Four Friends, One Plan, And The Cost Of Survival: Set It Off (1996)

We revisit Set It Off to celebrate Black History Month and unpack why a 90s heist film still cuts close today. We balance the laughs and chemistry with the film’s gutting realism on policing, poverty, and the price of survival.

Transcript

Black History Month Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Hello and welcome to the Real Talk and Bancher Podcast, the movie podcast where we discuss and review films that are at least a decade old. I'm Amari Williams.

SPEAKER_05 0:40

And I'm Jay Richardson.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

And we have come to the end of February for our final Black History Month selection, which was my selection this month, and I chose Set It Off, the 1996 film directed by F. Gary Gray, starring Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, and Kimberly Elise.

SPEAKER_05 1:03

You know, for the longest while I swear this man was named F. Gray Gray. I thought it was F. Gray Gray. I never saw the swap until like recently. I was like, oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Oh my gosh, that's too funny. Um, so as we come to the end of our black history tribute um by selecting, you know, films starring and oftentimes written and or directed by uh black directors, black um figures. This has been a very enriching experience for me. I hope it has been for our listeners. What has this been like for you?

SPEAKER_05 1:43

For me, it's been very enlightening. I think that most or I think all of our choices, either one or both of us hadn't seen in the past. So I really enjoyed getting a chance to not only view history, not only view black history, but black, but then watch it and discuss it with you. Um so I think we brought a more I think we bring out really good points out of each other and things we didn't think about, or like, oh wait, I didn't even see that. So um we do a I think a really good job of just kind of uh going back and forth with each other, even if we don't agree, it still is um a good conversation. And you know, we talked about um the experiences of white people join uh uh well the civil war, which is you know right off the back of slavery. We talk about um a women's plight, you know, which is all you know still felt to this day. All these things that we feel, you know, are still real very relevant uh to this day. So that's also kind of a little jarring. Like you think we'd be better. I mean we are, but obviously nowhere near where we should be.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

So you know agreed. That that has been one of the big things for me as well, is seeing how relevant a lot of the concepts on the themes in these movies are to today. And that that that trend continues and set it off. So let's let's go ahead and start talking about this movie because it's to me um it was the most fun movie out of the four that we've done this month. For me, I I had a I had a lot of fun with this movie, but there were moments of realism that were just embedded into it that kind of makes you stop and be like, oh wait, this this is real life, you know? And um I'll I'll get into some of those moments as we go through. Uh

Box Office, F. Gary Gray, And Trivia

SPEAKER_01 3:40

a few things, right? So this movie budget made on a budget of eight, nine million dollars, made eight point eight million opening weekend, and then finally gross 41.5 million dollars worldwide.

SPEAKER_05 3:58

Hey.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:00

New line was killing it. Newline was coming out with all the black movies.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Well, this was their highest uh grossing movie of the year of 1996, uh set it off for, yeah. So they definitely did, and of course, uh maybe most listeners would know that F. Gary Gray is the director of Friday, which released the previous year in 1995. So he's also coming off of that uh success and you know getting his foot in in Hollywood. He he ends up grossing, he became the first film director, African-American film director to to direct a movie that grossed over a billion dollars. What is that movie?

SPEAKER_05 4:44

Um to gross over a billion. Uh oh my god. Um okay, that's literally like oh.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

This film was released in 2017. It is a massive film franchise.

SPEAKER_05 5:03

2017 massive film franchise.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yes, multiple, multiple entries into the film. Gross over a billion dollars. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 5:13

Okay, so 2017?

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 5:20

I feel like I should know this, and I'm sure I do. I know this, but it's it's escaping me right now. What is it?

SPEAKER_01 5:27

The answer is The Fate of the Furious. Fast and Furious movie.

SPEAKER_05 5:34

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yep, yep. Wow. Yeah, that parent was directed by F. Gary Gray, which I had no idea.

SPEAKER_05 5:42

So first of all, that movie by itself gross a billion?

SPEAKER_01 5:47

1.23 billion dollars. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 5:49

That's some shit. That wasn't on my mind at all.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I didn't know people were still watching Fast and Furious that heavy, but yeah, no, by 2017, Fail of the Furious made one over a billion dollars. Wow. Good for him.

SPEAKER_05 6:06

Yeah, I after after like Tokyo trips, I really stopped paying attention.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Oh my god. I thought I didn't, I thought I was the only one. Okay. Anyway, this is now about Fast and Furious. So let's talk about We should talk about it. Let's talk about the main ladies here, right? So Jada Pinkett and Queen Latifa, um, the main stars with Vivika and Kimberly's technically playing a supporting role, but it's these four ladies are the stars of of the movie, right? So um I think everyone or most people are familiar with that these ladies, they they go, they have very deep, most of them have deep reservoirs of of filmographies, they've been in a lot of things. Um Kimberly at least, this was actually her debut role. She was had recently just graduated from from college and she was doing theater. So now here she is in her first debut role. Alright, so out of these four ladies, who do you think appeared in the highest grossing movie out of the four? If you combine all their you know filmographies, which one of them appeared in the movie that made the most money?

SPEAKER_05 7:24

So, so total, how much have they made or no no no no?

SPEAKER_01 7:29

So if you just if you were to take a single yeah, highest groceries. If you take a single movie out of one of their catalogs, which one would be the movie? Okay, okay, okay, okay. So tell me who who do you think it is, and you get bonus points if you can name it. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

But let's start with who do you think it is?

SPEAKER_05 7:48

Okay, so I I'm inclined to think it's Kimberly because of um Tyler Perry and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Okay, you you didn't make you didn't make any face at all.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

No, because if that's where you're starting, this game is not gonna go well for you. Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 8:11

Okay, I said I'm inclined. Okay, okay, okay. So let me just say that.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Your inclination, I'm not gonna spoil it for you. Well, your inclination, if that's that's not a a good train of thought, because despite how popular the type of Perry movies are, especially making money, okay. They're not making that much money. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:28

Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. Let's go let's step back, let's step back. Okay, so Kimberly, all I see here is diary of my blah blah blah. So, okay, she out. Okay. Oh, sh I know. Okay, it's Vivek A. Fox and Kill Bill.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Uh no.

SPEAKER_06 8:48

Damn it!

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Kill Bill did not make that much money either. So Kill Bill.

SPEAKER_06 8:52

I mean Okay, maybe I'm just saying my favorite movies.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

You are Diary of a Mad Black Woman, just to back it up, made $50 million. Uh, that's not bad. It's not, but some of these there are blockbuster movies on this list that you're missing. Kill Bill Volume 1 made $176 million.

SPEAKER_05 9:14

I mean, that is good. Okay, okay, okay. So it's not that.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Those numbers combined don't even touch the top grossing movie.

SPEAKER_05 9:21

What? Okay, so then we gotta go Queen. I mean, the Queen is the Queen, fine. But I can't think of a movie that she's been in that gross that like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Um so or you can go Jada. Your selection is Queen Latifah, or who are you who are you picking?

SPEAKER_04 9:44

I know, I know, I know, I know. I'm trying I'm trying to work through that catalog in my head.

SPEAKER_05 9:47

Like Jada is like oh shit. It is it is Jada for Matrix.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Close. Okay, I'll give this to you. I'll give this to you. I'll give this to you. It would be if we were only talking live action.

SPEAKER_05 10:04

Oh my god. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

So don't forget, a couple of these ladies have been in animated movies. So if we're talking live action movies, you are absolutely correct. Matrix Reloaded uh gross $738 million. However, there's some animated movies that beat that.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Oh wasn't Queen Letty fan uh was she was she the the damn hippo in Zootopia?

SPEAKER_05 10:38

I don't know Queen, I love you. My bad, my bad, my bad, my bad, my bad. She's a freaking hippo? I feel like she might be, but she also might not be. I don't know. I might have just called her fat for no reason. My fault.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

I don't think no, she's not in Zootopia. I don't I don't believe so at all. No, she's not, she's definitely not.

SPEAKER_05 10:55

No, not in Zootopia. Uh Madagascar, I meant that's what I meant.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Oh, okay. Um oh my god, you said Zootopia. So I was like, what the hell? Okay, who? Queen? No, wrong. You're mixing it up. Jada Pinkett is in is in Madagascar.

SPEAKER_05 11:09

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah. So let me give you the answer here. So the the answer is it is Queen of Tifa for the Ice Age franchise. Ice Age 3, Don the Dinosaurs made $886 million.

SPEAKER_05 11:26

What was she? A sloth. She's one of the not a sloth.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

No, she's the Willy Mammoth person. The girl bird? Yes, she's a mammoth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Ellie. No, come back. Um, and then Jada Pinkett with Madagascar 3 made $746 million.

SPEAKER_04 11:48

All right. I mean, I was I was swinging and I was I was fouling. I was fouling. I was I was tipping. I was catching a tip. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

All right. All right. Yes. Each swing was you were getting better closer to closer to making on beast, but you know. Alright.

Early Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 12:04

So that's enough for most of my background stuff. Let's just get into this movie. Because this movie is considered to be a cult classic in cinema, definitely in African American culture, in black cinema, set it off is is just considered to be a hit. What were your takes and feelings of this movie?

SPEAKER_05 12:26

Ooh, so okay. Great question. Great question. So I've watched this, I actually seen set it off before. Have you?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Okay. I had not, no. It was one of my I need, I must watch this, and then I was shame that I haven't watched it.

