We check out a couple of films with criminal women. Alfred Hitchcock had just come off a run of four of his classic films when he directed "Marnie" in 1964. The story of a woman thief with a dark past, who has a weird relationship with a rich guy. The movie's poster had the words, suspenseful, sex, mystery, and there was none of those. On the brighter side, "Emily the Criminal" (2022) is a tight, interesting and well acted commentary on the world of work.
Next up, multi-storied films is our theme with Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman" (1994) and Steve Martin in "Parenthood" (1989).
Have your own recommendations? Contact the show:
24theroadshow@gmail.com
We check out a couple of films with criminal women. Alfred Hitchcock had just come off a run of four of his classic films when he directed "Marnie" in 1964. The story of a woman thief with a dark past, who has a weird relationship with a rich guy. The movie's poster had the words, suspenseful, sex, mystery, and there was none of those. On the brighter side, "Emily the Criminal" (2022) is a tight, interesting and well acted commentary on the world of work.
Next up, multi-storied films is our theme with Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman" (1994) and Steve Martin in "Parenthood" (1989).
Have your own recommendations? Contact the show:
24theroadshow@gmail.com
1, 1, 2 Welcome to Two for the Road, movies with Matt and Adam. I'm Matt. And I'm Adam. We are a movie pairing podcast. Every week we pick a theme, recommend a movie to the other guy based on the theme, watch and discuss. And we have a 25 year age difference, so we each come with a different set of films. Just trying to fill in those cultural gaps, Matt. Right. This week, we are smashing the patriarchy. Lady criminals. Right. Lady thieves. Yeah, I don't think there's a lot of movies made about women. Or they're like these bold action things. These are quiet movies. Yeah, yeah. The first one is an Alfred Hitchcock film, Marnie. I've never even heard of it. When I was watching this, it dawned on me that, you know, Hitchcock has these different tiers of films, and this is not, no. I mean, there's some things that drove me crazy about this movie. I didn't find it all that interesting, you know. And if you look at his, what he put out, this was made in 1964. So, starting in 1958, these are the films, the four films he made before this one. Vertigo. Okay, I heard of it. Yeah, yeah. Great movie. North by Northwest, which we watched. It was great. Psycho. Oh, wow, that little film. And The Birds. These are the four films that led up to this. And this is, I feel like this movie started his descent. Interesting. Because the movies he made, Torn Curtain, I think that's a Paul Newman film. Kaleidoscope, which I never even heard of. Topaz, which is, you know, these are not, Frenzy, Family Plot was his last film. Is he having family troubles during this period? What's the reason that he's just in the slump, you think? You know, after a while, I don't know. I really don't know why. Because he recovered, right? Where does Rear Window come into the mix? Rear Window's way before. Oh, it's way before. Oh, okay, okay, I thought maybe it came later, okay. You know, I was just doing a, there's no rebound. This is just the beginning of the end. Rear Window was in 54, then he made To Catch a Thief, which is, I believe, another, The Trouble with Harry, which was filmed here in Vermont. It's kind of a comedy. And The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Wrong Man. These are the films. And they're all pretty good. Strangers in a Train, before that, Dial In for Murder, so he had some really good. But this was 1964. And right off the bat, I don't know, I'll just get into it. Because Gloria and I both said the exact same thing, like two minutes into the movie, the music sounded like it was something from the 40s. The music was so, okay, hold on, hold on, let's back up. Yeah. Because I always want to set the stage, so I can play the opening theme. The first movie is Marnie. Marnie. Marnie. Marnie. The opening music, the music throughout, I was like, what is this music? It was like this like, orchestral, like, brrrr, that kind of thing. I was like, what is this? Like, it did not fit at all. No. And it was done by Bernard Herrmann, who did Jaws, I believe. He did Taxi Driver. Okay. He did all these great films. This is terrible. It was, and it was like, you know, at least 15 years. It sounded like it was, you know, from 15 years ago. I feel like they thought they were making a different movie than what they produced. Like, maybe they thought this was like, more... Because I'm looking at this poster. It says, Suspenseful Sex Mystery. It's none of those things. None of those. It's not suspenseful. It's not sexy. There's no mystery. No. And I wonder if they thought that they were like, doing something innovative, you know? Like, it just fell flat. It did. It didn't. I had no energy. Sean Connery probably shouldn't have been in it, you know? Okay, let's start there. Like, Sean Connery. Is this his first gig? No, he did a couple of bombs. Was he Bond before this? Yeah, yeah. He's Bond before this. Dr. No came out in... My God....62, I think. I don't understand, like, what... Like, he's a bit of a... Like a... Dud? Like, he is not bringing any of, like, the bravado that you'd expect. He's kind of a big wuss. Yes. In this movie. Like, he gets played, and played, and played. Like, he's just... Yeah. He's not Sean Connery. He's not Sean Connery. I mean, in true Sean Connery fashion, he does threaten to hit her a couple of times. Yeah. So, there's that. Yeah, yeah. And mildly rapey. Actually, no, not mildly. Very rapey. Very rapey, yeah. Very rapey. Okay, that's... Bringing that Sean Connery energy. But, like, the other stuff, like the charm, the charisma, he just had none of that. No, there was none of that at all, you know. That's his