A Simple Favor | 6
Show Notes:
A Simple Favor was originally published on March 21, 2017, written by Darcy Bell. The Major Motion picture adaptation was released on September 14, 2018, and starred Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, and Henry Golding.
In this episode host, Julia Washington and Mario Mello discuss the elements of the thriller genre and how the book differs from the movie.
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Transcript:
Julia: Hey friends, this is pop culture makes me jealous where we talk about pop culture through the lens of race or gender, and sometimes both Mario Mellow is back, and today we are talking about a simple favor.
Julia: If you understand the nuances and intersections of being a Bipo woman, a woman identifying a woman in a male dominated industry, and all the microaggressions that come with the daily existence and how media reinforces the stereotypes, but you still love pop culture, then pop culture makes me jealous.
Julia: Best Friends Club on Patreon is just for you. Join an incredible community of like-minded individuals who meet monthly to discuss a different topic in pop culture, access to bonus content, weekly, lunchtime, hangout sessions, and discounts on merch. To learn more about how to become a part of the best friends club, visit pop culture makes me jealous.com/become a member.
Julia: There's a hyphen in between. Become a Member, Become Hyphen a Hyphen member. See you there. A Simple Favor was originally published on March 21st, 2017, written by Darcy Bell. The major motion picture adaptation was released on September 14th, 2018 and started Anna Hendrick, Lake Lively and Henry Golding.
Julia: But before we dive in, let's reintroduce you to my guest. Mario Mellow is a movie lover of all genres and often drops movie and television reviews on Instagram. Mario was here in season two and in season three where we discussed Lala Land, the Family Stone, and E Z a. All great conversations that, if I remember, to link them in our show notes, You must listen to when you're done listening to this episode.
Julia: Welcome back to the show, Mario.
Mario: Hi, Julia. Nice to see you. Nice to be back. I love talking
Julia: with you. It feels like it's been anxious since we've done a show together. It has been,
Mario: what the heck we did. We did a couple Instagram lives about the Emmy's and stuff, but yeah. But yeah, we'll have that coming up in next few months too.
Mario: Is the end cup.
Julia: Yeah. I'm, I'm excited about the Emmys. I'm excited about, um, I'm actually really excited about Oscar season too. I can't wait to see what they're gonna drop. That's like the best time in December. It's like, what are you gonna drop? Right. That we know you're trying for an Oscar. Oh, sorry, go ahead.
Mario: I was gonna say, but there's already so many good movies right now too, that I'm like, How much more can they drop? Cuz I feel like the competition's already getting
Julia: fierce. It's pretty packed. And also when I was talking to Natalie the other day, she's like, Maybe I'll go see the Gray man in the movie theater.
Julia: And I was like, I'm sorry, the gray man came to your movie theater. So then I, I made a note in my head. I was like, I should look to see if they dropped it in New York and LA too. Probably if it made it to Dayton. Mm-hmm. . And then I was like, well, what the shit are they trying to do? What are they trying to go for?
Julia: Anyway,
Mario: Did you watch it? Special fix? I'm like halfway done. Okay. I can't, I'm, I'm, Yeah, I'm, I'm, I can't
Julia: wait for your review, Mario. You
Mario: need to hurry up. . I'm sorry. It's been a busy week. Work is killing me
Julia: lately, so, Yeah, I hear that
Mario: one. There's so much good content. It's like hard to keep
Julia: up sometimes. This is why somebody needs to sponsor us because we are so dedicated to informing our audiences about what they should and shouldn't be.
Julia: Watching that real work quote, air quotes, cuz our work is real . Yes. Corporate jobs get in the way. . Yes. There we go. . Okay, so I wanna do a re a quick recap for friends at home because not everyone's either seen the movie, read the book, or done both. And we're gonna be talking about both Jay cuz y'all know I love a book to screen adaptation conversation.
Julia: And, uh, if you've been here a while, you know that I love to take these summaries from Google . Because there, it's just so funny what Google summaries think we wanna know about movies or books, . Okay, so here's the summary of the novel. The novel centers on Stephanie, a mom blogger who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend.
Julia: Emily's sudden disappearance from their small town in Connecticut employing the unreliable narrator technique. The story is told through Stephanie, Emily, and Emily's husband Sean. Okay, now for a summary of the film. Stephanie is a widowed single mother who works as a vlogger in Connecticut. Her best friend Emily seems to have it all.
Julia: A successful career, a loving family, and a glamorous lifestyle. When Emily mysteriously disappears one day, Stephanie launches her own investigation by digging into her friend's past and finding a few surprises along. It sounds relatively difficult. Surprises along the way. Yeah. Surprises . Okay. At the time of its release, roger ebert.com had this to say it's insightful about the head games.
Julia: Women can play with each other, but it doesn't burden itself with trying to be meaningful. It's not trying to say something about how we live now or anything like that. What a relief to watch a film unafraid of letting its hair down end quote. Um, but before we dive into this conversation, Mario, I just need to know, like, do you, what was your first, like, do you remember seeing rich or wealthy women on television when you were a kid?
Julia: And like, if you do, what was your first exposure, do you think?
Mario: Uh, it's hard to think of my first exposure. Um, I just remember. I think it was, Is it Dynasty? Dynasty? Yes. Yes. That's what it was. Um, whenever I remember like rich women, it was always, they were like, they had the jewelry Yeah. Or the high heels, the giant necklaces.
Mario: Like it was, I felt like it was always jewelry, flashing jewelry, Uhhuh, , that
Julia: ship, they were rich. Look at my, look at me dripping in diamonds, right?
Mario: Mm-hmm. . So, um, that's kind of my take on it. Like, like that I can remember. Yeah. Um, recently it's just, it's like powerful women, like whether they're like CEOs or mm-hmm.
Mario: um, you know, they're on boards or, you know, they've inherited money. Like, you know, they kind of, they, they show off their wealth different ways. I mean, we have like, um, I think you mentioned it before, it was big little lies. Yeah. A majority of those women were rich and like, they kind of just some more than others displayed it.
Mario: Like, Hey, I got money. Mm-hmm. . And then some of them I felt like, They had money, but they didn't like, you know, flash it around. Mm-hmm. , and, you know, you knew they, I mean, you live in Monterey, so I, you know, you have to have some kind of money, but Yeah. At the same time it was like, they were very humble about it.
Mario: Yeah. Too. So I, I, I feel like, at least from my point of view, the narratives kind of changed a little bit to what mm-hmm. , flashy women. Flashy women were, and I mean, back then too, I feel like it was, they were only rich because their
Julia: husband was rich. Yeah. Back then, meaning dynasty era.
Mario: Yeah, exactly. It was like we married into rich or mm-hmm.
Mario: Um, and there's many stories, like the lady was like, you know, dirt rags or she came from a poor family mm-hmm. , but just, you know, the rich guy found her and married her because she would submit, or Yeah. The rag to riches. There was some Yeah. Some kind of attraction and she inherited all the money. Yeah.
Mario: Whereas nowadays I feel. I mean, there's still some like that, like stories like that that I feel like Hollywood's still portraying. But yeah, I think a majority of it is now women are making their own money. They're stepping up, they're taking these jobs and mm-hmm. and you know, sometimes they make more than the husband, which is cool.
Mario: Yeah. I'm all for that.
Julia: Yeah. Whoever's gonna make the most money. I don't give a shit. I just want somebody to pay half my bills. . Right. Prior to these bills showing up every month. Damn it. Mm-hmm. . Okay. Yeah. I I I love that you bring up like the OG Dynasty, cuz that I think some like that when they rebooted Dynasty, I was like, Y'all , I didn't even give it a chance.
Julia: Is that terrible ? You can,
Mario: I think I watched like the one or two episodes just to try it out and I was like, Yeah. Like it's too soap opera for me. Yeah. And I like soap opera. I don't mind soap opera. Yeah.
Julia: There's something about modern day soaps where you're just like, I just feel like you guys, I don't understand how this is supposed to work.
Julia: Yeah. shall, shall we watch Erica from days or whatever she was on anyway. All my children. All my children. That's the one. You
Mario: know, the reason I only got into so suicide? No, I only got into soap operas because one of our theater classes, I took theater in high school and she told us like, Do you ever want to get into acting?
