The Bechdel Cast - Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with Jana Schmieding

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

On this episode, Jamie, Caitlin, and special guest Jana Schmieding get shrunk and examine Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)! Follow Jana on Instagram at @janaunplgd and listen to her podcast, Sage-Based Wisdom!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Just boyfriends and husbands Or do they have individualism The Patriarchy's effing vast Start changing it with the Bechdelcast. Honey, I Shrunk the cast. The podcast.

The podcast. The podcast, that is. Okay. I was going to go with Pod, I Shrunk the cast. Oh, but there's, there's, we'll keep finding it.

I think we'll keep finding it. There's so many, this is maybe one of the most iconic movie titles of its generation, probably. Truly. It,

it really is just, want to know the plot of the movie? And he says it. Also, I came to appreciate the title of this movie even more when I learned what it could have been called. There was a lot of weird. Like, this movie was originally being shopped around under the title teeny weenies originally. And you're like, in a world where this movie was called teeny weenies, I just don't think it's a successful. Teeny weenies.

And then they later were like, as the Wikipedia explains it, teeny weanies seem to appeal to a more child demographic. which I don't necessarily think is the reason that title doesn't work. But teeny weenies, the name was changed to grounded to appeal to a more mature audience. Also, not seeing the logic. I mean, that one makes more sense because, first of all, they're on the ground. Yeah. They're so close to the ground. But grounded implies that they've misbehaved and they're grounded.

But that's not really what happens. Well, then it changed again to the big backyard, which. sounds, I think, more childish than ever. Yes. And then finally, they were like, let's just take the line of dialogue out of Rick Moranus' beautiful lips. Those big, juicy lips. I am going to be objectifying Rick Moranis' lips today.

Buckle in. I mean, what else is new? As with every other time we've discussed Rick Moranus. He's got perfect lips. Welcome to the Bechtelcast. My name's Jamie Loftus. us talking about Rick Moranis' big juicy lips does pass the Bechdel test somehow. Yeah. Unless he, who I'm sure is a listener, objects, I will stop.

But I bet he likes it. I think he's into it. Yeah. Anyway, my name's Caitlin Durante. My name is Jamie Loftus, and this is our podcast where we discuss your favorite movies using the Bechal Test as a jumping off point and using an intersectional feminist lens. But Caitlin, what is the Bechtel test? Because this movie's going to struggle with it. It really is. It is a mediometric created by a dear friend of ours, friend of the pod, Alison Bechtel. There are many versions of it. The one that we use is, do two characters of a marginalized gender speak to each other?

Do those characters have names? And is there a conversation about something other than a man? Also, we particularly like it when it is a... narratively meaningful and relevant conversation and not just throw away dialogue that could be cut out of the movie and it would change nothing to the narrative. And as you said, this movie is going to really struggle. Yeah. Despite there being several characters who are women and girls in this story, but...

But you won't catch them not being blonde. And you won't catch them not being in relation to. a weird guy. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. We have a wonderful guest with us to discuss this movie. She's a comedian and writer. You've seen her on Reservation Dogs and Rutherford Falls.

You remember her from our episodes on The V-Vich and never-ending story. It's Janice Meeting. Hi, again. Hello, welcome back. Welcome back. I love hearing guests past episodes because you're just like, what a journey we've been on. What is a podcast, if not a never-ending story? Truly, truly.

And this one just kind of continues the story in such a weird way. I think maybe you can see from the pattern of my choices in movies to discuss with you. I love a practical effect of any kind. I love sort of a puppetry vibe. I love the films of the kind of. creepy films of the 1980s that were geared towards children that were sort of adult themes. This one not so much. But there's like scary imagery and scary movies.

Yeah, there's like sci-fi kind of fantasy vibes going on. And also, you know, the creepiness of white people, which is something I love to talk about. But yeah, this one is sort of, that's all it is, in my opinion. Creepy white people. creepy white people creepy dads and it's creepy white people creeping each other out

and then deciding it's actually fine which is we can get into whatever that is supposed to mean but we're so excited to have you back what is your history

with honey I shrunk the kids and because there's so much that the honey I shrunk the kids expanded universe oh I'm so glad you asked Jamie because I was sort of a a child of the 80s. I was I was nine years old when Honey I Shrunk the Kids came out in 1989.

So I did sort of have, I was like marketed heavily to by Honey I Shrunk the Kids and, you know, the entire Disney cinematic universe of the 80s. So I was like, I was on that, I was on the fucking tip with Honey I Shrunked the kids. I was like, I can't wait for this shit to come out.

Your finger was on the pulse. I was really, and you know what? They released in quick succession. So Honey I Shrunk the Kids, I feel like it was like kind of a breakout Disney live action in the 80s. It was kind of like, hey, we're doing this theatrical release made for TV movie, I think. Did it get a theatrical release? I swear it did. Oh, it did.

And it was it was successful. It made the, I think the current equivalent of half a billion dollars. That's insane. It made so much money. There was no person, it seems, on earth who didn't. It's doing almost avatar numbers. Truly. And it kind of was in that very quick moment of 1980s, like Disney history.

It really had a fucking moment. And I watched the making of, which I actually think I kind of like more than the movie. They have a making of that is like. I had seen it where you can see how the effects are done. You know, I bet it's somewhere on YouTube. I thought about this last night while I was watching it. I was like, I wonder if the YouTube, if YouTube has the making of because the making of was fucking sick. But we can't get into that later.

But yeah, I didn't love the second, honey, I shrunk the kids or any consecutive ones. I was really just sort of like in that childhood, like Disney watching moment where I was like, the target audience for Honey, I shrunk the kids. And you know my taste. I love a, I love a stunt, a practical effect, like any kind of slapstick bullshit, a giant, a weird set. And they showed it. They showed how they made it all. It was so cool. That's so cool. Yeah, when I started watching this movie, I was like, oh, no, I understand why Jenna loves this movie. It is, it makes sense. And it's awesome. I mean, it's wild how, I mean, I'm sure we will get into it. it a lot today, but just the lost art of practical effects. It is just such a damn shame. Why aren't we doing

it? Not lost. Disinvested. Yes, disinvested. We could easily have movies with this level of practical effects. It's creepy. It's terrifying. Like, everything was so slimy and goopy and, like, it was giving sort of Nickelodeon also. Like, there was, like, some elements of, like, kind of gross out elements in the movie that I'm like these the 80s was perfect for kids films because it scares kids and it's always some sci-fi weird thing that is like completely like not scientifically we are not able to do it but like we were just dreaming so big in the 80s we were just saying whatever the sky's the limit we can do that I miss movies like this they just don't make them like this anymore. I do too. Yeah, where you're like, it's incredibly weird,

but the scope of it is both very large and very small. It's really satisfying. Totally. I mean, the story is absolute trash, and my boyfriend who watched it with me did fall asleep halfway through. And I sort of had to smoke a lot of weed to sort of keep the interest alive. I kept falling asleep during both watches of this. And then I had to wake up and then be like, how much did I miss? I had to rewind. I was wide awake. I'm like, I'm realizing.

Walked in. I'm realizing that I hadn't seen this movie before. I'm pretty sure. I should have texted my mom about it. But there were certain things in movies that were just total non-starters for me when I was little. One that I talk about on the show is all the time, um, or the talking animals where it's a real animal and the mouth is digitally manipulated.

And then it's like, Ja-Jacques Gabor's voice. I can't do that. It scared me so much. The non-blinking animals. I didn't like that. Yikes. The other thing was giant insects, which I learned when one of the, the first movie I remember

seeing when I was really little was James and the Giant Peach couldn't do the bugs. And I have a feeling that's why this movie was kept from me because it was, it was, it's really doing the bugs. It is. Oh, yes. Yeah. It's sort of like when, when a bug's life came out, I was like, you guys. you guys already did that.

It's called Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. But I was quite moved when I will say another thing that doesn't happen really in children's movies that, and I say this, I'm like, I don't have kids. I don't know what I'm talking about, but I don't think it happens as much, is that characters that we love die. Yeah. I was moved when the aunt died. I was very sad.

It's the low point of the movie. Yeah. Yeah. it's like the big it's a fucking crisis for these kids I can't also I don't want to like break into the plot but like can you imagine getting

shrunk getting shrunk that that can you imagine getting shrunk like that how fucking traumatizing it would be you would have the craziest CPSD like for the rest of your life

no one would know how to talk to you no you couldn't see any therapist you would be committed immediately and like rightfully so like I just I can't even imagine what these kids adult lies we're like that's my main I mean again it's like a suspension of disbelief thing but like my main thing with this movie is amongst other things how it seems like literally everyone is severely underreacting oh my gosh yes the shrinking the shrunk are like oh god I'm not going to make it to the mall and then the parent the parent the parent

parents especially, I'm like, what is going on with you guys? They don't seem to give a single shit about what's going on. They're like eating cereal. They're going to bed at 9 p.m. I'm like, what the hell? And you know what? That's the other beauty about 80s movies is it's saying something about our parents and how they kind of don't give a shit. They're up their own asses. They're not really paying attention to what we're doing. So we can kind of go and have our own adventures on our own. It's giving latchkey. It's giving like, I'm, I'm, watching soap operas after school because my mom is at home. Like it's, it's, it's 100% of the time of its time. Yes. You cannot accuse these parents of being helicopter parents. No. Not a 1980s parent. Absolutely not.

