'One Night Only' and the 21st Century Rom-Com Canon

I'm Amanda Davins and this is the big picture a conversation show about what happens when

Sean goes on big piece.

That's right, the letterbox Lord is out of office and that means I'm joined by my friend,

Jam Session co-host and generational romantic comedy expert Juliet Littman to discuss

one night only, the newest Will Gluck entry in the genre.

Will also build the 21st century romcom canon which will be perfect and make no one angry.

All of that right after this.

This episode is brought to you by 20th century studios, the dog stars only in theaters and

IMAX August 28th.

Visionary filmmaker Ridley Scott returns with a gripping post apocalyptic thriller when a mysterious

radio transmission shatters a lone pilot's isolated existence in barks on a dangerous

journey in search of hope starring Jacob Lourid, Josh Brolin, Margaret Kuala, Alison Janie

and Guy Pierce, the dog stars only in theaters and IMAX August 28th.

Get tickets now.

It's Juliet Littman.

Okay, I'm putting my prop down now.

That's a very light one night only joke, but also I just thought of it while I was falling

asleep the other night and it made me laugh and I wanted to amuse myself.

It makes me think of the viral videos of people covering Natasha and Betty Filt.

Have you seen that with all these like moms in the kitchen with their various kitchen supplies

and toilet paper and brooms?

No, I didn't know about that.

Oh my gosh, this is a good opener.

It's Juliet, welcome to the big picture by the way.

Thanks.

This is different internet and different cultural references coming together on the big

picture and I doubt that Sean Fennesy knows who Natasha Beddingfield is much less about

those videos.

She of course sang the title song to the children's unwritten.

Unwritten.

And in these videos, people are like covering that song.

Yeah, covering use loosely.

They're playing that song in dancing along with their Christians.

So this is the level that the big picture is going to be on today and I almost just called

this podcast jam session because that's what it is.

But we are going to talk about movies.

It is a happy fate of scheduling that Sean is away and you Juliet are here for the romantic

comedy event of the summer.

They agreed.

I just don't say I'm very nervous.

I just feel like the big picture audience has high expectations and demands a lot.

So I hope I can deliver.

I'll do the best that I can.

I respect you.

I respect Sean.

I respect your listener.

So I'm here to come to your level.

And you respect romantic comedies.

So we're going to talk about one night only.

We're going to talk about the last 25 years in romantic comedy, which I think is going

to be a fraught but exciting conversation.

And there's no one outside, rather, have it with.

So I'm very glad you're here.

I want to do some quick news because we haven't recorded in a week and I'll just talk at

you on the news and you want to weigh in great.

You don't you don't have to.

The most of the news will keep it quick because most of the news is about how people who

are not us have made a lot of money and that's great.

But it's not coming to the big picture.

So Spider-Man brand new day.

Have you seen it, Juliet?

I have not.

Okay.

I really have always wanted to be involved in these movies and it's just never taken from

me.

I'm just going to be honest.

But I'm really happy for everyone involved because I know that they're seeing a lot

of success.

Yes.

Everyone else in America seemingly has seen it.

It made 360 million domestic dollars in its first weekend, which is a lot.

And in fact, breaks the Avengers in game opening weekend record.

Though, you know, you figure in for a flation, whatever.

It's a lot of money.

It's doing very well.

Currently, as of this recording, $1.1 billion worldwide.

One of the narratives was like Ken it crossed two.

And you know, we don't know, but outlook good as the eight or what say.

Sure.

Okay.

And the only thing I want to add to this is that on our last Spider-Man episode, Sean asked

me, gave me an over under on the number of movies that Tom Holland would play in Spider-Man

and going forward.

And his over under was 2.5.

And I said under because I think two.

And that was a mistake.

And I should have said more because I wasn't thinking about the fact that he could also

then like pass the Spidey torch to the next Spider-Man, but then show up as a mentor.

And I think he'll be doing that at least for a very long time because he is too bankable.

I will say I have seen the Spider-Verse movies, the animated ones.

Yes.

I love them.

I think they're like so beautiful and great New York movies.

And that sounds very similar to the Spider-Verse movies with the mentorship and the multiple

spites.

So it's a good plan to me.

Yes.

I, everyone in Spider-Man Land is doing very well and I congratulate them.

And I congratulate everyone who loved the movie.

I liked it.

I just said a quick Google to see if I, either Zendaya or Tom Holland were Leo's.

They're not, but congrats to them on enjoying the abundance of the Emerald Year.

Exactly.

Less abundance or abundance on pause.

We haven't been talking too much about the Paramount Warner Brothers merger acquisition

because it is on pause and we are also not business people.

The trial was recently set.

There was a deal made to delay it, to delay the trial to deal between Paramount and the

state attorneys.

And the trial date was set from March 20, 2077.

So this is ongoing.

Meanwhile, David Ellison took to the op-ed pages of The New York Times to kind of restate

his case seemingly like reframe the narrative.

There was a lot about like I've, I'm taking this back for myself.

A lot more I love movies, you know, he cites Top Gun Maverick because a broken clock is

right once a day in Europe and it's, you know, it is what it is.

No real news except that nothing will move forward until March 20, 2077.

I, do you, do you follow this at all?

I follow it through Matt Bellamy's newsletter almost exclusively.

Like, I don't really read news stories about the, I read the headlines essentially.

My question for you is, what if Europe blocks it, but the US allows it?

What happens?

I don't know, honestly, because once again, I'm not Matt Bellamy or one of these experts.

I do believe that Europe passed something more failing to it recently.

Yeah.

So I think somehow that that is not the front concern.

Seemingly with the, the judge who made a ruling that actually did, the language seemed

to suggest that she bought the state's attorneys argument that this would be like a market monopoly

against movie theaters, which is why David Ellsson is again stating in his, like, I will

release X many movies and, you know, op-eds are not legally or financially binding.

So sure, that's nice.

So I think right now this trial, as I read it and from all the business journalists who

cover it, the trial and the timing is, the American trial is the issue for Paramount

right now.

Got you.

Okay.

So you have to go.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I'm not, again, I'm not a legal party to any of this.

That's a thing that is happening.

Okay.

More exciting news.

Brittany Snow joins Sydney Sweeney in Lions Gates, the Housemaid sequel.

Did you see the Housemaid?

No, I did not.

Really fun time at the movies.

Can't say it was great.

Brittany's, but that's okay.

Great and fun.

Don't have to coexist and maybe we'll talk about that more.

Sure.

I did consume a lot of the press tour.

Sure.

Amanda St. Fried has, like, a big part of my online life, I would say.

In part because I watch videos of her preparing for the 2012 Oscars frequently, as I watch

the video of the Les Mis cast singing their number together before they actually performed

it.

And of course, she's in it.

So drinking tea, drinking beautiful.

In general, also she, I don't know, this probably made it to you.

It's a movie.

They released some set photos from Octet with the next film from Lynn Manuel Miranda,

which she is directing.

And she is in it among a lot of other Broadway stars and like gotten Madarazo and Jonathan

Graf, Phillipa Sue, etc.

Charlie Ralph is in it.

It's exciting when Lynn Manuel Miranda takes his talents public.

He's always working on so many things.

In this photo, she, like, shined brighter than all these other very bright stars.

And I just think that she has a certain it factor that caught out to me.

And so I follow her very closely ever since Big Love.

I would assume that you can now watch the house made in the comfort of your own home.

Yes.

My Roku television has advertised that to me.

Well, I, I think it's a very fun time at the movies.

I, the house made two is on my radar because I enjoyed the house made one and also because

Kirsten Dunst was previously announced as a cast member.

And also so Paul Anthony Kelly, aka J.F.K. Jr.

J.J.

John, John from American Love Story, Carolyn Bissett Kennedy and J.F.K. Jr.

I think I got that title correct.

You know the one I see will I assume be playing the husband?

He has joined this film.

And I think that's the correct use of him.

I think most people know what they're doing.

So I'm looking forward to this.

I've never seen anything that Britney Snow didn't make better.

Like I think she's great.

Yeah.

Well, I don't we have more of her.

Did you watch her TV show on Netflix?

You know, really, and I did not because I don't watch TV.

This is a film podcast.

Would you like to tell us briefly?

No, it's fine.

Go ahead.

I know.

I just she's charming.

She's always charming.

Yes, she also was like a really weird thing happened where like, you know, she was like

a teen star and then she was in the pitch perfect movie.

So like she's had a very steady successful career.

She had her first husband went on a Netflix reality show and was like incredibly inappropriate

with one of his co stars, like just really crossing the line of flirting and touching.

Well, while married to a very famous person, Britney Snow, they've since gotten divorced

and they're both now remarried.

But this is like all happened within the last four to five years.

And I feel like she's been freed and like her career is soaring once again now that she's

no longer dating to the dating this or married to this guy from Netflix.

I think this is great casting for the house made to and I look forward to it.

Okay, last thing that I want to mention to you.

So Netflix dated and scheduled its theatrical release for La Boulin Egra, which is one of

its seeming Oscar hopefuls La Boulin Egra debuted at can.

But at the end of can, so I didn't get to see it.

That's okay.

I will.

And then was acquired by Netflix.

It's going to be released October 16th and theaters, December 2nd on streaming, which many

people are trumpeting as kind of like Netflix is largest or longest ever theatrical release

window.

I personally don't think that this means that Netflix is completely reversing course on its

theatrical strategy.

