Bad Dads Film Review

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Starship Troopers (1997): Would you like to know more? We’re suiting up for Paul Verhoeven’s gloriously un-subtle space satire—where propaganda pops like bubblegum, the bugs aren’t the dumb ones, and “service guarantees citizenship.” We talk giant arachnids, bigger egos, and why so many people somehow missed the joke. What we cover The Federal Network effect:Rico’s journey:Co-ed everything:Verhoeven’s satire dialled to 11:meantEffects that hold up:The brain bug finale:Book vs film:Why this episode? Because it’s a perfect “did you get it?” movie—one that works as a pulpy bug-hunt and as a razor-sharp critique. We go deep but keep it rowdy: football flips, knife tricks, Ironside growls, and the most cursed workplace shower chat in cinema. 🎧 New to Bad Dads? This is a great entry point: big laughs, big ideas, zero homework. Hit play, do your part, and join Rico’s Roughnecks (temporarily). We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! In this episode, we wade into Chinatown — a sun-bleached noir where water is power, everyone’s lying, and the system wins. We talk Jack Nicholson’s bandaged nose, Faye Dunaway’s glass-shard fragility, John Huston’s all-time villainy, and that ending that still guts you. Yes, we address the director caveat up front; then we focus on what’s on screen: A precision-engineered thriller that never wastes a line, a clue, or a cut. What we cover Why “Chinatown”?Follow the water:Noir done right:Iconic moments:Performances:The ethics disclaimer:Context chats:The Godfather Part IIShould you watch it? If you like your mysteries tidy and comforting, this isn’t that. If you want clockwork plotting, glorious craft, and a finish that lingers… it’s essential. We’re candid, a bit feral, and very fun about it. 🎧 New here? Hit play for our no-fluff, high-spirit deep dive, stick around for listener noms and the usual Top-5 chaos. This is why people love movies — and why some endings still haunt the living daylights out of you. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! In this week’s episode we dive into Better Man, Michael Gracey’s glossy Robbie Williams biopic — the one where Robbie is portrayed as a CGI chimp. Yes, really. It’s a bold swing that reframes a familiar music-biopic arc with unexpected bite: boy-band manufacture, burnout, reinvention, and the messy business of becoming “Robbie” when “Robert” is still in the room. What we cover The Big Swing:Factory Settings:Take ThatOasis Years & Networth Fever:KnebworthDad, Demons & Dopamine:Does the Film Sing?“Rock DJ”Should you watch the film — and our take on it? Short answer: yes to our episode (obviously), and qualified yes to the movie. One of us calls the chimp choice inspired, one calls it clever but not essential, and one is just happy it’s never dull. If you like spirited disagreement with actual reasons, you’re in the right feed. 🎧 Hit play for sharp chat, zero reverence, and plenty of laughs. If you’re new here, stick around after the review for our trademark Top-5 chaos and listener shout-outs. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Chimp genius or 70s hubris in a suede jacket? We dive into James Marsh’s Project Nim—the wild “let’s raise a chimp as a human” saga aimed at dunking on Noam/“Nim” Chomsky and proving apes can master language. What we actually get: sex-commune vibes, bad science, worse ethics, and one heartbreakingly charismatic chimp shunted between indulgent “parents,” media circuses, and grim laboratories. We talk: Language vs mimicry:The ‘parents’:The professor:LEMSIP hell:BobViolence & inevitability:Ethics, then and now:Bits that floored us OedipalhorsesVerdict (Bad Dads split decision) Fascinating, infuriating, essential—a five-alarm case study in how not to do science. Watch it, rage at it, then argue about animal testing like we did. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! The Ballad of Wallis Island This week, the dads swapped blockbusters for something quieter, sadder, and sneakily hilarious: The Ballad of Wallis Island, the melancholic comedy starring Tim Key, Tom Basden, and Carey Mulligan. In a remote Welsh idyll, a lonely lottery winner (Key) invites his favourite long-lost folk duo to reunite and perform a private gig just for him. What follows is a beautifully awkward, bittersweet exploration of nostalgia, grief, and the impossibility of recapturing the past — with an emotional gut punch that sneaks up on you like a hangover. We talk: 🎸 Folk, fame, and failure – Tom Basden’s grumpy has-been musician trying to relaunch himself as a pop star, and the ex-bandmate (Mulligan) who’s outgrown him. 💔 Love, loss, and lanterns – Tim Key’s lonely optimism, his message to his late wife, and that heart-crushing scene on the beach. 