Square Enix’s games have been hit or miss for years, and now the publisher behind Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and other blockbuster RPGs says it plans to be more careful about which projects it invests in. The company expects to “recognize extraordinary losses pertaining to abandonment losses associated with its content…
There is nothing that excites me more than seeing Jonathan Frakes. Yes, that’s Riker from Star Trek: Next Gen, but it’s also JONATHAN FRAKES from Beyond Belief. My best friend and I used to sit in bed and watch Beyond Belief while eating Chicken Biscuits with squeeze cheese. We were slightly obsessed. Not with just the show and Jonathan Frakes, but also with narrator Don LaFontaine and the research work of author Robert Tralins. This was our A-Team.
The series was created by Lynn Lehman, whose only other credit was an acting role in 1976’s Guardian of the Wilderness. The show was like a mysterious puzzle for the audience. Each episode presented a collection of short stories, ranging from paranormal encounters to bizarre coincidences. Viewers were treated to tales of kids being total dicks, like pulling pranks that bordered on the supernatural, or the haunting ghost of a woman seeking revenge on her cheating husband. There were also stories of a grandma who seemed to receive visions through her garden, and others narrowly escaping tragedy thanks to what seemed like divine intervention. What made it awesome was the mix of reality and fiction – some stories were grounded in reality, while others were pure imagination, inspired by the works of Tralins and other sources. The challenge for viewers was to separate fact from fantasy.
I’ve watched TV hosts a plenty and Frakes would be in the upper echelon. Dare I say, he could carry himself in the same way that Rod Serling did. Both were captivating and charismatic on screen, drawing viewers in with their thought-provoking monologues. They made you feel like you were part of the journey they were presenting, even when the tales became haunting. Despite the eerie narratives, their presence made you feel safe and intrigued to explore the mysteries unfolding before you. And beyond their hosting skills, they’re the kind of guys you’d want to hang out with, just shooting the shit and sharing stories. I mean, you saw Frakes holding that guitar, right? Oh, we also have to mention Frakes Thoughts. Most of you likely caught wind of this from the supercut in 2019 from Zane Golia though it was thought that the earliest version of this came out in 2011. Seems right. How amazing and hilarious was that? Have you ever lost yourself in the world of professional wrestling? How much money would it take for you to spend a night in a cemetery? Can you remember the tallest man you’ve ever seen?
Alright, let’s get to the episode section of this love letter to Beyond Belief.
Episodes:
The first two episodes are from season 1, episode 2, hosted by James Brolin. While he set the stage quite nicely, it’s fair to say he paved the way for Frakes to shine even brighter in later seasons.
Let’s start with The Viewing. Adam, played by Erik Christen Olsen (name drop), is left at his parents’ funeral home for the evening and gets a persistent visitor from beyond the grave. This one always stuck with me because many of us have stories or feel like we’ve had our own brush with the supernatural. Weird happenings after someone passes that you just can’t quite explain. Now, I can’t say that I’ve ever had anything this surreal ever happen like, but I’ve heard weirder. There’s also something kind of comforting about the man coming back to make sure he is buried with something he cherishes. This one turned out to be derived from a true story. Even better, the Hannon couple were played by Ron and Clint Howard’s parents, Rance and Jean.
The next one up is Kid in the Closet. I have a feeling that several of you already know which one I’m talking about. Young Danny is convinced that a monster has been living in his closet. His mom and sister think he’s just imagining things, since monsters aren’t real, right? But his older brother Brian not only bullies him about this but also gets the neighborhood kids to bully him into oblivion as well. After getting sick of it, Danny dares his brother to go in the closet himself, and guess what, Brian disappears. Monsters hidden somewhere in the house aren’t a new trope. You’ve got fireplace goblins in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark or the coolest monster buddy, Maurice in Little Monsters. Maybe you even had your own imaginary creature living under your bed. We do not want to talk about the demon that lived in the crawlspace above Grandma’s room. As for the kid in the closet, that story was actually sorta true as well. The kid did disappear but was actually just a few blocks away at his friend’s house hiding out. There was a hidden panel that no one knew about or discovered and he took off that way. Regardless, if you would have seen this when you were a kiddo it would have turned you into a believer.
