#351. 'The Devil Wears Prada'
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The main event is a rewatch of The Devil Wears Prada (2006), timed to the theatrical release of its sequel, and Sonny delivers an enthusiastic defense built on his theory that the film is secretly a sports movie — a green rookie, a wise veteran mentor in Nigel, a wet-blanket boyfriend playing the "give it up" role, a training montage, and a championship bout in Paris — citing Bill Simmons's ranking of it as the most rewatchable movie of the 2000s. JVL says he hates the film not as cinema but for perpetuating what he calls the "genius asshole" myth of magazine editors like Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, and Graydon Carter, and detours into gleeful stories about the era's excesses (FedExing your luggage ahead of you at Vogue, Tina Brown renting a moving truck to drive her furniture around Manhattan during a party, renting out Ellis Island for the Talk magazine launch). Mike lands in between, praising Emily Blunt's and Stanley Tucci's performances while arguing the movie is more ambivalent about Miranda Priestly than it gets credit for, and Sonny adds a real complaint: the script "cheats" by never actually forcing Andy to betray anyone, since Emily conveniently gets hit by a cab before Andy has to steal her Paris trip. The episode opens with the usual long personal-update stretch: JVL is chasing a rare Winchester Mystery House pinball machine and gushing about WWE's new demon-wrestler gimmick Dan Housen; Sonny recounts a chaotic solo-parenting week (his wife out of town, a strict "no Booba" household rule, a friend's tonsils surgery) that left him too busy to see the Prada sequel for his newsletter, so he instead rewatched and rhapsodized about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, sparking a debate with JVL (who has read the entire Patrick O'Brian series) over whether the movie or the books better capture the story's fun; and Mike walks through planning a Memorial Day trip to Hersheypark, including sibling one-upmanship over roller coasters and nostalgic talk of Roller Coaster Tycoon. Box office chatter covers the Michael Jackson biopic Michael topping charts at $97 million despite his history, plus a tangent into whether "The Girl Is Mine" is the weak track on Thriller. The episode closes with both hosts affirming they remain Anne Hathaway defenders despite her baffling recent press controversy over firing thin models from her new film Mother Mary.
From the show notes
Is it secretly one of the great sports movies? Maybe?
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00Both those belts look exactly the same to me, you know, I'm still learning about this stuff and uh... This...stuff? Oh, okay, I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select, I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back but what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean and you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002 Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns and then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers and then it filtered down through the departments. stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you no doubt fished it out of some clearance bin, however that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room.
Mike00:01:27Welcome to the Sub-Beacon Podcast. I am your co-host Mike Warren. Joining me as always are my two co-hosts and everybody wants this. Everybody wants to be us. Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Join us over at subbeacon.com. Tell your friends and family that if they want to listen to the show, they've got to go over to subbeacon.com. New episodes every Friday. Tell those friends. And family to go to subbeacon.com. We are going to be talking about the Devil Wears Prada of an obvious choice, I think, for this crew later on in the show. But first, JVL, what is happening to
JVL00:02:09you? And two things for you, both small. The first thing is that I'm getting close to figuring out the next pinball machine. And the the problem is that there is so there is a pinball machine called the wind. Chester Mystery House. OK, no. And it looks amazing. And I'm interested in it. But then it turns out they only made two hundred and eighty three of them, I think, and they've all been bought up. You can't get one like there aren't any for sale in America. And that makes me want
Sonny00:02:53it even more. Well, this is you have now you have now reached the point where you have now reached the point where you no longer get off just on owning any old thing. You have to. It is like
JVL00:03:04you. Now it's the chase, the chase, the rarity of the. But I wanted to share something with you guys that you guys I know you I will not say, oh, have you heard of? Because I know you will not have heard of us. Thank you. OK. But it is something that has brought me a tiny bit of joy in life and I think might give you or some of our listeners a tiny bit of joy. Great. That's spring and neap tides for pro wrestling in our house. OK. And this happens with, you know, it's purely kid dependent, right? They get suddenly more into it. And so we get more into it. And there is a new character in WWE named Dan Housen. As I said, I don't bother.
Sonny00:03:48Is that one word? One word. Dan Housen. Dan Housen. Yeah, like German.
JVL00:03:56So Dan Housen is an indie wrestler who has been for reasons which are opaque to me. Triple H decided to bring him into the WWE. And it's insane because he does not fit. He's barely a wrestler. He's just a conceit. And the conceit of this character is what if Conan Bryan. Was possessed by a demon and decided he wanted to get a job in professional wrestling. That's the conceit. He's like mildly neurotic. He's a demon, but he's not like an evil demon. He's like a very nice, very evil demon. And what he really wants is to acquire a lot of human money. And he talks about human money and he would like to win a championship because that sort of validation is very important to him. Does do no. And I can't explain. It's fucking hysterical and delightful and it shouldn't work. And yet it does. And I just. As a piece of wrestling will sometimes do that opera Bufa style of wrestling where it's like wrestling, except that like normally. Well, I mean, it's not true. Normally you need a straight man. So for Dan Housen, the entire WWE is the straight man, right? Right. He's joking on that. And he is just there and it's amazing. And I love it. I'm and if I hear your children, your boy, especially your boys are like vaguely into wrestling, roll with it and introduce
Mike00:05:40them to Dan Housen because I am now a fan Housen. Oh boy. He looks, he looks like one of those like late era members of kiss, like not one of the originals, but, but like one of the replacements, uh, you know, for. For Darren, Chris or something where like, uh, he's got like the clown makeup sort of thing or like the phantom demon makeup, he looks like a, it's like a Japanese demon,
Sonny00:06:08like a, like a, uh, I don't know what those are called, but yeah, I know. I know what
JVL00:06:13you mean. Yeah. During, during, uh, during COVID he would do these YouTube stream from his basement. Okay. Because he was not with WWE. He was just with like, you know, a lot of, you know, Ohio indie wrestling or something. Sure. They weren't doing anything because it was COVID to just like set up his phone and stream these bits where he's like going through pro wrestling magazine rankings and being like, why, why am I not here? I should be number one. No, but it's again, it shouldn't be funny, but boy, is it? Yeah. It's just,
Mike00:06:49it's, it's, it is like taking the camp of wrestling to it's like logical conclusion.
JVL00:06:54Yes, it is. But also with, he's clearly a funny guy, you know, like, like a guy with a lot of personalities, very quick on his feet. And so it is, it's just great. It has brought me a little bit of joy. That is my gift to you. How are you gentlemen? Uh, fine.
