‘Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie’ Will Probably Appease Fans of the Show While Making Everyone Else Wonder What the Hell is Going On

September 25, 2025

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Meow? (CREDIT: DreamWorks Animation)

Starring: Laila Lockhart Kraner, Gloria Estefan, Kristen Wiig, Jason Mantzoukas, Logan Bailey, Fortune Feimster, Thomas Lennon, Melissa Villaseñor, Ego Nwodim, Matty Matheson, Juliet Donenfeld, Eduardo Franco, Maggie Lowe, Sainty Nelsen, Donovan Patton, Tara Strong, Carla Tassara, Secunda Wood, Kyle Mooney

Director: Ryan Crego

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: G (Although Some of the Jokes Are Cheekily Off-Color in a Kid-Friendly Way)

Release Date: September 26, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Based on the Netflix series of the same name, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie introduces the multiplex-frequenting public to the titular young woman (Laila Lockhart Kraner) and her titular feline-filled toy abode. She and her grandma Gigi (Gloria Estefan) make their way to “Cat Francisco,” which is just one part of a cat-tacularly pun-filled alterna-USA wherein Gabby has the power to shrink down into a cartoon version of herself to truly hang out in the dollhouse. But disaster strikes when her Gabby Cats end up in the villainous claws of Vera (Kristen Wiig), a cat lady who’s forgotten how to play with her toys in favor of just collecting them. So Gabby and Gigi set out on a rescue mission to retrieve her best friends. But meanwhile, she’ll have to watch out for the seen-it-all kitty Chumsley (Jason Mantzoukas), who suspects that Gabby might have outgrown the wonders of the dollhouse.

What Made an Impression?: Virginia Horsen Energy: GD: The Movie is obviously not made for adult film critics. It looks like the show is basically the Blue’s Clues of its time, which is to say it’s primarily for the preschool set. Maybe the big screen version is aiming a few ages higher, while parents can theoretically keep their sanity by focusing on Kristen Wiig as the femme fatale. To her credit, she does indeed give a much stranger performance than you would expect to find in a G-rated flick for tykes. Vera legitimately could’ve been a beloved recurring character on SNL back during An Golden Era.
What’s Up, Jerks?: Even more bizarre than Wiig’s presence is the top billing of Jason Mantzoukas in an all-ages affair. Maybe my sense or reality has been warped by all my years of listening to How Did This Get Made?, but it really did feel like Chumsley might just shout “What’s up, jerks?!” at any point. And I really did think while watching, “Is this a Jacob’s Ladder Scenario?” If Gabby’s Dollhouse has all along been a sneaky operation to get the next generation hooked on deranged comedy, then I gotta say that the kids’ll be all right.
The Rest is Cacophony: If it sounds like I’ve become a low-key Gabby’s Dollhouse superfan, well, that’s because I only focused on the few parts that I enjoyed in spite of everything else. The rest of it was just a big blur of candy colors and chaotic cupcake explosions that subtly declared, “You can just let your mind wander and think about whatever.” I was somewhat intrigued by the messy assemblage of the soundtrack, which included the likes of a recent chart-topper by Bruno Mars, the All-4-One ballad “I Swear,” the worldbeat hit “Makeba” by French singer Jain, and something that I’m pretty sure is entitled “Skibidi Meow.” So in conclusion: this movie has several bizarre beats that might just stick with me, but otherwise it’ s a low-rent Toy Story 2.

Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is Recommended If You Like: Cats that can cry sprinkles

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Cat Franciscos

Kyle Mooney Takes Us Back to ‘Y2K’ for a Coming-of-Age Apocalypse

December 5, 2024

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Did these guys do it all for the Nookie? (CREDIT: Nicole Rivelli/A24)

Starring: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Daniel Zolghadri, Lachlan Watson, Eduardo Franco, Fred Durst, Kyle Mooney, Mason Gooding, The Kid Laroi, Miles Robbins, Tim Heidecker, Alicia Silverstone, Lauren Balone, Kevin Mangold

Director: Kyle Mooney

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: R for Stabby Electronics, Potty Humor, and Teenage Party Antics

Release Date: December 6, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: It’s December 31, 1999, and all Eli (Jaeden Martell) wants to do is finally hook up with his crush Laura (Rachel Zegler). His good buddy Danny (Julian Dennison) has his back, but pretty much everyone else in their high school relentlessly mocks them. But soon enough, that’ll be the least of their worries, because of this little thing called the Y2K virus. The start of the year 2000 was supposed to cause mass confusion among the world’s electronics as they mistakenly interpreted those last two digits as 1900. But in the real world, the new year rolled in with merely a blip. But what if instead the Y2K bug was a signal for all the computers to unite into a singularity and conquer humanity, and what if it all went down in Eli and Danny’s hometown?

