Speaker 1: Warning, Today's episode contains spoilers for Selene Songs Materialists, so
Speaker 1: go and see that before you listen this, or just
Speaker 1: listen to this so you can understand the divisive discourse
Speaker 1: around what was supposed to be the summer's biggest rom com.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 3: My name is Rosie Night and I'm Joel Monique. Oh
Speaker 3: hi Joel. So good to have you here, and welcome
Speaker 3: back to X ray Vision, the podcast where we dive deep,
Speaker 3: deep deep into your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: Movies, comics, and pop culture. Coming to you at iHeart Podcast,
Speaker 1: where we'll be bringing you at least three episodes a week,
Speaker 1: plus news news Saturday's News.
Speaker 4: In today's episode, we've got a special little double date.
Speaker 4: We're joined by A Boo and In to break down
Speaker 4: our feel on Slen Song's divisive new movie Materialists.
Speaker 3: Let's let's talk about it, Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Let's introduce our panel, welcoming a super producers, A Boo
Speaker 1: and Aaron.
Speaker 3: Hello. Hello, Hello, how are you feeling guys?
Speaker 5: I'm feeling tentatively excited for this conversation.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think it's going to be very interesting and
Speaker 1: very actually equally sided. We're going to have a dueling
Speaker 1: double date situation and a boo. I believe it's going
Speaker 1: to be you and Joel versus me and Aaron, Me
Speaker 1: and Aaron, the controversial take havas as usual. So let's
Speaker 1: start with the big question here, and we're going to
Speaker 1: do a little quote from the movie. I'm going to
Speaker 1: do a good This is going to be my Chris
Speaker 1: Evans impression. When I see your face, I see wrinkles
Speaker 1: and children that look like you. So the big question is,
Speaker 1: is the materialists a romantic comedy?
Speaker 3: Guys A boo, Let's start with you.
Speaker 5: I don't know what kind of math y'all were doing
Speaker 5: watching this movie, but there is romance, there is comedy,
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's a com okay on.
Speaker 6: Your side of boo. But I don't think it's a comedy.
Speaker 4: I think it's the satire of a romantic comedy, which
Speaker 4: I really value and think is like vitally.
Speaker 6: Important for the culture right now.
Speaker 4: I think if in order to reach romantic comedy uh
Speaker 4: status to me, you need to be way heavier on
Speaker 4: the comedy. There are a few light jokes here and there.
Speaker 4: It's spattered throughout, but they're.
Speaker 7: Good jokes and they're fine.
Speaker 6: There's I'm not.
Speaker 4: Criticizing the jokes that are in there, but the jokes
Speaker 4: are few and far in between. It's not a jokey movie.
Speaker 4: The point of the movie is not for you to
Speaker 4: like it's so funny and charming. It's like the antithesis
Speaker 4: of the movie, and so it doesn't quite feel the
Speaker 4: rom com status for me, a genre I'm absolutely obsessed with.
Speaker 6: But it does critique the rom com which I really value.
Speaker 3: I would say, I do agree.
Speaker 1: I actually went into this hoping for the kind of
Speaker 1: bombastic rom com that I believe that they promised us,
Speaker 1: and I do.
Speaker 3: I love a marketing campaign.
Speaker 1: That subverts your expectations, so I get what they were doing.
Speaker 1: But for me, I wanted the version of the movie
Speaker 1: where you had the narrator. I wanted the version of
Speaker 1: the movie where it was more about this kind of
Speaker 1: interplay between the three of them, and that was more
Speaker 1: of a traditional romantic comedy. I think for me, there
Speaker 1: were some elements, and ironically, I think that something that
Speaker 1: Selene did really well here is it does feature many
Speaker 1: of the tropes and trappings of a romantic comedy in
Speaker 1: unexpected ways, even the negatives in my opinion, Like there
Speaker 1: is a plot line in this movie that feels very
Speaker 1: much like it could have come from like a nineties
Speaker 1: rom com, where we would all be looking back at
Speaker 1: it and being like.
Speaker 3: Why was this included?
Speaker 1: But they try and handle it here with more gravitas,
Speaker 1: And that is a plotline about a sexual assault, and
Speaker 1: that for me was when it took me straight out
Speaker 1: the way it was dealt with, the kind of way
Speaker 1: it was approached.
Speaker 3: That took me out of the kind of comedy space.
Speaker 3: I also feel like.
Speaker 1: I was not expecting it, so I think that immediately
Speaker 1: shifted part of my enjoyment.
Speaker 3: Of the movie.
Speaker 1: And also another thing, this is kind of funny because
Speaker 1: we were just talking about the about Friendship and the
Speaker 1: a twenty four movie with Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd,
Speaker 1: which is kind of shot and filmed like a Lifetime movie,
Speaker 1: a kind of psychological thriller. There were moments in this
Speaker 1: film where I legitimately thought the movie was going to
Speaker 1: be about Dakota Johnson's character hunting down the guy who
Speaker 1: sexually assaulted her client.
Speaker 7: It's actually she is.
Speaker 1: She's outside the movie. She's outside, and she's wearing like
Speaker 1: a fucking trench coat and a baseball cap, and she's
Speaker 1: like spying and I'm like, okay, so is this what
Speaker 1: everyone said when they didn't know what it was gonna
Speaker 1: like they didn't see the way it was going.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I for me, the rom com was not
Speaker 3: calming enough. Aaron, how did you feel about that specific
Speaker 3: element of the film.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean in the press tour, they talked up
Speaker 8: that this is a rom com. They talked up Selene
Speaker 8: is so good at doing a new version of a
Speaker 8: rom com. And I think they could have told this
Speaker 8: story as a rom com, like there is definitely the
Speaker 8: beats here, as Joel was saying, it hits a lot
Speaker 8: of the tropes of a rom com. This could have
Speaker 8: been in the late nineties. We could have had this
Speaker 8: exact same story about you know, head versus heart when
Speaker 8: you're trying to pick a relationship, and I don't.
Speaker 7: Think it was. I loved a lot of the moments
Speaker 7: were very funny.
Speaker 8: I think the bridesmaids prancing in as like this like
Speaker 8: cohesive little unit. Chris Evans' roommates, Chris Evans play was
Speaker 8: as someone who sees a ton of theater in New
Speaker 8: York also small theater faction that was incredible. And then
Speaker 8: like obviously her interactions with every single that she's trying
Speaker 8: to take with that, and the movie starts off and
Speaker 8: you think it's gonna be a rom com because of
Speaker 8: the like are you single? Give me a call, I'll
Speaker 8: set you up with someone kind of thing, Like just
Speaker 8: I thought this was gonna be a nice, easy, romantic comedy,
Speaker 8: and I don't think it was here.
Speaker 6: Can I you actually, Aaron? That really highlights something for me?
Speaker 4: Uh, it's the goofy factor that's missing. You need like
Speaker 4: a good wrong I'll give you be like, uh the
Speaker 4: wedding singer or like a made Manhattan is not even
Speaker 4: my favorite Jennifer Lopez.
