Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions might be second-guessing their decision to pick up distribution of Gus Van Sant’s new film, The Sea of Trees. When the film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, it was met with boos from the audience and even harsher reviews from critics.

Despite the unpleasantries coming from fans and critics, Matthew McConaughey, the main face behind the film, responded in an extremely rational fashion.

“I heard that,” said the actor when asked about the booing during a press conference on Saturday. “And I would say, real simply, anyone has as much right to boo as they do to ovate," via The Wrap.

Back on Wednesday, Roadside and Lionsgate bought U.S. distribution for the film, which was one of the more anticipated projects heading into Cannes. It stars McConaughey as an American who goes to Japan’s “Suicide Forest” after his wife (Naomi Watts) dies. But instead of committing suicide, he finds another lost soul (Ken Watanabe).

Despite the pedigree of the stars in front of the camera and those working behind it, the film earned loud boos from the film journalists who saw it. Right after the screening, Variety’s Scott Foundas tweeted that the film was “one for nobody.” His colleague, Justin Chang, was also disappointed.

“How this dramatically stillborn, commercially unpromising Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions pickup managed to score a competition berth at Cannes (where it was greeted with a round of boos) is a vastly more impenetrable mystery than the one laid out in [Chris] Sparling’s screenplay,” Chang wrote in his review.

Eric Kohn at Indiewire called it Van Sant’s worst film and wrote that Sparling’s blunt screenplay is the movie’s “chief problem.”

HitFix’s Gregory Ellwood noted that the film is a clash between Van Sant’s often conflicting styles. He tries to make it a commercially-friendly movie, like Milk or Good Will Hunting, but also wants it to be similar to his experimental work.

“Gus Van Sant’s sticky, gooey side — previously on display in the likes of Finding Forrester and especially in the 2011 Restless — oozes out once more in the woefully sentimental and maudlin The Sea of Trees,” The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy wrote.

While other films have been booed at Cannes and gone on to earn a following, it doesn’t look like The Sea of Trees will be one of those, especially based on the reviews. McConaughey’s incredible streak - which reached new heights with Dallas Buyers Club - might be over.

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