"Hancock," starring Will Smith, dominated the box office this weekend, but left critics befuddled and confused with an unexpected plot twist.

Having not seen the movie, I will say that my desire to do so is not at all averted by the negative buzz. In fact, all the talk about twisted plots piqued my interest more than the previews for said movie. I even dug up a spoiler review, just to find out what the big deal was. This makes me wonder how the buzz will affect others who may have been ambivalent about seeing the movie.

Ever since "Independence Day" in 1996, Will Smith has made a career of being the 4th of July box office king. As such, if Smith is in an Independence Day movie, the audiences will come and according to TIME magazine "a critique of Hancock is an essay in irrelevance." Will Smith is such a powerful brand, it makes no difference whether the movie is great or a total bust; if Smith is in it, the audiences flock to theaters.
The thing is this, when it comes to movies, you want your movie to either be so great that it becomes a critic's favorite, and if it does get ripped to shreds for being bad, you want big, big buzz. The way I see it, Hancock is a success whether critic like it or not because it raked in the big bucks and got everyone talking about this staggering plot twist.

Unfortunately, the negative reviews could affect the DVD sales down the road, but honestly, I doubt it will put too much of a dent in the projected numbers. C'mon! It's Will Smith for crying out loud. And "Hancock" couldn't have been any worse than "Hitch."

I'm just sayin'.