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Speaker 1: We're Tamy Lorenzo and this is the Bitter Kitten Movie Club.

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Hellicitten's welcome back to another edition of the BKMC, a

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supplemental edition of the Pop Style Opinions podcast where we

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take a look at one film per week and just

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dive into it. This week's film is Materialist by director

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Celine Song, who directed twenty twenty three's Past Live Star

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in grete Lee that was an OSCAR nominated film, and

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this was her follow up film in twenty twenty five.

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It stars Dakota Johnson as a New York City matchmaker

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and Pedro Pascal as a New York City finance guy

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and Chris Evans as a New York City struggling actor.

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Speaker 2: It's a city loser.

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Speaker 1: It's a romance, but I mean it. I think it

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tries to be a romance and that's and at certain

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points it's it somewhat fails. But I want to say

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that before we flipped on the mics, I joke, well,

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wasn't a joke. I said to Lorenzo. I was like,

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I really don't think this is going to be a

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long one, and he said, no, it's not a very

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deep film. But I do want to say, first off,

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that there are a couple of things I want to unpack,

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and secondly, uh, it's a flawed film, But I actually

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did enjoy it. It was an enjoyable two hours. It was

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very attractive people. There was banter and flirting, and you know,

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the locations were gorgeous, and you know, it was at

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least half of the film deals with very wealthy people

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in very wealthy settings, so it all looked very pretty.

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In some ways, it reminded me of a nineties film.

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In some ways, it actually reminded me of the first

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half of it, because the film actually does change about

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halfway through. First half of it reminded me of like

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Sex and the City, Oh, where it was.

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Speaker 2: You know, she was.

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Speaker 1: Interviewing women about what they were looking for in a man,

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and then she was interviewing men about what they were

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looking for. And it was all these like talking heads,

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and it was commentary on dating life and specifically dating

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life in New York, with a focus on the types

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of people you know, high Well, I'm going to use

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the term because that's exactly the term. It's actually the

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theme of the film. It's like high value men seeking

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out high value wives. Right, you know, it's it's that Tamelia,

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It's that dynamic and it if I had to sum

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up where the film fails is it really tried to

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do too much. First half of the film felt like

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a romantic comedy with dramatic under tones. It wasn't super

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hilarious comedy, but it was light and flirty and I

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was really into it. Second half of the film, well,

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first off, I I'm sitting there going, you know, it's

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not a puzzlebox film. You don't have to sit there

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and try and guess the ending. But I was sitting

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there thinking, there's really only one way they can end

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this film, which is she winds up with Chris Evans,

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because otherwise you have her going for the rich guy

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that she's not in love with. She's clearly not in

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love with. But I couldn't see how are you going

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to get her with Chris Evans because you have set

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it up in such a way that it absolutely makes

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sense why these two people are not together anymore. It

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absolutely makes sense why they should not be together. So

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you got to get them to that point where they're

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together and that feels correct. And the last five that's

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twenty minutes of this film I'm like, nope, you have

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lost me completely. I don't buy that she is that person, right.

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Speaker 3: I don't think they ever succeeded, she ever succeeded the

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director in Why these two waded up together? No, she

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would not be with him, so's toxic. No, No, and

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she would not be with him. But that's the movie,

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you know. You know, a successful woman gives up everything

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to be with the thing is she's not that successful. Well,

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she is successful to us, she's ambitious.

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Speaker 1: She's okay, that's a good point. The film, surprisingly is

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a romantic pseudo comedy that is actually unpacking some fairly

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heavy questions about dating and about modern romance and relationships.

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And the entire point of the film is, the entire

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perspective of the film is value. Who has value? And

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what how is value measured in relationshi ships? And you know,

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it's a cynical film, at least for part of it. Actually,

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I would say it's a cynical film completely that tries

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to tack on a sentimental ending, and that is why

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it doesn't work right. And I was buying the cynicism.

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The one woman's matchmakers said, you're not ugly, you're just poor,

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as to explain why someone's you know, not not getting offers.

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Stuff like that is really funny. Stuff like you know,

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all all of the women saying that the man has

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to be over six feet tall, has to be making

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over you know, six hundred thousand a year, and every

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man is saying she's got to be twenty.

