My Movie Picks and Pans for August 2026: A Comedy, a Rom-Com and a Documentary!

[I review Kevin Hart's new movie on Netflix "72 Hours," as well as the rom-com "You, Me & Tuscany," and the documentary "A Toxic Love Story."]

72 Hours (2026)

A 40-year-old finds himself accidentally invited to a three-day Bachelor Party with a bunch of 20-somethings. He goes. Chaos ensues.

I have always been a Kevin Hart fan, and the premise of this movie sounded funny, like a new version of "The Hangover," and I was in need of a good comedy.  Yes, it was a knock-off of "The Hangover," but sadly not funny nor a good comedy.

Joe Nixon (Hart) is a 40-something advertising executive in New York City who accidentally gets added to a group-chat of twenty-somethings mistakenly inviting him to an upcoming bachelor party in Miami. It just so happens that Joe is smarting from not getting the promotion he was expecting because he wasn't able to promote his company's vodka product effectively to young people. There was an insinuation that he is too old. So he gets the idea that if he goes to this bachelor party with these twenty-seomthings, he can get some valuable information that will help him promote the product to the younger generation and thus get his promotion. But he also kind of wants to get his youth back. 

So even though these kids are strangers, Joe takes them up on the invitation and decides to impress them by paying for a lavish Air BNB and basically footing the bill for everything.  When Joe arrives, the guys - Nick (Marcello Hernandez), Mason (Mason Gooding), Freshman (Kam Patterson) and Hunter (Ben Marshall) - are surprised Joe is "so old," so now Joe has to show them he can party as hard as they do, leading him to drugs and drinks and general chaos, including gangsters after them. Meanwhile, Hunter is nursing a broken heart, Nick is relentlessly picking on Mason about getting married and Freshman is clueless. 

Written by Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, Kevin Burrows, and Matt Mider and directed by Tim Story, old age and raunchy jokes abound along with projectile vomiting, a plethora of F-bombs and some helicopter penises (don't ask). Oh, and did I mention there were also whale penises and gangsters? Yawn.  You would think with four writers on board, something would have worked but not fun or funny.

And Hernandez, Patterson and Marshall are writers and performers on "Saturday Night Live," so you would think that this movie would at least be as funny as SNL, but nope. The concept was funny, the execution not. Teyana Taylor makes an appearance as Joe's girlfriend but doesn't have much to do, and Kevin plays his usual perplexed, put-upon and overwhelmed persona but it's not enough. Kevin, Kevin, Kevin.  You are a talentedly unpredictable and funny guy.  What are you doing in this predictable, unfunny movie? If this was meant to boost your career, it didn't work. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...watching this movie, I had to ask myself - When did comedies stop being funny?  I haven't seen a funny comedy in a long, long time.  And this is one of them.  If you watch it, remember, I warned you. But maybe, like Joe, I was just the wrong demographic for this party. (Netflix) 

 You, Me & Tuscany (2026)

A aspiring American chef squats in an empty Italian villa pretending to be the owner's fiance, not realizing what she has gotten herself into.

Anna Montgomery (Halle Bailey) is a young wannabe chef who put her dreams on hold after the death of her mother. Now she works as a house sitter and has the bad habit of pretending to be the owner of the house, helping herself to their clothes and other accoutrements. However, when she is caught in the act, she loses a big client.  

Drowning her sorrows in a bar, Anna meets Matteo Costa (Lorenzo de Moor), a handsome Italian real estate guy, who regales her with tales of his home in a charming village in Tuscany.  He invites her back to his room but he falls asleep before anything happens.  The next morning he is gone but leaves her a note apologizing for leaving but encouraging her to follow her dreams. Well, that's all it takes.  Off Anna goes to Tuscany and, finding accommodations in Matteo's village all booked because of a festival, Anna also gets the bright idea to stay in Matteo's empty villa. She finds the hidden housekeys, lets herself in and plans to do what she always does - pretend she lives there.  But then Matteo's mother, Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari) and his grandmother Alessia (Stefania Casini), show up.  What should she do?  Why, let's dig an even bigger hole and pretend to be engaged to Matteo.

The charade continues even after meeting Matteo's cousin, Michael (Rege-Jean Page), and finding a mutual attraction. And wouldn't you know, Matteo's father, Vincenzo (Paolo Sassanelli), owns a restaurant and Anna gets to help Matteo's father in his restaurant. Could it get any better?

