Film Reviews

I am increasingly frustrated at some of the reviews hosted on IMDb and allowed to remain despite being reported.

 I reported one such review (#221227-224122-758704), but have been overruled. This film is not a Dick Maas work, but the review begins as if it were, before suggesting it is good enough not to be Dutch, which it is.

A film deserves to be judged for what it is, not what it isn’t, and certainly not purely for the country in which it was produced. The writer suggests it is good enough to be a “Hollywood movie”, yet many Hollywood movies have been so bad they were never even released.

To cap it, the writer thinks that their feelings for the lead actor make a difference. Comment on their acting ability, suitability for the role, credibility, comparison to other work in which they appeared, but to judge them for whether you are attracted to them is offensive and demeaning. “Yes, Professor Einstein, you are a great scientist, but I just don’t go for men with glasses”? “Yes, Greta Thunberg, the environment is important, but couldn’t you try to look prettier?” Why is it that actors, particularly female ones, are vulnerable to such judgments?

 I realise that IMDb has hundreds of thousands of reviews, and cannot monitor the quality of each one, but I believe my criticisms of this review are significant and valid. There are 55 others, so removing this one will not make any significant difference to the range on offer, but it will increase the quality by taking out one whose content is of exceptionally low quality. Surely this is why the ‘Report this’ function even exists?