The Flop House - Ep.#427 - Disclosure, with Meredith Scardino

Episode Date: June 22, 2024

We were super-excited to welcome Meredith Scardino, the brilliant writer of a billion comedy things, but most recently the creator and showrunner of the hilarious Girls5Eva. If you haven't watched, please ask yourself what you've been doing with your life, then run over to Netflix to correct your error. We'll wait. Once you're done, you'll be all the MORE excited to hear her discuss 1994's Disclosure, a film that (in the words of Dan's Letterboxd) "Begins as a dumb and offensive sexual harassment thriller, then wisely pivots into an offensively dumb techno-thriller." But what do the other Peaches think? Listen and find out!Also, this episode is about a film featuring the iconic Donald Sutherland, who was still with us at the time of this recording, but who died just recently at the age of 88. We had nothing but good things to say about Mr. Sutherland, even in this silly movie, but for a more full-throated and lovely remembrance, check out this article by the great Matt Zoller Seitz.Disclaimer: we had some unfortunate tech issues at the top of the show, resulting in some worse than normal audio. DO NOT FRET — it clears up around minute 12, and producer Alex made it listenable, if not up to our usual standard. We’ve gotten some new equipment that will prevent similar issues in the future.Wikipedia page for DisclosureIn-person tickets for our July 26th Boston show are SOLD OUT, but WBUR City Space is set up to livestream shows, and they're offering inexpensive tickets to watch the show LIVE online! Please note that unlike FlopTV or our fully-produced Stage Pilot shows, this stream can only be watched LIVE, without a larger viewing window, and plan accordingly!Recommended in this episode:Asparagus (1979)Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)Fireworks (1997)Meredith: Satisfied (2024)Go to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, go to https://www.squarespace.com/FLOP  to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Hey listeners, please don't skip ahead. This is an important message So we had some technical difficulties at the top of this show the sound is not as good as usual For a few minutes up at the top of the show eventually does Clear up and goes back to normal But I wanted to warn listeners ahead of time So that they know that it will not stay that way the whole time and urge them, please listen to the show.

It's a great episode. We have a great guest. We have Meredith Scardino, creator of Girls 5 Eva, very funny. She fit right in. Don't let this dissuade you from listening. I apologize that this happened. We're taking steps to make sure that the audio will always be of a higher quality in the future,

but I just wanna let you know up top. Thank you. On this episode, we discuss Disclosure. This movie's got everything from the 1990s, mentions of Prozac, Nordic trap, hard copy, built-in fax modems, very animated email menus, Stairmaster, Fat Barbie? Question mark?

Sock Monkeys and Dennis Miller. Hey everyone, welcome to the Fluff House. I'm Dan McCoy. And I'm Stuart Wellington. I'm Elliot Kalin. And today we have a very special guest, the creator of Girls 5 Eva, one of the funniest shows going right now. It's on Netflix. People should watch it so I can watch more of it.

Meredith Scardino. Hello. Hello. It's an honor to be here. I love that energy. She says, her reputation's like. I met a cat. It's been great. Yeah, one of the two cats that lives here was kind enough to come out and say hello. The other one, Dan, admit the other one

is a man in a cat costume that you pretend is a cat. Yeah. But it's shy. Yeah, it's very shy. The shyer of the two cats, yeah. You can get away with that if you just have that shy cat be a guy. Yeah, where would he live though? That's the they're so little sleeping room. Anyway, I imagine you have your bed up on

blocks so we can fit under the bed a little bit more comfortably. Yeah, you convinced me. Also, because you've taken the wheels off the bed. So it has to be up on blocks in your front yard, I guess. Yeah, and we're in the middle of the New York heat wave. So you've got to keep that guy in a cat suit hydrated, Dan. Keep him cool. Yeah. Maybe you can sleep in a bed with a frozen bottle of water.

I think the mayor suggested. That's why this episode is brought to you by Froze Cat Man, the frozen bottle of water specifically designed for a man in a cat costume who's pretending to be a cat. That's a good sponsor. Well, we did our usual weird cat man bit to make our cat come to mail. The man is named Cat Man Crothers, the guy who lives in your house and pretends to be a cat, right? I can only hope that I was clever enough to name that.

So yeah. Wait, I do have one because you just made a cat joke, but you also made a cat joke about Claudia Schiffer's cat being named Claudia Schiffer. I feel like it's actually Claude, Claude D and then it's Italian, a shiffer. Yeah. I like that where it's Claude, or is Claude D comma a shiffer.

Like I'm labeling her, labeling it as a shiffer. But I like that like Claude D, a shiffer. A shiffer. I mean, if that cat is one of those cats that has like the markings to make it look like it has a mustache, that would be perfect. Cause all Italian cats have mustaches. They all do what we've been needing We needed meredith coming and do some punch up on her. Yeah, because she's brilliant. She's a great brilliant I was listening to it yesterday because I was like what is the punk I would

Get myself into anyway meredith thanks for coming and helping us talk about how the woke media is Just anyone just grab someone Yeah, tell them yeah, they need to know people need to know this you run to the New York Times offices And you're banging on the windows in addition, of course Girls five of a we met Meredith because she wrote for the Colbert report Our show when we run the Daily Show. Yeah, you stole your mascot all that stuff. Yeah all the pranks

and I have always, like, as someone with a big inferiority complex, I've always been very, I've looked at Meredith from afar very fondly because she remembers who I am when we run into each other every once in a while. Despite being much more successful than you. Exactly. That's all I look for.

There aren't that many writers that are like white guys with beards. I know, who wear a lot of plaid. Yeah, in a plaid shirt and on a cat. I've worked around so many comedy writers that I'm very good at telling subtle differences. They're like a monolith to the pedestrian. But this man, I can see detail. Beard is a little more great.

Yeah, this guy is a little quiet around people he doesn't know. I'm guessing he listens to talking heads. And Wilco? Mm-hmm. Anyway, now that we've roasted me... He probably has strong opinions about whether Die Hard is a Christmas blue beard. I don't. Yeah, yeah.

That's how you can tell me apart though, I don't. I bet this guy likes IPAs. Does he know that it's a me Mario backwards is what's a tome? I've been missing out, I didn't know that one. I didn't know that either, I feel like that's the video game generations put a boobless in a calculator upside down. Yeah, I think so. I didn't do boobless.

I didn't know there was a variant though. That also is new. So I'm learning a lot. Dan, upside down calculators represent both with boobs and those without. It was so shocked. Well, that feels like how there was like a big hole in your use, like you had an Amish year or something, and you just missed the calculus. But I guess he did a real nice room spring.

He had a room spring. I knew the boobs part, which is the part that would like, you know, make one titter to oneself as a kid, like, boob less, you know, like you're moving the dirty part of it, you know, so. Yeah, Dan, I guess that's true. It's a good point. Okay, you knew boobs, like you're moving the dirty part of it, you know, so yeah, Dan, that's I guess that's true. Okay, you knew boobs, but you're like, we can stop there. We can stop there. I don't want to.

Well, as soon as he saw the word boobs, he got nervous that his parents might catch him. Yeah, he threw away the calculator. I have to remember. I have to remember where I hid this calculator in the woods so I can come back for it. So Dan, what do we do on this podcast besides Rosy? This is a podcast where we watch a bad movie and we talk about it. And you know, when we're a guest, when we're a guest, when we're a guest, when we're a guest all the way from our first cigarette to our last day in day. Yeah.

When we have a guest, you know, we like to get their input on what we talk about. I gave a list of possibles and we settled on Disclosure. From 1994. Yeah, the movie based on the Michael Crichton book that dared to ask what is sexual harassment, but a lady, a lady does it this time. Putting the her in harassment, yeah. Except for then it pivots from that, it's not really about that.

There's not so many in harassment, but I guess you can take that now. Oh, that's true. Yeah, that's true. For that, yeah. I was like, there's about two seconds where I'm like, maybe I'll be like, do a bit where I'm like a hardline weird men's rights guy on this. But that's not I abandoned. You don't want to do that. That's not a good fit. Like finally a movie about dinosaurs. Uh-uh, it's about tax dodging. The IRS is going to shut down this amusement park

because they hid these files. It's also super muddled in a way that like, we'll talk about it, I'm sure, but I get the feeling that maybe Barry Levinson, the director, like got the book. He's like, we can't do that. So he like tried to sort of complicate the thing a little bit, but it just makes it really muddy with the movie. Maybe. The scary dinosaur is woman.

The scariest dinosaur. The most terrifying monster of all, woman. I mean, as a kid, my introduction to Michael Crichton stuff was Jurassic Park, of course. And so I was shocked that a lot of the other movies based on his work had like sexy stuff in it, like this one and what, Rising Sun? Yeah, that was also in his reactionary. And Congo with those hot gorillas.

Yeah. Yeah. When he got into his more reactionary period, I think he got like sexier too. I like I read a lot of the earlier, like Andromeda's Train is not particularly erotic. It's the sphere. Sphere has one moment of eroticism in it, but otherwise not much.

I think it's true that he probably did go through this period where his stuff was pretty straightforward science fiction. I mean, Westworld has barely any sex stuff in it. There is a sex scene between a man and a robot, but the implication is that this is not great and the HBO show was like we'll fix that and The but then I think you're right because this later books are very like Anti-climate change science and things like that. Like he's there was that anti-evolution

Like he's he became very reactionary in a weird way But I guess so many of his books, the message of it is, don't try to change anything or invent anything because it's gonna go bad. Keep things exactly the way they are right now, which is the most reactionary conservative message possible. Or it was until conservatism became about trying to turn America into like a Christian feudal state

based on Bitcoin. Yeah. Well, let's steer away from that and then steer back into it when we have to. But so Meredith, why why disclosure? Well, I had watched it not that long ago. OK. Which was one of things. And I so this was a labor saving measure for you. Well, I did rewatch it, but I had always known... So there's a lot... First of all, so I had heard about it.

Well, one of the protagonists name is Meredith. So just in a selfish way, I just watch things with my name. I love you. Praise and Ed. Do I watch home? I love the idea that Blockbuster video would have a Meredith cut of movies where they just dubbed your name in over the characters names that you would come and rent it. You also have a lot of Megadeth albums because you're like it's close enough. It's similar. Tipped off by Sam Means, Daily Show writer, about the VR tech in this film of 1994. And it's just amazing.

It's like the main character, Michael Douglas's character works at this VR company in Seattle. They put on VR headsets, they do a demo and all that they do is then enter a virtual file. Yeah. Yeah. Just a hallway full of files. Pick out files.

It's like the least imaginative type of technology. It's also- It's the least imaginative type. Yeah, exactly. It takes much more time and effort than looking up a file on a computer. But we'll get to it, but I love the moment when he's in that virtual space and Demi Moore's character appears in it.

And it looks like they took the wire frame from those experiments with chimps, where they tried to see if they could make a chimp treat a wire frame with a nipple on it as a mother. It's like they stuck that wire frame and just stuck a headshot of Demi Moore on it. And it's just kind of hovering through this space. It looks terrible.

It's like lurching around like it's in the Money for Nothing video and she starts blasting files with a laser to delete them. And then it's just. And also. That happens when a user accesses that from a computer. Not the VR set. But she seems to have no idea that he's in there. That happens when a user accesses that from a computer, not the VR set. But she seems to have no idea that he's in there.

It's weird that he is very aware when he's in there. Anyway, we can get into that. We'll get to that, but also in Roger Ebert's review, he points out how would any company keep all of its most secure files in a demo of their new products that they're gonna to show to people. That blew my mind too.

Yeah, I know of cyber security guys. Yeah, there's all of so-and-so's financial records. It's like, hey, watch it, watch it. Just use this as the, yeah. Yeah, I feel like there is a disclaimer as soon as you log in to the VR rig, they're like, this is all just for fun use. Entertainment purposes.

But this is actual information. So don't. Please don't use this real confidential information to save your job. I just, I find the lack of imagination about the technology super funny. Like, I mean, I feel like sometimes people do really interesting things like Minority Report,

I feel like did FutureTech, very interesting. But I feel like just to be like, how do files work in the future? Oh, more files. It just feels like if you were like during horse times, thinking of like what a flying vehicle would be, and then you'd think it still needed to be a horse somehow, like a Pegasus or whatever. That's like the only way your brain could imagine the future.

But to give credit to the people behind Disclosure, when Mark Zuckerberg was like, in the future, you'll be able to use meta to have a meeting for work. And it's just like, you're just in a boardroom sitting at chairs next to people who are in the meeting with you in a virtual space. It was like, really? This is the best we can do with it? There's still a table? Like, there's like, I'm still next to somebody?

But okay, Stu. But that, well, I will say another thing that drew me to this movie. Well, once I started watching it, cause I was there for the, like I wanted to see that virtual scene. Yeah, you're there for the high tech shenanigans. I was there for the high tech shenanigans.

But then I got there and I was watching the movie. And first of all, it also has this like, you know, this like warm, like 1990s Seattle loft office look. There's a lot of woods and dark brick. Yeah, like there's something very comforting about seeing that kind of stuff in that kind of movie. But then you're like, okay, this is a movie about if sexual harassment happened to a man. And I was like, but wait, did we ever get the one for women?

