The Review Review

Orange County / BEEHHUUWWEEH! (Guest: Matthew Barrow)

Ben McFadden & Paul Root Season 4 Episode 9

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:40:20

Message us ANONYMOUSLY

DONE

****A member of the “Review Review,” family is in the fight of her life, you can help! - TAP/CLICK 

More With Matt Barrow: 

The Big Lebowski / Cast Is Streamin' Dude

True Romance / Perfect Strangers

Support the show

**All episodes contain explicit language**
Main Artwork - Ben McFadden
'Review Review Intro/Outro' Themes - Jamie Henwood
"What Are We Watching?" & "Whatcha Been Doin'?" Themes - Matthew Fosket
"Fun Facts" Theme - Chris Olds/Paul Root
Lead-Ins Edited/Conceptualized by - Ben McFadden
Produced by - Ben McFadden & Paul Root ("Shelf Help" - Paul Root)
Podcast/Program Concept - Paul Root

SPEAKER_01

Aeroids or if it's Oh yeah is he trying to do things evil macho man?

SPEAKER_00

That's yeah, he's got the I think that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's evil macho man.

SPEAKER_00

Vampire. Vampire. A very scared man.

SPEAKER_03

This sounds pretty good. Um just talk at a normal level for a little bit, Matt.

SPEAKER_00

Test, test. Okay, okay. One two, one two. See now I'm like self-conscious. Is this how I normally talk or am I talking too loud or quiet?

Guest Intro

SPEAKER_03

Just no sh just let him just let him simmer on that.

SPEAKER_00

Just let him work it out. No, I talk. No, no, that's too much. Uh-huh. Test, test. Hey, yeah, Orange County. Yeah, no, it's a good movie. Yeah, no. Yeah, it's fun. It sounds weird. Yeah, it does sound weird, doesn't it? You sound great.

SPEAKER_03

You sound like butter. I don't normally talk.

SPEAKER_00

Uh test, test. Yes, yeah. No, yeah, yeah. Uh huh.

SPEAKER_01

Rubber baby buggy bumpers. I think kill a little rubber baby buggy bumpers. You didn't know I was gonna say that, did you? Okay. Oh, we're gonna have to be touching.

SPEAKER_00

I just listened to your your shelf help episode about. Oh, did you? Thank you so much. Which one? Uh Kindergarten Cop. Oh, nice. Is that where that's like rubber baby buggy bumpers?

SPEAKER_01

Last action hero.

SPEAKER_00

Last action, that's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Did you how did you like shelf help?

SPEAKER_00

I did like I I I love how it's short form. Yeah. And I love that it's specifically about like the release, because I did I didn't know I didn't even know there was a Corby or what's a the Kino Lorber version of Kindergarten Cop. Nice.

SPEAKER_03

You know, you're helping people out. Goals.

SPEAKER_00

I think I might get it now.

SPEAKER_03

I think I might, yeah. I want to apologize already, Paul, because I have coffee breath.

SPEAKER_00

You sure do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Have you ever watched like the Beatles and they sing at each other across the microphone? I always wonder, like, do they have British breath or do they like You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03

What does that mean?

SPEAKER_00

Just like rotten You know what I mean. Like the Austin Powers teeth, like the Have you seen his like I just I just think of beans. Oh yeah, like on English practice.

SPEAKER_01

Mike Myers does an SNL commercial where the toothpaste is just like sugar.

SPEAKER_00

You don't have to brush every day, but you might want to. The great big book of British smiles.

SPEAKER_03

What are you taping over? Yeah, it's recording over our last episode, which Paul already has.

SPEAKER_01

We already have it saved in another format. Is that bad? Thank you for being observant. That's really good. Everybody, welcome. Hi. My name is Paul. I'm one of your co-hosts here.

SPEAKER_03

Hello, my name is Benjamin, and I am your other co-host. And we have a return guest on the review review. Our guest is Mr. Matthew Scott Barrow, Q Golf Club.

SPEAKER_00

Hello, hello, thank you.

SPEAKER_01

By the way, when I was waving, I wasn't waving at nothing. I was and looking at nothing. I was waving at you when I was waving when I was saying hello.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, was that what you were doing? I thought you were like drowning and you were trying to get our attention.

SPEAKER_01

It's probably more what it looked like.

SPEAKER_03

If you haven't heard the dulcet tones of Matt Barrow's voice, it means you haven't listened to our Big Lebowski episode and our uh what was the other one you did? Uh True Romance. True Romance episode.

SPEAKER_01

All movies with legendary stoners.

SPEAKER_03

True. That's right. Which we're gonna we're gonna get there.

SPEAKER_01

Matt pointed at me. That was so cool. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03

Um I I actually want to do something different. Uh Matt, can you explain to our guests what this program is about?

SPEAKER_00

Oh wow, you're really putting me in the hot seat. Uh okay. Um Welcome to the Review Review, ladies and gentlemen. Uh this is a podcast where we should I say we as the where they, your hosts, Paul and Ben. I'm sure they um see now I'm gonna start winging it. Um they review movies that they once viewed and then see if their review review matches their initial view review. I got I got lost in the sauce somewhere in there, but somewhere the pieces are all there if you put it all together.

SPEAKER_03

I I think the only thing you missed was that we usually have a guest.

SPEAKER_00

Oh well, yeah, I mean that's that's self-apparent because you're hearing me speak right now.

SPEAKER_03

And and the movies we have we have with stupid guidelines. It's true.

SPEAKER_01

They're I would say they're rules, but they're more they're more like guidelines. They're more like guidelines.

SPEAKER_00

Which they're those are meant to be broken, right? Absolutely.

What You Been Doing?

SPEAKER_01

We have a breaker list, you have to find it. It's true. I will mention though that Matt brought us a movie that abides by all of our standard rules. It's seven years old or older, it's not part of any major franchise, it's well under two hours and twenty two minutes or less. And uh it's a a fairly well-known movie. This isn't some super obscure thing. What movie was this? Not Readland. Well, we'll see him again soon. This summer in the Avengers. In Doomsday. Correct.

SPEAKER_03

Did you listen to our Readland episode?

SPEAKER_00

I don't think I did.

SPEAKER_03

Don't don't worry about it. I mean, you should.

SPEAKER_01

You're among the majority of our people that listen to this podcast were like, what the hmm. Never mind. Maybe not.

SPEAKER_03

They're gonna be totally lost during Avengers Doomsday.

SPEAKER_01

At their peril, they're not listening to our Readland episode.

SPEAKER_03

But we're not doing Readland. Matt brought us Orange County.

SPEAKER_00

From 2002.

SPEAKER_01

In California.

SPEAKER_00

Correct. Famously in California.

SPEAKER_01

Here we come. We're doing it. Right back where we started. Oh, whoa.

SPEAKER_03

Did I do that? We're coming to California.

SPEAKER_01

Is that is this the band that Jason Schwartzman is or was a drummer in?

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Phantom Planet, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Soundtrack movie man.

SPEAKER_03

Which is a band that I have meet and hung out with.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. Oh, cool. Ben did. I did not, but Ben did meet and hang out with Phantom Planet in Seattle.

SPEAKER_01

This is such this is such a great soundtrack movie. I wrote a soundtrack movie. Oh, yeah. And I have such a love for them. And I don't think we've done a ton of them.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you're right. And I also think that like this, I mean we're gonna talk about this in depth, but like this is such a time capsule of 2006. Oh, such a good early 2000s. Boy, yeah. It really is. But before we talk about the past, we need to talk about I guess we're still talking about the past. What have you been doing?

SPEAKER_00

What have I been doing? Yeah. Well, um, I just I just did a big move. I just uh moved from uh Seattle, where I've lived for the past 20 some odd years, to a new place. And um, yeah, that's been a lot of work and it's surroundings outside of Washington State, in Washington State. In Washington State, just just right outside of Seattle, a smaller suburb. But uh it's actually near where Ben and I went to high school. And um yeah, so you got kind of that familiarity, but it has been X number of years since we went to high school. I can't remember. Are you KG about your age on this podcast? Or is not at all. Okay. So so it has been established that you and I are almost one.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, Stimson and I go in depth talking about high school.

SPEAKER_01

So that's right.

SPEAKER_00

It's true. That's right.

SPEAKER_01

The various wines and alcohols available at the time and so on.

SPEAKER_00

Mike's hard lemonade in a safe way parking lot. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But also I want to mention you're physically here. This is part of what you're doing, is you're visiting.

SPEAKER_00

I am. I am in California right now, and actually, this is what you're just saying. This is the first time I've done the pod now three times because third time is the charm. And the first time I did it was fully virtual, like you know, back in 2020, the Zoom days. The last time for True Romance, I meet or Ben and I were here, and Paul was elsewhere, and now all three of us are in the same room, and I'm seeing the the hosts in three dimensions. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01

Dude, this episode is brought to you by the triumvirant.

SPEAKER_00

Is that the Mike Myers Netflix show? It is now. Is it? Oh, that's the pen, what's it called? The pentab because there's five of them. So pentab Pentagram? Pentabarant or something like that.

SPEAKER_01

But this is a triumph.

SPEAKER_00

This is the triumvirant.

SPEAKER_01

What is the triumvirant? I'm referring to rush. Three three corners. I'm doing beep, beep, beep. You know, we're all here for the first time. It's exciting. Paul believes in the Illuminati.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I mean, I was. As a member. Well, as a member, I think the Illuminati might exist.

SPEAKER_03

Uh well, that's great. Moving's tough.

SPEAKER_00

It's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01

One of the most stressful things one does in life. It's like a top ten stressful event.

SPEAKER_03

Our last episode with the other marriage, divorce, kids. Our last episode with the other Matt, we talked about this because he also moved. Yeah. Matt's are moving.

SPEAKER_00

There is a pandemic. The migration of Matt. Migration of Matt's.

SPEAKER_01

Are we when we talk to Matt? When we talk to Matt Yanagia soon.

SPEAKER_00

If he doesn't have plans to move, he needs to get him in motion.

SPEAKER_01

By the way, listener, if you're if you're curious, you're not. We're trying to get as many mats in a marathon as we can. A million mats in a row.

SPEAKER_00

The month of a million mats. March. March mats of the match.

SPEAKER_03

Matt's are marching. The March of the Mats. March of the Matt.

SPEAKER_01

We we did a March Madness. It was all comedy. March Madness? But we this would have been truly this would have been the perfection of the Mathathon.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, this will this will be May.

SPEAKER_03

I yeah. If you are a listener and you're and you have Matt somewhere in your name, whether it's a first, middle, surname, please contact us.

SPEAKER_01

We want to hear from you. You can text us anonymously from the episode description. Easy peasy.

SPEAKER_03

Or on Instagram at review X2 Podcast. Paul, what have you been doing? We need to talk more about that.

SPEAKER_01

First and foremost, I got tickets for the Los Angeles Clippers versus my beloved Portland Trailblazers. They're battling for play-in position supremacy. If you know the NBA, it's like great. Sounds meddling. It is. Okay. But there's a content. And it was just yeah, and it was just very frustrating because you have to have so many apps and they have to share with each other and all this. And it was like quite a fucking undertaking to just do this. Just to get the tickets. Yeah, it was kind of a fucking nightmare. Did you feel like a boomer?

SPEAKER_03

Did you feel like a boomer?

SPEAKER_01

Kinda. I mean, it's like I had to get them over uh you know to the B-Dow and she couldn't download it through text and had to have it emailed, and I had to it didn't approve it for it was all just such a fucking slog. It was terrible. So um the game's gonna be great though, and I've never been to that venue, and I'm excited to see it.

SPEAKER_03

I found that a lot of like the Dodgers, you have to have the Dodgers app.

SPEAKER_00

Same thing here. You have to have an app for specifically for that. To have your ticket on it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and and that's the only way to have your ticket on it. Everything's an app now. You have to have an app for every single thing. You have to have an app for your fucking hairdryer, for your oven, for your I can't wash my dishes.

SPEAKER_00

I don't have Bluetooth in here.

SPEAKER_01

Like there are cars that update through or get open little features that you purchase through an app now. That's the world we're in. It's insane. These corporations know that there's a threshold, right? Like your phone can only hold so much.

SPEAKER_00

But it's I'm out of space, so now I can't start my car.

SPEAKER_01

Your information is invaluable and everybody wants a piece. Now, here's the other thing I would like to talk about. I was just out of town for work and was working on a movie for a couple days. Had no idea who I was gonna be working opposite. Ben, I think I said something to you, like I felt like it was gonna be maybe like a depending, it would be really cool. Could be like a Danny Glover or you know, dream of dreams, like a Delroy Lindo, somebody, Ernie Hudson, somebody like that. Well, like two hours before we're gonna shoot, the guy I'm in the scene with, and he's the other guy's gonna be in this scene that I haven't met yet, haven't talked to him, thinking of who this could be. He goes, Yeah, Jamie Foxx is here and he's finally on set, and I go, Whoa. You're fucking with me. You're fucking with me. Like it's like the Princess Amadala, like, What? Right? And it was him. And he was great, he's very, very giving. He said something very nice to me, which was cool. He has a he was like the big person name that was there, clearly. And he has a really good energy and wants things to be light, and like that was kind of like the way that the set was going. So it was a really cool experience. Like it was one of those if you had said to me in the moment, like it'll be someone who's won the Academy Award or whatever, I would have been again, you're fucking with me. Like I was, but it was pretty cool, it was a good moment, and I actually got a chance to, in a really small part, just a few lines, where I felt like an actor was giving me rope to make some choices, and I did, and I had my fingers crossed in my pocket at a point where I'm like, I'm gonna interrupt this guy. Seems like he wants me to interrupt him.

