I almost forgot that today was Friday – it seems like I just posted a Friday question! Previous questions can be found HERE.
This week’s question is:
If a movie looks good in the trailer but gets bad reviews, do you still see it?
Or the reverse – if it looks bad in the trailers but gets good reviews, do you see it?
I tend to rely on reviews more than trailers, but trailers are almost always the first point of contact that put a movie on my radar, so to speak. The most recent example of a movie I thought looked absolutely mind-numbingly stupid from the trailers was Ted, a movie I actually enjoyed quite a bit but would not have gone to see if it weren’t for the positive reviews. Another example was The Social Network. I couldn’t believe people were loving a movie about Facebook but after seeing the film for myself, I understood.
For the inverse, I really thought that The Village looked awesome and M. Night Shyamalan was involved, it had to be great, right! Wrong. So wrong, in fact, this was the last Shyamalan movie I think I’ve seen.
What about you?
Andy Watches Movies 
Reviews most definitely. The exception being the “Looper” trailer. I was sold on it after seeing that! 😀
I was curious about Looper from the trailer but the near universal praise sold me on it, though I have yet to see it
ha. as do I. I’ll get to it eventually.
If the trailer looks good, I will still see the movie regardless of the reviews – my curiosity just gets the better of me! If the trailer looks bad but it’s been rated highly I will usually try to find time to see it. On the whole though, I think too much hype can be a bad thing as it raises my expectations too much and I often end up feeling disappointed. I prefer not to know too much about movies before I see them though, so I usually read more reviews after I’ve seen the film!
I feel the same way about hype. I think too much hype killed films like Prometheus for a lot of folks, and that is unfair to the film and the viewers.
Great question! Trailer are the very first exposure to the film but it’s never smart to judge the entire movie based on a trailer so I definitely am more influenced by reviews. If the trailer is terrible and the film is getting bad reviews… chances are the movie sucks!
Yeah,I know what you mean
Trailers hook me, but I don’t really go and see a movie without checking the reviews. I’ll sometimes disregard bad reviews if a trailer looks good, which sometimes I regret. God, The Village was a bad movie.
It really was. And it’s not even like the trailers made it look super cool, but the movie just wasn’t “meaty” enough to be anything of interest.
Hmmmm trailers mainly but if I have any doubts then I’ll refer to a review by someone I trust….but I tend to watch films on the basis of who is in it or directed it and trust in luck! Am I perhaps not discerning enough for this blog?!
No, you are plenty discerning! I also will be heavily persuaded by the stars or director, I was even planning a future question around something about that… 🙂
I’m A Reviews Man, Myself.
I Remember As A Kid Being All About How Awesome The Trailers Were, But Those Really Just Tempt Me Into Wanting To Read The Reviews These Days.
🙂
-B.
That’s a good way at looking at it!
Thanks, Dude.
I Always Enjoy Being Right, Or At Least Knowing Other Peeps Think My Thinking Is Well Thought-Out hehehehe =D
I usually start with trailers just to see if I’m interested. I still read reviews though. A lot of times, it just depends on how the reviews justify themselves. If its a good trailer and the review turns out bad, I’d like to know what was the problem.
But if it looks bad in the trailers and gets good reviews, I may be inclined to see it eventually when it goes on sale in DVD/Blu-ray.
I tend to do the same thing with home video releases since I was on the fence I’m still not usually ready to give the theater my money just yet haha
That’s a good question – I think ultimately it’s the trailer which is most likely to get me excited for a film, although reviews are of course important as well. I tend to do most of my review reading after I’ve watched a film, but will normally scout a couple out if I have been intrigued enough, but not fully sold on a film from its trailer alone.
I think if I had to choose one, trailer or review, I’d pick review but in practice, I think trailers justify my theatrical viewings more.
Yeah I initially was going to say reviews but thinking about it, I realised that that isn’t the case.
It’s about time you got the Friday question up! C’mon you slacker! 😉
I enjoy trailers but they usually don’t keep me from seeing a movie that I want to see. Some trailers do get me more jazzed for a movie but rarely do trailers alone have much negative impact on me.
