Doug Loves Movies - Greg Mottola and Geoff Tate guest

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

Doug welcomes Greg Mottola and Geoff Tate to the show.You can find the entire archive of Doug Loves Movies on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to stitcherpremium.com and use promo code "DOUG."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Doug hates candy wrappers, screaming baby sticky seeds with 50 azepop or kernels in his teeth. There's still not one that he won't see, cause Doug loves movies. Hey, hey, hey everybody. My name is Doug and I love movies. This is Doug Loves Movies. It's Sunday, September 11th, 2022'm in a theater doing a show oftentimes one of the guests like the very last time i did a live show uh john ham was having trouble finding parking that sort of thing happens but for a zoom call show it's it's odd for anybody to be late so uh we'll uh we'll see what happens because everybody else, you know, we got schedules to keep and the show must go on, as we like to say in this business. So in the meantime, let's meet two of my guests today and hope the third arrives. And they are Jeff Tate and Greg Mottola.

Hello, guys. Hey, Doug. Tate and Greg Mottola. Hello, guys. Hey, Doug. Let's speak to the two of you individually and alphabetically by first name. That's right. Alison Rosen convinced

me I should alphabetize by first names. That's what I'm doing now. And it's a close one between these two G first names. But I'm pretty sure I'm still pretty good at alphabetizing Jeff Tate, hello you're back, I'm back, it's been a while Doug how are you? I'm good, I just gotta ask you

right out of the gate, how excited are you for Confess Fletch? you know, right out of the gate, how excited are you for a confess Fletch? I would say 10 out of 10. Like I haven't been this excited for a movie since star Wars episode one, the phantom Venice. Well, that is you Jeff. Dang. That is a,

it's too late to probably put that on any of the adverts for the show, but holy cow, that is quite, that is a real must-see for you. So I guess Thursday night you're going to be queuing up. Yeah, as soon as I can see it, I will. The moment I can see it.

Right. I know how that goes. I'm going to have a party. I'm not going to have to remind you on this one, I don't think, though, because I know a lot of people who like to read, but I think you're the only one I know that has read all of the Fletch books. Man, I'm so excited. I'm going to put on my Magic Johnson jersey, and I'm going to watch Fletch.

Well, okay. So that's the thing. Well, we'll get into it in a second, because also joining us today, wow, this is kind of a coincidence now that I look at it. It is, in fact, the director and a couple other hats on uh the new the latest fletch movie called confess fletch it's greg matola hello greg hey doug this is a crazy coincidence yeah i just

happened to realize that you know because i i was dying to ask jeff about uh confess fledge because i've just been just knowing that it was about to come out i knew jeff would be very excited and uh and then to put this uh he's beside himself right now you can't see him but uh he really is uh he really is happy to be here today. Has already competed on Douglas movies against Jon Hamm. And I think bested him. Did you beat Jon Hamm? Yeah, I believe so. At least maybe one time.

Nice. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. You've gone head to head a few times. But I think, Jon, like, in the christmas shows where we have like 12 people and we eliminate people as we go i think he's always happy to get eliminated quickly and then just and then just either hang out or uh speed off in a cool car

um so greg jeff and i both probably i mean I'm assuming for Jeff, but I know that I've got some questions for you about the movie. Jeff has not seen it yet. I got to see it the other night. Thanks to you. Thank you very much. Um, enjoyed it very much. And without having, I did read some of the books, uh, a long time ago, uh, you know, probably spurred on by the chevy chase movie but even

even then i noticed obviously there's some some differences it's kind of like how jack reacher is like a foot and a half shorter in the movie than he is in the book i don't get started on jack reacher books by the way because he likes those as well but Greg how did you decide like what was the process for determining what would be the next of all the Fletch titles like how many titles are there and how did you choose confess fledge as the one are there 10 9 or 10 um john was the one who came to me he miramax approached him and said would you ever be interested in in doing this franchise playing this character unbeknownst to them when john saw the movie back in 85 he went and tracked down the books.

He claims he stole them from a Walden Books. I don't know what the statute of limitations is on that. And he loved them. And he also saw that there was a difference between the tone of the books and some of the, you know, some of the DNA

is baked into the movie, of course. But there were a lot of Chevy innovations in the film that were different from the books. And when they came to him, it had already been sort of a daydream in the back of his head. He would love to play this character. So then he came to me and he said he thought Confess Fletch would be the best choice. Now, I must admit that I hadn't read the books. I knew they existed.

