Rotten Tomatoes is a popular (upwards of 2.7 million readers a month)
website containing
movie critics reviews on movies. It inhabits www.rottentomatoes.com. As a movie opens,
critics rate the movie as being either "
rotten" or "
fresh"; movies being 60% or more on the “tomatometer” are rated overall as “fresh” and get a nice looking ripe tomato next to their name. Under 60%? A rotten
green squish next to their name, symbolizing a rotten movie.
Rotten Tomatoes was created in 1998 by a movie buff by the name of Senh Duong. Since then, it has received accolades from the The New Yorker, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, and many more.
I go to Rotten Tomatoes when I have an inkling of curiosity about a movie, to see what critics are saying about a new release, to find out who was in what and when, how "fresh" any actor, director, writer etc. is, when the DVD will be out, what's on the DVD etc. etc. etc. I don't always agree with the critics (Scooby-Doo kicked assmar) but generally I share their opinions.
You can say stuff to your friends like "Eighty percent of the critics liked it, but I thought it was a piece," or "It was only twenty percent fresh, but I thought the undertones of suppressed need for sexual deviancy made it worthwhile." It's good for movie knowledge and know-how, and a must have for playing “Six Degrees of Separation”.