Category Archives: 2026

I Love Boosters

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I Love Boosters                 4 stars

When I saw that the new film, I Love Boosters, was written and directed by Boots Riley, I knew that I had to see it. His first film Sorry To Bother You was at Sundance in 2018 and was a big hit. It was an absurd comedy starring LaKeith Stanfield that attacked the corporate structure of America and our class society. His second film is equally absurd and takes on the high fashion industry while glamourizing aspects of our criminal society. It stars Keke Palmer (One of Them Days, Nope, Alice) as Corvette who while out clubbing one night meets a man (LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and The Black Messiah)) and invites him back to her place. He doesn’t get what he is expecting though, since Corvette isn’t interested in sex. She wants to sell him some expensive clothes. (He does get some new shoes for his trouble.) You see, Corvette is in the business of Boosting. She, along with her two partners Sade (Naomi Ackie (Sorry, Baby and The Thursday Murder Club)) and Mariah (Taylor Paige (Zola)), (known as The Velvet Gang) seek out high-end fashion stores, steal expensive clothing and shoes and resell them to their customers at a deep discount. They have a particular interest in fashion magnate Christie Smith (Demi Moore of The Substance) who has a chain of stores for her fashion designs. Corvette sees herself as a fashion designer and wants revenge on Smith for stealing one of her designs, an outfit that has flaps on the arms and legs. The gang comes up with a plan to get jobs at one of Smith’s stores where they will rob the entire store on their lunch break. The store manager (Will Poulter) is very self-obsessed, talks down to his employees and makes them pay for their uniforms. But then someone else beats them to it and instantly removes the entire inventory of the store. This is where the movie becomes absurd. The gang catches up to the new robber, Jianhu (Poppy Liu of Hacks) who is Chinese and in possession of a transporter device developed by the Chinese government that she has stolen and has been using to transport the clothes back to China where they were originally made. Jianhu is doing this to stand up for the Chinese workers in the garment plants and against the owners and Christie Smith. So, Corvette realizes that they can all work together against their common enemy. After this point things get increasingly bizarre as it turns out the transporter can also transform things and people into an exaggerated form of themselves, leading to some very strange occurrences. There is also a skyscraper built at an angle creating slanted floors, making walking very difficult. There is a line of clothes from Smith called the hundred-thousand-dollar suits or skin suits that requires the wearers to have their skin removed to wear them and then there is the demon who is an expert in cunnilingus. Riley puts all this in the form of absurd comedy while also making a statement about workers’ rights and the injustice of the corporate culture of the fashion industry. This is the second movie I’ve seen this year attacking the high fashion world, the other being Mother Mary. The dialogue of the movie is very street urban and along with the type of comedy, bordering on slapstick, may not be for everyone. The name of the movie, I Love Boosters, was actually from a song written by Boots Riley a few years ago that sang praises to people who steal clothing and sell it to the less fortunate, portraying them as a modern Robin Hood. Obviously, Riley has had issues of race and social inequality on his mind for a long time. He has put them on display here in some very funny and odd set pieces.

Disclosure Day

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Disclosure Day                   4 ½ stars

We are not alone. Movies and TV have been exploring this subject for decades. On TV there were episodes of The Twilight Zone and The X-Files. In the movies we have seen Men in Black, Arrival and Cowboys and Aliens. Then there are the Steven Spielberg films of E.T: The Extraterrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and War of the Worlds. They consider what it would be like if we are visited by beings from another world. This weekend we saw that Mr. Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic World Rebirth and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) are still very much interested in this subject with the release of the much-anticipated Disclosure Day. Disclosure Day captures the current mood of the country with the backdrop of turmoil and distrust in the government. In the movie tensions start out high with the threat of a coming war. From the opening scenes we find out that there are government agents trying to prevent a closely guarded secret from getting out to the public. There is a not well-known private organization hired by the government called Wardex that is charged with hiding the fact that aliens have been visiting Earth ever since that first incident in Roswell back in 1947. (This organization is so secret that not even the President knows about it.) Wardex is led by the villainous Noah Scanlon (brilliantly played by Colin Firth) who will stop at nothing including murder to keep the secret from getting out. There is a pair of especially gifted individuals that Scanlon is after. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor (Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and Challengers)) is an ex-employee of Wardex who has joined a wider group of ex-Wardex folks led by Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo (The Color Purple and Drive-Away Dolls)). Hugo has entrusted Daniel with a backpack full of hard drives that contain decades worth of evidence about the truth, but Daniel is reluctant to take on this role. Then there is Margaret Fairchild (the extremely talented Emily Blunt in one of her best performances yet), the weather person at the local Kansas City TV station, who believes she belongs somewhere else. (Along the way she will discover talents she didn’t know she had, like the ability to speak and understand foreign languages and read minds.) Spielberg uses his established methods in storytelling by alternately allowing us to get to know the characters in personal conversations and then giving us an intense action sequence with lives on the line. The truth is an often-used term in the movie as some of the characters are determined that people must see the truth on what is referred to as Disclosure Day. The question of what the known presence of alien beings will do to the faith of the God-fearing public is raised, particularly by Daniel’s girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson). Will they still believe in a supreme being if they see that they are not alone? Unfortunately for Jane, at the hands of Scanlon she will experience a powerful alien technology that allows one person to invade the consciousness of another and influence their actions. Can she resist his evil intensions? Besides all the action and the fast-moving plot, the film delivers a message of empathy; that is, if we can just recognize the pain that others are going through, this will be a much better world. Spielberg has once again put together a communal experience that will blow our minds and open our thoughts to the possibilities that the future holds. Disclosure Day looks like the big movie of the summer. You should not miss it.

