Latest news with #Nonnas
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Netflix Set to Report Q2 Earnings: Buy, Sell or Hold NFLX Stock?
Netflix NFLX is slated to report second-quarter 2025 results on July 17. For the second quarter of 2025, NFLX forecasts revenues to increase 15.4% (+17% F/X neutral) to $11.035 billion, as the company foresees the full quarter benefit from recent price changes and continued growth in membership and advertising revenues. The company expects UCAN revenue growth to reaccelerate in the second quarter. The company anticipates total revenues to be $11.035 billion, suggesting growth of 15% year over year (+17% F/X neutral). The consensus mark for revenues is pinned at $11.05 billion, above the company's expectations, indicating 15.63% year-over-year has projected earnings of $7.03 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at $7.06 per share, currently above the company's expectations. The estimate has inched up 0.1% over the past 30 days. Find the latest earnings estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar. NFLX Estimate Movement Image Source: Zacks Investment Research NFLX Earnings Surprise History In the last reported quarter, the company delivered an earnings surprise of 16.17%. The company's earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 6.94%. Netflix, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise Netflix, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Netflix, Inc. Quote Earnings Whispers for NFLX Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Netflix this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP has an Earnings ESP of +1.68% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Factors Shaping Upcoming Results of Netflix Netflix appears well-positioned to deliver robust second-quarter 2025 results, building on the impressive momentum established in the first quarter where the streaming giant exceeded expectations with 13% revenue growth and 27% operating income expansion. The company's strong content slate and strategic platform enhancements throughout the second quarter is likely to have contributed to continued subscriber growth and engagement quarter benefited from a compelling mix of high-profile content releases that drove significant viewer interest. Netflix's film lineup included major productions featuring A-list talent, with Nonnas starring Vince Vaughn, Tyler Perry's drama Straw featuring Taraji P. Henson, and the action thriller Havoc starring Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker. These premium offerings are likely to have attracted new subscribers while retaining existing ones during the competitive summer viewing significantly, Netflix released the highly anticipated third and final season of Squid Game on June 27, which has historically been their most popular series globally. This cultural phenomenon is expected to have generated substantial subscriber additions and engagement spikes, particularly in international markets. The quarter also saw the return of beloved franchises, including new seasons of Black Mirror and Ginny & Georgia, along with fresh content like The Four Seasons starring comedy powerhouses Tina Fey and Steve advertising business momentum continued accelerating through the second quarter, with the company successfully expanding its proprietary Netflix Ads Suite platform across EMEA markets and achieving full rollout across all 12 ad-supported countries by June. This expansion is likely to have contributed meaningful incremental revenue growth, supporting management's guidance for roughly doubling advertising revenues in company's strategic investments in platform enhancement are noteworthy. Netflix introduced improved user experience features, including AI-powered search capabilities, enhanced recommendation systems, and a redesigned homepage, which are expected to have boosted engagement metrics and reduced churn rates. These technological improvements position Netflix advantageously against competitors while improving monetization confidence remained evident through its $1 billion commitment to transform Fort Monmouth into a premier East Coast production hub, signaling long-term growth conviction. Combined with the company's expanding global content pipeline and successful pricing strategies, Netflix appears to have multiple growth drivers firing growing competition from the likes of Apple AAPL, Amazon AMZN and Disney DIS, a compelling second-quarter content slate anchored by Squid Game's finale, accelerating advertising platform rollout, and continued platform innovations makes Netflix poised to meet or exceed its second-quarter guidance of 33% operating margins. Investors should consider positioning ahead of what appears to be another quarter of solid execution and growth