Blank Check with Griffin & David - Look Who's Talking with Hillary Busis

Episode Date: May 18, 2025

In perhaps the spermiest film we’ve ever covered, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley hang out with a baby voiced by Bruce Willis and Amy Heckerling gets revenge on Harold Ramis. As David Sims says early in this episode - Look Who’s Talking is a VERY RICH text. Vanity Fair’s Hillary Busis joins us to talk about this 1989 “forgotbuster,” a film that made a bozo amount of money and dared to ask the question, “What if baby talked??” We’re going deep on Travolta lore, grappling with Kirstie Alley’s later career, and following numerous tangents on everything from the rules of the Rugrats universe to advancements in crib safety. Look who’s podcasting! Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook!  Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blackjack with Griffin and David Blackjack with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blackjack He's hip, he's slick, and he's only three months old. He's got David Sims' smile, Ben Hosley's eyes, and the voice of Griffin Newman. And now all he has to do is find himself the perfect podcast? So a bunch of notes. Not what you did. You did a good thing.

That is one of the more insane taglines we have ever covered on a movie. In no part of this movie is he three months old. That's true. They pretty much leave from newborn to like bigger kid. Oh my god. Incredible point right off the bat. No, no. Even bigger point. Now you replace... I have a lot of child development issues with this movie. Many, many points.

We're gonna... I mean, as you're replacing... You launched it on Letterboxd last night. This is truly one of the richest texts we have ever discussed. For like a dumb bullshit movie that like has, was a huge hit and has been a little memory hole in my culture. Oh, no, if you mention this to a 25-year-old, they have no idea what's going on. My brain is firing on all synapses and I'm just like,

I will never run out of things to talk about in this episode. Now, you replaced names in the poster, right? So instead of John Travolta's smile, you said David Simms' smile. But yes, the poster says he has John Travolta's smile. I don't know where he got that since John Travolta's smile, you said David Simms' smile, but yes, the poster says he has John Travolta's smile. I don't know where he got that since John Travolta ain't his daddy. Thank you. Which this poster is misrepresenting.

Right, and then it says he needs to find himself the perfect daddy, which is kind of the central concept. Right, but like, if you watch reading the poster, you're like, what's wrong with Travolta? Jesus, the guy's had a few bombs, but do we need to be dragging him on his own movie poster? It's also a wild choice that obviously, the poster is just big old Mikey head, right?

Chewin' on the title. He's chewin' on the title. Sunglasses on forehead. I think that's why the movie was a hit. It definitely is. Is the poster. We're gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk about it.

I should bring up the poster. I am not looking at it right now. And then it's just this image. Everyone was like, he's talking? I'm seeing. It was, yes. I'm buying. People probably went to the window and were like, can's talking? I'm seeing. It was, yes. I'm buying. People probably went to the window and were like,

can I have one to the baby movie? And they're like, it's not out for three months. And they were like, well, I'll be here. Like I'll put some money down now. Highest grossing films in North America of 1989 were in order. Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2.

Back to the Future Part II. In 1989? Oh yeah, well maybe that's... Did it come out to you later? Yeah, 1989, now back to the Future Part II and then Look Who's Talking, yeah. Lethal Weapon 2 is sixth. Look Who's Talking made 300.

Wikipedia gave me false information, which this is the first time this has ever happened. Once, as usual, maybe I'm looking at worldwide versus... Worldwide, this movie was generous. I saw on Wikipedia, $300 million. That's the biggest thing is like, it was huge in the United States. At the time of its release, I believe it was the single highest grossing film worldwide in the history of Columbia Pictures. Oh, wow.

And it was Travolta's biggest since Greece. Yeah, I mean, everything about... You cannot overstate how big this movie was. It really was just the poster. But also, like, I understand Travolta's star is dinged at this moment. Keir Starali at the time of this release is on the biggest to come in the world.

Yeah, but that doesn't. The poster, giant baby head, the actor's names are not above the title. They're just in the tagline. They're just mentioning he's got John Travolta to smile while he doesn't. Which means that they could be in the tagline. They're just mentioning, he's got John Travolta to smile. Well, he doesn't. Which means that they could be in the movie or maybe not. They may just be naming the attributes that the baby has.

The movie goes out of its way, actually, in fact, to say that he has George Siegel's eyes, not Kirstie Alley's eyes. That makes it clear that that's the one thing he got from Siegel. Right, he's got Siegel's eyes. He does have Kirstie Alley's voice. He does, in fact, have Bruce Willis' voice. You could argue he has Kirstie Alley's smile.

I suppose so, but like, it is also... That's the other thing that's busted about the poster You could argue he has Keirce Alley's smile. I suppose so, but like it is also, that's the other thing that's busted about the poster where you're like, Keirce Alley's voice is kind of what she's famous for. Where they're like, oh, she, he's got Keirce Alley's eyes. I'm like, okay. Yeah, but we know he has Bruce Willis' voice. Anyway, the only thing that maybe could have made this movie gross more is if the poster was just, Bruce Willis voices this,

and there was an arrow pointing down to the baby with the sunglasses eating the title. John Travolta's highest grossing worldwide film of all time is Grease. Now, obviously that's one of those sort of box office roles have been bolstered by years of re-releases, but that still counts. But a humongous one.

Look, who's talking is three. What is his number two highest grossing film worldwide in his entire career? Wild Hugsks? No that is a low sixth I'm guessing because it's it's international. Right that's a very American film so it's not Bolt. It's not gonna be Battlefield? It is Bolt? It is Disney's Bolt. Which made three hundred and twenty eight million dollars worldwide. What the fuck is that? It was viewed as a disappointment. At the time, it was something of a disappointment. It's a movie, it's kind of like- You know, it's a dog.

Yeah, it's like Toy Story, but if like the actor, the dog who's in a movie was Bud Light, you know, it's like a dog who plays a last scene. And what if John Travolta was the dog? No, what happened- He's like a famous dog in movies. It's like Galaxy Quest. Magic.

Chris Sanders. Yeah, it's a little like Galaxy Quest. He's a Galaxy Quest dog. Chris Sanders, director of Lilo and Stitch, which was a huge hit for Disney, develops his blank check follow-up project, which was called, I wanna say American Dog? That was a very odd, interesting sounding film

starring John Travolta and Thomas Hayden Church. It's an adaptation of American Beauty, but about dogs. Totally. Hayden Church was playing Minasavari. It was a weird road trip movie with anthropomorphic animals riding the rails. It sounded really cool. And Lasseter takes over Disney

and immediately is like, this is too weird, fires him, and basically demands rewrites to make Bolt into what if Buzz Lightyear was a dog. Right, like the dog is so good in the movie, he thinks he's that good in real life. He's the star of a dog action TV. I saw it on a plane. I remember it being serviceable. One of the most wildly okay movies ever made.

And the kid is like Miley Cyrus? Correct. Suzy Esmond plays a snorky cat. She's good and the cat is exactly the same as Jessie from Toy Story 2. So she's angry because she was abandoned by her owner. I said the Wild Hogs was his sixth highest. I'm really, it's gonna, I'm gonna say it's his fifth highest

because they're putting Austin Powers in Goldmember here. Obviously, he's very funny as movie Goldmember. Where is Hairspray? Is Hairspray four? Hairspray is, so he goes, uh, Grease Bolt, look who's talking. Saturday Night Fever is fourth. Wild Hogs is fifth. Face Off is sixth. Pope Fiction is seventh. And his eighth movie to gross more than 200 worldwide is Hairspray.

Did Hairspray fucking collapse overseas? It didn't do great overseas. Again, that's a... That's kind of wild. It's not wild. That's a very American movie. It's not American racism. Your kids do not know what's going on. It's got good fucking songs. Good morning Baltimore. Yeahtie Morn.

Yeah, I'm dancing. Although, Hairspray was... Richard Wilson doesn't sing that song. I know, I'm just singing it. Nicky Blonsky from the movie Hairspray sings that song. Apocalyptically bad in that movie. Trolltie is the only problem in that movie. I agree.

He's a disaster in that movie. I think that movie is like a 9.8 out of 10. And then it has one radioactive performance. He's really bad. Yeah. Michelle Pfeiffer's really good in that movie, too. You know who's good in that movie? Everyone.

Everyone else. Everyone in that movie is good. Everyone rules in it. Latifah rules, Pfeiffer rules, Walken rules, Marston rules. Nicky Blonsky rules. You know, it's just you look at the man's career, he's got hits. He's got hits in four different decades.

This is, look, this is a big movie to talk about Travolta's career. This is, I'm gonna say it again, one of the richest texts we've ever covered on this show. Everything is like colliding in this movie. How many Travolta's have we talked before? I'm not counting Austin Powers. So we've covered Michael, the Nora Ephron film. Lucky Numbers. Lucky Numbers, the Nora Ephron film.

Basic. Basic. Basic, wow, we've really done some bad Travolta's. We've not done any good Travolta's. That's a really good question. Maybe not. Not seeing anything that is good that we have covered. I've seen plenty of movies that are good that we have not covered.

We have acknowledged several times my mother's description of Don Travolta. He's so bovine. I said that to my wife and she could not stop laughing out of embarrassment. By the way, people have misread that as a sort of size-shaming joke, assuming it was applied to late period Travolta. My mom would say that when I was watching Welcome Back Cotter reruns, when it was the most svelte, hunky version of Travolta.

And I say, what do you mean? She goes, I think his face looks like the face of a cow. I want to specify that her argument was, he has a cow's face. We also covered old dogs at a live show. Of course. So once again, we've covered Travolta's four best films. Like the good films of Travolta's we may cover someday.

I suppose we could do John Woo, I doubt it Tarantino. I don't know Tony Scott he did the taking a Pelham one for three one of his very very normal sane performances grounded get shorty We will almost definitely get shorty will do some capacity. Yes Do we have a Dominic Cena miniseries line up so we can do swordfish? They just announced the 4k. Did you see that? Oh, I'll be buying it. Yeah. I will be buying it. You will have to hack onto the internet in order to buy your Swordfish. While getting a blowjob.

The scene in Swordfish where it's like, can you do this while getting a blowjob? I'm like, how is he? Agresive. He's not getting hard with a gun to his head. More Ks than you've ever seen. I guess we could do Sylvester Stallone. Staying alive. Who directed Staying Alive?

He's been on a bracket. Sorry, Hilary, that we're really going off tangent here. Yes. I guess we could do Sylvester Stallone. Staying Alive. Who directed Staying Alive. He's been on a bracket. Sorry, Hillary, that we're really going off. Tangent here, yes. Well, and you know what else we'll do? We'll do Terrence Malick one day. Gosh darn it. And he's in the Thin Red Line for like two minutes.

Because... Because he was supposed to be in Days of Heaven. Correct. Listen, this is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. David. It's a podcast about filmographies, directors who had... This is just the kind of movie that really gets you excited. The tangents on this episode, I'm going to call it...

I'm going to point at the stands, at the edge of the stadium. This might be a Hall of Fame tangent episode. Just because of everything else this movie spins off into conversationally. But this is a podcast about filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their careers, are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want, and sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they talk babies. Hey.

Hey. Hey. It's the main series on the films of Amy Heckerling. It is not called Look Who's Podcasting now. It is called Pod Times at Ridgeman Cast, but I'm going to say, Look Who's Podcasting, it's us, on this episode talking about Look Who's podcasting now. It is called Pod Times at Ridgeman Cast, but I'm gonna say, look who's podcasting, it's us, on this episode talking about look who's talking. Tag yourself. Nailed it.

Yeah. I'm Joan Rivers. Right, I'm John Travolta Smile. Yeah. Do you know Joan Rivers plays the girl baby in this movie? You have to stick around for the end credits scene in order to see. I did not know that. Did you watch this film?

Yeah. And did you see that bit but you didn't recognize it was Joan? Or had you already turned off your TV and left your home? She does say her most famous cast phrase. It was that. It was actually, it was raining, his hands were in his pockets. We are here to talk about Amy Heckerling's, I would assume most successful financially film.

Yeah. Look Who's Talking, a 1989 film about child rearing and infidelity. What else is this movie about? Cab driving. It's about a bunch of New Yorkers being like, ''Hey, I'm so busy.'' Get out of my way. It's about how being a flight instructor is not a sustainable career. So you have to drive cabs on this guy. How you can only give a big go to one bar of candy a day. One bar. It's about how being a flight instructor is not a sustainable career. How you can only give a big go to one bar of candy a day.

One bar. It's about toupees. Yeah, there's a little toupee sprinkled in there. We were saying this right before we started recording. For a movie that is only 35 years old? 36 years old. Sure, 36 years old. It's the same age as my brother. This is one of the deadest modern cast we've ever covered

in a way where I was just like, the opening crawl starts. Look, I mean- It is like an in memoriam reel. No one can expect Abe Vigotis to still be alive. The man made it a long time. He did. He made it to like 95. He did.

As did Olympia Dukakis, I think. As did Siegel, in a way. Olympia Dukakis made it to 89. George Siegel made it to 87. Okay. Kirstie Alley, not so much. But even Kirstie Alley, when she died, you were like, oh man, and she was 71 years old.

You're like, wow, time has marched on. I'm gonna say too soon. Of course it was too soon. I don't want people to die. Everyone should be alive. I'm glad you got that, your stance out there. And of course Bruce Willis has, you know, retired from public life due to illness.

Now, Twink Kaplan, still going. Twink Kaplan's still going. Oh, but Joan Rivers also. Joan Rivers has died. Twink Kaplan doesn't get solo card billing. I think moves up to it in the sequels. So you're saying that Twink Kaplan shouldn't be part of this conversation

because she's on a split card. I'm just saying, in fact, she's a no card in the opening credits, my friend. I was just watching the film and seeing these great star names appear on solo cards over incredible special effects footage of sperm. And I just kept being like dead, dead, dead, dead. I'm just saying, they all lived, most of the cast did at least live rich lives, which included making the film Look Who's Talking as part of the rich tapestry of their life. And the film Look Who's Talking 2,

and indeed the film Look Who's Talking Now. Yeah, are they all in now? No. Like did Vigoda make it to now? I think Travolta and Allie are the only ones that made it to the last. I think Twinkaplin's in all three. I could see Twinkaplin being like,

yeah, sure, whatever. Like, I'll fucking do it. Well, yeah. Oh, look, I'm looking at Look Who's Talking Now. Fucking George Seagull's in it. Okay. And here's someone else Oh, look, I'm looking at- I think the caucus is all free. Look who's talking now. Fucking George Siegel's in it. Okay. And here's someone else who's in,

look who's talking now. Ava Gotha? Which we will be covering on our Patreon. No Ava Gotha. Charles Barkley? I did know that. As himself? Oh, is because Bark like a dog?

Is that the joke? Oh, get out of here. These people took five minutes making that movie. If that's what they were thinking. I just wanna say, like, this is a film that spawned a franchise. A trilogy of films and a two-season sitcom. But a rapid franchise where the entire thing's contained within four years.

89 to 93. It's the George H.W. Bush era. The second movie came out a year after this one. They were just like, go, go, go, go, go! These babies aren't getting any younger. Fourteen months in between releases. Right, right, the sitcom has already ended by the time that Now is bombing in theaters, is that right?

What's bombing in theaters? Now really bombs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. We'll get to Now. Now shall be covered behind the paywall. Now behind the paywall. Too spicy for him. Of course, Amy Heckling did direct too, but we're here to direct, to discuss, I'm

here to direct you all in the discussion of look who's talking. I just wanted to, it was an interesting stat that jumped out of my head. Amy Heckerling has created three films that spawn TV shows. So Clueless, of course, had its spinoff show. Right. Which was very successful. Was there a fast time show? There was a fast time show for one season.

Yes, a very ill-fated, yes, yes, yes. But JJ pulled up in the dossier, I did not know this, out of seven episodes, Hackerling wrote and directed three. Now I'm like, I need to fucking watch the fast time show. I'm gonna watch it. I'm gonna do it. There's probably an I never could be your woman,

whatever that movie's called, like pitch at stars right now, right? Someone's like, eh, we could do that. But I'm just like, this woman did quietly spawn franchises. You know, in a... Well, talk about spawning. In a quiet way. What a segue.

This movie begins with spawning. But who's our guest? Have we introduced her? Our guest today. Okay, Jesus. The Hollywood editor at Vandy Fair. She's a senior editor now, apparently. Senior editor. I should have called her the Hollywood editor.

You got that lodged in my head. I can't believe that you guys are fucking this up. I'm so upset. But a more important credit that you said out loud, Hillary, while David was checking my notes here late. I was like, yes, because of a screening. A woman who can do it all. Yes, Hillary Busez.

No, I just. That is what it says on my card. I just want to call it, Hillary. Hillary Busez doing it all. Yes. Hillary Buse's. No, I just- That is what it says on my card. I just want to call it. Hillary- Hillary Buse's doing it all. Ben, early, right? Hillary, early or exactly on time?

You seemed like you were right on time. Exactly on time. I'm punctual. Okay. I got here at 12.05 for a noon record. Okay? Are you seeing this? Are you watching this?

I have absolutely no patience for this. You want me to do this in front of every episode, Griff? I welcome the debate. I'm building to something very specific here, okay? Yep, go on. I get here at 12 o'clock. You had done a coffee order. I had placed a croissant.

