Blank Check with Griffin & David - Eat Drink Man Woman with Alison Willmore

Episode Date: July 8, 2018

Alison Willmore (BuzzFeed) joins Griffin and David to discuss 1994’s family and food dramedy, Eat Drink Man Woman. This episode is sponsored by Casper (casper.com/savings) and Hims (forhims.com/check).

Eat. Drink. Man. Drink. Man. Woman. Pod. Cast! Breaking up podcasts was a mistake. I wanted to call this mini-series Podcast Man Woman or Eat Drink Podcast, but we didn't do that.

Podcast Man Woman sounds like an Adam Carolla show is the problem. Yeah, yes. Ah, this is a Podcast Man Woman. Keep going. There's really not enough Adam Carolla impressions out there. Yeah, indeed, or podcasts. I think you should do more. Yeah, 100%. Hello, everybody. My name's Griffin Newman.

David Sims. That's me. Yeah, 100%. Hello, everybody. My name's Griffin Newman. David Sims. That's me. This is a podcast. A pod... cast. Oh, sure. Go ahead. Call Blank Check with Griffin and David.

That's us. Hashtag the two friends at Competitive Adventure the only friends who do a podcast together. Right. Let me clarify. The only two friends who do a podcast together.

It's a podcast about filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their career and give a series of blank checks, make whatever crazy passion projects they want, and sometimes they clear, and sometimes they bounce, baby. Sure. And this is the third...

Well, yeah. The third film. We have covered second episode right i gotta say foreign language films tough on the old quote master over here yeah because it's like am i gonna quote a translation i yeah i think that's really your only option and you can't really do the performance like i did i with l i butchered it where i just like said an english translation of a quote in a French accent. I know.

It was like Red Sparrow where they were all like, we're in Russia. We're Russian. Can't you tell? But I'm not impersonating the line reading, you know? Sure. Because there's the cognitive dissonance of like— Maybe relax. There's a lot of complications here.

Yeah. When I'm watching a foreign language film of a language that I don't speak, which is all languages other than English, right? I'm like paying attention to the body language of the actor. I'm listening to basic like tone of their voice and then I'm reading what the dialogue is. Sure. But I'm obviously not getting their line.

Obviously, it's harder to evaluate performance in some ways. Don't you worry that you're like wildly overvaluing performances because I do it all the time. But I'll say this. You watch these three, what Ang Lee, because this is a miniseries on the films of Ang Lee. I was going to say, what's it called? Broke Pod Mountcast. And this is the third of his Taiwanese films before he comes over to Hollywood. That's true. This is the third of the Father Knows Best

films. That's the unofficial name of this trilogy. Sure. This tonal trilogy. And you do see how the acting improves in each film. Which I think, A, he's better with actors, the scripts get better, but also pushing hands, Lil gave me some of those scenes. Yeah.

Where even the people who are speaking a language that I don't understand, I can tell they're not as on point as this movie where it's like, every performance seems really good. Yes. But I do worry sometimes that like, I don't know. It's rare that I will watch a foreign film and be like, that is a bad actor. That's the thing. Right, right. That's the thing. But also, it's like the My blueberry nights problem right where you're like aren't these people just saying the things that people

say in one car why movies but it sounds worse in english like i'm not tolerating it i've never gotten over my blueberry nights for that very reason where it frightened me so much where i was like oh god has it all been like this i don't think that's true i think that my blueberry nights was you know playing with things that maybe he just wasn't as adept with. But that movie shook me to my very core. Yes. I like the same thing with like Godard films where it's like, can you imagine having to listen to people say these things? Sure.

Right. Like here are charming French people. I get to watch them gallivanting around and then read stuff. And it just feels like these are some interesting tweets. Could you imagine having to listen to people dramatize those lines? Fair enough. Yeah. But this is, yes, this is Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. His third film, his second Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and the film that sort of catapults him onto a larger stage that gets him noticed. Sort of, but actually he got Sense and Sensibility off the wedding banquet. Oh, interesting.

When that movie came out, he was already working on this one, but it was the wedding banquet that got him the Sense and Sensibility gig. I still feel like this was... The producer loved that movie.

This was the movie that made a bigger impact in America. Yeah, I think this was where things were really steamrolling because I remember my grandma saw this movie.

Ooh. It was kind of a crossover success. It was one of those nice little... Yeah, it was... I mean, I think this was where things were really steamrolling because I remember my grandma saw this movie. Ooh. Big story. It was kind of a crossover success. It was like one of those nice little like... Yeah, it was. I mean, I don't think it was a Sony Pictures Classics. I think it was the Samuel Goldwyn Company. I think it was. But you know, one of those movies that'll post up at the Lincoln Plaza for a few months.

R.I.P. Sure. But parents like. Exactly. Yes. It's definitely like it's a parent and grandparent art house movie this is like right one of those movies your parents will be like you know it they might be from another country but like mom's dad's kids you know like they'll have that kind of a tank

you know food they're drinking liquids it's unbelievable i never realized it's so universal like i don't know whatever it's such an interesting culture they have there they talk to each other i mean my grandma was someone who watched a ton of movies. I definitely got some of my movie love from her. But I remember when I was a kid, her telling me, I'm going to go see a movie with a weird title. And I was like, what?

And she was like, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. Which as a kid, you find that title hysterical. I was like, that's crazy. That's not what the title usually is. And the Oscars that year, they repurposed the title into like 17 different punchlines it was like the Oprah Uma of that year

where it was just like oh this is funny to say I believe that's probably a crystal year it lost to a foreign film do you know who do you know who it lost to I can look it up I think one year he lost to Burnt by the Sun I believe that was this year oh that okay

you know Burnt by the Sun. I believe that was this year. Oh, okay. That was this year. You know Burnt by the Sun? I've never seen it. I know. I've never seen it either. It was like a big deal when it came out. I remember it being like the VHS box

in like blockbuster video. It was like, that movie like revived Russian cinema and yet like, I feel like no one remembers that it exists. That director

did not really amount to like what people thought he was going to amount to. He was like a Florian von Hemmelsmark. Florian Dunkel von Hammersmark. Someone successfully nailed it at Joe Reed's Spelling Bee.

I can't remember. Might have been Katie. That's a weird correct. Florian Henkel von Dunkel. Yeah, like just what happened? Let's not get sidetracked on Florian this early. Our guest is

Allison Wilmore. Hi. Hey Allison. Nice to be here. Filmspotting SVU. Yes. That is true. The Prestige episode.

Yes. That's your number one credit. That's what you lead with. I mean obviously when people are like I know you from

your resume. Do you sound familiar? They stop you on the street in the subway. Are you excited to be back?

I'm thrilled. Great. I can tell. You're just like the street in the subway. Yeah. Are you excited to be back? I'm thrilled. Great. I can tell. You're just like, the energy in the room. It's crazy. Had you seen this film before? I had,

but it had been a really long time. Okay. Yeah. So it was, I, you know, had mostly forgotten the kind of plot developments and the, the one at the end,

especially I was like, Oh, right. Yeah. Ben loved this one at the end especially I was like oh right Ben loved this movie by the way I was I didn't see it coming I also well yeah I love how that right have you seen the other ones Wedding Banquet and Pushing Hands

but I don't know if I've seen Wedding Banquet check it out good movie Pushing Hands is we talked about it last week. It's okay. It's a fine debut. I feel like these three films there's a real build of a style that's

exciting to watch. It's like what we like in this podcast when we get to watch someone put the pieces together slowly because Pushing Hands you see some elements. Sure. But you're like, okay, this is like a little basic,

I guess a little amateurish. Wedding banquet's like really fun, really good. And you watch this and you're like, well, this is an Ang Lee picture. This is Ang Lee. Right.

And you're watching like all of the sort of things where he's putting his finger on the scale too much. You know, they're like, especially in the wedding banquet because pushing hands again, it's very simple, the culture class stuff,

but like where he's like, well, let's like really emphasize this. And like, you're watching him do less and less of that. Like have because Pushing Hands, again, it's very simple, the culture class stuff, where he's like, well, let's really emphasize this. And you're watching him do less and less of that, have more confidence. I'm like, no, I can build up to this.

I think confidence is the big thing. This feels like a very confident movie in terms of- He made them, they came out in 92, 93, 94. He's making them quickly. And this movie is so pretty and it's so like-

Sense of space. The house, you really see the house and how it's set out. It's one of those movies where you're like, the camera's always in exactly the right place. Without being showy shots, you're always like, this is the best place to cover

this from. I also just feel like this movie is very confident in terms of what it tells you and what it doesn't tell you. Because it's not a very plotty movie, but it has a lot of characters and a lot of through lines running. And in terms of things like the big surprise at the

end of the movie, it's really smart about what it's withholding, what it's showing you, often showing you the smaller, less consequential moments, but the moments that tell you more about the character and then letting the big developments happen off screen. That's like some cojones like a storyteller to be like, I want the audience to stay invested and not think that they're not getting what's going on.

Know that I'm telling them what I want them to know. And like Pushing Hands and Wedding Banquet are both culture clash movies, like very explicitly, like, and they're both set in America. And it's like, oh, can you, you know, like, can you, can you see what I'm trying to point out here? Whereas this is like, it's a culture clash movie a little bit. It's a generational clash. But it's also about slow shifts.

It's all part of a wheel that things are linked in ways you don't initially understand. Eating, drinking, men, women, all linked. I love this movie. I gotta say, I was very happy. He's good real pleasure to watch so yeah

I mean this is the third Seamus film third film with the same actor third film about fathers dealing with you know but this is the one that kind of

I wouldn't say centers the father most no because Pushing Hands Pushing Hands centers the father the most i would this centers him okay in the you know sort of he's one of four main characters i guess right

and then each well i'd say the youngest daughter probably gets the least time and is least developed she definitely uh is the only thing it doesn't ring false but like rings a little cheap like you know the way her story gets wrapped up kind of fast yeah right yeah um uh yeah because i initially thought it was just gonna be about the three girls and the dad would only really be there for the you know the the lunch the dinner scenes right right the basic set of this movie is widower master chef three adult daughters all living at home and the sort of tension

of the daughters are all sort of like different things one's religious one's kind of like a party animal or whatever or young at least and then one's the career woman and they represent

different shifts in the culture and he's a very traditional man not in a like stuck in his ways kind of sense but it is about him sort of like trying to figure out where he lands in this new world and them trying to figure out how to like live their own independent lives to the best of their ability. Right? I guess that's like... It's a hard movie to summarize. It is. I do think that it's all about, yes, shifting Taiwanese culture and this generational thing.

