By Robert Scucci
| Published 6 seconds ago

I have so many things to say about 1997’s The Postman that I don’t even know where to start. The first thing I’ll say is that Kevin Costner has proven himself to be a reliable leading man. Field of Dreams (1989) and Dances with Wolves (1990) made waves on the big screen, and Yellowstone was never the same after he parted ways with Tyler Sheridan to focus on his sprawling Western vanity project, Horizon: An American Saga. What I’ve noticed about Kevin Costner, though, is that he has a serious hero complex and never seems particularly interested in being part of an ensemble.

You can trace this mindset all the way back to 1995’s Waterworld, which is basically Mad Max with boats. The film was considered a flop upon release because of its bloated budget and disappointing box office returns, but audiences have warmed up to it over the years thanks to a campy charm that’s hard to replicate.

The Postman is an entirely different beast because Costner serves as both director and star. He’s not just an actor following somebody else’s vision, and he’s so committed to building out his own character’s mythology that he might as well be Steven Seagal. Oh, and it’s almost three hours long, which is worth mentioning because money comes and goes, relationships change, but time is the one thing you never get back.

177 Minutes Of Kevin Costner Thinking He’s Awesome

Set in the then-future year of 2013, The Postman follows a drifter played by Kevin Costner. He travels from community to community reciting Shakespeare in exchange for three hots and a cot. He barely knows any Shakespeare, but it’s enough to impress General Bethlehem (Will Patton), the leader of a militia group known as the Holnists, who captures him and attempts to indoctrinate him.

No joke, when it’s time for Kevin Costner to match wits with Bethlehem, he says, “To be or not to be…” and this is apparently enough for the man to think he’s an intellectual and a scholar that deserves his respect, so long as he doesn’t step out of line. Anyhow, Costner escapes and seeks refuge in an abandoned mail truck, burning letters one by one for light and warmth while hiding from Bethlehem and his loyal army. Suddenly, he has a great idea: he’ll dress like a postman, show up at the nearest settlement, and use his new disguise to score food, drink, and a place to sleep.

He stumbles upon a small town called Pineview, and his plan works even better than expected. So well, in fact, that his mere presence threatens Pineview Sheriff Briscoe (Daniel von Bargen), who knows he’s just a drifter running game but can’t definitively prove it. During his stay, Kevin Costner, who’s super awesome, is approached by Abby (Olivia Williams), who wastes no time asking him to get her pregnant. Abby’s husband, Michael (Charles Esten), is sterile and has absolutely no qualms about Kevin Costner bumping uglies with his wife so they can finally have a baby.

After promising everybody in Pineview that he’s totally legitimate, definitely not a fraud, and committed to delivering mail to and from their community, Kevin Costner, who I now feel comfortable calling “The Postman,” has a run-in with one of the local youths, a young man who calls himself Ford Lincoln Mercury (Larenz Tate) and wants in on that sweet mail-delivery action. With no official authority whatsoever because he doesn’t actually have any, The Postman recruits Ford Lincoln Mercury, and the two basically cosplay as mailmen for the rest of the movie.

When Your Plan Backfires

The previous section may seem like I gave the whole movie away, but I need to remind you that this abomination is three hours long, and we’re barely through the first act. For the sake of brevity, I’ll speed things up and get to the true conflict in The Postman: General Bethlehem. I literally forgot about General Bethlehem after what I’d consider an egregious amount of worldbuilding for a movie about a guy who wants to work for the post office. When he showed up again, my immediate reaction was, “Oh yeah, that guy.”

Despite being such a scholar, General Bethlehem somehow doesn’t realize that Kevin Costner dressed up as a mailman is the same Kevin Costner who impressed him with his flaccid, first-grade rendition of Shakespeare earlier in the film. Unwittingly, and perhaps unwillingly, this whole plot escalates into a full-blown civil war because the Holnists want to maintain their power, and Bethlehem becomes convinced that the American government is slowly reclaiming its former glory because the Postal Service is allegedly operational again.

