Netflix’s latest, much-scrapped original inevitably lands at No. 1 in 26 countries

If you’ve been a Netflix subscriber for a while, you know what it’s all about by now. The streaming service releases a brand new original film with a solid enough premise and a few recognizable faces, which then gets panned by critics but receives far more positive feedback from audiences before reaching the top of the charts. Enter on cue Old fathers.

The feature-length directorial debut of Bill Burr – who also stars and co-wrote the screenplay – focuses on a trio of middle-aged lifelong best friends who all later in life experience the trials and tribulations of fatherhood, such a shared experience that They find it difficult, both individually and collectively, to keep track of things.

Sure enough, Old fathers was hit hard by critics and, at the time of writing, has failed to surpass the 20 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Flipping the script, as Netflix’s biggest and brightest exclusives often do, the film was received very positively by viewers, with a user rating of 89 percent.

Check off the third – and most important – item on the to-do list, Old fathers also debuted as the second most-watched film in the global rankings, having reached number one in 26 countries and breaking the top 10 in over 50 additional countries FlixPatrol.

Incredibly, the only title it couldn’t displace was Will Smith’s Ridiculous Gemini manwhich just goes to show that bad movies are some of the platform’s most reliable performers.