Twisters constitutes for me as perfect a summer blockbuster as one could hope for. I came to this movie pretty late, at the suggestion of Friend who had previously mentioned her comprehensive list for reasons to see Twisters. Before she went into the theater to see it, she predicted (or hoped?) that a tornado would rip Glen Powell’s shirt off, and when she came out of the movie, Friend texted to say that a tornado doesn’t actually tear his shirt off but it does rain on him while he’s wearing something white and tight and that was good enough. Friend also introduced me to the term Glenergy, which really unlocked a lot for me about his previous (perfect) body (of work).
A lot of what I like about this movie is the way that the movie seems almost tailor-made to be Friend’s favorite movie of the decade: “1. Glen Powell. End of list.” But, actually, it scans pretty closely with so much of what would appeal to her and her sensibilities. The plot amounts to something like: a Science Nerd Girl with Youthful Exuberance finds herself Jaded by a bit of unexpected Trauma in her Early Adulthood, then Meets a Nerd Boy (described by Vogue’s Elise Taylor as the “Manic Pixie Dream Guy”) who is Tall and Not Sexually Threatening who Maintains a Respectful Distance except to Give her Pizza and Talk about Science. What more could a girl ask for?
Twisters is brilliant in its ability to talk about the weather in 2024 without once mentioning the phrase “climate change” or “global warming.” When Friend arrived an hour into this movie, they were contented with “The girl has weather ‘intuition'” and “We don’t know him super well yet.” But, really if Friend had shown up for the first hour, they would’ve seen some surprisingly ruthless tornadoes, one of which pretty quickly smooshes one of the most famous actors in the billing with Hitchcockian zest. That trauma establishes a credible contender for Kate Carter’s (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones) romantic rival. The flirting is exceptionally nerdy. Every one of Kate and Tyler’s initial interactions involve them talking about relative humidity and wind shear and lying while they do it, which is just absolutely fab.
A lingering sore point: why does Tyler keep calling her City Girl when Kate so obviously has an accent? Is it a tease thing? And why doesn’t anyone bring it up? But honestly, whatever the reason, it’s still really fun!
There’s so much here that I’m on board with. I’m on board with the towns getting decimated with cinematic irony. I’m here for the way that these movies are stealth advertisements for all-wheel drive and against living in Oklahoma (as Friend says). I’m even here for the crazy leather strap thing Kate wears for her camera because she doesn’t want to wear it around her neck like a normal person. Slate’s Nadira Goffe did an oddly earnest interview with a meteorologist based on some of the craziest aspects of the movie and their conversation is… actually pretty satisfying to read!
Friend insisted that I include a chart from The Economist about the fact that no one kisses in this movie:
Ryan Gajewski at The Hollywood Reporter did God’s work by compiling some of the arguments in favor and against steamy sex scenes in movies as of late and describing the outlines of the cultural divide. But honestly? Yes! It totally works! Adding a sex scene would’ve meant removing ninety seconds of CGI models of air being spun up like a big vroom vroom.
