The Rock has spoken out about the criticisms of Southland Tales, and in particular that first reaction to the screening at Cannes.

SlashFilm have the comments from Rock:

"There was a reason why we were selected - we were in competition. There was a committee that saw something in this movie," explained Johnson. "We go over there, show it for an audience that, frankly we didn't make it for. And a lot of those guys over there, they watch a ton of movies...

...we get over there and it's like 11 O'clock at night and they've seen a thousand movies already and this was a film that came to Cannes shrouded in mystery...

His comments are pretty clear, the critics weren't interested, but now fans (i.e. the ticket paying audience) have seen some at Comic Con, they are very excited.

It's something I've seen since I've started attending press showings, there are a lot of disrespectful people out there. Those that turn up late, leave early, talk through the movie, take phone calls, and how many of them are going back and writing reviews of the film?

The proof is in the pudding.