But then, Matteo shows up.

Halle Bailey is a lovely young actress (her starring debut was in 2023's "The Little Mermaid"), but her gifts are not enough to save this very silly and unoriginal rom-com. Rom-com and Hallmark movie cliches abound. I know rom-coms can be silly but also charming, and, yes, even original. I enjoy them for the charming and original part. Sadly, this one lacks the charm, is not original and is actually kind of dumb.  

And if you have been wondering where hearthrob Rege-Jean Page has gone after steaming up "Bridgerton" as the Duke of Hastings for the first season ("Bridgerton" was never the same after he left), here he is. And yes, he takes his shirt off.  But even with that, all I can say is, Rege-Jean, get thee back to "Bridgerton!" Or at least to a project worthy of your talent and, yes, handsomeness. Written by Ryan and Kirsten Engle and directed by Kat Coiro, this is an unworthy piece of fluff and even the beautiful Tuscan landscape can't save it.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you can totally suspend disbelief...and I mean totally...and you miss Page, you might enjoy this but at least wait until it streams for free (update: now streaming on Peacock). I certainly wish, I not only hadn't paid to rent it, but that I hadn't spent an hour and 45 minutes watching it. (Peacock and for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime )

 

A Toxic Love Story (2026)

A newly married U.S. Marshall and his wife start receiving threatening emails supposedly from his ex-girlfriend...but are they really from her?

Angela Connell and U.S. Marshall, Ian Diaz, are newly married.  But before that, Angela had a sketchy past trying to pass herself off as an attorney and cancer victim.  But now the two are happily married but appear to be targeted by Ian's ex-girlfriend, Michelle Hadley, who they say is harassing them with emails wishing them dead using a "Lilithistruth" persona (Lilith was supposedly Adam’s first wife and when banished from Eden became a revenge-seeking demon - not good). And in Lilith fashion, she is also placing ads on Craigslist under Angela's name saying she has a rape fantasy so men with that same fantasy will come over to her house and rape her. Cops are called, restraining orders are in place but the harassment continues. Then Angela reports that a man has appeared at her home and attempted to rape her.

There are many twists and turns in this real life horror story, with interviews and police body cam footage documenting this story directed by Alexandra Lacey, who beautifully structures and paces the film to keep you absorbed to the very surprising ending.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like twisty-turny true crime documentaries, you will like this one. (Netflix)

See You Next Time!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, X, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer where I share short reviews about TV shows I am watching, books I am reading and all sorts of other fun stuff that doesn't appear here!

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critics Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

My Movie Picks & Pans for July 2026: "Project Hail Mary," "Voicemails for Isabelle" and "The Sheep Detectives"

[I review "Project Hail Mary," "Voicemails for Isabelle" and "The Sheep Detectives"]

Project Hail Mary (2026)

A science teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship not knowing who he is or where he is. But then he remembers and also discovers an unexpected friendship.

On Earth, the sun is losing power which could kill one third of the earth's population in 30 years. But Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller), an official from the European Space Agency, is on it. She is the leader of a secret project to save humanity and she finds her way to Dr. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a middle school science teacher who previously submitted a paper detailing “Astrophage,” or single-cell organisms feeding on electromagnetic radiation... and if you understand that, you are better than I. 

Dr. Grace soon finds himself on the spaceship Hail Mary, on his way to try to stop the spread of the organisms before Earth is slowly destroyed, and it is basically a suicide mission, hence the spaceship's name. It's an eleven year ride and no return ticket. When Grace wakes up with full mountain man hair and beard, he realizes he is left with dead crew members and little memory of his immediate past.  But then he is contacted by an alien ship and meets a stone-like creature he names “Rocky” who is also alone on the same mission. And thus begins a buddy movie. I just wish it hadn't taken so long for Rocky to appear.

The story, written by Drew Goddard (based on the novel by Andy Weir) and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, is told through a series of flashbacks as Grace regains his memory, and we understand his relationship with Eva and how he ended up on this spaceship, though I am still not certain I understand. There is a question asked over and over in the film, "Why is a science teacher in space?" and I kept asking myself the same thing. Why him?  I know he wrote that paper, but he was a middle school science teacher, for god's sake. 

