Regardless of the thrill surrounding Charli XCX’s new mockumentary The Second, it’s struggling to hit a excessive observe on Rotten Tomatoes.
Charli XCX performs a fictionalized model of herself within the movie, during which she prepares for her first tour as a headlining performer. A24 is distributing the film directed by Aidan Zamiri in his feature-length directorial debut, and includes a script co-written by Zamiri and Bertie Brandes. The solid additionally contains Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Jamie Demetriou, Alexander Skarsgård, Rachel Sennott, and Kylie Jenner.
After debuting on the 2026 Sundance Movie Competition, The Second has a Rotten Tomatoes critics’ rating of 60%. That is primarily based on 10 opinions to this point and can doubtless fluctuate as extra are added. 60% is the assessment aggregation website’s lowest rating that’s nonetheless thought of “Recent.” There isn’t any viewers rating but.
In ScreenRant‘s The Second assessment, Gregory Nussen declares that the movie “is an unmitigated catastrophe” and that “The entire movie is uncomfortably located between eager to skewer the very world Charli has helped to create and sincerely unmask the human behind a motion.”
For Selection‘s assessment, Owen Gleiberman took challenge with the film’s format, arguing that “This isn’t how an efficient mockumentary works. I really suppose ‘The Second’ ought to have pushed additional into crackpot satirical extremes.” Richard Lawson at The Hollywood Reporter notes that the audience could also be too slim since “you possibly must be totally on board with the Charli xcx circus to essentially admire what a film about it’s attempting to do.”
Whereas all of the aforementioned opinions give The Second a “Rotten” rating, Glenn Garner offers it a “Recent” ranking in his assessment for Deadline, explaining that “What followers acquired as an alternative of the oversaturated music doc style the movie so deliciously satirizes, is a non secular sequel to Spice World (1997) as a psychological thriller.” One other recent assessment comes from Gregory Ellwod at The Playlist, who asserts that “in the long run, it delivers. As a result of, adore it or hate it, this movie will linger with you.”
From The whole lot All over the place All at As soon as to Marty Supreme, many A24 films have discovered in depth vital and business success lately. Primarily based on the early opinions, The Second is not going to be following of their footsteps since it’s already proving to be divisive and resonating with extra of a distinct segment viewers.
That being mentioned, A24 has regularly risen to prominence largely due to its unconventional films. The studio has embraced tales concerning the multiverse, a relentlessly decided desk tennis participant, and a one-inch shell in Marcel the Shell with Sneakers On. In comparison with these movies and plenty of of A24’s different choices, The Second‘s premise appears extra conventional, with the execution being extra of the difficulty for the critics who’ve seen it to this point.
Following a restricted theatrical launch starting on January 30, The Second has the chance to be better-received by basic audiences, particularly amongst those that are followers of Charli XCX’s music.
- Launch Date
-
January 30, 2026
- Runtime
-
103 minutes
- Director
-
Aidan Zamiri