I go, oh, where's the croissant? You go, I'm sorry, I forgot it. You're like, well, David isn't here yet. And he just texts us, the train is running slowly. I was like, you know what, I'll go out. Go back out, David isn't here yet. And he just texts us the train is running slowly. I was like, you know what? I'll go out, go back out, pick up the croissant. I arrive two times before David arrives one time. Then David arrives and immediately says,

sorry, I'm late, although it's your fault, Hillary. This is what I'm building up to. Well, that did a lot of it. That you immediately blamed your lateness on Hillary. We have so much to talk about, but to explain what I meant by that, Hillary, I told Hillary I'm seeing together. I was seeing a screening of it. That you immediately blamed your lateness on people. We have so much to talk about, but to explain what I meant by that, Hillary, I told Hillary I'm seeing Together. I was seeing a screening of the film Together,

which premiered at South by Southwest and was snapped up by Neon, I think, right? They bought it. So it's not coming out for a while, but they're, you know, I make taste, so I guess they wanted me to taste make. No, I don't know why they're showing it to me. I told Hillary this and Hillary was like,

oh, I didn't go, I was gonna go, but I didn't go because I didn't want to be. I told Hillary this and Hillary was like, oh, I didn't go, I was gonna go, but I didn't go because I didn't wanna be late for your podcast. And I was like, number one, being late for our podcast is a-okay. Yeah, it's kind of a segment. Right. Number two, we could have had the whole day together.

And then they made my screening 10 minutes or 15 minutes late because they were waiting for someone to show up who never showed, Godot, who I guess now works at the New Yorker or something. But you just immediately jumped to Josh. And I assumed she meant Hillary, but Hillary actually had not. Had not RCP'd.

It was not me. I just wanna say Hillary Innocent. Hillary Innocent, David Guilty, MTA, as it always is, mildly guilty, but they do their best. And may I just add to some context? The room does smell of toasted ass croissants. Burned into croissants. Now, I'm glad you brought this up

and we're not moving on from this because I'm not disagreeing with the charge, but I think your wording's a little- You're pleading guilty. No, I think the wording's a little wrong. Your honor, what's the word? What's wrong with the word? I intentionally smoked a croissant.

Oh yeah, of course. Cajun style, you said. Did you hit the Cajun style button on your toaster? Hilary, do you know that I'm a pit master? It was a Creole croissant. Correct. Okay, let's get into it. Here's my question for the room.

This is all so relevant. I like the fruit woods. That's what I tend to go towards, rather than the nuttier ones. Is it indisputable, and then we can talk about Look Who's Talking, that John Travolta's last sort of meaningful role was Robert Shapiro in American Crime Story,

because obviously after that there is Gotti, but we're not counting Gotti, are we? We're not counting the fanatic. I was going to say that his last significant role was mispronouncing Edina Menzel's name, but that was before. Was that before? American Crime Story, yeah.

Is it? Yeah, well, because President's 2012's name, but that was before American Crime Story. Yeah, because President 2012. Yeah, 2013, 2012, whatever. Yeah, that was his biggest cultural moment of the last ten years. But I agree. And you know what? I thought he was so fucking good in the People vs. OJ. He's great. Everyone is locked in in that, and it's a cast of lunatics.

And I was like, this is a weird casting choice, but he's taking big swings and supporting role and whatever. And I was just like, this is gonna open up new corridors if he doesn't feel the need to be like... And now 10 years has passed. He's not done interesting shit with it. Well, he's just like been a bald guy in a Redbox action movie for 10 years.

Like 80 of them. Did you read the blogline for That's Amore, which is the movie that he has coming out? We're all excited for the green Book guys, That's Amore. But a movie that has been shut down, that is like only half filmed and is the center of like- Isn't his last name in it Amore? Yes, yes.

That's Amore. And it's a musical. Who's he talking? That's Amore. I'm sorry, it's Patty Amore. He falls in love with her. Played by Catherine Heigl. Played by Catherine Heigl.

Written and directed by the son of the man that Green Book was based on. Yes, Nick Vallelanga, Academy Award, two-time Academy Award winner, Nick Vallelanga. Yes. Who loves to write movies like That's Amore and tweet like, you know, whatever, Bush did 9-11 or whatever he was doing. But there were like four different controversies around That's Amore and it might never be finished. Right, like Rust got finished, but That's Amore is not finished. They stopped filming two years ago and have never resumed. It's just, we're gonna do a lot of

travel to career context here. I'm just gonna talk for a sec, and I'm sure you guys had the same experience. I did, maybe not, but I fire up this movie last night. I have to watch it, it's been a long week for me. But hey, 96 minutes of baby's talk and how bad could this be? Sure, America fell for it, why won't you?

One second into the movie, I'm like, well, this isn't what I thought the movie was. Because the movie begins, well, I guess, the sperm, I was like, sure, sperm. The sperm is the thing that I remembered most about. That I sort of knew about, but no, Keirce Alley having an affair with George Segal, I was just like, well, I didn't know about this.

I didn't know that, I thought the movie was, she and Travolta have a baby. I thought it was that simple. Now, I did, I think know that. I thought the movie was she and Travolta have a baby. I thought it was that simple. Now, I did, I think, know that, yes, this was not going to be a Baby Geniuses-style mouth replacement, the baby actually talks movie. Which I think... Except that there's a lot of scenes in the end of the movie

where the baby's mouth is moving. He is flapping his mouth. Which is so... It is a little disconcerting. There's some interesting techniques in this movie. But then it's sort of a Garfield style. That's how I described it. Which of course he does have a Garfield in this crib

and Hillary, you and I are gonna discuss his crib. The baby safety in this movie is. I mean, you would be sent to jail. It's an interior monologue that only the audience can hear. Right, and it's mostly him going like, hey, who's this lady over here? She's got a bottle, hey, let me at it. You know, it's basically just that.

I didn't know those came in jumbo size. Re a pair of breasts. That's what Mikey says. And he doesn't even breastfeed. Why does he say lunch when he looks at the boobs? No, we know in fact that she puts breast milk in a bottle. She pumps, she openly pumps. She's a working mom.

She's a pumper, Jerry. I'm glad that Seinfeld didn't do a breast milk episode. She's a bumper. She's a bumper. And as the movie goes on, I'm like, wait, didn't Amy Hackerling, there's a whole thing with her where her kid found out that the dad she thought was her dad is actually not her dad and her dad was hell of a movie. Can we just zoom out and say the thing really quickly? Right. And then I Google it and I'm like, oh, that's what this movie is about. I forgot, you know, like I put it all together

and America in 1989 was just like one ticket, please, to all of that. What is so absurd about that and the part that really leaps out to me is that Keircey Ali's character is named Molly, Amy Heckerling and Harold Ramis's illegitimate daughter is named Molly. Can I just zoom out on this for a second

and just lay this out very cleanly, right? Amy Heckerling marries Neil Israel, who then becomes or at this point already has created the Police Academy franchise. Yeah, so he'd already done America a solid. Yes. And he wrote Look Who's Talking 2 with Amy Heckerling. Yes. Not Look Who's Talking 1. Amy Heckerlake. Yes. Not Look Who's Talking 1 though.

I think has a producer credit on this? Possibly? Nope. No? Okay. But they are divorced by the time the second Look Who's Talking comes out. They divorced in 1990. Right.

And this film came out in 1989. Their divorce happens in between these two films being released 14 months apart. Okay, they are married They have a child. I'm doing a very quick synopsis here just so we can learn back this more She married Israel in not the country the guy in 1984. She had her daughter Molly in 1985 This is a great comeback movie in the lineage of what we talk about where she was basically coming off two things that didn't help her career and was like, I need a movie that's a can't miss hit. To be clear for...

Something that makes me undeniable. For Hillary, Johnny Dangerously, which was basically sort of like a mild flop. Passion Project seems a mild flop. And then European Vacation, which I think monetarily did okay, but nobody was happy with it. Is the kind of... It was almost a it ends with us situation. Where it was like, this movie was a hit enough to justify a sequel and get

everyone hated this one. The prerogative on vacation three is fix it. Her and Chevy like fight incessantly. Like everything about it's a problem. She has a miserable experience. People don't like the movie. It's a success almost in spite of her, and she's like, I need something to get my agency back.

Her and Neil Israel have a bit of looking at their daughter and doing voices of what they think her interior monologue is. Very relatable. Right, doing this bit together. Her and her comedy writer husband. To be clear though, when Amy Heckerling says it, I'm like, no, every parent does that, Amy.

You're not original. But she thinks about it as like one of its movies. What is original is just being the first person to go like, that's a fucking movie poster. But that's not what she did. Secretly what she did was, I'm gonna fucking get one over on Ramis. This is what's crazy about this movie, okay? I'm gonna make a character based on him. Who's the most odious, disgusting man.

This is the subtext of everything that I just said. The child that Neo Israel thought was his own was actually the byproduct of a years long affair that she had had with Harold Ramis. Is that true? Like that he thought it was his kid? I believe so. Okay, I didn't know that part. I think perhaps that ultimately led...

She certainly was raised by him and was like, that's my dad. I know that. She certainly doesn't know that Harold Ramis is her father until she's a grown up. Right. Yeah. Perhaps it's the cause of their divorce. I don't know. We'll dig into the dossier, but they are raising the child that is secretly Harold Ramis's child. While she's pregnant, he's like, I'm going to leave my wife.

The plot of this movie is what Harold Ramis did. He was like, I'm going to leave my wife. I know I've knocked you up. I'm going to do it, and then he ended up with a third one. The only difference is that she wasn't a single mother at that moment, that she was married to another man, and they were like, we're both gonna leave our spouses, and then Ramis instead falls for someone else, and Ramis is her secret father, which she doesn't know for like 20 years.

So there's this incredible synthesis of Amy Heckerling being like, this is a blockbuster movie idea. Just what a simple hook. The baby talks. And also was like, my stature's kind of dinged. I could maybe get a huge movie star to do two days of voiceover and sell the movie on that

in a way I'm not gonna get a huge movie star to agree to be the star on set every day. So that's part of the calculation. But really this movie is her grinding her fucking axe about the Remus thing. And like, what a W for her. That she gets to do that and have a giant smash hit that like, you know, rebounds her career.

And hey... It's like a Taylor Swift song. Exactly. And her husband co-writes the sequel. Yeah, well, he's gonna get some residuals, but beyond that, my main man, John Travolta, being like, can I hitch a ride to this weird train? And he also revives his career.

Sort of. He revives his career in 1994. Well, but it's the weird thing when Travolta has had so many comebacks. And this is a comeback, but it's right. It doesn't make him cool. It is financially successful, yes. It makes him famous again.

This has always been my contention, is that like people like to say Travolta was saved from the wilderness by Tarantino. Like no one had thought of Travolta in 15 years. And I'm like, I think it is closer to pre-McConnaissance Matthew McConaughey. Right, where it's like he's still in the mix. He makes fun family movies.

He had a series of rom-coms that were big hits that were not respected. And I think more than anything, the industry was like, we thought this guy was going to be a serious movie star, and now he's kind of a lightweight. He is bankable, and then there's even the arc of like, look who's talking is huge. The movie, like he doesn't do anything with it. He makes two more Look Who's Talkings and like three other bad movies.

Two, he really only makes one other bad movie, which is called Shout. White Man's Burden is shot before Pulp Fiction, but comes out after. It's a very normal movie. But Look Who's Talking Now is one year before Pulp Fiction. He has this arc of, is Travolta back as bankable, even if not legitimate, that within four years she's already taken. Look Who's Talking Now is the kind of movie that you make where you're like, fine, I'll be the heroin addict in that weird guy's fucking script, I guess.

Right. Okay. Like, where is, like, you know, whoever Tarantino was thinking of apart from Travolta, who's like, I'm not touching this thing, it's too violent, it's too weird. This franchise has, like, rotted so quickly. Travolta's like, I'm talking to a dog, I'm fine. Yeah, I'm like, sure, what do I have to do?

I don't think that he talks to the dog, but the dog talks near him. We'll find out what happens in that. That was like the first movie I saw in movie theaters. Is Look Who's Talking Now? One of them, yeah. How old are you, Hillary? I was born in 1988, so I am the same age as Bruce Willis.

You were six or five or six. Mikey Bruce Willis. David. Yes. We all know about Monarch and their legacy of monsters. Oh, those that verse of monsters that infamous government agency that oversees the verse of monsters. These monsters King Kong, the Scar King, Godzilla, Muto, Tiamat, right? These giant big things that have so much power over our lives, sometimes they just disappear and then pop up again a couple years later, right? It's a little like money.

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That's me stopping and starting. No, no, no. Really good sound effects. Thank you. And good object work, by the way. There was a really solid handle in David's hand. You could feel the lever. It's so funny that I didn't know about Monarch money and just happened to bring

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You can max it out or something. In the same way that Monarch tries to keep tabs on what's going on inside the Hollow Earth. Yeah. There's like a podcast in that, right? Several. I think Brian Tyree Henry is a professional podcaster across two movies. Yeah.

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I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. This is a thing we've talked about that culturally is gone. Mine was Annie. For many generations, the first movie a kid would see in theaters was a re-release of an old movie. 100%. I went to that Jungle Book. I think I went to that 100... It was the courses. What else are you going to do? And if you were a parent, you were like, there's going to be like three of them this year.

Yeah. There'll be three wide-release Disney, like, reissues. Yeah. Mine was famously John Huston's Annie. That's the first film I saw in theaters, a re-release of that. I was gonna say. Weird movie. When you saw Now in theaters, am I correct in assuming that you had not seen the first

two? That this was just your parents being like, a talking dog movie for Hillary? I mean, I think it's like, yeah, there are three children and we have to do something with them. We will take them and... Right. The dog talks. Because Milo and Otis were hanging around. Yes.

Some dogs were bound. Commer Bound was a big, big touchdown. And if an animal talks, a child is there in the early 90s. Which is funny because this is not a children's movie. Look who's talking. This is not. My guess is that now has a more PG flavor. Like right, like they probably like...

If I can sidebar here quickly, I, to my great surprise last night, realized that I have never seen this movie. Oh, I knew I had never seen this movie. The reason I find that surprising is, in my, like, parents' very overprotective media control as a child, we had the Disney Channel, and this was an era before Disney Channel had much original programming, certainly didn't have original movies.

It was all reruns of shit. And they were just, like, Nickelodeon's too cynical and too dark. Like there were all these things that they banned that were for kids. And they were like, anything that's on the Disney Channel, we assume is safe. And Disney Channel had this weird rotation of like left-handed, less like sequels and flops that they would air all the time that I would see so often, where I have seen, I think, both, Look Who's Talking Now and Look Who's Talking To 15 times, but have not seen them in 30 years.

But you have never seen this one, because this one probably was expensive. I had also seen a first one. But the Disney Channel couldn't afford it. But Look Who's Talking To, I remember on my 11th or 12th viewing, my mom walking in and being like, this is not appropriate for you. Like clocking like this one's weirdly edgy. Yeah, sounds like your mom's head was really on a swivel. Yeah.

The 12th, three watch, she's like, wait a second. By now, it is like, in my memory, absolute kiddie shit. It's like, yes. And two is the midpoint, but two has like- Well, but two has a lot of like poop jokes, right? Like two is a little more juvenile, I think. Two, I remember, has crack pipe shit. Which, well, hey, man, it was 1990. It's the 90s.

It was in the news. But yes, it's more... But it's like when my mom walked in on me playing GoldenEye 007 on my Nintendo 64 and was like, are you looking through the eyes of a man holding a gun who's shooting people? And I was like, I'm James Bond. I was at a game stop and there was a mother with two children,

like a teen girl and a younger boy, probably like eight or nine. Right. And the girl wanted to buy something and the boy was like on his absolute best behavior, being a little polite gentleman, being like, mother, could I perhaps bother you? It would mean so much to me if you bought me one game. I'd love to play a game. And he hands the game to her and she's like, it's used.

How much is it? Only $20? Sure, fine. And then the teen daughter walks up and is like, are you really going to let him play a game that's all sex? And drug dealing and guns? And the mom turns around and is like, Timothy, you get right over here! It goes ballistic and then calls over the GameStop employee and it was Grand Theft Auto 5.

Yeah, well. That girl must have felt so proud of herself. And she was like... How old was the kid? The kid was like eight or nine. It's a little... He was like, mother, it's a driving game. Yeah, I will be following the rules.

Yes, some break the rules within Grand Theft Auto. David, this kid made that exact argument and won his mom over. Good friend. It was incredible. Good job, kid. He was like, I would never even go to the sex stuff. And she's like, in that case, I will buy you the game. But if I walk in and there's sex stuff happening.

Yes, that's that's what it felt like. OK, so you do you remember when you saw the first two or did you ever? I mean, that's the question. I remember having seen this movie. Most of what I remember, again, is the opening. In my... Which two opens the same way, so when it started, I was like, -"Oh, I've seen this." -"Maybe that's what I'm thinking of."

Maybe I've seen two and I assumed it was one. Well, I also, I'm mentally linked to my sperm, so whenever I put it anywhere, I can see it swimming. So it was a very normal image for me. I was under the impression at the beginning that that sequence was like real footage of the inside of a woman. Oh, like as a kid you're like, yeah.

