The Rewatchables - ‘Dave,’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins

Episode Date: February 18, 2019

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins take a seat in the Oval Office on Presidents Day to celebrate the 1993 comedy ‘Dave,’ starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, and Frank Langella. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The rewatchmills is brought to you by the ringer.com, the world's greatest website, as well as the ringer podcast network. Sean, you're lint. You're a flea. You're a blip. Dave is coming up next. Dave Kovic was an ordinary guy. Mr. Kovic, your government needs your help. We just happen to look like the president. You're a very handsome man.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just get rid of the grin. You look like a schmock. Dave, something has happened to. present in a country where anybody can become president. Anybody just did. Kevin Kloff. Sigourney Weeper. Make a nice president, Dave Coley.

Dave. Okay, let's get back to work. All right, 25th anniversary of this movie in May. It might be the best movie of all time. I'm not sure. What in the world? I don't know. It's the godfather, too, or Dave? It's incredible. Ten-year-old me agrees with you.

entirely. It's so good. It's so satisfying and just so easy to watch and so simple and so happy and so innocent and it just makes me happy. It's just a happy movie. Innocent is a good way to frame it. It feels like it's from a truly a different time. It feels like 100 years ago.

Maybe a different country. Yeah. It taps into the same innocence that Clinton tapped into. I was like graduate in college when he won president. Clinton tapping into innocence is a complicated phrase. Yeah. How did that work out? No, but it is pre-Clintonian. Yeah.

We believed in the office. And you see American President with Douglas too and then leading a West Wing with Martin Sheen. But just when we kind of believed in that as an institution and now you watch this movie in the Trump era and you're like, oh. Yeah. But what was your reaction to be watching? I thought it was impressive how old-fashioned it was. You know, it really was like a Frank Kappa movie. And that was nice. I feel like we don't. I think one of the most often used phrases on the. show is they don't make movies like this anymore, but they really don't make movies like this, specifically the tone of it, which is like pretty earnest. Yeah. And pretty, it's, it's light comedy. You never see light comedy anymore. It's not slapsticky. It's not meta. It's like, it's, it's, it's light on its feet. Absolutely. Though, I was surprised when I was rewatching that it has ideas. It is not just a comedy or a romantic comedy. We should talk more about the politics. I mean, I don't know how far we want to go, but it is a rich text. It is certainly

of its era, as you mentioned, Bill. I also realized I had this movie on VHS, and I had the American president, which you just mentioned on VHS. And I realized that I basically learned about politics from these two movies. Oh, yeah. Which is, and I think that there are a lot of people, if you put the West Wing into that, there's a whole generation, or specifically a whole generation of liberal thinkers who are shaped by these movies. And I don't know, fam. I feel like maybe I could have gotten a fuller education, but that's also on me. Yeah, it almost makes you wonder why there weren't more president movies. Like, I made a list of just who the best movie presidents ever were, right?

Mm-hmm. Not that many people. Kevin Klein is Dave. Michael Douglas is an American president. Jeff Bridges and the contenders. My pick. I would vote for him, actually, right now. Guy loved sandwiches.

Bill Pullman Armageddon. Yeah. Independent Day. No, Independence Day. I mean, Independence Day. Jack Warden and Being there. Sure. And then Harrison Ford and Air Force One, which gets thrown out by a lot of people.

It's like that's kind of what I would want for my president. There are way more movie presidents out. I'm just saying that's probably my top six. Some people go Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact. I just think that's a bad movie. Okay. The movie has to be at least solid to make my list. What about Peter Sellers and Dr. Strangelove?

No? Jack Nicholson and Mars Attacks? I thought of that one. Did we like Mars attacks? No, but I think it's probably, it's one of those things that we all think we liked at the time. The nostalgia has helped it. I don't know if I even thought that at the time.

Kevin Klein, it's interesting, I mean, I'll blow casting what ifs now. Like, this was almost a Robin Williams movie for a second. And it makes a lot of sense in a lot of different ways that this would have been a Robin Williams movie. And I'm not 100% sure. It would have been a disaster as a Robin Williams movie, but I'm like 90% sure.

Yeah. There's a 10% chance. He actually reins it in and does Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams, and it's actually good. I think it would have been fine and it would have been a little bit more broad. You know, I think that there is,

even though the premise is a little bit ridiculous in this movie, Kevin Klein being such a good and subtle actor makes it not this like circus show of clown ideas about American politics. You know, Robin Williams, even at his quietest, has still got that big face

and he's so expressive. And you can imagine him at the beginning of the movie coming out, riding that pig. And then all of a sudden you're like, what movie is this?

What ridiculous movie is this? Also, how could two people look like Robin Williams? That's true. Kevin Cline is kind of a rubbery face that can fit in all over the place. One of the big takeaways every time I watch this movie,

which is not infrequent, is just how much I like Kevin Cline. Me too. I love him in the Big Chill. I love him in this movie. I love him in Grand Canyon, which isn't even really a good movie. pretty flawed, but he's just, every couple

years he pops in with a really likable performance and he's one of a kind. There's a little Tom Hanks in him. It's a little bit of like the better pieces of Robin Williams. A little bit of Koster like he's a handsome leading man, but not I think

Koster's more traditional handsome, but a little funny, little, like he could be the dad in a movie. He could be somebody who's having an affair with somebody in a movie, but it never seems like it's personal. He can adjust the dials. He can kind of turn on 20% of Robin Williams when he needs to be riding a pig or, you know, doing a traffic stop.

But he can also be earnest. He can be a romantic lead, which he is for a few moments in this. He can be a villain, which, I mean, we get to see both of them. And he is quite convincing as the actual evil Bill Mitchell. It's a good role. It's so rich. You could see why movie stars wanted it. And other movie stars did want it.

I'm sure we'll talk about them. I'm pretty obsessed with Kevin Klein. That's maybe a weird thing to say. We've talked about a couple of actors on our showman, and we've talked about Glenn Close a lot. On a future show, we talk a little bit about William Hurt. Well, that's why the big show we've been circling it as a rewatchable for a long time.

And obviously, Kevin Klein is in that movie too. And Kevin Klein hasn't really done the thing that William Hurt and Glenn Close have done, which is continue to try to burnish their legacy. You know, Kevin Klein's nickname is Kevin Decline because he's turned down so many movies over the years. Kevin Klein is not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now. Like he could be in one of those movies.

