Pop Culture Happy Hour - The Smashing Machine And What's Making Us Happy

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt star in the new sports biopic The Smashing Machine. Johnson plays Mark Kerr, a UFC champion who is reeling from his first major loss in the ring and confronting an addiction to painkillers. Directed by Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems), the wrestling drama pulls out all the classic moves in the awards season playbook. We can smell what The Rock is cooking – but is it a hearty meal?Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hey, it's Linda Holmes. October 1st is historic. The first day in over half a century that NPR and stations operate without federal support. It may feel uncertain, but here's what is certain. Public media indoors. Independent, resilient, people-powered, whatever the moment, you'll still find us here, telling stories that matter. Okay, stop me if you've heard this one. A charismatic entertainer becomes a mega-action movie star hopping from franchise,

franchise, building a middle-of-the-road brand that appeals across every conceivable demographic. But eventually, being an extremely popular entertainer is not enough. The new goal, to be taken seriously as an actor. Ender Dwayne, the Rock Johnson, and his capital A acting turn in the smashing machine, the wrestling drama pulls out all the classic moods in the awards season playbook. Biopic, struggles with addiction, facial prosthetics. We can smell what the rock is cooking, but is it a hearty enough meal? I'm Aisha Harris, and today we're talking about the smashing machine on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Joining me today is the host of NPR's. It's Been a Minute, Britney Luce. Welcome back, Brittany. Thank you. Good to be here. Also with us is one of the hosts of NPR's

Code Switch podcast, Gene Denby. Welcome back to you, too. What's good with you, Aisha? Great to have you. And rounding out the panel is freelance music and culture journalist Rihanna Cruz. Welcome back to you to, Rihanna. Happy to be here. Yes, yes. Happy have all of you. I feel like this is going to be a very fun, very interesting conversation, because this is a very, not fun, but interesting movie, I will say. So in the smashing machine, Dwayne Johnson plays the real life Mark Kerr, a UFC champion who's known as one of the early pioneers of mixed martial arts in the United States. Now, as Mark reels from his first major loss in the ring, he's forced to confront an addiction to painkillers. His single-minded focus on

training for the next big fight also threatens his relationship with his. his devoted but exasperated girlfriend Dawn, who's played by Emily Blunt. Big accent work going on here, I'm just going to say. The Smashing Machine is the solo directorial debut of Benny Safty, who usually collaborates with his brother Josh, and it's in theaters now. Rihanna, I'm going to start off with you. Just give me your initial thoughts about this movie. I do want to say that I enjoy movies where The Rock is capital A acting.

Like, I love Southland Tales. I think he's great in that. I love pain and gain. I think he's great in that as well. I saw The Smashing Machine as a return to the rock capital A acting, as you referred to it. I don't really like like Jungle Cruise

Jumanji. I think that's neither here nor there. But I was excited. And I liked it, question mark, with an asterisk. You know, I like sports movies writ large. And I like a fighting movie

generally. This movie is very by the numbers, but I like those numbers. So I'm not too upset by it. Really my only thing was that I had trouble figuring out the why. You know, why this story, why now, why these people, what is the purpose? You know, that was really my main grape with it. But again, by the numbers fighting movie, didn't really mind it. Yes.

Okay. I'm so glad you brought that up because I had very similar feelings of like, who is this for? I think we know who it's for. I'm curious. The Academy. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Gene, jump in here. Tell us how you feel about it. I'm so glad to her in saying, because I was like, but why this dude? Right.

Apparently, he was a good fighter, but not like an all-time great, you know what I mean? He had struggle with substance abuse, but it actually seemed like he kicked it pretty quickly. Luis Owey's portrayed in the movie, right? Like, all of the sort of big sort of hinge moments in the plot happened like in the first 30, 40 minutes? He is a person who is in recovery and he is a person who has already lost the big fight. Like, what is happening? Like, you know what I mean? I told my friend I was going to see the screening of the smashing machine.

And she was like, oh, you mean the new Dwayne Johnson movie? And I was like, Duane Johnson, what do you call a Mr. T movie, the Lawrence Thoreau movie? Like, what are we doing right now? You know what I mean? The Rock has been very open about his like ambition, right? Like even if you're like, oh, the Rock is doing a pretty good job. But this movie, it's hard not to see it through the lens of like this is a very specific career choice that he is making. I'm sorry, Duane Johnson is making a very specific choice in this movie.

