Gay Best Friend: George Hanson (Paul Rudd) in The Object of My Affection (1998)

Series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Doesn't it look like these two crazy, beautiful kids would make a cute couple? Think again.Another week, another 1998 comedy about the relationship between a woman and her gay best friend starring a cast member of Friends. You have to love a specific subgenre. While Lisa Kudrow and Martin Donovan traveled across the country to find Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex, Jennifer Aniston stayed in New York in a more familiar genre -- the romantic comedy.

As the title The Object of My Affection suggests, Aniston falls in love. Unfortunately for her, the titular role is her new gay best friend, a first grade teacher played by a baby-faced, charming Paul Rudd. Wendy Wasserstein’s adaptation of the Stephen McCauley book of the same name uses genre tropes to sand some of the thorny elements of the premise. Yet, this not-always-perfect movie gives a really interesting look at a codependent friends who love each other, but also hold each other back...

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Links: Madonna's Biopic, "Fast Times" Read, Pattinson's Return, and "Popeye" Remaster

• CNN Madonna will direct the biopic she's been teasing about her own life. She's co-writing it with the brilliant Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult). It'll be interesting to see if Madonna can pull this off. She used to have such a great sense of humor about herself and that would come in handy here. No word yet about casting though the internet rumor mill has us convinced they're looking at Julia Garner (Ozark)
• Awards Daily Delroy Lindo will be submitted as a Lead to the Oscars for Da Five Bloods
• Theater Mania It took her long enough! Broadway star Laura Benanti is finally releasing her first album (next month)

Tatlany Maslany, Fast Times, Popeye and more after the jump...

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Tweetweek

2020 is giving off real “series finale” vibes, gotta be honest.

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) August 22, 2020

What the world needs now is MORE MOVIE MUSICALS!

— MKB (@MatthewKBegbie) August 18, 2020

Truer tweets were never tweeted and you know it.

After the jump: Miley Cyrus, Batman ubiquity, Courtney Cox losing, Faye Dunaway being evil, and cinephile rage...

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Emmy Review: Lead Actress in a Drama

By Abe Friedtanzer

Last year’s winner in this highly competitive category – Jodie Comer – is back after her show, Killing Eve, performed much better than most thought it would. This race will surely be close, with a defending champion, three potential new victors, and one dark horse surprise (who I think may just win). 

I’ll try to avoid major plot details in my analysis – but if you'd like more spoiler-filled descriptions, click on the episode titles. Let’s consider each nominee…

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Vintage '02

Our "Year of the Month" or, rather, first half of the month, is 2002. We've already talked Frida and Unfaithful , Viola's first bigscreen breakthrough, and Nicole's Best Actress win. We also introduced you to the Smackdown Panelists who'll be talking about the Best Supporting Actress race on June 17th so here's more context for that year in pop culture time...

 

Great Big Box Office Hits:
The leggy sleeper hit My Big Fat Freek Wedding, M Night Shyamalan's alien-invasion movie Signs, and the animated Ice Age were the top three "original" hits. Sequels or franchise launchers, were, as ever in our modern era, the very biggest hits with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, and the then-latest Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter installments as the top four titles. The musical adaptation of Chicago was also a smash. And the major Oscar favourite. More on that after the jump... 

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