His Girl Friday, one of the best movies ever made in my humble opinion, was peak battle of the sexes and the beginning and pinnacle of rapid fire dialogue. I thought of it many times while watching Sean Bakers brilliant new film, Anora. This, too, is a battle of the sexes in many ways and features an entire cast engaging in what I wouldn't refer to as rapid fire dialogue but rather semi-automatic dialogue. The words flow fast, quick, and with a hilarious tone, and this might be the funniest film I've seen this year.

The second half of the movie is so good , in fact , that if the beginning had matched it, this would have been my pick for best of the year. Even so, it's still breathlessly alive with an unmatched energy and easily the best performance I've seen so far in 2024 by Mikey Madison. Movies like Anora are why I fell in love with cinema so long ago and continue to be enamored with it 5 decades later.