Mario: Get into soap operas? Cuz like they have to acts and it's different type of acting team. Yeah. Too. And so I start watching them and then I would actually get hooked cuz I'm like, now I'm invested. Now I have to watch all this
Julia: stuff. . Yeah. Do you, do you wanna admit which soap was your favorite?
Mario: Um, so it was one Life to live.
Mario: Yeah. And. And then days of our Lives. Oh my gosh. I, And I'll still like, I'll still ki I don't watch Days of Our Lives anymore. Really. Like I would catch up on certain stories cuz there were some actors that I liked. Yeah. So like whenever they came back I would kind of watch their stories. Yeah. Um, but I'm not like hardcore, like I know every detail.
Mario: Yeah, yeah. But, but yeah. One life to live and um, and then, oh my god. So passions. Oh my God. I was gonna ask you if you watched that, that one I actually watched religiously cuz it was just so far fetched and so like different
Julia: than all the other one who wrote this, like, what
Mario: is happening? But it had a lot of horror aspects to, to it because the witches and stuff.
Mario: So I was like, I think I, that's why I gravitated toward that one too. But yeah. Yeah. It was guilty, soapy pleasure. But yeah, I'm not afraid of it.
Julia: My confession of soap operas is general hospital. Okay.
Mario: Because I lost that too. Yeah.
Julia: One of the Jacksons, which Jackson, what was his first name, was lucky.
Mario: Oh, he was the, was he the one from Tuck Everlasting?
Mario: Yes. Oh, I can't it his last name. Not Jonathan Jackson, the other guy. John Jackson. No, that's, that's uh, Dawson's Creek. No,
Julia: that's Joshua Jacksons. So maybe it's, it's Dawsons Creek. I'm gonna type it into I mdb right now. And I loved him cuz What else was he in at that time? That I was like, because I was flipping through channels one day and I was like, I know that face.
Mario: Yeah, he was, Oh, what was he in? He was in one of those, I remember him being like an older brother and he was like the kind of trash older brother.
Julia: The deep tuck tuck
Mario: everlasting. Deep, deep into the ocean. And that's the
Julia: one I'm gonna the deep into the ocean. And then also he did, Oh, the deep into the ocean was probably his first.
Julia: He was on a couple episodes of Boy Meets World. I don't remember
Mario: that. Probably like one of the boyfriends or ma Yeah. Schoolmates.
Julia: Yeah. Wait. Why isn't, Oh yeah, there it is. General hospital from 1993 to 2015. Is it Jonathan Jackson?
Mario: What He was Jonathan Jackson. Right? That's his name. Yeah.
Julia: I'm so confused about 2015 because they replaced him, but I thought they replaced him sooner than 2015.
Julia: Maybe he came back after
Mario: the new, I think he came back. He came back for, Yeah. Cause I remember it was a big deal that he had come. because
Julia: I, I didn't like them. Lucky they replaced him with, I was like, Your face is too broad. You're handsome, but you're not lucky. . Sorry. I was a very sad teenager, apparently.
Julia: Aww, . I'm just kidding. Okay, let's get into it.
Julia: If you understand the nuances and intersections of being a Bipo woman, a woman identifying a woman in a male dominated industry, and all the microaggressions that come with the daily existence and how media reinforces a stereotypes, but you still love pop culture, then pop culture makes me jealous. Best Friends Club on Patreon is just for you.
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Julia: Hit the link in the show notes.
Julia: Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie the Vlogger, and Blake Lively plays Emily. The two women couldn't be more different. One stays at home. The other is a professional. The Hollywood reporter describes the pair like this. The actresses make fu a fun odd couple lively's casual hook tour, bringing out Kendrick's well honed screwball Fidgetiness.
Julia: Emily is amused by Stephanie and turned on by the power she has over her. While Stephanie is just tickled, this rebellious goddess is giving her the time of day. We know the friendship is a sham, but we wanna see more end quote. So let's talk about Emily and Stephanie. What are your impressions of them?
Mario: It's like one of those, it's like one of those car crashes that you can't . You know, you, you can't look away, but you know, you should, but you're like, I wanna see how this plays out, kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I . Cause Anna
Julia: Kendrick like, does this like, like in every movie, but Pitch Perfect. Yeah. She's like the, she's like, she's this character.
Julia: Yeah,
Mario: yeah. But this was like her first like major role other than Pitch Perfect. Yeah. I believe, Right. It was more, Because she's always played like the PG PPG 13. Mm-hmm. . So this was because it was r it was like, Ooh, like big deal. Yeah. A sexy housewife. Now that's, you know, but Yeah. Yeah. But see I'm an ana Kendrick fan too, so it's like, I love her little dizziness too.
Mario: I don't know in any of, in any of her stuff. I'm just like, Yeah, she, cuz I remember her from um, Scott Pilgrim versus the World. Um, she was a sister.
Julia: Okay, thank you. I was like god a for the amount of times I've seen that movie, I was, should we be able to remember
Mario: it better? And, and you know what's funny is I started watching Twilight the other day cuz it was on Prime.
Mario: And I was like, I'm gonna just start this cuz it's one of those just need something in the background. Yeah. And I forgot, I always forget she's in it. She's a twi. She plays the friend, the best friend of Bella, like when she gets there. Oh my gosh. And she's in all four of. And I was like, Oh my, Her roles are super small.
Mario: I think the biggest role was the first one she was in. Okay. The other. But I was like, Oh my gosh, she's so little in this movie. Like,
Julia: yeah. How funny. I haven't, I don't, I think the only things I've seen her, her in willingly is Pitch Perfect. Cuz I love that Trilogy .
Mario: Oh, okay. That's a great trilogy.
Julia: It is a great trilogy.
Julia: When it's on tv I'm like, Yes, . Right. Thank you. How did you know I needed this today? Um, yep. But yeah, so Anna Kendrick's, quirky little Stephanie,
Mario: but it's like, I feel like as a mom, that would be her like mm-hmm. , she, she would totally be like that. Like the prepared mom who has so much resources. The crafty mom that like, Oh, mom blogger tried this way.
Mario: Yeah. I could see as a mom blogger
Julia: such so, and it's so like, that's such a thing. The mommy blogging world is massive. Yeah. So for like the, this author Darcy Bell, to sort of tap into that for one of characters I was like, in 2017 is like brilliant cuz that's exactly what's like everywhere right now. . Yeah,
Mario: And then if you go to, you go to the complete opposite of Blake Lively, which I was like, oh she's so juicy in this role. Cuz like her earlier role, she would play like the dams own distress or whatever. Yeah. Um, her more, she's kind of evolved and then I always forget she's married to Ronald Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds.
Mario: So it's like, yeah, when she plays roles like this, I'm like, oh my gosh, they are perfect for each other. Cuz like he's plays some bizarre roles too, so it's like, yeah. So I'm like, man, she's so good. But I like her. I know people don't, aren't a big fan of her sometimes, but I think in roles like this, like she's very.
Mario: She plays that very like Yeah. Malicious lady that you're like, you can't help but look. Or you wanna be like, like Anna Kendrick, you wanna be friends with her, but you know, it's bad
Julia: for you . Yeah. Yeah. I still don't know how I feel about Blake Lively as an actress. Okay. Cause you know, she's ho she's her family's Hollywood.
Julia: Like her dad was an actor too. Um, but the first thing I saw her in was Sister to the Traveling Pants. Oh yeah. And I was just like, I can't with this weepy blonde , like I'm surrounded by weepy blonde . So it's, you know, not, it's not her fault, you know that this, And then she
Mario: was a brunette in Green Lion turn, but we don't talk about that movie.
Julia: I was gonna say, how dare you bring that
Mario: up. So isn't it? I think that's how they met though too. I think that's how they met, wasn't it? Yeah, that is. Yeah. But, and then I love her. I mean, she's great in the shallows. I'm sure you didn't watch it cuz it's a shark. Shark movie. But she's amazing in that one cuz it's like a, she has to act by herself cuz she's been acting
Julia: opposite of Shark.