I might have gotten into this more if it wasn't for the fact that it took forever to get going.  I mean, Grace didn't meet Rocky until almost an hour into the film, and did I say that the film is almost three hours? I have a thing about movies being longer than 2 hours, and it's mostly Gosling alone on the spaceship and, much as I like him as an actor, I am not sure I like him that much all by himself for two hours talking to a headless rocklike creature, the product of puppetry and CGI. I could have lopped off at least 30 minutes of this film, and I  think it would have worked better.

And did he save the world?  By the time the movie came to an end, I didn't really care anymore.

And by the way, it was not lost on me that before I ever saw the film, much of the press was more about Ryan Gosling's cardigan than the film itself with people wondering where they could buy it or knitting one for themselves! So much for people being into the movie.

Rosy the Reviewer says...there is lots of science if you like that kind of thing, and for the rest of us, moments of fun, sentimentality and emotion, but all in all, and I know this might be an unpopular opinion, this just didn't do it for me. It was too long and too indulgent (for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime). 

Voicemails for Isabelle (2026)

When Jill's sister dies, Jill tries to stay close by continuing to call her sister's phone and leaving voice mails not realizing that a real estate agent now has her sister's phone number and is listening to Jill's voicemails.

Jill (Zoey Deutch) and her sister, Isabelle (Ciara Bravo), also known as Izzy, who has cystic fibrosis, grew up very close in Austin, Texas. Now Jill is an aspiring baker living in San Francisco but the young women stay close through calls and voice mails. Jill works under a demanding and abusive chef (Nick Offerman), so she regularly vents and relates her life to her sister.  But then Isabelle abruptly dies and Jill has difficulty accepting that, so to help her deal with her grief, she continues to leave voicemails forIsabelle, unaware that Isabelle's phone number has been reassigned to Austin-based real estate agent Wes (Nick Robinson), a guy whose ethics are sometimes in question.

At first, Wes is confused about receiving Jill's voice mails but eventually realizes that Isabelle is dead, but he can't stop listening and becomes invested in Jill's life, hearing about her dates with her co-worker Arthur (Lucas Gage) and dating podcaster Tyler (Toby Sandeman), and her desire to become a baker. So Wes convinces his boss to send him on a work trip to San Francisco but his real mission it to meet Jill.  They do meet but, of course, Wes doesn't tell Jill that he knows all about her because he has been listening to her voice mails.

In typical rom-com fashion, love ensues, then trouble ensues when Jill discovers that Wes has been listening to her voicemails to Isabelle and then...well, if you are a rom-com fan, you know where this will eventually go. But it's an enjoyable and poignant journey getting there.  

However, I have to say.  You know how sometimes you call a friend and want to leave a voicemail and you get a message that you can't leave a message because your friend's inbox is full because they haven't cleared it out?  I couldn't help but think...if Isabelle is dead, she can't clean out her inbox so at some point, wouldn't you think Jill would wonder about that? 

But that's just me and how my mind works, and if Jill had realized that and stopped leaving voicemails, then we wouldn't have this movie written and directed by Leah McKendrick, which was a sweet little journey with attractive lovers, an original romantic concept, beautiful San Francisco views with some "Top Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen" vibes thrown in and, though it's an exploration of grief, it's also often funny.  Something for everyone here.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a very cute and satisfying romantic diversion (Netflix).

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

A flock a sheep try to solve a murder.  Yes, you heard me.

In the English village of Denbrook, shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) spends his time reading murder mysteries to his flock of sheep. You heard me. He is very close to his sheep and all of them have names. He doesn't like other humans that much and enjoys the company of his sheep.  Turns out, unknown to Geroge, the sheep can understand him, and they love listening to the stories and actually discuss who they think the murderer is in the mysteries they are hearing.

And it's a good thing the sheep have been paying attention to those murder mysteries, because one morning, George is discovered dead outside his trailer. Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun), the town's only police officer, concludes that George was poisoned.

In true Agatha Christie style, the usual suspects are rounded up for the reading of George's will, which turns out to be a new one. Tim is there along with George's solicitor Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson), the Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), the appropriately named butcher Ham Gilyard (Conleth Hill), innkeeper Beth Pennock (Hong Chau), neighboring shepherd Caleb Merrow (Tosin Cole) and Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), a reporter who just happens to be in town for the local festival. It comes to light that George had a twin son and daughter who were sent away for adoption after their mother died in childbirth. The daughter, Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon), also just happens to be in attendance.  She had reconnected with George and had just arrived from the United States to visit him for the first time. The twin son, Peter Van Vuuren, who lives in South Africa, is also there but only by phone. They all learn that George was secretly a millionaire after selling the patent for a medicine he had invented and the new will names Rebecca as the beneficiary instead of the animals rights charity that had been in the first will.

