"The Menu" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new Ralph Fiennes movie "The Menu" as well as the Netflix film "The Luckiest Girl Alive" and the latest season of "The Crown." The Book of the Week is "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus]

The Menu (2022)

We foodies know that fine dining is not just about the food.  It's also about the experience and Chef Slowik wants you to have the experience of a lifetime!

Ralph Fiennes plays Chef Slowik, the famed chef who runs the finest of fine dining restaurants, Hawthorne.  It's one of those restaurants where you have to make a reservation a year in advance and it costs what would be a month's wages for many people.  It is so exclusive, it's on an island all by itself.  It's also one of those restaurants that serves an expensive prixe fix seven course menu where each course is teeny tiny but delicious. You are also likely to go away hungry.  As the mysterious and scary maitre de, Elsa (Hong Chau), whispers to one customer, "You will get less than you desire and more than you deserve."  Oh, yes.

Chef Slowik has gathered a disparate group of the very rich for a very special seven course menu, one served "cold," if you know what I mean.  Yes, this is all about revenge and is to be the culmination of Slowik's career.

They are mostly an entitled bunch. There is Lillian (Janet McTeer), the restaurant critic and her yes-man editor, Ted (Paul Adelstein). Her bad reviews are so powerful that they can close a restaurant.  Then, Richard (Reed Birney) and Anne (Judith Light), they are a rich, married couple who have been to the restaurant more times than they can count, but they can't name any of the dishes served despite the fact that Chef Slowik introduces each dish with a clap of his hands and a bit of oversharing and three tech bros, Soren (Arturo Castro), Bryce (Rob Yang) and Dave (Mark St. Cyr), who work with the restaurant's owner and are there just so they can say they have been to the restaurant. Also a once popular actor (John Leguizamo) on his way down and his assistant, Felicity (Aimee Carrero) are there. And finally, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), the slavishly devoted food snob who has brought Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) as his date, she being a last minute substitution who Slowik did not expect. And there is more to Margot than first meets the eye.

Slowik knows everything about everyone (except Margot), and he doesn't like them. They may pay over $1000 a person to eat his food but they don't respect him as the artist he is. He plans to change that tonight.

Slowik holds a grudge against the critic; he hates rich people like Richard and Anne who don't really know anything about good food; he hated the movie that the actor on his way down was in - it ruined his only day off; and he has a big surprise for the three men who work with the owner.  The owner is on his way down, too, literally.  And as for Tyler and Margot?  Slowik really, really hates pretentious foodies (Tyler), but Margot was a last minute date for Tyler so she was not on his hit list.  Slowik discovers that she is not one of the 1%, so he has a soft spot for her, and because she is not a sycophant, he respects her.  The two have some sharp one on ones that are highlights of the film.

So since this is about a restaurant, let's talk about The Menu.  The film is divided like a seven course menu with onscreen descriptions and each course is introduced by Chef Slowik with a clap of his hands that will make you jump - I did - and it's real food prepared for the film by celebrity chef Dominique Crenn, though much of it is tongue-in-cheek, like the "breadless bread plate! 

But as we foodies know, and as we discover during the film, fine dining is also about the experience, and some of the courses are real intense "experiences." Likewise, the ending is way over the top and absolutely hilarious.  Let's just say that Slowik hates s'mores and just wants to blow that whole concept up...literally.

Writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy had fun with some foodie references: Slowik calls someone a "Donkey," which Chef Gordon Ramsay loves to do, and when Slowik gets rid of one of his enemies, he says one of the reasons was that the guy had wanted substitutions on the menu.  So as his enemy is being dispatched, Slowik yells "NO SUBSTITUTIONS!" We all know that on many menus substitutions are a big no-no.  There are many more foodie references like that you will have fun noticing.

Despite some big names in this ensemble case and an excellent performance by Taylor-Joy, this is all about Ralph Fiennes, who is one of our great actors.  

No matter what Fiennes is asked to do, he really cares about giving a good performance.  How do I know this?  He was recently on Andy Cohen's "Watch What Happens Live" show plugging this movie and, for a laugh, Andy had him read a Real Housewive's diatribe. If you are not a Housewives fan, you might not know what that is all about, but let's just say, most episodes have fights and someone going off the deep end emotionally. So Andy has Ralph reading a meltdown from a housewife, and he is really feeling it.  Afterwards, Andy put the script Ralph was reading from up to the camera to show that Ralph had actually made notes on it to help his performance and had written on the bottom "Coriolanus," reminding himself of his Shakespearean performance of that role and to play it like that. Now that's an actor who cares about every performance! Also a guy with a great sense of humor about himself. Whether he is doing Shakespeare or "The Real Housewives," Ralph gives it his all.  And this film is no exception. He is all in. 

Directed by Mark Mylod, this is a wonderful little dark comedy horror film that is in theatres now but I fear it won't be for long.  I was alone in the theatre.  Granted, it was 11 a.m. but even so, despite the star power, this is one of those small movies that doesn't last long in the theatres, which is a shame because this is why I go to the movies - to be entertained, yes, which I was, but to also be surprised, to enjoy a new take on a subject and to be challenged, to have to look at myself and wonder, "Am I like that?" This film needs to be seen, so if you can't get to the theatre this weekend, watch for it on your streaming platform.

