Chris Pine’s ‘bad’ Pullman directorial debut demands withdrawal from festival

Chris Pine receives very poor reviews for his directorial debut, prompting him to “quit” during the premiere.

The Star Trek actor makes his first appearance in the new film titled Pullman, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Wednesday (September 13). Payne also stars in the film, playing a pool cleaner who uncovers a water theft occurring in Los Angeles.

Reviews indicate that the film is inspired by Chinatown And Big Lebowski — but it doesn’t come close to capturing the quality of either. In reality, IndieWireSiddhant Adlakha said Pullman “It will likely become one of the worst films to screen at any major festival in recent memory.”

Adlakha described the film as a “vanity project”, and wrote in their review: “It is the work of a director who had to be told ‘no’ at least a hundred or two hundred times during production.” On X/Twitter, Adlakha said the “bad” and “horrible” film led to her “pulling out of the premiere.”

He was one of the people who walked out of the screening Journalist Rendy Joneswho wrote on social media: “Chris Pine’s directorial debut for POOLMAN started out as a joke on the set of WONDER WOMAN 1984. I didn’t know what the joke was and couldn’t bear to take 40 minutes to find out. Somehow, two terrible movies came out of WONDER WOMAN 1984.

Hollywood Reporter Critic Michael Rechtshafen said the film is “wrong” and “hit bottom with a painful momentum”, with both… Collider And Slashfilm Writing the film as a “belly flop”. The latter’s Rafael Motmayor said the film’s central mystery is a “convoluted mess.”

Meanwhile, Eric Marchin He said Payne “embarrassed himself beyond measure” in the film with Ezra Cubero It is useful: “It’s actually crazy how much failure there is Pullman He is.”

Payne’s co-stars, including Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, are also receiving negative reviews for their roles – although many critics claim that the only good thing about the film is Stephen Tobolowsky’s performance.

Payne previously said that he came up with the idea for the film while working on it Wonder Woman 1984which was released in 2020. The actor’s other credits include Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruiter (2014), Hell or high water (2016) and received critical acclaim this year Dungeons & Dragons honor among thieves.

Pullman It has not yet been distributed, but will premiere in the UK at the BFI London Film Festival in October.