May 20, 2016 | 02:56AM PT
UPDATED: Sean Penn’s humanitarian romance “The Last Face” is being savaged on Twitter after premiering Friday at the Cannes Film Festival. Commenters on social media are describing the film, which stars Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, as the worst of the fest. Others are also quipping that the picture is so awful that it destroyed Penn’s relationship with Theron. The duo broke up a year ago.
When critics weighed in, they largely echoed the flash reactions that bubbled up online.
Variety Chief Film Critic Owen Gleiberman faulted Penn for spending so much time on the love story between Theron and Bardem, writing, “no matter how ‘well-meaning’ a director may be, there’s something inherently eye-rolling about being asked to care about the tragedy of African children through the POV of two lovelorn glamour pusses.”
IndieWire’s Eric Kohn branded it the worst film of Penn’s career, writing “The narrative panders on every level: It’s a supercilious attempt to bemoan the hardships of neglected people under the guise of whiny romantic fluff. ”
Sean Penn Responds to Negative Reviews for ‘The Last Face’: ‘I Stand by the Film’
And, in a one star review, the Guardian’s Benjamin Lee excoriated the film as “an extended Band Aid video, shoddily assembled to be screened at galas filled with the guilty elite sipping champagne while frowning at close-ups of tearful orphans.”
Penn, a two-time best actor Oscar winner for “Mystic River” and “Milk,” has also directed several films, among them “Into the Wild” and “The Pledge.”
Here’s a round-up of some of the most brutal Twitter takedowns:
“‘The Last Face’ is definitely the worst film I’ve seen in Cannes. Pompous, pointless and I think a little bit racist,” Sam Creighton wrote.
The Last Face is definitely the worst film I’ve seen in Cannes. Pompous, pointless… and I think a little bit racist…
— Sam Creighton (@sam_creighton) May 20, 2016
“I joined in the booing for my first time today for ‘The Last Face.’ It was so bad that I laughed [out] loud at times,” Melissa Silverstein said.
I joined in the booing for my first time today for The Last Face. It was so bad that I laughed at loud at times.
— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) May 20, 2016
“Sean Penn needs to stop directing. Hated pretty much every second of ‘The Last Face,’” Silverstein added.
Sean Penn needs to stop directing. Hated pretty much every second of The Last Face.
— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) May 20, 2016
THE LAST FACE: A transcendently bad movie about aid workers and African suffering. But to its credit, the romance is actually worse.
— Alison Willmore (@alisonwillmore) May 20, 2016
Poor Jean Reno, saddled w/ the worst of the godawful dialogue in THE LAST FACE. On romance: “It is not grabbing. It is loving.” #Cannes2016
— erickohn (@erickohn) May 20, 2016
The Last Face is Beasts of No Nation rewritten for white people by Nicholas Sparks. No wonder Penn and Theron broke up #Cannes2016
— Benjamin Lee (@benfraserlee) May 20, 2016
The Last Face – Lots of powerful images, but Sean Penn cannot direct at all. So cheesy, laughably bad, utter trash. Seriously awful awful.
— Alex Billington (@firstshowing) May 20, 2016
Sean Penn’s THE LAST FACE – A risible disaster, all the more tragic for butchering serious and vital tale. Amateur, appalling #cannes2016
— Jason Gorber (@filmfest_ca) May 20, 2016
Is it possible Charlize Theron saw a rough cut of THE LAST FACE and *then* ended things with Sean Penn? I would.
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) May 20, 2016
Lowing boos for Sean Penn’s THE LAST FACE. Things missing from it:
– non-walk-on Africans
– Bono
– “it’s just all horrifying”
– a point— Tim Robey (@trim_obey) May 20, 2016