Blank Check with Griffin & David - Pushing Hands/The Wedding Banquet

Episode Date: July 1, 2018

In the debut episode of our new mini series devoted to the films of director Ang Lee, Griffin and David start with his first 2 feature films: Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet. Join the hosts as they try to understand how these early attempts would affect Lee’s future films, what kind of dynamic they would have in a marriage together and play back-to-back Box offices games. This episode is sponsored by Dollar Shave Club (dollarshaveclub.com/check), Hims (forhims.com/check) and the Dumb People Town podcast.

you are cordially invited to a podcast where everyone wants to podcast the podcast. No. Except the podcast. Ridiculous. Ridiculous? Yes. Six. Hi, I'm a classically, vintagely sleep-deprived Griffin Newman.

I'm a classically, vintagely, irritated immediately David Sims. And this is one for the record, Bucks. Uh-huh. Ladies and gentlemen, what's that? Do you hear it in the wind?

He's always crazy. He's always crazier when he's like this. There's a storm a-brewing. What's that in the horizon? No guest. He hasn't been sleeping. A new miniseries!

Yep. Uh-huh. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da. Riding into town. A new miniseries. Yeah. It's exciting. You sound thrilled.

It's exciting. This, of course, is a podcast called Blank Check. We are hashtag the two friends. It's a competitive event. We're the only friends who host a podcast together. That's right. There are married people who host a podcast together. But are hashtag the two friends. It's a competitive event. We're the only friends who host a podcast together. That's right. There are married people who host a podcast together.

But we're the only friends. The only two friends. That's the other thing. The only two friends. And some, you know, I think this movie proves that a good relationship,

a good romantic relationship, a good marriage also requires an element of friendship. But look. You want to get married? Maybe. Okay. But also then You want to get married? Maybe. Okay.

But also then we'd lose our advantage because I feel like we keep it so simple, so pure. We could be the two husbands. I think, how quickly do you think we would get divorced? Removing the fact that we have no sexual chemistry together. Which is an issue. An issue. I'm going to complain about it.

I'll say this. Not insurmountable, but an issue. It is an issue honestly i'm gonna complain i'll say this not insurmountable but an issue it's an issue i mean um i tend to really suffer through and stick relationships out in my history okay so i feel like things would have to get real bad but you that's a challenge to me right yeah exactly you would rise to that i think i would rise to that. I think I would rise to that. People get tired of me very fast. Yes. It is astounding how quickly and strongly people can grow to resent my existence. Right, right, right.

Anyway, of course, this is a podcast about our relationships. Yes. Yeah. No, our relationships with the movies, filmographies, directors who have massive success over the course of their career and give them a series of blank checks

to make whatever crazy pattern projects they want. Sometimes they clear, and sometimes they bounce. Baby. I thought this was a podcast about relationships. That was a misdirect, Ben. I was joshing, producer Ben. That was a misdirect Ben I was joshing producer Ben I was just kidding Ben I was goofing around

Sure Purdue or Ben I was making a silly Sims on Reddit Made a comment saying I did I was actually about to bring this up He's kind of moved past this bit white hot benny's fucking with benny yeah they're back right david i think that we

could stand to not do it every episode i've thought about it or we could just do like a few names every episode what if we do an october madness bracket oh god to pick the one nickname and people can choose between the meat lover uh the fart detective yeah the fuck master they cannot vote for professor and they'll well that's what they'll do just like how they've been voting for the march madness they're gonna vote for the name that i don't want something that happened six months ago at the time oh this episode's coming out oh god yeah we should acknowledge just because this is topical oh yeah i, I can't. I'm so shocked that Nancy Meyers

is the winner of the tournament. We're doing that next. And here's another thing that's right top of the headlines in the news right now when this episode's coming out. You have graduated certain tools over the course of different years. Producer Ben, Kenobi, Kylo Ben. I can't wait for you to just be like

the Dow's up eight points. Save anything. Insert that later. It like bends with a dollar sign. Warhawks, Kylo Ben. I can't wait for you to just be like, the Dow's up eight points. Save anything. Just insert that later. It like bends with a dollar sign. Warhawks, Purdue Urbane, Ben 19, The Filmmaker,

Save Anything, dot, dot, dot. Maybe it's just the miniseries names too. Cause that's like, at least points back to the archive. But the problem with the miniseries names is that, especially if we do like a shorter miniseries, like a Brad Bird. Sure. It's like, we just like a shorter mini series like a brad bird yeah it's

like we just added a whole name for like six episodes you know and so like it can really pile up on us here's another thing i'm gonna throw out a real shocker i genuinely hate doing them oh my god yes why do you do that are we doing it's the part of the podcast that stresses me out the most i feel like i genuinely can't remember them anymore. When we have a guest on that's new to the show and that we respect, I will think about the fact that we're going to have to do the fucking names like the day before. I don't even think about it just when it comes up.

I've been like, God, now we have to do that. And I also, I used to be like, this is a classic Griff bit. They're going to be annoyed. They're going to respect me less, but it'll be funnier later. I don't even find it funnier later now. Right. And I thought about what if you write them all down so you can do them all really quickly and just get out of the way and not have to struggle to remember.

But I also feel like at that point, why even, you know? Yeah. If they're that formalized. I've been kind of waiting to broach this topic. I'm glad we're doing it on the podcast. This is, of course, a podcast about our podcast. This is a podcast in which we discuss things we do on this podcast. And whether or not to continue doing that.

No, I think, yeah, I think just pick a name every time, you know? Sure. You you know like one or two okay uh producer jacklyn okay you said pick a name oh no i meant of the of the okay great so that's ben he's the producer he's been with us since the beginning of this show and uh he has a lot of nicknames and of course we're talking about the films of ang. And that's a great introduction to the first Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee. Who we have a long debated possibility

on Blank Check. Came very close to pulling the trigger a couple times. People don't know how close we came. Deaf. Yeah, Ang Lee was in our sights. Yeah. And then he like looked around and we were like. We were doing him next and then we suddenly switched and got strategic. Yeah. But he's always been on our radar because he's a director who is incredibly versatile yeah has made a lot of different kinds of movies worked in a lot of genres which we like budget

levels because it means that we get to kind of like you know it's not just one thing some big this isn't a show where we like to do just one thing. Like talk about like one bad prequel movie for 10. We don't like to do stuff like that. We don't like to do bits. Never. No. No. No.

Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. He's also a two time best director winner which is a pretty rare at the Oscars you're saying

he also has one best foreign film which you have informed me goes to the country it goes to Taiwan some fucking rank bullshit a three time nominee in that category his films are but he won one time imagine if best picture worked that way too where like Shape of Water wins and then Trump is like in that category. His films are. But he won one time. Imagine if Best Picture

worked that way too where like Shape of Water wins and then Trump is like It's for me. Get me over here. That's a good point. What if our economy was based on

all the Oscars being stored in the National Reserve? He's great. I'm going to get you off the spit. I've slept so well. He's also one thing that's interesting about him he's won he's i'm gonna get you off the spit he's also one one thing that's interesting about him he's won two golden bears the berlin film festival wow two golden lions at the venice film

festival which for any director to win two of those is unusual he's won the berlin film festival both times he entered same with venice and so right now it's like if angley enters the movie in that festival everyone's like I guess it's the winner I also feel like most living filmmakers who are that fetid are also

pretty esoteric you know like someone like like Hanukkah has won exactly you're right Khan like twice

three times he's someone who can win the golden lion one year and then he's like I'm making an action movie where Will Smith like hunts his younger double, which is the next movie.

There is a versatility of filmography. Right, right. And Hulk, I was asked in an interview recently, what do you think is the ultimate blank check movie? And Hulk kind of exemplifies everything I find fascinating about the idea of a blank check film. That's the reason we've always wanted to do him. That's the movie we would talk about. We talked about doing a one-off when we weren't even sure if we were going to do Ang Lee ever as a miniseries.

We were like, let's just do Hulk. Yeah, Hulk and the Hulk. Right. But no, our podcast is called... Do you even remember? Yes, it's called... Blank Check with Griffin and David. Okay, nailed it.

And this miniseries is called... Brookpod Mountcast. I pulled it out of my butthole. Oh boy. I thought is called? Brook Pod Mountcast. Yes. I pulled it out of my butthole. Oh boy. I thought I wasn't going to remember. I did. And today we are doing a thing we haven't done since Minaj Night Shyamalan.

Sure. We're doubling up. Yes. Oh, yes. We haven't done this since him? I don't think so, right? I guess not. His first three films, Taiwanese. Two of the three nominated for Best Foreign Film.

