🕷️ Crawler Inspector

Accessibility links - [Skip to main content](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/11/nx-s1-5536559/three-great-movies-with-silly-plots#mainContent) - [Keyboard shortcuts for audio player](https://help.npr.org/contact/s/article?name=what-are-the-keyboard-shortcuts-for-using-the-npr-org-audio-player) ![]() ****Loading**** - **Hourly News** - **Listen Live** - **My Playlist** - Open Navigation Menu - [](https://www.npr.org/) - ****  WAMU 88.5 - ******Listen Live****WAMU 88.5 (HD 88.5-1)****** - [donate](https://www.npr.org/donations/support) - [Change](https://www.npr.org/stations/) [Sign in or register](https://www.npr.org/account/login) to see your station everywhere you enjoy NPR. - [Newsletters](https://www.npr.org/newsletters/) - [Sign In](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/11/nx-s1-5536559/three-great-movies-with-silly-plots)Personalize Your Experience - [NPR Shop](https://shopnpr.org/) - [Donate](https://www.npr.org/donations/support) - [Local Station](https://www.npr.org/donations/support) - [NPR Network](https://contribute.npr.org/) Close Navigation Menu - [Home](https://www.npr.org/) - [News](https://www.npr.org/sections/news/) Expand/collapse submenu for News - [National](https://www.npr.org/sections/national/) - [World](https://www.npr.org/sections/world/) - [Politics](https://www.npr.org/sections/politics/) - [Business](https://www.npr.org/sections/business/) - [Health](https://www.npr.org/sections/health/) - [Science](https://www.npr.org/sections/science/) - [Climate](https://www.npr.org/sections/climate/) - [Race](https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/) - [Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/culture/) Expand/collapse submenu for Culture - [Books](https://www.npr.org/books/) - [Movies](https://www.npr.org/sections/movies/) - [Television](https://www.npr.org/sections/television/) - [Pop Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/pop-culture/) - [Food](https://www.npr.org/sections/food/) - [Art & Design](https://www.npr.org/sections/art-design/) - [Performing Arts](https://www.npr.org/sections/performing-arts/) - [Life Kit](https://www.npr.org/lifekit/) - [Gaming](https://www.npr.org/sections/gaming/) - [Music](https://www.npr.org/music/) Expand/collapse submenu for Music - [Tiny Desk](https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/) - [New Music Friday](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/606254804/new-music-friday) - [All Songs Considered](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/) - [Music Features](https://www.npr.org/sections/music-features) - [Live Sessions](https://www.npr.org/series/770565791/npr-music-live-sessions) - [The Best Music of 2025](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/g-s1-99930/best-music-of-2025) - [Podcasts & Shows](https://www.npr.org/podcasts-and-shows/) Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily - [ Morning Edition](https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/) - [ Weekend Edition Saturday](https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-saturday/) - [ Weekend Edition Sunday](https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-sunday/) - [ All Things Considered](https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/) - [ Up First](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510318/up-first/) - [ Here & Now](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510051/here-x26-now/) - [ NPR Politics Podcast](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510310/npr-politics-podcast/) Featured - [ Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me\!](https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/) - [ Fresh Air](https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/) - [ Wild Card with Rachel Martin](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510379/wild-card-with-rachel-martin) - [ It's Been a Minute](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510317/its-been-a-minute) - [ Planet Money](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money) - [ Get NPR+](https://plus.npr.org/?utm_medium=nprweb&source=globalsubnav) - [More Podcasts & Shows](https://www.npr.org/podcasts-and-shows/) - [Search](https://www.npr.org/search/) - [Newsletters](https://www.npr.org/newsletters/) - [NPR Shop](https://shopnpr.org/) - [Sign In](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/11/nx-s1-5536559/three-great-movies-with-silly-plots)Personalize Your Experience - [ ](https://www.npr.org/music/) - [Tiny Desk](https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/) - [New Music Friday](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/606254804/new-music-friday) - [All Songs Considered](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/) - [Music Features](https://www.npr.org/sections/music-features) - [Live Sessions](https://www.npr.org/series/770565791/npr-music-live-sessions) - [The Best Music of 2025](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/g-s1-99930/best-music-of-2025) - [About NPR](https://www.npr.org/about/) - [Diversity](https://www.npr.org/diversity/) - [Support](https://www.npr.org/support/) - [Careers](https://www.npr.org/careers/) - [Press](https://www.npr.org/series/750003/press-room/) - [Ethics](https://www.npr.org/ethics/) **Three great movies with silly plots : Pop Culture Happy Hour** **Have you ever found yourself completely caught up in a film only to find, after the lights come up, that the story didn’t make any sense, yet you loved it anyway? Today, we’re talking about great movies with silly plots – including *The Martian*, *The Incredible Mr. Limpet*, and *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*.