Even-Steven: Terrifier 2 vs. Orphan: First Kill

Two horror films where an established icon of terror meets their match — it's Terrifier 2 vs. Orphan: First Kill.

Power Play: Strangers On A Train vs. The Wasp

Two movies about manipulation and unintended consequences — it’s Strangers On A Train vs. The Wasp.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two movies about manipulation and unintended consequences. It's Strangers on a Train versus The Wasp. I've been doing a lot of modern movies lately and it's really exciting to still find new movies to love. Part of the impetus of this show was looking at all these movies we consider the best of all time and how weighted it is to the past — it's really hard for us to think of a new movie as the best. We have whatever the opposite of recency bias is. So today we fight for the newer film.

A note: this is a spoilery one. I really want you to watch The Wasp before you read this. I talk about some of the twists a little more vaguely, but I still recommend just watching it first. Unless you're someone who loves to know secrets before you watch a film — like people who read the entire IMDB synopsis for a horror movie, which I've done. Strangers on a Train, however, is decades old, so I'm spoilering the crap out of it.

Strangers On A Train

A psychopath tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.

This movie came out in 1951. It has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Nominated for one Oscar, Best Cinematography for Robert Burks.

Much like the film Gaslight, I had heard of this concept, this conceit, long before I ever saw the movie. I'll do one murder and you do the other — it gave me certain expectations for the film that were mostly incorrect, which I like because it meant the film was still surprising. I don't think you can ever have a bad time watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie, even though the man himself seems insufferable. And this movie made me really want to read Patricia Highsmith's original book because I'm very curious what she did differently, especially coming from a female writer versus this dude.

Speaking of dudes, our protagonist is named Guy. Yeah, his parents were like, what are we gonna call this little guy? Uh-huh, like that's it, we're done. Put it on the certificate. Farley Granger is the actor who plays Guy. He's also in Hitchcock's Rope. When you go to IMDB, there's this column where it tells you what lists an actor has been added to — these are user-created lists. And I saw Farley Granger was on somebody's list called "Queer Peeps." So good for him. That's how I discovered he's a queer peep. He was a hottie, by the way. Usually in these black and white movies I can't tell any of the guys apart, but this guy is very boyishly handsome in a way that plays well with his naïveté throughout the film.

It's interesting to look at this knowing he was queer, because his role is kind of the one that would usually be a female character. He's very much led around by this weird, semi-powerful guy. And then you look around like, well, is it because he was gay?

Robert Walker plays Bruno, the weirdo who's like, hey, I bet two people can murder each other's most hated person. If I kill the person you hate and you kill the person I hate, why would I have any reason to kill your person? I'm not connected to them. So when they're looking for suspects — I bet it was the husband, I bet it was the father — they're not going to look at some guy from the train. Which is not a bad idea.

Bruno — ugh, he's such a creep in a great way. Sort of smarmy, seems cool on the surface, wins people over with a big gag or laugh, then acts sinister and you're like, wait, I thought this guy was cool. And I like that this man being creeped on by another man — that Bruno approaches Guy and takes up his time on the train and Guy is too polite to send him away. It's a specific sort of creepiness that women know is really hard to call out because he's not doing anything wrong. It's just annoying. Like a guy asking you to take out your headphones to talk to you. Obviously the social cues are all saying I don't want to be talking to you, but it's not illegal for you to talk to me anyway.

Bruno is the sort of delicious, weirdly evil role that can set an actor up for life. But unfortunately Robert Walker died not long after this film at only 32. He had a tragic past with alcohol and was allergic to one of the medications they put him on. But this performance is just so iconic. He revels in being this almost clownish figure, super exaggerated in his choices, but still with a winning enough smile that he can be a part of society. And I love when he pops a kid's balloon. Don't let your kid run up to a man in a suit. That guy's got a hat on, don't let your kid go over there.

Now there's an undercurrent of homosexuality to Bruno's characterization as well — his overly flirtatious nature with his mother, how uncomfortable he makes Guy as though they shared an illicit evening instead of Bruno just being like any person on the subway who starts yelling things at you. Everyone seems oddly bewitched by Bruno, including Guy, despite knowing who he is. No one wants to turn against him. And when I say Bruno's characterization is homosexual and then list all these weird things about him, I mean in terms of the 50s — that they're coding this guy for you to see him and think, ooh, a gay guy. That's purposeful. There are elements of that which are obviously frustrating, but there are also elements of this queer subtext that I really like.

Guy's girlfriend Anne, played by Ruth Roman — she is ride or die for Guy. The person Guy wants dead is his wife, because he has a wife and a girlfriend. Bruno's like, I'll kill your wife, you kill my dad. And Guy's like, no thank you sir. So he's cheating on his wife with Anne. Their relationship isn't this passionate love affair — it's really practical. They enjoy spending time together. They're almost bro-y. I love this moment when she finds out Miriam is dead and obviously the assumption is Guy must have done it. She's like, Guy, did you murder your wife? He's like, no, of course I didn't. And she goes, okay. Very much on his side. Like, sounds like you're in a pickle, I got you.

Guy is also not good at plans. He is given a map because Bruno's like, go kill my dad. It's an arrow pointing from the front door down a hall into the third door on the right. And Guy breaks into the house in the dead of night and looks at this map 15 times. You shouldn't need to double-check the map to go down one hall. This isn't the manor from Clue. Memorize it and eat the paper, stupid.

No one is that mad Miriam is dead. No one seemed to like her. When the wife gets killed, everybody's like, yikes, I hope Guy doesn't get in trouble. His wife's dead, sucks.

I was intrigued by the fact that Guy is a tennis player and his tennis rackets in the 50s — they seemed very thin. They looked like badminton rackets. Have we been getting thicker in our tennis rackets and why? Has our tennis technology gotten more complicated?

Patricia Hitchcock plays Anne's nerd sister, who was like the original murderino — I would love to know about a strangling, how sexy! I respect that apparently she didn't get favoritism on set. The cast said Alfred treated her just like everybody. But she did get the role and she did get to direct her dad in his cameo, so that's a little favoritism. I don't think if it was a random actress, Alfred would be like, you know what? I think the woman playing the protagonist's side piece's sister should direct my scene.

I was trying to get more context on this film because obviously it's been studied and Hitchcock is always so innovative. So I searched on my podcast app for "Strangers on a Train" because I like to listen to other movie podcasts talking about the stuff I don't hit. When you search for Strangers on a Train, it's just a bunch of audio porn of that scenario where two strangers on a train bone. So there's a lot of that out there. I would recommend watching the movie first. It's on Tubi. It's fine. It's a good time.

The Wasp

Follows Heather and Carla, who meet after having not spoken in years. Heather is about to present a very unexpected proposition that could change their lives forever.

This movie came out in 2024. It has a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. It is a good time.

I personally love a movie based on a play, especially when the original playwright is the one that adapts it to the screen. Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's dialogue is incredibly slick. She writes in the way people talk, but it's elevated — there's a cleverness that doesn't take you out of the world. It's not things you only find on a page and not in real life, but it is a step above just day-to-day conversation. I saw there's a paperback of the play available online. I'll have to snag it because I'm very curious how she wrote the original piece.

Everything is layered and also leaves room for the actors to deliver things with a little bit of extra charge. It's so fully realized, but also very contained. It's a perfect story — the structure of it is just fantastic. I've seen the film twice now. The first time I really liked it. The second time, knowing how it goes, is like a completely different experience — enjoyable in a new way, seeing which dominoes are being set up before you watch them get knocked down.

A couple of exchanges caught my ear. Naomi Harris plays Heather, and she's asked Carla, played by Natalie Dormer, to meet her to discuss something. She says to Carla, you haven't changed a bit. Carla says, you have. And there's some back and forth and Heather's like, God, I hope so, sort of nervously laughing. She would never want to be who she was — despite it being exactly what she just accused Carla of. It's this comment that seems nice, but it becomes suddenly less kind when you realize how important it is to Heather that she herself has changed. There are a lot of little moments like that where someone says something one way and it's not that they mean to be deceptive — it's as though they kind of out themselves.

Later, when the two are discussing that Heather cannot get pregnant, Carla says super bluntly: ain't sex working? Me saying "ain't sex working" and hitting the G really hard does not sound as good as it sounds in British. But in British, it's very funny. Carla deflects not just with attitude but with sarcasm, with humor. But it's not a laugh-out-loud line because Heather doesn't think it's funny. The movie gets really dark but it's still very funny — great dark comedy. It works on both levels because it's always riding this line. It's clever but it's not winking at you.

Naomi Harris was nominated for an Oscar for Moonlight and is just superb. I really loved her as Moneypenny in the Daniel Craig Bond films. There's something cool about her — collected — but in this film you also buy into her as the wilting flower, the kid who was led around by the nose by Carla, who can now finally stand up for herself but is cautious about it. She definitely has more of the straight-man role. She's holding it together and she pulled off a plot where you need to believe in her to believe in this film. And you do.

She's emotional but not overly so. Contained but with this roiling beneath her skin. The consummate host who just so happens to keep Carla at her home against her will. You need to believe she is both intimidated by Carla and that she can hold her own here. An element I really enjoyed is how her husband is betraying her — their marriage is going down the tubes — but it's so clear that this betrayal by her friend stings so much more. She's held on to it. And even before you find out the betrayal is much worse than anything you could have imagined, it still feels right. Of course this friendship dissolving is what hangs over her more than this marriage. It doesn't feel out of place that she holds a grudge all these years later.

She has to deliver several incredibly emotional monologues to a mostly unresponsive Carla, and they are still so powerful because you feel the catharsis of her saying what she needs to say.

There's an amazing moment where the two are discussing this Strangers on a Train-esque plot — this is the element that made me think of comparing them — and Carla's saying, okay, I'll stage a robbery, I'll take a few things, make it look real before killing your husband. And Naomi's like, whoa, whoa, whoa — don't take any of my good stuff. I'll lay some stuff out that you can take. You're having your husband killed but you don't want your stuff stolen. That control throughout, even when she's asked Carla to take over committing her crime, she needs things to go just right. It tells you so much about who she is.

Natalie Dormer's Carla is a perfect foil. She leads with her gut and not her mind — quite a turn from the role most know her as, Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones. Carla is very instinctual. She's trying to survive, and with that comes a need to pivot, to not plan, to live life day by day and hope to overcome dire circumstances. Natalie's disaffected looks, her ability to layer that with something more human beneath the surface, make Carla very compelling.

I understand Heather's rage. But I also understand how trapped Carla has felt her entire life, how she did the things she did to feel power, how she wanted to exert control and knew nothing else, no other way to do it. Natalie Dormer has to spend a lot of this film acting without words, just with looks — not even with her mouth — and she excels. She holds herself like a bully until she realizes her usual tactics won't work. This character has a specific toolkit for dealing with problems, but Heather shuts off her emotions, doesn't allow herself to respond to Carla the way she might have as a child.

Carla thinks she has the upper hand and can go along with Heather's games for now. She can get her money and go back to her life. Little does she know she'll be reaping what she sowed. She's so used to bad things happening to her — it's more a fact of life than a consequence of her own actions. Which makes Heather's eventual punishment all the more fitting.

Guillem Morales is the director and he makes this film feel both big and small — retaining the intimacy of a play while expanding the edges of the world, showcasing the wall of framed bugs in Heather's house, following the wasps that plague her. He often frames the women in such a way that it feels like we're intruding on their conversation rather than that their conversation is being had for the viewer. Watch The Wasp. It's not currently streaming anywhere free, but it's well worth a rental. Spend a few bucks, don't be cheap.

Shared Themes

Strangers on a Train and The Wasp are both fascinating cat-and-mouse stories of manipulation and power. One character is almost always lording power over another, especially between our two leads. We have someone preying on the lowest moment of someone else — the perfect time to try to get power.

In Strangers on a Train, Bruno has read all about Guy. He realized Guy is in a tough spot — the papers are gossiping about how he's stepping out on his wife. Bruno knows this problem and offers a solution. He's not approaching a true stranger because he knows there would be a reason for Guy to want someone dead. Bruno takes Guy's sort of vague chitchat as an agreement and heads off to strangle a lady, his favorite pastime.

I honestly don't even think he cared about having his father dead. He wanted to hold power over someone else's future, over their life. Even better than the killing, he gets to lurk around Guy and threaten him and demand he do as he asks. When he pops up out of his dad's bed — I got you, Guy! He put on a little tux to do it. He could have killed his dad for sure, but no, he wants to play with Guy. He wants to have Guy's life in his hands. I could go frame you right now. He loves that.

Having a secret from someone is so powerful. Bruno knows he has strangled people with his hands and these little ladies at the party are like, he's just joking around. Miriam is manipulating Guy too — yeah, I'm never divorcing you, idiot, I'm going to the fair with a couple of hunks. She knows he can't do anything about it. Or she thinks he can't.

In The Wasp, our characters have a history and we see how the power balance between them has changed — how each woman still seeks power in their interactions even as adults. Natalie Dormer's Carla acts disaffected in a bid to separate herself from the emotions brought up by her past. After a difficult childhood, she walled herself off to survive, and I don't blame her for that. But that is, in and of itself, a power play. In any interaction, it's a way to control a situation.

As a child, she was a bully. She led the other girls around and made fun of her friend Heather. Heather was an easy target — she was new, she was quiet. Going after the weak to set yourself up as the alpha is a classic power move. But in the present day, Heather holds power in different ways. She has money. She has information. She knows, much like Bruno knew about Guy, that Carla is in a very vulnerable position. Carla's husband has gambled their money away, they have another kid on the way, she needs money more than she might have at another time.