Speaker 8: Yeah, there's no singing sorry with the fringe on top
Speaker 8: and Ira walks in, which can be comedy and then
Speaker 8: also an emotional beat. This this didn't bring comedy with
Speaker 8: the emotional beats.
Speaker 3: I would okay boo, I had you had a count
Speaker 3: it to Aaron, so please share.
Speaker 5: Well, really, I have a counter to this whole rom
Speaker 5: com narrative I you seem to be dissecting. First of all,
Speaker 5: it sounds like y'all got duped by the marketing I did,
Speaker 5: especial in a movie that you didn't get. I didn't
Speaker 5: watch a trailer. I just saw that Pedro Pascal and
Speaker 5: Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson were in this movie, and
Speaker 5: I was.
Speaker 6: Like, sure, you mean same boat?
Speaker 5: And I just randomly went to go see this movie
Speaker 5: based off of just the poster and a couple of
Speaker 5: people tweeting about it. I had no idea what how
Speaker 5: this movie was marketed until I looked it up afterward.
Speaker 5: I so understandably it seems like it was marketed as
Speaker 5: a rom com and you go in and you realize.
Speaker 3: I will say I did. I did absolutely get duped.
Speaker 1: Like when I came out, I had quite a visceral
Speaker 1: response to this movie.
Speaker 3: It just it really wasn't for me.
Speaker 1: But when I came out, I was talking to my friends,
Speaker 1: so I went to go see it with and I
Speaker 1: was like, guys, we got to find the guy who
Speaker 1: cut that trailer with the narrator and charge him with
Speaker 1: fraud because that ship is not the movie that I
Speaker 1: paid to see.
Speaker 5: That's certainly not the movie. But I will say, all
Speaker 5: of you seem to be basically describing the Notebook, and
Speaker 5: you realize you can stream that on peacock.
Speaker 3: That's not a romantic comedy. It's a romantic tragedy that's
Speaker 3: more of this kind of movie because it's my favorite.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, no, I will say the outcome of this
Speaker 3: movie is a tragedy in my opinion, for Dakota Johnson's character,
Speaker 3: who honestly gotta tell you sad, sad story. Guys.
Speaker 1: I actually can no longer remember her name, even though
Speaker 1: I saw this movie like this, Lucy Lucy, oh forgettable, forgettable.
Speaker 1: But you know me, I love to coach Johnson in
Speaker 1: my head. I did at the beginning before this.
Speaker 5: Okay, we do need to we do need to hash
Speaker 5: that out later then, yeah, because I thought it ended properly,
Speaker 5: but apparently you must chill with theiaire.
Speaker 3: I don't even think it's about that.
Speaker 1: But anyway, let's past to an ad break before it
Speaker 1: gets too spicy. And when we come back after hopefully
Speaker 1: some ads for like Grinder or something, then you know,
Speaker 1: we will come back in the Door Company.
Speaker 3: We will come back and discuss the ending and much more.
Speaker 1: And we're back and in the middle we were all
Speaker 1: fighting each other and it was crazy, but we survived.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what the movie is really about.
Speaker 1: With another quote, and this is a Dakota Johnson quote.
Speaker 1: She kind of just always talks like she's in Madam Webb,
Speaker 1: so to be like, you know how to do the math?
Speaker 3: Don't you too too much inflection? I think she has
Speaker 3: a lot of inflection, but it's weird inflection.
Speaker 7: So you're saying it's more of a like a weird inflection.
Speaker 3: You know how to do the math, don't you?
Speaker 1: Something like that? But anyway, I could never be to
Speaker 1: Cota Johnson. She is a queen in my life. I
Speaker 1: would dream to look at her shoes in this film.
Speaker 1: She's she's beautiful and crazy and has never ever been
Speaker 1: poor in her fucking life.
Speaker 3: That casting is insane and what were you thinking?
Speaker 1: So let's talk about this because I do think a
Speaker 1: year eight thousand dollars a year in New York, one
Speaker 1: person and.
Speaker 3: Bedroom.
Speaker 1: And but let's talk about this aspect because I do
Speaker 1: feel like, as someone who has been out of the
Speaker 1: dating game for like a decade, I do feel like
Speaker 1: maybe this is the side of the movie that did
Speaker 1: not speak to me that I did not get, which
Speaker 1: is kind of the movie from a lot of what
Speaker 1: I've been reading is the movie as a take on
Speaker 1: the state of modern dating.
Speaker 3: So aboo.
Speaker 1: You were someone who brought this up like instantly when
Speaker 1: we were having this conversation, So let's talk about that.
Speaker 1: Is this a satire on modern dating and the way
Speaker 1: that people value each other or perceive value in each other?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think that's ninety percent of what this movie
Speaker 5: is about, and the other percent is just romcom tropes.
Speaker 5: Like at the core of this movie, it's exploring the
Speaker 5: way that modern dating has been shaped and warped by
Speaker 5: capitalism and the prevalence of apps and just the reprioritization
Speaker 5: of what people are looking for in partnerships and in connection. Right.
Speaker 5: Pedro Pascal at one point makes the sales pitch to
Speaker 5: go to Johnson and says, this is a good investment.
Speaker 7: I am rich, I.
Speaker 5: Can take care of you, and you are what I'm
Speaker 5: looking for and a partner, someone who's smart and knows
Speaker 5: the world and loves me for who I am. I
Speaker 5: can't find that anywhere else. I have found it in you,
Speaker 5: So this is just a win win, like let's shake hands,
Speaker 5: sign on the dotted line, business deal home run. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and I will say I I too, am not in
Speaker 5: the game, but what I hear from my perpetually single
Speaker 5: friends who are out there on the apps, like in
Speaker 5: the trenches. That's what it's like out there.
Speaker 6: It's awful.
Speaker 5: People are just like have checklists of things that you
Speaker 5: have to hit and if you don't, then you get ghosted.
Speaker 5: And much of the like comedy in this film was
Speaker 5: actually kind of on the nose, you know, like they
Speaker 5: have to be six foot, I'm looking for someone.
Speaker 7: Who's a little more mature.
Speaker 3: Who's a little more mature, you know, seven That was
Speaker 3: a good.
Speaker 5: Like like what I hear about modern dating from friends
Speaker 5: who are out there, that is literally what it's like
Speaker 5: like people splitting hairs over two years of age difference.
Speaker 7: I'm gonna I'm going to spoil something for you.
Speaker 8: Pre apps dating was the same way with different things.
Speaker 8: It maybe and over here had a very different dating
Speaker 8: experience than most of us. But I do believe in
Speaker 8: ten years ago people still had a kind of thing.
Speaker 8: This person isn't attractive enough, this person isn't tall enough,
Speaker 8: this person doesn't make enough Money's still.
Speaker 5: I guess, but they're not things that you can swipe
Speaker 5: and filter on an app. I think the way you
Speaker 5: go about it has dramatically been reshaped by capitalism.
Speaker 3: Basically, Okay, Joel, I want to hear your take on this.
Speaker 6: I agree with both of you, but in slightly different ways.
Speaker 6: So yeah, I agree.
