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The people in this movie are dumber than a box of Tinkertoys. One fears they're so unfortunate it's not Politically Correct to laugh at them. That's not a problem because "Just Go With It" is so rarely funny. Here is a story that began as a French farce. Then it was adapted into a Broadway play named " Cactus Flower ." Then the play was made into a movie. Now it has been made into another movie. This process has diluted it like a homeopathic medicine, so that not an atom of the original formula can be found.

Consider. Danny ( Adam Sandler ) broke off his wedding at the last minute, but continues to wear the wedding ring. Women find the ring seductive, and cannot resist having sex with a married man. Therefore, most (not all) of the women in his life are stupid. This works for him for approximately 25 years. In the meantime, he becomes a famous plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. He is assisted by Nurse Katherine ( Jennifer Aniston ), who has two kids.

On the one day he isn't wearing his ring, he spends an idyllic night in the beach with the delicious 23-year-old Palmer ( Brooklyn Decker ). Then she finds the ring in his pocket and thinks he is married, and he lies and says yes, but his divorce is almost final. She insists on meeting his wife. He makes Nurse Katherine pretend to be his wife. He buys her several thousand dollars worth of clothes for her one (1) meeting with Palmer.

For reasons having to do with Palmer's love of children, they all fly to Hawaii together with Nurse Katherine's two kids and Danny's high school buddy Eddie ( Nick Swardson ), who pretends to be the Nurse's fiancé. Eddie disguises himself with thick glasses and the worst German accent since the guy who worshipped Hitler in "The Producers." He also brandishes a meerschaum pipe, because everyone who has seen " Inglourious Basterds " knows all Germans smoke meerschaum pipes.

This might work as a farce. Maybe it did, in France. It worked as a Broadway play by Abe Burrows. It worked as a 1969 movie with Walter Matthau , Ingrid Bergman as the nurse and Goldie Hawn as the young girl. It doesn't work now. The problem is the almost paralytic sweetness of the characters. Nobody is really trying to get away with anything. They're just trying to do the right thing in an underhanded way. Walter Matthau was crafty in the cradle. Goldie Hawn was the definitive ditz. Ingrid Bergman was *sigh*. The 1969 screenplay was by I.A.L. Diamond, who knew a thing or two about farce when he wrote " Some Like It Hot ." They made a good movie.

So nice is everyone here that even the completely surplus character played by Nicole Kidman is undermined. She plays the old standby, the popular girl who was mean to Nurse Katherine in high school. We know the cliché. Kidman could have done something with it, but the screenplay gives her nowhere to go It's painful to endure the cloying scene where they kiss and make up.

"Just Go With It" is like a performance of the old material by actors who don't get the joke. The movie doesn't even have the nerve to caricature the Devlin character, who is presented as a true-blue, sincere Bo Derek clone. Adam Sandler stays well within the range of polite, ingratiating small-talk artists he unnecessarily limits himself to. Jennifer Aniston is alert and amused, but by giving her the fake boyfriend with the meerschaum the film indicates that she, too, is one tinker short of a toy.

There is one funny scene in the movie. It involves a plastic surgery victim with roaming right eyebrow. You know the movie is in trouble when you find yourself missing the eyebrow.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Just Go With It (2011)

Rated PG-13

117 minutes

Bailee Madison as Maggie

Kevin Nealon as Adon

Adam Sandler as Danny

Nicole Kidman as Devlin Adams

Brooklyn Decker as Palmer

Dave Matthews as Ian Maxtone Jones

Jennifer Aniston as Katherine

Griffin Gluck as Michael

Nick Swardson as Eddie

Directed by

• Dennis Dugan

Screenplay by

• Timorthy Dowling

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Just Go with It

On a weekend trip to Hawaii, a plastic surgeon convinces his loyal assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to cover up a careless lie he told to his much-younger girlfrien... Read all On a weekend trip to Hawaii, a plastic surgeon convinces his loyal assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to cover up a careless lie he told to his much-younger girlfriend. On a weekend trip to Hawaii, a plastic surgeon convinces his loyal assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to cover up a careless lie he told to his much-younger girlfriend.

• Dennis Dugan
• Timothy Dowling
• I.A.L. Diamond
• Adam Sandler
• Jennifer Aniston
• Brooklyn Decker
• 344 User reviews
• 206 Critic reviews
• 33 Metascore
• 5 wins & 13 nominations

• Devlin Adams

• Ian Maxtone Jones

• Kirsten Brant

• Tanner Patrick

• Joanna Damon

• (as Dana Min Goodman)

• (as Julia Wolov)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia This is the first collaboration between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston . The two of them have known each other since the 1990s before either of them became famous. They met through some mutual friends and shared meals together. She also used to watch him perform at the Improv, and she attended his wedding in 2003. He had also tried to get her to join Saturday Night Live (1975) during his time there, but she turned it down to join Friends (1994) .
• Goofs When Palmer meets with the "wife" at the hotel bar, her hair is curly. But when they say goodbye in front of the hotel a few minutes later, she has almost fully straight hair.

Devlin Adams : So, where's Danny?

Katherine : [pause] Devlin, Danny is at his wedding.

