Newie movie “The Nest,” set in the go-go ’80s, has Jude Law playing a law-and-disorder bad guy con man. Sells his family on moving. Sells his boss on a deal that poops.
Jude: “I loved playing a completely unlikable jerk. The challenge was to make him more seductive and lure in everybody same way he’s lured in everybody else. Nice that it was about surviving, not about losing a child or having an affair. We all put on the sad pretense of, ‘Everything’s great.’”
Friend Natalie Portman: “The film’s about living up to a standard then realizing no one asked you to live up to that standard.”
Jude: “We’re just out of that period’s hangover. We need a spiritual revolution. A look within — to our families and the simple pleasures. Do the right thing for the right people.” “The Nest” nests in the world of streaming via Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, etc.
Pushing buttons
NY1’s bushy-browed George Whipple collects political buttons dating to G. Washington. Now’s the centennial of the 19th Amendment — women’s right to vote. Being the 17th century’s Mary Whipple — great-great-great-great grandmother of Susan B. Anthony — is his family’s American heroine, he’s sent out buttons that say “Votes for Women.” Forget not Bob Dole’s ’96 dash for president. His lapel read “A better man for a better America.” Also: Possibles to follow Alex Trebek are a pot of men. Comes Judge Judy’s genteel whisper: “Why no woman? Like maybe CBS-TV’s Kristine Johnson?”
Splitting up is trending
Lawyer Raoul Felder’s done more divorces than Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky. His 30,000 cases split up Rudy Giuliani, Britney Spears, Mike Tyson, Sharon Bush, Martin Scorsese, etc. He stopped working but is now back as a partner in family law firm Stutman Stutman & Lichtenstein. Who knows why. He needs money like Johnny Depp needs Amber Heard. Not only did Brad’s divorce from Angelina last longer than their marriage. Remember even royalty’s Prince Charles and Diana? Prince Andrew and temp Fergie? Princess Anne and now-you-see-him-now-you-don’t Mark Phillips? Forget stateless, jobless Prince Harry and his till-debt-do-us-part wife.
Catherine de’ Medici’s husband preferred his whore. Einstein told the missus: “I will receive my three meals a day in my room.” Norman Mailer handled wife Adele with a rusty knife. Rudolph Valentino’s bride kicked him out on their wedding night. Rude Henry VIII knocked off half a dozen marriages, 10 mistresses and a few heads. Forget prenups. Today COVID’s upped splitsville. Breakups multiply. Couples call the cops, there are restraining orders, illegitimate kids, threesomes, he’s a Republican, she’s not.
Felder: “This is my purpose in life. What I do well. I got 14 lawsuits at once. Things have changed. Music’s the same, but the words are different. Now women work. Control. Head a household. Not ashamed to go to court. Successful, aggressive, not homemakers, earn money. Women are the assets. Men, pussycat.
“Now women are tougher. Powerful. Curse more. They can take pain.”
Also, with all the extras added, lawyers end up with more than the aggrieved party.
Book biz is up
Besides divorces, separation and destroying one another, literary agent Jane Dystel says: Buying lots of books. Knock on wood. The publishing business is doing well. Stuck inside, people are reading more.”
Meanwhile, mixing Jude Law’s parsimony and Raoul Felder’s alimony is John Barelli’s book “Stealing the show: A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts.”
History. England’s 17th-century bloody civil wars were born of political divisions. Our Constitution does not mention political parties. Our founders didn’t want them. Washington cautioned America to rely on governmental separation of powers to sustain us — not political parties, which Alexander Hamilton called “the most fatal disease” of popular government.”G. Washington wrote Thomas Jefferson: “I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was if parties did exist, to reconcile them.”
Oy. Only in America, kids, only in America.