I'd always heard great things about it, about them. And I thought, I'll get to them someday. Because I love detective novels, and I like funny ones, especially. And so I went off and read about five or six of them. And they are great. I love them very much. And I thought Confess Fletch made sense for a lot of reasons to be the next one, which it's the second book that Gregory McDonald wrote. And strangely, he already had Fletch being retired from being an investigative reporter by book two. I thought, well, John's older than the characters in the books. This kind of makes sense that he's coming out of retirement to solve a few more mysteries. in the books this kind of makes sense that he's coming out of retirement to solve a few more mysteries uh and and i also agreed with him that there was another way to go with with the story and that this isn't isn't just a cynical lazy hollywood ip we can't think of anything new reboot we're actually adapting a novel that no one has seen made into anything before so so it's like you didn't you didn't take story elements from several of the books it's really

the story is all from that one book yeah the story is all from that one novel that's cool and uh of course leaves you open for i I would hope the wish at this point, since this was a good experience, is to make more of these. I would love to. I had a great time doing this. You know, the sort of deal we had to make was work fast, don't spend too much money and we'll leave you alone. And that's what happened. And that was by and large, a very good thing. Yeah. And it's a movie that obviously you had the difficulties of doing it with the covid restrictions but uh you know it doesn't really

translate to the screen you know everybody that the cast is terrific like you know everybody's sort of a straight man to chevy in the originalletch. And in this movie, you know, the other characters are sort of allowed to be funny in their own ways, you know, instead of just being confused by what Fletch is doing, you know, like everybody just had to act befuddled in that first movie, you know, and, you know, be like, Oh, you know, like that guy just tricked me. But just also just, you know, be like, oh, you know, like that guy just tricked me. But just also just, you know, in terms of the dialogue and the jokes, they just there's so many more jokes here.

It's like, you know, he's it's it's snappier, you know, but still, which is funny because Chubby Chase, you know, that was kind of his thing with snappy comebacks. But these seem to come even more uh rapid pace was this something where that everybody adhered closely to the script or did you do a lot of like screw around takes to just see what you could get we we actually didn't do that many improv takes although a lot of you know i had i did have a great cast and a lot of, you know, I did have a great cast and a lot of funny stuff happened in the moment. Like, you know, Annie, there's a line where Annie Mumolo plays this kind of batshit crazy next to her neighbor, says that she inherited her apartment. She got her apartment in a divorce from her husband.

And then she says, well, he wasn't really divorced. He died on the toilet, but no one wants to hear that. That was Annie's line and really made me laugh um and so she is so funny she's so funny in that in that movie like she's always been good and things but uh it's just a next level character for her because we've all met those people that are just an absolute disaster that just do not stop to think about anything they're doing they just do it and uh her scenes are so funny she's well yeah she is amazing and um and she came with that energy i i was glad there was a fire marshal

that day because i was pretty sure she was going to burn down the apartment we were shooting in um she she was completely in the scene uh and but she's a lovely hilarious wonderful human yeah she's great and uh lots of funny people in it uh roy wood jr is really good in it and uh we got john slattery a little mad men reunion did you try to get any other Mad Men involved in scheduling where it was an issue? I thought one was enough. I mean, come on.

It's an amazing cast on that show. It's an amazing cast on that show. But Slattery made a lot of sense. and if we're lucky enough to make another that's a character that would recur and yeah no he's super fun he's super fun in that role he's he can be he's like the q character that you may be seeing only one or two scenes but uh you know just reliable and uh hilarious and they and they do have that kind of built in rapport from having done Mad Men

Jeff do you have any questions any having not seen the film yet but full of enthusiasm anything you want to know I don't I actually want to know as little about it as possible for to see it like I'm as possible to see it.

I'm so excited to see it. Jeff, I'm just going to tell you who the killer is. Okay. I thought it was a fun twist the way you had the Knives Out guy run in and solve the crime at the end. Yeah. I know.

The Southern guy, yeah. Yeah. Ben Doyle. Ben Doyle. the crime at the end yeah i know the southern guy yeah yeah uh then uh ben no ben do it ben wheat i can't i don't know i forgot how you say his name but uh um the kind of a interesting little uh renaissance here of comedy mystery between uh you know only murders showing up on uh streaming and then this film and see how they run and uh yeah and after that too yeah it was a big i think i mean i think the probably the reason that's a form people are enjoying right now is because it's the kind of story where uh the bad people get caught in the end and things get solved because that never happens in the world anymore right yeah so it's kind of like well i'll watch this thing where the bad the people do really bad

things face some consequences because i don't see that on the news ever. Yeah. No, you get it nice. You get it wrapped up pretty tidy. Maybe worst case scenario, they'll pull a two-parter situation. You have to wait one week to resolve this, you know, rape case on SVU or something. But yeah, it really is. And it's almost always satisfying the conclusions. And when it's not, it's like, you know uh a call to arms of some kind you know like we should be paying more attention to uh whatever whatever issue they're pushing in that episode um how can people what's the release plan for confess fletch it is in this brave new world

of very few films being shown in movie theaters going to be a hybrid release where on friday 16th it'll be in about 450 theaters um with the least amount of advertising possible uh and it'll also be on pay-per-view um at home and then a month or so from now, late October, it's going to be on Showtime. And, you know, I think this kind of movie, which is a little more adult-skewing than some other kinds of broader

comedies, and not a huge budget thing, doesn't... You know, it's hard to get that on a movie theater screen these days at all. Yeah, and it's also... Sorry. No, go ahead. I was just going to say, it's that sort of middle tier movie that Hollywood used to make a lot of.

And some of those we all love. And so I hope people give it a chance because it's really hard to get screens and, and for them to spend a lot of money promoting something like that. But I would just say to the people who assume that means it stinks. If it really stunk, they just would have dumped it on like, you know, on lifetime channel or something.