acceleration. Top-Line Growth Estimates for Q2 The consensus mark for second-quarter 2025 Asia-Pacific revenues is pegged at $1.31 billion, indicating 25.1% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago Zacks Consensus Estimate for Latin America revenues is pegged at $1.36 billion, suggesting a rise of 13% from the figure reported in the previous the consensus mark for EMEA revenues is pegged at $3.46 billion, suggesting an increase of 15.3% from the figure reported in the year-ago Zacks Consensus Estimate for the United States and Canada revenues is pegged at $4.91 billion, indicating a 14.4% rise from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter. NFLX Price Performance & Stock Valuation Shares of Netflix have gained 41.1% in the year-to-date period against the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector, Amazon and Disney's growth of 10.2%, 2.5% and 7.7%, respectively. Apple shares have declined 15.8% in the same time frame. Netflix Outperforms Sector, Peers Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Now, let's look at the value Netflix offers investors at current levels. Currently, NFLX is trading at 44.38X forward 12-month earnings, above its five-year median of 33.79X. Meanwhile, the Zacks Broadcast Radio and Television industry's forward earnings multiple sits at 31.1X. The company's valuation looks somewhat stretched compared with its range and the industry average. Price-to-Earnings (Forward 12 Months) Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Investment Considerations: Balancing Risk and Reward Netflix presents a compelling investment opportunity ahead of second-quarter 2025 results, building on the exceptional first-quarter performance that delivered 13% revenue growth and 27% operating income expansion. Despite trading at a premium and facing competition, Netflix's differentiated content strategy continues driving subscriber growth, highlighted by the highly anticipated Squid Game finale and star-studded releases featuring Tom Hardy, Vince Vaughn, and Tina Fey. The company's advertising business momentum accelerated through the successful Netflix Ads Suite rollout across all 12 markets, supporting management's guidance for doubling ad revenues in 2025. Combined with AI-powered platform enhancements, global content investments, and strong pricing power, Netflix's multiple growth drivers position the stock for continued outperformance in an increasingly competitive streaming landscape. Conclusion Netflix's strong first-quarter foundation, compelling second-quarter content slate, accelerating advertising platform expansion, and innovative user experience enhancements position the company for another quarter of exceptional performance. With multiple growth drivers firing simultaneously and management's confident outlook, investors should buy Netflix ahead of second-quarter 2025 results to capitalize on the streaming leader's sustained strong competitive momentum. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Walt Disney Company (DIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Express Tribune
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Nonnas dish out more than just food
We adore our grandmothers. Despite their periodic crabbiness or quirks, we give them gifts and endearments, and love their waned and wispy presence in our photos of our special occasions. We love them to share their stories, their recipes, their tips, tricks and hacks. The story of the film Nonnas on Netflix, which is about a handful of grandmothers, shows us that grandmothers are more or less the same, all over the world. Some live with us, some live nearby and some at a distance. They all need love, attention and care. They may have solid opinions, might have become stubborn and undiplomatic as seniors, but when they call their kids, the first questions they are asked is, 'Is everything okay?' Somehow the question should be allowed to move up a little in the conversation and not start the conversation. Even though younger family almost always expects seniors to call in a problematic situation, as it is assumed that they fell, broke a bone or two or lost something, but it is not always like that. It could be an accomplishment or two that they might want to share. The film Nonnas is inspired by a real-life story of a man called Jody Scaravella, who after losing his mother, opened a restaurant called Enoteca Maria on Staten Island, New York in 2007. Two decades later, the restaurant is still there, up and running. Directed by Stephen Chbosky and written by Liz Maccie, Nonnas is all about accomplishments of grandmothers. Old and rusty they may have become, but they are a treasure trove of ideas and experiences, [recipes in this particular case] that can be tapped into. In the film, Joe (Vince