Cats (2019)

This week on Sister Cinema Swap, Kate finally watches Cats (2019). Kate and Emily discuss bitchy cats, Nightcrawler, uncanny valley CGI, cocaine spoons, Trafalgar Square, Old Deuteronomy not being a team player, middle management energy, and that Macavity is a war criminal. Additionally Emily doesn't know what ineffable means, Kate questions what is skin/fur and what is a coat, and they both agree they would go to an interactive screening.

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Artwork by Jenni Crowley.  Music by Nick Heredia.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Sister Silvaswap, the podcast where two sisters work through their backlogs of movies they haven't seen. I'm Emily Bateman.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

I'm Kate Kavala, and I finally watched Cats.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

Don't sound so happy about it. No, I refuse. My God. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Who boy. Yep. Yeah. I do want to point out, I chose this. I said, I want to watch this. I was like, I have not seen this movie. I think it'll be fun. And you said, are you sure? Yeah, I feel like I definitely questioned it.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

You gave me an out. I did. Although I was like, I was watching it on purpose. So who who's who's worse here? I don't really know. You paid money watch it at one point. I did it twice now because I've rented it twice. No, girl, it's on Netflix. Are you shitting me? Yeah. Why would this be on Netflix?

SPEAKER_03 1:05

I don't know. Girl, you gotta start you gotta start searching where stuff's streaming first. Don't just cut it out. I assumed it was.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I just assumed because it was so bad nobody would want it. Oh no, there's a lot of trash on Netflix. Oh my god, Netflix, what are you doing? Okay. Well, yeah, I'm doing it then because I paid twice for this. No! Oh my god. Okay, so Kate, why on earth did you miss the titular 2019 theatrical release of the musical cats?

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Oh my god. Okay. So this came out in December-ish of 2019.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

December 2019. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

So about three or four months before the world ended. Um thought I was gonna have a lot more time to go move go see movies. Did not think that this was gonna be one of my last chances. I think at the time, like I growing, like we both liked this musical growing up. We saw it on stage, we saw the filmed, like theatrical performance. I think it's it's a good musical. I like the musical. It's it's nonsensical, it's very abstract, it is the epitome of like this is musical theater, just roll with it. But it's like it it works, and I and I know I enjoyed it. And I think as soon as they were like, they're gonna make a movie, I was like, okay, what's what's the what's the catch? And then I saw what the catch was, and I was like, fuck no. I want no problem. The trailer. Yes, I saw the trailer and I was like, this is Uncanny Valley, and I am uncomfortable, and I d I don't know. And then everyone else I have talked to who has seen this movie is like, it's Buck Wilde. I don't know what to tell you. I have one friend who like actively enjoys it and thinks it's hilarious. And yeah, I immediately as soon as I started watching this, I was just like, hey, I'm watching this, I think I'm in hell. And he was just like, I can't wait to hear everything that you think about this. And I was just like, I'm torn between making you wait two wait two months for this podcast to come out or sending you a voice note right now because I need to scream. And he was like, I need something to look forward to in December. Let's let's pin it for this. He's like, I want to, I want to savor this. So so yeah. Um, but yeah, I just uh truly it was just at this point in 2025 I was just committing to the bit of not watching it. It was it was funnier to have not seen it, and then I was like, it was like not watching Game of Thrones. I'm like, fuck it, let's just let's let me just watch it for the podcast. And who boy, I'm so glad I had a reason to watch this. And a reason to talk about it afterwards. Yes, yes, I'm glad that I have this immediate catharsis. I texted you before I texted you before I was done with the movie. I was like, Emily, what the hell?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Oh, I knew, yeah, I was still watching it too, and I knew you were not done with it when you said this is a fever dream. And I was like, that's the best description of this that I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yeah, yeah. I just I I feel I was like, did I did I doze off and dream this? Like I did I take catnip and dream this? I don't know. Is there a gas leak? What's happening?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Maybe. I don't know. So as far as my part in this, uh yes, we did we did see it as kids. We really became like obsessed with the film filmed version of it. I feel like we watched it like the repetitively for like an entire summer. I think we had the soundtrack we listened to. It was when mom worked at the church, I think, and we were just watching the movie all the time. Yeah, like into the woods, right? Yes, God.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

So they I'm I wish they just did more of that. That is like my biggest like old lady opinion. I'm like, there should be they're doing it more now. They are now, but like my god, there are so many like productions that I'm like, God, I wish you would I wish there was a video of this somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah, yes. Well, luckily they still have the Into the Woods one available, which is stellar. Yeah, yes. So we became obsessed with it. We listened to the music all the time, and then our parents, at least in my little brain, I remember being surprised with tickets to go see cats, and it was awesome. It was like, oh my god, we're gonna go see this thing that we've been watching forever and it's gonna be cool. It slapped, it was awesome. It's so good. Like, this is my first musical theater like performance that I remember that was like like official. So, like I have very fond memories of this musical, the music, and and as far as yeah, you're right, like the plot I didn't remember as much. And so going into watching it, I was like, I can't wait to see, like, maybe this will jog my memory. Yeah. So, as far as when I watched it, um, we did not see it in the theaters, Chase and I, my husband. Um, and we had heard about like the trailer and all the like a little bit of the controversy, and it did sound very similar to the Sonic the Hedgehog controversy. Uh-huh. Because it was within the humanity. Yeah. Yes, because Sonic came out in February 2020. Oh, it did. Yeah. Yes. And Cats was uh like two months before. Yeah. So it was like really, you would think they have the time, why don't they do the same thing? And whatever.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

There are notes, and it's like, what if we heard those notes?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

They nah. We'll get into that. There are reasons why things were not incredible, amazing. Yes. So, yes, we had heard terrible things, and so we, Chase and I, in 2020 moved into a small apartment because we sold our house. It was a one-bedroom apartment in February, right before the world ended. Because we couldn't go anywhere or do anything. We were like, let's rent this horrible movie and watch it. And we did, and my poor husband has never seen the musical cats, wanted to know the plot.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Which is the funniest part is like going in just like fully like, okay, so what? They're cats, and it's like, yeah, that's it. I don't know what they're telling you.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Andrew Lloyd, but he's a musical guy. It's Andrew Lloyd Weber. You know the music's gonna be amazing. Yeah, you know that like other musicals have been done well in film. You think okay, and even like the stuff's weird. Maybe the story is good, maybe other yeah, like you think even if people look weird, maybe the performances are really good. Exactly. Oh my god, the cast. We'll get to that as well. Yeah. Um, but yeah, he knew nothing and then came about came out of it basically also with nothing, because I was like, this is not the musical I saw as a child. So I have nothing for you right now. Also, I'm sure he asked me what the definition of jellic is, and I was like, I don't know. Yeah. I there is no definition for jellic. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

No, literally at that point, it's just like, hey, there's a suspension of disbelief. You just gotta set everything up there. Like having the subtitles on, I was just like, I don't think I've ever known what some of these words are or were or pretended to be. And I was like, I I this isn't it helped. I don't think it helped at all for me. I was just like, all right, I just have I just gotta let these words wash over me.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Not for understanding, but it was kind of just to know nice to know finally what the words were because as a kid, I'm sure I sang them and didn't sing the right things.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Yeah, oh yeah, we were doing like this syllable singing thing where I'm like, I don't know what words these are, but I'm putting this together. Blah blah blah. Yeah, exactly. So that's yeah, and Andrew Lade Weber was like, Don't worry, I don't know what these words are either. You're good.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

He's like, I'm a genius, it's fine. Yeah. So so yeah, so we saw it as a joke, and who boy was it a joke, and then um yeah, and then Kate was like, Yeah, I haven't seen it and I want to watch it. And I was like, Okay, but do only if you want to.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

So you told me you had so much trivia, and I was very excited to get into it.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yes, I have a page and a half of notes of trivia, and I have gotten them from multiple sources. So basic info, cats came out in 2019, starring here we go, James Corden, Judy Dentz, Jason DeRulo in his feature film debut, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson, Francesca Hayward, also film feature debut. Uh-huh. So those are the big ones.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

I know it's alphabetical. The fact that James Corden is listed first is is hate. It's a hate crime. It's a travesty. Yes. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

I'm like, that is offensive. I'm sorry. I should have, I should have put Judy Dench first.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

No, it's this when she first popped up. I forgot she was in this movie, and my note, my notes in all caps say Dame Judy Dench. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

I first did you also not know about Ian McKellen? Oh, I full forgot about Sir Ian McKellen. Oh God. Okay. I full forgot. I yeah, I can imagine how jarring that would be if you didn't remember, because I did do this before watching the movie. So yeah. Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

No, you're fine. I truly, I just kind of assumed that the first woman that you see, that the Victoria, I fully just in my head, I was like, that's Taylor Swift. And then I was like, doesn't look like Taylor Swift. I'm confused. And then I was because I was just like, Taylor Swift's in this movie. Of course she's gonna be the lead. And then I was like, oh shit, no, that's not. But I and I was like, how weird is the CGI? The answer was weird, but not weird enough to not make her look like Taylor Swift.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

And I was like, oh no. Not weird enough. This woman is like, she's she's not even American. Like Katie's no, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

No, and and afterwards I was just like, oh no, there was no confusion. And I was like, I see, I see how cat CGI made you look like this, but truly, I was just like, I don't know. I don't know. She's Kenyan, Kate.

unknown 10:47

Really? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Yes, I want to say uh Kenyan, uh Kenyan Borneo ballet dancer.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

She's a I was gonna say, yeah, because I knew I I had looked into it. Yeah, which was awesome, which I love.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Well we'll get into everything. We will, we will. My god. So yes, those are the big names. Director, Tom Hooper, Cats is his second feature film musical, following Le Miz in 2012. Lay Miz wasn't bad. Lay Miz was good. Yeah. Yes, agreed. But he's also known for movies such as The King Speech and The Danish Girl. So big British movies.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

So what happened?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

We'll get to that.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

He's also, side note, directed two episodes of his Dark Materials, which is the TV show based on the Golden Compass. So I thought that was interesting. Okay. He is, yeah, an Oscar-winning director. He has TV work that's gotten Emmys, Golden Globe nominations. Uh oh, he directed Elizabeth I and John Adams, both those mini-series, the British, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Oh. So he's done a lot. Wow. Okay. Yeah, like I knew his name sounded familiar. I was like, you're not like you've done stuff. Like I know this name. He has.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah. I got into the writers just because I forgot that Andrew Lloyd Weber was involved in this production. Okay. So we've got Lee Hall, Tom Hoover, and Andrew Lloyd Weber. Lee Hall is known as a writer, composer. He's been uh he's done uh Billy Elliott, Warhorse, Rocket Man, uh, all of which were good. Yeah. And cats. He's also been nominated for an Oscar. And then, of course, Andrew Lloyd Weber, for anyone that does not know, arguably the most successful composer of our time, best known for stage and film adaptations of his musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Avita, and Phantom of the Opera. Yeah. Like this guy has so many hits. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. You know Andrew Lloyd Weber. Like, you just you do. You do even if you don't. Yes. But yes, unfortunately, he was involved in this production. But he has also, like, this isn't the first time that his musicals have been adapted. Yeah. So it makes sense why he would want to be involved in this one. Okay, so here's my like trivia. I did not organize it, so I'm sorry. No, you're fine. So I might go back and forth a little bit. But um, first of all, what do you think the IMDB rating is out of 10? Oh, out of 10? Ooh. Um and there's a there's a decimal. Okay. Which I didn't know they could do.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

Uh is it a I'm gonna say two and a half.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

That's very close. 2.8. Very close. Ooh, that's bad. Um yeah, it is. Yeah. So let's see. It was, in fact, a 2020 Golden Globe nominee for best original song by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Taylor Swift.