True. A loose trilogy, thematically, that he calls the Father Knows Best trilogy, which share an actor playing fathers who know, one could argue, best. Well, but they don't really. It's an ironic title. A little bit of a wry, sort of a wry smirk to that title. Mater. You know what I'm saying?

Hmm. Mater. And next week we're going to talk about Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. Because that's the bigger one. That's sort of the breakthrough. We've coupled up the first two. The first one is very rarely seen.

Essentially, we're really talking about the wedding banquet with like a sort of pushing hands intro. Yes. Ben is pushing hands right now. We're pushing hands into the beginning of an episode that will also be about the wedding banquet, which is kind of the movie where he starts cooking. Yeah, because Pushing Hands is a nice movie that we'll talk about.

And then He-Drink Man Women is the movie where he starts cooking. That's true. Everyone starts cooking in that one. Especially that one daughter you don't expect to. Yeah. Therein lies a twist. daughter you don't expect to yeah that's therein lies a twist but uh no pushing in is a nice movie that i think we would struggle to maybe do a whole episode on it would kind of probably be like our following episode which after 20 minutes we're kind of just like hey what's up with you yeah um

so we're gonna oh we just started all right i'll get the i know oh yeah no i'm glad you're objecting because you would hate if we were doing ding-dongs in the first 10 minutes of the episode uh get the door creek master frodo uh is this samwise gamgee what you know me uh yes you're small you're very famous you must know my friend master frodo no i haven't seen him since about 2003 i think where'd he where'd he go and i i don't know i haven't seen him since 2003 either okay i think he got on a boat with bill moe so you're saying you're coming into our podcast studio 15 years later after watching him get on a goddamn boat

yeah i came all the way from middle earth i mean it took me 15 years later after watching him get on a goddamn boat yeah i came all the way from middle earth i mean it took me 15 years to get to this room all right i was going room by room just knocking on doors ringing he's here doorbells saying master frodo well you made it in here master frodo ain't here god okay on to the next room well wait hang on a second is that it well i have a very specific issue that i thought only master frodo could solve and so i have to keep on ringing doorbells until i can get an answer for master frodo there's no way you could all right well just i don't like you and you've for some reason really touched you're really pushing my buttons i'm a good friend i'm a kind man i still just the circumstances of

your situation are so sympathetic that i guess I'll offer to help. So at least tell me what's up. This is one issue so esoteric, there's no way you would be able to help me. Again, I want to make this clear. For some reason, you're really getting on my last nerve. It's always been true. Okay, I will ask. But I do want to help.

On paper, does that make sense? Master David yeah I have a problem okay my feet are just too hairy okay well David

for some reason I didn't see it coming genuinely well David yeah do you think you could suggest something to our friend Sam

I assume you have no response we've been on this alright look I'm walking out the door. What? Just hold on for one second. Master David. You've never listened to the show,

it seems, because I... No, I've listened. I've listened. I'm a big fan. I'm blanking. Well, that's good to hear. Thank you.

There probably was a contact, right? Then maybe you've heard me talk about the amazing eye shave from get... Amazing shave that I get from my dollar shave club razor oh now i use it on my face that's right but it's a razor it shaves hair very effectively so maybe you want to uh you know get some hand get your get your little hobbit hands

on some uh dollar shave club products okay so fine i fine. I can order a razor, Master David, but a dry shave will cause so much damage to the skin of my feet. It'll be no good. Let me walk out this door. No, no, no. They've got products for your hair, your face, your skin, your shower. What? Everything you need. Shave butter?

Yeah, shave butter, butt wipes. Wait a second. Replacement cartridges. Wait a second. Body cleans cartridges. Wait a second. Body cleanser. Wait a second. Okay, I'm waiting. You're telling me they could solve my stinky butt? I didn't even want to ask.

I daren't even ask my second conundrum. You got some swampy Mordor butt. I have a Mordor butt. Well. My butthole looks like the eye of Sauron. If you join the dollar shape so long gone unwiped all right it burns like the eye of sauron uh you don't have to go to the store which i assume is is far away in middle earth more like the brown eye of sauron you know what i'm saying

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You can check it all out at dollarshaveclub.com slash check. That's dollarshaveclub.com slash check. Check in dot com and then check that you typed it in correctly. Samwise, you fool of a toque. That's a different one, isn't it? It's just go to dollarshaveclub.com slash check.

Oh, well then off I shall go. Get him out of here. Get him out of here. Go. All right. Can I say something? Yeah. That guy's butt reeked.

I mean, he's from the fantasy world. Smell it all the way from over here. Yeah, and he's also having second breakfast all the time. You know what I'm saying? That's a good point. I mean, some real damage in your gastrointestinal. So, so far we've introduced the name of the miniseries, talked about our love lives and what would happen if we were married.

So we're talking about two films today. We're talking about the opening two films in the career of Wan Ang Lee, the great Taiwanese filmmaker. A man who originally wanted to be an actor. Is that true? Yes. I didn't know that. And was so overcome with stage fright.

He felt like he didn't have it. Interesting. He was so in love with drama and film at that point. Yeah. That he went like, well, now I just got to move parallel. Well, he does seem like kind of a timid guy anytime he's like accepting an award he always seems very like sort of softly spoken and lovely very much which is funny because his

reputation as a director is like you know a really like smart forceful guy who like get exactly tell you exactly what he wants and doesn't mince words doesn't mince words but I think he's not you know he's not a hothead.

No, no, he's, no. Right. He seems to be very, I remember when he won, it may have been a BAFTA for Brokeback Mountain. I just remember that Kate Winslet was presenting. I think it was at the BAFTAs. And when it was him, you could tell how genuinely happy she was. Like she screamed with delight and like gave him a big hug and like you know because they work together on sense sure and he and he makes very uh empathetic films yes yes um but he uh goes to NYU uh well excuse me oh okay okay he was born in Taiwan we're going all

the way back well long time ago in a galaxy the year was 1954 his parents had moved from mainland china to taiwan after the chinese civil war okay uh he grew up uh in a he went to school his dad was the principal i think his parents were very like you know you're gonna get yourself that does sound like the plot of an early angle it does his father knows best. He failed to get into a university in Taiwan, which is like you have to take some sort of a unified test, at least back then you did. And he failed it twice

to the disappointment of his father, according to Wikipedia. Yeah. Maybe his father wrote this Wikipedia entry. He's never gotten over it. American film school was kind of out of necessity. I always assumed it was a strategic move. First he went to the National Arts School in

Taiwan, which is sounds, I mean, it sounds pretty good to me, but I guess his dad was like, well, you know. His dad wanted him to go to principal college. Exactly. He got into film there. He got into drama.

He saw Ingmar Bergman's film, The Virgin Spring. His talks about a lot how much Ingmar Bergman was a big deal to him. Almost like that film was, I don't know, Rosetta Stone? He did his mandatory military service. He wanted to sort of replicate? He was in the Navy. It sort of functioned as an urtext for his career? Is that what you're saying? Sure. And then he went in the navy it sort of functioned as an urtext for his career is that what you're saying sure and then he went to the university of illinois what and completed his

bachelor degree okay theater he wanted to be an actor like you said you but he struggled with um english he was still he was still like a weak english speaker at that point. He meets his wife, Jane Lynn. Cool. Who he's still married to who's like a microbiologist. And enrolls at Tisch. Uh-huh. For graduate? Yeah, gets an MFA.

Yeah. Hangs out with Spike Lee. A contemporary. He worked on Spike Lee's thesis films, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop. Yeah. And he does a short film. His thesis film is called Fine Line.

Okay. Which apparently aired on PBS. And then was adapted into the film studio Fine Line Features. Of course. Thank you. Yeah, it became that Hootie and the Blowfish song. Do you have in this giant leather-bound volume of context on Ang Lee's career that you're currently reading from, do you know, can you look up when he crosses paths with James Seamus?

Because that becomes the key collaborator. I know. From the very beginning. I know. It's a good point. Like, because it's interesting that Seamus— Seamus, I believe, was not an NYU guy. Yeah.

There's very little on—I'm sure if I do some proper research, I can find out. You know, James Seamus, he's a Jew from Michigan. Right. I think quietly the most interesting figure in the last 20 years of independent film. Right, because he was such a big part of Focus Features, which was... Right, he's like the one guy who's as much of an

artist as he is a studio head. Yeah. He had a production company with ted hope that was combined with some other companies to form focus features and then he became the guy there and he was like acquiring films green lighting films working at distribution deals for other films and also writing ang Lee films that like spanned like genres like he's this real I know he obviously yes you have to talk about james james when you talk about angley because he literally co-wrote pushing hands his first

movie right and i maybe they just met in new york when uh angley was a tish i don't know but all i know is that he submits angley submits pushing hands and the wedding banquet two scripts to a competition sponsored by the taiwanese government. They came in first and second. Some promoter in Taiwan is like, why don't you make Pushing Hands? Why don't you do that?