I just I do think it means that it believes in La Boulin Egra for the Oscars and it's the

level in Egra is a Spanish like historical epic directed by Los Javis.

And it is one of the movies that Sean like immediately texted me after walking out

of it saying like wow, I was very moved by it, which is, you know, that immediate response

is a very good sign.

So I'm excited to see it and I'm excited that Netflix seems to think that this has some

has some Oscar heat.

I the theater thing guys at you know, it's a long road.

Sure.

I mean, they've owned theaters for a long time.

So I don't it doesn't seem like it's like a big indicator of anything.

I understand like putting there it I think your point about it suggests like they believe

in it.

Yeah, I get that.

But like the theater thing seems right from all indicators, not like a huge part of

the strategy.

And also we've been talking a lot about this.

The the fall theatrical release schedule is a little strange and Thanksgiving is a little

if things keep moving around things keep getting delayed Thanksgiving is still a little bit

empty.

So maybe it's just a reflection of of what's available.

Anyway, we'll see I'm excited to see it.

Let's talk about a film that isn't theaters.

Okay.

That we have both seen.

We sure have.

It's called one night only.

I'm going to do the I'm going to give the details.

Okay.

Which may surprise some people because I've had this experience while talking to friends

and many people who have seen the trailer and are still surprised to learn the premise

of this film.

So anyway, this is directed by Will Gluck, who directed easy a anyone but you friends with

benefits, also some Peter Rabbit movies.

The script is by Travis Braun and it was on the blacklist in 2024 and it stars Monica

Babaro, Calum Turner, Maya Hawk, Molly Ringwald, Lava, Burton, King Princess, Michelle Her,

Julia Fox and more.

The story is two strangers.

This is the log line.

Two strangers try to find love on the one night of the year when pre-marital sex is legal.

Julia, let me know.

What did you think?

I had a good time.

I liked it.

I had a good time.

I thought it was really clever in some ways.

It was flawed in many others.

But the feeling and the movie stars were enough for me and it was at appropriate length

at one hour and like 46 minutes.

And so that was fun.

It comes out strong with some good jokes, particularly using Monica Babaro's talents.

And I had a good time.

I mean, certainly not like, you know, a Nora Efron movie or an Anci My Airs movie or,

you know, even some of my favorite recent Netflix movies.

But I really like enjoyed myself.

Okay, we're going to get into that.

I, I mostly disagree with you.

I thought that this was an incredibly charming movie that almost works.

It almost works.

And the reason that I can't give it like the full pass is because it is just an insurmountable

premise.

And I do not think that the movie surmounts it.

I don't know that a movie could, but this one tries to have it both ways and five other

ways.

And so you're in this complicated situation where you're in a sex comedy without any sex.

You're in a romantic comedy on the, as I'm quoting the film and the trailer here, the

least romantic night of the year.

And you are also in a film where the federal government has banned premedical sex and

embedded bio trackers in every single person.

So I just, you can't get past it.

I had less of a problem with that because I just was like kind of happy to go along with

that.

I guess I'm like was, I was willing to be led into down a dark path.

But I felt the seams of the movie were just very apparent.

I noticed edits a few times.

And it didn't feel like it had like the, the utmost craft to it.

Maybe that's because there were so many challenges and streamlining the plot, which is like

too really explain everything would take a long time.

And I don't.

So I have notes on the premise.

And then if you're accepting the premise, I also have other notes that I'd like to go

through.

Okay.

Okay.

I'd love to hear them.

Yeah.

I agree with you.

I mean, you said that you were willing to be led down a dark path.

And this movie strenuously avoids the dark path.

It is, it makes kind of a liptical, not a liptical.

It has references to what they call the mandate, which is the law that's been passed,

where you can't have a premarital sex.

And they have a talking head.

They have, you know, kind of like a news report with a faint congressman or a fake elected

representative who's supposed to be very conservative and is kind of a blowhard explaining why they

did it.

But, you know, not with any specific terms.

They have, you know, kind of like repeal signs and decorations throughout the set and

throughout the movie to kind of background suggest that there is some sort of acknowledgement

and like quote unquote, resistance.

They are all in the resist font, by the way, you know, or the multiple resist fonts.

There is what I thought was the most forced part of like the premise and trying to work

through the premise was a conversation that Monica Babaro's character has with Michelle

Hurd, the great actress Michelle Hurd, who is an NYPD officer, who is forced, who, who,

Monica Babaro's character winds up in the hotel in the, she winds up in the police station

and asks her, you know, why do you do this?

Why are you being an enforcer of it?

I love this thing that is so repressive and it felt so inserted into the text and so

half-hearted attempt to kind of acknowledge larger socio-political discomfort in a movie

that's otherwise not trying to do that that in my experience, it draws it more to the,

to the unreality or the kind of having it both ways of the movie.

Sure.

Yeah, and it pulls you out of it when you're like that.

Yeah, exactly.

Like all of the plot strands and also like the morality of it.

It's also just like unfun.

Yeah, I mean, the bio-trackers do play a plot point and also kind of set up the final reveal

of the movie, but you know, so they're there and I assume they're animated, but they're

on everyone's wrist and you're just talking a lot about the government monitoring your

sex life via something that's embedded in your body.

And they, I guess they do the best they can, but you are reminded of it.

It does also feel very noted to me as like that there were the Michelle Hurt conversation

is one.

There's another one where there's a gay roommate who says has like one throwaway line

about how like we've been scurrying street people laws for years.

You know, which is to maybe acknowledge the fact that you do primarily see heterosexual

couples like getting it on.

You know, it like you feel all the hands in the kitchen trying to solve this problem.

It also feels like if they're trying to restrict sex, wouldn't they also try to restrict

like, you know, different sexualities?

It doesn't track that you can be like openly, okay, and happily gay.

Okay.

While also like, you know, straight people can only have sex on this one night of the year.

Like why would they stop there?

And also the main problem with the like one night a year is there's no rationale for it,

except for like there was that Congressman your reference.

I think at some points like, you know, like reinforcing the importance of like the family

unit.

Right.

But then the, you know, non-straight person is a woman who's watching a kid that night.

And sort of like the only one of the two family units were like introduced to is like two

friends and a random kid.

So it doesn't really, it doesn't track with the mandate itself.

Yes.

And it does feel like the original idea for this movie was like, what if it was the purge but sex,

which is a really funny elevator pick.

Yes.

But the purge is a gruesome like horror movie.

And so you can tell that the more you have to think about it and live in the world, the more

this seems come apart, as you said, just because there are just many questions.

You, you had a segue to all of the, the, the notes within the premise that I wanted to make.

So I, here's, here are the questions I want to ask you about because this is the problem.

The premise itself isn't sold.

They, or you just have too many questions about like, okay, why are you outlawing sex for,

you know, except for one night a year or a premarital sex for one night a year?

And what does that say about the world at large?

But also power reinforcing that.

So the number one question I had is why doesn't everyone just get married immediately?

Yeah.

And like, are there rules against divorce?

Are you limited on the number of divorces you can have?

They don't mention that.

They don't get into, if, to cheating.

And whether you can cheat if you're married, which seems like a very easy way to circumnavigate this,

there is a rule, and this is a good rule that you have to wear a condom.

So there's a safe sex aspect of that, and that also forms, you know, plot because,

plot point because there's a run on condoms on the one night a year, and you've got to make

sure you have a condom.

Can we just pause on the condom thing for a second?

I couldn't help but think of the movie The Trojan War, the entire time.

I was watching the condom Odyssey with Will Friedell and Jennifer Love Hewitt,

which was a very formative movie for me.

Okay.

And I was like, is this intentional?

Am I supposed to be thinking of Will Friedell looking for a condom as the whole movie?

Because that was a movie I saw in the 90s.

I feel like it was like, wow, the guy from Boemnitz World is now searching for a condom.

And I just couldn't believe that that was something they were trying to call upon.

But if you've also watched that movie many times as a young person,

then you probably are thinking of it too.

So the Trojan War, the movie, not too confused with the Odyssey or Troy, is a 1997

teen comedy starring as you noted Will Friedell, Jennifer Love Hewitt.

And according to Wikipedia here, made only $309 in ticket sales because it played at two

movie theaters in the United States. So I think once like flip side, everyone else in the world

has seen Spider-Man brand new day and you have seen Trojan War.

I watched a lot of the movies in the 90s. That's all I can say.

I didn't know this was an obscure movie. I assumed everyone had seen it.

I have not seen it, but I know my God.

I have seen context for it. This is the plot.

This is the plot of the movie.

Is that he meets Trojan War Love Hewitt and they want to have sex and he can't find a condom

and he's going to all these different stores to get a condom, but he can't find one.

And then he meets the Cyclops and he meets the sirens.

Yeah, okay.

There's like an Odyssey like tale to it.

Does anyone get turned into a pig?

No, not that I recall.

I also don't really remember the ending, but I don't think they ever have sex in the movie

because it was like the 90s. And yeah, I thought it the whole time.

We'll come back to not having sex. Speaking of condoms,

so we get no specifications on the biometric measure thing.

So I don't know how you can tell if it's if if a condom is used or not.

So I don't know how that's forced.

It's a weird thought experiment that the movie begs you to partake in.

Like you have to think about how would a biometric tracker that's embedded into your wrist be able

to sense if you or woman were being penetrated with a condom on or if you or man are wearing one.

Like what is the science there?

And I regret having to ask this question publicly on a podcast.

Well, sure, but let's keep going.

So is masturbation allowed or like hand jobs allowed?

