Film Reviews Beforehand

Yesterday, I talked to one of my friend's I hadn't talked to in ages.  The first thing we did was catch up, but afterward, we immediately talked about what we should do the next time we saw each other.  We both agreed on eating, but he wanted to see "Anchorman 2" once it came out, while I was hesitant.  I like Will Ferrell films (which might surprise some people), but I was low on money, and not as high on this film from what I saw from the trailers.  Because of that, I told him I wanted to see some of its reviews first, but he said he didn't want to do that and would see it regardless.  I respected his motives, but didn't really understand that blindness to films.

When it comes to films, people are split on whether you should read reviews beforehand.  If you read the reviews before you see a film, the plot could be spoiled or your mind could be made up before you even see the film.  But if you don't read the reviews, you run the risk of wasting your money on a potentially terrible film, or being misled by the title.  I suppose it's up to preference what to do, but I wonder how other film critics/viewers feel since we take films seriously.  Artistically, you don't want to be influenced, but as a viewer, you want to know what you're getting yourself into, especially if you have limited funds and rarely see films in theaters like I do.

Of course, whenever conflicted, you can always do what I do and look at the Rotten Tomatoes score, which comprises the ratings of all critics and audience members.  The nice thing here is that while it tells you how others feel about a film, it doesn't spoil things for you, and gives you a percentage of how many people like or dislike a film.  It may feel wrong to leave the choice of seeing a film up to a number, but it seems even worst leaving it blindly to chance.  I don't know if I'll see "Anchorman 2", but I know what I'll be doing beforehand.

Question: How about you guys?  Do you ever look at other critic's reviews or a site like Rotten Tomatoes, or do you just wing it?