What Made an Impression?: Apocalyptic Nostalgia: Y2K was directed and co-written by Kyle Mooney, who was 15 in December 1999. His fondness for the era is abundantly clear, and you get the sense that he was kind of disappointed that the world didn’t explode on January 1. I’m sure he didn’t actually want things to turn quite as violent as his movie does, but this nevertheless feels like a dream come true in a way. Basically, Y2K is what happens if you go, “What if the 1998 teen comedy Can’t Hardly Wait had been about the end of the world?” And that promise certainly sounds invigorating.
The Mooney House Style: In his years as a YouTube creator and Saturday Night Live cast member, Mooney perfected his own unique version of what is often termed “awkward” or “cringe” comedy. And while those descriptors are certainly accurate, they don’t fully capture his arsenal, as his videos also often manage to be quite sweet and weirdly exhilarating. Which is one way of saying, it’s really hard to do what Kyle Mooney does if you’re not Kyle Mooney or one of his longtime collaborators. Martell, Zegler, Dennison and the rest of the young cast all do their best to play believable, well-rounded teenagers. But in attempting to bring Mooney and Evan Winter’s script to life, it’s like they’re speaking in a language they’re not quite fluent in. Mooney himself naturally proves to be much more readily capable as a video store employee, as does fellow iconic weirdo Tim Heidecker as Eli’s dad. Perhaps the now-40-year-old Mooney could’ve pulled a PEN15 and played the lead character himself?
My Bizkit Hasn’t Been This Limp in Years: Finally, we as a moviegoing society in 2024 have to talk about something very important, as this is the second movie this year trading on our collective familiarity with a certain iconic/infamous rock star. Yes indeed, after Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst was unrecognizable in I Saw the TV Glow, he shows up in Y2K as himself to save the world with the power of nu metal. Like a lot of teens and preteens in 1999, I was more or less obsessed with Limp Bizkit, but I thought I had grown out of that as I put childish things away. But now we find ourselves at this cultural reckoning where we must ask ourselves: is the bard behind “Nookie” and “Break Stuff” a national treasure? If my limited understanding of a certain famous psychologist and theorist is correct, then there’s something Jungian about how Durst keeps popping up. Mooney certainly has a knack for tapping into the collective unconscious, and Y2K is at its strongest when you can feel him utilizing that skill.

Y2K is Recommended If You Like: Dial-up modems, Cheesy outdated computer graphics, Getting lost among the cliques

Grade: 3 out of 5 Viruses

‘Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’ Explores What It’s Like to Be a Sea Monster Family Living Amongst the Humans

June 29, 2023

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What’s Kraken? (CREDIT: DreamWorks)

Starring: Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Jane Fonda, Annie Murphy, Sam Richardson, Colman Domingo, Jaboukie Young-White, Liza Koshy, Blue Chapman, Eduardo Franco, Ramona Young

Director: Kirk DeMicco

Running Time: 91 Minutes

Rating: PG for Colorful, Town-Upending Sea Creature Battles

Release Date: June 30, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: 15-year-old Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) lives with her parents and younger brother in the oceanside town of Oceanside, but she’s not allowed to ever go in the water. She soon discovers why, as an impromptu attempt to save her crush from drowning results in her blowing up into a certain gigantic legendary sea creature. As it turns out, her mom Agatha (Toni Collette) chose to raise her kids on dry land to escape the eternal underwater struggle for power. But once Ruby discovers that her grandmother (Jane Fonda), who insists on being called “Grandmamah,” emphasis on the last syllable, is the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas, she happily embraces her royal heritage. On top of all that, Ruby becomes fast friends with a new girl in town who’s also a mermaid (Annie Murphy), whose eagerness to please might just merit a little skepticism.

