Movie RX
Dr. Benjamin prescribes movies that help and heal through his own experiences or the experiences of others.
Movie RX
Little Miss Sunshine (2006) ft. Jamie of Round Table Mindset
Ever wondered how a quirky indie film like "Little Miss Sunshine" rose to Academy Award glory? Join us on Movie Rx as we bring Jamie from the Roundtable Mindset Podcast to dissect the fascinating five-year production journey of this beloved movie.
Join the Facebook Page!
Follow on Instagram and TikTok!
Like and Subscribe on YouTube!
Also, Check out the Merch!
Hello and welcome to MovieRx, where I prescribe entertainment, one movie at a time. I am your host, dr Benjamin DSW. What does DSW stand for? Doing some work, Nothing.
Speaker 1:Nothing. Nothing, okay, fine, whatever dude I was trying to think of something better, but I got nothing.
Speaker 2:You suck, so I'm just going to have to introduce you and get on the show In studio today, returning for another run, one of the two hosts of Roundtable Mindset Podcast. Welcome my sister, jamie. Welcome Jamie.
Speaker 1:Hello, well, hello.
Speaker 2:Or you could do it, mrs Doubtfire style doubtfire style hello yeah, I can't do that actually, today we're doing a movie that you gave me uh-huh uh, the first time I watched it it's an indie film. Uh, actually a very high grossing indie film that took nearly five years to make. Did you know that?
Speaker 1:no, I didn't. I guess I didn't know it was indie either, although I should, because it was good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it took almost five years to make this movie, from the time that they started production to the time that they put it out, and it was 100% because of funding.
Speaker 1:Really Huh.
Speaker 2:They used five different VW buses for this too. Yeah, what's really cool is they did a, they showed it at a drive-in theater and they invited all of the VW buses to come in. And so they had a. They had a drive-in full of nothing but VW buses watching this movie.
Speaker 1:You know, that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:It's good character for this movie. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say we could probably add the VW bus to the list of characters. If we're being super honest.
Speaker 2:Probably yeah. Now. This movie also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Speaker 1:Who is that?
Speaker 2:Alan Arkin, I believe and also the Academy Award for the Best Original Screenplay.
Speaker 1:So cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, today we're doing Little Missed Sunshine Basic movie. Info on this movie We've got. It's a Searchlight Fox Searchlight pictures production, released in 2006, directed by it was. It doesn't feel like it, but then when you think about it you're like damn yeah that was a long time ago it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my kids were two when this was released.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah directed by jonathan and Valerie Ferris, stars, Steve Carell, Tony Collette and Greg Kinnear, and we also mentioned I mean, those are the poster names, but you kind of have to have Alan Arkin on there- how could you not?
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's like the star of any movie he's in.
Speaker 2:Well, he's kind of the star supporting actor in just about everything. He's in the IMDb description on this one.
Speaker 1:The IMDb subtitle.
Speaker 2:A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant, take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Speaker 1:Is it really cross-country though?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, it's New Mexico to California.
Speaker 1:Isn't that like? Okay, now I I'm just gonna stop talking right there, albuquerque.
Speaker 2:Well, you, you remember when we went down to phoenix. You remember that drive from from albuquerque, even just to flagstaff oh, that's kind of true.
Speaker 1:That was, that was a long, yeah, the desert, and desert makes it feel like a sojourn. Then there's still Nevada to go through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, like, forget that, nah, nah, dog.
Speaker 1:In a VW bus. Let's just put that out there now.
Speaker 2:Right. So initial movie impression on this cinematography was good. I mean, it's not like it's an action movie or you know some movie out in some visually stunning place, I mean I guess Arizona, and or you know some movie out in some visually stunning place, I mean I guess. I mean I guess arizona and new mexico can be kind of pretty. But but honestly though, like for the movie that it is, the cinematography was adequate, the acting was great. Yeah, on on everybody's part. I don't think there was a single person in here that I'd be like dude, no way, except for maybe the lady that headed up that pageant in California. I did. I hate that woman in everything that she's in.
Speaker 1:Which is why she was perfect for the character you're supposed to hate.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, we'll get into the creep factor of that asshole that sings at the pageant too. Oh God, that is so damn creepy. Anyway, acting was great, cinematography was adequate and the music, the music in this movie, the way that Jen put it, I think, was the best way, and that's that. The music just fit the family.
Speaker 1:The music in this movie reminded me of the music in Breaking Bad how like they just picked the best music for every, every portion of that of that show, and that's kind of how it. That's what it reminded me of.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's funny because it's not the kind of stuff that you'd expect.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Like as you're, as you're watching the movie, you're like you know it doesn't fit, but oh my God it fits. Yeah, like it's one of those surprising things, but yeah, better. Uh, breaking Bad and Better Call Saul were both a very similar way where it was just, you know, music that was kind of bizarre and obscure, just made the movie.
Speaker 1:It was perfect. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:It had been a while since I'd seen this, but it was. It was kind of nice hearing like Sufjan Stevens again like in the background and all of that. Yeah, just good, good stuff. What. How did you feel about the movie in general, like technically?