Oh no. If you're really stuck now, they just not, they just act like you never made it and just use it as a tax write off. That's right. It's crazy how they're just like, there isn't some money to be made out of this thing. You really can make more money

by not showing this to anybody that wants to pay to see it. It doesn't make any sense. That's insane. This will be on a double feature with Batgirl. That would be amazing if that could happen, because they really could both feed off of each other

and get people that wouldn't necessarily check out the other one to watch them both. But that being said, I think in all those, I think every step of the way, you know, it'll be a treat for people. If you can't get out to the theaters where it's playing you know and you're anxious to see it like our friend jeff you could just pay-per-view it and uh you know if you can hang it hang in there for a month or see it in the theater then watch it again on showtime because i was like i think i already said this once but uh the the

rapid fire uh like how quickly the dialogue moves and how often Fletch says things that are fast and, and the other characters don't even, you know, they don't even know what, what he just said. You know, they just, they're all wrapped up in their own drama. You know, it's it's just, it's super entertaining no matter the format, but we do want to encourage people to see things in theaters because that's what it's that's what it's really all about yeah we hope that experience doesn't go away or only go to gigantic things yeah it's unfortunate that the these more spectacle

movies are what's sort of saving saving it it, you know, but people just needed that, you know, that, that kick to get out the door and start, you know, going to theaters again. Sure. Had to be these big movies, but now, now the smaller ones like everything everywhere all at once had a really nice run for what, you know, could have been a movie that got, you know, lost in the shuffle. Yeah. I mean, I, i i mean our movie is basically an indie film it's it's this is what indie indie films are taking over what hollywood used to do

i mean miramax financed it they're an independent company they have some kind of relationship with paramount and uh and i'm glad Paramount decided to put it in theaters for even this limited way because, yeah, some people get to see it on a screen. Yeah, and the LA area is playing it like every Regal theater. So I don't know exactly how Regal spreads out across the country, but I feel like a lot of the screens it's on are, are at Regal cinemas. Uh,

if that helps anybody, um, our third guest today, uh, I thought yesterday didn't, uh, didn't make it for some reason. And,

uh, you know, I'm sure I hope everything's fine. Probably, you know, at some sort of, uh, vigil or memorial

uh that'd be a decent excuse uh yeah for the queen hey i yeah for her too i mean it's just it's a heavy it's a heavy day it's a heavy day for sure um uh so of course that's you know if he needed a mental health day and can couldn't come play trivia against a couple of ringers because i really did uh i really did want to have a exciting competition today uh so if he does show up ryan truce orion will let us know but it feels like uh feels like it might not be happening for whatever reason. Could have also been a miscommunication about, you know, dates and times and stuff.

But once again, Rory Albanese is not dead. He's just not here. It's not, let's not get ahead of ourselves. but this hasn't happened in i i'm trying to think of a time when i had two guests facing off against each other in uh in all the games and uh i can't i can't think of a time that happened i've had jeff compete against audience members uh at a show one time in uh in rosemont illinois and that was super fun we got to do that again sometime because it really

was a good time but uh yeah but before we give rory a couple more minutes because you know he's only it's only been a half hour after when we were supposed to start to give him just a couple more minutes because i'm excited to talk about this i always ask my guests to recommend a movie on every episode lately uh and i used to just say recommend any movie but now lately i've been thinking of uh asking a more specific you know narrowing it down for people and in in this case today strangely uh it's i i was you know i was looking at the september 11 birthdays and one of them is uh director brian de palma oh yeah which that's that's it you know you just it's kind of like seems like a cliche that a director of scary and horrifying

movies would uh his birthday is 9-11 but anyway uh that being said i want each of you to recommend or you know tell me what your favorite brian de palma movie is um if you have one i mean do you have one sure who wants to go first should i go first sure alphabetically you should yes yeah okay i'll go first i'm gonna say what i'm gonna say what i assume you think i'm gonna say and that's the first mission impossible you think this'm going to say, and that's the first Mission Impossible. You think this would have gotten easier with one less guest? Okay, so, yeah.

That's your answer, Mission Impossible. Interesting. Now, you're a big Mission Impossible fan. Yes. You like the whole series. I like the whole series. I like the whole series, but that first one is very true to what Mission Impossible the show was.

Right. I really like that. I really like the first one a lot. All right. So then if I ask you what your favorite John Woo movie was, would you say Mission Impossible 2? No, I would say Face Off.

If I said what's your favorite J.J. Abrams movie, would you say Mission Impossible 3? I would say Super 8. If I said what's your favorite Brad Bird movie, would you say Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol? I actually might say that one. If I said what is your favorite guy who wrote Usual Suspects, what's his name?

Christopher McQuarrie. What's your favorite Christopher McQuarrie movie? Would it be Mission Impossible, Rogue Nation? Nope, that one would be Jack Reacher. It all comes back be Jack Reacher. It all comes back to Jack Reacher. Oh my god, that was fun.

