Project Big Screen splits on Tom Cruise's Digger

The new episode dropped Tuesday with a Digger review, a Verity review and a Top 10 Tom Cruise performances ranking. Digger is the one everybody's going to talk about.

Project Big Screen

@ProjBigScreen

“One of the wildest mix of feelings I’ve had watching a movie” @JeffDLowe “Thinks it’s the smartest guy in the room” @ChrisKlemmer “Painfully unfunny” @JackKennedy “FIVE STARS” @bobgoochman Our most divisive review yet…. What did you think of #DIGGER starring Tom Cruise?

Look at how far apart those are. @JeffDLowe called it 'one of the wildest mix of feelings I've had watching a movie.' @ChrisKlemmer said it 'thinks it's the smartest guy in the room.' @JackKennedy went with 'painfully unfunny.' Then @bobgoochman gave it 5 stars. On a movie panel you expect a half-star here or there. This is 4 guys who don't agree on what they just watched.

Goochman went further than liking the movie, too. The show built a whole question around his take: is Cruise's turn in Digger the best of his career? Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a Texas oil tycoon, in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's satire. The man has Collateral, Magnolia and Jerry Maguire on his résumé, so calling this his best is a big swing.

Project Big Screen

@ProjBigScreen

Is Tom Cruise’s performance in DIGGER the best of his career? @bobgoochman says YES What do you think the #1 turn from the iconic movie star? We collaboratively rank our Top 10 and review the wildly divisive film on today’s episode

The real critics are split just as badly. Digger opened October 2, and The Hollywood Reporter called the reviews 'brutally split.' Variety's review said Cruise goes over the top in a 'bombastically self-important' satire. The most common complaint matches Kennedy's: it's billed as a comedy, and a lot of people don't think it's funny. Even the people who hate it mostly agree Cruise is fully committed under all the prosthetics. So the movie being bad and Cruise being great can both be true, and that's pretty much how Project Big Screen split.

Steven Cheah weighed in after the review posted and summed it up in 3 words.

Steven Cheah

@StevenCheah

@ProjBigScreen @JeffDLowe @ChrisKlemmer @JackKennedy @bobgoochman Polarizing and memorable

That's probably the most honest review of Digger out there. It's an Iñárritu movie with Cruise going all the way, and people are either going to love it or hate it. Nobody leaves feeling just OK. Whether Goochman's '5 stars, career-best' take holds up or Kennedy's 'painfully unfunny' wins out will depend on what people say once they've seen it in theaters. For now, Project Big Screen got the best kind of episode out of it: 4 hosts and 4 completely different verdicts.