Reviews: Snarky or Straight?

I’ve noticed that there seems to be a trend of humorous, snarky reviews for books lately, which never caught my attention before I had something published. I’m curious how readers actually interpret these reviews? Sure, we can all have a good laugh, but are you laughing more at the book or at the reviewer’s sense of humor? Would you actually give the book a chance after you read something like that? What about the author? Would you put them on your "never buy" list? What if another serious review had good things to say about that title? Which one would influence you?

Another author at my publisher recently got a review that ridiculed her book, specifically the sex scenes. There were also a number of comments about the publisher, and I admit it worries me that a vicious review is going to keep readers away from an entire publisher just because of one book they didn’t enjoy. In comments to the posting, some people mentioned other books people enjoyed from the publisher (two of them even mentioned mine), but it seems that this sort of thing can do a lot of damage to many authors if it keeps readers from even considering purchasing their books.

Am I worrying too much? Are readers really more objective than this, and do you give each title consideration on its own merit?