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Speaker 2: Eight or I know exactly.

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Speaker 1: It's cynical and it's you know, it's it makes a point.

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It makes a point. And you kept saying all throughout

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the first half of the film, thank god, I'm not dating.

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Speaker 2: I know. That's real.

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Speaker 3: That's really shit. I know it's especially in New York.

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I mean, I if you have any experience dating in

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New York, and we do in a way, no, we don't.

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Well we have friends, we know people dating. You know,

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we have that kind of experience of like gay dating

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in New York, and it's it's brutal. It's New York

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is brutal. They just yeah, I guess because they have

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I don't know.

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Speaker 1: It depends on what social scene you're looking at. I mean,

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she is part I'm sorry, ahead, now, go ahead, that's it.

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She's a matchmaker who works for high you know, income clients.

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So she is working in a specific social milia. She's

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working with specific types of people. So let's talk about

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the cast. Let's talk about the fact that Dakota Johnson.

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I defended her because you're like, she can't act at all,

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and I was like, she can, but she's extremely low

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key in her acting. And then I settled on the

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term on the word lazy. She's a lazy actress. She

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doesn't really work all that hard in any of her scenes.

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And I do want to say she's upholding the family tradition.

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Her mother is Melanie Griffith, her grandmother is Tippy Hedron,

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and they both were very low energy actresses who you know,

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just had a very laid back, low key sort of style.

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And you know, we're often told that they couldn't act either.

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So she's part of like a family dynasty of heavy lidded,

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low voiced women.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just that lazy attitude. In general.

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Speaker 1: She's very much in Nepo baby the way she speaks.

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Speaker 3: And I'm you know, I've watched interviews with her, h

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the actor, and she talked about like, yeah, I can't

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be I can't get up before ten, you know, I

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have you know, whatever, Like she's sort of.

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Speaker 1: Like Gwyneth Paltrow in a way where her her real

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personality can't help, but just to infect everything right, right,

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every portrayal, so's she's always to Coda Johnson.

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Speaker 3: It's a lot of privilege there and very little acting,

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but you know she yeah, So that comes across.

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Speaker 1: It does, and part of I want to get into

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Chris and Pedro Pascal, but just as an overview, I

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want to say, I think everyone in this film was miscast,

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and this was part of the reason why it doesn't

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quite work for me. Pardon me. I read a review

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of the film I think it was in New York

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Magazine by Angelica jay Bastian, the film critic, where she said,

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Dakota Johnson has never winced at a bill, and that's

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very evident in her Like she's privileged girls. Why I

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compared her to Gwyneth Paltrow, She's that girl. You can't

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have her play someone who can. I totally bought her

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as someone who was obsessed with money and obsessed with value,

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which she is or was. I could not buy her

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as someone struggling in a shitty apartment. I'm like, that

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girl doesn't live in a shitty apartment. That girl has

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never lived in a shitty apartment because she can't play

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that girl. And there was much at the time made

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of the film because the film deals with economics so much,

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deals with class and income levels so much that the

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film was widely criticized. When she quoted that she made

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eighty thousand a year and she lives in an apartment

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on her you can't live it right in an apartment

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on your own in New York City on eighty thousand

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a year. And actually that that quote took me right

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out of the film because I was like, she doesn't

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make that character would make one hundred and twenty at least.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean when she said how much she takes

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home new you know, like that that does not make

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sense with that apartment. I mean, you saw the apartment

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had a nice interest in everything.

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Speaker 1: It made a little balcony. I think it's small, but

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it's decent for New York.

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Speaker 3: I was like, there's no way you make only eighty

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eighty two thousand a year.

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Speaker 1: And then the other issue is that everyone in this

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film is too old. But why don't we take a

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break on that little bit I'm shell and then we'll

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come back and unpack it. We're back, and now I'm

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gonna call all of these people old. Now it's like this.

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So at one point Chris Evans, who actually I really

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appreciated what he was doing in this film. He was

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working very hard and he was doing a good job,

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but ultimately he was miscast. It's really hard to look

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at Chris fucking Evans and think, oh, yeah, that guy's

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a loser and he can't get a decent job and

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he's an actor, and no one wants to that guy.

