While there is an overabundance of nuanced, interesting film criticism on the Internet, a majority of movie fans base their opinions on a film from the score that it received on Rotten Tomatoes. Criticism is much more contextual than a simple numerical score given to a title, but Rotten Tomatoes offers a simple rating that tends to get aggregated. There is an increasing number of instances when studios use a positive Rotten Tomatoes score as a marketing tool. The films that achieve the rare 100% “fresh rating” are put under a public spotlight, and similarly, the films that are labeled as “rotten” with a 0% score tend to live in infamy. However, the process of determining a Rotten Tomatoes score is more complicated than it may seem.
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Rotten Tomatoes is a great platform for movie fans to utilize if they understand the site’s purpose. In addition to listing extensive movie data like other databases such as IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes is connected through its parent company Fandango to allow for the purchase of theater tickets. Additionally, it serves as a great tool to follow individual critics, look up specific reviews, and interact with other movie lovers. However, averaging out a score is a complex process that includes outside factors that some users aren’t aware of.

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How Does Rotten Tomatoes’ Rating System Work?

Rotten Tomatoes aggregates two primary ratings; there is a “% fresh” according to critics, and one according to audiences. The critical score, which is the primary number listed alongside a film, is the percentage of positive reviews that a film receives, with a minimum of five reviews needed to officially list on the “Tomatoemeter.” The audience score is determined by a five-star rating system that users submit when adding their custom reviews.

In order to be listed as an official critic, journalists must be a member of a writing guild, critic’s group, or have enough followers or “likes” on their platform before they can be admitted. There’s an exhaustive evaluation process that critics must fill out in order to be accepted. Each review is listed as either broadly positive or broadly negative and given either a fresh or rotten rating as a result. A blurb, rating, and score from the review are linked to the reviews section of each film’s page.

There is a slightly different process for television. TV shows are given their average rating in their entirety, with individual segments for specific episodes and seasons. The overall score is determined by the average of these. This can explain why certain shows that have noticeable trends in quality tend to rank a certain way. It may be strange that The Simpsons only has an 85% rating, even though the first eight seasons each scored 100% fresh, but it’s because the number of standout episodes in the later seasons has declined.

Averages Vs. Consensus

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While it may seem confusing that the score is simply a percentage of reviews and not an average, not every critic uses the same rating system. Some critics rate out of four or five stars, others give a letter grade, and some either have their own rating system or simply don’t assign a rating. It makes it impossible to create an average of different metrics. An average score listed alongside each film is included to give a rough estimate, and general summaries of the film’s reception written by the Rotten Tomatoes staff are also included.

This makes using the “Tomatometer” an occasionally flawed way to determine a film’s quality; the score is based on how many critics liked or disliked a film, but there’s no way to evaluate their enthusiasm. A film that is heralded with a high score (such as a 5/5 star or A+ grade) could be listed as positive, but so could a more mixed or passable response with an ambivalent rating (such as a ⅗ star or B- grade). Similarly, a film that is absolutely derided by a critic (such as a ⅕ star or F grade) could be listed as rotten alongside a more mixed or average response. As a result, films that are more divisive tend to fare worse, while those that are more broadly accepted as simply “good” tend to do very well, such as the recently released M3gan.

The “Tomatoemeter” itself takes into consideration the number of reviews for a given film when determining whether the film can be “certified fresh.” A wide-release film receives a “certified fresh” rating if it scores an average between 75% and 100% positive ratings based and has at least 80 reviews; limited-release titles only require 40 reviews. Five of these reviews must be from “top critics,” a group that includes journalists with a significant catalog, consistency, and following. These reviews can be singled out from the broad critical reviews in their own section.

What Is Rotten Tomatoes Good For?

Image via LucasFilm

Simply determining your opinion on whether or not a film is worth watching based on its score isn’t a great way to make decisions; film fans may be surprised to see the many beloved classics that are listed as “rotten,” such as Spaceballs, Constantine, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, and The Mighty Ducks; the same could be said in reverse, as the broadly disliked Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is “certified fresh” at 78%.

While some may note the difference between a film’s audience and critical scores as a sign that film critics are “out of touch,” they are using completely different metrics. Additionally, review bombing can be an issue, as some recent projects such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have been bombarded with hateful user reviews for including more diverse ensemble casts. Similar to any other consensus platform like IMDb or Letterboxd, there’s no way to determine whether someone has actually seen a film or series, or whether they’re a bot.

However, there are a number of upsides to Rotten Tomatoes. Having a broad range of reviews listed can allow fans to follow specific critics, or look up reviews that they may disagree with in order to get a different perspective. Nothing is as simple as a number, but cinephiles should be able to determine for themselves whether a film is “fresh” or “rotten.” At the end of the day, cinema is a subjective medium.