Bo Burnham's 'Inside' is going to cinemas this week (so let's rank the songs)

By Glenn Dunks

Was Promising Young Woman your first interaction with Bo Burnham, playing the too-good-to-be-true doctor? Was it his directorial debut Eighth Grade with its acute insight into social media culture of young adults? Or was it maybe his career as a stand-up comedian, a sort of Weird Al Yankovich for the millennial age? Maybe it was Inside, Burnham’s quarantine inspired one-man musical Inside, which is now receiving a one-night only screening in theatres across the United States on the July the 22nd.

I have watched the Netflix special several times already, as well as multiple trips to its various musical sequences while the soundtrack remains on constant repeat. I think it’s brilliant for all the reasons Cláudio explained (and more). A true swing-for-the-fences achievement that makes elaborate use of its lo-fi trappings, straddling a delicate line between sarcastic mockery of cultural taboos and politically aware understanding of the times that are indeed changing.

Inside became instantly famous for a lot of reasons, landing six Emmy nominations despite being released on the very last day of eligibility. So to celebrate its brief detour to theatres, I am going to rank all 20 songs that appear in it! Keeping in mind, of course, that there isn’t a single dud out of the bunch. 

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Why I love Bo Burnham's "Inside"

by Cláudio Alves

In 2016, Bo Burnham announced he was quitting live comedy. The artist, whose career started on Youtube, attributed the decision to a series of panic attacks he'd had while on stage during the tour of his latest show. When transforming said show, Make Happy, into a Netflix special, Burnham built the ending to resonate with a sense of finality that went beyond the end of the stand-up act. The smirking meta-performance reaches its zenith with a parody of a Kanye West rant, interrupted midway through by unexpected sincerity, a confession of the comedian's anxieties. After saying he hopes the audience is happy, he leaves, and the camera follows. Not backstage, but into Burnham's home, a nondescript white room with a lonely keyboard. The special ends with the instrument left behind after one last song, the funny man exiting through the door on the corner. He goes out of the shot, out of the show, out of his life as a comedian.

Five years later, after redirecting his attention to cinema both as a writer, director, and actor, Bo Burnham is back in that room. He's alone, performing once more. Like most of us, for the better part of 2020, he's Inside…

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Streaming Roulette, June: Streets of Fire, Primary Colors, and The World to Come

Yes it's time for another round of streaming roulette where we point out titles that are new(ish) to streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar and whatever comes up we share. Let's go...

I think 'Oh, if I'm self aware about being a douchebag, it... it... it... will somehow make me less of a douchebag.' But it doesn't. Self awareness does not absolve anyone of anything. Am I balding?

Bo Burhnam Inside
A new comedy special from the writer/director of Eighth Grade and the co-star of Promising Young Woman. We've heard good things but haven't yet screened...

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Yes No Maybe So: "Promising Young Woman"

by Lynn Lee

Could this be Carey Mulligan’s year?  When the first trailer for Promising Young Woman hit theaters last December, this viewer, at least, immediately sat up and took notice.  Mulligan plays emphatically against type as a modern-day nemesis aptly named Cassandra, self-packaged as a poisoned bonbon of sexual pliability, and spurred to vengeance by an unpunished rape that caused her to drop out of medical school.  Reviews at Sundance affirmed the power of Mulligan’s performance, and the movie seemed poised to remind the world that she’s still a formidable actress who deserves way more attention than she’s received since her breakout Oscar-nominated turn in An Education. 

Then the pandemic happened, and PYW’s release—originally set for April— was indefinitely pushed back.  Now it’s rescheduled for Christmas Day, and the movie poster and a second trailer have dropped.  Will it be enough to get Mulligan in the 2020 awards conversation?  Let’s break the trailer down, YNMS style...

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Sundance Review: Promising Young Woman

by Murtada Elfadl

Carey Mulligan is an actress of immense range. Since her breakout at the 2009 edition of Sundance with An Education, she’s given us many tremendous performances. All of them heartbreaking and deeply felt in different ways, whether she’s a replicant trying to make human connections (Never Let Me Go), F Scott Fitzgerald’s famous Daisy (The Great Gatsby), a broken sister singing her heart out as a last cry for help (Shame) or a wife and mother facing the dissolution of her marriage and the paucity of choices after (Wildlife). And once again she gives an exceptional performance in Promising Young Woman.

This time she’s Cassie, who at 30 still lives home with her parents (Clancy Brown and Jennifer Coolidge), whiles her days away working in a coffee shop where even the boss (Laverene Cox) thinks the job is beneath her. Little by little we find out the reason for her apathy. An event that happened during college made her dropout and become a sorta avenger against “nice guys” who take advantage of vulnerable women...

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