BELIEVE US

Tom Cruise Flop Has Become Hollywood’s Weirdest Loyalty Test

Celebrities are suddenly showering the box-office bomb with over-the-top praise.

Tom Cruise’s celebrity friends insist that his new film Digger is “10 out of 10,” despite scathing critics’ reviews and dismal box office earnings.

The movie earned Cruise his lowest critics’ scores in nearly a decade, and his lowest opening weekend in almost 20 years. Still, stars like Anne Hathaway and Jane Fonda say the film is “brilliant.”

Hathaway, who will star alongside Cruise in the upcoming Days of Thunder sequel, posted her first-ever movie review on Letterboxd to praise Digger. “I loved this brilliant movie. It’s smart and trippy and aggressive and funny and ambitious,” the Oscar winner wrote. “It’s worth making the time to see and decide for yourself what you make of it.”

She added, “For me? 10/10.”

The disproportionate praise follows myriad negative reviews, including from the Daily Beast’s Nick Schager, who called the film a “desperate” bid for Oscar glory and a “disaster.” The movie debuted at 41 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, before inching up to 52 percent.

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Still, Cruise’s celebrity friends insist the film is excellent. “My friends and I enjoyed Digger and salute Tom Cruise and Alejandro Iñárritu,” Fonda wrote in an Instagram post.

Fonda added, “Digger is a fascinating, courageous, important film by a true cinematic artist, the Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker, Alejandro Iñárritu.”

While Variety said Digger’s performances were “over-the-top and bombastic,” Fonda wrote, “The film allows us to witness another side of Tom Cruise’s courage. It was a big, brave risk for him to take on this role, and he was very good in it and very brave. He went all out, 100 percent owning the part.”

Added Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell, 37, whom some outlets have dubbed “the next Tom Cruise,” in a post on Instagram, the movie will “stand the test of time.”

“DIGGER!! You rarely get taken on a ride like this in the theater,” the actor wrote. “Visionary spectacle, fearless performances, and getting to experience two of the greats, Tom Cruise and Alejandro Iñárritu, committing ferociously and unapologetically to their vision. Pure cinematic joy. This is one [that] is going to stand the test of time.”

Cruise isn’t the only one whose friends have come to the rescue. Iñárritu’s buddy and Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has both defended and praised the film, calling its bad reviews “entirely petty.”

He added in a post on X, in response to IGN telling its readers that the film was best left for streaming, “The film delivers in scale, ambition and reach at a theatrical screen level. Daring, bold, and cinematically complex. Decidedly a Theatrical experience.”

Iñárritu’s other close director friend, Gravity director Alfonso Cuarón, made his point by posting negative reviews of films like Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Shining that went on to be Hollywood classics.

Oscar winner Ron Howard joined the chorus, calling the movie “Impressive on so many levels,” in his social media take.

Iñárritu himself admitted the film may leave something to be desired, telling The New York Times, “The movie is not perfect,” but “I like taking risks.”

As impressed as Hollywood’s stars claim to be, the film is set to lose a stunning $250 million, according to The Wrap.

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Eboni Boykin-PattersonEntertainment Reporter

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