Like Nova. They got like a medical camera. Pretty good effect. And realizing that it was like a puppet was a big disillusioning moment. I think the effects are amazing except sometimes the puppet is no good. You know, like sometimes it's fine

and they're kind of obscuring him enough. But I like how weird the puppet is. Me too. I like all of that. It's true that an actual human fetus does look insane. Yeah, that's right. I mean, exactly. Don't worry about real. They look weird. And my memory too has even more puppet.

That's cool. Like, he resets the clock and is like, we're not going to start with the daughter being born. Right. Sure. Right. We're going to slow this back. We're going to show conception because that's what you came here to see. Look, let's say it is a good ending gag

to have them kiss and then cut to the sperm again. It's a great ending gag. John Travolta is that virile. It's immediately. It's a great callback. Of course, Travolta's fucking oozing tea in this movie. I run very hot and cold on Travolta. I run, I'm realizing hot, hot, hot.

I think this is both such a good movie star performance from him and such a great example of what I would call a movie star movie, where you're like, it is so much the two of them and their charisma and their chemistry in a way that sells a ton of shit that makes zero fucking sense. And in so many ways, I'm like, that is the ultimate power of a movie star, not like, you do a good job in Killers of the Flower Moon because you have a well-developed relationship

with Martin Scorsese. Like, that's good acting from a movie star. Movie star shit is just like nonsense that you will through charm and energy into like... Like, when he abducts the baby and takes it to the airplane hanger, she should have him arrested. He could have just left a note. He didn't even know.

He didn't even know. Hey, well, took your baby out to hang her. We wanted to check out some tits. Yeah, right. Beyond the fact that she doesn't have him arrested, there are 20 moments in this movie where the actions of the John Travolta character should cause the entire audience to stand up and demand a citizen's arrest.

Yet, you're like, I get what you want this guy hanging around. This film. Pretty fun. I'm going to open the dossier actually. Okay. So Amy Heckerling's two films, we said before this were very difficult experiences for her. European Vacation especially was such a train wreck, and Working with Chevy Chase,

who in every other project I've heard is a really stand-up normal gentleman, but apparently in that one there was a little tension. Right. It had broken her dang brain. I like some of the quotes that JJ included where like, I'm not going to get into it, but I had difficulties with certain cast members. And I'm like, oh yes, Beverly D'Angelo,

notoriously difficult. Whereas everyone who's ever worked with Chevy Chase immediately walks off set and into inpatient treatment. Exactly. And debates whether they wanna work ever again. Oh my God. Is there one story in history, we'll talk about this on that episode,

where it's like someone's like, I really had a... I really... He's a stand-up guy, you know, and he always called me like when my, uh, you know, kids got married or like, you know, it's like some nice story about Jimmy Cheney. I genuinely don't think so. I never heard anything like that. I think there are people who like tolerated him well.

And I think like even Dan Harmon would be like, there were moments where he could be so kind and generous that were confusing like the people who complain about him the most will sometimes give him and yet two times I saw him do something weirdly nice no one has ever been like yeah we get on like a dream Paramount offers her a film called the woofie boys which was gonna team the writers of Revenge of the Nerds with the comedy duo of Michael O'Keefe, a Academy Award nominee, and Paul Rodriguez. Not a Academy Award nominee?

No. She doesn't make that film. It doesn't work out. It did come out, I think, and it was a flop. But it's a dark night of the soul moment where she's like, these are the things I'm getting offered. She has made this real career choice of post-Fast Times, I don't want to get pigeonholed into the like female coming-of-age teen sex comedy and nonetheless Of course, she does develop the fast time television show for CBS

And that is the first time that she writes since her student film days So I guess it does get those juices flown a little she said she liked working on the show despite the show not being a success But I I do have to imagine there's some degree with her of like, she makes this Johnny Dangerously choice I'm going to zag, I'm going to do something to branch out and like avoid the type casting from the industry. She starts doing the bit with what's his pants. I was just going to say though, Giant Dangerously Bombs and European Vacation is disliked, she's watching the entire

like teen sex comedy explosion, which she's opted out of. Like I'm sure a bunch of these scripts that she rejected are now huge hits. There's nothing as huge though. Like what's a movie from the 80s that she would be like, I wish I made that. Like they all suck.

I, I. They do, they suck. I disagree with them all sucking. Which ones? But I think more so are like... Wait, like all the John Hughes' you say suck? David dislikes John Hughes. Well, I actually, no, I actually wasn't thinking of those as sex comedy.

Those aren't sex comedies. Then let's remove sex comedy. I'm talking about teen comedy. I was thinking teen movies, yeah. Yeah, but I might, yeah, I mean, right. I mean, sure, but John Hughes is an auteur, obviously, in his own right. I think that's the bigger thing, is that, like, she's probably looking at what happened with John Hughes. And she also directed her John Hughes script, European Vacation, which she didn't enjoy.

Right. But it's like, should I have been doing something like this and crafting my brand in a way that is consistent? I don't think so. I don't know. Because what she says is she starts doing Baby Voice with her husband and their new baby, and she's like, this is a movie, but she has the thought of like, I can see how this would be a hit, but I kind of want to do like Mean Streets. I don't want to do a cute family movie. It's one of those things where she's like, I'm a new mother. This is the idea I had. I think I should pursue it.

But there's a side of her that's like, that's not cool. Like that's not, you know, it's probably like, I don't wanna do the Whoopie Boys and I don't wanna do Talking Baby, but Talking Baby, it is. Look, it is a big thing and I think it was more so in this era still than it is now, but there is a sometimes under discussed distance between things that are successful and things that are respected

by the people who green light movies. Whereas much as people are crass and like we want to make hits, there is that kind of thing of like, there's the kind of hit that everyone in the industry looks down on, which she has to know like, even the best case scenario of the Talking Baby movie, I will be the person who made the Talking Baby movie. The Critics Awards will not be flowing in for Talking Baby. And they're probably gonna offer me, like, other Talking Blank movies if this is successful. Although, what is so wild about that too is you kinda... The Talking Baby part lifts right out.

You really don't need it. You don't need it. What is really fascinating is that it's maybe, like, 10% of what this movie is doing. Yeah, like, you said Bruce Willis sent two days maybe. Like, I feel like it could have been, like, a couple hours. He had very little to do. They actually just miked a dinner that he had.

He didn't even have a script. Waitress walked over and he goes, whoa, those come in jumbo size? Well, no, it's because lunch, yeah. It was how they did the kid in Monster's Thing. They just followed him around with a boom mic. Into the toilet, yeah. The film was originally called Daddy's Home.

Now, that would not have been successful. No, no, especially not if it's the same poster. Truly, as we were saying before, like 50% of the box office is just the big baby head and look who's talking as the title in a very honey-eye shrunk-the-kids way where you're like, you've told me everything I need to know in one image. To speak to what Hillary just said, Hackerling thinks no studio is going to really be that interested in a movie about a woman having a baby and all her issues, nobody's going to care.

But if you make it about a boy baby who's voiced by Bruce Willis, and even if that's not that crucial. Yes, that is what she's doing. This is what I love about this movie. She's Trojan horsing in a little shiv to old Ramis as well. You know? It is like such a weirdly personal movie, but beyond that, you're also just like,

there aren't even impersonal versions of this movie being made at this point. Like who's making a movie, like a broad studio comedy that is like trying to deal with, in some degree of emotional realism, the struggles of a single working mother in a big city. Now, with Ramis, the only thing that's a little different is that it's not like he had a fling with a third woman.

The third woman he ends up with is Erica Mann, who is then his wife for the rest of his life. So who knows what happened there in terms of, who was the most in love with who during this like messy 80s. It's not a love competition. So the parentage of Molly was a secret until 1999. Ramis told his daughter Violet that she had a half sister.

When Molly was born, Ramis took Violet to the delivery room. She wrote about this in her memoir. There's an excerpt. Her book is very good. Right. Yes. And then there's a big excerpt from it. So it basically doesn't go public until the memoir.

Is that correct? Right. Molly does not learn this herself until years later. A meeting is arranged when she's 18 years old with her and Remus. But Violet sort of like... However, if you see who's talking, yes, there are subtle allusions to this situation in the text of the film. If you squint, you can find them.

Exactly. Uh, Martin Brest, this is the great quote, who is Amy Heckerling's ex-boyfriend, ex-ex-ex-boyfriend, you know, they dated back in the film stool days, calls her up and says, it's the most profitable private joke ever. I mean, that is what is like incredible about this film.

Apparently, Amy Hickling would hand write her scripts. Yeah. What a psycho. That's serial killer behavior. There was a really good New York Times piece about her like 10 years ago, I wanna say, as sort of like the forgotten queen of the comedy who still lives in New York City, in the Upper West Side with her mother

and stays up until five o'clock in the morning drinking coffee and handwriting scripts. And it was sort of framed as like, why is no one green lighting Amy Hackerling things anymore? Oh, did they see Vamps or? I think it was post Vamps. Warner Brothers, Disney and Orion all passed, but TriStar is interested.

They think the script needs some work. They work on the script. I don't know, who cares? Who cares? It doesn't seem like anything. It's not like fucking, you know, Tom Stoppard came in. Well, I'm just surprised they didn't see the final version

and be like, the baby doesn't even talk that much. But this is what I think is so fascinating is this is still an era of movie marketing where you can trick people into going to see a movie giving them an incomplete picture and if they still end up liking what they see they won't take to the internet and like burn the world down because the internet also doesn't fucking exist like the trick is get them in the theater with the talking baby thing hope that the

grown-up drama works enough that they're not angry. Jonathan D. Crane, a producer of many Blake Edwards films, but also John Travolta's agent, gets to be the producer of this movie because he, whatever, if he's interested, and I guess he has some comic talent. The budget is just $8 million, 4 million of which went to Travolta and Allie and stuff.

So this is a pretty cheap movie. This is an eight million dollar movie that made 300 million worldwide. Yes, but basically Crane is like, I can give you Travolta, great, and I can keep the budget low. Does he rep Allie as well? I don't think so, but-

Both of them are Scientologists pinning that. Yes, he does move the production to Vancouver. I'm sure you noticed guys that this film, despite being set in New York, does not have that New York-y vibe you really want. But there are a lot of people yelling in like outer borough accents. True, honk honk beep beep.

But like, you know, I kept trying, like squinting me like what street is this? And then I realized like, oh, this just wasn't trying to get to New York. It's Vancouver Street. Right, anytime New York is specifically non-specific. I'm like this smells like Vancouver to me Hackerling when she realizes that Travolta is interested kind of rewrites a little bit My guess is kind of gives it a little more of a Vinny Barberino spin I mean she does right sure and she throws in a couple dancing things because she likes him dancing who doesn't

Here's the alley had broken out pretty recently in Cheers, because she joins Cheers in 87. So like it's only a couple years into her Cheers run. And what year is Search for Spock? Or no, she's in Wrath of Khan. She's in Wrath of Khan, which is 82. Okay. And obviously she rocks in that. Now, in a 2012 interview, Alley described Travolta

as the greatest love of her life, okay? She was married when she made this movie to Parker Stevenson. But she, quote, said, "'Believe me, it took everything I had inside, outside, whatever, to not run off and marry John and be with John for the rest of my life.'" It would have been very, look who's talking. It would have been very, look who's talking of them. It would have been. It would have been very a lot of things that happened.

Is he already married to Kelly Preston? I don't know, but I'm just going to offer this quote, and the audience can make of it what they wish. One of the ways Travolta charmed Allie, during their first on-screen kiss, Travolta kept breaking out into a Barbara Streisand impression, singing, Papa, can you hear me from Yentl? Hmm.

Hmm. Mikey the Baby was played by four different babies. Great. John Travolta marries Kelly Preston in 1991. Wow. Okay. So he was available. So he was on the market.

Bruce Willis got a percentage of the box office for his role. He probably made an estimated about $10 million for this movie. Incredible. We showed him this footage of babies and he said, OK, I get it. Yeah, I'm sure he did.

You know what else he got? Ten million dollars. But I think he improvs some stuff. You know, he had fun. It definitely feels like a guy who thinks he's funny but isn't a comedian being like, let me just riff.

Olympia Dukakis had just won an Oscar for Moonstruck and is in this role as the lady for Moonstruck. Playing the same role. She's good at that. Where are you gonna find the man? Yeah, Keir Stariali's sister Cher does not show up, but we couldn't be surprised to see him. And the visual effects are done by Todd Masters,

who works at an event later on, Tales from the Crypt and Adam's Family Values. The sperm was vinyl sperm and little fishing weights, and they dumped it in a tank and they had an underwater camera. Man, it's fascinating. Heckerling was concerned that the film would come off a little pro-life, a little too, there's always a problem with any pregnancy movies. The problem with Knocked Up is the problem with Juno, where it's like the character can't have an abortion

because then the movie won't happen. But they say the word in this movie. They do say it. Which felt pretty progressive for 1989. Yeah, so though it's mostly Stiegel being like, oh, I wouldn't want you to do that. I also... Look at my marble desk.

How the fuck did nothing get moved in there? I think there are absolute logic gaps in this movie that you could pick apart for. It makes sense that she wants to have a baby. I was gonna say, I think by the end of the film, you completely get her decision, because there is this part of her that thinks, like, Siegel will eventually come back around.

Like, that she thinks having the baby will ultimately win him over, that she clearly never wants to extinguish her flame for him. Well, nobody had written, he's just not that into you yet. Exactly. It wouldn't come for 20 years. Yes, it took Greg Barrett to solve that one. Film was shot, while TriStar was being purchased by Sony.

Sony was afraid to even release this movie, they considered Travolta box office poison. Heckerling also thinks that like, whatever they, you know, were sexist. I'm, you know, like just kind of like, but the film tested so well that it got a wide release. There was also a plagiarism lawsuit. Brought by a baby?

It's just something of like, hey, you had a meeting with me about my movie, which was called Special Delivery, settled amicably, I don't know. Like it's just one of those things where I feel like the studio always just... You can only write one, one movie about a woman. There's only one story that a woman can tell and...

But I want to just do this quickly, okay? John Travolta. Basically, like, small supporting part in horror film Devil's Reign. Then Carrie, then Saturday Night Fever. He's one of the youngest people ever nominated for best actor. Then Grease. Then it's best actor, then Grease, then it's like immediately, moment by moment, uh, okay, then he has like Urban Cowboy,

Blowout, Staying Alive, which is- Well, Blowout's a flop, but he's good. Blowout's a flop, but he's great in it, right? Staying Alive, which is like- Dragon's Triumph Bomb. Yes, and is sort of like a point of mockery, and then immediately the run after that is so fucking bad. Like you've gone from like, obviously all of this,

Welcome Back, Hotter is happening, right? He has his like sort of TV idol dumb, but then- He stops doing Welcome Back, Hotter in the 70s, yes. Right, so Welcome Back, Hotter, that movie rung, and then it's like two of a kind, his other movie with Olivia Newton-John. Very bad. Perfect, the jazzercise movie with Jamie Lee Curtis.

The Experts? I don't know that one. I mean, just look at the poster. Never heard about you. It's the one with the mullet. He's going, hey! It's him and Air Gross. The big two. Two NYC guys get jobs starting a nightclub in small town USA.

They don't know it's a spy training model town in the USSR. That film has Kelly Preston in it. So my guess is... That's where they met. That's where they met. That's right. Right. Chain of Gold. Chains of Gold, which I've never heard of. Just like a series... That's a TV movie.

Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Experts is the last thing right before Look Who's Talking. So he's coming off like a horrendous run. Then Chain's a gold TV movie in between Look Who's Talking and Look Who's Talking 2, then something called Eyes of an Angel. Eyes of an Angel was not released in theaters until after Pulp Fiction came out. Wow, but that was made in between Look Who's Talking 2

and Look Who's Talking Now, Shout, which is his like inspirational music teacher movie, and then Pulp Fiction. Like the Lucas Talking things were the only things keeping him relevant for 10 years, even if they didn't make him cool. David? Yes? You ever lift a little too hard?

Sure. You mean, yeah, lift something that's too heavy? Yeah. No, I mean like you're lifting, you know, you're at the gym, you're getting your reps and you lift too hard. Then you start you start stinking up the place. You forget to apply your daily deodorant and get hit by a truckload of B.O. from all directions.

Oh, I can't say that I have. But OK, I guess this is more kind of my personal experience. I can speak to this from a perspective of having this problem every day. So I'm doing my reps. I got my boys spotting me and then ding dong. Oh, can you just get the door? Yeah, hold on. Creek.

Hello. Hey, what's up? How could we help you? This is the way. Are you the Mandalorian? No, I'm the mandalodorant. Wow. You, well, I got to tell you right away.

It's the way to start smelling better. You smell fantastic. Thank you very much. And it's hard tell you right away. It's the way to start smelling better. You smell fantastic. Thank you very much and it's hard when you're wearing this much armor, best guard steel at all times. Now, I've heard that Mando whole body deodorant is from the founders of Lumi. Right.