Julia: Yeah, yeah. . Yeah. See and everything I've seen her in outside of a simple favor, which let's be honest, is limited to gossip girl and sisterhood, the traveling pants. See,
Mario: But she's good at that role in Gossip Girl too. She plays the malicious,
Julia: but again, she's still a weepy blonde
Mario: where I'm just like, But she does a really good job.
Mario: You hate her girl.
Julia: I can't with her like she's doing her job. Yeah. Okay. Fair fine. You I'll allow it. But, and there's such great contrasts, Stephanie and Emily, like they have to be that different because in the book, I know you didn't read the book and I, and we talked about this in the book, they are so foil.
Julia: Like it is such, It is so cr and Stephanie, Stephanie in the movie is way more. Astute, I guess, and like crime Sory, cuz that's not how it went down in the book. And they definitely like turned Stephanie from the book into more of a, I'm not so stupid because in the book, she's desperate for friendships, she's desperate for a company.
Julia: So Anna Kendrick, I think encompassed that very well in this movie. But in the movie, she's smarter than that. Right? Like, she kind of catches on and like, wait a minute, that's a red flag. What did you just say? Yeah. Whereas in the book, she's just like, I'm just happy to be here. God. Yeah.
Mario: So in the book, does, does it split the book up into like three different points of view? Yeah. It Okay. I was wondering because I, I was reading like the synosis of the book too, and when you had re reiterated it, I was like, I wonder if she like told the story from like three different points of view.
Julia: She did.
Julia: And, and that plays really well into the unreliable narrator. One of the things that bothers me about the movie, which I will have to hold onto until we get to the point where we actually talk about our opinions about the movie. But in the book, what was, Well, it was the book's. Okay. I, you know, the writing wasn't stellar.
Julia: I mean, it's definitely a page turner. It's definitely like, um, enjoyable. But it wasn't like, is it gonna win any awards? Probably not. You know, like the writing is okay. But she does do the three different perspectives. Emily, Stephanie, and Sean and I'll, and, and but Emily and, but Emily and Sean don't really show up until like part two cuz it's in three parts.
Julia: Oh, okay. Um, but you're with Stephanie the whole time and she's like, and she does do that. She starts at, Hey moms, you know, this blog, blah, blah, blah. Um, the book does give us more depth, which I. Again, we're gonna talk about the movie in a little bit. But I loved that because when I read the summary where it's like, oh, there's an, you know, it's an unre unreliable narrator technique.
Julia: And I thought, Oh, okay. And then she's, you know, blog entry after blog entry, after blog entry. I'm like, What? When are we gonna get to the point where like, we don't trust her anymore? And then, and then when you flip it and switch it and start hearing it from Emily's perspective, it's like, okay. And then when she throws in Sean, so it's like she took three, It's like everyone has their own experience in a situation that happens.
Julia: And, and, and you don't know what the truth is. That's this book Got you. Which with the movie, I don't think that tra I that they didn't translate that to screen, I don't think. Is sh,
Mario: is Sean Asian? Do they talk about that? No. Like is he Asian
Julia: in the book? Race is not mentioned at all. Okay. Um, and I just assumed cuz.
Julia: They're freaking wealthy in the book. Like, which is, there's no mention of money, trouble, There's no mention. Like, okay. So it's total opposite. It's total opposite. And I forgot, and for some reason in my mind I thought the movie, I was like, they're wealthy in the movie too. Well cuz in my, cuz the house that they live in all that, you know, drips of wealth.
Julia: But then, you know, Blake Lively, um, Emma Emily's like, Oh, we're in debt and all this stuff. And I was like, Oh, interesting. Cuz there's a lot that's different. Which is fine cuz you, you know, book to screen adaptations, you have to make it for a math audience. Yeah. But there's, I kind of do wish that they had left the element of the unreliable narrator because that to me was more twisty turn mm-hmm.
Julia: than, than the movie was. Gotcha. But the, you know, the movie wasn't bad. I think Mario, it's time we move into talking about the movie before I, I give any more opinions cuz then it's gonna not make sense. So the spoil alert. I know
Julia: if you understand the nuances and intersections of being a Bipo woman, a woman identifying a woman in a male dominated industry, and all the microaggressions that come with the daily existence and how media reinforces a stereotypes, but you still love pop culture, then pop culture makes me jealous. Best Friends Club on Patreon is just for you.
Julia: Join an incredible community of like-minded individuals who meet monthly to discuss a different topic in pop culture, access to bonus content, weekly, lunchtime, hangout sessions, and discounts on merch. To learn more about how to become a part of the best friends club, visit pop culture makes me jealous.com/become a member.
Julia: There's a hyphen in between. Become a Member, Become hyphen a hyphen Member. See you there.
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Julia: Do you love to read? Pop Culture Makes me Jealous. Hosts a monthly book club that reads books that have been adopted for the screen. We meet on the fourth Sunday of every month via Zoom. The book club is open to anyone but Patreon pals can vote on our monthly read and have access to our replay to sign up.
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Julia: So The New York Times offered this review. By far his, he's referring to the, the authors referring to the director by saying his smartest move was to give Ms. Kendrick and Ms. Lively room to create a prickly intimacy for their characters. A bond that's persuasive enough to push the story through, its more forced moments.
Julia: Even so, despite Mr. Fig and his two well synchronized stars, a simple favor starts stalling out as the narrative. Faints and Dodges increase. There are surprises including a brief turn from Jean Smart. For the most part, though, the drawn out payoff doesn't deliver on the story setup or its character's juicy potential end quote.
Julia: In the Hollywood reporter article I referenced earlier, they said this quote, Feig works hard for the first 40 minutes or so to put his imprint on it. All an effort bolstered by Kendrick's reliability, excellent timing as a perky Connecticut helicopter mom who be friends lively's gorgeous mean girl mom.
Julia: Yet, despite some giggles at a tongue in cheek tone and satirical targets feel tired, something rotten in the state of suburban mommyhood. Themes have at this point been unpacked ad nauseam and dysfunction lurking beneath carefully curated lives narratives. All but exhausted movies and TV series have gone there.
Julia: Again and again from Desperate Housewives to Big Little Lies, Bad Moms and far Beyond End quote. So let's talk about this movie as a thriller suspense film, because that's, I think what they kind of, what's going for. Yeah, I think that's what they were advertising it as. And these reviews sort of lead me to believe that's what they understood it to be as well.
Julia: Mm-hmm. . So let's talk about the movie overall. I know you're a thriller guy. I know you like all the scary shit. I don't really do Scary . So let's talk
Mario: about it. Did this movie shush you out?
Julia: No, I, I, Well, um, I've seen it before, so this wasn't the first time I've seen it, but the first time I saw it I figured out was what was hap what, what happened?
Julia: So did like the book, I hadn't read the book. This is the first time I read the book. Oh. Oh, okay. So, so I watched the movie Blind in the sense of I hadn't read the book, so I figured out, I figured it out within 10 minutes and I was like, Well, okay, we'll just keep watching. Let's see what they do to confuse us.
Mario: Got it. Um, so it's a very chic thriller I guess you would say? Well, yeah. They're gorgeous. They're Paul p I gotta say he does a lot of like, like he, he loves his, his leading women. Mm-hmm. , I would say. Cause I mean, you look at like the heat, you look at spy, you look at bridesmaids. I mean, even last Christmas, he likes Henry Goey too cuz he was in that one, but mm-hmm , Um, he loves his lady leads, which I think is good cuz I mean, he plays off their strengths I feel like, like Yeah.
Mario: Um, even Ghostbusters. And that gets, I know that's a whole nother story about the hate that gets, but I mean like he has his leading ladies and he gives 'em good stuff to go with. And so I really like, I like this one cuz it was like, it was different I guess because of the chicness, like, you know, very, almost like it's a very black comedy too cuz it is com it is very comical, but it's like, at the same time it's like, A mystery thriller.
Mario: And then, you know, with the, just even the way they're all dressed, like even Anna Kendrick before, like she becomes, you know, in intertwined with, uh, um, Emily, like, she's, she's still very chic as well, I feel like. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I, I did like that, that was one thing I did notice and liked about the movie was like the fashion.
