Jane Austen Stories

This week on the pod we talked about the sexism that holds Life or Something Like It back from being a good film. Angelina Jolie plays a delightful human being who everyone seems to hate because she's... thin, blonde and goal-oriented. That's it. She's not a secret racist or anything. Just an evil blonde. Hiss! Edward Burns plays the "love interest" who negs her into losing her confidence. Swoon!

This week we decided to go back to the early 90s with 1992's The Cutting Edge, starring the very strange pairing of Moira Kelly and D.B. Sweeney. As a film, it's pretty okay. But as a romance, it doesn't work at all. This film is a great example of how a male director and male screenwriter can put their heads together and still not understand women to save their lives. Moira Kelly deserved better....

This episode we tried to find depth in the very shallow Leap Year. It's a film that answers this question: What if Claire and Bender from The Breakfast Club were older, very boring, and met in Ireland for some reason? It's a story about a woman being bullied into love and we don't even have an 80s sheen and iconic soundtrack to mask the cringe and make it feel cool. It's very, very bad.

This week we experienced the very strange 2001 remake Sweet November. Now, we haven't seen the 1968 original, but the 1968 original doesn't have a completely off-the-wall Keanu Reeves performance, so it probably succeeds more as a romance. Don't get us wrong--Keanu did a great job. We're just not quite sure what movie he thought he was in.

This week we decided to dip our toe into bad melodrama with 2000's Autumn in New York. It's the classic tale of a patronizing middle-aged man dating a terminally ill 22-year-old young woman who is most definitely too good for him. Someone in 2000 really thought Richard Were and Winona Ryder were a good romantic pairing. Someone in 2000 was wrong.

We're just not that into this movie. Fun Fact: The moment we finished recording, I actually did throw up. The only good thing about 2009's evil demonic egg that is He's Just Not That Into You is that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston are good in tit. Everyone else is terrible.

This week we watched 2015's Playing It Cool aka The Marvel Off-Time Hangout Movie. Captain America has to write a romcom script for The Falcon. Cap is in love with a woman, but she's engaged to Mr. Fantastic. Caps best friend in this universe is Venom for some reason (along with Peter Parker's teacher and Legion's bud Lenny). And somehow, with all this talent... it's about as romantic as an iPod c...

Just in time for the most upsetting holiday of the year, Bronwyn and Jourdain decided to tackle their most-requested film: 2011's Something Borrowed. It's a romcom that hinges on the idea that blonde women oppress brunette women and that it's justifiable to steal a blonde woman's fiancé as reparations! Yes! Seriously! This is one of the few cases where we totally understand why everyone hates this...

Joined again by Kyle Kallgren, we looked into Tina Fey's most misbegotten starring vehicle to date. It's a film all about how war is hot and sexy and fun and everyone is white.

This week, it's a weird case. We took a deep dive into 2009's Bride Wars and how it's bad... but not as bad as everyone says it is.

William H. Macy's The Layover is possibly the worst film we've ever discussed on the show.

We decided to kick off 2018 by doing a good romance for once! This week we gushed about 2017's The Big Sick, a great romcom made by one of the cutest married couples in the entire world.

Tis the season for Jourdain and Kyle to discuss the creepy holiday romcom The Santa Clause 2. It's the wackiest take on The Taming of the Shrew ever put to film.

This week we revisited an old favorite that didn't age well. It's 2002's Sweet Home Alabama, a romantic comedy that is... obsessed with the Confederacy and explosives.

A nightmare.

This week Bronwyn and Jourdain investigate the curious case of 2011's The Decoy Bride, a film with great actors that's so baffling bad that we're surprised it even exists.

Jourdain and Bronwyn welcome comedian Lillian DeVane (@lilliandevane on Twitter) to show to discuss the 1999 classic She's All That.

Kyle sings in this episode!

This week went to an actual movie theater and saw a movie that is totally playing! There was barely anyone in the theater! The old couples there seemed to have a great time, though.

What?

If you wanted to watch a movie where Sydney Pollack insults Humphrey Bogart, you're in luck.

When will he leave again?

Loud, White & Wrong: The Movie

In the Season 2 finale of Authorized, Faith talks about romance in the real world with Rebecca Traister, author of All The Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. They have a candid conversation about our culture's changing views on marriage and how it has affected women and their love lives. Plus, Faith goes to Lady Jane's Salon, New York City's first and only Romanc...

This week, we dive headfirst into the trash.