The Devil Wears Prada 2

The Devil Wears Prada 2                4 stars

It has been twenty years since a young Andy Sachs took a job at the high fashion magazine Runway where she worked for the most demanding and condescending boss in the industry; i.e. Miranda Priestly. That was The Devil Wears Prada in 2006, when Academy Award winner Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!, Sophie’s Choice portrayed one of her most iconic characters and Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, Colossal) had one of her early film roles as Miranda’s assistant. Now they have returned in The Devil Wears Prada 2, again directed by David Frankel (Hope Springs, Marley & Me), where publishing has reached the digital age. (It’s hard to imagine it, but the original movie happened before smart phones.) Andy left Runway long ago, became a successful investigative journalist and won a prestigious award only to find out by text that she was fired. Fortunately, the owner of Runway, Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman) immediately hires her to be the magazine’s features editor where she will once again report to the highly critical Miranda who did not approve the new hire and is just waiting for Andy to fail so she can fire her. The ever-loyal Nigel (Stanley Tucci (Conclave, A Midsummer Night’s Dream)) is still there as the fashion director, where he helps to keep things running smoothly, having a bigger role than in the first film. A lot has changed in twenty years. In the internet age, Runway is no longer a print magazine and is now digital. When billionaires can buy out a company on a whim, journalism is not at all what it used to be. Careers can be quickly destroyed. Budgets get slashed. (Gasp. Miranda has to hang up her own coat!) And guidelines from HR must be followed. Miranda still humiliates her subordinates, but she has lost some of her bite in her later years. When the Runway team must protect their revenue stream, they pay a visit to Dior, one of their biggest advertisers, and find that Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine, Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place)) now runs the place. Miranda now has to accept whatever deal Emily has to offer to the publication with no negotiation. Andy’s friend Lilly (Tracie Thoms (Grindhouse)) is still there to encourage her. Andy shows she still has it by landing a first interview with fashion icon Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu (Kill Bill)) who has been recently divorced from her billionaire husband, Benji (Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder)). Benji cares little about traditions of the past and is only interested in making more money in this new age. It is clear that the publishing business is not what it used to be, though there is still opportunity to meet celebrities of the fashion industry, particularly in one scene at Miranda and husband, Stuart’s (Kenneth Branaugh (Death on the Nile, Belfast)) sprawling house. (Many celebrities appear as themselves though I didn’t recognize them, save for Jon Batiste.) And what would a fashion movie be without a trip to fashion week in Milan? We get a good look at the latest eye-popping dresses on supermodels in the Italian city. (And there is a special appearance from a certain pop music star, that I will not reveal here.) The movie’s soundtrack is very appropriate to the times, including songs from Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa. The sequel loses a little of its impact from the original, but does have a feel-good ending, showing that despite being in a cutthroat industry, the characters do end up supporting each other. The Devil Wears Prada 2 may not be one of the year’s biggest hits but is certainly worth seeing. Look for Emily Blunt in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Disclosure Day.