Mario: Mm-hmm. ,
Julia: um, yeah, the fashion's fantastic in this
Mario: movie. Like, Blake Lively in a jumpsuit. Yeah, .
Julia: Her dress at the end was, Oh, my gorgeous.
Mario: The housewife dress. I love it.
Julia: Yes. The suit that she wore. Oh my. Like, there's so many things that, like, just costume wise, I was like, Did you guys get nominate or acknowledged at all for costuming?
Julia: Because this is stunning. Yeah.
Mario: And it's like the bright colors too, and it's not like mm-hmm. , you know, so it's like it really pops. Yeah. Um, I, I, like I said, I enjoyed it. I think it's a, it's one of those like movies, like, it's kind of like a guilty pleasure, like you don't wanna admit that you like it. Yeah.
Mario: But you kind of like it like, Yeah. .
Julia: That's how I feel about anything. Blake Lively's in .
Mario: Cause cuz like, it's like one of those like trashy soap operas, I guess you would say. , it's soap opera, I guess you'd say. Mm-hmm. . It's like they have like, you're like, this would never happen or Yeah. You know, I can't believe they went there.
Mario: But like, it's like, I mean we're, we can go into the whole, you know, brother, brother effort thing, ,
Julia: so that's a, Okay, so that's a true plot point in the book. Is it? That's a real thing that actually happens in the book. So I, when they tied that in, I was like, Oh yeah, I forgot that they ti okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julia: I remember when I was reading it, I was like, Oh, I remember this from the book. Things that were left out of the movie, but maybe implied in the movie, it is explicitly clear in the book that her brother is, her fa is father of her child. It is explicitly clear. Half brother though, right? Half brother. Yeah.
Julia: Half brother. Half brother. Yeah. Okay. .
Mario: Alright. No, you're good. And it's Dustin Milligan from, uh, Schutz Creek, which I was like, Hey, I know.
Julia: I was like, Oh, that little cutie. I love that guy. Uh, I'm really uncomfortable
Mario: with you right now. But see that? But that was like another, like, I didn't see that coming cuz I was like, Oh, that's her secret.
Mario: Like, like I knew she had something. Like they, there's a whole scene where they're like talking about secrets. I'm like, Yeah, yeah. I wonder what the secret is. Yeah. But I was like, I didn't, I saw the, I saw the, the sleeping together part coming cuz I was like, okay. But then I was like, Oh, she followed the kid.
Mario: He followed the kid too. Mm-hmm. .
Julia: Cause it's just implied in the movie. Right. Like's
Mario: quiet. Yeah. The husband's like, kind of saying is even mine. And she's like, What are you talking about?
Julia: Yeah. So that whole scene, I don't remember that. That whole scene doesn't happen in the book. But the, the husband is suspicious.
Julia: Yeah, but he doesn't. Like, like that whole accident situation. The accident really does happen. They both do die, but like they were on their way. I think they were on their way in the movie to run an errand too. But it, it was just like, I don't know, it wasn't as nefarious as the movie made it out to be.
Julia: Nefarious is the wrong word, but it's the only one I can think of right now.
Julia: Which, which I thought was interesting. So I thought it was an interesting choice for them to le to imply it and not explicitly say it cuz it's, it's a thing in the book. Yeah. She goes into detail about her affection for her half brother. Hmm.
Mario: Whereas,
Julia: which I'm like, it's, I'm okay with you leaving that out of the movie.
Julia: Like, America can't handle that. .
Mario: Right.
Mario: But yeah. So, I mean, just with the, like, the sultry secrets and like mm-hmm. , I mean like, You, you kind of, you, I mean, we eventually kind of find out about Emily's backstory too, which is very, actually really sad too, like the way she was brought up. Mm-hmm. , but it's like, so I don't know. I, I, I enjoyed it. I think it was a very little thriller, but like I said, I haven't read the book, so I can't compare it, and I'm sure.
Mario: Yeah. But
Julia: you've seen like Thriller, you've seen, you wa you actively watch into each movies, so, so,
Mario: because it's different, I feel like because it's different, because it has two strong leading ladies. It's very different than in your typical thriller. Like, I think this one will obviously, it's probably gunning for the, the female, the viewership from the female point of view kind of thing.
Mario: Mm-hmm. , which is cool because you want to, you know, meet your audience and you want to get a mass audience. So I feel like that's what,
Julia: But yeah, one of the things I, I was like, Oh, I can't wait to tell Mario this. in the book. Her name is Evelyn. Is Emily. Oh, is it? Yeah. And the whole, The whole way through.
Julia: And her twin is Evelyn. That's it. No triplet. It's just the two of 'em. Evelyn does have a drug problem in the book and
Mario: that's their name from child. Mm-hmm. Childhood. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . Okay. Whereas here they changed their names. Yeah.
Julia: They're dripping with wealth. So like, Okay. So like Sean's whole thing is like, this is dumb.
Julia: We have like, if she was doing this to get money, I could've just asked for a raise. We make plenty of money. 2 million. Cuz in the book it's $2 million not for Oh wow. So Sean's like, I could easily make that. And $2 million isn't gonna let us live in the lap of luxury that Emily thinks it's going to let us live in.
Julia: And I was like, this is an interesting change that they've just decided to make because, I think Emily getting it in her head to make it look like she's died by accident, um, for $2 million adds to the unreliable narrator concept because it's like, What about, what is in your head that you think because your husband makes a ton of money?
Julia: Cuz he works in banking.
Mario: Oh, okay. So he is not a professor, He's not
Julia: a professor or an author. Yeah. He works in banking, um, flies back and forth all the time to the UK because mm-hmm. , that's where he is originally from. He is British in the book. That's true. I'm, um, he didn't, he wasn't in England at the time of her death because of her mom.
Julia: Because of his mom. I'm trying to remember now. I should have taken, This is literally all the notes I wrote. , I was like $2 million insurance policy. But they clearly have wealth and their home likely costs that much.
Mario: literally the
Julia: only note that I wrote from reading the book. I didn't do a very good job this time.
Julia: It's okay. But what's interesting, like I told you how they do the three Perspectives Trip books. Oh, the three perspective. Uhhuh . So when you get into Emily's story, she's, you know, you get her backstory and yes, her mom's got memory problems and oh my god, Jean Smart was so good as her
Mario: mom in the movie.
Mario: She's smart. Can we talk about Jean Smart? Yes. She's just, she's great. I just, I love her from everything. And then she does hacks and then she was in, uh, me, East Town. I'm like, Oh my gosh,
Julia: what can she do? She's so good. She's so talented. So like, that part's accurate. We're like, uh, Uh, Stephanie, Stephanie goes to Michigan to see her mom, to see Emily's mom.
Julia: But where the story in the book starts falling apart, Evelyn's missing a front tooth and it turns out it's clear she's been missing a front tooth for a while. Um, and then the investigator, So you know what's interesting about, Oh, you know what's interesting to Mario? The investigator and the healthcare worker are the only two people whose race is described in the book.
Julia: Really? They're both described as African American. Huh? That's interesting. That is interesting. So are we left to assume that the rest of the characters are white because the author is white?
Mario: Maybe. Maybe. I mean this, I mean, this movie's pretty white too, though. Yeah. Besides like Henry Golding and the investigator.
Mario: Mm-hmm. . .
Julia: Yeah. And so, so Emily, uh, okay. Uh, friends, spoiler alert. Sorry. You should know by now at this point, all we do is spoil shit. So you, it's four years old. You should watched it . Yes. And the book is also old. So at this point, Sorry. Um, Emily kills the investigator of the policy. Yeah,
Mario: interesting. Uhhuh
Mario: That is interesting. So she does, she murders more than one person. Yes.
Julia: And as you get later on in the book, you start, she starts changing the story around why they were trying to get the policy paid out. Hmm. And so then they frame Sean, Emily. So here's what bothers me about the way the movie ends. They turn on Emily, they murder Emily, or they get her arrested.
