Eddington

In May 2020, a routine dispute between Eddington's sheriff and its mayor blows up and splits the town into opposing camps. What starts as a legal standoff turns personal, as neighbors pick sides and long-buried resentments resurface. The story follows Joe Cross, his wife Louise, the town's mayor Dawn Bodkin, and a cast of local characters when escalating confrontations mix petty crime, bureaucratic posturing, and dark humor. Tensions ripple through dinner tables, porches, and the courthouse, turning calm streets into a tense theater of accusations and small-scale schemes. Expect sharp dialogue, unpredictable alliances, and moral ambiguity as loyalties shift without resolving the deeper fault lines that set the conflict in motion, small grudges harden into elaborate plans that surprise many.

Directed by Ari Aster, Eddington premiered in 2025 and brings together Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Deirdre O'Connell, and Micheal Ward. The film blends Western motifs with comic timing and crime elements to rework familiar small-town tensions and politics.

Box office totals were not widely reported at the time of release, and the movie leaned on specialty theatrical bookings and streaming platforms. Its commercial profile favored niche and streaming audiences rather than mainstream ticket-selling dominance, with modest streaming returns.

Eddington has prompted conversations about political polarization and neighborly conflict, often in unexpected comic terms. Scenes of public posturing and private squabbling have been shared online, and critics and viewers have referenced the film when debating how small communities handle authority, rumor, and theatrical displays of virtue, prompting late-night conversations.

Critics gave mixed to positive reviews, noting a vote average of 6.431 out of 10 from audience polling and praising strong performances from Phoenix and Stone. Reviews emphasized tonal shifts between dark comedy and Western irony, and highlighted themes of power, social fracture, hypocrisy, and casual local cruelty, with restraint.