I'm sure he's been offered them, but he doesn't take those checks. He's much more interested in doing like the Seagull on Broadway. I'd say this very hesitantly, but he seems like a happily married actor who he met Phoebe Kates and they fell in love and both of them were like, cool, let's just have some kids. Who can blame him? And she basically stopped acting, which I thought was fascinating because she was one of the best-looking actors of the 80s and could have had. a really big career, I think, and just didn't care. And it didn't seem like really either of them cared. He does whatever movies he wants. He was never really driven by... I get the impression that he really likes the theater. He is like a theater actor through and through. So some of it is that.

I think also a crucial distinction is that he was recognized a lot earlier in his career. Yes. Won an Oscar very early on. Exactly. Which is, as we have discussed over and over again on the big picture is the one main distinction between him and Glenn Close. It's very true. But I think when you have recognition and you've gotten to do what you do, then it's a lot easier to be like, no, I'm just going to do a play. Yeah. He also won for a comedy, which very rarely happens. I mean, he won for a fish call Wanda.

So, you know, you're talking about a person who kind of achieved the unachievable at like 35. So it probably gave him a lot of capital. You know, he's basically the star of one movie every year for 15 years. And then he kind of slowly recedes from the frame. Is this his best part, do you think? Yeah. Better than the big chill. better than a fish called Wanda.

Big Chili pulls off somehow not taking him personally that Glenn Close had an affair with his friend who committed suicide in their house. And then... When you put it like that. He has sex with her roommate because she needs to get pregnant

and it's ridiculous and he effortlessly pulls it off and you totally believe the whole time it's like, oh yeah, yeah, he'll have sex with him. They'll have a kid. That movie's so weird. Every time.

That's a three-out. podcast. I can't wait for it. I'm so ready for it. What about Silverado? Do you like that? Yeah. It's pretty good.

Yeah. What about... Cazden. He was kind of Cazden's guy for a little bit here. He was and I think that's why he's in this movie, right? He wasn't a Cazden who pushed him to do Dave. Yeah. I don't know.

Kevin Klein is just... He's completely unique. There's not... I can't think of a leading man who is a serious Shakespearean-trained actor, who loves comedy, who can be romantic, who could be the president. The one thing he couldn't do is be the lead in Death Wish or something.

Or maybe he could. Couldn't he though? I don't know. But it just, yeah. Maybe you don't want him to be. We don't think of him that way, but those are often the people who are best in those movies when they're the most unlikely to do those things.

So Eli Ross Death Wish with Kevin Klein they would have been more into? It probably would have done better than the Bruce Willis version. He said they did a story about it last year. I guess it was the 25th anniversary last month. Sorry. Cities constantly stopped on the street by people who tell them how much they love the film. Some people just call me Dave, he quipped.

Recalled walking down in Fifth Avenue during W. Bush's presidency when the potus was visiting, there was a police escort. And someone said, I wish it was you. Why didn't you run? So apparently for the last 25 years, it's been a lot of, why can't you be the president? That means that movie's cut through. I think it also indicates that the movie does kind of what Amanda's talking about. which is it makes politics seem easy. Yeah.

You know, it makes it seem like, and it might be. Like, it's possible that this movie has wisdom. We're going to talk about that. Okay. Yeah, yeah, there's some nitpicks. Directed by Ivan Reitman. The great Ivan Reitman. I'm just going to rip off the run from 79 and 93.

This is in order. Nothing left out. Meatball, stripes, Ghostbusters, Legal Eagles, Twins, Ghostbusters to Kindergarten Cop. Dave. It's not all home runs, but there's No outs. Pretty high batting average.

Yeah. It's doubles, triples, and home runs and just an incredible amount of money. The cast is amazing in this movie. Kevin Klein, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Franklin, Jelly. My guy. Sean has a whole three-minute monologue for Franklin Jelly. One of the greats. Thing Rames, fresh in one of the all-time IMDB runs anyone's ever had, from 92 to like 98,

which we talked about in the Con Airs are watchable, Conair watchable. Laura Linney, or as my wife calls her, Laura Linnae, and Charles Grodden, in his wig, in his giant or whatever the hell is going on this here. Written by Gary Ross, who wrote the script while working on the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign. Nominated for an Oscar for this. Gary Ross is an interesting figure to break down a little bit, too. His IMDB is a little less impressive than the Ving Rames run, but he has some good ones. I mean, he wrote big. You wrote big and then Dave.

So that's a pretty good start. Also, thematically. Mr. Baseball was in there. Joined. Oh, you're right. There is a Mr. baseball. I know what that is.

Yeah, yeah, there is some bad. So Reitman said, purposely put an innocence into the film as a way of trying to capture the kind of thing that Frank Kapper did in his day for this period, which is really the 90s. It's amazing how the world has shifted out of it. It's much more cynical and an almost impossible place. He said that last year. So some of my... This is pre-internet. 93.

No internet yet. We haven't been tainted by email, text, anything. But political movies before the internet were often cynical and kind of hard bit. Some of my favorite movies about DC are like advise and consent or the best man or fail safe. Like there are movies that are about this stuff that don't have that. Like I said, that kind of like effervescence that this movie has. That's sort of like there's like a sweetness to this movie that is hard to do. And I suspect that Ivan Reitman spending 15 years figuring out how to make stripes and twins and movies like that brought a lot to the table.

Because if you're Gary Ross and you worked on Michael Dukakis' campaign, Michael Dukakis just got like annihilated in the 1988 election. And you think he came away from that a little bit sour. But this isn't really a sour movie at all. Well, I also wonder, like, coming out of Watergate and then all the D.C. politics movies were always like suspense thrillers. And this is going wrong. And the government's out to get us. And that played out for the next 10 years and heads into the late 80s. And then, you know, people are.

we win the Gulf War. People are a little happier, feeling pretty good in general, and then leads to this, like this led to the Clinton election. So kind of a happier time in America for a couple of years. I think it accurate...

I think it also accurately portrays that there's actually only like a handful of people that really make decisions. You know, like it's Bob Alexander and he's controlling Bill Mitchell. And that's the way that a lot of administrations work.

Well, that might be a nitpick coming up later. Okay. Yeah. The two-man cabinet. Well, it's Bob and Alex, just running the show. But is that actually how it goes? Maybe. Many times in the last two years, I've thought, wow, there's literally just three people talking to each other and they're doing everything right now.

Now it's Don Jr. and what's her face? The PR lady. Kelly and Conway? Also, just to bring in vice, it's not dissimilar from the arrangement that is depicted in vice. And they do a whole segment about the unitary executive, which is essentially what's happening here. Yeah. Rotten Tomatoes 95%. I know you care.

Made $63 million. Roger Ebert. My guy came through. Three and a half star. Boom. There we go. He said this movie is more proof that it isn't what you do.

