During season 1 of the podcast, some alarming gaps in Nikki’s movie history came to light. What were two podcasters to do?? Watch the darn thing and talk about it.
So what first reactions did someone in 2021 have about a 1990 rom-com where a sex worker finds fairy tale romance with a handsome corporate raider? You know we’re not going to say! But we will tell you we broke down some fun trivia and the movie’s enduring legacy. And don’t worry, we connected the movie to the South and "Designing Women". All is well.
Some good reads:
So grab some strawberries, and champagne, you know, because it accentuates their flavor, and uh, let’s get into it! You don’t want to miss it, it would be a big mistake. Big. Huge.
Or listen on Apple Podcasts |Spotify |Google Podcasts.
Transcript
Salina: Hey, y'all.
Salina: Season one of Designing Women is behind us.
Salina: But today we have a very special episode for you.
Salina: Here's the deal.
Salina: Throughout our first season, it became apparent that Nikki has some pretty alarming gaps in her movie and TV history.
Salina: And at the end of the season, I propose that we begin to right that wrong.
Salina: Here's the challenge.
Salina: Nikki could pick any one thing we taught, talked about that she hadn't watched, watch it, and then we'd meet to discuss.
Salina: So here we are.
Salina: What will a 36 year old woman think about a 1990 rom.com about a sex worker who finds fairytale romance with a handsome corporate raider?
Salina: I'm sure it'll be fine.
Salina: So let's get into it's.
Salina: Hey, Nikki.
Nikki: Hey, Selena and everybody and everybody, welcome.
Salina: To our Pretty Woman discussion.
Salina: Did you know that the movie's tagline was she walked off the street into his life and stole his heart?
Salina: So, Nikki, did this movie walk in off Amazon into your life and steal your heart?
Nikki: Selena, I have really been playing my cards close to the vest on this one because it really means something to Selena.
Nikki: I can just see it like in our planning notes.
Nikki: She's like, I'm so nervous about your reaction.
Nikki: And then she'll send me a random text and be like, I'm so curious what your reaction is going to be.
Nikki: And it's escalated over time.
Nikki: It started, I'm so curious.
Nikki: And then it became I think there was like a call, a cry for help in the last one that was just like I just don't know if you're going to hate it and if you're going to hate me.
Nikki: Spoiler alert.
Nikki: Selena, I don't hate you.
Nikki: I thought it was cute.
Salina: Wait, you just said I don't hate you.
Nikki: I don't hate you because you recommended it and I didn't want you to think I hated you for recommending it.
Salina: Oh, okay.
Salina: I was like I thought maybe you had like a Freudian slip.
Nikki: No, I don't hate you for recommending it.
Nikki: Got it.
Nikki: I don't think you were wrong that it was something I should watch.
Nikki: I thought it was cute.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: I thought it was really cute.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: The octave is high.
Nikki: It's only because I am drinking champagne and eating strawberries.
Nikki: Because I was trying to reenact the seduction scene.
Nikki: That wasn't the intent.
Nikki: And then slowly it became the seduction scene.
Nikki: It started with me thinking, like, it'll be cute to do some chocolate covered strawberries and champagne.
Nikki: And then I couldn't find chocolate covered strawberries.
Nikki: So then I was like, I'll just buy some strawberries.
Salina: And then I was like, buy some pasties.
Nikki: Oh, here's chocolate dip.
Nikki: Oh, wait a minute.
Nikki: That sends a wrong signal and it just like escalated.
Nikki: So anyway, anyhow, today we have strawberries with whipped cream, champagne and a ganache covered chocolate cake.
Salina: This is just a good time, sky.
Nikki: I hoped you would take it that way and not like I was trying to seduce you, because that's really not what it was.
Salina: These are really not my concerns with your husband and two children and your husband in the house, by the way.
Nikki: Kyle did tell me as I was amassing all the supplies, he was like, I really feel like this is a better date night than we've ever had because we also have some caviar in the refrigerator.
Nikki: For another thing, we're doing podcast related.
Nikki: And he was like, you guys are doing, like, chocolate cake and champagne and caviar.
Nikki: We've never had a date night like that.
Salina: We asked him to be our producer.
Salina: He didn't want to be our producer.
Salina: And now he has to watch all the spoils of our war amen the war of podcasting.
Nikki: He's going somewhere with that.
Salina: Okay, first of all, it's awesome.
Salina: I appreciate it very much.
Salina: It's taking everything for me to not have forkfuls of cake right now because I don't know that'll make for a great listen.
Salina: But the cake is delicious.
Nikki: It's public.
Salina: I love being romanced.
Salina: And don't worry, Kyle, you'll get the leftovers.
Salina: I'm just kidding.
Salina: Your husband is an absolute sweetheart.
Salina: And he did bring coffee, which is the way that you become my friend, actually.
Nikki: So we're caffeinated, we're champagne, we're chocolate caked.
Nikki: We are like all the things are in place for us to talk about.
Salina: Pretty woman.
Salina: A hot discussion about pretty woman.
Salina: So let me just say so you didn't hate it is what I'm hearing, even though you said you don't hate me for recommending it.
Salina: Just tell me, what are your general overarching thoughts about the movie?
Nikki: I actually would put myself at slightly higher than I didn't hate it.
Nikki: I would watch it again.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: I thought it was adorable.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: I thought Julia Roberts was totally magnetic in this role.
Nikki: And I can't think of any other word that sounds cheesy.
Nikki: I honestly can't think of any other word for it.
Nikki: She was so charming.
Nikki: Everything about her, I just loved.
Nikki: I love her.
Nikki: Anyway, there are a lot of Julia Roberts movies I haven't seen.
Nikki: Like, I haven't seen Mystic Pizza.
Nikki: I haven't seen Aaron Brockovich, but I love Steele Magnolias.
Nikki: I think she's a delight in that.
Nikki: I've seen Hook, obviously, where she plays Tinkerbell.
Nikki: My best friend's Wedding is one of my favorite movies.
Nikki: I love the movie.
Nikki: Stepmom, Nodding Hill, runaway Bride.
Nikki: I actually like to eat Pray love, which I know is really polarizing.
Nikki: Selena's holding her head in her hands.
