Easy A with Isa Mazzei - podcast episode cover

Easy A with Isa Mazzei

Nov 07, 20191 hr 17 min
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Episode description

Caitlin, Jamie, and special guest Isa Mazzei attach the letter A to their clothes while they discuss Easy A and their A's stand for AWESOME.

(This episode contains spoilers)

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Transcript

Speaker 1

On the Beck dol Cast, the questions asked if movies have women in them? Are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands? Do they have individualism? The patriarchy? Zef in best start changing it with the beck Del Cast. Hello, and welcome to the beck Del Cast. My name is Jamie Loftus, my name is Caitlin Toronte, and this is our podcast where we look at how women are portrayed

in movies. Wow. I was trying to think of a fun intro for today, and then all three of us realized that none of us had actually read The Scarlet Letter, and so it was impossible to reference it because we never read the book, nor had I seen the Demi Moore version of it. Nor have I Yeah, I kind of want to now based on the description that she's like naked in the bathtub and doing a fake British accent. I do love a bad accent in a movie. It

doesn't take me out of it at all. He pulls me closer, It gets me right where they want me, and that pass the Bechdel test it which is if you're not familiar. The media metric that we use as a jumping off point, also called the Bechdel Wallace test, and it requires that two female identifying characters speak to each other in the movie that they're in. They should have names, and they should not talk about a man. Yeah, for at least two lines, which most movies, uh don't.

It's a lot of them just really don't. They don't even try. We've got I'm excited to talk about the movie today because we've got like a fun mixed bag of of a movie. It's two thousand ten written all over it. It's really having it both ways this movie. Um, but I'm really excited. It's been like a long time request. We've been getting this request for years, ignoring it for some reason. And then our wonderful guest was like, how have you not done this movie? We're like, I don't.

I don't know why. This was a hill we chose to die on for so long. The Lovely movie. It's it's fun, it's fun, the teaches in it, the two She's firing on all cylinders. I can't wait to talk about the tooch. Penn, how do you say his name? Penn Badgley? I don't know Bedley, I don't know. He's in that very scary show that I watched all of even though it makes me feel horrible. Which one he

plays a stalker? You, Yeah, it's every It's so it's I think that that show is like so every like over the top problematic stalker trope that I don't even feel anything watching it. Like it's just so it's all of them at once. It's crazy. Probably won't watch it, Yeah, probably don't. Um. We teased our guests, but then we didn't actually introduce her, so let's do that now. She is a screenwriter, producer. She's the writer of the film cam on Netflix. She's the author of the upcoming memoir

cam Girl, coming out on November twelve. It's mataiea. Hi, Hi guys, welcome, Thank you so much for having me where cam Heads. We're so excited you're here and we're talking about easy a Yes, two thousand ten teen comedy is then we were short in this. Yeah, Emma Stone's first starring vehicle. Remember the World before Emma Stone, I barely do. And it's also Amanda Bindes is last. Yeah, and Lane is in it for a second. Yeah, she is from Lizzie McGuire. Yeah, Miranda, she shows up for

one line. Yeah, she doesn't even have a name in the movie, like her credit is just girl on the Street or something. Yeah that I forgot about that, but it's every like I checked Lilane's I am dB. Maybe we'll say once a year. It occurs to me to just check in and I always see that credit. I'm like, I have what was that? And now I know? Very good. She shines Lisa Coudras in this movie. Yes she is, and I think a role that we'll get to. But it reminded me a lot of the Jessica Williams role

in books. Aren't oh sure the way that it plays out and how much I didn't care for it. But Amanda Binds is basically playing the same character that Mandy Moore does. Yeah, yeah, which is I love Amanda Binds to the end of year, but the Mandy Moore character is way better. Sure, I need to rewatch Saved, but saved it a long time. That would be an interesting one. We've gotten requests, man, We've just we've ever well, the

thing is we just stop ignoring people. It's not that we're annoying people, is that we've gotten requests for probably every movie ever made. We've gotten thousands upon thousands of requests were so cool and popular. Made a short film fifteen years ago, and while it doesn't have much of a cult following, I think there's a lot to discuss. You're like, well, we'll get there. This podcast is going to go on for five years and we'll get there. Uh, Sosa,

what's your history relationship with the movie? Easy? Um, it's hard to say. You know, I don't like remember the first time I saw it. Um. I know we had it on DVD, and I remember it was a movie that like my sister and I watched over and over and over and over again. Um, both because we liked it, but also because it was like one of the last DVDs that we bought that we had, you know that, Like it was right at the kind of the end

of like buying dv shots. And I just I remembered really really relating to Emma Stone in it like a lot. So yeah, So that's kind of like been my relationship with it. It's been a movie that I've revisited a lot. I would say, since it came out, Jamie, what about you. I remember seeing this movie in theaters. It came out when I was like like my senior year in high school. Um, and so I went to see it with all my friends and we were, I don't know, like we loved it.

We were really hyped on Emma Stone, and I think in some ways like it. It felt like pretty different to most of the team comedies that you see. And yeah, I don't know, I really liked it. I've seen it maybe four or five times before this, but never was thinking about it as hard as I was this past time. And I think that this is like one of my favorite Stanley Tucci roles, Oh my goodness, and Patricia Clark said, is great. That's the mother right, Yeah, she's so good. Yeah,

I and I forgot Ali. This is really the most two thousand ten movie of all time. Ali Michalka of Ali and the dental break up song. Okay, wait to church Church something like that. It's really good. Do they just released a song that I heard and I had no idea with them and it's actually incredible. That's awesome.

Wait what character does she plays? She plays Rhiannon. Oh yeah, yeah, goodness. Yeah, so it is the most two thousand time movie of all time and uh for that, I have no choice, but too, I mean class at two dozen tend gettle of it. My goodness, what's your history? I saw it. It came out when I was I guess, like probably twenty four, and I wasn't necessarily like the target demo, having aged out of being a teenager brag, But um,

I liked it. I remember thinking like, the jokes were pretty funny, the dialogue was like quippy, and I enjoyed it. But I think I only had seen it that one time, and then revisiting it this time, I was like, oh, okay, you you tried to do something and then you only got part of the way there, and then he made a bunch of missteps movie. So I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah, yeah, I'm psycked. Um should I just dive into the recap? Yeah? Okay and easy. You can

inter at the recap whenever you want. It's the best part, every word. I have a lot to say. So the story is told partly via Army Characters video blog or vlog is the kids are calling it these days. I love how prototypical it is in this movie, where there she's like, you have to go to free alive dot com. There's a live stream happening there. It won't be saved six pm sharp. It was so it was great. And what she's doing in this vlog is recounting the events

of the movie. So we meet all of Pendergast. That's m A. Stone's character. She starts out, your average invisible teen girl about to graduate from high school in she's not like the other girls. She's not like the girls. Um yeah, and OHI, yes, California. Ever heard of it? Um? Probably not. That's a weird place I've never been. If you don't feel like my writing partners from OHI, and it's like very like mine and and all you OHI heads dive into my mentions if I'm getting is completely wrong.

