Blank Check with Griffin & David - How Do You Know

Episode Date: April 29, 2018

In the final episode of our mini series devoted to the filmography of James L. Brooks, Griffin and David discuss the disastrous 2010 film How Do You Know. But why would Brooks at this moment in history sympathize with the business executives being held accountable for their corporate malfeasance? What does it mean when referring to a scene as a steam room? And also how do you know? Together they examine the careers of Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson, the Australian word for ‘grogan,’ and the 120 million dollar budget. This episode is sponsored by WeTransfer and Light Stream (lightstream.com/blank).

let me ask you something how do you know when you're in love? Well, uh... What? I got a way. Whenever this one thing happens, I know I'm done. I'll tell you, but it's personal, and I don't want anyone making fun of me for it. No, no one's going to. Just go. I think I'm in love with somebody when I wear a podcast with the other girls, okay? Oh, boy. God, wow. Wow.

What a line mayor uh hello everybody my name is griffin newman uh david wow sims this is a podcast about filmographies directors who have massive success wow wow wow what a success we made her look at the success Melissa Villasenor we're of course doing our Melissa Villasenor impressions today um directors who have massive success

early on in their careers they get a series of blank checks and sometimes they clear and sometimes they bounce baby yeah and this is a what would you say clear or bounce on this one

clear or bounce it's tough it's right it's a quarter standing on its edge this is one of the biggest bounces in history you say clear or bounce on this one clear or bounce it's right it's a it's a quarter standing on its edge uh this is one of the biggest bounces in history uh yeah greatly is it does not get the recognition it deserves for how hard it bounced an impressive bounce yeah because this is one of the biggest money losers in the history of studio filmmaking. You think so? It made

some money. I think it's in the top 25. That would be my bet. I'm sure no one was happy with the performance of this film. We are hashtag the two friends of Competitive Advantage. No other podcast has set going for it. We're a concert as a context.

And we're also completists. Yes. Unless we decide we're not and we just... We just want to bridge. Right. But this one, it's a short career because he takes time in between. And this is his final movie. Now, usually when we say final movie, we mean the most recent one they've made.

And we assume they'll make another one. He might not make a movie ever again. I'd honestly be surprised if he made another movie i think this i think he would require too much money and yes no studio would uh feel comfortable with it i'm not sure i'm not sure my i could not i could believe that after producing movies like the edge of 17 which i assume were made for much less money than 120 million dollars. Right. $9 million. You know, maybe he

thought to himself like, oh, like you know, the old magic. Like I could recapture it, but I doubt it. But I also think it's telling that he was a dude who discovered people and nurtured them and helped get their films made. And he hadn't done that in a while. And Edge of 17

was like the first time since the 90s that he like found a new voice. I would not be surprised if he just did more of that. Yep, and that'd be fun. Probably be a safer bet. Yes. Some podcasts I was listening to recently,

someone was talking about auditioning for this movie. This movie? Yes. How do you know? The film is How Do You Know? How Do You Know? And the podcast is?

As positive as the films of James L. Brooks. It's podcast news. He does it every time. It's classic comedy. Uh-huh. Take a lesson or two from it. Podcast news. Canyon Gym.

It's good comedy. Yeah. Paul F. Tompkins doing the year-end best of comedy bang-bang episodes. Which I love those. Right. I listenpkins doing the year-end best of Comedy Bang Bang episodes. Which I love those. I listen avidly every year. Talked about auditioning for this movie. Okay.

And he referred to it as James L. Brooks' last film. Sure. And Scott Aukerman was like, I think you mean his, I mean the most recent one. And he's like, I don't think he's going to make another movie. And he's like, what? And he's like, remind me, I'll tell you the story off. Oh. Fair enough. Which it didn't sound like it was a scandalous thing, but that apparently. other movie and he's like what he's like remind me i'll tell you the story off oh fair enough

which it didn't sound like it was a scandalous thing but that apparently i offhandedly he might have said like i think he took the hit of this movie very hard and what's the movie called how do you know i don't know that's why i'm asking how do you know i'm trying to find out what the title of the picture is monsters versus aliens oh okay god wow one of uh yeah that's that's another three rudd witherspoon combos yes the first was overnight delivery yeah yes it was overnight delivery i've never heard no idea some movie they were in 1998 yeah a rom-com it was direct-to-video here they are oh look at them overnight ben what do you think yeah it looks like it's a movie mr ben is looking at the box art for overnight delivery the ben ducer is looking the perdure ben poet laureate the haas mr positive mr positive

the peeper the tiebreaker finest filmest Film Critic Close personal friend Dan Lewis Hey I still haven't seen Phantom Thread Gotta do it, you gotta thread the needle Yeah you do gotta thread it, you're gonna love it Oh Ben you are going to love it Cause I mean you know 2018 Big goal of mine is I'm getting into fashion Wait this still counts as a goal?

You're not just in? Well I mean it's more like I gotta design a line, David. Sure. Okay. So you got to walk the runway. Last year you got into fashion. This year you're going to live in it.

I mean, you're going to make home in fashion. Yes. Yeah. You're going to love it. It's kind of a Ben Hosley biopic in a weird way, right? I mean, I'd say I watch Phantom Thread and I go like, this is probably what Ben's home life is like. I got a lot of secrets.

You saw him into the lining of the dress. You like your asparagus with oil or butter? Oil. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Good to know.

Good to know. He's a, he's a meat lover. He's a fire. The fact that he's graduated different titles over the course of different mini series, such as Kylo Ben, Producer Ben Kenobi, Ben I. Chomelon, Ben Say

Benny Thing, dot dot dot, A. Lo Ben's with a dollar sign, Warhawks, Ben 19 the Fennel Maker, and Robohawks. Griffin looks right at me when he does this. I never make eye contact. Yes, he gives him a hard stare. Yeah. Have you seen Paddington 2 yet? No, don't

rub it in. this episode's coming out in april that's true i will have seen it by then i shouldn't drop a paddington 2 reference we're recording it two days after paddington came out wow wow paddington made her i'm the star of dish movie i i keep giving him like a lisp which he doesn't have. Dish movie. I keep going into Goldmember. Yeah. Yeah. You just want. I can just do wow.

Gold. So this is the most expensive romantic comedy ever made. Ever made. It cost $120 million, which is insane. Defies all logic. Now you go above the line. Brooks, I think, gets $10 million. $10 million.

To write and direct this film. Correct. Reese Witherspoon gets $20 million. $15 million. Owen Wilson gets? $10 million. Jack Nicholson gets $12? $12 million.

And Paul Rudd gets $5? $3 million. God. Now. Rudd got raked on this one. He did. But he was not that as. It was still kind of like, oh, Paul Rudd got raked on this one. He did, but he was not that as, he was,

it was still like kind of like, oh, Paul Rudd. Like he was the exciting choice. People thought that this was the one that was going to fully push him over the edge to being like America's leading man. Remember them going like,

look, James R. Brooks makes careers. I know we all love Paul Rudd, but he might now be the guy. He might be Tom Hanks after this. Some people were thinking this, but the hype for this movie was muted by a couple things one that its title keep kept changing much like spanglish right and two spanglish you know people were no longer like well brooks i mean almost

always hits right but but it was like oh okay he did i'll do anything but then he follows it up with as good as it gets which is huge like maybe he's a guy who i don't think people were were quite as convinced that this was going to be a big deal how do you know it also it took a very long time well this is the point i wanted to make to you which is a lot if you add up all the salaries we just said that's 50 million dollars you know roughly there's still 70 more million dollars right so you can say like oh the actors cost a lot of money i don't see 70 additional million dollars on the screen here i see two sets yeah i see a street yes and like one scene at the washington they have to wash down

that street a lot it's a very wet street that like the washington nationals have there's like the one scene in the dugout i think you mean two shots yeah right like that's that's that's it right like there's it's not like there's like an asteroid hits earth in the middle of this to be fair to be fair they did pay the sound mixer 40 million dollars and that was because he had some very damaging info. It's a crispy sounding movie. You could call him Professor Crispy. Do you think Jack Nicholson showed up

and was just like, 12 million for me, all right? You know, and then he was like, but my barber gets a million dollars. You know, like he has a whole entourage and they all have to get paid. First of all, good Jack. Wow. Meter. entourage and they all have to get paid first of all good Jack wow wow Mater

Mater stop saying Mater you're Mater with the devil and the pale Mater hey Ben it's a holiday it sure is we we're recording on martin luther king day we're honoring the doctor the good doctor martin luther king jr

how do you know is this maybe the one of the worst films like for for like an actor of nicholson status to go out on i think like, like, if he goes out on this, that's rough. He's threatening to do the Tony Erdman remake. The Tony Erdman remake, which hasn't seemed to get a lot of... I haven't heard a lot of noise about that. Right. Yeah. But it was kind of assumed at the time, and because he had made movies since, he's not going to do anything ever again. He's

announced intent, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being his last film. The other one that's very similar to this is Gene Hackman, Welcome to Mo to mooseport yes but here's another point i want to make yeah nicholson had he not done this movie his last movie would have been the bucket list which is a worse movie to go out on then how do you know yes a bigger hit i don't care have you seen that movie no i can't life's too short it's it's on the opposite of my bucket right what is on your bucket list uh record an episode on the movie how do you know on martin luther king day yes cross

that off yeah i'm kind of done now i brought a large sword into the recording studio today and i will commit seppuku at the end of this episode. Oh boy. We've said this in a previous episode but this role made her. This role was written to be Bill Murray. They cast Bill Murray. Bill Murray famously never signs contracts. You know you can't

reach him and you gotta call the fucking toll free number all this shit. He doesn't sign contracts so you never know until he shows up on set if he's actually gonna show up on set. And like two days in, he was like, I don't wanna do the movie anymore. Had he ever worked with Brooks before? I don't think he had. No, he had not. So I guess there's

no like loyalty there to keep him like sort of interested. Do you think he just was like, this movie's bad? I think so. What's interesting is that he signs up for Aloha around the same time. Like two very similar movies. Sure. From similar filmmakers.

Wasn't he also replacing someone on Aloha? Wasn't that role written for someone else? I could have sworn it was. Maybe. I mean, I know Aloha went through like three different casts. So maybe that's just what I'm thinking. But he just doesn't show up. cast so maybe that's just what I'm thinking but he just doesn't show up

and James L. Brooks who had got he'd gotten his friend Jack two Oscars no I think Jack will always like you know listen pick up the phone if James L. Brooks calls help me out he goes buddy of course

whatever you want wow just give me 12 million like that's kind of a fucked up move like your friends backed against the wall Whatever you want. Wow. Just give me 12 million. Like, that's kind of a fucked up move. Like, your friend's backed against the wall. I mean, if you can get it, get it. I'm pretty sure the conversation went like, James was like, okay, but I can get Jack Nicholson.