Speaker 1:I I suppose, yeah, there's. I mean, there's nothing super remarkable about you know, the cinematography, although I do really love um the perspectives. It felt like it was really unique for the time. I feel like it's probably been used a lot more since then.
Speaker 2:But you know, when we're thinking 20 years ago, I think that was part of what made the film so cool was that it was like it felt like a different style, like when, like even just at the very beginning, when she's standing in front of the television watching the Miss America pageant, like that perspective that they have on her, standing there with her hand on her stomach and you know she's holding the, holding the, the, you know the TV box, yep, and then just kind of you know, standing there and then just the angle on it was just hilarious. I don't know why it was funny.
Speaker 1:I don't either. Well, and that's I think I think the cinematography did add to the. It did add to the humor factor of it, you know, like I think, to the hospital scene when they're, you know, inside and outside and you know the switching back and forth, and I feel like that really added to that scene and, like I said, I feel like they've used it a lot more since then, that style that they had, but I feel like it was kind of new when the movie came out yeah, as far as filmmaking rules go, they still.
Speaker 2:They still followed all of them. There's like a 180 rule where, like, if you draw a line between two people's faces that are looking at each other, you pick a side of the line and when you switch from one person to the other, you have to stay on that side of that line because otherwise, if you switch over to the other side, then it starts to take you out of the scene and it and it and it takes the viewer like it. It confuses the viewer's brain, because that's not natural.
Speaker 1:That makes sense.
Speaker 2:So, but they still followed that even with that, like coming in and out of the, the, the hospital and all of that stuff through the window, like they still followed all of those basic, basic basic rules and and it and it, like they still followed all of those basic, basic basic rules and it wasn't chaos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and I feel like some of the way they filmed this also helped lend to the urgency of the mission, right, yeah, and I think, iconically, the perspective of them watching them all run to get into the, into the Volkswagen bus repeatedly, like they kind of filmed it the same each time, I feel like and so it was like oh, here we go again, you know, yeah, I mean it would have taken away from it, but you almost hear the Benny Hill theme.
Speaker 2:you know it would have taken away from it, but you almost hear the Benny Hill theme. You know the um, but yeah, so anyway, the with with the characters section, uh, I'm I'm going to kind of do, uh, I'm going to kind of do what, what I've been favoring in the last several episodes, and that's just kind of picking our favorites. I'll let you go first. What's what's one of your favorite characters?
Speaker 1:Um, I think I would say I identified a ton with mom that frenzied, trying to hold everything together, um, doing the best she can, kind of thing was was awesome. I loved that about her. I also really loved the care and support that you saw for her kids both of them. There was some tenderness there and I loved that. I also really loved the dad. He was another favorite for me just because because I identify so much with how hard he tried. You know what I mean. Like yeah, so like I'm going to fart rainbows and sunshine even when there's no rainbows and sunshine anywhere. You know what I mean. Like I just identified so much with that, and so I think those were two of my favorites, although I mean, I could sit here and talk about my favorite thing, about Olive and Dwayne and Grandpa and you know Uncle who, frank, oh, that's right, uncle Frank. I loved him, each of them. Yeah, I loved all of them. I think that's what made the movie is the characters and the and the story and the character building in this movie.
Speaker 2:Well, and I mean I mean kind of jumping the gun a little bit, but it's it's an inappropriate time to do it. The very first talking point that I had was that the whole family was kind of self-absorbed. Everybody everybody in this, this movie, everybody in the family was more concerned with what it was that they were concerned with, whatever it was that was most important to them see, I so disagree with that but well, except that it's not.
Speaker 2:I mean, dad wanted his, wanted his success with his goofy nine step program. Grandpa wanted to just not not have to worry about anything, All it well. Okay, Grandpa did he. He was also with Olive on the on the pageant thing. Olive was completely consumed by the pageant thing.
Speaker 1:Okay, olive was saying so. Yeah, to be fair, that's her job, there's that.
Speaker 2:Dwayne was completely absorbed with his, you know, being a test pilot. You know just kind of it was just like everybody was just concerned with their own shit and they didn't care about anybody else's stuff. But at the same time, that was what made it like so incredibly interesting, because they all had their own story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, I can, I can, I can agree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah and and so because of that, I really had a hard time with the my favorite characters in this. Because of that, like I don't know, like I mean for Dwayne as an example, like I can totally relate to that. Like I was, I was that kid that would do that, that crazy goofy shit that made no sense because I was going to do it until I got what I wanted. You know well, I mean starting my goddamn podcast 15 years ago. I swore to god that I was going to break out with a podcast that had perfect sound, and it was going to be. It was going to sound like a radio show right from the get go. And here I am, 15 years later, after having the capability of making a, a, a professional sounding podcast for 10 years or more, you know, finally making a podcast because it was going to be goddamn perfect right from the beginning. You know.
Speaker 1:So I.
