>> Ben Shapiro's publication, The Daily Wire, of course a conservative publication,
has produced a feature film, and it's called Run Hide Fight. And it's not doing so well
with the critics, the reviews have not been good. So if you look at Rotten Tomatoes,
you'll see that the critics have given it 22%.
And the audience score is 94%. But the audience score, I mean,
anyone can just say that they love the movie. And so, there's a possibility that his fans
logged in and said that they loved the movie. There's also a possibility that
there's a disconnect between what film critics feel and what the audience in general feels.
There have been instances where that's a movie I love, but the critics don't love it.
And the viewers, normal people, average human beings like me, do love it.
A good example is that one Will Ferrell movie that I just recently watched with
Christian, the one where he's in an independent basketball league.
What is that movie called again? >> I forget, what is that one?
Will Ferrell? >> Semi-Pro.
>> It's a basketball, Semi-Pro. >> Yeah, you like Semi Pro,
I get it, that's exactly it. And I will say specifically with audience scores,
audience scores are out of five.
And Rotten Tomatoes scores are out of BS or no, it's binary, you like it or you don't.
So most people, even if they don't like a movie, they'll give it three stars or feel weird so.
>> Yeah. >> It's-
>> Yeah. >> You're
not factoring in in any 0%s, so there's that. >> So we're talking through all of the reasons
why there might be this difference between how the critics felt and how the general audience felt.
But no, Ben Shapiro goes to the immediate conspiracy theory
of they don't like us because of our conservatism
and that's what's really going on. Now, I haven't watched the film to be fair. But to give you a
quick summary without giving you spoilers, I guess, if you're interested in watching it.
The film follows a girl named Zoey as she uses her hunting and survival skills to stop
an active shooter at a high school. So it's been described as like Die Hard, but the premise really
centers on a school shooting. So obviously, that's a super uncomfortable issue to discuss.
And I do wanna read a few of the critics, what they had to say. So for instance,
Jessica King writes in and says, so somebody somewhere one day had a thought. What if Die
Hard, except a school shooting? And not only didn't they immediately check themselves for
other symptoms of lead poisoning, but thought, yep, that's the winner.
One other critic, David Ehrlich writes in and says, it's hard to say what's more offensive,
that Rankin is pissing into an overflowing reservoir of national pain, or that he's doing so
poorly. Just kidding, it's not hard at all. By the way, did I mispronounce that guy's name, Rankin?
>> Rankin, I don't know. But that's Ehrlich, that's that's another guy's
name. I know you've never seen that name before, but his name is Ehrlich.
>> What did I say? >> Elric.
>> I don't know why I did that. >> They left in the original H,
some very benevolent Ellis Island person was like, we'll leave it how you normally spelled it.
And not rob the H from
you like they did too many Jews. >> Well, apologies for that. But
there you have it, there's a few of the critics and what they had to say.
Now let's go to Ben Shapiro and his discussion about this, and what his theories are here.
>> I'm fully expecting that upon release of the film, there will be a second wave of critical
hatred for the film. Which is again, one of the things that has happened not just to your film,
but it's happened to nearly any film these days that they does anything that crosses the wall.
>> And I also think we're entering into probably an eight year period
of tribalism and people sort of going into their own corners.
And I think that if people want to watch movies like this and continue to consume content that
isn't preaching a message to them, and jamming a sort of a secular worldview down their throats.
Then they have to support a conservative economy. I thought I was gonna be living in LA, running
a movie studio by now. And here I am, in my own independent lane. But in a way, I'm happier now,
than I ever would have been there. And I know those people, they're still my friends,
they're unhappy, or insecure,
or confused about the lockdowns and living in California under Gavin Newsom.
They're confused about all this. They're moving to Texas. They're calling me. Even my sort of lovely
liberal friends, and I'm encouraging them, get out, and it's across the board. If your company
is pushing a critical race theory on you, get out of that company. If you're going to a college
and your professor is pushing an agenda on you, speak up and push back.
