By Robert Scucci
| Published 31 seconds ago

After watching 2021’s Kate, the almighty algorithm threw 2022’s The Gray Man onto my radar, and I can’t say Ryan Gosling has ever disappointed me, so I figured I may as well give it a shot. He has a built-in level of charisma that lets him do his thing, and most of the time it lands. Going into the Russo brothers’ film expecting to see $200 million well spent on action sequences, with the added bonus of Gosling in the mix, I didn’t quite know how things would play out, but I had a hunch I wouldn’t feel let down.

But here’s the problem with straight-to-streaming action thrillers. Films like The Gray Man never get much time on the big screen, and they kind of need it if you want to enjoy them at the highest level. Across roughly 400 theaters, the film only brought in $454,023, which isn’t really its fault. It had a very short run across a disproportionately small number of screens, meaning it was never meant to recoup its budget this way. It’s a Netflix Original, designed to pull huge numbers on streaming.

The reason I see this as a bad thing is because this is an expensive movie. MCU expensive. Waterworld expensive. When that much money goes into blowing stuff up in spectacular fashion, I want to see it on a giant screen. Living in an apartment, I don’t have a fancy audio setup because my neighbors would murder me if I did, and my 44-inch TV is fine for most things, but less than stellar when entire city squares are getting leveled with all guns blazing.

Long story short, The Gray Man is a lot of fun, but it would be even more fun if you could watch it the way it was meant to be seen.

Let’s Not Get Bogged Down By The Details

The Gray Man also has an extremely convoluted plot. Not in a “too many twists” kind of way, but it’s a “load up the guns, spray and pray” kind of movie that would have been better served by simplicity. It’s executed well, but as side characters keep getting introduced in the second and third acts, part of me gets annoyed that I can’t fully shut my brain off because there’s always a new name or face to keep track of after the blasting has already started.

Ryan Gosling is a black ops agent known as Sierra Six, formerly Courtland Gentry. He was locked up as a minor after murdering his abusive father, and CIA officer Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) decides he’s the perfect candidate for a second chance. The deal is simple: Courtland works for him in exchange for his freedom, knowing he’ll be dealing with some very dangerous people.

Once things get rolling, Sierra Six teams up with Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas), and the first mission we see involves assassinating a target named Dining Car (Callan Mulvey). Complications arise when the job goes sideways and Dining Car reveals he’s also part of the Sierra program before succumbing to his wounds. A flash drive gets passed off with vague instructions, and the wild goose chase begins, centering on CIA officer Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), who sends a swarm of operatives after Six and Dani to retrieve it.

Along the way, we get more backstory on Six’s relationship with Donald and his niece Claire (Julia Butters), who Six previously worked security detail for. This obviously becomes important later because more collateral has entered the equation. The scenes between Six and Claire offer a surprisingly wholesome break from the chaos in Prague, and they’re a welcome addition.

From here on out, you pretty much know the deal. Double crosses stack on top of double crosses, things explode, and there’s so much inter-agency confusion over who’s good and who’s pulling the strings that you almost wish they’d ease up on the exposition and just keep blowing stuff up.

Solid, Pulse Pounding Action Thriller

The Gray Man’s budget absolutely shows on screen from start to finish. The action sequences are gorgeously shot (something that’s not always consistent across Netflix Originals), and at one point Sierra Six is standing on top of a moving tram, firing through the roof while tracking targets through reflections in nearby windows as the city flies past. This comes after he’s handcuffed to a railing in a town square, picking off attackers before they even get a chance to take him out.

Ana de Armas wielding a shotgun after throwing hands is also worth your time because she fully commits when the moment calls for it.

The only real issue I have is the film’s tendency to overload its premise with complexity for the sake of it. Most people don’t turn on action thrillers to do mental gymnastics. At least I don’t. I love psychological thrillers when I want things to get murky, but with action movies, I just want to sit back and watch things explode.