SPEAKER_03

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

And I did, and worked out again. He was really really.

SPEAKER_00

That's why I said toe to toe and not eye to eye.

SPEAKER_04

No, I have to consider keeping that.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe you shouldn't.

SPEAKER_01

Because I'm gonna bleep out the name of the person that I it ended up being, but it's now so good.

SPEAKER_00

An actor who played a famous blind man.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, right, right. And that's what he won the Oscar for. Well, that narrows it down. That's very specific, right?

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, can't be more than a few of those.

SPEAKER_01

Right, sure. So while while I was in Portland working on that, I also got to go to Donut Nook. And if you're a donut person at all, got to see my family and all that stuff too. Whatever. Yeah, but donuts.

SPEAKER_03

Which donut?

SPEAKER_01

Donut Nook.

SPEAKER_00

We were just talking about donutteries and how some cities are famous for their donutteries.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it's crazy that voodoo donuts is the one that's become like we have it.

SPEAKER_00

The Voodoo Donuts in Seattle.

SPEAKER_03

We have one at Universal City Wild.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. There's another house donut nook.

SPEAKER_01

Another one in West Hollywood. If you're ever in the Vancouver, Washington area, it is one of the best, apparently bear claws, apple fritters. I mean, and I know from experienced glazed old fashions like on the West Coast. It's fucking fantastic.

SPEAKER_03

This moment in talking about Vancouver, I feel like we should always shout out Michael's place.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, dude, little Conejo, absolutely. Good point. If you want a taco and a donut, like if you're going through morning afternoon, if you're hanging out there, sounds like a good hangover making.

SPEAKER_00

Taco and a donut.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Sounds like a good podcast. Taco and a donut with Ben and Paul.

SPEAKER_01

It's part of the review to reuniver.

SPEAKER_00

It just happened. You got shelf help, you got taco and a donut.

SPEAKER_03

Ben, what have you been doing? Uh well, Matthew and I, last night we went to a uh Godzilla pop-up uh at a uh a small, what I think is normally a boba tea place.

SPEAKER_00

It is.

SPEAKER_03

An hookah place?

What Are You Watching?

SPEAKER_00

An hookah place, which the whole time we were there, there's like those like gas lamp like decorations. I was like, this is a weird boba shop, and then we saw the sign going out that said an hookah, and we're like, oh.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. But it true or false, the tobacco in a hookah and the gravity of that and the sugar of boba will get you more high than any weed on the face of the planet.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, yeah. I wonder I wonder if it is combo, like, because you know, hookahs have the water in them. I wonder if you can be like, can I get some like uh brown sugar boba tea in here? More sugar. Because the tobacco is already just syrup, right? Like hookah, it's like shisha, it's just like pure glycerin and syrup.

SPEAKER_03

Well, we didn't smoke a hookah. We did not smoke a hookah, but they have a Godzilla pop-up, which is, I think, in collaboration with Godzilla.

SPEAKER_00

It was official, it looked pretty official.

SPEAKER_03

And uh it's all decked out to look like it's in, you know, like a destroyed city that Godzilla has come through. And uh they have themed drinks and themed food and all of the Godzilla posters of all of the movies, and it made me realize that I have seen very few true like Japanese Godzilla movies.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, you gotta pump those numbers up.

SPEAKER_01

So many. There are a lot. I think there's gotta be over 50 Godzilla movies between Japan and America at this point.

SPEAKER_00

I think it is close to 50. Yeah. Well, they go back to 1954.

SPEAKER_03

Matt is a if you don't know, Matt is a huge Godzilla file.

SPEAKER_00

Uh I don't know if I would use that word. Kaiju just because I don't like it. Kaiju file? I don't like that.

SPEAKER_03

Uh you any kind of file.

SPEAKER_00

I well. What was who what comedian had that thing? It was like a Libre file is just someone who likes books.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Be careful. Are you in any files?

SPEAKER_01

You're Godzilla fan.

SPEAKER_00

I'm I'm a fan. I like Godzilla movies. Let's leave it at that. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm I I do like Godzilla a lot.

SPEAKER_01

Was this pop-up for Godzilla minus zero or something specific, or just for the character in general?

SPEAKER_03

It just seemed like in the character in general they didn't they actually didn't even have the Godzilla minus one poster.

SPEAKER_00

Which is weird. Yeah. They had every poster to Shin Godzilla, which is one of my favorites. Check it out if you haven't. And then they did not have Godzilla minus one. And nothing about Godzilla minus zero, but it did seem to be official. They did have all the characters and everything. And they had a lot of licensed merch and yeah, like he was saying, like um license like uh tie-in drinks and food and stuff and photo ops, but I I it was it was a good time. It was it was very immersive pop-up.

SPEAKER_03

I had some very spicy ramen uh you did, and you made your own ramen there. Yeah, they had like you make your own ramen setup.

SPEAKER_01

Was was the spice level Godzilla breath or something? Or Godzilla or British breath? It was just hot chicken. It was British breath. It was British breath. The big book of British.

SPEAKER_00

The weird thing though was the movie. So every everything in this place was themed, it was immersive, it was, you know, there the windows even had like monitors that looked like destruction outside, it looked like the city was on fire, and then there was a big TV over us playing. Not Godzilla. Like it was some other movie entirely.

SPEAKER_03

But um Yeah, it was it was not uh I don't know why they were watching some like it wasn't even sports. Like if you had like baseball on or something, I would have been like that makes sense, but it's just baseball on TV.

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, it was some movie about, I don't know, like a woman in the throes of drug addiction. It was like, well, this doesn't really yeah.

SPEAKER_01

They should have had either Mr. Baseball with Tom Sellick on or Japanese baseball.

SPEAKER_00

Naturally.

SPEAKER_03

Or Major League.

SPEAKER_01

And honestly, I don't know which might you play the world baseball classic. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Well, this gets us right into Matt. What have you been watching?

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know, it does kind of dovetail because um I, like I said, I've been moving, so I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to watch like Monarch, Godzilla, which I would love to watch, or like the new Ted, I hear is pretty good. So, but while I've been eating dinner, I've been putting on the dinosaurs on Netflix, the Steven Spielberg produced dinosaur documentary. And I've been loving that. It's uh I'm only a couple episodes in, but just like the way they introduce dinosaurs and they kind of work as like characters and they immediately make you empathize with their struggles, and then they kill them off in the span of five minutes. Like George R.

SPEAKER_01

Martin could learn a thing or two from the I may I admit something embarrassing when you said dinosaurs.

SPEAKER_00

You don't believe in dinosaurs. You don't believe in dinosaurs. You believe in the Illuminati.

SPEAKER_01

Also, you know the earth is flat, right?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I knew that. Okay. Because obviously you don't fall off if you're on Australia.

SPEAKER_01

Gravity is also part of the government. It's a weapon of the government. Aside from that, I thought when you were saying dinosaurs, I was like, not the mama. I was so jazzed.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, you know what's funny is as I was watching this, I'm like, I do need to re-watch Dinosaurs with Earl Sinclair and not the mama. That was clean. And you know what's funny about that that show is the way it ends. Like it has to end with all the dinosaurs dying, but that's such a light-hearted, funny show. It's like MASH. Yeah, it's exactly like MASH. Where at the end it's just it's spun in. There's no survivors.

SPEAKER_03

What if they just had them also in a helicopter riding off into the but the actual show you were watching sounds fantastic, by the way.

SPEAKER_00

It's really good, and it's all like CG and like sometimes like sometimes the CG is mind-blowing. Sometimes it's weird, it's like you're watching like old Beast Wars episodes. It like it's like weirdly unfinished, and I don't know if they like rushed it or they had a deadline, but sometimes the CG is just so and like the little dinosaur. I'm I'm still early in, so the dinosaurs are still like feathery and small and cute, but they're just yeah, it's it's I I've been really enjoying it. And Morgan Freeman narrated it, so you can't go wrong.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00

It's the voice of God.

SPEAKER_01

Uh does anybody have a favorite Beast Wars Transformer?

SPEAKER_00

Rat Trap?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, good choice. I like T-Rex Megatron.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And Cheetor. Cheetor? Oh, Cheetor. He was kind of the oh no, I'm thinking of the character, right? Well, one of them was like the wild card, right? Where he wasn't really good or bad.

SPEAKER_01

He was kind of a there was like one or two rogue ones, but Rat Trap's a really good choice. Uh Ben's like, Beast Wars great. Have fun, guys. I didn't watch Beast War. I didn't know the mushrooms.

SPEAKER_00

This was before Ben and I met, otherwise, I totally would have.

SPEAKER_03

I didn't go into Beast Wars at all. I wasn't even really into Transformers at all.

SPEAKER_01

Uh there are things to say. Moving on.

SPEAKER_03

Moving on. Paul, what have you been watching?

SPEAKER_01

Me? I've been re-watching random episodes of Toast of London. Can you hear me, Clem Fandango? Yes, I hear you. Good old Matthew Berry.

SPEAKER_03

Uh, if you're a fan of Matthew Barry, a succulent Chinese meal.

SPEAKER_01

New York Sitter. I don't remember what he did at the Oscars. I really wanted him to Burger King. Burger King. But I just love rewatching that show and how ridiculous it is in the idea of this once successful actor doing this voiceover, becoming this wild character where he's like trying to be helpful with people in the neighborhood, specifically women that he wants to sleep with, and she's like, Oh yeah, I just moved in with my boyfriend, and he's like, fuck off, and just like drops the fish tank and walks away.

SPEAKER_00

I have seen that clip. I was trying to figure out what show you're talking about, and so I've seen that clip.

SPEAKER_01

It's a fantastic show. Uh I think I can help you find these episodes.

SPEAKER_00

So if you're willing to watch on a laptop, you have to sail the seven C's a little bit.

SPEAKER_03

Paul is winking and nudging very much.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It's it's that kind of show. You have to you can't just you can't just put that one on the old BBC player or whatever they call it.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, if you have Brit box, it might be available. I wouldn't doubt that. And then quickly, I just want to mention, I think I've talked about this before. There's this documentary called The Other Dream Team. And the movie centers around, to a degree, the 1992 bronze medal-winning Lithuanian Olympic team. They had just been essentially they liberated themselves from Russia, the USSR. They were under rule of the Iron Curtain, etc., for I think from like 1930s. 39 until 1991 or two. The Grateful Dead sponsored this team. You hear about the history of Lithuania, how proud they are about basketball. It's amazing. Matt, please, if you have a question.

SPEAKER_00

Can we go back to the Grateful Dead part of that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they they heard about the plight of this team and these men that were trying to get to the Olympics as the country was completely broke. And the Grateful Dead were like, great, here's like boxes and boxes of tie-dye shirts with flaming skeletons dunking basketballs that say Lithuania in giant like that. Was that their uniform?

SPEAKER_00

Was that what they wore?

SPEAKER_01

They wore them around, and then their actual uniform for games was like a lot more basic. But uh they would travel around with the Grateful Dead and Bill Walton and shit, and Bill Walton and a bunch of these basketball legends are part of this whole thing, and Lithuanian people that were part of, you know, heads of state and stuff like that. Uh, but it's it's a really inspiring and incredible movie. It's a five-star movie to me, and it's one of those movies that reminds you to a degree of the harsh reality that during our lifetime, this guy Sarunus Marshallonis, defected from you know, the USRSSR, Lithuania, that part of the world, went into a grocery store with like Chris Mullen and Tim Hardaway, and if you know basketball guys in the early 90s, Golden State Warriors, they walked into a grocery store and he was like, What do I do? Where do I go? How do I and he had never been in a situation where you're not rationed food or that you can walk into and he apparently broke down and cried because the level of abundance and that he could just do what he wanted with his money was beyond his comprehension. Wow. And it's just a really fucking incredible movie, and it zips right by, has a nice runtime. Similar to another movie we're gonna talk about today. Ben, what have you been watching?

"Orange County" Facts

SPEAKER_03

Uh I just want to briefly talk about uh the movie that everyone's talking about in the world, which is Project Hill Mary. Please don't be too brief. I don't want to give too much away, and I also feel like there is always, I always fear the risk of overhyping something. Um, but I'm just gonna talk about my experience because I feel like I've very rarely had a movie, especially recently, movie experience where I felt like, oh, this is made for me. And that is how I felt watching it and still feel and have gone on deep dives into how it was made and a lot of the practicals, and I'm obsessed. It's it's just something that I think it's a very special, singular thing. Uh I I I loved the book, uh, and I like the movie maybe in a different way because it's an adaptation and I love the adaptation. Um, and the as most people already know, the the the puppetry. And we talked about my my play on Here, the Time Machine, and and the the work that me and Burris and we all put in on that, and we I felt a strong connection to the movie because of that as well. And I know it's weird. I I know who the puppeteer is before the movie like even came out near the puppeteer, and I'm just so excited he's a he's a Broadway guy. He does a lot of puppets on Broadway. Um, and he's also the voice in this. And uh the fact that Phil Lord and Chris, I mean it's basically a two-hander. The movie is basically like Ryan Gosling and this puppet, and uh the fact that they felt comfortable enough to not re-record him with some big name um is incredible to me. And I'm like so like what a for Phil Lord and Chris Miller to draw that line and for producers to be like, okay, that's that's huge. You're basically saying this movie is Ryan Gosling's to carry marketing-wise, and we believe in this actor and puppeteer and and character um is is the way to go, even though he's not someone anyone who will recognize.

SPEAKER_01

It it seems like that doesn't really exist much anymore. Like movie star concept go. And I'm so glad to hear that this seems to have been really successful. Matt, have you seen it?

