Blank Check with Griffin & David - The Parent Trap with Elena Lazic and Mani Lazic

Episode Date: October 14, 2018

This week Blank Check begins our first ever “fans choice” mini series reviewing the filmography of director Nancy Meyers. Film critics, models and _IDENTICAL TWINS_ Elena and Mani Lazic join Griffin and David to discuss the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Together they discuss prank wars, Randy rosé and flying on the Concorde. This episode is sponsored by [ZipRecruiter](https://www.ziprecruiter.com/blank) and [Storm of Spoilers](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-storm-of-spoilers-a-pop-culture-podcast/id952917333?mt=2). Music Selection: “Swinging in the 7th” by [Dana Boulé](http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Dana_Boule/) Licensed under [Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Ladies, it's time to break up this little love fast. Potty? Castie. I mean, Castie. Potty. I mean... Whoa. He's smiling and raising his coffee, drinking it satisfied with that.

I was looking at Elena's face and she just looked at me. I didn't understand what was going on. I'm so confused. You thought I was reprimanding the two of you. You have to break it up. Ladies. It is my nickname. I have Manuel.

It's ladies. No, it's Patty. Whatever. Potty. Potty. Potty and Castie. You're Castie. Okay.

I'm reading a BuzzFeed article about things you don't know about parent theft. I read it this morning. It's really good. So the movie's for Hallie, right? That's the dedication at the end of the movie. Her daughter.

Right. But she's got another daughter, Annie. Right. Wow. What the? Is she chopped liver? So she named them

after the two daughters. But was she born yet? Maybe not. No, no. Yes, because they were named after the daughters. The real daughters. And Hallie is in the movie.

Yeah, Annie plays the towel girl. And Hallie plays the one who asks where a bunk is. Hallie has a lot more screen time. And Hallie's also the one who went on to be a director in her own right. Wink, wink, wink, wink, wink, wink. This is true. Wink, wink, wink, wink, wink. Oh my god.

Ben, I think there's a leak in the ceiling uh or there's a leak in the boat hello everybody my name is Griffin Newman uh David Sims and I rock the mic

okay stop stealing my lines uh this is a podcast called Blank Check it's about filmographies directors who have massive success

early on in their career have been given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce baby earlier on in their career and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear

and sometimes they bounce. Baby. This is, for the first time ever, a miniseries demanded by the fans. A fans choice miniseries. Yes.

We did a March Madness tournament, a bracket of 32 directors, and someone who we thought was a fairly low seed, who we thought would be interesting to do but had no expectations. What was her seed? Do you remember? I think she was probably right about the middle. I'm going to find it. But she was the juggernaut. Nancy Meyers steamrolled everybody.

Yeah. She started off, I think, not as like a gimmick candidate, but as sort of like a Cinderella candidate. Right, this would be an interesting person. We assume one of the... She was the 18th seed.

Crazy. Yeah. But it's because she's generally so underrated. But cinephiles love her and she's never talked about in depth enough. And so...

That's the big thing. The first opportunity you have, you vote for Nancy. She came up against all these guys who are sort of like classic blank checkers right so Terry Gilliam

yeah she edged him 52 to 48 I'm actually gonna run through this yeah thank you blank check wiki Paul Thomas Anderson

was her second round who we assumed 53-47 we thought it was probably gonna come down people always say like oh can you do a PTA miniseries? Was that before Phantom Thread?

No, it was after. Post-Thread. This was March 2018. I think we sort of thought it would come down to PTA versus Fincher. It seemed like those are the two obvious sort of fanboy picks that will probably lead the way.

Then in the quarters, right? So these are close. 52-48 and 53-47. She's squeaking out. Then she's got, right? So these are close. 52-48 and 53-47. Then she's got Sam Raimi. 56-44. So she's getting a little bit of distance. Then she goes up against my man, Michael Mann.

And I assume that would be closer just because he and then she thrashes him. 58-42. And then Fincher, 59-41. What's worse than two guys talking about Michael Mann for two hours and a half?

Get ready. 2019, baby. I'm going to make that happen. You just have to get loads of girls on the podcast for those. Of course. They got thoughts about the man.

We love to talk about man. Don't like Manhunter, but it's okay. Hashtag not all men David is man no I'm not man David's sensitive but this is

yeah very sensitive we're excited because we always like thought like oh she'd be an interesting person and dude we've talked about her for a long time actually she was one of our yeah it's true

we keep doing the people who are in that original soup of ours like the original suggestion she was always up there and I think we always just thought like I don't know if we're going to lose listeners. I don't know if people want to hear us talk about her

within our regular listeners. I think the biggest fear we had was that she makes movies that are all similar. Sometimes we like directors like Ang Lee who work in all kinds of genres. Nancy Meyers is you know, she's in her lane. She likes her lane. She's the master of her lane. I'm going to confess it early on because

it's sort of the original sin of this miniseries. For a long time, I had vetoed the idea because I didn't like her movies. And I thought I didn't want to do a miniseries that critical. And then I had a sort of reawakening after I saw The Intern on a Plane. The Intern is, I don't know, all her movies are so weird. Yes. Oh, no, she's deeply weird. That was always my argument for her.

Right. And then I started reassessing everything and then sort of appreciating where she stands within the canon, especially as her type of movie has kind of died on a studio level. It made me see the greater value of her. And so then she was more in the soup. And then I think we were both pleasantly surprised that she won because it gave us an opportunity to feel like

confident in covering her. Yes. But this of course is a miniseries called Something's Pata Cast. Damn right. And it's Pata. It's Pata Cast. PTA tried to stop it but it's Pata Cast. Fincher laid his body on the tracks. He got run over.

Yeah. Got twisted. And this is her debut film which is a very odd body on the tracks. He got run over. Yeah. I don't know why. Got twisted. And this is her debut film, which is a very odd debut film in relation to what her career became in certain ways. In certain ways. It's called The Parent Trap. Yes.

It is called The Parent Trap. It's a remake. It's a remake. Of a 1961 movie? 1961 film. Which was in and of itself the fourth adaptation of this book. Lottie and Lisa. This is a German

book. He wanted to make it as a movie originally and Hitler didn't green light it. I swear to God. He was really not a great guy. Hitler just think like why would the parents each take one kid? There's not a lot of

consistency here. they don't stay in touch like yeah i understand you don't want to be together but like was that the pitch meaning that was the hitler's studio notes were brutal let's let's just let's move on from this please get off this right away i'm glad that she's not remaking a Hitler accepted movie Nancy Meyers is trying to put the will she's like okay let's have my take now I know we had Hitler's but

the problem is if Nancy Meyers made Triumph of the Will it would make being a Nazi look so luxurious very wholesome they've got such great kitchens

I said we're getting off of this off alright so there's a 1961 Disney movie it's called The Parent Trap which is the fourth adaptation of the German book

it stars Hayley Mills herself who was Pollyanna that was her breakout role she was the definitive Disney star of the time and it's got Maureen O'Hara and I've seen that movie several times because for some reason we owned it on VHS and I would watch it a lot as a kid

Hayley Mills and I remember I asked my mom because my mom was like, you know, it's one person. And I'm like, how do they do that? And I remember my mom going like, I don't know, mirrors? And me being like, that doesn't...

What? Anyway. There also was a TV remake, was there not? Like a wonderful Disney TV remake? Yeah. I want to say like late 80s early 90s. No there's three TV sequels.

Oh weird. And they're all about like Hayley Mills' kids and shit. Like there's all kinds of like generational dynamics. Because you know

it's genetic right? Twins. Having twins. Yes yes I do. You should probably get some twins at some point. So you know let's introduce our guests.

What a good premise. I know I think twins are like underrepresented but they are very cool Yes, I do. You probably get some twins at some point. So, you know, let's introduce our guests. What a good premise. Come on. I know. I think twins are like underrepresented, but they are very cool. And we should represent them a lot. But there aren't that many jokes you can do. Like, I don't know how you can do a whole franchise around jokes around twins. Well, it's all about...

Oh, she can take your place. Well, you know, they look alike. And so they can pretend to be the other one. Well, I know that. Yeah. I would know that. It's a lot. I mean, Sister Sister ran for like 100 episodes know, so like, it's just a lot. I mean,

Sister Sister ran for like 100 episodes on that premise. And it never stopped being funny for a second. But Sister Sister's bit was like, she's, you know,

kind of a neat freak and this one's messy. Like, it was like, look alike, but so different. And then the dad's the opposite. And the mom, right?

The neat freak is the daughter of the messy mom and then so on and so forth. This movie does a variation on that. Let's talk about Sister Sister some more.

Yeah. Like in the twin pantheon you have like, you have the two parent traps, right? Sure. You have twins. Arnie and Davina.

Right. You have Dead Ringers. Oh, great movie. Prestige. Sure. Like there is like a pretty good collection of Jack and Jill.

Adaptation. We're talking about some of the great films of all time. The Man in the Iron Mask. The Man in the Iron Mask. Fuck, now I'm Googling twin movies. L'Amand Double. Yes. Double Impact with Bad Damn.

Oh, right. That's true. What a great film. Twin Dragons with Jackie Chan. Right. I feel like a lot of action stars at one point, they were like, Jackie Chan and Jackie Chan. Like, that's the pitch. What's better than one Jackie Chan. I feel like a lot of action stars at one point, they were like, Jackie Chan and Jackie Chan. That's the pitch.

Much better than one Jackie Chan. Every Olsen Twins movie, obviously. Which it takes two is kind of a shitty half remake of Parent Trap. It takes two, winning London, passport to Paris. They went to Paris. New York Minute. They went to New York. New York Minute. Had to to New York. New York Minute

when they went to New York. Had to go to a Simple Plan concert, I think. Sure. Detective Jim's dad. How the West was Fun. I'm just reading out Olsen twins movies.

Jesus, there's so many. SeaWorld Mystery. They made a lot of movies. They would make like one a year. Like direct-to-video. What's that movie with Selena Gomez? Is it Selena Gomez?

The one where she's like confused for a rock star. It's called, it's not Saint-Tropez, it's like Monaco or something. Oh yeah, no, it is called Monaco.

I think you're right. It's so good. That's a really good film. I have never seen it. It's just a doppelganger. Is it not Selena Gomez? I think that's more of a Prince and a Pauper thing,

right? Monte Carlo, not Monaco. Monte Carlo. But yeah, it's a doppelganger thing, but still like, but it's one.

Oh yeah, she plays two roles. So right, that's a Prince and Pauper, but still. But it's one. She plays two people. Oh yeah, she plays two roles. So right, that's a Prince and Pauper. Then that category you file in your Daves. Yeah, Daves. The movies where two people happen to look the same and can switch places. We got to introduce our guests. We have to introduce our guests.

I said that. Our guests are experts on two major subjects first and foremost experts on cinema they're both incredibly intelligent, well regarded well respected film critics but they also are

experts on being twins boy oh boy it's the knowledge we're born with that expertise we didn't have to do anything to gain it return guest boy oh boy it's your knowledge we're born with that expertise yes we didn't have to do anything to gain it returning guest

Manuela Lazic hi it's me first time guest Elena Lazic hello thank you for being here very nice to be here

so we're gonna do a lot of that talking at the same time probably but we're gonna try not to if you can recognize our voices what's it like to be twins guys I don't know I've never known anything else yeah

it sucks it sucks there you go like now I have to drag her here like I was the star of the show what is this yeah my cousin just said twins

really oh yeah how is it seems like a lot of work it is a lot of work they seem happy though that's always the thing I think just

the parenting aspect of it I think about a lot just the two at one time well there's that thing of like it's quite easy because they can play with each other

right there's things that are solved and also like say you want to have two kids hey you just had two kids

you're done that's it when our mom had us she didn't want two kids she just moved to a new country like two years before she barely spoke the language but she said

that because we were together all the time it was easy she could just leave us there in a room and we would play together we developed our own little language apparently

at some point we would just say things that are not words an idioglossia that's what those are called that's like quite a phenomenon the twin language thing

I think so it probably didn't last until like when we started actually to speak we dropped it. Yeah.

But it was a thing. I have a friend who had younger twin sisters where it apparently took them a longer time to drop it. And it was like a big point of concern in the family that they would never, not that they were nonverbal, but they were not verbal in a way that worked for anyone else yeah you know my best friend one of my best friends from England

is a twin and don't fuck right off I don't want to do this we're gonna get to that we have the movie though I swear to god don't worry

he's doing the bit and you're gonna have to cut all of this out you know I feel like his mom like sort of insisted on him and his brother

they both went to same school but being in separate classes in the United States you gotta make those decisions like do you wanna just sort of like have them and his brother, they both went to the same school, but in being in separate classes, you got to make those decisions. Like, do you want to just sort of like have them be a pair or you want to push them apart? Is that going to be a good idea? We tried for a long,

long time. We were not in the same classes and we took different things to study, but then eventually we both ended up taking Latin and Italian and wanting to do English. And so there was only one classroom that was going to do that and at first we were like this is horrible but then it was really fun until it was

horrible again but then it's fine no but like we were afraid of having competition then we're like oh actually no it's support and then we're like okay no this is a bit shit but it was fine but then we ended up high school with exactly the same amount of like points on the final exam.

Really? The points that you gain through all your grades throughout the whole school. Like the last four years or something. And it was just like we didn't get the same grades

but we end up with the same amount. Literally the same. That's crazy. That was really weird. Like everything combined together would end up averaging out the same.

That's nuts. And then the two of you who have also like worked in two different fields that are the same. That's nuts. And then the two of you have also worked in two different fields that are the same. I'm phrasing this poorly. No, it's a lot of doubles. But you twice have ended up in the same career.

