How Did This Get Made? - This Is Me...Now: A Love Story

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

This week Paul, June, and Jason break down the 2024 Jennifer Lopez movie, This Is Me…Now: A Love Story. In an HDTGM first, June did some extra research and calls out the Capricorn and Aquarius erasure from this movie, while Paul and Jason question Fat Joe’s therapy style and much more.  HDTGM Spring Tour 2025 tickets are now on sale for Austin, Denver, Seattle, Boise, San Fran, Portland, & LA at hdtgm.com.Order Paul’s book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of TraumaCheck out new HDTGM movie merch over at teepublic.com/stores/hdtgmJoin the HDTGM conversation on Discord: discord.gg/hdtgmPaul’s Discord: discord.gg/paulscheerVisit Paul’s YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheerFollow Paul’s movie recs on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer/Watch Enter The Dark Web w/ Paul and Rob Huebel on youtube HDTGM Spring Tour 2025 tickets are now on sale for Austin, Denver, Seattle, Boise, San Fran, Portland, & LA at hdtgm.com.Order Paul’s book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of TraumaCheck out new HDTGM movie merch over at teepublic.com/stores/hdtgmCheck out our new hats at podswag.comJoin the HDTGM conversation on Discord: discord.gg/hdtgmPaul’s Discord: discord.gg/paulscheerEnter the Dark Web w/ Paul and Rob Huebel on YouTube @enterthedarkwebLike good movies too? Listen to Unspooled with Paul and Amy Nicholson: https://www.unspooledpodcast.com/Listen to The Deep Dive with Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael: www.thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcastWhere to find Paul, June, & Jason:@PaulScheer on Instagram & Twitter@Junediane on IG and @MsJuneDiane on TwitterJason is not on social media Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using the link: siriusxm.com/hdtgm.

Why my poop green? We saw, this is me now. So you know what that means. Now it's time for, How Did This Get Made? We're gonna have a good time, Celebrate some failure, Not just be the hater, Cause you know you're one good. How Did This Get Made? Let's follow in the mediocrity of subpar art.

Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question, how did this get made? Hello, everybody, and welcome to How Did This Get Made. Today we're talking about the 2024 J.Lo music video film, self-produced $20 million story of love. Oh, whoa! Yes. What? This cost more than super bad?

Well, it cost more than a lot of movies. A lot of movies. But to give us a little taste of it, take a listen to this. So when I was a little girl, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always... in love. I wanna be in love. I want to be in love.

But I learned the hard way. Not all love stories have a happy ending. And then the motorcycle crashes and the movie begins. But to discuss this all, please welcome my co-hosts, Jason Manzuchis and June Diane Raphael. How are you both? Ugh, well, I mean, we just got back from the meeting of the zodiacal council. And- By the way, by the way,

let's start there because I, I really, my only, my only critique of this movie is that Capricorns were not represented. Neither were Aquarius's. Not at all. I figured they, because they were all named after star signs, there would what, oh. Jason, they didn't have everyone. This made me mad.

Representation matters. Yes, I say this, but my sign was represented by the unequivocal best person at this thing, the Pantheon level god, Jane Fonda, playing Sagittarius. And by the way, Jane Fonda is also a Sagittarius. Sag, baby! So I'm really happy for you, Jason,

but the Capricorn erasure was really hurtful. June, I was furious that there was no Aquarius in this. And I said, well, maybe I missed it. You know, I don't know. I went back hurtful. June, I was furious that there was no Aquarius in this. And I said, well, maybe I missed it. You know, I don't know. I went back as well. And I looked at the whole thing. I will let you know the Zodiac, sorry.

I believe they called it the Zodiacal Council. Yes, the Zodiacal Council is made up of a lot of interesting people. Like we said, Jane Fonda, we also have Post Malone. We have- Kiki Palmer doing it. Kiki Palmer? Best moment of the movie. Oh.

Her Maya Angelou impression. So good. Trevor Noah. Truly so good. Jay Shetty, we have Kim Petras, we have Neil deGrasse Tyson. Sophia Vargaara, I mean this, it is, you're- So who's who?

You're like, wait, what, what, what? I mean, here, take a little listen. We are the zodiacal council, but the stars hold all the power. The stars can speak their minds, but what is in the deepest recesses of your heart is ultimately what will manifest itself. Sometimes I chew my hair.

Same. You know what? You would look hot in bangs. Leo, always shooting your shot. Let her get out there and explore. Mmm. Yeah. The neptul bells are ringing. What is with this woman and wedding?

But, but by the way, according to the documentary about the making of this movie... Wait, what? You watched that? I did not watch that. I just, I just, I finished this on a flight, and then I got to the hotel room and just been unpacking. I thought, let me put on the making of. Wait, maybe, I think this might be the first time in history that...

I wanted more. That June... I sought out more. That June has done extra homework. I was actually gonna say, can we push a half an hour? Cause I think I have to finish this. I would have watched it. I wanna watch it too.

What was fascinating is who passed on being a part of the Zadaiical Council. And one of those people who just couldn't find her way into the role was Khloe Kardashian. Oh, wow. Oh, there's a lot of, a lot of nos in this movie. Like to a point where you're like, she asked so, so many people to, yeah.

I'm surprised we didn't get a phone call. At this point, I will say- From Benny Medina. I'm upset I was cut. I did do this, but I was cut. I could have been one of the friends. I could have been one of the... I could have been at the Lovers Anonymous, you know,

Lovesick Anonymous meeting. Look, one thing I'm gonna say, just right out of the gate, I have a lot of opinions about what we just watched here, but I will say this. JLo is pretty great. Oh, she's just amazing. Whatever's happening, I I will say this, JLo is pretty great. Oh, she's just like, whatever, whatever's happening. I'm on board with like, she does some, some stuff in this movie that I was just like, I, yeah, I'm okay with this. Like, I'm going to say something.

I have supported her for so I've supported her when no one has I've supported her when no one has. I've supported her when people didn't want her at the Actors Roundtable with other Oscar nominated actors and this and that. And I have stood beside her. And I enjoyed the hell out of her in this. And watching the docu-series, I'm really getting to understand why she did this. Sorry, movie.

I wish it was a series. You really, I've been rooting for her love story. And that's what this is. I've been rooting for her all these years to find love. And that's what this is about. Well, let me just say, just to put a cap on where we started, the celebrities who did not want to be in the council, Taylor Swift, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, Lizzo.

Hold on, Paul. So we don't know that they didn't want to be in the council because according to the documentary, they were unavailable. And JLo does say, are they really unavailable or do they not want to do it? Because that's what I say when I don't want to do it. 100%. And I will say this, they were all shot on green screen, Was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it,

was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, was it, she's financing this whole thing. I also find J-Lo incredibly compelling. Sure. You know, like especially,

I will say especially on screen. You know, like I am a at best very casual fan of her music. I couldn't tell you a J-Lo song. I'm still, I'm still fan of her. But that being said, I think she's incredible on screen and is incredible inside of this, but it is ill conceived as a piece, I felt like. To your point, June, I would have loved it

if this was truly a deep dive into the ups and downs of J.Lo's romantic life told through song and image, but I think it dead ends. Well, it's trying. I think it's trying, but not really. Because at a certain point, I think you have to understand that if you're having repeated problems manifesting, engaging, and following through

on a successful relationship and it's not working, the problem might be that Fat Joe is your therapist. I was just going to say, I think it all stems from Fat Joe being a terrible therapist. And that is, he is in a cardigan in this, and he is doing a multiple acting scene with her. Maybe get a rep for another therapist. Maybe it's not Fat Joe.