I'll invest in this movie, and you can put this together. We're going to talk about that first. We're going to talk about Pushing Hands. Yes. So the things going to talk about that first. We're going to talk about Pushing Hands. Yes. So the things that unite these two films, they are both set in the United States. True.

They are foreign language films about Taiwanese people. Are both in New York? No, because... I had a hard time figuring out where Pushing Hands was. Pushing Hands is in like this New York suburbs. Right. I mean, it's not in the city. Because they go into the city later in the film.

Okay. Set in the suburbs. Wedding Banquet's in New York proper. Oh, yeah. It's in the fucking village, man. Yes. Oh, please. Like downtown Griffey Nooms doesn't know that.

All right. And so they're interesting foreign language films set in new york city with mixed casts starring this uh sort of respected but essentially retired taiwanese actor who ang Lee kind of like drafts out of retirement who gives a trilogy like a triptych of great performances as three different types of fathers yes that's what i like about it the most is he's the different in every one. Very different in every one. His name is Ziheng Leng. Yeah.

He's, in this one, I feel like he's at his most sort of confused. Mm-hmm. And in the second one, he's in Wedding Banquet, he's most sort of like rigid, traditional Chinese father.

And the third one, he's trying to learn. Right. In the third one, he's kind of got a foot in each and he's,'s you know he's cooking but pushing hands he's he's pretty stoic he's pretty silent yes and this is a quieter movie there's less dialogue yeah if someone if i was asked like how do you define like great acting like what do you look for as sort of like an argument for someone being a

great actor rather than someone who gave like one great performance yeah i would say like look at these three movies because here's a guy who's like not transforming himself right right not changing his voice or his physical appearance in any dramatic way is playing three characters that on paper look fairly similar and they are three completely recognizably different human beings. Sure. You know? Through very subtle shifts of characterization. Go on.

The opening scene of Pushing Hands, I think, is the highlight of the movie. It is. It kind of tells you what the movie is and then, I think it's a nice enough movie, but it does kind of just repeat itself.

But it is one of those movies where you're like, the first 10 minutes function as a short film that gets everything the entire film is trying to say done. Gone.

Economically. Lay them out for me. The opening sequence is largely silent. Yep. We start with this man practicing

what seems to be sort of martial arts stretches, right? Yes, his name is Mr. Chu. Right. He's doing Tai Chi. Right, he's hands yes that's what that's what the move is called you know he's pushing his hands through the air i guess later that's the move the sun teaches pushing hands is something else but it's okay carry on the sun says later in pushing hands is when you can push someone across like when it's like an offensive move you know okay anyway you know where like you yield

It's like an offensive move, you know? Okay. You know, where like you yield, and then like you sort of like turn it against them. Sure, but... It's sort of a... Okay, but can I say this? And will you correct me on this? At the opening of the film,

he is pushing his hands through the air. Sure. Literally. I'm sort of miming it. So the movie opens pushing hands and uh huh he's very silently

and sort of methodically practicing it's very relaxing and to watch these moves yeah and then I feel like we cut to

he seems kind of chilled out right we cut to middle aged white woman middle aged I mean she's probably in her what do you think late 30s early 40s right and people die about 51 i think right jesus that's depressing i'm

almost done this movie's set medieval times right yeah yeah yeah um sitting at her computer clearly kind of like struggling with some writer's play. Played by, it's Martha, and she's played by Deb Snyder. Who, I don't know if you know this, that is the name of Zack Snyder's wife and producing partner. That's true, but this is not Zack Snyder's wife. So I went to this Deb Snyder's IMDb page to figure out what else she had done, and all the news stories that were linked to her IMDb page were about Justice League. Fair enough. else she had done and all the news stories that were linked to her imdb page were about justice league fair enough so i spent 45 minutes trying to figure out what her connection to justice league was right and then for a second i thought she was zach snyder's very young mother she's not she's not she's just some lady i mean she's fine hey what do you what would you say great in this movie i would say actually she's sort of a flaw I'd say she's kind of a deterrent She's a little bit of a weight around the neck

Cause the son Alex Played by Bo Z Wang Like he's pretty good I think he's okay I think this is a performance that is Handicapped by His lack of comfort With the English language

Because this character is clearly supposed to be more fluent than he is as an actor. Interesting. You presume that... I know what you're saying. If he is married to an American woman, raising a child in English, nationalized, has been here for presumably at least a decade, he would have more agility with the language than the character seems to. And I find that the scenes in which he's acting

in his native language, he seems a lot more physically relaxed. Versus when he's speaking in English, he seems a little tense, like he's like, am I fucking this up? Okay. Yeah, sure. I think he's half good.

I think she's not very good at all. No. And the father's great. The father's like amazing. He's sort of showing them all up. Right. You know, unintentionally. So this opening sequence is him pushing hands,

and that's the official term of what he's doing, and her sort of struggling with writer's block, and then through editing, silently, you start to realize that they're in the same space, colliding. And then they do sort of collide. Right. And she kind of is like, he's this nuisance. His presence in her home just kind of stresses her out.

Right. She has married his son. Yes. And now he has to live there because his wife died during the Cultural Revolution, I think, like, there was some sort of, like, you know, when Alex was a kid, when the son was a kid, some sort of, like, government clash, and, like, the wife ends up dying. So there's a lot of, like, family

guilt that's rooted in, like, the Chinese. But that's also a sort of cultural tradition of keeping your family under one roof, the sort of caring for the elders in a way. But he's a pain in the ass. Oh elders in a way but he's putting his tai chi where her typewriter should be i mean literally that's sort of like what's going on here and and she kind of i i feel like she's playing so prickly from the beginning yeah she's you're just not

on her side a fucking chance you're like are kidding me? This guy came all the way from China. Like, he's so out of water here. Like, him going for a walk is stressful for the whole family. Because he's literally silent in a corner, moving very slowly. And she's like, can you fucking keep it down over there? Right, it's not like break dancing. He's putting cardboard down and like spinning on his head like he's pretty quiet and uh yeah yes you know maybe like he keeps saying like you should really like i should teach you some more tai chi so you could chill out yeah

and he's trying to say in a nice way and she's like i don't even want to fucking and i'm like take him up on it i mean i think honestly because he seems calmer he's got he's got his you know fish out of water like her friend comes over and is like how's grandpa doing she's like don't even oh my god yeah yeah she sucks i'm realizing that she was probably my the other hang up i have with this movie is just that it doesn't look that good it's the only angley movie that doesn't look very good even by the wedding banquet it's a good. It's the only Ang Lee movie that doesn't look very good. Even by The Wedding Banquet. It's a good looking movie. It's a gorgeous movie with great compositions

and sense of space and all this. This one is like, it's a good first movie. This feels like a thesis film. This feels like a long, short film. We also watched it admittedly in a less than ideal transfer. I think the other two films have been preserved better. Yeah, this one I watched on Amazon Prime. It was streaming for

free. But yeah, it definitely had that loveless vibe of like... This was a VHS put on a streaming site. Yeah, did someone just transfer a VHS? And maybe they did. Maybe they did. But it has certain good sequences. It has certain good moments.

But the film is kind of repetitive of just them trying to figure out this balance. You know, the son filling this obligation. You don't understand in my culture. We don't abandon our parents like this. I need to be there for him. And the wife who is very stressed out about the reviews that her book is going to get and the pressure to write a second book concurrently. Right.

I forgot about that. Right. But she's just constantly... There's no vulnerability to this character, I find, in how it's played, you know? Yeah. It's not that I cannot care for someone who is stressed out in a way that makes them unpleasant.