Grave Sitting (Season 2, ep 7): We’ve all experienced some kind of nighttime cemetery hijinx. Okay, I kind of broadly stroked that assumption. Mine took place in the daytime and that didn’t make it any less creepy. This one is built like an R.L. Stine or Christopher Pike novel. Dustin and Crystal are on a drive after Melissa got ditched again by Gary. Melissa, if Gary ghosts you every Friday it’s time to move on. Anyway, as they talk about Melissa’s boy problems, Crystal suddenly shouts, “CEMETERY!” Dustin then goes on to tell the tale of Wilbur Lister, a serial killer who murdered 22 teen girls and buried them under his house. He then goes further to challenge Melissa to go out into the cemetery to hang out with the grave of Wilbur for a couple of hours and when she’s done to plunge the knife into the grave. Guess he had a random carving knife on him? While Dustin and Crystal use this opportunity to begin a heavy petting session, Melissa starts hearing noises. No, it’s not Dustin. He’s sucking Crystal’s entire face off. Melissa winds up stabbing the knife into the grave because she wants that hundo, but not before she meets an untimely fate. As I mentioned before, this one sounds like a YA novel setup because it was a work of fiction, but the idea of it still kinda freaks me out.
Kirby (Season 2, ep 8): What happens in the WETA Workshop stays in the WETA workshop. Alright, not quite, but what if an animatronic did have a mind of its own? Ted Beeman is working on what might be his greatest creation yet, an animatronic gorilla named Kirby. Ted’s boss, Perry becomes increasingly upset with Ted as the gorilla is not yet finished. Ted tells him there’s some tweaks that still need to be done, but his boss goes the asshole route, calls him a nerd, tells him that he’s a weirdo who spends too much time with Kirby, and then proceeds to threaten him with termination. Ted heads out for the night, feeling defeated, and makes sure to switch off Kirby and takes the control board with him. Perry comes back to the studio after hours and starts messing around with Kirby’s controls to find that he seems to be functioning just fine. Perry, talking to himself, says he’s going to deliver Kirby to the studio tomorrow and fire Ted on the spot. As Perry tries to shut down Kirby, he finds that Kirby is out for vengeance. Ted comes back in the morning to find that Perry had died due to a broken neck after falling off some stairs, but when he notices that Kirby is not in the same spot he left him, he starts to ponder if Kirby was the killer. While this story was actually fiction, if you ever had a birthday at Showbiz Pizza or its animatronic pals equivalent, the idea of those characters coming to life has been in your head ever since then. Is Billy Bob going to rip my arms off? Probably not, but just the thought of it was downright terrifying as a kid. What about the T-Rex from Jurassic Park eating your family? I mean, there’s Five Nights at Freddy’s and it’s some cool lore shit for 10-12 year olds, but that was your nightmare as a child. No jab at Five Nights, it’s actually pretty awesome in my opinion. I’m more team Poppy Playtime or Garten of Banban though.
Room 245 (Season 4, ep 5): Is it a conspiracy, a reality glitch, or just a case of amnesia? Rena’s spontaneous hotel stop to give her sick mom some rest takes an unexpected twist. Initially turned away due to a town convention, she miraculously secures Room 245 at the last minute. After settling her mom in and calling a doctor who diagnoses a bacterial infection, Rena rushes out to grab the prescription. But when she returns, she’s met with an empty room, a missing mom, and bewildered staff who claim no memory of her check-in. It’s one of those spine-tingling tales that makes you question your own sanity and reality, like something straight out of The Twilight Zone, echoing episodes such as “Mirror Mirror” and “A World of Difference.” You might have even read a similar version of this one called, Maybe You Will Remember in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Volume 3. Though the story is presented as fact, it’s been subject to numerous debates, with some suggesting it’s merely a combination of various other narratives, thus earning its place as a prominent urban legend. This particular story has a way of sticking with you, leaving behind a sense of unease, and maybe even prompting a bit of self-reflection on your own past.
I’m not gunna lie. I wish I could add the majority of these episodes. Who knows? Maybe one day we can watch them one by one on Twitch or something, and you can listen to me give colorful commentary and choke while laughing.
Where to watch?
Right now, you can binge it all on Prime. If you aren’t into subs then you’ll be able to find the series on YouTube. For my physical media folks, you can get season one on DVD.
What happened?