Rosy the Reviewer says...an absolutely delicious but very, very dark satiric comedy that skewers pompous, pretentious foodies and those who slavishly follow what's in vogue.  You know who you are.  If you are one of those, you will probably not find this funny.  However, if you are a foodie with a sense of humor about yourself, you will find this hilarious.  And by the way, remember this. In the end, there really is nothing better than a good, old-fashioned cheeseburger! (In theatres)

The Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)

A woman who seems to have everything is haunted by her past.

I couldn't help but think this was more like an episode of "Dateline" than a movie.  But, hey.  I love "Dateline!"  But let's just say our girl, Ani (Mila Kunis), is not very nice. She is a high-powered New Yorker on the fast track in her career. She is headed to the New York Times from her current job at a woman's magazine, and she is also planning a wedding to her boyfriend, Luke (Finn Wittrock).  But she is also haunted by her past and hiding a secret.  Well, more than one.  She is bulimic, she was a survivor of a school shooting and experienced date rape.

Ani is approached by a documentary filmmaker who wants to make a short film about the school shooting she survived as a teenager, but initially Ani doesn't want anything to do with it. Later, she runs into her former teacher, Andrew Larson (Scott McNairy), who knew something else that had happened to Ani.  As a teen, she had revealed to him that she had been gang-raped at a party by three boys she knew while drunk.  Mr. Larson had told her to tell her mother (Connie Britton) but she refused.  You see, Ani's relationship with her mother was strained.

In flashbacks to 1999, we see young Ani (Chiara Aurelia) at the Brentley School, a private school for rich kids.  Ani is there on scholarship and just wants to fit in.  She quickly befriends a clique of popular students, including Dean (Carson MacCormac) and his friends Liam (Isaac Kragten) and Peyton (Gage Munroe). Turns out, those are the boys who would eventually gang-rape her. Then when the school shooting occurs and Ani is spared, Dean plants a seed that Ani was involved and she is shunned.

Talk of a documentary about the school shooting and seeing Mr. Larson again has unleashed bad memories in Ani, and it starts to affect her relationship with Luke, who is not, shall we say a very understanding boyfriend? However, Ani agrees to the documentary and Aaron tells Ani that Dean (Alex Barone), now all grown up, wants to meet with her to apologize on camera; she agrees, under the condition that Aaron keeps them separate until she is ready. But Dean is not a good guy and has no intention of apologizing.

Later, we finally find out the true story behind the school shooting and what happened to those other boys involved in the gang rape.  Was Ani involved in the school shooting?  Will those boys get what's coming to them for the rape? Will Ani finally find her voice?

Written by Jessica Knoll, based on her best-selling novel, and directed by Mike Barker, this film is not without its problems, but it at least tried to tackle some important issues, some with better results than others. Rich vs. poor, men vs. women, victims vs. survivors and the question of what is luck? Is the luckiest girl one who survives a school shooting or one who gets vindication? Or is the title sarcastic because our girl lived such an unlucky life of guilt and shame?  You will have to decide.

Rosy the Reviewer says...compelling performances by Kunis and Aurelia in a film that just missed the mark for being compelling.

 The Crown - Season 5 (2022)

The saga of the British Royal Family continues, this time concentrating on the marriage of Charles and Diana.

Ah, "The Crown." It's back but surrounded by controversy. It seems that there are grumblings that Netflix should do a disclaimer reminding viewers that this is a semi-fictionalized version of the Royal Family. But really? Are we viewers considered that dumb that Netflix needs to tell us we are watching a dramatization? Do we actually believe that this series is a documentary? Do we believe that Netflix is trying to tell us that what the actors are saying in private was what they actually said? No! We know this is a dramatization! And the flap about the series being disrespectful to the Queen, especially in light of her recent death, is much ado about nothing. If anything, the series is very respectful, especially to the Queen but also to Charles, Camilla and Diana.

And speaking of The Queen. This series has a new Queen Elizabeth and Imelda Staunton embodies the Queen like no other, and that's saying a lot because both Claire Foy, who played the young Queen Elizabeth and Olivia Colman, who played her in her middle years, both won Emmys for their performances, and yes, they were wonderful. But there is just something so right about Staunton. She doesn't have big dramatic scenes but as the story plays out you see everything on her face and in her eyes. Just an incredible performance.

The marriage of Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Charles (Dominic West) is at the centerpiece of this season, but that is not all it's about. It sheds light on many facets of the Royal Family that might not be generally known if you haven't been a royal watcher. And what is particularly well done this season is the historical perspective and how each episode stands on its own, centering around a specific subject.

• One episode is all about Prince Phillip (Jonathan Pryce) and his obsession with carriage driving and his subsequent "spiritual" obsession with his godson's wife, a much younger woman who he shares his carriage driving with.
• Another fascinating episode goes back in time to show the relationship between the Windsor and the Russian Romanov families. Queen Elizabeth's great-grandmother Queen Alexandra married King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and her sister Maria married Czar Alexander of Russia. The episode explores the role the Windsor's might have played during the Russian Revolution.
• There is also an episode about Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw) and his son Dodi (Khalid Abdalla) and Mohamed's desire to be a British gentleman.
• And yes, the relationship between Charles and Camilla is also center stage, but I have to say the portrayal of both of them is surprisingly quite sympathetic. However, if you were expecting Diana's death to be a big part of this season, it's not. The series ends with Diana heading off on a trip to meet Dodi, leaving us with a sense of foreboding, because we know what will happen after that fateful meeting. But as for the series, we will have to wait until next season for that, for which I am grateful. (Diana's death was one of the worst days of my life, so I am glad I don't have to write about it here, yet, anyway).