I'm just saying, I love Fat Joe as a performer, as a rapper. I think he's incredible. Maybe he's not a licensed therapist. I believe that love never dies and that forever is real and that forever is real and that as long as I can... Time's up. Let's pick this back up next week.

Wifey's calling once again. Hey, what's up, mama? Let's check off some reasons why Fat Joe might not be a good therapist. Hey, he sets an alarm to go off very loudly in the middle of sessions to say, time's up. That's jarring. And usually most good therapists,

they just have, they have a clock nearby actually that's just facing them and not the patient. Yeah. And just sort of casually glanced. He also, the minute their session is over, takes a call from his wife, who is audibly yelling at him about continuing to see J-Lo

and demanding that he stop seeing her while he casually hands J.Lo, J.Lo's still in the room, a piece of paper that's like a, almost like prescription for her to go to sex and love anonymous, addicts anonymous, right? Yeah. Something like that. And his wife is still, like this is bad form

all over the place for a therapist. And he also, maybe I missed some backstory with him, but he does seem to, at one point, she is describing a dream she has where she's walking through the Bronx and it's, you know... By the way, that was my subway stop. I was very excited about that castle. Oh, that's cool.

I was like, wow, I could have bumped into her. We were from the same block. Ha-ha-ha! Polly from the block? Is that why you keep trying to call yourself Polly from the block? Yeah, I was really trying to be like, when I was working at my dad's pharmacy, I was also Polly from the block. I would run around. Oh, how great would it have been if she walked by like a storefront and it was just your

dad's pharmacy. Oh my God. My dad's pharmacy, Z-Stop drugs, just walking by Z-Stop. Well, her therapist, Fat Joe, does remember the store that she references standing in front of. I can't remember what it was called, cause she says, oh yeah. She's gone deep with Fat Joe. She calls him Joe.

She says, I remember that. So is he saying I remember that from your dreams or I remember that cause I also am from the block? I think he's saying I'm also from that neighborhood. And she calls him Joe. He's Fat Joe from the block? Yes. Yes.

Wow. She also calls him Joe, which led me to believe, because I also had problems inside of the story being like, am I meant to believe this is a JLo, this is JLo in some sort of personal analysis of her life, or is this a J-Lo-esque character she's settling into? Well, do you wanna know the answer?

I do. Oh, can I take a guess before you tell us? Yeah. I think it's a fictionalized J-Lo, so it has a lot of similarities, but it's also different. One might even say a doppelganger J-Lo. Oh, hang on. Now this, now hang on.

Now this is interesting. So again, I didn't get through the whole thing because I have to record this fucking podcast, but from what I saw, she keeps on describing it to people who have many questions. And saying- Are those people still have those questions? Now after the movie's done.

And she says, well, here's what I actually wanna say this on a very positive note. She, when we find her in the documentary, a streaming, a studio, I don't know who it was. Amazon. That she had a deal with, it was Amazon? I believe it was, yeah. I don't know, she had a deal with

to finance this movie slash music video. Signed deal, they pull out, okay? So then she's forced to finance it herself, which Ben Affleck has a lot of feelings about and makes them known. Now she keeps on saying it's, she's so inspired by what's happened to her and her story, which is the greatest love story never told, which is a book that Ben Affleck gave her.

And in that book, which he titled the greatest love story never told, he had compiled all of their emails, all of their texts to each other, all of their letters to each other over the course of not just this current relationship they had, but the 20-year span that went on between the two of them. So when we find Jennifer Lopez in the documentary,

she keeps on talking about how the chances of finding this love later on and realizing she had never fallen out of love with him. They had just been on pause. And this is the saddest part of this is? Knowing they're no longer together. Wait, what? Oh yeah, they've-

No, I know. She's saying it. I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'm an actor! So, so you are. That was great. So, but the funniest part of the documentary is that she takes that book, that very private book that he's brought to her. Well, this is, yeah.

This is so tough. You know this part, Paul. I know this part. Oh, yeah, you know this part. I don't. Oh, God, it's really tough. So, again, this book is a giant binder. She keeps it a secret for herself and she only looks at it and shows it to herself

to remind herself what love is? Well, Jason, she takes it to the recording studio. Oh boy. And it's laid out on a coffee table. And people are invited to flip through it. And they cut to like music supervisors or whoever. And they're like, yeah, I just felt like I wasn't supposed to be reading some of this stuff.

Oh my God. And then they have an interview with Ben and he's like, yeah, I mean, I thought that was sacred and private, but it is her process. And I, I, yeah, he's so deeply uncomfortable. Of course. Well, this, a lot of people point to this movie and Doc and that moment as potentially one of the reasons that frayed their relationship

because it is so intensely personal. I think he doesn't wanna live that kind of life. I think he wants to live a little bit behind the scenes. And, you know, the first opening scene that we see, you know, or there's a moment in there where JLo is burning a love letter, that was an actual real letter given to her by Ben Affleck. So she does actually burn it for the movie. You mean in the scene where she's in the LA mansion

and it's thunder and lightning out like it always does in LA. She's inside at the fireplace, drenched, inexplicably drenched in a gown, and she is burning all the memories that are inside of a Louis Vuitton train case, like a trolley case, a big box? That's later in life. That's later.

This is in the beginning when she was, I think, out in the desert, cause the letter reads, life's tough, but you're sweet. Oh God. Thanks for the gift. Hope you like the flowers. You told me you could never have enough.

I believe you. And it said, I got her number. How do you like those apples? This is a tricky movie to make about, she's a loveaholic. I mean- Well, it's not a fully, it's not fully a movie. What is it?

Well, that's what's so hard is people don't have... People watch this without understanding the author's intent and what... Does she... Yeah. Does she elaborate? Yeah, it's not a music video, and it's Purple Rain. Well, Purple Rain's a movie. Purple Rain. Well, Purple Rain has, like, a narrative thrust that this kind of doesn't have.

Oh, I think it does. This feels more to me like something between Purple Rain and Lemonade. As Cody said, Cody thinks it's a love letter to her love of dance. Oh, interesting. Well, I think it was a, I think there was a clear narrative. She couldn't find love.

She was blaming it on all of these men. It was never working out. She was too quick to commit and to, you and to fall in love with this idea of love. And then of course she had to realize she hasn't loved herself. Well, but that scene, wow. I love that. I love that. I love that idea.

And I wanna be clear, I love this as a thing. I mean, I like this. You know what it is? It's not in any of the things we just said. It's just a longer thriller. Right. I agree with that. You know what I mean? Like, it has a loose narrative, but is actually really just

about dance sequences and songs, which I believe is what's going on. The dance sequences and songs, I'm going to just give an A plus. I don't need to dissect them at all. But I will say. Wait, you're giving the songs just a blanket A-plus? Across, like, I was enraptured, and I was like,

oh, this is fun. By the songs? He gives both songs an A-plus. Well, I don't even know if I'm paying attention to the lyrics at a certain point. I'm watching the dancing. I was all in. I was like, maybe it was a respite from the heaviness of the plot.

But all I'm saying is, in like, Thriller, it's like, there's a moment Michael Jackson's like, hey, you wanna walk down this block? And then they walk down the block, and then the thriller video starts like, this goes into like full scene work. I mean, this is, we're seeing scenes, and I'm gonna say this, she goes to therapy with Fat Joe.

Fat Joe, you know, does what all therapists do, offer to give her a ride home. I think that probably you shouldn't do. It's raining outside. When she got a nice rain jacket. But that's when I knew the movie wasn't about J.Lo. Like J.Lo's not walking home or indoor taking the bus. She said she's gonna take the bus.