I get why she's stressed out. You do, but everything's played at such a reactionary kind of fever pitch. Right. The good stuff in Pushing Hands is the dad hanging out with Mrs. Chen, the widow who's the cooking instructor at the community center,

and their relationship is nice you know i like anything mr chen when he gets the job at the restaurant like all that shit's good and he works really slowly and methodically and the boss wants to fire him and he just like yeah stands his ground and then literally stands his ground there's this great extended sequence yes he like pushes him across the room essentially right but he's also like if you want me out of here try to get me out of here and then it just becomes an immovable force he becomes like planted in the ground and you have like six cops who get reported in then he sends like thugs in to try to like knock him down and the guy won't move

fun it's all very everything that happens you're like i get it i get it even though we're talking about this movie as a trifle yes it won some awards it won some awards it was feted yeah it's like a solid debut i mean i think the movie looks worse because we know that literally every literally it five minutes also like five minutes from now we're going to talk about the wedding banquet which is good right significantly better and it's only made a year later so it's like oh he you know because like uh what's it called praying with anger to wide awake to six cents is like a near 10 year arc right and like the improvement is gradual and then sudden right this is like he made one movie it's pretty good a year later he made another movie it was amazing

here nearly another movie it was better like you know it's sort of like, he made one movie. It's pretty good. A year later, he made another movie. It was amazing. A year later, he made another movie. It was better. Right, right. It's sort of like... He has such an accelerated growth rate here, which we haven't covered a guy like this. He did Sense of Sensibility. Right. Yeah, yeah.

In a while where... We've covered a lot of guys who have debut films that are pretty professional and polished, even if their later films get better. This kind of like Piranha 2, Praying with Anger, like here you're watching a real kind of first draft film. Where if you saw this at a festival, you'd be

like, this guy might be a good director someday. There's some moments that are really fucking well observed in this. Movie's not great, but there's some really good stuff. So I think if you saw this as a first film, you'd probably give it a little more praise because of the potential you sensed agree but if you're watching the wedding banquet like literally five minutes after you finish watching pushing hands as i do you're like okay well forget about i'm never gonna think about pushing hands ever again uh how does it end pushing hands ends with uh that's a good question i'm trying to

remember i don't think i guess he moves out he gets he gets with the lady he goes on a walk with the lady yeah he says he knows he wants the wife wants him out. Yeah. He kind of starts crying. Yeah. He's good. Let's talk about The Wedding Banquet. Yeah, let's talk about The Wedding Banquet. What? No.

We're going to play the box office game. Oh, great. My friend. What I was going to say, though, is you look at Praying with Anger, I think it's not very good at all. Right? Not very professional. No, it's a bad movie with a little hint of promise. Then Wide Awake. It is an amateurish film. Right. professional no it's a it's a it's a bad movie with a little hint of promise right then wide

away is an amateurish film right wide awake is like a mediocre film that i have a soft spot for a bad film that's at least confidently made it's very polished like it's very like professionally produced and it has one incredible joke it has one of the greatest jokes of all time shut up quiet the movie is called wide awake you need a prod shock him he's so tired he's a sleepy book shut up but then sixth sense you're like where the fuck did this come from

exactly yes these three films it's a more traditional build where you're just seeing him going like it's a 45 degree angle essentially it's just like doop like, okay, I got that out of the way. It's a 45 degree angle, essentially. It's just sort of like, doop, doop, doop. Right. Okay. So box office.

This movie must have burned it up. So this movie, the reason this is interesting is it didn't come out in America until after Wedding Banquet and Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. And it was like, here's the first film from the new- It was advertised as from the director of the Wedding Banquet and Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. The international sensation. Yeah. So it comes out in June 1995.

Okay. Not long before Sense and Sensibility. Yeah. Right. Okay. It made $152 million. That was in dollars.

Oh, okay. So it comes out right in the middle of the summer blockbuster season. Number one is a movie we've talked about on this podcast. Have we covered it or just talked about it? We've talked about on this podcast. Have we covered it or just talked about it?

We've talked about it. It's a children's film. I saw it in theaters. You probably did too. Casper? It's fast. It's fast. It's weird.

He got that. Super weird. In its second weekend, it's made $38 million. It makes $100 million. Yeah. One of the best american films in the 90s casper's a masterpiece silverling is it don't at me silverling our next miniseries no number two a fine american director number two is one of the the better and more underrated films

in like the very big uh filmography of a a very big deal director, that's weird because Casper, A Spirited Beginning wouldn't have come out at the same time as the first Casper. We're not talking about that. But you said one of the best and most underrated films. And that was direct-to-video. I said I'm a director. Right. Certain director.

Right, you said director-to-video, which was Casper, A Spirited Beginning, which was, of course, the prequel to Casper. I want to get through this box office game. It's a romance based on a famous book like a hit book Bridges of Masson County wow

thank you good job have you seen it no it's a Clint Eastwood film to be clear great movie Javier Bardem said

that performance is one of his favorites he draws from yeah that performance it's a great movie number three is is one of his favorites. He draws from that performance. It's a great movie. Number three is

just an action sequel, a big hit of the summer. Okay, but once again, Passport of Spirit at the beginning would not have been out. Don't think that's an action movie. It's an action movie.

It's a big sequel. It's one of the big movies of the summer. Yeah. It's a great movie. Number two? Three. Oh, it's... Well, three. It's the third in the movies of the summer. Yeah. It's a great movie. Number two? Three. Oh, well, three.

It's the third in the series. Is it Batman Forever? Nope. It's the third in the series. Is it the final? Nope. Nope. But there is a bit of a break after this one.

Takes them a while to make the fourth one. Interesting. In a weird sort of way. They probably should have made the fourth one pretty quickly. So, what do you say? Because this movie's good. Does the fourth one happen in a different decade? Yeah. The fourth one's like 12 years later or something.

Fourth one doesn't come out until 2007. Roughly. Something like that. I can't remember. It's an action film. Huh. Is it a star vehicle? Yeah.

Is it a pair of stars? Or is there really kind of one person? It's one person, although I think multiple people might have been billed above the title. No, they weren't. They were billed below the title. Star, title, couple other stars.

Die Hard with a Vengeance? Bryce above the title, Sam and Jeremy below? Right below? Yeah. It's a good movie. It is a good movie. You know what's not a good movie?

Die Harder. Live Free or Die Hard. Or Live Free or Die Hard. Or A Good Day to Die Hard. I've never seen that one. I haven't either. I just know it's not a good movie. Number four is the Best Picture winner of 1995.

Braveheart? That's right. Cool. And number five is another movie we've talked about. I love this movie. Casper? That's right. Cool. And number five is another movie we've talked about. I love this movie. Casper,

A Spirit at Beginning. It's a good movie. You like this movie? You like this movie? No, no. The episode. Very good. Jesus.

I thought Ben was praising this fine American action film. Remember when for our 150th episode we were like, give us ratings.

We want to go top of the charts. Yeah. So stupid. The strategy we should have employed was making an episode this good. Of course. That's the way to get to top of the charts. You have to make an episode this good.

People won't be able to not listen. AV Club. Split Cider. New York Times. New Yorker's going to do a feature. Philip Roth is coming out of retirement to write a novel about this episode. I'm learning. Bob Mueller's investigating how this episode turned out so well.

We just got a subpoena from Congress? Was it Russian meddling? Americans couldn't have done an episode this good on their own. Weird. The Olympics are creating a podcast category for this episode. Wait a second. I just checked my phone that you told me to turn off. Jesus just texted me, coming back to life, need to listen to that episode in a physical realm.

Fantastic. Yeah, number five is Crimson Tide. Oh, cool. Hmm. Yes? Or should I say... Hems. You get so focused on the names of our sponsors.

Look, it's an easy way in. And the sounds they make. Hems. You're talking about Hems? I am. You're talking about 4Hems.com? Guilty as charged. You're talking about the people who help men who are losing their hair?

Mm-hmm. 66% by age 35. Yeah. And people, you know, they might notice that the hair's going away, but it's too late. Guy stuff. Should have gone to 4hims.com. And I'm not going to let my fragile ego, my kismo, get in the way. Sure.

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Doctor reviews, prescribes you medicine, products get shipped directly to your door. You feel great. You look great. But what does this have to do with blank check? Oh. Our listeners get a trial month of HIMSS for just $5 today right now while supplies last.

You can see the website for full details. Well, that's really convenient because otherwise it would have been really weird that we just started talking about hymns. Yeah, because we've never gone on weird tangents on this show before. But now this dovetails in very nicely. No, it'd cost you hundreds if you went to the doctor or the pharmacy. Hold on, wait a second. Hey, guys, sorry. Were you talking about 4hymns.com?

Yeah, we were talking about 4hymns. Yeah, you just got to go to for hymns.com slash check ben is sitting back nodding in approval that is for hims.com slash check for hymns.com slash check you can get a trial month for hymns just five bucks hey five bucks you can afford that right this is the perfect movie for us to laugh and joke about. This extremely sensitive, like, wonderful romantic drama about a gay guy talking to his family and, like, you know. Did you cry at the end of this movie? I got kind of choked up at it. I was more impressed with it, though.

