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Ben Shapiro stepping up to review Wicked: For Good is exactly the kind of no-nonsense cultural engagement Americans need right now. Instead of reflexive snark or knee-jerk partisanship, he treated the movie like a serious piece of art to be judged on its merits — and that willingness to engage earns respect from people on both sides of the aisle. His review appeared as part of his show’s media coverage this week, and it matters because conservatives can and should win the cultural debate by actually understanding what we critique.
The movie itself landed in theaters on November 21, 2025, and the early reviews are mixed — better in some quarters, colder in others — which proves that the film world’s consensus machine isn’t always right. Critics have noted that the sequel leans darker and more emotionally raw than its predecessor, and the aggregates put it in the “good but flawed” category rather than the untouchable classic some in Hollywood hoped for. That kind of honest critical conversation is healthy; art should be judged, not canonized.
What conservatives should appreciate is that Wicked: For Good is still a film with real craftsmanship: great production design, committed actors, and musical ambition. Plenty of reviewers — and viewers — have singled out Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande for strong performances, which is the kind of artistic excellence we ought to celebrate regardless of political leanings. When people like Ben point out strengths as well as weaknesses, it disarms the left’s caricature that conservatives are simply against culture for culture’s sake.
At the same time, the movie industry’s habit of stretching a single Broadway act into a two-film cash grab deserves scrutiny from every pocketbook-conscious American. Even some critics have balked at the decision to split the musical into multiple tentpoles — it feels like a studio calculus more than an artistic one, and audiences are growing tired of being nickel-and-dimed. Conservatives should call out wasteful corporate greed when we see it and demand that filmmakers respect the audience’s time and money.
There’s also the question of tone: Wicked: For Good embraces a darker, more politically textured narrative, which is fine in art but can cross into heavy-handed moralizing when filmmakers prioritize messages over story. Jon M. Chu and the creative team have defended their choices and argued for emotional truth, and some critics admit the darker approach paid off artistically even if it wasn’t as crowd-pleasing as Act One. Appreciating craftsmanship while warning against preachiness is a conservative posture worth taking — support excellence, reject sermonizing.
Ultimately, hardworking Americans should judge Wicked: For Good for themselves — go see the performances, listen to the music, and make up your own mind instead of taking Hollywood’s press-releases as doctrine. Ben Shapiro’s review does exactly that: he engages, evaluates, and informs his audience without resorting to cheap sniping. That’s how we win the culture war — not by reflexively tearing everything down, but by standing proudly for quality and calling out the excesses when they occur.