That was what blew my mind. And then proceeds to do an homage to singing in the rain. A plus. Singing in the Rain, the Gene Kelly dance cover from Singing in the Rain. A plus. It's good, it's good. I will say, I...

See, that's the only dance sequence I didn't like. I didn't like that one either actually too. You just gave it an A plus. I don't understand what's going on. I know, but I had to write it. I had to write it. I don't mind. Well, because my problem with that sequence I don't understand what's going on. I know, but I had to write it. I had to write it. I don't mind.

Well, because my problem with that sequence was there's no world in which JLo should ever be doing. Really, it's obsessed me to talk about, but there's no, the fact that she was wearing flats for that whole sequence really took me out of the entire piece. Wow, that took you out. Yeah.

And it just was so surprising that J-Lo would be in flats and be do it. I was like, put her in a little bootlet, put her in a, she was way, and I don't know if it was a safety issue. I don't know what, but it really took me out of things. And I don't think she, but she didn't seem comfortable. It was part of her rain outfit. I would've liked her in rain boots. Yeah, better. I mean, but was she at the end when she did

that song and dance, the singing in the rain dance, was that supposed to be in the Bronx or LA? Bronx, that's the Bronx. Because I believe that, okay, so she is walking home from LA because the therapist is in LA. Sometimes he's in the Bronx. That's what's like, it's all over the place.

And that's why, you know, that's why this, to me, is unsuccessful is because I'm neither clear on what the exact storyline that she's interested in interrogating is beyond the idea that she's gotten to be, you know, middle-aged and has three divorces and doesn't know how to do love right. That, again, is something, boy, would be wonderful to interrogate,

but the songs didn't help me get at that. Like, they weren't helping me, they weren't in service of helping me understand how she was reconciling her difficult feelings or her failures into turning them into successes and so forth. I would have liked more. or her failures into turning them into successes and so forth, I would have liked more.

Where as Thriller, it's like, hey, we're walking home and there's some zombies out there. You know, so like that at least lines up. Like this is what I'm saying. It's like, we're really taking like some 180 degree turns. And I think if we're gonna discuss it, we should also just start where the movie starts because it does start in the heart factory,

in outer space. No, I think that's in the, I think that's in her body. I think that's meant to be her heart that she has to restart. I thought that- Correct. I thought that Zodiacal Council was like, at one point the camera pushes away from the Zodiacal Council. I don't think the Zodiacal Council

is where the Matrix Revolution style, Rhythm Nation, Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation style, heart, metal heart scene takes place. I think... So the heart factory... I believe is inside her chest. It's within her. That's what I thought too.

Because it's... Okay, so the heart factory runs on rose petals. Because it's inside... Remember, she's in the motorcycle accident first. And I believe they're saying her heart is stopping because of the injuries in the motorcycle accident. That ends, she's heartbroken. Oh, I thought cause she's heartbroken.

Oh, I'm sorry, yes. Cause the motorcycle accident is a metaphor for heartbreak, right? She's living the best life. And that guy in the motorcycle, that's Ben Affleck, right? That's, and Ben Affleck does make a couple of appearances in this, but that, I don't know if that's truly him

or it's a representation of him. Like he is the guy, cause he looks, he has the same Armageddon, Ben Affleck haircut. Just so you know, in the documentary, she says this is all loosely inspired. So don't look too closely. Loosely. Yeah, but also don't be too far away. Yeah, and everybody, I think a lot of the people

that were cast in it, especially the husbands, are all dancers. It's Derek Hough. It's people who are executing these elaborate, huge dance sequences. Well, let me just for a second, just talk about this heart factory, just for a second. All right, so if that's inside of her, just talk about this heart factory, just for a second.

All right, so if that's inside of her, if that heart factory is inside of her. And if you haven't watched it, just really imagine Matrix Revolutions, like those scenes, like in what's the city called in the Matrix, what they're trying to get to? It doesn't matter, but it's where the rave takes place. I know what you're talking about, yes. And so she has to put on a special suit to get inside the heart chamber because the heart is running on rose petals. Rose petals are in short supply, I guess, because there's also a meter that's running,

very steampunk-esque meter. I was upset that there were no men in the heart factory and I was wondering, maybe she could use some men in that heart factory. I don't know, do women not, do men have their own heart factory? Are you saying that they needed men to make the heart work?

Careful. I'm just saying that maybe- men to make the heart work? I'm just saying that maybe Careful. Sure, her counterbalance is that she needs a little bit of men and women in there. Are you saying because men are strong, they need the stronger men to come in, Paul?

Is that what you're saying? Hey, like you said it, you said it, but if it makes sense to you, then I don't mind disagree. Well, it's within her own heart. So all of those women are ostensibly her versions of her. Oh. I mean, I guess there could be a very masculine version, but. Well, yeah, maybe that's a part of her that she needs

because they all looked a little bit like her. And maybe there needs to be, I mean, because here's the other thing. The zodiac council is one council. Zodiacal? Sorry, the zodiacal council is one council. Put some respect on their name, Paul. And I know you're angry about the lack

of representations of aquariums. Understandably. And I am too. I am. There's no men in that heart factory. There's no Aquarius in the zodiacal council. What the hell is this? Can I just tell you something that I was just,

just sorry to interrupt Paul, but I asked the movies going along, I'm like, wait, did I miss the goat? Where is the Capricorn? Where are the Capricorn? Meanwhile, we have two Pisces. We have Pisces represented in two ways. Well, obviously we have two Geminis.

So I'm like, what the fuck? I quickly Google, who's the Capricorn in This Is Me Now. And it says Lady Gaga. And I've, so I spent, you have to understand, I spent the entire movie slash piece waiting for Lady Gaga to come out as the Capricorn. Oh, so you did it before you, oh wow. Yeah, cause they were like Tuesday and Sunday,

I'm like, did I miss the Capricorn? I'm like, I have to find out, because that's the big father energy. Who's gonna be playing her? And it said Lady Gaga online. I don't know what happened there. I wonder if that was, yeah, I wonder if that was maybe what they were trying to do,

or maybe, do you think Lady Gaga was cut from this? I don't know. She didn't, it didn't work. I mean, maybe she just forgot that Lady Gaga said no, and just kept it in there because again, I mean, I'm just, I'm so torn on this movie because there's some, by the minute you wrestle with the steampunk heart, then all of a sudden

you're transported into this Magneto prison world that she lives in a glass apartment with a soup. She wakes up to Fox News where Ben Affleck is, wrecks the anchor of the Fox News. I feel like Ben Affleck so badly did not want to appear in this movie that he agreed to undergo what had to have been hours worth of prosthetics to be added to his face

to seem to be unrecognizable. Cause he doesn't look like a typical, he looks like a melted puppet. He looks like Tom Snyder. He looks like, like he brought them a picture of Tom Snyder and said, give me this. Yes. And he is anchoring the local news.

She wakes up in the morning, she's like, okay, I'm in my glass apartment, which is visually very beautiful. And then this guy that she's with, very violent guy, he's drinking, seems early in the morning, because it seems like dawn when he wakes up. Then they have this like fight there, but they're torn. I like, I like this.

I know everything in this movie is a little heavy handed, but I liked them being like tied together. I thought that was a cool visual representation of the push and pull in a relationship. But he also endured, like he gave me no, I didn't like this guy, because the first moment that we see him, he spits on the floor and he punches a hole in the wall.

I didn't find my heart pouring out to him, but then they're together. But where did he come from? Because is that another dream or is that real life? Well, I guess I would have, I agree with you, Paul, and I guess I would have liked it if a lot of these relationships that are depicted inside of the dance sequences, I was better understanding where they fit

into the chronological learning or not learning of J.Lo's character in this. Is she learning from each subsequent relationship and getting better or what she seems to be saying in therapy and in the intervention is, what's wrong with finding someone for the rest of my life? Or what's, like, having these kind of, almost like teenage questions.

