Sometimes after watching a movie, I will go to Rotten Tomatoes and check to see if the film is certified fresh or rotten in the eyes of critics. Though my own opinions mostly line up with those of the reviewers the website views as experts, there are times where they couldn’t be more opposite. This happened with the Summer 2022 release of The Gray Man, a movie I actually liked, but critics, for the most part, did not. I wasn’t alone in this, as there was nearly a 50-point difference in the critical and audience scores.
This has also been the case for a large number of 2022 movies released so far, including Black Adam, which had a 51-point gap between critics and audiences. But Dwayne Johnson’s massive superhero movie isn’t alone in this regard, as some other big releases feel like critics and audiences were watching two entirely different movies.Let’s get into these differences now…
Black Adam - 39% Critic Score; 90% Audience Score
The long-awaited Black Adam was released in October 2022, and became an immediate hit with audiences despite receiving mixed to negative reviews from critics. Regardless of the poor critical response, Dwayne Johnson’s first superhero movie soared to number one at the box office the weekend of its release, with a weekend domestic gross of $67 million.
Over on the Black Adam Rotten Tomatoes page, the movie, which saw the spectacular return of one of DC’s biggest heroes in the end-credits sequence, currently has a 39% critic score with an audience score of 90%. The site’s critical consensus essentially states that Black Adam points the way to “an exciting future for DC films” but is also “a wildly uneven letdown.”
Don’t Worry Darling - 38% Critic Score; 74% Audience Score
After what seems like years of behind-the-scenes rumors and all sorts of drama leading up to its release, Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling opened in September 2022, and gave audiences a thrilling yet muddled psychological thriller. Upon release, the film received tepid reviews, though Florence Pugh’s lead performance did receive a great deal of praise.
The movie’s Rotten Tomatoes page currently lists the critic score as 38% while the audience score is 74%. The general consensus from the audience is that the cast more than makes up for the Don’t Worry Darling ending, which isn’t for everyone.
Amsterdam - 33% Critic Score; 62% Audience Score
David O. Russell’s star-studded mystery-comedy about three friends navigating post-WWI Europe was another film that didn’t do too hot with critics or at the box office, despite featuring performances by the likes of Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington.
As it stands on Rotten Tomatoes, Amsterdam has a critic score of 33% and an audience score of 62%, but there is some commonality in each group’s response to the movie. The general critics consensus is that the movie is busy, both in terms of the number of A-listers in the cast and the plot. Even the audiences agreed with critics when it came to the movie’s hard-to-follow story that requires a lot from the viewer.
The School For Good And Evil - 36% Critic Score; 68% Audience Score
The 2022 Netflix movie, The School for Good and Evil received largely negative reviews when it was released in October, with some critics calling it an “aggressively convoluted YA movie” with others saying that it was funny in parts despite being neither clever nor original.
The School for Good and Evil, which features a remarkable cast, currently has a decent size gulf between the critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie has a 36% critical response with an audience score of 68%, which isn’t the best or worst but still flunks in terms of storytelling, according to the critical consensus.
Ticket To Paradise - 56% Critic Score; 88% Audience Score
In October 2022, Julia Roberts and George Clooney got back together once again for the romantic comedy, Ticket to Paradise. Upon its release, the film received mixed to good reviews, with critics pointing out the performances by the two leads and the happy nature of its story.
Ticket to Paradise is only a few percentage points shy of reaching the “Fresh” ranking on Rotten Tomatoes with its critics score of 56%, but moviegoers are almost in full support of the movie, and its audience score sits at 88%. Critics and audiences alike pointed out the pairing of Roberts and Clooney as a positive for the movie.
Where The Crawdads Sing - 33% Critic Score; 96% Audience Score
The 2022 movie with the biggest difference in critic and audiences scores on Rotten Tomatoes (so far) is Where the Crawdads Sing. Although audiences couldn’t get enough of the 2022 book-to-movie adaptation (96% of moviegoers enjoyed it), the same can’t be said for critics, who largely panned the coming-of-age drama.
According to the Where the Crawdads Sing Rotten Tomatoes page, critics felt the movie failed to properly adapt the 2018 best-selling novel of the same name “into a tonally coherent drama,” though professional reviewers did enjoy Daisy Edgar-Jones' portrayal of Kya Clark.
