Barcelona is my preferred Stillman.

Barcelona is probably my favorite, if only for that "what's that thing, above the subtext" line.

I think Sara said "Mirror, Mirror" was popcorn, but really fun high quality popcorn.

It's the popcorniest. I'm pretty sure that any Buffista who got pure visual pleasure out of Coraline, Edward Scissorhands, Marie Antoinette, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Alice in Wonderland (Burton version), Spirited Away, Pleasantville, or the totally ahistorical but oh so pretty Cate Blanchett Elizabeth will swoon over the visuals of this one. It's a completely ridiculous mashup of everything from medieval cathedrals to Gaudi to Diagon Alley, but somehow it all works.

Is the pretty enough to balance the downsides? Is the plot at least not cringeworthy?

Honestly, the only downside is the star whom a lot of Buffistas really hate (I won't even write her name out of respect for them), and if you don't have any particular objection to her then there isn't much else to gripe about. Competently written, competently acted (except for Lily Collins, who is way better than competent), staggering visuals. At worst, it's flat and obvious and a little tedious at times, but at best it's a visual feast.

Also, whatshisbucket who plays the prince is a comely lad, and spends a lot of time shirtless.

And, final bonus for any parent who's had to sit through basically any children's movie of the entire last decade: it contains possibly one single crotch kick and no fart jokes at all.

I rented a movie I liked a whole lot that has a lot of actors Buffistas like (Carla Gugino, Tim Olyphant, VK, JGL) and some of the time, they're not wearing very much... There's more to it than that, because for a movie about sex/porn...it's kind of touching AND it passes the Bechdel test several times. And not just because Adrienne Padalecki and Sloane from Entourage decide to start dating in it...she's going for, like, a Judy Holiday thing in it and is very cute. It's called "Electra Luxx" and probably someone's brother-in-law here wrote it, both because it seems like such a Buffista film, and because when am I, in the hinterlands, first to hear about anything? Pretty much never, so tell your brother-in-law he made a good movie that provided me a chuckle when I needed one.

I had never heard of it, erika, but it sounds worth it for the cast and the Bechdel-passing alone.

BTW, JZ, as someone who loathes She Who Will Not Be Named, I appreciate your reticence.

Really there's an actress out there so hated that you can't utter the name? Huh. Guess I'll go look the movie up.