Speaker 2:I completely agree. Like I can, I can relate to Dwayne on that. And grandpa, like I mean he just, he just wants what's best for for Olive in her, in her thing, you know. But honestly I have to say that of all of them and this one kind of surprised me a little bit when I really thought about it. I think of all of them, and this one kind of surprised me a little bit when I really thought about it. I think of all of them. The dad is my favorite.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, that kind of surprises me too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he just. I mean there's just, there's something about it, richard, is he's? You know what? I'm not going to go into that now. We'll get into that a little bit later.
Speaker 1:Okay, good Cause, I have some thoughts about that too.
Speaker 2:Good. So, um well, I mean all of his awesome. I just have to say all of his awesome. Do you, do you recognize her at all? Did you ever see like zombie land?
Speaker 1:Is that the one where it has like? It switches perspective, like from they stop and like look at the camera and or, I can't remember.
Speaker 2:Zombieland is the one with, like Woody Harrelson.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, that is the one I'm thinking of. Olive was Arizona. I think her name was Arizona. The girl in that, like the main girl, was Olive.
Speaker 1:Grown up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:See, you know where I recognized Olive from.
Speaker 2:Huh.
Speaker 1:Signs.
Speaker 2:Signs yeah this one has amoebas yeah, she was also an ender's game. She was ender's older sister and ender's game valentine anyway. But yeah, just adorable little girl that just did really really goofy shit and and I don't know there were and more stuff that I just have to that I have to wait until till it comes up in conversation to really talk about. So we'll just go ahead and move on. Points of interest First one you've got down here is exaggerated characters. Real family yeah, tell me about that.
Speaker 1:I think what I loved, I love so much, is that it was like it was like you. You take a normal family and put a magnifying glass on it and it just like these bigger than life characters, but the dynamics were so true to family. You know what I mean. And what I mean by that is like one of the things that I've kind of learned through my work is how families they kind of I don't know I kind of describe it like a carousel right. So when you've got a family, just like a carousel, like a baby carousel over a crib, they have to find a balance right. And so when you've got someone in the family who maybe struggles with addiction or struggles with some mental health problems or something like that, it can put some weight on one side of the carousel and everyone else has to kind of adjust to make it balance right. So that's where you have, you know, you have one spouse who's an addict and you have the other spouse who's codependent and you know, maybe considered enabling, but that person is really just trying to keep the balance of the family together and things like that.
Speaker 1:And so it was kind of interesting just seeing that dynamic in this family and how, you know, like dad's, dad's got these pie in the sky dreams and mom's a realist and trying to be like, yeah, but we have to pay the, we have to pay the mortgage, right, like right. It was super fascinating to watch that um play out and even I'm surprised you picked the dad as your favorite character because I identified you so much with Dwayne, with the son. You know what I mean. It just it made me think of you as a kid, it made me think of you in high school. And then of course, we've got our little sister who wants to be in the beauty pageant and that totally it just it was kind of fun to see our family in that family. You know what I mean and how all of these different roles played out. And you know there were only two kids, not three, but still it just it felt like I could identify pieces of that family with ours.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and and a lot of really strange. I don't want to get into it too much, but yeah, there's. I didn't. I guess I didn't really think about it that way until until you mentioned it yeah, um, I think the characters could the characters have different names? Yeah, but and some of the some of the characters are represented like multiple characters, are represented in multiple people or in one person. You know rather, but yeah yeah, I didn't. I didn't really think about that until you mentioned it Crazy.
Speaker 1:Go watch it again now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now I'm going to have to watch it again. I mean, I've watched it twice in the last three days, so why not?
Speaker 1:Why not One more?
Speaker 2:Pageant Queen training camp with grandpa. Support for Holif, but seemingly not. Not for his son. It's there just harsh love. The pep talk from grandpa oh, I know what you're talking about yeah, yeah, well, and I think that was.
Speaker 1:I loved the unconditional support for olive from grandpa. Yeah, like there is, there is one person who was non-stop there and absolutely believed she could do it and that belief helped her believe right yeah, no reservations. Yes I mean here's mom balancing 150 000 things and dad trying to get this dream off the ground. Grandpa was pretty harsh with with dad, but a lot yeah. But then when he had that thing I don't know like his book or his program didn't sell or whatever.
Speaker 2:Right, the Larry Sugarman, which is actually a character in another movie called Fargo.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It was a nod to Fargo, larry Sugarman. Yeah, I think, larry.
Speaker 1:Sugarman. Yeah, I think of Sugarman, I think of Jerry Maguire.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:One of the one of the Sugarman. One of the other sports agents was Sugarman Sugar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, was it a player.
Speaker 1:I can't remember.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was a player, was it? I think so. Oh, you're thinking Cush in cushman? Oh, there's cush cush, that's a good movie too. No, what was? Uh? Larry sugarman had tried to? Was was going to promote his stuff and try to get it into a pro like as a program, and nobody bought it right. And so, like he was, he was really upset because, well, it wasn't gonna go anywhere and his dad kind of called it like basically called his bluff, you know, because he comes back to the bus and he's all you know. Well, it's fine, I'm still going to try because I'm a winner and you know all this other stuff. And his dad just comes up and you know, hey, you went for it, you failed, but you went for it. You failed, but you went for it and I'm still proud of you well, and the thing that stuck out to me is you did.
