The Big Picture - ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘Friendship,’ and the Top Five Movie Friends

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Sean and Amanda start the show with a quick recap of all the awards handed out at the Cannes Film Festival and wonder what this year's ‘Anora’ could be (1:13). Then, they react to the biggest Memorial Day weekend box office in history and consider what it means for the industry going forward (7:34). Next, they discuss Disney’s newest live-action remake, ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ and explain why not only this specific movie but also this “genre” at large does not work for them (17:34). Finally, they cover A24’s strange but hilarious comedy ‘Friendship,’ starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd (43:20), and finish the episode with their top five favorite friendships in movie history (1:02:13). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Look, it's not that confusing. I'm Rob Harvilla, host of the podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, except we did 120 songs. And now we're back with the 2000s. I refuse to say aughts, 2000 to 2009. The Strokes, Rihanna, J-Lo, Kanye, sure. And now this show is called 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, colon the 2000s.

Wow, that's too long a title for me to say anything else right now. Just trust me, that's 60 Songs That Explain the 90s colon the 2000s. Wow, that's too long a title for me to say anything else right now. Just trust me, that's 60 songs that explain the 90s colon the 2000s, preferably on Spotify. What's better than a well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders.

Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Dobbin. And this is the Big Picture, a conversation show about friends. Today on the show, we are diving into a pair of new releases about unlikely friendships. The Disney live action remake Lilo and Stitch and the Tim Robinson comedy friendship. These may not seem like a natural pairing, but we will illuminate the ways in

which they are perfectly matched. We'll also share our favorite movie friendships, which is something I think we may have done a version of some years ago, but we're bringing it back in a slightly different register. But first, let's talk about Cannes. We talked about it last Friday. We hadn't seen any about Cannes. We talked about it last Friday. We hadn't seen any of the films. We did not attend. Right. Still haven't seen any of the films. Still haven't seen any of the films.

I've seen a couple of trailers. I've seen some still photos. OK. We do have prizes. They gave out the prizes over the Memorial Day weekend. I'm going to run through them very quickly for you. Just jump out and say, hey, this caught my eye, or I'm intrigued by this.

OK? Here we go, Amanda. The palm dora went to it. It was a simple accident by Jafar Panahi. Neon extends its record to six straight palm doors. Yes. They do. Can I throw a little cold water on that? Yeah. They acquired the rights to the film.

Sure. They didn't pay for the movie. They didn't identify Jafar Panahi, you know, after No Bears and say, we want to fund your next film, you know. No, but- Do respect to them. They do a lot of great work and they distribute a lot of great movies. I meant more that they are clearly able to read the can jury and tea leaves in a way

that no one else can. Yes, I think- Because this is the one they acquired. The real heads knew that Juliette Binoche, who was the president of the jury this year, was a longtime supporter of Panahi and that in all likelihood, she was going to throw her weight behind the film in some way. And she did. And it won the Palme d'Or. I'm very excited to see this film. I actually have started a set up, like how am I going to go through all the Panahi

films I've seen, the ones I haven't seen through the years? This is a movie that we'll probably be talking about over the next 12 months. I'm very excited to see it. The Grand Prix went to Sentimental Value. Yes. Joaquin Trier's new movie. Very excited to see this film. Me too.

We don't have to say too much more about that. The Jury Prizes went to Cirat, which is a Spanish film directed by Oliver Lacks. There is a trailer for this movie that I watched. It looks awesome. That's all I'm going to say. It's about a father trying to find his daughter in the midst of like an EDM Burning Man situation

in the middle of the desert. All right. How old is the daughter? I would guess 20s. As soon as you started talking, I imagined you trying to find Alice, you know? And EDM at Burning Man, and I was like, well, kind of your fault for taking her. It's a very fair point.

I'm not sure how well Alice would do at Burning Man, but we can find that out soon. Yeah, it's not really her style. Sound of Falling also a Jerry Prize winner. And then Best Director went to Clayberman and Docafilo for The Secret Agent, a new Wagner Moore movie. Actually, The Secret Agent won two films or won two prizes because Wagner Moore also won Best Director. Kind of unusual, it can. You don't usually see a film get multiple prizes. They try to usually spread it around. Neon also has this movie.

They have every movie here that a movie doesn't have except for a couple. Additional awards, we mentioned Nadia Malidi from The Little Sister, she won best actress. And best screenplay went to the Dardens for Young Mothers. And there was a special award for Resurrection by Bi Gan, Chinese filmmaker, and his film just got picked up by Janice. So that's gonna find its way into movie theaters probably at the end of this year. I would guess you'll see that movie at the New

York Film Festival along with me. That's usually what happens when they pick up titles like this. And then the other big news out of this was that Netflix has acquired a film. They picked up Nouvelle Vogue, the Richard Linklater movie. This is the third consecutive movie that Netflix has picked up from Linklater. After Hitman and... Apollo 10 and a half. Sure. The animated film that you didn't see. And this is interesting because the film is obviously a love letter to the cinema as it's about the making of Godard's Breathless and it will play on Netflix. Well, you know, as Linklater said after they acquired Hitman, it's like they had the money, they wanted to buy it and other people are not throwing the money around.

I mean, this is, as you noted, it's Netflix and Janus are the only two non-movie, non-neon acquisitions at the whole festival. So the players are pretty defined. And if they were going to go for it, then at least we'll get to see it. I'm very excited to see it and I'm glad somebody is doing it. And I think my gut on this is that for Linklater and maybe Linklater's investors, the most important thing is to be able to continue to make movies. And by selling these movies at what one assumes is a modest profit, I'll get to make more. And I'd rather have the movies than worry about what it means

specifically for how it's distributed. Can I tell you another way we could have seen this movie? Sure. If we had gone to Cannes. How are you feeling now? The critics generally have been saying it's a, it was a pretty great year. Um, that's not true. They have not been saying that.

But, um, I think it's, I think it's, there's not like the fit, the like fizz bang, I think in the last couple of years. I think there's clearly like very good films. There's no doubt about that. But like the Fizz Bang last year once again was Amelia Perez. Yeah, and the substance and the Nora. Sure, but it's like, it does feel like there was a sense

that there's like a lot of really good films at Cannes that we did not get to see. That's definitely true. Let's use the powers of our ignorance to project whether or not there is an anora or a substance in this year's slate. Okay. Do you see anything that gives you the makings

of not even just best picture contender, but potential phenomenon? Well, I just want to shout out all our listeners in Brazil. It's your time again. The secret agent, they cannot be denied, you know? It's a very good point. So, and, and two awards that can suggest that there, um, something's going on there. I don't think it's the last time we'll be talking about secret agent. I don't think it's the last time we'll be talking about sentimental value,

obviously for a lot of reasons. Um, you know, Kim Trier, but, and, and I read and said, but also Stalin's Garsgård Garsgard and Dakota Fanning. Like there is some crossover Hollywood. You know, like there's the bridge. I've heard a little bit of Scuttlebutt that there's a very interesting potential, it's time Stalin's Garsgard situation where he's never been nominated for an Academy Award. He's appeared in more than a dozen truly great movies in both Hollywood and in Europe.

And so this would be an interesting opportunity to kind of celebrate his, the arc of his career. Totally. And I do think we'll be talking about it was a simple accident. I mean, that's going to be a really interesting Oscar campaign, just geopolitically. And whether or not he can even get over to the United States, right, or whether he wants to. Honestly, yeah, he was greeted back in Iran this weekend like a hero,

which is quite interesting because he obviously had been under house arrest for years there because of the activities making these films. So him even campaigning a movie like that is fascinating. But that is interesting and I think also we'll kind of keep it in the conversation. So I don't know. That seems like a good rundown. Some cool stuff.

Cool stuff at the box office. Okay. Yeah, I guess so. Well, it depends on... Do you care about the box office succeeding or do you care about having good movies? Good movies was like, meh. I'm not so sure we had the best slate of films. Yeah, I mean, I look forward to talking about this

on a qualitative perspective, but we can start with quantitative. Let's start with quantitative. People really like going to the movies again, apparently. They do, and they always did. And anytime we or me or anybody panics, it's always a little bit silly. You may recall that it was at this time last year when I gave a little post-Furiosa failure monologue.

Right. Yeah. Well. But to me- It's an annual big picture tradition. It is, but to me, my intention with that monologue, which maybe I misframed it somehow, but was to sort of just be like, it's gonna be okay. Like, just let's keep going to see movies.

And like, one of the things I said, I seem to recall that I said was like, here are some new films that are coming out that we're excited about. Hey, Enora just won the Palm. Sean Baker's a great director. Like, let's continue to be excited about these things, that there's always this intersection, time-wise,

of the movies we haven't seen yet at Cannes that build anticipation, and the usually kind of bleh Memorial Day weekend movies that are released. So this weekend, we got this insane performance. Lilo and Stitch made $183 million domestically, which has almost surpassed what our individual predictions were in the box office game for the entire domestic run.

So we both got that pretty darn wrong, but to me, that's OK. That's fine. Well, like, so what's going on with that? I have a lot of theories. OK. This movie is obviously a young millennial classic. It was released in 2002.

