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Don't be a deb-bie downer - The Deb (2024)
9 Plays12 hours ago
Matthew and Mitch are heading back into the great outdoors, wearing some might fine white dresses and ready to make their great debut!
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Transcript
Introduction and Spoiler Alert
00:00:00
Speaker
This is your Under Southern Screens spoiler warning. We have once again jumped the gun a little bit and forgotten to so give you a spoiler warning for The Deb, the Rebel Wilson directed 2024 film that came out this year. We go into it, don't worry about it. But please sit back, relax, and enjoy our episode on The Deb, which is spoiler filled.
Meet the Hosts and Episode Topic
00:00:26
Speaker
I am the night writer. You're terrible, Muriel. Talk to me. You gonna do that, Pogger Pogger? You've been talking to the cop. Today is a brand new day. No, that's it. It's the vibe.
00:00:39
Speaker
G'day fellow Aussie film lovers and welcome to another episode of Under Southern Screens, the most defamation lawsuit Australian cinema podcast. I'm Mitch. And I'm allegedly, perhaps, maybe or may not be, I do not recall, Matthew. What an episode we're gonna get into today, Mitch. Oh my goodness me. you swear on the Bible that's your name? I'd have to double check my facts and figures there. Actually, let me get my solicitor in touch. I'll have to speak to a lawyer yeah sorry i know when we talk about this film people want us to actually like talk about this movie that we're gonna watch today yeah but man just the tea the tea mitchell so today we're looking at the deb the deb 2024 but now just being released this year actually had a question about this yeah so i logged it on letterboxd and i was like another 2026 film under my hold on
00:01:32
Speaker
That's 2024. I've been lied to. You spindled me. Well, the thing is, is that I pay for Letterboxd because I enjoy whittling my money away. He's a true film lover, don't you know? You get a bunch of cool stats if you do. and one of the stats is movies that came out this year that you've watched. And I like seeing that number go up. And it didn't. And didn't this time. I'm pissed off about it. The issue is that i I go to the cinema less and less. like i'm still It's hard to get out there, man. It's not that hard. um i'm just lazy uh real honestly so real even though you introduced last week's fury road this is a movie you wanted us to talk discuss may i have been harassing mitchell hale for like literally weeks to watch this film yeah not only because the tea the controversy obviously strike while the iron is hot or whatever but also because i think it's a quite a good film yeah And that's something that's like been like avoided throughout this whole like hullabaloo.
00:02:27
Speaker
you mean the quality of the film? Well, yeah. And you're just talking about the movie itself. yeah And yeah, but we'll get into it. We'll get into it. and you were keen to provide the intro, even though technically it would be me who would provide the intro. but We haven't broken tradition. i just wanted to spill the tea, damn it. Matthew, please give your out of order intro right now.
00:02:48
Speaker
Okay, I definitely will, good sir.
Origins and Inspirations of 'The Deb'
00:02:51
Speaker
Thank you. This week on Under Southern Screens, we're taking a gallivant back into modern Australian cinema with the recently released Aussie musical The Deb, which is iconic Australian actor Rebel Wilson's directorial debut. You would be mistaken for thinking this is a new film, though. On all major Wikipedia and movie databases, the film says it was released in 2024... And it kind of was, but like, let's get into it.
00:03:16
Speaker
Based on a popular stage show of the same name, principal photography for The Deb began way back in September 2023. And from that moment, nothing but controversy plagued this production. And this is a shame because on a narrative level, the Deb is a star-studded, large-scale return to form for whimsical Australian comedy drama filmmaking, with Rebel Wilson toting films like Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla Quinn of the Desert as major inspirations. We follow Maeve Barker, played by Charlotte McInnes, who after pulling a racy stunt at her prestigious Sydney private school, is forced to live with her cousin Taylor Simpkins, played by Natalie Abbott, and perform the time-tested but honestly kind of gross when you get into a concept of a debutante ball. so
00:03:56
Speaker
Through the narrative, we get large-scale musical numbers, a sprawling Outback setting, and some Aussie actor heavyweights, including Shane Jacobson, that wasn't a dig at his size, I'm so sorry Shane, that came out wrong. Tara Maurice, one of the all-time goats of Australian cinema, and Rebel Wilson herself, even makes an appearance as the film's antagonist. Is this foreshadowing? Well, I don't want to get sued, so I'll just say that I liked her performance very much.
