Beating off stiff competition from misfiring blockbusters, the worst-reviewed movie of the summer is Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party.
The third documentary from outspoken conservative writer and pundit Dinesh D’Souza has a rating of just 5% on Rotten Tomatoes but the disparity between the overwhelmingly liberal critics and the audience is striking. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of the audience liked the film.
Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party broke into the Top 10 US box office over the weekend grossing $3.7 million in 1,217 theaters for a total of $3.8 million following a post-RNC expansion. It’s extraordinarily rare for a documentary to enter the top ten, especially during summer blockbuster season.
This was despite- or perhaps because of – the fact that lefty critics did their best to bury it. “If your conservative uncle’s forwarded emails were a movie, they would be Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, a dull grab-bag of stale talking points and wildly revisionist history,” slammed Sean P. Means of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Michael Rechstaffen of the Los Angeles Times said Hillary’s America “doesn’t even qualify as effectively executed propaganda.”
But the movie does have high-profile defenders. Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump has tweeted favorably about the film (although The Donald misspelled its creator’s last name as D’Sousa).
“@NancyNielsenn: @realDonaldTrump Dinesh D’Sousa Hillary’s America. see it”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2016
Despite its strong start, Hillary’s America will have to further soar to eclipse D’Souza’s 2012 documentary 2016: Obama’s America which made a stunning $33 million at the box office.
D’Souza, who has faced his fair share of personal challenges in recent years, fiercely defended the movie against its critics. He told USA Today that the film centers around “facts that really can’t be denied.
“The importance of this movie being released after the Republican convention and before the Democratic convention is to give people a factual understanding of the roots of the Democratic party and some vaccination or inoculation against the propaganda viruses that are going to be unleashed at the Democratic convention.”
Welcome to the Democratic Convention where everything seems to have been nicely rigged in favor of Hillary pic.twitter.com/ZhWzjiedL7
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) July 25, 2016