The studio was like, great. That's a great, awesome. That's so good. $12 million. Okay, okay. For Jack? Okay. I assume the studio, Sony, is thinking he could win an Oscar or something.

They're just sort of dazzled by James L. Brooks and they're thinking, what? It's the big supporting role, Jack Nicholson. Even the old man Nicholson movies did really well. Bucket List did really well. Someone's Gotta Give did really well. Anger Management, Departed,

like whether he's the supporting guy to the new movie stars or whether he's the lead, the Nicholson movies are still successful. That's true. So I think they thought like, look,

I mean we're paying him 12 but it's an extra 20 million domestic to have him in the film. Even About Schmidt made 65 million dollars. Right. That's a pretty

low-key movie. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, Griffin, let me tell you about We Transfer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Griffin, let me tell you about WeTransfer. God, I'm sorry. I'm just so stressed out about my own creative process.

It's such a burden on me trying to figure out how to do all my artistic work. Have you been like signing in and onboarding and using complicated file systems? Constantly. They make me do this

every day on set on the tick. I have to log in before I can do a take. WeTransfer is about making the creative process easier for everyone. What? They built the site to be the simplest way to share big files around the world for free all i got are big files no sign in thank god no codes about time no password you're gonna forget make me sick what is this the matrix reloaded i don't want to fight a password no exactly you just upload and send and you get back to making what you make

that's perfect such as the tick yeah yeah or this episode even griffin check this out since day one they've devoted 30 of their ad space to showcasing creative people from around the world from musicians to photographers to illustrators to uh podcasters like us ben we're gonna skip the rest of the 60 second ad get right back to the podcast podcast. Oh, perfect. WeTransfer.com. You make WeTransfer. I think it's pretty explicitly written for Reese. Reese Witherspoon? Yeah. And that feels like, oh man, an actor's been waiting for a Brooks movie. Sure. She could use, she's got that kind of feisty Deborah Winger, Holly Hunter vibe to her. use, she's got that kind of feisty Debra Winger, Holly Hunter vibe to her.

Yeah, that's true. We're at a point here where the romantic comedy is starting to like dwindle. So other than big guys like that making them, she's not getting many opportunities to do what is her

cornerstone drama. Here's her post-Oscar career. Yeah. You know, because she wins the Oscar in 05 or, you know, she wins the Oscar

for Walk the Line, which is an 05 movie. Right. Rendition? Yeah, Penelope, which, forget it, she wins the Oscar for Walk the Line, which is an 05 movie. Right. Rendition? Yeah, Penelope, which, forget it. Which she produced and has a small part in it. Rendition, which is a terrible movie. Yeah.

Four Christmases, which is a hit, but bad. Is ghastly. Yeah, but, like, it did just sort of, like, make money. All the Vons did really well until they stopped doing well. I know. And then Monsters vs. Aliens, which is an animated film. That's it. She's kind of off the grid for a while.

Yeah. Which is funny because she had won an Oscar. Yeah. And before winning an Oscar, she was such a big movie star. For sure. And then after this, she makes Water for Elephants and This Means War. Right. Like, she's really...

I mean, I don't know if it's, she's picked bad parts. I know that one reason she made Big Little Lies is because she was frustrated with the like lack of good parts in Hollywood. And she was like, television just seems so much more friendly for female actresses. And she bought the rights to Gone Girl. Yeah, she was going to make Gone Girl,

but then she decided, or whatever, it was decided she was too old for it. Fincher decided he didn't want to use her. Yeah. She's still a producer on the movie. She is. But she bought the rights,

hired Fincher, and he was like, hey, thank you for bringing this material. By the way, you're not going to star in it. Yeah.

I do think she is one of those actors where it's like her genre stopped being a thing. For sure. Like, you look at those movies

and they're bad choices, but it's also like if you're Reese Witherspoon and you know that your Ballywick is romantic comedies, you go like, fuck, this means war is the closest I can get to my genre. You know? This Means War was one of those movies where everyone was like, what a hot script. Who's going to get it?

You know, like, everyone was attached. Right, and it was like, oh, is it going to be Will Smith and Martin Lawrence teaming up again? Is it going to be Seth Rogen and Daniel Craig? All these different combinations kept on getting thrown out. What a weird fucking movie. Terrible movie. And then after that, she is in Mud.

Which she's really good in. But after that, she takes sort of like a little while. But she has some small films. Which is a wonderful performance. She's great in that. She did the Adam McGuigan movie, which did not work out. Was that which one? Devil's Knot. Devil's Knot. which is a wonderful she's great in that uh she did the adam mcgoyan movie which did not work out um was that uh which one devil's not yeah and then she's i i like her a lot in hair some people don't like the performance i think she's really good in it i would i kind of need to see it again and then she's been she's been kind of chill oh she made

hot pursuit all right which we kept on defiantly talked about it in the podcast we were like we're seeing it yeah we're gonna be opening week and then it in the podcast. We were like, we're seeing it. Yeah. We're going to be opening week. And then we like never, ever went. We're going to see it. We're going to have fun. And we've never seen it. No, we didn't even think about it.

No. And then Home Again this last year, which was so good. Great movie. Yeah. Did you see that one, Ben? No. Yeah.

It was about nice boys. It was about what if nice boys. What if nice boys. What if there were a bunch of nice boys and they came to your house i've always they live there i've always a work of fiction yes indeed so transcendent work of speculative fiction i have always uh loved her and she's one of those actors i feel like for so long i think it's finally like post big little lies she's getting credit but even as an oscar winner people were like oh but she just kind of

does her thing like no one ever gave her enough credit I think I right I got into her Pleasantville I think Pleasantville in 98

for sure I don't think I saw Fear until later yeah then Election is one of the greatest performances Election but also I loved Cruel Intentions

although she's not like the most exciting part of that because she's sort of the wet blanket in that movie for much of the movie but that was like a big teen movie because that had

Sarah Michelle Gellar in it we all we all went to see that in the theater she should have won her second Oscar for Legally Blonde

she's awesome in Legally Blonde that's 100% a nomination worthy performance sure and then that movie shouldn't work

okay yeah I'm less hot on legally blonde but she's good she's really good in it i think it rocks and rolls um legally blonde fucks as the kids say it's been a long time since i saw legally blonde but she rules in it oh dude you gotta get blonde and then she made sweet home alabama which is in my opinion just a reprehensible film but i hate it it did so well again she's she knows she's good at like she can wring like a lot of juice out of very little yeah but please murder that movie oh that movie really drives me crazy um um and then you know the evannie fair which is like her

trying i think to make a more interesting movie and to work with a female director and the movie's kind of boring. It's okay. She was supposed to be the lead voice in Brave. Alright. Which was supposed to be a big deal because it was also supposed to be the first female directed Pixar movie and they fired their female director and then the new director fired Reese Witherspoon.

Right and then nothing else ever happened to Pixar to suggest that there would be any kind of toxic work environment at that company. No, 0%, 0%. Great, super happy about it. Clearly the lady who got fired was just crazy, and that's simply the end of the story. Well, look, I heard she was difficult.

How dare someone fight for their own vision, especially when the story is about your relationship with your own daughter. How dare you plant your feet in the ground and go, this is how I want to make it. I want there to someday be a full book

about that movie. Because it's one of the least consequential movies of all time. And there's so much that hasn't been revealed about the process of it behind the scenes.

So, James L. Brooks. Yes. In 2005. Canyon Gym. Canyon Gym. He wants to make a movie he spanglishes in the rearview mirror yeah maybe it didn't do so great and at the end of the day that's all that matters and ben hosley loves it and he knows that and he's happy about it it's a fun movie he decides my next film so he's right away on to this next film yeah my next film will be about a female athlete

now this is where I got excited because even post Spanglish he was talking about this like okay I need to do what I did with broadcast news again I need to pick an industry

and really dig into it yeah and try to find out who this person is no one talks about female athletes and he works on this script for like four years. People

said like, why did it take so long for you to make another movie? I spent three years like following around female softball teams. Because I want to get in the trenches. I'm like, okay, this is the Jim Brooks that I love. He's doing the work. He's doing the research. And then he makes a movie where she

never plays baseball. Correct. she is a softball player for team usa right uh the movie begins with her being kicked off the team yeah now why why did this happen do you think i can tell you james l brooks he interviews hundreds right of athletes literally years on the road doing research and then i want to find the exact quote because it's insane and remember this movie came out in 2010 yes so at the just in the mix of the churn of like the recession yes you know and like uh the bad the bailout right he became interested and god knows how in the dilemmas of contemporary business executives

who are sometimes held accountable by the law for corporate behavior for which they may not even be aware how did he become interested in this in making a female softball player movie but this is i don't understand it this is what's crazy to me, okay? You said, okay, right. So financial crisis, the collapse is 2008, right? It's like September, October 2008. Yeah, exactly, yes. This movie comes out December 2010. Right.

I assume it finished filming in... Early 09? No, November 09. But still, that's pretty crazy. Right. So it's like he'd been working then he reshot a lot of it right yeah but it's like he had been working on the script for years and then he suddenly goes like oh this financial crisis and rewrites the whole movie

like to have two months that's what it feels like yes shoehorn in this thing but like how at this moment can you think you know who the real victims are yeah the people that the business executives are being held accountable for corporate malfeasance that they may not be directly responsible for where he's just like what a story no one else thinks this is interesting he's like it's half my movie you know what it? It's two thirds of my movie. You know what? Let's let it take over the whole movie. Because the movie is a love triangle where one... One party is basically not interested.

Has no conflicts. Right. And he weirdly, I think he's... It's a love triangle where the people in the triangle barely meet. Right. You know, like, I mean, Rudd and Wilson barely interact in this movie. They're a couple times in the apartment. A couple times.

Right. Like, a little bit. But he weirdly- It's not like Brooks and Hurt. Yes. You know? He weirdly works the best in the movie, I think, of the three of them. Wilson?

Oh, I don't know. Rudd works the best in the movie. For sure. You know I love Rudd. Rudd's performance is really good. Wilson's performance, to me, is just emblematic of what happened to him as an actor. Uh-huh. Just completely disconnected. Just, I emblematic of what happened to him as an actor. Uh-huh. Just completely

disconnected. Just I don't understand what he's doing. I think he's charming in this. You think he's charming in this?

I do. In how sort of sincere. The character is a dick obviously. Yeah true. I find his performance kind of

charming. But I gotta say also the day we're recording this episode, the RoboCop episode came out, and I got to say, David, I'm pretty angry with you. Yeah, because you think just too short?

No, I don't understand why you don't try to rein me in. You should try to invoke some discipline on this podcast. I believe the whole RoboCop episode is you being like, oh, can I just say one other thing about Alvin the Chipmunk?

