June Diane Raphael Archives

Review: ‘Weapons’ (2025), starring Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong and Amy Madigan

August 5, 2025

by Carla Hay

Julia Garner and Josh Brolin in “Weapons” (Photo by Quantrell Colbert/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Weapons” (2025)

Directed by Zach Cregger

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional U.S. city of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, the horror film “Weapons” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians and African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: After 17 third-grade students with the same teacher suddenly walk out of their homes at the same time at 2:17 a.m. and disappear, the community is gripped with fear, suspicion and anger over finding the missing children and punishing whoever is responsible.

Culture Audience: “Weapons” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Zach Cregger, and well-made horror movies that pack a big punch.

Cary Christopher in “Weapons” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

One of the creepiest horror stories you can see in any given year, “Weapons” is a standout original film about the mystery of several children who disappeared on the same night. The movie has an unforgettable showdown that’s disturbing and darkly hilarious. Although some parts of “Weapons” can occasionally drag with slow pacing, the movie is an above-average blend of supernatural scares, psychological thrills and bloody gore for viewers who can tolerate seeing this type of film.

Written and directed by Zach Cregger, “Weapons” takes place in the fictional U.S. city of Maybrook, Pennsylvania. The main clue that Maybrook is in Pennsylvania is the police department’s phone number has the area code 814. (“Weapons” was actually filmed in Atlanta.) Maybrook is a suburban middle-class community that has a small police force.

The movie is narrated intermittently by an unnamed girl (voiced by Scarlett Sher), who is an observer of how a traumatic event affected the community. The narrator explains that in the early-morning hours of 2:17 a.m., 17 third graders at Maybrook Elementary School walked and ran out of their homes and then disappeared. Security camera footage showed that the children (ages 8 and 9) had their arms outstretched as they left their homes. None of the security camera footage showed the children being kidnapped or abducted by anyone.

Later that day, an investigation discovered that all 17 of the students had the same teacher: Justine Gandy (played by Julia Garner), a new Maybrook Elementary School employee, who showed up for work and saw that all but one of her students was absent. The only student who was in the class was Alex Lilly (played by Cary Christopher), who says he doesn’t know what happened to his missing classmates. Alex also says he doesn’t know why he was the only one of his classmates who didn’t go missing.

Extensive searches of Maybrook’s outdoor areas are done with police and several volunteers. The search does not reveal any clues. Conspiracy theories and mistrust spread like wildfire in the community. Eventually, a $50,000 reward is offered to anyone who has information that will directly lead to the safe return of the children.

At a town hall meeting, several angry members of the community confront Maybrook Elementary School principal Marcus Miller (played by Benedict Wong) and Justine, who is soft-spoken but can get angry and defensive when pushed too far. The people in the audience demand an explanation for why the only kids who are missing had Justine as a teacher. Marcus and Justine, who are fully cooperating with the investigation, vehemently deny that they or the school had anything to do with the disappearances.

One of the angriest people at this town hall meeting is Archer Graff (played by Josh Brolin), whose son Matthew Graff (played by Luke Speakman) is one of the missing kids. Archer outright accuses Justine of either beng responsible for the disappearances or knowing who’s responsible. Archer owns a small construction company and eventually becomes a vigilante investigator on his own when he feels that law enforcement isn’t doing enough. Fans of Cregger’s 2022 horror movie “Barbarian” will be pleased to see “Barbarian” co-star Justin Long in a cameo in “Weapons,” in which Long portrays Gary, a parent of one of the missing children.

Parts of the movie don’t ring true. Something as bizarre as 17 children inexplicably going missing at the same time in the same city would be big news all over the world. There would be a media circus that’s not depicted in this movie. The FBI would also probably get involved, but in the movie, the only person who’s seen as being in charge of the investigation is a Maybrook police captain named Ed (played by Toby Huss), who has no answers or updates when Archer has a tension-filled meeting with him.

The majority of “Weapons” is told in six chapters, with each chapter seen from the perspective of a different character, who are all connected to the disapparances in some way. Without giving away too many details, here is what is eventually revealed about each of these six characters:

Justine becomes a despised outcast in the community and is eventually placed on a paid leave of absence from the school. She begins abusing alcohol to cope with the stress. She is under strict orders not to contact Alex, as long as the children remain missing. Justine also has a troubled past that Archer finds out about and makes him even more suspicious of Justine.
Archer becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Matthew and the other missing kids. He crosses boundaries that make a few of the parents uncomfortable. Archer uses his layout knowledge of the Maybrook neighorbhoods during his investigation. And he gets into an inevitable direct confrontation with Justine.
Paul Morgan (played by Alden Ehrenreich) is an ex-boyfriend of Justine’s who is a patrol cop and not a detective on the case, but his father-in-law is police captain Ed. Paul is a recovering alcoholic and is married to a woman named Donna (played by June Diane Raphael), who wants to start a family with Paul. Justine contacts Paul for some emotional comfort during this difficult time.
James (played by Austin Abrams) is a young homeless man who is addicted to meth and possibly other drugs, which he smokes and injects. James steals to get money for his addictions. He has a more than one encounter with Paul. James also plays a very pivotal role in the movie’s story.
Marcus does his best to shield Justine from disciplinary action and the wrath of people who think she’s responsible for the mysterious disappearances. However, Justine defies some of Marcus’ orders, so he has no choice but to put her on a forced leave of absence. Not much else is revealed about Marcus except that he has a husband named Terry (played by Clayton Farris), and they seem to be a happy couple.
Alex has kept mostly to himself after the disappearances were discovered. His unnamed parents (played by Whitmer Thomas and Callie Schuttera) have become recluses during the period of time that the children have gone missing. When Alex sees Justine, he tries to avoid talking to her. Alex’s aunt Gladys (played by Amy Madigan), an elderly woman who says she’s the older sister of Alex’s mother, shows up to help take care of Alex.

“Weapons” layers these chapters in a way where each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, until the movie’s last scenes, where all the characters’ stories come together for more revelations. It’s a great narrative structure for the movie because it keeps the suspense going throughout the story. Sensitive viewers be warned: “Weapons” has a finale that is not for people who get easily nauseated by bloody violence on screen.