To truly manipulate, you need to really understand someone. Heather understands Carla in a way that Carla doesn't even understand herself. She leaves nothing to chance.

As much as Bruno is manipulating Guy, he does not know Guy as well as he thinks he does. He knows Guy is at heart a good guy. His name can't be Guy. But Bruno doesn't really care in the same way. He doesn't have the stakes attached to it that Carla and Heather do.

Both films address unintended consequence and moral ambiguity. I love these gray-area films that delve into what personal responsibility we have when things spiral out of our control, away from our expectations.

In Strangers on a Train, Guy never agrees to Bruno's plot, but he kind of considers it for a moment. And I can't even blame him for that. What I can blame him for is then not telling anyone. He's so worried about himself — he won't go to the cops. He's like, I'm worried about my girlfriend's dad, the senator, it could be embarrassing. Sure. But him entertaining this weird man, talking about Miriam at all, it does have the consequences of her death. I'm not saying he made it happen or deserved it, but it's a good look at how such a small interaction can lead to a wild outcome. Guy is ultimately much more worried about himself than about Miriam's death or getting justice. Imagine her poor family.

It seems like the book was much more ambiguous on morality — Guy did kill Bruno's father — and I wish that was still an element here. It's quite a different story without that. Guy in this film is very much painted as the hero. But I really enjoy that it seems like Guy and Anne grow closer when they're both trying to figure out how to stop Bruno together. Which is also probably helped by Miriam being dead, poor Miriam.

In The Wasp — boy. Carla made some horrible, abusive choices as a child. She never thought they would come back to haunt her. And honestly, she probably did not think they would haunt Heather in the way that they did. Her behavior led Heather to be unable to have children. Whether that was for physical or mental reasons, it doesn't matter — it was how Heather's body responded to the trauma.

Even if Carla didn't mean for it to happen, isn't she a monster for what she did? No, I don't think so. It's tough. This is very gray and the story treats it as such. Carla is given time to say her piece. She talks about the abuse she suffered. No one helped her. That does not excuse what she did, but she leads with violence now as she has throughout her life because it's a consequence of how she was raised. And Heather continues her pattern of mostly passive behavior — she lets things play out with the knowledge that she has set up the situation in such a way that Carla will fall to the consequences of her own actions. Heather accepts the consequences of these choices as well.

What I really appreciate is that we don't know the genesis of the animosity between the two until almost the end. The film slow-plays it. To go back and watch with that new information gives you a totally different viewing experience that is just as entrancing as watching it blind.

And I love the grayness of this thing. I cannot handle animals being killed in films. There's a scene with a pigeon. The pigeon is injured and the kind thing to do is put it out of its misery. But that's still taking action — trolley problem style. You're still ending a life even if it's for a greater good. We see everyone expect Carla, the bully, the tough one, to kill this pigeon because of who they think she is. And we see how after she does, she's left alone. She did a hard thing and everyone abandoned her for it.

But there's such depth to this. It's not cheating the character. It's showing a real moment that has stuck with both these women for very different reasons. To see how Carla remembers this thing that Heather has pointed to as proof that Carla's a bad seed — and Carla remembers it so differently, how alone she was. It's played so well. You see these characters' essences distilled in a fully different way than had been previously presented.

What The Wasp Does Better

What is so enticing about The Wasp is that the characters are on much more equal footing throughout — until the rug is pulled out from under the viewer and from Natalie Dormer as Carla. It makes the film more tense and thrilling, whereas Strangers on a Train, despite its clever construction and innovative camera work and just the cool idea of let's kill each other's people, is a much more straightforward story. You know what's going to happen.

In Strangers on a Train, we know Bruno's a freak, we know he's killed Miriam, we know Guy is worried about getting in trouble. There aren't surprises except ones that don't have bearing on how we view the story. When Bruno pops up out of his dad's bed to surprise Guy, it's a fun twist, but it doesn't affect how we view Guy or Bruno. When Bruno stalks and kills Miriam — we've watched him stalk her for ages. When he reveals he's willing to drop the lighter to frame Guy — unsurprising, he sucks. His goal is chaos, and maybe for his dad to be dead, but more so chaos.

There's not push and pull so much as push, push, push from Bruno while Guy wrings his hands. The carousel fight scene is thrilling because it's action-packed, but I was more worried for the 200-year-old man who climbed under the carousel than for Guy or for any of the children riding the horses. I just knew nothing would happen.

In The Wasp, you are on uneven ground throughout the entire film. When you first see these women reunite, Naomi Harris is a little shady as Heather — a bit odd, but perfectly presented as this upper-crusty beaten-down wife. Natalie Dormer's Carla is standoffish and clearly doesn't make the best choices but is more of a fun time. Preconceived notions of these two women work in the film's favor. It keeps the viewer guessing. You wonder how the two were ever friends. Flashbacks show a highly unbalanced relationship reminiscent of a Regina George and Cady Heron.

And I wonder how men react to this because I see that flashback as a woman and so fully understand how they're friends. Like, of course. Of course they were friends.

What's impressive is nothing ever feels out of character. Nothing feels done for the sake of story rather than character. These are living, breathing people dealing with their own lives and traumas in different ways, and they've hurt each other in doing so. They're so intertwined — and they don't have to be. There was a world in which they never saw each other again.

Something that bummed me out about Strangers on a Train — it's so straightforward in many ways, and it's that clear villain-and-hero path that makes the film less compelling for me than The Wasp, where we see two women who are each the villain of the other's story. And neither is wrong in that belief.

In Strangers on a Train, you are never in any doubt of what Bruno is willing to do to amuse himself, and that Guy's morality will generally win out. If someone sides with Bruno watching this — there you go, he's wrong, he's the bad guy, there's nothing to save, nothing to redeem. And Guy is so moral to a fault — I hate that they changed it from the book, that he was capable of murder in the book and he isn't in the film. Even his cheating is hand-waved away. You can't get in a paddleboat with two men in the 50s.

The Wasp has no definitive villain. It speaks to what's inside all of us. What can happen with a few wrong turns in life that might not even be turns we took on purpose. And it explores what can happen when you feel wronged.

Natalie Dormer's Carla looks at Heather and sees someone who got everything she could never have — a loving family growing up, a beautiful house as an adult, a husband, free time. Naomi Harris's Heather sees Carla as someone who took from her, someone who felt strong, someone who did what they wanted while she waited around. Someone who can easily grow her family while Heather feels barren and alone. Carla has freedom, in her mind, that she doesn't have. And vice versa.

I think neither of these women won, if we're thinking of it as Batman vs. Superman. But because they're so fully realized, I could have seen a few different endings and I wouldn't have been disappointed — because the payoff for the characters is there throughout. They're complicated women. Neither has the moral high ground. Both see the world only through their perspective. And it's an impressive feat to have the viewer see both sides.

The ending as it is, is pretty perfect. It's handled really well. It could have gone a few different ways and I wouldn't have been like, no, because I was so on this ride with them that whatever these women chose to do, I'm on board.

Go watch The Wasp. Rent it. I love a two-hander. I love a play-turned-movie. I love a thriller. So many things came together. It's like this one was made for me.

Hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media so we can talk Naomi Harris and Natalie Dormer, or about how when you search for "Strangers on a Train" in the podcast app, it's all audio porn.

Building A Mystery: Dressed To Kill vs. Held Hostage In My House

Two movies about unmasking a criminal, frank sexuality, and a very dedicated son — it's Dressed To Kill vs. Held Hostage In My House.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two movies about unmasking a criminal, frank sexuality, and a very dedicated son. It's Dressed to Kill versus Held Hostage in My House. You know what doesn't get enough credit? Lifetime movies. And that's what we're getting into today.

Dressed To Kill

A mysterious blonde woman kills one of the patients of a psychiatrist and then goes after the high-class hooker who witnessed the murder.

This movie came out in 1980. It has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's a Brian De Palma movie, and Brian De Palma is just cool. All of his movies aren't for me, but I appreciate what he's doing. My favorite of his is one of his newer-ish films Passion, which I've covered on Tasteless. He of course directed Carrie, Blow Out, Carlito's Way, Body Double, Scarface — on and on. He has a distinct and very impressive resume.

Now, does he understand women? He depicts them good and bad, and I think his depictions are interesting, but he definitely paints in broad brushstrokes. Not always a bad thing. Nancy Allen in this film does really well with the ditzy but cool role she has as a sex worker who witnesses a murder. The briefer screen time of Angie Dickinson is completely compelling. And De Palma has his signature moves — there is split diopter out the wazoo on Dressed to Kill.

Angie Dickinson kicks off this film basically fully naked. She's hanging out. She's having a great time. Sex dreams. She's going to the museum. She's making a shopping list where she has items like eggnog and nuts. Very balanced diet at her household. Sounds like my fridge, honestly. This family is malnourished. She goes on to cheat on her husband with a man who waves a white glove at her, which I think is very rude. The glove-waving, not the cheating. Although I guess cheating is kind of one of the rudest things you can do.

Nancy Allen was married to Brian De Palma at the time, so he wrote the role for her. She's kind of a dummy. At one point she says, I wouldn't know sodium from Adam. Well, okay, you knew enough to make that little quip, Nancy. She gets embroiled in a big old mess because she witnesses the person who has just killed Angie Dickinson in an elevator — a blonde woman with big sunglasses and a razor. She is really slow to react to this dying woman, but then someone else pops their head out of the apartment down the way and thinks she's done something bad. Then Nancy's very, very ready to run. Oh, somebody's dead. Oh, I might be in trouble. I gotta get out of here. I get it.

She's on the phone in this movie trying to move money around, buying shares. Very finance bro. She'd be in on the whole GameStop thing if the character was around today. Good head on her shoulders, savvy, even if she talks down her own intelligence.

It's a really cool pairing that she teams up with Angie Dickinson's son in the film, Peter, played by Keith Gordon. He's building his own computer thing at home, totally geeky, but he loves his mom so much. When she's killed he sets out to figure out who did it. The two of them mostly deal with a police detective played by Dennis Franz and Angie Dickinson's psychiatrist played by Michael Caine.

I love this piece of trivia about Michael Caine, because I think of him as such a good guy — mostly because I've seen Miss Congeniality 100 times. IMDB trivia shares that Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, and Keith Gordon all praise Michael Caine's generosity and professionalism on this film. As the main star, he was only ever required to be on set when his character was in shot, but all three stated he insisted on also being there when his character was not in shot, so his co-stars were always performing to his character, not to a stand-in or nothing at all.

That is really rare. When they're shooting a film and getting one angle of coverage, they can just be showing Nancy Allen's face — no one has to actually be on the other side. But it can only help for there to be a human being you're reacting off of. Think of when Ian McKellen was crying on the set of Lord of the Rings because he was stuck with just green balls on sticks. Acting can be such a collaborative thing and should be. I really respect that Michael Caine was there and not just sitting in his trailer.

And spoilers for Dressed to Kill from 1980. Michael Caine is playing a dual role here — Dr. Elliott the psychiatrist, constantly being hit on at work, and also Bobbi, the blonde killer who murders his patients. The film kind of conflates dissociative identity disorder with being trans. It's not necessarily that Michael Caine's Dr. Elliott character wishes to be Bobbi, but that these two pieces are at war inside of him — with Bobbi becoming enraged by the reminder of Dr. Elliott's masculinity whenever he gets aroused. Unfortunately a ton of his hot female patients hit on him and then Bobbi has to murder them.

I do think this idea of his uncontrollable male side disgusting this female side that doesn't feel seen or represented — it's interesting. But it's conflating a lot of different things. The movie plays it both ways. It's complicated. I could see being frustrated by it. But it really feels more like a Split with James McAvoy type situation than anything else. Dressed to Kill is an interesting watch, a great De Palma representation of what he does really well. It's currently streaming on Prime Video.

Held Hostage In My House

A single mother becomes trapped inside her own vacation rental and must piece together clues from the various guests who have stayed there in order to figure out who assaulted her and hopefully survive.

This came out in 2024. It has no Rotten Tomatoes score.

You know me. You know if there is a new Anna Elizabeth James joint, I will be seated. Writer, director — I love how she approaches filmmaking. There is an ethereal quality to her movies, a lightness even amongst decay and ruin. She presents a very female gaze that is unlike most of what you find in cinema, especially in the thriller genre. A genre that as much as there are strong women in it, is really lacking women behind the camera. So I'm glad that's a genre she works within.

This Lifetime film, a Lifetime crossover, is perfect to introduce her brilliance to the masses — because a Lifetime movie is made in its big strokes, and Anna nails the big moments while providing tons of subtler pieces to keep a maybe more nuanced or intense film fan engaged.

Her movie Deadly Illusions, which I am notably obsessed with, continues to be served to me in the thriller section of Netflix. I love that her work remains so relevant. I talked in my Black Swan versus Deadly Illusions episode about how important the feeling of a film can be and how Anna's films just have this overall vibe that sucks you in. Held Hostage in My House is no exception.

This is also the first Airbnb movie I've seen besides maybe Barbarian, which is such a great piece of current culture to tap into for horror. Such an uncontrolled thing that so many people turn to for leisure or for income. Held Hostage in My House is basically the worst Airbnb experience ever. And also maybe will make you less mad about those cleaning fees, knowing about all the ants and pie and threesomes the homeowners have to clean up after. Okay, I'm not pro-landlord. But it's a fun new world to explore on film.