Speaker 4: The people have always been a little bit picky about
Speaker 4: who they want to date, Like there's there's a dream
Speaker 4: most of us having our head of like this is
Speaker 4: what my ideal partner would be, and you're out looking
Speaker 4: for that. So I totally agree with that. I think
Speaker 4: what really has changed is kind of a twofold issue,
Speaker 4: and it is relying on capitalism. It's a you have
Speaker 4: social media, and you have.
Speaker 6: It's really just the social media aspect.
Speaker 4: For me, I think a lot of what people are
Speaker 4: looking for when they're out dating is like, I want
Speaker 4: somebody who looks good next to me in a photo.
Speaker 4: I want somebody who's going to actually like, oh, you
Speaker 4: don't know. The second thing is that we've been taught
Speaker 4: to look at ourselves as brands.
Speaker 7: You're branding yourself.
Speaker 4: So not only are you like using social media as
Speaker 4: like a platform for yourself to brag your connect with
Speaker 4: your community or whatever, but there's also this idea that
Speaker 4: no matter what area of your life you're looking at it,
Speaker 4: you should understand your brand. How do you come across
Speaker 4: and dating, what do you bring to the table, Like
Speaker 4: what are you getting out of this person? And you
Speaker 4: think about it in your career, you think about in
Speaker 4: your family, You definitely think about it on your social spaces.
Speaker 4: And I think that's what they're really tapping into every
Speaker 4: time they sit down to have a conversation Dakota Johnathan's
Speaker 4: character in Peter Pescal's it's really about their brand. What
Speaker 4: is your brand? How do you plus my brand? How
Speaker 4: do you how can I plus yours? I see value
Speaker 4: in your brand? Even their expressions of love are talked
Speaker 4: about in a business language.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's why I really write. But they don't. There's
Speaker 7: there's no social media at all in this movie.
Speaker 1: But you don't need to understand the I do think
Speaker 1: it's I do kind of think it's interesting, and to me,
Speaker 1: I think I love Honestly, you guys are like, I'm
Speaker 1: wishing that that is the movie I watched, Like, no question,
Speaker 1: I think what you're talking about is so interesting because
Speaker 1: also I'm going to say something and I saw a
Speaker 1: great uh you know Kristin Yunsu, who's a great book.
Speaker 1: She calls herself a retired film critic. I think now
Speaker 1: but she has a letterboxed and on her review, which
Speaker 1: was two and a half stars, because I was like
Speaker 1: reading every letter box review after this, I was so
Speaker 1: interested and she made a great point, and I think
Speaker 1: this is kind of my issue with the movie as
Speaker 1: a whole. It's like, that's all well and good to
Speaker 1: have those, but like in my mind, I'm thinking, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: but you have got like three of the most conventionally
Speaker 1: attractive people on earth, So what kind of statement are
Speaker 1: you making. I know it's like, oh, it's even hard
Speaker 1: for them, but like, what is it like if you're fat?
Speaker 3: Like what is it like the people they call fat.
Speaker 1: In this movie, like multiple times are so small and
Speaker 1: it doesn't and k Yeah, like k y K on
Speaker 1: her letterbox, which is like such a good follow her
Speaker 1: review of it was like, you know the scene with
Speaker 1: the white woman who only wanted to date white people,
Speaker 1: she is like, Selene, have you looked at your entire cast?
Speaker 3: Like you think you're saying something deep, but your entire
Speaker 3: main cast is all white people. So I think there
Speaker 3: is an issue with this film, which is like there
Speaker 3: are a lot of things that wants to say.
Speaker 1: Will also just being like a vibes movie and really like,
Speaker 1: I don't. I think that it's kind of hard the
Speaker 1: trappings of what the trappings of what it's trying to say. Also,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be real, guys, this is a movie
Speaker 1: about rich people, and yet it tries to be a
Speaker 1: movie about poor people, or at least people who perceive
Speaker 1: themselves as poor. And for me, I found that incredibly
Speaker 1: hard to stomach. Like, I'm gonna be real with you.
Speaker 1: If you are thirty five and you meet a really
Speaker 1: sweet guy who's so nice to you, who's like, I
Speaker 1: will support your business initiatives, I will give you money,
Speaker 1: date him. Don't fucking date a guy who is in
Speaker 1: a fucking lives in a shitty bedroom. Has not changed
Speaker 1: that who shouted at you in the middle of the street,
Speaker 1: who screamed at you, who didn't like the fact that
Speaker 1: you want to go out to eat dinner, Like that's
Speaker 1: not a good relationship, that's not passion, that's not love.
Speaker 1: And I think that those kind of narratives where it's
Speaker 1: this idea of like you've got to pick the person
Speaker 1: you're in love with.
Speaker 5: It also the guy that you can call when you're
Speaker 5: going through an awful thing.
Speaker 1: She doesn't have any friends. Can I just tell you
Speaker 1: that guy's friends.
Speaker 5: She can call the billionaire that she's going to Italy
Speaker 5: with and a week can talk to him about the
Speaker 5: work stress she's going through, But she doesn't. You know, Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's because at the instinct is to like to go to.
Speaker 1: Well, is the instinct to go back to the comfortable
Speaker 1: thing that you had for five years when you were
Speaker 1: young that you recognize.
Speaker 3: I just I did see like the kind of controversy
Speaker 3: over this, like broke boy propaganda.
Speaker 1: Thing, and I have to say, I have to say
Speaker 1: I support the girls who are saying that, because I
Speaker 1: do think there's an element of that to this. But
Speaker 1: I also just think like it's a very easy thing
Speaker 1: to be extremely rich, to be making movies and be saying, oh,
Speaker 1: you know what, you should pick the poor guy. Like,
Speaker 1: to me, it feels like my restview my review, who's
Speaker 1: also like a really hot, conventionally attractive guy.
Speaker 3: My review was quite I'm not you.
Speaker 1: I try not to be like very scathing, but occasionally
Speaker 1: I have very visceral reactions to movies, and I think
Speaker 1: this was a visceral reaction movie that I haven't kind
Speaker 1: of felt since I watched the first Doctor Strange movie,
Speaker 1: which is like incredibly ablest and like I was like
Speaker 1: crying in the theater at the end, like what the
Speaker 1: fuck is going on here?
Speaker 3: And uh, and this movie I kind of had a
Speaker 3: similar thing.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna tell I feel kind of ashamed because
Speaker 1: I feel like the review is really harsh, but I
Speaker 1: do stand by it, and I think that even if
Speaker 1: I worded it differently, it's still it would still be true.
Speaker 1: But it to me, I watched it and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is like a hallmark movie for rich New Yorkers
Speaker 1: who fucked o Kate away at once and twiddle their
Speaker 1: fucking celine whatever three thousand dollar diamond bracelet, thinking.
Speaker 3: Oh, maybe I'd be better off if I'd have gone
Speaker 3: with like that. Maybe I'd be happier if I was poor, Like.
Speaker 4: It's okay, crazy, I have to pull over. We're pulling over,
Speaker 4: We're pulling over.
Speaker 6: Here's this is.