All of them had issues with George or something to gain if he died.  So who had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill George?

The sheep immediately realize that Tim is a bungling detective, so they decide to solve the mystery on their own, led by crime aficionado ewe Lily (voice of Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the ram Mopple (voice of Chris O'Dowd), along with Cloud (voice of Regina Hall) and the loner Sebastian (voice of Bryan Cranson) whom George rescued from a carnival. Other sheep voices include Brett Goldstein playing the twins Reggie and Ronnie; Patrick Stewart as Sir Richfield; Bella Ramsay as Zora; and Rhys Darby as Wool-Eyes. George hadn't read them all of those murder mysteries for nothing. They are on the case.

Speaking of Sebastian, turns out he was a "winter lamb," considered an outcast among sheep.  If you are a sheep, you are supposed to be born in the spring.  Spring good, winter bad.  There is also a little lamb in the flock who was born in winter, who had been rejected by the flock. And, boy, did that little guy get to me.

The anthropomorphic sheep are voiced by an all-star cast and, with the help of AI, are amazing and fun to watch, and yes, poignant.  This film, based on the book "Three Bags Full" by Leonie Swan (screenplay by Craig Maizin) and directed by Kyle Balda, reminded me of the 1995 movie "Babe," though the production values here are much more sophisticated. Speaking of production, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of "Project Hail Mary (see review above)" are two of the producers of the film. 

I had been looking forward to this movie because I thought the concept was a fun one, and I was looking forward to Hugh Jackman interracting with the sheep, but that was not to be as he was killed off early on, so I was a bit disappointed in that, as well as the sometimes overly broad humor, silliness and sentimentality, but overall, it was a fun family movie.

Rosy the Reviewer says...so, yes, the humor is broad and the film is at times very silly and overly sentimental, but...okay, I loved those darn sheep, especially that little "winter lamb," and it got me. There were some tears at the end. (Amazon Prime).

See You Next Time!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, X, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer where I share short reviews about TV shows I am watching, books I am reading and all sorts of other fun stuff that doesn't appear here!

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critics Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

"A Complete Unknown" and Other Movies I Watched in February (2025): My Picks and Pans

[I review the movies "A Complete Unknown," "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, "Babygirl," and "Kinda Pregnant"]

A Complete Unknown (2024)

A biopic about the young Bob Dylan on the road to fame.

It's 1961 and a 19-year-old Bob Dylan, nee Robert Allen Zimmerman (Timothee Chalamet), has moved to New York City from Minnesota to seek fame and fortune.  But he has also gone there to meet his idol, folk singer, Woody Guthrie.  Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) is in the hospital suffering from Huntington's Disease.  While there Bob meets another folk icon, Woody's friend, Pete Seeger (played by Edward Norton). Bob performs a song he just wrote, appropriately called "Song to Woody," and impresses the musicians so much that Pete invites Bob to stay with his family.  Pete also introduces Bob to others in the NYC folk scene.  Along the way, he meets Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), the two begin a relationship and he moves in with her. (Note: Sylvie is a fictional character based on Bob's real-life girlfriend and muse, Suze Rotolo.  Bob requested that director James Mangold change her name for the movie).

While at an open mic night, Bob meets manager Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler) and Bob so impresses Grossman that he takes Bob on as a client on the spot and Bob records his first album, mostly folk covers. Though album sales were disappointing for that first album, Bob's career is on its way, especially when he finally starts performing his own songs, songs that reflect the political and social unrest of the day.  He also meets Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role) and the two embark on an on again, off again relationship, both sexually and artistically. 

Despite achieving stardom, Bob is not happy.  He does not want to be restricted to the demands of the folk community and begins to experiment with the electric guitar, heresy to folkies, but as he is recording his new album "Highway 61 Revisited," his new direction is clear and at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival he blows caution to the wind (ha-ha) and plays a rocking version of "Maggie's Farm" that blows the lid off of the festival and ends with him being booed off the stage.

The rest is musical history...and I was kind of a witness to that musical history.