I normally write these up on Thursday and schedule them, I really did slack off haha
Easy: reviews. I only see trailers at the theater, and they’re typically better than the final product.
Unfortunately that does seem to be the case more often than not
I think reviews matter more than trailers. I didn’t like the Drive trailers too much but I thought it was an amazing movie and if it weren’t for the positive reviews I probably wouldn’t have seen it. Like you I didn’t like the sound of The Social Network, even though it had David Fincher directing and Aaron Sorkin writing but once I read the reviews I immediately changed my mind and loved it as well.
Yeah! Drive is a great case for poor trailers not capturing the essence of the film
Trailer, Cast, DIrector, then Review is my order for whether I watch a film or not. But if a film gets a 1-star of D/F review, then I will usually wait for the DVD or forget about it. The opposite holds true if it gets a great review, but I was underwhelmed by the trailer.
I like that order of importance, I pretty much agree with that
Sir, I must say trailers. I may be a critic, but I would rather refer to the source when deciding to see a movie. Others I decide against both.
So you don’t have a critic or a review source that can sway your opinion?
lol well. After I have seen a movie, I can then go on to see what others had to say about it. I don’t want to be swayed to go see a movie. I am going to regardless, so I like to go in as blind as possible. Though I’m all for critics afterwards, cause we can have a grand old time talking about the movie lol
haha a grand old time indeed
A bad trailer will stop me from seeing the film (“Rat Race” is a good example–I loved the movie once I saw it, but the trailer was dreadful), and a good trailer will spark my interest. However, if the reviews give a different impression of the film (especially among critics I respect), then I may change my mind about seeing it.
That’s a fair assessment
I rely on both.
Do you usually prefer one over the other when it comes down to it, though?
Trailers.
I often just read a bit of a review. If I haven’t seen the film – I often just look at the score given, zoom through the review, and just completely read the opening hook and concluding point of a review. If it got crappy reviews, I usually just wait to catch it on TV or something. Trailers are really fun too. I probably rely on reviews more, but sometimes I like to know very little of the flick.
I can sometimes skip through the text of a review if I want to go in fresh too but I always feel guilty about that because I don’t like boiling a review down to just a number on a scale.
Sometimes I just like watching trailers for films I have no interest in too.
That’s quite true!
I try to avoid trailers whenever possible, so I rely more on who is involved in a movie before deciding whether to see it. Word of mouth also helps.
This was going to be a future question of mine, but I also tend to favor the people involved in the film before even seeing a trailer.
If I like the trailer I’ll read a few reviews, and if they’re all bad I won’t watch the film until it comes out on DVD. If I don’t like the trailer but it gets really good reviews, I’d probably be more inclined to see it but still won’t because it’s probably a genre I don’t enjoy. So, I probably weigh reviews a little bit more, but the trailers are important too.
That’s a great way to approach it. I tend to enjoy all genres of film so universal praise almost always piques my interest.
Mostly reviews. But sometimes I even find them untrustworthy or not totally dependable. I’ll read a review on a movie and a lot of times it seems each critic has a different sense and reaction of the movie. Which makes it hard to decipher which review I would agree with.
So if that happens, I then rely on the trailer to decide if I’ll see it.
I like that – using trailers as sort of a tie-breaker
Trailers are what hooks me in, and sometimes I’ll see a movie based on that even if the reviews aren’t solid — especially if it looks like one that I’ll enjoy but which I can tell the critics or the general public may not like. Mostly, though, I go by the reviews from trusted sources.
good choices for the examples (I totally agree with Ted and the Village), I always hate it when a movie has a great looking trailer but bad reviews, but I usually go off of the reviews when it comes down to it
I hate that too – I also hate trailers that give away the entire premise of the film but I guess some films are so flimsy it’s unavoidable.
it’s a catch 22 for me Andy since trailers can be made in order to entice audiences and it may depend on external factors like the popularity of the film in terms of characters, trending, adaptation from books, graphic novels, tv series etc. or how it was edited.
On the other hand, reviews should be able to bear more weight since it has been given already an encompassing idea on how the film turned out…still it depends on a point of view of the person who watched it 😀
Nice one! Cheers! 😀
Definitely a catch 22, I totally see your point. Thanks!
