On episode 281 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Josh Parham to review Death of a Unicorn from A24, as well as talk about their favorite comedies of the 2020s as well as their favorite comedies of the last 25 years, the first quarter of the century.

 Before getting into their thoughts on the latest release, Ryan and Josh discuss the big trailer that dropped last week for Paul Thomas Anderson’s film One Battle After Another, starting Leonardo DiCaprio. In the first glimpse of the biggest film of the director’s career, there was plenty to love as well as be cautious about in anticipation of the film’s release this coming September. After their brief thoughts on the trailer, they transition to Death of a Unicorn, which premiered earlier in the month at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival. Ryan, who reviewed the film at the festival, was mixed on it, and Josh joined him for a mixed reaction of a fascinating concept that never amounted to much in the final product. A disappointing comedy featuring a mostly wasted all-star cast.

 The conversation moves to talking about their favorite comedies of the 2020s so far, as the website and podcast will start to look at the best films of the decade so far. Films like Hundreds of Beavers, Bottoms, Anora, Benedetta, Barbie, Anora, and more. After discussing those films, they opened up the conversation to the best comedies of the last 25 years, as the team will also be taking a look at the best films of first quarter of the century. Films included in the conversation was Anchorman, A Serious Man, MacGruber, Bridesmaids, Spy, Mean Girls, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Walk Hard, Superbad, Hot Fuzz, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and plenty ore.

 

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h39m. We will be back in next week for a Oscar retrospective over the 88th Academy Awards, covering the films of 2015. Till then, let’s get into it.

 Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).