The convoluted plot isn’t a dealbreaker, just a nitpick. Some people enjoy sprawling shadow government conspiracies. It’s just not really my thing, so take that with a grain of salt. It’s still a great watch, just not one you can fully sink into the couch for and completely turn your brain off.

The Gray Man is a Netflix Original, and you can stream it with an active subscription.

The Summer House cast has found a front-row seat to one of Bravo’s most shocking romances.

On Tuesday, March 31, Amanda Batula confirmed her unexpected relationship with BFF Ciara Miller’s ex-boyfriend West Wilson more than two months after she split from husband Kyle Cooke.

“Given the complicated relationship dynamics involved and the scrutiny that comes with being on a reality show, we needed a little space to process things privately before speaking on it,” Amanda and West wrote in a joint statement via Instagram. “We’ve shown up for each other as friends over the years, through all the highs and lows, and what’s developed recently was the last thing either of us expected. Our connection grew out of a genuine, longstanding friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care.”

The statement continued, “As our feelings evolved, we wanted to take time to understand exactly what we were feeling. We also recognize that this has had an impact beyond just us and never wanted our actions to cause any hurt or be perceived as careless. We truly appreciate the understanding and respect as we navigate this.”

Related: How Amanda Batula and West Wilson’s Romance Compares to Scandoval

Bravo’s biggest reality shows sure know how to bring shock and awe to the small screen. Vanderpump Rules fans will forever remember where they were in March 2023 when news broke that Tom Sandoval was having an affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss while in a relationship with Ariana Madix. The scandal, which earned the nickname […]

While a reunion special with the entire cast is expected to be taped in the coming weeks, many Summer House stars are already weighing in on the surprise romance.

Keep reading to see how the cast reacted to Tuesday’s big romance reveal:

KJ Dillard 

Summer House newbie KJ Dillard shared a photo of Ciara Miller from filming with the caption, “I love my big sisters for life.”

In a follow-up post, KJ posted a screenshot of his music playlist, which included the song “Back Stabbers” by The O’Jays. He added to the photo, “Logging off.”

Mia Calabrese

Summer House’s newest cast member Mia Calabrese showed her support for Ciara Miller when she posted a photo of her costar on her Instagram Story as “Gorgeous” by Doja Cat played in the background.

Weeks later, Mia appeared on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen and offered more details about the scandal. Mia claimed that Ciara had “intuition” about Amanda and West before news of their romance broke.

“I refused to believe it. Then, certain things started to click,” Mia continued before offering an update on how Ciara is doing.

“Ciara is how anyone would be if their best friend started dating their ex,” Mia said. “But, I will say, Ciara is one of my best friends — she’s like a sister to me — she will always thrive and I will always be there to support her. She’s going to be amazing.

Mia also made it clear that thinks Amanda is at fault.

“She’s a woman. I think men, you know, eh. They don’t always think straight,” she said. “Women it’s like, come on, you know better.”

Jesse Solomon

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and Jesse Solomon didn’t hesitate to showcase how he was feeling with one photo.

The Summer House star seemingly addressed Amanda Batula and West Wilson’s romance when he posted a picture via his Instagram Story looking visibly shocked as he read his phone.

Levi Sebree

Summer House newbie Levi Sebree appeared to react to Amanda Batula and West Wilson’s relationship by sharing a meme of herself on her Instagram Story. Days later, she briefly addressed the drama while appearing on the “Taylor Taylor Taylor” podcast on April 7.

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“I don’t want to get into it too much, but I think we’re all kind of a mess in our own little right about everything going on, and we’re going to see how it plays out,” she said. “That’s all I want to say about it.”

Related: Summer House’s Ciara Miller, Amanda Batula and West Wilson Drama Explained

The  Summer House cast drama is raising eyebrows with Bravo fans. Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke announced in January that they decided to separate after four years of marriage. “After much reflection, we have mutually and amicably decided to part ways as a couple,” their joint statement read. “We share this with a heavy heart […]

Lindsay Hubbard 

Original Summer House cast member Lindsay Hubbard seemingly addressed the headlines when she shared a picture of controversial Love Is Blind contestant Alex Henderson.