00:04:19
Speaker
Also, the late great Julian McMarn is in this as one of his final roles, which is something I don't see many people talking about in this movie, and I just wanted to say that is nice. Anyway, this is a pretty simple fun Australian film, right? Well, yes it is, but why has it become the filmic equivalent of barbed wire? With countless lawsuits, infighting between Rebel Wilson and her producers, and most surprisingly, a full-on defamation war between Wilson and her lead actor, Charlotte
Personal Experiences with Debutante Balls
00:04:45
Speaker
McInnes. Let's try and actually spend some time talking about the film that is The Deb while understanding this entangled legal hullabaloo.
00:04:53
Speaker
Did you do your deb? Did your school do a deb? We did not do a deb. We did a formal. If I say what I'm about to say next, I'm going to sound awful, but I was in that COVID era when we didn't get a formal, really. But it's fine. It's so fine, guys. I don't mind. No, I'm just i'm just doing it for the meme. We had a sort of like half graduation formal and that was it was cool.
00:05:16
Speaker
It was all right. I got to wear a suit. It was nice. Did not bring a date because I'm i'm perpetually afraid of members of the opposite sex. Women. Yeah, like that's neither here nor there. What about you? Did you do a deb in your time? i did two debs actually. it Maybe you doubled up. I did two debs. One when in quotation mark I was supposed to in year 11. Very nice. ah So I did that one. I was asked to do it because I'm a sexy young man. The ladies just couldn't resist him. They could. It was pretty easy. He could. Oh no. But no, I was a really lovely young lady asked me to do the dead with her. That's nice. And I did it and fun. And then. You went for the sequel. So I did it when I was 17 when, you know, year 11, when most people do it. And the next year, that year's year 11s were prepping for it and doing all the dance lessons and stuff like that. Yeah, right. And they messaged the Facebook group that was the previous years, my my years, Deb, saying, hey, there's this young lady, her partners who partners keep bailing, basically. Damn, okay. Is there anyone in this group chat who would, you know, be willing to stand up and and do it? And I was like, oh, you know, there's going to five other guys who'll probably stand up and say they'll do it. and um But i'll I'll just say, you know, I'll do it as well. You know, as is as a show of like, in Just in case. He's such a nice guy. And then I was the only one. I was the only one who said I'd do it. And so I ended up doing Deb twice. You double-debbed. I double-debbed. Would you say the second Deb was better than the first Deb? I was less nervous the second time. You were like first time? but No, in all seriousness, that was exactly what happened. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew because the first time I was scared poopless because yeah I was worried about doing the dance moves wrong and stuff like that. But the second time I was like, none of my peers are here. no one actually cares if you do the dance moves wrong. Only people watching you are the people who know you, who you weren't caring for them. Like everyone else is watching the people they know, you know, they're not watching you. Just make it funny, lad. So just have a good time. Yeah, just enjoy yourself, have a good time. So yeah, the second time it was ups and downs because you know, I liked the people who I did the second Deb with, but i they weren't my year level. weren't the people I knew. So the first time- They weren't your homies. Yeah, it was more friendly the first time and I knew more people and I horsed around a bit more. But the second time, I kind of left almost as soon as I could. It hit 10 o'clock and you're like, let home. Pretty much. I think I had a friend. clocked in, you had the punch card ready. I did. I did. It was like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon, like, you know, Santa Sheepdog. I was clogging into the Deb factory and then clocking out. Because it's a weird concept. So for yeah all those who aren't aware of what a Deb is, and here's what I know about the Deb as someone who hasn't done one. But it's about like giving away a female to a suitor when they are of like of age. Is that sort of the vibe? I think it's not so much giving away and more debuting the lady. Okay. Debutant. Yeah. Deb. Debutant. Yeah. It's not so much they're being given away in this moment. It's more like, hey, here's a lady who can be given away yeah from now on. Interesting. Interesting concepts. Interesting... I think what's really interesting though is because I grew up not in the city in the city, but I grew up pretty you know close to the city.