Vaughn) who works in a warehouse, loses his mother and misses her so much that he finds comfort in creating her recipes or what his grandmother or nonna cooked for them when he was a little boy. Must have been that all over the world, the generation of grandmothers mostly weren't keen on writing recipes down, because they just knew them in their heads. My aunt, when she was alive and cooking, would randomly throw some spices in a bowl, using a spoon or her fingers, shake them around and smell them, and then chuck them in the bubbling pot. Today as she rests in heaven, she remains the epitome of culinary expertise in our family. It is said that she never told anyone a recipe truly, she always skipped at least one ingredient that was the secret to the flavour she achieved. Sadly, she took her secret ingredients to the grave. Apologies for digressing, Joe had no record of recipes but he tried to recreate the recipes of the food his mother and grandmother created, as a way of honouring them. He believed that food is love and vice versa. On a trip to Staten Island, he stumbles on a restaurant for sale, and becomes fixated with the idea of buying that restaurant and getting random grandmothers to cook their family recipes there, just like his own late grandmother, since he couldn't hire chefs anyway with his limited funds. His friends discouraged him but he knew he had to try this out. This way he would honour his mother and his grandmother, who he named the restaurant after. To cook at Enoteca Maria, he advertises for grandmothers on Craigslist. Joe's idea was novel, a motley crew of nonnas turned up. Each of them belonged to different Italian regions and cooked their special recipes from there. 'Grief is transformed into a haven, one spoonful at a time,' 'food with family family and friends will heal you,' are lines from the film that resonates universally. Joe works hard at his business, the nonnas too, against all odds. They support each other, settle down with each other after initial issues. Vince Vaughn as Joe is ably supported by a strong ensemble of veteran actors that includes Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, and Talia Shire, who bring in charm and humour to the film. As the film explores Italian-American culture through food and family, many viewers will appreciate the focus on cultural exchange and the preservation of family recipes. The film also emphasises the importance of holding onto tradition and reviving our ancestors through the things they pass down to us, whether it is culture, inheritance, or food. Like the dishes served by the real grandmothers at Enoteca Maria, or a deep plate of aloo gosht with succulent mutton, and tender potatoes in an aroma of cinnamon and fresh coriander, Nonnas has flavour, warmth and comfort. It is a film you can watch with family and get an endearing time out of it. We all are connected to our grannies and they to their grannies by delicate threads of sentiments, feelings, curious stories, many of deep knowledge and wisdom, symbolic and traditional. We can remember and honour them through that treasure they have left for us. Their way of making biryani, eggs, or tea, it is pure, unbeatable, and undeniably present in our DNA. Maybe that is why when we miss someone who has passed on, we can heal ourselves through our connections to the past and each other. Often, when I miss my dad who left me a few years ago for his heavenly abode, I take a walk around Saddar, which was his happy place, where he lived in a flat above Ruby Jewellers, in the 50s. It heals. Be warned that the film features stunning and mouth-watering visuals of Italian cuisine. So be ready for lots of food porn that we are all unashamedly addicted to. You can almost smell the aroma of garlic sizzling in olive oil, fresh basil, and sun-ripened tomatoes, platters of handmade tagliatelle, ribbons of pasta perfectly al dente, coated in a slow-simmered Bolognese sauce — deep, meaty, and rich with herbs, margherita pizza sliding onto the table, its blistered, wood-fired crust puffed and charred at the edges, bubbling with mozzarella di bufala, crushed San Marzano tomatoes, and glistening green basil leaves, steaming bowl of risotto ai funghi, creamy and infused with earthy porcini mushrooms and a drizzle of truffle oil, each spoonful melting on the tongue with buttery richness! You might find it cheesy in the broadest sense of the word, cliché-ridden, formulaic and a tad predictable which is a given for films such as this one, but it connects, feeds, heals, comforts and titillates (the comforting and heartwarming experience it offers, settles well with us Pakistanis, most of all, as we love family, food, traditions and culture.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How far would you go for friendship?
