The Big Picture - ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ ‘The Naked Gun,’ and the 21st-Century Comedy Movie Crisis

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

Sean and Amanda are joined by The Ringer’s Craig Horlbeck to discuss all things 21st-century comedy. Before diving in though, they cover a handful of movie news headlines, including Celine Song being attached to a remake of ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’; rumors that Jeremy Strong, Mikey Madison, and Jeremy Allen White are the top choices for ‘The Social Network Part II’; and Bradley Cooper’s film ‘Is This Thing On?’ being announced to close the New York Film Festival (1:44). Then, they cover Netflix’s ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ starring Adam Sandler, which they all had wildly different reviews of, varying from apocalyptically bad to incredibly fascinating (14:59). Finally, they talk about ‘The Naked Gun,’ starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, and use it as a springboard to have a conversation on why there are so few theatrical comedies being made and whether we’ll get more going forward (38:06). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Craig Horlbeck Producer: Jack Sanders THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY THE STARBUCKS COFFEE COMPANY. ORDER NOW | STARBUCKS.COM/MENU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennacy. And this is the big picture of conversation show about comedy. On today's episode, we are discussing two follow-ups to some legendary Gen X comedy IP. Happy Gilmore 2. And The Naked Gun reboot will also be talking about this century in comedy movies. What the hell happened to them? Joining us today is Craig Horleback. This is our first time on the pot?

It is. You've never invited me. Welcome. That's insane. Okay. And here you are. Co-host of the Ringer Fantasy Football Show, producer of the rewatchables,

producer of the town, handsomest guy at the company, so many incredible declarations to be made. You are also the number one guy in my life who's like, what the hell happened to comedy movies? Remember comedy movies? They used to be so fun.

They were so fun. So we're going to talk about a couple of the new ones today and if we'll ever get any more ever again in Hollywood. I'm just going to present a tease to the audience. Okay. Stay tuned to this show, to this channel. Every day, but especially next week. Especially, yes. Next week we will have information about a new live event. Chicago went so well that we are opening for Oasis at Wembley.

And I'm really saying, no, we're not doing that. We are going to do something, and we will have information about that for you next week. We're replacing Sean with Noel. I... You're the Noel and I'm the Liam. Yeah. I mean, it's really... It's true. Can you sing like Liam?

I wish. that would be really fun. You wouldn't be here today. But like 90s, Liam, respectfully. I'm not going to be Andy like with the tapes. You know, I'm really excited to go see Oasis. I'm pro Oasis. But, you know, age comes for us all. It certainly does. And that's a great transition to the news in movies right now, which is we got word earlier this week that reportedly Celine Song, the writer-director behind past lives and materialists, is been tapped to write a sequel to my best friend's wedding. Yeah. Which is a huge favorite of Amanda's. I just shared with Craig that I think it might be my favorite Julia Roberts movie. And it is a sacred text among the rom-com fans. And Amanda, I'll start with you. How do you feel about this news?

I heard from roughly 30 people in my life about this, both, you know, people I haven't talked to in several years and kind strangers on the internet who wanted to check in, who wanted to make sure that I'd heard about this. and I said to all of them I was collecting my thoughts and I'd be ready for Friday when we were recording I obviously I hate it but like what if I don't hate it

what if I don't I'm reclaiming materialists you and I are on that project together hey where are you in materialists I have not seen it okay well then you can't be a part of our project I actually really need to know your thoughts just putting that out there

just find a way to check it out soon and I do feel that Celine's song has identified, isolated as pursuing one of her great themes and interest, which is the love triangle. So in that sense, I think she could be well, you know, fit to this. They are ruining or remaking, but less well, all of my favorite things now. And you, Sean, have just started laughing at me because, as you said, it comes for us all. And it came for you five to ten years ago because, you know, our financial and corporate structures are weighed towards men. But they finally got around to me. And now it's coming. And I don't think

it feels great. But at the same time, maybe I'll like it. Maybe I won't like it. This is the trap. I know. But what if they do it well? What if it's good? Yeah, sure. What if it's the godfather too? Absolutely. Yeah. Definitely. What if, what if? There's a two after that. Yeah, there's a lot of possibilities. I'm nervous. I mean, I'd like for them to. to spend money on it, you know? I'd like for them, do we even know whether the three main stars are returning? I don't know. I think it would be hard to do it without Julia Roberts and Dermit Mulroney.

I mean, perhaps there's been a divorce, you know? Maybe marrying Cameron Diaz at 19 didn't pan out. Would you prefer them to be the stars of the movie or kind of the side characters ushering in a new younger generation? No, don't do that. Well, we already did that. That's ticket to paradise, you know? I'm good. I saw that.

I didn't have a bad time, but I would like to know what happens after, you know, second marriage-wise. This is the phase of life we're entering, Craig. I wouldn't like to know. Okay. Yeah. I think that's the beauty of these movies is they stay as they are.

Yeah. And they're perfect the way they are. It just feels like we're slapping a band-aid on things right now by relaunching all of these great movies from the 90s and early 2000s. And they're going to work. They're going to make a little bit of money. They're going to get a lot of Netflix views. but this is just slapping a bandit on a larger problem that is not being fixed.

Spoiler alert, I think, on your Happy Gilmore 2 review potentially. Yeah, it's a little depressing. Celine's song is a really interesting writer. And I like the way that she tries to filter thematic ideas into very obvious structures. You know, like a longing romance, like past lives, is a much deeper movie than someone who is less gifted making a movie like that. The same goes for materialists, which I think is less successful, but was at least really interesting to think about and talk about. I don't know if my best friend's wedding is, like, the vehicle for deep ideas,

but maybe in her hands it could be a little bit better. But, you know, between this and Devil Wars Prada, too, it's a really hilarious time to be potting with Amanda. That's what I'm going to say. I wish you the best. And also the next one. Let's keep moving. Speaking of twos.

Reportedly, Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White are the top picks for significant roles in the social network, too, which is apparently still being written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. As far as we know, David Fincher and Mark Zuckerberg, David Fincher and Jesse Eisenberg are not a part of this project. Thoughts? Disaster. I just, once again, once again, I am begging Aaron Sorkin

to consider a group project, you know? Just, just open it up. And I am begging Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison to not cast themselves in the morning show by accident. You know, like, it's just really, we're in danger of something bad. And I like all parties involved. And I think that we should rethink it. You know, once you say David Venture and Jesse Eisenberg are not involved in this project, some just alarm bells should be ringing for everyone.

It was rumored that Jesse Eisenberg might be involved, that he might be coming back as Zuckerberg. right? And that has now been confirmed. He's not. It has not been confirmed, but I think that was a hope and a wish. And I don't think that there is anything meaningful to that. And it doesn't mean if they don't, you know, if they cut the check, why wouldn't Jesse? Jesse Eisenberg's about to be, and now you see me three. Like, I don't think he's above working on the social network, too. But he really likes those movies, right?

He loves magic, just like me. Close up magic. Me and Jesse, we have that in common. It does feel like the sanctity of the movie lies on if Jesse Eisenberg returns at Zuckerberg. To me, that legitimizes it. I feel like it's a bit more serious of a movie that he's back with Sorkin. If he's out, and now it's just a new cast figuring it out with sork and directing, it does feel much cheaper. Obviously, I don't want this movie to be made. Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White being in it, that doesn't bother me.

They're very talented. We learned that Mikey Madison, it sounds like, passed on being the damsel in distress in a Star Wars movie starring Ryan Gosling, directed by Sean Levy. I think that indicated that she was an actress looking for richer roles. She already has an Academy Award. She should be able to get, you know, not just paid, but get star parts that have some depth. I just, Sorkin's, as a director, is just, he's not been good. You need Fincher.

I know, and he's... It's one tier above Star Wars. This, though. It is. It is. Yeah. It's an adult drama. Shorkin's movie still get nominations.

Their actors get nominated. No doubt. No doubt. Trial of Chicago 7 and B. Ricardo's, both got Oscar nominations, for sure. Yes, they did. I don't think either of those movies are that strong. Molly's game probably the strongest of the three, in my opinion.

