‘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

Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 3/28/25

March 28, 2025

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Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.

Movies
–Death of a Unicorn (Theaters)
–The Woman in the Yard (Theaters) – Today’s the day.

Music
-Lucy Dacus, Forever Is a Feeling
-The Darkness, Dreams on Toast
-Kyle Mooney, The Real Me
–OPUS: The Moretti EP – I saw the movie, now I can’t stop listening.
-Will Smith, Based on a True Story

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

This Is a Movie Review: Never Goin’ Back

August 3, 2018

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CREDIT: A24

I give Never Goin’ Back 3 out of 5 Beer-Soaked Waitress Uniforms: https://uinterview.com/news/never-goin-back-movie-review-friendship-means-crude-shenanigans-in-the-hot-texas-summer/

This Is a Movie Review: With ‘Brigsby Bear,’ Kyle Mooney Applies His One-of-a-Kind Style to a Rescued Kidnapping Victim

July 26, 2017

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This review was originally posted on News Cult in July 2017.

Starring: Kyle Mooney, Greg Kinnear, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Matt Walsh, Michaela Watkins, Ryan Simpkins, Claire Danes, Mark Hamill

Director: Dave McCary

Running Time: 97 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for First Times: First Time Doing Hand Stuff, First Time Tripping, First Time Making Dynamite

Release Date: July 28, 2017 (Limited)

It is certainly possible for a film about an escape from kidnapping to be about the triumph of the human spirit. But is it also possible to also make one in which the spirit was never really beaten down in the first place, just slightly confused? Brigsby Bear sure seems to think so. It’s basically what Room would have been if it were a quirky, offbeat comedy. If you’re a fan of writer/star Kyle Mooney, then you have already bought your tickets. If you’re unfamiliar, then let me explain a little more.

Like a lot of young adults who spend most of their time at home, James Pope (Mooney) is obsessed with his favorite TV show. But unlike most TV fanatics, he stays indoors because he has been led to believe that the outside air is toxic, and also unusually, his particular favorite show, “Brigsby Bear Adventures” (a sort of charmingly low-budget live-action spacefaring Saturday morning cartoon) is produced for an audience of one. Because, as it turns out, the people James thinks are his parents actually abducted him when he was a baby. When the authorities track down the compound and return James to his real family, he struggles to move forward in this strange new world. He is able to accept that these people are who they say are, and his social adjustment is relatively smooth, but what really bothers him is the astounding realization that he will never know how the story of Brigsby Bear concludes.

But wait – there is a solution to be had! James decides to put together his own amateur production of a Brigsby Bear film, and the result is a paean to the stirring power of filmmaking. Although… is it perhaps irresponsible to present the story of a kidnapping victim whose recovery consists mainly of a major element from the time of his captivity? It is acceptable that the pull of the familiar, however distorted it may be, cannot be denied (James revisits the bunker in a moment that plays exactly like the return to the shed in Room). And to be fair, every individual captive’s experience is unique. So it is ultimately inspiring to see James’ family and entire community embrace his Brigsby Bear obsession, because they recognize that as strange and as risky as it may be, this is his best chance to recover and flourish. There are certainly discomforting moments (especially in the case of Mark Hamill, who, as James’ impostor father and the man behind Brigsby, toes a tricky line between detestable and genuinely human), but they are among the intrinsic elements that make this story as heartwarming as it is.

Brigsby Bear is Recommended If You Like: Room, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Kyle Mooney’s YouTube/SNL videos

Grade: 4 out of 5 Giant Costume Heads

 

This Is a Movie Review: Zoolander 2

March 20, 2016

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Zoolander2

The first Zoolander worked as satire because it was about an industry desperately holding onto its relevance (with the existence of said relevance questionable in the first place) and the bobos who represented that last grasp. There is nothing inherently wrong with a sequel premiering a decade after the original, but it is always a challenge, especially so in the case of Zoolander 2. Its setting is so far removed from a natural one in that the setup necessary to get everyone where they need to be is convoluted and exhausting. The sweat comes from effort, not embarrassment.

