Everything we can’t stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.

with Kevin Fallon

This Week

Putting some respect on J.Lo’s name.
Introducing you to reality TV’s greatest new star.
Remembering David Lynch.
A spectacular season finale.
A major disappointment.

The ‘Unstoppable’ Jennifer Lopez

It can be so undignified, being a fan.

You’re locked into an obligation that you have no control of, and likely are unsure why you were drawn to it in the first place. You find yourself defending poor career choices, championing projects you know aren’t up to snuff just to be supporting, and, at its most embarrassing, being wildly histrionic and hyperbolic when the person you’re a fan of actually does something truly, irrefutably good.

I come to you in that embarrassed state of histrionics and hyperbole. And yet, true fan that I am, with pride as well: Jennifer Lopez is incredible in her new movie Unstoppable.

The movie is now available on Prime Video, if you want to see the proof for yourself.

It’s based on the true story of Anthony Robles (an equally fantastic Jharrel Jerome), a wrestler with one leg who triumphed over both physical limitations and the societal ones put on him to become a national champion. J.Lo plays his mother, Judy, who floods him with unconditional support, even while drowning under her own struggles.

It is the Rudy-est of Rudy-esque sports movies. (My knees creaked while I typed that; does Gen Z even understand a Rudy reference?) Suffice it to say, it is uplifting, packed with scenes designed to make you cry. You will feel so inspired by the feat of athleticism that, after watching the movie, you will sit up and think, “I’m going to go for a run and get in shape.” You will not go on that run, but you will think about it—and that is beautiful in its own right.

You’ll also be as moved by Judy’s journey as you are by Anthony’s. That’s owed to how shockingly lived-in, emotionally raw, and, at risk of being patronizing to the star I’ve just admitted to being a fan of, actress-y Lopez is in the film. While the incandescent “J.Lo” of it all remains irresistible and magnetic when she revisits her rom-com bread-and-butter in films like Marry Me, her performance in Unstoppable is further proof of a potentially robust future as a supporting or character actress in prestige films.

Listen, as someone with a closet full of voodoo dolls he made of every voting member of the Academy after Lopez’s Oscar snub for Hustlers, I’m conditioned to seek justice for the star when it comes to her earning respect for her talent. Almost every Unstoppable scene she’s in could double as a nomination reel, and, while hardly a challenging film, it is good enough that I wonder if its absence from most of awards season is due to lingering ridicule over The Blind Side’s embrace—or something.

In any case, you can check out her big scene below, which has the added bonus of my favorite movie phenomenon: When a character says the title of the movie.

Being a J.Lo fan is no easy work.

There’s a large contingent of people who just plain hate her, to an extreme level that I find inexplicably at odds with mere rumors of diva behavior or simply not liking her projects. (It’s worth noting that Lopez recently made headlines over how huge her donation was that she made to victims of the Los Angeles fires of clothes, accessories, and products from her personal collection and closets. She also canceled major press stops for Unstoppable to focus on relief efforts.)

One of the things I admire about her career is what makes it hardest to defend: She is willing to do such a wild variety of things that for every Hustlers or Unstoppable triumph, there’s a humiliation like her recent This Is Me…Now-related projects, cancelation of her tour, and return to status as tabloid chum with all the gossiping over her Ben Affleck divorce and who was at fault.

Why be a J.Lo fan, then? Well, why be a fan of anyone at all? It’s a calling that one can’t explain, like a vocation. And as someone who has built a large part of his writing career on snark, cynicism, and judgement, it is against character to be a fan of anyone at all; I hate fans! Plus, Lopez is the kind of over-the-top famous star I would routinely be mocking, did I not love her so.

In any case, I feel good in objectively recommending Unstoppable now that it’s on streaming, and I’m very curious to see if anyone’s J.Lo opinions change after watching it.

Today’s Top Entertainment News

A Reality TV Star Is Born

At one point near the end of this week’s episode of The Traitors, I had to go to my bathroom cabinet and pull out the Costco-sized bottle of Tums I keep for such stressful emergencies.

(Warning: Some spoilers ahead, if you watch The Traitors. Some utterly silly writing to read, if you don’t.)

This week’s roundtable section of the Peacock reality competition series had all the things that give me agita and ingestion: betrayal, mutiny, loud fighting, people crying, and, worst of all, the possibility of the lil’ cutie patootie I have developed an instant, intense crush on being thrown to the wolves and possibly sent home.

Check out the scene in question here:

Much will be made of the showdown between RuPaul’s Drag Race star Bob the Drag Queen and Survivor legend Boston Rob: There’s the fact that Bob, who was such a fan favorite that he got a cheering ovation at the party I attended, turned out to be, in fact, a terrible Traitor. There’s Boston Rob’s shocking double-crossing of Bob so quickly in the game, and that he was so successful at it. There’s the gasp-inducing lines that they shot like darts at each other while arguing at the roundtable, reality TV’s version of watching Shakespeare.

For me, though, there’s also the surprise ascendance of the show’s most random cast member, Dylan Efron, who was previously best known to most as “Zac Efron Has a Younger Brother Who’s Pretty Cute, Who Knew?!”

Efron was the first person to suspect Bob as a Traitor, but he needed Boston Rob to amplify his cause. He stood up for himself at the roundtable against Bob’s formidable dressing down of him, even as his brother caught some unfair stray shots in the melee. And, when Bob was booted, he was congratulated and cheered by the rest of the cast.

It was almost as if the rest of the competitors had the same “who is this guy and why is he here?” first impression, but in that one episode they agreed that he had graduated to their level. The whole celebration and Efron’s sheer giddiness over being accepted by the reality TV legends was like a scene in an ’80s teen movie, when the underdog, nerdy teen does something that finally gets him embraced by all the cool kids.

Except in this case, the underdog turns out to be a total smokeshow.

There’s another reason why Dylan Efron has emerged as a fan favorite. I’ll leave with these photos that have been all over my timeline this week, should you be curious what that reason is.

“Keep Your Eye on the Donut”

There have been many lovely remembrances of David Lynch published this week in the wake of his death, including these posted on The Daily Beast’s Obsessed.

I encourage you to read them all, while I share this silly moment that many have revisited in recent days.

In 2006, Laura Dern starred in Lynch’s Inland Empire, and Lynch felt that she was incredible in the film—so much so that she deserved an Oscar nomination. Not really having the resources to take out one of those splashy For Your Consideration billboards that line Sunset Boulevard during awards season, he did a DIY version, with his own Lynchian spin.

On the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea, he sat in a lawn chair next to a giant poster of Dern in the film with “For Your Consideration” plastered on it. Oh, and he had a cow on a leash next to him.

You can read more about it here.