The Data Behind Audience Backlash: Three categories of films where critics and audiences wildly disagree.
Published March 23, 2026
We've all had this experience: a movie comes out to universally glowing reviews. Every critic calls it a "tour de force." It sweeps the Oscars. You sit down to watch it, expecting a life-changing experience... and you are incredibly bored.
You go online and declare the movie "overrated." But what does that word actually mean?
Looking at the data, "overrated" rarely means "bad." Instead, it usually means "misaligned expectations." When a movie has a massive positive delta (meaning the Critic Score is significantly higher than the Audience Score), it usually falls into one of three categories:
Critics love movies that tackle depressing, heavy subject matter with methodical, slow pacing. They watch 300 movies a year, so they crave deep thematic resonance. General audiences, however, often go to the movies to escape reality. When they are confronted with a 3-hour, depressing character study, they reject it.
Consider The Shape of Water (2017): critics gave it 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and it won Best Picture, but it earned just a 75% ThumbScore -- many viewers found a romance with a fish-creature more weird than enchanting. Crash (2005) is another textbook case: 74% from critics and a Best Picture win, but a 77% ThumbScore, with many calling it heavy-handed and manipulative. Even The Power of the Dog (2021), with a 94% critics score, landed at just 64% with audiences who found its glacial pace punishing.
When a beloved franchise releases a sequel, audiences want a continuation of the things they love. Critics, however, reward directors who "subvert expectations" and tear down established lore. The biggest audience backlashes in history occur when critics praise a movie for destroying a franchise that the audience deeply loves.
The clearest examples live in franchise fatigue territory. Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) earned a 16% critics score and a 71% ThumbScore -- both low, but audiences were still far more forgiving. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) landed at 30% with critics but 86% with audiences who just wanted more Captain Jack. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) is the most infamous case: critics gave it 91%, while the ThumbScore dropped to 68%, creating one of the largest critic-audience gaps in modern franchise history.
Critics adore horror movies that rely entirely on "creeping dread" and metaphors for trauma (e.g., The Babadook, Hereditary). Audiences, who go to horror movies to be viscerally scared in a dark theater with their friends, often leave these movies feeling frustrated by the lack of traditional jump scares or a clear monster.
The Witch (2016) is a prime example: 91% from critics, but a mixed 91% ThumbScore that masks deeply polarized individual reactions. Mother! (2017) went even further -- 68% from critics who praised its ambition, but a 56% ThumbScore and a rare F CinemaScore. It Comes at Night (2017) earned 88% from critics but just a 60% ThumbScore, with many feeling the marketing promised a monster movie and delivered an anxiety exercise.
The next time you call a movie overrated, you aren't alone. You just have different priorities than the critics.
See where audiences and critics disagree most
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