Devlin Adams : Come again?

Katherine : I was never married to him. All a big lie I made up.

Devlin Adams : Why?

Katherine : Because I couldn't stand the thought of you knowing the truth.

Devlin Adams : Really?

Katherine : So, yeah. I'm a single mother. I have two kids I love more than anything in the world. I drive a Honda, I still have dial-up internet. I got a 2.7 GPA in college, not a 3.4. And while I'm at it telling the truth, I name my kids' poop after you. And I work for Danny. I'm his assistant. That's it.

Devlin Adams : Really? I would never have guessed this. I mean, you two had a real connection.

Katherine : He's great, he's the greatest guy, and I might even be in love with him, but it really doesn't matter at this moment because he is getting married to another person, right now.

Devlin Adams : [pause] Ian and I are breaking up.

Katherine : What? What happened?

Devlin Adams : Well for starters, he's gay. I mean look at him

Ian Maxtone Jones : [with a group of sailors] That's a strong muscle, right there. I'm squeezin'.

Katherine : Devlin, I gotta tell you, last night, with the ass grab of the coconut, little bit of a red flag.

Devlin Adams : I've seen him do that with the soap.

Katherine : Oh! What about the iPod?

Devlin Adams : He didn't invent shit. He made his money suing the Dodgers after he got hit by a foul ball.

Katherine : [laughs] Oh God! So what?

Devlin Adams : Well, this is different?

Katherine : Yeah, I mean, why didn't we try this truth telling thing before?

Devlin Adams : I don't know.

[They hug. Devlin sees Danny behind Katherine]

Danny : Aww, that's nice. It's nice to tell the truth. The truth is fun, isn't it? Like were you telling the truth when you said you might be in love with me?

Devlin Adams : I'm gonna leave you two. Gotta go get a divorce.

• Alternate versions Although it has a relatively mild PG-13 rating, when shown on U.S. broadcast and basic cable TV, there is a slightly edited version. Examples are: when Danny is helping the injured boy at the party and the boy describes a girl he was taken with, the word "nipple" is cut; Katherine and Danny have a conversation about the phrase "Making a devlin"--this is cut; Danny explains that the name of his soon-to-be ex-wife is Devlin--due to the connection with the earlier scene, this is deleted; there is a scene with Palmer nude--even though it is only from the back, and waist up, the TV version just shows her arm.
• Connections Alternate-language version of Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (2005)
• Soundtracks So Lonely Written by Sting Performed by The Police Courtesy of A&M Records Ltd. Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 344

• Feb 12, 2011
• How long is Just Go with It? Powered by Alexa
• February 11, 2011 (United States)
• United States
• Official site (France)
• Holiday in Hawaii
• Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA
• Columbia Pictures
• Happy Madison Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $80,000,000 (estimated)
• $103,028,109
• $30,514,732
• Feb 13, 2011
• $214,945,591

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 57 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1

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Movie Review: Just Go With It Is Actually Pretty Good if You're Willing to Just Go With It

Review in a Hurry: Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston pretend to be married so Sandler can keep getting down with a hot young thing (Brooklyn Decker) who thinks he's getting divorced. It sounds all kinds of nonsensical, but if you're willing to suspend your sense of disbelief and just go with it, it actually kind of works.

The Bigger Picture: Danny (Sandler) is a nice guy who's not all that successful with the ladies. After calling off his own wedding on the day he was supposed to get married, Danny heads to a bar, still wearing his wedding ring. He inevitably meets a woman who is only willing to talk to him because of said ring. Flash forward 10 or so years, and although he's now a successful plastic surgeon, the old wedding ring trick is still Danny's main source of attracting women.

Enter young, hot, schoolteacher Palmer (Decker). The two meet at a party and share a genuine connection. The next morning, she finds a wedding ring in Danny's pants and the charade begins. Rather than just telling her the truth, Danny convinces his single-mom assistant, Katherine (Aniston), to pretend they're married and actually in the process of getting a divorce.

Somehow, all three, plus Katherine's two kids and Danny's cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson), who keeps his wacky sidekick character just shy of the audience wishing he would fall into a volcano, end up in Hawaii. At this point, the charismatic Sandler gets to show that he has grown into his "authentic self" as Oprah might say. He's the charming sincere goofball who still takes the occasional swift jab to the nuts--a sort of nod to the bros that, although grown and somewhat mature, he still maintains traces of his beloved '90s characters. Sandler's chemistry with the amiable Aniston, who looks amazing, (does she bathe in the tears of baby narwhals?) is undeniable. As an unfortunate plot device, Danny never noticed how hot Katherine was because she was always wearing glasses and had her hair up. Lame. Also less fortunate is Palmer, who begins to devolve into nothing more than a gullible slow-motion bikini shot who only gets out of various forms of water.

Do things conveniently work out for everyone in the end? Possibly. Is the road that gets them there filled with predictable but funny, heart-felt moments? Definitely.

The 180--a Second Opinion: Just Go With It is not going to win any awards for best anything, ever. But it has its funny and cute moments, and what's not to like about the randomness of an almost all Police/Sting soundtrack and cameos by Dave Matthews and Kevin Nealon?