Speaker 7: A valid take on movie. I think I see.
Speaker 4: How you could watch this film and walk away with
Speaker 4: this take. And I don't even think it's completely invalid.
Speaker 4: I do think, okay for good critique poverty in filmmaking
Speaker 4: The Apartment His Apartment pretty accurate. That painted over light switches,
Speaker 4: like really tight spaces duty.
Speaker 7: Okay, bathroom cabinet that won't close.
Speaker 4: Her hair was way too glossy. That's a four hundred
Speaker 4: dollars hair treatment. There's no way we're getting on a regulars.
Speaker 4: I don't buy it, but I did, really, But here's
Speaker 4: what's working for me. It's the setup of the dynamic
Speaker 4: of these relationships because obviously you date the kind rich dude,
Speaker 4: especially if you're the kind of person who's like, I
Speaker 4: don't even know if I'm really like believing in love
Speaker 4: or having it a lot in my life, Like as
Speaker 4: a as a lady who's thirty five, I was like,
Speaker 4: I vibe with this, and absolutely I'm picking Pagro. This
Speaker 4: girl's crazy. But the movie has some really interesting things
Speaker 4: to say about a like love is not a choice
Speaker 4: really that you're making, right. You make a choice in
Speaker 4: who you're going to live your life with, but who
Speaker 4: you fall in love with not necessarily a choice. And
Speaker 4: I really value this because I think a lot of folks, again,
Speaker 4: are so clean to their checklist that they tend to
Speaker 4: miss really great partners staring them in the face. And
Speaker 4: I like that they push that narrative. What I also
Speaker 4: was really intrigued by is like Selene's making a very
Speaker 4: strong statement at the end. At the end of the movie,
Speaker 4: Lucy gets a promotion at her job and her boss
Speaker 4: is like, listen for whatever the fuck you want, I'll
Speaker 4: back you. So she's not gonna be making no. Eighty
Speaker 4: k anymore. She could support the two of them, she
Speaker 4: could be.
Speaker 3: Doesn't know she's gonna take the job.
Speaker 6: She doesn't know she's gonna take.
Speaker 4: But what she has our opportunities, which and possibilities which
Speaker 4: I think not a lot of women have had over
Speaker 4: like the course of human history. And to put her
Speaker 4: in a spot of like, not only did you choose
Speaker 4: the guy that you were like, you know what, this
Speaker 4: is what my heart wants. It's not a logical decision.
Speaker 4: It's not a decision that makes any And they meant
Speaker 4: that to each other. They're like, this may not make
Speaker 4: any kind of sense, but we want to try to
Speaker 4: make this work. She's like, I am the kind of
Speaker 4: person who fights in the street. She's not embarrassed about that.
Speaker 4: She's equal partnerships in that she kind of started the fight.
Speaker 6: The fight is her. She was like, I we can walk.
Speaker 6: I don't want to pay twenty five dollars ship Parking.
Speaker 4: I don't have it. You know that, And you're mad
Speaker 4: that I don't have any money, which isn't fair. You
Speaker 4: know who I am and whatever.
Speaker 1: He's so mad that she wants fancy things and they know,
Speaker 1: but they also fair the fight.
Speaker 4: But that's the These two are equals about the whole movie,
Speaker 4: which is the thing we often don't get in rong comps.
Speaker 4: I think rong coms often encourage women to go seek
Speaker 4: wealthy men, and we ignore a lot of the things
Speaker 4: that they're not bringing to the table, like emotional maturity
Speaker 4: and like genuine loved Like oh, well, they have money
Speaker 4: and they find me attractive, So off we go into
Speaker 4: the sunset. This movie completely disrupts set. They're like, do
Speaker 4: you actually have a connection with this person? Do you
Speaker 4: want to build a life with them? And most importantly,
Speaker 4: do you acknowledge what you're sacrificing by choosing to be
Speaker 4: in a relationship with this person. I think anytime you
Speaker 4: make a choice, you're closing the door on a lot
Speaker 4: of other choices. So she makes a very open eyed
Speaker 4: choice to say, despite all of the shortcomings, I still
Speaker 4: choose to be with you. I think that to me
Speaker 4: is like it's a very grounded love story. It's not
Speaker 4: a love story about getting swept up and chaotic moments
Speaker 4: that bring us closer together. It's the love story about
Speaker 4: choosing to be with a person. And I found like
Speaker 4: that to me is profoundly deep and important and like
Speaker 4: a message a lot of.
Speaker 6: The girls need to hear.
Speaker 4: And I like that she leaves in a space of like,
Speaker 4: I can make a choice, I can choose to be
Speaker 4: the breadwinner of this relationship. I love that you act.
Speaker 4: Like watching you act, even if you're play a shit,
Speaker 4: I like you. I like that you perceived this. And
Speaker 4: she leaves enough space for him, and I was like, wow,
Speaker 4: even though these are not the choices I would have made, Lucy,
Speaker 4: I appreciate and.
Speaker 6: See for your choices. And I really valued the movie
Speaker 6: for pushing that direct.
Speaker 1: Beautifully said Yeah, I love I love I love that take.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna tell you, Joel, next time you come
Speaker 1: around to my house, I'm gonna show you five Hallmark
Speaker 1: movies where a woman has an option to have a
Speaker 1: promotion and chooses to go with a broke guy who
Speaker 1: runs a farm.
Speaker 3: It's like, legitimately, like.
Speaker 1: It's the Hallmark choice every time, Aaron, how do you
Speaker 1: feel about this specific aspect of like just.
Speaker 3: What you did like and you didn't like? Like what walk?
Speaker 3: Don't walk?
Speaker 7: It's so funny. I find myself agreeing with each of
Speaker 7: you at different.
Speaker 8: Times, which a conversation a great reaction for four of us. Well,
Speaker 8: I think everyone has heard the story that Selene's song
Speaker 8: she writes what she Knows, so Past Lives. Her first
Speaker 8: movie is based off of this incredible moment when she
Speaker 8: had two friends, one of them Korean and one of
Speaker 8: them American, and she was translating between them at the bar.
Speaker 8: So that exact scene in the movie is based off
Speaker 8: a real life thing that happened. And she similarly worked
Speaker 8: for like six months or something as a match maker
Speaker 8: crazy and a lot of these conversations are things people
Speaker 8: asked her and told her, And so I think what
Speaker 8: I thought it was less about I know they keep
Speaker 8: they always harp on the math of dating, but I
Speaker 8: thought it was more about, like, these people are so
Speaker 8: open and honest with these frankly horrible things that they
Speaker 8: want and that they're willing to verbalize to someone and
Speaker 8: say they can't be they can't be big, They can't
Speaker 8: be old, they can't be non white, they have.
Speaker 7: To be a yeah whatever like minimum right.
Speaker 3: Yes, like I legit have known I think as well.
Speaker 1: That's another thing that I think was different for me
Speaker 1: is like I don't even really know like more than
Speaker 1: two people who earn one hundred thousand dollars or more so,
Speaker 1: like the idea that you would go out specifically look
Speaker 1: for that is just so out of my realm of
Speaker 1: understanding that's real.