And it helps men conquer their odor in a new way. That reminds me, have I introduced you to my child? Baby odor? You can look, I know that it's- That's a nickname, his real name? Yeah. Groger, dude, Groger, Groo, Groog. Formulated with mandelic acid, Mando has long lasting 72 hour odor control

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Try their best-selling scent, bourbon leather. Are you wearing that right now? Of course I am. I'm also wearing Beskar steel. Of course you are. Yeah, we got a big Mando package and sometimes you get a package in the mail and you're like, oh sure, this was a big package you ordered

and I'm like, oh, this is actually pretty useful. I'm gonna dig into this. Have you been enjoying your Mando Griffin? Me, Griffin, yes, of course. This is what I like about this package they sent us. A lot of different form factors. Mando has a whole range of products in terms of finding what you like best

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from head to toe with Mando. I was thinking maybe it could be Crow. Ooh, smells so good. Well, it's my son. That's not his name. I can't rename it now. Say the name again. Crow-ger, Crow-der-ger.

Yeah. Griffin David. What? I'm a gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder gooder good Try your hardest to give it to her. I know that about you. I do everything I can to keep pig healthy. I give her the best treats, the best food, the best toys. Okay. But then when it comes to litter, you just you disregard you. You drop the ball there, right? Griffin, what that's actually incorrect. Oh, no, because I started using pretty litter and it's the best litter and a total game change.

The game has been changed. Ben, I've heard tell that pretty litter helps monitor your cat's health, detecting abnormalities in your cat's urine by testing acidity and alkalinity levels and showing the visible presence of blood. Can you confirm or deny? True? It's true. What I also love about pretty litter is it helps to monitor pigs health and it just gives me real peace of mind to make sure that we're tracking any kind of issues that may come up. Maybe I should use this stuff. Pretty Litter ships free right to your door. It's non-toxic. It's pet safe.

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A diagnosis can only come from a licensed veterinarian. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details. Do you like John Travolta? I'm pointing at Hillary Beasley. I mean, who doesn't? He's good. I think some people don't like John Travolta.

When I dislike him, he drives me insane. You think some suppressive persons don't like John Travolta? Yeah, you're right. Those people aren't in touch. They're overloaded with feelings. I'm watching this movie, and I really have the realization of like, I love John Travolta.

He fucking is working his terms on me so hard in this movie. It really is. When he is good, I find him undeniable. When he is bad, few people annoy me. When's he bad? I mean, like, I believe you, but like, what's an example? He just gave like 50 examples. Well, he's not bad in those movies.

Those movies are bad. I would say... He's fine. Most of the movies we have covered him on in the show, I do not like him in Basic, I do not like him in Lucky Numbers. Basic is a really out-of-pocket performance. Like him in Michael. Those are all him trying weird things and I think really not working. I don't mind his lucky numbers. Basic is a really out of pocket performance. Like him and Michael.

Those are all him trying weird things and I think really not working. I don't mind him and Michael. I forget where I sort of settled on him in that. He's not terrible in it, but I don't think he totally works. I obviously love Old Dogs, but must acknowledge this performance

and that is demented. I think his hairspray performance is like a war crime. That is at all time low. Hairspray is just a mistake, I think, on everyone's part. Like he shouldn't have been, I get why they thought of him, I get why he wanted to do it, but it doesn't make any sense. But like I, Gene Hackman's recent passing at the time of this recording, I watched Get Shorty. I do think that is my single favorite

Travolta movie star performance. Get Shorty? Well, he's so phenomenal in that. And it is such like like, quiet, controlled work that is just charisma and presence. When he works, I'm just like, you can't argue with this. But he sometimes just has the absolute weirdest instincts.

I mean, and sometimes those work for it. Like, Robert Shapiro in The People vs. O.J. Simpson is a crazy... That's a crazy performance that he's giving. But it... And like, his like, very frozen, like, Easter Island face, like... But it works. And he's making like very big expressions of like, playing the eyebrows. Yeah. Yeah.

You know what friggin' stinks? Phenomenon. Phenomenon's not a good movie. It's a bad movie and he's kind of bad in it. I confuse Phenomenon with Michael. They're kind of... No, no, no, no, Michael is sort of a... Well, Michael's a bad movie and he's kind of bad in it. I confuse Phenomenon with Michael. They're kind of the same movie. No, no, no, no, Michael is sort of a, well, Michael's a comedy version.

Phenomenon is like Flowers for Algernon with E.S. It's very serious and saccharine. He has a brain disorder. He's got brain illness that gives him magic powers. He's a regular guy. But is killing him. And then he gets like hit by lightning or whatever. And he becomes a super genius.

He gets like all kinds of magic powers, and it slowly kills him. It's a very dull movie. My parents took me to see that movie in theaters, and I thought the title was Menomina. Yeah, that's what the title is. The title is Menomina. That's what I thought.

And then when they were like, no, it's Phenomenon, and I was like, oh, so on the Muppet show, they're saying Phenomenon? So then when I would watch the Menomina sketch. It's just misunderstanding turtles all the way down 100% but yet no, I just I think he's a very strange movie star and It's also like it is interesting that like once Pulp Fiction happens He has like a pretty fucking like bulletproof run for a number of years there even shit like

Phenomenon getting to a hundred million. What, it's called Menomenon. Oh, I'm sorry. No, I would not say that he has a bulletproof front, Griffin. That is not true, but I would say the Get Shorty was a hit. White Man's Burden was not. I would say that Phenomenon- That was shot before. Oh my, this guy's obsessed with how White Man's Burden

was shot before Pulp Fiction. That is his burden. That's my burden. To remind you of that fact. It's New Man's Burden. New Man's Burden. Michael and Phenomenon, I feel like are both movies It's his burden to remind you of that fact. New man's burden. New man's burden. Michael and Phenomenon, I feel like are both movies where it's like they make money but aren't popular.

Broken Arrow is a- They both make like 97, 100, right? Yeah, like somewhere in there worldwide. It doesn't like totally hit the bottom until about- No, but I'm saying Broken Arrow is similar where it's like it's a hit but you kind of wish it was bigger. Face Off, everyone's happy again.

But let's not forget Mad City, she's so lovely, right you kind of wish it was bigger. Face-off, everyone's happy again, but let's not forget, Mad City, she's so lovely. Okay, those are misses. Face-off is a hit. Civil Action doesn't do well, is sort of mildly respected. I like that movie. General's Daughter is a weird hit. Primary Colors also doesn't do well,

but he's good in it. Yeah. But you know what I mean? But you're right, no. But then General's Daughter, which is a sick movie that sucks Right, right. They kind of cruised a hundred minutes like a boilerplate Yeah, and then of course what happens here in 2000? I'm seeing he made some very normal movies battlefield earth and lucky numbers

Yeah, right and then wheels completely off the wagon yet He keeps being a star you like that should be so hobbling to make Battlefield Earth and Lucky Numbers, where it's like all sides of you are despised, right? But then it's like, all right, domestic disturbance is bad. Swordfish kind of made money. Yeah. Basic did okay. It's a big detail.

Like, he's still gonna be a movie star. Ladder 49 did okay. You know, like, he's kind of hobbling along all the way to Wild Hogs, where people are like, he's back, hey, nine did okay. You know, like, he's kind of hobbling along all the way to Wild Hogs where people are like, he's back, sort of. Right, he enters a period of being a B-list movie star with A-list recognition. Like, he's consistently getting a movie

to like 50 or 60 million dollars without a lot of respect. And he's probably someone who plays well overseas so you can always get some money on your international rights. I've heard that crews love him, that the studios love him, that he's very amenable, you know? The opposite of Chevy Chase. Yeah.

Sure, that's cool. But yeah, 2007 when he has wild hogs and hairspray. His wig makers love him. There was that moment. His wee reader meter operators love him. What are you talking about? Hmm? He wears a wig?

I know, the guy's hair is au naturel every single time. David, the only reason he chose to shave his head is because he was inspired by his good friend Pitbull. End of story. How many times does he need to say this? We all know how much hair he had. He just thinks it would be cooler to look like Pitbull. If we're talking about hair,

we should really talk more about Keirstie Alley though. So Keirstie Alley's hair deserves above the title billing in this movie. It's so gorgeous in this movie. It is a special effect in and of itself. It is so large and yet not in that 80s way of like, oh, she's got this big, done up hair. No, it's no. I feel like you would touch it and it would feel like real hair. It's my favorite Seinfeld thing.

It feels like they're trying to tamp it down and it's fighting. My Seinfeld bit, to invoke George again, where he's like, how big is her hair? And he's like, big. And he's like, if I stuck my hand in it, would I be able to get it out? Yeah, it's big, but not in a Jewish way. Here's my, I'm gonna call you out, Griffin, but not in a like accusatory way,

but I feel like you don't like Keirsey Alley because you're such a Shelly Longhead. Because when we did our Rathacon commentary, I remember you kind of kept being like, yeah, but she was no Shelly Long! Salmon Diane was better than Salmon... What's her name? Can you tell Shelly Long to leave the show? No, no, no.

I feel like I had, I for years didn't watch the Rebecca era because I felt such solidarity. And I... Shelly Long being what, rich and famous? With Timothée Ambe being the greatest romance of our time. We're talking about Cheers. Our time being 35 years ago. When we did the track commentaries,

I want to say I had maybe only recently finally gotten through the Rebecca years. And I just feel like the show is kind of a shadow of itself at that point. Well, she's coming in in season six. But also her run is longer. Like that's the wild thing is the show is kind of a shadow of itself at that point. Well, she's coming in in season six. But also her run is longer. Like, that's the wild thing is the show runs so long. Where I'm just like, this show's kind of running on fumes.

I think she's good on the show. I don't totally like the way they write that character. Well, they didn't know what to do with her. Yes. She's like a boring straight man for like a while. But they also do the weird, like, look who's talking thing where they're like, she's obsessed with a rich man who will never leave his wife for her.

That's just the vibe that Keirce Ali gives off. That was her thing. So I think at the time of the Treyach Commentaries, I was holding it against her a little more while trying not to feel like I was explicitly holding against her. Watching her in this, I was just like, Keirce Ali's fucking good. She rocks in this movie. She rocks in this movie.

She's so charming. She's so watchable. I enjoy her in this movie. I'm trying to think, like, so what, obviously, I was just like, here's the alley's fucking good. She rocks in this movie. She rocks. She's so charming. She's so watchable. I enjoy her in this movie. I'm trying to think, obviously, I guess I like her the most as Savik in the great film, Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan. I really enjoy her on Cheers. Yeah, I think it's a very good performance. I was a Veronica's Closet watcher as a kid. I think that's probably how I first knew of her.

Maybe the single least surprising thing I've ever heard about you. That I opened the closet. I took a peek. I took a peek. He checked out the rack. No, it's just like, I watched any sitcom. The rack on the closet, I'm saying. Like the coat, like the- Yeah, not her boobs.

No. No, I watched any sitcom. Well, you just keep the TV going. You just like keep NBC on or whatever. So I watched Just Shoot Me. I watched fucking, what was the one with- Suddenly Susan? Suddenly Susan, I watched this. So I watched Just Shoot Me. I watched fucking... What was the one with... Suddenly Susan? Suddenly Susan. I watched this.

Right, Caroline and the City. And they all had the same kind of vibe, where it's like, it's Manhattan, we're yelling at each other. You know, right? Like Sybil, Grace Under Fire. Grace Under Fire, at least. Oh, well, Spin City's good. Yeah. Is it? Spin City is good.

All right. Baa-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b- And then the Sheen Locklear era, it's not like it's bad, but it really does feel wrong that they're there. But when it's like, fucking, Boatman? Yes, Boatman? Kind? Kind? O? Rock? No, O wasn't on there. No, O was on our list, you freak.

But wasn't, oh no, Carla Gagino was on it at the beginning? Yeah, but she gets written out fast. They don't have any room for her really, but it's a... I was confused because, of course, Karen O shares scenes with Michael Boatman on our list. One of the few actors of that era to be on two shows Simon Famous. Boatman was riding the boat between shows. That's why they call him that.

You're forgetting Connie Britton, of course. Connie Britton. The Great Barry Bostwick of Rocky Harle. The Great Barry Bostwick. And such. And Alexander Chaplin, who is very funny on that show. And Bradley Cooper's ex-wife, Jennifer Esposito. Speaking of people like... ...cut that out.

Um, so, but... Keirstie Allen, did you like Veronica's Closet? Before we talk about the film, I just really need to get you on the record about Veronica's Closet. I never watched Veronica's Closet. I never watched Veronica's Closet. I was still, like, pretty exclusively watching Nickelodeon, I feel like, at this moment.

Sure, it was like 97, so you're not maybe ready for the movies about people owning Veronica. I'm very, very young. But no, but I loved her. Because the idea was she owned like a Victoria's Secret style, right? Like it was like a lingerie brand. Yes. Okay, so that makes, oh, that's why they call Veronica's closet. I see. What clever wordplay. I knew Kirstie Alley mostly from It Takes Two, the Olsen twins movie. Yes, yes, we discussed this.

You were in It Takes Two, girl. I was a two of a, again. You say this like you can't be both. You could. They were not concurrent. They were not similar, I know, and yet. Cause guess what? I was a big Olsen twins person.

I was both. You like two of a kind. Get you a Griff who can do both. I like two of a kind and It Takes Two. Two of a kind came later, they're completely different. That's what I'm saying, but I liked both. It's not a competition. Two of a kind is also the name of a John Travolta movie.

Which we invoked. A terrible, but a perfectly serviceable sitcom. Wonderful. Christopher Sieber. That's the thing. I was watching it, and they'd be like, what are the twins up to? And I'm like, let's get off the twins. What's going on with Sieber and Sally Wheeler? Is there an excuse to let him sing? Like, let's figure it out. Christopher Sieber is, and I want this on the record,

and I hope against hope that Christopher Sieber listens to my podcast, which I'm sure he does not, one of the greatest American comic actors alive. I loved him so much. A great musical theater actor too. Agree with you. Lord Farquad himself. Basically, if they're like,

we are doing a Broadway musical with like an insane sort of villain role, he's ideal for it. He was just in Death Becomes Her. Oh. It was very fun in the prom. Playing the Bruce Willis part? Yeah. Yes?

I didn't see, so I can't speak to it. He was good. He gets like a showcase second act, like 11 o'clock number. Sounds like the kind of thing he would mash into the upper deck. That? No, I think it's still, I think he's still on it. Okay.

I would think that he would stick around until at least Tony season. Yeah, he got to act Tony. He's still on it. I would think that he would stick around until Tony season. Yeah, he's in the show. They might have now gotten. Still do a ticket. I think so. I saw him do Into the Woods. Who is he in Into the Woods?

I read he was one of the princes. But am I remembering he was the wolf? Am I wrong about this? He was the other wolf? That's the brilliance of the Captain. It's like how Captain Hook is also Wendy's dad. It's the same thing. So that's what I saw him crush that

in a production with Vanessa Williams. Yeah, 2002, Into the Wolf. And I want to say John Cullum was the narrator. Laura Benanti with Cinderella. We might have been in at the same time. It's possible. He of course was Lord Farquaad in Trixie. Why are we doing the whole CRISPR fight?

Because he fucking rules. He's not in this movie and he's never actually with Kirstie Alley. The connection is so tenuous. Yeah, it is pretty tenuous. I love Kirstie super so much. Anyway, Kirstie Alley, going back to her. She made an Olsen Twins movie with Steve Guttenberg. That's where this began. And also Drop Dead Gorgeous, a big touchstone for a millennial woman.

And she's great in that. She's an incredibly funny actor who, unsurprisingly, Hollywood, right, didn't have too many parts for. I think she was a little weird. Her later in life activities would suggest. Mm-hmm. She was, right, one of those people where her celebrity became about more than her acting. She was a tabloid punching bag

for like the last 20 years of her life. In a way that seems to have really like warped her brain. She made several shows about being fat and being in Hollywood at the same time. But they would have really, no, they would have subtle titles like fat actress though. Or Keirce Ali's Big Life. At least that one's trying to put some sugar on it.

Look at this, like look who's talking as a massive success in 1989, right? And she is also two years into a run on America's favorite sitcom. Then she does Madhouse, which I feel like is a movie that came somewhat recently for reasons I forget, with her and John Larroquette, and Sibling Rivalry, a Karl Reiner flop. Then Look Who's Talking 2, Look Who's Talking Now, and then Village of the Damned, which is a pretty thinkless role in a bad movie we've covered. And then the next year, it's like It Takes Two.

Like I'm a little fascinated by, for all the spilled ink of like how hard it was for TV stars to make the jump to movie star in the 80s, the 90s, and the early 2000s. There are these cases like her and Ted Danson where, like, they do it. They have a big hit. And then they cannot sustain it in any way. Just have to keep making lacust talkings until you fade back to TV. Right. You make three men and a little lady and then they're just like,

now go back to TV, you fucking piece of shit. -♪ PAULA LAUGHS And then they're just like, now go back to TV, you fucking piece of shit. Kirstie Ali's good in this film. I think this is kind of her best performance. She's good in the movie. She's sovc. She'll always be sovc. But I think this is like the best showcase of what I think she's good at. Yeah, cause she, you know, it's not like

it's requiring great range. Yes. But she's really good. I also think it's like a role. It's obviously not like this is one to one with Heckerling, right? In like the circumstances of this woman's life. Well, yeah, she's an accountant. She doesn't write movies.