As for this season, I can't rave about it enough.

For me, this is by far the best season and it rankles me that there was such a fuss made over it from the media even before it aired, grumblings about how much of it was made up and how disrespectful it was to the Royal Family. I did not see anything disrespectful or depicted that I didn't already know from my royal watching and reading over the years. Yes, we can't possibly know what was actually said in private between Queen Elizabeth and Philip, for example, but, people, this is not a documentary. It's a fictionalized version of what might have been said. But so far as for actual events, it's spot on and just dramatically compelling and wonderful.

• Did that risque and embarrassing phone call between Camilla and Prince Charles really happen? Yes. I hate to admit it, but I read the transcripts of the phone call myself.
• Did Mohamed Al-Fayed really hire the Duke of Windsor's valet? Yes.
• Did Diana wear that "revenge dress" on purpose the night Charles did his interview? Yes.
• Did Princess Diana confide in Prince William during the marital turmoil? Yes. There were many reports that when she was crying behind closed doors, he would slip a note under the door to try to console her. Also, after the divorce when she was stripped of her royal status (HRH), William told her that when he became King he would give it back to her.
• Did Camilla and Prince Charles hire a PR person to help with their image after Diana's death. Yes.

What's also great about this series is how it is structured. Each episode stands on its own and you needn't have seen Seasons 1-4 to enjoy this one but I recommend it.

Rosy the Reviewer says...an absolute must see. This series created by Peter Morgan just gets better and better.

***The Book of the Week***

"Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus (2022)

How does a brilliant chemist become the beloved star of a cooking show?

It's the early 1960's and chemist Elizabeth Zott faces discrimination.  What's a beautiful woman like her doing in a lab? She should be home making babies and dinner for her husband, right? According to Elizabeth, no!  This woman is no push-over but despite that, at the Hastings Research Institute where she works, Elizabeth has to deal with the all-male team and they don't know what to do with a woman in their midst, except Calvin Evans, the lonely, homely but brilliant Nobel prize winner who falls in love with Elizabeth's mind.  But sadly tragedy occurs and Elizabeth finds herself not only a single mother but the star of a beloved cooking show, "Supper at Six." How does that happen?  

Elizabeth not only combines her knowledge of chemistry to whip up a meal, she also uses her platform to whip women into revolt!

There is also Elizabeth's dog who knows almost 500 words and shares his thoughts with the reader and her daughter, Mad, who in kindergarten asks the librarian for Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead!"  You get the idea.  Quirky, funny, original and a reminder that, though the sixties was a time of revolution and change, women were yet to find equality...and we still haven't.

I don't usually read novels these days.  I am a nonfiction kind of girl but I was drawn to this because of my love of strong women characters and cooking shows! And Elizabeth is a strong female who doesn't suffer fools...at all!

Rosy the Reviewer says...this is a very special book with an independent, liberated heroine who takes no prisoners! A must read!

Thanks for reading!

See you again soon!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer 

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 "Critic 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)!

(NOTE:  If you are looking for a particular movie or series, check out this cool site: JustWatch.  It tells you where you can access all TV series and movies)

Tár and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Tár" as well as the movie "Mack and Rita."  The Book of the Week is Matthew Perry's memoir "Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing"]

Tár(2022)

The story of Lydia Tár, a world reknowned female symphony conductor who has some issues.

'Tis the season.

No, I'm not talking about the holiday season.  I am talking about Oscar season!  This is the time of year when the studios release their big Oscar contenders, and there is no doubt that Cate Blanchett's performance in this movie will be recognized.  As for the movie itself, er...

Hubby said to me as I headed out the door to see this film, "I have a feeling you are going to love Blanchett's performance and hate the film." He was right.

I was already worried because the film was in at two hours and 38 minutes and I often hold that against a film at the outset. I dare it to hold my interest. Few movies need to be that long.  More and more directors seem to have a difficult time editing themselves. So sitting in the theatre, I was already worried but when the film began, I knew I was in big trouble.

You know how you usually get up and leave at the end of the film when the credits are rolling because you don't really care who the grip or the gaffer was on the film or who drove the stars around?  Well, writer/producer/director Todd Field must not have wanted you to do that, because he rolled all of the credits AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM with an irritating soundtrack playing in the background. And other than wanting to be sure we had to watch the credits, I have no idea what the purpose of that was except to irritate.

So there I was in the theatre, already twitching in my seat and the movie hadn't even really started yet.

Now don't get me wrong.  I didn't really have a problem with the film once it got started. It actually had an intriguing storyline with a message. The problem was that the story didn't really get started until about an hour in.  Before there was any story, we had to sit through an interview and what was basically an entire class on conducting so by the time all of that was over, I was squirming in my seat.

