An often overlooked Steve Carell movie is dominating streaming service HBO Max right now, and for reasons unknown.
Released in 2020 amidst the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Irresistible stars Carell as Gary Zimmer, a campaign consultant for the Democratic Party. Despairing following his party’s defeat in the 2016 election, Zimmer stumbles across a viral speech by retired Marine Col. Jack Hastings on the plight suffered by undocumented immigrants.
Carell’s lead quickly believes the former military officer would make a perfect mayoral candidate for the Democrats, and the film follows Zimmer’s long-term gamble to have Hastings’ potential victory become a powerful tool in convincing right-leaning states to change their stance—and subsequently vote for the Democrats in future elections.
As expected of a cast consisting of Carell, Rose Byrne, and Natasha Lyonne, Irresistible is a comedy flick through and through which pulls no punches in its political commentary—though writer-director Jon Stewart’s script certainly wasn’t a hit with everyone. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film sits at a lowly 40 percent approval rating by critics, faring not much better on IMDB, where it maintains an above-average score of 6.2.
Despite this, however, audiences have clearly been in the mood for some political satire as of late, as Irresistible is currently the second most-watched movie worldwide on HBO Max. The film surpasses Robert Zemeckis’ modern-day take on Roald Dahl’s The Witches and is only beaten by this year’s Mortal Kombat adaptation, which continues to prove itself a massive hit for Warner Bros., despite its lukewarm reception.