Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega’s Art World Satire 'The Gallerist' Is a Turd in a Can

1 week ago 5

Published Feb 3, 2026, 3:29 PM EST

Ross Bonaime is the Senior Film Editor at Collider. He is a Virginia-based critic, writer, and editor who has written about all forms of entertainment for Paste Magazine, Brightest Young Things, Flickchart, The Free Lance-Star, and more. Ross graduated from George Mason University with a focus in communications and journalism and a minor in film and video studies.

Ross is a Tomatometer-approved critic, a member of the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, and a member of the Critics Choice Association. He has loved movies ever since he saw Cinderella in the theater as a kid, he can quote 10 Things I Hate About You and Wet Hot American Summer from memory, and is fascinated by all things Georges Méliès and Charlie Chaplin.

The Gallerist, the third feature film by director Cathy Yan, begins with an appropriate quote by Andy Warhol: “Art is what you can get away with.” While this statement is certainly fitting in this story about an art gallery, its clientele, art critics, and the like, it's an even more apt statement about The Gallerist itself. In a world where we already have had films like The Square, Velvet Buzzsaw, Art School Confidential, Exit Through the Gift Shop, and plenty of other films parodying the absurdism and pretension of the art world, it almost feels like Yan is trying to get away with making yet another satirical take on modern art, but without saying anything new we haven’t heard before. Despite a game cast and a clever concept, The Gallerist is neither a biting critique nor is it a successful comedy — it’s just bland art.

'The Gallerist' Takes Us Into the World of Modern Art

Natalie Portman stars as Polina Polinski, who owns a gallery in Miami that was once a Jiffy Lube. The gallery is struggling, with the hopes that their latest exhibition by unknown artist Stella Burgess (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) will help, but things aren’t looking good. When a popular online art critic, Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis), comes to visit the gallery, Polina and Dalton get in an argument, and while it seems like it’ll be bad for business, Dalton ends up slipping on some water and impaling himself on one of Stella’s pieces.

Instead of alerting the authorities, Polina decides to leave the body and call it art, much to the chagrin of her assistant, Kiki (Jenna Ortega). And, of course, the exhibit becomes a smash success, which leads Polina and Kiki on a mission to get this piece sold, out of their gallery, and get the blood of their hands. This includes getting help from Polina’s rich ex-husband (Sterling K. Brown), a shrewd art dealer (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and a potential art buyer (Daniel Brühl), while also trying to avoid the questioning girlfriend of Dalton (Charli XCX). Will Polina and Kiki get rid of this art piece/corpse, or are they headed to jail, and even worse, losing what credibility they have left in the art world?

'The Gallerist' Doesn’t Have Anything New or Interesting To Say About the Art World

The Gallerist begins with a wild idea that it stretches the believability of for the sake of extending this comedy of errors. Once the flies start buzzing and the blood pooling around Dalton keeps growing, it’s hard to believe that even the most unseasoned art fans would question what was going on here. The extent to which this goes without hardly any tension or pushback from anyone is even more egregious. The Gallerist wants us to believe that there’s danger around the corner, but it’s not able to make us worry for a second that things won’t end up well for those privileged people of the art world.

Speaking of which, The Gallerist doesn’t have anything interesting to say about the art world that hasn’t been presented before. Even I Want Your Sex, Gregg Araki’s modern art critique, which also debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, had a more biting take than this. The story, written by Yan and James Pedersen, doesn’t go much farther than showcasing how ridiculous modern art fans can be, how up their own asses they often are, and how, as Warhol said, you can get away with calling anything art. It wouldn’t be hard to avoid this fairly simple take if The Gallerist was at least funny, but it never achieves more than a few giggles here and there, mostly thanks to the absurdity of its characters and the silliness of how far this is going.

Even stranger is how The Gallerist seems like it’s going to say something about how Black artists can become marginalized with their own work, as Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Stella is often stuck on the sidelines, watching Polina and her team do whatever they want with her piece. They alter it, try to sell it, and change the description, all without the input of Stella. It’s as though The Gallerist might be setting this up as the film’s larger statement, but it squanders this chance to make Stella little more than set dressing in her own exhibit.

'The Gallerist' Has Some Decent Performances Amongst Its Problems

Image via Sundance

As for the cast, most of these characters are portrayed as larger-than-life caricatures. Galifianakis pulls it off because the ridiculousness is part of who this barely-a-critic critic is, and he is having a decent bit of fun facing off against Portman in his one scene. Randolph is also strong as the artist who wonders about her talent as others manipulate her work into something that she didn’t intend. Also stealing every scene she’s in is Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Marianne, who at least grounds this story somewhat, as everyone else runs around like chickens with their heads cut off (or like art gallery workers with a dead Zach Galifianakis on their hands).

But the rest of the cast is too ridiculous and set in their own clichés to fully be effective. Portman’s Polina shows signs of depth, as we know she’s struggling and basically wouldn’t be able to afford this gallery without her divorce money from the Tuna King of Orlando. We also briefly see layers to Jenna Ortega’s Kiki, who left a more prestigious position to work with Polina. But again, these are just slight details that don’t add much at all, other than the illusion of depth. Even more extreme are Brühl and Charli XCX, who are both almost cartoon characters who feel more like pawns in this story than actual people.

The Gallerist is a disappointment, especially considering that Yan’s last movie as director was the vastly underrated DC film, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) from 2020, a hyper-stylized, playful, and unconventional take on the superhero genre. It would’ve been wonderful to see that version of Yan here, creating an unhinged look at the art world that was experimental, spirited, and daring in the way that film was. At one point in The Gallerist, a character mentions that they purchased Artist’s Shit, a piece by Piero Manzoni, that is supposedly a tin can with feces inside. And while some people might see The Gallerist as a work of art, really, it’s just a turd in a can.

The Gallerist premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

Release Date January 24, 2026

Runtime 94 Minutes

Director Cathy Yan

Cast

Pros & Cons

Some of the supporting roles, like Zach Galifianakis and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, are good but underserved.
It is occasionally amusing amongst all the wild antics.

The Gallerist is an art world critique that doesn't really have anything new to say.
While depth is hinted at for these characters, they end up mostly one-dimensional.
It's hard to believe how long this charade would actually go on.

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