Yeah, you should cut me off. This is your fault. I think Wilson Owen Wilson wow wow made her made her

made her is just he his whole performance is just like he's just a loose and carefree guy okay what

he's a baseball player yeah who like has serial predatory sex with women where there's a whole room where they can

change after he doesn't want to look at them anymore. None of that is in his performance. His performance is just like, I'm Owen Wilson, the goofy guy from all the movies. Sure. Well, I think that character should not be part of this film. I think there's zero reason this film has to be a love triangle because I think there is...

He could be part of this film, but he could be a small part. Like in the beginning. I'll tell you the germ of this movie that I think could actually work and when I get to the end of the film both times I've seen it I saw it when it came out

sure me too and we should say we thought we were going to record this episode two weeks ago we had a guest who was in from out of town yeah

and then she couldn't do it and then she couldn't do it so we usually when we record episodes we've watched the film within 48 hours yeah you're just saying it's been a little while since we watched and this movie does not stick in the craw at all well stick in my craw means you're in a noise here oh so it does stick in the craw

yeah this movie just doesn't stick in the brain right it's not a very sticky movie um so we might be struggling to remember some i'm gonna give you ow to give you Owen Wilson. Okay. Like, after Cars. Post Cars. Right. Which is his highest grossing film ever. Sure. But then Wedding Crashers is the year before Cars.

Like, that's when Owen Wilson is humming, you know? Shoot. You, Me, and Dupree. Which, can I say something? I've never seen it. Okay.

Not a very good movie. It's by the Russo Brothers. From Directors of Avengers Infinity War. I don't think You, Me, and Dupree is very good movie. It's by the Russo brothers. From directors of Avengers Infinity War. I don't think Yumi and Dupree is very good. Sure. That having said, if you have five minutes to kill, going through the quotes page in IMDb for Yumi and Dupree

is really fucking entertaining. Why? There are weirdly good lines in that movie. All right, sure. Because the movie is just a vehicle for Owenen wilson to say he's the weirdo right like uh matt dylan's the straight man and owen wilson's right and it's like how does this guy make it through the day and he just has all these bizarre opinions the dialogue's really funny in it the movie's not very good uh 2006 well night at the museum but he's barely in it

i mean a good enough so uncredited and he's in all three I know yeah I know he's uncredited but that's mostly because he's not 2007 the Darjeeling limited now this is around the time where

Owen Wilson is publicly very depressed right like and he tries to kill himself at some point two weeks before the movie comes out right

there is a failed suicide attempt suddenly like the public image of Owen Wilson shifts from like oh he's this carefree guy

to like oh there's like a hidden darkness to Owen Wilson. That movie is him playing a guy who just failed a suicide attempt. Yeah, I know. And you and I have talked about, not on mic, but as friends, as hashtag the two friends, how like someday we're going to look back at that moment and go like, oh, we all just kind of like brushed over that. Right. Didn't really acknowledge that Owen Wilson never really got better.

I also feel like it's... Like he's got better in that he's still alive and he's working. He's with us, yes. But there's been a definite shift in him since then. Because after that, you have Drill Bit Taylor, which I think was shot a long time ago. Of course, my debut film. Yes, which is a pretty whatever movie. Yeah.

Then Marley and Me. Which he is... Big hit. Very good in. Never seen Marley and Me which he is a hit very good never seen marley i i'm telling you wow he gives the the dog speech at the end of the movie that is my my i just know that the australian word for a poop that you can't flush is a grogan and he plays john grogan in that movie sure and i i mean that's just that's just where my experience with marley me ends i'm a big owen wilson fan my mom is also a big owen wilson fan we would go see owen wilson movies together a lot uh-huh we saw like shanghai three times in theaters right yeah he's got a

speech at the end of marley me where we went with rom and my mom and i just both fucking lost it and we were like dead dog movie who gives a shit spoiler marley dies but there's the scene where marley's like grogan right marley's like you know the fucking oh no i'm never watching this movie sure isn't getting up and he brings it to the vet and they go like i'm sorry to tell you mr grogan marley has two hours to live and he gives this speech that's like well is that your diagnosis for a normal dog or for marley because i'm telling you this dog is unbelievable. And then he says all the things the dog can do, barely holding back tears, and wow, Mater, wow.

It's a good monologue. I did it when I auditioned for Juilliard. Are you serious? This dog here. No, no, I never auditioned for Juilliard. I don't know what he's talking about anymore. And then in between Marley and me, and How Do You Know, is just a little performance in the Night of Museum sequel and voices like Fantastic Mr. Fox and Marmaduke. Right.

And Marmaduke, he does, of course, play the Duke. He got the Duke. Yeah. And Fantastic Mr. Fox, he's barely. He's got one scene. He is the one funny scene where he like explains the game, right? That's literally the only scene. And then this same same year he is in

little fuckers but that's i believe a small role no oh he's it's a big role yes pointedly i haven't seen little fuck pointedly they were like we're gonna make a third one and make on wilson like a co-lead great he's a really fucking big part of that movie which is weird it is weird they also totally redefine the character because in the first one he's kind of like a wasp no i know he's good in the first one right and then by the third one he's this weird holistic no that sucks that's just doing owen wilson this is the thing all these performances are just i mean i haven't seen marley in me but it's just like owen wilson what's he he's a chilled out guy this is normal dog you know because it's like then the next year is Hall Pass at Midnight in Paris. Hall Pass? Wow. Wow.

You got a Hall Pass? Wow. It's Paris. You got a Hall Pass? Ernest Hemingway. You got a pass? Wow. Mater.

And it's just like, Midnight in Paris. He literally goes fucking sent back in time. And he's just like, wow. Like, it's nothing. No reaction. I think he's very good. This is. What?

That is an obscene thing to say. But I'm not going to get into it. I'm not going to get into it, but I think he's very good in that. This is... What? That is an obscene thing to say. I do, but I'm not going to get into it. I'm not going to get into it, but I think he's very good in that movie. But look, I'll... For some reason, nothing Griffin has ever said is annoying. He's not just saying Owen Wilson is good in Midnight in Paris.

I think he's excellent in that movie, but I also... I will say this. Maybe I'm just in the pocket for him. You clearly are in the pocket for him. Yeah. You just said you were a big Owen Wilson fan. Yeah. You're such a high noon all the time for him like you clearly are in the pocket for him yeah you just said you were a big owen wilson fan yeah like i i like what he's selling and even though he's selling in this is no good in my opinion sure it's no good but he's definitely lost his edge

like there was a point in time where owen wilson had that weird kind of like drawly stoner persona but there was a danger to him uh-huh you know yeah yeah he he felt bizarrely uh he had a live wire energy while still being kind of like super chill i think his bit also just yeah yeah like i'm always rooting for him because even in like wedding crashers he's pretty it's not like he's doing a lot but no i also hate that movie it's an awful movie what's what's wrong with that movie it's really like funny

the characters it's disrespectful you shouldn't crash someone else's wedding what no no come on that's funny it's just like and then you pick up women

you know and like there's that whole right it's a very respectful movie absolutely but not of the RSVP no it does not respect

right the RSVP but so much respect for women, LGBT people. Secretaries of Defense. Yep, everybody. Isn't that what

Chris Rocken plays in them? Yeah. What I hate about that movie is that movie is a Walt Becker movie that won't admit it's a Walt Becker movie. Well, I think it does

when they crash the funeral, but then they try and have their cake and eat it too. I think that's the one section that's good because it fully owns the depravity. Right, but then it doesn't because then they're like, this is bad.

And you're like, well. But Will Ferrell's the best performance that way. Yeah, sure. What was I going to say? Wedding Crash is just terrible. Big Owen Wilson fan. Wow. Oh, wow, Mater.

No, the other thing he's very good in, not to circle back to this, he's really good in Hair and Fives to this he's really good in hair and vice yeah he's good in that it's the quietest performance of all time he literally whispers the whole movie he's fine in that but that's a small role that's but i'm playing on owen wilson and i think that's the way that taps into his sadness i agree they're not playing against like let's pretend this guy's fine that's a real performance this is just this is just not right he's just a guy who is by all accounts a creep right but he's

being played by owen wilson who seems to have no idea that he's supposed to be a creep yes or anything i find him charming in this movie but it works against the movie that he's charming because i know that part of the idea is he has to be charming because obviously like you know he's this he's this horn dog who gets you, ladies to come to his magnificent Washington. But then there's no other side to it. You know, he never finds it. His take on the character is that he's an idiot. Yeah.

Because, like, Owen Wilson's big moment in this movie is when he writes, you know, he writes feelings down. And it's just one line. Right. I got so angry I broke a lamp. Yeah. I think that's kind of funny. I think that's funny too. Yeah.

But like that's as far as they take it with him. But who's the real idiot? Owen Wilson's character or the people who paid him $10 million to do this? I mean, I'll take $10 million to do this. A hundred percent. Take it to the bank. Now, Paul Rudd,

just since we're going through these filmographies. No, because this is a movie star movie. This is about these four movie star personas coalescing. Obviously, he's been around a long time, but then he's in like Anchorman and shit and 40 Year Old Virgin. So he's bubbling up as this like comic talent. Wet Hot was when he shifted then because he was kind of like. Oh, yeah.

He was in. Clueless, but he's not the funny one in that. He was in things like Overnight Delivery. Right. And then he was doing like Neil LaButte dramas. Yeah. Well, that's later. That's after Wet Hot. That's 2003. Okay. Yeah. But

Wet Hot is when he was like, I'm actually a big comedy nerd. I'd like to do stuff like this. And then Apatow brings him into the fold. They put him in Anchorman. 40-year-old virgin. And now he starts to become this ace supporting player in comedies. And then I Love You Man is the first real. I guess it's that and Role Models are like the first two Rudd starring comedies. Role Models is great and I Love You Man is pretty bad.

I kind of like that movie. But I'll admit I just like I like Rudd as a leading man. Me too. Me too. But don't like that movie. I like that movie. But I'll admit, I just like, I like Rudd as a leading man. Me too. Me too. But don't like that movie. I like that movie. And then Dinner for Schmucks is the same year.

I hate that movie. It's bad. Yeah. And then How Do You Know? But so this is the year where we're first seeing, yeah, like Rudd as an A-lister.

Because Role Models and I Love You Man both did like 80 million. We're like really solid successes for a guy who didn't have a proven track record. It was like, is he about to move up to the next tier? And then these two movies flopped. Now, of course, he is Aunt Man. He is Aunt Man.

Yes. Everyone's favorite Aunt Man. Right. But this, yeah. He follows this up with like Wanderlust, This Is 40, Admission. You know, it's a lot of movies that don't hit. Yeah, Wanderlust is really good though. It is. You know, it's a lot of movies that don't hit. Yeah, Wanderlust is really good, though. It is.