It's how you do it. Ivan Reitman's direction and Gary Ross's screenplay use intelligence and warm-hearted sentiment to make wonderful, light-hearted entertainment. Where to go, Roger. Maybe you can apply that it isn't what you do. It's how you do it.

Axiom to Roger Ebert's entire career when you talk about him on this show and respect what he did. The archives don't lie. I'm just here to tell what the archives say. It isn't about two stars. It's what's inside the two stars. Should mention Ben Kingsley's 1993. I told this to Sean earlier. Dave Schindler's List, searching for Bobby Fisher. Murder's Row. What a trio. Good for him. It's like a slider tree of just great cheeseburger sliders. Fantastic. I'm with Sean. I don't think they make this movie anymore.

Or if they do, it's a TV show. They just decide that the upside, financial upside, TV show is just better than a two-hour movie. Right. And then it's what, like a network's sitcom? It's like an ABC following the bachelor, the premiere of Dave, and it's bad. Because, you know, as Sean said, that's kind of the miracle of this movie. And especially Kevin Klein's performance is like, this premise could be a studio comedy, right? And then it's like, oh, we got a fake president.

And then it's just two hours of hijinks. everyone goes on their merry way. And this does have a little more substance to it. But I think, I mean, for a variety of reasons, it would be impossible to do now in any other way than like total slapstick or satire or... I mean, would it be impossible to do now. Well, I mean, that's right. No, I know. But it would be so extreme.

Conspiracy Corner is going to be so insane. President Mitchell versus President Trump. Compare and contrast. Oh, boy. I mean, I just think Bill Mitchell feels so clearly based on George H. H. W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush was a bureaucrat, you know, and there was a kind of like blankness to the idea of politics back then. There was like, it's, extremism is, is the mode of the day. So if you made a movie right now about a president who was like kind of a prick behind

closed doors, but was just real politiciany in front of the cameras and then you replaced him with someone, it would feel odd. It would feel like out of place. That's just not what the conversation about politics is right now. Well, we had the last two years of Reagan, which God knows how checked out he was at that point, followed by four years of Bush, and nobody really knew how hands-on he was either, or leads to this movie. We should mention the Clinton part of this. A big theme of this movie is

the president and the first lady are pretending to have this marriage, and then as soon as the door closes, she just really, really hates him. And vice versa, we should say. True. They have contempt for each other. Yeah, they have contempt for each other.

She does say, why can't you die from a stroke like everybody else. That's pretty harsh. That's true. But he's also, he has his stroke while sleeping with another woman who is won in a long line of quote, patriotic secretaries. So, you know, it's disrespect going both ways.

True. This is also pre-Lewinsky. Lewinsky is not until 1995. So we had known about Paula Jones and things like that. There was some awareness of Bill Clinton as a potential philanderer. But in 91 and 92, the people were suspicious of the marriage even then that it was

That's after the Gary Hart scandal, which figures prominently in the whole Dukakis actually running a campaign situation. So I think it's in many ways written with that idea and also the public-private stuff in the forefront. It also, you know, they mentioned the tunnels and they say LBJ used the tunnels all the time. So it's in the public consciousness that presidents don't always do what they say they do in public. Yeah, I do feel like Clinton bled into this movie a little bit. Because you figure they wrote it in 9192, which is when he was running.

running for president, then when he got it, and they start basically filming it, probably tail end in 92. And at that point, people were at least like, what's this marriage? Like, that was the first time I'd ever really remembered people kind of debating what somebody's marriage was like, who was the president. I don't know if it happened with, like, Richard Nixon and Pat Nixon. You mean questioning the marriage? Just like the general public going, what's going out with that marriage?

You think they actually, like, sleep in the same bed? Like, these were conversations we had in 92. I do feel like there was a major fixation on Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan, but they, by all accounts, had a functional marriage. Very happy marriage. Yeah. And kind of played to the crowd on that. So I guess it's different when you have suspicions. I think it was largely historically since the TV era, either disinterest or, which is, I think, totally Richard Nixon and Pat Nixon.

I mean, there was a lot of writing about Pat Nixon at the time, but nothing that kind of withstood the test of time. Or this, like, idolatry that comes with Camelot and. Jackie and JFK and the sort of like the American ideal of the perfect couple. And that obviously was all a lie. But the way that we thought about that marriage is totally, I mean, think about how we think about Trump and Melania now. Like, just set aside

the politics. Just like think about how we think about their marriage. Like it has, it connotes like no respect. There's not even like any intrigue really. It just feels so arranged that people don't even really consider it that way. Yeah. 1993 best actor. Tom Hanks Philadelphia, he won.

Daniel DeLewis. in name of the father. Lawrence Fishburn, what's love got to do with it? Anthony Hopkins, the remains of the day. Liam Neeson, Shindler's list. Loaded.

I went into that research part of this going, why the fuck didn't Kevin Klein get nominated? Then I was like, oh, Jesus. All five of those people could have wanted you to have been like, yeah, make sense.

Fishburn was amazing. He is a movie. Hopkins is probably the weak link and he's good in the remains of the day. I'm fine with that one. So, sorry, Kevin Kline. I didn't check the supporting actor to see Ving Rames got robbed because I think I like Ving Rames' performance maybe more than those most.

Let's hop to the category. Most rewatchable scene, I have six, but feel free to add some. The scene when Dave becomes Mitchell's stand-in, when they teach him and he runs into the guy, and then he goes out and he does the God Bless America. All that's just really good. Great stuff. It has the right dramatic tone.

It's just really fun. When he comes out of the stroke as the prez, by the way, should we just mention what happens in this movie really quick? Sure, you want to see it? I hope so. Please watch Dave if you haven't. Dave's amazing. By the way, Dave is on HBO Go.

It's on Amazon Prime. It's on all those things. You can watch right now. So President Mitchell, evil president, doesn't really talk to his wife, has the two-person cabinet. has a stroke while having sex with Laura Linney. His secretary.

His secretary. Dave, also played by Kevin Klein, had been his stand-in so the president could have sex with his secretary. They bring Dave back and they decide he's going to pretend to be the president for a little while. And then he decides he likes it. It's a great premise for a movie. The reasons why are really interesting, too. I mean, one, Dave runs a temp agency in his regular life. So his job is just to get people short-term.

He has been hired for a short-term job. Yeah. And then, two, the reason that they want him to stay is because they think that the vice president, who would stand to become the president if the president dies, is a buffoon. And Bob Alexander, who runs his chief of staff, played by Frank La Angelou, who's basically Dick Cheney, but we don't realize yet because we haven't had Dick Cheney yet. Yes, a power hoarding master Machiavellian manipulator who wants to continue to control the office. And the way to do that is to put some rub who looks just like Bill Mitchell into the office.

