Large Marge Sent Us

From 1996, The Cable Guy, marked Jim Carrey's departure from straight up silly, elastic faced comedy! In this Ben Stiller directed/Judd Apatow partially written comedy, things got a little darker and take it or leave it, he still delivers in this take on the stalker flick.  The Sweeties love a good stalker flick and appreciate the film's commentary on the state of TV in the mid 90s, something that has somewhat departed today with the launch of "cutting the cord" culture and all those dang streaming services! We'll talk about hair plugs (random!), how we miss Janeane Garofolo, and our memories of 90s TV culture. I want my MTV! 

In honor of our dearly departed Dad's birthday, we did the final movie in the 90s Disney classic canon, The Lion King! From 1994, The Lion King boasts a star studded cast of voices, gorgeous animation and songs by Elton John! We connect with this film and Simba as we're all in the Dead Dad's Club, and appreciate Disney's attempt at trying to add a more worldly approach to their animated movies though there was definitely work to be done. This was never our favorite Disney film growing up, but WOW this movie is terrific! We'll talk about our early memories of the film, sing all the songs, and crap all over the live action version that came out a couple years ago.  It's the circle of life, guys!  

With The Babysitter's Club coming back for a reboot this year, we decided we would do our own version of the iconic white cover Super Specials - so it's Sweetie Special #1 this week as we dissect three different versions of The Babysitter's Club franchise.  There was the TV version that aired for one season in 1990, the movie version from 1995, and then the updated version released by Netflix this year. Each have their own charm, but we'll talk about who we most identified with in "the club", how the movie version tried really hard but we prefer the serialized versions of the TV shows, and how we can trace the evolution of our childhood by what juice boxes we were allowed to drink. 

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is another look at sequel versus original.  When we were young, we were not as well acquainted with the original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery but grew to love it.  We did see the sequel in theaters and thought it was hilarious at the time, but now it feels like just a re-tread of the original with more poop jokes and offensive fat jokes.  It's sad to see when a movie doesn't age well, and this one sure aged poorly. We'll talk about it plus all the fun late 90s pop culture references that we were very much there for (Hot Pockets! Will Smith! Cloning!), how we rate Heather Graham as an actress, and Sweetie brings back her new favorite segment, That's So International, where we talk about the title of this movie across the globe. 

We're paying tribute to Joel Schumacher who died a couple weeks ago at the age of 81 by covering The Lost Boys! Yippee another vampire flick! So while this movie didn't totally shape our childhood - hey one of us had never even seen it! - we're all about any movie featuring The Coreys, vampires who look like they belong in a hair band, and garbage fire outdoor concerts featuring lead singers who can benchpress 400 pounds but also play the saxophone! Who is with us!? We'll talk about what bits of vampire lore this film stuck with, how Santa Cruz really was the murder capital of the world at one point, and how Kiefer Sutherland is still the scariest person ever, with or without vampire makeup on. 

The Watcher in the Woods, a spooky thriller from Disney that came out in 1980, scared the bleep out of us when we were little kids! Nearly 40 years later, it's not super duper scary but has a great vibe and air about it - that still creeps us out! Starring Bette Davis as creepy old lady who is in desperate need of some VO5 hot oil and that girl from Ice Castles! We'll talk about our love of ghosts and how we hope to see one some day, how the ending of this movie is pretty whack a doodle, and how excited we are to finally be podcasting together AGAIN! WAHOOOOO. Sweetie's Together, yeah! 

The 80s had a preoccupation with virginity and never was it more apparent than Once Bitten, this 1985 campy vampire film starring Jim Carrey as a down and out loser whose long term girlfriend won't boink him. What's a guy to do? I know! Go home with some random hottie at a Hollywood bar and get it over with? Problem solved! Well problem solved until the random hottie turns out to be a lady vampire who must suck the blood of a virgin 3 times before midnight on Halloween.  This film is so bad it's good (our fav!) and it's full on 80s in all the best ways possible.  We'll talk about baby Jim Carrey, how much we love the dance off and costume style prom scene, and say three cheers to finally talking about the problems of vampire women! 

Weekend at Bernie's II is a sequel that really didn't need to be made. Were we all really itching to know what happened to ... a dead body and two yuppy bros? Nah. However, aren't we lucky because just a short 4 years after the original, we get WAB II, a romp through the Virgin Islands with our buds Larry and Richard, a dancing corpse, and a sprinkle of the occult! This is a stereotypical good bad movie as it's total trash, but still enjoyable.  We'll talk about the evolution of the suitcase, how we miss Clearly Canadians and try to find out where to get some, and hey whatever happened to Gwen?! 