** #### Review ### [Pop Culture Happy Hour](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510282/pop-culture-happy-hour)  NPR #### Review ### [Pop Culture Happy Hour](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510282/pop-culture-happy-hour) LISTEN & FOLLOW - [NPR App](https://app.npr.org/aggregation/510282) - [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/278974813?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/25auwWceZnlOEK6SwtO1y1) - [Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/64f9c15f-1430-4fce-ac4f-7b489e0e79b7) - [iHeart Radio](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/28457190) - [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/library/podcasts?addrssfeed=https://feeds.npr.org/510282/podcast.xml) - [RSS link](https://feeds.npr.org/510282/podcast.xml) # Three great movies with silly plots September 11, 20253:05 AM ET By [](https://www.npr.org/people/137817249/glen-weldon) [Glen Weldon](https://www.npr.org/people/137817249/glen-weldon) , [](https://www.npr.org/people/93702353/linda-holmes) [Linda Holmes](https://www.npr.org/people/93702353/linda-holmes) , [](https://www.npr.org/people/766798576/isabella-gomez-sarmiento) [Isabella Gomez Sarmiento](https://www.npr.org/people/766798576/isabella-gomez-sarmiento) , [Rommel Wood](https://www.npr.org/people/1086162706/rommel-wood) , [](https://www.npr.org/people/364754274/mike-katzif) [Mike Katzif](https://www.npr.org/people/364754274/mike-katzif) , [Jessica Reedy](https://www.npr.org/people/360131494/jessica-reedy) #### Great Movies With Silly Plots ******Listen****· 19:46****** 19-Minute Listen ****Playlist**** [**Transcript**](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5536559) **Toggle more options** - [**Download**](https://tracking.swap.fm/track/XvDEoI11TR00olTUO8US/prfx.byspotify.com/e/play.podtrac.com/npr-510282/npr.simplecastaudio.com/f75261d2-0860-4d61-91c1-a78a2b997ff2/episodes/d9f4c99c-7a94-489e-8e11-dece036ca097/audio/128/default.mp3?awCollectionId=f75261d2-0860-4d61-91c1-a78a2b997ff2&awEpisodeId=d9f4c99c-7a94-489e-8e11-dece036ca097&t=podcast&e=nx-s1-5536559&p=510282&d=1186&size=18984169&sc=siteplayer&aw_0_1st.playerid=siteplayer) - ****Embed**** **Embed** **`<iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5536559/nx-s1-mx-5710246" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">`** - [**Transcript**](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5536559)  Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*. **Pictorial Press / Alamy** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Pictorial Press / Alamy Have you ever found yourself completely caught up in a film only to find, after the lights come up, that the story didn’t make any sense, yet you loved it anyway? Today, we’re talking about great movies with silly plots – including *The Martian*, *The Incredible Mr. Limpet*, and *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*. Sponsor Message - **Facebook** - **Flipboard** - **Email** ###### Read & Listen - [Home](https://www.npr.org/) - [News](https://www.npr.org/sections/news/) - [Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/culture/) - [Music](https://www.npr.org/music/) - [Podcasts & Shows](https://www.npr.org/podcasts-and-shows) ###### Connect - [Newsletters](https://www.npr.org/newsletters/) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/NPR/) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/npr/) - [Press](https://www.npr.org/series/750003/press-room/) - [Public Editor](https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/) - [Corrections](https://www.npr.org/corrections/) - [Transcripts](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/) - [Contact & Help](https://help.npr.org/contact/s/) ###### About NPR - [Overview](https://www.npr.org/about/) - [Diversity](https://www.npr.org/diversity/) - [NPR Network](https://www.npr.org/network/) - [Accessibility](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/1136563345/accessibility) - [Ethics](https://www.npr.org/ethics/) - [Finances](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances) ###### Get Involved - [Support Public Radio](https://www.npr.org/support/) - [Sponsor NPR](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/186948703/corporate-sponsorship) - [NPR Careers](https://www.npr.org/careers/) - [NPR Shop](https://shopnpr.org/) - [NPR Extra](https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/) - [Terms of Use](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179876898/terms-of-use) - [Privacy](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy) - [Your Privacy Choices](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy#yourchoices) - [Text Only](https://text.npr.org/) - © 2026 npr Sponsor Message Sponsor Message [Become an NPR sponsor](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/186948703/corporate-sponsorship)  ##### Exclusive benefits ###### Give a little. Get a lot. Support mission-driven journalism while getting something great in return. Enjoy bonus content, early access and sponsor-free listening from your favorite NPR podcasts. [Get NPR+](https://plus.npr.org/?utm_medium=nprweb&source=mvpcta) Already have NPR+?