“The new publicist?” she wrote via her Instagram Story, hours after news broke of Amanda Batula and West Wilson’s relationship announcement.

Ciara Miller had a feeling that something was going down between Amanda Batula and West Wilson, according to her costar Mia Calabrese.

“Ciara had — her intuition was telling her something and I refused to believe it,” Mia said during her Tuesday, April 14, appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “Then, certain things started to click.”

Mia admitted to thinking it was “impossible” that anything romantic was going down between Amanda and West, because she believed they would “never do that.”

Rumors swirled earlier this year that Amanda and West’s relationship had evolved from friendship to something more. The duo confirmed their romantic relationship in a March 31 Instagram statement.

While Amanda’s estranged husband, Kyle Cooke, has spoken out at length about the entire situation, Ciara — who dated West in 2023 and was best friends with Amanda — has largely stayed quiet.

“Ciara is how anyone would be if their best friend started dating their ex,” Mia also said during her Tuesday WWHL appearance. “But, I will say, Ciara is one of my best friends — she’s like a sister to me — she will always thrive and I will always be there to support her.”

The Summer House newbie continued, “She’s going to be amazing.”

Mia told host Andy Cohen that she knew Ciara for “years” before they were on reality TV together.

“She’s like a sister to me,” Mia added. “I adore her.”

Amid the relationship fallout, Amanda has returned to social media, asking fans for “normalcy” in an apologetic statement on Friday, April 10. Mia reacted to Amanda’s social media message on Tuesday.

“I thought it was interesting that her normalcy was just going out and hitting the bars with West,” Mia said, referring to viral photos of Amanda and West out and about in New York City.

Mia went on to say that she’s placed more blame on Amanda for the entire situation.

“She’s a woman. I think men, you know, eh. They don’t always think straight,” she said. “Women it’s like, come on, you know better.”

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Mia said that both West and Amanda have reached out to her — but she hasn’t responded to either.

“Don’t really know how to respond yet,” she added, noting that West’s message included an apology for “lying to me.”

Summer House airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.

Joseline Hernandez is welcoming her new beginning with excitement! The 39-year-old is expecting her first child with her husband, Balistic Beats. The Puerto Rican Princess announced her pregnancy on April 15. Joseline also spoke exclusively to The Shade Room’s Jade Ashley about how far along she is, the health of her unborn child, and how she’s feeling in this new season!

RELATED: Love To See It! Joseline Hernandez Shares Sentimental Message While Revealing She Is Three Years Sober (VIDEO)

Joseline Hernandez Reveals She’s Pregnant

As mentioned, Joseline Hernandez gagged her followers with news of her pregnancy on Wednesday. She dropped the update on Instagram, sharing a series of photos featuring her and Balistic Beats in what appears to be downtown Miami. They’re seen posing together, holding hands, surrounded by greenery as they walk down a sidewalk with a skyscraper backdrop.

She’s dressed in an off-the-shoulder, light-colored dress, patterned heels, and a small Chanel purse. Her growing baby bump appeared to be poking through! The last photo in her slide shows her holding it. Meanwhile, Balistic came through in a casual printed blue tee, light-colored slacks, blue shoes and a Louis Vuitton crossbody.

Her first daughter, Bonnie Bella, whom she welcomed with Stevie J in 2016, is not featured in the post. Fans have been flooding the Instagram announcement with congratulations and compliments on the mother she is to Bonnie. Even celebrities are stopping by with love, from Chloe Bailey and LightSkinKeisha to Coi Leray.

Balistic Beats, who is also a collaborator on the post, dropped three heart-eye emojis in the comment section. The caption, written from Joseline’s account, says: “New beginnings 🌸 and I’m thankful.” 