Alright, so Mission Impossible it is. What about you, Greg? You had an answer right away. What's your favorite Brian Obama? I would say, I mean, is it really my favorite? I don't know. But I remember it, seeing a long time ago,

and really loving Sisters, one of his early films, which was a super, super creepy movie with Margot Kidder. I'm looking at it. I'm cheating. I'm looking at IMDb because i can't remember who else was in it oh bernard hughes um yeah it's like a super creepy psychological horror film kind of a step toward carrie carrie might be my actual favorite but you know when you start to Bear Carry to to the Untouchables Blowout

Fan of Paradise it's a pretty amazing run through the 80s yeah Dressed to Kill yeah Dressed to Kill might have been the first one I saw as a kid in a theater I think I saw that as a

teenager when it came out and that freaked me out yeah i mean that's that movie is uh it's rough by the standards of the time people were kind of shocked by it and it's still kind of uh it's you know kind of unpleasant but also um i guess you got to give michael caine I mean, I guess that's, you know, that's certainly become a thing over the course of horror movies is like, you know, a man and, you know, confused about his own sexuality lashing out and murdering people. And it's not been good.

It hasn't been good PR is what I'm saying. It's yeah. That's that's I think i think you know some of these movies are just gonna stop seeing them yeah yeah it's a little problematic but uh i do i feel like that was tapama's psycho as as influenced as he was by hitchcock i feel like that was really his his well that's the thing is everybody made such a big deal out of him stealing from hitchcock and you know him just being a ripoff of hitchcock and it's just like yeah but the way hitchcock made movies was fun to watch so it's it's like getting more hitchcock

i know you know what's that you know like and crazier hitchcock because he was more violent and more you know sexual and and you know it was you know he definitely took it up several notches and then when he did like you said the untouchables is really good and that you can't steal from hitchcock in untouchables because hitchcock didn't do gangster stories and uh and that movie's really really good and really cool he just had to steal from Battleship Potemkin. Battleship Potemkin, yeah. He's like, what Soviet silent movie should I steal from? But yeah, so happy birthday, Brian De Palma.

I'll go with Carrie Because I'm going to Since Rory's not here I'm going to weigh in with one And I'm going to say Gosh, should I say Untouchables? Because Untouchables I can just watch Like on a loop Because it's just the style of it

Every scene is interesting Oh, it's so fun Yeah, you know what? I'm going to do it I'm going to go Untouchables Wow Yeah If for no other reason on. Yeah. You know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to go Untouchables. Wow. Yeah.

If for no other reason, then be sure to watch for the scene where Sean Connery has a blue shirt on that's a button up and the button's open on one of his lines and it's closed on his next line and it's open again. It's really amazing shirt that he's wearing it's like it's

like the rorschach mask of shirts it just uh you know does what it wants and uh moves around all the time um we gotta take a commercial break but it'll be a quick one we'll be right back we are back with two gentlemen who have met today for the first time, but they hit it off because they have Fletch in common. Not to mention, you know, I don't want to sell you short, Greg. You've directed a lot of stuff that I've enjoyed over the years. Oh, yeah. I've seen Paul 15 times.

Oh, thanks, man. How do you keep track? How do you know it's 15 exactly? I ballparked it Scratches it into a cell wall Yeah, it's a lie It's so fun It's so much fun Thanks man

I feel like that movie got kind of Released and dumped And it didn't. I feel like that movie got kind of released and dumped and, and it didn't. Yeah. There's, I feel like, I wish more people had heard about it. Thanks to you, Jeff, you're picking up the slack. Yeah. Well, yeah. My pleasure. There's so many great people in that movie that anybody that's a, you know, if you're a Kristen Wiig or Bill Hader or Seth Rogen, you know,

if you're a completist, Simon Bill Hader or Seth Rogen, you know, if you're a completist, Simon and Nick, of course, like you you gotta get around to it. You gotta see it because it's it's super fun. I saw it at South by Southwest, I think.

Oh, yeah. If I'm not mistaken. So anyway, this game we're going to play is a game we play regularly on the show. It's called ABCD's Nuts. And it's a spelling game. And sort of. Jeff knows how this works. Basically, I'll tell you a letter. And then you just have to name any movie that begins with that letter.

And in honor of you being here today, Greg, we're going to spell the word super bad. So that means Jeff will go first. He'll get the letter S. He says any movie begins with S, which, you know, it's surprisingly difficult sometimes to come up with off the top of your head. But he says any movie begins with S, he stays in the game. Then it's your turn. Next letter in Superbad is U. So you'd say any movie begins with U. And there is a theme that will develop that might help you or make it harder. It works different ways for different brains.

But the idea is that you can maybe figure out what title I've already written down by the fact that it applies to a certain theme. And if you match on any of these letters, if you match what I've written down, then you win the game. But also winning doesn't matter. Just have fun. I have a total tendency to freeze during these things. So this will be an easy walk for you, Jeff.

Just playing Zoom. All right. Jeff, the first letter, of course, in Superbad is S. And you can't possibly know what the theme is at this point. It would be a real wild guess. So just give me a movie that begins with S. All right. I'm going to go back to the De Palma question and say Snake Eyes.

Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Okay. I didn't pick Snake Eyes. I picked Superbabiesies Baby Geniuses 2. That's a fantastic title right there. I don't know if that's why I picked it.

The next letter, Greg, is U. Arguably one of the tougher letters in the alphabet because there's not a lot of movies that begin with the letter U. Can you think of any? Yeah, Uncle Buck.

That's a great one. That's a great one. I was just thinking, I didn't even get to words that sound like U at the beginning. I was just really fixated on U, so I was just really fixated on you so I was just sitting here going there's Uli's gold there's

uh U-turn that was all I had that's all I had U-571 yeah yeah oh U-571 that's an old joke that that's gone back and

forth between me and Nick Swartzen pretty much every time I see him he says you want to see you 571 and I go you 571 okay I wrote down Universal Soldier The Return you might be smelling okay um i wrote down universal soldier the return you might be smelling you might be smelling kind of a theme with those two titles i don't know

the next letter is p and of course that would have gone to rory to add to the kind of randomality of this game but it sends right back to you jeff uh the letter p i'm gonna say prizzy's honor right back to you, Jeff. The letter P. I'm going to say Prizzy's Honor. Nice. Very good. Yeah. I didn't write that down.

I wrote down a motion picture from 2002 called Pinocchio. Starring Roberto Benigni as, was he Pinocchio or was he Geppetto? He probably played both. He must have been Pinocchio. Yeah, I guess he was Pinocchio.

Yeah. maybe he was both but anyway this new Pinocchio I think Daniel Day-Lewis was Geppetto oh okay it just gets lost in the character you'll never know

it would be so funny if Daniel Day-Lewis was such a great character actor that there were films he's in we didn't even know that that was him. He might have been in Super Babies. Right? He might have been. He played one of the babies. That was Johnny Depp's thing for a while, is to act in movies where he had so much makeup on that he wanted.

He didn't want people, you know, he wanted people to be fooled that it wasn't him. But anyway, the next letter, Jeff, is E. Or I mean, sorry, Greg, E for Greg. It's your turn, Greg, in the letters. I'm just going I'm going full lazy here and saying E.T. But, you know, it's a big last night was a big Spielberg night. turn Greg into letters. I'm just going full lazy here and saying E.T. It's not lazy. Last night was a big Spielberg night if you were following Toronto Film Festival.

I love Spielberg and two or three of his movies I think are the greatest movies ever made. But people are going crazy over the trailer for his new one, fablemans yeah and you know i'm sure this observation will be made repeatedly but uh that it's about you know the movies about a family where there's filmmakers calling them the fablemans like it's fictional

it's not like a real family was called the fablemans. It's fictional. It's not like a real family. It was called the Fablemans, and they became directors. So that's what I already tweeted today, that I guess at least they didn't call it the Storytellermans. so uh the letter is e and uh you said uh et and uh sometimes i'll write down two times just give you an extra shot but you know you want to break it up but i want to put any extra pressure on you but i wrote down there was a caveman movie called eegah uh eegah that apparently was uh quite a quite a movie. I feel like checking it out now. In a movie I never want to see again as long as I live called Exit to Eden.

Right? The Dan Aykroyd, Rosie O'Donnell dominatrix comedy. Oh my God. I forgot that existed. Yeah. the Sex Island comedy with Dan Heckroyd and Rosie O'Donnell.

I think I did a Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind treatment to unremember that movie. Now you've undone that, Doug. I apologize for that. You should get

hypnosis and ask them, all I want is just to forget Exit to Eden. I would do that. I would do that for The Rock, just so I could see The Rock again.

Oh, that's a smart idea. Get your memory erased of a movie you enjoy. Yeah. And then get to experience it all over again. That'd be so fun. Yeah. Because now I don't think The Exorcist or Jaws is particularly scary now, but boy, that first time of each was quite a ride.

Yeah. Okay. R is the next letter, Jeff.ff okay i'm gonna say this is so dumb why do i think of this one it's called return to paradise that movie where vince vaughn has to go to prison in thailand or something you know he's trying to get his girlfriend gets gets locked up for drug possession. And it's Claire Danes. Oh, yeah.

She's in she's in there with somebody else famous. And Vince Vaughn's trying to get her out. Yeah, it's it's terrible. It's a cautionary tale, to be sure. It's terrible. It's a cautionary tale, to be sure. It would be funnier if real shit like that wasn't happening all the time. You know, people are detained for that kind of stuff.