We never did. We just jumped to the guys. Nine to five, but that was like a comedy. You know what I mean? Like maybe there was a little in Tootsie. That was all we got. Like there's just not, they just jumped Comedy, you know what I mean? Maybe there was a little in Tootsie. That was all we got. They just jumped to the horror of it happening to a man. You can only imagine it being terrible

if it happened to a man. Yes, I mean, that is the main thing about this movie is like, am I gonna say that it's never happened this way? Of course not, but the percentages are way on the other side, but we're like, let's do this one first. Yeah, that's how it's. Let's. And also they talk about it as sexual harassment,

but it is a full sexual assault scene. Like it is not sexual harassment, like come on, sit on my lap or whatever. How that goes down. There's the scene. Oh no, I was chilling, I'm sorry. The one scene in the movie that I felt like was starting to get under what this movie could have been

is when Michael Douglas is being interviewed as part of their arbitration or whatever. And the guy's like. By the sleaziest lawyer. By the sleaziest lawyer. He's incredible. He's like, you didn't want it at all? Because you were there, you didn't have to be there.

And it was like, oh, if this was a good movie, it would be a man being subjected to all the shit that a woman is subjected to. But it only happens in that one scene. And otherwise, he's a superhero who can sneak in and out of hotel rooms and things like that. You know, it's a- He's Michael Douglas.

This is like peak, file this movie in the category of Michael Douglas is the coolest dude and he drives women insane with love. Yes, yes. This is basically against the of Michael Douglas is the coolest dude and he drives women insane with love. Yes, yes. This is based on the Michael Douglas where he is, every woman wants him so bad. Yeah. And he's also like, he's immediate.

He's the victim. He's very much the victim. And then he wins in the end. I also think, can I jump? I mean, in the end, well, whatever. We don't, I don't know how it works. You can jump wherever you want. But I do have something to say about the end. I also think, can I jump? I mean, in the end, well, whatever. We don't, I don't know how this works. You can jump wherever you want. But I do have something to say about the end. Well, let's get to the end of the plot a little bit.

We can wait. Unfortunately, we have a no spoilers policy. We never talk about the end of the movie. We just say, and now audience, check it out your local library. Don't take my word for it. You have an exhaustive significance in that. So the movie, Disclosure is broken up into five days.

The first day, Monday. Tom, our hero, played by Michael Douglas, receives an email, as I mentioned before, all the emails in this movie. This is 1994 emails. Can you imagine? They're all super animated. When you close an email, it crumples up

like somebody crumpled up a piece of paper. When you open it, it unfolds a piece of paper. America Online existed at this point. It also starts with his daughter saying, daddy, you got an email. Like it's a big event, you know? Because there just aren't very many. The inbox counts are so low in this.

Whenever there's emails, it's like you get one at a time. Yeah, I'm like, take me back to that time, please. That was the biggest fantasy in the whole movie for me was not Demi Moore wanting to have sex with me, but was seeing my email count be zero. I was like, oh man, amazing, if only, can you imagine? So I was just too aroused by that, by my email count being zero.

My unread emails, I'm just looking right now, are 11,530. Oh dear Lord. Meredith, you're giving me stress. I'm at roughly the same number, and my kids love to update me on what it is to look over my shoulder and they're like, and they're like, 11,000. It's gone up a lot since last time. And I'm like, all right. How do you live like this?

You can't, you gotta. I have two children. I don't have time to just sit and answer emails all day. Mine just says 99 plus. I mean, you don't have to answer all of them. It's kind of like fundraising emails. I do get a lot of fundraising as well. I end up on a lot of, somehow I'll find myself subscribing to newsletters.

I'm like, I'm going to have to answer all of them. I'm like, I'm going to have to answer all of them. I'm like, I'm going to have to answer all of them. I'm like, I'm going to have to answer all of them. I'm like, I'm going to have to answer all of them. I'm like, I'm going to have to answer all of them. I'm like, I'm going to have to answer all of them. It's a lot of fundraising emails. I do get a lot of fundraising as well, and I end up on a lot of, somehow I'll find myself subscribing to newsletters. I don't remember subscribing to. Same. Yeah, newsletters.

Also the funny thing to me about this email though, is the daughter prints it immediately, and I'm like, this has to be a plot point later that they have a printout of this email, because otherwise Why would any person even in this time of in history? Why would this happen this way? It's right doesn't doesn't have a technology the high-tech. Yeah I did I do remember though when email was first becoming a thing and we were trying to get my mom on board

And she was resistant and she just goes ah an email just fax me The convenience of a fax. It's just, you know. I can't believe your mom just came up with her own cool catchphrase. OK, so he gets an email. We have an opening credit sequence where we get a tour of their lovely just outside of Seattle home. We're hearing voiceover where his daughter mentions the email.

She also is curious about what her dad is wearing around his neck. It's a tie. I guess he doesn't wear ties. Although he wears a tie every single other scene of this movie. I think he's so in fear of losing his job that the rest of the movie he's like, gotta dress up, gotta gussy it. I can't wear my... He's in tech, so I assume he's usually wearing like a stained rush T-shirt to work. Well, he does, like he does also,

like in these early scenes, he is the most like sloppy dad version of Michael Douglas, and then he starts putting on, you know, tailored suits as things go on. And I, you know, Audrey was like, is Michael Douglas sexy? Why is he always supposed to be sexy in these movies? I'm like, I don you know, Audrey was like, is Michael Douglas sexy? Why is he always supposed to be sexy in these movies? I'm like, I don't know.

Like he has, like, he's normally like. He's a, he's a attractive man. I think it's his voice a lot. Yeah, he's got a great voice. He's got gravitas. Yeah. I think there's also an element of he is a pro. I think they're like, he's been in a bunch of sexy movies.

Just put him in this one too. Well, that's, my mom for years and years had a big crush on like Richard Gere, and I never understood it until I finally saw American Gigolo. Yes. Where I was like, oh, he's incredibly sexy in this. And the same experience.

Yeah. But also, isn't that also during like, like Pat Riley is sort of in the same category, the basketball coach. Oh, okay, I can see that. As like Michael Douglas, and I feel like he was the same category, the basketball coach. Oh, okay, I can see that. As like Michael Douglas, and I feel like he was the sex symbol of the time,

but I feel like there was like a certain look. He's also super tall. Of that time. Yeah, there's a couple of guys at my gym who only call me Richard Gere, which I'm like, I don't think I look like him, but thank you, that's a huge compliment. Well, it's also, I think now it's a little bit harder

partly because our idea of sexy man in mainstream culture it's not quite at the same level of, but it has gotten closer to the long running idea of sexy woman, which is young and incredibly fit, as opposed to Michael Douglas, who is a mature man, who is in good shape, but he's not buff. And now it feels like- And he's got that sick mullet.

Our sex symbols are what, like Channing Tatum and guys like that who are unrealistic for a man, the same way that female sex symbols have always been unrealistic for women. Well, also he got stuck in this lane where he's very good at, and someone needs to be this guy where he's like the kind of sleazy guy who his dick gets him into trouble.

But that was his thing. His dick that he can't control, because men can't, there's also that element of this where it's like the body does with the body. Yeah, that's true. He couldn't resist. This sex assault scene is amazing

because it's like he's fighting as if the devil is tempting him and he's going, no, no, but his penis is just, it's so, pulling all the blood from his brain. He just can't resist it. But what if this movie was called Dick's Closure

and his penis could talk to him and his penis is like, we gotta do this. And he's like, you're getting me into trouble, stop. We can't do this anymore. It would be a green netted looking penis with like a picture of a penis head. Yes, very, very long-lore man. Yeah, very VR penis.

1994, who was the voice of this penis? 1994, who does it? I mean, Matt Fruer could be a choice. Matt Fruer would be perfect. Yeah, he is. I feel like that's almost too polished, though. He just typecasts as a penis. I mean, there's also a version of it

where it's Bobcat Goldsweat or Gilbert Gottfried. I mean, that's a different movie. Bronson Pinchot. Bronson Pinchot, yeah. Yeah, but doing the bulky ones. He wanted to be funny. Yeah, Bronson Pinchot, it's almost like both names could be used as a euphemism for a penis.

I gotta say though, Dick's Closure sounds like, you know, like a movie about a guy named Richard whose wife dies and he's seeking closure on all of them. Yeah, Dick's Sporting Goods that's disclosing, yeah. Alexander Payne movie. Okay, so we're through the opening credits, that's great. So we learned that- And he gets some toothpaste on his tie, too,

and everyone has to comment on that. Super important, I'm glad that happened. Wait, why is he late in that first scene? Anyone know? He's a terrible time manager. He is late all the time. He is with his kids, but he's not really doing that much to help with his kids. This whole family has issues with time management and balancing parenting and work.

I'll just say that right off the bat. As someone who is- Wow, a judge. ... who's quickly dying because I'm doing too good a job at it, they are not bad at balancing it. Yeah. So we learned that he is up for a promotion and that his company, I think Digicom is the name. Digicom. They are about to have a merger with another company.

Digicom is of course a combination of digital and communism. Interesting. That's better than comedy is what I thought you were going to go with. Digital and comedy. We're trying to bring comedy to the internet. It'll never work.

Tom also has a cell phone. That was pretty fancy technology for back then, right? He also, he has to take a ferry to work. He bumps into this, he bumps into this like old, older guy who got laid off. And that guy is kind of the specter of potential unemployment that he compares himself to. This guy sucks too.

He's like, everything about him is retrograde and horrible and resentful and bitter. And it's a, he's the villain of the movie as far as I'm concerned. So- And it's hard to be that sad on a boat. Yeah, exactly. You're on a ferry, it's a beautiful-

It's beautiful, it's inspiring. I was just thinking that I'm like, what can I do in my life so that I can take a ferry to work every day and then I realize it's move to Staten Island. Move to Staten Island, yeah. That's what you have to do. There's also the water taxi. I used to take the water taxi when I worked it's move to Staten Island. Move to Staten Island, yeah. That's what you have to do. There's also the water taxi.

I used to take the water taxi when I worked at Kimmy Schmidt and Greenpoint and I would bring my dog on it and I just felt I would just hear the, let the river run the whole time and sometimes I would even listen to it and I was like, I can't believe this life I'm living right now. The wind blowing in my dog's ears. I imagine you getting off the water taxi and like Mary Tyler Moore, instead of throwing her hat in the air, you throw the dog in the air

and just freeze frames you smiling. Stuck in a tree. Okay, so we see the Digicom office where he works, which is very like open plan, it's very progressive. There are plenty of glass brick walls, which I love. I thought those were the height of making it. Man, that's, I need to redo a run up. You are, if you have glass brick walls,

you are either in a successful billion dollar company or a successful New Jersey hair salon. That's the two places you are. Exactly, yeah. In both case, very classy. Success. So Michael Douglas, case, very classy. Success. So Michael Douglas, Tom, as a Zoom call with the plant manager in Malaysia,

because there seems to be some kind of issue with the production, this has to do with microchips or some shit, it's very important. So it's very important, is they have two products this company is making, virtual reality file storage, and this new CD-ROM drive that's supposed to move much faster than normal CD-ROM drives. And there's some kind of problem with what's coming,

the quality control is bad and the ROM drives are not working properly. Something has gotten into the assembly and quality control is just down the toilet. And this is so much more important for the ultimate story of the movie than the sexual harassment. It's bonkers.

How much this movie eventually twists on product manufacturing chain decisions in a CD-ROM company. It makes the movie more exciting, right? If it's not about sex and power, it's about CD-ROM manufacturing. That's what I was there for. Yeah, is that the sweetener?

Is that the dessert for the vegetables of the sexual harassment story line? I'll sit through Demi Moore's shirt being torn open, but only if I can hear about what pitfalls there could be in trying to cheap out on CD-ROM manufacturing. It's sort of like in the firm when he got him on mail fraud. Yeah. So there's a lot of rumors around the office about the merger. Tom was hoping that he was going to be promoted vice president, but it looks like he might not get it and that he might even lose his job. At one point he slaps his assistant Cindy on the ass and they do a close-up of it.

You're like, what? What is this guy doing? No, I'm actually getting it. It goes boom, boom, boom and closes up and it's slower each time and louder each time. So there's a, it turns out that yes, he is indeed passed over for promotion for Meredith, an ex lover of his who helped negotiate this merger. And that he, if he wants to keep his job, he kind of has to, he has to placate her, right?

Is that kind of the impression? Yes, and I'll just say it right here. At this point, I already felt Michael Douglas did not deserve this promotion, and it was a fantasy that he was ever gonna be in limed. Everyone's like, oh, you didn't get it, huh? And I'm like, he seems to not be very good at his job. And he can't even be counted on to get to work on time.

He's always- And he also has like, the first thing we see of him in the office is him like smiling to himself, admiring a set of legs, walking up a staircase. Yes, yeah. And then he pats, yeah, he pats his assistant on the butt with a file folder, like he just doesn't. Well, and I think that this is the movie's clumsy attempt

at like being like, you know, even though he's, you know, in the right, in this larger situation, he is like, part of this system. We're all of the centers. It's institutional misogyny and he'll get his, he'll learn later. He'll have his lesson. Yeah. Right.