Though Dick Cheney was, in fact, George H.W. Bush's chief of staff. I believe he was a secretary of defense. Yeah, I don't think he was. He was chief of staff for Gerald Ford. Okay. Anyway, maybe they know it's Dick Cheney is all I'm saying. So, I'm sure it informed it. Dave is Mitchell's standing.

Second one is the montage when President Mitchell's feeling better, though I once caught a fish this big. Yes. I love happy montages. It's really good. The way they cut to the shows on that makes me feel it, feel, feel nostalgic for the early 90s where it's like the McLaughlin group and stuff. It's just really edited nicely and then using real senators to weigh in. And then it finishes with him throwing out the first pitch at the Orioles game.

At Camden Yards. Which is amazing. Also, is that real? Like, did they have the, I guess that was still in the era where they would just run out Camden Yards? And it's really good. I suspected what they did is they did it right before a game. Yeah. So that's two.

Another one. Dave fixes the budget in four minutes. One of my favorite scenes in movie history. We're going to get back to that. Fourth scene, Dave fires Bob Mitchell and gives the job speech about his new jobs initiative, which is a little flimsy. We'll get to that one later. Everyone gets a job.

All right, cool. He pitched socialism just for the record. Fifth scene is his last speech in the stroke as Bob Mitchell's having the party where everybody leaves. That's an amazing five minutes. And now I'm making this It's own scene. Take care. Dave, I would have taken a bullet for you.

That, for me, is the most rewatchable scene in the movie. It gets me every time. It is, I love mail-on-mail. Just guys get into that Shawshank Beach Hugged place. It's so good. Ving Ramsey, wouldn't have taken a bullet for him, or it wouldn't even eat the sandwich. Dave was making him.

By the end of it, he's like, I would have taken a bullet for you. Great stuff. It was the, I took your voice because it was, was you I looked up to of 1993. So recently and here I am again talking to you guys talk about men not really expressing their emotions. I have one more.

So good. Okay. The when Dave and Sigourney Weaver are pulled over by the cops and sing, um, he does the club med routine and then they sing tomorrow. Her voice is so bad in it, I left it out. But it's great. I knew it'd bring it up, so I was fine.

It's only a day of a way. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. We love you tomorrow. You're only a day away. Thank you. It makes me laugh every time. And then when the cop kind of flashes the flashlight in Kevin Klein's eyes to be like,

is he drunk and he's just like, I'm okay and just keep singing. The comedic timing is really perfect. And also, I basically hate live singing so that I'm picking that as my favorite scene. It shows you how well they convey it. So that's your most rewatchable scene? I think so. I love the montage. It's very hard to turn down the montage because, you know, when he throws his arms up at the end on the mound, very exciting. But yeah, I'm going with the... This is a nominee, but it wouldn't be my pick. But when they visit the children's homeless shelter...

When he goes to talk to the little kid. I was like, wow, this is really hokey and it's working really well on there right now. When he tells the press to walk away, guys, not now. It's just really effective. It's just you have to be a great actor to make that stuff not seem. Schmaltzy. Robin Williams definitely botches that scene. I mean, well, the magic trick alone is just like,

you know, handkerchiefs everywhere. Yes, exactly. It would have been so over the top. So I'm going with, I would have taken a bullet for you, if it is not considered a scene, I go with the fixing the budget

in four minutes. Basically, it starts out, he realizes their delinquent defense contracts that they're still paying the people who haven't delivered the thing. And it's like, well, what if we don't pay them?

And that saves $23 million a month. And they're like, yeah, I guess we do that. It's like, all right, cool. Start adding stuff. He has to get to $650 million to save the homeless. Then he's like, hey, so here's this car marketing campaign we have. So we're spending $47 million to make people feel better about a car they already bought. Why are we doing that?

They're like, I don't know. Cool. There's another $40. And then three minutes later, he's like, carry over the $6.56. Yeah. Dave. It's so crazy. I love that scene.

Can we play the moment when he says, I don't want to tell some eight-year-old kid he's got to sleep in the street because we want people to feel better about their car? Do you want to tell them that? In the Secretary of Commerce? No, sir. No, I sure don't. So we're spending $47 million so that somebody can feel better about a car that they've already bought?

Yes, sir, but I wouldn't characterize that. No, no, I'm sure that's important, but I don't want to tell some eight-year-old kid that he's got to sleep in the street because we want people to feel better about their car. Do you want to tell them that? No, sir. No, I sure don't.

Such a great seat. And you're right. And the cabinet's rooting for it by the end. They're like, yeah. Everyone's cheering. Right, when they walk and they're all exiting the meeting and they're all like shaking his hand, like, Mr. President, well done, sir. Great job. Makes that office look so easy.

I love that scene. Can I just ask, like, isn't it possible that balancing the budget is this easy? Oh, boy. If we looked at all the pork that's in every bill in the goddamn U.S. Congress, and we were like, Just strip it out. Just strip it out. Wouldn't we be able to get like a billion dollars out in the drop of that? Seems like we could.

Yes, totally. Though you now sound like every person on talk radio right now, which is sort of the fundamental problem of it. And you're just going to do it to pick your causes and not. I mean, that's the thing. True. I mean, it's great because he cuts a lot of money to help the homeless, which is something that I think, I don't want to speak for you guys, but we all agree that that's a good thing to do. I wish it would happen in L.A. I agree with you entirely.

But it is. What I want to do is spend more money on people feeling better about their cars. I feel like that's something we're missing in this country right now. Also, like, did we really have a campaign that did that? I don't know. It must be based on something. It must be based on something. Can I just say, like a personal anecdote, my husband recently got a new car and wasn't feeling

great about it, and I found myself performing this service for free in my real life. So that is something that you can do for the people in your life and we don't have to spend $43 million. It costs $47 million emotional dollars. Yes. Hey, Hulu is paying some of the weeks. Best players, a lot of money to do some pretty crazy stuff. Joel changed his name from the process to Joel Hulu has live sports and bead. Damien Lillard got a tattoo that says Hulu has live sports.

Clearly, they really want you to know that Hulu has live sports. Hulu plus live TV offers 60 plus live and on-demand channels, tons of shows and movies, exclusive originals. Get rid of cable, switch to Hulu plus live TV for only $45 a month. Watch your favorite teams in the biggest games all season with no cable required. Watch on the go and on all your favorite devices. Restrictions apply. Learn more at Hulu.com. Some of the movies we do on the rewatchables end up on Hulu every once in as well as the Bachelor, Survivor.