What Made an Impression?: Oh, Canada, That Explains Everything: One gag that I wish Ruby Gillman had leaned on a little harder is the Gillman family cover story. They’re non-human creatures living amongst humans, so they explain away their cerulean hue and swishy physicality by insisting that they’re from Canada. It’s like the Coneheads saying that they’re from France: there was nothing particularly French about those SNL aliens, just as there’s nothing particularly maple-filled aboot these krakens. But it’s delightful to witness their neighbors accept that claim at face value. Instead of serving as a running gag, though, it’s just an appetizer to the fantastical adventure.
It Runs in the Family: With its transformational premise, you’d think that Ruby Gillman is primarily a metaphor about adolescence, and I suppose it is. But what struck me more was the focus on conflicting parenting philosophies. Or rather, accidentally similar mothering despite a concerted effort to avoid the previous generation’s mistakes. Agatha appears to be much more sensitive to Ruby’s predicament than Grandmamah ever was to her, but she’s also just as insistent that her kids must live a particular way. In a key scene, Fonda and Collette throw down in a tête-à-tête that illuminates the importance of granting grace to our family members, especially in the face of a wider threat.
Where There’s a Will: Ruby Gillman brings the comic relief in the form of some reliable yukmeisters. First, there’s Sam Richardson as Agatha’s eternally positive brother Brill, and then especially, the good humor cranks up when Will Forte makes waves as the wary but determined old sailor Gordon Lighthouse. This is the sort of character whose maiden is the sea, as he devotes himself to hunting down underwater creatures with Ahab-like devotion. Forte excels at these types who exist on the fringes of society, and he’s a welcome joy to leaven the scary-by-PG-standards action.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is Recommended If You: Suspect that mermaids are hiding something

Grade: 3 out of 5 Tentacles

Movie Review: Nerds Realize That Good Grades and Partying Aren’t Mutually Exclusive in the Goofy and Sweet ‘Booksmart’

May 23, 2019

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CREDIT: Francois Duhamel/Annapurna Pictures

Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Noah Galvin, Billie Lourd, Skyler Gisondo, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte, Mike O’Brien, Diana Silvers, Molly Gordon, Mason Gooding, Victoria Ruesga, Austin Crute, Eduardo Franco, Nico Haraga, Stephanie Styles

Director: Olivia Wilde

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: R for Halting and Manic Attempts at Sex and Drug Use

Release Date: May 24, 2019

Here’s what I’ve learned from Booksmart and other recent high school-set movies and TV shows: all teenagers are smart these days. Maybe there are still some lazy slackers out there, but the conventional wisdom is that they’re the exceptions, and the new normal is that it’s cool to be a good student. This comes as a bit of a shock to Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) on the eve of their graduation, who have spent four years buckling down, nose to textbook, only to look up and discover that their partying classmates also have decent enough transcripts to get into prestigious schools, including one who will be attending Yale alongside Molly. Now, I can buy that partying kids are smart, but two kids from the same high school both going to the same Ivy League institution? That might be a bridge too far. Although, the elite college admissions process can feel so random that just saying “[insert Ivy League school here]” works as shorthand to get the point across for Molly’s worldview to suddenly come tumbling down.

So with that setup, Molly and Amy decide that they’ve got to make up for all the fun they’ve unnecessarily been missing out the past four years by fitting in as much partying as possible the night before their graduation ceremony. It’s a somewhat novel setup for a fairly typical plot, as much of the night is spent getting to the party instead of actually being at the party (Molly and Amy, naturally enough, don’t know their classmate’s address). As is usually the case, the plot shenanigans are quite shaggy, which is sometimes amusing and sometimes a little too random (one drug-fueled animated sequence really comes out of nowhere). The differences come in the perspectives, with a decidedly female (and nerdy) perspective in front of and behind the camera (it’s Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut). But the typical emotional climax is still what you would expect (and be satisfied by). These movies so often steadily build to codependent friends screaming at each other, and we’ve got a doozy of a blowout here. It’s effective, but it also makes me want to see that rare high school party movie about teenage friends with a perfectly healthy relationship.

Booksmart is Recommended If You Like: Superbad, Blockers, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 2000s SNL alumni

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Caps and Gowns