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Speaker 2: Come on, there are.

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Speaker 1: Plenty of good looking, right, non working actors out there.

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But it's he had to play like this bitter slub

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and I don't know how well he pulled it off,

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although he did. Acting wise, I thought he was fine.

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But at one point he said he mentioned his age

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and he said, I'm thirty seven years old, and I

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think he said I only have two thousand dollars in

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the bank or whatever, and I immediately I was like,

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you're not thirty seven years old like that, And that

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actually took me out of the story because the entire

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Chris sevens is like forty five. I haven't looked it

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up and put bluntley, he looks it. I mean maybe

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he's had some work done, but he looks forty five

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to me, So in the film, I'm like, okay, so

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you're a struggling actor with three roommates. And if an

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actor eight or nine years younger who looked eight or

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nine years younger had played that part, I would have

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stayed in the story a little bit more. But I

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don't want to sound judgmental here, but I mean, if

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you're forty five in living that lifestyle, that is pure

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loser and you are not boyfriend or husband material, and

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that couldn't be any clearer. So if he was a

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little bit younger, I would have bought or looked a

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little bit younger, because you know, Chris is looking a

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little ragged, which is fine. He's aging like a Paul

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Newman type and he'll always be really good looking. Similarly,

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she at one point has a very blunt It was

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actually a great conversation with with Pedro Pascal about value

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and Huber and what his value is in a relationship

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and what her value is in a relationship, and in

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the context of the type of relationships we are talking about.

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Her value is that she's gorgeous and that she's young,

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and that she's still fertile, like all of this was

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in the conversation, except she's putting up all of these roadblocks.

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She's saying all these things about how I'm not right

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for you and I'm only gonna data man who I

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wind up marrying. And and then she mentions that she's

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thirty five, and again like, I mean, Dakota Johnson could

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actually play younger than that if they wanted to cast

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her younger. But it really took me out because I thought, not, obviously,

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I'm talking about the milliare. I'm talking about specific people

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in a specific setting with specific values. And the values

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and the setting and the world that Selene's song created

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for these characters is not a world where a thirty

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five year old woman who wants to marry and wants

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to marry a rich guy is picky, right, or throwing

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up roadblocks. And in fact, she talks about that about

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her clients. You know how picky they are, and they're

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getting old and they you know, they can't be that

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picky anymore. And I understand that there's a certain irony

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in the fact that she is making the same mistakes

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that her characters are making. But I again, the age

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thing pulled me out of it because I was like,

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if she was thirty and Chris Evans's character was thirty five,

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all of this would work for me much much better

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both because they're both you know, half a decade or

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more older than that. I feel like, you know, dating

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for the marriage minded at thirty years old is one thing.

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At thirty five, it starts becoming something else. And I

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am not being judgmental about single people or dating or

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I'm talking about the people in this milliear wealthy Manhattan

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nights and the women who are running you know, who

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want to marry them. And to me, I was like, okay,

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they it's just little things like that. Where Selene's song

242
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who I think co wrote it, You didn't have to

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mention her salary or their ages and we could have

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writ but you did. You put numbers on them. And

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now it's like, well, I don't know that any of

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this actually scans for me.

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Speaker 3: I think it worked for me in the beginning because

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I thought she was very strong about her opinions about

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what she wanted, her values or whatever. She wouldn't she

250
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talked about winning a very rich man, not just Richmond,

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a very very rich man. Uh, and then you know,

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and it makes sense to the thing she says, the conversation

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she has with with with Chris Evans, the kind of

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the fight they have, and she talks about, you know,

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I'm I'm about how she doesn't want to be with

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him because she's going to be mad at herself. It

257
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was such a great, very realistic conversation that you know,

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I can't be with you because I'm going to be

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angry at me, at you, at everything, and.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna hate myself for being angry at you.

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Speaker 2: And so that was awesome. Uh. And then you know.

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Speaker 1: It was one of the best parts of the film

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at I think so.