SPEAKER_03 13:46

Okay, I was gonna ask who okay, so the original song, that's the one that Victoria sang. Beautiful ghosts. Yes. Okay. That is Okay, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Taylor Swift wrote that. Yeah. Okay, here's the thing. When we when we get to that song, immediately I was like, I know that this song, even if I knew nothing about this musical, I would know that this song was added after the fact because this song makes sense. This song is so logical and it's a it's a normal ass song as opposed to everything else. I was like, there's no, there's no fanciful words in here. There's no metaphor and whimsy in this. This is a straight up song. And hearing that Taylor Swift wrote the fucking lyrics to it, I'm like, of course you did. Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

This checks out. I guess she wrote lyrics. I don't know. Also, uh won six Razzies and had three other Razzie nominations. There you go. This is uh Andrew Lloyd Webber's fifth musical to be adapted into a movie. In case you were wondering, the total times the word jellic is sung or spoken is 128. Oh my god. The cast attended, and this was very popular to be talked about during uh press press stuff. Was the cast attended cat school. I remember this. Yes, on the floor, learning how to carry themselves. Like so many of the like the famous actors have talked about it. Uh like Taylor Swift, Jason Derula, Rabba Wilson. Like they've talked about going to cat school. Oh my god. Let's see. I don't know if you noticed this, but the film has no opening credits. It just says cats. Oh my god, you're right. Holy shit. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that that feels wild. After I read that, I was like, oh god, yeah. It it yes, that's true, and I don't know why. We get straight the fuck into it, yeah. They did. This is kind of a little side trivia. I'm not sure the little blip was not, it didn't tell me who came up with the idea, but it says the idea was that Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judy Dench's characters, uh, I guess they came up with the idea that their characters had been lovers at some point in their lives, and that's why they kept like looking at each other and shit. I mean, I mean that checks out. I guess. It absolutely does. It was funny to read that before and then watch it because I don't think I picked up on that the first time.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

No, I mean I like that headcanon for whoever, whoever is just like, oh my god, like what if?

SPEAKER_01 16:13

I want to say it was just the idea. Uh I feel like they came up with that idea is kind of the way that the information read. It was like that they decided that or something. Right. That's cute. This is the first time old Deuteronomy was represented as female.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Yes. I think that's interesting. I wonder if like I was wondering if that has ever on stage, if that was ever a choice. Because I know the version that we filmed version was um Ken Page, who has done a ton of musicals, but the thing that I like knew him after the fact was um he's uh Oogie Boogie from um For real? Yeah. Yeah, but like he's yeah, like that's like the voice that you're you know so used to hearing. But I kind of like I like that version of it, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Uh so I have information about uh Dame Judy Dench and her involvement in this, and this might have something to do with it. Oh my god, tell me fucking everything. I will, I will. I'm I'm going through my notes trying to get every little thing before I get into like the whole production and everything. Okay, yeah. So so Dame Judy Dench was cast in the original 1981 London production of Cats as Jenny Annie Dots and Grizabella. Oh my god. Suffered an Achilles tendon injury and had to pull out last minute. So I'm wondering if this is like I finally get to do this but can't play those parts anymore, so I get a different part. That was my assumption was like now you get to be old Deuteronomy instead of the roles that you could have done 50 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Yeah. Or 30 years ago, whatever. 40 and some change. 40-ish. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

You said 81. 81. So I think that's maybe partially why she was cast as that. I love that actually. Yes, that was exciting. And like, I didn't know she did stage stuff. Like, that's crazy. I mean, I it makes sense, though.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

I kind of just assume every British actor has some stage history. Like at this point, I'm just like, yeah, what yeah, what'd you do? Yeah, I bet you related with Beth at some point too. Let's go. Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Of course, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman were considered for roles, but could not for various reasons, uh, either due to scheduling or whatever. They did not say which roles. Oh, I bet Anne Hathaway, I bet she was probably uh Taylor Swift's character. Bomballerina? Yes. Uh yeah, I guess. Hugh Jackman, I don't know. I was like, Skimble Shanks, the fucking jazzy railway. Oh my god. Well, we'll get we'll get into it. I'm sorry. We'll get into that stuff up. No, no, let's see. I just want to roll. I'm trying to find my little things before we get into the big stuff. You're good. All right, we'll just get into it. So, according to an article on the Daily Beat website, visual effects artists who remained anonymous to do this said that they had been given six months to produce the trailer and only four months to produce the entire film. I'm fucking sorry. So they worked 90-hour work weeks with some people literally sleeping under their desk to finish on time. No. And it says this time crunch, plus the bad relationship between the director and the team, are the root of the problem for the film. Fair. So it's all Hooper's fault, basically. So he it says production originally intended to use makeup and costumes. Or no, I think at one point it was supposed to be like animated, and then they were like, no, we'll do makeup and costumes. Then Hooper comes in and it's real people. Yeah he said he tried prosthetics but didn't like that it like lost emotion in the face. And so his quote is like, you know, all paths led to visual effects because we couldn't do prosthetics and but like visual effects are like so expensive or whatever. Um so yeah, it was supposed to be like the musical basically. And then Tom Hooper was like, no.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

God, bad. I don't think I would have hated this as an animated, like purely animated.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

It would have been fine. Yeah. I think it would have been fine. I think so too. Yeah. So it said Hooper's big rejection was of the usual CGI workflow rather than viewing partially rendered quote play blasts of scenes to check to check movement before fine details such as lighting and fur were added. And I'm just reading this quote by quote. He did by costly and time-consuming full renders before reviewing scenes, and then told Crews that real life references of cats must be used for every movement, which someone had to point out was impossible because cats don't dance.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

He's awful, apparently.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Yeah. So he's he's the reason all this was awful. Says the film's original release contained numerous CGI errors and glitches, such as one scene in which Judy Dench's human hand, complete with her wedding ring, appears instead of a cat paw. I saw it. I took a picture, I will send it to you. Yes, please. And after poor reviews, Universal Notified Cinemas on opening day that an updated digital cinema package with some improved visual effects would be available for download three days afterwards, uh, and told all of the theaters to replace the current one as soon as possible. Studio execs and cinema owners said that the decision to release a modified version of a film already in wide release was unheard of.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So, like multiple days later, they were like, hey, we fucked up. Here's a better one. Actually, here's an update.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

We're sorry.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

There's also supposedly, supposedly, and I don't know how how like fact-check this is. The cat said visible anuses in an earlier version. Okay. That that were. Did you hear this? No, go, no, finish your thing. Because I've heard this as a rumor. I think. I don't know how I have to look at where I got it from. But it says they were they were edited out like days before the premiere. And then it says, you know, when this information came to light, people wanted to release the butthole. Basically. Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

That's what she saw.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

That is what I I think that is the thing that I heard specifically. And I before I went to watch this movie, my husband was like, he had said something about it and had said he said something about like the cats with like buttholes. And I was like, I looked at him and I was like, they don't have buttholes. And he's like, you don't know that. You haven't seen this movie. And I looked at him, I was like, I'm 80% sure they don't have buttholes. He's like, you let me know. And I was like, they don't, it's fine. But I and that, and here's the thing, that sounds like a thing that like would not have done. I I don't think that's a thing. I think that's a thing that they would have omitted from the start. That's not like Sonic's human teeth. Like, that's like that was a choice where it's like, hey, and also the idea of being able to edit something like that out three days ahead of time. No, that's not happening.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

That's totally fair. Yeah. So this is this is yeah, supposedly. Yeah. Um, and maybe it was just like a weird lighting thing because of how everything else looks. Maybe, yeah. God, fucking wild. Yeah. Oh no, there's more. Hold on. Oh no. Because we haven't gotten to certain Andrew Lloyd Weber and his involvement in this and how he felt afterwards.

SPEAKER_03 23:07

God, he's he is so frustrating, like as a human. He's such a good composer, but he's kind of a piece of shit. Really? Yeah. So he has like dual, like, I believe he has like dual like US and British citizenship. And like there was just there was just some like vote in the UK that was like trying to like defend like the lower classes and stuff and like not do some like crazy tax situation and like you know, basically like benefiting lower classes. Um, and he flew back to the UK to vote no on this bill, and then like hopped back. And it was just like, okay, cool. So so you're gonna make sure that you, you know, reinforce that British citizenship when you can, you know, actively oppress other people. And I'm like, that's kind of shitty of you. I don't like this. You wrote lameiz, you piece of shit. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Okay, well, I feel a little less bad now, but it's not good. It's not great. So it says that he wrote to Universal a year before the film's release, basically saying, You've got a car crash on your hands unless you get a grip on this. Don't forget. Never got a reply. Cool. They left him on red, no. And then it says, um, afterwards, he was so affected by the response of the movie, he adopted a puppy and registered as a therapy pet. And then when asked for a note uh going on in airlines, he said, you know, look at what Hollywood did to my musical. And then the airlines sent approval back saying no doctor's note required. It was like, oof. Oh my god. Yeah. So woof. That's that's all I got. Wow. I'm sure there's more that you can get into, but I feel like the production was the big thing of like the company, and I don't even know what company it was, being given no time and all the issues from the director and nobody else. So it's it's not the fault of the actors, it's not the fault of the poor CGI team that was trying their best.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Yeah, and I and I I think watching this, like there, like I definitely had the mind of like Dame Judy Dench, what have they done to you? But at the same time, I'm like, you volunteer you signed up for this. Like you, you know, to an extent you knew that it's like you were doing this musical, you knew it was gonna be. I think at this point you probably knew it was gonna be CGI, at least, at least a little bit, but my god, these final renderings are choices.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

I think, um, and this was in that podcast, it's called the, I think the big flop. Yeah. Because they had a whole episode about cats. They talked about interviews with the cast during the press when like the final version of the film wasn't even done. So they didn't even know what it was gonna look like.

SPEAKER_05 25:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

So they had to like talk about how great it was going to look and you know, push it up and everything without even seeing how horrific they were all going to look. Oh my god. Yeah. So I don't really blame the actors or the because they didn't know. Yeah. I like, and I'm sure none of them enjoyed how I mean, okay. Idris Elba looks naked. So maybe he likes that he looks like that. Oh my god. But nobody else did.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

So I know, huh? My God, I listen, this is this is the least attracted I've ever been to Idris Elba. That's fair. I was like, no, man, like I I don't, I I can't, I don't understand. Like the it whoof, there's so much happening. I think but I but I also think that this is you're right, like it is definitely some one of those things where it's like you hear about like people who do like voice acting and it's just like did not know what this final product was gonna look like. It's like, oh god, like oh okay, this is a choice you made. Like I heard um uh Ben Schwartz on a podcast talking about Sonic, and it was and him just going, like, man, I uh hope they do something about those weird little teeth. And then they're like, Oh, we actually listened. He's like, Oh, thank God. He's like, Cool. Yeah, he's like, I'm not voicing a monster. Exactly, but that's the thing. But he's like, I'd already recorded it. Like at that point, it's like, well, we'll fucking see what happens. But like it's it's the same kind of thing of just like not seeing the final cut of it. And it's just like, Matt, I hope you don't make me look insane. Like, I hope I hope you do right by this. I don't know as much about like current animated features, but I feel like the industry has kind of seen that that's a fucked up way to operate. And like I know that like there was an uh an animation guild strike like a year or two ago um for allotting more time for to complete products and stuff or projects, um, and like actually like pushing back release dates and stuff. I think that was one of the things with um one of the Spider-Verse movies. Like, I think the second one got pushed back even further because it was like, hey, this is inhumane and bad. And I'm like, I'll wait another two years for some incredible animation if I know that the people who, you know, produced it can feed their families and sleep, you know? Like I'm fine with that. It's this is nothing. So 2019 was such a weird period for media as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Because I think like this reminds me of the video game industry a lot.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Yes, yeah, like the weird, like, you know, you have like three hours to like crunch something, then it's like, okay, and half of you are getting laid off next week, so figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's and I I think, especially like in 2020 when like a lot of you know, the entertainment industry changed. I feel like this kind of thing, I I don't hear about it happening as much. It's probably still happening in some productions, but like, but it's not as like, hey, this like giant, like, you know, crazy high budget thing isn't like, you know, working people to death. And, you know, you don't you're not hearing about that as much. So like it's nice to know that it's not happening as much. It's wild that this is like the high profile project that that this happened to.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

I mean, it kind of just had to like explode for everyone to really find out about it. Because I think if this hadn't been such a major disaster, we wouldn't be I wouldn't be talking about it. I don't know enough about the industry or I know nothing about visual effects, so like it just had to be this giant fireball so that yeah, the layman people would hear a little bit about it and be like, huh, this is kind of weird. And then if they did any sort of research, find out why, and it's because of poor working conditions and an asshole director. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

I will say, visual effects and everything aside, I know that the difference between like stage musicals and movie musicals. I know a lot of like the instrumentation and arrangements and stuff, I know things get updated. I always think about like the Sweeney Todd movie adaptation where it cuts out all of those like delicious harmonies. The ballad of Sweeney Todd. Yeah, it cuts out all the good crunchy sondheim shit that makes it so good. And this one, the arrangements of these songs I found baffling. I did not like a lot of the the adapt like the there were so many where like the meter was changed and the the the the harmonies were changed and like the pacing was different, the point of view that it's sung in was different and stuff, and it just it's so funny coming from like La Miz, where it seems pretty true to stage musical. It's like there's a chorus, here's this, this person's I've seen both, and it is yeah, and the idea to like then divert so much for this one. I'm just like, what's happening here? What's what are we doing?