Julia: She's this. Fiendish crazy person who sp who thrives in jail. Yeah. Right. In the book, the book is super fem powerful in the sense that Emily starts changing her story. She does tell Stephanie, Oh, he's abusive, blah, blah. That's happens. So then Stephanie does go back into cahoots with Emily to frame Sean.
Julia: Sean goes to his coworker and was like, Hey, I was at this hotel last night. Here's what's happening in my house. Like, I don't know what's going on. Like, my wife's not dead. I don't know what, what's happening. And he's like, Mate, didn't you see the news? Stephanie goes on her blog to talk about how awful Sean's been, what he's done to Emily.
Julia: Emily's not really dead in all of these things. And so his, his coworker's like, Hey, so, um, we've got some business for you to deal with in the uk. Can you go now? And so he, and that's back and never comes back. And then Emily and Stephanie are living in Best Friend Bliss, happily ever after .
Mario: Do they make out in the book cuz they make out in the movie?
Mario: No,
Julia: they didn't. Hmm. I think it's
Mario: interesting. . That is very interesting. That is totally
Julia: different. Right. And I feel like that I, I don't know. So I don't know how I feel about how the movie ends because it's like this woman's psycho, she should be locked up. Like that's how it felt to me after I read the book.
Julia: Gotcha. I don't know if I felt that way before I read the book
Mario: and Stephanie just goes along with it.
Julia: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Stephanie in the book. Such a dip. She irritated the crap outta me. She was just like that little puppy dog friend that wants to be real cool. But nobody likes, Yeah. That's s definitely poor thing.
Julia: And she has, she doesn't worry about money. Her whole thing is like, we have life insurance money. It's fine. Like she never indicates that she ever is gonna have to work again.
Mario: Yeah. They have kids in the book still, right? Like their kids are still, That's how they're become friends, right? That's how they meet.
Mario: Yeah. Play day. Okay. Mm-hmm. , who gets kid at the end? Huh? Stephanie gets the kid at the end. Yeah. Stephanie and Emily. Yeah.
Julia: Get both kids. They're, they're raising their kids in harmony. Wow. It's such a, it like Incom. It's just so interesting how the author was like, Here's, you know, how the authors and I said this already, you know how you hear the story from four different people.
Julia: Yeah. Well, here's what I'm gonna do, . I'm gonna tell you a story from four different people and you're gonna have to figure out what's the
Mario: truth. Dang. That's crazy. Yeah. It's interesting though. Mm-hmm. as far as like that. . I mean, I guess I wonder, that always boths my mind, like when they do massive amount change from a book to a movie.
Mario: Like,
Julia: do you think that type of ending would sit with the amount of thriller, horror, scary, tense stuff you've seen? Do you think that type of ending would've played well in a movie?
Mario: I don't know. Cuz I mean, it's already kind of a dark comedy. Like if you really think about it, it's kind of dark and mm-hmm.
Mario: I mean, as, I feel like as if they would've not, if they would've killed Sean or something, then I could have seen people up being uproar cuz they got away with murder or of thing. Mm-hmm. , I mean, obviously she still gets away with murder in the book with the investigator, but I don't know. I think it, I, it would've been an interesting concept and I, I could see it going that way cuz I, like I said, the film's already kind of dark.
Mario: You, you really think about it. Mm-hmm. , so I could see it going there. Okay. But, uh, I think it's, I think because Anna Kendrick is very, is like one of those lovable girls. Like I don't think Paul Feig wanted to do that to her. And like, did I say
Julia: this man's last name wrong this entire time?
Mario: What'd you call him?
Mario: I didn't even know what you called him. He said f I think it's Paul Feig because Kevin Feige spells it the same way. He just adds the e at the end and, Huh? It's pronounced Kevin Feige. Huh. So I'm wondering if it's Paul Feig,
Julia: Um, I mean, you probably are more correct than I am. Tomato. Tomato. It's one. Yeah.
Mario: Okay. Fair. They know what we're talking about. They understood . Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. So I'm, I, I'm wondering if he intentionally did that cuz he didn't want, because Anna Kendrick's such a lovable character. Mm-hmm. , I think he wanted the audience to relate more to her than Emily like. Yeah, I don't think the audience would've appreciated it.
Mario: Anna Kendrick went along with that.
Julia: Like it's very clear from the book. Yeah. From the movie that you are on Team A Kendrick. Yeah.
Mario: Now if it was a different actress, maybe someone who's played the bad, kind of the bad role, bad guy rules. Mm-hmm. or whatever, maybe they could have got away with it, but because I think it's a Kendrick, I think that's probably why they changed it maybe a little bit.
Mario: Okay. Some
Julia: kind of influence on it. Yeah. Cuz at this point she's, she and Blake both are strong enough star power to sort of have a say in character development, I would think. Yeah. I read that there was lots of behind the scenes drama because the two actresses were in competition with each other. Like, and it more coming from Annie Kendrick than Blake Lively.
Julia: I don't know how true this gossip is. I read it on the Instagram Doom Wa um, , but it was like a whole thing for a while on, on her stories about how like, Can confirm Anna Kendrick felt threatened and like, you know, they were treating Blake Lively better and like, all this shit. And I was like, do we have to really have this conversation about putting two women against each other?
Julia: Like, do we really need to
Mario: do that? I don't know. I felt sometimes I feel like people do that on purpose to Yeah. Get clout for the movie and then you're like, Ooh, I wanna see this chemistry and see if we can tell, and, you know, that brings people in because I mean, remember, uh, what was it, uh, Mr. Mrs. Smith, the whole, Oh, is Brad cheating on Jen with Angelina two weeks?
Mario: Yeah, let's watch this movie to see what the chemistry was. And then everyone's like, Oh yeah, he's definitely cheating on her. And then it comes out like later on that he was cheating on her. Mm-hmm. , like, so I, I, I wonder if like publicity or somebody on the cruise does that on per like, is paid to do something like that, to kind of.
Mario: Oh, you wanna see this movie because you wanna see what was going on and see all that drama unfold on screen kind of thing too.
Julia: I would accept a very large paycheck to be that person, . See,
Mario: but I mean, I feel like,
Julia: right, like I, I'm a storyteller. I feel like I could weave some really believable shit for the gossip to get people in the theater to watch this film.
Julia: Yeah. Or any film, like all the gossip with um, uh, between Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans on the Gray Man, like there's all kinds of stuff happening in the, in the gossip columns about the two of them not liking each other. And it's so interesting what people will latch onto.
Mario: But I mean, cuz it not happened to us, I guess and we just, we feed off that and that's, you know, that's why entertainment.
Mario: You know, Tonight and Access Hollywood. They're all popular shows and people watch 'em because they wanna know that
Julia: gospel. Yeah. Did you watch Entertainment Tonight when Mary Hart and John Tash were hosts? ?
Mario: That was, that was my, I knew you did. That was my jam. Me too. If I wasn't, So it was funny cuz we would have church on Wednesday nights and usually we did Wednesday nights was like, I felt like the juiciest stories.
Mario: Uhhuh. So we, I would always make sure I put the tape in Yep. And push record. Yeah. So I could watch it when I got home or the next morning so I could miss it. Yep. .
Julia: Oh, that makes me happy. I'm glad I'm not the only
Mario: one. Entertainment tonight with Mary Heart. Yep. So, and
Julia: then when John Taylor left, I was like, What does he think he's gonna do without Entertainment Tonight?
Julia: Music Career, .
Mario: And then I went over to, um, Access Hollywood with, oh my God, I can't think of her name. The blonde
Julia: girl. Nancy O'Donnell. Nancy O'Donnell. Was it O'Donnell? Nancy? I know it was Nancy.
Mario: I think it was Nancy O'Donnell. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. I think so. So it was all she was. She was my next gal.
Mario: Yeah. Watch.
Julia: Yeah. . Same. I was like, if I can't have a career in Hollywood, I'm gonna work on one of these shows. .
Mario: Right.
Julia: That didn't work out for me. . It's Except next year we're gonna crash a ComicCon so we can go live from the red carpet .
Mario: Just start interviewing people as they walk in acting for press.