They do at one point in the NYPD office show like a poster, a humorously illustrated poster of

like what's allowed and what's not allowed.

And seems pretty clear like all forms of oral sex are banned.

They're on the strikeout poster.

I at least saw a couple of them.

But nothing about hand jobs.

So I just these are gray areas.

It does seem like and no absolutely no energy is devoted to the people trying to get around

these areas, these you know, in creative or hubris ways,

much less the realities of what it would mean.

The final thing that I would say is that

what everyone at 7 p.m. is not already ready to go in this universe.

Like at 7 p.m. people are like out in public and like throwing parties and celebrating.

I just don't understand why you wouldn't be like about to start the 100 meter dash, you know.

Totally.

Also a part of the original conceit can see is that

Cal Enterners was proposing to his girlfriend on this night.

Right.

Why would you propose on the one night of the year you can have sex?

And also the movie says it's not romantic.

So the way that people were using their time on this evening, that's a question of all.

Well, I mean, it sets up the fact that Cal Enterner also doesn't really understand what's going on.

You know, he's a loss soul.

He's not of of this time.

And that's why the other most ridiculous thing that happens in this movie,

and his name is Owen, by the way, it's Owen and Ali, is that

within 15 minutes of the movie starting, and before the clock hits 7,

and everyone's a lot of have sex for the next 12 hours.

He is not quite dumped by his girlfriend, Maya Hawk, who he was going to propose to,

because she wants to have sex with someone else other than him on their building,

in their building on the one night of year when sex is allowed.

Right.

This is unbelievable for a number of reasons, including that the person sitting opposite

her is Cal Enterner.

Well, we did see a picture of the other person.

I don't want to ruin it for everybody, but it is someone very handsome.

You might be familiar with.

It's a good, it's a good, a good, a good leader.

It's a good, a good leader.

Okay, I do want to talk about Cal Enterner, but let's talk about the flip side of everything

that we just said.

The premise is not believable and draws attention to your fact.

Well, of course, it's not believable, but they just can't sell it.

They try really hard.

I think they make a good effort.

It doesn't quite land.

Everything else is pretty charming.

And everything else is well-made.

This is, I had a really, really great time.

And we were talking about this on the Spider-Man episode of

that experience when you go to a movie and you're like,

wow, I had the best time in the world.

And then the further you get from it, the more you remember the holes

or the things that didn't quite add up.

And because the film was so directed to your particular pleasure centers,

it really lands.

And that was the case for me.

I walked out of this like,

this is the most charming, wonderful thing I've ever seen in some time.

And it hits a lot of rom-com things,

right, in my opinion.

I think that

Callum Turner and Monica Bavaro are excellent.

Agreed.

I have some notes on certain aspects of what's going on with Callum Turner,

but we'll get to it.

The jokes are really funny.

There was a couple times where I was like really laughed out loud.

There was one scene where I was like,

I don't know what's really going on here,

but I find it absolutely hilarious.

And I was like just dying in my seat.

I really enjoyed it.

This one scene in particular, I should say.

And it's filmed actually in New York City.

In real places.

Yes.

And it has actually good soundtrack for once,

which is unlike most other romantic comedy,

which are like the leftovers of female centered,

pop light that they couldn't place anywhere else.

So they placed it in a romantic comedy.

Well, to that point,

the movie basically, the second scene introduces

Ali, Monica Bavaro at her job,

where she sings for pharmaceutical commercials

she sings like well-known pop songs that have been rewritten for

these commercials.

Yeah.

And it's a version of Brave by Sarah Bareilles.

And it's really funny.

It's really, really well done.

And she sounds great.

And they introduce it as here is the bad song

from a romantic comedy that is playing.

And it's a little cheesy.

And you know, like Brave is fantastic.

But in this context, you're like,

oh no, they weren't even invented.

They didn't even go get like a new song.

And when it turns,

it's really like I laughed.

It me too.

Yeah, I was like, oh, that's really smart.

And it's a clever way of like inverting a well-known trope.

Yes.

And a well-known song.

Yes.

So it's annoying.

And the movie knows what it's doing

like on almost every front.

It is, it's very aware of the genre,

a very aware of what comes before it.

And is kind of spending the time

and the money to try to make everything work.

So I'm with you.

I had a really, really good time.

Yeah.

And as I was watching,

this is both an indictment and like a credit to the movie.

I was thinking throughout the movie of like the different pieces

where I was like trying to guess

what I thought the filmmakers were referencing.

I was like, well, of course, I was thinking of, you know,

Jennifer Love Hewitt, primarily.

But I thought about her again,

because one of the another songs

included the movie is Only You by Yazoo,

which is essential to Canon Hartley Weight

and the train station scene.

And so I was like thinking throughout like,

are they thinking of this from this movie that I love?

Like I felt like I was speaking the same language

as the creators and particularly the writer.

But I wasn't, but at the same time,

I was like, it's probably a bad sign

that I'm thinking so much about all the reference points

and not just like losing myself in the movie.

But I think I was like a lover of romantic comedies

and this day and age there that really good ones

are so few few and far between.

And I wouldn't say this is a really good one.

But just like wanting to celebrate the genre

with other people who love it as much as you do,

I think it's part of being a fan at this point.

And so I don't know if seeing a movie like that

you could avoid that experience anymore.

Yeah, I mean, what you just described are Easter eggs

and there are Easter eggs not for a specific superhero movie.

But instead for this genre that we know and love

and are very protective of

and are going to try to build not quite a hall of fame

but an essential list for later on this episode

with very strict rules because we believe in this stuff.

So I think you're right.

And I think some of it is that it is very hard in this day

and age to make a brand new romantic comedy

that stands on its own without any of the references

because at this point, much like Spider-Man,

it's burned by all of our expectations

and all of the, yeah.

Like not the fan service,

but the fan acknowledgement it has to do.

Right. Yeah, I mean, we're a generation

like just so tapped into Nancy Myers and Nora Efron

as mentioned before.

It's like their presence over the genre is so, so heavy

that you can't not think about them

whenever like a Rob Thomas is just like as an idea as mentioned.

Let's talk about Callum Turner.

Okay.

I mean, I'm on the record on this.

What did you think?

I liked spending time with him.

Yeah. I felt the movie worked in part

because he's so handsome and you're happy

to spend so much time with him.

I didn't think he was like so convincing as a lead,

but I understand why he's a working successful actor

and it's because he's so handsome

and you would just like want to be around his smile.

I thought the American accent was very tough

and verged into kind of fake mobster impression

from time to time.

I felt like he was sort of his own version

of like Danny Zuko and Greece,

but like Pizza Man in New York.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, yeah.

It's and I did spend some time in the movie thinking,

okay, so why couldn't he just be British?

And I guess that that brings in

like some sort of the geopolitical arrangements

and you'd have to establish that like anyone with a green card

has a, you know, has to have a tracker or something.

And then you're just, you're, you're in hell once again.

So, totally, just to give an American an accent,

but we're not there yet.

Totally, yeah, we're not there.

Can I ask you a question before we go any further?

Cause it's like it looms over this whole movie for me.

I watch everything through like my New York goggles,

like the obsessed with the city

and which I was born and continue to live.

Like I think the character doesn't work

if he's not like some kind of New Yorker.

Like because you would have to change so many fundamental things

that we know about this character.

So I don't know that's just my, my bias,

but I think to your answer your question,

why couldn't he just be British?

Well, then he couldn't own a pizza shop.

I mean, it doesn't own a pizza shop.

Like who is this guy?

Yeah, well, who is this guy who owns a pizza shop to you?

I'd love to know what you think was essentially New York

about this character?

Who is the most handsome man you've ever seen

who gets dumped by Maya Hawk 20 minutes before they're allowed

to have sex at an Omakase restaurant?

I mean, there is a very funny joke

within the joke within the movie that's meta

and it features two well-known actors in cameos

being like, why's he alone?

This guy's so handsome.

Like what is it?

Great question.

Even the movie knows and that was one where the,

the movie's trying to make things fit together

in a way that was amusing to me.

But all I know about him is that he makes pizza

that looks quite good and that quite incredibly handsome.

Incredibly handsome.

His mom is Molly Ringwalls.

Yeah.

He's an avid subway writer, never getting into a taxi that guy.

And he knows his neighbors.

I don't think that Calm Turner in this role

as Owen screamed New York, but I felt

that the writing was so invested in the city of New York

as a character.

Whether that succeeded, we can discuss.

But even the breakup scene is like,

like delivered through this vessel of like,

I live in a New York city building and I'm curious

about my neighbor and like I see him in the elevator.

You know what I mean?

Sure.

So it felt very present to me, but I'm also obsessed

with New York.

So I don't know if that's my personal bias.

I, I accept it.

I'm not sure I sat there thinking

this is the most American man that I've ever seen

in my life.

Well, I don't think I like Calm Turner.

I think of a script though.

Like also with the Red Lighthouse and stuff.

We have your written there.

No, I haven't.

That's because you're, yeah, that's because I live

in Los Angeles and I'm not, I'm not a true upper West Side

New Yorker like you.

The other thing I wanted to mention about Calm

Turner was the running because there is a tremendous amount

of running in this movie, which you know, it's structure.

It's clever.

It is right there in the title.

It's one night only.

It's not even a, it's not even a 24 hour movie.

It's maybe like an 18 hour movie.

Maybe 13 though.

I think it's us.

Yeah.

Like the time and geography constraints are not realistic,

but that's okay.