Jurassic World Dominion - 30% Critic Score; 77% Audience Score
Although it’s true none of the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies have been able to reach the heights of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 summer blockbuster in terms of cultural relevancy and critical consensus, the series reached new lows in the eyes of reviewers with Jurassic World Dominion in June 2022. On the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes page, it is stated that the “franchise has lumbered a long way down” since starting nearly 30 years ago.
Even moviegoers were lukewarm on Jurassic World Dominion, which has an audience score of 77%. However, this is still an improvement over Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which had an audience score of 48% upon release in 2018.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - 69% Critic Score; 96% Audience Score
In April 2022, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and its lovable titular character voiced by Ben Schwartz, warmed the hearts of audiences of all ages with its humor, action, and surprising amount of emotion. According to its Rotten Tomatoes page, 96% of audiences liked Sonic 2, which is a great deal higher than the critical reaction.
It should be pointed out that the 69% critic score for the second confrontation between Sonic and Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik isn’t the lowest of the year, but there’s still nearly a 30-point difference between general moviegoers and reviewers who called it a “generally acceptable sequel.”
The Gray Man - 46% Critic Score; 91% Audience Score
Joe and Anthony Russo directed some of the best Marvel movies that were equally loved by critics and audiences, but the same can’t be said about their 2022 Netflix movie The Gray Man, which has a gap between the two categories that is about as big as the spy thriller’s massive budget.
According to The Gray Man's Rotten Tomatoes page, only 46% of critics liked the movie while 91% of audiences enjoyed watching Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and the rest of The Gray Man cast. The only movie directed by the Russos to have a higher audience score is Captain America: The Winter Soldier at 92%.
Purple Hearts - 40% Critic Score; 67% Audience Score
The romantic drama, Purple Hearts, has been a hit with audiences ever since taking up residence on the Netflix Top 10 list in August 2022, and it still has a 67% approval rating with fans on Rotten Tomatoes. The same, however, can’t be said about the critical response to the emotionally-wrecking affair.
According to the Purple Hearts Rotten Tomatoes page, the movie has a 38% approval rating with critics in the weeks following its release.
Uncharted - 40% Critic Score; 90% Audience Score
The Tom Holland-led Uncharted seemed like it was never actually going to be released, but it became an instant hit with audiences when it finally did enter theaters in February 2022. Currently, it has a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 90%, which is Holland’s third highest non-Marvel movie (Onward and Spies in Disguise barely beat it).
The critical response is a different story though, and the critic score sits at 41% with the official consensus being that it’s a “disappointing echo of superior adventure films.”
Persuasion - 32% Critic Score; 67% Audience Score
Despite being on the receiving end of backlash over its dialogue, the 2022 adaptation of Persuasion has been a hit with Netflix subscribers since it arrived on the scene. And, that popularity has translated to a 67% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The critical response hasn’t been nearly as favorable, and according to the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes page, only 32% of critics liked the movie, with the consensus being that Persuasion “fails to convince as a worthwhile [Jane] Austen adaptation.”
Death On The Nile - 62% Critic Score; 82% Audience Score
Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile, in which he also appears as legendary detective Hercule Poirot, is another 2022 movie that wasn’t necessarily hated by critics but still one that has a gulf between the critical and audience responses.
According to the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes page, the star-studded murder mystery has a 62% critic score and an 82% audience score, with the latter group declaring it an “all-star mystery” with “plenty of entertaining twists.”
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore - 46% Critic Score; 83% Audience Score
Though an improvement from its predecessor, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore doesn’t come close to some of the better Harry Potter movies, at least in the eyes of critics. Following its release, the Rotten Tomatoes critic score for the third movie in the Wizarding World prequel series had a 46% approval rating.
Audiences were actually quite fond of the third Fantastic Beasts movie, specifically pointing out the special effects that were on full display throughout.
Moonfall - 36% Critic Score; 70% Audience Score
Roland Emmerich’s disaster sci-fi adventure, Moonfall, failed to find a big audience when it was released in February 2022, but the people who did end up seeing it on the big screen liked what they saw from the large ensemble cast.
The movie currently has a 70% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is nearly double that of critics (36% score). And, despite the poor marks, the critical consensus was it was an “Emmerich disaster thriller through and through.”
With so many movies still slated to come out before 2022 draws to an end, expect to see more titles added to this list in the months to come. And then we’ll have to start paying attention to all those 2023 new releases.
