Getting a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes is downright impossible. Usually, you have to be a classic film with precious few reviews, so that the positive ration remains in your favor. Singin’ In The Rain, for example, has the highest grade, with only 60 reviews. Not saying it deserves a Rotten review, but the more reviews you collect, the easier it is to get dinged by a misguided soul.
Zero percent, however, is a little easier to attain. Netflix’s new The Last Days of American Crime is the latest film to be “blessed” with the grade. It joins 42 other films, according to Wikipedia, to be in The 0% Club. Congratulations? They are:
Staying AliveBoleroJaws: The RevengePolice Academy 4: Citizens on PatrolMac and MeProblem ChildHighlander 2: The QuickeningReturn to the Blue LagoonFolks!Look Who's Talking Now!A Low Down Dirty ShameWagons EastShadow ConspiracySimon Sez3 StrikesBallistic: Ecks vs. SeverDerailedKilling Me SoftlyMerci Docteur ReyPinocchioNational Lampoon's Gold DiggersSuperbabies: Baby Geniuses 2ConstellationRedlineScarOne Missed CallHomecomingStolenTransylmaniaThe Nutcracker in 3DBucky Larson: Born to Be a StarDark TideA Thousand WordsThe Ridiculous 6Cabin FeverDark CrimesThe Disappointments RoomMax SteelPrecious CargoStrattonGottiLondon Fields
What is The Last Days of American Crime, and does it belong on this list? The movie stars Michael Pitt and Edgar Ramirez, and has a sci-fi twist to it. The government comes up with a solution to crime. They play to emit a signal that will prevent all who hear it from committing criminal acts. So a group of career bad guys team up for the heist of the century, before all crime goes away.
Sounds interesting. I’ll give it that. But that zero percent comes with 31 reviews, and even audiences who checked it out have only given it a 26% Fresh on the film’s Rotten Tomatoes site.
The thing about the list of 0% movies is that it only takes a few swayed opinions to ruin the streak. An up-and-coming critic could take a shine to Gotti, and praise John Travolta’s cartoonish portrayal of the king of the five boroughs. Or a legitimate film critic at an approved outlet might weigh in by calling Cabin Boy their favorite film of all time. In which case, the grade would be ruined.
Most everything on that list deserves to be there. Don’t look to me to defend Jaws: The Revenge, even though it co-stars Michael Caine! Maybe I’d go to bat for the fourth Police Academy, which is bad but far from the worst of that bunch. Not a ringing endorsement, by any definition.