The relationships between friends are an integral part of many movies. In Friendship, Nonnas and Another Simple Favor, friends are everything. 'Men shouldn't have friends' is the tagline for the comedy Friendship, which follows a lonely man named Craig (Tim Robinson) in his attempt to befriend his charismatic neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd). Kate Mara plays Craig's often-ignored wife, whose many meaningful friendships are showcased in a pivotal party scene to contrast how bizarre and alone Craig is. Mara told Yahoo Entertainment that the movie feels so funny because its absurdity is strangely accurate, especially in its portrayal of male friendship. 'My relationships with my girlfriends are so honest and we talk about our feelings all the time,' she said. 'With men, conversations are much shorter and less emotional. … I think some of that is probably beneficial! Men move on very quickly from quarrels.' All that Craig's male acquaintances seem to want to talk about is 'the new Marvel' movie, which he hasn't seen yet, so he goes all in on Austin, who takes him to explore underground tunnels and introduces him to his ancient tool collection. Craig pays $100 to lick a toad in the back room of a cellphone store to investigate Austin's interest in ayahuasca. Ultimately, Craig's investment in furthering their bond threatens to ruin both of their lives. Men weren't laughing as much as women at the screening of Friendship that Geoffrey Greif attended, he told Yahoo Entertainment. Greif is a social work professor at the University of Maryland who has written widely about male friendship. He described it as 'cringey,' but also felt that it accurately portrayed how 'men have shoulder-to-shoulder friendships and women have face-to-face friendships.' 'Men get together and do things facing out, while women feel more comfortable sitting down and talking and looking at each other while they do this,' he explained. Friendship takes that to the extreme, but Greif said that 'extremes often get at what's going on.' 'Men do not feel comfortable pursuing other men for friendships. … They don't like for other men to come across as too needy,' he continued. 'Whether or not it will have universal appeal to all men, I doubt it. But if you move the needle 5 or 10% for men who see the movie and say, 'You know what, this helps me understand my friendships a little better.' … I think that can have a benefit.' Another recent film, Nonnas, shows men going to extremes for friendship, though it has a much more lighthearted tone. The movie centers around a man named Joe (Vince Vaughn) who hires real-life Italian grandmothers to make home-cooked meals at his restaurant. His relationship with his best friend, Bruno (Joe Manganiello), is central to the success of his business venture, though he struggles to express that at times. 'Men are terrible communicators, especially Italian men who have machismo. They have to kind of battle against that, but I think Italians have great capacity to have heart,' Manganiello told Yahoo Entertainment. 'They've got to kind of like wear themselves out before they get to the heart.' Bruno and Joe are longtime pals, and they see each other constantly, but they rarely go deep on their feelings. That makes it hard for them to reconcile after they fight. 'They don't even know how to look at each other,' Nonnas director Stephen Chbosky told Yahoo Entertainment. 'Just being a guy from Pittsburgh, it was very easy for me to relate to.' Though they struggle to communicate fully, their love for one another transcends their social conditioning. At the end of the movie, Bruno makes a major sacrifice for Joe to be able to keep the restaurant in business. Nonnas screenwriter Liz Maccie told Yahoo Entertainment that she wanted to show 'how good we can really be to each other.' Vaughn is something of an expert on male friendship, given how many buddy comedies, including Swingers and Wedding Crashers, he's starred in, . 'A good friend is loyal. … You can trust a friend,' he told Yahoo Entertainment. 'But a real friend will also let you be who you are. They're not trying to make you fit into your life. They'll accept you for whatever you are.' Nonnas aims to break the stigma that male friendships face onscreen and off. Sekoul Krastev, a decision scientist, told Yahoo Entertainment that the intimacy gap in male friendship 'isn't innate, it's learned.' 'Studies show that boys are just as emotionally expressive as girls until around age 6,' he said. 