Right. Well, the first one is because we look the same. So it's interesting. Modeling is because we both look the same and the same age and we got into it because we were found at the same time being at the same supermarket so

which supermarket though in our hometown yes it doesn't exist anymore I think it doesn't exist we tore it down but history was made there

they should have put a plate you know eventually when we're rich and famous but yeah and then we started writing about movies because we both like movies

and we both went to study movies because we were like well we happen to like the same thing yeah and then we started writing about movies because we both like movies and we both went to study movies because we were like well we happen to like the same thing and we don't even do exactly modeling the same way

when we model like every time we meet clients they're like twins! that's such a good idea for the next project and we're like

oh yeah great but then every single client has that idea so they think it's very original but it's really fun to do it together because we know each other

but at the same time like we don't necessarily do all the same stuff in modeling but also in writing oh yeah like we have quite different writing style

one is better than the other yeah I'll tell you which one I will also say like I've done like modeling but I've had to do these like photo shoot

like promotional photo shoot things and I find it very like I get very self-conscious when I'm the only person there. Versus when you're like in a photo with another person. It's very odd when it's a bunch of people surrounding you in lights. And it's sort of silent. Everyone's just staring at you. I imagine there's like a sense of security and being able to do it together.

We started when we were like 15, 16 and if we had been alone we would never have done it. Our parents were like, okay, it's fine because you're together. And it's true that it's easier when I have to shoot with another model that I don't know it's maybe better than by myself but it's still like really weird because we don't necessarily understand each other's

behavior, chemistry. There's no chemistry whereas if we're together like it's just the most natural thing in the world yeah there's the thing

this movie does that I feel like a lot of twin movies do where it's like they're very different like they love this idea of the twins being opposite and then there are

the few things that they're exactly the same on right which are so like kind of stupid and small yes

and just kind of like blendery they are blendery certainly in this movie blendery so you don't know what that means I'm not going to please

how can I explain I didn't realize that was a blank check the blender is that right what do you mean yeah the blender is like

something that term invented by Alex Ross Perry shout out yes Alex Ross Perry coined that term it's when a director like a director, like a director,

is it across several films or is it in one movie? I can't remember. It's like limited to a film. Yes. Yeah. There's like a character who has like one weird thing about them.

And so it was in one film. Where is it? It's Enemy of the State. Will Smith keeps talking about his blender. He has a blender. And it's like, it doesn't serve any purpose. Right.

It never, it's not the end. He's like, oh, the blender is what I'll put in the machine to make it's just the thing to like make it

seem like a real person the most succinct way he's ever put it it's a thing that only exists to be a thing yeah it serves no story function it doesn't tell you anything

about the character other than there's like a specific that they can keep on going back to I quite like those I do too it gives a lot

like human dimension right that's the idea it's like a quick fix to make it in that movie it's when they eat the Oreos

with peanut butter right oh my god we both do this and I've never done that I read that Nancy Meyers just like wrote this

because she was like I need a weird thing right so I was like oh it's actually not a thing did she invent it? She just made it up.

Apparently she invented it. She just made it up. That sounds just insane. But then I was like, maybe Americans do it. Does that say? Apparently it's not. I tried Oreos with like sorbet

the other day, which I thought was really good. Sorbet? Yeah. Did she just have like sorbet in the house? I bought some sorbet. I went sorbet shopping.

What flavor? Raspberry. Good flavor. That must have been intense. I went sorbet shopping. What flavor? Raspberry. Good flavor. That's a bit intense. Yeah. That was good. The parent trap. The parent trap.

Well, so Nancy Meyers, right, I think, as you say, her big argument is we're getting on the parent trap. It's fine, Ben. We get that. Ben's mic-less this one. She's the only person left

making these kind of movies in Hollywood. That's her blank check. I mean, also her of movies in Hollywood. That's her blank check. I mean, also her movies are very expensive. That's the other thing. Her movies are very expensive and very long. Very long. Weird narrative tangent.

And like Hollywood usually squashes movies like this now because they're like, oh, that's television or oh, this is too much money for like, you know, whatever. These movies don't make money overseas. Right. There's all this sort of like.

There are also real movie star movies. Like they're movies that are sold by stars, which doesn't really happen. Although this is not that movie. No, it made a star. It became a star movie. It is sold on the talent of the main actress, but she's not a star.

But when you first see her interacting with other kids, you're just like, this is insane. I always admire films where you see kids kid actors being amazing and interacting

in real like kid terms and being really touching and like real because that's so impressive to me that's always so impressive and I think that movie

is really about like the talent of acting of Lindsay Lohan the headline of this movie is it's a fucking stunning performance which also makes this movie is it's a fucking stunning performance yeah

which also makes this movie kind of depressing to watch now oh yeah well yeah just because it's like life happens the fucking churn

of like this horrible industry you know you like look at this person who clearly was just like so fucking capable and the other thing that's really stunning about her in this

is that she does seem like a real kid yeah like she doesn't have that like overly plastically like child star thing that's really stunning about her in this is that she does seem like a real kid. Yeah. Like she doesn't have that like overly plastically like child star thing that especially happens in Disney movies. She's playing two different, very distinct characters. Then also playing them playing each other. And in all four iterations, she seems like a real child.

And they ask her to do a British accent. Right. Who would ask that of a kid? That's just crazy to me. And she does it pretty well. Both of you live in London. I feel like I have less of an ear for this and David has no context to understand this. But I do think the accent holds up

pretty well. She does it like extreme posh. But it's kind of a part of the story. That is the original movie. Of course Hayley Mills is English. Hayley Mills was having to do an American accent for the parent trip, but that's kind of part of the story but that is the that is the original movie of course Hayley Mills is English so Hayley Mills was having to do an American accent

for the parent trip but that's easy it's easy especially for like Lindsay Lohan's like a Long Island girl she is she was born in the Bronx

raised on Long Island by her delinquent fucking parents who you know have had trouble with her dad was a like day trader

who like got arrested or you know right like she's a very dramatic family they had trouble with. Her dad was a day trader who got arrested. She's a very dramatic family. They had trouble being humans. Then she was a kid model from the age of three. She was in 60 commercials.

Pizza Hut, Wendy's, that kind of stuff. Then she was in Another World, which is a soap opera and then this was her film debut correct and Disney

really doubled down how old was she in this movie she's 11 it's crazy and she's playing twins yeah and then she didn't

make another theatrical film until Mean Girls I mean Freaky Friday excuse me yes right

yeah no there was some time off in between she did a Disney Channel movie yeah she makes Life Size theatrical film until Mean Girls. I mean, Freaky Friday. Excuse me. Yes, right. Yeah. No, there was some time off in between. She did a Disney Channel movie. Yeah, she makes Life Size and Get a Clue. Right, right. Life Size, I believe,

is where Tyra Banks is her doll who comes to life. Correct. Currently in production on a sequel. Are you serious? That Tyra Banks is in

but Lindsay Lohan isn't. What? Seems. That movie has a weird, weird cult following. You're right. Life? Seems. That movie has a weird, weird cult following. You're right. Life Size 2. Weird following.

Seems like something you wouldn't really make now. Correct. Sure. For some obvious reason. That's literally objectified by a person. Yep.

But that was, she was one of these kids who clearly got into like a seven year Disney deal. Like she makes this movie and then she's in Get a Clue. Right.

That was a Disney channel. Which is another Disney channel movie. Right. Life Size I think was on ABC. About like a rich Manhattan kid who I don't know

there's like a mystery she solves. She's like it's a shitty Harry. And then in 03 so five years after Parent Trap she does Freaky Friday

which is she is both phenomenal and the better actor to like Jamie Lee Curtis doing amazing stuff. But I think Lindsay Lohan is like underrated in that movie

yeah I mean she came out of the gates she has the tough role she has to be the tight ass yes because it's Jamie Lee Curtis is playing a kid and she's so funny

and silly and like Lindsay Lohan has to play you know a stick in the mud there was I find in retrospect this annoying thing

of I feel like at the time people were like, yeah, well she's like an engaging personality but let's see if she can evolve into like a serious actress. And you look at like

that run of like Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Mean Girls. Those were all like pretty complicated performances. Yeah. Very demanding.

She's so good in Mean Girls. She's so fucking good in Mean Girls. In a role that like could be nothing in the hands of a less intelligent not only that but that movie

is all these fun supporting performances that are so dominant like Rachel McAdams and Tim Meadows kicking ass

people who are allowed to go really big which makes it hard to not disappear into the tapestry of the film

unless you're really smart about how you play it she's not actually this empty vessel at all

like when you watched a movie you could just watch her and it would be still interesting she's a

magnetic screen performer but that's the thing it's like the problem with all Nancy Mayer's movies is everyone no one takes them seriously

because they're fun romantic comedies or child or kid movies and no one gives a shit and now now that they don't get made anymore

now we're like oh well those were really complex and interesting and great performances and yeah well it's a bit late now I'm not saying

that would have changed something in Hollywood, but I'm just saying, you know. She's still making her movies, one hopes. One hopes she will make another movie. Well, this movie is sort of a bridge into her style because, I mean, the roots of her career are her collaboration with her ex-husband, Charles Shire. She would co-write all the films.

The further context, right. Charles Shire, she would co-write with him, but he would direct. Yes. And she talked about how she was trying to write on her own for a while and couldn't sort of break through. She was always being discounted, discredited. I think she was able to Trojan horse as being part of a duo. And the fact that he would direct his films so she was like tied on to them as like part of the incubation process. She was born in Philadelphia.

This is the first episode. She was born in Philadelphia. This is the first episode. We got to do answers. Context! Her father was an executive at a voting machines manufacturer. Her mother was an interior designer. Wow. Who was also a volunteer in the Head Start program,

which, you know, preschool. Yeah. Raised in a Jewish household in Drexel Hill, which is like, you know, the Pennsylvania mainline. Gets into theater. Gets into screenwriting when she sees The Graduate. She went to Lower Merion High School, which is, you know, a big fancy school. Kobe Bryant went there, you know, famous school.

My friend Anna went there. Shout out, Anna. Kobe Bryant went there, you know, famous school. My friend Anna went there. Shout out, Anna. And then she worked in TV and yada yada, moves to LA. You know, she just like, oh man, she started a small cheesecake business. What?

Did she know this? I did not know this. Oh my God. What was it called? What was it called? Yeah. I don't know. Let's find out. I just, I'm trying to find. Oh, my God. What was it called? What was it called? Yeah. I don't know. Let's find out.

I'm trying to find the direct quote right now. It doesn't say the name. I read the story about how no one would take her seriously as a screenwriter, and the big change for her was Private Benjamin, which no one wanted to make. They kept on getting it rejected at every fucking studio. And then they got Goldie Hawn attached. The movie was a massive success. And then it got... It's a great movie.

And it got an Oscar nomination. And she got an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. And that sort of set them off on a big career. So she co-wrote that with Charles Shire, who was a friend first, and then a husband.

Yes. And Harvey Miller is the other writer on that movie, right? Yeah, every studio passed on it. You know, blah, blah, blah. Huge hit. And then they do Reconcilable Differences together. Which is a movie about Polly Platt and Peter Bogdanovich's divorce.

Sure, starring Ryan O'Neill and Shelley Long and Drew Barrymore, right? It's like a teen Drew Barrymore like my parents suck movie. Yeah. The poster is like the two of them and then she's like scribbled graffiti like devil horns on them or something. Yeah.

Weird movie. Not a hit. No. But it exists in the canon of movies made by other directors about Peter Bogdanovich's relationships. Okay. Along with Star 80.

Sure. Yeah. That guy's got a messy personal life. Then they work on a movie called Protocol starring Goldie Hawn, Hawn, Hawn, Hawn,

what that was, yeah. Who is a cocktail waitress who prevents the assassination of a visiting Arab emir. You are mistaken. That movie doesn't exist. It doesn't sound like it exists. Baby Boom.

Right. That was pretty big. Which is another Charles Shire movie with Diane Keaton. Yeah. She's establishing her people. Yeah. Yeah. And then they remake Father of the Bride starring Steve Martin.

Which was very big. Very big. Again, Shire is directing it. So then they do a sequel based on Father's Little Dividend. Thankfully, they don't call it that because that's the grossest title in the world. Yep. They're they do a sequel based on Father's Little Dividend. Thankfully, they don't call it that because that's the grossest title in the world. They're working on a third.

They have a third script that they wrote, but I think they break up before. But they're both credited on this, which makes me think. Oh, yeah. So he produced this movie.

They broke up on the set of this movie. Insane. Which she refers to in that big New York Times profile of her from the It's Complicated Days. It's like the most traumatic thing that ever happened to her like and like clearly you know and then she only makes these movies about like yeah kind of fuck up guys who you have to deal with who are still in your life

yeah you know there's always that character in all of her movies but it's always reconciled eventually it's always like very hopeful very optimistic yeah there is no giving optimism she likes optimism she likes uh happy ending and it's always surprising but it's always it always works she likes maturity too i feel like she likes scenes where it's like you know you sit down you have a fucking conversation yeah figure it out people get over themselves but not so much in the parent trap where these two yeah emotional idiots right no i mean parent trap is clearly her being like, okay, how do I get to direct a movie?

Sure. The Father of the Bride films were touchstone, so they're right adjacent to Disney. Disney at this period of time was remaking a lot of the live action Disney films from the 60s and 70s. They were all sort of being churned up. It's a clear bridge to like,

oh, you guys did Father of the Bride, Father, Parent, Trap, right, whatever. all sort of being churned up it's a clear bridge to like oh you guys had parent father the bride father parent yeah right whatever um i i think this was just sort of a way to get her foot in the door but it's interesting how many of the sort of hallmarks not in the thematic obviously what the source material is but what she does with it how it differentiates itself I mean A in that both households become exorbitantly wealthy yeah oh my god she and Shire are still friends

I'm reading this profile yeah I think now what were you about to say Manu? I was just saying yeah like even in the story I think in the parent trap

you can see a lot of her because there's the whole yeah those people are stupid and they don't talk but when they do it's good and it's important and when they they like make but when they do it's good and it's important and when they

they like make up at the end it's very it's very much like something's gotta give to me like it's kind of like it's like fuck yeah let's go back together

and you're like okay cool it feels very much because it's all about their feelings it doesn't have to make sense do you remember when we broke up

let's not remember that you never see that that already happened like oh it's nice to see you that unpleasantness right there's another thing

that I love about this movie which is I always just get frustrated with comedies especially romantic comedies but any type of big studio comedy that is predicated

on a lie where it's all about the tension of can they keep this up when are they gonna get caught and you have to suffer through that second a lie where it's all about the tension of right because you need this up when are they going to get caught you have to suffer through that second act reveal where it's like i'm sorry that i lied and everyone's mad at each other for a while right um and this movie weirdly kind of works around that by having both lies be volunteered like you know yeah yeah the reveals like well the other thing is like the parents can't be mad because

they are defenseless yes they can't be mad because they are defenseless. Yeah. They can't be like, well, we kept you apart for a very good reason. They meet the universe is going to collapse. Like, you know, there's no defense. But the other is offered. The other part of it is that this movie, other than a couple of key sequences, isn't that big into like the twin trickery. No.

