Obsession and What’s Making Us Happy

In ‘Obsession,’ love hurts. It really, really, really hurts. : Pop Culture Happy Hour : NPR
Accessibility links
Skip to main content
Keyboard shortcuts for audio player
Open Navigation Menu
Newsletters
NPR Shop
Get NPR+
Close
Navigation Menu
Home
News
Expand/collapse submenu for News
National
World
Politics
Business
Health
Science
Climate
Race
Culture
Expand/collapse submenu for Culture
Books
Movies
Television
Pop Culture
Food
Art & Design
Performing Arts
Life Kit
Gaming
Music
Expand/collapse submenu for Music
Tiny Desk
New Music Friday
All Songs Considered
Music Features
Live Sessions
Podcasts & Shows
Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows
Daily
Morning Edition
Weekend Edition Saturday
Weekend Edition Sunday
All Things Considered
Up First
Here & Now
NPR Politics Podcast
Featured
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
Fresh Air
Wild Card with Rachel Martin
It's Been a Minute
Embedded
Get NPR+
More Podcasts & Shows
Search
Newsletters
NPR Shop
Get NPR+
Tiny Desk
New Music Friday
All Songs Considered
Music Features
Live Sessions
About NPR
Diversity
Support
Careers
Press
Ethics
In ‘Obsession,’ love hurts. It really, really, really hurts. : Pop Culture Happy Hour
The new film
Obsession
has a familiar setup: A guy makes a wish, wish comes true, and things go bad. But what sets this twisted little movie apart is how bad things go, and the astonishing, terrifying performance of its lead actress, Inde Navarrette. Written and directed by Curry Barker, the film follows a schlubby music store employee (Michael Johnston) who’s in love with his coworker (Navarrette) and makes a wish on a cheap magic gag gift for her to love him. That love soon proves to be the kind that’s jealous, all-consuming and comes with a body count.
Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at
letterboxd.com/nprpopculture
Listen to our episode about
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
NPR
Review
Pop Culture Happy Hour
LISTEN & FOLLOW
NPR App
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
iHeart Radio
YouTube Music
RSS link
Review
Pop Culture Happy Hour
<
In ‘Obsession,’ love hurts. It really, really, really hurts.
May 15, 2026
3:00 AM ET
Pop Culture Happy Hour-05.15.2026
Listen
·
23:21
23:21
Transcript
Toggle more options
Download
Embed
Embed
<
iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5822305/nx-s1-mx-5822305-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript
Transcript
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
GLEN WELDON: The setup of the new film, Obsession, is a familiar one, but hear me out. Yes, guy makes a wish. Wish comes true. Things go bad. But what sets this twisted little movie apart is just how bad things go and how much of that badness is rooted not in special effects, but in the astonishing, terrifying performance of its lead actress, who is playing a woman so desperately in love that she becomes a danger to, well, pretty much everything. I'm Glen Weldon. Joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is Jordan Crucchiola. She's a writer and producer and the host of the podcast Feeling Seen on Maximum Fun. Hey, Jordan.
JORDAN CRUCCHIOLA: So glad to be back on our summer kickoff horror run that we're on right now.
WELDON: Yeah, it's a theme. Also with us is Monica Castillo, film critic for The AV Club. Welcome back, Monica.
MONICA CASTILLO: So thrilled to be here for this one and many more spooky, scary movies.
CRUCCHIOLA: We're running it back with this trio.
WELDON: The gang's all here. All right. Let's do this. So if you are a comedy nerd, you've probably had Curry Barker come across your feed at some point in the past few years. He's part of a comedy duo that made viral sketches on TikTok and YouTube. Obsession is the first theatrical feature he's written and directed, and while it's creepy as hell, he's also brought his serious comedy chops to the mix. Obsession stars Michael Johnston as Bear, a schlubby music store employee who's in love with his coworker, Nikki, played by Inde Navarrette. He can't summon the courage to confess his feelings, so he makes a wishes on a cheap magic gag gift called a One Wish Willow for her to fall in love with him. Nikki does fall in love with him, but that love soon proves to be the kind that is jealous and all consuming and that comes with a body count. Obsession is in theaters now. Jordan, kick us off. What'd you think?
