Connect with us

Entertainment

The R-Rated Sci-Fi Comedy That's A Perfect, Puffy Alien Invasion

By Robert Scucci
| Published

The nature of my work on this site and elsewhere requires me to be chronically online in order to watch, write, research, and publish content. The idea of throwing my phone into an incinerator crosses my mind at least once a week. I hate the internet, and I hope to one day be brave enough to leave it forever. In the meantime, I live vicariously through people who take the plunge, quit their jobs, move to the country, and live off the fat of the land. That was my exact intention when firing up 2020’s Save Yourselves!, an apocalyptic sci-fi comedy built around that very premise.

Technology rules our lives, and it’s designed to keep us distracted from finding our greatest purpose if we only experience the world through screens. What those who romanticize off-grid living don’t tell you is that sometimes you actually need the occasional news alert to navigate your life, especially when an alien invasion is underway and you slept through it because you were holed up in a remote cabin trying to find yourself.

The Worst Week To Take A Soul-Searching Vacation 

Save Yourselves! 2020

Save Yourselves! tells the story of Su (Sunita Mani) and Jack (John Paul Reynolds), who have grown tired of the rat race. They both work disposable tech jobs that will likely be overwritten by AI, and they realize they’re living to work instead of working to live. If they keep maintaining the status quo, they’ll always be halfway happy, never fully satisfied.

Resolving to go off-grid for a week, Su and Jack head to their friend Raph’s (Ben Sinclair) remote cabin. The rules are simple: phones off, no laptops, and total immersion in nature. They’ll kayak, chop wood, build fires, drink under the stars, and make homemade bread. It all sounds wholesome, and for the first night or so, it actually is.

Save Yourselves! 2020

Their plans unravel when they discover a fuzzy object in their den that looks like a sentient Hostess Sno Ball and seems to appear and disappear at will. In a moment of weakness, Su checks her phone and learns that these creatures are everywhere. They feed off ethanol and are systematically overtaking major metropolitan areas. To make matters worse, the creature, dubbed a pouffe by Su, eats Jack’s sourdough starter, drinks all the whiskey, and siphons the gas from what they think is their only getaway vehicle.

The Aliens Are Fun, But Point To A Much Larger Problem

While the cute little pouffes wreak havoc in Save Yourselves!, the bigger issue is how Jack and Su handle themselves. When they find a diesel-fueled vehicle hidden in the barn, Jack breaks down. He wanted to be a modern man, which in his mind meant avoiding learning practical skills like chopping wood, fixing plumbing, or driving a stick shift. He got into tech specifically so he wouldn’t have to learn those things, only to realize he’s not particularly good at tech either.

Save Yourselves! 2020

Su, who once dated someone who drove a stick, steps in and gets the truck moving. But the farther they get from the cabin, the more it dawns on them that the world as they know it is collapsing under the pouffe invasion.

Ironically, their timing couldn’t have been better. The technologies they were trying to escape stopped working anyway, and they get exactly what they wanted at the start of the film, just in the most inconvenient way possible. Save Yourselves! has a lot of fun with the idea that we’re enslaved to our devices, and the literal end of the world kicking off the moment its protagonists unplug is a strong comedic framework that never feels preachy.

Save Yourselves! 2020

John Paul Reynolds and Sunita Mani are instantly likable as a couple who feel unmoored in life. Their willingness to improvise, like lobbing wine bottles from their moving vehicle to distract the pouffes, makes for consistently entertaining chaos. Things escalate further when they rescue a baby they have no idea how to care for, forcing them to figure it out together in the middle of an apocalypse without attending YouTube university for a crash course on parenting.

Equal parts wholesome and horrifying, Save Yourselves! is currently streaming for free on Tubi. If you want to explore a similar premise through a more serious lens, Leave the World Behind is available for streaming on Netflix. 


source

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Entertainment

NYT Strands hints, answers for April 19, 2026

Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’re constantly changing.

Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Small change

The words are related to changes.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe fine-tuning.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today’s spangram is There I Fixed It.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

NYT Strands word list for April 19

  • There I Fixed It

  • Adjust

  • Modify

  • Alter

  • Improve

  • Tweak

  • Refine

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.

source

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 19, 2026

Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you can never sit down.

If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

To rise.

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter T.

The Wordle answer today is…

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today’s Wordle is…

STAND

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.

source

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Hurdle hints and answers for April 19, 2026

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.

Hurdle Word 1 hint

The edge.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

BRINK

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Moody.

Hurdle Word 2 Answer

POUTY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

America’s bird.

Hurdle Word 3 answer

EAGLE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

A platform.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

FORUM

Final Hurdle hint

Cheapskate.

Hurdle Word 5 answer

MISER

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

source

Continue Reading