I think that, I don't know, is the challenge on there? Can't remember. You're asking the wrong guy. You got to ask 20-year-old me. Check out Hulu. All right. What's age the best? The cameos are just tremendous.

I just wrote down some of them. Oliver Stone, Tip O'Neill, Jay Leno, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the McLaughan Group, early Camden Yards, Camden Yards, like two years in. Ben Stein, Paul Simon, not the politician,

goes on and on. It feels like a movie that is very 1993, which I'd like. It's only missing, like, the fake SNL sketch where, like, Phil Hartman's doing Kevin Kline. That would have been the last piece. But it feels, like, very trapped in that year.

So that would be one. one. If you've ever seen the look on someone's face when they get a job, like that whole riff just gets me. It's a good one. I think Kevin Kline does that. The Clinton Hillier Apparel, as we mentioned, the soundtrack slash music is really good and happy and just kind of perfect.

Also, it feels completely of a moment. It reminds me of when we did the firm and the score in that movie where you're like, you just don't, they don't do those kinds of scores anymore. I feel like they've stolen the music for. this movie and put it in other movies. Maybe in other trailers. Yeah, our trailers or whatever. Bob Alexander, we'll get to him later.

Just a phenomenal. Iconic character. They show the Kevin Klein-Sagorny Weaver a wedding photo next to his bed, and it's basically their ice storm photo, but they hadn't done the ice storm yet. It's really weird. Watch for it.

It's age spectacularly. He's even got the sideburns. Oh, that's great. Whoa, Ice Storm. Yeah. free to add. The Kevin Klein Ving Rames scenes.

You're really emotional about this. It's so good. Do you wish you had like a body man? What's going on here? I just love Ving Rames in this movie. That he plays like Marcellus and the Kiss of Death Guy and all these crazy characters later and he's just this straight-hour thing.

I love when he's like his sweaters would make my neck look too thick. Oh yeah. That's just... Should I get a sweater best? It's a sweet friendship. Anything else age the best for you guys? Hmm I think

And DC always Any movie with DC I read a bit People saying that this is one of the only movies That realistically portrays What it's like to drive around D.C And most of the time when you have a movie set In Washington, D.C., it's like

And then we went from Potomac to this street And that that would be virtually impossible It's something we point out Nipicks with New York all the time in movies And that this one is an accurate rendition of that Yeah, they don't go that many places So that might be part of it I don't know. I've never lived in D.C. I couldn't say.

What else's anything? I mean, can Kevin Klein's performance be a part of this? Sure. I just think, you know, we have kind of established this, but he just walks a fine tonal line in this that not many people could pull off and is basically its own brand of comedy that we haven't really seen that much of. What's this movie with Richard Gere as Dave? Oh, no. Boring. No way.

I mean, he's Richard Gere, I wish him well, but I don't want to vote for Richard Gere for president or kind of arrange my life. Movie right now, who's playing Dave that you feel the best about? Who's playing Dave? So you need a guy who's about 50 years old? Is that we looking 45, 50? We're going to say, we should talk about their ages. You could gray the hair a little bit. Yeah.

I think they're in their 40s max. I think Klein, I think Dave is supposed to be younger than Mitchell in this movie. Definitely. Because they gray his hair. So he's supposed to be like 10 years younger. Affleck? No. I don't think he is the most trustworthy face,

although maybe that makes him a perfect politician. I don't know if he could pull off the humor well enough. Affleck? I disagree. I think he's hilarious. Could you pull the like hail to the... But are we trying to do the same type of humor? What has he been funny in?

Every commentary on Kevin Smith movies, which are like the funniest... That's actually him. I'm saying playing his character. I don't know. John Ham? Definitely. John Ham as Dave.

I think that would be good. All right, John Ham. Make it happen. I feel like we put John Hamm up for every role. We're like, if we remade this and we just land on John Ham every time, is that true? I like half the time. Okay. So I'm going with the cameos for me as age the best.

The Oliver Stone one is really excellent. Incredible. So funny. Great job by Oliver Stone. Agreing to do that. They did a job of getting out of it quickly. So it doesn't like beat the joke in the ground. What's age the worst?

This movie gets better. as it is going, the first 25 minutes, I think, and I don't think it's bad, it's just probably the weakest part. And then really from the moment Mitchell goes down, the movie takes off. Completely agree. The first 15 minutes of it, I realized how

many times I had just caught this movie after it had started on HBO. I was like, I don't remember the beginning at all. Yeah. But then when we were 25 minutes in, I was just doing the lines. Like, I just knew everything. And it just, that's a new experience. Like, that is something that doesn't happen anymore. So I don't think people are just kind of tuning in to

premium cable to watch movies as much as they used to. And so the idea of just not remembering him coming in on the pig at the car dealership, and that's Stephen Root, actually, right there in a cameo as well, indicates that it's like, it is truly from a bygone era. Chuck Groden's wig or whatever's going on. It's a fuller head of hair than he probably ever had at any point of his career. I don't know what's happening. This is a pretty weird corner for you.

Your obsession with Charles Groden's hair. No, just hair when actors all of a sudden are full heads of hair, I'm always like, come on. Come on. I got to say that, like, this is, that's the most time I've ever spent with Charles Groton on screen because, like I said, I had Dave on VHS. So it looks normal to me. I don't know any other Charles Grosven. Yes. Although the point that you made that if you look back in movies that he was in the late 70s, he's losing his hair and then all the sudden he's got.

It's like McConaughey. McConaughey is like big flowing locks now. What are you trying to say, Bill? What's age the worst? One more. Jay Leno. So Jay Leno pops this movie's like,

what is I with President Mitchell lately? I mean, has this guy been having too many happy meals or what? Is that the punchline? That's the punchline of his joke. Is this guy having too many happy meals or what? And then he goes,

I mean, cheese. I was like, wow, Jay Leno was bad. It was just really, he was bad. Are you going to do your whole spiel about how when he was on Letterman,

he was like a legend, but then he went to... I'm good. I've heard it. That's, don't... I can't. I'll do it for Craig later. Craig, I got you.

This is 26 years ago. 26 years ago, Jay Leno sucked. That's kind of amazing. Yeah. Because we think of him in like 2005 or pushing out Conan or then pushing Conan out a second time, like all of that stuff that happened.

