Blank Check with Griffin & David - Home Again with Richard Lawson

Episode Date: November 25, 2018

In the final special bonus episode of our mini-series on the films of Nancy Meyers, Griffin and David invite Richard Lawson (Vanity Fair) to weigh in on her daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s directorial debut: Home Again. But what if boys were nice? Was this movie filmed exclusively inside a bottle of white zinfandel? What is the future of the romantic comedy in the major studio system? Together they discuss alternate realities, finding the next Sam Smith, Nancy Meyers’ involvement in inventing rap rock and Reese Witherspoon for mayor. This episode is sponsored by [Robinhood](http://check.robinhood.com). Music selection: “Parting of the Ways - Part 1” by [Kevin MacLeod](https://incompetech.com/) Licensed under [Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

since when is having three adorable guys hanging around such a bad podcast? Right. Starting over is not for beginners. That's the tagline for the movie, and we need to state this right off the bat because this is an historic moment. I think you need to state this. You need to get this off your chest. As is tradition on the show, we open with a botched quote or tagline from the film. This is the first movie we have ever covered in what, now three years of the podcast?

Three plus. Right? Yeah. To not have a quotes page on IMDb. No one has bothered to put quotes on the IMDb page. That includes the Loveless had quotes. Piranha 2 had quotes. Praying with Anger, I believe, had quotes. Weight of Water. Weight of Water had quotes. That water sure is heavy.

The quote was 16 pounds. Just want to get another weight of you. Just want to get another Weight of water. Weight of water had quotes. That water sure is heavy. The quote was 16 pounds. Just want to get another weight of you. Just want to get another weight of you. All you got to do is weigh me. That's over the fucking line. That's my new one. I'm doing that at home a lot. Starting overism for beginners.

Hello, everybody. My name's Griffin Newman. Oh, David Sims. I had to point to him, he was missing his cue. I usually do. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. We're hashtag the two friends, competitive advantage. We're the only friends who host a podcast and move into a divorced woman's house together.

A guest house together. But it's a... Let's call it a compound, it's a compound. Sure. Yeah. It's a... what am I? Fortress? A collaborative living community.

What are those things called? Yeah. Cooperative living community. I don't know. Whatever. What? Commune. Sure.

It's a podcast about filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their career and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they have a baby and then that baby gets to cash their parents' checks.

Baby. Baby. They're like, hey baby, can you take this check to the bank? And they're like, sure thing. And then they sneak off and make a movie instead. Oh, you think that's what happened? No, I don't. Was Nancy was just like, here, I have this $12 million in this wheelbarrow.

Yeah. You just cart it over to TD Bank. Right. She likes TD Bank. Right. And she ran it right over to Open Road Pictures. Sure. Now called Global Road Pictures.

Isn't it now called... Non-existent pictures. Footage not found. No offense to those people that's right open road was amc and regal theaters saying what if we made the movies and distributed them only to our theaters in what is kind of a reverse of the monopoly that had to be broken up in the early 1900s where the movie studios also owned the theaters and they were like no sir right so now the theaters were like what if we own the movie studios and it didn't work very well except that they within a couple years won best picture which is insane yeah like who spotlight oh that's you

know where people are like you know it's really hard to win best picture if you don't have the experience with the uh campaigning and all of the sort of infrastructure. And then Open Road won Best Picture over The Revenant with Spotlight. It is kind of crazy that in the last 10 years, Summit, A24, and Open Road all won Best Pictures while being like preemie companies. And two of those companies don't exist anymore. Well, Summit kind of exists, right? I mean, it's just folded into lines. It's like a shingle.

Well, you're a shingle. I am a shingle. I have shingles. My mom had shingles. Did she? Very painful. It's a joke in our family that my mother only gets diseases

that haven't existed since the 1800s. Or sounds like... Scurvy? Yeah, just... It sounds like artisanal when my mother's under the weather. Are shingles adult chickenpox? Yes.

In Mary Queen of Scots, Margot Robbie gets them, or Queen Elizabeth gets them, and the makeup job is very funny. Well, what happened was that Margot Robbie got them, and so the queen had to get them. Yes. Yeah, adult chickenpox. I think it's adult chickenpox if you had chickenpox.

It's a weird thing where they come back. Because you can be an adult and get chicken pox. I think that's really bad. That's what fucks you up bad. Whereas shingles I think are just very itchy and annoying and the worst. But I don't think it's quite as severe. The chicken pox thing is

when adults haven't had chicken pox they don't want to go within a fucking city mile of a kid with chicken pox because then that does them in. Shingles I think is just like, oh, this sucks again. Shingles is that for reasons that doctors don't understand, your chicken pox returns in like a limited form. Right. But limited is the key word.

It's a limited platform release. It's a limited platform release. Right. Exactly. It's expanding outward from major metropolitan areas. It's sort of like an open road. I mean it's like it's going to be in major theaters, but not like all of them. And it's like a pretty limited P&A budget.

It's disgusting. Correct. So this is... So essentially we're comparing Home Again to Shingles. Correct. The Shingles of movies. We've been doing a miniseries called Something's Podcast about the films of Nancy Meyers.

And this is a bonus episode. You know, we've oscillated between the bonus episode being something that's connected to them but wasn't directed by them. Okay. And a non-feature thing that the director did. Right, right, right. But this is going back to the first one, which is a film made by her daughter.

Halle Meyer Sher. Yeah. Yeah. But is very much, it feels not like a film directed by the daughter of the person who directed something's got to give, but it feels like the daughter of something's got to give. Right. It feels like that movie had a baby and that baby was another movie.

Yeah. And, but like it was kind of a weird kid. Had a baby, but like kind of a, Oh yeah was kind of a weird kid. Had a baby, but like, kind of a weird kid. Well, I would say it's unnatural for movies to give birth. Whatever. I don't want to push my politics here. I was going to say, people can do what they want.

I don't think movies should fuck each other, and I don't think movies should have babies. I just don't think that's a good environment to raise a kid in. Did you see who the second unit director of this movie was? Steven Soderbergh, right? Charles Shire. Really? Yes. Her father. So all three of them were on set. I guess so. When I reviewed the movie,

in the opening paragraph, I said, the late Charles Shire. And someone on Twitter was like, um... You just assumed he had died? I didn't. Because she's made 40,000 movies about divorce and I was like, I think she's a widow. And this movie is also about her legacy of her dead filmmaker father. That's true. I think that's what it was.

You'd watch this movie, and you would think, oh, her dad must have died. Right. But instead of her dad being a dead 70s auteur, he is a living 80s programmer. That's crazy. He made Baby Boom. He did? Yeah. He made Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part 2.

But he hasn't directed a film since Alfie, right? Yes, except... Yes, yes. That's his last feature. He has a credit on a Reese Witherspoon indie. It's weird. Something about how starting over is not for beginners. By definition, frankly.

Yes. I'm going to say something right off the bat. This movie is to me what Spanglish definition, frankly. Yes. Yes. I'm going to say something right off the bat. This movie is to me what Spanglish is to Ben. Oh, yeah. Okay. We all like this movie

then, that means. Yeah, but I just felt that... You were the wild card because you hadn't seen it. I hadn't seen it. Right. I hadn't seen it and I was pretty against it

when it came out. Oh, you were dead wrong. I was dead wrong. I was dead wrong. I found this movie charming. Yeah. So, you had a long time ago when we had floated the idea. Our guest, of course, today.

Yeah, introduce the guest. Is someone soaring into the six-timers club now? Firmly in the six? I guess so. He seems to know. I'm going to check the wiki. No, it's six. It's six. With 100% confidence, it's six. He's six. Yeah. With 100% confidence, it's six. He's our great friend.

Our fabulous, what's the term I'm looking for? Cohort. Yeah, sure. And bits. Colleague. Right, right, right. He's a writer for Vanity Fair. He hosts the Little Gold Men podcast.

Richard Lawson is our guest today. Hello. And you had, a long, long time ago when you floated in, where you said on mic that you wanted to do Taking Woodstock. Yeah, just because, like, why not? Right. And then people were confused, flummoxed when you were not the guest on the Taking Woodstock episode, but it was

because something had superseded that. Something had given. It had to. Right. You wanted to go home again, Richard. I really wanted to go home again and I watched the Twitter poll to decide on the Nancy Meyer season with so much... I was genuinely

watching the finals. And then Pico Alexander visited you in a dream. Well, some say it wasn't a dream. If he asks, it was a dream. But then you took your token off of taking Woodstock, you put it back in play. And you said, I'm going home.

Well, because it wasn't even guaranteed, I guess, that you guys were going to do Home Again. Well, I was pretty sure. But I assumed. We knew you wanted to talk about it. It seemed interesting enough. I wanted to talk about it. Her filmography is short. David loves it.

So the second she won, we were like, even before she won, when she was clearly starting to gain momentum, we said, if she wins, we're going to do Home Again. Like if James Cameron's son had painted a creepy portrait of him, you'd... You'd talk about that. You'd do an episode on that, right? Yes. This movie's crazy! This is a very strange film. Yes, it is. Home Again.

The third movie in this miniseries that I auditioned for. You auditioned for this one? I auditioned for this one as well. So you auditioned for... It's complicated, the, and this. Yes. You were going to be Candice Bergen's part? Correct. And they gave it to LeBron Bergen. You were going to be the director father in the beginning. He was going to play a little munchkin

that lived in Candice Bergen's pocket. And then they cut that whole part out. There's like a whole extended subplot where she talks to a weird little elf in her pocket. Right. The role I auditioned for five times for It's Complicated didn't end up making it in the movie. They shot it and cut it. Right.

But they couldn't find someone and went through two different casting directors trying to find someone for this part. Wait, what was it? It was, I've said this in this Complicated episode, which has come out by this point. Yeah, sorry. But Meryl Streep goes on a Tinder date and the guy shows up and he's like 17. And I believe it was Daryl Sabar. Daryl Sabar ended up getting the part and they cut it out. But it was literally, they

postponed the shooting of the movie because this was one of her big like set piece comedy scenes. Right. And then they couldn't do it. And then for the intern I auditioned for, every male role. Right. Right. Like every fucking one. Mostly De Niro, obviously. Yes. Right. And that was the one I got close to. Right.

And then they realized you weren't 70 years old. Which, to be fair, I understand the confusion. Yeah, I mean, no one asked and they just assumed. Because Renee Russo requested you, right? She did. I mean, Renee and I are just such a match. Yeah. You know?

And we just, it's one of those things where it's like, okay, so we're one of those legendary pairings. Like, you bring us both on set together, you know the chemistry you're going to get, but do you want to have the movie, like, be bogged down with all that baggage? You know? Like, is it going to be like a You've Got Mail, or is it going to be like a Joe vs. the Volcano? Like, is it going to be like, I'm so happy to see them again, or is it going to be like, this is a little too much too soon? That's totally fair.

I understand that. And then this, I auditioned for the Rodnitsky part. You did? I did. Can I start off with a hot take about the three boys in the movie?

So this movie is I called it on Letterboxd I might have the same hot take as you because I got a real hot take on the boys. I don't know how hot it is but it's a take.

I got a boy on the take. I called this movie Goldilocks and the Three Boys which Home again, home again jiggity jig. My hot take or or whatever, is that all the boys are playing the wrong roles.

Yes. Okay, so Pico Alexander should be playing the actor. Thank you. Because he looks like he's ridiculous looking. Beyond that, right, beyond him looking like a sculpture, he acts with the confidence of a 23-year-old actor who just got off the bus in Los Angeles,

hasn't booked a job, and thinks he's hot shit. I'd seen this movie twice. It was my second viewing, and I had to pause it and be like, wait, wait, he's the director? Rudnitsky should be the director, and Nat Wolfe should be the writer. They're all in the wrong role. It doesn't really matter,

but they all are the type of a different type. It does kind of matter. I think they put Pico Alexander in his role because he's the most handsome one and he's the one who should end up with resources. He has the triumphant moment at the end there. But, all right, what were you going to say? I was going to say, I took some note, I can't find it now, of, like, with Pico Alexander, it's like, how do, like, hot guys, like, learn how to talk like that? Like, it's just a very particular kind of thing where you're like they're young but they're also sound like

they've been they're like 45 like it's a really weird it's the thing that Gosling does best of anyone yeah where it's like the affected sort of like James Deeney tough guy and the certain there's like a certain vocabulary of face acting that they do where it's like

very specific sort of like facial tics to accentuate certain words or they like curl up the side of one like corner of their mouth you know there's like shit like that and like the half wink and all this sort of like even the way they walk and that's like as you said that's the stuff that every young

actor learns to do he's doing all of that because he's an actor playing a part where that's his bag of tricks, but because you know that's the thing that young actors do, you keep on going, well, he should be the actor character. Right. Yeah, exactly. I also think the costuming is off because

he's wearing an actor's clothing. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. And Wernitzky's the one who's the film-obsessed guy who goes into the director's homage room and is into it. Like he's obviously a director. And the net wolf is the little Jew.

He's the writer. I'm Jewish. I'm allowed to say that. The Pico Wolf swap is the biggest one for me. I think the movie would work. Still. Ben's vaping. Ben's vaping in the studio.

That's got to vape. Producer Ben is vaping. The Benducer is vaping. It just looks like a USB. How do you. Poet Laureate is vaping. How do people fucking do. Peter's vaping. It's helping me in the studio. That's got to vape. Producer Ben is vaping. The Benducer is vaping. It just looks like a USB. How do you- Poet Laureate is vaping. How do people fucking do- Peter's vaping.

It's helping me quit smoking cigarettes. Park Detective's vaping. The Meat Lover's vaping. Dirt Bike Benny's vaping. Soaking Wet Benny's vaping. White Hot Benny's vaping. It's the creme brulee flavor. Can I ask you a question?

Is Professor Crispy vaping? No, but I am Ben. Me, Hosley, vaping. If someone sees you vaping in the streets, do they wish you a HelloFennel? Yeah, fine. And can you tell me whether or not your vape has graduated to certain titles

over the course of different miniseries? Hold on, I'll ask it. Yeah, Kylo Ben. Yeah. Producer Ben Kenobi. Ben Etchamalon. Ben Sate. Save Anything. Dot, dot, dot. Ailey Benz with a dollar sign. Ben 19, I'll ask it. Yeah, Kylo Ben. Yeah. Producer Ben Kenobi. Ben H. Amalan. Ben Sate. Save Anything. Dot dot dot. Ailey Benz with the dollar sign. Ben 19, The Fennel Maker. Purdue Urbane.

