INTRODUCING THE THREE-POINT SCALE
The revolution in art criticism has finally arrived.
I have a major axe to grind with the scoring systems most often used in media and art criticism. Many movie reviews use a five-star system with half-star increments, for instance, affording the reviewer an incredible amount of leeway to be chickenshit and give maximum nUaNcE in their review. But is a two-and-a-half-star movie meaningfully different than a three-star movie? Is a three-star movie even good? Most of the time, the answer is no, it’s just the rating system gives enough room for the critic to hem and haw and avoid making any kind of actual judgment.
(And don’t get me going on the 1-10 scale.)
Luckily, I invented a far superior system. The way it works is simple:
1/3 – BAD.
2/3 – GOOD.
3/3 – GREAT.*
*Great means INCREDIBLE here, like in the old sense of the word, not the watered-down modern usage. We’re talking about Alexander the Great, not “Great job with your times tables!”
In other words, a 3/3 is a masterpiece, an unprecedented creative achievement, or both.
The genius of this scale is that it creates a firm dividing line between “good” and “bad” AND between “good” and “incredible.” In a better world, never again would you have to witness a cowardly critic end their weasel-worded review with “2.5 stars out of 5.” That ink could’ve been saved to print something worthwhile, like smut.
Sometimes people get nervous when I explain this scale to them, their eyes darting back and forth as sweat beads their brow: “b-b-but how will I distinguish between a kind-of good movie and a really good movie?” Well, that’s missing the point, which is to be forced into making the harder judgements between bad, good, and incredible. These constraints force you to make more interesting decisions and they lead to deeper conversations. It’s much better than the status quo where everyone has so many points to allocate that any opinion can be defensible yet ultimately meaningless.
My scale also creates an ironclad hierarchy between ratings: you recommend any 3/3 above any 2/3 above any 1/3. Sure, the 2/3 rating does contain multitudes, but not so much that the edges on any of the categories spill over each other.
Testimonials: I’ve introduced this scale to many of my friends and it has genuinely lead to so many deep conversations and analyses of movies, TV shows*, books, games, and experiences. It gives a simple and fun framework to share what you think. And because it’s not (yet) widely used, you’ll get a small thrill from the novelty too.
*For TV shows, it usually makes the most sense to rate seasons or just shows overall. If you want to use it episode-by-episode, well, you have my blessing I suppose. Let your freak flag fly. You might say Fargo season 1 is a 3/3 (and you’re damn right about that, kudos to you on your taste) or that Seinfeld is a 3/3 overall (who cares if not every season or episode is up to that level of quality).
I asked some friends who are users of it to rate my scale and they said:
“It’s a 3/3.” - Charlie
“I think your scale is the tops, Matt. It is the tops.” - Peter
As it happens, Peter and Charlie were the only ones locked in enough to respond in time for publication. C'est la vie.
So break free from the shackles of bad rating systems and give Kramer’s scale a try today. I’m dying to hear: what’s a movie that is a 3/3 for you and why?
P.S. If you ever hear of someone rating a movie 1.5/3 on my scale, just let me know and I shall politely but firmly bludgeon them to death with a sock full of pennies. No half-measures, here or elsewhere in life!