But it's like, he was not funny in like 1993. He was amazing in the 80s. I stand by 80s, Jay Leno. Casting what ifs. Warner Brothers wanted a box office star and Arnold Schwarzenegger was batted around at one point. That's weird for a variety of reasons. I think he definitely could have pulled up the Laura Linney

cheating scenes, but... Okay. All right. You're really lighten the flame in this one, huh? Both Warren Beatty and Kevin Costner were considered for the role, and Beatty took it seriously enough if he decided not to do it, but brought Dave to Ivan Reitman. And that's how Ivan Reitman got the movie.

Interesting. Costner's interesting. I don't think it works. He certainly had the most. most power he was ever going to have in his career and right around the time they're making this movie. He basically plays Bob Alexander in 13 days. So he's got some interest in the executive branch.

Robin Williams was considered for the lead we mentioned. Kevin Klein almost turned it down because he thought the character was too close to the A Fish Called Wanda character. I don't really see that one. I didn't either. I read that too and I couldn't understand what he was saying. Dan Waiter's a word. This was tough.

Grodin's in it. Ving Rames, it's not really a heat check, but I just wanted to mention him. And then I think my choice is Oliver Stone. He's in the movie for 20 seconds and he makes like seven threes. I have another nominee. Let's hear it. Bonnie Hunt. Oh, yeah.

We're walking. We're walking. We're walking. He's walking. He's Bob Alexander, our White House chief of step. I can't believe it. What an honor, really, for all of you. We're walking.

42 presidents and their wives. That scene is really funny. Yeah. Yeah, she's pretty good, too. All right, I'll give it to Bonnie Hunt. Actually, I'll wait to the next category. Half-Fast internet research. The film's Oval Office set was reused more than 25 times.

Yeah, so can I be really nerdy for a second? Yeah. And this makes sense, right? Because we've seen a million pictures of the Oval Office. So obviously, it looks the same, and it is very similar to real life. The residence in this movie is like no other White House residents on film that I've ever seen. And I'm comparing them specifically with American president and the West Wing. You mean like the sleeping quarters.

The sleeping quarters, like the residence and especially the president's bedroom, which figures prominently in the American president for obvious reasons. And then is also in the West Wing because he takes meetings there. It's not surprising that two Sorkan projects have the same West Wing bedroom, obviously. But it's the exact same. And so when I was watching this again, I was like, wait a second, that's not what the president's bedroom looks like. It's totally different. Which is nicer? Well, I would say that the Sorkan one looks a bit more livable.

This one's quite large. I don't know what they're doing with the spatial relationships. I thought it was pretty jamming. It was like full of red velvet. Yeah, but the beds like really, really far from all the other furniture. I know. I always wanted to have a bedroom like that. There was like a living room.

Do gymnastics in the middle of it? Yeah, sure. Who knows what I'll get into in that bedroom, you know? Jesus. The Pelican Brief, Hot Shots Part Duh, an absolute power among the movies filmed there in the 90s. Hot Shots Part Duh, when are we doing that on We're Watchables? Never.

Did Bill Clinton approve of this film? I'm sure. Definitely. Yes. Yeah, this gives hope and optimism to the Office of the Presidency. He gave Ross a framed script, which he had autographed, writing that it was, quote, funny, often accurate, lampooning of politics,

and then gave Gary Ross a picture of himself holding a Dave mug. He's like, I really love that Laura Linney scene. That was great. Can't really trust any time Bill Clinton says he likes something because he's sort of famously full of shit. Barack Obama once told Klein, I love Dave.

I love watching it when I'm depressed because you make it look so fun, you make it look so easy. I think if our current president saw the movie, he'd be rooting for Mitchell. Barack Obama, quote. Did Barack Obama say the last part? Or did Kevin Klein say the last part?

That's Kevin Klein saying what Barack Obama said. I know, but I felt like the quote, I read this too. And I felt like the Obama quote ended with like it could be fun. And then Kevin Klein added the other part. I mean, I don't know. That's a punctuation issue, but. I think there's something weird about Barack Obama saying, I like this movie because it made that job seem fun.

It's like he did that job for eight years. Who cares how he, what a movie has to say about it? He knows better than anybody what it's actually like. You think Kevin Klein's full of shit? Barack Obama. Are we sure he was good? A musical based on the movie opened in 2018. Oh.

So President Mitchell's stroke, apparently this really happened. Nelson Rockefeller, the former vice president, New York governor, died in 1979 at the age of 70 during an encounter with his 22-year-old assistant, Megan. I thought you were going to say the part where they had a substitute president for a while, but... No. Wasn't... So this actually happened. Rockefeller wasn't in office, though, was he? I don't think he was in office when this happened.

Who knows? I think that that scene of a politician having a stroke while having sex with his younger assistant is inspired by Nelson Rockefeller. But I don't think that we ever found a Nelson Rockefeller look-alike and then brought him out in front of the people of New York and said, hey, look, it's Nelson Rockefeller. That part did not happen. Okay. But Woodrow Wilson, 1919. This is good. I feel like I'm in history class with Dr. Bill.

Two years into his second term, stroke, semi-parallized, partially blind, mentally incapacitated. This is crazy because I never really knew this to an extent that a century later, it's still not completely known how bad he was incapacitated. 25th Amendment had not been ratified yet. So instead of just passing the presidency on, his wife took the presidency for the last two years? This seems like the greatest 100 years ago Hulu series we can have basically. Right? Hulu. We talked about Hulu earlier.

Get on this. The Woodrow Wilson story. I'm in on this. The First Lady in 1919 taking things over. Should we end the pod and open final draft up? What do you want to do? So they added the scene where Dave and the First Lady were presidential impersonators late in the shoot.

He didn't buy that. Reitman didn't buy that those two would click like that. He felt like they needed something leading to that scene. Yes. Which makes sense because you can't go from like, I hate you to your stranger to hey. Totally. And maybe I should say this for nitpicks. I would argue that I love that scene.

It's my most rewatchable scene. But I would argue that the Sogrini Weaver character still turns around pretty quickly. It's just like he makes her a sandwich. And then she's like, why don't we just keep this coup going for a while? I don't know. But think of it this way. You're in a relationship and it's going bad. There's something native about the person that you're drawn to, that you're attracted to.

There's a reason you're in the relationship. But the person has changed and they have gone crooked and you lose your connection to them. And then someone comes along who is the sweet and decent version, maybe even the better version of the person you fell in love with in the first place. Who looks exactly like him. And he appears before you and he seems attracted to you. I don't know. That seems like a good situation. We can talk about the relationship aspect about this as well. But I don't totally disagree with you or I at least understand the mental tricks that her mind is playing to be like, sure, why not?