I'm just, I mean, box office. Yes, yes, yes. No, those all. They came together, which is hilarious, but nobody saw. But that movie's so funny. That's the thing, like, it felt weird to a degree that he was doing Ant-Man

because it's like, you're a comedy star. Why are you going to commit to, like, this big lumbering franchise thing? But then it's like, oh, his leading man movies weren't doing well. He needed that of i think you just take that either also yeah it's just it's just so good i just love that he's for your career he's great in it yeah um but i think it's not like before when marvel was getting off the i don't want to see that so what if i told you though that in a future spoiler do you know what happens

in Captain America in another Marvel movie Civil War directed by the gets big shut up yeah I swear to god Giant Man

really yeah 100% oh shit yeah you fucking love it damn now everything's different I'm gonna show you a picture he grabs Spider-Man like this

he like grabs him as he's swinging what yeah oh my that's cool yeah fuck alright look here he is grabbing War Machine new take on Ant-Man grabs him as he's swinging. What? Oh my... That's cool! Fuck.

Look, here he is grabbing War Machine. New take on Ant-Man. He's picking up a plague swing! Alright. Alright, I like Ant-Man now. He's big. That's great. That makes sense. Yeah, now I get it.

Now I get it. Now you get it? Yeah. Thanks. Here here we go there it is oh damn it was pretty cool when that happened i'm not a big fan of that movie but i like that it's weird because you and i saw that movie together and we had such a fun time watching time because it's a good time and it does not last in my memory at all and when i try to re-watch sections of it on netflix it does nothing for me uh yeah the tom holl Holland scene I think is still great yeah in the I think the little

peripheral stuff and the sort of everyone's fighting each other is all well staged because Marvel's good at that but that's not a movie with like a plot no that movie's fine

and it should have a plot because it has an idea but they just it's all in service of setting other stuff up I'm a little worried about Infinity War

but by the time this episode comes out it will be a week away from release, right? Pretty much. So we'll know. How will we know? Because you will probably see it at a critics' screening by now. Possibly. Disney.

Let's hold out hope. So here's what I think the potential this movie has that it does not live up to at all, okay? Female Athlete is actually a really interesting starting point for a film. Because we know about these male athletes

who it's like, burn bright, you know, like die young, you're gonna spend 10 years just like pushing your body to the limits but try to make as much money as you can and then you get out and you invest in whatever you want. You have a massive 10 year career, right? And then you're essentially and you invest in whatever you want. You have a massive 10-year career, right? And then you're essentially done in your chosen field.

Female athletes, there's not the same sort of industry. And I like the female athlete stuff in this movie, how little we get of it, you know, like with the group and the other women in the team. But it's like if you're the best of your field in like female softball, there's a very low ceiling for what you can do and when your career is done you don't have that money to go back on of like your sponsorship deals and all these other things yeah no yeah so it is like this person whose life

just ends and she has no idea for the first time you assume she's been playing softball since she was fucking 10 and right and the idea is at the beginning of the movie yes you do and the idea is that she's in her late 20s which witherspoon was 35 i'm not that she was like 33 okay but whatever yeah and right she's injured she's left off the roster i guess she could maybe like rehab and come back but the idea is like well yeah you're getting a little old like and you know injuries if it's not now it's next year you cost a little too much money we can cut you like all this sort of stuff but very quickly like the first 15 minutes i'd say right are very concerned with her her post-athletic crisis right what do i do now and then it's a hundred percent thrown out the window then it's just just dumped into a garbage can and

we just don't think about it anymore. And it just becomes about a lady picking between two guys. Right. So Owen Wilson is Maddie. Right. This sort of analog to her, but wildly successful. Super famous. Yeah, because he's a male athlete. He pitches for the Nationals. Right. And he's older, but no one's pushing him out because

he's a star. And he lives in a weird creepy apartment. Where he has the fucking sweatsuit that he gives away to everyone like he has door prizes for anyone who sleeps with him and he's grody yes and they've slept together before but now that she doesn't have a career she weirdly starts considering being serious with him right because that her life is just going to be this relationship with this guy who she doesn't really respect intellectually. At no point does.

She thinks he's sweet. He's a doofus. He's a doofus. His ceiling is doofus. Right. And they say. You know what I mean? They say the sex is good.

That's the best. Sure. But like James L. Brooks isn't sexist. No. That's the thing. She never respects sex. It's not a sexy movie though because James L. Brooks can't do sexy. So we don't even get that part.

He's not even William Hurt in broadcast news where it's like he's kind of glib but the guy's got a basic like he's got bones about him sure this character's a fucking moron idiot he's an idiot he's god damn it i think he's brooks is using him for all the comedy yes like all the silliest lines come from him but i mean paul rudd does his own comedy but paul rudd's comedy is more of like classic uh james l brooks shit where he's frustrated and he's like falling over himself exactly right uh shout out to rylas yes um but uh the the owen wilson character is just for things like the first line we did you know at the top of the podcast with the condom joke where his reaction should not be, oh, I guess I'm in love. Wow.

Yeah. But like, what the fuck are you talking about? Wow. That's what I'm at. I broke a lamp. Wow. Ding dong. Okay.

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Yeah. I mean, of course. Yeah. My cousin's in it cool woody oh okay uh well uh nice to meet you buzz yeah nice to meet you too i'm just gonna show myself out the door okay great did you know reese witherspoon did three hour workouts every day to prepare for this role like i i mean like to seem like an athlete i hate watching this movie because of how much you see her wanting and trying to make it work yeah no

for sure it's not that i find it embarrassing my heart goes out for her she just there's just not a lot for anyone to hold on to in this movie like right right and it's it. And it's such a weirdly hermetic movie. We've talked about the weird devolution of James L. Brooks' filmmaking style where he goes from being kind of messy to this movie where it's like every single shot is so perfectly designed around how the movie stars want to look.

Sure. Every outfit looks too good. The hair looks too good. The lighting's too good. The angles are too good. Like, everyone feels like they're just trapped in a little, like, style bubble. Who shot this movie? Janusz Kaminski.

Janusz! Pulls the light. I hate the way this movie looks. I do, too. I don't know. I assume he's... I don't know. Maybe it is his fault.

I don't know. It looks he's, I don't know. Maybe it is his fault. I don't know. It looks too good, like you're saying. And it also, like, I mean, we've talked about anytime they're outside

in the street, they've like hosed the sidewalk down so that they can reflect lights off of it. Did you? It's a weird pick-up movie. There's a lot of hosing down,

so the street and this bus stop are always like glistening with water. There's never a rain sequence in the film. I wouldn't call it a slick flick see that but it's damp it needs to actively be raining or actively be wet it's not raining it's post wet it's not slick flick post wet you can order a pizza ben i'm hungry you want me to sure yeah do you want like i don't know

maybe like a meat lover i mean just pep you know what they say about just pep maybe like a meat lover? I mean, just Pep. You know what they say about Ben. Just Pep. He's the meat lover meat lover. Nothing he loves more than a meat lover pizza. No, nothing he loves more than a lover of meat lover pizzas. Right. He's the meat lover lover lover. You're right.

That's what it is. His favorite thing is meeting a fellow meat lover. So he's the meat lover lover lover. I'm just saying I'm hungry. All right. You want to go in on a pizza? Yeah, I'd get a meat lover, lover, lover. I'm just saying I'm hungry. All right. You want to go in on a pizza? Yeah, I'd get a meat lover. MLK pizza?

I'm supposed to get lunch after this, but I may have one slice. Oh, who are you getting lunch with? My friend Alex Perlin. Congratulations. He just got engaged. Oh, good for Alex. By the time it comes out, I'll probably be married. Probably divorced.

Yeah, we're recording. Hey, don't say that. Oh, I'm sorry. I was just making a joke about the passage of time. He's one of my best friends. How dare you. Congratulations, Alex and Liz. The other thing I hate about how this movie looks,

and Spanglish has the same thing, is it is a movie that is so clearly concerned with movie star lighting. Yes. Everyone has to look amazing all the time. Right. Everyone looks the same regardless of what environment they're in. The lighting on their faces looks exactly the same regardless of whether they're indoors,

outdoors during the day, or outdoors at night. Which is infuriating. They're always glowing. Yes. It's like they always have a spotlight on them. So I'm not going to say what movie it is, but I was talking to a- I, not gonna say what movie it is, but I was talking to a, Why won't you say

what movie it is? Because I don't wanna, this is maybe too hot. Okay. But I was working with a makeup artist who told me that she worked on a big film

with a lot of big actresses in it. Okay. And that her job as the head of the makeup department, especially with a film with that many actresses, was to know their looks. To know how to make them up, but also know how to talk to the camera department to go,

look, these are her angles. This is to light it. If you put a key here, it's going to play against that because she's self-conscious about her jaw or whatever. And she said it was the first time in her career where they told her up front, hey, look, we're're not gonna light for the actresses wow you make them up however you want we're just gonna shoot it because we don't want

to take the time to have to light for four different people sure because there's so many women in this movie which had never happened before right and also people used to care about their craft um and and half of your job is going to be coming into the room with us when we're doing post and overseeing digital touch-ups. Oh, God. Isn't that insane? That is insane. And she was like, I've trained my entire life.

I've been working for decades. And now they're just like, forget it. Don't even bother with the makeup. Tell me how to paint their faces. What do you want her to look like? We'll just airbrush them in post. But this is like the opposite of that. This is a movie where they clearly spent so much time lighting everyone to a way that

a degree that is distracting. And do you know what they did? They had Owen Wilson on set at all times. And when he said, wow, that's when they knew they were ready. They were ready. They'd be like,

move the light over there. Wow. Great. Great. Roll sound. And when he said Mater, they cut. Mater. wow great great roll sound and when he said mater they cut mater um

David's head is in his hand I think that's funny I don't know why I do too hey look mater it's like toe mater without the toe

so 50 minutes into the movie should we like talk about it into the podcast yeah into the podcast sure yeah so

wait we're 50 minutes in 50 how do you know I guess we did like record for 10 minutes beforehand hey ben what what's up how you doing ordering pizza oh thank you sorry i'm sorry can we before we get into the plot there's just one last thing we have to discuss the table that's fine the plot's 20 minutes yeah like tops yes don't question this is gonna be our shortest episode ever yeah and we're almost done. Yeah.

Not a short movie, to be clear. Two hours long. Yeah. A solid two. Yeah. It's a deep two. It's a dense two. It's a jagged two.

