Man, if you weren't there in the Philadelphia department store scene back in '87, then you just wouldn't get it. Luckily, the movie Mannequin (1987) is here to fill you in: It's a battle of two behemoth stores—the mom-and-pop-owned Prince & Company and the tacky upstart Illustra. At the center of it all is Jonathan Switcher (Andrew McCarthy), a dreamer with a heart of gold who falls in love with a mannequin (Kim Cattrall). Except this mannequin's secretly a real person, inhabited by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian woman named Emmy. Tale as old as time.

Swirling around all of this is a fiery debate between your hosts over whether Andrew McCarthy is a loveable and sweet everyman (Laci) or a translucent void lacking any semblance of charisma or screen presence (Matt).

Watch this episode in full on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AT5pS0Y-TqQ

Time stamps:

• 00:03:08 — Laci's history with Mannequin and why she wanted to cover it on this episode
• 00:05:07 — Pre-movie predictions
• 00:08:10 — History segment: Career overviews of writer/director Michael Gottlieb and stars Andrew McCarthy & Kim Cattrall, and the role market research played in the development of this film
• 00:35:29 — In-depth movie discussion
• 01:34:09 — Final thoughts and star ratings

Head to https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeamspod to watch new, full video episodes every week.

Artwork by Laci Roth.

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).

NEXT WEEK: We're covering The Butterfly Effect (2004) with special guest Cinematic Joshua (@cinematicjoshua on TikTok)