Couldn't be them. They're like, oh yeah, you have to clean the entire house girl. And if I shrink you, well, maybe I'll learn something about me at the end of the movie. Maybe, but kind of not really. God help you if you shrink my couch. God help you. The couch is of bigger concern at multiple points in the plot. Kate, Caitlin, what's your history with this movie? I saw this quite a few times as a kid, but I have not seen it in probably around 30 years or more. So a lot of the details were pretty foggy for me. Though I do remember, specific moments. I remembered various moments with the giant ant. I remembered just little bits and

pieces of them like navigating through the grass. And then I remembered the Cheerios at the very end. The Cheerios are such a highlight. That is wild. It maybe is saying something also, Caitlin, about perhaps the differences that you and I have, which is I remember the fucking French kiss. so I was like oh like when I was a kid I was like oh my god this movie is so horny wow wow wow I was into it sure I mean it's certainly we'll talk about it but like it's not there are certainly worst teen romances and you know what what well no I'm realizing this is incorrect I was gonna say what sustains a relationship but shared trauma that's not true but It shouldn't be.

But it's a foundation. We got shrunk together, and I believe you. It's right. Your shrinking story is valid. In any case, yes, I saw this movie quite a bit. I don't think we had it on VHS. I was three when it came out, so I wouldn't have seen it until the early 90s. But it was in the rotation for a while.

I think we probably rented it from the video store quite a bit. But after that, I kind of grew out of. it and haven't seen it in several decades. But rewatching it for this, I was like, ooh, these practical effects. Ooh, this, these wild parents who don't give a shit that their kids are missing. I also didn't know much about, or it had been a long time since I had read anything about Joe Johnston, who we've covered his work before because he also directed Jumanji. But I didn't realize that he totally makes sense got started as an effects guy and an art.

director and he literally designed like the millennium falcon and boba fete damn he's a bit of a legend and then he is like i'm going to be a director and i know just the project and he was right it made a bajillion 1988 nine eighty nine dollars yes and jimmy you said you had not seen this before right i hadn't seen it um i did and i i guess this i i found fell into because even though it's the oldest of this type of movie I'm going to describe. It does feel like there is a very like late 80s into the 90s, early 2000s plot that boils down to father and or husband whose special interest is ruining his family's life. Now this I would include and please, I was like, I know I'm missing stuff. I would include flubber. Flubber. 100%. Flubber is

ruining his marriage. Dr. Doolittle. The animals, it's becoming too much for the family. The Santa Claus. The Santa Claus. He's already divorced, but it is ruining his son's life. Casper. Wife is dead, but the ghost thing destroying Christina Ricci's life.

Yes. There's also Jack Frost. Oh, my God. How can I forget Jack Frost? Yep. Michael Keaton loves his band too much or something, and then he turns into a snowman about it. They do imply that being a father in a cover band could kill you. Turns into a snowman about it is the funniest.

I hate my life and my family. But yeah, no, Jamie, you're right. There's so many movies like this from this era. This plot point, and I was trying to figure out, and Mrs. Deltfire isn't quite this because I wouldn't say being Mrs. doubtfires his special interest, but it has the same energy, right? This big thing that the dad is doing is irreparably harming the lives of his family. And all of these movies, if they do involve divorce, have a different perspective on it.

This movie comes down on, don't do it. And actually, the dad should maybe not even change what he's doing. But mom needs to kind of come around. Exactly. And that's what's for the best of all. I guess at least in the Santa Claus, they stay divorced. Yes. Because, I don't know, Judge Reinholds, love is too powerful.

I don't know. I was just thinking a lot about this plot. I'm like, I wonder why it was just coming up so much. Oh, also, I think liar, liar you could put into this category. Oh, I've never seen that. Special interest is more. It's like his job, but his job is a lawyer. And then it ruins his son's life, I think.

I don't know. I haven't seen that movie since I was 12. Listeners, please weigh in either with more examples or why the hell this was happening. Other than we are supposed to think that fathers are more interesting. But it's like a sub thing going on here. Anyways, hadn't seen it, but it's a rich text. It sure is. Let's take a quick break and then we'll come back for the recap.

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I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick Dick and Poll show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, here's the recap. We meet two kids. Amy is a teen girl who's talking on the phone with her friends about her crush and she's making plans to go to the mall, you know, teen girl stuff. It feels like very specifically like 80s teen girl too. Yeah.

And we also meet her younger brother Nick, who I think is like eight years old. He likes science stuff because he's a boy. And science is for boys, according to this. movie. He takes after their dad, Wayne Zelensky, who is a scientist slash inventor, who is busy building this elaborate shrinking machine in the attic that is supposed to significantly shrink whatever object you put in front of it. But it also has the power to reverse that if the plot requires that. I was trying to think, I was like, what would, honestly, later on, when Amy is like, this shrinking machine is going to make my father rich and famous.

And I was like, what would they use it for? And I was like, honestly, the fucking military would figure something out. Military industrial complex is the answer. Like, like Rick Moranus would sell this technology for billions of dollars to the military. He would be basically. I don't think so because isn't the sequel like kids I shrunk honey or something like. Honey, I blew up the kid. Oh, yeah, honey, I blew up the kid.

But by blew up, it means enlarged, right? Yeah, not explode. That is a confusing time. Honey, I blew up the kid. We need a second pass on that. Yeah. Yes. And then the third one is, honey, we shrunk ourselves.

Oh, that's the one I'm thinking of it. And the parents get shrunk. And then there was also a TV show. And then there was almost a reboot. Mm-hmm. Called shrunk. I remember. Oh, I think.

that my closest encounter with Honey I Shrunk the Kids would have been the first time, unless I'm projecting this memory on myself. I went to Disney World when I was like 13 and they used to have a ride called Honey I Shrunk the audience and I'm pretty sure I went on that. Okay. I was like saying to my boyfriend last night, I was like, I know that they had a ride at Disneyland. Like there was something, it was a big deal at Disneyland. And I remember being like, God, I just want to go to Disneyland So I lived in Oregon. I just wanted to Disneyland and go to Honey I Shrunk the Kids Ride. I was so in on this fucking IP.

I don't know why. I got to get shrunk. I want to get shrunk. Wait, Honey I blew up the kid is, okay, came out in 1992. Everyone comes back. In the film, Wayne succeeds in enlarging his two-year-old son to gigantic proportions as one of his size-changing experiments goes awry. Okay, so he doesn't sell it to the military.

He's just experimenting on his family, which is evil in a different way. Yes. Interesting. And then in 1997, in Honey, we shrank ourselves, everyone is gone except for Rick Moranis. Everyone is like recast. Oh, yes, yes. You hate to see that. You hate to see it.

Yeah. In any case. So, Wayne is working on this machine in his attic, except he has not gotten it to properly function yet. He keeps just exploding apples. Which is also making a bunch of noise which pisses off his next door neighbor, Russell.

And we also meet Russell's, his wife, May. A very confusing character to me. I cannot pin this lady down. No. We'll talk about her. But her name is May and she's played by Christine Sutherland who people probably

recognized from Buffy. She played Buffy Summers' mom. Anyway, they have two sons, Russ Jr. and Ron. And Russell Sr. is trying to get his elder son, Russ Jr., into fishing and football and weightlifting. But Russ isn't interested in any of that. He's busy leering at Amy through the window. I, the thing with Russ, it's so like, I like in theory that he's like pushing back on his father's stuff. And he's like, you can't tell me what to like.

I'll tell me what to like. And then his dad is like, okay, what do you like? And he's like, I don't know. We never really find out. No. Although we do sort of see that he maybe gets a little boner while he's watching Amy dance in the kitchen. And so I thought last night as I was watching it, I was like, Dad, I just want to stay home and jerk up.

Which is. Just let me and stay at home and watch. porn, that's all I want to do, Dad. Which, like, it doesn't seem like his dad character would, like, receive that poorly. No. He's probably like, I'm doing the same thing, buddy. Exactly. That guy was a weird

oh, do not like the dad. I do not get what they were going for with that character. I had never, I wasn't familiar with this guy, Matt Fruer, but he's been on everything. But he, I think most famously was Max Headroom. It was Max Headroom. Yeah.

I did not. I mean, I guess I was like, oh yeah, that was a guy, not a computer. So I guess he did a good job at that. I mean, he's, I don't know, that character is so bizarre. I do think it's interesting that they're like, okay, our movie is about two sets of kooky neighbors who are convinced they are not the kooky neighbors. There's all these moments where they'll look at each other across the fence or whatever through the window and be like, what a weirdo. Okay, meanwhile, Wayne leaves the house. He leaves his children unattended to head to a conference where he's like talking to a group of scientists about his machine. Well, he leaves the house after being, like, it's unclear to me at the top of the

movie what the state of the marriage is. It seems like mom is like not currently, like, is taking a break? It seems very temporary because they say that she's, they had a fight the night before. And so she went to stay at her mother's house, but that she'll be back that afternoon. Right. But the kids are stressed, understandably. They're confused. Yes. And Rick Moranis replies by being like, it's all good guys, but the house needs to be clean when your mother gets home. So you guys are going to have to do that. And specifically, Amy, you're going to have to do that. Yeah. He gives his kids very gendered chores where he's like, oh, Amy, you're a girl. So you clean. And Nick, you're a boy. even though you're a small child and you're like eight years old, you should mow the lawn.