SPEAKER_05 12:40

So that's fair. That's fair. Um so I've seen it before, and I I love this movie. Or I did. Um I did. Um, I think yeah, I had to I had to change that a little bit as I was watching it. I was like, what the hell is this? Like I don't know. Uh it was just interesting. It was the one thing I did like, and I think you mentioned it before, it was like a little lighthearted compared to some of the other choices we had. They were that were kind of heavy and drama and more like, you know, um I did enjoy obviously the the plight of black women. Uh you know, I like to see black women on TV and you know, representing and looking like me, so I did enjoy that, but I you know it's it's a struggle. My biggest struggle was my biggest struggle was trying to put myself in their position. Um because not because they you know, obviously I understand, but like they just moved way too fast. And I, you know, but they were in a they were in a space where they were essentially broke. Like, I mean, I mean they're like broke, broke. Like they were like uh what's uh the the the gentleman uh who the gentleman the bank robbers who robbed the bank like at the in the beginning scene they they got away with twenty thousand dollars and they were like twenty thousand dollars? Oh my god, and I'm like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, girl, you've run through that movie so fast. This is not in like the 50s or something, right? It's just the nineties. I mean, yes, there's some inflation, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:22

I looked it up, it was it's the equivalent of forty-six thousand dollars. I was like, Okay, yeah, I'm not excited. I'm not excited for 46. I'm sorry. I'm like, all right. I mean, it for sure, but this is not a few. Yeah, I didn't I didn't roll my eyes. I just I was like, I mean, hey, it wasn't it was I laughed because of uh uh Frankie's character where she was like, yo, I'm about to set it off. They're like, hey, we didn't even look at this place. She was like, okay, get down. I was like, oh shit, okay, I guess we she didn't give a shit. She was like, I'm robbing this bank, whether y'all here or not. Um like that, that was pure luck that they didn't get caught from that moment. But after that, they just spiraled way too fast, and you know, they they they they were got too big for the bridges. This is like a badass movie to me. Like, oh my god, this is amazing. And then I watched it now, and I'm like, okay, that was that was very underwhelming uh the second time around. But I mean, you know, it's still good.

The Opening Heist And Frankie’s Fallout

SPEAKER_05 15:30

I mean, we gotta start with the with the beginning scene.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Let's do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:33

You gotta start with the beginning scene. So as you explain, you know, it starts out with Frankie. She says that you know, she's like, hey, Darnell. And Darnell pulls out a gun and says, Hey, give me your wallet or give me the money, blah, blah, blah. Like, hey, don't you gotta do this? He like, fuck that, turns around. Everybody get down. Okay. Yeah, I mean, Darnell, Darnell cared about the coins. He wasn't friends and that. They probably were. They probably legit. It was like, hey, you know, but not in that moment. That's like that's a difference between like work and like a play play. Like, you like, I'm at work right now. Um But it was just um obviously, and this just starts the this starts the the theme of these women being uh traumatized, and everyone just kind of like get the fuck over it type of thing. So uh you start out with Frankie, she watches a woman get shot right in front of her. Um immediately she's pulled into the back office, not even at the police station, but like at the bank where she just watched someone die, or a few people die, actually, and she was just robbed, traumatized herself, and was immediately said, Axe, oh you're in collusion with these folks. Why did you how do you happen? Why did you know him? Blah blah blah. She literally has blood on her face and you know, on her clothes, and you know. Obviously, if she was any other color, she would not have been treated like that. So of course not that was that was absolutely terrible. The the police were terrible, and it's just like and unfortunately, they had a black woman as a police officer, and she was just sipping her water, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

I wrote down, I wrote a home girl is is is drinking her water and manning her business.

SPEAKER_05 17:19

Yeah, she didn't give a shit. She's like, anyway, you know, Frankie's like, you didn't even offer me like a glass of water, like literally, she had dried this woman's dried blood, they didn't a cloth to wipe her face, nothing. Just yeah. What do you what did you think at the beginning there?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Yeah, you know, that that scene when that scene happened, um that that scene shows the range of emotions that kind of happens throughout the overarching over um just throughout the entire movie, where like I'm laughing about her being like, hey Darnell, what's up? And he's like, shut the fuck up and give me the money. And I'm like, oh shit, like Darnell's, he can, you know, he's not here to play. Um, and then the escalation into killing that lady was so sudden. I was like, holy shit, this is I thought this is batshit. And then we get hit with this realism. And you know, I have my my overall thoughts. I'm gonna just give it to you up front because this is what's gonna guide me when we talk about specific scenes throughout the movies. And I felt there's an element of realism that can be jarring when it pops up, right? You'll be having fun watching a movie, and then something tragic happens, but not in a Hollywood tragedy sense, right? Is the tragedy is that this can and has happened in real life, so that makes it uncomfortable. You know, it makes fun uncomfortable watching certain moments, but it helps ground the film and it makes the characters feel like real people, just as importantly, it makes the world feel real. So that scene um is the first one that I have here because I said I listed the scenes that I feel match that description. And Frankie getting fired is the first one because just because she's black and the the robber was black, they're like, hey man, you you know that guy, you know that guy, he's from your hood, you know, and then they fire her with no just no cause, no even real in the suspected, they didn't even do an actual investigation, you know, none of that. And the way she was treated, it just this scene didn't necessarily was annoyed more than anything at this scene, just because just uh, here we go, right? But there are other scenes that happen in a movie that like made me angry or sad or just disgust me. Uh, but yeah, this this first scene, I'm like, okay, it's giving me to me, it gives you a whole taste of what this movie's gonna be. You're gonna have some lighthearted fun, but no, we do have some statements to make. We are going to shine a light on things that happen in real life that black people have to deal with, that black women have to deal with. So yeah, that's the first scene definitely helped set the tone for the movie.

SPEAKER_05 19:59

I agree. I agree. Like I said, I I I I'm aligned with it being a staple, and I'm aligned with the stories it was telling. The bank robbing part is what throws me. But like, if there was some other story in there to come if there was something else in there, it had been like more like, okay, this is this is more like telling, but uh, it kept taking me out in and out of it of like, oh crap, ah, we're back to here. Oh crap, and we're back to here. So I don't know. But yes, it's very jarring. Um, the thing. I mean, yeah, each woman individually goes through her own trap trap uh trauma and then immediately is like asked to perform.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah.

Character Intros And The Rooftop Bond

SPEAKER_01 20:38

So after that scene, right? So we we do go and we get to meet the rest of the ladies, right? Um there's a nice needle drop when uh I believe flashlight uh starts to play. Um does this take us straight into the 70s party. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where we get to meet um, like I said, the others are we in addition to that, we meet Stony's son, Stevie, who reveals That's his brother. Sorry, brother. I'm sorry, brother, who reveals that uh well I didn't get into UCLA like I planned or wanted to or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 21:13

Well, first he says I didn't get a scholarship.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Correct.

SPEAKER_05 21:18

And he thought that was gonna like okay, she was gonna say, okay, well, I guess you can't go. But then Stoney devises a plan to make that money real quick.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

So, which takes us to our next scene of just like drawing realism where you know Stoney has to they introduce Nate, right? Her old boss, the car, the car salesman.

SPEAKER_05 21:40

And Nate is absolutely sleazy. He looks sleazy, looks like he smells sleazy, he looked like he's griefy.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Roth. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 21:48

The epitome of a sleazy car salesman.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Oh my god, yeah. And you know, she she went and she had she had sex with him for some money to um get get her. Her brother into college.

SPEAKER_05 22:01

How much could he have possibly have given her? Like that's what I'm saying. Like what was the number? What was the number? Like, was it like 300? Like, what is that? Like, nowhere. Did she?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

It had to have been a couple grand. Because we're talking. Say again.

SPEAKER_05 22:23

I I had to thought I was just thinking about it of like, okay, because I guess the whole premise, not only would she have to have sex with him to get have sex with him to get the money, but she also was going to work for him. And the whole thing was she wanted an advance. So maybe it was a couple thousand, but they're they're like happy about like seven dollars an hour, eight dollars an hour. Like, what kind of advance is that? They'll take forever to pay that shit off. She'll never have money.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Well, which is why she ripped it up when she didn't need it. Because at first I was like, well, just use that money, and then I'm like, wait, no, no, no, no. She can never pay that shit back. So, quick search here, right?

SPEAKER_05 22:55

And to be honest, if I was Nate, I would have put a stop check on that shit. I'll be honest. After she left, I'd have just.

unknown 23:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Why do you hate women? What is going on here? What is going on here?

SPEAKER_05 23:11

I'm just calmly saying I would not have accepted a check because what the fuck? Like, you better pay me cash and stop playing with my life. She made that money. She did what she had to do, but unfortunately, look what she had to do.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Yeah, and I don't know. That whole scene was just pretty fucked up. Right after that, we get introduced to we get to see what's going on with TT, right? Uh, she's a single mom. And so they all work with this dude, Luther, who's also the worst. Um, he was fucking hilarious. That Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line that Bro, I wrote it down.

SPEAKER_05 23:50

I was messed up. You're like, what are you fucking in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers? Get back to work. I was like, oh shit. Outta laughed in the back two.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Um, outside of the hilarity, he's a fan so and um he's paying the minimum wage. He promised to pay TT under the table, uh, which was I guess a lie, or I don't know what. But she can't now afford to pay for her child care. Um, because you know, she said half her money, but probably not half, but at least probably like 40% of it is going to, you know, the IRS and whatnot. So that's that is what she's dealing with. Cleo, what was Cleo's plight? Like, I don't, I just Cleo was just a criminal. Like, I mean, she used to do car robberies and stuff. Yeah. I don't feel like it ever established why Cleo needed money.