Speaker 3: I know that.
Speaker 5: Every single day, and rejecting people for not hitting that.
Speaker 8: Bar, I mean so so that I thought was a
Speaker 8: really interesting way of looking at it. And I thought
Speaker 8: the big progression of the movie was that Lucy not Dakoda,
Speaker 8: that Lucy originally lived in that world and then she
Speaker 8: came out of it through Chris Evans character John and
Speaker 8: and he brought her back to what she used to be,
Speaker 8: this person who had this like emotional dirty connection to
Speaker 8: the arts. You know, I am obviously biased and like
Speaker 8: I will always side with like the artsy person in
Speaker 8: the versus I work in finance, but like I.
Speaker 3: Mean, he was in privately, it's the most evil kind of.
Speaker 9: Finance which media company look at all that those great
Speaker 9: meals they could go to. But yeah, so I I
Speaker 9: really enjoyed her progression that she goes through where she
Speaker 9: is at one point very much like you know, I'm
Speaker 9: going to die alone as I'm smoking a cigarette on
Speaker 9: the balcony here.
Speaker 8: I've been in charge of nine weddings. They're falling apart,
Speaker 8: but I don't care because, like I talked them into
Speaker 8: doing the wedding, and that's what she seemed. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 8: and so I think she changes by the end, and
Speaker 8: it's I mean, it is the most glaring and obvious
Speaker 8: film technique they use, I think, but it's highlighted by
Speaker 8: the two different weddings. The wedding in the beginning when
Speaker 8: she meets Pedro Pascal and then this like outdoor, cute
Speaker 8: little wedding where she and Chris Evans hang out and
Speaker 8: it is adorable and weird.
Speaker 1: They crashed like a super intimate like twenty people that yeah, like, well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, has anyone crashed the wedding before?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Like me, baby, I'm.
Speaker 4: Tell there's a giant wedding happening. There's just like an
Speaker 4: open bar.
Speaker 1: Yes, hi, congratulations, Okay, wait a minute, Aaron, I need you. Okay,
Speaker 1: what don't you like and let's talk about the open
Speaker 1: and closing sequences, because I do think that's some of
Speaker 1: the dumbest shit in the movie.
Speaker 3: Like when it went back to that.
Speaker 1: At the end, every single person in the ala my
Speaker 1: draft house, a notoriously quiet theater, just groaned and started laughing.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, what didn't work for you? Aaron?
Speaker 8: It started and I was like, am I in the
Speaker 8: wrong movie? Did something happen? Like what what are we watching?
Speaker 8: I don't know what is out right now that this
Speaker 8: might be? And like is this an homage to two
Speaker 8: thousand and one?
Speaker 7: What is this?
Speaker 8: And then it just kept going and I was like, okay, cool,
Speaker 8: Like I don't know that was some weird intro interlude,
Speaker 8: like she wanted to put that little If you haven't
Speaker 8: seen the.
Speaker 3: Movie, basically it opens.
Speaker 7: With a like the first.
Speaker 1: People who got married by giving each other flowers, so
Speaker 1: it was a business deal.
Speaker 4: And and she cooks for him, and then a saddle
Speaker 4: of the flower.
Speaker 1: I think as well, I think that it's that's one
Speaker 1: of the things as well that I think is I
Speaker 1: guess for me didn't work is like the myopic nature
Speaker 1: of like wanting to create like a universal experience of
Speaker 1: like all humans do this while also then just like
Speaker 1: narrowing the idea of like what a human is or
Speaker 1: what a relationship because I get that's the point of
Speaker 1: the movie.
Speaker 6: He's a dreamer, she's she's a true romantic.
Speaker 3: She's just dreaming about people.
Speaker 6: This sequence is so sweet. It is very weird, but
Speaker 6: you like, because.
Speaker 5: You hottest take.
Speaker 6: It's time by it. It's so Lucy.
Speaker 4: I love the character of Lucy because this really works
Speaker 4: with Dakota's like range, which is that's just a cool girl. Yeah, cool,
Speaker 4: that's exactly and then the whole movie is like, Okay,
Speaker 4: so but that girl.
Speaker 3: Is a dreamer.
Speaker 4: She believes in romance, but she got her heart broken.
Speaker 4: Maybe she did it.
Speaker 6: To herself little bit.
Speaker 4: She's convinced herself that in order to that romance can't
Speaker 4: possibly exist, and so the safest thing for her to
Speaker 4: do is find a guy with a lot of money,
Speaker 4: because she's constantly about her parents. They were fighting over money,
Speaker 4: they broke up over money. She don't have no money.
Speaker 4: She's like, that's that's the whole solve. She's only got eighty.
Speaker 6: K, but all of that goes toward her hair.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Literally, so she's like her which in New York
Speaker 3: would cost, by the way, like five thousand dollars.
Speaker 6: Buzzling is what we're saying.
Speaker 3: This is what I'm saying, is like, Selene, you can't
Speaker 3: you go to I think the issue for me is
Speaker 3: the there is not enough suspension of this. My suspension
Speaker 3: of disbelief is not high enough with the world you're
Speaker 3: trying to tell us about, and you're telling me that people. No, no,
Speaker 3: not even just that just like she's earning ae.
Speaker 1: K before taxes at a job where she's putting on
Speaker 1: like million dollar weddings every month, Like I absolutely know.
Speaker 3: I do not believe that for a second.
Speaker 4: Yeah, her commission should be much higher. She's got nine weddings,
Speaker 4: she's the most successful, and they're reporting millionaires as clients.
Speaker 4: The payout is not the scale is not making sense.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I can somewhat overlook that to say, like
Speaker 4: setting her up to be a dreamer and then she
Speaker 4: gets her dream proposal, Like we're inches from a rom
Speaker 4: com here, We're getting so close. It's a little big goofy.
Speaker 4: It just was not spread out evenly enough to hit
Speaker 4: rom com for me. But I do I do like
Speaker 4: the Cavevan sequences.
Speaker 3: I thought that I love that for you.
Speaker 1: Let's talk quickly about chemistry. I love that for your
Speaker 1: job because I'm glad that exists with.
Speaker 3: Someone because.
Speaker 5: Talking about the.
Speaker 3: Moving on, we're moving on.
Speaker 1: We gotta talk about more important things, like chemistry. Is
Speaker 1: there any chemistry in this movie?
Speaker 3: Chemistry? Can I have chemistry with.
Speaker 4: These It's so good that Pedro was here, Like, yeah,
Speaker 4: that guy could have chemistry with a cardboard. He's making
Speaker 4: you feel like warm and when he's like this is
Speaker 4: how tall?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, everyone in the cinema whenever he was on
Speaker 1: screen any he brought her the flowers and everything, and
Speaker 1: he's like being really thoughtful about her and snuggling her
Speaker 1: in bed. I think, I don't know, man, I just think, like,
Speaker 1: as a woman who's like almost forty, who's lived through
Speaker 1: dating men for like way too long, and it's bad, guys,
Speaker 1: it's bad out there. I don't think that there should
Speaker 1: be a negative idea of the fact that a woman
Speaker 1: seeks security or safety or a good relationship that isn't
Speaker 1: based on that like war feeling of love that you
Speaker 1: have to like struggle through.
