Marlon Wayans Explains Why He Doesn’t Care About Movie Critics

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

Marlon Wayans has found his passion in making his own movies, and while some of his films are collaborations with his famous siblings, he has now gotten into doing projects solo. His first big movie taken on without help from his siblings was A Haunted House. The movie did so well at the box office that it got the green light for a sequel, and Marlon says it’s bittersweet to see his film do so well after the Scary Movie franchise he helped create yet walked away from is struggling to be successful these days with its fifth installment. He’s already proven while dragging someone on his Twitter account recently that he’s not a fan of people slamming his films. However, in a recent interview with Crikey, Marlon reveals what made him stopped caring about what the critics have to say about his movies:

“Put it this way. The audience loves it. The critics hate it. The more the critics hate it, the more the audience love it. It’s insane. My last movie was at six percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Six percent! But it was on 85 percent with the audience. So somewhere along the line, you know, I think the critics understand we don’t make movies for them. We make movies for the audience. Critics don’t pay to see movies. Audiences do.

“I don’t give a sh*t. After White Chicks I gave up on reviewers. I was just like, whatever. Whatever you guys want to say. I look at White Chicks and it gets one and a half stars and I’m looking at the audience and I’m hearing the thunderous laughter. I’m just going, you know what, you guys have got a thumb up your a*s. You have a fist. It’s a fist up your arse and I’m not going to fight you on it. Just enjoy it and I’m not going to fight you on it. Their opinions are their opinions and I’m not mad at them. The only time they give great reviews is when you do a movie for them. Critics like, I guess, smarter comedy. Scatalogical comedy and weed jokes don’t work for them.”