Welcome back, podcast fans, to Mom Can't Cook! This week we're recapping 2006's Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, a film that attempts to be a martial arts movie, a high school drama, a wacky fish out of water comedy and a thoughtful examination of the pressures affecting first and second generation immigrants. Does it succeed? Kind of! DCOM royalty Brenda Song plays Wendy Wu, a feisty teen whose only goal in life is to be crowned homecoming queen at the prom, a plan that is thrown into jeopardy whe...
Jan 22, 2024•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 39
Happy Holidays, Mom Can't Cook listeners! We got you this episode, about a film in which Melissa Joan Hart falls in love with a sexual nutcracker. MJH plays Kate Holiday, an overworked baker who has to make 15,000 cookies for the army for some reason. But when she receives a magic nutcracker that turns into a man for some reason, it rekindles her love for Christmas for some reason. Enjoy, and we'll see you again on January the 22nd, or earlier if you head to our Patreon at Patreon.com/extrahelpi...
Dec 25, 2023•2 hr 34 min•Ep. 38
It's the holiday season folks, so this week we're cracking into a seasonal DCOM: the impossibly festive sounding The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000). The movie tells the story of Allie and Sam, two teenage girls who steal Santa's weather machine, which you'll notice, isn't a thing Santa is known for having. If he were known for having a weather machine, said machine probably wouldn't have an earthquake button either, but while we're here imagining things, we may as imagine a better movie. If y...
Dec 11, 2023•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 37
Continuing the grand DCOM tradition of trying to get you to care about niche sports, this week's episode is about Right on Track (2003), which takes us deep into the highly competitive world of *checks notes* junior drag racing. Here we meet Erica Enders and her sister Courtney, junior dragster prodigies who struggle to be taken seriously because of a) the sexist attitudes of those in charge of this male dominated sport, and b) the fact that the sport itself is driving really fast in a straight ...
Nov 27, 2023•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 36
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a Disney ride in which you get in an elevator that flings you up and down for about a minute. As you can probably tell from that description, it's rich with narrative potential, which is why we have 1997's Tower of Terror movie starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst, the movie we're talking about today. Guttenberg plays the improbably named Buzzy Crocker, a fraudulent journalist who is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime: head to the derelict Ho...
Nov 13, 2023•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 35
If you didn't watch 1999's Don't Look Under the Bed when it first came out, then let us introduce you to that rarest of things: a good DCOM! If you did watch it when it first came out then you won't need reminding, as this film is absolutely terrifying and you've doubtless seen it every time you close your eyes for the last 24 years. The film tells the story of Frances Bacon McCausland, a gifted teen who starts to be blamed for mysterious, mischievous happenings all over town. At first she suspe...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 34
Ah, October. Jack-o'-lanterns on every stoop, crisp leaves upon the ground, and a new Halloweentown movie to stare at in baffled wonder as Marnie condescends to every single person she meets and then goes time travelling. Yes friends, it's time for Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001), a sequel which picks up where the first movie left off, but introduces a new threat to peace in both the creature and the human realms: some guy in a turtleneck. Will Marnie and her grandmother be able to st...
Oct 16, 2023•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 33
17 year old Pete Riley thinks he has it pretty tough. He's the assistant manager of a huge cinema, there's a big Hollywood premiere happening tonight, and he's friends with like, 37 named characters that this film expects us to keep track of. An impossible task for a movie audience, let alone one stressed boy. But buckle up folks, because Pete's evening is about to get a whole lot weirder as a mysterious phantom starts stalking his megaplex, messing with the screenings, terrorising the customers...
Oct 02, 2023•2 hr 14 min•Ep. 32
Do you ever wish horses could speak to you? Perhaps in the voice of outrageous funnyman Sinbad? Then what you need, friend, is la confianza de caballos, otherwise known as the confidence of horses. When 14 year old wannabe jockey Corrie gains this incredible gift, as well as her own racehorse, the self-doubting stallion Thunderjam, her whole world is turned upside down. But will Corrie and Thunderjam be able to weather the storms of a disapproving mother, an evil rival horse owner, and a literal...
Sep 18, 2023•2 hr•Ep. 31
This week on Mom Can't Cook, Luke and Andy delve into a most perplexing mystery: just what the hell is going on in the 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie Get a Clue. The film stars Lindsay Lohan as Lexy Gold, an aspiring journalist whose scoop on a secret relationship between her teachers kicks off a twisty, intriguing mystery that lasts a good 45 minutes before it completely falls apart into Scooby Doo-style farce. Which honestly, is pretty good going! You'll get it next time, Disney Channel. I...