You see, Lydia Tár (Blanchett) is a world famous conductor, the first female conductor to direct the Berlin Philharmonic.  So to be sure we know just how famous Lydia is, the film begins with an interview where the interviewer (real life New Yorker writer, Adam Gopnik) reads a lengthy introduction (she's an EGOT, an ethnomusicologist, a piano virtuoso and more) and Lydia talks about her musical philosophy. It's all very intellectual. That is followed by Lydia teaching a class to conducting students where she once again shares her philosophy, but this time she humiliates one of the young students who doesn't agree with her.  At this point, we start to learn that Lydia is not very nice. She also has a huge ego.  

As the film progresses, we discover just how self-serving, egotistical and cold she is. She upbraids her wife, Sharon (Nina Hoss), when she returns home to find too many lights on and she orders her assistant, Francesca (Noemie Merlant), around.  Later, we learn that Lydia is also, in fact, a predator. 

When I say it's all very intellectual, I mean that I can't imagine anyone other than a classical music aficionado understanding half of what Lydia talks about in her interview, in the classroom or when she is talking to her mentor. I am totally okay with exposition to get the audience oriented but almost an hour of musical tutelage to do that was too much. I was totally lost before anything really began, and it's not that I know nothing about classical music.  I am familiar with Mahler and his music, I was a fan of Leonard Bernstein, and I have even heard of Elgar, but when Lydia got into naming specific movements of orchestral pieces, using conducting jargon and throwing around the names of other female conductors, I got lost and, dare I say, bored?  And there is a LOT of that in this film, not to mention times when Lydia was speaking German and there were no subtitles. 

As for Lydia's issues, she has acute hearing and keeps hearing noises that keep her awake. She also has a neighbor knocking, she washes her hands a lot, and finds herself running down a dark tunnel.  Guilt perhaps but all devices that are never explained.

Which leads me to question some of Field's directorial choices. That strange opening of the full credits notwithstanding, there were people speaking German, sometimes with subtitles, sometimes not. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to that. There was a mysterious person, never identified, sending text messages.  An unexplained package arrives.  It goes on and on like that, scenes and ocurrences that seemed to be unrelated and never explained. And I won't even rant, like I usually do, about this being almost three hours long.  Well, I will rant a little.  I think it could have been cut by an entire hour.

But despite the fact that I didn't like this film, I can't fault Cate Blanchett's performance.  

She is a wonder. She is right up there in the Meryl Streep echelon.  When she performs I am a believer.  I forget she is acting.  She mastered the conducting and the German so I give her props for that as well. She will no doubt be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. But since I noticed, while watching those interminable opening credits, that she was one of the producers, I do have to also give her some of the blame for this film.

Overall, the production values are beautiful, the film has a message - the exploitation that can occur when someone attains a high level of fame - and it's all very arty, and that, in my estimation, is its downfall. It's as pretentious as that accent over the "a" in Lydia Tár's name, and I can't imagine the average moviegoer enjoying this film. In fact, I really can't believe that anyone other than someone heavily immersed in the music world would enjoy it. And if they say they did, well, the word pretentious again comes to mind.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are a huge Cate Blanchett fan and want to watch her performance for 158 minutes, you might like this but as for the film itself, I often say, "I see the bad ones so you don't have to."  And you are welcome.

Mack and Rita (2022)

A 30-year-old wakes up to find that she has turned into her 70-year-old self.

Written by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh and directed by Katie Aselton, this is one of those "body-swap films," like "Freaky Friday" and "Big," where the main character is transformed into a different person and inhabits a new body.  In this case, it's Mack (Elizabeth Lail), a 30-year-old writer, who doesn't feel comfortable in her own skin.  She thinks of herself as an old lady trapped in the body of a young woman. On a whim she goes into a "regression" tent at a fair, which is really an old tanning bed overseen by a seedy hippie and wishes herself to be her 70-year-old Grammy Martin, who she had always admired and had fun with. Not sure how regression makes you older, but, okay, I will go with it.  Mack thought she was doing this for fun, but when she wakes up, she has literally turned into a 70-year-old, her future old self.  

Enter Diane Keaton and all of her recent comic schtick and it's not pretty.  

Now we have ourselves a "fish out of water" story as Mack/Rita (Keaton) tries to navigate a 30-year-old's life in a 70-year-old's body while at the same time trying to find that regression guy again so she can get back into that tanning bed and return to her old, I mean, young self. 

Mack/Rita confides in her best friend, Carla (Taylour Page), who unbelievably believes her about her predicament but Mack passes herself off to the rest of her young friends as her Aunt Rita. Rita gets entangled in a pilates machine; she tries cryotherapy; she even gets to kiss her cute young neighbor, Jack (Dustin Milligan), who for some reason likes to hang around her. Diane Keaton is a nice looking older woman but it's a stretch that she would pull a cute young guy like him. Rita tries to do stuff that a 30-year-old might do and it's supposed to be funny as she falls down and gets flustered (making fun of old people is always good for a laugh, right?), but as a 70+ year old myself, I was offended. But Rita finds a posse of old ladies to hang out with, has that cute young guy and starts having such a good time as an old lady, Rita isn't sure she wants to go back to being Mack. Naturally as these movies are prone to do, Mack learns to value herself. I just wish the writers and director had valued something called character development and originality. Worst of all?  It was a comedy that wasn't funny.