Joseline Says She’s Two Months Pregnant & “Everything Is Fine” (Exclusive Details)

The Puerto Rican Princess shared additional news about her pregnancy with The Shade Room. She confirmed she’s nearly two months pregnant, sharing a photo of her positive test. Her and Balistic Beats’ desires are to have “a healthy baby,” and continue to receiving support and good energy. “We’re super excited, and we just want everything to go well,” Joseline Hernandez said.

As far as pregnancy itself, Joseline revealed that she’s experiencing “a lot of morning sickness and stuff like that,” but overall she feels great. She had a doctor’s appointment this week that reassured her “everything is fine.” Still, she said she has to keep going back, as is common with pregnancy.

“We want good energy, love , a lot of love from the people; we need that right now. That’s why I stepped away from the cabaret, and just wanted to start a new life with my family and my husband,” Joseline Hernandez exclusively told TSR.

Balistic Beats Is Helping Raise Bonnie Bella

In February, Joseline Hernandez and Balistic Beats shared footage from their courthouse wedding in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She revealed their wedding date as October 11, 2022. Fans had been questioning whether the pair had officially tied the knot, and the couple used their new network Why Are You Here TV to premiere an anniversary special.

Over the years, Joseline has openly credited Balistic Beats for being her active co-parent in raising Bonnie Bella. Last Father’s Day, for example, she called him the best one in the world, thanking him for how he shows up.

“Your dedication your patience your devotion your love your time your kindness and how you all about bonnie’Bella and I! It’s truly a dream come true! We have everything we ever wanted because we have you! Screaming HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO you @balisticbeats the best #father in the Universe 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 we love you and thank you for being our Rock,” Joseline Hernandez wrote.

A few months later, during an appearance on Angela Yee’s ‘Lip Service’ podcast, Joseline said her marriage works because it’s a cycle of give and take with Balistic Beats. “I feel very protected by him, and I feel like he’s the best thing that happened to me outside of Bonnie,” Hernandez said.

RELATED: Awww! Joseline Hernandez Shares Sentimental Footage Of Her & Balistic Beats Sending Bonnie Bella Off To 3rd Grade (VIDEO)

Jennifer Lawrence is the poster child for easy dressing — effortlessly making tees, jeans and even sneakers look polished and cool. Naturally, her latest look didn’t disappoint, especially since she completed the easy-going fit with head-turning Adidas Tokyo tennis shoes.

Stepping out in New York City, Lawrence opted for a yellow Beatles T-shirt, Hermès Lindy bag and Garrett Leight Woz sunglasses. However, her red striped Adidas kicks completely stole the show. But you don’t have to dish out thousands to get her leather shoe style. In fact, recreating her look is a breeze because the shoes are just $90 at Nordstrom.

Get the Adidas Tokyo Sneakers for $90 at Nordstrom! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

The ’70s-inspired footwear features a lightweight design, low profile and bold color blocking throughout. While her exact pair has cream-colored laces, this $90 version offers a strawberry-red Mary Jane velcro design — making it simple to slip on, get going and turn heads. A gum sole also adds stability while contrasting with the clean, marshmallow-hued silhouette.

The Adidas kicks are simple to style, as well. Take inspiration from Lawrence and slip on a pair of casual jeans and a baseball cap, or dress them up with a lightweight knit and maxi skirt. As temperatures continue to warm up, you can wear the sneakers with shorts or a mini dress.

Most importantly, the Lawrence-approved sneakers won’t leave your feet aching, thanks to the flexible sole and cloud-like cushioning. “These shoes are unbelievably comfortable,” wrote a shopper. “Absolutely love them.”

For under $100, the Adidas Tokyo sneakers are sure to go fast. So make like Lawrence and head to Nordstrom to upgrade your sneaker game before it’s too late.

Get the Adidas Tokyo Sneakers for $90 at Nordstrom! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

Looking for something else? Explore more Adidas sneakers here and don’t forget to check out all of Nordstrom’s tennis shoes for more great finds!

By Joshua Tyler
| Published 48 seconds ago

People don’t just want to belong, they need to. Rejection isn’t treated by the brain as a metaphorical pain; it registers the same way as physical harm. That means people will do almost anything to make sure they belong. However, belonging isn’t strengthened by agreement; it’s strengthened by what you’re willing to ignore to stay aligned.

