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Glass Onion has some great celebrity references. However, one celebrity reference rule created by Rian Johnson saves the film from a major problem.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has many great celebrity references, but one rule saves the movie from major issues. Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel follows Benoit Blanc as he joins a group of ultra-wealthy celebs at a murder mystery party on a private Greek island, so it makes sense that there would be celebrity references and jokes throughout the film. It would have been easy for the celebrity references and jokes to fall flat, but that’s not the case here; they’re some of the funniest parts of Glass Onion. Thanks to Rian Johnson’s script, Glass Onion incorporates celebrity references cleverly and excitingly.
In a recent YouTube video (via GQ), Rian Johnson broke down Glass Onion and explained how he developed Glass Onion’s fascinating group of celebrity characters. Johnson said that while there were real-life counterpoints one could point to in terms of tech billionaires, it was uninteresting and unhelpful to him to think of one specific person while writing. As Johnson said, “What was more interesting to me was to kind of zoom out and look at the odd place that these people have in the American consciousness.” The way Johnson pokes fun at celebrities and billionaires in Glass Onion makes the film feel sharp and fun rather than a dated celebrity parody.
Glass Onion Avoiding Specific Celebrity Parodies Helps The Movie
It’s better for Glass Onion if Miles Bron (Edward Norton) and his famous friends aren’t parodies of specific celebrities. While tech billionaire Miles certainly has shades of Elon Musk in his character, it’s good that his character wasn’t written to make fun of Elon Musk directly. Making Glass Onion’s Miles, specifically, a Musk parody would ruin the joke of satirizing greedy and entitled billionaires. Miles’ character is also made better by not taking shots at anyone specific; instead of considering how to accurately parody Elon Musk, for example, Johnson can make Miles an interesting character on his own while still taking inspiration from other sources.
Other Glass Onion characters also benefit from not being specific parodies. For example, larger-than-life socialite Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), who is dealing with being “canceled” after a problematic tweet, isn’t poking fun at any particular celebrity. Her mesh mask, a funny detail of Glass Onion’s COVID-19 setting, is possibly a riff on Lana Del Rey wearing a similar mask, but other than that, Birdie is a send-up of celebrity entrepreneurs and “canceled” celebrities in general. Birdie’s colorful personality is made more interesting and funny by not specifically parodying famous socialites like Kim Kardashian. The characters of Glass Onion are entertaining enough on their own without being parodies of specific people.
Why Glass Onion Still References Some Specific Celebrities
However, Glass Onion still incorporates specific celebrity references into its script. Miles Bron is quite famous, so it feels natural and authentic to his character for him to name-drop famous people, leading to some great jokes in Glass Onion. In addition, the references to fictional celebrity products like Jared Leto’s hard kombucha and Jeremy Renner’s hot sauce are hilarious nods to how prevalent celebrity branding has become. However, these products also play major roles in the film, which makes their inclusion even better. Glass Onion’s celebrity jokes and references are hilarious and make the movie even better.
While Glass Onion doesn’t have specific celebrity parodies, it does contain great celebrity cameos. The addition of tennis great Serena Williams as a personal trainer is a fun touch, and celebrities like Natasha Lyonne and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar make hilarious appearances in a Zoom session with Benoit Blanc while playing Among Us. These cameos are surprising but also fun, whether the celebrities are playing themselves or original characters, such as Hugh Grant as Benoit’s romantic partner. Including celebrity references and jokes adds to the film’s entertainment and is a much better choice than having specific celebrity parodies in Glass Onion.
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