The Decomposition of Rotten Tomatoes: The most overrated metric in entertainment is erratic, reductive, and easily hacked--and yet has Hollywood in its grip.

Critics who had seen earlyscreenings had published 13 reviews, seven of themnegative, which translated to a score of 46 percent onthe all-important aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes--adisappointing outcome for a film with prestigeaspirations and no domestic distributor. A third of U.S. adults saythey check Rotten Tomatoes before going tothe multiplex, and while movie ads used totout the blurbage of Jeffrey Lyons and PeterTravers, now they're more likely to boastthat a film has been "Certified Fresh." 1and 2.) An indie-distribution executive says,"I put in our original business plan that weshould not do films that score less than 80.Rotten Tomatoes is the only public stampof approval that says, 'This is of immensequality, and all critics agree.'" But despite Rotten Tomatoes' reputedimportance, it's worth a reminder: Its mathstinks. [Extracted from the article]