The Big Picture

F---, Marry, Kill at the Movies: ‘The Housemaid,’ ‘Song Sung Blue,’ and ‘Anaconda’

December 29, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The hosts established the 'F---, Marry, Kill' framework for the episode, assigning *The Housemaid* the 'fuck' slot due to its steamy premise, *Anaconda* the 'kill' slot as a cynical IP exercise, and *Song Sung Blue* the 'marry' slot by default despite its melodramatic turn. 
  • Initial reactions to upcoming blockbusters suggest high anticipation for Christopher Nolan's *The Odyssey* while expressing skepticism about *Avengers: Doomsday*. 
  • The discussion on *The Housemaid* highlighted a current trend in 'women's entertainment' involving dark, abusive situations resolved through dark vengeance, which the hosts found discomforting. 
  • The film 'Song Sung Blue' is a melodramatic redemption drama about a Neil Diamond tribute band, notable for its severe tonal shifts following a tragic accident experienced by the Kate Hudson character. 
  • Director Craig Brewer's filmmaking career was significantly influenced by his upbringing in Memphis, his study of local music history (blues/rock and roll), and his early self-financed filmmaking efforts like 'The Poor and Hungry' and 'Hustle and Flow'. 
  • Hugh Jackman was the singular casting choice for 'Song Sung Blue' due to his earnest showmanship, while Kate Hudson was cast after the director observed her mature perspective on her career and desire to play a less glamorous, more dramatic role. 
  • Director Craig Brewer strongly advocates for the film *Weapons* as one of the year's great movies and believes the horror genre needs better recognition in awards discussions. 
  • Sean Fennessey expresses a reluctance to cover Jack Nicholson's filmography extensively in recent years, saving deep dives for the eventuality of an emergency podcast upon the actor's passing. 
  • The hosts and guest acknowledge the emotional toll acting takes on performers, reflecting on the commitment required for their craft. 

Segments

Trailer Reactions and Family Talk
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(00:00:42)
  • Key Takeaway: Anticipation is high for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey due to its impressive practical production design, contrasting with skepticism for Avengers: Doomsday.
  • Summary: The hosts briefly reacted to trailers for The Odyssey and Avengers: Doomsday, noting the impressive visuals of the former. They also shared anecdotes about watching Zootopia 2 with children, highlighting the challenges of modern family moviegoing. The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer generated some interest, contrasting with the negative reception of Zootopia 2.
Reviewing The Housemaid
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(00:09:39)
  • Key Takeaway: The Housemaid is categorized as the ‘fuck’ movie, but its plot relies on a disappointing Gone Girl-style reveal that feels unearned after a lengthy setup.
  • Summary: The film, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, was deemed entertaining at times but ultimately flawed, particularly in its script and production design, which featured excessive beige tones. The narrative structure suffers from spending too long building tension before delivering a predictable twist involving the main characters’ true motivations. The segment also touched upon the current landscape of movies being made for female audiences, often involving dark themes of abuse and vengeance.
Analyzing Brandon Sklenar’s Type
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(00:20:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Brandon Sklenar is currently being marketed as a contemporary, hyper-masculine lead, contrasting with the ‘artsy indie boy’ archetype.
  • Summary: Brandon Sklenar’s recent ubiquity in films like It Ends With Us and Drop positions him as a specific type of handsome, ‘soft muscle’ actor favored by certain marketing trends. The hosts noted that his character in The Housemaid was intended to be highly attractive to the female audience, despite their personal initial resistance to his on-screen presentation. His character’s motivations revolved around dominating vulnerable women as a manifestation of his controlling mother’s influence.
Critique of Anaconda
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(00:39:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Anaconda is a cynical, unfelt meta-comedy that fails because it tries to simultaneously mock IP franchise filmmaking while relying entirely on IP nostalgia.
  • Summary: The film, starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, was deemed a depressing exercise that repeated its central joke about Hollywood’s reliance on IP too many times. The hosts found the action sequences mediocre and the attempt to blend sentimental ‘what happened to us’ themes with meta-comedy incoherent. They questioned the decision to release this summer-style creature feature during the Christmas holiday season.
Assessing Song Sung Blue
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(00:50:29)
  • Key Takeaway: Song Sung Blue transitions from a charming musical about tribute bands into a severe melodrama involving unexpected amputation and addiction recovery.