>> Okay, a lot going on there. So I mean, I don't know, I thought that at this point in
my life I was entitled to a gigantic mansion and eight Ferraris. And look,
it's all the conservatives fault that I wasn't able to get all that, it's their fault.
And also, we're entering an eight year period of tribalism.
I don't know what world that guy lives in, but it would be nice to experience it.
Like it's some weird utopian fantasy world where we haven't been engaging in divisive
tribalism? That's been this country for, I mean, well over a decade at this point.
>> Yeah, I know that guy, that's Dallas Sonnier. I worked with him and I used to know his wife really
well, she's great. And Dallas was always really nice to work with, and super kind.
It is strange that they're focusing on this. Whatever happened to him, I have no idea.
And I know that he personally has been through a lot, both of his parents were murdered. You can
watch the Dateline on it. He's been through a lot in terms of dealing with horrible, horrific crimes
in his life. But what he said there is a ton of BS, when you look at some of the reporting that's
happened surrounding specifically this movie, and the production companies affiliated with it.
There's all these allegations that in that movie, I mean, the Film Daily reports
that there were accusations that someone affiliated with the production of this movie
raped a 16 year old. And then as the allegations were circulating, the production company
essentially distanced themselves from it and downplayed all those things.
So it sounds to me like they're trying to, as they always do, push this strange narrative,
that it wasn't them. It isn't the quality of their work. It's all about other people
making us the victims. And I hate to tell you, that dude, he was at the top of his game.
That guy was a real legitimate producer working with A list talent every single day and something
must have happened. And I just doubt, you can say, listen, if you are a right wing person,
you can't make it in Hollywood. Clint Eastwood is that way. You see all these reports of Chris Pratt
having those values that don't necessarily jive
with what Dallas is portraying as the prevailing sentiment in Los Angeles.
And you can make it. What I find is hilarious about that take, is it's very obvious to me what
Ben Shapiro is doing with his film and this production company, which is essentially the
same thing Kirk Cameron has been doing for a very long time. With his films that are about
the rapture that shows up and all you Christians just come watch my film.
It's the same as Christian music. You're just making a second mini-industry,
to cater to a certain kind of person who isn't served elsewhere. This is what it is. It's a small
little microeconomy they're trying to have. And so you can't take what they're saying
as though they're saying it honestly.
This is all marketing for what, by all accounts, is a very bad film.
>> By the way, have you seen it? Not putting you on the spot, I'm just curious.
>> We can show the trailer, here's some of the trailer.
>> Yeah, I'm curious about that. >> I don't think that's Aaron Eckhart.
I can look that up, but it looks like Aaron Eckhart. The fewer words you see
on screen from a review, that means it wasn't a good review.
>> Exactly. >> From what I see in the takeaway,
is it's a better movie than you think it's gonna be. But Dallas is a legit producer so.
>> Yeah, let me actually read one of the critics, Dominic Griffin, who wrote on Rotten Tomatoes,
gave the film three out of ten, but actually was somewhat surprised in how entertaining the film
was. So Dominic wrote this, while I found this film considerably less distasteful than I imagined
I might be going in, it's still being released by some despicable people.
And the film's underlying themes are gross. That said, more entertaining than one might assume.
And so look, I disagree with judging a movie, I don't know. I don't even know how to,
am I right? You shouldn't judge the movie based on the people behind it,
if it's an objectively good film, just say it's a good film.
I mean obviously, he had some issues with the storyline, right? So he's not just 100%
basing it on Ben Shapiro being questionable person. But,
yeah, don't even mention that in your critique, because I feel like when you do, it undermines
whatever legitimate criticism you have. >> So I used to host the Rotten Tomatoes shows.
So the way that it works is Rotten Tomatoes has top critics, and you'll see a couple
of the people we played earlier were top critics from playlist. And then other critics who just
make their way into the system. They'll give it their own rating, like three out of ten.