But it does sort of like make the movies seem weird. Like you're supposed to sympathize with this guy right from the start. Well, I think that's the thing is I think the movie does expect you to sympathize with him right from the start start. Well, I think that's the thing is, I think the movie does expect you to sympathize with him right from the start because he's Michael Douglas and he's a cool dude, but he's trying hard. He really wants to get Disneyland tickets for his for this colleague of his and it's but he's not likable. But Dennis Miller is way worse.

Yeah, well that's the thing. You want to make Michael Douglas seem cool, you got to say Dennis Miller is way worse. Yeah, well that's the thing. You want to make Michael Douglas seem cool, guess who makes a Dennis Miller. Yeah, he talked about her having nipples like pencil erasers. Yeah, yeah. It's in my head forever now. The limbic system. He really leaned into saying the limbic system. There was a period of time in the 90s when people people are like let's put Dennis Miller in supporting roles in everything

Or after this was a year before the net right this is okay So you probably got the net because they're like he knows high-tech shit, right? He knows computers I don't remember how this lines up with murder at 1600 though Which he's also in like yet Dennis Miller. I think he was making a bush Bordello of Blood? Good question. That I think was after this. I don't remember by how long.

I mean, by then he'd moved his way up to starring roles. So we're really running through this plot here, but I do want to take a second to point out that Michael- So you think Dennis Miller comes from a line of Millers? I mean, I can only assume. Do you think when they put out the movie We Are the Millers, he was like, what the fuck, I'm right here?

I gotta sue them, and his lawyer's like, you can't own the name Miller. With that long gestating adaptation of The Miller's Tale, Chaucer's The Miller's Tale, it makes it to the screen. Yeah, he's all over it. Fingers crossed. But what I was gonna point out is that- Finally someone's telling my story, he opens up the book and reads it, he's like, what the fuck is Yeah, he's all over it. Fingers crossed. But what I was gonna point out is that... Finally someone's telling my story.

He opens up the book and reads it, he's like, what the fuck is this? This isn't English. So it's implied that Michael, well it's not implied, it's said that Michael Douglas and Demi Moore's characters were former lovers. His children in the movie are like what, like six, eight? So about, and there's a 20 year age difference

between the two actors. So- They refer to her as being 33 at one point. Which is only one year older than her age at the time of filming it. I think it's, I think we're supposed to assume Michael Douglas is a slightly younger man, not much younger, but a slightly younger man

than he is in real life in this one. It just, it feels like, cause if anything, if she's 33, they would probably have been together about 10 years before this. I don't know, it just feels- She could have been in her early 20s and he's in his 40s, you know, it's gross.

But he also just can have that look of stress that comes from building CD-ROM. That's true, yeah. Ages. Yeah, a lot of hard years. It's like the presidency. Oh, he's aged terribly. He's actually 25 years. It ages him. Yeah, a lot of hard years. It's like the presidency. Oh, he's aged terribly. He's actually 25 years old in the movie.

Okay, so she approaches him and suggests that they have a meeting after it's announced that she's the new VP. A meeting in her office at 7 p.m., what? And have some drinks. This doesn't feel very professional. No, not at all. His coworkers all make weird sexual harassment jokes.

It is not funny. He meets her in her office, which is, you know, like partially renovated. They share a bottle of wine that she picked out that's his favorite. Starts with chatting. It then leads to a back rub and her assistant locking the door.

There's a lot of weird comments about his family and his wife. He has the weirdest comment here where he shows her a picture of his family and she says, oh, she looks like she keeps the fridge stocked, which I took to mean as she intends it, that looks like a domestic person. You're no longer with a wild girl like me.

Yeah. With a domestic person, but he goes, yeah, she didn't lose all the baby weight after the last kid. It's like one, she's thin. She has no extra weight, but also it's such a weird, it's that- Well, they were trying, oh, go ahead. Well, I was saying, if this was a better movie, I feel like that would be a character, as it is, it's meant to be, I guess, him revealing an anxiety he feels that he's not with a woman

that is as attractive as she used to be or something. But the movie doesn't support that and it comes out of nowhere and it's a bad movie. So it just comes off as like a weird thing for him to say. It's like they were, you could feel them doing the math of what would sound bad in the deposition when it was brought up later. Yes, yes, exactly. It's like, but it could have just been like, a picture of her at the beach and she just goes like,

huh, one piece, huh? You know, like, just like to kind of be like, okay, she's had kids, like, you're not with the sex. Remember when we used to go to the beach and I wore one piece, just the bottoms, and he's like, ooh, I remember when we were so sexy together. Yeah. That you ripped off.

Oh man, Elliot, you are missing your calling for writing erotic thrillers. Yeah, yeah, remember when you used to, remember when I just wore the bottoms and you copper toned me? That's when he bites the back of it and she runs around. Yeah, yeah.

Love it. And they're cartoons. Yeah. Oh man. Oh, and he's in a dog costume, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh man. A man in a dog costume and a man in a cat costume.

They're doing it. Okay, so at some point she gets distracted, so he goes to make a call on his cellular phone. He thinks he's calling his friend, but she immediately attacks him. She begins assaulting him. He keeps saying no. She keeps pushing him. Eventually he turns it around and kind of seems into it,

and they are about to have some violent sex and then he sees their reflection in a picture and he's like, I can't do this. He runs away and she threatens him. Yeah, and this is another instance of the movie. A better movie, maybe this would be a good choice. Like it's trying to muddy the waters a little bit in a way that like.

The work of muddy waters does. Well just the complicated, like. It's a complicated encounter. It's complicated, there's no perfect victim, there's no perfect, you know like that. Exactly, and like the fact that he seems into it at one point and then says no later, like that should be, like the no should stand

and I think it's putting up against like if the gingers were flipped. But in a movie that stars Michael Douglas, a man known for like being in like sleazy erotic thrillers, I do think it makes you weirdly less sympathetic to him here that like, I don't know. I feel like what they were trying to do with his turn a little bit is like to be like,

the man can't control himself around this siren. And like, whereas like the version of women, it's like, you know, more like disassociating or whatever would happen. So he became the aggressor briefly because it was like, she is just far too sexy. Maybe, I don't know. I think that's something that he's,

again, if it was a better movie, I could see it that like he doesn't want to do this, but he is feeling, he feels that like he's become, he used to be this sex machine with her, and now he lives a pretty domestic kind of dull everyday life. And there he lives a pretty domestic kind of dull everyday life. And there's a little bit of, he can recapture a moment of when he was younger

and more exciting, but also that he is possibly seeing an opportunity to reassert control over the woman who has stolen the job he thought was rightfully his, that like, but he knows he really shouldn't do it, that he could have like, again, if it's a better movie, he would be a more complicated character and these different drives could be going on all at the same time.

But instead it comes off as, it feels like a superhero being hit with a power dampening beam and going like, I must resist, but can't, oh God, no, no. Like that, it feels so, or there's something kind of like, like she has a magical hold over him that he can't, that he's giving into and then can't quite because she made him drink a potion or something.

Like it's a, it comes off, I found the scene, it should be a really like terrifying scene if it's done right, but I found it very funny. Because also because there are attempts to be sexy are also so over the top, you know. The initial massage, I feel like we watch with 20, 24 eyes is like, this is all, this is, oh God, gross. But I wonder.

The minute she says rub my shoulders and he starts doing it, it's like, no, no, no. Like he's just like, ah, all right. I feel like he's not really alarmed at that point. It's also weird. It's like you gotta play the game. I rub Donald Sutherland's shoulders all the time. That's how I got my job.

I feel like the movie also. It's tough because he's so much taller than Michael Douglas. Falters a little bit here, because it's like, okay, we want to make this a horrifying experience that Michael Douglas goes through, but also like, this is an ironic thriller with Demi Moore, so we want to make it sexy first, which makes it feel really weird.

We want the male audience to be able to come and like fantasize that they're with, what if I got the harassed by Demi Moore? Oh man, amazing. Like there's, I think the movie is, the fact is I think you put it, hit it right Dan that like it's a sleazy movie. So he wants to have it both ways and like have a message

to also get the audience aroused. You know? Wait, I did find a really great, I was just like Googling disclosure at the time. And I found Roger, this is how Roger Ebert's review of disclosure starts. Disclosure contains an inspiring terrific shot of Demi Moore's cleavage in a wonder bra

surrounded by 125 minutes of pure goofiness, whatever. But I just like to be like celebrating like her cleavage. So that's the best part. I think one of the things that maybe doesn't age as well To be like celebrating her cleavage, is that's the best part. I think one of the things that maybe doesn't age as well about his work, but which I actually in some ways admire for its honesty is, he's totally open to when he's a perv.

And he's like, I like this movie because these ladies were naked in it. Like that's a value too. And maybe because I- He was a horny man who wrote a movie for Russ Meyer, but also, yes, that's a weird lead for a movie. That's true. It's like the best part of the film.

I also wonder if that's him trying to take the classy way out of answering the audience's question of, is Demi Moore naked in this movie? Which at this point was, I think, the question every male audience member was asking about every movie that Demi Moore put out, basically, at this movie, which at this point was, I think, the question every male audience member was asking about every movie that Demi Moore put out, basically, at this point was, was she naked in it? And he could be like, well, I'll mention that she's in a Wonder bra, and that'll be telling my perv audience

that she's not fully naked in it. My perv followers that I've cultivated. Yeah. It's a dog whizzled with a perv. So speaking of dogs, Michael Douglas goes home. Michael Douglas? He has no dog. That would be...

Oh, man. Spell that on a calculator. That's the Rover Doggerfield or whatever the fuck. If Rover Dangerfield had been a hit and then they're like, the sequel, Michael Douglas. I love it. Okay, so he goes home, he has very noticeable scratches on his chest, and he has to hide them from his very underst- It looks like he was attacked by a jaguar.

So, I was, my wife and I watched this movie together, and we both suggested ways that he could explain why his 50-year-old man chest is slowly healing from scratches on his chest. Okay, I'm not gonna say who proposed which suggestion. You can, but I want you guys to vote on which one you think works the best. The first is, the next morning he immediately wakes up

and goes to the animal shelter and he buys a cat. Okay? Okay? Or he initiates sex with his wife and at very early on he's like, ow, babe, what'd you do to my chest? Okay, so which one do you think is the better, more peaceful option? I don't think either of them particularly

would be convincing, but I would have to go with the second one, simply by virtue of the size of the claws of all. Yes, the distance between scratches is too small. Yeah, you would have to get a very large catamaran. You'd have to get a jaguar. I adopted this jaguar. By the way, I adopted this stray Jaguar.

I brought it back. What? You have small children in the house. Oh, they're going to love it. They can ride it. It'll be fantastic. And then the rest of the movie is actually a family in peril movie about a Jaguar

that's loose in the house. Honey, your favorite movie's bringing up baby, right? Well, guess what? Had Roar been made at this point? Yes, Roar had been made at this point. But he does, I thought this scene was so funny for, like he's constantly not talking to her head on while he's having this conversation while in the shower,

and then when he puts the towel on, he's draping it in a way that no person has ever put a towel around themselves to cover up the scratches. And yo, he comes home late and he's like, the first thing he says is, honey, can you get me a beer? I know, that was... Yeah, he does not come home well.

To drink in the shower? And it's not like she's in the kitchen. I think that's why shower beers are amazing. She's in bed doing work and he's like, can you get me a beer? Which means she has to get up and go downstairs. Like, you just came from there. But she has to plug in his cellular. Yeah. Now, Meredith, have you get me a beer, which means just to get up and go downstairs. Like you just came from there. Just a plug in his cellular.

Yeah. Now, Meredith, this is, have you had a shower beer? I had this so low. I'm curious about. I drank it like in high school once or twice. I drank whatever alcohol I found, like if they're in a water bottle in the shower. Yeah, as a longtime time night bartender, they'll like get home from work and drink a tall boy of,

I don't know, whatever gross cheap beer I can drink while taking a shower before bed was like the best thing ever. Talk about suds. So I had this, okay, go on. Sold to me is like a great experience, like, oh, you gotta get a cold beer, you go into the shower. And, you know, I gotta admit, I just, I kept too much water.

All I could think about was how much water was getting into, like hot water was getting into the beer I was having. You're drinking shower water. Yeah. That's because you gotta chug it. The thing you need in a shower, which is a time limit that you need to really get done with, which is chug that beer fast.

Or you need like a plastic, very big beer helmet that you can put on that keeps you, like an umbrella thing that you can put on your head so you can drink. Like a shower cap. It's a shower cap with beers on it, yeah. Yeah. We gotta stop this podcast right now,

I'm making that up. This is our millions. I do wanna point out that this whole time, his wife is being very understanding and she's being very supportive, especially when dealing with the fact that he is, you know, he's visibly disappointed about not getting the promotion.

She's like, you should just quit, we'll figure it out. And he's like, quit. But every wife he's ever had in every movie is wonderful. And Archer and Basic Instinct, like they're all the greatest women that are stunningly beautiful, but not considered the hot ones a little bit. Like anyway.

