Do Critics Really Know What Audiences Want?
By Movieguide® Contributor
Despite being labeled as a failure by the majority of movie critics, REAGAN found resounding success over Labor Day weekend, highlighting the gap between what critics think audiences want and what they actually want.
REAGAN received a 21% from 52 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but since hitting theaters, the audience score has steadily remained at 98% – with thousands of reviews. It found widespread box office success as well, finishing the Labor Day weekend at No. 3 with a total gross of $10.3 million.
While audiences have shown to love the movie, the critics would have you think it’s not even worth seeing, even if you already love the titular man.
“Without any lifelike characters, it’s hard to find oneself caring, and thus, REAGAN’s dedication to such narrow themes proves limiting,” wrote Bilge Ebiri, a critic for Vulture.
Though his review of REAGAN was ultimately negative, Ebiri gave the movie kudos for portraying Reagan’s devotion to taking down communism and bringing an end to the Soviet Union’s regime.
“To be fair, a lot of historians give Reagan credit for helping bring about both the Gorbachev revolution and the eventual downfall of the U.S.S.R. and its satellites, so the film’s focus is not in and of itself a misguided one,” Ebiri wrote.
The critic Jocelyn Noveck, who wrote the review for AP News, criticized the movie on the exact opposite lines, praising the characters, while finding the history unbelievable, again leading to a negative review.
“Let’s not blame the star, though,” Noveck wrote, “Quaid, who has played more than one president, has certainly got the charismatic grin, the pomaded hair and especially that distinctive, folksy voice down — close your eyes, and it sounds VERY familiar.”
“The yet broader point here is that Reagan, according to this film, was basically solely responsible for the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union, because he showed the people of the world what freedom meant…” Noveck wrote later in her review, adding, “The rest is a history reel, with lots of glorious, loving lighting around our star” — a negative in her view, especially because the movie also touches on Reagan’s faith.
The point isn’t that the critics always have to agree. Rather, it is telling that they disagree about where the movie succeeds and fails, yet both ultimately review the movie negatively based on these critiques.
Rather than having a problem with the movie, it appears they had a problem with the movie’s message: that the U.S. succeeded under Reagan’s presidency and that his character and morals were a large reason why the U.S.S.R. disbanded only two years after he left the office.
According to Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews however, Quaid’s performance along with the rest of the cast resonated with them — especially those who remember his presidency — and the history portrayed brought them delight while also reminding them of what our country stands for. This sentiment is shared by Movieguide®’s review of REAGAN which found it to be an extremely worthwhile movie. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:
Dennis Quaid gives a bravura performance in REAGAN as the beloved President, union leader and movie star. He’s just as good during the more intimate scenes as he is in the iconic public scenes. He’s supported by a great cast, including Jon Voight as a KGB analyst who closely follows Reagan’s beliefs and behavior. The movie’s focus on Reagan’s fight against communism gives a strong narrative structure to REAGAN’s stirring story of faith and patriotism.
Because Movieguide® supports family-friendly content above all else, our reviews align with what audiences actually want, as opposed to the critics from mainstream media who will negatively rate movies for little reason, especially if they promote faith or traditional values. Furthermore, they often explain a movie’s success incorrectly, searching for tangential reasons when the cause of its popularity is its family-friendly values.
Movieguide® previously reported:
While movies containing strong moral and Christian content have outperformed immoral content at the box office, mainstream media continues to find other reasons for their success.
In “The Simple Secret to the ‘Super Mario’ Animation Studio’s Success,” published by The Wall Street Journal, the success of Illumination Studios is explained as coming from its reliance on proven franchises and IPs, creation of films that people of all ages want to see, and the decline of Disney’s Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
“[An] explanation for Illumination’s success is the studio’s reliance on tried-and-true intellectual property as the basis of its stories” the article states. “The first movie to feature the minions–now an indelible part of pop culture–came out in 2012 and has spawned four sequels and spinoffs.”
“’Super Mario Bros.’ is based on the 1985 Nintendo game created by Shiguro Miyamoto, who is a producer on the movie and worked closely with Mr. Meledandri throughout its creative process,” the article continues. “The movie cribs plot twists from several of the early “Mario” games, including how Mario and Luigi travel through green sewer pipes and end up in the magical Mushroom Kingdom, battling evil turtle King Bowser to help save Princess Peach and her legions of mushroom-shaped subjects.”
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