This Is Me...Now: A Love Story

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Why my poop green?

We saw this is me now.

See, you know what that means.

Now it's time for

how to discremate.

We're gonna have a good time.

Celebrate some failure, not just be a hater.

Cause you know you wonder, how did this create?

Let's warrant the mediocrity of some bar art.

Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question, how did this get made?

Hello, everybody, and welcome to How Did This Get Made?

Today we're talking about the 2024 JLo music, video, film, self-produced $20 million story of love.

Oh, whoa.

Yes.

What?

This, this cost more than...

Super bad?

Well, it costs more than a lot.

a lot of movies, a lot of movies.

But to give us a little taste of it, take a listen to this.

So when I was a little girl,

whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up,

my answer was always

in love.

I want to be in love.

But I learned the hard way.

Not all love stories have a happy ending.

And then the motorcycle crashes and the movie begins.

But to discuss this all, please welcome my co-hosts, Jason Manzukis, and June, Diane Rayfield.

How are you both?

Ugh.

Well, I mean, we just got back from the meeting of the Zodiacal Council.

By the way, by the way, let's start there because I

really,

my only, my only critique of this movie is that Capricorns were not represented.

Neither were Aquariuses.

Not at all?

I figured they, because they were all named after star signs, there would, what?

Oh, Jason, they didn't have everyone.

Made me mad.

Representation matters.

I don't say this, but my sign was represented by the unequivocal best person at this thing, the pantheon-level god, Jane Fonda, playing Sagittarius.

And by the way, Jane Fonda is also a Sagittarius.

Sag, baby.

So I'm really happy for you, Jason, but the Capricorn erasure

was really hurtful.

June, I was furious that there was no Aquarius in this.

And I was like, well, maybe I missed it.

You know, I don't know.

I went back as well.

And I looked at the whole thing.

I will let you know the Zodiac.

Sorry.

I believe they called it the Zodiacal Council.

Yes.

The Zodiacal Council is made up of a lot of interesting people.

Like we said, Jane Fonda.

We also have Post Malone.

We have Piki

one best moment of the movie oh her her maya angelu impression so good trevor noah

jay shetty we have kim petris we have neil degrasse tyson sophia vargara i mean this it is you're so who's you're like wait what what what i mean here take a little lesson we are the zodiacal council but the stars hold all the power the stars can speak their minds but what is in the deepest recesses of your heart is is ultimately what will manifest itself.

Sometimes I chew my hair.

Same.

You know what?

You would look hot in bangs.

Leo, always shoot me a shot.

Let her get out there and explore.

The nuptial bells are ringing.

What is with this woman in wedding?

But but by the way, according to the documentary about the making of this movie.

Wait, what?

You watched that?

I did not watch that.

I just, I just, I finished this on a flight and then I got to the hotel room and just been unpacking.

I thought, let me put on the making of.

Wait, maybe I think this might be the first time in history that

I wanted.

June, I sought out more.

That June has done extra homework.

I was actually going to say, can we push a half an hour?

Because I think I have to finish this.

I would have watched it.

I want to watch it too.

What was fascinating is who passed on being a part of the Zodiacal Council.

And

one of those people who just couldn't find her way into the role was Chloe Kardashian.

Oh, wow.

Oh, there's

a lot of no's in this movie, like

to a point where you're like, she asked.

So,

so many people to, yeah.

I'm surprised we didn't get a phone call.

At this point, I will say from Benny Medina.

I'm upset.

I was cut.

I did do this, but I was cut.

I could have been one of the friends.

I could have been one of the fun.

I could have been at the lovers anonymous, you know, Love Sick Anonymous meeting.

Look, one thing I'm going to say, just right out of the gate, I have a lot of opinions about what we just watched here, but I will say this.

J-Lo is pretty great.

Oh, she's just amazing.

Whatever's happening, I'm on board with.

Like, she does some

stuff in this movie that I was just like, i yeah i'm okay with this like and i'm gonna say something i have supported her for so i've supported her when no one has i've supported her when people didn't want her at the actors round table with other you know oscar nominated actors and this and that and i have stood beside her and i enjoyed the hell out of her in this and watching the docuseries i'm really getting to understand wait it's a surprise why she did this sorry movie.

Okay, I just want to say that.

I wish it was a series.

You really, I've been rooting for her love story, and that's what this is.

I've been rooting for her all these years to find love.

And that's what this is about.

Well, let me just say, just to put a cap on where we started, the celebrities who did not want to be in the council,

Taylor Swift, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, Lizzo.

Hold on, Paul.

So we don't know that they didn't want to be in the council because, according to the documentary, they were unavailable.

And J-Lo does say, Are they really unavailable or do they not want to do it?

Because that's what I say when I don't want to do it.

100%.

And I will say this: they were all shot on green screen.

So it did seem like the availability was flexible.

It wasn't like they all had to be there on the same day.

I'm just, in the grand scheme of things, there wasn't.

Within a week of time, I mean, it was, again, she's financing this whole thing.

I also find

J-Lo incredibly compelling.

Sure.

You know, like, especially, I will say, especially on screen.

You know, I am a, at best,

very casual fan of music.

I couldn't tell you a J-Lo song.

But that being said, I think she's incredible on screen and is incredible inside of this, but it is.

ill-conceived as a piece, I felt like.

To your point, June, I would have loved it if this was truly a deep dive into into the ups and downs of J-Lo's romantic life told through song and image.

But I think it dead ends.

It's trying.

It's trying.

It's trying, but not really, because at a certain point, I think you have to understand that if you're having repeated problems manifesting, engaging, and following through on a successful relationship, and it's not working, the problem might be that Fat Joe is your therapist.

I was just going to say, I think it all stems from Fat Joe being a terrible therapist.

And that is, he is in a cardigan in this, and he is doing a multiple acting scene with therapy.

I think that's a good thing for another therapist.

Maybe it's not Fat Joe.

I'm just saying,

I love Fat Joe as a performer, as a rapper.

I think he's incredible.

Maybe he's not a licensed therapist.

I believe that love never dies and that forever is real.

And that as long as I can.

Time Joe.

Let's pick this back up next week.

Wifey's calling once.

Hey, what's up, mama?

Let's let's check off some reasons why Fat Joe might not be a good therapist.

A, he sets an alarm to go off very loudly in the middle of sessions to say, time's up.

That's jarring.

And usually, most good therapists, they just have a clock nearby actually that's just facing them and not the patient.

Yeah.

And just sort of casually glance.

He also, the minute their session is over, takes a call from his wife, who is audibly yelling at him about continuing to see J-Lo and demanding that he stop seeing her while he casually hands J-Lo, J-Lo's still in the room, a piece of paper that's like a, almost like prescription for her to go to Sex and Love Anonymous, Addicts Anonymous, right?

Yeah.

Something like that.

And his wife is still like, this is bad form all over the place for a therapist.

And he also, maybe I missed some backstory with him, but he does seem to, at one point, she is, she is describing a dream she has where she's walking through the Bronx, and it's you know, by the way, that was my subway stop.

I was very excited about that castle.

Yeah,

I was like, wow, I could have bumped into her.

We were from the same block.

Polly from the block?

Is that why you keep trying to call yourself Polly from the block?