It's like you're walking through like a bog. Where you're like, oh, it's a short walk. It's only a mile. And you're like, why are we still walking? Right. It's a bouillabaisse. It's a thick broth uh huh um it's always about the broth baby

um okay you gotta get that bone broth baby uh this is the last thing we need to talk about before we get into the plot uh huh the greatest war crime

that this film commits the lack of question mark in its title well that was very intentional intentionally dumb yes i read a whole article in the new york times which was a really weird article that came out like before the movie came out because it doesn't have any quotes from james brooks because he just won't talk about his production process at all so it's kind of like piecing together like what a weird movie it costs so

much money like you know they're sort of like talking around the fact like this is such an unusual project yeah and they're like and it's called it was you know many titles were considered but it's called how do you know no question mark intentionally uh james l brooks is thinking yeah i don't know there was a new york article as well, I think a couple years earlier, about a company whose job is to come up with titles. And they title most of the Nancy Meyers movies. I know they titled Something's Gotta Give. Sure.

Great title. Where the job is you bring them the thing and they look at it. Something's gotta give. And they're like, it's great if it shares a title with a popular song, things like that. And all the titles- Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Yeah. And they're like, it's great if it shares a title with a popular song, like things like that. And all the titles... Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. But all those titles that they come up with are these ones where it's like,

that's the glibest, like nothing kind of fucking phrase to call a movie. It's vapor. How do you know? Yeah. Not vapor wave. No, thank you. Yeah. Okay, so the movie starts with Little Reese. Oh,wave. No. Thank you. Yeah. Okay.

So the movie starts with Lil Reese. Oh, we did talk about the first 15 minutes. We see her as a young woman, as you mentioned, a young girl even. You're not going to go through Jack Nicholson's filmography? Yeah, let's do it. All right. So he was in that Monkees movie. He wrote it.

I know, Head. Head. You know why they call it Head? They wanted to make a sequel. And then they said the tagline for the sequel would be from the people who gave you head the 60s man uh wow wow man yeah so i'm trying to remember is there anything to grab onto in that scene of her as a girl uh well it's it's sort of about the competitiveness with the boys not taking her

seriously right because the movie if the movie has a thesis and i guess it's in the title right it's like it's hard to tell when you're really into something yeah right like that's kind of what it's about okay so i've been dancing what are your passions i want to throw out what my germ what i consider to be the germ of the movie that actually is interesting. And the movie is so muddled and also I think poorly executed that it doesn't get it.

But when I get to the end of the film, I go, fuck, I would like to see that movie. Okay. Here's Reese Witherspoon. She spent her entire life focusing on one thing and now she's aged out of it. She's still a very young woman. She doesn't know what to do with the rest of her life

and she's going through a crisis. Yeah. Here's Paul Rudd. He spent his entire life connected to his family. Now his father's throwing him under the bus. Spoilers.

And he's maybe about to go to jail and he has to decide. Those are the two plot lines. Okay. The movie I think is interesting that does not need a third member. Does not need a third member

of the love triangle. Gold member. He loves gold. Schmelting accident. Blintz and Abong. Mm nabong um is what if you met the love of your life at the worst possible moment yes okay and the movie is like like you're the worst it's like a james l brooks rom-com about two people who are going through full-on life crises right and get the sense can yeah, they do like each other.

Right. But they don't have time for it, but they do kind of like each other. Right. And is there something there? Oh. Right. Now,

I think the biggest issue with this movie is that they let Reese Witherspoon get her shit together way too fast. Way too fast. And it just becomes. She never seems to not have her shit together.

There's like two scenes. Right at the beginning. She has the party where all her friends come over to cheer her up. What's her name? Tiona Paris. Yes.

Weirdly plays her friend. And Dean Norris plays the guy who fired her. Dean Norris is the coach. There's that other actress I like. It does. Yeah. You got some good character actors in these first couple scenes. Molly Price.

Yes. Who's great. And they are all kind of funny. Yeah tony shalhoub plays a psychiatrist there's this weird scene where she goes to the shrink yeah and it's like this very james l brooksie scene and uh then that just never comes up again and you feel like that's the mode that she should be in the whole movie uh and instead in my opinion you watch the whole movie and you're like well she'll never end up with owen wilson because she knows she's better than him fucking sucks yeah reese is very type a uh yes and so that therapist scene is her going

in and being like i don't really believe it i don't need this right this kind of like i'm in control i'm in control i know what i'm doing here here i want to actually give you the psychiatrist line because it blows my mind how this is not then addressed in the movie okay she says she's basically like just tell me one general thing that you found over the years that's been true in a general way that you can just generally apply to any situation which is a really funny james l brooks like scenario yes where she's like i just don't have the time for this but if you could just like give me like a really bottled line right and he says that's a great question i would say figure out what you want and then learn how to ask for it and she says those are both really hard and that's like you know that's like a funny exchange right but

then the movie isn't about that at all so why is that scene in the movie because you just think it's funny that's what originally he thought the movie was going to be about and it should have been about like her her breakdown is her going into hyper drive and paul rudd's breakdown is him just like melting into a puddle and the two of them meet in the middle and the movie is a series of them going on these bad dates being like i think maybe i'm in love with you but i also don't know if i can walk down the street right now without like collapsing you know right so she's in her thing and then right, right, we're cutting over to Paul Rudd as George Madison. He's a hedge fund executive or something. I don't even, you know, whatever.

He's got a good heart. He's the one that they all think is a mensch. He calls Reese Witherspoon because his friend, who is her coach or whatever, I think isn't his friend Molly Bloom. Molly Bloom, that's from Molly's game yeah Molly Price he's like she's trying to set them up right and maybe Molly's game is what

Reese Witherspoon's character should go through it's not Molly I forget yes she should be arrested for like crimes and misdemeanors right no she was trying to set them up so he calls and he's like hi I'm calling out of politeness but I can't go on a date with you. Right.

Right. Again, kind of a funny relationship. Right. Kind of a funny James Earl Brooks thing. Everything's so like I. So labor. I love Rudd and he is pushing so hard in this movie. I think he's funny in this movie.

I like him in it, but I wish I think it's because he knows the material's not there. Sure. Sure. So he's just like putting some spin on the ball. Because I like Rudd can go way too big. Like, in a way that I think is very intentional. What's a big Rudd to you? Well, what I'm saying is... Oh, you're saying this is a big Rudd. What I like is that I think he can

oscillate between tones within a movie. That he's fine doing some scenes where he goes really large and other scenes where he really underplays it. Well, like, there's this funny moment in this movie where he falls down the stairs and then just gets up and is like, don't worry about it. Right. And, again, doesn't come up

again in the movie. Right. Or, like, Wanderlust, the scene where he's, like, hitting on Catherine Hahn is, like, ridiculous. Is, like, Jim Carey liar liar. But he also has scenes where he plays it totally like a real guy. And I think he can kind of get at like interesting sort of impressionistic things

with his comedy that way. His character in this is a close cousin to his character in Wanderlust. 100%. It's the same basic idea. 100%. But I think this movie,

because James L. Brooks is a little more grounded in what he's trying to do, he's like, he, he, he, I don't think he ever hits the right balance i enjoy watching because i always enjoy watching i enjoy watching him he says i can't date you i

have a girlfriend right and it just got more serious so i can't do that and reese is like weirdly kind of charmed by it they have one of those scenes where she's laughing too much okay right bad phone call and then he like goes into work and they're like you are being investigated we can't even talk to you. You need to hire outside counsel because you're, this whole thing is fucked. Yeah. And so you're fired.

I'm sorry. Go away. And his girlfriend, and the only person who like sticks up, you know, sticks around with the number one best performance in this movie. Absolutely. Catherine Hahn,

who's so good in the movie as his like good in this movie. As his extremely pregnant secretary. She's always good, and we've talked about her a lot on this podcast. But this was when you were like, fuck. Right. She's not just very funny. She's an amazing actress. It was like, yeah. And this is when you go like, God, I wish Catherine Hahn could star in a movie made by 1987 James Hill Brooks. For sure. She'd rule in it.

She'd crush it. Yeah. Today. A hundred percent. God, I love her. And she can do fucking anything. We've said it before, but she truly can do fucking anything.

And so we should mention that Jack Nicholson is like in this scene and his whole performance is just him going like, I'm sorry. Like, it's just nothing. Never rub another man's rhubarb. Now, this is a movie where the urban legend has always been that he had near a piece. Sure.

And they were feeding him his lines in the scenes. It feels like he did two takes of everything. I mean, if he had to join the cast, like join the movie during production practically, I can imagine that would be the case. He's weirdly on autopilot in this movie. He's not even bad. He's just nothing. Well, because he's Jack Nicholson.

He's always engaging to watch. He's engaging. But his energy is so bizarre and so overpowering that when he's not using it deliberately, you're watching these scenes and you're like, I don't know what he should be doing, but it's not this. He needs to be making some sort of specific set of decisions.

Right. Because the idea they try to get at later in the movie when you're like, oh, that's what the character is supposed to be is when, when he has that line about like, I don't even know if I'm trying to manipulate you or not. That's actually a good scene. Right?

Like here's a guy who's like spent his entire life figuring out how to use everyone to his advantage and skirt them while still seeming sympathetic. Yeah. And never coming across like the bad guy. Yeah. And he admits that it's actually just an automatic survival mechanism he has and it's not even a conscious deliberate thing he's doing. He doesn't make a ton of sense as Paul Rudd's dad. Zero sense as Paul Rudd's dad. Like Murray maybe. A little little bit i don't know what nickel a little bit nicholson's zero percent like elliot gould should be playing paul rudd's dad or something it's a bummer when you

end on a movie like this when a miniseries goes out like this is a blank check movie it's such a blank check movie so his father has made his son the fall guy uh-huh but you don't get confirmation of that until like an hour plus into the movie and then it's this labored explanation where he's like look i have this like ancient like uh offense on my record because i did something like sort of i filed the wrong thing isn't it like you bribe years sheik in order to like... He says the thing about it's something about a leader of a foreign country where you had to bribe them in order to build a hotel or something. And he's like, it was nothing, but

that means that I would go to prison for way longer than you would go to prison. It's so labored. And it happens truly an hour and 15 minutes into the movie. Because the idea is the second that Rudd and Witherspoon are starting to hit it off, that's when Nicholson drops the bomb where he's like, you really kind of have to go to prison.

Yeah. Like, sorry. Like, look, you can do it and you'll probably only serve two years. Sure, sure. Whereas I would serve the rest of my life. I will die in prison. Right, yeah. It's so sweaty.

It's the definition of sweaty. It is sauna sway. It is schwitzy. Can I establish a new term for the podcast? Yes. When a scene is this sweaty, can we just call it a steam room? This scene's a steam room. Correct.

Oh, God. Yes. And it happens so fucking late. But you know, because the fucking father is played by Jack Nicholson. Of course, of course of course the dad's responsible right yes yes yeah because the whole movie paul rudd is clearly unaware of what he's being charged with but completely unaware and it's never made clear and this is brooks's idea of like wow these poor executives are getting charged with crimes and

they may not even be totally aware of what was happening at their firm. Right. What a situation, huh? What a crazy pickle to be in. Yeah. And you're just like, why would I fucking care about that? And also, you could make a movie that is father-son who work together, father asks the son to be a fall guy. Sure. Don't make it the financial.

