The new climate change documentary from New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez debuted in theaters over the weekend, but it was inevitably met with dismal reviews and only made $80 per theater.
In AOC’s four-year-long film “To the End,” four women—Cortez, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Alexandra Rojas, and Varshini Prakash—were followed as they attempted to persuade Congress to adopt meaningful climate change legislation.
The movie received high marks from critics and left-leaning media, earning an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. Representative Ocasio-Cortez “offers the best onscreen antidote to pessimism – she’s humorous, a canny political approach,” according to a New York Times assessment.
The documentary fizzled in theaters despite liberal efforts to get accolades for it; it opened in 120 venues and made less than $10,000.
Greg Gutfeld, co-host of Fox’s “The Five,” criticized the documentary, saying, “Who would go see a movie that’s the opposite of entertaining? There’s nothing entertaining about that. But it does show you how great it is to be a progressive in a liberal, biased culture.”
“She really doesn’t do her job, right?” Gutfeld pointed out. “She makes movies, she goes to galas. She sits for glossy, butt-kissing interviews in GQ and other women’s mags… Once you get over the fact that you’re hollow inside, it’s not a bad life.”
Co-host Jesse Watters added his two cents, saying that while AOC may be well-known in the political sphere, she is not as well known outside of it as she might have believed.
“This is what politicians often get confused about: Just because you’re popular in politics doesn’t mean you’re popular anywhere else. In fact, usually, people that can’t do anything anywhere else go into politics to succeed. And she found that out the hard way,” Watters said.
Many others noticed the gap between AOC’s political popularity and how much people actually responded to the film. Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative author and filmmaker, echoed Watters’ observation, saying,
“How is it possible that AOC with 13 million followers and adoring media hype couldn’t sell more than 8 tickets per theater for a film about a problem she says is an existential threat to humanity? Could it be that deep down everyone knows she and her subject are pure b*llsh*t?”
How is it possible that @AOC with 13 million followers and adoring media hype couldn’t sell more than 8 tickets per theater for a film about a problem she says is an existential threat to humanity? Could it be that deep down everyone knows she and her subject are pure b*llsh*t?
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) December 14, 2022
AOC’s portrayal as an outdoor enthusiast in the documentary, according to Watters, is “fraudulent,” as evidenced by a sequence in the film where the lawmaker is seen hiking the Appalachian Trail.
“I have never seen [that],” Watters insisted. “And she showcases her whole life on social media – you can never see her in private. Everything is on social media. I’ve never seen her hike before, but the one time she does a documentary about the environment, she’s out there doing the Appalachian Trail. I’m not buying it.”
