Right, that's totally understandable. And in no way am I meaning to throw negativity onto Rotten Tomatoes.
I guess a better way to put it is that I don't trust it for my own use. I have on numerous occasions found a movie I loved, and found it to have so many hateful reviews on RT. Keep in mind this was years ago. I read many reviews where it seemed more like some reviews were agreeing with others to appear more "critic-y" if that makes any sense. Typically it's only been me loving a movie and them hating one than vice versa but I also haven't visited in a long time. Someone said they gave that new "Spy" movie a really high rating. Meanwhile one of my favorite movies for instance this last year, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., received a 67% and the critic consensus discussed it's lack of substance.
This being said, I don't know anyone in their right mind who would love "Spy" and not like TMFU... To me, that's just insulting. BUT, it's my opinion. And this is one reason I dislike review systems. They are valuable for learning from others in their experience, but in the wrong hands and used wrongly, they can deter people from amazing choices.
And I'll elaborate on that a bit more since I just got back from the bars and my words are tangled in knots. The vibe I get from Rotten Tomatoes is that there are people who label themselves as very knowledgeable when it comes to movies, and therefore resort to their keyboard ways in order to vent their opinions. They praise what others praise and resent what others resent. And I can't blame them, it's a psychological phenomenon of sticking with the pack. The idea that "Oh if I actually openly admit to going against the consensus here, people won't trust my opinions as a critic". The same can be said for video game critic websites/blogs. The only people who I would trust to give me great reviews are people who don't flood their review with negativity and then touch the good stuff in one sentence.
Dear lord, just read some of the "Spy" reviews? Melissa McCarthy "Queen of Comedy"? C'mon, even you have to admit that's a stretch and even so, to base an entire movie's reputation off of one actor? These are the types of critics I'm supposed to trust? Ones from newspapers and blogs that are too afraid to go against their competitor newspaper or blogs opinions?
By now you're probably thinking I'm quite the salty person over this. And in a sense, I kinda am. But I don't want you to think it's just this one movie. It's more along the lines of the number of times this has happened to me and that it's ONLY happened this way on RT in the past. And that its expected that all of these reviews from this aggregation of critics is to be trusted because of the name "Rotten Tomatoes". No. I stand by my word that I don't trust RT. The reviews can be the most hilariously outrageous. In fact, I've found most of the more knowledgeable or helpful reviews off of IMDB.
To be fair, I'm drunk. And I'll probably wake up tomorrow and have to re read what I typed and put my hand of my forehead as if to say "Dammit Chad, why the rant?". Like I said, it's my opinion as much so as those reviews are their opinion. I only dislike that they consider themselves such a trustworthy rating system of movies.
To end, I'll leave off with the most helpful and amazing "Spy" reviews higher on the list - "This is the Melissa McCarthy movie I've been waiting for." Really? http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/spy-movie-review-funny-melissa-mccarthy-comedy/story?id=31562127
Take a look at the last paragraph of that review. "Destroying?" This is supposed to be an unbiased totally legit review with and end-off like that? Someone will say that it's just his opinion, but if that's the case why do we need Rotten Tomatoes. Why can't we leave it at IMDB or App Store similar reviews. Just user reviews. Viewer reviews. Not like some ABC or newspaper know-it-all is the deciding factor of a movie's fate.
I am sincerely sorry for the wall of text and rant. I blame the Dos Equis and Crown Apple with Sprite.