Movies Audiences Love but Critics Hate

“Ladder 49” tells the story of two firefighters. One who is injured and trapped in a burning building and has flashbacks of important moments of his life, and the other who is trying to rescue him. Critics were not impressed, but moviegoers were — 81% of audience reviewers gave the movie a positive review on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Nativity Story” centers on the story of Mary and Joseph who travel to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. During their journey, they try to escape King Herod’s forces who want to kill Jesus because of a prophecy that he will become a king. The most negative reviews describe the movie as a fairly bland, straightforward telling of the Christmas story.

A successful, recently engaged fashion designer in New York has to go back home to Alabama to legally divorce her estranged husband but realizes that they still have feelings for each other. One of the few good things critics said about the movie was that Reese Witherspoon was charming.

“The Guardian” tells the story of a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who trains young recruits and takes an arrogant high school swimming champion under his wing, teaching him about loss and sacrifice. Critics lambasted the movie for its too many cliches.

Based partly on a true story, the film has Ed Harris playing a high school football coach who develops a life-changing bond with Radio Kennedy, a developmentally challenged young man played by Cuba Gooding Jr.

A musical prodigy runs away from his orphanage and travels to New York City to find his parents, who happen to be looking for him too. Critics disliked just about every aspect of the movie, with only 37% giving the film a positive review. Audience reviewers felt the opposite way, with 82% liking it.

Much like their follow-up effort “Black Sheep,” Chris Farley and David Spade’s 1995 comedy “Tommy Boy” was not well received by critics. Roger Ebert said, “The movie is an assembly of cliches and obligatory scenes from dozens of other movies, all its better.” Yet audiences loved it, giving it a rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with the 42% of critics who enjoyed it.

“Underworld” is the story of a vampire, who is also a trained killer, who falls in love with a human being chased by werewolves for a mysterious reason. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus, the movie is “tedious and derivative.” Audience reviewers thought otherwise, and 79% of them liked the sci fi thriller.

A former CIA operative is hired by a wealthy family in Mexico City to protect their young daughter. When she is kidnapped, he seeks revenge. Critics describe the movie as having potential and failing to reach it because of excessive violence. Though just 38% liked the film, 89% of audiences did.

“The Butterfly Effect” centers on a college student (Ashton Kutcher) who suffers from headaches so terrible he blacks out. While he is unconscious, he is able to travel back in time and change the past. Though it was received well by audiences — with 81% of audiences giving the film a positive review on Rotten Tomatoes — “The Butterfly Effect” failed to impress critics.

Despite six total Oscar nominations and three wins, “Memoirs of a Geisha” received numerous poor reviews, resulting in a 35% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This critical reaction could be partially to blame for the film’s disappointing box office performance in the U.S. and Canada.

“Now and Then” is the story of four best friends and an unforgettable summer they spend together in a small town in 1970. Most critics were not impressed. Roger Ebert even described the film as a “contrived Stand by Me kind of story.” Moviegoers were more generous, with 82% giving the movie a positive rating.

Sean Penn received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a mentally challenged man fighting for legal custody of his 7-year-old daughter, who in the process also teaches different people, including his lawyer, the importance of love and family. Critics and some viewers thought the film was contrived and sentimental, and gave it a 35% Freshness rating, though audiences on Rotten Tomatoes liked the film better than critics, giving it a score of 86%.

“Seven Pounds” is about a man with a dark seek on a journey to find redemption. He is setting out to change the lives of seven people for the better but complications arise when he falls in love with one of them. Several critics didn’t feel the main characters actions were believable, and felt the movie was too grim and self-serious.

In this adaptation of the “The Phantom of the Opera,” a disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the opera house of Paris falls in love with a young soprano and enacts a plan to keep her with him. The movie is “boring, and lacking in both romance and danger,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus.

“Empire Records” details a day in the lives of a group of bohemian record store employees as they attempt to save their store from being taken over by a corporate franchise. Critics wrote it off as “mostly a silly and predictable teen dramedy,” as summarized in Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus, and 31% gave it a positive review. More than 180,000 viewers rated it on the site as well, 83% of whom gave it a thumbs up.

