Sarah Gorr

Screenwriters Brian Lynch and Pierre Coffin (also the director) begin with a frightening phrase: “tribes of Minions exist across the globe”. As spoken by Olivia (Allison Janney), the film’s narrator, it is a quick handwave explanation for how and why focuses on a different gaggle of the little yellow guys than all their previous cinematic endeavors. Effective though the device is, it also raises the horrifying prospect of countless Minions wreaking havoc around the globe.

In the near future, Texas will open up America’s first “detransition clinic.” This disturbing domicile pushing a bogus “cure” for trans identity—a state of being that requires no cure, to be clear—is a microcosm of America’s long-standing antipathy towards LGBTQIA+ souls. Equally troubling is that this attitude doesn’t stop at America’s shores.

While “women’s pictures” had an initial heyday in the 50s, they experienced an overheated renaissance in the 90s on channels like Lifetime. In this new era, the over-the-top nature of classics like or wasn’t a failing. It was a feature. Where else could you get female-centered melodrama and hear John Stamos utter a line like “Do a little crack for daddy!” in absolute seriousness?