And I think that that's fair. They all are kind of dealing with what independent lives they can have and how they want to pursue them. Do you know what movie it weirdly kind of reminds me of? Is it Tortilla Soup? The remake of

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman? No, I've never seen that movie. Have you seen that movie? It's crazy that it exists. I've always wondered about it. But no, what is it reminding me of? Isn't it weird that

that's the one that got remade? Because Wedding Banquet feels like it was designed to be a Tim Allen comedy in 1998. Right. Sure.

Yes, it is. Like it's insane that touchstone didn't remake the wedding banquet i and it's like tortilla soup's literally like a samuel goldwyn movie like it's like the same distributor it's like a lateral move they were like let's just pick a different culture do the same budget level and it is that thing i was just saying what they're like well hey man all these cultures it's the family, the food. Like, you know, right. Can we do a Mexican eating fan woman? Do you know that every place has its own cuisine and also its own people? And those people are related to each other? All right.

What does it remind you of? What it reminds me of, weirdly, mostly in storytelling style, but also in sort of tone, is Small Change, the Truffaut film. Oh, sure. sure, sure. I've never seen that. It's this kind of ensemble piece where you have these through lines, but it's not very plot driven, and it sort of feels like a sketch movie in its own way, you know?

Yeah, I can see that. It almost feels like this omnibus thing because you keep on going back and forth between these different threads, but the threads aren't stacking up in a very didactic A to B way. Right, they're not intersecting all the time. No, and a lot of times the threads are just kind of like, here's just another day in her life. Here's another element to her, you know.

Well, another thing that I love about all three of these movies is there's no scene where the father forbids something and that becomes the central conflict. Or something like that. These aren't movies about a generational conflict that is prescribed. It's more just sort of like things are happening and he's watching them happen

or the mother's watching them happen and she's like I don't understand. Or like I'm upset. I use the word tension but it's not like a terse tension. It's not like, I'm going to throw you out of the house or I'm going to disown you. It's never friction.

It's literally just they're gauging how far they can stretch the rubber band comfortably. It's like these films, and this, I think, is the best version of this. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, he kind of perfects it. Well, it's also so much about, and I mean, this is kind of a through line in his career, like people not actually saying what's on their mind, right? Like he's like king of like repressed emotions. Which I love.

And that's early because there's that scene where he's with his friend and they're getting drunk and his friend starts getting a little blue, like starts working, and he's just like, you're drunk, shut up. You know, like he doesn't even want to talk about it with his like drinking buddy.

No, you know the moment, we've already recorded our episode after this, our Sense and Sensibility episode. And I mentioned this in that one, but Emma Thompson said in an interview, still to this day, she's never worked with a director who paid more attention to body language. Yeah, I can see that. Was more kind of focused on it.

And I feel like this is the one where he finally perfects that language for him, how to use body language as one of his storytelling tools. There's a scene that for me, I'm like, this is it. This is the moment that he arrived as a great director is when the two oldest sisters have the conversation when they're washing the dishes. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they start talking about the fact that they don't talk to each other. And in any other movie, it would have been like an acting class exercise scene where they're like blowing up at each other and trying so hard to connect. And they barely make eye contact. They're both staring forward. They're both dealing with the dishes. Like the tension comes from them trying not to look at each other because that would be too painful.

And it's just keeping them in this two-shot, watching them react to these things but trying not to show it. And it's like, this is some good dramatic storytelling. Yeah. Well, and so much even the dinners, they get described as like, right, like these torture sessions. But like the dinners are totally civilized. Like they're totally reasonable dinners. No one is screaming at each other.

No one is, you know. It's a very kind of like modestly pitched movie. Yeah. With all of these deep undercurrents of like tension and emotion and anger that just, you see the surface. Right, but never explodes into some sort of fakey feeling conflict. Right, right. There's never the blow up scenes. I mean, I even love a movie like, I really liked The Big Sick, which is another movie with family dinner scenes as like a sort of organizing story thing.

And even that has that sort of blow up near the end where they're like we cast you out of the family and you're like i know they aren't like you know so it's like which it's fine i mean i like that movie i mean talking about the small change thing i guess it's that he like cuts all the shoe leather out of it like he makes a movie only of the scenes that he finds kind of interesting. That's on blank check bingo, right? Shoe leather? Yeah. We got to actually work it up at some point.

I'm trying to fit more and more new pieces onto the board. I'm building like my sort of list, you know, of his phrases. I mean, Rosetta Stone. But let's talk about the other aspects of this movie that comes in at the very beginning

if we're starting chronologically. This movie makes you want to fuck with some food right yeah yeah it does uh i love a food movie ben and i were talking i think it like adds an extra star for me like i just if a movie like photographs yeah photographs food well like i'm just very forgiving of said movie sure it's the only movie I can think of where you see someone inflate a duck. You emailed us the picture. I did. I made a gif of it. Yeah. It's pretty good.

You don't get to see that a lot on screen. I mean, I'm now, I've called up the opening scene on YouTube. It's like, right, he gets the fish out of a pot that's alive. And then he kills the fish. He does that more than once. He kills a fish with chopsticks the second time

he feels bad about it he like thinks twice and then he's like nah this is a beautiful this movie it's definitely a fish snuff film

oh yes and then he also talks it out and he's like this is a really good fish you can't like you know don't go overboard

with the spices and stuff showcase the flavor well right and that's one thing I like is that the dad is so obsessed with not um over flavoring things and like with just the right amount right with subtlety of you know and like balance and and this is so much a movie about like uh like confusion thinking right and like you know you know everything should be like uh properly

ordered and the balance of your life and yeah the first daughter has gone too far maybe one way Like, you know, everything should be, like, properly ordered. And the balance of your life. And, yeah. The first daughter has gone too far maybe one way. Second daughter, she's gone a little too far the other way, I guess. She's doing fine, basically. The career daughter, I mean, she's doing okay. I feel like they're all doing fine. They're all basically doing okay.

Like, none of them, right? Like, maybe the first daughter. First daughter with the Christianity. Right, exactly. She's put some walls up, maybe. All of them are kind of missing a piece. They're not totally off track, but it's like you gotta

get that one final thing to push you over the edge out of the nest, you know? Yeah, exactly. You've got the, also, I feel like it's crucial that the youngest daughter works at Wendy's. Oh, yeah. That has to be important. Yeah, well they cut them together, right? There's a contrast there that and it's very deliberate.

When do you think Wendy's reached Taipei? When do you think the American fast food restaurants started opening? It was probably in the 80s, right? Yeah, I would guess in the 80s. Is it literally Wendy's in the moment? Yeah, it's literally Wendy's. Oh, I took note. I was very excited. I mean, like, I think that, I mean, I've seen, like, McDonald's play a role in some Hong

Kong films from, like, the 90s, right? And all of that. Like, they've been there for a while. And KFC is fucking humongous in Asia. That's the big thing. Yeah. Why is that again? Is it just like-

The chicken. People like chicken. Well, chicken's good. It's the chicken. And then I've been, humblebrag, watching Ugly Delicious on Netflix. Oh, sure. And they do a whole episode on it. He says the other thing.

Is he cutting the pork? Look at this. Just look at this. Look at this, guys. So food, pork. It's really beautiful. It's beautiful. I forgot how, yeah.

Look at that. The other thing with KFC is that it's communal. You have a pork belly. Yeah, right. You get a bucket of a thing, and they're like, there's no education necessary in how to eat a cheeseburger and how many you have to order for a family. It's like, you get the whole of a thing and they're like there's no education necessary in how to eat a cheeseburger and how many you have to order for a family

it's like you get the whole thing right because this is a movie about communal eating as well it is yeah the sort of

the ritual of eating as a family yes sure I hate seafood sure you're bad with food this is the thing

I'm not a big food person in general. I used to weigh negative 15 pounds. And when I was growing up, they kept on sending me to doctors to gauge whether or not I had an eating disorder. And they just kept on being like,

no, he just seems kind of uninterested in food. Which is a very, very boring sort of eating disorder, I suppose. Right, but they were like, is there some complex? Is there like a thing? Is it like a physical time? You're like, it just doesn't do anything for me.

Right. Which is why I, you know, I eat garbage. Right, you eat like bagel twists and nothing else. I get called garbage belly, I think, because the one way I was able to get myself excited about food as a child is if it came with a toy. Okay. So I still respond most favorably to things that are super fucking processed. Okay.

But I watch something like this and I'm like, God, I should like food. You wish you could appreciate this more. Like I like food if it's in a movie. Movies, that's my food. The food in this looks so good. It looks incredible. And the slicing of the fish. Like I'd never want to eat fish, but I watch that and I'm like, that looks pretty cool

being cut up. He puts it in a little basket. Oh, the steam basket? He just has that at home? Just like the pork belly and the fact that he, the way he cooks it and drops it in the ice water and then slices it up and then I think assembles it into the bowl and steams it. It's just incredible.

It looks so good. And it's a big metaphor for the movie, right? Of that he feels like his daughters aren't ready to be served yet. They're not ready to be presented

on a plate in this perfect way. And also he's lost his sense of taste which is like he doesn't even know what the palette of the culture

is anymore. Nice. Hey man. I forgot the frogs. He also it's like the way he expresses his love for his daughters of the culture is anymore. Nice. Hey, man. Oh, I forgot the frogs. Yeah. He also, it's like the way he expresses his love for his daughters. Yes.

It's all of his emotions are getting channeled through elaborate meals that his daughters are largely unimpressed by. Right, right. His daughter's like, God, we have to dinner.

Right. I love that in all of the dinner scenes he'll put up plates and then more plates and more plates. They're always these multi-course things

they don't all fit on the table and everyone's always just like yeah and I love also like another easy lazy thing they could have done is like he's cold

he's totally unemotional all he has is the food instead they make it like no he can talk he's just better at expressing himself through food it's a better connection

point than anything else there's the line I love late in the movie where they're complaining about the next door neighbors who keep on doing karaoke. And they're like, you know, it's just, they talk through singing the way we talk through food, you know? Like, they just, like, say it. They just call

it out. And they're like, that's just, like, the thing that we're able to all, like, kind of connect on. Right. But yeah, the first five minutes of this movie, whatever it is, this, like, opening credit sequence, is just the most effective food porn ever.

Process is always a film nerd thing to talk about, but I just fucking love process in movies. Anytime you get to watch someone go through a routine, especially the more specific it is, the more physical it is, and you get to watch him go through 17 different routines.

I'm trying to think of food movies now, because all I can think of is Chef. Chef Casper, of course. We love Chef Casper. No, no, Burnt! Come on! I actually did see Burnt on a plane. So there you go. Yeah, you know what the pitch for Burnt was? What if Chef but fucked?

