Overview

Anthony Lane's Incredibles 2 Review refers to a controversial review by New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane for the Pixar film The Incredibles 2 that many felt inappropriately betrayed the author's sexual attraction for Mrs. Incredible, aka Elastigirl.

Background

On June 18th, 2018, The New Yorker published Anthony Lane's review of The Incredibles 2.^[1] The review, though positive, featured a lot of sexual innuendo and suggestion. For example, the first paragraph of the review reads (note: emphasis added):

As a rule, any marriage in which one partner can willingly cry out to the other, “Trampoline me!,” inspires only envy and awe. In the heat of the action, that is what Mr. Incredible says to Mrs. Incredible, in “Incredibles 2,” and I’m disappointed to report that the action in question is merely the manic pursuit of a gigantic drill that is whirring through a crowded city and demolishing everything in its path, rather than a lazy afternoon in the marital boudoir with the door discreetly shut.

Later in the review, another paragraph seemed overtly sexual, implying that the film would make parents uncomfortably sexually aroused, and perhaps even masturbate. It reads (emphasis added):

Which bring us to the other event. Take your seat at any early-evening screening of “Incredibles 2” in the coming days, listen carefully, and you may just hear a shifty sound, as of parents squirming awkwardly beside their enraptured offspring. And why, kids? Because Mommy just leaned over to Daddy and whispered, “Is it just me, or does Mrs. Incredible kind of look like Anastasia in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey?’ You know, the girl in the Red Room, with the whips and all?” And Daddy just rested his cooling soda firmly in his lap and, like Mr. Incredible, tried very hard to think of algebra. As for how Daddy will react later on, during the scene in which Helen and the husky-voiced Evelyn unwind and simply talk, woman to woman, I hate to think, but watch out for flying popcorn.

Developments

The following day, Twitter user @amandawtwong posted a screenshot of the latter paragraph, gaining over 1,600 retweets and 5,800 likes (shown below).

Once the tweet began circulating, news publications began covering the bizarreness of the review. Deadspin wrote of it, saying "New Yorker Film Critic Has Reservations About Children's Movie Because His Boner Kept Blocking The Screen."^[2] The Mary Sue^[3] also criticized the review's existence in a piece. Twitter users also mocked the piece. User @MKupperman posted a parody of the review, gaining over 100 retweets and 600 likes (shown below, left). User @JGrebes posted a photoshopped parody of the review, making the title "I Want to Fuck the Cartoon" (shown below, right).

Online Reactions

Search Interest

External References