Nikki: I'm concerned.
Salina: So you've seen Runaway bride, right?
Salina: Which was basically their second coming together.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: Yes, ma'am.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: This one's rated R.
Nikki: It's about a prostitute.
Nikki: Like it just never fell.
Nikki: I was six when it came out.
Nikki: It just never fell in my life.
Nikki: Course to watch it, you were five.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Anyway, I thought she was a delight.
Nikki: I loved the soundtrack.
Nikki: Every time a song played, we had the king of Wishful thinking by Go West, real wild child Wild One, which is a song I'd never heard before, but it was such a great accompaniment to her heading out on her quote unquote shift that night.
Nikki: I just love that kiss by Prince when she was in the bathtub.
Nikki: It must have been loved by Rock set.
Nikki: They played that at the most perfect time.
Nikki: And then, of course oh, Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison.
Nikki: You can suck me into a movie with a good soundtrack.
Nikki: Yeah, this one totally had one.
Nikki: I really thought the storyline was a clever way of modernizing Cinderella.
Nikki: It's a Cinderella story is what it is.
Nikki: And I do love a good Cinderella story, but with a twist.
Nikki: She had agency in her own life.
Nikki: Like, she wasn't out looking for a man.
Nikki: This happened to her.
Nikki: She's just doing her job.
Nikki: I just like that part of it.
Nikki: I will say times have really changed.
Nikki: And I say this because I just said to you, I've never seen this movie, and I'm holding it up in front of me to make a point.
Nikki: I've never seen this rated R movie about a prostitute because it came out at a point in my life where I wouldn't have seen a rated R movie about a prostitute.
Nikki: And then I just never went back to right that wrong.
Nikki: Selena seen it.
Nikki: She saw it when she's five.
Nikki: It's fine.
Salina: Totally normal.
Salina: Thanks, Aunt Teresa.
Nikki: But after everything everyone's ever said about it, I was expecting 50 Shades of Gray, which I have seen.
Nikki: This was so not that.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: I even read something that was written in, like, 2016 that said, like and you know, that piano scene, it was so tame.
Nikki: After I read that, I was like, this part is going to be intense.
Nikki: So not and that was written in, like, 2018 or something.
Salina: Sure.
Salina: Well, once you've seen Game of Thrones, nothing surprises you, right.
Nikki: But you've seen 50 Shades of Gray.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Something about that was the tipper for me.
Salina: Well, I was expecting more from 50 Shades of Gray.
Nikki: Oh, is that right?
Salina: Kind of.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: Based on what the content is, because I knew enough about it.
Salina: Once it actually came out, I was like, I thought it was kind of tame for what it was.
Nikki: Did you read the books?
Salina: I didn't.
Nikki: You're right.
Nikki: I read the books.
Salina: Right.
Nikki: They have typos in them.
Salina: I don't think that's what it was about.
Nikki: And for some reason, a book with typos in it is just like, I can't do it.
Nikki: I can't do it.
Nikki: But I read them all because my friend told me it's pretty good.
Nikki: This is a pretty good book series.
Nikki: This is not a good book series.
Nikki: But I'm invested, so then I had to see the movie.
Nikki: Anyhow all of that to say I really thought that's what this was going to be.
Nikki: And I thought it was weird because it was Julia Roberts.
Salina: Sure.
Nikki: Definitely.
Salina: You must have been real confused.
Nikki: I just was like, why have I been avoiding this movie?
Nikki: My whole laugh, it's a delight.
Nikki: I really liked it.
Nikki: And then, of course, there's the Southern reference that for the purposes of our podcast is great because she tells this backstory of how she's from Millageville, Georgia, which of all places to say you're from, talk about a Southern deep cut, which we just talked about in our finale.
Nikki: Finale, sure.
Nikki: But she says where she's from.
Salina: Yeah, I don't even think I could find Villageville on a Georgia map.
Nikki: No, I probably couldn't.
Salina: In all fairness.
Salina: I couldn't find where we live on a Georgia map.
Nikki: We're not great with map.
Nikki: No.
Nikki: So those are my things.
Nikki: That's my general reactions.
Salina: So did you have favorite parts?
Nikki: I did.
Nikki: I loved all the I'm calling them, like, the scenes, you know, like the big moments.
Nikki: Her and her blonde wig, her shopping on Rodeo Drive.
Nikki: The big mistake comment.
Nikki: Big mistake.
Salina: Huge.
Nikki: Huge.
Nikki: That's right.
Nikki: The jewelry box closing.
Nikki: I loved all of those things.
Nikki: Those were cute and super funny.
Nikki: And those are all things if you've not seen the movie you've seen in pop culture.
Salina: Oh, absolutely.
Nikki: You've seen referenced.
Nikki: You've seen Replayed, something like that.
Nikki: I actually really loved her roommate, Kit.
Nikki: I thought she was so cute, and I think we'll get into some of the trivia in a little while.
Nikki: She's supposed to be a little darker, I think, than me saying she is so cute.
Nikki: She clearly had a drug problem.
Nikki: She was fighting with a potential Pimp.
Nikki: So there were, like, some things happening behind the scenes.
Nikki: But I thought she's really cute and a fun addition to the movie.
Salina: I agree.
Salina: So what didn't work for you?
Nikki: The plot.
Nikki: Richard Gear.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: I got nothing from him.
Nikki: I thought he was so wooden, and I think part of it was part of his character.
Nikki: But you talk about chemistry between two actors.
Nikki: I didn't get any chemistry between the two of them.
Salina: Really?
Nikki: I didn't get the sense he was into her at all.
Nikki: Beyond, like, a she is an oddity, a curiosity.
Nikki: Interesting.
Nikki: I didn't think he was into her enough that he was going to come for her in the end.
Nikki: Sorry, spoiler alert.
Nikki: He was going to come for her in the end and change his ways.
Salina: Well, let me ask you a sidewinder, because I'm imagining that that's not the only thing that you didn't like.
Salina: If it wasn't him, who would it be?
Nikki: Good question.
Nikki: See, I would have to put myself in that frame of mind from that time.
Salina: I already have someone, I think, but he wouldn't have worked.
Salina: I think he would have been too young.