  • Summary: Hugh Jackman’s sincere commitment to his role as a Neil Diamond tribute artist provided the film with initial charm, especially during the musical performances with Kate Hudson’s Patsy Cline impersonator. The narrative takes a sharp, severe turn when Hudson’s character suffers a leg amputation, shifting the focus to themes of recovery and marital struggle. Jackman’s performance was praised for sincerely defending something he loves, even as the film embraced heavy melodrama.
Song Sung Blue Character Arc
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(00:53:51)
  • Key Takeaway: The Kate Hudson character’s arc in ‘Song Sung Blue’ shifts severely from relationship building to dealing with a leg amputation, subsequent depression, and medication addiction.
  • Summary: The character suffers a severe accident resulting in leg amputation, leading to depression and prescription drug addiction. The film then pivots into a redemption drama about recovery. The Mike character also faces struggles balancing his performance life with a heart condition, making the movie very melodramatic.
Brewer’s Film Themes and Class
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(00:55:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Craig Brewer’s films, including ‘Song Sung Blue,’ often sincerely examine economic hardship and the struggle to create a way out of financial straits, similar to ‘Hustle and Flow’.
  • Summary: The discussion contrasts the opulence shown in ‘The Housemaid’ with the lower middle-class struggles depicted in Brewer’s work. ‘Hustle and Flow’ is cited as another example of a film focused on economic desperation and finding a path out. This theme of economic reality is consistent across many of Brewer’s movies.
Hudson’s Performance and Oscar Bait
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(00:56:03)
  • Key Takeaway: ‘Song Sung Blue’ is seen as a conventional, vintage Oscars bait film, though it is preferred over ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ for its inventive approach to the biopic genre.
  • Summary: Kate Hudson’s performance involves wearing unflattering costumes and attempting a Midwestern accent, which is described as campy but an attempt to access a deeper dramatic level. The film is noted for being a non-traditional biopic, focusing on the people surrounding the musician rather than the musician himself. The style is reminiscent of Oscar-bait films from twenty years prior.
Brewer’s Filmmaking Origins
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(01:02:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Craig Brewer is a self-taught filmmaker who learned from books bought while working at Barnes & Noble in Memphis before using a $20,000 inheritance to make his first film, ‘The Poor and Hungry’.
  • Summary: Brewer did not attend film school, learning instead from books by filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez. His career launched after his father’s passing provided inheritance money to shoot his script about Memphis car thieves. This initial success led to ‘Hustle and Flow,’ which was financed after being championed by Stephanie Elaine and John Singleton.
Music’s Profound Role in Directing
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(01:06:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Brewer’s deep study of Memphis music history, including B.B. King and Sam Phillips, informed his directorial style, particularly in achieving editorial rhythms that capture honest, ‘goosed’ performances.
  • Summary: Growing up in the MTV era influenced Brewer’s view of music’s role in cinema, where soundtracks were essential experiences. Studying how producers worked with musicians to capture honest energy informed his directing style, especially regarding editorial rhythms and actor interaction. This approach mirrors the audacity found in playwrights like Tennessee Williams.
Neil Diamond’s Thematic Resonance
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(01:10:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Neil Diamond’s music resonated with Brewer because his lyrics explore themes of isolation, loneliness, and longing, mirroring Brewer’s own feelings of doubt while navigating the transition between Memphis and Los Angeles.
  • Summary: Brewer initially dismissed Diamond as ‘parents’ music’ but later connected deeply with songs like ‘I Am, I Said’ after learning Diamond wrote it following a failed audition in Hollywood. This mirrored Brewer’s own feelings of being lost while trying to break into the industry. The film focuses on how Diamond’s music helped the main characters recover from trauma.
Avoiding Music Biopic Conventions
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(01:15:02)
  • Key Takeaway: The goal of ‘Song Sung Blue’ was to use the structure of a music biopic to make the audience fall in love with unknown subjects, deliberately avoiding the typical narrative of supernova fame followed by self-destruction.
  • Summary: Brewer noted that music biopics have become a distinct, popular genre, but he aimed to subvert expectations by focusing on non-superstar figures. The story emphasizes that worth can be found by staying in one’s community rather than achieving massive fame. The narrative intentionally avoids the common trope of artists ruining their success through personal problems, highlighting the subject’s sobriety instead.
Tonal Balance and True Love Tested
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(01:19:21)
  • Key Takeaway: The film is structured in two halves—an exuberant rise followed by tragedy—designed to ensure the audience was invested enough in the couple’s love to endure the shocking second half.