The cast is wonderful. Really solid actors in new sorts of roles — I don't think anyone was really playing to type. Amy Smart is our lead. She's this incredibly thoughtful, empathetic, but also realistic mom dealing with a divorce, shared custody of her beloved son, and changes in her lifestyle as a single woman. She's renting out a home she inherited as a gorgeous Airbnb and she loves it — loves connecting with people from all over the world, providing this haven for them. The house is gorgeous. I love all the locations of this film.

Her son Charlie, played by Harrison Fox, is just a good kid who loves his mom. He heads off to spend time with his dad, Matthew Davis — who I adore, Vampire Diaries, Legally Blonde. He's so good at this sort of... in this film he's a skeez, but in this realistic way that's even more maddening because he just doesn't take Amy seriously. He's disrespectful in this very toxic-masculinity-but-quiet way that is so prevalent, but if you complain about it you look crazy.

And most excitingly — he's starting a new life with his new girlfriend played by Greer Grammer. This is now Greer's third time at least working with Anna Elizabeth James. She was the lead antagonist of Deadly Illusions, and the more I revisit that film the more impressed I am by the villainous role she took on. She's just so good on screen, so watchable.

By the way, she loves walking in on a woman taking a bath — between Deadly Illusions and Held Hostage in My House. If I ever see another Greer Grammer film where she doesn't bust in on a relaxing soak, I'm going to riot. Just like how Tom Cruise has to run in all of his films, Greer, you better bust in on that bath. No one can relax when she's around.

Amy Smart is accosted — I'm still laughing thinking about the tub — she's hit over the head, tied to her bed in the rental, à la Gerald's Game. Only instead of her gross dead husband, she's haunted by the memories of people who have recently stayed at the home as she tries to tease out who might have done this to her. So many people have crossed the threshold and her life is so tumultuous that she's remembering all these interactions, innocent or not, with suspicion.

Our suspects include Billy Zane as this airy, metrosexual type who honestly gave me very Michael Caine vibes in his delivery. He has a little scarf, he's so warm and open, but also — what's he got going on? Airbnb threesomes, for one, which he politely invites Amy to, and she just as politely declines. I love how casual this film is about sex. She's not like, oh my God, scandalous! She's just like, no, but here's where the Wi-Fi router is, and thanks so much, have fun.

Billy Zane is like if a bunny became a human man. There's something whimsical about his performances.

Amy Smart really anchors the film with this breezy but realistic sensibility. She plays a mom who seems like she could be a mom but who isn't hung up on our media stereotypes of moms. She at one point has the phone on speaker and is yelling into it, which is actually how people talk on speakerphone. I respect those little touches.

Ne-Yo is an art professor jealous of Amy's art skills — Amy's this talented artist in the film. Another very cool touch: they use real art. All of her character's art was actually painted by a woman named Valentina Sarfeh, who is credited immediately following the film. Love that. Ne-Yo is on our suspect list because he'd love to claim her art for his own. I find this thread interesting because I imagine it would be really difficult to be a teacher of something like art and have people come through your classroom with more talent than you. I couldn't handle that. 100%, I couldn't.

Ramona, played by Masha King — what a character. She's a straight-up madame who Amy kind of narcs on. She's definitely providing company from women to men and definitely has reasons to want to screw Amy over. Jason Wesley as Gabriel felt outed by Amy. There's a love interest named Youssef, played by Jay Lee, who is maybe too good to be true — suspicious. Ex-husband Matthew Davis wants to propose to Greer and start a new family and forget Amy ever existed. Greer wants that perfect family. There's the best friend Victoria, played by Ava Gaudet, with a jet-setting lifestyle. The film shows the difference without placing judgment on either woman's choices. That's rare and impressive.

As I said about Anna Elizabeth James, the gaze of her camera is pretty unique. The view of Amy in this film is very much a woman's gaze, and I found this impressive in the new Demi Moore movie The Substance as well — where the female form is seen in a completely different way because it's not being pushed through the filter of a man and male executives. That's something I've come to expect and deeply appreciate in Anna's films.

Held Hostage in My House has this particularly dreamy, escapist feeling, making the viewer question even further what's real and what isn't. Amy's son is desperately trying to get in touch with her as she lays there starving, scared, and some ants are coming way too close because she left some pie out. There's something really upsetting about ants tapped into here. Certain bugs I'm fine with — I love spiders, I love bees — but seeing these ants start to swarm is unnerving. This particularly hit home for me because I probably would leave some pie out and then be tied up and then be killed because of that.

It's on Lifetime. You can watch it free on the Lifetime app. Give it a go.

Shared Themes

Dressed to Kill and Held Hostage in My House are mysteries that wield sexuality to throw the viewer off the scent of the killer.

In Dressed to Kill, our hero Nancy Allen is a sex worker. The cops aren't particularly kind to her and she's not seen as a super credible witness. Angie Dickinson talks frequently about being sexually unsatisfied. The killer is dramatically feminine, with flowing locks and big sunglasses. As we discover, when Michael Caine becomes aroused by a woman it triggers his rage — the killer female part of his identity emerges. It's the sexuality of Angie Dickinson and later Nancy Allen that creates this unease within him. But the film doesn't judge any of these women in the way you'd expect. We're presented their lives matter-of-factly and they're no less capable because of who they sleep with.

Jealousy is always a really good motive for murder, so Angie Dickinson's dalliances and Nancy Allen's line of work have us thinking of a zillion possible killers before we would ever consider the psychiatrist.

Held Hostage in My House features the most chill Airbnb host ever, and she is down with anyone's proclivities. When she narcs on Ramona running a prostitution ring, it's honestly not even out of judgment — it's more like, I don't want to go to jail for what my house is being used for, there are definitely liabilities there. Plus I don't think you can run a business from a home, and this lady was trying to run a full sex business from an Airbnb. There isn't guilt when Amy Smart sleeps with the new guy or shaming of her friend's more fun lifestyle. Everyone is really accepting of themselves, so the motives for her hostage situation are so much more interesting than just sexual jealousy. We've got revenge, we've got shame — there's a lot at play.

Neither of these movies ever really says that in typical slasher fashion, they got killed because they had sex. That's never what happens here.

When I watched Held Hostage in My House, I immediately thought of Dressed to Kill. There's just something about them — watch them together and you'll see why. And then I was really excited when I realized there's this key surprising shared factor: in these films, the characters who are really the moral center, the grounded heroes, are the sons of our main characters. Two momma's boys who just want to get justice for their mothers, who will do anything for her — in a way that's never played as a joke. It's not a Buster on Arrested Development type of thing, but instead a reflection of what wonderful mothers they have, how healthy their relationships are.

In Dressed to Kill, our semi-grown kid Peter, Keith Gordon the computer genius — his mom Angie Dickinson maybe doesn't understand him, but she adores him. She lets him skip a dinner they're going to if he promises to get some sleep, knowing he's dying to work on his little 80s computer setup. She respects his hobbies and wants to learn about what he's doing. When she's killed he doesn't fold in on himself but instead refocuses on finding who did it.

His pairing with Nancy Allen, who has no children of her own and has lived really only for herself for a long time — it's this great odd couple. He's book-smart and she's street-smart and they each have a respect for the other's point of view. This movie is very much about women, about the feminine, about the desire for feminine energy, and his character throws a total wrench in that while also fitting perfectly into the De Palma formula.

Held Hostage in My House has a younger kid. Harrison Fox is the son — he's a little guy who has to put all the skills his mom taught him to use in saving her. He is driven by pure love and he knows something isn't right with his mom and sneaks home in a kid-safe Uber to rescue her. I love how they handled his involvement because it could have been super unbelievable that this kid saved his mom from masked intruders. But he happened to show up at the right moment when chaos had already been sown, and he's there for his mom right when she needs him most.

He is everything to her. Their relationship is clearly a massive component of each of their lives, something they define themselves by. It's sweet to see him repeatedly checking in on her with his dad while also respecting his dad's boundaries of phone usage. He's not overzealous, but when he feels something is wrong, he acts.

His mere existence gives her the strength to survive. If I was tied up near all my loose pie fillings, I would 100% be thinking about my cats and living for them. But they would probably be the ones to find me and then eat me. So it works out better for Amy Smart.

What Held Hostage In My House Does Better

Dressed to Kill, though it is inventive, feels like many other works. Held Hostage in My House feels like something new.

Dressed to Kill is very much a Hitchcockian mystery. It has been criticized for massive similarities to Psycho. That's not a knock — it's done well. De Palma hits the same beats in his films. That also isn't a knock. I like his style. Yeah, we get it, we can see the foreground and the background in one shot, congratulations. If you haven't seen this film, absolutely watch it. I bet if I took a film class teaching it, I would be delighted to dissect it. There's a lot of meat on that bone. It exemplifies this sort of twisted mystery. It's stylish and a blast to put on.

However, I have never seen a movie like Held Hostage in My House. While there are thematic elements across Anna Elizabeth James's body of work, all of her films have their own unique tones. The dreamy quality of this film that I've referenced is hard to pull off. It might not have worked in another film, but it works here. It puts you in mind of this woman being pulled in every direction. From the chronology to the choice of camera angles, this movie is unique.

The representation in Dressed to Kill is not nearly as inclusive as what you see in Held Hostage in My House. I am very impressed that a film on Lifetime was so... what's the positive version of woke?

Dressed to Kill was shocking only in its reveal, not in its actual telling. No one went in knowing it would be about a trans character. It's mostly about murdered white women. Held Hostage in My House has a diverse cast. It deals with taboo subjects and does so without making any of it a big deal — because it isn't.

We have men who are wonderful and men who are evil. We have women who are warm and women who are cold. We have different relationships playing out in ways that might not be the most honest but are authentic to those couples — from the closeted man cheating on his wife, to the guy who has a wife and a girlfriend down to get away at a nice mom's Airbnb, to the newly blended family of Matthew Davis and Greer Grammer. This film shows all kinds of people in all kinds of stages of life. I think it's very cool.

Give these two a watch. Get your double feature going. Then hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media. Let me know what other thrillers you're watching right now. And tell me if you, like me, would leave pie out and then die because of it.

Fighting Chance: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World vs. Polite Society

Two stylized films about literally fighting for what you want — it’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World vs. Polite Society.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two stylized films about literally fighting for what you want. It's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World versus Polite Society. I'm very excited to get into Polite Society.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

A young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes, who are willing to do anything to prevent her happiness with someone else.

This movie came out in 2010. It has an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim was genius casting. Please know that every mean thing I'm about to say about Scott Pilgrim has nothing to do with Michael Cera.

But I hate Scott. I hate him so much. He is 22, dating a 17-year-old, which is not good. Maybe it's legal. It's not good. But the real problem is how dismissive he is of her. It's not like he's like, she's 17 but so mature and I respect her. He's like, oh, she's 17, so she puts up with me. Knives Chau, the 17-year-old, is played by Ellen Wong, who does a lot with the material given to her. Scott doesn't even have quarters. Knives has to pay for the arcade games they play. What's the point of dating a 22-year-old with no quarters?

Scott has one Pac-Man fact. He tells it to all women to woo them. Disgusting. This man is my enemy. But I am a noted Ross Geller, Ted Mosby, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano hater, so I might be against the supposed everyman. That could be the problem.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona is somehow so effortlessly cool that it's like, yeah, okay, I'd fight seven people to hang out with her. But why does Ramona like Scott? I did find it interesting that she just let Scott fight all her other exes, but when her female ex, played by Mae Whitman, shows up, Ramona joins in and fights her. I can't tell if that's because Mae was more significant or less, but it's definitely a statement. And I'm leaning towards it being a statement I don't particularly like — because Ramona seems especially angry over Mae's claim to her, references to their past, and she doesn't react that way to the other exes who are all men.

I love Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She's so cool in Birds of Prey, 10 Cloverfield Lane, great film. But everything is in service of Scott, so she's just there to be cool and attractive.

It's hard not to just go down a list of cast when talking about this film because the cast is out of this world. The standout for me: Brie Larson as Envy Adams, because she sings a fantastic Metric song. All those words together — Brie Larson, Envy, Metric. I like those words together. She takes on this persona, puts on a voice. It's a role we haven't seen from her elsewhere. I love Oscar winners using those talents for goofiness.

Everyone is really perfectly cast — from Aubrey Plaza to Anna Kendrick to Kieran Culkin. All sort of one-note characters, but in a way that's purposeful and uses what the actors are best at. And what's extra cool is that the 2023 animated series got all these actors to reprise their roles 13 years later. That's pretty wild.

Back to Brie Larson though — the way she plays her rockstar role Envy versus when she's just the normal Natalie before that, it's totally different. My favorite moment is when Brandon Routh punches a 17-year-old girl and Envy is very into it. It's just bizarre. Brandon Routh's vegan powers. Chris Evans as a skateboarding actor. Satya Bhabha doing a full-on Bollywood song.

This movie is all about extremes. It's honestly a movie you just have to watch. It's all about the visuals, the humor, the feeling it evokes. Such specific nostalgia — the SNES sounds, the comic panels. It's a really well-done film that I also have no strong feelings about. There are so many moments that work. No one has been able to copy it. What a fantastic poppy way to adapt a comic book. But I think the problem for me is I can just watch the fight scenes on YouTube and be fine. I don't need whatever tenuous thread holds the cool moments together. I just need the Envy Adams music video. Watch it on Max. I know you've seen it. I'm using this film more than any other episode as a jumping-off point.