SPEAKER_00

I have. And uh, yeah, I loved it. I haven't. Oh, really? Oh, it's um I mean you have you have the uh the the choice down here to see it in like 70 millimeter, which I mean I I saw it standard because we don't have a lot of options in Seattle, but the big IMAX theater just closed recently, but um which is a real tragedy. But yeah, it's uh I would if anyone hasn't seen it, highly recommend on the biggest screen you can see it. It's just just phenomenal. It's so good. And like Ben was saying, like the puppetry, like at no point did I feel like I was watching like a one-man show because the puppet feels so alive. And I think part of that is because, like you were saying, the the puppeteer is doing the voice, they're actually doing that live. There's no, there's no, you know, they're not doing this after the fact. It's it's not done in post. This isn't a CG character that he's talking to. It's yeah, it's it's really good.

SPEAKER_03

And like just to real quick so we can move on, but we've talked about this on the program, uh, especially when we uh like our MJ episode, where we talked about the second that you invest in using practicals on set, you're inevitably giving more attention to everything because you're take it's longer, you're giving yourself more challenge, you can't say we're gonna fix that later. Like they're the you're gonna fix it now. And I think that's the we and you use this a lot, the give a shit meter in this movie is really fucking high. Okay. And you can tell Chris Lord and like you can tell they come from animation in such a in such a positive way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, coming from that medium animation and fostering things along in that medium too. So Cloudy with a chance of meatball, special thing, the Spider-Man uh Spider-Verse movie, special thing. So I like the idea too that it sounds like these these are fully fleshed characters in a fully fleshed relationship, like through this like journey or this adventure. This is the thing I'm getting from you two, also is that it's like Spielbergian. There's a there's an adventure to it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, there's and yeah, there's definitely heart to it. Like, yeah, it's uh it's a powerhouse. It's a good one.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I think I'm gonna go this weekend. On that note, we probably do need to talk about the movie.

SPEAKER_00

We should move on.

SPEAKER_01

I guess. All right, well, God, come on! No, wait, wait, wait. Excedrin is uh the ex of speech wait uh Orange County. It's brought to us by Scott Rudin, MTV Paramount. It was from 2002, it's PG 13, it's an hour and 22 minutes. It's a comedy coming of age film. Like there's there's a dramedy aspect too. Budget was$18 million estimated. That's$32.5 million adjusted. Opening weekend was 111, 2002.

SPEAKER_03

15 not a lot of belief throwing it in January.

SPEAKER_01

Throwing it in January is kind of a rough deal. I remember being able to get this that early on in that summer on DVD. This was one of the rare movies I bought before I saw it. I don't think it did either. We're gonna get to that because the opening weekend it did pretty well. 15 million, 27.1 adjusted. Final gross in North America was 41, 74.1 million adjusted. Final gross worldwide was 43.3, that's 78.3 adjusted. So it did pretty deep.

SPEAKER_03

Do you think that's the like the beginning rise of the Jack Black is uh effect? I I do. I agree, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because he wasn't the star of this, but I feel like he did move some tickets.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because this was we're trying to was it post Tenacious D, I think.

SPEAKER_03

Mm-hmm. And he's like the and we've talked like he is so quotable. Like his character throughout this is like this movie in general.

SPEAKER_01

If you don't Ben, I will eat your face. Lithgal just as a s as a fellow five head. If you need to project Project Hail Mary, just call me your John Lithgow. We got you with our five head. Matt tried to do it too. No, Matt. I don't know, Matt. You're not too close. I got a bit of a you're not as close as you think. Well, I could show you guys something. Oh.

SPEAKER_00

For the listeners, Ben was not removing his hat.

SPEAKER_01

There is no hat. Other releases this weekend. They were scared of this movie, though. They dumped it, but they were scared of it. Weekend top five, A Beautiful Mind, the movie. Is it The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, this movie, Oceans 11, and The Royal Ten and Mobile? I mean, that's pretty.

SPEAKER_03

Those are all like Christmas releases, probably.

SPEAKER_00

That's some tough competition.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they were probably around for a while. Yeah, they had been hanging around, absolutely. Other films from 2002, Insomnia, the American Chris Nolan one. Autofocus, American Psycho 2, Collateral Damage. I see you derailed Bubba Hotep. Listen to our episode. With Stimson Sneed. And Rollerball. With Chris Klein from 2002.

SPEAKER_00

Is this the LL Cool J rollerball?

SPEAKER_01

You betcha. All right. Yes. Yes. I was hoping that's what you were. Oh, nobody talks about Finally. The jumpsuits.

SPEAKER_03

Like when suddenly everything was the X, like the same jumpsuits they wear in X-Men. Like everyone in those like sci-fi movies are all just wearing those like really boring looking jumpsuits.

SPEAKER_01

But you know, it would probably be awesome to take something out of like Jack Black's Advil bottle, his A Leave bottle, and watch Rollerball. Watch Rollerball from 2002. The letterbox average of this movie is 3.1. Follow us, won't you? I'm at Run BMC. I'm at Paul Acts Badly. Matt, do you have a letterbox?

SPEAKER_00

I do. I am at a risen ape.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like we follow each other. We do. I believe we do.

SPEAKER_00

Anytime I watch a movie, I'm like, what did Paul think about this first?

SPEAKER_01

That's so nice. I I look at Ben's a lot too.

SPEAKER_00

No. Cross-reference.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like I'm now gonna be pulled into I won't I look at so many other people's either way. Ebert and Roper, they were split on this one. Rotten Tomatoes was a 47%, 61 popcorn. Meta was 48, 6.1 user. Major award wins and nominations, it won an MTV award, which is weird. Go figure.

SPEAKER_03

That's like the meme of Obama giving himself the medal.

SPEAKER_00

The MTV movie won an MTV movie award.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um Breakthrough Mail nomination. Was that for Jack Black? It was for Colin Hanks. Really? So Jack Black wasn't even interesting.

SPEAKER_04

Hmm.

SPEAKER_03

Well, speaking of people, let's talk about him. Director of this movie is a Nepo baby named Jake Kasden.

SPEAKER_00

It's a running of fame, we'll find.

SPEAKER_03

He directed Red One, which I saw in the movie theater and wish I hadn't. Uh Sex Tape. Uh Walk Hard the Dewey Cox Story. I did like that. And also he did all the Jumanji movies, right? He I believe he has. And he wrote Solo, which is ironic because his dad is Lawrence Kasden.

SPEAKER_01

He did work on Solo, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03

He was one of the screenwriters, I think.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Writers Mike White, uh, who did School of Rock after this, which is Chef's Kick. Kicks, Chef Kicks. Chef's kick. Kick that chef. Chef Kick Chefs, The Good Girl, and Despicable Me Four, really?

SPEAKER_01

I thought it was such a weird outlier when AI made this sheet and added that.

SPEAKER_03

And you didn't double cross-check it. No.

SPEAKER_00

Like that sounds right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

FUN Facts

SPEAKER_03

What's funny is Yeah, it wasn't just a line. And we'll talk about this more later. But like watching this after now having watched three seasons of White Lotus, like you can see a trajectory for Mike White in his storytelling.

SPEAKER_00

The juice is flowing, starting to form.

SPEAKER_03

Music, Michael Andrews, Bad Teacher, Bridesmaids, Donnie Darko. Oh, another classic soundtrack. Another and another uh uh time capsule.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um cinematography, Greg Gardner, Men in Black 2, Biker Boys, and Elf, which is great. Producers Scott Rudin, Marcy X, David Gale, Coach Carter, Van Toffer, Election, Scott Aversano, Safe House, and some other people. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Skylar Fisk, the third one. Her character's name was not Kyle, it's Ashley. Yeah. Is that AI?

SPEAKER_00

Is this are we seeing the limit of Oh, that's just directly.

SPEAKER_01

That's that's weird.

SPEAKER_03

I'm just a liar.

SPEAKER_00

We'd we'd that's pot GPT.

SPEAKER_03

What happens if you had a what if you had an AI? Don't be sore, huh? You're like, okay, I'm gonna ask you questions, but I want you to act like you're really stoned.

SPEAKER_00

Wait, what'd you what'd you ask me to do?

SPEAKER_03

Like, give me all of the wrong answers. Colin Hanks. Uh let's go get lit and jump off the roof of my house. Uh Colin Hanks plays Sean! Uh Sean House Bunny Nobody Sean Brundelman. Who are you? Shane Huntsman. Shane Brunder.

SPEAKER_00

Brainder.

SPEAKER_03

Shane Brainerd's transcript. Guys, I got into Stanford.

SPEAKER_01

And it's Fran Cran.

SPEAKER_03

Cabin in the Woods. Uh the House Bunny. Oh.

SPEAKER_01

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03

I dropped my water. Can we pause for one whole second?

SPEAKER_01

Sean. Oh, just let it go, man. Thank you, though. I'll edit it out. Oh no. The water fell down. Oh, it's not that bad. It's just water. You're doing great. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I'm alright.

SPEAKER_03

You're doing awful.

SPEAKER_01

Oh man, I knew it. Yeah, don't let me interrupt you or blah blah. Like, please interrupt me if I go on too long. Blah, blah, blah. That's the that's the sauce. That's the same thing.

SPEAKER_03

The only note I'll give you is think a little harder. But stop overthinking. Stop overthinking. Oh, okay. Yeah, no, that's easy.

SPEAKER_01

Got it! I got it! I got it. Just do Colin Hanks again.

SPEAKER_03

Colin Hanks plays Sean. The house bun. Sean Brundelman. The house bunny. Nobody too untraceable. Jack Black plays Lance, the holiday, Tropic Thunder, the cable guy. They're both in um Chamanji. Uh Shyler Fisk. Oh yeah. What's her character name again?

SPEAKER_01

Ashley.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Shyler Fisk plays Ashley, the best of me, Restless, Snow Day, another Nepo baby. Catherine O'Hara, R.I. R.I.P. R.I.P. One of the best. Cindy, Monster House, Dick Tracy, and Best in Show. Listen to our Best in Show episode with the great Sarah Coates. John Lithgau plays Bud. He's an Interstellar.

SPEAKER_01

I believe so.

SPEAKER_03

I've never seen the movie. You've never seen Interstellar? I've never seen Interstellar. Do we have three hours we could pause? Yeah, hold on, pause.

SPEAKER_01

This is a common reaction to that.

SPEAKER_03

We're back. We just watch Interstellar. So what'd you think?

SPEAKER_01

We had a Conclave. I don't think it went well. Oh, he is.

SPEAKER_03

He's his um he's his uh father-in-law who watches the kids. Okay, we've we got there.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Conclave, which is phenomenal. Uh, and Johnny Skidmarks. What is what AI shit is that?

SPEAKER_01

It's just raising Kane this thing.

SPEAKER_00

This is John Lithgow's Mount Rushmore right here.

SPEAKER_01

These are his We're gonna leave it on a cliffhanger.

SPEAKER_03

Interstellar misspelled, Conclave, and Johnny Skidmarks.

SPEAKER_01

Interstellar.

SPEAKER_03

Interstellar.

SPEAKER_01

Tom Skirt did stars in it with Harry Dean Stanion. Dean Stanyan.

SPEAKER_03

Uh Brett Harrison plays Lonnie, hero mode, deal, cost of living. Kyle Howard plays Arlo, Baby Geniuses. A movie I never want to watch again. House Arrest and Skeletons. RJ Noel plays Chad, Crimson Tide, good movie. Major Pain, good movie. Devil in a Blue Dress. Good movie. Mike White plays Mr. Burke, Zombieland, Gentleman Broncos, and the D train. The amount of these movies I've not heard of. Lily Tomlin, the best, the greatest. Charlotte plays in from 9 to 5, the player 80 for Brady.

Brought To You By

SPEAKER_01

Real quick note about Mike White. Also from Survivor.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's right. He wasn't.

SPEAKER_01

And he's like fucking ripped. He's also like a very I've ran into him randomly a couple few times. He's such a nice guy. Isn't he really sweet?

SPEAKER_03

Did I make up he's back on Survivor for the 50th?

SPEAKER_01

I don't think you are making that up. I think that's accurate. Well, it's time for fun facts like that one, Matt.

SPEAKER_00

Fun facts. Oh, this is always my favorite part. Well, let's see. Well, this is another comedy with a stacked cast. It has such a stacked cast. Where how where did it where'd they all come from? Yeah. So, including in no particular order, Kevin Klein, Jane Adams, Ben Stiller, Harold Ramis, Gary Marshall, Lizzie Kaplan shows up. We just yeah. Leslie Mann, Nat Faxen, and the former host of the short-lived Chevy Chase show. I don't know what his name was.

SPEAKER_03

That show sucked. Was it as bad as the Dana Carvey show?

SPEAKER_01

No, Dana Carvey show is kind of a lot of things. Thank you, Matt.

SPEAKER_03

I know I'm just have you seen the clip of Matt and I are both ready to go.

SPEAKER_01

Whoa.

SPEAKER_03

Have you seen the clip of it? Interstellar was one thing. Have you seen the clip that's like an advertisement for a very emotional episode of Home Improvement? Where he's like, I don't want to die, Dad. He's like, watch this very emotional home improvement episode followed by the Diet Mug Root Beer presentation of the show.

SPEAKER_00

That was right, because every episode was sponsored by a different like Pepsi product. The mug root beer, Danny Car. There's the Diet Mug Root Beer. Yeah, they couldn't even get the full sugar mug root beer to sponsor the show.

SPEAKER_02

You want the boba and the hookah, damn it. You gotta have all three.

SPEAKER_03

It's the triumvirant. The hookah, the sugar, the boba.

SPEAKER_00

Uh in this movie, every copy of Sean's book that you see, the manuscript, is actually a copy of the movie script that they're holding. Do you think they read off of it? Like, I don't know my lines.