Warhaz. Mr. Ben Credible. Yeah. Robohaz. Benglish. Eat. Eat, drink. Ben Huxley. Yeah. Is there an anti-mirus one? I don't know. Oh, we got a... Some Ben's Gotta Give? I don't know you gotta pitch oh we gotta we gotta

Daddario gave me one some Ben's gotta give I don't know some Ben's gotta give what was the one that Daddario gave you let me find it Alexandra Daddario

follows me on Twitter hey lucky man lucky man Richard Daniel Daddario of course long time fan long time friend

variety TV critic now Haas do you know? That's good. It's an old one for James Earl Brooks. It's Haas-located. I don't know. I'm going to be a little sweaty. I like something Ben's got to give.

Sure. Why not? I don't know. I don't fucking know. You should know. You of all people. Was there no other? I don't know. We'll continue that. There'll be an ongoing subplot for the rest of this episode. You should know. You of all people. Was there no other? I don't know. We'll continue that. There'll be an ongoing subplot.

The Ben turn. The Ben turn. Yeah. I like that. Ben kind of likes that. The Hosla day. Yeah. The Hosla.

Oh, that's good. That's good. Right? That is what it is. That's really good. Something had to give and that was it. I think the Pico Alexander one is the one that's really egregious. I think the movie would still work if it was Pico as the actor,

Wolf as the director, Radnitsky as the writer. But I think the best version is the assignments that you gave us. But then in the plot, does Reese Witherspoon sleep with the actor still? Or rather with Pico still? Because I think that he kind of needs to be the one. I kind of think she should be sleeping with the actor. Right. Because the actor also doesn't have a character in this movie.

No. Nat Wolfe? Right. What I'm saying is, Pico Alexander has two things to do. Because A, he's the person trying to get the movie off the ground. And B, he's the person with the romance. So you're saying you move the romance over to the actor, you move Pico over there too. Right.

That's fine. Because the actor character doesn't have much to do until he punches Michael Sheen. Yes, he does. I think what Richard's trying to say is like, sleeping with the actor is tacky. Sleeping with the director, like, ah, muah, yes, oh, molto bene. Okay, but this, I agree, but this is what I kind of like about it. I think this movie is like functioning as like a corrective for two kind of Nancy Meyers things, okay? This is what I think makes this movie interesting and somewhat separates it from the Nancy filmography.

The other thing it makes interesting is everything that happens in it from the first second of the film until the last second. Right. Yeah, all of that. Right, that this film was shot exclusively inside a bottle of White Ziffendale. They had to develop a fucking pinhole camera and shrink all the actors down to size to fit inside that wine bottle. I mean, what else do they have going on?

Reninsky's not busy. He could be shrunk. What I was going to say is the two things I think are interesting about this film to front load my hot takes. One, I think, as you've said, Nancy's very obsessed with the kind of older cat. Right?

Like the gross. The incorrigible older man. Right. Your Nicholson, your Baldwin. These guys are gross and they're womanizers and they learn too late, but there is something attractive about them. Right.

And then Gibson too, even though he's middle. But like, what can I do? And then at the end they're like, I understand that I'm kind of an asshole. And you're like, ah, get's middle-aged. But I get that feeling of like, what can I do? Right. And then at the end, they're like, I understand that I'm kind of an asshole. And you're like, ah, get in here, you. And the other thing with Nancy is that she thinks modern men are kind of boring.

Sure. You know? Like, even the best of the modern men characters is the Keanu, but it's still like, yeah, but you can't really have a life with him. Yeah, what are you getting out of this guy? He's too sweet.

He doesn't have edge. Spectacular sex and money. Right. I do believe that Hallie Meyers-Shire has a young man in 2017, when the,

16, when this movie came out. Okay. She was with a younger man? No, no, no. I believe she has him saying in this movie that Pico Alexander

has that classic Clark Gable thing. And it's like, sure, right, because like 20-something boys now are always referencing Clark fucking Gable. A hundred percent.

Well, I was going to say there's the scene in the intern where Anne Hathaway, like, drunkenly dresses down the intern boys and is like, look at you men with your untouched shirts. The intern is very much a pain to the old-fashioned man.

And look at these boys with their shirts tucked in or at least, you know, well-ironed. Which is what I think Halle's kind of doing here, which is like, her mom thinks that, like, soft boys can't be sexy.

You know, they're too soft and they don't have gentlemanly behaviors. And she's trying to go like, here's modern men who are more attuned to your emotions, who aren't pigs, but also got a little edge to them. A little ring-a-ding. Know how to tuck it in. Right. And the other thing I think she's saying—

That makes the movie feel like it's set in another dimension. Right, which is weird. But that's also the thing that's most interesting about the movie when viewed through the prism of this miniseries we're doing sure is that Halle's going like oh maybe it is kind of cool

if you date younger men which Nancy's like men do that but that's why they're dumb you should be with people your own age you're right you're right

she is arguing for I mean this is this film has more like it has men that you just would never see in a Nancy Meyers movie no

like yeah these men would just not talk in a Nancy Meyers movie they would just stand men would just not talk in a Nancy Meyers movie. They would just stand there. Which I think why it makes it so surreal because like, but they are sort of, they are there, but they're not supposed to be there. There's something wrong.

There's something deeply wrong. So this is my biggest take. They are the sign that it's like an inception. Yeah, right. Your subconscious should attack Reninsky and tear him to pieces. The top is still spinning. Yeah. You know?

This is my hottest take on the movie. This film is set in Marianne Cotillard's dream. That is actually true. That's why 9-11 never happened in that movie. My hottest take on the movie. I think that's a great joke. 10 comedy points. My hottest take on the movie is... That joke was for you.

I know. I loved it. I was just worried that you were going to get to my take before. That's why I kept yelling it. It's kind of a parallel take to your joke. I think this is a Brigadoon movie. I think this is a movie about three men wandering who end up in the wrong film. Do you think? You know, like it's like...

What about this? What? Reese Witherspoon in How Do You Know, she gets on that bus from that fucking dimension. That's like dimension X. Which is the same bus that like Thora Birch got on at the end of Ghost World

where you don't know where the buses go. And it takes her to some like third dimension like which is where this is set. Right? No, because I think

she is of this dimension. I get what you're saying. They have wandered in from a different movie set. Like I want this movie to take the Turing test. You know? I just think, like,

these three guys are in, like, a Judd Apatow, like, acolyte, like, bro movie. But they're nuts. And then they get on the wrong bus. They're nice. Yeah. They're nice boys.

I'm not saying a bad one. What if boys were nice? Well, that's her biggest... That is the pitch of this movie. Yeah. What if there were some nice boys? Which only feels novel to her because she grew up in a Nancy Meyers household.

Which is why it's so creepy. I mean, I wanted Reese and Pico to get together at the end because I think that that would have been more transgressive and more interesting than like, oh, of course we can't be together. But there's also something deeply creepy about these nice boys, at least one of them being sexualized. You know, like it's weird. Yes, it's weird. Because she's like mommy and they're learning. It's about young people learning to love or appreciate, not love, appreciate a Nancy Meyersian woman. Yes.

In a movie directed by Nancy Meyers' daughter. So basically she's saying like appreciate how your mom always has flowers in the house, even if she's a little tyrannical about it. Yeah. But maybe also sleep with her. how your mom always has flowers in the house, even if she's a little tyrannical about it. Yeah. But may they also sleep with her? Also, it has that knocked up pitch of like, one wild night leads to

one crazy movie. Which is why I'm saying the app is how we think. I know, I'm agreeing with you. But the wild night is like, they drink a little wine. He can't hold his liquor. Right. And like, that's it. Like, it's not like, nothing crazy happens. This movie just throws you into a swimming pool. But then it turns out the swimming pool And like, that's it? Like, it's not like, nothing crazy happens. This movie just throws you into

a swimming pool, but then it turns out the swimming pool is like, made of champagne or whatever, right? Like, it's like, you're like, wait, this isn't what I expected. Like, it just starts, it starts things off right away. It's very bizarre. And then when they set up the Renitsky thing, you go like, oh, is this gonna be some weird like, Love Square movie where

all three guys are fighting for her? Right. But it's just like I think I mean A I think this movie is Halle Meyershire's argument in favor of boys because Nancy Meyers makes movies about men

right yeah and has no respect for boys and she's defending her generation right boys are good too kind of but she's doing it with examples

that are not from her generation and then that's the other thing or any generation she's summoned right three beings do you think she just did a dark ritual by mistake and it produced these three

boys and then she was like, I have to put them in a movie I guess. You know what it was? She was building the machines from the fly and all of a sudden it's complicated DVD fell in the machine while Pico Alexander, John Wernitzky and Matt Wolfe were just chilling in it. And then all of a sudden there was

Home Again. The other thing I think this movie is kind of doing is like all the Nancy Meyers movies about the cads, they realize too late in life. Like, oh, women are people too. I should have treated them with respect. And they finally get it together at age like 61. Like a spring 61, right? Right. like a spring 61 right? and I think this movie is like what if they don't end up together but this

situation made these three men in their mid-twenties these three boys in their mid-twenties learn how to be better men down the line like none of these boys

will turn into Alec Baldwin or Mel Gibson or Jack Nicholson because they've had this experience and they like in a way now understand

who a woman is as a human being because they've been like let into her life in this very intimate way in terms of like not just the sexual stuff but like her kids you know and her like career aspirations and all these sorts of things this is a movie about like how a better generation of men is going to come out of living with right but it's also set inside of like a Windows 98 screen saver. Yes. Like there's just,

you're just like, what is this world? And you feel like if Vernitsky like walked six blocks, there would be like a barrier. It would be Truman Show.

Yeah, he would just like come around the other side. Wait, in a different tucked in shirt. There is one moment in this movie

that made it very clear that they were living in a simulation, which is the scene where Vernitsky tries to steal the look at Reed Scott's iPad. And in any other movie, it'd be like they're at a restaurant. He's like, hold on, I have to take this. And he would step outside of the restaurant to take the call. And so they'd have a little bit of room to go on.

On a beach, he walks two feet away. Less. And they're like at full voice. Hey, don't do that. Yes. And he's like shouting everything on the iPad. And he's also not stationary. Like he's two feet away and he. And they're like at full voice, hey, don't do that. And he's like shouting everything on the iPad. And he's also not stationary. Like he's two feet away and he's walking and shifting and

like peripheral vision at any moment. And then I want to walk. Reniski's at the opposite end of the table. Reed Scott turns around. Reniski is holding the iPad and screaming. He like throws the iPad down. Runs back to his chair as Reed Scott just looks at him. Sits in the chair and like sort of puts his napkin in with a flourish.

Kind of like that. And Reed Scott's like, hey, what's up? Are you okay? Right. And then two black cats walk by in quick succession. And they realize that they're still in the Matrix. Not like this. Not like this.

Not like this. Oh, my God. So this is the unofficial fourth Matrix movie. It's deranged. This movie is so good. All right. So this movie came out. Richard Matrix movie. It's deranged. This movie is so good. All right, so this movie came out. Richard and I were talking about this. In September, early September 2017,

right as we were going to the Toronto Film Festival. Sure were. It came out at the worst possible time. Yes. Why they would release it then, I have no idea. No. It was largely ignored. Yeah.

Made a little money. It made $27 million. So it doubled its budget, its largely ignored. Yeah. Made a little money. It made $27 million. So it doubled its budget, its small budget. Right. But at the time, Witherspoon was so big that because of Big Little Lies and stuff, you thought that maybe... They should have struck when the iron was hot. Right.

Did this come out before or after Big Little Lies? Just after. Just after. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Was Big Little Lies aired in like... That summer?

The summer. No.ies aired in the summer? No, it aired in February. Of 17. It started in February. So it ended in mid-April. Release that movie in early April. That's when book club came out. Why they released this not in

some of that spring window. This is a spring movie, 100%. It's a terrible September film. And it was first week of September too. This is a spring movie, 100%. It's a terrible September film. And it was first week of September too, so it's like right after the summer When film critics

are not engaged, like they are busy with festival and awards shit or whatever. Right. Like I took time out while in Toronto to review this movie,

which I don't feel like most people didn't. I was just obsessed with it. That's like the weekend that like Axel comes out. Yeah, which is an open road movie. Yeah, right.

The last one. Is it worse than a Labor Day weekend release? Yes, 100%. Yeah, it is. Because, right, at least a Labor Day weekend, you will get the extra day. I would argue this is the second worst weekend of the year behind the first week of January. Where you know the top movies are going to be whatever the big things were for Christmas. And if they release something the first week of January, it's like they're trying to-

It's just some horror movie or that's it. Like, wasn't that Julianne Moore witch movie the first week in January? Julianne Moore witch movie? Do you mean Helen Mirren witch movie? Do you mean Winchester? No, I mean Julianne Moore is a witch and it's like medieval days and it's supernatural.

Stop saying that she's a witch. The Seventh Son. The Seventh Son. Yeah. With Jeff Bridges, which was pushed back three and a half years. Right, it was like shot in like 2001. Yes, that's when that movie came out. It's just video game cut Son. Yeah. Oh, right. Which was pushed back three and a half years. Right. It was like shot in like 2001. Yes, that's when that movie came out. It's just video game cut scenes.

Tamagotchis. Yeah. But that's like, you release those movies like, if you have a really expensive movie that's a nightmare and you know it's going to lose money, you release it the first week of January

and go like, well, we got steamrolled by Avatar. What could we do? Yeah, right. No one saw that coming. Right. So this movie came out, you saw it at a press screening,

I'm assuming yeah I skipped the press screening for like reasons I took Bobby Finger sure Bobby Finger we both we walked down the block

like afterward like silent until we got to the stoplight because we had no idea what to say to each other well you had to get immediately to an emergency defibrillator right

you are saying on the record that this movie got fingered it sure did I know he's been on this season did he tell you the story about meeting Nancy Meyers? No. I don't think he did.

Oh, fuck Bobby. I took him to the premiere for The Intern. Okay. And there was a party afterward at Tavern on the Green. I can't believe he didn't tell us. And so we were there. And there was Nancy. And, you know, once in a while at a party, like, I'll go up and say hi to somebody.

I don't like to do it. But if it's someone like that. And I was with Bobby. Yeah. So I went up and I introduced myself. And I don't like to do it, but if it's someone like that, and I was with Bobby. So I went up and I introduced myself and I was like, and this is my friend Bobby Finger, he writes for Jezebel. And Nancy Meyers whips around to her assistant and goes, Bobby Finger. And she turns back to Bobby and she says, we know Bobby Finger. And Bobby

literally fell down. He went to the dimension where home again. He brought it back. He went home again. She knew him because he comments on her Instagram sometimes and he has such a distinctive name.

