THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

In my September Nate at the Movies newsletter (that’s read by all of 13 people, half of whom are family), I named Wildwood as my biggest-ticket movie of October. I am legitimately stoked for that movie, but Digger must have heard that I said that, because it entered the ring tonight and stole the show. Wildwood still has a chance to come out on top, but its window shrank considerably tonight.

From its opening scene, Digger smashed the pedal into the floor and didn’t relent. The film laid the existential dread and bipartisan (though skewed in one direction) blame thick, and it was equally uncomfortable and funny. Digger’s ego- and dollar-fueled disaster was a pretty apt translation of some real-life current events, and many of the movie’s most featured players bore a more than coincidental resemblance to some real-life people. Given how unforgiving Digger was in its views on these kinds of people, I can understand why this movie didn’t make a lot of money opening weekend—and why so many people hate it online. Me, though? I loved this original film that appropriately answered the question of, “We’re screwed— what should we do in the meantime?” with “Make art”.

Very little of the political satire of Digger was lost on me— I’m unfortunately very informed on the *inspired* choices of today’s rich and powerful—but the movie’s framing was more of a mystery. Instead of letting the internet answer, “Why was it a play?” for me, I sat there in the theater and critically thought! As I mentioned, I think responding to hardship and unexplainable disaster with art is already a great lesson, but there was more to it for me. Framing the story of Digger Rockwell as a play also conveyed how both sides of the political aisle are complicit in the collapse of society. As Digger so adequately put it in the scene that will almost certainly win Tom Cruise his first competitive Oscar (apologies for the paraphrase), “You ask me why I don’t stop. You don’t want me to!”. Everyone can stand to gain from evil and greed. No matter how noble the vision of the art or the artist, the play makes money and even the disaster’s opponents benefit.

Digger was a mountain of a movie both thematically and politically, but it was also impressive from a cinematic perspective. Alejandro Iñárritu’s direction was engaging and paired nicely with Emmanuel Lubezki’s alternatingly drab and colorful cinematography, and Cosmo Sheldrake wrote a pretty solid score, too. More than any technical strength, though, was Digger a masterclass in acting. Tom Cruise proved he can still hold down a movie (even if his top billing didn’t lead to big box office numbers) in the best performance of 2026—that courtroom scene was extensive and expressive and brought the house down. The supporting cast was stellar as well, from Riz Ahmed to John Goodman and a surprise appearance from Jesse Plemons (not sure how I didn’t know he was in this!). I’ll watch anything Plemons is in, and his performance was just as great as the rest of his filmography. I liked Sandra Huller’s performance, too, but it was a small part and I do think she’s had better this year (Project Hail Mary!).

Digger was unflinchingly bleak and depressing, but there was a certain hilarity and enjoyment that I found in that that I think this film’s detractors just didn’t discover. The world is a mess and we’re the ones that made it, but as long as we’re here, let’s talk about it, learn from it, and make fun of it a little bit, too. Just as technically great as it was politically uncomfortable, Digger may simply end up as a really absurd window into 2026 America, but in my book, it’ll be one of the top movies of the year and a film I couldn’t possibly recommend to my family…any faster than I already did.