I was in 8th grade when I discovered Bob Dylan.  My girlfriends and I were crazy about him and felt very grown up that our favorite song was "Baby Let Me Follow You Down." We knew that was his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, with him on the cover of the "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album. In 1965, my junior year in high school and just a few months after Bob went electric at the Newport Folk Festival and blew the berets off the folkies, my girlfriends and I traveled down from our town in Western Michigan to Chicago by bus to see him play.  He came out on stage and said "Hi, I'm Bob Dylan" and proceeded to play an acoustic set.  But after the intermission, he came out with his backup band, the Hawks (later to morph into The Band) and played the rest of the concert electric.  Naturally, everyone booed him.  But not us.  We were those sophisticated young ladies who had loved him since 1962 and we smugly knew that "our Bob" needed to move on.  By then, though, I was a huge Beatles fan and my love of Bob and folk music in general took a back seat, but I have always been proud that I was an early fan (so early, that when our local radio DJ introduced his music on air he called him Bobby Die-lyn - I guess he had never heard of Dylan Thomas).

But I have to say, in later years, Bob disappointed me.  

I believe his eccentricities got the better of him.  I attended a concert in Seattle where he played the entire concert with his back to the audience and when he sang "It Ain't Me, Babe," I didn't even recognize it because he had changed up the melody so much.  But there is no doubt that he had a huge impact on, not just me, but an entire generation and generations to come.  He was a defining character and talent of the 1960's and his music continued to inspire change. So I forgive him his eccentricities.  Heavy is the head...

This movie does a wonderful job of showing Dylan's talent and why he had such impact.  I had worried that it would be a puff piece considering that Bob is still alive and had read the screenplay beforehand, supposedly going over it line by line with director Mangold and making notes. He even supposedly acted some of it out before signing off on it, but all-in-all, characterizations were believable and Bob wasn't whitewashed. 

Timothee Chalamet channeled Dylan magically, showing his good and bad sides and musically he was right on. The full performances of Dylan's songs were highlight of the movie. Chalamet had heard of Dylan (his father had a black and white portrait of Dylan in his apartment), but he didn't know much about him or his music beyond the most famous ones, "Blowin' in the Wind," and "The Times They Are A-Changin."  But he had five years to study him as the film was put on hold because of Covid.  Both he and Edward Norton also had time to learn to play the guitar and banjo, respectively, amazing feats considering how well they played in the movie. 

As for Edward Norton.  What can't that guy do?  He can play anything and anyone, and here he transforms himself into the kind, go-with-the-flow, peace and love, Pete Seeger.  Both he and Chalamet deserved their Oscar nods. The other members of the cast were also first rate, especially Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro.

And props to Oscar-nominated director Mangold, the Oscar-nominated screenplay by Mangold and Jay Cocks (based on the book "Dylan Goes Electric" by Elijah Wald), the music that was so expertly woven into the story and the film's production values which all worked together to capture that special time in the 1960's. Watching the film, I was transported back to high school and those changin' times. The film very much deserved it's Best Picture Oscar nomination.

Rosy the Reviewer says...But is it the best picture of the year?  No, but it's an enjoyable film experience and that's enough. (in theatres and for purchase on various streaming platforms)

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025)

In this fourth addition to the franchise, Bridget is now a widow and single mother but manages to navigate her new reality and even attract a much younger lover.

Did we really need another Bridget Jones movie?  You know how much this female curmudgeon hates sequels and keeping a film franchise going well past it's expiration date.  This is the fourth installment so you would think that I am going to rant about all of that...but I'm not.  I actually enjoyed it.

Renee Zellweger with her cute little British accent manages to bring Bridget to life once again, this time as a middle-aged, widowed single mother with two school-aged children, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic). Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth, who makes a brief appearance as a ghost and in flashback) was killed four years earlier while on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan. She now faces the challenges of parenthood, work and dating on her own. Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) is still in the mix (it wouldn't be Bridget Jones without Hugh), but now he is just an old friend and even babysits the kids so a romance between those two is off the table.  However, as soon as Bridget throws her hat in the dating ring, she is pursued by Roxster (Leo Woodall), a much younger man while also forming a connection with her son's science teacher, Scott Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). 

So many ups and downs in her relationship with Roxster and she is still grieving for Mark but will she end with up with Scott?