That is right. But all flawed. And I agree, he's a great collaborator. He's somebody who, like, the friction of another strong voice tends to create great work. Steve Jobs, another example. Bring in somebody like Danny Boyle to match the weird energy that Sorkin has in projects. So we'll see, I think we're just kind of wish casting both what actors would do something like this and also who is going to make it. If Sorkin wants to make it, he's probably going to make it. We'll see what happens. One other festival piece

of news, do you follow the festival stuff at all? You don't want to go to the festivals. I go to Sundance. I've been a couple times. You do go to Sundance. That's true. But that's the only one I've been to. I'd love to go to more. Okay. Well, is this thing on was announced as the night film at the New York Film Festival. We kind of suggested this could be a possibility when we talked about the Toronto slate and the Telly Ride Slate and the Venice Slate. And this is Bradley Cooper's new movie. It stars Will Arnett.

It's based on the life of a stand-up comedian, which I know is a world that Amanda has spent a lot of time inside of and is really excited to explore more deeply with Brad Cooper. Do you think this is going to be good, this movie? I don't know. I sent you an email about this before 8 a.m., the day it was announced. just said this puts us in a real pickle in terms of scheduling, in terms of anticipation, in terms of reading the tea leaves, you, you don't seem that optimistic. Well, the last two closing night films in the New York Film Festival were Blitz, Steve McQueen's

movie, and Ferrari Michael Mann's movie, two extremely hyped up movies that have some good things going for them, but ultimately fizzled out, not just in the awards race, but in the public consciousness. That doesn't mean it's not going to be good, but it's not super encouraging. New York Film Festival is not really a place where you usually launch a Best Picture Contender. It's usually at one of the previous fall festivals, and then you run through to New York. There are exceptions, the Irishman. The Irishman is an exception. A profoundly New York movie with some Scorsese heritage.

This could be a profoundly New York movie. You don't know. You're right. I don't know. Bradley Cooper is living in New York and getting photographed with Gigi Hadid and selling cheese steaks in New York, even though he's from Philly. So do you follow Bradley Cooper's personal life, Craig? Not unless it's put in front of my face, which it is sometimes. It is, yeah.

By the algorithm? Okay. Now that also comes for us. Fox Searchlight has not missed on a Best Picture nomination since 2017. This is a Searchlight movie. Whether it's this movie or rental family, it's unclear if that's going to be their big contender this year. Rental Family premieres at TIF. Cooper also, one of the most.

nominated men alive. He's had how many, I think he's had like 14 nominations when you include producing, directing, acting,

songwriting, like all the way down the line. He's gotten a lot of nominations he's directed, Stars Born and Maestro. Is he Maestro? Yeah. What did you think of that?

In the theater, I thought it was a fun theatrical experience. I thought the music was great and he tried really hard and I'm happy to try. You're pro-maller. Let's put that on there.

Sure. Bradley Cooper wants to be taken seriously, and I think this movie's another attempt at that. I wonder, this seems definitely like a like a pitched at a lower register. Maybe like a more intimate, quieter movie. Doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot to say, but it's not this gargantuan biopic like Maestro was meant to be.

Watching with interest. We'll see what happens. Sure. I'd like to watch it. I think he's a really talented filmmaker, even if the material he chooses is sometimes a little bit confusing. So we'll see. Okay, we have some incredible

breaking news. The timing in this is remarkable. I'm... Go ahead. We've just had like a five minute conversation about the potential of the social network too and who the actors are and whether or not Jesse Eisenberg is coming back. And it appears that there is an actor who's being eyed to play, Mark Zuckerberg, but it is not Jesse Eisenberg. Now, Craig does not know who this person is. Yeah. Do you have any guesses as to who the actor is

that is being strongly considered for this part? Can you give me a small hint. Big star, medium star. Medium star. Appeared on a very prominent television show in the last five years. One of Sean's favorites. Kind of around like 40-year-old white guy-ish. Yeah, correct. Prominent television show.

Jason Siegel. Not a bad guess. Yeah. That's not correct. The answer is Jeremy Strong. Wow. Yeah. Now, wow, he's going to take that so seriously.

Yeah. Yeah. That is fascinating. I'm not saying it's good, but it is appropriate. So here's the, Jeremy Strong is yet one more person who needs a group project. Do you know what I mean? It's just, it's like, let's all get in the mix together. Let's all add our interpretations. Let's balance each other out. Well, fortunately, he's an actor. So he has to, he's got to read the words. I guess so. Jeremy Strong, who I think is clearly slightly deranged performer

but is incredibly gifted. He did previously collaborate with Sorkin, obviously, in the trial of the Chicago 7. He played Jerry Rubin in that movie. He's, I thought he's pretty good in that movie. He's fine. You have, you've got like a black-licker's thing with Jeremy Strong. Yeah. And I just, I don't, I don't know that I trust Aaron Sorkin and,

Jeremy Strong without a counterweight in the room. Jeremy, that's a fair point. Jeremy Strong, Jeremy Allen White are going to be together in the Springsteen movie. So they obviously have a working relationship. Jeremy Strong, Jeremy Allen White, and Mikey Madison,

now all of a sudden we're cooking with gas. Now, again, I need Bennett Miller to just come back and make this movie for Jeremy, for Aaron Sorkin. Like, I just need something else to happen. Yes, that's what I'm saying. But that is a very talented cast. Everyone is talented in their own way with this project attached to this project.

And we just, we need to. We actually can't cancel this podcast because we have to see this movie. Like, we got to last at least until this movie. I just, I, oh, my stomach hurts. That's my reaction to this. Does it seem more exciting or less exciting to you with strong? Definitely more exciting. Drawing Jeremy Strong into this makes it much more interesting.

Those are three good actors. Okay. Well, hopefully this works out. for the best. I'm sure it won't, but I'm very excited, I'll watch that. That is, that's a, is that a, is that a, is that a, is that a legacy sequel? How do we categorize that? I think so. Speaking of, maybe we should pivot now to

another conversation about legacy sequels. Let's talk about Happy Gun War II. Directed by Kyle Neuichek, who has directed Game Over Man. Did you see that movie? No, I missed it. The Workaholics guys? I'm a fan of the workaholics, guys. Me too. I just saw them on the lot at Netflix when I went to go see another movie. Murder Mystery also, Adam Sandler.

Jennifer Aniston on a boat. Somebody got killed. We talked about that movie on this pod once. I watched the sequel, too, I think. The Murder Mystery 2. I don't know, actually, now. Maybe I watched the trailer. Those movies are among the most watched movies

in Netflix history. So Kyle Neuechek is a proven commodity. And the movie is written by Tim Hurleyhee and Adam Sandler. And it is a follow-up, a legacy sequel, to one of the most important movies in the history of my life. and an essential Gen X, Elder Millennial comedy

that Craig's generation also claims. Recently, you guys did on the Ringer Fantasy Football Show an episode in which you used moments from Happy Yelmore

to define the upcoming fantasy football season. It is the most quoted movie on our show and I think it's the movie I can quote the most. The comedy, I can quote the most. So we had an interesting

experience with this movie on The Rewatchable some years ago. We did that episode with Josh and Benny Safdi. That's right. And Josh and Benny Safde I felt really put us to shame

in terms of the knowing every square inch of Happy Gilmore. They were upset and I love this movie and I know Bill loves this movie and they were obsessed with it. Lo and behold,

Benny Safdi is a part of this new movie. He is in fact the big bad, the villain of this movie. Coming back from the original film, Sandler of course, Julie Bowen, sort of, Christopher McDonald, the shooter McGavin,

uh, we'll talk about, we'll talk about Julie Bowman. We will. This movie also is the most star-studded cameo fest in movie history. Yeah. Is it fair to say? Certainly.

I'm waiting to be unleashed. Let me go. Yeah, just let him go. Let him go. Okay, Craig, you go first. What did you think of Happy Gilmore, too? First off, I want to get this out of the way that I love Happy Gilmore. I love it.