But interestingly enough, though, I did go with a drug reference. I picked reefer madness. Oh, yeah. All right. So we've got super babies, baby geniuses to universal. A drug reference. I picked Reefer Madness. Oh. Yeah. All right. So we've got Super Babies, Baby Geniuses 2, Universal Soldier The Return, Pinocchio, Eegah, Exodidon, Reefer Madness. Next letter is B. What do you think? I'm going to go with Big Daddy. Oh. I'm gonna go with Big Daddy I love a movie with lawyer and courtroom stuff

where they've obviously did zero research about what happens in a courtroom like the whole end is just like but I like the kid yeah it's like K's like kramer versus kramer but they're just they made it up on the spot they just said set up cameras and we're just gonna go they never even met a lawyer a lawyer never walked by nobody I have to say my favorite performance of the last few years was Sandler

in Uncut Gems I think he was so fucking amazing in that movie that he did kind of deserve every prize and it's strangely not that similar to Big Daddy

very different tone very very different i think the ending is similar it's fun it's funnier than big daddy have you seen uh what's the sandler basketball movie called hustler yeah it's really good i really like her it's great yeah yeah yeah it's really good I really like it yeah he's really good now too you know he's very talented okay oh wait I gotta tell you what my B was

and it's gonna hurt your feelings a little bit because for B I went with Baby Geniuses the original. I'm not entirely seeing the through line of your choices, Doug. Maybe it's better if I don't. The next letter is A, Jeff.

I'm in Costello frankenstein oh that's a good one it's so many people they could they meet the theme of cumbersome titles no i what's the most obscure creature or thing they met? Wasn't there... I think there was one where they met some sort of cowboy. Wasn't there one where they meet Jesse James? There's one where it's not even a monster. It's just a cowboy.

They meet Eisenhower. They meet Eisenhower. I love Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. They could have had a really good time with the people they met. They really should have explored more options instead of just universal monsters.

Okay, so the next title is A, what... Oh, Abbott and Costello is what you said. It would be funny if you just said got the wrong Abbott and Costello movie. But I put Alone in the Dark starring Christian Slater and Stephen Dorff. Oh, wow. Directed by Uli Boll. oh wow directed by ue bowl that director that uh when people criticize his movies he he uh challenges them to a boxing match right really yeah he's interesting if you want to look

into him i've read i've read about that that's probably his biggest movie along the dark because it had real stars in it like a lot of his movies are more like they didn't get real actors, but this one's got Slater and Dorf, and there's an actress in it too. I forget which one. Okay, the last letter is D. I've written down two titles to really bring this home for

a chance at the win. What do you think for the letter D? This is my turn? Yes, sir. I'm going to say a movie that very self-servingly I worked on, a George Romero film called Day of the Dead. And you think it would be on this list? Because the theme is movies that are super bad.

Oh, yeah. I guess that started to come together. Right under my nose. Now it's crystallizing. And the two Ds I wrote down were Disaster Movie and Death Wish 2. I'm not saying Death Wish 2. and Death Wish 2. And Death Wish 2.

But all the movies I mentioned are like frequent visitors on lists of the worst movies ever made. I don't necessarily agree with, like, I think a lot of them are pretty, like, they're watchable bad. What I don't like is a movie that's just you want to look away

and, like, I spit on your grave. That sort of thing those to me are the worst the absolute worst movies the ones that make you laugh because they're so bad well that's not so bad you're getting laughs you're entertaining people

I was always a Mystery Science Theater 2000 fan I love I love that was a tradition with high school friends to sit and put in the VVHS 50,000 fan. I love, I love, you know, that was a tradition with high school friends to sit and put in a, the V the VHS, some terrible VCR,

some terrible, terrible movie. We'd make fun of while we got high. Well, nobody won that game. And oftentimes nobody does. So we're going to go into the next game with a clean slate. We'll let our first-time guest, Greg Mottola,

will get to go first in our second and final game. It will play right after this break. We'll be right back. We're back, and no one gets to go first in this next game because no one won the first game. Actually, Greg, you'll go first in this next game because no one won the first game. Actually, Greg, Greg, you'll go first. You didn't ask me what I did on Day of the Dead.

I'm disappointed. Oh, oh yeah, I'm sorry in the follow up, but it was such an exciting conclusion to that game. I know, I know. I got wrapped up in the drama. What did you do on Day of the Dead? I was a Carnegie Mellon art student when they were making that film. And I took a film class with this guy, Tony Buba.

His brother, Pasquale Buba, edited all of Romero's films. And my teacher, Tony, played the biker who gets his arm ripped off at the cardio heart machine in Dawn of the Dead. And if you remember that scene. of the dead and if you remember that scene uh and he got me a two-week job as an unpaid production department art department pa i was making zombie vomit and and if you remember the movie there's a nightmare where all these hands come flying through a wall through a center block wall yeah does anyone remember the movie um i i helped i did r and d with the art department on making that wall. So that was the first time I was ever on a movie set.

And it was actually a super cool one to be on. I think the hands through the wall, I think that's in the trailer for that movie. Yeah. Yeah, that was. I can really picture it. Classic in-camera, you know, special effect. I mean, those movies. Dawn of the Dead is my favorite zombie movie, period.

I love that movie. It really hits the spot with just over-the-top violence and then also a pretty good message about consumerism. Yeah. When that movie came out, Roger Ebert said, if you're seeing this movie in a packed theater, here's what you do. The scene where all the zombies are smashing the glass at the department store, just yell out, nobody wants to miss a sale at Penny's. And I got to tell you, it really does work. at the department store, just yell out, nobody wants to miss a sale at Penny's. And I got to tell you, it really does work.

