If this is your first time on the Internet since August 2014, first of all, congratulations, what’s mental self-care like? And secondly, you might be interested to hear that a great many grown men are very angry that they’re remaking a comedy from the ‘80s with some women. No, seriously, it’s somehow a big fucking deal! They started whining from the moment it was announced, took to forum boards and comment sections to voice their displeasure, produced temper tantrum video non-reviews, and made its trailer the most “disliked” video in YouTube history. (Even Donald Trump weighed in. Of course Donald Trump weighed in!)
When observers dared wonder if there might be a wee bit of sexism in what appeared to be an organized campaign to sink that trailer’s YouTube ratings, its critics insisted that no, no, it was just a bad trailer. Well, now Ghostbusters is seeing quite the poor showing among IMDb users, with (as of this writing) an average 3.7/10 rating among over 6500 votes – a remarkable thumbs-down from viewers, considering it doesn’t screen for general audiences until Thursday. Why, it’s almost as though these folks have made up their mind about this movie without seeing it!
This, um, mathematical oddity was first flagged by ScreenCrush, which notes that the film has received less than one thousand votes rating Ghostbusters from 10 to 2, but over two thousand handing it the “1” designation. They also discovered – and you may want to sit down for this – that the vast majority of those “1” ratings were given by users who described themselves as men between 18 and 44. I know, I know, I can’t believe it either.
Meanwhile, among film critics, Ghostbusters is currently doing just fine. Then again, they’ve seen the movie.