But there's a huge class disparity where it's like the surfer class and then just insanely wealthy people. Just so that there's and there's a lot of camps there. Oh sure. It's like on the edge of like a huge national park, I think park. It's a weird, fun place. My writing partner's dad is in a surf cult in OHI. Oh that's the guy who's in a surf called the Barbecue Surfers. Yeah, I remember this from our point breakup star. Oh yeah, Okay,

I'll shut up about the barbecue surfers. We've rehashed this before. That was quite all right. So they're in Ohai, California, and Olive, yeah, she's, you know, not like the other girl. She's invisible, and to avoid going camping with her best friend Rhiannon and her weird family, she lies and says that she has a date that weekend with this guy named George, who we know she just made up um and Rhannon becomes convinced that all of lost her for ginity with this guy, but she instead she was doing

that really funny Natasha Beddingfield. But I've got a pucket full of sensions. I still love at it playing it from a greeting cars, so funny, great montage. Emma Stone is really good. I like, I fluctuate on her so much, but she's amazing in this movie I tend to agree with. And so Rhannon thinks this about Alive and for some reason, all of for reasons that she says she doesn't even understand. She's like, yes, that did happen. I did have sex with him, which is overheard in the bathroom by Mary

Ann Bryant. That's the Amanda Bind's character she's like the like holier than now religious extremists, like goody two shoes type. She's very like oppressively religious stereotype. And she starts spreading rumors all over school about all of having sex. And then suddenly everyone is paying attention to Olive because they think that she has sex, and she tries to tell Marian that she was just lying about having done that,

but it doesn't work. But also, like Olive admits that she's like kind of enjoying the attention she's getting for the first time because before this she was invisible. And then during an English class discussion about the Scarlet Letter, Marian Thomas Hayden Church cool guy teacher. Yeah, the adults in this movie are maybe too cool, but we can talk about that later. Yeah, unrealistic adult portrayal, because as

an adult right now, I am extremely uncool. I've never I Also, there were a few times, I mean, and it's like a teen movie, so it's like who cares, But there were a few times where Thomas Hayden Church was doing something dorky that was being very well received in class, Like you would have been annihilate at Brockton High School, Sir. He was like, let me wrap about Jess kids and guys, I'm like, you would have been on the floor, have been just People won't stand for that.

Teens will not stand for teachers wrapping. They won't um. So then in during class, Marian's friend calls all of a skank, and all of response by calling her a twat, and it gets her sent to the principal's office. And then she gets detention with this kid, Brandon, who is being bullied for being gay, and then they talk about the idea of like standing out and blending in, and based on an idea that all of gives him, Brandon decides to pretend to be straight at least until like

they all graduate and leave this town. And he convinces her to help him make people think that the two of them have sex, and she's like, okay, fine, there's a party tomorrow night. Let's go and pretend to have sex at this party. And then like everyone will overhear and they'll think you're a stud, and they do just that.

Another funny scene jumping on the bed and screaming. Right, the premises flawed, but the scene in the payoff is funny, And then afterwards everyone does think that Brandon is a stud. But then they're looking at Olive and they're like except for Todd the pen Badgely he's not like the other boys. He's the Mascot's the mascot. She's had a crash on him since she was in eighth grade. They almost kissed back then, but then they didn't because he wasn't ready

to kiss yet. And they're friendly and they chat and then also maybe he even likes her question mark pen bag. Really he was on Gossip Girl, right, I never watched that. I don't know either. I think he was Okay, I think so, which is funny because they she references that show in this movie. Do you think pens in the audience like Hollywood's crazy? I do think that he's like that all the time. So then she receives a gift

card from Brandon, which one does. She I was trying to keep track of who gives her what gift card because that target compelling to me? Okay, targeting hundred dollar I think target gift card. And he gives her a vibrator, Yeah, he vibrator, which is good looking out sure in high school though, like I don't believe that, right, is there a sex shop in OHI or did he have to drive down to Los Angeles their seniors in high school? Right, yeah, they don't have they are because she gets the Natasha

Beddingfield card that she gets is a graduation card. It's like congratulations yeah from her grandma. It right. So she hears from Rhiannon that everyone thinks that all of is a dirty skank, and then they're getting a big fight about it, and then all of decides to double down on this quote dirty skank image. So there's a sewing montage because women be sewing. And then she shows up to school in this very sultry outfit with a big red as onto her tongue or like what a dork

just making a literary reference in her outfit. Yeah, And then she gets approached by this kid, Evan, who knows the truth about what happened with Brandon, and he offers all of another hundred dollar gift card to also spread rumors about them doing sex stuff, and it turns out to be from auto Zone. I think it's later confirmed.

He offers her a different one, but then when she confronts him later about it, she's like, it was from Autozon and I don't even have a car, like if cards are funny because they were all like there was like the home depot, there was auto zone. It's like you're like, what is in this? For one was like a bed bath then beyond cupan yeah yeah, yeah yeah.

Not a great negotiator, and she eventually agrees to this, and then she starts doing it for several other boys in her school as well, and then the rumor that all of solicits sex for money also starts spreading rapidly

throughout the school. And then things take a turn when she learns that one of her classmates, Mica, which is Maryanne Bryant's boyfriend, got claimidia from the guidance counselor Mrs Griffith Lisa Trudre Thomas Hayden Churches his wife, and all of agrees to take the fall for it, saying that she's the one who gave Mica clamidia so that Mrs Griffith doesn't get fired for having sex with a student. And then people are protesting all of led by Marian Bryant,

and they're trying to get her expelled. Ran And joins in for some reason, Yes, that absolutely, it's because Olive goes on the date with the guy that she likes. But I think she turns on her way before that though, why But I feel like she joins the Amanda bindsafter on that. I think that makes sense. Yeah, And then meanwhile Todd the Woodchuck boy Penn Badgeley, yes is uh. He keeps popping up And then she's trying to figure

out if she should come clean about everything. And then this guy Anson asks her out on a date and it turns out that he just went out with her so that he could say that they had sex, and he tries to give her the two home Depot gift card, and then he tries to kiss her. She has to fight him off. And then Todd shows up right then and he gives her a ride home and he's like, I think you're great and maybe I can, like I

don't know, help you out with this whole thing. And because all the guys that she had helped previously refused to come clean about the whole situation, she decides to do this vlog that we've been watching to tell her side of the story, which she prefaces by performing a musical number at a school pepper rally. Because I guess she wishes that her life was Ferris Spieler's day off.

