‘Blandest’ Netflix film with 16% Rotten Tomatoes score tops chart with 26,800,000 views --[Reported by Umva mag]

Joey King’s latest Netflix film Uglies, has dominated the global charts with an impressive 26,800,000 views despite its critically panned response.

The movie, based on the 2005 dystopian novel by Scott Westerfield, follows teenager Tally (Joey) who lives in a world where cosmetic surgery is imposed on 16-year-olds.

But when she runs away and comes across a rebel area known as The Smoke, everything she thought she knew about her life, and beauty, is entirely upended.

The cast also features Laverne Cox as the antagonist Dr Cable, as well as Brianne Tju, Keith Powers and Chase Stokes.

The adaptation, which landed on the streaming platform earlier this month, has skyrocketed up the global charts and has so far raked in a tidy 45,600,000 hours viewed.

Despite its popularity, its critical reception has been anything but glowing and it has completely flopped at a mere 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics ironically labelling it ‘one of the ugliest films of the year’.

‘Everything about Uglies is average. Not terrible enough to be campy, not deep or provocative or visually impressive enough to merit further chapters in the story,’ Chicago Sun-Times wrote in a review.

‘Uglies is full of slick yet bland CGI, stilted acting, and a plot that plays into all the lazy tropes YA dystopian novels are known for,’ Polygon added.

‘Though it supposedly argues against human beings turned into synthetic quasi-droids, Uglies feels like just another throwaway product,’ The Guardian’s one-star review lamented.

And TV guide echoed: ‘Strung together with threadbare exposition, Uglies fails to deliver any decent action, emotional weight, or thoughtful social commentary.’

Yep, in sharp contrast to the consensus among film critics, the audience’s enthusiasm has been reflected in both the stellar streaming figures and positive social media reactions.

Some are even already calling for the book sequel, Pretties, to be adapted as soon as possible.

‘Give me a dystopian setting, flashy futuristic city, cunty villains and a soundtrack that slaps and I’m sold. I’m not here to look for substance or profound meaning and that’s why I enjoyed Uglies and I need Pretties by next year, thank you very much,’ @randomlyrj wrote.

‘Just finished Uglies. So many tears, things were even more beautiful than I imagined. So incredible to see. I am just blown away. So so so excited for Pretties,’ @stargirlily added.

‘Am I the only one that liked the movie? It’s been like decade and a half since I touched those books but thought the movie was good enough for a Sunday afternoon,’ @flowers461991 shared.

In fact, the main gripe appeared to be the pacing, with some calling it slightly too rushed.

Filmmaker McG opened up about the casting process, and responded to those claiming that the point of the film could be defeated by hiring a conventionally attractive cast.

‘I think, if you spoke to some of the most universally regarded beautiful people in the world, they’re some of the people with the most intense body dysmorphia.

‘Nobody’s immune from this toxicity that’s out there of “It’s never enough. You can always have a thinner waist, bigger hips, fuller lips.”

‘Take your pick. You see it out there every day, and this movie is meant to be the antidote to that way of thinking,’ he told TheWrap.

Meanwhile, the Kissing Booth star, 25, who also works as a producer on the movie, opened up about what this movie meant to her and how it has been years in the making.

‘I was 11 years old when I read these books, and they were so impactful to me at that age, and they really helped carry me through my teen years,’ she told Deadline.

‘I was about 17 or 18 when I pitched Uglies to Netflix to make as a movie. It wasn’t until I was 22 that we actually filmed them, and now I’m 25 and they’re finally coming out.’

She added how the journey was ‘really cool’ as she has changed so much as ‘a person’ and an ‘actress’ over that time.

She continued: ‘So having this be something that I can really just give a nod to my younger self is really special.’

Netflix is yet to announce if a sequel will be created but if the streaming figures are anything to go by, we wouldn’t be surprised if there was imminent news of a greenlight.

Uglies is now streaming on Netflix.

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