Parking lot parties

Dallas Cowboys fans sacked with 3rd highest tailgate costs in U.S.

There's nothing like a Cowboys tailgate party.

Facebook/AT&T Stadium

NFL football is back in action, and there's no better way to celebrate the return of your favorite team than with a classic tailgate. Dedicated Dallas Cowboys fans may need to increase their budgets for any upcoming tailgates at AT&T Stadium this year, as a new report has revealed the Arlington stadium is the NFL's No. 3 most expensive tailgating destination in America.

Online sports betting experts Oddspedia ranked 30 stadiums nationwide based on their parking costs, food and drink prices, and overall average tailgate costs. (As a note, tailgate costs for NFL teams that share a stadium were the same.)

The estimated cost of tailgating for four Cowboys fans at AT&T Stadium comes out to $242.15, which is the third highest tally out of all 30 stadiums on the list. Fans of the Cowboys - America's most valuable team - are spending about 18 percent more on their ultimate tailgate experience than the national average, which is $205.17.

In the national comparison of just food and drink costs, Cowboys fans tied with Houston Texans fans for the sixth-highest grocery costs. To feed four hungry tailgaters on either team, the average grocery trip cost comes out to $154.15, which covers ingredients for "cheeseburgers, hotdogs, Italian subs, chicken wings, pretzels[,] chips and dips," among other culinary necessities.

But a good chunk of that overall cost can also get eaten up by puling into a top parking spot at AT&T Stadium, the report found. Fans may want to consider their options ahead of the Cowboys' home opener on September 15. (Official rules for tailgating at AT&T Stadium can be found here.)

"Parking in an official lot can cost up to $88, which drives up the price for your gameday," the report said. "However… a visit to Reddit would suggest there are more economical options in ‘non-Jerry’ parking lots not far away."

For added context, the average cost for parking across all 30 stadiums was $57.38.

One cheaper option for Cowboys fans would be to attend Rally Day experiences on days prior to select home games, at the outdoor Miller Lite House on the West Plaza at AT&T Stadium. The family-friendly events include stadium tours, interactive games, photos and autographs from Dallas Cowboys Alumni Players, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, as well as Rowdy the mascot. Rally Days will be hosted from 10 am to 6 pm on: September 14, September 21, October 12, November 9, and November 17.

Rally Day tickets are sold in advance and at the gate. Self-guided tour tickets are $25 per person; VIP tour tickets are $45 per person. For more information, go here.

The top 10 NFL teams with the most expensive tailgating experiences are:

No. 1 – San Francisco 49ers, Levi's Stadium ($292.33)
No. 2 – Los Angeles Rams/Chargers, SoFi Stadium ($257.75)
No. 3 – Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium ($242.15)
No. 4 – Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field ($238.32)
No. 5 – Washington Commanders, Commanders Field ($224.10)
No. 6 – Cincinnati Bengals, Paycor Stadium ($217.16)
No. 7 – Miami Dolphins, Hard Rock Stadium ($216.14)
No. 8 – New York Giants/Jets, MetLife Stadium (211.20)
No. 9 – Denver Broncos, Empower Field at Mile High ($210.77)
No. 10 – New England Patriots, Gillette Stadium ($210.64)

Fans of the Arizona Cardinals can rejoice at having the most inexpensive tailgating experiences. Tailgate costs at State Farm Stadium only add up to $158.07 for four fans, the lowest on the list.

The study analyzed costs of a tailgate experience for a group of four people, including cost of parking in the tailgate zone for the first games of the season, and a list of "essential party foods and drinks" (a.k.a. local groceries) to kick off the festivities.

The full report and its methodology can be found on oddspedia.com.

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Movie review

Over-the-top The Bride! makes other Frankenstein movies seem subtle

Photo by Niko Tavernise

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in The Bride!.

The story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster is now over 200 years old, with Mary Shelley’s book having been adapted or referenced in close to 500 films. Less common is the character of The Bride of Frankenstein, which existed in the original text but has more often than not been excised in adaptations. Writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal has tried to rectify that by giving the character a big showcase in her new film, The Bride!.

Gyllenhaal has reimagined the story as one in which a woman named Ida (Jessie Buckley) becomes possessed by the spirit of Shelley (also Buckley). At the same time, the already-existing Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) approaches Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening), who specializes in reanimation, with the request to make him a wife. When Ida falls to her death in an “accident” involving her boyfriend (John Magaro), the ideal corpse becomes available.

After Ida’s resurrection, she and the monster become restless being studied by Dr. Euphronius and decide to break out to experience the world. The world, naturally, is not exactly welcoming to them, and soon the couple are on the run for causing mayhem, including a few murders. In hot pursuit are detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant, Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz), as well as other authorities.

It’s clear that Gyllenhaal wanted to merge the Frankenstein story with Bonnie & Clyde, especially since she sets the film in the mid-1930s. And that wouldn’t have been a bad idea if having the monster and The Bride going on a crime spree was truly the focus of the movie. But most of the time there’s less intentionality in their misdeeds and more confusion, leading to a muddled plot with no clear direction or end goal in mind.

One of the biggest problems is that Gyllenhaal starts the energy of the film at an 11, giving her and everyone else nowhere to go but down. She dabbles in multiple different tones, at times going the straight drama route and other times making what seems like full-on camp. At one point, she even has the monster and the Bride in a dance sequence set to “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” which would be hilarious as an homage to Young Frankenstein if the film weren’t so disjointed.

Most baffling of all is what Gyllenhaal wants from The Bride character. She morphs multiple times over the course of the film, from close to unintelligible at the beginning to rough-and-tumble at the end. There are hints at the lack of control she has over her autonomy, including Shelley’s possession of her and the monster lying to her about her past, but any commentary that Gyllenhaal might be trying to make gets lost amid the oddity of the film as a whole.

Both Buckley and Bale are all-in for their performances, which definitely fall in the “love it or hate it” dichotomy. Each scene is pitched so high that there’s little nuance to either of them, and neither is on par with their previous Oscar-caliber roles. The high-powered supporting cast of Bening, Sarsgaard, Cruz, and Jake Gyllenhaal is watchable based on previous roles, but none of them elevate this particular movie.

Whatever intentions Maggie Gyllenhaal had in making The Bride! are only halfway legible in a film that can never find its tonal footing. There has rarely been subtlety in movies featuring Frankenstein’s monster and related characters, but this one makes all the others seem like stuffy dramas in comparison.

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The Bride! is now playing in theaters.

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Movie review

Over-the-top The Bride! makes other Frankenstein movies seem subtle