SPEAKER_05 24:44

I think she's just a victim of her victim of the system, victim of what she grew up. I mean, obviously, in uh generally seems like a poorer neighborhood, you know. I think they're in South Central LA. Um, you know, she grew up, you know, having to boost cars, maybe probably was on the street having to I mean they didn't say this directly, but just kind of looking at who she was. Um, you know, when they were like kind of explaining the plan and they were like, hey, the cow is gonna be passing. She's like, don't be a cow in there? It's like you know, obviously not uh you know, she's street smart, but you know, maybe not so much book smart, which you know. So I think she was just a a person of her environment is really her thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Okay, and I I suppose that's fine. Um, which I guess that's that's that's fine. Um because I didn't have a problem with Cleo's character. I really liked her character. Um, but we did get a sense of all of um all this stuff that happens in the beginning here, it leads us to the rooftop scene, right?

SPEAKER_05 25:46

Yeah. Why were they up there?

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Uh smoking a joint. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_05 25:50

I mean, I I know what they were doing. Why were they up there?

SPEAKER_01 25:53

I don't know, but it seemed like that was the spot. But uh before I give you my thoughts, how'd you feel? What'd you feel about the rooftop scene? How would you feel about it?

SPEAKER_05 26:06

Um well, you know, so so part of the rooftop scene that kind of kicks off the idea of them saying, Yeah, we don't we need to rob it, is that uh they were looking at some kind of plant, I don't know what kind of plant, but some kind of manufacturing plant where they're and they're like, Yeah, before it shut down, you know, they used to be some giving people some amount of money, some good money. They're like, man, I do this for this money, I do that for that money. Um again, it just kind of shines light of like essentially to survive, this is the only thing they're really thinking about. Like, they're not really thinking about the consequences, or like it's like every time something traumatic happens, the answer is money. And it kind of made you think, like, you know, is that true? Like a lot of people say money is the root of all evil, but then it's also like is it? What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Um no, no.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

I mean, that's not to me that I've always thought that statement is an oversimplification. Um of course, you know, we as human beings we run into problems when we overvalue materi the material. Um, and we do run into all kinds of problems. But um like I'm not also gonna pretend that having money doesn't fucking help make your life easier. It's problems, it can solve any problems, at least. Yeah, it improves it improves, it objectively improves your quality of life. I'm sorry, like it does. So um no money is in everything, and of course, money can be someone's downfall, it's been many of people's downfall, right? But uh I'm pretty sure a lot of the people that live in poverty and even whatever the hell the fucking middle classes consider these days um would love to have a lot of goddamn money, you know, um, and it would improve their lives, period. So that that yeah, that's to me that's it's an oversimplification. Um that's so for me, so for me, that scene, uh, I didn't really care about the text, you know, to be honest, what they were saying. Um I really like the rooftop scene. It stood out to me because I feel like it really demonstrated the chemistry that the actresses had with each other. And it made me believe that these four ladies knew each other, they grew up together, or they knew each other from the neighborhood. I believe that they were friends. Like the even the interaction, like the conversation they were having, it felt very organic and real. Yeah. It felt like four friends kicking it, you know, ribbing each other, arguing a little bit, laughing with each other. Um, I really enjoyed it. And I did stumble onto the the behind the scenes the director's um commentary on the movie, and he did talk about one of his big things was making sure that these ladies knew one another. So he would tell them, hey, like, y'all need to go have lunch, have dinner together, go watch a movie together, hang out with one another. He made he would make time for them to actually go and spend time together so they can get to know each other. And I really think it paid off in this movie, and I really think it helps to elevate the movie, especially when a lot of the crazy plot shit that we're about to get into starts to happen.

SPEAKER_05 29:31

Yeah, I actually didn't I didn't um Yeah, I didn't get that. I mean I I get it now that you're saying it, it shines light on it, but it didn't really stand out to me like that. Interesting. There were any more friends than like yeah. To me, that like I said, the bigger thing that stuck out me in that scene was the manufacturing plant. Just because I I'm kind of assuming that maybe their parents or their grandparents used to work there, everybody lost their job, and now it's just kind of a continuous wheel of poverty because Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every time they try to every time they have something good, you know, it's close enough to their neighborhood where they could like sit there and smoke wheat. So it's probably like dead in the middle of the neighborhood. Um, people are making good money, you know, streets are probably safer, and then the company leaves and everything kind of goes down with it.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

So that's a good takeaway. That is a good takeaway. I definitely miss that. Uh

Police Violence And Stevie’s Death

SPEAKER_01 30:28

so after that scene, we go to um well, the next major thing that happens in a movie is Stevie confessing to Stoney that he did not get into UCLA because he was not accepted, not because he didn't get the money. And she busts that boy the most justified slap I've ever seen on TV in my life. Okay, and he's lucky he got well the second most because a more justifiable slap happened later in the same movie. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:01

But nah, man, like slap him, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Her face, when he said that shit, she she couldn't even get mad, she didn't even have time or energy to get mad at him, not making it into college. She was just like, You fucking kidding me? I had to live up with nasty ass, greasy ass fucking Nate to get you money to get into this school. That if you had told me that you that you know the the truth earlier, then we would have moved on and we would have figured some shit else out. But yeah, she fucked she was so pissed off.

SPEAKER_05 31:34

She was fairly pissed off. Also, did he not apply to any other school? He just did UCLA. There's so many schools in California.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

I but I think I don't think he wants to go to college at all. So I think he picked just UCLA because that's like the shining, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

It's UCLA and Well, he didn't think he was gonna get in, so he applied.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Maybe leave me alone and blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_05 31:59

Because it was clearly her dream.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

It sounds like he had good grades in school though.

SPEAKER_05 32:03

Yeah, it could have been so you know, he wasn't into too bad of I mean, he obviously hung around some particular fools, but he doesn't look like he was involved at all. Personally, let me just tell you, sir. You rob a bank, and I'm aware I'm staying away from you for at least six months. I'm gonna be honest. Like, I'm not talking to you.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Please do not call me for six months, okay? That's the immediately next scene, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:26

So Lorenz robbed a bank. It was a poor fucking bank job, and he just went home to kick it with his girl. What is going on here?

SPEAKER_05 32:35

Like everybody knows. He's like, hey man, I heard you rob a bank. He's like, What? No, I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Secret.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

And then he has this distinguishable uh haircut.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

I just I could not understand why Lorenz was sitting in his living room just chilling. And so and then Stevie, for as smart as he is, but he's ultimately a stupid kid because he goes to hang out with a dude who clearly has a lot of heat on him and just goes to kick it at his house, right? Yeah. I I just that was ridiculous. That was ridiculous. You know, and then it lead it so it leads to predictably my next scene of realism, right? Which is the police rolls on um Lorenz's house because they everyone fucking knew who he was. Um and they catch Stevie coming out who had just got convinced to get the same type of haircut that Lorenz did. So the police in the dark were able to spot the AP designing his hair, but not spot that that wasn't the fucking dude that they were looking for. Like, which is it? You know, is it dark and you can't see, or is it light enough for you to tell discernible features about the person? I don't know. So they immediately surround him and um tell him to get down on the ground, and he eventually starts to comply, and he realizes he has a champagne bottle, so he can't fully get prone on the ground. So he goes to remove it, and some jackass yells, gun, and the entire tee of LAPD lights up this kid as he's laying there on the fucking ground holding, clutching a champagne bottle. Again, here's another moment that just like pulls you out of the fun, right? And it's like, oh shit. Like you like and and I it was foreshadowed that something was gonna happen to the kid. I thought he was gonna get arrested. You know, I I didn't think he was gonna get killed, I thought he was gonna get arrested. And yeah, so so I don't know. I mean, well I'll let you I'll let you speak on the scene.

SPEAKER_05 34:47

Um yeah, so I mean, yes, if I take myself out of it and pretend for a second, yeah, it seems like Yeah, who's gonna have to get arrested or something like that, but um no, I didn't you know I didn't think they would light him up, but yeah, they did. Not not only did they shoot, they really shot to kill, which was like, alright, like this is and this is um kind of very indicative of of LA at the time, LAPD.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Um the riots that happened recently, right?

SPEAKER_05 35:22

Right, right. Um, of course we weren't alive yet. There was is that 89?

SPEAKER_00 35:27

It was like uh no, there were 92. Was it 92? Yeah, 92.

SPEAKER_05 35:31

So we were alive a little bit, but we weren't there. But yeah, uh with Ronnie King, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Uh Ronnie King, I think was the catalyst for it, yes.

SPEAKER_05 35:39

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they beat the shit out of him and then they everybody, right? So yeah, so you know, everybody's scared of these essentially uh not scared of these thugs who get away with murder all the time. Um but yeah, watching it now, you know, the dude was he wasn't like it wasn't like he was not complying. Like he was immediately trying to comply, but it's hard to lay down straight when you have something sticking in you, especially a hard glass bottle. Like it's not something soft, you can just kind of like, okay, I'm just gonna lay here. Um you know, it is dark, it is um, you know, it is dark. And I'm not a police officer. I I don't know what I'm gonna do. But two things happened for me in that scene. One, it took me to um Tamir Rice, and uh specifically because the Tamir Rice shooting and killing was here in Cleveland, Ohio, uh, where I happened to be.