Exactly. Totally different. Right. She's not married to some cock who's writing Police Academy sequels. But I'm like, I think it's part of what was underlying for me in watching this is like, her Cheers character feels like it is very much written by men who are like, you know, it's some like career obsessed woman who's like going gaga over rich guys and is like an erotic mess.

And then this feels like the same character but written like intelligently and compassionately. Yes. Yes. To some degree. I mean, it's got 80s politics. There's insane shit that happens in this movie. Right, there's a couple moments that hit a little. There are so many times where she talks about how disgusting she looks

because of, you know, like her weight and just also like the difficulties of being a single mother. But it does feel like that, that like Roger Ebert quote about Ali McGraw in Love Story, where she has the disease that just makes you more beautiful. Like single motherhood, just like she's like radiating like health and good humor and talking about how gross. Dolly Parton. Yeah.

She lost that baby weight very quickly. If she ever had it. I mean, she lost it in that she went, I'm throwing a pillow across the room. She plays Molly Jensen. This movie opens with sperm. The movie opens with the gist. I can't emphasize that enough.

She has an affair with one of her clients, Albert, played very well by George Siegel, who's a great slimeball. I gotta like wipe the screen every time he shows up, yeah. And he is the CEO of the Chubby Charlie franchise? This is like a thread I was trying to make sense of. They briefly mention it and they don't explain. It's not very explored.

But it sort of seems like he is the owner of a Chuck E. Cheese-esque chain. Right. He's a lunatic because his office has a marble desk and he's getting in, I don't know, Navajo paintings or something. I think the aesthetic is crazy. He's insane. It's like a joke, like, rich guy with no taste. I think the characterization in his office and the arc of his office evolving is really good that like this guy You wanted more of the interior decorator guy has money

But no taste and just keeps on buying big things and he has like a 50s diner jukebox corner of his office But then he's also like but I appreciate ancient art and like local crafts people It made me like long for a time where this was charmingly insane rich people. Oh, like this is the kind of rich person we have for ourselves. Oh, this grossly rich man who has $5 million and buys nice desks rather than like buys countries and spaceships. Yeah. Expensive desks, I should say.

A daughter named Astrid. He knocks her up, promises to leave his wife for her, but then she catches him with another woman, his interior decorator, of all people. In a dressing room. Yeah, while vintage shopping with Twink Kaplan. He hits her with a line that is so brutal and well-written by Amy Hackling that I have to wonder

if Harold Ramis said it to her, which is like, I'm in my selfish era, essentially, right? Like, you know, and that feels transcribed. It really does. And it really does feel like the kind of thing a bananas 40 something divorce guy would say where it's just like, I know I like knocked you up, but like, I want to have fun right now. Like I'm allowed to be single. You know,

like that's his brain and he's rich, obviously, which is, I wondered also if the stuff about like his, his wife being into past lives, is that a Ghostbusters dig? Or am I taking an extra leap there? His first wife who we never see is a kook. We sort of get the... She's a new age type in that very 80s way.

She likes crystals. Yes. Not to jump all the way to the end, but I love the final stage George Siegel after that relationship falls apart, where he's just like, I've never gotten to be alone. I need to know what it's like to be alone.

And then his additional like, the being a father stage of my life is over. I need to move on to something else. She's like, your daughter's nine. She's like, nine and 11. That's a really good line too. Yeah. So I'm watching this movie, and of course course we're occasionally cutting to her uterus and

a baby is in there going, Hey, what's going on? I'm in like a uterus or something. Am I wrong? Right. In thinking that the first line of dialogue comes from a spermazoa. The sperm being like, I got in there. Right. And then you have like fetus puppetry. Yeah.

Yes. Which I will say, I think basically every line... I'm not proud to say this, but I'm going to say this. Every line, puppet fetus Bruce Willis says, I found funny. At that stage, I'm like, I get the gimmick of here is her outer life drama, and here's the baby inside being like, oh, I gotta move into a bigger place. Like all of that shit, albeit hacky,

and a lot of it's just the charisma, Bruce Willis, who I love, was working for me. So, Hillary, you've been pregnant. I have. Not to dox you on air. Forgot to mention that in your credits in the introduction. Well, it is the most defining quality of my identity. Oh no, woman who can do it all.

Yes. Of course. Right, yes, that was you doing it all. No, you've had a baby. I thought- I've in fact had two babies. You've had two babies. David, please, don't cut short her accomplishments. I thought this-

Yeah, I get from this administration, I get a stipend for each additional white child I have. Do you guys know the world's really bad? Oh, but they're Jewish. You're being so Jewish and Italian. You're right. It doesn't count. They're not going to be leading our great white future that our Mr. Doge... Tell that to Nick Vallelonga that Italians don't count anymore.

I'm watching this movie and I was kind of like, oh, is this going to be a pregnancy movie? Is it going to be a... Because now I'm realizing, one, I didn't know what this movie was. I thought this movie was I was kind of like, oh, is this gonna be a pregnancy movie? Like, is it gonna be a... Because now I'm realizing one, I didn't know what this movie was. Like, I thought this movie was something completely different. That's the moment when I realized I had never seen this before. What am I in for? Because it jumps, basically, from her being like three months pregnant to the baby is

born, right? That's the thing. It's not a pregnancy movie. I was a little let down. I was kind of hoping for some good gags about like, the pains of being pregnant, but there's not much apart from like... Pregnancy stuff, pregnancy jokes, I feel like all of those tropes are so well-worn that I actually appreciated how little of the movie is about pregnancy. Exactly, maybe she was like,

there's nothing here for me to... Like it has her throwing up, like it has her like eating. She can't fit into her clothes. No, she's so fat now, yeah. I don't know. And here's just a real Griffin opinion though. I was just so into that puppet baby.

And all his creepiness. So you want more of him. That I'm just like, and I like the game of cutting inside outside. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Some music is building and a chair is being panned over. Puppet baby is going to be in Avengers Doom Day. Oh, fuck. He's on the puppet baby from Look Who's Talking.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. But I'm seeing here that the puppet has aged weird. It's been 38 years. The chair thing was such a bungle, in my opinion, and yet has gifted us one of the most incredible meme structures that I think will never get old. They made it so fucking easy for us to put anything on the back of a chair and laugh and laugh and laugh.

So I'm watching this movie and I'm like, what the hell is Travolta? And I'm not even like, I need to see him. I'm just like, I thought he was in this movie. You thought he was the father. You thought the movie was. I thought he was the father. Misled terribly.

And then of course she goes into labor, right as Seagull's breaking up with her for good. And she gets in a New York City yellow taxi cab. As we all know also, labor begins immediately. Of course, it's like, whoa, I'm in labor. I gotta get in a cab. And you have some New York tough guy jokes of like her trying to get a cab and the guy being like, whoa, I'm in labor. I gotta get in a cab. And you have some New York tough guy jokes of like her trying to get a cab

and the guy being like, I'm late for a meeting. Right, yes, the guy, hey, I was here first lady. So she gets in the cab and Travolta, I'm locked in right away because he does play perfectly the, ah, shit, a pregnant lady's in my cab, but also the heroic kind of like, I will, hell or high water, get her to the hospital. I feel like the way that he drives is not entirely necessary.

What? He's gotta get through all this stuff. He drives like he dances. He doesn't drive through the construction site. Yeah, there's no other way. It's right, he's dancing through the raindrops, like only John Travolta can. It is kind of crazy that, look who's talking, ostensibly has two car chase sequences.

It does. Well, because it has that structure... Yes. ...where every half hour, they're kind of like, we need something kind of exciting to happen. Something bigger has to happen. Right. Every half hour, but the movie is 90 minutes long. It's 90 minutes long.

Hill. Three times. You had two babies. I have been pregnant for two. You've been present. I've been present for the delivery of three babies, but two deliveries. Can you just get Demerol injected into an IV

when you're in labor? I don't think so. You know, in 1989, Jesus. for the delivery of three babies, but two deliveries. Can you just get Demerol injected into an IV when you're in labor? I don't think so. You know, in 1989, possibly. I can't say. I think the whole point of the epidural was like, so we don't pump drugs into your veins. It is so...

I'm just, this was a specific point. You guys probably have no ground. This is something that I feel like nobody cares. He's like, hey, you want some Demerol? And she's like, ah, yeah. And that's obviously gonna affect the baby so much more than an epidural, which doesn't make you high, it just numbs you.

And this is like, this is fucking jacket morphine in there. Yes, well, and then that leads to the joke where the baby is high and that made me uncomfortable. The greatest joke in the history of movies. Obviously. This baby is weeping gravy. Obviously. Looking at his hand, it's blurring!

As comic screenwriting, I'm all the way on the course. I was just wondering, like I think if my wife had been like, hey, this whole labor thing is a real, like, I don't feel so good. Do you have any Demerol in the fridge? Yeah, put some like fentanyl right in my eyeball. I just imagine you putting your arms around your wife and labor and going, honey, just imagine how funny it would be if the baby started acting stoned inside of you.

Do it for that. Do it for the bit potential. There are things about the pregnancy that I do feel like are very specifically 80s, like the Lamaze jokes. Many, many jokes about Lamaze breathing. It comes up, John Travolta brings it up, he doesn't have anything to do with this pregnancy. My sister did it, hey, everyone learning to breathe. George Segal keeps complaining that she isn't keeping

her body tighter while being pregnant. Right, oh, my wife only gained 22 pounds. Her reliance on Dr. Spock. Of course, who was a hero to them all, and her correct calling out of his left-wing progressive politics, which is part of why my mom's generation loved Dr. Spock. No offense to Dr. Spock.

Fun fact about me as a child,'s generation loved Dr. Spock. No offense to Dr. Spock. Fun fact about me as a child, I thought that Dr. Spock, the baby guy in Spock from Star Trek, I guess this is not unusual. Why wouldn't you? One and the same. Well, especially that I still, I believed it maybe for too long.

Especially when a fellow Vulcan is on screen as he's mentioned. Anyway, I've never seen a Star Trek, but we can. But we were probably both raised with Spockian technique. Likely. Where it's like, put the baby directly on their stomach to sleep, fill their crib with the choking hazards and suffocation hazards. Do you guys know that you can't put anything in a crib right now?

It has to be empty until they're a year old. That is the advice. I did not know this. Okay, this is what I was wondering. This is uncommon. Unless you've had one, there's no reason for you to know that we all as parents When did this shift in the early 90s because of since and there's and it has had a very immediate Like yes, and yeah positive impact like so many fewer kids die now Wow

But I'm glad I got through right before that. I was born in there with a busy crib. That is the thing. Before crib culture went all woke. Exactly. And we're probably the last generation this will happen to because now, people who are older, their parents will have also done face-up to wake up, but our parents are like,

I put you in your crib right with an encyclopedia Britannica and the entire cast of Sesame Street. Yes, exactly. Like open claims. And you'reica, and like, you know, the entire cast of Sesame Street. Yes, exactly. Like open claims, yeah. And you're like, so like when your parents are babysitting your kid, you're like, just put them fucking on their back in an empty crib, please. And they're like, not one pillow on their face, please.

Let me, I did it with you. Nothing was wrong. You can't put a goddamn thing in there. Wild. So when he puts her baby right in his crib that has a Garfield toy in it and stuff, I was laughing. Well, there's also scenes where she's just holding him in the cab. She's not even using a car seat.

Hillary, absolutely. She just pops into that cab. I don't even, does she put a seatbelt on? Who even knows? She's a busy lady in the city. It's the go-go 80s. There's no time for safety. You would get arrested now.

She's got time for safety. You would get arrested now. You've got taxes to do. Chubby Checkers is very lucrative business. I just love they never explain what Chubby Checkers is. But you can put it together. Yes. I assumed that it was like a Johnny Rockets, like 50s style, like, theme restaurant. That could be true. It could be something like that. But there is definitely a mascot character you see. Only you would clock the mascot character.

No, because she breaks it. Sure, right. It's like a big mascot character. I remember her smashing the thing. Maquette, yeah. I also, I'm sorry, it's Chubby Charles, which I only correct because I kept being like, is this a dig at Chevy Chase?

That the more they say it, the more it sounds. Given what we know about Amy Hecker, like. Right, the more they say it. There's the scene where her boss is chewing around. She's like, I don't want the Chevy Charles, and she keeps saying it, and it starts to sound like Chevy Chase. That's a conspiracy theory I can get behind. I also want to note that her doctor, her OBGYN, well,

the two OBGYNs are from The X-Files and also Twin Peaks. Don Davis plays the OBGYN, who's like, your clock is ticking. Major Briggs and Cigarette Smoking Man. And then Cigarette Smoking Man is the actual guy who gives her the Demerol, which maybe it's Cigarette Smoking Man. That's all that you do. Exactly, maybe he's being nefarious, trying to create a breed of stoned babies.

Yeah, stoned talking babies. Exactly, as super weapons to combat alien invasion. Babies who can sell you wine coolers. She has the baby, and Travolta is there. They mistake him for the father, much as you did before you saw the movie. He's merely the cab driver, but then they tell him to gown up.

I don't know why he comes inside the hospital. This is what I'm saying. The next act of the movie is, it's like three things. It's like she's embarking on, His wife, Ron Travolta's here. Right, she's embarking on single motherhood, and the baby has an internal monologue. She's kind of dating around and trying to find, like,

someone, you know, who can be in her life. Also, Travolta's just kind of hanging out. Right, this is the part of the movie that even more than the baby talks is a complete creation. Oh, and we're also supposed to find it charming when he uses her address to commit fraud so that Avogada can be in the nursing home. It's Avogada!

Let's step backwards and explain the arc of John Travolta's character in quick. He's a cab driver slash flight instructor? Right. He's a cab driver whose real dream is to teach people how to fly. Yeah, he's from New Jersey. But that doesn't pay the bills. He's from Inglewood, New Jersey. His close relative is his grandfather, who he wants to get played by Abe Vagoda.

Yeah, by an aged Abe Vigoda. Yes. Not as aged as he would become. I was gonna say, he's got like 30 years left on the clock at the time they're filming this movie. But he's, you know, it's a gum-heavy performance from Vigoda. I think you watch this movie

and you understand why his death was misreported so many times. Yeah. He looks like he's not long for this world. I'm shaking him awake every morning. He's still in there. Okay, okay, okay. He's still going. Good job, Abe. You watch this movie and you're like,

oh, so it was a posthumous release, right? And you're like, this guy hasn't even made one appearance on Conan yet. That's true. This guy's not even warm. Conan is but a twinkle in the eye of Lorne Michaels in 1989. He's talking inside Lorne Michaels' belly. Exactly. Please, Griffin, his balls.

I'm sorry. It's so dark in here. I like the idea of Lorne Michaels pulling a junior with baby Conan O'Brien, a creepy puppet with the hair. I think I'll grow a... I can't do it. Doing the string dance. John Travolta drops Kiersti Ali off at the hospital. They assume he's the father. He goes into the string dance. John Travolta drops Kierstee Alley off at the hospital.

They assume he's the father. He goes into the living room. She's so drugged out, she does not remember that he's there. Then like a week later, seemingly, he shows up at her place. She's like, ugh, what are you doing here? Let's him in. It's like, how did you find my address? I can't find my purse.

Someone stole it at the hospital. Only in New York. Minutes later, he reveals, I have your purse. That's why I'm here. That's why I know your address. I'm bringing it back to you. I'm sorry. Right? He got in right under the wire right before Giuliani would clean this up, take Travolta's and the people like them off the streets. It is a weird series of information being revealed. Like, the order is strange. But you're like, oh, this is like why he has a reason to see her again.

It's a bit of a me-cue. And then she, like, kicks him out. And you're like, okay, so where does the movie go from here? And then a couple days later, she's in her lobby, and he's, like, pulling mail out of her mailbox? Yes, he's sort of right. I don't know how he's fishing it out really, but I guess he sort of gets something in

through the little mail events. He's like a TRU at Flight Instructor School. Right, yeah. Having to make mail fraud. Yeah. Shaming it out through the vents. So he can pretend his father has Manhattan residency to qualify him for some kind of home.

He's using her address to do this. He doesn't know one other fucking guy. Right, he's like, I need to get, not in Manhattan. In the good home in New York City, but I'm outside city limits, so I have to fake your address. And she was like, why would I let you commit mail fraud? And he's like, I brought you to the hospital and brought you your purse back.

And she's like, not enough. He offers babysitting in exchange. And she says, yes, absolutely. I will let you watch my child solo many times. A man I just met fishing mail out of my mailbox. The fact that she has a mother, played by Olympia Dukakis. Academy Award winner. Academy Award winner and a wonderful actress

who I once shared an elevator with at the old UCB building that we used to record this podcast in, which also had a lot of audition space. She must be going to Ripley Greer Studios. And I took a very silent and respectful elevator ride with her and was like in the presence of a legend. She'd fucking come over all the time. She loves the baby.

And yet she's like, nah, cab driver, hey, ring, ring, ring, where are you? I got to go on another date. Yeah, it seems like they just live in Queens or something. They could be there really easily. He lives in Jersey. Like, how, I mean, like, this is where I'm sitting. He's not even close.

In that same elevator ride, didn't she throw water in John Mahoney's face? You were respectful, but she stoically threw water in his face, right? Uh, that's wonderful. I like her and the husband. The husband is so funny. Who is Amy Heckerling's father? Yes. Oh, wait,ckerling's father? Yes. Oh, wait, really?