Of course. And it was the most amazing moment ever. He is one of the best names in the world. It's an incredible name. When you hear that that's his real name,

not that it wouldn't be, but you're like, I can't believe it. That's his name. He was just given that name. Finger is a great last name and it sounds like a name that a screenwriter

would make up. Right. And then Bobby is somehow the perfect first name and even when he gets older like Robert Finger has like some majesty Bob Finger so you saw it with Bob Finger himself

Dickie Lawson and Bob Finger I missed the press screen because I was busy or something they just screened it like the one time or whatever like I couldn't make it David how could you well but that meant that I got to see this film in the perfect environment, which is at the Cobble Hill Cinema

five weeks after its release with an exclusively 50 plus audience. Oh, wonderful. And a fly that kept sort of lazily flying in front of the projector. So like frequently it was sort of just dangling in front of Candice Bergen. And when Candice Bergen says,

I mean, they laughed throughout. It was like Showtime at the Apollo. They wereice Bergen. And when Candice Bergen said, it says, I mean, they laughed throughout. It was like Showtime with the Apollo. They were losing their minds. That fly was Jeff Goldblum. It's a cursed machine. But the line where Candice Bergen said like, you know, and he died.

So I win. Yeah. Right. Yes. Which is like, you know, a cutesy sort of Myers knock knockoff line like they acted like yeah it was nancy slid that line under hallie store right you can take this one i guess you

know they they just erupted i thought they were gonna burn the theater down like you know they started like tearing the seats out of their fucking it was like an italian world cup match or something they all started blowing Vuvuzela. Sandman took a nap because he knew there was no chance they were going to make him tap out the movie. That is a perfect way to see that movie.

Wow, that is incredible. So it was a great place to see it and I love the movie. Yeah. So I was like, when I was putting it I was, so I was like, you know, when I was putting it back on for this, I'm like, you know,

was that just sort of a great like experience? Like it's just such a silly thing. I put it on. It's like taking a Xanax. You just sort of like slip into the tub and like feel so relaxed. Yeah. Yeah. Even though it's so aggressively bizarre.

Yes. Well, that's the thing is that you, you, you relax and then all of a sudden you'll jolt awake and you're like, wait, what the fuck am I watching? Richard, what are we doing?

What are we doing? I love any movie where there's the moment where they pull away from the kiss. What are we doing? It's so annoying. He missed one dinner. I know. Come on. He's also trying to get a movie made. It's like he was, he missed one dinner. I know. Like, come on. I know.

He's also trying to get a movie made, like cut him some slack. And it also like wasn't a serious thing. Like you see the dinner, it's like, this is just like, you're like wine. It was like a Tuesday night

and they were just having a dinner party and he had like work drinks and it's like, oh, work drinks, we're in late. And she clearly states like, it's not a big deal. You don't have to dress up fancy or anything.

Right. Yeah. So just wear your, you know, like a Brooks Brothers shirt, like nothing, nothing, nothing. Right. I mean Yeah. Just wear your, you know, like a Brooks Brothers shirt. Like nothing, nothing, nothing.

Right. I mean, the other thing is, a fresh, never before worn, don't wear something you've ever worn before. Ben,

you heard this, but yeah, I put it on, I watched the film for what felt like 10 minutes. And felt it. No, and then turned to Joanna

and was like, when did I put this on? She was like, an hour and 20 minutes ago, it's almost over. Because I was like, it seems like it's almost over, but I feel like

I just started this movie. Like, it just sort of like breezes by. I mean, this is playing really well into my Brigadoon theory because time works differently in Brigadoon.

I think it's also just, I'd watched all these Nancy movies where you're always like, fuck, there's a fifth act. Like every time, it like rears its ugly head where suddenly like,

we cut to six months later. or something. and you're just like, oh, I forgot, like there's 20 more minutes. Well, you know,

every day is a century in these mountains. So this movie is set in the Brigadoon Mountains and it's about Alice Kinney played by Reese Witherspoon who amazingly has never been

in a Nancy Meyers movie. No, and I think that's the main reason she did this. So when I auditioned for this, it was to star Rose Byrne. Yes. And I went,

wow, I can't believe they got Rose Byrne to do this, because she at the time was not doing rom-coms. Right. She was sort of being in boy comedies and still doing a lot of dramas and stuff. And then she ended up doing Juliet Naked, which is sort of like a similar kind of- And Richard's beloved The Meddler.

Wow. Not a rom-com, though. No, well, I guess it is, but it was Fruits and Sarandon. It's sort of a light comedy, quote-unquote, even though watching that movie for me is like what I assume World War II veterans feel like when they watch Saving Private Ryan. Right. I love my mother.

Oh, yes, yes. It's your turn to talk now. The Meddler and this have a lot of similarities. I mean, that film isn't the young daughter having the romance, but the sort of light,

like, sort of relationship, world, like, larger relationships comedy set in the entertainment industry. Yeah.

You know? But I was surprised Rose Byrne was doing it, and then they announced, like, oh, Rose Byrne drops out, and I'm like,

yeah, okay, that makes sense. Doesn't seem like the kind of movie she's interested in doing. She's too young to right before she had done those sorts of things I think

this character was written younger at the time yeah I feel like when I read it they wrote it up once it was Reese and then they got Reese and I think the answer is because Reese is around 40 well that's the interesting thing is that like you know it's Halle Meyers who was 30 when the movie came out and Nancy Meyers who's in her late 60s

and so this character is in between them. And so it's not about mom and it's not about daughter. It's just about some weird kind of version of maybe both of them. I don't know. Right. I mean, clearly the Meyers-Shire family is obsessed with divorce, right? It's like this thing that they can't get over. This is true.

On all sides. Which is especially weird because, you know, the two of them did a reconcilable differences together. But it seems to be this, like, you know, this original sin that, like, everything has to revolve around. But I think I remember reading the script and the character being much closer to Hallie Meyershire's real age. And then I think if Reese Witherspoon wants to do it, you rewrite it to make it Reese. And I think it works better when the age difference is a little more pronounced.

It has to be. Yeah, it seems almost weird because then it's like, if she's like 33 or whatever, then we're talking about someone who had kids when she was like 20. I found the script really annoying when that was. It's like that classic Hollywood thing where everyone has to have had a kid

at the youngest age possible to justify the generational gap. And it also felt at the time, and I may be misremembering this, but it felt at the time like, oh, this character is really unlikable because of how much

she's overselling how much older she is than these boys when she's not that different in age. Right. You know, whereas like 40 and 27,

there's a big generational gap. It's like my therapist gets mad at me and I say, I went on a date with a younger guy and he's like, how old?

I'm like 29. He's like, Richard, that's barely anything. Right, but so it's like 27 and 33 like isn't the same thing as like 27 and 40.

Yeah, it's a big difference. Right, right. And the life cycles, you know, she's gone through and all of that.

And I think like Reese at this point, like this is her first romantic comedy in a while because they just weren't fucking getting made anymore. So it seemed odd like, oh, Reese Witherspoon's doing like an indie romantic comedy for open road,

but it's like, but otherwise she's not going to get her fix. She started like, yeah, she's tapping the bench. She's walking around Hollywood and Vine tapping her wrist going. I think her genre kind of died and she's had a really good

sort of like dramatic actress reinvention but I think she still just loves being in these types of movies it seems really pleasant you're surrounded by beautiful furniture

food Pico Alexander like it's why not and she's someone who knows how to do this with a real light touch and it's like okay the last time

she did one of these was How Do You Know which lost so much fucking money and essentially killed the genre kind of at a studio level.

Right, because post then, her career is Water for Elephants. Right. Which was the best movie about water for elephants. Watering elephants.

Yeah, exactly. Well, other than Weight of Water for Elephants. Is Christoph Waltz still running that circus? Yeah, he is. And it's just, if you ever have to interview him,

you have to go to the circus. Welcome. I hope you enjoy my trapeze artists. Greatest Showman 2 is about them squaring off, right? Yes. And he's riding an elephant. Yeah. Then this means war.

Right, which was like. Which is. Which is garbage. Real abomination. Right, but that's like, oh, maybe studios will still make romantic comedies if they're disguised as another genre. If they're like romantic comedies for boys. If there's a gun in it. With guns.

And everyone's like, fuck this. That's also her with two younger guys, which is kind of interesting. And it's two great actors and the movie's a nightmare. Yeah, three great actors. It's three actors I love. Like three of my favorite working movie stars in that movie is a fever. Angela Bassett's in it. Four of my favorites.

Then that Adam McGowan movie, Devil's Knot, which like, I don't even know if that ever came out. stars and that movie is a fever Angela Bassett's in it uh then four of my favorite then that that Adam McGowan movie Devil's Knot which like I don't even know if that was supposed to be so that was like during like Colin Firth she was trying to get back on track and so she was doing like more serious stuff back to roots yeah and and that's a West Memphis three movie yeah right right that's right it's like why make that movie when you have like two different documentaries about them that are really good. Right. But that was like a play that didn't really work. Then she does Mud.

Yeah. She's really fucking good in Mud. Yeah. And then she has Because the McConaissance was happening at the same time as she was kind of trying to

And I think Mud starts to make people And they both debuted together in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Right. Two Texans. No, that's Renee Zellweger. Yeah.

Yeah. Fuck you. Right. She's from Tennessee. She's in the Man Yeah Fuck you You're right She's from Tennessee Reese is in Man on the Moon Yeah she's from Tennessee And I'm far

Far off place Yes Right Ethan Embry Far off place And something called Jack the Bear But look I'm not doing

Her whole filmography I'm going back to 2014 Because we have to remember That she produced Gone Girl And Fincher fired her from it Essentially Yeah Right like She optioned the book Because she wanted to make it As a starring vehicle because we have to remember that she produced Gone Girl and Fincher fired her from it, essentially. Yeah. Right?

She optioned the book because she wanted to make it as a starring vehicle. She got Fincher to agree to make it, and his first move was, you're not playing the Gone Girl. Amazing Amy. Yes. But then that same year, she did Wild, which she's amazing in, which is another thing where she produced it and optioned it. And that's when I feel like she's regained her sort of

critical respect it is interesting though because she is too old for both of those roles which is the reason one of the reasons Fincher didn't want her she's basically 40

at that point but and in Wild sometimes you're like come on when's she supposed to be 28 years old but it doesn't matter

she's so good so you just kind of don't care about it like and in Gone Girl I think she probably could have pulled it off too like I'd love to see her

I think Rosamund Pike is amazing in Gone Girl yeah she's great and you know Rosamund Pike benefited from the opportunity more in a way yes

but like I mean I'm so glad another like beautiful blonde white lady got to be a movie star but you know I first knew Reese Witherspoon,

I mean, from Far Off Place and from Man on the Moon, but also from like Freeway and Election and stuff like that. Pleasantville. Pleasantville, she's a meanie in that. She was like a good dark comedy actress. Yeah, so...

Cool Intentions is like what creates her like cutesy image. And then there's that annoying thing that I think happens a lot. No, yeah, she's in American Psycho too. Don't forget her head's in her fridge. Right, right. The other thing that I think happens a lot with Yeah, she's in American Psycho, too. Don't forget her head's in her fridge. Right, right. The other thing that I think happens a lot with romantic comedy actors is, like, look at that.

That's a great track record of her working with really good directors, giving great performances, really interesting parts, right? And then she becomes a movie star, and everyone goes, like, oh, it's like Reese Witherspoon. That's, like, the thing she does. Yeah. Legally Blonde. Which she should have gotten a fucking Oscar nomination for. No, at me. She's unbelievable in that film. Yeah, she's great. But I think people go, like— What do you think of Legally Blonde? Which she should have gotten a fucking Oscar nomination for. Don't yell at me. She's unbelievable in that film.

Yeah, she's great. What do you think of Legally Blonde? I think it's great. I just wrote something. Well, it'll be out when this airs for the magazine defending the Golden Globes musical comedy category. Sure. And she got nominated for that,

and the Oscars were never going to do it. No, and that's like a Private Benjamin-level performance. She should have gotten that kind of recognition, I think, for that film. But then I feel like people start writing her off. When she won the Oscar for Walk the Line, I remember people being like, well, I didn't know Reese Witherspoon could actually act like that. It's like, what about all of her work in the 90s? People also said she only won because it was a weak year or whatever.

She's so good in Walk the Line. I will say that's probably my seventh favorite performance of hers. Oh, I love her in that movie. I would have given her Oscars for several things over that. I think she's better in Wild, I think she's better in Legally Bombed, better in Election. I think she's better in Wild. She's so good in Election,

but it's also like she's being used so incredibly well in that movie, so aggressive and strange. But that's, I think that's one of those once-in-a-lifetime performances of just everything. I think because of what Richard's saying, she's almost under of those like once in a lifetime performances of just everything like I think because of what Richard's saying she's almost underrated

in Walk the Line which you have not seen I've never seen well I have seen Hot Pursuit though right in which she was in Hot Pursuit of

Sofia Vergara right the movie we defiantly announced we were going to see in the Never Dead yeah and you know she's in a bunch of other shit who fucking cares

anyway all that said yeah her in this movie it's nice to watch because it's very natural. She's just very much at home. She just knows what she's doing. And also, it's like, maybe she wanted a thing where it's like, you know, this is about a wealthy woman in her 40s. I mean, you know, Reese Witherspoon split up with Ryan Felipe earlier than her 40.

But like, you know, just I think, you know, a couple kids, like, just kind of assessing that situation and sort of reflecting on it, you know? And look, she's, like, proven herself. Like, at this point now, okay, post-Walt, she's gotten a second Oscar. She's made a couple really good, well-respected movies again. The nomination, sorry. You know, even having, like, Gone Girl as a producer, her good taste in developing things, Big Little Lies. Big Little Lies is huge. Right.

So then you're just like, yes, she should get to sit back and enjoy the fruits of her labor by doing that movie, the type of performance that no one gives her credit for, but that she clearly enjoys, and is more skilled at than most people of her generation. Yeah, and nepotistic as it might be, like get a young female filmmaker's film made. That movie does not, I mean, it would have a harder time getting eyes on it,

even with Rose Byrne, you know. A hundred percent. I mean, I just, even would have a harder time getting eyes on it, even with Rose Byrne, you know? 100%. I mean, I just, even though this was an open road film, and it was, like, a pretty cheap film, you know, the film got, I think, more attention in terms of seeming like a legitimate rom-com because Reese Witherspoon's in it.

Like, Reese Witherspoon's this amazing piece of, like, rom-com art direction, where if you put her on screen, it, like, adds production value. It's sad that since this movie, she's been in one movie. In Her and Vice? No, that was before.

Which I think she's very good in that too. I know people are mixed on that performance. I think she's very good in that. She's been in one film since then. It's going to blow your minds when you remember the movie that she's been in since then. If you don't guess very soon, I'm going to give you a great

hint. Okay. Okay. Is she the lead in that? No. She's like a major supporting role. She's like a major supporting role. It's not an and Reese Witherspoon. It's like the third lead. I don't think so. I forget. The crediting for that movie was weird. This movie. It's got a weird billing. She was second billed. She was second

billed in a movie. Alright. Oh, oh, oh. She turns into a giant head of lettuce. Oh, God, of course. Wrinkle in Time. Yes. Right. What were you thinking of? It wasn't that clearly.

