BUDDY
2026Roadside Attractions · 95 MIN · 2026-09-04
BUDDY
2026
ROT SCORE
SYNOPSIS
In 1999, "It's Buddy!" is the biggest kids' show on TV -- a fluorescent orange unicorn (Keegan-Michael Key) leading a troupe of children through songs, dances, and a whole lot of manufactured happiness, Barney by way of Mr. Rogers. Then one kid refuses to play along, and the cracks in Buddy's squeaky-clean world start showing something a lot darker underneath. Casper Kelly directs a cast that also includes Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace, Michael Shannon, and Patton Oswalt; it premiered in the Midnight section at Sundance.
SUBGENRES
Score Breakdown
GENRE SITES
| SOURCE | RAW SCORE | NORMALIZED / 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Bloody Disgusting | 3.5 / 5 | 70.0 |
| Dread Central | 3.5 / 5 | 70.0 |
| Daily Dead | 3.5 / 5 | 70.0 |
| Nightmare on Film Street | N/A | — |
| Certified Forgotten | N/A | — |
| Bloody Flicks | N/A | — |
| GENRE SITES AVG | 70.0 | |
MAINSTREAM SOURCES
RT Critic + RT Audience are averaged together and count as 50% of this bucket. All other sources share the remaining 50% equally.
| SOURCE | RAW SCORE | NORMALIZED / 100 |
|---|---|---|
| RT Critic | 83% | 83.0 |
| RT Audience | N/A | — |
| Letterboxd | N/A | — |
| IMDb | N/A | — |
| Metacritic Critic | 64 / 100 | 64.0 |
| Metacritic User | N/A | — |
| Slash Film | N/A | — |
| IGN | N/A | — |
| The Film Stage | N/A | — |
| Collider | N/A | — |
| RT AVG (50% of bucket) | 83.0 | |
| MAINSTREAM AVG | 73.5 | |
FORMULA WEIGHTS
| SOURCE | NORMALIZED | BASE WT | ACTUAL WT | CONTRIB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satan's Boardroom | — | 10% | — | — |
| Genre Sites | 70.0 | 50% | 55.6%* | 38.9 |
| Mainstream Sites | 73.5 | 40% | 44.4%* | 32.7 |
| Broad Excellence Bonus | — | — | — | +2.1 |
| ROT SCORE | 100.0% | 74 | ||
* Satan's Boardroom was unavailable. Weight redistributed proportionally across available sources.
Bonus awarded for strong agreement across multiple buckets.