Okay? It's one of my favorite movies ever. I think it is underratedly smart, tight, well-written, well-acted. It's a great story I desperately wanted this movie to be good Of course I had my doubts But I went in with as much of an open mind as I could And I thought this was genuinely maybe

The worst movie I've ever seen I thought this was the laziest fan service pandering nostalgia bait I've ever seen It was barely a movie It was a YouTube compilation of cameos It was S&L 50 Of them just jamming in as many people

as they possibly could. They weren't even in there long enough for it to be a scene. It was made to be marketed. It was made to be a trailer. That is my thought. That was my initial gut reaction after watching this two-hour movie

30 minutes longer than the first one. So would you say you didn't like it? I didn't love it. Okay. But here's the thing. I might be in the wrong because I would say the majority of the people in my life

didn't like it. However, there were a few that did. There were a few that were like I didn't think it was so bad. there were some fun moments. It was an easy watch, which I think is a problem with a lot of the movies

that air on streaming now is that you can just kind of lean back and think to yours, oh, that's easy watch. There were some moments. It was entertaining. I want to explore that with you for sure. What did you think?

Well, at first I'd just like to add some context to Craig's impassioned speech, which I think I mostly agree with, except when Craig says that it is the worst movie that he's ever seen, I just want to note that Craig has not seen most superhero movies. I've seen a lot of them.

And we saw the naked gun together, and he was asking me about other movies and was then just like, I will never see that. So, you know, that's the world that we're living in. I didn't think this movie was a good comedy, but, and this is dark days. This is, this is tough for me because this shows you, like, how far golf has entered my home and my life. Like, maybe it was kind of a fun golf movie. Like maybe I started cheering when Rory McElroy and Scotty showed up and I was like, Zach, come back in. Look, it's Rory. You know, like maybe I recognize Colin Murakala like on the screen getting a punchline. So I don't know what to do with that.

And to Craig's point, like that is, that's just like that is fan service and that is fan service for this, this energy of the golf, then the golf world and the golf show that's on Netflix and Adam Sandler and all these sorts of. things. It has nothing to do with the original movie. Adam Sandler is not very funny in it. Like, it's, so I think as a sequel, thumbs down, as me having a decent time watching the whole thing, I did. And look, I can agree with her. Like, it is fun to see Scotty Schaeffler and Rory. That's undeniable. I don't think that makes it a good movie. It can be, I guess, an entertaining watch. But I feel like that sets the bar on the floor for what a movie needs to be. Okay. You've had your say. You're both wrong. This is a fascinating document in American movie making for a million reasons. Now, can a movie be bad and wonderful at the same time as an important question to ask?

I'm terrified you're going to say you didn't think this was bad. I think it is a weirdly honest portrait of a person in a fascinating place in their life. Now, obviously the movie is made to do all the things

that you described. It's made to be a trailer. It's made for social breakout moments. It's made to just kind of like let the day roll past so you have two hours of wallpaper that feels familiar and comfortable and you can raise your hand

and be like, oh my God, Colin Moore-Carrower, this is so fun. Oh, Ben Stiller's back. That's so exciting. And it does all that stuff. Oh, which Alex is that? Yes. I think it was Earl, not Cooper.

It was Earl. Yes. A lot of podcast hosts in this movie as well. Bobby Lee, Andrew Santino. I mean, every cutaway, I didn't even recognize some of the TikTok stars. Some professional golfers, I'm told. Some professional golfers. Yeah, Nelly Quora.

Yes. Post Malone next to 85-year-old Vern Lundquist. Oh, yeah, Vern. Did we enjoy that? I know Vern. SEC life. Vern Lundquist saying gangster shit indeed is one of the best things that's happened in movies this year. Okay, seriously, here's my thing.

You made the key point. Yeah. Which is that Adam Sandler is uniquely unfunny in this movie, which is uncommon. Even in the largely forgettable Netflix comedies that he's been making for the last seven or eight years, he at least gets to be kind of funny and do the Sandler stick. This movie is a weird meditation on death and alcoholism. I mean, the whole movie is about an aging father who's lost his wife who doesn't know how to raise his five children and has lost his way as a professional person and somebody who can earn money to support his family.

This is a really weird movie to be combined. combining that incredibly serious and like maybe just ever so slightly autobiographical Sandler stuff especially when you consider the way that he works his daughters and his wife into the movie. Alongside, I think the movie that obviously

Billy Madison is the first feature that he made. It's still my favorite Adam Sandler movie. It kind of just changed my brain chemistry for the comedies that I liked. But Happy Gilmore was the breakout. This was the first like real hit that he made and it is the movie that is probably the most quoted thing he's ever done and it looms really large. And there's a reason that

this is the movie that got a sequel some 28 years later and not any of his other movies in this way. And him using it, he has a screenwriting credit on this movie, using it to put all this personal stuff in alongside Benny Safty playing like an insanely weird, unlikable fake live tour golf villain is actually worth like unpacking. And I find this an interesting contrast to the naked gun.

And the naked gun to me is clearly a, better movie and a more effective movie than Happy Gilmore, too. But The Naked Gun is not as good of a movie for a podcast. Because there's not a lot to say. And this kind of dovetails, I think, a little bit with our relationship to movie comedies and the absence of them in recent times. We haven't had a lot of opportunity to talk about movie comedies on the show. And part of that is because there's not a lot to say about movie comedies that are joke a minute other than like, did you think that was funny? And if you didn't, where does your criticism go? And I think back all the time on the way that Roger Ebert wrote about comedies in the 90s.

And that was the only time, really, with the exception to maybe some slasher movies where I was like, man, he just missed the mark. Like, he did not understand what these movies are attempting to do and how they make people happy. And so his criticism is often rooted in the fact that there's no thematic depth. And if he didn't think that they were funny, then there was nothing to say about them. But this movie is actually trying to do a couple of things emotionally. Now, whether they're successful or not is very debatable. But the fact that he's even trying, and a movie that went from being 89 minutes

to two hours and five minutes, I know pisses you off because you love a short comedy. But it is at least something that is different in addition to being a kind of a cheap sell-out golf comedy remake.

I don't know. Care to retort? I don't know. I think that's generous to say that these are deep themes that he is integrating from his life into the film. I think you could easily argue

this was just the easiest way they could come up with a way for Happy Gilmore to be back at the bottom and have to work his way back home. Right. Sure. I don't know. I don't want to attribute it that much depth because I'm not sure that's actually the genesis of the story.

I don't know. I haven't read any interviews with Sandler about it. It's unusual to me that this many members of his family are not only in this movie, but have become a part of like the Netflix original movie strategy. You know, his daughter was the star of a movie that came out last year. The Bat Mitzpah movie. I was very surprised.

I don't, maybe his wife had acted before, but I don't remember ever seeing her in a movie, her inclusion in this movie. And the fact that, you know, Sandler has this reputation as like a huge family man now. He's kind of always making movies to kind of include his friends and family and the journey of making this stuff.

It doesn't make the movie better. I'm not trying to tell you that this is good. It's not good. But it's actually kind of nice that it exists to me in a way that doesn't piss me off. And call me a hypocrite. I can certainly, I'm happy to get on here and say Jurassic World Rebirth is cynical garbage.

And I'm really mad that it happened. But for whatever reason, because I have a lot of love for Sandler and the happiness that he's given me. And also the fact that for me personally, it does feel like he's obviously, there's something personal in the movie. Because there's something personal to him about Happy Gilmore. You guys aren't going to give me an inch on this. No, no, no. I mean, I think it's an interesting interpretation. I think you're a good podcaster.

Thank you. I assumed that they killed Julie Bowenoff because she was only available for two days. You know, I was really only thinking. What's she doing? Uh, that's a great question. I think maybe I do know the answer to it. She's like insanely rich from modern family. She doesn't have time to work on this movie?