So I was just talking with Arjuna Ramkapal, one of our pod managers here. And Arjuna said he was like 10 or 11 when the movie came out and his wife was like seven or eight, I think he said. And that the movie is like deeply meaningful to his wife. It's like one of her favorite movies, the original animated movie. And so when I went to go see the movie this weekend, I brought my daughter, there were kids there, but there were just a lot of couples, couples in their 20s and 30s because they love this movie. So a lot of people showed out. It really touched in the same way that I think Inside Out 2 touched a lot of nostalgia for people

who had been younger when those films were released. We've also seen this obviously with the Minions movies and Despicable Me movies where like kids who were six are now 20. When those films first started coming out and they're like, I'm going to go see this movie of course, even though it's Minions 4 and like the age thing isn't an issue. They just want to be near this story. So this movie might end up becoming one of the highest grossing live action Disney movies of all time. Like in America, only two movies surpassed 365 million, The Lion King and Beauty and

the Beast. And those are all time classics. But I think Lilo and Stitch is an all time classic for a demo that is directly beneath us. I do have like a less nostalgia based theory, which is just that Memorial Day is weirdly early this year. This was also like the historically the biggest Memorial Day opening weekend of all time. But it does feel like because it is, I think one of the earliest it can be in the calendar. A lot of schools aren't out yet. Like a lot of people didn't travel and I, and there was really also terrible weather throughout much of the country.

And I do just feel like people, instead of using their holiday weekend to go on a trip, we're just like, well, I guess we're at home and we're going to the movies. And I do wonder if there's like a little bit of, not a, not a fluke, but also... Yeah, it contributed. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think that's totally makes sense. You did miss an incredible weather weekend in Los Angeles.

It was amazing. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, I was in Boston, and that sucked weather-wise. I looked like... Many people are saying being in Boston sucks. Lovely town, got to go to Fenway for the first time, beautiful wedding, congrats Isaac and Sammy, who all also, they picked a Star Wars board sock

for their first dits. It was absolutely... That's great. ...iconic stuff from them. But it was, it was cold. Yeah. Yeah, it was in summery. There were plenty of people who were more than happy to ignore the 75 and sunny weather that we had in LA to go see this movie too.

I think, you know, this obviously comes in addition to the 77 million in Mission Impossible, the final reckoning made, which is a totally good Mission Impossible performance. It's kind of like exactly in line. It's like the mean average of most of these movies. It's technically the biggest three-day weekend, or I think it's technically the biggest three-day weekend that a Mission Impossible movie has ever had. But it had IMAX screens and, you know, it's like these movies don't usually... Yeah, inflation. They don't usually don't open on Memorial Day.

They're usually, I think, July movies. The first film and the second film were both Memorial Day weekend and nonsense. So there's a more of an open crowd coming to this. Memorial Day is usually where I think of franchises like Going to Die, like Pirates of the Caribbean and Fast Six and Men in Black 3. And a lot of movies that open where they're like, the franchise isn't dead yet, but it's kind of like entering its final era. So maybe it's fitting that Mission closed things out.

I'm just going to ask you again, since we spoke about it last week, like is, does this result make you feel any differently about whether or not this will be the last Mission Impossible movie? No, I think it's just mediocre enough to not be indicative, you know? If it had been an absolute sensation, if it had been Lilo and Stitch, then we would know they would make another one. If it were DOA, I think we would know that probably they don't. But you know, Paramount hasn't settled anything and...

That's a big part of it, you're right. And this is just like, fine. And maybe people will keep going to see it. I was surprised to see the cinema score was an A-. I was too. You know, and... We got some feedback on our conversation, which was pretty in-depth about what didn't work for us,

even though weirdly, I think we both were like, this is pretty good. Yeah, we got a lot of feedback of that, of people being like, well, you shouldn't have taken it so seriously in the first place, to which I say, find another podcast. Disagree, yeah, completely disagree with that. But people do seem pleased, or like, into it,

which, you know, it helps that the biplane is the last stunt. We walked out being like, wow. You walk out high. And I think that always helps in these circumstances. It's the same feeling I had when I saw Final Destination Bloodlines, which has now made $95 million in 11 days. I did guess pretty high on that one.

Not that high. Not this high, but like, at least I'm going to get closer, you know? Yeah, I think I guessed $46 million total for that film, and it beat it in one week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This movie was originally supposed to be an HBO Max original.

This wasn't even supposed to be in theaters, which is the same is true also of the Evil Dead movie that came out two years ago, which also went on to great box office success. Also true of Smile, which came out three years ago, which was supposed to be for Paramount+. The lesson as always, put your horror movies in movie theaters.

I mean, if you have even like a mid-budget horror movie with a decent marketing campaign, people want to go see these movies. It helps that Bloodlines is a ton of fun, but this is unusual for the sixth edition of an old franchise. This is why I was trying to figure out, okay, so like what's going on?

Why is everyone at the movies? What are the social... And I guess TV's sort of in a down slump right now, unless you're into Last of Us. I know it just finished, but there's not that much going on. There's some sports. I mean, the rehearsal season two just ended. Oh, sure. It is an extraordinary piece of television.

What do you think the overlap is between the rehearsal and Final Destination bloodline? Like, probably larger than you would think? Yeah. I think for socially damaged old millennials, it's really high. Sure, yeah. I think it actually has more in common, given its aviation theme this season, with Mission Impossible,

The Final Reckoning. Oh, right. There's a lot of plain-foot. Yeah, I got to watch the Sully episode Final Reckoning. Oh, right. There's a lot of... Yeah, I gotta watch the Sully episode. I've heard, I've heard. I'm catching up. Very strange and kind of magical season in that only Nathan Fielder could have done something

like that. Right. But other movies that are still going, I mean, Sinner's still going. Yeah. 260 million, over 300 million internationally. This is pre-PVOD. Yeah. This movie's gonna end up making a shit ton of money.

I was interviewing the younger generation at this wedding that I went to. Did they see Sinners? Yeah, and it was a high school senior who I asked how many movies you go see in theaters, and he's like, I went to Sinners, and that's the first movie I'd been to in a long time. No kidding.

Yeah, but he's also into the rehearsal, so. Wow, another Venn diagram. Yeah, shout out Max. That's beautiful, Max, thank you. Thunderbolts, it's probably gonna get to about 190 million. There was a report that went up about right before we started recording, which someone just texted me that said Thunderbolts was gonna lose $100 million.

I don't really know what that means. We had the same conversation about sinners, but the fact that that's getting out in the world probably means it's ultimately considered a big disappointment. And I did say on the Brave New World podcast, if we get a few of these in a row, we can officially say this is over in so far as the centrality of it.

But isn't it all riding on Fantastic Four? It is. And if that underperforms, whatever that means financially, then I think it's safe to say we're in a new era where these movies will continue to exist. It will always have fans, but building entire content plans around them will be gone. Will be set free. We'll still see the movies. You went to go see Lilo and Stitch. I did by myself at 715 and on a Monday night.

And there were a lot of people there without children. So a lot of old couples. What could have been if you had not had children? You could have been seeing that film without even thinking about your children. Yeah, that's exactly what would happen. Sliding doors. Just a remarkable weekend for the box office. That setting aside, we're gonna talk about friendship later.

That movie did really well for an indie. The Last Rodeo is an Angel Studios movie that Neil McDonough I think wrote and directed and stars in that made like $7.5 million. People just showed up at the movies. Maybe your theory is right. It's clearly, I don't know. It's just people want to see movies, man.

It's not that complicated. And we've now fully shifted away from, we got to send our movies straight to streamers. Like that's not happening anymore. It just doesn't make, they're leaving money on the table every time they do that. So that's exciting. Okay, speaking of money, let's talk about Lilo and Stitch.

Sure. This is a live action remake of the 2002 film that I mentioned. The original film is from Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who went on to make the How to Train Your Dragon movies. Chris Sanders just had huge success last year with The Wild Robot. Dean Fleischer-Camp is the director of this film. And also the co-creator with Jenny Slate of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Yes, they were once a couple. They're no longer together. This is his first film since that

film. Stars Maya Killoa, Sydney Elizabeth Agadong, Billy Magnussen, Hannah Waddingham, Incredible Weekend for Hannah Waddingham. Courtney B. Vance, incredible weekend for the Courtney B. Vance Angela Bassett household. Zach Galifianakis. And then Tia Carrera, Amy Hill and Jason Scott Lee are back in supporting roles. They had voice work in the original film. What did you think of Lilo and Stitch live action? Qualitatively. Qualitatively. I was sort of offended by this movie.

I was offended. So, the little girl is very cute, Maya Kealua, and Stitch was cute as well. I definitely saw the first film probably in theaters, and I guess in some ways this is a very faithful recreation, but I think they also changed certain things for plot purposes. I was just talking to another millennial colleague, Tate Frazier, in the lobby. Did Tate see it?

Tate saw it. No kidding. Tate loves the movies. They changed everything to make me mad. Arjuna said something similar. I think particularly the ending is really rankling people. Well, that bothered Tate as well.

And we can talk about it. But, um, I just thought that whatever changes they made to the plot in order to introduce new characters and I guess up the stakes or make the stakes make sense once you have live humans, uh, were offensive and hurtful to both Lilo, Stitch and me, you know? Like, just, and Nani, the teens, like, let's just help them. You know, like, let's help everybody. Like, what are we doing?

You know, like, why can't the neighbors just pitch in? Like, I don't really think that child services is like working that hard in this one, you know, like what about some daycare? You know, like, what about universal health insurance? It doesn't matter. I was just really pissed off. I was like, this seems very rude to everyone involved and just let them be nice and a happy family. Yeah. You know what movie you remind me of a little bit is the Florida Project. Yeah, no shit. Seriously, Ashley, what's going on?