No. What were you thinking of? No, I was thinking in the realm of that type of movie, but I couldn't figure out what it was. God, yeah. Wrinkle in Time. Right. And she is second billed in that.

Yeah. Mrs. What's It. Mrs. What's It. That is a movie we will 100% cover someday on the show. You should. Oh, that movie is when I was like,

Ava DuVernay is getting a blank check. Assuming she just makes at least a couple more movies. Because that movie's crazy. Right. That movie's insane. That movie is crazy.

Right. That's someone where we're just like, I can't wait until she has a slightly larger filmography and we can talk about her. Right. Because we don't want to do a three film miniseries.

She's got four movies now, I think. She's got four now, if you count 13th. Yeah. Especially if she makes a fucking New Gods her. Right, yeah. Because you don't want to do a three film miniseries. She's got like four movies now, She's got four now if you count 13th. Yeah. Especially if she makes a fucking New Gods movie. Well, right. Yeah.

But yeah, no, because you know, it's like Big Little Lies is consuming her, I guess. Like she's just sort of not. She's got Draper James, you know, she's got her business.

She's got her Instagram, which is a full-time job. Yeah. She's got her like kind of odd veneration of the antebellum South, but you know. She just released her. kind of odd veneration of the antebellum south but you know She just released her

Sweet Home Alabama. I just saw a target she released like a cookbook memoir called like Whiskey in a Teacup. She's doing a whole lifestyle thing. It's like her lifestyle thing.

And if you look at her website Draper James because I follow her on all social media platforms that stuff is expensive. So she like the Meyers Shires appreciates the finer things.

I mean, who wouldn't if they had that kind of money? Right, but she's got that sort of southern, down-home comfort thing that I think makes her look less elitist than your goops, your Blake Livelys. In terms of appealing. Blake Livelys is the word. What was hers called? Preserve. Right.

Yeah. She was trying to do a weird American West thing, but she lives upstate. It was very odd. But even if Reese Witherspoon is like, oh yeah, I can afford these $400 paperclips, at least it's like, but they're Southern fried. There's that element rather than the Gwyneth Paltrow thing where it's like, don't fucking tell me

a Walmart customer what kind of shampoo I should buy. I could go for a fried paperclip right about now. Well, that's the thing. The Reese Witherspoon thing is just that everything is like, ooh, a little touch of a mint j should buy. Right. I could go for a fried paperclip right about now. Well, that's the thing. Right. Like, the Reese Witherspoon thing is just that everything is like, ooh, a little touch of a mint julep. Whereas, like, the Gwyneth Paltrow one is like,

this will give you psychic power. I went to the moons of Jupiter and extracted this dust. But even the whiskey and a teacup thing, like, I kind of like that, like, Reese Witherspoon owns the brand of being, like, a little bit tipsy. Like, a little bit in her cuffs.

I was going to say that, you know, because we're recapping the movie. When she's out drinking with the boys, I was just like, I went and rewatched her getting arrested, her dancing at weddings. She's one of my favorite Hollywood stars. Well, let's talk about Reese Witherspoon's greatest performance of the last decade. I'm an American. Well, that one's great. But the one, who is it? At the Met Ball where she's in the elevator

Oh and she's like Cara Daly How do you say your name Yeah That's a classic one Right and then she says To someone else in the elevator She's like

You wanna know how you Get men coming back You do something so crazy You'll have them Whispering your name Into their pillow Yeah It's fucking cool

She's terrific She's the business As Paul Thomas Anderson said When he locked the gates Reese Witherspoon Is the fucking cool she's terrific she's the business as Paul Thomas Anderson said when he locked the gates Reese Witherspoon is the fucking business that's right

you know how she met Ryan Felipe is he was at her like 21st birthday party and she walked up to him and she was like are you my birthday present really

yeah she said that in many interviews fucking Reese Witherspoon for mayor which they hadn't been in Cruel Intentions yet they were they were like gonna be

yeah I guess that must have been yet. They were like gonna be. Yeah, I guess that must have been the case. They were like circling the young Hollywood parties probably, you know? Yeah, sure. Reese Witherspoon is the goddamn person. I think that's true though because I remember whoever, what's the name of the director of Cruel Intentions? It's, fuck it, I know. Cumble? Roger Cumble?

Right, yeah, because it's the guy who directed Just Friends. Who's the one who went to jail for the drunk driving thing that's the guy who directed Rules of Attraction oh sure Roger Avery yeah yeah right

Robert Roger Cumble yeah who directed Just Friends and the sweetest thing and College Road Trip I don't even know

what that one is Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symoné sure oh yeah sure Disney picture I just remember

on like him being like saying how bad he felt in Cruel Intentions because he has to like, have them have a big fight and then kill Ryan Philippe. And he was like,

you know, they were in love and they were so cute together. I had to make them do all this horrible stuff. It's just weird that he made Cruel Intentions and then only made like, super fucking broad comedies after that. He's a weird guy. He's a weird guy.

Yeah. So, the movie starts with a montage of John Kinney. after that. He's a weird guy. He's a weird guy. Um, yeah. Uh, so, the movie starts with a montage of John Kinney. Which I think is pretty well done. I do too. Like,

they, they use, they, they fake old stuff, but they also use actual footage of Candace Morgan. So, who is John,

like, who's playing him? Who's the guy? I don't know, I didn't recognize him. Okay, let me see. Um,

who do we think he's supposed to be kind of like, because the legacy she crafts from is different than Charles Shire's legacy I was thinking like Paul Mazursky but a little more awarded Someone call it David Netter It's not like Coppola

It's like a Paul Mazursky if he had had like a James L. Brooks level hit in his career maybe He's more prolific and more of like a strictly filmmaker than James L. Brooks-level hit in his career, maybe, you know? Because it feels like he's more prolific and more of, like, a strictly filmmaker than James L. Brooks was. But it's that kind of, like, he makes relationship dramedies.

He probes the human condition. They seem light. He's big in the 70s. Yeah, he's like an Ashby or Mazursky or some kind of, you know, person that young filmmakers and actors lionize. Okay. Right? All right. Okay. Right? Alright.

Yeah. Right. Good at movies, bad at women. Okay. Right? He's kind of a cad. But loves his daughter.

Right. He's sort of the who would be the protagonist of a Nancy Meyers movie. Yeah. But he's dead by the time this film starts. But he's dead.

Right. So Hallie has killed Nancy's darling, basically. Yeah. Yeah. That's what feels kind of symbolic.

Uh, yes. Yes. And. That's what feels kind of symbolic. Yes. Yes. And she lives in this sort of... His house. Lovely house that's sort of like a weird mausoleum to his career, I guess. Right. She was living in England with her husband. New York.

Oh, they're in New York. Yeah. Right, because her husband's like a music producer. He's looking for the next Sam Smith. Yeah. Who's doing a concert in Miami, which is, I I don't think where you would find the next Sam Smith. He takes the longest pause after saying like, I need to stay here for this concert.

He might be the new Sam Smith. Like he puts such a fine point on the enormity of what he's saying. It's also weird to hear in a movie that looks like a Nancy Meyers movie any reference to anyone who isn't like, you know, Carly Simon or something.

You're forgetting that Something's Gotta Give opens with Butterfly? Well, because she wrote that song. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Nancy Meyers was the ghostwriter of Crazy Town's entire debut album. She invented rock rap as a thing.

It was her idea, and she spent years trying to undo her business. Crazy Town's entire debut album. She invented rock rap as a thing. It was her idea, and she spent years trying to undo her business. What if it turned out that Nancy Meyers was like Jada Pinkett Smith, where she like secretly has this rap rock band under an alias? Right. You know about Jada Pinkett Smith's rap rock band, right?

I do. We've talked about it on this very podcast, I think. I can look it up. Yeah. Do you remember? Because you remember the name. She wears like a dread wig and like Jankos. She really.

Like baggy Jankos. She wears her Matrix costume. Wicked Wisdom. There we go. And is it W-I-Z? No, it looks like it's just regular Wicked Wisdom. They did a show at OzFest 2005. That rules.

Yeah, Sharon Osbourne went to see them perform at a small nightclub and she was blown away. Wow, so she was the one who hooked that up. I guess so. Yeah, Sharon Osbourne went to see them perform at a small nightclub, and she was blown away. Wow, so she was the one who hooked that up. I guess so. Yeah. So she is separated from her husband. She moves into her father's house that she's now inherited. Her mom doesn't live there. Lives somewhere else, Lillian.

Yeah. Played by Candice Bergen. You see some shots of, like, 70s Candice Bergen you see some shots of like 70s Candice Bergen yeah gorgeous such a hottie it's insane

yeah LeBron Bergen getting buckets from half court she's trying to start an interior design business I guess kind of she's

she makes a joke early on where she's like am I just one of those people who like any creative thing they do like well she's supposed to be sort of a dilettante

because when she's having birthday dinner with her friends she's like talking about all these other careers and it do like well she's supposed to be sort of a dilettante because when she's having birthday dinner with her friends she's like talking about all these other careers and it's like well that must be nice exactly so she's just kind of a what's the word for her is probably the right word

and she goes out for a drink with her friends and gets real crunk I don't know how else to describe it. Jen Kirkman. There's a funny thing about Jen Kirkman because I put on my notes, all caps, where is Jen Kirkman? Yeah, she doesn't come back. Not only does she not come back, she

disappears from that scene. Because it's just her and Dolly Wells hanging out after a certain point. You're like, I guess Jen Kirkman's character just had to go home or something. Or it's just like Kirkman only had one day available. She's a comedian. And a funny one at like, I guess Jen Kirkman's character just had to go home or something. Or it's just like, Kirkman only had one day available. Yeah. She's a comedian, like,

and a funny one at that. I love Jen Kirkman. Like, it is, yeah. She's also one of those people where, like,

if romantic comedies were still being made regularly, she would be running the table on parts like this. Oh, Like, the two scene over drinks, like,

giving advice. and Caitlin Olsen just going at it. that's the thing. There are, like, so many actors like that, who, like,

as we've been doing this miniseries, realizing, like, fuck, that's what this we've been doing this miniseries, realizing, fuck, that's what this person would be doing if these movies still got made. They'd be the best friends in this. They would be the boss in this. That's the zone that they're not getting cast in. I mean, I've said this a fucking thousand times, but if I was Jennifer Lawrence, I would go to my agents right now and say, I want to make a Nancy Meyers movie.

I want to use whatever remaining movie star capital I have to try to make a Nancy Meyers movie I want to use whatever remaining like movie star capital I have to try to make a straight down the middle like my best friend's wedding like career revival rom-com to remind everyone that I'm charming and get over like the press and the baggage and all of that and maybe seem like I actually enjoy the work of acting right and let Nancy

like get a whole new batch of character actors and on the rise movie stars to fill up the supporting cast. Steal a bunch of people from TV. They're out there. So, Alice hits it off with Harry, played by Pico Alexander.

Who is a mannequin that was brought to life. A beautiful mannequin. I say that as a compliment. Yes, a mannequin from Brooks Brothers or The Gap or something. Wearing a nice sports coat. They really carved some detail into that mannequin. It's a specific face. And do we know, like, is there any real indication of what their connection is?

Apart from that he's super cute. He's super hot. She's super hot. She's just kind of going for it, I guess. And yeah, because they don't ever say like oh he likes to date older women or anything like that like it's just sort of

you see him indiscriminately hitting on everyone at the bar right because he's like hitting on he's hitting on

the bartender until Reese Witherspoon comes over and then he immediately like shifts gears like he just seems like a

you know he's a big game hunter yeah right yeah but like she just for whatever reason,

maybe he could like smell like the birthday on her. Yeah, she's right. She's turning 40. She's a little vulnerable. Also, maybe she was buying.

What? Maybe she and Dolly Wells were buying because it was, they have money and the kids don't have money. Although that would be a great detail for them

to put in the movie. Right. That he's like, oh, we should get them to buy us drinks. Do you know Pico Alexander's real name?

I do, but I already forgot it. Alexander Lukasz Jogala. Right. He's like, oh, we should get them to buy us drinks. Do you know Pico Alexander's real name? I do, but I already forgot it. Alexander Lukasz Jogala. Right. He's like Polish. His father is a DP, I believe. Oh, okay. I did a movie with him.

He was in the Steve Coogan movie. Oh, really? Is he nice? Yeah, he's a nice guy. But the whole camera crew on the tick. Knew his dad or whatever? They'd always be like, what's the Lagash kid's name again? Oh interesting.

You know? Yeah. The Pico what's the name he uses now? You know? Pico is a childhood nickname apparently. That's cute.

And he's I mean I remember Bobby saying he didn't think that he was good in this movie but like I think he's good. I think he does what he needs to do.

I think casting just doesn't make sense as we've said. Right. He's good. He does what he needs to do. He's in a lane. He's in a lane. The casting just doesn't make sense, as we've said. Right. He's playing the wrong... But as a cute boy, a cute, nice boy, he's totally fine. He's totally fine.

He's quite attractive, too. He's quite attractive. He's got a good face. Yeah. That was... A lot of your review was talking about that. It's a good review.

I remember when you posted that review, that one and the Kingsman and the Golden Circle reviews, a lot of people shared those two reviews as like, hey, critics, this is how you talk about someone being attractive in a movie without being creepy. Well, except that if a straight guy did

that, it would be creepy. Do you know what I mean? Wouldn't it? I think... Maybe. It might be some way to do it. I know what you mean, obviously. I think there's a delicacy and a self-awareness to the language you used around that. Because it was the same time that, I forget what it was, obviously. I think there's a delicacy and a self-awareness to the way you, the language you used around that. Because it was the same time that like,

I forget what it was, but there was one of those fucking reviews that was like a David Edelston or something that was like circulating where people were like,

how are there four graphs on their legs? You know? Wonder Woman was one of them. Right, right. And like, I think it was a little weird that Richard called him

a prime cut of veal that was I mean I don't know look I calls him like I sees him no I it was weird

that you somehow got a wuga in there three different times right you kept on talking about slathering him in garlic butter

and then I made a typo and I was like sorry I should type with two hands but you remember when Anthony Lane had the what was it

what was the movie where Anthony Lane was like oh Incredibles 2 right where he's like my popcorn went everywhere right oh god that's right

about a fucking cartoon well and then the other one was when he had past and future guests for end of the show Lola Kirk on and wrote his like horrible review of

Gemini yeah but he was obsessed with her clothes that they weren't hot enough and I in my obsessed with her clothes. That they weren't hot enough. And I, in my review, By his definition, weren't hot enough. Not knowing that that review was coming. In my review, I had written a whole paragraph

of how great her wardrobe was in Gemini. And my bosses were like, look, David did a good job not doing that week. I remember. I just feel like you in those reviews talk about like, I'm not going to pretend I don't find these guys attractive, and that that isn't

a factor, like, at the enjoyment of the movie. You weren't, like, describing their glutes, you know? No, God, no. Right, you were saying, like, we have to admit that this is, like, an aesthetic aspect of films, and you can talk about it and not be creepy. I put The Amazing Spider-Man on my top ten of the year list that year

mostly because I loved Andrew Garfield and I think he has great chemistry with Emma Stone. Do you stand by that today? I haven't rewatched it. I feel like that was an early Garfield where the pickings were slim. We didn't have a lot of sample sizes. I know. It's funny. I've listened back to episodes

that I'm on or looked at the Reddit that you guys have and there are a lot of jokes about, I don't know if I'm stealing Karen looked at the Reddit that you guys have. And there are a lot of jokes about, I don't know if I'm stealing Karen's bit, but boys. I just hope people don't think that I'm like lech. In fact, there are a couple people on the Reddit who have talked about their plans to marry you.