That’s right. In his mind, mail being delivered by horseback from Oregon to New York over the course of several months means his dynasty is about to crumble.

Along the way, The Postman and Abby fulfill her husband’s wishes, and she gets pregnant. He eventually leaves Pineview but is attacked by Bethlehem’s men, leaving him gravely injured. Abby finds him, and the two seek shelter in a small cabin while he recovers, making sure to make fun of her cooking every time he has enough strength to do so. Abby nearly drowns in an icy river, and The Postman saves her. She burns down the cabin so he’ll be forced to continue his work because that’s what she considers smart. Mail gets delivered, word spreads about the “Restored U.S. Government,” and Bethlehem becomes increasingly enraged as war draws closer.

The Best Unintentional Comedy Of The 90s

As ridiculous as all of this sounds, and it is, I spent most of my time watching The Postman laughing my ass off. The most obvious reason is that everybody plays it completely straight, and James Newton Howard’s score is so whimsical and triumphant. This is, at its core, a story about a mailman. He reminisces about Tang and astronauts before telling Abby that she’s weird or that her face is pretty. Meanwhile, the string section has a glorious crescendo that you’d hear in a Lord of the Rings movie before an epic battle.

Even funnier is the entire hero’s journey that The Postman finds himself on. He literally puts on a dead mailman’s clothes and wanders into town looking to lay low before eventually trying the same scam somewhere else. Within days, he’s leading a resistance movement against General Bethlehem’s sprawling army while trying to restore the long-lost sanctity of American sovereignty. They fight on horseback. Molotov cocktails get thrown through post office windows. Tom Petty shows up for a minute, and I still don’t know why. Kevin Costner rides a zipline.

It’s hilarious because this guy just wanted to keep drifting from town to town, collecting free beans and hardtack wherever he could find them. But his little scheme works so well that he somehow becomes the most important man in post-apocalyptic history. That’s like me trying to fraudulently reuse a BOGO coupon for bulk paper towels at Kroger and somehow ending up as President. I can’t adequately articulate how stupid this all is.

Listen, I’m not telling you to stop what you’re doing and watch The Postman. It’s not currently included with any major streaming subscription. But if you have four dollars you’re willing to part ways with, you can rent this beautiful disaster on-demand through Apple TV+, YouTube, or Fandango at Home.

2026 might be the year of science fiction. Many big projects, like Project Hail Mary, pulled in huge box-office numbers. Meanwhile, Star Wars has returned to the big screen after seven years with The Mandalorian and Grogu, but has performed below expectations so far. And by the end of the year, Dunesday was predicted to bring more people to the theaters with the release of Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday on December 18. While many new titles are scheduled to come out, streaming platforms have begun updating their libraries to showcase some of the genre’s classics and iconic titles.

One of the most popular tropes in science fiction is the alien invasion. Not all aliens are like Rocky in Project Hail Mary. Some aliens came to Earth with the intention of invading or destroying humanity, a common trope in many science fiction stories. But what makes these stories appealing is the way they demonstrate how humanity would set aside its differences to save its planet, and, if lucky, feature a speech from a fictional president that, if lucky, would find a place in pop culture. One of these are the Independence Day movies.

Independence Day was a 1996 sci-fi action movie starring Will Smith, in which Earth must defend itself against an alien invasion. Since its release, it has become the highest-grossing film of that year, grossing over $817 million at the box office, and won an Academy Award for “Best Visual Effects.” Twenty years later, a sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, was released, featuring a new cast led by Liam Hemsworth and set 20 years after the War of 1996, when the alien technology was reverse-engineered for Earth’s defenses, and the planet faces another alien threat. 10 years after the sequel’s release, these two films will be available to stream for free on Tubi next month, along with many other iconic science fiction titles like Deep Impact and Bumblebee.

Are the ‘Independence Day’ Films Worth Watching?

