Is this movie good? The public says one thing, critics say another.

Some films are admired by everyone – or at least by most. But what happens when critics and audiences disagree?

Occasionally, a film’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a site that aggregates reviews from critics and assigns the film a percentage that increases the more positive the reviews are, varies widely from the average on CinemaScore, which assigns films a letter grade by which theatergoers vote.

Both standards are imperfect, as critic Alissa Wilkinson wrote for Vox. Rotten Tomatoes collects reviews from all kinds of critics with varying levels of prestige, which can inflate the percentage that serves as the ‘Tomatometer’ score. Some lesser-known films may have been screened by fewer critics, which may also affect the score. Rotten Tomatoes has its own answer to CinemaScore, the “Popcorn Meter,” which averages the ratings of audience members who log their reviews online, but it hasn’t been around as long as CinemaScore.

CinemaScore’s data comes from people who have chosen to spend money to see a movie on opening night, so they’re more likely to have high anticipation for the movie they just saw — and tend to to give bad marks to films that defy convention. Anything shown on fewer than 1,500 screens will not receive a grade. It may not be the perfect measure of a film’s appeal to audiences, but Ed Mintz founded the company in 1978 in direct response to the feeling that a critic’s review was leading him astray. He wanted to hear from real fans, not experts.

There is no one method or formula for determining whether a movie is good or bad; we must rely on accolades and box office numbers to measure a film’s impact on culture. Still, it’s fascinating to explore the divide between critics and the general public. Let’s take a look at some films where there wasn’t a clear consensus from either side.

Red (2024)

The action-comedy Christmas film, now in theaters, has a high A rating on CinemaScore – much higher than the 31% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film follows an unlikely duo, played by a stoic Dwayne Johnson and a mischievous Chris Evans, who must work together to save a particularly strong Santa Claus (JK Simmons) when he is kidnapped just before Christmas.

Sound of freedom (2023)

This faith-based thriller based on the life of former Special Agent Tim Ballard, who founded an organization dedicated to preventing child sex trafficking, did well at the box office and with audiences – it has an A+ CinemaScore. Critics were unimpressed, however, as the Rotten Tomatoes rating is only 57%.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

With only a 59% on Rotten Tomatoes, the animated video game adaptation starring Chris Pratt and Anya Taylor-Joy did not leave a positive impression on critics. However, audiences loved it and gave it an A CinemaScore.

Uncut Gemstones (2019)

The extremely chaotic film, which sees Adam Sandler’s character make a series of risky and dangerous bets, appears to have left audiences stressed with a C+ CinemaScore that contrasts with its 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Heir (2018)

Now that it’s on the list of IndieWire’s top 100 horror films of all time, with a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it may be shocking to see that Heir has a D+ CinemaScore. The film is about how a family begins to fall apart after the death of its matriarch, as cult ties are exposed, and Variety attributes its low ratings to the “crime of being more artsy than sensational.”

Mother! (2017)

Only a handful of films have received a solid F CinemaScore in recent decades, but Mother! is one of them. Research analyst Harold Mintz, whose father Ed Mintz founded CinemaScore, told Vulture that horror films so rarely do well on the site: “an F in a horror movie is equal to a B- in a comedy.” Jennifer Lawrence stars as a woman terrorized by uninvited guests in the film that cost her a torn midriff but earned a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Adults (2010)

Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Chris Rock played a group of immature former basketball players who come together after the death of their coach, which critics left with a 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it resonated with some audiences, earning a B CinemaScore.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004)

The film, which stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as former lovers who undergo a procedure to forget each other, is considered one of the best films of the 2000s with a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences may have initially not the same feeling, as it just earned a decent B-CinemaScore.