supposed to be... I mean, he'd already done two Bond films. That's crazy. Dr. No and From Russia to Love. Now, and then he did... Oh, in the same year, he did Goldfinger. Okay. So, he's up there. He's a star. He's doing an Alfred Hitchcock film. He's probably got to be a big star. The following year, he did a movie called The Hill, which I'm gonna have you watch sometime. Okay, what's that about? It's about a British prison camp war during World War II, but it's for British soldiers who are fucked up. Yeah. And they make them go up and down this hill in the middle of Morocco or someplace where it's 100 and something degrees and stuff. It's just really good. But it's totally out of Sean Connery. He plays a master sergeant who's a real fuck up, stuff like that. But yeah, it's really good. He's not literally charming the pants off a lady? No, I don't think there is any women in the movie. I don't remember any. And it was directed by Sidney Lumet. Oh, I like him. Yeah. So getting back to this and the Sean Connery of it all, I couldn't figure out why is he in this? Why him? Why not literally anybody else? Because when you bring Sean Connery in, you're setting up these expectations of, oh, it's gonna be like this. And it just never was. And was he hiding his Scottish accent? Was he not hiding it? He was trying to. I couldn't tell what he was doing. Where are you from? Are you Canadian? Are you supposed to be Canadian? Because you're a Wisconsin man? What are you doing here? I just couldn't figure out where he was from or what he was doing or any of it. It just didn't really make a lot of sense. No. And his co-star, Tippi Hendren, was in the Birds. She was a star of the Birds, Rod Taylor. I don't know. She just didn't do anything for me. I don't know. Yeah. So I mean, you know who her daughter is? No. Melanie Griffin. Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you look at her picture in the IMDb of the film, she looks a lot like her. Yeah. I couldn't wrap my head around her very well because to me, she was just just not not attractive. But sometimes these older starless, even even modern starless, like I'm just like, oh, just just not for me. Yeah, right. You know, like but maybe, you know, it's like kind of like a like a Mounds bar, you know, like someone must like it. They keep selling these fucking things, right? But it's just not for me. So I couldn't tell if like that was just the case, like or if she was just miscast. Like she again, like I thought going, I'm like, oh, she's going to be like this. This sexy, duplicitous dame that we love. And she wasn't. That right, she was she wasn't Grace Kelly, she wasn't any of these. No, she was. And in the in the the energy between the two stars, it wasn't there at all. No, there was no energy between anybody in this film. Pretty much right. You know, like it's it's this felt like punishment for them. OK, you fucked up. Now you have to do this Hitchcock film, which I would imagine after the birds, they would all be jumping at anybody. If effort Hitchcock back in 1964 came to you and said, I want you to do this movie, you would do it. You know, I mean, I don't know. You can't. I mean, Cary Grant was too old to be, you know, in this if they'd made this 1950, you know, he might have been cast a little. Jimmy Stewart's another Hitchcock guy, but I don't know if he would have made it any better. But I just it's just I was bored that the story is stupid. The they spent all this time in cars with the fake background. OK, if once in a while, but how many times did they do this? Yeah, fake background and also having a conversation that doesn't matter. Right. You know, like how much of how many scenes in this movie mattered? Three. Yeah. Like it's just like I mean, it's it's that setup where you see her in her interaction with her mom. Then it's her getting caught by Sean Connery. Right. And then there's the end, which I think we're all supposed to be like really shocked at. But it's like and in 1964, the whole sexual abuse thing that was new, I think for most films, you know, most Hollywood films. I mean, you didn't see that that subject brought up much, but it just wasn't done very well. Well, it's the last 75 seconds of the movie. Right. I mean, like it doesn't hit because we don't have any chance to process it. We don't get anything from it. It just happens. Credits roll. You know, like, OK, yeah, she didn't need 20 years of therapy. It all happened. She got cured in like 75 seconds. Right. And it's like also I wasn't even totally sure. Like you said, sexual abuse like which was the girl abused. I think that's what we're implying, but it wasn't very clearly let out. Like it seemed like the cellar was trying to do that. And then that's when they killed the guy. Right. But there wasn't any. I wasn't sure if it was like, oh, the mom was also pimping out the daughter for years and years and years. I didn't I didn't know if that is what the road was supposed to go down to. Could have been. Yeah. Yeah. We don't know. We're left to our imagination, which I'm thinking doesn't really matter. It's true. I don't really care. Right. It doesn't matter because they kill the sailor and OK, now you rob people. Right. What's that all about? Once you kill sailors, it seemed like her mother was a hooker. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. Hooker. And then, you know, the Bruce Dern, a young Bruce Dern as a sailor. Yeah, yeah. He gets a little handsy with the daughter and he's probably the best actor of the whole movie. Yeah, yeah. Because he's only had it for about a minute because he made you think, because he made you think that. Well, he made me think like, OK, is this guy going to go too far? We're not going to go to where like what's his intention? It was very right in that gray area. And we're like, maybe he's just annoyed that she's there or maybe he's into little girls. Right. You know, like and you you never get to find out because he played it so well. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's the whole thing wraps up like, you know, we got it. I got a dinner reservation. Let's get this done. That's what it felt like. And then the credits roll. Yeah, that's it. And it's like, OK, I guess money's fine now. Yeah, you never know why Sean Connery marries her. Yes, that's OK. You know, you're a dad. Oh, yeah, I'm going to marry her. Forcefully marry. Right. Which always turns out great. Like, did he think that eventually on their rape cruise that he that she just eventually come around to and love him? Yeah, it just didn't make sense. I don't know who wrote it, but I didn't think they did a very good. Winston Graham and J. Preston Allen. I've heard of Allen, but I'm. Yeah, Winston Graham is most famous for Marnie. So sorry, Winston. Yeah. But yeah, it's just this this this movie really fell flat. I've seen it like advertised on Amazon or was it Netflix? Yeah, I kept seeing it. I said, maybe I should watch this. I like Hitchcock. It's definitely one of his lower tier movies, I think. And it just there wasn't. There wasn't much to really like. Yeah, and there was never like that. When I think about every Hitchcock film I've seen, like there's always like. There's that moment or that scene that you're like, oh, that scene. In some movies, you're like, oh, that scene, that scene, that scene, that scene, right? Like North by Northwest, the plane coming over the guy like that. Mount Rushmore and all those things. Psycho. I mean, the yeah, the knife like this one. I can't think I I watched it last week. I can't remember it like when they were sitting in the cars for the third time. Yeah, yeah. When she rode the horse for a long amount of time for no reason. Right. Yeah, there's some this movie just totally didn't make any sense. It just didn't deliver on the premise, I think, is didn't deliver on the poster. Yeah, that's a suspenseful sex mystery. No, none of those things, actually. I think, yeah, and I think that. Oh, Jay Preston Allen is a woman. Well, Jacqueline is a real name. OK, sure. So but. Yeah, I just. I was I don't know if I was counting on much, but I was disappointed. That's called Hitchcock. Yeah, that's a brand you can trust, right? Right. And when I turn this on, I was like, OK, I kept waiting and waiting. And then, like when Sean Connery, like when they're in this relationship, I'm like, what even is this? And then he figures out that she's lying and you're like, OK, here it comes. And it's just he's like, well, now we have to get married. That's the most boring solution of all time. Like, you catch this woman thieving and your solution is to marry her. Yeah, that's a plot hole. It doesn't look like you could drive a truck through. Yeah, like it was every meeting where someone's like, why? Yeah. Why that? Yeah, I just I don't know. I don't know what they were trying to do. No, you don't get it. He's going to marry her and then he's going to rape her. All right. And that's going to really drive her towards him. It's like, I don't think that's how the attraction works. That's not how romance works. But that's what happened. Apparently. Yeah. Yeah, I don't miscast, miswritten music was horrible. You know, I had Bruce Dern was good. He was there for a minute. Yeah, he was good as a raping sailor. Yeah. Who was the second girl? Diane Baker. Lil? Diane Baker. Is she worth knowing about? She was famous for... She had an incredible jaw. She was... I don't reckon... I mean, the cable guy I never saw. Was she 100? His mother. You know, Silence of the Lambs. She played a senator. So I don't really think that she had the career. She did a lot of TV. There was a million Dianes around at that time. So I get a little mixed up. It's the age of Diane. So I didn't realize that. Yeah, most of what she's done is TV. So, but yeah, she had a good jaw. She had a good jaw, man. And everybody else who knows, you know, I don't know. Nobody of any... Like I said, yeah, young Bruce Dern. That was about it. Mariette Hartley too was in it. Who I think is most famous for her... coffee commercials with James Garner, I think it was. Or Polaroid commercials. I don't know. So there are a couple scenes in this movie that I thought were like, okay, noteworthy, right? There's a kind of a cool scene where Marnie is sneak... Okay, well, first of all, when Marnie goes to visit her mom, and there's this little punk kid who's like, F you, this is my mom now. Like she makes the compies for me. That was kind of a funny scene of like having this little kid. That was her little brother or step... Yeah, she was like a street kid or like a down the street kid, you know? The mom was like, yeah, her parents need some help. So I'm just helping out. Like, I thought that was interesting at least. I'm like, okay, there's a little bit of zip here. A little snot kid. Yeah, yeah. And the kid was good. Usually we don't hate kids, but it was good. And then we get that scene where Marnie's actually stealing from a Rutland company and she's like, kind of sneaking around and like, she's sneaking out and her shoe drops. And there is that like a little bit of like, Hitchcockian tension. Right, right, right. You see the shoe kind of getting a little looser, a little looser in her pocket, then it falls and there's no consequence. And nothing happens because the old guy cleaning the floor can't hear it. He's deaf. Yeah. And that kind of symbolizes the whole movie, right? It's building, building, building. Actually, it doesn't matter. The shoe dropped and there was never another shoe. Right. So those are interesting. And then, yeah, like near the end where Marnie is like running free on this horse and the horse breaks her leg and she has to shoot the horse. Right. And she runs up to someone's house and she's like, get your gun. Yeah, yeah. OK. Do we all just have guns? I mean, 1964, get your gun. Like, everyone's