The power to make someone ignore what’s being done to them may be the most powerful persuasion technique of all. It was used in the biggest, most awarded movie of 2025, and no one seemed to notice. They couldn’t notice, because noticing comes with a cost. Once you decide not to notice, you’re owned. Instead, they gave it Oscars and pretended everything was normal and fine, though deep down, it’s likely everyone watching knew it wasn’t. 

This is the story of how One Battle After Another screenwashed believers into becoming zealots, all to belong.

A Script Made Up Of Words Shouted At A Federal Building

One Battle After Another was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the genius auteur behind movies like There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights. It’s loosely based on a 1990 novel called Vineland. 

The movie itself centers on Bob Ferguson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, a washed-up former revolutionary from the terrorist militant group French 75. He lives off-grid in stoned paranoia, raising his spirited, and often totally disrespectful and rude, teenage daughter, Willa.

Sixteen years after participating in a terrorist attack on a U.S.-Mexico border detention center, his old enemy, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, played by Sean Penn, resurfaces, forcing Bob and Willa to run.

That’s the story on paper, but nothing on screen ever feels that cohesive. Early on, the dialogue consists mostly of words that sound like they were shouted at a Federal building. Later, it devolves into cursing and guttural sounds. There’s a lot of driving back and forth in cars, and time spent breathing heavily in filthy places with filthy people.

One Battle After Another Is Setting A Trap, For The Audience

The movie might sound unappealing, and it is, but it’s also on purpose because One Battle After Another is not out to tell a compelling story; it’s setting a trap. A Reflexive Manipulation Trap. 

A reflexive manipulation trap is a persuasion tactic in which a message is made obviously manipulative, on purpose, in order to create pressure on the audience to deny or overlook that manipulation. By accepting the message anyway, the audience participates in maintaining the illusion, which increases their psychological commitment to it. 

It’s like becoming an accessory to murder. Once you’ve participated in the crime, you’ll do anything to hide the body. 

Creating that kind of mental trap is deep and complex, and it exists for only one, very specific purpose. More on what that is as we unravel this thread. 

How To Create A Reflexive Manipulation Trap

Here’s how One Battle After Another executes its Reflexive Manipulation trap, step by step.

Before a would-be persuader can execute a Reflexive Manipulation Trap, they have to pick a specific audience. Usually, the best movies and indeed the best art is designed to tap into something universal and primal. For this to work, you must do the opposite and go after one group. For instance, if you were going after dog lovers, you’d probably start your story off by showing your hero rescuing a dog.

One Battle After Another is intended only for people who exist on the most left-wing end of the political spectrum. That’s why you’ve seen the Hollywood elite slobbering over the movie like it’s the biggest thing ever, but have likely heard virtually nothing about it from your average, non-political friends. 

So One Battle After Another opens with a scene involving a heroic raid on an illegal immigrant detention center. According to most polling, nearly 80% of people are in favor of detaining illegal immigrants. So 80% of viewers will be turned off by this movie from the jump.

It’s all on purpose as One Battle immediately launches into speeches extolling the virtues of open borders, and then enforces that view at the point of a gun. It’s on purpose because it’s intentionally only courting the remaing 20% of the audience that agrees with these views, and in doing so, it tells them explicitly that this movie is for you and your group, right off the bat. 

Moral authority established. I’m one of you. 

Now that your audience knows who the good people are, you must make one of those good people do something wrong. Something evil.

Over the course of the movie’s first half hour, one of our chief protagonists is a terrorist leader, a black woman whose actual name is Perfidia Beverly Hills. She’s violent, overbearing, and totally dedicated to the cause.

That might sound off-putting, but remember, you can’t look at this movie through a lens of what would appeal to you or anyone in the 80%. You must look at it through the lens of what would appeal to that 20%. And for that 20%, she checks all the boxes to be their ideal woman. She’s perfect.

