By Robert Scucci
| Published 1 hour ago

Have you ever watched Memento and thought to yourself, “I wish there was a crappier version of this film that makes no sense?” Well, your search is over, because 2014’s Before I Go to Sleep is streaming on Netflix. It’s billed as a psychological thriller, and technically it is, but it completely falls apart under scrutiny if you watch it for more than five seconds and have an IQ higher than the average goldfish.

It’s not the talent involved either. Before I Go to Sleep is adequately acted, and it looks fine. There are even some pretty neat flashback sequences. There’s nothing wrong with the cinematography, but the cast and crew alone can’t save a screenplay like this. You can’t act your way out of a premise so profoundly stupid that it requires four ibuprofen and a cool, dark room to recover from. The movie’s about amnesia, but unfortunately, I remember watching it, so I might as well talk about it.

Like Memento But Without The Drama, Mystery, Tension, Or Smart Hooks

Here’s the story that Before I Go to Sleep tries to tell. Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) has amnesia. Every day, her husband Ben (Colin Firth) gives her a 50 First Dates crash course on her identity, their relationship, her injury, and her memory loss. Meanwhile, another man named Mike Nasch (Mark Strong), who claims to be her psychologist, calls her daily to remind her that she’s keeping a record of her thoughts on a camera hidden in a shoebox in her closet. Every day, Christine wakes up, forgets what happened the day before, and repeats the cycle.

Christine has been living like this for 14 years. It’s only when the movie begins that all of this suddenly becomes a problem. She starts remembering her old friend Claire (Ann-Marie Duff), who gives her a crash course on what her life has been like since the accident. Through these increasingly preposterous encounters, Christine learns that she had a son with Ben. She also learns that Ben divorced her at some point, yet she’s still living with him. On top of that, Mike may not be entirely truthful, even though he’s the one who encouraged her to document everything in the first place. Smells like red herring to me. 

Falls Apart During The First Act

What’s most perplexing about Before I Go to Sleep is how long Christine has been living like this without any meaningful intervention. She has no recollection of anything before her accident each time she wakes up. She should never be left alone to her own devices because she has a severe cognitive disability. The friends she reconnects with are way too casual about everything, as if hearing from someone out of the blue years after their traumatic brain injury is totally normal.

I understand that someone like Claire may have had repeated encounters with Christine and is playing along to avoid upsetting her, but that’s not what’s being implied here. Everything is far too convenient, with all signs pointing to the fact that somebody is up to something, which we learn through Christine’s flashbacks. The problem is that these flashbacks aren’t reliable, and they’re clearly being influenced by manipulative sources.

If you’re wondering who the manipulative source is, try the one living with her who has clearly been controlling the narrative from the opening scene onward. I’d say spoiler alert, but if you’ve seen even a couple psychological thrillers, you’ll know exactly how this ends before the opening credits finish rolling.

Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, and Mark Strong do about as well as they can with what they’re given. But if I’m being honest, you’re better off huffing paint, watching 50 First Dates and Memento on two separate screens, and trying to piece them together every time you regain consciousness. It’s basically the same experience.

As of this writing, Before I Go to Sleep is streaming on Netflix.

By Jennifer Asencio
| Updated 45 seconds ago

The wait is over. After years of anticipation, Backrooms is finally here. The first trailer was dropped on March 31, 2026, and the surreal dimension audiences were introduced to in the amateur web series is finally coming into its own. The A24 production was directed by none other than Kane Pixels himself, Kane Parsons.

When Parsons filmed his masterpiece web series, he was a 17-year-old high school student with an experimental eye behind the camera. The Backrooms (Found Footage) follows a young filmmaker as he wanders into another dimension consisting of a labyrinth of rooms in a yellow-walled institutional setting. His work was noticed by Atomic Monster, the studio of horror great James Wan, director of The Conjuring movies and the Insidious franchise. Parsons still isn’t old enough to pop champagne at his movie’s premiere, but his maturity as a director is sure to excite fans of the web series.