VIDEO: Check out the action from the Hollywood premiere of I Am Number Four

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Just Go With It – review

L ewis Wolpert defined depression as "malignant sadness". George Santayana called it "rage spread thin". I call it "watching an Adam Sandler romcom where he discovers he's been in love with his feisty pal Jennifer Aniston all along". Just Go With It is so dispiritingly awful that responsible cinema staff should make audiences remove their ties and shoelaces on their way into the auditorium. Loosely remade from an IAL Diamond screenplay, the film stars Sandler as a single guy who finds posing as an unhappily married man makes him attractive. Trapped in this absurd lie, and to impress a hot new girlfriend, Danny desperately persuades his buddy Katherine (Aniston) to pose as his estranged wife. Nicole Kidman gives a game performance as Katherine's competitive best friend, and it could have been hilarious, but for one thing. She is not given a single funny thing to say or do, and neither is anyone else. Sandler is sentimental and ingratiating and Aniston is on autopilot.

• Romance films
• Comedy films
• Adam Sandler
• Jennifer Aniston

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Just go with it.

Danny (Adam Sandler) is a respected Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, unmarried and with money to burn. He uses a fake wedding ring to attract women, a ruse that works surprisingly well. It backfires, though, when he meets a beautiful, young school teacher, Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), and she finds the ring. Now, Danny has to convince his working mom assistant, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), to help him prove he is divorced and “Just Go with It.”

Laura's Review: B-

Danny Maccabee's (Adam Sandler) only attempt at marriage taught him one thing - that a wedding ring and a sob story could be powerful chick magnets. Now a middle aged, successful Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Danny's surprised to find himself wanting to commit to the much younger Palmer (Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker), but he's had to concoct a lie to explain the ring she finds in his pants pocket. Palmer wants to meet the soon-to-be-ex-wife he's made up on the fly, so Danny persuades his long time office manager Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to play the role. Of course, one lie leads to a pile up and Danny, his best friend Eddie (Nick Swardson, TV's "Reno 911!"), Katherine and even her two kids learn to "Just Go With It." Who would have thought that after failing to strike sparks with romcom costars like Steve Zahn, Aaron Eckhart and Gerard Butler that it would be old buddy Adam Sandler to make Jennifer Aniston shine? And who could have believed after the ugly production that was "Grown Ups" that director Dennis Dugan ("Happy Gilmore") could stage some comedic visual gems? This adaptation of of all things, "Cactus Flower," by Allan Loeb ("The Dilemma") and Timothy Dowling ("Role Models") indulges in Sandler's baser instincts, a constant complaint that will probably continue ad infinitum, but it also features some gonzo schticks that the cast pull off. The film begins by establishing Danny's back story (with Sandler's real wife Jackie playing the horrendous 'almost' version), then jumps forward and wallows around a bit in some easy medical humor. Kevin Nealon is a rich guy whose face can no longer movie, Rachel Dratch has some fun with severely mismatched eyebrows. In one great gag, Dugan uses a patient's POV to frame a conversation between Danny and Katherine as they each apply nipple numbing cream. In the 'let's get the bathroom humor rolling' department, Danny learns Katherine's household call their poops Devlins, named after her arch rival in college. Then Danny meets Palmer and the real action begins. There's really nothing inherently funny about the basic outline, a premise that's been done to death. Katherine pulls out all the stops to portray 'Devlin,' a wife who clearly must be divorced, then slips and talks to her kids on her cell in front of Palmer. The kids manipulate their mom's boss into acting classes and a trip to Hawaii. Eddie leeches on as 'Dolph Lundgren,' 'Devlin's' European lover. They all set off to a luxurious resort and possible wedding site for Danny and Palmer. If things weren't complicated enough with everyone sporting different identities, the real Devlin Adams (Nicole Kidman?!) shows up if, for nothing else, than as a device to reconfigure the two 'couples' for an evening. Sure, there's always going to be a certain amount of eye-rolling for an Adam Sandler movie. There's the requisite crotch injury, jiggling bikini tops and toilet humor. The loser in the romantic triangle is too neatly and abruptly fobbed off. But there are also looney forays into sheep shipping, hula competitions and coconut schmoochies. And as is also the case with much of the Sandler oeuvre, there is an underlying sweetness. Sandler and Aniston look like they're really enjoying each other - Aniston hasn't seemed this relaxed on screen since her last indie. Swarsdon's 'Dolph' is over the top, but damn if the guy isn't funny doing it. The astonishingly good child actress Bailee Madison of 2009's "Brothers" has fun working out a fake British accent as Katherine's daughter Maggie and Griffin Gluck is natural and keeps us on his side as he takes Danny for all he can get. Kidman seems to be straining, working a bit too hard to fit in, but her presence alone is comical. Sandler regular Allen Covert ("The Wedding Singer") makes a late cameo as a character referred to throughout the film, but Rob Schneider is nowhere to be seen (a first?). "Just Go With It" - a horrible title by the way - won't appeal to anyone who cannot stand Sandler, but for those who can at least put up with his juvenile scatological tendencies, this is one of his better ones. It's the Barrymore effect with Aniston on both the giving and receiving ends.