CRUCCHIOLA: Really, really liked this one, really impressed by it. I understand it was a pretty modestly budgeted movie and looks excellent. It's a beautiful-looking nighttime horror movie. These people must not have slept in the night for a couple of weeks on end, making this. There's just so much about this movie that really fantastically skewers the tropes of, like, the longing rom-com behavior, best friend guy, and, like, the sort of dream sassy-- not quite manic pixie dream girl, but sort of like, vision of this boy from right next to her who's been longing for her. And it sends up so many tropes that I have talked about ad nauseam about the things in movies that conditioned women to expect less and accept bare minimum. He made a really good movie that, on the surface, is just going to make you so upset. Like, I'll watch this again in three to five years. But if you want to, like, really engage with, like, a metatextual, read on, like, how narrative indoctrination got us to this point in pop culture, it can also be that. So it's working on a lot of levels. And like you said--
WELDON: That's certainly true.
CRUCCHIOLA: --Inde Navarrette, oh my god.
WELDON: Yeah, we'll talk more about her. But first, Monica, big picture thoughts-- what'd you make of this?
CASTILLO: Three to five years? I've already revisited this twice, I loved it so much.
CRUCCHIOLA: Oh, god. Oh, that's a lot.
CASTILLO: I really enjoyed it. I was also really surprised, because I wasn't familiar with Curry Barker's stuff, heading into it.
CRUCCHIOLA: Me neither.
CASTILLO: And so this is my first sort of like, jumping into the deep end of his work. And wow, I was just so impressed, just the way that he uses shadows and darkness, but also, there's a lot of color and lighting going on, so you're not totally lost in the dark, and it doesn't look like mud on screen. But it's beautiful and tragic and sad. And god, is it so emotional, but not in a, "oh, this is trauma" kind of way. This is--
CRUCCHIOLA: No.
CASTILLO: --just a unleash of just very raw emotions. I was so, so impressed with Inde. I know we're going to get to her in a bit, but wow, this is her show all the way.
WELDON: Absolutely.
CASTILLO: She owns this movie. She rocks. I'm so, so thrilled for her. And I can't see what she does next, in addition to Curry.
WELDON: Absolutely. I mean, this thing starts off. It hits some very familiar narrative beats-- the Tales from the Darkside, The Twilight Zone, a tidy little morality play. So we expect it to hit those beats. It does take its time, I think it's fair to say, in the early going. It's doing that for a reason. It wants you to invest in these characters. It wants these characters to register. So you're there, and you're nodding along. And you're thinking, this has to happen, then this has to happen, then this has to happen. I know the arc of this. But then there starts to be these little moments of weirdness, of just idiosyncrasy, of little bits of texture that set it apart that signal to you, OK, we're not just going to hit the beats. We reserve the right to find these little pockets of individuality, I guess. And then they start piling up those moments. And it's stuff you haven't seen before. We called them tropes, but like, it's making fun of romantic tropes. It's also creating horror tropes, right? Now they're horror triggers because they haven't been done to death. Like, there's a scene where she carries a flower pot. And it's so creepy. And you're like--
CRUCCHIOLA: One of the most unsettling deployments of a flower pot you could possibly come across.
WELDON: It's so weird because that's new. And you know how, like, whenever you see anybody in a horror film do the upside-down crab walking from The Exorcist, it's creepy as hell. It's always creepy as hell.
CASTILLO: It's unnatural.
WELDON: But your brain automatically slots it into this kind of pre-existing groove that The Exorcist carved, and you're like, OK. This movie is carving some new slots.
CRUCCHIOLA: There's, like, cousins to that thing that happened that are--
CASTILLO: Oh, yeah.
CRUCCHIOLA: --really effective.
WELDON: Yeah. And I don't want to-- we're going to talk about Inde Navarrette. But like, you have to give over so much of your pet project, your vision, to give one actor-- to have this entire movie rest on her shoulders. Like, this movie doesn't work without this bravura, absolutely fearless performance. Let's talk about Inde Navarrette here as Nikki.