Which I feel like the trailers really showcased that. Yeah they only do it the one time really. Right. And it felt like it was like one of those like I remember when the trailer came out I didn't bother to see this movie when it came out and I would go see every fucking movie like this. Wow you sound like a piece of shit. Yeah and I saw it on video and my mom and I were like this is like really well directed. I saw this film in theaters

in the United States of America. That's right. I don't understand why you put a point on it. Where else would you have said this? I was here on vacation. Okay, Ben, cut that out. I was. I started the AMC Lincoln Square.

Hey, the Gentleman's Theater. But I feel like the trailers really played up the camping trip shit, the sort of them walking in and out of different doors. But it's actually more more about having a twin. Yeah. Having someone in the world that you didn't know before. It's not really about like, what could we do?

We're twins. It's more like, I have a twin. This is great. Yeah. It's about family. Yeah. It's really not about like. It's more about the parents.

It's not about like how weird it is to have a twin. It's about like, I have a sister. Can I please be with my sister? Yeah. Which is not what you expect. My favorite thing about this movie too is how much it's about these two girls getting to see

like the alternate version of their lives I think it puts a lot of attention into them getting to enjoy how the other half lives what the other parents like but the one thing that makes it maybe a bit less interesting is that they're both

wealthy as shit so it's like yeah they're like oh yeah this isn't that's where Nancy is right

yeah I know it would be really traumatic if one of them I know had to have grown up in the UK if it was a

French popper thing yeah they would like hate each other there is a movie a French movie I think it's je crois que c'est La Vie est un Enflux de Tranquille I think like Life is a Long Quiet River I think that's think it's uh i think it's um like life is a long quiet river i think that's

what it's called good title where it's a great film where basically some people realize that at birth two kids were swapped and then they realize and the kids are like still young but one is like in a really rich family and the one is a very poor family so the film is really like a lot of dread and a lot of just hatred and that's super interesting because they're not twins but it's just about

the difference of like wow where you're born is important yeah that's why the title is actually like sort of ironic it's like

our life is only a quiet river if you're really rich right yeah exactly it's a really good movie about class but it's so excellent but that's why

that's what I I find in the the parent trap it's so excellent. But that's what I find in The Parent Trap. It's all very, you know, oh, how lucky. It makes sense. Well, Nancy Meyers, right. Yeah, she wouldn't make something about money. It's also like Nancy Meyers. It wouldn't be a problem.

Yeah, exactly. I think Nancy Meyers approaches wealth in the way that like a superhero movie director approaches like set pieces. Yeah. Where it's like you need shit to show in the trailer. Like you need production value. You need a huge house. You need incredible looking clothes. Well, this lets her do two visions of wealth too.

You got, you know, hoity-toity English life, right? But then you got like ranch sort of slightly like, you know, Land's End catalog style Napa Valley. That's where the Nancy really shows because it's like you meet these two girls. I mean, I love the fact that the first 30 minutes

of the movie, you just start at the camp. You meet them there. You don't have a sense other than what they say about their home. That's true. It's actually very clever, right?

You don't see the parents at all. Right. You start with the kids. You build out. Right. Because I think a lot of shittier filmmakers would have just gotten

that set up out of the way after 10 minutes and then done 80 minutes of trickery and then backed out. Right. In the opening credits sequence. Right. But they set up this sort of high class, low class thing. Yeah.

But yeah. But then that's out the window. Right. Because there's the tough talking, more colloquial. I mean, the American one sounds like Bart Simpson. Sure. It's clear. She definitely almost says don't have a cat.

Right, that she asked her daughter, like, what are things that people say? And it's like, I don't know, tubular? And then the other one's like super kind of like sophisticated and squirmish and all that sort of stuff. Right, but she also has like a rapping butler as her best friend. But I was going to say, you just think like, okay, so the American girls maybe got like a little

more rough and tumble of a home life. And it's like, okay, she's got this rough and tumble dad who accidentally fell into a multi-million dollar wine company. Like they found a way to make him like a salt to the earth, like all American guy who's also insanely wealthy. It's like he rides horses, but they are his horses. Right, right. He owns several of them. He has a whole hill where he just has his grapes growing. I mean, it's fine.

Right. He's doing okay. Right. And he just seems like very like at peace with everything. Like both of them have these incredibly big successful careers where they're insanely well regarded. And they both just feel like I got this on autopilot. Yeah. Like I know what I'm doing now.

My career isn't a struggle at all. I just keep on doing the work that everybody loves. It's also a crazy thing what were you going to say? I was just saying should we start from the beginning a bit? Yeah. We're in the beginning. No I'm just I'm just meaning like literally the sequences because I really love this opening sequence.

So it's the scene that sets up what happened in 1986. So we see just two figures we don't see their faces right and it's a man and a woman and they're on a boat

on the Queen Elizabeth 2 of course QE2 and there's like it's so already

it's all slow-mo and very wealthy and everything looks great it's a boat a cruise and people are having dinner and soft focus soft focus a lot of soft focus and someone is passing a ring everything looks great. It's about a cruise and people having dinner. Soft focus.

Soft focus. A lot of soft focus. And someone is passing a ring on the finger of a woman and then we see them dancing. Right. We don't see their faces. We don't see what it is.

Then someone comes to take a picture and we see the picture. It's the picture. It's the picture. Right. So it's Dennis Quaid. Yes. And what's her name? Natasha Richardson. RIP. Yeah's the picture. Right. So it's Dennis Quaid. Yes. And what's her name?

Natasha Richardson. RIP. Yeah, RIP. Yep. And so I love that sequence because it's so simple and it's so, it establishes everything

and it establishes like the themes as well. Like you see already the wealth of it, but that's not even a theme. Like it's just a context. No. And you see just,

like it's so romantic. It's high romance. It's so romantic. It establisheses I think the aspirational thing of Nancy Meyers of what they're trying

to get back which is like you watch this film it's not real but yeah it just makes you dream about like what if this life

was possible it's ideal yeah these two very exaggerated romantic versions of reality

where money's not a problem like that's kind of part of the it's like she's not making films about like real exaggerated romantic versions of reality where money's not a problem but like that's kind of part of the it's like she's not making films about like real real world at all

but I think that's what's like yeah it's the appeal but that's also the really smart narrative function it has it's like she sells you on like the high movie romance

of this moment like everyone wishes they had one night like this and then that becomes the representation for these two girls of like we got to

recreate this thing. Like you really get an investment in that photo of the power it represents of like, oh man, that was that cool opening credit sequence.

I'd like more of that. Yeah, yeah. Sure. I think there's this idea that you got that, right? You got the storybook romance and then you got there and happy? You got the storybook romance. And then you got their happy lives as fashion designers and wine merchants. Right, they're both doing pretty well in their own.

And maybe the parents have both decided, look, you can have one or the other. You couldn't have both. I've got all this, but we couldn't make it work. But it's good because we all figured it out. And Nancy Meyers is like, you can have both. That's her big thesis. She's like, no, no, no, you can do it.

That's fine. You can dream. You need to grow up, maybe, before you get to do it. But then you can do it. The picture thing and setting up the idea of this romance at the beginning also, I think, is what allows the movie to not be awkward when you realize that they're both doing really, really well. They're very, very happy on their own.

You're like yes we are but remember that picture like they could do that as well like why not and if you didn't have that you'd be like

well they're very happy like they could just you know send the girls one country for six months like whatever it's such a good

high watermark the other thing that's kind of crazy about this film is it's like Quaid and Richardson are the two established adult actors. They're the top two billed people in the movie. This opening credit sequence, you're getting just slivers of them.

You're only really seeing them face on in this still photo. And then they don't appear for another half hour. Dennis Quaid doesn't appear in motion until 45 minutes in, which is kind of a really bold move for this sort of movie to be like just invest in these two girls in their relationship he's coming off a dragon heart

he's huge he's blooming are you kidding me he's coming off a I don't know what the fuck Wyatt Earp

yeah he's in a he's in a slump yeah he is in a bit of a slump he's so fucking hot in this movie he's so handsome he's such a handsomeump yeah he is in a bit of a slump he's so fucking hot in this movie

he's so handsome he's such a handsome guy that whole Land's End catalog kind of look you know with the sort of like shirt sleeves rolled up

and like he's grown into his looks I like how he does nothing like he's just being like pushed around by these women yeah his character's kind of an idiot

he's kind of like just having a good time it's great just think of like Nancy Meyers making this movie and just having him be like hot and do nothing it's just kind of nice like if you're good time it's great just think of like Nancy Meyers making this movie and just having him be like hot and do nothing

it's just kind of nice like if you're a woman or like you just you know you just fancy him and he's just there you can just project

it's just like this object that you can look at it's pretty cool basically no one asks anything of him until the end of the movie when she's like it's me or the kids

and he's like oh the kids she's like what and made a decision in his life but he does successfully so I mean this thing the movie comes down to where it's like why didn't, the first time he's like, what? Ever made a decision in his life. But he does successfully, so I mean,

this thing the movie comes down to where it's like, why didn't you chase me? And he's like, I didn't know I was supposed to. Right. And you buy that he had never considered the fact

without the character coming off as so dumb that you hate him. Yeah, buy that. Yeah. Yeah, don't buy that they would keep the kids apart. But we'll talk about that. We'll get to that.

I mean, that's the sort of problem with this movie is like, it's the problem with the premise you have to buy into the central conceit which makes no fun what judge was like oh yeah sure the kids should live in separate countries and not know each other you know that's a good call

my friends Marina and Nico who are incredible writers had a sketch they used to do that was the divorce meeting with the lawyer for the couple in the parent trap. And they're going over the division of the property. And then once they bring up this concept,

the lawyer's like, are you fucking kidding me? That is the most traumatic thing. And it's like, so what, you guys hate each other? It's like, no, I mean, we're pretty like, yeah, we're friendly. Just can't really make it work. That's the bit is they keep on saying we can't stand each other.

And it's like, I don't know, you seem very close. Yeah, we don't really know what happened on that boat. No, but, but yeah, I mean, I, the other moment I love is when the shitty fiance tells Dennis Quaid unbuttons extra

buttons on his shirt. And I think it's supposed to be this moment of like, look how much she doesn't understand him that she's like, make him do this embarrassing thing. You're like, I don't know. That's pretty fucking high. Good call.

Let's get a couple more buttons off. But first summer camp, there's some antics first. We gotta do some antics. This is very 90s live action Disney. It really also just feels like Nancy Meyers being like, yeah, the kids will do stuff. What, do kids have furniture? They put them on roofs? What do kids do?

They're 11 years old, yeah, they can put a bed on the roof. Kids fence, right? When can we get to all the hotels and cool shit? Like, I want Nancy this shit. But it feels like this is the stuff she had to do in order to, like, because this section has a totally different tone. It feels like a very generic, like, functional

sort of, like, 90s kids comedy. The score is also totally different in this section. It's got this weird synth-y, like... Yeah, the Alan Silvestri score. It's all over the place. It sounds for the first 30 minutes like they tempt the Driving Miss Daisy music because it's the same kind of like...

That's just the Driving Miss Daisy music. Right, but it's almost identical. I know what you're saying. And then once they go to the rest of the movie, it becomes this lusher sort of like orchestral thing. But this is just like the kids doing prank wars on each other. It's a movie about

much like the other great movie about twins, The Prestige. This is a movie about a prank war. It's a movie about a prank war. Yes. But I love it.

It would be so funny if she just shot off the finger. Yeah, right. I'm going to murder your greatest love. I mean, honestly, I didn't know how far

they would go. I was like, oh my God. The insane trap in the cabin. I was just, how my God. The insane trap in the cabin. I was just, how can you do this? These are complicated. This camp's way of dealing with it is like, go to that cabin.

The isolation cabin. Right. They're not like for like three hours. They're like, we're just going to leave you there. And they do that joke where they reference the great escape with the score. They sort of make it this weird like friendly prison for the two of them

yeah it's horrible but I quite like I don't like the antics and stuff as much but I like them in this movie

especially because they allow a great play on the fact that they're twins but they don't know like when they do the fencing

and they put the mask on of course I find that so cool like it's really nice I will say though it is a little weird that they're like, we're identical

and then they don't talk about it again for 20 minutes. Then they're like, well, I don't like you. Don't you understand? We're twins. I'm like, yeah, you should have got that

from the beginning. How can you think about eating in a moment like this? What do you mean? I don't know. Because something like three identical strangers, they talk about

when they see each other, they're immediately like, so let's get the confirmation, but we're clearly twins. And in the film, there's this moment where they shake hands and they're like,

because there's this connection in Parent Trap. But then, for that moment, was when they realized that they're related, but that's not what happens. They're just scared, I guess.

The other, their campmates, the counselors are just like, that's crazy, you look the same, but they don't go like, you probably are related scared i guess the other like their campmates the counselors are just like that's crazy you look the same but they don't go like you probably are the counselor should be like let's check the records like these kids like what is up instead it's janice from friends and the other person and they're just like these kids they put furniture on the roofs put them in the fucking box they probably have their date of birth somewhere yeah they definitely have that in their medical records

you're both allergic to strawberries this is weird that's a thing that camps definitely have so that they don't kill kids you have to know

allergies and shit like that and you have to lock up kids who put stuff on the roofs and you call the parents

or something I don't know how many kids almost had their neck broken in that scene there's the thing where it's all slippery and the it's all slipped around you call the parents or something I don't know how many kids almost had their neck broken in that scene like that's crazy there's the thing

where it's all slippery and the she gets all slipped around and all the this is just one like insurance nightmare after another all this shit

they're doing yeah they were on the roof like at my summer camp if a kid had climbed up on the roof they were carrying a bed on the roof

yeah right they would get that you would get kicked out immediately of course right what happens if you fall off the roof you break were carrying a bed on the roof. Yeah, right. They would get that. You would get kicked out immediately. Of course. Right. What happens if you fall off the roof, you break your neck,

and then we're sued? This is an insurance nightmare. Immediately. Out of here. Right. Go back to, it looks like you're from Napa? Okay, right.