The “Weapons” musical score (written Cregger, Ryan Holladay and Hays Holladay) is particularly effective in enhancing the moods for each scene. There are touches of twisted comedy, even in the most horrifying moments. It’s the movie’s way of diffusing some of the most unnerving situations shown in the film. These comedic touches are calibrated with the right tone so as not to look completely out of place.

The cast members’ performances (especially from Garner, Abrams and Madigan) are believable for their characters—even though the movie’s “mass disappearance” plot is not based on something that happened in real life. However, real-life horrors—such as not knowing what happened to missing children, experiencing illegal police brutality, and descending into an alcohol-fueled depression—are all explored in the movie in impactful ways. “Weapons” is an intentionally unsettling film that taps into many people’s worst fears but leaves enough hope about human resilience when attacked by evil.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Weapons” in U.S. cinemas on August 8, 2025.

Review: ‘Freakier Friday’ starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto and Mark Harmon

August 5, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Freakier Friday”

Directed by Nisha Ganatra

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Los Angeles area, the comedy film “Freakier Friday” (a sequel to the 2003 film “Freaky Friday,” which was based on the 1972 young adult novel of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Asians and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Music manager Anna Coleman and her psychotherapist mother Tess Coleman find themselves in another body swap situation— this time, with two teenage girls: Anna’s daughter Harper and Harper’s snobbish school enemy Lily Reyes, who despise each other but are about to become stepsisters because Anna is marrying Lily’s widower father Eric.

Culture Audience: “Freakier Friday” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the 2003 “Freaky Friday” movie, and “body swap” comedies that are about the ups and downs of families and friendships.

Manny Jacinto and Lindsay Lohan in “Freakier Friday” (Photo by Glen Wilson/Disney Enterprises, Inc.)

When a movie sequel arrives more than 20 years after its predecessor, it can either imitate the predecessor or forge ahead with an entirely new story. “Freakier Friday” does both. Some of this comedy sequel trips over its own awkward tangled web, but “Freakier Friday” finds its stride in the movie’s second half. “Freakier Friday” is best appreciated by people who’ve seen 2003’s “Freaky Friday.”

Directed by Nisha Ganatra and written by Jordan Weiss, “Freakier Friday” has many of the same characters who were in 2003’s “Freaky Friday.” The original “Freaky Friday” story (about a mother and her teenage daughter whose bodies are switched on a freaky Friday) was a young adult novel written by Mary Rodgers and published in 1972. The book’s first movie adaptation was 1976’s “Freaky Friday,” starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster as the mother and daughter.

Since then, there have been different versions of the “Freaky Friday” story with the same title: a 1995 ABC TV-movie, starring Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann; a 2016 to 2017 regional stage musical, starring Emma Hunton and Heidi Blickenstaff; and a 2018 Disney Channel TV-movie, starring Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Blickenstaff, which was a filmed version of the stage musical. Other movies have used the “Freaky Friday” concept, but with different titles and main characters who were not a mother and a daughter.

In 2003’s “Freaky Friday” (which takes place in the Los Angeles area), psychotherapist Tess Coleman (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and her 15-year-old daughter Anna Coleman (played by Lindsay Lohan) do not get along with each other. Anna is a slightly rebellious, wannabe rock star who plays lead guitar in a teenage band called Pink Slip. Tess is an intellectual who likes her life to be orderly and well-planned.

Most of the friction in “Freaky Friday” comes from Anna and Tess expecting each other to live their lives in a certain way. Anna doesn’t want her widowed mother Tess to marry Tess’ fiancé Ryan (played by Mark Harmon), a good man who has no children. Meanwhile, Tess disapproves of Anna’s romantic interest in motorcycle-riding schoolmate Jake (played by Chad Michael Murray), who’s slightly older than Anna.

Tess is afraid that Jake will break Anna’s heart. Anna is afraid that Tess will love Ryan more than Anna’s deceased father. Tess and Anna each think that each other’s lives are easier than their own lives. Anna also has less-serious conflicts with her younger brother Harry Coleman (played by Ryan Malgarini), an adolescent brat who irritates Anna, but he secretly admires her and does things to get attention from her.

A visit to Pei Pei’s Chinese restaurant changes the lives of Tess and Anna when the restaurant manager Pei-Pei (played by Rosalind Chao) and Pei-Pei’s unnamed mother (played by Lucille Soong) overhear Tess and Anna arguing. Tess and Anna open a fortune cookie given to to them by Pei-Pei’s mother, and an earthquake happens that only Tess and Anna can feel.

The next morning, Tess and Anna wake up and find out that their bodies have been switched, just a few days before Tess’ wedding to Ryan and about two days before Anna has an important audition with Pink Slip. Tess and Anna are told by Pei-Pei’s mother that the only way their bodies can be switched back is if Tess and Anna do something out of selfless love.

All of this information is important to know before seeing “Freakier Friday” because the body swap comedy is even more complicated in “Freakier Friday” than in “Freaky Friday.” It’s explained in the beginning of “Freakier Friday” that Tess and Anna (who live near each other in Los Angeles) now have a better relationship than they did when Anna was a teenager. They still argue with each other, but their conflicts aren’t serious enough to cause an estrangement.

Anna is now a single mother to a 14-year-old daughter named Harper (played by Julia Butters), who is going through the same rebellious and teenage argumentative stage of life that Anna went through with Tess. Harper’s biological father is not seen or mentioned in “Freakier Friday,” but Tess says in a voiceover that Anna chose to be a single parent. Anna now uses a lot of her mother’s “Zen” techniques to calm down during conflicts. The worst things that Anna and Tess argue about (as shown in the beginning of “Freakier Friday”) are who is going to drive Harper to school.

Tess is still married to Ryan, who appears to be retired. Tess hosts a podcast called Rebelling With Respect. Anna quit Pink Slip years ago when she became a single parent, but she secretly still writes and records songs. Anna is now the manager of a pop star named Ella (played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who is signed to Capitol Records.