SPEAKER_06 36:36

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 36:36

Uh where you know he was in the middle of a playground with a fake gun, very clearly fake, and the cop rolled up within 10 seconds, the dude was dead. Um and then um so it's pointing to this shit is still happening. And and obviously Camille Rice is not the only person, it's it's happening all the time, even now. Um even to some people who don't even look like us um now with uh certain political things happening. So um so yeah, it's just sad. It made you sad of like, damn, like as a kid, I I don't think I ever really recognize what I'm looking at. And that's that's the amazing part for me right now. Like they always like, they always say, Oh, you're a kid, you don't understand. And you're like, Yes, I do. I have I I know I do, but you really, really don't until you get into until you really live life and like understand like these things become so much more impactful and so much more like goddamn, like like you said, it's like ha ha ha ha ah shit. Another black man just murdered. You know, maybe he wasn't going to college that year, but maybe he was next next next year, or maybe got you know, start a community college, and then you know, if he cures cancer, whatever the hell he does with his life, maybe he ends up working at McDonald's, whatever, but give him a chance, and you know, he should have been there, yes, but full stop. Police should not be murdering people in the street. Like you are not judge, jury, executioner. Um and then it took me into the second point, which is the thing that I forgot his damn name, which is bad. The doctor from Scrubs, the the office.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

McGinley. Yeah, I don't remember his but McGinley is the actress name.

SPEAKER_05 38:23

McGinley. Okay, so McGinley uh pressures Frankie and says, What's the procedure when you're being robbed? What's the procedure when you're being robbed? And it's just like anybody with a gun in their face is gonna freak out. It doesn't matter like how much you practice, like unless you're gonna unless you're practicing repeatedly a gun in your face, like somebody could tell you all the time, hey, do this when this happens. And you're like, all right, all right, all right. And then it happens, and fight or flight, it's literally a physiological response that you can't control. People do best to do something about it, but you can't control it. So when you know he was uh hammering her about that, like she was supposed to just be ready, it was just like, well, where were you? Why why didn't you like hold out? Why didn't you chill out? Like give it a second, like you just immediately freaked out, like, oh a gun, even though it wasn't a gun, oh a gun, and fire. And like you didn't do nothing. Like immediately you went to I need to protect myself, which is what she did when she did it.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Well, the detective he didn't shoot, it was his officers.

SPEAKER_05 39:27

Yeah, yeah. I I I I know I'm talking about him, but you know, it starts top down for me. Like, if you're on a hundred percent, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

Where was the scene of him reprimanding all those fucking dudes for shooting the kid, right?

SPEAKER_05 39:39

Right. Um like he did his like half, no, no, no, no, stay with me. And you're like, bro, get the book out of here.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

The

TT, CPS, And Breaking Points

SPEAKER_01 39:47

next scene is another tough scene because now we're here. Um all the so all the ladies after Frankie got fired, she's now working with them at a cleaning company. Uh TT shows up now and she has her son with her because she had to she couldn't afford a babysitter. Right. And um essentially she rests down the boy in a very unsafe spot. Like, forget the chemicals. It was like a couch next to like this table. I'm like, he's gonna bust his head on this fucking table. I'm like, that had to have been a better place. But anyway, the joan, I think was his name. The the the child goes off to go wander around with kids.

SPEAKER_06 40:28

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

I don't know what it was, right? But I'm gonna tell you this. The first time that happened, I tried to watch the movie twice, I skipped this scene in a second time as I can't do this. You know, I'm a parent, I have a newborn in the house. I can't, I don't have the stomach for this shit. Listen, after uh my my son was born, it got harder and harder for me to watch kids getting attacked and all this bullshit. I just so I have a little soft spot when kids are being harmed in television or film. Um, so that's that scene that scene was tough for me. Thank God they didn't show the kid in agony, but his screams and crying didn't.

SPEAKER_05 41:06

Yeah, he was screaming. I don't know if there was a recording. I'm assuming it was, but that kid was obviously in pain. It's somehow, some way.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

And the doctor's like, all right, I think he'll be fine. Every single thing?

SPEAKER_00 41:19

Let me think he'll be fine, yes or no?

SPEAKER_05 41:24

I think he'll be alright. Oh, when can I see him? Oh, well, you gotta talk to this uh social worker now.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Like, oh yeah, so here comes item uh CPS. Here comes item number four on my list, which is TT dealing with CPS. Um, here we have um a black woman in a low economic state, not able to provide for her child, doing what she can to make ends meet. She makes a misguided decision in bringing her child to work, but she literally had no nothing else to do is either bring him to work or don't work, and I can't feed us at all. Um the child gets harmed, and here comes CPS to pull the kid out of the home because she is she needs to prove now that she's a fit parent.

SPEAKER_05 42:09

Yeah. Unless she can afford to have him there.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:14

So now we have the motivation for everybody, right? Uh Stony wants to get out of the area. You know, she just lost her brother. Yeah, CT is losing her son. Frankie's pissed off because they fired her, and Cleo wants to make money. So now we're like, alright. Let's rob a bank. We're robbing a bank. We're robbing a bank.

The First Heist And Its Aftermath

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Okay. So, all right. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, listeners. Their first, the first activist movie was a lot of setup, so it sounds a lot of oppression shit has been happening. But now let's have some fun, right? Because now we're planning this bank robbery, right?

SPEAKER_06 42:55

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:56

And when they were planning the the heist, and Frankie's trying to go through the plan with them, and Cleo is getting so fucking frustrated. And she says, she says, Why can't we just get bucked with those motherfuckers and get in there and take all their fucking money? And the heat in which Queen Atifa delivered that line laid me the hell out. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 43:18

Cleo's ready to roll. She was so what are we planning for? Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Listen, I was dying with laughter. And then this is when they were trying to explain to her like the cow and all this thing.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

Uh, she just cows in there, and Stony. Are you fucking stupid?

SPEAKER_01 43:36

She says, Stop smoking weed. Like, she was so disappointed in her friend.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

Like, fuck, dude. Like, are you dumb or like stop?

SPEAKER_01 43:45

Oh my god. So that I that was one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Just again, there's a four of them talking and and trying to figure this shit out.

SPEAKER_05 43:53

But I don't know what Titi was doing. She was like outside the car.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Nothing. Because she's because she's not for this, she's not about this. Life. We get to the bank now, and okay, so there's a scene in which Jada and Titi are scoping out a bank, casing a bank, and Jada starts floating.

SPEAKER_05 44:14

The most obvious fucking casing I've ever seen in my life.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Crazy, crazy stuff. Crazy stuff. But they spend time casing that bank and then they don't rob that bank. They walk into a random bank and they're like, let's rob this right now.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

She said, it's all the same, bro. But my and they're having this conversation at the bank.

SPEAKER_04 44:35

They were outside the bank in their freaking wigs with the guns in their hands. Like they're like, yo, we shouldn't rob this. Like, yes, we should. I'm like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 44:45

They're arguing about whether or not they should rob this fucking bank. They're in the bank. I'm like, why don't you guys talk about this beforehand? You know? Yeah. And then we're like, I'm sorry. TT running away was so fucking hilarious.

SPEAKER_05 44:57

I was like, that's drawing attention. Like, I would have been like, what the fuck? She was in a wig, running out, flailing her arms, and just turned the corner. I'm like, all right. They should have been caught immediately.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

So they go and I know we saw a planning scene, but again, they were planning for a different bank, so I don't know what the point of it was. And they go in there. I'm not sure what the plan really was, but they did it in 60 seconds, which is really good. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what they did in their planning to make them execute a robbery in 60 seconds, though. Like there was it there was no explanation of that. They just walked in there and no one tried to kill them, so they were able to get away. And that's really cool.

SPEAKER_05 45:42

Yeah, like uh, what's her name? Um Frankie says she she knows it. She knows the bank, she knows what to happen. She said, Yeah, she got it.

SPEAKER_01 45:51

So were they were they robbing the same branch? No, they weren't. They were robbing different branches, too.

SPEAKER_05 45:57

Like, yeah, but I guess everybody has the same protocol of like what to do.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

So Wells Fargo and Chase Bank have the exact same protocols.

SPEAKER_05 46:05

Hey, that's according to the 90s movie, that's what they're saying.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:12

Reach for your right, reach for your clip, your money clip with your right hand and press the alarm, I guess. What if you left-handed and like kind of wear with your right hand? Like, what you I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Listen, she said it's all the same. So we're just gonna assume it is.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

So they execute this robbery, right? And they getaway, they make it back to their hideout lair. I don't know, club?

SPEAKER_05 46:32

Or garage.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Garage. Um, and they go in there and they count up the money, and then TT walks in and Stoney's like, Did you lock the door?

SPEAKER_00 46:43

And I'm like, Did you lock the door? Because Yeah, you didn't lock it. She just walked the fuck in. Like, what the hell? She walked right in.

SPEAKER_05 46:49

So they're carrying the gun. I mean, Cleo pulls a gun. I'm suppressing she wrote.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

Oh god, yeah. Well, she fucking fired one off, and no one, I guess they're in a shitty neighborhood, so the police no one called the police, but yeah, um, they sold $12,000. And I don't know how many of you mathematicians are out there, but $12,000 is four people. That's $3,000 a person. And listen. Well, before I get to that comment, so they're divvying it up, and Stoney's like, here you go, TT, and Frankie goes all fucking appropriately says she ain't do shit.

SPEAKER_04 47:27

She ain't getting nothing. Get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

I know, and I don't know. Frankie was Frankie was wild in at certain points, man. Like she because she says, she says to her, nah, you're not gonna get this money. And then Titi's like, I don't need your money. Uh I don't want your money, Frankie. That's weird. And then Frankie's like, man, I'm sorry, man. I'm just emotional. And then Titi's like, I really need that money.

