Confessions of a Closet Romantic Poppy

There's no way to exactly describe the dark and hilarious debut dramedy Shiva Baby except to say: you giggle at what should be sad, feel heartbroken for what should be exciting, become annoyed with the emotional meddling, and end up a ball of stress and tension — until the twists and turns of this darkly comic plot unwind the whole thing, ending with a painfully hysterical moment and heartwarming queer romance in the making. With an emotional roller coaster loaded with relatives and lovers like these, who needs enemies? By the end of the movie, it only proves that laughter is therapy.

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Shiva Baby is a little over an hour and well worth seeing, but if you only have a minute, the trailer captures some of its unique flavor.

Rachel Sennott would love to "help other young women write or act in comedy" and girl, you're a fresh, generous, delightful soul. Her journey into acting and comedy —and this movie —is such a sweet wholesome story.

"Women decode sexual messaging from a young age...They have to process what sex means, what it can do for them, what it should do for them, what they’re supposed to do for it...and I’m interested in how women figure it out." An interesting interview with director and writer Emma Seligman.

A beautiful explanation of the meaning and ritual of the ancient Jewish tradition of sitting shiva.



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How I love a romance set aboard a luxury cruise ship or ocean liner, especially classic movies set on ships in the early to mid 20th-century, a heyday of ocean travel. The coziness, the leather luggage with a separate toiletries case, the cute staterooms and cabins, the service, people dressing for elegant dinner and dancing, the endless ocean views, and falling asleep rocked by waves...of course, in this dream, I'm on the Cunard Line in a massive luxury suite with full balcony, and my sweetie is right by my side as we sail to some exotic location. Shhhhh — don't wake me up.

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All you ever wanted to know about the history of the ocean liner.

Movies in this Episode

Let Them All Talk

Like Father

An Affair to Remember

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Now, Voyager

The Lady Eve
One Way Passage is a 1932 melodrama starring William Powell as an escaped murderer traveling on a ship from Asia to America to face charges. He persuades the detective supervising him to remove his handcuffs so he can flirt with a beautiful woman he’s met on board, played by Kay Francis, who's in the final stages of a fatal illness. She doesn't know about him and he doesn't know about her as they fall in love. Sob.

Romance on the High Seas is a ridiculously delightful romcom farce of mistaken identity on board an ocean liner, starring Doris Day in her first movie role. 


Dodsworth is a romantic drama about mid-life and second chances starring Walter Houston as a Midwest auto manufacturer who sells his lucrative company and sails to Europe for the trip he’s always wanted. Except he’s traveling with his self-centered, shallow wife, brilliantly played by Ruth Chatterton, and his affection for her is fading fast. When she begins having an affair on board right under his nose, he surprises himself by falling in love with a grounded, compassionate, free-spirited American woman also traveling on the ship, played by Mary Astor. Maybe you have to be a certain age, but I absolutely love the satisfying happy ever after in this movie. It was made in 1936 but still feels fresh today.




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It's Halloween week, and time to confess that I'm strangely attracted to Gothic horror stories and creepy "romance," especially the many interpretations of the fascinating classic 19th century novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Each filmmaker and writer present different themes in their Jekyll and Hyde adaptations, from gender and sexual politics, personal ethics and morality, to abusive patriarchal structures and class and power inequities. The original story featured only men, but that hasn't stopped many modern adaptations of the story from featuring women as a romantic plot point and catalyst for Mr. Hyde's deeply disturbing and scary nuances.

CW: brief scenes and mentions of physical, sexual and psychological abuse

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Recognizing domestic violence and abuse is the first step.

Do you recognize the signs of dating violence and abuse?

Spark Notes has the full text of the novella and explorations of its themes and motifs.

"A strange story of mystery and adventure, love and laughter" says the trailer for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941).  I haven't laughed once in all the times I've watched this movie, but there's plenty of mystery, suspense and spookiness.

Here's the "cheap little dreams" scene from the 1941 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movie. Spencer Tracy is seriously creepy-evil and poor Ingrid had tried to get away from his abuse for weeks and months.