Salina: Who I automatically want to go to dylan McDermott or Dermot Moroni.
Salina: Dermot moroni.
Salina: It is.
Salina: Dermot Moroni.
Salina: We have an off.
Nikki: There's an SNL skit about that, but it's hilarious.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I mean, the country has a joke about that.
Salina: Anyways from my best friend's wedding.
Salina: I think it's because they did have such strong chemistry, but he would basically have to be like, at least maybe not the age he is right now, but maybe like, ten years ago to be the age I think they wanted Richard Gear to be.
Salina: But I was just curious if the.
Nikki: Age thing was weird, though.
Salina: What about Sam Elliott?
Nikki: Oh, he's warm.
Nikki: He's warm.
Nikki: Yeah, maybe.
Salina: But he also plays, like, a lot.
Nikki: Of these Marvel Man care, mudgeonly people.
Nikki: So I was actually thinking like a Brad Pitt type.
Nikki: I think closing the age gap, they.
Salina: Would have been way too young.
Nikki: Then there was a giant age gap.
Nikki: That felt really weird.
Nikki: It felt it's a grooming situation.
Nikki: If we're using terminology from 2021, it felt like a grooming situation.
Nikki: Sorry.
Salina: Now, does this go underneath your like or dislike category?
Nikki: If they had closed the age gap and picked I just didn't get any chemistry.
Salina: So you wanted a younger guy, period.
Nikki: I did.
Salina: You like your men young.
Salina: Okay.
Nikki: And then, to be honest, my only other thing that just, like, absolutely was kind of hard for me, julia Roberts as a hooker.
Nikki: Just the concept, her as a hooker.
Nikki: It was just hard for me to buy.
Nikki: I sort of early in the movie, just decided it was what it was.
Nikki: Go with it.
Nikki: She was a magnetic character.
Nikki: She was a freaking delight.
Nikki: So maybe it kind of did work for me because it made you forget for a moment that she like it was it's what made the movie a Disney oriented, like, movie about a prostitute, that it was Julia Roberts and that she was this person, that her being a prostitute was almost the undercurrent to the movie.
Nikki: And you just sort of moved past it after that part where they found out the one prostitute had been killed, then you just sort of move on.
Nikki: She's not like them necessarily.
Nikki: She's the one with the heart of gold.
Nikki: And it just felt weird to me.
Salina: Why you said Disney, and I don't think we've mentioned this.
Salina: It's always kind of in the back of my head.
Salina: It is a Disney movie, technically, because Touchstone, which isn't active now, but was active for many years, is a Disney property.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: So kind of a strange yeah, kind of a strange thing.
Salina: Although Disney does strange things to women.
Nikki: That's true.
Salina: So because I had not seen this movie in so long, even though I've seen it I mean, I'm not kidding.
Salina: I've probably seen it 25 times.
Nikki: Really?
Nikki: I've probably seen Runaway Bride that many times.
Salina: Well, you know, this was a favorite movie among my friends and me.
Salina: We watched it a lot growing up, so really?
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: It was a slumber party episode.
Nikki: We talked about you and your friends.
Nikki: I don't believe that any 13 year old is out doing something horrible movie about a prostitute.
Salina: This was a favorite of ours, but because it had been so long, I felt like I wasn't in fighting shape to come in and talk about the movie.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: And so I did have a couple of thoughts that I wanted to share on rewatch.
Salina: And one thing that there's no getting around the fact it's completely unrealistic.
Salina: You're already talking about it.
Salina: She's a sex worker with a heart of gold.
Salina: I mean, it just sounds silly, right?
Salina: It also doesn't speak to the truth of the situation, which is like, this can be a very dangerous job for women.
Salina: I mean, it does, but then it skips right over it to your very point.
Salina: This whole idea that a person in this situation suddenly is a Disney fairy tale, I think is setting people up for probably a slim outcome.
Salina: But I am not the first person to see that.
Salina: This is not a unique perspective.
Salina: We know that there's issues with male gaze and data, gender dynamics and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Salina: I could go on to fill up like someone's dissertation.
Salina: I'm sure someone in film has done a dissertation on it.
Salina: What I wanted to say is the positive things that I did not expect.
Salina: Okay, so at 36, as I am also 36, someone might have said, selena, why did you call me out my age like that?
Salina: But also so at my age in 2021, I will tell you what struck me and made this movie.
Salina: Still good to me was the same thing as you.
Nikki: Julia Roberts, man, golly, she's so good.
Salina: Her charisma in this movie is off the charge.
Salina: I actually thought that her and Richard Gear did have good chemistry together.
Nikki: I think I must have been watching something totally different.
Salina: But I everybody agree with you that wooden is a great way to put it.
Salina: It's simply not as amazing as I remember him being.
Salina: So I don't disagree with you there.
Salina: I definitely see that perspective.
Salina: I also am going to say I have the same question.
Salina: Is that part of his character?
Salina: I don't know.
Salina: I think I would have to be more familiar with his work.
Salina: And it's not that.
Salina: I just never have given it that much thought.
Salina: So I've seen Primal Fear many times with him in it.
Nikki: I love that movie.
Salina: So good.
Salina: That's a really twist ending.
Nikki: Me too.
Nikki: Yeah, that was a good one.
Salina: Chicago, he's like dancing and singing.
Salina: It's worth a watch.
Salina: So, I don't know.
Salina: But I did like their chemistry in the movie.
Salina: The supporting cast you mentioned Kit, but I would say the hotel manager.
Nikki: Oh, my gosh, he should have been on my list of things I love the most.
Salina: Well, the guy who sucks up to her and Edward at the store when she goes shopping.
Salina: He's hilarious.
Salina: Actually, I was going to ask you, have you seen The Princess Diaries?
Nikki: Yes.
Salina: Okay, so you know those are the same cast of characters.
Salina: It's also gary Marshall, who did this movie, he basically plucked those scenes right out of Pretty Woman, plopped them in a G rated movie.
Salina: It is the same thing.
Nikki: It's a genius at work right there.
Nikki: Save yourself the work.
Salina: It's great because I love the princess.
Nikki: I love The Princess Diaries.
Nikki: It's a very cute movie.
Nikki: It's good.
