Netflix’s The Old Guard has been the big ticket movie item this month thanks to strong reviews and the leading presence of one Charlize Theron. However, there’s another film that has quietly been popular on the subscription streaming service during the month of July and that’s none other than Nasim Pedrad’s Desperadoes.
When Desperadoes first hit Netflix on July 3, the movie quietly worked its way into Netflix’s Top 10 list, where it remained quietly crushing in the Top 4 for several weeks. This is a feat, not only because Desperadoes is certainly not one of the Netflix original movies the streamer put a lot of money and marketing power behind, but also because Desperadoes has been reviewed terribly.
The flick is running at a very low 14% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It only has 29 reviews, assumedly due to critics not taking it as a very big or serious Netflix release. Yet, it quietly keeps crushing to the point where it’s both been in the Top 10 and touted as being wildly popular by outlets like Forbes, who keep a running tally of the most popular movies on Netflix at a given time. So far in July, it’s Desperados and not The Old Guard that’s gained more traction with viewers, though that could change. That outlet calls Desperadoes an "unexpected hit," and given the lack of mainstream coverage and the reviews, that's probably the right way of putting it.
Netflix hasn’t been big about sharing ratings and viewership for its big TV shows and original movies, so the Top 10 list has kind of become a major way to tell what is hitting on the streamer and what isn’t. Over time, it's helped us to see how programs like Tiger King or on the movie end, Extraction, have maintained dominance for a considerable amount of time, even if we don't always know how many people are watching,
It’s worth pointing out that at the time of this writing, Desperados has fallen from the Top 10, ceding to mostly TV programs like Unsolved Mysteries, Captain Underpants and, of course, Zac Efron’s new Netflix series Down to Earth. Meanwhile, The Old Guard has continued its Netflix dominance and is still the #1 movie on Netflix. With a budget of $70 million, I’d guess it better be though…
Meanwhile, if rom-coms are more up your alley, Desperadoes follows Nasim Pedrad as she goes on a somewhat wild journey filled with shenanigans and another potential love interest in order to track down an email she sent a date about ghosting her after he has an accident while in Mexico. Anna Camp, Lamorne Morris, Robbie Amell and Sarah Burns also star. Maybe you’ll even contribute to pushing Desperados right back into the Top 10 again. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see what else Netflix has coming in July, we have you covered on that front as well.