The show was sadly cancelled in 2002 after its long run starting initially in 1997. The show had run its course and Fox was off to make room for shows like John Doe and Celebrity Boxing. Firefly also had its debut that year but, well, it’s still a sore subject. Fun fact: Jewel Staite makes an appearance in the episode titled, The Fine Line. Undeclared was also a favorite, but I digress, if I keep this going we’ll be here for 7 zurls. Chiller ran the series from 2009-2015 which is where I ended up picking up a lot of the episodes I had missed. NOW, there was a fifth season produced exclusively for the German audience as they are absolute superfans of the series. X-Factor: Das Unfassbare premiered new episodes in 2022. We got a glimpse of some of those episodes in 2023 when Holger B. Frick uploaded a trailer on YouTube. He mentioned in the comments that they had not only season five, but also season six in the bag with a whopping 80 stories to eventually come our way. About a month ago, Frick dropped another trailer with the hopes that the series would be in talks to come back to the US, like, anytime now. If you are fortunate enough to have RTL+ in Germany, then you are one of the chosen ones. Both trailers for the new series bring a slight tear to my eye. We’re bringing the band back together! I wonder if we spam this video if we can get the new episodes sooner. It’s totally possible. I have faith.
Conclusion:
Did you sift through the nostalgia without emotion, or did we leave you craving more? Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction isn’t just a show; it’s an immersive experience that challenges our perceptions and keeps us on the edge of our seats. As we revisit our favorite tales, we’re reminded of how truth and fiction often intertwine in unexpected ways, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. It’s this captivating blend that sets Beyond Belief apart, riveting audiences and leaving them eager for the next twist. Is Beyond Belief one of the greatest anthology series ever, or am I just weaving tales of grandeur? I’m Niki Minter.
A couple previous episodes of Horror TV Shows We Miss can be seen below. If you’d like to see more, and check out the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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The Francis Ford Coppola passion project Megalopolis, an idea the 85-year-old filmmaker says has been brewing in his mind for around half of his life, is set to have its world premiere at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival – and in anticipation of the Cannes screening, Vanity Fair has unveiled an image from the film that features the characters played by Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel. That image can now be seen right above this paragraph.
Coppola began writing Megalopolis in the 1980s but knew that it would require a huge budget, so he kept it on a shelf for decades – before deciding to push it into production (and retain creative control) by funding it out of his own pocket, reportedly dropping upwards of $120 million into it. He sold off part of his winery estate in Northern California to raise that much money. The story digs into what happens when an accident causes the destruction of a New York City-like metropolis that is decaying anyway, bringing clashing visions of the future. On one side is an ambitious architectural idealist Caesar. On the other is his sworn enemy, city Mayor Frank Cicero. The debate becomes whether to embrace the future and build a utopia with renewable materials, or take a business-as-usual rebuild strategy, replete with concrete, corruption and power brokering at the expense of a restless underclass. In between their struggle is the mayor’s socialite daughter Julia, a restless young woman who grew up around power and tires of being a tabloid fixture looking for meaning in her life.
In addition to Driver and Emmanuel, the cast includes Forest Whitaker, Giancarlo Esposito, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, DB Sweeney, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Bailey Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Coppola said that the story was inspired by an attempted coup in ancient Rome, back in 63 BC. He decided to update the scenario and set it in a near present day, somewhat stylized New York City. He also drew inspiration from various events that took place in the history of New York City: “the Claus von Bülow murder case, the Mary Cunningham–William Agee Bendix scandal, the emergence of Maria Bartiromo, the antics of Studio 54, and the city’s financial crisis,” so that everything in the movie is based on something that really happened in either ancient Rome or NYC.
While putting together an allegorical epic, the filmmaker also made sure the film would have a personal feeling to it. He said, “My first goal always is to make a film with all my heart, so I began to realize it would be about love and loyalty in every aspect of human life. Megalopolis echoed these sentiments, in which love was expressed in almost crystalline complexity, our planet in danger and our human family almost in an act of suicide, until becoming a very optimistic film that has faith in the human being to possess the genius to heal any problem put before us.” He’s hoping the finished film will “become a New Year’s Eve perennial favorite, with audiences discussing afterwards not their new diets or resolutions not to smoke, but rather this simple question: ‘Is the society in which we live the only one available to us?’“
To hear more about Megalopolis and Coppola’s inspirations, click over to the Vanity Fair article.