In honor of Sweetie's 37th birthday last week, we covered one of her favorite TV films from the 90s of all time ... If The Shoe Fits! Are we the only people alive who thought this modern take on Cinderella set among the Paris fashion scene was the coolest? Okay, with age, turns out it's not so cool. Dare we say this movie is pretty horrible, but it doesn't take away it's magical nostalgia. Starring Jennifer Grey and Rob Lowe, who must have been searching for a paycheck in a lull year when they signed up for this one. We'll talk about Jennifer Grey's ill fated two nose jobs and where this movie falls in that time line, how Rob Lowe has the perfect face, and a bit about what Sweetie did on her quarantine birthday!  

She's Out of Control from 1989, should really be titled He's Out of Control, because this movie is about an overprotective widower who doesn't trust his 15 year old daughter to make good choices slash is obsessed with her virginity, a concept we'd like to tell you is long behind us, but sadly still not true in 2020.  Starring Tony Danza as a role very adjacent to his star turn on Who's the Boss as over protective Dad of the Year. Famously, this movie made Robert Ebert's most hated films list and you'll probably figure out why after a couple minutes in. We'll talk about the out dated and alarmist concept of preserving purity in young women, how make over movies like this one kind of make our toes curl, and try to figure out who this movie was made for? 

The Gnome Mobile! The Gnome Mobile! Hunting for gnomes in the Gnome Mobile! The Gnome Mobile is a fringe Disney classic from 1967 - you either have never heard of this film or wore out a VHS copy of it and had the theme song in your head for the duration of the mid 90s.  Starring The Mary Poppins kids and some well known actors from 1940s cinema, The Gnome Mobile is a cautionary tale about deforestation, dating in the gnome world and sleep apnea.  We'll talk about 1960s Disney classics from our parents childhood that we grew to know and love and why gnomes are so cool (remember David the Gnome?!). Plus many, many rounds of The Gnome Mobile song which we can never really get right! 

Celebrating its 35th birthday this year, Just One of the Guys, is the 1980s entry into the gender swap movie genre! Terri, is a smart albeit hot senior at a California high school. When she loses out on a writing contest that would have guaranteed her a summer internship at a local paper, she cries sexism, and in an effort to prove it dresses up as a guy named Terry, enrolls herself in the rival high school, and plans to enter the contest all over again.  Along the way she meets and falls in love with cute, but insecure Rick, dumps her boyfriend who she determines was only after her for her looks, and helps her brother pop his cherry. This is an 80s film in its best sense, full of lots of improbabilities and sappy happy endings. We'll talk about other gender swap movies we're familiar with, how people wore a lot of leather in the 80s, and what happened to jock straps!?

Time for a stalker flick! Swimfan, from 2002, tells the story of a hot shot swim team star, Ben, who makes the mistake of a having a one time bone with the new girl in town because ... we're not sure even why! Dude has a GF! But boy huge mistake - as she turns out to be a nut bar and a half and makes his life a living hell.  Stalker flicks are like the happy medium between drama and horror movie, and a theme Hollywood just won't let go of. Whether it's crazy female on male(Fatal Attraction style), male on male friend sitch (Cable Guy), or female on female roommate sitch (Single White Female), who doesn't love an entertaining bit of stalking?  We'll talk about unexpected lead Erika Christenson, how Sweetie knows someone who was once Jesse Bradford's ballroom dancing partner, and all the fun early 2000-ish things that make an appearance in this movie!

1983's Risky Business is a weird ass film, but it found its way into the 80s pop culture Hall of the Fame with one slide across the floor from a pants less kid wearing sunglasses! Starring a baby Tom Cruise, Rebecca DeMornay and Balki (!), Risky Business is like a combination Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Skin-a-Max.  Yuppy Soft Core Porn! It may also have something to say about 80s consumerism culture, prostitution, and the lengths men go to have sex! This movie is a tad too old for the Sweeties as it came out the year elder Sweetie was born, but we certainly see its contribution to film culture and the career of Tom Cruise and at the very least its role in popularizing Wayfarer sunglasses. We'll talk about our on going favorite theme - hooker with a heart of gold, how someone thought they could get into Princeton with crappy SAT scores and a B average, and if this movie is in fact one long wet dream slash nightmare of an 18 year old boy? Just take those old records off the shelf! 

