‘Cruella’ Star Paul Walter Hauser Hits Back At ‘Cheap Shot’ Reviews

The much anticipated “101 Dalmatians” villain origin story “Cruella” was just released with mixed reviews.

“Cruella” stars Emma Stone as a rising fashion star as she becomes the iconic villain we all know. Through her journey, she becomes on again/off again friends with Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson).

Paul Walter Hauser, who plays Horace, told Insider he is surprised by the negative reviews.

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“I just read that review, it was one of maybe six reviews I read, and [critic Richard Lawson] was kind of having fun being mean spirited, sort of doing his word play instead of dissecting the film,” Hauser said of the Vanity Fair review.

Continuing, “I just felt it was a cheap shot so I defended my movie. I think we made a great film, it may not be for everybody, but it does so many more things right than it does wrong.”

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Hauser further explained that film reviewers often don’t properly critique movies in his eyes.

“If you feel you hated two things, but we did these five other things great, then you can’t tell people not to see the movie. That’s ridiculous. It’s like me telling you not to eat at a restaurant because I didn’t like the toilet paper in the bathroom and my waiter was unattractive. You would be like, ‘Um, how was the chicken?’ So that’s my whole take on film criticism,” he said. “People getting riled up that it’s an edgy and dark movie: No, it’s not. You’re not watching dogs getting made into coats.”

Hauser also said that if you don’t like “Emma Stone and Emma Thompson you should probably get your pulse checked.”

“Cruella” is now in theatres and on Disney+ Premier Access.