And I'm like, well, where are we in the trajectory of your understanding of love? At one point, when she's getting married, she's getting married to four different gentlemen that keep on switching back and forth. And I guess they're supposed to be... understanding of love at one point when she's getting married she's getting married to four different gentlemen That keep on switching back and forth and I guess they're supposed to be fine I think those are just all the different weddings in her life They are but well I can speak to that a little bit if you want to stand from just a financial

Perspective why certain creative choices were made so originally they were going to show like a sequence of multiple weddings So originally they were going to show like a sequence of multiple weddings, different locations. This wedding is on the beach, this wedding's over here, multiple locations, giant extras, all of it. And then they ran into some budget issues. Which is why creatively they had to readjust. I liked it. I didn't mind that.

I thought it was cool looking. That didn't bother me. And I got what they were saying, you know, but again, it almost was, it made them, it made the husbands all so interchangeable in a way that it kept me from understanding each of their impact, singular impact on her life for good or bad.

Yeah. And I guess that's what I took away from it in general, which is that all of these men in her life were for good or bad. Yeah, and I guess that's what I took away from it in general, which is that all of these men in her life were inconsequential, were sort of faceless stand-ins for her needing to greet herself before she could end up with anyone, which she doesn't at the end of the film piece project. Right, so she was married, just so we, like she's married four times, She doesn't at the end of the film piece project. Right.

So she was married, just so we, she's married four times. She was married to this guy, Ohani Noah. They were married in 1997, divorced seven months later. She was married to Chris Judd. He was a Leo and a dancer. They were married for two years. Then she was married to Mark Anthony. For a while. They were married for two years. Then she was married to Mark Anthony.

For a while. They have two kids, 2004, 2011. Then she was married to A-Rod, also a Leo. A lot of Leos in here. By the way, if you're keeping track of the people she's dated, she's dated a Gemini, a Scorpio, a Leo, a Leo, a Virgo, an Aries, a Scorpio, a Leo, and a Leo. Ben Affleck is the Leo.

So I'm just gonna say, because, you know, Leo men are very interesting, and when we have a son who's Leo, and I was very excited to, because they are usually very in touch with the feminine. And so I do find it interesting, because she has a very powerful masculine side, and so I do find it interesting that's because she has a very powerful masculine side. And so I do find it really interesting that she is drawn to Leo men.

So Ben Affleck, A-Rod, they're the Leos in her life. The true loves, potentially. Obviously, I know that this is the movie for however it was able to turn out that J.Lo set out to make, right? Because she is so in control of this. But I think what we're coming up against, or what I will say for me, what I'm coming up against is,

and what we're talking about is, so much of what she seems curious to interrogate is so interesting and so compelling, as a person to be looking back on their loves and their growth and their emotional growth. All of that's super compelling and interesting to me. The movie didn't capture it enough for me to get invested, but boy do I wish, and again,

I know this was not her intention, but boy do I wish that J.Lo had instead made a narrative feature film in which she truly plays a character who is unpacking these same issues. Because this is fascinating territory. Maybe we'll see that. How did this come in? How did this come in?

Well, this is where I wanna talk about the Diddy intervention scene. That's her relationship with Diddy. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh yeah, and that to me was, I thought, the most reflective of who she was and where she was. And I will also say that's, I think, one of her best scenes of acting too.

She's coming home, she's drunk, she's been partying. She was great. Diddy's got a gun. Diddy's got a gun. What's super interesting. I mean, that is true. I think they both were arrested for that. But what's hard about the movie as it exists

because it's such short time and it's so dominated by the songs that like all of the husbands appear to be happening to J.Lo concurrently almost at the same, in the same period of time. Like there's no effort to make that slice of it feel as though it is from quite a long time ago. Do you know what I mean?

Like- Sure. Right. It all feels like it's happening within a week, right? It doesn't feel like a going back and forth, right? It just seems like she's, yes, I understand. Like the timeline of it is weird because it's not all in therapy.

Like she goes to therapy, she leaves therapy, she comes back, she's having dreams, she's having real moments. Fat Joe is changing costumes. Like we're with her in this whole thing. Well, that's interesting because in the documentary, there's a great scene between her and Ben Affleck where he's, you know, he's writing on this script,

just an FYI, and he's punching it up and they're working on it together. He's on a computer and I did think it was interesting that she's on an iPad with an detachable keyboard. Got it. Okay. So that, that's interesting to me. Different ways of approaching the work.

We, Paul and I know somebody who's who like exclusively works off of an iPad, no computer. And I just find that to be the most reckless way to live. But, um, she's telling him something about the story and the movie and she's like, yeah, and then I was 28 when this happened. And he goes, no, you weren't. You were older than that. And she's like, no, well, well, no, but the, but the, but I was 28, meaning the character and I'm speaking and I was 28. And he goes, you're telling me that in your

own autobiographical film, you're making yourself younger? It's such a great moment and they have a laugh about it, but it does seem like she's unwilling, and I understand and I can appreciate this, to nail down ages and times. And to be quite honest, she's a woman in her 50s, she couldn't look better. Couldn't look better. Couldn't look better.

Couldn't dance better. She could not look better. But you know what I would have loved? Like, one of the things I loved, actually, was, and I would have liked more of this, is when there is a little girl who is representing the little girl J.Lo, the little Jenny in the world.

I would have loved it if there was another actress representing her at a teenage or early 20s. It would have helped me understand the different relationships happening to different age J.Lo's rather than it's seeming like a woman in her mid 50s is dating 20-something gangster, like, gun-toting Diddy wannabe to the Derek Huffs and the Ben Affleck analog and so forth. It all feels like it's happening to her. In the present day. It muddies the story because it makes it seem like

she's doing all of this in her 40s and 50s, and that's just not the case, you know? Right. Well, let me ask you about this. We have the council. We've talked about the council, you know? Right. Well, let me ask you about this. We have the, uh, the council. We've talked about the council, but she's also surrounded by her friends. I like that you've now just abandoned saying Zadaiacal.

Now, she's also surrounded by her own friends. The biggest thing I had of a problem with in this movie is that J.Lo doesn't have any friend named Mike. Like, when she says, my friend Mike, I was like, I found that to be the boldest. I was like, she has a friend named Michelle, she has a friend Mike, I was like, I found that to be the boldest. I was like, she has a friend named Michelle, she has a friend named Mike,

like Mike, there's no Mike. And this guy comes on with a British accent, I'm like, this guy is, give him a name, give him something, don't call him Mike. That's like in Game of Thrones where there's like all the, there's Tywin Lannister and there's this guy and then there's just a character named Kevin Lannister. Kevin.

And they're like, what do you think, Kevin? Well, I couldn't tell one apart from the other. They all seemed, they were just simply, I think too many of them. Well, June, that's why they weren't given names. They were giving, it is, Mike is the cynic and the rest don't have names. It's the cynic, the lover, the quiet one,

the realist, the idealist, and the fighter. I don't know who the stealing person is. I think that may be the quiet one, the one who's always stealing all the stuff all the time. And I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to represent. You have these two large ensembles, the Friends and the Zodiacal Council,

and they kind of are the Greek chorus of the piece. Interesting, but again, doesn't really work. You've got like the gods of the zodiac sign up in the heavens and you've got the chorus of Friends on the ground, but none of it really adds up to anything. I end up caring not at all for the Friends, except for even like their... The intervention could have been a great scene

for those friends to really drill down into character bits or I don't know, it just wasn't... Well, I'm sure you were happy with the Zodiacal Council. Always. Always. I loved the Zodiacal Council just because they were wearing crazy outfits. They're clearly alone doing it. It's Clash of the Titans style.

