Nick Evershed 

At the Movies: Margaret and David’s most divisive films revealed

David was a harsher reviewer overall than Margaret, and only six films achieved a five-star rating from both
  
  

Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton
Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton have called it a day. Photograph: ABC

Team America, Friday Night Lights and Sex and the City are among the most divisive films reviewed by Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton.

Following news that At the Movies will end on 9 December, I’ve collated every score they’ve given to a film since they moved to the ABC in 2004.

I’ve analysed the review scores from the list of 1,983 movies to see which caused the most division between the reviewers. I created a simple index by subtracting David’s score from Margaret’s. Here are the 12 most divisive (click the plus symbol to see the full entry if you’re a smaller device):

table

Topping the list with high scores from Margaret but low scores from David were Friday Night Lights, Mondovino, Only God Forgives, and Project X.

At the other end of the scale are films with high scores from David, but low from Margaret including Death Proof, Louise-Michel, and Mozart’s Sister.

Here’s how the review for sports flick Friday Light Nights went down:

MARGARET POMERANZ: David?

DAVID STRATTON: Margaret, I almost think I have to disqualify myself from talking about this film. Does it ever happen to you that you’re sitting in a cinema watching a film and hating every second of it and really wishing you could be somewhere else?

MARGARET POMERANZ: Yes.

DAVID STRATTON: It does? It happened to me with this film.

MARGARET POMERANZ: Oh, no!

Classic! You can click through the links in the table or text to see the transcript for each review.

Both reviewers actually agreed on the score more often than not, with no difference in scores being the most frequent outcome at 31.9%:

David was a little harsher overall than Margaret with a lower average rating of 3.2 to Margaret’s 3.4.

Only six films ever achieve a rating of five stars from both reviewers while at the ABC: A Separation, Amour, Brokeback Mountain, Good Night and Good Luck, No Country For Old Men, Samson & Delilah.

Have you got a favourite Margaret and David moment? Do you agree with their reviews?

 

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