Sonny00:07:12Uh, Sonny, what's going on? You know, my kids, my kids are not super into wrestling except for the fact that we, we watched one Royal rumble one time. It happened to be on, it happened to be on at the pizza place. We were having dinner at one night and the kids were like, we want to keep watching this. And I was like, I don't want to stay here for another two hours. Um, uh, so we can watch it invested in wrestling. We'll watch it back at the house. And they, they watched the whole thing. They w it was like the actual Royal rumble, like the actual, you know, battle Royale where people come into the ring and you toss them every two minutes. And they were, they were very, they were very into it. They have never to watch wrestling again, but they will, but they will occasionally once a month, maybe mention the fact that they watched that one time. Right. And I've always, I'm I've never in sometimes it's because like John Cena will be on TV and he was one of the last guys that entered, you know, watching peacemaker with your children. I was watching, I was watching, uh, Ricky, Ricky Stinicki or whatever that was. What was that thing where he's like the, um, but it was, uh, it was. It's it's very funny. They will just occasionally be like, remember when we watched that wrestling show? And I was like, yeah, the, the Royal rumble. Yeah. But they never, they never follow that up with, can we watch another one? It's just like, remember that time? And I'm, I'm always like, if they ask to watch it, uh, more wrestling, I would probably do it because like, what I, what else, what else am I gonna watch with my kids? This fucking builder guy. What's his name? Who's this builder? What's that? Bob, the builder. No, not Bob, the builder. I don't know. The guy, the YouTube guy, Mark, Mark, uh, Mark Rober, Rober, Mark, Robert, Robert. They, they love Mark Robert. I mean, he's fine. He's, he's totally, we discussed this. I mean, you and I, as far as, as far as like YouTube things go, he's totally fine, but like it was, uh, but at a certain point you've reached saturation on Mark Rober, but yeah. So you, I mean, again, it's, it's not my, we have a very strict, no YouTube policy in the house, but that's on Netflix. So that's how they get around it. Uh, anyway, we used that. I haven't, I will my, my, well, and another fun, just another little story about my kids. My, uh, son's best friend had his tonsils out this, this last week. And so we, I, I took him over there to hang out with him to, you know, help him feel better or whatever. Sure. Took my son over there to, to, to help him feel better. Um, but when I picked him up, the first thing he said to me was, guess what, dad, we watched booba. And I have a very strict, no booba policy in the house. Booba is like, it's booba is like this. It's this, it's like a step above cocoa melon. It's like this silent, ridiculous character who goes around doing dumb things. I, I, I can't describe it any better than that, but I have a very strict, no booba policy in the household because I, I have a rule. I've told you guys my rule that like, if you want to watch something, it has to have a beginning and an end and there has to be a story. There has to be dialogue.
JVL00:10:26Oh, how interesting that the guy who likes to champion spectacle and you're here for the journey. It doesn't need to, art does not require a plot. That is what the burgers demand. No, that's not, that's not. The few little babbits who want your first, second and third act. The artistes can have anything. First of all, you have to know the rules.
Sonny00:10:52You need to know the rules to be able to reject them. You must know the rules to be able to reject them. And this is what I demand of my children. First, they must learn the rules. Then they can reject them. Then they can break them. Um, no David Lynch for you. We'll come back. We'll come back to this during Devil Wears Prada. Um, the, uh, the, the, anyway, uh, so what, what's going on? So my wife has been out of town. This week has been, this week is just a monumentally shitty week for me. The kids have been watching YouTube. My wife has been, my wife has been out of town, uh, basically since Friday. So Friday, Friday, Saturday, she was camping with my daughter. So it was just me and my son. Then she, she came home for like 12 hours and then left again to go, uh, for a week's work trip. She will get back tonight. We're taping this on Thursday. She'll get, she'll get back tonight. So like, it's been a lot of, it's been a lot of me just taking the kids everywhere. It's totally, I like, wasn't able to go see the Devil Wears Prada two to review it. Uh, so my newsletter will not have a review this week, which is a real problem for me personally,
JVL00:11:56but this is why I, how are you getting by not having gotten to be able to see that? It's
Sonny00:12:01a real, it's a real problem. But I, so the way, the way that I, the way that I, uh, handle this at home is to watch all of the, the movies that have piled up that I've purchased, but not yet watched. There's, I have a whole shelf of those and, and, uh, and I've been working my way through. Um, through that, the, the one I watched two nights ago is, is I'm sure a favorite of many of our listeners and, and also us here, master and commander far side of the world. Just one of the, one of the best, but I, I find this movie, I find this movie fascinating, not as a movie qua movie, like as a, it's a really good movie. It's really entertaining. I like Peter Weir. I like Russell Crowe. This is like Russell Crowe at the tail end of the height of his powers, right? So this comes out in. 2003 or so. And it is, uh, Russell Crowe, but not fat Russell Crowe. Well, he's like, he's like post he's post physical peak in gladiator. Right. But he hasn't, he hasn't gone fully the other way yet anyway. Um, uh, so I like, I like this movie a lot, but it's fascinating cause it's one of those movies that has, has like attained meme status in, in the world of film Twitter. It's, it is like, it is kind of like heat or Miami vice in that it is, oh, it is there. It is one of those movies that everybody that is in the kind of like bubble of social media film people recognize and like get very performatively excited about sure. The best way to put it. So like they will, you know, if you just put oceans, oceans are now battlefields on the, on the, uh, you just tweet that, just tweet that line. Oceans are now battlefield. People
JVL00:13:50go, they're like, oh my God, master commander. I don't think I've ever heard a single person
Sonny00:13:55discuss that movie. It is. Well, it's you will move in very different circles. We move in very different circles. Um, but the, uh, but so anyway, so, uh, I mentioned this because it's very, it's very strange that this movie in particular does that because like, this is not a movie theoretically that should appeal to the kind of target demographic of film Twitter, which is like, you know, a little bit younger. Millennial Gen Z, like even into general, like it's, it's, uh, but it's, it's, I think, I think it is so aggressively masculine that it, it overwhelms. And this is the same reason a lot of the Michael Mann stuff works, but it's like so aggressively movie about the
JVL00:14:39British Navy, rum, sodomy, and the lash is aggressively masculine. It's not, there's
Sonny00:14:45no, there's no sodomy. They very, they very explicitly avoid any of the sodomy in this film. All right. This isn't Salo a hundred days, 120 days. Anyway. Um, but the, but it's, it's a mo it's, what is it? It's a movie about like, it's a movie about duty and sacrifice and honor. Right. But also like war and like cannons, but it's also got like Paul Bettany going around picking up bugs. Like what do, what do, uh, like young men like more than looking at bugs? Right. It's got, uh, and then, and then like the movie, and then like every 20 minutes or so you have Russell Crowe getting shit based in the belly of the ship with his bros. They're like having pun competitions. It's like, it is the, it's like the most dudes rock movie that exists. It's like, this is like, yes, but there, there are literally zero, like people talk about the Bechdel test, Bechdel test, nonsense thing, but like people talk about the Bechdel test and this is a movie that's so ab so like aggressively fails the Bechdel test that there is literally one, one female character in the film. And it's a silent native woman who like Russell Crowe kind of stares at longingly for a moment and then she's gone and that's it. That's the only woman in the entire thing. Um, so anyway, I just, I find this movie fascinating and I find more than anything else. I like response to it. Fascinating. You guys like master or
JVL00:16:10commander. I love that movie. Here's my question. Yeah. Have either of you read the Patrick O'Brien books? No. So I, uh, judging, I saw master and commander before reading any of the books and I was left very cold by it, by the, by the movie, by the movie. I feel like it was kind of neither fish nor fowl. Like at times it was intensely dramatic and high stakes and at times it was like lighthearted and funny. So I've, I've done, I've read the entire fucking series. It's great. Mm-hmm . The books are great. It's like 20 books. The books. Yeah. Yeah. I went through those things like candy. I think I probably listened to the whole series twice. Wow. Honestly. Um, the, uh, the books manage that balance so much better than the movie did tonally. Cuz the, the books are really very fun. Like the, the books have that feeling of fun more. Right. And there's almost never like an air of dread hanging over them, which there is at times in this, like at, at times in the movie, it's like, oh, it's a little tough and serious. And, uh, the books are just a fucking good dime. God, the books are so good. A more faithful adaptation of the books would have done even better, I think. And you could have done it with that cast. Paul Bettany was a perfect match run. Russell Crowe was a great casting for Lucky Jim.