So it's a 13 hour movie and he's got to get a lot of places

and have a lot of adventures.

So he is running through the streets of New York.

And every time I, he ran, I thought to myself,

we got to work on this run if we want to lock down James Bond.

It was not a Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible level run.

The ergonomics are,

I was just gonna say,

he locks the swiftness that we are familiar with

from Tom Cruise.

It's not tucked in, you know, we haven't gone to a running coach yet.

And I got a little nervous for him in that moment.

How much of it is his neck?

He's got a thick neck.

He's got a real football player, type body.

Okay, but to me, it was more about the arms

and the arms were going out almost like chicken dance

as much as they were.

And so it was his forward motion.

Like I said, the ergonomics were not very efficient.

So he's almost putting his elbows in like a circle situation.

And he's not totally veering in a straight line.

He's not tucked in, you know,

he's not when the 100 meter dash.

No, he's a little all over the place.

And listen, I look like a total goofball when I run.

It's not a problem.

And also maybe the new James Bond is not gonna run, you know,

maybe, maybe he's not that kind of action start.

But I did have that moment sitting there

where I thought to myself,

this is not a James Bond run.

So he locks the aerodynamicness

that we're hoping to find in all of our James Bond.

Yeah, I think he can get there,

but I do think he would need to like shed some pounds,

not because I think he needs to lose weight,

but I do think he looks like he's running back

and we need him to be more of like a point guard.

Okay, thank you for those sports references.

On the flip side, he has one of the best,

we'll call it like the romcom reaction shot,

the appreciative, I think I'm falling in love

with this person close up during Monica Baboro's solo

of only you that I've ever seen.

He's really, really, really good at the smile.

And it just helps that he's dreamy,

but they nailed those closeups.

And that is a really under discussed part

of a romantic comedy that he has down.

That's a great point.

He's very good at smiling, like very, very good at it.

And it lights up his adorable little face.

He has, I mean, he is an interesting one

where the ears, which the script makes,

makes note of make him cute as well as incredibly

James Bond level handsome, which the movie knows.

Like the movie is using him.

The movie makes jokes about how handsome he is.

Like he is cast because of the way that he looks

and then isn't it funny that someone,

this handsome doesn't have a date for the one night of year

where you can have sex.

But I really, it really works.

And those emotional moments he can kind of play,

which I was surprised by.

I think there's something else about him

that's very non threatening, even though he's like so hot.

And whatnot, he doesn't feel like an imposing presence.

He doesn't feel toxic.

He, you know, there's like many hijinks throughout it

where like, you know, this one woman,

he meets her in the park and then she ends up

zip tying his hands to the tree and she steals all his stuff.

You kind of like feel bad for him

and never think that like he would be the aggressor

in that scene.

And there's something about him that I think

is also very true to particularly like Rob

comes of this century so far that felt like a familiar trope

that also really works.

Yeah.

He is also incredibly well matched with Monica

Babaro, who I just think is the most wonderful

bluff in the world.

She, she's got it.

Um, that haircut.

I need to know who did the hair of this movie.

I was, I was envious the entire time.

Her highlights looked incredible.

The cut was great.

It like framed her face and her shoulders so well.

Oh my God, I was just staring.

I loved it.

I mean, she's, she's very beautiful and very talented

and she can sing as we learned in a complete unknown.

She says she was, she just learned to sing for a complete

unknown.

She played Joan Baez.

She was nominated for an Oscar.

Thought she was wonderful in that.

And so they make use of her singing in a very funny way

in this and they make her just goofy enough

that again, to the calumterner point,

you don't feel threatened by her.

It was, it was very early Sandra Bullock vibes to me.

And it was, yes.

And this is a person who doesn't quite have it together

and clearly doesn't also, she also does not have a date

for her, you know, one night of passion a year.

But she's also not a total mess, right?

Right.

It's, and it's, it's a good mix because I do feel like

romantic comedies in the past decade or two have kind of swung

all the way from super aggressively together woman who can't

find love to total mess of a woman who can't find love.

And this to me was a happy-ish medium.

Yeah, I agree to you.

She's like a professional.

Yeah.

Who's trying to find her way.

Yes.

And she has friends and she has standards.

And their, their meat cute, which sets them on their path

is that he barfs on her feet.

And so, and she is just like, no, thank you.

I don't want anything to do with you.

So she has, she's not desperate.

It makes sense.

The standards and the, and the setup, at least as it speaks

to them, do work.

And I just like watching her.

I like her watching so much that I liked a climactic moment

of romantic comedy that involves someone giving a live musical performance.

I was wondering about that.

But for the she can sing, you know, and so much of, and I knew that already

because of a complete unknown and much of my live singing allergy

is the fear that someone's not going to land it, you know?

And then the fear that we're all sitting there together

in like a note gone wrong.

And it's just, it's too vulnerable for me.

But I knew she could do it.

And also she sings only you, the Yazoo song, which is just a banger.

Like great song.

Yeah, it's a really good song.

Also, I think the way they introduced the music up top as a joke is sort of,

makes it easier.

I would guess for someone like you, it doesn't like a musical number.

Yeah.

She has like a hang up on this guy who, what's his name?

Noah, his name in the movie.

Ezra, excuse me, similar names.

I thought the guy who played Ezra, whose name is Charlie Galaszi.

I've never seen him before.

I thought he was so funny.

He has like a performance that I found absolutely like mortifying.

But intentionally so.

The musicians.

Yeah.

Yes.

I absolutely loved that scene.

I was dying.

I thought it was hilarious.

And he's weird.

He's perfect casting because he's playing a musician that she's had a long time

crush on and she like almost gets her opportunity.

And the whole time you're sitting there, at this point, the sparks have flown between

Callum Turner and Monica Babaro between Owen and Ali in such a way that you're like,

no, no, no, no, no, just have sex.

So you can't cast another Callum Turner, ask person, right?

It's got to be the total opposite.

And someone who's willing to play into the comedy and he does a great job.

Yeah, he crushed that.

I was dying.

The cameos.

Yes.

Really good.

So many impressive.

I was really wondering about a lot of them because you knew about, you knew that the

people were in the movie and you didn't know how they were going to be used or you were

just like, oh, I was just kept being surprised to see people.

And I was like, oh, why are they here?

Oh, they wanted to do this.

Like, I was just really surprised.

Who were your top cameos?

And it's boiler.

We've spoiled a lot of this movie at this point.

And this is a podcast about a movie.

So yeah, hopefully you see it.

I mean, I think the best for my own personal kaleidoscope, the double cameo of SD,

Hi-M and Z way as bouncers at a club really got me.

I was like, SD is acting now too because a lot of him famously acting in PTA movies.

That was surprising to me.

And that was probably the biggest one.

I guess the one that was the most surprising to me actually, or I guess the biggest one

was probably Julia Fox because she had like an actual role in the movie.

Yes.

Playing the person who sets off Kalimtern's hunt for a condom.

So I guess those were the three where I was like, wow, okay.

And the Julia Fox one comes early enough and is intentional enough that it signals to

you like, okay, they're, they're being funny.

Like they've, they've thought about this and they've thought about who they can have

in here and they want you to chuckle and to kind of play along with the metanus of all

of it, which I think was a smart move.

Lovar Burton was probably my favorite.

Nice.

Yeah, he's great.

He also had an actual role in the movie.

Yes, exactly.

And you know, the Molly Ringwald and the throwbacks to all of the John Hughes comedies was great.

Who else?

King Princess, Nicholas Braun, who seems to show up in everything.

Nicholas Braun was another good one.

Yeah.

Well, it was, it was an eye roll one too.

But of course he's in this movie.

That makes sense.

But he took exactly the right part.

He was in it for just long enough.

And then also some of the other people that Ali talks to you at that party include one

of Ben Marshall, who's one of the please don't destroy.

Yes, young men.

And I was excited to recognize one of the please don't destroy.

Young men, myself on my own.

You watch it a lot of Saturday night live.

No, but I watched enough.

I was like, oh, okay, I'm not totally on the glacier yet.

I can still pick up these cameos.

So that was great.

A great use of stuff and a good range of ages and cultural references, which I appreciated.

Do you want to do New York City?

Do you want to talk about it?

Yeah, I mean, it's just very president in the movie.

I would love to know Travis Braun's connection to New York.

And what like where he lived, how long he lived there, clearly very deeply tied to the

city.

I was following the subway routes very closely, curious about going to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Though I did have like a really bad date during COVID in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which felt

right with what was going on with his bad date.

I don't remember this.

I hope it wasn't that bad.

I hope I think I probably didn't want to repeat it because it was so bad.

Okay.

But it was good humor, I suppose.

But the pizza set out the most to me is at the pizza place, Claremont pizza.

Yes.

The exterior shots that they show repeatedly in the movie are of the original famous

raised pizza.

Of course, that's the full title.

I don't claim for it to be the original.

I don't even know if it's famous, but it is famous to me.

It is on 82nd and Columbus.

And it was the site of my six birthday party.

So I have known it intimately for a long time.

I would love to know why they selected that pizza shop because I'm pretty sure they shot

in both of the movie, the interiors on the sound stage or sound stages.

But they clearly recreated it.

I went back to like confirm with pictures and everything.

It looks so much like it.

And I don't know why of all the, you know, what it claims to be original famous for

me is throughout New York.

This was the shop.

I don't know if it was like, you know, a location scout who was like, this would be a really

good exterior and like, we can easily rebuild it.