Maybe she didn't want to. Julie Bowen, um, you guys made note of this on your podcast. In Happy Gilmore. That's important stuff. Important. That's, uh... Did a lot. Changed a lot.

She changed a lot. She had a great power. Also a central character to the movie. She was. The original movie. Okay. The original movie is weird because this is something that a lot of comedy sequels get stuck in.

It's about an outsider trying to break into a system, right? A lot of golf comedies especially are about this. Caddyshack is about this. Tin Cup is about this. You know, people who are kind of, who are the, like, the rebels, who do things a little bit differently and are trying to subvert and infiltrate a very staid traditional world. Happy Gilmore 2 can't work if he's just a successful golfer.

So they go to great lengths. They kill his wife. They make him an alcoholic. They completely eliminate his ability to be successful at golf. And then he has to work his way back, but he has to work his way back against the encroaching forces of a terrible villain. Well, also, why does he initially start to come back? In the first movie,

the happy Gilmore character is motivated because his beloved grandma who raised him, her house of 60 years, which his grandfather built with his bare hands, is being foreclosed on. and he wants to save it his childhood memory and he needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in this movie his daughter wants to go to ballet school and that's why Happy Gilmore needs to come back to golf

because he needs... This is a guy who does not have kids five grand a year You gotta fund her art, man there's no there's no problem with that This is why I'm like this is a personal movie You'll have kids It's some girl dad shit

But listen You know he has nothing You find those are equal motivations Well Yes of course I can't say I was like profoundly moved by grandma's plight in Happy Gilmore. That wasn't like the

motivating interest for me to get excited about the movie. She didn't pay her taxes. That's true. That's a really good point. She's being tortured in an old people's home. I know. Yeah. I mean, his fingers hurt. His daughter's being tortured by four idiot brothers. Yeah. I mean, I have more issues with the construction of this

movie than I do. The larger thematic choices made by Sandler and his personal relationship with movie making and his career. Yeah. But there are no new jokes in this movie. I agree. The lazy cutbacks to Happy Gilmore One. Every character is just the son of the character from the original movie.

You have Chubbs' son doing the same joke with the hand. You have Eminem being the son of the heckler. He's in the movie for 75 seconds. He gets eaten by alligators immediately. Enjoyed that. Bobon is the son of Mr. Larson. None of these cameos even stick around long enough for them to be actual characters that can do anything.

It's not a real movie. We're also ignoring the fact that the last hour of this movie is an AI Mr. Beast video about a fake golf obstacle world And I'm sure, you can say it's a commentary on live. Again, this is just all extremely generous. Well, the thing about it being a live send-up, which I thought was like, if not clever, then at least I was like, oh, hey.

At least they're doing lit, you know? And I was like, well, okay, that's something. But aren't half the guys in the movie also on the live tour? A bit of a flaw. Bryson D. Shambo playing a pretty significant role. And when like, like, both Brooks and and Bryson, Bryson, Bryson, moved over, right? Brooks is the Gretzky wife

and the... Yes. No, that's Dustin Johnson. Oh. Oh, okay. Who's not in the film? Who's not in the film? Brooks is the guy who looked like the Terminator. He was like, I'm an NFL linebacker coming to conquer football and then it began getting injured routinely, struggled

with those injuries and it gets injured in this movie. Right. Which I thought was a kind of an amusing joke. Right. And Scotty Chef gets arrested. That was funny. I laughed I chuckled at that one. I thought that stuff was okay. I mean, it's a little inside baseball for golf, but I didn't think it was, like, deplorable. No, no, I don't think that is either.

I just, I wish it was just a normal movie, and it had five cameos, and they were in the whole film, and they were characters in the movie that grew and changed and things happened. Yeah. Rather than 200 jammed in 80, you know, 100 minutes. I won't defend it, and yet it didn't bother me.

When Margaret Quali showed up for eight minutes, I was happy to see her. I thought that was kind of amusing. Again, I don't mind the choice. It's the execution. Sure. sure and Tim Harley's son

is in that scene as well who I like and think it's funny and I think those guys are great so you're big man I'm so upset I'm so upset this is kind of a perfect episode because your your youth is being destroyed

and now your youth is being destroyed by Hollywood is the maxi golf of movies this the movie is essentially about saving golf but the movie itself is ruining movies I mean, I don't disagree with him. I was happy to see 90-year-old Jack Nicholas

give a somewhat decent performance in the film. I mean, that was impressive. He wasn't terrible. I thought Christopher McDonald was good. I think he's a good actor. I was surprised by Travis Kelsey, honestly. I thought he could deliver a line. It was better than I thought.

They also gave him some really flattering lighting until he had to get, like, punched a million times in the Bad Bunny. He lost away. Bad Bunny was very funny. He was very funny. He was incredibly funny. You didn't think Bad Bunny was a funny.

funny? I thought he was incredibly funny in this. I've always liked Bed Bunny. I think he has great community timing. The thing that he does on SNL so well, he's so funny on SNL. He was I thought he was one of the, arguably the best part of this movie. I actually totally agree. I think one of the best things he's ever done is with Please Don't Destroy. That short film they made of him as Shrek is hilarious. He has great music timing. He's bringing that same energy. So I don't know. Come on. It's not bad. Oh, I mean, it's slop. It's really bad. It's bad. And we should say it was the most viewed Netflix movie in its opening weekend ever. Well, let's just talk about why is this slop okay with you and other slop not okay with you?

It's not. I'm a complete contradictory asshole. You know, like, I'm not even asking you to say that. It's like, is it the emotional thing? Like, you just, I dig what's, I just dig what Sandler is about. I think that what he, the way that he is like going about his career where he's like, I'm not giving up on this stuff, but I'm also going to do hustle because I think this filmmaker is interesting and I'm also going to do the Bomback movie. Yeah. I just think that's so cool. I think the way that he has. has like flexed his power is a no drama celebrity, seems to genuinely like appreciate and support his friends. I just feel like he's doing it right. And so I'm just going to be more generous towards this stuff. We don't review most of the movies that he puts on Netflix because we know that they're negligible and not very interesting and that they're just like rehashes of things

he's done before. This was a movie we can't ignore because so many people are watching it and is a sequel to a hugely important movie for all of us in some ways. The fact that you're golf pilled now too makes it all the sweeter to me. It's so. funny. I was really upset, but it's like, what are you going to do? It's just all around us. And I guess, you know, it is like pop culture at this point. It is. More and more and this movie is sort of like an evil tool of that as well. So in that sense, I'm bad, but I laughed. Well, I laughed at the Scotty joke. I got the Scotty joke and I laughed at him. It's an interesting time though in golf where I think, and I talk about this with your husband all the time, three or four

years ago, as golf fans, we were like, this is the greatest time that's ever happened. Like, we don't have Tiger, but we have somewhere between nine and 14 guys who are incredible to follow on a weekly basis, let alone just the majors. And the last couple of years have been pretty juiceless. And the looming tower of Scotty is like, makes the sport a little less interesting because he's so damn good. Unfair to Rory. Well, I was very happy for him. Yeah. Glad he got the monkey off his back. That was cinematic. That was great stuff. I would like to get him longer shorts when in a seated situation. Well, he's Irish, you know. Well, sure, I know. You know, otherwise, I just, I didn't, I thought they, like, otherwise it looks great.

I just think this is kind of a funny adrenaline shot in a, you know, very quiet golf year. Yeah, sure. I can't believe, I'm, I'm, I'm terrified that I'm on an island. You're not, no, no, no, no, no, the reviews of this movie are, are rough. I know, I know, I know Rotten Tomatoes is not, we don't really care about Rotten Tomatoes, but the scores are, are pretty close to the original. The one, I mean, no, no, no, no, we can do it. The fan rating is higher for happy. You can't do it.

You can't. You can't. You can't even look at the scores. You can't. Think about who's clicking the tomato. You know? Yeah.

Like, no. Just it doesn't matter. I listened to the no laying up guys talking about this movie. They did like 15 minutes at the end of an episode earlier this week. And I was kind of, they were not in it. They didn't not like it. They weren't in it. I think Neil had like a very small cameo.