Sonny00:17:43I just think I, like, I, I, I have to disagree when you say that this, this movie is not fun. I think it really captures that sense of like, I mean, maybe the book does better. I don't, I don't like, I, you know, books, books and movies, different beasts, but like the, um, but I think that this movie really captures the, like, we are having an adventure on the seas and we are going to do things and it is frequently like chummy and fun. And every once in a while, a fucking ship comes up and tries to blow us up and we have to blow that ship up first. And part of the fun is figuring out how to blow up a ship. And like, I, like I, I, I think it does a really good job of capturing that.
JVL00:18:23Yeah. I, I thought the serious moments were too serious for the rest of the movie and the books, the serious movements are really not that serious. Like it is much more of the rollick. It's just rollicking in the books. If that makes sense, it's all swashbuckling and no, no sort of swashbuckling, but also like very British kind of comedy. Right. Like really funny. Okay. The books are really, really funny. Yeah. Like Steven Maturin, who is a doctor, but is also a spy. And it's also kind of a sad sack because he's married to this girl. Who's like incredibly beautiful. And Aubrey knows that she's gonna cheat on him. And so there's this entire subplot of it, which is like a classic bro subplot of your, your best friend. Who's like, you know, like a super cool guy and smarter than you. And he's, he makes more money than you, but he's not as cool as you are. And like, he gets this girl who's like too hot. For him. And he doesn't realize that that girl is kind of, kind of, you know, kind of what is the, the Dietrich Bader say to Ron Livingston, you know, Romley, it's like, I get the feeling that she's cheating on me. Yeah. I got the feeling too, dude. I got that. I got that feeling too. It's like that. It's the books are so good. So I was just like, give one of them a try. Definitely. If you like the movie, you will go crazy for the books.
Mike00:19:43Well, the, the, the movie is like the only other place that I can recall seeing Billy Boyd of, uh, uh, of Pippin, uh, Peregrine took fame. It's like basically the last thing I remember seeing him in. That's like not Lord of the rings related, you know, like some kind of podcast or, or rewatch or something. Um, so yeah. All right. Well, uh, I kind of want to check it out. I, I want to like rewatch. I haven't
Sonny00:20:08seen him a really long, so don't rewatch it. Read the book. Okay. All right. All right. Uh, all right. I'll read one of the books. If you rewatch the movie JBL.
Mike00:20:16I would do a challenge. Um, all right. Well, let's, uh, let's regroup, uh, next time and, uh, and see how we, how we liked it. Um, all right. Uh, what's going on with me? Nobody asked. Nobody asked. Um, so we are Mike, what's going on with you? That wasn't fishing for somebody asking. I was just, I was just moving things along, uh, in the podcast. Uh, the only thing, uh, going on with me is that, uh, I am in the midst of planning or sort of we're, we're, we're past the planning stages and we're just in the midst of executing a, um, sort of last minute, uh, Memorial day weekend trip. We have like this weird situation where the schools are going to be closed the Tuesday and Wednesday after Memorial day as well. And so we have a five day weekend essentially. So like nothing, nothing like too extravagant. Um, we want to visit my brother in Philadelphia and, uh, and then we are going to, we're going to try, uh, Hershey park in, uh, in, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Yes. Uh, and, uh, we're just, we have this experience where, uh, my wife and I are like, oh yeah, like I think, you know, we could try that. I think it would be fun to try, you know, try to get the kids to see some place that they've got friends who have been to, you know, they've been to this. It's not very far from where we live in Northern Virginia. And, uh, but we have this problem, like our oldest is not into rollercoasters and like, you know, I took him to universal. He really didn't wanna ride a lot of the rollercoasters there. Um, and, uh, you know, when we, we've been to a couple of other theme parks, uh, and it's, it's always the same thing. We went to Dollywood a few years ago for spring break and like nothing. So, um, so I sort of like, we made the decision to go, but we, we sort of like let the kids know. And my 11 year old just sort of did this. I'm not gonna ride anything. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't like rollercoasters. I'm not gonna ride anything. And I, my middle son, my eight year old is like kind of the same way about rollercoasters. But as soon as he clocked that his older brother was like, was like, uh, no, that's too scary. That's that's that's I'm, I'm afraid of that. I don't wanna ride that. Like he was immediately like, oh, I'll ride that. Oh, I'll, I, I, oh, I definitely, and then, and you know, my 11 year old's like, I don't, why are we going to this? I don't wanna go to this. And my eight year old's like, it's like his, his ears perked up and he's like, this is gonna be the best vacation ever. This is gonna be so much fun. I can't wait to ride the log flume, all this stuff. It's just, it's, it's, uh, it's just a very funny slice into like the, the, the inter sibling dynamics where like you've all of a sudden you've got like, uh, an opening to kind of, I don't even know, like it doesn't matter to me, you know, like I'm not, I don't have children more or less of whether they wanna, you know, ride roller coasters. Uh, when we go to this theme park and, and do all this, and there's other stuff to do, uh, should, but maybe I should judge them. Um, but like, it's like, it's like he sensed an opportunity to be like, ooh, I can like, I can better my, my sibling. And it's just, you know, it's an, it's an interesting dynamic. It's an interesting, uh, I don't know, the group psychology kind of moment. So that's all that's going on. So we're, we're any, any advice, uh, JV?
