150 Word Review: 'Eddington' (2025)

'Cause, baby, you're a firework

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For a few unsettling minutes, Eddington captures the madness of the early days of the pandemic, which most Americans would probably prefer to forget. Director Ari Aster remembers: the paranoia, fear, and rage; the confusion and self-righteousness.

The country was imploding, and in the small New Mexico town of Eddington, the local sheriff is too. Slowly, then quickly. He's played by Joaquin Phoenix, at his nervy best. The plague hasn’t reached his desert community yet, but everyone is masked, like old-timey outlaws.

Eddington struggles to know itself. Is it a satire? A western? Aster fumbles both genres. It is, however, a refreshingly political neo-noir with a gory climax and an off-color epilogue that desperately wants to be funny. The cast is game, but Emma Stone looks bored. Pedro Pascal taps his inner-smarm. The teens are screen addicts. Adults, too. There are too many absurd scenarios. Why? COVID was absurd enough.

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