Sep 04, 2023•2 hr 14 min•Ep. 30
When we last saw Zenon Kar, star of Disney Channel Original Movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, she'd become a hero after saving her space station from a baffling plot that was something to do with insurance fraud, I think. But now Zenon is back for Zenon: The Zequel (2001), and facing a new threat to her home, as well as the possibility of alien life who are really into rockstar Proto Zoa. Will Zenon save her home, again? What do the aliens want with the lead singer of Microbe? And why do th...
Aug 21, 2023•2 hr 17 min•Ep. 29
Ten hut, maggots, this week Mom Can't Cook! is off to military academy, with all the discipline, uniformity and wild, flamboyant gun twirling that that entails. That's because we're talking about Cadet Kelly (2002), a film in which feisty, artistic teen Kelly Collins (Hillary Duff) is forced to attend military school after her new stepdad is made Commandant. Along the way she'll face tough commanding officers, struggle to maintain her individuality, and for some reason, become extremely good at ...
Aug 07, 2023•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 28
Peel your ears and get hip to this, daddy-os, Mom Can't Cook! is making the scene with a flick that is as confusingly 1950s as this sentence. That's right, it's Alley Cats Strike, a film about an unpleasant group of 1950s obsessed, bowling-loving outcasts who are suddenly thrust into the limelight when they find themselves as the town's last hope to win a prestigious, apple-themed sporting tournament. Can they act non 1950s long enough to carry the town to glory? Will a normal person be able to ...
Jul 24, 2023•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 27
What if a huge pop star accidentally swapped phones with a teenage fan? Seems like the sort of thing his PA would fix in about 15 minutes, right? Well not in Stuck in the Suburbs (2004), because you wouldn't believe how long it takes to sort out or how many low speed bicycle chases are involved. The phone in question belongs to pop sensation Jordan Cahill, and ends up in the possession of Brittany Aarons, a Jordan superfan and aspiring musician who is thrilled to have a connection to her favouri...
Jul 10, 2023•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 26
Buckle up, DCOM fans, because this week we present a crossover event easily as momentous as Avengers Endgame: all three Lawrence brothers in a single movie! That movie is Jumping Ship, a canonical sequel to Horse Sense, which you'll remember was a story about a spoiled rich kid learning about honest down home folks who keep it real by owning horses and operating enormous ranches. What might surprise you is that this film contains almost no horses, and is instead a story about ancient temples and...
Jun 26, 2023•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 25
Introducing Mom Can't Cook! Extra Helpings , a fortnightly series of bonus episodes of Mom Can't Cook! A DCOM Podcast , exclusively for members. Go to Patreon.com/extrahelpings to sign up! Luke and Andy are here to tell you all about it, and play you the first 10 minutes of the debut Extra Helpings episode. When you join you'll get access to the Extra Helpings podcast feed in your app of choice, and be swept away on an audio tide of hilarity, as Andy and Luke recap episodes of ' So Weird ', the ...
Jun 19, 2023•17 min
It can be challenging when parents decide to remarry, and if your Dad is a sentient bubble of pink gas in political exile (?!) from the planet Zircalon, well it probably doesn't help matters. Welcome to Stepsister From Planet Weird (2000), in which Andy and Luke find themselves at the base of podcasting Everest -- tasked with recapping what is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most bizarre DCOM they've faced to date. Expect unhinged aliens, extreme sports and a narrative structure that would make...
Jun 12, 2023•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 24
Guarding the life of the US President's son might not sound like a premise rife with comic potential, but the makers of First Kid (1996) didn't let that hold them back. In this Walt Disney Pictures movie that is DCOM-adjacent, Agent Sam Simms (played by comedian Sinbad) is tasked with protecting rebellious teen and heir to the Presidential throne Luke Davenport (Brock Pierce). If Simms can keep him off the Snake Internet, that is. Listen now for Andy and Luke's recap of First Kid, plus 90s VR, c...
May 28, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 23
Did you ever watch the Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie reality show The Simple Life? The makers of this week's DCOM Cow Belles certainly did! The movie tells the story of Taylor and Courtney Callum, two spoiled, rich sisters whose thoughtless attitudes and profligate spending earn them a punishment shift working in their father's inexplicably lucrative dairy. But when embezzlement leaves the business in dire financial straits, and with their father in Ecuador for some reason, can the Callum girls...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 22
What a treat we have in store this week, DCOM fans, because we're talking about Hounded, the Disney Channel Original Movie with the most violent dog attacks per minute of screen time. It's not even close. The movie tells the story of Jay Martin, a bright student who is trying to win a scholarship to a prestigious school. However, through a series of wacky mishaps, Jay accidentally ends up kidnapping his principal's tiny, violent, bloodthirsty dog instead, and now you can forget about all that pr...
