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Film Curious is a movie review podcast that takes a step back from the constant media consumption to discover and ponder great films across genres and time. A podcast where we let our intrigue guide us and are not afraid to explore whatever films pique our interest.
To all you film lovers, casual theatergoers, at-home movie watchers, and streaming scrollers out there, think of Film Curious as your gateway into any and every kind of movie. One that doesn’t gatekeep but doesn’t shy away from respect for the craft either. So, take a dip, the water’s fine…
We don't get a lot of these
types of films anymore, I don't think.
It's a straight comedy
that has a lot of heart to it though.
In a similar way to like romantic comedy,
where like,
there's that conversation of there's
not as many of those anymore.
And like when we were younger,
like how just how many there were,
there were so solid.
But yeah, you're right.
I think that that is probably a big part
of why I enjoyed it so much.
Is it because it did remind me
of those really solid comedies that we had
when we were younger?
And I think that there is part of me
that kind of craves
that.
Hello and welcome to film curious.
Today I'm joined by a.
New guest to the pod,
but she will be a regular coming on here
hopefully for me a bunch.
She is my best friend.
So I mean, there you go. That's that's
why she's really.
No no no, she's she's
she's really on this show.
Besides that, I love talking with her
and I talk easily with her
is because she is a writer
and a professor.
So she is much smarter than me
when it comes to eloquently
stating her thoughts.
She's going to shake her head.
But no, it's true.
She's much better at expressing
kind of an a literary
way, storytelling,
and I kind of bumble around it.
And sometimes I hit eloquent,
but Nicole hits it most of the time.
So welcome, Nicole. How are you?
I'm I'm excited.
I missed doing a podcast with you.
And I do love talking to you.
So excited to be here.
Oh, well, thanks for coming on. Yeah.
And Nicole mentioned we had done a podcast
in in the past, the Barca lounger
and we would cover shows.
And then we did the Barca Lounger Limited
and we covered limited series.
But then I do I do miss that.
Miss those days.
That was a fun podcast.
But that was about four years ago now.
So it was wild.
Yeah okay. You
yeah.
Don't ever add the dates to things
because.
Yeah. Yeah.
But you know we're back.
And so I'm excited to be doing film.
And this movie is something
that I was actually really interested in
watching at the time that it had come out.
And I don't mean to like throw Ryan,
my partner, under the bus here,
but he was like absolutely
had no interest in seeing this film.
It was not going to happen for me.
I don't think
I was going to watch this movie
unless I had like a night,
you know, alone
that I really was looking
for some junk food type movies to watch.
But Nicole actually had
I remember when you had seen it,
I think you mentioned to me
that it was actually pretty good, and
so I finally got around to watching it.
It is about three years ago
now, so this is no hard feelings
with Jennifer Lawrence.
And I finally got around to watching it,
and I was so pleasantly
surprised by how much I enjoyed this film
that I felt the need to mention it
and to talk about it.
I think it's on
Hulu is what I watched it on.
So you can go out and catch that.
You don't have to go out.
You can put out to put on your TV,
download it on your iPad
on the next flight you have or something,
and give it a watch,
because it's very enjoyable.
And it's no by no means a
this great, prestigious film,
you know, like but it reminded me of
kind of like the really solid comedies
that we would have growing up in like the,
the from like 2005 to 2010.
I feel like we had like a lot
of really funny comedies.
So if you don't know about No Hard
Feelings, you didn't
see it come up or see a trailer
when it was coming out.
It's written and directed
by Jean stepped up.
I'm going to pronounce the name wrong,
apparently Jean stuff Nikki
and co-writer John Phillips,
and then directed by Jean.
The basis of this movie is Jennifer
Lawrence.
Character is on the brink of losing her
home, and she finds an intriguing job
listing from these helicopter parents
who's looking for someone
to bring their introverted 19 year old son
out of his shell before college.
She has one summer to
make him a man or die trying,
which is the line from the synopsis.
I guess it's like the tagline,
but she's basically hired to date him
and potentially
potentially sleep with him.
The parents are not.
Don't rule that out when they hire her,
which is another little crazy thing.
And also small note
do you know how easy it is
to make these things not so weird
if you just make the younger person
in the movie like of age.
Like,
do you know how it's a slight detail,
but like, not as weird if he's 19
and not 17, it's that easy. Like
we like, come on, let's
let's just make this normal, that like,
we make people adults
if they're especially if they're going
to be interacting with people
like ten years older than them,
there's some real crazy slapstick comedy
and no hard feelings that, like,
I don't, is like wildly out of control
and like, I don't appreciate.