CRUCCHIOLA: An interesting jumping off is, like, the one thing I have heard Curry Barker say-- I didn't even seek it out. It just popped up in front of me-- was he initially wrote her as just, like, a pure little sweet girl that, like, you couldn't deny how sweet and wonderful she was. And the way he said it was-- and the reason why I don't want to read anymore is because he was like, you know, just a girl that any guy could fall in love with. He's like-- but what Inde brought to the part was this sassiness, was this edge, this sharpness. Because when I was watching it, I was like, oh, she is like-- she's, like, slightly heckling guys. She's giving as good as she gets. Like, she's giving money to the unhoused person. But, like, the moment she had me was when she looks at the bartender. She's like, oh, yeah, close it out, babe. I was like, OK, this girl's a nuclear bomb. And that he saw that, and he embraced it-- so smart to work with his actor and collaborate her, to let her just turn into the hurricane that she becomes in this movie. It was just an absolute brakes off but does not go to a point, I feel like, of cartoonish or caricature. There is agony inside every wild decision that Inde makes, that Nikki makes, as the movie builds and builds and builds. And the amount of just, like, horror inside the performance and the way that the movie tips us off to horror that is going on behind the scenes within Nikki I thought was really smartly deployed. I mean, put her on the cover of Vanity Fair, NewNowNext. Like, this girl has arrived.
CASTILLO: I really agree with Jordan's assessment of, like, the collaboration between Inde Navarrette and Curry Barker, because I think there's a level of trust that an actor has to put in her director.
CRUCCHIOLA: There must have been, like, we are mind melding on this.
WELDON: Absolutely.
CASTILLO: You have to, I mean, because she goes in some really dark places and as well as some really just strange, wild places, in terms of just, like, the intensity of her performances. I've seen it twice, so I've seen an audience react to it a few times now. And one of the parts that, like, gets most people to jump is actually when she's still. She's laying next to Bear in bed. And she screams at him at the top of her lungs to stay to just keep him in bed.
CRUCCHIOLA: I was wondering if you were going to say that part. If there's a second of this movie-- like, some really graphically horrific things happen in this movie.
CASTILLO: Oh, yeah, plenty.
CRUCCHIOLA: But, like, the thing that has pierced my nightmares is that scream.
CASTILLO: Her eyes are closed. She's completely-- it looks like she could be asleep. But she just-- he's barely inching away from her, about to leave the bed. And she just yells that "stay!" all the octaves I didn't know possible. And then, like, everybody winces in the theater. Like, oh my god, now you're scared for Bear. Now things are really looking uncertain. Then it just crescendos from there. Like, she not only holds that intensity, she keeps building on it. I'm just so impressed. I mean, you do get that sense of who her character was beforehand, you know, like you were saying, Jordan, like the sort of soft, gentle person, but also a sass and, like, the jokes but also the care and the tenderness and vulnerability. You get a sense of her relationship with Bear beforehand, her dynamics in the group ahead of that. And that's all within just a few minutes of meeting her.
CRUCCHIOLA: That rolls so quick. [SNAPPING FINGERS] It's really efficient, how they handle that establishing.
CASTILLO: And when things change, it is a marked difference. Her body language changes. The way she holds her head is different. I also really love-- Curry Barker does a lot of, like, backlighting with her once she kind of falls under the spell. And you don't see her face, and you don't see any part of her. It's just her body. It's just her outline. And she carries herself in such a different way that you already know, like, oh, this is not the Nikki that we met at the beginning of the movie.
CRUCCHIOLA: This is not the Nikki that we saw five seconds ago.
CASTILLO: But it is a way to show that Bear has fallen for this idea of her.
WELDON: Exactly.
CASTILLO: It's not really her fullness.
CRUCCHIOLA: Yes, yes.
CASTILLO: It's not who she is. It is the idea of her. And he settles for that. And he-- for a while there, it looks like things might be OK. But then clearly, things go horribly awry.