Mother Mary

Mother Mary     4 stars

I can’t say that Mother Mary by director David Lowery was not what I expected, since I went into the movie without first knowing anything about it. I can say that it is not about what you would think after viewing the first half of the movie and that it defies categorizing in any specific genre. We start out seeing the pop icon, called Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada)) on stage at a stadium filled with screaming fans as the voice of someone else is heard expressing hate filled thoughts lambasting the object of their contempt. Mother Mary is a huge pop star a la Madonna or Lady Gaga, who is typically dressed in the most elaborate costumes one can imagine. But she has experienced a sort of nervous breakdown on stage that went viral, and now she feels she is not able to perform for her next gig because the dress designed for her does not feel right. So, she seeks out her former fashion designer, Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)) who was a close friend until a few years earlier. Sam now lives on a large English country estate where she is arranging a show for her work. Mary asks (or begs) her to make a new dress for her show in only three days. Despite being occupied with her own show, Sam agrees but only after making a few passive aggressive remarks to her desperate former friend, revealing how she felt betrayed by Mary. In her enormous barn that serves as her workshop, Sam and Mary have a very long discussion about what the dress should be like that takes up to half of the movie. But this discussion is not really about a dress at all. It’s about two people expressing their pain over a damaged relationship, just as the movie is not just about a pop star and a fashion designer. These two actresses perform the roles expertly, bringing an ever-increasing feeling of pain to the screen. As they delve into the past with previous performances of Mary’s played out on screen, the entire mood of the film changes and it becomes more of a psychological thriller, eventually blowing up into a nightmare. We find out that the two have even more in common than a past friendship. Let’s just say that there is a mysterious creepy presence and that a séance is involved (featuring the artist FKA Twigs). There will be chance for healing but only after the two suffer through some intense pain. David Lowery is previously known for a movie called A Ghost Story, about a couple that shares a connection. This gives a clue as to what Mother Mary is about. The pair of Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel couldn’t be better matched to play their roles opposite each other. Both are top notch actresses. And it doesn’t hurt that some of the music was written by British pop star Charlie XCX. Hathaway is presently featured in The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Coel is starring in The Christophers, now in theaters. So, there is opportunity to see more performances of both!

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come                       4 stars

I thought I was due for a horror movie, so I went to see Ready or Not 2: Here I Come directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. (Actually, I have already seen a few this year.) Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are known for co-directing both Scream and Scream VI. This is definitely a comedy horror, my favorite kind, and it happens to be a sequel to 2019’s Ready or Not, which I have not seen. But no matter. It was easy enough to pick up the movie’s premise from the opening scenes. A bloodied woman named Grace (Samara Weaving (of Scream VI and Bill and Ted Face the Music)) is seen walking out of a burning mansion and is taken to a hospital for treatment. Once she is well enough to talk, a police detective is there to question her, so we find out that she was getting married in the previous movie, but it turned out that her husband’s family, the Le Domas family, was part of a devil worshipping cult and Grace was being hunted by them in a deadly game of Hide and Seek. If Grace survived until dawn, then she would be free. She succeeded, but the family all died in the fire. While still in the hospital Grace’s younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton (Lisa Frankenstein and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)), finds her and we find out that the two had a falling out and haven’t seen each other for years. Unfortunately, both Grace and Faith are then kidnapped by the devil worshipping cult and brought to the expansive country estate of the Danforth family, one of the cult’s member families. The Danforth family is now led by twins Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar (I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream II)) and Titus (Shawn Hatosy of The Pitt). Both Gellar and Hatosy (especially) give command performances in their evil roles. These families are part of a conspiracy that controls governments across the world. In the Danforth mansion, in the presence of four of the member families, the plan is explained to them by a sort of sinister attorney (Elijah Wood (Frodo in Lord of the Rings)) with a very large book of rules. Since Grace survived the earlier night, she must now be hunted by members of the various families and whoever can kill her will be rewarded by becoming the Chairman of the High Council making them the most powerful person in the world. But if Grace can survive until dawn, she will be freed along with Faith. But the cult has certain rules that must be followed as they are civilized after all. If the head of any family is killed, then the next most senior family member must take their place in the hunt. No person may kill a member of another cult family. (Your own family is acceptable.) If they do, intentionally or not, then that person must immediately spontaneously explode into mass of blood along with the remaining members of that family. So, there is plenty of incentive to follow the rules. In addition, each family is restricted to using weapons that were in use at the time that their family was inducted into the cult. So, they use weapons that vary from broad swords to rocket launchers. Now, such an absurd setup can’t help but make for a hilarious comedy, as the characters inflict extreme violence on one another. At one point Faith takes such a horrendous beating that you would expect she would never walk again, but in true horror movie fashion she is soon back in action, though a bit bloodied. But wait! There may be another way to settle all this chaos. One character identifies a clause in the bylaws that says if the hunted party marries a family member, they can escape, while the spouse may ascend to the chairmanship. This scenario leads to an even more absurd situation by the climax of the film. By the end, Ready or Not 2 reaches Scream levels of violence while inflicting multiple laughs on the audience. The closest thing to it I have seen before was the comedy horror The Hunt back in 2020. Ready or Not 2 was a real hit at the box office. Horror fans should enjoy this one. Now I may have to go back and see the first Ready or Not.

