The incident was first brought to light by the alarmed Guardian reviewer himself, Benjamin Lee, who tweeted this:
Incredible way of making my two star review seem like I didn't hate the film pic.twitter.com/zvOyIxHQ3h
ā Benjamin Lee (@benfraserlee) September 8, 2015
A tip of the cap to Legend's marketing team, then, for turning an unfortunate critical assessment into a social media phenomenon.
Lighting up Twitter like it's the second coming of Keyboard Cat, the internet has been snorting into its collective flat whites this morning over this cinematic subterfuge, but it's not the first time it's happened.
Here, for Chris Morris's Four Lions, any instance of the word "funny" was used, which really emphasised something: the film's funny.
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In this instance, a scathing review for Gossip Girl became a fantastic reason to see the show.
Likewise, when American critic bigwigs Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave Lost Highway "two thumbs down", director David Lynch quoted himself and turned it into a big plus point.
Perhaps the most brazen manipulation of movie poster reviews was the infamous case of the fictitious writer David Manning, who purportedly worked for the The Ridgefield Press, a small Connecticut weekly. He did not.
This didn't stop "Manning" from allowing his quotes on the posters for A Knight's Tale (describing Heath Ledger as "this year's hottest new star!") and Rob Schneider's The Animal ("another winner!"), both coincidentally from Sony Pictures.
On August 3, 2005, an out-of-court settlement saw Sony cough up $1.5 million to disgruntled customers who went to see the likes of Hollow Man, The Patriot and Vertical Limit on the recommendation of the undercover marketing exec.
Still, if all this Krays-based kerfuffle has you interested in watching the movie - ultimately the marketeers' aim - allow us to remind you that Legend's out in UK cinemas today, and US ones on October 9. Watch a trailer below:
