How do you rate a movie?

Everyone needs to find a system and framework that works for them. This isn’t just pragmatics; this is an exhortation to do the hard work of figuring out your own tastes and learning how to thoughtfully expand them. As someone who has built a reputation for my love of film and faith, I’ve recognized that I need to have a sort of public framework, a movie ratings system.

Table of Contents Show

5-star Rating: Personal / Aesthetic / Spiritual
What is a good way to review a movie?
How do you rate a movie review?
How do you rate movies stars?
How do you rate a movie out of 10?

Let’s be honest: nowadays it’s (sadly) often about the numbers and ratings. In a world of Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, actually reading whole written reviews and reflections has tragically gone by the wayside for many people looking to critics for whether or not to see a film. Seeing a number grade or some stars doesn’t tell you much, but it also tells you something. So allow me to unpack the numbers, offering some clarity behind the system I use:

5-star Rating: Personal / Aesthetic / Spiritual

★★★★★ Favorite / Masterpiece / Divine Encounter

★★★★½ Exceptional / Well-Crafted Work of Art / Enriching and Transformative

★★★★ Great / Exciting, Affecting, Memorable Achievement / Enlightening

★★★½ Very Good / Interesting Concept and Execution / Evoking

★★★ Good / Interesting Concept or Execution / Eye-Opening

★★½ Mixed Feelings / Flawed but Worthy / Moderately Insightful

★★ Disappointing / Mediocre and Uninteresting / Soulless

★½ Regrettable / Notably Flawed and Frustrating / Guilt-inducing

★ Enraging / Wholly Deficient / Shameful

½ Failure / Offensive / Toxic

☆ Atrocity / Gouge My Eyes Out / Sinful

The first part is a 5-star (★★★★★) rating scale. Some publications use only 4 stars–Roger Ebert comes to mind–but I’ve chosen the 5-star system for its easy parallel to IMDB and Letterboxd. If I’ve rated it 4 stars here, it has 4 stars on Netflix and an 8/10 on IMDB. (You can read more about the origin of the “stars” criteria and other ratings systems in this enlightening WSJ article.)

The second part is a breakdown of the personal, aesthetic, and spiritual dimensions of the film. Personal focuses on what the film was about, and whether or not I found the experience enjoyable or beneficial. Aesthetic focuses on how the film was made, its level of craftsmanship and artistic merit. Spiritual focuses on the truth, goodness, and beauty of the film; its moral and spiritual themes and ideas; and its ability to inspire viewers towards the transcendent.

I’m admittedly prone to giving slightly higher reviews than many critics. Most of the films I watch will have a rating between ★★½ and ★★★★, and rarely does a ★★ or below end up in my journal. Perhaps this is because I’ve honed my tastes and judgments to a point where I can tell if I’ll appreciate or enjoy a film before I see it.

Keep in mind: just because I gave a film 4 or 5 stars doesn’t mean you should see it or will enjoy it. Similarly, just because I gave a film a low rating doesn’t mean I think you’re a moron if you happened to like that film. There’s value in finding and reading film critics who inspire contemplation and challenge your paradigm, and I appreciate writers who will cause me to rethink my reactions to a film by offering a different, thoughtful perspective–the truth about a work of art is often found in the benevolent conflict of interpretations. Thus, I hope to encourage those who read my reviews to be wise and discerning, open to what a film offers while also using caution in determining whether or not to see that film.

“The role of the critic is to help people see what is in the work, what is in it that shouldn’t be, what is not in it that could be. He is a good critic if he helps people understand more about the work than they could see for themselves; he is a great critic, if by his understanding and feeling for the work, by his passion, he can excite people so that they want to experience more of the art that is there, waiting to be seized. He is not necessarily a bad critic if he makes errors in judgment. (Infallible taste is inconceivable; what could it be measured against?) He is a bad critic if he does not awaken the curiosity, enlarge the interests and understanding of his audience. The art of the critic is to transmit his knowledge of and enthusiasm for art to others.” – Pauline Kael

IMDb has a 10-star movie rating system. This allows users to vote with a whole range of different appreciations. However, as far as I know, there is nowhere any explanation of what a score of ‘3’ or ‘9’ is supposed to mean. IMDb leaves it up to the user to decide how to rate a movie. Many people seem only able to give ratings of either 1 or 10, which is why you'll often see peaks in the vote histogram there. Most other people are still biased towards the lowest and especially highest scores. I've seen reviews where people summed up a whole list of bad points about a movie, and still gave it a 10. Eh? In an attempt to arrive at a fair and balanced rating system, I created the guidelines below. Actually the only reason why I put this online is so I always have access to this ‘cheat sheet’ when I want to rate a movie. It is not my goal to impose this rating system on anyone, but if you've always felt unsure about what score to give a movie, it could be a useful guideline. Just don't assume that everyone rates movies according to these rules.

The keywords are:

1/10 - ‘Do Not Want’ 2/10 - ‘Awful’ 3/10 - ‘Bad’ 4/10 - ‘Nice Try, But No Cigar’ 5/10 - ‘Meh’ 6/10 - ‘Not Bad’ 7/10 - ‘Good’ 8/10 - ‘Very good’ 9/10 - ‘Excellent’ 10/10 - 'Masterpiece'

1. ‘Do Not Want’ - God awful, makes you want to gouge your eyeballs out with a spork, and either headbutt the TV or try to hit the cinema screen with projectile vomit. Everything about this movie is bad to such a degree that it doesn't even become good in its badness. You really wish you had done something more worthwhile during the movie's running time, like trimming your nose hairs. If someone would give you this movie, you would microwave, burn, blend or eat it, to avoid the risk that other human beings could be exposed to it.