Speaker 1:You did something most people won't even try, even me yeah and it was just like I, you know, because the whole time grandpa's pretty, pretty terse with everyone except for Olive.
Speaker 2:Terse or crass.
Speaker 1:It's just be honest, it's both except Olive. And so you know, to have that moment where he, you know, he, he was able to give his, his kid, exactly what he needed, in that, in that moment, you know.
Speaker 2:And and something else that I think that is really important to point out about that scene very specifically is dad's initial reaction to that is All right, thanks dad, you know, just kind of get out of my face, whatever, you know, whatever old man kind of thing. And then after, after his dad, you know, puts his hand on his shoulder and just sits there for a moment. Thanks dad, he just you know. Then, then that's's when, when the genuine part of him comes out, which is really funny, because just not too much, you know further before, like with that whole thanks dad thing, like how he was talking about, how sarcasm is the refuge of, of a, of a loser yeah.
Speaker 2:And then he throws that sarcastic shit out at his dad and his dad just stays right there. You know, that was. That was pretty good, and I I think that it's important to point out that that there was that, that duality, just in in five seconds. So, yeah, anyway, moving on. Family starts working together to accomplish a goal seconds. So, yeah, anyway, moving on. Family starts working together to accomplish a goal, builds a bond. Obstacles they overcome, bring them closer together. Obstacles in this movie are just, are just fucking everywhere. And not only are they everywhere, but they are bizarre, yeah, yeah. I mean, first off, who knew that that proust scholars would be worth a shit for anything to anybody, let alone deserving of a macarthur grant?
Speaker 1:I don't even know what that is a macarthur grant.
Speaker 2:Macarthur grants are for for genius basically scholars.
Speaker 1:I was like what?
Speaker 2:yeah, proust scholars, um, but it's like, yeah, I don't know, but it's like all like he goes to a gas station in the middle of nowhere and comes across this dude that you know, that made him want to, that made him want him to complete suicide, right, and so he's like he's got that. And then the other dude that wins the MacArthur grant is with him. No, so he's. So he's got that in his face, balls in his face, right there at the gas station, and it's only mildly funny that it's balls in his face like that while he's buying porn for grandpa.
Speaker 1:Right and a little treat for yourself and a little treat for himself.
Speaker 2:But all all of this stuff you know for just for Frank and Frank is the guy who comes in late in the game. Like I mean he's, he's there in the beginning of the movie but he's not, he's not a part of the family immediately. Like I mean he's stuck in Dwayne's room with Dwayne because he can't, he can't sleep alone.
Speaker 1:That was probably my first favorite interaction in the movie. When those two Well, when it was, when it was time for bed, and this is why, when you said that the, the characters were like self-absorbed, this was the first indication to me that I didn't. I didn't agree with.
Speaker 1:That is when because duane doesn't talk right, so he writes all of his stuff out and on the notepad he said please don't kill yourself tonight right and and the uncle, who isn't part of the day in and day out of the family this is kind of his introduction to being part of the family said I wouldn't do that to you yeah, I'm not. I'm not gonna do that, not on your watch exactly like and, and so you know it's duane started the whole movie with I hate everyone and he's like well, what about your family?
Speaker 1:everyone, he underlines everyone and so it was like it was like. This is it was almost like the persona they wanted out there, but it wasn't reality. You know what I mean that it wasn't. It's like, I don't know. I guess maybe self-absorbed feels intentional. I don't feel like it was an intentional, like I don't give a crap about anybody else.
Speaker 2:No, no, I don't. I don't think that it was, I don't think it was malicious. I think it was just that everybody was so, so concerned with what they were doing and and what their goals were yeah they couldn't. They couldn't see how important things were to the other people in their family. Right, and the mom was pulling her hair out over it. You know like she just wants to keep the house together and you know she wants to keep her brother alive.
Speaker 1:Well and help Olive feel as good about herself as she possibly can help duane get his goal and support her husband exactly like his dream, yeah yeah
Speaker 2:yeah, like I mean it as, as weird as it is, that that sounds like self-absorption, like that. That was what she was concerned with. She was concerned with keeping everything together. So, yeah, richard's stuff might have to take a back seat to that. Why? Because they need to pay bills, you know, and in order to get Olive to go, she had to take everybody in the family on this road trip, and in order to convince Dwayne, she had to give him a go ahead on on flight school, you know, and and all this other stuff. So, like I said, I don't think it was, I don't think it was malicious. I think that everybody was just really concerned with what, what they had going on, that they couldn't, they couldn't really see other people's value in whatever it was that they were doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's, that's where I was coming from with that, with the self absorption thing. Maybe that's just.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's just poor, poor choice of of words to describe it but or it's just my own negative connotation, because I'm a negative person by nature.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, shitting rainbows. Yeah, well, and I?
Speaker 1:do.
