Citizen Kane, the Orson Welles classic often hailed as the greatest movie of all time, slipped from 100% to 99% on Rotten Tomatoes' "Tomatometer" sometime between Feb 25 and April 15 this year. The site added a negative review to the 115 positive ones already there—one published 80 years ago by the Chicago Tribune's Mae Tinée, a collective pseudonym then used by the paper's film critics. (Matinée, geddit?)
"'Citizen Kane' Fails to Impress Critic as Greatest Ever Filmed" runs the headline, followed by superficially respectful but withering criticism.
"It's interesting. It's different," writes the Tribune. "In fact, it's bizarre enough to become a museum piece. But its sacrifice of simplicity to eccentricity robs it of distinction and general entertainment value."
The unimpressed write-up was spotted by @Caulimovirus on Twitter: "Rotten Tomatoes literally dug up an 80 year old negative review of Citizen Kane and now the movie no longer has a 100% fresh rating"
Rotten Tomatoes literally dug up an 80 year old negative review of Citizen Kane and now the movie no longer has a 100% fresh rating pic.twitter.com/0I8cxvuGdd — Screaming Pectoriloquy (@Caulimovirus) April 26, 2021
The disgraced classic now languishes behind perfect-score films such as 1984's The Terminator and 1995's Godzilla Vs. Destroyah, movies about which no credible authority has ever posted a negative opinion.
willseagull on April 27th, 2021 at 13:44 UTC »
They forgot to mention Paddington 2 as having a perfect score
DoctorEnn on April 27th, 2021 at 13:36 UTC »
And somewhere in the cold depths of infinity that lies in the realm beyond, William Randolph Hearst enjoys a snide little laugh.
-Rem-Lezar69 on April 27th, 2021 at 12:10 UTC »
It was probably a Hearst newspaper review.