One of the more annoying aspects of the movie for me, Yeah, I I do like in retrospect, like watching that scene like almost ten years later and being like, oh, for sure that Like everyone on set was like, the scene is going to be iconic, and I did not remember it had not remembered. Every time, I'm like, what is happening? This is going to be in a montage at the oscar It's like, and then she rides off with Todd on a lawnmower and then they kiss, and then that's

the end of the movie. At the end of the movie killing you know what, I was really impressed by an easy what what what? I really loved and respected the marriage between Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson's characters. It seemed very healthy, very functional. They had fun. They do have fun at the house. You know what I bet they used when they were planning tell me their functional marriage. There's something that comes before a functional marriage, and it's

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and get started today. That's fifty dollars towards your registry by going to Zola zo A dot com slash tbc and there's no easier a than that Wow, where to begin with this. There's a lot of there's a there's a lot Well, I here's my initial thoughts. Right, So the movie, thank you so much, thank you for giving

me this platform. I'm reclaiming my time. Thank you. Um. This movie does some things right which are progressive and feminist, and then it does a lot of things that are very wrong because one of the themes of the movie, it's like the core message, let's say, is the double standard of sexually active men being considered studs and sexually

active women being considered sluts. In the movie draws attention to that, calls it out, and we're like, whoa, yeah, But the movie only goes so far with that message because it ends up like demonizing the idea of women having a lot of sex and having multiple sexual partners through various lines of dialogue and different attitudes that characters have, etcetera.

My main thing with this movie that well, there was first of all, like, in most respects, like I thought, especially when I first saw the movie, I thought Emiston's character was like the fucking coolest person the world. I was like, I wish I were more like this character.

She was so cool. But most of the other women outside of her mom, who is like, I feel like pretty positive and supportive, but like all the other female characters in this story are like vicious and trophy in a lot of ways, and you get some shades of gray, like with you get a little bit with the Rhiannon character. You don't really get that much with the Marianne character.

But it's it's like this weird. I don't know, it just felt a little off to me the way that she is basically like, it seems like the movie has decided like, well, women will turn on each other and call each other sleds and this is the main problem, you know what I mean, And whereas I feel like kind of the guys end up looking a little more

goofy rather than very much a part of it. And even the mom is kind of like sled Shaney, Like when they have that conversation on the car, her mom is like, you know, I used to sleep with a ton of people and it was because I had really low self esteem and then I met your dad and now I'm like fine. And so even her mom, like

as supportive as she is, she's still slut shaming. So yeah, every it's like every female I mean, everyone in this movie is slut shaming, and that's part of the point, but it just seems like the female characters, especially at that high school, were so incredibly vicious. The Lisa Kudra character is totally sold out and like literally is called

like an evil person. And I think that this movie wouldn't have treated its main character the same way if she had had sex, Like the that's what I'm saying, yeah, like there's no I feel like the implication is, well, she's a redeemable Like I like the end message of the movie, like no matter what, it's no one's fucking business.

But that's not really what the movie was saying the whole time, because because she was a virgin the whole time, you don't need to really question what you're supposed to be, right. I think if that character was actually having a lot of sex with multiple partners, I don't think that is not what happened in the movie, because I think the

movie really comes down against that type of behavior. For example, so the romantic storyline with Todd, which there's parts of it I like in parts of it, I don't like. The part that I don't like is when they're like in the car he's giving her a ride home, and she's like, well, haven't you heard all these rumors about me?

And he's like, yeah, I've heard them, but I don't believe them, which implies that he still likes her because he doesn't think she's been sleeping with a bunch of different people, implying that if he thought she was sleeping with a bunch of different people, he would not like her. Yeah. Yeah, there's like all this and it's weird because I definitely I don't know. I I definitely did not pick up

on this when I first watched. But he's like, it's all these little exchanges and lines that the subtext is like, well, because this is a lie, that's the only reason this is okay, and she were telling the truth, she's irredeemable and bad. And then you know, so even at the end, she says that line where when she's on her vlog dot com and she's like, you know how shitty it feels to be an outcast warranted or not? And you're like, what is the warranted or I didn't even catch that.

It's just like a little line that you're like, okay, I like, that's the values of this movie aren't really what they're advertising. And then a few other lines like the one that you said Lisa about like her mom being like, yeah, I slept around because I had no self worth, and then like Lisa kudrow House a line that says, my god, character disaster, where is it? It's something like, oh, it's real horror. Can't admit it to herself,

trust me? Yeah. Well, the what's confusing is that there are some characters who are slut shaming, and they're framed as being bad and wrong, like the Amanda Bind's character and like her whole friend group. But then the movie turns around owned and then like I interpreted that to be like again, it's just like a this movie was written by a queer writer, but a queer male writer who I guess like he went on, you know, he did interviews around this movie and said that the character

Brandon was based on his experience in high school closet. Yeah, Like, it does give you some good subtext, but it does. It does seem like the like decision being made by like the writer, director, whomever else is that teen girls are so fickle and we'll turn on you for absolutely no reason, and we'll one eight, And I mean, I think you almost see that in Rhiannon's character. At the beginning,

she's like, you have to be a slut. And then when Emma Stones's character is like okay, and then she's like I hate you, You're horrible, Like yeah, it's like not, it's hard to trace her logic, Like she starts. Rhiannon starts out by talking openly about sex. She like screams the word climax and of their teacher, like she's so excited when she thinks that all of has had sex for the first time, she's like, oh, you've joined the

super slut club with me. And then as soon as all of starts to get this reputation for reasons that I don't understand, she's like, well, everyone thinks you're a dirty skank, and so do I. And it's like, well, which is it, Like are you excited about like your friend's sexuality or And then I think what happened. It's like the writer needed to like heighten the conflict for all of So it's like, let's put her in conflict

with her best friend. How do I do that make her completely change everything about the character that I've established,

Like it just doesn't. But see, I for me disagree a little bit because I think my experience in high school was actually I knew girls that were very similar to that, and I think, maybe to give the writer too much credit, but I almost feel like it's pointing a finger at the fact that this kind of like the toxic ideas that we hold around owned virginity and chastity with women kind of necessarily pit women against each other, and this almost like who's a virgin, who's not a virgin,

who's sluttier, who's not sluttier? And like I remember there was a girl in my high school who like used to lord her virginity over other people, but then it which it turned out that she was like having anal sex the whole time, but like her virginity was intact, and so it was like always this and then as soon as people found that out, then all of a sudden she was slutty and horrible, and then others were good.

