"Won't Back Down," the Hollywood movie portraying teachers unions as pretty much the devil, has set the record for the worst opening since 1982 for films appearing in more than 2,500 theaters. For this dubious distinction it beat out a list of amazingly forgettable titles like "Punisher: War Zone" and "Josie and the Pussycats."

The film, pushed hard by anti-union advocate Michelle Rhee and her StudentsFirst group, opened Sept. 28 to poor reviews nationally. It got a low 33 percent approval rating on film site Rotten Tomatoes' survey of movie critics and an even worse 18 percent rating from the site's designated "top critics."

Kenneth Turan at the LA Times called the film "so shamelessly manipulative and hopelessly bogus it will make you bite your tongue in regret and despair."

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And the Philadelphia Inquirer's Steven Rea called it "a kind of 'Norma Rae' for the Paul Ryan set."

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