00:08:22
Speaker
And so my school was pretty much Melbourne. yeah And so we had that culture behind it. But I was i actually got talking to a co-worker of mine just the other day because I told them I went and sold this movie. yeah And they grew up – I don't know it if it was like a town exactly like the one in the movie – Okay, but something similar. Something similar, you know, out in the middle of nowhere. And they were saying, no, no, people take the Deb really seriously out in the country. It's a huge thing out there. And it was just really interesting because we didn't take it that seriously. It was like people were excited to do it, but it was more it's an event where you dance. That was what was exciting. Yeah, yeah. Whereas out in the country, they were telling me that people a lot of people who went to Deb together ended up, you know, having children together. And actually like entering into relationships that have now lasted the rest of their lives so far. Maybe I should have gone to a country town. Yeah, country Deb, yeah. Maybe I should have been Charlotte McInnes' character in
Musical Surprises and Personal Connections
00:09:13
Speaker
this film. My history with the Deb aside. This movie, I think you did tell me it was a musical, but I must have forgotten because...
00:09:20
Speaker
It was a surprise when they started singing. What is going on? What has Matt done to me? I need to, can I just tell a story quick? Yes, please. Go ahead. Go ahead. So I've lived in Sydney now for about six months yeah and I've, I've, you know, I've been having my ups and downs with moving here and that type of thing. And on this particular night, I was like, know I'm feeling particularly not great.
00:09:40
Speaker
So I'm just going to go to the the little movie theater that I go to to watch my little movies or whatever. It's a nice, comfy little theater. I go in. The movie starts. I'm here for it. I'm like, we can make an episode on this movie if it's good enough or whatever. And the first song that plays is a song called my life. Yeah. And it's all about like entitled white Sydneysiders com complaining about their menial problems. Yeah. And in that moment, I felt so... Seen or called out? I felt so called out. Right. It was the biggest reality check of all time for like what I was feeling. and I was like, okay. Yeah. This movie gets me, baby. I'm in for a ride now. I'm here for it. That being the first song was the song where I went, oh, musical. oh Right. This is a musical. Do you like musicals, by the way?
00:10:29
Speaker
I'm not a huge musical fan. Yeah. I'm not against them. And I guess to say, I did have fun with this movie. But i have a lot of reservations when I say that, though. Me too, honestly. And not because of the musical part. I think, honestly, this is probably one of my favorite musicals. I actually had fun with this. Oh, that's good. I didn't find the music in this was as frustrating as I find other musicals can be.
00:10:52
Speaker
But my two favorite musicals still are Singing in the Rain and La La Land. Both great. Both fantastic. Both great, but also very basic bitch answers. That's okay. Well, I mean, musicals as a genre are meant to be basic and bring in the widest amount of audience. Yeah, but it's like me being like my favorite movie, Citizen Kane. What did the movie mean by this a lot? The character arc of the main character I can't remember her name Maeve, the Sydney sider Maeve, yeah, Maeve Not Taylor, Maeve, yeah Taylor is fine, kind of She's not as problematic The only crime Maeve commits as a character Is being kind of annoying and entitled Yes oh She's a feminist She's for equality She's against the patriarchy She's yeah very, in quotation mark, woke Which is fine. Like, these are good traits to have, right? yeah yeah The only issue is that she kind of has ah a slight lack of perspective because she's been so sheltered for her whole life. I mean, she lives a very privileged existence as a posh private school Sydney person. But the movie- It flip-flops between whether it's like good or bad or like- That's the problem. It doesn't outright say she's wrong for this. Yeah. But it doesn't agree with her either. They could have made, and this is where I thought it was going at the beginning, I thought they were going to make a point about performative wokeness. Yeah. and actually not standing up for the issue. And that's where I thought the movie was starting. But then she just sort of like assimilates into the un-woke, you know what I mean? And it's like, what's going on here? What did the movie mean by this?
Praise and Critique of 'The Deb'
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Here's what I liked about the film.