Where it is incredibly dramatic about the future of a six-year-old girl's life and the way that she is not being cared for in the way that she should be. The movie is weirdly very similar to the original, but also has made an effort to amplify the tension in a way that is like so common. Right.

Or like all Disney movies are all about like a child separated from their parents or their parent has died and so that they need to figure out how to live their life safely while also not having a parent. But yeah, I think the collision of that with animated aliens roaming free through the Hawaiian vista is a little bit strange. To me, this is kind of a classic nothing of a movie. And I was just sharing with Jack that I saw it with Alice and she was very excited to see it. We had seen the original together probably about a year ago. And I wouldn't say it was one of her favorite movies of all time, but it's a movie that she liked and who doesn't

like Stitch? It's just a very effective character. And during the film, very engaged. Like leaping onto her mom or like laying on my lap. Like she was scared, she was kind of showing us how engaged. Yeah, it seemed very upsetting. Yeah, there were parts that were a little intense for her. It's PG, not G. But after the movie ended, we heard nothing about it.

No conversation, no, I liked this part. No, I'm into this character No, can you buy me this? Okay, which is unusual because there's this insane wave of Lilo and Stitch merchandising This was written about in the New York Times recently that like this film over that 20 plus year period has become a real cash cow for Disney Like in what like t-shirts Plushies, like, dishware. Okay, so little stitch. Like, literally, you can put Stitch on anything.

And kids will want it. And kids want it, okay, got it. And so... Not like the Lilo and Stitch resort, where you can go on vacation. I don't know, I'm going to Disneyland next week, I'll let you know. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, so I'm sure there will be a really deep Lilo and Stitch presence. Lilo, I think, is a character that is, like,

tremendously relatable for my daughter. You know, she's, like, very, like, tough, independent-minded, like, a little alienating at times. She's, like, and very, um... very focused on what she wants to accomplish. And I could see her, like, getting really invested. Anytime something was going bad for Lilo, she was into it. But the fact that it drifted away from her...

usually, like, what did my daughter think doesn't really matter on this podcast. This is an instance where I think it does matter, because this movie's targeted really close to her. And I think the movie being such a smash phenomenon, but also older millennials and super young kids being a little bit mixed on it, I think it's really hitting for, like, nine and 10-year-olds.

That was the impression I was getting. Because they loved it, they're loving it purely, kids being a little bit mixed on it. I think it's really hitting for like nine and 10 year olds. That was the impression I was getting. Okay. That they loved, they're loving it purely the same way that they were loving Minecraft and that the silliness of it and the slapstick quality of Stitch was playing really well. And that's kind of all that matters. And they'll probably see the second and third time. But if you're on either end of that spectrum, right. It's not a success. I mean, I guess there is a lot of slapstick, but even Stitch doesn't get to do that much.

You know, he- They kind of show us all the Stitch moments in the trailer. Yeah. He's being like hunted for a while and is hiding and he barely gets to dance. Yep. He barely gets to have any fun. Yep. A little bit less Elvis than I was hoping.

And a little bit more CIA and intergalactic council. So I think in the original film, Courtney B. Vance character is retired CIA, right? Isn't that the idea? That he's not actually CIA any longer? I thought that the social worker is actually CIA. Yes, I think he's retired CIA and he works as a social worker. But in this movie, he's like pretending to be a social worker is actually CIA. Yes, I think he's retired CIA and he works as a social worker.

But in this movie, he's like pretending to be a social worker. And so it's like it is kind of Men in Black where you're like, is this government agency going to get involved in the acquisition of this alien? Just a little convoluted. Yeah. And, but, and it also adds in another adult who's there just preying on them instead of helping the situation. There's just like a lot of adults in here being like,

why don't you just help this nice young woman who wants to be a marine biologist and is trying her best and her six-year-old little girl who just wants to do hula and you know, the kind of the crazy dog who's actually an alien. So as I said, this story structure is very familiar, like Lassie, E.T., the Black Stallion, like there are tons of examples of little kid, you know, creature of some kind or unusual friend or alien or what have you.

Um, do you like these movies? Like, is it like a sub genre that appeals to you at all? I mean, I really like E.T. like a subgenre that appeals to you at all? I mean, I really like ET. And I guess so. The idea of a little kid who needs a friend and then a friend comes and helps them and whatever form of friend it is, is nice.

I think the older I get, the more focused I am on the failures of all the adults around them. So it's hard to enjoy them. Yeah. But also like at least ET is aligned on how all the adults are screwing up and they just cast them definitively as the bad people.

So it's easier to understand why these two people need each other. What are other? I don't know. I like a friendly creature. You know, sure. Sure. I'm open to it. I mean, there's a ton of examples, not just like post ET. There were at least a dozen studio movies that were about aliens coming to this planet and befriending, you know, Mac and me.

Is there like ongoing bit with Paul Rudd and Conan O'Brien? I don't know if you know this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's so many examples of these kinds of movies. Done poorly, they're really cringy, sentimental, and dreadful. Done well, they basically will touch your soul. You know, E.T. is one of the most,

The Black Sailing is a beautiful movie. Like there are beautiful versions of it. It's so funny that this one popped from Disney and the fact that 25 years later they're remaking it, because the movies that were coming out from Disney animated features at this time are notoriously either not good or were failures because it was happening simultaneous to the rise of Pixar. So Toy Story comes in 95 and then the late 90s and early 2000s for Disney animated features are like Atlantis, The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet,

Brother Bear, Home on the Range. These movies are more or less forgotten. Like they have no cult following, or if they do, it's very small. And Lilo and Stitch somehow emerged as this like all-time classic now. Well, I think Lilo and Stitch also broke through in a time, broke through at the time in a way that those others did not. Because I was in high school at that point, and I have never seen any of those films you just mentioned. That's so interesting. But I did see Lilo and Stitch because it was like a thing.

And it is a little bit of like the George Lucas, they just got the creature, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just like the, whether it's R2-D2 or, what are the new ones? Porgs, Poox, what? You remember? Poox is, no, that old podcast. I think it was Porgs? Poox? What? You remember? Poox is no that old podcast.

I think it was Porgs. Yeah. From Star Wars. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just the thing that turns into the plushie that you can sell, but they nailed it with Stitch. Yes. Agreed. There's definitely a little bit of gizmo from Gremlins going on here too and Zach Gilligan's relationship to those characters. Baby Yoda, what's his real name? Grogu. Grogu is not, like, unrelated to Stitch, you know? You can see the lineage straight on through Grogu to David Copperfield's alien. We should do the evolution of man poster chain,

but all just, like, creatures who become friends with characters in the Disney universe. Uh, I did want to give some love to Billy Magnus, and I thought he was really funny in this. He plays Pleacley, who is an alien who gets a cloaking device that allows him to turn into a human who looks like Billy Magnussen. He just knew what kind of movie he was in. You know, he has like a slapstick comedy quality that I think is in direct contrast to his handsomeness.

He's also the friendly alien, and so he's like the quote-unquote earth expert. And is so happy to be there. So there is like a, you know, he can play the comedy, but also the, he's not mean, you know? He's not shooting anyone. He's just like wearing funny clothes. So it's good. This is an unkind question, but I'm just gonna ask it.

Did Zach Galifianakis get veneers? Uh, I did note... I thought that it was a change in facial hair. Okay. But I do know what you're saying. I did notice something... He just looked a little different. I did notice something going on in this area. I thought it was like maybe a goatee and something. Here's what I want to say.

I was distracted. I know. I... Chappell Rohn said this first, but I agree with her. I think that we need to... A nightmarish formulation. Um, veneers are okay. Let people get bad veneers, is my opinion. Yeah, I know, but it's like now becomes a thing. I'm not making a negative comment. It just, it looked like he had veneers. Yeah. Which, I mean, that happens to people. That's how dentists make money. Um, and- That's not the only way that they make money. All the way is scamming you.

No, you and dentists need to talk it out. You guys need to talk it out. No, they need to come up with a business proposal that isn't just lying to everyone all the time. Okay, all right. Fair enough. But that's fine. I think it's okay if people get-

You've never been more out of your depth than your dental rants. No, I'm not out of my depth. These are not... People have serious problems. If you have pain, they can help. But otherwise, they're just paying you to use an electric toothbrush and then shame you, you know? Like on you. I can do it at home. Oh, that's what it is. That's what it is. No, you don't like to be told what to do. And if you're doing something wrong, you really

don't like that. Let me show you how to floss. I's what it is. No, you don't like to be told what to do. And if you're doing something wrong, you really don't like that. Let me show you how to floss. I know how to floss. By the way, like show, again, show me the double blind studies on flossing. Show me, okay? They don't exist. You're looking at one.

They've made a dramatic improvement in my teeth health. Well, that's great. I love a strong take. Yeah. That's one in particular where I have no idea what you're talking about. Dental work has radically changed millions of people's lives in this country and around the world. Moving on. The live action remake thing. We've talked to almost everyone on this pod.

Except for Snow White. We didn't talk. I still haven't seen it. Yeah, I haven't either. I think I was away when it came out and Alice went to go see it without me. Yes. Yeah, I think that was rewatchable store. Right. So maybe when it hits D+, we can have a three-hour conversation about Rachel Zegler's politics. Um, generally, the live-action remakes are, um, painfully bad to me. Yeah.

