Bat Suck Zone

My friends loved it, your friends walked out.  I saw it three 
times, you were ready to leave after the credit card scene.  Gros-
ses are down an estimated 64%.  And everybody on the Internet hates 
it.  So, just how badly *does* BATMAN AND ROBIN suck?  The follow-
ing is an excerpt from Skander Halim's weekly Summary of Critics, 
which he posts to rec.arts.movies.current-films each week.  (With 
archives at http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ba547/critics.html, FYI.) 
Ratings are provided on a scale of 0 to 4.0, with an asterisk (*)
indicating that the critic doesn't use a "four star" system and,
thus, the rating was estimated by the contributor.

> BATMAN AND ROBIN
>
> Average Rating: 1.9
>
> 3.0  P.S. Colbert (Daily Herald, Chicago)
> 2.5  Mike Clark (USA Today)
> 2.5* Mick LaSalle (San Francisco Chronicle)
> 2.5* Janet Maslin (New York Times)
> 2.5  Michael Medved (New York Post)
> 2.5  Michael Wilmington (Chicago Tribune)
> 2.0  Sean Callahan (Daily Southtown, Chicago)
> 2.0  Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
> 2.0  Dave Kehr (New York Daily News)
> 2.0* Leonard Klady (Variety)
> 2.0  Jack Mathews (New York Newsday)
> 2.0  Gene Siskel (Chicago Tribune)
> 2.0  Susan Stark (Detroit News)
> 1.5* Jack Garner (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
> 1.5* Desson Howe (Washington Post)
> 1.5* Peter Howell (Toronto Star)
> 1.5* Rita Kempley (Washington Post)
> 1.5* Steve Murray (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
> 1.5* Jay Stone (Ottawa Citizen)
> 1.25 Barbara Shulgasser (San Francisco Examiner)
> 0    Liam Lacey (Toronto Globe & Mail)

By way of comparison, here are the averages for some other summer
movies:

> 3.2 FACE/OFF
> 3.1 HERCULES
> 2.6 ADDICTED TO LOVE
> 2.6 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK
> 2.6 MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING
> 2.5 CON AIR
> 2.5 THE FIFTH ELEMENT
> 2.3 BUDDY
> 2.2 SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL

Phew.

Copyright 1997 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: June 30, 1997