But what I think is cool, though, with all this antique stuff, it shows how mature they are, both of them. Like when the first one, so I don't know which one is called what, by the way. Okay, so. It shows how mature they are, both of them. The first one. I don't know which one is called what, by the way. Okay, so... The Napa girl.

What's her name? The Napa girl is Hallie. And Annie is the London girl. Okay, so when Hallie arrives and she's got her bag under a pile of bags, and then another girl helps her and then she's like

huh that's my kind of woman I was like okay I see this is how this woman this girl talks and they're all very mature and they all I don't think Nancy Meyers

can write kids no I guess not but it makes them so much more interesting it's so much it's charming it's super charming it is charming

and it's also one of the reasons why the lohan performance is so impressive because this should not be actable yeah like these are not realistically written children and in most hands they would be right and also right half lohan has to do this painful like english prim accent like which should be annoying yeah uh she's got the fucking butler. That should suck but it doesn't. It's actually fine.

They have a handshake. They gotta do... The little music that plays. I like that sting a lot. It's really fun. I don't know who was like, yeah, let's put a bit of that song in this.

Sure, why not? Apparently there's a scene where they meet the queen. Did you know that? Yeah, I still read that. That's crazy. It is a 2 and 10 minute. 2 hours 10 minutes. apparently there's a scene where they meet the queen did you know that yeah that they cut out that's crazy well it is a 2 and 10 minute 2 hours 10 minutes

it's not crazy they cut out it's crazy they shot that I do think the the moment with the fencing I just like you know I hadn't seen this movie in a couple years

and I was just like fuck how do they set this up so they're fencing and they don't see each other's faces like how sweaty is this gonna to be?

And there's just some really elegant blocking to set up why they don't catch each other at a peripheral vision. They just have their back to each other. And then they put the mask and they have it. But other than that, I think the only way this section really feels Nancy Meyers-y is that it's right here from the get-go. The classic Nancy Meyers. Nancy Meyers. Nancy Meyers. Nancy Meyers never makes a movie with less than five acts. it's right here from the get-go the classic Nancy Myers Nancy Myers never makes a movie with less than five acts.

She doesn't make three acts movies. And this is like act one is the camp. Act one is camp. Act two is their separate lives seeing how the other half lived. Then it's like the reconciliation. Then it's the camping trip

and then epilogue and then epilogue and also the camp is sort of one and a half acts because first it's prank war and then you got the sort of extended isolation sequence yeah true there's more like six acts there's the adversarial

half of the camp thing and then there's like the teamwork let's train each other to become each other. Can we talk about the scene where they pierce the earrings? That's a great scene. What the hell?

Did you know I read that it's been cut in the UK? And from the Disney broadcast because they didn't want copycats. Right, that I believe. That's exactly what I was thinking. I was like, if I had seen this movie

when I was 11, I probably would have tried it. I was like, this makes sense. But also that's how you can do it. Lindsay Lohan got her ears pierced for this movie. You can't say that.

You can't say that on the podcast. Sure. You don't want all the kids who listen to Blank Chat committing copycat crimes. Hey, 11-year-olds. So you can take a needle and get

get a real hot yeah and then there's a a lemon on the other side is that I think it's an apple I know no it's a lemon

isn't it it can't be that would kill her she would like collapse yeah hey ma'am they use fruits

um yeah uh but uh I know at least one girl who pierced her ears at camp like that is a rite of passage I have heard of. Because even the parents aren't freaked out.

They're like, and you got your ears pierced. I know. They don't say, like, did you go to Claire's or something? Was there a field trip to a mall? When did this happen? If it's a camp where you can do fencing, you can probably get your ears pierced. That's true.

That's true. You can probably do anything in that camp. The best camp in America. Yeah. Oh, you got a breast implant yeah you got your hair and you got new clothes

and all that yeah you got a full back tattoo you got a Ben Affleck rising phoenix back tattoo yeah 11 years old

yeah they were going through some shit yeah so they hatch they hatch the plane because right there's the moment

where they start to respect each other's game you know why because she has to close the window she has to close the window because it's windy and they smile at each other

thanks and then they have the pictures they unite the pictures just like Justice League United the Seven they unite the pictures

they unite the two what I really like in that isolation scene is when they talk about their parents and it's so cute because they're like I love my dad so much scene is when they talk about their parents and it's so cute because they're like

I love my dad so much I can talk to him about everything and then she's like do you know your dad no but I love my mom she's so cool

like she makes dresses and I love her do you know your mom no that moment's like so heartbreaking it's almost too much for a movie

it's like oh my god like she misses her mom and then when you think about the premise you're like why did they do this to their kids you keep waiting

for the movie for them to be like this we should never have done this they never do they never regret it they just say

oh well they're united now there's a sense of like getting back together for a better future without any regret about the past which is crazy

11 years and 9 crazy if i learned my parents had done that i would like scream and i hate them or something i would just freak out being a parent and not seeing your child for over a decade and not having it be a situation where like the government stole your child where you openly like willingly volunteered to never see your child again just because the other one looks the same it's not like the same child you guys are twins can you confirm you guys are just the same

one is the same as two when I can't talk to someone she just does it we're exactly the same we should make it clear to our listeners that everything that either one of you has said has been said in unison by the other at the same time. And it's surround sound.

This is in stereo, right? Ben? Oh, yeah. This is in stereo. I don't know what else to say. Cool. Hi. Hi, Ben. Hello. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you as well.

Welcome here. Hi. I think we should get back to talk about the episode. hi hi Ben hello nice to see you again nice to see you as well welcome here thank you I think we should get back to talk about the episode sure yeah that was just what I wanted that was Ben

I wanted to say another thing yeah for a while I asked and she thought we should maybe do it with one of us doing a very heavy British accent.

Sure. And the other one, yeah, she said no straight away and she insulted me. Because you did some of the British accent and I wanted to kill you. I know because I don't think it's a great accent. I don't know. No offense to anyone who speaks a British accent. There's no such thing as a British accent. What do you mean?

There's English accent, Scottish accent. So anyway, I don't know. That's what I meant. I'm French. I don't know. I'm not even, that's what I meant. I'm French. I don't know what I'm saying. No, I know. Most people say that. I always,

I'm a pedant about it. Why? Shut the fuck up. Because he's pedantic. We have to talk about, yeah, I am. I am pedantic. Right.

All right. So you wanted to do this bit, but then Elena shut it down. I would accept if you did the Scottish accent, like for example. Sure, can you do a Scottish accent? for example sure if you need to okay

can try I don't know I don't know how to do it but anyway it's just because I have no idea if people will figure out who is speaking when

when they listen to this podcast I think it'll be fine you think so? yeah and you have different haircuts so everyone will be able to tell the difference right

we have different haircuts that's true that's the big key distinction in terms of the audio you can hear it in my voice I have longer haircuts that's true that's the big key distinction in terms of the audio you can hear it in my voice that I have longer hair

than you right yeah so they do the switcheroo have you guys ever done a switcheroo everyone always asks us I know

I know it's the hackiest question we're very good girls we're very boring so we never did it sure we did it one time what was I remember we did once

one time we had to go pick up results from our baccalaureate. That was a very important thing and we decided to try it for the first time then. I was terrified. It's very similar to GCSEs where you have to go to school in the summer

and you get handed an envelope and you have to open it in front of everyone. It was the worst experience of my life. And so you decide, let's stress each other out more you went for me because I was busy or something or I was in the country

and I was terrified and it was pretty bad but then we never did it again you were very scared I was like that's fine no one cared it was good

so wait did you go in as yourself leave and then go in as I wasn't in the country it was me I got my ID and she did it

so did you go in collect yours, leave, and then pretend to be Elena and go back in a second time? Yeah, that's my question. I think I maybe went on two different days. Yeah, right, right. Because it was more convincing.

And we had the same hair at the time. Yeah. We looked more like Mitchell. This is my big question. Do you think, and I accept it doesn't harm the movie. We have to buy into the premise. Do you think there's any scenario in which either of these parents would not be able to tell that their child was different?

I know they look the same, but like, do the two of you think like at the times where you have the same hairstyles that you would ever have been able to trick your parents? No. Right? They just know instinctively. They just know. They sometimes mix us up on the phone.

Sure. Or when we have our back turned or something. They just know. They sometimes mix us up on the phone. Sure. Or when we have our back turned or something. Right, right, right. And when we were like very small babies, like we looked more alike, but like old babies look alike. But then, no, I think even at 11,

they could recognize us. Definitely. I mean, if you look at pictures of us then, we definitely look different. It's just this weird thing in the movie where like the mom and the dad buy it wholesale and then like Chessie and the grandpa are the people who sniff it out. Well, Chessie is, you know, she says the name.

That's when Chessie starts the best scene in the movie. She's also the world's greatest detective, Chessie. Chessie. Yeah. And the grandpa figures that, right? But the grandpa's like a wise old grandpa. Yeah, he hears her on the phone. Right, right, right.

You get the sense that it's because they these two people spend more time with the kids than the parents which is very sad yeah

you're like oh my god like the parents that's a good point the parents never spend time with their daughters so we don't know what they actually look like

I want to talk about Chessie and this is a perfect segue what a name they do this what a name they do this switch so now

you know fucking Hallie is going to England and Annie's going to Napa. Right. So Annie's in Napa. And you get sort of two isolated 15 minute seconds. They stick with one. Then they go to the other.

And so you got, oh, here's Dennis Quaid. I missed you so much. Like, you can never go to camp again. Yeah. You know, he's being so cute. And then Chessie, played by Lisa Ann Walter, who is sort of like, I don't know, like the sort of B-list Julie Kavner of the 90s? She's like a stand-up, right?

Her character only exists to make the food because Dennis Quaid, who has to raise his daughter by himself, doesn't know how to cook anything. They don't need a nanny. They don't need her. He can just make a normal meal every day. He'll be fine. He has the time.

He's never working. He's just there. And she seems like a lifelong friend of Dan's she says that she's known her for 11 years I think she's also

sort of a business assistant so immediately I mean we're I'm watching it with my girlfriend we're both just like who is this person what's the deal what's the Chessie structure

break it down is she an aunt like is that what it is no okay she's an employee like but she lives with them? And she sort of jokingly

calls herself the butler? At no point does Nancy ever just say, let me just clarify who this person is. Never. Never clarify. Is she the turtle? Is she the E? Where does she fit into the Quaid opera? She's kind of the E. She's kind of the E. We were watching this movie yesterday because Elena

needed to see it it and we watched it with our friend Marie yes Marie Barney very good person and she had we were wondering

the same thing we're like who is this yeah and she was like it's so bizarre because she's kind of coded at first as maybe a lesbian character

yes and kind of like where's a lot of pants Frances McDormand in Something's Gotta Give very similar to Frances McDormand in Something's Gotta Give very similar to Frances McDormand in Something's Gotta Give

or Rita Wilson but then she gets with the butler so it's all very weird which Nancy loves to just tie those little loose ends off

and also the butler is kind of called as gay at first because he's kind of like he gives advice on the clothes and he's very like friendly

and then he starts wearing this like leather jacket and we see him in his swimsuit and I don't want to see that and then but that's why it's like

they're actually a more interesting couple because they're both like in the conventional bisexual it's cool or maybe he's just like a normal person

who's like not just a super macho Danish Quaid guy he's not coded by Hollywood he's right beyond I'm like I'd like to see them like do whatever

just see more of them like together as a couple Nancy was the first person to ever be woke and also the very first

ever yeah I do think it's interesting that it's like not like a lavender marriage thing it's that they like are so fucking

attracted to each other like the set up is them being like jeez eyeballing each other they're like in the corridor like stuck to each other

I was like this is disgusting this is gross it's not gross it's nice it's nature yeah but like

deal with it wasn't ready wild passionate nature my read on Chessie is she has some line that I'm not even gonna try to misquote where she is saying like

you know your father he can't even keep track of the things right in front of his face or whatever that somehow she just sort of like was a friend of his who knew that he had some ability but also is like a fucking oblivious idiot right and has sort of just been like his general like not personal assistant but like assisting him not fucking everything up i feel like chessie has like a position within the company. No, she's definitely an employee. Right, but she also seems

to live there. Right. She always cooks for them. Yes. Cooks. Right. I don't fucking know. It's very odd. I was watching this with subtitles and when they first said her name I was like, this is embarrassing that whoever captioned this movie wrote Chessie. That's not a name. I was like, clearly her name must be Jessie and someone misheard it. And I was like

oh no, fuck, this character's name is Chessie, which is short for Chessica? But she is also the star of the film's best scene, which is when she realizes who this girl actually is and starts crying.

Which I think is so good, but also hints at this sort of like deep thing, dark thing that they did. This like terrible which I think is so good but also hints at this sort of like deep like thing dark thing that they did this like terrible thing they did the other people on the sides

they thought would never haunt them the question of the trauma yeah she was mostly a stand-up comedian and made a lot of TV appearances and then she had Lisa Walter

she had a show she created her own sitcom yeah which it didn't take but right and then I looked at her Wikipedia and like since then for the last 20 years, she's mostly done

reality competitions where she's either a judge or a contestant as a celebrity blank. Yeah. But I think she's really good in this movie. She is good. She's also just so Nancy Meyers. She's so in the vibe right away. She fits it so well. Yes. She's one of the most convincing of the

characters, I I think I agree in the ensemble because yeah the butler is a little much it's a lot of paprika it's a lot of paprika right

and the grandpa like get out of here grandpa he's useless he's fucking useless pipe tobacco and peppermint

and then the other thing so we can do the Napa thing where you know is that Dennis Quaid's character Nick yes he's got a girlfriend. Uh-oh.

