Paid in Puke Podcast!

On today's episode, we're carrying a watermelon for Emile Ardolino's 1987 romantic drama, "Dirty Dancing", starring Jennifer Grey, Cynthia Rhodes, and Jane Brucker. It's a slumber party classic for women of a certain age. We reminisce about how much of the plot we understood when it first came out, Johnny's chaotic energy, and the short-shrifting of Lisa Houseman.  On the Lunchtime Poll, we discus...

On today's episode, we get existential AF with Alex Garland's 2018 surreal sci-fi film, "Annihilation", starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny.  This is a heady one, but it's a lot of fun if you can stomach some pretty intense body horror and a trippy synth score. It's basically John Carpenter's The Thing on acid but with WOMEN.   

On today's episode, we're talking about a film that won't be ignored: Adrienne Lynne's 1987 problematic as-HELL thriller, "Fatal Attraction". This film was a box office smash that starred Glenn Close, Anne Archer, and we guess a little bit Michael Douglas. It tells the story of woman named Alex, a 34-year-old NYC book editor who becomes impregnated after sleeping with a married man she meets throu...

Baxter's in her dream place talking about David Lynch's 2001 surreal Hollywood Noir, Mulholland Dr, starring Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring. We do our best to explain what it all means, and marvel at Naomi Watt's myriad acting talents. On the Lunchtime Poll, we tell of dreams that bled into our waking lives.  PS: This seems as good as time as any to mention that Baxter and Annie have a Twin P...

On this episode, we're on an emotional rollercoaster with Janicza Bravo's 2021 crime drama/comedy, Zola, based on the viral Twitter thread by Detroit waitress A'Ziah "Zola" King in October 2015. It stars Taylour Paige as the titular protagonist, and Riley Keough as the shady lady who roped Zola into a nightmarish weekend in Florida. It's possibly our shortest Hot Probs segment to date, as Bravo kn...

On today's episode, we're falling in love with Todd Haynes' 2015 romantic period drama, "Carol", starring Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Sarah Paulson. We're joined by special guest, Alicia Mullins of Gal Pals Watch Podcast , who gives us all the Superfan details about the film and the source material (Patricia Highsmith's semi-autobiographical novel, "The Price of Salt").  There's an awful lot...

On today's episode, we're discussing the tragic state of underage abortion rights in the United States through thematically similar, but tonally opposite films: Eliza Hitman's 2020 drama "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" starring Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder; and Rachel Lee Goldenberg's 2020 comedy, "Unpregnant", starring Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferriera.  There are some Hot Probs, but the...

On today's episode, we're setting the record straight with Craig Gillespie's 2017 bio dramedy, "I, Tonya", starring Margot Robbie, and Allison Janney. This film is a little miracle with its pitch-perfect performances, Rashomon story-telling, meta fourth-wall breaking, Cohen-esque comedy, ACAB-ery, and a bangin' soundtrack to boot. We manage to have a very fun conversation about a very HEAVY-hittin...

On our series 6 opener, we're setting sail with Howard Hawke's 1953 musical comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring the incomparable Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe! This movie is gay in every sense of the word! It's a mood lifter, a thirst trap, and a subversive musical romp. Marilyn and Jane are the ultimate multi-taskers, dazzling audiences, dodging private detectives, dismantling the patria...

On this special episode of Paid in Puke, please enjoy these clips that mostly have very little to do with the films we discussed over the course of Series 5. Still, your friendly neighborhood PiP editor (Baxter) held onto them because she thought they were amusing and/or interesting. We also had a quick discussion about the 2021 documentary, "Framing Britney Spears" (featuring Laura Lawrence), but...

On our series 5 finale, we're doing a double shot of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates, with Amy Heckerling's 1982 comedy debut, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, written by Cameron Crowe, and 2001's Mumblecore template drama, The Anniversary Party, written and directed by Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Alan Cumming. These two films are spiritual sequels, linked by JJL and Cates' twenty year friendship...

It's Oscar Season!! Join the Paid-in-Pukettes for lamenting snubs, ragging on Aaron Sorkin, loving on Lakeith, and worrying that people will get the wrong message from Nomadland. Stay for some very opinionated commentary on movies we didn't see and equally opinionated commentary on the ones that we did see! Plus! Hot Props: Who will be the In Memoriam Hammer photo? Who will bring their mom as a da...