But Neil wasn't talking about the movie. And they really thought it was bad. Like really bad. And they did not cotton to any of the golf. contemporary culture stuff and they didn't have the same sense of I don't I don't know

emotional rejection that you feel dread. This is apocalyptic to me it's so funny to me it's so nice to be relieved of this burden where someone has to be this person on the podcast I don't think it's good and yet I didn't hate it

I didn't hate it and I feel okay saying that the last hour of the movie the first hour I thought was bad I texted my friend, he said, just wait. The last hour of this movie is really AI slop. It is, there are ATVs and purple smoke and CGI AI AI. Haley Joel Osmond, why is he the villain in this movie? And they're spinning around like they're at a carnival hitting the ball.

How did you feel about the hip surgery as a way to make guys super golfers? Horrible. I thought that was amusing. You enjoyed seeing him spin around like a demon looking at Happy Gilmore. Yeah, I thought it was funny. The final scene of this film is Bad Bunny and Happy Gilmore on a spinning top of a green. That did look quite bad. Trying to make a putt.

I did start online. I thought it was amusing. You guys seen Caddyshack? These movies are not fucking sophisticated. This is not Casablanca. It's Happy Gilmore's sequel. It's very funny to watch people have their youths attacked by Constable. temporary movies. This is like a trend that has been happening for about 20 years now. It's not

going to stop anytime soon. And now it's time for a new segment crafted for cravings presented by Starbucks. Some things just hit different in summer. Big screen blockbusters and refreshing Starbucks drinks both top the list. And while Starbucks's summer beverages always deliver the film offerings may vary. Let's talk about a few summer movies that really tickled our fancy this year. F1 springs to mind, an incredible adrenaline rush. What did you think about that movie? Very fast. Very exciting. Biggest screen possible. Like, you know, a summer event, the classic, classic summer tenpoil that we were in for.

A throwback, a great star performance from Brad Pitt, and a lot of fun to see on a big screen. What about Superman? I was, I liked this. I did. We liked it. And I think the further we get from it, the more we were like, hmm, okay. That really kind of did work, didn't it? It really worked well.

It was kind of the tent pole franchise movie of the summer for me personally. Really love the cast, David Corn Sweat, Nicholas Holt, Rachel Brosnahanhan. all turning in great performances. And then 28 years later, which I guess is sort of a surprise as a summer blockbuster, but is one of the best movies of the year so far. Yes, I don't think that we expected it to be as good as it was, even though it was a return of Danny Boyle, Alex Garland,

actors we like and Jody Comer and Aaron Taylor Johnson. So we knew it was going to be good, but I don't think we expected to start crying. We were crying. Yeah. It was a beautiful story about, yeah, about love and childhood and coming of age and viruses. And it was wonderful.

And there was a bone temple. Yeah. And that was extraordinary. If there's one thing you can rely on to hit the spot this summer, it's Starbucks summer beverages. Try cooling off with a new strato Frappuccino blended beverage. It's a craveworthy ice blended beverage topped with creamy cold foam, making for delicious layers of silky flavor.

Available for a limited time only. Your strato Frappuccino blended beverage is ready at Starbucks. Summer is Tim's Ice Latte season. It's also hike season. Pool season. Picnic season. And yeah, I'm down season. So drink it up with Tim's Ice Lattees,

now whipped for a smooth taste. Order yours on the Tim's app today at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. Let's pivot to the nick again. Okay. This is a really, really interesting text because this is a theatrical movie. It's not a streaming movie.

It is directed by, I think, one of the very few good comedy directors of the last 10 or 15 years. is Akeva Schaffer, who is one-third of the Lonely Island, who directed Pop Star, he directed Hot Rod. Both great underrated movies. Great comedies from the last 10 years. This is the fourth film in the Naked Gun franchise,

which was originally spun out from the Police Squad TV series, starring Leslie Nielsen. This new movie stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Houser, Kevin Durand, and Danny Houston. Helpful note here, 85-minute runtime. It was unreal. And dramatic difference between the two hours and nine minutes of Happy Gilmore, too. Here's the story. Following in the footsteps of his bumbling father, Detective Frank Drebin must solve a murder case to prevent the police department from shutting down. Amanda, I'll start with you. I just want to know your relationship to the naked gun because we've never talked about these movies on the show.

I have seen the original, not the sequels, but it was not like on a repeat in my house. So I guess I have like generational reference point. And some of the jokes like live outside of the movie at this point. So I'm not unconversant, but it's not like, how do you? Gilmore or Billy Madison or you know Tommy Boy or any of those were okay that's good to know what about for you I've seen it a couple times I love it I'm a fan of all of that kind of spoof genre from the 70s and 80s the airplanes all the Mel Brooks movies um I think these are just like classic joke writing films and that is something that has basically disappeared since I don't know I think there's there's elements of that in the Austin Powers movies a little bit but it's largely been gone, I think, for the last two decades. Yeah, this is, at the time when it was released, a style of movie that was very common.

And Zucker Abrams, who made Airplane, are behind these movies, and they made movies like Top Secret, and the spoof, the Joke a Minute spoof, I was also raised on. These movies predate Happy Gilmore a little bit, but not too much. I remember seeing Naked Gun to 33 and a third as a birthday movie. They feel very far apart. Naked Guns 88, Happy Gomer's 96. They feel 15 years. They do, but the sequels were in the 90s.

Yeah, yeah. I love these movies. I don't think I have the same emotional connection to them that I did to the Sandler stuff or Tommy Boy or even Austin Powers. But they're not sacred texts in any way. You know, I was just listening to Seth McFarlane on The Town, and he made it a very interesting point. He's the producer of this movie. Yeah. That the one thing that was really important to him when having conversations,

that the studios is you have to cast real actors to execute on these spoof movies. You can't cast comedians because the whole point is that they have to deliver the material straight because this is a spoof of a hard-boiled cop noir. Yeah, procedural. Yeah, that's what these are. 50s, 60s movies, like the big heat.

And I like this new movie. I think it's funny. I wish it was like 20% funnier. And I don't think that that's like a damning criticism, but when the whole premise of the movie is joke a minute, and every other joke hits, I felt maybe my expectations were too high because we saw the trailer at Cinema Con and I was like, fuck. I'd like to talk about the trailer.

Because a lot of the jokes are in the trailer. The trailer has half the jokes. And it's a real, and that's a problem just in terms of like the number of jokes that it indicates, but also because you have spoiled half of the jokes, including like the opening quote unquote set piece. in the trailer. It's true. It's a tricky part

with theatrical movies now because you're kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. You need to show people at home that it's funny and it's worth getting out of your chair to drive in

to see the movie. But then also you don't want them to sit down and watch the movie and be like, oh, all the funny moments are in the trailer. Yeah, and I completely, I basically agree with every review of this movie

that is like, thank God theatrical comedies are back because I want them to and we can talk about what's happened in the last 20 years or so and I want this movie to succeed and I think Liam Mason is pretty good about Pamela Anderson

is very game. for the most part like it works you know the plot works I thought Danny Houston was the absolute MVP of the movie I thought it was very very funny as a villain

also I mean how many Elon Musks have we had in movies just this summer at this point that's like at least three I think it's the most dependable villain style right now and so I dug it

we can talk about some of the gags that really work and that are funny to us it's a little bit hard to explore beyond like did you think it was funny did you think it was funny? I thought it was really funny I thought it was a great time

you chuckled oh yeah I was I think I was even, I watched it with Amanda. I think I was even suppressing my laughter a little bit because I didn't want her to think I was laughing at really stupid jokes, but I was inside. First of all, I never would have judged you. Like, you did chuckle.