Parent traps in trouble. So I said one of my two least favorite tropes in comedies and romantic comedies is the predicated on a lie that's going to fall apart at some point. The other one is movies where one of the characters who you're supposed to like and think is a good person are together with the worst human being who ever lived. Right, a person who's just like, I'm terrible. You're like, why does Jennifer like her? They just sort of sit on the chair

and they're like, ha, I suck. She is Satan. Yeah, right. It's always when they keep on calling her Cruella de Vil and it's like, that's kind of kind. You're sort of... She doesn't want to murder any animals.

At the same time, at the very beginning, she hasn't done anything. She's just a bit young. And she's just hanging out. And they hate her immediately. And she just tries her best to be nice to the daughter of her boyfriend. At the beginning.

And then the movie reveals that they shipped her out correctly. Well, on the phone, she's like, yeah, we'll ship the kids off to boarding school. She only says that after they're really, really, really, really mean to her for no reason. I agree with you. I think every Nancy Meyers movie has this character and it's always a problem. It's the Lake Belk. They're never shaded well enough. They're only a plot issue.

She's very beautiful, but she's allowed. And she's also a very successful PR person or whatever. She's 26 and she's doing great in life. But the movie hates her. The movie despises her. From the get-go. As do the children. She's a necessary

part of the company because they need PR. He seems to be doing fine. I was going to say, they're only making millions of dollars now. They need to get

his name out there. Trillions. And it's a shame we never see whatever she's making, like the new logo for the company. Yeah, we never see her scale.

And if it was really shit, then we would hate her and it would make sense. She says, I made a new logo with your face. Really? What? But to be fair, I would buy any wine with Dennis Quaid. Wine with just Dennis Quaid's face. I'd get overwhelmed at a wine store.

If I saw Dennis Quaid, I'd be like, yeah, easy choice. And if it was like a 96 vintage, you could call it like a Dragon heart vintage does this come in white do you have a Quaid Rose unfortunately it's only Randy Randy Rose Randy's like white lightning right like he's like he's like some kind of weird spirits

what do you call it in this country Everclear right so she's evil. She's just evil. She's a gold digger. This character is in the original film. The woman who plays her mother is the woman who played the gold digger

in the 60s film. A little hat tip. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So, but she's like an obstacle. They have to get around. But it's interesting when there's a scene where one of the girls is like, why,

why, like, what do you want? And she's so mature as well. This scene is fascinating. Yeah, it's very well. They're both very mature.

She's like, you know, there's more, like the little girl is like, there's more than sex in life or whatever. So first of all, you're like,

all right. And the, I think what she replies is, you know, I know what I'm doing and I've worked really hard in my life and now I've got this and I'm going to do it. Like, I think know what I'm doing and I've worked really hard in my life and now I've got this

and I'm gonna do it like I think that what I love about that scene is that Lindsay Lohan's really pointing out that her dad is in this for the set

yeah you know what I mean like to the he's having fun yeah cause Lindsay Lohan just clocks this girl and decides look my dad's having a bit

of a midlife crisis obviously he's gonna marry this little girl who's like 20 years younger than him both Richardson and Quaid are shaded as having no relationships in the last 11 years. Like they've both been essentially... They've been so devoted to their children.

Yada, yada, yada. But right. But whereas she's just like, look, PR professional. I'm doing great. This is a rich guy. Nice guy. Right. You know he's a nice guy.

Yeah. Why wouldn't I do this? Exactly. Why am I going gonna turn this down but that's why I found the film really cool but she could have

turned her down and tell her that in a very kind way like you know I'm sorry but my dad doesn't love you and then when we go on that

camping trip and I don't remember what happened they do something really horrible to her and she's like it's me or the kid he's like

the kids and he's almost like smiling at her he's like I'm choosing the kids over you. So cruel. I don't actually love you. She shouldn't have said it's me or the kids. Yeah, but at the same time, she's overflowing.

He's so satisfied. David, you have to understand, from her perspective, she just went through the most traumatic thing a person can experience. Seeing a lizard atop their water bottle. The lizard goes in her mouth and she has to spit it out. I would hate everyone.

She's got a heavy duty water bottle. There's like a cloth netting cover around it. The lizard is on top. She just has to see a lizard and then she reacts so poorly that it ends up in her mouth. They didn't put a lizard in her mouth. At that point, that's on her. They put it on her head.

It's horrible. And they put her bed on the middle her mouth. At that point, that's on her. Yeah. They put it on her head. Yeah. It's horrible. They put it on her head. And they put her bed on the middle of the freaking lake. In the water. She could have drowned. Yeah. That's dangerous.

But you know what? They're a little stinker. They are stinkers. But look, if you're going to marry a nice, hot Napa Valley millionaire, you're going to have

to put up with his kids. And his kids might hate you. I mean. And they might be a pain in the ass. They might put lizards in your soup or whatever. And also,

maybe this guy made this terrible decision 11 years ago and there's going to be a second kid. You never know. You never know. You're ready for everything.

And we all know about the Dennis Quaid trials. One does not simply marry Dennis Quaid. You have to prove yourself to be good of heart, pure of intention. So that's what Meg Ryan did?

Yeah. She was America's sweetheart. Right. And that's a real chicken and the egg? Yeah. She was America's sweetheart. Right. And that's a real chicken and the egg question. Should we become America's sweetheart because of Dennis Quaid?

Is that the reason why she was able to get Dennis Quaid? The thing I was going to say is that this scene in which they sniff each other out is fascinating because they play it

with like the sophistication and intensity of a movie in which like two con artists recognize each other. Right. We both got the same mark here. What's your angle? It's like the prestige again.

It gets really fucking severe. Elaine Hendricks is the Scarlett Johansson of this movie. She plays Meredith. Elaine Hendricks had a couple years where she did this. Where she was this type. She weirdly plays the same part in Superstar, the Mary Catherine Gallagher film

where she's like, she would always be the impediment, like the conflict girlfriend in the way of the true love. I have a friend named Meredith Blake and I keep like, every time they say, because they say her full name a lot.

A lot. She's a full name person. Meredith Blake. I like all the like wrinkles they set up within like even, I mean, jumping ahead, but her recognizing Natasha Richardson as the designer,

not knowing that that's the ex. That's so nice. I love that bit. It's so cute. That's so much a Nancy kind of farce thing where it's all about these relationships, setting up the different dynamics rather than just crazy kind of twin pranks. Yeah. The London side is calmer. That's more just lovely. setting up the different dynamics rather than just like crazy kind of twin pranks. Yeah. Yeah. So then, yeah,

the London side is calmer. That's more just lovely. Right. There she goes again. Her mom's kind of boring. It is crazy to see Natasha Richardson. It is also crazy

how much she looks like Emma Thompson in this movie. She does a lot. She's styled like her in like Love Actually or whatever. Her acting style is similar.

That's what's weird is that, yes. The character is so similar. She's styled like an Emma Thompson that didn't come about until a couple years after this. She has the haircut that Emma Thompson will soon have.

Right. And she's very good in it. This is right around the time, this is the same year she does Cabaret on Broadway, which I saw her in, which she won a Tony for, which was this very radical approach

to an iconic character that Liza Minnelli obviously kind of owns it was the one you know with Alan Cumming yeah and it's so funny because she's so gentle

in this and she's like not in that's her other like she's not an iconic actress she didn't really get the chance to be

no she worked a lot Patty Hearst I mean that's like that's her big breakout movie that's a traitor movie yeah I'm trying to think like what else is she in she's in Nell I mean she did that's her big breakout movie. Oh, right, the traitor movie. Yeah, I'm trying to think. What else is she in?

She's in Nell. I mean, she did a lot of films, but it feels like she didn't totally get to... No, obviously she is acting royalty. She's the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave. She's the sister of Jolie Richardson. She's the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave. Tony Richardson, the director, was her father.

All that. Right. Big, famous acting English family. Yeah, she's also genuinely talented. She's not just the daughter of someone. Many of the Red Graves are actually really good. They all are, Lynn. In England, they are the most famous acting family.

They are absolute royalty, all of them, even though Vanessa Redgrave is always just grabbing the mic and being like, I want to talk about Israel. It doesn't matter. People are still venerated legend. She can do what she wants. But Vanessa Redgrave

just had that insane like two year run where like everyone died around her. Like it was just this like tragic horrible like Bermuda Triangle where they all fell

to different sorts. I mean like Natasha Richardson's death was such a freak accident. Very frightening. Yeah. Rip. Yeah.

Really, really. Good in this movie. Very good in this film. Really charming. I mean yeah really really good in this movie very good in this film really charming I mean that's that's the thing that this movie that these two performances really help sell

is just like how much these feel like nice homes you'd want to be in and I like that because you don't see the home lives before camp

yeah you're seeing them through the eyes of each girl seeing it for the first time being like I'd be totally happy with this

and at some point when one of them is like you have to come back because dad has a girlfriend the other is like hell no I want to stay with mom

I need like a few weeks of this so how horrible is it that so the British one Annie when she goes to see her dad

for the first time she's the one who has to deal with the girlfriend for the first time she's the one who has to deal with the girlfriend for the first time like Halle never had didn't even know that she doesn't get the dad time I'm going to America I'll know I have to deal with this problem that was supposed to be my sister dealing with

over in London zero conflict that's a nice fun time she has a nice stroll in the park with her grandpa recreating everything she has the photo shoot for the wedding dress it's like really tacky it's super 90s but yeah she has a stroll in the park with her grandpa. Recreate album covers. She has the photo shoot for the wedding dress. It's like really tacky. It's super 90s. Yeah, she has a great time.

Also, it's quite interesting that the mom makes wedding dresses considering she got married and then divorced immediately. It's kind of like a weird like... I don't know what Freud would say about this. It's kind of like a weird transference. Right, that she can't leave the scene of the crime. She's got can't yeah like i'm gonna make wedding dresses for the rest of my life and i mean the wine isn't as one-to-one but it's sort of like part of the like yeah the wine yeah because it's the wine they had right yeah yeah i don't know i always had this faulty memory that the same photo was on the

bottle of the wine when he shows it to her. Right. That he was like, can you remember this wine? Of course, I had the label made. By my girlfriend. So then I guess they just get rumbled. Yeah, right. She's great at logos.

I put your face on every bottle, you and your ex-wife. Oh, Ben's bringing some pizza. I saw this pizza. Oh my God. bringing some pizza. I saw this pizza. Oh my god. Yeah, I want some of this pizza. I'm hungry. Yeah. You guys eat while you record, right?

Sometimes. It's happened. This rarely happens. Very rarely. It's like a food delivery. Sometimes the office, though, has like a pizza, right? You know, like Audioboom's staffer

just getting a pizza. Ben's knocking. Knock, knock. Hi, Ben. Oh, look at this british pizza delivery man god he looks familiar he looks like somebody he's got glasses and he's got a british accent but why david why does he who does he remind me of no idea what this british pizza man what's your name sir english his English. His name is English? English.

Shocker red hair. Freckles. Glasses. He's so posh. Hand on hip. He couldn't be our beloved Ben Hosley, but yet the bone structure is so similar. Sassy posture. I don't know what you mean.

When were you born? He had to remember to do the accent. When were you born? He had to remember to do the accent. When were you born? 1985. 1980. 1985. Weird. He's reticent to state his birthday, much like our beloved Ben Huss.

He'll just say the year after thinking about it. It's almost like he doesn't want to let people know. How old he might be. And it's weird. The way he holds that pizza, it's like when Ben delivers us pizza. Which he has done. Ben, can I have some of this pizza? I'm so hungry.

Ben or whoever you are. I mean, or English. And now he has left the studio. He's gone. Sausage pizza with several slices already missing. Who was this mysterious figure? Do you think it was Ben?

Now we just have no producer. I'm good for now. It couldn't be Ben. That's impossible. That's impossible. But the one thing I will not consider is that he could be Ben's twin.

There's no way that's the answer. He just has to be someone with a different accent who looks exactly like him. You think they were separated at birth and one of them lived in North Orange

and one of them lived in South Orange? I had to make a Jersey joke. Did you guys plan this in advance? Sometimes you plan these bits in advance without telling me. That didn't seem planned to me, no thanks. If I had planned this, it would be a lot more complicated. Sorry about that. That's fine.

You missed a pizza delivery, Ben. By some man called English. Wait, what was his name? English. English English, I think. Yeah. English house. Ben just dropped his glasses in the pizza.

But wait, those are the same glasses i've seen those glasses before somewhere hey ben you know what's not smart what is that job sites that overwhelm you with tons of the wrong resumes okay you know what is smart? What? ZipRecruiter.com slash blank. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, they're back. Sure. Sure. You got me.

The zippers. Unlike other job sites, ZipRecruiter doesn't wait for candidates to find you. ZipRecruiter finds them for you. So you don't have to like trawl through resume after resume looking for someone to hire to fit your whatever it is. It's got powerful matching technology that scans thousands of resumes, identifies people with the right skills, education, experience

and actively invites them to apply. So you get qualified candidates fast, Ben, for whatever job you've got. So if I wanted to hire maybe a producer, I could put together some qualifications of what I'm looking for, and then

ZipRecruiter would do the work for me. Yeah, and you get qualified candidates fast. You wouldn't have to wait for them to apply. It's no wonder ZipRecruiter is rated number one by employers in the US. That rating comes from hiring sites on Trustpilot with over a thousand reviews.

So, right now, Blank Check listeners can try ZipRecruiter for free at this exclusive web address, ZipRecruiter.com slash blank. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash B-L-A-N-K. ZipRecruiter.com slash blank. I don't understand why you keep spelling out to just type in ZipRecruiter.com. Yeah, you've made a classic error. I have made an error. It's not that you leave it blank. You type blank. The word.

