16 of the Meanest, Most Offensive Reviews of Roman Polanski’s New Movie

The 80th Venice Film Festival is underway, and from Sofia Coppola’s highly anticipated return to film with Priscilla and nosy critics wanting their first peek at Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein, there’s been no shortage of news out of Italy. 

Of the many movies that have made their worldwide debuts at the festival, one comes from a director who is no stranger to critical acclaim or public scrutiny: noted predator Roman Polanski. His newest effort, The Palace, joins the ever-growing pantheon of “eat the rich” films made by wealthy filmmakers. The black comedy, which received a three-minute standing ovation in Venice, didn’t fare as well with critics, however. In fact, it debuted to an astonishingly low 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with one critic describing the humor as “at least 23 years past its sell-by date.” 

The disdain didn’t stop there either. Moviegoers unlucky enough to grab tickets for the premiere took to Letterboxd afterwards to share their feelings on The Palace as well. With disgruntled viewers from Italy, to Germany, to Hungary, the hate for The Palace stretches far further across the globe than Polanski ever could — thanks, you know, to extradition treaties.