I've sent these links to you. Richard's turning full red now. Pico. So Pico goes home with Alice and the other kids come the other kids come everyone's partying so it's Nat Wolf

that part's not happening anymore Griffin like wandered through the dimensional tunnel but he got stuck in the montage I'm in the library from Interstellar you're in the old 70s David and I are going to watch the movie again at some point and Griffin's going to be in the montage. You can't get out. I'm in the library from Interstellar and they're just playing this song. We're going to look, Dave and I are going to

watch the movie again at some point and Griffin's going to be in the old photos. He's in Bergen's eye. Let him out. I'm trying to push the watch off the shelf

and the song is just playing in an endless loop. Yeah, so they're going to hook up. They're going to have sexual intercourse. They've gotten kicked out of the Florida Project motel. Oh, that's right.

By one of the three people of color in the film. Yes. By the most depressing instance of writing in the movie. The guy who's like, get out. I want my rent. Like, you know, no money, no bed. Like that level of bullshit. Right.

But even the way they set this up, I mean, she has a pretty good sort of, like, tracking dolly shot with them as they're, like, walking through, and Ragnitsky and Wolf are, like, where are we going? Pico's like, well, figure something out. Oh, yeah, through the parking lot. Yeah. Right, but the idea is that in the background as the shot is, like, following them, you see, uh,

not Wolf, who's, like, hitting on a girl, and they have to pull him away to get him back into the action, and at that moment I was like, wait, and alexander isn't playing that character right like even before i understood what the three positions were it just felt like no he should be the guy who's like constantly flirting with him yeah all right um the three boys have made queen's boulevard right and they're homeless yeah yeah they made a five minute short that as far as i can tell is about like a huxta. It's like a black and white silent short

about a pocket watch. Yeah, someone stealing a pocket watch. And it features the second person of color in the movie. Oh, that's right. The third is a pizza man. It's weird because they keep on saying like the movie has to be in black and white and then you see the film and it looks sort of like a 16mm student film but in a time period where you know that they wouldn't

have done that, that they shot it on an iPhone. It literally is Queens Boulevard. It is, which is in black and white. They say it's set in Brooklyn. It's Brooklyn Avenue. I just love that until when you see the like five seconds of footage, everyone talks about the movie so much and you get

no sense of what the movie is other than it's really arty. People love it and it's in black and white. The agents are always like, best thing I saw at Sundance. In the real world, wasn't like the arty short that everyone was after that was in black and white

full of boys, Don's Plum, which is a movie that everyone fucking, like, it says it's a horror movie although they completely buried it. So it's like,

I feel like it's a weird choice to be like, I think it's like the worst shorthand of like an arty movie, right? It's like, but it has to be in black and white. Do you like, I think it's like the worst shorthand of like an R&B movie, right? It's like that it has to be a black and white. Do you know what I think the analog of what the career trajectory she's picturing is?

It's the Wilson Brothers and Wes Anderson doing Bottle Rocket. Where like that's their black and white 16 millimeter short that was like eight minutes. That's like charming and like, you know, they're the actors and the writers. And it's also about like a small time crook or whatever. Right. They're like a team that came together and were like on camera

behind the camera writing all of that the movie screen in Texas right it was stylish yeah it's in South by South by not Sundance right that's it

right best thing you saw at South by and I immediately went it's not that hard but I think that's who she's sort of like analoging them to

because it's also this idea of like these are three guys who want to be doing everything together like it's a package deal where it's always going to be like writer, director, star. And the two of them are brothers, Wolf and

Pico and then Radnitsky is just their neurotic friend. Yeah. The Dorsey brothers. Uh-huh. And then right. But there's no like fraternal relationship between them. No. At all. Because Radnitsky is much more you know in this

you know toward the center of things where Nat Wolfe's character is just like off to the side there to fight Michael Sheen right I guess so

he doesn't have any purpose yeah he's also arguably the most famous of the three yes kind of inarguably the most famous of the three actors

though he suffers from a problem of people can't tell him from his brother yeah the other Wolfe Alex Wolfe which one's in Hereditary

Alex Wolfe okay Alex is the one who's a little darker because he like he was in Hereditary? Alex Wolf. Alex is the one who's a little darker, because he was in Hereditary, he was in Patriot's Day, where it's like, Nat Wolf was in fucking Paper Hearts or whatever, right? But then what confuses it is that then Alex Wolf was also in Jumanji, which feels like it should be a Nat Wolf part.

And then Nat Wolf was in Death Note, which feels like it should be an Alex Wolf part so lately they've been mixing up they're driving me crazy and Rudnitsky had done one season on SNL but the thing is when he got hired he was like one of those people where people went back and looked at old tweets

and old stand up and he had done like some really racially charged humor about USC being in the ghetto or whatever. Most of his stand-up is... If you watch the videos that I've seen, when he got hired, I was like, who is this guy? He does a lot of stand-up about the size of his penis.

Oh, okay. Is it large? Small. Oh, okay. I'm not talking out of school here. This is 90% of his material. Wait, he just gets up and he's like, my dick's so small. My dick is not the biggest. And then he just like gets up and he's like, my dick's this small. My dick is, you know, it's not the biggest. And then he'll go on about that for like six

minutes. Everyone laughs. It's at the comedy store and then he got on SNL. I love the industry. Yes. But the other thing is, they found the offensive tweets, right? He was someone who came out of nowhere. They almost fired him like before he even started on SNL. And then it was also a series of like year

after year, there'd be all these people who were talked about as like really good character comedians and sketch actors who didn't get on. And then they would just hire one male standup who didn't have sketch experience. And it was like Davidson, Brooks Whelan, him. Um, I think there's maybe one other than I'm forgetting, but,

uh, then his first sketch on the show after all of this blowback from him going from like unknown 20-year-old to like SNL cast member. Maybe he's a little older. He's like young. Was the opening sketch of first episode, his first season, starts with him as Anderson Cooper moderating a debate. Oh, God, that's right. And he does the sort of like most, prissy, Anderson Cooper impression. His Anderson Cooper

was a landmark low for us. And everyone just immediately was like, oh, fuck this so hard. Because it was like he had never seen Anderson Cooper before

and all he heard is it's a gay guy and he played him like Sean Hayes. Yeah, it was fired. I bring that up because it's weird

that, I mean, maybe it's a testament to his acting ability. He's charming. I think he's the best of the boys's a testament to his acting ability. He's charming in this. I think he's the best of the boys. Yeah. The thing is, he's really good in this movie.

Yeah, and the other thing is— He gets its wavelength really well. He does. He's really good. It was a smaller role, but he's good in Set It Up 2. It feels like this is actually what he's good at. I hope he's going to be good in Set It Up 2, the sequel to Set It Up that Netflix better make. Right.

Set it back up? Set it down. Yeah. I'm tired. Set it down. but set that down do they have kids now the kid keeps picking up some antiques I I think throughout the entire cast he's behind only Reese in terms of totally getting the wavelength and the vocabulary of like romantic comedy close-ups well yeah there's a very specific kind of like acting and physical energy and comic timing and how you sell a close up and all that sort of shit and he's like really in it I mean the way that these boys

maybe I'm just speaking for myself because children terrify me but like the way that these boys interact with her children in this very natural way is like kind of off putting not so off putting like Meryl Streep's adult children

who are like all ghouls that should be sent back to hell but there's a little bit something off about it but Rudnitsky like he's the one who's more natural you know he has like full scenes just with her when that wolf like relays problems with the daughter you're like okay back the fuck up

why are you getting in their business and Rudnits, you actually like buy that he's like a good mentor to her. Yeah. Even just them in the car together when he's struggling,

like he really makes every scene partner in the movie look better when he's with them. Yeah, yeah. So I guess maybe he's redeemed himself. Yeah.

Anyway. So they don't sleep together because Pico, Dick, no work. He also pukes. Dick no work, drunky, drunky. Yes, right. Pukes. together because Pico dick no work. He also pukes. Dick no worky, drunky drunky. Pico pukes. Yeah, Pico pukey.

And what else? And then they move in. They move in. They wake up the next morning. Reese has shifted from like, let's do this, to like full on like uber mom. Like she's basically like. Because when Pico's about to vomit, she's like, let me get you like a warm towel. And he's like,

you're so maternal. You should be a mother. Wakes up. She's been up for two hours. She's already washed and ironed his shirt. She's like washed and ironed him. And he's naked. It's fucking crazy.

And she's just like, she's sort of. He's covered in burns. It's horrifying. Yeah, right. Everything must be ironed. He looks like Daniel Stern in Home Alone where he's just got the hot iron imprint.

That is an image that's like seared into my brain. It's the iron. Seared like a hot iron. Yeah. And right. And the boys are all still there and she's kind of trying to make it clear like, hey, like, you know, this is a mom's house.

Like, you know, none of your partying. Right, because the daughters are like, what the fuck's going on? Fairly. Right. Yes. They're fair to say that. And then, of course, LeBron shows up. Why are you calling her LeBron?

Because she gets buckets. Candice Bergen? So she was filming Book Club next door and she goes, just like, oh, hey, I'll pop in. Yeah. You saw Book Club? It's a movie full of three-pointers from LeBron Bergen. Oh, she's remarkable in that movie. Yeah.

She's great. I mean,'s remarkable in that movie. Yeah, she's great. I mean, Candice Bergen rules. Yeah. She is perfect casting as a lady who was like a sex symbol in the 70s and is now just an awesome old lady. Which also, Candice Bergen shows up a lot on Nancy Meyers' Instagram. I like the idea that Nancy Meyers seemingly is very close and regularly hanging out with Candice and Diane.

They're similar age. They're both around 70. Yeah, right, right, right. So she just needs to complete the book club quartet. Sure. She needs to make a Fonda movie. Book club origin. Book club.

Just a bunch of people going like, we should have a book club. Book club origins, Wolverine. Sherlock book club. And I mean, this is the thing where it's like there's no other explanation it's just that candace bergen shows up it's like you should have the boys live here you should give them a chance because when they first are there and the boys put together that it's the kenny house because radnitsky wanders into the room right he's he's so into it camera there's this loving close-up of the camera and you see his fucking picnic right and he sees the oscar he

comes out they put it all together why does pico alexander think she looks so familiar oh my god i guess she's like the jenna rollins now to his cat yeah she didn't act as much but right smaller part she's in all his movies right which is sort of said in this kind of backhand way. Right. But she wasn't really an actress outside of that. Right. And she's like, oh, you boys are so cute. Alice,

they live here now. Well, no, because first, first she's very dismissive. They're like, you know, we're filmmakers too. And she's like,

kids, it's LA. Everyone's a filmmaker. Right. That's true. Like, fuck off. Right, right, right. And Reese is like,

I gotta take the kids. She also has a stogie in her mouth. And she's wearing a pair of suspenders. And she keeps snapping aggressively. She keeps hitting on Joan Crawford. She hits her on her comment. She says, prepare the standard rich and famous contract for Kermit the Frog and Friends.

And then, right, she watches their movie is the idea, right? The short. Okay, what happens is Reese takes the kids to school. She's like, I can't even deal with this. When she's in the car, she realizes the daughter has left her book report at home, drops them off. It's a reason for her to go straight

back home as fast as she can. And in those 30 minutes, the boys have so thoroughly charmed Candace Bergen and so sold in their abilities that she's like, I think these kids got it. Don't you want to be the woman who said they were sleeping on my couch? Which is like like, weird. Weird.

Like, if fucking Damien Chazelle had rolled up to my house eight years ago, and even if I thought he was talented, I would have been like, you gotta sleep on this couch

so I got those bragging rights forever that you were on this very couch. Like, on the criterion of Bottle Rocket, there's, like, a whole long documentary

about, like, the Wilsons and Andersons when James L. Brooks and Polly Platt discovered them and were trying to get them to write the screenplay. Like in the position these boys are in. Right. And they're talking about like, yeah, they were like sleeping on our couches. They would like stay out every night. Like we couldn't get them to sit down and write the thing. And they talk about it like this is Brooks is talking about this.

His producing partner is talking about this. And like with pride about the fact that it turned out well. But they're like, it was so fucking annoying that we couldn't get these boys to like behave. Like no one wants to be like, you know, it's not worth it for the bragging right to be like, I have four more children now. Yeah. We're in Dimension X. We're in Dimension X. So these boys. Right.

Are nice. Yes. We're in dimension X. So these boys are nice. Yes. Well, there is a funny, weird, janky moment when Nat Wolf is like getting a sweater or something and like weed falls out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she's like, you know, I know, last night aside. Right, I know you're all grown men with lives in agency.

Yes, and agents. But she's like, you know, this is not a party house. It's this kind of house. But then she says something that I think is nice she's like let's just try not to cramp each other's styles

so she's not saying like you can't drink or smoke weed or whatever when you're here she's just saying like let's you know keep it cool

don't ask don't tell which I think is a nice little touch and then she goes back to her bedroom and smokes a fat blunt so the subtext of this movie

is that she has a heroin problem she's definitely tweaking throughout this movie is that she has a heroin problem. She's definitely tweaking throughout this movie. Almost immediately after her saying like, so let's just live our separate lives and not encroach. By the way, Ronitsky,

can you take my daughter to her guitar rehearsal? And also she's got the iron in her hand and she's approaching Pico Alexander with a weird Clinton. So yeah, right. Ronitsky right away is drafted into like, it's one of those things where she's like, oh no, she has to go. And I have no contingency for this.

Like who will drive my daughter? Where it's like, yeah, this has never happened before in anyone's life. You're like worth millions of dollars. Yes. Right. Because she's got to go see Lake Bell, I guess. Right.