And like even girls I knew who were like really proud of being, you know, slutty, there was always like like a limit and then if you went past that limit, then you were bad. And I feel like this like hierarchy of sluttery actually is really at least two to my high school experience. I don't know if it's too think. Yeah, there's a bit of that in my high school as well. Yeah, so I feel like maybe Rhiannon is like comfortable with like up to a certain point. Sure it doesn't because

she does and then she does. She does celebrate it until the point where like Emma Stone stops telling her about it. That's true, and she's like a betrayal best friend. Yeah, and then she and then when it gets to be her crush, it's I mean, honestly, I would join the picket line as well. She don't grun a day with your best friend's crush, it's the rule. No. And it's super weird that Emma Stone only gets upset that they

might get seen. She's like, I don't want them to I don't want her to see us, But it's like you still went see I still I would argue I wish that we knew more about Rhannon in general, because I agree that you're saying, and I think that like that is like an interesting thing to explore, but it's but we don't really know that much about her, So it was like hard for me to glean, like we don't really know much about like what her sexual history is, because I feel like this whole movie is kind of

hinged around, like you know, exaggeration of what your sexual experiences for social acceptance, cloud whatever, and we don't really know if Rhannon is, you know, telling the truth, is she exaggerating? We don't really know. Yeah, that's true. She's not given a lot of backstory, no, which is a bummer.

I feel like there's there's space for that. And from the very beginning, I was like, Ama Stone is not a freakod friend to her because she's just like she she lies about well, I mean, she she lies to get out of that trip. And then yeah, I I don't know Ema Stone. At times I understood her motivations and other times I was like, you're just like fucking yourself over. I think they're both not good friends to each other. That's true. Yeah, that's really true, which is

a lot of high school friendships like that. Tracks. Yeah, although they're supposed to be like best friends, I feel like like how they're yea since like forever right unless her desktop image, that's like serious friendship. I mean, and I think this is pretty standard for like teen movies, but I don't think the complications that come with many teen best friendships, like the portrayal of it in this

movie and in most teen movies, it's not very nuanced. Yeah, I think it's like it was clear to me just like based on how their friendship was right, And I was like, I don't think a woman wrote this movie, and then I checked it, like, no they did not, because there is there are like it feels like some kernels of like authenticity, and I like to see like, you know, female characters in conflict with each other and

like both kind of being assholes in different ways. Like that's great, but it just sometimes it was a little bit uncanny valley to track in this one. For sure. I wanted to touch a little bit more on the romantic storyline with all of and Todd and badly. Yes, I kept forgetting he was in the movie, and then he would show up again. I was like, oh, yeah, I guess that this is you know, we care about this. Yeah. He also wasn't given a lot of a story, No, No,

he was just kind of there, right. The little back story we do get about him is that all of him played seven minute in Heaven when they were in eighth grade. So they go into this room and he's like, oh, actually, I'm not ready to kiss yet. Could we just tell everyone that we kissed? And she's like sure. And then

I liked that. You know, you see like a young boy who's not ready to kiss, because there's like so much pressure on boys starting at a very young age to like be sexually active and to like start as soon as possible. So I was like, oh, that's that's nice, because like the idea of like a boy not being ready yet, there's an idea that there's no such thing is that? And of course there's so and it's very damaging.

And yeah, I like that moment. I like that the little boy was able to be not ready for something and that was like treated very respectfully. Yeah, it wasn't like an emasculation thing. It was like yeah. And then so like all of goes on that date with Anson, he tries to surprise kiss her several times. That's framed as being wrong, unwanted, assaulty. In the contrast, she gets in the car with Todd and he's been framed as being this viable romantic option for Olive Chuck Todd Chuck

Todd and then he asks permission to kiss her. She says no, and then he's like visibly disappointed, but then he apologizes. He's like, oh, I'm so sorry, and she's like, no, I just mean like I don't want to kiss you right now, but I do want to french you some other time. So just the fact that we see like a boy asking for permission to kiss a woman appreciate taking the no. Yeah, he didn't really push it. Yeah, so that was like, oh cool, that was a yeah,

I liked that scene too. But then there's like that we're I mean, it's just such a mixed bag, that very mixed where he's like, well, I want to kiss you because you because you because you're in text. He asks that, she's like why are you interested in me all of a sudden, and then he's given this line which is just kind of a non answer. He's like I don't know, and we're like, do you, because like, you know, she's been around this whole time, but all of a sudden, now you're in love with I guess.

But don't we see her like kind of trying to talk to her before like the rumors start. Does that happen. I can't totally remember they we see them like we see like they're kind of flirty. Yeah, yeah, they have like they have like a moment, I guess, yeah, but he does like explicitly stayed like, oh well I don't believe those rumors, which is why I still have a crush on your right, yeah, which is gosh, so yeah,

I don't, I don't know. And and there, I mean, this is sort of this like hearkens back to like I feel like a million episodes we've done at this point. But the whole like obsession with eighties movies I've found so annoying. They're just like a montage of movies that we've already fucking Like, what is the dog that gets shot?

It's not Lassie old Yeller, old Yeller. Yeah, we've already old yellow these movies and Emma Stones out here, Like I just wish there were more Judd Nells that you're like, oh, I was, like I love John Hughes. Was then it literally ends with the sisso of them together. The whole thing a lot out of me. That part she likes sites these very problematic like rape movies like sixteen Candles and Breakfast club and it's like, oh, this is what you're aspiring too well, which is again, I mean it's

very two. And it's also like another kind of like little missed opportunity for like it's not even it's like not uncommon for people to be like, oh, I wish my life were like this movie that happened before I was born. But then it just doesn't challenge your examine anything of like oh maybe that shouldn't be what and

then she just gets it. But I feel like often that's all we remember about those movies, right, It's like you just remember like the iconic moment where you're like overcome with love and emotion and you're like, oh, it's so beautiful, and then you go back and actually watch it and you're like, oh, wait, disaster. So that I mean, yeah, in general, the there are parts of the Olive Todd Romantics. It was it's not the worst teen comedy relationship by

a long shot. Or there's definitely room for improvement. Yeah yeah, that's I mean, that's that's this whole movie. For me. It's like we are on the right track. I can I can feel it doesn't quite go the whole way.

Can we talking about the Lisa Kujar character that was so and it did remind me a lot of like a very similar storyline and failing of the Jessica Williams character in Book Smart this year, where it's like, oh, they want to have I think something that would have been done in the eighties without making it clear what

the age you know, content is. But they're just trying to update that, you know, like Trophy story line of like the teacher and the student hooking up but they're legal, so it's okay, but it's still not good and like, yeah, Lisa Kutro is made out to be such an evil shrew from moment one, like it just it sucked, right. She's like, the first thing we hear her say, I

think is, um, I'm the guidance counselor. I should know who all my students are, especially the ones who dressed like prostitutes, and I'm supposed to be like and then she just kind of like shoves condoms at her. She's like, I'm always here to support you and listen to you. And then but and Emma Stone is legitimately trying to talk to her, and she's like, I want to tell you what's going on? Because it's terrible and I'm really upset, and she's just kind of like, here, take the condoms,