SPEAKER_01 30:40

That's funny you noticed all that because the songs for me, besides like some creative liberties, Jason DeRulo, I didn't feel like they were entirely off. I was like, these still remind me of the songs from my childhood, but again, I have not listened to the original in a very long time. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_03 30:57

I haven't either, but there were still some where I was like, it took me a second to realize it was the song. Or like I had to like I had to like think to be like, what is the melody of this song normally? Because I was like, that's not it. Yeah, we'll we'll get into it. Is there anything else we need to do? I'm just gonna say, is there any more trivia? No, we can just go ahead and get into it. That was an incredible amount of trivia, and I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Okay, I'm glad.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

No, I no, thank you so much. I I I texted Emily, I was like, I did not do any research. I looked up IMDB for like actors, and that's it. I was like, let's go. But yeah, okay, so we open on the cloudy sky of London. Didn't know this was set in London, didn't want to enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

I love it. Took me forever to figure it out. Everyone had a British accent. I was like, especially when Taylor Swift had a British accent, I was like, are we in England?

SPEAKER_03 31:53

No, honest to God, as soon as they like get that one shot outside, and I'm like, that's fucking Trafalgar Square. Why are you doing one? Yeah, so it's Trafalgar Square also, but scaled wrong. Um, the pedestal that those lions are on, much lower. I like have one picture of me like sitting at the base of that. I had to get a boost. I had to get like pushed up. Like it's like they're easily the pedestals are like six and a half feet tall.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

What? Okay, yeah. Not to scale. Sizing, none of this is to scale. Let's put that out there in general. Nobody looks correct. No. Size-wise in anything. No, there's no not to scale.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

My God. No. Yeah. So cats not to scale. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Your experience may vary. So so we open on the the cloudy twilight sky. It's become it's becoming night. It says cats in the traditional musical, you know, the playbill font. And then you get the spooky little cat face in the clouds. And then we pan down to what looks like the Moulin Rouge. It says the Egyptian theater. We are following a woman who is speeding through the streets of apparently London. Um, she hops out of a car and she throws a squirming bag into an alley. And then so many cat people emerge from the shadows. And my first editorializing note says, I hate this.

SPEAKER_02 33:13

No, that early? Right off the bat, I was like, it was uncanny? It was uncanny valley, baby. There were so many limbs doing so much shit. You mean hands and feet? I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Oh my god. It was so much like the movement.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Also, like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Why would all these cats run towards a bag? I feel like cats would not, they would run away from I don't have a cat. I never have, but like I feel like they would not be interested in whatever that is.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

Yeah, I don't know a single cat who would say, Oh, cool, a speeding car, what's going on? Let me go, let me go see what this noise was. No, I for sure, for sure. I don't know any cats that investigate noises. They're all like, fuck that. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I said everything is in the uncanny valley and I'm having a bad time. Um, so so we immediately I God, it happened so fucking fast. I was like, what is this? Where where am I? Who am I? What have I decided to do? Um, so we we get the the crowd of alley cats. Okay. Do are they alley cats? Do they have families? Do they all have homes? Some of them have collars. Some of them have collars.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

I assume some of them are just hanging out at night. Okay, so they're just indoor-outdoor cats. I that is my assumption. Okay. Because, you know, Jenny Annie Dots and like some of the other ones had Mongo Jerry and Rumple tees are like they have homes-ish, but then they leave. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

Like it's yeah, like there's so it's free rain for cats in London. My god, it's buckwild. Yeah. So so we have we not alley cats, we have um a whole bunch of cats crowd around this uh squiggling bag that we're just oh my god, what's it gonna be? And then finally, one of them who is our lead monkus trap? Okay, hell yeah. Who is that? Who the fuck is monkus trap?

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Well, he's apparently like our our lead chorus guy.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

Yeah, I mean, thank God we have like a voice of the chorus.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Yeah, so he's but like we don't ever get his name unless you read the subtitles. No, so thank fucking god for a subtitle. Yeah. So I think that's on my next page of notes that I get his name. Our exposition cat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

Oh, monk strap, the exposition cat. I love it. That's literally what I wrote. That's it. Thank God. Um, thank god for him. But yeah, so he um takes the initiative and uh scratches the bag open, and everyone leaps back dramatically. And this, you know, very dainty white and grayish cat uh pokes her head out. This is Victoria, we learn later. Um, but she is very bewildered. Um, and then she is immediately interrogated about whether or not she is a jellic cat. And then we have the entire, y'all know it. It's this, it's the whole, it's it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

If you're listening to this and you haven't listened to the music or watched this movie or the musical, I don't think you're gonna get this at all. You might need to do one of those three things first.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Yeah, bro. What are you doing? I love that for you. I do.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

But you're gonna be confused.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

Yeah, yeah. So we get the entire dance number, I think is it feels longer than it is in the musical. Like in the stage musical.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

A lot of these songs felt long.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

Oh my god. Yeah. And like part of it is like, I know there's like, you know, little cuts in between it. I get it. Um, there's like some disco uh themes within this one. There's like hip-hop themes within this one. There's so much. I said, and here's here's my thing. My note is why do movie musical versions of songs never really sound as good? You could get so many good, just straight up musical, like a chorus. You could mix it so well. And it's just, I don't know. Like I've never I've never listened to the soundtrack for a movie musical and had the same feelings that I did listening to a cast recording of a like a Broadway musical. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Yes, yeah, yes, I do, I do know what you mean. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Like solos, you know, it's it depends on the singer, it depends on whatever, like totally fine. But like that full, like four-part, like, you know, full harmony, like everything going on. Like, I live for that. I love that. And it and movie musicals never deliver that way. And I don't know, I don't know what it is. Because you have so many more tools to your disposal. You can make sure that the, you know, that the tenors don't get drowned out. You can fix it. All the shit that it's like, hey, you need to sing better. You can just you can fix it in post. But I don't know. It's a fun number, it's a fun song. I'm like, honestly, I'm like, this is okay. I can vibe with this, this is all right. But it just, I don't know, like the the actual musical aspect of it did not. I didn't love it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

It wasn't like, oh man, if you had heard the song for the first time as this, you'd be like, man, I love this song. Exactly. It's just like this is this is reminiscent of the original that I do love. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

And I think for me, it was very hard to separate the the stage musical versions of some of these songs where I was like, I know like where these harmonies are, and I'm like, eh, I don't know. Um, but yeah, I'm still I'm still in the same song. My God. Um, we have so much more to go. Um so yeah, so we It's okay. Yeah, no, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

So we get a lot happens during the song because I noticed like Yeah. This happens throughout the movie, and I don't remember this happening in the musical, where you see the cats that have names later on showing up before like Mr. Mistopheles is throughout the entire thing. Yeah, and he has like his own plot. I don't remember seeing him anywhere in the musical before his song last time. Yeah. So, like, you know, like the fact that you this keeps happening of like, wait, that's that's a person, and then they get a song later, and you're like, what? Yeah, and then so that was just weird in general to start off, like, yeah, we're just gonna throw cats in there that you'll get exposition about later and not, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 39:05

No, I agree. Yeah, I agree. Like, I think it is, yeah, especially if you're like expecting, like, okay, eventually we'll get to this guy's song and this guy's song and this guy's song, and it's like, nope, here's everybody. Um he's already here. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. We also get our first look at McCavity in the distance. Um, I literally said he's the only person so hard so far that I can tell who he is. That is because he is the only actor at this point who is like a real person that I am aware of. I don't know. Like, this is where they're like, they're moving between like the walking on four legs and walking on two legs. And I'm like, honestly, I don't mind the like the humanoid like cat outfit walking on two legs. I'm like, I'm fine with that. I'm, you know, that is less wild than the, you know, the all fours, especially like through like the junkie.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

All fours the whole time?

SPEAKER_03 39:52

That would be awful. Oh my god. Yeah. I we there are other instances where I'm like, whoa, okay, what's happening? Um, but yeah, so we yeah, so we get this um so everyone leaves real quickly. Yes, the cavity. That's it. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

And approaches Victoria.

SPEAKER_03 40:08

Yes, he approaches Victoria and asks her if she's going to the ball. Um, and he, oh gosh, uh does he say like specifically what's happening? I can't remember if he expositioned.

SPEAKER_01 40:23

He calls it the jelly. No, he's like, the ball could get dangerous or whatever. And then Mistopheles is like, hey, come with me.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

Yes, and then she turns around and McCavity is gone. Um in a weird puff of smoke. And I was like, okay, the what what's happening? Um, so yeah, so then um, so then at this point, um Victoria is like, oh, that was weird. I guess I'll just follow everybody else. Um she immediately gets hazed by these three really bitchy cats who are just just so mean. The bitchiest one that holds up all the time, Cassandra. Yes, Cassandra, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

She has a name.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Okay, I was gonna say, yeah, after the fact, like I looked at it, they all have names apparently. They do. Yeah, yeah. Like I looked on IMDB after the fact, they all have names, which love that for them. Yeah, she's getting she's getting bullied. Uh, she's asked what her name is, and she's like, it's Victoria. And I'm like, well, you just got thrown out of a car. So like I don't I'm surprised that you have a name, to be real. Because specific because specifically in that case, it's like, oh, you know, well, like that's what people call you. What's your actual name? And it's like, what the fuck do you mean? Um, so then we get Exposition Cat uh tells us a song about cats have three names. Um, and one of them is the common name that that people call them. One of the them is a dignified and fancy name, and the other is a secret name that they must never tell anyone. And I said, Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

And literally, it just felt like this was just like more ballet for Victoria, uh, the actress who plays Victoria to show off.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

Yeah, I yeah, it was it was just like Victoria lost in thought. But it I don't I know that there are songs that are in the stage musical that are not in the version, and and I'm for listeners, I'm so sorry we keep reverting to the stage musical. This is an adaptation. We're gonna do a lot of that for this one. But but like I feel like this felt like a little familiar, and it did reference like at the end that they were pulling some it was like you know, from uh Cats by Andrew Lade Weber and also from the what is it, like the book of the poem that it was originally based off of. Yeah, like the T. S. Elliott book of the of poems. Yeah. So I'm wondering if this is like from there or if it's a song I just don't remember. I don't know. Um, but then we get the you know, we get the song specifically that is, you know, Victoria doing a you know sweet ballet solo. And honestly, I liked it. It was really cute. And especially knowing that she is like actually a ballet dancer, I'm like, okay, this is fine. But then we also we have so much other dancing, and this is where this uncanny valley made this less enjoyable because the CGI made me question everything. I was like, are you actually doing these moves? Or is this a weird CGI render? And so it was like, she's, you know, I'm sure she's an incredible ballet dancer. Like we have, you know, the guy who uh skimble shanks later, a fantastic tap dancer. I think I don't know because I don't know what CGI. Yeah, and so it's I think it in this case, it does such a disservice to the people who are genuinely good at this shit. Like the actu like the genuinely good, you know, dancers and performers and movements, because it's like, what if we added a little CGI? So you spun around faster. I'm like, nope, just humans can do that. Just let her be a human and do that. Like, I don't know. It's yeah, I think that this was the first time where I was like, this actually bothers me that it's doing a disservice to the actors, I think.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

That's fair. Yes. I was just gonna say, like I I hope, you know, because she is such a talented um ballet dancer that yeah, it is her. But you're right. And also like the way that their body moves with the fake fur and everything, none of it felt incredibly like organic, like a real person's doing it. Yes. Like even like because I think in the previous song they were like cats with shoes, and I was like, I don't like this. Why do the cats have shoes? Because they're doing a specific type of dancing that it was like i it felt weird because it didn't look right. Yeah. So you can't be impressed with if it if it doesn't look correct in your brain. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 44:41

Yeah, and it's I guess it just I don't know. Like, I think this is like the very first time where it like kind of threw me off. Yeah. So yeah, so then we have um uh Mr. Mistopheles, which I my god, I struggled to spell this the first time. Um I I had to look it up. I I did too. I think the first time they that it popped up in the subtitles, I was like, oh thank fucking god. Um so Mr. Mistopheles announces that we're all gonna go to the jellicle ball. And uh during this time, old Deuteronomy will come down and pick one cat to be reborn to go to the heavyside layer. And I really thought that layer was spelled L-A-I-R, like a lair action, and not layer like a lair cake. It's spelled L-A-Y-E-R. And I was like, What what do you mean? Um, so it uh from here it looks like it is the the top of the Egyptian hotel theater, pretty sure it's a theater at this point. Um, and they are chosen by singing the song of themselves. And I don't remember this being like a competition. Like I don't remember this being like the big talent show before. I think it was just like we're all gonna hang out and we're all gonna do this, but I don't, I don't know. I never felt like it was framed like I'm gonna win. It's just like we're all gonna get to do this together and then someone will happen to be chosen, you know?