Yeah, I was really trying to be like when I was working at my dad's pharmacy, I was also Polly from the block.

I would run around.

Oh, how great would it have been if she walked by like a storefront and it was just your dad's pharmacy?

Oh my gosh, my dad's pharmacy, Z-Stop Drugs, just walking by Z-Stop.

Well, her therapist, Fat Joe, does

remember the store that she references standing in front of.

I can't remember what it was called because she says, oh, yeah, she's gone deep with Fat Joe.

She calls him from.

She doesn't remember that.

So is he saying, I remember that from your dreams, or I remember that because I also am from the block?

I think he's saying I'm also from that neighborhood.

And she calls him Joe.

She's Fat Joe from the block.

Yes.

Yes.

Wow.

She also calls him Joe, which led me to believe, because I also had problems inside of the story being like, am I meant to believe this is a J-Lo, this is J-Lo

in some sort of personal analysis of her life?

Or is this a J-Lo-esque character she's settling into?

Well, do you want to know the answer?

I do.

Oh.

Can I take a guess before you tell us?

Yeah.

I think it's a fictionalized J-Lo.

So it has a lot of similarities, but it's also different one might even say a doppelganger oh jlo oh hang on now this now hang on this is now this is interesting so

so again i didn't get through the whole thing because i have to record this podcast but i from what i saw she keeps on describing it to people who have many questions and those people still have those questions now after the movie's done and she says well here's what i i actually want to say this on a very positive note she

when we find her in the documentary a streaming a studio i don't know who it was amazon that she had a deal with it was amazon i believe it was yeah i don't know she had a deal with to finance this movie slash music video

signed deal they pull out Okay, so then she's forced to finance it herself, which Ben Affleck has a lot of feelings about and makes them known.

Now, she keeps on saying it's she is so inspired by what's happened to her and her story, which is the greatest love story never told, which is a book that Ben Affleck gave her.

And in that book, which he titled The Greatest Love Story Never Told, he had compiled all of their emails, all of their texts to each other, all of their letters to each other.

over the course of not just this current relationship they had, but the 20-year span that went on between the two of them.

So,

when we find Jennifer Lopez in the documentary, she keeps on talking about how

the chances of finding this love

later on and realizing she had never fallen out of love with him.

They had just been on pun.

And this is the saddest part of this is

knowing they're no longer together.

Wait, what?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

They've no, I know, I know, I know, I know.

I'm an actor.

So, so you are.

That was great.

So, but the funniest part of the documentary is that she takes that book, that very private book that he's this is, yeah.

This is so tough.

You know, this is, I know this.

Oh, yeah, you know, this.

I don't.

Oh, God, it's really tough.

So, again, this book is a giant binder.

She keeps it a secret for herself, and she only looks at it and shows it to herself to remind herself what love is.

Jason, she takes it to the recording studio.

Oh, boy.

And it's splayed out on a coffee table.

And

people are invited to flip through it.

And they cut to like music supervisors or whoever.

And they're like, yeah, I just felt like I was supposed to be reading some of this.

Oh, my God.

And then they have an interview with Ben, and he's like,

Yeah, I mean, I

thought that was sacred and private, but it is her process.

And I, I, yeah, he's so deeply uncomfortable.

Of course.

Well, this, a lot of people point to this movie and Doc and that moment as potentially one of the reasons that frayed their relationship because it is so intensely personal.

I think he doesn't want to live that kind of life.

I think he wants to live a little bit behind the scenes.

And, you know, the first opening.

scene that we see, you know, or there's a moment in there where J-Lo is burning a love letter.

That was an actual real letter given to her by Ben Affleck so she does actually burn it for the movie.

You mean in the scene where she's in the LA mansion and it's thunder and lightning out like it always does in LA.

She's inside at the fireplace drenched, inexplicably drenched in a gown and she is burning all the memories that are inside of a Louis Vuitton like train case, like a trolley case, a big box.

That's later.

That's later.

This is in the beginning when she was, I think, out in the desert because the letter reads,

life's tough, but you're sweet.

Oh, God.

Thanks for the gift.

Hope you like the flowers.

You told me you could never have enough.

I believe you.

And it said, I got her number.

How do you like those apples?

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This is a tricky, a tricky movie to make about

she's a lovaholic.

I mean it's not a fully it's not fully a movie.

What is it?

Well, that's what the

that's what's so hard is people don't have a people watch this without understanding the author's intent and what does she, yeah, does she elaborate?

Yeah, it's not a, it's not a music video, and it's, it's Purple Rain.

Well, Purple Rain's a movie.

Purple Rain.

Well, Purple Rain has like a narrative thrust that this kind of doesn't have.

I think it does.

This feels more to me like something between Purple Rain and Lemonade.

As Cody said, Cody thinks it's a love letter to her love of dance.

Oh, interesting.

Well, I think it was, I think there was a clear narrative.

She couldn't find love.

She was blaming it on all of these men.

It was never working out.

She was too quick to commit and to, you know, fall in love with this idea of love.

And then, of course, she had to realize like she hasn't loved herself.

Well, but that, that scene.

I love that.

I love that.

I love that idea.

And I want to be clear.

I love this as a

thing.

I mean, you know what I mean?

Like, I like this.

You know what it is?

It's not in any of the things we just said.

It's just a longer filler.

I agree with you.

You know what I mean?

Like it has, it has a loose narrative, but is actually really just about dance sequences and songs, which I believe is what's going on.

The dance sequences and songs, I'm going to just give an A plus.

I don't need to dissect them at all, but I will say...

Wait, you're giving the songs just a blanket A plus?

Across, like, I was, I was enraptured.

I was like, oh, this is fun.

By the songs?

He gives both songs an A plus.

Well, I don't even know if I'm paying attention to the lyrics at a certain point.

I'm watching the dancing.

I was all in.

I was like, maybe maybe it was a respite

from the heaviness of the plot.

But all I'm saying is, and like Thriller, it's like there's a moment, Michael Jackson's like, hey, you want to walk down this block?

And then they walk down the block.

And then the Thriller video starts.

Like, this goes into like full scene work.

I mean, this is, we're seeing scenes.

And I'm going to say this.

She goes to therapy with Fat Joe.

Fat Joe, you know, does what all therapists do, offer to give her a ride home.

I think they probably shouldn't do it.

It's raining now.

But now she got got a nice ring jacket.

But that's when I knew the movie wasn't about J-Lo.

Like, J-Lo's not walking home or endor taking the bus.

She said she's going to take the bus.

That was what blew my mind.

And then proceeds to do an homage to Singing in the Rain.

Singing in the Ring, the Gene Kelly.

A plus.

It's good.

It's good.

I will say, I...

See, that's the only dance sequence I didn't like.

Yeah, I didn't like that one either, actually, too.

You just just gave it an A.

I don't understand what's going on.

I know, but I had to ride it.

I had to ride it.

Well, because my problem with that sequence was there's no world in which J-Lo should ever be doing

really, it's upsets me to even talk about, but there's no the fact that she was wearing flats for that whole sequence really took me out of the entire piece.

Wow, that took you out.

Yeah.

And

it just was so surprising that Jayla would be in flats and be do it.

I was like, put her in a little bootlet, put her in a, she was way, and I don't know if it was a safety issue.

