Eddington Review: Mean-Spirited Cynicism
Theatrical Movie Review - Drama
It’s hard to believe that we’re five years removed from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and everything that happened following the murder of George Floyd. In his new film Eddington, Ari Aster takes us back to that time with a story so cynical that it’s hard to imagine taking anything of value away from it.
It’s the end of May 2020, and the town of Eddington, New Mexico, is in lockdown. Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) requests that everyone in town wear masks, but Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) finds these guidelines oppressive and detrimental to the town's sense of community, causing him to make a spur-of-the-moment decision to run for mayor. The kids of the city, including the mayor’s son, Eric (Matt Gomez Hidaka), are holding gatherings, and as news from Minneapolis makes its way to Eddington, they begin protesting in the streets, creating more havoc for the Sheriff and his deputies.
At home, Joe’s mother-in-law, Dawn (Deirdre O'Connell), is consuming non-stop conspiracy theories and passing them on to her daughter, Louise (Emma Stone). As Louise becomes increasingly enthralled with the charismatic Vernon (Austin Butler), Joe finds every aspect of his life spinning out of control.
Eddington felt like a collection of caricatures held together with negativity and gun violence. I have seen it labeled as a satire, but honestly, if every single person in your movie is awful, it shifts from being a satire to just being mean. There wasn’t a lesson to be learned or a message to come away with other than, “All people are bad and stupid.”
The movie boasts a stellar cast, but the only notable performance is Phoenix's as the Sheriff. Despite this movie clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, he is the only character with enough screen time to actually make any impression. O’Connell is almost an interesting character, and I would have liked to see more of her, but she only really gets to shine in the final few moments of the film. Pascal, Stone, and Butler are all utterly wasted.
There are elements of the filming in Eddington that show Aster’s directing style, which is probably the best part of the movie. Cinematographer Darius Khondji provides a beautiful backdrop for the film, managing to capture both the way things felt both empty and claustrophobic during that time. And kudos to the team that put together the vast array of social media posts and videos that were sprinkled throughout the film.
My guess is that Aster wanted to shine a light on how easily we can be manipulated into believing and saying things that may seem nonsensical to those who believe and say the opposite by taking it to its most horrific and bloody end. That could work if there was any indication of who was doing the manipulation, but instead, the movie just smugly plows ahead without worrying about things like having a point. Eddington is a mean-spirited, both-sides piece of apologia. Instead of seeing this, take your neighbor out to lunch. There’s a lot more to be learned from that.
Rating: 2/5
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on July 19, 2025.
Hard to get too excited for this one beyond the actors
My kid made the observation that the movie itself progressed like a doom-scroll spiral, getting weirder and more absurd as it went on.