Brittany, let us know. How do we feel about this? I was mixed on the movie. There were elements of it that I liked. Like, I thought that Dwayne Johnson gave a very competent performance playing a real-life figure. Obviously, like, when you're playing a real person, especially when that real person is still alive, he threaded the needle pretty well in playing this guy and actually kind of nailing his manner.

I feel like Benny Safdi is somebody who has a lot of, like, heart and enthusiasm, and that came through. I understood the objective of the character. But I understand the deeper reason why he did anything that he did. Like, why did he wrestle? Other than physical pain, it seemed like maybe something else going on that he was kind of wrestling with. But like, we don't find out what that is. We are not let in on a deeper motivation for why he does anything.

Why he's so good. So I didn't know anything about UFC. I don't like watching people get punched in the face. Other stuff, I'm like, hey, whatever, punch in the face, I can't deal with it. I hadn't heard of Mark Kerr. I didn't know who he was. Movies done. I went and looked them up and I was like, oh, okay, if there was a real life person that you could talk to to kind of get deeper insights into the character, why wasn't some of that deeper stuff there?

One last thing. Yeah. I saw it in IMAX in Manhattan, like at Lincoln Square. I felt like it was kind of intense. I had this feeling of like, okay, I really can't escape the brutality that's happening on screen. I was breathing in the Rock's sweat in a way that didn't necessarily augment the film experience for me. Yeah, I mean, it does seem like an interesting choice to make this movie, The Smashing Machine, IMAX. Like, I don't think it necessarily necessitates that.

No. The same question that we're all kind of dancing around is like, what is the point of this movie? And the most, like, crass and cynical version of this is like, it's a vanity project. It's for The Rock. But you also have to look at it, I think, from, like, I sense that Benny Safdi, who, is, of course, a lover of especially 70s cinema. And if you look at everything from Uncut Gems, like, that could have been made in the 70s with, like, James Kahn.

It's a very insular character study in a way. And when I looked at the production notes, the word transform or transformation or transformative is used no less than eight times in the production notes for this. Are they referring to the prosthesis that the rock is wearing? The prosthesis, but also, like, the physical, I'm like, I don't know how much of it. The rock has always been.

He's a big guy. He's always gigantic. These are the words you use when you are trying to get awards. But I also think, like, I was kind of mixed on it as well, but I actually came out liking it more than I thought I would. I don't actually think The Rock is transforming all that much in this movie. I think it's actually very suited to who he seems like he would be, like, in real life. I actually feel as though this could have been a movie about Duane the Rock Johnson more so than it could be about this guy I've never heard of until this movie. because everything about him, the way he is so single-mindedly focused.

He has this way of talking to Don, the Emily Blunt character, where he's clearly trying to be as nice as possible, and I don't want you to think that I'm a bad person, but also I'm kind of resent you, and I'm kind of condescending. And there's a way I can see the rock being like that in real life. He has this personality trait where he's like, I need to please everyone. But also, if you annoy me, I'm going to dig it a little bit. And I think that's why.

this movie worked for me as much as it did, even though I did still come away being like, I don't know if we needed this movie. The other thing I find funny is that at the end of this movie, there's like a post script on the screen. Oh, that ground my gears, man. Yeah. The post script, I'm paraphrasing here, but it says something along the lines of like, today fighters earn millions of money doing this and everyone knows their name. And I was like, everybody knows their name. And I was like, that's not true. No. And I wondered, is this supposed to be ironic because every time you think this movie is going to zig, it zags. And every time you think, as you said, this is going to be an addiction story. Actually, no, it's more about like a recovery story. And I found that

both frustrating, but also I appreciated that it didn't feel like your typical sports biopic. And I literally have this in my note. It's like, this movie zigs where it's supposed to zag. And the thing is that the places where zigs, it doesn't really go anywhere, right? Like, it's right. No, the film doesn't use those moments of surprise to like propel it to anything. It kind of does the same. It kind of does the same thing, like, over and over again. And I didn't think the movie was bad. I was engrossed when I was watching it. The other thing is that the character's hair is curlier than the rock's hair.