I don't know what, but it really took me out of things.

And I don't think she, but she was part of her rain outfit.

I would have liked her in rain boots.

Yeah, better.

I mean, but now was she at the end when she did that song and dance, the singing the rain dance, was that supposed to be in the Bronx or LA?

Because I believe that, okay, so she is walking home from L.A.

because the therapist is in L.A.

Sometimes he's in the Bronx.

That's what's like, it's all over the place.

And that's why,

you know, that's why this, to me, is unsuccessful is because I'm neither clear on what the exact storyline that she's interested in interrogating is beyond the idea that she's gotten to be, you know, middle-aged and has three divorces and doesn't know how to do love right.

That, again, is something, boy, would be wonderful to interrogate.

But I don't, the songs didn't help me get at that.

Like they weren't helping me, they weren't in service of helping me understand how she was reconciling her difficult feelings or her failures into turning them into successes and so forth.

I would have liked more.

Whereas Thriller,

it's like, hey, we're walking home and there's some zombies out there, you know?

So like that, like it at least lines up.

Like this, this is what I'm saying.

It's like, we're going, we're really taking like some 180 degree turns.

And I think if we're going to discuss discuss it, we should also just start where the movie starts because it does start in the heart factory in outer space.

No, I think that's in the, I think that's in her body.

I think that's meant to be her heart that she has to restart.

I thought the correct.

I thought that Zodiacal Council was like at one point the camera.

I don't think the Zodiacal Council is where the Matrix Revolution style rhythm nation, Janet Jackson rhythm nation style heart,

metal heart scene takes place.

So the heart factory, I believe, is inside her chest.

Within her.

That's what I thought.

Okay, so the heart factory runs on roads.

Remember, she's in the motorcycle accident first.

And I believe they're saying her heart is stopping because of the injuries in the motorcycle accident.

That ends.

Oh, I thought because she's

not.

Because

the motorcycle accident is a metaphor for heartbreak, right?

She's living the best life.

And that guy in the motorcycle, that's Ben Affleck, right?

And Ben Affleck does make a couple of appearances in this.

But

I don't know if that's truly him or it's a representation of him.

Like he is the guy because he looks like he has the same Armageddon Ben Affleck as he's like, no, in the documentary, she says this is all loosely inspired.

So don't look too closely.

Yeah.

But also don't

be too far away.

yeah and everybody I think a lot of the people that were cast in it especially the husbands are all dancers it's Derek Huff it's people who are executing these elaborate huge dance sequences well let me just for a second just talk about this heart factory just for a second all right so if that's inside of her if that heart factory is inside and if you haven't watched it just really imagine matrix revolutions like those scenes like in what's the what's that city called in the matrix what they're trying to get to where it doesn't matter but it's where the rain you're talking about yes and and so she's yes to put on a special suit to get inside the heart chamber because the heart is running on rose petals rose petals are in short supply i guess because there's also a meter that's running very steampunk esque meter i was upset that there were no men in the heart factory and i was wondering maybe she could use some men in that heart factory or i don't know do women not do men have their own heart factory are you saying that they needed men to make the heart work i'm just saying that maybe careful her counterbalances that she needs a little bit of men and women in there.

Are you saying because men are strong, they need

the stronger men to come in, Paul?

Is that what you're saying?

Jeez.

Hey, like you, you said it.

You said it, but if it makes sense to you, then I am eye to disagree.

Well, it's within her own heart.

So all of those women are ostensibly her versions of her.

Oh.

I mean, I guess there could be a very masculine version, but.

Well, yeah, maybe that's a part of her that she needs, because they all looked a little bit like her.

And maybe there needs to be i mean because here's the other thing the zodiac council is one councilman

so sorry the zodiacal council is one

respect on their name

and i know you're angry about the lack of representation understand of aquarians and i am too um there's no men in that heart factory there's no aquarius in the zodiacal council what the hell i just tell you something that i was just just sorry to interrupt paul but i as the movie's going along i'm like wait did i miss the goat where is where is the capricorn where are the capricorn meanwhile we have two pisces we have pisces represented in in two in two ways

well obviously we have two geminis so i'm like what the fuck i quickly google who's the capricorn in this is me now

and it says lady gaga

And I, so I spent, you have to understand, I spent the entire movie slash piece waiting for Lady Gaga to come out as the Capricorn.

Oh, so you did it before you, oh, wow.

Yeah, because I, there were like two scenes in.

I'm like, did I miss the Capricorn?

And I'm like, I have to find out because that's the, you know, that's the big father energy.

Who's going to, who's going to be playing her?

And it said Lady Gaga online.

I don't know what happened.

I wonder if that was, yeah, I wonder if that was maybe what they were trying to do, or maybe do you think Lady Gaga was cut from this?

I don't know.

She didn't, it didn't work.

I mean, maybe she just forgot that Lady Gaga said no

and just kept it in there.

Because again,

I mean, I'm just, I'm so torn on this movie because there's some,

by the minute you wrestle with the steampunk heart, then all of a sudden you're transported into this magneto prison world that she lives in a glass apartment with a super.

She wakes up to Fox News where Ben Affleck is wrecks the anger.

I feel like Ben Affleck so badly did not want to appear in this movie that he agreed to undergo what what had to have been hours worth of prosthetics to be added to his face to see to be unrecognizable.

Because he doesn't look like a typical, he looks like a milk.

He looks like Tom Snyder.

He looks like

he brought them a picture of Tom Snyder and said, give me this.

Yes.

And he is anchoring the local news.

She wakes up in the morning.

She's like, okay, I'm in my glass apartment, which is visually very beautiful.

And then this guy that she's with,

very violent guy, who's drinking, seems early in the morning because it seems like dawn when he wakes up.

Then they have this like fight there, but they're torn.

I like, I like this.

I know everything in this movie is a little heavy-handed, but I like them being like tied together.

I thought that was a cool

visual representation of the push and pull in a relationship.

Uh, but he also endured, like, he gave me no,

I didn't like this guy because the first moment that we see him, he spits on the floor and he punches a hole in the in the wall.

I don't, I didn't find my, my heart pouring out to him, but then they're together.

But where did he come from?

Because is that another dream or is that real life?

Well,

I guess I would have, I agree with you, Paul.

And I guess I would have liked it if a lot of these relationships that are depicted inside of the dance sequences, I was better understanding where they fit into the chronological learning or not learning of JLo's character in this.

Is she learning from each subsequent relationship and getting better?

Or what she seems to be saying in therapy and in the intervention is what's wrong with finding someone for the rest of my life or what's like like having these kind of almost like teenage questions and i'm like well where are we in the trajectory of your understanding of love at one point when she's getting married she's getting married to four different gentlemen uh that keep on switching back and forth and i guess they're supposed to be i think those are just all the different weddings in her life they are but well i can speak to that a little bit if you want to understand from just a financial perspective why certain creative choices were made.

So originally they were going to show like a sequence of multiple weddings, different locations.

This wedding is on the beach.

This wedding is over here.

It's multiple locations, giant extras, all of it.

And then they ran into some budget issues.

Got it.

Which is why creatively they had to

readjust.

I liked it.

I didn't mind that.

I thought it was cool looking.

That didn't bother me.