I really, really don't like this trend. And I thought after Snow White, maybe it was coming to a close. Mm-hmm. And it's not. No. It's not coming to a close. And it's not. No. It's not coming to a close. It's going to continue because this movie is so big.

Well, what's left on the table? Great question. I'm glad you asked. Okay. Oh boy. You know, there's nothing actually currently in production as far as I know. One thing I did note is that this is the fifth, is it the fifth? Fifth consecutive movie that Disney Studios has released

that has either been a sequel, a live action remake, or both. Okay. Inside Out 2, Moana 2, The Lion King Mufasa, Snow White, and now this. Three of the next four are also either sequels, live action remakes, or both. The one original is Elio,

and then Freakier Friday, Tron Ares, which honestly looks sick, so it's all good. And Zootopia 2. Zootopia 2 trailer in the movie theater, Bananastown, kids are losing their minds for the Zootopia 2 teaser. Dead silent in my theater. Okay. Yeah. Cause there were, and well there was-

It's all adults. Yeah, all adults. At night. And there are no words. And it was just people. What- Did adults. Yeah, all adults. At night. And there were no words. And it was just people. What's the word? Did you like that bop, that EDM jam that they were playing? I liked the little creatures who came out

and played the keyboard. That part was good. Have you seen Zootopia? No, I was going to ask you, what's it about? They're in a zoo and then they break out. It's about a young rabbit who I believe is a police officer. And she has to investigate a case. And she brings in a fox character to help her research the case.

It's kind of like Chinatown meets Peter Rabbit. Okay. But are they in a zoo? No, they live in a world full of animals. Zootopia is the world. So Zootopia is the world, but because it rhymes with utopia, not because it's a zoo. Bit of both. And how is the world organized?

It's a wonderful question. Let's bring in the Chamber of Commerce from Zootopia gym animal. I don't know. It's like, is it just like us? Is it like, it's like Richard scary vibes where, you know, everyone, it's just like the pigs. So you're not familiar with the sloth bit from Zootopia? No. You don't know the sloth joke?

No. Jack, do you know the sloth joke from Zootopia? Yeah, vaguely. It's just that it's an iconic animated movie bit. All right. Do you want to tell me what it is? Why don't you watch it in real time? OK.

Sloth Zootopia YouTube. OK. And if you're amused, that's great. Try to not listen to it too loud so we don't get any bleed here. The sloth laughing? Yes. Okay.

You just spoiled it for yourself, but I guess you had to search for it. Well, it's the title of the thing. Oh, I think I've seen this guy and he, hold on. Oh, and he's going like this. What do you think about a sloth? I don't really have any feelings about them one way or the other. I think that it's a live and let live situation for me.

So if you saw one on the street, you wouldn't murder it. No, I don't need to interact with it or put it in a zoo either. I think I would be frustrated if it were in a, um, consumer facing role in my, in the world that I lived in. Consumer facing role. Well, this is what I'm looking at, at the movie. There are no humans in the world that I lived in. A consumer-facing role. Well, this is what I'm looking at at the movie. There are no humans in the film Zootopia, so no need to worry about facing this sloth.

Okay. So the bit is just, oh, okay, yay. I think I've seen this meme. I believe it was in the trailer. Oh, that's funny. Yeah. And he's laughing. Okay. I'm familiar. Okay. That's great. Not sold on Zootopia 2. Disney is running the same playbook they've been running for 15 years. It's pretty depressing.

Yes. I don't have any follow-up comments. The other trailers that I saw were for Elio, which is just... I hope that's good. But it is also like Fancy Boy, Lilo and Stitch, so that's fine. Fancy Boy? Not Fancy Boy, Fancy, and that I like, you know,

Pixar high art. Fancy, comma, italicized boy. Yes. Dash. Because Elio is a boy. Yes. Lilo and Stitch. Yeah.

And I guess like, it's like a home and away situation. Yes, what if Stitch dragged Lilo to another planet? But that's fine. I mean, there are no new ideas under the sun. Freakier Friday, watch the trailer. Listen, I'm happy for Lindsay. It looks like a yogurt commercial. It does.

It does actually look like one of the Jamie Lee Curtis yogurt commercials. So that is tough. Will we do an episode on Freakier Friday? I feel like it's going to be a hit. No, I'm going to be on leave again, so maybe we'll do it at the end of August. Yeah. No, we should do it five years from now. Okay. Just circle back. I don't know what's up with Tron Aries, but I'm happy for you. Or sorry, that happened. I'm extremely excited because one, apparently Tron has gotten into the real world, which just sounds like a crazy town.

Two, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did the score. I'm excited about that. That's enough for me. Jared Leto, you know, not ideal. Well, it is. Not exactly what I wanted in Tron Aries. That could have been, who could that have been? I'm just so- That could have been Joe Pantoliano.

Okay. Instead it was Jared Leto. So Jared Leto is Ares? I think he's the villain. I don't know. That's what it says. Yeah, sure. Yeah, Jared Leto is Ares.

Greta Lee as Eve Kim. Love her. Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger. Julian Dillinger. That's what it says. Is that a reference to John Dillinger? Is that John Dillinger's great-grandson? I'm just reading the cast list on wikipedia.com.

Okay. Is Jeff Bridges in the cast list on wikipedia.com. Okay. Is Jeff Bridges in the film? For Christ's sake? Yes, Kevin Flynn. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, I remember him. Gillian Anderson is apparently in this.

Gillian Anderson. Yeah, she's seen in the trailer looking ominously out of a giant building. Do you think Tron Aries will be better or worse than Lilo and Stitch? Oh, that's a great question. So Tron Aries follows a highly sophisticated program, Aries, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind's first encounter with AI beings.

I'm gonna say worse. Okay. Tron Aries is being released on October 10th, AKA Venom of Starsborn weekend. Oh, great, okay. Should be pretty interesting. What else is coming out that weekend? Animal Friends, an animated movie created by Ryan Reynolds.

Oh, yeah, so you'll be there front row. Also coming out that weekend. I'm excited for your voice performance in that. Thank you. I play a sloth. As the sloth. After the Hunt is also coming out that weekend. Oh, yay.

Yay. Lilo and Stitch, it's gonna make $400 million in America. Well. I got no problem with it. Okay. I hope people enjoy things. Yeah. They should be able to enjoy things.

It's fine. I mean, I, again, I think all the adults around should do something to help this family, but... Oh, we didn't talk about the ending. The change in the end. Okay, if you don't want the new Lilo and Stitch spoiler for you. Spoiler, spoiler. Yes.

The ending in particular, the notes that I've heard from hardcore fans is the idea that Nani, her older sister, who I thought was really good in this movie. I did as well. The performances in general, I think are pretty good in the movie. Le did as well. The performances in general, I think are pretty good in the movie. Leaves Lilo and Stitch

and allows her to live with her neighbor and she goes off to college. Which is a change from the original story. Is there more about the ending that you found disquieting? I wasn't that upset with it, but everyone who is so loyal to the 2002 film is really upset that this young woman's getting an education.

Which I, you know, I don't know if that's my take. I'm just going to San Diego, it's not that far. If Barbie can get a hysterectomy, this woman can go to college. That's what I say. That's what she's getting at the end of Barbie. I was gonna say, is that what she's getting? No.

Hold on. I'm just pulling up the... Jack, do you remember what happens at the very end? Wow. Okay. All right. Just... No, no, no, no, no.

In the original Lilo and Stitch. Okay. They just rebuild the house. Maybe there's nothing about going to college, I guess, in the original. Yeah, I believe that's right. Okay. I've seen the movie. I mean, I have too, but many years. I think it's okay if this young woman wants to go

pursue higher education. And I honestly just don't understand why the neighbors didn't step in sooner. Native Hawaiian Gen Z women can have it all. What, but this was my main issue with the neighbors who were like, call us if you need anything. Obviously they need things. They need some help with childcare. They need some help with, you know, basic,

you know, household tasks so that Nani can go get a job. Like they need a lot of things. You should run for city council in Los Angeles. Your platform is extraordinary. I just, like- Do you have a website? You weren't mad? I was really thinking about the inner lives

of these characters too much. I hadn't, I had not remembered that, um... this ambition. The thing is that Ohana is the big theme of the movie, right? This idea of family and never leaving anyone behind. The whole point of the movie is stick together. You're in a family, you have to have each other's backs. And the beautiful thing with the movie at the end, the idea that Stitch gets to stay on Earth.

And so does Billy Magnussen. Yes. And Pleakley stays, and they're all together, and they're a family. Right. And so her leaving is a direct rejection of the core theme of the original film. It doesn't mean that the core theme of the original film

is women shouldn't be able to go to college. It means that what's most important is taking care of one another. Now, you may disagree. You may say it's important that she study porpoises. You know, that that is what really matters. I think that even when you're six, you can take care of your sister too

by understanding that she needs to go to college and FaceTime with her. Plus, they have the portal. So she comes back, so it's fine. This is gonna be a tough beat for your son. So when you're like, I have to go to Venice because I have to take care of my things and they're going to be like, he's got my back here. That is literally what's happening. And the answer is their father. So it's fine.

Unfortunately for Lilo, she doesn't have any parents. I know, but she has the neighbors and she has Stitch and she has Stitch's alien companion, Billy Magnussen. You're right. Family is a community is what you're saying. And that is what the neighbor says ahead of time. Well, should we all be so lucky to live in such a caring community? I mean, I think that we should.