Speaker 1:I do think that what I loved about, what I loved about them coming together and getting through the obstacles, is that it just it really did remind me of those times when my kids were younger. I remember being in high school, feeling like this is my whole world, and my whole world is high school and there's not understanding that there is a whole life beyond high school. And you know, there were several times that we did have to come together and just, you know, hey, there is absolutely nothing we can't do together. There is never a time where you're alone. There's never a time where you have to try and figure it out on your own.
Speaker 1:If we're here together as a family, we can get through it, and part of, I think, why that was such a standout thing for me was because of that's. The message I wanted to make sure my kids got was that we are family and we will get through this together, no matter what it is. I don't care how bad it is, I don't care how scared you are to tell me, we can get through it together. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:That's, that's really uh. Having having that cohesion in a family is really difficult to maintain, yeah, Especially when, like especially with this family like the two kids are in two completely different places in life Yep, there's eight years difference between the two of them. Damn, near a decade. Olive is like in training wheels while the other one, while Dwayne, is thinking about flying planes.
Speaker 1:Well, and I got a sense and they didn't really spell it out, but I got a sense that Dwayne was his mom's from a previous marriage, that he was a stepson in this, in this family.
Speaker 2:Oh. I guess I didn't really catch that.
Speaker 1:Well, if you remember, when he got really upset and finally talked for the first time, the first thing he said to his family was divorced, bankrupt crazy or something.
Speaker 2:I think what he was talking about was that they were well maybe.
Speaker 1:I think he was, I think because he described each one of them in some way, and so I think he was yelling at his mom you're divorced, you're this, you're that? I hate you all. Right, like there was something wrong with every single one of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I get a sense that there's. There's a dynamic there that I didn't. I just picked up on that. When I watched it yesterday I was like huh, I wonder if that's part of because there isn't the tenderness from dad to duane that there is to olive, and I didn't know if that's because she's younger, if that's because you know, but I wonder if that's part of it well, and he doesn't wow.
Speaker 2:He doesn't ever really parent duane either. That's always mom.
Speaker 1:Yes and she's kind of protective of him and defensive of him. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, and even just you and your household? He doesn't, he didn't do any of the parenting.
Speaker 1:Nope.
Speaker 2:That was all you.
Speaker 1:He'd step in if he needed to say, a couple of times he stepped in, but no, it was but yeah, but that was your job, because, oh wow, I guess I didn't.
Speaker 2:I didn't notice that either.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I think that that was and I don't know. Like I said, they weren't super explicit about it, but that was kind of the impression that I got after hearing him kind of tell them what to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, some of the some of the scenes and stuff that I kind of wanted to talk about. One of them was the diner scene, when they're sitting there ordering breakfast. First off, let's just talk about. Everybody can spend up to $4 for fucking breakfast.
Speaker 1:And then they're getting waffles and eggs and bacon and ice cream and shit like that. Waffles a la mode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a la mode-y. But yeah, you can definitely tell that's from a different age. Yep, but aside from that, there was a.
Speaker 1:There was a lot of telling information in that you got to see it was like a, a raw bear version of the dynamic in that family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you see the grandpa's support of the daughter, granddaughter. Yep Judgment contempt what's the word that I want to use for dad?
Speaker 1:Pressure.
Speaker 2:Pressure. He was trying to be tactful but wasn't his in fat shaming his daughter.
Speaker 1:It wasn't fat shaming.
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 1:I'm going to I feel like I'm going to argue with you on this point.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Well, cause I do. I mean, I think that that is such a universal parent concern, right? Like, how do I teach my kids how to have a balanced diet and be healthy and do all the right things without? I mean, that's what I watched on that screen was, how do you have that conversation because you care about your kid and you want them to be healthy? And I mean he brought the whole, did you? Do you see any of the beauty pageant Queens that are fat, Right?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I think he brought that in because he was trying to get her to care about it too. He was trying to you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But it was like for me it was watching the internal struggle about whatever the subject was, not just fat shaming, but even, like you know, how do you talk to your kids about? About sex and express your desire for them to not engage in that activity when they're too young and still not make it a stigma and not make them you know what I mean, like help them have healthy, healthy expectations or healthy understanding about it, without, without shaming them about things like that. It's a hard balance for parents and it was cool that it was like dad and mom displayed that dichotomy, that internal conflict as a parent.
Speaker 2:Right. Well, and I think the reason why it feels so icky for me because when she does get her alimody and she just sits and stares at it and does anybody want my ice cream? Like that heartbreak in it is just like it makes you want to turn to kaneer and be like you, fucking asshole, like just just one of those. The reason why it pisses you off so much is because as soon as Grandpa and Frank and Dwayne do the right thing, yeah, we'll have some ice cream. I don't know why anybody wouldn't want some of their ice cream this early in the morning.