And I got what they were saying, you know, but again,

it almost was, it made them, it made the husbands all so interchangeable in a way that he issued me from understanding each of their impact, a singular impact on her life for good or bad.

Yeah.

And I guess that's what I took away from it in general, which is that all of these men in her life were inconsequential, were sort of faceless stand-ins for her needing to greet herself before she could

end up with anyone, which she doesn't at the end of the film piece project.

Right.

So she was married, just so we like, she's married four times.

She was married to

this guy, Ohani Noah.

They were married in 1997, divorced seven months later.

She was married to Chris Judd.

He was a Leo and a dancer.

They were married for two years.

Then she was married to Mark Anthony.

For a while.

They have two kids.

They were 2004, 2011.

Then she was married

to Arod, also a Leo.

A lot of Leos in here.

By the way, if you're keeping track of the people she's dated, she's dated a Gemini, a Scorpio, a Leo, a Leo, a Virgo, an Aries, a Scorpio, a Leo, and a Leo.

Ben Affleck is the Leo.

So I'm just going to say because, you know,

Leo men

are...

very interesting and when we have a son who's Leo.

And I was very excited too because they are usually very in touch with the feminine.

Okay.

And so I do find it interesting that's because she has a very powerful masculine side.

And so I do find it really interesting that she is drawn to Leo men.

So Ben Affleck, A-Rod,

they're the Leos in her life.

The true love.

Potentially.

Obviously, I know that this is the movie for

however it was able to turn out that.

J-Lo set out to make, right?

Because she is so in control of this.

But I think what we're coming up against, or what I will say for me, what I'm coming up against is, and what we're talking about is so much of what she seems curious to interrogate is so interesting and so compelling as a...

as a person to be looking back on their loves and their growth and their emotional growth.

All of that's super compelling and interesting to me.

The movie didn't capture it enough for me to get invested, but boy, do I wish, and again, I know know this was not her intention, but boy do I wish that J-Lo had instead made a narrative feature film in which she truly plays a character who is unpacking these same issues.

Because this is fascinating territory.

Maybe we'll see that.

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Well, this is where I want to talk about the Diddy intervention scene.

That's her relationship with Diddy.

I didn't know that.

Oh, yeah.

And that, to me,

was, I thought, the most

reflective of who she was and where she was.

And I will also say that's, I think, one of her best scenes of acting, too.

She's coming home.

She's drunk.

She's been partying.

Diddy's got a gun.

Diddy's got a gun.

What's super interesting?

That is true.

I think they both were arrested.

But what's hard about the movie as it exists, because it's such short time and

it's so dominated by the songs, that like...

All of the husbands appear to be happening to J-Lo concurrently almost

in the same period of time.

Like there's no effort to make that slice of it feel as though it is from quite a long time ago.

Do you know what I mean?

Sure.

Right.

It all feels like it's happening within a week, right?

It doesn't feel like going back and forth, right?

It just seems like she's, yes, I understand.

Like the timeline of it is weird because it's not all in therapy.

Like she goes to therapy.

She leaves therapy.

She comes back.

She's having dreams.

She's having real moments.

Fat Joe is changing costumes.

Like we're with her in this whole thing.

Well, that's interesting because in the documentary, there's a great scene between her and Ben Affleck where he's, you know, he's writing on this script, just an FYI.

And

he's punching it up and they're working on it together.

He's on a computer.

And I did think it was interesting that she's on an iPad with an attachable keyboard.

Got it.

Okay, so that's interesting to me.

Different ways of approaching the work.

Paul and I know somebody who's who like exclusively works off of an iPad, no computer.

And I just find that to be the most reckless way to live.

She's telling him something about the story of the movie.

And she's like, yeah, and then I was 28 when this happened.

And he goes, no, you weren't.

You were older than that.

And she's like, no, well, well, no, but the, but but the,

but

I was 28, meaning the character, and I'm speaking, and I was 28.

And he goes, you're telling me that in your own autobiographical film, you're making yourself younger?

Yeah.

It's such a great moment.

And they have a laugh about it, but it does seem like she's unwilling.

And I understand, I can appreciate this.

to nail down ages and times.

And to be quite honest, she's a woman in her 50s.

She couldn't look better.

Couldn't look better.

Couldn't dance better.

She could not look better.

But you know what?

I would have loved.

Like, what I, one of the things I loved actually was, and I would have liked more of this, is when there is a little girl who is representing the little girl J-Lo,

the little Jenny in the world.

I would have loved it if there was another actress representing her at a teenage or early 20s.

It would have helped me understand

the different relationships happening to different age J-Los rather than it seeming like a woman in her mid-50s is dating 20-something gangster like gun-toting Diddy Wannabe to

the Derek Huffs and the Ben Affleck analog and so forth.

It all feels like it's happening to her.

In the present day.

It muddies the story because it makes it seem like she's doing all of this in her 40s and 50s, and that's just not the case, you know?

Right.

well let me ask you about this we have the uh the council we've talked about the council but she's also surrounded by her friends i like that you've now just abandoned saying zodiacal now she's also surrounded by her own friends the the biggest thing i had of a problem with in this movie is that jlo doesn't have any friend named mike Like like when she says my friend Mike, I was like, I found that to be the

boldest.

I was like, she has a friend named Michelle.

She has a friend named Mikhail.

Like Mike, there's no Mike.

And this guy comes on with a British accent.

I'm like, this guy is, well, give him a name.

Give him something.

Don't call him Mike.

That's like in Game of Thrones where there's like all the, there's Tywin Lannister and there's this guy.

And then there's just a character named Kevin Lannister.

Kevin.

And they're like, what do you think, Kevin?

Well, I couldn't tell one apart from the other.

They all seemed, there were just simply,

I think too many.

That's why they weren't given names.

They were giving, it is, Mike is the cynic, and the rest don't have names.

It's the cynic, the lover, the quiet one, the realist, the idealist, and the fighter.

I don't know who the stealing person is.

I think that may be the quiet one, the one who's always stealing all the stuff all the time.

And I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to represent.

You have these two large ensembles, the Friends and the Zodiacal Council.

And they kind of are the Greek chorus of

the piece.

Interesting,

but again, doesn't really work.

You You know, you've got like the gods of the zodiac sign up in the heavens and you've got the chorus of friends on the ground, but none of it really adds up to anything.

I end up caring not at all for the friends, except for even like their

the intervention could have been a great scene for those friends to really drill down into character bits or any, I don't know.

It just wasn't.

Well, I'm sure you were happy with the Zodiac Council

because there was essential character.

Always, yeah.

I loved

the Zodiacal Council just because they're wearing crazy outfits.

They're clearly alone.

It's clashing the type

of style.

They're all talking across the circular table

because they're never going to be in a shot together.

It's always over somebody's shoulder that you don't see.

And one of the things I love is they all love Vander Pump.

That was funny.

That was so funny.

By the way, and that's what I'm saying.

Like this movie does have like a weird sensibility to it.

I'm like, that was fun.

All right.

Well.

And that, and that would have made it, I think, a lot more fun if it, if it was interested in having more fun itself.

You know, if the movie's tone was closer to the movie that Kiki Palmer is.

I don't like that.

You know what I mean?

Like, who I think is so funny and so, and is doing such funny stuff.