WELDON: Yeah. And both director and actor are fully in control of-- the stuff that's happening is funny and horrifying. But there is-- as you both touched on, there is tragedy here. I mean, the last time we got together to talk about Hokum, talked about how horror works on a metaphorical level, takes metaphors, makes them literal. Here, we're hitting on issues of consent at kind of an oblique angle, but we are definitely steering right into toxic relationships and mental illness. And it doesn't feel cheap or exploitative. Because those moments you're talking about, where we see them suffering-- and it's horrifying in a way that has nothing to do with blood and guts and violence. It has everything to do with sudden, horrifying empathy, right? Like, and it's both director and, really, the actor who really bring that home.
CRUCCHIOLA: Michael Johnston-- I hated Bear-- god-- so much. And I'm inclined to hate Bear. I probably dislike Bear more than, like, the average bear. Ha, ha. But I was still afraid for him. Like, what he was doing was like-- there was that, "oh, I'm just a passenger in my own story" energy the entire time, where-- my god, ladies and gentlemen, the amount of opportunities that Bear is given to step up and just be honest and just, like, be somebody in that moment who will take responsibility for their feelings--
CASTILLO: Be a grown-up.
CRUCCHIOLA: Yeah. It was just like, by the fourth time, I looked at my friend who went to this with me. And I just went, I am going to explode. I, like, whispered it in his ear. And what the performance results in is such a perfect foil for what Nikki is doing. This little ensemble does a very good job of not competing with each other for their very distinct character attributes, because best friend, collaborator Cooper Tomlinson, he's a really big personality. And he kind of like-- he sort of steals the space whenever he's on screen. And that kind of guy is exactly who would steal the space whenever he's in a room.
CASTILLO: Yeah. He's a ham.
CRUCCHIOLA: He's a ham. He's a ham. You could feel, like, he maybe peaked in high school a little bit. And, like, it felt like something that a young person had to make because it felt like somebody who was of the age and, like, social experience of the ensemble that was on screen too. And I really appreciate that the digital pipeline of all these guys who are having all the success-- Curry Barker, Kane Parsons, the Philippou brothers-- like, that they are getting pulled out from a new pipeline, even if the kind of result of that pipeline is a bunch of people who look the same as the people who came before the new pipeline. I appreciate, at least, that young people are given the-- being given the chance repeatedly-- we can handle budgets. We can handle crews. We know what we're doing. You can't talk down to us and tell us that we don't know how because your studio-sanctioned notion of what a professional filmmaker looks like is stuck at, like, this strange level of experience that's, like, impossible for people to get and just, like, runs people out of the industry before they're allowed to have this kind of success.
WELDON: Yeah. I mean, this is-- that's a really good point, Jordan. Because I mean, the pipeline used to be you go to film school, you spend a few years as a PA, running coffee or schlepping a van around LA. Now it can be-- be funny. Be smart. Stand out on are own. Get noticed. Get an opportunity. Knock it out of the park, like this guy did. Imagine if the world is a meritocracy for-- for a moment. Imagine if that happens. And I'm-- I'm encouraged--
CASTILLO: I don't know about this industry just yet. But it's nice when it happens. It's nice when it happens.
CRUCCHIOLA: So much of Shiva Baby is the youthful energy of Sennett and Seligman collaborating together, and they got that right out of NYU. And there's something to be said for-- yeah, when you have eye on the ball of a certain kind of emotionally-wracked experience of, like, hey, I'm-- I'm right in this phase of my life, so let me tell you all about it in this really fun way-- we should give opportunities to that younger generational perspective to do so before they've, like, processed it, and they're looking back, and they're, like, reflecting on their time 10, 15 years ago. This movie feels so immediately of, like, a heartbreak or a longing. That's why it's such a brick to the face, as one could say--
WELDON: One might say.
CRUCCHIOLA: --perhaps.
WELDON: I'm not sure I have the right take on this, so check me on this. But I think this movie is really smart about its premise, which is a guy wishes a woman loved him. Now, he wishes she loved him more than anyone in the world. But he's still just making a wish, right? And it is a wish that removes consent. But he doesn't know that because he lives in our world, where wishes don't work. Wishes don't do anything. It is not a moral transgression to wish something. The script knows that. So it builds in for him those moments you mentioned of actual really acute moral failure, where he could-- this script him so many opportunities to tell Nikki how he feels in the real world, before the wish happens. He doesn't do it.
