We kick off with the hosts’ cheerful greeting and their confession that they recorded the Fully-Booked: Literary Podcast ahead of schedule, joking that it is “the last week of June… but not really.” They remind us that June on Fully-Booked has been all about banned books, and they want to finish with something big.
While scanning international censorship lists, Meaghan notices that The Da Vinci Code has been pulled from shelves in Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, and the Philippines. The reason is simple enough: some Christian leaders find the novel’s ideas offensive.
Shirin admits she did not realize Lebanon has such a large Christian population, and the pair laugh at their own ignorance before pivoting to the film version they are about to rewatch. They also poke fun at their ongoing knack for picking “the worst movie adaptation possible,” a running joke that keeps listeners feeling part of an inside circle.
Note
The following is an editorialized transcript of our weekly literary podcast. If you would like to listen to the podcast, click the play button above orlisten on your favorite platform with the links below.
Revisiting The Da Vinci Code: Book Hype, Film Fever, and Worldwide Uproar
We move from playful chit-chat to the cultural moment of 2003, when Dan Brown’s novel exploded onto every bookstore display.
The hosts recall how the familiar red hardcover stamped with a sliver of the Mona Lisa seemed to stare you down in every airport. Within two years, the book had sold tens of millions of copies, appeared in forty-plus languages, and sparked feverish speculation about secret societies, coded messages, and a hidden bloodline of Christ.
And Hollywood pounced. In 2006, Ron Howard delivered a glossy blockbuster starring Tom Hanks, Alfred Molina, Ian McKellen, and Paul Bettany. At the time, Shirin remembers thinking the movie was “the shit,” full of twists that felt like National Treasure with better haircuts.
Yet outside a Boston theater on opening night, she saw live protests, something a Canadian teenager did not expect on a school trip. That mash-up of box-office buzz and genuine outrage fascinates the hosts; it proves a thriller can still hit raw nerves when it challenges sacred stories.
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National Treasure, Nicolas Cage, and Tangents We Can’t Resist
Because no Fully-Booked episode is complete without at least one joyful detour, we zoom off to Shirin’s devotion to National Treasure.
She owns a T-shirt with Nicolas Cage’s face, and the declaration “I’m gonna steal the Declaration,” makes her husband watch the film annually and defend its goofy charm at every opportunity.
Meaghan, who once watched the movie constantly with her mother, agrees it is “terrible but fun.” Comparing ratings, they discover that Cage’s romp actually edges out The Da Vinci Code on Rotten Tomatoes, an outcome they find both hilarious and strangely satisfying.
This lighthearted break matters. It shows how personal nostalgia shapes our judgment. Sometimes we cling to a so-so movie because it reminds us of family vacations or Friday sleepovers, not because it is a cinematic masterpiece. We feel that tug, too; I still grin whenever I hear Cage whisper “I’m going to steal it,” and I suspect many listeners have a similar guilty-pleasure favorite.
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Subscribe to our weekly newsletterCharacters, Plot Holes, and Why the Film Falls Flat
Back to business: the hosts dissect why the 2006 adaptation drags. First, length.
At two-and-a-half hours, it spread over three separate viewing sessions in Meaghan’s living room. Second, plausibility.
The victim supposedly staggers through the Louvre after being shot in the gut, leaving a breadcrumb trail of riddles in his own blood, yet still has the mental clarity to craft a sophisticated code. We agree with the hosts that this stretches believability to comic levels; our stomach hurts just imagining the crawl, never mind the cryptography. Third, character depth.
In the book, Sophie Neveu is a brilliant police cryptographer; on screen, she turns doe-eyed, waiting for Robert Langdon to solve everything. Tom Hanks, lovable as ever, cannot overcome a script that reduces side characters to exposition machines.
It feels as if a longer, richer draft was chopped down by anxious studio editors trying to hit a release date. The result is a movie that teaches the audience how to Google but forgets to give its heroine agency. We nod along when the hosts groan, “This person who’s this intelligent would not act like that.”
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Final Thoughts: Rating Rants, Unfinished Franchises, and What Comes Next
The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons were box office successes. So why did Inferno tank? Reviews didn’t matter for the first 2 films…
by inboxoffice
Wrapping up, the hosts admit they wanted to love the film. They felt a pang of nostalgia, hitting play, wishing the old rush of “twist on every page” would return.
Instead, they found themselves pausing for snacks, baby duties, and the occasional disbelief-fuelled rant. Rotten Tomatoes sits at a meager 25 percent critic score, and once the hosts read that aloud, they cannot unsee the flaws.
Meanwhile, Angels and Demons and Inferno limp on with the same creative team but never reclaim the lightning in a bottle. Even a short-lived TV spin-off, The Lost Symbol, failed to survive past one season.
The conversation closes with laughter, apologies to any die-hard fans, and a promise that Meaghan will choose next month’s adaptations more carefully. The bigger takeaway is relatable: we all remember a book or movie that blew our adolescent minds, only to find it wobbly on rewatch.
The hosts show us it’s okay to change our minds, poke fun at past tastes, and still respect the cultural storm a story once created. As we finish, we feel like we sat on the couch with two friends who love books, love movies, and love cracking jokes about both, exactly the kind of company we crave when the credits roll.
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