'The Banker,' Apple's first major movie, is getting bad reviews as it hits theaters after a delayed release

Travis Clark

Mar 5, 2020, 20:27 IST

Apple

"The Banker"

Apple is releasing its first major movie, "The Banker," to theaters this weekend, but the reviews have been underwhelming.
It has a "rotten" 57% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a "mixed or average" 60 score on Metacritic.
Apple delayed the movie's initial December release after Bernard Garrett Jr, the son of one of its real-life subjects, was accused by his half sisters of molesting them when they were young.
"The Banker" is set to hit Apple's streaming service, Apple TV Plus, on March 20.
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Apple's first major movie, "The Banker," is finally getting released to theaters this weekend, but the critic reviews are less than stellar.

It has a "rotten" 57% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a "mixed or average" score on Metacritic with a grade of 60. The response has largely been a shrug of the shoulders, which is underwhelming considering Apple originally positioned it as a potential awards-season contender. It bought the worldwide rights to the movie last year for "$20 million based on an eight-minute sizzle reel," according to The New York Times.

Variety wrote that the "The Banker" is "so choked with neutral detail that it's a little bloodless." The AV Club wrote that it "doesn't take the narrative risks necessary to tell its story powerfully."

The movie's initial December release was delayed after Bernard Garrett Jr - a producer on the movie and the son of one of its real-life subjects, Bernard Garret Sr (played by the actor Anthony Mackie) - was accused by his half sisters of molesting them when they were young.

Garrett Jr said the alleged abuse "simply never happened." He requested that his credit on the movie as a coproducer be removed after the allegations, the director George Nolfi told Deadline in December.

Apple announced in January that it would release the movie to theaters on March 6 and on its streaming service, Apple TV Plus, on March 20.

"We wanted to take the time to understand the situation at hand - and after reviewing the information available to us, including documentation of the filmmakers' research, we've decided to make this important and enlightening film available to viewers," Apple said in a statement at the time.