Welcome to another Feminist Friday! That time of the week where we share 3 of our fave clips that we can’t get enough of right now. Given that female creators and stars are having a breakthrough moment in television and film in ways we’ve never seen before, this week we’re all about the types of narratives and topics that we finally get to see from the female gaze in a way that is relatable and disruptive.
First up is a new rom-com from best-selling author turned first-time director Nancy Goodman called ‘Surprise Me!’ Guaranteed to be one your new Fall streaming faves, this delightful comedy has a hidden message about healthy eating and self-care. When dieting expert and author Nancy set out to adapt her work into a film, she wanted to create a fun, romantic comedy that also addresses eating disorders, obesity, and bingeing. The “food guru” took this opportunity to help women turn their focus from dieting to their feelings, choices, strength, pain, joy, goals, and new passions.
The film follows Genie Burns – a surprise party planner who hates surprises. A risk-taking dynamo in business but when it comes to her personal life…bubble wrapped! She juggles between Danny and Jeff, who both love her and then there is Steven, who is handsome and hilarious, but is gay. As that gets super confusing, an anonymous Hollywood producer hires Genie to throw a surprise wedding for his girlfriend. In the end, Genie discovers that with life, with love, and crazy cravings, what’s real in life screams…SURPRISE! Watch the trailer below:
‘Surprise Me!’ is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from October 4th, with additional platforms to follow. Starring Fiona Gubelmann (The Good Doctor, Hallmark’s Tulips in Spring) as the effervescent Genie, and Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls) as Steven, themes of diet culture and eating disorders are also interlaced throughout the film as the viewers see Genie battle her own struggles with binge eating. As she faces stressful situations and all of the complexities of her life, she consistently turns to eating as a solution and isn’t sure why.
We are excited to share another clip from the film where Genie sits down with a therapist to talk about her love life and binge eating, a moment in the story which is relatable, authentic, but carries the humor in a way that we haven’t seen in other rom-coms that are female-centric. This is the power of having more women at the center of creative story-telling decisions as well as on-screen.
The final video this week underscores why we need more women at the helm, especially those who use humor and drama as a way to tackle real life issues and bring more nuance and complexity to female characters on screen. British powerhouse Phoebe Waller-Bridge, fresh off her Emmy’s haul, got to host ‘SNL’ recently and in her opening monologue talked about women creators giving their characters permission to be sexual, feminist, political, and even psychopaths. While you are on Amazon, after watching ‘Surprise Me!’, be sure to check out and binge ‘Fleabag’ to find out what you are missing. This woman is badass and so is this monologue:
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