Polite Society

Ria Khan believes she must save her older sister Lena from her impending marriage. After enlisting her friends' help, she attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood.

This movie came out in 2023. It has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

One of the greatest joys in this world is happening upon a movie I didn't know about and falling in love with it. Being truly surprised instead of waiting on something and having it disappoint. There is a very negative flip side, which is: why would a great movie like this not get a ton of marketing? I saw some rumbles about it from people I trust. I should have tracked it down on my own. That's on me. But Polite Society is an absolute must-watch.

It was directed and written by Nida Manzoor. You know I love when a woman writes and directs. You might also know her as the creator of We Are Lady Parts. Nida created something so special with this film. It's universal while also being so specific to sisterhood. You could have never even met a sister and you'll laugh and cry and enjoy yourself. But if you have a sisterly relationship with anyone — someone where you know you'll always be there for each other so you can fight hard because you love hard — the movie is even more affecting.

The humor is really great in that it's not broad. It's an action comedy but in a subtler, more clever way. Even the slang the young women use made me laugh — they have a language all their own, but you pick up on the meaning because of context clues. I felt like I was led into their friend group. I'm sure there are eight more levels if you are also Pakistani or Southeast Asian in the UK, but for my purposes, I adored it.

The cast is wonderful. There's so much heart but it's not cloying. It's really light and bright but grounded in this strong relationship between two sisters and relationships between women in general. The film plays with style to highlight humanity. It becomes more real in its fantasy because it taps into how we really feel about things, how big certain things can feel. We are all the main characters in our own stories, and our protagonist Ria has been thrust into an action heist where she needs to rescue the person she loves most.

Fight scenes involve blood, smashed mirrors, broken doors and walls. They're brutal but beautiful, choreographed to the hilt. But there's power in the attacks. It's less of a dance and more of a representation of emotion.

Priya Kansara is Ria, a high schooler whose dream is to become a stunt woman. She practices kicks at home, recording herself for YouTube, enlisting her sister Lena, played by Ritu Arya, to help. Ria is too much in so many ways, in a way that feels real. She's hot-headed, ready to fight for what she believes. But no one is fighting her. Her family is supportive. Sure, they want certain more traditional things — they want her to be a doctor, not a stunt woman — but they're overall really loving and kind. They just don't get it. They don't quite understand her.

I find that sort of struggle very interesting, because no one is putting up a real barrier but herself. She's fighting her own self-doubts, her own beliefs of how other people behave. It's why her sister choosing to get married instead of being an artist is so hard for her — because if her sister gives up on her dreams, what are Ria's chances of achieving her own?

Priya as an actress — it's this wonderful star-making performance. So charming, so awkward, so loving, so angry, so human. She loves her sister so much. The way she hypes her up, the way Lena hypes her in return, how much they care about each other's goals and futures. There's no judgment between the two until things take a turn. And even then, apologies are exchanged for words that were just a little too biting.

Ritu Arya as Lena is just plain cool, much like Ramona Flowers. She is the epitome of the cool older sister. She takes off her earrings before a fight scene later in the film. It's one of those moments that gives you chills — yes, it's about to go down. You see why Ria idolizes her, but you also clearly see the front that Lena is putting up. Lena has left art school, come home, and isn't sure what to do next. She doesn't feel like her art is good enough, so it's easy to be swayed into dating the successful Salim, who steals her away from her sister.

What's important about Ritu's portrayal is how she shows how trapped Lena feels. On the surface she's cool and collected, but you can sense the turmoil underneath. She plays both levels in a way the audience can see. There's a scene with the two sisters when they're not on great terms, in Lena's room — I was really struck by the lighting. The room feels like a real girl's bedroom. There's just a lamp on and things are awkward and Ria wants to be forgiven and Lena just needs space. It feels small, like I'm in this house with them in this tension. The whole film is really well shot — there's an intimacy even though it has massive fight scenes.

Our main villain is Raheela, mother of Salim, played with deliciously evil brilliance by Nimra Bucha. She has a real Yzma-Eartha-Kitt-in-Emperor's-New-Groove vibe with a dash more patriarchy. She wants her son married off to someone who can have a kid, but what I love about her is that she's working in service of herself. There's a strange empowerment to the ways she's trying to take control of her destiny, how she uses her son as a pawn for her own ultimate goals. She taps into the idea of sisterhood to trick the women around her.

She also has this incredible villain scene where she tortures Ria with a spa day that includes cuticle care and very aggressive waxing. The fight scene between Raheela and Ria — a big one with slo-mo and bird screeches and an evil laugh to end all evil laughs and screamed phrases like get me that womb — she's the perfect foil to Ria, someone upholding a standard that Ria is railing against, who sees Ria's goals as insignificant: what could you do to me?

Lena takes off her earrings before a fight scene and it's one of those moments that gives you chills. You see why Ria idolizes her, but you also clearly see the front she's putting up.

Salim is not the focus, but Akshay Khanna plays him as appropriately charming yet suspicious in the way hot, nice people are. He uses good looks to throw people off, and his kindness mixed with his mama's-boy energy plays into the strength of the women in the film. I love a male actor playing a role that uplifts the women around him. His chemistry with Nimra as the mother is very believable — they're a little too close in the way weird mama's boys and their mothers are.

The sisters' parents are traditional but loving. Their mother Fatima, played by Shobu Kapoor, is wonderful — warm but also wants her kids to be normal. She says something about a woman's giant ankles and both daughters immediately yell at her: Mom, that's not okay. She's trying to support daughters who are very lost and she points them toward what's easiest. You can't fault her for just wanting her kids to have an easy life.

I love Ria's friends Alba and Clara because they aren't yes men. There's a nod to Mean Girls, to Cady and Janis and Damian. These friends back her up 100% until she acts like a jerk and then they're out. But they also believe her — when she starts claiming her sister's boyfriend is part of an evil plot, they believe her. They're not unquestioning lackeys. When they go undercover at a gym and sneak into a men's locker room, it's so funny and dorky, but in a way where I want to be friends with them. They put on costumes, they have slang, they have a secret handshake.

Shared Themes

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Polite Society are both highly stylized in a way that compliments their artistry, in a way that feels rarer these days, in a way that I miss so much. They achieve a vision that is singular, that other movies haven't and can't copy. I think of films that have done this — Sin City, Sucker Punch. They take inspiration from grander types of film, the wire-fu of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. They weave in references and culture to make their points in a way that is clever.

This comparison is actually interestingly timed because I keep thinking about when I saw Deadpool & Wolverine and how furious I was that people were just laughing uproariously at a film with no script or plot other than, hey, did you know Ryan Reynolds is an actor and he has a wife and a list of IMDB credits? Remember that? And everyone's like, I remember that! He's been in other films!

That makes it all the more impressive for a film to use shared cultural consciousness to highlight themes and plot instead of to make up the structure. Both Scott Pilgrim and Polite Society have references, allusions. They weave shared references into their worlds. But their worlds don't hinge on the references. The references are used to highlight, to expand on what's already happening.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is just plain fun if you don't think too hard about the underage girl. Everyone is giving it their all. Over the top, the editing is specific and punchy. Some of these talented actors are giving their best performances. I love a movie where it feels like people had fun making it. I love how Edgar Wright puts movies together. The comic pop-ups, the flying through the air, the way people use sound, voices, and physical ways that push against the boundaries of the screen. What a fantastic homage to the original comic — to capture the feelings of flipping pages in such a dynamic way.

Polite Society is done with such reverence for martial arts films, but also tells a very compelling story of sisterhood. The heightened emotion of being a high school girl is portrayed so brilliantly. The fact that the most brutal fight scene in the whole film is between the two sisters — that that is of course the one that affects Ria the most, that there is passion and anger in this fight — you feel it. You feel everything in this movie. Characters speak through action scenes just as much as through dialogue.

Like in Scott Pilgrim, battles happen in this world that no one else really reacts to. You don't know what's real and what's imagined. But you don't need to know. You know why they're battling and you know what the outcome means for their relationship.

Both films have their plots spurred along by the selfishness of their main characters. And that's not a bad thing. Scott and Ria have a goal. There's something they want for themselves, not taking into account what anyone else wants, and their films are about making these things happen, with the fighting being ancillary to that goal. I think you need an element of selfishness to get what you want in this world. You really do. If you're passive, things pass you by.

Scott Pilgrim I give less credit to because he's a grown man. Ria is a teenager. But look at the actual impetus behind Scott fighting the seven evil exes. It's not because Ramona needs saving. The exes aren't threatening her. It's because Scott wants to date Ramona. And the exes want Ramona too — they don't want anyone else to have her. They're not protecting her. Even the aggrandizing of it being Scott versus "the World." All right, Scott, it's only like seven people. Come on.

But how often do we get a full-on battle that isn't about the greater good? Scott isn't saving anyone, avenging anyone. He just wants to date a girl. That's not a negative — it's interesting. I don't like Scott, but the story structure that things happen because he wants this one thing for himself contributes to the whole vibe.

I especially love when women get to be selfish on film. And you know who is incredibly selfish? Teenagers. Don't mean that as an insult — that is just how it is. You think only of yourself. You don't think of your parents as real people. Everything is a means to an end.

In Polite Society, Ria wants to be a stunt woman. She wants to achieve this difficult dream, one made harder because a path hasn't been set out. She writes letters to the stunt woman she loves, Eunice Huthart — who is a real stunt woman — spilling her guts, begging for some of Eunice's time. She drags her sister to film her practicing moves. During a particularly awful fight, she tells Lena, I want you to be an artist, and Lena says, for Christ's sake, I'm not an artist, and you are not a stunt woman.

For Ria, their dreams are inexplicably entwined because she doesn't think about what her sister wants, but about how what her sister does affects her, how it reflects on her own capabilities. If her older sister can't make it at what she wants to do, how will Ria? Her fight to get her sister back into art, her constant reassurances to their parents and to herself that Lena will be an artist — she loves her sister, but it is in service of her own goal. I'm not judging that. I understand it. She has to realize her own self-worth and capabilities are hers alone.

What Polite Society Does Better

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a little harder to watch in 2024 through a more critical lens, because it's such an imaginative world with just the most boring dude at its center. I guess he's an everyman and that's the point, but he's dull. Women are all over him. He's super weird. They keep hanging out with him anyway. We have so many everyman stories, so many anti-hero dude stories.

What's incredibly thrilling about Polite Society is that it is an interesting story about a British-Pakistani family, and yet the story itself is not at all about ethnicity. It's not even about gender. It is in no way a message movie.

Not every non-white, non-Christian, non-male story, every minority story needs to be about being a minority. Sure, some are and they're great. But for a film to just exist, to have a certain kind of representation without trying to speak for a community — when that's pulled off, it's really exciting.

On the Scott Pilgrim side, this movie is the ultimate fantasy for an introverted white dude. He doesn't have to try and things just go his way. Ramona is willing to go on a date with him for God knows what reason. Knives is into him. His friends keep hanging out with him. He sucks. A redeeming quality is never shown. It's ultimate Mary Sue wish fulfillment. There is a place for this kind of story, but it is not especially compelling to me.

In Polite Society, we are set amidst an Eid celebration. There are discussions of arranged marriage. Certain traditions are upheld. But the film is not about any of that. The film's about sisterhood, about growing up. It's sentimental, sweet. It left me with a smile. I cried. But it's not Oscar-bait about struggle and hardship. Ethnicity doesn't define this film. Heritage doesn't define it. But they heighten the realism of this world.

This movie is wholly itself, and even though I didn't grow up in a British-Pakistani household, I inherently understood what's going on with these relationships in the way I do in any film about families.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a fun movie, but I feel no connection to it, to Scott. I don't particularly relate to a single character. I leave it not thinking about it. It does exactly what an entertaining movie should do — it entertains while you're watching — but there's a special kind of magic in a film that you talk about later, that you're excited to talk about. I felt a connection with Polite Society. It has a point of view. It's saying something. It made me think. Not about anything heavy — just about my own relationships.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the perfect popcorn movie. Bright colors, loud sounds. But if someone said it was their favorite film, I'd question that a little bit. I remember the performances — it's so fun to go back and see all these successful actors being so silly — but there's no emotion in this film. And I cry at all movies, and I didn't cry at this. I'm not invested. I'm not invested in Scott or Ramona, who has taken such a backseat to her own life. There's no outcome that would have hit me emotionally because those bonds aren't developed.

Polite Society is one of those movies that just makes you happy. You smile because you see this girl — I've been this girl — and to see her figuring things out in the trappings of this very fun, out-there world layered onto a typical high school experience, it's just wonderful. It's the kind of movie you recommend to other people and are dying to know what they thought of it, because it speaks to a piece of you and you're hoping it speaks to them too. Every character is fully formed in such a way that I understand them. They're given moments for us to see who they are and who they wish they were. You're on a journey with these characters.

I hope you will watch Polite Society. It's on Peacock, available to rent, and on Delta flights. Great plane movie — very fun — but also great on a big TV to see the fight scenes.

Hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media. Tell me when you watch Polite Society, what you think — or if you've already seen it. I really love this one.

Jennifer Esposito On Fresh Kills

Jennifer Esposito discusses her thrilling, funny, affecting new film Fresh Kills, a movie that doesn’t fit into any one box but that has been connecting deeply with audiences since its release. You wanna know who your people are? Jennifer is your people. She made a movie for movie lovers, a movie for women, a movie for human beings.

