There are film podcasts that aspire to scholarship, and then there is Fear and Loathing in Cinema, which aspires mostly to survive its own conversations. Imagine a 2 a.m. diner where the coffee has become sentient, the fries surrendered hours ago, and two friends are treating cinematic failure with the seriousness usually reserved for constitutional law.
This week, Bryan Kluger, Marc Ciafardini, and Sandi Glass climb into the time machine, set the dial to 1987, and spend some quality time with Mannequin. You know the movie starring Andrew McCarthy, James Spader, Estelle Getty, and the one and only Kim Cattrall, who somehow manages to make being a department-store mannequin seem like a perfectly reasonable career choice.
The trio takes a deep, occasionally ridiculous dive into the film’s silliness, romance, comedy, music, and aggressively ’80s fashion, only to discover something rather unexpected beneath all that plastic. That there’s actually a lot to talk about.
Because Mannequin isn’t merely a goofy romantic comedy about a man falling in love with a mannequin. It’s also a surprisingly rich little time capsule about work, women, ambition, a character named Hollywood, and the ways people in the 1980s perceived, and often misunderstood, the gay community. The movie’s treatment of “Hollywood” and the characters’ attitudes toward homosexuality alone could probably support a graduate thesis, preferably one written while wearing shoulder pads and outlandish sunglasses.
So come along for the neon, the synthesizers, the department-store magic, the questionable hair, and the increasingly complicated realization that maybe Mannequin has more going on than anyone gave it credit for. It’s funny, nostalgic, wonderfully silly, and, much to our surprise some 36 years later, it has a heart.
Listen everywhere.
FEAR AND LOATHING PODCAST APPLE PODCASTS
FEAR AND LOATHING PODCAST SPOTIFY
Thank you for listening.
WRITTEN BY: BRYAN KLUGER
Bryan Kluger is an entertainment critic, writer, and podcast host with a deep love for film, horror, and pop culture. His work has appeared in outlets such as Arts+Culture Magazine, High-Def Digest, Screen Rant, The Huffington Post, The Drudge Report, Fark, and Boomstick Comics. He hosts My Bloody Podcast and Fear and Loathing in Cinema Podcast, along with a weekly radio show, where he brings sharp insight, humor, and an unabashed passion for movies to every conversation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
