Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
While Avatar 2 dominated the multiplexes over the holiday weekend, streaming belonged to two titles: Top Gun 2, which just hit Paramount+, and Glass Onion. The latter recently bowed on the streamer that paid a fortune for it — and which kept it from a probably lucrative proper theatrical release — and it’s scored great reviews and great feedback. It had its critics, though. One of them was ageless far right pipsqueak Ben Shapiro. The Daily Wire honcho is a frequent fixture of fun on Twitter for his political takes, but the dragging can get even more intense when he’s talking about another subject: the cinema.
I regret to inform you that “Glass Onion” is actively bad. I will discuss first the actual writing of the movie followed by the politics of it. Both suck. SPOILERS follow.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 26, 2022
On December 26, Shapiro decided to gift the world with his thoughts on the first Knives Out sequel. “I regret to inform you that ‘Glass Onion’ is actively bad,” Shapiro wrote. “I will discuss first the actual writing of the movie followed by the politics of it. Both suck.”
What was Shapiro’s main beef with Glass Onion? That it was a murder mystery that “deceived” the audience, which never happens with the genre. “The first half of the movie is a complete misdirect and a waste of time,” Shapiro wrote. He complained about how the two murders in the film either don’t happen or aren’t revealed until halfway through the movie, at which point the story flashes back to fill in lots of detail that had been kept under wraps. (He also railed against the identity of the killer, which we’ll refrain from mentioning.)
Shapiro also predictably disapproved of the movie’s furtively progressive politics, which features a character clearly modeled after Elon Musk (and which arrived just in time for him to potentially torch his businesses).
When the guy who was mocked three years ago over his critique of Parasite weighed in one of the holiday weekend’s biggest movies, a lot of people couldn’t believe even he didn’t understand how mysteries work.
The Ben Shapiro thread on the GLASS ONION is legit hilarious. Putting the (predictable) politics aside, he says that Johnson misdirects and deceives the audience. Sacre bleu! A misdirection in a murder mystery? Now I’ve seen everything!
— Max Weiss (@maxthegirl) December 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/marlownyc/status/1607439324231991298
Ben Shapiro is discovering what a murder mystery is in real time and acting like he understands what writing one means and I am truly and honestly crying. This is my Christmas gift. #GlassOnion pic.twitter.com/J994D0d40t
— Rachel Leishman (@RachelLeishman) December 26, 2022
Ben Shapiro being Very Very Angry that a whodunit misled the viewers in the first half is legit the funniest thing to happen in 2022
— Shiv Ramdas Buk Riter (@nameshiv) December 26, 2022
very funny to see Ben Shapiro taking issue with the plot of a murder mystery using misdirection to keep the audience guessing
— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) December 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/reeljoelcopling/status/1607375058581831685
Some wondered what other movies would confuse or infuriate Ben Shapiro.
(ben shapiro watching the wizard of oz) we only find out the wizard is a fraud a full one hour and twenty-eight minutes into the film, as well as an entirely new backstory (dorothy was never in oz, she was merely dreaming). we are being actively deceived by the writer. pic.twitter.com/YZA4R7dkS4
— zach silberberg (@zachsilberberg) December 26, 2022
“It was his SLED. Who allowed this?! Orson Welles should be in jail.” – Ben Shapiro https://t.co/a2SWylzHbx
— JEHawks (@jehawks) December 26, 2022
At least, as one person noted, director Rian Johnson refrained from including his favorite song, “WAP.”
So if WAP had been in the Glass Onion soundtrack Ben Shapiro would have exploded?
— Cʜʀɪs Sᴛᴇɪɴ (@chrissteinplays) December 26, 2022
Some joked about Shapiro’s resemblance to the conservative Poindexter from Knives Out.
Live footage of Ben Shapiro tweeting about why he didn't like Glass Onion. pic.twitter.com/YXXLu50Plq
— Adam Lance Garcia (@AdamLanceGarcia) December 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/jonrosenberg/status/1607405040578199552
And some noted that Rian Johnson movies tend to make a certain type of person incredibly angry.
It’s not really A Day On Twitter until some dude gets bent outta shape about a Rian Johnson Movie and airs his grievances. But I didn’t expect it to take place so early in the morning, the day after Christmas, involving Glass Onion and Ben Shapiro.
— Courtney Howard (@Lulamaybelle) December 26, 2022
Glass Onion is now streaming on Netflix.