The Top 10 Movie Plot Twists and ‘The Drama.’ Plus: ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Certainly Exists.

April 3, 2026·1 hr 27 min·5 clips

Amanda's partner Eileen called Super Mario Galaxy 'one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life' despite it being on track for $300-500 million.

1. The Big Picture, hosted by Sean Fennessey and Amanda Davin, reviews Christopher Borgli's The Drama and the Super Mario Galaxy movie while covering film news including Backrooms and the Cannes lineup. 2. Sean Fennessey is a film critic and host; Amanda Davin co-hosts; both saw the films with family over spring break and bring parental as well as critical perspectives. 3. The episode's central question is whether big-budget animated sequels like Super Mario Galaxy are aesthetically and culturally bankrupt, and whether The Drama's doom-com twist approach actually works. 4. Super Mario Galaxy earns the show's 'evil movie' designation—a label previously given to Free Guy and Fast X—for being what Sean calls 'creatively and aesthetically bankrupt' despite near-certain box office dominance. 5. Amanda's partner Eileen described Super Mario Galaxy as 'one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life' immediately after the film, even as their daughter Alice 'had the time of her life' and loved the Rosalina/Princess Peach sister reveal. 6. Sean took his four-year-old son Nox to a 9:30 a.m. opening-day screening and observed what he calls the 'sedated slop face'—a glazed, passive look he attributes to the film's cocomelon-style rapid cutting. 7. Sean argues that Super Mario Galaxy's Michael Bay-like pace mimics the experience of playing a video game—constant obstacle avoidance, villain defeat, and world-switching—at the expense of character, emotion, or moral stakes. 8. He traces a 15-to-20-year evolution in animated films from self-discovery narratives (Disney fairy tales, early Pixar) to action-movie templates introduced by franchises like How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, and The Bad Guys. 9. The film's two visual departures—a different animation style for the Gladys prequel bowser puppet show and a hand-drawn Star Fox introduction voiced by Glen Powell—are noted as evidence that more interesting visual choices were available but not taken. 10. Nox, asked what Super Mario Galaxy was about, answered 'a ship that shoots lasers,' and also correctly identified that Princess Peach had a sister, summarizing the film's emotional and narrative content in two data points. 11. The Cannes lineup discussion speculates James Gray, Jane Schoenbrun, and the Zellner Brothers may attend; Hamaguchi's new film was announced with a teaser; Asghar Farhadi, Cristian Mungiu, and Koreeda are expected among international heavyweights. 12. 20-year-old Kane Parsons directed Backrooms, a May 24 Kubrickian horror film starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renata Reinsva about a furniture store with infinite rooms behind its walls; Sean calls the trailer 'genuinely depressing to be 43 and see.' 13. The Adventures of Cliff Booth, from David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino starring Brad Pitt (reportedly paid $40 million), is targeting a fall release and may debut at Venice. 14. A Gladys prequel written by Zach Krentz (original director) and Zach Shields is in development, set in the 1940s with Phoebe Dynevor; Sean speculates about an alternative continuity linking the character to the Salem witch trials and agelessness. 15. For The Drama, Sean and Amanda both warn listeners not to continue until seeing the film, framing the twist reveal as genuinely experience-altering rather than a marketing gimmick. 16. Sean describes The Drama as 'doom com'—a film that knows romantic comedy beats and works against audience expectations—and says Christopher Borgli's 'court jester attitude toward humanity' makes it work despite inevitable audience division. 17. The Drama leans more toward Robert Pattinson's character structurally, despite Zendaya leading the marketing, because the story positions the audience in Pattinson's POV after Zendaya's reveal midway through. 18. The episode has a relaxed, witty, culturally literate tone; hosts interrupt each other frequently, riff on tangents (Easter, god, David Fincher's cream suit, a Mercedes convertible), and reference their children throughout. 19. The episode is best for film fans who follow awards-season titles, care about animation and children's media criticism, and have seen or plan to see The Drama. 20. Listeners who want plot-focused reviews, dislike parenting tangents, or have not seen The Drama should stop before the second half of the episode.

As heard by us

A sharp Big Picture episode on The Drama, Super Mario Galaxy, and the movie twists that still start arguments.

Sean Fennessey and Amanda Davin set up a knowingly odd Big Picture pairing: Christopher Borgli's The Drama, with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as an engaged couple rattled by a reveal, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, framed as its blunt opposite in audience and apparent…

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Why you'd press play

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson's wedding doom-com, a Mario sequel, and the greatest movie plot twist of all time.

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