Salina: That's the thing.
Salina: Whether it's a sex worker, a high school student, audrey Hepburn with a cockney accent, and My Fair Lady, it's a Pygmalion kind of kill.
Salina: That's the thing, right?
Salina: It's just enjoyable to watch.
Salina: You can't help it.
Salina: Who would have known when she took off those glasses and pulled her hair out of that ponytail, that she was gorgeous?
Salina: Who would have known?
Nikki: It's funny that you say that, because I just watched He's All that on Netflix.
Nikki: Because I love She's All that, and I ended up reading the reviews of He's All that.
Nikki: And they were not super flattering.
Nikki: No, I thought it was delightful.
Salina: I'm sure I was.
Nikki: It was every bit as good as She's All that, which is not the world's best movie, but it's a similar concept.
Salina: I love a teen movie.
Nikki: I think that's what I came around to.
Nikki: I just really love a teen.
Nikki: I was literally blushing and holding my chest at some of their kisses and some of their sweet moments.
Nikki: So I just think I'm just forever a teenager at heart.
Nikki: I'm a twee.
Salina: Yeah, I get it.
Salina: Me, too.
Salina: So this is the only other thing I was going to say, and then we're done.
Nikki: Forever.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: In the middle of the movie.
Salina: This is what I thought was the most important thing for me on this watch.
Salina: So Vivian and Edward, they get in a fight after George Costanza or Stuckey.
Nikki: Hate that man.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: After he approaches her at the polo event, and he's like, hey, maybe we can have a good time anyways.
Salina: But then they make up and they really make up because it's Rita Darn Disney.
Nikki: Anyways, they didn't really make up.
Nikki: They didn't 50 Shades of Gray makeup.
Salina: There were no special closets in this one.
Salina: That's true.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: In that next scene, they're laying in bed and they have this really frank conversation about how she got to where she is.
Salina: And he tells her that she's amazing and that she has potential, and that's it.
Salina: That's real.
Salina: Because you don't have to be a sex worker in La.
Salina: To need to hear that.
Salina: Like, every human being on the face of this planet needs to hear that they're special.
Salina: And that is the gold and heart of this movie.
Salina: You're special.
Salina: Slam.
Salina: Every human being needs someone to believe in them, and that is what this movie was able to get at.
Salina: And that is really, I think, what keeps people coming back, in my opinion, on this watch so many years later.
Nikki: That was a really sweet senior, right?
Salina: Well and they both believed in one another.
Salina: And by the end, they have both made each other better.
Salina: And that's really, like, the cornerstone of a good relationship to me, in my opinion, is that you have that ability to grow together, and at least for now, that will be the ability to have.
Salina: So I could tear the movie down.
Salina: I could tear all the way down to its foundation.
Salina: But I really thought that that was something that struck me this time.
Nikki: I think that's a good point.
Nikki: And that's why I just say, like, it's cute.
Nikki: It's cute.
Nikki: Were there parts that could be seen as problematic?
Nikki: Yes, sure.
Nikki: Like a Disneyization of a movie about a sex worker is just going to be cute.
Nikki: That's the best way you can describe it.
Nikki: It's going to have issues that you could talk about at length, but I'm really good at I'm forcing myself out of my box with our Designing Women episodes and rewatches because it really is important to kind of stop and say, like, just so you know, this is what was not okay.
Nikki: It's just important to do that sometimes.
Nikki: I don't really want to do that with this one.
Nikki: Because it was cute.
Nikki: It was cute.
Nikki: We're not here to break down Pretty Woman.
Nikki: I was just here to report back to you what my thoughts were.
Salina: Absolutely.
Salina: This is all positive.
Salina: We'll get all negative again when we get into season two.
Salina: Not Nikki, just me.
Salina: All right, so you mentioned something about fun trivia.
Salina: Are we ready to head into that?
Nikki: So actually, Pretty Woman was supposed to have a much darker ending.
Nikki: Did you read any of this in your research?
Salina: Well, you know, I know an inordinate amount of things about movies, I think, too.
Salina: I think this is a well established thing.
Salina: Tell us what you learned.
Nikki: So I learned a couple of things.
Nikki: One, in the original ending, Vivian and Edward didn't end up together.
Nikki: Instead, Kit and Vivian end up on a bus headed toward Disneyland.
Nikki: And Kit was really excited for Disney, and Vivian was just staring blankly ahead.
Nikki: And you're supposed to sort of decide what that means.
Salina: Right.
Nikki: Another alternative ending that I found, and this one came out of left field because the only one I found corroborated in a lot of places was that ending.
Salina: Right.
Nikki: I found this other one where it ended with Kit overdosing.
Salina: I think that is one that based on something I've recently seen by the screenwriter who originally wrote this entire story.
Salina: That's more of a myth.
Salina: And the first one you mentioned is the truth.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: So then the other thing that's mildly related to this, and it's just this idea of a Disneyization of what could have been a dark story was that it it was, like, intended to be dark, but Disney was actually interested in it for that reason.
Nikki: They were looking for something grittier for Gary Marshall to do because he did Beaches, which was much grittier than what Disney had been known for to this point.
Salina: Gritty.
Salina: Serious.
Nikki: Serious.
Nikki: A little darker.
Nikki: A little bit more of a true kind of human story and not just a fairy tale.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: So that's actually what drew them to the movie, was this idea of a dark ending, of a kind of dark story.
Nikki: They were into that.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: It ended up getting rewritten and everything.
Nikki: Blah, blah, blah.
Nikki: But thought that was interesting.
Nikki: It is interesting.
Nikki: Interestingly.
Nikki: Ferrari and Porsche didn't want their cars to be associated with soliciting prostitutes.
Nikki: That's why Edwards driving the Lotus 1989.5 Espress E.
Nikki: I don't know.
Nikki: I'm just reading what's written.
Nikki: I thought that was interesting.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: During the scene where Julia Roberts is on the floor watching I Love Lucy and she's, like, laughing maniacally.
Salina: Right.
Nikki: Gary Marshall actually had to tickle her feet to make her laugh.
Salina: Yes.
Nikki: Weird.
Nikki: And the part where Julia Roberts laughs so hard when the jewelry box slams on her fingers, that was actually an improv moment.