They're all talking across a circular table because they're never gonna be in a shot together. It's always over somebody's shoulder that you don't see. And one of the things I love is they all love Vanderpump. That was funny. By the way, and that's what I'm saying, this movie does have a weird sensibility to her. I'm like, that was fun. All right, well.

And that would have made it, I think, a lot more fun if it was interested in having more fun itself. You know, if the movie's tone was closer to the movie that Kiki Palmer is in. I like that. You know what I mean? Like who I think is so funny and so, and is doing such funny stuff.

Again, alone, in a vacuum, I'm sure. But that's interesting. Also, at the end has a funny outtake on, like, you have me saying the craziest shit. Like... Oh, there's a thing where Sofia Vergara says, I think this is the weirdest thing I've ever done, or something like that. By the way, did you remember?

There's one person I didn't recognize in that council, and that was played by Guru to the Stars. By the way, did you remember? There's one person I didn't recognize in that council, and that was played by Guru to the Stars, Sadaguru? Do you know Sadaguru? I didn't know Sadaguru. No, I looked it up as well though. Okay. Sadaguru was paid $200,000 for his appearance in the zodiacal council. Whoa, that's a lot. Yeah, a lot. He is a, uh...

Who is he? I mean, the way that it is described to me is he is the guru to the stars. I don't, I mean, and look, he looks, he has got a nonprofit. Uh... I wish that they had just cast Mike Myers as the love guru.

Uh, I mean, by the way, it would have been... Yeah, that would have been great. He was, unfortunately, busy. Maybe Rob Hubel could have stuck with one of the stars, the love guru? Uh, I mean, by the way, it would have been great. He was unfortunately busy. Maybe Rob Hubel could have stopped one of the stars. The love. He has a unique approach to blending science with spirituality, which actually resonates with the global audience. Uh, rather than dismissing modern science, he often incorporates scientific

perspectives into his teaching, uh, using them as a framework for deeper spiritual understanding. So I imagine that him and Neil deGrasse Tyson are really getting along on that zodiacal council. I thought there was something interesting. The movie, again, comes in at an hour and change. Like it is short. 65 minutes. It is a one hour and change movie.

And it is, you know, mostly just long form music videos. That being said, there are all these kind of scenes, but it starts interestingly with, not the zodiacal counselor, not these kind of big thematic elements, but I thought a really smart and interesting thing, which is this fairy tale. This fairy tale about Alita and what that story is. And I was like, oh, that's a great way to frame this. That's a great through line. It does not, it's not a through line. It's not, it comes back near the end, but I was like, tell me your story through the lens of this fairy tale. That I understand, that I get.

That's something I can wrap my head around. But I didn't think that the scenes were a necessary, maybe I'm wrong, necessarily a depiction of the events of Alita's journey in the fairy tale. And J-Lo putting herself inside of that. Which would have been interesting. I thought that that fairy tale was showing us how obsessed with falling in love she was as a little girl

and how it felt like that was going to be her destiny. And then she never found it. I mean, most of the scenes that are not like the dance sequences are not, except for when she comes in rather tipsy, they're not that compelling except for the scene with the little girl. Great. And I'm not going to lie, I teared up.

Now my one question though, is when she's singing with the little girl, the little girl is singing in the, in the, in the piece, but there's no sound to her voice. So she's like, um, lip syncing. Well, because you don't want to hear her sing. I would have loved, I did want to hear her sing. I was like, it is JLo, you're hearing her sing. JLo is singing. Yes.

But I thought it was so strange to have her mouth move. I agree with you because what I feel like is that is, in microcosm, the problem with the movie. The movie would have been narratively more compelling if the little girl, Jenny, had a voice. If the little girl herself had a voice. But at the end of the day, what we're doing is selling these songs.

You know what I mean? You two jerks don't get this fucking movie, and it makes me upset to even fucking talk to you about it. You're putting... Wait, are you quoting the Reddit right now? Are you reading from the Reddit? Let me just tell you what that scene is, all right? She had to become a singer for someone to give her love

because she didn't give herself love. And you're saying, oh, we want her to sing. No, she's not a... Well, only because her mouth is moving. No! She didn't give herself love. And you're saying, oh, we want her to sing. No, she's not a- No, no. Well, only because her mouth is moving. She doesn't have a voice. She only is doing that singing shit because she didn't love herself.

And by the way, did she figure it out? Like Fat Joe's a bad therapist. You should have said you didn't love yourself. She figures it out. She spent all this money on Fat Joe. Couples therapy. Well, the role of a good therapist is for you to be able to come to your issues on your own.

So you think Fat Joe is a good therapist? Fat Joe is a good therapist because he, A, fires her, but then does bring her back and see her after his wife has made him fire her, J.Lo, that is. But then also Fat Joe is, I believe, all of the couples therapists for her marriage is also correct? You should have your own couples therapist.

You should not, you shouldn't be seeing one of your therapists as your also couples counselor. Budget issues. I agree. Oh, I'm sure you're right. That was the same as the weddings, I'm sure. But that being said, I was like, at this point, Fat Joe. That's what Paul said to me, budget issues.

We have to go see my therapist. As a matter of fact, I do half of my session, I bring June in for a capper at the end and we get out of there. Just gotta save money. Once the alarm goes off, June pokes her head in for five minutes of quick downloading. Time's up.

Let's pick this back up next week. Now, is she going to a hopeless romantic, like an AA for romantics or an AA for sex addicts or AA? Like, I mean, is it just- I think it's sex and love anonymous. Sex and love, so she is addicted to sex a little bit. I think love. Okay. She's addicted to love.

I think the movie is telling us that she is so addicted to falling in love and finding that love and being in love that that is the thing that she, that is the cycle she seemingly can't get out of, that she can't find a love that will last, will go the distance, right? That she is always in this limerence period

or the electricity of falling in love, you know, or finding, thinking you've found that love. Does that sound right or am I misrepresenting it? I think that's right, Jason. You know, I wonder if... I mean, she, when she puts it all together at the end... Oh, sorry, can I just jump in one second? Because I wrote down something

that someone says in the thing. She is, she's saying, it's the intervention. She's saying, what's wrong with wanting to spend your life with someone, blah, blah, blah. And it's the idea of romantic love versus real love. You know what I mean? Like the ideas around romance versus what a long lasting

lifetime loving relationship actually looks like versus the music video versions of love that are dance sequences and that have all this big emotionality to them, if that makes sense. Well, I also think, you know, what I thought was cool about the very end was that after realizing that she is not able

to find love or real love that's based in reality without loving herself, she was also, once she came to that conclusion and decided to love and take care of herself with that little girl part of her, the other thing she was able to do was to genuinely be happy for someone else who had found it. Yes, at the Burning Man wedding at the end.

That's right. Yes. And you'll also notice that in that same section of the film, we do in fact cut back to the interior of the metallic heart matrix world in which she has successfully rebooted the heart. She has successfully... I wasn't sure how. I don't know either, but she successfully rebooted the heart,

put a petal in there or whatever it is, and then she comes out and the roses are blooming and she's figured out how to love herself. This is what makes it so bad. Well, it seems there's some sort of container, there's some container of petals that she was able to bring into the atrium and drop off and somehow.