SPEAKER_01 46:02

Yes, I understand what you're saying. It was like the theme of we're singing about ourselves and someone will get chosen, but it wasn't I'm singing about myself, so I get chosen. Yeah, that's it. And I thought it was previously like anyone could get chosen, not just the people who are performing for old dude around. Yeah. It's like, oh man, we miss we miss signups. Yeah, like I don't know. It felt like yeah, because like nobody who doesn't know how to sing can go. Like, I don't understand. There's gotta be one cat without rhythm and they just don't get to go. I don't know. What do you mean? I mean, I I feel like that's probably like a cat thing.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

It's like we all have rhythm. It's it's just what it is. Whatever. I mean, listen, if this was redone in the 90s, there's probably something about like, you know, how they all have actual, like, I don't know. I'm sure there's I'm sure there's a variation of it. But yeah, so so then we are starting our tour of all of the cats. Our our first stop is the uh Gumby cat named Jenny Any Dots, um, played by Rebel Wilson, who I forgot was in this movie. My god. I honestly her and James Gordon just a truly a matchmade in hell. The fact that they're both in this movie, I was like, this is yeah, like I don't know, I don't know what I expected. But I think this was also the era where she was just in a lot of stuff as the fat comedic relief, and I was like, I don't like this, I don't love it.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

Yes, I think Rebel Wilson was doing what was written for her-ish, and I think she's better than this. I don't think James Corden is. He's not, he's trash, and I think she is better.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Yeah, I I think in general she I don't know, like the the roles that she tends to end up with I haven't loved, but I don't know much about her as a person. James Corden is very frustrating because I like he has a very solid like British stage career, and we will get to James Corden briefly at some point, like when we when we get here. But like he has like a very like solid British stage presence. Like I saw him in a production when I was in London in like 2012 or like 2011. Yeah, he was and it was like some like stage play where it was like he was genuinely funny and really good. And it was like okay, you know, but it was like a straight play. It was before he was like really big with American audiences, it was before he had the TV show, and really now it's just like it's so like I can put my face on another thing, I can be, you know, like it just I don't know, like everything he does feels so like shallow now, it's really frustrating.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

Yes, I was referring to um uh of course I cannot find anything, but um there was a lot of discord at some point that he's like a bad person in general, like not a nice person and rude to staff and just like I did hear that.

SPEAKER_03 49:16

Oh, you're right. I forgot he was a bad person too.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

Oh yes, nope, you're right, you're right, you're absolutely right. Um so yes, his performance is yes, him playing a fat guy, yeah. A fat cat. And yes, but what's crazy is that Reba Wilson's song, I know she's a better singer than that. Yes, yeah, it So like that's why I was like, wait a second, she's in all three pitch perfect movies, and she's a great singer, so I don't understand. So yeah, I feel like at the time and she also has this thing where she was um ostracized in Hollywood for a while. My god, I can't remember these things. Because oh, because a magazine put out that she was like lying about her age or something, and she lost jobs because of it. So then she had to like sue the company and to sue the the magazine and then kind of like because that's so that's why she kind of like disappeared for a little bit for film like for films and stuff. Yes, and then had to like kind of re reclaim her name, like prove that like no, I am this age, like I'm not lying about anything. This is who I am. That's crazy. She's had like kind of uh a resurgence, I think, after that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 50:30

I did not know that. I was too harsh on Reba Wilson. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

No, no, no, no, it's like I really liked she did the female version of uh what's the two the two The Hustle, which is based off of it's not Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, is it? Yes, I think so.

SPEAKER_03 50:48

I fucking love that movie.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

I didn't know The Hustle was cute. Okay. Haven't seen that. That's her and Anne Hathaway trying to trick this young man. Okay. Um let me adding this to the list. I didn't know that. Female-led remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Okay, great. Shit, okay.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

Yes. So that was in 2019. Okay, I'm adding this to the list. I have not seen that one. It actually sounds fun.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Oh, I did like that one. It was cute. Okay. And then she did, which is on your list already, senior year on Netflix, where she's a cheerleader and then gets into a coma for 10 years and goes back there, or like 20 years. Okay. And then goes, and then she goes back to high school as like a third-year-old. Got it, got it. But that's after she had lost all that weight. Yeah. And and both of those I've I've really liked for her. So I think I think this was just a low point for a lot of people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:38

Yeah. No, that's fair. I don't know. I think at this point, like literally, it's just like whatever I had known of people like beforehand. I'm just like, oh no, how could they do this to you? And then it's like, of course you signed up for this. And I'm like, I don't know, maybe I need to check like my own like assumptions about all these. No, no, no, no. It's like, I mean, it it is like, it makes sense as far as like, oh, like, yeah, maybe I didn't know anything about what this actor was doing.

SPEAKER_01 52:02

Sure. No, yeah, and and for whatever reason, I know things about like I I really like Rebel Wilson. And then I don't know what it was that I kept seeing shit about James Corden, and I was like, okay, well, fuck you then. I like other late night hosts better. Fucking yeah, he's he sure is something.

SPEAKER_03 52:18

Yeah, I just looked it up. He got like banned from some like very nice restaurant in New York in like 2022.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

Got like fully, it was like, hey, no, fuck you, never come back, which I love.

SPEAKER_01 52:28

But yeah, so I'm so sorry for that. No, I deep dive. No, I love it. Celebrity info.

SPEAKER_03 52:34

No, please, please, anytime. I feel like we're just gonna be like constantly, it's like actually, fun fact. So, yes, our first song. Yes, we get our we get our first here's my deal song. Uh, we get um Jenny Annie Dots the Gumby C. She is super lazy during the day, but then while the family that she lives with is uh asleep, she is organizing the mice and cockroaches in the house. Okay, these mice, can we please talk about these mice? And they are flat human faces, and they're they're children. Oh my god, I know. I'm sure I could tell that they were children. The voices, like you can tell they're children, but my god, it was like like all of the cat people, there's like some dimensions, so like they kind of have noses a little bit. These were just flat, just flat. That was just like CGI, like just you cut and paste that face onto a little mouse character, and hoo boy, that was insane. So, this is where I finally clocked a monk strap's name. Um, he's the same, my god, this actor has the most intense stare. His eyes, he just my god, like boring into whoever he is looking at. And I was like, why are you staring Jenny Annie Dots down like like she's your like rival? Like, what are you doing? He felt really judging. I he was yeah, he was just like, and and I the thing is like I think this song about her is generally very judgy. It's just like, oh, she just doesn't do anything, she just sits around the house. But it's like his parts, yeah, or like she's lazy and then she's like, but at the end of the day, like yeah, but like in this case, it was just like, you don't deserve to be here, and it's like calm down, bud. Like, what's your deal? It was so intense. But yeah, so then uh she's also talking about how the um, you know, she's organizing the cockroaches, and it's like this really disgusting thing of all these cockroaches marching around a house. The cockroaches, the most normal costuming choice, they just look like showgirls. Like they're women in cows. Yes, I was like, my god, we could have had a whole movie of this, and it's great. It's okay. They get eaten. A bunch of them get eaten. A bunch of them get eaten, just munched on. Um, this is the point where Jenny Andydots um unzips her skin to show off a her fur, her fur, excuse me, to show off like a little showgirl outfit. And I said, I was like, why do you have to do this? All the other cats are just wearing clothes normally. I don't know why there's a layer situation. Also, the consistency between wearing clothes, not wearing clothes, wild, don't understand it. Can't tell what's actually supposed to be skin and what's supposed to be a coat. Sometimes I'm like, okay, that's just your whole thing. And then I would see them without a coat. I'm like, that's that's wrong. Don't like it. Weird. So I would say that all clothing was clothing.

SPEAKER_01 55:21

I don't think any of it was legit cat. Yeah. Yeah, I started to think that. Okay, so because I I think McCavity proved that.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

My my fucking God. Yep. He sure we will get there.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

But he at the end of it, I was like, Yeah, that's not that's not part of you.

SPEAKER_02 55:35

Yeah, I I recoiled from my TV. I went, oh, we'll get there. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 55:42

Yeah, so then we get to um, you know, we are finishing up this, you know, cute little song and dance, and we cut to uh Rumtum Tugger, who is played by Jason DeRulo, um, who honestly, I didn't hate. Feels right. I think it felt right. It fit the vibe of this character. But basically, it's like, oh, this, it's like, you know, what are you doing? Your song's so out lame and outdated. I'll show you how it's done. And then he does his, you know, jazzy little number where he is just, you know, very contrary and is uh set in his own ways, but also he, you know, as soon as you close the door and let him outside, he wants to come back inside. Um, which is he's a curious guest. Yes, which is just being a cat. Here's my note that says I don't hate Jason DeRulous, but I am waiting for him to say Jason DeRulo in this song.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

I just just constantly. I'm just like that voice. I'm like, you you need to Jason DeRulo.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

I'm waiting for it at any point in time. It was maybe at the milk bar. God, yeah. Oh my god, like it's fine. Clockwork orange, what's happening here? Why?

SPEAKER_01 56:45

I have not seen Clockwork Orange. It's it's it's a lot. We probably won't watch that one. It's not a fun watch. Woohoo! Yeah, cool. You're off the hook. The one thing here was like, this is like the one cat that apparently has like sex appeal with the other cats because he has like groupies, and Victoria's like, yo, what's up? And he's like, Yeah, and then like, fuck y'all at the end. I'm like, what is happening here? Yeah, he's the one with swag basically, but like accessible. Although he's the one that I feel like changed the song the most too in my brain.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

I think his parts of it are very changed. I think this one didn't throw me off as much because it has a chorus that calls you back to it. That is like the chorus singing it's fair, is still like the the day.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

Yeah, exactly. Like that's still consistent. We have to sing at some point. We absolutely do.

SPEAKER_03 57:37

Yeah. But yeah, so we've got Jenny is hanging back and talking to um Monkus Trap. My God, I keep forgetting his name. I hate this. Um, yeah, she's like talking shit to Monkus Trap, and she's like, oh, that's you know, makes like a neutering joke, and it's just like, I can do that. That's not that cool. Oh, yes, because he sings so hard. It's like, oh, those high notes. Yeah, it's like, what is happening here? It's very funny. Yeah, that was really weird. But yeah, so we get, you know, we get through this whole this whole song where Rum Tom Tugger is the guy who has swag, basically. Um, but then we come across a oh god, what is it? Is this when he's everyone's leaving and he sort of like he hisses at hisses at someone kind of a scruffier looking cat in the street, and it is Grizabella, played by Jennifer Hudson. And I was like, oh my god, okay. Did you know this or remember this? I fully forgot that she was in it. And I was like, I like I like this choice. This is a good choice. Yes, yeah. This this was correct. Genuinely, I was like, Jennifer Hudson, yeah, you have the voice for this. Um, so we get the little bit of backstory um because thank goodness we have a new person. We have Victoria, who is our audience stand-in of like, I don't know what's going on. It's like, well, let's tell you. So Grizabella was at a at one point the glamour cat. Um, she was the star of the windmill and then went to hang out with McCavity, and now she lives in the wasteland. And I was like, am I supposed to know what all of these things are? Like it's it sounds like I don't remember any of this. No, I just remember that she was like old, basically, and everyone was like, Oh, that's what I thought old. Yeah, which isn't better.