Chef but hot. Yes. Chef but Burnt. Chef but Burnt. I actually do kind of like yes Chef but Hot yes Chef but Burnt Chef but Burnt I actually do kind of like Chef but that's a movie where I feel like man if there wasn't all this delicious food I probably don't like this movie

but like it's okay because I get to watch him like make a Cuban sandwich it's also weird when you realize like Chef is a movie about Jon Favreau making Iron Man 2

yeah I know it's very much a metaphor I just need to get a food truck and go back to my roots and then he makes the Jungle Book

and the live action Lion King and a Star Wars TV series I know what Chef is actually about which I like is that he's like yeah I just need to

get back to my roots because that I can really market and then I'll be right back on top because that's what happens in Chef you know

the Cuban sandwiches are a hit you know and he's like no bigger move than that right and he's like, plot invest. No bigger move than that. Right, and he's like, well, the problem was, yeah, that studio was no good for me. I don't know. It's like, yeah.

Yeah, there's not a lot of ideas about artistic authenticity there. He left Marvel for Disney, and Disney bought Marvel, and now he just makes adjacent movies. Right, but I think the thing with Favreau, I don't know what the thing with Favreau is, to be honest. But it is interesting to me that he moved on from Marvel, right, to making movies that he shoots entirely in a soundstage and has total control over. Sure. Like, it's, like, all brewed up in a lab.

Maybe he's just, like, really convenient because he can, you know, doesn't have to move around. It seems awesome. Yeah. The other thing is, like, you know, like, on Jungle Book, like, he would play all the other characters on set. Wow. And I feel like he probably just enjoys that.

Maybe it's fun. Like, not in an ego way, but, like, the behind-the-scenes footage that exists of Jungle Book that isn't a dude at a computer is, like, that kid on a log and Jon Favreau, like, pretending to be a bear. And he looks like he's having a grand old time. What are some other food movies?

Julie and Julia. Big Night. Big Night is a good food movie. Big Night is an amazing food movie. Right. Yes, right. And and that's i like that any like ratatouille any movie that is centered around like uh the dish like you gotta get the dish right uh the founder uh another movie centered around the dish uh wait what did you say man julie and julia sure yeah yeah i love that movie yeah let's a good movie have you ever seen Phantom Thread oh yeah

yeah classic food movie hungry boy oil and salt have you ever seen What's Cooking the Grin Durchada movie oh I love that movie

that's my favorite of the admittedly very small genre that is the Thanksgiving movie yeah I think it's an underrated movie Good Burger it is

yes alright which is another one that's about the dish good burger is about gotta figure out this mondo burger there you go gotta figure it out food movies there's some tempo tempo great moviepopo is the shit. And also is another weird movie structurally where it's like half a sketch movie. Yeah. Like totally isolated. Tanpopo is weird.

Right, self-contained. And then half a narrative that they cut back to when they feel like it. I have never seen Like Water for Chocolate, which was in the Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, like early 90s prestige foreign movie zone. Oh, this one's a little sexy. Yeah, that one's hot. Right, that one's sort of zone oh this one's a little sexy yeah that one's hot right that one's sort of sexy delicatessen right and a lot of food movies this is what i'm

saying yeah early 90s all these european and and asian directors they're like you know like and who are making the the jump yeah uh to america they're making these food movies can i go back a second and you're gonna get angry at me for saying this yeah oh whatever have you folks seen cisco and ebert's review of good burger no i have not i just go and ebert so not ebert's written two of them okay on at the movies reviewing good burger i will post it online at least once a year because i think it's important to recirculate they get into such an argument like cisco just dunks on it he's just like it's dumb it's stupid it's based off a sketch it's important to recirculate. They get into such an argument. Like, Siskel just dunks on it. He's just like, it's dumb, it's stupid, it's based off a sketch,

it's about a burger, fuck you, who gives a shit, right? And then he goes, like, the movie's dumb, it's poorly written, the characters are dumb. And Ebert's like, look, I'm not going to say it's a good movie, but I disagree with you that the characters are dumb. And he's like, what do you mean? He's like, they saved the day they defeat mondo burger and siskel goes of course they do they're the heroes of the picture and they get into this argument that actually

makes you think where it's like if the heroes succeed in the movie does that mean that they're smart even if the film characterizes them as dumb because they accomplish what they set out to do that's an interesting question and they get heated about it. And he's like, so you're saying it's a good picture? He's like, I'm not saying it's a good picture. I'm just saying. I love that he keeps saying picture. It ends with like, the audio fades out on them still fighting about it.

That's why they were the best. They were the best. Yeah. They could find an angle anytime. Yeah. I mean, Good Burger's good. I mean, it's a great film. I haven't seen it in like 20 years, probably. I'm sure it holds up perfectly well. It ages, Good Burger's good. I haven't seen it in like 20 years probably.

I'm sure it holds up perfectly well. It ages just like a burger. I mean, Kenan and Kel holds up perfectly. But that was a more elemental show

where it was just like there's a problem, it gets worse, Kenan has a scheme. Like it was always the same every week. Like Evan Costello. It was like,

right. Yeah. Anyway, you drink Man Woman. You drink Man Woman. How would you rank them if you had to rank the four? It was like, right. Yeah. Anyway. Eat, drink, man, woman. Eat, drink, man, woman. How would you rank them if you had to rank the four? Eat, woman, drink, man. Interesting.

Yeah. I think that's how I'd go. I mean, you got to put man last in this climate. I would go drink, drink, woman, eat. Well, no, drink, eat, woman, man. Let's just, you know, let's put the food and drink on top. Yeah, I mean, that's fair. See, I don't want to look too thirsty, but I go, woman, drink, eat, man.

Wow. We've already established your contempt for eating. Yes, right. So I would expect it to be down there. But it still beats man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sure. I mean, man sucks. And this is posting months from now god knows what man has done at this point i don't know maybe man's gotten good again what if in the months that we've been recording somehow everything got chill yeah right everything's great everything's just been addressed it's just all leveled out so is trump gone oh no no. He's just good now. Oh, great. He woke up one morning and he was like, what if Trump looked good? That's what he was like. And he just started living

his best life every day. I don't even know what that is. Like, what is that? Where Trump, like, would he give him an address where he's like, guys, I screwed up. I don't know. I've been a real jerk these last 70 years. Just imagine he made us eat Krell and we all had to genuinely say like you know what i think today trump actually did become president i think right we actually have

to give him an office he got down to business he balanced the budget sure this is sounding more and more like dave just the movie dave yeah uh uh yeah. So eat, drink man, woman, Jesus. Uh, okay. So I'm going to go drink first. Then woman, then food, then man.

Okay. Yeah. Food's gotta be number one. You guys are crazy. I like, I like alcohol. Yeah. Well, yeah,

you're, you're, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like it. I like a drink.

You like a drink. Yeah. It's fun to get drunk with Allison. Are you a wine connoisseur? Are you a cocktail connoisseur? Yeah, you're a liquor drinker. I'm a liquor drinker. Yeah.

Okay. I'm a bullet guy myself when it comes to bourbon. You know, lately I've been like bullet rye, actually. Nice. Yeah. Delicious. Delicious. Feel free to send me sponsorship money

if you're listening. A really good cheap rye is Old Overholt. It's like the classic standard. I use that to make it old fashioned. It's like under 20 bucks. Drink it from the bottle. Fall asleep on the subway.

Keep it in your desk drawer like you're a noir hero. I should have some booze in my desk drawer like you're a noir hero. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I should have some booze in my desk drawer just for that very reason. I would never drink it, though.

Right, but just so you could offer it to people and be like, you know. Belt of scotch? And also hold the drawer open a little too long so you can make sure your co-workers see it

and then they can be like, that's kind of actually cool. No, I think they'd be like, is David all right? Yeah, they'd be very worried. Allison, they'd think it was cool. You, they'd be like, is David all right right yeah they'd be very worried allison they think it was cool yeah you'd be like i used to have like sponsored bottles of things on my desk i had two bottles of shades of gray wine yeah yeah it comes in red and white p.s uh and then i had uh johnny drama johnny drama it was like johnny walker but johnny drama

entourage good branded scotch i got i got a bottle of champagne did you get the bottle Johnny Drama. It was like Johnny Walker, but Johnny Drama. Entourage. Good. Branded scotch. I got a bottle of champagne. Did you get the bottle of champagne for Darkest Hour? I did not. Yeah, I got that. I wish I did. I know. I drank that on New Year's.

But I got whiskey recently from The Good Fight, which last year sent me wine. Wow. So they upgraded. That is nice. Which is really annoying because it means the package gets rerouted to God knows where if I'm not there to sign for it. And I had to go all this way, pick up this fucking package. It was a good fight. I was like, come on!

I went all this way for a promotion, but then there was booze inside it. That's pretty nice. That's pretty good. So Ang Lee's Oscar-nominated film. It's hard to summarize movies that don't have that. I mean, I guess should we go through the plot lines? There are three characters.

There are three characters. Four. Dad's got his deal. Yeah, Dad's got his deal. Mr. Chu is his name. He runs a restaurant that I think has gotten a little too big is the implication, right? He's just also like, he's not... He's on autopilot.

Yeah, he's not feeling it. But like everyone likes him. Like everyone's into it. But he's like, does he also run the restaurant? I feel like he has basically moved on from the restaurant. He's sort of handed it off. They want him to come back, right? Right, yeah.

They want to be more hands-on. And they keep being like, are you, come on, what are you, you doing something new? Like you got like a, ooh, you got like something hot coming up. He's one of those guys where you're like, does Wolfgang Puck actually cook anymore?

Right Does he just found restaurants And airport kind of sandwich places So he's known as a chef But he doesn't seem to be actively cooking that much Outside of his home You know where Wolfgang Puck does cater? The Oscar?

Yeah Doesn't he do it every year? The restaurant is in the grand hotel in taipei by the way so that oh wow you see it the one that like okay it's kind of this chinese style building is like real like that's a real fancy hotel in taipei oh i'm looking at it it looks amazing yeah um so we've you know i right we've covered a lot of this this is his first film actually set in taiwan uh even though he's now made three taiwanese right because the other two are in the states in the states um and uh

it's got that's why i don't know it's it's that's why i feel like it works a little better i agree i mean i love the wedding banquet is like a 90s like Manhattan movie, just because I love seeing any movie set in like a New York that has sort of passed into memory. Um, but yeah, but also, you know, like they talked about the fact that he was not,

uh, super fluent in English when they shot sense and sensibility. So I can only imagine for the first two movies where he's working with like a mixed cast in the States, you know, that this film just feels like he is a lot more in his element. I can't imagine how stressful it would be to be a director not being able to talk to everyone who was working with you. Or to have to go through a translator for everything. Yeah, that sounds tricky. I feel like this movie also, it doesn't feel like it kind of bends over backwards

to try and accommodate this idea of a Western audience. No. I don't think it's any way inaccessible, but it's very much like, this is about Taiwan. I agree. And I feel like his first two movies,

especially because he was from Taiwan, went to NYU, he was sort of testing out, like, can I straddle the two zones. Right. And that's who James Seamus is his buddy right helping him straddle. But then his career after this becomes like

he does one or the other. He doesn't do these sort of like. No that's true. He makes two more Taiwanese movies but they are just foreign films. Foreign language. Foreign setting. What was the thing? We're gonna say about the father is that he's also he's lost that sense of taste he doesn't taste right it's fading right he's kind of uh not as good uh even though his dishes look incredible they look amazing but they're not quite as perfect as they used to be. Which his daughters are calling out. They're like, I forgot the shrimp paste this time.

