Wicked, Gladiator's flop and AI pets

Everyone is talking about Wicked and so of course we had to share our review with you this week, from just how much we loved the cinematic spectacle, to the best moments from the utterly hilarious press tour. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s crying and hand-holding has us in a chokehold. Surely you’ve been holding space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity too? Also, Ellie delivers some sad news about Paul Mescal’s Gladiator performance, while Kathleen has much to report on Pandora Sykes’s brilliantly thorough dissection of literary behemoth Colleen Hoover’s work. Plus: freakily life-like AI pets have launched in Japan and are targeted at women in their thirties. We discuss! Recs/culture discussed Gladiator II, in cinemas now The Secret Of Us (deluxe version), Gracie Abrams Afrikan Alien, Pa Salieu The Real Reward Of All These Celebrity Lookalike Contests, Raven Smith for Vogue Rita’s, Soho White Horse, Shepherd’s Market Pandora Sykes’ Books and Bits, Substack Scrapper, BFI Player My weird, emotional week with an AI pet, Guardian My AI Girlfriend, Slow News Cast, Tortoise Wicked, in cinemas now Theatre Camp, Disney+ Emilia Perez, Netflix Say Nothing, Disney+ Blitz, Apple TV+ DM us your thoughts on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@straightuppod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠ and as ever please, please, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and a rating on Spotify, lysm! Huge thanks to our sponsor⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Yonder⁠⁠⁠⁠, the incredible lifestyle credit card packed with rewards you’ll actually *want* to use. Find out more at ⁠https://www.yonder.com/straightup Yonder membership is subject to eligibility and you’ll need to be over 18 and a UK resident to apply. If you sign up, only borrow what you can afford to pay back. The representative rate is 66.7% APR variable. Membership fees and other T&Cs may apply.