ZipRecruiter.com slash blank. It's the smartest way to hire. So you know there's a segment we always do in this mini-series. We have a special correspondent, long-time sister, Romley Newman, who is an expert in the food world, does her kitchen corner. So right now we're going to cut live to Romley Newman's kitchen corner. Welcome to Romley's kitchen corner. And here is your host, Miss Romley Newman

in her kitchen. Hello, I'm reporting from a kitchen and I'm talking about Parent Trap today. This movie doesn't really have a kitchen presence, but I would argue that Annie's house is very much a kitchen house. There's wine everywhere. There's strategically placed wine throughout the entire house. And you're in wine country. There's a lot of talk about food, a lot of talk about chili, and it's a very open layout house, so it does have this kind of comforting

welcome to my home, welcome to my kitchen vibe, even though all you really see is a marble countertop and a blue cabinet. What do we have to say now? I just like I feel like should we end on this the original Parent Trap

which I just remember would play on Disney Channel a lot along with the sequels would play a lot and I watched them probably in bits and pieces I remember being

a lot more like trying to set up circumstances to trick them into falling in love and in this movie they're pretty up front pretty quickly

about like we were hoping you'd get back together yeah that makes sense to me because it's obvious to everyone

and actually I think the politics of them like meeting again and stuff are quite at first quite good

because they're like people you know they had something one time and they're like oh yeah of course

our daughters wanted us to be together but like this is not happening and it's quite it's quite really really sad those moments

they're quite like yeah when they have that dinner on the boat I think it's a boat and they're trying to recreate

that night it's so melancholy it's so so sad and they're just yeah they don't have much to say to each other because I can't imagine

like the trauma of having to read somewhere. It's so insane. It's like 1570 into Paris. Like, you don't make people. Relimit, right, right, right. Oh, my God. Well, yeah, they should have taken them back to the hospital and been like, so what was the thinking?

Yeah. When you're like, I'll take one, you take one. Yeah, right. No, they trick their parents to going to San Francisco. But she's up front with Richardson. She's like, Dad wants to see you.

She's not up front. She says he wants to see you, but he doesn't want to see her. They both tell their parents like the other one wants to see you. But Quaid doesn't know she's going to be there.

No, you're right. That's the big distinction. She doesn't have to go far. Right. In the Tazer Ridge, she's got to go. It's like a 12-hour flight. I've done that flight.

Has never had a glass of wine in her life. More than one glass of wine. And then she like. There's this idea that she's afraid of flying. Yes. And I think that's the only explanation we're given for why they never see each other. Natasha Richardson's afraid of flying. She says she drank a lot of wine for that one trip she made.

Right. That's why she lived on the QE2 for 15 years. That's why they were on the boat. Yeah. Because they were... Yeah. They literally have the thing where she like, they open the car door and like little airplane plastic liquor bottles

like roll out. Yeah, and she gives her foot to the butler. And he's like, what the fuck? And because she's drunk. Wrong end, I think he says to her. Oh boy. Just like what the fuck and because she's drunk wrong end I think he says to her just like what head first what are you saying

Simon Coons is the butler is the butler yeah I think this should have been the info or she just pokes her head up

makes the butler drag her by the neck but it's no it's very odd I mean he is like a near Mr. Belvedere like stock

ridiculous cartoony butler and Chessie is such a bizarre non-archetypal character yeah it's funny yeah

it's also funny that Natasha Richardson thinks she needs a fucking butler yeah well it's because they keep having tea all the freaking time

that's true they do love their high tea in this movie anytime you see him at home it's like it's a fucking pleasure but now he's also hot butler for fun

he's got the leather jacket he's hot daddy butler yeah I wasn't comfortable out of office work Elena you were very not into the butler's

personal expression I didn't want to have to think about him doing this stuff you know while watching this movie about two kids trying to put their

parents together I was like, gosh, this is just not right. There are kids watching this film. Maybe don't do that. It looked like he wasn't cruising. I was a kid and I think all that stuff, I was just like, huh, Butler looks funny. That's reassuring.

It feels like the 90s were kind of like peak Butler humor. I remember as a kid finding Butlers really funny. It was like Butler or Nanny or like that random think like I it feels like the 90s were kind of like peak Butler humor yeah yeah there's a kid finding butlers really funny it was like Butler or Nanny or like yeah that random right adult in

the house there's the kids who's not the parents I guess there's Alfred Batman's Butler that's yeah Arcade Fire the Sabbath what Arcade Fire is a couple butlers Walt Butler

Wynn Butler thank you no the other the other big I didn't like that Arcade Fire has a couple butlers. Will Butler, Wynn Butler. That was good. Thank you. No, the other big... I didn't like that. An insight so hot. I think it is the post John Gilgood. Denholm Elliot too. Yeah, you're right. John Gilgood and Arthur and Denholm Elliot in Trading Places.

Those kind of started Butler mania, which ran into... If you're rich, you just have a butler. And you love the butler who also is like kind of like a moral conscious like gives you advice is your best friend I really like that

Fraser episode where Victor he hires a butler and it's Victor Garber no? Ferguson? called Ferguson and at the end of the

where he's all and Ferguson sends everyone gifts and Fraser's sad about having to let him go at the end or something and he's like Ferguson

send yourself a gift like it's funny I also really like Gerard Butler the ultimate butler has he ever played a butler? I think he should he's played a butthead certainly a number of times I don't think he's ever played a butler

I had to like rush to that punchline congratulations Elena's just looking at her phone sick of this she's playing a machine gun preacher greyhound back so they reunite in this San Francisco hotel it's mostly hotel action

and this is when they're doing a lot of like one walks away the other one comes back how did you get here so fast it's very diploma I love it. It's good. It's fun. Crossing and rooms. This is definitely her homage to Body Double.

Body Double. Yeah, clearly. My favorite movie. But there's also this French movie where there's this whole business where there are people and they get the wrong luggage and they get in the wrong room. You know the Louis de Funès movie? Yeah. Maybe La Lula et Crise.

I don't know. It's a very famous French movie where there's a whole scene in a hotel and they get the wrong luggage and they keep switching rooms but obviously the number 6 becomes a 9

because it's like it's really like a template of that and so someone ends up sleeping next to the wrong person

and like yeah it's just antics like that it's really well done in this movie and I really love the fact that she's drunk as well

the mom I like that a lot They set up a lot of fun little challenges for them trying to get the parents together I love that she's drunk and he's just hanging out doing nothing When he sees her

it's so good because she's drunk and he sees her and he just goes like this because the door is though it's so good because she's like whatever drawing and then he sees her and he's in the elevator and he just goes like this because the door is closing it's so nice I love it

it's pretty elegant it's so nice but also why is he like smiling and stuff he should be like horrified or just confused because the truth is

that he still loves her but how can he be such a like happy go lucky guy after having done this horrible thing because he's a man but they also oh they have the moment

while they're waiting to try to get Quaid in the same place where she sits at the bar next to Elaine Hendricks and orders like something to sober her up that she says tastes like tar. Yeah. I think it's a Bloody Mary. While she's closing out her account,

Elaine Hendricks looks over, which I think is a really good character detail, that she's the kind of person who'd always want to check everyone else's credit card how much they're tipping, what their name is I was looking for a hot client hey maybe I can make a logo for you

what if your face was on the dresses what if that's the third act of Phantom Thread where he's like my face is going to be on all the dresses from now on he's like stitching it in it's is going to be on all the dresses from now on. He's like stitching it in. It's not going to be in the hem anymore. It's going to be the main feature of my clothes.

What if Elaine Hendricks... I'm going to write mum everywhere. What if Elaine Hendricks' strategy was literally just put a Dennis Quaid on it for everything? Regardless of who she was working with. Yeah, she gives you the logo and it's just Quaid's face. And he's not involved with the company. There are all these companies who have all the same logo and it's just Quaid's face. And he's not involved with the company. All these companies have all

the same logo and it's very confusing and it's basically like they live with Dennis Quaid. Toyota, a legend of the car industry. But have you ever put in put in? Jesus Christ. I retire. I'm done. Quaid. Put in.

Quaid. Put in. Yeah. So now they set up this thing where they try to three-card Monty. Like, you don't know which one of us is which. Yes. So one time they brazenly do it. Oh, my God. Right.

It's so horrifying. And the parents are so scared. They're like, shit. Like, I can't get this wrong. I like that scene. Right. Because it's the chickens coming home to roost for the parents. Where they're like, right.

See? Yeah. You've created this. and now they've evolved and they can work against you. They're the raptors talking to each other in Jurassic Park 3. It makes sense that they can't tell the kids apart because they don't have the experience of raising two kids together so they're just like well I don't I mean one of you is my child

and so that's how they convince them to go on a camping trip all together yeah right because this is after they've had there's two camping trips in one movie

that's a lot of camping is that what American kids do all the time and also like one thing to say is that the first in the summer camping

I'm used to watching movies where the summer camp is a setting for slasher films so I was I was really you know and they have the same boats as in that movie The Burning where someone like dies it's really funny uh and i was just

expecting because we get so insane like putting stuff on the on the plate on the roof and stuff i was like are we gonna like stab someone you had never seen this before no i had never seen this movie before i was just like are you actually doing insane stuff just to reference slasher films like what is this like to, it felt like a location. It felt like shooting a romantic comedy in a gothic castle. And you're like, well, obviously a vampire is going to come out. Why else would we pick this location?

Exactly. And then we go back to camping and I was just like, oh God. And she's drifting on, when Meredith is drifting on the water, I was just like someone's going to, Jason's going to come out of the water and drag you back in the water I was just like someone's gonna Jason's gonna come out of the water and drag you back in the water well I assume in France

yeah summer camp is not a thing in Britain it's not a thing some people do it but I don't think it's nearly as popular and it doesn't all look the same

this guy I know he's been camping for billions of years I like it when I talk about it on the podcast why not what people complain

because he talks about it the most offensive thing we've heard in the history of the show well that's where he lived. Like, what the fuck? Yeah. It's like you guys.

I don't give a shit. I know. I'm telling the people. And we have a policy on this podcast. We never prevent people from talking about their childhoods, especially where they were at different times. In Britain. David, shut the fuck up.

If you're being sent to summer camp, I think I've said this on the podcast before that means your parents hate because they're just like get this kid away summer camp is just like military school anyway they go on the camping trip and they're awful to poor Elaine Hendricks the QED reconciliation

attempt happens before the QED happens before that and they're both like, look, this is sweet. I don't know why we ever broke up, but clearly we're going to go back to our respective lives. They kind of say that. For them it's more like a nice memory. Yeah, and they both

say, well, we have really good lives now. So there's a sense of them having focused on their careers and having made a good living. But that's where he says the thing of like, I didn't think I was supposed to go after you.

He does admit fault. But it's interesting because it's sort of about how your career can't fulfill everything. And, you know, it's sad. It's very like, they could have just found other people to be with as well. That's true. But they couldn't because they still

love each other. See? Yeah. See? Yeah. It's called psychology. Well they couldn't

because they had their careers. They imprinted on each other. It is just this crazy thing in this two hour and eight minute

90s studio comedy for children that like they don't end up in the same place until like 90 minutes into the film and then this final camping trip happens like in the last 20 minutes

of the movie. I thought it was going to be over before that camping. Yeah, right. It really feels like wait, once they're on the boat together they're going camping again? She really wanted to be extra cruel to Meredith just a little bit more. So Nancy just always throws in an extra act for good measure. She gives you another act for the...

This is exactly like the original. I know, which is crazy. It just feels like that would be her creation. Yeah, it does. But then, yeah, I mean... I just like that Meredith kind of like dooms herself by offering the ultimatum. Yeah, that's the card she shouldn't play.

Right. But I think it's a card she's getting ready to play anyway. She wants to ship him off to Timothée. She does want the kids out of the picture. So I guess she plays the card and he's like, what? No, I'm not into that. Of course, he's like emotionally so stunted because it's like, how do you not have that conversation about are you ready to take on

the responsibility of my kid before you talk to your kid and be like, well, maybe I'm going to marry this lady. So their engagement's really fucking fast. Yeah. How long was she at summer camp? A month, two months max?

Maybe eight weeks. They're not back into the school year yet. No. It's still the summer. Yeah, it's crazy. So yeah, so she said, and then

the cut is basically like they're punished when they arrive back. He's like, yeah, Meredith's out of here, but they're still punished. For the rest of their days. Right. And they go their separate ways, but then how do you beat someone on a plane to London?

Concord, Jack. Take the Concord. My brother James used to be obsessed with the Concord. Concord scares. Take the Concorde. Yeah. My brother James used to be obsessed with the Concorde. Concorde scares the shit out of me. And anytime we were at the airport he'd be like

are we flying the Concorde? And it was like no we're going to Boston. Right. He just always wanted to be on a Concorde jet. I don't think he ever rode on one.

Well it was only Transatlantic. Right. It was literally just yeah. But my dad flew on the Concorde but yeah it seemed so scary. I was so scared of the Concorde

I was scared of flying but there's a reason they don't do it anymore I mean a couple of them crashed yeah a couple it's also just

they're so expensive like they could never quite sustain the price point is it like a different experience being in it than a normal plane yeah you have to like

sit down the whole time like you know and it's going I mean there's booms because it's breaking the sound have to like sit down the whole time. Like, you know, and it's going, I mean, there's booms because it's breaking the sound barrier. Is everyone like screaming in the whole time

like a roller coaster? Yeah. But also it takes no time. I mean, it's very, very, very fast. How long is that? Let me look it up. Let's find out

about the Concorde. I like the idea that they would like give you a photo like at the end of like a theme park ride. Like, look at the stupid face you were making on the Concorde. I like the idea that they would give you a photo at the end of a theme park ride. Like, look at the stupid face you were making on the Concorde. For like a few

hours. But it's worth knowing that actually, I want to know how long Dennis Quaid, no, not Dennis Quaid, Richardson, had to wait for the other guys to arrive in a normal plane. The thing when you take a normal plane to London is that you arrive at an airport

that's quite far away, far out, and then you have to drive. Yeah. So they had plenty of time. So it's like a lot of hours. Yeah. Yeah, this movie also

doesn't deal with, like, the customs. Yeah. Like, you probably have to wait online for, like, 90 minutes, depending on what time they landed.

Right. So it could do New York to Paris three and a half hours. Wow. It flew at Mach 2. Yeah. So, you know, twice the speed of sound. Wow.

Yeah. Pretty cool. We should try again, I think. We could be on this podcast more often. Yeah. That's true. It was fucking crazy. It would fly at 56,000 feet.

