Most actors have some hits and misses in their filmography. Some really well-known actors have a surprising number of misses, though! And others are impressive in their ability to pick movies that just work.
Using Rotten Tomatoes scores, where “fresh” means that at least 60% of movie reviews were positive, here are some interesting results for a number of famous performers:
- Johnny Depp has 71 critically-reviewed movies on Rotten Tomatoes, and nearly half of them (33) are rotten.
- Oscar Isaac may be one of my favorite actors, but his Rotten Tomatoes scores are inconsistent. He has 19 rotten films and 17 fresh ones.
- Nicole Kidman’s track record: 38 rotten movies and 28 fresh ones.
- Viola Davis has 23 fresh movies and 16 rotten ones. Importantly, almost all of her movies from the past 5 years are fresh!
- Jennifer Lopez has 27 rotten films and only 8 fresh movies!
To be fair, an actor is not the only person responsible for a Rotten Tomatoes score. An actor could do a great job in a movie that still gets terrible reviews. Additionally, it may be easier for a famous actor to have some rotten scores in their early filmography, when they were more likely to take on less impressive roles and any movie they could get, regardless of quality.
All of this makes it more impressive when an actor has an especially POSITIVE Rotten Tomatoes track record.
Here are some of the impressive performers with lots of great reviews and only a small number of bad ones:
- Tom Hiddleston has 18 fresh movies on his list–and only 1 rotten one! The bad one, according to critics, was I Saw the Light, the Hank Williams biopic.
- Jeff Bridges definitely has some flops in his filmography, but he has 38 fresh movies total and only 27 bad ones. That’s a better ratio than the earlier actors in our list!
- LaKeith Stanfield has 17 fresh movies and only 5 rotten ones.
- Daniel Day-Lewis’s track record is similar to Tom Hiddleston’s: he has 15 fresh movies and only 2 rotten ones. His rotten films, according to Rotten Tomatoes, are The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Nine.
- Daniel Radcliffe has 7 rotten movies and 21 fresh ones. Not a bad ratio!
- Emma Stone has 17 fresh and 11 rotten movies, but interestingly, she has not had a rotten ranking since 2015!
How Valid are Rotten Tomatoes Ratings?
Rotten Tomatoes uses a very simplistic method for giving movies their fresh or rotten scores.
Movie reviews are aggregated on the site, and they are ranked as either positive or negative. Film reviews with somewhat complicated opinions are evaluated and placed entirely in the “good” or “bad” category.
The total number of good reviews is measured against the bad, and that’s where we get the fresh vs. rotten rating. If more than 60% of movie critics are listed as liking a movie, then it’s “fresh.” They also offer an audience score, which is typically aggregated from far more reviews–but from everyday viewers instead of critics.
This really isn’t the BEST way to determine how good a movie is, but it’s still a useful tool for figuring out if a movie is likely worth your time or money. I’ll often watch a movie with an abysmally rotten score if I’m at home, but I save outings to the theater for highly-reviewed Rotten Tomatoes movies.