Like, you know, it could have been a real tearjerker. Uh-huh. It also could have been a real goofball as McGillicuddy comedy. And it could have been a real birdcaker. Uh-huh. It also could have been a real goofballs McGillicuddy comedy. And it could have been a real birdcage. Right. I make this joke in the next episode,

but very surprised this movie wasn't remade with like Tim Holland. No, exactly. As the dad. No, no, exactly. And it's like, instead of that,

I was just like sort of blown away by how reasonably and sort of, you know, quietly everything was handled at the end of the movie.

Yes. But yes, I mean, it's the next movie that really made was handled at the end of the movie. Yes. But yes, I mean, it's the next movie that really made me cry at the end, but this one's, you know. The ending of this one weirdly hit me harder. Not to jump the gun,

but there's something about what this film ends up building to, which is, this is a movie that's based around deception, right? True, yes. Like a lot of high concept comedies. And a lot of those movies

can be annoying. Where it's like, you to keep up a lie. There's a big lie and then you know it's going to get revealed and you're sort of dreading that part. Right, and those movies tend to be very set piece based. You have the plot mechanics, you can hear the gears as they're working towards big blow up scenes, right? And this movie does the exact opposite

which is actually just play out the scenario. It doesn't go for, like, big jokes, right, or big movements. It just kind of plays out the, like, slow repercussions

of all the decisions these people are making. let me do it. I'm going to do it in, like, you know, it's like, uh,

Wang Tung Gao lives in the village with his partner, Simon. Right. They are gay men. He's like a downtown Griffey Nooms type.

They're downtown Griffey Nooms types. They're downtown Griffey Nooms types. They're gay guys. I think they're both out in terms of like to their friends. Publicly. Yeah. Right? Like, you know, they live together, yada, yada, yada. Right.

But we got one guy more of a conservative buttoned down businessman type. The other guy an out there on the streets activist. Yes, that's true. But they both seem pretty secure in their sexuality. Simon is like a part of act up and you see him campaigning and way tongue is like um you know a lawyer or something like you know business i can't remember he has like a good job right all that crap well he's a landlord right he's a real estate yeah central central plot device of the course sorry yes and uh but you know what sorry. What I'm saying is he's making decent money. He's got a nice place.

He is open enough that when he goes to check in on his tenant who is behind in her rent, she fully knows the deal. She knows the name of his live-in boyfriend. She is a painter. Sure, sure, sure.

This is his situation. His parents, who live in Taiwan, they. But here's what, you know, so. Yeah. He's, this is his situation. His parents who live in Taiwan, they're always like, when are you going to get married? Right. Are you going to marry a nice lady? Or a grandchild. They like hire a dating service to find him like a nice lady. Right. He has to pick her up from the airport and then very quickly realizes that they're both

being set up by their parents. Yes. She's dating a white guy. Right. Her parents can their parents. She's dating a white guy. Her parents can't know. He's dating a white man. His parents can't know. And they end up having this nice, like, afternoon. I just like that scene ends up being like a bonding of the two of them being like, yeah,

it sucks not being able to be in love with who you love. And when I'm watching that scene, I'm like, oh, is this the person that, are they both going to pretend to get married so it'll be birdcage-y where it's like they where it's like they're both balancing no no she's just a one-off character this movie sort of just has like an empathy for all of its characters enough that it's like we're gonna treat this character like a person and give her five minutes yeah because she's the joke where he puts in these like outrageously demanding uh she has to be an opera singer tall she has to be an opera singer she has to have three degrees phd something like PhDs, something like that. Right. He wants three PhDs, and they're like, look, she only has two. Right.

But we checked off every other bop, which is funny. Speaks five languages. But his parents finally announce they're coming. His father has some sort of health crisis. Right. So there's a little bit of worry around that. So they're coming. Mm-hmm.

And so he tells them, okay, I'm with this woman, his tenant, Wei Wei, and we're going to get married. Because Wei Wei can't pay her rent. And she can't seem to find a good relationship for herself. So he kind of goes like, look, here's the deal.

Scratch my back, I scratch yours. Pretend to be my wife. That is the premise of the movie. Right. Now, hijinks couldn't couldn't say exactly it could be very easy because it's essentially they're gonna have this sham marriage not just a sham marriage but like a really big extravagant chinese wedding ceremony you know with all the tassels because that's even the scene where you go like here's the wind-up this would be two acts of a dumb film is like they're like let's get this over with go to city hall the parents are upset

that they're not throwing a big wedding well we'll get to that that scene is actually really good exactly the parents are not into it

they want a real wedding that they can take pictures of they can invite the family to there is a version of this movie where 60 of the 90 minutes

are the wedding yeah and it's just like shit happening at the wedding and everything going wrong and like you know before he has to make a big confession in front of everybody 90 minutes. Or the wedding. Yeah. And it's just like shit happening at the wedding and everything going wrong. And like, you know, yeah.

Before he has to make a big confession in front of everybody, which is, that's not what this movie is at all. This movie is never exactly what you think it's going to be. And yet it is also, uh, like nice culture clash comedy about a gay man coming out to his parents. Like it is that, right.

But it just isn't in the way you think it's going to be. At all. I guess. Yes. It's a great movie. Agreed. It has one plot point that does 25 years-ish on make you go,

huh. Yeah. The sex scene. Agreed. The sex scene is weird. But I chalk that up more to like that's the one plot mechanic that kind of just clangs badly.

You know, like here's the thing. I get why they have to do that. Sure. It does feel like there's a better version of that scene. Right. I think there is a version of that scene where it doesn't feel like an assault. Uh,

no, I do too. I think that's what I'm saying. Which in the movie, it kind of plays that way. That's the problem. And they don't really totally acknowledge that it was a sex scene with no consent given by him until later.

It literally fades out on him going like, ugh. He says no. As they fade out. But then later they kind of acknowledge that, but also they sort of brush it aside. Anyway. That's the one thing where you're like, ah. That's the only way you can get to that.

No, it's not what that actually is. Because the way that they address it later is that his boyfriend is like yeah i get shit happens you know whatever like you know so they should have just been like in close quarters for a long time you know they're drunk they just got married like they sort of like because the idea of this movie is their tradition in the bed the setup for them being naked in the bed is just like that's totally earned by this weird ceremony going on around them. The idea is the tradition around them that they

put around them in some ways to try and satisfy everyone. It's pushing in tighter and tighter and this is a movie very much about enclosed spaces. I think that's the exact term. The official term is pushing hands. I think pushing hands is the exact term. Official term, David is typing in pushing hands to verify that that is the exact term. The official term is pushing hands. I think pushing hands is the exact term. Official term, David is typing in pushing hands to verify. Oh, I was typing in assassins for hire.

We should use ZipRecruiter. Yeah, we should. That should be our next ZipRecruiter ad if we do one, is me trying to find someone to kill you. And you thought our marriage would last. You thought that you would be the one who could stick it out genuinely let's get back to that for a second yeah what would you bring to the marriage i'm a real sweetheart you are you are a sweetheart because like for me it's

like i can bring a lot of like i'm good at like cooking and sort of keeping things running like paying rent not getting kicked out of your apartment well i mean yeah sure i mean i do it i pay the rent yeah I grouse about it yeah you're more organized I feel like I would provide some of the stability yeah what are you bringing here I'm just guessing that you're not bringing

a little spice don't you just want to like be at home and watch movies and play with toys that's what I like doing putting some hand candy in my mitts. Some plastic hand candy. Watching some talkies.

Eating the worst garbage food. Yeah, my old garbage belly. Ordering chicken tenders from the diner on Seamless or something. Once again, I'm a sweetheart. Yeah, you are. What do I add in a relationship? That's a good question.

This is maybe the question I should have asked myself. This question's cutting a little too deep. Like, is it one of those joke questions where you're like, what do I add? Like, Ben, what do you bring to a relationship? I think I have a spirit for life. Joie de vivre. Yeah. I think, like, spirit for life. Joie de vivre. Yeah.

I think like I walk in the room and it's just like things get brighter. Have you ever? I agree. One, I agree. Have you ever done speed dating, Ben? Like where you like switch tables every five minutes or whatever? Follow-up questions. Have you ever taken speed?

