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Sunday, September 25, 2011

Failure of Ratings

Many people have developed a habit of reading reviews before going to a movie theater, a restaurant or a play. It is understandable since information is available and we are equipped to get the latest news within the palm of our hands, as long as we care enough. 

Generally, reviews are helpful. Why wouldn't someone want to go see a movie that 10,000 people said it was great? After seeing the reviews for the movie Drive starring Ryan Gosling, my brother, his friends and I decided we were going to watch it. It is rated as 8.7 out of 10 and we were very interested. Especially me, I mean aside from the reviews, Ryan Gosling has basically been my idol since The Notebook. You can easily find the ratings for the movie here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/reviews



To my surprise, I was disappointed. I am sure my brother and his friends were, too, as we walked out of the movie theater feeling like we just wasted two hours. There was nothing special to the script, and the highlights of the movie involved violent scenes and unreasonable killing acts. I wasn't sure what the idea that the movie was trying to convey but there was nothing "heroic" or "hypnotic" about it as some people have written in the reviews. 
Ratings may very well be irrelevant to one's personal opinion. During the time when social media put an emphasis on the reputation metrics, it is important to understand that there can be a failure in ratings and the value of a product or service does not base solely on how many good reviews it gets.

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