Lost In Labyrinth

In the trailer for Backrooms, Chiwetel Ejiofor, known for playing Baron Mondo in the Doctor Strange movies, stars as Clark, an employee in a furniture showroom who one night finds a strange opening in the store’s basement. He passes through the opening and finds the very same dimension that is Parsons’s trademark, yellow walls and all. As he wanders around a little, strange events happen.

This makes him determined to study this strange alternate universe. He recruits some friends and gathers some camera gear, and the group begins its exploration. However, there is a young lady he speaks to that seems to be either a friend or a therapist, and when she stumbles upon the rooms without Clark’s knowledge, she may never come back.

At least, this is what I have gathered from watching the trailer. The script, written by Parsons and Will Soodik, has been kept under wraps since the movie was first announced. It appears to take place in the past (prior rumors said the 1990s), and IMDb doesn’t have a lot of information beyond the name of Ejiofor’s character and some production credits.

What we have been shown is exciting because it draws upon almost everything fans loved about the web series. It will feature found footage in the form of the explorations of Clark and his friends. The vast office complex that makes up the setting is adorned with surreal imagery like strangely stacked furniture and objects sunken into walls. Some of the characters show up in radiation gear. Somehow, between the yellow walls and the varying sizes of the rooms, passages, and hallways, the titular setting is both massive and claustrophobic at once, making it very unsettling.

A Deeply Unsettling Exploration

The whole movie seems to echo the trajectory of Parsons’s career so far: an eagerness to explore combined with an optimism for what Clark might find, while presenting a frightening and solitary menace for anyone who dares enter alone. Parsons began with that eagerness and is now getting to explore the world of cinema that he entered when he posted the original anthology on YouTube, with all the optimism of a kid who got his first directing contract before he even graduated high school.

If Backrooms maintains the tone set by Kane Pixels, it could draw new fans. If it manages to use the resources offered to Parsons by support from a professional studio, it could turn a teenager’s vision into the hottest new horror franchise. The trailer hints that it at least accomplishes the tone. Now to see if it can exceed expectations.

Get lost in Backrooms, in theaters on May 29, 2026.

Prime Video might be having its moment, but it definitely has its misses. The streaming platform introduced the world to the depravity that is The Boys and the all-around justice of Reacher. Certain shows have made an impression on critics, earning Emmys for titles like Fallout and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. But every so often, some shows just don’t bode well over time.

That isn’t to say they’ve grown increasingly unpopular. On the contrary, some have become ultimate fan favorites. Still, as these shows progress, they increasingly lack substance or simply rub people the wrong way. Whether it’s behind-the-scenes drama or reductive writing, these shows might not have stood the test of time. Without further ado, here are the Prime Video shows that have aged like milk.

‘Expats’ (2024)

Image via Prime Video

With a title like Expats, it’s not surprising that the miniseries portrays a particular social bubble in a foreign country. In a vaguely similar Lost in Translation fashion, Expats follows the lives of wealthy American expatriates living in Hong Kong. Albeit their luxurious apartments and exclusive social gatherings, these expats share an existential crisis, which evolves into a thriller-like tragedy involving the main character’s son. Although the show is about feeling like a fish out of water, it doesn’t bode well for its supporting characters—mainly the domestic workers—or for the aestheticization of Hong Kong’s real-life problems.

Domestic helpers make up a big aspect of the plot, but their stories exist only in relation to the expatriate families they work for. It fails to integrate challenges like Hong Kong’s problematic domestic worker system, which has long been imbued with inequality. It doesn’t help that the show was produced during the height of the protests surrounding the Hong Kong National Security Law, where 300 people were arrested, and 45 activists were sentenced. Its out-of-touchness comes from both inside and out.

‘Good Omens’ (2019–Present)

Image via Prime Video

First premiering in 2019, Good Omens won the hearts of audiences with its frenemy-led duo that’s as old as time: the demon Crowley (David Tennant) and the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), as they work together to stop Armageddon and track down the Antichrist. On top of all that, they have to beat the living lights out of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Because of its contemporary adaptation of religious references, Good Omens feels like a relatable show despite its grand divine interventions.

Good Omens was only one season short of concluding its story. However, allegations against its creator, Neil Gaiman, temporarily halted production in September 2024. The author was accused of “sexual misconduct by eight women,” to which Gaiman responded by claiming he was the victim of a “smear campaign.” A month later, he exited the project. In the aftermath, the usual six-episode order for Season 3 was drastically reduced to a single 90-minute episode, set for release in May 2026.

