Romance movies, roasted with receipts.
Romancing the Pod pairs Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser for chaotic, detailed conversations about romantic movies and cult picks. The show mixes plot play-by-play, pop-culture detours, blunt verdicts, and quick empathy when a movie turns genuinely rough.
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Romancing the Pod is a long-running movie review show focused on romantic films, romantic disasters, and the many genres that borrow love as an excuse for chaos. Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser give each episode the feel of a post-screening argument that turned into a running bit. The format is casual. The attention is not. Recent episodes move from Eyes Wide Shut to The Housemaid, Indecent Proposal, Crossroads, Drive Me Crazy, Wild Things, Romeo Must Die, and Love Jones, which gives the show room to swing between prestige discomfort, melodrama, erotic-thriller mechanics, teen-movie logic, and action-romance plotting. The speakers notice plot structure, performances, title confusion, music cues, sequel histories, and the places where a movie's moral center seems completely misplaced. They also like a tangent. A discussion can jump from Stanley Kubrick's treatment of women to moon-landing jokes, from Honeymoon in Vegas to Baby Bruno Mars, or from Love Jones theology to sports mascots as cosmic beings. The tone is fast, irreverent, and frequently incredulous. It is also more thoughtful than the looseness first suggests. When a film uses abuse, assault, jealousy, or racial conflict as a narrative engine, the conversation slows enough to name the weight of it before the jokes return. That push and pull defines the show. Romancing the Pod is not polished academic criticism, and it is not simple nostalgia. It is a comic autopsy performed by two people who can love a movie's mess while still asking why any of it was written that way. The show has a particular gift for identifying the moment a script stops behaving like a story and starts resembling a board full of disconnected notes. It also keeps a running awareness of romance tropes, bad partners, gendered storytelling, and the bizarre expectations older films place on women. Fans of cult movie podcasts will recognize the recap energy. Fans of romantic movies will appreciate that the genre is treated as durable enough to survive hard jokes. The result is funny, messy, specific, and surprisingly useful for deciding which cinematic train wreck deserves the next watch.
Made for: For movie fans who like recap comedy with real opinions, especially listeners drawn to messy romances, cult thrillers, nostalgia, and sharp complaints about bad scripts. Best for adults who enjoy loose conversational criticism rather than formal film study.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by treating romance-adjacent movies as full cultural puzzles, not just guilty pleasures. Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser pair scene-specific jokes with pointed reads on gender, blame, violence, race, and why certain plot choices feel so strange.
Each week Paige and Todd review a romantic movie and break down the good, the bad, and the funny. Give it a listen, we’ll have you at hello.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser pair scene-level movie recaps with sharp criticism, production context, and a talent for comic escalation.
Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser turn each movie into a lively conversation that moves through plot, performance, craft, and whatever comic detour the next scene inspires.
Paige and Todd can turn a Kubrick grievance and the Philly Phanatic into the same date-night debrief.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Paige and Todd joke through *Eyes Wide Shut* while questioning how the film treats Nicole Kidman's character.
Paige Wesley picked Eyes Wide Shut for Todd Schlosser, then admitted she had seen only about 15 minutes of it herself. Neither sounds pleased with the viewing experience, and they find plenty to joke about.
Paige and Todd revisit Wild Things, comparing cuts and questioning a sensitive plot turn.
In Romance in the Pod, Paige and Todd return to Wild Things with different memories of it. Todd mainly remembers the pool scene. Paige first saw the movie about six months earlier in a drastically cut hotel TV broadcast.
Paige and Todd revisit *Romeo Must Die*, from Jet Li's hardware-store fight to the waterfront stadium deal.
Paige Wesley and Todd return to Romeo Must Die with different memories of seeing it years ago. Paige places her last viewing around high school; Todd remembers sneaking into a theater.
Paige and Todd's first watch of *Love Jones* makes room for scene talk and a few jokes.
Paige and Todd come to Love Jones after repeatedly seeing it on lists of Black romance movies. It is their first watch, part of a run of older films they have been catching up on.
Tupac surprises Paige and Todd, and Justice's poetry sends their movie talk on a funny detour.
Tupac catches Paige and Todd by surprise in Poetic Justice. Paige has never seen him act before, and Todd admits he was unprepared for how good he is. Their reaction leads into a conversation about Justice's poetry and the encouragement she gets from her boss and Regina.
Paige and Todd weigh Nessa's coercive law and the film's change to her enchanted shoes.
Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser linger on Nessa's treatment of the man she wants to keep beside her in Wicked for Good. She has a law that prevents him from leaving, and they are clear about the cruelty of forcing someone to stay in a relationship.
Movie news with live-wire fan analysis.
Nostalgia gets a cross-examination.
Gen X pop culture, argued with receipts.
Three friends recap Daredevil, Fallout, and new releases scene by scene, in Spanish.
Paige and Todd discuss the 1975 film 'Mahogany' with guest Eli Bosnick, focusing on themes of monogamy and the film's relevance to recent wildfires.
Paige and Todd react in real-time to Tyler Perry's 'Why Did I Get Married Too?', expressing shock and confusion over its abrupt ending and Janet Jackson's character killing her husband.
Paige and Todd discuss the unpleasant experience of watching Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, for their podcast.
Paige and Todd discuss the movie The Housemaid, warning about its intense abuse themes but noting a cathartic ending.
Paige and John discuss the 1993 film Indecent Proposal, with Paige expressing strong dislike for its moral perspective.
Paige and Todd discuss the 2002 film Crossroads starring Britney Spears, focusing on its dramatic twists and memorable staircase scene.
Paige and Todd discuss the 1999 film Drive Me Crazy, comparing it to the Britney Spears song and critiquing its plot.
Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser dissect the 1998 erotic thriller Wild Things on Romancing the Pod, spending most of the episode untangling its layered double-crosses among Neve Campbell, Matt Dillon, Denise Richards, and Kevin Bacon's characters.
On Romancing the Pod, hosts Paige Wesley and Todd rewatch and dissect Romeo Must Die, a Romeo and Juliet-inspired martial arts crime film starring Jet Li, agreeing the plot is simultaneously overexplained in irrelevant details and underexplained where it matters most, such as the mechanics of the property deeds central to the villains' NFL stadium scheme.
Romancing the Pod's Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser review Love Jones, the 1997 Chicago romance starring Nia Long and Lorenz Tate.
Romancing the Pod hosts Paige Wesley and Todd Schlosser review Poetic Justice, focusing on Tupac's unexpectedly strong acting alongside Janet Jackson.
Paige and Todd discuss the movie 'Wicked: For Good' and Paige's experience with bad pizza.
Paige and Todd discuss the 2006 movie Penelope, its themes of self-esteem and societal pressure, and whether it holds up after 20 years.
Paige and Todd discuss the 1991 film My Own Private Idaho, covering its themes of sex work and familial trauma.