I don't even know why they had to rebuild it.

We can make it look like anything.

But that pizza place that's live in Brent free and many people's minds now.

I will say that the structure of that particular pizza place while maybe foundational to you

is not like original in the sense that I thought it was a pizza place that I went to

in Brooklyn Heights for a while.

Just I mean, the interior is their pizza ovens on one side and booze on the other.

You know, and this brick.

And so I see your point and I love the consistency.

Yeah, the detail of it.

I was just like, this is really close to the original.

Yeah.

I will also say that I thought the pizza looked great.

It did look good.

It looked really good.

Yeah, they spent and it was traditional New York style, but also slightly.

I mean, I guess it's like a famous raise or a Johns or that type of of a shop.

Yeah.

The fan taste pizza.

Do they, were they selling slices or just pizzas?

I was assuming they were selling slices too, which didn't see it.

Okay.

Do you think that that's core to me?

Yeah.

I think so.

Okay, you don't acknowledge.

Well, I'm just asking pizza places in general.

Okay.

Just a different experience.

I acknowledge both, but like for what Owen is doing, I think he's, he's giving you slices too.

Yeah.

The last hour of the movie, they traveled to 15 different places in order to try to

get a condom and be reunited.

And that is obviously not geographically possible.

That's sort of the collateral Michael man's Los Angeles, but moved to New York.

That's okay.

It's movie magic.

Yeah.

He was at a hundred and forty fifth street at his mom's house and then he was in Brooklyn

Bridge Park.

Those two are far apart.

The beat doesn't run at night or on the weekend's tough.

Yeah.

They also, so you have to assume that this is happening in the summer because of when

the sun is rising and setting, though the mandate and the one night only are not

tied to the sun.

They are tied to seven a.m. to seven p.m.

But I will say that the sun rose like very, very early on the June back to the soul

stiffs, which then at this point, why don't you just give people, you know, sundown to

well, you would want to give them even shorter.

Yeah, you would want to do December, I guess you'd want to do the shortest day of the

year and no one's thinking through this.

I like it when people shoot in daylight.

So it's fine that they chose this.

The finale, they're downtown and then they have to make it back to the George Washington

Bridge and to the little red light house.

Yes.

Still what you can do.

Yeah.

I guess so.

Yeah, because she lives in the East Village.

Okay.

I believe.

I think they even say that at some point in the movie and then yes, they have to make

it to like, you know, a hundred and eighty whatever street and the Hudson River.

So you got to get to cross town also like are the subways running all night?

Yes.

And they say it's like a daytime schedule, but all night.

Oh, I don't know, but they have the countdown clocks in the subway.

Yeah.

Where you're getting off, which I thought was clever and good storytelling, but they

didn't update the subway schedules.

Oh, tell us whether they update the subway schedules because there's no way from the

East Village if you got to get all the way over to a West Side Line and then up.

And then they have to get to this red light house, this little red light house, which

is a real place and which they filmed the finale.

I thought it was great.

Again, film in real places, we can tell.

Is it still have like 30 minutes left?

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.

Also, why would any production schedule that for that morning?

Like, why would you do that to people?

Like, work should be canceled.

If the government has said this is the one and 12 hour period per year, and what you

could have sex, like everyone should just be like, works canceled.

I do feel that like they did try to address this, like the babysitter issue and like,

you can make a lot of money in that one night.

Right.

They need to address child care.

They need to address getting rid of work.

Sure.

Well, there's just a lot of things that need to happen.

Married people are allowed to have sex.

Yeah.

So the married people take over the pizzeria.

And then they do say a couple times that there's a lot of filming on this day because there's

no paparazzi because I guess the paparazzi are unmarried and need to go have sex.

I agree with you that, and again, the production starts right at 7 a.m.

So these people weren't using the most of their 12 hours.

Maybe they're all married.

Yeah, there are a lot of holes in the mint.

Yeah.

What did you think of the final decision of the ending and they're getting together,

but not really getting together?

I liked it.

I was very distracted while watching Monica Barbarone, each new outfit she was wearing.

So at the end, she's wearing a new white outfit.

And I was just trying to like take it all in.

She looked great.

I love the slip dress at the beginning.

Can't believe we haven't discussed it yet.

I know you're interested in slip dresses right now.

Yeah.

She looked great at that brown one.

The ending was good.

I was glad I didn't end with a wedding in my other job talking about reality TV.

I'm always advocating for like no weddings lower the stakes.

So I was glad that I just like ended with sort of like the raised on

detre for the movie, which is sex.

So that was good.

Well, after a fake ending where they make it to the lighthouse and then they decide to not have sex.

And they make Monica Barbaro say the line, let

what if we didn't let the mandate win.

Which was tough.

That was a setting.

I agree with you.

That was tough.

And that was sort of leaning into what doesn't work about the movie at the crucial moment

when they could have just had sex and then had a nice life together.

And then our lesson could be that it is possible both to have sex and find someone that

you love and the two do not have to be truly exclusive.

Like the government in this movie has mandated to the American

government.

So I question that choice.

And at once again, this also sets up

as the way the film ends, which is the flash to one year later.

And the mandate has still not been repealed.

I don't know what everybody was doing in the year, but they were not resisting hard enough.

And they're at home and the timers go off.

And they very leisurely make their way into the bedroom.

I just don't understand the time management.

Why is there no primal instinct to just get in there right away?

Also, what happens if you go abroad?

Like, you know, if you go to a different country,

I do the sensors still work.

I do think that the broadcast

acknowledges that in other countries,

the governments have not given it, have not given this one night exception.

I think that there is, there are some troubles elsewhere.

It's a rising tide across the globe.

But I don't know about the technology.

We don't know who built the technology.

We don't know what tech company is monitoring this,

what kickbacks they've received.

None of that is explored.

I like the detail that you got to choose your shape.

Like, you could get to choose the shape of your biometric.

Okay.

It's like a tattoo.

Great.

And I was like, okay, so the government doesn't want you to have sex.

It's never on one night per year.

But they want you to have like some playfulness with your biometric tracker.

Okay, noted.

Okay.

Yeah, that,

the ending just called back my attention to the problems.

Okay.

I think.

But that doesn't, I was still smiling when they were together in the thing.

And then I, you know, there's a, there's a goofy dance number afterwards,

which I also, the goofiness was great.

I thought was very, very charming.

So again, this movie has all of the tropes

and essential elements of a rom-com nailed down,

except for the one.

But it's the big one.

Yeah.

It's, it's really,

it almost like felt like the jokes made it get lost in its own ideas.

Because the jokes are funny.

But the, like the romance is just not there.

The, the calm is, is effective.

Yeah.

But I'm looking for more, way more rom, obviously.

Yes.

That is it.

That's a great segue into the next part of this podcast,

which is building the 21st century romantic

comedy canon.

And

what actually meets our standards.

I don't know whether one night only is going to go into it.

I will.

I think it's not.

I think it probably won't, but that doesn't mean that we didn't have a good time.

I think it would be fun to, to go see it with friends.

Yeah.

A great.

And there is obviously a lot to argue about as we have, we have just argued.

So I don't think it's going to go in.

What is going to go in?

Well, let's set some ground rules.

The first one is that this is the 21st century romantic comedy canon.

So we are defining that as 2001 and to 2026.

That means that misconjeionality released in 2000 is not eligible.

I don't make the rules.

That is the definition of the 21st century.

I agree with you.

I was delighted that you were starting in 2001.

Thank like, thank you for being a purest.

You know, here we are now.

So it's like a neat 25 year.

Sure.

So, and it's been an interesting 25 years.

And I think this is going to be an interesting task for both of us because as you indicated,

we are the children of Nora Efron and Nancy Myers.

We were maybe not quite of age when Harry Metzali was released in 1989,

but we saw it many times.

And when Harry Metzali is kind of the, the start of the golden age of romantic

comedies in our lifetime, you know, there's the old Hollywood era.

And then there are many great ones released before.

But 1989 and when Harry Metzali sets forth a lot of big budgets, movie star led,

like high box office sensations of a romantic comedy.

So we are very, very attuned to the 90s versions.

And none of those are eligible.

No, which is probably for the best for this exercise, right?

Really makes us stretch and think about what should be in because those are also obvious.

Yes.

And and and in our definition, the 90s romcoms are the heyday.

So the films that we're working with from the last 25 years,

there are some that are like the kind of the last messages and the

the last grasp of that traditional studio romcom with those stars.

And then things get pretty dicey.

It's been a rough 25 years for our beloved genre because after that kind of last

gas really until about 2007, 2008, when you still have Renee Zawager and Sandra Bullock and

Jennifer Anderson Kate Hudson and Jennifer Lopez and we're sput and Catherine Higel,

who was kind of the the usher of the end of romance to comedies.

Yeah.

You know, and Matthew McConaughey and and Will Smith, we like we know all of these stars,

but they're pretty concentrated in the first seven or eight years of the century.

And then it just stops.

And it doesn't just stop.

There are a couple things that happen.

One, I think knocked up happens and kind of the brocom and the rise of Judd Apertau.

And who is the lead of a romantic comedy?

Because with the exception, really of a Will Smith or Hugh Grant,

it was usually women, usually white women, who were the the stars, which is not an endorsement.

That's just a observation of the trend.

Yeah.

And so knocked up switches it more to brocombs, which is it improves that that can be a success.

And that also that, you know, men can be in these.

And also what the balance of romance and comedy should be in these should change.