It's just odd. There's a million ways to write this. Right. It's just odd. There's a million ways to write this. Right. But make it a fucking shoe store so that we actually give a shit about the guy. He isn't the embodiment of everything we hate in the culture at that time. But I also just hate it.

Because like Broadcast News doesn't have a plot like this. Like it barely has a plot. It's just sort of me and your ink. Same with As Good As It Gets. Same even with Spanglish. This one is like. This is a bad plot. Right.

And this one is Brooks being like you know giving you this sort of like ethical dilemma you know where he's like proposing this like would you rather scenario where it's like go to prison to save your dad or you know meet the love of your life like how do you know I'll see you later mater and that and then that leaves Reese's character in this hamster wheel of like, you know what? Almost is kind of a sweet guy. Go over, sleep with him. He says something dumb.

Ugh, pack my bags. I'm leaving. He calls, okay, I'm coming back. Like it's five different times that she leaves him and comes back, it feels like. And every time she comes back, he is like slightly more self-aware, but it's the extent of like, I broke a lamp. And every time she leaves, she meets up with Paul Rudd and is like, look, I don't want to date you. They start to hit it off. They have these funny

dates where they're always a catastrophe. Like the first time is when Paul Rudd is finding out that he's about to be like sent to prison. Right. You know, and he's like, I'm sorry, I just can't concentrate on you. And she's like, this is great. It's fine. We're both realizing something about each other. Right. About ourselves. But then like in every one of those sequences, Owen Wilson calls and she's like, this is great. It's fine. Like we're both, we're both realizing something about each other. Right. About ourselves.

But then like in every one of those sequences, Owen Wilson calls and she's like, fuck, I should leave. And she goes back to, oh yeah, she'll go back to Owen Wilson. He's like, I've figured it out. I'll sleep with less other women. And she's like, oh, other women. She leaves again. It just like, it's bizarre how little consequence there is to what she's going through in the film.

Because he's so into the fucking Gordian Knot of the Rudd dilemma. But then, right. And then, but this is the thing. The crucial, before he finds out about the death, about the, you know, you kind of have to go to prison. Yeah. Is this that very long sequence where they get drunk together. Yes. Where she gets drunk.

Yeah. And he gets drunk. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, that's where Brooks is like, okay,. Yes. Where she gets drunk. Yeah. And he gets drunk. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, that's where Brooks is like, okay, now let's turn on the red charm. You don't drink to feel better, you drink to feel much better. That's a good line.

I mean, it is the kind of person who's the kind of person, it is that. It's just loaded with Brooks being like, hey, right? Hey, one for you. Where did you see this movie? That's a good question. Because I know exactly where i saw this where did you see it i saw it at the park slope pavilion uh-huh it was the last time it was one of the last times i saw a movie there because the heating was out wow and so we went in and they were like the heating's out and we were like this is a december release correct and we were like we walked in there when we were like well this is a December release. Correct. And we were like, we walked in there and we were like, well, it doesn't seem that cold.

We'll just keep our jackets on. Like, yeah, it seemed fine. You sit down then like 10 minutes in, you're like, oh right, I'm not moving.

Yeah. Now I'm cold. Yeah. So we just sort of sat there freezing through this long movie. It was a weird way to see this movie. Well, did I ever tell you about when I saw it comes at night in 40 X? Uh, you saw it in 40 X. You did tell me. tell me well not really but what happened was i saw it at the mc25

the air conditioning was broken it was literally screen 25 which is at like the top of a mountain and heat rises right yes so we were in a screening room that was totally hot and that's that's a uh literally sweaty movie it's a bunch of people sweating in a cabin room that was totally hot. And that's a literally sweaty movie. It's a bunch of people sweating in a cabin. It's quite sweaty. And if you get the disease or whatever, it's even sweatier. You sweat a lot, right? So in order to try to let some air through, they kept the door open to our screen.

But there were a bunch of teenagers who were hanging out, hopping from movie to movie, who kept on yelling. who were hanging out, hopping from movie to movie, who kept on yelling. So that movie is just hot people in a cabin, listening for noises of people outside who might be attacking them. So it felt like 4DX. It was very experiential. And you love the movie. I do like that movie a lot, actually.

Interesting. But I don't remember where I saw it, but can I do... This is vaguely a merchandise spotlight. Just what we needed. No, go ahead. Before I saw this film, I probably do this is vaguely a merchandise spotlight? Just what we needed. No, go ahead. Before I saw this film, I probably didn't see it until January because I was so... I wanted to believe that Brooks could get it back. And then when the reviews were so harsh, I was like

this is going to bum me out to watch this. I would be happy if it was just okay, but everyone says it's like a fucking disaster. Yes. I went to see some other movie at the AMC Lincoln Square. Yes. It was five days after How Do You Know came out, and they had already thrown out the big cardboard standee for the movie.

It was just like, fucking cut our losses. Done. And this movie had the most indifferent marketing campaign of all time. The worst posters. Because the title's a shrug, and the poster is just four different colored boxes with their faces on it with like no tagline there was no tagline i i think a new comedy from writer director james l brooks oh what a tagline so the one photo is paul rudd

leaning forward getting the call about the charges against him uh-huh. It's just him on the phone making a somewhat surprised face. And the cardboard standee was like four cubes, four four-sided cubes, which each of the images stacked up on top of each other. It was a tower of how-do-you-know stars. And they had thrown it out, and I was such a big Paul Rudd fan, I took the Paul Rudd cube from the garbage on the street

and took it home, and i used that as my nightstand uh great just the rut just the rut yeah i had just the rut and i put it next to my bed and that's where i would put my phone my chapstick whatever book i was reading sure it was a garbage cardboard cube paul rudd's face from the movie How Do You Know but it doesn't say How Do You Know on it which is what I liked it just says Paul Rudd it's just him on the phone it just says Paul Rudd well I have some breaking news for you Seth Rogen attended the premiere

with his wife just going through some IMDb pictures Jane Fonda was there who's this now? Janusz Kaminski how do you know? weird thing about that Paul Rudd cube, though. The scene in the movie, his T-shirt is white, and in the poster in the cube, it's black.

Someone decided that's what needed to be changed to market the movie. I think we have to cut that out, or the listeners' brains might explode. It's a little too hot. A little too hot to handle. Honestly, I think we need more stuff like this. We need to stretch this episode out. Mary Lou Henner was there.

Oh! She definitely remembers being there, I'll tell you that much. This is just a wild picture of James L. Brooks on set. And Catherine Hahn looks so happy. So the best scene in the movie is when she gives birth. 100%. Right? Catherine Hahn plays Paul Rudd's very, very pregnant assistant.

Right. And no one at the company is supposed to talk to him. But she just feels so bad for him because he's getting screwed over. That she keeps talking to him and she knows that the father's guilty and sort of tips him off to kind of be looking for the paper trail. She's also very pregnant and her boyfriend of a long time will not propose to her. And she feels like, you know, a used woman to some degree. Sure.

So he gets the call that she's going into labor when he's on a date with Reese Witherspoon. And he, because we pretty much covered the rest of the movie at

this point. Well, the movie is just them flirting with each other. And like you say, just bouncing back and forth. I need you to go to

jail. The drunk scene is kind of funny and Rudd is pretty charming and he falls down the stairs. He's charming. Wow. Yeah.

But, um... I like the moment where he slaps his head against the table when he gets the phone call that he's being indicted. That's some funny Rudd slapstick.

Yeah. They get the call, they go to the hospital and he hasn't met the father. Right. Who plays the father. Right. Who plays the father? It's like a good kind of New York-y character actor. I forget his name now.

But Witherspoon is with him, so they go to the hospital together. And the nurse comes in and goes, like, the father of your child is here. Right. She's just given birth. The baby's on her lap. The baby's adorable.

And then Jack Nicholson walks in. Sure. And Paul Rudd goes like, are you fucking kidding me? And then the guy walks in after. Two comedy points. Not a bad joke. One and a half.

Nicholson's there, which is like, he shouldn't be there. He shouldn't be in the room. And he's being really sleazy. And then the father comes in. But I think Paul Rudd's walked out. Oh, he's left the room to talk to his dad.

Sure. So he intercepts the real dad coming through. And he gives him a camera. And he's like, look, I'm about to propose. Please film this. So then he goes in and gives this kind of charming blue collar speech about, look, the reason I never proposed to you. Is it Lenny Veneto? I think it is never posed to you is it Lenny Veneto I think it is

it is it's Lenny Veneto yes that's right of course it is yes the great Lenny Veneto right we saw this movie two weeks ago none of it sticks

I knew he was in it I just couldn't remember what part he played because Dominic Lombardazzi plays the condom pitcher and like Dominic Lombardazzi and Lenny Veneto

are they're not interchangeable but they're you know they play blue collarcollar guys. Condom pitcher evokes a good mental image. Yep, yep. How do you know? Ben's playing Worm on a Nokia 3330.

Wait, is he playing Worms or is he playing Snake? Snake, sorry. Okay. Do you remember Worms? Yeah. The game where you're like the military worms you gotta attack other worms? Holy Hand Grenade. Yeah.

It's a great game. You remember that game? Lunch in middle school. I don't. Do you remember Earthworm Jim though? Of course. That was a cool game. Earthworm Jim was sort of like

a close cousin to the tick in my brain when I was a kid. Very similar. Very similar kind of vibes. Here's a major difference between Earthworm Jim and the tick. Doug TenNapel

who created Earthworm Jim very interesting art style hates women and gay tick. Doug Tenapel, who created Earthworm Jim, very interesting art style, hates women and gay people. Oh, he sounds fun. Very outspoken. Ugh. Yep.

How do you know that? How do you know? Wow. Because I'm an Earthworm Jim. Okay. Earthworm Jim was cool. He did all those claymation video games.

There was another one he did that was good. Doesn't like people who aren't exactly like him. Which is pretty, you know. Oh, so you're going to judge that? You're not going to judge an earthworm wearing a space suit? Talk about someone trying to steal our jobs. Why does an earthworm need limbs?

