What to Watch This Week: 'My Mind and Me,' 'My Policeman,' 'Causeway' and More

Selena Gomez, Harry Styles and Jennifer Lawrence are making a comeback to our screens this weekend with new movie releases you don't want to miss.

What to Watch: Atlanta
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What to Watch: Atlanta

We’re entering that time of year when staying in to watch a movie seems like a solid plan. And there are several premieres worth watching as you unwind this weekend.

Apple TV+ is having a big week. The platform holds some of the best streaming content amongst its competitors but the release of My Mind and Me and Causeway takes it to a new level. My Mind and Me is a documentary that closely followed Selena Gomez’s life during a dark period in her life. It shows her struggles with lupus, bipolar disorder, and the pressures of fame. While Causeway is a film about a U.S. soldier struggling to adjust to life at home, featuring stellar performances from Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry.

And there’s more. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story starring Daniel Radcliffe is hitting Roku, while My Policeman starring Harry Styles is now available on Prime Video. As far as TV goes, George Lopez has teamed up with his daughter, Mayan, for a Friday night sitcom titled Lopez vs. Lopez, premiering tonight. Check our choices below for what you should be hitting play on this weekend.

‘Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me’

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When: Friday, Nov. 4

Where: Apple TV+

I woke up early this morning anxious before I hit play on Apple TV+’s Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me. As someone who has been following, and writing about, Gomez’s career for quite some time, I knew most of the details about the ongoings in her life. Gomez has dealt with everything from a childhood dealing with financial struggles, growing up in the spotlight, a painful breakup with Justin Bieber, a Lupus and bipolar diagnosis, and a history of physical and mental health issues—and she went through all of that while the world watched along.

The documentary gives a more intimate look—so intimate that at times you feel as if you’re invading her personal space—and it shows what went down behind the scenes and beyond the headlines. During the Revival Tour in 2016, Gomez suffered a mental breakdown that led her to check into a facility for treatment and cancel the tour. That led to a bipolar diagnosis and the process of her beginning to understand certain episodes in her life that were triggered by the disorder is so painful to watch but absolutely necessary. 

During a press tour for her Rare album, she seems completely irritated by the process of speaking to journalists, answering questions (like “What’s your favorite color?”), and filming the kind of content that left her feeling empty and like “a product.” Her frustrations with reporters seeming uninterested in her as a person or asking her superficial questions that she called a “waste of time” makes me want to up my game when speaking to talent. The whole process of a press tour can feel empty, on both sides, but she is the one that has to do it repeatedly—all while internally dealing with her disorder. 

As irritable as she is around the press, Gomez instantly becomes pleasant, warm, and charismatic whenever she is around her fans. She consoles and hugs anyone who she sees crying over her, and no matter what she’s dealing with she takes the time to listen to their stories. It’s difficult to tell which version of the Gomez we see in the documentary she feels is the real her—the one that is annoyed at the part of her job that requires her to interact with people or the one who has to pretend to be OK in front of a crowd. But maybe it’s both. 

Aside from having a team and her best friends around her, she goes through a lot and she is seemingly on her own through much of it. In the doc, she claims to have been a loner most of her life, with only her cousin on her dad’s side being her one true friend growing up. She also mentions having a strained relationship with her mother (they launched the mental health platform Wondermind together earlier this year) due to her diagnosis. She isn’t very close to her dad either, and in one of the most heartbreaking moments, she’s getting treatment for her Lupus and her grandmother refuses to go with her. The audience then gets to see one of the most famous women in the world at her most vulnerable—hooked up to an IV, curled up on a chair, and alone.

At the end of My Mind and Me, I was left with a sense of melancholy brewing in my chest. I want to know more about where she is mentally now following her diagnosis. She has since continued making strides in providing mental health care for all through her Rare Impact Fund, but as much as she finds purpose in helping others, Gomez is deserving of someone who fights for her and protects her the way she does for others. She mentioned that she had thoughts of not existing anymore quite frequently throughout the documentary, so all I can say is that I am glad she’s still here. —Karla Rodriguez.

‘My Policeman’

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When: Friday, Nov. 4                        

Where: Prime Video

Harry Styles’ commitment to dominating every area of the industry is admirable. Now that he’s one of the world’s biggest pop stars, it seems like he’s got his heart set on winning over Hollywood, too. After his performance in the controversial Don’t Worry Darling earlier this year, Styles is back on our screens with My Policeman. The film is about a man named Tom (Styles), who is a policeman in Britain in the 1950s. He then finds himself in a love triangle when he falls in love with a young schoolteacher named Marion (Emma Corrin) and also starts seeing a sophisticated and enchanting museum curator named Patrick (David Dawson). They have to keep their same-sex affair under wraps since homosexuality was illegal then, making this a heartbreaking and painful love story.

The film time jumps from when they first met to when the trio is in their older age still grappling with the events that took place in their youth that tore them apart. Styles is charming in the role, (although noticeably still a rookie in the acting game,) but the story, adapted from the 2012 novel of the same name by Bethan Roberts, is one worth telling. My Policeman, directed by Michael Grandage, shows that true love requires forgiveness and freedom in order to grow, and how guilt and resentment cause it to wither away. —Karla Rodriguez 

‘Lopez vs. Lopez’

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When: Friday, Nov. 4

Where: NBC

George Lopez has kept busy in recent years, mostly speaking out and making fun of former President Donald Trump. Now that Joe Biden is in office, Lopez has found himself with a little more time in his hands—enough of it to return to TV with a new sitcom alongside his daughter, Mayan Lopez. The father-daughter duo is basing the new NBC comedy, Lopez vs. Lopez on their real-life relationship, which wasn’t always harmonious. We spoke to the 26-year-old actress earlier this week and she said she is finding a way to use her pain from her issues with her dad to help others feel less alone. That’s admirable! And so is healing a parental relationship as the world watches on and somehow turning it into humor. The show premieres Friday at 8 p.m. on NBC. —Karla Rodriguez.

‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’

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When: Friday, Nov. 4

Where: Roku

The “100%” true biopic of musician and satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic is getting incredible buzz ahead of its release. Daniel Radcliffe, who stars in the film as the musician, continues to play against type, bringing a manic energy to his portrayal of the polka-loving, accordion-playing comedian.

Known within entertainment circles as one of the most down-to-earth guys in show business, Yankovic is best known for his parodies of famous pop, rock, and hip-hop songs: “Fat” parodies Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” “White & Nerdy” parodies Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’ Dirty.” Perhaps most famously, “Amish Paradise” parodies Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

And so, it makes perfect, hilarious sense that Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a parody of a biopic film, leaning on all the narrative tropes—the early success, the destructive ego, the downward spiral, the redemptive comeback—to tell its tale. And like all great biopics, it gets at the core of its subject. The truth is there, even if the facts aren’t. The film was directed by Eric Appel and also stars Evan Rachel Wood and Rainn Wilson. —Kevin Wong

'Causeway'

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When: Friday, Nov. 4

Where: Apple TV+

Look no further, this is my pick of the one movie you should watch this week. Causeway has received lukewarm reviews about the story, but Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry are among two of my favorite performers in the industry. If you need any reason to watch, let it be to witness these two masters of their craft do what they do best as they bounce off and feed off of each other’s talents. The film is about a U.S. soldier who returns home from Afghanistan after sustaining a brain injury that has affected part of her memory. She meets a car mechanic who is going through his own deal of trauma and a friendship blooms between them that is the heartbeat of this A24 film. We already know A24 doesn’t cosign trash, so give this one a watch. —Karla Rodriguez

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