'After that, societal norms begin nudging boys toward independence and emotional restraint, leading to adult friendships that are often less verbally intimate.' Media portrayals can reflect and reinforce these friendship norms, he explained, 'sometimes encouraging closeness, and other times stigmatizing it.' In contrast with the male friendship movies of the moment, Another Simple Favor goes all in on exposing the many bizarre, unspoken rules of female friendship — especially between moms. In the original movie A Simple Favor, Anna Kendrick plays a mommy blogger named Stephanie who offers to help Emily (Blake Lively), the fabulous parent of her son's friend, with a basic task. It spirals out of control and Stephanie ends up putting Emily behind bars. That's why it's so bizarre when, in the sequel, Emily shows up at Stephanie's book signing to ask her to be her maid of honor at her destination wedding. Stephanie agrees, saying it'll be great content for her fans, but it's clear that she also feels an emotional bond with Emily that makes her willing to go to great lengths — in this case, a possibly mob-affiliated wedding in Capri — to uncover what's really going on with her. Paul Feig, who directed A Simple Favor, Another Simple Favor and other seminal works about female friendship like Bridesmaids and The Heat, told Yahoo Entertainment he became fascinated with the concept because he grew up with mostly girls and women as friends, and as an only child, was very close to his mother. 'I just find female friendships to be really wonderful and interesting,' he said. 'There's something fascinating to me about it versus male friendship, which … can be great too, but there's a 'bro-iness' about that kind of thing that I'm not interested in.' 'I'm such a sensitive person that I think I just enjoy [female] relationships — I find them very fun and funny. The way women bond and interact with each other is really lovely. … It doesn't tend to be as aggressive as male friendship and bonding can be,' he added. He's not the only person who sees the gender divide. As a clinical psychologist and mental health researcher, Ehab Youssef sees how deeply friendship can shape people's emotional well-being and how differently it plays out for men and women. 'Female friendships tend to be emotionally expressive, built on shared vulnerability and verbal connection, while male friendships often emphasize shared activities and loyalty through action rather than words,' he said. 'Neither is better, just shaped by cultural norms and socialization.' Seeing these dynamics portrayed onscreen — even if they're taken to extreme lengths — 'reflect or challenge what we experience in real life,' he said. 'When films capture the raw honesty, humor or heartbreak of real friendships, especially ones that defy stereotypes, it resonates,' Youssef said. 'It helps us feel seen, and sometimes, it even shows us new ways of being with the people we love.'
Tom's Guide
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
3 best new Netflix movies you (probably) missed this month
Netflix adds a lot of new movies every single month, and naturally, when dozens of new additions flood the streaming service's library, some will get lost in the shuffle. May 2025 has been a slow month for new Netflix original movies, and the few that did arrive, like 'Nonnas,' went straight to No. 1, so they enjoyed plenty of attention. However, Netflix also added a bunch of older library titles this month, and a few of these didn't quite receive the interest that I had expected. So, if you think you've exhausted the 'new arrivals' section, here are three new movies added to Netflix this month that you (probably) haven't watched yet. I was a little surprised that 'Hanna' didn't make more of an impression on Netflix subscribers this month. Netflix viewers seem to gobble up action-thrillers with glee (even the bad ones, like the awful 'Midnight in the Switchgrass' which went to No. 1), and yet this 2011 assassin thriller didn't even manage to rank in the top 10 list. That's a real shame, as it's a well-crafted globe-trotting ride that packs a breakthrough performance from a young Saoirse Ronan. The eponymous Hanna (Ronan) is a 15-year-old with extraordinarily lethal skills after a childhood of training under the watch of her stern father, Erik Heller (Eric Bana), an ex-C.I.A. operative. Hanna's upbringing has shaped her into a lethal assassin, but she is forced to question everything she knows when she's dispatched to eliminate a target with ties to Erik's past, Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett). What follows is a deadly cat-and-mouse game, and as Hanna gets closer to some hidden truths about her past, her primary objective begins to shift. Watch "Hanna' on Netflix now The enigmatic Coen Brothers are most fondly known for their work on movies like 'The Big Lebowski,' 'Fargo' and 'No Country for Old Men.' Those are all fantastic flicks and have earned