Will Mack be able to get back to her 30-year-old self? I eventually thought, who cares?

Ordinarily, I would like a story like this, but in addition to the lack of character development, my big problem was and is Diane Keaton.  I used to be a huge fan.  I mean she was in "The Godfather" and "Reds" and "Annie Hall," for god's sake, "Annie Hall" being one of the funniest films of all time.  But the problem is, Diane has seemed to turn herself into a real-life version of Annie Hall and that is not funny, especially in a 76-year-old woman.  She has la-ti-da-ed herself into a character that gets on my nerves with her big hats and eccentric outfits. She now plays flibberdigibbets and whenever she appears on a talk show, she acts so dippy that I can't watch.  And I guess she is not embarrassed by that behavior because in this movie she even references her stints on "Ellen" by ordering red wine with ice cubes (when she would show up on "Ellen," that was a thing).  So obviously Diane thinks we like the persona she now gives us. And her movies are just more of the same.  I didn't like "Poms" and I didn't like this one. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are a big Diane Keaton fan, you might like this but just remember you will never have this 90 minutes back again.

***The Book of the Week***

Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry (2022)

Matthew Perry, star of the TV show "Friends" shares his story of addiction and redemption.

“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.” So begins Matthew Perry's harrowing story of addiction.

If you haven't heard about this memoir, you must have been under a rock or not have a TV.  Perry has been on every talk show and newsfeed running up to publication of this memoir.  He really wants to tell his story and it is a fascinating one. 

Best known as Chandler on the TV show “Friends,” Perry grew up in Canada but his parents divorced when he was very young. His mother was Pierre Trudeau's press secretary and his father was an actor who moved to L.A. and eventually became famous as the original Old Spice Guy.  Perry's mother remarried Keith Morrison of "Dateline" fame. You know, the guy who always purrs "Was it murrrrder?" 

With his mother in Canada and his Dad in L.A. Matty was shuttled back and forth alone on a plane, an "unaccompanied minor" and that fueled his lifelong feelings of insecurity and abandonment, a hole difficult to fill. But he tried. First, by being the funny guy, then with alcohol. That first drink at 14 was a revelation. While his teenaged friends were throwing up after their first big binge, he thought he had died and gone to heaven. That empty hole was starting to be filled.  What he didn't know was that he would almost die and he was already on his way to hell.

Then Perry moved to L.A. to live with his Dad, and he thought fame would solve all of this problems.  He already had a big alcohol habit but toiled in supporting TV roles and eventually landed the role of Chandler in “Friends," and he thought, finally, everything was going to be okay. But then he discovered opioids and his life-long battle with “The Big Terrible Thing,” his addiction, really began. He says in the book that if you watch "Friends," you can tell when he was drinking heavily and when he was mostly on pills. When he was drinking he was heavy; when he was using pills, he was skinny.  During one hiatus, he lost 50 pounds and they had to dress him in baggy clothes to cover that up when the season started up again.  At one point, he was taking 55 opioids a day.  He has been through 65 detoxes.

But it’s not all tragedy. Now sober and self-aware, Perry is grateful for his life and uses his self-deprecating humor to candidly talk about “Friends”, lovers, and yes, The Big Terrible Thing in hopes that he can help others.  Helping others has finally filled that big terrible hole.

Rosy the Reviewer says...celebrity watchers and fans of "Friends" will enjoy the behind the scenes anecdotes and Perry's encounters with other celebrities but this is also a tale of hope for those struggling with addiction.

Thanks for reading!

See you again soon!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer 

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 "Critic 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)!

(NOTE:  If you are looking for a particular movie or series, check out this cool site: JustWatch.  It tells you where you can access all TV series and movies)

But Is It Worth Watching?

[I weigh in on some popular series:  "The Watcher," "Bad Sisters," "The Patient," "Real Girlfriends in Paris," "The Mole" and the new Netflix cooking show "Easy Bake Battle."]  

"The Watcher" is currently the most popular series on Netflix. It seems the entire country is watching it.  But should you watch "The Watcher?" 

Let's see.

The Watcher 

A family moves into their dream house only to be stalked by "The Watcher." 

This is your classic tale of the malevolent house. An innocent family buys their dream house and then finds out its sad history and then everything goes to hell.  Remember "The Amityville Horror?"  Well, this one is kind of like that but in this case the evil comes from someone watching the family and sending them threatening letters.

Writer/Producer/Director Ryan Murphy ("Glee," "American Horror Story," "Pose," "Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story") has taken a true life mystery and Murphy-ized it into a gothic horror story.  

The series is based on the true story of the Broaddus Family, Derek and Maria, who bought their dream home at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey in 2014.  Before moving in, they started renovating the house and soon started to receive anonymous letters from "The Watcher," someone who claimed to have lived in the house and was now in charge of watching over it.  There were four letters, all menacing, and, because of those letters, the family never moved in and eventually sold the house five years later for a loss of $400,000. "The Watcher" was never identified.

