# Terrible movie - "The Ghost Writer" - is 84% on RT
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 25, 2021, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470 "2021-08-25T02:58:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/1 "2021-08-25T02:58:17Z")
This past weekend my lady and I watched a 2010 film, “The Ghost Writer,” starring a bunch of supposedly good actors. It’s about a ghostwriter, played by Ewan MacGregor, who is asked to write the biography of former British PM Pierce Brosnan, and it’s a thriller as intrigue develops. The movie was supposedly directed by Roman Polanski, who, while a rapist, has proven himself a skilled director.
The movie was atrocious. Just laughably shitty. There were no thrills. The story had any number of absurd holes and dead ends, and featured an affair with less chemistry than an antivaxxer meeting. Every shot was uninspired and flat, and some were downright amateurish; if Polanski did direct this he must have done it by text message. The purportedly chilling ending made us almost fall off the couch laughing. The movie looks cheap.
Somehow this thing has 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and honestly I don’t get it. I have to stress that I am right; this movie sucked ass.
I don’t get it. Did they pay critics off?
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/2 "2021-08-25T03:18:04Z")
Rotten Tomatoes’ “fresh” ratings can be deceptive sometimes, and I think this is one such case. The “fresh” score reflects what percentage of critic reviews are “positive,” and it imposes a binary up/down rating on the film, when most critics give films a more nuanced rating (such as a number of “stars,” or a letter grade).
So, if every critic gave a film a B- or a C, or a 3-star (out of 5) review in their actual reviews, it’s likely that the vast majority of those reviews would still be classified as “positive” on Rotten Tomatoes, and could lead to a very high “Fresh” score, for a movie that reviewers actually rated as being only fair.
I read some of the [detailed reviews of _The Ghost Writer_](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10012063-ghost_writer/reviews?intcmp=rt-what-to-know_read-critics-reviews) on the Rotten Tomatoes site, and while some reviewers who classified it as “positive” clearly loved it (and, I suspect, some of them are Polanski fans), a lot of them were giving it Bs and B-minuses, 7/10, 3.5/5, or, in one case, 58/100, all of which were still being classified as “positive.”
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/3 "2021-08-25T07:24:38Z")
I enjoyed it when I saw it years ago. It rates 77 on [Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/ghostwriter) from 35 critic reviews and 7.4 from 244 viewer ratings. Metacritic work out their critic score by using a notional percentage derived from the individual reviews.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/4 "2021-08-25T07:31:45Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> former British PM Pierce Brosnan
Man, Brexit got really weird for a few years there.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/5 "2021-08-25T07:44:44Z")
Mark Renton goshtwriting for James Bond? Keep moving, nothing to see here.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/6 "2021-08-25T08:00:59Z")
Well, it’s not like anyone could have realized that the woman who had a big flashing “femme fatale” sign over her head was the femme fatal. And if you find out someone is the bad guy, the smart thing to do is to tell them you know and expect them to feel guilty and contrite and not at all kill you. I really don’t understand your complaints about the movie.
…to be fair, it also had Eli Wallach in one of his last roles. It’s always nice to see him.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/7 "2021-08-25T14:55:10Z")
Also, you not liking a film does not mean everyone else has to dislike it as well. Since you seem confused on that point.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/8 "2021-08-25T15:55:28Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> …to be fair, it also had Eli Wallach in one of his last roles. It’s always nice to see him.
The movie was chock full of outstanding acting talent, and yet they were wasted. Tom Wilkinson appeared to be acting at gunpoint.
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### Author:  [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/9 "2021-08-25T16:52:24Z")
I forgot what movie it was but there was a movie I saw recently that was a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes but the movie wound up being overly long and very boring.
When I went to look up the specific RT reviews I realized pretty much every review gave it a 3/5 or similar mediocre score, basically all saying “Yeah it’s an interesting concept not well executed, but it’s okay”
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/10 "2021-08-25T16:55:27Z")
I watched it years ago and IIRC I liked it. I had to look it up to refresh my memory on the particulars and the synopsis sure sounds convoluted. That part I do not remember.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/11 "2021-08-25T16:55:59Z")
The book was much better.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/12 "2021-08-25T18:38:32Z")
Heh - and I thought this thread would be about the 1983 TV movie adaptation of the Philip Roth novel:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkJB_kILP-Y)
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/13 "2021-08-26T18:18:12Z")
To be fair, the Robert Harris book that _The Ghost Writer_ was based on is trashy and badly written.
Garbage in…
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/14 "2021-08-26T19:33:27Z")
Phillip Roth, last of the “Great American Novel” era authors, stooped to stealing the joke about the fresh chicken/fresh vagina from _Hill Street Blues_
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/15 "2021-08-26T20:13:28Z")
The movie is like a film noir made by someone who’s heard about them, but never actually seen one. It’s hard to believe it was made by the same director who made _Chinatown_.
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> To be fair, the Robert Harris book that _The Ghost Writer_ was based on is trashy and badly written.
>
> Garbage in…
… in rare cases, _Godfather_ out.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/16 "2021-08-26T20:20:14Z")
The book wasn’t _that_ bad, but definitely not one of Harris’ best.
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### Author:  [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/17 "2021-08-26T20:26:11Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> So, if every critic gave a film a B- or a C, or a 3-star (out of 5) review in their actual reviews, it’s likely that the vast majority of those reviews would still be classified as “positive” on Rotten Tomatoes, and could lead to a very high “Fresh” score, for a movie that reviewers actually rated as being only fair.
The average score was 7.4. Clicking on the Tomatometer score will give you the average.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/18 "2021-08-26T20:50:49Z")
I saw the movie a long time ago. I remember thinking it was a decent but not great thriller, but I have completely forgotten the plot.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2021, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/19 "2021-08-27T12:42:27Z")
Now, his short story _PMQ_, about a British prime minister whose life completely unravels over the course of a few hours… **that** has the makings of a legitimately good movie. (Something like _The Thick of It_ meets _Falling Down_.)
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2021, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrible-movie-the-ghost-writer-is-84-on-rt/949470/20 "2021-08-27T13:04:09Z")
Aside from the ludicrous plot, sloppy writing, moronic ending and the author’s obsessional hatred of the Blairs, “The Ghost” was just dandy.
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