SPEAKER_01 59:18

No, it's not better. Like, not better that we were we were ages. Exactly, yeah, you know, 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 59:25

Now it just it it feels very like fallen woman. It feels very like slut shamey kind of. It's just like, oh, she was with a man.

SPEAKER_01 59:32

I'm like, what do you mean? And I don't even know. I'm like, what does that mean? Because the more we found out about McCavity, I'm like, what did he do to her? Yes, exactly. Where the fuck are the waistlands? What is this? I don't know. I also didn't realize because they mentioned it in the song that she has like a scar around her eye. And I was like, that obviously was not in the stage production because no one would see it. I feel like in the song it's in there. It's in there. Okay. I was like, because you could see her face. I was like, oh yeah, it does have that. But yeah, this is also done. Wasn't it also done by like the bitchy cats too? Yeah. So it wasn't even like Monka Strap was doing it, it was like these bitches were like, oh, old old woman that I don't know, I don't know. An old, yeah. A fallen old woman used to be pretty. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:18

Yeah, it's like we're the pretty ones now. Fuck off, Grisabella. Like it kind of yeah, like it's it's truly, I'm like, I I this is especially the point where I was like, I'm so fucking glad I know this musical because I would have no frame of reference for anything that was happening. I would have paused, I would have been chase, I would have paused so many times and gone, what the fuck is the heavy side layer? What are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

What's crazy is he didn't pause once. I think even was he was he just caught up in the momentum and was just like I think every time he had a question that was onto the next thing that he had a question about, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:55

I don't remember talking a lot during it. Yeah, because he was really right. That's what I feel like, yeah. And I don't even remember him having that many questions. I was just like, I was confused, and I was like, this is not what I remember. And he was like, I don't know what I just watched.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

So you need to explain this, and you went, I disavow this.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:12

I I can't, I can't. Oh god. Okay. So so yeah, so now um we, you know, successfully shamed Grizabella into retreating back to the shadows, and now we're back to Whimsy, and now we go hang out with uh Bustafer Jones, played by James Corden, who is just a guy who likes to eat a lot, and that's pretty much it. And he's in a tuxedo cat. Yeah, he's a tuxedo cat, and he's in a tuxedo, and it's it's James Corden at his most blustery, you know, best slash worst. In the in the meantime, um uh Jenny Annie Dots is outside and uh McCavity starts talking to her. I think he like hypes her up a little bit and it's like, oh, you know, you sound you sound so great. You you know, you're doing such a good job. And then she realizes that it's like she sees like the wanted poster or something. Why are there reward posters for McCavity? I don't know. They're cats. What's happening? Is he wanting who's doing that?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

Is he like, do the cops want him? What's happening? Well, according to the song, it was always McCavity's not there. And you're gonna crime did he commit.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

He is wanted by Scotland Yard. You're not wrong. That's in committed people crimes. He's a war criminal.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:26

We don't know. And you know where we won't get that answer? This fucking movie.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:34

We will never know. Or anyway. No, absolutely not. So, yes, no we so at this point, Jenny Eddie Dots looks up and sees the wanted poster of McAfity and goes, oh no, it's you. And then he murders her, question mark. He touches her, they just know, and they both disappear into a weird thing. And this is I hadn't clocked it by this point, but he says something every time he disappears or disappears with something. He just will say, just like sometimes it is meow and he just disappears in a little puff of it. I oh my god, I literally, I was thinking about it the next day. I rewound it a couple times. I will point some of them out because they're crazy. Um I didn't even notice he just like says shit as the smoke. Emily, they are buckwild choices. We'll get to one in just in literally two lines later. Yeah, so we get to the end of Buster Jones's song, um, where he is knocking over trash cans um and sharing with all his friends, and then we get to him seeing a gigantic uh, you know, not trash can full of, you know, delicious looking trash. And McCavity's like, you should just jump into it. You're a really good jumper. And Buster goes, Yeah, you're right. And he jumps into it, and it's uh like a chimney. It looks like he maybe falls to his death. I'm very confused. A giant hole. Yeah, just a big old hole. And then McCavity disappears, but at this point, he says ineffable and disappears. It's like he just it's just words, and literally what does that mean? I think ineffable oh god, ineffable means uh it means uh too great or extreme to be expressed or described by words. Like like in like inconceivable, basically. Um, but what the way that he says this makes me think, you know, in the Barbie movie where Ken is in the Mojo Dogasa house and Barbie comes to like talk to him and is like, hey, I want to hang out, and he's like, would you excuse me for a moment? And he steps to the side and he goes, sublime, and then he comes back and is real casual.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:39

It's that that's the vibe of him saying ineffable and disappearing into smoke.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:45

It's funny. It's because I didn't realize he did that, because that makes sense at the end now where he tries to do it again and he says that word, and I was like, What? Okay, that's so funny. There's there's a second instance that made me laugh out loud.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:58

I rewound it twice, and then I thought about it the next day. I will get to it, but it's like I feel it. I have to look I feel insane. I feel absolutely crazy. I was like, What's what is this? Yep, so so two down. Yeah, yeah, two down. We are Jenny and Bustafer are gonna be. Exactly. Yeah, this is just becoming an Agatha Christie novel as we speak. Yeah, so ever as everyone is scattering, um, Victoria gets yoinked by um two two cats who match. Um, they are Mongo Jerry and Rumpeleteaser. And this is the first song that was so weirdly paced to me. I was wondering if it was gonna be Syncopation. It's just it sounds nothing like the like the other arrangement of the song. This is the one where I was like, I know who you are because you said your names, but I'm just like, this song is unrecognizable. Like the pacing of it is entirely different. So many spaces, yeah. But yeah, so so basically they are like, hey, we're gonna rob this place. And Victoria's like, this seems fun. These are my friends.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

Does she really not realize that they're robbing people? Or she's just-I feel like she just gets caught up in like the mischief when all the while they're like putting shit on her to stab.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:13

Yeah, yeah. They're like, you are our mule. You're going to hold all of this stuff for us. But also, so in this scene, truly they all have the three of them some wild chemistry. Victoria is giving them like the most specific like bedroom eyes in several instances. I'm like, what is happening between the three of y'all? Like, what's up? Yeah. She was getting it. Yeah, no, truly, she was like, oh my God, is it crazy if like I'm about this? I was like, the chemistry here is off the charts. Insane.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:45

But also, like, this is where the size gets really fucked up too. Cause like they're putting like a ring on her wrist, and I was like, that's not how cats know. And like what something else? But it was specifically the ring was like the big one for me, but like the pearls and other stuff, and I was like, none of this was correct. Yeah, and then like none of it. And then, like, hold all of that.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:03

Yeah, I'm just like, tell me you've never seen a cat before. Like, it's fine. Just like just say it, please. But they used references community.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:14

It's like one guy's not half cat. It's one guy's cat. It's like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:17

Here it's her. I don't know. God. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:21

They asked Taylor Swift for her cat pictures.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:24

Yeah, I just I just I don't know. Yeah. It yeah, this the scale and the store cat burgers. Yeah, yeah. They're like, we're gonna steal some shit. I mean, uh, just create some mischief. And Victoria's like, okay, somehow they've done all of this shit, destroyed so much other stuff, but a vase breaks downstairs, and then there is a dog that finally gets alerted. And I was like, really? Not at all, not before this at all. It was fine. Um, so at that point, um, all three of them are like, we gotta split. And Victoria is uh tangled up in jewelry that they have been muling onto her. Um, and uh they sneakily slink away um and leave Victoria to get caught. And luckily we get Mr. Mistopheles is coming to save the day. So he uh no, he like fully fails at like getting her. No, like she gets herself like untangled, right? I yeah, I don't remember any magic. I feel like he just helped kind of get it. Yeah, and then she like runs to like close the door um to shut this dog out, and then he magically pulls an entire like bone out of his hat and throws it for the dog. And then they almost kiss as they're saved from the dog. It's like, oh my god, you saved my life. Like we get this weird little chemistry. He was also like, I was looking for you everywhere. Exactly. It's like she went one place. What do you mean everywhere? How many places do y'all go? What's what do you mean? Also, why, dude? You just made it be chill. Play it cool for once in your life, Mr. Mistopheles. Come on. A sentence I never thought I'd say. Jesus Christ. Um, but yeah, so so then so then we get some actual resolution to what the fuck is happening to people. So we get uh Well, wait, he says, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:10

Mr. Mysopheles is like, oh Deuteronomy's coming. Like we gotta. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:14

Yeah, the um the jellico ball is about to begin. So then we we get to uh Jenny Any Dots and Bustafer on a barge in the middle of the Thames. They've gotten magic there by McCavity, uh, who is getting the competition out of the way so he can win. And this, I wish I'd written it down, but I said his little disappearance noises noises are wild. Um, I didn't write down which one what he said at this point, but he just literally just like like nightcrawler just banfs out of situations. He does crazy. Um and then uh Growl Tiger, the cat that is guarding them, um The barge cat? He gets a little song that he's a cat who lives on a barge. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:55

And doesn't rhyme Thames, correctly.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:57

Yeah, yeah. He says uh Thames or Thames, uh, which is you know, it's cute. It's a little funny. Um, but yeah, so now we uh Victoria and Mr. Missaphelies meet up with the gang outside of the Egyptian to wait for old Deuteronomy. Um she we get we get the backstory that she has lived many lives.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:16

I'm so sorry. When they come up, Monca Strap is like, where the fuck have you been? Oh yeah. And then and then Victoria looks like really because she still has the one ring on her paw and she's like, uh, and then Mr. Phistopheles is like, oh, that's mine. Thanks for holding that for me, babe. Yeah. But I'm like, who are you, Monca Strap? To like like, why are you being so judgy of this woman? You don't like I just the whole the whole little it was like a second, but it was like this was weird.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:47

What is your monkastrap has such middled management energy? He's like, everything's gotta be perfect. The GM's coming in. And it's like, hey bro, but it's like, where were you? And you're like, I just met you 30 minutes ago. I don't have a skip. Why are you mad at me? I'm still on like new higher orientation. I don't have a time card yet, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:06

Give me a break. Also, get out of my business. Yeah. So what if I have the show? Like, get away. Yeah, also it's not your fucking business, monkus trap.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:15

No, it's these are some insane sentences that we're saying, and I'm really enjoying them.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:24

My god. Yes, I'm sorry, but yes, all Deuteronomy is here. We get to find out stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:29

Yeah, so so we find out that she has lived through like so many ages of like queens and stuff, and basically she's just old as hell. She has lived many lives. Um, and then she she ambles in out of the mist. Uh, she is greeted by everyone. Um, her voice is lovely for this, and I actually really like her as old Deuteronomy. Literally, I was like, Dame Judy Dench, what have they done to you? But I'm like, honestly, I I love this, so many elements of this for her. But yeah, they're just except for how her skin tone matched her fur. Oh my god, so unsettling. Okay, so she was one of the ones where I was like, coat, fur, uh, sweater, what's up? Like, I don't know where you're where the line between wearing clothing and and yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:16

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:17

Yeah, yeah. No, I know it's just. I don't know if she's just like one of those cats that has like a lot, like it's old, so they have a lot of like loose skin, you know? Oh god. I mean, like it's it's like like when they get older and just like like the you know, your body mass shrinks, so your skin's just like kind of hanging out.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:31

So maybe she's just like kind of like skin and fluff at that point. I don't know. Doesn't old Deuteronomy in the musical have like a big big colour. I think so. Like drags behind it with it?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:40

Yeah, yeah, I think I think so. But also it's I don't know, it's like in this one, it's the point between like, are you wearing clothes? Is this just sort of a a thing? Sure. Yeah, I don't know. She was the one where I was like, I don't know what you're doing. But also I'm like, imagine, imagine Dame Judy Dench in a bodysuit. We're not doing that to her. No. No. She's no, we could never. So this is kind of the I I'm I'm sure the the the compromise there. But yeah, so so it is it is time to make the jellical choice. Um, so she starts leading everyone into the Egyptian theater where they are straight up breaking in. Um we get uh Sir Ian McKellen. It looked, it looked very close, but also it was like it seemed very no trespassing, and it's like we're gonna trespass all the time. For sure. Um, we get Sir Ian McKellen. And then we get this what looks literally the closest to an actual dance number from the actual musical when they're all getting into the Egyptian theater, and like, you know, I'm trying to remember if there are lyrics to this or if it's just like just like the the dance number. The yes, it's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:49

Um, I feel like it was just dancing, but this felt weird dancing, like it felt like they were possessed. Yes, it did, yeah, it did. This didn't feel right, also because Victoria was not picking up on the choreography in the video. And I was like, what? And then she finally gets it, and then I was like, I don't know what's happening. It felt like they were all high or something like this.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:10

Yeah. We get so Grizabella also has has uh come in from the outside and is is joining sort of on the outskirts of the theater. Those weird fucking girls keep bullying her and are just like, what the fuck are you doing here? Um it's honestly, I'm like, I'm so stressed out by them. I hate them. This is where my note is why are these two straight up wearing sneakers?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:34

Yes. And then this is when I noticed our fucking, I called it a dapper cat before I knew who it was. It was the guy in the red, the red overalls and the mustache who ends up being skimmel shanks, but I was like, who the fuck is this dapper cat who has pants on and no one else does it?