So those are the basic facts of this story, and beyond the basic facts - that the owners of a beautiful house in Westfield, New Jersey received scary letters signed "The Watcher" - the rest of this series is complete fiction. Ryan Murphy discovered this story and was off and running.

Murphy has taken the true story and run with it, adding his dramatic touches, throwing in a variety of suspects, along with a smarmy police detective (Christopher McDonald), Theodora Birch (Noma Dumezweni), an eccentric private investigator, many red herrings, a satanic cult and even the latest phenomenon of "phrogging." There is everything in this but the kitchen sink, including the real life List murders, a mass murder that happened in Westfield in 1971. John List (here called John Graff) killed his entire family and then went on the run for 18 years.  Murphy has added that as something that also happened in the house at 657 Boulevard but those murders did not happen there.

In this fictionalized account, Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale play Nora and Dean Brannock, who buy the house and move in with their son, Carter (Luke David Blumm), and daughter, Ellie (Isabel Gravitt).  Nora is an artist and Dean is a lawyer and this house is a chance to get out of the city and live the American Dream, even though it's a bit beyond their means. Well, it's a lot beyond their means. In fact, they have some real money problems. Soon after moving into the house, the Brannocks start receiving menacing letters from "The Watcher." 

So who is "The Watcher?"

Is it Maureen (Margo Martindale) and Mitch (Richard Kind), the odd, older, unfriendly and disapproving neighbors across the street who sit in their yard chairs and watch the Brannocks?  Is it, Pearl (Mia Farrow), the nutty local historian for the Westfield Preservation Society who is obsessed with the dumb waiter in the house (note: the dumb waiter plays a role) and who threatens to take the Brannocks to court if they disturb it or make changes to the house that the preservation society doesn't approve of?  Or is it Pearl's brother, Jasper (Terry Kinney) who has PTSD from finding the Graff family murdered in the house years before?  What about Dakota (Henry Hunter Hall), the young kid who is putting in the security system?  Or Karen (Jennifer Coolidge), the real estate agent who is dying for Nora to sell the house so she can list it?  And what about Theodora Birch, that private investigator that the Brannocks hired to help find The Watcher. What's her deal?  There is a lot going on in this bucolic little town, and everyone is a suspect and everyone is suspicious. And the bottom line is that everyone is watching everyone.

Naomi Watts is always good, though after seeing her last movie, "Goodnight Mommy," and now this, I'm wondering if she is headed for a career in horror films. And I can't help but ask, "What's with those huge black glasses?" But that aside, Bobby Cannavale is the one I had a problem with.  He is perfect gangster material but as a harried husband, I struggled with it, but like the show, he grew on me. But why the character of Theodora Birch?  She didn't really seem to have a purpose. In fact, there were many characters like that, who made me wonder, "What are they doing here?"  Like I said, Murphy threw everything he had at this.

So the series gives us many suspects but in the real life story?  Who sent those letters? You decide. So far, no one knows, but there are rumors out there - one is that the husband did it.  Isn't that always the case with true crime? The husband did it. 

And there is a sort of message here: There is a dark side to the American Dream, when that dream is money, status and a big house and even with all of that you still don't feel safe. 

But is "The Watcher" worth watching? (I love a little alliteration, don't you)?

After watching the first episode, I was thinking, no.  It was very over-the-top and over dramatic.  I mean Mia Farrow in pig tails and big glasses was enough to turn me off right at the beginning.  And other characters were so out there that at times I thought I was watching a comedy. Jennifer Coolidge alone makes me laugh without even doing anything. And later, some of the side storylines went completely off the rails. A satanic cult? A murder/suicide across the street? C'mon. But Ryan Murphy is never not compelling, so I hung in there and, like Bobby, the series grew on me...until the end.

The last episode...oh, dear. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...I can't wholeheartedly recommend this, but it's an intriguing story and I did stick with it.  However, it could have been executed better, but if you are a Ryan Murphy fan and like your mysteries strange and way over-the-top with some comedy moments (that maybe aren't supposed to be funny), you might enjoy this, and, hey, if everyone else is watching it, you want to be in the know around the water cooler at work, right? (Are people still at work?  Are there still water coolers)? (Netflix)

Bad Sisters 

There are five Irish Garvey sisters - Eva, Grace, Ursula, Bibi and Becka and four of them are gravely concerned about how Grace's husband, John Paul (Claes Bang), treats their sister, Grace. They all have reasons to hate him. And then he turns up dead.

And that's not a spoiler.  The series begins with John Paul's funeral and it unfolds in flashbacks as we discover just what a bad guy John Paul was. Let's just say the first episode is called "The Prick" for a reason.  That's John Paul.  And he was.

But first, let's get to know the Garvey sisters.

• Eva Garvey (Sharon Horgan) is the oldest and feels the most protective of her sisters since she had to take care of all of them after the death of their parents. Eva is single and feeling her time running out for having children.  She and John Paul don't get along, not just for how he treats her sister, Grace, but they also work at the same architectural firm and are up for the same promotion and John Paul is not above doing some dirty stuff to ruin Eva's reputation.