Speaker 3: And I that's the message.
Speaker 1: I think that, in my opinion, this movie did not
Speaker 1: have the chops to talk about.
Speaker 3: But yeah, Pedro, he has chemistry with everyone. Did you
Speaker 3: believe really? I felt like you can have chemistry with anyone.
Speaker 7: I agree.
Speaker 8: He had this amazing walk on moment and him taking
Speaker 8: the name tag tossing it over his shoulder. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 8: we are in for some amazing like convo. And I
Speaker 8: think they had no chemistry. I don't think they needed it.
Speaker 8: I think that's part of the story. And if they
Speaker 8: had too much chemistry, you would want them together. I
Speaker 8: don't think they had entire thing.
Speaker 4: To be fair, Aaron, I agree with you that they
Speaker 4: didn't have the steamy romantic chemistry. It wasn't that I
Speaker 4: thought they had the kind of chemistry which is honestly
Speaker 4: my ideal relationship was just like, oh no, we're buddies exactly.
Speaker 6: We're so comfy together.
Speaker 5: Listen, buddies want lover to be my thrid.
Speaker 1: Yes, dude, it's not about friend zone, it's about being
Speaker 1: If a man, if a man is your if you're
Speaker 1: if your loving.
Speaker 3: Yeah, literally, like a man will kill you if they
Speaker 3: don't like you like that?
Speaker 4: Is he even he's like no, I will say, obviously,
Speaker 4: primate equity billionaire high serial killer potential.
Speaker 1: But I gotta ask you, guys, then, what about Chris
Speaker 1: Evans and Dakota Johnson Because to me, I felt like
Speaker 1: that was just too talking to.
Speaker 3: See me. I did not feel any kind that was
Speaker 3: a more but like, hey, bro, how's it going? Like
Speaker 3: we went in high school together?
Speaker 1: Like I did not get that at all, Like what
Speaker 1: was I did not get what that relationship was at all. Also,
Speaker 1: can I just say one of the cruelest things about
Speaker 1: this movie, why did she take Pedro Pascalte's play?
Speaker 3: That was like an evil thing to do. That was
Speaker 3: a diabolical.
Speaker 4: Comprehended because they hadn't established like, oh we're friends now,
Speaker 4: you know you could There was still clearly some lingering
Speaker 4: at their first interaction at the wedding. So you're like,
Speaker 4: to bring your ex to a guys who's clearly still
Speaker 4: harboring feelings for you is very strange. I also think
Speaker 4: Chris Evans had more chemistry with Dakota when she was
Speaker 4: not on screen with him and the phone call, Yeah,
Speaker 4: he calls and he's like, oh my god, You're like, man,
Speaker 4: this guy is in he is struck.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah, But when they're together.
Speaker 8: I've watched so much of the press tour because I
Speaker 8: have just been so interested in this, like this movie,
Speaker 8: I did not necessarily enjoy it as much as I
Speaker 8: thought I would, But I have watched like every piece
Speaker 8: of the press tour, and the three of them together
Speaker 8: have so much natural.
Speaker 2: On, all of them playing off of each other, like
Speaker 2: is so good and and Dakota is so charming, and
Speaker 2: Pedro and Chris are incredible off of each other, off
Speaker 2: of her, and I don't know why that doesn't come through.
Speaker 7: And I think part of that.
Speaker 8: I again, Past Lives is absolutely beautiful. I think such
Speaker 8: an incredible debut and a movie that I could not
Speaker 8: get over when I first saw it. And I think
Speaker 8: that the script for this one didn't give me that
Speaker 8: same kind of It wasn't Chris Evan's fault, it was
Speaker 8: that the script wasn't there. I think the line that
Speaker 8: you read earlier, Rosie, when I see your face, I
Speaker 8: see wrinkles and children that look like you. I don't
Speaker 8: think that's like a hot amazing.
Speaker 6: Okay, listen, listen.
Speaker 4: I have a married friend. Her name is Hannah. She's
Speaker 4: an amazing person. Her good friend once told her, when
Speaker 4: you can see your your children in your partner's eyes.
Speaker 4: That's when you know it's the one.
Speaker 3: I don't want to care and.
Speaker 8: Yeah, the four of us have very different Yeah, but
Speaker 8: us and definitions of love, which I think is.
Speaker 3: Part of it.
Speaker 1: I think it's a very interesting situation because I do
Speaker 1: think that the vibes and haunting kind of like universal
Speaker 1: connection that people had with Past Lives. I feel like
Speaker 1: there are moments here where Selena is trying to create
Speaker 1: something that is similar and says something like that, But
Speaker 1: then I think that there are moments when it's just
Speaker 1: a rom com and I think that for me, yes
Speaker 1: is the disconnect where I feel like it's tough obviously
Speaker 1: sophomore movie, especially after something like Past Lives that was
Speaker 1: so lauded. I do think that trying to do both
Speaker 1: here is where the movie kind of stylistically and emotionally
Speaker 1: doesn't connect.
Speaker 5: I absolutely agree, Like I don't necessarily agree that the
Speaker 5: writing was bad, but I think the writing was at
Speaker 5: war with itself because it was like, I'm going to
Speaker 5: critique modern dating and modern ideas of love within the
Speaker 5: sandbox of traditional romcom tropes.
Speaker 3: And the traditional choice of like follow your heart and
Speaker 3: go with the guys.
Speaker 5: With the traditional message.
Speaker 3: To say, like pick this guy, he's kind of and
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 5: That does undercut some of its own message. Like I
Speaker 5: also hated that line about the I see wrinkles and kids,
Speaker 5: because like, that is what you hear in a nineties
Speaker 5: rom com when you go that was cheesy and cute,
Speaker 5: But whatever that fits in this movie, I don't think
Speaker 5: it fits in this movie because this movie is trying
Speaker 5: to be subversive and so to still be like holding
Speaker 5: on to rom coom trophy lines like that, I think
Speaker 5: is where the script worked against it.
Speaker 8: I there's also right right before that, they're sitting there
Speaker 8: on the barrels watching the wedding and they're like, why
Speaker 8: does anyone ever get married? And Dakotas's she goes on
Speaker 8: this little monologue about like, you know, they do it
Speaker 8: because they're lonely, and they then they're hopeful. But then
Speaker 8: she says, but all marriages, you know, then you get
Speaker 8: mad at each other and you fight, and then you
Speaker 8: have kids.
Speaker 3: And they hate each other to fight in.
Speaker 8: Front of the kids, and then you do fight in
Speaker 8: front of the kids and you resent each other for that,
Speaker 8: which to me felt so cliche and like you're not
Speaker 8: saying anything new. Like every rom com ever has started
Speaker 8: with a woman who thinks oh, or or like the
Speaker 8: main character is a man and he thinks, oh, marriage
Speaker 8: never works everyone it doesn't work out. But that goes
Speaker 8: to the beginning of the film. Yeah, to do that
Speaker 8: in the back thirdy. I also thought right before, like.
