Five Stars!

This Friday night, we start our limited season of American: The Bill Hicks Story at the Mercury Cinema. We’ve been falling in love with the trailer in the office, watching it over and over again, and quotes from Hicks and images are lodging in our brain, and the other thing that sticks is the quoted star ratings. Of the things the editors of the trailer felt most important and pressing to include from the press two reviews taken down to simply “★★★★”.

But should they be? Does the star rating system on films help or hinder the word of the reviewer? Are reviews simply consumer guides, in which case a star system can be very helpful to reduce a movie down into “go” or “don’t go”, or should a review be a critical analysis, creating a record of the film and a guide for filmmakers?

Anyone who watches enough David and Margaret At The Movies knows that sometimes they will review a film and say “It was okay, I’m only giving it three stars”, while other times they’ll say “I really liked it, I’m giving it three stars!” How much of a guide is three stars when three stars may be a very good score on one occasion and then average on another?

When you take the system up to scores out of ten it can become even more complex. Why is it we will see 7/10 and think “oh, that must be rather average”, when it would make sense for a film rated 5/10 be seen as average?

When we’re on our Mercury facebook or twitter, we certainly use small, snappy, quotes. We are trying to drive you to our films with a short, quick, easy to understand system. And if that is the New York Times said “brilliant!”, Empire said “Five Stars” or Fringe Benefits said “a robust blend of cinematic titbits”, of course we’re going to grab that and market with it. For us, reviews are a marketing tool, and (hopefully) a great one at that.

But outside of the frame of marketing, what should people be looking for in a review? Is there anything wrong with just wanting a quick summary? Not everyone wants a detailed review. They don’t care about the finer plot points, the quality of the cinematography, the depth of the sound design (a gasp came from the office when I floated this idea): it’s simply yes or no, go or don’t go. See at the cinema or wait for the DVD.

If there is a place for these simple, reductionist reviews (and I would float the idea that twitter is the place for these reviews), then I think we should ask from our professional critics something more. At the very least, to force us to look for the pull quote to use in our simple marketing, and to force readers (or listeners, or viewers) to learn to appreciate more about a film than simply yes or no.

- By Admin Assistant (and theatre critic, who never uses stars) Jane

- For more on the debate coming from the gaming industry, search twitter for #gamescore