This Week:
- For the love of God, go see this movie.
- Let’s pay respect to the best there is.
- Can’t wait for this show.
- Is she the most talented Real Housewife?
- I love this duo, forever.
An Explosively Good Time
Jack Nicholson. Marissa Tomei. Road Runner. These are the three performers who make up the Holy Trinity of film’s courtroom testimonies.
I don’t even mean that as a joke.
As a patriot, I bought a ticket to see Coyote vs. Acme, the live-action/animated hybrid film based on the Looney Tunes character. The film was originally shelved by Warner Bros. for a tax write-off, before being rescued by Ketchup Entertainment and finally blessing our screens.
In principle, I paid to see this film, rather than going to a press screening. The cyclone of mergers, absorptions, shows canceled after being greenlit, and projects filmed entirely but never released unnerves me. There is something so dystopian about it. Luckily, it’s not exactly a hardship to go to the theaters to see a Looney Tunes movie. I implore you all to do the same.
But to the point of that cheeky lede referencing A Few Good Men and My Cousin Vinny, Coyote vs. Acme is legitimately an excellent legal comedy. It’s one of the most satisfyingly well-written movies I’ve seen in a while. There’s nothing self-indulgent or pretentiously flourished. It is taut, hilarious, and, when appropriate, extremely moving.
Yes, I got teary at the Wile E. Coyote movie. So what?
I also wasn’t anticipating how resonant the film would be.
The premise is that Wile E. Coyote, who, as all Looney Tunes fans know, spent his entire adult life inventing contraptions that will snare the elusive Road Runner, sort of gets wise. Every single product he buys that is supposed to neutralize Road Runner ends up, literally, blowing up in his face. And they’re all manufactured by the same company: Acme.
After the roughly 4,597th time he is collateral damage by one of the faulty products, he seeks out a small-claims lawyer, played by Will Forte, to take on the massive corporation for negligence.
The film is aggressive enough in that storyline to distance itself from the tempting comparison, but, cough-cough, Amazon.
Mostly, though, I was enamored that this film reminded me why I love going to the movies.
The live-action/hybrid production transported me right back to watching Space Jam for the first time as a kid. I don’t understand why this kind of movie doesn’t happen more often. There was the nostalgia of spending an entire childhood watching Wile E. Coyote’s hapless pursuits of the Road Runner being remixed into this really intelligent, funny script. And my theater was packed with multiple generations of people, all laughing hysterically for different reasons, be it wistfulness, discovery, or the fact that it was all just sheer funny.
I miss the Looney Tunes. I don’t have kids, so I sometimes wonder if the new generations are exposed to the comedic brilliance of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, and company. (All of whom make appearances in Coyote vs. Acme.) The characters’ raucousness and rambunction was strangley soothing to watch as a kid; let them all do the wilding out while I laugh, and it would calm me out of doing that myself.
I’m at the existential age where I wonder what happens to our sacred texts. (In my world, that’s a cartoon starring a rabbit eating a carrot.) I thought about this when the superb The Muppets Show revival premiered on Disney+, was so excellent, and then never led to a proper reboot. I think about it a lot now after a series of iconic celebrities passed away, and Instagram showed me photos of Miss Piggy with each of them. What is the future of that kind of family programming?
Coyote vs. Acme isn’t just nostalgic. It’s proof that there is real, excellent art to made from these classic characters. Whatever your Looney Tunes attachment is, it’s just an excellent movie. So grab your kids, and go see it. This has been my PSA.
This Is God-Tier Talent
I sometimes am confused about the hatred of social media.
Listen, if you’re extremely online enough and diligent in what you like and retweet, you, to, can have an X timeline that is exclusively photos Jonathan Bailey arriving at the Venice Film Festival, Carlos Alcaraz’s nipple popping out at the U.S. Open, and, most crucially, detailed praise of Kelly Clarkson’s performance of the song “Golden” at her talk show’s series finale.
I live a blessed life.
The last thing, though, has been really illuminated. I was lucky enough to be in the audience for the taping of Clarkson’s last episode of her talk show. Again, blessed life. If you have a keen eye you’ll see me clapping along in the audience while she sings. They inexplicably cut to me each time I had just yawned, because I look bored as hell when, in reality, I was living my best life. I was at what was ostensibly a Kelly Clarkson concert in the afternoon. A matinee!
That means I watched her sing the Mount Everest of current pop songs, “Golden,” live, and simply annihilate it. I knew it was an impressive feat watching it happen—she was singing so high! But I’ve now really come to appreciate it after, once the clip was released, people have put into context how unreal it is for any human to be able to sing that song.
We may be a trash bag of a country now, but we did get it right 24 years ago with Kelly.
This Might Be TV’s Best Reality Show
I love a comeback story.
Dancing With the Stars went from being a joke, to a hit, to irrelevant, and now, the most exciting reality competition on TV.
Everything old is new again, I guess.
The cast of the new season was just announced, and I truly admire how chaotic it is. And also, how emblematic of our current cocktail of nostalgia-influencer-reality-sports-obsessed culture it is.
You have the most iconic actress of my generation, Julia Stiles, plus the guy from Hanson. Two actors who are better known for dancing and who will light up endless discussions of “rigged,” Jenna Dewan and Harry Shum Jr. The husband of the reality TV star who won last season, the betrayed woman from Bravo’s Summer House, two Olympians, the little sister from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick.
This is art.
The Most Talented Real Housewife
Ting, ting, ting! I have an announcement!
It’s nothing novel for a Real Housewife to parlay her campy fame into a cabaret-style show. Luann De Lesseps is one of the greatest entertainers of our generation, doing just that. We’ve also had no shortage of cast members attempting pop music or dance tracks. Some are actually good! (Candiace Dillard Bassett, I’m looking at you.)
But I was most impressed after attending Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Britani Bateman’s cabaret show in New York.
I’ve seen pretty much every live act a Bravo star has done. So many cabarets. Gone to see versions of Roxie Hart in Chicago so many times. Britani may be the most vocally talented Real Housewife there is.
This Clip Is Adorable
Can we just have Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock on a press tour forever?
More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed
I spotlighted the outrageous story of the unseen O.J. Simpson prank show. It’s incredible. Watch here.
Seriously, what is the point of this Harry Potter TV series? Read more.
If you watched the summer’s best TV series, Furious, you need to read this interview. Read more.
What to Watch This Week:
Onslaught: A new action heroine is born. (Now in theaters)
Coyote vs. Acme: I mean, did you read what I said above?! (Now in theaters)
What to Skip This Week:
Mayday: There’s a certain irony in that movie title. (Now in theaters)
By Any Means: If nothing else, we’ll be talking about Mark Wahlberg’s prosthetics for a long time. (Now in theaters)
The Runner: Gal Gadot in a terrible movie. Knock me over with a feather. (Now in theaters)
