This will be a simple study.  I’ll play it as a game of percentages whether a film is good or not, based upon reviews via Rotten Tomatoes.  Then I’ll make up some way to decide which is better – to be first… or last?

Let’s start with the “firsts,” first…

• First Daughter – bad at 9%
• First Sunday – bad at 14%
• At First Sight – bad at 34%
• The First Wives Club – bad at 42%
• 50 First Dates – bad at 44%
• First Knight – bad at 44%
• Murder in the First – bad at 52%
• First Blood – good at 86%
• Star Trek: First Contact – good at 92%

Two out of nine films were considered good.  That means 22% of titles that include the word “first” are good.  One in about five is not a blue ribbon winner.

Last but not lease, here a the “lasts”…

• I Know What You Did Last Summer – bad at 34%
• The Last Action Hero – bad at 39%
• The Last House on the Left (remake) – bad at 42%
• The Last Boy Scout – bad at 43%
• The Last Unicorn – bad at 50%
• The Last Castle – bad at 52%
• Save the Last Dance – bad at 53%
• X-Men: The Last Stand – bad at 57%
• The Last House on the Left (original) – good at 63%
• The Last Samurai – good at 65%
• The Last Station – good at 71%
• The Last Temptation of Christ – good at 83%
• The Last King of Scotland – good at 87%
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – good at 89%
• The Last Emperor – good at 91%
• The Last of the Mohicans– good at 97%
• The Last Picture Show – good at 100%
• Last Night – N/A
• The Last Airbender – N/A

Nine of seventeen films that have been reviewed (Last Night and The Last Airbender aren’t out yet) were given good reviews.  This means that a little more than every other movie using “last” in the title (53% of them) are bound to be good.

So to answer the question nobody was asking but me, my new script called Last of the Firsts has a 75% chance at being good! Or does that mean it has a 125% chance of being bad?

No matter what, it still has to be better than First Daughter…