Overview

• Eddington represents Ari Aster’s first contemporary Western, using a 2020 pandemic setting to satirize political polarization and misinformation.
• The film premiered at Cannes on May 16 and holds a 66% Rotten Tomatoes rating, marking the lowest score of Aster’s four-feature run.
• Reviewers uniformly commend Joaquin Phoenix’s transformation into Sheriff Joe Cross as the film’s most compelling element.
• Critics praise the film’s dark humor and social commentary but criticize its 148-minute runtime for uneven pacing and thematic overreach.
• With its U.S. release scheduled for July 18, the mixed reviews cast doubt on Eddington’s box office prospects against summer competition.