SPEAKER_03

I'm just gonna It's weird though, because like a book is not formatted like a screenplay. So if they ever accidentally got it.

Cinephile Round

SPEAKER_00

If they showed it on camera, it was if you watched the Blu-ray, the shelf help episode of Orange County, you would see it. Uh Jack Black and writer Mike Mike White, speaking of, were neighbors as this was being written. And Mike White wrote the part of Lance specifically for Jack Black. Surprisingly, the role of Lance includes very little improvisation. I would not have guessed that. It did feel like a lot of Jack Black just riffing. Notably, though, Lance removing his socks before jumping in the pool was improvised. And that is a great moment.

SPEAKER_03

It's so good. It's so funny.

SPEAKER_00

And then he does a little the little Luigi and Mario 2 jump into the.

SPEAKER_03

Sean! Sean! Oh no, Mexico little buddy.

SPEAKER_00

Justin Long was also considered for the role of Sean. I could see that. I could totally see that. Colin Hanks, who eventually got the role, was 25 years old playing 17.

SPEAKER_03

I will say I think Justin Long maybe at this time, because I think of like Galaxy Quests, I think he may be a little too nerdy for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Because Sean's supposed to be like a surfer kid who became an aspiring writer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And that's the thing. I get the aspiring writer kid with the Colin Hanks thing. I don't as much get the surfer kid. Well, they spike his hair up a little bit. Did you catch that? Maybe I didn't pick that up. I always when he's when his hair is pushed back.

SPEAKER_00

It's pushed back.

SPEAKER_01

He has it pushed back.

SPEAKER_00

He used to be a real piece of shit.

SPEAKER_01

It seems like it.

SPEAKER_03

I just I just think the baby thinks that people can't change.

SPEAKER_00

The baby looked at me. Um and then, oh, this is a this is real movie magic stuff here. None of this movie was filmed in Orange County.

SPEAKER_02

Whoa. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_00

The movie is called Orange County.

SPEAKER_03

Is that allowed? Are they allowed to do that? Just so you know, none of Interstellar filmed in Interstellar Space.

SPEAKER_00

None of it was filmed in Interstellar Space. It was not filmed in Tal City or wherever it was.

SPEAKER_03

Uh Matt, uh, would you like to give a without looking, don't look at it. Would you like to give a shot at your own log line or would you like to read it straight from the You know what?

SPEAKER_00

I'll I'll give it a shot. I feel like I'm zero for two in past experiences.

SPEAKER_03

Well, that's why we give people the option now.

First & Current Experiences

SPEAKER_00

I do appreciate the chance for a redemption. Um I'm gonna give it a shot, okay? Uh you tell me how close I am. I'm gonna say former surfer kid and now aspiring writer suffers a transcript mishap and has to go through great lengths enlisting family and friends to write the wrong to get into the school of his dreams. How close was I? So much better.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because that actually explains the problem of the movie. Like the the the actual log line is a guidance counselor mistakenly sends out the wrong transcripts to Stanford University under the name of an overachieving high schooler.

SPEAKER_01

What? Okay, so now what?

SPEAKER_03

Was that AI?

SPEAKER_00

I feel like that's missing most of the Yours was way, way, way better. Can we replace it with I mean, I I I don't like to talk myself up, but I do think mine was better.

SPEAKER_01

I had to triple check this that that actually was the log line.

SPEAKER_03

Triple like a triumvirant? Like the triumvirant.

SPEAKER_01

Which we have to take a break. We'll be back after this and we will play Chinophile. Another file? Chinophile! Alright.

SPEAKER_03

We're playing with some podcasts. Uh this is fine. But I do think like especially after seeing Project Hill Mary, I'm like, oh, they now have so much clout because of Spider-Verse. That movie also just made how much? Yeah, I mean they now have even more.

SPEAKER_01

Is Project Hill Mary Sony?

SPEAKER_03

No, it's Amazon, MGM.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's right. That's right. I really don't know.

SPEAKER_03

I don't like tech you don't like tech companies making movies?

SPEAKER_01

I was pretty on board for Craig. I know. I was pretty on board for Craig being Bond. I'm not at all for there being a six foot seven Bond. How would you Okay, here's who I'm now on for Bond.

SPEAKER_03

Riz Ahmed.

SPEAKER_01

I know he's campaigning for it really hard. I like him. I I I don't doubt his abilities. I haven't seen Sound of Metal. I would be excited to see what he does with it, because he is a talented actor, there's no question. And that's the thing that trumps ever triumvirance.

SPEAKER_03

Let's just use triumvirence everything.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, sure. But like I still want Dan Stevens.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, sure. Who's Dan Stevens?

SPEAKER_01

I would have liked a younger Dan Stevens, but yeah. I think he could still Do three movies or so without a problem.

SPEAKER_03

Did you say who's Dan Stevens? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Have you seen Abigail?

SPEAKER_03

He's seen all the Godzilla movies. He's the like Godzilla, he's the vet for King for Kong. He's like the British vet in the Hawaiian shirt. In the newest Adam Wingard one? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. He's in a movie called The Guest. Did you watch Downton Abigail?

SPEAKER_03

We watched Abigail, the like vampire girl. He's in that. He's one of the assassins. Who ends up becoming the vampire at the end, and they spoilers.

SPEAKER_01

He's really good.

SPEAKER_03

Remember, he becomes like the main bad guy at the end. And that movie was surprisingly good.

SPEAKER_01

I really liked it.

SPEAKER_03

And that's the same people who did Ready or Not, right? I believe so. And they're doing the next Brace Razor Mummy.

SPEAKER_00

Have you seen Ready or Not too?

SPEAKER_03

I have not yet. Same. I would like to. I hear it's not as good as the first one.

SPEAKER_01

Same.

SPEAKER_03

Um the first one to me was also a movie that surprised me and how much I enjoyed it. And I'm yeah, I'd be concerned with the sequel of them being like, let's give, let's lean harder into that. And you're like, well, that's less surprising. But we'll I'll see it.

SPEAKER_01

Uh hey everyone. We're back. The Triumvirant has reassembled, reconvened.

SPEAKER_03

I think that's right.

SPEAKER_01

Any is any and all are fine. But you're you're in a good place. Everyone, we're gonna play Cinephile. Can I explain it? Please. I get so excited because I don't get to do it very much. We're gonna play a round of Cinephile. I'm going to extend some cards to Matt. Matt is gonna take a card that'll have a picture, a depiction of an actor, that actor's name, a movie they've been in. That's Matt's freebie. It's then going to go to Ben. He'll say the name of a movie that person was in, then me. The first person who cannot will explain their first experience briefly with this movie and their current experience briefly with this movie. You know, briefly-ish. We don't get to see each other a lot. We see each other.

SPEAKER_03

Brevity is the soul of titters.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I might as well just start. What? I might as well just start talking about my first experience because I have the worst track record with this. It's like, I feel like I could play this game normally, but you put a microphone in front of me and it's like, has Robert De Niro been in any other movies? I can't think of anything other than Joker. I just hide and seek. That was it. Alright, let's see how this goes. Alright, we got Robert De Niro.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Oh man. We got Jake Gyllenhaal. Okay. We got Jake Gyllenhaal, and the freebie is Nightcrawler.

SPEAKER_03

I'm gonna go Donnie Darko.

SPEAKER_02

We've done this. Source code.

SPEAKER_03

Uh Zodiac.

SPEAKER_00

Was he in that?

SPEAKER_01

He was. Uh I'm gonna say enemy. Spider-Man No Way Home.

SPEAKER_00

Um I'm going to go um. Yeah, no. I could name you 30 Jake Jill and Hall movies outside of the context of this, but I just I my brain draws a blank.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Didn't you see The Bride very recently?

SPEAKER_00

I saw The Bride very recently. I saw the bride like two weeks ago. Yeah. Directed by his sister, and he's in that. Yeah. I could have. I'm just telling you, man. I don't know what happens to my brain when it comes to this game. It's pressure. It happens to all of us.

SPEAKER_01

We did draw this not that long ago, as Ben had said, and I said spider when I was thinking of enemy. Yeah. He said spider. And I took a second, I went, Do you mean enemy? Nope.

SPEAKER_00

No, I meant spider.

SPEAKER_01

Did any of us say Donnie Darko?

SPEAKER_00

He said Donnie Darko. Okay, yeah. Which was my ace in the hole when I saw this. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna say Donnie Darko. I'm gonna keep this going several rounds. And then he said it. I'm like, ah man.

SPEAKER_03

I had a couple more in the in the back chamber, but let's October Sky was my last one. I had nothing else.

SPEAKER_00

I had uh Jarhead. Yeah. And uh He's been in so many movies. I don't know why I just can't Matthew.

SPEAKER_03

Tell us about Orange County.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know, I I was trying, I we mentioned this yesterday as we rewatched this. Uh was this the first movie you and I saw together in theaters?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I can't remember that far back.

SPEAKER_00

I can't like there's that's that's pretty deep, but I think this, if not the first, this is one of the first movies you and I saw together in theaters.

SPEAKER_03

It's very possible, yeah. We're going deep into the annals though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Because we had seen Sarah Saving Silverman, I think, on VHS. Another Jack Black classic. Another Jack Black classic, and we're like, oh, you know, we we gotta go see this one. And there was a huge marketing blitz at the time. That's what I remember is MTV. I would watch a lot of MTV because I was a cool kid. I watched music videos.

SPEAKER_03

I watched cribs. You know someone's cool when they have a cool cool.

SPEAKER_01

That's how you know they're cool. Yeah. That's I watched rock and jock.

SPEAKER_00

I did. I watched the real world. I did watch TRL every day. That was like a thing for me.

SPEAKER_01

Sure. But um not to be corn.

SPEAKER_00

But there was a huge marketing blitz for it, and I remember. Um, and I remember like that Foo Fighter song that's on the soundtrack, the one that was everywhere at the time. And yeah, I remember I remember seeing the movie in theaters, and I remember this was another one, much like we talked about on the like the Big Lobos uh Big Lebowski episode, where after you and I saw this, this kind of became our vocabulary, the quotes in this movie for just months at his maybe our whole sophomore year of high school. Yeah. Just pretty much just quoting this movie at each other across like a crowded lunch cafeteria.

SPEAKER_03

And it wasn't just us. I feel like it was No, it's like everybody. It was like huge in our like like it just was huge in our generation.

SPEAKER_00

People were just it was like a whole lexicon sprang forth for our graduating class in this movie. It was which is another thing. Like, do kids have that experience now? You want me to get naked and start the revolution? Start the revolution? I'll take that it's a maybe.

SPEAKER_01

I heard your cousin's friends with Britney Spears.

SPEAKER_00

Uh best friends.

SPEAKER_01

So I love the foley and the audio stings through this movie. It's so gorgeous.

SPEAKER_03

I knew you were a big butterfly fan.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, which is good because they play it not once twice, but thrice the triumvirant of butterfly in this movie. But um, yeah, I just remember I remember seeing it in theaters and I remember quoting it endlessly. I remember laughing nonstop. Um and yeah, I I I So you would have given it how many? I'd say I mean five. At the time, I think I would have given it like four surfboards out of five surfboards.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Now we just rewatched this. We rented this movie from Be Kind Video.

SPEAKER_00

Beekind video.

SPEAKER_03

Not a sponsor. Nice, okay.

SPEAKER_00

But a great place to go. Anytime I'm in Burbank, California. Be kind video.

SPEAKER_03

Did they have a Blu-ray? They unfortunately did not. That's what we are looking for.

SPEAKER_00

Which I would love to watch it on Blu-ray. Um, but yeah, re-watched it. And um I I expected it to be a time capsule, and it was. We talked about that. It's very of its time in some ways, especially the three butterfly uh sequences, but and the clothes and everything, you know, 2000s was a weird time for all of us. But I I was surprised by how well the writing holds up. And of course we know Mike White now. Yeah. You know, White Lotus and everything. But, you know, there's a real heart to it. There's a real, you know, the themes of like you're, you know, breaking not feeling like you don't fit in your hometown, but realizing it's where, you know, it's what made you. Um I do you do you do half star? Is this a half-star kind of pod?

SPEAKER_03

You can you can do more than a half star. You can do the uh quarter star.

SPEAKER_00

We can get fractional. Well, I'm I'm not gonna go crazy. Oh, me personally.

SPEAKER_03

Just quarter. You can do quarter.

SPEAKER_00

Is this like a third timer kind of thing like you've unlocked?

SPEAKER_03

It's an SNL third time. You know, especially. Do I get a jacket? We let guests do uh it's our liberty rule. You can do quarter uh rating system. You don't get a smoking jacket, but you can smoke. Maybe my fifth time.

SPEAKER_00

That's what opens up on the third time. Well, that's fair. I mean that's that's why I brought the hookah filled with boba tea.

SPEAKER_03

Smoker's welcome. Yeah. What if we were just doing this whole podcast while smoking hookah?

SPEAKER_00

Just a whole time. Just you hear the bubbling of the hook. Um But yeah, I mean, just like the writing, like every I would and the cast, I mean, some of the performances, especially, like some amaz just out of nowhere, just amazing Kevin Klein just and John Lithgow, eat your face. You know, just so good. And I think I would give it three and I'm I'm tearing three and a half or four big old hats that go pew.

SPEAKER_01

Let's say three point seven five. You want to go to the quarterback.

SPEAKER_00

If I've earned that kind of fractional increment, then I'm gonna say three point seven five big old hats that go bewr.

SPEAKER_01

Great. That delivery is so gorgeous. And he's never looking at the hand.

SPEAKER_03

When you watch that, where you're like, is this what it feels like to drive with me?

SPEAKER_00

But with the drip into visine in his eyes and he's never looking at the road. He never once looks at the road.