Are you looking forward to Megalopolis? What do you think of the image Coppola shared of Driver and Emmanuel? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Netflix has just released the atmospheric teaser trailer for their upcoming limited series about famed Brazilian Formula 1 racer Ayrton Senna. The teaser is a meditative sequence where Senna achieves his historic victory at 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. Senna is played by Gabriel Leone and we see possible thoughts and experiences, interspersed with images of the race, that led Ayrton to this point in his career in addition to some iconic characters who were a part of his life that year, including Xuxa (Pâmela Tomé), Alain Prost (Matt Mella) and the McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis (Patrick Kennedy) and Galvão Bueno (Gabriel Louchard).
The official synopsis from Netflix reads,
“Over the course of six episodes, Senna will showcase, for the first time, Ayrton’s journey through triumph, disappointment, joy, and sorrow, unveiling his personality and personal relationships. The fictional series starts with the genesis of the three-time Formula 1 champion’s motor racing career, when he moves to England to compete in Formula Ford, and until his tragic accident in Imola, Italy, during the San Marino Grand Prix.”
With Vicente Amorim as showrunner and co-director, alongside with Julia Rezende, Senna is produced by Gullane and created in partnership with Senna Brands and the driver’s family. The exciting story of one of the world’s greatest sports heroes of all time also stars Alice Wegmann (Lilian Vasconcelos, Ayrton’s first wife), Camila Márdila (Vivianne Senna, his sister), Christian Malheiros (Maurinho, his friend), Gabriel Louchard (Galvão Bueno), Hugo Bonemer (Nelson Piquet), Julia Foti (Adriane Galisteu), Marco Ricca (“Maurão” Senna, his father) and Susana Ribeiro (Zaza Senna, his mother), plus an international cast including: Matt Mella (Alain Prost), Kaya Scodelario (a fictional journalist, Laura), Arnaud Viard (Jean-Marie Balestre), Patrick Kennedy (Ron Dennis), Joe Hurst (Keith Sutton), Johannes Heinrichs (Niki Lauda), Keisuke Hoashi (Osamu Goto), Leon Ockenden (James Hunt), Richard Clothier (Peter Warr), Steven Mackintosh (Frank Williams) and Tom Mannion (Sid Watkins), among others.
Senna races into Netflix sometime in 2024.
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In his ongoing rally against the culture of political correctness, Jerry Seinfeld says that there is plenty of material on his namesake show that couldn’t get made today – and he’s not talking about the Soup Nazi.
As far as moments that Seinfeld doesn’t think could make the show had it been made in today’s climate, he said, “We did an episode of the series in the nineties where Kramer decides to start a business of having homeless people pull rickshaws because, as he says, ‘They’re outside anyway.’ Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?” He added that things would have to be far more PC, referring to season nine’s “The Bookstore.” “We would write a different joke with Kramer and the rickshaw today. We wouldn’t do that joke. We’d come up with another joke.” Seinfeld could have listed a wealth of other episodes, but two have garnered more controversy than any other: season nine’s “The Puerto Rican Day”, which was pulled from syndication initially for remarks and depictions, and “The Bet” aka “The Gun”, which was deemed too dark to even film.
As for Seinfeld’s spiritual successor Curb Your Enthusiasm – which had plenty of non-PC moments during its 12-season run – Jerry Seinfeld said that Larry David was essentially “grandfathered” in. “If Larry was thirty-five, he couldn’t get away with the watermelon stuff and Palestinian chicken…and HBO knows that’s what people come here for, but they’re not smart enough to figure out, How do we do this now? Do we take the heat, or just not be funny? And what they’ve decided to be is, Well, we’re not going to do comedies anymore. There were no sitcoms picked up on the fall season of all four networks. Not one. No new sitcoms.”
If network execs aren’t keen on boasting more sitcoms, then who can be the ones to champion challenging comedy? Not surprisingly, Seinfeld has bestowed that role to stand-up comedians, saying, “With certain comedians now, people are having fun with them stepping over the line and us all laughing about it. But, again, it’s the standups that really have the freedom to do it because no one else gets the blame if it doesn’t go down well. He or she can take all the blame themself”, as opposed to a stream of producers and suits who could be in trouble for one passed offensive joke.