Nikki: And that she really was surprised by that and laughed really hard.
Salina: They were playing a joke on her.
Nikki: Yes.
Nikki: And I actually thought Edward's face kind of knowing that his face in that scene carried more emotion.
Nikki: I mentioned earlier I thought he was wooden.
Nikki: If you watch that scene again, because I did watch it twice after I had read that, that was improv.
Nikki: There's actually some emotion there where he is sort of almost laughing because he surprised her.
Nikki: And his character was not like that the rest of the movie.
Nikki: So you almost see him come through.
Nikki: Richard Gear come through versus the character.
Salina: Interesting.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: That might be part of why his character was wooden.
Nikki: It might have been intentional.
Salina: Sure.
Nikki: And then Julia Roberts was relatively unknown before filming, and she was not the first choice.
Nikki: So she had done Steel Magnolias, I think, at the time that she was recording this, though, I think I read it hadn't come out yet.
Nikki: But she had done it.
Nikki: And she had had some other roles, but Molly Ringwald was in the running for this one.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan.
Salina: I think Meg Ryan is who they wanted the most.
Nikki: Darryl Hannah and Jennifer Connolly, which surprises me.
Nikki: They were all reportedly offered the role of Vivian, but there was a lot of, like, I don't want to play a prostitute going on al Pacino.
Salina: That one was so weird to me.
Salina: I did read that.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: Not to play Vivian.
Nikki: I'm sorry, to be clear, we're talking about now.
Nikki: We've moved on to Edward.
Nikki: Sorry.
Nikki: To be clear, al Pacino, Christopher Reeve, Daniel Day Lewis, and Denzel Washington were all considered for Edward.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: I did not know about Daniel Day Lewis.
Salina: I think he would have done a nice job.
Nikki: I didn't know he was around back then.
Salina: Well, Last of the Mohicans was in 91 or 92.
Nikki: I've never seen that movie.
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: Which will not surprise you.
Salina: Well, but that one, I think I've only seen parts.
Salina: For what it's worth, I may have eventually watched it.
Nikki: I mean, I've seen it on TV.
Nikki: They used to play like the took forever when they played it.
Nikki: I've seen it, but I've not seen it.
Nikki: Do you know any other trivia about this movie?
Salina: Well, I wanted to give us a Georgia connection.
Nikki: Okey dokey.
Salina: Because not only was her character the character of Vivian from Millageville, Georgia, but Julia Roberts herself is from Smyrna, Georgia.
Nikki: That's right.
Salina: So actually I almost moved to Smyrna a few years ago.
Salina: Didn't happen.
Nikki: But she's not bitter.
Salina: No.
Nikki: If that had happened, we wouldn't have a podcast.
Salina: It would be a little harder to get over this, myrna not going to lie.
Salina: But yeah.
Salina: So I thought that was like an interesting thing because I don't know, some people because this is a Southern podcast, might be like, why are you guys talking about something that took place in La.
Nikki: So we're going to find a really small tangential relationship and give that to you to make you happy.
Salina: Julia Roberts is the biggest part of this movie.
Salina: So interestingly.
Salina: Go ahead.
Nikki: Oh, well, now I want you to finish.
Nikki: Is it still about her being from Smyrna?
Nikki: No.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: What I was going to say there is the reason that Gary Marshall, what I read, the reason he gave her the connection to Millageville was because he was afraid her accent would show through and people would be like, she's in La.
Nikki: What's happening here?
Nikki: So he gave her the connection to Millageville so that if her accent showed through, that would be why I only.
Salina: Heard her accent come through, like maybe once or twice.
Nikki: There were a few spots that they pointed out that it just sounded more casual to me.
Nikki: I wouldn't say I considered it Southern.
Nikki: It just sounded more casual.
Nikki: And now I'm going to forget everything.
Nikki: But when she gets on the elevator, she says something like, seat for two.
Salina: Years, there's a Satan here for two.
Salina: Now I just really countryed that up.
Nikki: But you can hear it.
Nikki: And it just to me sounded casual because my ear is trained almost to the Southern accent.
Nikki: So it just sounded casual to me.
Nikki: I didn't really register that's what was happening.
Nikki: But apparently if you're from La.
Nikki: That sounds super Southern.
Nikki: And he was concerned viewers would catch that and wonder like, well, what's her backstory?
Nikki: So he gave her one.
Salina: Interesting.
Salina: Okay, that's good to know.
Salina: So this is completely different.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Pretty Woman was the second movie that Meg Ryan passed on that would end up landing Julia Roberts an Oscar nomination.
Nikki: Is that right?
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: So before passing on pretty woman, ryan turned down the role in still magnolia's to star in when harry met sally.
Salina: Oh, well, with Roberts going on to earn a best supporting actress nod for the tear jerker, I can't imagine anyone else but Julia Roberts.
Salina: In that role.
Salina: And I can't imagine anyone else as Sally.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: So that red dress when they go to the opera almost didn't happen.
Salina: The studio wanted her to wear black.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: Didn't make any sense.
Salina: I don't know.
Salina: That dress was just awesome.
Nikki: It was really beautiful.
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: This is one the morning after their first after the piano scene.
Nikki: The first tryst where they made out on the piano.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: Where they made out on the panty.
Salina: What on the pancake?
Salina: Anyways, he orders, like, everything on the menu up in their suite.
Salina: And there's a mistake with her excuse me, in the penthouse.
Salina: Mistake with her baked goods.
Salina: So in one cut, she's eating a croissant and it's about halfway through it, it bounces back to gear, then her and she's halfway through a pancake.
Nikki: Did you notice that?
Nikki: I don't understand the problem.
Nikki: I don't understand.
Salina: The problem is every morning identify with that.
Salina: That's called a continental breakfast.
Salina: So that's something that I noticed when I was like 13 or something, like, really young.
Salina: I was like, Wait a second.
Salina: She's on the wrong baked good.
Nikki: I'm just a really fast eater.
Nikki: So I think that probably just registered with me.
Nikki: That one.
Nikki: She hadn't eaten in hours.
Nikki: She had had a scene, and she's hungry.