Directed by Michael Morris with a screenplay by Helen Fielding, Abi Morgan and Dan Mazer, this one isn't quite up there with the first two, but there is still some of that Bridget Jones charm we loved. There is something about Zellweger's face that just pulls at the heartstrings.  And that's what the Bridget Jones movies are so good at - those small moments when Bridget is bumbling and embarrassing herself in a cute way. This time around I also enjoyed the family side stories of Daniel reconnecting with his son and Billy and Mabel not wanting to forget their Dad. Mark would sing "I Would Do Anything"  to put Billy to sleep at night so when Billy sang that song at the school talent show, I lost it. 

The ending of the movie seemed to put a happy end to the Bridget Jones story, but who knows?  There might be a fifth one.  I wouldn't mind.

Rosy the Reviewer says...so I'm not such a grouch after all, right?  I liked a sequel.  I think I will always like Bridget Jones no matter what she does. (Peacock)

Babygirl (2024) 

A powerful CEO starts a torrid affair with her much younger intern.

Nicole Kidman not being nominated for an Oscar this year for this performance was considered a snub by the Academy.  And her performance was good (she has rather made a name for herself in the older woman-younger man genre).  However, I think what wrecked her chances for an Oscar nod was the movie itself.  It wasn't good. 

Romy Mathis (Kidman) is the CEO of an automation company in New York City.  She is a high-powered women who is dissatisfied with her sex life with her husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), a theater director. But then she meets Samuel (Harris Dickinson), who turns out to be an intern at her company and wouldn't you know, he chooses her to be his mentor through the company's mentorship program. And it's not long before the two embark on a sexual affair.  Romy expresses her fear that she is taking advantage of him because of the power difference but Samuel has moxie.  He says he is actually the one with the power because he could ruin her career with "one phone call."

Let the dominance/submission stuff begin.  So lots of humiliating sex.  In fact, the first hour and 15 minutes is nothing but Romy getting sexually satisfied.  I kept waiting for something to happen besides sex. It didn't.

Romy takes more and more risks as other staff members get wind of what is happening and Romy eventually confesses to Jacob that she is having an affair but not who or what.  She implies it was a one-night thing but strangely in confessing, there is now the possibility of their rekindling their sex life, if Jacob can figure out how to please Romy. Is this thing going to have a happy ending?

But you know what?  After awhile, I just didn't care.

Written and directed by Halina Reijn, the film's title only gets mentioned once when Samuel calls Romy "babygirl" in the heat of the moment.  I guess it's a metaphor for powerful people who like to be dominated but again I just didn't care.  The ick factor had kicked in. 

Nicole is always a believable actress but I am starting to think she wants to take over the "older woman/younger man" genre. This is her fourth movie with that plotline (others - "A Family Affair," "The Paperboy," and "To Die For.")

Rosy the Reviewer says...cringey. (for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime and Apple+)

Kinda Pregnant (2025)

When Lainy's plans to get married and settle down fall apart and her best friend gets pregnant, she fakes her own pregnancy.

Lainyhad always wanted to be a mom.  Even as a kid playing with her best friend, Kate, she would play the mom giving birth. They had a childhood pact to have their babies together.  But now the two are adults and teachers at the same school.  Kate (Jillian Bell) is married and pregnant.  Lainy (Amy Schumer), on the other hand, has a boyfriend who asks her to participate in a threesome. Not good. Looks like Lainy won't be fulfilling her part of the pact anytime soon.  And the final straw is when another teacher at the school announces her pregnancy, so when Lainy and Kate go to a maternity shop, Lainy discovers a pregnancy belly and for a lark decides to wear it to see what happens. And of course she gets the respect and special treatment often afforded to pregnant women so she decides to continue the ruse.  Then she meets Josh (Will Forte), who drives the Zamboni at the skating rink.  Meeting when she is wearing the fake pregnancy belly, now Lainy has to keep up the lie.

The usual crazy and very crude Amy Schumer stuff ensues.

Directed by Tyler Spindel and written by Schumer and Julie Paiva, this is one of those one-note plot device movies.  Will and when will the lie come to light and what will happen?  Some of the gags work, most don't. I have always mostly enjoyed Schumer's humor - something about that baby face saying those shocking things - but for some, her humor might fall flat.

Rosy the Reviewer says... if you are a big Amy fan, you might enjoy this.  If not, you probably won't.(Netflix)

See You Next Time!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, X, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer where I share short reviews about TV shows I am watching, books I am reading and all sorts of other fun stuff that doesn't appear here!

