In Front of Ira

In the season finale, Sabrina and Torsten continue discovering the romantic comedy oeuvre of Katherine Heigl by watching “27 Dresses.” Reviews of the movie when it came out: – https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/movies/18dres.html – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/mar/30/comedy.romance Welcome to “In Front of Ira,” the podcast in which historians, friends, and lovers… of romcoms Sabrina Mitte...

Sabrina and Torsten are diving into both the Judd Apatow-verse and the Katherine Heigl-verse with “Knocked Up.” – The Rotten Tomatoes score for the movie: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/knocked_up – Katherine Heigl’s comments about the film that sparked a controversy: https://www.eonline.com/news/786055/seth-rogen-is-sympathetic-if-katherine-heigl-didn-t-like-knocked-up-the-birth-of-a-controvers...

Sabrina and Torsten pay tribute to Matthew Perry and his best romantic comedy, “Fools Rush In.” They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Roger Ebert’s review of the movie when it came out: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fools-rush-in-1997 – Salma Hayek’s tribute to Perry on the occasion of his death: https://www.eonline.com/news/1388965/salma-hayek-describes-special-bond-with-...

Sabrina and Torsten know this is not a romantic comedy, but hear us out! It’s the 1996 remake of “La cage aux folles,” “The Birdcage” starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, and Calista Flockhart! They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Roger Ebert’s review of the film: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-birdcage-1996 – The BBC’s Emily Maskell on the...

Torsten and Sabrina are following the adventures of religious throuple Jenna Elfman, Ben Stiller, and Edwart Norton (the latter in his directorial debut to boot!) They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The New York Times Review of the film when it came out: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/14/movies/film-review-religion-and-hormones-surrounded-by-a-triangle.html – Variety’s revie...

Torsten and Sabrina are not writing down the title of this John Cusack/Kate Beckinsale movie in hopes that fate will let them see it anyway down by the ice skating rink in Central Park. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Kate Beckinsale giving an interview about the movie: https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/kate-beckinsale-answers-all-our-questions-about-serendipity.html – Dire...

Sabrina and Torsten want the Dreidel Extended Universe to be a thing as they accompany Vic Michaelis and Bryan Greenberg through a holiday time travel romcom. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Decider’s review of the movie: https://decider.com/2023/12/10/round-and-round-hallmark-channel-review/ – Another review from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2023/12/15/1219585032/one-last-ha...

Torsten and Sabrina are charmed by Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan (and Adam Driver and Mackenzie Davis and Megan Park…) in an indie romcom out of Toronto that more people should have seen, but also more people than we thought have seen. Ok, a medium amount of people have seen this. It’s great, be one of them. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Variety’s review of the movie:...

Sabrina and Torsten have never been kissed by Michael Vartan, which is a thing they have in common with Drew Barrymore’s character in this teen movie that can’t quite decide what it wants to be, except somehow both charming and problematic. The 90s, man… They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – IFoI mainstay Roger Ebert’s review of the movie: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/nev...

Sabrina and Torsten go to Alaska with Canadian Sandra Bullock and American Ryan Reynolds so she can get a Green Card. High jinx ensue, except all jokes about the U.S. immigration system hit different these days. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – IFoI mainstay Roger Ebert’s review of the movie: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-proposal-2009 – A few more facts about the...

Torsten and Sabrina tackle another Nancy Meyers romcom in which the stars are not in their twenties. There is, of course, a kitchen, but there’s also Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Reviews of the movie: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/its-complicated-200R – The lost art of director’s commentary: https://www.spectator.co.uk...

Sabrina and Torsten are still in Sabrina’s kitchen, but really they're on Andrew Ahn’s “Fire Island” (2022) watching Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang put the Pride in “Pride in Prejudice.” They hope not to catch Lyme disease in the outdoors while looking for constellations. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Author/Star Joel Kim Booster on his romcom journey: https://ew.com/m...

Torsten has joined Sabrina in her kitchen to say something about “Say Anything,” the 1989 Cameron Crowe directorial debut starring Ione Skye and John Cusack that features THAT boombox in front of the window scene. They neither want to buy anything, sell anything, or process anything as a career. As a career, they don’t want to do that. They do, however, talk about a few things you may want to chec...

