History Main / CriticalBacklash

* The multitude of stories about the legendarily TroubledProduction of ''Film/{{Ishtar}}'' lowered critics' and audience's expectations for the released film, and indeed the box office[[note]]It won its opening weekend, but just barely, over its closest rival--''Film/TheGate''[[/note]] and reviews reflect that. But people who've watched it in the years since[[note]]a little difficult, as the film didn't get a home-video release in the US until the late 2000s[[/note]] say it's actually not bad.[[note]]Creator/GaryLarson, who had at one point depicted shelves full of the film on a "video stores in hell" ''Far Side'' panel, public expressed his regret for doing so years later.[[/note]]

* The UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} versions of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' and ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' are frequently called "the worst games ever" by critics. Granted, ''Pac-Man'' suffered from being a PortingDisaster and ''E.T.'' has some [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames issues of its own]], but they're not as bad as critics might think, compared to other games released on that system at the time these two games were released. In particular, the urban myth that ''E.T.'' was the worst game ever even drove Digitalpress insane. To the point that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzdqaJIeE0Q they]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR50m78IIJs showcased]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwoUt-AGW3c 10]] even worse Atari 2600 games that, according to the people that viewed it, made ''E.T.'' look like ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''.

* While few fans would try to argue that ''Film/GhostbustersII'' isn't a watered-down imitation of its beloved predecessor, several of them also have a hard time seeing it as the bottomlessly terrible and unfunny disaster it's often made out to be on the Internet.

** ''Film/GhostbustersII'': The attitude that the film is an utterly disastrous abomination is a relatively new one and rather confusing to those fans who consider it inferior to the original, but still funny enough in its own right.

* ''Film/Ghostbusters2016'' received nuclear levels of controversy from its initial announcements, in large part due to being a ''reboot'' to [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} one of the most beloved franchises of the 80's]] rather than [[DevelopmentHell the long-awaited, much-desired, but ultimately ill-fated]] sequel, with wide criticisms for it not being anywhere near as funny or clever as the original. Things got especially ugly due to the decision to have [[GenderFlip an all-female main cast]], [[OvershadowedByControversy politicizing the movie to a near-irreparable extent that ultimately resulted in it bombing at the box office]]. In the years following the film's release (along with the more successful UnReboot in ''Film/GhostbustersAfterlife'' helping take the bad taste away), reactions towards the reboot have calmed down significantly, where beyond the intense periphery and biases from diehard fans, it's mostly seen as just a typically bad-to-[[SoOkayItsAverage average]] blockbuster, with writing that misses more than hits and a cast [[ToughActToFollow that fails to reach the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry of the original film]], but otherwise nothing that itself warrants the vitriol it received. In retrospect, its gravest flaw is being attached to ''Ghostbusters'' and not being what longtime fans wanted, though the film's genuine fanbase who enjoys the cast and story for what they are don't feel the need to mind as much.