Now, a question. Is it device or do we think that this is a real thing that happens? This is my question. Because it's like, are we supposed to take this literally like Dewey Cox losing a sense of smell? Sure. Or is it just like he's kind of out of it? Is it just a metaphor?

Right. People lose their sense of taste as they get old, especially if they smoke, which like most people did in the past. But then spoiler also at the end. Sorry to break it to you. My grandmother previously mentioned, a viewer of Eat, Drink, Man, Woman in 1994, she was like, yeah, all food just kind of tastes like a coaster to me at this point.

She smoked for 60 years. Sorry, Benny. Kills your taste buds. Also, you should probably stop eating cigarettes, Ben. I think that's what's really doing you in is eating lit cigarettes. It looks cool. It does look cool.

Your mouth glows yeah he's losing your mouth glows he's losing his sense of taste yes he's a widower he makes dumplings real well watching them make the dumplings I'm like how on earth

do people do this the folding on an industrial scale and I know there are machines and things but like I mean I eat 10 of those

in like 5 minutes and I'm like that was great I could eat 10 more right now and like and you're watching them like carefully like wind the flour, you know? Yeah, I could eat them forever basically. Yes. Agreed.

I will say, I think that the, I felt like the losing his sense of taste was sort of a depression, you know, stand in. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. And his disconnection from his cooking. Right.

Yeah. That's the thing. I don't take it super literally. It's sort of just like a kind of numbness that represents his state in life. He's lost his way a bit. He obsessively starts cooking elaborate meals for a little girl. Right. Yes.

And there's this sort of... Yeah, we should talk about that. Because I love that. I remember we... Had you seen this movie before? No. Okay. So we were in the same boat, but i remember when we would go to trivia all the time this came up in a food round and we were so charmed by the scene where he delivers because they do vaguely remember they introduced a food round and we were like fuck one of these is going to be in drink man women

right like we haven't seen this movie and i know it's going to be in here. So can we correctly identify this? And that scene was so funny that both of us were like is it that much of a comedy? Right. Because there's that

like one shot of him coming in with like the stack things he's like okay I only had so much time. And he's listing all the things and all the kids are coming and picking

it off the desk. Right. He's like taking lunch orders for the whole classroom by the end. But then swapping out and eating her lunch out of her little cartoon lunch. It's adorable. I love schools.

Yes. In, in, in these kinds of, I just love seeing other schools. There are two types of schools. Yes. So you have the elementary school and then you have the oldest daughter.

Jiajian is teaching at, it looks like a technical high school. Maybe it's, it's a little, it's intense. at what looks like a technical high school, maybe? It's a little, it's intense. It visually looks like a prison. Yeah, it's very project-y and sort of brutalist, this like building she's in. But like the yard that it's sort of centered on

very much looks like everyone's doing exercise and like sports and stuff. They're all wearing uniforms. Yeah, like it looks like some weird future prison. Yeah. So I, when I was like in college i took this really sketchy job in taiwan for the summer uh working for a textbook company where you're not allowed to work in taiwan on a tourist visa which is what i was working on so that was

the sketchy element so were they paying you just cash or whatever in traveler's checks. Wow. Very old, not 90s. And you're also not allowed to teach in Taiwanese schools if you are, I think, not a Taiwanese citizen. Interesting. But we would get brought around as like, they would be like, look at these foreigners. If you buy our textbooks, these foreigners will do a brief, inept attempt at teaching your class.

So you were like a textbook salesperson? Basically. But they were sneaking you in. a textbook salesperson? Basically. But they were sneaking you in. A textbook accessory, I would say. But definitely, I got brought to a school in Tainan, which is the big city in the middle of Taiwan, and was just ushered into a school that looked exactly like the school in this,

and then brought in front of a classroom of like 500 people, and made to recite things in English. And at the end, as they do in this movie, everyone stood up and said, thank you and bowed. I just like, I look at those scenes and I'm like, this feels like Logan's run or something. Like they're all wearing the same thing and they're like, that's sort of like the formality of those sorts of behaviors. It's not a pretty looking or friendly looking school. At all.

No. No. Yeah. Who coaches just volleyball? I don't know. Volleyball's a big deal. Yeah, maybe it's a really successful volleyball team. Yeah. I mean, come on.

I love the dashing volleyball coach in his sweatpants. He's like Coach McGurk from home movies. Interesting. But he has his motorcycle. You know, he's dreaming. Yeah, he's a little dreamy. I do love that for his motorcycle. So, yes.

Well, let's talk about that character, Zhaxuan, played by Kui Meiyang. Kui Meiyang. She has converted to Christianity. Her family thinks that's fucking bug nuts. Yeah, which I like, where they're just like, Jesus. Well, I feel like it's not even that. They're just kind of like it's like this thing she does.

Why do you need this? They're not taking it seriously. She's like can we pray? And they're like yeah. They just tolerate it as a phase. You do what you need to do. No one thinks it's for real.

I think they take it seriously but I think they're just kind of like whatever. But I also think she's the one that they view as like being a threat for spinsterhood. You know she's the one.

But I think that's also right like there's this fear throughout of leaving the dad by himself. That is like the great unspoken fear that is like in all of these women's lives which is to be like someone has to take of dad, but he can't just be by himself in this big house. But I think she also fits into that archetype of like the person who's like, look, I actually just don't have time to date because I'm really very like I'm so attached to my father, you know?

Right, right. Like she kind of is like Christianity, my dad. Those are the two things yeah well i mean there's this this idea towards the end that she like uh it's kind of like repressing herself right it wasn't been putting it on a little bit yeah she presented this narrative of being heartbroken right it was all a big spoilers yeah so i was confused by that this straight up lie yes yes that was a lot was a lie. She told this narrative. She borrowed her friend's boyfriend.

She borrowed the wedding banquet guy as the culprit. Yeah. But she just wanted to create a tragic backstory so they'd get off her case. Yes. She wanted a reason to give them. But it is all made up. That is kind of one of the weirder twists of the movie. Yes. But I actually kind of like it though.

I like it too. Where she was just like she just like hadn't wanted to date or was scared of dating right it was like i'm not meaning anyone interesting right let me create right it means every time they can just be like fucking wedding banquet guy yeah it's weird they keep on calling him that because it's like within the movie they've seen the wedding bank uh lee kai right that's his name yes and uh so but anyway that those are her daily she works in the school yeah uh she's got a broken heart and she's getting these weird she's pretty emotionally repressed yes that's the whole thing is they kind of can't read her ever right right and she's got the secret admirer she got an indie spirit nomination the actress and she's got the secret admirer. She got an Indie Spirit nomination, the actress, and she's in like a lot of movies I've heard of,

Taiwanese movies, like, you know, The Hole or Goodbye Dragon and The Wayward Crowd. They, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it, fuck. I want to,

is it Tsai Ming-Yang or is it Chai Ming-Yang? Tsai Ming-Yang. It's Tsai Ming-Yang. Yeah. Who is another, is like a contemporary in Taiwanese film of Ang Lee's Chai Ming-Nang. Yeah. Who is another, is like a contemporary in Taiwanese film of Ang Lee's, but his movies are

strange and boring. So he stuck to Taiwan. I mean, I love him, but. He did Goodbye Dragon now? Yeah, he did Goodbye Dragon. Goodbye Dragon, for those who haven't heard of it.

Describe it, please. Is a movie about a movie theater closing. Yeah. And every shot in it is roughly 25 minutes long, including the end is literally a 12 minute shot of an empty theater.

I like his movies. They're challenging. They are. I like that movie. And then he'll be like, alright, so I did that. My next movie is like a pornographic musical with watermelons. Right, right. Or the whole this kind of like

almost apocalyptic movie. I've never seen that one. musical with watermelons right right or the whole right this kind of like uh i don't know almost apocalyptic movie i've never seen that one i just remember reading review of goodbye dragon and when it came out that kind of like formed how i was like starting to engage with film more seriously where it was like i i get the statement of doing a 12 minute shot of an empty room right but is there anything you're saying with 12 minutes that you couldn't say with six? And I was like, that's an interesting question. Oh, but does it, wait, but like maybe six,

you'd be like, eh, that was just six minutes. That's 12, you're like, oh, 12. He's writing you. He was like, there's a difference between 90 seconds and six minutes. But what's the difference between six and 12? Like that was the argument the critic was writing. But when that movie came out, people freaked out.

I mean, cause he, What Time Is It There is a great movie as well, which, but I also love that that's a real high concept movie. the argument but when that movie came out people freaked out I mean cause he what time is it there is a great movie as well which but I also love that that's a real high concept movie it's about two people one of whom sets his watch

to the other person's and then we just watch what they do they do different things like one goes somewhere else like that's their only interaction was that they set each other's watches

well Goodbye Dragon Inn was also one of those movies where people either thought it was like brilliant or they were like what the fuck are you talking about sure

ding dong ding dong alright can you get that yeah So one of those movies where people either thought it was like brilliant or they were like, what the fuck are you talking about? Sure. Yeah. Ding dong. Ding dong. All right. Can you get that group? Yeah. Hello?

Wait a second. It said stirring in the corner. Oh, my God. We forgot about Detective Will Dormer. You got his name right. Our friend from Insomnia. Will, Will, what's going on? I thought he was dead by now. Yeah, I don't know. Sometimes he stirs. I've been asleep. Okay, Will. Will, what's going on? I thought he was dead by now. I don't know.

Sometimes he's asleep. Okay, Will, why aren't you sleeping? Guys, I've been trying. I've been trying to die for nine months here. In a pile of garbage. In a pile of garbage. But if I'm still alive, I should probably find some way to celebrate our nation's birthday. These United States of America?

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Oh say can you see? So it's gasper.com slash savings. Save up to $225 off your order. Limited time until July 9th, 2018. I think he fell asleep again. All right.

I want that guy die. That was awful. Yeah, I'm sorry. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. So sorry. Don't worry about it. So sorry. All right.

