Lived It

Main: Resort to Love is the perfect 90s rom-com...in 2021

Episode Summary

Seriously we can’t get enough of Netflix rom-coms and specifically ones starring Christina Milian (also of Falling Inn Love fame). This one’s a beachy, musical concoction so imagine yourself enticed by a sultry lover by the pool...

Episode Notes

Episode Transcription

Gen Fricker:

They say your rising sign is who you presents the world, but your moon sign is who you truly are.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

I feel like my rising sign is like cinephile, award-winning movies to put it in the Netflix pilots, right? But my rising sign is romantic comedies with a strong female lead. Aloha! It's Gen Fricker.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And [foreign language 00:00:28]. It's Alexei Toliopoulos.

Gen Fricker:

This is The Big Film Buffet.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

A podcast for pop culture fans and people looking for what to watch recommendations. And what we recommend this weekend is...

Gen Fricker:

Resort to Love.

Speaker 3:

I can't believe you're getting married.

Speaker 4:

Beverly finds out we used to be engaged, she's going to cause so many problems.

Speaker 3:

Ugh. What are the odds of him showing up here to get married? And my boss wants me to sing at his wedding.

Speaker 5:

You are facing your demons, which is good.

Gen Fricker:

Now, Alexei, you know me. We've known each other a long time.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

We do.

Gen Fricker:

You have an encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Thank you so much. It's the thing I'm proudest of.

Gen Fricker:

You have knowledge across all genres, across different styles, different directors, and their contributions to the cinematic cameth.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Thank you so much. This is true, yes. Quiz me on anything and I could say an answer.

Gen Fricker:

Whereas, I have quite a deep knowledge of quite a shallow pool, if you will, which is romcoms, specifically ones that are serviced to me by the Netflix algorithm. And this, my friend, is where I come to shine. Resort to Love is in this premise. I want to flag that if people are listening to this podcast right now, and you've seen movies like Falling Inn Love, if you've seen Work It, this is a movie for you. But how? How? Why, Gen? How do you know me so good? It's because this movie stars Christina Milian. If you've seen Falling Inn Love that came in last year, Christina Milian plays a lady who wins an inn in New Zealand.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my god.

Gen Fricker:

And that's where she falls in love.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I didn't know that inn was double N.

Gen Fricker:

Yes, baby.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

This time around, Resort to Love, Christina Milian plays a woman who, after having her engagement ended prematurely, after losing out on a huge opportunity for her career, decides to take up an offer to be a singer and entertainer on a resort in the island of Mauritius. Right?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Gen Fricker:

But things don't work out just as planned.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Things take a turn for the turfs, if you will. Genny is absolutely glowing right now. We are in her wheelhouse.

Gen Fricker:

This is my wheelhouse. Welcome.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I got to tell you, I think you've converted me as well. I love the big romcoms. I love when Harry met Sally, probably one of my top 10 favourite movies of all time.

Gen Fricker:

Yes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And I think that this kind of film exactly, like what you're talking about, like these pun based, high concept romantic comedies like this, such a comfort. This movie was so soothing to me and so funny and such an enjoyable experience. Now, I'm a complete convert with you. I had the best freaking time watching Resort to Love. And I want to hear more about this genre. What is it that pulls you in and just makes it yours?

Gen Fricker:

Do you know what it is? I think for me, and maybe it's because of the specificity of the things I watch, the Netflix algorithm has really figured who I am. To explain it through astrology, if you will.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow, okay.

Gen Fricker:

They say your rising sign is who you present to the world, but your moon sign is who you truly are.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

I feel like my rising sign is cinephile, award-winning movies to put it in the Netflix pilots, right? But my rising sign is romantic comedies with a strong female lead.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow, okay. And Christina Milian fits that perfectly.

Gen Fricker:

Exactly. You know it from Bring It On 2. You know it from her music career, a pop queen. But yes, this is a very specific genre. For me, I think what it is is that it's fantastical, beautiful to watch. The people are beautiful. The places are beautiful. And it's not trying to take itself too seriously. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel, other movies like this, the genealogy of this film, if you will. Resort to Love stars Christina Milian. We take it back a year, Christina Milian stars in another pun-based romantic comedy, Falling Inn Love, inn with two Ns. She costars with Adam Demos, who's also in Sex/Life, which is popping off right now on Netflix.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, absolutely.

Gen Fricker:

He's also the Australian guy from UnREAL.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, okay.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. The token Australian hottie in Resort to Love is Alexander Hodge, who you might know from Insecure.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yes.

Gen Fricker:

There's also T.J. Power, who you might know from Offspring or The Little Death. So it's all interconnected, right? So you could easily do a back-to-back, Falling Inn Love-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

... and then Resort to Love.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

My god.

