Fourth of July is a 2022 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Louis C.K., who co-wrote the screenplay with Joe List. The film stars List as Jeff, a New York City-based jazz pianist and recovering alcoholic who visits his family in rural Maine for Independence Day, and confronts them about the emotional traumas he experienced with them starting when he was a child. The film's $2 million budget[1] was self-financed by C.K.[3]
Fourth of July premiered at New York City's Beacon Theatre on June 30, 2022.[3]
The film earned $218,722 from two theaters in its opening weekend and $16,014 in its second.[4][5]
The film was released in theaters on several cities across the country for one night only. Though some cities continued to show the film due to positive audience response, 4th of July never saw a wide release in theaters. On the Joe Rogan Experience, Louis CK explained that most of the revenue was generated by streaming the film on CK's website.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 36% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.10/10.[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 40 out of 100, based on reviews from eleven critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7]
Owen Gleiberman of Variety called Fourth of July "a millennial indie trifle".[8]Glenn Kenny of The New York Times stated that the film goes too far in portraying Jeff's family as terrible people, writing, "The family dynamic here is so unrelentingly brutal that it's an actual shock to see how glib the movie is in papering it over."[9]
Several reviewers unfavorably compared the film to Tracy Letts's 2007 play August: Osage County, which is similarly about an extended rural family forced to confront its dysfunctions.[8][9]
