Though he's made some seriously successful movies, Brett Ratner has not always done that well on Rotten Tomatoes. It turns out that the dislike is mutual, as the filmmaker has said he believes Rotten Tomatoes is destroying the movie industry.
As Entertainment Weekly reports, Ratner spoke out against the site while appearing at the Sun Valley Film Festival. Ratner said, "The worst thing that we have in today's movie culture is Rotten Tomatoes. I think it's the destruction of our business."
Lest you think he hates the critics who hate his work, Ratner is actually speaking in support of critics. "I have such respect and admiration for film criticism," he added. "When I was growing up film criticism was a real art. And there was intellect that went into that. And you would read Pauline's Kael's reviews, or some others, and that doesn't exist anymore. Now it's about a number. A compounded number of how many positives vs. negatives.
"Now it's about, 'What's your Rotten Tomatoes score?' And that's sad, because the Rotten Tomatoes score was so low on Batman v Superman I think it put a cloud over a movie that was incredibly successful."
Ratner certainly has a point, since a calculated score does not convey the same nuanced opinions of a more traditional review. "It's mind-blowing," he added. "It's just insane, it's hurting the business, it's getting people to not see a movie. In Middle America it's, 'Oh, it's a low Rotten Tomatoes score so I'm not going to go see it because it must suck.' But that number is an aggregate and one that nobody can figure out exactly what it means, and it's not always correct. I've seen some great movies with really abysmal Rotten Tomatoes scores. What's sad is film criticism has disappeared. It's really sad."
Entertainment Weekly reached out to Rotten Tomatoes' Jeff Voris, who actually echoed Ratner's sentiments. "At Rotten Tomatoes, we completely agree that film criticism is valuable and important, and we're making it easier than it has ever been for fans to access potentially hundreds of professional reviews for a given film or TV show in one place," Voris said. "The Tomatometer score, which is the percentage of positive reviews published by professional critics, has become a useful decision-making tool for fans, but we believe it's just a starting point for them to begin discussing, debating and sharing their own opinions."
With scores ranging from 4 percent to 100 percent, you can check out Brett Ratner's Rotten Tomatoes profile here.
As Entertainment Weekly reports, Ratner spoke out against the site while appearing at the Sun Valley Film Festival. Ratner said, "The worst thing that we have in today's movie culture is Rotten Tomatoes. I think it's the destruction of our business."
Lest you think he hates the critics who hate his work, Ratner is actually speaking in support of critics. "I have such respect and admiration for film criticism," he added. "When I was growing up film criticism was a real art. And there was intellect that went into that. And you would read Pauline's Kael's reviews, or some others, and that doesn't exist anymore. Now it's about a number. A compounded number of how many positives vs. negatives.
"Now it's about, 'What's your Rotten Tomatoes score?' And that's sad, because the Rotten Tomatoes score was so low on Batman v Superman I think it put a cloud over a movie that was incredibly successful."
Ratner certainly has a point, since a calculated score does not convey the same nuanced opinions of a more traditional review. "It's mind-blowing," he added. "It's just insane, it's hurting the business, it's getting people to not see a movie. In Middle America it's, 'Oh, it's a low Rotten Tomatoes score so I'm not going to go see it because it must suck.' But that number is an aggregate and one that nobody can figure out exactly what it means, and it's not always correct. I've seen some great movies with really abysmal Rotten Tomatoes scores. What's sad is film criticism has disappeared. It's really sad."
Entertainment Weekly reached out to Rotten Tomatoes' Jeff Voris, who actually echoed Ratner's sentiments. "At Rotten Tomatoes, we completely agree that film criticism is valuable and important, and we're making it easier than it has ever been for fans to access potentially hundreds of professional reviews for a given film or TV show in one place," Voris said. "The Tomatometer score, which is the percentage of positive reviews published by professional critics, has become a useful decision-making tool for fans, but we believe it's just a starting point for them to begin discussing, debating and sharing their own opinions."
With scores ranging from 4 percent to 100 percent, you can check out Brett Ratner's Rotten Tomatoes profile here.