Speaker 2:For breakfast For breakfast, you know, and, and all of that, you know, they and they finally get her to. Oh, I'm gonna have some of my fucking ice cream yeah, don't eat at all the, the thing. The thing that gets me is and swear to god, this little girl is going to be one of the greatest actresses ever if she can hold this kind of, this kind of ability as she gets older, that sheer look of absolute joy that she has in enjoying that ice cream yeah it's not just that like she's scarfing it down, like kids do, because you, you see it, kids eat ice cream and they're just like shoveling that stuff in and they're just
Speaker 2:they're. They're getting it on the tongue and then passing it down to the stomach like that's all it is. But this little girl enjoyed the ice cream and she, she just sat in the moment of of of taking it in and enjoying it and it was okay. Taking that away from that kid, greg Kinnear, you're a fucking asshole, like it. Just it just comes right back, it's, it's a, and I think that's why it felt so icky to me was because, like it felt like he was taking joy away from his daughter.
Speaker 1:Well, and the sad thing is is that you know as as much as I have empathy for that, because I get that. I get that space. I understand I understand that conflict. Also love that mom had that opposite effect where it was, you know. That's where are we placing our value Right, like our value in our daughter is in the way she looks. It's not.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Um, but I also know that there is. There is a huge deal of concern and and hardship for for parents who want, you know, who see their kids have a dream, that fear that they won't be able to to reach it. Or, you know, I, I, I, I really did I was able to empathize with him in that space. Was it? Yes, was it a jerk move? Yeah, I'll give you that, but I also, yeah, just really could empathize with that.
Speaker 2:He's a fucking asshole.
Speaker 1:Okay, fine, I'm just. I'm just saying Well, and that kind of I mean that kind of leads into another point of interest that I had. Like you know, dad was putting so much pressure on himself and his whole family, then right, yeah the pressure that he had on himself that became the pressure the family put on themselves.
Speaker 1:Also becomes the grit to get through the whole thing right I mean, and not just to get to their destination, but also to leave. In what many people there would consider a flame of failure, they left triumphant. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's because they it's like that pressure got them there. That was able to be the vehicle to get them to the end.
Speaker 2:With his whole nine step thing. He was really applying that to himself and to his family and he was trying so hard for it to be real. Like, I mean, it's well, family support, when you, or as a family, peer support worker, when you would peer support your family, they really didn't appreciate it, right.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like when you try to peer support your kids, they'd be like fucking enough, mom, like you know it, you know that that's what. Yes, they do the same thing to me when I peer, when I family support them, right, you know when I'm like you know, hey, you know.
Speaker 2:If you'd like I can help you out with a budget or whatever they're like yeah, they're like you know, screw you and they're somewhere and so like, yeah, anytime that you have that stuff, that and and really I mean some of these jobs and things like that can really be a lot like his, his nine step program, where it's something that you really believe in and you really want it to be, you know, something successful and something that works, and so you practice it all the time. Him trying to practice it with his family, annoyed the shit out of his family, no one more than his dad.
Speaker 1:You know what, though, as we're talking about that, the cool thing is is that you got to see, at the end, you got to see the aha of the development of probably step 10.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because it was like that moment where he realized the outward showing of success isn't what makes you a winner. It's the process that you go through to get there Right. It's the lessons you learn along the way.
Speaker 1:It's the hard work you put in it's finishing the race. Those all make you a winner, like it's not. Hey, I've got a million dollars in the bank and I'm on a talk show circuit, or something like that. You and that was. I think that was. The coolest part is when, when you saw him, his whole mindset shifted and it was like you know what, screw it, this is what we're gonna teach my kid today, when his attachment to image was was finally let go.
Speaker 2:That you know what a what a thing looks like does not denote its value Cause. That I mean. To be completely honest, that's what I hated about this guy through most of the movie was. It just felt like he was just so focused on the image and it's like, dude, just let it go. Then yeah, and then you're right, like when, when he's at a pageant and they're telling him to take his daughter off the stage and he's, and he's given a moment to think about, I mean, even even just before that, before Olive went out, he and the whole family like, well, okay, not the whole family, it was him and Frank and Dwayne, they were all. Mom, you cannot let her go out there Like they're going to tear her to shreds.
Speaker 1:Well, and I love that because it was so protective, like it wasn't, you know.
Speaker 2:It wasn't like we don't have confidence in our family member.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't embarrassment, it was protection.
Speaker 2:We don't want her to get hurt. You know, and was at the same time God, what a mom Like. No, you guys, shut up and let her live her dream.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like, and it had nothing to do with the fact that they just drove 700 miles. It had nothing to do with the fact that they had to run every time they wanted to start their van up. It had nothing to do with the fact that the grandpa was dead. It had nothing to do with any of that.
Speaker 1:All of it was about Olive's dream. Well, and and I think one of the things that I loved about that scene too, it was like this whole time, the whole movie, you look at this family and you're like holy crap, they're so weird. Yeah, Like you have a sense that they are the weirdest people on the planet. And then you put them and you pluck them out of what you've been watching them in, and you pluck them into a beauty pageant and suddenly they're normal.
Speaker 1:Right, that was like a weirder situation right, like the really weird people were now around them and they were the cool, normal people and I loved that shift in perspective as a viewer of that. It was amazing, it was absolutely amazing and I also I think it speaks a lot how the family circled around the dream of one of their people and it was like I saw that missing with dad's dream and it was there for all of stream and and I almost think, cause this is something I do all the time I think about what happens next in the movie. Why? Cause there's no, there's no sequel. So what? What was next? And I wonder, after dad was able to shift his perspective a bit, if they were able to buy into his dream too and buy into Dwayne's dream and you know what I mean like how good that is for family and and the synergy for a family and the connections in a family to rally around a dream of one of them and support them in that. So yeah.