Anyway. This is just a lot more Lilo and Stitch than I expected to get it to. It took them a long time to become caring enough, though. That was my issue. It is weird when Amy Hill's character comes around and she's like, what's going on over here? Oh, yeah, good luck. This is what I'm saying.

It's very true. It's because it's such a contrivance in the plot. They have to kind of yada yada it. And also the social worker being like, we can help you with the cost of the health insurance if you surrender your child to us. It's just like, how about you just pay? You know what's so funny? So Tia Carrera voices Nani in the original film and the film came out,

I don't know, probably like almost 10 years after the Wayne's World boom. Right. And that's where most of us saw her for the first time. If you were me, very important. One of the most intoxicating people that's ever lived. And I just saw her in person at a screening of Mary Poppins at the Academy Museum. And I clocked her immediately. She's so striking.

And I was like, what the hell is Tia Carrera been doing with her life? Lo and behold, one month later, she showed up in the biggest movie of the year. Great, I'm really happy for her. Any closing thoughts? No, I think I summed it right up. Let young women go to college?

Yeah, if they would like to. They would like to. Build the support system so that they can. You tried to nudge in universal healthcare, which I also believe in, but I'm not totally like, is that the subterranean message of the film? It is like really, really upsetting to me, the scene with Tia Carrera after they forget to apply for health insurance. And then...

The only way we can take care of you is if you're a ward of the state. And she's like, we can handle all of this if you sign away, like all familial rights, it's like, how about you just pay for it and then give them some money for groceries? Just a thought. Well, I can't disagree with that. It was quite an insidious plot device to make us feel for this family. Well, also considering the nature of our federal and state governments.

Yeah. So thank you for your work today. Sure. Now that we've talked about the struggles of young women in this country, we can talk about the struggles of aging men with the film Friendship. So Friendship is a new comedy from Andrew DeYoung. He wrote and directed this movie, which I find fascinating because the movie so clearly locates the comedic talent of Tim Robinson.

Yes. Tim Robinson has become, over the last 10 years, a beloved comic figure in America. He co-created Detroiters. He was very briefly a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and he is the co-creator and star of I Think You Should Leave, which has been a very successful Netflix sketch comedy show that I think is at three seasons now. First season is one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my life. I have never laughed harder at a TV show. I loved it dearly. This movie also stars Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Paul Rudd. It's about a guy named Craig, who is a marketing executive drifting through his midlife, and he tries to befriend his charismatic new neighbor, who's a weatherman, and the friendship very quickly sours into a kind of obsession,

and it soon threatens to ruin both of their lives. Mm-hmm. What did you think of the movie Friendship? This was a durational experience for me. But which I think is actually part of the art. Like, I think it's very good. Yeah. They did what they wanted to do.

And fascinating. It's clear that you are watching exactly what was intended, that they have a very specific insight into whatever is going on with all of you, and by you I mean men. I think it's sociologically and artistically really insightful and accomplished. I saw it in a silent theater. Really? I've heard varying reports on this.

I have as well. I've also talked to people who saw it and they were absolutely like in theater where everyone was losing it. Did you see it at press screening or did you see it in the movie theater? No, I saw it at Burbank 16. Okay.

Where you would think that I would be among my people. Yeah, yeah. I think I maybe laughed the most. Really? Yeah, and which was at a few, like, really choice moments. And I would characterize most of the other laughing, oh no, you know what, I saw it at the Americana, which is maybe changing the...

Different crowd. Different crowd, just to be fair. And... No shots to the Americana, AMC Americana, but the Burbank Sickos are like, those are the real hits. Like that, when, when movies... Which is a stupid delineation, but it is true. Well, when movies only open in two theaters in LA,

when they're limited, it's at Century City and at the Burbank 16. That is where, that is where we see our fellow big pick psychos all the time. And I would characterize the laughter that did happen as like mostly nervous. So I wonder if everyone knew what they were walking into. I don't know.

I saw it at a press screening. Now, I think one of the downsides of this movie is that many people, including our pal Adam Neyman, have called this the funniest movie of the last 10 years. And so that immediately raises the stakes. And I think it's creating an expectation for a movie akin to The Hangover or The 40-Year-Old Virgin or these memories we have of going

to see these kind of crass buddy comedies from the 2000s or even the 90s that made you like rolling in the aisles. You know, the early Farrelly Brothers movies. That's not really what Tim Robinson does. No. He has a much more sharply defined, discomfiting, psychological edge to a lot of his comedy because the character that he almost always plays

is a guy who is doing something insane and he is insanely insecure about it. And this movie is the kind of the pinnacle of that approach. It's not the same as a sketch. It does feel as though a sketch has been stretched though. Yes. You know, like the premise of the movie is fairly thin. But then the details of it are highly specific.

Right. And that's part of what makes the movie effective and fun for me. I mean, and it is structured in such a way where it is a kind of a series of sketches that, you know, which is in many ways like what all comedy movies are, you know, it's like now they got to do this and now they got to do this. So anything from like, you know, the trip to the, about the frog trip, is that what it is?

The drug trip. Yeah. Obviously the maze situation, but there are like discrete events of things that inevitably go terribly wrong that are mini sketches within their own. The frog licking sketch is a really good example of something that it would be weird to be laughing very hard through the entirety of that sequence. But there is a version of laughing that is like, I can't believe this is happening right now.

And that was how I felt during that one. I probably had a 50-50 balance between, wow, they're really going for it, self-awareness. And then the, I can't control myself. This is so funny. When the guy identifies himself as Jimp, I almost fell out of my seat. I think that is one of the funniest things I've ever heard,

that his name was Jimp. That's the kind of dumb shit that I think powers the movie, in addition to that weird edge that I'm talking about. Right. And the truth is, this is a real thing. I wouldn't say I actually personally struggle with this very much. I found that I've actually made a bunch of new friends

in my life in the last few years, more so than in the previous five or six years, in part because of the show, because I have a thing that communicates to the wider world. Like, here's what I'm into. Yeah. And so it's easier to be like, oh, you're into that, I'm into that. And then we have a lot of like-minded interests. But it's very common for middle-aged men who have families. And let's say, you you know they've fallen you know out of touch with some friends or their lives have gotten more tightly

focused on their career and their families and then they lose this kind of social contact and then they even kind of lose themselves in their families and in their jobs and then they have a real difficulty making new friends or like finding new communities. Andrew DeYoung has definitely located an actual, I don't know if it's a phenomenon, but something that does happen to a lot of people, friends of mine, I know I've experienced this specifically. And it's a very serious social disorder, I think,

that like kind of presages the incel era. Sure, sure. Where like you can just kind of kill time on your phone all the time, you don't have to be around people. You throw yourself into like, I hear this new Marvel movie is nuts, you know? Some of the jokes that they're writing. Like...

It's a no Marvel spoilers zone. That's really funny. That's very good. But I think by finding something quite, not serious, but quite real, and then building around Tim Robinson insanity of humor around it was a good choice. No, I think it's very effective and fascinating. It was interesting that we put together our like movie friendships list.

Um, and you know, like always, I tried to think of movies about, you know, female friendships, um, of which there are many, but they're always about how screwed up their friendships are. Whereas historically, we're like, when you think of a buddy comedy, you think of like two guys who have a pretty uncomplicated, hey, I love you, man, and I love you, man. And now we have to go like, you know, solve a crime somewhere and laugh it up. And so there are not that many complicated, you know, solve a crime somewhere and laugh it up. And so there are not that many complicated,

you know, male friendships. And sometimes it does seem like you guys... You're either like totally okay and like not worried about it, or things are very, very weird between men. And so this is a good examination of category B. I think I don't personally have a ton of... I don't fight with you. Your husband is my best friend. Like, I don't... We don't...

I don't know if we've ever had a fight. Um, Chris and I never fight. Like, it's just not really a part of our genetic... DNA. And part of that, I think, is that... we kind of know where to go and we're not to go. Yes, absolutely. For the most part in the relationship. But in this movie, it's a new friendship. And so it's people in the middle of their lives when they kind of have become who they are, trying to find a way

to become close. And very quickly, we see that Craig and Austin, the Paul Rudd character, it seems like they have something shared, where they have this, like, slightly kind of punk edge, where they want to defy the expectations of their life. Austin literally plays in a punk band, even though he's a weatherman during the day. Craig is sort of like, oh, you can, like, break into a sewer and smoke cigarettes.

And you don't have to have a phone. Right. There's, like, certain things that he has accepted about daily modern life that Austin is showing him don't need to exist. And so at the very early stages of their friendship, they're giving each other something. Yeah. And then as soon as Craig gets dropped

into a social environment with Austin's other friends, it's clear how much he doesn't fit. He doesn't fit with them, he doesn't fit with Austin, he doesn't even really fit in the world. Yeah. He's just an odd guy. Well, and then it becomes, part of it is also just, this is about like one person who like Lilo,

like many of other people doesn't really know how to make friends, thinks he finds his other person, and then he realized, oh no, he is the weirdo. Like, you know, and we don't often get movies about the loser. So do you think this... Or if we do, it's Taxi Driver.

Well, OK, so that's what I was going to say, because... that's a really great comparison. And there is certainly a kind of Scorsese quality to this movie, where you're like, they're not... Even though there's a lot of jokes, they're playing it pretty straight. Yeah. There's even a gun theft in this movie. So if this character, if Craig was played by a different actor, who is not so clearly communicated as Tim Robinson is funny.