Do you agree or disagree with Jerry Seinfeld’s take on what could on the air nowadays? Chime in below.
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Amazon Prime has revealed that its Fallout TV show is the second-most popular program it’s made, with a claimed total of 65 million people—or one United Kingdom—watching in its first two weeks. These are the kinds of numbers a network TV channel executive would sell his children’s souls to receive.
Amazon Prime has revealed that its Fallout TV show is the second-most popular program it’s made, with a claimed total of 65 million people—or one United Kingdom—watching in its first two weeks. These are the kinds of numbers a network TV channel executive would sell his children’s souls to receive.
Following the success of their feature debut, the horror film Talk to Me, the directing duo of Danny and Michael Philippou signed on to make a new film adaptation of the Street Fighter video game franchise, started developing a Talk to Me sequel titled Talk 2 Me, and let it be known that they had already shot some sort of Talk to Me prequel (but it’s not clear if or when we’ll get to see that footage), had an action drama project they’d like to make, and also had a horror script called Bring Her Back that they wanted to get into production. Now Deadline has confirmed that Bring Her Back is heading into production and will be made before Talk 2 Me or Street Fighter, with two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins of The Shape of Water and Blue Jasmine signed on to star in the film.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but filming is scheduled to begin this summer.
Bring Her Back is coming our way from A24, the company that also sent Talk to Me out into the world. The film is being produced by Talk To Me producers Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films. The Deadline report about the film reveals that the Philippous are also working on “a documentary project inspired by their own journey into the world of international underground deathmatch wrestling.”
In case you missed Talk to Me, that movie has the following synopsis: When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. Sophia Wilde (You Don’t Know Me), Miranda Otto (Annabelle: Creation), Alexandra Jensen (Frayed), Joe Bird (First Day), Otis Djanji (Aquaman), and Zoe Terakes (Wentworth) star.
I questioned the hype that surrounded Talk to Me when it was released, but when I watched it I ended up really enjoying it, and was surprised at how impressed I was by the Philippous’ debut. So I look forward to seeing what they’ll do with Bring Her Back, whatever it may be about.
Are you a fan of Talk to Me, and are you interested in Bring Her Back? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Filming for James Gunn’s Superman seems to be going smoothly. However, there is still a stigma surrounding the film as fans of the DCEU are still maintaining that Henry Cavill’s Superman should have been given more chances to flourish. However, there is now a theory that Gunn may have forced Cavill and the DECU into the phantom zone when Nathan Fillion gave people the impression that Gunn has been working on his DCU reboot since 2021’s The Suicide Squad.
According to Deadline, Fillion, a friend of Gunn’s, turned heads when he told an anecdote on Collider, “We were actually at the premiere party after Suicide Squad and he [Gunn] was in a huge crowd of people. …He goes, ‘Hey, did Peter [Safran] tell you what we’ve got for you next?’ I said, ‘No, he hasn’t said.’ He looked around like someone was gonna be listening. We were in a throng of people, but he leaned over and said, ‘You’re gonna be Guy Gardner.’” This prompted people to think that Gunn had been planning the DCU way before the DCEU was considered to end at Warner Bros.
A fan quoted Fillion to Gunn on Threads, and since Gunn would normally engage with fans, he would explain that Fillion had mistakingly said it was the premiere of The Suicide Squad when it was actually the premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, when Gunn had already been planning for Superman. “I don’t quite understand how that fits,” Gunn addressed on Threads. “Aside from the fact I had no interest in running DC until Peter decided to do it with me so he could do the exec stuff & I could focus on creative, when I was hired to write Superman it was always intended as & pitched as a new Superman story, so why would I lie about not planning that at the Squad premiere which would have amounted to the same thing at the end of the day? How does this particular conspiracy theory make sense?”
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Plot: Solène Marchand is a 40-year-old single mom who, at her ex-husband’s request, takes their teenage daughter to Coachella. In a surprising turn of events, Solène strikes up a budding romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, a famous boy band
Review: Whether you like it or not, we live in an era when fan fiction can be turned into big-screen feature films. From Twilight grew Fifty Shades of Grey, and both franchises made a lot of money for their producers. The popularity of boy band-turned-solo artist Harry Styles has been transformed into a bestselling novel and now the feature film The Idea of You. If the mere idea of the source of this story fills you with dread, this is not the movie for you. But, if you are a fan of well-acted movies, Anne Hathaway delivers again. The Idea of You is much more than a single line of plot synopsis can convey. With some steamy moments in equal measure and some funny ones, The Idea of You is a solid romantic movie that we do not see very often anymore, thanks to the chemistry between Anne Hathaway and co-star Nicholas Galitzine.
