I think these hosts genuinely have bad taste and what’s worse is that they can’t even back up their horrid takes in good faith. It feels like listening to people in high school.

I listen to a lot of movie podcasts, and this is one of my very faves. I love the rapport between Paul and Amy. I love that, between them both, they bring both movie loving passion and film critique expertise. I love the BTS movie tidbits I learn, and the context they place their discussions in. There are several movies I’ve sought out so I can listen to the episode. (I WOULD pay for an ad-free version!)

Paul Scheer makes inane points - he clearly has no idea as to what the parameters are for critique - if you can’t separate your personal likes and dislikes from looking at the success or failure of an artistic endeavor you make a fool of yourself and he does - listen to the Carrie episode and you’ll see what I mean. He’s extremely ill suited to hosting a show like this. Terrible - skip it

Remember when these guys used to be funny?

The lady says “like” as frequently as a grade schooler.

Really love the podcast and hosts. The repetitiveness of the ads in episodes makes it challenging to listen. Ads are ok, I get it, but hearing the same ones over and over again in the same episode is annoying…

I miss when they used to do the AFI list. The movie selection lately has turned me off. I’m not sure what this podcast is anymore — love Paul and Amy though! They’re insight is always fun, and their chemistry is great!

Awful

Paul is really good. Amy seems disconnected from reality. Also, I listen at 2x speed but if I was listening at 1x speed I would be driven mad by Amy’s voice…the reviewers are right…

Really want to like this pod but often find it exhausting and dragged out by a consistent attitude of negativity/dislike of the films they watch. Every episode, I’m just waiting for the moment Amy shares her obscure critiques. Also, Amy… do you like/enjoy any of the movies you and Paul review? If you do like one, can you at least fake excitement/joy from it. Basically, I feel like Paul is a fun and outgoing critic/reviewer of movies who finds joy in the films, with fair criticisms, and good perspectives. Amy, on the other hand, feels like she majored in 14th Century French poetry (with a minor in 1900’s Italian silent films) and somehow ended up a film critic with little ability to relate to widely enjoyed popular, modern films. Paul, love you and your crew on HDTGM, but this seems beneath your style. Amy, maybe consider drinking some wine while watching a movie you review, chill out, stop looking for deep, negative sub-texts in movie plots that aren’t there. This pod is unfortunately a GRIND to get through. It needs to be more fun, less analytical, requires more energy and each episode trimmed in regards to length. Hope you both find the right recipe because there’s potential here. Good luck!

Hey. We listen for behind the scenes movie information, history and opinions. Keep the politics out of it. I’ll give it to Paul he is at least much more unbiased and carefully tows the line. But Amy, well we all know where she stands. And yet it’s a podcast about movies AND WE SHOULDN’T!

I went to the UK and Ireland!! Never heard anyone say People 2 People in 30 years.

I love this podcast. It takes me to college film class. The Deerhunter episode does miss the mark in my opinion. The movie was not intended to be a realistic version of serving in Vietnam. It is about relationships of people who did go and didn’t go and the extreme difficulty of coming back and transitioning to a life outside of war. I think you both misjudged this movie.

These two are obnoxious. Any insightful analysis or interesting movie fact is immediately canceled by an irrelevant comment about politics/dumb country bumpkins/virtue signal. I don’t believe for one second that Amy is terrified of police (Hot Fuzz episode), but I guess it sounds good? I’d rather really focus on folding my laundry than listen to this podcast.

I like this show, but doing ads for casinos is really messed up. PLUS, now I’m getting ads for my local police department—it’s deeply troubling that Paul

Really enjoy this show overall! I think it’s great that they have differing opinions and thoughts that they can, for the most part, civilly argue, but Paul discusses those as if they are fact a lot of the time and that is a little of a disappointment on the show. Amy’s voice is wonderful!💗 Appreciate you guys sharing your insights!

I really enjoy the chemistry and respectful, engaged dialogue between Paul and Amy. They bring out the funny in each other and their vulnerable, real moments break through always in the best ways. I really feel Amy - her divulging the kind of girlfriend/girl friend that she is or fears she is in the Bridesmaids episode was so relatable. I totally get it, Amy. Thank you for the content. I am a big fan!!