The first Independence Day film received praise since its 1996 release, earning a 69% critics’ score and a 75% audience score. Additionally, the presidential speech, delivered by Bill Pullman, has remained iconic and memorable to this day. Critics praised it, calling it patriotic and fun. However, its sequel did not receive the same reception. When it was released in 2016, Independence Day: Resurgence grossed only $389.6 million worldwide and received a 29% critics’ score and a 30% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. According to critics, it was released in theaters many years late and was unable to live up to the first movie. Collider’s Perri Nemiroff gave Independence Day: Resurgence a “D+” grade in her review, claiming that nothing in this movie felt similar and claimed it “might be one of the worst of the worst sequels” to have existed.

Independence Day and Independence Day: Resurgence will be available on Tubi on June 15, 2026. Follow Collider for more updates.

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Release Date

July 3, 1996

Runtime

145 minutes

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Director

Roland Emmerich

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Writers

Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich

Producers

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Dean Devlin

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By Robert Scucci
| Published 44 seconds ago

Here’s a little bit of life advice that I’ll give you for free. If the last person to see your wife alive is a disgraced filmmaker who’s presently working on a snuff film, he’s probably the person responsible for her death. Furthermore, if you become the primary suspect in her murder, the filmmaker posts your bail after talking to the police and asks you to help him finish the film he started when your wife was still alive, you should probably try working directly with the authorities instead of the person who seems to know a little too much about the case after bringing one of the officers on to consult on the storyboard. This is the plot to 1984’s Special Effects, a movie within a movie that is one of the most out-there psychological thrillers I’ve seen in a minute.

It’s one of those movies where you know who the killer is because you see it happen early on, and you think he’s going to get away with it. He just might, too. The tension comes from watching everybody else, not knowing what you know, try to piece everything together even though they only have their suspicions and the kind of circumstantial evidence that wouldn’t hold up in court anyway.

Everybody, aside from the antagonist, is so comically clueless in Special Effects that it’s charming. It’s equally frustrating, though, because he’s the last guy you want to root for.

The Movie Within The Movie

Special Effects has a simple setup that extrapolates into absurdity, but almost always wears a straight face. We’re introduced to Andrea Wilcox (Zoe Lund), a struggling actress trying to make it big in New York City. She earns her living shooting nudie photos, which upsets her estranged husband, Keefe (Brad Rijn), prompting him to travel to New York and try to convince her to come back home to Dallas, where he and their toddler live. They have a fight, and Andrea storms out, finding herself near the residence of disgraced filmmaker Christopher Neville (Eric Bogosian).

Christopher is looking for his big comeback after becoming so reliant on special effects that he was blacklisted from Hollywood following a number of big-budget failures. While attempting to make love to Andrea, Christopher becomes enraged and strangles her to death. The entire exchange is recorded on a hidden camera in his bedroom, and he thinks it might be his big score.

When Keefe becomes the primary suspect in Andrea’s murder, he’s arrested by Det. Lt. Phillip Delroy (Kevin O’Connor). Christopher pays for a lawyer, and Keefe makes bail, meaning he’s now indebted to the filmmaker, who has plans for the murder footage. He explains his intention to make a movie about his and Andrea’s life, offering Keefe the position of technical advisor. Detective Phillip is put at ease when he’s offered a consulting job on the project, meaning he’ll hand over any files related to Andrea’s murder because he thinks he’ll get a writing credit out of it.

Knowing that he’s only out of jail thanks to Christopher’s generosity, Keefe buys into the project and even finds a woman named Elaine (also portrayed by Zoe Lund), who just so happens to be a dead ringer for Andrea. Christopher, in so many words, intends to make a snuff film using the actual footage of Andrea’s murder hidden inside the finished movie, with Elaine serving as her stand-in up to that point. Keefe, who knows Christopher is up to something but can’t quite put his finger on what, plays along, hoping the filmmaker will slip and show his true colors. Time is running out, though, because Christopher only becomes more unhinged as the film progresses.