This sandwich is great. And we sang together. And I don't want to think about the fact that my real legal husband is in a coma, like under the tunnel somewhere. So let's do this. That's fine. But the part where she's like, what if I gave you one more shot to be the president and issue majors legislation? And also she's at that point complicit in it, which we'll talk more about the legal ramifications of this plot. I don't know.

That guy balanced the budget, though. Why not trust him? Very freaking likable. That was before they made up. He balanced the budget. Yeah, that's true. We do live in a world where like somebody falls in love with Ted Bundy on death row and ends up showing up and having kids with them. I mean, like you can't figure out what happened.

I understand the attraction. I'm just wondering about the part where she just, you know, signs on to. the illegal operation. Maybe she saw something in that shower that she just wanted a little more of. We should discuss that. But also she also watched and she learned that this guy knows how to do magic too. Think about how fun that would be. I understand why she's drawn to him.

Wouldn't it be weird if you guys were observing your spouse in a situation and you knew your spouse didn't do magic and then they just did a magic trick for a child? Wouldn't you be like, what the fuck was that move, bro? Like when did you learn how to do magic? They're together for 30 years. I had no idea. Last internet research thing. Ivan Reitman's wife and son are the wife and son of Vice President Nance as he's being sworn at the end. The son is Jason Wrightman.

He became a famous director. So I look for Jason Reitman in the Annancing. All right. Apex Mountain. Kevin Klein? Hmm. So this is objective, right? This is not personal opinion.

When did he have the most power? When did he have the most success? When was his career going the absolute best? So you can say it's called Wanda, but now you have this, so you have that coming off this. I would say he has more power after this. I think it's Grand Canyon. Because he's already got an Oscar, but it's not so far removed from his Oscar. This is like five years after the Oscar.

Grand Canyon's a movie about somebody that made a wrong turn leaving a Laker game. Yeah, it's my life every goddamn day when I drive home on the 101. It's like, oh shit, I shouldn't take that left. Uh-oh, guys are coming to me. It plays on every fear of everybody Leaving the Staples Center That there's a detour And then you just don't know

What's going to happen I vote yes You guys vote no Franklin Jella Oh my God Is this where we talk about Franklin Jell? You can talk about him right now

Franklin Jella My actorly god Franklin Jella Has been A lot of different guys Over time Franklin Jell in the 70s Was Dracula

He was like a hit That's how I know In a Dracula movie So I saw the movie In the theater Amanda I'm not sure. I mean, he was the star of Melbrook's first movie, the 12 Chairs, which is a really good movie

that not a lot of people have seen. I would encourage people to buy the Melbrook's Blu-ray set. It's fucking amazing. It's like 50 bucks for all of Mel Brooks's movies. He's on a Showtime show right now, and he's really good in it. It's called Kidding. Him falling for Whoopi Goldberg is in the running for me for weirdest celebrity couple of the last 30 years. I don't know if it's the winner, but at least should be mentioned.

The power of Eddie. Yeah. Eddie. Great movie. A lot of great things happened from it. I love him in this movie because he dials it up. Mm-hmm. Where it's like at some point he said to Ivan Reitman, should I scale it back?

And Ivan Reitman is like, no. No, go for it. Like that scene when Dave's balancing the budget and it cuts to Frank Langela and he's just looking at the window and he's like bulging his eyes like a freaking maniac. he really dials it up. I go yes for Frank O'Hello. This is like his signature move, his signature performance, in my opinion. I agree with that.

I don't know if this was the apex of his career, but... It's his most fun performance. I guess maybe Dracula was his apex. Dracula's probably apex. Nobody else in this movie is Apex Mountain worthy. Sigourney had peaked. What about Kevin Dunn?

Yeah, maybe. He's coming up. Okay. We can go to him right now in the Joe Panoliano Award, Kevin Dunn. I never knew his name was Kevin Dunn until I started research the movie. Really? Yeah, for me, he was always that guy from Dave and Mad Love with Drew Barrymore, which I know I made this scene. He's had a good career.

Have I? Drew Barrymore and Chris O'Donnell. They had a Mad Love. Oh, yeah. I think that's how they sold it in the room. Good stuff. That's good. He's been, Kevin Dunn has been in a lot of.

stuff. He's one of those guys. He's a great that guy. He's truly that guy. Mississippi Burning, hot shots 1492, Chaplin, Dave, Beethoven's second, Little Big League, Nixon, chain reaction, picture perfect, Godzilla, Steroveeco, Snake Eyes.

Ihard Huckabees, he's in a bunch of the Transformers movies. I mean, Warrior, like, he's in a lot of movies, and he's been on VEP for the last five years, and he's really funny on Vee. You're saying we should call it the Kevin Dunnard? I mean, it's, he is he is

Hall of fan that guy He really is Yeah There were no other candidates For this word The Saul Rubenek They knew overacting a word For me comes down to

Groden or Langela Because Langela really Dows it up a couple times As much as I loved him In this I don't really know What Groton's going for in this movie I think it's one of his worst performances

I love Charles Grosden I don't really get it Is this guy like partially brain damaged Is he What is going on with Murray? I think he's just really stressed out. Well, and he's also supposed to be the audience stand in, right? Of being like, really? We're doing this? He's supposed to be the skepticism in this movie.

He has my single favorite line reading in the whole movie, which is after he helps him balance the budget, and he puts him and he sends him out in his car. And then Groden says, Get out of yours, man. And it's like, that is how most people would react to the situation. I like when they're about to balance the budget and he starts ordering food. And then it's like, How about some Bratworths with some mustard? Charles Grotes like, what's going on here? Charles Groson's like, I love Browurst. Yeah.

Who wins this one? Who overacts in this movie? I think it's Franklin Jel. And Franklin Jones is like, he's not a president. He's an ordinary person. I can kill an ordinary person. Can kill 100. That's pretty...

He's going for it. It's a great rhythm, though. He's really bringing his own spin to it. Yeah, he's a theater actor. Yeah. All right. Producer Craig was really excited for this category. Pickin Nits.

I mean, fair enough. There are many. There's some holes in this movie. Well, here's the thing. I don't know if there's a hole. It comes together. But if you just start unraveling anything, you know. Counterpoint.

What if there's not? Okay. What if this is perfect? Okay. It is perfect. The second best movie ever made. They, uh, picking knit number one, they found a body double for the president so he could have sex with a staffer? Okay.

That's a little weird? I mean. Can they just done that anyway? It's a good point. No, it is really true. He was just like... Quincey was just coming in and out of Quentin's office multiple times. Yeah, this is a good point.