Gen Fricker:

If that's the vibe you're on, if you're looking for fun, good looking romantic comedies, that aren't taking itself too seriously, these are my recommendations.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

You're like my Sherpa into this brave new world.

Gen Fricker:

Do you know? I really do love romantic comedies. Every year, I rewatch the films of Nancy Meyers, one of the most successful female directors of all time. She did movies like The Holiday. She did The Parent Trap. And at the time when these films came out, they were so filled with star power. The budgets were crazy. Women in Nancy Meyers' films usually have at least one or two kitchen islands.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Absolutely.

Gen Fricker:

We've talked about it before in the podcast, right?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yes. I love it.

Gen Fricker:

There's this idea that the women in here have already reached kind of an idyllic level, maybe financially in their lives. Right? So it's always set in these really beautiful worlds, but people don't make films like this anymore-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

No.

Gen Fricker:

... because they're quite hard to translate to non-English speaking markets. So the ones we do get now, I really treasure. And yes, maybe they're not as big budget as your Nancy Meyer films, as your Harry met Sally's. They still get me in that tender place.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think that's something that I really enjoyed about this movie, is I do love romantic comedies, but there's something soothing about them because they have high stakes, there is conflict in them, but it's not life or death. And I think this movie really nails the type of romantic comedy that I love, which is ones where there is a love triangle, there is a conflict, but everybody still really likes each other and everyone is really nice to each other through the conflict. I love My Best Friend's Wedding. I love The Wedding Singer. I think this film kind of like sits in between those with a little bit of spiciness and taste from something like a breakup movie like Forgetting Sarah Marshall as well, or when Stella Got Her Groove Back as well, where you have to go to an island. You have to go to an island to escape it all and take this big holiday to find yourself once again. And I think that there's something really relatable in that, and especially the way that this film announces itself in it.

Gen Fricker:

There's something very '90s about as well, because that really was a golden era of romcoms. We've referenced My Bestfriend's Wedding. What a huge vehicle for Julia Roberts just to make her a '90s icon. And this has a really '90s feel to it in that the cost is so charismatic as well. We have the two leads of Christina Milian and Jay Pharoah, who you might know from SNL, incredible comedian.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I love Jay Pharoah. When I saw that he was in this, I'm like, "Okay, I'm in."

Gen Fricker:

I watch him in anything, straight up. And it's just fun to see two charismatic people, two charismatic and good looking people play out these little dramas. You're right, it's not life or death, but it's still important.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Absolutely. I love Christina Milian. I hadn't seen her in a movie before, but I was a big fan of her music when I was in high school, Dip It Low, When You Look At Me. I thought she was so cool. So almost for me, watching this again was like a bit of like a rediscovery. And I absolutely love that she's a singer in the movie. That's part of her character, is that she just missed out on the biggest career opportunity, a kind of like Kanye West type, was making this new big album, was about to launch and she was the guest vocalist on all the tracks for it. And then he decides to not release the album and keep it a secret. So she just missed out on that big breakout moment in her career.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And I love that she becomes the singer at this resort in Mauritius, because I think it adds so much good comedy into it, because she has to sing songs that she sometimes doesn't believe in, or sometimes that she does. But even so, just as me as a Christina Milian fan, to hear her sing No One by Alicia keys, for her to sing Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, I'm like, "Those are good fricking covers of those songs."

Gen Fricker:

And to bring it full circle, I love that Alicia Keys produced this.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

That is awesome.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. I'm so interested to see what you think about this film, Alexei, because I feel like you're quite a romantic, but then also, yeah, you have that kind of capital C cinema brand. And for me, yeah, I've never seen The Godfather. I've never seen the Rocky films, but I have seen most of these films on Netflix.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think as well for me personally, I think film is so broad. And I just love film, full stop. I love cinema, full stop. So you need to have a broad taste to be able to celebrate cinema like this, because you need to be able to appreciate every kind of film, in my opinion, if you are going to call yourself a celebrator of cinema. You need to take your Godfathers. You need to take your Rockies. You also need to be able to appreciate what these kinds of movies do so well. And I think that there is so much joy and glee in this movie because it's comedy and it's character comedy as well. All the comedy is based around good character beats that are all in building who these characters are.

Gen Fricker:

I think it's also one of those things, right? And it's been talked about a lot, but people think comedy is easy to do compared to a drama.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Exactly.