SPEAKER_01

He's just like a rat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Loser or hand.

SPEAKER_01

As much as he vamps between loser and talk to the hand, you just go forever.

SPEAKER_03

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00

And they're just like, he's just describing like a store on like a just like any like outlet mall, big dog like shirt, like loser. Like loser. Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, like the shops that are open to the I have ideas.

SPEAKER_03

Uh I you know, I was I I don't have a better like I feel like everything Matt said is the same for me, is like that's remember I the last time I remember watching this movie was in your dad's apartment in Samamish, Washington in whatever time early 2000s that was. That was the last time I remember ever watching this movie.

SPEAKER_00

Because we did watch it on DVD, I think a bunch. Yeah. I don't know if we owned it and Stimson stole that one as well, but I remember that. It's possible.

SPEAKER_03

Um I stole this shirt from Frank. Uh but I I I've always spoken highly of this movie, and uh I, you know, seen the trajectory of Mike White go to school of rock, which is so great. And then uh I love White Lotus, and and I think it's so cool to like track this person's uh career and and uh No Despicable E4 mention though. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen that one either. It's a good time. It's on my bucket list.

SPEAKER_00

Better be. Once you cross that one off, you're good to go.

SPEAKER_01

The white, the Mike White cinema with with having only seen the first one, I guarantee you the fourth one's the best. Never seen it.

SPEAKER_00

Does minions because there's a minion standalone, right? Does that count? Yeah, that's a different thing, right?

SPEAKER_01

That's a whole other That's the little ba all the little yellow guys.

SPEAKER_03

Now, are they gonna be in Avengers Doomsday? Do I need to see Despicable Me 4 to understand?

SPEAKER_01

How many crossovers, how many properties can we fit in here?

SPEAKER_03

But I so I I was back then, I think uh because of how much this movie like meant to me, and I think again, I was telling Jess Jess hasn't seen it, but I was like, oh, I think it's gonna have very like um like it's gonna be very it spoke to me, right? It's very like young, white book. 15-year-old suburban centric.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you kind of had this trajectory where you were an artsy sort and the suburban area that wanted to.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, sure. But I mean just you know what I mean. Like that's and so I was like, so back then I would have given it four and a half. It would it it meant it meant a lot to me. Um and I was a little concerned going into watching this because I was like, am I gonna feel sort of the way that I feel now when I when I recent were uh fairly recently like revisited Garden State, where I was like, ooh, is this like too much of like I main character syndrome?

SPEAKER_00

Googe gay Mary sued your way in.

SPEAKER_03

And I was actually pleasantly surprised where I felt like the movie gives a lot of agency to the female characters, and that it's not all woe is me, pity me, I'm so sad even though I'm a rich white kid. Uh and and I feel like where the movie comes to is is is, you know, we were saying, like spoilers, we were saying we're like, wouldn't they want him to go to Stanford for like so many reasons? For his family and friends not to want him to do, you know, just like as a career uh trajectory. But you know, regardless of it.

SPEAKER_01

They're very selfish people, right? Yeah. But like, and they I think they only think in the now.

Start The Movie

SPEAKER_03

I don't know. Uh but I was pleasantly surprised. I think that the writing, like Matt was saying, thematically, everything ties together and like they're all connected in in nothing feels out of place, even like the B plots feel meaningful to the to the story. Um, so I'm sitting currently uh I'm sitting at four butterflies. Come come come my lady, you must pa honey, baby. Come my lady, come, come my lady. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00

Gotta do the whole dance that they do.

SPEAKER_01

Get the finger going.

SPEAKER_03

The choreographed dance that everyone knows in this movie except for Sean Brumder.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like this movie now, this is 42 years after I got out of high school. 42 movie comes out.

SPEAKER_00

42 is also the answer to life. The universe and everything.

SPEAKER_01

Don't forget to ring a towel. There is something about this movie that I think captures the youth experience, especially when you're just like bombarded with whatever level of like culture like where butterfly is just like I can't escape it. Like the high school, the college, anywhere I go. Expectation that was real outside pressure. And anywhere I go, people are the same. Whether I leave home or not, people are the same. And I will say too, in terms of excellence in casting, because my my one thing is like, I don't know if you can get a perfect Sean Brumder. Like I wasn't acting at this point, and I have aged out of it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you were yeah, this is 42 years after.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. So I was in my 60s, but but only my 60s at that point. But you know, Colin Hanks does an admirable job, but that's a really difficult part. And Jack Black is amazing, Catherine O'Hare is amazing. Kevin Klein playing Marcus Skinner, instant respect. Oh, yeah, yeah. As a young person watching movies and my family giving their input on things, this guy's one of the really good ones, and I totally agree with that still to this day. I just re-watched In N Out too long ago.

SPEAKER_04

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Still mostly holds up, like pretty fucking solid movie. Way to go, Frank Oz. So I saw this movie right after it came out on DVD, loved it, bought it. I think I bought it without seeing it first, which was very rare for me. I think I've only done that a handful of times in life. Yeah, just based on like all these people being involved in what some people I think were saying, and just loved it. Got it on Blu-ray at a point. I don't know how many times I watched this in the first eight years or so was available. And it was like four and a half piss cups for me. Like where there's just a couple things, there's a uh night day for night, night for where there's surf, and it's like pretty rough.

SPEAKER_00

Ben pointed that out when we're watching it.

SPEAKER_01

That's pretty rough. A lot of the CG, like the CG fire and stuff, is like good. Like a lot of the little touches of CG work really well in the waves, yeah. And this is arguably one of the more grounded movies we've ever done. That's the big thing that I walk away from with this, where I'm like, man, this feels so real, the way that people are just like irrational, or how like trying to control people, and how that's just really an illusion. Just like the big thing for him is just like, take the ride, man. You've got plenty, as Kevin Klein says, to write about.

SPEAKER_00

That's the grist for the mill. Yeah, that's everything right now.

SPEAKER_01

Also Yeah, dude. Way to put it. It's also just it's shot so well outside of the day for night thing. I love some of the intentional, like canted shots and dollies and Dutches, and yeah, the Dutch.

SPEAKER_00

We were we were like uh marveling at the Dutches or something like that.

SPEAKER_01

It's lit beautifully. I love the soundtrack. I'm still at four and a half piss cups. I think this movie and the quotability, I've been trying to not pile on too much with that because I could do that too. Oh, please. But I still say like I was playing basketball too not not too long ago, and you're supposed to say, I'm playing 21, you're supposed to say everybody's score before you shoot a free throw, and you know, I'm like uh six seven. Oh, that is my height, that is me, like I still Joe. I I run from the flames.

SPEAKER_00

Like just took my pants off. I run fast.

SPEAKER_01

You love him, he loves you. Now get in the Bronco! When he's doing like a Cyrano de Bergerac moment at that time, yeah, it's so great that like this character that like has been like a fuck up the entire that's like his redemption moment.

SPEAKER_00

And it's so beautiful. Or when he's doing legend, or when he oh no, yeah, when he's telling him tell her you're sorry.

SPEAKER_01

Like just admit that you were wrong, be the bigger person, and like let's fucking go.

SPEAKER_03

I think that like again speaks to where I was like, oh, this movie's actually more emotionally mature than I remember. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, there were a lot of kind of throwaway teen comedies around that time, and I feel like this sort of got lumped into it. And I think maybe MTV kind of wanted it to, but I think it does have that sort of it does have a more grounded kind of.

SPEAKER_03

It's way more grounded, you're right, it's way more grounded and emotionally mature than almost most of the teen comedies that came out in that time frame. For sure.

SPEAKER_01

Matt had mentioned something off mic of seeing like Batman and Robin and being like, Well, I'm a grown-up now, fuck this. Like, watch my whimsy that movie, this movie. I had teachers that were similar to like, yes, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chuck O Lot, Demolition Man, White World, Water World.

SPEAKER_03

Listen to our water world.

SPEAKER_01

Like, sometimes, depending on the room, and never is this really the case, but sometimes you're like, why am I smarter than this adulterer at that time? And those people still exist. So there's a level of validation that I feel like I got from this movie of like these are all kind of per like Tanya is a personality that exists. Oh, yeah. Skylar Ashley, all I've known a few Jack Black.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like Ta Tanya I feel like Tanya were so many people we went to high school with.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we went to school with a lot of Tanyas. I mean, and we had a lot of those teachers, and we had a lot of yeah, yeah. I do I do think just yeah, this that feeling of not or feeling like you don't really belong in your surroundings, or feeling like correct, it's very awkward.

SPEAKER_01

And I almost did this as fingers, because it never if I have a breath in my body will you get into Stanford. Watch your fingers. Watch your fingers. Masterful timing. Masterful. We uh so good.

SPEAKER_00

Is that Gary Marshall? Did we figure out that's who that was?

SPEAKER_01

And last thing I'll say, yeah, I watched this on Pluto, way too many commercials, presentation was very good.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Pluto. Um, all right, four and a half, four, and a three and a half.

SPEAKER_00

Oh three and a three point seven.

SPEAKER_03

Three point seven five. We have a lot to talk about. Let's get to starting the movie. Let's start that movie.

SPEAKER_01

A movie with narration that you like. And I like I the there's so much about Colin Hanks in this movie that works. There's some things that again, like I was saying, Matt, his hair was spiked, you know, and it's just like, yeah. Clearly, he's a surfer kid because his hair is.

SPEAKER_03

We were saying though he does this he does a similar, like he freaks out well like his father.

SPEAKER_00

He has the exact second gear as Tom Hanks when he hits that neurotic gear. Lance, there's no crying in baseball. Yeah, which is exactly like because you're a moron.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he That's what you do after high school. He does.

SPEAKER_01

He has that same He has a relatability to it. Like, I feel like at the times that I was uh allowed to, or when I could keep my shit together and do it at a higher level, that was how I crashed out at that age.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. But we see him discover this book on the beach, uh Straitjacket, and uh it's uh he's telling the story, right? He's writing this letter um about how it like changed his life and he read to the author 50 times. Yeah, 50 times in a summer. Um, and it like changed and it just he decided that he put the hair down.

SPEAKER_01

It took the hair from up to a really bad bowl cut um of itself. Dude, the haircuts in this movie, I and I like that they are kind of like real to life. I mean the guy who's had a lot of bad fucking haircuts.

SPEAKER_03

The 2000s were a horrible time for fashion.

SPEAKER_00

It's oh yeah. It's really good we didn't have ample like digital cameras at the time. Because like my bleach tips and spiky, and yeah, that would have been a terrible thing to read. I do remember your quicksilver visor.

SPEAKER_01

Buddy. I'm gonna just let you guys go. You two sound like something I would have aspired to, so I'm just let y'all go. Uh we would have fit in nicely in the background in this movie.

SPEAKER_00

We would have been good background characters in this movie. Yeah, we would have been in that in the quad where the the weird architecture of that school and they filmed us at.

SPEAKER_03

Is that a library or a city of the city? It's in Pomona.

SPEAKER_01

They do a really oh wow. Not if it was in Orange County. They do a really good job of uh getting it to feel like the school you can.

SPEAKER_03

It's a real it's a real high school in Pomona.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, is it? Okay. That was a good one.

SPEAKER_00

It's been in other movies, I think.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, probably, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean for sure it's like a I mean maybe it was in demolition, man.

SPEAKER_03

Who knows?

SPEAKER_01

Right, but like what what you're saying, Matt, makes sense where it's like it it has something about it that's so specific but generic. Yeah. Like, I guess is like we could name almost any movie that takes place in the general SoCal area and it makes sense.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it but it it yeah, it doesn't yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Where did they film Power Rangers? That had a pretty unique look in high school, right?

SPEAKER_01

E X E Japan. Oh most of it was yeah, footage that was shot in Japan.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know what the live But no, like the live, you know, the American kids in California. Well, they were definitely Southern California. Yeah, it was Southern California. Yeah, you can tell.

SPEAKER_03

Southern California is so recognizable when you see those hills in the background and you're like, well, that's only one place that looks like not France.

SPEAKER_01

When you when you watch Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street and it's supposed to be in like Ohio or like Illinois, and it's like, oh shit, Pasadena. It's so definable.

SPEAKER_00

I think there's a voodoo donuts in the background.

SPEAKER_03

It seems like they probably shot because when we see his house life, it feels like this is maybe uh anywhere suburbs Southern California, obviously not Orange County, but like it could be anywhere.

SPEAKER_01

Uh it all I think to its strength. I think it's I think that's what the movie's trying to do is just be like, hey, everybody. Everybody's families are difficult. Everybody's families are weird. Every place is kind of like the other place. It's not about that. Your trajectory is about you.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and it's I mean, and his thing is he thinks he needs to escape the people around him. Right. Because he feels like they are pulling him down. And I think thematically the movie ends up going to actually they're they're pushing you up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. They're giving him material and and context. Lonnie passing away, clearly, also, this was part of the process of him losing one of his best friends.

SPEAKER_03

I miss Lonnie too.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Hey, me too. Righteous. Hey, me too. Well, and that that moment has one of the stingers of the wee wee wee wee. And it does these stingers, like with Straight Jacket of Kevin Klein's voice, like he has that such specific read me. They use that folio, those audio stings so well.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. The the funeral for Lonnie though, everyone they're all wearing like beach attire. It that is black. But yeah, black. Girls have bikinis, black bikinis.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's how I assume that goes when a surfer dies, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was like very casual. It was very uh when when did the television show The OCD?

SPEAKER_00

See, we were talking about this. This was right after this. It's right after this. And Colin Hanks was in that as well.

SPEAKER_01

This had a lot of I didn't know that. This had must have had a lot of influence. Also, we're thinking Does anybody else get the feeling that the book is the movie is the movie is the book is the book is the movie?