Watch Fresh Kills wherever you get movies: Amazon | Apple TV | Fandango At Home

Learn more and get the (sick) merch.

See a screening of Fresh Kills plus Q&A with Jennifer in ON, Canada this Sunday, August 18.

You Don't Own Me: Eastern Promises vs. Fresh Kills

Two films about feeling trapped and the resulting rage — it's Eastern Promises vs. Fresh Kills.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two films about feeling trapped and the resulting rage. It's Eastern Promises versus Fresh Kills. I love Eastern Promises, but Fresh Kills genuinely had me looking at other films in a new light. I think Jennifer Esposito with Fresh Kills has changed the game and reinvigorated a genre that for me didn't feel particularly relevant — and now it does.

EASTERN PROMISES

A teenager who dies during childbirth leaves clues in her journal that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

This movie came out in 2007. It has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was nominated for an Oscar for Viggo Mortensen's performance.

Viggo is really so fantastic in it. He is an actor who commits himself fully to a role. People know him as Aragorn, but it's a testament to his acting that he sinks so much into every character he takes on. I don't watch this and think it's Aragorn with a Russian accent. He does wildly different things in each film, although he does try to get horses in there. No horses in Eastern Promises, shockingly. I feel like if someone is trying to get him to sign onto a movie, they should just promise him he can be friends with a horse and he might sign up.

I also find in his work he often uplifts women. In his recent film The Dead Don't Hurt, which he wrote and directed and scored and acted in, he was very purposeful in his press tour to discuss the leading lady, Vicky Krieps, and how the story was her story, centering her, putting all his talent behind her support. He needs to promise us he's a cool guy. He does fight scenes, he has tattoos, he has a cool air about him. He knows about motorcycles. But he's working in many ways in service of Naomi Watts, as well as the young woman whose journal begins our story.

I unsurprisingly first watched this film when I was going through Naomi Watts's filmography. That is often how I find a film — I'm a fan of an actor and work my way out from there. Naomi Watts is a Tasteless favorite, an actress who I find to be one of the most in touch with humanity, with conveying authentic emotion on film. She can play such an everywoman without it feeling like she's cosplaying.

I love Naomi Watts trying to follow left-behind info on a dead young woman who suffered tragedy. That is of course both the plot of Eastern Promises and The Ring — another fantastic film. She's great as a detective-type character because she brings a real curiosity to her roles. She's also British in this, which is fun, and she is annoyed, which is double fun.

She wants to do right by a girl who died in her maternity ward, but it's not all selfless. She takes this girl's journal to learn about her because she herself wants to find closure for the dead woman's newborn daughter. And as a midwife, Naomi's character is comfortable with blood, with hard choices, with having someone's life in her hands. It's an interesting contrast to the life Viggo leads — similar comfort levels, very different origins.

You see director David Cronenberg's influence in the baby being born, the umbilical cord being clamped — so much viscera. And you see Cronenberg's touch in the naked knife fight that Viggo Mortensen partakes in. Cronenberg is clearly fascinated with the human form, all its angles. The fight scene is brutal and interesting. Viggo Mortensen, of the gorgeous-long-hair Aragorn fame, heartthrob to many, is fully naked. And yet this fight scene — this nudity is in no way lascivious. There's not a sexuality to it at all, but instead a brute force. He's caught in his most vulnerable and gives everything he has to survive. Very interestingly done.

We have so many movies about the Italian mafia, especially set in New York. So it's interesting to see this Russian mafia in London — to see what's the same and what's different in the tropes of the genre. I love a mob boss who lures you in with kindness. Armin Mueller-Stahl as Semyon, who we eventually discover has done horrible things, knows how to turn on the charm when it suits him. So much more interesting, so much more sinister — that he knows how to behave with Naomi so as not to arouse suspicion. He engages in her detective work and helps her to serve his own purposes.

Tatiana Maslany, one of the greatest working actresses of Orphan Black fame, does Tatiana's voice in the journal scenes — this girl whose death has brought all these characters together. While Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse plays Tatiana physically, the narration of this journal brings her story to the forefront and makes it ever-present in the minds of everyone pulled into this scandal.

Fresh Kills

Follows the story of the loyal women of an organized crime family that dominated some of the boroughs of New York City in the late 20th century.

This movie came out in 2024. It has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a 96% with audiences.

I need this movie to get an Oscar nomination. On this show I have covered The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Casino, Reservoir Dogs, Scarface. It is a genre that is easy pickings for this show, where I am so often uplifting a film starring or made by women versus critically acclaimed films that are almost always from a very masculine point of view. So for Jennifer Esposito to take this classic genre and flip it in such a way that its hook is also kind of the least important part — that's very impressive.

Fresh Kills is a mafia movie. It falls in this world, uses its trappings. But it's so much more than that. These women are so much more than that. When I think of the iconic women of past mob movies, I never think of them in those roles. Lorraine Bracco brings to mind the matriarch of the Rizzoli family in Rizzoli & Isles. Michelle Pfeiffer is Catwoman or Cool Rider before I'd think of Elvira in Scarface. For Sharon Stone in Casino, I would first think Basic Instinct or The Quick and the Dead — films where she has agency, much more so than in Casino.

Esposito's film isn't an answer to mob movies. It's not made in an attempt to subvert the genre as far as I can tell. It's simply a story she had in her that was worth telling, and it falls in this world that she knows, that she saw growing up. So it's very honest. Jennifer wrote and directed this film and there is such presence and care in every shot, in every moment, in every song choice.

No character in this film is a saint. The women aren't good simply because they're women. The characters are flawed, they're chaotic. This movie is living and breathing. You feel Rose's claustrophobia just as you feel this almost oppressive level of acceptance and yes-man energy from Connie — how much Connie needs everything to be okay, needs her father, who is clearly very involved in organized crime, to be a good man. She needs it to be okay what he's doing.

I'm not going to spoil the end of this film because it's actually very important to me that you go buy this film digitally — on Apple, Amazon, all the places you get movies. It's so worth it to support this film, and it's putting your money where your mouth is. Do you want more film from independent filmmakers without an agenda besides telling an interesting story? Films from people who are passionate about film? Jennifer mortgaged her house to make this movie.

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with her a couple years ago on the show and it was one of my favorite conversations I've ever had, because she is such a storyteller and believes so much in the importance of art. The way she's engaged with fans and viewers has been really wonderful to see because it's so authentic, and that comes across in Fresh Kills.

Emily Bader as Rose LaRusso is a revelation. I don't know I've ever seen a role like this, and I certainly haven't seen one played this well. Rose is passive, she doesn't talk much, she observes — and you see the wheels turning in her mind. That could be so boring in a lesser film. But following along with her, we are a fly on the wall of the LaRusso family.

We first see Rose younger, played by Anastasia Veronica Lee. She's more cautious than her outgoing sister, but loves just as fiercely as Connie does. Jennifer Esposito as their mother Francine is a really perfect role for her — one that allows her to be felt throughout the film as this sort of ghost of obligation and in some ways of safety, but who doesn't overpower the younger actors.

I really loved a scene early in the film where Francine invites young Rose into the bathroom with her as she does her makeup. She creates a sanctuary for Rose, but in that sanctuary there is ownership — the implicit understanding that you are like me, we are a team. As Connie stays loyal to their father and questions why the women have been in the bathroom so long, Francine forms her own alliance with Rose. She tells Rose at one point, you know your mother's your best friend, right? to try to get some info out of her. And it's sweet and it's sad. You feel such true love but also the grasping, the desperation to feel understood on all sides.

One of the most fascinating elements of this film is that as we see Rose's story, we see the traditional mafia story through the windows, out the garage, around the corner. In glances and hushed words, we see and hear the elements that would be The Godfather or Goodfellas. The men go off to have their secret talks and instead of the camera following them, we stay behind — to deal with the aftermath, with those who are left, the women who wait for these men to come home safely.

In some strange ways, the father Joe is even more sympathetic. We don't see his dirty dealings. We see him cloaked in shadow. We see that he loves his family and we know he's doing what he thinks he needs to do to keep them safe. But perhaps the most heartbreaking scene — besides some more spoilery beats — is when Joe tells the true version of a story Francine had been telling for years. Francine talks to her daughters about how she was almost a model, how a recruiter gave her his card, what could have been. Hope is so important when you are living on a trash heap. The idea that you could have something better, that someone saw value in you — that means so much. And Joe rips that hope away, laughs about how the talent guy told every girl in town they could be a model and took their money. Joe humiliates Francine and you see her grit through it. Not make a scene, but you can see that it affects her.

This movie has done so much in silence. Its most agonizing moments are conveyed through glances and pursed lips. Joe makes her feel small. Women in these stories are so often made small. They have a single purpose — bring in a lasagna or scream about how they're being cheated on. But not this family. And we see Emily Bader as Rose seeing this — seeing her mother's discomfort, looking around and wondering why no one else notices, why they're continuing to laugh and carry on.

Rose's penchant for observation could be slow in a way that would turn me off, but instead it elevates the film to another level. And Emily Bader as Rose, especially opposite the vivacious Odessa A'zion as Connie — a character who wants too much and isn't afraid to take it, but who also needs a path laid out for her, for whom choice is anathema — Rose feels trapped while Connie thrives on orders and loyalty.

When their father gives them a bakery to run together, it is a gift but also a burden. It keeps Rose in place even as it gives Connie new purpose. The greatest heartbreak for Connie is that she's so happy to take the life her father laid out, but he's given the same path to their cousin Ali — played by Nicholas Cirillo — because he's a man. He's given what Connie feels she earned through being Joe's child. If it's simply given to Ali, then what has Connie done to deserve it?

My one negative about this film? Two barfs. Two barfs happen. A barf in a film is my kryptonite, but not in a way where someone says "kryptonite" and it's like cake — that their kryptonite is cake because they want to eat it. It's in a classic Superman way of I might die because I saw two barfs.

This film has made me think about storytelling differently. How much can be left unsaid and still convey such strong emotion.

Shared Themes

Eastern Promises and Fresh Kills are ultimately about feeling trapped. Each character is beholden to a certain set of rules, to a life they did not want, and there is such powerful storytelling tension as we wonder if they can escape and on whose terms.

In Eastern Promises, Viggo as a gang enforcer — the cleaner — is forced to follow along behind his boss's son and clean up his messes. A man who's clearly not as cruel as his line of work implies. He shares with Naomi: I am driver. I go left, I go right, I go straight ahead. That's it. Of course things aren't that simple, his job is much more elaborate. But it's the way he should think about his job — follow orders, don't go outside the lines, stay alive. But Naomi makes him question this, put himself in danger. We also learn he's an undercover agent — a job where you work for the government, again following someone else's orders. His life is not his own on many levels. He's even branded, getting the star tattoo of the gang he's joined, permanently marking himself as a follower.

Young Tatiana had nowhere to go. In an attempt to make money singing, she wound up as a sex worker for this Russian gang. She journals and hopes for something more, but her life isn't her own. She's pregnant at her death and Naomi saves that baby, searching frantically for a family. She thinks the baby would be better off with Tatiana's relatives — staying within the bloodline — a goal that once again elicits the idea of being trapped in the cyclical nature of life. But Viggo comments the baby would be much better off in London with Naomi.

In Fresh Kills, Rose is stuck. She's trapped by her family's expectations, by the world's expectations. As a young girl, we see how she wants to play with makeup for her mom, but that's clearly frowned upon. While Connie attempts to live more like the boys of the family, that's also frowned upon. Each is stuck in an identity they didn't ask for.

Rose is given a bakery to work at — not something she ever showed interest in. She's told to marry a man, a man who is fine, but there's no light in her eyes when she sees him. She'll get a free house from her dad, but it's another piece he'll always have over her. Every step she takes as an adult that further entangles with him is in some way an endorsement of his behavior, his crimes. And she wonders what's wrong with her that she doesn't want this life that Connie fights for, that Francine pretends to love.

An element I really adored — the bits we see on television screens. Rose watches Sally Jessy Raphael and sees it as an escape. At commercial breaks, there are ads for beauty schools. She ponders being a beautician or entering a guest-hosting gig for Sally Jessy. Even her pipe dreams are influenced by her environment, by what her mother puts on the TV. The one time she sets out to do something for herself and auditions for Sally Jessy, it's thwarted by her family name — a name she has just shared with the casting person, a name then blasted across the TV as the name of a criminal. The TV giveth and the TV taketh away.

The other piece of the puzzle is ownership and the way that ownership leads to a sort of impotent rage in our main characters.

In Eastern Promises, Viggo has two masters — the gang he's undercover with and the government he's secretly working for. He's branded by both. You see his rage seething under the surface of his controlled image. He's taking orders for greater purpose, but that doesn't keep it from frustrating him. As his character says: Anger is very dangerous. It makes people do stupid things. Anger is maybe one of our most destructive emotions. No one has ever done anything out of anger and then thought, yeah, that was a great choice.

Naomi's rage is so clear. She wants justice for this girl, but what is she to do in the face of a gang? When her uncle says something abhorrent, she storms out. She's not going to fight her uncle. She just has to leave. But you feel that energy, that thrumming in her. She doesn't know what to do with it, so she has to remove herself.

Fresh Kills further begs the question: when is anger acceptable? I think some people would say in women, never. Anyone surprised by the violence of this film — surprised that women feel emotions as strongly as men and that there's an outlet other than tears — is in for a real surprise in the real world.

