Featured Image Credit: Lionsgate Films
Topics: Shia LaBeouf, Film and TV
Michael Slavin
Fans have deemed Francis Ford Coppola’s newest movie a ‘turd’ and are horrified by a shocking scene in the film involving Jon Voight’s erection.
The movie in question is called Megalopolis, and the Godfather director self funded it by selling part of his California vineyard, with the film coming out to $120 million in the end.
It has been a massive controversy since essentially day one, with reviews coming out of its festival appearances ranging from calling it a ‘masterpiece’ to ‘incoherent’ and ‘terrible’.
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With the film out today in cinemas, more reactions have been flooding in, and they are overwhelmingly negative from the movie going public.
One review on a discussion thread on r/movies read: “What an enormous turd of a movie. That was so so bad. Pretty wild that Aubrey Plaza is in one of the best movies of 2024 and one of the worst.”
Another read: “My one line review: What the Actual F**k?.
“The plot (was there even a plot) was not coherent at all.
“You’re moving from one scene to another and it all got confusing mid-way through that I just gave up.
“What the hell were Shia LaBeouf and Jon Voight on while filming this.”
A third review on the thread read: “Not sure what I just watched, but all I know is that F**K this was a mess and not in a good way.
“I truly can't believe this is by the same Francis Ford Coppola who directed The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.”
One particular scene has been drawing controversy, involving a lead actor’s erection.
Voight, who is 85 years old, plays Hamilton Crassus III, a rich banker.
One scene randomly, without warning, cuts to him in bed with a huge hard-on visible, hidden by the covers, with him saying: “Whaddaya think of this boner I got?”
Without spoiling the scene too much we can confirm that he whips away the covers to reveal… a bow and arrow.
No, really.
While many were horrified by the thought of Voight’s 85-year-old stiffy, not everyone was turned off by the scene.
One comment read: “Someone got very mad at the end of the movie because too many people were laughing...
"I don't understand- if Jon Voight revealing his erection is a tiny bow and arrow doesn't signal that you should be laughing, I don't know what to tell you.”
The film is predicted to open to as little as $5 million in the US, roughly 1/24 of the budget being recouped in what should be its biggest night.
One review from Deadline said: “Megalopolis represents a rare kind of event movie that reinvents the possibilities of cinema to the extent that, halfway through, there’s a very audacious gimmick that tears down the fourth wall in ways younger filmmakers can only dream of.
“Coppola breaks many of the cardinal rules of filmmaking in the film’s 138 minutes but it upholds the most important one: it is never, ever boring, and it will inspire just as many artists as the audiences it will alienate.”
Whatever the reaction positive or negative, by all accounts, you will have 101 things to talk about.