Week four of quarantine finds us covering a great early 2000s time capsule, Josie and the Pussycats from 2001! In honor of the late, great Adam Schlesinger, who wrote the bopping title track Pretend to Be Nice, we dipped our toes into this satire about corporate greed and the power of girl and boy teen pop groups of the late 90s/early 2000s. This movie plops us right back to our own high school days and we've never been happier! We talk about how popular TRL and Delia's was at the time, how one lick of a power chord/sight of a hip hugger jeans sends us right back to the year 2000, and now that streaming killed the video star, what is the next big trend in music going to be?!!

Week four in quarantine and we're doing the first movie in our favorite action franchise ... Mission Impossible! From 1996 and starring the one, the only Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible is a reboot of the classic TV show that spawned the never forgotten phrase, "This message will self destruct in 5 seconds ... kabloom!". While it took about 20 years to figure out the plot of this film (NOC list, Job 3:14, the "mole"), it's a pretty fun film with some excellent spy gadgets and a Jon Voight mask to boot! We'll talk about why we love this franchise so much and why the role of Ethan Hunt is perfect for Tom Cruise, the famous dangling scene, and well lots o'spy stuff! Hope you're "hanging" in there just like Tom Cruise in this movie! 

Week three of quarantine over here and we're revisiting another 90s gem, Free Willy! From 1993, Free Willy capitalized on the 90s trend of making movies about animals with incredible connections with people and also sparking a dust up about aquariums and the morality of keeping giant, wild animals in tiny cramped tanks! This movie was a big deal when we were kids and the accompanying song by MJ was an even bigger deal.  We thought it was a little blah on this rewatch but still cried! Must be the social distancing! We'll talk about how whales scare Sweety still because they are shark adjacent, our love for Lori Petty, and randomly fall into a long discussion about our elementary school spring concerts. Gooood times. a

Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme ... we did another classic Disney cartoon! Beauty in the Beast, from 1991, was the second fairy tale cartoon from the 90s that captured our little princess hearts. We were obsessed with protagonist Belle, a whip-smart book lover stuck in a small French town and being perpetually harassed by the village rake, Gaston.  When her father gets imprisoned in a castle by a hideous Beast, she trades her life for his and is forced to live with the Beast and his bevy of anthropomorphic servants. Little does she know, the Beast is under a spell (and is really a hot prince!) and if he doesn't find a gal to love in the next day, he will be forced to live as a Beast for eternity! Can she overlook his beastly ways and love the man within?? We'll sing ALLLLL the songs for you, tell the story of how we did a live action lip syncing version for our elderly neighbors when we were kids, and talk about the endless creep-skate powers of men with long, wet, stringy hair.  

With news that Tom Hanks has the corona virus, the world went batshit crazy! Don't you touch our Tom Hanks, you dirty COVID-19 bastard! As a shout out to our favorite actor and hoping he has a speedy recovery + to perk us all up after this week from pandemic hell, we did You've Got Mail! From 1998, You've Got Mail is a near perfect film and COZY with a capital "C".  Maybe it's the classic take on New York, it's journey through multiple seasons or all those Meg Ryan cardigan sweater sets, but this movie is stinking adorable! A favorite of Carol's and now ours too, we still quote it nearly weekly (That caviar is a garnish!) and cry buckets at the sweet ending.  We'll talk about our thoughts on Tom Hanks being our times Jimmy Stewart, what the hell happened to Meg Ryan, and what a weird time the late 90s was looking back - when Starbucks and email were considered "new". 

From 1994, Blank Check is essentially a rip off of Home Alone but way less fun! Preston Waters is sick of his penny pinching parents and rude siblings and thinks money will buy him happiness and freedom to get the life that he wants.  When a guy runs over his bike and gives him a blank check to buy himself a new one, Preston takes it upon himself to fill it out to CASH and give himself a million dollars! All his problems are solved! Or are they?? This movie is helllla whack, from it's totally unrealistic plot -  that an 11 year old would be able to buy a house and rent a limo with a driver for a week to the inconceivable romance story line they cooked up between Shay Stanley, FBI agent undercover slash bank teller and Preston. For the love of Pete! We'll talk about when we first realized money was a concept and that we should earn some for ourselves, what we would buy with a million dollars when we were kids (hint hint Littlest Pet Shops, that's who!), and the crazy double standard that exists where its accep