Sabrina and Torsten still sit on a couch and talk about Nia Vardalos’s one woman show turned successful indie romcom, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Stock up on Windex and discover why every word is really from the Greek. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Reviews of the movie when it came out: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/my-big-fat-greek-wedding-2002 / https://www.thegu...

Sabrina and Torsten sit on a couch and discuss the first movie in the “Bridget Jones” series, 2001’s “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” certainly one of the best thirty films of the year. Starring an American with a convincing British accent (Renée Zellweger), a smarmy Hugh Grant, and a very Darcy Colin Firth. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Reviews of the movie when it came out: h...

Torsten and Sabrina visit the National LGBTQ+ museum in New York to look at the audio-animatronic bisexuals in the first gay major studio romcom starring Billy Eichner and Luke MacFarlane. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The discourse surrounding the movie when it was released: https://www.them.us/story/bros-movie-box-office-performance-billy-eichner – The fictional LGBTQ...

Sabrina and Torsten join in for a sing-along to “I Say a Little Prayer” at a seafood restaurant with Rupert Everett, Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, and Cameron Diaz in this unorthodox late 90s classic romcom that stars all your favorite actors who got famous later on. (Including Carrie Preston and Paul Giamatti.) They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The likeability of the Jul...

In the second low-budget independent romcom set in South London on this podcast (what are the odds?), Sabrina and Torsten follow David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah as they wander around Rye Lane Market and drink deeply from the well of London romcom lore. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Director of Photography Olan Collardy’s stunning cinemmatography in this movie: https://f...

Crime doesn’t pay in Hope Springs, New York, where Lacey Chabert magics a hot snowman (Dustin Milligan) to life in this joyously bonkers Christmas romcom written by Russell Hainline and directed by Jerry Ciccoritti. Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio co-star as scenery-chewing small-town cops. (Hallmark mainstay Chabert’s first venture into the Netflix Holiday Cinematic Universe rocketed straight t...

Sabrina and Torsten are ready for the holidays (plural), so they’re going on “The Holiday” (singular). Join them in both L.A. and Surrey where they spend time with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, and Jude Law in this least kitchen-y of all Nancy Meyers movies. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – “The Holiday’s” stature as a Christmas classic: https://slate.com/culture...

Don’t you love New York in the fall? Torsten and Sabrina give each other bouquets of pencils as they discuss how neoliberalism is ruining book shop owner Kathleen Kelly’s life in this Nora Ephron romcom from the late 90s (neoliberalism also goes by the name of Joe Fox, F-o-x). Of course this stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, and there’s a lot of Starbucks references. They talk about a few things you m...

“This is called flirting, Amelia!” Sabrina and Torsten welcome Marisa Kabas to a special episode about a viral real-life romcom: the “Chicken Shop Date” of Amelia Dimoldenberg and Andrew Garfield. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – Amelia and Andrew at the Golden Globes: https://youtu.be/E6O0wq6GNn8?si=OJ0hcR0IXDlTDtvr – The titular Chicken Shop Date: https://www.youtube.com...

Torsten and Sabrina join Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney for a destination wedding in Australia featuring butt-grabbing and Shakespearean hijinks. Hopefully, no one needs to send a helicopter to save them from drowning in a movie that should work so much better than it does. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The fake dating rumors surrounding the movie’s leads: https://www.t...

Sabrina and Torsten head to Seattle (or is that Tacoma?) to join an all-star teen heart throb cast from the late 1990s take on Shakespeare. Plus, Allison Janney is there. Yes, they watched “10 Things I Hate About You,” counted all the things and noticed… hey… your eyes have a little green in them. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The soundtrack for the movie: https://www.d...

Sabrina and Torsten go back to a time in which people have jobs at print magazines. No it’s not a historical fantasy, it’s a romcom from the early 2000s! They are not on board with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey being mean to each other in boring ways, but maybe it’s all for the best since there is a Marvin Hamlisch cameo. They talk about a few things you may want to check out: – The inspirat...