Yeah, that's Michael Douglas, I guess, as a type. There's specifically a message, he gets a message that the next morning's meeting is being pushed back. This message was relayed to him by his wife who received a phone call from Meredith and he just accepts this. He's like, oh great, I get to sleep in. Now I would think pushed forward. Pushed back makes me think that it is, that the meeting is happening earlier, which is actually what happens. I would sayed up. I would say push up is.

Wait, you think that push back means earlier? Yeah, back in time. Gotta go back in time. But no, that doesn't make any sense at all. Pushed up means it's earlier, back is later, always. The meeting's been thrown forward. This is good for me to know before I get into the high stakes world

of CD-ROM manufacturing. That I know. the high stakes world of CD-ROM manufacturing. So this is why your CD-ROM career has stalled out, Elliott. You've been missing all these meetings. This could be it. Also, I do think that the CD-ROM stands for cats, dogs, rhinos, other mammals, which is apparently not what it stands for. And then he has a nightmare about Donald Sutherland

making a move on him. That was a great scene. Very, very telling. Now we're on to Tuesday. Hey guys, what a week, right? It's only Tuesday. We get the... He shows up late to the meeting.

There's a VR demo. Now we talked about this VR. It's pretty cool, right? It's pretty cool. You're in a hallway of files. There's an angel that. Now we talked about this VR. It's pretty cool, right? It's pretty cool. You're in a hallway of files. There's an angel that looks like the lead programmer who is not very good at helping you with the things that you need with the software.

It is incredibly underwhelming, but everyone acts as if this is the coolest thing they've ever seen in the history of science. Look, I don't want to insult this actor. He's kind of an unusual looking fellow and then they put his face on an angel which makes it look all the weirder. And it's like, this is like, they decided to like,

I don't know, I feel like if I turned around and I saw this angel, like, can I help you? I'm like, ah! Uh-huh, yeah. Ah! Bring Clippy back. Yeah, you're like, I didn't know I was playing Doom. What?

I don't know. I feel like they were trying to play that part for Comic Relief. Yeah. I think they were. I think that wasn't quite hitting. I think that was supposed to be a joke, but that was not a great face for an angel.

Oh, you keep putting your face on things. Like, it's the only face we have right now. I feel like it was supposed to be slight of hand, so you're not noticing the plot points that come back here. Yeah. I'll distract you. Or the fact that like Don Sutherland's full financial details are in the demo for entertainment purposes only.

He listed his fears, his full schedule. Yeah. His psychiatric report. The call sheet for the movie. Pictures of him in blackface when he was in college, all that stuff's there. You know he has those. That character, not Donald Sutherland's the real actor. in a movie. Pictures of him in blackface when he was in college, all that stuff's there. You know he has those.

That character, not Donald Sutherland, the real actor. Yeah, of course. So Michael Douglas is under fire for showing up late to the meeting, and he's also under fire because Meredith has spilled all the beans for the various production issues they're having in Malaysia, and he is not prepared to answer some of these questions.

But partially because he brings up the issues to her during their initial meeting where the sexual assault happened. And she tells him the best thing to do is to say nothing. It is, but then, and then she during the meeting brings it all up and he sticks to that story of the advice she gave him. It's so funny.

Yeah, but he's like, well, she assaulted me and she lied about when the meeting is, but I better stick with her strategy and not throw things off. So he's like quoting things she said to him and it's like, dude, she's obviously not your friend. Like, why are you doing this? But also, yeah, he could be like, yeah, no, because you brought these up to you yesterday last night and you told me not to say anything. Yeah.

Could have maybe and then the credits roll. Yeah, like one of the best bits is when he like repeats one of her talking points verbatim and a guy's like, oh, that doesn't mean what you think of me. Like, yeah, she like totally turns on. It's so funny. So he is a moron. He should not have been promoted to vice president.

Let's just say that right there. Yeah, he goes to talk to Phil, who's what the guy from happiness, what other stuff see? Oh, Dylan, what's his name? He's Connors in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie. Right, right. Who has like bad guy hair gel.

Yes, he was not an American. He's very precise in a way that you're like, he's bad. Yeah, I keep thinking, yeah, why am I? I also can't remember. I keep hearing like, Dylan Baker. He's married to someone.

Is he married to Jennifer Grey? Oh really? Wow. Is that right? It could be possible. We'll get to the bottom of this one. So that actor is Dylan Baker, who's also, he's in a lot of good stuff, yeah.

Yeah, and he's like, he's kind of, he's Michael Douglas' boss, I guess, and like a liaison between him and Donald Sutherland, who's the head of the company. Well, also, yeah, and he is the one who pretends to be Michael Douglas' friend at the beginning, but is like plotting against him, and it is one of these situations where you're like,

don't you understand, that's Dylan Baker. And he's Dylan Baker with round glasses and his hair slicked back. This guy's not your buddy. Yep, he's got the bad guy hair tail in. That's so popular in the 80s and 90s, right? Nope, he's not married to Jennifer Grey. But who is married to Jennifer Grey?

There's only one way to find out, call her up. Clark Gregg. Oh, right, right, right, right. Oh, that's right, he's married to Becky Ann Baker. Becky Ann Baker, who is- Oh, Becky Ann, that's who I'm thinking of. On Freaks and Geeks. Yeah, she's awesome.

She's great, and girls, yeah. I knew he was married to someone awesome. They're a very talented couple, the two of them. And actor. Okay, so he goes to Phil and he's like, wants to make a claim against Meredith, but it turns out she's beaten him to the punch. She's already made a sexual harassment claim against him.

What? And he's like, that's not what happened. And Phil says, he lays out the plot of the movie, he goes, a woman harassing a man, which should have been on the poster. There's another one that should also be on the poster. With an interrobang after it. So he starts getting mysterious emails.

He's been getting a number of mysterious emails. At this point, all emails are mysterious because how many emails were you guys getting in 1994? I was getting like none. And these are ones that have no sender's address on them and they're just saying like cryptic messages. It kind of matters later, it doesn't really matter. This made me scrunch up my face

and be like, is that a thing that was possible? Did that happen? Like, because he kept going to see who was sending it and it's like no sender available. I'm like, I don't think that that was. I bet there was a way to hide the identity, to hide, you know, the same way you can use that. Like a VPN or something.

Yeah, you can use a VPN. But the thing is, not that. If you would get like an email address, you wouldn't just be like, the email program wouldn't tell you like, I don't know, buddy, I have nothing for you. But it's also a pretty dumb movie. But the twist, still,

like you could have had an email address. Yeah. Based on the twist. Yes, that's true. That comes later about it, Twist still, like you could have had an email address based on the twist that comes later about it being from a friend. I think they're just trying to create suspense, you know? That's a good movie, just trying to make the audience ask questions, yeah. So this email, like, does email do that?

We're talking about it, right? So it must have worked. This email brings a link to a news story about a sexual harassment claim that has information about the lawyers who helped that claim go through. So he reaches out to those lawyers and meets with them. Those lawyers, of course, are played by longtime character actress Roma Mafia and Donald Logue, a very young Donald Logue playing a character named... Babyface Donald Logue. I love his name.

Chance Gear. Sounds like a fucking Cars character. And I don't think he's ever mentioned by name in a movie. So they're probably like, hey, let's just give him a crazy name. Or is he like, dude, can I have a name? I'm just called Other Lawyer. What about Chance Gear? And they're like, all right, just let him have Chance Gear.

Sure, it's fine. He's been talking about it. His own name is Donald Logue, so he's used to strange names. So let's just give him this one. Yeah. Yeah. They're like, hey, Michael Crichton, you know, high tech stuff. What's a cool name? He's like, Chance Gear. But she's basically supposed to be Gloria Allred, right? Like, yes. Yeah, that's that's her. Who's she supposed to be? Yeah.

So Michael Douglas just wants to settle, he doesn't want his wife to find out about it, which is fucked up, dude. Like he should have told his wife a long time ago, right? Yes, he should have told her the night it happened, which is hard, sometimes you feel ashamed, you don't know, like that happens, but also that he didn't mention afterwards. What?

But also the idea. No, I just gotta message your wife real quick that sometimes this happens to her. Yeah, sometimes it happens to me, I don't know how to tell her. But the fact that he can have a legal settlement with his employer over a sexual harassment charge and his wife is never gonna know about it

is a very strange, it's a big thing to hide. Again, this is like a clumsy attempt to like parallel, you know, like women get a hard time because like, oh, you didn't document this. You didn't like do the perfect, you weren't perfect right afterwards, you know. But it is frustrating as a viewer to watch it and be like, man, like you are really making it hard on yourself

right now, Michael Davis. At that point, she, the wife had no idea that she was even a former lover. Yes, yeah. I mean, if they wanted to lean into more about why he didn't say anything, they could have laid in a scene where she's feeling insecure about being at,

something where he's just like, oh, this is not the time, I don't want to bother her with this. That would be treating her more like a human being and less like a prop that exists to either support or cause trouble for Michael Douglas. Right. I do think it's very funny that I, she becomes nicer as the movie goes along, the wife,

I think for very like cynical, like screenwriting reasons of, you know, we want to be less sympathetic to her at the beginning so we sort of understand Michael Douglas and then later on she's like the good wife you can go back to. But like she's introduced being like complaining about how he's nice to people who are lower on the totem pole than him. Like you're the only one who sucks up to subordinates him and it's like, wow, you're an asshole. And then later on she becomes extremely understanding.

She does drive him to the ferry though. That's always nice. That's nice. And he is asking her for a favor to arrange for Disney tickets for his coworker. So it is putting her out a little bit. But as someone who has a Disney worker in the family and is constantly asking him for tickets,

I get both sides of the situation. I get why you want that favor and also why you'd be annoyed by doing it, yeah. So look, Michael Douglas' access to the computer mainframe was reduced. Wow, using the technical terms. That's going to play an important role later in a very exciting VR scene.

Very exciting. He goes to a charity event where Dennis Miller blabs to his wife that Tom's sexual harassment claim might have something to mess up with the merger. His wife immediately defends Tom and shows solidarity. When Michael Douglas then explains to his wife what happened, he does it in the worst way possible. He's like, she started kissing me, I guess,

and then maybe took my pants down. It's like, come on, dude. She was about to blow me and then I was like, oh yeah, I got a wife anyway, I got to get out of here. But it's also, I feel like that hinged so much on, did you have sex, as if nothing else matters. Well, this was the worst. Other stuff doesn't count, baby.

I mean, this was in the 90s. I feel like that was the debate. Like when Bill Clinton cheated on his wife, everyone was like, well, it wasn't really sex. And it's like, well, the idea that if your penis was inside a body part of another woman that wasn't your wife, it didn't count as sex and therefore wasn't an affair. It was like, it was an open question in the mid-90s. It is sort of like I didn't inhale, kind of the same argument of like,

I didn't smoke pot. It's also like a super like heteronormative way of looking at it, because then it's like, okay, well, I guess then gay people never have sex. If it's just like this one kind of intercourse is the... Yeah, that's what that club, the loophole is all about. That's what you do there. In their argument, there's a scene where his wife asks, how attractive on a scale of one to 10, and Michael Douglas grudgingly gives Demi Moore a nine.

Okay, that's not bad, right? He starts with eight, and then when he sees his wife doesn't believe that, he upgrades her to nine. And then she says a line, which again, should be on the poster, she says, nothing happens until it happens to you. And that's like kind of the message of the movie, right? Is that men can't understand sexual harassment

until they themselves have been sexually raped. And I do think that that is- It's also the plot of the movie, it could happen to you, right? Let me double check, you're right. That is like sort of the movie that could happen to you, right? Let me double check, you're right. That is sort of the most charitable viewing of this movie where it's just like, okay, we understand that you lack empathy.

So let's put you in this situation. I mean, it's like all of the old science fictiony anti-racism things where it's like, oh no, a white person is black for a day, which is, you know, an offensive, weird, like, science fiction, blackface thing that we had to sort of get through so we could not do it anymore.

Or like Tootsie or something, where it's like, oh, until I dressed up as a woman and pretended to be a woman, I didn't realize that women have problems. You know, it's hard to get it. The only way to show it is to see a guy going through it. Yes, because you have to take the- Animal testing, we have to do that for animal testing, for the meat trade, for everything.

You have to take the default human being, a straight white male, the original that God started with and is therefore the basis of all humanity. Of course, the basis. And just put them through it, yeah. Not one of the variants. Factory setting, we know that. God's like, let me get back to factory settings

on this thing to reboot. I want like a regular human. Like God wouldn't Italian do? I said a regular default human. No. Not a macaroni rascal. Now I wish, I wish when I was a kid there was a Ninja Turtles knockoff

called the macaroni rascals about pasta loving mice. I love that you guys know what that means. Oh yeah. Is there Macaroni Rascals merch to be found anywhere? That's... No, I can make some. I love to make things, I make things all the time. I made Divorced Dad's Sweet Lips hats.

But you know that the Macaroni Rascals is what they called in Japan, what they called the Jersey Shore It's a better title in some ways in some ways the real life the real life Adventures of the macaroni rascals is how it translates. I didn't know about the real life That makes it sound like a 1960s Disney live-action comedy. Yeah. Yeah Okay, so enough about macaroni rascals. We are on Wednesday.