• Grace Williams (Anne-Marie Duff) is the second eldest sister of the Garvey family, John Paul's wife, and the mother of their daugher, Blanaid (Saise Quinn). Grace loves her husband, but he is, as the first episode is named, "A Prick." He is controlling and cringey and she is losing her close relationship with her sisters because of him. He demeans her and has done everything he can to make her feel bad about herself.  But don't give up on Grace.

• Ursula Flynn (Eva Birthistle), the middle sister of the Garvey family, is a nurse, is married to Donal (Jonjo O'Neill) and has three children.  She is also having an extramarital affair with Ben (Peter Coonan) and, when John Paul discovers the affair, he threatens to expose her with some racy pictures she thought she was sending to Ben.

• Becka Garvey (Eve Hewson), youngest sister of the Garvey family, is a massage therapist who hopes to open her own massage studio.  John Paul was going to help her with that until he reneged on his promise.

• Bibi Garvey (Sarah Greene), second youngest sister of the Garvey family, hates John Paul after he is responsible for the car accident that resulted in the loss of her eye. She wears an eyepatch, and is the impetus for the sisters' decision to murder John Paul.

So...all of the sisters have a reason to want John Paul dead.  And, like I said, he really is a bad guy. You will want him dead, too!

Each sister is different and interesting and you can love them all or pick your favorite but you will root for them because - did I mention this?  John Paul is a very bad man.

So they decide they need to murder him. But how? They try various and humorous means, but these women are not good at murder. He's like a cockroach.  They can't seem to get rid of him.  

So how did he die?  Well, that's why you keep watching.  And you keep watching because these sisters are fun to watch. 

Then to make matters even more interesting, enter the Claffin brothers, the insurance investigators who represent Claffin & Sons.  Grace has asked for the insurance pay out for John Paul's policy and they suspect foul play.  They also do not want to pay it for reasons that become clear later.  Thomas Claffin (Brian Gleeson, son of Brendon) embarks on an insurance investigation that threatens to uncover the sister's plans.  To complicate matters, Becka becomes involved with Matt, the other, and extremely handsome Claffin brother played by Daryl McCormack, who those of you who watched the charming Emma Thompson movie "Good Luck To You, Leo Grande" will recognize as her handsome escort. 

The series goes back and forth from the present to the past in a pleasing way (not the usual confusing flashbacks and flash forwards we sometimes encounter), as the sisters try to find a way to off John Paul, and the Claffin brothers try to get out of paying Grace the insurance money. You see, the Claffin & Sons insurance company has its own issues so they have to figure out a way to prove that John Paul's death was not an accident.

This all sounds very serious but it's actually very funny, the dark kind of funny.

Conceived by Sharon Horgan, Brett Baer and Dave Finkel (Horgan was also one of the producers), this series is a follow-up to Horgan's stint in the wonderful "Catastrophe" and shows that she is much more than a comic actress in a quirky rom-com.  As for Claes Bang, I first saw him in a Danish film (he's Danish) called "The Square."  He has since made his mark in several films since, like "The Girl in the Spider's Web," and here he does a good job of playing an Irishman, a bad one.  Gleeson and McCormack are also fun to watch, and I predict McCormack will become a very hot leading man.  I mean, c'mon, he's HOT! But the entire ensemble is first rate. 

But is it worth watching?

Rosy the Reviewer says... Yes! This is a celebration of sisterhood.  These "bad sisters" are really good sisters who are loyal and love each other very much and it is a joy to watch.  And if you read my reviews regularly, you will know that I judge on whether or not a film or series is a satisfying experience.  I think you will find this fun to watch and the ending very satisfying. Brilliant writing, brilliant actresses and a brilliant villain. (Apple+)

The Patient 

Every psychiatrist's nightmare.

Created by Joel Fields and Joseph Weisberg, "The Patient" stars Steve Carell as psychiatrist Alan Strauss who finds himself locked up and chained to the floor at the home of one of his patients. Turns out, Sam, his patient, is a serial killer who wants to stop those killing urges of his and thinks the only way to do that is to have the doctor all to himself.

You Harry Potter fans might recognize Domhnall Gleeson (he played Bill Weasley and is another son of Brendon - see "Bad Sisters" above) as Sam and the series is mostly what the Brits call a “two-hander,” Alan and Sam alone in the basement with Alan trying his best to keep Sam from killing again while at the same time trying to figure out how to get Sam to let him go.

Alan is Jewish and when he is alone, he spends time thinking about his wife and his son, Ezra. Through flashbacks, we learn that Alan’s wife, Beth, was a Jewish cantor. Their adult son, Ezra (Andrew Leeds), has become Orthodox causing frustrating family events and estrangement that affected Beth’s health and she has recently died. Alan also thinks about his own therapist (David Alan Grier) and has mental conversations with him that gives the viewer more insight into Alan and forces him to examine his own life. Sam isn’t the only one with issues.

I am not usually a huge Steve Carell fan but here he embodies the kind of therapist you would want to have. He emanates warmth and kindness and trust, which is a LOT considering he has been imprisoned by a serial killer and there is a man Sam wants to kill imprisoned in the other room. Oh, didn’t I mention that?

But is it worth watching?

Rosy the Reviewer says…Yes! This brings a whole new meaning to the guy living in his mother's basement. From the start, you will be hooked and want to know what is going to happen to Alan and Sam. A tense, sometimes humorous but always fascinating look at empathy, isolation and the world of therapy and one of the best series of the year. Not be missed. Trust me. I'm a criticologist!