Gen Fricker:

Honey, we're here to tell you it ain't. It's hard to make people laugh. It's such a visceral physical reaction. So anytime any movie or anything makes you laugh, that is actually insane, the amount of steps your brain has to go through to elicit that physical reaction, right? But then, people really devalue comedy movies because it's much more subjective than drama, right? And same with romance movies, I think it's so dependent on the charisma of the people in it. And so if you don't believe and don't care about these people, you don't believe or care about them falling in love. Falling Inn Love, shout out.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

The island that they are filming this on, the island of Mauritius looks so beautiful and so deeply luscious, because you've got these sapphire blues in that ocean. You've got these white sands. You've got these gorgeous palm trees everywhere. That this is pure escapism, this movie. And so pure you have to be careful with it.

Gen Fricker:

Oh my goodness. Why?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It might send you mad. To know that there is a place so beautiful, but you are so far away and you cannot be there, that is dangerous.

Gen Fricker:

My relationship with movies has really changed over the past year because of everything. I think I used to really seek out challenging movies because I saw it as a way to educate myself. And also, I see it as a badge of honour, like, "Yes, I've watched these very important movies." And then now, having been through everything the world has been through in the last year and a half, I'm like, "Oh, movies for me really are about comfort and about connecting with something or people, or like an idea of humanity outside myself. It doesn't necessarily have to be like a intellectual exercise." And I feel like movies like these are perfect me, because sometimes, I am just a smooth brain baby. I just want to have something nice happen. I want to see the good guys win.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Gen still has that soft spot on the top of her head that this movie just fits right into.

Gen Fricker:

My skull has not binded at the top. So if you were to put a cup on the top of my head, it would go straight through into my brain.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think as well, there's something in this resort lifestyle that this film puts out into there, like the clothes that people wear. Christina Milian wears this little blue play suit. I'm like, "That is holiday wear. That is what you wear when you're on holiday." Jay Pharoah wears this cool Ralph Lauren shirt that looks so breathy. I think of like, "Oh, that's the kind of luxury that I want to be living in." Right?

Gen Fricker:

Just linens.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Linens.

Gen Fricker:

And the warm summer air just getting in between your skin and the linen. It's so-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I want a Cabana lifestyle. I miss that. I haven't been on a holiday for fricking yonks.

Gen Fricker:

Yes. Have you stayed in a resort?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I've never stayed in a resort. I don't think they'd allow me.

Gen Fricker:

Why?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I feel like they're like, "This guy's not the right energy for a resort." This is an inside boy, okay?

Gen Fricker:

Well, this is the thing. I find the idea of resorts quite funny, right? Because it's like, you're travelling quite a long way to somewhere quite exotic to then just stay in one place.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

To lounge around up for, yeah.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. In that the one resort and just be surrounded by the same group of people. I don't know. There's something just funny to me about that. It's almost antithetical to a holiday because you're like, "I'm leaving my home where I'm constantly-"

Alexei Toliopoulos:

In the one place.

Gen Fricker:

... to go somewhere else just in the one place.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It's like a cruise. A resort is like a cruise, but it doesn't even move.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. It's the cruise of the land.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

A land cruise. I've only ever been to one hotel where they even offered me breakfasts, and that was delicious. It was a great hotel right next to The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. And I had huevos rancheros every single day.

Gen Fricker:

Yum. Yum. I love huevos rancheros.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I love to start my day with a tortilla.

Gen Fricker:

Couple of eggs, shank some beans on that side.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh, chuck me some beans. Please feed me the beans, chef, standing in the middle of a circle full of tables and banquets. We were talking a little bit about this last week when we were talking about The Last Letter from Your Lover, about being on holiday. It lets you be a little bit more open to the experiences of the world. And they're experiences that make you who you are almost, your truer version of yourself when you're away from your home. I would love to know, Gen, have you ever been on these holiday romances, like Christina Milian in this film?

Gen Fricker:

I wish. I feel like I'm always trying to set myself up for one, for sure. When I went to Mexico a couple years ago-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

The home of the huevos rancheros.

Gen Fricker:

Exactly. I had some huevos rancheros. I guess that was a romance that started there and I took that home. I went to Mexico by myself. And I was like, "I'm ready to fall in love."

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Wow.

Gen Fricker:

I'm ready. I'm in Ciudad de Mexico. You might know what in English is Mexico City.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yes. That's how I know it. Thank you.

Gen Fricker:

I was there by herself. And I was like, "I'm ready. I'm ready to fall in love." Mexico City has the most art galleries per capita than any other city in the world.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Really?

Gen Fricker:

I'm like, "Could you imagine a falling in love in a Mexican art gallery?" I was hitting three or four art galleries a day.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

My god. You got to get those odds up.

