Citizen Kane loses 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes thanks to 80-year-old negative review

Citizen Kane has lost its legendary 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes thanks to a negative review from 80 years ago resurfacing. 

The Orson Welles classic had previously held a perfect score on the review aggregation website, but one critic from eight decades ago has caused it to drop to 99 percent. 

Despite Citizen Kane widely being dubbed the greatest film of all time, a review from The Chicago Tribune on May 7, 1941 was less complimentary.

The review, which was added on March 2, 2021, has the headline: ‘Citizen Kane fails to impress critic as greatest ever filmed.’

It reads: ‘You’ve heard a lot about this picture and I see by the ads that some experts think it the “greatest movie ever made”. I don’t. 

‘It’s interesting. It’s different. In fact, it’s bizarre enough to become a museum piece. But its sacrifice of simplicity to eccentricity robs it of distinction and general entertainment.’

The reviewer in question was cited as Mae Tinee, which was a collective pseudonym previously used by the paper’s film critics, which played on the word ‘matinee’. 

The dip in Citizen Kane’s previously perfect record was first spotted by Twitter user @caulimovorus, who wrote: ‘Rotten Tomatoes literally dug up an 80 year old negative review of Citizen Kane and now the movie no longer has a 100% fresh rating.’

While Citizen Kane is no longer in the elite club of movies with a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes, its screenwriter has been a subject of interest of late. 

Herman Mankiewicz, who wrote the screenplay for the 1941 film, is the subject of Netflix’s Oscar-winning biopic Mank. 

The film, directed by David Fincher, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and managed to win two for best cinematography and best production design. 

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