But then they come out and like the fields, the fields are rich with roses that are growing from the ground. Whereas before those fields had been fallow. And again, I just have to keep on saying that as we talk about this. A lot of imagery. A lot of imagery here. A lot of imagery, but I also wanna say

it makes it even more sad that she is now divorced from Ben Affleck after this. It doesn't actually. Why? Because, so I thought about that a lot watching it, cause I was like, is she gonna end up with him at the end of this? Because at the end of it, she is on her own.

Okay, so she is without, like she doesn't need a man to fill that void because she's figured out. I believe in the world of this story, in her mind, she needed to complete this journey in order to come back to him. That's the part we didn't see. Right, because she needed to be full before she could be.

And I love that idea, but here's my question. And by the way, they might get back together. I would not rule it out. Wow. You heard it here first. Why not? You heard it here first. I would not rule it, I would not rule it out. I think we said it here first. Why not? You heard it here first. I would not rule it out.

I would not rule it out. I think we said Helen Mirren was gonna be in Fast and Furious, and we were right. This could be the second one. Why does everybody in this movie put sunglasses on at the same time? That is... Everybody in the scenes, the zodiacal council, after a certain point in the movie,

everybody's just inexplicably wearing sunglasses. I couldn't figure it out. Well, I do know in the heart sequence, I believe that was at the end, when all of the roses were everywhere, they were wearing rose-colored, rose-tinted glasses. Oh, so you think that's it? They're looking at the world through rose-colored glasses?

Which by the way, that is very, I like that, but that is actually unreliable then, because to look at the world through rose-colored glasses is actually to not be looking at the world as it is. That usually is something you say about someone who is attributing a false sense of positivity to the world that they're in, right? I think that's true, but in the case of the artist,

which is what Jennifer Lopez's character is named, in the case of the artist, her heart needs to believe that it's possible again, which she does. I'm gonna just say, I just, yeah, I mean, I just, I... So I did do a little research on the hummingbird thing as we were talking about it here It seems like JLo kind of made up that story. It's kind of true kind of false It's a little bit more like Romeo and Juliet

And a little bit like Pocahontas in a way, too. It's a mixed story But it is that same idea that these that this bird is always looking for love His and this is the hummingbird is looking for his lost love. And I think that that's JLo. It's weird that JLo's mom told her the story and cast her as the girl when she actually is the, she act, I think that JLo is the hummingbird. That's interesting. It leads the, the, the story, the legend of the hummingbird, which is the Alita

story is the story, like you said, it's a Romeo and Juliet, it's a taboo love between the Alita character and someone from a rival tribe. Their forbidden love leads to Alita being transformed into a beautiful red flower, and the man into a hummingbird, forever searching for her among the blossoms. That is the fairy tale of Alita. Well, which is interesting to me,

because it's, it's that, that I didn't get from the movie, which is that she's waiting for the one man she fell in love with. I guess that's, that is Ben Affleck. She's been waiting for him to find her in and amongst the, the roses that she's been mixed in with. Is that right? I think so. I think so too.

But she wasn't ready to be sniffed properly. Wait, wait, where did you... First of all, don't ever say that again. Where did you put the word bird? Where did you get sniffed from? Well, you know, like a hummingbird is kind of dipping its wick in everything, you know? You think hummingbirds are sniffing with a wick?

With their little nose. Wait, what do you mean with a wick? With their little wicky nose, you know? You think a hummingbird, the thing, okay, so what's a toucans thing called, a wick as well? No, that's a beak. Okay, so you think a hummingbird doesn't have a beak, it's got a wick?

I think it's a little wicky thing, yeah. Like a little wicking. Like a John Wick? What kind of smell is that? I mean, look, I'm no ornithologist. TikTok, Mr. Wick. I don't understand what's going on here. So they want to beak it.

The hummingbird wants to beak all these flowers, right? And- Well, it's looking for his true love. He's looking for Alita. But she's looking- I think she's looking for Alita. He's gotta taste all the other roses to find her. That's what I think she's doing.

She's gotta taste- Well, I think they both are. I don't think he, we don't see anything about this guy. Well, he goes off and marries Jennifer Garner. We have it in the movie. And Ahmed got a must. Wait, they got married? I don't know, did they get married?

No, but they were together for a while. He's definitely had a lot of relationships. I'll say this. I don't know what Rex represents and I actually find it to be confusing. This is a final thought that I have on this. Who's Rex? Ben Affleck's character on the Fox News channel.

Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that was his name. Sorry, forgive me. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it was pretty clear, Jason. Rex is, you know, clearly. Wait a minute, what? Yeah, Rex, Rex who hosts his morning show, Rex Stone,

he also was the biker, by the way. He did actually play the biker. He did? He did. According to this IMDb. Oh, interesting, okay. So what is Rex representing? That we are, like the tabloids attacking her? That's what I assumed, but the very few times we cut to him,

I didn't feel like what he was saying was really on any point that I was clued into. It just felt like superfluous filler. I don't know. It didn't feel targeted or sharp enough. I'm not sure. Yeah, I don't know. And especially because it was Ben Affleck,

I was trying to find other meaning in it as well. I was like, why is her husband, her actual current husband, inside of this structure? Why is he, like, what's this supposed to be telling me? I feel like we don't really even get a chance to see the biker in the story. One last thought here, I will say this. The Greatest Love Story Never Told,

that's a documentary about the making of This Is Me Now. That comes in at an hour and 26 minutes. Uh, so it is a longer, the documentary is longer. That's incredible. We gotta do the documentary for a last look, Sam. I would love, I mean, I actually- I'm really enjoying that. Can we agree that we'll all three get together

for a brief conversation in a future mini episode to just talk about the doc? Cause I will enjoying that. Can we agree that we'll all three get together for a brief conversation in a future mini episode to just talk about the doc? Because I will watch that. Oh, I want to watch it tonight. I also just want to say two things. Where was Leah Remini, her best friend? Wait, in reality, her best friend? Wait, she's probably the lover or the quiet one or the...

Maybe is Leah Remini the thief? No, I mean, why isn't she in this? You mean physically, why isn't she, why isn't she Aquarius or whatever? So J.Lo, so J.Lo and Marc Anthony were at Antony, were at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' wedding. And this, what happened there with J.Lo and Leah Remini not being seated at the same table has basically

caused the downfall of Scientology because Leah Remini questioned it and trying to get them to all sit together. Katie Holmes reported Leah Remini having some like conflict with the wedding planner and then Leah Remini got reprimanded by Tom Cruise and others. And it made her so upset that she started questioning infrastructure altogether. But yeah, JLo and Leah Remini have been friends forever. So I thought it was odd. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, that's interesting.

That she wasn't in the movie. Here's why, June, you ready for it? They had a very big falling out when JLo got together with Ben Affleck because she expressed to him, she expressed to her, she was not, she didn't think that he was coming from the right place. And so- Wait, Leah Remini thought Ben Affleck

was there for the wrong reason? Right, yes. She said he was selfish and not fully committed as a partner. So they did not go to the wedding. They had not spoken. Okay, so I'm behind on all this. When, but then when Leah Remini got her divorce,

they have recently reconnected. Oh, that's- They've buried the hatchet. I've always been rooting for them as friends. So for two years they've been apart, but they had a long heart to heart conversation. Good. And they couldn't believe they were both in the middle of a divorce.

Yeah. And they rekindled their friendships. So that is, that is really good. And look, and by the way, a good friend to get out in front of that. And she was right. She was right. Well, listen, it's all a part of the journey. I still think that, God damn it, they might find their way back to each other again.

I hope so. I hope so. I hope so. Whenever they get together, they do seem happy. They do. Jason, they do. Which is kind of amazing, but boy. They have something.