just like, OK, I'll go get it. Like, maybe so. I don't know. It just struck me as like, they weren't in Alabama. No. But yeah, the woman's like, I don't have one. And she's like, OK, I'll go get it. So she actually got it and they fucking killed a horse. Yeah. That was weird. Yeah, Gloria didn't like that scene. Yeah, I said it was Gloria's save. I hadn't watched it. I just assumed it was. I watched the first 30 minutes. Yeah, sorry about that. It's OK. No, I didn't know. Neither one of us really enjoyed it. We always in fact, we both kind of forgot about it the next day. You know, it wasn't it wasn't vertigo. And then that scene in the boat, we're like, they're on this cruise to Morocco, which ostensibly is like weeks long. Right, right. It should be. And she's like not into him. And he's like, finally, he just breaks down. He's like, well, I actually I'm just going to rape you. And that happens. And we're like, OK. Yeah, that wasn't even like it wasn't. I don't even think it was supposed to be like a big moment of the movie. It was like and then that happened and that happened in the rape. And then they ordered dinner, right? You know, it's like, yeah, very, very. I've never seen such a and I've seen a lot of his later films, Jordan Curtin and others, but I had never seen a Hitchcock movie that fell as flat as this one did. There was nothing in it. Well, I think you summed up perfectly. So it was just boring, right? It's just a boring movie. It was. I didn't like it at all. No. Well, not much else to say about that, right? Um, I'm not you want to get some scores here. I'm looking at IMDB. We have 52000 people checking in. Six, seven. You're you're underestimating. Oh, oh, no. Oh, yeah, you're right. There is a Hitchcock bump. Seven one. No, it's not a seven. Yeah, this is six one. Yeah, it's closer to a six one than a six. I'd say it's close to a five. Like it's if you actually watch this movie, like with a critical eye, there's nothing happening. Halfway through the movie, I was like, what am I? Who am I supposed to care about in this movie? Am I supposed to care about Marnie? I don't. I don't like her. I don't like anyone in this movie. I'm only watching it because it's on Netflix. Pretty much. And not anymore. Yeah, we got to take them off. All right. Uh, Rotten Tomatoes, 42 reviews from the critics. Seven five. Eighty three. Oh, you're kidding me. I mean, they're usually high, but that's. That's way I was generous at seven five. Sick of fans and the audience over 10000. Seven five. Seventy three. Yeah, OK. They're getting a little closer to the audience. Oh, I mean, who watches this is like. Ten. Yeah. Like, who is that person? Sean Connery's mother. Maybe. All right. This is the critics consensus. A coolly constructed mystery, which is not revolving around a character who's inscrutable to a fault. Marnie finds Hitchcock luring audiences deeper into the dark. No, that's one of the worst consensus you've read. That's written by someone who read the Wikipedia and didn't watch the movie. Right. Like, again, the promise of the movie is interesting, and maybe you could pull from that. But the actual execution. Right. Yeah, I mean, it's the you know, there's a woman. She gets jobs at these places and ends up stealing from them. Yeah, it's an interesting concept. Yeah. It's got some family issues that are unresolved. Right. And, you know, she's she's just a thief who can't stop thieving, you know, and then comes on Sean Connery and. He just stops the movie. Yeah. A woman with like a fragile psyche with a kleptomaniac problem. Wife material. Yeah. Because I can't get anyone else as a charming billionaire. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't. This movie didn't make sense at all. Yeah. So that is Marnie. That's yeah. We haven't had that bad a review in a long time. Yeah. So that's it. Yeah. last night's movie was so boring. Yeah. She goes, yeah, I didn't like it. I said, yeah, I didn't either. No. No. No. I think it was only on Netflix for like a month or something. It did not last long. Well, I wish it'd bring some of those other ones like Torn Curtain and, you know, those family plot, which I've never seen. So hopefully they'll be on. I wouldn't mind watching, you know, check those out to see his progression if it keeps going downhill. But after that run of four top movies of his and then he makes this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would make a Kanye reference like this would be his Yeezus, which I know does not make does not mean anything to you. No. But Kanye had like a string of like four or five just like awesome albums and just like a total dud. And that would be what this is. OK. You know, maybe he's had an idea and he had to get out of the system. He's like, all right. Yeah, it's done. Yeah. Yeah, because I don't think I don't think he worked for a studio that told him what to do. You know, I think he was big enough there. I'm curious about the the public reception of this. I'm curious what the gross was. I mean, I don't have any box office numbers here. Um, well, this this can't be true, but budget three million worldwide gross. Eight thousand. No, I mean, that seems wrong, but that's what's on IMDb. It just seems inaccurate. Right. Eight thousand. You get more than people stumbling into it. Two thousand people went and saw this movie to get some air conditioning. Yeah, that seems that seems wrong. But especially like again after the birds, this is the next one. So it's like Hitchcock. It's this one. So eight thousand. No, you're the first weekend. Yeah, he does psycho. Then the birds and everybody's going, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or that more of that. And then it's like none of that. Yeah. I wonder why he took such a swerve. I wonder if he was like, I'm not don't don't characterize me as this horror guy. Yeah, I'm this other guy. Have you ever seen the birds? Um, yeah, I mean, I think I saw the birds. I was like, yeah, yeah, it's pretty good. Really? I mean, it's it's got a lot of suspense in it, as I remember. There's a lot of birds. Yeah, a lot of birds. And the Simpsons did a great knockoff on it. Yeah, so some stuff like I like because Simpsons were like right in my developmental stage. So sometimes I'm like, I don't know if I saw it or just saw the Simpsons make fun of it. And the birds are one of those categories. I think I saw it, but I don't know. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty good. All right, Matt, you want to take a break? Yep. All right, we'll come back and talk about Emily the criminal. THE END All right, we are back with our second lady criminal movie of the week. And this is just from last year 2022 Emily the criminal. Starting Aubrey Plaza. Do you know anything about Aubrey Plaza? I do not know a thing about her. Is this your first introduction? I was just looking at her, but she's known for nothing. Nothing, nothing registered for you? No. She's most famous probably for Parks and Rec, which is a show that I've never watched. I'm aware of it. It just missed me. It's like The Office, but like with a different same set. Got a lot of famous people in it. Oh, yeah. A lot of people became famous. Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Nick Offerman. Yeah, tons of people. And then also, Aubrey Plaza had another big bout of fame just last year or this year with White Lotus season two came out. She was a big part of that. Okay, so we haven't seen that. You also watch that. I know. We keep talking about it, but we don't. Keep forgetting. But we got in a bunch of forensic files. Well, it's not that different. Now her co-star in this, Theo Rossi, I'm watching this. I know this guy from somewhere. Okay. Because I really liked him. I thought he was good. He was great. He was really good. I think they were both good. I'm not sure how you think. No, I thought this movie is much better than the first one. He was on the Sons of Anarchy. As who? The original one or the Mayans? The original one. Really? He played Juice. He was really young, I think. Or he looked young. Oh, okay. Wow. He just like, yeah, I had to look him up. I said, Oh, you know, who is this guy? Because I really liked him. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't look like his name would be Theo. No, no, no. But he was good in it. Yeah. Well, let's get to it because I think we both liked it a little more than the first one. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, I like that. So I, you know, I watched it the first time, like whatever it was when it first came out, because I do like Aubrey Plaza. Like I like her, the energy that she brings. I like when she does stuff that's really different because she's a comedic actor. And so if you ever like if you want to go like a YouTube rabbit hole, just like just Google her on like Letterman and Conan. And she's just hilarious. Just deadpan. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Hilarious. And then obviously when she does something different, I want to watch it. Watched a movie of hers maybe a year or two ago called Something Bear, Black Bear. Sorry. Yeah, Black Bear, which was interesting. And maybe what we'll we'll talk about on the show in the future sometime. But so this came out like, OK, it's kind of like where she's going, like the weight load is like how she's evolving. And yeah, I like this movie because it is obviously it's a comedy. It is obviously it's about like this woman becoming a criminal and like going through that process. But also it's like about like job interviews. Right. Like how much those suck. And like the whole that process of like what what is work and what does it mean to work? And so I did also appreciate that. Oh, yeah. The two job interviews she had were both fantastic. Yeah. Right from the jump. Yeah. You know, the guy's like, so you have any criminal history? She's like, well, this is, you know, got pulled over. He's like, well, I have the answers here. And she's like, well, fuck you. I mean, if you have that, why'd you ask me? Right. Just trying to trip them up. Yeah, I thought that was good. That was a great start to the film. I mean, set it up really nice. You know, she's got all this debt. You know, this college debt and everything. She can't find a decent job. She's working at a caterer or something, you know, or some restaurant thing, you know, delivering stuff. You know, it's just like a dead-end job. And it sets it up. Sets up her, yeah, her necessity, which was to make money. Yep. Here's a question, Matt, before we get into the plot. Do you find her attractive? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I like her. I don't know. She had a, her face gave away a lot, you know. And I know she's an actress, but you could see it, you know. I think she was, yeah, she's very good looking, I think. Yeah, speaking to your point, like her face giving away, her face like doing a lot of work is, my favorite scene is when, like with the face thing, is early on when her co-worker's like, hey, my kid's here. Like, we're going to go to this baseball game. Can you take my late shift? And like, she's talking to him. And like, we never see the kid, but she looks down and she kind of like smiles, like, at the kid as she's talking. Oh, she's like a, it just showed that she has like a kindness inside her. Right, right. Besides just being like a cold bitch. That little, it's like a half second. That I'll do you a solid smile. Yeah. And just like, just being, it's like acknowledging a child, you know, which a lot of people don't do that. Right, right. And we didn't even, the camera didn't even acknowledge the child. Yeah, exactly. All right. So, we quickly meet Aubrey Plaza, I guess Emily? Yep, Emily. The titular criminal. We find out that she has the heart of an artist. She's, you know, sketching things and things and