Yeah. Real dad. Amy Heckerling's family is all over this movie. He's just... Deeply personal. The gag with him is so funny. They're all like... It's a family of accountants, right?

They've all got adding machines at all times and all he seems to want to do is use his adding machine. Or read accounting magazines. Oh, when he's laughing at the accounting trade magazine. I loved that. I ate that up too. That's a good gag. I think all of that is funny.

I think because Dukakis is such a pro. Like she elevates, that material is very hacky, you know, in the wrong hands, right? Oh yeah, where Keirstie Alley is like, how could it get any worse? And then she's like, honey, I'm coming over. Lou Heckerling is the dad. He looks like a Lou.

He's got two film credits. Look Who's Talking. Look Who's Talking 2. Look who's talking to. There you go. Yeah, so. Did he get pack-end also? Yeah, he better have. Oh, speaking of 80s shit. He misses him adding up his back end. The, um.

Doing adding machines. Her misleading that it was a sperm donor. Oh, right. Oh, sure, right. She has this cover story of, right, I didn't get knocked up by a married man. I'm just a woman who can do it all. But they keep being like, you must be a lesbian or something. They keep making that joke. They keep making that joke. She has this cover story of, right, I didn't get knocked up by a married man. I'm just a woman who can do it all.

But they keep being like, you must be a lesbian or something. They keep making that joke. She's like, this is something that you would only do if you were very ugly or perhaps a lesbian. Right, and Travolta also hits her with the, are you a lesbo? It comes up a few times.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. But let's also remember like 15 years earlier, the Mary Tyler Moore Show starts in which a woman is single and lives in an apartment, and people were like, well, this is the snuff film. Right. What is this sick pornography on her? This is illegal.

The idea that she would want to pay for herself on a date is so ludicrous. Yes. Right, he has to say to her, hey, she likes to get pissed on during sex. You know what I mean? Like the guy, Travolta's like, let me take you aside for a second and tell you.

This lady won't pick up the check. Note that we're talking about all this stuff in the movie and that we're not remarking on the fact that there is a baby in the movie who Bruce Willis' voice comes out of his brain every few minutes. Is essentially the thing the whole movie was- And it's what Hillary said, you don't need it.

No, it's what the movie was sold on both in terms of selling it to the studio and selling it to the audience, both to great success. And yet, it sounds like in Heckling's telling of it, they were just like, look, you're not gonna get controlled performances out of babies. We bring babies on set, we let them do what we want. We don't have video playback. We look at the footage.

We find the footage that we think is interesting. We cut it in, we show it to Bruce Willis, and we're like, Bruce, you got anything to say here? Like, I assume they had lines written for the babies. But she was also like, we can't impose lines on them and expect them to hit the marks or get the facial expression we want. Maybe the slightly, I mean, by the time the movie is over,

he's like two years old, which in the movie, in the world of the movie has no idea what a baby does at different ages. How old is he? Cause his first word- He doesn't talk yet. I know, Hillary. Do you know that a baby, you know this, a baby can't jump until they're like two and a half.

Yeah, I mean, I remember that's the kind of like, I remember one doctor's visit where they were like, does your daughter like kick a ball? If you give her like a soccer ball. And we were like, we're not that kind of like I remember one doctor's visit where they were like, does your daughter like kick a ball if you give her like a soccer ball? And we were like, we're not that kind of family. The situation just hasn't arisen. But you know, like the obscure checkmark. But no, the conceit of the movie doesn't work if the baby can actually talk in its own baby voice. Right. Which I remember, and we'll talk about, look who's talking to next week, being a little confused by that as a child,

where he's like toddler aged, and is still dubbed by Bruce Willis. That happens, and so in the second movie, he's still, it's still internal monologue. Yes. But he's of an age where he should be able to talk. Right, by Look Who's Talking now, they are just played by child actors,

they speak in their own voices. It's the dogs. Only the dogs talk, right. It's of course, DeVito and Keaton. Right. Diane. Yes, but Right. It's of course, DeVito and Keaton. Right. Diane. Yes. But there's a bit of a like, uh, Rugrats-y thing, where you're like, is it like, Angelica

being the one who speaks both languages? That like, at this point might be, there's an internal monologue and an external monologue? You are getting at the weirdness of Rugrats, right? Where Angelica has crossed the liminal barrier. Right. Where you're like, is Angelica close-switching? No, she's bilingual, yeah. Or is she, like, in some Ghost Rider state where she can walk both worlds?

But Rugrats is so funny, because it's like, Chucky kind of seems older than Tommy. Well, he is. He's canonically, too. Okay, and Tommy's one? And Tommy's one. Tommy's also bald as fuck. This guy hasn't grown anything. That guy is Travolta level bald.

Right, and Tommy's just like a t-shirt diaper. Chucky dresses like a little gentleman. He has a t-shirt and short. He has green shirt. Well, he has a very fastidious single dad who takes a lot of time to pick those outfits out. He has shoes with laces. Tommy's walking around barefoot.

Tommy's a goo goo ga ga boy. Tommy doesn't even wear pants. No, but that's my question. It's like, does Chucky talk a little bit to his parents? No, only Angelica and Susie. Cause there's three. And then there's Phil and Lil. Yeah.

How old are they? They're only 18 months. I feel like they're right. They're like in the middle. They're in the midpoint. Yeah, Tommy's the youngest. Well then Tommy has a little brother. Then there's the little one.

Which is confusing. Okay, so then Dill is born and Dill can't even speak in a way that the babies hear. The babies hear Dill go like, meh! Okay, it is coming true, your tangent call out. Thank you.

This is really- And then do you know what happens? It's so similar to when Linus got Rerun in Peanuts, where it's like Linus was the baby in Peanuts. Linus is introduced as a baby. By the time the Rerun shows up, Linus has aged up to the same age as the other characters of Charlie Brown, but they haven't aged. Right, but then- Linus has aged up to the same age as the other characters

of Charlie Brown, but they haven't aged. Right, but that's... Wait, Linus wasn't the same age as them? No, Linus is introduced as a baby. Oh, because Lucy is the same age as them. Yes. But that's why Linus was so obsessed with the blankie, because he was a baby. That's why he has the blanket. But then I think ultimately this is like a nice discovery that makes the character richer, that him being an older child still reliant on the blankie gives him more of an internal conflict. No, of course that's the iconic line, is that he has the blankie and right,

he can't get over it. And I guess like he's still supposed to maybe be a little younger than like Charlie and Lucy and Schroeder and Pepper and Patty and Pigpen. They're not twins like you would have to be. But this is what I'm saying, but Charlie and Lucy at all don't age. Now I must, I must just call out,

I must just connect these dots. Shermie, we have all of our friends. We all love Shermie. Violet. Woodstock is the bird. Frida. Are you naming actual peanuts? Yeah.

Or just like children in Park Slope schools? Both. I must connect these dots. In the third and final film of the theatrical Rugrats trilogy, Rugrats Go Wild. It makes me say they went wild? It's a crossover with the Wild Thornberrys. Thank you.

The new hook, much like Look Who's Talking Now, is for the first time we can hear the dog talk. Because Eliza Thornberry famously can talk to animals. And who plays the voice of the dog? Bruce Willis. Correct! The episode's over. It's all connected.

Ha ha ha ha. It's all connected. Incredible stuff. Sir, this is a Wendy's. Ha ha ha ha ha. You're right, you're right. It's all connected. I mean, Willis.

And that movie was, Check Notes, gigantic financial flop. Willis, you know, it's funny with him that, right, that he has multiple, like, voice performances because he's also in Beavis and Butthead, right? And like, over the hatch. Who can forget? Where he replaced Jim Carrey. Because Jim Carrey said, I'm a method actor.

I can't do this process of one animation record session every four months. What am I supposed to do in between the sessions? I swear to you that is what he said to Jeffrey Katzenberg. What has he been doing to prepare for Sonic then? Well, he's just like... Looking at his bank account and being like, hmm, little love. Maybe never mind, yeah. His argument was basically like, once I start prepping a character I Cannot let go of it until production wraps whereas animation you work on it for like three years and every six months

They're like we got a couple new lines right and Willis was just like over the hedge great What's about a hedge or something? Let me at that microphone. Yeah, it's just what he has a great microphone in my bathtub I I got I love Bruce Willis his voice It's just funny that right that he had the little side gig. Well, it's always felt like that is like the one vestige of his sort of like past history of being first and foremost a comedy star. That the more he became an action star and like audiences rejected him doing comedy, it's like, if it's just my voice, they'll let me be funny Bruno.

Um, but this was a big thing when Jim Carey finally agreed to do Horton Heroes of Who. They promised him like we would like you must airlift me to the jungle of Newell. Well, first off, they got him agree to do the movie because he was already filming Yes Man.

And he was so deep in character. That's how I got him to give me 50 grand and make me a turkey sandwich. You could send him any script during the production of Yes Man and he had to sign on. Just like when he was doing Lir-aair Lair, the man couldn't lie. He could get anything out of him.

He couldn't lie. No, they like promised him on Horton Here's a Clue that they wouldn't do any pickups. That they were like, we will do one week of recordings with you and you say whatever you want and then you can shed the character of Horton that has been weighing on you so heavily. Well, he is an elephant. Yes.

Yeah, it's heavy. Think about it. 100%. He was the elephant in the room. Yeah. I've never seen the animated Horton hears a who. Is it any good? No, it sucks in his for losers.

Okay. Noted. There's like no good Dr. Seuss adaptation. Well, apart from, I guess, the original Grinch cartoon. No theatrical. theatrical, yes. How's the Shorter movie? I've never seen it, I've heard quite stinky. I think all the theatricals are bad.

Because my daughter loves the Lorax book. Yeah, there's an animated Shorter that looks good. Oh, is she a narc and a scold? Yeah, she's a big Wunzler fan. All the Chuck Jones half-hour Seuss adaptations are good. Yeah. Sure. You can't make a Dr. Seuss adaptation that's longer than 20

No, his books kind of her little hand-drawn animations the best style cuz you just it's a one-to-one with the right Yeah, isn't there a new cat in the hat movie coming though? There is fucking you know haters in it. Yeah What's up with hater? Come on the pod hater. Let's come on the pot hash it out Spring is here and you can now get almost anything you need delivered with ubereats Come on, the podhater. Let's get the podhater. Come on, the podhater. Let's get the podhater. Come on, the podhater. Spring is here, and you can now get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get chicken parmesan delivered.

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Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. Look who's talking. There are like three phases of Mikey as a character, right? There is...

Fetus. In utero Mikey, which for me, ten out of ten, common equal. Yeah. And then there is, right, infant Mikey. There's baby section where I feel like all of the jokes are bad. Like, I'm sitting there the first 30 minutes and I'm like, God, I was feeling the way you were feeling about Travolta. Well, I don't deny Travolta's performance this at all. But the way you had the total reassessment of like,

God, do I love Travolta? Does Travolta's performance this at all. But the way you had the total reassessment of like, God, do I love Travolta? Does Travolta just make me so happy? The first like 30 minutes of the baby sounding like Bruce Willis, I was just like, God, I miss Bruce. I love Bruce. Bruce means so much to me. What a charmer.

And then there's like a midsection of it just feels like the absolute laziest first pass jokes of him going like, Hey, where are we going? And it's like- To be fair. Well, the thing about- When you're an infant, I guess that probably is mostly, you're like, ah, be picked up again.

I mean, I think that you can probably also relate to this experience of you have a kid, you spend, you know, a year wondering like, what's going on in that head of yours? And then they start talking and it's like, banana, banana, banana, banana. Like that's what they've been thinking this whole time. That, that, that, it's just that, I see that, I see that.

What is that, that, that, that, that, that. That's all they're thinking. But this is what I found. They're very simple. They're not like, oh mother. This is what I found funny and frustrating, is like, okay, in Udral, we understand the comedic potential there, right?

When he's out as a baby, they just have like no take on him comedically, considering that's the genesis of this project, is like no take on him comedically, considering that's the genesis of this project, is like, let's narrate what we think our daughter is thinking right now, right? When he gets into like his weird non-speaking toddler age, I think it gets good again, and feels like this is where the gimmick kind of makes sense, where it's him interacting with Travolta and it's all based on their connection.

Yeah, because now you are all in on that. Right, and you're like, there's a little tension to the idea that the baby is just like, Mom, I want this guy to be my dad. And she can't hear it. Right, and I'm like, now it's good again. Now I'm in. She... And I think he has good jokes again. I also think the few times they let babies interact with each other... I think those are good jokes again. I also think the few times they let babies interact with each other. I think those are funny.

That works. Anytime it's like, cause it's like, oh, baby just doing commentary on adults. I'm like, it's starting to get a little like, well, there's an interesting interpersonal drama going on. And then the baby just makes like a one-liner. Anytime it's the bit of babies being like, hey, how's it going?

Funny. It's like, how do you, do you like my new haircut? I felt that whole back and forth. That's cute. Don't make me wear the lambs. I look like such a loser in the lamb shirt. And I think like Heckerling was smart about like getting this footage of babies and then being like, you know what would be funny is if with the footage we have, they were saying

this. When you were saying like there's weird lap flip stuff of sometimes towards the end, his mouth is moving. It feels like she just let them talk and say whatever. Yeah, they're talking to a toddler. And then she was looking at who was talking. Totally, and then dub it over with whatever. There are moments at the end where it feels like

the dubbing is almost syncing up, where you're like, did the kid actually say a proper sentence? I looked for who was talking. But then I sat my ass down and listened. Wow. But yes, the middle section of the movie is what we described and then it starts to barrel towards you're like, right, so she's gotta get

with Travolta. Yeah. And. By the way, it has just been like. Hanging out. But no, because the early negotiation is like. What do you think she's paying him? Great question, 1989, Manhattan account.

George Segal makes a joke where I think he says ten bucks an hour, where he's like, what is she paying you? I'll double it. Yeah. Sounds about right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's making an assumption. I don't know if he actually knows.

The early... And he makes an ass out of it. He... Frequently in the film. You're so enlightened. David is being wise as hell in this episode. The early negotiation, which feels like a classic movie setup, is like, here's the handshake deal. Ten letters get sent to me in exchange for five babysitting appointments.

And I'm like, okay, so this movie is going to track... I'm going to pretend to be your boyfriend until the spring dance. Totally. It's going to track five babysitting appointments. And I'm like, okay, so this movie is going to track. I'm gonna pretend to be your boyfriend until the spring dance. Totally, yeah. It's gonna track five babysitting appointments and by the end of it, they fall in love. And instead the movie does this crazy time jump of what feels like it is at least a year.

The movie kicks into a montage and I'm like, yeah, sure, we're in a montage again. Time has passed a little bit and then hard cuts to, yes, like a toe-headed toddler. It looks like Macaulay Culkin. And Travolta's seemingly been there every single day. Which is so, because it seems like she never stopped working, right? So he's essentially this kid's nanny. Like he's spending nine hours a day.

He throws the kid in the trunk, does a, you know, 12 hour or something. He's barely getting to teach anyone how to fly. Right. Once in a while he sprinkles in some flight lessons. Is this the movie that made Travolta get into flying planes or did he? Or is it just that he's like, hey, you know what I love? This is my big question. I think it's a chicken and egg thing.

I would be surprised if she didn't write it in because he was already into flying planes. Quite possibly. I'm gonna try to carbon date this, but go on. John Travolta earned his private pilot's license at the age of 22. Oh, wow. So he's been in...

Just around the same time as he entered the Church of Scientology. Yes, and possibly was entering other things. We don't know. And... We have no comment on what he was entering. We couldn't be more fake about that. If he was 22, that's like 74.

So it's like early in like Welcome Back Hotter time or whatever. You know, he's not even... Yeah, well, so then that definitely must have been a thing to appease him. Probably. Yeah. I mean, again, this movie was produced by his agent. Like, I think a lot of things were done to appease him. If he had been into, like, trains, they would have had him be an amateur train conductor.

That's my favorite thing about Travolta's plane obsession is unlike Harrison Ford, when Travolta flies planes, he wears a little pilot outfit. Have you seen that? Yeah, because he owns a jet. Right, and he's got wings and he puts on a hat. Like, Ford flies little planes or whatever. Right, he does it.

Ford only flies planes that he can crash. Right, he flies very crashable planes. Right, and he does it dressed like the character from Shrinking or whatever. I just like that, like, Travolta's like, I want to be a pilot. Like, he does the whole, like... Catch me if you can. shrinking or whatever. I just like that like Travolta's like, I want to be a pilot. Do any kids want to come up and visit? I'll give them peanuts and pretzels.

Little wing pins. I mean, obviously there's the kind of rom-com-y, although heckling apparently doesn't like this movie being called a rom-com, but it sort of is one. Yeah. It's more about their relationship than it is about the baby. I also think for the element of the film that is like the most constructed, right, not referencing her own life,

I do think it's kind of an interesting emotional setup for a movie, which is like woman who just had a child, who's like parentage she is obscuring, trying to figure out how to date someone as a new single mother, specifically through the prism of, I'm not just trying to figure out how to date someone as a new single mother, specifically through the prism of, I'm not just trying to find a boyfriend, I'm trying to find a father.

