Critical Verdict: Preposterous but Entertaining

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Bodices will be ripped in this week’s Take, because we’re talking Wuthering Heights. Emerald Fennell heads to the wild and windy moors for a cinematic storm of obsession, repression, lots of rain and, well… let’s just say nobody’s getting this worked up about the weather alone. Controversially starring Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and Margot Robbie as Catherine, it’s already dividing the critics, so where does Mark stand?

The lascivious literary adaptation’s director is our guest this week. She joins Simon to talk about the story’s sensuality, toxicity, and how much glaring, breathing, and storm-lashed longing is too much glaring, breathing, and storm-lashed longing? She tells us how it felt to realise her teenage dream of bringing her vision for this classic to the screen, and why its tale of love, revenge, and emotional chaos still gets pulses racing.

Plus reviews of three more of the week’s cinematic offerings. There’s Crime 101, Bart Layton’s sleek thriller pairing Chris Hemsworth’s precision jewel thief with Mark Ruffalo’s relentlessly pursuing detective, and proving once again that nobody in LA should ever relax. Whistle brings supernatural horror and the world’s worst extracurricular activity, as students discover that cursed ancient Aztec artefacts are best left well alone. And Little Amélie offers something altogether gentler — an animated adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical story of childhood, identity, and wonder.

All this, plus the box office top 10, a trip to the dizziest heights of humour in the Laughter Lift, and the customary digressions and delights of another top Take.

00:00:00 Show starts

00:08:53 Crime 101 review

00:18:33 Box Office Top 10

00:32:14 Emerald Fennell interview

00:46:27 Wuthering Heights review

01:00:06 Laughter Lift

01:03:11 Little Amelie review

01:08:49 Whistle review

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