We'll get, we'll get into that. There are eight-year-olds that are told to mow the lawn. I'm not endorsing it either way, but I've seen it with my own eyes. That seems very dangerous to me, but yeah, I'm sure it happens. Anyway, so he leaves for this conference. While he's gone, the younger neighbor kid, Ron, accidentally hits a baseball into the Solensky's attic. it strikes the shrinking machine and turns it on and makes it start working because it shrinks an armchair and a couch. Yes, the couch, Rick Moranis' favorite child in the movie.

His thinking couch. Yes, his thinking couch that he's obsessed with. Meanwhile, Russ sees that his brother Ron had smashed this window. So he drags Ron over to the Slensky House to tell them what happened. And Nick takes Ron up to the attic to retrieve the baseball. But, oh, no, the machine shrinks the two of them. And then it shrinks Amy and Russ Jr. When they go upstairs to check on the other kids.

So now they're all tiny. They're like a quarter of an inch tall. They're about the same size as like a house fly. They're freaking out. Wayne comes home. He's like, where are my kids? Tee-hee. But then he's kind of like,

whatever. Whatever. They're probably at the mall. Yeah. Yeah. So he goes up to the attic. The kids are trying to get his attention, but they're so small,

their voices can't carry. He can't hear them. And he's frustrated about his machine because he was just humiliated at this conference. So he trashes this machine. Beats it with a bat. Yes. Just pretty much destroys it.

There's like debris flying and it's like threatening to hit the shrunk people. He goes on a basically abusive rampage against his machine for humiliating him. Yeah. Rage against the machine. I really, I thought that the guy that like negs him, does he ever come back? The guy who's like, oh, ha, ha, well, I think the shrinking machine sucks. And you're just like, well, surely we'll see this guy again.

And we just don't. We do not. We just don't. No. But Wayne does trash his own invention and then sweeps up the debris as well as these four children, unknowingly. And to me, I'm like, okay, so you can clean the house when it suits you. Yes. Interesting.

And he sweeps them all up into a dust pan, throws them in the trash, and then takes the trash bag out to the curb. Now, the kids manage to cut the trash bag open and escape, but now they have to get them. get back to the house through the yard, walking a distance that's the equivalent of over three miles because of how small they are. So they embark on this journey. Their mom, Diane, meanwhile, returns home and she's like, Wayne, where are the kids? And he's like, ha ha, I don't know. And they're both like, shrug, it's the 1980s. Doesn't matter where our kids are. There's somewhere, yes. Yeah, we're cool with them not being around, whatever. Mm-hmm.

And that's the attitude at first, but then eventually they make some phone calls to other parents. They realize that their children are like low-key missing. And then Russ and Ron's mom, May, also notices that her kids are nowhere to be found. But again, the urgency just isn't quite there. To be fair, the urgency is there for the kids sometimes. I'm wondering if that was like just to make the whole predicament a little less scary to the audience of like they're not constantly saying we're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die because that's scary. But there's only a couple moments where you're like, oh, this is this is really serious to them. They're very convinced this is going to be fine by 5 p.m.

Right. Also, so is the score. So is the music composition. It's very like, do, do, do it's giving. you know, home alone. It's very much like comedy. It's really uplifting. We are so assured when this happens that there will be a happy ending. And I do want to say on the parents, negligent parents, or like them not really caring, this is the beauty of the 1980s that I really want the audience to understand. In the 1980s, in the suburbs, you get on your bike with the neighborhood

kids and you fucking you're from morning till sundown you're out and about no care in the world the parents couldn't be happier you're out of the house get the hell out of here you you have a day off from school get out of here it's just like playing outside doing kids stuff I feel like our current culture like our streets are too dangerous to do that now you can't you can't do it as much and it's and it's also depressing because I feel like the the internet has become a version of being left loose, but not in a way that seems quite as enriching or fun. It sounds really depressing. Yeah, they weren't scrolling.

They weren't busy on the computer at home. They, you know, these kids are like, we go to the mall when we want to have a good time and we want to hang out. That's such a good point. Like, I don't know, this movie's attitude towards missing children is very interesting. And they kind of call out one of the factors that like was very influential. regardless of like how true it was of like latchkey kid culture going away which was milk carton kids where I think it's like the mean little brother that's like I hope you end up on a milk carton and I was like you need you need an aunt to change your life my boy I do think it's also part and parcel not to like break into the plot Caitlin and talk about like the context but we're in the 1980s we're kind of like post space race like a cold war, Reagan into Clinton, like we're still in this era of we are the leaders in space travel,

in space exploration. And, you know, we, we beat the Russians ass and we are like top of our game scientifically, like STEM is popping off in the states and elsewhere, but it's like the political foundations behind all of that is this Reagan. era family values you know it's it's 10 p.m. do you know where your kids are commercials are coming on TV you know it's like like like Barbara Bush kind of like education family values parents involved you know like it's just like this toxic culture of like moving from latchkey to like it's a response to our need to have two parents in the working world nuclear family Right? Yes. Yes.

Yeah. Which I do feel like there's like a vibe to this movie that feels not like, okay, the mother should quit her job, but it's like, well, if she's going to have a job, she's going to have to emotionally compromise severely. Yeah. To like cohere to what the expectation is. Yeah. Yeah. This is a rich text. A rich text. It's a rich text. So rich. And then there are bees. Not the bees. Not the bees. The bees come, and they are swarming around, and somehow Russ and Nick end up on a bee, and the bee is flying them all over the yard. Wayne is trying to swat at the bee with a baseball bat. And then he looks down, he's like, wait a minute, why do I have a baseball bat? My son doesn't play baseball? And then he sees the shattered attic window.

he goes upstairs, he finds the shrunken armchair and the shrunken couch in the attic, and he puts two and two together and realizes that the machine does work, and it shrunk all the kids. It was really fun now that we all have more knowledge of production than when we last saw this movie, I'm assuming, of like what a light lift this movie is for all of the adults versus the children. Children are like wet and in combat the whole movie. They had those kids doing their own stunts. It was, I'm telling you, and I just linked to be in the chat.

I just linked the part one of the making up because it is on YouTube. But yeah, the way that they put these kids through the damn Disney ringer. It was like, it is so funny being like, oh, and then we cut to a shot that we know now is just Rick Moranis sweeping something up. into a little dust pan. That's an easy day at work for Rick Moranus. Meanwhile, the children are soaking, and they have to go to school.

Anyways. Yeah? Blew my mind. Yes. I also do want to say, I think that my whole theme on this episode is going to be like 1980s and like the ethos of the 80s.

But Rick Moranis, a scientist, a physicist, or, you know, yeah, I assume he's a physicist. physicist, a very intense scientist, swinging a bat at a bee, swinging a baseball bat at a bee. You know in the 80s we weren't worried about the honeybees disappearing. True. We weren't concerned about the extinction of the bees. Nope. It's true. No, yeah. We were swinging bats at the bees. Truly, a scientist trying to kill a bee. Could never.

I did appreciate this movie's commitment to yada yada science. Oh yeah. They don't even try to give us an explanation of how this shit works. It's like computer, computer. Molecules. And now they're shrunk. Yeah. I mean, it's the same junk science that like back to the future is based on.

Like the 80s movies were just like, let's just say some words. And then that's the movie. It's kind of fun. It's like, I know that, like, whatever, the famous example is, like, after Jurassic Park, children's interests in paleontology went through the roof. I'm guessing this movie maybe, I'd be curious. Did this movie move the needle for physics? I don't think there's enough info there to be like, when I grow up, I want to shrink.

Yeah. What is the itch being scratched? I don't think maybe it moved the needle very much. Yeah, because it didn't cause, like, an exist. I mean, you know, Jurassic Park had such a deeper, message, like the morality of science. But the, this was just like, guess what? We shrunk our kids and the neighbor's kids and is actually pretty rad.

So, yeah, they're like, what a shrink? They actually sort of had some fun while they were shrunken and they some of them even kissed. The kids fell in love. They fell in love. They all fell in love. They all shrunk. Oh, so. are. There's a very specific line I'm excited to get to with regards to the kids being shrunk and falling in

love. I just this movie. Oh, baby. I can't wait. Okay, so Wayne has figured out that his machine shrunk these four children. So he starts freaking out, remembering that he was stomping around, sweeping the floor. He realizes he probably threw his tiny children in the trash and that they're probably somewhere in the yard now. So he starts searching the yard for the kids. Meanwhile, Russ and Nick tumble off the bumble, the bee. Nice. Thank you. Thank you. I just improv that on the spot. Huge. They tumble back into the yard. But now they are separated from Amy and Ron who are not getting along because Ron hates girls. he has some sexism that he's going to have to overcome throughout the story,

which he does sort of. Kind of. Just through Amy's grace. The arcs for these children are so weird. It's true. I really thought, like, even by like 80s standards, I was like, the aunt's going to be a girl. The aunt's going to be a girl. And that's how he's going to learn how to respect women is by meeting a woman aunt.