00:12:30
Speaker
I'll just go like the film in general. yeah I thought that the dance sequences were fantastic. The choreography is fantastic. I think the cinematography and lighting is actually quite excellent in this film. This is Rebel Wilson's directorial debut, as you mentioned earlier. It's a good looking movie. My only little was that I felt the Outback was too clean. Too clean. Okay. Yeah. It's very Sovereign Hill upon like retrospect. Like Sovereign Hill. Exactly like Sovereign Hill. Like, you know, a tourist town and i think the only reason why i think that there is we've watched four mad max movies before this the stranger and the kelly gang uh true history also and there is a dirty dirty movies and obviously this movie is not dirty it's it's glitzy it's glamorous you know it's like bringing the glitz and glamour of like the Metropolitan musical to the Outback. So I missed the grime. That's the only issue I had, but it suits the film though. That's more of a personal preference than actual fault of the film itself. But yeah, sorry, you were saying that. I think the actual dialogue is great. The comedy, the funnies are funny as hell. And the actors
00:13:36
Speaker
play it very well too. The actors play it very well. Yeah. The narrative is what's wavy and there's so many dumb moments in this. There's the whole liar revealed thing which I hate. It's contrived. And then I think the ending as well is a bit muddled because like no character really gets a solid conclusion all. Yeah, kind just ends doesn't it? It just ends. Just ends. I don't understand. I assume I must know. I'm supposed to know who plays the Prime Minister but actually have no clue who that is. so that's Julian McMahon. Is that the poor person who died? Yes, yeah. Right. How did he die? I think it was cancer, undisclosed cancer. But he's a big Australian actor. He was in Fantastic Four. He was in The Surfer, that Nicolas Cage movie. haven't seen Surfer. Oh, there you go. Well, I've done it to the list then maybe. Have you seen it? I have. I think it's quite good. Let's watch it. We'll do it sometime. Julian McMahon's the son of an Australian prime minister. So he's a Hollywood actor and then he's also the son of an Australian prime minister. Okay. So that was sort of the thing there. I knew there was a joke I was missing. when he appeared.
00:14:32
Speaker
I just didn't what it Again, it's very, very, very niche and something that, you know, only nerds like me would understand. No, I think most Australians know. I'm just stupid. No, you're not stupid, Mitch. You're a keen observer of other things. But, yeah, but, like, yeah, Taylor's character doesn't get, like, a resolution. She doesn't find a date to the Deb. I guess that's maybe she's, like, it's confidence in herself or whatever, but, like, when the whole movie's led up to it, I don't know. I don't know if I can agree per se because I feel like that's a perfect resolution for her character, Because so much of her self-worth rides on her getting a date. So her not getting a date at the end and finding solace in her own... In the rain? i don't know. It just wasn't clear to me. It wasn't like clear that that was the... No, okay. So that's the problem, though. I agree with you there. It's not conveyed well. But I do think that her logical conclusion for her character is her finding completion in her own self instead of a date or something like that. that's fair. for Maeve's character to end up with hot guy as well i don't yeah yeah that's nuts that's crazy right that's like what because here's what i would have liked i would have liked her and Annabelle who's like the town pretty girl or whatever yeah i wanted them to get together that's what i wanted it turns out that Annabelle's a lesbian as well and Maeve maybe is a bit i would make sense it would genuinely be a perfect narrative conclusion to a character of like you can say all these things you can be this performative woke person or whatever but you know you haven't had anything human you haven't you know had this lived experience here's that lived experience do you know what mean it's just like i don't know if you're looking at narrative cohesion i think it would wrap it into a bow but that's just that's just my opinion as someone who has only written a few short film screenplays and has no major scripted credits. Critics don't have to be good at the art form to under Chris Sides. I'm trying, brother. I'm trying. You don't have to put these things at the back end. That's true. Anyway, that that was my thing with the ending. Just like no one got a resolution, in my opinion, properly. It's a bit of naff ending, but it's fun.
00:16:34
Speaker
This might get me cancelled. I really like Rebel Wilson as a performer. yes Yes. She's funny. She's very, very funny. She's so great in this. she's You're taking away oxygen from my cigarette. Yeah. Yes. It's so good. Like the writing is so good. It's tailor-made. And how she just bullies her daughter like in a little koala costume as well. You're not the famous one. Like what's the accent she's pulling is insane as well. It's like this Bergen accent from like, it feels like something I'd find in Frankston, but she's in the middle of the night. It feels like a Chris Lilley character, like straight up. She sounds New Zealand. Like she sounds like she's like Jonah from Tonga. Yeah, legit.
00:17:08
Speaker
Well, he's from Tonga. He's not from New Zealand. being I was saying he's Jonah from Tonga. Okay, sorry. That's you. yeah that's me my bad i like i like the part where her daughter comes out to her as gay yeah and she accepts that as well she's a horrible person but she's not homophobic i appreciate that and then she goes i could have dressed you in more vests it's a heartwarming moment and i absolutely love her character's name's annabelle played by stevie jean she really stood out to me as a performer as an actor as a slay as a character I thought she was absolutely fantastic and I sincerely hope that she gets more work in terms of acting. Out of everyone in this cast, including the time-tested faithful actors, I thought she was absolutely fantastic. So props where it is due. Yeah, she's a real standout. She's got a good charisma to her. I dig it a lot. Also, yeah Tara Maurice is in this. Strictly Ballroom. Oh, is that who she is? girlss Yes.
