That doesn't ring true to me at all. In aggregate, the opinions of professional critics always push me towards better movies or tv shows. Go watch some of the best rated movies of the year on Rotten Tomatoes by critics, then the best rated by users. It's immediately clear the critics picks are not just better but leaps and bounds better. I have the same experience with restaurants. What my friends say is their favorite restaurant is usually something like a local hole in the wall taco place that makes amazing carne asada. That's not bad, and it's great for that one person or that one dish/experience. But generally a pick from the Michelin guidebook is going to be a completely different experience start to finish, down to the smallest details. It's objectively better.
It sounds like you, understandably, are very much on defense and think of critics as "arty farty" from the jump. Perhaps you saw someone say a super artistic french film was great and it seemed like nonsense to you, or you saw some chef serve up a gastro-scientific jelly bean for $500 and it's colored your view pretty heavily.
What my friends say is their favorite restaurant is usually something like a local hole in the wall taco place that makes amazing carne asada. That's not bad, and it's great for that one person or that one dish/experience. But generally a pick from the Michelin guidebook is going to be a completely different experience start to finish, down to the smallest details. It's objectively better.
Continuing this thought... There's also nothing inherently wrong or bad about the local diner (or the generic recipe blockbuster movie). They fill a niche. People like easy comfort food and they like relatively mindless entertainment. But, they also enjoy a fancy meal that is also an experience and movies that challenge their notions about the world and make them think.
I enjoy a Michelin meal. I wouldn't want one every day - I'd be both bankrupt and become jaded to the experience. Same with movies. Most of the time, I'm ok with another MCU/Avengers spin-off, but sometimes I want Memento or Hunger.
It sounds like you, understandably, are very much on defense and think of critics as "arty farty" from the jump. Perhaps you saw someone say a super artistic french film was great and it seemed like nonsense to you, or you saw some chef serve up a gastro-scientific jelly bean for $500 and it's colored your view pretty heavily.