‘Swarm’ (2023)

Image via Prime Video

Stan culture takes a sinister turn in Swarm. A young woman, Dre (Dominique Fishback), spends her days obsessing over a Beyoncé-like pop star named Ni’jah (Nirine S. Brown) and her Beyhive-style fandom. Her fixation consumes her life, and her love for Ni’jah spirals into full-blown worship. Fandom culture becomes Dre’s vehicle for releasing her innate psychotic rage, shaped by a traumatic past that includes her foster sister. From attacking stans who criticize Ni’jah to breaking into her concert just to catch a glimpse of the pop star, Dre knows no limits.

The problem with Swarm lies in how Dre is written. While parasocial relationships can lead to dangerous obsession, the series reduces her to a one-dimensional figure, with violence overshadowing the trauma that drives her. This risks reinforcing the “violent Black woman” trope. Donald Glover‘s direction to play Dre “like an animal and less like a person” further strips her of nuance, distancing her from the grief of losing her foster sister—ultimately weakening the show’s exploration of fandom and trauma.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ (2022–Present)

Image via Prime Video

Fans of The Lord of the Rings expected nothing but the best from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Set in the Second Age, the show is meant to explore the forging of the rings and the alliance between Elves and Men. However, putting aside the notorious review-bombing, the prequel series fails to deliver substantial storylines, attempting to cover every part of the lore while lacking depth in all of them.

There’s a noticeable imbalance between the arcs of Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), or Sauron (Charlie Vickers) and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), compared to characters like Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), who are given far less spotlight than they were in Season 1. Other behind-the-scenes issues Rings of Power has faced stem from its decision to cast non-white actors, which has rubbed some stubborn fans the wrong way due to accusations of “wokeness.” For a series whose Season 1 cost approximately $465 million in production fees alone, it has struggled to retain viewers.

‘Sausage Party: Foodtopia’ (2024–Present)

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There can only be so many food puns. Sausage Party: Foodtopia takes place directly in the aftermath of the original 2016 film, Sausage Party. The main difference is that, in the film, these comically alive food characters question the purpose of their existence when they realize that humans are buying them for consumption, prompting the four main characters (or foods) to convince everyone at Shopwell’s supermarket to save themselves and get rid of the humans.

Season 1 of Foodtopia shows promise with an interesting premise: how does one rebuild society following the “demise” of the human race? With the food’s fragility (they can’t survive under rain or crows), they have to reconnect with a human willing to work with them. Season 1 manages this political questioning while keeping the comedy fresh. However, Season 2 shifts into outdated jokes, from the Will Smith Oscars slap to Oprah‘s giveaway. There’s only so much nostalgia this comedy can take.

‘Beast Games’ (2024–Present)

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Nothing screams “concerning” more than a reality competition show inspired by Squid Game. Worse still, this isn’t the first time it’s been done. Back in 2023, Squid Game: The Challenge was under fire due to the conditions contestants were put under, with several requiring medical attention. Squid Game is meant to be fiction and fiction only, but YouTuber MrBeast, who is notoriously famous for his outlandish, algorithm-driven videos, decided to move forward with Beast Games.

The point of Squid Game is to highlight the dangers of capitalism and how the top one percent is responsible for the suffering of the working class. This critique becomes muddled with Beast Games, where the idea of winning money at any cost is aggressively celebrated. However, even before the show aired, five contestants filed a lawsuit against YouTube and Amazon. According to the lawsuit, contestants cited “dangerous circumstances and conditions as a condition of their employment.”

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ (2022–2025)

One shouldn’t expect proper dating advice from a show like The Summer I Turned Pretty. The show begins with the tried-and-true foundation of nearly every romantic drama: the love triangle. Only this time, there are two brothers and their childhood best friend involved. With their summers spent at the Cape Cod-inspired Cousins Beach, The Summer I Turned Pretty becomes a show where dreamers escape into blissful salty air, white sandy beaches, and the promise of an unforgettable first kiss.