Man, we just flying by. This cut to Wednesday made me laugh so much because like. Me too, I laughed really hard when I saw that too. It had like this dramatic sting. Like it felt like, it was like a shining cut to a chiron. It was so. And it is, they are, it was by that point in the movie they had forgotten they were naming the days as it went by.

So it was like, oh yeah, we're doing this. Oh yeah, so we... Just so, show that boat going to work. You get what's happening. Other markers of time and what's going on, yeah. So we have the start of mediation. This is not a trial, it's just mediation. We get Tom's side of the story.

He is being grilled by this evil lawyer character. And this is probably my favorite scene in the movie where the lawyer keeps specifying, he very clearly lays out the definition of boner, which I found very funny. He's like, you talked to your colleagues about how she gave you a boner. And in that scene, Dennis Miller is doing all the boner talk. Like Michael Douglas is just kind of like, you talked to your colleagues about how she gave you a boner. And in that scene, Dennis Miller is doing all the boner talk.

Like, Michael Douglas is just kind of like, come on, guys, come on. He's like, I definitely have liftoff, is what he said. All he had to say is like, no, I didn't. The other guys were, and I was trying to get them to stop. But instead, he's like, you know how guys talk to each other. You know how it is, which is the sportiest thing you can say. Now, you know, we're just like, lab ass. Well, well, please clue me in,

but isn't a boner a term for an erection? Well, the only thing that was kind of good, like the one thing was like, yeah, but you laughed. It's like, but he should have said, yeah, cause I was like trying to get out of the conversation. It was a defense mechanism or something, cause that's an argument people use. Your honor, I mentioned like the Joker

and that panel that gets put around on the internet sometimes. Dan, they knew what they were doing when they wrote that Batman comic. They knew exactly what they were doing. Yes. He uses the word boner like 15 times throughout the story. We were talking about the character from Growing Pains. But isn't the character from Growing Pains named, or is there a reference to that? Oh, you got me.

I don't even watch Growing Pains. My or is name a reference to that? Oh, you got me. I don't even watch Growing Pains. I don't even, my story's falling apart. We get her side of the story. I can't show you that smile again. You know, like in the song. We get her side of the story, and it feels like everything that happened, every bit of that interaction,

feels like it was all part of a setup for her to catch him and to turn the tables on him. She's woven quite a web and she's caught her fly. Uh huh. Thank you. Yeah. And his lawyer manages to, when cross-examining I guess, points out that the bottle of wine they were drinking was specifically a favorite bottle of wine of his and that she had sought it out previously. She acted like it was just a bottle of wine she had lying around, but no, no, no, this shows premeditated behavior. But one random question. Yep.

How did he not know she was working in operations for that company when she had worked there for months? Another reason why he is not good. Yeah, like he does, you should know kind of the top brass of the, of the infrastructure of the company that you're in. I think if they made it seem like a bigger, if the company felt bigger, it's supposed to be, I think a huge company. And so it's like, he's in charge of manufacturing and he doesn't know who does the other stuff.

But the company never feels that big. So it should know the idea that his ex lover is now in a very high position at the manufacturing and he doesn't know who does the other stuff, but the company never feels that big so it Yeah, you should know the idea that his ex-lover is now in a very high position at the company You think he would hear about the name at least, you know, we're Even if she was at a different like they yeah, they mentioned that there might be other branches There's a branch in Austin that's closing. Oh Can't get assigned to that. He can't take that off Oh, but also that felt also very Catholic churchy

where they're like, well, if you've sexually harassed, what we're going to offer you is to move you to Austin. But if you truly believe that guy was a horrible sexual assault or sexual harasser, you would fire him, not move him to Austin. Well, they have this big merger and they don't want to jeopardize it by being seen to properly deal with a sexual harassment problem.

Right. It's better to pretend it didn't exist. I do like there's one. No HR. I haven't seen HR. Yeah. Transferring to Austin, their version of saying go live on a farm upstairs. Yeah, I think so.

There is a there are a couple lines I liked in it. And there's one where Donald Sutherland, they go, we offered him the lateral move to Austin, but he wouldn't take it. And Donald Sutherland's like, lateral move to Austin. That's like a lateral move from Duck to LaRange. And I was like, that's a pretty good line. That's a good line. Wait, what was the name of the lawyer?

He also had a hilarious line about her. Right, where they should change her name. Yeah, it's like Claudia Alvarez or something. Wait, what is it? Oh yeah, Catherine Alvarez. Catherine Alvarez. She changed her name to TV. Catherine Alvarez.

Yeah. Yeah. You say it. You say it. You say it. No, no. He goes, Catherine Alvarez, she changed her name to TV listings if she thought it would get her in the paper more.

Yeah. And it's like TV listings. That's when you have to annotate it for the young people now. You're like, back in the day, you didn't choose what you watched on TV. It just aired at time. You'd want to know when it was. And the newspaper would tell you when the TV shows were. Yeah.

For an evil boss, Donald Sutherland seems like a fun guy. He's got some good jokes. Who face no consequences. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I mean, he is, he really, he skates by on a lot of Donald Sutherland charm, but I'm a big fan of Donald Sutherland.

So maybe that's why he works for me. I don't know. Also, we find out that Demi Moore has gone through at least 10 assistants, male assistants, have all quit in the last few years. That is a red flag. Although that doesn't really make sense with the later revelations, but.

I mean, she could be both a predator and someone who is maneuvering Michael Douglas to become the scapegoat for the manufacturing problems. I mean, she could be doing two bad things. She's like, I've got just the move. Yeah. I've been practicing for this all my life. Yeah, I've been training.

They say that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. Yeah. There's a scene where his lawyer, Catherine Alvarez, takes his wife for food at the Pike Place Market, which looks great, I love the Pike Place Market. But there's a weird moment where his lawyer says something like, my husband asked me out many times. These days he would be too frightened of getting charged

with sexual harassment to ask me out at all. Like it's employee- Where he would get once and have to move on and that would be too frightened of getting charged with sexual harassment to ask me out at all. Like it's- Or he would get once and have to move on and that would be it. So her whole life would have not have happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's her sliding doors moment. Sorry to say that.

Yeah, it was this weird moment of like, why are we doing this? The movie does not want to take any but the most basic stand because it doesn't want to piss any but the most basic stand because it doesn't want to piss people off or because it wants to seem, maybe it's trying to go for complexity but it's failing really badly. But it feels like the movie is like sexual harassment

is obviously wrong, but you know, sometimes when it's romantic, maybe. I don't know. But it also, it's also this is, it's not a friendly environment to say you were sexual. Like at that time, there weren't a lot of like places to go where you would be supported and say, hey, I have, so I was sexually harassed at work.

Like for that on Demi Moore's first day to be her move and everyone accepts it internally as like, this is a normal thing that a woman might do because that's like, it feels more like it's more like a male fear than it is like at all how anything worked at that time. Yeah. Yeah. Now this, this movie, the, the, the engine of this movie is male fear.

Yeah. I mean, it really is. Later on, Demi Moore, Demi Moore is, she gives that speech about like, now you need, it's signed in triplicate before you have sex or something like that. Like that feels like- The UN has to-

Yeah, yeah. That's right. It feels like that's the movie really stating its case. In a way, like that's the movie speaking honestly, which sucks. And the, it reminds me of, Wasan, you must be the member of this. I mean, it doesn't suck for me,

because I'm super into the UN being aware of all my sexual identities. Yeah, you suck. That's part of my kink. You send those letters to them all about it, yeah. Every delegation you send it to? Yeah, yeah, make a little drawing of all everything. But I think, Wasan, and you must remember this,

there were times when with basic instinct, Sharon Stone is basically playing her character like a man acting sexually. She's a woman, but she's doing the things that men do. And the reviewers at the time were like, what is this monster? Like, what is this mutant demon? Yes.

Absolutely. Other than murdering people. Most men do not end up murdering their partners. Back at work, Donald Sutherland seems to want to settle and they're like, why would he want to do that? Then they bring Michael Douglas's assistant Cindy in to do some testimony and she reveals a pattern of behavior that is unsettling on the part of Michael Douglas

involving back rubs and touching her tushy and all kinds of bad things. She doesn't say touching my tushy. No, that's a stewardess, I'm sorry. Yeah, there are a couple of scenes in here that like the one that you were talking about earlier Elliot where like he gets grilled or there's a scene where the Lawyer lays out to Michael Douglas like how painful this is gonna be to like try and fight this Yeah, they're gonna wreck that better scenes

Of a better version of this movie and I like this scene where the assistant, like Michael Douglas, who has thought of himself as a good guy, has to face up to like, his assistant being like, yeah, I felt uncomfortable sometimes. And then later on, like there's a scene where he apologizes and then it's immediately undercut by like her whacking him on the butt to be like,

ah, now what's sauce for the goose? How does it feel? This is what an equal world looks like. It's not nobody getting sexually harassed, but everyone's free to sexually harass. We're all honking each other all the time. See, everybody gets to. It's honking Thursdays.

When we live in a free use office, then we'll all be equals. And it's like, ugh, I don't like this. Okay. And then we get a big twist at the end here at the end of Wednesday. Wait, is it still Wednesday? Yeah, it's still Wednesday.

It's still Wednesday. It's a long Wednesday, yeah. A long week. Okay, they wrap this up quick. So Michael Douglas realizes that when he made a phone call right before being assaulted, that he must have dialed the wrong number and he uses some mental math and figures out

whose phone number and answering machine he left his message on. And he realizes that he must have just let that phone run. So the whole encounter must be caught on that answering machine tape. What's an answering machine tape you ask? Well, young and that was a thing that was from the 1990s. So, and he reaches out to the guy who he believes he called

and that guy has the answering machine tape and gives it to him in exchange after making a couple of jokes and he has evidence, hooray. But did we see missed calls from that guy? I don't know. He's like, I've been trying to find you everywhere. Yeah. And it's like, have you? I don't think we did see missed calls from that guy? I don't know. He's like, I've been trying to find you everywhere. Yeah. And it's like, have you?

I don't think we did see missed calls. You have, yeah. It would have been so easy too, to just be like a couple of times, I don't have time for this right now. Unless they're trying to make it a red herring that he's the secretive friend who is emailing him suggestions.

Yeah, a friend. So Thursday, at the mediation, they play the tape. It is damning. At one point, the evil lawyer refers to his lawyer as young lady. Although weirdly, they cut the tape off before, I don't know whether the idea is, this part wasn't recorded,

but they cut it off before the most damning part where she's literally like, if you don't come back here and finish what you started, like you're out. Which doesn't kill you. You know, like, which is like the most direct admission of harassment, you know, from a boss. It's like, I need sexual favors or else you lose your job.

But they cut it off before that. I mean, it might be. It's as if they were like, oh, we all heard it. We know what we're talking about. Assume you heard the whole that. I mean, it might be. It's as if they were like, oh, we all heard it. We know what we're talking about. Assume you heard the whole thing. I mean, that's the thing. I think they're just trying to save time in the movie more than anything else.

I know, but it's funny to me because like the next thing that happens in the scene is like, all we heard here is two consensual, considering adults having a consensual sexual encounter. And it's like, well, but then later on. Right, so maybe it didn't work for that scene if they played it through. And they were like, okay, just don't play that part. Right, so maybe it didn't work for that scene if they played it through. Yeah.

And they were like, okay, just don't play that hard. Just don't do it. Yeah. Cool. We'll cover our tracks. We really appreciate it. If you could not play the whole tape, just play enough to make your case,

but not enough to make it really bad. Yeah, of course, yeah, we're coworkers. Yeah, of course, I have to see you tomorrow, sure. So, hey everybody, Michael Douglas wins. He wins everything he wants. He gets a bonus for pain and suffering. His lawyer's getting paid. He gets to keep working at this really cool company.

He doesn't have to go to disgusting Austin. Doesn't have to go to a roast. That hasn't gotten cool yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He hates delicious breakfast tacos. It's the worst thing in the world for you. This is 1994. Seattle is the coolest city in the entire United States of America. Like, people are saying...

Does he have a bridge where there are bats underneath it? Huh? I don't know. I don't know it for sure. No, that's Austin. Austin has the bat bridge. No, no, I know Austin has it. I don't know if Seattle has a bat bridge. Seattle has so much cool stuff they probably haven't, they don't even talk about it. Yeah, Austin has moon towers, but Seattle has a space needle, so I don't know if Seattle has a bat as a bridge. Seattle has so much cool stuff they probably haven't they don't even talk about it. Yeah, Austin has moon towers, but Seattle has a space needle. So I don't know which is better, you know. Seattle is a little thing called coffee.

Ever heard of it? Austin doesn't have it. Yeah. No. Okay. So everything- Seattle doesn't have barbecue. What kind of food do they have there?

I heard about a Seattle slough. Dungeon is crabs and shit. Dungeon is crabs and shit. Dungeon is crabs and shit. You throw fish. Oh yeah, they throw fish around. They don't do that in Austin. They probably cook up a Douglas fir for you. I don't know.