So this is the weirdest part of the movie is she's now decided that she's an interior decorator. The job she gets is Lake Bell, who's a socialite so this is the weirdest part of the movie. She's now decided that she's an interior decorator. The job she gets is Lake Bell, who's a socialite, they say? I guess, so just a rich person, like an annoying rich airhead. Yeah, she says socialite, but yeah. Right, and Reese puts together this whole fucking lookbook. Yeah, and

Lake Bell, I think, is great in this. Yeah, sure. She's funny. She's kind of doing it from a different movie that's sort of skewering Los Angeles, whereas the rest of the movie is revering Los Angeles. She's super heightened. She's from like a, and that's sort of you know like skewering Los Angeles whereas the rest of the movie is like revering Los Angeles she's super heightened and like she's from like a

and it's complicated let's say I mean almost like the Lake Bell character it's complicated if you're Lake Bell and you get handed the script you're like

oh I get this right this is just a nasty rich person sure I can do this in two seconds two days yeah exactly fine

and then right and you're thinking like oh the Lake Bell is going to play into stuff no no well there's a drunken confrontation but even that Exactly. Fine. And then, right, you're thinking like, oh, the Lake Bell's going to play into stuff. No. No. No. Well, there's a drunken

confrontation, but even that is like pretty whatever. Oh, and it was when she's on a date with the guy from High Midlands. Yeah.

What's his name? Ben Sinclair? He's so good. What is his name? But also, that's another janky thing where you're like, what the fuck is Ben Sinclair

doing in a Nancy Meyers movie? He's funny. What's the line he says at the beginning? And he goes, I never found my brother. So yeah, that's why I don't like boats. Yeah. Yeahyers movie. He's funny. What's the line he says at the beginning? And he goes, never found my brother. So yeah, that's why I don't like boats. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They enter in in Meteor Res with a really funny dark line like that to show how badly the date's going. I like that he's not like an asshole, that he's just like, who the fuck is this guy? And it's just, I just, the plot, the Lake Bell plot seems to be like, it shouldn't work. Pain in the ass. Can we go over this Lake Bell thing? So she thinks she's getting hired to be an interior designer. She gets there.

It turns out she's already hired someone else to do some of the work. They had a falling out. So now she wants her to just be the person who receives the packages that the other woman ordered. But then very quickly it becomes a personal assistant job where it's like, can you give my daughter a bath? Right. Right.

And then she shows up one day and the actual interior designer is there. Right. And apparently, like Belle said, this new woman creeps me out. This one I haven't let

do any interior design. Can you please come back with a raise? Right. Yeah. And then reswept Galsiter drunkenly. Right.

That's it. That's the whole. And yeah, the point is like, work sure is annoying. Yeah, work, don't be an interior designer and re-swept Galsiter drunkenly. Right. That's it. That's the whole... And yeah, the point is like, work sure is annoying. Yeah, work's... Don't be an interior designer

where you could just do nothing. Raise some boys. Later in the movie, we see her, she has some sort of image, mood board. She's working on some other new project,

I guess it's implied, but like, there's really nothing about... Like, the tagline, starting over isn't for beginners. What does she start over? It's just because she,

that she moved from New York to Los Angeles? I guess so. Yeah. That's literally it. Right. Well, yeah. She wants to be an interior designer.

Right, and her website was really bad at the beginning of the movie because it had a whole paragraph about how depressed she is. Right. But then Alex Wolfe made her a new web,

or Nat Wolfe. No, Alex made the website. Right, you're right. Nat Wolfe made her website on Wix. Did you see the prominent Wix stamp thing? I did. Yeah. Anyway, the other aspect of this movie is the Michael Sheen thing.

Yeah, so we're all lazing around. The boys are being nice. Yeah. They're nice, big, and special boys. And the boys... They're all dressed very well. They're dressed nicely. They wear nice sports jackets.

And they have their own little producer subplot that we'll get to in a second. Yes. Where they're hanging out with Jason Blum, I guess. Yeah, he's supposed to be Jason Blum, right?

I mean, I don't know. Does Jason Blum live in like a, you know, Rococo mansion on the, yeah, in Malibu? I live with him.

Oh, right. Yeah. Right. If you've ever been to my house, you've been to Jason Blum's house. Yeah, Jason Blum played by Reed Scott,

which is, again, it's another one where it's like. Yeah, Jason Blum played by Reed Scott. It's another one where it's like, Hollywood phonies. And you're like, is this going to be important? No. He's taking a jab at him. He's taking a bite.

Guys, I only make three types of movies. Female-centric comedies. This guy makes female-centric comedies? That seems incongruous with everything else he's developed to be. Is that supposed to be a jab at him producing the gem in the Holograms movie? Maybe. I don't know. But yeah, Michael Sheen

who's got luscious fucking hair. He looks so good in his movie. His hair and Pico's hair it's just like this is quite a thing. And his beard is really good too. He's got some really gorgeous white streaks. He looks like a lion. He does.

He's just like... This was his audition to play Mufasa. Right. His successful audition. He's doing it up in Bristol in the UK. Well, James Earl Jones is doing the voice for the Favreau movie, but Michael Sheen is going to be the on-screen... He's the only non-cg character right

they're just pointing the camera right at him right um yeah i would love it if you went to see the lion king and just like unannounced michael sheen um he's a music producer he's looking for the next sam smith he's scouring the fucking globe looking for the next Sam Smith. Particularly Miami. Yes, Miami. I guess he's a jerk. And he keeps calling being like, I just miss you guys or whatever. He wants the next Sam Smith

because we need a second openly gay person to win an Oscar. Because remember, Sam Smith was a first. What a milestone for everyone. No, but the Michael Sheen conversations are all like this. I miss you guys. I wish I could be there.

You can be here. No, I wish I could. I can't. That's like the cycle over and over. He catches wind, I guess, that like three grown men are living at his daughter's house. Right. One who builds a house out of straw. One who builds a house out of brick.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah. And so he comes a running. Yeah. Yeah. He just sort of shows up. Yeah. And then tries to like sort of alpha them.

Yeah. And kind of kind of fairly it's like why didn't you mention right there are three like sexual beings living in the guest house but he keeps on sort of daughters he keeps big dogging them with like the like i wouldn't have understood it at your age either yeah right i do love like this is michael michael sheen has has like quite a reputation for running through the actresses of Hollywood

uh huh yep and I feel like very often the parts he is cast to play are very incongruous with what you hear about Michael Sheen's

right because Michael Sheen is usually cast as like the elfin MC of the weird club that a hero goes through right yeah or like the pretentious

like professor right or a robot bartender. Right, and then you're like, but he's, yes. Oh, speaking of

Jennifer Lawrence. Creepy pasta. Right. And then you like read about it, right? And it's like everyone on

Masters of Sex was falling in love with him and he was like discarding them like fucking sticks of gum. Michael Sheen's the Warren Beatty

of our time. Like truly like. That guy is 5'2 Beatty of our time. Like truly. That guy is 5'2". I just pulled out my headphones again. But I will say this I've heard him on a couple podcasts where just like Jesus fucking Christ this guy is charming like I like him a lot as an actor and I heard him on like Comedy Bang Bang

or something and I was like I would fuck him. And you think about like how he has a very amicable relationship with the mother of his daughter Kate Beckinsale. Kate Beckinsale's really funny on Instagram. I feel like there's just this secret world of famous actors who are really cool.

He's with Kate Beckinsale. They're not married, but they're together. They have a child. I don't think they're even together anymore. This is the timeline, because I find this fascinating. Sheen and Beckinsale are maybe kind of common law, right? But not officially married. They both get cast in Underworld.

Kate Beckinsale leaves him for Len Wiseman, director of Underworld. Michael Sheen continues to do the Underworld franchise. It shows you. It's a good role. No sense of competition in that guy. Werewolves? Vampires? Which one is he?

I think his character's name is Raze, leader of the Lycans. Sarah Silverman has said in interviews like, oh yeah, we broke up because he moved back to London after his daughter went to college, but we still sleep together when he's in LA. And I'm like, that's so

open and honest and real. Rachel McAdams. Yeah. One of the other Masters of Sex stars, Caitlin Fitzgerald I think her name is. Yeah. Who's great. And who we've covered in this miniseries is one of the weird alien children

and it's complicated. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Another person who would be in every Nancy movie if Nancy was regularly making movies. I don't know. There was also that thing remember recently where it was like Michael Sheen, I'm retiring from acting was like an article and then when he clicked on the article he was like, I'm not retiring from acting or anything like that. I'm just not going to make a movie

for a year. Right. He was like I want to focus on politics. Yeah, right. He was like freaked out post-Brexit. Yeah, he's an amazing, amazing actor. I love Michael Sheen in like serious stage plays and then in stuff like this it's like oh, okay. Yeah, sure. The other thing that's fascinating

about him is he was one of those guys who was stuck in that zone where it's like he's always the supporting performance against the person who gets the Oscar nomination or the win

yeah sure Ross Nixon you know the queen the queen which he's so good in yeah I love him in that movie that was the thing

he plays Freddie Mercury in England he was this stage actor do you think anyone's going to be talking about that movie in december when this airs no one is going to know what you're okay yeah no one will know um you know yeah he was this like uh uh celebrated stage actor who would do all these like really out there performances and then he became the guy who was great at playing tony blair yeah he played tony blair like four times the resemblance is there for sure.

It is and he just nailed the sort of smarm and like, you know, the like weird like charm like versus smarm thing. And then it was, what's his name,

decided he kept on, Peter Morgan, Peter Morgan. Right, he wanted to continue making Blair films. So it's like he got a little franchise.

Right, and then Morgan's like, I'm going to do a David Frost movie. Can you like kind of do your Blair again? Right. Like, you know,

except even smarmier. Like, you know, Michael Sheen became his avatar. He's so good in The Damned United too, which is another Peter Morgan movie. 2003, he's in Underworld, so that starts to put him in the rotation for doing those sort of paycheck-y genre things.

He's in The Twilights. He's in Blood Diamond, which is another one where the lead then gets nominated. He was also supposed to play Blair in Gossip Girl. That's right. Of course. He would have been great. Do you know Leighton Meester was born in prison? I did know that. Yeah, I love that

fact. He was really good on 30 Rock. Yeah, he's Wesley Snipes. If you looked Wesley Snipes up in the dictionary, you would think that a picture of me would be. Like, that is so funny. That is such a good joke. Oh, I love that. I love that.

He's in admission pretty much playing the exact same part as this. Yeah. And he's been in a thousand movies. Yes. He's a really fucking good actor. And he did 46 episodes

of Masters of Sex. He mastered it. And now no one ever has to try sex again. The end is him just going, yep. He gets a diploma and he puts it on just going, yep. He gets a diploma. He puts it on his wall.

Yeah. I'm a master. Do you know that he reprised his character as Dr. William Masters in an episode of The Simpsons last year? No. In what universe has The Simpsons gone from like- The Simpsons is like, we really need a Masters of Sex joke. Yeah, we do a crossover with The X-Files.

And then 20 years later, you're like, I don't know, crossover with Masters of Sex? What's left? David, do you feel, I'm sorry to just interrupt the flow of the episode here. Sorry. Very unusual. Dickie Lawson. Go ahead. Do you feel like the temperature in here changed a little bit?

Like the sort of ambiance just changed? I don't know. Up or down? It feels like it just got kind of like dark and gritty in here like this this isn't my grandfather's podcast recording studio oh my god someone just sent an arrow through the doorbell they're not even bothering to ring the doorbell the door's cracked open oh my god it's hot's hot, edgy, millennial, Taron Egerton, Robin Hood. Oh boy. Every generation gets their Robin Hood and we've gotten ours and it's like

Guy Ritchie, Robin Hood, but not even directed by Guy Ritchie. This isn't your grandpa's ad read. Hello. Hello boys. Hello. I'm talking to him. Yeah. You speak my language. It's almost like you grew up in England. Sources say. Yeah, he did. Yeah. The bit's retired. The speak my language. It's almost like you grew up in England. Sources say. Yeah, he did. Okay, wait, the bit's retired. The bit's retired. Let's get to the ad rate, please. All right. What are you here for today, Mr. Hood? I'm here to put a new twist on an old story. Oh, so like you're kind of not dissimilar from this investing app called Robinhood that lets you buy and sell stocks and ETFs and options and cryptos commission free. Oh, I was going to say this sounded like my grandfather's

stock service. No, no, no. They're trying to make financial services work for everyone, not just the wealthy. And they're non-intimidating so that newcomers can invest for the first time with true confidence. It sounds kind of edgy and gritty. It's simple and intuitive. It's a very clear design. The data is presented in a really easy to digest way. I use the app every day. It's set up with my face ID, which is very cutting edge. What if you have face tattoos like my best friend Little John played in a very sexy, edgy performance by Sexy Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx?

Will it still recognize? I think so i think uh the only difference is that your phone might give you a little wink as it unlocks because you're so uh good looking would it be my grandfather's wink uh no very much not your grandfather not like a wink where they hand you like a werther's original no they hand you like a crack pipe wait a second it's dark and edgy uh no come on the robin hood app has uh no commission fees other brokerages charge like up to ten dollars for every trade robin hood doesn't charge commission fees you can trade stocks you can keep all of your profits it's got easy to understand charts market data you can place a trade in just like four taps he's taking out his ipad and he's going

on a twitter rant about how bernie would have Well, while he's doing that, let me tell you that Robinhood also helps you learn how to invest as you build your portfolio. It helps you discover new stocks and track favorite companies with a personalized news feed. And you can customize your notifications so you can see when's the right moment to invest. Is something dropping? Is something rising? You know, David, I think I like this Robinhood, this service more than I like edgy, sexy Taryn Egerton Robinhood because that feels a little performative, but this just feels like getting the job done. It's not doing anything just for show.

You know what I'm saying? You're right. It's clean and simple. This is trying a little too hard. Way too hard. And Robinhood are giving listeners a free stock like Apple or Ford or Sprint to help you build your portfolio. So you can sign up at check.robinhood.com.

That's check.robinhood.com to get a free stock like an Apple. I want to promote that I also have a special offer going on for my new picture, Robin Hood. Oh, boy. For only $34 a ticket, you can see it in 4DX. Well, that's not a deal. That's like highway robbery. You're robbing from the poor.

Oh, boy. And giving to the executives at Lionsgate. I don't know how much he's going to rob, but yeah. Okay. Well, I think, you know, you can by all means leave the studio. Turn the lights back on. Please up the thermometer again. And, you know, just maybe try Robinhood.com

because you might take a little bit of a financial bath in your opening weekend. Yeah, check that Robinhood.com. Yeah. So long, fellows. Sorry about that, Richard. Oh, that was exciting. I wish I could say that we're barely into the movie, but we're mostly done with the movie

because the movie, I don't know. The movie just sort of is like, Michael Sheen shows up, he's like, we should get back together. She's like, okay. And then they just do like a time pass thing

where like, well, that one punches him in the face. Well, yeah, they get in a fight for some silly reason. Pico stands Reese up, so she's out on their little flirtation before it even began.