Again, alone in a vacuum, I'm sure.

But that's interesting.

Also, at the end has a funny outtake on, like, you have me saying the craziest shit.

Oh, there's a, there's a thing where Sophia Vargara says, I think this is the weirdest thing I've ever done or something like that.

By the way, did you remember?

There's one person I didn't recognize in that council, and that was played by the guru to the stars,

Sadaguru.

Do you know Sadaguru?

I didn't know Sada Guru.

No, I looked it up as well, though.

Okay.

Sadaguru was paid $200,000 for his appearance in the Zodiacal Council.

Whoa, that's a lot.

Yeah, a lot.

He is a.

Who is he?

I mean, the way that it is described to me is he is the guru to the stars.

I don't, I mean, and look, he looks, he has got a nonprofit.

I wish that they had just cast Mike Myers as the love guru.

I mean, by the way, it would have been

great.

He was unfortunately busy.

Maybe Rob Hubel could have started

one of the stars, the love guru.

He has a unique approach.

to blending science with spirituality, which actually resonates with a global audience.

Rather than dismissing modern science, he often incorporates scientific perspectives into his teaching, using them as a framework for deeper spiritual understanding.

So I imagine that him and Neil deGrasse Tyson are really getting along on that Zodiacal Council.

I thought there was something interesting.

The movie, again, comes in at an hour and change, like 85 minutes short.

It is a one hour and change movie.

And it is, you know, mostly just long form music videos.

That being said, there are all these kind of scenes, but it starts interestingly with not the Zodiacal Council or not these kind of big thematic thematic elements, but I thought a really smart and interesting thing, which is this fairy tale, this, this, this fairy tale about Alita and what that story is.

And I was like, oh, that's a great way to frame this.

That's a great through line.

It does not.

It's not a through line.

It's not, it comes back near the end.

But I was like, tell me your story

through the lens of this fairy tale.

That I understand.

That I get.

That's something I can wrap my head around.

But I didn't think that the scenes were a necessarily, maybe I'm wrong, necessarily a depiction of the events of Alita's journey in the fairy tale and J-Lo putting herself inside of it.

Which would have been interesting.

I thought that that fairy tale was showing us how obsessed with falling in love she was as a little girl and how it felt like that was going to be her destiny.

And then she never found it.

I mean, most of the scenes that are not like the dance sequences

are not, except for when she comes in rather tipsy, they're not that compelling, except for the scene with the little girl great and i'm not gonna lie i teared up now my one question though is when she's singing with the little girl the little girl is singing in the in the in the piece but there's no sound to her voice

so she's like um lip syncing just lip syncing well because you don't want to hear her sing I would have loved

to hear her sing.

I was like...

It is J-Lo.

You are hearing her sing.

J-Lo is singing.

Yes.

But I thought it it was so strange to have her mouth move i agree with you because what i feel like is that is in microcosm the problem with the movie the movie would have been narratively more compelling if the little girl jenny had a voice if if if the little girl herself had a voice but at the end of the day what we're doing is selling these songs you know what i mean jerks don't get this fucking movie and it makes me upset to even fucking talk to you about it you're you're putting wait are you quoting the red?

You know what?

Let me read from the red.

I'm going to tell you what that scene is.

All right.

She had to become a singer for someone to give her love because she didn't give herself the love.

And you're saying, oh, we want her to sing.

No, she's not a

mouth.

No.

She doesn't have a voice.

She only is doing that singing shit because no one, because she didn't love herself.

And by the way, did she figure it out?

Like, Fat Joe's a bad therapist.

She should have said you didn't love yourself.

She figures it out.

She spent all this money on Fat Joe.

Couples therapy.

Well, the role of a good therapist is for you to be able to come to your issues on your own.

So, so you think Fat Joe is that Fat Joe is

a good therapist?

Fat Joe is a good therapist because he fires her, but then does bring her back and see her after his wife had made him has made him fire her.

J-Lo, that is.

But then also, Fat Joe is, I believe, all of the couples therapists for her marriages also, correct?

Yeah, you should have your own conversation.

Right, you can't.

Yeah.

You should not, you shouldn't be seeing one of your therapists as your also couple issues, sir.

Budget issues.

I agree.

Oh, I'm sure you're right.

That was the same as the weddings, I'm sure.

But that being said, I was like, at this point, Fat Joe.

That's what Paul said to me.

Budget issues.

Budget issues.

We have to go see my therapist.

As a matter of fact, I do half of my session.

I bring June in for a capra at the end, and we get out of there.

Just got to save money.

Once the alarm goes off, June pokes her head in for five minutes of

quick downloading.

Times up, let's pick this back up next week.

Now, is she going to a hopeless romantic,

like an AA for romantics or an AA for sex addicts or AA?

Like, I mean, is it just.

I think it's sex and love anonymous.

Sex and love.

So she is addicted to sex a little bit.

I think love.

Okay.

She's addicted to love.

I think the movie is, the movie is telling us that she is so addicted to falling in love and finding that love and being in love that that is the thing that she could, that is the cycle she seemingly can't get out of that she can't find a love that is will last will go the distance right that she is always in this limerence period or this this the the the the electricity of of falling in love you know or finding thinking you found that love and does that sound right or am i misrepresenting it i think that's right jason

you know i i i i wonder if

I mean,

she, when she puts it all together at the end.

Oh, sorry.

Can I just jump in one second?

Because I wrote down something that someone says in the thing.

She is, she's, you know, she's saying, you know, it's the intervention.

She's saying, what's wrong with wanting to spend your life with someone, blah, blah, blah.

And it's, it's the idea of romantic love versus real love.

Right.

You know what I mean?

Like the idea of the ideas around romance versus what a long-lasting lifetime loving relationship actually looks like versus the music video versions of that are, you know, dance sequences and that have all this big emotionality to them, if that makes sense.

Well, I also think, you know, what I thought was cool about the very end was that

after realizing that she is not able to find love or real love that's based in reality without loving herself.

You know, she was also, once she came to that conclusion and decided to love and take care of herself with that little girl part of her.

You know, the other thing she was able to do was to genuinely be happy for someone else who had found it.

Yes, at the Burning Man wedding at the end.

That's right.

Yes.

And you'll also notice that in that same section of the film, we do, in fact, cut back to the interior of the metallic heart matrix world in which she has successfully rebooted the heart.

She has successfully

successfully rebooted the heart, put a petal in there or whatever it is and then she comes out and the roses are blooming and she's figured out how to love her this is this is what makes it so bad it seems there's some sort of container there's some container of petals that she was able to bring into the atrium and

drop off and somehow but then they come out and like the fields the fields are rich with roses that are growing from the ground whereas before those fields had been fallow and again i just have to keep on saying that as we talk about this, but

a lot of imagery, but I also want to say it makes it even more sad that she is now divorced from Ben F.

Like after this.

It doesn't, actually.

Why?

Because, so I thought about that a lot watching it because I was like, is she going to end up with him at the end of this?

Because

at the end of it, she is on her own.

Okay, so she is without, like, she doesn't need a man to fill that void because she's figured out.

I believe in the world of this story, in her mind, she needed to complete this journey in order to come back to him.

That's the part we didn't.

Right, because she needed to be full before she could be.

And I, and I, and I love that idea.