I always enjoy the interplay between Paul and Amy! Perfect match. They bring enough disagreement to the table to make things interesting while still getting along as friends. Every episode leaves me happy I got to hang out and listen. I also get turned on to movies I wouldn’t normally have watched. Robert Tallahassee

I love Paul and have been an avid HDTGM listener since just about the start. This podcast is not up to the standard set by his other show. I have nothing against Amy personally, but I have given this a fair shake and agree with others. Her voice is very difficult to listen to. Cadence is hard. I love the films they cover (I was a film studies major) but I can’t stop thinking this would be a much better podcast with two other hosts. Paul and Amy are too polite with each other. It’s too saccharine and that isn’t what film analysis needs. I do learn some interesting tidbits about the films from the research they do, but the end doesn’t justify the means. I think I’m done. Sorry. I can’t remember the last time I wanted to like something so much, but it just doesn’t work.

Can’t deal with speed of lightening woman,s voice. Not melodious or soothing. Too bad.

Uhhh where is it… We’re getting reviews of movies 20 years ago thanks anyway

I love Paul, but Amy just isn't for me. The Cadence of her voice, her political perspective. I come to podcasts to escape for a bit, and she makes it impossible.

I cannot handle her bad takes on policy, yeah let’s ask just lay down and pretend there is no evil in the world, beyond frustrating

I’ve been here since the beginning AFI ranking and the reason I return is their back and forth. Sure, you might not agree with Paul and Amy’s take each time but I know I’ll watch the given movie differently next time and have a more thoughtful perspective as a result of listening to their discussion. That’s all you can hope for and this podcast delivers—keep up the good work!

Amy makes this podcast unlistenable. Her voice is beyond obnoxious. Listen to HDTGM instead!!

I’ve tried many times to listen to the podcast and each time come away baffled at Amy’s “hot takes”. She has a political axe to grind and that dictates her reviews. She also seems intolerant of Paul’s opinions.

I’ve leaned stuff about movies I love. Fun to listen to Unspoooooooooooooled

That’s it. I was screaming in my car listening to this episode. Next time actually stop and watch the movie instead of planning your criticisms during it.

The dune 2 episode was super weird. Paul was doing…something. I mean, Amy literally laughed out loud a few times and asked what movie did you watch??? Like objectively. It was stuff that was right there on the screen. Love Paul but that was so so weird.

I listened to “Point Break” and then “Carrie”. I like Amy very much but I just can’t stomach Paul. The platitudes are too much for me and he just comes off as adding garnish rather than substance. Had to unfollow bc of this.

The episodes without a live audience are a little better.

I came here after catching up on what went wrong podcast. I thought I’d find another one that discussed movie productions and the difficulties behind the scenes. Paul can be a little over the top at times but I truly appreciate his passion for filmmaking. I’m sorry but I can’t listen to Amy her critics are just not good and she doesn’t seem to understand basic concepts of movies. I also don’t know why she pauses in the middle of speaking like she is trying to elaborate a point where there isn’t one. Guess I’ll head back to how did this get made pod. I can put up with Jason’s random perverse comments more easily.

First episode and last episode I listen to was the goonies and hearing Amy talk about the goonies and not understand it and make dumb comments. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I would never listen to another episode. Not good move on podcast.

I like unspooled even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of Paul scheer when he joined. The problem with the podcast though is that they are kind of both these contrarians in different directions and so often it doesn’t feel like they get into what’s actually good or flawed about a lot of the movies they cover

Paul Scheer brings a great love of cinema and films with his witty and fun perspective. I enjoy what he brings. But Amy Nicholson is a massive dead weight to what could be an incredible podcast under any other circumstance. I’m not sure she likes movies actually. She doesn’t offer very much in the way of critiques (I’m not sure how she’s able write for prestigious organizations), and seems to genuinely have a problem understanding even simple and basic concepts about really popular movies. She often breaks off into worthless tangents which takes up larger portions time trying to explain even basic plot points. (In one of the later episodes, Paul has to spend five minutes, trying to help her understand why they are called “goonies”; are you kidding me? She seems to be, and I mean this with no disrespect, but possibly on the spectrum.) It makes the whole thing mediocre.