00:17:57
Speaker
Dude. So that's the dressmaker, right? The dressmaker. Yeah. I was like, didn't know she was in this. was like, oh. Hello. She's great. The relationship between her and the mayor slash Taylor's dad is a bit naff. It's a bit forced. Yeah. It was like the least interesting part of the movie, I reckon, for me. There's a bunch of different subplots in this. And, you know, I think that's the problem the film. There's a couple of subplots in here that just they don't feel like they go anywhere and they feel like they're just filling in time. Yeah. There's a level of the drought subplot.
00:18:25
Speaker
It becomes the plot. yeah I don't know if I can say it didn't work, but i if they were going to make the drought so important to the film, it felt like more needed to be done with that. And it takes away from that, the dead. I would have preferred this to be more like strictly ballroom, where it treats the dead as really important, but it's actually just not. Yeah. be all end all. like that would have been better but instead they add in legitimate real stakes of the fact that the town is in a drought and they can't get drought relief funds from the government because the government spent all their drought relief fund but they can get event funding because they have a deb but then the place the deb thing gets burnt down because cigarette
00:19:05
Speaker
It's actually serious. There's something wrong with something being serious, but I just feel like playing into the movie's campiness and playing into everyone treating the Deb like the event it actually becomes without the backstory of it being legitimately important, I feel I would have liked the movie a lot more. It's just a little bit incohesive, especially when Shane Jacobson makes that point. He's like, you want to stick up for the farmers or whatever. It's like, okay, where did this come in? It's a bit incohesive, but... But yeah, I like this movie a lot. I thought it was fun. I think it's decent. Yeah. I think it's a good directorial debut. I know I can make something half as good if I ever make a movie. It's a large scale, high budget, because the budget is actually quite high. Yeah. Actually, what was the budget on this? It was about 15 million, which is... That's good for Australians. Extremely high for an Australian. film big for australian yeah it's a large budget star-studded i would say australian comedy musical and like when was the last time you saw one of those made in the last 10 years don't when last australian comedy was made to be perfect legit legit and so it's it's long overdue honestly if i'm gonna commend rebel wilson on anything i commend her using her fame and using her notoriety to make this agree that's i think is
00:20:18
Speaker
Do we want to go into the actual court case a little bit? We can touch on it.
Controversy and Legal Issues
00:20:25
Speaker
Let's, let's look. We're not going to heavy into it. At the moment we're recording this, it's still like an ongoing case yeah as well. And also we're not legal professionals. We haven't researched this. I just want to say we give the basis of what's going on Yeah. Okay. I don't want to comment on it. yeah I don't know what's going on. yeah I don't know what's happened Let me fill you in, mate. But just like, what's the backstory of what's happened? The reason why this film has a release date of 2024 is because it was first screened at the Toronto Film Festival in 2024. Now, in between then and this film coming out in Australia and New Zealand, so it hasn't gotten international distribution it's just Australia and New zealand Just Australia and New Zealand. Okay. Because there has been an all-out feud between Rebel Wilson, who is the director of The Deb, one of the producers of The Deb, named Amanda Ghost, who obviously produced the film. Amanda Ghost is a sick name. I know. It sounds like a bloody anime character. I was going to say cartoon. She sounds like one of those like Dex Hamilton type characters.
