When you pour your heart and soul into a passion project, it can be hard to stomach when it’s not as well-received as you would have wanted it to be. There are two ways you can react to that. Stiff upper lip and let it speak for itself, or go on the defensive. This summer, Megalopolis director Francis Ford Coppola joined Letterboxd, the popular film cataloging platform where users can rate, review, and keep track of their movie-watching. While he hasn’t been very active on the platform, Coppola has jumped on to give Megalopolis a perfect five-star rating, which is certainly not going to be tainted with any bias whatsoever. Coppola also awarded five stars to The Last Showgirl, directed by his granddaughter, Gia Coppola.
The film, however, has been polarizing for critics and audiences alike, currently holding an average score of 2.9 on Letterboxd. It is currently holding a 52% “Rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes’ consensus describes the film as: “More of a creative manifesto than a cogent narrative feature, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is an overstuffed opus that’s equal parts stimulating and slapdash.“
Interestingly, a trailer released last month featured a series of negative reviews for The Godfather, which turned out to be fake. This move was likely an attempt to poke fun at the criticism Megalopolis has received, prompting Lionsgate to issue an apology.
“Well, I know that there were bad reviews [for The Godfather]. I’m the one who said there were bad reviews,” Coppola told Entertainment Tonight. “But I don’t know. It was a mistake, an accident, I’m not sure what happened.”
What’s ‘Megalopolis’ About?
Set in a reimagined modern United States, the story follows visionary architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) as he faces off against the corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) over how to rebuild the metropolis of New Rome after a catastrophic disaster.
The film boasts a star-studded cast, including Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Talia Shire, Laurence Fishburne, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, Balthazar Getty, and Dustin Hoffman.
Despite the mixed reviews, it’s clear that Megalopolis is a project Coppola deeply cares about. After all, he spent decades developing the film and invested $120 million of his own money to bring it to life. While it might not have turned out to be the universally praised masterpiece many had hoped for, it’s certainly become a topic of conversation.
Megalopolis will be released in theaters on September 27.
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