deserved plaudits, but for my money, 'Burn After Reading' is the directing duo's most overlooked film. This black comedy packs an all-star cast with George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich and Brad Pitt all in the mix. Plus, it boasts a charmingly irreverent tone and the Coens' usual habit of writing laser-sharp scripts. It's a real hoot and a half. Osbourne Cox (Malkovich) is a retired CIA analyst who decides to write his memoir. Meanwhile, his wife (Swinton) is having an affair with U.S. Marshal Harry (Clooney). When a CD with Osbourne's first memoir draft is left behind in a gym locker room and found by two bumbling employees (Pitt and McDormand), the pair think they've found the perfect get-rich-quick scheme. They plan to blackmail Osbourne for the return of what they believe to be classified government information. It all leads to a messy knot of hilarious mix-ups, melodrama and unexpected consequences for all parties involved. Watch "Burn After Reading' on Netflix now 'Train to Busan' is another case where I'm more than a little surprised that the movie didn't make a real impact on the Netflix top 10 list. Perhaps it's the fact that this is a Korean movie, so it does require watching with subtitles, but that's a tiny barrier that shouldn't deny anybody entry. For those who have watched, they'll know it's a titan of the zombie genre for good reason, delivering past-faced thrills and a frighteningly plausible vision of the apocalypse. The 2016 movie sees Soek-Woo (Gong Yoo) board a high-speed train from Seoul to Busan with his daughter. As they make their way to their destination, an apocalyptic event breaks out, and flesh-eating zombies emerge. The train journey becomes a non-stop nightmare as passengers face a battle for survival against threats both inside and outside the train. Rarely dropping the intensity levels for a moment, 'Train to Busan' is a first-class action-horror. Watch "Train to Busan' on Netflix now
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How far would you go for friendship?
The relationships between friends are an integral part of many movies. In Friendship, Nonnas and Another Simple Favor, friends are everything. 'Men shouldn't have friends' is the tagline for the comedy Friendship, which follows a lonely man named Craig (Tim Robinson) in his attempt to befriend his charismatic neighbor, Austin (Paul Rudd). Kate Mara plays Craig's often-ignored wife, whose many meaningful friendships are showcased in a pivotal party scene to contrast how bizarre and alone Craig is. Mara told Yahoo Entertainment that the movie feels so funny because its absurdity is strangely accurate, especially in its portrayal of male friendship. 'My relationships with my girlfriends are so honest and we talk about our feelings all the time,' she said. 'With men, conversations are much shorter and less emotional. … I think some of that is probably beneficial! Men move on very quickly from quarrels.' All that Craig's male acquaintances seem to want to talk about is 'the new Marvel' movie, which he hasn't seen yet, so he goes all in on Austin, who takes him to explore underground tunnels and introduces him to his ancient tool collection. Craig pays $100 to lick a toad in the back room of a cellphone store to investigate Austin's interest in ayahuasca. Ultimately, Craig's investment in furthering their bond threatens to ruin both of their lives. Men weren't laughing as much as women at the screening of Friendship that Geoffrey Greif attended, he told Yahoo Entertainment. Greif is a social work professor at the University of Maryland who has written widely about male friendship. He described it as 'cringey,' but also felt that it accurately portrayed how 'men have shoulder-to-shoulder friendships and women have face-to-face friendships.' 'Men get together and do things facing out, while women feel more comfortable sitting down and talking and looking at each other while they do this,' he explained. Friendship takes that to the extreme, but Greif said that 'extremes often get at what's going on.' 'Men do not feel comfortable pursuing other men for friendships. … They don't like for other men to come across as too needy,' he continued. 'Whether or not it will have universal appeal to all men, I doubt it. But if you move the needle 5 or 10% for men who see the movie and say, 'You know what, this helps me understand my friendships a little better.' … I think that can have a benefit.' Another recent film, Nonnas, shows men going to extremes for friendship, though it has a much more lighthearted tone. The movie centers around a man named Joe (Vince Vaughn) who hires real-life Italian grandmothers to make home-cooked meals at his restaurant. His relationship with his best friend, Bruno (Joe Manganiello), is central to the success of his business venture, though he struggles to express that at times. 