💬 Killer one-liners – Key’s nervous chatter, the rice-pudding phone fix, and the island shop that offers peanut butter and a cup instead of Reese’s. 🎶 Music that matters – The climactic performance of “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” a scene that hits harder than most Oscar speeches. We also covered: 🏘️ Top 5 Neighbours – From Rear Window and The ’Burbs to Ned Flanders, Sid Phillips, and Gran Torino’s Walt Kowalski. 💬 Cultural crossfire – Why neighbourly relations cause more wars than parking disputes, and which of us is most likely to start one. Verdict: A quietly devastating gem that blends dry British humour with genuine emotional weight. If After Life met Inside Llewyn Davis and went bird-watching in Wales, this would be it. 🎧 Listen now for laughter, melancholy, and maybe a tear or two. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Neighbours — Episode 234 (Charlene’s Debut) We dove back into Ramsay Street for a pure hit of Aussie soap nostalgia: Neighbours ep. 234, a.k.a. the first-ever appearance of Charlene (a tiny, feral Kylie Minogue) breaking into a house and into British hearts. Why this episode slaps Iconic entrance:Charlene!Peak mullet era:Budget telly charm:boom mic cameoDaphne’s Café drama:Paul RobinsonMax’s feelings summit:Faces you forgot were here Guy PearceJason DonovanStats & trivia Aired (AU):Aired (UK):Episodes on IMDb:Verdict Still daft, still cozy, still weirdly gripping. The fashion is a hate crime and the production is held together with gaffer tape, but the charisma-to-cost ratio remains undefeated. Strong recommend. Now hum the theme tune and pretend you didn’t. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! The dads return to their spiritual home — the grimy, neon-lit world of A24 — for Love Lies Bleeding, a wild, sweaty, steroid-soaked crime-romance from director Rose Glass (Saint Maud). Kristen Stewart plays Lou, a gym manager in a desert backwater who falls for Jackie (Katy O’Brien), a drifter and aspiring bodybuilder built like a Marvel origin story. Their chemistry is instant, their passion feral — and before long, they’re injecting more than just steroids together. But this love story’s laced with violence, paranoia, and one truly astonishing haircut courtesy of Ed Harris, who turns up as Lou’s gun-running, morally bankrupt father. What starts as a moody lesbian love story morphs into a pulpy, blood-spattered nightmare involving abusive husbands, bent cops, and a ravine full of bodies. By the time the steroids kick in and tempers boil over, the film swerves between Thelma & Louise, The Hulk, and Natural Born Killers — complete with a finale that’s part emotional catharsis, part literal giant woman. We get into: 💉 A24’s obsession with body horror and desire — and why this one might be their sweatiest yet. 🏋️‍♀️ Katy O’Brien’s powerhouse performance — raw, unhinged, and oddly tender. 🩸 That Ed Harris look — half-monk, half-madman, all-time bad haircut. ❤️ The film’s amoral heart — lovers, killers, victims… and no clean heroes. 🎬 The ending — is it metaphor, madness, or just an all-timer in WTF cinema moments? It’s violent, sexy, absurd, and oddly moving — everything you want from an A24 fever dream. The dads argue about symbolism, marvel at Kristen Stewart’s brooding brilliance, and admit they’d probably still watch Love Lies Bleeding 2: The Pumpening. 🎧 Listen now for blood, lust, bodybuilding, and the film that turns love into a contact sport. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week, the dads head down under for Chopper — the semi-biographical crime film that introduced the world to Eric Bana’s raw, terrifying range. Directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), it tells the story of Mark “Chopper” Read, Australia’s most notorious criminal, self-mythologising psychopath and folk hero rolled into one. Part prison horror, part dark comedy, Chopper opens with its antihero stabbing a rival inmate 15 times for crossing a line, and somehow only escalates from there. Over 90 intense minutes, we follow his chaotic life of stabbings, betrayals, botched kidnappings and baffling logic — punctuated by moments of grim humour and unexpected lucidity. In this episode we get into: 🔪 Eric Bana’s breakout performance — from TV comic to one of the most menacing, magnetic screen presences of the 2000s. 🏛️ Fact vs. fiction — how the real Chopper blurred truth and myth, and how much of this film you can actually believe. 🩸 Violence as character study — how brutality in Chopper veers between horrifying, absurd, and disturbingly funny. 🧠 The psychology of Mark Read — narcissism, paranoia, and why he thought he was doing the police a favour. 🎤 Post-prison celebrity — the bizarre Australian fascination with Chopper’s later life as a TV guest, writer, and stand-up act. It’s one of those episodes where you find yourself laughing, then immediately questioning why. Chopper is as funny as it is disturbing — and the Bad Dads dig into every contradiction of its violent, charismatic subject. 