It just happens sometimes, Allison. It's embarrassing. We have guests over and then other guests show up unannounced. Anyway. Anyway. Middle,

or youngest sister. Let's talk youngest sister. Okay, she's got the least to do in this movie. Yeah, because we can knock her out in like 45 seconds. She's got almost like

it's almost like a parody of a soap opera storyline right and her thing gets totally resolved like halfway through the movie like with the snap of a finger and right and then it's that that's that well like if you know as you said before a lot of this movie is about what you don't see yes we see part of these stories and then whenever

there are like these periodic times at the dinner where someone's like I have an announcement and then you're are like these periodic times at the dinner where someone's like I have an announcement and then you're like oh wait that's what happened from that

and hers is like the biggest revelation because you see the setup of this and then suddenly you're like and it feels like it's setting up

something totally different than what they end up right she works at this Wendy's her friend has this boyfriend

that she's kind of strigging along, who she's not super into. Yeah. She meets this guy, gets kind of attracted to him in his, like, hang dog, like, lovesick kind of way. It's like, love is awful. Right, and she's like, I can't get out of it. My friend doesn't really like him anyway.

He lives alone in a very expensive apartment, which makes him look really cool for a young kid and so she gets engaged with him then the friend starts flipping out over the fact that she lost him they like get into this

like tearful you know conversation you're like okay so this is what her plot line is it's like this love triangle and then three minutes later You're like, okay, so this is what her plot line is. It's like this love triangle. And then three minutes later, they're like, nope, pregnant, married, moving out. Goodbye. Smell you later.

Yep. It is funny. And I don't really like get totally what he's trying to get. He may be trying to get at something that I am not like grasping. But it's like, there's, it has to be intentional that there's like no inquiry from Sure. Um, but it's like, there's,

it has to be intentional that there's like no inquiry from anyone about this basically where they're just like, Oh, okay. Like, right. Like, right.

She's like, I have five announcements to make. She's like, I've got an announcement to make, which is what they, like you said, they keep saying that at the table. Right.

Well, cause the other thing, it began the movie oldest daughter who is the most sort of independent and seemingly together announces her intent to move out. Yeah. Which throws them all into this state of reassessment. Right. Things are being finally changing.

What will we do? Right. And then it ends up happening in the reverse order of who you would think would move out. So I feel like that's the biggest thing he's doing with the youngest daughter is just upending the narrative expectation of like, I'm ready for middle daughter to move into her own apartment. Instead, it's just like, no, here's this whole thing you didn't fucking know about. And now she's living with a guy and they're having a baby. Well, there's also a bit of like, there's like a pride and prejudice kind of like the

youngest girl is the one who marries first, right right and she marries in this really kind of spontaneous like way and it kind of turns the heat up on everyone else like almost accidentally right it is like you watch this and you're like what a masterstroke to realize that he should adapt jane austen yeah it's true is this this very like they're connected you know yeah no for sure i mean it's one of those things that i guess you got to give a producer credit and we do talk about it on the sense. It's not obvious, but it is. She saw the wedding banquet and was like,

this is an energy that would work for an English costume drama. And the difference between generations and classes and all these sorts of things, the sort of tradition of it all. But the middle daughter is sort of the central character of the film as much as there is one. Right? I would argue. Yeah, I think so.

I think both older daughters are sort of co-leads. There's a reason it kind of starts with the middle daughter about to move out and ends with the middle daughter. You're right. The ending is crucial. And also, so much of the older daughter's

stuff is happening. She's not acknowledging it. It's all so locked away. And the oldest and the youngest are kind of like, I don't know, I'm doing whatever I want, get off my fucking back, and then take these left turns. The middle daughter from the beginning is like, I know exactly what I'm doing, here's the plan,

here's how the next two acts of the movie are going to go. And then there's sort of this arc to her like being completely thrown off the hump and then ending up in a totally different place it's her who got the Indie Spirit nom I'm realizing I was going by billing it's the middle daughter

and the dad got an Indie Spirit nom too and he's the MVP of the early Ang Lee films well he's such a good actor he's a good fucking actor I know he was like you know an old like vet who angley like dragged out of retirement we'll have talked about it already because he's like more prominent in the last two um but uh he's he's a great actor like it's not just someone who's like got the look and like is a you know a dad. No, he handles the emotional scene so perfectly.

Yeah, and he is a really interesting physical actor as well. But you're talking about the difference between someone just having a good look and engaging energy versus someone who knows how to communicate a lot with shrugs and things like that. Right. Because he is kind of stoic in this.

Absolutely. Without being cold, you know? This is what, of course, we already talked about. It is kind of what I'm concentrating on in a foreign language film. Yes. Yeah. But middle daughter. Yeah.

Big career. Heavy hitter. Yeah. Has this friends with benefits relationship. With her ex. With her ex-boyfriend where it's like, this is so much better. Like, she's like, I got it fucking figured out. I found an apartment I'm gonna move into

I got sex on the side whenever I want it without like the old ball and chain weighing me down I got everything killing it her outfits the business outfits are really good very 90s

but I love it of course because that's my era blouses yeah yeah nice blouses her blouses are great she's got a blouse game on point on point lit uh but but i feel like there's this weird like apartment scam she gets caught into yeah which then makes the papers they say i mean and it's one of her announcements right is that and they're all like oh wow like that's a that's a really fancy like it's like a big deal that she's moving in yeah to this specific building

yeah um maybe that was something that was happening a lot you know i'm sure that this is like a rampant time of development in taiwan but i think it's also just like the idea right like there was a long tradition of like you lived at home until you got married, right? And then maybe then your parents moved in

with you. So like this was like a real modern thing. You're like, you have your cool like sexy city apartment. Right. And that's part of the hook.

I need to live at home. I need to be in a relationship. Like I'm zooming past all these things. Which by the way, no, I would be like, how about I stay at home

like with my dad who cooks amazing food and it's kind of a nice guy like honestly you know it's kind of fun a fun hang sure uh rather than feels like the one who is most interested in trying to carve out like a modern life yeah and and purposely dispel all the sort of like societal notions of how a woman her age should be behaving. Right. But she's in this way. She's like the son her father doesn't have. Right.

Because she sort of takes up the cooking mantle. And like, you know, they're they're the most connected on those fronts. Right. But they also are the most like at odds. Yeah, sure. Like he was the one who's like, I don't want you to be like a chef. You can't be a chef like me. Go do something else.

Right. So there's this notion that she was capable. She could have done this for her entire career and clearly likes doing it, but never did it professionally and is in one of those kind of anonymous business incorporated jobs. I know. Her job seems so boring. It's an airline, right? Yeah, it's an airline.

It's some sort of... They're making deals about flights in Australia. There's some presentations, right? Yeah. There's that thing where a wedding banquet guy comes in and he's like, my flight was late. And the boss is like, sorry.

It's some flight jokes. Some good flying humor. Airline humor, yeah. Arms tired about you. But it seems so stifling and dull. But whatever. She's killing it. She's dull but whatever I mean she's killing it I mean she's doing great

I think she's not supposed to be super happy in it no it's more like she's just doing she's just good at it right exactly she's on the path

and she's got her nice side piece and then he in like look I have a shocking announcement to tell you reveals that he's oh oh cause there's that thing

so she she has the conversation with the sister where the sister reveals the man who scorned her. The cause of her broken heart. Right, so she goes on this vengeance quest to catfish him into admitting that he wronged her sister. Right. Instead he's like, I got no idea what you're talking about.

Yeah, he's like, uh... I have not been watching this movie. Now that I think about it, she... Right, exactly. She was in my girlfriend's class maybe you know like he finally puts it together who she even is right and then there's a scene i think is also like just very well uh it's sort of in a very economic way uh directed uh where she immediately goes like, I gotta go see my fuck buddy and tell him this funny story. And then realizes that she's interrupting him with like,

another woman, but has no real right to be angry about that. There's that thing where they're both kind of sussing each other out. And then the next time they see each other, he's like, by the way, we're getting married. But also, can we keep up our fucking relationship?

Right, right, right. You want to be my soup on the side. Right. Side of soup. Yeah. Which it's like. I mean, you were right to break up with that guy. Yeah.

Right. Yeah, I like how unjudgmental these movies are, though, in general, about sex. Me too, but let me judge. This guy sucks. He's no good. He's the worst. But I like that also the other two daughters

have stories that revolve around romance. Yes. And the romances in her she has two kind of abbreviated romances. She has this like failed romance

with her ex-boyfriend a garbage person. Yeah. And then she has this like half romance with what she thinks is her sister's ex-boyfriend. Right. Who is married also. And then and that she has this like half romance with what she thinks is her sister's ex-boyfriend right who is married also and then and that ends in this way that is so interesting

where he's like i'm glad that we didn't sleep together can we be friends yeah yeah um do you think he means it he seems far more sincere yes he does seem more sincere. But I feel like the way in which he specifically was like basically like, I want to be your colleague. I did really seem to try, to be an attempt to put the romantic storyline to bed. He's like Lego Batman.

He has to realize, look Batgirl, we need to work together. I gotta get over this whole crush thing. It's a classic Lego Batman arc. Yeah. As they always say in film school yes yeah i mean that's what i was working off of the lego the lego bartman yeah um uh can we talk about the mash notes that we never talked about the mash yeah let's talk about the weird poems yeah those weird poems left on her desk yeah right suicide is painless they're just very like highfalutin sexts you know what i mean like like imagine harassing a woman with like parchment paper and like complicated poetry

uh uh my friend uh juan nicolon as part of uh nipsey the ucb sketch group that we've both been a part of wrote a very good very good sketch about Victorian dick pics. Okay. Where other families, they're sending over portraits. Yes, they're sending over their like, yeah. But it does feel like the last

vestige of like, I gotta gussy this thing up. You can't just slide into some DMs like Giffield. I gotta turn a phrase here in order to get her attention sure um but they are he's like fucking horny sirino yeah right uh and she's she's trying to figure out who it is who the culprit is but it seems more out of just like her frustration of not knowing rather than like this is my secret love right yeah it doesn't feel as much like she's like i gotta know who this is so i can run away with him i feel like it's more

just she had like shut that part of her life yeah so it's an annoying reminder of it yeah that she has like this kind of romantic potential yeah she seems like really uninterested in existing as a sexual person for a long time right And then she does the makeover. Yes. Right. Everyone in this movie is like ignoring some like desire. They're all missing the piece. Sure.

Right. They're all missing a piece of eat, drink, man, woman, I guess. And they put the four rings together. Which to me, right. Exactly. A form of a, yeah. No, you know, it's like the title is from the book of rights, a Confucian-like book about basic human desires being natural. Eat, drink, man, woman.

The things which men greatly desire are comprehended in meat and drink and sexual pleasure. That's the actual. It's also a pretty good plot synopsis of the movie. Sure. Eating, some drinking, man, woman. Yeah. I mean, it's not a plotty movie. No.

