It’s Time to Start Paying Jennifer Lopez Way More Respect

This Week:

• Put some respect on J.Lo’s name.

• Timothée Chalamet’s new movie.

• Everyone let Dolly Parton be.

• One of the greatest TV moments…ever?

• The Tao of Nicole Kidman.

J.Lo Is So Back, Y’all

Jennifer Lopez heard there was celebrity relationship gossip this week and said, “Nicole Kidman and your new bangs, hold my beer.”

(Let’s be real. J.Lo is nothing if not brand-savvy. She probably said, “Hold my Delola Spritz by Jennifer Lopez bottled cocktail.”)

When it comes to Jennifer Lopez, I stand on business.

To be honest, I have no idea what the phrase “stand on business” means, but I see the youths use it all the time on social media and in memes, so I’m pretending that it means, “I freaking love her, now the rest of you pay your respects.”

I’m a career-long fan. I can “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” as if I choreographed Selena myself. When I ran the New York City marathon, I had “Let’s Get Loud” cued as the song to play as I crossed the starting line. (There’s no reason for that anecdote, other than I feel I need to tell people I ONCE RAN THE NEW YORK CITY MARATHON any chance I get.) When J.Lo posted my review of her new film on Instagram, I didn’t not discover a single tear of pride fall down my cheek.

The star is primed for a major career moment this weekend because of her sensational turn in the movie musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, which is now in theaters. But in case her award-worthy turn in this independent film wasn’t on your radar, she pulled out the shrewdest card in her celebrity deck: our fascination over her decades-long on-and-off relationship with Ben Affleck.

The last time we were all talking about J.Lo was when her marriage to Affleck—who she reunited with two decades after Bennifer took tabloids by storm—ended after two years. Everyone had an opinion about it. Every news show, paper, magazine, and website ran incessant headlines about it. So how clever to get people buzzing about Kiss of the Spider Woman by posing with Affleck on the red carpet of the film’s premiere; if the movie wasn’t going to get attention on its own merits, that sure as hell was going to do the job.

Even better, there was justification for them to reunite on the carpet beyond a gloriously, deliciously, fabulously messy stunt: Affleck is a producer on the film. Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who would giggle and pose with their ex, particularly when any notion of being in the same zipcode triggers a celebrity-gossip earthquake. But J.Lo isn’t most people. Her astute fame has a foundation formidable enough to withstand any tremor on the Richter scale.

There are few stars these days that are on the level of J.Lo and Ben—a pedestal that soars into the stratosphere. So these kinds of moments and our collective giddiness over them are just fun in a way that we rarely get to enjoy anymore.

“They got another marriage in them,” one user posted on X. “There are some people you meet in life that are really hard to stop having sex with,” wrote another. Another favorite: “Sorry but whatever they are doing gets sexier the longer it goes on.”

The tongue-in-cheek fantasizing of a Kiss of the Spider Woman-induced retangling of the Bennifer web was only amplified by Affleck’s loving praise of Lopez’s performance in the film: “Jennifer is in a role that she’s born to play. She’s amazing in the movie. I just can’t wait for the audience to see this movie. She was gonna die or be great. She was going to give it her all, and she did. She worked enormously hard. This role you get to see, like, all of her many gifts.”

Aww, Ben! Can’t you two crazy kids just work this out?

The Us Weekly of it all aside, Affleck is correct. Lopez is unbelievable in the movie.

She looks as if she time traveled directly from the technicolor MGM Golden Age, a vision so stunning your impulse is to gasp each time the film pivots to her movie-within-a-movie storyline and she’s on camera again. She sprints through a marathon—or, rather, tangos, waltzes, and cha-cha-chas through one—performing no fewer than 11 musical numbers, often shot in one take, revealing her undeniable song-and-dance prowess and inimitable firecracker charisma.

It’s rather wild that a celebrity as huge as Lopez is somehow underrated and undervalued as a talent, yet that seems to consistently be a narrative when it comes to J.Lo. Like Hustlers, like her Super Bowl Halftime Show, and like countless other performances—on screen and on stage—over the years, Kiss of the Spider Woman validates her skill.

That she’s also so good at the winking fame part of it all, a la the Bennifer reunion, only makes a moment like this in her career more fun for fans. At least, and most importantly, for me.

Everyone Is About to Become More Obsessed With Timmy

I was not at the surprise first screening of Marty Supreme, the upcoming film starring Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow, at the New York Film Festival. I was, however, at several gossip sessions with friends who were, each of whom raved about the movie, especially Timmy Wonka and Miss Goop’s performances.

Film Twitter lit up with people’s opinions on the movie, but, if I’m being honest, there’s only one reaction that I care about:

For the Love of God, Let Dolly Parton Rest!

Mass hysteria broke out (i.e.: I got momentarily sad) when Dolly Parton’s sister made a Facebook post asking for prayers because Dolly, who recently canceled concert dates in Las Vegas to deal with illness, was apparently not doing well.

After the world panicked (i.e.: I got sad again) that Parton might be on some sort of death watch, the music legend was forced to film a video calming down her fans and explaining that she was fine. “I know lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am,” Parton said in an Instagram video Wednesday. The post’s caption: “I ain’t dead yet!”

The way I would be so peeved if my sister made some dips–t post on Facebook and everyone became so convinced I was about to die that I had to make a proof of life video…Dolly, you really are a saint.

The Best Show on Television

On The Real Housewives of Miami, a cast member who is married to tennis icon Martina Navratilova dropped the bombshell that she stepped out of her marriage and had sex with another cast member, which led to a group discussion (featuring an array of hand gestures and gesticulation that one can never unsee) of what kind of fooling around constituted lesbian sex and then, in retaliation, the opening of a Pandora’s box of accusations about other affairs—including with a “Haitian mortician.”

I cannot fathom anyone reading that and not immediately rushing to Peacock to watch this, the greatest television series of our time.

The Wisest Actress in Hollywood

If Nicole Kidman ever frees herself from the tyranny of shooting 25 mediocre streaming TV shows a year, I truly think she could have a second career as a therapist. This comment she made in her Vogue cover story—the interview happened before her split from Urban—may have changed my life?

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

I profiled the Greek Goddess herself, breakout Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Angie K. Read more.

The reason Victoria Beckham’s Netflix series is so disappointing. Read more.

How Larry David ended up wearing a MAGA hat on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Read more.

What to watch this week:

After the Hunt: I need you to understand how good Julia Roberts is in this movie! (Now in theaters)

Kiss of the Spider Woman: I need you to understand how good J.Lo is in this movie! (Now in theaters)

Roofman: I need you to understand how good Channing Tatum is in this movie! (Now in theaters)

What to skip this week:

The Woman in Cabin 10: Keira Knightley deserves better. (Now on Netflix)

Monster: The Ed Gein Story: This show is offensively bad. (Now on Netflix)