This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by editor Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, , which was released on HBO Max this week, in a packed cinema, and the audience was riotous. I don’t know how it will play on a TV screen while you’re scrolling through Instagram and folding laundry, but I am fairly certain about one thing: You’re going to love Hong Chau’s performance.
Searchlight Pictures
The movie is a hybrid horror/comedy that is a comeuppance for privileged assholes. Chau, who plays the hostess/manager of a restaurant where all of the film’s wildness happens, is the conduit for that comeuppance. She is so funny. She is chilling. She delivers some of my favorite line readings of the year.
Chau is in the supporting actress race this Oscar season for her performance in The Whale. She is spectacular in that movie, which, while I loathe it, I can appreciate how breathtaking her and Brendan Fraser’s performances are. (But, my God, do I hate that movie.) That said, I wish it were her role in The Menu that garnered attention instead. It is the epitome of a perfect scene-stealing supporting performance. Go watch it now, and plan to order a cheeseburger for after. You’ll thank me later.
Andy Cohen’s First F-Bomb
People have different rituals that they use for self-care. Some take baths. Some light candles. Some see therapists. I put on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.
The talk show is the perfect combination of chaos and ridiculousness for me, a person whose life is chaotic and ridiculous. It’s cathartic to watch each night, as Cohen plays silly games with a bizarre combination of Real Housewives and esteemed Hollywood players—typically the exact spectrum of my interests.
So as a loyal viewer of WWHL, I was shocked to learn that Cohen had never broke and said the word “fuck” on the show before. It happened for the first time this week, when he was ranting about how disgusting it was that Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance’s son participated in that vile TikTok trend of pranking parents by telling them a celebrity died. (I will not link to it, because it’s gross.)
Cohen was so reviled that he let the f-bomb slip, and, honestly, if there was ever a reason to do it, it was talking about that trend. Fucking good for you, Andy.
Let’s Talk About Sex
I will be thinking about this exchange between Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell in a recent Vanity Fair interview roughly every three minutes until the day I die.
Vanity Fair Screenshot
What to watch this week:
RuPaul’s Drag Race: The best reality TV competition that isn’t called Top Chef arrives with a new season and a new home, on MTV. (Fri. on MTV)
Golden Globe Awards: I saw a preview of host Jerrod Carmichael’s stand-up comedy working through his complicated feelings emceeing this year’s ceremony, and it’s going to be good. (Tues. on NBC)
M3GAN: It’s rare for a movie to be so insufferable in its incessant marketing, yet also be this good. (Fri. in theaters)
What to skip this week:
Mayfair Witches: You’re better off watching the other recent Anne Rice adaptation, Interview With a Vampire, instead. (Sun. on AMC)