SPEAKER_05 47:56

That's literally how it went. That's literally word for word. I swear that was it. I like it was weird. I was like, I don't need your money. Oh, my bad. You know, I actually do need it, if you don't mind. Like, actually, I kid back. Like, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:11

That was weird. So, so they split up their whopping $3,000, right? And now the cops are trying to figure out what's going on. And I'm sorry, these cops are shitty. Everything is circumstantial, and they just jump to conclusions.

SPEAKER_00 48:24

All of a sudden he's like, Oh, you remember Frankie from the one robbery that she wasn't a part of that we thought that she was a part of? Okay, well, her friend's brother just died, and like he just spins this crazy story.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

And I was so glad the chief of police was like, No, the fuck are you talking about? No, you can't go and arrest them. That makes no goddamn sense. You just killed her fucking brother in the streets, and this evidence that you have, it's all circumstantial, it makes no sense. Like, what? So I I don't know, but then of course, later on. So while I'm watching the movie, right? Larisa's watching them, and she's like, Well, because the disguises were a bunch of wigs, and she was saying it's a shitty disguise. Well, I don't think so. Well, yeah, so the face is clear if you watch them in person. The cameras are shitty, they're terrible.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

Yeah, I don't know, I don't know what the hell is.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

But then later on in the movie, they zoom in on the camera and they're like, Oh, I know exactly who that is. What? I thought that same grainy footage that you showed us at the beginning. Now it's clear as day, you know exactly who it is.

SPEAKER_05 49:30

He's like, Oh, I know who that is. He got up all like, ha, bam, bam, work with me. They're the same people. I was like, oh, okay. Well, whatever. I mean, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

So we flashed to we we jumped to Cleo now, who's having a sexy party with her fucking girlfriend who doesn't talk. We forgot to talk about Ursula. There's not much to say. She says nothing the entire movie.

SPEAKER_03 49:52

She said, mm-hmm. She said, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

She did say I think like twice. But so she's having a sexy party with Ursula, and I don't understand. How the fuck did she crash out over $3,000 like that?

SPEAKER_00 50:08

The girl? Ursula? No, Cleo. She crashed out because she spent all her money and they come on, they're like, she quit her fucking job for $3,000.

SPEAKER_01 50:18

She went and somehow afforded a new car, bought all this lingerie, bought fucking expensive liquor and shit with $3,000 and just blew through her money.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

And then she's like, I need more money. And it's like, bitch, what what is your deal? Like, chill the fuck out. Yeah. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 50:35

I really I was I was a little lost on timeline. It feels like real fast. And I'm like, okay, but like the things they were doing could have been fast. Like, I didn't think she bought a new car, I thought it was the old car she fixed up.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

I'm like, I think okay, maybe that's what it is then.

SPEAKER_05 50:52

How about she got a pain job and new rims and all that, like, done in like a day? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

Yes, the timeline, yes, but my thing is you don't that's not a lot of money. Nah, nah, nah. Because I mean you could spend three thousand dollars in a day if you want. That's that's some that's a crazy stuff. I'm buying the TV. But but you can spend three thousand dollars in a day pretty easily without even trying very hard, you know. Yeah, but that's double. That's why I don't understand why like the other girls that oh, we put our money away. I was like, I don't know where the fuck you put it because you all have bills, you're broke. So, you know, and then Cleo just went on this spree. So she pulls a gun on Stony, and Stony slaps the shit out of her, which, yeah, that was the right booth because why are you pulling a gun on me? You know?

SPEAKER_05 51:39

Um I mean it was very like like you said, I think the bond and like this, like they felt like it felt like genuine, like a genuine friendship there. I it felt like a genuine friendship there. I mean not not that the roof didn't, but that really felt like friends who are like low-key being a little corrupt by money here, and like one is like yo, we're we have enough, and the next one's like, no, we don't, we need more, and they're just kind of like everybody else is split of like yeah, I need more, no, I don't. Like, even Frankie like killed me. First, Frankie was like facing fucking uh Cleo, and she's like, Cleo, chill out, and then like Cleo's like, I need more money. Frankie spun around, like, yeah, where you will get more money from. I like literally, like the next the next second.

SPEAKER_04 52:21

She's like, Yeah, and that's all you got. We're gonna need more. I was like, what the fuck? You was just against her.

SPEAKER_05 52:28

She literally spun around and changed her mind by the time she finished spinning.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

And I was like, That's my thing with Frankie, is her character is a little erratic.

SPEAKER_05 52:37

I like it. I like it. I like it. Some people say I like a little danger in my in my women.

SPEAKER_01 52:42

So that's fine.

SPEAKER_05 52:44

Hey.

SPEAKER_01 52:44

But her danger was different. It was like a like a repressed danger that she was like releasing. Like Cleo's just, you know, Cleo's danger. Cleo's out there. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? But Frankie, like, if she's been repressed, and now she's letting that shit out, and now she don't know how to act. It's it's wild.

SPEAKER_05 53:01

She had a taste of her high life, and she's like, oh, I need more.

SPEAKER_01 53:04

So after this, right, they we end up in this random godfather scene after they try to um now they're trying to re um what am I trying to say?

SPEAKER_05 53:17

Just makeup or rekindle.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

Yeah, makeup, right? Rekindle, rekindle their friendship. So there's this godfather scene where they're sitting across this giant table, I guess like a conference table in the place they're cleaning or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did this scene, did this scene work for you? Yeah.

unknown 53:32

I liked it.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

You liked it? Oh, really? What'd you like about it?

SPEAKER_05 53:37

Um, I mean, they were just, they were just again, again, in this scene, it also just felt like they were just like genuine friends.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

Friends goofing off, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:46

Goofing off, and and then they shove uh, I think uh uh Vibica or something.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

She had cotton balls or something.

SPEAKER_05 53:51

Frankie had cotton ball in her actual mouth to like make the puppy. What the fuck?

unknown 53:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:57

Like it was stupid, and it was like it was a it was a good way to lighten it because that's a big shit. Like, I don't know if you point a gun in my face and press it against my cheek, I don't know if I'm coming back from that one.

SPEAKER_06 54:10

That's hard.

SPEAKER_05 54:11

I I don't know. I don't know. Like, you might boy, I love you to death, my guy, but like the level of I don't know if I'm coming back from that one.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

So that's crazy work. But you know, I but you know what though? I think why it would be hard, like if one of us hits each other, why it would be hard is because it's so far out of character for us.

SPEAKER_05 54:32

This is true. This is true. If I just randomly be using guns all the time and you're like, oh, that's just Jay, then I guess you're doing your same old bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Like, don't do that shit to me anymore. But you know, so if it's if it's within the character I uh of the person, you know, and you have that that long because they did say that they've specifically were friends from first grade, right? Yeah, like 20 years or some shit. Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's those those are the parameters in which you can come back from that. But outside of that, ugh, I don't know. That's tough. Yeah, that's tough.

SPEAKER_05 55:03

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I don't that that'd be that'd be that'd be a really we'd have to have some really good come to Jesus conversations. But I guess for them, that was what they needed. Just kind of like serious, but not like too serious to like really break it. So I liked it. Yeah. So um so you didn't like it, or what do you say? Oh, no, it was it was cool.

SPEAKER_01 55:24

It was just it was random as fuck, is all but it was cool. I didn't hate it or anything. It was it was super random. It was super random.

SPEAKER_05 55:30

I think it was I think the only way to really break the tension to like do something like to robbing banks together, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:37

Right. And you know, I will give sense about the movie is that and you see this with um it's funny because one of just one of those days is definitely uh like a spiritual successor of Friday. Um but the influences I would say from this movie it would be just we're seeing four women just kind of like live their like be be themselves, be women. Like they're not none of these women are being like stereotypes, they're not like we're not viewing them from the male perspective. You know what I'm saying? Like it's just the fact that these they were able to be silly like that. Like, yeah, women get silly with their friends sometimes. You know, you understand what I'm saying? Like, they're not just sex objects, they're not you know being used as sex objects because their hair being silly and stupid and doing this godfather thing as a hair robbing banks, it's just the the realism and the human the humanism within the scenes and that's weaved throughout you know the movie. That's why it works for me because of stuff like that. I like that so

The Second Heist And Escalation

SPEAKER_01 56:47

so now we go to bank robbery number two, and again, so now we see how terrible these ladies' situational awareness is because there's a fucking security guard outside arguing with some dude vagrant or whatever. There's like there's commotion happening.

SPEAKER_05 57:03

Already drama happening, yeah. And they still decided to go in.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

Why would you rob that bank? It made no sense.

SPEAKER_05 57:09

I I really don't I really don't think they saw it.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

I really think they were just so they walked right past it.

SPEAKER_05 57:15

I know they did, but I don't think they like you know how you just like tunnel vision, I need to do this, and like some crazy shit could be happening, and you just like, oh shit, I didn't even see that. Like, I think they were just like, I need to rob this bank right now, and they just walk right past it. But yeah, it was the beginning of their downfall. Again, they were moving too fast, just they were just taking too much too fast, and they got lucky on the first one, the second one, you know.

SPEAKER_01 57:38

I mean they got lucky again because it was it was it was an interesting touch um planting T T as a customer in the bank with the crowd.

SPEAKER_06 57:52

She's like, no, no, no. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 57:59

Like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 58:00

Bro, when when the undercover cop tried to drive his gun and she had her nice cool like you know, drop it.