In the first third of the movie, there’s a clumsy and uninteresting subplot about Anna having to prevent Ella fromhaving a debilitating meltdown because Ella’s music star ex-boyfriend Trevor (who is never seen or heard in the movie) released a song about their breakup called “Better Than the Last One.” This subplot is ultimately a waste of time. Almost every scene with Ella didn’t need to be in the movie.

Harper is a lot like Anna was in high school: a somewhat disheveled teen who loves music but who doesn’t really fit in with any of the cliques in the school. Harper is having a miserable time in school because she’s stuck being the lab partner of a British snob named Lily Reyes (played by Sophia Hammons), a trendy social media influencer who does things such as brag about going to fashion shows and interacting with Anna Wintour.

Lily’s widowed father Eric Reyes (played by Manny Jacinto) is a successful restaurateur who owns an upscale eatery named Lily’s. Eric and Lily relocated from London to Los Angeles after the death of his wife/Lily’s mother. Lily makes it known to anyone she meets that she prefers living in London, which she thinks is a more “cultured” city than Los Angeles.

During the school’s annual bake sale, Lily and Harper get into an argument and instigate a massive food fight that involves several students. They both get detention as punishment. And when Anna and Eric both show up at the school to meet with Principal Waldman (played by X Mayo), there’s an instant attraction between Anna and Eric. The inevitable happens: Anna and Eric begin dating each other.

The movie shows a montage of the courtship of Anna and Eric. And six months later, Anna and Eric are engaged to be married and plan to move to London with their daughters. This engagement obviously horrifies Harper and Lily, who agree on one thing: They both want to stop this marriage from happening. Meanwhile, Tess approves of Eric but she doesn’t want Anna and Harper to move far away from her.

The “body swap” begins after something that happens at Anna’s bachelorette party at a nightclub. This review won’t go into all the details, but it involves a psychic named Madame Jen (played by Vanessa Bayer), who was hired to be entertainment for the party in a side room. The movie pokes fun at gig economy workers by making Madame Jen someone who has several different jobs that she tries to promote at the same time.

Tess and Anna see Madame Jen for fun but quickly leave when they sense another body switch could happen to them again. And then, Harper and Lily go to Madame Jen to get a psychic reading on how to end Anna and Eric’s relationship. A familiar earthquake happens.

The next morning, there’s a quadruple body switch: Tess and Lily now have each other’s bodies, while Anna and Harper now have each other’s bodies. Although “Freaky Friday” was originally about the comedy of a mother and a daughter switching bodies, the best and funniest aspects of “Freakier Friday” have to do with the body swap between Tess and Lily, who aren’t related to each other. Some viewers won’t like this unique aspect of “Freakier Friday” but others will embrace it because it’s such a unique departure from the original story.

Even for people who saw 2003’s “Freaky Friday,” “Freakier Friday” is a lot to asborb, because of how much “Freakier Friday” wants to cram in the body swap story of four people (who all have very opinionated personalities), in addition to catering to nostalgia while also trying to be relevant to the 2020s time period in which this movie was released. It’s a juggling act that doesn’t always work well, particularly in some slapstick comedy scenes. The movie’s best comedy is in verbal joking, not the physical stunts.

“Freakier Friday” makes a lot of cutting commentary about generation gaps and aging. In one scene, Facebook is called a “database for old people,” and Coldplay is described as a band for old people. Tess, who believes in aging naturally, is mortified when she finds out what Lily (in Tess’ body) does to make Tess’ lips look younger. Not as funny is an unnecessary scene where Tess (inhabited by Lily) and Ryan are in a pickleball tournament against a very competitive opponent named Veronica (played by June Diane Raphael), with comedians George Wallace and Sherry Cola inexplicably portraying themselves as announcers at the tournament. The outcome of this scene is inconsistent with the movie’s joke that Lily can’t handle being in Tess’ older body.

There’s also plenty of fan service for those who like 2003’s “Freaky Friday.” Murray reprises his role as Jake, a bachelor who’s still a heartthrob. Jake is now the owner/manager of a record store called the Record Parlour. Jake gets unwittingly pulled into a scheme to break up Anna and Eric. And toward the end of the movie, “Freakier Friday” shows an amusing reference to a “Freaky Friday” subplot when Jake briefly had a crush on Tess when Anna was in Tess’ body.

“Freakier Friday” also has cameos from other alumni of 2003’s “Freaky Friday”: Stephen Tobolowsky reprises his role as Elton Bates, the high school’s mean-spirited teacher who has a grudge against Tess and her family because decades ago, Tess rejected his invitation to take Tess to their school prom. When Harper asks Mr. Bates why he hasn’t retired yet, there’s a hilarious answer.

Chao and Soong return as Pei-Pei (who is called Mama P in “Freakier Friday”) and Pei-Pei’s mother (whose name is listed in the end credits as Grandma Chiang), who do the catering for Anna’s bachelorette party. Malgarini makes a quick appearance as Anna’s younger brother Harry. And don’t be surprised if certain Pink Slip members show up in “Freakier Friday.” Some of these cameos are predictable, but they’re handled very well.

Curtis, who was the MVP of 2003’s “Freaky Friday,” continues to be the standout cast member who is the most convincing and the funniest in the body swap scenes. She also handles the emotionally dramatic scenes with great aplomb. Butters shows a lot of talent and admirable comedic timing, even though “Freakier Friday” has an understandably more mature and calmer version of Anna. Lohan and Hammons do well in their roles, although they’re not consistently great in their body swap scenes.

Of the supporting cast members, Bayer is a scene stealer who makes everything she does very funny. Jacinto does the best that he can with a generic character. Murray gamely pokes fun at his sex-symbol image, especially since “Freakier Friday” makes Jake more confused than ever by the antics of Anna and Tess.

“Freakier Friday” is an ambitious film whose flaws have to do with trying to be many things at the same time: a screwball “body swap” comedy, a romantic saga, an emotional family film, and a nostalgia-filled sequel. Much of the cluttered tone of the movie has to do with the introduction of several new characters. Credit should be given to director Ganatra for reigning in most of the mess that could have been made. Anyone who sees “Freakier Friday” is better off seeing 2003’s “Freaky Friday” first, or else risk getting drowned in some confusion.