Robin's Review: B-

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Fallout First Reviews: A 'Violent, Fun, Emotional, Epic' Video Game Adaptation, Critics Say

Critics say prime video's new series benefits from strong storytelling, committed performances, and a deft balance of tone, making it one of the best video game adaptations ever..

TAGGED AS: First Reviews , streaming , television , TV

Fallout is the latest video game adaptation to hit the small screen. Created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner , and executive produced by Westworld ‘s Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy , the eight episode series, inspired by the hit game franchise from Bethesda Softworks drops on Wednesday, April 10 to Amazon Prime Video.

The post-apocalyptic series stars Ella Purnell as Lucy; Aaron Moten as Maximus; and Walton Goggins as The Ghoul. Joining them is an ensemble cast that includes Kyle MacLachlan , Sarita Choudhury , Michael Emerson , Leslie Uggams , Zach Cherry , Moises Arias and Johnny Pemberton , among others.

With nearly three decades of lore under its belt, the video game franchise has drawn a massive fanbase. Needless to say, there’s a lot of hype surrounding the new series. Does it live up to expectations? Here’s what critics are saying about Fallout :

How does it compare to the video games?

Prime Video’s TV adaptation of Fallout does something the games in the legendary franchise never have—put storytelling above all else. — Bernard Boo, Den of Geek

Fallout is the new standard for video game adaptations. This series is violent, fun, emotional, epic, and just plain awesome. — Alex Maidy, JoBlo’s Movie Network

Opting for a new narrative that simply takes place in the Fallout  world, the series is a mix of adventure and puzzle-box mystery, with more than enough action scenes to satisfy the RPG faithful. It’s fun, and only occasionally overcomplicated. — Kelly Lawler, USA Today

Fallout takes the ideas of the games and crafts its own story in an already interesting world. Nails the satire, the wackiness, and about everything a fan could want. — Zach Pope, Zach Pope Reviews

Bodies fly, heads explode, and video game logic reigns triumphant. — Niv M. Sultan, Slant Magazine

How is the cast?

(Photo by Prime Video)

All of the performances are great; Purnell is a strong, loveably naive lead, while Moten delivers a fascinatingly, sort-of loathsome turn. Excusing the wonderful pooch that plays CX404, aka Four, Goggins is the runaway MVP, an agent of chilly, smooth-talking chaos somewhere between John Marston and Clarence Boddicker. — Cameron Frew, Dexerto

“I hate it up here,” Lucy mutters early on, and given the horrors to which she’s subjected, nobody could blame her. Yet her quest not only involves no shortage of carnage but also insights into her community and its origins, as well as encounters (some relatively brief) with a strong array of co-stars, including Moisés Arias, Kyle MacLachlan, Sarita Choudhury, Michael Emerson, and Leslie Uggams. — Brian Lowry, CNN

The Ghoul serves as the perfect foil for Lucy and Maximus, with Goggins deploying megatons’ worth of weary charisma in his performance as Fallout’ s resident lone wolf, black hat archetype. — Belen Edwards, Mashable

Emancipation’s Aaron Moten and And Just Like That… standout Sarita Choudhury nail the determined, world-weary drive that propels their characters forward while Justified’ s Walton Goggins gives one of his best performances yet as Cooper Howard, a mutated ghoul of a gunslinger who gives everyone a hard time with biting quips and searing bullet work. — David Opie, Digital Spy

How’s the writing and world-building?

The show’s creators have done such an impeccable job fleshing out the world of Fallout that it feels like the characters are treading stories and quests you’ve experienced yourself in one way or another. — Tanner Dedmon, ComicBook.com

Story-wise, Fallout  smartly eschews trying to adapt specific storylines or side-quests from any of the games, but rather concocts a new one set in the rich and familiar landscape. — Brian Lloyd, entertainment.ie

There are plenty of Easter eggs, as you might expect from a video game adaptation, but Fallout manages to make them seem like part of the world, too. It all feels real and believable as pieces of a whole existence that these people have scraped together, which goes a long way toward helping the show’s humor land. Even the Easter eggs feel carefully designed to fit into the world and the lives of the characters, rather than drawing focus away from them or sticking out as a glaring distraction. — Austen Goslin, Polygon

Do the violence and humor work?

It’s strong, it’s goddamn hilarious, and it highlights exactly how to swing for the fences while still knowing where Homebase is. It may be a new series, but Fallout is an instant classic of the streaming age. — Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

A bright and funny apocalypse filled with dark punchlines and bursts of ultra-violence, Fallout is among the best video game adaptations ever made. — Matt Purslow, IGN Movies

Finding a tonal balance between the drama and the comedy is a razor’s edge, but Fallout  makes it look effortless. As a result, spending time in this hardened world is as fun, engaging, and engrossing as the games. — William Goodman, TheWrap

It’s an equal parts funny and nightmarish show that, like its protagonist, isn’t content to live inside a projection of the past. — Kambole Campbell, Empire Magazine

Crucially, these laugh-out-loud moments of disbelief don’t detract from the harsh reality of this world, which is perhaps even more violent than you might expect, especially for newbies to this franchise. — David Opie, Digital Spy

Any final thoughts?