What's heartbreaking is that all the rage in the world, all the passion, doesn't extricate Rose from the life she was born into. She is owned by her last name, by her family's expectations, by her desire to be loved by them in the way they love those who stay in line. When Rose finally blows up at her father, it doesn't get her anything. It's an outlet, something that drives her to make choices she needs to make, but it's not going to change him. It's not going to change the business.

Does anger ever really lead to the outcome we want? I don't know that female rage is taken seriously in the same way, because women's rage is not palatable. It doesn't lead to fun fight scenes or quests for vengeance — not usually. And there's a toxicity to the LaRusso women that is magnetizing and it is scary.

When Francine screams at Rose for saying she doesn't want children, she's speaking to her own hurt, her own grief — takes it out on Rose, who is so used to having things taken out on her. That Rose continues to express herself at all is a miracle. When Connie screams about how she and their dad are Rose's people, she shouldn't be looking for validation outside — it's sad because Connie needs to believe it. She can't have her world turned upside down.

Anger keeps us in line in some ways. These women try to put on the face expected of them, so their anger builds and builds until it explodes at inopportune times at the wrong people. No one can get mad at Joe, the breadwinner, the man of the house, so they get mad at each other. Connie is furious with Rose for not being loyal enough to their father instead of being mad at the father who has let them down. It's easier to be mad at a person who you think will always be there for you than at a known quantity.

What Fresh Kills Does Better

Eastern Promises has heroes and villains, people who must do the right thing and for whom doing the right thing is an easy choice. Fresh Kills shows us a protagonist who doesn't have an external force driving her. No one is coming to save her. There's no magic fix. No clear-cut delineations of right and wrong. She must motivate herself wholly from within. It's so honest in its simplicity and the lack of a black-and-white binary.

In Eastern Promises, Viggo is confident, in control. He plays everyone. Even as he wins over the mob boss, he has his own agenda. Every move is calculated. He has goals outside of this — he hasn't fallen into gang life, he's there with a very clear purpose. So he can stay disaffected, think of himself as someone other than the man who cleans up dead bodies. He has a freedom that Rose in Fresh Kills doesn't have, even though he is confined within the boundaries of organized crime.

Naomi Watts barrels headfirst into gang business. Everyone is so nice to her. They're like, we won't kill you for this journal. We'll make you borscht. She is righteous in her belief that this baby needs to be connected with its family. We know she'll survive because she's the hero, the beautiful blonde seeking justice who cares about the baby, who can convert Viggo Mortensen to a life of good. She implores him to read the journals and he listens. It's an idealized world. It's a fun world. Great crime flick.

But while Eastern Promises is a story of seekers, Fresh Kills is the story of an observer. And the way Rose's tale is carried out is a sort of storytelling I don't think I've ever seen done so effectively. There's no behind-the-scenes string-pulling. We don't know for a fact things will go away. We can't anticipate the life she'll live because her life is grounded in reality.

Another lesser version of this film would have had her be the new host of Sally Jessy Raphael. There's a movie I love, Drop Dead Gorgeous, where Kirsten Dunst wants to be a broadcaster and she's at a crime scene when the anchor gets shot and she pops up and takes over the reporting. Dark comedy, done very well. But how often in any genre do our characters not quite get what they want without it being a totally depressing movie made for the purpose of making you sad? The world of Fresh Kills doesn't feel hollow in any of its sad moments. It's not overdone. It's simply reality.

No one comes down and says, Rose, I believe in you, here's a path to another life, here's a job as a beautician. Nothing is handed to her. The only path set out is the one of her family, the one she's desperate to escape. She has to figure things out on her own. No magical mentor. We can wait around for an answer to be dropped in our laps, but sometimes we just have to move forward to try something knowing we might fail. And Rose is so brave in that she's ready to do that.

In Eastern Promises, Viggo is not simply a Russian mob member. He's elite. He's the best. He scoffs in the face of danger. He can fix motorcycles. And he's a secret agent. He's special. So many movies are about people who are special.

An element of Fresh Kills that was so brilliant is that this family is ordinary. Rose is ordinary. In Eastern Promises, we know that although other people own Viggo, he has the self-confidence and ability to stay on top. When he is attacked naked in a bathhouse, he beats up knife dudes while his junk is flopping around. You know he's the best. You know he'll save Naomi, avenge Tatiana. Everything falls so perfectly into place. Everything is meant to be.

In Fresh Kills, Rose isn't special. Her sister's more rambunctious, gets more attention, but still gets beat up when it comes down to it. Her father heads up a crime organization but gets caught. Her mother is beautiful and vivacious but there's a deep well of sadness there. No one finds out they're a boy wizard or a superhero. These people play the roles they've been assigned and tell themselves it makes them happy.

Even Rose's big moment of choosing violence — picking up a bottle to smash an attacker over the head — that's still not enough for her sister. It's not a magic heroic moment. It's too little, too late. It's not a victory. It's just an end to that particular bout of fighting. There's no glamour in these trappings of the mafia. Rose isn't suddenly an informant or a saint. She chooses for herself when she can and she tries to survive.

Go buy Fresh Kills. Watch it, tell someone to watch it, review it. These things matter for films like this. It's available on Apple TV, Amazon, and everywhere you get movies.

Hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media — only once you've watched it. Then we will talk about it. Emily Bader — ugh, so good. Whole cast is incredible.

Take My Breath Away: Singin' In The Rain vs. A Family Affair

Two movies about forbidden romance set against the fantastical world of Hollywood — it’s Singin’ In The Rain vs. A Family Affair.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two movies about forbidden romance set against the fantastical world of Hollywood. It's Singin' in the Rain versus A Family Affair. Yes, I had another episode on deck. Yes, I changed it when a new Nicole Kidman movie hit Netflix on Friday. Of course I did. I'm a journalist.

Singin’ In The Rain

A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.

This movie came out in 1952. It has a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. No one has a bad thing to say about this movie. That's so perfect for this podcast — to compare anything to a movie that has 100%.

Singin' in the Rain was nominated for two Oscars. Best Music Scoring of a Musical Picture for Lennie Hayton, and then one that's a little surprising but I love: Best Supporting Actress for Jean Hagen as Lena Lamont. The film as a whole didn't receive that many nominations, and it makes sense because only a year prior another Gene Kelly movie, An American in Paris, had won Best Picture plus five other Oscars. People were like, all right, we get it. But I don't hear people now talking about An American in Paris the way they do about Singin' in the Rain. For a very unscientific comparison, An American in Paris has been watched by 77,000 people on Letterboxd, while Singin' in the Rain has been watched by 581,000.

I am a fan of cinema who has a massive blind spot for films that are pre-70s outside of horror, and to be fair, probably even pre-90s. I don't tend to go for older films, just like I don't tend to go for animated films as my first choice. That definitely causes me to miss out, but when there are so many movies on the earth, I have to focus somewhere. And yeah, that's mostly 90s psychosexual thrillers.

But there is such a different feeling when watching an older movie like Singin' in the Rain. A lightness, it's just joyful. And then you read about how much Gene Kelly made 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds cry. So things weren't all sunshine and roses. Singin' in the Rain does a good job of presenting this idyllic, funny, dance-filled world that just makes you smile. Biggest disappointment but also the best part: it opens with them singing "Singin' in the Rain" in the rain. Perfection. But then later Gene Kelly just sings it by himself. Come on.

Singin' in the Rain is the epitome of a feel-good musical. My absolute favorite movie musical of all time is Funny Girl, but I can see how Singin' in the Rain is the blueprint for bringing the magic of an art form that's perhaps best enjoyed live — bringing it really brilliantly onto the big screen.

Gene Kelly: an unforgiving taskmaster of a man. Very talented. I never really think talent is worth being a jerk. In this film as Don Lockwood, incredibly charming in a very smarmy way. He's kind of a social climber who does what he needs to look his best. He's a liar when it suits him. He embellishes. He goes big. He looks a bit like Justin Theroux. Very nice voice on this man — not just when he's singing, when he's talking.

For a guy that's this intense and this much of a perfectionist, dancing was not a great choice when you have to do it with other people, because you have to be so in sync. Imagine you're the best in the world, you're Gene Kelly, and this nice 19-year-old Debbie Reynolds misses a step. You're ready to have an aneurysm. But she had no real dance training when she took this job, and she is up there next to Gene Kelly fully holding her own.

I liked when the police made him stop having fun. He's out dancing around in puddles and the police just come. This policeman is just looking at him. He's like, I guess I have to stop dancing in the puddles. I don't think that's illegal. Was it illegal back then? You weren't allowed to play in the rain?

The best thing about Gene Kelly's character might be that he is a loyal friend to a fault. He lets his best friend Cosmo, played by Donald O'Connor, hang around all the time. Date with Debbie Reynolds? Cosmo's there. Conversation with his boss? Cosmo's there. And here is my problem with this movie. I am being so serious right now. Shenanigans. Tomfoolery. Lot of both between these two guys. Real goofy guys over here. I don't like it. I don't like yucks. I don't like shenanigans.

Donald O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh" song — incredible. He runs up a wall and does a flip. The talent on this guy. But here's what I know about me. Song in this movie called "Gotta Dance." I don't got a dance and I don't understand why other people do. But I do love watching it. I just wouldn't hang out with these men.

This whole movie is a jukebox musical trying to use songs that already existed, weaving them in. And "Make 'Em Laugh" — they created it to use up all of the gags Donald had from his vaudeville days. All these little things he did to make people laugh at previous gigs, combined into one song. This guy was a heavy smoker, had to flip off a wall, was keeled over, had to do it again. The problem with being so talented at something is that you can make it look easy and people don't understand just how much effort went into it.

Debbie Reynolds is a star. A star. I first loved her in Halloweentown. She was such a cool grandma. She just always struck me as very clever, very self-aware, very perceptive. She's so enjoyable to watch on screen. The fact that she didn't dance professionally before Singin' in the Rain and held her own with Gene Kelly is insane. Gene was hard on her — she's crying, Fred Astaire finds her under the stairs, checking on her. Yeah, Gene Kelly, fun guy.

She's so charismatic. She just has it. These classic movie stars — there were less stars. Somebody couldn't just have a TikTok. And I think Debbie could succeed just as easily today because of that true connection you feel through the screen. She has had a tumultuous private life but it has always been very clear she loved her family to the ends of the earth. The way her granddaughter Billie Lourd talks about her is always very touching. She's just one of those people we all felt like we knew — her and her daughter Carrie Fisher.

Jean Hagen as Lena Lamont is a really great foil. She's nasty, she's dumb, she's absurd, totally commits, not a winking role at all. Just an annoying person who is used to getting what she wants and utilizes what's available to get her way. And I can't fault her for that — for clinging onto the empire she's been building with Gene Kelly. As much as I wanted Debbie's dreams to come true, Jean is just so awesome to watch.

Also, it is very cool and funny that Debbie at one point comes in to dub Jean so it's her voice instead of Jean's grating voice. But it's actually Jean dubbing Debbie dubbing Jean. You get that? Jean is doing her real voice pretending to be Debbie pretending to replace Lena Lamont's voice, who is Jean doing a high-pitched voice. Jean dubbing Debbie dubbing Jean.

Jean Hagen, backbone of this film to me, keeps it from being too saccharine. I wanted good things for Lena Lamont the same way I want good things for the villains on Housewives or for Jennifer Lopez. I want to keep watching them be wild.

A Family Affair

A surprising romance kicks off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother, and her movie-star boss as they face the complications of love, sex, and identity.

This movie came out in 2024. It has a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes. I obviously was seated on Friday when it came out. Got off work. Put it on. The Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron reunion we've been waiting on since The Paperboy. I was ready for some cheesy fun and it fully delivered while also having really engaging performances from a fantastic cast.

I think this film will in its time be enjoyed for what it is — a light romp where everyone seems to be having a great time filming it. Much like Singin' in the Rain, which was overshadowed by An American in Paris at the time, A Family Affair is kind of overshadowed right now by The Idea of You, but has its own merits.

IndieWire shared a very funny interview where Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman said they signed on for the original title — it was called something much cruder. Nicole shared that somehow that didn't make it onto the Netflix title. They both were like, let's do it. What better way to reconnect. Let Nicole Kidman have fun. She is queen of prestige television. One of the all-time greatest actresses who can really make any role work because of what she brings to the table. But in this movie she gets to be light. Yes, her character has past trauma, but it is in no way the focus and it doesn't hold her back from going for what she wants.

I love that she kind of tells her kid to kick rocks. Like, hey kid, let me be happy. I want to make out with Zac Efron. I'm going to sleep with your boss. I would be furious if that was my mom. And while Nicole is a great mom in this, she also isn't catering unnecessarily to her adult daughter. Their relationship is realistically tense with fights that felt akin to fights I've had with my mom. It isn't loaded down with anguish. It taps into real emotions but keeps things a bit more surface level in a way I appreciated.

Nicole Kidman never really had that rom-com phase in her career, which is sort of shocking. The closest roles that come to mind are maybe Just Go With It where she's the villain but super goofy, or Bewitched where she's bubbly. But rarely does she play totally carefree. This is total cotton candy, which is what you want sometimes. Also, this movie lets her be Australian. Thank you, A Family Affair.

