May 1, 2026

JOHN PODHORETZ REVIEWS THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2: For the sequel to a beloved working-girl comedy, everybody forgot to find a plot.

You might enjoy The Devil Wears Prada 2 if you love dresses. I don’t know about or care about dresses, so I can’t really comment on the value of the fashion platery here, but the original did find a way to echo the emotional resonances of Working Girl and Pretty Woman as it converted Andy from a nerdy shlub to a radiant neo-Audrey Hepburn. Since Hathaway is gorgeous from the outset and has maintained her knowledge of how to dress well from the original movie, there’s no transformation here to make you ooh and ahh.

I have nothing against sequels, or legacy sequels, or fluffy movies that only seek to entertain. But Rule 1 is they need a story that makes sense. And Rule 2: They do need to entertain.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 1:44 pm by Ed Driscoll

NEW FOOTAGE OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT RELEASED. Here’s What It Shows:

The friendly fire theory just got buried — on video.

For days, questions swirled about whether a Secret Service agent wounded at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner had actually been hit by fellow agents in the chaos. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro put that narrative to rest Thursday night.

Pirro released new, high-quality security video from the Washington Hilton Hotel showing 31-year-old Cole Allen charging through a Secret Service checkpoint during the April 25 dinner, where President Trump was scheduled to speak. The footage, she noted, had already been submitted to U.S. District Court.

“Today, we are releasing video already provided to U.S. District Court showing Cole Allen shoot a U.S. Secret Service officer during his attempt to assassinate the President at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” Pirro said in her X post. “There is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly fire.”

 

Related:

That’s a plausible theory, but which movie did Allen think he was starring in? Taxi Driver? JFK? The Manchurian Candidate?

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU TRACKING FOR LOWEST STAR WARS BOX OFFICE OPENING EVER:

The Mandalorian and Grogu box office projections are continuing to trend in the wrong direction, with new estimates suggesting the film could deliver the lowest opening weekend in the history of the Star Wars franchise.

According to the latest tracking data, the film is currently eyeing an $80 million-plus four-day Memorial Day debut. While that might sound respectable on paper, it would fall well below previous Star Wars theatrical releases—and even trail 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opened to $103 million over the same holiday frame.

Solo holds the distinction of being the first Star Wars movie to actually lose money at the box office (but seemingly not the last).

For Star Wars, a franchise that once dominated the global box office, that’s a stunning shift.

Far more so than Spinal Tap, Kathleen Kennedy spent the last ten years working extremely hard to make Star Wars’ appeal increasingly selective:

Posted at 12:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

ONCE AGAIN THE “CONSPIRACY THEORY” WAS CORRECT:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

LATERAL MOVE:

Posted at 12:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

IT’S FRAUD ALL THE WAY DOWN, AND “NEUTRAL” INSTITUTIONS ARE HELPING WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THEY CAN:

Posted at 12:04 pm by Glenn Reynolds

UNEXPECTEDLY: Bombshell sex harassment suit against Lorna Hajdini, JPMorgan branded ‘complete fabrication’ as John Doe unmasked.

A former JPMorgan staffer who sources identified as Chirayu Rana has been accused of making fabricated sexual-harassment claims against a high-ranking executive at the bank after an internal investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing, The Post has learned.

Multiple sources told The Post that 35-year-old Rana, now a principal at investment firm Bregal Sagemount, is the man who brought the bombshell lawsuit against Lorna Hajdini earlier this week.

Rana’s suit, filed on Monday under the pseudonym John Doe, accused the 37-year-old executive director of turning him into her “sex slave” by drugging him with Rohypnol and Viagra and threatening to slash his bonus if he did not comply.

The story as originally reported was likely doing wonders for JPMorgan’s recruiting:

Incidentally, what is up with the photo of Rana in the Post’s article? It looks like it’s either AI-generated, or massively Photoshopped and processed. When the story first broke, I thought it was bound to soon become a “ripped from the headlines” Law & Order episode. But perhaps Pixar is getting the jump on buying the rights:

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

UPDATE (From Ed): They don’t call it “The Daily Fail” for nothing:

Posted at 11:45 am by Ed Driscoll

EPISTEMIC CLOSURE:

Posted at 9:17 am by Glenn Reynolds

MANY WITNESSES THINK THEY’RE SMARTER THAN THE LAWYER EXAMINING THEM. MOST ARE WRONG BUT:

Posted at 8:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

FLORIDA, MAN:

Posted at 8:22 am by Ed Driscoll

ICYMI: REMEMBER, TRUMP IS A THREAT TO NORMALCY:

Posted at 8:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

“THIS GOVERNMENTAL ERA OF RACISM TO CURE RACISM IS ENDING AND DEMOCRATS ARE LOSING THEIR MINDS OVER IT:”

Related:

Tweet continues, “White progressives don’t understand how belittling it is to black voters to claim all their success came from white progressive handouts, not their own capabilities and achievements.”

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll

WHEN DEI IS YOUR ONLY COMPETENCY, ELIMINATING IT LOOKS LIKE WAR:

Posted at 7:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE:

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll

THE POLITICS OF RACE:

Posted at 7:09 am by Glenn Reynolds