Oct 2, 2026 · 22 min
Digger turns climate anxiety into a surreal Oscar debate
Digger and What’s Making Us Happy
The episode tests whether Digger’s extravagant satire captures its moment or mistakes bluntness for insight.
- 1Digger’s climate satire divides the panel while inviting comparisons with Don’t Look Up and Dr. Strangelove.
- 2Its elaborate design, speeches, and uncanny cat make the film’s familiar world feel deliberately strange.
- 3The discussion weighs Tom Cruise’s flamboyant performance, supporting turns, and the movie’s chances in the Oscar race.
Don't miss
The critics focus on Digger’s unsettling elderly cat, treating it as a concentrated example of the film’s uncanny visual imagination.
The brief
Bob Mondello and Roxana Haddadi debate Digger, a surreal Oscar contender starring Tom Cruise as an oil baron whose actions help trigger global catastrophe.
The film’s broad climate satire divides the critics, who compare its ambitions with Don’t Look Up and Dr. Strangelove while asking whether divisive satire ages well.
Elaborate design, dense speeches, and an unsettling elderly cat give Digger a world that feels recognizable, uncanny, and packed with details worth revisiting.
The panel assesses Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, and Jesse Plemons before shifting to Jane Fonda’s political films, Alias, and a sharply negative view of Taylor Swift’s latest song.
The episode’s standout is its attention to Digger’s uncanny cat, a small visual choice that concentrates the film’s strangeness and rewards close attention.