Julia: You're like, Hey, I know how to make press badges. I used to work in a press office. I know. There you go. .
Mario: It's not hard. . We might got a laminator. Who cares? Nobody knows. We're interviewing them. We're, you know, they're five minutes of fame. Yep,
Julia: exactly. I just wanna go, go ahead and
Mario: then watch. One of the celebrities is gonna unmask and it's gonna be like Jason Mamoa or somebody who remember it was the last, I think it was the last ComicCon.
Mario: So 2018 I think. Okay. Or 2017 when, um, Batman v Superman came out, Henry Caval was Oh yeah. Dress Batman. Yeah. And like surprised people and I was like, What if you interview him and it happens to be, you
Julia: know? Right. He's so adorable. I hate how mean people are to him. Um, on, on the internet. It's so unnecessary.
Julia: Yeah. Unless there's something about him that I don't know that everyone else knows. .
Mario: I heard he is kind of adiva, so I don't know. That could be Oh, interesting. Like he's very hard to work with
Julia: sometimes. Do you think it's because he has anxiety?
Mario: I don't know. Cause I, I heard that about the mission. I possible too.
Mario: Cause are the, when he, this last one he was in Uhhuh and that's why they killed him off cuz like, they're like, we don't wanna bring him back. Yeah. Mm-hmm. . Cause like him and Tom Cruise. Fight for Divaness, You know,
Julia: Well, I mean, you can't compete. It's Top Cruise. You can't, you, you gotta fall in, in line with Tom Cruise's agenda while you're riding that TC wave, otherwise you're
Mario: out.
Mario: Yeah. So, I don't know. Oh my God. But back to Anna Kendrick and Blake Levy. So, I mean, I could see, I could see them having a little drama cuz I mean, they both come from different paths. Mm-hmm. , like Lively's been in the game a lot longer, so. Mm-hmm. , she might just kind of expect it, but I mean, and then Anna Kenrick was on her way up, so I think maybe, I mean, I don't think it was as bad as they're probably presenting it
Julia: as.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah. Cause you could not like somebody,
Mario: but see, still be professional and,
Julia: Yeah, because you would never, based on the way that they interacted with each other, you, I would want, if I didn't pay attention to celebrity anything, I would not think that they didn't get along because their chemistry together in this film is really.
Julia: I think really good. It's believable because the way that Blake, the way that Emily sort of teases Stephanie about like all the things that she's obsessed with about parenting, Mario, I was, that I was the Blake Lively in every scenario. Cause it's like, Oh, we gotta do all these little perfect things. He's like doing, he's breathing right?
Julia: Is he asking me for anything? We're good . You know? And so, so I totally got the whole like Blake Lively's mom style. Um, and Anna Kendrick's mom style was definitely the style that I was just like, Oh, this, these are the moms that you're helicopter parent kind of thing. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. These are the moms that are trash.
Julia: This is great. Let's do it. Okay.
Mario: the one that's involved with everything. When you're not involved, they look at you like, why aren't you? Yeah. It's like, or lemme set you up for this. Yeah.
Julia: It's like, you know what? I already volunteered for the out-of-town field trip. That's my, that's my bank for the day.
Julia: Okay. Leave me alone . I took time off work to chaperone 10 children who aren't mine . Anyway, so I did, I think, I think they're, their dynamic was really good on screen. There were some moments though where I was like, Is, was Henry Golding the right choice? Like he's so good in Crazy Rich Asians and he's so good.
Julia: And, and um, last Christmas that was really hard for me to remember . Um, and there were some scenes here where I was like, I just don't feel like he really did connect with Anna Kendrick in the way that we were supposed to believe he was connecting.
Mario: Yeah. I'm wondering cuz they came out the same year. They came out a month apart.
Mario: Which too a Chris Rich Asians in simple favor. Mm. Like so, I'm obviously he shot them back to back. Yeah. So I'm wondering if he shot Simple favor first. Mm. And then it just came out after.
Julia: I mean, that's possible.
Mario: So cuz I mean, he wasn't a big star prior to then, so it's like crazy. Rick Sha put him on the map kind of thing.
Mario: So I think yeah, I, I have, I mean, I don't know. I would've to like research to find out what got shot first. But I mean, Simple Favor could have been like his, one of his first bigger movies. Yeah. So maybe he wasn't as professional as he or as well equipped maybe
Julia: or Yeah. Or comfortable. Cuz acting on screen is so different than stage acting.
Julia: Yeah. I don't know if he was a stager. Oh, he was like a, He did like TV hosting before, I think before he started acting. I know that he was a host, um, which again is a completely different style of acting. Like yeah, it's you, but it's still a persona. I think a lot of people forget that like hosts aren't really who they are.
Julia: Yeah, it's a persona cuz they have to, I don't know, whatever. Um, so that's, that would be interesting to find out what, what shot first. But his character in Crazy Rich Asians, like how it's not, I feel like it's not hard to play the perfect guy. Yeah, true. He's he's kind of the perfect guy. Yeah. With the exception of Ill, Ill preparing his girlfriend for how awful everyone would be to her
Julia: Um,
Mario: that's a whole
Julia: nother story. That's a whole other story. Can't wait for the season where we talk about romcoms. Right. can't believe we haven't done one yet with how obsessed I am with .
Mario: Um, Little Miss thinks her life is a romcom. Yeah.
Julia: I was like, oh I love this one. That's why there's a shirt in our merch shop that says, I want saw my life to be a buttoned up.
Julia: Romcom . Um, cuz it's true Love. A good meet. Cute Love. A good meet you. This is why I hate horror movies in Mario because they take the meat cute, and then they turn it into a terrifying event.
Mario: Did you, did you ever finish fresh?
Julia: Yeah, I finished fresh, but I did a lot of this of like, okay, we're murdering people as cutting people.
Julia: We're murdering people. Okay. Dialogue. Like for people who are listening, not watching. I did the fast forward button motion cuz I was like, slaughtering, They're slaughtering, they're slaughtering.
Mario: We're gonna come up with a little chart with an arm that goes left right way stressed. That's way it's like,
Julia: but you know what, that freaking meat cute was so goddamn meat.
Julia: Cute. Perfect. That Now I'm mad at that movie because you ruined. You ruined it. Now I can never meet an adorable, attractive, Sebastian stand intelligent, Sebastian stand type guy in the grocery store without worrying about being murdered later. Thank you. Thank you, Fresh. Thank you. Poor Daisy and Jones. She just wanted to be loved.
Mario: Yes. Oh man. It wasn't, That was a good movie though. Go ahead. So I feel like Eve, but I feel like Sean's role in the movie was go from there was not as well written as it probably should. I felt like he, like, took backstage probably compared to the book. I don't know.
Julia: I mean, I can't remember. Yeah, his narration part in the book is shorter than the other two.
Julia: Stephanie definitely gets the most airtime, um, in the book, but his portion is crucial because he corroborates a lot of the stuff that Emily says about their relationship. Got it. And then he discredits her plan, and that's the part that's kind of, I think, super crucial to the, to the narrative. Um, and in the, in the movie, he was kind of like, I don't know, I'm the husband.
Julia: Like, Why doesn't anybody include me and
Mario: shit? and like a, you know, down woman's luck author as well. Mm-hmm. professor that only pays slightly the bills.
Julia: Yeah. Which I thought that was an interesting choice because he's a very powerful like banker guy in his company, like his state. There's a, the, the statement that sticks out the most me in the book was I could have just asked for a raise and that would be the equivalent or something to that effect.
Julia: And I was like, ,
Mario: is Emily still a fashion designer or whatever
Julia: book the person she works for, the name is the same. And I'm trying to remember if it was fashion. I mean, her job is the same. Like, she works as the director of
public,
Mario: like in the movie she's the, she's the money maker pretty much. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Mario: So, but that's interesting narrative too, to go with mm-hmm. compared to the book from what it sounds like.
Julia: Exactly. So it's taking it, it's taking away the fact that. They're all very wealthy and putting him in, Well, we just have power because Emily still has power because she spins the truth for a living.
