With reviews for new films such as Nope and Prey dominating the homepage of Letterboxd, the app has positioned itself as the preeminent social media platform for film discourse. Despite this popularity, some users have found a few things to take umbrage with while logging and rating their favorite films.
Whether it is thoughts about the app itself or the culture that it breeds, Letterboxd is far from perfect in the eyes of many. To voice their complaints, users on Reddit have taken to the site to air out their numerous grievances with the platform.
Lose Lose Situation
Art is subjective, but some users on Letterboxd felt that they were going to get judged, no matter what their taste in movies was. User River_bed summed up their thoughts, writing "It really is a lose-lose situation, you're either mocked for having the broad, highest grossing/rated films as your favorites. Or scrutinized for having your favorite be something niche or to your taste".
Letterboxd, like any social media platform, is made up of a mix of users who all approach it differently. Because art opinion is so personalized, it is impossible to fully agree with anyone else when it comes to the merits of film. Some users feel that social platforms like Letterboxd lend themselves to more divisive discourse.
Blocking Movies
Apps are continuously improving through user feedback, but some desired additions can be more controversial than others. User Jskidmore1217 wanted to treat movies like people when he said "I actually like the idea of hiding certain movies until you have seen them...seeing 'good' or 'bad' ratings can be enough to skew my experience".
Like spoilers, viewer opinion can sometimes ruin a moviegoing experience. However, blocking a film outright would defeat the purpose of the app when it comes to promoting the newest films. Some of the best movies of 2022 have gotten a huge bump from social media platforms like Letterboxd, regardless of if the press was good or bad.
Where Is The TV?
Movies are the bread and butter of Letterboxd, but some users believe that it should expand its horizons to include other media as well. User BradT222 perceived a massive gap in Letterboxd's usefulness when they said "No TV shows is a huge minus, it makes the app feel incomplete imo".
Though some of the best TV miniseries have crept their way onto the app, the full-time inclusion of TV would require a massive overhaul to the platform. Because some shows can run for decades, it would be very difficult to individually log and categorize episodes of TV, and it would most likely overrun the app with new issues.
Popularity Contest
Every social media app has an algorithm, but some took umbrage with the way that Letterboxd prioritized its content. User Nessidy had a multilayered comment when they said "I wish finding new lists was easier...so far its basically scrolling through the same ranking of most popular lists".
Social media has always been a popularity contest, and apps know to drive content that gets the most clicks. In a semi-artistic setting like Letterboxd, it can be frustrating for some users who want to use the app for discovery of new movies. However, the most popular lists wouldn't be pushed in the algorithm if users weren't clicking on them.
Make Room For Silly
One of the most common gripes about Letterboxd is that a large portion of the user base doesn't take it seriously. User unfortunateclown came to defend the off-the-wall reviews, writing "Many use Letterboxd as a personal diary and they are allowed to be as serious or as silly as they want".
Obviously, a joke review for a movie isn't a big deal in the long run, but it nevertheless irks some users who take things a bit more seriously. Considering the fact that the highest scored movies on Letterboxd have a varying amount of actual reviewers, a single review can change the perception of a film.
Bad Android
User friendliness is what makes and breaks an app, and some Letterboxd users felt shafted when it came to their experience. User heildengoettern vented their frustration when they wrote "Android app is just garbage...it's an insult for their paying Android users, especially Patrons like me".
The debate between IOS and Android will rage on forever, but the limitations of the Android tech has seemed to hit apps like Letterboxd particularly hard. The biggest problems with the Android edition aren't necessarily problems with Letterboxd in particular, and more of a gripe with the limitations of Android tech.
Social Media Stream
Even Letterboxd isn't immune to influencer culture, and some users feel that it ruins their experience on the app. Writing candidly, user FairyNuman got to the heart of the matter when they said "The friend's 'activity page' is essentially useless if you follow a few 'power users' because it's just an endless stream of their social media usage".
The issue of Power Users and other such influencers strikes at the heart of the divide within the Letterboxd community. Some see them as a detraction from the purpose of the app, while others embrace them as ambassadors for film. In the end, Letterboxd is a social media platform, and users must come to expect certain things when using it.
Overly Long Lists
Lists are an important part of the Letterboxd community and they offer a way to group and categorize movies. However, user briancly had issues with particular lists when they stated "I'm really hard pressed to find anyone that finds any of those 'Every X Film Ever' lists useful at all".
Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and overly long lists can do more to frustrate than educate. However, they can be put to good use if they are well crafted, and collect a bevy of films that actually pertain to one another. As with anything, lists are what the individual makes of them, and even the longest and most verbose list has an audience somewhere.
Niche Audiences
Letterboxd isn't the only app that suffers from skewed review numbers, but some users feel it is particularly prevalent there. User theelderlyone used a specific to refer to the general when they said "Concert films always get high ratings because the diehards are the only ones that watch and rate them".
When looking at Letterboxd's top rated movies, it isn't unusual to see a niche film sneak into the ranks. Because the audience is so targeted, their ratings are going to be higher by default since no one who would dislike it would even watch it. Though there have been amazing concert films over the years, it isn't necessarily fair to hold them in the same category as narrative films.
Toxic Environment
Social media comes with its positives and its negatives, and some users saw more of the negative in Letterboxd than the positive. A deleted user didn't hold back when they wrote "Letterboxd has a ton of snobs and nasty people on it...it totally ruins the experience".
It is important to remember that the experience of social media can be controlled by the user themselves. Letterboxd isn't more or less toxic than any other platform, but when one opens themselves up to a much larger audience, there is bound to be a few trolls. As an app, Letterboxd is an invaluable tool for cinephiles, but as a social media platform it is very much like its contemporaries.