SPEAKER_05 58:06

Luckily she was sitting right there. If it was like across the way, what the fuck she wanna do?

SPEAKER_01 58:10

Not a damn thing, you know, or maybe kill him because TT's off of blood, apparently. We'll get to that in a minute. So they robbed this blank bank successfully, and Queen Latifah has to go steal a different car because the getaway car was being blocked or impeded because now police has gathered on the scene outside the bank as it's being robbed because of that disturbance that's happening on the street. And Cleo decides she's gonna drive through the fucking walls. So this is where the suspension of disbelief for me stopped.

unknown 58:48

Right?

SPEAKER_01 58:51

This is where, okay. This I was this was it. This was the line. This was the line. I was good up until this point. Okay, but my thing is is she drove through several walls, and those police officers outside never fucking reacted, never responded.

SPEAKER_05 59:09

I mean, I mean, glass is shattering, people are screaming.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

It's so noisy.

SPEAKER_05 59:14

Nothing, it's so loud.

SPEAKER_01 59:16

It's like and then to double down on the absurdity, once they get out on the road. So I've been watching, I've been watching The Rookie here recently, right? Um, which is also set in LA, a different kind of LA, but set in LA as well, right? One of the problems with the rookie, I like the show, it's a good show. One of the problems with the rookie is it's never traffic. It makes LA feel small, right? There's no traffic, there's like six cops that's dealing with everything in the city, you know. But but when there is uh monumental enough um crime or something happening, you will see the numbers show up, right? I would say that a car driving through a fucking bank, speeding through downtown LA and causing several accidents is a monumental event. You're telling me that no police officers were in their car in the area and heard on the radio that this was going down. No one chased them. They sped out of there and made it back to her fucking garage cave unimpeded. That's bullshit. That's bullshit. I was like, guys, get the fuck out of here. That's not it. Not it. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:33

Again, the thing they were dealing with was very, very jarring, but the ways of getting out of it was just told in a very silly way. But you know, yeah, they're not professionals, they really just had an idea and went like shit, go for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

Yeah. Uh, but hey, they scored $246 million from that heist, right? So now that's real money. Now we're talking. Huh?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:55

What did you say? You said million. Isn't it thousand?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:58

Thousand. Sorry, thousand. Did I say million? I'm thinking box. I'm saying box office, box office number, sorry. $246,000. But still, that's now we're talking real money.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:09

Yeah, yeah, that's the money. That's the money to move, leave.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

Exactly. Right. But they didn't for whatever reason. So that's $61,500 apiece. I don't know what the adjusted for inflation is, but it's probably what close to the five years.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:26

Or put a hell of a down payment on it. But yeah, the reason why they didn't, I think, is because TT didn't have our son yet.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

True, you're right. You're right. You're absolutely right.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:35

Because other otherwise, they should have left immediately that night.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:40

But I think TT didn't have not I think TT didn't have our son yet, so they were waiting for her court date.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

Yeah. So then they decide to hide the money in the I guess. So I I gave them credit for not hiding it at their home, right? Good job. So your solution to not hiding it in the first place the police would look is to hide it in the second place the police would look? Because they're gonna check your fucking job. Like, that ain't make sense either, you know? Yeah, I don't know. And then somehow Luther finds the fucking money and he he crashes out. He he quits his job, he takes off, he finds a freaking white prostitute, and he's just I guess living it up in a shitty motel. I don't know what his end game was or his plan was. Um but yeah, so they jump in there, so now they're after him to go look for him. Stony's not with them. Why is Stoney not with them? I don't remember. I guess she's on her date, is that why? Yeah, she's on her date.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:41

Yeah. She's yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:43

Yeah. So she's getting harassed with a uh freaking uh chain right now for some reason. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:49

Yes, yes, yes, yes. With her nice matches. So the other three ladies go to confront Luther. So they track him down at his motel, and um shit pops off. Cleo pulls a gun on Luther, then Luther gets to drop on her with his own gun. Cleo goes to drop her gun, and then Titi shoots Luther from the back with her own gun very fucking quickly. Like there was no conversation, there was no okay, you know, trying to talk him loud.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:19

She was like, nah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:20

She just shoots it.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:21

Fire, fire. Like, oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

Yeah. What did you think about that scene?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:26

Okay. You said a lot in that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:29

So I know.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:30

I agree on quite a few things. They it didn't make sense what they did. I know they wanted to stick together, but every other heist movie always shows people splitting up after the shit is done. You never move together. So I understand why her name is um TT stayed because her son was literally in the system still. So she had to stay. But there's no reason why any of the other two couldn't have left with the money, hide out, wait for things to happen, you know, with give TT enough money to show that she's stable or whatever, hide out and whatever, whatever. So yeah, that part didn't make sense except to add stuff. I don't know how the hell Luther saw them. I don't know if he was hiding in the shadows. I don't know if he was looking at the camera and saw them hanging around events. I don't know. It didn't make that make sense on how he got there either. I don't know how he spent almost $250,000, I guess, in a night. Like he got a hotel room and a prostitute and a watch is all I saw and had nothing left. I was like, okay. Weird, but okay. Um obviously the scene with when they actually get there, uh, you know, Luther ended up, Luther ends up dead, and they end up threatening the prostitute, you know, like I know who you are, I know where you live, whatever, whatever. It was just, it was just it was it was like there was nothing, there was nowhere else to go. They had to just keep going because they already started like high. Like, you know, you do like a doing like a I forgot uh solo and you already start and nowhere to go but to start fucking triple quadruple tonguing and pretty much circle breathing at that point because you're already high. So you know, if it was just they couldn't bring it back down, like or else you would have just lost you really would have lost the movie. So like the Luther being shot and T T being the one doing it was just kind of like the next step of like, of course that happened, because what else would have happened at that point? So I don't know. It was just it was just a scene, but yeah, it was necessary because there was nowhere else to go. They had to lose the money, they had to be kind of on the run. Did they have to kill Luther? Probably not, but it just added to like hey, it just added to the foreshadowing of they're probably not gonna make it because yeah, they're too messy at this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:45

Very messy, very messy. So now uh

The Third Heist And Fatal Consequences

SPEAKER_01 1:05:50

the police are convinced that they have enough evidence to connect them to these robberies somehow. I don't didn't convince me, but the movie has. And so you know Detective Strode is like, yo, these ladies are it. He's following him around, and he pulls in Cleo off the street for a lineup. Why Cleo?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:12

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:12

I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:13

Why Cleo? And then she also said, Call the girls. I'm like, to do what? What the fuck? They gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:19

Listen to me. No, so I said call the girls to say what?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:22

I think she don't fucking talk. They don't make a call and just silence. They're gonna be like, hello? Hello? Hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:31

Ursula, is that you? What? Like text me. Oh, they don't even have text.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:36

They don't have fucking text. It'd be like freaking like lashy, like, what did you say, girl? She she got picked up. What she where?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:44

Oh my, I'm on my way. Like, what the fuck? They don't say shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:50

Well, hey, somehow she got them all together because somehow. I don't know what she did, but whatever. Yeah, but yeah, the white processor didn't pick Clear out of the uh of the lineup because she was right.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:05

Did they ask the question is the person who killed Luther in the lineup? And she said no, because technically she didn't kill Luther. She was there. But it was not her.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:18

I had the same thought, yeah. So yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:20

So you know right. She didn't lie.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:23

Um so they then they had to cut her loose because they didn't do any actual police work to arrest Cleo. Um, so Cleo gets back to the the garage, and of course, she's like, Alright, we gotta triple down and then go on the run. Um which because Titi still doesn't have her son as yet. Also, quick aside, ain't no way Titi was gonna take $60,000 and then show the government that she has sixty thousand dollars that she can take care of her child. They're gonna send the IRS to tear apart her fucking life and be like, where'd you get this money from? Then she was gonna get arrested. This was always not they didn't need to just kidnap that boy and then bounce.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:07

Oh, Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:10

That was that that isn't that is a state. They could have, I'm sure they knew the group home he was in or wherever he was at.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:15

So they didn't have time to establish because CPS is not gonna just be like, oh, you have money, okay, cool. Like, this shit takes time, you know, for him to release the child back into her custody. And with them escalating and getting sloppier and sloppier with their crimes, they did not have the time for that child to get released.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:32

So yeah, there was no true actual she was never gonna get the kid. You're 100% right. Like she needed, she needed to show like pay stubs and stuff like that, and she didn't get the money that way.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:41

Um she would have had to pay Luther to pay her to make it look that she you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, it was it was gonna create more problems for her. She just needs to kidnap the boy. Um, but she didn't do that, they decided to go rob a third bank. Third bank and boy's bank. Yep, yep. So the police is there and they tell the bank, hey, yeah, you know, these ladies are they might come through or they will come through. They sounded pretty convinced that that was the bank that was gonna get robbed next, but not convinced enough to leave officers on the scene to like stake out the bank, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:22

No, they left immediately afterwards. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:26

So the ladies go, they go, and they rob the fucking bank. And um they hear it on the radio.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:32

Oh, uh certain certain bike. They're like, ah shit. They literally have to turn around to go back.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:38

Assholes. And um, again, they were on their way to you know getting through a sloppy bank robbery, but that's what they've been doing. And the the two cops come in and they're like, stop. We keep saying cops, they have to be FBI, not LAPD.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:53

