Opinion: Viewers should be more critical of critics

by Robby Fletcher

For as long as I can remember, film critics have helped my friends and me decide what movies we want to spend our time and money watching. If we spend roughly eight dollars for a movie ticket and another-however-many bucks on the over priced popcorn and a large drink, we expect to see something that is “the best film of the summer.”

But lately, I have come to question why film critics are in charge of deciding what people should go see in the theaters.  Websites such as Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic contribute to the craze by using aggregated scores of various critics to rate almost every film ever made.  But really, why should I seek the recommendation of a person who claims to be an expert on filmography?

At one time, critics would critique specific aspects of a film such as editing, script or acting.  That has been replaced by how attractive the actors are or how mindlessly explosive the action or the romance is.  It’s clear that the film critic has become less of a film scholar and more of an advertiser for the films that they review.

The most rewarding experience about seeing a movie is making up our own minds about the film.  So the next time you want to see a movie, resist the urge to peek at the reviews.  As the saying goes, “Everybody’s a critic.”  We should be the ones critiquing films and deciding what we like best.