SPEAKER_04 1:14:50

This guy straight up has pants. Yeah, exactly. Straight up red pants and tap shoes.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:55

It's like an orange and tap shoes, we find out too. Yes, yes, yeah. It's and and this is specifically where my note says the problem is I don't believe a single dance move because there's so much CGI. I can't tell what is a real human motion because there's it's just it's so distracting. Like there's so much going on. They all have tails, and I'm like, I know that your ass can't do that, but like, can your feet do that? I don't know. I'm not really sure. I'm unclear. Like it's I don't know. Like, I just it this is another one where I was like, the dance itself was very cool, and it seemed like it seemed closer to like, you know, what you would see in like a stage musical. But I was also like, I don't believe you. And I want to. I want to believe that these are good, trained, skilled dancers, and I want to see that, but it's just it's really hard. It's like that suspension of disbelief is just not, I don't know. But yeah, so we get um uh Jennifer Hudson uh as Grizzabella has been chased back out into the street. Um, she is. I said at this point she's giving this movie too much. She really just needs to do memory as a single because she's crushing it. I was like, I don't know if you need to be in this movie, girl. I don't know what to tell you. Um, but yeah, so she um is you know singing mournfully out in the street.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:14

Well, because Victoria goes out to like get some air or whatever. Because she's the one that's curious about Grisabella.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:20

Uh nobody else cares. I I thought that Victoria was following her. Like I thought Victoria saw her leave and walked out.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:27

Oh, maybe. I don't know, because it was like all the cats like fall down at the end of this dance again. Yeah, and then she's like, I gotta go and leave. Yeah. Yeah. So I wasn't sure if it was like for me, it was like this is too much. I have to walk out for a second. But maybe she was following her, I'm not sure. Yeah. But she stays, and then yeah, we get we get at least part of memory.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:46

Yeah, we get sort of like the first, yeah, like the first little like like refrains of it. Um, but uh she sees Victoria and Victoria Victoria like bows to her and sing and this is where I wrote I was like, this song doesn't fit with the rest of the musical because it actually makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:02

Yeah, so old Deuteronomy sees this. Oh, she does, I forgot. Yes, she sees it from a window. And Grisabella walks away.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:08

But yeah, so the the whole song, like the the summary, it's like I've wanted a home and I hope that this is, you know, I my past is, you know, full of like how do you summarize this song? It's like if like even if beautiful like even if even if bad things are still happening, I have these beautiful things in my past to think about.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:25

Yeah, and it and it felt like I feel like it was a weird approach because it to me it felt like she was singing it at Grizabella, saying, All my life, like I wanted something, but at least you had something to think back on, even if you don't now. And I was like, kind of seems rude because Grizabella's not doing great right now. Yeah. And you gotta be like, well, at least you had this in your lifetime. So I don't know. It just it felt kind of off, even though it was a very pretty song. It's a pretty song, it's very tone-deaf. That's what I mean. Yeah, I was like, you just saw her like be so upset and and like all this stuff, and then you're like, Well, at least you had these really great memories. And it's like, bitch, no, I don't have a good thing. Also, you've been here for like four hours, girl. Read the room. You're yeah, you don't know anyway. You're new here. Yes, yeah, yeah. And she's like, Well, I'll never have those things, so at least you did. And it's like, you're young too, cat Kristen. I don't know exactly. None of it made sense.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:30

Yeah, no, it's it's it was unnecessary, like misplaced wisdom from Victoria. And I was like, Okay, all right, fine. Very strange. Um, but yeah, so um Grisabella kind of acknowledges her and then you know walks sadly off and doesn't we don't see her take it to heart. She leaves. Um, so Victoria comes back to the theater. Old Deuteronomy saw her, um, and uh said, you know, invites her in to watch her make the make the jellico choice. And Victoria goes, but I'm not a jellico cat. And she goes, Not yet. And I was like, what does that mean? Well, never I said, no one knows what that means.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:07

It's fine. And I was like, just just say she is. You don't fucking know. It's fine. Well, she's new, she has to be Hayes, too.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:15

Yeah, exactly. We have to bully you first. We have to put you through all of this bullshit. But yeah, so we so we get inside. Um, and the the first performance uh inside is gonna be um from Sir Ian McKellen, who is Gus the Theater Cat. And I do I do love him as Gus the Theater Cat, which is very cute. Um so fucking weird as a cat. Oh my god. Like later on, we get he's got so much like eyeliner. I'm like, I love you, but Jesus Christ, buddy. This is no Yeah, I was like, this is hilarious. So yeah, um uh Mr. Mistopheles is kind of his like uh support, his like stage hand essentially. I did write this down. Mr. Mistopheles uh asks, um, oh, do you ever get nervous? And guest is like, no, I never get nervous nervous. It's just practice, practice, practice, and then nothing can go wrong. And I was like, I that's wild.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:05

I was like, okay, bud. But then, but then you saw all the like superstitious things that he was doing as he was going on stage. He was like, crosspaws, touch this, do this. And he like said some stuff, and I was like, You're a superstitious little thing. I was just like, you're a theater kid, and I like this.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:20

Yeah. Um, but yeah, yeah. So we get um uh old Deuteronomy is in a little basket, waiting for this performance to start.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:28

The basket is where the hand No, really, with the ring. Oh my god. Yes. I had to rewind it. I'm going to send you the picture. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Because it was really hard because the way that I was watching it was prime, and of course it has all this shit on the screen when you pause. I was like, do you want to pop up a little while it was going? Yes. But it was like multiple times when they showed her in the bed, her hand on the bed is like her hand, and you can see her website. Oh my god. Holy shit, you're so right. But I would not have seen that, I think, if I hadn't read that note and looked like noticed it.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:04

What's funny is that is so deeply uncanny, Valley. Like it's just like, here is all of this and a human hand. And I'm like, I am, I don't know why I'm so it's all yeah, it's like I don't know why I'm so creeped out by this, but that that would that would do it. Yes. Oh my god. Thank you. Thank you for thank you for sharing that with me. I appreciate that. But yeah, so then we get um Gus the Theater Cat and his uh cute little song. Um, and then this is where I wrote, Don't you dare make me cry, you dumb fucking movie. Because I here's the thing. I've cried at every musical I think I've ever seen. I've never not cried in a musical. Even, even not great. I cried at Book of Mormon. About I cried during what is um the song about Salt Lake City. Okay, that's a good song. No, literally, it's like it's like whatever, like, like there's gonna be like one emotional song. The lust. Yeah, there's there's gonna be one fucking song. But then also for me, what will hit me is like a really good bit of like harmony and like everyone singing together. I'm just like, oh fuck you, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:09

And it or when they hit the the note in the song, and you're like, no, okay, okay, yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:14

I've never gone to a musical and not cried. I've cried at every musical I've ever been to, ever. Yeah, it's it's crazy. Yeah, I don't know. And like listening to it on my own, usually fine, but listening to it like like seeing it on a stage, I'm just like, oh my god, what is happening? So with this one, I was just like, this is a movie musical. This is a bad movie. Don't do this to me. Don't you dare. But I was just like, oh, okay, Gus the theater cat. And I was like a little worried about him. I was like, oh no, like, are you are you good? Are you gonna make it? Like, please live. Don't I don't want anything bad to happen to you because I I feel like I don't know, I feel like there's like versions of it where it's like yeah, like it does very much feel like Gus is like fading into starlight, and it's like, okay, bye Gus. But I'm like, I don't know, I don't know what the vibe is. I'm glad that did not happen. But so he yeah, so he he finishes his song. And then Judy Dench makes this choice where she makes this sassy little leg kick when he finishes his song, like she just goes leg straight up in the air, and I was like, why?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:19

Cat why what do you mean? I just do that, obviously. I was just like, this is a wild choice. I hate this.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:28

Hey, they're flirting, it's okay. She's watching him very the chemistry is off the charts.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:34

I mean, truly honestly, yeah, it's very cute. Um, but yeah, so then we and you know, Gus is finished with the song and he goes backstage. Um, and then we hear, you know, sort of in the in the shadows, it's like, oh, you know, you were wonderful. Can I have your autograph? And it's oh no, it's McCavity. And yes, and Gus realizes who it is. And this this is the worst one because he grabs Gus, and as they disappear in a cloud of spook, he goes, McCavity. I I swear to I s he says his own. Yes, he does. And it's not the only time that he does it, but this is the only time where he goes, McCavity.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:10

And I I need to look for like a supercut of all of these. Oh my god. I honestly got like all McCavity.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:18

Yeah, you you gotta like it's god, it's it's it's so funny. Yeah, it's crazy. But um, but yeah, I wrote, oh no, this is the worst one. And then so I when I texted you, I needed to go to sleep. And so I was like, I have another like 20 minutes. I was like, I will watch it tomorrow. So I finished watching it yesterday. So then I came back to my notes and I said, no, I was wrong. This is the best one. I'm still thinking about it a day later. I have been thinking about the the McCavity.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:47

I've been thinking about that for two full days now. It has not left my brain. Rent-free.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:52

I hate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:53

I'm so I'm so mad that it's in my brain. So this has to be part of your rating at the end. How many whys of McCavity? McCavity! Or no, I was just gonna say this has to be like, you know, a plus point five at least that you've been thinking about it for two days.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:08

This is just gonna be my letterbox review. McCavity! McCavity.

unknown 1:25:15

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:17

Oh god, I'm gonna do that next time I leave a room.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:20

Oh god. Anyways, oh, oh, that could be uh your side on me.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:38

That might have to be it. Oh no. God oh boy Oh dumb. Oh God, it really does. And then you just find you fade it out. I can do that. Oh god. Oh the music.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:06

Oh no, I've killed you. No God, okay. Um now the question is do we both do that? You know, we'll we'll we'll see. We'll see how the spirit moves us, you know? It has to happen organically, so maybe that's yours and I have to say. Yeah, oh god.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:28

This is so stupid. If this ends up being a fucking thing that we do, this is gonna be wild for anyone who has to be.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:36

Listen, I I love committing, I love committing to a bit for no one but if everyone but us hates this, I'm fine. That's two people who are having a good time.

unknown 1:26:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:54

All right. Get it together. We talk about my stomach. We gotta talk about Skimbleshanks. Get it together.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:00