Now, like Adam Sandler has been doing this his entire career and his ratio is way more comedy

than romance and that works perfectly.

So I'm not saying that knocked up.

Introduce that, but it's kind of when things start to turn.

The other thing that starts happening is the ensemble calm.

Right.

He's just not that into you Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve.

Crazy, stupid love kind of fits in here.

Kind of.

Yeah, I think also those two polls like the brocom and the ensemble calm are interesting.

Because the brocombs, first of all, you mentioned Adam Sandler and Judd Appetite on the same breath.

Obviously, they came up together and that's sort of the subject of running people.

But I think that's like really noteworthy that like Adam Sandler was doing this for men largely,

but I really for everyone for a long time.

And I love the Sandman and his movies.

I think like Judd Appetite, I think sort of took a lot of the same DNA and like put it in a

package that felt more palatable maybe for a different like makeup of the audience,

but they are really tied together.

So that's an interesting point.

But I think the source of those movies, Adam Sandler movies and Judd Appetite movies,

like the jokes are bits.

They're not situational whereas a lot of romcoms like the humor is like tied to whatever is going on.

I think that's not true of what Harry Metzali like you think about the scene and the Met or

some of the other like just like epic Billy Crystal Lions in particular.

It's like him just like having bits or whatever, which is just such a testament to that movie.

That's very different from a lot of the other movies I think we're going to talk about.

And then with the on ensemble calms, those just aren't that funny.

They have like a lot of the sheen and the pacing and like the feeling of the romcoms

that we love, but I don't think of like he's just not that into you as a funny movie.

I think of it as a pretty sad movie.

I mean, it is.

And also like a sad reflection of a moment in our sociological culture where we were all just

told, yeah, you just got to you got to give up.

Move on.

But they all kind of happened together and they're all successful enough that more things come out.

Another interesting data point in that time is Bridesmaids, which is a huge hit.

And does have aromance?

Yes.

But is secondary to the female friendship and like female ensemble aspect of it?

And I think some people feel does it really even need the romcom element?

Can't it just be about Kristen Wigg and my Rudolph finding their way back to each other?

Right.

I don't even think of it as a romcom.

I just think of it as comedy.

But but that is also a movie that uses a lot of female movie stars.

And on the rise, female movie stars, which is kind of the

playbook for romantic comedies for a long time and makes a ton of money.

And so then everyone's trying to make the next Bridesmaids with their female movie stars,

which means that they're not really making romantic comedies.

Other things happen around this time, which is super heroes and really the Netflix.

And so the kind of the middle of the box office completely disappears.

At the same time, the industry is trying to make all movies super international.

And you know, comedies are not as translatable internationally as a giant superhero movie,

even though I kind of disagree with that.

But that's what studios think.

And it just it all kind of crashes.

And so there's a great Amy Nicholson piece that ran in 2014.

It's called The Death of the Romcom.

Which is reflecting what has already happened.

And she notes in it that in 2013, there was not one romantic comedy in the top 50 films,

not even in the top 100.

And it's not just that the romantic comedy is more performing at the box office,

that in 2013, the sole boy meets girl, matrimony comedy was unceremoniously dumped into theaters

by big indie Lionsgate and limped to number 101 on the chart.

And her premise, the premise of the piece, which investigates and talks to a lot of people,

it's really well reported.

I recommend that everyone read it.

It's the same.

It's a lot of different factors.

The audience is, it's the distribution systems.

It is like international box office.

It is competition.

It's that the budgets of the economics of movies,

right? And I think it identifies how do you know the James L. Brooks infamous 2010 romantic comedy

starring Reese Witherspoon, among others that just didn't work.

And it's not just, it doesn't work.

It's pretty pissed.

It doesn't work.

But you get enough of those and those become expensive enough as the economics of the movies

are changing as they always are.

And people just stop making them.

But 2013, 2014 is like a real stopping point.

And they just do not make studio movies anymore.

And so what we've gotten in the last 12 years, literally half of the eligibility time for this

list is very different.

And not as widely seen.

And sometimes follows the rules, but also is kind of trying to

to change up a formula that wasn't really working.

And so that's the interesting part of this is that we can talk about what our definition of

a romantic comedy is.

But I still do find myself gravitating towards the very classical definition.

And they don't really, that doesn't make sense anymore for people to make.

Like that's been done.

That's been done.

Sure.

To your point about one night only and like the Easter eggs, the only thing that is left to do

is make references to it.

So I may have to be more flexible about my definition in this exercise, but I'm not very good

at being flexible.

I think we've talked about this on Jam Session.

A lot of the best rom-com ideas are also just now on TV.

Yeah.

And I actually felt this way a little bit with one night only.

Like, would this have been a better idea as a TV show?

Because it clearly had so many ideas.

And the sort of like travel log piece of it, the obviously piece of it.

Like, is that better done over the course of like eight episodes than in 146?

Or an hour and 46 minutes.

And maybe it lets you experiment with tone a bit more and be a little bit looser

and just a bit more messed up in a way.

But I think this movie is really just trying to skate over all of the complications

that its premise presents because it wants you to have a fun time at the movies,

which it is until you remember that sex is legally planned by the federal government.

And everyone has sensors in their body.

I mean, don't have the movie.

It's very, you're right.

It's intermountable.

But the other thing that lacks is like actually good friends.

We did this exercise at Grantland like a while ago.

I'm sure it'll come up here.

A hallmark of all the best rom coms is like a really great friend

who is there to help like work out intermountalog stuff.

I mean, all the greats have that, right?

Like Carrie Fisher says, I hope that's famous for the Harry Mat Sally's.

She is for Princess Lay at least in my home.

And you know, that's really lacking in one night only too.

And I feel like it's hard.

It seems like it's hard to make space for that kind of thing in movies now.

Okay.

Let's enumerate our criteria for a romantic comedy.

I feel very strongly about my structural definition.

Okay.

And this may come back to bite me in the ass specifically

because some of my favorite movies don't meet it.

But and I guess it's a bad idea to be a very strict traditionalist in any forms

certainly in legislature, but also when making this canon.

But I guess I'm you need someplace to start from.

Okay.

And this is a made up list.

So my structural definition is that it's two people who are opposed at the beginning of a film.

And they wind up together at the very end.

Okay.

If they get together halfway through and then they have some like emotional setbacks

and they're not sure whether they can trust each other,

that's a different genre.

It doesn't mean it's bad.

It's just a different genre.

If someone dies, it's a different genre.

If someone is a dragon or whatever, that's a different genre.

I hear it's very popular.

This is going to be controversial, but I don't think that we have any animated

examples on our list.

So that one is not just a different genre.

That's just not an area where we are experts.

And so there's not a huge tradition of adult animated romantic comedies,

at least in a box office space.

And so we're not considering them for this.

And I'm sure people are going to yell, but I'm sure people are going to yell a lot.

Do you have anything else you want to add in terms of the structural definition?

Can I just throw a couple of things at you that I'm like wondering how you think of them?

Sure.

The breakup starring Vince Vaughan and Jindra.

Don't spoil it.

I put it on the long list.

We're going to talk about it.

Yeah.

I don't know who's going to be on it.

Okay.

Sorry.

Yes.

Let's do here.

When I am in control of the document,

everyone's comments and concerns are added to the document, including yours.

Okay.

I'm following your lead.

Carry on.

So that's the textbook structural definition.

Then obviously personal tastes and preferences are going to come into play here.

So here's something I feel very strongly about.

And you can push back,

but I think that this is an adult's only space.

I think that team.

It's porn.

I'm sorry.

Is it porn?

Well, not one night only because it's illegal.

They don't even touch porn.

There's like not even a reference that porn exists that I remember.

Maybe they do.

Maybe there's a past.

I don't think they do it.

Okay.

I'm not talking about masturbation either, but it is like,

the number one.

They don't talk about what happened throughout the world.

What happens if the condom breaks?

No conversation about that either.

Okay.

Anyway, it was too top of mind because

Calm Turner was practicing with a glove.

Sure.

That was funny.

It was a good physical comedy.

Okay.

So I just think teen movies are different.

Yes.

Yes.

Completely agree.

I think if you have to ask,

is this a teen movie or a romcom or is this a sports movie or a romcom?

It is not a romcom.

Exactly.

Is this an action movie or a romcom is a similar one?

There are many movies that have a romance,

but are they leading as a romantic comedy?

Is the question that we're trying to identify?

So for me,

I'm particular about the premise,

which is similar to what you're saying is the premise that needs to be,

it needs to be specific to the real world.

And also not confusing in terms of other genre designations.

Right.

Right.

So the premise can be a moral or a moral.

I'm thinking of while you were sleeping,

I'm thinking of you've got male.

Those are not eligible because they were released in the 90s,

but they're cortexed.

But for example, Kate and Leopold,

which is when it's Meg Ryan falls in love with

Hugh Jackman who came from the past.

Is that right?

Yeah.

A little jelly.

So that's a little too romanticy.

You know, that's a different.

And what we're dealing with in whether or not they can be together

is more about time and space and metaphysics

than it is about how people meet and interact in the real world.

Sure.

So like this also eliminates enchanted with Amy Adams and Patrick Debsy.

Yes.

And James Marsden.

Yes.

We don't have musicals on this.

I should I don't think we have many musical sequences.

But I think of enchanted as musical first.

It's your question of is it is it a romcom or is it a musical?

Sure.

Right.

There's just what there's one music motivated movie

that I can't wait to discuss.