Fallout is a clever, twisted apocalyptic odyssey that soars as both a video game adaptation and a standalone series. — Lauren Coates, The Spool

For those who have never played the Fallout series, especially those of the time-strapped ilk who can’t just pour hundreds of hours into a game, they should give Prime Video’s Fallout a go. — Howard Waldstein, CBR

Fallout is both totally rad and an absolute blast. — Neil Armstrong, BBC.com

The show’s clearly committed to being the definitive Fallout adaptation, a love letter to fans, no question, while still opening the vault door to welcome in just about everyone else brave enough to step inside. — Jon Negroni, TV Line

There’s really nothing like Fallout on television right now, and that’s ultimately a good thing. — Therese Lacson, Collider

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Civil War's Rotten Tomatoes Score Extends Alex Garland's Incredible 22-Year Hot Streak

• Alex Garland's latest movie, Civil War, continues his impressive streak with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%, his highest yet.
• The film's focus on a divided America and exploration of war themes is praised for its thoughtfulness and epic storytelling.
• Despite Garland's retirement from directing, Civil War's positive reviews show his unique vision and talent will be greatly missed.

Alex Garland is established as one of Hollywood's brightest minds, and Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score extends his incredible hot streak. The 2024 war movie from A24 is a major next step in Garland's career. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, and others, interest in Civil War spiked after the marketing began and the somewhat realistic future version of America at war with itself was revealed. Considering the promise he showed early in his career as a screenwriter and what he's done directing, Alex Garland's movies are almost always thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking.

Questions about how critics and general audiences who watch Civil War would receive the movie were fair, though. The political nature of the story and view of America opens the door for more critics than some of Garland's prior works. Furthermore, the director's last movie, Men , was not as well-received as his other projects. The potential for a further decline in quality and appreciation, mixed with potentially divisive political and social commentary, made Civil War an expensive risk for A24 and Garland. The good news is the film's Rotten Tomatoes score is very high, continuing a streak for the filmmaker.

A24's Civil War Rotten Tomatoes Score Is A Big Relief After This Movie From 2 Years Ago

Civil war continues alex garland's rotten tomatoes streak that began with 28 days later, all of his projects since 2002 have positive reviews.

Alex Garland has delivered one of his best movies to date with Civil War ​​​​​​, judging by the Rotten Tomatoes score. The movie has a 93% rating on the Tomatometer based on 54 critic reviews that the aggregator site has tallied. This currently means Civil War is Alex Garland's highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes , edging out Ex Machina 's 92%. However, there is still plenty of room for the score to fluctuate as more reviews are published. Any changes that do come are unlikely to sway Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score from staying Fresh (above 60%), which is great for Garland.

This means that every Alex Garland movie or TV show that he has produced, written, and/or directed has received a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes since 28 Days Later . The 2002 zombie-apocalypse movie was the first of Garland's works to garner positive reviews, as his work on The Beach two years prior was met with harsh critical reactions. Since 28 Days Later , Garland has written three films he did not direct, written and directed four films (including Civil War ), produced 28 Weeks Later , and created the show Devs ; all these projects have at least a 69% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why Civil War's Reviews Are So Positive

A gripping story unfolds in an unsettling look at america.

There are plenty of similar praises that repeatedly pop up in different Civil War reviews from critics. One of the main reasons Alex Garland's fourth directorial effort has received much praise is due to how thoughtfully and viscerally it brings the story to life. Despite its big budget and action sequences, Civil War remains focused on the human experience of the journalists as they traverse across a divided America. Exploring the different views on the war, America, and other ideas all come up naturally. This helps Garland's film not feel like it is taking one side of a political argument.

It is through this approach that Garland's direction and script allow viewers to be completely enthralled by what they are watching . There is an epic feeling to the film that is consistently felt by reviewers. There are still criticisms levied against the film, such as its thin characters or perhaps not fully exploring the massive ideas it touches. However, the Civil War reviews are still much more in Garland's favor than against his work. It all goes to show that the director is still able to deliver a movie that is equal parts engaging, shocking, and moving.

Civil War's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Even More Important After Alex Garland's Retirement Claims

Alex garland confirmed he's going to step away from directing.

The overwhelming praise for the movie reflected in Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score is all the more important considering comments made by Alex Garland leading up to the film. He told The Guardian that "I’m not planning to direct again in the foreseeable future" after finishing work on the 2024 movie. Alex Garland's retirement from directing would still see him continue to work as a screenwriter , such as on the upcoming 28 Years Later film. He might not be fully retiring from filmmaking, but Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score is a reminder of how great of a director he is.

Although Garland might still be better known as a screenwriter, the movies he's directed have earned him greater praise. Civil War , Ex Machina , and Annihilation are his highest-rated projects on Rotten Tomatoes. His future works as a writer could continue to get positive reviews, but he knows his material best. It's his complete vision for a movie, from the script to directorial choices, that make some of Garland's movies so special. Civil War 's high score on Rotten Tomatoes is just another indicator that Alex Garland retiring from directing would be a shame.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes , The Guardian

Director Alex Garland

Release Date April 26, 2024

Writers Alex Garland

Cast Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons

Runtime 109 Minutes

Genres Drama, Action

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‘Civil War’ Review: We Have Met the Enemy and It Is Us. Again.