If I love a movie’s trailer, I only skip it if the reviews have been overwhelmingly negative. If a trailer sucks or the premise is a little strange (like The Social Network), it has to have exceptionally good reviews for me to see it.
And oh man, I love The Village! hehe
I might have liked The Village if I set my expectations properly
Trailers help, but can mislead. Reviews often come with baggage – a writer might hate a genre and provide flawed critical appraisal. My major source of information is often something like IMDB – if I know what the director has made before, or who the writer is, that’s going to be more of an influence on me than a flashy trailer with obligatory dub-step or one of those annoying tv ads for films with out-of-context lines from a review.
It definitely helps to know the background of the people involved – I can see how that would be the biggest influencer
I usually don’t rely on trailers because I have been burned so many times. I have trusted reviewers who I know are pretty straight so I do listen to them, for the most part. A lot of it is just gut instinct these days or if it is in one of my favorite genres. I honestly go off of who made it, produced it or directed it more than anything else. Sometimes the actor alone will sell me.
I know what you mean! I can get amped for a film just because someone is starring in it, but I’ve been burned picking movies based on that too haha
I usually don’t watch trailers (unless the film is a remake or is based on a book I’ve read) because I feel like they often give too much away. As much as I love to read reviews, I don’t usually rely on those either. I will watch a film if a blogger/critic who I’ve agreed with a lot in the past recommends it and I wasn’t already planning on seeing it, but typically I choose based on premise/cast & crew alone!
Lots of folks seem to choose based on the pedigree of the cast/crew! I like that
Another great Friday question! I like to think I pick a movie based on review, but I really don’t. The trailer makes or breaks it for me.
Interesting – do you think you’ve seen any recent movies without seeing the trailer first?
I pay more attention to trailers because it’s the studio’s chance to lure me in. If they can’t find two interesting minutes, then they can’t possibly have 90 interesting minutes.
Hm, that’s a good way of looking at it – what if the only two interesting minutes of the movie are used in the trailer, though?
I mostly go by film titles. If it has an awesome title, I’m in. Trailers are my 2nd go to though.
So when you heard “Antfarm Dickhole” you were all like “well, I GOTS to see that!”?
EXACTLY. Same way I found myself watching “Terror Toons” and “The Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror” and “Trannies with Knives” and oh so many more. 😉
rofl awesome. I like your system
It works for me. 😉 Tonight it led me to “Bikini Bloodbath Car Wash”. Yes, it was exactly as it sounds. *giggles*
But that means they have to just wash the cars again without blood! Ineffective car washing methods…
One would think, right? In actuality, the movie is about a killer chef. A dead killer chef. I posted the review about an hour ago – reading it will explain it much better than I can here. Suffice it to say it’s entirely WTF? 😉
I am like 400 emails behind 😦
At least I have something to look forward to now!
I feel your pain! I just caught up on 300 emails in the past week!
Very rarely trailers. Mostly my own brain (am I a fan of the director or actor etc.?) and reviews.
Good ol’ brain
Trailers, I find reviews to be unreliable as i have disagreed with a lot of review. However i do get that trailers are designed to make a film look good 😀
I watch trailers and read reviews as I rarely see something opening night…most of all I rely on my gut. We have a couple cheap theaters here so I can see something even if I know it’s a stinker… Great question! Cheers 🙂
Our “dollar theater” is so run down I don’t even like going there, but I wish it was nicer. It’s always fun to see something for cheap even if you know it may be a stinker haha
I go for trailer and rely on my instinct 😉
Since I never watch trailers it’s an easy question. Although I never read full reviews either and just look at the scores and general way people talk about it. It’s all part of me knowing as little as I can about a movie before I go out and see it 🙂
It’s a policy I think more people should adopt, it would have staved off some of the over-hyping for films like Prometheus.
I watch based on my interest in the story. Sometimes that is driven by the trailer, but oftentimes it is based on my knowledge of the story itself.
Arguably that’s the one component that makes or breaks a film, good pick
trailers. i really don’t trust human reviewers’ opinions.
Great post, I would say reviews definately, they give a better insight into the film.