But like,
aside from those outrageous scenes,
I thought that, like, Jennifer Lawrence
actually had a great performance.
I mean, she always has great performances,
and that's actually why I was interested
in the movie in the first place.
Not that the trailers looked
amazing to me, but just that I was like,
I love seeing Jennifer Lawrence in films.
Why not?
You know,
and I think she played this really well.
I was impressed by her
delivery of this character,
how she interacted with her costar
Andrew Barth Feldman.
I mean, he did a great job, too.
He was very cute.
But I thought they had they interacted
well together.
They played off really well together.
And I like that.
This story, you know, they don't
they don't fall for each other.
How could they?
They're so two
totally different characters.
She's like a,
you know, a 35 year old woman or a 32 year
old woman, however older.
She's Felicity and he's a 19 year old.
And like he looks at
and you can tell that like she doesn't
have an interest in him sexually
or as a as someone to actually date.
But I think it was a really good foil
for these two to be vulnerable.
You know, like two characters
who one sheltered
and shy, which is what is this?
What's
what's the character's actual name? Percy.
And she's a foil to him.
But I guess this is
this kind of classic, like,
you think that the old one
is going to teach the young one, right?
But really it's, you know,
the young one teaches
the old one a lot to, a lot more to.
And so like, that's a foil for Jennifer
Lawrence's character
to Maddy to open up and be vulnerable to.
Like, I think that that that was
a really sweet times where he kind of
he's helping her kind of grapple
with, like the loss of her mother
and the potential loss of her home
and all her issues with vulnerability.
You know, it was a great watch.
Yeah, I was very pleasantly surprised.
I think we had similar experiences because
it made me
think about when we watched
21 Jump Street.
Actually.
Because I don't know how long ago
that was, but you and I, like we were
we went and we picked up a movie at like,
what was that called like letterbox
red, red box.
Was it red?
I think. You know. So funny.
Hold on to your thought.
Don't get rid of it.
Hold on to your thought.
This movie came up a couple of weeks ago
with Pete
when we were talking about Project Hail
Mary and and Phil Lord and Chris
Miller, who did Project Hail Mary,
but they also did the Jump streets.
And so. Anyway and we.
Went to continue, but we both were like,
yeah, we like the Jump Street movies.
I do well because I
remember we went and we picked it up
and we didn't have high expectations.
I think we were both just like there was
nothing really that we wanted to see more.
And then we both like loved it.
It was, you know, we didn't expect
to be like laughing that hard.
And it was just so it was
so it was a lot more than we thought
that it was going to be.
And I had a similar experience with this.
I watched it when I was visiting
a mutual friend that we have named Kobe.
I was visiting, and she said to because
I was like, oh, I don't know, you know?
And she was like, no, I already watched it
and it's so good.
And I was like, all right. And I. Was.
I thought, like, maybe I would laugh,
but I was I had a similar thought to where
I think while I was watching it,
I was appreciating the subtlety
in some of the performances and like,
yeah, you're right, some of it's not.
A lot of people like jumping on cars
and like the, you know,
the physical comedy
is maybe not my favorite thing about it,
but the way that she played that role
and then also just some of the choices
in the story of like, how they
come together and how
they help each other
kind of grow up in certain ways.
You know, that he needs to grow up,
but she also needs to like,
grow up in terms of she's stuck
that she is very much like
attached to where she's from and the house
and this idea of her mom and like,
not moving forward in her life
and that there's just like so many times
in the movie where it does
it is very aware and it
I think it makes, you know, constantly.
Yeah. Like, this is not a romance.
Like, this is not but this is a story
about like it's a very weird, random way
that these two people that maybe never
would have met are drawn together,
and they're both better for it
by the end of it.
And that she, over the course of the movie
to that both of them realize
he sees the goodness in her and
she sees like the genuine goodness in him.
And that's also maybe something
that she's not used to experiencing
with the romantic relationships
that she pursues, you know,
or that she's actually active in.
But that too,
that there was never any moment
in the movie where I was like,
worried about art.
They going to make this romantic?
Actually, you know, like,
I, I really appreciated that.
I was not concerned.
I think that I wasn't,
you know, right, that the movie took us
so many opportunities or like the one time
where eventually, you know,
like they kind of try to have sex
doesn't work out.
You know, it's like from the
from the beginning of the scene, like it's
not a romantic scene.