On today's episode, we're cutting our teeth on David Slade's 2005 directorial debut, Hard Candy, starring Elliot Page in their breakthrough role. We discuss Elliot's electric performance and the perplexing ways in which critics received this film at the time. (Looking at you, Roger Ebert!) We also learn about what castration really does to an erection and briefly touch on some famous predators and...

On today's episode, we're losing it over Radha Blank's 2020 semi-autobiographical comedy, The 40-Year-Old Version, written, directed by, and starring Radha Blank. This film fills so many cinematic voids for us, and we love the way it pays tribute to the male auteurs who influenced Blank, whilst simultaneously subverting their genre. It's all about reclaiming artistic spaces for women of color and...

As far as we're concerned, Josh Greenbaum's 2021 comedy, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is an instant classic. Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumalo wrote the script and also star as the titular middle-aged mid-westerners who danced their way into our hearts and our lexicons.  So, have a couple of wheat thins, slide into your most comfortable culottes, and join us in gushing over this silly, good-heart...

The second half of Series 5 kicks off with Peter Jackson's 1994 crime drama, Heavenly Creatures, which introduced two phenomenal actors at once: Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey. It's based on the true story of two mid-century teenagers in New Zealand (Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme) who, lost in their own an imaginary world, enact a murderous plot to stay together against their parents' wishes....

On today's episode, we're working overtime for Colin Higgins' 1980 comedy 9 to 5, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton. To help us discuss this timeless feminist farce, we're joined by the delightfully effervescent Laura Lawrence, an honorary Pukette who frequently gets name dropped on the pod! We touch on how little has changed in terms of workplace gender dynamics, why everyone is...

On today's belated Valentine's Day episode, we're getting dark with Derek Cianfrance's 2010 anti-romantic drama, Blue Valentine, starring Michelle Williams. Cianfrance wrote this film as a way to process his parents' divorce when he was twenty years old. As bleak as it is, this film promotes two healthy things that are rife with stigma: abortions and divorce. We also touch on the very real emotion...

On today's episode, we're bonding over Paul Feig's 2011 comedy, Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, and Wendi McLendon-Covey. For a hard-R comedy, it sure has a lot of layers and nuance regarding the feminine experience. For us, it brings up everything from the pressure of wedding culture to pushy boyfriends with a stopover at body grooming...

On this episode, we're keeping it sleazy with Paul Verhoeven's 1995 accidental camp classic, Showgirls, starring Elizabeth Berkeley and Gina Gershon. This movie is quite figuratively one long Hot Prob with one or two Not Probs of note, contributed by the talented cast. To get to the bottom of things, we're joined by a very special guest: the oft-referenced Baxter BFF, Faye Hoerauf! You'll laugh! Y...

On our Series 5 premiere, we're gaga for Emerald Fennell's 2020 debut feature, Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan, Laverne Cox, Alison Brie, and Jennifer Coolidge. This film blew us away with it's stylized look, DEEP subtext, and pitch-perfect performance. So much so, that the episode is a little longer than usual, but we hope you'll find it's worth it. If you haven't seen the film, pl...

On our (slightly late) Holiday Special, we're talking about the controversial 2020 film Happiest Season, directed by Clea Duvall and written by Duvall and Mary Holland. It marks our 3rd Mackenzie Davis film. It also stars Kristen Stewart, Holland, Allison Brie, Mary Steenburgen, and Aubrey Plaza. We talk about how Abby should have left Harper for Riley (2/3 of us are Team Riley, and Baxter is a Ha...

On today's episode, we're (mostly) delighting in Miguel Arteta's 2017 dramedy, Beatriz at Dinner, starring Salma Hayek, Connie Britton, Chloë Sevigny, and Amy Landecker. Beatriz (Hayek) is a holistic massage therapist and Mexican immigrant circumstantially trapped in a palatial estate with her wealthy client and her husband's business partners. In Hot Probs, we discuss how normally, a Mike White s...

On today's episode, we're talking about Quentin Tarantino's first female-driven film, 1997's Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier and Bridget Fonda. Based on the novel, Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard, it's not without the usual Tarantino trappings (feet, rampant use of the n-word, built-in misogyny), but there's a lot to love in this most underrated of Quentin joints. On the Lunchtime Poll, we reveal our...

On today's episode, we're falling in love with Bong Joon Ho's 2017 adventure drama, Okja, starring An Seo Hyun and Tilda Swinton. It's an anti-capitalist fairy tale, a touching story of chosen families, an exciting action movie, and a remarkable achievement in CGI. This is our first title with ZERO Hot Probs, and it's in stark contrast to our lengthy Meaningful Passages segment. This movie simply...