Right. And so she gives Michael Sheen a shot, but then she gives up on that right away. Yeah. Right. She sends them both out, then you have a montage of everyone winning. She sends everyone out. But Michael Sheen a shot, but then she gives up on that right away. Yeah. Right. She sends them both out, then you have a montage of everyone winning. She sends everyone out. But Michael Sheen decides to move to LA. He actually is

going to do it. Yeah. Nat Wolf books the pilot. Yeah, we see him walking. Nat Wolf books him. He's in like a hospital show or something. Yeah. Right. Rudnitsky starts... He says it's a lead. Like, he's like very casually like, actually, it's a lead part. They want me to test, which is like that is not how casual you would be about that happening

if you just moved to LA. But Pico Alexander's like, how could you? When we want to make our black and white pocket watch movie. He's furious that Rudnitsky's rewriting a horror film.

Right, right. Rudnitsky's doing like, you know, bedroom, like a man with knife comes. Right, and Pico reads that and he's like, but what about the pocket watch?

But it is like, if you're a struggling actor, you know, or like an aspiring actor and you get to test for a network show, that's like your fucking bar mitzvah. Your first communion. It's like, I'm doing something right. And he's just like, I don't know. I kind of think I should do it, right? Yeah. I don't know.

And Reneski has the relationship with the daughter. We need that to come off. She wants to be a writer. Right, and she's going to do a talent show. The younger daughter doesn't have anything. She's just cute. She just says profound things.

There's one scene where Reese makes this, I think Michael Sheen is there by then, and she's just making breakfast, and it's literally heaps of croissant, butter in a clay earthen pot, huge thing of eggs and hash browns, and a huge arranged tray of fruit. I mean, it's really hysterical.

Richard, you speak of that, this feels like a great moment to transition to a regular segment for the last time that we do here on our Nancy Meyers mini-series. Yes, she did, right? Yes. I mean, she's going to do one now because we're cutting live over to our special correspondent, longtime sister, Romley Newman, with Romley's Kitchen Corner. And here is your host, Miss Romley Newman.

She's in her kitchen. Today I'm in a kitchen, and I'm going to talk about the kitchen at home again, which is not my favorite kitchen. And the funny thing is, if this kitchen was in any other movie, I'd say, well, it's a really nice kitchen. But you can't help but watch it and just think this is a Nancy Meyers kitchen on a really low budget. They have all the same fixings, all the same stylistic choices, but everything just looks a little bit less nice. You know, they couldn't get the Viking, they couldn't get the wolf stove, you know,

the fridge is not a sub-zero, and it's still an incredibly nice kitchen, but it's not an Anthony Myers kitchen. Thank you, Romley, for your service. We appreciate it. I don't know what circumstances we'd ever bring back Romley's Kitchen Corner

but maybe well you're gonna do that burnt we are gonna do a full miniseries on burnt burnt cast we're gonna go back

to the Star Wars format and just do burnt every week good you can do no reservations I don't think we could do a full episode

on burnt without falling asleep like we would we would try and we would just be like and then it would be like an ASMR episode because we'd just

trail off. You'd perk up at the Uma Thurman part. She should do a Nancy Meyers movie. Every actress of the 90s should do a Nancy Meyers movie. Well, she tried to with Prime, which is not a Nancy Meyers movie, but it was sort of styled. Yes. She has the worst role in that, kind of.

Whatever happened to him, October Road? Ben Younger? Is that his name? Oh, the actor? He was She has the worst role in that, kind of. Yeah, whatever happened to him? October Road. Is that his name? No, that's... Oh, the actor? Yeah. He was How to Make It in America, wasn't he? Yeah. And he was on season one of The Tick.

Oh, he was. He's one of my favorite characters on the show. He is very funny in it. He was only in like two episodes, right? Maybe three? Three, Derek. He plays the villain's ex-husband who still lives with her. Brian Greenberg.

He's great. He's excellent. And he's a nice guy. This is the episode where I say that handsome men are nice. Well, that's the, I mean, that's the movie.

Yeah. That is the movie because that's what happens. Well, right. Okay. So then the boys have their big meeting with the producer. Right. Who's a jerk.

I don't remember though what happens at the meeting. It's like, this is the weird thing was like They have the meetings with Blum and they're like, what a jerk. And then Blum is just the entree to this sort of... He's got a note that just says Channing? Blum 2, right? Like the older Blum? Like Blum Senior?

Oh, they have the meeting and then they decide to run away to go to the daughter's thing? Well, that's the final meeting, right? Where the guy's like... And again, it's this thing where Hallie is just doing this like insanely broad Hollywood spoof sketch.

Right. Because that's what the Lake Bell scene is. Yes. That's what the first Reed Scott scene is. That's what this scene is where he's like,

I love the script, but like, what if they're like doing a heist of like a casino? Right, like suddenly it's Bowfinger. Right, right. But are like these,

are these meetings that she's had? Maybe. Or is this just like her mom but like when's the last time nancy myers had a meeting like that ever i mean she doesn't need to i mean maybe the intern and jason blum have been circling a hellraiser remake we should we should talk about that's why jason blum was so cagey when people ask him about female directors it's because he's been trying to get her take on pinhead forever she goes what if we lose the pins just head um yeah that scene the idea that scene right

is just that pico finally is like you know what the pocket watch movie can wait we've got to get to the talent show because we've established that pico doesn't usually know to do the right thing right but he's a bit of a fuck up this isn't the right thing for him it's only for rodnitsky the other two being there kind of doesn't matter that much. Well, but Nightwolf is there because he's going to be the lead of Pocket Watch. Right. I'm just calling it that. Right. And he's pocket full of watch.

He's also there as security in case Michael Sheen also shows up to the play. Yeah, right. He'll pop him in the nose. He'll pocket watch him in the nose. And then the producer does that thing where he's like, yeah, I'm thinking some big star. And Reed Scott's like, ah, no, we were going to put Nightwolf in it. And he's like, oh, yeah oh yeah no you can be in it I am Brooklyn Avenue

outrageous and then yeah they go to the talent show and John Renitsky falls in love with the daughter's teacher on the way to the stage yeah

right they have a meet cute that begins at the entrance to the school and ends with them on the stage yeah and that guy. They have a meet cute that begins at the entrance to the school and ends with them on the stage. And that guy needed a win.

Yeah. He was having so much trouble being handsome and cast in things. Yeah. God what a movie. I don't know. Like is there anything

else really pleasant that they gather. Right. Like is there. Oh and then the Carol King song plays. Oh my God. Which like.

So her mother mother except for Griffin which he's just hearing you're gonna be like one of those people who like kills himself after like having hiccups for three years cause like

I'm so you're gonna get like lost in the woods and that's all you're here your version of tinnitus I'm so far down the levels of the

Ascension elevator that for me it sounds like Le'Veon Rose. This movie, as we already stated, is set in the city that Leo and Marion built in Inception. They lived a whole lifetime together. Ken Watanabe's there getting old. Everyone is waiting for a train.

It just ends with them all gathering and being like, how crazy here we are. Nancy Byers was like, okay, I will EP this movie and get this movie made for you, but you have to name it after a Carol King song. Yeah. I have to name it after a Carol King song and have it in Congress ending scene where everyone's at dinner.

Yeah. Which is how most of her movies. Oh, and I like that the daughters play. Yes. The set is that outdoor dining area of their backyard. And there's the, and I like that the daughter's play, the set, is that outdoor dining area of their backyard. And there's the joke at the end

where the daughter's like, that was kind of based on our lives. And it's like, so wait, there was a fourth grade play that was about a fucking divorce. My mom tried to bag this hottie. Didn't try, did. And his dick didn't work,

and then they figured it out, right. I mean, it feels like she's setting up a future something's got to give. You think Pico's going to get with Reese eventually? No. Oh, I guess kind of plays that she's Hallie. Rico. Yeah. That that character's Hallie.

Right, yes. Oh, duh. Okay, right. Like, I didn't realize. Do you think Michael Sheen's going to find the next Sam Smith? Yes, unquestionably. In real life. It's Nat Wolfe. Yeah. I didn't realize do you think Michael Sheen's gonna find the next Sam Smith yeah yes in real life it's Nat Wolfe

yeah he's like at a chalkboard Sam Smith Nat Wolfe where do you find the next you find the next

Sam Smith like at like wearing like a big frilly bonnet at the maternity ward or something because he's sort of like a little

Lord Fauntleroy like so singing a song plaintively to his sick mother? Oh, God. Netflix has said how successful To All the Boys I Loved and Set It Up were for them.

Right. They're Summer of Love, they call it. Right. Two of their most watched films and certainly less expensive than a lot of the big films they've had to buy like right, you know? Right. If I were them, I'd just be like, get Halle Meyers-Shire in here and let her make one of these every year,

every other year. Oh, absolutely. You know, because Nancy needs like $80 million to make a movie. Nancy can't do it cheap. No, she can't. But like, let Halle make a bunch of these. Sure.

She had a script. I want to find the name of it. Have you heard about this? No. That Nancy was going to direct. Oh, right. Called The Chelsea. Yes. Oh, about the Chelsea Hotel? I don't know. direct. Oh, right. Called The Chelsea. Yes. Oh,

about the Chelsea Hotel? I don't know. And then it fell apart. Right. That was before Home Again, I think Nancy was going to make. The thing about it is that we're joking about the sort of creepy homage to her mother, but the movie's not badly made. No. The pacing is a little fast, but it

looks great. The performances are good. I also like the idea that her mother and father were on set every day, that it really feels like it was a family project. That's fine. I would happily see another movie of hers. I think there are certain things that could be improved upon. For a first film? This is better than most first romantic comedies.

There's no reason that one of the boys couldn't... They don't have to all be white, for example. Sure. Have you seen any Nancy Meyers films before? one of the boys couldn't like they don't have I'll Be White for example sure have you seen any Nancy Meyers well I yes okay if you're gonna make us

an homage that you know but you know I don't know I think that like the tendency with this movie is to just for people to kind of like

just be like oh it's terrible no it's very weird watchable yeah very watchable as Griffin says

it's my third time seeing it charming and then also right just like odd in a way where you're like you think about it it's not disposable

I said in my review it's like you could study this thing in psych class for like a year yeah like it's just very interesting which is like my favorite kind of movies

yeah these movies that just have their own weird sort of internal logic they do feel like a broadcast from an alternate dimension and you're just trying to parse out what the like,

so if this, then what? Right. Rules of the world. Right. You know? I mean, we should play the box office game. But yeah, is there anything else

you wanted to say, Richard? I'm looking at mine. Where is Jen Kirkman? Right. She got unbrigadooned. I got to give you credit because since there was a 9 to be quotes page,

the quote I used was one that you transcribed verbatim, so I had something to read off. Well, because we are three handsome guys, three adorable guys, excuse me, hanging around. Four adorable guys. Ben watched this movie too. I was gonna say Ben is our Reese Witherspoon. And we're the three cute, big, special boys.

There's a scene where they take their shirts off and go swimming. Oh yeah, in the beach. And Nat Wolf yells Attica, Attica, because 20-something year old boys in 2017 are always referencing Dog Day Afternoon. Boys who were born after

Independence Day came out. Right. Yeah, I think that's all I had. I mean, I thought the movie was insane. Yeah. I didn't hate it. I felt like, again, yeah, this is like another reality, another dimension of the world.

I, as someone from New Jersey, kind of a lower class kind of citizen in the world, let's say. Sure, you grew up in a trauma film. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I went to high school with Toxic Avenger. sin in the world, let's say. Sure. You grew up in a trauma film. Yeah, pretty much. I went to high school with Toxic Avenger.

You went home again, it would be home again to the furnace. That's true. Right. The reason Toxic Avenger carried a mop was because he worked as a janitor at your high school. Yeah, absolutely. I just felt like it was the culture

that I don't participate with at all. Yep. And look, I mean, that is, I will say the reason why I think I always had hangups with Nancy is like, I don't like the idea of watching movies about these people. Right. You know, because I also like am frustrated if I'm at a restaurant seated next to people like this. I love it. And I have to hear them talking.

This movie is the nice family I saw at the mall when I was trying to kidnap their children or shoplift something. And I would be like, you know, sort of like oh my god, gross, but really inside I'm like, oh, this seems nice. I wish I had a nice family.

And the way that Nancy Meyers and Halle Meyers talk about divorce is from this insanely privileged thing where divorce is this kind of neurotic moment. It's not like, oh, financially we're destroyed. Right. How are we going to get the kids back and forth? It's more just this kind of social embarrassment or something. It's really interesting.

But Tuesdays are my yoga group. Right, right. That kind of like… Right. I love it. but Tuesdays are my yoga group. Right, right. Like that kind of like, right. I love it.

Oh, and did you guys notice that, I don't know if you've been talking about these on other episodes, but the Virgin Mimosas make it into this movie. You know, like her thing, she's always like, there's like, yeah, they're in a scene of this. Do you have any Nancy thoughts?

Because you didn't actually get to be on a Nancy episode. I would say that my Nancy thoughts are, or my Nancy concerns, kind of to what Ben was saying is like that increasingly I don't think Nancy is like self-aware exactly about the world that she's existing in. And a world that's changing rapidly. talk to someone like you know when you see like even like you know older celebrities who are quote unquote liberal or whatever now who just say something totally from like 1985 and you're like what like I don't I worry that Nancy Meyers is not paying

attention and while it's fun to watch like the intern is like a movie about like an old straight white guy like finding himself again. Is that where we're at? Right, and how all young men are pussies.

Right, yeah. So I like Nancy Meyers, but increasingly the people that she's sort of venerating, I think, are bad. Okay, do we want to do our rankings? Oh, wow. Of Nancy's? Yeah.

Sure, do we want to do the box office game first? Yes. Okay. September 8th 2017 never again um number two at the box office is home again with a million dollars now the number one film this this weekend opened to slightly higher number of 123 million dollars this was the film it it right yes the one film to buck the trend of this being the worst weekend right and Pennywise is going to target the Home Again

universe next oh fully yeah he's gonna go down that drain pipe until he gets to fucking Michael Sheen or whatever he's the next Sam Smith

I'll tell ya Pico you want to stop watch that just scared me in my headphones because I didn't I wasn't looking at you and I was like

yeah I couldn't get through that movie we all get development deals down here. It's fine. I thought it was badly made. It's very jumpy. I wanted Fukunaga's version.

I agree. I think the script's pretty good. Yeah. And I like Mama. I think Mama's pretty well directed. Oh, it's the same director? Yeah.

