There’s an elite club of movies on Rotten Tomatoes that have earned a rating of 100 percent on the Tomatometer, indicating universal acclaim from critics. Those chosen few include classics like North by Northwest and All About Eve as well as more modern critical darlings like Man on Wire and Greta Gerwig’s new film, Lady Bird, which joined the ranks of the 100 percenters just a few weeks ago. On Monday, though, Lady Bird set a new Rotten Tomatoes record: With 170 positive reviews (and counting), Lady Bird is now the most-reviewed film to hold a 100 percent rating on the site.
Screenshot via Rotten Tomatoes
That’s a record previously held by Toy Story 2, which has 163 “Fresh” reviews to its name. To be clear, the new record doesn’t mean that Lady Bird got better reviews than Toy Story 2, necessary—just that it got more reviews, and all of those reviews were on the positive side. (The nature of the Tomatometer means that a critic who adored a movie and a critic who thought it was just pretty good are both ranked as positive reviews.) Slate’s own Dana Stevens praised the film’s cast and Gerwig’s direction, writing that “the little slice of universe she shows us feels deeply and lovingly observed.”
170 writers all liking the same movie is something to celebrate, especially when there isn’t a single naysayer among them. (Even Armond White, the critic who ruined Toy Story 3’s perfect score with a bad review in 2010, liked Lady Bird.) Gerwig responded to the good news, telling RT, “that there has been such a warm reception is a dream come true.”
She added, “We are all on cloud nine and using our tomato emoji more than we ever thought possible.”