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critics Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

FINALLY...Some Good Movies That Give Respect to the Older Generation!

[I review "Book Club: The Next Chapter," "Living" and "Maybe I Do"]

If you read my last blog post, you know that I was having a conniption fit about "80 for Brady" and its depiction of older women, but thankfully I am in a better mood and happy to share with you some really good experiences where getting older is taken seriously.  And don't get me wrong.  I am not above having some laughs at my own expense or at the expense of being old.  I just don't like to be the butt, pardon the expression.  So I am happy to say here are some movies about older folks that are serious about aging but also there are some laughs to be had that don't make fun of that time that we will all experience. Being old. Enjoy.

Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023)

The ladies of "The Book Club" - Diane (Diane Keaton), Vivian (Jane Fonda), Sharon (Candace Bergen) and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) - are back, but this time they are headed to Italy for a Bachelorette Party! What? 

If you saw the first "Book Club" movie, you will remember that these four women have known each other since college and have gotten together ever since for a monthly book club.  Reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" shook up their little world, and I have to say, that could have been a funny premise but I wasn't very kind in my review of that first one.  

However, maybe I am getting soft, because I am happy to report that I really enjoyed this film. And it's a sequel.  Go figure!  But what's not to like when a film celebrates female friendship, but more importantly, doesn't make fun of women in their 70's and 80's just to get some laughs ("80 for Brady," do you hear me)?  But don't get me wrong, there are some laughs to be had.

Written and directed by Bill Holderman, this time around the ladies of the Book Club are just coming out of isolation due to the Pandemic (they used Zoom to meet), but now they are ready to see each other again in person.  And when they do, they discover that Viv is engaged.  She has never married but decided to take the leap, with the handsome Arthur (played by the still handsome Don Johnson), even though she is in her 80's and still uncertain about marriage. 

But then Carol brings up the idea of going to Italy, a Girl's Trip they had always wanted to take but didn't because life got in the way.  So now with Viv's impending marriage, why not do a Bachelorette trip to Italy? They all have reasons not to go but they are reading Paul Coehlo's "The Alchemist," a modern classic about following one's dreams, so with that as their inspiration, they take the plunge and head for Italy.

So off they go to Rome, to Venice and Tuscany.  Fun and surprises ensue.

Great to see these four women together.  It is clear they all really like each other in real life and that is fun to watch.  Particularly fun to see Mary Steenburgen and Candace Bergen again who haven't appeared in films much lately. Candace still has that Murphy Brown dry wit.  Also Jane is amazing at 85.  She even makes a bit of fun of herself about her plastic surgery.  But Diane.  Like I said in my review of the first film.  Get over the "Annie Hall" thing.  The hat, the cinched belt, the poofy skirt, the combat boots. It's getting really old, and I'm not making fun of your age. It's old as in get over it.  However, I will give her some credit for toning down her usually jittery and nervous acting style. It's there but not as bad. 

So, okay, this film is as much a travelogue about the wonders of Italy as it is a comedy and, yes, it's silly and predictable at times, but people...Italy is actually a wonder (brought back some happy memories for me), but more importantly, finally, a film about four aging women that does not make fun of them.  And best of all, this film is all about the importance of long-standing, supportive female friends.  I enjoyed it very much. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...an unexpectedly delightful film that celebrates the importance of longtime female friendships without making fun of that or the ladies.  A feelgood film. And Jane, I forgive you for "80 for Brady!" (In theatres)

Living (2022)

A 1950’s London bureaucrat learns he only has six months to live and decides to change his life while he still has the chance and make a difference.

Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy) works for the Public Works Department in London. He is a buttoned-up, bowler-headed bureaucrat who gets on the train each day, goes to work and routinely does his job. It's a 1950's Dickensian life in an office where little gets done. When some ladies come to the office to try to get his department to put in a park in an impoverished neighborhood, the paperwork goes from office to office to office, endlessly.

But then Williams finds out he is going to die and that shakes up his life. He goes to the Seaside to live out his days but realizes that his buttoned-up bureaucratic life has robbed him of the ability live. So he joins forces with Talbot (Jamie Wilkes), a local ne'er-do-well and hangs out at a carnival and some strip joints with the guy thinking he needs to party to the end. But that doesn't really work either.