See, I was looking this up. I was looking this up because I was like, I don't know if FBI crime. Yes, a hundred percent. Oh, bro, bro, bro, I went through a deep dive because I thought that too. I was like, the fucking LAPD or police departments do not do bank robbery. That's an FBI thing. That's a federal crime, but but the thing that ticked me off that they were actually cops was the captain scene when they were talking to the guy of like, because he was a captain. I like FBI don't have captains, that's not a thing. Like, they don't. So they I like they have to have been cops. And I was like, so what division was this? Like, like like major crimes? Like, what is this? Like what what division is this? Yeah, because but I couldn't find the task force that made sense for the LAP to actually be in this. It should they should have been FBI agents.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:43

It should have been FBI. Honestly, um, when I first when I first wrote kind of made a joke about the the the lady drinking the water or minding her business, I said FBI chick. That's why I wrote in my notes. And then as I'm watching the movie, I'm like, oh, I guess it's LAPD. And I left it alone, but no, it it doesn't. I just think um the directors and the writers in them, they just wanted to point, draw attention to how fucked up the LAPD is, you know, especially coming off of the rights and everything. So they chose the LAPD for this, but yeah, the LAPD would not be handling this at all.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:18

Yeah. Um like initially, maybe just to like, hey, corner off the scene. But immediately the FBI would be there to like I don't know if the FBI would be there for $12,000. Probably the first one, maybe not, but like the $250,000 and then the subsequent what $600,000 or what the hell they were going for. Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

I don't even know. Yeah. Oh, I feel like something like that.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:38

Yeah, I feel like they wouldn't bet an eye at like $250,000 to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:41

That's like it's insured. That's FDIC. That's FDIC.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:46

It is insured that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:48

Victimless crime.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:50

Um then they said on TV, like, oh, they stole 90,000 when they only stole 12,000. They were like, insurance. That was funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:58

I missed that. I missed that. That's hilarious. Um so okay, we're avoiding the the to me, yeah, one of the most to me, the most tragic scene in the movie. Um the the the police come in and they tell him drop their weapons. He starts calling them up by name.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:18

Cleo, and then that's fucking you under that clear mask.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:21

Hey Stoney, you know, and um they all start putting their weapons down, except for Cleo, but TT and Stony are are dropping their weapons, and some fucking Rent a cop cowboy rent a cop and just comes diving through, firing shots off, lights T T up, and just completely fucks up the whole situation.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:47

That that scene was so aggravating for me. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:51

Yeah. Again, we're just reading.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:53

She's actively disarming herself and surrendering, you know? And homeboy just comes in, lights her up, and it was just it was just fucking terrible.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:06

Yeah. I mean, the whole back end of like the last 10 or 15 minutes is just like, Jesus Christ. You're rooting for them. You know, you in my mind, you knew like they're probably not gonna make it, but you're kind of rooting for them. You're kind of rooting for them to like have the happy ending. She gets her son back. Cleo gets her car. I don't know what she wants, but Cleo does whatever she wants. Frankie, maybe she opens her own bank. I don't freaking know. I don't know, you know, and then you know, um Stoney kind of like she's been a parent for a long time, uh, you know, taking care of her brother. I mean, she hasn't really taken care of herself, but she's kind of worldly, you know, she kind of fit in with the with uh the different crowds, you know, when she was in her black dress, kind of pretending to be somebody she wasn't at the time. Um, so yeah, you're you're kind of rooting for them, but yeah, it immediately pops off. T T gets shots, uh, the entire plan goes crazy. You know, you could feel the genuine sadness, you know, with TT essentially bleeding out in the backseat as they tried to drive to a hospital, which again, you know, I don't know. I don't know what the plan was there.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:12

Because as soon as you show up, like they would have had to drop her off on the step and and not throw her off on the side.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:19

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:20

Yeah, that's that's the only thing they I mean they would have carefully laid her down, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:25

Laid her down my ass. Get the fuck out of here. Oh shit, Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:29

Alright, so yeah, so TT's passing was was very tragic, and um it you could feel it because she was the one that just emotionally, you know, what she was going through with her child and everything. I mean, a lot most of them were they are pretty relatable, but her zone was was just different with the child being involved and her leaving her child behind. So after that that happens, now chaos ensues, right? Because now we have the shootout. Um, they were able to drop that damn fucking security guard dude, so he went down, and then no one else got hit with a bullet, which was crazy. Um,

Thrilling Chase And Then There Was One

SPEAKER_01 1:15:12

they made it out in the car, and now they're racing across downtown LA. No trapping. What one of my frustrations, because I talked about her earlier, there's like no cops, they get away, there's nothing they can do, but now that the movie has to end, every single cop in LA is on this car chase all of a sudden. There's like four fucking helicopters in the sky, and I'm just like, what?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:40

Okay, where were you guys earlier? You could have caught these ladies last week, you understand?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:45

So movie. Um so yeah, well, yeah, we gotta wrap it up. This movie's actually two hours long, which is also surprising to me. Yeah. So Cleo's driving, and she they drive into a tunnel and they're cut off, and they're trying to figure out what do we do next. Cleo tells them to get out of the car, and then she decides she's gonna they're gonna separate. So she drives the police away so that the other two can get away. Yeah, of course, let's let's deal with Cleo. First, she gets surrounded by the entirety of LAPD. And um, lights a cigarette, and she just goes out like a boss, you know, decides to drive, she doesn't surrender, she drives through them, and they light they light up the car, and Cleo goes.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:31

On live TV. I'm like, dang.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:33

I can't imagine watching that.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:35

I know. I don't know if they really do that or not.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:38

I guess, yeah, I think the 90s is a little wilder. Like now they just like talk about it, but they're not gonna show it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:44

Yeah. Or to tell you what you're about to see, blah, blah, blah. But that's if they're replaying it, like live. I don't know. They would have cut the block or something, cut some commercial.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:55

Like, oh my god, what are we watching here? Uh, we gotta live, you know. Like, okay.

unknown 1:16:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:59

Yeah. Um, after Cleo goes down, Stoney and Frankie split up, and Frankie gets cornered next by the police. Yeah. And Detective Strode decides he's gonna talk her down. And he multiple times instructs his officers put your guns down, stand down, stand down, stand down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:23

And he does attempt to try to do the right thing here.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:28

He does. He does. And again, Frankie, just like Cleo, she's a boss, she's not going out like that, and she decides to prove a point instead. And she holds a gun to Strode's head and asks him, What's procedure, what's protocol when there's a gun to your head? What do you do? And he had no response to that. And this might have gone on as an all-time great movie if she had pulled the trigger.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:55

I thought she should have. I would have. I mean, honestly, there was no other way she was going. Like, you might as well take him with you. Like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:03

Yeah. I if she had did that, yeah, that would have been like, who? Oh my gosh. But she didn't. She just, like I said, she just wanted to prove a point. Um, I guess to him. And um definitely was probably shitting his pants.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:16

Like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:17

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because that was his whole thing, you know, in the beginning. Just like, you know, it was a full definitely a full circle moment for the two of them. I thought that was nice. I like the the symmetry with that, uh, where she, you know, is able to show him that, yeah, you can say what you want, you can have your protocols and procedures. I mean, let's be honest, he already got rid of protocol by even putting his weapon down and getting so close to to Frankie that there's no way in a police manual it says that you you disarm yourself and you become a hostage. Like literally because I I took um you know, I took forensic classes, and the number one thing for a police officer number one, one of the number one things responding to a scene is do not become a part of the crime scene, right? Right. So you cannot put yourself in harm's way in danger, and he did that. So um she puts the gun down though, and she decides to run away, and we get to see more disregard for the rules and safety because his officers opened fire with him in the line of fire, and millions.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:28

There's a whole bus of people on the other side. That final scene was crazy. They could have killed so many people on that bus or in those cars that were driving by.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:38

First of all, why was the street not blocked off so cars couldn't be in that area? I don't know. But they just opened fire, hoping that they wouldn't hit you know the detective, hoping that they wouldn't kill a uh a bystander, a pedestrian, a civilian. Yeah, that seemed it was nuts, which I think it it a little bit undercut because I like the moment between Strode and Frankie. I liked it. And then they immediately threw it away for like some type of like blaze of glory shot, but it just it threw all logic and protocol out of the window, and it was it was crazy. But so Frankie goes down and Stoney is there, detective Strode. Yeah, yep. Stoney just is just sitting there on the bus watching the whole thing go down, and Strode is the only one that sees her. I guess he's the only good detective or police officer in the show, and um, he sees her and he lets her go. And I guess that's supposed to let us be like, yeah, you know, Strode isn't that bad or whatever, I don't know. But Strode is able to escape. She goes to Mexico, um, where she's gonna live out her life. Guys, listeners, um Mexico does have an extradition treaty with the United States of America. So if you're trying to evade capture, you may need to go further than Mexico. Just saying. Just for anyone who's looking to run away, Mexico's since when? Since when what?

SPEAKER_05 1:21:15

Since when they have an extradition treaty.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:18

You um they do. Mexico's an ally.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:21

I didn't say they wasn't. I said since when. Like, I mean in TV they always portray like, oh, you just go to Mexico and hang out there. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:29

Oh, yeah. I don't know. What I'm saying to you, TV is TV for a reason. Listen, the the US government could talk to the Mexican government if they wanted to and get a prison uh get a fugitive out of there. They absolutely could.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:44

Yeah, but who's going there anyway?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:47

Well, I'm just saying Stony did. She thinks she's safe.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:50

Ooh, it's governed by a 1978 treaty. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:54

There you go. See? Yeah. Yeah. Um she'd need to go to like uh Cuba or something. Anyway, well, I mean, yeah, that's you know. Um so yeah, so Stony lives off her life there. She does call Blair Underwood. We never, I don't know, I don't remember his name, but they called Blair. She called him to let her let him know that she was safe. And he was glad that she was safe, and that was the end of that.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:23

Actually, she turned into the neck the new Ursula, because she didn't say shit, she just let the phone ring, and he, I guess, instinctively knew that was her.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:31

She turned into what?

