93. Mannequin

Man, if you weren't there in the Philadelphia department store scene back in '87, then you just wouldn't get it. Luckily, the movie Mannequin (1987) is here to fill you in: It's a battle of two behemoth stores—the mom-and-pop-owned Prince & Company and the tacky upstart Illustra. At the center of it all is Jonathan Switcher (Andrew McCarthy), a dreamer with a heart of gold who falls in love with a mannequin (Kim Cattrall). Except this mannequin's secretly a real person, inhabited by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian woman named Emmy. Tale as old as time. 

Swirling around all of this is a fiery debate between your hosts over whether Andrew McCarthy is a loveable and sweet everyman (Laci) or a translucent void lacking any semblance of charisma or screen presence (Matt). 

Watch this episode in full on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AT5pS0Y-TqQ

Time stamps:

• 00:03:08 — Laci's history with Mannequin and why she wanted to cover it on this episode
• 00:05:07 — Pre-movie predictions
• 00:08:10 — History segment: Career overviews of writer/director Michael Gottlieb and stars Andrew McCarthy & Kim Cattrall, and the role market research played in the development of this film
• 00:35:29 — In-depth movie discussion
• 01:34:09 — Final thoughts and star ratings

Head to https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeamspod to watch new, full video episodes every week.

Artwork by Laci Roth.

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).  

NEXT WEEK: We're covering The Butterfly Effect (2004) with special guest Cinematic Joshua (@cinematicjoshua on TikTok)