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Speaker 3: And then she met, you know, she sort of started

265
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dating Pedro Pascal, which you know, I love him, but

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I don't.

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Speaker 2: I think he was just wrong for.

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Speaker 3: The partscous It's not the kind of guy for that part.

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Speaker 2: He's just not.

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Speaker 1: He he was like this smooth Well first off, she

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kept calling him a unicorn, and I was like, that's

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a bit much.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: I think Pedro Pascal can be very, very sexy, but

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you've got to give him space to be himself, to

276
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be a little flirtatious, to have that little wink and

277
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the film took all of that out him, and he

278
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just had no right. He was mildly charming, but he

279
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,799
was very very clear that he was the roadblock boyfriend.

280
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That she was going to date this guy, but that's

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not the one she was going to wind up with.

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And that is like a thankless role for an actor.

283
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And why would you cast an actor like that and

284
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then tamp down on everything that makes him so likable?

285
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And I guess you had a tamp down on that

286
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stuff because otherwise, why wouldn't she wind up with Pedro

287
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Pascal at the end of the movie. So he has

288
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to be somehow a little bit less than perfect, a

289
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little bit less than you know, flirtatious. And so it's

290
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this semi unrecognizable version of Pedro Pascal throughout the movie.

291
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That scene in the kitchen where they broke up, I

292
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was like, what the fuck? Nothing about this fields natural

293
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if nothing emotionally true, none of it. It's just two

294
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people standing apart from each other and just talking back

295
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and forth like a tennis I agree that.

296
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Speaker 2: The whole thing with the with the poor guy with

297
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the poor boyfriend, I just I just don't buy it.

298
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I'm sorry, I don't buy it. At all.

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Speaker 1: I just I did not buy it at all. You

300
00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,799
had to give me something in the in the beginning

301
00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,400
of the film, right, to make me believe that she

302
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was going to make that choice at the end of

303
00:17:20,039 --> 00:17:24,640
the film. And it's really and maybe maybe you're supposed

304
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to look at it this way, it's really hard not

305
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,359
to see that as she's making a bad choice at

306
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the end of the film.

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Speaker 2: Right.

308
00:17:30,799 --> 00:17:33,160
Speaker 1: Does do you think there's going to be a baby

309
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,440
in a wedding anytime soon for these people?

310
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Speaker 2: I don't know.

311
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Speaker 3: I'm always a little turned off by that type of story,

312
00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:43,559
that that an ambitious woman ends up, you know, giving

313
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up giving up everything to.

314
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Speaker 2: Be with the love of her love who has no money.

315
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I don't buy that.

316
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Speaker 1: It's such a cliche, and was actually making a really

317
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,599
good case for not doing that. For that, you know,

318
00:17:55,759 --> 00:17:57,759
it would be a bad thing for her to do that.

319
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So I just didn't buy it at the end. And

320
00:18:03,039 --> 00:18:05,039
she didn't have chemistry with either one of those men,

321
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,359
so it was really hard to become invested in either

322
00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,759
one of them. She's you know, she's so low key

323
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and hey, and like Chris Evans and her had no

324
00:18:14,279 --> 00:18:18,359
spark whatsoever. She and Pedro Pascal were just looking at

325
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each other and have their scenes.

326
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Speaker 2: I think it was an.

327
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Speaker 3: Interesting movie, uh, in the sense that it talked about

328
00:18:24,599 --> 00:18:28,039
something interesting, which is dating, which is dating, and as

329
00:18:28,079 --> 00:18:31,480
you said, was kind of sarcastic in the beginning. Uh, cynical,

330
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cynical and uh, you know, showing those those situations where people,

331
00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,119
you know, can't believe that they don't have anybody. But

332
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then they you know, when they run their you know,

333
00:18:40,599 --> 00:18:43,720
laundry list of things they want and they can't you know,

334
00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:47,519
part with that type of stuff. It's interesting in this

335
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,000
reo and that's what happens. I mean, I see people

336
00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:52,359
like that all the time, friends and everybody who you know,

337
00:18:53,599 --> 00:18:56,680
can't you know, can't understand why they don't have anybody

338
00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,759
in there anyway. But so it was interesting. And then

339
00:18:59,759 --> 00:19:01,519
they're the story with one of her. I think the

340
00:19:01,799 --> 00:19:03,200
show with this is about the show.