There was something, I found this film to be kind of impenetrable. Yeah, that's why I think it'll be interesting to fin, well, for me to finish and for you all to start the companion piece. I think I'm gonna get way more out of the documentary. I think that's gonna be what I want, which is actual conversation about actual feelings.

Yes. Right. And I do think visually there's a lot in here, and they talk about in the documentary that is, you know, a reflection on her other album, This Is Me. It's like 20 years later, however long later, we're getting some visual references that take us back to the other album and there's a lot going on that they get into. And by the way, I kind of think it's fine to have a documentary or a companion piece

to then watch another piece with. And I have to say, I do appreciate, and you get to know more about it in the documentary, J.Lo trying something. Sure. And you get to hear about how scared she is of this failing. But imagine, imagine if these songs were great. Like, have, forgive me, have any of these songs been hits?

And I'm just unaware of it. That's a no. Like, if these were, like, if this was a, like Lemonade. If this was a series of songs that were undeniable, then we would be having a very different conversation. You know? This is the thing that makes it even... Pfft, more of an issue is, you know,

she wanted to go out on tour with this album. Oh, this was the canceled tour. Yes, this is the canceled tour. So then when she realized that it wasn't working, she said, she changed it from this is me to this is me greatest hits. realized that it wasn't working, she said, she changed it from This Is Me to This Is Me Greatest Hits. And then it just, yeah, and then it canceled. I'm so looking forward to the documentary

because I do think that's where, that's the movie I wanted to be watching, you know? For sure, and then it's hard, right? Because like you look at Beyonce and what she's able to do visually and what she's able to do visually and what she was able to do with Lemonade and what she's able to do with her songs. And her dancing and how sort of iconic

and the visual language she has created around her music has been so effective. And it feels like J-Lo is so inspired by that, that she wanted to do it too. And then she was also, you know, to me watching the documentary, I'm like, oh, there's a sweetness to seeing this woman who's so drunk in love.

You know? And who's like, I'm 50 and I figured it out and I want to share it. And it's very, it's very endearing. And it's, but it's just not, it's not lemonade. Well, I guess what you're saying is maybe she needs to get off that iPad and maybe get onto a, you know, maybe a-

On to Final Draft? Yeah, Final Draft, get onto some sort of a, a laptop of some kind. Because I don't know if an iPad's gonna let you go that deep. That's all I'm saying. It's like, I know what you're saying. No, it's such, honestly, there's so many

creative limitations to an iPad. This is real, it's true. Yeah. You can only do so much on an iPad. I mean, it's just gonna, by the way, I just Googled Beyonce laptop. There's multiple images of Beyonce with a laptop carrying it into locations on a bed typing

at a kitchen counter. Beyonce's on a laptop. She's carrying, she's carrying a laptop around. And she's with like a 16 to 18 inch. Wow. And I'm not saying it's either Beyoncé or J-Lo. There's so many pictures of Beyoncé with a laptop. It doesn't have to be Team Beyoncé or Team J-Lo.

These are both iconic performers of our time. But I just did, this was not sticky. I don't remember the songs and the stuff felt a little derivative of other things. I'm gonna say one more thing. I just typed in JLo laptop. It's only from movies. Then I typed in Taylor Swift on laptop.

Taylor Swift's on tons of laptops. Everyone's on laptops at JLo. Wow, this could be the problem. Wow. Get JLo a laptop. That Joe should have said your issue is not having a laptop. His prescription should be, don't go to sex and love anonymous. It should be here's a MacBook Pro.

Get JLo. And final draft. Get her final draft. And a final draft license, but it runs out in three months and it won't work. Oh my God. Obviously we have opinions about this movie. There are people out there with a second opinion. It's now time for second opinions. You're a piece of shit.

You're a piece of shit. The movie was a piece of shit. Yet this person recommends it. Tell me what is the message. Maybe that art is subjective. I need a second opinion. All right. This is me now, Love Story.

The average rating is 3.6 out of 5 stars. There are 476 total reviews. This is a film that is on Amazon, so easy to review it because you don't even have to leave the place. 61% are 5-star reviews. This is a film that is on Amazon, so easy to review it because you don't even have to leave the place. Sixty-one percent are five-star reviews. The first one from ML is from Mike the Cynic's mom, who said, Mike the Cynic is awesome. Five stars. So sweet. That's cute. And then we go to Robin Glasgow, who writes, Britney, Beyonce, Janet, respect you as performers,

but JLo, eight. I've watched it five times. Anyone who rates us below five stars was never a dancer, never been heartbroken, doesn't get artistry, has zero creativity, or is a Taylor Swift fan. Five stars, Jenny owns the block. Wow, wow, wow. That's a huge statement.

Huge. She ate. Ate. Emily J.H., I'll read her title as the introduction line because that's how they wrote it. If you don't enjoy watching a 51 year old woman dance like nothing else matters, Paul note she's 55, then maybe this isn't for you. But if you think damn I didn't know Jennifer Lopez could be that real within the first 10 minutes and proceed

to watch the movie three times in a row because it's just that gorgeous, you might be a complete movie nerd like me. Seriously, candidate for best film since The Truman Show. Funny. Whoa! Ha ha ha! Not if you gave me one month.

Yeah, that was a tough one to get. And unlimited guesses. Yeah. I would never have come to that. Wow. Funny because I tried to listen to the album on its own and I was like, yeah, still not a JLo fan. Yet somehow this was transformative.

And yet it has cheesy moments. I see that as interesting. No one stands up and gives a moving speech in the first time they walk into a 12 step group, but the dance number that followed nailed the room. I watched that scene alone probably 10 times. Now, I shocked you with the Truman Show thing. Get ready for this.

Therapist out there, fantastic inner child scene that I've already used in my sessions. What? So this is a therapist bringing it in. Is it Fat Joe? Is it, is that from Fat Joe? Dr. Fat Joe? Bonnie Blue writes, for less than 50 minutes long,

this packed a big punch for me. Never have I been a JLo fan, but this woman is so talented and has matured and grown. Wasn't sure about the beginning, but now I get it. Love the songs, the theme, the approach, the costumes, the humor, the astrological side theme and surprise appearance of actors that I know.

And at the end, when I found out who Ben Affleck was in the movie, I belly laughed. At the end, I kept smiling when she quote unquote, got it. And that she has the courage to attend a 12 step meeting. That was awesome. I hope that helps others do that too. Maybe- This is not a real 12 step group. I know, not-

I know. Maybe because I've always been a total romantic, maybe because I've been married and divorced three times too. I used to think of myself as a three time loser, but maybe because I believe in miracles and signs, although mine come from God. And I know that love is the greatest gift that we can give and receive in this life. Romantic love is just one expression of it.

I love this movie and considered purchasing the CD. The songs are great. I've read that JLo isn't a great singer. Well, she is now. PS that scene at the end, when she does a takeoff on Gene Kelly's singing in the rain. That was wonderful. Respectful of the original, but in her own style. seen at the end when she does a takeoff on Gene Kelly's singing in the rain. That was wonderful. Respectful of the original, but in her own style.

We'll watch this again and again. Bonnie Blue, outstanding. Wow. Isn't Gene Kelly kind of in tap shoes in that number? In singing in the rain? No, he's like in boots, I believe, right? Cause he's like hitting the rain, right? I don't think he's in-

It's just like, I felt like it's, I don't know. I just, I was so taken out by the shoes. I'm pretty sure he's in. It's like I felt like it's, I don't know. I just, I was so taken out by the shoes. I'm pretty sure he's in heels. I'm pretty sure he's in stiletto heels. He's in what I wanted her to be in. Well, I do wanna watch a 55 year old woman dance and. Sure. I do, I want to watch that.