Speaker 1: It was weird because you bring up something that which
Speaker 1: is like, I don't we talk about like the business
Speaker 1: aspects of this, and I don't. I actually don't think
Speaker 1: I think that's a good way to approach things from
Speaker 1: a logical standpoint, even though you do need to follow
Speaker 1: your heart and be happy and be attracted to person
Speaker 1: and love the person. But like, I don't understand what
Speaker 1: Chris Evans. I feel like they didn't do a good
Speaker 1: enough job. I would have loved to know what the
Speaker 1: conversation looks like if you are Chris Evans, like and
Speaker 1: Thecotta and Dakota Johnson's character having a conversation about what
Speaker 1: they would each bring to the marriage. Like everyone else
Speaker 1: is talking about what do you bring, money, height, whatever,
Speaker 1: the way you look, your skinniness, blah blah blah, But like,
Speaker 1: what is their conversation because to me, I don't really
Speaker 1: understand it. It's just they loved each other once and
Speaker 1: we're bad to each other, and now they're going to
Speaker 1: get married and be bad to each other again. Like
Speaker 1: I feel like that was missing. It's like I don't
Speaker 1: know why they liked each other, and I don't.
Speaker 4: Know, they just do. They're in love, like there's no
Speaker 4: logic behind it.
Speaker 6: And they have the whole conversation in front of that partner.
Speaker 4: He's like, I don't even know if this is a
Speaker 4: logical thing for us to do, but I would stick
Speaker 4: around that.
Speaker 5: When you look when you're All I can bring to
Speaker 5: the table is that I will love you.
Speaker 7: I'll set a phone reminder and every morning it'll say
Speaker 7: six a m. Don't forget you.
Speaker 3: Why do you need a phone reminder?
Speaker 5: Which which like I think, like that is the point
Speaker 5: of the movie, is like love is something you do
Speaker 5: choose every single day and that you that you pursue
Speaker 5: for your entire life with the person that you love.
Speaker 5: Right you, I believe you should never stop flirting with
Speaker 5: your partner to an annoying degree.
Speaker 3: I'm sure, yeah, of course, no, that you're going to
Speaker 3: do that because otherwise, like this, what of course you
Speaker 3: have to do that?
Speaker 5: And I think like, but that's not transactional. That's not
Speaker 5: me saying like I'm choosing you, so like what are
Speaker 5: you bringing here? Like can you do the dishes or
Speaker 5: something like. That's that's an intangible feeling that I pursue
Speaker 5: because I love a person, and I think like that
Speaker 5: is the whole point of this film. And I think
Speaker 5: a lot like how you perceive love, how how much
Speaker 5: of a like sappy, romantic person you are, Because at
Speaker 5: the end of the day, like the message is just
Speaker 5: love is intangible. You can't put it in an app.
Speaker 5: You can't have a matchmaker put you on paper with
Speaker 5: another person, and you will feel what you will feel
Speaker 5: about different people in your life, whether they are rich,
Speaker 5: whether they are quote unquote poor. I don't know that
Speaker 5: we classify Chris Evans as poor.
Speaker 3: No, I know. And that is another thing I will
Speaker 3: say that I do get pissed off about about most movies. Yeah,
Speaker 3: It's like when they show an apartment like that, and look,
Speaker 3: I'm saying I don't think you should move in with
Speaker 3: someone who has roommates because that's just stressful.
Speaker 1: Rights, Yeah, but that apartment just looked like my fucking
Speaker 1: apartment in la It looks like every normal person that
Speaker 1: I knows apartment.
Speaker 3: And it's another thing Hollywood always.
Speaker 1: Stresses me out with, is like they don't know how
Speaker 1: to show a normal person's house without being like this
Speaker 1: is gross, like every house needs to cost thirteen million dollars.
Speaker 1: And again, yeah, I think there's just there's just something
Speaker 1: here that didn't connect. But I love your read on airboo,
Speaker 1: and I do think it's I think that's really sweet
Speaker 1: and I'm a bad.
Speaker 8: Yeah, okay, real quick, can we just talk briefly about
Speaker 8: the end credits scene.
Speaker 7: Did everyone see the end.
Speaker 6: Credit I didn't see it. I thought it was fine.
Speaker 4: It's a very seventies way to end a movie. Or
Speaker 4: you just hold on a shot and you're just watching them.
Speaker 7: Yeah, boo.
Speaker 8: If you didn't see it, or anyone in the audience
Speaker 8: who didn't see it. The movie ends with a shot
Speaker 8: of New York City Hall, and this is where you
Speaker 8: go to get.
Speaker 3: Your marriage and you.
Speaker 8: Get married if you are getting married at City Hall.
Speaker 8: I got married at City Hall, so I was in
Speaker 8: that exact room I was at. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and
Speaker 8: you could see my hair in the back yeah yeah.
Speaker 8: I was like, hey, honey, I think that's Captain America
Speaker 8: over there and seens. Yeah, Celene's song also got married
Speaker 8: at City I don't know she got married at City
Speaker 8: Hall or she just went to pick up her marriage license.
Speaker 8: But there's something really interesting about that which I like,
Speaker 8: because that is like this deep New York institution where
Speaker 8: like everyone kind of has to go there to pick
Speaker 8: up your marriage license. We legit did our wedding there
Speaker 8: as opposed to doing like an official wedding elsewhere. So
Speaker 8: I personally was against it at first because I was like,
Speaker 8: I don't want to get married around a bunch of strangers,
Speaker 8: Like I want to get married around people who I
Speaker 8: know and care about. But when we got there and
Speaker 8: did it, I totally changed my mind because I wasn't
Speaker 8: going to marry her, I'm kidding. But when I got there,
Speaker 8: it actually was amazing because you are surrounded by a
Speaker 8: bunch of other people who are also surrounded by strangers
Speaker 8: who are just there with the person that they love,
Speaker 8: and maybe some family or guests are there. But so
Speaker 8: it's this space that is like inherently administrative and clerical
Speaker 8: and like very business y, but also just people in love.
Speaker 8: So it's like a really cool place to end and
Speaker 8: I really enjoyed that. That didn't change the fact that
Speaker 8: I don't love this movie.
Speaker 5: It's very very complimentary for a movie you allegedly I
Speaker 5: don't know.
Speaker 8: Right, So look, I mean, I think if we judge
Speaker 8: these movies, this movie, and I'm saying, would I go
Speaker 8: on a second date with this movie?
Speaker 7: I will.
Speaker 8: I'm gonna watch this again. I have listened to the
Speaker 8: soundtrack a bunch because I really enjoy the sounds. Yeah,
Speaker 8: we didn't, Daniel Peperton. It's an incredible composer.
Speaker 7: I love it. I'll watch this again at some point.
Speaker 7: It's just that I didn't like it.
Speaker 3: I will not. I will not watch it again.
Speaker 1: But I am so happy that I love any movie
Speaker 1: that makes people happy and makes people think about romance
Speaker 1: and stuff.
Speaker 3: I grew up.
