The general rule here is to not take first reactions tweets as gospel. The studios tend to pack the quote whores into the first screenings of their blockbusters so that said quote whores are the first to react on Twitter with gush and praise. It’s occurred time and time again and yet people still fall for the head psych.
With that being said, the quote whores have weighed in on Jordan Peele’s “Nope” with laudatory excitement. Shocking, I know. It seems as though barely any actual critics saw the damn thing, just studio gushers. Consider me very suspicious… I’ll only be watching Peele’s film tomorrow.
These tweets of course led to a slew of over-the-top headlines from a bunch of media outlets. “Nope,” to mainstream moviegoers at least, is now considered a “well-reviewed” movie. And yet, that’s not what I’m hearing, the general consensus from those I’ve spoken to seems to be mixed with only a few positives.
At least one person had the chutzpah to break away from the hive and that’s Scott Menzel, who vehemently disliked “Nope” and went on a bit of a rant, completely puzzled by the positive reactions.
“I spoke to at least 12 other critics in the LA area who felt this way as well.”
It’s always the same names who tweet out these glowing tweets, critics who will eat up just about anything out of the sheer excitement of being at the world premiere. And, know what? The film media eats it up as well. A narrative gets built up free of charge for the studio. Now people think “Nope” will be well-received.
A lot, and I mean a lot, of the tweet reactions are comparing “Nope” to M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs,” which aligns perfectly with the test-screening reactions we posted here in the late spring.
Another general rule we have here: if Scott Mantz doesn’t like your movie then it’s probably bad.