Like, I think that's a good setup, and I think that people make it fucking movies about. And then goes on some of the worst dates of all time. Those guys are good dates. Yeah, it's one kind of finicky weirdo and one guy who yells at the waiter and then two pay men. It's the episode of Sex and the City with one guy who yells at the waiter and then to pay me The episode of sex in the city with the freak show does this resonate with you? Of course, of course. I feel like the montage of three to four bad dates pretty much always hits

Like I always like that just like let's bring in some funny actors to do like stupid stuff I like that you have some more expressive heightened heckling cut cutaways that really show off kind of more directing style of like, there's the control freak guy who gives the notes about the silverware and the glass of water and whatever, and then she cuts to him noting Mikey's organization of socks. Like shows them all older. Like what if we got together? How would they apply as father? Whatever their weird quirks are. The dream sequence of if she married Travolta

and she was just pregnant constantly. Is great. That sequence is so much fun. And then what's the one that ends with the Scanners-esque head explosion? No, no, she had exploded Seagull. Right. And they actually, right, they had to think about it, because they were like, we don't want that to be too scary. So they like filled his head with little balloons and stuff.

Right, yeah, like to make it a little more goofy. I like that scene. I do too. I think this movie's very well directed. It's also funny that Travolta feeds his family garbage. Yes. Oh, right, right, right. Yeah, the cut ahead to the future

when they're about to bone and she's like, no, I don't want my child to be raised by like a grease ball or whatever. By a dumpster diving. Right bone and she's like, no, I don't want my child to be raised by like a grease ball or whatever. By a dumpster diving. Right. And he's like, if you peel the lettuce, the first layer of the lettuce from the garbage off, it's perfectly good. Hillary, I didn't actually ask you this.

Did you like this movie? Oh, yeah, I enjoyed it. It's a breezy watch. Like, I... So, comedies can age very poorly. But I think that this, honestly, is not... I don't know. No one's gonna be mad after they watch this. It's fine. I'm assuming, you know, the next two movies are bad.

I am pretty, like... Six-year-old Griffin would disagree if you're wrong. But I'm pretty satisfied that this is... I was like, this is a really entertaining movie. I get why it hits. And the Trojan horse aspect of it is so fascinating, where it's like she used this as a disguise to make a movie about other things she found interesting, which is the primary beat of

this movie. Ben, we had our art show recently and we had an installation where we built a porch, a replica of your childhood porch you used to watch movies on. And we'd do like an artist's present Marina Brownvich thing where you'd sit on the porch watching VHSs and people would come up and talk to you. And I saw someone on the Reddit said that they had walked in and heard you in the middle of having a really good conversation explaining why Michael Mann

is better than the Marvel cinematic universe. And you're lying that they walked in on was, when I watch a Michael Mann movie, I can tell this was made by one person. Marvel movies aren't made by one person. Which is such a good, concise distillation of, I think, what so much of our podcast is about, right? That like movies are made by many people and they're a collaborative process, they're impacted

by all these things. And yet, basically the single greatest calculus we use for whether or not we think a director is interesting and worth devoting an entire series to on this show is, do the majority of the movies feel like they are a reflection of that person? For better or worse, that there is something individual and personal about them. And for this being a movie that has so many weird calculations of like, I need a hit, and talking baby, that just feels like a box of a slam dunk,

even if I'd rather be doing something edgy or whatever. Everything about this feels like it was made by one person. And it has like some weird like 90s, 80s studio notes, script note bullshit in it. But yet I'm just like the way everything is like shot, the cohesion of the tone of performance for a movie that is very strange, even just like the rhythms and like the shot structure, the editing and whatever.

I'm just like, this is a weirdly personal movie for her, wrapped up in like a big high concept comedy that also feels like she's like getting to make it the way she wants to. I was so pleasantly surprised by that. I think it's partly because she's a smart director, she's working with a low-ish budget, so my guess is whatever she wants to do,

as long as you're not costing the studio money, yeah, go for it. Like, we don't give a shit about this movie like that much. We talk about like the danger of taking the talking horse movie, right? Where it's like this trap that people fall into, where it's like, hey, we know there's your personal project you wanna make, but that's kinda risky.

There's this really hot script about a talking horse, and if you sign onto this, this thing is a can't miss hit, and then you'll have the cache to make whatever you want. And what happens is they make the talking horse movie dispassionately, the movie bombs, and then your box office poison no one. And so the secret is make the talking horse movie as the personal movie.

Yes, and obviously part of that- Make it about some shit that happened to you. Is that she started it. Make it personally implicating Harold Ramis for being an asshole. Like no pun intended, she was able to incubate it holistically from the beginning.

But just like watching this, and my mind is blown by like, she figured out how to do that. The exact trap that most people don't survive. And she made it into her biggest hit. Agree. Good job, Amy. And she kind of rescued her entire career.

And because of that, we get Clueless, which is the sign of the person I am today. And so if for no other reason, yeah, you have to appreciate it. Look who's talking for giving us Clueless. There's no way she's getting the money to make an Emma reboot in, you know, maybe because it was a teen movie, like studios would be a little more interested, but it's just like, thank God she made this because she gets to make clues. Yeah. Is this her meeting with Twink Kaplan

or was she already friends with Twink Kaplan? Great question. Because Twink later becomes a regular in all of her movies and also becomes like a co-producer on her movies. Twink kind of becomes her main creative ally. Don't think she had made a movie with Heckerling before, but you're right that she goes on to produce some of her movies and she's such a funny actor. She's Keirce Alley's best friend, but will end up being one of the teachers in Clueless.

We can consider this, yeah, Miss Geist's origin is that first she was a hard-charging accountant in the Go-Go 80s, and then, you know, she decided to go do something, yeah, do something a little more rewarding. She decided to come in, if you know what I'm saying. Wallace Shawn. There's no way that Hillary would know what you were saying because Hillary has not seen a Master Builder, the Jonathan Demme film. Really, that's weird.

Hillary, I thought you worked in entertainment journalism. It's a terrible blind spot. Hillary, just to tell you this, because I do like to tell people sometimes, there's a Jonathan Demme film that is a Master Builder, the Ibsen play starring Wallace Shawn. Okay, I was thinking Master Builder like Legos, but that makes more sense. What a master builder, the Ibsen play starring Wallace Shawn. Okay. I was thinking master builder like Legos, but that makes more sense.

What a difference in a mix. What a difference, a master builder. Yeah, rather than the master builder. Right. And there is a scene in this film, Ben, you never saw it, right? Cause you weren't on that episode where Wallace Shawn is sitting in a hospital bed

and someone knocks on the door and he goes- He's in hospice care at home. Yeah, sure. Right. That's it. someone knocks on the door and he goes... He's in hospice care at home. Yeah, sure, right, that's it. Someone knocks on the door and he goes, Come in! And it is the most foghorn sound you have ever heard in your life. It is the most bizarre line to deliver in the history of cinema

and it feels like he accidentally clocks the lens in the middle of saying it and then looks panicked that he did that. Come in! Come in! Come in! It really sounds like you're being right told to go to an air raid shelter anyway. That's why he said that.

Thank you so much for that detailed explanation. It's important. You're welcome. Decade of dreams. Um. Other stuff to talk about. Travolta tries to have sex with the Kirstie Alley. She's like, I'm so into it and you seem great,

but I just don't want, you know, you, you know, loser in my life anymore. Is it after the flight? After he takes her in the plane? Yes, and then it's like, and then of course, right, the romcom misunderstanding, this is something I was trying to say before, must happen of like,

hey, you told me you were artificially turned out as George Segal. Hey, how could you lie to me? I'm off to Jersey. I'll see you later. Bye. Gonna be out of the movie for 10 minutes. Here's the thing I like, that before that, the like obstruction from them getting together

isn't like, oh, she doesn't realize until the last five minutes that she's been in love with Travolta the whole time. I love Josh. Right, they make that connection in the halfway point. She has that like nightmare flash ahead sequence, right? And then is just like, wait a second, I can't just be motivated by do I like a guy,

I'm on this father quest. And starts almost doing this kind of like classist judgment of him, combined with him being a lunatic and a weirdo. And why are they stalking me? Right. And I think also the other unspoken part of it is like her son does have this strong bond with. Yes, with John Travolta.

Although I do also take some umbrage at the scene where John Travolta is listing off all of Mikey's favorites and like a two year old child doesn't have doesn't care about Michael Jackson. I mean, once again, how old is this kid? He's his favorite fucking singer. He's not mad with you. Michael Jackson. Him on right.

There's a scene, there's two scenes in this movie that if I describe them to you, the listener and you, the guest and you, the host, you'll be like, that sounds sweet, that sounds really zappy. And they are the scene in which John Travolta sort of gives some friendly advice, fatherly advice to the kid before he's like not gonna see him again for a while. And Curceale listens in on the baby monitor. Let's also acknowledge that when he first comes over...

Let me keep talking. Let me finish my point, Griffin. Shush. And then the second thing is the capper at the movie, which is that the kid's first words are data, which we've already... Which I think is the slam dunk. Exactly. The reason you write the whole screenplay. You see it coming.

You see it coming. Look who's talking. Look who is talking. It's super effective. And if I'm Kirstie Alley and I'm pissed that his first word is mama, but that's a separate conversation. The kid always says data first,

because it's easier to say. Yes, this is actually a true thing, scientifically. Easier for your mouth to say it. But both of those scenes sound so sappy, but Travolta makes them not sappy. And the scene where he's talking to the kid on the baby monitor is actually quite funny and light, while still being sweet and heartwarming.

And of course, I'm sure the techerling too, master of tone here, like, you know, calling her a master of tone in a movie that starts with cum. But, I mean, that's sort of the argument for it, where you're like, the movie should collapse at that moment. And those scenes are really sweet, as is the scene where Kirsty Alley of court tends to Abe Vigoda when he's had too much candy

and become a monster. It is nice that there's a reciprocal... But there is a reciprocal aspect. It's not just her realizing that he's a good caregiver, it's him realizing that she cares enough about him too. Like it's not, it's, it's, it's all good. Scream right now. What were you trying to say? The thing I was going to say, David, before you so rudely cut me off from rudely

cutting you off, a double rude was, I think that's like built very deliberately and well in the movie that like, when he comes over to bring back her purse, he starts talking to the kid like a grownup and she sort of catches it coming out from the bedroom. It's the bit where he's explaining the coffee and puts the breast milk in the coffee, but it's sort of like,

fuck, he like engages with my kid like a real person, which we talk about all the time, David, it is like a big movie star test. That like, if people, if movie stars are good with kids, it somehow immediately makes them feel even shinier. I think part of it is like the extreme skill challenge of like how hard it is to act with a child, but also that you kind of like can't fake the charisma. And if you like are nice to a kid and it seems genuine, then everyone likes you more. Like it's more endearing.

I think that's like, I genuinely think it is a huge part of Dustin Hoffman fucking winning the Kramer versus Kramer Oscar. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Beyond all the emotional scenes in that movie is just that like half of it is him making breakfast with the kid and you're like, fuck, he's good with this kid. He is.

And Travolta is- He's bad at breakfast. Travolta's good with- Well, he you're like, fuck, he's good with this kid. He is. And Travolta is like- Bad at breakfast. Travolta's good with the- Well, he learns. Yeah, he learns to fry an egg or whatever. What a feminist hero he is. You know, he needs to get an award for being able to feed his kid one time.

Yeah, and also he was married to one of the greatest villains in Disney history, Maleficent herself. Yeah, exactly, the most evil lesbians. Ah! Yes. Travolta is, just from second one. Good with the baby.

He's great with the baby. Where you like the scenes where he's dancing around with him and stuff. It's so cute. It makes the premise work. And I think you're right. It's like super endearing. Now he also does shit that is insane. She falls asleep is like, watch the baby for a little bit.

While I take a nap. He decides to take the baby out on the town. Doesn't say, do anything to indicate where they've been. Disappears for hours. And then she's like, I'm so angry at you. I called the cops on you. I'm only going to let you babysit my son 87 more times. While I go to my aerobics class.

Right. And then there's the similar fuck up of like, I get it. It's a complicated. There's a lot going on in her life at that moment. The moment in this film that drains credibility for me the most is her leaving Mikey with Abe Fagota after he's just gone fucking Rocky Balboa. They have been talking about Fagota. The orderly is also in the room. There's another adult there.

An animal who escaped to the pen and was like brutalizing me. And then she's like, one candy bar and they're like, There's another adult there. An animal who escaped the pen and was brutalizing me. And then she's like, one candy bar, and they're like, mistake, no big deal, it's fine that he punched a nurse, and he can watch the baby for a while, honestly, do you want a cup of coffee? Well, because the mistake actually was that

the orderly doesn't speak English. That he just says no problem. Very odd scene. Right, and that also, Avva go to so horny. Even in the middle of showing family photos, if a hot, young, 87-year-old piece of tail walks down the hallway, he's got to throw his tumpers in and chase after her.

His blood is up. Yeah, I don't know, man. Which then leads to a surprising set piece. Like a movie where you're like, this is gonna hit. The feeling of like, we need one more set piece, right, movie where you're like, this is gonna hit. The feeling of like, we need one more set piece, right, is that he gets into the cab. The kid escapes from the retirement home.

I feel like that entire, like the entirety of like, Baby's Day Out is based on that sequence in this movie. I mean, yes. Rival studio executives' eyes lit up. And started, like, a baby in a car? Look who's driving now. It is kind of a funny bit that he gets in the back of a car that's being towed and so it appears that he's driving. This is so that he can say Dada.

And she's like, you know what, I'm with you. Cut to Jizz, cut to Birth of a Girl, roll the credits. Like we're truly, it's kind of like, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, we gotta go. Piercy Alley, a liberated 1980s businesswoman who has never heard of the birth control pill. Seriously.

But we're not gonna bring that up. Kirstie, Travolta, pull out, come on. I know you got it in ya. I like, look, they clarify what is actually happening very quickly and that there are some time jumps happening within edits. But if the movie were to end four minutes earlier, you could read it as the second John Travolta kisses

Kirstie Alley, he comes in his pants. There he is. There he is. Instead, they then cut to a delivery room, and you're like, okay, some leaps have been made. Look who's just in now. Look who's just in now. Who's talking?

This is the kind of movie where I'm like, it's great for blank check because we can do a bunch of tangents and still not go that long because it's 90 blessed minutes and it's not a lot of action really. It's not streaming. You got to buy it. You got to rent it. I bought it on iTunes.

I got an out of print Blu-ray. Griffin is off mic telling us that he has an out of print Blu-ray of just the first one. The 30th anniversary. This was fairly recent. 2019 and still out of print. Yeah. So then I had to buy a DVD trilogy box set Which is what are some of the special features we're talking great question on this one look who's talking now. I see an apology

This has a this has a heckling commentary which I miss I maybe Look who's talking a second watch. I think the DVDs have, checking here, nothing. Absolutely nothing for the sequels. There were no deleted scenes because everything hit. Yeah, yeah. Nothing was left. Yeah, I did read some interesting, Look Who's Talking 2 has one of those weird fabled,

the TV cut of the movie has 20 extra minutes in it. It's longer? Yes, they would do this. If movies were like too short, in order to fill a larger programming block, the studios would offer to cut back in deleted scenes to allow the film to justify more ad breaks. Right, yeah. And, right, most of the scenes are stupid, right?

And Lucas talking too, they sound insane. In 2010, did you know that Neil H. Moritz of Fast and Furious tried to reboot this movie? It makes perfect sense. I had the thought... With Travolta and Ali as the grandparents. I had the thought while watching this. It is crazy they have not revived this. Like, four years later they hired Jeremy Garelik, who wrote The Break Up and a lot of other studio comedies, to write it, and then nothing has happened since then.

Well, like Baby Geniuses was a pretty big bomb. Like maybe talking, our audience for Talking Babies, I think, was stated, or our appetite for it was stated. It's been a while. And I feel like you could reset the table with a good Look Who's Talking movie. Okay, I think I have a pitch. Okay, give it to me.

It's like a prequel. Okay. Okay. Look Who's Talking movie? Okay, I think I have a pitch. Okay. Give it to me. It's like a prequel. Okay. Oh, okay. Look Who's Talked, and it's set like generations ago, and you can make it old-timey. Look Who Hath Been Talking. Yes! And when you say it, what? Ben, I think more needs to be said.

You can't just be the, like, who, so, but then what do, what do we see? Who are the central characters in this film? Going back generationally. I understand, Ben? In this family? You made that clear. In this family.

Yeah, like, it's the baby, but, you know, or Christie Alley's ancestors. And what do they do? Apart from talk. The baby talk. Pick a time period. Okay, so it's sort of like 19th century. Well, because I like the Hath,

so let's set it in the Renaissance. Okay. Ah, and the kid's like, ah, that Mona Lisa sure looks like she's following me around. You can't make this movie too far go, like in the past because of maternal mortality rates. Yeah, it would be a little grim. It'd be like, oh.

And infant mortality, to be fair. Hope I dodge that dysentery or whatever. Right, a baby's born and suddenly becomes the fifth oldest person in the town. But I like that then if it's set in Italy, he's still got that accent. Oh, that's true. He'd be like, mama mia, dysentery. Look at the duck. And God, he's in the town. But I like that. Then if it's said in Italy, he still's got that accent. Oh, that's true. You'd be like, Mamma Mia, this is Terry. God, he's saving the pitch.