'Men are terrible communicators, especially Italian men who have machismo. They have to kind of battle against that, but I think Italians have great capacity to have heart,' Manganiello told Yahoo Entertainment. 'They've got to kind of like wear themselves out before they get to the heart.' Bruno and Joe are longtime pals, and they see each other constantly, but they rarely go deep on their feelings. That makes it hard for them to reconcile after they fight. 'They don't even know how to look at each other,' Nonnas director Stephen Chbosky told Yahoo Entertainment. 'Just being a guy from Pittsburgh, it was very easy for me to relate to.' Though they struggle to communicate fully, their love for one another transcends their social conditioning. At the end of the movie, Bruno makes a major sacrifice for Joe to be able to keep the restaurant in business. Nonnas screenwriter Liz Maccie told Yahoo Entertainment that she wanted to show 'how good we can really be to each other.' Vaughn is something of an expert on male friendship, given how many buddy comedies, including Swingers and Wedding Crashers, he's starred in, . 'A good friend is loyal. … You can trust a friend,' he told Yahoo Entertainment. 'But a real friend will also let you be who you are. They're not trying to make you fit into your life. They'll accept you for whatever you are.' Nonnas aims to break the stigma that male friendships face onscreen and off. Sekoul Krastev, a decision scientist, told Yahoo Entertainment that the intimacy gap in male friendship 'isn't innate, it's learned.' 'Studies show that boys are just as emotionally expressive as girls until around age 6,' he said. 'After that, societal norms begin nudging boys toward independence and emotional restraint, leading to adult friendships that are often less verbally intimate.' Media portrayals can reflect and reinforce these friendship norms, he explained, 'sometimes encouraging closeness, and other times stigmatizing it.' In contrast with the male friendship movies of the moment, Another Simple Favor goes all in on exposing the many bizarre, unspoken rules of female friendship — especially between moms. In the original movie A Simple Favor, Anna Kendrick plays a mommy blogger named Stephanie who offers to help Emily (Blake Lively), the fabulous parent of her son's friend, with a basic task. It spirals out of control and Stephanie ends up putting Emily behind bars. That's why it's so bizarre when, in the sequel, Emily shows up at Stephanie's book signing to ask her to be her maid of honor at her destination wedding. Stephanie agrees, saying it'll be great content for her fans, but it's clear that she also feels an emotional bond with Emily that makes her willing to go to great lengths — in this case, a possibly mob-affiliated wedding in Capri — to uncover what's really going on with her. Paul Feig, who directed A Simple Favor, Another Simple Favor and other seminal works about female friendship like Bridesmaids and The Heat, told Yahoo Entertainment he became fascinated with the concept because he grew up with mostly girls and women as friends, and as an only child, was very close to his mother. 'I just find female friendships to be really wonderful and interesting,' he said. 'There's something fascinating to me about it versus male friendship, which … can be great too, but there's a 'bro-iness' about that kind of thing that I'm not interested in.' 'I'm such a sensitive person that I think I just enjoy [female] relationships — I find them very fun and funny. The way women bond and interact with each other is really lovely. … It doesn't tend to be as aggressive as male friendship and bonding can be,' he added. He's not the only person who sees the gender divide. As a clinical psychologist and mental health researcher, Ehab Youssef sees how deeply friendship can shape people's emotional well-being and how differently it plays out for men and women. 'Female friendships tend to be emotionally expressive, built on shared vulnerability and verbal connection, while male friendships often emphasize shared activities and loyalty through action rather than words,' he said. 'Neither is better, just shaped by cultural norms and socialization.' Seeing these dynamics portrayed onscreen — even if they're taken to extreme lengths — 'reflect or challenge what we experience in real life,' he said. 'When films capture the raw honesty, humor or heartbreak of real friendships, especially ones that defy stereotypes, it resonates,' Youssef said. 'It helps us feel seen, and sometimes, it even shows us new ways of being with the people we love.'