get out of my office, right. And then there's that scene their last scene together, which is like so egregious and you're like, oh, I hope Lisa Kudro got paid a lot of money to say this. But that whole scene where this is during sort of the like series of scenes where Emma Stone is going back to the people she's agreed to lie for and say I can't do this anymore. So she gets Lisa Coudro, and Lisa Coudro is like, who are people going to believe? They're

not gonna believe you, They're gonna believe me that. You're like, oh right, boy, this is so yeah. That was like a brutal just I mean, there's really nothing to sell out with this character because she's presented as unsympathetic like it. I like, that's like the best example in this movie of how the movie really feels about women having sex. Is they like and then her husband is like perfect exactly, he does nothing wrong. He's like the students love him,

everyone loves him. He's devastated she, like Emmas don't apologizes to him on her web. That's what really especially join me crazy about this too, is that like all of takes responsibility for being a home wrecker, and she's like,

oh man, I shouldn't have told it. I feel I regret telling him, and it's like, you didn't do anything, like it was these two other parties of Mrs Griffith and then this Mica kid who ruined that marriage, not you, and the Mica character by extension too, it was like even there was like a little something in that character we barely see. But the only reason that he, you know, says, oh I had sex with all of Pendergast and she gave me chlamydia was because his like shrewy mom character

was like tell me what happened. She was literally hitting him in the hospital. Yeah, like in his hospital bed.

So like even that like little moment finds a way to like push the blame off on a female character we barely know, Like he wouldn't have just done it his mom was whacking him at the hospital and then yeah, so it's just like all these little you're just like, ah, come on, we and I don't know, and just the I don't know it was it made clear I was having trouble figuring out was it implied that Lisa Kudro's character had given Mica clamidia? What was Yes, I believe

that is. I think that's what Olive said when she like yelled it at the teacher. She was like, your wife gave a student clamydia. And then also the like a kid when he's like talking on the phone to the person who we don't know who it is yet and he's like, I don't care that you gave me chlamydia. I still love you. And then it cuts to Lisa Kudro, which is just a total fumble of like handling a storyline with a character who has uh sexually transmitted disease.

It like plays it off as a joke, and it also serves to make Lusa Kudrow's character I think the movie intends to like by giving her clamdia. That's like a slut shamy like things that the movie is doing because because she wants to make her less sympathetic, right because she she didn't get it from Micah. Mica got

it from her. As far as we understand, she might have gotten it from her husband, Mr Griffith, the person that we all are supposed to love, right, but I probably think it so I guess she got it from someone else. Yeah, so it's like you get punished for being for having multiple sexual partners. Yeah. It also bothered me how like later, like Michael was exiled to like his grandparents house in Florida or whatever, and he's still like scratching his crotch like like as if chlamydia you

can't just get rid of it during forever. He's now tarnished and it's gross, And I was just like, that's not It's just like it's like the writer either was making a joke of it or had just not even done a light google of like what that which sucks because it's like st D S, S, T I S, whichever are like so stigmatized and played as a like thoughtless joke in so many I think in like this genre is like probably one of the more casual offenders of just like playing it off and and it you know,

it's it's not helpful to anyone he gets. I mean, yeah, if you if you have chlamydia, you don't have to move to Florida. That's just what I want everyone to know. Just like it's okay you can't get an anibiotic and you're really just move on with your life a miracle. We got to take another quick break, but then we'll come right back. Can we talk about man, wow, Jamie Not to get controversial on the pod, yes, please go on. I want to talk a little bit about how boys

or men. I don't think they're supposed to be boys, but everyone's visibly but you know how the boys who ask all of to lie for them are portrayed in because I thought it was like something that I had to go back and like rewatch, especially that scene with the Evan where we do see at every step of the way, starting with Brandon, all of has to be convinced.

I would almost throw the word coerced out there in some cases of to do it in the first place, where she starts out with the very like two thousand ten high school or thoughtless idea of like, oh, well, you don't want people to make fun of you because you're gay, just tell him you're straight. You're like, okay, that's okay. But then it's like that, I mean, the writer is pulling from his own experience from that, so

I'm like, okay, uh, if that is what's happening. But then he you know, I feel like the reason that it is okay for them to do that is because they are quote unquote bullied, and so it makes it okay for them to ask this unreasonable favor of Olive. And like, I thought that the Evans seen stuck out to me the most, as you know, because he asks her, will you do this for me? She says no, fuck you, and then he says, yeah, I mean, of course you're saying no, I'm such a loser. Before before he says,

I'll pay you a hundred dollars. Also, I don't need your permission here, which means like, I'm going to take advantage of your reputation and exploit it from my own personal gain, and I'm going to do it whether you like it or not. And she's furious with him, rightfully so.

And then he does the one guilds her and says, I'm just you know, he calls himself a fat piece of ship, and then she takes pity on him, and then she and I feel like the movie, they're like, oh, well of course she would, you know, Like it's just she has every right to be like, no, like, sort this out on your own right, go you know, go talk to Lisa Kudrow, I don't know, like and then

just you know, telling them. But but she's kind of repeatedly guilted by these outcast, misfic guys, and it sort of I mean, because this movie talks so much about eighties tropes, it feels like almost a like a John Hughes Nerd character that is like an character who is like I feel entitled to this and because I can't have it, you know, you have to do this for me.

That kind of like coercion narrative, which sucks because again, it's like it's a there there is the opportunity here for those themes to be like explored a little more thoughtfully. And it's the thing that always bugs me is was like, there's like it would be funnier too, if she was like pushing back on this stuff instead of just folding

or like negotiating for herself. Like that's the thing that irritated me to because there's this moment where she's like, all right, this is happening, I'm just going to own it and I'll just do it. But then yeah, like we said, she's getting like cent off to the body shop and like, you know, an AutoZone gift card or

whatever and like stuff that she can't actually use. And I really wanted her to like build an empire and be like, actually, you know, I want five hundred dollars to the store that actually shop at, right, because in that scene with Evan, she's like, Okay, I want a hundred dollar gift card in my locker and she says, um, but we didn't have sex. You can tell people that you like, fondled my chest And he's like, a hundred bucks is pretty steep for that. Can't you say that?