00:21:25
Speaker
Anyone know who Dex Hamilton is? that just me? No, just you, bro. Just you. That one's for my half of the audience. We got there. We finally got there. We finally got there. So good. Anyway, so Rebel Wilson alleges that the producers blocked the film's release at TIFF because of pressures and stuff like conflicts between them. ended up going ahead anyway at TIFF. That was sort of like the first nail in the coffin. Then it came to light, and trigger warning, by the way, for SA, sexual assault, allegations, that type of thing. It was alleged that Charlotte McInnes, who plays Maeve, who is the lead character in The Deb, had adult in nature, an intimate encounter with Ghost, the producer, at Bondi Beach in Sydney, and she informed Rebel Wilson about it. Since then, Rebel Wilson has sued Ghost for endangering the production with this claim of... you know, SA. And since then, Charlotte McInnes has retracted that statement. It is alleged by McInnes that Rebel and her team have produced content defaming websites and social media accounts that will tarnish her name because she sided, allegedly, she allegedly sided with Amanda Ghost and backtracked these abuse claims. So that's the state we're at. And so... McInnes has filed defamation against Rebel Wilson and it's the Bermuda Triangle of like a lawsuit. So it's like Rebel Wilson is suing Ghost. McInnes is suing Rebel Wilson. The movie is out and no one is talking about it. They're all just talking about the lawsuit. And yeah, again, it's an ongoing case. It's very, very messy. The mainstream media is reporting on it like nothing else, which is crazy to me. It came up in my... Because I have the Guardian on my phone. Dude, he's an illustrious Guardian reader, this man. have to pay money to read more than 20 Guardian articles a month. So I rarely look at anything in case something actually interesting pops up. But yeah, just... It's so murky. I don't know. I don't want to comment on this. I don't have an opinion on this. I'm not hiding anything like that. When I say I don't want to comment, it's because don't have anything to say. It sucks. Look, I'm not going to pretend that this film would, you know, revolutionize Australian, the Australian film industry, but it would be nice if there's something produced by us from us. So Australian could actually be given a chance on the global market. And it feels like it's being overshadowed by this. She said, she said type case. That, just for the record, was completely originated from the people that made the movie. Yeah. Like, this wasn't any outside pressure. This was, from a production standpoint, self-destruction. Yeah. Just from everyone involved. My ultimate hope is that the truth is discovered and we get an appropriate conclusion to all of it. People's safety and people's respect for each other and justice is the most important part. I hope that's not lost in what I'm saying yet, but I'm also just disappointed that a chance for the Australian film industry to show what it has beyond terrifying and deeply disturbing horror films. Yeah, exactly. We'd have a chance to go out there and it just seems to be getting kicked in the gullies little bit. know, I know. And this is my opinion. could have been another Muriel's Wedding. It could have been another Priscilla. think with time, it could reach that stature. But in this instance, it's just tarnished the reputation of the film, even though it's a great film. I really like this film personally. good, yeah. I think I don't like it as much as you, but I still enjoyed it. I'd still say if you want to go have a, it's funny.
00:24:55
Speaker
It definitely is funny. I was chucking along at a good part of it. It's such Aussie humor. They say all the swear words. Oh yeah. Like they make, let' I'll talk about it in the most Australian thing later, but they're, yeah. With the boys, with the boys, with the actual boys. It just actually like, oh it had me rolling. All the songs predominantly ah ladies. Yes. yeah Except there's like one very short song around the back middle half of this film. yeah Maybe even like halfway through the second act. Who's to say the boys have a song and it's the stupidest song. It's very funny. the boys, with the boys. Yeah. It's iconic. Anyway. That's all we need to comment on the drama.
Engagement and Reviews
00:25:31
Speaker
If you want to learn more, read about it yourself. Yeah, go to a new source. Pick a reputable one, honestly. And by the time we release this video- It might be done. It might be done. yeah Genuinely. so i'm gonna I'll date it. We are recording this the 28th of April, 2026. There you go. This will be coming out probably exactly a month from now. Let us know what what happened. Anything could happen in a month and a bit.
00:25:51
Speaker
But this is what we know at time of recording. But back on the movie, like overall, Dan's sequences are fantastic. I like the music a lot, actually. Very fun. I think Stevie Gene is fantastic. Like genuinely a standout performance. I think that Taylor's character is great as well. She's fun. She's lovely. She's sweet. Yeah. I think her turn to the dark side a little insane, but beyond that, it's good. But it's campy and I love it. The whole movie is campy. I get it. I don't know. I'm...
00:26:15
Speaker
I don't think I'm as charmed by camp as other people are. Yeah. But yeah I can excuse it. It's a thing. um Matthew. Yes, Mitch. If you're ready. If I'm ready. Are you prepared to give us the most Australian thing about this film? I am. I am. And I've checked this with a lawyer. Gone through this. Yeah. The most Australian thing about The Deb. Legally.
00:26:33
Speaker
six is the dead Legally is the Deb. No, no, no. Legally, this is the most Australian thing. Legally, the most Australian thing about 2026 is the Deb is a group of hyper-masculine St. Kevin's types who are secretly the most closeted men this side of Tom Cruise. Yeah.
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. It checks out. It's pretty Aussie. With the boys, with the boys, with the with the boys, with the boys. Literal art. I haven't seen a movie be this spot on with like breaking down the Australian macho St. Kevin's type. Genuinely. yeah Pretty St. Kevin's. Very St. Kevin's. To the max, brother. Hate those guys.