But Rotten Tomatoes' number is just a percentage of critics who liked the film. So if they like it,
you get a fresh, if they didn't like it, you get a rotten, then they average those out all
together. But in terms of mentioning it, there's so much that you can mention in a writeup.
I don't know if it's the editors or that person who submits it, but people will sift
through and pull like an operative quote to appear in a small little square. So
in that, you can mention all that, that's fine. And it does go into the experience of watching it.
And for a lot of people who have their own film blog, it's their own personal
experience of watching it. And you can get into the fine print of what it means to be a critic,
and what your criticism will be, and if you're like a classic film critic.
But you can mention all that in your article, so long as you are only mentioning your experience
of watching the film and what makes it good or bad from a viewing perspective.
And the benefit of Rotten Tomatoes is it averages all those together. So
one person saying, I don't like Ben Shapiro, doesn't spoil the reviews.
>> Right, yeah, that's a really good point. And also, the main point that I wanna make
is just for all that we heard about the millennial generation. And the
participation trophy generation and people getting pats on the back, even though they didn't actually
accomplish anything. We hear criticisms about that culture from people like Ben Shapiro all the time.
In fact, he goes out of his way on a consistent basis to minimize
the fact that not everyone is really on a level playing field, right? Some people are born in
privileged situations where their family can afford, let's say, the tutoring necessary to
ensure that they really ace the standardized testing to get into the private schools.
And then you have people who are born into extreme poverty and clearly
they're not on a level playing field. And when you try to have nuanced discussions about it,
people like Ben Shapiro always undermine it. They belittle it, they minimize it.
But then when it comes to Shapiro reflecting on his own body of work as a man in a place
of extreme privilege, and I'm not saying that in regard to his race.
I'm saying that in regard to the platform that he has, and the funding that he gets from incredibly
wealthy conservative donors. He's not on a level playing field. He has advantages that most people
don't have. And he can't handle constructive criticism about his own film. In fact, instead of
taking it, acknowledging it, maybe using it to improve his body of work moving forward,
he automatically brushes it off as nothing more than anti-conservative bias.
He's fantastic. He's done everything right,
everyone else is wrong. So eff off, that's the kind of culture that comes from people
like Ben Shapiro and it drives me crazy. >> I do wanna correct myself from earlier,
it was not Aaron Eckhart. It's the other guy with that face, Thomas Jane, in the film.
But you're absolutely right, and it's all a grift, this is exactly what happened with Ben Shapiro. He
wanted to be a movie writer and it didn't work out. But he got to be the favorite son of those
in corporate conservatism who didn't necessarily want to identify themselves with white supremacy,
but were fine using it, and wanted the smart kid who talks fast.
And that's it. >> Yep.
>> And wanted a staunchly pro-Israel person and they got that. And he's like a lot of
the things on your wish list if you're buying a conservative pundit, he absolutely has them. And
at his heart is, I just wanna make movies. I just wanna make movies,
that if I could have it my way, I would just go off and make movies.
And he got to, and that limited budget, but unlimited by many other people's calculations,
yields a film like this apparently, which I really do wanna see. Because maybe it's fine. But
my takeaway from all of it is, Ben Shapiro has been able to parlay his fast-talking,
faux intellectualism, into a multi-tiered OnlyFans.
And that's what The Daily Wire is. It's like, we got some free stuff,
you can see on my Instagram, but click my link in the bio and it'll take you to my fricking
exclusive, non-fiction content. If you really love me, you'll really
get off too. And it is unfortunately in the warped world of Ben Shapiro,
people storming a school and shooting their way through the ninth grade or whatever it is.
It's crazy, but this is the insane world we live in. But my favorite
thing is your takeaway from Dallas' point, where it's like we're about
to get into this very tribal moment here. >> Yeah, I mean, and I'm not even kidding.
I would love to exist in whatever world he's been in, for even a day, just to know what
it's like to be totally oblivious to how divisive things have been in this country for a while now.