I think big missed opportunity that an aunt cured his misogy. It would have worked. It would have worked, but they didn't do it. They did not. Anyway, so Wayne, who is now on a pair of stilts searching for the children, because I'm guessing the logic here is that the surface area of like the bottom of the stilt that would be on the grass is smaller than a human foot, but a stilt could still easily crush the children. So I don't know what.

The rules of when. he is trying to not squish the kids versus when he isn't. There are a few times where he kind of clumps into the yard and you're like, well, he fully tumbles off. They both tumble off. They both like squat. The way that I, the entire movie, I was like, can you imagine if Rick Moranis just, he, he beats the shit out of his machine and then he goes over to sweep. He realizes just then and there, oh my God, I shrunk the kids. He lifts up his shoe and they're just like, four squished children on the bottom of his shoe. Can you like this is a story of a deeply traumatized father?

And like does he tell? Does he tell the wife? Does he tell the neighbors? Like, does he admit to it? Because he could probably pretty easily get rid of the evidence. Yeah. Wait, that's like a sundance movie. Yeah. Honey, I shrunk the kids and then I murdered them on accident. And then I didn't tell anyone. Wait. Where's that movie? And I'm living with the grief and guilt for the rest of my day. That's kind of awesome. Maybe that was going to be the reboot. Like a villain origin story. Honey, I can't stop shrinking kids and then stepping up.

Well, maybe we'll see that one day. In the meantime. That's what Rick Moranis is going to come out of retirement. God. Just kidding. It's space balls too, I learned yesterday. Yes. Yeah.

Maybe I'll cover spaceballs for my birthday this year. Anyway, okay, Wayne, he's on the stilts. He accidentally turns the sprinklers on because he's like falling all over the place on the stilts. So now these enormous drops of water start raining down around the kids, which the practical effects here are pretty fun. But also the water is very like viscous. It's gooey. It's thick. It's pretty thick water.

It's thick. I was just sort of like, I guess that's what water was like in 1989. Maybe they were just putting corn syrup into the water back then. I don't know. Yeah, I bet the making up tells us the water, the sequence and how they sort of did the water special effects. But I think what they were going for was optimizing it for splash content. Like they really needed it to be heavy water. So it could be like, you know, gloopy, gloppy.

And then it turns sort of into quote unquote mud, which I was like, no, that looks. like sewage. It's pretty gross what it turns into. I was kind of shocked, especially because that's the source of the first quote-unquote romantic moment in the movie. That's where the French comes from. I know. The children are ostensibly covered in shit.

Like, it's wild. Yeah. So what happens here, and we'll talk more about it later, but the water is sprinkling down on them. Amy falls into a puddle and Russ has to save her and gives her mouth to mouth. And then she wakes up and she's like, wow, thanks. That was amazing. It's this very emotional moment.

Yeah. And then there's a joke that is set up that takes a full 45 minutes to pay off, which I was pretty impressed. Right. Yeah, the whole, oh, where did you learn how to do mouth to mouth? French class. But Nick is too young to understand what that means at first. And that's sort of his arc.

At the end, he's traumatized from the shrinking, but he knows what French kissing is. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so the four kids continue onward toward the house. They come upon a discarded oatmeal cream pie cookie and start eating it. Great product placement. Great product placement. I was genuinely impressed.

Truly the best product placement, the only product placement in the whole movie, I think. Well, there's Lego. Oh, that's right. That's a Lego. But there is like the slamming of the oatmeal pie, the little Debbie's right on the counter by baby McMoranis. Oh, my God. Yeah. It's great.

And I loved those shits. Oh, my God. I was like, good choice of something to eat because I loved those as a kid. They still hit. They're like, they've recently. Because I keep up with these. things. They recently have been putting them into like ice cream flavors and I would highly recommend the oatmeal cream pie ice cream. They're doing it for all of them but like the oatmeal cream pie one is

yeah, my my fiance and I have been trying them one by one and so far the feedback is oatmeal cream pie takes it. It's so good. They're at the grocery store. My mind is blown all of a sudden because I also remember in the oatmeal cream pie when they find a cookie on the ground. in the movie and they're like, let's go fucking crazy. I was like goals, dude. I, God, can you imagine being a kid on set and being like, okay, now just dive into this giant whipped cream wall and go ham? I was just truly stunned.

It is amazing how many like set pieces they do with the kids and how like how well they do like the scariest thing you can imagine. imagine and then the coolest thing you can imagine back to back to back to back. It's so cool. Well, and they make the scary things cool too, you know? It's like, yeah. It's all so cool. To me, as an eight year old, I was like, this is my dream. This is cinema. Wrap it up. Well, this, especially this part, reminded me of there's a Matt Damon movie and I just had to look up what it was called because I forget and I've never seen it, but a 2017 movie called downsizing. And I think the premise of this movie is that in order to make resources such as food

go farther and last longer, people can opt to downsize themselves, shrink themselves, so that the cost of living is much less because when you're tiny, an oatmeal cream pie cookie is enormous and that could last you years. Yeah. If you figure out how to protect it from ants. Right, right. And so I was like, huh, maybe there is something to this. Maybe we need to all shrink in order to get the most out of our resources, which we are wasting and exploiting by and large. Anyway, I don't think that this movie is really operating on that level. No. No. It would be wild if it were, though. I think it's presenting a counterpoint, which is let's just all invest in little debby's it lasts forever even if it's a flake a chunk of little debby's in the grass you can

still eat it and it's fresh as day one i will say it did get me i was hungry for one the same way that every time i watch et i'm like you know what i could go for some rhesus pieces right now hundred percent like there's that shit works on me it does it does if if one of my little treats appears in a movie i'm like pause i have to go i have to ago. And that's on my eating disorder. But that's why we watch movies at home so we can pause, fulfill the product placement 30 full years later, and then return. Make a Vaughn's Instacart order for Little Debbie's oatmeal basil.

Which is probably the only store that has them. Yeah. Well, that's where that is where you get the ice cream. I can say for sure. And then the Instacart employee is like, Someone's watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids again. Oh, the Honey I Shrunk the Kids special. That and Cheerios. Oh, that's the other product place in Cheerios. Yeah.

Anyway, so yes, the cookie has attracted an aunt, but it's a nice aunt. And the kids befriend it. I think Ron names it either Andy or Auntie. I think they were calling it both things. I couldn't get a handle on its name. There's a lot of ADR with the kids, but in their defense, they were soaking wet children. Yep. They probably had hypothermia the whole shoot.

Yeah. Anyway, so they ride the aunt part of the way back to the house because they're like, wow, ants are fast and strong, and we can take advantage of that. Meanwhile, Wayne confesses to his wife, Diane, that, honey, I shrunk the kids and she faints because women be fainting but she regains consciousness and then starts helping wane scour the yard for the kids but it has gotten dark outside and searching for them is much harder the kids use a cigarette that russell senior has flicked into the yard to light some torches so that they can see where they're going then wayne

It's to work on repairing the shrinking machine so that he can return the children to their normal size if they ever find them. He has a moment where he's like, oh, this is all my fault. I was so focused on my machine that I forgot to be a father. And Diane is like, well, it doesn't matter what our jobs are. We just have to get this family back together. We'll get into that because this is like, I think a variation. on arriving at this conclusion that I haven't seen, where he does apologize, but she's like, no, no.

Don't worry about it. Yeah. And you're like, because I was fully expecting the classic, which is no acknowledgement of fault and no apology, but he does acknowledge fault. And she's like, whatever, we'll circle back to that. Which would have made sense for me if she was like, we need to focus on unshrinking the kids. But that's not what she says. We need to focus on not getting divorced.

And like that scene, I don't know what time it's supposed to take place at, but it feels like 7.30. I'm like, keep looking, you guys. Yeah, they are truly just taking their sweet fucking time. I mean, at one point, Rick Moranis, like, falls asleep. He's just like, I'm so exhausted from looking that I just, I have to take a nap at my computer. And it's like, wake up, bitch. That scene is so funny.

because then she walks upstairs, looks at her husband who was fallen to sleep after three minutes of searching. And she says, I love you. And you're like, what? She goes, I love you, Wayne Zelensky. Maybe you deserve each other. I don't know. I would be like, get your fucking ass up. Are you serious right now? You have, yeah, I would have, I mean, that's maybe where the baseball bat comes in. I just like, get up. Men be napping. Men be napping. Men be taking a little rest. They be napping on the job. Anyway, so the parents also tell the neighbor parents about the shrinking machine, but Russell is like, I don't believe you, you weirdo. Back in the yard, the kids set up camp in one of Nick's discarded Legos. And this is when Amy and Russ, they're really vibing and then they kiss on the lips.

But they're interrupted when a giant scorpion shows up and starts terrorizing them. But Ron's aunt friend, Auntie or Andy, whatever its name is, helps them fight off the scorpion. But it gets injured and passes away. It's so sad. I was really struck by how sad I was. I mean, the war between the scorpion and the ant was so epic because I think you're dealing with close up. Here's what I know. They definitely used like a bull riding machine with an ant, paper mache, some kind of ant attached to it. Okay. So. we know that that is the thing. And then the scorpion is never IRL. Like it's never like a practical effect. The scorpion is

sort of a slimy looking did you, either of you ever watched the old like 1960s or 70s clash of the Titans. No. With like claymation Odyssey characters like beasts and stuff.