Like, I did notice you chuckling, but you were more reserved. I was like, oh, interesting. Craig's not like a laugh-out loud kind of. We were also seated next to two people who were loving it, laughing at every single thing. And the room was pretty good, I thought. The theater had a great time. This is a huge part of whether or not this.

movie's going to work. Did you see it in a full theater? I saw it at the same theater that Matt saw it in, which was a very big room at the studio. And I would say it was not as raucous as you would have wanted it to be. And I have a lot of fond memories in the 2000s of going to see all these movies. Sure, yeah. And, you know, seeing the hangover, regardless of how you feel about the hangover, seeing the hangover when it came out in a movie theater on Friday night, insane. Anarchy. It was like, it was like being at a Kendrick Lamarck concert. I mean, people are losing their shit. So I didn't quite. I get that. It was also a very big theater.

Sure. You actually kind of want to be in a small movie theater for a movie like this. Because then the laughter gets more infectious. And I didn't have as much of it, so maybe that kind of dimmed some of my enthusiasm for it. I definitely thought it was funny and effective and it works. I just, one, I'm a little bit cautious about people being like, this

movie is fantastic. I'm like, it's good. It's a good spoof comedy. And nothing more than that and overpromising, I think maybe does a movie a disservice. But also, I desperately need somewhere with, between seven and 14 of these a year. And I do not understand why we don't have them.

I've heard the excuses and I've heard the explanations around it's expensive and it's harder to get people in the theater and streaming. And we can talk through some of those things. But like, I sent you a list of movie comedies released this year. It's dire. It is absolutely terrible. Okay, so before we get too far down the road of that, what else, like, popped out to you about the naked gun or what did you enjoy about it?

I thought this is the right way to honor IP. where you keep the style, but you make it your own. There were minimal callbacks to the original. There were some that were funny, but they largely made their own jokes in the same style. It's just nice to know that this is still possible, that there are writers who can still do this,

that there are actors and directors who can still pull this off. I just found it to be a very easy, fun time at the movies. It's 85 minutes. The theater, I thought the theater was pretty lively. It was. And had a great time. You could have laughed more than I would have laughed more, too.

I thought it was well cast. I think it's going to be... I don't know if young people are going to see this movie. I think they maybe should have tried to cast somebody in the Liza Kosci role, give her a bigger part,

and maybe a slightly bigger star. To just try to expand the net for audiences just to bring people to the movie. You pointed this out on the town that there's no young person draw in the movie, which is an interesting choice

to have basically two 60-year-olds be the leads of this theatrical comedy, but does that say more about who the movie's trying to appeal to? Certainly. Like, is it trying to get the 40- and 50-year-old?

into the movie theater more so than the 20 and 30 year olds. I think so anecdotally I have like a lot of of 40 year old peers who are like oh I can't wait to see that people who don't go to every single movie theater but they remember it so maybe I don't know they've maybe at least identified their audience it's also a movie this style of comedy is well suited for now for 2025 the joke a minute fast pace attention I want to talk about that a little because I like I I did think it was funny and I like the joke a minute structure I watching it was remarking on how topical a lot of it was, how like 20, 25, like just a lot of recent references, which in the moment works now. But, you know, you do wonder whether like three, six,

you know, nine months, like five years from now. And maybe like they're not going for shelf life. I also listen to you guys talking to Seth McFarland on the way here. And the thing he said to me that was that was to me both interesting and sort of chilling was like most people now experience this type of comedy in like adult animated colonies. But there is something to that where, you know, topical, very fast humor is just, like it's a volume thing, you know, and a thing that's supposed to live on on a streaming service so you can dial it up whenever you want. So I don't know whether, I guess it's harder to, there's a reason that it's not in

movies as much because, um, It's not what you return to 45 times. You just do another one. It is pretty consistent with the original Naked Gun movie. It's like in my head I have a strong memory of seeing there's a pointed crying game joke in Naked Gun 3 that is like very tasteless in the movie. But it's like such a early 90s movie reference that like watching it now any 20 year old would be like what I don't even understand. I mean, I can get what the joke of the character is, but I don't know what it's a reference to. So it's not out of fashion per se.

It might mean that the movie doesn't age super well. I don't think, you know, these movies, the idea then was get asses in seats and theaters. And that's the idea now for this movie is to get asses in seats and theaters. I mean, a couple things that I really liked in it. My favorite part was the love montage where the snowman. Oh, the snowman. That was fantastic. You know, I don't want to ruin that for anybody.

Yeah. Not in the trailer. Really funny. I thought it was really funny. So good. And really well done. and like to me classic Lonely Island like hyper absurdist

musically oriented just a very funny tight sketch idea inside of the movie that I really laughed at and apparently it was almost cut yeah I'm glad they didn't do that and they wanted to replace it with something more similar to the montage from the original

oh interesting okay I thought even though this was spoiled Frank Dreben Jr's body cam story and getting really sick in the car because of the food that he eats is gross, but like so naked gun, like perfectly naked gun. I really wish I didn't know anything

about that sequence because I really would have loved it. I also the hardest I laughed in the whole movie was near the end when there's a showdown between Neeson and Danny Houston and Neeson punches Danny Houston in the stomach and his reaction

and what Danny Houston says and how he responds to it is dumb and beautiful and why I will always watch a movie like this. Any other moments or memorable gags that you guys liked? I love when they have Kevin Durand in the fake hospital and then all the walls fall and they get him to admit to the crime and then they ask Liam Neeson, Frank Drebben, Jr., how he was able to do this. He's like, oh, and then those doors, those walls fall down and they catch him and then it happens again to Liza Koch. She's great. That far was very funny too. Great little Mission Impossible fallout call out for us Amanda um I enjoyed I thought Pamela Anderson really was very funny she was and very

game and like the jazz stuff was pretty funny but um the taking the chair is just like really stupid and like they you know and keeps really funny yeah there's a lot of good moments like this and memorable stuff and you know to the point you were making about happy game more too this is another movie that when you just put the joke on x.com in six months it's going to be funny you know it's like this movie can also be kind of pulled apart and dissected. And I'm glad it exists. And I'm glad that William Neeson and Pamela Anderson have found love together in real life. Sure.

How wonderful for them. Yeah. I immediately thought it was a bit leading up to the release of this movie, which... Like, we can't know, you know? So you think this is a stunt? I don't think it's a stunt. No, I often feel this is... This does not apply to Tom Cruise and Anadarmus, which if you'd like to talk about that,

Craig, we can. I know that's material. But everyone else, it's like, I think that... there probably is something romantic going on. I do think they also just have to be in the same place, like a lot right now and have for the last six to nine months. So I don't think it's a, you know, like a normal, like a civilian relationship, but I believe it.

You know, we'll check in in a year. Okay. You know? But that doesn't mean it's fake. Yeah. You believe in their love? Sure. I don't want to yuck anyone's young.

Good. Okay. That's nice. I hope they're both very happy. Are people going to go see this movie? well the tracking was I think around 20 million that's pretty good it is good what was the budget do we know I think it was 42 million

I don't know I mean young people go to movie theaters and old people are the ones that kind of don't right so this will be a good test you know people like my parents often when movies come out that they want to see the number one thing I hear from them I'll just wait until it comes out of the street yeah I do think this movie and this is a problem with comedies in general that we can get into

and it is very hard to make them feel theatrical. This is a really fun movie theater going weekend. In addition to, you know, you've got second weekend of Fantastic Four, you've got together the new horror movie with Dave Franco and Allison Brie, which I liked. And you've got the bad guys too, which is an animated hit that is getting a sequel that I'll be seen with my daughter on Saturday. Oh, that's cute.

So to me, this weekend at the movies, like, looks like what I remember. You know? Something for everybody. Yes. It's spread out. All three of these movies are pretty good. I assume bad guys too is good. It's gotten good reviews so far. And there's not a $180 million movie that needs to make $700 million for it to break even and we don't have to have that discourse. And everything can just be like pretty good and you can have a nice time and then go home. And I hope they all win. I hope everybody has a lot of fun. I don't, my one thing with this is like it's not necessarily guilty of any of the legacy. stuff that we whinge about. It doesn't commit any of those sins, but it is still not original.

