The moderate success of Confessions of a Shopaholic gave PJ Hogan enough creative wiggle room to go bananas again on his next movie. MENTAL is a clear return to form from a filmmaker who has decided he doesn't care to be embraced by the mainstream. Sadly, critics and audiences were happy to oblige, and this final PJ Party sits with a rotten 44% Tomatometer score, despite reuniting him with Toni Collette. Listen to Alex & Julio go to bat for this adorable Sound of Music homage!

It's been quite a ride, this journey through almost every Bogdanofilm, and SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY - a star-studded critical and financial failure - feels like a fitting conclusion to it. As mentioned during Contrarians Corner, it's difficult not to read this as P-Bog very consciously making a farewell movie. But did we like it? And is our opinion influenced by the other movies of his we've watched over the Summer?

We have reached the end of the road with Peter Bogdanovich. Our final Bogdanofilm is P-Bog's actual final film - and he probably didn't make any more because he got tired of the tepid critical reception to his best work. Listen to Alex & Julio defend the delightful SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY and bemoan the fact that we didn't get to see the filmmaker work with this generation of actors again.

Critics may not have cared for PJ Hogan's fifth movie, but it made enough money to be considered another commercial success under his belt - and all he had to do was sell his soul? Listen to Alex & Julio debate if Hogan's uncompromising style may have been lost in whatever compromises he made while helming CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC. Plus: did we miss out on more Isla Fisher leading roles due to the collapse of the romcom genre?

If the world was a fair place, the Shopaholic Cinematic Universe would be at least six movies deep by now - all helmed by PJ Hogan and starring Isla Fisher. As it is, however, we must be satisfied with Hogan's single adaptation of CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, which was a decent box office hit but was buried by critics. Listen to Alex & Julio argue against Shopaholic's 27% Tomatometer score during The Contrarians' fifth PJ Party!

Welcome to the aughts, P-Bog! Shame about that box office. But seriously, it’s impressive (and a similarity he shares with PJ Hogan) that people kept financing Peter Bogdanovich’s films despite so many of them being flops. But did THE CAT’S MEOW deserve its financial failure or was it worthy of its critical praise? This Real Talk segment tries to answer that question, as well as delving into the murkiness of accusing an actual real person of murder in your movie.

Peter Bogdanovich stayed true to form as he entered the new millennium: by making a movie about stuff that happened almost a hundred years prior. THE CAT’S MEOW was a moderate hit with critics - so-called movie buffs who were happy P-Bog was just performing the same old tricks from earlier in his career. It takes more than a cast of fresh faces to wow The Contrarians, however! Listen to Alex & Julio as they wonder if it’s a fool’s errand for anyone to play Charlie Chaplin, and if Kirsten Dunst is the only one who attended Charleston camp.

Maybe Peter Pan adaptations are not meant to be box office hits. Don’t think so? Listen to us go through an unsettling overview of Neverland disappointments as we circle PJ Hogan’s critically celebrated but financially underwhelming PETER PAN. But reviews and dollars aside, how do we feel about this fourth PJ Party? Is it a rebound for Hogan, getting him back on both our good graces after his divisive previous movie? And what’s the deal with those people freaking out about the movie’s “adult” themes?

Sometimes you can’t help but fail upwards. After the disastrous reception to Unconditional Love, PJ Hogan was somehow handed the keys to one of the most recognizable IPs in the world, and he was able to put his own quirky spin on the PETER PAN mythos. Critics gave it a fresh Tomatometer score, so that means The Contrarians need to give The Lost Boys a bit of a reality check. Listen to Alex & Julio as they struggle to make sense of the absence of actual musical numbers in PJ’s Neverland!

Regardless of whether anyone considers NOISES OFF a good or bad Peter Bogdanovich movie, it’s ludicrous that it’s not spoken about more often - and don’t even get us started on the meager Rotten Tomatoes coverage. But then again, a movie adaptation about a play that is in itself about the staging of a play could be a little too meta for some audiences/critics. Still… Don’t we all love Michael Caine? Even though this Real Talk segment features dissent among The Contrarians, we can at least agree on that part!