341
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Speaker 2: The movie.

342
00:19:03,839 --> 00:19:05,920
Speaker 3: The movie was trying to be a little serious and

343
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then had she had that client.

344
00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,279
Speaker 1: Yeah. I wanted to bring that up because I think

345
00:19:12,319 --> 00:19:15,240
the film. This is another area where the film fails, because,

346
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like I said, the first hour or forty five minutes

347
00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:19,880
or so of the film was a fairly light rom

348
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:24,279
com about basically wealthy people in New York. And then

349
00:19:24,559 --> 00:19:26,799
the last half of the film or the last third

350
00:19:26,799 --> 00:19:32,799
of the film, it's a rape storyline. And you know,

351
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,319
on a certain level, when you're telling a story about

352
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,799
women ambitiously dating, you know, trying desperately to find that man,

353
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maybe there's a certain responsibility to talk about that part

354
00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,680
of it. There was a conversation with her boss whereas

355
00:19:50,759 --> 00:19:54,039
her boss was like her matchmaking boss was like, yeah,

356
00:19:54,079 --> 00:19:56,640
this is what happens. It's dating. This is you know,

357
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I'm not saying you can't do that, but it was

358
00:20:00,759 --> 00:20:04,480
jarring as a tonal shift. And then it became all

359
00:20:04,519 --> 00:20:10,319
about her client who got raped on a date, and

360
00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,440
then her rest. I want to say though, that Zoe Winters,

361
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,680
who played her client, Sophie, really fantastic job. There were good,

362
00:20:17,799 --> 00:20:19,839
very scenes where she sobbed and I was like, wow,

363
00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:24,720
she's really in it. I just didn't feel like a

364
00:20:24,759 --> 00:20:29,279
sobbing rape victim felt like it belonged in this movie.

365
00:20:29,799 --> 00:20:32,960
But fine, like I said, it is a movie about

366
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,759
modern dating, and like I said, about ambitious dating, not

367
00:20:35,759 --> 00:20:38,359
not like laid back dating, but dating with a goal.

368
00:20:39,319 --> 00:20:42,839
And yeah, there's going to you know whatever. Not that

369
00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,480
I'm suggesting anybody deserved it. I'm just saying, you know,

370
00:20:45,559 --> 00:20:47,119
running in the numbers, it's going to happen.

371
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Speaker 3: Now, let's just make two things clear here. Number one

372
00:20:50,279 --> 00:20:53,640
that yes, when you date, those things happen, and you

373
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:55,319
know they're horrible, but they happened.

374
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Speaker 2: And and b.

375
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Speaker 3: We're not saying that you know, it's not right to

376
00:21:00,559 --> 00:21:03,200
show that type of situation, or that it's just tonally

377
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,599
it didn't fit, just didn't fit with the rest of

378
00:21:05,599 --> 00:21:06,039
the movie.

379
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:11,839
Speaker 1: That's there's accusations and crying anything. And I actually didn't

380
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:18,079
think Sophie, her client had much of a reason to

381
00:21:18,079 --> 00:21:21,519
be mad at her, although she wasn't being very reasonable

382
00:21:21,559 --> 00:21:23,400
at the moment. I don't think she did. Like it

383
00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:25,200
really wasn't Dakota Johnson's fault.

384
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:26,799
Speaker 3: No, I think the movie was trying to make the

385
00:21:26,839 --> 00:21:29,640
point that you saw a fantasy and then people I

386
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:30,960
feel betrayed when something like that.

387
00:21:31,039 --> 00:21:33,079
Speaker 1: No, I agree with that. And she did point out

388
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:37,680
that she basically pushed a low value guy on her

389
00:21:37,839 --> 00:21:40,079
because she didn't think she was a high value client,

390
00:21:40,519 --> 00:21:42,640
and that part was true, and all of that actually

391
00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:43,640
worked thematically.

392
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:44,279
Speaker 2: But what I.