🎧 Listen in for brutal quotes, absurd anecdotes (“look what you made me do”), and why Eric Bana risked his sanity to play a man who once cut off his own ears just to get moved to another prison. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week, the dads head into the mosh pit with Jeremy Saulnier’s brutal, claustrophobic thriller Green Room — where a struggling punk band finds themselves trapped in a neo-Nazi club after witnessing a murder. It’s one part siege movie, one part social horror, and all parts grim. When the Ain’t Rights take a last-minute gig deep in Oregon’s backwoods, they expect low pay and bad beer — not blood, dogs, machetes and Patrick Stewart as a terrifying skinhead ringleader. What follows is a night of panic, violence and duct-tape surgery, as the band fights to survive against an organised fascist militia who’d rather clean up witnesses than pay for another gig. We dig into: Punk authenticityPatrick Stewart’s castingAnton Yelchin’s tragic final performanceViolence that hurtsThe Nazi problemThe A24 factorElsewhere in the episode: ☕ The Top 5 Hot Drinks delivers peppermint tea, Dirty Harry’s coffee, and more filth than a builder’s thermos. 🎸 Reegs spirals into video-game documentaries (Tony Hawk: Pretending I’m a Superman, Speed Runners). 🎤 Dan gets nostalgic about The Last Dance, Sidey recounts a surreal Lady Gaga show, and everyone somehow ends up discussing Tracker bars. It’s one of those episodes where the jokes come thick, the violence is thicker, and nobody leaves unscalded. 🎧 Listen now for fascists, feedback, froth and a quiz that can only be described as “Hot Coffee or Tea-bagger?” We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! The dads go full retro this week with The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, the 2007 documentary that turns arcade gaming into blood sport — complete with villains, underdogs, mullets, and enough ego to fill an entire arcade. In one corner: Billy Mitchell, hot-sauce magnate, self-styled all-American hero, and the reigning Donkey Kong world champion since 1982. In the other: Steve Wiebe, a laid-off family man from Seattle with a garage, a Donkey Kong cabinet, and an obsessive drive to finally be the best in the world at something. What starts as a light-hearted look at competitive gaming quickly spirals into a bizarre battle of pride, politics, and pixels. We dive into: 🎮 The myth and madness of Billy Mitchell — equal parts motivational speaker, Bond villain, and delusional patriot. 🎮 Steve Wiebe’s transformation from anxious everyman to unlikely eSports hero. 🎮 The shady world of “Twin Galaxies,” referees, and rule-bending record-keepers. 🎮 How a man can be publicly humiliated by a videotape of a Donkey Kong run that may or may not be fake. 🎮 Why this documentary still feels weirder and funnier than any scripted comedy. Along the way we meet the devoted disciples, the guitar-strumming referee, the Qbert granny, and the toxic mix of ambition, nostalgia, and social awkwardness that fuels the arcade elite. It’s The Office meets Rocky, with barrels instead of punches. We argue over whether Billy Mitchell is misunderstood or just a world-class arsehole, praise Wiebe’s sheer decency, and agree this is one of the most rewatchable docs ever made. 🎧 Tune in for fierce debates, mullet appreciation, and our collective horror at just how seriously grown men take Donkey Kong. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week we celebrate the late, great Robert Redford the Bad Dads way: with a chaotic Top 5 Roberts and a deep dive into All the President’s Men — the newsroom thriller where Redford and Dustin Hoffman painstakingly peel back Watergate until the whole presidency caves in. It’s cigarettes, typewriters, and journalism that actually mattered. What we get into Redford & Hoffman, peak charisma:The craft stuff:Truth vs. proof:Deep Throat decoded:Top 5 Roberts (no De Niro, no Redford — house rules) We raid film, TV, music and pop culture for the best Bobs/Roberts/Robbies—from Sideshow Bob and Robert Englund to Robert Mitchum, Rob Reiner, Bob Odenkirk, Robert “Bob with bitch tits” Paulson, SpongeBob (Robert) Squarepants, and some gloriously fringe picks (RIP Rob Garrison, Cobra Kai’s OG goon). Expect arguments, deep cuts, and at least one guided detour through Spinal Tap and King Crimson. The chaotic quiz: Redford or Red Ford (…or both)? Sidey springs a quiz where every answer is either Redford (the man) or red Ford (the car on screen). Cue confusion, Christine vs Cars, The Sting, All Is Lost, and a tricksy Winter Soldier “both” that broke brains and buzzers. Content note:🎧 Listen to the full episode: [Add your link] We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We don’t usually double up on an actor, but when