There's Only One Way To Watch Chris Pratt's New Movie Mercy While Actually Enjoying Yourself

A group of friends and I used to get together to watch the worst movies we could find and try to find something to enjoy. It wasn’t mean-spirited, but instead a way for us to blow off some steam and make each other laugh. I thought about those guys when I saw Mercy shortly before it premiered on the 2026 movie schedule, because our little movie crew would have gone bonkers for this new Chris Pratt movie.

While Mercy, which follows Pratt’s character as he attempts to prove to an AI-operated court that he didn’t murder his wife, is an objectively bad movie (we gave it a 1.5/5 review), there is one way I think you can enjoy it. It’s going to require a group of friends, a movie theater, an open mind, and the ability to laugh at absurd moments and tropes, so hear me out!

This Is One Of Those ‘Better Watch With A Group Of Friends’ Experiences

For the most part, press screenings are quiet, low-energy affairs where everyone is dialed into the movie for reviews, analysis, and personal enjoyment. No one talks, no one gets up, and it’s just two hours of darkness. Well, that wasn’t the case for Mercy, as everyone was laughing (both intentionally and unintentionally), making comments, and generally having a good time, even if the movie was a certified stinker.

If I had that much fun with a dozen or so professionals, I can only imagine how wild it would have been to see this with a group of rowdy friends with a soft spot for bad movies. The line delivery, the overacting, those scenes with that ridiculous helicopter/drone motorcycle-thing that Kali Reis’ character flies around on, I would love to see how my buddies back home would react.

I’m not saying the experience would make Mercy a better movie, but I am saying going in with the right crowd who have the right attitude would make this like a combination of Minority Report and The Room.

This Is Like 2025’s War Of The Worlds, But On A Big Screen

When I was watching Mercy, and even on the drive home, I kept drawing comparisons to Amazon’s War of the Worlds, one of the worst movies I watched last year. Both have ties to Amazon, both feature characters largely by themselves looking at screens for much of the runtime, and both have a certain level of camp (I’m not sure if this was intentional or not).

However, the big difference is that Mercy is in on the big screen (it was shot in IMAX and is available in 3D for some reason). Instead of watching a movie on my laptop alone in my basement, I was able to watch this with other living souls and could feed off their reactions. You could totally wait and watch this alone when it eventually starts streaming with an Amazon subscription, but you’d be missing out on the best part of this movie and probably end up being sad.

All of that being said, I don’t think Mercy is a good movie (it’s quite bad, actually), but I do think it makes for a fun and entertaining theater experience. Just make sure you go with people who are also into that type of thing.