The Drama

The Drama          3 stars

When I saw the trailer for The Drama, I became curious about the premise behind this movie, directed by Kristoffer Borgli (2023’s Dream Scenario): A young couple meet, hit it off, get engaged, then just before the wedding she reveals the worst thing she ever did, and this changes the whole dynamic of the relationship. In the movie we first find Charlie (Robert Pattinson (Mickey 17, The Batman)) meeting Emma (Zendaya (Dune, Challengers and Spider-Man: No Way Home)) in a café by pretending that he is familiar with the novel that she is reading. After fumbling his way through the encounter, the pair succeed in staying together for two years and get engaged. Then in the pivotal scene before the wedding, Charlie and Emma are having dinner with their married friends in common Mike (Mamoudou Athie (By Design, Kinds of Kindness and Elemental)) and Rachel (Alana Haim of the pop-rock group Haim) where Rachel asks the group to share what’s the worst thing they have ever done. Each tells something from their past that is funny but relatively harmless. That is until it’s Emma’s turn to tell something and when she does the tone of the conversation takes a sudden dark turn. Rachel has the worst reaction, but Charlie tries to be understanding about it at first. Now, I am going to follow the example of the trailer and not tell you what Emma’s deed was so that you can be just as surprised as I was when I heard it. But I can say that Emma is the definite winner of this game. The whole movie takes a dramatic turn at this point from comedy to something much more troubling. The relationship between the two couples changes with Mike and Rachel not believing they can trust Emma anymore. Charlie isn’t sure what to make of the situation and tries to imagine Emma as the person he thought he knew, while harboring doubts at the same time. Emma becomes more withdrawn when seeing how her friends react as she remembers the challenges she was going through in her younger years. Charlie gets increasingly confused about the whole situation, while getting a coworker involved that only escalates the problem. Ultimately, we get to the wedding reception where things blow up with some of the most backhanded wedding speeches ever heard. Things are, shall we say awkward and go from bad to worse in a hurry. Borgli is definitely going for shock value like he did before in Dream Scenario, but falls short of the level of dark comedy in that movie. It’s hard to accept Charlie’s reactions to events, given the weird roles that Pattinson has had before. Charlie is supposed to be a relatively normal person here but doesn’t really seem to be. Zendaya though is an expert at displaying the array of emotions of her character. (Remember her performance in Challengers!) This uneven movie is not so much about drama as it is about how people react to unexpected events. It would be interesting to find out how others react to the film. At least I satisfied my own curiosity. Look for Zendaya in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Look for both Zendaya and Pattinson in the upcoming The Odyssey and in Dune: Part 3.

Forbidden Fruits

Forbidden Fruits               1 ½ stars

The new film Forbidden Fruits by first time director Meredith Alloway at first looks like it could be the new witchcraft movie of our present age, like a modernized The Craft or Heathers. Filmed entirely in a shopping mall in Texas, it seems like a satire on consumerism or a commentary on female friendship, but it eventually devolves into bloody horror. The four main characters, led by Apple (Lili Reinhart of Riverdale as Betty Cooper) all work in a mall clothing store, but after hours they gather in their coven to perform rituals and scheme against their enemies they term as the snake. The other members are Cherry (Victoria Pedretti), a sexed up blonde bimbo, Fig (Alexandra Shipp), the smart girl and Pumpkin (Lola Tung), the newcomer from a pretzel stand who may have her own agenda. Apple is very controlling of the others who are usually all too willing to go along to win her approval. They must participate in a strange ritual of confessing their shortcomings to Marilyn Monroe when alone in a dressing room. We soon get the idea that Apple has a past she is hiding involving the death of her father. Then there is a mysterious death in the mall of a former coven member named Pickle (Emma Chamberlain) that Apple may be responsible for. Eventually all the melodrama comes to a climax with accusations and threats and recordings made using a hidden camera in a Barbie doll. And then there happens to be a tornado hitting the mall at a critical moment. The film has a few amusing moments from some of the characters, but in the end the movie was lacking in coherence or a payoff. The music was only lackluster and could have been a way to generate a little more excitement. Forbidden Fruits is definitely a movie not worth your attention. Hopefully, I can find something more interesting next time.

Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary             4 ½ stars

He has been half of a duo in a decades long love affair, a Brooklyn school teacher who makes it a habit of getting high, a man with a doll for a girlfriend, an astronaut walking on the moon and a man who started life as a doll. This time around Ryan Gosling is both a schoolteacher and an astronaut in Phil Lord’s and Christopher Miller’s buddies in space movie Project Hail Mary. Gosling occupies the screen for the entire movie going from well-regarded scientist to public middle school teacher to astronaut to savior of humanity and looks good while doing it. We first find Ryland Grace (Gosling) waking up after a long sleep on a spaceship while sporting a long beard not able to understand where he is. He sees a giant star and realizes that it isn’t the sun so he must be a long way from home. Then he discovers that he is all alone as the rest of the ship’s crew has not survived. Through effective use of flashbacks, we learn the background of his story. Grace was a biologist who published a theory that water may not be necessary to sustain life on other planets, was ridiculed for it then became a schoolteacher in Brooklyn where he inspires his students in science. When it was discovered that there is a space bacteria eating the sun that will eventually make life on Earth extinct, Grace is recruited by Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller of Anatomy of a Fall) to join in the massive research project she leads, to stop the bacteria and save the planet. The team discovers that the bacteria has spread to many stars in the galaxy except for one that has escaped this fate. Thus, if it can be discovered what is unique about this distant star and its planet, a cure could be found. A spaceship that can travel at near light speed is built but before the journey to the mystery planet begins, circumstances change leaving Grace as the best option to join the crew and figure out why that planet was spared. The catch is that there is only enough fuel to get there and not to return, so it will be a one-way trip for the crew. They will have to send their “solution” back to Earth using a deep space probe. (Of course, there are a few credibility issues with the science, such as the large amount of open space inside a spaceship meant to be crewed by only three people.) But that is only half the story. Upon reaching this planet, Grace meets another spaceship that is manned by a lone being from another civilization suffering the same fate as Earth. This species is very different from anything on Earth, having a different chemistry that doesn’t depend on water and looks like a pile of rocks with rock arms. Grace and “Rocky” as he is called cannot share the same atmosphere and have completely different languages, but that doesn’t stop the pair from gradually becoming acquainted and finding a way to work together to solve their common problem. So, it turns out to be a buddy in space movie. “Rocky” depends on the puppetry of James Ortiz who created the puppet and does the translated voice as well. Everything is done to make Rocky appear cute and endearing to the audience so that he feels like another character. Through their struggles, Grace and Rocky grow to really care for each other and as we see they would lay down their life for the other. Besides being an entertaining sci-fi movie, Project Hail Mary gives a message about forming bonds and caring for others that are very different from us. And it likely couldn’t be done nearly as well without the star qualities of Ryan Gosling who has hardly missed in his film roles yet. (Let’s forget about Only God Forgives.) The movie also respects the scientific process and the scientists that work to increase our understanding of the natural world, something we can use today. It is bound to be one of the big hits of the year.