Throughout its three seasons, this love triangle becomes the core of The Summer I Turned Pretty. One way the show sustains that conflict is by introducing unnecessary drama the moment things seem calm. The problem is that many of these issues could be resolved with better communication and smaller egos. It may feel cute in Season 1, but by Season 3, the constant back-and-forth between the two brothers becomes repetitive and increasingly tiring to watch.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty

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Release Date

2022 – 2025-00-00

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Prime Video

Directors

Erica Dunton, Jesse Peretz, Jeff Chan

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  Lola Tung

  Isabel ‘Belly’ Conklin

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  Christopher Briney

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By Robert Scucci
| Updated 1 hour ago

If you have memories of watching 1992’s Fortress, can’t remember the name, and try describing it to your friends, they’ll probably assume you imagined the whole thing during a fever dream while home sick from school on a random Tuesday. Fortunately, you’re not insane, and what you’re remembering is a real B-movie blockbuster starring Christopher Lambert, Loryn Locklin, Kurtwood Smith, and a whole slew of colorful inmates that look and act the part. It’s a gritty cyberpunk prison break, chock-full of explosions, government surveillance drones, intense staredowns, and intestinators. More on those later. 

Fortress was a financial success, earning $65 million against its reported $15 million production budget. It was enough to spawn an equally ill-fated sequel in 2000, but that’s chump change compared to The Fugitive, which pulled in nearly six times the box office during the same month. Financials aside, Fortress wasn’t exactly a critical darling upon release, and still sits in the trenches with a punishing 38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Fortress is very much a real movie that exists and is readily available for streaming, its reputation may deter you from hitting play, which is a shame. It’s one of the strangest movies of the 90s to try and capture a mainstream audience, and for that reason alone makes it worth your time.

A Retro-Futuristic Jailbreak Plot

Set in the year 2017, Fortress introduces us to our hero, John Henry Brennick (Christopher Lambert), and his wife, Karen (Loryn Locklin). While attempting to cross the US border into Canada, the couple is apprehended when it’s revealed that Karen is pregnant, something that’s strictly forbidden in this dystopian hellscape. Under no circumstances is a couple allowed to have a second baby, even if their first one dies, which is exactly the situation John and Karen find themselves in. They’re not technically contributing to the overpopulation problem when you look at the numbers, but the law is the law, and they’re living in a tyrannical police state that doesn’t mess around.

In the future, according to 1992 logic, prisons are run by the Men-Tel corporation, and inmates are subjected to slave labor to keep the prison-industrial complex alive and well. John is thrown into one such facility, known as the Fortress, where he’s introduced to a ragtag group of inmates, including by-the-books longtimer Abraham (Lincoln Kilpatrick), disgraced technical wizard D-Day, young cutup Nino Gomez (Clifton Collins Jr.), resident bully Maddox (Vernon Wells), and his mean-mugging right-hand man Stiggs (Tom Towles).

Each inmate in the Fortress is fitted with a stomach-annihilating implant known as an intestinator, which will blow out their insides if they step out of line. Literally. Controlling the entire operation behind closed doors is Poe, the forever scowling and morally bankrupt prison director portrayed by Kurtwood Smith.

Unbeknownst to John, though he won’t stay in the dark for long, Poe also has Karen in custody in another section of the prison, with plans to incinerate her unborn child once it’s brought to term. He’d terminate the pregnancy sooner, but in this future abortion is illegal, and child murder is the workaround. Determined to reunite with his wife and become a father again, John Henry Brennick rounds up the troops and starts plotting his escape, despite pushback from Abraham, who is a little close to parole for comfort.

There are brawls, mind-wiping gyrospheres, laser cages, and moving platforms in the Fortress, all monitored and controlled through the Zed-10 computer system. Poe, who has disturbing intentions toward Karen, stands as the immovable link between salvation and certain death, and John Henry Brennick is up for the challenge, consequences be damned.

Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die

Fortress always felt destined to be a forgotten relic, but it might have had a different fate with more star power attached. The script was reportedly written with a more traditionally jacked action star in mind, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but director Stuart Gordon wanted an everyman, which brought Christopher Lambert into the equation. And when it comes to a singular lead role, there can be only one!