He's winning us back in the room. It's one of these things that like you're like, I can't believe they haven't rebooted it yet. I can't believe they haven't remade it yet in a sort of modern studio thinking where you're just like if you're just looking through the books, right. And you're like, wait a second, these movies made like $400 million 30 years ago and we haven't done anything since and the premise is so clean.

But as you said, I do feel like these movies are completely forgotten now. I think basically everyone younger than us doesn't know they exist. I think you're entirely right. I think we were the exact generation of kids who were born right as they were coming out and saw them on TV, and anyone five years younger than us is just like, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. I texted so, like, various friends being like,

hey, did you know what this movie was about? Like, you know, with what I bet, you know, like, the Harold Ramer stuff, and all of them were like, you know, I've never seen it. Like, even the ones who are sort of aware of it. Wait, even the ones who were like in their 30s? Even your Esther Zuckermans, who's a little younger than us, Hillary, but not that much younger. Okay, Esther could ones who are sort of aware of it. Wait, even the ones who are like in their 30s? Even your Esther Zuckermans,

who's a little younger than us Hillary, but not that much younger. Okay, Esther could write an entire book about this movie. She could. There's a lot to say. Esther was kind of like, yeah, that wasn't actually one of our movies, so it was never in the rotation,

and so it's been forgotten. This whole movie feels like it's been memory-holed. Obviously, Heckerling makes Clueless after it, so that becomes her 90s masterpiece. Yeah, I don't know, Travolta makes Pulp Fess after it so that becomes her 90s masterpiece. Yeah, I don't know. Travolta makes Pulp Fiction after it. So that's his, you know, his great era begins later. But yet... Here's the alley, went on to Fat Actress!

This is crazy. We're a couple of stops along the way. She opened the closet. But this is far and away, uh, Heckerling's biggest hit. Maybe that says more about movie-going audiences than the quality of the movie. But this is her only movie to make 100 million domestic and it flew past that. It flew past it to 140 domestic, it made 300 worldwide.

It does help to make a movie that's ostensibly a family movie. I'm sure that a lot of parents were taking their kids to this thinking that it would be a kids movie. Right, despite it being PG-13. And that's the pleasant surprise. Oh, it's PG-13? That makes sense. Yeah, it opens with sperm.

Well, you don't see them coming from a penis. You know what? I'll say even the third one is PG-13. I've got a pretty active imagination. The third one is PG-13 for, quote, off-color language. The film came out October 13th, 1989. Number one in the box office, it opens to $12 million and then it has insane leg.

It just rides out the whole holiday season basically. It is number one at the box office for five consecutive weeks, making basically the same amount of money every week. That's like, it was like the Barbie of its moment. Yeah. Yeah, it was a huge change. Its cultural impact was similar.

Yeah. The tie-ins were insane. Number two at the box office is also new. It is a horror film. Okay, a first sequel. Well, in one of the big franchises? In one of the big three slasher franchises, it is the fifth film.

Is it The Dream Child? That is not what it is. Fuck. But that film's been coming out out, I believe, 89. So you're in the right ballpark. You must tip your hat and admit it was a gentleman's guess. That's all I'm asking of you. Okay, is it... Thank you.

Is it the curse of Michael Myers? It is Halloween V, the revenge of Michael Myers. Of course, the curse is the sixth one. As everyone knows. Which is the insane one that's like, Michael Myers is who he is because a cult worships him. Right. Or whatever.

Is that the red one? The sixth one is the red one. That's the ruddiest of all. The fifth one is the one with Jamie, played by Danielle Harris. Right. Who has her fans in the scream queen world. The sixth one is the one that hilariously ends with Donald Pleasance off Mike being like,

oh, you're killing me or something. Who knows what's going on? Because they couldn't figure out what the ending should be. Get away from me. Yeah, we'll do them someday. Maybe the movie should get worse again. When you're watching Halloween's four, five, and six, you're like, hey, man, there's nothing wrong with being a four out of 10 movie.

You know what I mean? Or in Alex Ross Perry's opinion, a 15 out of 10 movie. Number three at the box office is a thriller that was also a bit of a comeback for a 70s Oscar nominated star. That's a thriller? Who had taken a bit of a break. But there are no babies talking in this movie.

Is it Sea of Love? It's Al Pacino in Sea of Love. This is a big thing that David and I bond on as we both hold the importance of Sea of Love as a comeback moment for Pacino. Pacino was back! People don't talk about it. But quietly, that was his big swing back.

You could say that Sea of Love was the name of the title sequence for, look who's talking. Yes. That is very true. Hillary? How many? 100 comedy points. 100 come points.

I said comedy, but I modeled it. I don't want that. Sorry. I don't accept this. Fine, return them. They're good at all major stores. Excuse me, I have 100 come points from Blank Check. Yes, yes, of course.

Welcome to Bed Bath & Beyond. Does that still exist, Bed Bath & Beyond, or is it gone? Yeah, it does. I mean from blank check. Yes, yes, of course. Welcome to Bed Bath & Beyond. Does that still exist by Bath & Beyond or is it gone? Yeah, it does. I mean, not at Industry City, but. Yeah, you can buy bath bombs for sure. Let's admit it, one of the comier products around. Number four.

How else would you describe what a bath bomb does? I know, not that way, honestly. I wouldn't use cummy. I would say cummy. Number four at the box office is another thriller. Not one that I know. Star and a guy who is more of a TV star. He plays an airline mechanic sent to prison

when framed by crooked police officers. Drama or comedy TV star? Drama. Is it a Selick? Tom Selick. It is. Who the fuck is that? Well, good guess.

Thank you. This is the beautiful mind in here. Yeah, it's a something mind. Okay, is it called like, hijack? It's called, it's a Peter Yates film, so kind of a real director. Yeah. Director of Bullet, obviously,

and other good movies. It's called An Innocent Man. Not a movie I know. Looks like Tom Selleck plays an innocent man and you've got F. Murray Abraham as someone called Virgil Kane. I bet that's a nice guy. You think that guy's nice Griffin? Virgil Kane was a man, right?

Isn't that the name of the fucking guy in the... Band song. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there you go. That's, I mean, it's a rich gumbo, obviously. Number five of the box office. Dropping from number one the week before.

So a bit of a steep drop for this film, which is a very chill and normal movie about a cop who's not weird going to a country where he fits in just fine. I'm sorry, can you restate that one more time? It's another thriller. I mean, it's October, I guess. Another like R rated thriller.

It's about, it's just- Goes to a country where he's not? What if a US cop went to a foreign country I guess. No, they're like R-rated thriller. It's about, it's just- Custom country? Where he's not? What if a US cop went to a foreign country to solve a crime and he has to like get used to their underworld and their way of doing business? It's not like Black Rain. It's Ridley Scott's Black Rain with Michael Douglas.

And also I'm seeing here a little co-star called Cocaine is here, second build. Number two on the call sheet is Coke, bricks of Coke. Kind of surprised not one, but. That is a movie where Andy Garcia gets decapitated on screen with a katana, spoiler alert. Good movie.

You should watch it, it will still rock when that happens. Wait, why is the rain black? I don't think it is. It's just one of those movies where they're like, wow, Japan is so crazy black? I don't think it is. It's just one of those movies where they're like, wow, Japan is so crazy. And you're like, relax. Ben, you should Google the poster for black rain,

which looks like if someone did the world's longest line of cocaine and then sneezed onto a one-tea. This is what I'm saying. Number six at the box office, new this week, is my mother's favorite movie of all time. Fabulous Baker Boys?. Fabulous Baker Boys? The Fabulous Baker Boys, a great movie. Do you like The Fabulous Baker Boys?

I don't know them. Hillary, you would love it. Why are they so fabulous? They are. Give her the pitch. Jeff and Beau Bridges play slightly washed up lounge act, double act piano bar guys. Michelle Pfeiffer plays like the new lady they hire for her act

who sort of gets in between them romantically. She got an Oscar nomination. My mother was charmed and watches it anytime it's on TV. Her two favorite movies are that and I know where I'm going. The Palin Pressburger movie. Did you folks see Bill Maher's segment? No. No, absolutely not.

No, no. Look, I usually don't fall for the trap. What did Bill Maher do now? He did a segment complaining about, since when are they called sex workers? Which is, let me say... I'm always mad about, like, language thoughts that happened ten years ago.

You know what I mean? I'm like, that's not even new! He got angry watching the Oscars and hearing all the winners from Enora constantly think the sex worker community. And so for a month, that's not even new. He got angry watching the Oscars and hearing all the winners from Enora constantly thank the sex worker community. And so for a month he's been thinking about this. Correct. Doing.

I'm also like a little funny for Bill Maher, or someone who perhaps has helped that industry thrive. Again, no comment. No, I don't know. I don't know, allegedly. But he like calls out the, in his mind, weird history of how many actresses have won Oscars for playing sex workers or been nominated.

And he lists a bunch and one of the ones he included was Michelle Pfeiffer in the Fabulous Baker Boys. And he had like 20 other inclusions in that where I'm just like, what do you think sex work is? You would think he would have a set definition. I would think he of anyone might have the clearest definition. But I think maybe she's a former escort in that movie. Maybe there is something to that.

He just starts getting really fungible with some of them. I'll just say that this segment. He's like Olympia de Caucus. Isn't it Mood Rock? Yes. Is him going new rule. You got to give me more than a week to get used to a new phrase. Like this is his.

Everyone's like, Bill, it's been a decade. And he's like, we did this with homeless and now it's on house. And I'm just like, can you relax? I'm like, who gives a shit? You are on television. Shut the fuck up. No one is policing you. Bill Maher. So Fabulous Maker Boy is number six. P No one is policing you. Bill Maher. So, Fabulous Baker Boys, number six.

Parenthood is number seven. It's sort of also, if you want, a slightly more mature film about parenting. A slightly more mature film with the world's catchiest diarrhea song. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That was good. There's a lot more pregnancy movies

than actual parenting movies. This is interesting. Well, obviously there's lots of movies where parenting is a plot element, but movies about parenting, not so many. It's probably because working with child actors, it's not at the top of anybody's list. That's right.

Pregnancy has a natural arc also. It does. It has a beginning, it has an end. But even Tully, whatever that was, five years ago was treated as a bit of a novelty. Tully was interesting, right, because it was about, right, early motherhood and how it breaks your brain and it's not enough movies and all that, yeah. Yeah, that movie just shouldn't have a twist.

No. I give that movie a full star higher rating. Oh wait, the camera's moving again, I'm hearing somebody, Tully has been added to the cast of Avengers 2 today! Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun Who knows? Ben. Love. One of my faves. My roommate, my former roommate, Molly's favorite movie. Speaking of my people in my life's favorite movies. Amy Heckerling's daughter, Molly.

I have to unfortunately credit an anonymous poster who I can't remember, but just the commenter on some fucking movie website 10 years ago said, why does Uncle Buck have the mise en scene of a 1940s Fritz Lang Fox noir and has stuck in my brain forever. That movie is like weirdly moody and darkly lit. In a way that I give two thumbs up.

Number nine at the box office, when Harry Met Sally, heard of it? No, still hanging in there. Hanging in there after 14 weeks. And new at number 10, possibly the greatest film ever made by this filmmaker, who's made a couple movies and had some other stuff going on with him. Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Yeah, definitely one of his best. A couple things I want to call out here from the DOS. That is new this week in 66 theaters. Here's D'Alie's character probably would have gone to see it. Travolta, I don't think so. Yes. A couple things I want to call out here. Travolta wants things with explosions. This was conclusively Columbia's highest grossing film

overseas. They had never had a film perform this well outside of America. It usurped Kramer versus Kramer. Wow. Well, it must be really easy to dub the baby in other languages. This is the other thing I wanted to build too.

Travolta gets credit for this idea that he was like, you should stunt cast the baby in every country. So every country they found some kind of Bruce Willis analog where they're like, who's a beloved sort of rap stallion, cool, bad boy, funny star. And you could put their name above the title and it's a fucking really smart business strategy.

You're minting money. Yes, it was like the key to this movie's success. All of that to say, it is very funny that when Heckerling was first pitching the movie to Sony, according to JJ's notes here, her first suggestion for the voice of the baby was Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers. Hell yeah. Well, you know, she's still got a little old school in her. Right. And their note was like, he is funny. Can we get someone that people

also care about? Come one, come all. As she puts it, I was missing that he needed to be funny and cool. And look who's talking to, of course, Willis is joined by Roseanne Barr. Yes, Roseanne Barr plays as Joan Rivers. And then Damon Wayans plays like

a kid at the school, at nursery school or something. He's Mikey's best friend. And then you also have what I remember being the best performance in the film, Mel Brooks as Mr. Toilet. This is a talking person. So there's a lot of potty training stuff

and look who's talking to him. And I just want to repeat... I've been in those trenches! In my memory, from 30 years ago, Look Who's Talking To might be the funniest movie ever made. If Mel Brooks is voicing a toilet. I'm laughing already. Pretty good.

In Toy Story, is he a chair? No, he's Mel-a-fint Brooks. Oh, he's the elephant, that's right. It's like him and Carl Reiner, there's like a whole bunch. That's what I'm trying to remember, he was which. Right, she, uh, Cheryl Burnett. Carol, or Carl Rhino? He's Carl Reinosaurus.

Good pole Hillary. They're in the closet. I didn't actually remember. I was just thinking puns. Betty, Betty White is a teething ring. She's bitey white. Right. And that was a little more tortured.

And it's a little, it's interesting just because Betty White didn't really work a lot at that age. So it's sort of interesting that she made the cast list there. You know what remains one of the funniest things in the world? No, God bless. Salute to Betty White. She did it. Like a hundred million dollars in every bit of like media machinery being devoted to Betty

White's 100th birthday and then her dying one week before that. When like every magazine in the country was like, Congrats, Betty, you made it to a hundred and then she died Do you think it was pointed? Yeah, she's like fuck you. You don't control me. I don't need this Yeah, I won't conform to your narrative Ben has just sent a text We can buy an autographed laser disc of look who's talking for the low low price of 911 dollars never forget autographed by whom? Uh, here's the alley. Okay, Amy heckerling Some other people twink twink on there twink Kaplan signs her name with an exclamation point as she should what's her actual name? That's a really good question. Yeah, it's probably not twink

Her real name was Bear Caplan. I don't get it. That was a joke about Twinks versus Bears. Oh, I get it. Yeah, obviously. Naming different types of makings. I'm not finding a real name for her. I'm not either.

Wow. Twink Caplan was born in times of interest. Hillary, thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks for having me. Long overdue. Anything? Well, the listeners don't know being on the show. Thanks for having me. Long overdue. Uh, anything? Well, the listeners don't know who I am, but... Hey, wrong.

Uh... I have it all. Including their attention. You have it all. She occasionally got a film credit as Theodora Kaplan, so some people think that might be her... Some people? The truthers?

Okay. There's a community. The Kaplan truthers. Yeah. Uh, Hillary, is there anything specific you want to plug? Oh, I mean, come to VanityFair.com, where I'm editing things every single day. Thank God for that. Yes, absolutely.

Thank you. Hillary finally got on the show. It's been far too long. It's been far too long. Hillary's been really mad at me that she hasn't been on the show. You have all the power here. I know. It's just your choice.

I distinctly remember meeting you for the first time, Hillary. Even meeting you too late, having too many mutual friends and having heard of you and being a fan of your writing for a while. But after we were at the same screening of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. And you just standing up and... Just say that after you entered the Multiverse of Madness. After you entered the Multiverse of Madis, which has the end credit sequence, as shocking as Joan Rivers voicing a baby

at the end of Look Who's Talking. When Clea appears. Right. And I just remember you standing up and going, am I supposed to know who that is? Classic Hillary. That does sound like me. Yeah, it was really good. It was a distinctive moment. Thank you all for listening.

Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe. Tune in next week for Look Who's Talking 2. Yep. Made at a Scream 2-esque pace. It came out literally 364 days later or whatever. Like, so fast. They're Irish twins. They're Irish twins. The movies are Irish twins. Yes.

14 months later. Okay. Yeah. And I just want to, and as always, read an important quote here from the dossier. Special effects artist masters on the most difficult shot to pull off. Quote, it was my first use of visual effects. We called them electronic effects. We had one shot that took us 115 takes to get. It was little Mikey playing with his placenta.

It required 12 puppeteers. People were hanging upside down. What an achievement. Worth it. Blank Check with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims. Our executive producer is me, Ben Hostley. Our creative producer is Marie Bardy Salinas. And our associate producer is A.J.

McKeon. This show is mixed and edited by A.J. McKeon and Alan Smithy. Research by J.J. Burch. Our theme song is by Lane Montgomery and the Great American Novel, with additional music by Alex Mitchell. Artwork by Joe Bowen, Olly Moss, and Pat Reynolds.

Our production assistant is Minick. Special thanks to David Cho, Jordan Fish, and Nate Patterson for their production help. Head over to blankcheckpod.com for links to all of the real nerdy shit. Join our Patreon, BlankCheck Special Features, for exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us on social at BlankCheckPod. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Checkbook, on Substack. This podcast is created and produced by BlankCheck Productions.