Stephen Frears directs John Cusack, Iben Hjejle and Jack Black in this comedy drama about a record shop owner who, after a break-up, begins to realise the true cause behind of all his issues with women.

I was a massive fan of John Cusack and an avid reader of Nick Hornby when this was released. It was the sort of movie that both mirrored and informed my personality in many ways. Chandler Bing. Banky from Chasing Amy. Rob the depressed record store owner here. It isn’t, in retrospect, a particularly healthy bunch of role models or fictional peers. Cusack’s Rob is essentially a covert study of “nice guy” toxic masculinity. Too self absorbed and defined by his own ennui to realise what he has. How responsible he is for the sadness in his life and those he professes to love. Very truly male, very truly human. Nowhere near as cool as I thought he was in my early twenties. I’d still build my own second hand DVD and Blu Ray shop around the business model presented in the book and this pitch perfect, insightful adaptation… but I’d never categorise this as a Top Five “romantic comedies for men” any more. It is much more a wake up call for all our immature, self centred shitty behaviour. Viewed through that lens it is a richer yet less entertaining watch. Hard to know whether I really can laugh either at or with some of the iconic funny moments now I have some life experience, distance and context. Still the soundtrack slaps (almost equalling Grosse Pointe Blank’s mix tape supremacy) and Jack Black turns in his only acceptable performance here. He’s meant to be grating for once… context and self awareness are everything.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Good Vibrations (2012)

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll

Michael Crichton directs Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons and Cynthia Rhodes in this sci-fi thriller where, in the near future, cops police out of control robots.

Starts out like a teatime cop show and then goes hard in the last 45 minutes. Suddenly, in one big blurt, there’s swearing, intensity and nudity. For one minute there’s even split diopter shots spicing up the workmanlike stew. Did Brian DePalma takeover filming this for a couple of days? Once you get past the analogue nature of the killer droids the concept is solid, the bullets that chase you are pretty awesome. Everyone brings more than their slightly stock characters warrant. Rhodes, for example, does fine work elevating the very sexist idea of “the good girl” partner. A rewatchable.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Demon Seed (1977)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Darren Stein directs Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart and Judy Greer in this teen movie about vapid popularity and kidnapping pranks gone wrong.

Very much a poor man’s Heathers. But I am undeniably a poor man. A poor man who fancies Rose McGowan. Jawbreaker has the bubblegum palette of Clueless but a tenth of the budget. There are lurches into experimental arthouse camp. Humanity is grazed by all the cartoonish misanthropy. Yet it also feels like a passion project that got lost in the edit.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Heathers (1988)

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll

Worth Keeter directs Steven Bauer, Chelsea Field and Pamela Anderson in this erotic thriller where somebody keeps killing men in Chinatown during sex.

The pirate VHS of Pamela Anderson’s first big starring role was passed around my Year 4 classroom like watermelon vapes are today no doubt. There’s a couple of standard sex scenes and a lot of candles. The plot is quite racist, Chelsea Field doesn’t do any nudity and the twist is the most obvious (least plausible) one from “pick a twist ending” catalogue. Cheap and cheesy, as Basic Instinct knock-offs go this proves a faded facsimile.

4

Perfect Double Bill: Barb Wire (1996)

Emir Kusturica directs Predrag ‘Miki’ Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski and Mirjana Jokovic in this award winning Serbian film about resistance fighters who stay hiding underground long after the war is over.

Absurdist and untethered. Often the chaos is a mask for some quite shallow political points. I’m not a fan of easy point scoring or wackiness used to cover up a lack of formalism. There are stretches that are genuinely exciting but you could equally spend half the three hour runtime scrolling away on your phone and miss very little.

6

Perfect Double Bill: This is enough as it is.

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll

M. Night Shyamalan directs Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette in this supernatural drama about a kid who sees dead people.

I’m more than a fair weather Shyamalan fan but this one, his big breakthrough, never clicked with me. Ponderous and pretentious, it came out during at a dark time when I could only afford to go to the cinema once a month at best. Bruce Willis was probably my favourite movie star back then (still in 1999 … but only just) and The Sixth Sense had had months of hype following its sleeper obliteration of the US box office. That famous twist was frustratingly super guessable. And the movie didn’t seem to have a lot else in the bank. A magic trick that you’ve figured out while the props are being set out. There’s not much more to it. 25 years distance I don’t hate its pointless mechanics quite as virulently. It is well crafted if not particularly scary. Toni Collette is doing a lot of emotional heavy lifting. Bless her heart.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Pay It Forward (2000)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Samuel Fuller directs Richard Basehart, Gene Evans and Michael O’Shea in this war thriller where a small rear guard of soldiers must hold off pursuing forces while their comrades make a retreat.

Cheap Korean War movie filmed on a sparse wintery white set. Tries to motor along to the internal monologues of a dozen or so doomed men. Their fears and ambitions. The final stand against an approaching tank is good solid action. James Dean is in a small role but I must have blinked during his screentime.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Steel Helmet (1951)

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll

Penelope Spheeris directs Mike Myers, Dana Carvey and Tia Carrere in this SNL comedy feature where two losers in a basement sell their cable access talk show to a big business interest.

A movie I know back to front and tip to top. It was made to be a relentless ruthless quote-a-thon powered by a thumping hair rock soundtrack. And yet Wayne’s World is unique in its ability to unpick the threads of reality without ever getting lost in the quagmire of lampoon. Clearly Myers’ baby but I kinda love the supports. Dana Carvey and Tia Carrere are both “excellent”. Crucial Taunt might just be the finest fictional band ever to rock a movie’s narrative. So many cult moments that now seem old hat. Wayne’s World deserves the same rabid Gen X fan bases that say Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice still have. I’m curious as to why it has been lost in the cultural shuffle given how ubiquitous “Schwing! and “Not” were back in the Nineties?

9

Perfect Double Bill: Wayne’s World 2 (1993)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Tim Burton directs Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega in this legacy sequel to the afterlife scumbag special FX comedy from the Eighties.

The most surprising aspect about Beetlejuice 2 is how often it hits the mark without you noticing everyone subconsciously counting their paychecks. It takes a lot of manoeuvring to get this soul train in motion after nearly forty years but all involved seemingly have fun even with with the laborious set-up. Much dead weight needs to be lifted to get the gang back in position and to explain absences. Not once did I notice any returning player go dead behind the eyes. Even if this is one of those rare IPs where that might be wholly appropriate. There even are genuinely promising spikes in the first act that suggest we might be in for something special. Monica Bellucci’s underused villain has a fabulous goth girl sexy introduction where her chopped body parts reunite and she then sucks souls until ghosts become flappy hollow husks. There is the revived stop motion, foamy production design and Ryder gets to be her kooky fragile best. Keaton is used sparingly but daringly until he needs to be involved in “the plot”. Much like the first movie he is rationed out to deranged perfection. The movie truly recaptures the old juju in the last twenty minutes when all sense and sensibility goes out the window. It might not be blockbuster Burton but it reminds of his quirky mid tier delights in it unpredictability (Pee Wee, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow). Better than it needed to be, nonsensical in a good way, only a few decrepit Boomer references held over from ancient early drafts really stop this from being a 2024 Hollywood highlight. Go on then… Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Beetlejuice (1988)

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll

Kenneth Branagh directs himself, Tina Fey and Michelle Yeoh in this Agatha Christie Poirot mystery supplanted to Venice.

Every showy in camera visual trick is whipped out to give this a horror tinged flavour. AHIV is somehow the best of a bad bunch in this baroque, stuffy franchise but…. please… pretty please… no more. Watched for Michelle Yeoh.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Evil Under The Sun (1982)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin