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Emma Thompson on her new film — and the idea the female orgasm has to be performative

Mary Louise Kelly

Jonaki Mehta

Courtney Dorning

Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson star in the film, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. Nick Wall/Searchlight Pictures hide caption

Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson star in the film, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.

In Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Emma Thompson plays a woman who decides to embark on a journey of sexual self-discovery and acceptance.

This period of introspection unfolds almost entirely inside one room with two people: Nancy Stokes (Thompson), a recently widowed woman who is reckoning with her marriage that lasted three decades without her experiencing a single orgasm, and Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack), the young sex worker who she has hired to teach her what she's been missing.

The Academy Award and BAFTA-winning actor spoke with All Things Considered and described the joy of portraying a woman on screen who is focused mostly on one thing: her own pleasure.

This interview with Mary Louise Kelly has been lightly edited for length and clarity. It contains some adult content.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande film trailer.

Interview highlights

On why she wanted to play this character

She's bliss, she was bliss from beginning to end. She's a decent, ordinary, responsible woman. She represents an awful lot of women in my country. She's unintentionally, mostly funny. But the situation that she's in was irresistible to me. It was so unusual, I've never seen these two people in this situation, ever. It's sort of irresistibly delicious. It's delightful. It gives so much pleasure. And yet, there's so many conversations that can come out of it, that go very deep into the female experience, and the male experience of sex.

On what resonates for women who have watched the film

What resonates is the idea that the female orgasm somehow has to be performative. Because the female orgasm is there to convince the man that he's managed it, he's achieved it, he's done the thing he's supposed to do for the woman.

To be honest, brutally honest, an awful lot of men don't concern themselves with female orgasms, they don't care. It's remarkably kind of un-emotionally developed. And yet a sort of shared experience that leads to that kind of intense and releasing pleasure is actually available to us all.

And it would be nice if we could find a way towards it that was a little bit more skillful. And Leo is very, very skillful. What's so wonderful about the story is that Leo is not there to give Nancy her orgasm, that's not his purpose.

McCormack, Thompson, and film director Sophie Hyde attend the Good Luck To You, Leo Grande premiere in New York City. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Tribeca Festiva hide caption

McCormack, Thompson, and film director Sophie Hyde attend the Good Luck To You, Leo Grande premiere in New York City.

Another thing that's so irresistible about the film is that Leo's interested in pleasure for its own sake, and a feeling that it's something that everyone can have, but that a lot of people find difficult to access, which we know to be the case.

So therefore, for Leo, the examination of pleasure, particularly of female pleasure, is intimately connected with the fact that it would make the world a better place. And I feel that he's right about that. How he says, "Oh, imagine how much less BS there would be." And I also imagine how much less sexual violence there would be.

On the role of nudity and representing an older woman at peace with her own body

It is radical because normally, the bodies that we choose to put on screen have been treated in some way. They're either bodies that conform to what we've decided is the ideal, which is impossible for most people to achieve, which is why most women will look in the mirror, or not look in the mirror, because they experience a kind of loathing or hatred, or at the very least a dissatisfaction.

Thompson says she found her character to be "irresistibly delicious." Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images hide caption

Thompson says she found her character to be "irresistibly delicious."

Oddly enough, I went quite into sort of the past. I thought, "How am I going to do this?" I don't know how to do this, because I can't do it. But how does Nancy get there? What's going on inside her? And I decided that because she had experienced this joy, that suddenly she's looking at her body without any filters.

She's seeing it for the first time as her home, the place where she lives, the place where she can experience joy on her own or with someone else should she choose. And when I was trying to work out how I wanted her to stand, I went and looked at all the old medieval pictures of Eve in the Garden of Eden because I thought, "Well, she wasn't self conscious." It was all male artists, but at the same time, all those medieval Eves and Adams, they just stand with one leg slightly bent, very relaxed. And that's what I took for my inspiration for her stance.

On how the role changed or liberated her in her own life

I think what it did for me, certainly, was it made me re-recognize the waste of time that non-acceptance of one's body is. It's a waste of our time. And God knows I've wasted a lot of time. And of course, that's not my fault, actually. Because the iconography that surrounds us is absolutely inescapable. They gave me the opportunity to put my body where my mouth is, and to allow a film to be made that I hope will be of some assistance, indeed, to young women, and indeed to young mothers whose 8-year-olds are saying, "I don't like my thighs." So everything about it, I hope, will give people a release and a kind of desire to appreciate themselves, to appreciate their bodies, and what their bodies can do for them and not to continually want them to be something else.

This interview was adapted for the web by Manuela Lopez Restrepo

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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

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Watch Good Luck to You, Leo Grande with a subscription on Hulu.

What to Know

Sexual awakening stories aren't in short supply, but Good Luck to You, Leo Grande proves you can still tell one with a refreshing -- and very funny -- spin.

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Sophie Hyde

Emma Thompson

Nancy Stokes

Daryl McCormack

Isabella Laughland

Charlotte Ware

Carina Lopes

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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande review: Emma Thompson hires a gigolo in this sweet, nuanced comedy

Screenwriter katy brand doesn’t settle for easy sentiment in this refreshing two-hander, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Sophie Hyde. Starring: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack, Isabella Laughland, Charlotte Ware, Carina Lopes. 15, 97 minutes.

“I want to do a blow job,” Emma Thompson ’s Nancy announces in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande . “Get that sorted.” She throws those words out as if she were reminding herself to get the oil changed in her car – mechanically, even a little irritably. Nancy’s husband died two years ago. He was the only man she’d ever had sex with, and none of it was particularly good. All of it missionary. She’s never had an orgasm, and doesn’t expect to anytime soon. But there’s a laundry list of sexual activities that she feels compelled to work through, as if they were obligatory steps to earning her womanhood badge. So she hires a sex worker, who calls himself Leo Grande.

When Leo ( Peaky Blinders ’s Daryl McCormack) describes Nigella Lawson as “sexy” without any deflating qualifiers (“…for her age”), Nancy’s taken aback. Who the hell is this guy? Which Jackie Collins novel did he and his perfect set of abs just step out of? Good Luck to You, Leo Grande could easily have been packaged up as the kind of feel-good feminist power anthem that privileges personal liberation above all. But screenwriter Katy Brand, a regular on the British comedy circuit, hasn’t settled for easy sentiment. Empowerment is only one piece of the puzzle, which together forms a refreshingly nuanced portrait of sex work, desire and self-perception.

Nancy, a retired religious education teacher, describes how she used to assign her pupils the essay question, “should sex work be made legal?” They’d always reply with the same thing: “Although the moral issues remain up for debate, the legalisation of sex work would ultimately provide protection for sex workers and help eradicate trafficking and abuse.” We’re led to believe Nancy shares that view.

But, though morally sound, there’s a certain emotional detachment to that answer. Sex work, even among the progressively minded, is still treated as something to be kept out of sight and out of mind. There’s crushingly little agency given to those who pursue it. And so Nancy, when faced with Leo’s easy confidence, immediately launches into a full-blown interrogation: is he an orphan? Has he been trafficked? When was the last time he saw his mother? Is she exploiting him? She demands Leo give up the veil of anonymity so essential to his work – both are using fake names, of course – purely to satisfy her own conscience.

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Sophie Hyde, whose 2019 directorial effort Animals tackled toxic friendships with equal savvy, makes the most of the film’s fixed location. We’re confined entirely to Nancy’s hotel room, minus a brief sojourn to a cafe and the hotel’s bar. The place is sterile but elegant, as mid-priced hotels tend to be. There’s nowhere, really, for these characters to run. Nothing, either, to distract them from the bare-faced truth of what’s brought them here.

Thompson has always done flummoxed like no other, and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande isn’t any different. But less expected from the actor is the harshness that creeps into her voice at certain moments. Who exactly is this woman outside this room? Beyond this conversation? We’re left to wonder. McCormack, meanwhile, does a sublime job of essentially playing two characters: the self-assured and chivalrous Leo Grande, and the man who lives behind him. We’re offered only the smallest of glimpses. “I made him and I’m proud of him,” he says of Leo. Hyde’s film is generous in that way – it understands that he deserves to feel good about himself just as much as Nancy does.

‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ is in cinemas from Friday 17 June

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<i>Good Luck To You, Leo Grande</i> Is the Perfect Movie For Anyone Who Feels Invisible

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande Is the Perfect Movie For Anyone Who Feels Invisible

O lder women’s bodies, not to mention their sexuality, are something no one wants to think or talk about, least of all older women themselves. What everyone tells you when you’re young eventually becomes true: at a certain age—maybe 50, maybe 60—you become invisible to most other people on the street, especially men. But at that point, you may find, it’s other women your age and older who look at you more. We look to see what others are doing with their hair, how they’re dealing with the post-middle-age tummy situation, what colors they choose now that some of the old favorites no longer suit. In my experience, it’s less like competition and more like camaraderie. We’re all being not looked at, together.

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande —from Australian director Sophie Hyde, with a script by Katy Brand—is the first great movie, in a long time, for the invisibles. Emma Thompson plays Nancy Stokes, a 55-year-old widow whose sex life did the trick for her in the conceiving-children department—she has two, now grown—but which has otherwise been distinctly routine and unsatisfactory. And so she has hired a sex worker, a handsome charmer named Leo (Daryl McCormack, from Peaky Blinders ), to see if he might help her find whatever has been missing, if it’s findable at all.

When Leo comes to the hotel room she’s rented, they spend a great deal of time talking—or, rather, Leo, one of those people who has a gift for putting others at ease, tries to tease her out of her fluttery nervousness, which carries more than a whiff of judgment about Leo himself. She asks him if his mother knows what he does for a living, a subject he clearly doesn’t want to talk about. She wants to know if he’s a damaged runaway with a hard-luck story. In this misguided way, she seems to be assuaging her own guilt and shame. It takes nearly forever, but Leo finally makes her see that social-working her way toward an orgasm is not going to work.

The first visit, or at least as much as we see of it, ends with a kiss. But there are second and third visits, during which Nancy slowly lets down her guard while Leo does all the work of loosening her grip on her own self-degrading ideas about her looks, her aging body, her life. They spend time in bed—there’s sex in Leo Grande, I think, or maybe it’s really just more the suggestion of sex. In any event, the movie is sexy, not least because it revels in the idea that great sex comes from a connection that goes beyond what’s merely physical—and this can be true, of course, even when the sex is paid for. Leo loves what he does, and he’s good at it, because he likes talking to women and finding out what they want and need. Nancy is the one who tries to hang onto her shame and projects it onto him, almost to the point where he gives up on her. His patience in bed is infinite, but when Nancy crosses a line into his private life, we too suddenly see him as a human being with certain fragilities, in addition to being a gorgeous companion for hire, a person adept at playing different roles to please different people.

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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande review: Emma Thompson finds more than sex in tender, taboo-breaking dramedy

Thompson's retired widow hires a male escort, then gets more than she bargained for in the charming Sundance breakout Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.

Insisting that a film about hiring a male escort is actually about intimacy sounds like some kind of reverse Pretty Woman fantasy. And Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (on Hulu June 17) seems at first like it might be another, more familiar kind of movie: How Emma Got Her Groove Back . But Sophie Hyde's two-handed chamber piece turns out to be bolder and sweeter and less predictable than that: a tender coming-of-late-middle-age drama with a quietly radical idea of self-acceptance at its center.

Emma Thompson stars as Nancy Stokes, a sensible-looking widow who decides, after a passionless 31-year marriage, to finally find out what all the fuss is about by hiring a young Irishman who calls himself Leo Grande ( The Wheel of Time 's Daryl McCormack) to do the job professionally. When he shows up to her tastefully generic hotel room, Leo seems like the full package: a golden-skinned Adonis who gently deflects her steady stream of neuroses and breezily uses words like "empirically." (That last bit especially is catnip to Nancy, a retired teacher).

He may be an expert, but she makes it clear he shouldn't get his hopes up; she's gone a whole lifetime without an orgasm, and two hours with a handsome stranger won't change that. But she would like before she dies to feel the touch of a man who does things differently, which doesn't sound hard: For three decades, her late husband's lovemaking had all the intensity and eroticism of an oil change. To attempt to fix that, though, Leo will first have to break down an emotional wall so well constructed that even as he's trying to kiss her neck, Nancy can't seem to stop piling on the bricks.

If she didn't, there wouldn't be much of a movie. And the consummations that follow in several separate sessions happen tastefully off-screen, at least initially — secondary to the long, looping conversations that become their foreplay. She admits that she might not crazy about her grown son ("boring") and daughter (flighty, bohemian, always in a crisis); he allows her to grill him on his education and upbringing (his mother believes he works on an oil rig). But Hyde (who made 2020's great, underseen Animals ) and writer Katy Brand have a longer game in mind beyond Nancy's big O.

McCormack's Leo may be entirely too dreamy to believably be bookable by the hour (if a show like Bridgerton doesn't immediately pick him up, they're crazy), but he's remarkably winning in the role, bringing layers that belie his character's early, easy charm: when Nancy, drunk on her new empowerment, crosses a line, he reclaims his time with a hurt and fury that shocks her. And Thompson is, unsurprisingly, a force: alternately brittle and vulnerable and mordantly witty, her whole body vibrating with a lifetime's worth of sublimated desire. When she stands exposed and alone in front of a mirror in the movie's already-much-discussed final shot , it feels less like a prurient shock than it should, maybe, to see the two-time Oscar winner this way: Imagine the small miracle of allowing a 62-year-old woman to gaze at her full, unadulterated self on screen, and like what she sees. Grade: B+

Follow EW's ongoing coverage out of Sundance here.

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande review: Emma Thompson takes this post-menopausal tale in hand

Emma Thompson and rising star Daryl McCormack are sublime in this graphic, bound-to-be-controversial British dramedy about a middle-aged, English widow whose life is transformed by a twentysomething Irish prostitute. The film may be as dodgy as it is ground-breaking, but the chemistry between the two actors is undeniably grand.

Mother-of-two, Nancy (Thompson), is a privileged and often patronising pedagogue. She’s spent most of her adult life teaching RE to recalcitrant teens. Now she wants to educate herself, re lust. In an anonymous hotel room, she hands gigolo Leo (McCormack), a list of “goals”, that include giving him a blow job and doing it doggy style.

Having an orgasm is not on the list. Nancy, you see, is a pessimist/realist. She says that she faked orgasms with her husband and performs her phoney moan, to hilarious effect (it’s a time-saving variation on the one in When Harry Met Sally). The charming Leo, who at first seems unflappable, thinks he can satisfy Nancy. Is he right?

Nancy feels like a spiritual cousin to Olivia Colman’s character in The Lost Daughter. Both Nancy and Leda are intellectuals, flummoxed by the demands of motherhood, whose caustic wit can give way on a dime to spite and snobbery. If you like flawed and funny heroines, you’re in luck. That said, Leda and Nancy take a very different approach to sexual healing. Where Leda only flirts with the idea of flirting with a man half her age, Nancy goes the whole way.

In the second half of the movie, Thompson’s body is very much in our face. Like Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown, the 62 year old actress has firmly refused to deny the ageing process, and gives us her all. And of course, Thompson is actually super-sexy, not because she’s been lit to look younger than she is (the lighting is sometimes soft, sometimes harsh). She’s a sight for sore eyes because, when she throws back her head and laughs, she makes you believe that everyone and anyone who likes themselves is hot.

In separate scenes, Nancy and Leo survey themselves in the hotel mirror. No words are spoken but, on both occasions, the effect is deeply moving.

The script, written by comedian Katy Brand, isn’t always so deft. After several twists (some intriguing, some histrionic), Nancy gets a speech in which she suggests all post-menopausal women, in order to avoid “crinkling up” with frustration, should have a few sessions with someone like Leo. She’s essentially saying, ‘You’re as young as (the young sex worker) you feel.” That’s not feminism, that’s ageist piffle designed to reel in audiences who think Magic Mike shows are cutting edge.

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande was filmed in Norfolk last March, while England was still in lockdown, which partially explains why almost everything happens in just two settings (the aforementioned hotel and a restaurant with all the buzz of a particularly dismal graveyard).

The movie only works when the camera is honed on Thompson and McCormack. Leo looks at Nancy and says, “Thank you for coming.” The big question: will women come in their droves, when this film finally hits the UK?

97mins, cert tbc

In cinemas June 17

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Emma Thompson and the Challenge of Baring All Onscreen at 63

The actress made the choice to disrobe. Still, she says, it was the most difficult thing she’s ever done in her four-decade career.

If “you want the iconography of the female body to change,” Emma Thompson said, “then you better be part of the change.” Credit... Charlotte Hadden for The New York Times

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By Nicole Sperling

Published June 15, 2022 Updated June 18, 2022

It’s the shock of white hair you notice first on Emma Thompson, a hue far more chic than anything your average 63-year-old would dare choose but one that doesn’t ignore her age either. It’s accompanied by that big, wide smile and that knowing look, suggesting both a wry wit and a willingness to banter.

And yet, Thompson begins our video call by MacGyvering her computer monitor with a piece of paper and some tape so she can’t see herself. “The one thing I can’t bear about Zoom is having to look at my face,” she said. “I’m just going to cover myself up.”

We are here across two computer screens to discuss what is arguably her most revealing role yet. In the new movie “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” directed by Sophie Hyde, Thompson is emotionally wrought and physically naked, and not in a lowlight, sexy kind of way.

Thompson plays Nancy, a recently widowed, former religious schoolteacher who has never had an orgasm. At once a devoted wife and a dutiful mother harboring volumes of regret for the life she didn’t live and the dull, needy children she raised, Nancy hires a sex worker — a much younger man played by relative newcomer Daryl McCormack (“Peaky Blinders”) — to bring her the pleasure she’s long craved. The audience gets to follow along as this very relatable woman — she could have been your teacher, your mother, you — who in Thompson’s words “has crossed every boundary she’s ever recognized in her life,” grapples with this monumental act of rebellion.

“Yes, she’s made the most extraordinary decision to do something very unusual, brave and revolutionary,” Thompson said from her office in North London. “Then she makes at least two or three decisions not to do it. But she’s lucky because she has chosen someone who happens to be rather wise and instinctive, with an unusual level of insight into the human condition, and he understands her, what she’s going through, and is able gently to suggest that there might be a reason behind this.”

Thompson met the challenge with what she calls “a healthy terror.” She knew this character at a cellular level — same age, same background, same drive to do the right thing. “Just a little sliver of paper and chance separates me from her,” she quipped.

Yet the role required her to reveal an emotional and physical level of vulnerability she wasn’t accustomed to. (To ready themselves for this intimate, sex-positive two-hander that primarily takes place in a hotel room, Thompson, McCormack and Hyde have said they spent one of their rehearsal days working in the nude.) Despite a four-decade career that has been lauded for both its quality and its irreverence and has earned her two Academy Awards, one for acting (“Howards End”) and one for writing ( “Sense and Sensibility” ), Thompson has appeared naked on camera only a few times.

She said she wasn’t thin enough to command those types of skin-baring roles, and though for a while she tried conquering the dieting industrial complex, starving herself like all the other young women clamoring for parts on the big screen, soon enough she realized it was “absurd.”

“It’s not fair to say, ‘No, I’m just this shape naturally.’ It’s dishonest and it makes other women feel like [expletive],” she said. “So if you want the world to change, and you want the iconography of the female body to change, then you better be part of the change. You better be different.”

For “Leo Grande,” the choice to disrobe was hers, and though she made it with trepidation, Thompson said she believes “the film would not be the same without it.” Still, the moment she had to stand stark naked in front of a mirror with a serene, accepting look on her face, as the scene called for, was the most difficult thing she’s ever done.

“To be truly honest, I will never ever be happy with my body. It will never happen,” she said. “I was brainwashed too early on. I cannot undo those neural pathways.”

She can, however, talk about sex. Both the absurdities of it and the intricacies of female pleasure. “I can’t just have an orgasm. I need time. I need affection. You can’t just rush to the clitoris and flap at it and hope for the best. That’s not going to work, guys. They think if I touch this little button, she’s going to go off like a Catherine wheel, and it will be marvelous.”

There is a moment in the movie when Nancy and Leo start dancing in the hotel room to “Always Alright” by Alabama Shakes . The two are meeting for a second time — an encounter that comes with a checklist of sexual acts Nancy is determined to plow through (pun intended). The dance is supposed to relieve all her type-A, organized-teacher stress that’s threatening to derail the session. Leo has his arms around her neck, and he’s swaying with his eyes closed when a look crosses Nancy’s face, one of gratitude and wistfulness coupled with a dash of concern.

To the screenwriter, Katy Brand, who acted opposite Thompson in the second “Nanny McPhee” movie and who imagined Thompson as Nancy while writing the first draft, that look is the point of the whole movie.

“It’s just everything,” Brand said. “She feels her lost youth and the sort of organic, natural sexual development she might have had, if she hadn’t met her husband. There is a tingling sense, too, not only of what might have been but what could be from now on.”

Brand is not the first young woman to pen a script specifically for Thompson. Mindy Kaling did it for her on “Late Night,” attesting that she had loved Thompson since she was 11. The writer Jemima Khan told Thompson that she had always wanted the actress to be her mother, so she wrote her a role in the upcoming film “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”

“I think the thing that Emma gives everybody and what she does in person to people, and also via the screen, is that she always somehow feels like she’s on your side,” Brand said. “And I think people really respond to that. She will meet you at a very human level.”

The producer Lindsay Doran has known Thompson for decades. Doran hired her to write “Sense and Sensibility” after watching her short-lived BBC television show “Thompson” that she wrote and starred in. The two collaborated on the “Nanny McPhee” movies, and are working on the musical version, with Thompson handling the book and co-writing the songs with Gary Clark (“Sing Street”).

To the producer, the film is the encapsulation of a writer really understanding her actress.

“It felt to me like Katy knew the instrument, and she knew what the instrument was capable of within a few seconds,” Doran said. “It isn’t just, over here I’m going to be dramatic. And over here, I’m going to be funny, and over here I’m going to be emotional. It can all go over her face so quickly, and you can literally say there’s this feeling, there’s this emotion.”

Reviewing “Leo Grande,” for The New York Times, Lisa Kennedy called Thompson “terrifically agile with the script’s zingers and revelations,” while Harper’s Bazaar said Thompson was “an ageless treasure urgently overdue for her next Oscar nomination.”

The obvious trajectory for a film like this should be an awards circuit jaunt that would probably result in Thompson nabbing her fifth Oscar nomination. But the film, set to debut on Hulu on Friday, will not have a theatrical release in the United States.

Thompson doesn’t mind. “It is a small film with no guns in it, so I don’t know how many people in America would actually want to come see it,” she said with a wink.

That may be true. But more consequently, because of a rule change by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that reverts to prepandemic requirement of a seven-day theatrical release, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” is not eligible for Oscar consideration, a reality that the director Sophie Hyde is not pleased with.

“It’s really disappointing,” Hyde said. “I understand the desire to sort of protect cinema, but I also think the world has changed so much. Last year, a streaming film won best picture.” She argued that her film and others on streaming services aren’t made for TV. They are cinematic, she said, adding, “That’s what the academy should be protecting, not what screen it’s on.”

Thompson, for one, seems rather sanguine about the whole matter. “I think that, given the fact that you might have a slightly more puritanical undercurrent to life where you are, that it might be easier for people to share something as intimate as this at home and then be able to turn it off and make themselves a nice cup of really bad tea,” said Thompson, laughing. “None of you Americans can make good tea.”

In an earlier version of this article, Emma Thompson misstated how often she had appeared naked on camera. It was a few times, not just once. When asked to clarify, she said: “One forgets,” before adding, “No body doubles here.”

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Nicole Sperling is a media and entertainment reporter, covering Hollywood and the burgeoning streaming business. She joined The New York Times in 2019. She previously worked for Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and The Los Angeles Times. More about Nicole Sperling

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‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ Review: Emma Thompson Hires a Male Escort in Touching, Sex-Positive Two-Hander

David ehrlich.

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Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures releases the film on Hulu on Friday, June 17.

Former schoolteacher Nancy Stokes ( Emma Thompson ) is about as comfortable with her sexuality as she is with the aging body that has been forced to suppress it her entire life. So when this recent widow splurges a chunk of her savings on a night in a hotel with London’s finest male escort — hoping that he might introduce her to the elusive orgasm that her late husband never bothered to look for, and that she’s always been too ashamed to find on her own — a part of her is naturally repulsed by how well things turn out.

Not only is the young man who comes to her room “aesthetically perfect,” Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) is also clever, charming, and convincingly attracted to the post-menopausal prude who’s hired him for the evening. But what really gets under Nancy’s skin is that Leo seems to love his job. He isn’t dirty or desperate, nor is he doing sex work to put himself through school; on the contrary, he’s one of the most beautiful people who Nancy has ever seen in the flesh, he embraces his profession with the same ardor that he does his clients, and he articulates the virtues of giving pleasure with all the self-actualized calm of a wellness podcast.

Nancy expected a human dildo who could give her an orgasm off the assembly line in exchange for her pity — someone repugnant enough to justify a lifetime of bad sex (with the same man) and a career spent chiding her students about the length of their skirts. What she gets is a warm and well-adjusted stranger who is more responsive to her needs than even she has ever allowed herself to be. And Nancy can’t help but resent Leo for that. While his flawless skin and Abercrombie model physique are agonizing enough on their own, it’s his confidence and compassion that send her over the edge; every flicker of pleasure that Leo gives her leaves Nancy more upset that so much of her life has been surrendered to shame.

Possibly the sweetest fairy tale about a sex worker this side of “Pretty Woman” — if much less retrograde, never quite as broad, and ultimately far more interested in interrogating the strictures of its fantasy — “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” is a touching little two-hander that does right by its title character even if the lion’s share of the conflict in this audience-friendly charmer hinges on Nancy’s seesawing relationship with herself. Closed off one minute and yearning to be held the next, the film likewise teeters between the staccato iciness of Harold Pinter and the momcore joy of Nancy Meyers without fully surrendering to either one of them, a back-and-forth which produces its own kind of uneasy fun.

Of course, it’s all a bit hard to swallow at first. Not only is Leo enough of a people-pleasing dreamboat to make Jude Law’s Gigolo Joe seem like some Windows 95-era vaporware by comparison, but even Nancy is a shade too perfect in her self-deprecating nervousness. Unobtrusively directed by Sophie Hyde from a slim yet peppery script by Katy Brand (whose single-location piece was neither adapted from a play nor written with COVID restrictions in mind), “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” never feigns neo-realism, but its banter tiptoes along the fine line between breaking the ice and breaking the spell. “A very fine vintage,” Leo smirks after watching Nancy pour a glass of wine. “It’s just from the minibar,” she responds, before realizing that her new friend isn’t talking about the drink.

Leo is pure fantasy, Nancy is a splash of cold water to the face, and they balance each other out so well that even the most natural moments between them can’t help but feel schematic. As they get to know each other across four rendezvous in the same hotel room, their respective masks will slip off, their roles will start to blur, and the film around them will become more affecting as a result.

If the getting-to-know-you phase is less nuanced than the later parts when Nancy and Leo effectively start cosplaying a gender-reversed “Closer,” the film’s two lead actors (in a cast of four) game out a lifetime of mystery in every shot. Thompson is unsurprisingly excellent as a woman whose sexual disappointments betray a deeper self-denial. Her Nancy is funny even when she has one foot halfway out the door, and as compelled by Leo’s body as she is confused by the wisdom he brings to it; both the film and Thompson’s performance are at their best whenever Nancy, a retired educator who’s awed by all that this young man is able to teach her, still insists that she knows better than him (“Sometimes I wonder if what you young men need is a war,” she offers in response to Leo’s overdeveloped self-understanding).

For his part, Leo turns out to be more than just the mellow pectoral dream guy he plays on the job, but the loveliness of McCormack’s potentially star-making performance is that he never lets his character feel like he’s lying, even when he’s eliding the truth. Leo isn’t shy about indulging his client’s dreams, but that doesn’t mean their time together is somehow illegitimate. While his name might be fake (and the backstory it covers up a bit threadbare), the intimacy he’s there to provide is real as can be, and the movie around him is able to withstand its more fantastical impulses because it strives to make those fantasies real as well.

The average sex worker may never be as beautiful as McCormack — the average movie star may never be as beautiful as McCormack — but a world that allows for pleasure and encourages people to share it with each other doesn’t feel so far out of reach. The only thing standing in the way is our shame, and while that isn’t as neatly conquerable in real life as it is on screen, it’s still encouraging when a nice morsel of a movie like “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” proves totally unafraid of looking at itself in the mirror.

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

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Good Luck To You, Leo Grande Review: Emma Thompson’s Sexual Awakening Comedy Is As Seductive As It Is Heartfelt

It's pretty woman with a smart twist..

Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande

When it comes to the depiction of life over 50, Hollywood has provided the message again and again that men can hold exciting lives and still even be action stars, from James Bond to John Wick to Arnold Schwarzenegger , often alongside heroines decades younger than them. Yet for women, it’s been deemed profusely boring to be in one’s skin once you reach the middle ages. Now mind you, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is nothing like the aforementioned movies, but it is a rare (and grounded) approach to a woman in her second act of life, taking the lead and finally getting some action with a much younger gent opposite her.

In a somewhat of a Pretty Woman role-reversal, a widowed Nancy ( Emma Thompson ) hires an upscale, and strikingly handsome sex worker who goes by Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) for a couple hours, but she suddenly doesn’t know how to go through with it. Her nerves take over and she tells him the whole thing “feels controversial all of a sudden.” Charming immediately with Thompson’s usual razor-sharp comedic timing and the soft and calming presence of McCormack by her side, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande gets realistic about how difficult it can be for a generation of women to become empowered in sex when its often been a subject of so much shame and restraint to own one’s power over finding pleasure in it.

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande has a small, intimate feel to it that compliments its story.

The British comedy, which premiered at Sundance and will become available exclusively on Hulu, takes place entirely in the nondescript hotel room where Nancy meets Leo Grande after a life of routine and unsatisfying sex with one man throughout her life, her late husband, who died two years prior. Nancy is a school teacher who nervously scoffs at Leo’s question of “what her fantasy is” upon entering, responding anxiously that her expectation was simply the bare minimum of getting some. Yes, the comedy starts off incredibly awkward as Leo Grande attempts to set the mood and Nancy’s insecurities flood the air of the fancy hotel room. Not every single beat works, and sometimes it feels like a moment drags, but at its core, there’s a tightly focused perspective both on Nancy and Leo Grande.

And throughout the film by newcomer director Sophie Hyde, Leo Grande is an intimate and focused concept. In its simplicity, it feels like a two-hander play at times that, with its players rising to the weight in the film they must hold, and aside from a bit of confusing tension in the middle of the film, hold attention. The development of their characters and their growing dynamic keeps one on their toes, and its pacing remains thoughtful throughout.

Emma Thompson gives an especially great and vulnerable performance that is perfect for her usual charms.

Emma Thompson is often the best part of any movie she’s in, though often as the supporting role or right alongside another leading role. In 2021's Cruella , she was the villain to Emma Stone ’s wild turn to evil Disney royalty. Then there’s the classic example of Love, Actually , where she broke all our hearts during the massive ensemble holiday classic. In Leo Grande , it feels like a rare occasion for Thompson to fully take the stage and help say something meaningful and special, and in the comedy, she does just that. Aside from the actress literally baring it all physically, her performance itself matches this in vulnerability, and even bravery. If there’s one thing you take away from Leo Grande , it’s how on top of her game Thompson continues to be, and perhaps you'll wonder how underutilized she’s also been in the past. But that’s certainly not all there is to take away from it.

With Nancy, Emma Thompson is able to dive into a storyline women of her caliber, age or really any for that matter have had the opportunity to express. What Leo Grande illustrates is unique because it’s just not a topic we’ve seen pulled apart the way this movie, and Katy Brand’s script, does that with a grounded and realness that feels rebellious to the typical Hollywood ideal.

Leo Grande is surprisingly sexy, and distinctively forwards the conversation around sex and body positivity.

Through Nancy’s character, there’s an expression of stigma that comes with asking for what one wants in sex, especially through the eyes of a middle-aged woman who came from a religious and slut-shaming background. But through her eyes comes the topic that not only speaks to her age or situation particularly, but one of women being taught to be ashamed of their bodies, their sex appeal and ability to ask for more, both in the bedroom and their larger visions in life.

The movie is not only about empowerment of Nancy either; it also has a sharp perspective for its sex worker, Leo Grande. Between Nancy attempting to get all fixed up and ready in the bathroom before things get hot and heavy, there’s also little moments focused on Leo as he fixes his shirt and position in bed. As the movie progresses, Leo is also given a full scale arc that shows attention to the complexities of sex workers and more realistic depictions of these people that also defies stereotypes. Leo Grande empowers its sex worker character just as much as his customer throughout its delicately handled story. With that, the way the unique dynamic of Nancy and Leo is approached is with authenticity rather than fantasy.

When it comes to the sex scenes and nudity in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande , there’s a natural tension the movie builds that feels natural to the story and in complete service of it. And when Leo Grande gets sexual, it's sensual and naturally seductive thanks to incredible chemistry, build up (foreplay if you will) and payoff. In other words, Leo Grande knows what it's doing.

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.

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Review: ‘Cruella’ is dazzling fun but shows too much sympathy for the de Vil

Emma Stone vamps in shiny black couture in "Cruella"

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It may seem counterintuitive, but the easiest way to enjoy “Cruella” — and it’s plenty enjoyable, even when it overstays its welcome — is to try and forget that it has much of anything to do with “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.” The filmmakers, of course, do not always make this easy. In line with the Walt Disney Company’s nostalgia-tickling, franchise-building corporate imperatives, they have been tasked with revisiting that 1961 animated chestnut and spinning off a live-action origin story for its memorable fascist-fashionista villain, Cruella de Vil. And so they pile on the tie-in references galore. Those famous spotted dogs make an appearance. You’ll recognize key supporting characters from their names, like Roger and Anita, Horace and Jasper, and you’ll likely also pick up on a snippet of the original film’s signature tune: “Cruella de Vil / Cruella de Vil / If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will … ”

The muddled but intriguing revelation of “Cruella” is that the thing in question isn’t really all that evil. Like so many other storybook villains subjected to elaborate image makeovers, from “Wicked” to “Maleficent,” Cruella — played here by a wholly committed, glammed-to-the-nines Emma Stone — isn’t much of a monster. Certainly she’s a far cry from the shrieking fur-clad demon played by Glenn Close in 1996’s live-action “101 Dalmatians” (and its best-unmentioned sequel). She’s just impatient, perpetually misunderstood and unwilling to play by the rules of a world that fails to recognize her brilliance.

Emma Stone, in red hair and beret, in "Cruella."

What this leaves us with, practically speaking, isn’t a prequel or an origin story so much as the product of an alternate timeline. By movie’s end, this Cruella seems as likely to skin a dog as she is to wear a T-shirt to the Met Gala. Puppycidal maniacs don’t make sympathetic protagonists — and “Cruella,” above all, wants you to sympathize.

To that end, our protagonist is introduced as a likably mischievous English tot named Estella (played by Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) who has keen fashion sense, a telltale black-and-white bob of hair and a loving mother (Emily Beecham) who tries to suppress her naturally rebellious streak. But then, before you can say “Lemony Snicket,” a series of ghastly incidents leave Estella tragically orphaned and running for her life on the streets of London. When we catch up with her several years later, she’s a seasoned grifter (now played by Stone), her hair dyed a less obtrusive crimson and her table piled high with magnificent sartorial creations. A master of DIY couture, she sews brilliant disguises for herself and her partners in crime, the bumbling Horace (Paul Walter Hauser, very good) and the sensitive Jasper (Joel Fry, ditto).

