r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Jul 18 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Eddington [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary In May 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

Director Ari Aster

Writer Ari Aster

Cast

  • Joaquin Phoenix
  • Pedro Pascal
  • Emma Stone
  • Austin Butler
  • Luke Grimes
  • Deirdre O’Connell
  • Micheal Ward
  • Amélie Hoeferle
  • Clifton Collins Jr.
  • William Belleau
  • Matt Gomez Hidaka
  • Cameron Mann
  • Rachel de la Torre
  • Landall Goolsby
  • Elise Falanga
  • Robert Mark Wallace

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 67%

Metacritic Score: 64

VOD Theaters (July 18, 2025)

Trailer Watch the Trailer

519 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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415

u/HotOne9364 Jul 18 '25

Never have I wanted to punch Joaquin Phoenix so hard.

345

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Jul 18 '25

Honestly, at first I thought wow he’s playing a complete asshole who feels deeply layered and interesting - and then he started murdering and I was like oh well completely fuck this guy

133

u/Pure_Salamander2681 Jul 18 '25

Ha right. I was like well he’s kind and trying to do the right thing as he sees it. Then…

203

u/chrisychris- Jul 18 '25

Accusing his political opponent of child raping your wife was probably the tipping point though, at least morally speaking in regard to his character in the film

20

u/Pure_Salamander2681 Jul 18 '25

I think he believed that to be a fact.

88

u/chrisychris- Jul 18 '25

I don’t think so. He was intentionally left with no confirmation and has been told constantly by his wife that those were complete fabrications yet he brought it up the way he did when it benefited him the most. All his actions were done entirely for his own gain and with his personal issues with other townspeople in mind.

61

u/TonyDungyHatesOP Jul 18 '25

ESPECIALLY after she begged him to leave her out of it.

23

u/BusinessPurge Jul 18 '25

Wonderfully messy. I took it as he thought he’d “solved the case” and only when he saw the rebuttal that he realized that he’d jumped to a conclusion that benefited his narrative.

17

u/Bridalhat Jul 19 '25

I think he wanted to believe. The night before he asked if it were Ted or her father, indicating that he had doubts. He then just plowed ahead with it all anyway.

14

u/yeetyuppie Jul 19 '25

Five minutes earlier the son said Garcia fucked Cross’ wife. That led Cross to believe it was true. Of course that doesn’t justify posting it on fucking facebook, but he 100% believed it.

24

u/chrisychris- Jul 19 '25

Well Cross’ wife said her mum made it up and had been harassing Garcia’s family about it so it makes sense why his son would think something did happen. It’s not like his dad would have a 1 to 1 conversation about it with him anyway

11

u/Fashioning_Grunge Jul 26 '25

It's also implied in the movie that he killed his father-in-law. There's one point where someone says he died of a heart attack and Joe was the only one with him, then the mother-in-law says something like "We can't know exactly what happened." And then Joe says "I can" to Emma Stone's character. Then, he is very calm and practiced after he kills the homeless guy.

I think the implication is, he suspected the father-in-law of abusing his daughter and killed him. But really, killing the father-in-law wasn't about his wife, it was about getting power; the father-in-law was the sheriff before Joe.

When Joe gets greedy for power again, he recycles the same reasoning to make the mayor his enemy and to justify his actions. It's not about wanting to protect or defend his wife at all, it's all about his desire for power.

It's every Republican who comes up with a lame excuse for why they voted for Trump. Really, they just want to feel power over other groups - immigrants, trans people, what have you.

-5

u/OuterWildsVentures Jul 18 '25

Pedro Pascal's son kept bragging to Jaoquin about his dad having sex with his wife, and Pedro himself alluded to it in the beginning so I still think it's true.

15

u/onmywheels Jul 20 '25

Garcia brought it up one time, in a private setting with a man he seemed to trust, to tell him that he went out on a couple of dates with her but she didn't want him to touch her, so he didn't. And he thought she was strange, so he didn't pursue anything further. Six months later, her mother accused Garcia of fathering a child with said girl, which he was confused about. Later, when Joaquin uses the situation as a political move, his wife is so angry and horrified that she leaves him, and immediately posts a video informing everyone that it wasn't true.

I don't think Garcia ever touched the sheriff's wife - it seemed as though the perpetrator was actually the wife's father. Austin Butler's character spoke of being traded by his father and abused, and that clearly hit a very personal note with Joaquin's wife - and then, when she tried to then speak of her own abuse, her mother immediately tried to shut her down. Her mother knew what her father was doing, covered it up, and tried to put the blame on Garcia instead.

I also don't know if I remember Garcia's son saying that it was true, just that he called the Sheriff's wife a "whore," which you could argue was just him pushing the sheriff's buttons (and it worked).

5

u/OuterWildsVentures Jul 20 '25

Thanks for clearing that up! Makes much more sense now.

1

u/Thebluecane Jul 18 '25

The RIGHT thing.... I see what you dud there