Scream 7

Scream 7              2 stars

It has been four years since the Ghostface killer appeared once again in Woodsboro to continue his murderous spree on the local teenagers and others, who are related in some way to Sidney Prescott (Neve Cambell), the original victim of the knife wielding Ghostface going back to the nineties. But then, the very next year he showed up again in New York City in search of more victims, (only minus Sidney since she moved away to an undisclosed location (in Scream VI)). This perpetual killer did not let that stop him though. By now you know the formula. Ghostface makes a sudden appearance in Woodsboro, going on his usual rampage killing victims that are in some way connected to our heroine, Sidney. Some local sleuths come up with theories about who the killer or killers may be (Usually there are more than one.) Then there is a final confrontation where the mask comes off and we discover the identity of the real killer who gives a speech on why Sidney deserves to die, only to be killed by one of our heroes in a thrilling climax. Scream 7 has arrived in theaters and it is much the same story as we have seen in the previous six movies going all the way back to 1996. This time around Ghostface has tracked Sidney down in a different town, only now it is Sidney Evans’ daughter, Tatum (Isabel May of 1883) that he is after. The name is Evans now since Sidney is married to the local police chief, Mark Evans (Joel McCale of Community). In Scream fashion we get an opening scene where a young couple goes on a tour of a house built to recreate the original crime scene complete with Stab movie posters and a Ghostface mechanical figure, only to face their end at the hands of the costumed killer. Ghostface goes on to make threats to Sidney over the phone using that familiar, sinister voice, then follows through by stabbing some of the local teens to death who happen to be friends of Tatum. Then the reporters show up to get the story including the famous Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox returning for her seventh appearance) and her two minions. The rest is basically a repeat of the time-tested routine, when the killer’s identity is discovered and we get the same result. The writer of the original Scream movies, Kevin Williamson returns, this time as both writer and director to bring us this seventh of the series. The earlier directors of the franchise were Wes Craven, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. But there was an actual variation in the latest movie. In what can be called Ghostface meets AI, things get more complicated for poor Sidney with the creation of AI videos showing previous killers thought long dead reappearing on screen to make more threats. Thus, we see once again Dewey (David Arquette) and Stu (Matthew Lillard) making appearances on screen. The use of AI (without actually using AI in the movie) is an added twist that does nothing to add to the story. In my review of Scream VI, I said that it was time to call it quits on the franchise, but the filmmakers didn’t listen to me. My guess is that there will be a Scream 8 one day. But remember, Shoot ‘em in the head!

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights          2 stars

Director Emerald Fennell gives us a very different take on the gothic novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte by casting two of the hottest stars working in Hollywood today in the leading roles. I have never seen any of the many previous adaptations of the novel nor have I read the book. I only know that it has a reputation as a tragic love story. But I doubt that Bronte envisioned her story to be nearly as steamy as portrayed on the screen here. Previously, Fennell, the actor turned director brought us Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, two movies that combine revenge themes with sex and she continues that theme in Wuthering Heights. This movie has a lot of sex. And I mean a lot of sex! And it’s not just the two main characters either. Even the opening scene is very suggestive of what is to come. In the beginning we meet Catherine (Charlotte Mellington) as a twelve-year-old living with her father (Martin Clunes of Shakespeare in Love and Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?) in a large, isolated, but decaying house in the countryside called Wuthering Heights. Living with them is another girl, Nelly, who serves as a companion for Catherine, but also as a servant. They have other servants too, so they’re not exactly poor. One day, father brings a young boy home with him as he couldn’t stand seeing him wandering the streets with no one to care for him. Catherine takes to him immediately, calling him Heathcliff (Owen Cooper of Adolescence), the name of her dead brother. But Father thinks nothing of beating and whipping Heathcliff when he doesn’t live up to expectations. We flash forward several years and find Catherine (Margot Robbie of Barbie and The Wolf of Wall Street) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi of Frankenstein and Saltburn), now in their thirties and still living with her father along with a grown Nelly (Hong Chau). Things have changed and now they are quite poor, the father having gambled away his money. Catherine and Heathcliff (represented as two of the most perfect specimens of humans) now look at each other quite differently and you can see that things will soon take a turn. When a new neighbor moves to the area (five miles away), Catherine investigates and meets Mr. Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), who is fabulously wealthy, has an enormous estate, and very stylish clothes, carriages and servants. There is also a young woman, Isabella, living with him who we never find out exactly how they are related. Naturally, since Catherine is poor, she must marry Edgar for the benefit of the family even though she is madly in love with Heathcliff. And this is where things go awry and jealousy takes over all sense of right and wrong. Both Catherine and Heathcliff make it their purpose to get revenge on each other for their circumstances but still end up meeting secretly repeatedly for sessions of mad sex. And they do it a lot, with most of it in the rain it seems. There is plenty of ill will and jealousy spread around between them and every other character as well. In fact, I would say that there is not a single character in the movie with redeeming qualities. Everyone wants to cause harm to someone or even themselves. The contrast between the two families is greatly exaggerated, showing Edgar’s extravagant wealth and Catherine’s beautiful clothes and jewels versus the dirty unkept look of the Wuthering Heights house. Not only is the selfish nature of the characters disturbing, all the rain and the fog make everything about the film depressing. I suppose that that’s what Fennell was going for, but I couldn’t enjoy it. I can’t say if that’s what Bronte’s original novel is like. (Perhaps it was, but without all the sex.) I will point out that most of the music was written and performed by Charlie XCX so it has that going for it.