I mean, it is also enchanted as Cinderella, more or less.

Isn't it?

Yeah, but like with some jokes about modern life.

Okay.

Amy Adams.

And it is a musical because working girl is also Cinderella.

But I do think that it is romantic comedy.

But it's the 80s.

So it doesn't matter for this.

So I agree with you.

You've added you've added really great friends.

Which I think is important.

That is it.

That's a key.

It's a huge one.

Yeah.

It's a really it's a really big one.

And I think that we will have that reinforce throughout this.

Right.

And then my last qualification is time and money spent.

If you have fake movie stars,

if you have people who can't hang,

if you've if you've miscast this,

it's we can tell.

Right.

If you're using a green screen of a famous bridge, we can tell.

And which has happened in many movies that we're going to discuss.

But not one night only.

I will say they use the real bridge and I give them credit for that.

But you know,

Nora Efron and Nancy Myers are very specific examples where they write their scripts

and direct most of their movies themselves.

And they are like complete.

They are tourists, right?

They are a specific world that these people imagine.

And not most romantic comedies and especially most studio romantic comedies

are not made that way.

The script and the director are often very different.

And so the expression,

the writing and the expression of the world

are slightly more divided than in Nora Efron and Nancy Myers.

It is really essential to the text no matter who's writing and directing.

And if you're doing a lazy version, it takes away from the movie.

It's evident. Yeah.

This episode is brought to you by Boris Head.

It may have been years ago, but I still remember the feeling of unpacking my

kids lunch boxes after school and find that nothing left.

As a parent, that's the total win.

Boris Head, Maple Honey Ham, American Cheese, Maple Honey Turkey,

all-time greats in the school lunch game.

It's real quality protein and tastes great.

So you can feel that winning feeling all-term long.

Whether you're doing wraps, sandwiches or a quick snack box,

Boris Head makes packing school lunches easier.

You'll be proud of what you pack.

They'll be happy to finish it.

Fuel their school day with the premium choice.

Boris Head for lunchtime inspiration, visit boarshead.com slash back to school

or head to your local Delhi counter.

This episode is brought to you by Netflix.

The MLB at Field of Dreams returns.

Bryce Harper in the Philadelphia Phillies

faced Byron Bucks in the Minnesota twins at the iconic Field of Dreams ballpark.

The field is calling.

Watch the MLB at Field of Dreams game live on Netflix Thursday August 13th at 7.30pm

Eastern 4.30pm Pacific.

This episode is brought to you by ADT.

One second, you're enjoying your day off.

The next, your phone buzzes.

A window's been broken at home.

Your miles away.

And one second, everything can change.

That's why ADT security systems can monitor your home 24-7.

They're backed by the most company operated monitoring centers in the industry.

So you're always supported during an emergency.

When every second counts, count on ADT.

Visit ADT.com to learn more.

Are do you feel good about this?

Do you feel good about our long list?

Is there anything?

Yeah!

I added all your suggestions.

Do you think we're clear anything else you want to say?

Well, I just want to say one other genre.

I feel like has permeated this century is the combination of sex and the city and girls.

And I think those have a lot of motivation or have a lot of similar motivation and interest

as romantic comedy.

But of course, their TV shows.

So it's a slightly different conversation.

But those are also ultimately about friends.

Yes.

The friends are the thing.

And I think that people who love romantic comedies, I think,

frequently also love those two television shows.

And I think they appeal the similar senses, but they're not in the conversation in the same way.

But I think it's worth mentioning them because they're so tied to this genre.

And it's an important point because sex and the city was turned into a movie and a sequel,

both of which would be eligible for this.

I don't have sex and the city too on the long list because it is not good.

And I don't have sex and the city, the film on the long list because I do think that it is a

different, first movie.

I think it's a different, different genre.

And there is even in that movie after the wedding's cancelled and they go to Mexico and then she

hires Jennifer Hudson and it's labels and love and whatever.

I've seen this movie like a thousand times.

I'm not above the movie.

It's a great movie.

But when she and big spoiler alert finally do get married, they're at the courthouse.

And then they have their nice moment.

But the real emotional moment of that movie is when he swings the door open at the courthouse

and her friends are there and they all just, you know,

squeal together and it's lovely and wonderful.

So I just want to acknowledge it's like friends of the pod, friends of the genre,

it's more friends of the genre.

It's like spiritually tied but ineligible for this exercise.

Yes.

Okay.

So here's what we'll do.

I'm just going to go through the long list.

There's some that we can just be like, no, we don't want to include this.

We can say, yes, this is essential.

This is a long list that you and I brainstorm together.

We will forget things once again.

This is our personal but also legally binding canon.

And we have explained our criteria.

They may be slightly different than yours.

That said, we've watched a lot of these.

So here we go.

Number one that I put on Bridget Jones diary, 2001,

adapted from the Helen Fielding novel, which was inspired by Pride and Prejudice.

Yes.

On a saleable yes.

What a wonderful movie.

Yes.

And yes, absolutely.

I mean, it fits everything that you've listed.

And it's also an incredibly wonderful, special movie and a great book.

Starsman A. Zellweger, who was nominated for Best Actress for this performance.

It's written by several people, but Richard Curtis,

wrote it and he created, he wrote for weddings and a funeral.

He created Love Actually, which I also don't think is eligible.

That's an ensemble, not a rom-com ensemble.

Many, many of those people don't find love at all, especially.

But it's a sad movie.

So it's a really sad movie about how our workplaces are not professional.

And you can't trust Alan Rickman, even if you want to.

So we are aware that he also made Notting Hill from 1999.

Yes.

So to be clear.

Right.

I mean, one of the probably still in my top three romantic comedies.

Oh, definitely.

It's so good.

I mean, it's so good.

Yeah.

I feel warm thinking about it.

Sure.

But that's 1999.

He also wrote the film yesterday.

You know about that one?

Of course.

Yeah.

Did you see it?

I love the music of The Beatles.

But what if someone else wrote it?

And no one or what is it?

What if no one else remembered the music of The Beatles?

Yeah, I think that's what it was.

I didn't see it.

No.

It's pretty outrageous.

Okay.

Pretzels and Mrs.

Friedja Jones Diary.

An absolute yes.

Yes.

Collins, Colin Firth's as Mr. Darcy's.

I like you just the way you are speech was a literal reading

at my wedding.

So we will move on.

Okay.

This is an interesting one legally blonde.

Also 2001.

Reese Witherspoon.

Luke Wilson.

Harvard.

Harvard law, I should say.

I'm going with no.

Say more.

Well, she is opposed with,

I would say Warren is that his name?

The man he wants she wants to marry.

That's his name isn't it?

Okay.

Yes.

They do not end up together at the end.

She does find her way to Luke Wilson.

They're never really opposed.

He's sort of more bemused by her.

That's true.

And it is as much about El finding herself.

Yes.

And it's about El finding herself.

And also like the affirmation of her lifestyle

and like caring about your hair matters.

Because a perm unlocks the case.

So I think this is much more about like,

you know, one woman's journey from

I accept.

Melissa To Informs.

And she happens to find love along the way.

And on the friend's point,

she makes a good friend along the way in Jennifer Coolidge.

But she's not sort of that like,

ride or die friend who helps like,

helps you understand the character.

She's another project.

She's another case.

Well, but then she does give the character a purpose.

Yes.

She gives the character, you know,

the character has not really been paying attention

to the people around her.

Except for sorority purposes.

Oh, I accept it.

I think you're right.

It's more about Reese Witherspoon as L Woods.

It's a great movie.

Yes.

It's really, and honestly,

one of our great courtroom dramas,

courtroom comedies.

How about that?

But the the perm seal, the perm reveal.

Oh, it's so good.

Okay.

It's a, I mean, Allie Landrie.

She's wonderful.

It's just, it's a great movie.

Victor Garber.

We love it.

But all right.

It's not a romp.

It's not going in the kitchen.

Okay.

The wedding planner, 2001.

Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey.

This is one of my favorite movies.

I like, as we talk about it,

I feel like we're talking about a cute boy.

I'm like, I love the movie the way I love a cute boy.

What speaks to you about it?

I put this on the long list

because I knew you felt this way.

And this is also Jennifer Lopez

was a sensation in this,

this era for her romantic parties.

Some of them with Ben Affleck,

which were not as successful

and the wedding planner,

which was pretty successful.

Yeah.

Yes.

And then I think the third

and that is made him in hadn't with

with Ray Fines, which

I think did make more

make a lot of money,

but leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's not good.

Okay.

The wedding planner.

This is my favorite Matthew McConaughey.

It is definitely pretty

hair transformation.

Okay.

He's wearing a great thin blue sweater

in it like that.

I just can think of

very fondly.

I think one thing that's great about this movie

is that Bridget Wilson is very,

very likeable.

So at no point are you rooting for

like this woman to like take down another woman

even though you might like

lean in that direction.

It's everyone in it is a joy.

It's a great Judy Greer.

She's like totally hysterical in it

and as the number two wedding planner

in this firm.

And it is just really charming.

Also, I think it's a great San Francisco movie.

And we have we talked about how like,

you know, the place really matters.

Yes.

They do San Francisco well.

They do wine country well.

It introduces Dr Alex Karev,

which is very important to culture.

It's a great and many reference for those of you.

He's the most.

Justin Chambers.

The scene with the peanut M&Ms

where they meet and you can tell that they're in love.

So Matthew McConaughey is someone who's getting married

and using Jennifer Lopez's wedding planner services.