Speaker 1: Not loving romantic comedies due simply to internalize misogyny, and
Speaker 1: I have recently discovered how much joy they bring me
Speaker 1: in the last like eight nine years of my life.
Speaker 3: I love Sandra Bullock movies.
Speaker 1: I love Nicole Kidman, I love loving basketball like Brian
Speaker 1: Grian this I I have had so much fun rediscovering
Speaker 1: those and I'm sure for some people this will be
Speaker 1: that bomb be real Guys, if I'm gonna watch it,
Speaker 1: this go a Johnson movie again, It's gonna be Madam Webb.
Speaker 1: I had such a better time watching that than this,
Speaker 1: Like this was hard for me to watch. I think
Speaker 1: I almost got kicked out of the Alamo draft House,
Speaker 1: probably because I was like sighing and just like I
Speaker 1: could not stop exclaiming it did not hit for me, just.
Speaker 7: My eyes.
Speaker 3: People could hear them rolling in my head.
Speaker 1: I will not be going on another date with movies,
Speaker 1: but I will say I hope everyone else who does
Speaker 1: go in a date with this movie enjoys it as
Speaker 1: much as Joel and Aboo, Joel, will you be going
Speaker 1: on another date with this movie?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I really want to interrogate we we sort of very
Speaker 4: briefly touched on it, and we don't need to do
Speaker 4: a fullish Fiel here, but like, I want to revisit
Speaker 4: the movie so that I can better analyze this client
Speaker 4: she has. She's such a and this is like a
Speaker 4: good warning for folks who maybe haven't seen the movie
Speaker 4: and are gonna use this as a degree whether to
Speaker 4: watch it. One of Lucy's client to set up on
Speaker 4: a date, she winds up being assaulted. You don't see
Speaker 4: the assault in the film at all.
Speaker 3: It's the deal with that. Yes, extensive and a lot
Speaker 3: of diff I k it comes up again and again,
Speaker 3: whether you feel like it.
Speaker 4: I was almost saying, by the way they managed it
Speaker 4: and how and how they sort of navigated, you know,
Speaker 4: both as a professional tragedy for Lucy and as like
Speaker 4: a real world consequence for this woman. And I think
Speaker 4: in a film about dating and choosing partners, to take
Speaker 4: a moment to stop and address the actual dangers of
Speaker 4: dating for women again feels really important to modern dating.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was, but yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: like to me, I didn't feel like it was successful.
Speaker 3: I do think it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I also, my biggest like mark against this movie is
Speaker 1: that Dakota Johnson's character Lucy set this woman up with
Speaker 1: this guy because she didn't know what else to do
Speaker 1: with her. That's a major plot point of the movie.
Speaker 1: She ends up getting raped, sexually assaulted. We don't know
Speaker 1: what happens, but it sounds like it was really bad.
Speaker 1: And then Dacora Johnson can't even set her up with
Speaker 1: Pedro Pascal, like, she just sets her up with a dentist.
Speaker 3: I was like, are you matter her up at all.
Speaker 4: She's not anymore right, it's not her client copy.
Speaker 3: I'm saying, I'm sorry. Like to me, I'm like, come on,
Speaker 3: you could at least have a little bit of a
Speaker 3: happily ever after for this poor woman. Like there's gotta
Speaker 3: be some outcome. No, she just gets a dentist.
Speaker 7: Also, but she has no friends in New York? What's
Speaker 7: going on?
Speaker 1: There has no female friends in this movie.
Speaker 3: She does not any.
Speaker 7: Point, not her client, neither of that.
Speaker 1: She's like, no point speaks to a friend about her
Speaker 1: issues between choosing between these two men. She had no
Speaker 1: point calls a friend or text is a female friend. Like,
Speaker 1: it's insane that in a movie about dating, she does
Speaker 1: not spend time with other women. I just don't find
Speaker 1: that believable.
Speaker 8: Aboo, are you going on a second date with this movie?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 5: Once was fine?
Speaker 8: I like.
Speaker 7: That much, guys, I liked but like.
Speaker 5: I don't know, it's it's just not a masterpiece of
Speaker 5: any you know, it's a it's a fine movie. I
Speaker 5: enjoyed it. I liked it's like pretty simplistic message about
Speaker 5: love and because you are old fashion how you pursue love.
Speaker 5: And you know, everyone was looking hot and was super
Speaker 5: well lit, and I do want to compliment the cinematography
Speaker 5: of the film, the way it like hung on these
Speaker 5: two uncomfortable two shots during during these conversational moments. Is
Speaker 5: very difficult to make a movie that is ninety nine
Speaker 5: percent to people talking across a dinner table, interesting, intense,
Speaker 5: and this movie manages to do that. So I think
Speaker 5: there was a lot of art and craft behind this film.
Speaker 5: And despite its like clunkiness and some of the scripts
Speaker 5: being at war with itself and Dakota Johnson frankly absolutely
Speaker 5: taking me out of it every.
Speaker 3: Time is not a Dclota Johnson fan.
Speaker 5: I've never seen Dakota Johnson in anything, so I had
Speaker 5: no context going in. I was like, oh my gosh, Like,
Speaker 5: have you.
Speaker 7: Not seen Social Network? She's in Social Network Bad Times
Speaker 7: at El Royale.
Speaker 3: Remembering He's remembering.
Speaker 7: No, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't know that I've ever seen her. Regardless, I
Speaker 5: liked the movie. I don't feel like I need to
Speaker 5: see it again.
Speaker 7: It was it was.
Speaker 3: Fun, shocking that me and a Boo are on the
Speaker 3: same page. Chair you will not be reasons.
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna watch Past Lives again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just watch Past lives on Madam Web.
Speaker 7: Guys, come on just watch past Life.
Speaker 3: Thank you guys so much for joining me. I am
Speaker 3: very excited that we got to talk about this.
Speaker 1: I appreciate so much about X ray and the you
Speaker 1: guys input the most. That we can just like disagree
Speaker 1: with stuff and actually dig into it and have a
Speaker 1: conversation about why a movie works and why it doesn't work.
Speaker 1: And I think this was a wonderful example of that.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for joining me on this episode.
Speaker 7: Guys, it was a blessed jua.
Speaker 3: Of course, You're so welcome. I'm stoked that we got
Speaker 3: to do it. Sorry to anyone involved in the making
Speaker 3: of this movie. I appreciate all the work that went
Speaker 3: into it. I'm sorry I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Extra Vision, it is our
Speaker 1: roundtable discussion of twenty eight years later.
Speaker 3: That is going to be very very fun and very
Speaker 3: deep divy because there is a lot to talk about
Speaker 3: on that one. That is our episode. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: X Ray Vision is hosted by Jason steps Young and
Speaker 1: Rosie Night and as a production of iHeart Podcast. Our
Speaker 1: executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 7: Our supervising producer is Abuzafar.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Carmen Laurent, Dean Johnson and Fay Wack.
Speaker 8: A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
Speaker 8: songs by Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 1: Asual thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman and
Speaker 1: Heidi Our discord moderator
Speaker 8: M