Welcome to The 90s, P-Bog style! After a tumultuous intermittent run during the previous decade, Peter Bogdanovich assembled another all-star cast and tried to make audiences laugh again with a film adaptation of the successful play NOISES OFF. If Rotten Tomatoes is to be believed, critics shrugged it off, if they even bothered to check it out. A shame, because this comedy has it all: Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Superman, John Ritter, sardines… Listen to Alex & Julio praise this play-within-a-play-within a movie and join our standing ovation!

The release and reception of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE was akin to diving off a cliff after impressively free-soloing said cliff. The movie has its passionate defenders, so could it be that its failure was simply a reflection of a studio’s botched handling of an unusual comedy? Or did PJ Hogan whiff after giving the world two home runs back to back? And are The Contrarians divided on their appreciation of Kathy Bates’ adventures now that we are in the Real Talk part of the conversation?

It’s like PJ Hogan took all the complaints about him not being able to do anything but wedding-centric movies and set off to make his third film the most offbeat midlife crisis comedy of them all. As you would expect, change-averse critics and audiences turned their backs on this bold new direction in the filmmaker’s career and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE bombed as hard as My Best Friend’s Wedding succeeded. Listen to Alex & Julio try to shine a light on what’s very much a hidden gem of a PJ Party!

Our boy P-Bog took a hell of a tumble with this one. But you know what, you could say the same about Nickelodeon, and we disagreed with the Tomatometer on that one. So, is ILLEGALLY YOURS another instance of a good movie not getting a fair shake from critics and audiences? Can “Peter Bogdanovich does an 80s comedy” really be that bad of an idea? Our final verdict (and more!) is in this Real Talk segment!

Rob Lowe and Peter Bogdanovich: The 80s team-up the world clearly was not ready for. Perhaps the most misunderstood movie in the acclaimed director’s filmography, ILLEGALLY YOURS barely has enough reviews on Rotten Tomatoes to even be acknowledged as rotten - a clear sign that more people need to watch this adorable jury duty adventure. Listen to Alex & Julio as they have a great time untangling their latest P-Bog screwball experience and casually discovering a new Johnny Cash banger!

Okay, let’s get serious about this. Whether you think it’s a little weird for PJ Hogan to follow his wedding-themed debut with another wedding movie, there’s a lot to chew on when it comes to MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING. How do we feel about the film’s moral stance? Does it embrace rom-com tropes more than it subverts them? Did Rupert Everett burn bright and fast while Dermot Mulroney played the long game? Is this the perfect example of why Julia Roberts reigned supreme once upon a time? All that and more in this Real Talk segment!

Wait a minute, didn’t we JUST do this? A wedding movie from Aussie director PJ Hogan? Perhaps the most shameless example of a filmmaker selling out as quickly as they could, MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING was a massive box office and critical success, so in a way you can’t blame Hogan for going Hollywood. You can nitpick his sophomore effort to death, however, and that’s exactly what this episode is about. Join Alex & Julio as they welcome Julia Roberts back to the show to judge her love life as harshly as they can!

The fresher they are, the harder they rot… or something along those lines. Peter Bogdanovich’s amazing initial run of movies eventually had to hit a rough patch, and NICKELODEON is infamously known as the project that derailed his career almost for good. Were critics and audiences too tough on P-Bog’s love letter to silent filmmaking? How do The Contrarians feel this measures against Paper Moon, Targets and The Last Picture Show? More pressingly, can we be okay with a story that praises Birth of a Nation so much?

Legend says the great Peter Bogdanovich once asked “Who would dare live in a pineapple under the sea?”. Unfortunately, studios were not interested in exploring the answer to that question just yet, so instead P-Bog made a comedy about the early days of filmmaking. NICKELODEON was a huge bomb and it’s branded with a 17% Tomatometer score, so it’s time for The Contrarians to come to its rescue! Listen to Alex & Julio as they celebrate another Bogdanovich/O’Neals team-up and stare at Burt Reynolds’ clean-shaven face!

Do you like ABBA? That could determine how you ultimately feel about MURIEL’S WEDDING. But there’s more to PJ Hogan’s feature film debut than its memorable soundtrack, and The Contrarians will get into it in this Real Talk segment. Does the comedy balance out the tragedy? Is the film too unfair toward some of its characters? And does the unstoppable talent of Toni Collette redeem it all?