Robert Redford died at 89, it felt only right to go again. A true Hollywood legend — Butch Cassidy, The Sting, All the President’s Men — Redford left us not just with an iconic filmography but also Sundance, a festival that gave countless indie movies a life. This week, we pay tribute by reviewing Indecent Proposal (1993). It’s the one where a young, loved-up couple (Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore) are offered a cool million dollars by Redford’s billionaire for one night with the wife. A sleazy premise? Absolutely. But it was a 90s cultural flashpoint that had everyone asking: what would you do? What we cover As always, expect detours into visible erections, Michael Bay’s slow-mo dice shots, hippos at auctions, Oliver Platt being a slimy lawyer, and whether we’d personally take the money (spoiler: the negotiations got weird). We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Jennifer Lawrence goes full-send comedy in No Hard Feelings, playing Maddie — a broke Montauk local hired by uptight parents to “de-awkward” their 19-year-old son before college. The setup’s spicy, the execution’s funnier than it has any right to be, and yes, we talk about that beach fight. What we dig into J-Law in chaos mode:thisAwkward vs. raunchy:Age-gap discourse without the sermon:Set-pieces that actually bang:Montauk & money:Verdict:This week’s Top 5: BREAKS We stretch “breaks” until it snaps: Title breaks:Point BreakBone/ballistic breaks:The FlyWind breaks:Blazing SaddlesSwiss Army ManDumb & DumberFourth-wall breaks:Ferris BuellerDeadpoolWayne’s WorldBreakfasts & breakdowns:Groundhog DayUncle BuckBreakdancing:Breakin’Electric BoogalooPrison breaks:ShawshankEscape from AlcatrazThe Great EscapeThe chaotic quiz (because of course) A rapid-fire “Breakdown” quiz that swerves mid-question — Kurt Russell lore, movies with bridges, snacks on road trips, and one wildly specific license-plate memory test. It almost doesn’t work. That’s the point. Listener shout-outs Feedback on our Top 5 Copies episode (clones, doubles, and Single White Female trauma) plus a few deep-cut recs from the Bad Dads community. We read ’em, we roast ’em, we add ’em. Content note:🎧 Hit play: Honest, unfiltered, pub-chat film talk with actual laughs. If you like smart takes delivered stupidly (and vice versa), you’re our people. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! The dads are back in the mid-90s sweet spot with Breakdown (1997), a lean, relentless thriller starring Kurt Russell and his glorious Hollywood hair. Jeff (Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are relocating cross-country when their Jeep suddenly dies in the middle of nowhere. A friendly trucker (the ever-sinister J.T. Walsh) offers Amy a lift to a nearby diner. She never arrives. What follows is a stripped-down race against time, as Jeff discovers he’s stumbled into a gang’s deadly scheme — and has to transform from nervous everyman to desperate action hero. We get into: massiveIt’s part Duel, part The Vanishing, part pure 90s Saturday-night rental. Come for Kurt’s hair, stay for the escalating paranoia and truck-crashing mayhem. 🎧 Press play to hear the dads argue whether this is just a solid genre flick… or a strong recommend with extra hair-gel. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week the dads take a look at Copycat (1995), a mid-90s thriller that wants to be Silence of the Lambs but often ends up more made-for-TV movie. Sigourney Weaver stars as an agoraphobic psychologist dragged into a game of cat-and-mouse with a serial killer imitating history’s most infamous murderers. Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney round out the cast, while Harry Connick Jr. chews the scenery as a crooning creep. In true Bad Dads style, we pull the film apart and ask: CopycatAlongside the movie, our Top 5 “copies” takes us everywhere from cloned astronauts and plagiarised authors to forged paintings, photocopied genitals, and questionable cover versions. We even put the lads through a brand-new quiz: Copy or Floppy (hint: it’s exactly as puerile as it sounds). 🎧 Expect laughs, rants, and at least one digression into printing presses. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week the dads step into glamorous 1960s Europe with Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther (1963) — the first outing for Peter Sellers’ bumbling Inspector Clouseau. For many of us, this was like watching it for the first time. Sure, we’d caught bits on Sunday TV over the years, but sitting down start-to-finish was a new experience — and a surprising one. Despite being branded a Clouseau movie, Sellers actually takes a back seat to David Niven’s dashing jewel thief Sir Charles Lytton and Robert Wagner’s playboy nephew George. We dig into: The Pink PantherIt’s long, it’s dated, it’s occasionally hilarious — and it launched one of cinema’s most iconic comedy characters. 