Quite The Ride Despite Its Destination

As much as I wanted to give Special Effects a perfect score, it’s not without problems. Not a single person in this movie is believably human, which takes away from the story it’s trying to tell. Christopher Neville is so comically evil that the only thing he’s missing is a mustache to twirl and a top hat to go along with it. The detectives are completely incompetent, which never really makes you feel worried about Keefe, who was essentially framed for murder. This dynamic undermines the kind of tension a thriller like this needs, but the story itself is fun despite how underwhelming I found the execution.

Watching a disgraced filmmaker try to incorporate the murder he committed into his next outing because he’s going back to his roots and using practical effects (read: an actual dead body) is a great way to explore the insane lengths creatives will go in the name of “authenticity.” The irony that he’s the most disingenuous person in the room isn’t lost on me, either. But without any real outside pressure from the characters who are supposed to provide it, the whole thing kind of falls apart in the third act.

Special Effects, as a concept, is a really fun film. While I’m not 100 percent thrilled with its characterization and execution, it remains a solid watch, especially before Christopher goes fully off the rails. If you’re looking for a thriller that isn’t afraid to go all in on its own insanity, you can stream Special Effects for free on Tubi as of this writing.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 4 seconds ago

Every so often, which is about once a week for me, I watch something on Tubi that’s so absolutely insane that I need to tell you all about it. I just scroll past a title like 1989’s Over-Sexed Rugsuckers From Mars, notice that it clocks in at under 90 minutes, and decide to take one for the team. And why wouldn’t I? The entire film is about an alien race of vacuum cleaners trying to aggressively reproduce with their human counterparts in an effort to take over the planet. The aliens themselves, who barely get any screen time, are stop-motion puppets, and the vacuum cleaners they use as their instruments of mass destruction are the kind you could buy at any store.

There are no special effects in Over-Sexed Rugsuckers from Mars, and I think I prefer it that way. There’s no need to “not show the monster” because the monster is simply a Eureka ESP Bagged Upright. In this case, you don’t need to worry about the zipper on the back of the beast because that’s just how you change the bag.

Oh Boy, Where Do I Start?

Over-Sexed Rugsuckers from Mars barely has a coherent plot, but I’ll do my best to do it justice. Though it’s never explicitly stated, which required me to do some research just to get the cast names straight, here’s what I picked up on: an alien race implied to have created humanity millennia ago is disappointed with the progress of their project, so they decide to create a new hybrid race that’s half vacuum cleaner and half human.

They attempt this through a homeless man named Vernon (Richard Monda), who unknowingly drinks alien pee from his flask, which is some form of extraterrestrial aphrodisiac, or something. They do the deed, and Vernon names his new lover Dusty. 

Once Dusty’s sexual appetite is primed, it goes on a rampage, trying to reproduce with as many human subjects as possible. Things completely go off the rails when Tom (Billybob Rhoads) spots Dusty in a storefront and buys the device for his wife, who is then murdered, among other things, by the vacuum, implicating Tom in the crime.

This prompts Lt. Kane (Ralston Young), Detective Madder (Ken Sweet), and a SWAT officer to follow every lead they can in order to uncover the identity of the real killer. While all of this is happening, Dusty claims another victim, Rena (Jean Stewart), who survives the attack but becomes impregnated by the appliance and, understandably, traumatized by the entire experience.

From this point forward, in this movie about a rogue vacuum cleaner that sexes people to death, it’s nothing but gag after gag. If you’re the kind of person who’s built specifically to enjoy this sort of thing, Over-Sexed Rugsuckers from Mars spends most of its time following noir beats in which detectives show up at vacuum cleaner stores and even have witnesses identify different makes and models through a one-way mirror in a police-lineup-style setup.

Meanwhile, Dusty is still on the loose, and Vernon spends much of the movie running through town looking for his beloved rugsucker like it was the Craigslist missed connection of a lifetime.

Has No Right Being This Funny

If you’re looking for a sci-fi schlockfest that’s not afraid to fully explore the limites of its $4,000 budget, Over-Sexed Rugsuckers from Mars should be your next Tubi watch. The only reason I clicked on the title is because it’s so ridiculous, and I’ll always admire the audacity of filmmakers who seemingly don’t care about their reputations at all.