JVL00:23:44Never. In fact, I was just, just looking at their website to see what they have, to see what the, and they really hide the football and what the rides are.
Mike00:23:55They do, but it's, it's pretty well regarded on roller coasters. It's, um, it's got like
JVL00:24:01balloon flight, a lot of water park, huge water park.
Mike00:24:04So it has this warm enough. It has this water park. It may or may not be warm enough, but it's like, it's free to get into. Um, and, uh, it's also cholera. They don't charge. Exactly. Exactly. Um, and they've also got this like free zoo. I like, it's just like, there's kind of like a lot of stuff going on in, in this little, it's the whole idea by the way of like a, of like a theme park. That's like based, it's like independent, right? It's like not owned by, uh, you know, it's not independent in the sense that it's owned by Hershey, but it's just not like a small company. Yes. They have, if he doesn't
JVL00:24:38want to do roller coasters, that's fine. They have a ride called granny bugs where you, you get you and one of your friends can sit next to each other in a little lady bug. That's a grandma lady bug. If that's more his speed, that's fine. Or maybe he'd like to do interpretive dance and go see a Broadway show.
Mike00:24:57But this, this, this is like, this does not have the intended effect that you're, you're suggesting. Like he'd be like, yeah, I will. I will ride the lady bugs. Cause I'm not, I'm not getting on that death trap. You know, like that's like his, his mind.
JVL00:25:11Okay. I, I, I was just saying, I am kidding because I would not fucking touch rollercoaster. I would say you're not a rollercoaster person. Yeah. I was like 20 before I could set foot on a rollercoaster. Um, no, I I'm looking, this
Mike00:25:22is pretty good, man. It's, it's actually pretty good. It's like affordable. And anyway, so
JVL00:25:27it's like one of these things are, yeah. Anyway, so water park in particular looks really good.
Mike00:25:31Yes, it is. Um, I, I did see, uh, in my, in the course of my research, uh, I think it was last year, a couple of years ago, uh, the park had its first, uh, death on, uh, on, on site since like the seventies. And it was like a little, it was like a, not a little girl, a young girl in the wave pool. Um, but it's like, you know, yeah, it's wave pools, not wave pools. Yeah. And like she was, she wasn't even there with her parents. She was like with a friend and, and it's like, oh, yeah, anyway, but like it's it, the water park is very well regarded. The zoos seems to be well regarded and it's good for, uh, and, and we're at the point now where my kids are old enough that if I want to go ride a roller coaster by myself, cuz nobody else will, like, I can just be like, that's what
JVL00:26:17I'm doing. I'm getting in line. I'm going on. You guys go throw a candy from a stranger. I gotta say, look, they've got a total world and that's all that really matters. You like the total world. Oh, I love the total world. Especially trying to figure out the physics we're getting or like, so where do we want the heaviest person? Where are we gonna ourselves
Mike00:26:33to get the best revolutions and feel those G forces? I love the total world. Oh, all
JVL00:26:39right. Uh, so, so I, the feeling of agency, the total world gives you.
Sonny00:26:42Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, which one is the tilt world? It's the, that's the one where
Mike00:26:47you're in. Like, am I, is that the one where you're standing against the wall? No, no, no. It's like you're in a little half cup and there's usually like three of them grouped together. And then those three scrambler, you know, think of the scrambler, the tilt
JVL00:27:00world is these little cups on an undulating circle track. Yeah. That's what I was thinking. And the cups themselves spin. Yeah. The cups spin. They're being pulled around this circle traffic track and it's undulating. And depending on the weight in the car distribution, how you get yourself swinging, you can spin really, really, really fast. Yeah. You've got like
Mike00:27:21a wobbling disc and then you're spinning in the thing and it's, yeah, it's a, it, it, what it really all brings me back to though, is that rollercoaster tycoon, which is a fantastic game that I wish, you know, I had, you know, I wish I could go back 25 years and just play
JVL00:27:36rollercoaster tycoon instead of, instead of this. You can download that for the switch.
Mike00:27:42I'm sure, I'm sure you can. And, and I will play it in all of the free time that I have.
Sonny00:27:47Yeah. Well that's, man, I tell you, I've got, I've got a, I have several PlayStation games just sitting on my little TV stand area. And I look at them sometimes and I'm like, man, I'd really like to play you, but, uh, I have zero fucking time. Oh yeah. They're beckoning
Mike00:28:11to you.
Sonny00:28:12They're not even welcome to parenthood. I mean, like it's, it's, uh, I, it's not even the, the one I have right now that is staring at me is, is not even a new game. It's the, the last of us part two. Like I, I, I got it for like 20 bucks at Christmas and I was like, ah, I want to, I'm going to play this. I'm going to play this before the next. And I just don't have any, I don't have any time. There's no time.
Mike00:28:35All right. Well, speaking of time, we should move on. I got to watch master and commander. Yeah. Well master and commander. And, uh, uh, I mean, well, we'll get to the movie that we watched, which was also kind of from that era, uh, a couple of years later after that, but first let's do some box office talk. Number one at the box office this week, we discussed it briefly last week, Michael, $97 million.
Sonny00:29:03Yeah. Michael part one, his story continues. I mean, it did so well. Surely they will want
JVL00:29:10to do a sequel.