But here's my question.

By the way, they might get back together.

I would not.

Wow.

You heard it here first.

Why not?

You heard it here.

You heard it here first.

I would not rule it out.

I would not rule it out.

I think we said Helen Mirin was going to be in Fast and Furious, and we were right.

This could be the second one.

Why does everybody in this movie put sunglasses on at the same time?

That is.

Everybody in the scenes, the zodiacal council, after a certain point in the movie, everybody's just inexplicably wearing sunglasses.

I couldn't figure it out.

Well, I do know in the heart sequence, when I believe that was at the end, when all of the roses were everywhere, they were wearing rose-colored, rose-tinted glasses.

Oh, so you think that's it?

They're looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, which, by the way,

that is very, I like that, but that is actually unreliable then, because to look at the world through rose-colored glasses is actually to not be looking at the world as it is.

Right.

That usually is something you say about someone who is attributing a false sense of positivity to the world that they're in.

Right?

I think that's true.

But in the case of

the artist, which is what Jennifer Lopez's character is named, in the case of the artist,

her heart needs to believe that it's possible again, which she does.

I'm going to just say, I just, yeah, I mean, I just, I, um,

so I did do a little research on the hummingbird thing as we were talking about it here.

It seems like J-Lo kind of made up that story.

It's kind of true, kind of false.

It's a little bit more like Romeo and Juliet

and a little bit like Pocahontas in a way, too.

It's a mixed story.

But it is that same idea that

this bird is always looking for love.

And the hummingbird is looking for his lost love.

And I think that that's J-Lo.

It's weird that J-Lo's mom told her the story and cast her as the girl when she actually is the.

I think that J-Lo's the hummingbird.

It's interesting.

It leads the

story, the legend of the hummingbird, which is the Alita story, is the story, like you said, it's a Romeo and Juliet.

It's a taboo love between the Alita character and someone from a rival tribe.

Their forbidden love leads to Alita being transformed into a beautiful red flower and the man into a hummingbird, forever searching for her among the blossoms.

That is the fairy tale of Alita.

Well, which is interesting to me because

it's that I didn't get from the movie, which is that she's waiting for the one man she fell in love with.

I guess that's that is Ben Affleck.

She's been waiting for him to find her in and amongst the roses that she's been mixed in with.

Is that right?

I think I think so too.

But she wasn't ready to be sniffed

properly.

Wait, wait, where did you first of all don't ever say that again.

Where did you put the word?

Where'd you get sniffed from?

Well, you know, like a hummingbird is kind of dipping its wick in everything, you know.

You think hummingbirds are sniffing with a wick with their little nose.

What do you mean with a wick?

A little wicky nose.

You think a hummingbird, the thing, okay, so what's a toucans thing called?

A wick as well?

I know, that's a beak.

Okay, so you think a hummingbird doesn't have a beak, it's got a wick?

I think it's a little wicky thing, yeah, like a little wicking, like a John Wick,

yes.

I mean, TikTok, Mr.

Wick.

TikTok, Mr.

Wick.

I don't understand what's going on here.

So they want to beak it.

The hummingbird wants to beak all these flowers, right?

Well, it's looking for his true love.

He's looking for Alita.

But she's...

I think she's looking for a woman.

He's got to taste all the other roses to find her.

That's what I think she's doing.

She's got to...

They both are.

I don't think he...

We don't see anything about this guy.

Well, he goes off and marries Jennifer Garner.

Even in the movie.

And that's...

Wait, they got got married?

I don't know.

Did they get married?

No, but no, but they were together for a while.

He's definitely had a lot of relationships.

I'll say this.

I don't know what Rex represents, and I actually find it to be confusing.

This is a final thought that I have on this.

Who's Rex?

Ben Affleck's character in the Fox News.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I didn't know that was his name.

Sorry.

Oh, yeah.

No, I mean, it was pretty clear, Jason, that Rex is, you know, clearly.

Wait a minute, what?

Yeah, Rex, Rex, who hosts his morning show, Rex Rex Stone.

He also was the biker, by the way.

He did actually play the biker.

He did?

He did, according to this IMDb.

Interesting, okay.

So what is Rex representing?

That we are like the tabloids attacking her?

That's what I assumed, but the very few times we cut to him, I didn't feel like what he was saying was really on any point that I was clued into.

It just felt like superfluous filler.

I don't know.

It didn't feel targeted or sharp enough.

I'm not sure.

Yeah, I don't know.

And especially because it was Ben Affleck, I was trying to find other meaning in it as well.

I was like, why is

her husband, her actual current husband, inside of this structure?

Why is it like what's this supposed to be telling?

I feel like we don't really even get a chance to see the biker in the story.

One last thought here.

I will say this.

The greatest love story never told, that's the documentary about the making of This Is Me Now.

That comes in at an hour and 26 minutes.

So

it is a longer, the documentary is a longer.

It's incredible.

We got to do the documentary for a last look segment.

I would love.

I mean, I actually

enjoy.

Can we agree that we'll all three get together for a brief conversation in a future mini episode to just talk about the dock?

Because I will watch that.

Oh, I want to watch it tonight.

I also just want to say two things where was leah remini her best friend

wait in reality her best friend wait she's probably one of she's probably the lover or the quiet one or the maybe is leah reminis the the thief playbook i mean where why is

physically why isn't she why isn't she aquarius

j-lo so j-lo and mark anthony were at entony were at um

tom cruise and katie homes' wedding

and

this the what happened there with j-lo and leah Remini not being seated at the same table has basically caused the downfall of Scientology because Leah Remini questioned it in trying to get them to all sit together.

Katie Holmes reported Leah Remini having some like conflict with the wedding planner.

And then Leah Remini got reprimanded by Tom Cruise and others.

And it made her

so upset.

that she started questioning infrastructure altogether.

But yeah, J-Lo and Leah Remini have been friends forever.

So I thought it was odd.

Oh, I didn't know that.

That she wasn't in the movie.

Here's why, June.

You ready for it?

They had a very big falling out

when J-Lo got together with Ben Affleck because she expressed to him, she expressed to her, she was not, she didn't think that he was coming from the right place.

Oh, no.

And so.

Wait, Leah, Leah Remini thought Ben Affleck was there for the wrong reason.

Right.

Yes.

She said he was selfish and not fully committed as a partner.

So they they did not go to the wedding.

They had not spoken.

Okay, so I'm behind on all this.

But then when Leah Remini got her divorce, they have recently reconnected.

Oh, they're buried at Hatchets.

I've always been rooting for them as friends.

So

for two years, they've been apart, but they had a long heart-to-heart conversation.

Good.

And they couldn't believe they were both in the middle of a divorce.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they rekindled their friendships.

So

that is really good.

And look, and by the way, a good friend to get out in front of that.

And she was right.

She was right.

Well,

listen, it's all a part of the journey.

I still think that, god damn it, they might find their way back to each other again.

I hope so.

I hope so.

I hope so.

They, they, whenever they get together, they do seem happy,

you know,

which is, which is kind of amazing.

But they have boy, like this, there was something that just, I, I found this film to be kind of impenetrable.

Yeah, I that's why I think it'll be interesting to fin, well, for me to finish and for you all to start the companion piece.

I think I'm going to get way more out of the documentary.