Oh, I see. Andy. Machete. Machete. Yes. Andy Machete. Yes.

Perfect. I think it is a very watchable car movie with a bunch of kids in it. And who's it going to be? It's Chastain, Xavier Dillon. Xavier Dillon's just got the one scene, but you got McAvoy. It's Chastain, Hater, McAvoy. So you have three big people. And then the other four are Isaiah Mustafa, who's the old Spice guy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ben Ransom. And then two actors I don like Isaiah Mustafa, who's the Old Spice guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ben Ransom. And then like two actors I don't know, I feel like. You've also got Jay Ryan. An actor I don't know. James Ransom, yeah. Andy Bean. Don't know him.

Yeah. And then, yeah. So I've read it. The second part of It, a book that Stephen King wrote after eating one mountain of cocaine, is like. That's how he ordered it, too. One Brigadoon mountain of cocaine is like one brig of dune mountain of cocaine he called his dealer and said can you bring me a brig of coke like is the second part of the book is like you know that it is back because

there's this like terrible hate crime in which like a gay guy is murdered and Xavier Delan I guess is playing that character so there's something with Xavier Delan where I think he's just like sign me up like you, you know, because... He's going to win an Oscar for Bad Times at the El Royale.

Oh my God, that accent. Playing Phil Spector. He's also in Boy Erased. He's in Boy Erased playing a guy with a black eye. That's never explained. That's never explained. Who salutes at everyone.

Do you know that he played Fear in the Cabo Croix dub of Inside Out Pixar's Inside Out is that true? that he makes a lot of money

doing I swear to God like French Canadian dubbing when the big animated movies go over there he has done several of those do you know about

Melanie Laurent's dad? no her dad is the voice of Homer in France really? wow yeah number three that rules at the box office uh huh Her dad is the voice of Homer in France. Really? Wow.

Number three. That rules. At the box office. Is a comedy. That's so funny that we were saying like this is the worst weekend to release a movie. And they were like, oh, well, at least it'll go unnoticed. And then the biggest opening in the history of that genre. It just like swallowed it whole. Right.

Exactly. Yeah. It was crazy. I mean, it is crazy that it did that well. So that's one of the biggest gaps between number one and number two in history. It has to be. It's insane. Yeah. So number three is like a comedy that's now in its fourth week.

Okay. That like kind of did pretty well despite not existing. Ned Flanders. Excuse me, Ned Flanders. Oh, even funnier. Okay, it doesn't exist. It did pretty well. What was the final total?

75. It did 75. What kind of movie is it? It's like a spoofy comedy. Spoofy 75 it's 75 what kind of movie is it it's like a it's like a spoofy comedy spoofy it's a spoofy movie well

well spoofy it's a little spoofy it had been number one the previous three weeks the previous three weeks yes fuck I know what this is and it's

the light between oceans right that's like a spoof of someone's earnest attempt at making a drama, right? Does it feature a big comedy star? No, not really. Like two sort of major names. I wouldn't call any of them

exclusively the comedy stars. I guess one of them is more of a comical. But they're actors. They're not like people who came out of nothing. Oh, The Light Between Oceans is the first film

to go direct to Sweater. Sorry, I just wanted to make that joke. Just occurred to me. 45 comedy points. Shall I just tell you? No. Wait to say more things about it? Comedy, like a buddy comedy.

It's got like a title that sounds like it's a parody. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. It's The Hitman's Bodyguard. The Hitman's Bodyguard. Oh, God. Yes, a movie that does exist. Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. There's someone else in that movie. Salma Hayek, and they're greenlighting a sequel. There is a sequel. The Bodyguard's Hitman? It's The Hitman's

Bodyguard's Wife or whatever. Richard E. Grant is in that, I believe. Oh, I see. Weird. Gary Oldman. Weird. From the director of Kick-Ass 2. I think you might be right. Yeah, Gary Oldman, Salma Hayek, Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson. They are making a sequel. Number four is another horror movie.

A prequel? Okay. A prequel within a prequel to a spinoff in a larger horror universe. So it's Annabelle Creation? Annabelle Creation, which made $102 million. Yeah. About the creation of the doll that was in The Conjuring.

There is only I'm mystified. one Conjuring film that has not made $100 million. Oh my god. No. Annabelle.

The first one. Yeah. But for a horror franchise that's crazy. I know. Because usually one of them will overperform

and usually they hover around like 70 or 80 if it's a big franchise until they drop off. And like None, The Two Conjurings, Annabelle Creation,

have all crested. Give her a proper title. The None. Richard wrote and directed the film. I just think we should refer to it with his proper title. Yeah, I mean, it was part of the Trolls universe,

but it's a whole complicated thing. You must be really stressed out getting ready for your world tour. For Trolls Creation? Trolls again How are your trolls doing? Oh my trolls My trolls are good

My trolls just moved to LA Oh no They're in a guest house They're probably gonna sweep up This pilot season right? Did they make like A pocket watch movie? Yeah

They made a pocket watch One of my trolls Is sleeping with Gettysburg You know my trolls is sleeping with Gettysburg. You know my trolls is sleeping. Number five at the box office is an insanely depressing movie that bummed me

the fuck out when I saw it. About like, oh god, I don't know. I'll give it away if I tell you what it's about uh is it is it new or has it been out for a couple weeks six weeks at this point it's been out for six weeks at this point was it a pretty big hit it was like a good hit for the size of movie that it was it like it's like a drama it's like an oppressing drama it's like a thriller slash like super bleak mystery thriller kind of thing uh uh what was the final total? 33.

Oh, so it was like a smaller film that did... Oh, oh, oh. Is it Wind River? Wind River. Yeah, a movie I don't really get either. A nasty movie. Yeah, it's a nasty movie.

Nasty piece of work. But, Jon Bernthal's fucking great in that thing. That one scene, he kills. I hate that scene. I don't like the scene.

I like Jon Bernthal a lot. I think he's a very good actor. Jon Bernthal's great. It's just crazy how many movies he is in for one scene. I know. Like Baby Driver, he's in one scene. I like Jon Bernthal a lot. I think he's a very good actor. Jon Bernthal's great. It's just crazy how many movies he is in for one scene. I know. Like Baby Driver, he's in one scene. Widow's upcoming, he's in one scene. He's kind of the best at showing up for like one scene. I know. He's a weird one.

Do you know a movie he's crazy good in, which I would have given a blankie nomination? CBS is the Class? Yes. Okay, let's go on. I know who it was. That's a weird... Lizzie Kaplan. There's that scene. Jason Ritter. Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Lucy Punch. Yeah. No, There's that scene. Jason Ritter. Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Lucy Punch. Yeah.

No, there's that scene early on in the class where he goes, this house is not well built. Which is like his comedy line in the pilot. Oh. It's very weird. You know the famous story

where like there was some big CBS upfront thing when the show was about to, or they were doing a press tour or whatever. They were in Vegas with the whole cast before the show premiered. The cast of The Class? Yes. Class cast.

Right. And I think it was – That's your podcast about The Class. Right. It was James Burroughs or Les Moonves or someone who was like at the top of their food chain. Probably Burroughs. Said to them like, I want you to go out and have a great night tonight together because this is the last night of your life that you're going to be able to be in a space like this unrecognized.

They were just like, a week from now, two of you cannot be in public without having a hard day's night chase ensuing. They thought they had friends on their hands. They gave those six actors so much training for how to deal with eight. The amount of fame

they were about to yeah when did the class premiere 2006 so he got Modern Family two years later right after pretty much yes

some of them like you know Ferguson, Bernthal and then some of them like Heather Golden Hirsch you know just sort of didn't figure it out

why would you tell someone that although she's really good in Hail Caesar it's really depressing it is really weird that movie's insane that TV show's insane. It was set in Philadelphia.

It had no black people in it and people pointed that out. It was from the creators of Friends. Yeah. And people were like, there's supposed to be a pattern with your shows

and they were like, what are you talking about? It was really weird. What were you going to say? Sorry. Bernthal's really good in Snitch. Oh, I haven't seen Snitch. The Dwayne the Rock Johnson movie

which is otherwise pretty profound through but he gives like a really fucking great performance. He's actually the co-lead in that. I would say he has as much screen time as The Rock, which is weird. Cool. You're not supposed to snitch about that movie, so I don't want to talk about it.

Ben is vaping. Oh. Yeah, we're done. So Ben's new thing is when the episode is over, he vapes. He pulls on his vape. It literally just looks like a USB. Yeah. It looks like Ben's backing up his data.

Thank you for coming. Oh, rankings. We got to do our rankings. So that was the five. We went through the five. Rankings. I think I made a list. Let me see.

I want you to go first because I'm between two things in a position. If you have your list at hand, otherwise I'll just go. No, I can go. And we're not counting Home Again because it's its own thing. We're talking through the six Nancys. Movies that, the Nancy Meyers movies that were made on Earth. Correct. The terrestrial Meyers.

Right, so it's actually zero movies. Weird. Right. All right, So number one. Not movies that were executive produced by Slash, the evil mutant Ninja Turtle and Dimension X. I'm sorry. Go on. Continue.

Crank. Nancy Crank. I mean, I could have gone a bunch of ways. I thought it was better to do a deeper pull. I don't know. I'm an idiot. Go on. You're not an idiot.

Okay. So number one for me. I'm very big and smart and special. Just like Pico. Nice way. Something like Pico. Something's gotta give. Number two for me is the parent trap. Number three for me is

the intern. Ruh-nay-roos-up. Number four for me I think is it's complicated. It's complicated. Number five for me, I think it's complicated. Yeah. It's complicated. Number five for me is the holiday. And number six is what women want.

Okay. We're going to diverge on this. You're saying this is a diversion list? Yes. Okay. Divergent and surgeon. Okay. Ready?

Yeah. Number one, the intern. Okay. Numberivergent and surgent. Okay, ready? Yeah. Number one, the intern. Okay. Number two, the parent trap. Okay. Number three, something's gotta give. Crazy. That should be number one.

Number four, it's complicated. Okay, so we're not too different. Number five, what women want. Yeah. I mean, I figured that's what you were. Number six, the holiday. Yeah, you were. Number six, The Holiday. Yeah, no. What Women Want's dead last.

That one's got to be. The Holiday's really bad. I think you. I mean, I don't like it. Well, let me ask you. Wait, but which half? Right, because it was a legendary episode where. We thought over which half is good.

So I want to hear. Fran liked both halves. And then Griff and I each liked one half. So for once, you're taking Ben's title. You're going to be the tiebreaker. Tell us which half you think. Fran liked both halves and then Griffin and I each liked one half. So for once you're taking Ben's title you're going to be the tiebreaker. Tell us which half you think works in that movie

because we both agree that only one half works. But we disagree on the half. I think the Kate Winslet half is the good half. Thank you! Yes! Griffin has gone fully

he's gone home again mad oh my god Griffin's just going he's just having a Jack Black speaking in tongues freak out here's to you Mrs. Rub-a-duh-boop skin crawling performance yeah I tweeted something about

the home again ones or not home again the holiday, about how Kate Winslet does, so she's scatting it, right, doesn't she? Yeah, he has her scat. She goes like scribbly boo or something. Yeah, and he goes,

you're the best scribbly boo I've ever heard. Richard, I can't remember the last time I was this happy. The sense of professional accomplishment, I feel. Let's go have a nice meal in the backyard. I'd love that. Let's go screen a movie on my projector let's finish Ben Sinclair's Glass of White Wine we didn't talk about the picnic but oh well that's okay

they have a picnic these boys she met the day before he knows how to work a projector and they knew where everything was in the kitchen also he's screening like a full length 35mm print which means he's going to have to change reels are they there platters

a 70s sex comedy and the girls are there right and it's like a weeknight and if I'm the neighbors I'm like shut up

and Candice Bergen's probably like topless in it or something probably I mean I don't know yeah

she's like topless in Saint Tropez Dickie you're the best in the biz thanks for having me again friend of the show Dickie Lawson

how am I doing with regards to Yoshida I think Yoshida's at 6 I think you're on level footing right and JD's at 5 is that correct that JD episode Billy Lynn he has actually talked about maybe wanting to take some time

before he comes back to the show again because he feels the pressure of how. I was listening to that. I was cleaning my bedroom and I was like, Jesus Christ, that's quite a feat. Yeah. I mean, the whole thing, not just the envelope. A, the fact that he did that amount of research and was able to talk so at length about every aspect of it.

And B, the envelope is the greatest joke that anyone has ever done in the history of mankind. Right. It can't be eclipsed. It cannot be eclipsed. New moon. Richard, people should read all your work on Vanity Fair. You're one of the best out there.

Well, thanks. I feel likewise about you, you boys. You should. You good, good boys. See your trolls. Good, special, big boys. See your trolls.

Trolls World Tour comes out next year, I believe. Yeah, yeah, everyone should go make me richer than I am. Now, do you have any involvement in the

Trolls Netflix series? Or did you farm that out? I have some bad news. Trolls World Tour has Or did you farm that out? I have some bad news. Trolls World Tour has been delayed till 2020. Really? I have to go. I have to call my agent.

Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. Thanks to Ant Fraguto for our social media. Social media. Jesus Christ. Social media.

Lay Montgomery for our theme song. Thanks to Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Go to blankiesen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit. Go to our TeePublic store for some real nerdy merchandise. And as always, I forgot to make the announcements, so I'm going to do them now.

Next week, we're going home again to Ben's Choice. Something we haven't done in a year. That's right. A long time. Ben's choice. He chose. I'm so excited. And it's going to be a little bit like our Jack Reacher episode where we're going to

discuss two films on the occasion of the second one coming out. Right. Ben, do you want to announce it? What are we going to do? Wreck-It Ralph 2. We're going to wreck it. We're going to break the internet? We're going to break the internet.

And this episode on Wreck-It Ralph 2, Break the Internet. Yeah. Right, right, right. You're right. Yeah. When Ben hears the two friends, he thinks Ralph and Vanellope, and now he's finally going to let them take over the podcast. We can discuss Nick Weiger's hot take that it's not a video game,

it's a movie, it's a candy movie. We'll talk about that for two hours. Yeah, there's plenty to talk about. But then after that first announcement right some of you may have guessed our next miniseries is going to be it's a griff's choice did it get chilly in here oh ben why did the lights go out why are these stripes on the walls it's tim burton why is there too much cg why is Eva Green being cast in these roles?

Why are your eyes so big? Why are we going to have a problematic number of conversations about Johnny Depp on Mike? Oh, God. So many. Tim Burton. Tim Burton, baby. You've wanted it. I got two words for you.

It's showtime. Dumbo. It's showtime. Dumbo. It's showtime. So tune in next week for Ben Wrecks the Podcast. Tune in after that for Pee-wee's Big Adventure. And as always...