Movies are a subjective beast — there’s nothing worse than giving a heartfelt recommendation to a friend, only to have them poo-poo your surely brilliant taste in cinema.
A similar principle applies to film critics, as it’s difficult to get enthused about a glowing review when the same author hated a film you love.
What if there was a way to quickly find out which film critics align with your tastes? Twitter user @EleanorClarinet created a mobile website for her “cinephile” husband who pondered just that, aiming to help you find who you agree and disagree with the most.
Movie Critic Matchmaker fetches data from popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, presenting you with 40 movies to either swipe as “fresh”, “rotten”, or skip if you haven’t seen it. Afterwards, you’re shown a results screen listing which critics gave similar verdicts to your responses.
In the website’s “About” section, Eleanor explains roughly 100 polarising movies made “recently-ish” are included in the survey, and that any issues with the range should be taken up with her husband, who chose the list.
Some of the movies included are indeed divisive, such as Spectre, Star Wars Episode VII: The Last Jedi, Joker, and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet.
Taking the Movie Critic Matchmaker test multiple times provides more accurate results, as it remembers selections from multiple entries, displaying which specific movies you and your most and least compatible critics shared.
Apparently, my film interests align with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chris Nashawaty who until last year wrote for Entertainment Weekly. On the other side, I routinely disagreed with Australian critic Sandra Hall and The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw. Sorry, folks.
Give it a go here and start heated debates with strangers on the internet today about why The Last Jedi absolutely rules.
Chris is an award-nominated writer based in Adelaide who specialises in covering video games and technology. He loves Donkey Kong Country, sport, and cats. The Last Jedi is the best one, no questions asked.
