Analysis of Rotten Tomatoes scores reveal Robert De Niro stopped giving a crap in 2002
You analyzin' me? Are you using data to analyze me?
Robert De Niro has received quite a bit of criticism in recent years for appearing to cash in on big-budget, low-quality films. But when did it happen? According to his Rotten Tomato scores, 2002.
Illustrator James Chapman placed the Rotten Tomatoes scores of De Niro's films (averaged together by the year they were released) on a scatter plot and discovered that the iconic actor has only risen above the 50 percent mark twice since 2002.
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Surely, films like Silver Linings Playbook (for which De Niro was nominated for an Academy Award) and audience favorites like The Intern are still in the actor's wheelhouse. They just seem to be outweighed by Tomatometer duds like Dirty Grandpa and Last Vegas.
Of course, Rotten Tomatoes is not the end-all of film criticism, and maybe De Niro has just gotten less picky about the types of films he stars in. One Redditor defended the Oscar winner with a chart comparing a handful of his films' budgets with their worldwide gross.
In other words: De Niro's getting that paper.
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Max Knoblauch is the Assistant Humor Editor in the NYC office. He is a journalist, comedian and illustrator. More humor and art by Max can be found on his website.Follow him @MaxKnoblauch