Like the Krakhan is really cool. It's like stop motion. which is what the scorpion is. It's like a stop motion, large, slimy-looking model. And to me, it looked like Clash of the Titans, old Claymation, stop-motion, clash of the Titans. And I was like, this is such a stupid, bad mix of effects. Practical, CG, stop motion.

It's like they are using green screens. They're literally throwing every tech, both old, and new at this movie at the same time and trying to make it work. And I want to say like 50% of it looks like the kids are just tromping back and forth through a giant hangar, like stage 11 on the Warner Law. You know, it's like, it's giving a hanger, decorated hanger. Yeah. And I've learned in the fight between the scorpion and the aunt, I went straight to the IMDB into, the art department and learned that the art department person who like was the head of the art department also worked on critters.

Interesting. Okay. What a wild movie that one is. Wild. So weird. Another 80s classic. But very weird. And it's called critters.

And I was like, of course they got the critters person for all these critters. Obviously. This does feel like a lot of like, especially. and now knowing what Joe Johnson's background was and that this was his first movie he directed. You're like, oh, he's very much like both playing to his strengths and also it just seems like he's taking advantage of having a budget to be like big aunt? 100%.

What do we think about big aunt? Yeah. Yeah. But no, the visual dissonance between all the different types of effects in this sequence is really kind of disturbing. Yeah. Yeah. And also disturbing is the aunt dying.

And if that wasn't enough, the next morning, this neighborhood kid named Tommy comes over to mow the Selinsky's lawn, which means that the kids might get mangled in the lawnmower. Terrifying. It's so scary. They almost do get mangled, but they somehow managed to avoid it. And then Wayne and Diane run out of the house to stop. Tommy from mowing the lawn, the rest of the lawn. They've like awoken from their nightly slumber, their peaceful sleep. They've slept until 10 hours.

So wild. Yeah, they got all their REM cycles up. She went to yoga. Like, they've had a full day. And then they spend two more seconds searching for the kids. They don't find them. So then Wayne goes inside to have his casual Cheerio's breakfast. But luckily, the family dog named Cork approaches the kids, and he's sniffing around.

And so the kids all grab onto his fur and hitch a ride into the house. Cork jumps up on the table where Wayne is eating his casual cheerio breakfast. And then Nick falls into the bowl of Cheerios, which of course Wayne does not notice because Nick is so small. and he almost eats Nick several times until he finally notices all of the kids. And then again, his reaction is just like, wow, I found the kids, honey. That's pretty cool. Honey, I found the kids. And she's like, wow.

Wow, nice. Awesome. Good job. Interesting. Yes. And so Wayne goes up to the attic, turns on the machine, but he can't get it to work again. but with the help of the kids and especially Nick, because Nick has figured out that the baseball is a key component for this machine to work.

How? I don't have any fucking idea, but the baseball is necessary. They get the machine to work. They test it on Russell Sr. And then they enlarge all the kids to their regular size. Even though there's like a very like inserted weird like last minute obstacle where we're supposed to think the neighbor is brave or something and he's like, no, I'll do it. And you're like, oh yeah, yes. That's not what this character would do. No. Like I was an asshole. Yeah. Like there was nothing to suggest that he would have changed in that way. I also think that like, I don't know.

I like, I think that he, that Rick Moranis would be like in custody if the neighbor had, like, he's taking the first opportunity possible to be like, get this guy out. Mm-hmm. But no, instead he goes on a journey of the soul off screen and comes back courageous. Yes. He's like, you know what? Actually, I'm not a weird asshole. I love my life. I love my wife.

And I do kind of love my kids. So you know what? Shrink me, Rick Moranis. Shrink me. I know that statistically I'm about to blow up. But all good. But I'm brave. And I've learned that.

my son doesn't need to play football in order for me to love him. Right. And I've learned this off screen. Yes. And so the parents reunite with and embrace their kids. And then the two sets of neighbors become best friends. And the movie ends with them eating a giant turkey together because apparently Wayne uses his machine to enlarge food. So there's more to go around.

And then the final beat is Nick finally understanding what French kissing is. What are they eating? I think it's a turkey. Oh, okay. For a second, I thought it was an ant. And I was like, that is ghoulish. Because it looks, the skin of the ant. Kind of the same.

Looks like the skin of the turkey and the skin and also the skin of the scorpion. It all looks like shiny, like window leathery meat. So I wasn't being like out of my, because I was like, it looks like they're eating an aunt. And I was like, Ron's right there. He's his best friend. Come one. They're like, yum, yum, this aunt is good, Ron. Yum, yum.

Anti and or Andy tastes so yummy. Yeah. Meanwhile, Ron is like so traumatized. He's in like therapy three times a week. He is a vegan now. he like can't handle going to school. Yeah. His whole life has completely changed.

He's unraveled. Yeah. And he's like, oh, great, now our parents are friends. I'm never going to forget about this as long as I live. Anyway, that's the movie. So let's take another quick break and we'll come back to discuss. The newest tracks. Let's go.

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Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School. Absolutely. a redacted amount of years later. We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games

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What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. I would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a hot knife. through sponge cake.

That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. I'm lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on.

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as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. If I'm outside with my parents and they're seeing all these people come up to me for pictures, it's like, what? Today now, obviously, it's like 100%. They believe everything. But at first, it was just like, you got to go get a real job. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail. And what I mean by fail is they don't have money to pay for food.

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He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know. You mean, like, the president? You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? Those law crusette. God, I love that thing.

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I mean, I for one was not able to contain myself for much of the, much of the recap. There's a lot of table setting we've done already. But I mean, this movie is, was a lot of what I expected and some of what I didn't. Like we have, uh, like mom. JPEG and teen daughter. JPEG here. All the women that we see or have like any narrative meaning to the plot are white blonde women who are, um, if they're adult women pretty deferential. to their husbands, even if they get a sassy one-liner in here and there. But there were moments where I was like, oh, that could be something. And then it just doesn't turn into something. For example, it seems like Diane, who we learn what her job is. She's a real estate agent, which

It does seem like she is like the breadwinner of the family. It does seem like that, right? Yeah, she's holding everything together. Diane, without Diane, this family is in shambles. truly suffering. Yes. Yes. I mean, she leaves for it seems like 12 hours and the house is a disaster. Yes. The way domestic labor exists in this household, in this world.

So like you were saying, Jamie, there's a lot of what you would expect from this movie. There's a lot of like very traditional gender roles present here. There are slight subversions here or there. But for the most part, it is like men equals this, women equals this. And we see this. this in the way domestic labor is distributed and done where, again, Wayne stays home. He seems to have lost his job or quit it or something, but he, the work that he is doing is building this machine in the attic while his wife, Diane, goes out into the world and works there. And you

might think that because Wayne is home, he would be doing some of the domestic. labor. But that does not happen. He has his daughter clean the house. She also cooks breakfast. He also delegates mowing the lawn to his son, Nick. So again, there's very like gendered lawn work and landscaping and that kind of stuff. Outside work is for boys. And inside work like cleaning and cooking is for girls. Also, Nick doesn't even mow the lawn. He doesn't even mow the lawn. He delegates it to some other kid and not that anyone would have to do anything anyway because the lawnmower is remote controlled. So basically Nick does no chores. Nothing. Meanwhile, Amy is cooking. She's cleaning. She's not doing. Yeah, because when we cut to the house, I mean, we see her dancing,

which I thought was like a kind of direct rip off of that sequence from Adventures in Babysitting. Oh, sure. I was also getting a lot of don't tell mom the babysitter's dad vibes. Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. Yeah. This is a very 80s thing for a blonde teenager to be doing. But, you know, even though, you know, she plays hard and she works hard because cut to the house, it is clean. She has executed the task because by the time the mom gets home, I think she even like comments on. Oh, wow. No. It's the opposite. Because it got dirty again. Oh, because the daughter left the house for a second. Yeah. She got shrunk. She got shrunk. And she didn't do her duties before she got shrunk. So it was a fucking mess and the mom comes home and he's like oh you know amy was supposed to finish the

housework and the mom looks around like great nothing's fucking finished my mental load is at capacity i should be spending the afternoon celebrating that i just sold a house but instead i have to deal with this man's bullshit who let our kids go missing and nobody knows how to clean this place No. But Nick does vacuum the yard. He doesn't mow the lawn, but he does have this like handheld vacuum. It's an invention, Caitlin. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. He's a boy in stem. You know, the default setting. This, this movie is so ripe for the classic Rube Goldberg breakfast machine.

Oh, yeah. Which we see in so many movies. This is not here. I was so ready for it. I was so ready for it. Because he's like faxing the children from the attic. Yeah. Like I was like, whoa, is this a breakfast machine? We haven't covered.

But it, but it isn't. He's still, it's like at this point, it's almost sadistic that he's making his daughter, who doesn't know how to cook. It burns everything to a crisp. And then they make fun of her for not knowing how to cook. And you're like, this is a twist. did. I think that like honestly with with the women in this movie, it's there's pretty like rigid gender dynamic set up, but it's more like the non-reactions to things that are weird to me.

Yeah. Especially on Diane's end, but also on like it feels like the gender performance or like fitting the role is more important than what's happening in the plot because even after they get trunk, Amy is just like, I have to get to the mall to see my boyfriend. And you're like, Yeah. You're going to die. You're going to die. Your dad's going to step on you and you're going to die. Her big goal in life is to get ass to the dance.