Like you rubbed my pants and I touched your butt and stuff like that, And she's just like whatever, And it maybe it's commentary on how like girls and women are never taught to negotiate. Who knows, it's probably not as well. That then kind of brings up the conversation of sex work and is this character could she be

considered a sex worker? Yeah? I mean I think so, Like I think a lot of sex work doesn't have to be literal sex, and a lot of it is not a lot of it isn't, and a lot of it is like caretaking and even helping with image and with public persona and all of that is a huge element of sex work. So I think, yeah, there's definitely sex work in this movie. I would say for sure. But then the movie also like shames sex work and

sex workers at different points. Yeah, like it calls her says she dresses like a prostitute or she looks like a stripper, but don't worry a high class strippers like for governors. I think her dad says that it disappointing. And then there's a moment where she is talking to the ants and guy and she's like, I'm not actually having sex with people for money, with like this tone

of disgust in her voice. It's just like another way that this movie is trying to have it very much both ways, where they will like go all the way up to the line of like showing sex work, but they won't call it that, and they have to condemn everything else that falls under umbrella. It's only okay because she's not actually sexual, right, And yeah, it's just Oh, also she's given gift cards to retail stores because women be shopping. There's I know, I'm just think that was

I was. And then like male coded stores, which they play as a oftentimes why would a woman want to go to home depot And it's like, okay, why bad joke, just bad just not yeah there, Yeah, I was. I was frustrated. I never really thought about how little she negotiates um because that's like I feel like that raises the stakes in a cooler way too, if she like has this empire and there's more for her to lose as opposed to she's just taking whatever is offered and

it's all you know, reputation game. Yeah, and I feel like the fact that she doesn't really get anything that she wants out of it just kind of doubles down on the idea that you know, like she owes someone something, you know, like it's just it's you know. The moment I did like was when she pays when she goes on the date with Anson before he turns on her, and she just pays for it with one of the

gift cards. I thought that was a cool moment where like a lot of those movies at that time, like you know, see women paying for dates, and she doesn't without making it. She's just like, yeah, I have money now, and I'm going to just pay for this lobster din or no problem. Um, it's kind of a badass moment, just like keep the tip we're leaving because they go to the lobster the Lobster Shock, and then Rhiannon's there.

I have to like sneak out when you run into your ex Bustia lobster shop, you know, with her parents. Also that parent drug is so corny of like we're in California, so everyone's like naked, you're eating Payotie burgers, right Like that was like a little I don't know. But then I texted Michaela, who's from oh Hi, about that scene and she was like, oh, that was the

only part that I thought they got right about. She was just like, yeah, but you know, we don't we all oh Hi heads way and did you feel like that was good? Oh Hi visibility? Let us know. But another like set of parents or adults in this movie here were like just like so freaking cool, right because man is as much as I love the Tooch and he is the best part of every movie he's in. But like the like her parents are, I don't know, it's everyone's just it's like they're like so much of this.

You can tell that the writer of this movie has watched a lot of Gilmore Girls based on how this movie is written, which I love, but I feel like they go the Gilmore Girls style of parenting too, to the point where it seems like at some points it's like your daughter is like having a tough time and you just keep like poking your head and your room being like hey, uh, don't worry by and I'm like, okay, this is right right right that, And then a lot

of the conversations are like her parents making fun of her for having a gay boyfriend and she like that's not the thing, and they both do the I think, like the casual they both are like, oh, I was gay for a couple of weeks in college, like that

very two thousand thoughtless joke. I mean, the way queerness is presented in general was peculiar, let's say, um, And it is helpful to know the context of the writer being a gay man who who is like pulling from his personal experience and that's part of like what inspired this story that he wrote, but again it's just kind

of under explored in the actual movie. And then the way they talk about it as well, like the language that gets used a lot of the times, and it never takes challenges, you know, all of us like oh, you know that Brandon kid and Rhanon's like, yeah, isn't he a homo? And they like time they say like the word homosexual with this just like hint of disdain or dismissive and then like other otherness like oh, well

he's a homosexual. He's aid he's different, which I think is a very two thousand ten of their like well, I don't have a problem with it, but like gross, you know, like yeah, like having it both ways, nos of of this like time and then yeah, the whole we already touched on this, but like the straight person encouraging a queer person to like suppress your sexuality, and

then he's like, oh, hadn't thought of that? You're likely And I get like a lot of like queer young people do end up doing that to some degree, like in high school, because they're trying to you know, it's a self preservation thing. They're trying to avoid being bullied

and stuff like that. But and he gives this what I've out was like a fairly well done verge of tears monologue where he's talking about being tormented every day at school and you know, we can fantasize about how things will be different one day, but this is today and today sucks, and like, please help me, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And like that wasn't that was like a that felt like a good authentic yes,

yeah I thought so. Yeah, but yeah, I'm interested to hear from our queer listeners how they thought queerness in general was depicted in this movie because it just rang a little off, it was, I mean. And also the fact that Brandon kind of disappears after like when she goes back to talk to him. Oh, and then there's that very bizarre, like problematic Huckleberry Finn joke that keeps coming back that you're just like, has he read Huckleberry?

Like it was, so Brandon is gone. He like he finds a boyfriend, and then does he finish high school? He seems to have run away from it, runs away from he seems okay, so he drops out and and and leaves. But it's like character, we just see him in a flash forward scene with a tasteless joke and that's the last we see you. And I think it kind of frames that whole thing is like a good thing.

It's almost like, look, he ran away and is in love and everything's fine, and it's like he left his home and he's a child and this is probably really bad and like, but there's no nuance to it. It's just like it's a joke. It's just a joke. Race in general is another thing that it's not handled especially well in this movie. Um it's a very white movie. Um, most of the cast is white. The school that they

go to is predominantly white. I'm not sure how diverse are like just seen in background shots at the high school is people of color? Yeah, they're treated as like tokens, props or punch lines. Basically all of has an adopted brother who was black. But that just feels like a very tokenized character with all the jokes about him being adopted to Like that felt a little bit off to me. I was like, how does it's played as like, Oh, this is a jovial family moment. I'm like, but how

does he feel about these jokes? Right? All we know about him is that he got a B plus on his spelling test. All we find out about the whole man He doesn't want to watch the bucket List because why they still get Netflix DVDs in that household, and I was like important representation, but yeah, I feel like her brother is literally just there for Stanley to g to be like, well, it's obvious he's adopted because he's not white like us, Like that is the function of

that character. And then and then the way that the Huckleberry Finn the So, how is that line first presented? I don't want to get it wrong. Yeah, I've got it here because it was cringe e the first time, and then it came back and then yeah, so here's

what happens. Early on in the movie, all of is talking about how, oh, the books we read in school always seem to reflect like the t and age ankst that we're going through, because she's talking about how the scarlet letter relates to what's happening with her, uh in present time. And then she's like, but the exception is Huckleberry Finn. I don't know any teenage boys who have run away with a big, hulking black guy. And then at the end of the movie, Brandon has run away

from home with a black man. And then we see them together watching Huckleberry Finn on film and they're watching it like, oh, yeah, this is us, I guess, and it's like, okay, so this black guy is the punch line to this stupid joke that you set up and was stupid then and it's stupid when we see it again called back to and it's just like really icky and weird. That was like a joke that you're just like, has this writer read Huckleberry Finn? It just was confusing

or ever talked to a black person? Unclear? But yeah, I mean the way that the very few non white characters are treated are literally it's only in regards to their race. Yeah, here's another example. There's an Indian kid who gives her the off the body cue pump, and then she calls him amigo, and then the voiceover kicks in and says, I knew he wasn't Latino, but for some reason, all these shady backdoor deals had me talking

like Carlito. And then she calls him essay. So it's like, whoof all brown people are the same that Emma Stone right the movie? Ah, Yeah, that seems just sucks all over, very not good, very very uncomfortable. Um. Yes, race in general is um, believe it or not not handled well in a movie. What believable in furiod. Yeah. The background on the other major credit that this writer has is he wrote the do you remember like the horny Charlie