No and yes. Pretty much how I expected that one to go. So, The Wedding Banquet. A nominee for best foreign film at the Academy Awards. Yeah, and actually I want to find out who it lost to because we brought that up in the Eat, Drink, and Moment episode. We will bring that up. It lost to, I think it's like a real yeah belly puck yeah oh yeah no no

this should have won this should have but you know what uh it's up against farewell my concubine oh weird and that also is like a very good movie that like is a plausible winner maybe i don't know maybe the two asian movies a lot of that like cancel each other winner maybe i don't know maybe the two asian movies a lot of that like cancel each other out like i not you know movie fucking detours or whatever it was called win a lot of times like i mean you know often a very middle of the road movie but this is like a pretty fun movie like but here's the thing to talk about okay yeah because now the rules have changed back then not every oscar voter was allowed to vote for best foreign film. No, you had to have seen the movies and all that.

And the way you had to have seen them was. They were old. No, but do you know what they used to do? Go ahead. You used to have to go to an organized screening where you watched all five films in a row. Yes. It wasn't about screeners. So you had to be like, I have nothing to do on a Tuesday.

Right. It was all like 80-year-olds. And be like, I have nothing to do on a Tuesday. Right. It was all like 80-year-olds. And you'd sit there and watch 10 hours of foreign films. Right, right. So usually the one that was just about like old people being old and the one that was like the least offensive would win. Yeah. Yeah. Things have changed.

Times have changed. The Wedding Banquet. Mm-hmm. So yeah, we talked about the basic setup he's got traditional parents they are played by Si Hong Long from the last movie

he plays Mr. Gao his dad he's really good at this cause he's very vulnerable and like frail in some ways but also like you I want his praise in this movie that scene early on when they arrive

and they have the like Wei Wei does the sort of calligraphy speech like where she's obviously like made sure to study calligraphy because she knows that's what her new dad likes I love the training of the cooking too but like watching him be

satisfied is very rewarding. Even though it's not like he's a big smile on his face or anything. He's just quietly happy. He's also not playing a one-dimensional grump. So you feel like his approval is attainable. Weirdly, the most one-dimensional character is Wei Tong. He's the main character. Agreed.

And only because he's so often grumpy because he is at the center of all this scheming. Right. Mei Chen plays Wei Wei, his wife. Guo Ale plays his mother. She's so good. She got an Independent Spirit nomination, I know. She's so fucking good.

Can I throw out a thing I found while looking up this film yeah Mei Chen cause I was like she's so good in this what did she do

after this film sure okay she only is in five movies total really

on IMDB at least she's in one film in 1988. Okay. Then The Wedding Banquet five years later. Magic Sword the same year. May Jane in which she plays the title character the following year. Are you looking at her IMDb page? Yes. Just to let you know

she's been in 200 movies. Where are you looking? Wikipedia. It's just they don't put like every like foreign language film like Taiwanese movie on there. Okay. Well then, so disregard everything I just said, but what I'm going to say next is still interesting.

Go ahead. The last film they have listed for here is called Woman Soup. Great, great title. That's interesting fact number one. She was in a movie called Woman Soup. And the fact there is there was a movie called Woman Soup. Oh, that's the whole fact? No, I have a better fact I'm getting to, but I want to let people know that a movie called Woman soup and the fact there is there is a movie called woman soup oh that's the whole fact no i have a better fact i'm getting to but i want to let people know that a movie

called woman soup exists and the plot synopsis is that it is a bunch of lonely women who go to hot springs together it sounds that's great so they form a woman's woman soup yeah that's fact one fact two may chen since 2001 may chen has been a member of taiwan's legislative body A woman's soup. That's fact one. Fact two, Mei Chen. Since 2001, Mei Chen has been a member of Taiwan's legislative body. Ben Tsang made a stretch for time. One of three representatives of the island's aboriginal population. Her small party is allied with the ruling pro-China Kuomintang. She once sued former Japanese Prime Minister for visiting the controversial Yasukani Shrine

to Japan's war debt. Great. Embarrassing. Stall for time. She was born September 21st. 1965. Embarrassing. The other thing that's interesting is she's a Mando pop star.

Okay. Oh. And she quit acting not long after Wedding Banquet because she got liver cancer. She beat liver cancer. And then she was like, you know what? Fuck it. Politics next. Well, you know what's a good cure for woman cancer?

Woman cancer? Well, now I, I mean, you know the joke I was going to make now. I was going to say liver cancer and then I was going to say the cure was woman soup. And I've ruined everything. I mean, I would say- We had a perfect episode up until this point. I would say that was the least successful chunk we've ever done on this show. It was bad.

That's not true. That's not true. No, I mean, it was really good. Yeah, thank you. That's accurate. You know- Just, listeners, Griffin's ego has gotten so massive after the tick that we're just having to massage everything. What do you got here?

So The Wedding Banquet, a great film by a great filmmaker. The Wedding, yeah. The Wedding Banquet. You get this. This is a thing I like about this movie that I think speaks volumes. Okay. All of them just live in the house together. Yeah, sure.

Right. They don't create that much of a like false narrative they don't like mrs doubtfire that's true it's like so the parents arrive and wei tong is like so here's my place this is my roommate simon and here's my uh girlfriend who i'm gonna get married to right and they're like yeah that all makes sense we're from taiwan people all live in a house together some you know like there's no like uh um complicated scenes where it's like one guy's in one room and a door's being held closed or someone's on the phone and you're switching between lines simon's always at the table with them simon's always like involved in everything they like simon his mandarin is like decent so they're sort of fond of that. Yeah, Simon's a pretty chill dude. They try to do this quickie city hall marriage.

Simon played by Mitchell Lichtenstein. Who then went on to direct Teeth. He made Teeth. You know what else, though? Teeth with Jess Weixler. He's the son of Roy Lichtenstein. I know that. The artist. Oh, cool.

Isn't that crazy? I love that artist. You know how I could tell because you watch the movie when they zoom in on his face it got little dots on it. Yeah, thank you. We're being chill,

but I mean like this is a movie that comes out in 1993. Yeah. I mean, obviously it's not like some colossal hit, but it made like 25 million bucks worldwide. Oh, I'm sorry. You want to talk about

not some colossal hit? Okay. Here's an actual interesting fact. Okay? Mm-hmm. The Wedding Banquet. Trivia. This was the most financially profitable film of 1993,

earning 23.6 million for a budget of 1 million. Right. Gave it a cost-to-return ratio of 23.6, considerably higher than that of Jurassic Park. Fair. Yeah. And

Winston Chow, who played the lead role, had never been in a film before. He was an airline steward. That's crazy. Really? That's crazy. He's very handsome. Let's not beat around the bush no not at all um no beat around his bush you know i guess so a handsome bush the parents are coming he proposes this sham marriage to to uh wayway played by may chin and yes and then they have

a city hall wedding now i by the way i've been to city hall weddings they i have as well they you know they humble brag it's seriously yeah that that's not city like they they made it look worse like they put it in like some drab office they make it look like night court and like that yeah exactly make it look like everyone's waiting and watching the wedding like you get to go in your own room to have the wedding yeah right but i still like that scene because again the parents don't put up a fuss yeah they're like i guess we just grin and bear this. And then finally, the mom just starts crying because it's so depressing.

Like, it is so antithetical to what she wants. I think a masterstroke of this film is that the parents are trying to understand the entire time.

They're not, they are a roadblock in the way the tradition is a roadblock to his way of life. Uh-huh. Way of life. I mean,

he's gay. But they're not pointedly stubborn. They're not like... Exactly. It's all... We just get it. Yeah. We get the traditions they want.

Right. They're not dicks about it. No. And they're not going to force him to do anything. This isn't one of those annoying movies, and this is true of Eat Me Drink Man as well, where it's like, well, you better do this or I'm pulling your money.

Or it's like there's some artificial conflict at all it's just he really wants their approval so he's doing everything he thinks he needs to do but also you know his dad's like a little frail because he had like a stroke so it's like they're worried about that he sees the dad in the chair and he gets worried for a second his dad might have died so he holds the finger under his nose to check the breath and you kind of get he realizes then he goes like we're getting married today. Yeah he's just like let me just make you happy. Be married before my father

passes it could happen at any moment. So then they go his boyfriend is like look this was a fucking disaster let me book a reservation let's go get a nice lunch try to cheer them up. And they get to the lunch and it turns out the father of the owner of the restaurant right served under the father in the army right and it's like do you understand who this fucking guy is this guy's a

hero he saved my life i owe him everything what's going on here they're like we just got married we're not even doing a party and he's like nope i'm making it up to you sumptuous banquet right so this would be the bulk of the dumber version of this movie and then and it's not i mean it's it's one act it's the middle and it's fun i mean i think it's great i love to go through these traditions and it's not like the traditions are challenging no it's the ceremony it's just like do we have to do the thing with the blindfold where he has to guess who's kissing him and then he guesses a kid is his wife. She guesses.

