Some Kind of Wonderful was John Hughes’ rebuttal to how Pretty In Pink played out, but who is doing the rebutting now as Erik Childress and Morgan Gire dig into the 1987 drama? Are Keith’s attempts at romantic gestures an insane overreach or are sometimes the simplest acts the most revealing? Is Watts an icon of the time or just a passive-aggressive thorn? Is Amanda just another unattainable beauty or something more beneath and surface and is Craig Sheffer really worth all the drama? Most importantly though, why is there not more Elias Koteas? All these questions and more are broached in a very lively discussion about whether this is a friendship or a relationship for a generation that wears its future well.

From looking at whether a friendship can persist without further relations to how outsiders can band together, Morgan’s first choice is Frank Oz’s 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives. Big city Nicole Kidman finds new friends in Connecticut with Bette Midler and Roger Bart in an all-too perfect little town. Morgan and Erik discuss if the move from science-fiction to satire was a wise one and how the perception of thinking one is progressive had not changed much in the 30 years since the original. Just how inconsistent is the science in this troubled production and is the movie as bad as its reputation. The movie only has so much time to explore the friendship of this trio, but Morgan and Erik put more thought into it than maybe even the filmmakers did.

The inaugural episode of The Friendship Dilemma looks back at the question Nora Ephron posed in 1989. Can men and women be friends without the sex part getting in the way? Erik & Morgan delve into the query and whether the film contradicts its own theory. Has the film contributed to a generation of romantic comedies where friendship is a consolation prize? Do true friends fake orgasms in front of one another? Are Harry and Sally people they would want to be friends with? These are just some of the discussions afoot for the inevitable choice to kick off this podcast.