For a two-hour movie, especially. Again, a lot happens. Everyone has their own little kind of thing going on. It's just very well observed. Unlike The Wedding Banquet, which is really plotty. Very high concept. It's not like a farce. One good thing about The Wedding Banquet is that it isn't a farce.

It never turns into the birdcage. But still, that's a movie where there's identities being hidden. It's the restraint of not feeding into what the movie could sink to. Whereas this is just like, we're not even going to try to spin those plates. Let's just take our time, fucking go down the river. He's a filmmaker who takes his time. He does. He makes long movies. Patient.

I'm realizing this. Yeah, yeah. There is like, you know, because like sense sensibility is very long yeah uh even a movie like fucking i don't know billy lynn's long halftime walk it's like surprisingly like roomy yeah um life of pie is like over 230 right is it really i think so no it's only two hours 10 minutes but really you know even though minutes. Really? It felt long. It just felt long because he's on a freaking boat with a tiger for half of it. You could have told me that movie was three hours long and I'd believe you. I mean, I'm looking forward to re-watching a lot of these movies.

I am looking forward to re-watching that movie, but mostly because I saw it, didn't really do much for me, and then that was that. I just really haven't thought about it much since he won an Oscar for it, and I was like, what? Okay. Life of Pi? Yeah. for me and then that was that like i just really haven't thought about it much since he won an oscar for it now it's like yeah okay okay yeah life of pie yeah yeah his second oscar i forgot that he won an oscar he won an academy award his second that is one of those movies that also no one talks about but made so much fucking money how is that possible it did really well here it did bananas overseas i think it ended up at like 150 domestic.

You're right. 125 domestic. 609 worldwide. That's crazy. Thank you. Those are good numbers. For a movie about a boy in a boat with a cat. I know. That's largely metaphorical. Yeah. A movie that ends with, was this a movie? You're right.

I'm excited for you guys to talk about Taking Woodstock. Which is a movie that happens're right. I'm excited for you guys to talk about Taking Woodstock, which is a movie that happened. It's going to be a weird one. Another one that did crazy business overseas. Did it really? No, I think $45. Okay. Taking Woodstock is the only one I haven't seen after this.

Oh. Yeah. Interesting. It's just inexplicable. Sure. He's an inexplicable guy sometimes with his projects. I mean, now he's making this Will Smith movie that sounds... Gemini Man?

Silly. But maybe it'll be good. I don't know. You know, I think he's good at repressed emotions. I do think it is the main thing. Yeah, he applies that to whatever he does. Even when he made a superhero movie, it was about the guy who's like, can't be angry. The best movie ever made.

But he is... He is... Interesting. I was talking to someone about the fact that we were getting ready to cover him on the podcast. Yeah. who's like, can't be angry. That's what I've ever made. But he is, he is interesting. I was talking to someone about the fact that we were getting ready to cover him on the podcast. Yeah. And they said, is there anyone who's kind of more of a chameleon at that level than he is?

And it's one reason we wanted to do him is he worked in a lot of genres, so he gets to do lots of different kinds of movies. Without being like an anonymous hack work guy, you always certainly feel his fingerprints. There are commonalities of like theme and style and this and that but like i was throwing as as a counterpoint i was like what about someone like soderbergh and they were like he works all the different genres but he's got a very specific set almost every time you see a soderbergh movie you're like that was a soderbergh movie like

i wouldn't describe unsane which i just saw as like a silo movie it's a sooderbergh movie, you're like, that was a Soderbergh movie. I wouldn't describe Unsane, which I just saw, as like a silo movie. It's a Soderbergh movie where the whole time you're kind of thinking like, why'd he make this? And I liked Unsane. But they're all like that genre, a la Soderbergh. And Emily just kind of like moves around and is like, I don't know,

why would I make this kind of movie next? But he's not like a Ron Howard. That's what's fascinating about him. Like they were saying like... Even when he misses, you're like, I can see what drew him to a Billy Lynn or a Woodstock or whatever.

But he weirdly almost feels like a Howard Hawks or something like that where it's like the filmography is that varied, working in that many different genres at a high level proficiency because in that day, you had to direct fucking five movies a year. Right.

And he's like choosing his films deliberately with space in between but still like zigging and zagging that much. Because you look at this film and you're like,

okay, he's figured it out. Here are three films, the Father Knows Best trilogy, and now here is the template for what a dangly film is. And then he's like, different time period, different culture.

Long time ago, continent far, far away. Sure. And then everyone was like, okay, but it's always going to be about the family and the daughter. Then he made Ice Storm.

Right. So he did stick in the family movie for a while. Yes. And then he kind of flames out and he's like, uh, let me make like a Kung Fu movie. But there's a fucking Western in between. Sure. That's true. There's like a revision fu movie. But there's a fucking Western in between. Sure, that's true.

There's like a revisionist slavery Western. Emily's here. Emily Ashina. Yeah, that's right. Humble rank. She's here to record a different podcast that's not this podcast. Night call. Listen to it.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just an interesting guy. What else? Come on. Is there anything else we want to say? Well, I will say the end of this movie

destroys me. That's the thing. The ending is so good and you think the movie's over and then he you know I feel like it even

fades to black maybe and then cuts to a new scene. I can't remember. Okay so final dinner table conversation scene because there's also been this flirtation.

There's the next door neighbor or the friend who has the young daughter who he's been the this flirtation there's the next door neighbor or the friend who has the young daughter who he's been the father's been swapping the meals with and her mother has been staying with her

moved in with her and her mother is awful right and they keep on setting up the dad and the mom on these kind of very stilted dates trying to make fetch

happen and it clearly isn't connecting and you're ready for like the end of the movie where finally like the guard comes down and they bond and it's like oh maybe they were similar after all like you're waiting for the character to totally shift off of being the worst right to suddenly becoming compelling you think that's

what the movie is winding up and then big dinner table announcement i'm engaged to your daughter right and everyone starts crying yeah Yeah. People freak out. Or fainting. Yeah, right. The mom starts shaking. Yeah. Yes. Right.

And passes out. And also he's selling the house. Yep. And they're like, you're drunk. There's the earlier threat of him being senile because the quote unquote uncle character, who's the more active chef at the restaurant now. The guy who works a little blue. Right.

He likes to work blue. Works a little blue. He likes to work blue. He gets ill. Right, there's that. He gets hospitalized and dies. He dies very quietly at a table. It's a really good death scene. It's actually kind of frightening when he's in the kitchen and he just starts shaking and the guy's like,

ah, stop fucking around. Because they're all applauding him for re-entering. Give me a second. Sits down. Dead. Can you imagine your first day back at work? You're just like, hold on one second. I'm just going him for re-entering. Give me a second. Sits down. Dead. Can you imagine your first day back at work? You're just like, hold on one second. I'm just going to die really quick. You won't even be sure if I'm dead. They're clapping and he's like, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Let me sit down and I'm dead. That's how you quit a job. Yeah, right. But there's the thing they keep on talking about. Is dad going senileile he's losing his taste he seems to be losing his lust for life like it's like

is depression gonna get him is he lonely like they're like trying to figure out like cause the guy seems to be off his groove and then it's like nope I have been dating someone your age your friend seriously and now I'm selling the home and we are moving in together yeah uh mother

passes out kind of like i believe there is this like hard fade to black yes and then you see him uh and that is how a lot of these movies would end with some big dinner scene or you know where everyone is together there's a giant confrontation right Right. It would be a 15-minute blow-up. It ends a little abruptly, but yeah. So then we see the middle daughter preparing a meal. It's like, oh, she's not coming. What's going on here? They're going to live together.

He's in a car. He drives past what is clearly his old home, which now is like... It's sold. Vandalized, gets out, sort of forlorn, tries to open the door with his old key, doesn't work, and you're like, oh, it sounds like a can't-go-home-again kind of thing.

Hey, wait a second. Wait a second? Let's throw a couple bagel twists in here, because who owns the home? Middle daughter. She's been the one cooking for him and how good is her soup well maybe a little too much ginger oh wait a second how did how did you know and i didn't even like pick up on that i was like uh he's he's being such a dad criticizing him for the ginger that's what i like about it it's like a twist where like the audience

also has to realize the twist just as he realizes the twist. He's like, too much ginger. Too much ginger? Wait a second. So you know what I feel like this is cribbed off of? What? My favorite episode of Happy Days growing up.

Great. And that was a big Happy Days kid. There's one, it was like post-Shark Jump where every episode something insane had to happen to the status quo Fonzie suddenly goes blind and this is like this is maybe even like a post Richie Cunningham season where it's like

Fonzie's friend doesn't live there anymore but he's still living at his friend's parents place above the garage so he suddenly goes blind and like loses all his passion and it's like henry winkler sad with big ray charles sunglasses on and he just like can't he can't ride his bike anymore he can't i guess stand adjacent to a bike he's missing the uh jukebox when he tries to elbow

it and then there's a scene at the end where he like walks into the kitchen and he's not wearing the sunglasses and he goes like you look lovely today mrs c and she goes like oh thank you arthur and then she looks up and she goes oh arthur and realizes that he has his vision back but he's like gained it just as magically and suddenly it sounds stupid it's dumb yeah's dumb. I always think about that as being like the fucking sweatiest episode of television I have ever seen. And then this movie pulls the same shit, but it like fucking gets you. Well, right. Because he spent two hours investing you in like the soft metaphor.

Because it's not a happy day. Well, right. Yeah, exactly. Yes. But it's also so quiet. I guess I just feel like there's so much of this movie that is about from the daughter's perspective like loving your father but being terrified that your life will just get sucked into caring for him as he like slowly you know recedes from life i also think

she starts to become quietly and the movie doesn't put too fine a point on it scared about ending up like her father yes sure she gets more affected by her father's current state than anyone else. He seems really lonely. He seems really rudderless. And like you said, he's freaked out about the same idea. He doesn't want her to end up like him either. But they have to accept this. Sometimes these things happen.

And the last shot looks like a fucking renaissance painting. It's very moving. It does actually, yeah, it made me cry. It's very effective. Ding does actually, yeah, it made me cry. It's very effective. Yeah. Ding dong. Oh, sure. Ding dong.

I'll get at this stuff. All right, all right. All right. Who we got? Oh, hello. Who's this now? I'm Salvador Dali. Oh, wow.

I love your art. Salvador Dali? Yeah, yes. Salvador Dali. Okay. All right. You said Lali that first time. No, it's the accent

all right salvador i'm gonna i'm gonna get down to brass tacks with you yes we're a couple busy podcast hosts yes i have many podcasts oh really you have a network i host a west world recapture you're like how do you feel about billions love it all right um well then you're if you're a podcast host then you know we we really want to get back to talking about great art and you are a great artist yes so what are you here for well i have a problem oh no my mustache she point up your famous mustache yes but my wer, it drip down like the melting clock on the branch of the tree. Well, we've got just the thing. It's called HIMS.

