I saw Superbad yesterday – it’s not super, but then it’s not bad either. There’s actually a few laugh out loud moments and it’s a stupidly fun film. I’d probably rate it 6.5/10.

What surprised me today was when I saw the current imdb rating for it. It’s rated as 8.3/10 after 36k votes! No way! That puts it in the top 250 films of all time. Yes, it was funny, but nowhere near top 250 material. It’s certainly not as funny as say, Borat (with a current imdb rating of 7.7).

I’ve not seen Snakes on a Plane, but I remember there was a certain amount of hype before it’s release. Shortly after the imdb rating was 8.4 (1528 votes). A year or so on it’s 6.6 (after 44k votes). That’s a massive difference imho.

Which makes me wonder…

Is the imdb being ‘gamed’ by film studios who have an army of people rating their own movies highly so people go and see them? Then, over time when REAL people vote, the score gets evened out to a more realistic figure.

Or perhaps the imdb gets paid to simply inflate movie ratings? You can’t see whose voted and there’s no way of checking the validity of voters. Imdb is owned by Amazon after all, so there is a certain conflict of interest – they do want to sell DVD’s. Even if it’s not directly from studios, is it from DVD sales?

Alternatively, is it just me? Perhaps Superbad really is a top 250 film? Time will tell on that one, but I’d be VERY surprised if it holds anywhere near the current score.

Ho-hum. Are imdb ratings even a good yardstick? Doesn’t seem like it, at least not for the first 12 months after release.