Mike00:29:11They've already green, let it, why not break it into three parts? You know, we'll get through like history through, you know, 2003, we'll end with him holding, holding, uh, the baby
Sonny00:29:24out of the, out of the balcony. And then I honestly, like, I honestly wonder how far they could stretch. They could stretch it with like a triumphant, like him planning his triumphant return at the O2 stadium. And then he like, tragically just happens to pass away in his sleep. It's like he, he, he, he passed off, he shuffled off this mortal coil. I'm uh, look, look, I said, I said last weekend, you know, this movie was tracking at 70 million. I was like, it's gonna, it's gonna get near a hundred million because this movie is gonna do enormous business because there is an audience for it. There is, we, you know, we, they, there's an audience for it. There's an audience for it. And they, the people, the people who love Michael Jackson think he was framed by. Someone, the enemies, the, the enemies of their people. Um, I, uh, no, but it was like, this is, this was always, to me, this was always very obviously going to be a hit and any consternation around it was going to fly in the face of, you know, uh, the, the massive appeal of this thing. Michael Jackson remains an enormous pop star. Like it, he is like genuinely still beloved. It's, it is just. It's just, and this movie hasn't even opened yet in Japan and some of the other Asian, like this movie, this movie is going to do $250 million in Japan. Like it's going to do an enormous amount of money in Japan. Japanese people love Michael Jackson. Anyway, uh,
Mike00:30:56question question about that is great question. And it's a good question. One, I don't think we have the time or the, uh, yeah, that's you. We do a whole episode on that. Um, but I do have a question about like the cultural footprint of Michael Jackson. Now in 2026, because, uh, you know, the kind of thing where, you know, in my life, Michael Jackson was just always there, you know, and like, you know, I remember I re for, you know, where he really kind of became a part of my life was when he did the song from the movie free Willy. Um, and the, the music video for that song w in which he sings is at the beginning of the VHS for that movie. Uh, and so every time we would watch it, which we watched it a lot because we had that movie, uh, on VHS, like it would be like a Michael Jackson music video where he's like singing, you know, uh, what was the name of that song? It's like, would you be there or something? Um, but like, he's just always been there and, and, and there are obviously people now who are adults who, you know, young, younger adults who only know Mike, like to the extent they even experienced Michael Jackson, it was like he was already dead, uh, by the time they were sort of like aware of, of who he was. And so like, I see a lot like on social media, like going back and like, it's almost like people are like rediscovering like the Jackson five and like that era of Michael Jackson, like that, that, you know, like, God, she was this cute little kid, you know,
Sonny00:32:22Thriller this week was number five on like the music charts because of like everybody's streaming it. Like it, it, I, I really, again, Michael Jackson was so big that even after being very credibly accused of. Sexually assaulting young children over a period of years, years, he would have sold out the O2 stadium for months on end. Like I, like that is how big he was. So I, I don't know. I like it. It's he's just, and like the simple fact of the matter is the music fucking rocks. Like I I'm sorry. Thriller is an amazing album. The, the Jackson five stuff. You hear it all the time. You hear it at weddings. You hear it on, uh, in jingles like, I want you back. It rocks. It rocks. Like he's, he's, he, he was a unit. He was a unique talent and sometimes talent will out. It does. It doesn't matter what else
JVL00:33:24you know, you know, Sonny, there's that scene in dark night rises where commissioner Gordon is saying, you know, there, some people think that Roosevelt knew about Pearl Harbor and chose not to say anything. It's just, it's too big. You can't judge them. Right. Maybe it's like that. That's that's yeah. Same, same. Okay. FDR, his, his, look,
Sonny00:33:46Michael Jackson's father was very mean to him and that excuses everything else that happened. So that, that's what it boils down to, uh, speaking of thriller, um, the weakest
Mike00:33:56song on that album is definitely the girl is mine, right? Are we, are we in agreement with that? The, the Paul McCartney duo, it's like, it almost feels like it doesn't, it does not belong on the rest of the album. Paul McCartney is a fraud. He's not a fraud. He's, he's a genius. It's just, he was, he
Sonny00:34:14was out of his element and that he was, he's definitely the second or third most talented boy bander of all time out of that group. Yes. That's one, you know, after, after Lennon
Mike00:34:25and then Harrison. All right. Okay. Uh, any other box office thoughts? Super, super Mario galaxy movies. Number two, project Hail Mary. Number three, that's, that's everything's holding, holding steady here. Uh, besides, besides Michael. All right. Well, let's move on because we need to talk about the OG movie that has spawned a sequel 20 years later. Uh, that is coming out next week. The devil wears Prada two is coming to theaters and we watched this week. The devil wears Prada, the original movie. Sonny, you want to give us a review of the devil wears Prada starring, uh,
Sonny00:35:07Well, you go right ahead. The devil wears Prada, 2006 film starring Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, who is a very thinly disguised, a stand in for what's her name from Anna Wintour. Anna Wintour. Um, uh, she is the boss of runway magazine and she's trying to hire a new assistant who is going to be Andy, uh, played by Anne Hathaway. And she shows up there and she's like, I don't even know what runway is. Oh, what's this dumb fashion magazine. If I don't work here, I'll have to go back to my rich parents and live with them and do journalism somewhere. That's not New York city, I guess. So it is, um, uh, that's, that's the basic setup. It's a fascinating film, uh, this movie, because on the one hand, you know, it, it, it has all the signifiers of chick flick, right? It has, it has a girl in the big city that who she's struggling to get along and she literally a Hallmark movie. What's that? It's literally a Hallmark movie. It's literally, it's almost literally a Hallmark movie, but it transcends all of this in part because of just the talent of the cast, right? Like Meryl Streep and Hathaway, uh, Emily Blunt in one of her first big roles as her, as the competing assistant with, for Andy, the girl who was training Andy to do her job, Stanley uh, sort of a mentor. Yeah. Like a man. Well, I'm going to get to this in a second, but the, but the, the cast is, the cast is amazing. Um, uh, just a, just a really like Simon Baker who would go on to like, uh, be the star of what was, he was the mentalist. Is that right? Like the mentalist was on TV for like 10 years, like hit CBS show for like 10 years. Anyway, great cast. But the, the reason this movie transcends this, this, you know, very, very basic hallmarky, uh, thing is because it's not, it's not, it's not just, it's not just a chick flick. It's also like a very interesting movie about the business of fashion. Right. And, and it does the thing that all such all movies like this need to do whatever industry it's actually about. It teaches you why it's a universal thing. Right. So like, there's this great sequence where Miranda Priestly is, you know, uh, kind of making fun of Andy, his ignorance of the whole fashion history of history of like the color of the sweater she's wearing. Um, which as, as, as a friend of mine noted, it's very funny. It's, it's very funny that like the first third of this movie is about how Anne Hathaway looks ugly in a sweater,
Mike00:37:52which just like, Oh, Oh, not just ugly fat. Yes. Multiple characters call Anne Hathaway fat.
