Have critics been fair to the “Queen of All Chick Flicks,” Sex and the City? This Warner Bros property, based on the HBO series that debuted a decade ago, received a less than spectacular reception from America’s critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, this decidedly female-skewing film movie has received only 55 percent positive reviews. The bad notices did not stop women from flooding America’s multiplexes as this estrogen and Cosmo fueled phenomenon delivered a stunning opening of $57M or so on opening weekend.
Still, I was curious. How many of these critics are women? Were men harder on the movie than female reviewers? And, is this, perhaps, another case of critics being out-of-touch with a film’s intended audience?
As it turns out, Rotten Tomatoes presents 139 reviews, 69 percent of which are written by men. Only 49 percent of male critics wrote positive reviews while 51 percent panned Sex and the City. Meanwhile, only 14 of the 40 female reviewers were negative about the box office sensation with 65 percent of women giving Carrie Bradshaw and friends the critical “thumbs up.”
Just wondering. Should male scribes have excused themselves from this assignment?