Salina: I think you should go back and watch that scene.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Even as fast as you may be.
Salina: Me too.
Nikki: Fast with food.
Salina: Not fast food, just fast with food.
Nikki: Right.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: So the other thing I was going to say is for anybody who just wants more about Pretty Woman or is interested, the movies that made us on Netflix.
Nikki: Oh, yeah.
Salina: Awesome.
Nikki: I haven't watched this one yet.
Nikki: I think I was supposed to.
Nikki: I haven't watched it.
Salina: Have you watched the show at all?
Nikki: I watched Back to the Future and absolutely loved it.
Salina: It's really interesting.
Nikki: Right?
Salina: But there's a lot of good cult classics that are covered.
Salina: So if you just like to really get into the nitty gritty details and chances are, if you're listening to this, you probably do, it's a good one for you.
Salina: Very well done.
Salina: And I think it's also kind of cool because it kind of shows there's, like, all these monumental movies that almost didn't happen.
Salina: So it's kind of fun.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: All right, let's talk about Pretty Woman's legacy.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: Because there's quite a bit there to be had.
Salina: I think we both did some digging around for this.
Salina: Do you want to kick us off?
Salina: Is there anything that really landed with you?
Nikki: I mean, I think one of the things I wanted to say is probably the most obvious, but the movie grossed almost half a billion dollars.
Nikki: And when you talk about Romcoms, even 30 years later, this is one of the first ones that people mention, which is so strange because I do love a romantic comedy.
Nikki: Like, there are very few I haven't seen.
Nikki: So the fact that I've never seen.
Nikki: This is so crazy.
Salina: Okay, well, that's what everybody's saying.
Nikki: What do you mean that I haven't watched it?
Salina: Yeah.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: My friends are baffled.
Nikki: Right.
Nikki: Sorry.
Nikki: I'm sorry, guys.
Nikki: I'm just fixing it.
Nikki: But I did want to say that some places have even credited it with revamping this genre, and I just thought that was so interesting.
Salina: Well, it's the highest grossing, most successful rom.com of all time.
Nikki: That is so crazy.
Salina: Even today.
Nikki: That is so crazy.
Salina: Yeah, actually.
Salina: So I think that almost half a billion globally.
Salina: That's 19 $90.
Nikki: Right.
Nikki: So it's probably tons more now.
Salina: Well, in today's dollars.
Salina: You know how it looked.
Nikki: Sure.
Salina: It's 828,000,000 in today's money.
Salina: It's also, I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong, it's still the highest grossing Disney movie with a rated R.
Nikki: Yes, I do think I read that.
Nikki: I think I read that somewhere.
Salina: I tried to look into some other Touchstone movies.
Salina: They've got a lot I don't know.
Salina: Et.
Nikki: A touchstone movie.
Salina: I didn't see that one.
Salina: But if you want to talk about contemporaries, it'd be like Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Salina: But it was a ton of movies that I think they just closed that official name and everything.
Salina: Maybe it got consumed by something else.
Salina: Subsumed anyways, whatever, in 2018.
Salina: Okay, so not that long ago, but anyways, once I've seen The Legacy of Touchstone, I think that's even it is surprising that no other rom.com has surpassed it crazy.
Salina: According to an Atlantic article, Pretty Woman and When Harry Met Sally, this is revived together the entire romcom genre.
Salina: And so it's interesting that we both ran across that, but it recaptured the obligatory happy ending and so paved the way for, like, another 15 years or so of just these romcoms.
Nikki: Mostly Julia Roberts movies.
Salina: Absolutely.
Salina: And on that note, the legacy of this movie is Julia Roberts.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: I mean, she is still, to this day, actually.
Salina: I don't know.
Salina: Do you think young, young stars, really young, young stars, young, young people today really understand how much of a star Julia Roberts is and was?
Salina: I don't know.
Nikki: I think she's just sort of accepted as an A lister, like the way Brad Pitt is, no matter what your age is, you know, these people are legends.
Nikki: Maybe you don't know why, but you know they're legends.
Salina: I have read stories where they like news articles where people are like, don't tell me.
Nikki: I don't want to know, all right?
Nikki: I don't want to know about the future of our world.
Nikki: Not knowing who Julia Roberts is in.
Salina: That legacy, though, also, highest paid actress in Hollywood at 20 million a film.
Salina: I mean, now I don't know how that works now, honestly.
Salina: The thing is that at the absolute peak of her powers, hollywood was different.
Salina: So it was all about star power.
Salina: They'll take you out of a franchise and throw in someone else in a heartbeat.
Salina: And most of the time it's not even going to matter anymore.
Salina: That's just the Marvel world we're living in.
Salina: Still Disney.
Salina: So there you go.
Salina: One thing hasn't changed.
Salina: Disney's still doing all right, but I thought it was kind of funny, too, talking about this idea of Meg Ryan was up for the role.
Salina: So either way, these two women who were going out for similar roles or being considered for similar roles wind up completely changing the landscape of this part of the movie world for a decade and a half at least.
Salina: I'll tell you another thing that was really funny to me, was apparently the COVID on Pretty Woman, which is also the movie poster, which I brought along with me today, winds up influencing an entire generation of movie covers.
Nikki: Oh, is that right?
Salina: Yeah.
Salina: So I think they used to be more abstract.
Salina: They didn't necessarily show, like, your two main stars or whatever.
Salina: And I actually looked at an entire article where they just showed movie cover after movie cover after this one comes out where it's almost the exact same thing.
Salina: The woman is standing straight up and the guy is leaning back on her.
Salina: The movie title to the side.
Nikki: Probably all Hugh Grant movies, by the way.
Nikki: I feel like all of his movies look the same.
Nikki: Also, did you read just I'm sorry, I'm going to bounce back to Trivia real quick.
Nikki: That's not actually her body on the.
Salina: COVID Or in that opening scene.
Nikki: Or in that opening scene.
Nikki: Yeah.
Nikki: They Photoshopped her head on someone else.
Salina: I'm like, why?
Nikki: I don't know.
Nikki: But I do remember in the opening scene when they were showing her body, I was like, that doesn't look like Julia Roberts.
Nikki: I can't explain to you why I thought that.