I think that's going to be what I want, which is actual conversation about actual feelings.

Yes.

Right.

And I do think visually there's a lot in here, and they talk about in the documentary, that is,

you know, a reflection on her other album, This Is Me.

It's like 20 years later, however, however long later, we're getting some visual references that take us back to the other album.

And there's a lot going on that they get into.

And by the way, I kind of think it's fine to have a documentary or a companion piece to then watch another piece with.

And I have to say, I do appreciate, and you get to know more about it in the documentary, J-Lo trying something.

Sure.

And you get to hear about how scared she is of this failing.

But

imagine if these songs were great.

Like, forgive me, have any of these songs been hits?

And I'm just unaware of it.

That's unfortunate.

Like, if these were, like, if this was a, like Lemonade,

if this was a series of songs that were undeniable, then we would be having a very different conversation.

You know?

This is the thing that makes it even

more of an issue is, you know, she wanted to go out on tour with this album.

Oh, and this was the canceled tour.

Yes, this is the canceled choice.

Yeah.

So then when she realized that it wasn't working, she said, she changed it from this is me to this is me greatest hits.

And then it just, it, yeah, and then canceled.

Um, I'm so looking forward to the, to the documentary because I do think that's where, that's the movie I wanted to be watching, you know, for sure.

And then, and it's, it's hard, right?

Because, like, you look at Beyonce and what she's able to do visually and what she was able to do with lemonade and what she's able to do with her songs and her dancing and how sort of iconic and like the visual language she has created around her music has been so effective.

And it feels like J-Lo is so inspired by that that she wanted to to do it too.

And then she was also, you know, to me watching the documentary, I'm like, oh, there's a sweetness to seeing this woman who's so drunk in love.

Right.

You know, and who's like, I'm 50 and I figured it out and I want to share it.

And it's very,

it's very endearing.

And it's, but it's just not,

it's not lemonade.

Well, I guess what you're saying is maybe she needs to get off that iPad and maybe get on to a, you know, maybe a final draft.

Yeah, final draft, get on to some sort of a

laptop of some kind.

Because I don't know if an iPad's gonna let you go that deep.

That's all I'm saying.

It's like, I know what you're saying.

Honestly, there's so many creative limitations to an iPad.

This is real, it's true.

Yeah, you can only do so much on an iPad.

I mean,

it's just gonna, by the way, I just googled Beyonce laptop.

There's multiple images of Beyonce with a laptop carrying it into locations on a bed typing at a kitchen counter.

Beyonce's on a laptop.

Of course she's she's carrying she's carrying a laptop around

with like a 16 to 18 inch

wow.

And I'm not I'm not saying it's either Beyonce or J-Lo.

There's so many pictures of Beyonce with a laptop.

It doesn't have to be team Beyonce or Team J-Lo.

These are both iconic performers of our time.

But I just did, this was not sticky.

I don't remember the songs songs and the stuff felt a little derivative of other things.

I'm going to say one more thing.

I just typed in J-Lo laptop.

It's only from movies.

Then I typed in Taylor Swift on laptop.

Taylor Swift's on tons of laptops.

Everyone's on laptops at J-Lo.

Wow, this could be the problem.

Wow.

Get J-Lo a laptop.

That Joe should have said your issue is not having a laptop.

His prescription should be, don't go to Sex and Love Anonymous.

It should be, here's a MacBook Pro.

Get J-Lo and and final draft.

Get her final draft.

And a final draft license, but it runs out in three months and it won't work.

Oh my God.

Obviously, we have opinions about this movie.

There are people out there with a second opinion.

It's now time for second opinions.

The movie was a piece of shit.

Yet this person recommends it.

Tell me what is the message.

Maybe that art is subjected.

I need a second opinion.

All right.

This is me now, a love story.

The average rating is 3.6 out of 5 stars.

There are 476 total reviews.

This is a film that is on Amazon.

So

easy to review it because you don't even have to leave the place.

61% are five-star reviews.

The first one from ML is from

Mike the Cynic's mom, who said, Mike the Cynic is awesome.

Five stars.

That's cute.

And then we go to Robin Glasgow, who writes, Brittany, Beyonce, Janet, respect you as performers, but J-Lo eight.

I've watched it five times.

Anyone who rates us below five stars was never a dancer, never been heartbroken, doesn't get artistry, has zero creativity, or is a Taylor Swift fan.

Five stars.

Jenny owns the block.

Wow, wow, wow.

That's that is, that's a huge statement.

Huge.

She ate.

Aked.

Emily J.H., I'll read her title as the introduction line because that's how they wrote it.

If you don't enjoy watching a 51-year-old woman dance like nothing else matters, Paul note, she's 55, then maybe this isn't for you.

But if you think, damn, I didn't know Jennifer Lopez could be that real within the first 10 minutes and proceed to watch the movie three times in a row because it's just that gorgeous, you might be a complete movie nerd like me.

Seriously, candidate for best film since

the Truman Show.

Funny.

Whoa.

Not if you gave me one month

and unlimited guesses.

Yeah.

Wow.

Funny because I tried to listen to the album on its own and I was like, yeah, still not a J-Lo fan.

Yet somehow this was transformative.

And yet it has cheesy moments.

Yeah, that is interesting.

No one stands up and gives a moving speech in the first time they walk into a 12-step group, but the dance number that followed nailed the room.

I watched that scene alone probably 10 times.

Now, I shocked you with the Truman Show thing.

Get ready for this.

Therapists out there, fantastic inner child scene that i've already used in my sessions what so this is a therapist bringing it in fat joe

is it is that fat joe fat joe five stars fat joe bonnie blue writes For less than 50 minutes long, this packed a big punch for me.

Never have I been a J-Lo fan, but this woman is so talented and has matured and grown.

Wasn't sure about the beginning, but now I get it.

Love the songs, the theme, the approach, the the costumes, the humor, the astrological side theme, and surprise appearance of actors that I know.

And at the end, when I found out who Ben Affleck was in the movie, I belly laughed.

At the end, I kept smiling when she, quote-unquote, got it.

And that she has the courage to attend a 12-step meeting.

That was awesome.

I hope that helps others do that too.

Maybe she's not a real 12-step meeting.

I know.

Not

maybe because I've always been a total romantic, Maybe because I've been married and divorced three times too.

I used to think of myself as a three-time loser, but maybe because I believe in miracles and signs, although mine come from God.

And I know that love is the greatest gift that we can give and receive in this life.

Romantic love is just one expression of it.

I love this movie and considered purchasing the CD.

The songs are great.

I've read that J-Lo isn't a great singer.

Well, she is now.

P.S.

That scene at the end when she does a takeoff on Gene Kelly's singing in the rain, that was wonderful.

Respectful of the original, but in her own style.

We'll watch this again and again.

Bonnie Blue, outstanding.

Wow.

Isn't Gene Kelly kind of in tap shoes in that number?

And singing in the rain?

No, he's like in boots, I believe, right?

Because he's like hitting the rain, right?

I don't think he's in.

It's just like I felt like it's, I don't know.

I just, I was so taken out by the shoes.

I'm pretty sure he's in heels.

I'm pretty sure he's in stiletto heels.

He's in what I wanted her to be in.

Well, I do want to watch a 55-year-old woman dance.