Oh my god. Fucking I his oh my god. Okay, so then we get to uh Skimble Shanks, the railway cat. He is such a little diva. He's got his little pants and his little suspenders and his little hat and a jaunty mustache um and tap shoes, which I said, which once again I do not believe. Sorry to this man. I'm sure he's probably a tap dancer. He was great. I liked him a lot, honestly. This song was the closest to like it didn't do as much crazy, not even crazy, it didn't do as much stuff, like it it stayed so recognizable and was was still enjoyable as it was.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:39

Was the song I liked this, it was cute. I did too. What's crazy though is I remember as a kid not caring about this song. Yeah. This was not the song that I was like, yeah, I want to sing. Yeah. But I remember the the Oh yeah. God, like the tempo changes. So familiar. Yeah. Yeah, such good stuff with single. We changed locations so quickly. Oh my god. Yes. We are on a railway. It is not the right size. Nobody looks at the room. We are crossing the Thames, maybe. We are on a train. Yes. And everyone is too small. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:16

Oh my God. Yes. Yeah, it's it's wild. We're dancing across the Thames. We're on a railroad on the train? Discontinuously. I know that they added a new verse. I can tell that the verse is new because the rhyme scheme was different. No. Lazy. Didn't care for that. And you're like, Weber, what the fuck? They slack it off. I think at this point too busy working with I know. I think at this point he was already like, I'm good. You guys got it from here. You're fine. Yeah. I thought Skibbleshikes was adorable. I like this song a whole bunch. I thought it was really nice. Um, but then we get all the way back to the Egyptian. Um, and he we're, you know, dancing a bunch and we are wrapping up the song, and then he does a jaunty little spin and then keeps spinning up into the sky, and then he disappears. I said, Oh no, McCavity got him. Yeah, for real. He got got. Yes, and then finally everyone's like, oh my god, he just disappeared. What's going on? Because no one has seen anyone else disappear like that. Um, and then we finally get McCavity's song, which I forgot McCavity does not sing. We get a cat, we get Bombolarina played by Taylor Swift with a bad British accent. That was a little rough. I was like, oh, Taylor. Yeah, she was very much picking and choosing the words that she included the British accent on. It was really just the awe vowels. Like, that was about it. But yeah, so she uh comes down on like a sculpture of the moon. She has a shaker of catnip question mark that she like drugs everybody, essentially. Wild. Um, MongoJerry and Rumble Teaser are her accomplices. I think she is singing this song so by the book. And I think it's because she does not care about this song because she doesn't have any of her own like sauce to add to it. It's just, I don't know, it's so like, here is the way the song is written. We're doing this. And I was like, you like, I feel like everyone else had like personality that they were bringing into it. And I was like, this felt very rigid to me for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:18

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_03 1:30:19

I mean, uh, this is like one of my. I didn't mind it, but I th for me, like it just it sounded like the song that I remembered and expected. And I think especially for a song that, you know, prominent singer Taylor Swift would do, it seemed like something that would, you know, I don't know if it would have a little bit more personality to it, but it was good. Yeah. Like it was objectively like a very good song.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:42

Yeah. Yeah. I think it was just, it was just kind of the song. You're right. She didn't do, but like, I don't know enough about Taylor Swift's music to be like, oh yeah, she did her Taylor Swift. Yeah, it's like, oh, that's not like it's like like Jennifer Hudson put her, you know, like her flavor on top. Yeah, yeah. Or like, like to me, who is not, I am not a Swifty. I l I like her, but I don't know her music well enough to be like, yeah, this is her style of her thing or whatever. So it's like she sang the song, she did the moves. It worked, it was cute, it worked. If you give me a I will find a note about the catnip that I didn't write. Oh, please, yes. Because it it's allegedly was a reference to something. Oh, because it was not uh this was not in the musical. Oh, I got it. Okay. So during this scene where uh Bomballerina is lounging on a moon, sprinkling powder from a can marked catnip is a reference to a large sign depicting a lighted crescent moon with a cocaine spoon that hung in the infamous Studio 54 nightclub during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Ooh. So And then it goes on to explain that you know catnip is described by veterinarians as like, you know, kind of a co-creating drug for cats. So which so pe if people didn't know that, but yes, um, so that it is a reference to something. Okay, allegedly. That's fun. Yes, and because we're in a club, she's like a kind of a loungy singer person, whatever. I don't have the picture for you at all. Oh no, you're fine. That's fun though. I didn't know that. Yes, but yeah, it felt wild at the time. And also during it, we've got Mongo Jerry and Rumpelteaser fucking helping. Oh, and Griddlebow. Oh yeah. Like all Yeah, we have accomplices.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:33

Yeah, which McCavity never had. No. But also, here's the thing. I don't think the musical, like the stage musical, has a plot. In the grand scheme of things, nothing fucking happens in that musical. The idea of like, oh, this, it's like, oh, you know, he didn't have accomplices.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:48

I'm like, he shows up. He that's about it. He doesn't even have a song. Like, he has a song about him. He simply, he simply shows up and is like sexy and then leaves.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:00

Yeah. I remember really liking this song. Yes! Yeah, I'm like, okay, vibes. Do I need to watch this? I I think you should watch this real quick.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:10

Unless well, unless it will unless it will derealize for another minute. No, yeah, go for it.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:25

Just see I was truly inspirational and scary.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:38

The next contestant is what?

SPEAKER_03 1:33:41

Yeah. McCavity. Yeah, that's what I have been thinking. With all seriousness, yes, so sincere, I've been thinking about it for two days. Oh my god. Okay. I I may never move on, unfortunately. So yeah, so we have um uh Taylor Swift, Bombowerina, um, singing the McCavity song, and then we finally get fucking McCavity, who is no longer wearing the coat and the hat. I said, no, put the coat back on. I hate this. It is the wildest, uncanny valley of oh my god. And it's like, it's not like it is imagine like very sleek, like not even like cat, like sleek like panther, large cat fur, like clinging to skin, no like fluff or volume or anything. That is what this man is covered in, and it is skin toned, and it is I recoiled from my TV. I was like, what is happening? My god, I had it's rough. This movie was a roller coaster from start to finish. I never knew what the fuck was gonna happen. I kind of remembered the songs that were in this musical. My god, nothing prepared me for this. I thought I really, god, I hoped he was gonna wear the coat the whole time. I was like, I can deal with this. I can, I this is fine. It made sense. No, that it uh yeah, that it was oh god, it's a choice. So yeah, so then we um he finishes his his saucy dance number, grabs old Deuteronomy, and uh teleports with her to the top of these like stairs that are within the Egyptian, which I thought led up to the heavyside lair. It doesn't, we find out later. Yeah, I was like, okay, what is this? Um and so he's like, all right, sounds good. I eliminated all of the other uh contestants, so you should pick me to be reincarnated, question mark. And she's like, she says, No, I'll never do that. I only judge a cat by its soul. And he uh does not take that as an answer and poofs her out to the barge along with everybody else, and then uh is going to make her walk the plank in the of the barge out into the Thames. Cats can't swim. No, cats famously, cats don't know how to swim. That's exactly it. Um so at this point we uh hop back to the Egyptian.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:08

Um, everyone is because she says, like never. And then that like wakes everyone up out of their high for some reason because it echoes across the land or something.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:16

Yeah, it's like everyone gets undrugged. Um uh mongo jerry and rumble teaser are like, we didn't know he was gonna capture her. And I'm like, what the fuck did you think was gonna happen?

SPEAKER_01 1:36:26

Well, yeah, we just thought it was for fun. Yeah, we're just gonna drug every cat in here and think it's gonna be shit.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:31

Truly, it was like I it was such, I was just following orders, vibes from Mongo Jerry and Rumble teaser. I think there probably were criminals along with McCavity. They're wanted as well. Absolutely. But yeah, so so then we're you know, we're at the Egyptian and just trying to figure, you know, figure it out. Uh someone says, Well, we can't just magic her back, and Victoria, the new kid, goes, Yes, we can. And I was like, Girl, you're new here. What the fuck do you know? But then we look over and it is time for Mr. Mistopheles' song. And it is insane that this song has such high stakes.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:05

It it is odd when truly there are no stakes in the original musical to this song. Mr. Mistopheles is the little guy. A little guy who does magic, and you're like, that's cute. Imagine. He is a little guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:18

Yeah, it's like, oh, you do you do some fun stuff. What if you performed a teleportation?

SPEAKER_01 1:37:23

What if you astro projected someone that you've never done before while she's about to.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:29

How hard could that be?

SPEAKER_01 1:37:30

No pressure, my guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:32

Absolutely not. I was like, the stakes are crazy high. And it's so we so we get this song that is normally very, very, you know, jaunty and fun. It's very light, and it is, it feels so tense and high stakes. And the the chorus is just it's a pep talk now. Like it's just like you're, you know, it's like you remember you can do other things. Like you can do it. It's such big like Tinkerbell vibes. Like, we all need to clap for Mr. Mistopheles, so he does the trick. It's wild. And I immediately was like, this is gonna get stuck in my head. I absolutely know it. Um, and it it has absolutely been stuck in my head for two days now. Um yeah, so we, you know, we gear up and we are trying to poof old Deuteronomy back into her fancy basket. And every time they look at it and lift up the blanket like she's very small, and it's like she's not under there. It's like, bro, what did you think was going to happen? So then on the third one, we have sung all like we've sung so much of the song, we've hyped up Mr. Bistopheles, and he does one more poof, and there's nothing in the basket, and everyone gets really sad. And then we hear the refrain of the song from behind them, and I'll do Ruteronomy is totally fine. And she's like, Oh my god, you did such a good job, and everyone's totally cool. And now that he believes in himself, he can fly a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:50

I don't know, and make instruments fly and play music at the same time.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:54

He leveled up, he has telekinesis now, he's crushing it, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:00

But like we're fully celebrating, and while meanwhile, old Deuteronomy knows that there are still other cats on the bars. She is not a team player, like we need we need to talk about how she's like absolutely yeah, we need to talk about how she abandoned everybody else. She's like, whew. Absolutely. She's like, Oh, this is amazing. I'm fine. And I was like, We're not gonna send anyone over now that we have magic, we're not sending anyone over to the bar.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:26

No one else knows that they're fucking there. All Deuteronomy is the only one who saw them. And said nothing. You're not gonna say that. Oh, Deuteronomy is complicit. At no point is there the others, what others? What do you mean? What about the others? Yeah, we'll we'll talk about them later.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:46

But um, but yeah, so then he looks very excited. Um, and then he uh uh Mr. Mesopheles is, you know, dancing. There's the round of the very repetitive chorus of the song that everyone knows by the end of this. And then uh he and Victoria almost kiss, and then they don't, and then he poofs up next to old Deuteronomy and nose nuzzles her. And I was like, imagine doing that to Dame Judy Dench. My god, like as a like a person, not just as a cap, not as like a we're acting like low cap person. It's just like imagine anyone who you're like, hey, I'm a really big fan, and going, hey, can I like boop your nose real quick? Are we good? Like that's my god, so deeply normal. It's insane. But yeah, so so at this point, uh Victoria's like, you know, I think now is my time, and so she sneaks back out to uh call Grizabella back. In the meantime, we go back to the barge, and McCavity is like, what the fuck just happened? She's gone, what the hell? And then he and Bob Lorina uh poof away. Um, so at this point, Jenny Annie Dots finally, she's had this ace up her sleeve all the whole time, finally uns Wait, does McCavity say anything when they're gonna be? I don't remember. I think at this point he's go I think he said meow at this one. He said he cycled between ineffable, McCavity, and meow. Okay. He's I think those are the three. Um yeah. That makes sense. Here's the thing. I cannot rewatch this movie to clock all of them. I simply I simply make them. That's why I'm gonna look for the super. So um at that point, uh they disappear. And then at this point, Jenny Annie Dots finally uses the ace upper sleeves and unzips her weird bodysuit, her skin suit, and goes, Oh, I can slip through these bars or like out of these chains that are locking me up. And everyone else is like, oh, cool. All we have to do is slightly move and then uh gang up on um oh god, what is his name? Growltiger. Growltiger. Was he the only one? He was the only one. Yeah, because the other one was Griddle. Yeah, and she was and she was back at the um Griddlebone. Yeah, Griddlebone, yeah. And she was she was back with uh MongoDR and Ramble Teaser. Yeah, so then we get this uh slapstick physical comedy fight, and then we have uh the the gang that is all on the barge uh scares Growl Tiger out to the plank, um, and then Gus scares him away with his uh his very scary acting. Uh he falls off into the water and they're like, oh my gosh, we did it. We're we're free. And I said, This doesn't help. They're still trapped on a barge. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, so yeah, so then we we have uh Victoria is walking out, um, back out in the alley. Uh Grizabella is still still hovering around. I honestly was annoyed that Victoria had any refrain of memory. I was like, your girl gets one song. Don't this this isn't about you, Victoria. No, leave it alone. Like, let Grizabella have her one fucking song. So she has basically the the new, it's not the the melancholy lyrics that we are used to of memory. It's talking about sunflowers looking at the sun, and I'm like, no, you misunderstand this song if you're making it about sunflowers. You fundamentally misunderstand this song.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:59