Sonny00:38:01There's, there's, there's this, there's this insane running subplot where she is like routinely fat, which just like, again, you know, the reason this movie works is because it's actually a sports movie. This, this movie is a sports movie. You have, you have the, you have the talented newcomer who is totally green, doesn't understand the league. Uh, you have the veteran, uh, Nigel who takes her under her wing. She has to learn the ropes. It's, it's even like the film is even kind of like a regular season, right? She, she, she has like regular season games. This is any given
JVL00:38:40Sunday, aren't you? What's that? You're saying that this is actually any given Sunday or, or we
Sonny00:38:46can, we can go several different ways. The Jamie Foxx characters. Yes, sure. Sure. This, that, that'll work. Uh, that'll, or Hoosiers or there's all sorts of other, there's all sorts of things, but like, it's even structured. Like she's got the regular season where she's learning how to like answer phones and do very basic things in the office. And to be Miranda's assistant, she exceeds at that. Then there's like the first round of playoffs, which is that big party that she goes to. And she remembers the names. She outshines Emily Blunt's assistant. And then she gets to go to Paris, which is the championship game. Um, the, the, the structure of it, but it also just like, it's a training montage too, by the way, there's a train, there's absolutely a training montage where she gets her uniform, where she gets her uniform of like, look at me being a hot, hot fashion, bitch. Like there's that, there's that whole sequence. And, but there's also like, for instance, there, Adrian Grenier plays, uh, Nate, who is the equipment. It's like a gender swap sports movie. Again, he is the wet blanket girlfriend in all of these sports movies. There's the wet blanket girlfriend. Who's like, you can't do it. You have to give up. You're not good enough. He like Rocky three, he's going to kill you rock. He's going to kill you. That's what he's saying to her about Miranda Priestly all the time. Uh, uh, and like, even like, even like, uh, what's his name? Rich summer, the guy from mad men. Right. So there's this, like, there's this, there's this supporting character in the movie who in, again, in a sports movie, there's always, or there is often this like, uh, character who unexpectedly knows lots about the sport in question. Right. So it's usually a girl because like, it's a baseball movie. I'm like, Oh, this girl knows like, no, in 1989, like, Oh, well, how weird is that? And he plays that character, except it's about fashion. He's like, Oh, you're going to see, I don't, I don't know. You're going to see all the, all the stars at Paris and you're going to, and, and his, his, I guess, girlfriend, I guess, is
Mike00:40:47that, is, I think they're just friends. Cause they're just friends. I think his friend is
Sonny00:40:51like, now I'm worried about you because again, it's like, it's, it is a sports movie. It's a sports movie. And this is why it appealed. This is why it is so appealing on so many levels to the extent that it was the number one, most rewatchable movie. Uh, picked by Bill Simmons of movies released since 2000 of, of the, of movies in the two thousands and beyond number one, most rewatchable movie, according to Bill Simmons, the sports guy is double wears Prada. So I like, I, I defy anyone. It's, it just, it like, it's also just funny and it's good and it's got really nice performances and it, it has very many attractive young women in very nice clothes. Uh, I like the whole thing is delightful though. The whole thing is I reject the idea that this is some sort of throwaway chick flick. It's a, it's a, it's a very fun, great entertaining movie that can be enjoyed by men and women of all ages. There you go. It's also got Giselle, uh, in it, got Giselle Giselle's in it for, for
Mike00:41:53a minute. Uh, JVL, what are your thoughts on the devil wears product sports movie or
JVL00:41:59no. So I love the idea of a sports movie, Sonny, one of your best takes. Um, I hate devil wears Prada and I hate it for, for a very specific non movie reason. I hate it because it perpetuates the myth of the genius asshole that, you know, so Anna Wintour is just, she is a tyrant and she's constantly ripping everything up from one day to the next and spending insane levels of resources. And this is not a mark of somebody who was out of control and doesn't know how to manage her time or how to manage a business. This is a mark of her true genius because you see nobody could possibly put together a fucking monthly magazine if they didn't rip up the entire book every single night. And this is somebody who has now run a publication. I can tell you this is not how good publications are run. And the fact that Anna Wintour existed and she is, it isn't just her, it is, uh, Tina Brown, Anna Wintour and Tina Brown and Graydon Carter are all the same people. Right. And the, the reality, the economic reality is that it was only the economics of that era, late eighties through late nineties, glossy magazine journalism that made it possible for assholes like that. That to survive because there was so much money so raining down from the heavens, the advertising people that they could simply fuck up and waste money constantly and get away with it. It isn't that they were making money because they were so smart. They were making money in spite of how fucking stupid and inefficient they were. And they cultivated these personas as a way of insulating themselves and deflecting any criticisms. And I could offer any number of examples like this, like for instance, the minute the economic situation changed and Tina Brown decided to go and try to run a magazine and in the real economy, it fucking failed. After 16 months, 14 months, talk magazine went belly up, uh, Graydon Carter, his fucking airmail piece of shit. Publication, which my magazine does, uh, like 50 X the revenue of, um, he had to get bailed out and, and wind up merging with puck. I mean, this is again, the minute these people had contact with the actual business economy, they fucking folded. Yeah. And I, I really resent the entire idea that to be successful, you have to be an eccentric radical genius who treats the entire world like shit and changes your mind every 30 seconds, because that's not the reality. That's not a bill. Crystal did not run the weekly standard like that. Right? And I, you can be a normal competent professional with very high standards and a very clear idea of what you want to do and not treat everybody around you like shit. You can do that.
Sonny00:45:34You simply choose to be a monster. Yeah. But think about how much more fun it is to be a monster. Is it? No, no, it's not. It's a lot. It's a lot. It makes for a lot more fun
Mike00:45:45movie. It makes for a lot more fun movie. Yeah. But here's the thing JVL. I don't you think the movie doesn't, I mean, okay. On, on the service at a, at a certain level and, and the effect of it, right? Like the, the, the, the way that people sort of, you know, use Miranda Priestly quotes approvingly, all this stuff on the service level, the effect is that. She's cool and great, but the movie itself really kind of cuts against the image that she's like, you know, invulnerable and like, and at the end she just basically kind of screws over the people who have given their lives to her in order to keep winning. And
JVL00:46:22it, in a way it kind of is playing five D chess. No, no, but this is, I don't think
Mike00:46:27so. I think the movie kind of takes a, takes a, does not like her in what she does to go,
Sonny00:46:34to go back to the sports metaphor here, the, the final game, the final fight, the final bout is Andy versus Miranda. It's, it's a battle for Andy soul, right? Does Andy wants to be like Miranda and do the things that screw over her friends and allies to secure her place? Or does she want to go work at the New York sun and, and, you know, and save her soul and do things that are more. And that the, the, again, the, the winning play for her is to leave, is to reject Miranda and all her works.
JVL00:47:11That's the Hallmark movie answer, right? The Hallmark movie answer is you win by losing sports. Answer is you win by winning. I don't think she wins. I don't think Miranda wins. I think she's no, I, I think, well, I, well, I'm, I'm just saying as a matter of, I hate all of these people. Sure. I resent them in that. Uh, the real Anna Wintour and the real Graydon Carter and the real Tina Brown were like homeless people standing outside the subway, selling umbrellas in the middle of a pouring thunderstorm that came out of nowhere, but yet believing because they were selling all of these umbrellas that they were Ray Kroc and they had just invented some unbelievably awesome new form of business and had created an entire industry through their genius and not, you were just at this one moment of time. And in fact, your excesses are what fucked up journalism for all the rest of us who came after you.
Mike00:48:17Well, I mean, newsflash undeserving people reap the, the benefits and riches, uh, uh,
JVL00:48:23you know, on, on, in, in an unfair world, like that's, that's, that's, that's the life we live. I'd say the other thing is, so this movie came out roughly the same time the book came out. Same time as the hunger games. And there is this weird juxtaposition of the excesses of the capital in the hunger game series, right? Where all of these decadent elites are like clearly the bad guys with this, with the decadent elites. We're not going to say they're good guys exactly, but look how glamorous they are. Look how awesome it is, right? Sure. She'll, she'll reject them and she'll settle down for a nice, normal boyfriend at the end, but they are really awesome, right? When again, the, the rational thing would be, look at this rot in this civilization. It must be burned.