Speaker 1:I jumped around a little bit on my list here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was. I was going oh shit, where's the the being with?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was, um. That was one of the things that I loved the most is. It's almost like they were able to rally around all of, because all of was so supportive of all of them.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah, like she, just she. She showed care for every single one of them throughout the entire movie. You know, when uncle Frank came and he had the bandages on his wrist, well, what happened? You know? And, and and I think a lot of times as parents we think that our kids are just being invasive and asking a bunch of senseless, annoying questions.
Speaker 1:I think she was seeking to understand and then, like, even in the van, she's like yeah, I think you're going to go to heaven, you know what I mean. So she showed all of this care and concern throughout the movie and the time that it made the biggest impact was was with Dwayne. You know, when he found out he was colorblind and probably wouldn't be able to fly jet planes, and he freaked out and broke his silence and none of the rest of them knew what to do. And so dad suggests Olive goes and goes and talks to him, and all she did was walk down to him and put her arm around him and and put her head on his shoulder, and in that moment, being with him was enough of a connection for him to understand.
Speaker 2:Like, did you notice in that scene when they stood up, she went and gave him the hug and then they stood up and started walking up the hill. Did you see the sign in the field behind him. Said United, we stand.
Speaker 1:Aww, yeah, yeah, I love that. It's a little Easter egg, see. I'm shocked that the people that did Breaking Bad didn't do the same thing, because I don't know if you noticed hank and walt. Hank and walt were both in this movie. Hank was hank was dirty hank was, hank was, hank was dirty and breaking bad.
Speaker 2:I mean, come on uh well, he was obnoxious.
Speaker 1:I don't know about dirty, he was just obnoxious yeah, he told dirty jokes with the niece and nephew around. Come on now. Oh maybe I mean it changed later in the show. But yeah, I was just like how is this not the same people?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Like that made this movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well and Albuquerque.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying From.
Speaker 2:Albuquerque. Yeah, no, it's pretty funny. I I actually thought about those, what the you know, the first time we watched it again I was like, I was like huh albuquerque, hank and walt, both in the movie. I wonder if this had anything to do with freaking bad people, but I haven't found anything, so well and yeah, yeah, it's good stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I loved the part where frank and duane now that duane has broken silence, frank and duane are talking, they're having lots of conversation about things, and I loved the part where they were both like they had left the beauty pageant because they couldn't take it anymore. Right, and he was like life is just one big beauty pageant after another, after another, after another, and for them I think that was such a great connection between the two of them because with Frank and his mega genius brain, he's the foremost scholar of his field and stuff. And then you know, d know duane, who physical defect him not being able to see color meant that he may not be able to fly jet planes, and you know, it was just like. It was reflective for me of society's pressure. Dad had been putting it on them the whole time.
Speaker 1:Um, that image thing and of course that is that runs deep with beauty pageants. Anyway, you know what I mean. It just is like yep, why do we put our value in that? And you know, just a good. I think that was just a good reminder. Maybe that might be my medicinal element Oops, I might've jumped the gun, that's okay, you know what, tell me tell me about your active ingredient.
Speaker 1:I think that was it. I think it was. You know, I loved how beautiful Olive's confidence was. I loved how she, of herself, in and of herself, would not have been not if even batted an eyelash at going out there with her stick, straight hair and a ponytail and really terrible bathing suit and doing the dance that she had worked so hard on, if it hadn't been for outside forces, if it hadn't been for outside people telling her that she wasn't good enough.
Speaker 1:It reminded me how important it is to not only give that message to our kids that they are good enough, that they are you know, they are capable of doing amazing things but also, like the most important voice in that for all of us is ourselves. You know, I have to believe in myself that I can do it, because no one else is going to give that to me. Everyone else is going to tell me all the reasons I can't do it, and I need to remember the reasons that I can. You know what I mean, and so that, um, that was yeah, that was kind of the. The takeaway for me is just to remember not only that I can be, that for someone I can be that voice of of affirmation for another person, but that I really need to remember to affirm myself and to remind myself all of the reasons that I am, that I am good enough and I don't have to, I don't have to accept another person's standard for myself.
Speaker 2:I like it.
Speaker 1:I love this movie.
Speaker 2:It's a good movie. Now, for me, it has a lot to do with why, why Richard is my, is my favorite character in all of it. Something, something that's been really important to me in the years since this movie came out, is recognizing that that people can change. Super, super important to me, and it's and it's because of it's because of Richard.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Throughout the entire movie, I hated him.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like fucking asshole. I mean just dude. Like leave off man, like step off your family and quit being a dick Um, a judgmental prick all the time. And so all it took was a little bit of experience and love for his family and then finally, finally, he found what he needed to change. I think the reason why that's so important is because look at all the people that we observe in society, in your day to day, like listen to some of your conversations that you have with people, and one that's super common is meth head. Oh, that's the meth head. Well, they're, they're a person. Yes, they might be struggling with struggling with addiction right now, but that's not who they are.