It’s a freakin’ vacuum cleaner on strings trying to thrust its victims into submission, and for the most part, it succeeds. It’s rude, crude, grainy, and technically a sci-fi flick, but it leans hard into its neo-noir, bumbling-detective vibe, making the whole thing feel like a rejected I Think You Should Leave sketch that was somehow adapted into a feature-length film.

OVER-SEXED RUGSUCKERS FROM MARS SCORE

You’re either going to love or hate this movie, but if you’re down for about 87 minutes of total insanity where nothing makes sense but everybody acts like it does, you can stream Over-Sexed Rugsuckers from Mars for free on Tubi, the only streamer brave enough to carry this kind of stuff, as of this writing

General Hospital has Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) and Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart) getting frisky all the time, but it also looks like they are legit falling for each other. Plus, they’re building up quite a fan following.

So, I think James Patrick Stuart is going to stick around. And I suspect Carly and Valentin are endgame and they are going to be a big official super couple. So, we’re going to talk about what might be next for Carly and Valentin and what has to happen so that they can actually build a future together.

Carly And Valentin’s Undeniable Chemistry on General Hospital

So, I will say off the cuff, I haven’t enjoyed many of Carly’s pairings in the past. Some I have, some I haven’t. And Valentin has had some messy love stories, but I did like him with Anna Devane (Finola Hughes). But ever since Carly spun into Valentin’s orbit, I think it’s been magic. Once Carly went in disguise to visit Valentin at Steinmauer to recruit him to help her take down Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna), it was on.

Then things got even more fun once Carly tricked Jack into transferring Valentin back to the US because then that set the stage for him to take down the WSB guards on the transport plane and he stole a parachute, dove out of the plane right to his freedom. And once he showed up and Carly stashed him in her attic, that’s when things really started sizzling.

Gor me, Valentin and Carly’s chemistry is off the charts. I know a lot of fans share that opinion. Their banter is hilarious and they are clearly catching feelings for each other and a whole pile of GH fans have caught feelings for them as a pair. There’s a big Carly and Valentin fan base as they call it. But for Valentin and Carly to be endgame, certain things are going to have to change.

Getting The WSB Off Valentin’s Back on GH

So, first of all, they got to get the WSB off of Valentin’s back so that he’s not a fugitive anymore. Nothing can move forward for them really until Valentin is in the clear legally. I think he and Carly may help take down Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota) and Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes). Then that’ll likely score Valentin some points with Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) because he is determined to take Sidwell down also.

And it’ll also score some points with Brennan since Cullum is, you know, low-key still considering killing Jack and he’s in Turning Woods trapped and pretending to be locked-in. So, this is bad. Once Sidwell and Cullum are exposed and hopefully dead or in Steinmauer prison or even Pentonville, the WSB should finally get off Valentin’s case and he should be free and clear and can be Carly’s man out in public and not just in her bedroom and in her attic.

Making Peace with Jack

So, once that’s all taken care of, the next thing they need to do is make peace with Jack so he is also off of Valentin’s back. And of course, right now, Jack is still on fire and he’s furious that Carly was cheating with Valentin. So, right now, Jack absolutely hates Valentin and he’s not a big fan of Carly’s at this point either.

So, Jack’s stuck in Turning Woods faking Locked-in Syndrome and simmering with rage over Carly. And this week, Jack told Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) she needs to go over and talk to Valentin because they need to work with him. So, the good news is that Jack is setting his jealousy aside to save his butt.

Now, obviously, Valentin and Jack have a more dangerous common enemy, too, actually, Sidwell and Cullum. So, that should help them get past hating and trying to kill each other. But, if Valentin helps save Jack from Cullum and helps get rid of the big WSB boss villain, obviously that would be a huge moment. It’d be a game changer.

General Hospital: Valentin & Jack Bury the Hatchet?

If you remember, Valentin and Jack were once best friends. So, we know that they can work together. They also ran Pikeman together. And you know, at this point, I don’t think Valentin and Jack will ever be bowling buddies again, but they might get back to a good place. Especially if Jack realizes Valentin didn’t break him and Carly up.