00:27:08
Speaker
Nah, JK, love you. I'm sure not all of you are bad. You what? You guys have a horrible reputation. You have a lot to do before I have to actually say pot sorry to you guys. Jacob Elordi went to St. Kevin's. And I've never forgiven them for it. Yeah, okay. Yeah, fair enough. Let's burn that bridge. Yeah. We're not getting any these sponsorships this time, ladies and gentlemen. Honestly, this episode is probably cursed from the get-go. This is all your Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, boys and girls and days and I'm sorry, boys. I'm sorry, boys. I think lot of the movie's faults for me are personal preference on my part. I don't think the movie itself is at fault. I just don't think it's exactly what I'm looking for in a film. I think it looks good. I think it's shot well. I think as a musical, even I was enjoying the music yeah at points, which is pretty good for your musical. I just, I've audio processing crap, so it just means I can't hear songs properly. So whenever someone's singing, i'm like, what are they saying? I don't know. It's going by too quickly. yeah It was fun music and it's funny. It is legitimately funny. yeah And Rebel Wilson, please don't sue us. Pretty, pretty please. Also, if you're being goofy, please stop. Yeah. Just be nice. If you're not being goofy, stay on Everyone just be nice. We all want to make movies. Yeah. Let's just be friends. Can't we all just be friends? Can't we all just get along? You know what's actually crazy about this? i know we're about to wrap up, but like people who are writing reviews on this film have had to get them checked with lawyers.
00:28:26
Speaker
That's like actual genuine truth. we have to get checked by lawyers? Nah, that's all right. We're too small. Honestly, if we get sued, that would be the best of publicity we could ever get. Should we aim to get sued? Well, let me say this. I'm joking. If I have one thing to say. didn't like the dead. That's a joke, actually. That's a joke. Well, you guys can send us legally inflammatory things to us at TikTok, Instagram, and threads to UndersouthernScreensPod. That's right. You can also send us defamational emails. That's it. on thethunderscreenspod at gmail.com we won't sue we promise yeah yeah you can say whatever you want about us actually don't don't do that actually please people can be pretty mean on the internet and pretty please leave us a review and five star rating would be great would really help us get out there on the charts on any pod streamer that you're listening to this on And if your pod streamer doesn't do reviews, could you please go to either Spotify or Apple and do it there, please, too. Thank you. beg you. Pretty please. Pretty please. Pretty please with a tweroy on top. I think we just disincentivized people do that. Yeah, that was actually horrible. I'm sorry. Cut that. Cut that.
00:29:36
Speaker
but yeah what are we watching next week matthew we're not watching anything because we're providing the inside scoop for the sydney film festival opening night gala now this is crazy we're flipping the script yeah we one thing when we started this podcast is we said we wanted to capture like the big australian film events and stuff and sort of talk about them anything we could get to at anything we get to sydney film festival myth trop fest next year i guess where's trop fest it's in sydney oh okay you'll just have to come over and see me let's make this very clear i won't be able to go to the opening that's right yeah but it's right i have front row access i didn't i paid for it i paid for ticket get a press pass surely if i probably could given my melbourne film connections but um do you actually could you actually could you get me I could try. I'll try my best. Yeah. If I don't have to pay, that'd be sweet. I got you, bro. worry, don't worry. Because the one people that I don't want to give money to is the Straitland film industry.
00:30:35
Speaker
That's ironic. No, no, that's a bit. That's a bit. As long as it's a good product, I'll give any money. they na I can't say that either. I would give a decent amount of money. As in, not decent, as in a big chunk, as in appropriate amount. We're digging too many holes. I am floundering. Can we please
Closing and Acknowledgements
00:30:51
Speaker
cut? Let's end it here. We're covering Sydney Film Festival next week. be there. Be square. Mitch, what do we say? We say keep an eye on them southern screens. See you next week, guys. Bye-bye.
00:31:03
Speaker
Thanks for listening to another episode of Under Southern Screens. We'll be back next week to talk more films down under. We just want to attribute that our opening title is Heavy Duty by Zoo and our closing title is Heavy Weight by Fell Creek. Thanks so much for listening and Mitch and I will see you in the next episode. See you next time.
00:31:24
Speaker
Under Southern Screens would like to acknowledge the stolen lands on which this podcast is recorded and produced and pay tribute to the Wurundjeri and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation and Kamaragal people of the Eora Nation.
00:31:37
Speaker
Sovereignty was never ceded and we pay respect to all Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.