393
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:51,920
Speaker 1: Hated hated was that this character's rape became the impetus

394
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,519
for Dakota Johnson becoming a better person. And I'm like,

395
00:21:54,559 --> 00:21:57,240
that's a really shitty way to to write about rape.

396
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,519
And I'm actually surprised a female director was using that storyline,

397
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,839
Like I don't know, it just it didn't sit well

398
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,200
with me. Like there are ways that you can get

399
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,359
a character like Dakota Johnson's to give up her materialistic

400
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:13,720
ways and become more open to love and blah blah

401
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,720
blah blah, but not by having a side character sexually assaulting.

402
00:22:17,799 --> 00:22:19,359
And it's weird, weird choice.

403
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,200
Speaker 3: And Dakota's character didn't know where she lived, which I

404
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:22,880
don't believe that.

405
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,160
Speaker 2: I mean, you give that information, I think anyway, So she.

406
00:22:25,079 --> 00:22:27,559
Speaker 3: Found out where she lives and she's stocks starking her

407
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:29,200
wearing a trench code in it.

408
00:22:29,599 --> 00:22:32,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, a baseball. I'm like Jesus Christ.

409
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,160
Speaker 1: At this point, the film is trying to do way, way,

410
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:41,799
way too much, and then it wraps up by granting

411
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:46,480
her a character change, granting her growth that we never

412
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:51,599
actually saw her achieve on camera. She just is a

413
00:22:51,599 --> 00:22:52,680
better person at the end.

414
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:53,319
Speaker 2: That's all.

415
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:55,400
Speaker 3: The bottom line is. Two Hours is not enough to

416
00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:56,279
make that change.

417
00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:00,400
Speaker 1: Not only that you're right, but I also I want

418
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,720
to say, did he change? What did he give up?

419
00:23:04,759 --> 00:23:07,839
What did he Yeah, he's nothing. He's going to take

420
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,720
more shift and as a waiter, okay, all right.

421
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,440
Speaker 2: And she's gonna say yes to marry him. Okay.

422
00:23:15,519 --> 00:23:17,960
Speaker 1: It's just kind of a shitty message, like she was

423
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,880
the one that had to give up everything, you know,

424
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:22,440
change her mind about everything.

425
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,960
Speaker 3: The only thing is she's apparently she's going to say

426
00:23:26,039 --> 00:23:26,920
yes to a promotion.

427
00:23:27,839 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 1: I did think that was smart to leave that in there, right,

428
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,519
and you know, although again it didn't feel particularly earned.

429
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,200
The whole film was setting up that she hated her

430
00:23:38,319 --> 00:23:42,319
job and wanted to leave it. But in a situation

431
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,799
where you're going to marry your loser boyfriend who has

432
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,160
no money and probably never will, maybe you're going to

433
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,599
take the job that you hate because they're going to

434
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,720
offer you more money. And I actually thought that that

435
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,799
ended on a on a slightly cynical note. I do

436
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,240
think you Selene's song could have said that ending by

437
00:24:02,599 --> 00:24:05,519
making it a little more clear that it wasn't necessarily

438
00:24:05,559 --> 00:24:08,279
a happy ending, but it may not have been a

439
00:24:08,279 --> 00:24:11,799
happy ending. One other thing what did you think of

440
00:24:11,839 --> 00:24:12,400
the caveman?

441
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,960
Speaker 2: Oh god, yes, I forgot. I hated that.

442
00:24:17,079 --> 00:24:22,119
Speaker 1: So it was soak and precious and ha I hated

443
00:24:22,519 --> 00:24:28,039
not necessary necessary. When the writing about biology here or

444
00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:30,519
when the movie began, I was like, what is going

445
00:24:30,559 --> 00:24:32,480
on here? Is this a play?

446
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,720
Speaker 2: What is this? I had no idea and I was like, no,

447
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:36,480
what No?