Brown play Dog Sees Gone Odd? I think that a lot of people did it when I was in high school to be edgy, but it's like Charlie Brown is fucked up and he's horny. And he also wrote that point makes me uncomfortable. I'm probably underselling it and maybe it's like wonderful, but I just remember seeing it at like a drama competition and being like, oh my god,

why is Charlie Brown so horny? Like he's ten? But you know that's and and then the director is Will Gluck, who also has directed Peter Rabbit and Peter Rabbit Too well good for him. And there you go. And that's the beginning, middle, and end of that incredible Yeah did you did? Did you have any other stuff you wanted to?

My last thing? Yeah, it's that there's a point in the movie where all of notices that her name anagrams I love, which presents an opportunity for me to mention how Caitlin Durante anagrams to such things as Latin dancer, U T I one classic nine tip Dracula. I don't have any new ones, but I just want to These are the classics. Okay, this is hard John Hughes one, right,

these are the eighties ones Lauren d Titanic. And then a newer one that I think maybe other people aren't familiar with yet is but Jamie, you know this one because we texted about it a Tan clarinet. I U D wow, I like that one. Thank you. That's really good. You have a perfect numbers. Yeah, I feel like mine would be very weird. Well, you have TSE disease, Like, what do you do with that? Let's find out. Just give me a few minutes I can. I'll work my

magic for this topic. But yeah, I think that's it for me. Like the big thing with me for this movie is like, there need to be narratives that empower women's sexuality. There are almost none of them in this movie. Like starts to attempt to do that by calling attention to this double standard, but it doesn't take it far enough, and it still resorts to a lot of just slut shaming attitudes and other missteps along the way. It's weird.

This is like kind of a funny movie to tackle, because I do think that it is well intentioned, but still kind of just indicates it of the time and probably of the creative team a little bit that they hadn't you know, fully worked out, because I would be very surprised if you know, they looked at this like, oh, yeah, well, you know, we're not shaming anyone in this. I think that that's what they thought, is that they were up prefting Team Girls. I see what they're going for, and

you know it was two thousand ten. Oh. Actually, my real last thought is this, Um. I always appreciate when a teen movie does not end in like prom or some kind of like passion graduation see, which they totally could have done. They could have done. Um. Instead, it ends with the weird the vlog. Prior to that, it's that weird like big musical number at the PEP rally, and then it's her like riding off into the sunset

with her new hetero boyfriend. Like I feel would rather end in graduation than as a John Hughes movie, right, I feel like, actually the way I saw it ending was that it ends with a vlog, which I actually

think is really powerful. Like I think my last thought is something I think the film did well, which is the reference to the Scarlet Letter, which to be fair, I haven't read, but my understanding is that in the Scarlet Letter, you know, she's forced to wear the A because she's like a supposed adulter, and so she has to wear this A, and the A is kind of

like this punishment. And then I think there's something in the way that Emma Stone decides to label herself with the A and everyone hates her for that, and I think there is a really powerful statement on like women owning their sexuality and having that not be okay that I think the movie does a good job of pointing out.

And yeah, yeah, and in a way, the vlog like kind of couching this story is like the ultimate way of Emma Stone trying to own her own narrative and take it back from all these people that have, you know, made it about themselves. And so in that way, if you see the ending of the film, I mean, it does have that little John Hughes like tacked on bit after the blog the vlog, but I think the vlog frame was actually really like a cool thing. I did

appreciate that. Yeah, I really liked that and I genuinely like where the movie lands on the topic of their just like you know that ending line where she's like, I might lose my virginity today six months from now on my wedding night. It's no one's goddamn business. That's an awesome message to end on. And I just wished that everything that happened before it was before a little

more consistently. But I do that's like stuff like that where you're like, this, it was really they were trying, and it wasn't it was it was not Brianna's forgives her. I think she like apologizes or although I'm Brianna has as much to apologize to there, but they're talking in there like sidekick all caps apology, I am sorry. Maybe I'll move you back into my top eight now. But well so that's a great point though, about like her like taking like she she's like, here's my version of

the story, and I'm telecasting it out. She's basically making a podcast if we think about it. But she's like, I want the truth out there. I do really enjoy that. But the romantic storyline did feel a little wedged in, and I think it was like a studio I think it might have been. I didn't hate the way. I mean again, it was like it wasn't the worst teen comedy romantic shoehorns subplot of all time. But you know,

I didn't have to be there. It would have been more powerful if the movie just ended with her being like, yeah, here's my story and I'm telling it in you guys are going to college by She didn't have that line in there where she was like now that I was like seeing us such like a slut in school, like no one actually wanted to date me, which is kind

of her motivation for going out with Anson. Again, it didn't really come from anywhere, so I did feel kind of shoved in there, But I did think that was like an interesting point of just like how even perceived sexually active girls are the country. Yeah exactly, that's like

my Donna horror thing. Yeah, it's trying this movie and and and it is like, I mean when we talk about this all the time, but like movies that are well intentioned but flawed in this way, for for movies that are well intentioned and slightly less flawed, progress is slow. And I think that scene, my favorite scene, I think is when she comes out after having sex with Brandon, and he just so clearly contrasts the two experiences of Brandon coming out the hero and her coming out and

no one's talking to her. Some girls give her side and she kind of sneaks out of the party like like she did something wrong, and that seemed to me felt really really progressive for that time. Oh, pretty good movie. It's pretty good. But is it an A? Maybe? Not? Well? Speaking of let's right, but before we do that, does this movie pass the Bechtel tests? It definitely does? It does?

Yeah multiple times between Olive and Rhiannon, although they often talk about George, the fake boy that she didn't but George is more of an idea that's true, so is it does it count an idea? Olive and Marianne talk, although they mostly talk about how God he pronouns is judging Olive and then like Olive and her mom talk, but they often talk about Brandon. So a lot of the conversations are about boys and men, but they're definitely

exchanges that pass yeah yeah between multiple characters. So does it get an A? Or five nipples on our nipple scale zero to five nipples based on this representation of women um, I give it like a it's a half. It's like in the middle, it's like really especially two and a half, it's it's trying. It's two thousand and ten. You know, we've only barely started trying to progress as a society in this year, so it's doing it's best, and it's best is not very good by our standard.