Walt Disney Pictures will release “Freakier Friday” in U.S. cinemas on August 8, 2025.

Review: ‘Scrambled’ (2024), starring Leah McKendrick, Ego Nwodim, Andrew Santino, Adam Rodriguez, Laura Cerón and Clancy Brown

February 14, 2024

by Carla Hay

Leah McKendrick in “Scrambled” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

“Scrambled” (2024)

Directed by Leah McKendrick

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Los Angeles area, the comedy/drama film “Scrambled” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A 34-year-old free-spirited bachelorette, who has no idea if she will ever find a life partner or if she’ll ever be ready to be a parent, decides to freeze her eggs anyway while she still looks for love.

Culture Audience: “Scrambled” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in comedies about dating and fertility issues.

Even though “Scrambled” occasionally stumbles into a cliché sitcom tone about a bachelorette in her 30s who’s unhappy in her love life, this adult-oriented comedy has entertaining performances in this story about a single woman who wants to freeze her eggs. “Scrambled” was very obviously influenced by HBO’s 1998 to 2004 comedy series “Sex and the City” (with frank talk and explicit scenes about sex), but “Scrambled” is more of a tribute than a ripoff. Just like in “Sex and the City,” the narrator is a single, liberated woman in her 30s with a messy life of failed romances with ex-boyfriends, financial instability, and the nagging feeling that she should have her life figured out by now.

“Sex and the City” and “Scrambled” also drew inspiration from real-life people. Carrie Bradshaw, the main protagonist of “Sex and the City,” lives in New York City and is a sex columnist. The Carrie Bradshaw character is based on real-life writer Candace Bushnell. Leah McKendrick is the writer, director and star of “Scrambled,” where she portrays main protagonist Nellie Robinson, a Los Angeles-based jewelry designer who works from home and who experiences fertility issues that McKendrick experienced in real life. McKendrick makes an impressive feature-film directorial debut with “Scrambled,” which had its world premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival.

“Scrambled” begins with a somewhat stereotypical setting for a movie about a lovelorn bachelorette: a wedding where she is a bridesmaid. Nellie, who is 34, is at the wedding of her best friend Sheila (played by Ego Nwodim) and wants to make a grand entrance with her date Conor (played by Henry Zebrowski), because she tells Conor it’s a tradition that’s expected of her, as someone who ends up being a bridesmaid at many weddings. In the movie’s opening scene, which takes place before the wedding ceremony begins, Nellie is shown debating with Conor about what type of dance they should start with at the wedding reception. She nixes the idea of doing the Running Man, but Nellie says that recreating iconic dance scenes from “Grease” or “Dirty Dancing” could still be in the realm of possibility.

Nellie goes to check on Sheila in a dressing room and sees that Sheila is a nervous wreck. Sheila babbles to Nellie about Sheila’s groom-to-be Ron (played by Max Adler), by asking this hypothetical question: “Would you fuck Ron for the rest of your life?” It’s Sheila’s way of asking if Nellie thinks Sheila is making the right decision to marry Ron and stay faithful to him. Like a good friend, Nellie says, “Yes.”

Sheila then rambles on to Nellie about how she and Nellie always thought that they weren’t the marrying type, and now here they are on Sheila’s wedding day. Sheila then asks Nellie if Nellie has some cocaine because Sheila wants to do some cocaine before the ceremony. Sheila nearly has a meltdown when Nellie says she doesn’t have any drugs. But then, Nellie remembers she might have some molly. Nellie and Sheila take the molly together—until Sheila abruptly announces that she’s pregnant, and then Nellie orders her to spit out the pill.

This scene sets the tone for the rest of “Scrambled,” which is revels in its raunchiness and crudeness in ways to make viewers laugh. At the wedding, Nellie is very stoned on the molly, but during the reception she gets a sobering lecture from an older friend named Monroe (played by June Diane Raphael), whose time in the movie is brief (less than 10 minutes) but it’s one of the funniest scenes in the movie. Monroe and Nellie are sitting at the same table when Nellie gushes to Monroe about how Nellie considers Monroe to be her “idol,” because Monroe seems to “have it all” as a wife, mother, and the owner of a successful business.

Monroe has brought her only child—a daughter named Zofia (played by Everly Taylor)—to the wedding. Zofia, who’s an energetic child and about 5 or 6 years old, was born when Monroe was in her early 40s, after Monroe went through in vitro fertilization treatments to get pregnant. Monroe then gives a raw and candid confession that although she loves being parent, the process of conceiving and giving birth was hellish for her. (She says it in a way that’s a lot cruder than that.) Monroe spent $50,000 on IVF treatments and says if she had to do it all over again, she would’ve frozen her eggs when she was younger and would’ve had a surrogate for the pregnancy.

Monroe also asks Nellie how her love life is, and Nellie responds that she’s single and actively dating: “It’s a smorgasbord. I’m seeing everyone.” Monroe then looks at Nellie sympathetically and says, “I know you because I was you. And so, the next time you’ve just boned some hot bartender with an app idea, and you’re sitting in his bathroom, staring at his shower encrusted with pubes and that fucking “Fight Club”/”Reservoir Dogs”/”Scarface” poster, I want you to remember my face.”

Monroe adds when she comments on men not having an age limit for conceiving children: “They can be in never never land, never growing up, never aging. But these eggs, those huevos rancheros? They are [aging], those eggs are!” When Monroe asks Nellie how old she is, and Nellie tells her 34, Monroe slaps Nellie on the face, and tells her not to admit that she’s older than 33. Monroe then sternly warns Nellie: “Freeze those eggs!”

After Monroe leaves the table, Nellie makes eye contact with a “hot bartender”(played by Matt Pascua) at the wedding reception and gets a drink from him. She and the bartender end up going back to his place, where they have sex. And sure enough, this bartender is working on app idea that he thinks will make him rich. He’s also got a messy bathroom with a “Scarface” poster hanging up on the wall.