You know, planes usually fly around 35,000 to 40,000 feet. It's crazy. It's completely bizarre that we did this and we don't do it anymore. That's the weirder part. It's one of those examples of technology that has regressed. They should make a movie about it instead of making First Man. Last Plane. Last Plane?

Fast Plane. Fast Plane, okay. There is kind of maybe a good talker man in his dream movie about the Concorde where it's like he nailed it and they still were like, no, weer man in his dream movie about the Concorde. Right. He nailed it. Right. And they still were like, no, we can't do this. He was too smart.

Too smart. Man was not meant to travel at these speeds. No. So they take the Concorde and he's like, I finally came after you, Natasha. He says it like that. Right. And they just immediately. I mean, where are they going to live now?

They don't make that clear. They just get married on the QE2. On the plane. Because not to like prioritize one career over the other, but his career is

very geographically... That's true. But at the same time, what is he doing? He can get someone to do that and he can just get on the phone. What does Chessie exist for? Well, Chessie's got to

marry the butler though. Yeah, she's got to get them. They do. They get engaged at the wedding, which is supremely obnoxious behavior. You do they get engaged at the wedding which is supremely obnoxious behavior you do not get engaged at a wedding that is outrageous but they're part of the family i know the butler does it plus it's the second wedding of literally they're getting married yeah second time they made a mistake they should have married only once from them the parent trap yeah the the only reasonably budgeted film of Nancy Meyer's career.

$15 million is the budget on this film. That's enough for the time. Isn't that a lot? Yeah, but then she starts making like $80 million. Oh, okay. I mean, everyone gets their quote on The Parent Trap. And, you know, Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid were not like that kind of superstar level actor. No, this was the kind of thing for a while it was like,

if you were someone who is like a leading man or a leading lady who never had like massive crossover breakthrough success, once you got to parent age, you could get good steady paychecks in these types of Disney films, live action Disney films. Right. And it was like, you know, being the parent in the comedy,

something like this, or then like him doing the rookie a couple years later. You know, Dennis Quaid had his run as sort of being like a Disney guy. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Makes sense. I mean, he's dad. He's very dad. He's daddy. He is daddy. I mean,

that's what Jude Law is going to say in fucking in the holiday. Jude Law says, I am daddy. Spoiler. In what?

In the holiday, another Nancy Meyers. Oh, yeah, he does. Oh, my gosh. There's a moment where he says, I am daddy Spoiler In what? In The Holiday Another Nancy Meyers Oh yeah he does Oh my gosh There's a moment Where he says I am daddy And we're gonna talk about it

Jude Law is daddy But yes The box office game guys July 31st 1998 I was on vacation In America And I saw this movie

July 31st July 31st David you were walking On thin ice July 31st We're gonna have to David, you were walking on thin ice. July 31st. We're going to have to have a conversation about this. On my... Yes. Later. Number one

at the box office. So, Parent Trap opens number two. Okay. Opens 11 million, makes 66. Very nice multiplier. Steady, Summer Sleeper, makes about 100 worldwide. I think it makes 96. 92. I mean I don't mean to split hairs

92 number one of the box office though is a big epic movie that we've talked about on this podcast the highest grosser of 98

oh it is Saving Private Ryan in what second week a week of it's crazy because it has a long run

it does it's already made 73 million dollars yeah it's gonna make 216 so I know something that's in the top 5 Because it has a long run. It does. It's already made $73 million. Yeah. It's going to make $216 million. So I know something that's in the top five. Oh, yeah? It's the film that kept on creeping all summer,

kept on moving up the charts. Is it number three at this point? Okay, something about Mary. Look at him go. Something about Mary opened at number six. In its third week. And then it kept on every week moving up the chart. It was number four the week before.

It's like The Great Showman. Yeah, it was so fucking exciting. It was a classic word of mouth for success, right? Where people kept being like, you gotta see this. Because I remember, I mean, was this the same summer that the Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds home run thing was happening? Yes, you're absolutely right. I remember this distinctively because my brother and my dad would get really excited about who's going to break

the American baseball home run record. And it turns out both Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa broke it and Mark McGuire got more. And then our thing, my dad and I, was what position is something about Mary going to be?

And it would literally just move up one position every week. It opened at six and people were like, that's kind of disappointing. And that was five, 4, 3, 2 and then we were like what if they fuck it up? What if they don't get to 1? It got to 1 and my Big Fat Greek Wedding

had the same thing where it kept on moving up and then it never got to 1. The week that it was going to hit 1 Swimfan beat it. A tragic, tragic time in American history. But my Big Fat Greek Wedding made more money. It did. So Something About Mary is number three. Yes.

Number four is a new film this week. Uh-huh. It's a thriller, I guess. Uh-huh. How to describe? Like a grown-up action thriller. Interesting director who's had a long and interesting career in Hollywood that we might want to cover someday but like

later entry no earlier entry early entry mm-hmm um starring an Oscar nominee and an Oscar winner

were they in the March Madness bracket this director no no it's a director I have a lot of trouble with but has indisputably made

great movies he's also just made a couple bad movies so what year are we talking this is 98 um Copland uh nope he's not has indisputably made great movies. He's also just made a couple of bad movies. Yeah, we're talking. This is 98. Copland?

Nope. He's not a director you would think of. Where would you rank this? You say he's made great movies and horrible movies. Is this a skimmer? This is a programmer. It's a pretty good movie. This is a tough movie to describe. A veteran Oscar winner

and then someone who's kind of being anointed as a new star, a recent nominee. Is that the idea? No, two stars. But honestly, it's the Oscar winner who's being anointed. Weird. They're the more... He's newer.

He also is a bad, bad person. Oh. He's a bad... How bad is that? Bad. Bad. So is it Kevin Spacey movie? Yes.

Oh. Correct. But he's second build. But he is the title character. Actually, well, they're both title characters. American Beauty. No. 1998.

He's the title character. Is it the David thing? Blah, blah. What is it called? The movie where it's like actually about David? Oh, Life and Times of David Gale? No, it's not David Gale. Although Alan Parker is an interesting character.

He is an interesting character. He's a bad director though. 1998. He's got some good films. 1998. Kevin Spacey. He's a title character. This is a great box office game.

I'm loving this. People are freaking out right now. Is it really obvious? No, no. It's a movie that people forget about, but it was a hit movie. Oh, oh, I know exactly what it is. It's directed by F. Gary Gray.

Correct. It is called The Negotiator. The Negotiator. And you know, Kevin Spacey is the title character because he is the negotiator, but I believe Samuel L. Jackson is also playing a negotiator. Yes. The idea is that he's the old negotiator who's taken someone hostage. And Kevin Spacey's the new negotiator who's negotiating with him. And he's like, I'll only negotiate with the best negotiator I know.

Oh, yeah, I think I have that on DVD, yeah, because I read the synopsis. I was like, this is crazy. That's definitely a movie you probably bought at CEX. That was, so my brother. It's a good movie. It's so my brother. It's one of, it's a good movie. It's just so long.

It's like two hours and 20 minutes. So I never just want to like throw it on. I'll tell you my two big negotiator related memories. One. Two.

How do you have two? Two. One is my brother who's been invoked a lot in this episode used to always fight my parents about like his bedtime and like how much more food

he had to eat before he could have dessert. So you would negotiate it up. Right, and then when this movie came out, they were like, look, it's the Jamesy movie. It was a big running joke in my family, and then we called him the negotiator for a long time after that. That is funny. The second thing is...

That is a good bit. That's a good bit. We called James the negotiator, and he was like a little eight-year-old boy. But the other bit was, or the other memory is that my friend Dean Diaguardi, when I was 10, his dad was a limousine driver. And his birthday party was like 10, 10-year-old boys got to ride around in a limousine. And he had like a TV and a VCR in the back and we watched The Negotiator. It's a grown up movie. That was this like birthday party in the year

2000 was like a bunch of 10 year olds watching The Negotiator and being like pretty smart. It's a pretty intelligent adult thriller. It's not a bad movie. It's not a bad movie at all. His career though is like Friday which is obviously a cultural touchstone. Set It Off which is his great movie. It's a terrific

movie. The Negotiator which is like a solid Hollywood movie. Right. Then there's that Vin Diesel movie A Man Apart that kind of sucks. Not a very good film. Then there's the Italian Job.

It pains me to say that it's not a very good film. Italian Job remake which is good. Very fun. Then Be Cool which is a blank check disaster. Right.

Catastrophe. Law Abiding Citizen which I've never seen but seems kind of crummy. I think it's a pretty rote program but that does pretty well. Yes. And that's a film

that is a film where the butler did it.ummy. I think it's a pretty rote program but it does pretty well. Yes. And that's a film where the butler did it. Yes. And then Jared. And then Straight Outta Compton which obviously is this sort of like smash hit. Once again colossal cultural moment movie. Right. And then follows up with the eighth Fate of the Furious. Right. And now he's doing a new Men in Black. It's a fascinating career.

Like he's been signing on to these big mask which is like one of the Hasbro cinematic universe films yeah he's like now become a big tentpole dude yeah and he's like you know a black director who's worked in like many genres in hollywood and like i don't know we could do f gary gray and he like started out in the music video world and like the rap journalism world he directed it was a good day right yeah um anyway we should put it off for us sure um uh number five yeah that's right we're not done is a movie that every single person my age certainly every girl

my age saw so many times uh i feel like it's a bit of a forgotten movie it is a great movie is it ever after it is ever after colon a cinderella story starring drew barrymore angelica houston yeah sort of a grown-up well it's sort of like a a reboot of cinderella yeah yeah yeah it was like a more like it was a less fantastical cinderella was kind of the idea right it was dougray scott's uh coming out right Right. Jean Moreau is in it. Weird. Legend of French Cinema. Jean Moreau.

I never saw that movie and I remember being so excited for it and then I was such a Disney kid I was disappointed when I saw the trailer and I was like

where are the mites? Where's the pumpkin? These guys got it so wrong. They strip all that out. Yeah. They make it into a teen movie.

You got Mask of Zorro Lethal Weapon 4 Armageddon man I saw all these movies I was going to the movies Dr. Doolittle with Eddie Murphy

Jane Austen's Mafia humongous basketball opening this week not so humongous saw it opening day believe I saw it on that vacation

because I was like into South Park I was like a 12 year old idiot I wasn't allowed to watch South Park. I liked Airplane and James liked both basketball and baseball. So it was like an easy pitch for like a Sunday with that or whatever.

I think we saw it probably opening Sunday. But that means, David, you were in town at the same time as Griffin when you were going to see movies. True. Although you were not living here. I was not living here by this point in 98. I didn't mean to do that.

When I saw movies, I'd usually stay with our friends on the Upper West Side where I grew up, and I feel like you were probably seeing movies downtown, but maybe not. Downtown Griffin? So you never go into the Lincoln Square AMC, which was brand new at the time. We'd go there for special events, certainly with IMAX things, although they were

museum IMAX movies at the time. I remember seeing Baseball, the theater that is now the IFC Center, which then shut down and was unoccupied for like a decade before it reopened. There's a few of those, you know. I didn't mean to do the bit. I just meant to say. It's not a bit. I grew up in England.

Serendipity would have made something happen. And we retired the bit. It's fine. Why did you retire it? Because I had had enough of it. Actually, I didn't ask. Griffin just did it, but I felt like he was responding to my obvious,

like, I'm so sick of it. So now, instead of having the bit, we have the anti-bit, which is so much worse. So much worse. He's driven it into the ground. David said to me, this bit has poisoned every well in my life.

Correct. And I, as an act of mercy, said I will hang the bit up from the rafters and the bit is gone. And then every week he fucking tempts me. He throws the bit in my face. So we might as well just talk about it. It's fine. David's just got a pile of red cards sitting next to him. Ben's been flipping them down like he's a fucking blackjack dealer.

I'm literally gonna split comedic hairs with you. The bit is you making fun of me growing up, like, The bit is the notion that you grew up... I wasn't doing a bit. You were doing a bit. You said it was a bit and you hated it.

The fact that you grew up there, you can't change that. It's a bit. It's not a bit. It's a bit. Thank you for running to my defense. You cannot change it. The bit is when grew up there, you can't change that. It's a bit. It's not a bit. It's a bit. No. Thank you for running to my defense. You cannot change it. It's a bit. The bit is when you're like, what?

I also want to announce this because this episode is coming out soon. I'm going to announce this. Anyone on Twitter who tweets the bit at me, I'm going to block you. Yes. Okay. I've had enough of it. I fucking hate it. And people, sometimes like people will tweet it like into conversations where

like there are other people who maybe like aren't as acquainted with the podcast and i'm like enough so this is fair warning i will block you without warning when you say that you don't want to talk about the bit and then you invoke this fantastical notion yes of really, really interesting. Absurd that never could have happened. That I could have grown up in another country to think about the bit. So I'm gonna, I'll tweet about it when this episode drops.

So that'll be the one universal warning and then there's this episode. But if anyone after or whenever this drops, tweets this does this joke at me, I block you. No questions asked. Real consistent. So David is making it clear he's gonna block anyone who tweets about the bit whenever this drops tweets this you know does this joke at me i block you no questions real consistent so david is making it clear he's gonna block anyone who tweets about the bit after he tweets about the bit this fucking one exception i will not block griffin newman because i know he's going to fuck around with this the second i'm respecting the bit you're the one who's

dancing on it's great is this some Is this some BDSM thing? Do you like the discomfort of having to fight against the confines of the bit? It's retired. This podcast is deconstructing itself. This is like a post-meta podcast now. I feel like this is what happens to a podcast. It goes on too long. The bits start doing battle with themselves.

They metastasize. This podcast is greater than the sum of its bits I would say aww see she's right can we stop fighting no no we're not

we're not really fighting but I've just been thinking about this I'm a law abiding citizen copyrighted so that's the first parent trap I mean the first

Nancy Meyers that's the parent trap it's the second parent trap how many episodes are you going to do aboutyers. That's the Parent Trap. It's the second Parent Trap. How many episodes are you going to do about the Parent Trap? I don't know. We're going to do at least two, and then they're going to get confused. We'll release the episodes in an alternating order. No, it's just interesting because, especially after the Father of the Bride movies,

you could see her just kind of continuing to do this. She very easily could have stayed in the family movie lane. Or doing the sort of big glossy remake lane. Then she makes her most high concept movie next, but a movie that's decidedly an adult film. Yes, but it's also the one movie she doesn't write.

