Why people don't like the greatest movie ever made.

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2001)

True, Citizen Kane isn't the most gripping story ever told. However, a movie isn't defined by the story it tells. I bet most of the people that trash this movie absolutely love Pulp Fiction, another phenomenal movie. However, in neither movie is the plot particularly relevant to the point of the movie. The difference is that young people constitute the majority of movie goers and whereas Pulp Fiction is really "cool" and quite hilarious, Citizen Kane is slow and very arsty.
When judging movies, there are two key considerations: entertainment and cinematic merit. They aren't well defined and often overlap, a film such as American Beauty comes to mind. However, it films are like novels. We live in a time where John Grisham and Tom Clancy are premier authors and Oprah Winfrey decides what's good and what's not. However, while certainly entertaining, John Grisham and Tom Clancy write mostly trash compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald et al. The point is that movies are oftentimes the same way.
Tommy Boy is one of my favorite movies, yet it ranks nowhere near what I consider to be a great movie. It's a bunch a mindless, yet hilarious, junk barfed up onto a film reel. Citizen Kane is the polar opposite. While certainly not hilarious, it represents everything a great movie should be: it has perfect acting, directing, camera work, lighting, editing etc. Not to mention the story. The story is perfectly told. It has a message to get across and it does it extremely well, even if it is somewhat slow. So what if it doesn't put you at the edge of your seat.
I'm not saying that you should like this movie. What I am saying is that it is the greatest movie ever made and I personally believe that opinions to the contrary are misguided, naive, and 100% wrong.