SPEAKER_05 1:22:32

Ursula, because um he just let the phone ring and he picked up and she didn't say anything, and he just instinctively knew it was her. He's like, Oh, Stony, I know you're fine. I'm like, oh, okay. I know. I'd be like, who? No, my name's Maria.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:51

Oh Lord. Yeah, so and that's it. That's a wrap of set it off.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:56

Set it off. Set it off.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:59

Yeah. Oh, come on now. Set it off. Just now set it off. There you go. Okay, all right.

Ratings: Writing, Acting, Visuals, Music, Impact

SPEAKER_01 1:23:12

You want to rate this thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:23:14

Let's rate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:17

All right. All right. So for any newcomers, we rate our movies as five categories, five criteria that we rate by. Plot and writing is the first one. Then acting and casting. We do production and cinematography, music and sound, and lastly, we rate the cultural impact. Everything is rated on a scale of one to ten. First up, plot and writing.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:43

Jay, what you got?

SPEAKER_05 1:23:44

Alright, so for plot and writing, I got a six. Um I don't think I think the there's a lot of the reason I gave it a six, like I said, I'm not happy with the movie in general. I'm happy with the movie, but I'm not. I don't know. I'm in between. I I'm happy but I'm not. But either way, I gave it a six because there is a lot of, I think, um symbolism in the movie and what it's showing us. And though the bank and them robbing the bank is ridiculous, you kinda I think you kind of think about it on the other flip side of banks have been robbing black people for a while, a long time, with like predatory loans or no loans. Um so I guess it was just kind of taking back what's theirs, which okay, I can kind of bite that. Um you see their relationship with the police and uh people of color there. Um you see the unfairness of like when when the people of color, when Stoney, uh uh when Frankie was literally a victim of a rob an armed robbery, Stoney's brother was literally gunned down in the street. There was no justice, there was no uh empathy, there was no there was nothing. There was like, hey, I'll give you a call, we'll investigate this. But then when it's uh when it's their turn to get uh justice, or when and when you know when they're you know when the rabbits got the gun, it's a full force. Like everybody's in there, everybody's trying to get them. So, you know, yeah. I think it's I think for that I give it a six.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:22

I have a six as well. I actually do have a six as well. Um I I really like the movie. I thought it was very fun, but it's flawed. It's flawed. There's there's some issues with it, and it's okay, but there are definitely issues with with the movie and with the plot and everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:36

Next up is acting and casting. What do you have there?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:40

I have a nine. I have a strong nine.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:42

I didn't feel like any of the girls, the ladies had any like drawbacks and McGimley. No one else in the movie mattered enough to pull away from the score. So I'll I'll give I'll give it a nine as well. Production, visual cinematography. What you got for that?

SPEAKER_05 1:25:56

I give it a five.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:57

Oh gosh. I have a five as well. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:02

Oh, okay, okay. I was like, I thought, oh damn, am I low? I'm like, yeah, it wasn't anything like very like groundbreaking.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:09

It was great.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:11

Yeah, there wasn't a lot of cool stuff that happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure, for sure. There wasn't anything like it wasn't bad. It just wasn't like amazing either. It was just like it was just a movie, but the the story behind it is really what drives it. So okay, five.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:24

Agreed, and and the characters study of it all. Um and even like the the writers, this they said they had no money. You know, there was they scraped together nine million dollars to to film the the the movie. So yeah, yeah. Music and sound, what'd you give that?

SPEAKER_05 1:26:38

I didn't I didn't have much there either. Um, so six.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:42

Oh, a six. I gave it an eight, actually.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:45

Really?

SPEAKER_01 1:26:46

Yes. Let me yeah, let me give me a clear up for a little bit here, right? So there's a film score, movie score for movies. Some movies have an actual soundtrack where it's just different that might have more like pop songs or you know, whatever on it. So there's an actual soundtrack for this movie, and this soundtrack was released uh in September of '96. It charted number four on the Billboard, Billboard 200, and it had seven charting singles. This album is certified platinum.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:15

Oh, shoot.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:17

Maybe I gotta rethink my answer.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:18

Yeah, because it's not just this movie score, but the soundtrack that goes with it. That's why I gave it an eight. Oh, and and there were there were lots of hits, lots of great songs in the movie. The the composer is Christopher Young. He's done a lot of movies. His filmography is crazy. Like he's done a lot, but I the the movie didn't ask too much of him. There's a couple scenes where you did hear the the like there's an orchestra doing some things to match the tension of the movie, but a lot of the weight of the movie fell on the soundtrack. Yeah. And because of that, I'm giving it I'm giving it an eight.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:56

Yeah, I mean, I'm a big in vogue fan, you know, don't let go. Is one of my favorites. Six.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:04

Okay. No problem. No problem. Lastly, cultural impact. What do you have for that?

SPEAKER_02 1:28:12

I have a nine.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:14

Nine. Yes. Why a nine?

SPEAKER_05 1:28:17

Um, I don't want to keep keep harping on the same thing, but essentially it's just telling stories. I think I actually had it kind of lower in the beginning, but because of our conversation, I I ramped it up in my head. So um I liked what you were bringing about about just telling normal stories of women normal in their kind of normalcy, I guess, without it being through the eyes of a male where it's hyper sexualized or hyper um aggressive or like, you know, whatever stereotypical uh black woman trope, you know, people sometimes put on their not sometimes put on movies where they have to feel some kind of, oh girl, no, you didn't. It's like, what the fuck? Like nobody talks like that. I mean, some people do, but it's not like a normal part of life generally. So, but you know, just just four women trying to um, you know, survive in a very harsh environment, you know, LA at that time is not a good place for black people. I mean, shit, it still isn't fair, but definitely not in that time. And you know, they were trying to do what they could, a little haphazard, not enough planning, and you know, but it was all for the greater good, I think. So um and like I said, it it brought about some of that symbolism between banking and uh police brutality, um uh women having to use their bodies to to move for only being viewed for their bodies, um, to be able to like move forward, move up, things like that. So I give it a nine.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:57

Okay. I um I am going to give it because I I kept going back and forth on what my score should be. I think I'm gonna settle at an eight. Okay. Uh for for my for the cultural impact. So why an eight?

SPEAKER_03 1:30:12

Um, Mr. Williams.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:14

Here's what my challenges were in for the cultural impact, right? I was a little bit disappointed when I was doing my research on it. I couldn't feel the impact based on my research. Let me put it that way.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:25

Yeah, no, that's fair. I don't think I got that either. So maybe it's just like in my mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:30

This is a movie that's cast in four black women as a lead in 1996. Uh-huh. You know, but that's not something that was being done very often. And I don't know. I it it just doesn't feel that like in the time, like every everyone like picked up on that or cared enough. So now am I punishing it because other people didn't realize how great it was.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:54

Are you? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:56

I don't know. I really do, I really don't know. Uh what I do know, I'll say what I do know. I really enjoyed it. I love this movie. I enjoyed this movie. I would watch this movie again. I really enjoyed Queen Latifah's performance. I like the chemistry between all four women. It's well acted, it's fun, it's it's an important piece in in black history as well. Because these four women all went on to have amazing, you know, prolific careers as well. So uh I'm gonna give it a nine. I give it a nine. I give it a nine. I'm done. I moved it up, I talked myself into it.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:32

All right, I like it. I like it.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:35

Alright, guys. Well,

Sign Off And Post Credit Scene

SPEAKER_01 1:31:36

that'll do it for our real talks and banter on the movie Set It Off. I hope you enjoyed this look into Black History uh cinema that we've spent through the month of February. Black History Month is very important. But black history is not just February, it is every single day. So, of course, look out for more black movies coming from us and movies of all kinds as we continue along our podcasting journey. Thank you for listening today. To connect with us, to give us some feedback, or just to say hello, email us at realtalkbanter at gmail.com. That is R-E-E-L banter at gmail.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:18

No, I was just um channeling Ursula, so that's that's why you didn't hear anything.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:22

Oh my gosh, that's Ursula would be a terrible co-host for Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:29

See you guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:31

Alright, alright. Joe's not setting it off today.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:34

You know what? I feel like I feel like I said I'm in a bind like three times, so I don't know what else to say there.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:44

You gotta give us the stinger. Like I say the thanks. I I give all the okay, thank you guys. This is your homework, you know, subscribe and email us. And then you have to give the stinger. That's your thing. That's your role. You gotta you gotta be consistent.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:57

You can't just I I know, but I but I said it like three times already now. Like, I don't know, just say it again.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:03

Say something different. You know, whatever you do throughout the podcast, you have to save it at the end. Something for the end.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:10

I know. I was trying to, but I could I I was literally, while I was being Ursula, I really was trying to think of like what else did they freaking say that I could like say. Um, I got one. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:24

Um you want me to do it again? I'll do the pose again.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:32

No, no, no. You can just do it. Okay, you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:38

Okay, okay. All right. Thanks for listening today. Thanks for listening today. To connect with us to give us some feedback or just say hello, email us at real talkbanter at gmail.com. That's R-E-E-L banter at gmail.com. See ya.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:53

Stony wanna blow up the bank. Stoney wanna rob the bank.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:03

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:08

Be careful what you wish for, folks.