Movie nerds lined up outside the 92nd Street Y on a recent Saturday to watch a live taping of “The Big Picture,” a podcast hosted by a couple of friends whom one ticket-holder called “the modern Siskel and Ebert.” Before the audience arrived, Amanda Dobbins and Sean Fennessey (the Siskel and Ebert in question) were onstage at the Y for a walk-through. The set design was West Elm meets lecture hall: five greige armchairs in front of two whiteboards. The main event was going to be a draft of New York movies; Dobbins, Fennessey, and three guest podcasters would compete to select the best roster of films. “We’ll take turns picking from the six categories”—drama, comedy, action/horror/thriller, Oscar-winner, blockbuster, and subway—“and explaining what the films mean to us,” Dobbins said. The audience would choose a winner.
Fennessey, who is the head of content at the sports-and-pop-culture network the Ringer, was wearing a dark sweater and green chinos, and had the carefully combed hair of a fifties movie detective. He looked out at the empty seats and said, “From the people who brought you James Baldwin, Susan Sontag, Yo-Yo Ma, and all the other geniuses who’ve stood on this stage, come two assholes who like movies!”
“Don’t you mean five assholes?” a nearby producer asked.
“I only feel comfortable criticizing her,” Fennessey clarified, indicating Dobbins, who is forty-one and had on a blue velvet blazer, jeans, and heels. “Amanda, you accept and identify as a co-asshole, right?”
“In this context? Absolutely,” she said.
Fennessey, who is forty-three, started “The Big Picture” in 2017, as a way to interview directors for the Ringer. His boss soon asked him to add a conversation segment. “I was, like, ‘If I’m going to do it, I pretty much only want to do it with Amanda,’ ” he said. The two were already close, having spent their twenties bouncing among magazine jobs in New York, and their chemistry was immediately apparent. They can talk movies in a nuanced way, but their divergent tastes often lead them to bicker like siblings who’ve been in a car together for too long.
“We’re nicer to each other off mike, though not by that much,” Dobbins said.
Onstage, a jurisdictional debate broke out about what, exactly, constituted a New York movie and could thereby be considered fair game for the draft. Dobbins submitted that “His Girl Friday” shouldn’t be eligible. “A lot of the classic screwball comedies are not location-specific enough,” she said. “Like, in ‘Bringing Up Baby,’ they don’t specify that it’s the Museum of Natural History.”
Fennessey found this overly academic. “I mean, come on,” he said. But sparring, he knows, is part of the podcast’s appeal. “I grew up obsessed with Mike and the Mad Dog, Siskel and Ebert, and Howard Stern,” he said. “As broadcasters, they were amazing not only at conveying what they thought—they provoked you to agree or disagree. That’s what we’re pursuing with each other.”
“It’s how we speak,” Dobbins said, nodding emphatically. She explained that the show came into its own during the pandemic. “When everyone was in lockdown, it was something to keep you company,” she said.
“We were starting to do rubric-style episodes, like Halls of Fame,” Fennessey said. (A few COVID-era episodes: “Top 10 Horny Quarantine Erotic Thrillers,” “The Dad Movie Hall of Fame,” “ ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ and the 10 Types of Oscar Bait You Meet in Hell.”) “That’s what people were excited about.” The formula worked. “The Big Picture” currently includes Oscar predictions, interviews with stars (Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio), and gimmicks like that night’s draft.
Conversation turned to another gimmick: Dobbins had agreed to help a female listener named Sharon find a date for that night’s live show. On a whim, Sharon had sent in an e-mail with this request and the names of a few of her favorite films—a cinéaste’s dating profile. Dobbins then put out a call on the podcast, asking any “New York City-based boy who is available and not weird” to reach out. She sorted through dozens of potential escorts and allowed Sharon to choose the winner, who was due at the Y shortly, with Sharon on his arm.
Fennessey was unmoved. “I think if people come as friends to this event or if they come as dates, that’s awesome,” he said. “But the idea of people finding love because of the show? I don’t care.”
At the end of the night, the winning draft picks were revealed: “Do the Right Thing,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “American Psycho,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Men in Black,” and “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” Sharon did O.K., too. Her assessment of her date? “His movie taste was all very boy-coded,” she said. “But he’s six feet four and calls his mom every Saturday. Our second date is this weekend.” ♦
