Best Weekend
Best Weekend: ‘Diary of a Teenage Girl,’ ‘Difficult People’ + More
What we'll be listening to, watching, and reading to sate our pop culture needs.
This article was made possible because of the generous support of DAME members. We urgently need your help to keep publishing. Will you contribute just $5 a month to support our journalism?
The indie movie we’ve been waiting for, a new Lianne La Havas record, a can’t-put-it-down mystery, and ample time with two sets of our favorite pop culture besties. This weekend RULES.
‘Diary of a Teenage Girl’
A movie that realistically treats a teen girl’s sexuality? We’re there. Based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s graphic novel of the same name, Diary of a Teenage Girl, marking the directorial debut of Marielle Heller, follows 15-year-old Minnie Goetz (Bel Powley) in late-’70s San Francisco through all the angst, creative discovery, and sexual tension of those formative years. Kristen Wiig plays Minnie’s mom and Alexander Skarsgård plays her mom’s boyfriend and Minnie’s furtive lover making this a damn near perfect film.
‘Difficult People’ Premiere on Hulu
Our favorite real-life best friends, Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner—two hilarious people in their own rights—have compounded their genius to bring us this comedy (which premiered on Tuesday; watch the pilot here) about Julie and Billy who are, well, difficult people. In a show that takes more than a little inspiration from real life, the two play struggling comedians trying to make it in NYC, talking shit to and about nearly every person they meet on the way. In other words, we love it.
‘In a Dark, Dark Wood’ by Ruth Ware
We’ve got your end of summer beach read right here. Like a Christopher Pike novel all grown up (and a bajillion times more well written) this page-turning whodunit by Ruth Ware follows crime writer protagonist Leonora Shaw as she attends an old friend’s bachelorette party, then wakes up in the hospital knowing someone’s died. But who? And how? We’re getting chills just thinking about it.
Lianne La Havas—‘Blood’
There’s a reason both Prince and Stevie Wonder are fans of U.K. musician Lianne La Havas—the 25-year-old guitarist and singer-songwriter has the voice of an old soul and on her newest album she unleashes its full power on our earholes. With elements of jazz and neo-soul, Blood takes the insightful, pared down songwriting of La Havas’s first album and turns it up to 11.
‘Playing House’ Season 2 Premiere on USA
Our other favorite real-life best friends—UCB alums Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair—are back this week playing our favorite fictional best friends, Maggie Caruso and Emma Crawford in season 2 of this criminally underrated show. Like an absurdist Stars Hollow, the small Connecticut town that Emma has returned to in order to help Maggie raise her new baby, is full of hilarious and well-meaning characters for a series that gives you the feel-goods of Gilmore Girls with the guffaws of a top-notch improv night.
Before you go, we hope you’ll consider supporting DAME’s journalism.
Today, just tiny number of corporations and billionaire owners are in control the news we watch and read. That influence shapes our culture and our understanding of the world. But at DAME, we serve as a counterbalance by doing things differently. We’re reader funded, which means our only agenda is to serve our readers. No both sides, no false equivalencies, no billionaire interests. Just our mission to publish the information and reporting that help you navigate the most complex issues we face.
But to keep publishing, stay independent and paywall free for all, we urgently need more support. During our Spring Membership drive, we hope you’ll join the community helping to build a more equitable media landscape with a monthly membership of just $5.00 per month or one-time gift in any amount.