The rock is a man of African-American descent. So I was like, is this man black? Like, are we, is this? Is there a detail here? We're missing about this. So I found out later, the man is Puerto Rican. I'm not saying you have to explain it. But, like, the rock, like, he's raceless in his public persona.

and a lot of the film roles that he takes also make his race kind of irrelevant. But then in a movie about a real... Well, I mean, he is, but he's not. Because if you think about he had that TV show that was like loosely based on his life. Young rock. He does acknowledge his roots in that way. But I also understand what you're saying, Brittany. But there's a racial ambiguity that he has profited from immensely.

But then there's a story about this guy who, I don't know how much being Puerto Rican meant to Mark I have no clue. But I find it hard to believe that he would be surrounded by white people throughout the entire movie. Does this matter to the story? If this was left out, does that mean anything? I'm not saying he needed to have like a breakdown about his identity or discuss it with his girlfriend even. But I also am wondering, like, being a Latino man who's regarded as the smashing machine, who's basically like never lost a fight. The fact that that was completely unexplored and completely untouched, who even is this guy?

Like, I don't even feel like I really know that much about him by the end. I didn't know who's Puerto Rican. That's news to me that there was a Puerto Rican UFC fighter doing the thing. Yeah. I feel like I should see this dude on Puerto Rican Day parade floats. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's bro.

One thing that did kind of stick out to me that is kind of a big thing for The Rock to have surmounted to play this role is that I think you might be around the same age as the guy this movie is about, but we're going like 25, 30 years back in time. And so, like, in a way, like, he is too old for the part. But I felt like that was maybe an intentional choice. Part of what is, I think, we're supposed to connect with is the rock, is like the rockness of it all. Yeah. It is interesting how insular this entire movie feels.

We have this relationship between Mark and Dawn. Emily Bond is doing her best, and I appreciate her trying to do her best. It's the best way to put it. But it also just winds up being the most long-suffering girlfriend. I was going to say, it reminds me of Heidi Gardner's character from S&L, but like every girlfriend in a boxing movie. And it's just this girl that just gets upset and is like, I didn't want you to fight today.

Stuff like that. And again, like, you can both kind of understand why Mark would find her irritating. But at the same time, it's like she's just trying to love you, man. And you are too busy chugging your protein drinks and doing whatever. And when she doesn't do it right, he's very like, you know, I use like two bananas instead of there. Or like, it was something very digging. But also we have Mark and the other Mark, Mark Coleman, who's both like his training buddy slash trainer sort of. but then also they compete against each other.

He's played by Ryan Bader. He was so good. He's a real fighter. Yeah, he's a real fighter. And I was actually very impressed by him. That was an interesting storyline. But again, it just comes down to what is this movie trying to do? And I think that maybe I'm reaching here,

but does feel as though Benny Safdi is trying to, like, subvert the sports movie. I mean, this could also just be, like, trying to, you know, burnish this guy's reputation because he's still alive and he's, has input or has signed off on this movie at the very least. The soundtrack, I have to say, is quite great. I agree. That was one of the things that I loved about it. I thought the needle drops were excellent.

The Jungleland needle drop really floored me. Early on, there's like Lil Suzy, the Latin freestyle. Take me in your arms. Lil Suzy, oh, my God. Yes. It makes sense that he's Puerto Rican because, you know, hearing that, I was like, oh, okay. Freestyle was such a specific Puerto Rican East Coast moment in, like, the early 90s. And generational, too.

It's like, it's like before I knew the dude was Puerto Rican, I was like, what an interesting song choice there. I had that thought as well. As he's like doing drugs and then take me in your arms as playing, I was like, okay, this is kind of rad. I love the music on here. I also have to say the score, what also feels like a little bit of subverting of what you usually expect with these movies is the score, oftentimes when they're fighting in the ring, you're hearing like a jazz score, kind of likening it to something that's a little bit more fluid and dancey and sensual in a way. The contrast there worked for me. And that score was by Nala Seneffro, who's this Caribbean-Belgian experimental jazz musician. And so that's why I kind of feel is the Like, it seems like Benny Safi is really trying to do something different here. And even just the fact that it's shot on film, but then it's also shot on, like, what he calls VHS. Like, a lot of these directors this year, I don't know if they're taking a page from Ryan Coogler, but like, they're explaining, you know, this division or let me explain to you what you need to see. And like, okay, film is back, baby, yes, let's do it. That's what I'm.