doing stuff like that. She's trying to get hooked up with her friend, like, hey, can maybe get you a job? So, it's kind of slowly evolving. Her friend's a little more successful. The one she went to high school with, went to college with, she's done better. More successful, but also gives off the air of being inauthentic. Oh, yeah. And she has, she lives with people we don't even get to meet. Yes, she has roommates, not friends, right? Like, when you're younger, you have friends who are roommates. As you get older, you have roommates who are not your friends. Right. I'll stay in my bedroom, you stay in yours. Yeah, they pay the rent on time. That's the condition. So, Emily gets involved in this criminal enterprise where we meet Yousef, the Oirasi. And he's a very, I would say, he's much more straightforward than any job interview she's ever had. Right. Seemingly, right? He's like, this is the situation. You will break the law. If you don't want to do this, you can leave now. No bad feelings. Not at all. This is the way it is. Yeah. No bullshit. You're not an intern. Yeah. Unpaid intern. Yeah, right. Exactly. We're a criminal enterprise, but we're being transparent in a way that your, quote unquote, regular day job would not be. Right. So, she starts to walk out. He's like, what's your issue? She asks a couple questions. And he's like, you know, he kind of gives that look like, oh, these are smart questions. Right. Like, I'm going to keep my eye on you. She's not like anybody else in the crowd that's there. You know, because it's almost like it was one of those multi-level marketing things where, you know, all these people who are hard up for money show up and they give them a spiel. It's all a bunch of bullshit. This is not bullshit. He says, this is the way it is. If you want to do it, you can do it. You know, there's, you know, this is it. You're going to make $200 in a few minutes. Yeah, in a few minutes. Yeah. And so, she does it. She does her first job. Which is they're buying big screen TVs. Fake credit cards. With fake credit cards. And, you know, it's kind of stressful for her. She's not a criminal. Right. Not yet. Right. Give it 45 minutes. Yeah, yeah. So, she does it. Goes off without a hitch. Security guard's like, hey, pay for the hat. She's like, oh, my bad. Just, you know. She throws it back to him. No big deal. New job offer. Two G's. A little bit more stressful. A lot more, yeah. And also, at the same time, her day job is becoming more of a pain in the ass. Right. So, it's like, option A, becoming less enticing. Option B, becoming more enticing. So, she's kind of pushed towards this. And she buys a car. With fake cashier's checks. Yeah, this is. Or check in a credit card. Fake credit card. The person selling the car is also shady, right? The whole thing is shady. Yeah, this car's from Mexico. Right. This person's not calling the police, right? This is a fucked up situation all around. She gets her nose broken, busted. Gets out of the car. And gets away with the car. And one thing I like about this movie is that, like, everything that happens to her, like, she's learning, right? Yeah. She's like, okay, you're gonna pull me out of the car and bust my nose? Like, she does that later. Right. That same thing. You know, like, she's always, like, sort of absorbing. She's learning very quickly. She's a fast learner. That's why I say she was different from anybody else in that room. You know? And apparently, Yusef saw that. So, gets the car. Goes and confronts Yusef with it. Great exchange. I thought he says, oh, I thought it was safe. She says, yeah, that's why you paid someone else to do it. Again, a commentary on management and labor relations. That's what this movie's all about. I think it is. I appreciate that. So, they develop a rapport. We find out that Yusef's dream is to buy these, like, big rental units and start selling them out. That's what he's saving money for. He's got a real dream. He's not, he's a criminal, but that's not the end game for him. He's doing it until, you know, he can do that. It's like when a girl does a little stripping in college. Right. It's like, after college, you're done. Yeah. So, that's Yusef's thing. Emily's work gets more problematic. She gets taken off the work calendar, which pushes her even more towards Yusef. Their relationship develops more. He gives her a taser, critically. Then, we get about 5-10 minutes of Emily just in business. Like, she's just doing it. And, a nice little montage. Yup. Yusef's cousin, Khalil, does not like Emily. I think strike one, white girl. Strike two, girl. Smart. Strike two, three, smart. Yeah. All these things are not good for her. So, he's kind of like, you know, he's lurking, right? We know that he's coming back, somehow. Yeah. He just doesn't feel like Yusef is keeping his mind on his job. He's more interested in her. Yeah. Yup. We see a scene where Emily gets robbed. A couple comes to her house. And, they're like, yeah, we saw it online. We're right around the corner. So, we figure we just swing through. You know, she tries to get inside. She was warned, don't ever tell anybody where you live. Yeah. And, she realized that. She was a little bit too slow. Yeah. And, the guy puts a box cutter to her throat. They rob her. She wouldn't have any of that. She robs him back. She goes out and gets it back. And, again, when that guy had the box cutter to her throat, she does the same thing later to Khalil, right? Like, she's just developing. She's like, oh. She's learning on the job. That's a move. I can do that. So, she robs him back. And, you kind of get like, okay, Emily's elevated now to like badass. I like that when she got the woman's driver's license. I know where you live. You know where I live. I know where you live. You understand? Yeah. You understand? Yeah. She's like, I got it. Like, all right. So, she gets robbed. She robs him back. Yeah. I would say, Matt, you're a pet