In Alex Garland’s tough new movie, a group of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst, as a photographer, travels a United States at war with itself.

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By Manohla Dargis

A blunt, gut-twisting work of speculative fiction, “Civil War” opens with the United States at war with itself — literally, not just rhetorically. In Washington, D.C., the president is holed up in the White House; in a spookily depopulated New York, desperate people wait for water rations. It’s the near-future, and rooftop snipers, suicide bombers and wild-eyed randos are in the fight while an opposition faction with a two-star flag called the Western Forces, comprising Texas and California — as I said, this is speculative fiction — is leading the charge against what remains of the federal government. If you’re feeling triggered, you aren’t alone.

It’s mourning again in America, and it’s mesmerizingly, horribly gripping. Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6. As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone? If that sounds harrowing, you’re right. It’s one thing when a movie taps into childish fears with monsters under the bed; you’re eager to see what happens because you know how it will end (until the sequel). Adult fears are another matter.

In “Civil War,” the British filmmaker Alex Garland explores the unbearable if not the unthinkable, something he likes to do. A pop cultural savant, he made a splashy zeitgeist-ready debut with his 1996 best seller “The Beach,” a novel about a paradise that proves deadly, an evergreen metaphor for life and the basis for a silly film . That things in the world are not what they seem, and are often far worse, is a theme that Garland has continued pursuing in other dark fantasies, first as a screenwriter (“ 28 Days Later ”), and then as a writer-director (“ Ex Machina ”). His résumé is populated with zombies, clones and aliens, though reliably it is his outwardly ordinary characters you need to keep a closer watch on.

By the time “Civil War” opens, the fight has been raging for an undisclosed period yet long enough to have hollowed out cities and people’s faces alike. It’s unclear as to why the war started or who fired the first shot. Garland does scatter some hints; in one ugly scene, a militia type played by a jolting, scarily effective Jesse Plemons asks captives “what kind of American” they are. Yet whatever divisions preceded the conflict are left to your imagination, at least partly because Garland assumes you’ve been paying attention to recent events. Instead, he presents an outwardly and largely post-ideological landscape in which debates over policies, politics and American exceptionalism have been rendered moot by war.

One thing that remains familiar amid these ruins is the movie’s old-fashioned faith in journalism. Dunst, who’s sensational, plays Lee, a war photographer who works for Reuters alongside her friend, a reporter, Joel (the charismatic Wagner Moura). They’re in New York when you meet them, milling through a crowd anxiously waiting for water rations next to a protected tanker. It’s a fraught scene; the restless crowd is edging into mob panic, and Lee, camera in hand, is on high alert. As Garland’s own camera and Joel skitter about, Lee carves a path through the chaos, as if she knows exactly where she needs to be — and then a bomb goes off. By the time it does, an aspiring photojournalist, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), is also in the mix.

The streamlined, insistently intimate story takes shape once Lee, Joel, Jessie and a veteran reporter, Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), pile into a van and head to Washington. Joel and Lee are hoping to interview the president (Nick Offerman), and Sammy and Jessie are riding along largely so that Garland can make the trip more interesting. Sammy serves as a stabilizing force (Henderson fills the van with humanizing warmth), while Jessie plays the eager upstart Lee takes under her resentful wing. It’s a tidily balanced sampling that the actors, with Garland’s banter and via some cozy downtime, turn into flesh-and-blood personalities, people whose vulnerability feeds the escalating tension with each mile.

As the miles and hours pass, Garland adds diversions and hurdles, including a pair of playful colleagues, Tony and Bohai (Nelson Lee and Evan Lai), and some spooky dudes guarding a gas station. Garland shrewdly exploits the tense emptiness of the land, turning strangers into potential threats and pretty country roads into ominously ambiguous byways. Smartly, he also recurrently focuses on Lee’s face, a heartbreakingly hard mask that Dunst lets slip brilliantly. As the journey continues, Garland further sketches in the bigger picture — the dollar is near-worthless, the F.B.I. is gone — but for the most part, he focuses on his travelers and the engulfing violence, the smoke and the tracer fire that they often don’t notice until they do.

Despite some much-needed lulls (for you, for the narrative rhythm), “Civil War” is unremittingly brutal or at least it feels that way. Many contemporary thrillers are far more overtly gruesome than this one, partly because violence is one way unimaginative directors can put a distinctive spin on otherwise interchangeable material: Cue the artful fountains of arterial spray. Part of what makes the carnage here feel incessant and palpably realistic is that Garland, whose visual approach is generally unfussy, doesn’t embellish the violence, turning it into an ornament of his virtuosity. Instead, the violence is direct, at times shockingly casual and unsettling, so much so that its unpleasantness almost comes as a surprise.

If the violence feels more intense than in a typical genre shoot ’em up, it’s also because, I think, with “Civil War,” Garland has made the movie that’s long been workshopped in American political discourse and in mass culture, and which entered wider circulation on Jan. 6. The raw power of Garland’s vision unquestionably owes much to the vivid scenes that beamed across the world that day when rioters, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “ MAGA civil war ,” swarmed the Capitol. Even so, watching this movie, I also flashed on other times in which Americans have relitigated the Civil War directly and not, on the screen and in the streets.