(Hulu)

Real Girlfriends in Paris

Six Gen-Z’s follow their dreams and navigate the pitfalls of friendship and romance while trying to find themselves, all with the City of Love as their backdrop.

This looks like Bravo’s attempt to pull in a younger crowd to it’s “Housewives” franchise, except these ladies aren’t rich housewives, they are twenty-something ex-pat singles living in Paris, and so far no one seems to have an axe to grind nor has anyone angrily flipped a table. It’s more “Emily in Paris” meets “Sex and the City.”

Victoria is 25, from a conservative family in Texas, and likes girls, but hasn’t yet come out to her mother. She had been briefly married to her college boyfriend but ended the marriage when she discovered his cheating.

Adja, who is also 25, has Senegalese roots, has family in Paris and is fluent in French. She finds European men more romantic than American men and she is working her way through a few.

Margaux, 26, has French parents and spent her life living in both New York City and France. Her Dad currently supports her until she “finds herself.” So far she has dabbled in several careers – the French would call her a dilettante. Currently she thinks she wants to open an agency to represent artists. We shall see.

Kacey is 27, African American and has lived in Paris off and on for three years. She teaches English part-time and babysits and is hoping to get a visa so she can stay in Paris permanently.

And there is a real life Emily. She is 22, has an internship at a fashion house but unlike that other Emily in Paris, knows little about fashion.

And finally, Anya. She is the only one not in her twenties. She is a fashionista, licensed tour guide and the OG of the group – 32 – and she has been in Paris for ten years so she is the shoulder the other women sometimes need.

I have a soft spot for “Emily in Paris” because it helped me endure lockdown during the height of the pandemic. This series doesn’t quite have the same charm as “Emily,” but it still has that je ne sais quoi that makes me want to know what is going to happen to these young women. And just like “Emily,” there is fashion (which you know I love) and, of course, Paris (which I really love)!

This series celebrates female friendship and six cute young women living in Paris? What’s not to like?

But is it worth watching?

Rosy the Reviewer says…Yes, for me anyway! Lots of fodder here for some interesting and fun storylines. But it's very fluffy and sometimes silly, so if you are not a fan of Bravo's reality shows, this probably isn't for you. (Bravo)

The Mole

Twelve players compete for a cash prize, except it's not really a fair contest. One of them is a mole who is trying to sabotage them. Who is the mole?

This is a reboot of a show that ran from 2001 to 2008. I loved that show back in the day, one of the original reality game shows. It's actually a kind of intellectual version of "Survivor," with some mystery thrown in. Who is trying to sabotage the other players? Contestants must complete tasks to win money but there is a saboteur amongst them and they need to figure out who that is.

Hosted by MSNBC host Alex Wagner (back in 2001 it was a very young Anderson Cooper), this time the contestants are in various parts of Australia and have to complete missions that include zip lining, climbing mountain peaks, treasure hunting and trying to follow homing pidgeons, all within a certain amount of time. If they complete the task, they add money to a pot that one of them will ultimately win. But if The Mole is able to sabotage, they win nothing.

At the end of every episode, the contestants must take a quiz that asks questions to identify about who they think the Mole is and the person scoring the lowest is eliminated.

Who is The Mole? Can you figure it out?

But is it worth watching?

Rosy the Reviewer says...Yes, it's a unique take on competition shows, so if you are a "Survivor" or "The Challenge" fan and enjoy a bit of mystery, this is for you! (Netflix)

Easy Bake Battle 

Home cooks compete to see who can make the easiest and fastest dishes.

If you like cooking competitions featuring home cooks, this is a new one.

No, they don’t really have to use a toy Hasbro “Easy-Bake Oven,” though there is a giant state-of-the-art version that plays a role in the competitions. The keyword for this show is “easy.” The recipes must be easy. In addition to easy, the dishes must also be delicious, well-presented and in one competition, "The Dish Dash," fast. fast. The cook who finishes the fastest gets extra points. That is followed by the “Easy-Bake,” where the cooks must create a dish using only the oven.

The contestants and the judges also share cooking hacks to make cooking easier, such as cooking bacon in a waffle maker, poaching eggs in the oven in a muffin tray, crushing ice in a food processor and using dental floss to cut dough.

Hosted by Anthony Porowski (“Queer Eye”) and featuring a different celebrity guest judge per episode, three home cooks square off against each other, with one winning $25,000 and then moving on to the next episode in hopes of winning up to $100,000. There are eight episodes, all with different themes (late night snacks, holiday cooking, kid-friendly eats), each episode less than 40 minutes so you can binge this entire series in one day if you are so inclined.

But is it worth watching?

Rosy the Reviewer says…Yes and no. It is entertaining and there are some good ideas for home cooks, though some of the hacks may seem a bit lame for experienced cooks. I was also frustrated that I couldn't find the recipes. (Netflix)

Thanks for reading!

See you again soon!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer 

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 "Critic 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)!

(NOTE:  If you are looking for a particular movie or series, check out this cool site: JustWatch.  It tells you where you can access all TV series and movies)