Like it
very much is like he just is inexperienced
and he's upset too,
because he's found out that she's
dating him because of his parent.
And like, it's a whole thing.
So, you know,
I think even just that scene to
you see, like in her face, in his face,
like she's also super uncomfortable
that they're both just kind of like,
this is not, you know,
there's no way that this was ever going
to be that kind of a relationship.
The fact that, you know, when she first
is trying to kind of maybe seduce him,
that he thinks that she's kidnaping him.
That was just that was.
Because I also thinks that it shows
like the that the Maddie character.
Yeah, she's Jennifer Lawrence,
she's gorgeous.
Like she's drop dead gorgeous,
you know, like,
who wouldn't fall for her when she walks
in. Yeah.
The the the adoption center
when she, they for the characters
first meet but like she's so
she is convincing in that
like she has no game.
Yeah. Like that that like Maddie.
Like you do believe that like Jennifer
Lawrence has no game, you know?
Like she doesn't know what she's doing
either. Yeah.
She's just like,
I don't know, I put this dress on.
I know how to look hot, but, like,
I really am not my skills with seduction.
Like, really don't go further than that.
Or like.
And that she's just
so that the character is herself
and that she's got no planning
and that like that moment too.
I remember where like they go skinny
dipping and I think some kids, like,
take their clothes
and she's completely naked and starts,
I guess, like beating the shit
from when I remember, she says.
And he's like terrified, you know?
Like he's just like, I don't want to
then go someplace with you, like,
have any kind of like,
you know, like he's scared because she's
just so intense and just even
the fact of that too, though,
but like the way that the nudity does
work in the scene, that it is so funny
because she's so uninhibited
and just doesn't care at all.
And it's just like piss,
you know, she's like,
I'm just going to beat these kids up.
But I, I think I was expecting
especially like watching the trailers
or if you even just told me
the idea of the movie,
that I had an expectation
for what it would be.
And I'm always really happy
when a movie does surprise me
and it strikes me
too, is like the type of movie that
the same storyline in someone else's
hands would have been
the movie that I thought it would be
and I wouldn't have liked.
So I, I just appreciated
there were so many choices that they made
where I think they were very careful
to not go where you expected it to go
and that both of them.
But yeah, especially Jennifer Lawrence,
that she's just so
she makes the character so likable
and so charming,
even while she's being kind of awful
or just like a complete mess.
Meredith. Yes,
I like the party scene where she walks in
and they're like, whose mom is this?
And she
I also I'm like, man, we're watching this.
I'm like, we're at an age
now where, you know, I relate to
Jennifer Lawrence a lot more,
where she gets all pissed off
at them about like what they're
recording on social media
and she tries to make, like,
a homophobic joke,
I guess, or a gay joke
that would be like the norm
for our generation
in high school or whatever, you know?
Not cool. Never cool.
But like, she makes this joke
and I'm like the kids at the party,
like, call her out for it
and like, are recording her saying it
and being like this.
This woman just was homophobic.
And she's like, what? No.
I just I'm
just trying to say that you suck like.
Well, that too though, again,
I feel like it kept bringing me back
to 21 Jump Street, because that's
similar thing in the opening where like,
they go back to school and say,
like he does, try me.
And I think that he does
use it in a derogatory steroid
somebody and or he's like,
did you push him down because he's gay?
And he's like, what? No.
Like I, you know, or just like that, it's
it's funny or it's cool to like,
not care about school and not be smart.
And you just very quickly
realize like, no,
like generate
like this is not how the kids are now.
Like, you were very much out of me,
but that yeah, you feel for her
and I guess it, it is depending on
like how old you are watching this movie.
But her being that specific age
that were very many moments
and especially even
just like the fact that she is
stuck, that she is kind of a mess,
you know, that she doesn't have it
together and that there are a lot of ways
he's very young and very inexperienced,
but there are certain things
where it seems like
he is more emotionally mature than her.
He realizes something about her life
that she does not realize.
Yeah, where he is
legitimately trying to date her.
You know, that's another little adorable
aspect of this film.
Is he's legitimately.
Like trying to ask her about herself
and who she is.
And he.
Was like,
why would I want to sleep with you?
I don't know, like,
I want to. Get to know you.
And she's just kind of like,
what do we need to know?
Like,
just just chug the alcohol and have fun.
He's definitely a really nice fold into,
like, her
emotionally caring about things or like
being a little bit more introspective,
but I was just really lovely.
