10 Times Film Critics Actually Changed Their Mind
5. Robbie Collin Reconsidered The Paperboy After Panning Its Cannes Premiere
One of the most controversial and talked-about films that premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival was Lee Daniels' scandalous, Zac Efron-starring crime drama The Paperboy.
Its shamelessly pulpy style massively polarised critics, leading to a particularly passionate damning from The Daily Telegraph's Robbie Collin, who in his Cannes review called it a "transcendentally awful romance-stroke-crime drama."
But when the film was finally released in the UK almost a year later, Collin decided to watch it once again, and found his tune completely changed. In his new review, he said:
"As a piece of art this is all lust, no caution; a heady mirage of sex, swamps and soul music that wants nothing more than for you to share in the joke. Thank goodness I finally got it."
His two reviews really only amplify The Paperboy's divisive nature - to some it's lurid trash, to others it's a campy joy, and to critics like Collin, it can be one and then the other.