A delightfully deranged actioner loved by critics but loathed by audiences survives an explosive assassination attempt on streaming

Critics and audiences aren’t obligated to even remotely agree on the merits – or perceived lack thereof – relating to any movie or TV show, but on the surface, you’d have thought Big Game would appeal to the latter a great deal more than the former.

Co-written and directed by Jalmari Helander, who gifted the world with twisted Christmas favorite Rare Exports and this year’s incredible Sisu, helmed the high concept romp that stars Samuel L. Jackson as the President of the United States. Not just any commander-in-chief, though, but one who gets shot down over the forests of Finland and then partners up with a kid to battle back against the assassins trying to take his life.

It’s every bit as delightfully deranged as it appears to be, but for some reason it just never caught on with crowds. As well as bombing at the box office by failing to even recoup its $10 million budget, Big Game only holds a Rotten Tomatoes audience approval rating of 34 percent with upwards of 5000 votes having been cast.

Contrast that to its critical reception that sees it Certified Fresh on a 77 percent score, and the chasm is as vast as it is mind-boggling. There’s plenty of charm to spare, and the bursts of ultra-violence are about as tongue-in-cheek as you’d expect, making it hard to figure out why Big Game has been designated as so unpopular.

Regardless of its surprising lack of viewer adoration, FlixPatrol has named it as one of the biggest hits on iTunes over the weekend, so folks are still watching it whether they end up loving or loathing the end product.