And a good point about all the other women in the movie. You know, it's like a stone maybe pretty good, everyone pretty villainized. Are are made to see him and even in some ways, even in the ways that are high school realistic, they're just it just doesn't the writing doesn't go quite fair depth given to it. It is all even if it's like realistic, it's still not really

realistic because there's no depth or backstory or motivation. It's all just like they come off mean a very mean and very petty super official And I think that the male characters are kind of given a free past the especially like Evan that kind of like he manipulated her, and I mean that kind of reminded me of Emma Stone's storyline in Super Bad, except in this one she loses where you know, like the Jonah Health character is like you never have a Kushia me, I'm a loser

and then she's like but in super Bad, it's actually a little bit better because she's like, no, I don't like you because you are fucking rude, and he's oh, but then they still end up together ish or something, but forget but at least he doesn't, you know. It was like he doesn't get what he wants. In the same scene, I don't know, literally two sentences after threatening her, right right, and then she's like, oh, I guess I

feel bad for you, right right. Yeah. So I think that that the boys trying to coerce all of our kind of made to be more jokey than being examined for being extremely fucking entitled. Yeah. Yes, I'll give it a two and a half because I think the intention of the movie is to expose like women are punished for being sexually active, but it just didn't really go

all the way. Um, so two and a half nipples, and I will give one to Amanda Binds, not her character but her as a person, actually her her character and she's the man gets one of my nipples. Um, I'm gonna just go ahead and give Stanley Tucci another one. Of my nipples and then I'll give my half nipple. I'll give it to that poor little brother who, just like Dame. You don't even remember what's his name? Justice for a little brother, Chip. I guess his name was Chip.

I don't remember here in Chip, but that was that was his name. Uh yeah, I'm gonna go to a half as well. I think that this movie has its heart in the right place. I would wager that it's at least attempting to do more than most movies in We're attempting. I think that it's it's always good to have a female lead comedy. It's not super common, and this movie falls heavier on the comedy side than the

romance side, which is nice. Um, it's cool that. I mean, this movie almost definitely made way for more movies like it because it was super successful. It was like eight million dollar budget, seventy five million dollar box office, so you know, I it has its place in time. There's a lot there's I would say about half of it doesn't really sit that well. But it's been almost ten

years since this movie came out. For its time, I think it was a valiant effort and we we we soldier on to better more fun movies for everyone involved. We got to do Blockers sometimes soon we gotta do anyway, let's just say about that movie. I've watched Blockers. I think I've only seen it on planes, but I've seen it too, right, yeah, and was like, oh, this will be fun. It's like perfect plane movie. It's wild. It was sometimes when I'm like, oh this movie was made

for planes, I'm not sure. Um, yeah we'll get but yeah, i'll do. I'll do two and a half and I'll give I'm gonna give two to Emma Stone this movie, Like what Rewatching it reminded me like why people love her so much? Like she's she's fun to watch, She's very funny. I think that like a lesser actress in this part would have been like, you know, cringeing, and it would have you know, So give two to Emma and then yeah, I'll give the other half to Ali Michalca.

Sure glad to see she's thriving ten years ago. I don't know she's doing fun. Oh gosh, Well, I want to be different. But I feel like two and a half is like pretty perfect for this because it is trying really hard. I feel like it does a good job with like both like toxic masculinity and slut shaming female like all of that it does, it's it's hinting

at it. So I was pleased with that. And I remember when I watched it when I was younger, feeling, particularly with Emma Stone, like I was a very big, you know, reputed slut in high school too, and so I really related to that and related to the fact that, like, I don't know, it just it made me feel good better about myself, I think when it first came out. So yeah, so two and a half, I feel like

it's pretty good. Um, I definitely want to give one to Patricia Clarkson because I feel like, even though she does end up kind of slut shamy at the end, overall, it was nice to see a mother care actor who wasn't like forcing like puritanical standards on a daughter, which I feel like is really often portrayed in movies, especially back then, and so it was kind of nice to have a mom who, like, although she didn't fully get there, um, she was trying to get there and you know, and

you know she's like, oh, you can have a boy in your room and you know he's gay. But at least,

you know, I don't know. Um, I feel like there was there was something there, and then you know, I want to give one to Emma Stone's lingerie because I think that was a really that was really I really thought, like the first moment when she walked to school in a corset, I was like, Oh, there's gonna be a whole dress code thing about this, right, um and uh, And I thought it was cool how she just kind of like owned wearing lingerie to high school and totally

rocked that. Um so, I think that deserves a nipple to hell. Yeah, I liked that they during the like montage where she's like re vamping her wardrobe. You see the bag, it's like, oh high launder ray, Like sure, it sounds like a business day, Like how did she afford all this nice lunch? Yea that everyone is as a wealthy person. I guess no team comedy that's true for oh Hi. I mean I guess she's maybe on the like she's in rich Oh Hi, it would appear.

There's I mean so many teams. I'm like, please more team comedies that don't take place in like upper class, because most team comedies don't work just the way that they're written unless it's taking place in an upper class setting, because uh, you know, Shenanigans are expensive. I don't know, like really what, but but it is like from I mean even I had the same criticism for a book smart. It is just like every like this movie doesn't work if people don't have infinite privilege to fall back on.

So you know, well someday, someday, but that's easy. A gang that there it is. They did their best and we respect it. ASA. Thank you so much for being here, for having me. This is really fun. Tell us, tell us about your book. Yeah, my book. It's a memoir. It's funny, it's great. Thank you. Um. I'm I'm scared for it to come out, but I'm also really excited. I hope it. Like you know, I talk a lot about being a slit in high school in it, so it's very relevant, too easy. I talked a lot about

the rumors going around that somewhere true, somewhere it's so true. Um, and then kind of just like always being labeled the slut and how that kind of like made me realize, you know, Okay, I kinda want to go into sex work and seeing kind of what happens next? So yeah, excellent, Please by the book watch cam on Netflix if you haven't already. It is great. And where can people follow you on the social media's Yes, I'm at Issa is wrong awesome self blaming. I was wrong about everything always

all the time. I have no idea what I'm doing, stumbling a lot. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you so much for coming. So glad we've finally got to do the movie we did? Yeah, are you happy? Geez? It was fun. I don't know why we avoided it for You can follow us online at Beckdel Cast on almost all of the platforms and Twitter, Facebook, if you're

still on that website, Instagram, the whole bit. You can pledge to our patreon ak Matreon, it's five dollars a month to get to to bonus episodes every month to patreon dot com slash Bechtel cast uh, and then if you want some merch, you can go to t public dot com slash v Bechdel Cast. And I think that that's all our pluggies. How do we Oh god, it was hard to open, and now how do we should have practiced? I know we really should have done something

like a little coordinated number. We should have closed. So what is the song that she sings at the end? They must have How about this? I got a pocket, got a pocket for ascension. I know there was Yeah, classic. I gotta love that. I know there's a classic, sure for sure. Okay, bye bye,

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