Joey King is perfect. Her character is frustrating, selfish in the way anyone in their early-to-mid twenties is. I see myself in elements of her in a way I wish I didn't. She has real emotions that I understand even while I can rationally understand they're not her mom's fault, not her boss's fault. They have to do with her own feelings about her worth, about what she's supposed to do with her life. I liked that Joey was selfish but still really kind. She's never nasty, just not thinking of other people the way she should be.

Zac Efron, always delightful. He is a song and dance man who could have been in Singin' in the Rain. He actually shared with the Letterboxd journalist at the premiere that Singin' in the Rain is one of his favorite movies. He has such charm. The fact that he improvised the "Bet On It" golf course dance in High School Musical 2 is incredible. He has allowed his career to mature with him in a way that's really hard to do.

I like that we dealt with the internal elements of his character's fame. The lengths he goes to not be stopped by fans — he has secret spots where no one can see him. He's wistful over getting to go to the grocery store when he was younger. We don't get that cliché paparazzi moment. We see him when he's most comfortable, away from all of that.

Their courtship is fast — they're all over each other drinking tequila within an afternoon. But is that so crazy when you're two hotties? When he's trying to come up with something to talk to this hot Australian woman about, he goes, do you know Margot Robbie? She's like, no. And he goes, I do. He's silly in a way I enjoy — not a shenanigans way, like Cosmo in Singin' in the Rain.

Kathy Bates as Nicole's mother-in-law — perfect. She mourns the loss of her son but is in no way controlling of Nicole's life. She's excited that Nicole sees something in Zac that creates a spark. There's this wonderful non-judgmental maternal energy.

Sherry Cola is a revelation. Liza Koshy at one point makes up a fake name and calls herself Mia Thermopoulos. I love that. And her Letterboxd top four — The Room, Cats, Madame Web, and Triangle of Sadness — I'm officially a fan.

Shared Themes

Singin' in the Rain and A Family Affair have couples that like each other, have chemistry, have so much fun together — but who have to keep their romance secret to stay out of sight of the haters. Lena Lamont and Joey King: the ultimate haters in film.

In Singin' in the Rain, what Gene Kelly builds with Debbie Reynolds is this textbook love-hate, fun, classic-for-a-reason dynamic. They're in such a high-stakes world, but once they're together, none of that matters. They meet when Gene catapults himself into Debbie's car. They argue. They meet again when Debbie jumps out of a cake. Crazy sequence of events. Plus the blonde hottie who thinks Gene is her boyfriend is ready to upend their lives. Gives them an us-against-the-world feeling. Well, us and Cosmo against the world.

That bond that they are creating art together, trying to build something better — it's so strong. Rita Moreno as Zelda, small role, nice to see her, rats them out to Lena Lamont. What I love is that instead of Gene going, no, you misunderstood, he's like, yeah, I adore Debbie Reynolds. Look at her. Look at the tiny hats she wears. No one is ashamed. The fun is the sneaking around, but the romance is in declaring for the world to hear that they love each other.

A Family Affair has the often-discussed age-gap romance, but with the woman as the older party — always a nice twist. I think the power imbalance is played well because of Zac being famous. Even though he's younger, he's had certain things available to him and grown up faster in some ways, although he's really stunted in others. He's also a full adult man. He's 36.

They set up that Nicole is well-read and he has a lot to learn, but he's curious. That goes really far. He doesn't need to know everything, but he wants to learn. I love that he reads the mythology books she gives him. They make each other laugh. They're not intellectual equals, but they're good for each other. Zac has some growing up to do — he needs to take other people seriously, think outside himself. Being with Nicole forces him to see Joey as a human, not just his assistant. Shouldn't he need to have sex with Nicole Kidman to treat his employee as a human? Probably not. But you see what they get from each other.

What's so fun about these films is their use of the fantastic, their use of Hollywood and its trappings to tell stories in a larger-than-life way. Both Gene Kelly and Zac Efron take the woman they like to a fake set and show them the magic of what film creates — imagination, possibilities. Gene telling Debbie she looks lovely in the moonlight, perhaps more suave than anything Zac says on a fake New York set. But this moment of the fake, the movie set, being the only place these people can share their true emotions — it's perfect storytelling.

Singin' in the Rain leans into the Technicolor, the fun. Gene Kelly dancing in the rain is fantastic. These sets are built to create imagery that sticks with you. Debbie has been struggling as a background cake dancer, meets the hot actor she likes, and now is his girlfriend and is going to get a movie role. What a dream. This fantasy only works when everyone feels like they belong in it — that Debbie meets Gene on his level and impresses him. It's such wish fulfillment in the best way.

A Family Affair is certainly not a big production — there's no smoke and mirrors — but there is this Hollywood dream on offer. A life that Zac doesn't appreciate, that Joey longs for. There's a modern version of Hollywood that's equally entrancing. We think of celebrities as having it all. Zac has a beautiful house, someone catering to his every whim, but it doesn't make him happy. His fantasy is normalcy — and to an extent, solitude. Choosing things for himself. We see it when he takes Nicole to the empty New York set. Joey calls him out for doing what he does with all women, and it makes sense when he shares he doesn't know where else to go for privacy.

The plot of this movie would never happen in real life. It just wouldn't. But isn't it fun to watch? I love this kind of fantasy, just grounded enough that it's like, hmm, a movie star could fall in love with me while I'm at home wearing my Blondie shirt and organizing my books.

What A Family Affair Does Better

A movie made in the ‘50s versus a movie made in the 2020s is of course going to be different. I am not faulting Singin' in the Rain for having ‘50s sensibilities about women at all. But I think the lighter the movie, the less seriously it tends to take identity. These are two fluffy, fun, silly movies. While Singin' in the Rain has an unsurprising thread of rudeness towards its leading ladies, I was really pleasantly surprised by the agency that A Family Affair gave to Joey and especially to Nicole.

Singin' in the Rain is Gene Kelly's story. That is fine — men can have movies. Great. But man, it's boring that Debbie is like, at first has her own stuff, and is like, okay, whatever you want, Gene, I actually secretly am president of your fan club and I'm happy to help you save your trash movie and not get credit. Come on, Debbie, get in there. Dance fight this man, Sharks versus Jets style.

Jean Hagen as Lena Lamont is by far the most fun character to watch. I don't think she was meant to be. She feels ahead of her time in this villainous, fun role where she's doing things women shouldn't — speaking up for herself, basically. When the movie starts, Gene Kelly does all the talking for her because of her awful voice. As far as she knows, she's just not allowed to talk because Gene has been nominated to speak for both of them. And that sucks.

Knowing that Gene made Debbie cry makes it less fun to watch them fall on the couch giggling together, knowing that was probably the 40th time they fell on the couch and everyone's feet are bleeding and they're sobbing when it's done. None of this takes away from this movie being a must-watch. But that's what makes A Family Affair, which you'd think would follow certain stereotypes, especially surprising and enjoyable.

A Family Affair does not fall into the traps and tropes of a typical romance. We see so many movies where people feel guilt over moving on or women beat themselves up for putting themselves first. How dare a woman do what she wants and not sacrifice. Nicole makes no apologies for her successes. She even acknowledges how her husband felt less-than because he didn't do as well, but she doesn't dim her own light. When her daughter's upset, she acknowledges that, but doesn't bend to her. When her daughter confronts her, she apologizes for hurting her but makes it clear she will not sacrifice her personhood so her daughter can feel good.

Nicole Kidman is 57. How many stories are there for 57-year-old women where they're hot and hooking up with the young hottie and it's not played for laughs? It's not played for laughs at all. Of course these two are together. This is just her life. Even saying "older women" about Nicole Kidman feels disrespectful somehow. She's not 90. But when Hollywood likes you to be 21, there aren't that many roles.

I also find it really interesting how we tend to malign things that aren't deep, and it feels like we've gotten worse about that. When Singin' in the Rain came out, people enjoyed it, it was nominated for Oscars, but it's a fluffy fun movie. A Family Affair is the same. And it's disappointing to see so many reviews saying, watch this with a glass of wine or three. Okay, great. Yeah, you've sold me. I want a movie I can watch with friends, have a drink, giggle, not argue over whatever Tenet is about.

We look back on older films as more than they maybe were at the time because anything that has survived decades, been shared by relatives, gives the film an air of importance. It's hard to make a movie now when there are so many movies. You can watch a million different things this weekend. There's this feeling now that you have to watch something important, something meaningful, something in the zeitgeist. I think the best example of this change is The Bear, which won Best Comedy — should not have been in that category.

I think A Family Affair is out at the exact perfect time for me, and I have so much respect for the people who made something that seems so rare now: just fun. Anyone But You recently was lauded for similar reasons — chemistry on film again. I want these options. I don't want it to be either superheroes or Schindler's List. A Family Affair does exactly what I wanted it to do, and it does it well. I worry we're not getting these movies anymore — 27 Dresses, Morning Glory, One for the Money. I love this genre of lighthearted fun centered on a female protagonist who's figuring her stuff out.

If you want to pour yourself a glass of wine, go nuts. Put on A Family Affair. Watch these two movies together — you will have a lovely time. It's a great double feature. A Family Affair is on Netflix. Singin' in the Rain is on Max.

Hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media. Let's talk Nicole Kidman. Let's talk Debbie Reynolds. Let's talk fun movies.

Class Warfare: Triangle Of Sadness vs. Corporate Animals

Two satires about class and equality — it's Triangle Of Sadness vs. Corporate Animals.

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Every episode of Tasteless, I take a critically acclaimed film and compare it to one that shares the same themes but didn't get the attention it deserves — and explain why that second movie is my pick. This week: two satires about class and equality. It's Triangle of Sadness versus Corporate Animals. This pairing is a no-brainer, a slam dunk, so easy I almost didn't do it. Of course these movies are the same. I'm here to advocate for Corporate Animals, which is phenomenal.

Triangle Of Sadness

A fashion model celebrity couple join an eventful cruise for the super-rich.

This movie came out in 2022. It has a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was nominated for three Oscars — Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Directing, all for Ruben Östlund. It definitely deserved the nominations. There is nothing else like it besides other Ruben Östlund films, which are always interesting commentary that make you laugh at things you feel you shouldn't be laughing at.

Triangle of Sadness is enjoyable and ostentatious and absurd. It's definitely not for everyone, but the people it's for, it's really for. We meet Harris Dickinson as Carl, a male model. The look at the male model world in the first bit sets such a high energy. This grumpy brand versus smiley brand conversation — how smiley brands are cheap — it's such a good scene. I do wish more of the movie was like this portion. These expensive brands look down on you and in our minds, that's what people want from luxury, while the cheap brands are happy and fun and welcome everyone in. We see how kind of untrue these things are as the film unfolds.

There is something about Harris Dickinson's portrayal that is one of the most honest male roles I've seen. He never seems to be trying too hard. A scene in a fancy restaurant where he squabbles with his girlfriend Yaya, played by Charlbi Dean, over paying the bill — when he says it's uncomfortable to talk about money and gender roles, I don't think I've ever seen this conversation had before on film.

Yaya is such an interesting character. She seems rude and standoffish at first, but then you get it. You understand her viewpoint. Charlbi Dean is very charming — someone who could easily be cast as the hot bitch in a million movies but infuses Yaya with genuine likeability. Yes, she thinks about life in a transactional way, but she acknowledges her own manipulations. She has to protect herself.

I got out of this movie in the theater, was walking past a Lego store, immediately on her IMDB looking for what else she'd been in — and was shocked to discover she had recently passed. It casts a strange pallor over the film because I think this role would have led to many more for her. There is a way her character takes in the world that's interesting. She's not above it all — she's part of what's happening.

The upstairs-downstairs vibes are very clear. All the top cruise workers wear white, getting amped up because they're about to make a bunch of money doing what the rich people want. The actual workers a level below them cleaning toilets — all people of color. All the white-clad steward types a floor up are blonde and white. Vicki Berlin's Paula, the head of the fancy crew, so good — intense with the right balance of level head and kowtowing to ridiculous guest demands.

This guy Dimitri, played by Zlatko Burić, is the worst. A millionaire with his wife and his mistress. He's made so much money off fertilizer. One of the most realistic portrayals of getting stuck talking to someone at an event — when Carl and Yaya are at his table, you feel trapped there with them. And I love this old couple because they look so sweet but they make grenades. That's where they've got their money. When pirates later attack and a grenade lands right next to them, she's like, is this one of ours?

Any regular listener knows I hate barf in movies. So much. The kind of famous scene from this film is just people barfing up and down the halls. They're seasick, the food's bad. If this happened to me, I would off myself. I really struggled not to fast-forward when rewatching. There is plot in between the barfs, but God. Having to rewatch. I had a hard time even watching what led up to it because it's really well shot to make the viewer feel like they're moving, with the loud metal music, and then poo water starts pouring down the halls.

I also think Woody Harrelson is not needed here. His whole Marxist versus the Russian thing was the least interesting thread. It leads directly to the pirates overhearing them, but it's just not interesting. Looking at every other part of this film, this Marxist-communist thread as Woody Harrelson reads his diary about MLK Jr. — I don't need this.

The breakout star is Dolly de Leon as Abigail, someone who was working downstairs and is the only one with real survival skills when they're stranded. She can catch fish, start fire. All these rich people don't know what to do — they'd be eating sand without her. She shared that the role was initially going to be a man. It is so much better, so much more interesting, so much harder to digest that it's a woman, because if she were a man, she'd be an unquestionable villain. She takes immediate advantage of her abilities on the island — who can blame her — but she also uses it to have Carl come spend the night with her.