I just love that Roger Ebert is giving people tips on how to get a laugh, you know, yelling something in a movie. Yeah, how to jeer in a movie theater. But, you know, that was back when Mystery Science Theater didn't exist, so people just had to go rogue and, you know, yell something out. Yeah. My neighbor...

Your neighbor? My neighbor, that way he was very proud. When we went to Empire Strikes Back, he yelled out, he's his dad right before Darth Vader says, I'm your father. And at

Ray of the Lost Ark, when Indy faces off with the guy with the scimitar, he yelled, just shoot him before he shoots him. He's just going around ruining jokes and surprises. Such an idiot. That's what I did when I saw the third

Indiana Jones movie. I was like, that's his father. Yeah. So I think it's pretty evident immediately. In fact, that's how they sold the film. His father. It wasn't a surprise.

Okay. So we're going to play a game where we'll just have Greg go first. It's a game really built for three players. It's going to be interesting. Here's how it normally works. Normally, I would say a fun fact or, you know, a fact.

And then you have to guess if it applies to one person or another person or neither. And I'll tell you who those people are in a second. But normally, if the first two people miss on that question, the third person gets the gimme point because there's three options and the third one will be available to them. So what we're going to do now, since there's only two players, is if the second person misses it, then the gimme point goes back to the first person. So you can get points that way just for fun the game today is called russell tussle i'll give you a fact you tell me if it applies to kurt russell carrie russell or neither they're going to start easy and get what I hope

to be very difficult. Greg, are you ready? I'm ready. Kerry Russell of Felicity fame. I mean, if you want to give that away to your opponent, then that's your business. Yeah. Kurt Russell from Sky High? way to your opponent and that's your business yeah kurt russell from sky high all right stop stop guessing what the questions might be

quit it you're ruining my game all right great here's the first one like i I said, they start really easy. Kurt Russell, Kerry Russell, or neither starred in two films as Snake Plissken. That would be Kurt Russell. Greg's on the board with one point.

Jeff. Yes. Played the title character in Waitress. Carrie, Kurt, or neither? Carrie Russell. You are also on the board with one point. Yes. Greg, are related to each other?

Kurt, Carrie, or neither? I'm going to say neither. I think that's really the only option there. Yeah. It felt that way. Well, one of them is related, but the other one isn't. Okay.

Jeff, is it back to you Jeff? Yeah Two time nominee for Razzie Awards Kurt or Carrie or neither Oh boy I'm gonna say Neither That my friend,

is incorrect. Bow. Bow, bow, bow. All right, so that leaves you with two options. What do you think? Is it two-time nominee for Razzie Awards? Is it Kurt or Kerry?

I'm going to say Kurt. That is correct. Yeah, you did it. Figured that one out. Greg's got three. Jeff has one. Still anybody's game.

I've got 70 more fun facts. All right. It's Jeff's turn again, right? Yeah, Jeff. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Kerry or neither?

Kerry. You or neither? Kerry. You say Kerry? I say Kerry. That is incorrect. I'm coming apart. For the remaining two answers, Greg, the point will bounce back to Jeff if you don't get this. Is it Kurt or neither?

I'm going to say Kurt. You're going Kurt. That is correct. That is correct. This train's running away, Jeff. It's back to you. All right. Greg has four. You have one.

Okay. Kurt,. Greg has four. You have one. Okay. Carrier neither. Middle name is Vogel. V-O-G-E-L, Vogel. I'm going to say Kurt. That is correct. Yes. You're doing it.

But Greg can get up to five points right now That is correct. Yes. You're doing it. But Greg can get up to five points right now if he gets this one right. Has been married twice. Kurt, Carrie, or neither. I'm going to say Carrie. That is incorrect. Damn. Jeff, is it Kurt or is it neither?

Been married twice. I'm going to say neither. Dude, that is correct. Yes. Quite the trick question because we know, of course, that Kurt's been with Goldie Hawn for a long time, but they ain't ever married. They're still just domestic partners.

But he was married to Susan Hubley for a while before Goldie. And then in the case of the other one, yeah. Is she married to Matthew Reed? She's been married to the guy that she co-starred Yeah Matthew Reese

That's her only husband Ever and they're still together They've got two kids I think Okay Did I give Jeff a point for that Yes So it's We've got It's four to two at this point Did I give Jeff a point for that? Yes. So it's, we've got, it's four to two at this point.

Or it's four to three. I think it's four to three. I've asked seven questions. Oh, this is so exciting. But Greg gets to go first on this one. All right, Greg. Has brown eyes. Kurt Carrier, Greg. Has brown eyes. Kurt Carrier, neither.

Hmm. This has been embarrassing because my wife and I have been watching every episode of The Americans with my son for the last couple of weeks. Hmm. I should have been observant of her eyes. I'm going to say neither. That is correct. They both have blue eyes. Wow.

Yeah. I didn't know that. I couldn't tell you people's eye colors unless it's really obvious, like Jenny Brown eyes. They do that zoom in on the eyeballs in Tombstone. So I knew Kurt Russell did. Oh, okay. I should have mentioned, just because it's kind of interesting,

that the two Razzies that kurt got uh nominated for he didn't win either one he only got nominated but he was up for worst couple with kevin costner in 2000 master grace land and that movie was so bad, it didn't turn out good. And then he was also up for a worst actress in Tango and Cash. Because he has a scene where he puts on a wig and a dress, I guess. Okay. Greg has five. Greg has five. Jeff has three.