Salina: Well, I read something where they were like, this gangly woman came into our hearts.
Salina: Like just saying, like, she was very itty bitty thin.
Salina: And maybe that body was a little bit more bodacious or curvy.
Salina: But I just sort of like, she looks all right to me.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: Let's see.
Salina: The movie had a huge influence on fashion.
Salina: Even today, people replicate her brown polka dot dress.
Nikki: Oh, yeah.
Salina: Like on the runway.
Salina: I think there's a whole article about it, I'm pretty sure.
Salina: But every single one of those all of the clothes were handmade for the two of them by the costume designer.
Salina: None of that came off the rack, which I thought was interesting.
Nikki: I read that the jacket she wore at the very beginning and then kind of throughout the movie when she's about to get in the car with him, that actually that was purchased off the street right before the film started.
Salina: But not off the rack, right?
Nikki: No, you're still right.
Nikki: You're still right.
Nikki: But yeah, it was a last minute purchase.
Salina: Funny.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: Also, this whole idea of richer gear wasn't the performance for you.
Salina: I definitely see where you're coming from.
Salina: But it rekindled his career good for him, but, well, if it wasn't for this, we wouldn't have had Primal Fear.
Nikki: That was a really good movie.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: And I wanted to before we kind of wrap things up, I wanted to talk about a connection to Designing Women.
Nikki: Oh, let's do it.
Salina: Because here's the thing again, Designing Women, by the way, guys, not our focus forever.
Salina: It's our focus for now.
Salina: Right?
Salina: We're going to see where the show leads us and not the other way around.
Salina: But I think what an interesting connection between these two would be that they are contemporaries.
Salina: So when Pretty Woman hit the theaters in 1990, designing Women was close to the height of its powers.
Salina: Okay, so in our final finale help me.
Nikki: Finale, finale.
Salina: Finale, finale.
Salina: Why can't I get that right?
Salina: We talked about the critical review and how most of the critics were men th, and we didn't really feel like they got a fair shake.
Salina: And when it is all men judging a show that is female driven or that's in this genre that's considered feminine, can that lend itself to a fair review?
Salina: I'm wincing.
Salina: So I don't know.
Salina: I'm sure everybody has different opinions.
Salina: I think we made our opinion pretty clear in the last episode.
Salina: Our final finale.
Salina: Finale, finale, finale.
Salina: I ran across a 2018 Refinery 29 article that posits the same about the initial panning of Pretty Woman by critics because it was widely panned even, again, this idea of a critical darling.
Salina: I don't know who they're writing these reviews for, right?
Salina: But this is what it said in that article.
Salina: Many of the male dominated reviews focus on the film's frivolity, a criticism regularly applied to rom coms, viewed as a genre that appeals to women and therefore is less serious than, say, a wartime drama.
Salina: And I just think that's really interesting.
Salina: So I think in both of these cases, whether it's Designing Women in its inaugural season or whether it's Pretty Woman, the critics were taking it and they were just putting it on another shelf.
Salina: They're like, this is an apocalypse now.
Salina: What does this have to do with me?
Salina: And I just think that that sort of shows like where there is a connection between these two things that may seem seemingly different from the outside, but actually do have some connection to the two.
Salina: That because the world around it, the thing that everybody not everybody, but that is generally as accepted as this thing that decides what's good and what's bad, what matters and what doesn't, was able to categorize and place these two different pieces of art where they saw fit, but the world came around to see it in different terms.
Nikki: That is so interesting.
Nikki: I think I always try to watch something for what it is.
Nikki: So I mentioned a few minutes ago, he's all that I don't watch it because I expect it to be one of the great opuses of all time because I expect it to be an Academy Award winning gone with the Wind sort of thing.
Nikki: I want it because it's going to be a cute teen movie, I hope.
Nikki: That's what I want.
Nikki: Sure.
Nikki: And so I've always been able to kind of put in this.
Nikki: That's why this movie I'm like.
Nikki: That's cute.
Nikki: I liked it.
Nikki: I'd watch it again.
Nikki: It's cute.
Nikki: That's why I'm able to put it in this category.
Nikki: And it's interesting that the critical reviewers aren't able to see them in those different places.
Nikki: The other thing I was going to say is I read an article and I don't have it in my notes here, but there was one article that said there was at least one review by a male reviewer.
Nikki: Almost half the review focused on Julia Roberts appearance and whether she could truly be believed as a sex worker.
Nikki: Almost like, was she attractive enough to be in this role?
Nikki: And it really focused on her appearance.
Nikki: That reviewer actually ended up retracting a big part of his review or recasting his review or something.
Salina: Many years later, I think I ran.
Nikki: Across where he came back and said, like, it wasn't fully fair.
Nikki: Here's my defense, but it wasn't fully fair.
Nikki: And I think that was just something interesting kind of in the vein of what you're talking about.
Salina: All right, well, is there anything else that we want to cover?
Nikki: I think that was it.
Nikki: Topics wise, I'll say you can watch Pretty Woman pretty much just on Amazon.
Nikki: It's the only place I was able to find it.
Nikki: Selena was able to order it on Amazon.
Nikki: Amazon order the DVD.
Nikki: But if you want to watch the digital version, amazon was about it.
Nikki: You can rent it.
Nikki: It was like $4 for 72 hours.
Nikki: If you can't hear it.
Nikki: I'm a little bitter, and that's why.
Salina: I got the DVD, because for $4, I also got special features, which she hated.
Salina: But yeah, you want to see a crappy 1990 movie trailer?
Nikki: It's on there.
Nikki: It only cost you $4 essentially for free.
Nikki: So I wanted to mention that I do want to ask the audience.
Nikki: I think Selena will tell me, but if there are any more movies that I need to watch that I have just missed the boat on, that I should really consider.
Nikki: Because if you liked the way we went with this episode, we could totally do that.
Nikki: It's great if it has a Southern connection, but I don't think it has to have a Southern connection.
Salina: No, we just need to make sure that your movie watch watching whatever is up to par.
Nikki: I know it's sad.
Nikki: It is sad.
Nikki: I've seen a lot of movies, and then there are a lot I haven't seen.
Salina: I mean, I feel like you could say that for most people.
