So, here’s a handy thing to know.
Next time you’re deciding whether or not to watch a movie, don’t take the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes at face value.
Especially if the movie is made by women or for women.
You see, good ole’ Rotten Tomatoes is a wee bit sexist as 75 per cent of the approved critics are actually male.
Yep, three quarters of the people who decide whether a movie is worth watching are men.
I learnt this lil’ fact on Sunday when I attended the live show of the Triple J podcast Bang On.
The hosts Zan Rowe and Myf Warhurst were discussing the new movie A Bad Moms Christmas and how they almost didn’t see it because it only got 29 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
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“Everybody take the biggest grain of salt when you’re looking at Rotten Tomatoes,” Rowe explained on stage. “The site has huge influence on what people decide to watch and 75 per cent of the reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes are male.”
“They’re the people who have been credited not just random people who can submit a review, but the actual critics who are approved on that site,” she explained.
Rowe then went on to explain that men “aren’t going to like Bad Moms 2”.
“It’s always worth remembering who’s actually deciding whether this is a story worth telling,” she said. “I think if there were a few more women reviewing for Rotten Tomatoes it would have pushed it up a bit.”
Intrigued, I decided to put my investigative hat on (spotlight journalism, guys, spotlight journalism) and have a lil’ dig around Rotten Tomatoes.
They were right – A Bad Moms Christmas is currently sitting at 28 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, despite the fact that every woman who has seen it, bloody loved it.
I then decided to compare “women’s movies” with “men’s movies” of the same calibre.
Rough Night scored a measly 45 per cent while The Hangover was recommended by 79 per cent of the critics.
Due Date a ~ pretty crappy ~ movie starring Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis got a 40 per cent rating on the site. While Hot Pursuit starring Reese Witherspoon, which some may refer to as an equally crappy movie, only scored seven per cent.
Overall, action movies or romantic comedies starring men score higher than romantic comedies or dramas centred around a female character.
So proceed with caution, ladies, that lil’ round red or smashed green tomato might not be always telling you the whole truth.
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Top Comments
It occurred to me recently that 'Rotten Tomatoes' might be sexist based on some reviews that were kind of extreme. Yes, the movies I am thinking of may not have been mind blowing but they were good and did not deserve the score they got! I am thinking 'Book Club' and "I feel Pretty'. I have noticed a certain bias of dislike towards movies with strong female characters on their site. I just decided to google it to see if others might feel this way and came across this article! I'm so glad that someone else has noticed it too and decided to do something about it by writing about it. I will no longer be using Rotten Tomatoes to figure out whether I should give a movie a chance!
Hmmm, I watched bad moms on Netflix couple nights ago and it was pretty terrible! My toddler has been teething so I was too tired to turn it off and try to find scroll through and something else, but I just cringed and rolled my eyes through most of it. Is the Christmas one better?