It's no longer anybody's game, but we're going to continue anyway. Jeff co-wrote one movie that they also appeared in, Kurt or Carrie or neither. Oh, I know this one. Co-wrote one of their own movies. What is it, Jeff? It's Escape from L.A. It's Kurt Russell.

That is correct. Nice. Yeah. Yeah, you almost got there, Jeff? It's Escape from L.A. It's Kurt Russell. That is correct. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. You almost got there, Jeff. You just won away. That was the last question. I had a tiebreaker ready to go, but Greg walked away with this thing.

And congratulations, Greg. Thank you. congratulations, Greg. Thank you. I mean, you've got to be proud of the fact that you still managed to win when one of the other competitors didn't even show up. That's how scared he was

of Jeff. That he did not even enter the arena. And of course, if anything bad has happened to Rory, this entire episode will be scrapped. Yeah, you can't edit that out. Greg, you know, I'd offer you the opportunity to be on Doug Loves Movies next Saturday.

We're doing a live audience show here in los angeles at dynasty typewriter and uh but i know that you're on the east coast and so what i pledge to you to do because next weekend is you know it's never too late uh that first weekend to be talking about confess fletch so i'll get somebody from the cast i'll try to get somebody from the cast they're all busy people i'll try to get somebody else in the movie that would be to join us next saturday they'll be like pinch hitting for you since you since you won today um but if they lose you lose so you know hopefully i'll pick somebody that's good and uh but anything else you'd like to promote or do you want to just remind people why does it say i saw a print ad for the movie that said join the conversation what's the

conversation uh what are they driving at there i have no fucking clue did you see that the night of the premiere the way it said on the street, join the conversation? When the movie was over, I was like, what's the conversation? We all know the answer to the mystery, so there's not really, like, it's not a whodunit question at that point. Yeah, I don't know

what that's about. Yeah, I'll just say again, the movie opens next Friday, the 16th. When does this air? Does this air sometime in 2023? It's coming out. Yeah, what we do is these are all finely aged.

We put them in a cellar for a while. This one will be out tonight, like late tonight. Great. tonight oh great so yeah so if if if if you're moved to go see in a theater um i just say it's an accessible funny i'd like to think smart movie that's that captures the spirit of the novels and isn't you know a cynical reboot of something we've all seen a hundred times which we love but it has already been done. We did our own thing. It takes place now. Yeah, and poke some fun at influencers.

It's a terrific update. Congratulations. Thank you, Doug. Everybody go see it. Jeff, what have you got to plug? I will be back in Cincinnati this weekend, so come to the movies on Friday

and watch Fletch with me. Oh my god. You should have a little watch party. Yeah, yeah. Hit me up on Instagram and we'll plan it out if you want to come see it. I'm dead fucking serious. Yeah, get a group together and go see it.

That's fun. Jeff, I'm going to write you on social media. Because I want to hear what you think. Oh, yeah? Oh, my God. Unless you fucking hate it. Then we can skip all that. Man, there's not a chance I'm going to hate it.

Yeah. If you think it's a big steamy pile, just shut up. I'm so excited. I honestly can't wait. I've been so excited for this for a couple years now. I hope you like it. I know Jeff pretty well, and it's what he likes. Yeah. I can't wait. He wishes there were smart Alex in every conversation in real life.

Yeah. Right? I don't want to have to do it. I just want to see it. Alex in every conversation in real life. Yeah. Right. I don't want to have to do it. I just want to see it. That's another, that's a great slogan. I would like to, for my plugs,

I'd like to say, listen to wide world of Doug's. If you haven't yet, I'd love to have both of my guests today. Oh, you know, Rory's not here anymore. So I would not love to have him on, but Greg, I'd love to have both of my guests today. Oh, you know, Rory's not here anymore, so I would not love to have him on. But Greg, I'd love to have you on sometime. And follow Doug Loves Movies on Twitter. And DougLovesMovies.com is where all my dates and deets and stuff are.

I always end each episode. Thank you, Greg Mottola and Jeff Tate. I always end each episode with a uh greg matola and jeff tate um i always end each episode with a line a closing line from a movie which is oftentimes not that spectacular because a lot of movies just sort of end on whatever but today i just wrote down to just ask you greg do you remember because also some filmmakers don't you know know, they don't sit around memorizing how their movies end. But do you know the last line of Superbad? Hmm.

It's probably something Michael Cera mumbles. I can't remember what that something might be. I think it's like Jonah and Michael saying goodbye to each other awkwardly. I feel like those are the last lines. And they're just, yeah, they're just fumpering. All right. Some classic fumpering. Okay.

So I'll just make something. I'll just come up with something that I think sounds right. And thanks again for being here. And as always, goodbye. Goodbye. Now it's time for Doug to watch another talkie. Eyes of gold, his viewing prowess makes him cocky. There's no room in his heart for you.

Because Doug loves movies.