It’s enough to be a wake-up call for Nellie that she’s should be focusing on finding Mr. Right instead of Mr. Right Now. (Something else happens at the bartender’s place, which won’t be revealed in this review, because it’s a sexual encounter mishap that’s supposed to be a sexually explicit comedic moment in the movie.) Nellie knows that there’s no guarantee that she will end up with a life partner/soul mate, and she doesn’t know if or when she’ll be ready to be a parent, but she decides to take Monroe’s advice and freeze her eggs anyway.

Weddings and baby showers are predictable scenarios in comedies that show how never-married women with no children are made to feel inadequate or uncomfortable by certain people who think women aren’t complete people unless they are mothers. “Scrambled” is no different. At a baby shower, Nellie is apparently the only woman there who isn’t a mother or in a committed relationship. When she announces that she’s freezing her eggs, the other women’s overall reaction is to congratulate her but they think she should save her excitement for when she becomes a “real parent.”

The reaction of Nellie’s sexist and narrow-minded father Richard Robinson (played by Clancy Brown) is even more negative. When Nellie tells her parents and brother during a family dinner that she’s freezing her eggs, Richard thinks it’s “voodoo science,” and women should conceive children the “natural” way. Richard is the type of parent who asks Nellie things such as “Where are my grandkids?,” but he doesn’t make those demands of his bachelor son Jesse Robinson (played by Andrew Santino), who’s at least five years older than Nellie.

Jesse is a pompous attorney who lets it be known to Nellie that he thinks she’s a pathetic mess when it comes to her life. Nellie, whose specialty is making butterfly earrings that she sells online, barely makes enough money to pay her bills. Meanwhile, Jesse is the type of cretin who makes misogynistic remarks (just like his father) and brags about being rich.

“Scrambled” has several “family dinner” scenes where Nellie argues with Richard and/or Jesse. Richard’s mild-mannered wife Sonja (played by Laura Cerón), an immigrant who speaks Spanish and English, tries to keep the peace when Richard and their son Jesse have conflicts with Nellie. Things get even more awkward between Nellie and Jesse when she reluctantly asks him to lend her the $8,000 she needs for her egg-harvesting procedures, which are not covered by her health insurance.

Early on in the movie, Nellie makes a remark that women are like avocados when it comes to women’s fertility: There’s a limited tme when they’re considered “ripe,” and then they are considered shriveled-up and useless. This avocado comparison becomes a running joke in the movie, as Nellie keeps checking the insides of avocados to see if they are still ripe and useful.

There’s also a very “Sex and the City”-type long stretch of the movie, when lonely Nellie reaches out to some ex-lovers in a desperate attempt to see if any romantic sparks can be rekindled with any of them. You can easily predict how these “reunions” turn out to be. “Magic Mike” alum Adam Rodriguez, who is one of the headliners of “Scrambled,” portrays Sterling Morales, one of Nellie’s ex-lovers, but Rodriguez’s screen time in “Scrambled” is less than five minutes. Nellie’s most recent serious relationship was with a slightly older man named Shawn (played by Harry Shum Jr.), who is mentioned frequently in the movie. “Scrambled” reveals the reason why Shawn and Nellie broke up and whether or not they get back together.

“Scrambled” works as well as it does because of the engaging screenplay and the very good comedic timing of the cast members. McKendrick has also crafted memorable characters who have mostly realistic flaws and foibles, although her tactless OB/GYN doctor (played by Feodor Chin) is meant to be a hilarious caricature of how doctors can sometimes be unprofessional. There’s a very poignant moment in the movie involving Nellie and her elderly neighbor Parveen (played by Vee Kumari), whom Nellie thinks is uptight and silently judgmental about Nellie’s sex life. Nellie might not be relatable to every woman, but “Scrambled” succeeds in showing that Nellie goes through universally relatable experiences that all reasonably responsible adults go through in making major life decisions that will affect people’s futures.

Lionsgate released “Scrambled” in U.S. cinemas on February 2, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on March 1, 2024.

Review: ‘8-Bit Christmas,’ starring Winslow Fegley, Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Zahn, June Diane Raphael, Bellaluna Resnick and Sophia Reid-Gantzert

December 26, 2021

by Carla Hay

“8-Bit Christmas”

Directed by Michael Dowse

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Chicago area in the present day and in 1988, the comedy film “8-Bit Christmas” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A man in his mid-40s tells his 11-year-old daughter the story of his misadventures in 1988, when he was an 11-year-old boy who desperately wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas, even though his parents forbade him from playing video games at the time.

Culture Audience: “8-Bit Christmas” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching lightweight Christmas holiday comedies that are steeped heavily in 1980s nostalgia.

Sophia Reid-Gantzert and Neil Patrick Harris in “8-Bit Christmas” (Photo by Sabrina Lantos/New Line Cinema/HBO Max)

The formulaic family comedy “8-Bit Christmas” is elevated by a watchable and occasionally amusing performance by Winslow Fegley as an 11-year-old boy in 1988 who goes to great lengths to get a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. Directed by Michael Dowse, “8 Bit Christmas” is really just a series of slapstick scenarios that culminate in a sentimental “life lesson” that’s expected in a movie with a Christmas theme. Kevin Jakubowski adapted the “8-Bit Christmas” screenplay from his 2013 novel of the same name. The movie is best appreciated by viewers who have some fondness for 1980s nostalgia or who know how big of a deal a Nintendo Entertainment System was to many kids during this decade. (The movie’s title refers to the primitive 8-bit data resolution of 1980s video games.)

“8-Bit Christmas” begins with a man in his mid-40s named Jake Doyle (played by Neil Patrick Harris), who is traveling with his 11-year-old daughter Annie Doyle (played by Sophia Reid-Gantzert) to the home of Jake’s widowed mother for a Christmas holiday visit. Jake grew up in Batavia, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), where his mother still lives. Annie has been pestering Jake to get her a smartphone for Christmas.

Jake adamantly refuses because he thinks Annie is too young to have this type of phone. Annie has to use Jake’s phone, only when he’s with her. It’s embarrassing to Annie that she doesn’t have her own phone, but Jake won’t change his mind.

