Madame Web | Supporting star Emma Roberts says “I really enjoyed the movie”

Emma Roberts in Madame Web
Share this Article:

Emma Roberts, who appeared alongside Dakota Johnson in this year’s Madame Web, has defended the superhero thriller.


Released in February, Sony’s vaguely Spider-Man-related superhero thriller Madame Web had such obvious signs of reshoots and general re-tailoring that we’ve been scratching our heads over it ever since.

The critically derided film does have one strident fan, though: Emma Roberts, who plays one Mary Parker – a woman pregnant with a baby whom the movie seemingly can’t name for legal reasons. (Seriously, someone’s about to say what the baby’s name is in one standout scene, but the utterance is blanked out with the sound of a balloon bursting.)

Roberts, who’s currently promoting her new comedy Space Cadet, told Variety, “I personally really loved Madame Web. I really enjoyed the movie. I thought that everyone in it was great. The director, SJ Clarkson, I think did an amazing job. She’s the reason I wanted to do that movie.”

The actor then said that the film’s reception wasn’t necessarily due to its own flaws, but the way it was received by dwellers on the internet. You may recall Madame Web’s debut trailer, and its now-infamous line, “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died” and how it quickly became a meme.

Read more: Madame Web review | What did Sony expect to happen?

“If it wasn’t for internet culture and everything being made into a joke, I think that the reception would’ve been different,” Roberts said. “And that’s what bums me out about a lot of stuff, even stuff that I’ve done, is people just make such a joke out of everything now.”

Roberts’ defence of Madame Web may be slightly coloured by the reception of Space Cadet, in which she stars as a carefree 20-something who blags her way into a NASA astronaut training program. Emerging on Prime Video on the 4th July, the film – which Roberts also produced – hasn’t had the easiest time with critics, either. (The Guardian, for example, gave it one star.)

“Producing stuff has made me realise you can’t really hate anything because it means that people have really, really, really tried and succeeded,” Roberts said. “If you’re watching something then that’s a success.”

Read more: Madame Web | A look at what went so incredibly, fascinatingly wrong

Share this Article:

More like this