Julia: I mean, I shouldn't say it that way. I also work in PR sometimes. Um, but you do, you sort of have to, you release controlled information because it's like, well, how do we have these conversations with people? How do we explain this? Um, you figure out how to tell that story so it doesn't, so it puts out fires or informs people properly, what have you.
Julia: So I, I appreciated that they left her in a PR communications role because that is another element that's actually kind of crucial because her starting to change the story about why they chose to do this and what happened demonstrates that she's very good at sort of spinning it around and being like, Hey, hey, hey.
Mario: I see what you're saying. Yeah. So did you like the book better or the movie better, or do you like. Like half and half. I
Julia: think I can appreciate them each respectfully for the medium that they are. Yeah, I do. I'm never gonna stop wondering though, if the ending of the book would play out well in a movie.
Mario: It, it would've been a nice, like, alternate ending to put on like the blueray and
Julia: Yeah, because like, I mean, cause does the, does that mean that you think that we can't in our culture and society, like, cuz we know this shit happens, not the, you know, fake death stuff, but like you are accused of something Oh.
Julia: And suddenly work's calling you out of town because you're not like you need to go away. Like, that shit happens in real life. Yeah. So why couldn't we see it represented in pop culture
Julia: is
Mario: maybe it just didn't want go . They already went with the brother effort, so they're just like, That's good. Yeah,
Julia: Yeah. Like we
Mario: can't put everything. But see, I feel like that's a little more disturbing than. Them two getting away with Murder, the brother
Julia: stuff. Yeah.
Mario: Yeah. I don't know.
Julia: Yeah. You know what's interesting Mario?
Julia: So I think that element of the book, I could be wrong sometimes I think I'm really smart and then I say shit and then I hear other people say shit and I'm just like, Oh, probably gotta gotta hide. I'm not, I can't be in this corner. Um, I think that that whole part of the story was to show that even though Stephanie kind of is this dippy helicopter mom who sort of, nobody really wants to be friends with, she's also got a couple of wires crossed too.
Julia: Cuz Emily definitely has wires crossed. Yeah. It's not as sinister as they make it out in the movie, but she definitely is. Like, Like what? You gotta watch yourself around this girl cuz she will justify shoving heroin into your body. Um, and somehow explaining that it's your fault that you made her do that to you.
Julia: And with Stephanie, I think that element shows that this is why they're perfectly paired to end up at the end winning the game because Stephanie also will cross lines that the average person may not necessarily cross. Got it. That's what I think. Well, that's a good point. I like that because like, what else would it be?
Julia: Like, what else could you do to say like, Hey, this person is willing to cross lines. That would be still on the same line as Emily, but not like murdering people .
Mario: Yeah. No, I. That makes sense. No, that does make sense a lot. Okay. I don't know, I'm No, that's good. I like it . I'm like, Okay.
Julia: I'm glad it, um, you said you like to put, put this on as background.
Julia: So where does this fall in your, in your, in your, have you ever, like, have you reviewed this on your, um, on your feed yet before or, No,
Mario: Cuz this was, this was way back. This was before I started the page. Before I started. Yeah. I started in 2021, my page. So,
Julia: So if you were to review it
Mario: now, I would say, I would say it would be like a nice B movie.
Mario: Oh, okay. Maybe a b plus, but I would say probably more B. Okay. Interesting. Like, it's perfect, don't get me wrong. It's not perfect, but yeah. I, I still find a little guilty, sultry thriller, like entertaining. Mm-hmm. .
Julia: It's kind of like a, is it, does this, does this count as a fem fatal kind of situation? Kind
Mario: of.
Mario: I could see that, but I was thinking that too. Um, . Cause like I feel like there's part, there's some really good parts in there, like mm-hmm. , some like really good dialogue mm-hmm. and stuff between them. So it's like those parts, I'm like, I have to watch it so I like, stop what I'm doing. Watch it. Yeah. But then like other parts, I'm like, oh, I can just kind of do what my, do what I'm doing and just have it on the background cause I'm not missing much kind of thing.
Mario: Yeah. Yeah. But, but it's still enjoyable and I mean, it's a great cast. Like I said, I'm a big Anaca fan. Yeah. And I think this was way different than what she's normally done, so I, I praise her for that. Yeah. Um, and then Blake Levy's just, I like her little malicious, little fem Patel thing. Has she done anything recently?
Mario: Uh, like Leslie, I don't think recently. I'm trying to. and
Julia: we both turned to our phones to Google her . Right.
Mario: Oh, she did the, that spy thriller, The re rhythm section.
Julia: Oh, did anybody
Mario: even watch that movie? No. That it came out during the pandemic, so I don't think anybody watched it. Yeah. But she has like seven other things in production right now, so that's fair. But she's raising her kids, but she's raising her kids right now too.
Mario: Yeah.
Julia: But that's not stopping Ryan Reynolds from, you know, making movies like Free Guy, which I'm not mad about. She's staying
Mario: home with kids and she's letting him go work.
Julia: Okay. Well it's, it's his turn. It's his turn. He needs to stay at home so she can
Mario: go. They were, they were at the Met Gala, you know that that was Oh,
Julia: that's true.
Julia: Cuz wasn't she a co-host? She was one of the co-hosts, right?
Mario: No, she she was the one that the dress transferred.
Julia: Yeah. No, but I mean like, cuz you know how the Met Gala always has like people who are like the hosts of the party. Was she a host? I
Mario: thought, oh, I don't know. I didn't get that far. I just watched people walking in and
Julia: I'm like, Yeah, cuz they usually come first and they're like, Hey, welcome to, Did you think her dress reveal was that exciting?
Julia: Was exciting? I felt very, It, it was cool. I felt very underwhelmed.
Mario: See, I, I mean, I don't know if it was like her best dress, but I, I liked the, the theatrical of Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. And like, and just to see Ryan Reynold's face like Yeah. He's, he felt he loves her. I was gonna
Julia: say, he loves her so much.
Julia: It's the cute,
Mario: cutest. And then that gets me and I'm just like, Oh, that's so cute. And she did that. And so I kind of take it all as a whole.
Julia: Yeah. They are pretty adorable together. Stupid. Um, Mario, should we start doing live coverage of the Met Gala ? Oh
Mario: my God. Just talk about, Ooh, she's, She's what she's wearing.
Mario: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. No, it doesn't fall in line with what we do. . I mean, I could do that with somebody else, but not for you. I
Mario: mean, let's just sneak into the MET Gala, like I know Ocean's Eight. Yes. Just start. Randomly interviewing people and see if they . If they get,
Julia: If we get caught, yeah, we could find some couture to where, No big deal.
Julia: Right? It's fine
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Julia: Hit the link in the show notes.
Julia: So I found a website called Single, Single Mother's Guide. I don't know if this website is credible. I don't know who funds it. I know nothing about it. But when I was researching, um, like statistics, like financial statistics about single moms, this is what came up. So they offered a bunch of statistics about single moms, and in a report they did in like, I think 20.
Julia: They reported that single mother homes have a median income of 49,004, $49,214 compared to the median income for married couples, which is one th 101,005 17. Medium numbers are so funny to me cuz you know it's an average of everything. So then you get this random ass number where you're just like, nobody means, I
Mario: was gonna say, I feel like they make more than I do.
Mario: Yeah, yeah. And I'm a
Julia: single man. Yeah. . Um, and so, Well you're also in school though, right? Tru? Yeah. That limits what you can do. True right now, but it won't limit you later hopefully, you know? Um, yeah. Fingers crossed right here I am with a graduate degree that's gotten me nowhere, . I know it's fine. Um, so even though Stephanie clearly feels intimidated by the wealth of Emily and her husband, especially in the book, like she really does feel that in the book, um, these two families still exceed what is considered the average in 2021.
Julia: So it makes me wonder what kind of debt Emily and Sean had.
Mario: Well, cause yeah, cuz they're still living the luxurious life. Cause
Julia: she's driving a Porsche, he's driving a bmw. Their house is easily millions of dollars, especially in today's market. Yeah. I need receipts. What is your debt? Emily and Sean , Sean Townsend and Emily Nelson.
