Bad Romance Podcast

This week it's a real hatefest. 1994's Threesome is one of the worst things we've had to watch for this show. Avoid at all costs. Listen to this episode, and then erase all knowledge of this film from your brain. You don't deserve to remember this.

This week both Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman return to the pod for 1995's While You Were Sleeping, a romcom about falling in love with a guy's family. It's basically the opposite of The Family Stone, which comes out 10 years later. And we've done it on the pod! Anyway, this movie is harmless and bad in all the obvious ways. At least Bill Pullman is very, very sexy.

We close out our 2018 Month of Halloween Romance with 1988's High Spirits, a wacky ghost romcom from the director of The Crying Game. Steve Guttenberg and Daryl Hannah are romantically mismatched in this "comedy" that makes light of death, depression, misogyny spousal abuse, and sexual harassment! And it underuses Jennifer Tilly! A cardinal sin!

This week Bronwyn and I uncovered a truly delightful 80s gem: 1985's Once Bitten, starring a fabulous Lauren Hutton and baby Jim Carrey. Hutton is an older vampire who needs virgin blood to maintain her youthful appearance and Carrey is a teen who can't seem to "score" with his very sweet girlfriend. Think of it as a much more sex-oriented spiritual cousin to Teen Witch and Teen Wolf, but with more unfortunately dated humor (including one scene that should probably be cut out entirely). Honestly, this is one we had fun talking about.

This week we have a strange yet familiar case: A story of a powerful woman constantly overshadowed by her male collaborator. That is the story of 2005's Bewitched both in front of and behind the camera. The uneasy collaboration between Nora Ephron and Adam McKay is much more fascinating to talk about it than it is to watch. But at least Nicole Kidman is a goddess! Also, we discuss the secret hotness of Will Ferrell (and how it does not make an appearance in this movie).

Bronwyn is back! Too bad it's for this odd dud of a film called Only You. Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei both do their signature schticks--he is a manic presence and she has her head in the clouds--failing to have chemistry but succeeding at annoying us. Bonnie Hunt deserves better. Shout out to Bonnie Hunt! We love you!

This week we're back with another religious(?) romcom--1983's Two of a Kind. Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta came together for the first time since Grease, in a romantic plot where the fate of the world hangs in the balance. That's right--the world will end if they don't fall in love. Also, Oliver Reed plays Pimp Devil.

This week, Jourdain and Kyle get morbid as they discuss 2009's The Invention of Lying, one of the most wrong-headed comedies to come out in the last 20 years. It's sexist, it's critique of religion is childish, the male cast is populated almost exclusively by creeps (on and off the screen) and it doesn't seem to have a single redeeming quality. Bingo?

This week we finally got to 2013's Baggage Claim! It's a film with a lead so awkward, we're surprised it made it into theaters at all. Paula Patton is woefully miscast, most of her love interests are duds, and it became clear about 10 minutes in that Jill Scott was the real star. Who is going to write Jill Scott a romcom???

This week Kyle Kallgren subjected us all to 2009's The Time Traveler's Wife: a film that may lead us to instate an Eric Bana ban (haha) on the show. This is a worse marriage and birth story than Breaking Dawn, and everyone owes those movies an apology.