Before Bruce Willis stepped away from the public light, he worked on a project with Megan Fox which will hit Netflix in March.
However, before fans watch, they should know the movie, Midnight in the Switchgrass, didn't receive the best reviews from critics. While filming in 2020, Bruce was struggling with a difficult aphasia diagnosis, but the public wasn't yet aware. In fact, even when the film dropped in 2021, he still kept his critical health position a secret.
When the film came out, critics didn't hold back as they weren't aware of the major roadblocks Bruce faced while filming. It wasn't until 2022 that he went public with his aphasia diagnosis. By 2023, his family shared that the prognosis developed into dementia, too.
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After the film's release, Robert Kodjer at Flickering Myth knocked Bruce's performance, claiming it didn't seem like the actor was giving much of anything to his role. He wrote: “It’s astonishingly embarrassing how little effort he puts into the performance. IMDb facts such as ‘Bruce Willis shot all of his scenes in one day’ are starting to become common knowledge rather than something interesting to tell someone … At one point [he] exits the movie in such random fashion (his character doesn’t even get killed off), it’s as if they ran out of shooting time for his most likely one day and had to pivot to a new angle.”
Later, fans learned just how difficult the filming process was for Bruce when Alicia Haverland, a prop master on Midnight in the Switchgrass, told the Los Angeles Times: "Our stunt coordinator mentioned he was struggling. Our first AD saw he was struggling. You would have to be blind to not see him struggling.”
Bruce's attorney told the publication at the time: "My client continued working after his medical diagnosis because he wanted to work and was able to do so, just like many others diagnosed with aphasia who are capable of continuing to work. Because Mr. Willis appeared in those films, they could get financed. That resulted in literally thousands of people having jobs, many during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Critics weren't happy and neither were fans. On X, formerly known as Twitter, a fan said: "Please avoid Midnight in the Switchgrass on Netflix at all costs. I’m all over a crap film but this really takes the biscuit."
Another said: "I just wasted my time watching Midnight in the Switchgrass on Netflix. Not sure how this shows in top ten in Canada but it’s absolute shit. Everything about it is shit."
It wasn't all hate, though, as one saw the vision and noted: "Wow what a film. Midnight in the Switchgrass on Netflix. Gripping from start to finish.A great cast. It was told with empathy. At times it was disturbing but not graphic or gratuitous. I don't want to say anything about the plot. Just start watching and you will soon know. Epic."