The film comes to life when it focuses on the here and now. Hot designer Don Atari (Kyle Mooney) is where the real story is at. Fashion – or any industry in 2016 driven entirely by trends – keeps dying and rebirthing and eating itself. Mooney plays Atari as 100% ironically hipster and 100% earnestly enthusiastic, expressing his admiration for Derek and Hansel by simultaneously praising and dismissing them. It is infuriating and intoxicating. This paradoxical approach is scary, but it is how films as broad as the Zoolander’s need to distinguish themselves (see also: Fred Armisen’s face digitally transposed onto a pre-teen’s body).

SNL Recap February 13, 2016: Melissa McCarthy/Kanye West

February 14, 2016

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SNL: Kanye West, Melissa McCarthy, Taran Killam (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in February 2016.

Melissa McCarthy is one of the most reliable “SNL” hosts of this decade. She always brings her A-game, making herself right at home at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. She has her critics who call her out for playing the same character over and over: brash, over-the-top, and painfully awkward. That can be a problem with a film career (though she usually brings more depth than her critics give her credit for), but in sketch comedy, it can easily be a winning formula. Frequent musical guest Kanye West is also reliable, but his is a reliable unreliability, in which the stage design and sound style will never be the same twice.

I Can’t Make You Love Me – Instead of the umpteenth debate sketch, the leadoff political sketch finds its angle via the electorate. Its take on what appeals to voters about Bernie over Hillary is a little shallow, but that is a small blemish, as that patter is just setup for the main thrust of the sketch: Hillary’s take on Bonnie Raitt. This is Kate McKinnon pulling off the same note of desperation she’s been hitting, but this time she is really complicating the question of whether or not Mrs. Clinton is cool. She tries so hard, which is cool because of the commitment but not cool because of the strain. There is some reference to how support of Hillary or lack thereof affects feminism, but this sketch is more astute about the much less complicated issue of whether or not Hillary is cooler than the drab, depressing Jeb Bush. B

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SNL Recap March 28, 2015: Dwayne Johnson/George Ezra

March 29, 2015

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SNL: George Ezra, Dwayne Johnson, Aidy Bryant (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in March 2015.

“If you don’t have a boner right now, you should just kill yourself.”

As he noted in his monologue, Dwayne Johnson is known for joining established film franchises and giving them a successful shot in the arm.  Accordingly, his fourth “SNL” hosting stint heavily favored sketches that commented on the host’s reputation and familiar pop culture entities in general.  Many of this season’s hosts, even the most capable ones, have been relegated to mostly utility roles.  But Johnson was effectively given plenty of opportunities to shine, as he was allowed to play to his strengths, and the result was an episode that overall also played to its strengths.

The Rock Obama – While Dwayne Johnson is now unequivocally credited by his birth name, he has no qualms breaking out his wrestling moniker for a particular “SNL” sketch.  He first broke out his hulked-out alter ego of the president the last time he hosted back in March 2009, only a few months into Obama’s first term.  He brought it back in a cameo appearance later that year, and that was enough for it to reach iconic status.  In its current iteration, it was formulaic, but still vibrant enough to be worthwhile.  Michelle She-Hulking out as well provided a welcome addition, so it was nice that Leslie Jones was around to play the part.  Bobby Moynihan went above the call of duty by putting together his weaselly impression of Ted Cruz. B

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SNL Recap March 7, 2015: Chris Hemsworth/Zac Brown Band

March 9, 2015

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SNL: Chris Hemsworth March 2015 Monologue (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in March 2015.

It might just be pointlessly quixotic to ascribe a thesis statement to an episode of “SNL.”  Any detectable patterns may have just been accidental.  When the host and musical guest do not bring in a whole lot of baggage, that truth becomes emphasized.  Chris Hemsworth was host two months before the release of the next “Avengers” movie.  Zac Brown Band have new music, but they are not dominating the mainstream conversation.  This was certainly an episode that happened.  There were highlights, there were lowlights, and it will lead to a multiplicity of opinions.  Here’s one: it was cray-cray.

A Message From Hillary Clinton – Kate McKinnon made it clear that should Hillary Clinton run for president, she will not back down from the challenge of taking on this legendary impression.  This sketch was essentially a character piece, when it could have focused on sharper satire about whether or not Clinton’s e-mail correspondence is a legitimate controversy.  But as a character piece, it was encouraging, managing to imbue the tired “old person e-mail gag” with specific personality. B

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