I have to mention the supporting cast
because they were great.
I mean, you have Matthew Broderick
as his father
and Laura Benanti as a mother.
They were great.
They were just a great little.
They didn't have many, many scenes,
but when they were there, I remember just
cackling, cracking up their interactions
with Jennifer Lawrence.
Also the way Jennifer Lawrence interacts
with them and her quick responses,
her delivery, just like her
meeting her comedic timing is very good.
In those scenes with the back and forth
with the parents and then,
oh my God, I'm
looking at this cast list right now,
and I forgot that
his son pops up as a realtor.
Oh, God.
I totally forgot about that.
But then she's got her ex-boyfriend
who took her car in the very beginning,
and he's kind of recurs a little bit
throughout the film.
Why do I always have such. A hard time?
I just want to call him Desi from girls
every time.
I know he's been on the bear now,
I know he's been in a bunch of things
and like, yeah.
Yvonne Moss Bachrach
am I saying his name right?
Do you know how to say. His name?
I don't to where I would bet you so.
Moss Bacharach
I don't know, somebody can say that.
I totally butchered that.
And then I want to highlight who played
the couple that were her best friends.
Scott MacArthur.
He. I actually just saw him in Running
Point recently, like most recently.
Have you watched that show
with Kate Hudson in it?
Surprisingly good.
Another it's enjoyable again.
Another like surprisingly enjoyable show.
He plays a brother in Running Point,
but he plays the best
friend's husband
and then I recognize it from.
Oh, here we go. Natalie Morales.
Yeah, she plays the best friend
of Jennifer Lawrence,
and I just think they were hilarious.
They were great.
It was a small supporting cast
and maybe not like the biggest stars
in the supporting roles,
but they did their jobs so superbly.
Yeah, they really did elevate the story
I felt or added to the supplemented
the comedy.
But like, they weren't extreme,
you know, and you know,
if I,
if I have one critique,
the big slapstick physical comedy
moments, some of them were like
some of them cracked me up, right.
Like are getting pepper sprayed by him.
He said she's.
A kidnaping. Kidnap him.
Also she's she's like,
how can you get kidnaped
your 19.
And like that.
That was hilarious.
But there were other times
where I was like
towards the end, the one in the ending,
I was like, this is ridiculous.
Like,
this is the car ones, like the driving
with people on cars running joke
like that was a little bit ridiculous.
So like maybe,
maybe that would be my my one critique.
But you know what?
Like at the end of the day,
it is a comedy, right?
So I'm not I'm not asking this for this
film to be a dramedy.
That would be asking it
to be something that it's not, you know?
And so I think it does
the job really well.
And it's a, I don't know
how it performed at the box office.
I don't think very well.
Let me look it up real quick,
but I think a lot of people
might have been okay, so
87 million worldwide
and it's reported
production budget of 45 million.
So I mean, yeah, I guess it's a
it's a solid performance.
But yeah, I don't, I don't know, it's just
I wanted to make to bring it to light
just because if you thought that
maybe it wasn't like if you're more like
snobby film watcher like me,
sometimes I think it's worth it.
I think, like, if you live for a good time
and it's not like junk food at all,
like, I think it's like a legitimately
well-done comedy.
We don't get a lot of these types
of films anymore.
I don't think
it's just it's a straight comedy
that has a lot of heart to it, though.
Yeah.
It it until you said that,
I mean, in a similar way
to like romantic comedy
where like there's that conversation of
there's not as many of those anymore.
And like when we were younger
and like how just how many there were,
there were so solid.
But yeah, you're right.
I think that that is probably
a big part of why enjoyed it so much.
Is it because it didn't remind me
of those really solid comedies that we had
when we were younger,
that were coming out continually,
you know, like we had a lot of them.
And I think that there is part of me
that kind of craves that
and that maybe like,
yeah, like there are certain movies,
not that I'm very high proportion
with my movies, but like, you know,
there are certain things
that are going to peak my interest
and that I'll look out for and,
and like seek out to go see this movie.
I think that maybe there were many people
that probably like me,
like, saw that and they were like,
oh, I don't know, like,
I think I know what it's going to be like.
I don't have to see it.
But I definitely I agree, I think it's
worth your time, and I'm really glad that
I did end up watching it and that I had
somebody that was like, no, it's good.
No, you should actually watch the movie.
I think that part of it too,
that I didn't expect it to be.
It did have heart. It was very charming.
It has really two
like a great musical moment
that also I wasn't expecting,
even though I know he is.
