The reaction to “Top Gun: Maverick” proved the exception to the new cultural rule.
Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 96% “fresh” rating from movie critics for the Tom Cruise sequel, while 99% of general audiences adored it.
More often than not, though, critics and audiences disagree … and it’s not even close. Extreme examples abound, including takes on comedy, blockbusters and dramas.
The 2021 documentary “Fauci,” for example, boasts an 86% to 2% split.
Bloomberg recently crunched the numbers on the growing divide, hailing the chasm to be the worst in decades.
Audiences have given the top 10 movies an average score more than 19 points higher than critics, by far the biggest difference this century. The only two of the year’s 10 biggest movies where audiences and critics are even close are “Top Gun: Maverick” and “The Batman.”
Film critics are supposed to be audience surrogates. Their reviews aren’t perfunctory but pragmatic.
Should Joe and Jane Sixpack spend their Saturday night on a clunker or a dazzling drama or comedy? When the audience/critic chasm grows as large as it is now, the public isn’t being served.
Some of this is unavoidable. Cheesy blockbusters, driven by special effects and hokey dialogue, aren’t meant to draw raves. Audiences are less willing to pick apart a movie as long as it delivers the escapism they crave.
The most popular film of a given year shouldn’t automatically be given the Best Picture Oscar, either. Still, critics should examine why they no longer reflect the will of the people and consider ways to bridge that gap.
The first suggestion may be the most important. Today’s critics are overwhelmingly left-of-center. That may have always been the case, but the modern critic lets his or her ideology filter into reviews like never before.
They analyze a film’s diversity, social messaging and more, and what they find directly impacts their reviews as much as poor acting or clunky dialogue.
That means a film from Dinesh D’Souza, The Daily Wire, or Nick Searcy has a much greater chance of being hammered by critics, and dramatically so. Conversely, anything associated with far-Left filmmaker Michael Moore, or stories espousing a pro-abortion sentiment, stands a greater chance at a rave review.
And that’s wrong.
Perhaps the most cartoonish example comes from a 2018 review of “Kin,” a Dennis Quaid thriller featuring a teen fighting back against an alien threat.
The teen (Myles Truitt) uses a space gun to protect his family. The Entertainment Weekly reviewer went ballistic over the plot point.
“This dangerous adventure is meant to be pulse-pounding and heartwarming in equal measure. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the film’s deeply troubling underlying message long enough for my pulse to pound or my heart to warm. Because, make no mistake, Kin is a movie about a child with an all-powerful firearm that makes him feel important and special and powerful. On a one-to-ten scale of moral fecklessness, this ranks about a thousand.”
Rating? A disastrous F.
If a critic can’t see past his anti-gun sentiments he has no right reviewing a movie like “Kin.”
The savage attacks on Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy,” spun from conservative star J.D. Vance’s popular memoir, captured how ideological fevers can impact a film’s critical reception. It’s hardly Howard’s best film, but the savage notices went above and beyond what was seen on the screen.
And most audiences enjoyed it, witness its 83% “fresh” score on RT.
The folks behind the scenes also should do a better job of embracing ideological diversity within their critical ranks. Quotas aren’t the goal here, but if an outlet’s entire staff leans to the Left, and hard, some diversity could help bridge the critic/audience gap.
At least a little.
Film Threat, a veteran indie site, offers a fine template on balancing voices and diverse opinions.
Critics also must learn to leave their woke sentiments aside when addressing comedy. There’s a good reason we see so few funny, R-rated comedies today. Filmmakers are afraid of angering the woke mob on social media. They’re also keenly aware any “problematic” jokes will trigger critics and hurt their overall grades on sites like Rotten Tomatoes.
In recent years critics have savaged comedies from liberal stars like Will Ferrell (“Get Hard”) and Amy Schumer (“Snatched”) for being racist. Are those actors racist? Of course not. Will they think twice about topics that could be hilarious but might trigger audiences?
Absolutely.
Critics should also diversify their news and Twitter feeds. Someone feasting on HuffPo, The New York Times or Keith Olbermann’s social media musings might not realize there’s half the country eager for woke-free content or, conversely, exhausted by cinematic lectures.
They also risk alienating half their readership. That’s a disconnect that’s damaging to their mission statement.
We all know Twitter isn’t real life. The same holds true, perhaps even more so, for Film Twitter.
Critics aren’t as allergic to genre fare as in the past, but it’s still important to meet a film halfway. A comedy-horror romp doesn’t demand the same interpretation as an Oscar-bait drama based on recent history.
Professional critics often walk in lockstep on a given film, and it can be hard to go against the professional tide. Do it, assuming it comes organically to the project in question. Groupthink impacts plenty of professions, and it ultimately does audiences little good.
Richard Roeper blasted his fellow critics for grading the 2016 dud “Ghostbusters” on a curve, hoping to buoy the feminist film’s fortunes. He has a point, and it’s hardly the only time critics sang from a very similar hymnal without firm footing.
Perhaps the best way to reconnect with general audiences is literally meet them on their turf. Ask questions following a movie screening about what they liked, and loathed, about a film. Track social media for instant, honest observations. You don’t have to agree with every sentiment. Chances are you’ll disagree with plenty.
It’s still one way to make sure you’re on a similar wavelength to the average movie goer. Pleasing the customer, as best a critic can, should remain job no. 1.
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Daily Wire.