sitter. This is like ultimate pet sitter shit right here, right? Right. She got the dog back, right? Right. Yeah, somebody stole the dog. She's a pet sitting hero. That's right. We didn't mention that the robbers took her dog, her friend's dog, who she was pet sitting. Yeah. She got it back. Are you willing to lay your life on the line? Dude. Okay. Fair enough. All right. So, there's a party. Emily's there. She doesn't really kind of feel like she fits in. These are her ladies. She doesn't. Yep. Not her tribe. Yusuf shows up. They bang it out. Okay. They're a couple. Sort of. We meet the grandma. Grandma likes her. She's fun. Or maybe the mother. I'm not sure if she's the mother or grandmother. I don't know. I think it was the grandmother. Yeah. I like that she makes fun of Yusuf for taking tiny little shit sips of alcohol. Yeah. That's a nice touch. And then the cousin shows up. Cousin shows up. You got Emily on video. Same store in the same week. Broke one of the rules. That's one of the rules. Don't go to the same place. Yep. So, that's a problem. We get... So, Emily's like, you know, again, she's always torn between the criminal life and the legit life. So, she's going to this legit job interview that her friend got her. And she's like kind of halfway through it and she realizes it's for an unpaid internship. And her friend knew that. Yes. And so, when I was watching that, I wasn't clear like... Because her friend kind of carries on like she's like this hot shit. Is her friend also an unpaid intern? Could be. She's not very high up there. Yeah. She's not who she says she is. Right. You know, like this is my friend, my boss, we're tight. You know, she'll do this. And I didn't get a sense that that was true at all. Right. I don't know if she was an intern, but she might have been at one time. I got the sense that she's also like unpaid or underpaid. And, you know, maybe her parents are supporting her. Lives overhead, you know. And who would want to work for that bitch anyways? Yeah. Yep. Everybody's very quick and saying, fuck you, I'm leaving. You know, Matt, you got to know your value when you approach these job interviews. So, yeah. So, that did not work out well. So, that slides her back over to life of crime. I did like this line in that interview because the woman's like, just get out of here, whatever. And she's like, if you want to tell me what to do, put me on the fucking payroll. That was good. Yeah. All right. So, culmination. So, we're going to break back into Khalil's place. Khalil robbed Yusuf. Yep. He's got all this shit. Took everything. Yep. So, got to go to Khalil's place to break in. Yusuf is maybe not totally up to the task. He's got a little bitch nerves, I guess. Yeah, he's not the criminal that Emily is. No. He's not as tough. He's got the mind, but he doesn't have the cojones. And so, she kind of takes over, breaks in, ends up box cutter to Khalil's throat. He gives up the goods. This is where the money is. Yusuf is mortally wounded. She takes him out to get to the car. She's got a bag full of money. Yusuf is bleeding in the seat. Sorry. No car keys. Can't take them both. Probably can't even take him. So, she's like, I'm just going to take the money and just going to go for a walk. Right. She does. She leaves him there to die. Yep. And we assume he does. We assume he dies. We assume Khalil dies. We assume all that stuff. Boom. Flash forward. Emily's in Mexico. I assume Mexico. I think it was. Someplace. Colombia maybe or someplace. Yeah, who knows? I like that Matt looks at architecture and he's like, that's not Mexico. That's Colombia. I don't know. Fair enough. They speak Spanish. I have no idea. They were somewhere not America. Right. She's kind of vibing on the beach and you're like, okay, it could end like this. Right. It could end with her smoking a joint on the beach looking at least maybe not happy but calm. Right. Living a life that is better than where she was before. And then we get that next scene. Now she's Yusuf. Right. And she's roping people in. She's saying, hey, this is the deal. If you don't want to do it, there's the door. Right. Right. And that's it. Yeah. I love the ending of this one. She is a criminal. Yeah. Yeah, much more interesting movie. So much better. It was really well done. Acting was terrific. Some good lines. Some great scenes. And she was fabulous. The two stars were both fabulous. Also, 94 minutes. Yes. Love that. You're in, you're out. Yeah, we watched it. Hillary and I watched it together. I think she liked it more than the other one. But she might have been asleep, so I don't know. That's fair. Yeah. That's new. Gloria sleeping is no commentary on the movie. No, no. That's a commentary on Gloria just wanting to go to sleep. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think actually I'm going to watch it again. I don't know. Because I watched it on the screen, and I get more watching it on my laptop, so I'll do that. Maybe I'll do that tonight. But, yeah, much more interesting. I think it's a good movie. But, yeah, much more enjoyable. Much more Hitchcockian than Marnie. Well, I mean, something happens. Yeah. Without trying to be too dumb about it, like, in this movie, things happen. And, like, things happen and have consequences, and there's a culminating scene, and then there's a resolution. None of that existed in the Marnie movie. It all rang true. Whatever happened, you know, you could see where she's in a tight place. She's not making enough money. She needs to get out of debt. She does this. It's going to be a temporary thing, and then it just – she's hooked in. Because she has no other choice. Or she does, but, you know, and you could see where it just – it just goes at a great pace. There's no wasted space, no wasted scenes, characters. We don't have many characters. You go, what was that person doing? Everything is – you know, you love the grandmother, that scene, because she's making fun of Yusuf. Or not Yusuf. Yeah, Yusuf. So I just think it was a really well-done film. Yeah, it's really tight. And also, had that – I mean, I joked about it being about job interviews, but it kind of was about, like, what does it mean, like, when you graduate with all this debt, like, you're fucked. And it did say something about that. This should resonate with millions of people across the world, or at least this country. That you're saddled with debt. You went to college with the promise that you were going to get a job, and you're working at a, you know, shitty catering business. Because that's all there is. Because you picked the wrong subject to study. She's an artist. I think she left, too. She didn't finish. She didn't finish. Like, there was – yeah, there was an assault. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there was some issues. She assaulted somebody. Yeah. Yeah, she's got some issues. She's tough. She has a temper, but she seems righteous. Right, right. Yeah. Loved her character. Yeah, that's why I keep talking about the two main characters. Both I love their characters, and they both ranked true. And I felt they – and I felt I liked their chemistry together. I thought it was good. Yeah, and I like the – you don't see the dynamic very often where the woman is stronger than the man. It's kind of weak. Like, not weak physically, but like weak kind of like willed. Right. You know, like unwilling to do the hard things. Yeah, he's smart, but he's not – like you say, he doesn't have a lot of balls. Yeah. That's why he pays somebody else to do it. That's why his cousin pays other people to do it. Right. Pays him to do it. Yep, yep, yep, yep. All right, Matt. Shall we guess the scores before we wrap it up? All right. So this is IMDB. We have – give us a second. 45,000 people checking in. 7-3? 6-7. Marnie was higher? Yes. That's the Hitchcock bump. It is. Oh, no. That's terrible. Yeah. I think this movie is – I think it's actually really good. Like, the one I thought – like, I watched it a second time this morning. I was like, actually, this is pretty – I mean, name 15 movies that are better than this from 2022. I don't think I could. I don't think I saw 15 movies from 2022. Maybe a fault of this – maybe this podcast should figure that out somehow. But, yeah, you know what I mean? Like, there's not that much other stuff happening. Like, anything that's without – you know, whatever. It's better than anything with a superhero, right? Right, right. So just get those off the table. Anything animated. So I agree. It's one of the better films, newer films that I've seen. And dare I say, could have been longer. Right. It could have been. It could have been a little bit more between her and her friend, her and her roommate. It's a little bit more of, like, her situation. I feel like we got it, but, you know, it could have been a little bit more – But, you know, they didn't need it, but it could have been. It might have made it a little more interesting, but I thought it really was well-paced, and it just – Like I say, 94 minutes. Hard to beat that. Yeah. In and out. All right, moving on to Rotten Tomatoes, 200 reviews. That's the power of being on Netflix. Right. That's exactly. Eight-four? Ninety-five. All right. Well, I underestimated. The critics know what's up. They know that this is a legit – I'll go 90 on the – The audience, 79. But only 100 people. Really? Wow. This is more critics than people. Does that ever happen? I don't think so. Yeah, I'm just, like, leaning in to make sure it's not, like, 100K. No, it's 100 plus people. Wow. 79. No. Yeah, I think it's mid-70s from the IMDB. It should have been. 7.3, 7.4? 7.4 sounds about right to me. Scarecrow line. We haven't brought that up in a long time. Yeah, we base our – Like, 7.3 is what Scarecrow was rated when we first started doing this podcast, when we first talked about the movie Scarecrow. That was the first movie we watched. Which I think is not something that maybe most people are like, Oh, Scarecrow. I don't know if anybody's ever seen it. What is Pacino and Hackney? I know. It's just incredible. It's a great movie. Yeah, I liked it. It's better than a 7.3. Maybe. I think it's exactly a 7.3. That's why we chose it. Yeah, that's why it's become our standard. All right, this is the consensus. A taut thriller that contains a wealth of social commentary, Emily the Criminal is stolen by Aubrey Plaza's terrific work in the title role. Cool shout-out to Theo Rossi. He also was pulling his weight. Yeah, they both were. He wasn't like – No, he was a Sean Connery. You're no Sean Connery. In a good way. In a good way. I love that Theo Rossi's like, Yeah, these guys that I'm no Sean Connery, but it was a compliment. All right, next week. Hopefully next week. Next time. Next time. We are doing a couple multi-plot movies. We're going to look at a Taiwanese movie by Ang Lee, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. I think it was one of his first. Not his first, but one of his first. And then a – God, who's the guy? Steve Martin. I know, but who directed it? It's a Steve Martin movie that was directed by a guy who did a bunch of fucking movies in the 80s and 90s. Christopher Columbus or somebody. I don't know. That's a real guy. I know it is. I feel like you're looking it up right now. I am looking it up. Keep talking. Yeah, so this will be from 1989, Steve Martin, Parenthood, which is directed by – 1989, come on, damn it. Yeah, you're probably pulling up the TV series. You're better at this than I am. There we go. All right, Mary Steenburgen. Who was hot in that movie, by the way. I think she's hot anyway. Ron Howard. Oh, okay. I remember him. That's right, because there's brothers in it. Oh, yeah. Ron Howard, that's just love. The American Ang Lee. All right, so we'll watch those two movies next week, and I think that's it. Okay, peace. Bye. You in the kitchen! It's fun!