Instead, Jake tells Annie about the time in 1988, when he was Annie’s age and was obsessed with getting a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. Jake says to Annie, “When I was a kid, I wanted a Nintendo worse than you wanted a phone.” Annie replies, “That’s not possible.”

Jake is prompted into telling this story when he and Annie arrive at his mother’s house and they find his old Nintendo Entertainment System in the room that Jake had as a child. Annie knows that there was a time when Jake’s parents didn’t allow him to play video games, so she wants to know how he ended up with a Nintendo Entertainment Sysem . Most of the movie then switches to flashback mode when Jake tells his story in voiceover narration, with occasional scenes that go back to the present-day Jake and Annie.

In 1988, 11-year-old Jake (played by Winslow Fegley) considered himself to be an average boy in an average middle-class American family. His parents John Doyle (played by Steve Zahn) and Kathy Doyle (played by June Diane Raphael) are happily married. Jake has a precocious younger sister named Lizzy (played by Bellaluna Resnick), who is about 6 or 7 years old in 1988. Lizzy is a “goody-two-shoes” child who likes to snitch on Jake to their parents whenever Jake does something wrong.

The kids at Jake’s school are envious of a spoiled rich boy named Timmy Keane (played by Chandler Dean), who’s apparently the only kid for miles who has his own Nintendo Entertainment System. Therefore, small crowds of children gather in front of Timmy’s house on a regular basis because they want to get invited inside Timmy’s home to play Nintendo games with him. However, Timmy will only allow certain kids inside, based on whatever gifts or favors they can offer to him.

Needless to say, Timmy is an obnoxious brat who takes advantage of his social status to make some kids feel bad about themselves if they don’t get invited into his house. Timmy has an elaborate play area in his home that would rival any recreational arcade for children. The first time that Jake plays Nintendo, it’s at Timmy’s house. Jake instantly gets hooked and wants his own Nintendo Entertainment System.

It’s the same wish for many of Jake’s friends too. Jake hangs out with a small group of kids, who eventually make it their mission to get their own Nintendo system. The close-knit pals in Jake’s clique are:

Mikey Trotter (played by Che Tafari), whom Jake describes as being allowed to watch R-rated movies, and Mikey has an adult cursing vocabulary and mischievous nature to prove it.
Evan Olsen (played by Santino Barnard), who is nervous and neurotic.
Tammy Hodges (played by Brielle Rankins), who is smart and confident.
Teddy Hodges (played by Braelyn Rankins), who is Tammy’s fun-loving twin brother.

Other kids who are not part of this clique but who factor into the story are:

Josh Jagorski (played by Clay Arnold), the school’s large and violent bully, who looks like he’s a teenager, not a pre-teen like all the other students.
Jeff Farmer (played by Max Malas), whom Jake describes as a “pathological liar.”
Conor Stump (played by Jacob Laval), who is the school’s nerdy social outcast.
Katie Sorrentino (played by Sofie Michal Maiuri), a classmate who casually observes some of the shenanigans of Jake and his friends.

Jake knows that his parents are not inclined to want to give him a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. Therefore, he comes up with a scheme to trick them into saying yes to his request. With his mother, Jake waits until she’s distracted and asks her for this gift when she’s not really listening to him. She says yes.

With his father, whom an adult Jake describes in a voiceover as a “dyslexic Bob Vila” when it comes to carpentry hobbies, Jake waits until they have some father/son time doing some woodshopping in the garage. Jake compliments his father John on John’s hand strength. Jake says he would like a gift for Christmas that would let him build up his hand strength, so Jake suggests a Nintendo Entertainment System. John says yes to this request too.

But there would be no “8-Bit Christmas” movie if Jake got his wish so easily. Eventually, Jake’s parents (and some of his friends’ parents) become paranoid that video games are bad for children, so the parents are determined to not have anything related to video games in their homes. Undeterred, Jake and his male friends, who are members of the Ranger Scouts, find out about a Ranger Scouts contest where the person who sells the most Christmas wreaths will win the grand prize of a brand-new Nintendo Entertainment System.

A large part of “8-Bit Christmas” is about this race against time to sell the most Christmas wreaths, as friends turn into rivals to win this contest. There’s also some gross-out comedy, such as a scene of a child vomiting profusely and repeatedly, and a joke that goes on for too long about Jake having to clean up defecation from the family dog Ellwood. Not surprisingly, Jake wants avoid cleaning up after the dog as much as possible, so it leads to some minor conflicts with between Jake and his father John.

David Cross has a small role in “8-Bit Christmas” as an unnamed opportunist, who sells toys (probably stolen) out of the trunk of his car. His stash includes a Nintendo Entertainment System and Cabbage Patch dolls. Jake’s sister Lizzy wants a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas, so Jake feels some sibling jealousy when John is more eager to get Lizzy’s most-wanted Christmas gift but is unwilling to get Jake’s most-wanted Christmas gift.

There’s a lot of mediocre slapstick scenarios in “8-Bit Christmas” that clog up the story. For example, a recurring “joke” in the movies is that Jake’s mother Kathy accidentally bought a pair of girls’ Esprit snow boots (purple with flower-print trimming) during a frenzied shopping sale. Kathy never bothered to get Jake any other boots, because apparently she didn’t want to go back to the store to exchange the Esprit boots for boots that Jake actually wants to wear.

Jake is embarrassed because his mother makes him wear these boots to school and other places when there’s snow outside. (Animotion’s 1984 hit “Obsession” plays on the movie’s soundtrack every time Jake puts on these boots.) And predictably, Jake gets harassed by bully Josh when Josh sees Jake wearing these feminine-looking shoes. It’s a not-very-well-written part of the story because this problem would’ve easily been solved by a merchandise exchange at the store.

Jake’s humiliation for wearing these boots (which is an over-used gag in “8-Bit Christmas”) plays into tired movie/TV stereotypes that anything “feminine” associated with a boy is supposed to automatically be a reason for the boy to be ridiculed and bullied. The movie makes a half-hearted attempt at explaining this sexist trope, by having the adult Jake explain to his daughter Annie that in the 1980s, people were less open-minded about gender equality and many other things. But if the filmmakers wanted a recurring joke about Jake being embarrassed about something that his mother makes him do, they could’ve picked a funnier scenario than Jake having to wear feminine-looking boots.

