Everyone's watching Hillbilly Elegy on Netflix as Trump taps Mamaw's real grandson as running mate

Hillbilly Elegy is getting a massive boost in popularity, courtesy of the Republican National Convention.

After Donald Trump selected J.D. Vance — the subject of the 2020 film and wrote the book on which it’s based — as his running mate, the Ron Howard drama has expanded its daily audience by over 1,100% on Netflix, according to Luminate.

The entertainment data source reported that Hillbilly Elegy had 19.2 million minutes of viewership on Monday, July 15, up from 1.5 million minutes on Sunday, July 14. That’s an increase of 1,180%. The film had 164,000 total views on Monday, compared to only 13,000 on Sunday, according to Luminate.

At the time of writing, the movie holds the #6 spot on Netflix’s list of the top 10 movies in the United States today.

The movie sees Vance (played by Gabriel Basso as an adult and Owen Asztalos as a child) struggle to reconcile his tense working-class upbringing in suburban Ohio with his rigorous academic career at Yale Law School. Amy Adams portrayed Vance’s heroin-addicted mother Bev, while Glenn Close, in the film’s most memorable performance, took the role of Mamaw, the author’s grandmother.

Close’s makeup-heavy performance earned her both an Academy Award nomination and a Razzie nomination for supporting actress. The film also received an Oscar nod for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

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The film received primarily negative reviews, including Entertainment Weekly’s, which highlighted its unsuccessful focus and perspective. “Humanity: That's one thing missing from Hillbilly Elegy, and it's missing entirely,” the review opines. “Actual triumphs of spirit are hacked to pieces or left out. At one point, young J.D. gets good at Algebra, ditches his nameless go-nowhere friends, and finds a part-time job — all in a brisk montage. Closing chyrons explain that Bev got clean. Would've been interesting to see that, but then we might've missed J.D.'s own achievements. There's an eerie myopia here, really, generations of trauma sacrificed at the altar of one man's professional success.”

Hillbilly Elegy is streaming on Netflix.