I peek at the site every now and then, but I definitely take the ratings with a grain of salt.
The fact that films like Final Destination 5 and Kingdom of the Crystal have "fresh ratings", while films like Blow (or hell even the Hangover sequels) have lower ratings shows how inconsistent the rating system is.
Overall I've noticed these trends on Rotten Tomatoes:
1. The site is biased toward family-friendly films (ex. Disney/Pixar) - pretty much any major animated film will get a Fresh rating; while films with edgier content will often get negative reviews simply for having content which the critic found offensive.
2. The site is biased toward serious films versus "entertaining films". - often films in genres such as action or comedy receive poor reviews for "lacking serious depth" - but it's pretty redundant to go to a movie like Death Race expecting the depth of a film like The Godfather. It would be like visiting a local hamburger or pizza joint expecting to be served fine French cuisine. I believe that "fun films" should be rated within the context of their genre as opposed to being given poor ratings just for "not being serious art", however RT critics seem not to grasp what to me is a pretty simple concept.
The fact that films like Final Destination 5 and Kingdom of the Crystal have "fresh ratings", while films like Blow (or hell even the Hangover sequels) have lower ratings shows how inconsistent the rating system is.
Overall I've noticed these trends on Rotten Tomatoes:
1. The site is biased toward family-friendly films (ex. Disney/Pixar) - pretty much any major animated film will get a Fresh rating; while films with edgier content will often get negative reviews simply for having content which the critic found offensive.
2. The site is biased toward serious films versus "entertaining films". - often films in genres such as action or comedy receive poor reviews for "lacking serious depth" - but it's pretty redundant to go to a movie like Death Race expecting the depth of a film like The Godfather. It would be like visiting a local hamburger or pizza joint expecting to be served fine French cuisine. I believe that "fun films" should be rated within the context of their genre as opposed to being given poor ratings just for "not being serious art", however RT critics seem not to grasp what to me is a pretty simple concept.