It's Only a Podcast - A Horror Movie Review Show · Christian Estabrook and Ian Nichols

Smile 2 / The Substance

·1 hr 28 min·5 clips

The episode starts in Halloween doom mode. Christian Estabrook and Ian Nichols open with a bleak little check-in, joke that things are not going to be okay, and carry that mood into the rest of the show. They are, as usual, late. The hosts talk through the delay, the current life chaos, and the fact that the podcast is still hanging together anyway. Then the movie finally enters the picture. The discussion turns into a loose but pointed breakdown of what works and what does not. Margaret Qualley gets the easy vote. Christian treats her as enough on her own to make the movie immediately interesting, which gives the conversation a quick shorthand for why it has any pull at all. Dennis Quaid takes over the argument. Christian says Quaid's buffoonish, offensive, and oddly perfect performance is the strongest thing here, helped along by the writing, wardrobe, and the way he is framed. The runtime is still a problem. Christian calls the film one billion hours too long and keeps circling back to the sense that it never quite knows when to stop. The theme work matters, at least at first. Both hosts touch on self-hatred, self-image, and being at war with your own body, but Christian does not think the movie really lands anywhere interesting with it. The ending loses him. Instead of tightening its ideas, the film shifts into spectacle, and Christian says that leaves him more bothered than thoughtful. The criticism stays sharp even when the show wanders. It keeps coming back to direct judgments about what the movie does well and where it falls apart. There are side quests too. The episode detours through other podcast mentions, Halloween chatter, Letterboxd, and the show's usual last-word reminder to keep telling yourself it is only a podcast.

As heard by us

A horror chat that enjoys the grotesque side of The Substance while staying skeptical about its length.

Christian Estabrook and Ian Nichols keep the discussion loose and funny as they settle into what The Substance is doing. Christian is especially drawn to Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid's ridiculous, grotesque turn gets singled out as the movie's wildest element.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a blunt horror chat that likes Margaret Qualley and thinks the runtime is absurdly too long.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from It's Only a Podcast - A Horror Movie Review Show