SPEAKER_00

Like you mean straight jacket? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The book is because it I mean it contains the movie, right? But I think like the part of the narration is like are are we experiencing the adaptation of the book as we're watching the movie? Interesting.

SPEAKER_03

I hadn't thought about that. But it is interesting to consider because like it's I think it's we don't get an idea of what straight jacket's about other than it being a coming of age story. And and capturing what it means to be a high schooler.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and his family, like the characters. Like it's Kevin Klein mentions That's just so sad. Yeah, the characters more than anything else. And that's what we experienced.

SPEAKER_03

Matt had a great second title for this movie, which is Once We Meet His Mom, what's what would be a good title for this movie?

SPEAKER_00

Well, um Well, I mean, and this is kind of like jumping to the end, but uh it everything kind of ends in this neat neatly tied boat, and then if you remember the character where uh Catherine O'Hara's husband, what about Bob?

SPEAKER_03

What about Hey everybody?

SPEAKER_01

Welcome back. Oh, and his head gets hit, and what you're doing to that poor old man.

SPEAKER_00

Are you just banging on the door like Frankenstein? Pills! Pills!

SPEAKER_03

Mom, is Bob is Bob okay? Bob's bleeding. Did you give Bob his pills? You gotta give Bob his pills! Pills!

SPEAKER_01

Pills! Pills, pills, pills, anyone that's seen wonder shows in with the Mike White, Jack Black, Ashley, all these people that are being introduced. And like you guys are saying, like, Bob, like, what about Bob? What about all these characters? Like, we kind of give a shit. Like, we're we're not really worried about like Kip or whatever, but it's like there when Harold Ramis is getting taken away, I'm like, I hope he ends up alright. Like, he got involuntarily the way he looks when he was coming down on it. RIP to a legend, he's so good. Yeah, he's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_00

Grinding his teeth.

SPEAKER_01

And and does this feel 2002 to you guys? It cuts to the black. Oh, it's the white courier font. Yeah, cake is playing.

SPEAKER_00

The credit, we were just the moment the credits come up, we're like, there's that time capsule.

SPEAKER_03

Right. Time bound. So I'm not alone here. It's like literally I made for my senior year, I made a senior, I made a movie for my senior project in high school. And I feel like I used a very similar font. I think you did black, and I used a Sublime song, which, you know, but still like Early in the month. Very 2000, like it just felt this feels iconic for this time period.

SPEAKER_01

I agree. I mean the soundtrack and the artists involved, or what this was at the time where I was like, well, I guess I'm supposed to listen to the Beach Boys to understand some of this, and some of this Brian Wilson stuff comes up in this movie, and it just fits so well coming of age California situation, and the mom that's so mad about the son leaving home that doesn't have to.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, and and uh Catherine O'Hara once again is just a babe, an amazing. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01

I she's so hot in this movie. What is it? Just something about her, like, I don't fucking care. Like, level is very attractive. And her drunk.

SPEAKER_00

I can fix her.

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_03

Her like drunkenness is so funny. But getting her head or something. The way she talks to the Lupe? To Lupe. You did. You did.

SPEAKER_00

You took it.

SPEAKER_01

You took my palm pilot.

SPEAKER_00

You did. Palm pilot.

SPEAKER_01

There's another very 2002 reference.

SPEAKER_00

Oh immediately obsolete technology.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh but Colin Hanks is so like respectful and nice to Lupe, like they're friends.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and he speaks Spanish, speaks a some level of Spanish, and yeah, and he's like, I'm doubling your salary. Like, apparently he has this authority. I mean, it's Bob's money, so he's also like he's enriching the world around him, it seems. So like he's vital.

SPEAKER_03

Except for when he has his college he's told He becomes very selfish. But when he's told you just apply to Stanford, these are really good numbers. And then when he goes, when he doesn't get into like the whole thing is like this, that's what the movie is like. He's like, he needs to get into Stanford, that's what he wants to do, that's where his favorite author writes or teaches, and like gotta get out of this place. And the whole the whole phone call to his brother. Oh my god. Like Lance, Lance, did the mail come? What? The mail? Sean, Sean, pick up the phone. No, I'm Sean. I'm Sean. Out. Can you just go out? And the way that Jack Black's like, all right, but you owe me one, buddy. You owe me a buddy.

SPEAKER_01

He stumbles back and knocks over a photo and is like, do I have to turn on your computer?

SPEAKER_00

No, just go outside.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. And does anybody notice when they're talking about Shakespeare that the cursive on the wall behind Mike White is absolutely horrible? It's not cursive. It's like a seven-year-old Ronus. And some of it's like improper.

SPEAKER_00

It's very cursive trying to write curses.

SPEAKER_03

But he finds out he gets home and he gets the mail and he I didn't get in.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't get in.

SPEAKER_00

He goes into the second Hank's gear there.

SPEAKER_01

Right. I didn't get in. I want to mention too, there's this cut when he finds out the mail's there and he's gonna run home and he drops in like fucking Dark Man style, but like there's a swish noise and a cut, and it's like there's a level of style there that you can see that this guy's gonna be on a trajectory as a directory.

SPEAKER_00

Some of that has been people that juice flowing.

SPEAKER_01

That will do something like Jumanji.

SPEAKER_00

Sure, like more adventure. Yeah, like some the pedigree of someone who created Indiana Jones or directed Indiana Jones.

SPEAKER_01

Well, he didn't direct it.

SPEAKER_00

Wrote or wrote Indiana Jones.

SPEAKER_03

Don't don't disrespect it.

SPEAKER_00

I shouldn't be talking about Indiana Jones with Ben here.

SPEAKER_01

So Bob gets a horrible head injury from like what seemed to be a pretty thick vase thing breaking on his head. It's a very old dude.

SPEAKER_03

Do you think Bob and Darkman sound similarly? You do Dark Man, I'll do Bob. Ready? One, two, three.

SPEAKER_01

Did they just use the Dark Man audio for Bob? PILLS!

unknown

PILL!

SPEAKER_01

Get the fucking elephant! Katherine O'Hara finds out that you know her son didn't get into Stanford and she is thrilled about it and like cannot really hide it.

SPEAKER_03

I gotta get out of here. And he's just I gotta get out of Orange County. I gotta get out of Orange County, and he's just freaking out. His two burnout friends, like, and like everything just makes him feel like he is better than this. And even his girlfriend, who is great. I think she's great. Oh, dude, she's so good to him. Um and she looks so much like her mother.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah. Sissy space is her mother, by the way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

This this whole movie is brought to you by Nepo Babies. Nepo Babies, a foot in the door, and so much more.

SPEAKER_03

But he I like that he then has to like he he then is now going to figure out what happened and going to uh Lily Tomlin and just being like Oh my god, the whole like that's not my numbers. That's not me. That's Shane Brum that's Shane Bram or whatever. Brainerd.

SPEAKER_00

She's like and the look on her face, like she does I like how she doesn't like there's no like big like notice. She's like, oh, she just kind of her eyes subtly shift. She's great, she's so good.

SPEAKER_01

Similar to what Chuck Norris says about Denzel Washington, her eyebrows don't move.

SPEAKER_00

She's yeah, her eyes don't put the tape over the eyebrows.

SPEAKER_03

But when you see her like inside her head, like this is really bad.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, she does a fantastic job, and also the physicality in that moment, when he grabs her, fucking yeah, kick him. And when she does that, it's totally justified. Turn red. And then we're running out screaming.

SPEAKER_03

And then we get our first butterfly, which I'm so glad we get it.

Meet Me Halfway (through the movie)

SPEAKER_00

The first butterfly of the movie, which makes sense because these cheerleaders are cheerleaders. They're doing a choreographed dance.

SPEAKER_01

When true or false, there were songs in life there may still be that you feel like you cannot escape 100%.

SPEAKER_00

That song. It was that exact time. That's why it's so at the time, because like at school dances, which I went to, I went to all the school dances. I was a cool guy.

SPEAKER_01

We've established this with Megan Brainerd.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But but that song was inescapable at the time.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. And we were saying it's just a riff, it's a sampled red-hot chili pepper side. Well, yes.

SPEAKER_00

The big hook of that song is that guitar, which is just a sample of a red-hot chili pepper song.

SPEAKER_03

Because the the rap itself is pretty bad.

SPEAKER_00

There's not a lot going on there.

SPEAKER_01

Pretty bad? Matt, Matt, do you think it's pretty bad?

SPEAKER_00

I I I'd upgrade it to fairly bad. I'm not a wreck.

SPEAKER_01

It's fucking terrible.

SPEAKER_00

It does, there is the line nipple pierce in the first like stanza, which is a bold move, Cotton.

SPEAKER_01

Now, what kind of dog is this? Do you think these dogs know their special rule? Do you think they do the British voice right now? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Do you think if we put a little uh cigarette in his mouth, put a little pipe a little pipe and a little how you can solve crimes? Uh yeah, I don't know. Uh moving on. Um now we meet sh the dad. Yeah, so he has to go home to his very rich father and Leslie Mann, his hot younger uh wife. Have you been working out? You've been working out. You're really filled out. Who's getting it on with the gardener?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, what the flip fucking his leaf is You come in with uh an insane offer, a new gymnasium. I come in with a low ball offer, a new medicine bowl. I'm only his much younger brother, half brother.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah, and his pooty.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my god and he delivers the news to his father, Dad, John Lithgow, I want to be a writer. A writer?

SPEAKER_03

You're not oppressed, you're not gay. Dad writers are gay. Well, they're all poor, I'll tell you that. Which is a great line.

SPEAKER_01

John Grisham, Stephen King. Three writers and the history of Letter. John Lithgow is so good. He's so good. He's absolutely incredible. If you haven't seen Listener or the two of you, if you can stand like a wacky action movie, we just did Demolition Man recently. John Lithgow in Cliffhanger is something really special. He's so good in that movie. So Skylar Fisk Ashley rescues this insane dog that like tries to bite her face off and rips up what was my dream car at that time. That was your the I wanted a Nissanic Sterrow badly. I had a first aid kit in it. It comes stock with a first aid kit. It came stock with a first aid kit.

SPEAKER_00

Because it's meant to be like an outdoorsy car.

SPEAKER_01

It claimed to be.

SPEAKER_03

I do I actually really like Lance's Bronco. Oh, dude, it's so sweet. Yeah. It's so sweet. If only it were white.

SPEAKER_00

It can get from Orange County to Stanford in three hours.

SPEAKER_03

When that happened and Matt was like, is that possible? I was like, not in the city. No, that's not possible.

SPEAKER_00

Not in a plane is that possible.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you'd have to be.

SPEAKER_00

Not in a Shinkansen.

SPEAKER_01

You'd have to be going like 144 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_03

I don't even think in that. I think because that's like it takes you like six or seven. It takes you like six hours to get up there.

SPEAKER_01

You said or. Right. Well, and I'm mad, I'm a little disappointed, as John Lithgow is when Colin Hanks says, Dad, I don't care about making money. And John Lithgau is so mad. Another great actor.

SPEAKER_00

You have a burst blood vessel in my brain.

SPEAKER_03

And you know what's funny is like that is that's exactly, I feel like, my life choice. Which my dad was very supportive of.

SPEAKER_00

Your dad was John Lithgow.

SPEAKER_03

But no, my dad was supportive of, right? Like my dad let me go to theater school. But like, you know, when you make that choice, you're like, I'm basically making the choice that I don't care about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I'm throwing away any possible financial gain.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, his dad comes around. That's the beautiful thing, is like clearly Sean probably hasn't really like asserted himself and says, like, Dad, all this making money shit and all this stuff that you say is for me. It's always been for you. Like, those are the moments that Colin Hanks really shines when he kind of throws that shit away. He's really great.

SPEAKER_03

You realize that this inciting incident of him not giving in a Stanford is the thing that changes everyone's lives for the better.

SPEAKER_01

It does. And he doesn't realize his own personal value. He doesn't believe in it. Everybody around him sees it, and he doesn't see it from them, and they have to feel like they're gonna lose him. It's all about him seeing the love of for himself and inside of himself.

SPEAKER_03

It's like they're incredible. They're concerned for him, and they're both like they're have these partners who they're so distant from uh and have no connection with. She doesn't play tennis. She's not like you. Yeah, she's not a good mother.

SPEAKER_01

She's not a good mother. She doesn't play tennis. I want to say too, I think it's a really beautiful moment when Skylar Fisk admits to him, like, I prayed that you would get into Stanford and now I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_00

Why would you know it's it's yeah, that's her boyfriend. They were gonna go, they could go to school together and keep it, but he he's so desperate to leave, that's gonna hurt her.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and then she says, like, you've completely had blinders on. That would be the end of us. Like, I want to be with this means something to me. You're special to me. Like the this whole thing is special, and that Tanya is the linchpin, apparently, to help him get into Stanford, and the girlfriend are her and her like best friends, and the girlfriend brings up her grandpa, the fucking janitor, too, the janitor hookup, and it does the other great little audio sting there.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Tanya is just getting it on with everybody. Uh I miss long.

SPEAKER_00

The young ch the how old was that kid? Like, that didn't seem okay. She's in high school too.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you think she's supposed to be like 18. Like, that's the that's one of the things about this movie, is like it's kind of a horny movie, but compared to like, I don't know, Animal House or Porkies, is it that horny? Oh yeah. No.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, that's the thing that I appreciated about it actually. It was that it didn't feel uh, you know, like like uh uh American pie. It didn't feel like it didn't go pornographic at all. Which I'm not saying there's you can always watch a little bit of pornitwork.

SPEAKER_00

You should be able to watch a little pornitwork.