Speaker 2:Those people can change. If you don't believe that those people can change, then you can't change either. But everybody has the ability to look back, like anybody that's 20 years older or whatever. You can look back and go. How much, how much am I similar to the person that I was 10 years ago? So much change that happens throughout every year of your life that you, that you are not the same person ever in any in any like, given a length of time. And to think that somebody can't change who they are is just wrong, and I think that I was really guilty of thinking that some people just can't change, some people are always going to be what they are or whatever, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that, I mean, the reason why it was so important to me was because, around this time, this movie had given me, had given me the basically the gumption to know that I could too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I, uh, I love, I love my work because of that, Because I'm not. I'm not an agent of change, but I am a witness of change. I get to see it every day and it's the coolest thing. And the truth of the matter is that when people I can't say can't change, but when people don't change, it makes me wonder if there's enough people around them who believe that they can change and then give them that confidence to do that.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean it's amazing what one person's investment can do yeah to another person. Just one person can really make a difference for somebody. It's a very extreme example but, like with with addicts, a lot of what keeps addicts from seeking recovery is they don't think anybody believes in them.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:You show them, dude, you have value. I believe you can do this. Invest in that person. One person can make a huge difference for that person. Like I said, that's just an extreme example. I mean, there's so many different things that that can be for for so many different people and I don't know that's. That's why, ultimately, mr Kinnear, as much as I've told you, you know, fuck you. In this episode you're pretty awesome Cause you represent. You represent that change that anybody can have as long as they want it and as long as they're open to it.
Speaker 1:Well, and imagine how much more believable his nine or 10 steps will be after yeah. Now that he's lived it, you know what I mean. Now that he it's, I still really want to know what those, what those nine steps?
Speaker 2:are Like I. I still really want to know what those nine steps are. It would be interesting to find out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to know.
Speaker 2:I wonder if there's like a fan-made thing about that.
Speaker 1:That would be great.
Speaker 2:We'd have to look into that just to see if there is a Richard Hoover. Which, by the way, can we just talk about? How funny that little thing is, richard Hoover. Okay, come on now. Apparently that is a part of the whole, the whole yeah, I can imagine so this is such a great.
Speaker 1:What I loved about this movie is that it was funny enough to um to entertain, and yet I I would call it a feel-good movie. You know what I mean like yeah it was entertaining. Of course, anytime these characters, like these actors, coming together is like how do you not have a great movie right?
Speaker 2:well, and this was. This was right before steve carell took off yeah, well, wasn't this?
Speaker 1:now I can't remember. Was this just before of an almighty, or was it just after?
Speaker 2:I can't remember this was just before leave. It was just before 40 year old, virgin that came after. I didn't that come after that was his big breakout, yeah yeah, because that was.
Speaker 1:I mean, I just I adore him and everything he plays. I adore him. He's funny. Yeah, he just makes me smile. He's got good comedic timing or something, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or eyebrows.
Speaker 2:It's the eyebrows. Yeah, could be Right. Well, thank you for uh. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Uh, go ahead and plug your stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, as Ben mentioned at the top of the episode has been mentioned at the top of the episode, I am one half of Roundtable Mindset. My friend Malin and I have a podcast where we're really focusing on difficult conversations this season, talking about things that are hard to talk about with people that it might be hard to talk about with. So we release the second and fourth Thursday of every month and we'd love to have you come and come and join us and listen. You can find us on every major platform. We've got social medias on TikTok, Instagram the app formerly known as Twitter, because I will not call it X and Facebook, as well as the Patreon.
Speaker 2:So rock on. Come check us out and ditto, except for the x thing. I don't, I don't twitter oh, threads.
Speaker 1:We do threads too. Threads is like instagram's version of twitter oh is it.
Speaker 2:It's not bad yeah oh well, yeah, I don't do threads either any way to interact, everything else, yeah, yeah I've got, I've got the.
Speaker 1:I've got the instagram the great tiktok and hannah calls it the insta insta.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's.
Speaker 1:I call it the insta because everything has a d in front of it the facebook, the tiktoks, the wal.
Speaker 2:Like but the the long E sound. That would be proper, with it Starting with a uh, with with a vowel the Insta, yeah, not the Insta, cause it just doesn't fly as well with English.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also, you know, hang out a lot with the Doyle, so I don't know, I make everything proper, I guess.
Speaker 2:That's funny, all right. So, yeah, thanks again for coming on for this show. We'll definitely bring you back for another one.
Speaker 1:Anytime.
Speaker 2:Now, if you have a movie that's been medicine for you and you'd like to be on the show, you can email me at contact at movie-rxcom. You can also leave a voicemail or text me at 402-519-5790. If you got a little bit of anxiety that's keeping you from being on, you can always write me a couple of paragraphs about a movie, send them in on a text or a email. You know I can always read them on air. Remember, this movie is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease and we'll see you at the next appointment. Thank you.