Andrew birth
felt like he is a Broadway guy.
He has played like Evan Hansen
before, like he,
you know, like I know that he's okay.
Well, that explains it. I was like,
I had I.
Had Jennifer Lawrence reaction
where I was like, Holy.
Hell yeah. And that you wouldn't
if you don't know that to like.
And it just he also just as a physically
as a person he's not like imposing
in that way where you would think
and the choice of song to.
Yes I think it's man eater. Right.
And it's the way that he does it too.
But it is such a wonderful moment
in the movie,
and you really are there with her
where you're like, oh, okay.
And you like see him in a new way.
And it's also just like it's
very emotional and very strong.
And that in that scene
two comes through really well.
What you were saying before too,
where he's so genuine
about it, like he really wants to.
I'm thinking now that term caught
you watch the corner like he's
he's really trying to get to know her
and like show her a nice time.
And like when he's singing,
it's like you could feel the passion
and the emotion and what he's saying.
And you can see to that,
like in that scene that she changes.
Like there's a clear shift
in how she's like viewing him.
But even that too, again, like,
I knew he was a singer, but I didn't think
that was going to happen in this movie.
You know,
like they're going to have that moment.
And it wasn't
it didn't feel out of place to me where
there are other movies sometimes where
all of a sudden I'm like, I don't know why
we're singing all of a sudden.
But it worked.
It worked for me
really well in this movie. For sure.
But yeah, so I have to thank you
because you're the one who told me.
Yeah, no, it's good.
Like, yeah,
I like this because otherwise I,
I mean, eventually I was gonna watch it,
like I was going to get the I, you know, I
hit moments where I'm like,
I just need a comedy and I need something
that just feel good,
like straight, feel good, and, you know.
Yeah.
I was growing up
in the age of the rom com.
I would say we kind of grew up
in the golden age of rom com.
I miss them,
I do miss them, even though I wouldn't say
this is romantic per se,
but under the guise of a romantic comedy.
And yeah, I just
I just miss those, those kinds of movies.
So I guess I'm a sucker for them,
which I'm
I always eventually end up watching them.
But I'm glad that this wasn't like,
this is only three years later.
I didn't
I didn't have to wait ten years to
because I don't think
I would ever have watched it.
Then, you know,
when you hit a certain point in time,
it's like either it's a classic
or it's forgotten or it's a cult classic,
but I don't know if this one's
going to fall into any of them.
And maybe that's
why I felt the need to talk about it,
because I'm like,
I don't want it to be forgotten.
I don't, I like
I think that this is a great, great movie,
and I think this is a great performance
by Jennifer Lawrence.
Like, I she gets knocked a lot
just because of her popularity
and then her not popularity or whatever.
But like the fact of the matter is, like
this woman has had act and really well,
and she can handle comedy
and she can handle a dramatic moment
so fluidly she can, you know,
I think that's a part of what works
really well, well, for this movie,
because I think even how she handles,
you know, the change of her
being a mess to a crap, like I'm trying
to seduce a 19 year old and like you can,
you can see on the expressions on her face
that she's like, oh, this isn't right.
I don't feel good about this.
And so I think that that really helps
helps the character.
Right.
So yeah.
Overall solid movie.
Yeah. So thanks for listening.
And we'll definitely
if I catch another movie that I loved,
I was surprised about that on streaming
that maybe came out a few years ago.
I think it's great to bring it to people's
attention.
So just look out for those.
I know we're all, like,
trendy all the time that we need to be
on the latest and greatest release.
And like,
that's what matters to algorithms.
But I'm hoping that some of these little
older film reviews that we do
break through keep on listening,
and hopefully
you watch a few of the movies
that we start to talk about,
and you're actually like,
yeah, that was worth my time.
And not like, I hated that.
I had one person once that told me
that my review of Game Night
was too good, that like then she went
and watched it and she did not like if.
You let.
Her as well as I wrote about game night,
which I don't agree with, I think
game night is brilliant.
So I don't agree with that.
That reaction.
I thought I gave a really good
recommendation for a comedy movie
as Game Night.
You've seen that, right?
Solid movie.
Yeah. So anyway, I don't know.
Apparently
I made it out to be like brilliant.
And it is so like that.
That was a great recommendation.
I stand by
it and you should watch Game Night
if you can.
And you have it.
And I hope that a lot of people agree
with me.
Anyway, thanks so much for listening.
Thanks, Nicole for joining
and we'll see you soon. Bye.