‘Eden’: The Film Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle Ad Was For

A-list director Ron Howard’s powerful, true tale of deviousness, set in the Galápagos Islands, is part ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and part ‘Lord of the Flies.’

Margret Wittmer (Sydney Sweeney) in "Eden." Vertical/Jasin Boland

R | 2h 9m | Drama, Survival Thriller, Biopic | 2025

“Eden” is getting a fair amount of critic-hate on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s an excellent movie. My guess is it’s for two reasons. First, they likely hate the fact that actress Sydney Sweeney successfully pulled off one of the best marketing campaigns in history for it. Second, director Ron Howard is trying to pull a Steven-Spielberg-directs-“Schindler’s List”-style artistic coup. How dare he.