Yes. And it's a one-stop shop for hair loss, skin care, sexual wellness, all for men. That's true. Now, this week, I'm more interested in talking to you about baldness than sexual wellness. I also have a bit of that, I think. Yeah, actually, let me take a look at you. Let's recheck the historical fault. I'm coming closer to you.

It looks like you have a full head of hair, but a little bit receding. Here's a twist. A little bit receding. Here's a twist. Toupee! Oh, boy. I'm rewriting history. Well, 66% of men lose their hair by age 35

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not gas station counter supplements real generic equivalents and name brand prescriptions to help you keep your hair so what you're saying is or keep your you know you cannot turn back the clock you cannot unmelt the clock sure but you can freeze the clock so it stays in that current state of melt you could even even, I mean, Ben, you know about this stuff, right? Like you can get a cream, you can get a supplement, you get a solution, you get a

pill. It's a whole package deal to really make sure to keep what you have or to even have some hair grow. You don't have to go to the doctor. Nothing. Hey, doctors. Awkward waiting room time. Here's the thing. You think I'm an absurd artist try waiting

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See website for full details. This would cost hundreds if you went to the doctor or a pharmacy. You go to 4hims.com slash check. That's F-O-R-H-I-M-S dot com slash check. So I checked to make sure I've typed in 4hims. I thought he'd do this. No, it's 4hims.com slash check. You I checked to make sure I've typed in 4hims. I thought he'd do this. No, it's 4hims.com slash check. You can get a trial month for $5 today.

And it's going to be great. I mean, look, great sales pitch. I mean, 100%. I know you said it was mostly about the hairstyle, but they do have good wiener stuff too, right? So I'm told. Great sexual wellness. Oh, yes.

They also do offer a generic form of viagra great otherwise it would be embarrassing if i came all the way here with that very very strained clock analogy the mustache and then did not have that answered at all so now i'm going to leave goodbye all right thanks for interrupting the like wonderful ending scene with that slam hey don't blame me blame that idiot um but uh no oh jesus i totally lost my train of thought well it has been five minutes since you started talking um no it's just like like my parents didn't want me to get into this garbage industry that i'm in and that you're in yes uh because my parents were both in this garbage industry uh not film critics just journalists

podcasting someday David this thing will come around called podcasting don't do it they were just talking to microphones there weren't even wires connected to anything they were just doing podcasts for themselves someday people will be able to hear this stuff

someday you'll be able to make hundreds of dollars um a mattress will get delivered to your house right in a box the size of a mini fridge and i was like mini fridge and they're like well we're gonna figure out mini fridge technology wait you told me it's a fridge but it's smaller the original the original podcast we're just whispering secrets into a bottle and then throwing it into the sea you would dig a hole no but you know they had to accept that I was

whatever like fated to follow them on their path which is the exact same thing I went through my parents were like don't go into show business it's for bad people right yeah which I don't know where they got that from yeah what are you talking about it seems great

I see no evidence of that nothing's come up recently yeah like you said everything's fixed by now yeah everything's fixed but like I like the metaphor

of that like simultaneous like both sides realization where she's like it's okay that I'm following in your footsteps it's okay that you're

following in my footsteps right you just hope you hope they end up a little better than you do. We can say this for parents here recording this episode. I love... A great deal of maturity. That's what we want for our children.

We want them to improve upon... Imagine how good our children's podcast is going to be. By that point, it'll just be beamed directly into people's brains. They'll just have a contact lens or something. And you'll have no choice but to buy mattresses online. It'll force you to do it. And mini fridges will be long gone.

People won't even know how to describe the box it comes in. Do you guys have a mini fridge? I had a mini fridge in college. No, I didn't have a mini fridge. Yeah, I got one right in the corner. Yeah, there's one in the studio. Ben's got a little mini fridge. He does, he does.

Sometimes the studio feels like Ben's dorm. My sandwich is in there i love how your mini fridge is called medea as well i always think of uh tyler perry thank you yeah sorry about the laundry all over the place good bit uh do you guys want to play the box office game yeah cool so how wide was this might did all right like it did a solid little number at the u.s box office it made 7..2 million in 1994. Pretty good. Which adjusted for inflation is $16,000,

which Sony Pictures Classics would take that now. They'd be thrilled. Yeah, exactly. And I don't think it cost more. And I assume it made some money, obviously. In Asia, this is long before Box Office Mojo has any kind of data about that. But it opened

limited august 5th 1994 okay so like and that's when it basically when it came out in Taiwan so it's like you know what I mean like yeah he is now a big enough name and I guess the wedding banquet was enough for a crossover that they were like yeah we're taking it right to America wow so uh how long is this movie in theaters? Is there like... There's not much data about that. I mean, it opened to $155,000. So if it made $7 million, it was probably in theaters for like six months.

I could see this being a movie that played at the Angelica. Just burning away. You said it came out in August? August 5th, 1994. I bet it was still playing somewhere in New York in January or February. Absolutely. I am August 5th, eight years old.

This is my last year in America. It's the Maudie of its day. That's the reference I'm looking for. That's beautiful. I just quietly ran for six months and made $150 million. I only saw two of these five movies that we're going to talk about because I was a little kid. Okay. But I did see two.

Give me the date again. August 5th, 1994. Number one is a franchise action picture. It's a sequel. It's the third in this franchise which is

they keep trying to revive this one. And it's opening. It opens to 20 million. And they have revived but the revivals aren't good or they're trying to reboot it.

They've revived it like twice and now they're reviving it a third time. Is it Die Hard with a Vengeance? No. Good guess though. That's 95.

And it's not Lethal Weapon 3. No. Put it this way. The franchise, the name is not in the franchise. Although they later started putting it in there. Oh, it's a Jack Ryan picture.

It's a Jack Ryan movie. The third. And it would be... Oh, fuck. It has like the driest title it's like a fucking fridge word poetry it's not called desperate

no it's um but it's one of those like extreme oh it's patriot games no that's the second one clear and present danger you talked your way through it the process Oh, it's Patriot Games? No, that's the second one. Oh, Clear and Present Danger? Clear and Present Danger. Wow. There we go.

You talked your way through it. I got through it. The process, you know? Yes, there we go. I got to see some process. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, no, because the first one is Humphrey in October, which is a great movie. And then the second is Patriot Games, which is fine.

Yeah. That's the Ford. And then this is the third Ford, second Ford, third Jack Ryan. Right. I think both the Fords are Philip Noyce. Yeah. And I've seen this movie. It's like solid. It's like a fun little spy movie they wouldn't make anymore.

But that was the weird thing was like Red October people loved. It did well and they were like, let's upgrade this franchise. Let's get Harrison Ford. And they did two Harrison Ford movies that outperformed at the box office, but no one fucking remembers or watches. They did. They both did great. It was just back in the day which like sort of

ends with Air Force One I'd be like yeah Ford if you can get Ford no one talks about those movies I just feel more like Ford movies than they do like a franchise I feel like you don't even think of them the Jack Ryan movies are it's a weird franchise because those books are just Tom Clancy

describing like how to like clean a gun like it's so boring and they're like 4,000 pages long and they're all like, then the undersecretary called the other undersecretary. Maybe it should be like an E-Drink man-woman style process film. That's what those books are like. Hunt for Red October is that

Jack Ryan's really boring. He's a boring person. But then it also has submarines and conneries so it's got all this cool shit. But if you're just centering it on jack ryan like jack ryan's like an analyst like he's he has two first names he does have two first names and and he's john krasinski's gonna play him for amazon fifth time's the charm all right number two is 100 the movie i was most excited to see this summer it is a high concept comedy starring eight-year-old David's favorite actor. 1994.

He's your favorite actor. I saw this. Dude, it's been on a run. He's tearing it. Is it James Carrey? It is James Carrey. It's James Carrey. It's 1994.

It's not Liar Liar. That's later. That's like 97. Right. That was sort of his comeback. Yeah, that was him being like, let me go back to basics, right? Yeah. Just do a thing where i do one thing because that's what he's trying to do in yes man as well

it's like i couldn't lie right what if i have to say yes right like you know it's like just like all the way to the basic yeah no it's not neither of those and it's not it's not uh ventura 2 is it no that thing's in 95. So is it The Mask? It's The Mask. Have you seen The Mask? This is his miracle year. This is his second of his three movie run.

Ace Ventura, Pet Detective is in February. The Mask is in July. Dumb and Dumber is in December. All in one year. Cable Guy is 96. The Mask is in July. Dumb and Dumber is in December. Somebody stop me. All in one year. There's that year. Cable Guy is 96. He was just in the beginning of his career,

but people were already like, enough of this guy. You know what I mean? And there's that nuts stat where he got paid, I think $400,000, $500,000 for Ace Ventura. I think he got paid a million or two for The Mask and got paid 10 for Dumb and Dumber.

Right. And 20 for The Cable Guy. went into production after Ventura came out but before The Mask and his number had already like

risen that much. Insane. Yeah. So it has made 52 million on its way to 120. Big movie. Yeah.

Love The Mask when I was a kid. I have not seen it in years it holds up does it I can believe that it's visually still

it's visually I'll watch like the movie clips elements of like the big effect scenes oh yeah I love that who runs movie clips what is that

I got a confession to make I'm sure we can figure this out I run movie clips I have the music for movie clips in my head like all the time

that oh I'm sorry that's the one fucking big thing I forgot to talk about I have the music for movie clips in my head all the time. Oh, I'm sorry. That's the one fucking big thing I forgot to talk about with this movie. One of the big score cues they keep on using sounds so fucking much like the Sex and the City theme. It does. It does. It absolutely does.

It has that kind of wind up. It doesn't jazz it up, right? It doesn't go to the next level. But you're ready for it to totally left turn and then what it turns into still sounds adjacent to the next part yes like it goes through three shifts

to a degree that I wonder if when they were shooting Sex and the City they used this as like temp music because it almost sounds like you know when you see a shitty trailer and you're like they clearly

wanted to cut this trailer to like Bohemian Like You and then didn't want to spend the money because it's a think film right yeah so then they like

have like a sound alike yeah is Sex and the City's theme song a sound alike of the eat drink man woman score cue

that they somehow punched up uh listeners we may never know questions number three is the movie that wins best picture this year 1994 but they somehow punched up? Listeners. We may never know. Number three is the movie that wins best picture this year. 1994, Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump, which has made $164.