But he doesn't know.

Yes.

When they have this park,

it's is the golden gate bridge in the

is that in the full house part?

It's in the park.

It's in the park.

Oh, that's a different park.

That's almost square.

I think this is in supposed to be in golden gate park.

So you can't see it.

No.

Okay.

Which is great.

So it's some money.

Okay.

I'm trying to pretend.

I guess so.

I mean, I would like to see it.

Does he have a bunch of voicemails for Isabel?

I started it.

Okay.

Well, yeah.

And that's the problem there.

That to me is, I guess it's not a romantic comedy

because it doesn't start with them being opposed.

It starts with a terminal illness,

which I was not expecting.

Anyway, they also use green screen golden gate bridge.

Okay.

Wedding planner is going in for you, Julia at Litman.

What are you saying?

We need, yes, we need a JLo and a McConaughey.

And I'd go ahead.

They end up together.

They, you know, and there's the trials and tribulations.

They do end up together.

Okay.

She's mad at him throughout the movie.

And he's sort of like,

rightfully so.

It's your point.

It's a moral.

But I don't know.

It's, it fits the bill.

I'm curious how many wedding related romantic comedies

we will end up with at the end.

Because this becomes out its own genre.

Okay.

Next, my big fat Greek wedding,

speaking of 2002.

This star is Neavardollas, John Corbett.

So this has to go in.

Because this was an absolute sensation.

This made $241 million domestic in the US.

It is like in one of my

most character was based on one of my high school teachers.

So it was like, Lube Lurch.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, it was huge.

I feel like Neavardollas became a household name.

Yes.

I, they're not opposed.

But they are not married at the beginning of this.

And it is about all of the things that are going to keep them

from getting married.

And can they make it getting married?

And spoiler alert, they do.

So I think structurally we're on safe ground here.

I agree with you.

And I think just like culturally significance.

An amount of money made, too.

It has to go in.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes.

Here's another one.

Okay.

2002, sweet home Alabama.

Reese Witherspoon is a fashion designer.

And she wants to marry Patrick Dempsey

because he's JFK Jr.

But with a different name.

And Candace Bergen is his mom.

And lucky to see.

Unfortunately, she has not finalized her divorce with Josh Lucas,

who is back home in Alabama.

And so they must all go home to finalize the divorce.

But then some, some feelings are revealed.

I've seen this movie a tremendous amount of times.

I don't think that that makes it good.

It did make $180 million, which is a lot of money.

This is Reese Witherspoon really ascending.

This movie is great.

I don't even know why you have any trepidation about

admitting to liking it.

Sweet home Alabama is one of the most charming movies.

I really have like ever seen it.

Also, a lot of people we love.

You didn't even mention that Ethan Embery is in this movie.

He's one of his great performances in this century.

Okay.

It also has a great Melanie Linsky as her best friend.

Right.

Who's still living back in former best friend, I guess.

She's still living in Alabama.

It's her amounts are really cheesy, like repeated motif about

lightning in a bottle.

We're able to get past that.

Now I was going to say the lightning in the bottle is one of the arguments for

putting them in the romantic comedy, the 21st century canon.

Because you need to have a couple of facts or scenes or setups in a romantic comedy

that you think of every single time you encounter them in the wild.

It's where I learned really about the mechanics of lightning in a bottle.

And so now anytime I think about lightning hitting Santa,

just lightning striking in general.

I'm like, oh, I wonder whether it will make a sculpture that Josh Lucas can dig up from the sand.

And then the other one is shutting down Tiffany's in order to propose,

which Patrick Dempsey's character does at the beginning of the film.

And I don't know that many people who have done it,

but anytime it comes up, I don't know anyone who's done it.

I don't know why I said that many people.

I was going to be like, wow, I think it also does something that we like, which is like it has

these small easter eggs. The Tiffany's thing makes me think of the scene in

Slepless in Seattle when they go to Tiffany's and like,

eight is too few, tennis, 12 is too many.

You know, Tiffany's is part of the romcom, like the building or romcom, it's part of it.

So it does that well.

Okay.

It picks and chooses other small things.

It's a great movie.

It also has reenactors in it.

How many great romcoms have civil war reenactors in it?

Well, I don't know whether they're reenacting the version of history that we would like to see

on whatever I can go in.

How to lose a guy in 10 days, 2003, like the biggest,

we don't, there's no limit here on the number that we can put in.

That's what differs, differentiates this from a Hall of Fame.

But if we only had five spots, even, I think that how to lose a guy in 10 days would go on there.

I think it's iconic and canonical.

Yes.

That said, I don't like it that much.

I don't like the Kate Hudson performance of her, you know, like, it's not really her fault.

But first of all, this is, you know, kind of shortly after she really blows up with almost

famous and a few years later. And so she's sort of like riding this new wave of fame,

even though she's obviously famous as Goldie Hans-Dauder among other things.

And it's sort of like a pathetic performance, the character sort of pathetic of like the things

that she does to prove her point. And it's one of these movies that I think is like kind of

gross for women, even though it's like a movie for women. And so I just don't really like it very

much.

It is very retrograde when you watch it back and also you think about how old you and I were

when we first saw this. And it does those so many, it's set to president for so many

romantic comedies. She is a writer at a women's magazine. And you know, you have

Judy Greer as the best friend once again. And you've got like the yellow dress that becomes

like the Halloween costume and the reference point. And the nix game, there are a lot of memes

and things within it that are incredibly sticky if they even, even if they make you feel bad.

Which and then where does she go? She writes the column at the end and then they're on the side

of a real bridge. Maybe this should be the only litmus to have a real bridge or a fake bridge.

If there's a real bridge, you can be in the canon. If it's fake, you're out. Anyway, they reunite

on the side. I believe the Brooklyn Bridge could be Manhattan. And they fall in love.

I think it's got to go in. This is. It's got to go in. Yeah.

I agree. I agree. I ask for more from the men in your life.

Something's got to give to also 2003 written and directed by Nancy Myers.

I mean, one of the greatest movies of our lifetime. It was on our 25 for 25 list.

So it's great. Yes. I made a lot of money. $124 million domestic. Also, you know, is about

someone over the age of 40. So that's very exciting and pretty rare on this list. Great writing.

I think the most influential of her production designs and clearly inspired coastal grandma

among other TikTok trends. Of course. Yeah.

You know, and Jack Nicholson, and anytime someone is not picking Kiana Reeves is a level of

Brahms, Kahn, Wizardry. It's really hard to put everyone in a situation where the audience is

not rooting for Kiana Reeves, who's a doctor in the Hamptons. I know. But they figured it out.

Nice one. Okay. Really, really, really good. Okay. That one's going under the Tuscan Sun.

This one is a little bit closer to the legally blonde. I agree with you. I think that it's not

going in. I mean, it is culturally influential. And under the Tuscan Sun is a shorthand for a

woman finding her own and also and through some home renovation, usually in pasta. Right.

And so there is a romance. And there's also heartbreak at the beginning and the middle of the movie.

But I agree. A great movie. A great reference. A great framework for life.

Once you can get past the cheating on the divorce, not in the canon.

We've covered several movies now that include actors from Grayson Adamine. There's more to come.

I just want to say this is probably why I love Grayson Adamine so much. Okay. Yeah.

Tied to the genre. 13 going on 30 2004. Speak on it.

As a teen movie. This is a teen pretending to be an adult. This is big for 2.0.

It's a fun movie. It's got the Michael Jackson thriller dance number. There's a sequel coming.

But this is not a rom-com. It has a romance. But again, this is about a woman like or a young girl

finding her way. I think that's right. I think we're going to get a lot of blowback for that.

And we obviously you and I are very pro Jennifer Garner. It's an understatement. Yeah.

But I like rock ruffalo as well. Sure. And you're great. I mean, it's a great movie. Yeah.

But it's not a rom-com. Uh-oh. Okay. I agree. I agree. Hitch 2005.

Don't call it classic rom-com. Absolutely. Yes. It's so so good. I think it's my favorite

well-smith movie. He's so funny in it. His physical comedy is really good.

It's definitely like when I think of even Mendes movies. I think of Hitch. I feel like this is

like just a cultural touchstone recently covered on the rewatchables. Yes. Great, great movie.

And also one thing it does really well, which not some movies attempt, is it basically is two

romances that they're trying to land at the same time. And it's successful. Both are sort of

unexpected. Obviously, the even Mendes will Smith one is the main one. But Amber Valeda and Kevin

James is great too. And like the other dancing scene I just think of and smile is a great movie.

Does the fact that it's two couples? So that's just qualify it or does it just make it double

rom-com? I'm being devil's advocate here. Sure. I think I can easily point to one Harry Metzali,

which is also two couples. Sure. And you got to disqualify that. That's no problem. Okay. That's

great. It does also made $179 million domestically, which is a lot of money. It's so good. Yeah.

It is just in good classic timeless movie. Also, it's, you know, spawned many memes. Again,

it's influential. Okay. Yes. Going in. This is an interesting one. And also related to the question

I just asked you, wedding crashers, 2005. I think this stretches the limits, but it's a yes for me.

I think it also stretches the limits and is a hugely influential movie. And

and also incredibly successful made $209 million. But there is it's about friendship too.

You know, yes, it is absolutely. And it is about the cast of characters and they're not really

opposed at any point. Rachel McAdams is engaged. Sure. And Oh, and Wilson is just like has

lied his way into the family vacation. Right. So they're sort of sort of opposed, but they