Julia: I need to know what your debts are because listen, if I made the kind of money that a director of PR would make at a firm, like what's his face is, I would probably be also in debt. Because living extravagantly is very expensive. . Yeah.
Mario: But I mean, even like ev, I mean they were both making, I mean, he wasn't making as much money as her, but they were still making decent money.
Mario: So I'm just thinking like what? Like
Julia: what do they have? Like here's to being house poor. So I know somebody who, I know a single woman who on her own, qualified for a home loan for $800,000. Dang. On her own. So what is your income that that's your, what you qualify for to like, You know, so it's like between the two of 'em, if, and so we're talking Connecticut, so, you know, that's New York money that she's playing with.
Julia: Yeah. Because she's commuting. I, I just can't wrap my Amanda around it. If anybody who's listening is from the New York tri-state area, please help us understand what kind of income did Emily have and how could they possibly be in debt with just only that house they, Yeah. Cuz
Mario: they never say why they're in debt.
Mario: They just say my debt. Mm-hmm. , You know what
Julia: else didn't make sense to me in
Mario: the, maybe his book didn't sell very well, so they have all the back. Oh, you
Julia: know what if he got in advance Okay. You, we don't have, we don't need to go into that, but, Okay. I could see that. Um, you know what else kind of made me confused.
Julia: Mm-hmm. . So when Stephanie moves in with Sean mm-hmm. , there's a picture of a realtor in front of her house with a for sale sign. Yeah. But, but then, She moves back into the house when she realizes that she believes Emily and that Sean's a liar. Mm-hmm. . So did they not sell the house?
Mario: Probably not. Cause I mean, son in the house could take, I mean, we're, we're made to assume this is only happening in a few days to weeks.
Mario: That's true. So like, I mean, a house could take, you sell the house within a couple weeks, you still have to go through escrow, which is like 45 days. Okay. And then they, I mean, that gives time for both parties to pull out. So if Stephanie was like, Nevermind, I don't wanna, Yeah.
Julia: Okay.
Mario: All right. I, That's believable to
Julia: me.
Julia: Like, Okay. All right. I'll, I'll allow it. , I'll allow it maybe. Um, okay. How do you think this movie contributes to the representation of wealth in America?
Mario: That people act rich when they're really not. Yeah, .
Julia: Lemme just throw some dollar bills at it y'all. I don't have this kinda money, but I'm gonna act like I do
Julia: I feel like. So here's, here's where I'm coming from with this question. My memory of the movie, when I watched it, it had to have been shortly after the movie came out. I probably watched it in secret because I didn't want anybody to know I was watching it because I had been so vocal about how annoying I found Blake Lively and Gossip Ball.
Julia: Um, and I just remember them being like, kind of like, like I walked away, my recalled memory before rewatching it and reading the book was, you know, Overprivileged sort of like playing into that narrative that wealthy people are actually garbage humans. . And then I watched it this time and read the book this time and I'm thinking, gosh, Yeah.
Julia: Are you telling us that what, what money brings problems? And like, it's not all it's cracked up to be like, what are you trying to tell us with this movie?
Mario: Yeah.
Mario: I don't know. I think, I mean, I also think that it's like, it's more realistic that women are making more than men too. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm in some aspects. Cause there's, I, I work with some ladies that make more than their husbands cuz their husbands don't have degrees or they're just doing something because they love it and it doesn't bring in the money they need, but their wives allow 'em to do that.
Mario: So, I mean, I could see that happening that that's something too, which is cool.
Julia: Um, you know, I saw a TikTok, so take it with a grain of salt. Um, this woman claimed to be an ec, ec, ec EC economics student, so I have no way to verify. But she was saying that in her video that in today's climate with the way inflation.
Julia: the minimum to survive is $60,000 a year annual salary. I could see that. And I was
Mario: like to like live comfortably?
Julia: No, like minimum to like survive, Not even live comfortably. And so her thing was is that the government hasn't adjusted what poverty levels are in like 50 years. So they're still operating in because how they adjust, what, how do they determine the poverty?
Julia: Um, income is based on cost of food. And there was another thing too. And so they haven't done a reevaluation, so the poverty numbers haven't really adjusted for what we're actually seeing happening in the economy. So now you have more people who maybe make, you know, one of a single person maybe makes, you know, $30,000 a year, but the line for poverty is like 19,000.
Julia: But you're bo like so you're real poor and then you're like poor. Cause you still can't afford to survive sense. Survive on $30,000 a year. And even at 50,000, like after, especially in California, cuz we're so heavily taxed here, which also I'm okay with some days . When I watch the news, I'm like, I'll stay.
Julia: I don't like what's happening in that state. Um, when you think about it too, it's like, well, why aren't we adjusting those numbers then so we can actually like get to more equitable income for everybody? Like my son was telling me that to qualify for one of the grants for school, your income had to be $37,000.
Julia: And I was like, for a single person who's raising kids like a single person alone, alone, no kids can live on $37,000 a year. Like that's not, that's not a livable
Mario: wage. . I remember working two jobs and barely making 30,000 uhhuh and not qualifying for like, mecal not qualifying. Yeah. And I'm like, Okay, . I'm like living paycheck to paycheck.
Mario: Yeah.
Julia: And not because you're bad. It's not, It has nothing to do with being bad with money. It has nothing to, with any of that. It's because everything is so flipp and expensive. Mm-hmm. . Especially when you are not living comfortably because there's other types of taxes that you're paying. Yeah. Like my, my friend and I, cuz our kitchen's so small and so cooking is kind of a pain in the ass after a 12 hour day.
Julia: So my friend's like, Oh, you pay the, you pay a poor tax then because you're getting takeaway all the time. Which actually ends up being more expensive than your, than a grocery bill because you're not cooking every night. Yeah. Plus you're ruining your health. And I was like, Great. Bonus , yay . But I didn't, I didn't even consider that.
Julia: I was like, oh gosh. Like, yeah. I guess that's kind of a. Sure it's interest. It's interesting. I wish I cared more about economics though, but I don't, cuz I don't, Yeah. I just care more about making, it just makes me sad. , Right, Because you har Yeah. Like, okay guys. Anyway, enough of this conversation. Let's just wrap it up now.
Julia: Um, I to, to go back to Mario's question to me about, which was better. I, I will maintain, I think I'll maintain the opinion that each are good as a standalone, but when, if you wanna compare the two and be like, this is a true book adaptation, people are gonna get cranky . Yeah. Those book nerds are gonna get rural cranky about the changes that were made.
Julia: Um, Mario, thank you so much for joining us again. You have to come back friends. You need to check out our live shows. We've done Emmy's coverage. We will always do Emmy's coverage as long as the internet exists and Mario can stand me. We'll do Oscar's coverage as well. Should we do Golden Globes? Did we do Golden Globes?
Mario: I want to, I think we did a just a, like who we thought would win, but I don't think we did an after show. Okay. Well, or we might have did an after show after it, and not, that wasn't a year ago.
Julia: I don't remember. I don't remember. Friends, we're gonna figure this out because Mario and I are going to be your go-to for all your awards.
Julia: Show content, , you don't need any, You don't need entertainment tonight. You need movies with Mr. Mario and pop culture makes me jealous. .
Mario: Yes, I agree with that.
Julia: Yeah. Can you remind our friends where they can find you if they wanna keep up with you online? .
Mario: You can find me on Instagram at movies with Mr.
Mario: Mario. Uh, my Instagram, uh, movie page where I do reviews on movies and TV shows I'm watching and keeping up with the daily Hollywood news. Yeah. Um,
Julia: it's very exciting that you were here again, friend. And we have some, uh, fun collab coming up that we are talking about whenever I remember to message Mario.
Julia: Thoughts
Julia: Well, I'm hard. Um, friends, thanks for tuning in until next. Pop culture makes me jealous, is written, edited, and produced by me, Julia Washington. And I am fueled by the incredible support system of women who allow me to run ideas, cry, melt down whenever I feel overwhelmed. I also wanna do a big shout out to our Patreon community.
Julia: Thank you for your continued support. It brings me great joy to bring you quality content, and monthly get togethers. Thanks for tuning in y'all. Until next time.
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