These scenes set us adrift in a 1970s London that, like the actual 1970s London, is considerably more racially diverse than earlier Disney entertainments might have bothered to register. The director, Craig Gillespie, and his cinematographer, Nicolas Karakatsanis, send their camera soaring and whooshing through the streets in a movie that surges with infectious punk energy. If the two-guys-and-a-girl antics pack some of the New Wave vitality of “Band of Outsiders,” the serpentine tracking shots and nonstop needle drops often seem to be channeling “Goodfellas.” (The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” is merely the most on-the-nose choice on a rebellion-themed soundtrack crammed with ’60s and ’70s hits like “Feeling Good,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and, fittingly for this leading lady, “Stone Cold Crazy.”)

Emma Thompson glares through chic sunglasses in "Cruella."

Gillespie makes a pretty snug fit for this material after his darkly comic Tonya Harding biopic, “I, Tonya” ; you could think of this superior follow-up as “I, Cruella,” another cracked portrait of a downtrodden but determined young woman none-too-reliably narrating the story of her many rises and falls. But then, you could also see it as the latest variation on a classic fairy-tale template: The screenwriters, Dana Fox and Tony McNamara (a writer on Stone’s 2018 film, “The Favourite”), shrewdly position Estella as a kind of shabby-chic Cinderella, albeit one who dresses up for a different ball every night and dreams of revenge rather than Prince Charming.

Every Cinderella needs a wicked stepmother, and here that role falls to the imperious Baroness von Hellman, played by an impossibly elegant and diabolical Emma Thompson. (The Miranda Priestly vibes are far from coincidental; Aline Brosh McKenna, who receives a story credit here, also wrote “The Devil Wears Prada.” ) When Estella lucks her way into a job as a designer at the Baroness’ ultra-prestigious label, she initially can’t believe her good fortune — but then, through a series of cleverly interlocking revelations, she comes to learn that the Baroness is more than just an unusually demanding boss. She’s a dangerous narcissist and an unambiguous monster, someone who deserves to be humiliated, disgraced and finally toppled from her throne.

And so Estella unleashes her long-dormant alter ego, Cruella, who begins crashing the Baroness’ nightly galas with a succession of stunning gowns and a natural flair for shock-the-runway theatrics. Whether she’s strutting about in shiny black leather, incorporating wearable flammables or — in a jaw-dropping visual highlight — trailing a mile-long chiffon train from the back of a garbage truck, Cruella soon establishes herself as the glam-punk performance artist of the fashion world. Besides relying on muscle from Horace and Jasper, she borrows some queer-eye inspiration from Artie, a vintage dress-shop owner played by a fine if underused John McCrea. (The genius behind Cruella’s artistry is the endlessly inventive costume designer Jenny Beavan, in her most extravagant showcase since “Mad Max: Fury Road.” )

Emma Stone with black-and-white hair in "Cruella"

The battle of the Emmas is as hard to resist on-screen as it must have been on paper, even if it’s not exactly a fair fight. In the context of the story, Cruella’s headline-grabbing stunts make her a persistent thorn in the Baroness’ side; in terms of pure on-screen magnetism, it’s a different story. Few can do withering arrogance with more offhand conviction than Thompson, the kind of actor who can raise a glass to herself (“Here’s to me ”) as if it were the most logical thing in the world. She’s a total hoot. She also winds up illuminating a deeper conceptual flaw in “Cruella” and perhaps the larger cottage industry of recasting memorable baddies as tortured antiheroes. In a movie ostensibly about the origins of a great villain, it’s Thompson’s Baroness who comes off as the actual great villain.

Stone of course has trickier, more complicated notes to play. Curiously enough, her most satisfying moments belong to Estella, quietly biding her time and plotting her next move, rather than to Cruella, an indistinct presence who often seems in danger of being upstaged — sometimes upholstered — by her own couture. But if Stone has trouble navigating her inner Jekyll-and-Hyde dynamic, that’s largely due to the herky-jerky imprecisions in the script, which seems uncertain whether to make the emergent Cruella merely misguided, borderline unhinged or genuinely unscrupulous — and finally settles on a coy, unsatisfying mix of all three.

It’s instructive that in “The Favourite,” one of a few recent films to feature as many ruffled gowns and sky-high wigs as this one, Stone nailed every nuance as another lowly young woman turned ambitious schemer. That movie reveled in its moral ambiguities; “Cruella,” trying to do something similar, is ultimately stymied by them. While its surface pleasures are dazzling — if a bit protracted, at well north of two hours — it finally suggests that memorable screen villainy and complex inner humanity may be forced into a kind of stalemate, at least when there’s a corporate-branded intellectual property involved. “Cruella” isn’t a bad movie, even if its heroine is nowhere near bad enough.

Rated: PG-13, for some violence and thematic elements Running time: 2 hours, 14 minutes Playing: Opens May 28 in theaters and streaming as PVOD on Disney+

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Justin Chang was a film critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2016 to 2024. He is the author of the book “FilmCraft: Editing” and serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.

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1. Down Cemetery Road

Thriller | Pre-production

Sarah Tucker obsessively searches for a missing neighbor girl after an explosion. Aided by PI Zoë Boehm, they uncover a conspiracy involving presumed dead still living and living dying, embroiling them in a complex web.

Stars: Emma Thompson , Ruth Wilson

2. The Fisherwoman

Action, Thriller | Pre-production

A widowed fisherwoman who is trapped in a Minnesotan blizzard, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenager, soon she realizes that she is the young victim's only hope.

Director: Brian Kirk | Stars: Emma Thompson , Judy Greer , Marc Menchaca , Gaia Wise

3. Hear Me Roar (IV)

Drama | Announced

This is the true story of how a silenced voice shouted loud enough to change the lives of every LGBTQIA+ person in Britain.

Director: Amy Coop | Stars: Emma Thompson , Rebecca Root

4. Friends Forever (II)

Comedy | Pre-production

Four best friends decide to make a movie together. Believing in themselves is all they need to make their dreams come true.

Star: Darlena Roberts

5. My Fair Lady

Drama, Musical, Romance | Announced

A poor young woman selling flowers on the street in London happens across a man that's an expert in language. The gentleman makes a bet with his colleague that he can take that young woman ... See full summary »

6. Road Narrows

Drama | Pre-production

A daughter travels to her homeland of Mani, Greece to bring her ailing mother back to Boston with her.

Director: Fay Efrosini Lellios

7. James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty

Documentary, Biography | Filming

Chronicles the life and work of Oscar® and BAFTA® award-winning director and screenwriter James Ivory, one of our beloved independent filmmaking icons, who continues to lead an active and creative life well into his 10th decade.

Director: Christopher Manning | Stars: Helena Bonham Carter , Wes Anderson , Emma Thompson , Hugh Grant

8. Arctic 30

Follows the experiences of 30 Greenpeace activists thrown into Russia's prison system after protesting against drilling in the Arctic.

9. Settle Down

10. harrow alley (tv movie).

Thriller | Announced

Two guys try to survive the black plague in the 17th century.

11. Close Up (2011– ) Episode: Emma Thompson

Documentary, Biography

Director: Martin Saint Charles | Star: Emma Thompson

12. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025)

Comedy, Drama, Romance | Pre-production

The fourth in the series of British romantic comedies.

Director: Michael Morris | Stars: Renée Zellweger , Leo Woodall , Emma Thompson , Hugh Grant

13. Comic Relief: Funny for Money (2024 TV Movie)

179 min | Comedy

Join your hosts Joel Dommett, Maya Jama, Davina McCall, Paddy McGuinness, Rosie Ramsey, Romesh Ranganathan, David Tennant and, for one last time, Sir Lenny Henry for the funniest fundraising night of the year

Stars: Lenny Henry , Davina McCall , David Tennant , Joel Dommett

14. Ukraine on Fire 2 (2022– ) Episode: Muses Not Silent 20: Celebrities Stand with Ukraine! (2024)

Documentary, Drama, War

Celebrities from all over the world, as at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, inspired by the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people, continue to support Ukraine with their words and donations, urging others to do the same.

Stars: José Andrés , Kevin Bacon , Bono , Richard Branson

15. Good Boy (IV) (2023)

16 min | Short, Comedy, Drama

Out of money and out of luck, Danny is determined to turn his life around, but the interventions of his anarchic mum and the reappearance of figures from his past threaten to derail him at every turn.

Director: Tom Stuart | Stars: Ben Whishaw , Dino Fetscher , Marion Bailey , Paul Chahidi

16. EE BAFTA Film Awards (2023 TV Special)

The best national and foreign films of 2022 are honoured at the 76th British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Festival Hall within London's Southbank Centre.

