Ari Aster's latest Western comedy Eddington gets unfavorable numbers on Rotten Tomatoes: Here's our take on the same

Eddington is a film in the genre of neo-western dark comedy, and it's written and directed by Ari Aster. It premiered in the main competition section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and it will be released theatrically by A24 on July 18, 2025. Here's the official synopsis as per Letterboxd:

In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

The film has received mostly unfavorable reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Eddington has earned a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Let us dig deep into the reason behind it.

Ari Aster's Eddington gets a low score on Rotten Tomatoes

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Eddington has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 68% based on 77 critic reviews. The score is similar to Ari Aster's earlier film, Beau Is Afraid, which also met with mixed responses from critics. Aster's films have seen a major drop in RT scores in recent times. Two of his earlier horror films, Hereditary and Midsommar, continue to enjoy 90% and 83% ratings, respectively, on the website.

The main reason for Eddington receiving such a low score probably has to do with its storyline, which is considered polarizing. Several critics have also pointed out that the film is loaded and seems to be overflowing with characters and subplots. The maker's political statement through the film has also isolated viewers who don't align with that stance.

It is also clear that there has been a dip in Aster's Rotten Tomatoes scores ever since he decided to move away from the horror genre. His earlier film, Beau Is Afraid, offered a surrealist storyline that audiences could not gravitate towards. The audience might need to adjust to this new change in his storytelling.

More about Eddington

Eddington chronicles the rift between a town's sheriff and its mayor during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It's produced by Ari Aster, Ann Ruark, and Lars Knudsen. The film's cast members include,

Joaquin Phoenix as Joe Cross
Emma Stone as Louise Cross
Pedro Pascal as Ted Garcia
Robert Mark Wallace as Warren
Austin Butler as Vernon Jefferson Peak
Luke Grimes as Guy
Clifton Collins Jr. as Lodge
Deirdre O'Connell as Dawn
Landall Goolsby as Will
Micheal Ward as Michael
Amélie Hoeferle as Sarah
William Belleau as Officer Butterfly Jimenez
Matt Gomez Hidaka as Eric Garcia
Cameron Mann as Brian
Rachel de la Torre as Paula
Robyn Reede as The Irate Woman
Elise Falanga as Nicolette

Aster spoke to Slant Magazine about why he set the film during the pandemic.

"I started writing it at the end of May, beginning of June 2020 from the set. The fever at that time had reached its highest pitch. I just remember feeling that something was in the air that I hadn’t felt before and things were obviously very fraught. We didn’t know how long the lockdown would last. In fact, it felt like it could last for years. But also, it felt like things had reached a boiling point and things were either about to explode or boil over and I just wanted to kind of get a lot of impressions down on paper because it felt like an important moment."

Eddington is set to hit theaters on July 18, 2025.