{"id":649191,"date":"2026-11-02T23:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T23:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/649191\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T23:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T23:02:09","slug":"john-goodman-blames-bad-reviews-for-diggers-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/649191\/","title":{"rendered":"John Goodman blames bad reviews for Digger’s failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

No movie as grand, unpleasant, and expensive as Digger<\/a> is going quietly into that good night. After the film opened to mixed reviews, Alejandro G. I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s pitch-black, loud-as-hell climate change satire about climate change satires opened to a minuscule box office, putting it on track to become one of the biggest Hollywood fiascos in history. But in the month since its release, numerous celebrities have come to Tom Cruise\u2019s and the film\u2019s defense, including Mandy Patinkin<\/a>, who called it one of the greatest films he\u2019s ever seen; Ben Affleck, who begged people to stop bullying a movie<\/a> that enjoyed every benefit and advantage that a Hollywood movie could ask for; and, more recently, Bill Burr, who ranted on his podcast about how critics were the real Fossil Fools for misunderstanding the movie<\/a>. Online, the so-called Digger Hive has been fanning the flame of Digger respect, taking critics to task for calling the movie \u201cnot that funny.\u201d Another celebrity, this time one closer to the production, has also blamed critics for burying Digger: John Goodman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast<\/a>, Goodman says that the reviews \u201churt\u201d and \u201ckinda killed us before we even opened.\u201d In his estimation, headlines like \u201c\u2018This will only make $5\u2032\u201d were \u201cgood reason for people to avoid it.\u201d However, maybe we\u2019re misremembering, but the marketing for this movie was so confusing in its attempt to hide the film\u2019s big twist that would-be ticket buyers wondered if maybe Digger was a secret musical<\/a>. Nevertheless, the all-powerful movie critics, the same ones who take buyouts from Marvel and DC in exchange for good reviews and panned Taika Waititi\u2019s Klara And The Sun<\/a>, are to blame for Digger\u2018s failure. However, Goodman admits, as he\u2019s gotten older, it\u2019s become harder for him to shake off the negative reviews. \u201cMaybe I am getting old and pathetic and it\u2019s like, \u2018Don\u2019t hit me again!\u2019 I put so much into this film, and here you go. I am over it now. I am proud I did it.\u201d Though Goodman tried to \u201ctoughen\u201d himself up reading The New Yorker\u2018s write-up, which he thought was \u201cactually, a great review.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the critics\u2019 displeasure at being shouted at by a movie hasn\u2019t changed Goodman\u2019s opinion on his work. \u201cI am proud of it,\u201d says Goodman, who plays the film\u2019s cancer-of-the-asshole-having President Compson. \u201cI had a ball doing it. It was a good six months out of my life. It is a huge swing. It\u2019s going to be around for a long time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Goodman has been through all this before. \u201cEverything I have done for the Coen Brothers flopped initially, so who cares, man? I still have people coming up to me in the streets asking me about Barton Fink and Big Lebowski.\u201d Digger is trending in the same direction. As Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz points out, other mega-budgeted movies starring Goodman, like Speed Racer, were also critically reviled bombs that have, in the years since, found their champions. Similarly, Digger was immediately reappraised and found its audience, meaning the Digger discourse probably won\u2019t subside anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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