Director: Marcus Viner | Stars: Florence Pugh , Austin Butler , Anya Taylor-Joy , Lily James

17. Live with Kelly and Mark (1988– ) Episode: Live's Annual Viewer's Choice Show (2023)

TV-PG | Talk-Show

Kelly and Ryan count down the most exciting moments from the past year on "Live", decided by viewers at home;

Stars: Kelly Ripa , Ryan Seacrest , Emma Thompson , Teresa Giudice

18. Matilda: The Musical (II) (2022)

PG | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Family

An adaptation of the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical. Matilda tells the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination, dares to take a stand to change her story with miraculous results.

Director: Matthew Warchus | Stars: Alisha Weir , Emma Thompson , Lashana Lynch , Stephen Graham

Votes: 28,327

19. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)

R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama

Nancy Stokes, a retired school teacher, is yearning for some adventure, and some sex. And she has a plan, which involves hiring a young sex worker named Leo Grande.

Director: Sophie Hyde | Stars: Emma Thompson , Daryl McCormack , Isabella Laughland , Les Mabaleka

Votes: 37,723

20. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2022)

TV-MA | 58 min | Mystery, Thriller

A dying man's enigmatic last words send vicar's son, Bobby Jones, and his socialite friend, Lady Frankie Derwent, on a crime-solving adventure.

Stars: Will Poulter , Lucy Boynton , Daniel Ings , Jonathan Jules

Votes: 7,929

21. What's Love Got to Do with It? (2022)

PG-13 | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

In London, an award-winning film-maker documents her best friend's journey into an assisted marriage in line with his family's Pakistani heritage. In the process, she challenges her own attitude towards relationships.

Director: Shekhar Kapur | Stars: Mim Shaikh , Iman Boujelouah , Lily James , Emma Thompson

Votes: 10,057

22. The Lost Girls (2022)

TV-14 | 100 min | Drama, Fantasy

Like her grandmother and her mother Jane before her, Wendy must escape Pan's hold on her and the promise he wants her to keep.

Director: Livia De Paolis | Stars: Siobhan Hewlett , Tilly Marsan , Vanessa Redgrave , Amelia Minto

23. Ukraine on Fire 2 (2022– )

'Ukraine on Fire 2' is one-minute docu-series about the Russia's war on Ukraine.

Stars: Volodymyr Zelenskyy , Valerii Fedorovych Zaluzhnyi , Vitali Klitschko , Svyatoslav Vakarchuk

24. The Fringe, Fame and Me (2022 TV Movie)

88 min | Documentary

Stars: Jamie Sives , Maisie Adam , Stephen K. Amos , Bill Bailey

25. Kermode & Mayo's Take (2022 Podcast Series)

The new home of Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo. Coming early May 2022. They're back, and it's bigger, and better and larger-er and more-er. Film reviews, TV reviews, and all your conversation ... See full summary »

Stars: Mark Kermode , Simon Mayo , Anna Bogutskaya , Rhianna Dhillon

26. Ari Global show (2022– )

ARI GLOBAL SHOW - celebrity interview show featuring such stars as Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Eva Longoria, Gerard Butler, Samuel Jackson, Henry Cavill, Shaquille O'Neal, Ruby Rose, and others.

Stars: Ari Global , Henry Cavill , Emma Stone , Ryan Reynolds

27. Climate Crisis: Hurricanes (2022)

60 min | Documentary

Hurricanes are bad news. Not only do they bring high winds strong enough to do significant damage and threaten lives, but they bring storm surges that temporarily and locally raise sea ... See full summary »

Directors: Lucy Ciara McCutcheon , Roxane Schlumberger | Stars: Helena Bennett , Larry Berry , John Bourgeois , John Briggs

28. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2022) Episode: Episode #1.1 (2022)

TV-MA | 57 min | Mystery, Thriller

Along the rugged Welsh coastline, Bobby Jones finds a dying man at the bottom of the cliffs. As Bobby tries to ease his final moments, the dying man utters a mysterious question.

Director: Hugh Laurie | Stars: Conleth Hill , Will Poulter , Leon Ockenden , Daniel Ings

29. Leute heute (1997–2023) Episode: Episode dated 14 February 2022 (2022)

Documentary, Family, News

Stars: Tim Bergmann , Emma Thompson , Karen Webb

30. Días de cine (1991– ) Episode: Episode dated 18 February 2022 (2022)

Director: Gerardo Sánchez | Stars: Paula Alamillo , Raúl Cerezo , Laia Costa , María del Puy Alvarado

31. Sunday Today with Willie Geist (2016– ) Episode: Emma Thompson (2022)

News, Talk-Show

A Sunday Sitdown with actress Emma Thompson (movie " Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)".

Stars: Willie Geist , Emma Thompson , Ellison Barber , Rehema Ellis

32. Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014– ) Episode: Emma Thompson/Jack Quaid/Alyssa Stonoha, Mitra Jouhari & Sandy Honig/Jordyn Blakely (2022)

TV-14 | 41 min | Comedy, Talk-Show

Emma Thompson ( Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)); Jack Quaid ( The Boys (2019)); Sandy Honig , Alyssa Stonoha and Mitra Jouhari ( Three Busy Debras (2020)). Also: Jordyn Blakely sits in with The 8G Band .

Stars: Seth Meyers , Emma Thompson , Jack Quaid , Sandy Honig

33. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015– ) Episode: Emma Thompson/Evie Colbert/Tom Segura (2022)

TV-PG | Comedy, Talk-Show

Actress Emma Thompson (movies, "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande" and "Matilda"); First Drafts with Evie Colbert; comic Tom Segura;

Stars: Stephen Colbert , Emma Thompson , Evelyn McGee , Tom Segura

34. The View (1997– ) Episode: Emma Thompson/Keke Palmer/View Your Deal: Feel Good Friday (2022)

TV-14 | Talk-Show

Actress Emma Thompson (movie, "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande"); actress Keke Palmer (movie, "Lightyear"); Gretta Monahan shows hot items at affordable prices;

Stars: Whoopi Goldberg , Sara Haines , Joy Behar , Sunny Hostin

35. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015– ) Episode: Emma Thompson/Werner Herzog/Roger Waters (2022)

Actress Emma Thompson (movie, "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande"); filmmaker Werner Herzog (documentary, "Last Exit: Space"); Roger Waters performs;

Stars: Stephen Colbert , Emma Thompson , Werner Herzog , Roger Waters

36. Loose Women (1999– ) Episode: Episode #26.189 (2022)

Stars: Kaye Adams , Judi Love , Nadia Sawalha , Jane Moore

37. Girls on Film (2018– ) Ep 120: Emma Thompson Talks Good Luck to You, Leo Grande at Sundance London Film Festival (2022 Podcast Episode)

47 min | Talk-Show

In this very special #SundanceLondon episode recorded live from Picturehouse Central, Girls On Film open the festival with an episode all about GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE. Anna interviews... See full summary »

Stars: Anna Smith , Emma Thompson , Daryl McCormack , Katy Brand

38. Ari Global show (2022– ) Episode: A-list Interviews 2 (2022)

Stars: Diego Boneta , Gerard Butler , Pedro Capó , Eugenio Derbez

39. Breakfast (2000– ) Episode: Episode dated 6 October 2022 (2022)

Stars: Ruth Jones , Carol Kirkwood , Naga Munchetty , Ian Rankin

40. The One Show (2006– ) Episode: Episode dated 25 October 2022 (2022)

Documentary, News, Talk-Show

Director: Phil Holmes | Stars: Zoë Ball , Konnie Huq , Jermaine Jenas , Emma Thompson

41. Hollywood Insider (2018– ) Episode: A Tribute to Michael Keaton: Recounting the SAG Award Winning Actor's Iconic Roles (2022)

Director: Pritan Ambroase | Stars: Alec Baldwin , Kenneth Branagh , Sandra Bullock , Tim Burton

42. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014– ) Episode: Emma Thompson/Guillermo del Toro/Ashley McBryde & John Osborne (2022)

TV-14 | 41 min | Comedy, Music, Talk-Show

Actress Emma Thompson (movies "Matilda the Musical" and "What's Love Got to Do with It?"); filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (movie, "Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio"); Ashley McBryde and John Osborne perform;

Director: Rik Reinholdtsen | Stars: Jimmy Fallon , Emma Thompson , Guillermo del Toro , Ashley McBryde

43. Kermode & Mayo's Take (2022– ) Emma Thompson, Matilda the Musical, Bones and All, She Said & Pinocchio (2022 Podcast Episode)

81 min | Talk-Show

The monstrous Miss Trunchbull is played by Dame Emma Thompson in the new musical film 'Matilda the Musical' - Simon talks to Dame Emma about this extraordinary role, and how Emma's ... See full summary »

Stars: Mark Kermode , Simon Mayo , Emma Thompson

44. Made in Hollywood (2005– ) Episode: Empire of Light/Matilda the Musical/Something from Tiffany's (2022)

Interviews with the cast and filmmakers of Empire of Light (2022), Matilda: The Musical (2022), Something from Tiffany's (2022), and Father Stu (2022).