Gen Fricker:

Right? Got to be everywhere. And then slowly, my money is just running out because I was treating myself to huevos rancheros and a lot of churros every single day. Right?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

An art gallery is not a free experience either, right? That cost a couple of pesos.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. A few hundred pesos per pop.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my lorsh.

Gen Fricker:

So I decided to get on Bumble.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my god. Okay.

Gen Fricker:

Because I was like, "This is how people find love."

Alexei Toliopoulos:

This is the modern era. People are Bumbling. They're Tindering. They're Hingeing it up.

Gen Fricker:

And aren't we all just Bumbling our way through, right?

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Absolutely. That's how we make it through this world in this day and age.

Gen Fricker:

This crazy time. So anyway, so I was on Bumble in Mexico. And I just was like, "I'm an Aussie girl in Mexico city, looking to make new friends and new experiences." And basically just got taken on some dates. And look, maybe it sounds like I'm exchanging experiences for sex. No sex happened. I'm just clarifying that. But it was cool. I ended up going to some jazz clubs. I ended up going to the opera. I ended up going to this place called the pulqueria, this cool fermented cactus drink that is slightly hallucinogenic, which I found out later-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my lord.

Gen Fricker:

... when I started hallucinating. Anyway.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

My god, you've lived a lifetime.

Gen Fricker:

Darling, I've lived a thousand lifetimes.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my god. I'm a little schmunk that's never done anything. I'm sitting here watching movies all day long and you're out there living.

Gen Fricker:

But I never found love. I didn't find love, but I made some good friends and I made the most precious kind of item memories.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah, that's the real love, is the love of memories and the love experience.

Gen Fricker:

And I got to tell this story to you, my friend Alexei. So that's-

Alexei Toliopoulos:

You're like fricking Indiana Jones, dude.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah, except an Indiana Jones that never gets to take any of the goods from the temples, and so is poor and then has to get on social media.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh Gen, I think you're about to send me off on an adventure and it's not just into memory territory. I think I'm going to need you as my guide through this genre of pun based, very happy and sweet and kind and pretty fricking damn funny. I laughed a lot watching this movie.

Gen Fricker:

It's a silly movie.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

It's really silly. And I think as well that's part of it, is why movies like this and movies like The Wedding Singer speak to me is because you're seeing big comedic stars like a Jay Pharoah, or your Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer as the other example, of a big person like that finding the balance of how big and high camp and how high energy their comedic persona is. Especially Jay Pharoah, is someone who does crazy impressions. And then finding the human aspect of it and making it into a leading man performance, I think that's the thing that I really dig about these kind of movies. And I think I'm going to need you as my guide to go to Falling Inn Love.

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. They're always quite low stakes movies. They're about people. And they're about relationships with each other. And that's what I love. There's always a seed of kindness in the middle of it, which I really like.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I think if you like this, definitely, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is on Netflix at the moment. I think that is such another good example of this, where there is conflict. The people are still nice. They're still trying to play polite around it. And you get that beautiful Hawaiian island setting as well.

Gen Fricker:

If you're a fan of this, and there are so many ways I want to take you, but I feel like you'll enjoy, as I've said, Falling Inn Love. There's definitely The Princess Switch movies that are on. If you love a Christmas movie as well, which is another genre I love is a Christmas movie, Christmas specials, there's A Christmas Prince as well.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

I've seen The Princess Switch, but there's also a Christmas Prince?

Gen Fricker:

Yeah. And they exist in the same universe.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

How?

Gen Fricker:

I don't want to give away spoilers, but there are certain times when there's crossover and you're just like, "What is this?"

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Oh my god. Okay. And another one that's on Netflix that I got to give the biggest shout out to, because I think it is one of the most supremely underrated romantic comedies in the history of the genre. It is also set on the island of Hawaii. It is 50 First Dates. Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, the ultimate romcom jewel in my opinion.

Gen Fricker:

If you enjoy The Big Film Buffet, please like and subscribe, leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. We love to see them. This is actually the last episode of this season.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

And it's been so fun talking about movies with you, Gen. I love you so much. It's been such a joy doing this podcast with you this season.

Gen Fricker:

Oh, it's been such a pleasure to jump on this season. Thanks to everyone who listened as well. We really appreciate it, and our awesome team who listened to us just babble.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Yeah. And everybody out there listening, do not stop streaming. Keep the stream alive and enjoy cinema wherever it takes you. This episode was hosted by me, Alexei Toliopoulos, and you, Gen Fricker.

Gen Fricker:

Produced by Michael Sun and Anu Hasbold.

Alexei Toliopoulos:

Edited by Geoffrey O'Connor.

Gen Fricker:

Executive produced by Tony Broderick and Melanie Mahony.