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While Christopher Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer has become an undeniably massive critical (93% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes) and financial ($500M+ at the global box office), there is still one test that the film has yet to pass, and that’s the Mike Francesa test.
On a recent episode of his The Mike Francesa Podcast, the legendary 69-year-old radio host took some time to share his review of the film, which hit theaters back on July 21.
Before sharing his thoughts on the movie, though, Francesa made sure to make it clear that we have nothing to worry about as he, perhaps more so than anyone else on Earth, is coming to the film with an objective point of view. Thank you for your service, Mike.
“I am not a Christopher Nolan groupie so you’re going to get an objective view here. The movie is three hours long, which I object to because I always think the tighter the better,” Francesa said.
Despite his objections to 180-minute-long films, Francesa ultimately believes that Nolan’s atomic bomb epic is going to be a major contender at next year’s Academy Awards.
“But I can tell you now, this was not a three-hour movie where I saw people fidgeting in their seats. This movie is going to produce Oscars, I don’t think there’s any question.”
You can listen to the rest of Francesa’s review of Oppenheimer, which begins around the 1:10-mark.
Based on the Pulitzer-prize-winning 2005 biography American Prometheus, Oppenheimer starts Cillian Murphy in a lead role as theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.
In addition to Murphy, who’s already looking like a lock to be nominated for Best Actor, Oppenheimer stars Matt Damon as Leslie Groves, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, and Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock. Further cast members include the likes of Josh Hartnett, Benny Safdie, Jason Clarke, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Kenneth Branagh, Tony Goldwyn, Jack Quaid, Alex Wolff, Gary Oldman, and more.