Ken and Robin Consume Media: Caught Stealing, The Studio, More Anthony Boucher Mysteries
September 2nd, 2025 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
The Pinnacle
The Studio Season 1 (Television, US, Apple+, Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen, 2025) Newly fledged film studio head (Rogen) suffers a series of escalating humiliations triggered by his insecurities and need to be liked by the directors and stars who depend on him for a greenlight and then want him out of their way. Cringe comedy turbocharged into uproarious farce by a killer supporting cast (Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Catherine O’Hara, Chase Sui Wonders), unusually committed cameos by industry stalwarts playing themselves, and stunningly choreographed extended single takes.—RDL
Recommended
Blanche Fury (Film, UK, Marc Allégret, 1948) Seeking a stable position in life, a disregarded woman (Valerie Hobson) signs on as governess at her rich cousin’s estate, where she is drawn to the brooding foreman (Stewart Granger) who claims to be its rightful heir. Noirish Victorian gothic shot in febrile Technicolor.—RDL
The Booksellers (Film, US, D. W. Young, 2019) Documentary snapshot of the rapid shifts in the New York antiquarian book trade from its dusty past as a haven for curmudgeonly reluctant salesmen to an Internet-driven field where ephemera has become the new hotness. Fran Liebowitz, who knows how to talking head, spices up the proceedings with bon mots and anecdotes.—RDL
The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars (Fiction, Anthony Boucher, 1940) A disappearing writer’s corpse and a series of pranks on Holmesian devotees throws the filming of The Speckled Band into disarray and Lt. Jackson of the LAPD must figure out the mystery. Boucher sidelines Fergus O’Breen here to focus on the cast of “Irregulars,” Holmes fans who exist to distract reader and cops from the real crime and let Boucher (and the reader) have fun with Sherlockian allusions.—KH
Caught Stealing (Film, US, Darren Aronofsky, 2025) Stalled NYC bartender (Austin Butler) is drawn into a struggle between violent gangsters after acceding to his punk neighbor’s cat-sitting request. Butler sews up his ownership of the young Brad Pitt slot in a confident throwback to 70s crime flicks.—RDL
Dusty & Stones (Film, US, Jesse Rudoy, 2022) Traditional country duo travels from their in Swaziland home to an international music competition in Texas. Border-crossing fly on the wall documentary is both stirring and suspenseful, as the viewer wonders which side of America the open-hearted protagonists are headed towards.—RDL
The Moon’s a Balloon (Nonfiction, David Niven, 1971) The Oscar-winning avatar of urbane sophistication wittily recounts the triumphs and disasters of a life marked by a streak of self-sabotaging rebellion. As a kid in the 70s I assumed this book was corny because my grandparents owned it but boy howdy I would have learned a ton if I’d cracked it open then.—RDL
They Were Five (Film, France, Julien Duvivier, 1936) A quintet of skint Parisians pool a lottery windfall to turn a derelict house into a riverside cafe. Proletarian solidarity faces off against existential fatalism in an affecting drama of friendship and betrayal.—RDL
Good
The Case of the Seven Sneezes (Fiction, Anthony Boucher, 1942) Fergus O’Breen finds himself invited to a silver wedding anniversary party on an island, held 25 years after another murder among the same party. Boucher plays fair (but not entirely plausibly) with the case and dispenses with characterization in an imperfect attempt at atmosphere. [CW: Cat murder, 1940s psychology]—KH
The Case of the Solid Key (Fiction, Anthony Boucher, 1941) Fergus O’Breen and an Okie playwright join forces to figure out who killed the crooked impresario of a little LA theater, in a locked shed. The theater aspect triumphs over the mystery (which is why it’s Good), but the plot and dialogue seem somewhat stale for Boucher. I didn’t much care for the solution to the locked room, either.—KH
Green Night (Film, China, Shuai Han, 2023) On the fringes of Seoul, a Chinese immigrant customs officer (Bingbing Fan) stuck with an abusive husband winds up on the lam with an impertinent green-haired drug mule (Lee Joo-young.) Occasionally ill-judged naturalistic crime drama questions the premise of the unlikely allies trope.—RDL