A Michael Douglas fir. So he's gonna win everything. Michael Douglas probably has some fir, yeah. He's gonna win everything. Meredith is gonna be out, hooray. However, there's still like 20 minutes left in the movie. So we know things are just getting good. So unless the rest of it is just Michael Douglas changing his ways and making up with his wife.

It's not, yeah. Okay. So he gets another mysterious email that's like, it's not over. And he realizes there's a loophole in his contract that he could be fired for incompetence. And I'm like, yeah, he should have been fired for incompetence. I love to get there like, he's like, wait, they can't fire me for this, but they can fire me for incompetence. Just'm like, yeah, he should have been fired. I love to get there like he's like, wait, they can't, they can't fire me for this, but they can fire me for incompetence. Just like any employee. Yeah. So of course what he has to do. Oh, this is a job?

Wait a minute. Hold on. Oh no, I didn't know. Oh, I thought I had double jeopardy immunity now. I couldn't get fired for anything. Yeah. He was like, when I was raised, I was promised a job that I could work at and then retire from. So his only option at this point, he has now been locked out of the computer network. He has to sneak into the Four Seasons and break into the room of the guys that are buying the company. And he has to hook up the VR rig that they have borrowed for some reason

because they think it's neat. To play with. Yeah, to play with. And where there's like so many people that could have access to it, like housekeeping, and it's got all these secrets on it. Well yeah, I love, yeah, I love, you pointed it out earlier, Meredith,

but I love that it has this thing when he logs in being like, this is just for entertainment purposes. You like, don't look at all of our secret files that this is linked to for some reason, even though it's a demo. It's wild. And so he, of course, logs in, and this is where we are treated to some high-tech visuals.

We get to see a digitized Michael Douglas walking through the corridors. It's very much like, what, the Halls of Medicine commercials? Yes. And he's also like in the room, he's like standing on a mini tram. It's really cool. Yeah, he's on this little platform.

Wearing a helmet. There's a moment where walking through these corridors of filing cabinets, he almost walks off an edge and he's like, whoa, I'm going to fall. And they cut to him on the pet, just to make sure you know he's safe, I guess, they cut to him in the hotel room and he looks like anyone playing a VR game stupid like looks Yeah

I mean, this is a funny moment of like I think the movie itself undercutting, you know It's like okay, but we know that you know, like this is what Michael Douglas actually looks like right now He's not gonna fall down anything but I love that this is like this is like the vaporwave aesthetic in a nutshell of early CD-ROM where it's just like, let's put a bunch of columns everywhere. We're going to make it all vaguely Grecian. It's got to look like mist. Yeah.

Why do they put a bottomless pit in their? That's a good question. Why in their demo of a new filing system and online space they have a bottomless canyon? It's beta. It's like, now it's done rendering the floor. They put too much into angel wings. I'm not sure if I would have liked it more or less

if they had built in something where it's like, if you're in the system when it gets shut off, then you die. So he has to get out in time before someone turns it off, but they don't have that. So he is going through the filing cabinets about the virtual filing cabinets focusing on the business in Malaysia

because he has a suspicion there's some evidence there which while he's looking at it, he's finding evidence that Meredith was involved in the production problems in Malaysia. He finds a video call recording between the guy running the factory and her. It seems like this is something that's been going on for a while. All of a sudden we get a digital Demi Moore coming and lasering away evidence.

She's at her desktop computer deleting files so that this evidence disappears. After she did the Stairmaster. Yeah, it seems like the guy... Oh, yeah, sorry, we missed the scene where Demi Moore is at the office using her Stairmaster explaining to Dylan Baker all the bad stuff they're doing. And Michael Douglas happens to walk by and overhear it. And it was like, this is,

that she's working out at the office after hours with Dylan Baker is strange, that Michael Douglas just happens to be there to hear. It's like the movie got so lazy for a moment. It was just like, forget it. And also like, the first thing you should do is delete the Malaysian files. Yeah.

No one just in the hotel hanging out. And while he's spying on them, his cell phone rings loudly and he's like, oh shit, and he answers it. And he answers it. And they do not pay any attention. They just start whispering. That's what they do.

That's how they internalize it, they whisper. It's so funny. Okay, there's a little bit of a ticking clock in this scene because Donald Sutherland and these businessmen who were drinking in the lobby of the Four Seasons are like, hey, let's go back up to your room and play that VR rig. Let's go in that hallway again. I want to look up some files. It's so funny to watch these guys hustling down a hallway

so they can be the first one on the VR rig. It's also like the worst acting I've ever seen from Donald Sutherland because it's like he keeps doing this like I can't wait hand where he rubs them together. I gotta get my hands on those virtual files. They needed to intercut that hallway walk so many times. And then like they're having trouble with the key card. He's like, oh, these things, they never work. Technology, technology. Technology, you know?

Okay, so he, and he manages to get some, he manages to find the evidence he needs and he also realized that he should, if he reaches out to Malaysia, they might have more hard copy information that they don't have on this end. I mean, also speaking of this. What we really learned, the key piece of evidence

is that all of the prototypes of the drive that he was in charge of were working great. But in Malaysia, they made a bunch of shortcuts in the manufacturing process that he did not suggest or approve. And we find out in that moment in the virtual, in the corridor that it was Demi Moore who is the one who authorized the shortcuts that led to this drive being terrible.

Which is the guy who's always offering macadamia nuts to Michael Douglas would have like talked to Michael Douglas about this as like a possible source of the problem earlier in the film. My guess is that he's not going to do that because he doesn't want to get in trouble. And he's been, he doesn't want, he doesn't want Demi Moore's character to get in trouble. I'm so glad that you guys can explain the ins and outs of this because it was a little too high tech for me. It was in the air in my head.

My favorite part of this scene though is when. Smaller, fast, faster, cheaper. Those guys walk into the room and they find that and it pans over, Michael Douglas isn't there. And they all go to the VR, and then around a corner, Michael Douglas just kind of slips out of the room, like he's a fucking cat burglar now. Like what is, that he knew is the exact moment,

I guess, that he needed to be done with the VR system before they got there, it's all- I mean, this was a time where Michael Douglas would have been in like a wizard magazine for a Solid Snake Metal Gear Solid movie. Yeah, that's true. But this is the point, Or in Fury or something. They turn on the lights, which I think changes,

even with the VR headset, changes the ambient light enough that he's like, uh-oh, and that's why he's able to slip out. I think that's a little bit. It's also at the point in the movie where he's the hero up against everything and he's smarter than everyone else. Yeah, he gets special powers.

And that's like the moment. He's been self-actualized by the hardship he's had to go through. It reminds me of, there's like this, at the very end of- Yeah, that gets special powers. He's been self-actualized by the hardship he's had to go through. It reminds me of, there's like this, at the very end of- Yeah, that's true. At the end of Sneakers, when the bad guy gets defeated because one of the other guys just happens to be right above him in the drop ceiling

and he jumps out and gets him and it's like, oh, so he was just waiting in that spot in case the bad guy came, or Rambo in First Blood, how he's like camouflaged against that tree and the guy comes across and he kills him It's like so he was how long was he standing at that tree waiting for someone to wander by that? Yeah, or when he covers himself in mud and hides in like a riverbank. Yeah. Yeah there's a lot of things that don't make sense like that my one my favorite line I think in the whole movie is when

um uh Becky and baker's husband. Dylan Baker. Dylan Baker. Sees that Michael Douglas is stressed out and he goes, you look stressed. Do you need a Prozac?

Which does not work immediately. That's not how it works. In six weeks you feel better? Yeah, exactly. After incrementally taking it. He should have said, you seem stressed. Do you need a Zima? Do you need a Zima, yeah. Well, you can't get a Zanax or a clonopin. Yeah, exactly. After incrementally taking it. He should have said, you seem stressed, do you need a Zima? Do you need a Zima, yeah.

Well, you can. Like a Xanax or a Klonopin. Yeah, sure, it's not like those didn't exist. A tranquilizer, not like, anyway. Anyway. No, but it's like Prozac's a thing from the 90s. It's just like Prozac. It's 90s stuff.

There's like a sock, sock mumpy in my, sock mumpy. Sock mumpy. 90s kids, remember. Sock mumpy? Yeah, whatever. Okay. I mean, are sock mumpies a 90s kids remember sock bumpy okay I mean I feel like they're sock monkeys are like an 1890s thing I don't know he thinks we're talking about the 1890s okay yes I thought it was so high-tech 1890 where he gets all those muscles working on the railway. Yep. So we have, so it's Friday, baby, TGIF. So Michael Douglas apologizes to Cindy, she slaps his ass. We have a, we have like a big shareholders presentation to talk about the merger.

This is where they were going to reveal Michael Douglas's incompetence, but no, no, no, he has already prepared it. He turns the tables on them and plays video evidence of Demi Moore. He plays video evidence that Demi Moore was at the Malaysian plant, which is from a Malaysian news story. I'm like, this is Malaysia, American executive visits factory. But it's also like you also learn and maybe you already mentioned this, but like you learn

that the whole thing in her office where she was going to frame him for sexual harassment later was a large plan by everyone to oust him so he could be the fall guy and then we would blame him for the manufacturing changes and everybody was in on it, right? Yeah, that's what it seems like. That's what it seems like. I don't think Donald Sutherland was in on it, but I think Dylan Baker. They pivot when it doesn't work. And then they go, well, we'll get them on incompetence.

But it feels like you could have just done that from day one, like just trying to get them on incompetence. It really feels like the sexual harassment aspect of the plan, yeah, seems like the unnecessary complication that causes more trouble than it's worth. And also she never needed to be, to any of it, if she was just going to make all of it up anyway. Yeah. Like she didn't need to, so maybe she,

but maybe she also wanted to because of her last 10. It was. It was muddy, it's muddy. The weirdest part is after, okay, so she blows up, she's out, she's fired. He goes to her office and they have, you know, a little bit of verbal sparring. And he suggests that maybe it was his plan all along to trick her into like this situation, like he makes this inference. And I'm like, wait, what?

Yeah, that's that. There's nothing in a movie. Trying to be cool, right? He did not have that plan. Yeah, I think he's just trying to like leave her on a disquieting note where she has to be worried about it. She does say a line where she's like, I've already had like five offers since the meeting. Headhunters have been calling. Yeah, and I'm like, what is this, like the sequel?

Like this is like Jason Voorhees isn't dead? Like what the fuck's going on here? Yeah, two closure, the sequel. But this is like Jason Voorhees isn't dead? Like what the fuck's going on here? Yeah, to closure, the sequel? But yeah, so she's out. Yep, maybe he set her up. I don't think so. Turns out Michael Douglas doesn't even get the VP job. That goes to Stephanie,

who has been the mastermind all along. She's been sending the mysterious emails. A friend. From Arthur Friend's email account, which I don't know why that had to be part of it. That's what I was saying, it could have easily been like a friend at whatever. And then it would still work.

Like you don't need to say a friend if it comes from an unknown sender. You didn't need to play that game. And it's like earlier on, he had tried to track the emails and be like, oh, they're coming from this professor's computer, but he's away in Nepal. And you find out that Stephanie's son, who is a student at that college, a friend is his mentor.

And so he was the one using that computer. And it's like, it made me so mad. Everything in this movie that gets mentioned, except for maybe two things, has to play into this whole plot. So like, he's trying to get these Disneyland tickets for his coworker. Turns out that's the coworker who can get him the video he needs from Malaysia. And she mentions earlier that her son is at college. Well that has to play into her scheme to help him through the situation.

It's just like movie. But also why was he at that all hands on deck meeting? Why was he that son there? Well I mean I guess he knows that she's gonna be promoter and he wants to be there for him. But did he know? Because it was never, it's like in 10 minutes, Donald Sutherland is going to announce this thing. She was like, I'm about to get promoted.

You need to teleport down here. But yeah, it's- Mommy's Mastermind Scheme has come to fruition. That is a much better title for this movie. Mommy's Mastermind Scheme. He asked about- Mommy's Mastermind Macaroni rascals, yeah. Donald Sutherland says like,

I was trying so hard to break the glass ceiling, like to hire someone who was a woman that I overlooked and didn't hire who was the best person. So he's saying like Demi Moore was the woman who he was just hired for being a woman. But I didn't see that there was the best person for the job. And then he picked Stephanie. And so you're supposed to realize that a woman is a woman, but I didn't see that there was the best person for the job. And then he picked Stephanie. And so you're supposed to realize that a woman is a person, could be a person too.

Stephanie is not just a woman, she's also a person. This is an example of, well throughout the movie, the movie thinks that it's a very smart movie when it's actually a very dumb movie. And so it keeps doing things like that where it's like, this will be an intricate little reveal or this will be a lesson, but it's stupid. And the one thing I'll give the movie credit for is having seen the way tech companies operate publicly, I do believe that someone like Demi Moore's character who can talk a good game and cannot back it up could get to that level of power as we've seen in so many tech companies now.

And then eventually they'll be going, oh, this person's less flashy, but more competent. I guess we'll bring them in now to clean up the mess. But it is a, the whole glass ceiling speech is just the final make you think that Michael Douglas is going to get the job moment. When like he's been proved his incompetence throughout the movie.

