A Family Affair & The Idea of You

The Rom Com Rewrite

These two films map so brilliantly onto one another. They are neither of them quite what we would call a rom com but, in both cases, for interesting reasons.

A Family Affair Year: 2024 Written by: Carrie Solomon Directed by: Richard LaGravenese Stars: Nicole Kidman, Zac Effron, Joey King

The Idea of You Year: 2024 Screenplay by: Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt Novel by: Robinne Lee Directed by: Michael Showalter Stars: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galatzine, Ella Rubin

Show notes:

“Maybe you’re an amazing duck” - Lisa Findley’s message for Zac Efron.

By the way, we don’t mean to dismiss or belittle anyone who is in their early twenties (or younger). We are in our forties. It feels like a long time ago.

If you would like to skip the plot summary for this month’s film you can spool forward about fourteen and a quarter minutes into the episode.

In this episode we mention the films: High School Musical (2006) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475293/) Born On The Fourth Of July (1989) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096969/) Mission: Impossible (1996) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117060/) The Break-up (2006) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452594/) Red, White & Royal Blue* (2023) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10172266/)

*This film has previously been featured on the podcast.

Correction: Harry Styles was just 16 years old in 2010 when he auditioned for the TV show The X Factor, which lead to him becoming part of One Direction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Styles). Robbie Williams was also 16 when he joined Take That in 1990 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Williams).

For next month's episode we were going to watch Going The Distance (2010) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1322312/) but in fact we ended up watching Meet Me Next Christmas (2024) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20502488/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt). We will watch Going The Distance at some point next year - promise!

If you would like to suggest films for future episodes, you can tweet Lisa: @LisaStowaway.

We record these episodes over the internet. Sometimes the audio is not perfect. We apologise for that.

Music in this episode is by Martin Zaltz Austwick (martinzalzaustwick.com). Artwork is by Lisa Findley.

Thank you for listening!