One of the things I really dug about the movie, though, is, like, the sort of grubbiness of this, like early sort of primordial MMA space. Like, if you think of like, I don't know, a league of their own, very different movie, but like a movie in which like about this sort of upstart sort of scrappy league inhabited entirely by people who just are really die hard about this thing. I think there's something about this movie that was kind of endearing when that level was like, okay, that sort of comes across it. And this Mark Kerr character, he's just like somebody who seems to like be really earnest about, like I like to do this.

It's regasnick as he says that one point. I agree with you. Like, this movie does do a good job of sort of like getting at that. even if we don't fully understand Mark Kerr's motivations, his specific motivations, you can see how that culture sort of like encourages people to go to be just obsessive about it. Like with any sort of sport that is not going to get you highly paid. Like you have to be obsessed with it or else why are you doing it? Yeah.

It does kind of get at that, I think. I really like when the rock gets serious. Like I bring up Michael Bay's Pain and Game. Oh, such a good movie. You know, where he's playing a meathead, but he's doing it really well. And in Southland Tales, the Richard Kelly movie, you know, he's kind of doing like a sort of off the wall, paranoid. It's pretty good and it's serious. And he's really like putting his whole foot into serious acting there.

I think a name that we talked about before we started recording is Dave Batista, right? A fellow wrestler who does a lot of serious roles. Rock song Knock at the Cabo was like, I could do this. Even sort of John Cena sort of doing this thing where he's like, he's like very self-deprecating and sort of like, You know, like willing to be the butt of a joke. The Rock, it feels like there is a sort of humanity that the Rock, his image has precluded him from, like, inhabiting on screen that I think a bunch of his other fellow wrestlers have done. This is my belief is that the Rock's tether is Dave Battista. And the thing about Dave Batista is that, like, they both have a similar thing, as with John Cena, but Dave Batista is like really kind of the artist of all three of them.

Yeah. They all have, like, I wouldn't say it could be an obstacle or a feature depending on what kind of roles you're thinking of, of their physicality. I imagine that like it can be maybe difficult to play a guy. You know what I mean? If you are like six, five, three hundred pounds of solid muscle, I am curious to see how the rock will continue to advance his more serious actorly roles after this film. I am curious to see how he could approach playing someone who is not a, you have sea fighter and not a wrestler or not a professional football player.

I find Dave Batista, like, riveting on screen. He has something very soulful about him. There is something that he's able to access, and maybe it's because he doesn't have a persona outside of himself in the same way the Rock has a persona outside of himself. And so it makes Dave Batista to me more accessible on screen as a guy who could be another guy. Whereas, like, I have to contend with him being in Rock before I even get to him being Dwayne Johnson the actor before I can then even get to the character.

So I'm curious. I do wonder if part of that stems from the fact that the way he sort of approaches career, which is that he's never really sought to be the star, De Patista. Like, he's the side character. He's okay, it seems, with playing smaller roles. And The Rock has never really been that. Like, it's a rock movie. No matter what, it's going to be a rock movie.

Yeah. I'm still waiting on a Hobbs and Shaw sequel. I'm happy he's doing this, but give me more Hobbs and Shaw. I'm just saying. And I follow wrestling. I follow what the highest profile wrestlers are doing. You know, Cody Rhodes was a naked gun. But I'm excited to see what the rock has cooking in the future.