And then Williams runs into Miss Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), a clerk who had worked for him but left because, well, let's just say she had more life in her than the rest of the worker bees in that office. Over a meal, she tells him that she had nicknames for everyone in the office. Of course, Mr. Williams wants to know what nickname she had for him. "Mr. Zombie." Well, that sets off a spark in him. Sitting with the lively Miss Harris, he realizes he has been dead all along, so before he dies he wants to learn how to live and do something important with his life. Remember that children's playground? Well...

I have to say at the outset, I saw the Japanese version of this film – “Ikiru” - back when I was working on my project to watch all of the movies in the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” book. When I started I had already seen 600+ but that left me with over 400 to watch. It took me ten years, but I did it and you can see the fruits of my labors in my archive. Anyway, during that project, I discovered "Ikiru," the original film by the famed director Akira Kurosawa and that film was one of my favorite discoveries. You know, he's the guy who did "The Seven Samurai," which we Americans might only know because we saw the American remake, "The Magnificent Seven." So, even though I hate American remakes of perfectly good foreign films, I will give "The Magnificent Seven" a pass. But that said, since being in such a bad mood lately over the state of the world I came into watching this film with a chip on my shoulder. What? Take on Kurosawa, one of the most influential film directors of all time? I was skeptical, but writer Kazuo Ishiguro and director Oliver Hermanus pulled it off. It's a quite wonderful film.

The film is fairly faithful to the original screenplay by Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, but even if you saw that one, you will want to see this one because Bill Nighy is a powerful actor and a good story is a good story and a good message is a good message. And the last scene in the film…powerful filmmaking is powerful filmmaking! I cried at the end of the original and I cried at the end of this one.

This is a tour de force for Bill, and I must say, the soundtrack is exquisite.

Rosy the Reviewer says…a lovely small film that will leave you wondering about your own life...in a good way. What would you do if you were given just six months to live? This film is a reminder that it’s never too late to find purpose and meaning in your life and do something important. (Amazon Prime and Apple+)

Maybe I Do (2023)

When Michelle (Emma Roberts) and Allen (Luke Bracey) decide to get married, it's time to meet the parents.  But turns out, the parents already know each other!  What?

Sam (William H. Macy) and Grace (Diane Keaton) "meet cute" in a movie theatre.  They are each there alone.  Sam is crying his eyes out so Grace goes over to comfort him. I know. I am certainly not going to go up to a strange man in a dark movie theatre and offer my condolences because he is crying into his popcorn. Not realistic but that's kind of what "meet cute" means, and Diane Keaton is known to do wacky stuff in the movies.  Anyway, they hit it off and end up spending the evening together talking about their unhappy marriages. Poor Sam. He actually hates his wife.

Meanwhile, Howard (Richard Gere) and Monica (Susan Sarandon) are in a fancy hotel room.  Monica is trying to seduce Howard but he is not interested.  The two have been having a four-month affair but Howard is over it.

And then there are young Michelle and Allen who finally decide to get married so they also decide it's time for their parents to meet each other. Well, I am sure you have already figured out what is going to happen. Howard and Grace are Michelle's parents and Sam and Monica are Allen's parents, and when they all meet, after getting over the shock of recognition, they all offer differing opinions about marriage which starts to get in the way of Michelle and Allen's wedding plans.

It's strange to see actors like Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere playing someone's parents these days when I remember them as romantic love interests in the movies of yesteryear.  But we all get old.

Based on a play by Michael Jacobs, who also wrote and directed this film, despite the predictability and some plot contrivances, this film actually takes getting older seriously.  It deals with the loneliness that often accompanies unhappy marriages, young love versus aging love and the fears associated with getting older.  There is a particularly moving scene where Sam has a conversation with his Dad, Allen, where Allen talks about loving one's parents vs husband and wife love.  A baby is given to you and you love the baby but you didn't choose the baby.  Your husband or wife is a choice.

Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey are an engaging young couple and Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere are both aging well, though Susan has defintely had some work done.  And William H. Macy is always reliable. But here's Diane again. I am just not a fan of Diane Keaton these days. I am glad that as an older actress she is getting work, but her nervous, jittery acting style gets on my nerves and that continuous "Annie Hall" look.  I am so over it, but at least here she is toned down a bit. Instead of jittery and nervous she is just twitchy.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a sometimes funny but often poignant little film about parenting, marriage and aging that doesn't make fun of any of those things. (Amazon Prime)

Thanks for reading!

See you next time!

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