If she were one of the rich characters and Carl was poor, she'd be an absolute villain even as a woman. But she's one of the downtrodden, she's a woman with a lot of disadvantages in the power structure. So yes, she's doing bad things, but you can't blame her in some ways. There's something less icky about it — it's more palatable because she's punching up and not down. That doesn't make what she does to Carl okay, but it's interesting to watch and realize the biases I have myself — that I'm not as disgusted because she was previously in a position of less power.

It's on Hulu. Don't fast-forward through the barfs if you can help it because it is really well shot, but I'm thinking about them now and I'm upset.

Corporate Animals

CEO Lucy takes her staff on corporate team building in some underground desert caves in New Mexico. They get stuck there.

This came out in 2019. It has a 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. Movie critics have zero taste. This is absurd.

I have been dying to talk about this movie. I've had this comparison written down for a long time — I just haven't wanted to watch all the barfing of Triangle of Sadness again. This is the quintessential Tasteless where I'm telling you: if you like something, there's something else out there you've never heard of or that you passed over. And that something is Corporate Animals, which is phenomenal.

I wound up revisiting it because I was reading about Demi Moore's upcoming film The Substance, a body horror film about a fading celebrity. Demi is so good. She's so talented. Her book was fantastic — I always appreciate a celebrity memoir where their personality, their humanity shines through. Her book Inside Out really feels as though a friend is telling you stories. I am obsessed with her carpeted bathroom. I love what a family person she is, how close she is with her daughters, still there for her ex-husband Bruce Willis. She's an animal lover. She just seems great.

And what I really love is seeing someone who seems great playing a stone-cold bitch, which she does in this movie to absolute perfection. She is CEO of a company called Incredible Edible Cutlery, for which she has invented edible cutlery. The opening is this amazing in-world commercial — one of my favorite things, when there are in-world ads and videos — she's this sort of Bethenny Frankel, Gwyneth Paltrow, awful-politician, face-of-the-company type CEO talking about the incredible environmental benefits while reaping all the monetary rewards.

Demi plays this fully clueless woman so deadpan imperfectly. We do not give her enough credit for how funny she is. In this film she's making her employees do a company retreat, trust exercises, caving. Their tour guide, played by Ed Helms — who also produced the film — is like, okay, when we go in these caves, there are cave paintings, you can't touch them. And Demi is like, I'm actually one-sixty-fourth Acoma. And if you want to touch them, just check with me. I'll be assuming the role of tribal elder. And later: that's what leaders do. It's the white man's burden. Talking about herself. She listens to her own voice on audiobook.

They go spelunking. They get stuck. The rocks cave in, crushing Ed Helms. So they're all just in there. She's skulking around in the back of the cave with a face mask on. She has several really good physical comedy moments — another is when she's been found out to have been eating Ed Helms's arm because they do have to resort to cannibalism. She makes the funniest oops, I'm caught face when they find out she's been eating him. Cannibalism — what a blast.

She is mentoring Jessica Williams — I loved her in Booksmart as the teacher, she's a Daily Show correspondent, she's in Shrinking. She's a really perfect person for Demi to play off of. Demi tells her she can be the Beyoncé of business, among other very out-of-touch things to say to a young Black woman. The relationship between these two is the most fun to watch, because Jessica rides a fine line of wanting to keep her job but not wanting to put up with the out-of-pocket crazy things her boss says. They have this very tense dynamic where they're circling each other trying to figure out the opening to strike.

Demi's character is also sexually assaulting her other second-in-command, a young man played brilliantly by Karan Soni. He yells at one point, she's been Weinsteining me! This is tough — it's played for laughs but is taken seriously by his coworkers and by him. We first see his character kind of dealing with it, like, no, get away from me, I wish you hadn't done this, but then he has to stand up for himself. I think it's played with real maturity. It's a different kind of manliness.

He and Jessica have been basically pitted against each other by Demi — she's told them both they're up for a big VP position so they keep putting up with her behavior and go after each other instead of focusing on her. They're very fun as enemies but even better when they're working together.

Great pacing. It's an 86-minute movie, which is perfect. It makes really good use of this ensemble cast. Everyone is used effectively. Nasim Pedrad plays a more timid employee who starts having a panic attack in the cave, and Demi just tells her, your panic attack is not authorized. She's like, okay.

Jennifer Kim plays a more no-nonsense employee who strikes up an underground stuck-in-a-cave romance with Nasim that leads to a lot of bickering over the man's body they're eating. There's something oddly equal in this portrayal — this would be the heterosexual couple that hooked up in a scary movie at an inopportune time. I appreciate that it's these two women who aren't even necessarily gay, but they're in a weird situation, and it's not played for laughs that they're both women. That's not the joke.

Callum Worthy is a fresh-faced intern who gets a wound that's definitely infected. He is losing his mind, and because of this we get a cameo from Britney Spears. Like actual Britney Spears. The real Britney does audio. Callum thinks he's hearing Britney talk to him in the cave. And then his open gaping wound sings the song "Toxic." The main cast didn't even know she was involved until the film premiered at Sundance.

It is insane. It is incredible. Corporate Animals — that Rotten Tomatoes score is offensive. I don't know how you watch an 86-minute movie and be that much of a hater about it.

Director Patrick Brice also directed The Overnight, plus Creep and Creep 2. The writer Sam Bain wrote Four Lions and co-created Peep Show. That's a really interesting pedigree — very specific comedic sensibilities that work very well here. It's on Peacock, Shudder, Roku, Vudu — everywhere. Check it out.

Shared Themes

Triangle of Sadness and Corporate Animals are both satirical looks at class and gender that each take a wild turn. They exaggerate as any good satire does, but in a way that feels particularly modern — a cutting look at the spheres of social interaction we all deal with as we try to make a living.

Triangle of Sadness looks at the absurdities of not just the wealthy but of modern life, of the transactional nature of our existence. The conversation between Carl and Yaya that demonstrates how she views herself as a commodity, and the turn of events that makes Carl the commodity to Abigail on the island — they really perfectly bookend this film. Class and power are so linked. We want higher class because it comes with more power, and yet if you get the power without the class, you'll still be looked down on.

We see this in Yaya's final line. They're on the island. Spoiler. Yaya realizes there's an escape, a resort. She's basically like, I want to help you. Maybe you can come work for me. You can be my assistant. After all they've been through, she thinks Abigail will be happy to return to her previous station in life. Yaya believes they're returning to a world where she has the power and Abigail's reign can just be forgotten. It's absurd.

It's interesting when they land on the island and Paula is still trying to keep division — like, we have to make sure all the rich guests are happy. Yeah, actually you don't. You're stranded. There are no more rules. But isn't life easier when we feel like we have a path, a role, a script to follow?

In a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, Östlund said: he wanted to portray them all as nice. He didn't want to make them ignorant or mean because the conventional way when we look at class is that the bottom is genuine and generous and the rich are egoistic and superficial. He didn't believe that's true. Until I read that, I hadn't clued in on that important fact. Almost all of these characters think they are being nice. No one is being nasty just to be nasty. No one is cruel. The movie itself is nasty, which makes it fun to watch, but it shows people who want to do the right thing, think they're doing the right thing, but just don't care enough to do it in a way that matters.

The best highlight is Vera, who sees all the helper people and says, I want you all to go for a swim. She's doing this to feel good — she feels she's doing a good deed — but for the workers, their whole day is thrown off. She's not trying to be mean. She's not trying to make anyone's day worse. But she's also not doing what this person wants. She's not respecting bodily autonomy. She's doing what she thinks they should want.

On the opposite end, Abigail is a working-class person with abilities beyond the rich chumps, who in another movie would be noble and kind-hearted. Instead she uses her power position to get the hottest guy on the island. There's something about it that's empowering, because there's something almost condescending in believing that someone working-class or poor is therefore more kind and self-sacrificing. It's almost infantilizing.

Corporate Animals uses its clueless CEO for laughs in a way that truly tickled me, but also felt brutally honest. When Demi Moore tells Jessica Williams she can be the Beyoncé of business, we know she's out of touch. But when she really takes a turn — tells all of them they were only hired because of affirmative action while saying she's doing this for them, brought them on as a gift from her heart — it's brilliant. She thinks she's doing them a favor as the beneficent white woman. I lifted you up so that just a little bit of the light that shines on me could fall on you. Just a little bit, not the whole thing. Aren't I wonderful?

Her employees know she's trash and put up with it together. They want the VP role to keep their jobs. They don't call her on it until they've all been trapped in a cave eating human meat for days.

The film's discussion of gender is where it really sings. When Karan Soni's character calls out Demi Moore's CEO for Weinsteining him, she is incensed at the accusation, eventually exclaiming: if women can't be as horrible as men, then what's f***ing feminism for?

She practices this faux feminism that's so common, and I love how the film digs into it because there are points where I kind of agree with her. And then she says something absolutely horrible and I'm like, wait, no. But there is this thing that feels kind of specific to — and is well skewered here — white women. Where we talk out of both sides of our mouths. When you look at all the white women voting for Republicans, you sort of see this. The CEO wants feminism because she wants to be on top, but she doesn't want equality. She wants power. She still wants to be better than some people while also bringing out the good she's doing for minorities and taking the praise and the corporate benefits that come with it.

What she says is outrageous and makes you gasp, but also if the news came out and said someone said this, you'd go: yeah, it's pretty crazy, but I'm not surprised. And that's the funniest thing — when it's so real. When you're laughing because you're just kind of uncomfortable.

She truly does not think she's wrong. She has genuinely created opportunities for minorities. She has a workplace team made up of women, older men, people of color. The two people up for VP are a young Indian man and a young Black woman. She touts it. She's proud of it. But as soon as she's cornered, she's screaming about affirmative action. And what a gift she gave these people though — it's a blessing to work for her. She is the ultimate white savior. And to see it from a woman is more complicated, because she's done things that are on their surface good. She has been held back in life because she's a woman. She has overcome that.

And now, can we blame her for wanting to act like all the men that were in this position before her? I'm not getting my student loans forgiven because some people were so mad at the idea that I would get $10,000 while they paid their own loans. They don't want other people to have it easier. There's something about that that's horrible. I think it's in all of us, at least a little bit. Some of us can overcome it and some can't. It's a very insidious piece of womanhood in the corporate world — the idea that there's not enough to go around.

Why You Should Watch Corporate Animals

Both films are fun, dark, biting — you never know what's going to happen. But there is a connection I feel in Corporate Animals that I don't feel in Triangle of Sadness, because Corporate Animals feels more grounded, even though it's a much more traditional goofy comedy. It feels more authentic.

Triangle of Sadness should be called Triangle of Madness. So much is going on, so much chaos with moments of tranquility — expensive restaurants, the middle of the ocean. I can relate to events happening, but it's all so heightened that it's hard to see these characters as real people. It goes to great lengths to connect with the audience, to get really down and dirty, but it feels disconnected from my own world.

I'm much more impressed by how Corporate Animals creates this ridiculous situation that also feels so possible. I've never worked in an edible spoon company, but I deal with some of the same dynamics. It takes the corporate world and completely skewers it, dumps these people in a crazy situation I'll never be in, but I can picture myself there. I can put myself in that cave.

Movies don't need to be realistic, but I love that I've had conversations not too far off from what is said about spelunking, cannibalism, and a Britney Spears hallucination. It's really well balanced to keep it in the realm of possibility.

Triangle of Sadness — man, that movie could have been cut down. It feels like several different movies. One really solid movie and two others. As this one big chunky movie, it loses the punch of its more powerful scenes. There are real stops and starts. There were things that weren't followed through the way I wanted. I loved the restaurant scene with Carl and Yaya. I loved seeing the discomfort of Carl having to take pictures of Yaya on the yacht, with Yaya admitting she doesn't even eat the pasta she photographs. I loved Abigail realizing the power she held with the chunks of octopus. But there's so much fat that those incisive moments get lost in the sauce. It's bloated.

Corporate Animals is pretty straightforward comparatively, but does some very interesting highlighting of gender equality, feminism, affirmative action. Its story is concise. It takes place in one spot, this claustrophobic cave, with a clear through line. We don't give enough credit to a film that gets in and out effectively. That is hard to do — to take the story you want to tell and cut the fat, make it the most lean, mean version. Which I really think Corporate Animals is.

And it works on multiple levels because you could analyze zero of what I've talked about and still laugh. It works completely on its surface as an Ed Helms office-type dark comedy. Demi Moore makes an incredible dick joke. People throw up, which is apparently moviegoers' number one source of laughter. It is not as confronting as Triangle of Sadness because it's a movie for the people, but then it happens to have this sly little message embedded in it if you want to look further. That's really my sweet spot for satire — to sort of Trojan horse it.

Big spoiler: Demi Moore is gruesomely killed by her downtrodden employees, in a move that — me, the viewer — I'm cheering for. They are not saints just because they work under a menace. They all work together to explode this woman's head with a rock. That is uncool. That is not good behavior. Amazing to watch. Bad, bad. But they turn on each other. They threaten to eat each other. They are just as messy as the villain. They make dumb decisions. They whine. None of them get out without blood on their hands.

Give Corporate Animals a try. That Rotten Tomatoes score is offensive. Demi Moore and the whole cast are so talented — it's a really great showcase of actors you should know and love. It's 86 minutes. It's on Peacock, Shudder, and everywhere else.

Hit me up at @tastelesspod on social media so we can talk about Demi Moore, edible cutlery, and why an infected wound singing Britney Spears is peak cinema.

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