She guesses. Sorry, she guesses the kid is the husband. Right, yeah. And his friend makes this speech about like, well, we've known each other for a long time.

I never even heard of this lady. Look, he's fried and he holds up fried food and it's a great joke and everyone gives him comedy points. That's true.

But this culminates in this weird tradition where they put them they they bombard their bedroom right their hotel room and because she like accidentally opens the door too right yeah and everyone stands around like throws the cover on top of them and is like you have to keep on removing items of clothing we won't leave until all your clothing is off weird yeah i mean but these old old old-fashioned wedding traditions are basically like you got married so you have to fuck to make babies and i love that they don't you might not know how right i love that they don't step one

nudity nudity not a prerequisite but helpful yeah it's kind of a prerequisite for me a prerequisite if we're gonna get married i want to tell you i want to be naked when we have sex well and i think we might have found our first major oh wow griffin's like clothes on yeah he's like wearing a coat yes i only have coated sex lights on with the coat on yeah you wouldn't walk, jeez, boy, that's brutal. I want to see everything, but I want to expose nothing. Hey, if you're looking for a podcast to make you forget about everything else and actually just laugh out loud, you absolutely need to check out Dumb People Town.

Yes, it's called Dumb People Town, and that's what it's about. Every week the show celebrates and revels in dumb people around the world doing the dumbest things you can imagine, and plenty of things even the imagination can't create. It's hosted by comedy duo Jason and Randy Sklar, legends of podcasting. They've got comedian Daniel Van Kirk along for the ride. And honestly, it's the funniest new show I've heard in a long time.

Every episode's packed with real news stories and constant ball-busting between the hosts. And you feel their genuine awe for the stupidity inside of each of us. So you'll hear stories like about burglars boarding spaceships or threesomes on public patio decks and door-to-door meat salesmen. They've got special guests like Maria Bamford or Silicon Valley's Thomas Middleditch or Jon Hamm, Tig Notaro, Keegan-Michael Key.

Trust me, you don't want to miss a single dumb moment so just subscribe to dumb people town on itunes spotify tune in stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts i love that they don't cut under the sheets sure like to go like oh my god what are we gonna do right like you're just seeing this mound underneath a cover surrounded by people and they're just like very slowly throwing items of clothing out. So it's funnier imagining how pissed off they are not seeing

their faces. But then when everyone leaves and they're like woo! And now they're both naked in bed together like huddled up she starts pushing hands if you will. She does. I mean also yeah so a major subplot. I think the official term of what she does is push some hand. On to some body part.

Uh-huh. A major subplot of this movie that I also like is that she really likes the family. Yeah. And enjoys being part of the family. Right. Like, once they're all pretend living together. And she's had a run of bad relationships. They set up at the beginning.

So it's like she's in something that's kind of stable right now even if it's kind of phony baloney right like they're not in love but she's got a pretty good like home life now yeah um and so i i we've talked about it already i just i like all that stuff i like where it's leading to i do think that scene is clunky i don't like that she grabs his penis, he says no, and then she goes, no, I'm having sex with you. Right. And then we fade out. And then they have sex to completion because she gets pregnant. Right. That's what I'm saying. It's like, finesse this better.

This movie was written by Ang Lee and James Seamus, who should mention, and Ted Hope. Neil Peng, sorry. Okay. Seamus also co-wrote Pushing Hands with them. So, right from the start, those two are writing together. Ang Lee directs. Let's see. Yeah, this is based on a real relationship, by the way.

He said, I think the first act of the movie, the basic setup, is based on a guy that Ang Lee knew. Seamus said the first film was first written in Chinese, translated into English, rewritten in English, translated back into Chinese, subtitled in Chinese and English in a dozen other languages. Like, it does seem like a complicated way to work.

It's not like one of those things where you read it, it's like, well, Aang and James, they just need each other because they're just like two halves of a whole. It's like, this seems so Byzantine, these translations. And Aang Lee wasly was like pointedly not super fluent english at this point like could speak but i don't think was like fully bilingual uh-huh you know because even by the time he gets a sense of insensibility they talk about the fact that like sometimes he had trouble explaining communicating to the actors yeah uh but but

somehow they they found themselves much like the characters of this film, strange bedfellows who found an interesting sideways existence that lended itself to happiness for all around them. Is that a sentence? Correct, yeah. So Wei Wei gets knocked up.

Here's one thing I like. Simon is mad because Wei Tong didn't use a condom because he's like my whole fucking thing is act up fucking use a condom right you want to have sex it's the 90s with one lady for kicks fine with me we'll figure it out

vet it with me first hand and also throw on a rubber for goodness sake exactly yeah but she gets pregnant and they're now tense as shit everyone's flipping out around the breakfast table but then we kind of jump ahead in time at some point right because he has another

stroke and they're like grounded the implication is the parents stay way longer than they should but there's that scene that's great where they're fighting in the morning and the parents presumably don't understand what's going on because they're fighting in English they're fighting right and they talked about it to each other in Mandarin. Right.

And they start to put together, oh, it must be that she's pregnant. That's the only thing that could get you that angry. Right. They have the stroke, right? They go to the hospital. He's sitting outside the room with his mom and the mom puts it together.

Right. She's pregnant and he thinks she's put together that he's gay. So he starts sort of like sideways coming out. Right. Like kind of backing his way into it until she says what she's saying and he just fucking gay so he starts sort of like sideways coming out right like kind of backing his way into it until she says what she's saying

and he just fucking owns up to it he does and he says there's that line I love where he's like so much joy so much pain

I haven't been able to share with you like the idea that he hates that he hasn't been able to talk to her about the good stuff and the bad stuff what a good move

so much of his life has been like hidden from her so he owns up to it and she's sort of like you know I don't get this. I don't love this. You're my son.

Of course I love you. I accept you. You cannot tell your father. Right. Turns out who's around the corner listening. Yeah. Big daddy. No. He's in the hospital bed. Who's around the corner listening? Wei Wei

Oh right And? Roy Lichtenstein Yeah Junior So now they know That he told her Yeah

I kind of forgot about this part Yeah okay Cause I like this web they build At the end of the movie Where like everyone doesn't know What everyone else knows But all of them have somehow Come to some sort of understanding with someone else. Sure.

Like they're all kind of cool with everything without knowing that everyone else is cool with everything. I just, yes. This is what I found so emotionally affecting at the end of the film is like there's this powder keg where they all kind of say goodbye to each other at the airport. So this is what made you cry. Or they're getting on a boat, right? I thought they were getting on a plane. I can't remember. For some reason, I thought it was a boat.

I was also very tired. Why would they be getting on a plane? I have no idea. Dude, I'm wrong. All right, all right. They're pushing hands into the sky. That's the official term for taking a flight. Yeah, Samwise is watching them get off on a boat to the Grey Havens.

The point is... No, it's a plane. Okay. According to Wikipedia, at least. Okay, so I'm losing my mind. You said I got my egos out of control. I mean, think about it, Ben. Why would they be getting on a boat? Like, when you think about it.

Oh, my God. What's this? Oh, you guys just won the Nobel Peace Prize for this episode. I can't believe it. Ben, we have kept it to the time you asked. Yeah, yeah. We're going to play the box office into the harbor much like the boat at the end of wedding banquet

look the point is they got this scene where they're saying goodbye and a thing that angley is very good at is repressed emotions people who cannot express themselves right and so you have this thing where everyone's kind of nodding to each other everyone's trying not to cry right and trying to like and like the mom has basically sort of become a surrogate mother to way way like you know there's all yes uh mr gal really like simon the dad he tells simon that he knows yes but that he simon can't tell them that he knows or that he speaks english right so it's like this whole web of them just quietly like accepting each other. Right. I find that very, very affecting.

Right. Because your family is a goddamn mess. My family's a mess. And they behave in this way where everyone knows like one thing about another person. And some people share this information and others don't. And it's like a complicated web of like, well, who knows what about who? And who knows that they know? Ben, cut that out.

