Even though I discovered this blogathon challenge a little late (as it runs August 21-23), it sounded like fun so I decided to throw together a quick blog post today to take part! The Against the Crowd Blogathon 2020 is being hosted by Dell on Movies and you can read more about it here! Basically, you chose two movies from Rotten Tomatoes – one to go against, and one to defend. The movie you go against should have a Fresh rating of 75% or more, and the movie you defend should be Rotten at 35% or less. And if you decide to take part, make sure you use the hashtag #AgainsttheCrowd2020 on social media! Against the Crowd Blogathon 2020: I had a feeling defending a “rotten” movie would be easy, as most of the movies I love tend to have rotten scores on RT. Finding a certified fresh movie that I hated was a bit more difficult. There were plenty of films that I could rant against that were certified fresh, but they weren’t *quite* at 75%. However… I finally found it. A movie that is 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and one I’ve already ranted about on this blog. So, without further ado, here are my Against the Crowd entries: Sixteen Candles – 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. How on earth does this movie have 81% on Rotten Tomatoes? To be fair, I had never seen this movie until earlier this year, so perhaps I just had a difficult time keeping in mind that this was written and filmed in the ’80s when casual racism, sexism, and rape culture were more “acceptable” to audiences. But honestly? Even if I were separating this from 2020, I still don’t think I would have liked this movie as much as Hughes’s other films. I didn’t buy Sam and Jake’s insta-romance at the end of the film because they were in barely any scenes together before the iconic birthday cake scene. Long Duk Dong was a pretty damn racist caricature (did we really need the gong sound whenever he was on screen?), Jake casually passing off his drunk girlfriend to the aggressively creepy nerd, Ted,  in order to get rid of her… I just didn’t see what made this movie a “classic” at all. It was a complete mess, with not an ounce of cohesive narrative. Before We Go – 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. As I said, most of the movies I tend to love have rotten scores on RT. Chris Evans’s directorial debut really got raked over the critics’ hot coals when it was released in 2014, but you know what? I freaking loved this movie. A simple story about a married woman in New York City who misses her train home and reluctantly accepts help from a struggling musician. Alice Eve and Chris Evans had some palpable chemistry, and I think it’s fair to compare Before We Go a little bit to Before Sunrise, simply because so much of the film is dialogue as the characters get to know one another and finally begin to open up about their insecurities and vulnerabilities. I found it incredibly romantic, and the end left me wanting more. This is definitely an underrated romance and deserves better!