Well, she also sang a tone-deaf song to her, so it's like she just doesn't get the vibe.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:04

Honestly, all the new lyrics for these, like the new songs for this movie. I'm mad about. I don't, I don't care for them. Separately, outside of this, fine, these can exist in this movie. No, I don't like it. Nope. So totally different. So uh Victoria leads Grizabella back inside. Um, the girls are so fucking mean. Again, she is in this moment of vulnerability, you know, leads her into the the you know, center um and invites her to sing. And I literally I said, God damn it, if this song makes me cry, I'm gonna be so mad. And of course it did. I'm only I'm only human. It's it's fucking memory. It's Jennifer Hudson, she's amazing. I was like, what did I expect? This is where I was like, I've never not cried in a musical in my entire life. Of course I was gonna cry at this, obviously. I'm I'm only human. But we also Jennifer Hudson looks like she's about to cry in every single shot she is in of this movie. And I'm like, I don't, I was like, I don't know if this is like the makeup, like if it's supposed to be like very watery eyes.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:13

Half the time it's like literally like her eyes, she is crying, her nose is running. And I was like, Jennifer, like, you're very pretty. Yes, you have never looked rougher and like sing some of you. Like, I was like, they did you ask.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:25

I was like, she sounds incredible, she looks so so just downtrodden. It's insane. But yeah, but like the song is the song is great. At some point, Victoria hops in, and in all caps, I said, shut up, Victoria, let her finish. I was like, just like just a couple lines. It's like, you can do it, you're doing great. And I'm like, Victoria, hey girl, this is not about you. She it's it's like Victoria knows that she was just a side character and got made a main character, and so now she has main character energy. She's like, I'm here to help. It's like, shut up. You just have a she just has the dance in the beginning. The best way! I forgot that was a real dance. Yeah, because it's like Victoria's dance or whatever. And she and you know what? In the mu in the stage musical, she says nothing. That's nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:19

I remember it.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:20

And honestly, maybe I prefer that. I don't know. I think the writing in this, I'm like, hey girl, this this isn't about you. You are not the main character. And I it's she no, absolutely not. Apparently, it was it's crazy. Yeah, so it it's incredible, it's memory, it's amazing. Jennifer Hudson is fantastic, my god. And at this point, everyone is moved, and old Deuteronomy says she has she has made her choice. And so now we're singing about how she is going up to the heavyside lair, up past the Russell Hotel. I don't think I've ever known any of these lyrics in my entire fucking life. I must have, I must have heard this. God, I think I probably heard this musical when I was like, I don't know, 11. I've never thought this hard about these lyrics. I was like, wait, what did we say? And then uh, so we are joyfully guiding Grizabella over to a chandelier that is going up to heaven. I have a lot of question marks in my notes, and I am reading them as thus, that is attached to a hot air balloon as we all watch as the hot air balloon goes through the the destroyed hole in the ceiling. And of course, at this point, we find out that McCavity has materialized onto the roof and he hops onto a cord that is dangling. He's like, Yeah, he's like, hang on, wait for me. And he hops onto this cord as dawn is breaking, and he tries to cling to this cord that is going to heaven and falls onto the top of the statue of Trafalgar Square, and he's like, oh fuck, I'll try again later. And he snaps his fingers and says ineffable, and he goes nowhere, and he's no longer magic, I guess. And then we uh get to everyone who is spilling out and hanging out around the bottom of the statue in Trafalgar Square, and everyone who was on the barge is back somehow, and it's all fine. I escaped somehow. Yes, I escaped somehow. Let's go. Literally, they're just they're back, and then oh my god, and then and this is so okay, so so at this point we get we get You're having so much fun, and I love this. I love this for us, honestly. I so at this point we get the last song, which is old Deuteronomy ruminating on the nature of cats and what cats are like, and there is so much of this song that is addressed directly to the audience. Oh, we fully break the fourth wall. Oh my god, the fourth wall is gone. It is it is dissolved like the shadow of night at this point in the movie. It is old Deuteronomy going, Hey, you want to know about cats? You just saw a whole movie. Respect cats, you guys. Yes, I'm going to tell you how to show us respect. There is some point during this song where the camera swaps to a new face every syllable of the verse. And I think it's in like the last, like, like the last like chorus when everyone's just like singing as Grizabella exits wherever she is going. I The heavy side layer. Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:27

Oh my god, we will we will get back there.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:29

But yeah, so the the her directing the solo directly to the camera, we get the the line, a cat is not a dog, which is just truly so poignant, amazing. But yeah, so we have this entire song. It ends, um, the song ends, morning has broken, everyone scatters, everyone is off to their own homes, alleys, wherever the fuck they live, because they are apparently all nocturnal. Like, this is it, they gotta go. And then Victoria is left on the pedestal uh with the lion in Trafalgar Square, and um old Deuteronomy uh declares that she is indeed a jellical cat and she leans against old Deuteronomy, and it's very cute. And then they continue watching Grizabella go off to space. And that's the movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:49:20

That's that's cats.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:29

Oh my god. Yeah, that's cats, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:33

Well, and this is and this is where I said James Corden getting credited first even alphabetically should be illegal. Yeah, absolutely. Oh my god. You did a good job. I could not wait to talk to you about this fucking movie. I have been full of thoughts. I'm just I oh my god. I just and truly, like I was just very excited to not feel crazy about watching this movie, especially watching it watching. It by myself. I was like, is it exactly I'm like, is it just me? Like, what's what the hell? What the hell is happening? I was vaguely aware of like what the deal with this movie was. I knew that it was bonkers. I knew the CGI was bad. And I before we started recording, I sent Emily. I was like, one of the few things I know is a video that um Kevin T. Porter had posted of seeing this movie in the theaters. And so like far enough into it, everyone was like, oh, the vibe of this movie is insane. And so it's like a weird like sing-along of Mr. Mistopheles. And and I was like, the fact that it dissolved immediately into like a Rocky horror sing along in the theater in December of 2019. It's like, yeah, this was the vibe. And I'm like, oh no, we already knew it was the vibe. This feels like something that you would do midnight screenings of. This feels like something that you would, if there was an interactive screening of this, I might, I might go.

unknown 1:51:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:03

I would, I, I would do that. I would go. Now that the initial shock has worn off, I think I would go do that. It would make it more enjoyable. I think so. Because like I think especially like watching a movie in a theater, like I like going to theaters. I try to respect the theater going experience. If I'm watching a bad movie and I feel crazy, that doesn't parse well with like it doesn't mesh with going to a theater and like, but I but I'm I'm seeing a movie. Like this is I should want to be I paid to be here. I paid for this chair. I I bought food. Like, what what do you what do you mean? I have to take this seriously and watching it at home. I'm just like, what the fuck is this? What I can't take this seriously. I I don't know. I can't even try. Yeah. But yeah, um, this was Buck Wild. I'm so glad that I'm so glad that I watched it. I'm so glad that I've seen it. I don't know if I enjoyed watching it, but I'm glad that I have seen it at this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:02

Because my god, I was definitely not ready to watch it again. I was gearing it up and I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna, I don't know how this is gonna be a second time within like five years. I did, yeah. And I tried really hard to like not pause it because I was like, there's nothing that serious to pause it for. Like there's gonna just let it be. I can't, I can't extend this experience longer than it than it already is. I tried not to. A lot of the names though were hard to spell, so that was part of it.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:32

By the end, I was I was abbreviating. I think M M was Mr. Mistopheles. O D was all Deuteronomy. Smart. Oh, yeah. That's that's yeah, but there are so many that it's just I I don't I don't know. It's just what it is. Are you ready to give it a rating? Or do I do it first? I think so, yeah, if you want to do it first because you've seen it.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:53

Okay, okay. So I feel like when we hit the worst movie, we're gonna know, but I feel like it's so early to peak at the worst movie for us. Yeah. You know? So I worry about being too harsh. It's low. It's gonna be low. Oh, for sure. But like, I don't think it's like a one, you know? I think there are some things truly like for what it was, none of the acting was awful. It was just they were doing what they were told to do. Some of the songs were they followed notes well, but my god, those notes. Yeah. Sure. The direction was poor. Yes, we know this. So I'm gonna say a three out of ten cans of cat. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:41

I was thinking a lot about that 2.8 on Rotten Tomatoes as well. I agree. I think that they're this is not a good movie. I feel like it is possible that we will watch movies that are not worse, but less enjoyable. You know what I mean? And I think I think that some of that rating is like this was a Buck Wild movie. I got a lot of enjoyment out of watching this bad movie. Like there, like there is definitely that. And I think they're I remain optimistic that we're not gonna like make each other watch like bad movies. Yeah. But I but I think at the same time, you know, it might be something where it's like, hey, this is, you know, I love this movie, and it's just like this, I was miserable. Like I hated every second of this.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:26

And, you know, right. And that's that has happened to me. You know, like I'll walk out of a movie with Chase and he'll be like, yeah, and I'm like, I wanted to peel my skin off. I did not enjoy this at all. Yeah, yeah, you're right. It's not gonna be like, oh my god, this is the worst movie in the world, but it is, yes, the feeling of I did not enjoy this at all. This was not worth it to me. So that's a good point. That's probably where I'm at, too.

SPEAKER_03 1:54:48

Like, I'm gonna do three child-faced mice. No, three child-faced mice out of ten. Because terrifying, three, just the right amount. Get eaten.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:01

I know. It's deeply upsetting. All right, let's see. Our question is does it hold up? Is it as good as you remember? Ha! Well, well, honestly, it's weirder than I remember. No, really? Because so much of this stuff I I did not remember. I didn't necessarily like block it in my brain, but like my brain chose to not remember details about this movie. Like, besides the weird uncanny valley of the cats and the fact that there was a plot instead of no plot. Instead of just a string of songs, yeah. The McCavity with no coat, like the all the weird little shit that's in there. No, I did not remember any of it. So, like, just w weirder than than I expected and remembered.

SPEAKER_03 1:55:49

Yeah, that's that's so funny. I wonder I I feel like there is a point where like if anything happened at like the beginning of 2020, like there are things where I'm just like, I don't remember what that was. A lot happened in between then and now. I don't know. I my my brain filtered out a lot of shit. Maybe it was the movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:06

Like maybe Yeah, this was not what I should have. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:56:09

Yeah, it's like we had a lot of other shit going on. Maybe this wasn't it, but that is interesting, yeah. Well, yeah. My god, what that sure was a movie. You did it though. I did, I saw it.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:23

I you did like the weirdest movie. So this is God, this was And our first musical.

SPEAKER_03 1:56:31

Which there will be more of my. Yeah, we'll do more. Yeah. Um yeah, but if you would like to talk to us about your deeply upsetting cats watching experience, uh, please let us know how that went for you. Let us know if you deeply enjoyed this movie, actually. Um, I'm sorry. Please tell me, tell me how. If you want to uh talk to us or follow the show, we are on several social media platforms. We're on uh Facebook, Instagram, uh Blue Sky, and Letterboxd as Sister CinemaSwap. Talk to us there.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:07

We uh want to thank Jenny Crowley for our amazing artwork, Nick Heredia for our awesome theme music, and to thank you all so much for listening. So for now we'll see you in the movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:19

McCavity. I had to do it. Ineffable! I d I I knew how can I not?