Ben, double it. And then, of course, the film ends with the most emotional shot in history. A slow motion shot of a man raising his arms as he's about to be checked by the TSA for bombs. Yeah, fair. Getting the wand, the metal detector wand. This movie. The most profitable film of 1993 in terms of cost yeah the wikipedia also has that i feel like they're they're making that bit too much of

a brag but this movie a humble brand came out in 1993 that's right august 6th you heard me before the theatrical release of pushing hands as we were already established it came out it grossed pushing hands his entire domestic gross in one weekend 134 000 and what's his final domestic 6.9 good seriously so this is the summer when jurassic park's running the table adjusted for inflation it made 15 million dollars yeah good number no very good uh yes jurassic park you have guessed it is number five at the box office nine weeks in it's made 300 million dollars yeah good number no very good uh yes jurassic park you have guessed it is number five at the box office nine weeks in it's made 300 million dollars that's right you did it you guessed number five at the box office so let's go in reverse order up the charts what's number four

it is a film that i saw in theaters it was a big hit casper spirit no it was a big hit. Casper, Spirit of Beginnings. Nope. It was a big hit. Oh, okay. Of this, like it was a somewhat surprising hit of this, uh, year, I feel like. Um,

was it a kid's film? It's a kid's film. It's got a great song, original song. It does actually really dig this song. So good. Uh, yes,

it has an official song by a big pop star of the moment. 1993, big pop song. It's explicitly a kid's movie. Very much so. The song isn't sung by characters in the film. No, it's over the credits. And it has a title that English people think is hysterical.

British people. Because in slang it means something completely different. Fanny and Alexander? Yeah, right. No. Good guess though. I'm with bad kids. Sure. Not really a kid's movie. Fanny and Alexander yeah right no good guess I'm with bad kids sure not really a kids movie

Fanny means vagina that's true in England here it means your butt okay um so it's it's got a title

that British people find funny it is true that English people think that Americans say the word fanny pack is very funny though like that is English people do genuinely it's like a vagina pack

how are you so privy to all this stuff that British people think? This is weird. Are you looking this up in that Leatherbound volume? Because that volume

just says Can the Leatherbound volume be canon on this? That volume just says Ang Lee so how would you know these other facts that shouldn't be contained

within that volume? It's prior information that I have in my body and soul. But how would you possess that information? Because I grew up in England you fucking ingrate.

Oh, boy. Okay, I threw my headphones down to the ground for real. Yeah, he may have broken them. I might have broken them. 923, it's a kid's film, has a pop song in it. I did break these headphones. Did you really? Yeah, I did. It has a pop song in it. I did break these headphones. Did you really? Yeah, I did.

It's a good bit. I full-on broke it. I mean, talk about bit commitment. I full-on broke it. Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I just dislodged it. I just dislodged it. It's not a big deal.

I just dislodged it. No, I'm relodging. He got it. Thank you. He literally did that. It was very stupid of him. him 1993 he's got a big pop song kids love it british people guffaw they do they genuinely animated a live action live action live action yeah uh it's like one of those things where you're like oh like right we all went to see

this movie what was the final domestic 77 i think you know like a decent size yeah 77 adjusted it had like it had at least two theatrical sequels wow that are like i mean ridiculous like there's no way there should have been sequels to this movie so it's very much like a one premise movie ends with like, great, problem solved. Oh! Oh! Did you see this movie, Ben? Of course.

I saw the shit out of this movie. It's called Free Willy. It's called Free Willy. And they free him, and yet, two more times. And two more times, they're like, Willy's in trouble. I'm like, he's in the fucking ocean. He's fine. Leave him alone.

Let him be, you monsters. We can't solve every problem for Willy. At some point, he's got to solve some shit like poor keiko who like the the whale who killer whale becomes independently famous right and like had the dorsal fin was like floppy because that's like a sign of a whale in captivity and they keep like dragging her out to play and you're like leave the fucking whale leno and shit they also did an animated series. I vaguely remember that. I definitely saw this in theaters.

I definitely saw Free Willy 2 in theaters. I think I might have skipped out on Free Willy 3. Anyway, just crazy to think about. Free Willy, the animated series is like he keeps on freeing Willy and Willy fights like aquatic robot villains. Hey man, it was the 90s. Jason James Richter,

Lori Petty. Yeah. Michael Madsen's the, Lori Petty. Yeah. Michael Madsen's the scumbag dad. Yeah, Michael Madsen, Jane Atkinson, August Schellenberg is in it. Okay. You know, the great Native American actor.

Michael T. Williamson, like solid cast. Oh, and the title's funny because it sounds like you're releasing a penis. Correct. That you're taking your penis out of your pants. Free Willy, that's what they called the Paul Rubens film.

That probably was a joke that every talk show host made, right? Probably. Because he freed his Willy. Number two is a film not directed by, but starring someone we talked about in the last box office game. A big hit of the year, huge hit. Good movie. It's a Gibson?

No. What? But good guess. It's not directed by not directed by but starring the director of a movie we talked about and does he usually he these days he really just directs and if he's in a movie he probably directed clint eastwood correct directed by but not starring no this movie is starring but not directed by one of his rare like in this at this point he rarely does him but you know clear and present danger no not not not in the line of

fire in the line of fire i confuse those titles movie i really like that and in a later episode i will continue it confuse the time yeah with malkovich uh oscar nominee as the villain fun fun movie. Number two is a racist film against Asians. A certain, a specific country actually. But this is confusing once again because Casper Spirit of Beginning. You ever seen this one, Ben? No. Racist.

I'm trying to remember the title. It's the one with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes? That's right. It's called Rising Sun? That's right. Cool. Weird. Yeah. I don't know That's right. Cool. Weird. Yeah. I don't know. Number one. When you think sensitive movie about Asia,

you cast Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. Number one is, I guess it wasn't the biggest, it was the third biggest film of the year behind Jurassic Park and Mrs. Doubtfire.

It is a great movie that I could watch every single day if I had to. You love it. Ben's nodding his head. I just watched it recently. Isn't it great?

It's great. Isn't it great? It's like a perfect, like, it's on HBO in the middle of the day movie. Exactly. It's a high-grossing 93 film. Yes, it's opening this weekend to $23 million, which is great. What does it end up at? $183 million, which, adjusted for inflation, my friend, is a healthy $407 million.

Is it kind of a family film? No. It's an action film. It's a pure action film. Very much so. From 1990. I'm pretty sure it's rated R. Three.

Rated R. No, apparently it's PG-13. Wow. It's always kind of violent for a PG-13. Does it star a big action star? Yes. Like a canonical big action star? It's always kind of violent for a PG-13. Does it star a big action star? Yes. Like a canonical big action star? A canonical huge star who is in action movies, but he's also in other movies.

Schwartzy? Nope. Stallone? Nope. Think better. 40? Harrison? 1993.

That's right. It's Free Willy 2. Harrison Ford picture called The Fugitive. Yeah. I did think that was R-rated as well. Yeah, because the murder scene of his wife is, I feel like that's pushing into R territory. That's rough.

But he did not murder her. Yeah, he did not murder her. Was that ever clear? I wish he would just say it. Yeah. Honestly, they could have saved themselves a lot of foot traffic. I didn't kill my wife. I don't care.

I didn't kill my wife. I didn't kill my wife. Switch the samples. I didn't kill my wife. Yeah, we also got The Firm, Robin Hood, Men in Tights, which is funny. Dave Chappelle's in it. The Meteor Man

which I saw in theaters because I was like here's a PG rated movie about a superhero I've never heard of The Meteor Man and it's like I think it just went I remember thinking it was fine but like I think it went all over my head this like Robert Townsend movie about like

reclaiming like superheroism and like theism and like the community and like uh but that's a good movie do you know that he made like another superhero comedy for the disney channel no i think robert townsend directed a film called up up and away that's like a live action incredibles type i had no idea suburban superhero family movie uh you're right yes bronze eagle he plays in that movie. Up and away. Yeah. But I mean,

Robert Townsend, man, he was a part of my youth. He was a big deal for a while. Yeah. Yeah. Apologies to Ang Lee

for the previous 90 minutes. Every single second of it. We're so sorry. Just get ready until we Hulk the Hulk. You're a wonderful director and we're very excited to talk about your movies. You seem like a kind man. Next week, we're going to talk about Eat, we Hulk the Hulk you're a wonderful director and we're very excited to

talk about your movies like a kind man next week we're gonna talk about each drink man woman I believe that episode's a little more respectful yeah yeah a little bit remember

that one being a little more sort of academic about his his filmmaking the great Alison Willamore joins us that's right we still have to do the ad so we'll see how those

yeah right maybe we'll fuck it up there yeah really take the whole thing. Hey, language. This has been a respectable podcast so far.

So sorry. Yeah, didn't you talk about like brown buttholes like two minutes into this thing? I talked about the brown eyes, Sarah. Ladies and gentlemen,

thank you so much for listening. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe. Please do. Thanks to Liam Montgomery for a theme song and for Guto for our social media, Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Thanks to Liam Montgomery for our theme song and for Guto for our social media,

Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit. And as always, they get on a boat at the end of the wedding banquet. Shit.

Perfect depth. Do it.