"...[Stevenson] did not wish to have the allegory rigidly defined. 'Everything is true,' he told Sidney Colvin, 'only the opposite is true too; you must believe both equally or be damned." Fascinating look at the many interpretations and adaptations of the Jekyll and Hyde story.

This scene from Mary Reilly represents the undercurrent of class, intimacy, sexuality, passion and veiled threat that this version brings to the story. Honestly Malkovich is terrifying but Julia Roberts is unflappable as Mary.




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Selecting potential mates based strictly on physical attributes is definitely a vibe —as seen on the UK dating show Naked Attraction, which has recently started streaming in the US. As expected with a TV show that features full frontal nudity, it's inspiring quite a lot of discussion :)
So I invited my UK-based sweetie (a.k.a. Mr. Bingley, a perfect nickname, because he's ridiculously kind, like the Jane Austen character) to discuss the nuances with me, because he has seen every episode of every season of this show. By day, he's an educator and gives presentations to college students on safe sex, consent, diversity and acceptance, among many other topics. He really likes the show, I really kind of didn't, and we come to some interesting conclusions about it.

CW: explicit discussions of genitalia and sexual activity

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My episode on the drama and romance of dating shows with Jennifer of the Every Romcom podcast.

The Naked Attraction trailer for the US audience, with naughty bits covered.

The full Monty,  Naked Attraction S11 ep05 episode that I featured in my episode. You know what? I couldn't stop watching this one.

Season 5 episode 2 of Naked Attraction features Judith, a 57-year-old sexually open Christian chorister who is looking for a partner. To say her appearance was polarizing is an understatement (you go, Judith). The show has been fairly diverse with queer, polyamorous, disabled, trans and older contestants.

The Decider "stream it or skip it" review of Naked Attraction.

Apparently, plenty of Americans have now said: stream it! "The people have spoken and they want to see the peen."

This review from a few years back decides that the show is cringeworthy in parts, but also "curiously heartening" and "a force for good." I think I would agree.

Small exposures to body positive content can improve body image, according to research by the University of New South Wales. "They found women aged 18–25 who viewed body positive posts daily over a 14-day period reported a decrease in body dissatisfaction and less tendency to compare their appearance with others. Their improvements in body image were also maintained four weeks after viewing the content."



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I just saw Book Club: The Next Chapter,  a frothy, fun and flirty sequel to Book Club, a movie I talked about in this episode, and I'll feature the sequel in an upcoming episode. This time, the besties end up in Italy and it's a sweet and sexy exploration of long-term friendship, shared adventures, and finding your romantic bliss by taking a chance with the help of friends who almost know you better than you know yourself. They sip Prosecco in a Roman café, travel by water taxi to a Venetian palazzo, have a multi-course dinner lit by lanterns in a stunning Tuscan setting, and basically get horny for the Italian countryside.  These ladies know how to live, and they look fantastic doing it. Ciao bella.
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I'm not a snob when to comes to romantic tropes. I don't discriminate: the more outlandish the better, and I love them all. Every beat might be as familiar as the back of my hand, but my attitude is: bring it on again. It's even better when there are little refreshing updates to beloved romcom plots, like in the new Netflix movie Love at First Sight. This unimaginative title promises the most smarmy movie experience ever, but it turns out to be a tender, warmhearted, romantic story about different kinds of love, fate, and the bravery it takes to embrace it all.

 (I tried to make this episode spoiler-free, but if you're good at picking up clues, you might want to watch the movie first).

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For once a really good trailer that communicates the fun and irresistible romance of this movie but doesn't hint at the emotional plot points at the center of the story. Gold stars all around.

And for those who appreciate a really good spoiler synopsis (whoops, Oliver didn't miss his flight, Hadley joined him on his —insert googly heart eyes here in place of my brain).

The script is co-written by Jennifer E. Smith, based on her YA romance The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. The entire cast is delightful.

I certainly don't agree with all opinions in this movie review, but one thing I do agree with: Haley Lu Richardson needs to star in more romcoms.

"Do people really meet and in moments simply know they're meant to be? New evidence suggests: Yes, they do." Psychology Today on the phenomenon of love at first sight.
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