While a megastar like Schwarzenegger might have put more asses in seats, it’s hard to imagine Fortress with anyone else leading the charge. Lambert’s intense gaze doesn’t just look into your soul, it looks through it. For what is essentially a B-movie with a disproportionately large budget, it feels right just the way it is. 

Fortress is dystopian, campy, and incredibly violent, striking a strange balance between too weird for mainstream audiences and not weird enough to fully cement itself as a cult classic. It also embodies all of the tried-and-true action tropes that critics had by 1992 grown tired of, becoming just one of hundreds of action thrillers making their rounds, all trying to do the same thing. 

Still, it deserves a second look because its ambition outweighs its reputation, and it’s a solid popcorn flick whether you remember it or not. As of this writing, Fortress is streaming for free on Tubi.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago

Like all good Millennial nerds, I rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer often enough that every single silly catchphrase and witty bon mot lives rent-free in my head. It’s more than just nostalgia that fuels my late-night binge sessions, though. Buffy is just one of those shows that is worth constantly returning to because there is always something new to discover. For example, when I rewatched the solid Season 3 episode “Beauty and the Beasts,” I realized that it has a core message that is effectively contradicted by the rest of the show.

This episode features a character who, Dr. Jekyll-style, takes a potion to become the kind of man his girlfriend wants him to be. Sadly, he turns into an abusive boyfriend and, inevitably, into an actual monster that is eventually put down by Angel. “Beauty and the Beasts” puts a supernatural spin on a tale about the dangers of domestic abuse. However, the messaging is somewhat contradicted by Buffy herself always falling for murderous bad boys. That message is even further contradicted by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom, many of whom grew up to be avid fans of smutty novels romanticizing the kinds of toxic men they’d hate in real life.

Of Monsters And Men

“Beauty and the Beasts” isn’t a very subtle Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. It mostly uses The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as inspiration to tell a story about domestic abuse. Along the way, it fairly explicitly tackles the role that toxic masculinity plays in such abuse. Our villain, Pete, is someone who begins making and taking weird potions to, as he tells girlfriend Debbie, “be the man you wanted.” He prioritizes becoming a stronger man rather than a stronger boyfriend, becoming a violent, controlling jerk who ultimately murders the woman he supposedly loves.  

In “Beauty and the Beasts,” Pete is contrasted by other men who present a more healthy masculinity, including Oz, who, when not in werewolf form, is the gentlest of the Scoobies. Giles is, of course, the natty embodiment of everything prim and proper. Xander, meanwhile, is our adorably schmucky beta who’s always there with a quick quip or word of encouragement. Even temporary Buffy boyfriend Scott is (before he is later retconned as a jerk) presented as a very healthy masculine alternative to Pete’s rageholic ways.

Bad Boys Do It Better

As a self-contained episode, “Beauty and the Beasts” works well, contrasting toxic masculinity with positive masculinity and showing why the latter is always better. When you look at the entire show, however, Buffy seems to be the one character who never understands this important lesson. After all, the first great love of her life is Angel, the vampire with a soul who wants to atone for past misdeeds. Their doomed romance may seem cute, but make no mistake. Buffy falls in love with a mass murderer hundreds of years older than herself, one who turns into one of the most dangerous people on the planet when his soul is removed.

If Buffy’s relationship with Angel was bad, her relationship with Spike was even worse. While he was mentally neutered by a government chip, he was still very much a soulless demon when Buffy began having sex with him. The fact that Spike had killed two Slayers and countless other people didn’t deter Buffy. In fact, they went on to have sex so intense it literally tore a house down. Later, the show emphasized Spike’s demonic nature by having him try to assault Buffy. Despite this, she later forgives him and even confesses her love to him before he died (don’t worry, he got better). 

Buffy’s Outsize Influence On Modern Smut

Buffy, as a show, constantly transmits the message that toxic masculinity is bad and that it should be rejected in all of its forms. But Buffy as a character sends a very different message: that sex with bad boys is really, really hot, and relationships with such men are infinitely more fulfilling than relationships with safer suitors like Riley. Granted, Riley had the personality of wet cardboard, but he still symbolized the kind of average Joe that our Slayer consistently rejects in favor of someone more dangerous.