Mike00:49:25Where's Ra's al Ghul?
JVL00:49:27Where's Ra's al Ghul?
Sonny00:49:29This also came out around the same time as Batman Begins. That's right.
JVL00:49:33A year after. The fucking fire. There, that's what I have to say about this fucking movie.
Mike00:49:39So I, you know, I, I think in a weird way, the movie is, is a little schizophrenic on, on those questions. I, I, I, I feel like I've said my piece about what the movie does with Miranda at the end. Like I do think they make her, I mean, she's getting divorced again, right? She is clearly like, there's that whole scene in the hotel room in, in Paris where she's like cries, you know? And, and I think maybe the, the sort of surface level response to that is like, oh, she's human. She's not, maybe she's not the devil, but actually I just, what I take away from is, oh, she's actually a sad, pathetic person with no soul. And like, that's what Andy needs to see to be like, I don't need this. Um, but I do think the movie, the movie also puts some pressure on Andy, particularly at the beginning to sort of grow up a little bit and the movie kind of. The movie really likes the whole, this stuff, uh, uh, monologue that, that Miranda Priestly gives, right? Like where she kind of walks through like this thing that you think you are above actually you're not. And she's kind of, she's very right about that. Like that monologue, I think maybe JVL, you won't agree, but like suddenly like she's basically right. Like all of the jobs that, that come from all of these levels of, uh, of, of where the fashion industry and you know, yes, she sits at the top and they, they make. They make the decisions and that's maybe, uh, not right or unfair, but it's just the reality, uh, as, as they're living it. And, and Andy sort of needs a little, like, you know, it's not, you know, the world is not Northwestern's campus and you are the, you know, you're just gonna go out there and, and take the world by the horns. Like you gotta, you gotta learn a thing or two. And I think in the end, the movie, like both admires and despises Miranda Priestly. And it, it, in that way it like. It doesn't feel complete on a deeper level, on a surface level.
JVL00:51:38It's just a fun movie. I agree. It should only despise her. It should only despise her. Where's Mugato? Mugato could fit seamlessly in this world because he's in on the joke. Yeah.
Mike00:51:48Yeah. Yeah.
JVL00:51:50Yeah. Yeah.
Sonny00:51:52I can see that. I, uh. Sonny, your thoughts. No, no, I just, I like, again, I do like, I do like the, the way it treats fashion as a thing worthy of at least consideration. And discussion, right? Like there is, there is an element of like, everybody wants to think they're better than thinking about how they dress. But the truth of the matter is that like dressing for success is a real thing. And like, uh, there, there isn't, there is, I'm sitting in a tank top. I'm doing okay. Yeah. Well, this is, you know, we, we have very, uh, degenerate lives.
Mike00:52:28We are in no way models.
Sonny00:52:30We're not representative of the, the, the, uh. Uh, general population. It is also a funny, it is a funny journalism movie in the sense of like, it's this moment right before smartphones, uh, hit. It's it's this moment.
Mike00:52:46Got a really annoying, uh, ringtone, uh, throughout this, right? It's so loud.
Sonny00:52:51It's real. That's real Pavlov. It's like Pavlov Pavlovian by the end of the movie for the, for the viewer, like hearing it was like, ah, uh, but the, um, but it's also got like, it's also got this kind of Oliver Hitchens character who just kind of gallivants around the Simon Baker, uh, you know, freelance writer who just kind of gallivants around the world, like occasionally writing something and probably getting $25,000 for it. And like, you know, uh, and, and that is, that is a person who I guess still exists if your name is Michael Lewis, but like outside of that world, like very not even, not even like, yeah.
JVL00:53:30I mean, like he does that anymore.
Mike00:53:31It was funny because we were watching. It and my wife has seen it a gazillion times. Uh, and she said, uh, she was like, so on the one hand, uh, Andy knows what's the guy's name? Christian Christian is the writer. She's uh, she's like, he, she's very familiar with him and his work, but he also seems to be like in the fashion world on the, on the bubbles, but like she, she doesn't know anything about fashion journalism and th th and, and I was like, well, he's like a, as you just said, he's sort of like, he's gallivanting around from topic to topic. He's a feature writer.
Sonny00:54:07I mean, again, it's, it's Hitchens, right? Like Hitchens would write vanity fair. He'd be in vanity fair one month. He'd be in GQ the next he'd be in the weekly standard with a book review like two weeks later. Like he was just everywhere. And that's, that's what he is.
Mike00:54:23Those were the days.
JVL00:54:24I, can we just take a moment here to, to really bring home for people what the excesses of that era looked like. So, uh, Famously, I believe it was Vogue. It's possible that I'm mixing it up with one of the other glosses, but I leave, believe it was Vogue where when tour did not like her employees to be seen carrying luggage through airports when they traveled. And so the directive was you FedEx to your baggage ahead of you when you traveled for work so that you simply walked through the airport with your purse arrived at your hotel and your luggage was waiting for you there.
Sonny00:55:06Because you overnighted it at $200 a bag.
JVL00:55:10That's yeah. Can you fucking believe it? This is Tina Brown. When she launched talk, rented out Ellis Island for the premier party. Why to create buzz? Because buzz was the moment where Tina Brown held a party early on in the talk days. In which the party was at her New York place and what she did was she hired movers to come in, take out all of the furniture from her house, put it in a truck and just drive the truck around the city for hours and hours and hours on end until the party was over. At which point they could come back and put all of her furniture back.
Sonny00:55:57Yeah, that makes sense.
JVL00:55:58And this was paid for by the magazine she worked for at the time. Sure. She was either talker or the New Yorker. You look at this and again, it is no wonder that these people ruined the entire business of journalism for us. Yeah. Thanks guys. Thanks boomers.
Sonny00:56:16Talk is a fascinating thing too because that's the one that was owned by Disney, right? It was like Disney and there was like a Miramax Weinstein connection. It was Hearst too. This is covered in several of the books I have read about the Weinsteins, but like the
JVL00:56:38I was offered a job at talk.
Sonny00:56:41Why didn't you take it? You could have worked there for 14 months.
JVL00:56:43It would have been, you know, amazing, but the, uh, that's all I have a long story about that.
Sonny00:56:48Tell you sometime. Yeah.
Mike00:56:50Anyway, I like I, the, the whole thing is, can we go back to the, to the movie a second? Because there are a few Sonny, you mentioned the cast in this and upon this rewatch of mine. Um, I was just really blown away. Yeah. Blown away by Emily blunt. I thought, I think she's terrific. So good. She's so good. And she's, uh, she's just like, she's sort of, you could just see, uh, you know, sort of star power and, and, and this, and she's, she's got like an interesting part too, where, you know, she is the kind of, she, she plays like the cold bitch at first, right? Like I, like I know what to do here, but there are these little moments like where I think they're, when they're walking into that, that party. Uh, and, and Anne Hathaway says something to her, like, oh, like that looks good or whatever. You look so skinny or something. And she's like, oh, thank you. And she kind of like, it's like a little facade kind of falls because she's thinking she's in her own head. It's just, I, all those like little character moments, uh, has she ever given a bad performance
JVL00:57:50in anything? I can't think Emily Blunt thing.
