A warning, this episode contains mention of sexual assault.

Amsterdam is a screwball comedy with a star-studded pedigree.

Christian Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie play friends who get caught up in

a political conspiracy. The cast also includes Robert De Niro, Taylor Swift, Chris Rock, and Mike Myers.

It's written and directed by David O'Rossel, who stuffs nearly as many plot lines into the story

as there are movie stars. Does he balance the mystery, zany hijinks, and social commentary?

I'm Ayesha Harris, and today we're talking about the movie Amsterdam, on pop culture happy hour

from NPR. Joining me today is film critic and cultural journalist Badatri D. Chaudhry.

Hey, Badatri, welcome back. Hi, Ayasha. Great to be back, as always. Yes, it's wonderful to have you

here. So Amsterdam stars Christian Bale as Dr. Bert Benderson and John David Washington as lawyer

Harold Woodsman, who meet while serving in World War I. Margot Robbie plays Valerie, a nurse who

strikes up a romance with Harold and be friends Bert. After the war, the three of them live a relatively

carefully life in Amsterdam for a bit. Now years later, in the early 1930s, Bert and Harold have

lost touch with Valerie after moving back to New York City. The men find themselves entangled in a

political conspiracy following the mysterious death of a fellow veteran who's played by Ed Bagley

Jr. As they try to figure out who might have killed him and why, they're unexpectedly reunited with

Valerie. Now, other characters in this sprawling ensemble, there are so many. I'm not even going

to listen them all, but they include Rami Malik and Anya Taylor Joy as Valerie's brother and sister-in-law,

Robert De Niro, as a general who's recruited into the conspiracy plot, Mike Myers, and Michael

Shannon as a pair of intelligence officers and Zoey Saldana as an autopsy nurse. The movie is very

loosely based on a real historical event known as the business plot, in which a bunch of wealthy

American businessmen were accused of plotting to overthrow Franklin D Roosevelt and install a

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