It was the fact that Jack recruited Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy) into the WSB and repeatedly lied right in Carly’s face. That’s what made her stop loving him. So, I could eventually see Jack not necessarily giving Valentin and Carly his blessing, but accepting their relationship and just moving on.

Getting Family Acceptance on GH

And the next thing is once Josslyn is back home safe and sound, Carly’s going to need to get all the people that she cares about to accept her relationship with Valentin. So, Carly’s going to want Sonny and Lucas Jones (Van Hansis) and Josslyn and Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson) all on board with her seeing Valentin.

Honestly, I think it’ll be easier for Carly to get them to accept Valentin than it was to get them to accept Franco Baldwin (Roger Howarth). Just for instance, I mean, Valentin can be ruthless, but Franco was a serial killer who was presumed to have set Michael up to be raped in prison.

Even though Valentin has killed before, it’s generally bad guys. He doesn’t go around killing innocent people. And obviously Charlotte Cassadine (Bluesy Burke) is on board with Valentin dating Carly because she’s ticked off at Nina and feels betrayed by her and Charlotte likes Carly and appreciates her protecting her dad.

Valentin Getting a Job and Reintegrating in Port Charles

Now, the next step once Valentin is not wanted by the WSB and is not a fugitive anymore and Carly’s loved ones accept their relationship, what they need next is to get Valentin reintegrated into the fabric of Port Charles society. He’s obviously going to need a job and some sort of income source.

So, maybe he’ll wind up working for Jack if they make peace on General Hospital. You know, Valentin may land some sort of consulting role for the local WSB office. Or if something happens to Jack, because we’ve heard rumors that he might be killed off, we could see Valentin running the local WSB office. That would be cool.

You know, he’s not exactly the kind of guy who can go land a job selling car insurance or anything, but maybe private security or as a private eye or a consultant to the PCPD. Although we know Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) is not exactly a fan and he’s the current commissioner. Or maybe, you know, once Carly’s family accepts Valentin, we might see Michael offer Valentin a job at Aurora Media or ELQ. Obviously, that would be a favor to Carly, but also Michael might do it partly to keep an eye on Valentin. And I’m sure Carly would offer him a job at the Metro Court, but I don’t see Valentin bartending or changing sheets or giving people drinks by the pool.

Carly And Valentin’s Future on General Hospital

So, the final thing I think we could see for Carly and Valentin once all this other stuff is done is for them to make it official with a wedding. We could see her walk down the aisle and become Mrs. Carly Cassadine. That’s a pretty cool name. And I like the sound of it.

I think long run Valentin would put a ring on it if he sticks around. I do think Carly and Valentin are endgame and I hope it works out for them. James Patrick Stuart is an amazing actor. He’s a fan favorite.

And while I did like Valentin with Anna, there’s also a lot of baggage because of their long history and his past obsession with her. And despite the oddball way that they began, I do think Valentin’s relationship with Carly is much healthier than the one he had with Nina.

You know, because that was just whackadoo and based off nothing initially. And also, it’s without the painful history that he had with Anna. So, I’m hoping we get a lot more of Valentin and Carly’s love story, including them falling head over heels in love and making it all official.

Tom Holland is giving fans a fascinating look behind the scenes of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, revealing that Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic The Odyssey may have played a major role in shaping the next chapter of Peter Parker’s story.

Speaking about the development of the highly anticipated Marvel sequel, Holland explained that Spider-Man: Brand New Day was originally scheduled to film alongside Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey. However, the scheduling conflict forced him to make a difficult choice.

Rather than rushing into production, Holland pushed for Spider-Man: Brand New Day to be delayed, allowing the creative team additional time to refine the script and find the right direction for the project.

According to Holland, the decision ultimately paid off.

“I convinced the studio to delay the movie,” Holland said, explaining that the extra development time gave the filmmakers an opportunity to strengthen the story and fully realize their vision.

