Rotten Tomatoes Sob Score

Recently, my wife and I sat down to watch The Iron Claw. Typically, I am fairly emotionally resilient when it comes to movies, but I have to admit that one almost got me. I looked over and saw my wife was in tears. It is a very sad movie so if you do end up watching it… You’ve been warned.

More recently, the movie Inside Out 2 came out. Full disclosure, I have not seen this film yet. However, I know from many who have that it can be a bit of a tear-jerker. It’s nice to hear that Pixar has still got it after all the years.

All of this got me thinking about the data Rotten Tomatoes provides when you’re deciding whether or not to see a movie. Their primary metrics are the overall critic score (the Tomatometer) and the Audience Score. What if, they also showed how many people reported crying during the film? You could call this feature the “Sob Score” and even call out the individuals who reported bursting into tears during a flick.

On one, this feels more useful than it does unhinged. However, showing the world who cried during a movie feels like it might be a bridge too far, at least for me.

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