Is what I will say. Well said, well said. Well, tell us what you think about the smashing machine. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash pCH and on letterbox at letterbox.com. slash NPR Pop Culture. We'll leave a link for that in our episode description. Up next, what's making us happy this week. Hey there, before we get back to the show, if Pop Culture Happy Hour has ever helped you explain Barbenheimer, survive a Marvel phase, or pretend you understood severance, do us a favor and

leave a five-star review. Channel your inner culture critic and let us know why you love the show. Thanks so much. And now it's time for our favorite segment of this week and every week, what's making us happy. Rihanna, let us know what is making you happy this week. The movie that is making me happy this week is Dead of Winter, starring Emma Thompson and Judy Greer. It's perfect for Friday afternoon. You know, you're like, huh, I have nothing to do today. Let me see a movie.

You pull up AMCA A list, you walk into the theater. It's all old ladies. You know you're going to get a good flick when you walk into the theater and everybody's like yapping and it's a bunch of old people. Love that. It's a great genre thriller. Emma Thompson essentially plays a Fisherwoman. I'm sold.

It's set in Minnesota, so you get like rip off Fargo accents from everybody in it. And essentially Emma Thompson sees kidnapping happen. She sees a girl get taken and she makes it her mission to free this girl. It's a pretty good flick. Pretty solid. I have been thinking about it all week and I feel like it's underseen. So that's what's making me happy this week. Nice.

So that's dead of winter and it's in theaters now. Thanks so much, Rihanna. I am also sold. That sounds great. So thank you for that. Gene, what is making you happy this week? So over the last four years, I guess, like post-pandemic, I've become a bit of a degenerate. And I didn't realize the extent of my degeneracy around this one particular video game called Football Manager.

And if you don't know what Football Manager is, I have no clue. Imagine playing a game that is about soccer. But it's only that 75% of the game is answering emails and filling out spreadsheets. What? And the game actually keeps like a ticker of how long you're playing. I think I'm on like 6,000 hours and something like that. I'm like, wait, how is this possible? Like, I'll often have it like playing in the background as I'm doing other stuff all the time.

There's a million different ways to immerse yourself in this like completely pretend world of playing spreadsheet soccer. If you are like a Sims girlie or one of those people like, this is the closest sports game to that. Anyway. Okay. I was a Sims girly. Thank you, Gene. Football manager. All right.

Brittany, what is making you happy this week? Oh, my gosh. I love dance music. I love to hear a soulful vocal over a really thumping beat. And so I was overjoyed when Rochelle Jordan released her most recent album through the wall. Yes. Yes. You understand.

Oh, my gosh. Really breathy. but precise and beautiful vocals over really groovy but still like beats that hit. There is a song called Crave. That was one of my songs of the summer. I was bumping it every single day. It's just about like, I don't know, craving the feeling of being close to the one that you love. Having a nice, cozy, sexy album like this, I just feel like it's a perfect pairing.

So it's Rochelle Jordan through the wall. It's so good. So, so, so good. Awesome. Thank you so much, Brittany. Well, I'm going to keep us in the music territory. And my girl, my favorite. I mean, look, I am a lifelong lamb.

And Mariah Carey is back. She is back, baby. I am so happy. Her new album is called Here For It All. It's her first new studio album in seven years. I'm here. I'm here for it. I am here for it all. It is, it is Mariah being sassy. She's being petty. It also, like, it finally seems like she's acknowledging and accepting that her voice is not what it once was. And so it's not over-manipulated or over-produced. She sounds very good. And I love

that she is embracing that aspect of her voice now. And I think, though, the final song in the album, which is the title song, to me, might stand up as one of her. her best ballads of all time. And that is where I think you see the most of her using her voice in all these different ways. And when you get to the chorus towards the end of the first half of the song, because this is an epic song. It just works. Let's hear a little bit up here for it all. Oh, yes.

I love it. I'm just so happy. Wow. That's diminished voice, Mariah Carey doing all that. Isn't that bananas? Isn't it tell you where she started? I know. Still great. Still great. She hasn't made a bad album. So Here for It All. Carrie. That's what's making me happy this week. And if you want links for what we recommended, plus more recommendations, sign up for our newsletter at npr.org slash pop culture newsletter.

Rana Cruz, Brittany Loose, Gene Demby. Thanks so much for being here. This was such a fun, fun conversation. This was so fun. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. I had a blast. Thank you. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Jenae Morris, and Mike Katzv, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, come in, provides our theme music. And thank you for listening to Pop Culture, Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Aisha Harris. We'll see you all next week.