It's fair to say that the new Superman movie has mixed reviews, but among those reviews are some really strong negative takes. ESPN College Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit jumped on the "this movie sucks" train with his own harsh words, echoing fellow sports commentator Mike Francesa. The two of them join the chorus of frustrated Superman fans who say the movie didn't deliver.
Agree with EVERY sentence he says. Movie was AWFUL! https://t.co/elU2OiQAnS
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) July 15, 2025
The Superman movie is facing major criticism that has even extended into college football
Herbstreit's harsh words were an echo of what Francesa said on his podcast. Herbstreit said he agreed with every single sentence of Francesa's Superman review, which was extremely harsh, calling the movie pure torture and stating that he would need promises of major cash to ever watch it again.
"What I’m getting into is this stunk! For someone who’s an old-time, TV show Superman guy trying to get entertained for a couple hours — and wants to see Superman — this movie was pure torture to sit through. Torture!"Mike Francesa
Before you think that Francesa is frustrated that the movie was full of political commentary, that wasn't his beef. He actually said, "I'm not getting into that part," and affirmed that's simply how Hollywood functions now with everyone needing to inject their political feelings. He was frustrated as a fan of Superman.
This movie has drawn harsh criticism, but many people still love it. It did pretty incredible numbers at the box office on opening weekend, raking in $125 million. It also has an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which isn't a home run, but it's not a failure either.
It's a movie that seems to be put in the category of you either "loved it" or you "hated it." For Herbstreit and Francesa, it was pure torture and not worth watching; in their opinion, it was a disrespect to the lore and genre of Superman.