Our weekend guide does its damnedest to keep you out of Dear Evan Hansen's clutches
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, Montero, The Far Side—anything but 28-year-old Ben Platt playing a teenager

And there we have it, folks: Another week on the books, another set of nightmares about Chris Pratt’s upcoming Mario voice on deck to roll out for the weekend. As usual, we here at The A.V. Club are here to help respectfully distract you as summer officially rolls its way into fall, hopefully keeping your mind off questions like, “Is he going to try to do an Italian accent?” and “How many fart jokes is Illumination going to shove into this one?”
But that’s enough about a children’s movie that we are probably not going to be able to stop ourselves from thinking about, late at night, for the next 15 months straight: Let’s talk instead about the actual good stuff happening in pop culture this week. Hence our regular weekend guide, The A.V. Club’s quick-and-dirty primer for the pop culture keeping us sane in a world where “It’s a-me, Jurassic World!” is now permanently echoing in our heads.
What film should you watch?
Look: We understand, as well as any people exposed to the absolutely vitriolic reviews that came out of TIFF surrounding it, that there’s probably a part of you that wants to watch Dear Evan Hansen this weekend. There’s parts of us that want to watch Dear Evan Hansen, craving that same high that Cats burned into our brains as relentlessly as Skimbleshanks’ tap-dancing feet. But, please: Resist the urge. If you need to see a film about manipulation, human failings, and a lead performer with a massive amount of make-up on their face, consider checking out Jessica Chastain’s The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, instead. Here’s Katie Rife, in her (mostly) positive review of Michael Showalter’s biopic of the famed televangelist:
The film satisfies most as an aesthetic object. From mauve shag carpeting to white wicker patio furniture, the set design is an enjoyably gaudy time capsule of ’70s and ’80s mid-American kitsch. The costumes, heavy on polyester, spangles, satin, and fur, are also deliciously garish, but the greatest below-the-line achievements in this film are from the hair and makeup team.
If only Ben Platt had managed half as well.
What TV should you stream?
It’s a good weekend for streaming TV, as Netflix premieres the latest season of The Great British Bake-Off, and Apple rolls out its complex and challenging Isaac Asimov adaptation Foundation. (Oh, and if you’re in the mood for something darker, Korean import Squid Game has some nastily pointed social commentary lurking beneath its story of adults risking their lives on high-stakes children’s games.) But really, we can’t think of a weekend pursuit better than finally getting caught up on Nine Perfect Strangers, now that it’s finally wrapped its miniseries run on Hulu. Here’s Gwen Ihnat (who may, or may not, have a character based on her in the source material), writing about the moderate successes of its finale this week:
But much to this viewer’s surprise, Nine Perfect Strangers was able to stick the landing, giving all of its characters satisfactory endings—even more successfully than the book did… Kidman’s Masha was much more convincing as a grief-enveloped mother who would do anything to get to see her young daughter again. Her tragic circumstance goes a long way toward if not excusing, than at least understanding her beyond-unconventional methodology.