Right. You know, if it was his kind of, if it was, even if it was John C. Reilly and Paul Rudd, where like, John C. Reilly could go either way. This could be a comedy or this could be an incredibly tense drama. Well, I mean, John C. Reilly is like a, if it's stepbrother's John C. Reilly could go either way. This could be a comedy or this could be an incredibly tense drama. Well, I mean, John C. Reilly is like a... If it's stepbrothers John C. Reilly, like that's pretty close. How about Joaquin Phoenix? Right, well then it's just strange.

But he's not kidding. Well, and he's also Joaquin Phoenix is just like... not classically handsome, but is sort of classically movie star handsome. So that's another, you know, thing that's... You always bring that up. Listen, a lot of people are getting on the train and I just like, I've been on the train since this bending the habits. Did you see Joker 2? No, I didn't.

I don't like it when people sing, so I don't want to mess up, you know, the fond memories I have. You don't like it when people sing? I don't like it when most people sing. Yeah. Right. I mean, are you happy when you're somewhere and someone just like bursts in a song like 90% of the time, unless it's a... Where does that happen? I don't know, but whenever it does, don't you just like want to panic?

No, but you know, I don't, when it's like, I don't know. Most of the time when people are singing, I wish they weren't. Jack is very normal. I agree with you. But I don't understand what are the circumstances in which people just begin to sing at you in public. Does this happen frequently? It's like usually, you know, like a busker?

No, that's okay. Sometimes they're good. I mean, if they're not good, then what are you gonna do? I don't know. Like gatherings, like weddings, like graduations, you know. People are bursting into song at these events. Sometimes people do song at a, sing at a wedding and that is like, off.

That did not happen at the wedding that I went to. I can't believe you didn't ask me to sing at your wedding. I could have sang something beautiful. I could have sang an, you know, an Irish lullaby. Yeah, just most of the time it's just really, it's a level of sincerity and also asking for attention that is really, really makes me uncomfortable. How did we get onto this subject?

Um, people singing. I don't remember. There is a really funny singing moment in this movie. Uh, yeah. That's when I laughed the most. There are a really funny singing moment in this movie. That's when I laughed the most. There are a couple. We did learn, we learned early in the movie that Craig is in a punk band, but then when he and his friends are together,

they also sing late 90s hip hop dance jams. Acapella. Acapella. But I was laughing, like that was the true guffaw in the theater for me. Another genius construction of Craig realizing that he just doesn't fit in with these guys, even though what these guys are doing is ridiculous.

And I pray to God no group of friends are doing that anywhere in the world right now. It is really funny. There is, I think there's something kind of challenging in a good way about being forced to be with Craig Robinson for one hour and 40 minutes. Mm-hmm, again, durational. Yeah, which I ultimately did enjoy,

and the highs are so high, but I did feel like this movie could end with him murdering everyone, and I wouldn't have been stunned. Yes, but I think I would have been a little annoyed. Oh, because then it was trying to be too serious? No, or and or if it were using that as like pure comedy, then it would sort of undercut what it is achieving and it's like, and it's weirdness for the sake of weirdness.

Yeah, then it would have seemed like a nihilistic. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, I get that. I really enjoyed both Kate Mara's character and her performance. Yeah. I could not think of another example of a character like this in the history of a movie. In the movie, which is a pure comedy, she never winks. She's never like in on the joke.

She is a person who is living her life specifically the way that she wants to live it. Now, she's in a marriage with Craig, and she has a teenage son that she has an unusually close and physical relationship with. But she is very openly talking about her friendship with her ex-boyfriend and she's also very clearly perturbed by the lack of support she receives from her husband with her flower business. And like over time she just kind of drifts away from him and just pushes him away. She has like a tremendous amount of agency in this movie after she's lost in the sewer system. Right. Well, she does get lost in the sewer system, you know?

I love Kate Mara as you know. I thought the way that she chose to play it was really interesting. Not what you usually would see from the wife character in the buddy comedy. And not funny, but very... Is it stupid to say profound? No, I don't think so. I think that this is a very intelligent movie for something that is like really, really stupid also and playing for like blunt laughs. But I think also if she's not, there is something about the way she performs it in her sort of like independence and just kind of how she's separated off from him that keeps you from asking questions

like why are you married to this person? Like how did any of this happen? There is like a other worldliness to what's how all of these people are behaving that gets you past the suspension of disbelief. Yes. Agreed. So it's a great choice.

Like when Connor O'Malley enters the garage. Everything Connor O'Malley does in this is also the other time. I absolutely lost it. Connor O'Malley going in the garage is like when Godzilla and Kong finally face each other in Godzilla versus Kong. We were like, I've just been waiting five movies to see these guys punch each other. And I need, I would like Connor O'Malley in more movies is where I stand on that.

It was a very funny scene. Two guys who were like experts at the awkward, like everyone realizes there's something wrong with this guy except for this guy who both raised their voices in uncomfortable ways and who have located something about like the disillusionment in the American spirit that the internet has bored down into people. Like they both have kind of picked up on something in different ways where it's just like every guy looking at his phone is basically broken and they just, they get it. It's true.

They just, they get it. What does true. They just, they get it. What does Conor Malley yell as he leaves the garage? I forget. It's really, really good. OK. And then at the end of the party, it's very funny stuff. I also enjoyed Craig's blown pitch to the mayor

about his new marketing campaign, which is also just phenomenal stuff. This is a very funny movie. It's also just phenomenal stuff. Um, this is a very funny movie. I, I know it's hard to get theatrical comedies going. And this movie is on a smaller scale. And it's obviously a cheaper movie.

It was a festival movie that I think got picked up by A24 out of TIFF. And it seems like they're doing pretty good business with it. I don't think it like shows the way for anything, but... No, but it's nice that it exists. Yeah, and I think it probably is like a little bit of a proof of concept for a slightly bigger Tim Robinson thing if he wants it. Right, but this is also... This seems like the right level.

I think this will become like a very off-reference movie, you know? Sort of like instant cults. Yes, it will be on max in three months, and then people will watch it over and over again, just like they watch I Think You Should Leave. Paul Rudd, we haven't mentioned him too much in this episode. Very funny. He's great.

There's a phenomenal episode of Good, Hang, Maybe, Polar with Paul Rudd, I highly encourage people, it's just them doing bits for an hour, I really liked it. He, him doing this movie is great. Like, he definitely didn't have to do this, you know? I think he clearly did it because he thinks Tim Robinson is funny. He still looks exactly like the guy

from Romeo and Juliet 35 years later, which is a little dispiriting for me. I mean, this has been like a meme for 15 years now, but it does keep going. But that meme was like nine years ago, and it's still going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's played for an incredible laugh in the movie

because it's revealed in the movie that his character is bald and wears a toupee, which is something that we would joke about, about Paul Rudd who's preserving his eternal fountain of youth. By the way, I saw the film, Fountain of Youth on Apple TV plus this weekend. Oh yeah. I'll do it at some point, but yeah.

I don't think it deserves much air time here on the pod. I thought he was really good in this. I thought he was really funny. I thought he also, his character was also a little bit more complex than I was expecting. He wasn't just the suave, cool guy who dashed into town and took Craig's breath away. He also, he's kind of a middle-aged guy going through it

who needed to be inspired to do some things differently, who also is flawed, who also is insecure, in a way that was like, I don't know, pretty fascinating. And they make fun of him too. You know, he's the aspiring weatherman, but he keeps, he's like not popular at work. Yes, yes, getting kicked by his bosses.

The anchors are very rude to him. Pretty funny movie. Definitely. And also good. Not, I mean, it is not a broad comedy, and I do wonder how many people I saw the movie with who were just like, what is happening, you know? Yeah. There's a strain of that, I think, for anybody who fires up, I think you should leave too,

where you're just like, this is just a... There's a real not-for-me contingent, which is totally fine. Um... Ultimately, not the best movie about friendship that I've ever seen. I think that it is a very good movie about the way that a friendship can mutate.

I mean, this is the thing, right? When we were making our lists, is it like model friendships or good movies about friendships? Cause I went through a lot of movies where I'm like, well, she's a pretty bad friend and I wouldn't do that if I were, you know, or I would be mad about this.

Yeah. I mean, that is like, you kind of need that to make a movie. Well, you have one on here that I left off, but I'm glad you added it because something happens to it that kind of like makes me sad. And... Yeah, but is also a major part of the movie. It is, it is. You know?

And it is, I think, a good movie about friendship. Yes. Okay, let's do our lists. Okay. I'll go first, cause my first one's kind of a joke, but I do believe in movie about friendship. Yes. Okay, let's do our list. Okay. I'll go first, because my first one's kind of a joke, but I do believe in it. This is, these are friends who are new friends, like the friends in the movie Friendship, and they instantly bond.

I'm talking about McLovin and the cops from Superbad. It's beautiful, yeah. And one of my favorite things about Superbad, which is an all-time movie that we love, is the way that the cops, played by Bill Hader and Seth Rogen, play it so straight that they're having a blast with McLovin while they're riding around in their cruiser with him and that they feel a bond and a connection with him. And when

it turns out that he's not who he says he is, that they are deeply hurt and that all the fun that they've had has been premised upon a lie. And it's just a rare, beautiful portrait of cops in a movie. And McLevin, of course, you know, Christopher Mince-Place gives an incredible performance in that movie. So that's my first one. Yeah. Mine is the Flossie Posse from Girls Trip, aka that. So this is, this is my like group of women together in a movie. Sex and the City, not eligible because that was a TV show first. Yeah, but it was a TV show first. I thought about it. Also, you know,

they have their ups and downs as friends. Um, and just like that is coming back soon. I could not be more aware or more excited. I already volunteered myself as the, and just like that correspondent on the watch. So I won't be here for the next 10 weeks. I'll just be on the watch. Understood. Diagramming every bit of it. Sounds good.