SPEAKER_03

But you know, I think that it it's not about that at all. It's not leading into that kind of comedy at all. It's all about the relationships and the character.

SPEAKER_01

Dude, to have no frontal nudity and have like there's one or two fucks in this, it's like a PG 13 movie, and have the resonate how hard it resonates very hard, and I think it's a a difficult thing. Like, not as difficult as Catherine O'Hara having sex with Bob four times for you.

SPEAKER_03

For you, and then just gets into her bed. Uh the whole like he's br I like that he's uh bring and then he's gonna bring her grandpa over the grandpa and the grandma of Tanya are coming over to interview Sean and meet his family and like everything that like Lance, I need you to stay in here. Why? Because you're an embarrassment.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01

Catherine O'Hara's like, I'll be good, I'll get dressed, I just need a glass of wine, and Sean's like, okay, got it. You go and she starts getting drunk, and he says, No Meryl Streep impressions. And I don't know about you guys. The thing I wanted to see most in this movie, part of the reason why I came down half a point is I want to see Catherine Harris, Meryl Streep.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I thought you were gonna say something different.

SPEAKER_01

We just talked about how this is not that kind of movie.

SPEAKER_03

Sorry, yeah. Uh I love but the whole like Lance Like they would have left the second she had a cup of piss in her hand? Question? One assumes that you would think like the most patient people.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. They seem very sweet. They gave him several chances, but that sequence just kept it just kept going.

SPEAKER_01

Has anyone watched Fraser? Yes. Yeah. Seen the episode where uh the whole big opening sequence is Niles trying to put out a fire from an iron.

SPEAKER_03

I can't speak to an individual episode.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, good for you. But like it's seen the concept of Fraser. I feel like it's executed and edited so well. The one thing that stands out that's kind of weird is that Gary Marshall and uh the actress that plays his wife stick around for as long as they do and she swishes around Lance's peacup, that cup of piss. I need that piss. My parole officer. What did he do?

SPEAKER_00

Sean, have you seen my piss? Which I was saying in the speaking of the marketing deluge, the trailer for that was Sean, sorry, have you seen my pants? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Which I thought played even better because he's not wearing pants. He just wanders out in his tidy whiteys. But uh, and then when I saw it, I was a little, it was like, oh, I kind of like pants better.

SPEAKER_03

So I guess question for you do you prefer Stranger in the Alps? Or this is what happens, Larry, when you fuck a stranger in the Alps.

SPEAKER_00

I am always team Stranger in the Alps. Not only was it a fine Phoebe Bridgers record, but I just think it's a brilliant non sequitur. This is what happens, Larry, when you find a stranger in the Alps.

SPEAKER_01

So uh his pals, Sean's pals, uh Lonnie, the surfer group, they show up and crash the party, and Bob starts to crash out, and there's the piss cup, and everything goes crazy, and Bob goes like macking me backward in the wheelchair. It's totally macking me. And Gary Marshall and the wife have had enough. Watch your fingers. Watch your fingers. And they're out of there, and Sean like it starts playing Lay Me Down, the Brian Wilson song, and he just crashes into the pool.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Right into the pool.

SPEAKER_03

Uh, is this when he's like where's Bob like goes into Lance, goes, Bob, where's Bob's pills? Bob doesn't have any pills. I sold them.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that was during the whole sequence. Yeah. He sold them. And he mixes. Which is funny because Lance was nodding out when he had we had seen him a few minutes before, and now he's yeah, but it's an important, it's an important moment because we we need to learn about the Cedrin bottle, the Tylenol bottle, and the aspirin bottle so that we it gets to later come. So the the pain pills, the X, the SPEE!

SPEAKER_01

No, but it's ecstasy to have that character, and this is to Jack Black's credit, Ben, I'm with you. Like School of Rock, Matt, I don't know if you feel School of Rock is like a soul perfection. That movie's fucking fantastic. Oh, 100%. Yeah. And this is like to me, this is like a breath away. Yeah, it's on its way. When when Jack Black sees that Sean's in the pool and comes running out and takes off his socks and screams, there's a level of drama. It's a funny movie. Well, yeah. But like he's his give a shit level is very high. Yeah. He wants to see his brother succeed in his own like fucked up way, and is so like, we gotta go up there. We gotta go up there right now.

SPEAKER_00

I'm not taking it for an answer. You should see the school. You should shut up, Lance.

SPEAKER_01

I get you there in three years.

SPEAKER_00

But I mean, yeah, all his own problems aside, he does seem like a good brother.

SPEAKER_01

I agree. I I don't know what he's on parole for.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there's a there's there's some darkness hinted at drugs, I assume.

SPEAKER_01

Drugs and reckless driving. Yeah, something.

SPEAKER_03

He also burns down an entire college. He does.

SPEAKER_00

He's this lovable character who drives like an absolute maniac under the influence of drugs, who is an arsonist. Who Paul? And wants to open a boulevard shot. There's a character in this movie that does that as well.

SPEAKER_03

I have these ideas. I have this fucking podcast where I just get on a mic and I just go boo over and over and over.

SPEAKER_01

I'm referring to the movie. Do you understand? Do you understand what I'm doing? Listen, listen. You think that dog knows it's special? Tell me, tell me, tell me. They go to the admissions building and Jane Addams is there. Like, this movie is so fucking stacked with people who already were or were on their way to being well established. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Which is funny because that was where you were watching it. This is another the faulty mind cannon something. Yeah, the the faulty nature of media is I was 100% that was sure that was Judy Greer in that role. Oh, whoa. And then when it wasn't, I was like Did I just get Mandela effect and arrest development?

SPEAKER_01

Or adaptation. Yeah, because the glasses and the yeah, I could see it.

SPEAKER_00

Like it's a similar archetype of kind of person, but hair up, glasses down.

SPEAKER_01

No, hair down, glasses on. There's some light coming from under the door.

SPEAKER_03

I'll be right back, Sean, with The Manuscript.

SPEAKER_00

I love he pantomimes a manuscript front and back like this.

SPEAKER_01

What is it? I forget. He doesn't, it's not manuscript. It's something, it's something so specific. The register. The register.

SPEAKER_03

The registry. And he like the his idea is to climb on one of those wind like windows with not a load-bearing piece of glass at all.

SPEAKER_00

Like, why would that have ever worked?

SPEAKER_01

So he falls in and they go to see the Dean, the girlfriend and the boyfriend. What's his name? Colin Hanks and Skyler. Sean and Ashley. Ashley. They go. See, I feel so good. What are your names? Yeah. Oh.

SPEAKER_03

But they go to see I like you.

SPEAKER_01

Dean Durkitt.

SPEAKER_03

I like wear the same eye. That is neat. And they give him the exegrin bottle. He's leaving with his family. They're going to bother. Three ecstasy, and he's probably never taken this in his life. We were saying what I was saying, it was like, do you think and and I guess like again, if you've never taken a any kind of drug like that before, you would have no context.

SPEAKER_00

You would just Yeah, would you you wouldn't think I've been drugged, you just I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

You'd they'd figure it out, but yeah, assuming he remembers that part of it. But if you have had drugs like that at some point, you'd be like, hold on, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_00

I I must have someone clearly dosing with it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, at some point, likely, if it's not, depending on what it is.

SPEAKER_00

But I do love that I'm a bit of a lance.

SPEAKER_01

I can tell I can talk about this in depth if you'd like.

SPEAKER_00

That was Molly with a hint of LSD.

SPEAKER_01

Just they I they dusted ice on it. They sprinkled ice on it.

SPEAKER_03

Like from a filmmaking way, like the the uh fuck ice, by the way.

SPEAKER_01

All the way around.

SPEAKER_03

Fuck ice. But the um the delivery of wait a minute, we just gave the Dean of Admissions three hits of and they just look at these cuts, and he's just coming down the stairs rubbing his nipples, and he's just like, I feel so he's good.

SPEAKER_01

He's such a good actor. I rewatched Baby Boom not too long ago. He's got a smaller part in Baby Boom. He's Harold Ramis, really great actor.

SPEAKER_00

He's a ton of acting, did he? He collects fungus and spores.

SPEAKER_01

He wrote, he directed, he acted like he was a triple threat.

SPEAKER_00

He's a triumvirant.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, maybe more than triple. So we've been led to believe Catherine O'Hara, she's like happy that the dad's John Lithgow's maybe miserable, and is talking about he's been screwing around and overshares at a point, and he calls shows up at the house and they have a beer together, and they hook up.

SPEAKER_00

What about Bob though? What about Bob?

SPEAKER_01

This is the thing. Like, do should I go down to a four? Because what about Bob?

SPEAKER_00

What about Bob?

SPEAKER_01

I mean, are they just taking advantage of Bob?

SPEAKER_00

They are taking advantage of a poor old man, poor originally. They really are.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, what's funny is like we were talking uh when he was like, I'll give you the house to uh his like they get it literally just divorced in the parking lot.

SPEAKER_00

Right there in the street, just uh I think we should get a divorce. Really? You're gonna have the house.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, but like she gets half of everything, buddy. Take the kid, yeah. She gets half of everything.

SPEAKER_00

Everything. Your money, your everything. And then he spends a whole bunch of money donating to the well, we'll give it away.

SPEAKER_01

Imagine not getting a lawyer and he's like, shared custody, the house, two million bucks, no lawyers.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. You can have it all.

SPEAKER_03

But there's a kid, there's a little kid that his little club that she wants to go to.

SPEAKER_01

He's been retired.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. But I the whole segment in Stanford, though, because they end up going to uh like they break up, right? Basically, Ashley and Sean get into a big fire.

SPEAKER_01

After the admissions building is burned down.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and uh at the same time, Jack Black is or I guess right before this, Jack Black has hooked up with the the lack of a better word. Admissions lady. Yeah, admissions secretary lady. Front desk person. Um lights they didn't they didn't accept him, those jerks, and just like lights the register on fire when I was a kid. You shouldn't do that. You shouldn't have to be a few. I used to be a total total pyro.

SPEAKER_00

Put that out, man. Me too. Put that out.

SPEAKER_03

Put that out. And they burn down the whole building. And then the Ben Stiller. Better not.

SPEAKER_00

And then you better. Oh man, the whole Ben Stiller. What does he say? Joe John. Joe Johnston. Joe, John.

SPEAKER_03

What's the gives Joe? Joe. He says, like he says something like uh that's right, Julio. Just try to use a clench to pop that or T clench to pop that something. Like he's got a big thing. Yeah, he says nonsense.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's gotta be an ad lib. Sean has gotten like pretty mean considering all the circumstances of everything that's happened, and he's clearly only thinking about himself. And he's gone off on his own, and he's found out, I think more than anything, that he thought college was gonna be different. Women were gonna like Faulkner, and they were gonna be mature grown women and not these high school girls, and then Butterfly.

SPEAKER_00

And then Butterfly. That's the exact same thing.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like he he has a superiority complex where I agree. He thinks he thinks he's the smartest person in the room and the best person in the room. I used to be a piece of shit.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And he thinks Stanford is gonna match these ambitions of his, but then he gets there and he realized. And I think that that was another thing that hit me on this rewatch now that I'm older, because I think last time I watched it, I was a teenager. I, you know, I could I could really relate to his initial feeling, but now I relate to the other side where it's like the getting to this point and finding out these places and these things aren't what you thought they would be. They aren't the thing that, you know, was gonna fix you, was gonna make everything.

SPEAKER_03

I mean about you. It's also like you realize that um yeah, it is about you. And you realize though, like the things there are always gonna be things about other people that maybe irk you or upset you, uh, but they don't define who you are. It's temporary. And like I think I I had a similar journey where I feel like I had uh, you know, they were de like growing up in suburban white where we grew up and like hating, not hating, but being like, oh, I'm better than all these other people uh because they, you know, for whatever reason, they whatever reason I decided I hated them. They're so basic. They're so basic that's they watch reality. They're so image-based or whatever that bullshit is, and then going to theater school and being and then and then coming like getting to the point in that group, that community of being like, oh no, those people exist everywhere. Everywhere, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like there's no people are people. People are people, and why should it be? And there's no reason to like judge like whatever like nobody's doing any fucking shit to upset you. It's not about you.

SPEAKER_01

No, they're we're all just people, it's never.

SPEAKER_00

Everyone's just in their own thing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. We're they're not vampires. Although you have to do consider this movie is it's about vampires, but it's really about the reunification of Germany. The Kip character a vampire.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and Sean at right Sean right now is a very scared man. Very scared.

SPEAKER_01

He is when he drops in Dark Man's it the second time.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he does Dark Man, doesn't he? He spies on Ashley and Kip, who hat needs some braces. Kip.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, this was an era where uh, you know, an actor could have kind of messed up teeth.

SPEAKER_01

I like Nat Faxen. I think he he had a show on FX that was pretty good.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, that is him. I didn't think uh but yeah, he's kind of a pretentious douchebag.

SPEAKER_01

I I think he's kind of supposed to be the mirror for Sean. This is what you'll be possibly this is what you're aspiring to. He's so lucky he runs into Marcus Skinner.

SPEAKER_03

He is so we were saying that that is that is definitely one of the things in the movie that I feel like is like you from a screenwriting thing, you're just like, and yeah, he walks by.

SPEAKER_00

And just yeah, and he recognizes in all of Stanford. He recognizes him from the back. You're like this guy who he knows from the the book jacket cover.

SPEAKER_03

And it is, I mean, I do like that scene with Kevin Klein. It's very like what do we call what do we call it? The the moment is called the is that the like Obi-Wan moment.

SPEAKER_00

Because we're kind of talking about the act structure of this movie, and that's yeah, kind of like the mentor, like the Obi- the Obi-Wan moment, basically.

SPEAKER_03

Where use the forest Luke.