🎧 Listen in as we argue over whether this debut outing is a strong recommend or a charmless misfire, and why sometimes the best thing in a Pink Panther movie is the zebra gag. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! South Korea. 1979. Forty days to an assassination. We dive into Woo Min-ho’s icy political thriller The Man Standing Next — a gripping, true-events drama about KCIA director Kim Gyu-pyeong (played by Squid Game’s Front Man, Lee Byung-hun) as he weighs loyalty, country, and a bullet. What the film’s about After years in President Park Chung-hee’s inner circle, Kim watches the regime harden: political purges, wiretaps, street crackdowns, and a rival enforcer (Chief Kwak) pushing for blood. When a former KCIA boss defects to the U.S. and threatens to publish a tell-all, the fuse is lit. The film tracks the 40 tense days that culminate in one of South Korea’s most consequential nights. What we get into on the pod Power, paranoia, and proximityThe Washington angleThat dinner sequenceHistory vs. thrillerPerformances & craftKwakThe big themesPlus, our usual chaos Top 5 mash-upCowboysandWaiting Rooms“Korea or Career?”Should you watch the film first? We do reveal key plot points (including the ending), so if you want the full cinematic punch, watch first. If you’re here for big ideas, sharp takes, and a few belly laughs, jump straight in. Why hit play If you loved Parasite, A Taxi Driver, or political thrillers with teeth (Z, Zero Dark Thirty), this episode is squarely in your lane — part history lesson, part moral knot, all energy. 🎧 Listen now and decide for yourself: patriot, traitor, or the only adult in the room? Heads up:We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week the dads take on Mad to Be Normal (2017), a little-seen British drama starring David Tennant as the controversial Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing. Set in 1960s London, the film follows Laing’s radical experiment at Kingsley Hall, where doctors and patients lived side by side without medication, shock therapy, or the heavy hand of institutional psychiatry. Instead, Laing championed empathy, conversation, and even LSD as pathways to healing — ideas that put him at odds with the medical establishment, but also made him a counter-cultural cult figure. The cast is strong: Tennant leads with manic charm, Elizabeth Moss plays Angie, a student who becomes both lover and anchor, Gabriel Byrne appears as troubled patient Jim, and Michael Gambon delivers a heart-breaking turn in one of the film’s darkest storylines. We dive into: It’s a grim, sometimes ugly film — not a Friday-night crowd-pleaser — but it opens up fascinating questions about how mental health has been treated and misdiagnosed. The dads split on whether it’s a strong recommend or just an interesting curio, but there’s no denying Tennant’s performance is electric. If you’re curious about alternative psychiatry, or just want to see David Tennant playing a very different kind of doctor, give this one a look. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week’s episode is positively huge (and Hugh-filled). 👼 Heretic We dive into Heretic (2024), the claustrophobic new thriller from A24 in which two young missionaries find themselves trapped in the home of Hugh Grant — who’s swapped his floppy-haired rom-com persona for a sinister host obsessed with theology, control, and blueberry pie. It’s equal parts scripture, serial killer, and Monopoly rules lawyer. We get into: Paddington 2🎤 Top 5 Hughs From Hefner to Laurie, Jackman to Bonneville, and even a Star Trek Borg called Hugh, we compile our definitive Top 5 Hughs. Expect: Four WeddingsAs always, there’s plenty of digression — from bread-based Heimlich manoeuvres to Joaquin Phoenix’s dick — but that’s the Bad Dads way. 👉 Listen now to find out why this week might just be our most Hugh-morous episode yet. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week, the Dads dust off their morning suits and dive into Richard Curtis’ runaway hit Four Weddings and a Funeral. Mike Newell’s rom-com was the film that turned Hugh Grant into floppy-haired royalty, introduced us to Andie MacDowell’s enigmatic Carrie, and made swearing at alarm clocks a national pastime. We talk through all four weddings (and, yes, the funeral), unpacking: wantWe also get into how the film became the highest-grossing British movie of its day, launched Hugh Grant’s tabloid-fuelled celebrity arc, and why it still works (even if “Love Actually” does not). Expect swearing, and the usual Bad Dads blend of dodgy impressions, film geekery, and questionable life lessons. 👉 Join us as we relive the weddings, mourn the funeral, and ask the only real question that matters: is Four Weddings still worth an RSVP? We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads