Yes, critics and audiences often disagree. It happens time and again that a film that was previously criticized by the trade press becomes an absolute hit – and on the other hand, critics’ favorites regularly end up at the box office because there are hardly any viewers for it. a ticket.
This phenomenon can also be observed with streamers. On Netflix, Ulknudel Adam Sandler’s comedies are known as successes in terms of ratings, while the films sometimes receive sub-par ratings in reviews. Now with “Old fathersAnother title has climbed to the top spot on the streaming giant, where such a difference is noticeable in the viewing figures.
‘Old Dads’ is at the top of the Netflix charts
In “Old Dads”, three friends and deceased fathers Jack Kelly (Bill Burr), Connor Brody (Bobby Cannavale) and Mike Richards (Bokeem Woodbine) decide to sell their company to some young businessmen. But they soon discover that they are no longer up to date. When it comes to education, morals and working conditions, they are constantly in violation. Are their ideas outdated or has society gone mad?
‘Old Dads’ was written by stand-up legend Bill Burr, who also directed the film and stars in front of the camera. Since its release on October 20, 2023, the comedy has amassed a total of 13.3 million views, amounting to a viewing time of 23 million hours. More exciting than the naked Netflix numbers, which are already showing audience interest, are the different viewing figures for the film.
On the American review collection site ‘Old Dads’ is not well received by the trade press. Only 23 percent of reviews (out of a total of 35 reviews) were positive about the film. However, there is a different picture on the part of the audience: the film is widely celebrated here and achieved a score of 88 percent. And the audience reviews also speak for themselves:
Bill Burr doesn’t care about political correctness
In particular, the cultural conflict between Generation X and the Millennial generation seems to be well received. A user writes: It is also positively emphasized that Bill Burr does not seem to care about so-called political correctness:
In any case, there are currently no signs that the large number of positive reviews is so-called ‘positive review bombing’, where a small group of users try to increase a film’s score through overly positive reviews. The film just seems to have struck a bit of a chord with audiences – and Bill Burr is also a very popular comedian, especially in America.
It should be noted that the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes reflect a somewhat skewed rating picture, as they only measure whether someone rates the film overall as positive or negative. A film is quickly rated as “quite nice” and therefore positively, but with an extensive review you quickly become aware of the many negatives and the picture is not that good after all.
On other sites, where the public can give a more precise assessment and an average value is then calculated, a differentiated picture emerges: “Old Dads” averaged a score of 6.3 out of 10 possible points on IMDb with nearly 10,000 votes cast. While this rating is still above the critics’ opinion (average rating here is 4.3), it’s clear that most people probably had brief fun with a solid film rather than celebrating it as a major revelation.
The coming days will reveal whether the film can remain in the top 10 of the Netflix charts in the longer term and perhaps even go one better next week. There certainly seems to be interest in “Old Dads”…
If you want to get a feel for the film for yourself, you can watch the trailer here to get you in the mood: