicker Man, which really isn’t that bad. It’s not great, but 36% is honestly a little low.
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Thor: Ragarok (2017)
Like Logan, Thor: Ragnarok proved to be very different than its two predecessors. Despite this, it’s still a Marvel movie. Taking a look at other films with a 92% like 1939’s Gone with the Wind, it’s hard to say if Thor: Ragnarok’s Rotten Tomatoes score is deserved.
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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
An insufferable film that portrays racist cops as redeemable characters, 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’s Rotten Tomatoes score of 90% is far from appropriate—especially when considering it sits at the same percentage as 1990’s Miller’s Crossing and 1960’s The Apartment.
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Wonder Woman (2017)
In the same vein as Logan and Thor: Ragnarok, 2017’s Wonder Woman is a good superhero movie but impossible to be considered anything more than that. Its 93% puts it on the same level 1954’s Sabrina and countless other unimpeachable classics.
