Blonde Ladies Breaking Down Watchlist

As with any of my watchlists, these selections are made purely on the basis of what connected with me. Sometimes they are the “best” movies and TV shows on the subject, but more often it’s just that these are what stuck with me.

The Top 5 are presented in order of my favorites, the ones I would take with me to a desert island.

Other Watching is in chronological order, and sometimes I may not even have seen it. I just think it sounds interesting, or it tells a bit more of the story about this person or topic.

Blonde Ladies Breaking Down Top 5

1. Somebody Somewhere (2022—2024)

   In an earlier time in history they might have sold this show as being about “oddballs” or “outcasts.” But what I adore most about Somebody Somewhere is that it never treats anyone as an outsider. There are no special episodes about the importance of respecting others’ differences. This is a world where people just are who they are. While Bridget Everett as the lead character, Sam, is the glorious beating heart at the center of the story, her co-stars are equally captivating: including Jeff “Boom Boom” Hiller as her bestie Joel, the unforgettable Murray Hill as Fred Rococo, and Mary Catherine Garrison as Sam’s feisty sister Tricia. Jane Brody gives a stunning performance as their mom, and their dad is played by Mike Hagerty (Billy Pratt from Overboard) who passed away in 2022 but left us with one last beautiful performance. Even the location of Manhattan, Kansas, plays a starring role as you watch the opening scenes of Season 1, Episode 1. The whole thing, from beginning to Iceland, is just a joy and charming as all get-out. And it’s produced by Duplass Brothers Productions. Is there anything they can’t do? One “blonde woman breaking down” scene that stuck with me features Tricia dancing seductively with her ultra-fancy computerized refrigerator to Joan Armatrading’s “Show Some Emotion.” The lyrics of that song are a great encapsulation of the show’s message of authenticity: “Show some emotion / put a little expression in your eyes / light up if you’re feelin’ happy / and if you’re sad then let those tears roll down.”

2. Life & Beth (2022—2024)

   When I first saw Amy Schumer as a contestant on the reality show Last Comic Standing some time in the early 2000s, I thought, “oh, she’s cute.” Little did I realize then what a badass she is. Amy tells her autobiographical tales in ways that continue to entertain me because she tackles them from new angles and drops deeper information each time. While I fell in love with her in Trainwreck (2015) and I Feel Pretty (2018), Amy is at the top of her game in Life & Beth. The cast is so funny: Murray Hill kills once again as the wine sales boss. Violet Young breaks your heart as the younger Beth. John Glaser is iconic as Gerald (GARE-uld) with his rat tail; Susannah Flood is so fresh and original as her sister; Kevin Kane as her boyfriend Matt (“He’s like a New York eight.”), Michael Rapaport as her dad, Laura Benanti as the boundary-less mom, and Michael Cera in one of my favorite of his performances ever. There’s a scene in Season 1 where Beth is having lunch with her bestie Maya, played by Yamaneika Saunders. The whole dialogue is great. At one point Maya is talking about her future husband and she’s like, “I haven’t even met this man — and he’s getting on my fucking nerves.” I thought, wow, they’re so real for that.

3. Young Adult (2011)

   Written by Diablo Cody (Juno) and directed by Jason Reitman (son of an Ivan), this movie . . . Oh, this movie. This movie is so sharp, so true, so obvious, and yet I have never seen a story like it before or since. Charlize Theron (also turning 50 in 2025, woot!) is so brave in this performance as Mavis Gary, the washed-up has-been (or maybe never-been?) who peaked in high school and never quite made it in the “Mini Apple”— that’s Minneapolis to you and me. She is so tragic and yet so completely hateable. You root for her and find her despicable at the same time. If Patton Oswalt didn’t win the best actor Oscar for playing Matt Freehauf, he damn well should have. Patrick Wilson really captures that suburban dad smolder as Buddy Slade, and Elizabeth Reaser (on the drums!) is hateable in her own way because her life looks so freakin’ perfect with her cute husband and cool mom band. Collette Wolfe is pivotal as Matt’s sister who meets Mavis at the crossroads at the end of the movie. And the whole story is somehow encapsulated in Buddy’s song, “The Concept” by Teenage Fanclub: “She wears denim wherever she goes / says she’s gonna get some records by the Status Quo, oh yeah . . . ”

4. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

   For women my age, Bridget Jones was the original blonde lady breaking down. I remember tweeting once that I’d “MacGyver’d my coffee grinder only to Bridget Jones my coffee all over the kitchen counter.” Bridget is a noun in and of herself. To Bridget Jones is to be human. We may make mistakes and errors in judgment, but there is no greater love than the people who love us anyway. Sure, we want to sleep with every Hugh Grant who calls us a saucy minx, but love affairs that seem too good to be true usually are. We may find our happily-ever-after with Colin Firth only to have him kick the bucket on a humanitarian aid mission to the Sudan. Some of the most poignant moments in the first movie come from Bridget’s mom (played by Gemma Jones) running off with the super-tan home shopping network host, and the resulting loss and loneliness experienced by Bridget’s dad, heart-wrenchingly played by Jim Broadbent. At the end of the day, no matter who she’s romantically involved with, Bridget can get through anything as long as she has her wonderfully sassy, smartass friends including the brilliantly named “Shazzer” played by Sally Phillips, Jude, played by the lovely Shirley Henderson, and Tom, played by James Callis who you might recognize as Dr. Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica. Maybe in Bridget Jones 5 we find out they were all cylons all along.

5. Bridesmaids (2011)

   Annie Walker, expertly played by Kristen Wiig, is another lovable mess. I will definitely write about Kristen someday because she’s just so multi-talented — did you hear that song at the end of Will and Harper? So good! This movie shows that blonde ladies can break down over friendships too (and it’s not just blonde ladies who have breakdowns!). The cast is utterly hilarious: Melissa McCarthy dressed like a golfing grandpa and just killing the physical humor and sexual innuendo with her real-life husband, Maya Rudolph as the best friend of our dreams, Rose Byrne bringing her signature inner and outer beauty, and the great Wendy McClendon-Covey of Reno 911! delivering the classic lines about being a mom of growing boys, “I cracked a blanket in half … do you get where I’m going with that??” Plus, you not only get an appearance by Jon Hamm but you have Officer Nathan Rhodes played by Chris O’Dowd, delivering lines in his sexy Irish brogue like, “This is kind the of high-octane stuff that really made me want to become a cop: Missing girl found at her apartment . . . it's adrenaline pinching.” AND Wilson Phillips? Come on!