The actor also credited his experience working with Christopher Nolan for changing the way he approaches filmmaking. Holland said Nolan’s commitment to preparation, purpose, and storytelling inspired him to push for a higher standard on Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Tom Holland, The Odyssey [credit: Universal Pictures]

“I wanted it to be a real movie,” Holland explained, emphasizing that he wanted the project to focus on storytelling rather than simply becoming another blockbuster production.

The additional development time reportedly allowed Marvel and Sony to bring in director Destin Daniel Cretton and spend several months refining the screenplay before cameras rolled. Holland now believes the result could be the strongest Spider-Man film yet.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day serves as a fresh start for Peter Parker following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which erased Peter’s identity from the world’s memory. Holland previously described the new film as a “fresh start” and a “rebirth” for the character as he returns to a more street-level version of Spider-Man.

The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal, and Mark Ruffalo. The movie is scheduled to swing into theaters on July 31, 2026.

Meanwhile, Holland will also appear in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which arrives just one week earlier on July 24, setting up a massive summer for the actor.

Jenny Mollen is facing backlash over a post with her 12-year-old son.

Mollen welcomed her son Sid with ex Jason Biggs in 2014. The pair also share son Lazlo, 8. Us Weekly confirmed in May that Biggs and Mollen had separated after 18 years of marriage.

“They are on great terms and remain focused on raising their two boys,” a rep for the estranged couple told Us at the time.

Before news broke of their split, Mollen reflected on feeling like the “spare” in her marriage to Biggs.

“When I got together with Jason, I always had a chip on my shoulder in the beginning because I felt like suddenly I went from being the oldest daughter and I felt like I had my s*** together and then suddenly, I married this guy who in a lot of ways — career wise — totally eclipsed me,” Mollen shared on a May episode of the “What Matters With Liz” podcast. “Everybody was like, ‘Oh my God, Jason Biggs,’ and I became the guest. And it drove me crazy to always just be, like, brushed to the side.”

“To be the spare and not the heir,” Mollen continued. “It was like, ‘What is happening?’ I was the spare. I was the American Pie spare. I relate to [Prince] Harry. That drove me mad and I always had this feeling.”

Scroll down to learn more about why Mollen faced backlash for her post:

What Did Jenny Mollen Post?

Mollen shared two images via Instagram on May 25, which displayed her laying on top of Sid on a bed. In the pic, she placed her hands around the back of his head and lay next to him. Both of their faces were not visible.

In another image, Mollen lay on top of her son with her hands behind his head. Sid placed his hands in front of Mollen’s face, which covered their faces.

Did Jenny Mollen Remove the Caption?

Mollen has since removed the caption of her post, which still contains the two images, and instead included a period. Her initial caption reportedly read, “Your eldest son will be the most toxic guy you ever date.”

What Have Users Said About the Post?

Mollen’s upload has led to mixed reactions from users in the comments section.

“Saw the original post with the original caption. 😳 Super weird. And I have boys the same age. And yes we hug and cuddle but that caption was creepy AF,” one user wrote, while another added, “Hugging your kids: Healthy and encouraged. Calling your child your boyfriend and posting photos of you lying between their legs on a bed: Not healthy or encouraged. Your child is not your boyfriend. A boyfriend is a romantic partner.”

Others, however, defended Mollen in the comments section.

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“What in the f***? She’s not doing anything wrong. That’s her son. That’s his mom. We already known she a lot and eccentric. I love her ❤️🙌😂😂,” one user wrote, while another added, “Jenny, it’s all good. You go ahead and hug your kids as much as possible!! Before you know it, they’ll be off on their own … and then you’ll have to get a cat 🐈!!”

How Did Jenny Mollen Respond to the Criticism?

Mollen vented about feeling like she was under the microscope amid her breakup.

“It’s like because I’m getting separated, because I’m not protected by the institution of marriage, I’m suddenly like a different kind of target in what I’m posting,” Mollen said in a statement shared via her Instagram Stories on June 1. “Like this is absolutely jaw-dropping. A photo of me hugging my 12-year-old child is getting ridiculed.”