Movies have played a role in that relitigation for more than a century, at times grotesquely. Two of the most famous films in history — D.W. Griffith’s 1915 racist epic “The Birth of a Nation” (which became a Ku Klux Klan recruitment tool) and the romantic 1939 melodrama “Gone With the Wind” — are monuments to white supremacy and the myth of the Southern Lost Cause. Both were critical and popular hits. In the decades since, filmmakers have returned to the Civil War era to tell other stories in films like “Glory,” “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained” that in addressing the American past inevitably engage with its present.

There are no lofty or reassuring speeches in “Civil War,” and the movie doesn’t speak to the better angels of our nature the way so many films try to. Hollywood’s longstanding, deeply American imperative for happy endings maintains an iron grip on movies, even in ostensibly independent productions. There’s no such possibility for that in “Civil War.” The very premise of Garland’s movie means that — no matter what happens when or if Lee and the rest reach Washington — a happy ending is impossible, which makes this very tough going. Rarely have I seen a movie that made me so acutely uncomfortable or watched an actor’s face that, like Dunst’s, expressed a nation’s soul-sickness so vividly that it felt like an X-ray.

Civil War Rated R for war violence and mass death. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

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Screen Rant

Blumhouse's new blair witch movie can break a 25-year franchise curse.

Blumhouse Productions announced they are developing a new Blair Witch movie, hopefully breaking the horror franchise's longstanding curse.

• The Blair Witch Project was a critical and commercial success, having grossed almost $250 million.
• The sequels to The Blair Witch Project received poor critical reception and box office results.
• Blumhouse Productions is working on a new Blair Witch movie tat will hopefully break the franchise's disappointing trend.

A new Blair Witch movie is in the works, eight years following the release of the last one, and the upcoming film has the ability to (finally) break one of the franchise's most frustrating curses. The horror film series dates back to 1999 when the first installment — The Blair Witch Project — premiered and changed the course of cinema. The movie's usage of found footage is iconic and inspired a plethora of other projects, including Paranormal Activity , Cloverfield , Project X , and many more. Plus, the horror movie was so scary that many left their theater early, cementing its legacy.

The Blair Witch Project grossed almost $250 million against an estimated $200,000–750,000 budget, setting the record for the highest-grossing found footage movie . It revolved around three student filmmakers setting out in the Black Hills in Maryland to make a movie about the Blair Witch, a local myth. However, things go awry, and by The Blair Witch Project 's ending , no one is sure what is real and what is fake, which is what drew so many to the theaters to see it. Due to its success, two sequels were released, but neither was as good as the original story.

Blumhouse's New Blair Witch Movie Must Break The Franchise's Disappointing Trend

The blair witch sequels received poor rotten tomatoes scores.

While The Blair Witch Project grossed almost $250 million and received positive reviews (with an 86 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes ), its sequels were not nearly as triumphant. The horror franchise's second installment — Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 — got negative reviews from critics (it has a 14 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes ) and made $47.7 million at the box office. Meanwhile, the third film — Blair Witch — was released in 2016 and was slightly better than its predecessor. But Blair Witch still received a 38 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and only grossed $45.2 million.

The second and third movies essentially did a poor job of rehashing The Blair Witch Project , making them predictable and forgettable.

The Blair Witch film series evidently has a curse of bad sequels that hasn't been broken for 25 years. Nothing has lived up to the legacy of the 1999 supernatural horror movie, but that has not deterred people from trying. Blumhouse Productions will be the next production company to take a crack at developing a good follow-up to The Blair Witch Project and ending the franchise's frustrating trend. However, only time will tell if Blumhouse Productions is successful, or if the next Blair Witch project will just be another disappointing sequel.

What To Expect From Blumhouse's Blair Witch Movie

Blumhouse announced the new film at cinemacon.

Blumhouse Productions' new Blair Witch movie was confirmed by Lionsgate film chair Adam Fogelson and Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum during Lionsgate's presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 10, 2024. Unfortunately, not many details surrounding the upcoming film were revealed, as it appears as though Blumhouse Productions is keeping information close to the chest. However, during the presentation, the project was described as a "new vision" of the Blair Witch franchise, which could be interpreted in many ways. According to The Hollywood Reporter , Fogelson's exact quote was:

"We are thrilled to kick this partnership off with a new vision for Blair Witch that will reintroduce this horror classic for a new generation."

It is unclear whether Fogelson's quote indicates that the upcoming Blair Witch project will be a reboot of the franchise or a sequel to Blair Witch and the other previous installments in the series. Nevertheless, another story in this universe is exciting, especially if it is done right and is worthy of following in The Blair Witch Project 's footsteps. Fans have been waiting 25 years for a sequel that is comparable to the 1999 supernatural horror movie, and hopefully, Blumhouse Productions can deliver one. Unfortunately, a release date, cast, or any plot details are unknown as of the writing of this article.

Blumhouse Productions produced the 2007 supernatural found footage horror film Paranormal Activity .