The good news is that “8-Bit Christmas” at least presents the girls in the movie as just as intelligent if not smarter than the boys. It certainly makes up for how this movie gives most of the screen time and the most adventurous parts of the story to the male characters. It’s pretty obvious that the movie’s main target audience is supposed to be anyone who has nostalgic memories of 1980s Nintendo video games, even though there isn’t one particular Nintendo game that gets spotlighted in the movie.

In terms of the “8-Bit Christmas” cast members, Fegley as the young Jake absolutely carries this movie to any level of charm that it might have to audiences. And that helps a lot, because the young Jake gets the vast majority of the screen time in this movie. Fegley has good comedic timing, and his character is relatable to most people who’ve been an 11-year-old child, regardless of gender. The rest of the cast members are serviceable in their roles, with some of the actors continuing to be typecast as characters they’ve played in many other movies. (Zahn as a goofball; Cross as a sarcastic wiseass.)

“8-Bit Christmas,” which clocks in at a breezy 97 minutes, isn’t the type of movie that’s going to be considered a Christmas holiday classic, but it’s an agreeable way for viewers to pass some time if they want to see an entertaining Christmas holiday film for people in various age groups. The last 20 minutes of “8-Bit Christmas,” which are the best parts of the film, make up for much of the silliness that lowers the quality of the rest of the movie. “8-Bit Christmas” is ultimately a film that’s enjoyable without demanding too much intelligence or emotional investment from viewers.

HBO Max premiered “8-Bit Christmas” on November 24, 2021.

Review: ‘The High Note,’ starring Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Ice Cube

May 29, 2020

by Carla Hay

“The High Note”

Directed by Nisha Ganatra

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in Los Angeles, the comedy/drama “The High Note” features a racially diverse cast (white, African American, Asian and Latino) representing the middle-class and upper-class.

Culture Clash: A personal assistant to a superstar music diva comes up against obstacles when the assistant tries to become a music producer.

Culture Audience: “The High Note” will appeal primarily to people who like formulaic movies about showbiz that have a predictable ending.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Dakota Johnson in “The High Note” (Photo by Glen Wilson/Focus Features)

It’s a pretty well-known fact at “The High Note” stars Tracey Ellis Ross and Dakota Johnson grew up in the upper echelons of show business, since they both have parents who are famous entertainers. Ellis Ross’ mother is Diana Ross. Johnson is the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. So with all that knowledgeable background, it’s too bad that Dakota Johnson and Ellis Ross have chosen to be in such a hollow and predictable dramedy about the music business. The irony of this movie being called “The High Note” is that there aren’t too many highlights for this film, when it comes to authenticity, laugh-out-loud humor or outstanding original songs.

However, one of the notable consistencies of the film is Ellis Ross—who does her own singing in the film and is very good at it— in her performance as spoiled superstar Grace Davis, who’s reached a crossroads in her career. Grace, who lives in Los Angeles, is famous enough to still be on the covers of People, Rolling Stone and Billboard, but she’s been coasting on her past hits because she hasn’t come out with an album of new songs in about 10 years. She still keeps herself in the public eye and continues to make millions by doing tours.

Grace’s long-suffering personal assistant Margaret “Maggie” Sherwoode has been working for Grace for three years, but what Maggie really wants to do is to be a music producer. Grace is coming out with a live album that Maggie has been secretly mixing in a recording studio in her spare time, in order for Maggie to practice her producer/mixer skills. Maggie has been able to get access to the studio, thanks to her recording engineer acquaintance Seth (played by Eugene Cordero), who’s worked with Grace and has been training Maggie in the studio.

“The High Note,” directed by Nisha Ganatra, hits a lot of the same cringeworthy beats of Ganatra’s 2019 comedy/drama “Late Night,” a movie that flopped with audiences because it was easy to see how phony and pandering the story was. Both movies are about a plucky young woman with a big dream who thinks she can take a shortcut to that dream, just by being in the right place at the right time. The young woman works for an egotistical, middle-aged diva who’s worried about becoming a has-been. The diva boss also has to choose between continuing with a familiar and safe work routine or going outside her comfort zone to do something new.

Along the way, people discourage the young woman from following her dream because she has no real experience. And then, she and her boss end up clashing in a big way because the young woman does something that the boss really hates. (Viewers have to wait until the end of the movie to see if or how this conflict is resolved.) And this young woman ends up dating someone she works with, even though dating a co-worker is a tricky issue in this #MeToo era, when a consensual affair between co-workers can be described in very different terms later if the relationship ends badly.

In “Late Night,” which was set in the workplace of a New York City-based late-night talk show, Mindy Kaling (who wrote the “Late Night” screenplay) played the show’s inexperienced and unqualified writer Molly Patel, who’s a “diversity hire,” while Emma Thompson played the prickly boss Katherine Newbury, the show’s host/executive producer. Except for the cities and types of work in the entertainment industry, “The High Note” and “Late Night” have the same premise and are basically the same type of movie, but “The High Note” is much worse than “Late Night.”

Fortunately, Maggie in “The High Note” (written by Flora Greeson) isn’t as clueless about music as Mindy Kaling’s Molly character in “Late Night” is clueless about writing for a late-night talk show. Maggie is a true music trivia buff, who can easily name songs and albums from classic artists to contemporary hitmakers. (Sam Cooke and Carole King are among her favorite classic artists.) Maggie also comes from a music-oriented family: Her father Max (played by Bill Pullman) is a longtime radio DJ, while Maggie’s mother (who died when Maggie was 6) was a singer.

But knowing a lot of music trivia and being a talented music producer are two different things. What will make people’s eyes roll about the dumb aspects of “The High Note” is that Maggie thinks she can go from these training sessions in the recording studio to becoming Grace’s producer, without actually putting in a lot of real work as a producer to pay her dues.

