In Ari Aster’s dark comedy, Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff of a New Mexico town riven by political clashes and pandemic anxieties.

Despite its positives, "Eddington" feels hindered by the same quirks and indulgence that have made Ari Aster such a divisive filmmaker to begin with.

Eddington hits theaters on Friday, July 18, however, if you’d rather relive the trauma of 2020 in the comfort of your own home (a very on-brand move, given the subject matter), there may be good news on the horizon.

In the A24 horror auteur's ‘Eddington,’ Joaquin Phoenix is a small-town sheriff struggling to keep the peace in a locked-down town.

Eddington will only available to watch in a movie theater, when it opens in the U.S. in theaters on Friday, July 18. You can find a showing near you via Fandango. The Eddington movie is not yet available to watch online or on streaming.

The film takes place in May 2020 in the fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico, and becomes a battleground when Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) clashes with Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) over plans to bring an artificial intelligence data center to the community.

The first and maybe only true jump scare in Ari Aster’s “Eddington” comes right at the start. A barefoot old man trudges down the center of a road running through an empty Western town. He’s ranting and incoherently raving as he climbs a craggy hill silhouetted against a twilight sky. He gazes, or maybe glares, out at the town below.

Review: The problem with an anarchic satire like “Eddington” is that any criticism could easily be dismissed with a “that’s the point” counterargument.