And sure.

I do.

I want to watch that.

I will say to answer June's question, Gene Kelly seems to be wearing a loafers, and then he went in and dubbed his own tap dancing sounds afterwards.

That's fine.

But to me, that's what that sequence needed desperately was the sound of shoes hitting the ground.

I mean, that, that to me is like, that's Gene Kelly.

That's, you know, and it seemed like she was wearing ballet flats.

Anyway, I'll move off it.

And the final thing I just want to bring up, and we didn't talk about it at all, is when she is lip-syncing or movie-syncing the Barbara Streisand scene from The Way We Were.

That was an interesting moment.

I enjoyed that too.

I thought that was a very interesting moment.

And, and, but then, well, that was, yeah, again, that was one of the moments that I felt like this is real.

How much money do you think that cost for her to license that into her movie?

Because that's a pretty big movie.

Yeah, I don't know.

I read Barbara Streisand's book, and for her to even get her hands on some of her old work, I think she did a restoration of that or did some sort of tweak on that.

And

it was a monumental task to get her to kind of get in there and tinker this.

And so I wonder.

I mean, this movie seems like I've spent a lot of money on gurus and on random stuff.

Random stuff.

And digital effects.

And all those things.

Like, they must have spent millions and millions of dollars just building those glass boxes and those glass houses and all that stuff that is just digital.

And Neil deGrasse Tyson needed a special kind of sunglasses because

he refused to wear any sunglasses that wouldn't block out the moon and the sun for real.

He was very, it was, he was like, if I'm going to wear these sunglasses, I want it to be truthful to the sunglasses that I would be wearing.

Yeah, so those were very expensive too.

Any final thoughts?

Everybody's out of their goddamn mind.

Anybody, any final thoughts?

Oddly, I loved it.

I would watch it again.

I kind of am like, it's one of those ones where there's so much of a person in this that I also felt like oddly connected to her.

I was fascinated by it.

I think I do need the chaser of the dock to understand.

I don't know if I, I mean, it's, it's ham-fisted, yes, but I also kind of feel like there's stuff I don't get.

Yeah, I agree.

I think it, it will be interesting to finish the dock and to,

you know, I think this requires you to approach it in a different way i think that it's not music video enough and it's not like narrative film enough to like satisfy either of those wants but it is something a little different and i think that

um

it's very hard to not watch her it's she is incredibly compelling um

And I want to see, I guess what I walked away with mainly is, oh, I want to see her act more.

I want to see her in out of sight again.

You know, I want to see

her.

I want to see her elevating things that are not good the way she does.

Like, I like that movie, Marry Me, that she did with Owen Wilson, is not a very good movie, but she makes it very watchable.

Like, that she was great in hustlers.

Yeah, she's, she's done great stuff.

But, um, yeah, I would love that.

And I would, I would even love it in service of a story like this, a story about a woman in middle age confronting the failures of love's past and future and present.

You know, like that's an interesting story to me.

I would love J-Lo herself to do it in a movie.

Here's what I'll finally say.

We haven't put no reference to Jeely in this at all.

And I feel like that should have been...

To Jeely?

To Jeely.

I feel like there should have been a moment where we referenced Jeely.

I mean, right?

And

you might be up for something good where J-Lo is coming out with Kiss of the Spider-Woman this year.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Okay, okay bill condon yeah big great she's staring with brett goldstein right now in a movie called office romance i mean there's there's some big shots here fantastic some stuff coming up for j-lo i will say this just in in a in a recommendation in a similar vein a movie that i think is a similar it's only a half an hour long but it is all in it's all music and a performance And it is the Mike Mills movie,

I am Easy to Find.

And it is all the Nationals music, the band the National, but it features at its center an Alicia Vikander performance.

Oh, cool.

And the idea of the movie through these songs is that it charts her life from birth to death.

Wow.

And it's incredibly moving.

Is Miranda July in this?

No, she is not.

I was thinking about Mike Mills and I was thinking about Miranda July's last novel, which features her obsession with a dancer.

And so that's what I was thinking about.

I think that book is incredible.

And I think all of the Miranda Miranda July stuff prior is just like, yeah, I think this one was her best.

All right, people, we are on the road.

How did this get made is coming to a town, maybe near you, maybe not near you.

Go to hdtgm.com.

We just also announced a Toronto date in May.

Get your tickets there.

Movies will be announced about a week before the film, but San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Portland.

Idaho,

we're coming.

We're coming for you.

Yeah.

Is there any truth, Paul, to the fact that

Canadian shows are going to be 25% more expensive now?

Well, but they're going to be 50% more funny.

Like that's

we're like, yeah, the tariffs, the tariffs are different.

Yeah, the comedy tariffs are different.

We have to be funnier now, even though the tickets are more expensive.

Again, I guess that was what the PM, the Prime Minister of Canada, sent down to us.

If we are coming in, we got to be funnier.

It is the Doppelganger Tour, so

Jeff Sinclair will be joining us on those.

I will say that we have brand new stuff in the store.

We have this amazing shirt on the, like on the pocket of the shirt is

Mickey Rourke being held by that winged angel, Megan Fox, which I love.

We also have a shirt that just simply says doppelganger.

Anything else we want to plug get out there?

Anything at all?

I will plug, obviously, our tour, but I'll also plug Invincible Season 3 on Amazon Prime and

Taskmaster season 19 coming on YouTube and the Taskmaster app in when is this coming coming out, Paul?

I have no idea.

On March 21st.

Also, you can watch Dark Web every week.

It's a show that I'm doing with Rob Hubel.

And June, just so you know, I did a little bit of research and it's not off the table that J-Lo and Ben could get back together again.

But this is what they said.

That yes, J-Lo has stayed over Ben's house a couple of times.

When it's good, it's really good.

But when it's bad, it's really bad.

And things are good when they're friends.

And things are better between them.

because they're separated.

But yet she kept the engagement ring.

So never say never.

huh have they gotten actually divorced they have and and they have yeah she kept her five million dollar engagement ring good for her good for her just quickly what is her sign in the movie who knows she's born in july july 24th what does that make her june she's a leo it looks like leo leo interesting um well there you go everybody uh

i guess i'd like to plug the greatest story never told the documentary about this movie also on amazon prime you sold me i'm in all right everybody thank you so much for listening we will see next week for last looks and maybe at that point we will all have watched the this is me now documentary you could talk a little bit more about it um okay here's the deal this show was put together by an amazing team our producers cody fisher and molly reynolds our movie picking producer aver halley our associate producer jess cesnaris our engineer casey holford but i want to give a special shout out to emily higgins and our intern Zarya Taylor, for their extra help on this episode.

You work magic.

We appreciate it.

Don't forget to follow and rate us.

You know, we like to be rated.

Just get those numbers up.

Tell people about the show.

It helps.

Come see us live.

Get people talking.

I mean, come on.

We're not the Kelseys.

And also, thank you for everyone who voted for us at the iHeart Awards.

We are now winners.

Thanks to you.

So if you want to join the conversation, you want to follow us on the show socials, you can do that at hdtgm.

Join our discord at discord.gg slash hdtgm.

The conversation continues.

and next week it will continue when I talk about what you want to talk about in Last Looks.

Bye for now.

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