It might be tempting to call Luc Besson’s Lucy a classic bad movie. So bad it’s good, maybe, but definitely closer to the former than the latter. This, after all, is a film in which Scarlet Johansson travels through time on an office chair, chows down on blue meth and at one point has a brief run-in with a dinosaur.
And yet… for all the bizarre plot turns, dodgy CGI and ludicrous pseudo-science – the latter embodied by Morgan Freeman in full Doctor Exposition mode – there’s something genuinely admirable about the wild swings Besson routinely takes with his movies. Lucy doesn’t quite have enough flair or the deep bench of memorable side-characters to match The Fifth Element, but it’s definitely somewhere in the same stratosphere.
To help us unpack the film, we’re joined on this episode by Joe and Jonah from How To Survive Your Twenties, who we were delighted to meet up with at Pods Up North back in November. As fellow bad movie aficionados, they were more than happy to share their thoughts on unnecessary car chases, bizarre phrasing choices, deadpan French detectives and much, much more.
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Next week, we’re getting regrettably topical with a look at a formerly forgotten Steven Soderbergh thriller that’s now become chillingly relevant. Until then, happy listening and remember to wash your damn hands.