Perfidia soon becomes pregnant. She immediately abandons her newborn infant for what she describes as “the revolution” while proclaiming that no one can take her power.

By any normal moral standard, a mother abandoning a newborn is one of the worst things someone can do. It’s flat-out evil.

Yet the person doing it is the character most ideologically aligned with the film’s target audience. Their ideal woman. And while she’s out of the story for most of the film after this, up until this point, she’s been framed as the movie’s main hero.

When Perfidia announces that she’s choosing herself over her newborn, the man who thinks he’s her father, DiCaprio’s Bob character, could object. Instead, he mutters some vague things about family before announcing “you go, girl” and sending her on her way to abandon her child.

Later, Perfidia is condemned for other reasons, but no one objects to this mother abandoning her baby daughter. At all. 

Squirming in their seats, the audience can’t object either. From the 20%’s point of view, the woman committing this evil is part of a protected class and also ideologically aligned with them. She’s their group’s spirit animal, and they know it. 

Even more critically, she specifically cites their mutual ideology as the reason for her sick, selfish abandonment of her baby. For someone in that 20%, in order to condemn Perfidia’s action, they’d have to mentally challenge everything they believe in.

Leo’s Bob character has now been left to care for a newborn, who isn’t even really his daughter, on his own. This should be difficult and traumatic, but One Battle After Another dodges those consequences by flashing forward to a future where the baby’s grown and everything worked out just fine. 

Hand wave, it didn’t matter. See, it’s easy to accept, fellow group member!

The abandonment of Perfidia’s daughter is the inciting incident for the entire film. Everything that happens after hinges on it.

If you reject this incident as repugnant, you must reject the entire movie. If you reject the movie, you reject its ideology. If you reject that ideology, you no longer belong to the group that the movie has established itself as representing. Your group, the group you’ve built your entire identity around.

Or you can decide it’s fine for a mother to abandon an infant in the name of black power. You must choose.

To make the effect stick, you must lock in the viewer’s acceptance of evil with a reward. In this case that reward is zealot porn.

Zealot porn is a short-cut term I coined, which refers to content intentionally crafted to gratify moral superiority, deliver cathartic satisfaction, and lock in beliefs deeper through confirmation bias. Often this is done through the portrayal of extreme violence, which would otherwise be unacceptable.

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds is an early example of zealot porn, an entire movie crafted for the purpose of giving audience members the pleasure of watching Nazis burn.

Another recent example is the television series, Peacemaker. The show’s second season creates a plot around the idea of giving its audience pleasure by watching people it labels as evil suffer. 

One Battle After Another spends most of its run time delivering dopamine hits to its 20% through tormenting its ideological opponents. The movie kills its white male villain twice, for no real reason other than it enjoys watching him die. After the second time, the camera follows along as workers dispose of his carcass, so the audience can revel in watching his carcass burn. 

That’s zealot porn. Catharsis is delivered, and the audience is rewarded for belonging. 

Now, One Battle After Another’s viewers are fully complicit in what it’s doing, and to justify their decision to comply with its agenda, they’ll do anything. Even give it six Oscars. 

Solidifying Support After You’ve Won The Propaganda War

One Battle After Another is what it looks like when you’ve won the propaganda battle and the time for persuasion is over. One Battle After Another is what it looks like when you stop convincing and start solidifying. And that’s exactly what it’s doing.

What people call psychological programming or brainwashing is usually a stack of learned associations, emotions tied to symbols, stories tied to identity, reactions tied to cues. Those associations only hold as long as they’re being refreshed. Remove the reinforcement, and the system starts to unwind over time.

It’s why cult deprogramming usually revolves around simply getting the victim away from the cult. Separate them from constant reinforcement of the message, and the programming fades on its own.

That means that once a malign force has someone under its control, it has to keep putting in work to keep them there. But it can’t keep doing what it did before, continuing to persuade someone to your point of view after you’ve already convinced them, often backfires, and turns them against you.