Um, solo Phoenician scheme pod for me. There are a lot, obviously like a lot of movies about like a group of women, usually four, and they are, you know, figuring things out, but really at the end, they love each other. And this one is both genuinely like fun and funnier. And then also just the speech that Regina Hall gives at the end made me cry. So there is like something like very heartfelt about it that I still remember. And obviously a sensation, like box office-wise. So we had something very heartfelt about it that I still remember.

And obviously a sensation. Like box office-wise. So we had a bunch of these when we were kids. Yeah. I think Steel Magnolias probably kicked off the trend of these movies, but I remember very vividly now and then was like a huge one. Sure.

Or some other examples. Huge for me too. Devin Sawa forever. Absolutely. I didn't realize that Devin Sawa's final destination until I listened to your podcast. Alexi is the critical character in the film. Um, there are some other examples. What are some other, I mean, Sisterhood of the Traveling

Pants is like a famous version of this, right? First Wives Club. First Wives Club, that's a great one. Yeah, there's a lot of these. They're pretty persistent. Um, my number four is two women. Uh, two women named Enid and Rebecca from Ghost World, played by Thor Birch, Birch also now and then.

And Scarlett Johansson. I think this is maybe the second time I saw Scarlett Johansson after The Horse Whisperer. That was a movie, right? Okay, yeah, with Robert Redford and Kristen Scott Thomas. Yeah, I think she was the horse whisperer. Can I tell you for a minute, I thought that Kristen Scott Thomas

was voicing the galactic counselor, whoever in Lilo and Stitch, and then I recognized it was Hannah Waddingham doing far better accent work than she did in Mission Impossible, Final Reckoning. I gotta give her credit. Good to know. I would have been happy to see that money

to go to Kristen Scott Thomas. I were getting far away from Eden and Rebecca. However, I watched an interview with Hannah Waddingham about her working with Tom Cruise, and she was extremely laudatory as most actors are. And she made one note that I thought was interesting, which is that she said, when she was working on the movie, that Tom Cruise waited to shoot his coverage

until the end of the day. And she said, unlike many other stars whom I've worked with, this is incredibly uncommon, that it is important for their coverage to be shot first, that they be taken care of first. And he was like, we gotta make sure everybody else looks good and everybody else is taken care of. I'm not sure that's really meaningful in any way,

but I thought it was a very specific detail that she chose to share or was encouraged to share about her experience with Tom. Anyway, Eden and Rebecca, ghost world, fascinating movie about two young women who find themselves kind of like searching for the next stage of their life. They befriend an older man who's a collector, a jazz music fan, or excuse me, a blues music fan. And they kind of like befriend him at

first to kind of mock him and make fun of him and then slowly come to recognize he is like a kindred spirit, you know, in particular kind of like falls for the idea of him. He's played by Steve Buscemi and their friendship is really interesting. It's somewhat similar to one of the ones on your list too, in that they kind of, you can see that they've been friends for a very long time since they were young girls. And that as they've gotten older, they've stayed close in some ways and drifted in other ways. And the things that they're interested in, Enid is like a little bit more of an oddball. And Rebecca is becoming a little bit more normie through the course of the storytelling. And the way that they like very,

they don't, there's no dramatic throw down between them. They just kind of like very gently drift for a while, but they know that they'll always love each other. And I always thought it was like a very sophisticated portrait of a particular kind of friendship. And I, you know, I think they're both like such great actors and I love that movie. My number four is, you know, less high-minded but also really beautiful. Danny and Rusty in Ocean's Eleven. Yeah, this is me and Sior. Yeah, I mean it's really, you think we need one more? Yeah. You think we need one more? Yeah, shorthand. Yeah, nothing. They just, they are together. They understand each other.

They don't have to speak the things. It's beautiful. It's probably like my ideal form of friendship. It's nice when- And also they do crimes. It's kind of the opposite of Craig and Austin. Yeah. Where it's like, they've got 30 years behind them.

There's like, there's a real comfort and trust in that they understand each other. And so then they just go do their things. And even when Danny is like, has actually turned out to set up the whole thing in order to get back tests. I think Rusty's mad for like five seconds and then eat some cocktail shrimp and then moves on. So it's fine. Is Rusty good at his job? like five seconds and then eat some cocktail shrimp and then moves on. So it's fine.

Is Rusty good at his job? I think so because he gets the money out of the vault. You know, he's in the, they're all in the vault together. Just asking questions. I mean, I guess Danny's in there too. I'm trying to think. Maybe time for a revisit. Yeah.

But no, I mean, he plays a crucial role in moving things together and moving things apart. I'll roll with you on it. Questions 11, great movie. Number three is a little bit of a recognition of something that you were talking about. This is Gus, Harry and Archie from the John Cassavetes movie, Husbands, which came out in 1970, which is a, I think a very famous movie among a certain kind of person that is about a very specific kind of. It's sort of a prequel to friendship. It's about old friends, guys who've known each other for a long time,

who come together in the aftermath of the death of their other closest friend. And it's Ben Guzara, Casavetes, and Peter Falk played the three friends, three guys who have appeared in many Casavetes movies over the years. And it's about them having a little bit of a, what we might call a crash out in 2025, in the aftermath of this death, where they're kind of getting into trouble and kind of wandering around the city, getting drunk, playing basketball, picking fights with strangers, picking fights with each other, finding ways to kind of sloppily communicate how much they care about each other, but then also how much they hate when one of the others does something.

Only death can kind of draw out this kind of honesty amongst friends, I think. And this is a really emotionally sophisticated movie that feels really slapdash on purpose. And I really love it. Yeah. I mean, it's also kind of a nightmare from the outside. But, yeah. If you're a woman, this movie is hard to watch. But again, it's well portrayed.

But yeah. I would say it's accurate. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. My number three is Francis and Sophie from Francis Ha. And this movie is a lot of ways in about how they are very close friends and roommates at the beginning of the movie. They are in a transitional phase of life. And so they are moving away from each other as the movie goes on, which often happens, especially for, well, at that phase of life.

Yes. And... Late 20s, what am I really doing? Right, am I getting my stuff together? And I think that the hurt and the confusion and also the love are all portrayed, like, without melodrama. They just kind of are. And so it feels very true and wistful at the same time.

And they get to an okay place and you know everyone's gonna be okay. Which is kind of what is beautiful about Frances Ha in general. One of my favorite movies. And I think it's just, it is very, very lived in that friendship. I agree, I really like, I really like,

gosh, what is her name? Mickey Sumner. Mickey Sumner, her performance and after I remember seeing very lived in that friendship. I agree. I really like... I really like, um... Gosh, what is her name? Mickey Sumner. Mickey Sumner, her performance. And after I remember seeing her after the movie, obviously Greta has gone on to incredible things, but I feel like I have not really seen her very much. And I feel like she embodied, I was like,

that's a girl I know in New York. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is like my friend's friend. And I think that there's something very wistful about Francis being the one who's left behind. And I do think that in a lot of small groups of friends, there's one friend where you're like, whatever happened to Rex? But to build the movie around the person who's like, whatever happened to Rex is just a very smart idea and a wonderful movie.

Okay. Number two is fresh in my mind, because I just rewatched it for our children of men conversation. It's Julio and Tinoche from Itou Mama Tambien, Diego Luna back in the news due to Andor, obviously. And Gael Garcia Bernal's characters from Cuaron's beautiful road movie. I put this on the list because I think it's a really great example, not just of two guys who are best friends who end up basically falling in love

without necessarily speaking about that feeling. It's funny that our number twos are the same. They are, they are matched in some ways. Uh, but because it's about the evolution of a friendship, like the way that a friendship, which seems very tight and very close, like they're homies at the beginning and they're going on this trip together and they're like, they think already that there's nothing more that they could say to each other that would blow each other's minds, but across the movie, things become so much more emotionally intense, and they have like such a

series of realizations about one another and about themselves that kind of shows you like what a close relationship can do for your life. So that's just an amazing film. And I recommend it. Once again, I'm, you know, this is, that's the art film and mine is the mainstream classic. Veda and Thomas from My Girl. Jack, you've seen My Girl? I have not. So you don't know what happens at the end of My Girl? I do not.

I remember when I had to tell Bobby what happens at the end of My Girl. It's devastating. Okay, can I spoil it for you? You can. Okay. Just if you haven't seen the film My Girl. Yeah, I am spoiling it. 1994 cinematic classic. Listen.

Veda Sultanfuss as portrayed by Anna Klumsky. Yeah. We all loved her. I don't remember Thomas's last name, but he is portrayed by Macaulay Culkin. Yes. And Veda. At the height of Home Alone Mania.

Veda is going through some tough stuff at home. She lost her mom. Her dad's dating someone new. She's a little bit of a, you know. And then, um, Veda is going through some tough stuff at home. She lost her mom, her dad's dating someone new. She's a little bit of a, you know, she's... Is it, is it, um, Dan Akroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis? I believe so. That's correct. Yeah.