While Buffy the Vampire Slayer obviously didn’t invent the “bad boys are hot” trope, it arguably popularized it for multiple generations of fans. Those fans would grow up to become the core demographic for romantic novels, especially those which are affectionately labeled “smut.” While there are many different flavors of smutty novels, some of the most popular ones feature Buffy’s favorite kind of guy: dark, brooding, and oh so dangerous. Fifty Shades of Grey (a foundational text to modern smut), for example, features a rich man who is heavily into BDSM. In this way, he’s the archetypal bad boy protagonist; someone with desires so dangerous that they make him that much more attractive.

Devil of Dublin, meanwhile, features a mafioso whose willingness to hurt and kill on behalf of the female main character is presented as an unabashed plus. Lights Out is a novel where the male main character wins over his lady love by killing the man who assaults her and then covering up his death. While that novel’s motto is “the couple who slays together, stays together,” Butcher & Blackbird takes that idea to the next level by featuring male and female serial killers who bond over their desire to (Dexter style) kill bad people.

The Naked Truth

Now, I’m not here to kinkshame these books or anyone who enjoys their bondage-filled exploits. Everyone’s freak flag should be flown as loudly and proudly as they want to fly it. But it is notable that the romantic book genre is filled with the kinds of men that the vast majority of women would reject in real life. Nobody really wants to date a violent, murderous thug. But it’s fun to fantasize about, especially in between watching the kind of masked man thirst traps the Lights Out male main character specializes in. 

Those fantasies might not be nearly so much fun to these readers, however, if they hadn’t grown up watching Buffy have amazing sex with a pair of sexy, brooding mass murderers. Buffy the Vampire Slayer effectively contradicts the message of “Beauty and the Beasts” by constantly showcasing how fun it is to fool around with dangerous men who are bad for her. In this way, Buffy accidentally proves that episode’s villain right. Nobody wants someone who will hurt or kill them, of course, but countless people (in the show and in the world) really do want bad boys with a monster hidden inside them. 

If men could take a potion to become that archetypal bad boy that women want, most would do so in a heartbeat. In that way, “Beauty and the Beasts” takes on a kind of retrospective importance, underscoring the divide (often a large one) between our public desires and our private fantasies. It’s a tale that underscores the hubris of Dr. Jekyll while also making his downfall that much more sympathetic.

J. Smith-Cameron‘s killer character on Elsbeth might look a little familiar — at least to viewers who are fans of former Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour.

“It was my idea,” Smith-Cameron exclusively told Us Weekly. “I was like, ‘What if I’m not trying to be Anna Wintour but this woman is trying to be like Anna Wintour?’ That’s her hero and she’s going to try to emulate her.”

Smith-Cameron broke down the vision for the character, adding, “She is hiding behind a mask. I thought that might be fun. I just went online and bought an inexpensive wig that was pageboy bob–style, and it looked OK in my head. So I used that. And I didn’t try to be English exactly. I wanted to sound like someone who’s trying to sound a bit English.”

Before using Wintour as inspiration, Smith-Cameron had a real-life run-in with the fashion icon.

Related: Most Surprising TV Show Cameos Ever: Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and More

While many TV shows have made household names out of their star players, occasionally showrunners have been able to corral some of Hollywood’s biggest names to drop in for a surprising cameo during a complete episode or a single scene. Perhaps one of the most polarizing cameos belonged to Ed Sheeran on HBO’s Game of […]

“I met Anna Wintour once as I went to a fashion show, and she ended up being seated right next to me. She had her sunglasses on, and her reputation precedes her,” she recalled. “But she was very personable. She was lovely. This isn’t my impression of her. It is just someone who’s obsessed with her, which I could relate to. Everyone I know is somewhat fascinated by Anna Wintour because she’s a very, very fascinating person.”

Elsbeth, which premiered in 2024, follows Carrie Preston‘s Elsbeth Tascioni, who becomes a de facto detective aiding the NYPD in their investigations. The titular character’s unconventional methods lead her to make unique observations that help solve crimes.