Stars: Kylie Erica Mar , Olivia Colman , Zoey Deutch , Colin Firth

45. Entertainment Tonight (1981– ) Episode: Episode #42.67 (2022)

TV-PG | News, Talk-Show

An interview with Collin Gosselin (TV series, "Jon and Kate Plus 8"); Jennifer Lopez's new album; Morris Day and the Time and Xscape at the BET Soul Train Awards; actress Katherine Heigl ... See full summary »

Stars: Kevin Frazier , Nischelle Turner , Ben Affleck , Debbie Allen

46. Today (1952– ) Episode: Episode dated 7 December 2022 (2022)

TV-G | News, Talk-Show

The latest news and up-to-date information on the COVID-19 pandemic; celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 17's mission to the moon; Today toy drive with actress Emma Thompson and ... See full summary »

Directors: Jim Gaines , Lee Miller | Stars: Savannah Guthrie , Hoda Kotb , Al Roker , Craig Melvin

47. Live with Kelly and Mark (1988– ) Episode: Emma Thompson/Zoey Deutch (2022)

Actress Emma Thompson (movie, "Matilda the Musical"); actress Zoey Deutch (movie, "Something from Tiffany's");

Stars: Kelly Ripa , Ryan Seacrest , Emma Thompson , Zoey Deutch

48. Amanpour. (2009– ) Episode: Episode dated 10 June 2022 (2022)

Stars: Christiane Amanpour , Emma Thompson

49. The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal (2021– ) Episode: Episode #2.15 (2022)

Featuring "The Collaboration" stars Jeremy Pope and Paul Bettany, Jesse Williams of "Take Me Out," opening nights of "Ohio State Murders" and "Some Like It Hot," Tony-winning best friends ... See full summary »

Director: Zack R. Smith | Stars: Paul Bettany , Matt Doyle , Tamsen Fadal , Eddie Izzard

50. Cruella (2021)

PG-13 | 134 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime

A live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil.

Director: Craig Gillespie | Stars: Emma Stone , Emma Thompson , Joel Fry , Paul Walter Hauser

Votes: 265,992 | Gross: $86.10M

Emma Thompson Plays a Fearsome Lady Boss in ‘Late Night’

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Watching Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling mix it up in Late Night will make you think you’ve died and gone to hilarity heaven. In Kaling’s woke script, the Oscar-winning British actress for Howards End plays Katherine Newbury, a late-night talk show host who takes a drastic step to stop her slide in the ratings. She hires Molly Patel (Kaling playing a shrewd variation of her TV persona), the first female to penetrate Katherine’s writing staff of white dudes. Too bored to remember their names, she assigns them all numbers. Charlie (Hugh Dancy), the writer who the married Katherine’s been bonking on the side, gets more than numerical attention. What we’ve have here is a one-woman dictatorship. Out of that simple, sometimes simplistic premise, Thompson, Kaling and up-for-anything director Nisha Ganatra spin comic gold.

The long-time lack of a female host on late-night speaks to the story’s relevance, but the film goes further by showing how Katherine has spent years in the trenches without helping other women rise in the ranks. Kaling, who struggled to build her own sitcom ( The Mindy Project ), knows about career obstacles to women and people of color. She also knows something needs to be done to fix it.

In outline, Late Night is a variation on The Devil Wears Prada with a lady boss striking fear into the hearts of her staff. Like Meryl Streep in that hit office comedy, Thompson can fire off one-liners with a lethal deadpan that takes no prisoners. The reliably terrific Denis O’Hare plays Brad, her harried second-in-command, who jumps when Katherine orders him to get a woman on staff pronto. The diversity hire he comes up with is Indian-American Molly, a chemical-plant efficiency expert from suburban Pennsylvania with no writing experience. What Molly does have as a fan of the show is the idea that Katherine can re-ignite her career simply by being herself.

And who’s that exactly? A woman who’s devoted 28 years to her talk show only to be told her days are numbered by network VP Caroline Morton (Amy Ryan) and that she’s about to be replaced by a male idiot (Ike Barinholtz) whose personality consists exclusively of noxious “bro” clichés. While Katherine does “stuffy” interviews with author Doris Kearns Goodwin, Fallon brings on “adorable” Robert Downey Jr. to wash a sheepdog. It’s late night as a new vast wasteland and the movie makes black-comic sport of it. Thompson lets us feel Katherine’s horror during an interview with a dim-witted YouTube star who delights in sniffing her dog’s butt. Sensing Katherine’s disdain, the airhead calls her the worst word possible word in an on-camera profession: “old.”

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It’s Molly’s idea to make that word work in Katherine’s favor. Talk to her audience honestly, about age, menopause and the fear of being replaced. Katherine is intensely private about her marriage to loyal Walter (a stellar John Lithgow), an emeritus NYU professor suffering from Parkinson’s disease. But when the tabloids implicate her in a sex scandal and embarrassing private emails are leaked, Katherine has only two choices: accept becoming ratings poison or fight back.

One guess about her decision. The romantic subplots in Late Night , one involving Molly and the aforementioned Charlie, are afterthoughts that drag down the momentum. Late Night lights up when Kaling puts her female warriors in the center ring and lets them rip. The actor-screenwriter is too savvy for tirades. But there’s no mistaking the heat in her subversive wit. And when the glorious Thompson (it’s high time for another Oscar) starts tossing Kaling’s verbal grenades like a virtuoso, this workplace satire is just the pointed fun we need.

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Netflix’s Unfrosted, Turtles All The Way Down, and every new movie to watch at home this weekend

Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop-Tart biopic finally pops onto Netflix

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A disheveled man in a Tony the Tiger costume holding a bag of corn flakes in Unfrosted.

Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.

This week, Unfrosted , Jerry Seinfeld's comedy about the invention of Pop-Tarts, premieres on Netflix. If brand biopics aren’t your bag, there’s certainly no shortage of new releases to choose from this week. The coming-of-age teen drama Turtles All The Way Down releases on Max this weekend, alongside the remaster of Jonathan Demme’s classic concert film Stop Making Sense , a new romcom starring Anne Hathaway on Prime Video, and much more.

Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!

New on Netflix

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Genre: Comedy Run time: 1h 33m Director: Jerry Seinfeld Cast: Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan

Nowadays it feels like everyone and every thing is getting the biopic-comedy movie treatment. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Blackberry mobile phones, Nike Jordan sneakers — you name it. Unfrosted is the latest in this emerging trend, chronicling the sorta-true story of how Kellog’s beat their competitors to market with their patented Pop-Tart product.

From our review :

Despite its family-friendly veneer, Unfrosted is a resolutely cynical work. Step outside of the candy-colored glow of its warm cinematography and the picture is bleak. Just as Pop-Tarts come from the executives in the film studying trash, Hollywood’s desperation for marketable IP means studios are happy to greenlight literal garbage. What does it mean that Jerry Seinfeld — a man who never needs to work another day in his life if he doesn’t want to, a guy mostly famous these days for simply hanging out — is back with a movie that proves Hollywood will greenlight a film about any old brand, no matter how nonsensical?

New on Hulu

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Two girls in prom attire playing with a plastic guitar and drum sticks in Prom Dates.

Genre: Coming-of-age comedy Run time: 1h 30m Director: Kim O. Nguyen Cast: Julia Lester, Antonia Gentry, JT Neal

After unexpectedly breaking up with both of their dates, a pair of high school friends hatch a plot to find new dates in time for their senior prom. As their prospects dwindle, the two are left with no other choice: Sneak into a college party and find new dates there.

Turtles All The Way Down

Where to watch: Available to stream on Max

Genre: Romantic drama Run time: 1h 51m Director: Hannah Marks Cast: Isabela Merced, Cree Cicchino, Felix Mallard

Based on John Green’s 2017 young adult novel, Isabela Merced ( Dora and the Lost City of Gold ) stars as Aza Holmes, a 16-year-old struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder who reunites with her childhood crush, the son of a fugitive billionaire. As Aza attempts to pursue the disappearance of her crush’s billionaire father, she’ll grow to learn to live with and overcome her challenges to pursue her happiness.

In a way, Max’s Turtles All the Way Down is an anti-John Green adaptation — at least, it’s anti preconceived notions of John Green. He’s been trying from his very first novel to deconstruct the tropes he accidentally became known for. But sometimes it takes an outside hand to free a story from judgment and give it a new form, so it can shine without an author’s (however ill-attributed) reputation on it. Marks crafts a fulfilling coming-of-age story from Green’s book. Turtles has familiar John Green touchpoints — a gimmicky story setup, a teen romance, a quirky best friend — but it turns the story inward and pulls off a fantastic character exploration, one that feels like a gut-punch in its best moments.

Stop Making Sense

Genre: Concert movie Run time: 1h 28m Director: Jonathan Demme

You may find yourself at home on your couch, looking for something to watch. And you may find yourself scrutinizing what’s new on streaming and VOD. And you may find yourself intrigued by the latest 4K remaster of Jonathan Demme’s acclaimed concert film of the Talking Heads performing. And you may ask yourself, Well, why don’t I watch that?

New on Prime Video

The idea of you.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video

Genre: Romantic comedy Run time: 1h 55m Director: Michael Showalter Cast: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin

Is it really possible for a 20-something rock star and a 40-something single mom to be in a relationship? Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine) and Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) are about to find out in this romantic comedy based on Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel.