What's he trying to do? What's he trying to take away from me? The Neverhood? That's a video game he did. Skull Monkey. Yeah, cool. So Lenny Veneto gives this speech that's like you know the thesis is the reason i never proposed to you isn't because i didn't love you it's because i thought you were too good for me i didn't want to see you have to settle for a jamoke like me right and it's very touching and

katherine hunn's fucking reactions are unbelievable just like really kind of fucking effortless specific powerful heartfelt scene in the middle of a movie that does not seem like it's going to have one of these and then Paul Rudd realizes that he wasn't he wasn't filming it which I think is funny and they have to restage it Lenny Benito is not a very good actor the

character he's a great actor he's a great actor he does a great performance of a guy trying to restage the magic and Catherine Hunn's reactions are too big and it's a very nice trying scene I think that's a good actor. But he does a great performance of a guy trying to restage the magic and Catherine Hunt's reactions are too big. And it's a very nice trying scene. I think that's a good scene. It's sort of like We Bought a Zoo, which is a better movie than this movie, but same kind of vibe

where We Bought a Zoo has moments where you're like, oh, I get it. I think I am into this movie now. We Bought a Zoo has more of them. It does. And the bad moments are less egregious than the bad moments in this movie. Sure. But I agree. Yes, I agree with you.

And then it goes and you're like, oh, no, maybe not. But in that moment, you're like, right, this is about figuring out, like, the weird magic of figuring out, like, what you want in life. There are 15 second stretches of this movie where he's cooking the gas. And they're spellbound watching this guy have just total certitude about, like, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And then the other moment I actually my favorite kind of like

pure comedic bit in this movie is after this when they walk out of the hospital and Paul Rudd's waiting for the bus to go home and you are waiting for them to have a heartfelt talk before the bus comes and then the bus comes like immediately. Right. That's funny. And he's like, you know what i'll let this one go and then another bus comes immediately right

he keeps on trying to like wait for the next bus thinking he'll have like a five minute stretch and there are too many buses and he gets on the bus and then doesn't he no she gets on the bus and he runs after her is that what happens um the bit the bit with the buses I like it whatever I don't know it's funny and she but the idea is when she watches this she's like I maybe I should settle down with someone like you know what I mean like she watches

this emotional proposal right and she goes to Maddie and Maddie's like wow and she's like oh nope still not into it you know what i mean she keeps like flirting with the idea and then he lets her down doc hudson meanwhile paul rudd says to nicholson like okay i'll go to jail um if if she'll be with me. Right. I think what you present to me makes sense.

It's the right thing to do for me to take the hit so that you don't have to die in jail. Unless you've met the person you're supposed to spend the rest of your life with, in which case it would be criminal not to live that life. So I'm going to ask her. Right. And you better hope that she says no. So he confesses his love for her. what's the gift he gives her again i don't know he gives her a gift we should re-watch this movie oh it's the play-doh fucking thing oh god this movie's dumb ben why'd you make us watch this

i didn't make you why did you write and direct this movie ben why did you make us watch this? I didn't make you watch this. Why did you write and direct this movie, Ben? Why did you make her watch this? I don't know. I don't know. How do we know? We don't. I don't know. He goes to jail.

Or doesn't he? I don't know. Well, at the end of the movie, she walks out after him. She walks out after him. Gives him a Play-Doh and says, you know, they thought they were making this, and they end up being the most successful toy, and sometimes the thing is not what you think it is. It's like he read some encyclopedia Britannica entry.

Kind of a person is kind of a person. And then... And she goes out to see him and then you, like, the last shot is them getting on the bus together

and it's sort of like, did he, well, did she wait for him or did Nicholson go to the slammer? Like, who knows?

How do you know? We don't know. How did this cost $120 million? Here's the bigger question who gives a shit why did it cost 120 million dollars

well after the 50 million dollars spent on the above the line talent he just took fucking forever to shoot this movie and did like

three separate extended reshoot sessions yeah of like a couple weeks or a month or whatever and then spent like a year editing it he kept on editing it

going back reshooting for another couple weeks going back he said they for another couple weeks, going back. He said they shot the ending like four times because they couldn't find a satisfying ending. I'm glad you finally found one, Jim. What did the other fucking endings look like? This is your idea of finally cracking a satisfying ending?

These are all fair complaints. Do you want to play box office game? Hey, I'll say this before we wrap up. I think this movie should have been Catherine Han's character. 100%. That's interesting. Sure.

Right. Yeah, Catherine Han's character is really interesting or a movie of the dynamic between Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd in which the two of them were actual characters that made sense. Right. Also, his movies start becoming all these people

in these ivory towers who are harder to relate to. They're impossible. Yeah. And it's the same problem with Spanglish where it's just like, why the fuck would I ever care about these people? Catherine Han feels like a real person. I mean, it's literally like Owen Wilson lives in the penthouse of this gold building. Oh, I hate that fucking doorman

character too. Bad. Where anytime he like sees Paul Rudd, they like always, it's the movie where they always need to cut to a reaction shot of someone smiling to let the audience know that it's charming. In case you didn't get it, the characters are charmed by what's going on in this movie. Fucking eat two turds.

I have some news for you. Saudi Arabia recently lifted its 35-year ban on cinema. Yes, I know the first movie they released. What was it emoji movie correct so cinema is over rip had a good run this movie cost 120 million dollars to make it grossed 22 30 million dollars a little better than i thought and it worldwide total 48 million dollars not good not the best no very bad. Don't do it. This movie opened on eight screens.

No, no, no, no. On 2,400 screens. I'm sorry. Yeah, thank you. In eighth place on December 17, 2010. Now, the thing about releasing a movie the week before Christmas is oftentimes, mad rush, six movies come out. You can open really low, but then you multiply like crazy because over the holidays

people see weird stuff. Greatest Showman recently opened to 10. People were like, fucking done. Bury it. It's now a huge hit. It's now at 98 on MLK, no, 95 on MLK weekend. Yeah. It's going to cross 100. Yeah. Easy. Easy.

It dropped 9% this weekend. It went up the second weekend. I know. How do I know? Box office mojo. You can look it up. So I think how do you know they were like okay not a great opening but maybe we'll multiply. They did not. No.

I believe The Greatest Showman now has the biggest multiplier of any wide release in the history of movies apart from Titanic. Which is crazy. It has a 12 multiplier right now. And it's no signs of slowing down. Well, I think there's some signs.

It's starting to slow down, but it's going to end up at like 115, 120. Yeah, it did great. Which is nuts. Good for you, I guess. Yeah. Paddington opened number seven. I'm a little annoyed about that. Especially because the first Paddington did well.

I know, but those movies. Weird weekend for it to come out in a lot of ways. That was the same weekend the first one came out. Yeah, but America didn't have Jumanji Feature

at that time. Everyone's flipping out for Jumanji. Jumanji is a colossal hit. Jumanji will be, by the time this episode comes out, the highest grossing film

that Sony has ever released that doesn't star Spider-Man. Correct. I'm sorry, Spider-Man. Yes. Like, people were like, oh, well, you know. Correct. I'm sorry, Spider-Man. People were like,

oh, well, you know, Star Wars The Last Jedi, maybe we predicted it. Well, no one fucking saw Jumanji coming. This is the thing. Who would have ever pointed at the schedule and been like, well, Jumanji's an easy 300 million grosser. Jumanji! Welcome to the jungle? Welcome to the

bank! yeah Jumanji welcome to the jungle yeah welcome to the bank David5comedy thanks that's the best joke

I've ever heard you sure about that yeah number one with a bullet oh boy so this is December 17 2010

2010 number one uh huh is a sequel but it's a one of those delayed sequels. You know, one of those sequels to a movie that came out a long time ago. I believe it is Tron Legacy.

Tron Legacy. $44 million. Because December 2010 was when Jeff Bridges was America's number one movie star. That's true. He had two humongous movies. That's true. Has True Grit come out at this point?

No. Maybe a limited? No. I believe it's the next weekend. I saw it opening weekend and it was my brother's birthday. Yes, it came out the next weekend wide and opened at $24 million.

Which was a big opening and then it did it's another movie that went up the next weekend. It made $171 domestic. Insane. Insane. Adjusted for inflation

it made $193. Okay, it's not a coen brothers western that deliberately has no ending i love that movie that ends with someone walking off mid-sentence love that movie so much yeah don't love tron legacy but tron legacy is sort of interesting in moments kind of looks cool if you mute it it's great to look ooh the pizza's here my problem with Tron Legacy is Ben's got a meme downstairs

okay Ben don't worry Ben is walking out the studio door to meet the pizza man downstairs it's MLK so no one's working

in the building that's correct what should we say while Ben's not here oh shit Europa Spanglish isn't good Spanglish isn't good building that's correct okay what should we say while ben's not here ship uh here in europa spanglish isn't good spanglish isn't good it's not good it's really fucking bad it was crazy when i sat down for that record and ben was like all about it and we and like but like richard and

i like just sort of were dunking on spanglish for five minutes like it's a fun activity you hang out with friends you know what's good listen to all of that so we aren't going to do our rankings because we're recording at a worse so we have no yeah we still have

a couple records to do so the rankings will come next week on the next one but I I ask you my dear friend

do you think this or Spanglish is worse do I think this or Spanglish is worse? Do I think this or Spanglish is worse? Yeah It's tough It's actually a great question

Because I went into the miniseries thinking Spanglish is definitely better than How Do You Know and now I don't know I'm thinking hard about this I think I like How Do You Know more than I like Spanglish I think the things that work in How Do You Know are better than the things that work in Spanglish I think Spang How Do You Know more than I like Spanglish. I think the things that work in How Do You Know are better than the things that work in Spanglish.

I think Spanglish is a slightly more interesting movie. It's a little more functional, but it's also fundamentally fucked. It's also crazier. How Do You Know is a little more of like a sort of, like, it's just like someone's heartbeat is just not quite there. You know, it's just sort of like...

How Do You Know, I wrote this about Spanglish on letterbox, but how do you know? I feel even more fits the description. It feels like a movie written by an AI program. That was my review of it too. You load a bunch of rom-coms into a computer and it's like, okay, I figured out how humans behave.

my, my review I think was that it's a movie, uh, set at a theme park, uh, designed by aliens about human life. That's what it feels like. Um, but it's malfunctioning and the robots are park designed by aliens about human life. That's what it feels. But it's malfunctioning and the robots are like,

do I love you? It's the West world of romantic comedies. Like they're questioning, they're like programming where like aliens were like, let's design like West world, but it's just 20th, 21st century America, you know, like early 21st century America.

And Siri did get, I mean, uncredited work, but Siri did punch up on this movie. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Brooks would just be like, Siri, what's a good line? You know? And she would be like, how do you know?

I just don't know if my life is the kind of life that I want to live. You know? What's the one she says? I don't know if the thing is for me. You know what I'm talking about? She has that line. I do. Whatever. Okay has that line. I do. Whatever.

Okay, box office. Let's continue. So, Tron Legacy. Yeah. 44 million. I mean, it was a hit. It was. It made 172.

Tron Legacy. Just super expensive. I just bought a pizza into the room. The pizza boy is here. Pizza boy is here. All right. Number two at the box office. I don't know if I have what it takes for everybody's regular plan. That's the line I was looking for. How memorable. What a wonderful line. Yeah. Number two at the box office. I don't know if I have what it takes for everybody's regular plan.