Before rocketing to comedy superstardom, Dave Chappelle co-wrote and starred in this stoner comedy about a group of friends tasked with getting their friend out of jail. Critics found it under-produced and unfunny, with only 29% of those rating it on Rotten Tomatoes giving it a positive review. Audiences, on the other hand, delivered an 81% positive rating.

“Super Troopers” is a lowbrow comedy about dope-smoking Vermont state troopers trying to save their jobs by making a drug bust. It was written by the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, who also play the five state troopers. The film enjoys a 90% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics did not share their enthusiasm, giving a Freshness rating of 35%. Chuck Wilson of L.A. Weekly said the movie featured “actors who aren’t actors so much as just a bunch of guys goofing off.”

“P.S. I Love You” tells the story of a young widow whose late husband has left her letters to help her recover from his death and move on. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus, the movie is a cliche and did not cast the right people as the leads.

“A Walk To Remember” tells the story of a mean high school senior who falls in love with a naïve young woman he and his friends used to make fun of. Critics did not like the plot of the movie. According to the Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus, the romantic movie is “bland and oppressively syrupy.”

“John Q” is a movie about what a desperate father will do to save his son’s life. In this case, John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) takes the people in an ER hostage to force the hospital perform a heart transplant surgery on his son because his health insurance won’t cover it.

In “Daddy’s Little Girls,” a struggling mechanic and father of three girls fights his drug-dealing ex-wife for custody of the girls and falls in love with his lawyer. Critics called the movie amateurish and melodramatic.

“Stomp the Yard” is the story of a street dancer who, after his brother is murdered, moves to Georgia, enrolls in college, and joins a step-dancing team. Critics gave thumbs down to “Stomp the Yard” — just 25% gave it a Freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes — noting its “soap opera-style subplots,” while conceding the film contained impressive dance scenes. Audiences gave the movie a score of 82%.

This “juvenile, ugly movie that represents the worst tendencies of directors channeling Tarantino,” according to the Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus, was enjoyed by 91% of users on the site and given a rating of 7.8 out of 10 on IMDb. Only 28% of critics gave it a positive review, with most finding it idiotic and immoral.

Director Alan Parker (“Mississippi Burning,” “Midnight Express”) helmed this film starring Kevin Spacey as an ardent opponent of capital punishment who winds up on death row. A strong cast of Spacey, Kate Winslet, and Laura Linney helped lift its audience score to 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the Critics Consensus found the anti-death penalty film an “implausible, convoluted thriller that pounds the viewer over the head with its message,” and only 19% of critics gave it a Freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

This early film in Channing Tatum’s career about a troublemaker given an opportunity to pursue dance in a serious manner is a hit with fans, receiving an average 83% positive reviews among the more than 615,000 viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Only 21% of critics enjoyed it, by contrast, though even its detractors often had positive things to say about the movie’s dancing.

“Drop Dead Fred” follows young adult Elizabeth Cronin (Phoebe Cates) as she reconnects with her imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred (Rik Mayall). The movie received positive reviews from merely 11% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with Gene Siskel calling it “easily one of the worst films [he’d] ever seen.” A much higher 77% of nearly 200,000 users gave it a positive review on Rotten Tomatoes, and IMDb users rated it 6.0 out of 10.

Adam Sandler-produced “Grandma’s Boy” — about a pot-smoking video-game tester who moves in with his grandma — has something of a cult following among those whom critic Nathan Rabin refers to as “slackers and stoners.” Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus describes the movie as “a gross-out comedy that’s more gross than comedic” and as being “lazy and unrewarding.”

This faith-based film from ordained minister Alex Kendrick about God and football was off-putting to critics who dismissed it as “banal” and “insipid” who gave it just a 16% Freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Jeff Strickler of the Minneapolis Star Tribune said the “proselytizing in this football movie is about as subtle as a blindside hit by a 300-pound defensive end.” Audiences gave it an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with one viewer likening it to a Christian version of “Remember the Titans.”

Filmmaker Tyler Perry has starred in numerous critically acclaimed movies, including “Star Trek” (2009) and “Gone Girl” (2014). He has had a more difficult time receiving good reviews for his comedies — such as the Madea movies — many of which he has written himself. “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” for which 16% of the critics reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, is one example. Rotten Tomatoes users, however, blessed the film with a score of 87%.