Final Ratings

SPEAKER_01

They have like a meat cute though, where like uh Sean's very awkward with Skinner, like I was with Ernie Hudson. I know who you are, but where he he is making Skinner like, uh, and then Skinner immediately I'm obsessed with you.

SPEAKER_00

Not in like a sexual way, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Not to get deep into the annals or anything, but he gets the stamp of approval from Skinner, like you are a good writer. I like it. Your story is good, yeah. And sometimes that's all people really need is like a mentor, like a nudge. I think he believes he can only be successful if he works with this guy, and all he needed was to be told by someone of this ilk that he didn't know that wasn't gonna bullshit him.

SPEAKER_00

You're good at this. Well, yeah, because he says like his his family won't get through it, and like Ashley will read it, but she's so positive, he can't take her crit, you know, there's no criticism there. So and then he does offer her a bit of criticism.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I think it just it talks to like a little bit of support goes so far, you know, just getting a little and and he has a little encouragement. I think he like the thing is he has to realize he has so much of it.

SPEAKER_01

He always had it, and that's the thing I the realization I think he comes to mostly when he hears Ashley talking about his story behind his back when he's eavesdropping, and she's like, he's really talented, he's a special guy, like his story is amazing.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, that's why everyone is doing all the things they're doing for him. That's why Lance is like burning a building down. That's why. I mean that's why, yeah. I mean, from the flames.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, there is a well, he's also Total Fourth of July sparks coming out of the scratch.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's an electrical fire.

SPEAKER_00

I'm just gonna- Well, she's a liar because I don't know her.

SPEAKER_03

We got a jogger five five five, unkempt portly portly.

SPEAKER_01

Portly. It's so great. You do need an ending. That's the thing that I think I like Skinner, the way he sets up, like you need an ending, which kind of I feel like sets us up for the way that the movie's gonna wrap up. Like, we need we need an end to his journey specifically. Yes, what about Bob, Matt? No question.

SPEAKER_00

What about Bob?

SPEAKER_01

But Baby Steps. It's mostly about Sean. That's baby steps into the hallway. Uh, there's a book on my shelf bit by Dr. Leo Marvin that I should let you borrow. Right, thanks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I mean, and we have to go back to Orange County. And that's like, I love, I love Sean! Sean, okay, yeah, that's great, buddy, but I am going to James like we're going to Mexico. He hit he hits him with like a vast thing.

SPEAKER_00

Throws a can directly at his eyebrow. She immediately slices him open.

SPEAKER_01

Like, Sean, ow! There's still hope. Is that the message you're trying for? Yeah. No, the Kevin Claude when he says that to him before he gets hit with the can.

SPEAKER_00

I love how you know he probably wasn't going for that, but that is what came through in the text that he had written. So we've got to do that. Because he didn't think he loved this environment. He thought he was railing against this environment. But it turns out he loves these characters in this environment.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And I think that's if that comes yeah, I I I love I love that scene. I love I love what Sean has to like has to hit that rock bottom to realize that everything Yeah, because otherwise it does become that very like selfish pity party, white boy, I'm rich, but I have problems. And I think the movie fights against that, which a lot a lot of movies in this time frame didn't really, you know.

SPEAKER_00

No, they just kind of went with that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's kind of what Garden State is about.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I haven't watched it in a long time, but I I when I did re-watch it, I was like, oh. I but good soundtrack. Good soundtrack. Without question.

SPEAKER_00

Generational soundtrack.

SPEAKER_01

Ashley gets the snag from Kip and Lance or from Kip by Lance and Colin Hanks. Yeah. And he does the Syrano tell her you're sorry, tell her you love her.

SPEAKER_00

Like you mean it.

SPEAKER_01

And there is like that weird shoehorn sex scene, like the shoehorned Kevin Klein. That is kind of funny. It is kind of funny that he's like, they had to empty the movie it, I guess. But then he's like kind of perverted about it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, he's watching with one eye open. That's a little weird. His brother, by the way.

SPEAKER_03

Now talk talk about White Lotus. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00

There you go. There's the Mike White, like the the straight line you can draw on directly to. I wouldn't call it straight, man. Oh.

SPEAKER_03

I wouldn't call it a line. He has that second gear.

SPEAKER_01

So we find out that Cindy's like a good mom. Like she has these good mothering moments aside from being a smother, especially with like the little boy, of like giving him a level of autonomy or like credence, however the fuck you want to put it.

SPEAKER_00

You don't want how about some juice.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I feel like maybe that's what she's always which she missed so much about Sean.

SPEAKER_00

When he was a kid, because she wants him to be.

SPEAKER_03

She wants that so badly, which I think all parents secretly do.

SPEAKER_01

Lance's maybe not even secretly. I think all parents. I think just yeah, pretty openly. Lance is pretty broken to for her to be like, finally, some help around here. Because part of her big is like she's like immature and wired in a weird way, and whatever it's kind of an alcoholic. Maybe needs that energy.

SPEAKER_03

But I the ending, I the only funny part about the ending that irked me is like when they're all together, everybody is back. Like they bring everyone back over to the house, including his two friends who touch each other's balls.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, they do drop in though. It's like several times in the movie. They're around. It's not that I don't like that.

SPEAKER_03

It's just waiting outside. I do like that sequence, though, when there's like this guy professed his love for me. No, no. See, what happened was It's like he got drunk and he looked, he was fondling my I was lost my car keys.

SPEAKER_01

They bring them all home. This is very time capsule, that piece of comedy you guys are right. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's very dude, where's my car? Very like, you know, are they gay? You know.

SPEAKER_03

Which is, you know, I think interesting. Mike White being queer is an interesting, like that's the punchline. Like yeah, but it, you know, it's the time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah using the word gay was pejorative and whatever.

SPEAKER_01

It was a weird time. Like Friends was a show that was extremely popular. But then it's all you gotta say. It does end with like a great like Jimmy Eat world on an up nowhere. He doesn't want to blow up the certain word.

SPEAKER_03

It's just the moment where they're all in the house and then it cuts, and he's in his room by himself. And I was like, wait a minute, where where's everyone else? And then he comes back and they've just all been sitting downstairs.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, he just like presumably, because it's like you're we made a donation, you're going to Stanford. And everyone's like, and they're like, you know, paper smiles, happy for him. And then he just leaves. He just leaves. We don't see that one. They're presumably just downstairs still, just like so.

SPEAKER_01

Did he have to go to the bathroom room? You can fill it in.

SPEAKER_03

You'd be like, I just need a moment to think. Yeah, it was probably. Yeah. And the whole like, I love the whole coming back downstairs and being like, would, you know, would uh what do you say?

SPEAKER_00

Faulkner. If Faulkner had left the South, would he have written or whatever? If James Joyce had left the Irish.

SPEAKER_03

Not in his heart. But not in his heart. Right. And I I love the realization that his mom and Ashley are coming to where he's like, I'm gonna stay. And it's sweet and it makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

And it's I would put this in the hands of any 15-year-old person and be like, you should watch this. Like it has a lot of really good shit. There's the good burgers and there's the orange counties.

SPEAKER_00

That's a good that's a good dichotomy. You got your good burgers and you got your orange county.

SPEAKER_03

If I'm at a restaurant and they have those two things on the menu, I want the orange county. Yeah. I'll take the I want you to take the Good Burger and throw it away. Throw it away.

SPEAKER_00

I'm doing an Orange County only deal.

SPEAKER_03

I don't want any if that Good Burger touches my Orange County.

SPEAKER_04

I will kill you.

SPEAKER_03

I will kill you.

SPEAKER_01

We've reached the end of this film. And this podcast, presumably. Whoa. What? This episode.

SPEAKER_03

Oh.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. I thought this was. I was gonna tell you I'm moving to I'm going to Stanford. By the way, I'm going to Stanford.

SPEAKER_01

Oh good.

SPEAKER_00

So happy for you.

SPEAKER_01

Matt, I know you had started us off. I feel like it's always more fun if you kind of pick the order at the end of who should share their rating.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I get to pick who goes?

SPEAKER_01

Spoken in Nazi. If you'd like, otherwise we'll just go in this the standard order.

SPEAKER_00

Um, you know what? I never get to pick anything because I lose all the mini games. I'm gonna say Paul, what is your re-review review rating? There's too many re's.

SPEAKER_01

I'm going to be a little realistic, and we did talk about the shoehorniness of some of the things that happened to get the story.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like there is some MTV focus group or something going on.

SPEAKER_01

And I think I'm giving this movie a lot of credit that mostly is due to light. Elf is a fucking gorgeous movie. This is a good looking movie too. It ain't elf. Great regardless, you know, same director of photography. You guys brought up a lot of good points. If I could just come down a quarter point, I would. I'm gonna go with four piss cups. I I think it is like a special comedy, definitely in terms of the coming of age and the teenage. If we're just doing this genre just coming of age teen comedies, this is like a five-star thing. But considering, you know, as we've discussed how many movies and genres there are, this is this is a four-star. I'd recommend it to just about anyone.

SPEAKER_04

Alright.

SPEAKER_01

Now who Matt.

SPEAKER_00

Um well I'll go ahead and go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Oh wow, I'm last. Cool.

SPEAKER_00

Well, yeah, I figure, you know, I figure you can bring us home. You can tie it up. Okay. Um, but I uh what did I say? I said 3.75, big old hats to go pew. And um I think I think I had rated it 3.75 for a lot of the reasons you just said. I do feel like there was kind of like watching it like that scene in the Bronco, like with a makeout scene. I did feel like there were parts that were like, well, this is an MTV movie, you've got to play up to teenagers. And they felt like they didn't need to be there. Um so that's why I kind of brought it down a little bit. But I think, you know, talking about it with you guys and like uh you know some of the deeper themes, and it it all almost does kind of function as like a James Joyce novel. Maybe this was Mike White's Finnegan Wake or whatever. I'd literally I hope that's a James Joyce novel. Um sounds like it is.

SPEAKER_03

Couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm I'm gonna say uh four. I'm gonna say I'm bumping it up to a four big old thing. You brought those numbers. You brought those numbers up. I pumped them up. Those are rookie numbers.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Um yeah, I mean, I think a big part of this movie for me is we've talked about this before, the nostalgia factor. I think that this the movie coming out at this time, the time that I was in my life being a teenager at this time. Um you know, I like seeing the Rotten Tomatoes rating of what was it, 48% or something. It's kind of shocking to me. It was a little felt very low to me. But I I I have to remember that this is like this is like hit at a time for me that was just like the perfect timing. And similar to Project Hail Mary and uh which I think is a higher rated movie in general, but not not to compare them, but uh I think that like the just like hitting at these times in my life and I and they and they resonate for a l forever. Uh Eternal Sunshine was like that for me. Uh Hook is a movie that I think of that's very low-rated in many critical like circles, but was means so much to me.

SPEAKER_01

And so I think that like we'll be talking about that soon, don't you?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, we will be talking about Hook. But I think that this is going to stay at four butterflies. Come come, my lady, you mashekapa, honey, baby. And that makes us a triumvirant of four.

SPEAKER_00

A triumvirant of four. We were gonna get there, right? Isn't it weird?

SPEAKER_03

We were gonna get there this whole time.

SPEAKER_00

This was always gonna congeal into a homogeneity.

SPEAKER_03

This has happened before and it'll happen again. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Jesus.

SPEAKER_00

There must be some kind of way out of here.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_03

We should go to California.

SPEAKER_01

You're quite a joker, man.

SPEAKER_00

That was speaking of the OC, the very last song you hear in this movie is California by Phantom Planet, and the very first song you hear in the OC, California by Phantom Planet.

SPEAKER_01

Related.

SPEAKER_00

They tie in.

SPEAKER_01

Are they red string? These things are connected. Well, we all rated at fours, as we just mentioned. I'm wrapping this up, by the way, and telling you that Jamie Hanwood does our bookends. Chris Holtz does our fun facts, and Matthew Foskett. What are you doing and what are you watching? Socials?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Matt. If anyone wants to see find you, if you want them to find you. If not, tell them to fuck off.

SPEAKER_00

You'll never find me. Uh, the only social I really do is uh letterboxed, and you can follow me at uh arisenape on letterbox.

SPEAKER_03

Great. You can follow me at Run BMC on Instagram, Letterboxd, and uh at review x2 podcast on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01

You can email us. It's at review reviewpod at gmail.com. You can text us, as I said, anonymously. It's right there in your episode description. If your name's Matt, text us. Please reach out. We're trying to. Bay of Matt's Matathon. Matt's multiple mats, as we call it. A minion, a minion march of mats. A million mats. Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, you matt. But hey, everybody, I'm at Paulax Badly. Did I already say that? Who knows? Well, hey, there you go. 44444. Thanks. The triumvirant. Thanks you. Bye bye. Bye, Matt.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks for coming back. Thanks. Bye.

SPEAKER_01

Bye.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

With Gourley And Rust Artwork

With Gourley And Rust

Matt Gourley and Paul Rust
How Did This Get Made? Artwork

How Did This Get Made?

Earwolf and Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Blank Check with Griffin & David Artwork

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Blank Check Productions
The Rewatchables Artwork

The Rewatchables

The Ringer
Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein Artwork

Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein

Brett Goldstein | Daylight Media
ActionBoyz Artwork

ActionBoyz

Jon Gabrus, Ben Rodgers and Ryan Stanger
Scriptnotes Podcast Artwork

Scriptnotes Podcast

John August and Craig Mazin
Unspooled Artwork

Unspooled

Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson | Realm
The Yada Yada Podcast Artwork

The Yada Yada Podcast

Eric Driscoll and Celina Stillman
All The Right Movies Artwork

All The Right Movies

All The Right Movies