In addition to Preston, the show stars Wendell Pierce and has allowed for cameo appearances from Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, Pamela Adlon, Vanessa Williams, Matthew Broderick, Michael Emerson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Retta, Blair Underwood, Linda Lavin and more.

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In the Thursday, April 3, episode of the hit CBS series, Smith-Cameron is introduced as a case follows a powerful patriarch who “is stabbed with a sword at New York’s most exclusive debutante ball,” according to the synopsis. The description teases how Elsbeth “must engage in hand-in-glove combat with the imperious ball director (Smith-Cameron).”

“This is the kind of show where you do get some backstory. It’s a funny show because it’s a murder mystery show in a way. But it’s a fun and lighthearted take on it,” she continued. “I just had fun with that. The characters on Elsbeth are going through very extreme times. You can relate to them and the way it’s written and handled.”

Elsbeth airs on CBS Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 8 seconds ago

Overprotective parents are tough nuts to crack. On one hand, can you really blame a mom or dad for trying to shelter their children from the horrors of the world, no matter how misguided their attempts may be? On the other hand, sometimes you’ve just got to push the baby bird out of the nest and see if they can fly on their own. In more extreme cases, you might have to fool your daughter into thinking that whenever she’s aroused, she’ll burst into flames, like in 1987’s Nice Girls Don’t Explode.

Nice Girls Don’t Explode is a rom-com that hinges on this single joke, and then runs it into the ground. It’s one of those fascinating situations where the joke wears out its welcome in the first act, you check the seeker bar in the second act to see how much more you have to endure, and then somehow it brings things back around by the third. It’s like when you say a single word over and over again until it loses all meaning, but only before the exercise makes you realize everything is meaningless, and you and the word become one in an almost zen-like state. 

At least that’s what I felt at my core while watching Nice Girls Don’t Explode.

Don’t Forget Your Fire Extinguisher! 

Every source I can find clocks Nice Girls Don’t Explode at 92 minutes, but the version streaming on Tubi runs only 82. This could mean one of two things: the sources are wrong, or there’s a longer cut floating around somewhere. I’m hoping it’s the former, because since the entire movie is built around one joke repeating itself ad nauseam, any extended version would likely be more of the same. Worse, if that footage was cut for pacing, it probably wasn’t doing the movie any favors.

Speaking of the joke, here’s what it is. April Flowers (Michelle Meyrink) has a rare disorder where her surroundings burst into flames whenever she’s sexually aroused. Or so she thinks. In reality, her overprotective mother (Barbara Harris) rigs plastic explosives and detonates them remotely to scare off potential suitors. She follows April on dates and gets trigger-happy with her detonator, sending her daughter home dejected after every disaster.

When her old neighbor and romantic interest Andy (William O’Leary) returns to town before securing his ping pong scholarship in China, the two hit it off. It doesn’t take long for Mother to fall back into her old habits. She continues to gaslight April with staged explosions, even going as far as lighting the cat on fire, but Andy starts to catch on when he realizes these incidents never happen when Mom isn’t around.

The rest of the movie follows that same pattern. Andy gets closer to exposing Mother, she retaliates, and he ends up humiliated in the process. He’s caught with his pants down more than once, but it’s never what it looks like. Andy is just clumsy, and April’s manipulative mother uses that to her advantage. Determined to live life on their own terms, April and Andy decide to do the unthinkable by having sex to prove Mother wrong, assuming she doesn’t sabotage them first.

A One-Note Joke Done To Death

Nice Girls Don’t Explode is more fun than I’d care to admit, but I’d be lying if I said it was a good movie. Barbara Harris, Michelle Meyrink, and William O’Leary clearly understood the assignment, and their chemistry carries the film even when it’s just beating a dead horse. It’s a mindless, low-stakes romp that never really crosses the line into being offensive, but it is surprisingly risqué for something rated PG.

It’s not going to change your life, and some of the gags, like the first-act restaurant scene, actually land. This isn’t an intelligent movie. There’s no subtext or ambiguity hiding beneath the surface. And sometimes that’s exactly what you need after burning through your mental energy all day. 

Most importantly, Nice Girls Don’t Explode is streaming for free on Tubi, so it won’t cost you anything but your time.