That's the line I was looking for. How memorable. What a wonderful line. Yeah. Number two at the box office. Wow. Wow. Is an anim...

It's animated. Maybe it's... I think it's sort of a... A hybrid? A hybrid. An adaptation of a famous cartoon. Yogi Bear 3-Day? Good things come in bears.

Can you deny that that was the tagline for that movie? And not only that, but the poster... Was one of the bears behind the other bear. Directly behind. And one of the... And Boo Boo looks surprised. I think I've told this story, but like, we all... Thank you, Benny.

We're of an age where old cartoons would be replayed a lot. So you grew up knowing like the classic cartoon characters like Yogi Bear, even though Yogi Bear, it's like you look at it. Thank you, Ben. And it was like, oh,

they only ever produced like 30 episodes of Yogi Bear, but they continued in syndication for 40 years. Right. Same with like the Flintstones or whatever. Right. When Yogi Bear in the movie came out, Romilly was like, what the fuck is Yogi Bear? Like she was like 12 at the time. Right. When Yogi Bear in the movie came out, Romilly was like, what the fuck is Yogi Bear? Like, she was like

12 at the time, right? And I was like, it's about a bear with a hat who kind of talks like a vaudevillian and steals picnic baskets. And she was like, how is that a premise? It's a premise, alright. How do you make a movie of that? The kids didn't even know who he was. Yeah. Ed,

TV's Ed, played what's his name? Ranger whatever. don't know you're right uh tom cavanaugh yeah right i used to love ed good move good good show yeah and he's on the flash now he's um uh he's he's like 12 different characters yeah right because he's oh it turns out like zoom is him or whatever all right number so that opened to 16 million which i think was somewhat disappointing but then it ended up at 100. It made 100. Multiply. I'm telling you, the holidays are weird, baby.

Oh, of course. People feast. People feast. Now, number three is the third entry in a... Lil' Fockers? No. In a franchise that you've had trouble identifying in the past. It's not Chipwrecked. It's a third and final?

I think I keep threatening to make a fourth one, though. Interesting. And I've had trouble with it in the past. You took forever identifying one of these ones. And it's live action or animated? Hybrid. Mostly live action. Mostly live action.

So like one animated character. Mostly live action. Mostly live action. So like one animated character. In its second weekend, it made $12 million. On route to a final total of $104 million. Budget $155 million. I'm taking lactate to eat this pizza, just in case you're wondering what the Foley work is.

On route to $105 million. Live action. Not a big hit. It does clean up internationally. Is it based off something? Mm-hmm. Book? Book. Series of book.

Oh, Narnia? Which one? Voyager the Dawn Treader. Correct. I do always have a tough time. I forget that franchise exists. It's hard to remember. Yes.

Number four is a movie that's been in limited release and just jumps, you know, expands this week. Was an Oscar winner this year it was it's a drama it's a biopic it's a biopic it went an acting award it won two acting awards two acting awards in 2010 so that is the year in which Best Picture is won by King's Speech which means that wasn't the Social Network

it wasn't the King's Speech it was not the King's Speech you're saying right good we're all eating pizza we're done with this episode it won two acting awards

leads or supporting or a mix? Both supporting. It won both supporting. Best supporting actor in 2010. Ben's looking at it. He goes, hmm. It was the first in a run of movies by this director that

were like big Oscar winners. Oh, it's The Fighter. That's right. Now where do you stand on those two wins? Those two wins? Yeah. I think Bale's really good. I think Leo's fine. Yeah, I think she's right. Now, where do you stand on those two wins? Those two wins? Yeah. I think Bale's really good. I think Leo's fine. Yeah, I think she's fine.

She's not my favorite. I feel like people have rewritten that to be a full stop terrible performance. I think she's fine. I think it's big. It's fine. She can be bad. Yes, she can. And she can be good. She's doing what Russell wants.

Yes. I think Bale's performance in that is pretty phenomenal. Mm-hmm. But I haven't seen that movie in a long time. I wonder if I would like it at all now. I think I probably would.

I mean, I remember walking up and I loved Amy Adams' performance so much. And I liked Wahlberg. Mm-hmm. And then with Bale and Leo, you were more like, well, sure,

those are very big Oscar-y performances. But I agree. I think Adams is the best performance in that movie. A thousand percent. Yeah. So good. Also because she has the least sort of to grab onto and she's doing amazing stuff.

Number five is an animated film that you love. One of the most expensive films ever made. Tangled? Tangled. Yeah. You know why it's so expensive? No. Because they kept on trying to make a Rapunzel movie

and then shutting it down. Like, it was originally going to be 2D, and then they shut down a few years later, they'd start it up. And so when they reported the budget of that movie, it included, like, four previous attempts to make that movie. Okay. So it is always cited as, like,

one of the five most expensive movies of all time. But a lot of that's them having to write off development costs for entirely different films. Because the final budget is like $260 million, right? It's like insane. That's correct. Yeah. That's not super accurate, but it kind of is.

The Taurus is up there. America has Taurus fever. They're taking the trip. Unstoppable, which rules? Yeah. Or Lesquitch? Talk about a good last film. Yep. Not this, though. No. Due Date, which rules. Yeah. Burlesque, which... Talk about a good last film. Yep.

Not this, though. No. Due Date, which you like. Yep. Love and Other Drugs, which is bad. Mm-hmm. The King's Speech, which has only made $2 million so far. Another movie that's fine.

It's okay. It's the best Tom Hooper movie because it's the one that somehow is able to transcend his dumb instincts. It's a really solid script. It's a solid movie. Yeah because it's the one that somehow is able to transcend his dumb instincts. It's a really solid script. It's a solid movie. Yeah, it's fine. Well, wow.

Mega mind. Wow. Mater. What an episode. Mega minds in there. Fuck. Mega mind. Bad movie.

Bad movie. Uh, should we talk about what we have coming next? Yeah, let's announce it. Yeah. Right. Oh boy.

People theorize. They really do love to theorize. They do. Next week we have a bonus episode. We'll be covering the movie Josie and the Pussycats. And then after that, our next miniseries. Some of you guessed it. Some of you questioned it.

We've talked about him for as long as we've been talking about doing directors. A long time. Ladies and gentlemen, we are doing the films of Brad Bird. questioned it we've talked about him for as long as we've been talking about doing directors a long time ladies and gentlemen we are doing the films of brad bird because he's got a little a picture coming out and people think oh brad could be really short only has three movies actually it's five and actually a six is coming out we're timing things perfectly iron giant boom incredibles boom ratatouille boom boom Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol which is your favorite

action movie the last 10 years boom and then Tomorrowland oh Tomorrowland right of course hello

the blank check yes yes and then Incredibles 2 Incredibles 2 we're also gonna do the Han Solo movie assuming that comes out right

he didn't direct that we're just saying that will also happen around this time period should have fucking directed that yeah but yes we're doing him.

We're going to get to cover some animation. I'm going to get to talk Pixar. Great, great, great, great, What a hole I've dug for myself.

Great, great, great. Five hour episodes. So tune in for that. We don't have a name yet. It's probably going to be some mission podcastable.

I don't know about that. Is that the best we can do? Potter and Jycast? The Incredicast? Yeah, it's, oh boy, this is bad. Because they're all one word titles. I know. Podcast-O-Land?

No. I've heard worse things. I think we have to do Ghost Protocol, which is weird because it'll make it sound like it's a Mission Impossible miniseries. Well, that's why I don't want to do it. I know. That's why I don't want to do it either. But sometimes you got to make the tough decisions.

You got to send Jack Nicholson to jail. Brad Podcast Bird. Okay, that's why i don't want to do it either but sometimes you got to make the tough decisions you got to send jack nicholson to jail brad podcast bird okay that's what's called so stay tuned for that and of course at this point march madness has been settled and we all know that nancy myers is the mini series that we will be doing in the fall. I love the future. We all know. I can't wait to talk about the parent trap. Especially it's complicated. Which is the one that I have some controversial opinions on.

And of course my controversial opinion is complicated. No. Oh, damn it. All right. You better mark all of those, welcome to the future what if james all brooks uh comes out of retirement does a sci-fi movie great we'll we'll recover recovered on this podcast we've talked about how like all great filmmakers need to make a sci-fi movie he's

got to make his space movie he's got to make a space movie um what a yeah what a damp way to go out okay well that's how we're going out right that's how we're going out that's it yeah how do you know ben we'll do our rankings next episode ben doesn't know i have no idea is there anything else we need to do now and of course we all know the week of the release of this episode that donald trump just admitted on fox and friends that michael cohen represented him in the Stormy Daniels payoff. And then he tweeted about Kanye and Chance the Rapper.

Of course. Griffin Newman called for him to fuck off. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. And thank you to WeTransfer and to Lightstream for sponsoring the show. And stay tuned for the end of the episode.

There's going to be a burger report. Go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit. Thanks to Ant for Gudo for our social media, Pat Reynolds and Joe Bowen for our artwork. David has left his seat, walked away from the mic in order to get another slice of the za. Lee Montgomery for a theme song. Did I say that already?

And does always. Wow, man. Wow. um Lee Montgomery Fair Theme Sunday I say that already uh end end as always wow wow wow Luigi Guido Sally Fillmore

wow Luigi Guido Luigi wow the two Italian cars wow they named one of the cars

Guido Guido he's a little he's a little forklift. Wow. Chick Hicks. Chick Hicks. Wow. Thank you for calling the Burger Report hotline.

802-8-BURGER. Please leave a message with your FAMO type of burger and location, and we will try to put it on the podcast if we can. That's 802-8-BURGER. Hello, Blank Check Podcast. location and we will try to put it on the podcast if we can that's 802-8-BURGER hello blank check podcast this is adam calling from los angeles i got a fresh burger report for you guys just this past sunday in la east hollywood at burgers never say die i saw tyler the creator of odd future wolf gang kill them all, eating a burger. And the great thing about burgers, never say die. I can tell you exactly what he ate because there's only one kind of burger.

It's a double cheeseburger with raw onion, chopped, diced, ketchup, mustard, and some pickle slices on there. So very cool. mustard, and some pickle slices on there. So, very cool. The chef also said that Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, was coming by to get burgers later, but I cannot confirm if he did as I left before he arrived. Love the show, fellas.

Happy holidays, and hello, Fennel. I got a cold burger report for you. This is Tony. I served the guy who played Archie Bunker a burger, a bison burger, in Missoula, Montana. Hey, guys, just a quick burger report. Last summer, I went to an Atlanta Braves baseball game and saw none other than Mr. Mark Paul Gosler of Saved by the Bell fame just chowing down on a burger, and he looked like he was having a really good time.

It made me happy to see that he was happy, you know? So, thanks.