Grace’s harsh and cynical manager Jack Robertson (played by Ice Cube, in yet another in his long list of cranky, foul-mouthed character roles) essentially tells Maggie that she’s acting like an entitled brat in one of the few realistic scenes in the movie. This verbal takedown of Maggie’s ego comes after Maggie insults a smarmy and pretentious but experienced hitmaking DJ/producer named Richie Williams (played in a somewhat hilarious cameo by real-life hitmaking DJ/producer Diplo), who’s recruited by Jack to work on Grace’s live album. Maggie, who’s revealed her secret mixes to Grace at this point, wants Grace to choose Maggie’s mixes instead.

Jack doesn’t particularly like Maggie for another reason. While Jack has been finagling and pressuring Grace to do a Las Vegas residency, Maggie has been encouraging Grace to make an album of new songs instead. The Vegas residency would be easy money for everyone, but Maggie thinks Grace has a lot more to say as an artist instead of doing the same show every night in Vegas for an untold number of years. In a candid conversation with Grace, Maggie tells her that she once saw Grace say in an Oprah Winfrey interview about Grace’s career: “If there are no more surprises, who am I doing it for?”

Although the Jack character is greedy, attention-hungry and generally unlikable, his persona as a manager is actually one of the more realistic things in the movie. One of the other things that “The High Note” accurately portrays is how personal assistants of rich and famous people are often treated like 24-hour-a-day on-call servants. Grace is also one of those “lonely at the top” celebrities who has no real friends and has shallow dating relationships that don’t last, and that’s why her life revolves around her career.

“The High Note” also has a pretty good send-up of the false sense of superiority that employees who work for the same celebrity can have toward other employees. Grace has a materialistic and not-very-smart house manager named Gail (played by June Diane Raphael), who acts as if she’s better than Maggie, simply because Gail gets to have reasonable working hours while Maggie does not. Gail is also the type of “yes”-person leech that Hollywood is famous for attracting when people want to be close to celebrities.

Meanwhile, Maggie has a smart and likable roommate named Katie (played by Zoe Chao), who thinks Maggie is wasting her talent by being a personal assistant. Maggie’s excuse for continuing to be stuck in the dead-end existence of being Grace’s assistant: “It’s the gateway to my dream job.” Katie’s reply: “It’s the gateway to Stockholm syndrome.” That’s one of the funnier lines in the movie.

As for Maggie’s love interest (because you know a movie like this has to have a love interest for the ingenue), his name is David Cliff (played by Kelvin Harrison Jr.), an aspiring rock/pop musician who happens to be rich enough to own a mansion without working at a “real” job. Of course, Maggie doesn’t know all of that about David when they “meet cute” at a Laurel Canyon grocery store. While they’re standing near each other, Phantom Planet’s “California” song is playing over the store’s speakers, which leads Maggie and David to have a lively conversation about music.

When Maggie mentions Sam Cooke, she’s appalled that David says he doesn’t know who Sam Cooke is. They go their separate ways. But lo and behold, when Maggie leaves the store, she sees David playing a guitar outside the store’s entrance and singing Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” while he gives her a sly look. Yes, it’s that kind of movie.

At some point, Maggie and Katie are invited to a big house party at David’s place, and that’s how they find out that he’s a musician who’s not financially struggling. So why is this rich guy playing substandard gigs, such as singing cover songs in front of a grocery store? It turns out that David lacks confidence to record his own music and take his career to the next level. And guess who convinces David that she can be his producer?

Of course, in a movie like this, there has to be at least one “big lie/secret” that someone will tell early in the relationship, so that the couple will fight about it later if the secret is revealed. For Maggie, her big lie is that she tells David that she’s an experienced and busy producer, which is why he agrees to let her produce his first demo recording.

And this is where the plot goes down the toilet: David believes Maggie’s claim that she’s an experienced producer, without even asking to hear other music she’s produced, without asking for references, or without doing a background check. Cue to the predictable scene of David and Maggie singing together in a recording booth. (Harrison and Dakota Johnson also do their own singing in the movie. He’s a much better singer than she is.)

As for Maggie, she doesn’t seem that curious to know how or why David is so wealthy. All he’s told her about his family background is that he was raised by his father (a saxophone player named David Cliff Sr.) after David’s mother left them when he was a very young child. For a movie that’s supposed to take place in the present-day music business, it strangely and unrealistically has no scenes of David and Maggie using the Internet to check each other out when they show an interest in each other.

After Maggie and David start sleeping together, she comes up with a dumb idea to trick him into being the opening act for Grace’s record release party—without telling David, Grace or Jack. And in order to do that, Maggie secretly convinces star singer Dan Deakins (played by Eddie Izzard, in a cameo that’s a waste of his talent), who was booked as the opening act, to back out of the gig. How does Maggie convince Dan to cancel this high-profile job? Just by playing David’s demo for Dan and asking Dan to do her this favor, even though Maggie and Dan just met. Yes, it’s that kind of movie.

Whether or not this moronic plan works or backfires is spoiler information that won’t be revealed in this review. But that stupidity is nothing compared to the ludicrous plot twist that comes toward the end of the film. It’s a plot twist that’s not too surprising because all the signs were there, but it’s still the worst part of the movie.

There’s not much originality in “The High Note,” even in the movie’s soundtrack, which has mostly cover songs or hit songs that were previously released. “Bad Girl,” which is supposed to be Grace’s biggest hit, is a cover version of the Lee Moses song. In “The High Note,” the Grace character has two original songs that are prominently featured in the movie and are performed by Ellis Ross: “Stop for a Minute” and “Love Myself,” which is the tune heard during the end credits.

“Stop for a Minute” was co-written by Rodney Jerkins, who executive produced “The High Note” soundtrack. “Love Myself” was co-written by Greg Kurstin, who’s best known for his work with Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Beck and Sia. But even the contributions of these Grammy-winning hitmakers don’t make these songs particularly outstanding or likely to be nominated for any Grammys.

In fact, there’s a lot of things about “The High Note” that are dull (including the too-long running time of nearly two hours), forgettable or just plain awful. The stars of “The High Note” should not consider it a high point of their careers, because the reality is that the movie is a lackluster low point that they’d probably like to bury.

Focus Features released “The High Note” on VOD and digital on May 29, 2020.