Mr. Gump. On its way to $329 domestic. People forget how big that movie was. Which adjusted for inflation is $720 million. Not bad. Yeah, pretty good for Forrest Gump which like just sit down

and think about that for a second like what happens today if they release Forrest Gump you get arrested you literally get arrested like

which is yeah like two and a half hours long yeah and it's a movie about like a guy with a slow guy no narrative agency

right just wanders into different plot lines. Who experiences post-war American history. Right. And then at the end of the movie, Haley Joel Osment is his son. And then very successfully sells a double album of greatest hits. Yes, he does. And opens a chain restaurant.

Right. And you know, the guy who wrote the book wrote a sequel. And they kept trying to make it into a movie and they never did gump ink but doesn't the original book have like him space and like a robot ape or stuff like that yeah there's shit in the original book that's insane zemeckis is like well come on yeah all right number four uh no but that summer that comes out and lion king comes out and I believe at the time they were like Lion King is number 7

they were either the 2 and 3 or 3 and 4 highest grossing films of all time they were both like fucking monstrous right

okay next number 4 is a movie I saw in theaters the first being The Mask this is the second oh that's a good clue because I know you've only seen

2 movies in theaters David you need to give me more. I'll give you more. It is like an update of a classic children's brand. Which they did a lot of back in the 90s. Yeah.

1994 children's brand. Have you seen this, Ben? I have. I don't like their size of them. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. So there's some little things. They're little.

They're itsy bitsy. Yeah, they're small. Ben likes them big. I don't know if you know this. It's from the director. He likes everything big, especially in films. It's from the director of Wayne's World. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

It's a Penelope Spheres picture. It's called Little Rascals. The Little Rascals. Good movie. I don't remember it at all. I don't think I ever saw it. I was a fucking Alfalfa Stan.

Because Bug Hall was my favorite actor when I was little. Okay. Bug Hall, he of Alfalfa. I don't know what you're talking about.

where he was my favorite actor. He was in this he's in the stupids he's in the big green oh yeah and then he did some like disney channel wonderful world of disney tv films and my household bug hall was like carrie grant he's in he's in honey mrs hall what are you doing to your son i was everything his name was bug his name is brandon okay but he was nicknamed Bug by his family. So they do hold the blame there. He's got red hair.

He was also in Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. Right. Which I have seen. Yeah. I loved those movies when I was a kid because, you know. Sure. Like the Cheerio is really big or whatever. I love the gag where you put something on a telescope or whatever and then you pull away

and you got shoe polish on your eye. That's your takeaway from a movie about a shrink, right? Oh, yeah. Wait, can I ask this, though? Because this is a big question, conflict of interest. What's up? Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, they're very small. But as a result, where do you large. So where do you stand?

Because cinematically we're seeing things look big, but actually it's a film that's almost exclusively about tiny things. I am going to have to say that if you shrink people, but then now grass and ants are big. If the camera's at their size. It's good. You like it. I like it. So you like Ant-Man? Um, yeah.

I do. I like Ant-Man too because he's like a robber. He steals stuff. He's an anti-hero. I like that. I re-watched that movie. That movie is weird. It is weird. It's not that Ben likes anti-heroes. It's like he likes criminals. No, no, no. Lovable criminals?

Or just any criminal? Lovable I don't think is a prerequisite. Oh, so you're saying there's like both like actual perspective. Sure. Small, big. But then there's also some like philosophical perspective. There you go. Number five is like the big action movie of the year that we have talked about on this. We did a whole episode

about it on this podcast. In 1994. Yeah. We did a whole episode. Starring like the most famous action star of all time. The most famous

action star of all time. Arguably. It's a Schwarzenegger picture. Got a real sexy scene. And it's True Lies. Yeah, it's True Lies. It's the movie True Lies. How do you feel about

True Lies, Allison? I like True Lies. I haven't seen it for forever. Because you do a podcast with Matt Singer who loves Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah, I would say he has some fandom. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. You know, I feel like I haven't seen it since it used to play. Since I used to have cable television. Sure. And it used to be on TV all the time. It was on something. Yes.

It was on one of those channels. It was on some channel. And I have a huge soft spot for any movie that you can watch halfway through on a saturday afternoon it is definitely one of those perfect way to see a movie right because you can just queue it up and you can be like oh we're in the middle of the jamie lee curtis part great like you know or you can be in any part of it oh we're in the part now where they're kind of teaming up great yeah yeah uh you got the client Schumacher gearing up for Batman that was such a weird move

that it was like here's this guy who started out as a window dresser right he was like a department store window dresser you've talked about this so many times then he goes from being kind of pulpy to being like we found his niche he's good at grism thrillers and then they're like you know we should reward the grism guy yeah let him make batman movies and then he was like guess what

i'm gonna make him like window dressing it went like all the way around you've talked about this so many times on this podcast it's interesting the lion king huge angels in the outfield that's another one i saw that was the real spate of early 90s kids movies about baseball in Rookie of the Year it could happen to you in the Sandlot kids like all those movies were I have to say Rookie of the Year I think is my favorite that one's good because it's about like the politics of baseball yeah or the one

where he breaks his arm and then yes and he can throw really fast basically the ending of that movie can make me cry out of context watched on YouTube just like instantly interestingly Outfield does not get enough credit for how insane that cast is Glover, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Matthew McConaughey Matthew McConaughey, he's the deadbeat dad right? No, I'm forgetting who the dad is but he's one of the players on the team as is there's another person who's a fucking player on the team. Tony Danza.

Tony Danza's in it, obviously. Brenda Fricker. Oh, wow. Off of an Oscar. Sure. Who? Neil McDonagh's in it. Adrian Brody.

Right. Academy Award winner Ben Johnson. He's the owner, right? Right. From Last Picture Show. Of course. Neil McDonagh, of course, America's favorite movie star. Who is the deadbeat dad?

Oh, Dermot Mulroney is the deadbeat dad. Yeah, Dermot Mulroney. That's kind of a specialty of his, I feel like. He's good at that, yeah. So, wait a second. I wanted to see

if there's anything else. Oh, yeah. It Could Happen to You, which is based on a real story that my mom helped report out. You know, the cop leaves the lottery ticket as a tip.

Loosely adapted, right? No, it was a real thing that happened. I mean, that's it. Have you seen the movie? Yeah. I mean, it's the same premise. Like, they adapted the premise. Right, they adapted literally

just kind of like the headline. Right. He leaves her a lottery ticket and the lottery ticket hits. didn't happen in real life. Well, I don't know if they fell in love. No, I mean, that's all that really happens in a game. Your mom helped report it out. You don't know if they fell in love. That's all that really happens.

Your mom helped report it out. You didn't check with her? I think she might have dropped it with the lottery ticket hit. What happens next? Cage and Fonda. Back when Cage is still like, I can play a pretty regular person.

There's a little bit of an edge of something. It's charming. America was fond of Bridget. Everything was working out. Airheads, which opens this week at number 10, so not doing great. That feels like your kind of movie.

Definitely. We got three guys in line who might become the next big studio leading man. Let's take a shot on them. It's either Frazier, Sandler, or Buscemi. Yeah, right. One of them's going to become a hundred million dollar player. All right.

Actually, can we discuss this? The Frazier story dropped. Yes. Yeah. So now the thing, can we talk about it? Yeah. So I had talked about like a Brandon Frazier story that I never wanted to talk about in the podcast because I thought it was too depressing.

But then that story contains the story and more. He talked about it himself. He also talked about the creepy guy feeling him up at the Golden Globes and that freaking him out. Which had been public knowledge, but he had never really talked about it in depth. The accusation was thrown out and that guy defended himself, but he didn't

really talk about the sort of fallout from that. But then the thing that I had known, which was it was because I was on set and I was saying that i want to do my own stunts on the tech because i felt like that's the thing you're supposed to say you want to do when you're an actor right authenticity right and they told me on set they were like you shouldn't do that like everyone wants to think they're tom cruise and they can do it but you don't want to end up like brandon frazier and i was like what do you And they were like, that's what happened to Brandon Frazier is he stopped being able to move.

And it's what he says. He was a big, lunky guy. He's too big. And he kept on throwing himself through walls. Making movies like George of the Jungle and The Mummy. Those early action films he made. And he said the very haunting image that on Mummy 3 he was essentially

working with an exoskeleton made up of ice packs. Right. And then he compares himself to like a horse. I know. And he's like adopted broken down horses. And also the weird metaphor of Looney Tunes where he punches his own stuntman. Like how he like fleshed all that out. An American masterpiece.

One of his best performances. But yes, people kept on asking me like what this story was. he like fleshed all that out. An American Masterpiece, one of his best performances. But, yes, people kept on asking me like what this story was. I wouldn't tell. I think because they thought like in classic me fashion, it was something

that was like saucy and scandalous but kind of like exciting. And I was totally a bad guy. No, it was sad. I don't want to tell because it was just depressing. And I hope he figures it out.

That story was very like moving to read and I've always liked Brendan Fraser. Me too. I have too. I'd love to see a fucking... Comeback.

Yeah, and he's a guy who could morph into a new interesting state of his career. Remember when he was on Scrubs? Yeah, he was really good on Scrubs. Yeah, he was. I also think there was something so fucking young about him that was such a boyish quality that when he went from being 90s Brendan Fraser like 2005 Brendan Fraser still acting like he's 25 and also his body's falling apart, it felt weird. People weren't sure what to do with him.

It feels like now he's like maybe on the other side of like interesting older character actor, man who's been through some shit, Brendan Fraser. Yeah, I do feel like that story was a reminder that for so many of the people where you're like, what happened to that person? Yeah. They're like bad things. Yeah, I where you're like, what happened to that person? They're like, bad things. I know. That is probably what happened to them. The thing with Mira Servino and Annabelle

Shore, all those actresses who were like, they never really figured it out, huh? Their careers just sort of didn't work. And it's like, well, no, also malevolent force. Horrible things happened. Hey, what happened to that big movie star? Oh, she went crazy. She got really difficult. Oh, maybe because the entire industry was trying to murder her.

All right. What interesting through line. Well, of course, I'm glad we did a corner talk at the Brandon Fraser story that by the time this episode comes out, we'll be 15 years old. Sure. But whatever. That's great. Yeah.

But now, great. Everything's great. Allison, thank you so much for being on the show. You know, my pleasure. Always a pleasure. It's great to have you back, Allison. It's great to have you anytime. Oh, thank you so much for being on the show. You know, my pleasure. Always a pleasure. It's great to have you back, Allison. It's great to have you anytime. Aw, thank you. And

next week we will be talking Sensibility, baby! Shirley Lee, baby! Shirley Lee from Entertainment Weekly. Damn right. That's the benefit of canning these episodes and recording them out of order. We can directly promise what happens next. Thank you all for listening.

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Yeah. Eat. Okay. Oh. Drink. Drink. Man. All right. We need to, uh. Woman.