Blair Witch Project Killer Theory Totally Changes How You See The Movie

Why none of the blair witch sequels have been as good as the original, nothing has lived up to the 1999 film.

Many factors can explain why Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and Blair Witch were unsuccessful and not as good as The Blair Witch Project . For starters, both sequels have been accused of copying and pasting what worked in the original film, but this tactic epically failed as audiences saw right through it. The second and third movies essentially did a poor job of rehashing The Blair Witch Project , making them predictable and forgettable. Plus, The Blair Witch Project was able to trick audiences into thinking it was a true story , but viewers knew better the second and third times around.

All three movies in the Blair Witch franchise — The Blair Witch Project , Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 , and Blair Witch — are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Critics commended the 2016 film for being a step up from Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 by incorporating twists and a handful of exciting scares. However, Blair Witch was still not nearly as memorable or iconic as the first installment in the franchise and many questioned whether it was necessary or not. Overall, nothing has beaten the original, but Blumhouse's upcoming Blair Witch movie has the potential to be the film series' curse.

The Blair Witch Project

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Source: Rotten Tomatoes , The Hollywood Reporter

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The Only Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie That Has A Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

Arnold Schwarzenegger has accomplished a fair bit in his life. The man came over from Austria having served in the army, claimed the Mr. Olympia title a full seven times, then launched one of the most successful Hollywood careers in the history of the industry, before becoming governor of California and finding time to marry a Kennedy in the process. But surely what he's really concerned with are his Rotten Tomato scores.

Having recently starred in his own Netflix series, "FUBAR," recounted his remarkable life in the streamer's "Arnold" documentary, and whipped Jake from State Farm into shape for a Super Bowl commercial , the Austrian Oak is now gearing up for his Christmas comedy with "Reacher" star Alan Ritchson . But between all this stuff, you've got to imagine that Arnie was eager to hurry back to his trailer and pore over the pages of RT, desperately scouring for the latest updates to his movie's scores and recording everything in his own personal database for future reference.

Unfortunately, during his RT research, the Governator would have been quickly reminded that his career hasn't been all hits. Take the absolutely abysmal "Terminator: Dark Fate," for instance, which featured a truly baffling storyline that saw Schwarzenegger play a suburban dad Terminator with a drape-fitting business. A quick glance at an RT ranking page for Schwarzenegger movies reveals a fair few flops, in fact, with something called "End of Days" coming in last with an 11% rating (1979's "The Villain" has 0% but no Top Critic reviews).

Happily, though, this page does reveal that Schwarzenegger has yet another accomplishment to add to his impressive list: a perfect RT score.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's one 'perfect' movie

"Dark Fate," the sixth movie in the "Terminator" franchise failed to get the saga back on track, but that's ok because we'll always have James Cameron's seminal "The Terminator" (1984) and "Terminator 2" (1991). As "Terminator" movies go, I'd put the sequel above the original, but I am just one movie fan and can't hope to compete with the juggernaut that is Rotten Tomatoes, which has evidently placed Cameron's original film at the top of the list. Not only that, "The Terminator" is one of only two science fiction films in history to earn a perfect 100% RT score . That also makes it the only movie Arnold Schwarzenegger has ever appeared in to earn a perfect ranking on RT.

This comes in the wake of the revelation that there are also only two perfect horror movies in film history . Which is to say that the Rotten Tomatoes system isn't quite as important as we sometimes give it credit for. These lists that summarize RT scores are, at least, instructive in the sense that they highlight the triviality of the system itself. If you're going to pick a perfect Arnie movie, you could do a lot worse than "The Terminator," but there are numerous other entries in the man's filmography that are arguably as worthy of the designation. "Terminator 2," for one, is quite clearly an improvement on the original (though this is all subjective), but there's everything from "Commando" to "Predator" and "Total Recall" that could equally claim to have outdone James Cameron's original sci-fi slasher.

Don't pay too much attention to The Terminator's perfect RT score

"The Terminator" currently has 70 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus reading, "With its impressive action sequences, taut economic direction, and relentlessly fast pace, it's clear why The Terminator continues to be an influence on sci-fi and action flicks." That's a fair assessment of a film which isn't undeserving of a perfect RT score. But it is worth bearing in mind that the Tomatometer isn't immune to manipulation.

Back in 2018 there was something shady about the reviews for John Travolta's passion project "Gotti" and a big Rotten Tomatoes hacking scandal has come to light since, whereby a PR firm manipulated the site's scores for years. It's also worth noting that the site is owned by Comcast, the parent company of Universal Pictures, and that Warner Bros. has a stake in the company. That isn't to say these studios have any sway over the hallowed Tomatometer, but it does seem like a relevant conflict of interest.

That said, it's a bit of fun to see which of Arnie's films have come out on top in an overall ranking, and for the most part the RT list seems to reflect the general consensus. Though, anyone who grew up with "Kindergarten Cop" or "Jingle All the Way" will be dismayed to see those films' current rankings. Let's hope the forthcoming Arnold Schwarzenegger/Alan Ritchson team-up "The Man With The Bag" fares better than those beloved classics and gives Arnie a pick-me-up the next time he fires up RT to check his scores.