Like the idea that he would ever get this job is insulting get the job moment, when he's proved his incompetence throughout the movie. The idea that he would ever get this job is insulting to the audience. Also, why would they promote him? He's got a chip on his shoulder, he just went through this whole disclosure nonsense. I'm surprised he wants to stay at the company at this point. Now that his friend is his boss, maybe it's better, but it seems like it's been a terrible experience for him.

He can take the ferry to work. It also just feels like nobody, the only person who went down was Demi Moore's character. And I feel like there were a lot of people that seemed to know what was going on and how they were setting this guy up to fall. It felt like there should be a couple more heads that rolled. The movie clumsily tries to make that point to like to like turn around and like not be

sexist at the end and be like, see, it's only the woman that takes the fall for this. But it feels so disingenuous at that point in disclosure. I this is also I wanted to say it's a small point. I don't want to be too hard on like a young actor who's probably directed to act this way, but the kid. Dan hates young and experienced actors. He's always ragged on. I mean, he's like college age. The kid.

Specifically minors. Who's a. Who sent the A friend emails, like seems so smug in that scene. He is very smug, yeah. Like I immediately, I'm like, I don't like this guy. He smug smiles anywhere. He does come off as very unlikable, that's true. Okay, and then Michael Douglas, what?

Gets a voicemail from his family that his kids miss him. Hooray, he wins the day. End of the movie. So, do I miss him? And then there's the mid-credits sequence where Samuel Jackson goes, have you heard of the disclosure protocol? And he goes, huh? And then we're the mid-credits sequence where Samuel Jackson goes, have you heard of the disclosure protocol? And he goes, huh?

And then we're assembling a team of sexually harassment victims to stop crimes. Yeah, they did that after all the bloopers from the, and outtakes from the sex scene, right? Yeah. That's not a sex scene, Stuart. That's an assault scene. Thank you. All right, let's give our final judgments on this movie, whether it's a good bad movie, a bad bad movie,

or a movie we kinda like. I think those are clear categories, but Meredith, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm going to say that, you know, it has some like politics in it that may be a stumbling block for enjoyment of it, but if you can look at those as like relics of the time or, I mean,

unfortunately not so much, but like, if there are things that you can laugh at because they're so like poorly handled, if you can get past that part to the delicious, deliciously dumb VR thriller that then lies beneath, I would say that this is a good bad movie because I think it is sort of easy to watch in that it's got like good actors and like slick surface

and that 90s vibe of dumb thriller that is fun. But you know, I can understand if you can't get that's the other stuff, but I would say good bad. Stuart, what do you say? Yeah, I think I'm with you. I kind of like, I wish it leaned more into a sleazy erotic thriller, but on the other hand, I do love all the VR and email animations and all that stuff.

So I don't know, maybe I'm just nostalgic for a simpler age. But yeah, I'll say it's a good bad movie. I'm going to say it's a bad bad movie. I found it kind of boring and dull to sit through through much of it. But I think it's certainly worth, if you're on YouTube, if you can look up like disclosure, old technology super cut, like that would certainly be worth watching.

Because the VR stuff is genuinely very funny because it is, how bad it looks, but how amazing all the characters think it looks. Meredith, what do you think? I agree about the VR stuff. Particularly the first demo that the guy who plays the angel, I think is demo more, is just gold. Like when I was trying to look it up online,

I kept finding the part where he goes and breaks into the hotel room, which and Demi Moore appears behind him, which is funny, but I think the first initial demo is the funniest demonstration of how stupid this technology is in a file room. There's also a lot of great mumbo jumbo when she's making a presentation about like using, you know, harnessing CD-ROMs, PDA devices and fax, facsimile machine. You're like, what are you, it's just garbage gobblegook.

I would call this a good bad movie because I found it very watchable. The, just the score, the whole, the, the, the, the pacing, the actors, there is sort of a certain familiarity to that time period that feels like a warm sweater. But then you watch it with 20, 24 eyes and you're like, oh my God, this is fucked up.

And like, where was the, I still am like, where is the lady section? Where's the, why did it have to be like, but what if it happened to a man? That's the scary part. Like where- Disclose her. Yeah, we got, I guess, yeah. We got She Said, at least a couple years ago

about the Harvey stuff. But, yeah. Which was shot in what the Capitol Grill down on Water Street that I, and scenes were shot at the same table I ate at once. Wow, wow. Tales of Stu's connection to She Said. It was a specific, we were celebrating. The Stu of Stu's connection to you.

We were celebrating. The Stu shooting locations walking tour. We were celebrating and we had a great steak dinner and the server like clocked us as being industry folks. So she really did it up. And then she ended up taking us on a walk through the like through the kitchen and we got to go into the like steak aging room and they're like sticking steaks in our face and shit. We get home and Charlene's like, I don't feel so well.

She takes a COVID test, immediately has COVID. We're like, oh no, all those steaks. They coughed on all of them. You'd get it from steak. But how did they clock you as industry folk? What exactly? We were... What was the signal?

Well, we were... Were you holding Writers Guild Awards? First of all, we were drinking a lot at like six in the evening. He and his wife own a few bars. And we were with our business partner who we also own bars with. You mean the restaurant industry folks, not showbiz industry folks. Oh, I thought you meant showbiz industry folks. That's what I thought you meant at first too.

I thought you were like... People that don't know me assume that I'm some kind of... Wearing a hat instead of ward season. I thought you meant the aerospace industry. That's what I misunderstood. No, I'm talking about the food and beverage industry. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Bursts in my heart.

I will say, going back to, not to jump back to the more Jermaine conversation after Stewart's story of his lunch. But I think the most damning thing about this movie more than any of the other stuff is, like you're saying Meredith, that like sexual harassment of women, I guess, was considered so, like, just assumed to be so commonplace

and so widespread and so normal. And would never change. And would never change. That the idea of making a movie about it did not occur to anyone really, except for 9 to 5, which is a comedy again, until, until, so they could say, well, okay, what if it happened to a man? Then it's an interesting enough story

to make a movie of it. Whereas if it happens to a woman, what are you gonna do? That just happens to women. That's just what we all know. We're gonna make a movie about how people get wet when it rains, like, come on, what are we doing here? That's what it feels like, which is gross, yeah. ["Sleeping With Celebrities"]

Hello, sleepyheads. Sleeping with Celebrities is your podcast pillow pal. We talk to remarkable people about unremarkable topics, all to help you slow down your brain and drift off to sleep. For instance, we have the remarkable Neil Gaiman. I'd always had a vague interest in life culture, food preparation. Sleeping with Celebrities, hosted by me, John Moe, on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Night night.

You can't really know if your own show is any good. So I asked my kids about ours. Is Jordan and Jesse Go a good show? No, definitely not. It's really bad. I would say out of 10, maybe like a four out of 10. It's just really boring. Yeah, zero.

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And when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash flop to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. We also have a j-j-j-j-j-jumbotron. This message is for Nick. It is from Emily, and it goes as follows. Happy birthday Nick, aka John, Buddy, Big Guy. You're a good, good movie.

His name is Nick. Ah, finally. Wait, finally what? I remembered his name's Nick, he drinks at my bar. Oh, okay, finally. Wait, finally what? I remembered his name's Nick, he drinks at my bar. Oh, okay, great. Now is the part of the episode where I, Elliot Kalin, tell you about our upcoming live shows, and I do it at the same time we record

the rest of the episode. It's certainly not a message that was recorded later using information we didn't have at the time we were recording the episode. We're all right here in the room together, just like normal recording the whole episode, right Dan? Yeah. Right Stu?

Oh yeah dude. So let me tell you about it in this perfectly real time explanation. On July 26th, we will be in Boston, Massachusetts doing a live show courtesy of WBUR at WBUR City Space. Now, as we know and certainly didn't learn after recording the rest of the episode, that show is sold out right now. You can no longer buy tickets to see it in person, but WBUR has opened up the ability

for you to live stream it. So go to flophousepodcast.com slash events and click on the info and ticks button for that show. It'll take you to the page where you can buy a live streaming ticket. Now, I should warn you, this is just going to be a pretty basic, straightforward, in the moment, live stream. It's not going to be the kind of beautifully polished, beautifully edited, immaculately shot show

that we've been doing with StagePilot lately. If you saw our Speed 2 show, you saw how gorgeous that looked, how well put together it was. That's thanks to the fine people at StagePilot. This is not going to be as polished as that. This is going to be a little more rag tag. So don't expect the level of production that you've come to expect from the Flophouse

StagePilot collaboration. This is just us and WBUR live streaming a show that otherwise you wouldn't be able to see because it's sold out. So please go to flophouspodcast.com slash events, click on the info and ticks button for Boston, and it'll take you that page if you would like to live stream the episode please go to flophousepodcast.com slash events, click on the info and ticks button for Boston, and it'll take you that page

if you would like to live stream the episode because you can't make it there in person or you couldn't get a ticket or you just decided maybe you wanna watch it both ways and you'll be sitting in the audience with a computer in your lap, live streaming the show as it happens in order to do a lag test, I guess, maybe.

Anyway, that's what you can do. So we'll be in Boston July 26th, that show is sold out, but you can live stream it. Just go to flophousepodcast.com slash events for more information. And now back to the episode that is being recorded right now and certainly not days earlier before we found out the show was sold out.

Let's move on to letters from listeners. This first one is from Paul Last Name Withheld, who writes, Hey peaches, it was so wonderful to see you all in Oxford. I was there for both shows and loved every minute, especially watching Elliot get angrier and angrier during Stu's dinosaurs presentation. Made me so genuinely mad. I really felt for him. He's telling a lot of lies about dinosaurs presentation. Made me so genuinely mad. I really felt for it. He's telling a lot of lies about dinos.

I didn't get to speak to Stu or Elliot, but I did bump into Dan as he was navigating to the venue. I told all my friends and family about my exciting encounter, but for some reason they seemed uninterested. I lost my nerve to ask a question during the shows, so I was hoping you could answer them via the good old movie mailbag.

Dan, what's the status on the Miss That Movie Goolies sequel special we were promised? Stewart, did you take a pilgrimage to Warhammer World while you were in the UK? Did you drag Dan and Elliot along? Elliot, not a question, but I was listening to your 99% visible Power Broker episode on which you were the last talk as the episode ended.

My podcatcher then switched to partway through a Flophouse episode of Sonic 2, just as you were describing Sonic snowboarding amongst some rings. The difference in excitement in your voice made me laugh out loud, causing most of the train carriers to stare at me. Love you all, Paul Last Name Withheld. Can I interject one thing about Elliot?

Yeah. I think you have a fantastically listenable to podcasting voice. Oh, thank you very much. I appreciate that. It's incredibly crystal clear. Really? Yeah. I find like it's like so succinct and crystal clear.

I don't know. I think it works really well. Thank you. I really appreciate that. That's very nice. There was a early days in the podcast, there'd be a lot of comments online about, I can't listen to that guy with the shitty voice.

And I'd be like, that's rough. But then even just, I was at a children's birthday party on Saturday and I was talking to one of the birthday kids and she goes, why do you have such a squeaky voice? Why is your voice so squeaky? And I was talking to one of the birthday kids and she goes, why do you have such a squeaky voice? Why is your voice so squeaky? And I was like, I don't know, I guess it's just my voice, but I really walked away from it with a real,

that kid did a whammy on my head. So I appreciate it, thank you. True, some non-fans have a problem. I've never understood it because I feel like, even on The Daily Show, you used to do all the voiceover for those decider cartoons. I think that you have a very clear, very expressive voice. Thank you.

And specific, which I think makes you special. Yeah. Thanks. Let's talk more about me and how good I am about that stuff. No, we can do it after the show. We can pump you up, but we can't do these up. It doesn't really work unless other people hear it. That's true. That's the way external validation works.

You need to be able to show off in front of other people. Well, I think you're just great. You're a friend and you're an inspiration. Let's go on to the- A pal and a confidant. Dan, if you threw a party and invited everyone you knew, or if I threw the party and invited everyone I knew, who would I see the biggest gift would be from? Well, I don't know. We're not, we don't, we have exchanged gifts, but we're not so much. Probably my spouse would give me a bigger gift than you would or vice versa.

That's fair. Anyway, Miss That Movie's Ghoulies sequel special. I don't know if we'll actually do a special, but I did finally catch up with ghoulies two, which I liked better than ghoulies. It gives you more of what you want, which is ghoulies running around.

It finally makes good on the promise of a ghoulie in a toilet, biting someone. It has some great like 80s sort of lighting and low budget like fun sets at a carnival, which is more fun than, you know, sort of just like someone's house. So yeah, I recommend to ghoulies too. And of course ghoulies go to college.

How can you go wrong? They go to college, you know? They're finally getting that degree. Good on you ghoulies. Stuart, did you take a pilgrimage to Warhammer World while you were in the UK? Yeah, I know everybody here is really interested in my, whether or not I went up to Nottingham

to visit Warhammer World while I was in England. This trip I did not, so I did not, I wasn't able to drag Elliot and Dan with me to learn all about Space Marines and Warhammer stuff and all kinds of crap like that. I did go to a number of shops, including one of my favorite hobby shops in London called the Orcs Nest.