And she's like 10, 11, a little bit, you know, that, which is a tricky age, kind of tomboyish, kind of just, you know, frustrated with everyone. So Alice. Oh my God, she's so Alice. And then, Thomas shows up and he's just a new kid in class who becomes her friend. And they become friends. Then things are kind of sorting out at home. And then, Veda has this mood ring that she loves, and she loses her mood ring,

and Thomas goes back to get it for her because they're best friends, and he's allergic to bees and gets stung by a bee, and he fucking dies. He dies, Jack! He's 10 years old and he dies. And like, when you are 10 and you're watching this... It's just gonna say I was 11 when I saw this

and I felt like I got shot in the heart. It is still so fucked up. So real. You're saying like this is not an art film or whatever? This is a really, really good movie and very effective movie. Yeah, it's really, really effective. And it does also get something very true about friendship at that age.

And they are, you know, they like practice kissing together. And maybe if they were older, they, you know, there's like the seedlings of the romantic thing, but there still is also that they're just like two 10 year olds, like trying to figure out the world and they each need someone else. And it's like very uncomplicated. And then the loss is also just absolutely like pure and gutting. And...

We don't really see him officially die. We see her being told that he didn't make it, as I recall. And it's so powerful. So my best friend growing up was a girl, my friend Sarah, and Sarah and I saw this movie together. And very, very, very tough. And Sarah was a little VEDA-ish as well. And whew, yeah, great, Honestly, really good movie. Incredible movie.

I mean, maybe it's, maybe we'd watch it now and be like, this piece of trash, why was it shot this way? But I really don't think so. You might be like, I don't think the adults are taking VEDA's emotional need seriously enough. Um, okay. I think our ones are kind of obvious,

but in good ways. My number one is, of course, Elliot and E.T. from the film E.T., which is very similar to Lilo and Stitch, the idea of a formulation of a boy who just really needs a friend Yeah, things at home are not going well. He feels a little bit at sea at school and socially and He wants something kind of deeper and bigger in his life And he can't really find it on the ground until ET presents himself And then he kind of builds his whole emotional life around the friendship to ET.

You know, Steven Spielberg, the master of directing child actors. And there's, it's hard to have a new thought about ET. I've podcasted about it many times in my life and I will, I can't, I can't wait to show it to my daughter. But it's a, I thought it was kind of the perfect match for the new friendships in this episode. Yes. Um, you know, clearly, Lilo and Stitcho is a great set to it. I mean, I can't really talk about it without crying, uh, but it's...

Great movie. Um, and similar in my number one, in that it's about a friend who needs another friend in a moment, but that also ultimately, you know, if you love someone, let them go. I still let them go. Uh, so mine is Will and love someone, let them go. I still let them go. So mine is Will and Chucky from Good Will Hunting.

And you know, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as well. But this scene, you know, the best part of my day is, you know, when I show up and just for a second, I think that you're not gonna be there and they have known each other forever. They understand each other. They also understand that there's something different. I wouldn't say it's like an equal friendship.

I think Chuckie's like giving a little bit more and Will's like taking a little bit, but he's had a hard life. So it's what he needs, I guess. And Chuckie's going to be okay. He can ace any job interview that he needs to. But, you know, I feel like that one Ben Affleck moment, that speech is like that one Ben Affleck moment, that speech

is like immediately iconic. And it's it is a nice idea of friendship, right, of knowing that you know, wanting the best for your friend. So beautiful stuff. Love them forever. Great choices. Friendship complicated thing to portray in the movies. I don't even really know what were among my honorable mentions. There's kind of too many to add. I tried to avoid the like classic lethal weapon, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Right, Thelma and Louise. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like these guys, they loved each other and then they died.

Yeah. Any closing thoughts? You feel good about the box office and how movies are back? And dentistry, all of it. Well, it's just, you're an anti-dentite, you know, that's you may recall from Seinfeld. No, I think that they play an important role in society, but that then they're just scamming you. What is that role? Like when you are having a real tooth problem, they fix it and they like alleviate pain and help people live happy and healthy lives.

You don't usually have a real health problem until you don't do the things that dentists advise. No, I think preventative dentistry is a scam invented to make money. There we go. You've shared that take very, like many times with no verifiable proof. I'm asking them to show me the- I brush my teeth, you know?

An entire field of study. This is like being like, archaeology is a scam. Show me the proof of its value. Yeah, well it's like, didn't we discover the other day that the dinosaur bones are like, they're putting them together wrong? The other day we discovered that? I don't know.

Where did you read these? Where are you getting this information? Well, I read all the news that you don't read about, like, you know, when the shark attacks and all of the stuff. That I know. Yeah, that's true. But why aren't you sending me any of this stuff? Because you don't respond, so I give up, you know?

But I look at it. Well, you want me to write an essay back about the incredible discoveries and new archaeological ... That's not... Our former friendship is not me just sending you links, you know? Why not? Because then, every time I do, you're like sending you links, you know, why not? What what then every time I do you're like, why'd you send me that weird thing? You're such a weird person. It's like, oh look a hat, you know Rather than just send the link you could send some context like hey remember we were having this discussion and

In furthering our friendship. I thought it would be great to have some new context as we chat through this Well, I think I heard that some of the dinosaurs got put together wrong, and also they were colorful. They were colorful. Maybe had feathers. Well, that we've heard. Yeah. That they're in the bird phylum.

I don't know what the right word is there, scientifically speaking. You know, one thing I did like about Lilo and Stitch was the throwaway joke of like, you know, Earth is just like a mosquito rehabilitation project and then the thing about humans is that an asteroid hits their planet every however many years and they just have to start all over.

It's kind of adorable. You just reminded me of something. Well, I thought that was at least like slightly funny, but that was the only humor for adults in the whole, in the whole film. It wasn't very winky Pixar, this is for adults. It was definitively a kids movie. I watched, well two things, two wildlife notes to close this episode on. One, we watched The Good Dinosaur in our house over the weekend, which I had never seen.

That's a Pixar movie? I don't know what that is. It's probably the least celebrated of all the Pixar movies. Okay. There's a baby staring a dinosaur in the eye. Yeah. Well, it's obviously scientifically inaccurate because humans live contemporaneously to dinosaurs. And in fact, dinosaurs in the film develop our agrarian technologies and they build farms for us, which I don't think that's what really happened. I can't be sure

of that, but I don't think that that's how we discovered farming. I mean, once they put the bones out of order, you know, what can you rely on? I know. Everything has been completely undermined in my life. And I got to tell you, I thought the movie was quite nice, even though it has a terrible reputation. I thought there was something actually beautiful about it. Just putting that out there.

The other thing is we went to the zoo. Oh, wow. Just real holiday weekend vibes. Oh my God, we did so many holiday things. We went to the bird show. And I fucking hate that. The birds, I was thinking of you, because the birds are flying at a low angle.

Absolutely not. The enormous California and Andean condors, like right over your head. Like, sure, there are parrots there, they're very cute. You know, there's some like nice smaller tropical birds. But these condors, which look like ancient villains, I mean, they look like they were designed to destroy our culture. But they were they were well trained. Nobody got hurt. I mean, sure, until they are, you know? The show opens with one of them being like let out of a... almost like a rucksack or something. Where's Alice on this? She was interested. She was engaged.

She wasn't like freaked out at all. No, she loves animals. We had a great time. I know, but the birds, they just, it was wild parrot season, you know, a couple, for the last couple of weeks. And the parrots were just very close to our windows. And I find it really upsetting.

I think they're nice. I'm not really scared of them. But if a giant Andean condor picks my daughter up and carries her off to a magical land, I'm not going to feel the same about this. I just remembered that this morning while I was getting dressed, I

watched a coyote poop in the backyard next door. It thought it was a little... Are we still taping Jack? It was like, really having a moment by itself. Okay. And I was just like, well, there's a coyote taking a giant shit in my neighbor's backyard. We're in the 82nd minute of this episode. It was funny. Do you think that this show is actually about your midlife crisis? Like when you really think about it? Because I thought it was about mine, but I don't think it is anymore.

Yeah, and we like you passed the baton. Yeah, I think so. It was wildlife, you know? And I was just, I saw him in his habitat. You were moved by this or you thought it was fun? I thought it was funny. Okay. Oh. It was wildlife, you know? And I was just, I saw him in his habitat. You were moved by this or you thought it was fun? I thought it was funny. Okay.

Because I really, the coyote thought it was having a moment of solitude. Oh, I see. And I was like, I'm right here, buddy. That's incredibly invasive. Well, it's, you know, they cut down a lot of trees, so it's the neighbors' fault anyway. Okay. Coyote is an issue in the neighborhood? I mean, depending on who you ask, there's around. It's, it's their home too.

I find they're quite nice. Yeah. I don't mind them. Don't bother them, they won't bother you. Exactly. Uh, that's how I feel about all my takes on this show. Okay, great. If you don't bother them, they won't bother you. Let's see how you, let's see how you wind this back to the segue.

I feel like that's... I think I just did it. I think I got back. I got us back. Uh, thanks to our producer, Jack Sanders, for his work on this episode. Thank you, Jack. Thanks, Jack, for sitting in this room with us as we went through this. We will be back on Friday, and we're going to be paying tribute to an old friend with a very special episode, Karate Kid Legends, off the schedule.

Not doing it. Replaced by this very special episode. So do you think we need to prepare people or do you think that the people are prepared and we're not? I'll just say some letters. Those letters are S, H, R, E, and K. We'll see you then.