Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Netflix undoubtedly dominates the streaming world, producing a vast collection of original films and TV shows that dominate the platform, but surprisingly they haven't fared too well when it comes to reviews.
Not every film is good enough to be up for an Academy Award, and oftentimes the highest-grossing movies are nowhere near the awards circuit, despite often picking up a decent to good reception from critics and audiences.
This isn't always the case with Netflix's original movies though, as despite picking up hundreds of millions of hours watched within days of release, they're typically not considered to be the greatest works of art.
We've all been there - Netflix has just dropped a new film starring some of the biggest names in the industry, yet by the end of its runtime you feel like you've just wasted two hours of your life.
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There's perhaps no better example of this than the title at the top of Netflix's most popular movies list, as despite reaching staggering watch time totals, Red Notice has just 37% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
In total, the film starring The Rock, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot has earned 230,900,000 views, which combined with it's 1 hour and 58 minute runtime works out at around 454,200,000 hours watched.
This is just under 50 million more hours watched than the next highest on the list, making it undeniably the most popular movie on the streaming service.
It's then surprising that it doesn't exactly seem to have the best reputation, with critics largely slamming it's poor quality overall.
"Watching Red Notice is like watching the feature-length version of a fake movie inside another movie," remarks one review from Alternative Lens, whereas another from The Ringer illustrates that "there's a cold, almost algorithmic quality to the film and its performances." Doesn't exactly sound like a great time!
Things aren't exactly much better on the audience side of things either, as community reviews argue that the film is 'idiotic', 'stupid', and 'forgettable', among other choice words.
This sentiment has extended beyond the world of Rotten Tomatoes too, with users on the r/Netflix subreddit expressing their bewilderment at Red Notice's popularity shortly after release.
"How was a movie with Ryan Reynolds and The Rock teaming up so bad?" asks one frustrated user, adding: "I don't get it. I was so excited to watch it, but it was just so f***ing awful. Can't believe I wasted my monthly movie night on it FML."
Things aren't all bad for Reynolds and co. though, as Red Notice does seem to have found an audience willing to overlook some of its more glaring flaws in search of some easy fun.
"If you haven't watched it, please don't look at the review because it's going to ruin your experience (kinda)," remarks on surprised film fan on another Reddit thread.
They added: "I've seen the trailer and I love the action part. When I watched the whole movie, it was actually fun and enjoyable [...] It's a typucal movie but there's no way it's as bad as the reviews."
This sentiment is then echoed in the comments, with one user arguing that Red Notice "was EXACTLY what it was 'hyped' to be. A sit back, turn your brain off and enjoy the cheesy-fun popcorn movie. Anyone expecting anything more was (somehow) misled by the trailer and the cast."
Which camp you land in appears to be dependant on what you're looking for, but considering the reported watch time from Netflix, the chances are you already know what you think!