May 01, 2023•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 21
A magic coin that grants one wish passes into your possession. Would you wish for world peace? Life-changing wealth? How about deleting your annoying kid brother from existence? That's the questionable wish made by big bro Alex (A.J. Trauth) in this episode's DCOM, You Wish! (2003) But don't worry, his wish doesn't erase kid brother Stevie (Spencer Breslin) entirely, it just turns Stevie into a TV megastar, for some reason. Listen to Luke and Andy try and grapple with this most bizarre of DCOMs,...
Apr 17, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 20
Do you like dolphins? Do you like extremely predictable romantic drama? Do you like heavy handed religious metaphors? If any of these things sound like your idea of a good time then you're either Luke Westaway, or someone else who is going to enjoy the film we're talking about this week, A Ring of Endless Light. The movie tells the story of Vicky Austin, an aspiring poet who spends the summer on Seven Bay Island, an island on the Atlantic coast of the US that is just lousy with dolphins, evil fi...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 19
Imagine being an only child when suddenly, your parents have quints, and your previously peaceful home life is shattered by five wild and wacky babies! That certainly sounds like a premise rich in comic potential, doesn't it? Well too bad, this is a DCOM, so instead we get Quints (2000), a movie that barely features the quints of the title, but instead focuses on their older sister Jamie Grover (Kimberly J. Brown), who is neither wacky, nor a baby. How will Jamie cope with no longer being the ce...
Mar 20, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 18
It's not clear at which point Kyle Johnson, protagonist of The Luck of the Irish (2001), is killed and the rest of the film is just the product of his neurons firing one last time, but it must be pretty early on because this is probably the most unhinged DCOM Andy and Luke have tackled so far. The movie tells the age-old story of a basketball-loving boy who discovers he hails from a family of leprechauns and - uh oh - begins transforming into a leprechaun when his lucky coin is stolen. Andy and ...
Mar 05, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 17
You probably felt pretty smart the day you sent your clone to school in your place, leaving you free to play Dreamcast and eat microwave popcorn at home all day. But oh no! The clone is effortlessly better than you in every way. That's the nightmare scenario facing Will Browning (Andrew Lawrence) in this week's DCOM, The Other Me (2000). Andy and Luke discuss the film, as well as the best ways to remain un-strangled by your clone, and the folly of disguising your groundbreaking scientific endeav...
Feb 20, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 16
Do you love The Incredibles and Encanto, but wish they'd been made for a budget of about $300? Weird thing to wish for, but turns out you're in luck! This week, Andy and Luke are discussing the DCOM Up, Up and Away (2000) in which young Scott Marshall, son of superhero couple Bronze Eagle and Warrior Woman, anxiously awaits his fourteenth birthday, and the arrival of his longed for superpowers. But will Scott get powers at all? Does the environmental software company Earth Protectors have a sini...
Feb 06, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 15
Happy Monday, podcast fans! We're back and trying to answer one of the most contemplated questions of modern times: can a genius ever be cool? Charlie Boyle, the physics prodigy protagonist of 1999 DCOM Genius certainly gives it a good go, by adopting the bad boy persona of Chaz Anthony so that he can be the big man on campus at a local high school, while simultaneously trying to discover the graviton particle at the nearby university. But how long can Charlie keep this ruse afloat? Could he use...
Jan 23, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 14
Hey everyone, it's Brink! It's Brink week! This week we're talking about Brink! Brink is a 1998 DCOM about aggressive inline rollerblading and we love it, for more reasons than we have space to go into here, but that's what the podcast is for! So, listen as we discuss the financial realities of Soul Skating, Team X-Bladz's exploitative employment practices, Brink being contractually obligated to respect his enemy Val in public, and more! If you've watched Brink! and have your own thoughts, email...
Jan 09, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 13
Did you think the main character in The Santa Clause was an idiot because he didn't use Santa's powers exclusively for crime? Someone at the Disney Channel in 2001 certainly did, which is how we ended up with the DCOM Andy and Luke are talking about this week, 'Twas the Night. Somehow starring Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, 'Twas the Night tells the story of scam artist Nick Wrigley who ends up in charge of Santa's sleigh and goes on a breathtaking crime spree across town with his nephew Dann...
Dec 19, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 12
Hey, Shakespeare scholars: turns out Disney fixed Twelfth Night twenty one years ago, and all it took was adding motocross bikes. This week, Luke and Andy are talking about Motocrossed (2001), a Disney Channel Original Movie in which cheerleading champ Andi Carson takes the place of her injured motocross rider brother Andy Carson to keep their family's motocross team alive. Can Andi handle racing at the highest level? Can she get over her crush on rival racer Dean Talon? Can Andi's dad just eff ...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 11