I will say to answer June's question, Gene Kelly seems to be wearing loafers and then he went in and dubbed his own tap dancing sounds afterwards. That's fine, but to me, that's what that sequence needed desperately was the sound of shoes hitting the ground. I mean, that to me is like, that's Gene Kelly.

That's, you know, and it seemed like she was wearing ballet flats. Anyway, I'll move off it. And the final thing I just want to bring up and we didn't talk about it at all is when she is lip syncing or movie syncing the Barbara Streisand scene from the way we were, that was an interesting moment.

I enjoyed that too. I thought that was a very interesting moment. And, but then- Well, that was, again, that was one of the moments that I felt like this is real. How much money do you think that cost for her to license that into her movie? Cause that's a pretty big movie.

Oh, yeah, I don't know. I read Barbara Streisand's book and for her to even get her hands on some of her old work, I think she did a restoration of that or did some sort of tweak on that. And it was a monumental task to get her to kind of get in there and tinker this. And so I wonder, I mean, this movie seems like it's spent a lot of money on gurus and-

On random stuff. Random stuff. And digital effects. And all those pedals. Like they must have spent millions and millions of dollars just building those glass boxes and those glass houses and all that stuff that is just digital. And Neil deGrasse Tyson needed a special kind of sunglasses because he refused to wear any sunglasses

that wouldn't block out the moon and the sun for real. He was very, he was like, if I'm gonna wear these sunglasses, I want it to be truthful to the sunglasses that I would be wearing. Yeah, so that was very expensive too. Um, any final thoughts? Everybody's out of their goddamn mind.

Uh, anybody, uh, any final thoughts? Uh, oddly I loved it. I would watch it again. I kind of am like, it's one of those ones where there's so much of a person in this that I also felt like oddly connected to her. I, I was fascinated by it. I think I do need the chaser of the doc to understand. I don't know if I, I mean, it's ham-fisted, yes,

but I also kind of feel like there's stuff I don't get. Yeah, I agree. I think it will be interesting to finish the doc and to, you know, I think this requires you to approach it in a different way. I think that it's not music video enough and it's not like narrative film enough to like satisfy either of those wants,

but it is something a little different. And I think that it's very hard to not watch her. She is incredibly compelling. And I wanna see, I guess what I walked away with mainly is, oh, I wanna see her act more. I wanna see her in out of sight again. You know, I wanna see her again. I agree.

I wanna see her elevating things that are not good the way she does. Like, that movie, Marry Me, that she did with Owen Wilson is not a very good movie, Marry Me, that she did with Owen Wilson, is not a very good movie. But she makes it very watchable. Like that- She was great in Hustlers.

Yeah, she's done great stuff. But yeah, I would love that. And I would even love it in service of a story like this. A story about a woman in middle age confronting the failures of love's past and future and present. You know, like, that's an interesting story to me. I would love J.Lo herself to do it in a movie. Here's what I'll finally say. We haven't put no reference to G. Lee in this at all. And I feel like that should have been... To G. Lee?

To G. Lee. I feel like there should have been a moment where we referenced G. Lee. I mean, right? I forgot about it. To G. Lee, I feel like there should have been a moment where we reference G. Lee. I mean, right? And you might be up for something good where J. Lo is coming out with Kiss of the Spider Woman this year. Oh, OK, yeah. All right. Bill Condon.

Yeah, great. She's starring with Brett Goldstein right now in a movie called Office Romance. I mean, there's some big shots here. Fantastic. Some stuff coming up for J. Lo. I will say this. Just in a recommendation in a similar vein, a movie that I think is,

it's only a half an hour long, but it is all, and it's all music and a performance. And it is the Mike Mills movie, I Am Easy to Find. And it is all The Nationals music, the band The National. But it features at its center an Alicia Vikander performance. Oh, cool. And the idea of the movie through these songs is that it charts her life from birth to death.

Wow. And it's incredibly moving. Is Miranda July in this? No, she is not. I was thinking about Mike Mills and I was thinking about Miranda July's last novel, which features her obsession with a dancer. And so that's what I was thinking about.

I think that book is incredible. And I think all of the Miranda July stuff prior is just, like her books. Yeah, I think this one was her best. All right, people, we are on the road. How did this get made is coming to a town, maybe near you, maybe not near you. Go to HDTGM.com.

We just also announced a Toronto date in May. Get your tickets there. this get made is coming to a town, maybe near you, maybe not near you. Go to HDTGM.com. We just also announced a Toronto date in May. Get your tickets there. Movies will be announced about a week before the film, but San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Portland, Idaho, we're coming, we're coming for you. Now, is there any truth, Paul, to the fact that Canadian shows

are gonna be 25% more expensive now? Well, but they're gonna be 50% more funny. Like, that's, uh... We're like, yeah, the tariffs are... We're doing comedy tariffs. Yeah, the comedy tariffs are different. We have to be funnier now, even though tickets are more expensive.

Again, I guess that was what the PM, the Prime Minister of Canada sent down to us. If we're coming in, we gotta be funnier. Um, it is the Doppelganger Tour, so Jess St. Clair will be joining us on those. I will say that we have brand new stuff in the store. We have this amazing shirt on the, like on the pocket of the shirt

is Mickey Rourke being held by that winged angel, Megan Fox, which I love. We also have a shirt that just simply says doppelganger. Anything else we wanna plug, get out there? Anything at all? I will plug, obviously, our tour, but I'll also plug Invincible Season Three on Amazon Prime and Taskmaster Season 19 coming on YouTube.

And the Taskmaster app in, when is this coming out, Paul? I have no idea. On March 21st. Also, you can watch Dark Web every week. It's a show that I'm doing with Rob Hubel and June. Just so you know, I did a little bit of research and it's not off the table that J.Lo and Ben could get back together again, but this is what they said.

That yes, J.Lo has stayed over Ben's house a couple of times. When it's good, it's really good, but when it's bad, it's really bad. And things are good when they're friends. And things are better between them because they're separated. But yet she kept the engagement ring, so never say never.

Huh. Have they gotten actually divorced? They have. They have? Yeah, she kept her $5 million engagement ring. Good for her. Good for her. Just quickly, what is her sign in the movie?

Who knows? She's born in July, July 24. What does that make her, June? She's a in July, July 24th. What does that make her June? She's a Leo. It looks like Leo. A Leo. Interesting. Well, there you go everybody.

I guess I'd like to plug the greatest story never told, the documentary about this movie. Also on Amazon Prime. You sold me, I'm in. All right everybody, thank you so much for listening. We will see you next week for last looks. And maybe at that point we will all have watched the This is Me Now documentary. We could talk a little bit more about it. Okay, here's the deal. This show was put together by

an amazing team. Our producers, Cody Fisher and Molly Reynolds, our movie picking producer, Averill Halley, our associate producer, Jess Cisneros, our engineer, Casey Holford. But I want to give a special shout out to Emily Higgins and our intern Zaria Taylor for their extra help on this episode. Your work magic. We appreciate it. Don't forget to follow and rate us. You know, we like to be rated.

Just get those numbers up. Tell people about the show. It helps. Come see us live. Get people talking. I mean, come on. We're not the Kelsey's. Um, and also thank you for everyone who. We're not the Kelseys.

And also thank you for everyone who voted for us at the iHeart Awards. We are now winners thanks to you. So if you wanna join the conversation, you wanna follow us on the socials, you could do that at HDTGM. Join a Discord at discord.gg slash HDTGM. The conversation continues and next week

it will continue when I talk about what you want to talk about in Last looks bye for now