And that's all she fucking cares about. And it's like, girl, your life is in peril. The stakes. You're going to get stepped on by your father's crutch. Which would have worse than a foot, I'm sure of it. Yeah. At least with a foot, you have ridges. You can duck in the ridge.

The crutch is going straight. It's like when a cat steps on your boob. Yes. Oh, my God. Yes. Yeah. I could feel that. I felt that.

Yeah, I don't know. It's very weird what she doesn't react to. And we'll get to like where she ends up because it just feels like another very sort of 80s. Like the popular girl should be dating the dork who is spying on her. Yeah. Oh my God. Remember the point when they're in the Lego and they're about to kiss. And he goes, she goes, why haven't you ever come over and say, said, she says to the neighbor, Russ Jr.

Right. Yeah. She goes, why haven't you ever come over before, like, stopped over? And he's like, I don't know. You just seem like you're too popular to notice me. And she goes, I am too popular. And I can't believe I haven't noticed you. And then they go in for a kiss.

She, like, admit she's like, it's true. I do think I'm too good for you. I am so popular. Anyway, want to make out? But then she negs herself. She says, I was too popular to notice. I was stupid. I was stupid.

And then she kisses him. And you're like, no, you weren't. Amy, you're being forced. You're doing a lot of labor. You know, like, I just wish that I knew a single interest of yours. But other than that, you're doing great, girl. Girl, you're a lesbian. We are, it's giving lesbian, Amy.

Kiss a girl. I would love. And then, of course, I mean, this movie weirdly, okay, so this is one of the things where I'm like, I don't really understand what's going on here. Because as we talk about on the Bechtelcast constantly, 90% of movies are about fathers and sons. Some are good, some are not. This movie is about fathers and sons, but I feel like it's more like the neighbor, about the neighbor and his eldest son than it is about Rick Moranus and his kids.

kid. Like there is a like, oh, he's also interested in science, but like there's not really a tension between, like the tension is very much between Max Headroom and his son, which just feels weird. You're like, who is the protagonist of this movie? Well, the movie does start to try to set up something between Wayne and his son Nick, where Nick comes upstairs. He's like, look, dad, I made a miniature replica of your machine. Want to help me with it or want to play or da-da-da-da? And Wayne is like, no, I'm too busy. Shrinking.

Building a machine that's going to commit war crimes probably. So go away. And Nick hangs his head. Oh, okay. See you later, dad. And that seems like it's setting up that classic, you know, the Santa Claus dynamic. where the dad is too busy for the son

and the dad has to realize he needs to do something to reconnect with his kids and be there and be present, blah, blah, blah. Well, and by his kids, we do mean his son. His son specifically. Right, exactly. While his daughter cleans the house, yeah. But then that gets dropped,

and that arc that they're trying to set up goes nowhere. I'm wondering how much it was rewritten because you're just like, yeah, that was set up and then never paid off. What is for sure, as this movie is not about mothers or daughters, because it is, I mean, you get, again, there's some, like, I think if you really wanted to go to bat for this movie, you could maybe say there's barely passes when they greet each other on the phone. But it immediately, the subject immediately switches to, so you're meeting your boyfriend at the mall today, right? And she's like, yeah, Hobie invites me to the dance.

The only other conversation they have is at the end where she's like, so you're not divorcing dad, right? And she's like, nope, everything is fine. And then there's a third. They're not talking, but this is the line I was really excited to get to where Diane, they're going to bed right after sundown, even though the children are shrunk. And there's like, there could be coyotes in this neighborhood, but let's not think about. If there's scorpions, there's, there's other dangerous shit. Let's not think about what can happen at night. We need to get our beauty rest, right?

They talk, like, she's just had this conversation with Rick Moranis where she's like, we don't need to focus on you apologizing for the horrific thing you've done. We need to focus on not getting divorced. And then the last thing she says as a button to the scene is weirdly slut-shamey towards her daughter. She's like what I'm mostly worried about is Amy and that boy next door in the dark, they better not do anything. They better behave. They better behave. She was like, so I'm like, look for her.

Oh, my God. She sluts, shames her daughter and then sleeps goes to bed for 10 hours. Was this what the 80s was like? Yes. A million times, yes. I was just looking at Amy's IMD. her name is Amy, Amy O'Neill. Because I'm like, also, when I was watching last night, I was like, I remember being really

attracted to Amy, like, as a character and as an actor. Like, I remember as a girl watching her and being like, she is so cool and beautiful, like, nobody sees her. And then also, like, also being like, this lady's a great actor. Like, I hope she, like, even in my eight-year-old mind, I was like, I hope she has. a career ahead of her. She slays. Like, but it was, I remember as a kid being like, she's going to be the boss bit. She's obviously like an outdoorsy. She's dressed like she's in Jurassic Park. Like, this chick is going to take us all the way. But she isn't really,

she is kind of like the leader of the pack, like the babysitter. But it doesn't really go further than that. Like she isn't actually the powerhouse hero of the kid group. Like it ends up being fucking kind of Russ Jr. Even though he's a douchebag who literally says and does nothing, he saves her life. It's like, no, she would be the one who had to save everybody's ass in this situation. Not a single one of these dorks would know what to do. No. But, okay, can we talk about the scene where she has to be saved?

Because there's so much to unpack here. So it's already established that Russ has a crush on Amy. we see him leering at her through the window he tells her about it then and she's visibly weirded out like oh you could see me you were watching me dancing and he's like i don't know shut up then the kids get shrunk they're going around together blah blah blah this stuff happens then the rain drops or the water from the sprinkler starts raining down on them amy she is knocked unconscious question mark. Suddenly she's unconscious and has fallen into a puddle. She doesn't know how to swim. Doesn't know how to swim. Why is she unconscious? What even happened there? I was getting that

idea of like, women and girls are so delicate and fragile. They're always fainting and passing out. Yeah. But she is now drowning. Russ jumps into the very viscous water, pulls her out. She's still unconscious. He gives her mouth to mouth, which revives her and now she's fine, which like, great, if someone needs the life-saving technique that is CPR, you should administer it to them. But it's played. It's like, it's plot CPR. And it's played as he didn't do that because he was actually really trying to save her life. He did that because he wanted to kiss her, parentheses, while she was unconscious. And that's the whole running joke through the rest of the rest of the movie where it's like he Frenched her.

And you're like, I certainly hope he didn't use tongue during CPR. Right. Praying, but also when they do eventually kiss consensually, are they using tongue? They are for sure.

I was like, disney, whoa! And now I remember why I was like so horned up about that one stupid kiss. I was just like, no, they're fully, they're kissing like middle schoolers who have never kissed in their life. There is no passion. It is simply mechanics because they are having to, they're having these children French. Yes. Correct. They're having the children French and we don't have to feel good about it. We don't. These, they were all kids when this was, I was like, is there any chance that

like one of them is secretly 20, but they were all in fact kids. Yeah. When this was filmed. I don't know that it would go down like this now. But, but there it is plot CPR, plot French. And, I agree. I think the Amy performance is like really like I just wish she had like more to her. But it's the movie maybe to no one's surprise is written by two men, you know, pushing 40s. So I don't think they really had any insight on a girl of this age or no insight and perhaps no interest. We don't know. Right. Well, they're like, what do teen girls like? What do they do? They like the mall. They like talking on the phone. They like their crush shoes on their on boys and nothing else. And it's the 80s. So they're like, we have to make her realize that again, it just feels like in these kinds of stories, it's such creepy adult male writer projection where it's just like, oh, and she should have ended up with me.

I'm like, no, she shouldn't have you dork. I feel bad for whoever ended up with you. Oh, and that crazy ass mullet. the way that they're skating on Russ Jr.'s, like, smoldering sort of mystery boy, I wasn't fooled when I was a kid. And I said, to this day, I remember thinking, first of all, she is like 10 years older than him. She's got to be. He looks like a child. And she looks like kind of a young woman. She also is miles beyond him intellectually. So this is. Yeah. This is not a good match at all.

And also, I say it again, Amy, the character is gay. And the way that they cast and they dressed her. I love your inner lore. I mean, she is wearing a lot of high-wasted beige. It's giving hipsters in Bushwick. All of their costumes were hipster Bushwick, early days Brooklyn, gentrification. And kind of Catherine Hepburny, too. I was like, yeah, she's like, she put her in Jurassic Park.

She does have like a young, she looks like a young Dr. Sattler. She does. Because she's also wearing like kind of a chunky watch. She's a scientist's daughter. If anybody knows women of any kind, just the smallest hint of science into our lives as young people, we are, we're rabbit holeing the fuck out of science. Yeah. Young girls. We're going in.

But despite her dad being a scientist and despite her younger brother taking an interest in science, Amy has no interest in science. She has no knowledge, nothing she's picked up from school or her dad or anything. She can't even cook a piece of toast. Nope. And at least, because I was struggling with that where it's like she doesn't have an interest. I guess also her love interest doesn't have an interest. And so this couple is maybe just not very interesting.

or interested. No. But, and I also thought it was not pointed, but like, maybe, maybe, go on this journey with me. In these kinds of movies where the dad has a kooky, like, job or passion, if his wife does have a job, it is not a job that requires the same focus and passion. Like, she has been written as a realtor. And if you're a passionate realtor, that's none of my business. but like a job that isn't quite as like all consuming and creative as what the husband is doing.