Yeah. And it is still using the exact same structure, which works in its favor, and the exact same style. In fact, an actor with the initials LN is the star of this movie. And I don't feel bad about

it, but I would have preferred ultimately an original comedy from a strong writer-director and an exciting new comedy star. And this is kind of the opposite of that. So it's not a crisis. It's exciting that it's here. My concern is that if it is successful,

that the takeaway will be we should make a new top secret, and we should make a new hot shots, and we should just remake funny spoof movies and just only do those and not give exciting comedy voices a chance. I know that there's some conflict there, too, because some comedians, you know, Bill was talking about this with Matt on his show recently. Why would Shane Gillis want to make a $40 million movie comedy when he could bank half a million dollars over a long weekend on a tour? Right. I get it.

Yeah. Spending one to two years, developing a movie, getting notes from studio executives, risking the movie being terrible and flopping, or he can just go on tour, have a podcast, make his own TV show, and make more money. It's completely logical, and yet, obviously, this is a movie podcast and me favor of movies, but there is still something about being minted in a movie that is unlike anything else. If you make sinners, people will never forget. You will be able to say for the rest of your life, I was a part of something that was a phenomenon that touched so many people and had a kind of mass cultural expansion. So I do, I feel like it's going to swing back. You do.

I do. Do you? I don't know because I I never believe that the right lessons will be taken from this and I like I had a perfectly nice time at the naked gun and I thought it was pretty funny like once we stop recording I will quite literally never think about it again and so I worry that many people will be like

people will go people will see it people will have a nice time And then the lesson will be, let's just do, like, refillable things that you don't ever have to think about again instead of making something original, something worthwhile, something that, because that is a lot harder. There are a lot of uncertainties. There are a lot of things that don't hit. And the theater business is not in, or the studios are not favoring, like, taking any sort of risk. So. Yeah.

Unfortunately, I think comedy movies are no longer the cultural center of humor. Mm-hmm. And if I asked you to tell me your favorite comedy quote from the 2020s from a movie, I bet you couldn't even give me one. However, if I said, name 10 memes right now from the last five years, oh, kombucha girl, Homer Simpson going back into the hedges, Jennifer Lawrence saying, what do you mean on hot ones? That's how people speak in memes now.

I mean, us growing up. What's kombucha girl? You know what I'm a kombucha girl meme? No. No one with like, she's like, she's like, yeah. Oh, she's having kombucha. Deciding if she likes it or not. I know her, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a, Paul Rudd on hot ones. Look at us. Sure. Yeah. That is how we speak. Now, those are the jokes that, even on the fantasy show, when we tried to relate to the audience or come up with a reference that makes, that applies to whatever we're talking about. We usually speak in memes, however, which is just horrific. However, I don't know, there's, you know, there's art everywhere, if you look for it.

Yeah. Look at you. Andy Warhol over here. It's why I'm nervous. I know. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were on the town, and Seth was saying. that he thinks all it's going to take is one big smash comedy hit to kind of revive the genre. I don't know if I agree. I think one smash hit could come, do really well, and I don't

know if that means others will follow because I just inherently think it has become so splintered in niche now, people's interests in comedy. And it used to be all you had was, oh, it's 2005, we have the 40-year-old version, we're going to go, even if this isn't exactly what I want or Taylor to me or whatever, we are all going to communally have a relationship and interact with this movie. And now it's like there are 10 TikTok people on reels, on TikTok or whatever,

that give me my exact brand of humor that I love. And so why would I need to drive and spend $30 at the movies for a movie that might not even be for me? Do you guys ever think about dying is the line from a studio comedy of the 2020s? Oh, what is that from? The most successful movie of 2023.

It's called Barbie. Yeah. Weird Barbie. Barbie's a great example. Screaming about cellulite. Something that we're not doing is putting big stars in comics. My job is beach. And having good directors with good writers make them and then supporting them. Barbie's the only one.

Because I agree. That's obviously a huge hit. But that is, I mean, that's a little bit of a, I mean, that is massive IP. Yeah. So it's in a different bucket a little bit. But I loved Barbie. And I think it is fantastic. It's just a great example of how you need to kind of game the system in 2025. You need to be able to locate material.

that can get made and find a way to elevate it. Now, the naked gun, I would say, doesn't elevate it. It does a really good job of replicating it. Barbie was an elevation of something that we didn't think was possible because there's just so many talented people applied against it. I still would have preferred an original Greta Gerwig movie, to be honest with you. I don't know if she could have gotten one of those made at that scale with those stars. It's still number three on my Greta Gerwig list.

Right, exactly. So it's such an interesting thing because, one, everything in Hollywood is cyclical. Everything always comes back. There are nine genres. They all have moments that circle back over the 120-year history. So I do think that there's a version of this that can happen. The person that is the most important person of this century in movie comedy is Jed Appetal for a variety of reasons.

Obviously, he had an enormous success. But when you look at the origins of his career, started out as a stand-up comedian, working alongside Adam Sandler, then became a writer to the stars, wrote for stand-up comics, then went into the salt mines of television, working with Ben Stiller, working with Gary Shandling, learning about the inside of the business slowly, slowly, slowly, into more of a writer-producer who identifies talent and helps build talent up.

And he became a kind of Svengali. We need someone like that. To me, it's not one hit. One hit, I don't think, will change everything. We need a person who is a culture-changing person. He also, you know, was happening alongside Todd Phillips and Adam McKay and a number of other voices who were, you know, crucial to this new generation of people.

But Apatow was the one who was like, he was the 800-pound gorilla. and we don't have one right now. And I don't know if we can have one. It was interesting to hear Seth talk about the fact that Seth MacFarlane talk about the fact that he just can't get a movie made that he wants to get made. And he has been one of the money factories

of American comedy for the last 25 years. The shit that he created 20 years ago still has an audience and is successful. Whether or not the people who help do this are also responsible for its downfall, whether or not family guys' success led to a smaller theatrical stake, I guess you could argue that.

But I, and I don't have any picks for who this person is because I don't know enough about who is at the bottom and wants to go to this place. But like, even two years ago, you might have been like, oh, Quinta Brunson, she's interesting. She created Abbott Elementary. She's got the requisite experience. She has a kind of like bigger things in front of her. But I don't get the impression that she wants to like take over. I think she wants to do her stuff and that's it. I think you need a kind of unhealthy ambition to shift, to force the industry.

to make a change like this. So I don't want to be doom and gloom about it, but I hope that something like this comes along soon because we're hungry for it, you know? And I don't think you need to sacrifice memes at the altar of a movie. We can have both. There's no reason why we can't have both.

Like we always think of these things in binary. Well, it's like, well, people only like things like this now. I just don't think that's true. You know, I think that there's a way to have both things at the same time, the same way there can be a successful comedy TV show, which we also don't have a lot of at the moment. Right. So I think just got to keep banging.

the drum. Yeah, I agree with everything you're saying. I don't know where that person's going to come from. I think in the 90s and 2000s, I think you had these kind of natural pipelines of talent. I think scarcity drives demand where S&L and stand-up were kind of the only places where you could identify talent and put them in a movie. And also, it was the only thing that people at home could watch. And so it was like, oh, we all like this guy, Will Ferrell. We all like this guy in saying like he's in a movie now. S&L, which I love dearly, does not have. have that same cultural cachet, even though it's still doing quite well. There's just so many other ways to have, to consume comedy and humor. There are so many funny people out there. I don't know

how you're going to be able to find five of them and build your Apatel universe and put these people in movies. And I, like, an example I always think about is like, I was watching the 40-year-old Virgin two weeks ago with some friends on a trip. The movie is still very funny. I think it holds up in most ways. But the humor itself, I'm kind of like, I see this humor online a lot. Like somebody like Veronica is cool. I don't know if you know who that is.

She's the love interest in tires. She's hilarious. She has a TikTok channel. She's great. She's making tons of jokes. I think she has great comedic timing. There's 30 of those people online. And so I'm just like,

I don't know if people need to go to a movie to get that feeling anymore because it's everywhere. And people are doing it at a very high level. They're just making it on their own. Yeah. I'm kind of with him. You know.