CASTILLO: Painfully so.
WELDON: He could realize what he's done and decide to end it, but he doesn't. He bargains. He normalizes in those moments, where he destroys everything. I think what's really fascinating about this, it's not the-- he transgresses, so he gets his comeuppance. That's not the classic horror infrastructure here. It's he fails to take accountability for what is essentially an accident. That's the thing. That's the moral transgression. And I think that's much chewier. It's much more interesting.
CRUCCHIOLA: That's a good point.
CASTILLO: Yeah. And I think Cooper Tomlinson has a really great moment where he kind of calls out Michael Johnston's character for continuing this sort of sham relationship that develops. And he's like, you know, things aren't going right, and it kind of looks like you're taking advantage of her. He's actually having the conversation that is really uncomfortable and, like, we probably don't see enough of in-- in media. So it's actually kind of surprising that there is another voice that's kind of, you know, at least calling him out for the fact that he is riding this coattails of the wish, even though he's freaked out by it, doesn't fully agree with it. But hey, at the moment, it kind of benefits him, and it works for him, so he's going to enjoy that.
CRUCCHIOLA: There's that moment that-- I think it was the first teaser, maybe, that was put out for the movie-- is Bear in the car, calling the hotline for One Wish Willow. And he's like, can you take it back? I'd like to-- I want to change my wish. And they're just like, yeah, hi. Like, how may I help you? Bear's struggling with what he has done, and he's trying to enumerate it clumsily. And the guy says to him, just because you chose this for her doesn't make it less real. And that-- I don't know. That line just hit me so hard. Like, the bigness of it and the small preciseness of it was just so good and that notion of, like, hey, man. Just because you made-- like, you could just hear, like, a buddy telling that to him too in, like, a-- in, like-- over a beer, being like, hey, dude, bro. Just because, like, you picked this for her, like, doesn't make it fake or something like that, like, that, like, notion of that socialized encouragement of how you can coax someone or coerce someone toward something and tell yourself you're still a good person the entire time. And getting to that, what Glen said, about like, the inability to just take responsibility and the number of opportunities that he has to do so-- like, that one line, I was like, that was fire. Like, Curry Barker slayed it right there.
WELDON: Really, the stuff about the wish and the gimmickry of the wish is some of the funniest parts in this movie.
CASTILLO: Oh, it's so good.
WELDON: That is where you can see the chops from his comedy troupe kind of kicking in. Like if you're a comedy nerd like me, you've been seeing this guy around for a long time. I feel this kind of parasocial pride, where I feel like--
CRUCCHIOLA: I told the director this the other day. I was like, I'm just so happy for you as like-- as a millennial woman. I'm just like, I feel so proud of you. I get this. I get this.
WELDON: My indie band has just gone mainstream, and I'm not mad at it. I'm like, yes, more people should be listening to this band.
CASTILLO: Well deserved.
WELDON: Well, I mean, I think we agree-- this movie hits on writing. It hits on directing. And it has at its center an unforgettable horror performance, not-- scratch that-- an unforgettable performance, period, that is really worth checking out. So you got your weekend planned. Up next, what is making us happy this week.
WELDON: Now it is time for our favorite segment of this week and every week-- what is making us happy this week. Monica, what is making you happy this week?
CASTILLO: So about a year ago, I embarked on this really long project to finally get around to reading Robert Caro's The Power Broker. And I am so happy to report that about a year later, I finally finished The Power Broker.
WELDON: It's the way that works.
CASTILLO: Believe the hype. It's actually really good. It's also helped me appreciate a little bit more of my city's history. But it also has opened the door to, you know, bigger conversations about how policy affects day-to-day life. And especially as, you know, midterm elections are ramping up, paying attention to the local elections is just as important as it is the broader, bigger picture. So I've also appreciated following the Instagram account Segregation by Design, which has a lot of videos kind of explaining Robert Moses's approach to public policy and what he did throughout the city. So if you're not into reading an over a-thousand-page book and don't want to carry it around, there are little shorter videos. Learn a little bit about that whole side of the story of both New York City history but also, you know, the effect of urban renewal throughout cities across the country.