And I don't know what that is. I was like I would I think that it would make, you know, Diane's character a lot more of a character if she was also doing something that she cared about and was expected to take care of the entire family. And she is clearly working hard and is successful at what she does. But it makes it feel like there's only room for like one passionate, person in a marriage. And I don't love that. And I also don't love that it's given to the given to the man, Rick Moranis, because I'm like, always, yeah. Are you sure that that's the dynamic? Are you sure? I do. I will say there is something like inside of me that really is activated every time. The most subversive thing about this movie is the first time you see the

parents together and she's taller. And I'm like, oh my God. Representation matters. I love. I love. seeing Rick Moranus with a tall wife. It's awesome. Of course. Well, your fantasy. It's true. I want to be his tall wife. But it is always, and this kind of goes back to the point you were making earlier, Jamie, as far as like movies about a man's special interest that is ruining his family because it's always the man's job or hobby or project or whatever that is the thing that is crucial to the plot versus whatever the wife slash mother's job, if she is even given a job that we know what it is, it has no bearing on this story whatsoever, usually.

And especially in this movie, we do know what she does, but it could have been anything. It doesn't matter what her job is. And not that like a person's job defines them, of course, but when it's always a man's work is seen as more important. It is the thing that impacts the plot. It is the thing that is like basically the narrative thrust of the entire movie. You know, not great. Not great. We don't love that. And meanwhile, both moms, May and Diane, are seen in two different scenes, putting away groceries. God, I know. Because that's the limit of this movie's imagination of what adult women would be doing at any given moment. Well, generally while advising their husband, while putting

their husband at ease, May especially, she is an interesting character because I feel like they do a few girl boss feminism moments, but it always happens behind closed doors where a lot of it is like she's de-escalating her husband's anger towards her son. So she's protecting her children from her husband's anger at many points. But it's made to seem like cute and like this is our way. And like, this is our relationship, ha-ha, where at one point she's like, you know, lightly necks him where he's like rubbing at his head because he got bonked because he's the neighbor. And she's like, don't, you know, you only got so many brain cells up there, honey, you got to be careful. And it seems like he's less hostile to her than he is to their children. But she spends a lot of time having to de-escalate

his anger towards the kids, towards the cops, which I think- Wayne Zelensky and all the noise that he's making. Towards the cops is more warranted because why aren't they looking for the children? But it's because cops don't do anything. Yeah. Also, the way that the movie opens up, I'm sort of like, wait, as an adult, I'm watching it thinking, is this a movie about domestic violence and neglect? It's kind of.

Like, the neighbor dad seems like he's unhinged. He's like a Jim Carrey sort of. It's like what I imagine Jim Carrey is like IRL, like not in character. He's like sort of a Jim Carrey ripoff. I had the same thought. He's very big and clownish, but also like un-fucking hinged. This man is not a good father. He should not be around children.

He certainly should not have attracted a wife. I feel for her. I know. I'm like, this poor woman, she is in an abusive situation. get her out of there right now and those children as well. But it's framed as a joke. And all of these boys are going to grow up to be Maga. Yes. Oh my God.

The boys, they're especially Ron. I mean, maybe if the aunt had pulled through, it would be a different story. But as things stand, I think he's pretty squarely going to be a fascist. Yes. Also Rick Moranis's son. Yes. He's going to be growing up. up to be Mark Zuckerberg or something.

Mm-hmm. Because also, Rick Moranis' character is clearly being funded by Mark Andreessen and is building a war machine that is going to be turned into AI someday. I don't know. It all goes so deep.

Yeah, down to, like, even there are little interactions between the neighbor parents that is supposed to, I think, be, like, funny and affectionate, but reads very dark, where there's another time where she's saying something. I think this is in the scene where they're talking to the cops about the kids being missing.

And she says something and he says, no, no, no, no. And then he says the same thing. And the joke is that he says what she just said and takes credit for it and she puts up with it. And that's so funny and I'm laughing. Yeah. The two of them are confronting the Zelenskis. May says, how did this happen? How did you shrink our kids?

And Russell's like, I'll handle this. May. How did this happen? Right. Every time we see them on screen together, she's always, yeah, like you said, trying to de-escalate. She's always like, oh, give the guy a break, honey. Oh, give your son a chance, honey. Oh, lighten up.

But it is a fairly bizarre dynamic. I mean, obviously they're both like caricatures of people. But like the dynamic is very bizarre and unsettling. and then you have Russell being obsessed with his son Russ Jr. being into fishing and being into football and making him lift weights. Being super masculine and- Exactly. And no offense to this actor, no offense to Max Headroom, but it felt weird because I was like, this is not the guy you cast as like jock father. Like he's too weird. Yeah. You know, whatever. But like just the character choices, being made.

I'm like, I don't believe this guy was a quarterback. He, like, it's, it feels like the character must have changed a lot because what we see visually and then when we randomly see Kimmy Robertson from Twin Peaks and you're like, well, that's fun. It's mostly her getting yelled at and disbelieved. Oh, my God. Is this the, um, always nice to see her. Dawn and Gloria.

Yeah. Yeah. Dawn also so, so, so I was like, this movie needed me. I could have helped. I, like, the, uh, the, uh, the, the fact that there's a character named Don and a character name Ron, I'm like, come on, guys. Come on. Second draft. Someone has to have eyes on this. No, but back to the, I mean, there could have been something interesting about if a father is pressuring his son with taking an interest in these traditionally masculine activities, there's an opportunity for that to be examined. And we do see Russ Jr. push back on that and say those are your interests. dad, not mine. But as we've already talked about, the movie squanders this opportunity to be like,

no, I don't, I like reading or I like science or I like, he's like, I don't know what I like. Well, what do you like, son? I don't know. I don't know. He says like, he says it all like, smar me too in this weird way where he's like, I'll let you, I'll get, I'll update you when I know what my character is. And you're like, yeah, let us know too. We'd love to know what the hell's going on with you. You couldn't just invent one thing that he's into? Yeah. Comic books? I don't know. Anything. What would be

great is if it was like, I just want to be a lifeguard. And then it justifies him saving Amy. Oh, right. Yes. Yeah. I also didn't think, I mean, I guess that like Nick's interest in science becomes plot relevant a few times,

but not as much as you would think. He figures out that they're three miles away. I appreciated the detail and or continuity error that his calculator also shrunk because he's able to use it. I thought that was really cute. I guess everything that's on you is also shrunk. So I'm down for that. The science works on whatever.

Good thing he kept that calculator on him or that would have been an issue. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, like it's so exciting to watch the kid. And I'm sure like if you're a kid especially like it's so exciting to watch the kids like survive all of these travails that you don't really think about like the fact that the ways that they're active are not really grounded in what the characters are it just sort of is like what the plot requires and that involves like we talked about a lot of damseling of amy really the most active

amy gets in these situations are there is one point where she's like assisting in wrangling the future dead aunt but it's basically against her will and that presents like ron the opportunity to be like she's pretty good for a girl of course and then nick says oh yeah for a girl of course i was like you agree what they're it's so weird yeah that's their friendship their the moment that their friendship is solidified as just being like girls fucking suck and then i mean earlier in the movie ron is being like we need to get back home because i want to go fishing and russ is like no we should go to the Solinsky's house because they have a machine that will fix us, per Amy's suggestion. She's like, no, like, my dad can fix this, right, Nick? And Ron is like, what are you going to let a girl tell

you what to do? Like, someone's got to make a decision here. Yeah. And it's like, that is technically a win for Amy, but it's such a small win. And Russ doesn't even push back on that. He's not even like, yeah, we should listen to Amy. She made a good point. Because obviously she's the only one in this group of four who can get us through this. It's clear as day. Right. Yeah. And then, yeah, Russ just responds with something like, you know, you'll do as I say when we're down here, younger brother.

Like, weird dynamic. But yeah, this is all kind of, I guess, setting up Ron's arc, which is that he hates girls and doesn't respect them at first. but after traversing through the yard, he comes to respect one girl, exactly. It's just your casual 1980s sexism. It's very, you know, it's sort of launching us into the early 90s where we have Alanis Morissette coming out and saying, no. No more. No more.

And she fixed it. She fixed it. And here we are. Wow, good for her. Yeah, it is interesting. It's like this movie is doing some, like, it's doing stuff we've talked about before in slightly different ways, but it's like very clear the playbook they're pulling from. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah. And then realizing that it's kind of just a bunch of like horror, 1980s like be horror writers, directors that are like, you know, they're not really grappling with giant content. This is mostly a movie about the effects and what they can do with a green screen and this new technology that they're kind of playing around. with. The characters could, who cares? Who cares? They're sort of ancillary. It cares as long as we can rig them to a gigantic broom and sort of whisk them around

in all of these different cool, like, stunt ways. It doesn't. We don't care. Yeah. And that does seem to be Joe Johnston's whole deal. He's like, let's get the stunt. Let's get the, because he goes on to do, well, he did one of my favorite childhood movies the pagemaster. I loved the pagemaster. I've never seen it. Yes. One of my favorite VHS's growing up.