And in Barcelona, I went to Goblin Trader, which is, I guess, as good as I can get on this one. Okay. I mean, that's pretty good. If it helps, Stuart didn't go to Warhammer World, but I did my equivalent of that, my last stay in England, which is I went to go finally see the Crystal Park Palace Crystal Palace Park dinosaur statues that I've wanted to see since I was a wee boy so that's kind of similar

right making a kind of pilgrimage it's pretty similar yeah a second letter goes like this dear peaches congratulations on the recent cameo of the peach pit in Furiosa a Mad Max Saga. It's always a delightful surprise when it appears the Flophouse podcast feed, but you can imagine my shock to see it take up such a prominent position in a big blockbuster film. I had the twin delights of learning the origins

of the iconic Imperator of Furiosa and my favorite podcast within a podcast at the same time. How long has our favorite Flophouse after show been planned to be a symbol of Furiosa's lost home? What was it like filming a podcast within a podcast within a movie? What clues do we miss in previous Peach Pit episodes that foreshadowed the shocking reveal?

I look forward to seeing how the Peach Pit lore expands in the future. Best wishes, C.M., last name with hell. I think I see the mistake that this letter writer is making, but I want to make sure you guys see the same mistake before I point it out. What error is that? That would be confusing. The peach pit, a podcast with a physical object.

Oh, that makes sense. From inside a peach. That makes sense. It gets planted in a very dramatic fashion. Yeah, I mean, I think it was all inevitable. Yeah, great moments, I guess. Me and George Miller. Yeah, I like that Furiosa movie, though.

Yeah. Yeah, so did I. We do have a professional connection in that. My first comic book work for Marvel, the art was done by Brendan McCarthy, who did the storyboards for Fury Road, and his credit is one of the screenwriters for Fury Road. So that's kind of a George Miller flop-ass connection. Yeah, a little bit of a connection, sure.

Well, let us move on to our final segment, which is recommendations of movies that we enjoyed, that maybe would be a better use of your time than in my case, seeing Disclosure for, I think, the third time in my life. Oh really? Maybe fourth, I don't know. I guess more than the people who made it watch.

Yeah. The accumulation of years. Anyway, it's not an excuse. I'm going to recommend- No it's not. An animated short, a long animated short, it's 20 minutes, it's on the Criterion channel, it's called Asparagus, it's a very sort of non-linear, sort of non-narrative collection of images,

many of them phallic, the asparagus of the title and others more feminine. The animator whose name I really should look up and I will have for you in a second. I looked it up, Dan, you want me to tell you? Yeah, tell me. It's Susan Pitts. Susan Pitts.

Yeah. Oh, Susan Pitt, I'm sorry, Susan Pitt. Susan Pitt. Pitts was the possessive form of her name. Yeah. Wait, did you say it's fat, there's phallicness to the to the asparagus? To the asparagus, and then there's also some, you know,

there's also like vaginal imagery. It's all, it's all very like, you know, it's like a phantasmagora of imagery, It's all very like, you know, it's like a phantasmagora of imagery. And I've read stuff that suggests sort of a deeper sort of feminist meaning that I, you know, have to be honest. I could not derive myself from viewing it, but I am recommending it because simply

as a piece of animation, it's one of the most gorgeous hand-drawn things I've ever seen and it's very stream of consciousness. Just images floating up from the nether reaches of the brain kind of feel to it. It's just beautiful and it's short. I was trying to figure out yesterday in Italian, if like, penile like fruit and vegetables

was tended to be more masculine, because everything's masculine and feminine in Italian. Or, and if vaginal or like lady part, like fruits and vegetables looking things tended to be more like end in an A and O for boys. Like I was like trying to figure out if they actually went along those lines a little bit. And it didn't really pan out.

I'm going to jump on the grenade here guys. What's a vaginal fruit or vegetable? Well, I think a peach tradition, I mean, I get to come to learn, come to be more butt-associated through emoji, but I think a peach would be wrong. But I would even say like, an apple feels more like a female than, like banana.

Or, I mean, this this is different but like clams and oysters you know the fruit of the sea fruit of the sea but uh you cut open a papaya it seems more vaginal oh also the vagina fruit things the Brazilian vagina fruit looks very cantaloupe you Cantaloupes, you know. Yeah. So I guess we've really cracked it here on the Flop House today. I think much as men have positioned themselves as the default, I feel like it's like long thin things are penile and so anything else that's not long or thin becomes branded as vaginal because it's not, doesn't look like a penis. That's kind of my understanding of it.

Yeah. Oh, I was also looking at snakes I know that you're like Snakes I know from your Instagram that you're a very busy person That was Monday, yeah, Gotta start the week off. Yeah. Okay, I guess. You wanna recommend that. I'm gonna recommend a movie. I'm gonna recommend a movie from a couple of years ago

by a Japanese director, I'm probably gonna mess this up, Ryozuki Hamaguchi, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy. It's a triptych of three short films, kind of loosely related, all dealing with love and relationships. They're all about two or three character, like short stories, and they're all kind of really interesting.

The second one in particular, dealing with a college professor, I found to be really moving and memorable, but all three of them are really great. This came out the same year as Drive My Car, his three hour epic. And I think it's nice to see a director making like short stories that have a similar level of impact,

at least for me, as something so long as driving my car. So Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy was really great. Check it out. You guys both recommended things based around shorts. I probably should do the same thing, but I'm not. Instead, I'll follow Stewart's, this is a real long one, I'll follow Stewart's lead. I'm also gonna recommend a Japanese movie

from a couple years ago. By a couple, I mean couple years ago by a couple I mean 27 years ago 1997 This is Hana B whereas it's translated in the United States Fireworks with a movie that kind of made Takeshi Kitano a as respected a figure in film as he is today where it's a today, where it's a technically a crime drama, but so much time and effort is put into the small moments that are going on in the characters lives or their emotional kind of travails. And the crime aspects of it are abbreviated to the point almost of like being so really

kind of dreamlike in their inlet, just kind of things that punctuate scenes. And I thought it's a movie that the ending is is questionably bleak, but I think it's a really beautiful movie. And it's I like it as a movie that is almost daring the audience. How far are you willing to go with me in denying yourself the thrills of a crime movie and looking at instead kind of the effects that those thrills have on people. And so it's one that I had not seen in a long, long time. And I found that as a grownup, I enjoyed it more than as a young person who was expecting more of a crime, straightforward crime movie. But it's really good.

So that's fireworks. I feel like that's a movie where the moments of violence are so extreme that everything else is filled with this like tension and dread. Yes, yes. But also kind of like a hopefulness too. Like you see a character kind of learning how to express themselves through art

in a way that they never thought was possible. But it's right, but the violent scenes when they happen are very violent, you know. And they happen quick. So you're like what what I just see Meredith would you like to recommend something would you like to join us in the world of recommendation? I will I It has to be a Japanese movie or a short I well the movie I most recently saw Was Renee Elise Goldsberry,

who plays Wiki in Girls 5 Ever, made a documentary about her life during, before Hamilton, getting Hamilton, and when it was like the biggest phenomenon in the world. And so if you're interested in Hamilton, and even just like a diary of an actor's life and also the struggles of starting a family and also being part of this massive juggernaut

that's like where you're going to the White House every other day and all that stuff, it's quite interesting. There's a lot of amazing footage and it's really moving. I definitely found myself tearing up many times during this thing. And also, Renee is just such a wonderful human and such a powerhouse talent. It's just interesting to watch her, period. So I would recommend that.

I don't know what the Distro Buter will be because it was just at the film festival. But I assume it'll, somebody will. What's the title of it? Keep it in your. It's called Satisfied. Satisfied. Oh, like the song.

Keep it in your brains, listeners, and watch for it when you can. And this dovetails nicely into the next thing, which was me, I was going to ask you to plug your show. And I wanted to say with her, you know, which was me, I was gonna ask you to plug your show. And I wanted to say with her, I'd seen her in Hamilton, but you have a lot of people on the show

who I've seen be funny before. And they're tremendously funny, but it wasn't like the shock of the new. She's so funny on the show, and I hadn't seen her get a chance to do that before. Same with Sarah Burrell, it's like people didn't know she was funny. So it's like real delight when you're like,

oh, I didn't know they could do that too. Yeah. I thought they could do that one thing really well. They could do two things? It just makes me mad. Surely not. They could do two things? It is kind of gross.

I can only do one thing. They can do two? Yeah, talent level's gross. Like I'd only seen Dean Winter in Oz and then I see him in this and I'm like, wait, he's funny? So yeah, I mean, the whole show is on Netflix now? It is, three seasons on Netflix.

And if you love rapid fire, hard jokes, I feel like you'll, in the vein of like Kimmy Schmidt or 30 Rock, I think that you'll enjoy the show. Yeah, it's such a funny show. It's so funny. And that like joke density is so intense. Well, that's like you want to rewatch episodes because you missed out.

That's one of the levels I wanted to sell it on because I know that Elliot being, especially being like a comedy professional and a comedy snob sometimes rails against like, it's like, yeah, that show's okay, but like I want jokes. I want jokes and like Girls 5 Ever show where you get jokes. Yes, it's super joke dance and you're watching it, you're like, why am I watching this show?

I'm watching it because it's really funny. Like I know I'm going to laugh when I watch this show as opposed to when people are like, you should watch this comedy, it's really funny. Like I know I'm going to laugh when I watch this show as opposed to when people are like, you should watch this comedy, it's really good. And I watch it and I don't laugh a single time. And it's not just because I'm a hardened snob, but also I'll be like, there weren't very many jokes in that comedy,

like that everybody seems to love. But this is a show that people love because it's funny and it deserves to be. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. I, and I, you're all so funny. So I really appreciate the fact that you like the show.

We all have to know how you like the show. Yeah. Thank you. You are. High praise for coming from you. Yeah. Yeah, and our listeners get to hear you call us funny. So we get that thing Elliot was talking about.

So thank you. We've all got validation externally. Yeah, so we should sign off there. Thank you so much for not only being on the show, but trucking out to Flophouse Studios, AKA my office, to record it. What neighborhood is this? We're in Kensington. We're on the edge of Kensington. We're ordering Windsor Terrace.

Windsor Terrace. I thought we were in Windsor Terrace. Yeah, your street address. And what's the pin? What's that list of your weaknesses? Kennington or the edge of Kensington. Yep. Winsor Terrace. Winsor Terrace. I thought we were in Winsor Terrace. Yeah, your street address. No. What's that list of your weaknesses, Dan?

Which windows don't lock. Just sort of like, you know, like make me feel like maybe you don't like me. That'll probably destroy me pretty quickly. Yeah. Yeah. destroy me pretty quickly. Yeah, yeah. That's, yeah. Anyway, yeah, make me feel like I have done something wrong and that you won't accept my attempts to make it good. I will admit, Dan. Then allow Dan's brain to devour itself.

Yeah. I feel guilty about this, but my favorite part of our whole England trip, I think, was when we were hosting that screening of Spice World, and you were bending over backwards to be complimentary. And then in complimenting the Spice Girls, you referred to them as manufactured and the audience all booed you. What? But they were.

And the house of the scene crumbled so quickly. Oh my God, can I just say, if it were ever on the table, I would have flown myself to London to be part of that episode. Oh, now we know for next time. Yeah, for next time. They do a sequel. Yeah, it was in the context of me being like, I don't care myself to London to be part of that episode. Oh, now we know for next time. Yeah, for next time. They do a sequel. Yeah, it was in the context of me being like, I don't care whether they're manufactured.

They were literally assembled. Oh, I just got a message, boo. Oh no. England is booing. It's from England. No, I haven't got it. It's not a diss, it's just the truth. They didn't inform themselves.

You know. Well, that was the fun thing. The organizer came up to me afterwards and said, I'm sorry for booing you, Dan. I agree with you, but it's just so much fun. Yeah. It is fun to boo. Yeah.

Dan got to be booed by people. I got to fix a toilet right before we went on stage. It was great. We all did our homework. Sounds amazing. Anyway, thank you for being here. Thank you to our network Maximum Fun. Go over to MaximumFun.org to check out other great shows. Thank you to our producer, Alex Smith. He goes by the name Howell Doddy. He just dropped an album.

It's great. You should check that out. What's the name of that album, Stewart? I Need Help. I Need Help. Thank you. I listened to it, but I could not remember the title. I Need Help, it's a very funny album that's also good music. But that's it for this episode. So for the Flophouse, I have been Dan McCoy.

I'm Stewart Wellington. I'm Elliot Cailin. And I'm Meredith Scardino. Bye. Bye. We've been disclosed. So this is, I was doing Kermit's press conference where he's announcing that they have fired Sam the Eagle for his involvement with January 6th.

Can I hear something? We all hoped that it would turn out not to be our former colleague, but after reviewing the videotape it seems very clear and we will not be taking questions at this further time. That is my full announcement. That's... But all the other Muppets are starting to doubt. They're starting to buy into the conspiracies of it. Elmo say Elmo didn't know! LAUGHS