Which is kind of talent. The problem. We're talking about What Women Want next week's episode which is her one out and out stinker in my opinion

and far and away the most successful movie of her career that's the movie that was always on TV in France really all the time

I do feel like not to paint with a broad brush but France does love its big broad comedies like you know comedies

Sunday that's in there yeah there's that there's I think there was the parent trap sometimes France does love its big broad comedies. Oh, yeah. Like, you know, farcical sort of comedies. Sunday on TV. That's in there. Yeah. There's that. There was, I think there was the parent trap sometimes. Yeah.

But What Women Want was the big one. The scene in What Women Want where he gets in the bathtub and electrocuted. Of course. That's one of my earliest memories in life. I mean, when I was,

I did like a work exchange in France and I lived in Tours. That's lucky, but this is fine. This is something that happened. It's canon. Worked in a menswear store. Jules, does Jules still exist? Jules?

Really? I didn't know that existed. Yeah. I think it's old. Back then. Yeah, this is, we're talking about 2003. Do you know about this? David had this sexy period where he worked in a bar.

Well, that's in Paris. That's later. That's when I'm a grown man. I know. David had some like sexy French times where he was very handsome and compelling. What happened? I moved to America like an idiot. That actually, literally someone once said that to me when I was like, I was a reporter

and it was like a rainy day and I was standing outside City Hall for some council meeting, you know, and I'm like talking to a press guy and he was like yeah paris and i was like you know i lived in paris i was a bartender you know and he was like what are you doing here like why didn't you just keep doing that i just think that's so romantic that he was like a bartender in paris after college i do not very well though uh i used to speak better but anyway i did work at a mens store. Yeah. And I remember my parent, you know, my host.

No one in this family spoke English except for him. So I would talk to him a lot. And he loved like those, like Le Placard. That was, you know, that was like the hot movie. And like,

he was like, you got to watch this because he knew I liked movies. Right. That's weird though, David, that you spent that much time in Paris and never traveled

around other parts of Europe. This was in tour. It wasn't in Paris. Oh, okay. And then we went to Futuroscope. Did you guys ever go to Futuroscope?

Yeah, we went two years ago. It's great. So good. You should go back. Okay. Come back to Europe, David. Okay.

Okay. Sure. And Griffin as well and Ben as well. It's fine. We can all go to Futuroscope we should do a

European adventure to Futuroscope oh man yes we could go to Park Asterix I've never been there I've never been there

my parents have it's alright I liked it a lot it's weirdly sort of more because we went on an Asterix tangent in a recent episode

and now there's like a whole thing in the reddit breaking down how crazy the Asterix franchise is we were talking about the Asterix

movies because they are so mind-blowingly expensive. They're so high in production. But the one that's good, the Cleopatra one, is so good.

Mission Cleopatra. That's the Alain Chabat one, right? We went to see that in the cinema in the big multiplex and it was so popular that we didn't have a seat

and we sat down on the stairs. Wow. And they let us do that. They like oversold it. Is that the second or the third? I think it's like the fourth. There's been a lot of them. There were like others before that,

but that's when they restarted doing them. Of the recent, the Depardieu one. It's the second of the Depardieu ones, right? Because then the Olympics one. Because that's the one that has the insane

like $113 million budget. Yes. Because of how big Cleopatra had been. Right. And then that one did like a third of Cleopatra and that's the one

where they have all these famous people doing a bit like Zinedine Zidane and that's the most depressing thing you've seen and Jamel's in that one

but is he in the Cleopatra one as well Jamel Dabouz yeah he's in Cleopatra as well and then Benigni's in the first right yeah

yeah because he plays Julius Caesar no no he plays like the local Roman officer like the bad guy Gottfried John plays Julius Caesar Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. joke like that right and I feel like Asterix always changes it's always some new guy as Asterix Obelix is always Gerard yeah well

he used to be Christian Clavier for a while and he was really good he's the first two right I'm looking at this he was the best

but then they changed it was it Clovis Cognac they put some young but he only did it for one yes he did one and then the fourth and Depardieu shows up every fucking time

he's a legend he's always I think there are probably like lots of young people in France who just know him as which is so weird which is so good

he is so good Obelix and Company which is my I read all the Asterix books a thousand times that's my favorite one it's so fucking funny everyone should read it

you do need to read a few Asterix's before you read that one because it's sort of breaking the form but it is so brilliant and it's this hilarious satire of capitalism

and in which like this guy comes to Caesar and it's this hilarious satire of capitalism and uh in which like this guy comes to caesar and he's like let's not try to destroy them with like soldiers let's destroy them with capitalism and he goes there and he starts buying many years the uh you know yeah the big rocks big stones that obelix makes yes and everyone's like why are you buying them they serve no purpose and he's like i just love them so then everyone starts a many year business and he starts buying them all and like paying them off against each other it's so fun uh i went to park asterix okay it's really fucking cool okay this was when i was staying with like my mom's friends family as a teenager and i really wanted to go to disneyland paris

and they were like disneyland paris is for fucking babies and losers we're going to park asterix and park asterix has more of like a Six Flags-esque reputation that the rides are a little more intense. Like it's a little less about the theming and the rides are kind of like thrill rides. Yeah. Because what do you want to do with Asterix?

I mean, it's not like... Right, right. Like they kind of keep the aesthetics of the thing, but there's also a limited character base because it's just this one property. But the thing that's really funny about that is like a lot of Asterix merchandise. A lot of Obelix merchandise.

A lot of merchandise of The Rock. Because it's a limited cast, that rock is like you can get a plush doll, you can get a lollipop that looks like it. The Rock is equivalent to Goofy in the Asterix universe as the third most

merchandise character. Right. And they don't even like, they don't like anthropomorphize it. There isn't like a smiling. They have like guys in a rock costume and shit.

The rock's like a big fucking thing. It's not a rock, it's a menhir. It's a menhir. I'm sorry. That's why it's special because he sculpted it

and stuff. I love like a big, that's just like a pillow that just looks like a menhir. I swear to God. That's amazing. That special because he sculpted it and stuff. I love like a big that's just like a pillow that just looks like a Minion. I swear to God. That's amazing. That exists. Like I remember

walking in and seeing a shelf where it was Millennials in different sizes. And it was like here's like the Beanie Baby sized one. Here's like a huge one that's like plush

but it's like your asterisk carrying it around. You can carry it? Yeah. They're so cool because they're all over Britain and Ireland too and it's just they're these rocks because they're all over Britain and

Ireland too and it's just these rocks and everyone's like who made them we don't know what purpose did they start we don't know

we just know that they made these fucking rocks and left them here for some reason it is it is it is the blender of the Asterix

franchise it is there we go goodbye everybody going to the magic potion what a perfect note to end on

and now clearly we have to do an Asterix miniseries yeah no you could do just a French comedies thing yeah

talk about the good ones I do find it interesting that all those movies have different directors yes Alan Shabat directed the good ones right

and Claude Zadid did the first one right I think yeah enough Asterix talk enough Asterix talk although now

Ben's just looking at Asterix. Ben, actually, you would fucking love Asterix. Oh my God. They're your kind of guys. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. They're a couple of scoundrels.

Definitely. Also, they're into some shady shit. Yeah, well, you know, Asterix is kind of crafty and small and clever, and Obelix is like a big bruiser, but he's a sweetheart. And Obelix always wants to drink that magic potion, even though he doesn't need it. Right. Because he fell into it when he was a baby. But he still wants it because that magic potion even though he doesn't need it. Right. He doesn't. Because he fell into it when he was a baby. Yeah. But he still wants it

because it's tasty and he's just like because it gives him like super powers. He wants to fit in. He wants to fit in. It's just on drugs. He's very sensitive about his size. Yeah. But he also does love to eat like a whole wild boar. That's his favorite food is like one cooked wild boar.

I want to just like restate again in relation to the details you just heard they are the cultural equivalent to Mickey Mouse in France yeah like all these weird details

and they're just like fucking beloved yeah they're the best and every book ends with them having a huge buffet

just eating loads of food yes and then Cacophonix is like I'm going to sing and they tie him up have you seen Ben

look at this he has a different name in France what's he called they all have names that are like I can't remember because all the names

are translated apart from Asterix and Obelix right like all the names in the French so what do you call Cacophonics I can't remember the dog is called like

Félix no isn't it Idéfix Idéfix which means fixed idea look how happy Ben looks.

Look at him. So pleased. Yes. I'm so glad we introduced you to Ben. He's like relaxed for the first time in weeks. You know, because all the names in America, England, not really America, are puns. So like the dog is called Dogmatix,

which I believe you're right. He's called Idéfix in French. Yeah. The druid who makes the potion is called Getafix really funny really fucking funny comedy in French

I believe he's called Panoramix the chief is called Vital Statistics oh wow I didn't know that

seriously oh my god I forget what he's called in France the chief in France is called Abracoursix which is like

Abracourci which means like with short arms but it also means when you're running Abracourci which is like abracourci which means like with short arms but it also means when you're running abracourci it means when you're running really fast

it's like hard to explain the bard is called cacophonics in France he's called assurance turics meaning like

comprehensive insurance I don't get it does that just mean he's annoying like I don't think it really means anything in France

it's just like words that sound like if they don't really have the meaning that just mean that he's annoying? Like, because like, like an insurance salesman? I don't think it really means anything in France. It's just like words that sound like if they don't really have the meaning doesn't really fit what they are. And the old man is called geriatrics

and the fishmonger is called unhygienics and the metal worker is called fully automatics. Like, it keeps going. Like, it goes,

everyone has a funny name. I'm so happy that Asterix keeps on coming up on this podcast. Sure, I love Asterix. That's your story. This is the best one.

Mani and Lea, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Of course, we won't make you take a Greyhound back. There's of course the blank check offer where we'll fly anyone out from any country. They took a Greyhound because they are of the people. Yeah, we just gave them the cash.

Yeah, we'll do whatever we want with that cash. Thank you for being here. Where can people find your writing? yeah yeah we just gave him the cash yeah we'll do whatever we want with that cash yeah right of course yeah thank you for being here where can people find your writing I mean I know it's a very complicated answer

yeah well these days the best way is to follow us on Twitter I would say so my at is manilazic m-a-n-i-l-a-z-i-c

and I'm at ilazic e-l-a-z-i-c yeah yeah thanks for parent trapping guys yeah thank you thanks for parent trapping A-Z-I-C and I'm at E-L-A-Z-I-C yeah yeah thanks for parent trapping guys yeah thanks for parent trapping

thanks for caring about the representation of twins in cinema yeah it's a very important issue it's a cause that's worth fighting for

this is basically why we are film critics so yeah for justice justice for twins you think all movies should have twins yeah

there should be twin representation sure two for the price of one why not I think every podcast should have twins as well to be fair

also they cheated in this movie Lindsay Lohan does not have a twin so we should get problematic casting to real twin actors to real twins

so yeah instead of making fake twins Nancy if you want to make a remake with twins sure let us know I'll give you like a quick life hack for how to get better twin representation instantly. Watch any 3D movie without the glasses.

Wow. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. Thanks to Anne Freguto for our social media. Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our work. And big congrats to Joe Bowen, who just became a father social media. Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our work and big congrats to Joe Bowen who just became a father. Yes, Harper Bowen.

Congrats. Because sometimes you do artwork and sometimes you have a baby bounce. David took off his headphones. Thanks to Leigh-Anne Montgomery for our theme song. Go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit. And as always, put a Dennis Quaid on it.

Hey, David. Yeah. I got a quick question for you. Okay. Do you like diving deep into a director's complete filmography? Absolutely. I've actually been known to do that once in a while. But certainly not on microphone.

No, no, no, no. Well, okay, more important question. Can you quote Kevin Bacon's best film, Tremors, word for word? Sure, probably. I mean, because you are a Kevin Bacon fan, right? You like to put a little bacon on the dish? I like to put a little bacon on the dish. That's right.

David, I got great news for you. Yeah. Because those are two things you like doing. Yes. And because you have no outlets to do them on your own podcast. What if I could recommend a podcast for you to listen to? Okay. The Storm of Spoilers podcast is for you, David.

Oh, I know the Storm of Spoilers podcast. Look, it started out as a show about Game of Thrones. That's true. Much like every show started out as a show about Game of Thrones. Or's true. Much like every show started out as a show about Game of Thrones. Or some other extended franchise. Right, or a serial parody. Right. But it's become a podcast that now covers all of your pop culture obsessions.

From Star Wars, a thing we never talk about on this podcast, to the complete works of Cary Fukunaga, something we probably won't have reason to talk about maybe four or five years from now. Yeah, give him a couple more. Yeah. Yeah. And then we can talk about him. Some podcasts take several episodes to cover director's filmography. Lame.

Sounds too long. Ugh, extended. Unsustainable. Yeah. Your hosts at Storm of Spoilers have been known to cram it all into one. Saves time. Saves money. It's like listening to a podcast at ten times the speed.

It's like the Geico of podcasting. Right. Here's the thing, David. I'm going to tell you this very secretly. Okay. Okay. The name Storm of Spoilers is a pun on George R.R. Martin's book.

Oh, yeah. A Storm of Swords. I read it. Much like Logan's a Western. And while the show does like to dig into behind-the-scenes info, it's not an all-spoilers podcast anymore. It's a good storm now.

Okay. Like Oral Monroe. Ah, the best storm. Yeah yeah not not like these hurricanes they're bad like reuben carter no no matter what wait a second storm of spoilers host neil miller joanna robinson joe roe friend of the show and dave gonzalez are always unflinchingly honest in their coverage of the film and TV you can't live without. Sometimes they cheer and sometimes they denounce. B! I feel like the person who wrote this might have liked our show a little bit. I have no idea what

you're talking about. It's available now on iTunes, Stitcher, and wherever you're already downloading podcasts like Blank Check with Griffin and David. Oh yeah, that's a good one.