New on Peacock

The american society of magical negroes.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock

A man holding a pocket watch surrounded by men and women clapping and smiling.

Genre: Fantasy rom-com Run time: 1h 45m Director: Kobi Libii Cast: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan

Kobi Libii’s directorial debut stars Justice Smith ( Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves ) as Aren, a young biracial artist who is recruited to join a clandestine group of magical Black people who secretly help white people in their mission to solve racism. You can probably guess about how well that goes.

New on AMC Plus

American star.

Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus

Genre: Action thriller Run time: 1h 47m Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego Cast: Ian McShane, Nora Arnezeder, Thomas Kretschmann

Ian McShane ( John Wick , Deadwood ) stars as an over-the-hill contract killer who embarks to the tropical island Fuerteventura to fulfill his last assignment before retirement. While waiting for his target, he finds himself drawn to the people of the island and their lives there, and begins to contemplate what life he would like to build after he puts his career as an assassin behind him.

New on Metrograph At Home

Where to watch: Available to stream on Metrograph At Home

A person wearing a leering mask and straw costume holding a staff in the middle of a workshop in Pamfir.

Genre: Fantasy drama Run time: 1h 42m Director: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk Cast: Oleksandr Yatsentyuk, Stanislav Potiak, Solomiia Kyrylova

This Ukrainian drama follows the story of Leonid (Oleksandr Yatsentyuk), a reformed smuggler who has forsaken his life of crime to devote himself as a family man. Despite his best efforts, Leonid is unable to find a honest way of making a living and recruits his brother in a scheme to provide for his wife and teenage son. Caught between a local crime syndicate and local law enforcement, Leonid will have to find a way to secure a better life.

New to rent

Where to watch: Available to purchase on Amazon , Apple , and Vudu

A man and two boys seated behind the wheel of a dilapidated vehicle in Arcadia.

Genre: Action horror Run time: 1h 31m Director: Ben Brewer Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins

Nicolas Cage stars as a father of two sons desperate to protect and raise his family in a near future Earth decimated by the arrival of a ferocious nocturnal creatures. When their father is wounded by one of these creatures, his sons must band together and call upon every lesson of their training in order to survive.

Dai Miyamoto playing the saxophone in Blue Giant.

Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 31m Director: Yuzuru Tachikawa Cast: Yuki Yamada, Shotaro Mamiya, Amane Okayama

Yuzuru Tachikawa ( Mob Psycho 100 , Death Parade ) returns with an animated drama based on Shinichi Ishizuka’s 2013 manga. Blue Giant centers on Dai Miyamoto, a high school basketball player who casts aside his sport aspirations to become a jazz saxophonist. Moving to Tokyo to pursue his dream of becoming the best saxophonist alive, Dai will have to overcome more than just his inexperience if he has any hope of attaining his goal.

Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon , Apple , and Vudu

A man with prominent neck tattoos pressed against a wall by another person in Femme.

Genre: Thriller Run time: 1h 39m Directors: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping Cast: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay, Aaron Heffernan

After being viciously attacked by an unknown man and their group of friends, a drag queen named Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) confronts their assaulter — a closeted young man named Preston (George MacKay) in a gay sauna. Striking up an affair, Jules plots his revenge against Preston, who is oblivious to Jules’ true identity and intentions.

They Shot The Piano Player

Genre: Musical docudrama Run time: 1h 43m Directors: Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Tony Ramos, Abel Ayala

This animated docudrama follows a music journalist (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) who embarks on a globe-trotting journey to uncover the truth behind Francisco Tenório Júnior, a Brazilian samba-jazz pianist who was instrumental in popularizing Bossa Nova music, and the reason behind his sudden mysterious disappearance.

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Emma Thompson on her new film and the idea female orgasms must be ...
Emma Thompson on her new film — and the idea the female orgasm has to be performative. Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson star in the film, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. In Good Luck to You, Leo ...
'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' review: Emma Thompson shines in a grand
Emma Thompson lays herself bare in the dramedy "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande," but it's the emotional aspects that deserve the most attention, in this funny and sensitively told two-hander ...
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Rated: 9/10 • Dec 28, 2023. Aug 6, 2023. In GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE, two-time Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (Love, Actually) embodies the candor and apprehension of retired teacher ...
'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' Review: Pleasure Principles
Thanks to Thompson and McCormack's delicate dance, so will audiences. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Rated R for sexual content, nudity and some blue language. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande review: Emma Thompson hires a gigolo in
Starring: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack, Isabella Laughland, Charlotte Ware, Carina Lopes. 15, 97 minutes. "I want to do a blow job," Emma Thompson 's Nancy announces in Good Luck to You ...
Emma Thompson Is Terrific in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. Thompson has always been a terrific actor, but she reaches a new plane here, a place where her ...
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande review: Emma Thompson finds more than sex
Emma Thompson reveals intense way she rehearsed full-frontal nude scene for new film Gen V series premiere recap: Welcome to God U The best movie performances of 2022
'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' review: Emma Thompson wins again
June 16, 2022 2:03 PM PT. The long, oddly charming title of "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande" is a line of dialogue spoken near the end of this not-too-long and thoroughly charming British comedy ...
'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' Review: Emma Thompson's Sexy Sundance Romp
Emma Thompson in 'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande': Film Review | Sundance 2022. The actress stars as a repressed widow who hires a sex worker to help her discover what all the fuss over orgasms ...
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande review: Emma Thompson takes this post
In the second half of the movie, Thompson's body is very much in our face. Like Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown, the 62 year old actress has firmly refused to deny the ageing process, and gives ...
Emma Thompson and the Challenge of Baring All Onscreen at 63
Charlotte Hadden for The New York Times. It's the shock of white hair you notice first on Emma Thompson, a hue far more chic than anything your average 63-year-old would dare choose but one that ...
'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' Review: Emma Thompson Hires a Male
If the getting-to-know-you phase is less nuanced than the later parts when Nancy and Leo effectively start cosplaying a gender-reversed "Closer," the film's two lead actors (in a cast of ...
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande Review: Emma Thompson's ...
Emma Thompson is often the best part of any movie she's in, though often as the supporting role or right alongside another leading role. In 2021's Cruella , she was the villain to Emma Stone ...
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a 2022 sex comedy-drama film directed by Sophie Hyde and written by Katy Brand. The film stars Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack. The story revolves around a woman who seeks a young sex worker to help her experience pleasurable sex. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 22 January 2022 ...
Opinion: Emma Thompson's new film captures the truth about sex
The new Hulu film stars Emma Thompson as Nancy, a retired schoolteacher and widow who hires a much-younger sex worker (Daryl McCormack) for a series of encounters in a hotel room.
Cruella (2021)
Cruella: Directed by Craig Gillespie. With Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser. A live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE Trailer (2022) Emma Thompson
GOOD LUCK TO YOU LEO GRANDE Trailer (2022) Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack, Romantic Movie© 2022 - Lionsgate
'Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical' Review: Emma Thompson in Adaptation
Supported by Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough, Alisha Weir plays the title role in 'Matilda,' based on the stage musical, premiering at the London Film Festival.
What's Love Got to Do with It? (2022)
What's Love Got to Do with It?: Directed by Shekhar Kapur. With Mim Shaikh, Iman Boujelouah, Lily James, Emma Thompson. In London, an award-winning film-maker documents her best friend's journey into an assisted marriage in line with his family's Pakistani heritage. In the process, she challenges her own attitude towards relationships.
Emma Thompson movie reviews & film summaries
Emma Thompson movie reviews & film summaries | Roger Ebert. Movie Reviews TV/Streaming Interviews Collections Great Movies Chaz's Journal Contributors Cast and Crew ... The latest on Blu-ray and streaming services, including Free Guy, F9: The Fast Saga, Zola, and special editions of Legend and High Sierra.
'Cruella' review: Emma Thompson out-devils Emma Stone
Emma Stone as a pre-title-character Estella in "Cruella.". (Disney) What this leaves us with, practically speaking, isn't a prequel or an origin story so much as the product of an alternate ...
Latest Movies and TV Shows With Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson ( Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)); Jack Quaid ( The Boys (2019)); Sandy Honig, Alyssa Stonoha and Mitra Jouhari ( Three Busy Debras (2020)). Also: Jordyn Blakely sits in with The 8G Band. Stars: Seth Meyers, Emma Thompson, Jack Quaid, Sandy Honig. 33.
'Late Night' Movie Review: Starring Emma Thompson
It's late night as a new vast wasteland and the movie makes black-comic sport of it. Thompson lets us feel Katherine's horror during an interview with a dim-witted YouTube star who delights in ...
Netflix's Unfrosted and every new movie to watch at home ...
Unfrosted, the new Pop-Tart biopic comedy from director-star Jerry Seinfeld, comes to Netflix this week, along with Turtles All The Way Down on Max, Prom Dates, and more.

Emma Thompson on her new film — and the idea the female orgasm has to be performative

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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande review: Emma Thompson hires a gigolo in this sweet, nuanced comedy

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Good Luck To You, Leo Grande has a small, intimate feel to it that compliments its story.

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