I don't think comedy is bad now. I think there's great comedy. There's almost too much of it. It's everywhere and it's personal. But it's, yeah, it's not scripted. It's not in movies. And it's not really in TV either, which I think is like an important point. So the point that you're making then, the movies that have been successful in the last five to ten years have been eventized, right?

Large premium format, action movies or horror, which is like you have to have a moment. There's a moment. An experience you're having you can't have anywhere else. even though you can get comedy in all of these places I do think that there is a communal experience that is really fun with comedies you know like you guys are talking about that screening of naked gun

it's a great feeling you can get it at a stand-up comedy show but otherwise you can't get it looking at your phone I just think I think it's incumbent on studios to try to make hay of this because when a movie like this takes off it's very profitable

like these movies don't cost $250 million to make and me continuing to hear like well the financial incentives are not there for a movie like this makes no sense like the budget is going to be significantly smaller on a movie like this than on any other genre except for horror

and so I don't know I guess I'm just flummoxed I asked you to do an exercise I asked you to pick what you thought were the 10 most significant movie comedies of the last 25 years yeah how did you feel about this

it was an extremely fun exercise I had a tough time whittling it down to 10 and I'll read you my day It might be colored by the fact that I'm a 30-year-old white guy, so I don't know. Yeah, I was going to say, did you, like, what was your methodology here? Well, Sean gave me kind of a prompt, which if I can, it was like significance, a staying power, uh, success. Success. So I kind of tried to boil that all together.

And then he also said just also personally what you love. So in no particular order, my top 10, anchor man, super bad, the hangover, 40-year-old virgin, Talladega Nights, wedding crashers, bridesmaids, stepbrothers, meet the pay. parents and mean girls. It's a very 30-year-old white guy list. I was very nervous that you weren't going to say mean girls. You saved that one for less,

but that one, you know, is important. I would probably add girls' trip to that. That's also one of the... Okay. Yeah. I guess you could add Barbie, just in an effort to continue to widen the aperture

of who gets to participate in movie comedies. I'm sure there are some other 21 Jump Street comes to mind movie I like I personally I feel like the staying power of that movie has not stuck around as similarly as movies like I don't know

Super Bad Hangover, 40-year-old Virgin Game Night? Love Game Night but I don't know if it stuck around. Later, I agree. I would put Zoolander on the list but that's a personal and that's a generation thing. Did you have a trailer like a fake trailer at the beginning of your screening

starring Liam Neeson. No. So we did. I guess spoiler alert if you are going to see Naked Gunn and don't want a joke spoiled for you. Before the film they did like a basically like a Save the Children commercial, but it was like Save the Comedy. And it's Liam Neeson direct to screen being like every time you buy a movie ticket, like a comedy is saved. And then they did honor like a bunch of other movies. Zoolander was in it.

clueless. They had to go back about like 30 years to really get like the full breath but it was about like buy a movie ticket like see a comedy. It was very funny. I didn't have that. It was very funny and then at the very end they list like you know like in the way that like here are some other organizations you can donate to like

just like a bunch of a bunch of comedies. I think everything I don't know whether Meet the Parents was on that list. It was. It was. Okay you noted. All right. So where all of your movies represented? Most of them. The only other movie I thought about adding was Ocean's 11. Do we count that as a comedy? It's funny, but no, but I like, but I like where your heart is. Um, yeah, I mean, I'm looking at a list of the highest grossing

live action comedies of all time. And I think this tells you the tale of why we don't get a lot of comedies in the vein that we're describing. Number one is Barbie. Number two is Deadpool and Wolverine. Number three is a movie called High Mom, which is a Chinese comedy film that made $840 million. Number four is Deadpool two. Number five is Deadpool. Number six is Detective Chinatown three, also a Chinese movie. Number seven is men in black three. Number eight is men in black. Number nine is The Hangover Part 2.

Number 10 is The Mermaid, another Chinese film. Okay. So the only pure original comedy there is Hangover. Right below that, number 11, is Ted. Yeah. Which I would say is another movie that belongs on the list. I thought about it. Which was really funny.

It was a funny movie. I think that's the loudest theater I've ever been in. Yeah. Was the first Ted. That movie, which I didn't love. I enjoyed. But it's funny. Oh, I think that came out when?

2012. Yeah. Yeah. I was a teenager. I mean, it had hit home. We loved it. It's a big movie. That show is pretty funny, too, the new TED TV show that no one has seen.

But now, Sethman Farland said it might not get made because the bear is so expensive. Yeah, CGI. That's tough. It's not ideal. Anything else that we didn't mention or that Craig didn't have on his list? Is they substituted just like an animatronic or just like a bear talking for like a stuffed bear as Ted? I would still think that was funny and I would watch. so maybe they could save money.

If what did? Like, if they made Ted going forward just with, like, one of the large stuff to F.A.O. Schwartz bears, which are not expensive, but which are not cheap, but are less expensive than CGI. Like, I would still laugh.

That's just a free idea for Seth McFarland. We'll sign Seth that note. Looking at this list of top 10, does it, like, what does it tell you about right now? I think we're in a moment of cultural confusion where the previous five years were defined by a certain level of sensitivity or perceived sensitivity in the culture

where you were not allowed to enjoy the hangover or wedding crashers the same way that you did. I was as guilty of this as anybody and because of some of the style of humor or who was being at the center of the story and now like obviously things kind of sociopolitically have kind of swung back

the other way where there's like less of a concern about offending people and you know unless you're buying American Eagle jeans. Well I'm glad I'm not to start. have that conversation on this podcast. I know you had it on Jam Session. I think that probably portends an openness to

returning to like an Aptovian Todd Phillips style comedy sensibility right now. Back then it's just like it wasn't that different from how it was in the 70s, 80s, 90s. You know, it was like loud, obnoxious white guys who were dumber than everybody and we all laughed at them. And that was true

for Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. you know, Eddie Murphy was not white, but he was also doing a version of that. The kind of like fast talking, getting into big trouble, comedy star was pretty significantly consistent for 25 to 30 years in movies. And now I feel like everybody is like, I don't know, who's the right person to center in our story? Does it have to be a tall, white guy? And yet, here we are talking about a Liam Neeson and Adam Sandler movies as the big

comedies of the year. So maybe it means that that also is swinging. back a little bit. I also think stars used to factor in comedies as part of the movie star playbook. And I'm not sure they're really doing that anymore. I really respect Jennifer Lawrence Trying with no hard feelings. The movie I think is good. I agree.

Yeah. And she's very funny. She's very funny. To me, that was like, that's actually what makes her super special as an actor is that she can do that and no other like ingenue prestige actress can do that. But maybe we just don't know. Emma Stone can. She can. And Emma and she's gotten away from it. She has.

She did. But that's, you know. Because what often happens, you do your comedies. and then you take yourself more seriously. You want to start expanding your resume. But I would love to see Timothy Shalmay and Florence Pugh and Michael B. Jordan making comedies as just part of the overall resume they're building. Robert De Niro made comedies.

He did. You can be one of the best actors ever and make a comedy. Michael B. Jordan did make that awkward moment. You may recall. Yeah. Remember that movie? I do remember that. Who was the third?

It was Miles Teller, MBJ. Who was the third fellow in that movie? Zach Ephron? Damn. That's all credit to Sam. Stacked cast. Nice job, Sam. Any closing thoughts on the state of comedies?

We're so back. We're fucked. What's happening? I'm nervous. I'm nervous about it. Are you more nervous than you were a week ago? Yeah. Having not seen these movies?

Yeah. Oh, no. I'm nervous because a lot of people were like, Happy Gilmore, too. Pretty good. Okay. I'm like, we're screwed. Wow.

Shots fired. Yeah, it comes for us all. Thank you to Craig. Listen to him on the Ringer Fantasy Football podcast. which is heating up now that draft season is nearly upon us. Thanks to Jack Sanders for his work on this episode. We'll be back next week with a summer movie mailbag. We'll see you then.