Modern Women at Lunch?

[Palanan]

As it happens, I tried watching the second movie last night. I made it about five minutes in.

I do not see the appeal, but I guess for people who love all things Manolo it might be interesting.

[Peelee]

As it happens, I tried watching the second movie last night. I made it about five minutes in.

I do not see the appeal, but I guess for people who love all things Manolo it might be interesting.

I can help explain the appeal of the series, at the very least: I had HBO On Demand back in the mid-aughts, and watched everything. That's... well, that's pretty much the only appeal it had for me.

[Palanan]

As low bars go, that's scraping up the mole crickets.

Apart from the non-appeal, there's also some active anti-appeal, since I dislike New York from personal experience, and I really dislike shows that portray New York as the only place worth living in.

That means that shows like Good Behavior are automatically higher on my list, just for not being set in New York. (Good Behavior had the added benefits of being excellent and having Michelle Dockery, always strong positives for any production.)

[Peelee]

As low bars go, that's scraping up the mole crickets.

Apart from the non-appeal, there's also some active anti-appeal, since I dislike New York from personal experience, and I really dislike shows that portray New York as the only place worth living in.

That means that shows like Good Behavior are automatically higher on my list, just for not being set in New York. (Good Behavior had the added benefits of being excellent and having Michelle Dockery, always strong positives for any production.)

Flight of the Conchords was another show I checked out solely because I could, and conveniently enough makes for the opposite extreme on the quality scale for HBO shows back then. It's also set in New York, but on the opposite side of the spectrum that SatC does. It doesn't fit what you're looking for specifically here, but if you're in the mood to just watch a fun comedy, they knock it out of the park. It's also what started my love of Rhys Darby.

[Mightymosy]

Second Gilmore Girls.
It is a running theme that Lorelei and Rory meat at Lunch or dinner and talk about stuff. If you pick a later season, Rory will be young adult, while in earlier seasons she is a teenager.
In some cases they meet with Emily as well, often times at lunch or dinner as well.

Also, second Sex and the City even more.
I used to watch it quite a bit some time ago, and they sat around at lunch or dinner all the freaking time. Not only that but I found it was somewhat realistic. Yes, women talk about shoes. And men. And work. And relationships. A lot about relationships.
Hey, HUMANS talk about relationships.
In Corona lab, scientists talk more about relationships than about virus on many days =)

It was, but still a fairly accurate representation of the show. Also, all the main characters were terrible people except Miranda.

You serious or sarcastic?
I didnt watch all episodes, but quite a few. And I don't think of any of them as a terrible person. Flawed as most human beings, yes, but terrible?? Are we talking about the same show?

Miranda was even my least favorite of the four, but that was for different reasons than her being a bad person or good person.

[Peelee]

You serious or sarcastic?
I didnt watch all episodes, but quite a few. And I don't think of any of them as a terrible person. Flawed as most human beings, yes, but terrible?? Are we talking about the same show?

Miranda was even my least favorite of the four, but that was for different reasons than her being a bad person or good person.

Mark Kermode put it far better than I could, but they were all shallow, materialistic narcissicts (with Charlotte being the worst, by far). I elevated Miranda above the rest because she at least cared enough another person (much less an ex) to help him through a rough time when he couldn't help himself, which I wouldn't imagine the other three doing.

[Mightymosy]

Mark Kermode put it far better than I could, but they were all shallow, materialistic narcissicts (with Charlotte being the worst, by far). I elevated Miranda above the rest because she at least cared enough another person (much less an ex) to help him through a rough time when he couldn't help himself, which I wouldn't imagine the other three doing.

Interesting position.

Didn't they care for each other at least?

Charlotte being materialistic I can buy. The other three, eh not so much. But to each their own interpretation, let' s not derail this thread.

(not saying any of them is mother Theresa, but calling them terrible persons seems like a long shot to me. Eh)

Anyway, I think this is a good series for examples of women talking at lunch, dinner, cocktail, coffee bar, whatever.

There are also two movies, but I don't know if these feature a lunch specifically.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Mightymosy
...calling them terrible persons seems like a long shot to me.

After watching 2.5 episodes I'd say that's fair.

They come across as selfish, shallow, and utterly materialistic. The opening of the second movie does nothing to alter this impression. All of the establishing shots are of a dreamy, silver-mirrored cityscape, emphasizing the glamour of New York City, and one of the first ground-level shots is a closeup of the gaudiest shoe I've ever seen in my life.

From there they go straight to an extremely high-end boutique, with flashbacks suggesting how far each of them has come since arriving in New York. The only metric for personal progress is wealth, in particular its ostentatious display. And wearing skimpier clothing.

Thankfully I won't need to watch any more of either the series or the movies, and as it happens I found something much better, or at least much more entertaining: How to Think Like A Man, which I came across last night. Only watched about thirty minutes in the middle, but frequently hilarious and really well-done. One of the women is excruciatingly materialistic (she just melts when a handsome man drives up in a Porsche) but the other women seem deeper and more complex.

[paddyfool]

The First Wives Club (1996) has at least one lunch scene, if "three" qualifies as "several".

EDIT: Also Mean Girls, if teenagers in a school cafeteria qualify. My wife thinks maybe The Book Club and Women too.

[Knaight]

After watching 2.5 episodes I'd say that's fair.

I suspect a lot of the disagreement comes down to a definitional matter. How bad does someone have to be to qualify as a terrible person? The characters in question don't generally display anything that would qualify as moral virtue (as described, I'm working secondhand here), and they're self centered, but there isn't really a record of actual harm. The criticisms are generally on the level of being shallow, being materialistic, being slutty - and while you can contest the validity of any of those as general concepts, even if you're willing to take all of them as vices (and I'm willing to take 2/3) it's notable that it's all what they are and not what they've done.

This isn't enough to qualify as a terrible person if the term "terrible person" is usually busted out in discussions about just how much blood is on someone's hands, how it got there, and whose it was. At the very least, I'd like to be able to point to something like a habit of routine mistreatment of other people before describing someone as a terrible person.