Mike00:57:53Yeah. No, she's, she's just so good. She's a pro. Um, she's, but my favorite Emily Blunt movie is, um, edge of tomorrow. She's she's amazing in that moment. Um, and, uh, Stanley Tucci, like I kind of was watching this, like wanting to hate this performance because it's become such a, I don't know, like it's become such a, like, uh, everybody, everybody loves like all, you know, all the women who are obsessed with the movie, you know, they love Stanley teaching all this stuff, but like, he's, he's so charming and, and fun. And, and in a way he like underplays it, like he could have overplayed the part and he underplays it and, uh, and adds this warmth to it.
Sonny00:58:32So, yeah, he's like, he's, he does, he does Tim gun at like 60% of Tim gun.
Mike00:58:37Yeah. I guess I was like waiting for Tim gun to be like, oh, wasn't he like very Tim gun and Tim gun was very annoying on that show. But like, uh, but no, it was, it was the only thing I, I, the only one I don't like is Simon Baker. Like something about that whole character, like, and also there's a weird thing, bad person. Like, yeah, I guess he's a, it's a bad person, but like there's a, there's like a, there's like a bait and switch. So, so the party that she meets Simon Baker. His character at you meet the fashion designer who is also like a good looking guy and you're led to believe that like James James Holt, you're led to believe that like, she's gonna fall in love with him and the movie kind of sets you up for it. And then it's like, there's like another guy and it was like, oh, okay, I guess we're what's what's the point of James Holt?
Sonny00:59:25The, well, I, he has to be there to, he has to be there to be the, to be shown to be subservient to Miranda. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get that. And so this is, so he is the designer who is scared of her and so scared. He screws over Stanley Tucci at the end of the film. Right. So like, that's why he's there. No, the, the, the, my big complaint about the movie is that it cheats with, it cheats with Andy in the sense of she is never really called upon to do the wrong thing. So like she flirts with, she kind of flirts with the Simon Baker character. Yeah. Christopher Hitchens character, but rejects him and doesn't sleep with him until her wet blanket boyfriend breaks up with her because she's too focused on her work. You know, you're, you're, you, you care too much about this job. You should be happier not having it. And you, you know, you should quit and you're, you, you know, you're, you're, you're failing yourself, Andy. Anyway, he's the worst, um, in this and he's play. And Adrian Grenier is such a bad actor, like he is, he is by far the weak link of the film in terms of acting the actual acting. Um, but like even, even the, the thing that Miranda points to as Andy betraying somebody is, you know, she goes to Paris instead of, uh, Emily Blunt's character and who's also named Emily, who's also named Emily. And, but in the process, as she is calling Emily to tell her that she is the one who was going to Paris, Emily gets run over by a car, one of the great, one of the great directed stunts in a movie, by the way, her doing a fucking, her stunt woman doing a cartwheel over that cab. Just, just wonderful. Uh, but like, she can't go to Paris now. She's got a broken leg. She's.
Mike01:01:12Yeah. So she doesn't even get a chance to like do the wrong thing.
Sonny01:01:14You're right. She doesn't even really get to stab Emily in the back. It is like, well, this is just how it's going to have to be. This is how it would have to be anyway, it was faded. And that is kind of how, that is kind of how the movie treats her throughout. It is, there's, there are very few occasions where she does. An actual wrong. She just, you know, kind of floats along and is presented with opportunities where the wrong thing is no longer wrong. Yeah. And it's, it's a real cheat. The movie like should have made her make some more choices, uh, in, along, along those lines to really drive home the point. But yeah.
Mike01:01:51So, so Andy and Nate, the boyfriend and the two other friends, like they're all. So first of all, this movie makes like being young. In New York look more awesome than, I don't know. It's hard to think of another movie that like makes being young in New York look fun and great. Right. They're always like going out to eat this nice restaurant with like glasses of wine and they just like live this. I don't know. It just, it just seemed like, especially to me, this, this came out when I was 18 and I think I watched it sometime in college for the first time. I was like, oh, New York looks, looks fun. Um, but they're, but like, they're all, they're all like super wealthy, right? Like. only reason they're like living there and like have these like kind of made up jobs right well
Sonny01:02:36her parents are clearly loaded like her dad's just showing up with checks and yes and it's just
Mike01:02:41like taking her to see chicago and you know yeah it it it does have a effect of like making me like just care a lot less about about them i'm like okay well they'll be fine no matter what happens
Sonny01:02:53so yeah the the the the the lady the like girl uh friend not girlfriend but you know the the lily lily who who is an artist yes who's like a conceptual artist who's like start with the photos in the back and move your way forward it's like you've never had a real job in your life totally 100 come on let's be let's be let's be real here she went to brown right she she went to
Mike01:03:16yeah right um uh bren mar maybe um all right uh any other thoughts on the devil wears prada do do we need to say anything about the the sequel like like is there is there any less necessary
Sonny01:03:30sequel than this than this movie like i don't think i don't think it's a necessary sequel at all i think there's so much to say about the world of fashion and journalism as it exists right now i'm i'm excited for it myself i'm gonna go see it it's gonna be great um maybe we'll discuss it uh we'll get your thoughts quickly on like rocky ford or rocky three if he dies he dies um all right any
Mike01:03:53other thoughts no that is all the time we're giving you this episode join us over at subbeacon.com we'll talk to you next time last thought uh great movie poster the stiletto heel with the uh with the uh the pitchfork um you know we could we used to have good movie posters in this country i uh again i just want
Sonny01:04:22to circle back to something mike mentioned very briefly which is like this whole this whole idea that anne hathaway is like some sort of tremendous oh yeah is very funny and like the she's a size six like the uh this and this came up kind of recently because she's in this new 824 movie mother mary there was this big controversy because she like she gave this interview where she was like i showed up on set for my movie and all of the models in this scene were so skinny so i had them fired and replaced with obese women and i was just like i was like did you fire yourself because you you know you're it was like it was like the opposite of of double where's prada somehow it was just like the it was the it was so bizarre i can never understand why people don't like anne hathaway i i have always been an anne hathaway defender but she is one of the most hilariously clueless people out there it's great 100 i am also an
JVL01:05:17anne hathaway defender just in terms of her talent she's a great actress she is a great great talent great talent like michael jackson sometimes you gotta be able to look past things
Sonny01:05:30I'm sure it's fine.
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