That's a deep cut. That is my Molly Colkin movie for some reason. Oh my God. It's really fun. And it teaches you three genres of book. But he did the page master. He did Jumanji. Like he did, you know, I think that like with it seems like with his movies, it really depends on like the quality of the script, because that's not why he's there. No. He's there for giant ant. He's there for Jumanji stunts. He randomly did direct October Sky.

Oh, yeah. Which is not a big stunt movie. But then he did Jurassic Park 3. He did Captain America, the First Avenger. Like, he does big, gigantic movies. And if the script is good, the movie is good. And if the script isn't good, then there will be a gigantic insect, but that's about all you can be guaranteed.

Yeah. And I do feel like, you know, the scripts weren't, the movies of the 1980s, especially the children's movies, they were inspiring to me as a child as a young entertainer wanting to get into the industry. I thought, oh, I could do that. Yeah. I mean, script-wise, I was like, oh, oh, that's all you have to do? Great. Sign me off. Uh-huh.

Yeah. Yeah. It's true. It's true. Yeah. I mean, I enjoyed the movie. I'll say it. It's like for the Bechel cast, it is, it is, it was never going to fare well. No. And. But on the rompometer, I'd say a 10 out of 10. It's also 90 minutes long. It's so, it's such a nice length. It's such a nice length. And it almost felt a little too long in my opinion. I was like, well, because every, almost every obstacle. One too many obstacles. the yard maybe and they're way too insect oriented or but what it bugs it's clear that joe johnson's like how many big insects will you buy me and that's how many big insects will be in the movie yeah they needed some diversity in the types of obstacles that they encounter eco diversity i thought that like a nighttime travail would i mean that might have been just really hard and expensive to shoot but i'm like i wanted a coyote in the yard you know like i mean or uh what else could happen

I think there just needs to be something besides wildlife that they run into. Like, surely, it's just like a bunch of different types of. I want to run into like a fairy. I want to, I want to learn. Well, that's a totally different movie. I like that this movie, in this movie, magic is not real. Magic is not real, but the kids are shrunk. Yeah.

Yes. Beautiful. Because science did the magic, not magic, did the magic. Yeah. It was the opposite of magic. It was science. The science is magic. Yeah.

But, wow. No, it isn't. And it's kind of magic when you fall into a flower and you get the pollen chunks all over your body and they won't get off. Yes. They're sticky. That was fun. It's magical. It is.

Does anyone have anything else they want to talk about? I don't think so. I'm glad this movie isn't called teeny weenies. But does it pass the Bechtel test? I think spiritually no. Absolutely. Absolutely not. I'm going, I'm going, no.

Because there is, the other interaction, oh, this, I was going to bring this up, was between the two moms. But they are talking about either their husband or their, I mean, technically, Amy, their children, but their majority son's children for most of that time. I don't know about you guys, but like, there is like an underlying sense of hostility to this one interaction we get between these women that I think is like cut around to make it seem like it's about the baseball through the window. But I just felt like May and Diane were randomly being like a little hostile to each other. Well, because May is like, we haven't seen

you around that much. It was like kind of a weird tone. And then in a similarly sort of like defensive tone, Diane is like, well, yeah, I've been working a lot. Yeah. I wonder if there was like a snother scene that like, I don't know. It just felt like a very hostile. dynamic to establish and then be like, and that's just kind of what these women are like. And you're like, all right, so we have no women who can be friends. Got it. I do feel like it's sort of, yeah, like the classic neighbors scenario where you just hate your neighbors. Well, the husbands don't like each other and the women are just going to go along with whatever the husbands are doing and feeling, maybe it was that? Yeah. I don't know. That wasn't how my neighborhood worked. It was like,

if husbands hated each other, that was not going to interrupt wine mom time. Truly. That's beautiful. Wide mom time exceeded the husband. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is just very much a byproduct of the culture of the 80s. It is.

And the sexism and the centering of whiteness that was inherent to that time. And oops, it's still happening. Oops. But yeah, that was all I had to say about them. Same. So let's see how it fares on the Bechtel cast iconic nipple scale. Five nipples based on how the movie fares with an intersectional feminist lens. Yeah, zero to five nipples. I'm going to give it a half nipple because there was women are in it. Potential, I guess. That was all squandered. But, you know, there was potential in the character of Amy. at least there was one girl who got to like go on the big adventure through the yard.

There was potential that could have been explored with Diane being the breadwinner. But again, none of these opportunities are capitalized on. Everything is just very, very status quo, very gendered dynamics across the entire movie. and it's not doing really anything interesting in that regard. So a half nipple, and I'm going to give it to Auntie the aunt. Oh, RIP. May he or she rest in peace. RIP.

I'm also going to do, I think, half a nipple. You know, all of the hallmarks of an 80s family movie are here. It is extremely white. It happens in an upper middle class suburb. There are only blonde women and they are not allowed to be interesting past a very specific point. So sounds like a movie from 1989 to me, but most movies from 1989 counterpoint don't have gigantic ants. And so I did enjoy it. And I also, I feel like if I had seen this movie when I was a kid, I would have been very attached to Amy and wanted more for her.

and yeah again she is now that now that I see her as little Ellie Sattler I can't unsee it and it would have been so easy and helpful to a weird plot to have her interested to be the older sibling

interested in science it would have helped but that we could not we could conceive of a shrink ray what we could not conceive of is a young woman with an interest and so live laugh love half a nipple

I am giving it to, I'm going to give it to Amy. She deserves it. Yeah. Yes. And more. Jenna, how about you? I'm also doing half nipple and I'm giving it to Amy. She is the only one with any kind of feminist potential. I think she grows up, you know, to be a scholar.

She gets a PhD at Harvard for physics. She's a paleontologist. I don't know. She does something in the sciences. She's a woman in STEM. who has been sort of written to only want to go to the mall. But she's dressing the part. She was cast in that way.

This movie is, unfortunately, was written by men, as was every Disney movie. And I do think that as a child, because I was so moved by this film and the making of it, truly just what they wanted us to see, which was the technical aspects of it. You know, I have to give it some credit because it did, it did capture my special effects loving heart. And, um, but that's about it. That's about it. That's about it.

Well, thank you so much for joining us once again. Oh my God. I love being on this pod. We love you so much. Bring us another practical effects. Any, anything, anything and everything. My God, I will. I will.

I have so many 80s movies that are in this zeitgeist that are perfect for this podcast. Hell yeah. Thanks for having me. Of course. And tell us where people can find you on social media, find your work, plug anything you want to plug. Yeah. You can follow me at Jana Unplugged. I don't really have anything big to plug right now, but I do have my own podcast.

We are two Native American comedians, myself and Brian Bahi, give advice to listeners who call in and ask for it. It's called Stage-based Wisdom. It's so funny. Very dirty. and weird. You and Brian are unhinged together. I really love it. So unhinged. So good. And you can find us in all the normal places. And by that we mean Instagram and our Patreon, aka Matrion. We're for $5 a month. You can get two bonus episodes with Caitlin and myself on a theme of ours or your choosing, depending on how well-behaved the Patreon masses are being.

we're in dispute anyways join debate it's really fun over there and there's also a back catalog of over 200 episodes to enjoy indeed and with that should we all get shrunk let's be let's all get unshrunk because it turns out there's a reverse button on this thing of course obviously yes all machines have that okay let's do that bye bye The Bechtelcast is a production of IHeart Media, hosted and produced by me, Jamie Loftus. And me, Caitlin Durante. The podcast is also produced by Sophie Lichtenen. And edited by Caitlin Durante. Ever heard of them? That's me. And our logo and merch and all of our artwork, in fact, are designed by Jamie Loftus, ever heard of her?

Oh my God. And our theme song, by the way, was composed by Mike Kaplan. With vocals by Catherine Voskrasinski. iconic and a special thanks to the one and only Aristotle Acevedo. For more information about the podcast, please visit Linktree slash Bechtelcast. This is Julian Edelman, host of games with names. On our latest episode, we got comedian Blake Anderson from Workaholics and The Hilarious This Is Important Podcast. Let's go! We did beat them in improv.

You had an improv against the team? Yes, we would pull up their schools, would be there with signs for us. It's competition. What you would win is a bottle of gold slager. James Fester threw it out of a van because he didn't want us drinking it. For more games with names, visit the Iheart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer, Zoe Spencer, and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum Pierre,

as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Miles Turner. And I'm Brianna Stewart. And our podcast, Game Recognized Game has never been done before. Two active players giving you a real look at our lives and what we actually think on and off the board.

Nothing's off limits. We talk tanking. I might get in trouble for this answer, but I think it's, like, definitely happening in the WBA. We talk about our mistakes, too. They pulled me to the side and was like, hey, man, we got a call last night, man. You can't be rolling around the city like this tonight before games.

Check out Game Recognized Game with Stoian Miles on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Ernest, what's up? Look, money is something we all deal with, but financial literacy is what helps turn income into real wealth. On each episode of the podcast, Earn Your Leisure, we break down the conversations you need to understand money, investing, and entrepreneurship. From stocks and real estate to credit, business, and generational wealth, our goal is simple. Make financial literacy accessible for everyone.

Because when you understand the system, you can start to build within it. Open your free IHeart radio app. Search Earn Your Leisure and listen now. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.