{"id":12580,"date":"2025-07-19T16:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T20:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12580"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:37:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T17:37:20","slug":"eddington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/07\/19\/eddington\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddington"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Eddington<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 148 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence, some grisly images, language, graphic nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ari Aster\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Ari Aster\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton and Bobby Krlic\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Darius Khondji \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: July 18, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O\u2019Connell, Micheal Ward, Austin Butler, Amelie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr., William Belleau, Matt Gomez Hidaka, Cameron Mann, Landall Goolsby, Elise Falanga, Robert Mark Wallace.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Much like the many controversial topics it touches on, Eddington<\/strong> will most certainly divide audiences. Some will like it; some will hate it. It definitely won\u2019t appeal to mainstream audiences looking for summer escapist fare. We go to the movies to escape from reality NOT to get immersed in it. Also, is anybody really nostalgic for 2020? I should think not.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written and directed by Air Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), Eddington<\/strong> takes place in mid-2020, a time when the world was put on pause by the COVID-19 lockdown. People were urged to stay at home and mask up if they had to go out. This is where the residents of the title New Mexico town find themselves in this fascinating and bloody dark comedy starring Joaquin Phoenix (Beau Is Afraid) as a small town sheriff at odds with the mayor (Pascal, Gladiator II) over the new restrictions and rules put in place by the government. After a few fruitless discussions, the sheriff Joe Cross decides to run for mayor against Ted Garcia. It\u2019s a decision that snowballs quickly as the world around Eddington spins out of control.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Joe\u2019s personal life is a disaster too. He\u2019s married to Louise (Stone, Poor Things), a troubled woman looking for something to believe in while pushing (sometimes literally) her husband away. Her mother Dawn (O\u2019Connell, The Penguin), a conspiracy theorist who only stops talking when she\u2019s sleeping, lives with them. She\u2019s constantly spouting off about the latest COVID theory, showing Joe and Louise articles she\u2019s printed out. Joe tries with Louise, but she ultimately becomes involved with some full-of-s*** on-line cult leader (Butler, Elvis).<\/p>\n

\u00a0COVID isn\u2019t the only thing revisited in Eddington<\/strong>. We also get to relive the George Floyd murder and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests. When the news of Floyd\u2019s death by cop breaks, a pseudo-activist teen named Sarah (Hoeferle, Night Swim) gets a few others stirred up including the mayor\u2019s own son Eric (Hidaka, Silo) and his best bud Brian (Mann, Mare of Easttown). It\u2019s interesting to hear them talk about their supposed beliefs because they\u2019re obviously regurgitating ideas they read on-line or saw in some viral video. It\u2019s clear they don\u2019t really know what they\u2019re talking about. One of the film\u2019s biggest laughs is Brian\u2019s father\u2019s explosive reaction when the boy lectures him on white privilege at the dinner table.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So how do I feel about Eddington<\/strong>? In my never humble opinion, it\u2019s the most interesting film I\u2019ve seen all year. It\u2019s not without its faults however. There are some pacing issues. It\u2019s a little convoluted. It also tends to meander. It talks a lot without saying anything. But maybe that\u2019s the point Aster is making? A lot went down back in \u201920. Some feared it was the end of humanity.\u00a0 We were dealing with a pandemic, a widening racial chasm, anti-police sentiment, Antifa and the rise of viral culture. What did it all mean? How did we get to where we are now? Aster doesn\u2019t provide any conclusive answers which makes Eddington<\/strong> as frustrating as it is fascinating.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting is pretty good in general. Phoenix plays a character so pathetic it\u2019s both tragic and funny. He\u2019s not the brightest bulb in the pack. His main platform for his mayoral run is not having to wear a mask in public. He\u2019s someone who definitely needs to wear one. He has asthma which puts him in the high risk category. You feel for him with his pitiful attempts to win his wife\u2019s affections even though she clearly doesn\u2019t even respect him. His descent into mental darkness as he becomes increasingly irrational is deliberate and convincing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Stone, in the role of Louise, succeeds in creating a character easily swayed by others, especially when it comes to the sexual abuse she supposedly suffered in the past. She has a history with Ted which makes things even more awkward with Joe. The ubiquitous Pascal does a great job in the role. He\u2019s most definitely a politician with the way he makes nice with everybody while hiding a shady side.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The supporting player list, which includes Luke Grimes (Yellowstone) and Micheal Ward (The Book of Clarence) as the only deputies in town, is solid. Butler is criminally underused as a charismatic charlatan who knows all the right buzzwords. The dude has cult leader written all over him. O\u2019Connell knocks it out of the park as the mother-in-law who feeds an already unstable Joe\u2019s anxieties with her constant conspiracy BS. BTW, what is it with Aster and mothers?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Despite its pacing issues, Eddington<\/strong> hums along fairly well thanks to crisp editing by Lucian Johnston and outstanding cinematography from the great Darius Khondji. He captures the look of a Southwestern small town perfectly with the bright days and dark nights. Aster orchestrates some great sequences, a few of which feature violence that\u2019s both shocking and bloody.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It may not be a perfect film, but Eddington<\/strong> is an unforgettable one. It will keep you thinking for days. You\u2019ll want to talk about it with your friends. No, its message isn\u2019t always clear. Aster doesn\u2019t successfully connect all the narrative dots, but he creates a vivid picture.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eddington (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 148 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence, some grisly images, language, graphic nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ari Aster\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Ari Aster\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton and Bobby Krlic\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Darius Khondji \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: July 18, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O\u2019Connell, Micheal Ward, Austin Butler, Amelie Hoeferle, Clifton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Eddington-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12583,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12580\/revisions\/12583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}