Salina: So definitely open to thoughts from anyone else, but we won't get any of those right now.
Salina: So all I'll say is I received a lot of slow blinks from you over the course of the season.
Salina: I can't remember all of them, but it feels like maybe somewhere is there some gaps in the 80s teen movies?
Nikki: Probably.
Salina: I feel like maybe there's some.
Salina: There like 16 candles.
Nikki: Seen it.
Nikki: Love it.
Salina: Okay, great.
Nikki: I've seen pretty in pink.
Salina: Oh, maybe that's not where your gap is.
Salina: Well, I did hear you say mystic pizza earlier.
Nikki: That was a delayed reaction.
Salina: Well, that was an accident on my part.
Salina: It doesn't matter anyways.
Salina: Mystic pizza is one that I heard you say.
Salina: It was literally on my list here, and then you said at the top that you hadn't seen.
Nikki: Oh, sorry.
Salina: I think you should go back and watch that.
Nikki: I have always gotten the sense that that is not a movie worth watching.
Salina: And where did you get that sense from?
Nikki: I've always gotten the sense that that's where you should know.
Nikki: Julia Roberts got her start, but I've literally never had someone tell me, you know, what movie you haven't seen that you really should.
Nikki: Mystic pizza.
Salina: Well, that's not how I would frame it.
Salina: I would frame it as it's worth the watch.
Salina: Not worth the watch.
Salina: Worth a watch.
Nikki: It's like the same thing to me.
Salina: Really?
Salina: No, worth the watch is like no, for real.
Nikki: Worth a watch.
Nikki: And the thing that I said, they feel like the same thing.
Nikki: Well, you got nothing else going on.
Salina: Exactly.
Salina: And the last time I tried to categorize that is Saturday morning when you don't have much going on.
Salina: You laughed at me and said, that is not how the world works when you have two young children.
Salina: And I went, oh, yeah, that's right.
Nikki: So I feel like that's an important caveat.
Nikki: If you're going to recommend a movie.
Salina: To me, it would be when you're on the workout machine.
Nikki: Sure.
Salina: Okay.
Salina: Yeah, throw it on.
Salina: It's not going to change your life, but it is an interesting watch.
Salina: And it is an interesting watch over, I think, a certain coming of age for women and the bonds of friendship.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: What else is on your list?
Salina: And Pizza.
Nikki: More is Jennifer Aniston and Mystic Pizza.
Nikki: Am I making that up?
Salina: You are making that up.
Nikki: Perfect.
Salina: Okay, carry on.
Salina: Anna green gables came up a lot.
Salina: See, I would not point you towards the even though I think it's a period piece.
Salina: So it's not like it's going to of course it's going to look dated.
Salina: It's from like, 1910.
Nikki: Have you seen the secret garden closet?
Nikki: Is it similar?
Nikki: The late 80s, early ninety s one?
Salina: The one that has Colin Firth?
Salina: Well, we don't want to go down this road on air.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: So, yes, I have seen this.
Nikki: Is it similar?
Nikki: Was my question.
Salina: It's probably the same time period, but one is in England and one is in Nova Scotia.
Salina: I don't know how to answer that question.
Salina: I loved both.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: And I think what I would suggest for and of Green Gables, though, is that you consider watching it with your daughter okay.
Salina: And your son.
Salina: Excuse me, what a sexist children.
Salina: And then I would watch the Netflix version.
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Is it new?
Nikki: Okay.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: So you should watch yeah, I mean, they've definitely, like, elongated, the stories, because there's several books.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: They've definitely elongated.
Salina: It has to be past what's in Anne of Green Gables, the book, because it's like three seasons at ten episodes each.
Salina: I'm thinking that's more content than that.
Salina: But I think it's cute.
Salina: It's still wholesome.
Salina: I think it's a little edgier, but it's definitely still A rated G thing.
Nikki: Okay.
Salina: And I think it brings in more of today's understanding of the world around this is what I'll say.
Salina: So those are some I will keep thinking about it.
Salina: I do think we should start keeping a running list, and I will be more aware of that in this next season.
Nikki: I want them all to be as fun as this one was.
Nikki: This was not something I felt like was a drudge to watch.
Nikki: I watched it, and I was like, oh, I like this.
Salina: Okay, I'll keep that in mind.
Nikki: Full disclosure, I started watching it on free form because that was the only way I could find it for free.
Nikki: And it was heavily I thought heavily edited.
Nikki: And it took me I sat down to try to watch it, like three or four times, and for whatever reason, I just could not get into it.
Nikki: I ended up down, like, renting the full version from Amazon Prime.
Nikki: And it wasn't that heavily edited.
Nikki: To get back to my point about the fact that I was really expecting a whole lot more out of this one, but there were some key parts that were cut that really made it like something Kit said at the end of the movie, which was really funny, was not in the free form version.
Nikki: And it was just so much funnier because she said it.
Nikki: So anyhow, I hope they're all this fun, because that was fun.
Salina: Yay.
Salina: I'm glad.
Nikki: So what's next for sweet tea and TV?
Nikki: Well, we're going to come back.
Nikki: We're going to come back on November 15 with season two of Designing Women.
Nikki: We're committed to season two now of Designing Women.
Nikki: Like you said, we're not always all the time Designing Women, but right now it feels right.
Nikki: We still feel like we're getting what we wanted out of this podcast, which was to dive into Southern stereotypes and Southern culture.
Nikki: And we're getting that.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: Oh, there is one thing we always are.
Salina: We're always Southern.
Nikki: We're always up forever.
Nikki: Yeah.
Salina: That can't change.
Nikki: No, I can't get out of it.
Nikki: No.
Salina: Sorry, guys.
Nikki: So we'll come back.
Nikki: We're going to take a couple of weeks off.
Nikki: Then we're going to come back to our regularly scheduled content.
Nikki: And in the meantime, as always, we'd love everyone to follow along and engage on Instagram and Facebook at sweetteaandtv.
Nikki: If you want to email us, we're at sweettvpod@gmail.com.
Nikki: Our website is www.sweettv.com.
Nikki: And with that, Salina, do you want to take it away?
Salina: Well, we'll see you around the bin.
Salina: Bye.
Comments