  • Summary: The director felt true love is tested when tragedy strikes after the initial honeymoon phase of a relationship. The structure was designed to ‘punch everybody in the gut’ after the audience had invested in the characters. The ultimate message is that recovery from trauma is often achieved through community, family, and holding onto one’s passion, which for the couple was singing Neil Diamond songs.
Class Commentary in Filmmaking
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(01:32:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Hollywood often avoids making glamorous films about lower-middle-class life in Middle America because such content is deemed harder to sell internationally than stories set in New York or featuring predominantly Black casts.
  • Summary: Brewer observes that studio films often neglect stories about working-class life outside of major coastal hubs due to international market concerns. He notes that Taylor Sheridan succeeded by taking up the space of Middle American stories that studios previously avoided. This highlights an industry assumption about what global audiences supposedly want, often leading to a lack of authentic regional representation.
Brewer’s Connection to Mets Fandom
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(01:37:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Craig Brewer embraced the New York Mets fandom because he identified with their history of lovable failure and underdog status, mirroring his own feelings of being a solid, but not superstar, filmmaker.
  • Summary: Brewer’s grandfather was Mets player Marvelous Marv Throneberry, who embraced the team’s losing identity, which Brewer now understands as a shared experience of earning success. He chose the Mets over the Yankees because he felt the Mets’ working-class, heartbreak-prone identity aligned with his own career trajectory. This fandom provided a sense of shared misery and passion that he finds compelling.
Last Great Things Seen
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(01:51:12)
  • Key Takeaway: Craig Brewer highly recommends ‘Sentimental Value’ for its honest portrayal of multi-generational connections and the toll acting takes on performers, and champions ‘Weapons’ as a great horror film deserving of awards consideration.
  • Summary: Brewer connected deeply with ‘Sentimental Value’ due to his relationship with his daughter, seeing parallels in how artists use pain and misery to create work. He noted the film spoke to the difficult commitment actors make when performing emotional scenes. He also strongly advocates for the horror film ‘Weapons,’ arguing that the genre is still unfairly segregated in awards discussions.
Actor’s Emotional Toll
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(01:53:36)
  • Key Takeaway: The commitment actors make involves enduring emotional strain, such as crying all day, which takes a visible toll on them.
  • Summary: Actors commit fully to their roles, often being required to perform emotionally draining actions like crying repeatedly throughout a day. This commitment is permanent in the recorded performance, and the toll it takes on the performers is evident. One film discussed resonated with this relationship between performer and the demanding nature of the craft.
Stumping for ‘Weapons’
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(01:54:20)
  • Key Takeaway: Craig Brewer strongly endorses the horror film Weapons as one of the year’s great movies and argues for its inclusion in mainstream awards conversations.
  • Summary: The film Weapons is highly recommended as a standout movie of the year by the guest. There is a call to stop segregating horror films from serious awards consideration. Sentimental was another recent film the speaker genuinely enjoyed.
Episode Wrap-up and Thanks
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(01:54:52)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts thank Craig Brewer and producer Jack Sanders, noting this recording marks the final session for their 25 for 25 series of 2025.
  • Summary: The hosts express gratitude to guest Craig Brewer for the conversation. Producer Jack Sanders is also thanked for his work on this episode. This recording session concludes the 25 for 25 series for the year 2025.
Emergency Podcast Scenarios
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(01:55:19)
  • Key Takeaway: Hypothetical emergency podcast triggers discussed include a political takeover of Warner Brothers or the death of Jack Nicholson.
  • Summary: The hosts speculate on what would necessitate an emergency recording session before the end of the year. One extreme scenario mentioned involves Donald Trump seizing control of Warner Brothers. Sean Fennessey’s personal trigger for an emergency broadcast is the death of his first favorite actor, Jack Nicholson.
Jack Nicholson Stored Material
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(01:55:56)
  • Key Takeaway: Sean Fennessey has intentionally avoided deep discussions about Jack Nicholson’s filmography on the podcast, saving material for a potential future tribute.
  • Summary: The host admits to being reluctant to cover important Jack Nicholson movies in recent discussions, such as As Good as It Gets or Anger Management. He is essentially ‘storing up’ material because Nicholson was his first favorite actor. He is hesitant to discuss him now to avoid willing negative events into existence.