Hello, film fans! Welcome to Episode 6 of The Fansplainers! This week Ian and Dave take a somewhat critical look at the third movie in the John Wick series, and celebrate, well, Dave anyway, Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut Booksmart.
Ian and Dave wonder if the John Wick series is starting to suffer from the dreaded sequelitis – a swelling of the sequels. They have some ideas.
Booksmart has not caught fire at the box office, and Ian and Dave offer some reasons why and maybe some solutions.
Not sure what to think of these movies? Let Ian and Dave fansplain it for you!
Thanks for listening.
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Regarding Booksmart: Guys, they were wearing JUMPSUITS, not pant suits. Those are super-lame one-piece garments which entail taking the whole top down in order to pee. It’s pronounced “Ma-LA-la.” I paid $13.99 to see a Saturday matinee – which is a lot considering you can get a month of Netflix for that.
I think it would be wrong to judge an indie movie’s box office numbers against those of a movie like Superbad (2007). Back then, there wasn’t the same competition from streaming services. And the Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen brands were proven money- makers so they could afford bigger marketing budgets. Also, sad to say, the gay-positive content of Booksmart limits the cinema-going audiences in North America. So a more fair comparison would be to films like Easy A and Lady Bird. I think Booksmart will reach its people on Netflix. It looks like it’s already made back its budget so that will encourage other filmmakers to make more smart female-driven comedies.
I meant to add that l loved that they used Malala’s name as their code word to show the seriousness of whatever situation they want to get out of. It’s a smart bit of shorthand to show their aspiration to follow in the footsteps of great female activists like her and the others referenced in the movie (Michelle Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony.) I think Malala, who seems to have a great sense of humour in her interviews, would appreciate the shout-out.