I have been looking for a new movie podcast and binged four episodes today. Both hosts have interesting ideas, but I’ve been particularly impressed by the female host’s observations. The only critique I have is they sometimes talk over and interrupt one another, but that’s tolerable. I’m looking forward to getting deeper into the archives.

It’s increasingly difficult to get through episodes when one of the hosts is a smug, joyless contrarian.

I wish I would have found this fun podcast. Im listening in order and I so want to reach out weekly to discuss, but I’d like to go back in time to do so. I’m listening as fast as I can…please slow down so I can participate!!!

So you saw Gary Busey having relations with a thing? Cool story. And thanks for sharing.

I get excited every time a new episode comes out. I prefer to see the movie before hearing about it, but there’s a few movies I’ve seen only because they released an episode and wanted to see what they’re discussing. For sure check out an episode, you love it. But most importantly; where is the Risky Business episode?! Please, please, PLEASE

When the whole show was based around reviewing and critiquing the AFI Top 100 Greatest Films, Unspooled had its strongest voice. I was optimistic with the change in premise to, “Let’s not just criticize, let’s workshop our own list”. But ultimately, that’s fallen short. It feels like they’re chasing clicks, covering high profile movies that have no chance for consideration, while leaving more important movies on the shelf for an undetermined point they may never reach. It also feels like it’s become as old and white as they criticized the AFI list for being. Instead of a program filled with movies relevant to white guys that came of age in the 60s and 70s, it’s limited to movies relevant to white people that came of age in the 80s and 90s. They make about as much effort to diversify as the Oscars. Paul and Amy have great perspectives on the films they cover, it just feels like the content they cover has fallen off in the last year or so. Highly recommend the first 150ish episodes. After that, returns diminish.

I really love the premise of this show and some of the episodes have been great, but Amy is so irritating! And you lost me on the legally blonde episode where four poor Amy is for the podcast not being in a safe space. For who? Poor Amy is so scared of Donald Trump that she has to throw a little passive aggressive remark because she’s weak. I may try another episode in the future.

This podcast is good when it’s a movie I like, but they also cover some…yawn…boring movies that no one cares about. It’s like listening to two girlfriends obsess over the thing they have in common. Their analysis is obvious for the most part, and they offer little that hasn’t been endlessly covered online. Personally I’d rather read about movies than listen to these two blather on about dates movies as if they really matter. For my money, I’ll take The Rewatchables every time. These two goofballs (and countless other goons) are trying to mimic the genius of the OG pod father, Bill Simmons. Keep it in your subscriptions and occasionally check it out for movies you’re obsessed with too; it has a 1/8 hit rate for me. 3 stars for production quality and two people clearly trying their hardest (albeit in a medium they’re not really good at). This comes off as their attempt to stay Hollywood adjacent/relevant, and it gives try hard.

You can dance around it as much as you want but Call me by your name is definitely a movie about teen seducing a grown up. If it was a straight relationship people would be outraged. Love the pod lol.

The podcast is so good and the male host is excellent, but the female who I know is a critic, is soooo pretentious.

Thank you for your insightful review of Jesus Christ Superstar! I saw this movie when I was 7 years old. Maybe I was a bit young to see it, but JCS made a huge impact on me! I memorized every word to every song of this brilliant rock opera! Love you Amy and Paul! Keep up the great work!

LET AMY SPEAK. Thanks. P.S. - New drinking game: “And I think, like …”

Based on the Amedeus episode, most of their research is looking at IMDB trivia.

I love movies, movie podcasts, Paul and HDTGM, and I have tried to love this but it’s just not consistent. I cringe frequently when Amy speaks because she inevitably has a personal issue with a filmmaker that often has very little to do with the film itself. Or it dredges up some memory for her or an ex-boyfriend, etc… She’s often too precious and overwrought and the artificial-sounding laugh gets under my skin after a while. Sometimes her moralizing can also feel puritanical and severe. Paul seems eager to find agreement, so they tend to go down these overly saccharine or hyper-critical groupthink roads where all objectivity is lost. I’ve listened to dozens of episodes and some are far better than others, but overall, I just don’t enjoy listening to this podcast.

Please let the film critic speak.