2. ‘Awful’ - Still awful, but has at least one thing that is done well, like one decent scare in an otherwise pathetic horror movie, one good laugh in an otherwise decidedly unfunny comedy, one clever plot element, etc. You would never ever want to watch this again except maybe for that single good part.

3. ‘Bad’ - Bad, but you agree that watching this film was an OK pastime on a lazy weekend evening because there was nothing else on TV and you were too lazy to dig up anything better. Or, you felt the need to expose yourself to something crappy to recalibrate your appreciation for movies, and without being a totally shameful waste of time it reminded you how bad a film can be. You could have better spent your time, though. You will definitely avoid watching it again, even on the next lazy weekend evening.

4. ‘Nice Try, But No Cigar’ - Still bad, but is ‘almost there’. Either it has some good parts that are ruined by bad parts, or it stays at a constant level of “it had promise but the good part never came”. You still would never want to watch it again.

5. ‘Meh’ - The threshold for ‘OK’. It's not good, not bad, just acceptable. This is the kind of movie that only just makes you feel you didn't waste 90+ minutes and/or the price of a cinema ticket. You would only want to watch it again under the conditions of 3, but you would never ever consider doing more effort than pushing a button on your TV remote to watch it again. This movie is either an equal mix of good and bad parts, or is just so forgettable that each time someone mentions the title, you need to read the plot and look at screenshots to remember what it was about. If you would be given this movie as a present, you would sell it or give it away.

6. ‘Not Bad’ - It has some aspects that lift it above mediocrity and make it quite enjoyable to watch, but it either never becomes really good, or if it does, it still has some bad parts that drag it down. You would only watch it again spontaneously if it were a long time ago since you saw it and you re-watched all your movies scoring 7+ too recently. You would only recommend this to someone if they're really into the genre, but you would still warn them that it's not that good. You would never buy it, but if someone would give it to you, you wouldn't bother selling it unless you need to make room or are in desperate need to gain a few bucks.

7. ‘Good’ - This movie is really worth watching and you would watch it again spontaneously, but not too often. It's just not that good that you would say to your friends that they would really miss out on something if they didn't watch it. It's very enjoyable despite some noticeably uninteresting parts, subpar acting, plot holes or other negative points that you'll always remember when thinking about this film. If you would find it in the bargain bin of your media store for a bottom price, you might buy it.

8. ‘Very good’ - This is the kind of movie that you could watch again several times, even though it is clearly not perfect. There are still some minuses about this film, but the rest is good enough to almost forget those. You would recommend it to friends unless you know it's not their cup of tea. You would be prepared to pay the normal price in the media store, or buy it immediately if it's discounted.

9. ‘Excellent’ - It's almost perfect. You could watch this movie again almost an unlimited number of times. It still has something significant you don't like, therefore you don't give it an outright 10. You would recommend this movie to your friends even if you know they don't like the genre, maybe it could change their mind. You would be prepared to pay more than the average price in the media store.

10. ‘Masterpiece’ - You could watch this movie until eternity without ever getting bored by it. With each viewing you discover something new or see something in a different light, and/or the key scenes still thrill you even though you know them by heart. This movie has nothing in it that is less than good. If there's anything that is not perfect, it is greatly compensated for by something else that is stunningly brilliant or gripping. You would recommend this movie to everyone, even total strangers. You would not be satisfied with a simple regular release when buying it, but you would seek out a special edition in a fancy box or wait for the ultimate director's cut and be willing to pay a premium price.

Since the lowest scores are probably the hardest to decide upon, here is some more clarification. Films that score 1 or 2 are the ones that would make you walk out of the cinema and demand a refund, or switch the channel on the TV (or in retrospect, make you wish you had done that). 3 is just not bad enough to make you walk out of the cinema, but you'll still feel ripped off, the same goes for 4 but to a lesser degree. When watching a 3 or 4 movie on TV, you would only not change the channel if you knew there was nothing better on. 5 is the threshold for not feeling ripped off.

Of course this scoring system is not strict. A movie that perfectly matches one of these descriptions could still get +1 added to its score if it has something that lifts it higher, like being the first movie to introduce a really original plot element, or bringing an important message in an unobtrusive way. Or, it could have points subtracted if it has something that really offends you even though the rest of the movie is really good. You should however never completely pan a movie just because of a single negative point. You should also not increase or decrease your score “to balance out other reviewers”, that's not how a voting scheme is supposed to work. You should especially not subtract points because for instance a 1973 sci-fi film shows outdated predictions of the future. If you don't understand why, you should stick to watching recent films that fit within your small present-day universe.

What is a good way to review a movie?

9 Tips for Writing a Film Review.

Watch the film at least once..

Express your opinions and support your criticism..

Consider your audience..

Know the Actors' portfolios..

Call out directors, cinematographers, special effects..

No spoilers!.

Study the professionals..

Reread, rewrite and edit..

How do you rate a movie review?

When at least 60% of reviews for a movie or TV show are positive, a red tomato is displayed to indicate its Fresh status. When less than 60% of reviews for a movie or TV show are positive, a green splat is displayed to indicate its Rotten status.

How do you rate movies stars?

Common Sense Media uses a scale of one to five, where 3 stars are "Just fine; solid" and anything lower is "Disappointing" at best. There is no agreement on what the lowest rating should be. Some critics make "one star" or a "half-star" their lowest rating.