WELDON: That's great. That is Robert Caro's The Power Broker, a book that has also been sitting on my virtual bedside for-- I'm going to go for a decade now.
CRUCCHIOLA: Is this thing, like, the size of the Encyclopedia Britannica?
CASTILLO: It's definitely a doorstop.
WELDON: Thank you very much. Jordan, what is making you happy this week?
CRUCCHIOLA: Well, what is making me happy this week-- I'm really enjoying Margo's Got Money Troubles on Apple TV as I sit in anticipation for the return of Silo season 3 on Apple TV. I am a sucker for Elle Fanning. I am so happy to see Michelle Pfeiffer. And I just-- I found the ways in which it handles these very, like, today and yet timeless emotional slings and arrows of this young woman. And there's just been so many moments where I, somebody who has not created an OnlyFans account to supplement income for the child that I have as a single mother-- not being in that scenario, I still find myself really feeling like, wow, this really is-- like, this is for everyone. You don't have to have created an OnlyFans account to understand the struggles that Margo has and the light and joy that she finds in all these things and the-- the way, like, when you know that, like, a friendship isn't going to be the same going forward as it was in your past and, like, the heartbreak and the loss of that. So yeah, I just think it's doing so-- and Greg Kinnear has made me cry, like, three times, Greg Kinnear, the most everyman that has ever everymanned, blessing that he is, for, like, a 40-minute dramedy that, watching every episode, I like it's packing in so much. And I'm just really loving it, and it's making me very happy.
WELDON: Thank you very much. That is Margo's Got Money Troubles on Apple TV. And we've got a terrific episode about that very show, which you can find a link to in our episode description. What's making me happy this week-- Legends is a British series on Netflix that's kind of, what if the Brits did The Wire or Task? It's about--
CRUCCHIOLA: I've been wondering what this is. I've seen it pop up on my display. OK.
WELDON: Yeah. It's about a small task force of customs officials who go undercover to infiltrate and bring down some drug gangs in the UK in the early '90s. And the title Legends refers to the false identities that they have to adopt to go undercover. And it's about the physical and emotional costs of living undercover, you know, doing bad things. And there is a really healthy British cynicism that keeps course correcting every time you think it's about to slop over into some other kind of pat moralization that many American cop shows do. It reminds you of The Wire because it's very clear that the thing driving all of these anti-drug efforts is politicians like Margaret Thatcher, who want to score points and improve their re-election chances. And Steve Coogan plays the guy training the recruits, and he kind of runs the ship. And this is one of those roles where he's playing it straight, and he's also playing a tough guy.
CASTILLO: You sold me on Steve Coogan.
CRUCCHIOLA: Is this a period piece then, set in the era of Maggie?
CASTILLO: '90s.
WELDON: It's Maggie-- it's set in the early '90s, yeah. And it's really-- it's suspenseful. It moves along. That is Legends on Netflix. And that is what is making me happy this week. And that brings us to the end of our show. Jordan Crucchiola, Monica Castillo, thanks for being here. We'll have you back the next time there is a really great little indie horror.
CRUCCHIOLA: I look forward to it every time.
CASTILLO: Oh, yes. Let's keep this going.
WELDON: Great to have you. And just a reminder that signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ is a great way to support our show and public radio, and you get to listen to all of our episodes sponsor free. So please go find out more at plus.npr.org/happyhour or visit the link in our show notes. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katzif and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. And Hello Come In provides our theme music. Thank you all for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I am Glen Weldon, and we will see you all next week.
Copyright © 2026 NPR.  All rights reserved.  Visit our website
terms of use
and
permissions
pages at
www.npr.org
for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Facebook
Flipboard
Email
Read & Listen
Home
News
Culture
Music
Podcasts & Shows
Connect
Newsletters
Facebook
Instagram
Press
Public Editor
Corrections
Transcripts
Contact & Help
About NPR
Overview
Diversity
NPR Network
Accessibility
Ethics
Finances
Get Involved
Support Public Radio
Sponsor NPR
NPR Careers
NPR Shop
NPR Extra
Terms of Use
Privacy
Your Privacy Choices
Text Only
Sponsor Message
Sponsor Message
Become an NPR sponsor