That’s where a Reflexive Manipulation Trap becomes useful. It won’t persuade new people over to your side, but it does ensure that none of your existing followers stray. It does this by making them lie to themselves. It does so by making them complicit in a crime or moral wrongdoing. 

Once Someone Lies To Themselves, They Keep Lying To Cover Up The First Lie

Unlike other forms of persuasion, which lose efficacy the more frequently they’re used, you can keep setting traps like this one over and over again. So that’s exactly what One Battle After Another does.

That first trap, revolving around Perfidia abandoning her child, is the setup for a series of obvious manipulations and overt propagandistic moments. Having already lied to themselves to get through the first one, the audience keeps lying through all of them.

It’s why One Battle After Another is visually uninspired. It’s why the plot is meandering and disjointed. It’s why the characters are largely cartoony and ridiculous. Even their names are idiotic. The main villain’s name is literally Colonel Lockjaw.

Every one of these narrative and moral affronts in the film must be accepted by the audience as a work of genius because of the trap, and every one they accept binds them closer and closer to the group the movie is targeting. Everyone who walked out of One Battle After Another became, in one way or another, a more zealous member of that 20% than they were when they walked in. 

Bind them close enough, make them complicit enough, and there’s no limit to what they’ll do to make sure they continue belonging. Some day we’ll say it all started, because One Battle After Another laid a trap.

Congratulations, loyal zealots, you’ve been Screenwashed.

There’s something about that classic, polished, all-American style that never goes out of fashion — but the price tags can be a different story. If you love the crisp, preppy look of collared knits, striped dresses and tailored denim, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get it.

I scoured Walmart’s spring fashion section and found a lineup of pieces that channel that timeless, Ralph Lauren–inspired aesthetic for a fraction of the cost. Think easy polo dresses, breezy stripes and elevated basics you can mix, match and wear on repeat all season long.

Ralph Lauren-Inspired Spring Outfits

1. Our Favorite: Nothing screams ‘Ralph Lauren’ quite like this sleeveless striped midi dress. The relaxed fit and subtle slit make it perfect for everything from travel days to casual dinners.

2. Runner-up: This striped V-neck polo dress is lightweight, flowy and made for warm days when you still want to look put together. The swingy silhouette keeps things breathable while the collar adds that classic, elevated touch.

3. Casual Cool Staple: These cropped patch-pocket pants bring a slightly structured, vintage-inspired vibe to your spring wardrobe. They’re an easy swap when you want something more elevated than leggings.

4. Editor-Approved: This striped polo shirt dress feels like your favorite oversized tee, but way more refined. It’s an easy throw-on option that solves the “what do I wear?” dilemma in seconds.

5. Unexpected Classic: This drapey denim skirt delivers that effortless, heritage feel with a modern, wearable twist. Pair it with a striped polo or knit top for a look that feels straight out of a catalog without the designer price.

6. Everyday Essential: This ribbed knit polo dress is equal parts cozy and chic, with a flattering fitted shape and functional buttons. It’s perfect for those in-between spring days when you want something comfortable but still pulled together.

7. Sporty Classic: This striped polo shirt is the definition of effortless polish, with a breathable, quick-dry fabric that works for everything from casual Fridays to weekend outings. It’s an easy way to add a preppy touch to any outfit.

8. Denim Upgrade: These high-rise Bermuda shorts offer a longer, tailored silhouette that feels much more polished than cutoffs. They’re the perfect pairing for any of the collared tops in this roundup.

9. Designer-Looking: This vintage-inspired striped sweater top looks like something you’d find at a much higher price point. The knit texture and button details give it that heritage feel that instantly elevates jeans or trousers.

Related: Walmart Dropped Tons of Spring Fashion Deals Starting at $7

If your spring wardrobe is feeling a little. . . meh, consider this your sign to refresh it without overspending. Walmart just rolled out a wave of new-season deals starting at just $7, and the selection is surprisingly chic. From easy dresses to wear-on-repeat tops and denim that actually feels current, these finds prove you […]

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