20 Movies Critics HATE But Audiences LOVE
2. Michael
In an outcome just about everyone saw coming, the new Michael Jackson biopic is a critically mauled commercial juggernaut.
Considering the extensive stories of the film's ragged production - with legal oversights requiring most of the third act to be reshot - it wasn't remotely surprising that most critics dismissed Michael as a bland, messy biopic that neither works as a celebration of a musical genius nor a more comprehensive portrait of a controversial artist.
But Michael is also basically the cinematic equivalent of preaching to the converted - everyone who went to see the movie was a card-carrying MJ fan, and anyone perturbed enough by the historic abuse allegations against Jackson surely stayed away.
And so, despite the critical drubbing, Michael scored an astonishing 97% with audiences, as well as an incredibly impressive "A-" CinemaScore, before grossing over $200 million in its global opening weekend.
As such it's pretty much the dictionary definition of a critic-proof movie, giving the MJ acolytes exactly what they wanted without the more warts-and-all treatment that would've roused more critical interest.