The Idea of You opens with single mother Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) preparing for a solo camping trip. At the same time, her ex-husband (Reid Scott) takes their daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) to Coachella for a meet and greet with her childhood favorite boy band, August Moon. On the eve of her fortieth birthday, Solène is forced to change plans and take her daughter and her friends to the concert. She has a meet-cute with one of the band members, Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine). Sixteen years her junior, there is an immediate spark between Solène and Hayes, but Solène is not interested in pursuing a relationship. As romances go, they continue a courtship, which results in the pair coming together romantically while trying to keep it secret from Solène’s daughter and the global fanbase that follows Hayes wherever he goes. For the film’s first half, the story follows a pretty expected will they/won’t they formula before the reality of their romance rears its head.
What makes this movie work when so many fan-fiction-inspired adaptations have failed is the believable chemistry between Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galatzine. The idea that Anne Hathaway is old enough to portray an “older woman” or a “cougar’ is ridiculous in its own right, but by playing Solène as having had her daughter right out of college and the ramifications that put on her youth and broken marriage adds to the dynamic of her reluctance to enter the risk of dating a world-famous pop star who is also almost two decades her junior. Hathaway can play well above and below her actual age, but this character may be the first time I can recall her portraying someone true to her real years. It also helps that Nicholas Galatzine plays Hayes as youthful but far from naive, knowing what he wants and respecting the challenges his celebrity brings for someone in a completely different phase of their life. But the root of romance, especially the kind that makes this story work, comes from portraying something fantastic while also credible and tangible. The Idea of You never feels like a comedy or a joke, even though it does have a sense of humor.
The shortcomings in The Idea of You stem from the focus being so squarely on Solène and Hayes that everything else feels underdeveloped around them. Izzy has friends who seem prominent initially but then disappear for the rest of the movie. There is some tension between Hayes and his bandmates, notably Oliver (Raymond Cham Jr), which seems like it will be a bigger factor in the story than it is. The absence of conflict outside of Solène and Hayes makes some of the stakes in the story feel a bit underwhelming. Even the tension between Solène and her ex-husband seems more requisite to the genre than serving any true purpose in moving the story forward. Some other supporting characters, notably Annie Mumulo as Tracy, are nothing more than two-dimensional stand-ins for the main characters to spout exposition at. Still, all of those are minor quibbles with the genre formula rather than truly taking away from the overall story.
The novel that inspired The Idea of You was written by Robinne Lee and had a solid run on the bestsellers list. While a hit, issues with the story structure have been remedied in the big-screen adaptation. Written by Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein, Friends with Kids) along with director Michael Showalter, the novel carries a more mature and realistic tone than the novel and has a much more satisfying ending. Westfeldt’s experience scripting movies either focused on or featuring romance helps elevate Robinne’s Lee story from the realm of fan fiction to a quality screenplay. Equally, writer-director Michael Showalter continues his transformation as a filmmaker. Showalter mocked romcoms with the hilarious They Came Together, starring Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, before segueing into dramatic-comedy with Kumail Nanjian’s The Big Sick, action-romance with The Lovebirds, and the award-winning drama The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Showalter delivers a few truly worthy laughs in this film but emphasizes the dramatic even more.
With a solid soundtrack of original songs that will likely earn their own fair share of airplay, The Idea of You is a movie firmly outside of what I would normally watch. I appreciate a good romantic movie, but I definitely pre-judged the root of where this story came from before watching it. Within the first minutes, I had a smile on my face thanks to Anne Hathaway’s earnest performance and Nicholas Galatzine’s effortless charisma. The pair make a couple of steamy sequences worth checking out, but the thoughtful, romantic plot kept me engaged for the entire movie. You may expect this to be raunchier than it is, with only implied sex and a load of f-bombs garnering it an R-rating, but The Idea of You is a worthwhile watch for anyone who is a fan of good performances and solid romance.
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