[Sign In](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/11/nx-s1-5536559/three-great-movies-with-silly-plots) Close modal By clicking “Accept All Cookies” or continuing, you agree to the use of cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about your device to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. You may customize which cookies you accept in "Cookie Settings." Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies  ## Privacy Preference Center NPR and our service providers and vendors use cookies and similar technologies to collect information. A cookie is a string of characters that can be written to a file on the user's computer or device when the user visits a site, application, platform or service. When you visit a website or use a mobile application, a computer asks your computer or mobile device for permission to store this file on your computer or mobile device and access information from it. Information gathered through cookies may include the date and time of visits and how you are using the website. Note that if you disable or delete cookies, you may lose access to certain features of the NPR Services. **User ID:** b15b590f-4f01-4baa-914f-11ac22da8e15 *This User ID will be used as a unique identifier while storing and accessing your preferences for future.* **Timestamp:** -- Allow All ### Manage Consent Preferences #### Strictly Necessary or Essential Cookies Always Active These cookies are essential to provide you with services available through the NPR Services and to enable you to use some of their features. For example, these cookies allow NPR to remember your registration information while you are logged in. Local station customization, the NPR Shop, and other interactive features also use cookies. Without these cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those services. #### Performance and Analytics Cookies Performance and Analytics Cookies These cookies are used to collect information about traffic to our Services and how users interact with the NPR Services. The information collected includes the number of visitors to the NPR Services, the websites that referred visitors to the NPR Services, the pages that they visited on the NPR Services, what time of day they visited the NPR Services, whether they have visited the NPR Services before, and other similar information. We use this information to help operate the NPR Services more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity on the NPR Services. #### Functional Cookies Functional Cookies These cookies allow our Services to remember choices you make when you use them, such as remembering your Member station preferences and remembering your account details. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to prevent you from having to re-enter your preferences every time you visit the NPR Services. #### Targeting and Sponsor Cookies Targeting and Sponsor Cookies These cookies track your browsing habits or other information, such as location, to enable us to show sponsorship credits which are more likely to be of interest to you. These cookies use information about your browsing history to group you with other users who have similar interests. Based on that information, and with our permission, we and our sponsors can place cookies to enable us or our sponsors to show sponsorship credits and other messages that we think will be relevant to your interests while you are using third-party services. ### Cookie List Clear - checkbox label label Apply Cancel Consent Leg.Interest checkbox label label checkbox label label checkbox label label Reject All Confirm My Choices [](https://www.onetrust.com/products/cookie-consent/)

#### Great Movies With Silly Plots 19-Minute Listen [**Transcript**](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5536559) - [**Download**](https://tracking.swap.fm/track/XvDEoI11TR00olTUO8US/prfx.byspotify.com/e/play.podtrac.com/npr-510282/npr.simplecastaudio.com/f75261d2-0860-4d61-91c1-a78a2b997ff2/episodes/d9f4c99c-7a94-489e-8e11-dece036ca097/audio/128/default.mp3?awCollectionId=f75261d2-0860-4d61-91c1-a78a2b997ff2&awEpisodeId=d9f4c99c-7a94-489e-8e11-dece036ca097&t=podcast&e=nx-s1-5536559&p=510282&d=1186&size=18984169&sc=siteplayer&aw_0_1st.playerid=siteplayer) - **Embed** **`<iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5536559/nx-s1-mx-5710246" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">`** - [**Transcript**](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5536559)  Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*. **Pictorial Press / Alamy** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Pictorial Press / Alamy Have you ever found yourself completely caught up in a film only to find, after the lights come up, that the story didn’t make any sense, yet you loved it anyway? Today, we’re talking about great movies with silly plots – including *The Martian*, *The Incredible Mr. Limpet*, and *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*.