It may have been a total flop following its initial release, but the 2017 film CHiPS is finally finding success. Five years after hitting theaters and earning a certified rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, the Dax Shepard-starring action comedy film is slowly climbing the Netflix streaming charts, even breaking into the Top 5.
Released in March 2017 and based on Rick Rosner’s TV series of the same name, which ran from 1977 until 1983, CHiPS stars Shepard as Officer Jon Baker, a former motorbike rider who’s trying to put his life and marriage back together, alongside Michael Peña as Frank “Ponch” Poncherello, an undercover FBI agent investigating a multimillion dollar heist. The two are new California Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles who are forced to work together, for better or for worse. The movie is directed by Shepard and also stars Rosa Salazar, Adam Brody, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
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Now available for streaming on Netflix, CHiPS has been gaining plenty of attention, so much so that it has shot to the top of the streaming charts. As of Monday, the movie ranked as the No. 3 title overall on Netflix U.S., where it only falls behind Sea Beast and Persuasion, with Sing 2 and 14 Strong rounding out the Top 5. Although the movie hasn’t yet reached the global Netflix streaming chart, Flixpatrol data shows that CHiPS is making an impact in other markets. In Australia, the film ranked as the No. 6 movie as on Sunday. It has also broken onto the streaming charts in Estonia, Latvia, and New Zealand, though it has since fallen out of the Top 10 running.
The film’s Netflix success comes as a bit of a surprise given how poorly CHiPS performed elsewhere. Although Netflix subscribers seem to be loving it, the same cannot be said for critics, who gave the movie a measly 19% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a critics consensus reading, “CHiPS abandons the endearing innocence of its source material, using the titular cop show’s premise as a setup for aggressively lowbrow gags that prove only mildly arresting at best.” The film only managed to score a 45% audience score. CHiPS was so bad that it was awarded the Barry L. Bumstead Award at the 38th Golden Raspberry Awards.
Regardless of the overall consensus about the film, CHiPS is apparently winning over Netflix subscribers. After watching CHiPS, fans of Shepard can view his other titles on the platform, including the Netflix original titles The Ranch and El Camino Christmas, among others.