448
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 1: It was goofy and it was trying to be way

449
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,559
too cutesy about what it was doing, and I and

450
00:24:41,599 --> 00:24:44,559
again sort of muddled the message, like, you know, I

451
00:24:44,599 --> 00:24:47,680
don't know it. I liked when the film was being

452
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:52,160
I'm not necessarily cynical about romance, but I I thought

453
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,640
the film worked better when it was and when it

454
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,400
got very sentimental, it just didn't work for me. It

455
00:24:57,839 --> 00:25:01,160
didn't work in this world with these characters, right, I mean,

456
00:25:01,279 --> 00:25:04,039
knowing people in New York as we know. I thought

457
00:25:04,039 --> 00:25:06,599
the beginning of the movie was dead on perfect. When

458
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:10,119
she's she pretending, pretending to be or you know, trying

459
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:17,319
to be this incredible woman, you know, gorgeous, beautiful, you know, makeup, hair, clothes, right, everything,

460
00:25:18,079 --> 00:25:22,640
because that's her job to promote something glamorous and amazing

461
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,599
and successful. So I thought that was all great, because

462
00:25:25,599 --> 00:25:27,440
you see that a lot in New York. And then

463
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:29,599
then everything was fine.

464
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,160
Speaker 3: You know, she's cold, she you know, dedicated to her

465
00:25:33,279 --> 00:25:38,559
job and finding you know, love whatever for her clients

466
00:25:38,599 --> 00:25:40,160
and all that. And then all of a sudden she

467
00:25:40,319 --> 00:25:43,519
met the guy, you know, the poor boyfriend from many

468
00:25:43,599 --> 00:25:47,680
years ago, and then everything each everything changes, and it

469
00:25:47,839 --> 00:25:50,160
just changes in a way that doesn't make sense to me.

470
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:54,160
That that's the problem. Yeah, he's back, but he's still

471
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,680
a loser. He's still someone you decided not to be

472
00:25:57,839 --> 00:26:01,000
with anymore because you thought he wasn't the right person.

473
00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:04,119
Speaker 2: Right, So what changed? Nothing changed? Yeah?

474
00:26:04,279 --> 00:26:06,799
Speaker 3: In fact, he says that, she says, you're still the same,

475
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,279
and he says, well, wish you hadn't said that or

476
00:26:09,319 --> 00:26:12,200
something like that. That right, I wish I was different,

477
00:26:12,799 --> 00:26:16,279
you know. But anyway, so anyway, I.

478
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 1: Think we have unpacked every aspect of this.

479
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 2: But actually was far better than I then.

480
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:24,599
Speaker 1: I had no problem sitting through this movie. I found

481
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,000
it perfectly enjoyable. I just didn't think of it. You know,

482
00:26:28,039 --> 00:26:30,640
it had some laws, and I really didn't buy the ending,

483
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:32,720
but I didn't walk away from a pissed or anything.

484
00:26:32,839 --> 00:26:35,480
It's pretty, people, It's pretty people. You know, you're just

485
00:26:35,519 --> 00:26:37,599
looking at pretty people for two hours and some funny

486
00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:39,279
funny one. And I mean she did look amazing in

487
00:26:39,319 --> 00:26:43,319
the dress. Looked at the wedding, she looked stunning. She

488
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,440
I mean, she was one of those girls who you

489
00:26:46,519 --> 00:26:49,640
just put on a plane sheath dress and she is

490
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,039
the most gorgeous girl in the room.

491
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,960
Speaker 2: She's just that girl. Looked incredible, incredible.

492
00:26:54,079 --> 00:26:56,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So that's it for us this week.

493
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,240
We will be back next week with wait, what are

494
00:26:59,279 --> 00:27:06,799
we doing next week? You know what I need to check,

495
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,119
all right, we need to check what the next movie

496
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,720
is going, because well we oh, yes, it's in the

497
00:27:13,759 --> 00:27:17,920
Mood for Love. Oh my god, I love love, love

498
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,279
love that movie, the dresses in that movie, everything about it. Yes,

499
00:27:22,319 --> 00:27:24,119
So In the Mood for Love will be next week,

500
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,079
and we will also be back next week with an

501
00:27:27,079 --> 00:27:29,640
addition of the Pop Style Opinion Pest. So until then,

502
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:31,119
take care of yourselves, love you mean it.

503
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 2: Bye bye bye

