When people look up to see how good a movie is, they go to one of two sites: IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. It really irks me when I hear anyone mention what a movie’s “Tomatometer” is, let alone that person deciding whether to see the movie based on the Rotten Tomatoes score. In my terse attempt, here’s why you should stop checking Rotten Tomatoes and go to IMDb.
The fundamental difference lies in the voting system. Rotten Tomatoes only allows the voter to like it or not, whereas IMDb offers the voter to rate the movie based on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. It’s a fact that the more choices a voter is given, the more accurate the results will be. It doesn’t take a math major to figure out ten choices allow for a more accurate grade of a movie than two, especially when the two choices are you have to either like it or not. It’s also the reason I bumped my own grading scale from four stars to five because I found even four is too limiting. That alone should sell you but if it doesn’t, read on.
If you’re just looking to see if a movie is universally agreed upon, this argument is moot. Toy Story 3 boasts an 8.8 IMDb or a 99% Tomatometer. Similarly, Tyler Perry‘s For Colored Girls has a 4.1 or 34%. The question is do you want to know how good a movie is or do you just want to know if people liked it. The former is where I find moviegoers uneducated in their choice to go with Rotten Tomatoes for reasons I’ll explain shortly.
It also bothers me that Tomatometers are very polarizing. Given their voting guide, it makes sense that there are a boatload of movies in the 90’s. But again, the problem is people compare movies based on these scores and while you can say a 94% is practically the same as a 93%, this isn’t the difference between some people giving it a 9 instead of a 10, it’s the difference between some people not liking the movie at all. And that’s a little scary.
I was thinking the other day why the best movie of all-time on IMDb only has a 9.2. I can’t stand unrealistic expectations and surely, there has to be at least one movie in history that was flawless for two hours. But, it makes sense. Like the teacher who never hands out ‘A’s, you have to reserve the perfect score to prevent a slippery slope of well, if that movie got a 10, and this movie’s as good if not better than that movie, then so should this one. And that’s exactly what Rotten Tomatoes does; the top 100 of all-time are all 100%. Who knows how many hundreds more stand at 100%?
IMDb only has three notable movies that can claim a 9.0 or better. And for those unfamiliar with it, a 7.0 is a solid movie and anything that starts with an 8 is an absolute must-watch. I’ll list the year’s best movies per IMDb and compare it to its Tomatometer to show some perspective on Rotten Tomatoes’ widely inaccurate ranking.
Inception – 8.9; 87%
Toy Story 3 – 8.7; 99%
How to Train Your Dragon – 8.1; 98%
From these three movies alone, we can already see two clear differences: Rotten Tomatoes’ relatively low satisfaction of Inception, and its near-flawless reception of How to Train Your Dragon, both of which I disagree with. Having seen all three titles, I’m in agreement with the IMDb list of the three movies and wouldn’t have a problem with the first two flip-flopping.
First, Inception. Per Rotten Tomatoes, it’s the 34th best movie of the year! That’s just ridiculous. IMDb has it tied for fifth all-time. You’ve seen it. You tell me what it’s closer to. How to Train Your Dragon, in my opinion, is generously ranked on IMDb as well. It’s on the same level as Despicable Me, which holds a solid 7.6. But Rotten Tomatoes has it as the second-best wide release American movie of the year. Again, if you’ve seen it, you tell me which one you’re leaning towards – a good movie or an Oscar contender for Best Picture.
Those are pretty big differences for just two movies, two of the best, this year. Imagine all the differences from the historic movies, and they’re out there. Maybe, I’ve been making the wrong argument the whole time. That really, what I should’ve been saying is quite simply, that Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t know the difference between Oscar caliber and Tyler Perry-capable, with having too many arguable Tomatometers, something I can’t say with the very consistent IMDb. Try it. Look up any movie you want to. All this, and you’d think I’m getting paid by IMDb.
So make the right choice, and go IMDb. (But if not, tell me why you go to Rotten Tomatoes in the Comments.)
BJ