10 Awesome Ways Movies Got Back At Critics

Everyone's a critic.

By Jack Pooley /

Advertisement

The relationship between critics and the movies they watch has never been more strained or complex than it is today, what with the Internet and especially social media redefining who qualifies as a critic, and what purpose they might serve in influencing box office.

And while Hollywood obviously finds critics useful to champion smaller films, they can be a thorn in their side where larger commercial gambles are concerned, as a spate of bad reviews can quickly topple a film's business prospects.

Advertisement

And filmmakers have often responded to their critics by addressing them, either directly or through thinly-veiled allegory, in their subsequent films.

While this often backfires witlessly - as with 1998's Godzilla featuring a cringe-worthy Roger Ebert stand-in, or the snooty film critic getting mauled to death in M. Night Shyamalan's The Lady in the Water - sometimes directors are smart enough to deliver an effective, self-aware rebuke to their detractors.

Advertisement

Rather than simply whining about Rotten Tomatoes dissuading people from seeing their movies, these films got revenge on their critics in playful, savage and ingenious ways...