Though, can we just talk about the concept of a body double more generally? It's ludicrous. Oh, I was going to say I definitely think this has happened before American history. Speak on it. Why is this? I mean, not for the purpose of... Not in the internet era. Not in the internet era.

And not for the purpose of the president staying in the hotel. There was the Melania body double thing that, remember? I thought she had been replaced. I'm still not convinced she wasn't. I don't, it could have happened for the purpose of the president having sex with an assistant in a hotel room. But the more general premise that they give, which is like sometimes for security, we hire a body double and we send someone else out. Especially before the internet or even the cable news era, don't you think at some point someone was sick, they just needed a diversion? I don't know.

I'm not willing to say it hasn't happened. I think it's possible. I don't think it ever to this extent has happened. Yeah, I don't agree with that. I'm not saying that, you know, they're among us. Second nitpick. Probably even Nixon, but who has a more distinctive face in Richard Nixon, too? That's a hard one to replicate.

What happened to Dave's temp agency during like the five months that he was the president? Faith Prince was crushing it. She was handling the phones. If I disappeared from the ringer for five months, at what point would you start wondering what the hell was going on? Shades of Grantland. Meanwhile, I looked exactly like the president. And you professionally, not professionally, but you pretend to be the president at various events around the D.C. area from time to time. Do you think they replaced them in the Tempe Agency with Chris Connolly?

Oh, Jesus. Okay. I'm surprised it was still there at the end of the movie. Oh, boy. Oh, brother. I open the door to that. I regret it. You're right.

It makes no sense. Dave literally disappeared. I guess maybe Charles grew up. It's his temp agency. Well, he called and said he met a gal. And then he was in love and he was going to Hawaii to get married. She was Polynesian and American. For five months.

That's one of the stickiest lines in the whole movie. But wait, is it really five months? The timeline here is another thing that is confusing to me. It is. It's also confusing because the movie is, it's fall when the movie starts and then it's fall when the movie ends. Right. Well, they say at the end that once they switch Roo back to the real president, he's a in a coma for five months before he passes away.

They say that in the voiceover because I was confused about the timing and paying attention. So. Intentionally ambiguous. Okay. Another nitpick. Yeah. Mitchell's stroke coma. A lot of people knew about that. Never leaked out.

No rumors. This is the major thing. Let's talk about the payouts. Okay. So the payouts are extremely low. You always need to ask for more people. 50K. 50K.

A hundred K. And one doctor asked to be the head of the CDC. This is what we learn in the conversation between Alan and Bob Alexander. That's just not enough money. The president had a stroke on top of his secretary. Yeah. And people know about it? You know how much money the National Enquirer would pay for that?

That's a $5 million scoop. That's the biggest story in the history of American politics. It's a slight hole. Another one that I noticed out in the 74th time I watched this movie. So Dave's wandering around on the balcony as President Mitchell looking out. And then he wanders over to see the wife. And he's looking out at the monument, all these places. is like...

Security concern? Yeah. I had the same thought. Sniper crossed the shade. Like, oh, there's the president. What? Wait, hold on. Let's go back to your thoughts on snipers.

You think the snipers are just like on the White House lawn? No. I'm saying like where he was, you could have somebody who's a mile away with some gun who's like in some hotel or something that could see him in the balcony. I think they do have like roof and air rights underlock around the White House for just that reason. But I had the same thought. No way. Here's the only piece of data that I can offer you, which is from, as we all know, factual television show, Scandal. But on, and scandal, they would be out on that same balcony a lot.

Like, they used the Truman balcony in a way that makes me think that maybe the first family actually can use it. They have the security things down. I don't know. Seems sketchy to me. Or maybe. If any readers know the actual deal of this balcony. email us. This is really not my biggest concern

in terms of nitpicks about a movie in which the president has a stroke and a guy who looks like and becomes the president. I'm just going through my list. All right. The president and the first lady

leave the White House. But then they are able to get back into the White House. That part's more unrealistic than them leaving the White House. What do you mean getting back into the White House? They pull up to the front gate and the guy's like, oh, it's you guys. It's like, how do you know it's you guys?

Somebody who looks like the president what if it's not them? Well, it's not them. Because it's certainly not him. It's certainly not him. Bad security. President Mitchell's jobs program. What was it exactly?

Everyone gets a job? Everyone who wants one. It was the Oprah plan. You get a car. The new deal. How about that? Well, they make a direct comparison to FTR. I would say that this is probably the most unrealistic part of this movie.

I think if a president came forward and said every citizen of the United States will have a job under my plan, that person would be destroyed. That is like, that is not something that I don't think. They laugh initially that they're like, oh my God, what is this guy? And then he does the, if you've ever seen the look on somebody's face the day they finally get a job speech. Let's play that. You've ever seen the look on somebody's face, the day that they finally get a job, I've had some experience with this. They look like they could fly. And it's not about the paycheck.

It's about respect. It's about looking in the mirror and knowing that you've done something valuable with your day. and if one person can start to feel that way and then another person and another person then pretty soon all these other problems that we're facing may not seem so impossible. By the end of that speech, the press is in. Yeah, great job, Mr. President.

Everyone should get a job. Let's underline some of the ideas are there. He runs a temp agency. He doesn't run an agency that gives people full-time jobs. If you've ever gotten a temp job, and I have gotten a temp job, you know that you don't really want to sing from the rafters when you get a temp job because it's a fucking temp job.

Those jobs suck. It's nice to get money and it's nice to get some security, which is what he says it's not about. He says it makes you feel like you can fly. I have some problems with that part of the speech, but it is moving. It's good acting. Why wouldn't Bob just let the VP take over and then bulldoze him?

Well, because there's an expectation that maybe he would fire Bob. He would not keep him on. But maybe he wouldn't keep him on as his chief of staff. So the better plan is just to get this random guy from the temp agency. It looks like the president is going to be the stooge. It's not really thought out. They don't know that he's going to have a stroke. He just, they don't know he's going to have a stroke.

He just sees an opportunity. Yeah. Bad plan. It's a fair point. Made me wonder about whether Bob Mitchell was really good chief of staff or not. We learned that Vice President Nance is a good and decent man and public servant, and he probably wouldn't suffer a devious fool like Bob Alexander in his administration. Okay.

Best quote, why can't you die for? a stroke like everyone else. You're Lint, you're a flea, you're a blip. I'm going to kill him. You can't kill a president. He's not a president. He's an ordinary person. I could kill an ordinary person. I could go 100 ordinary people. And then the speech. I love that you're Lint, you're a flea, you're a blip.

This is great. So insulting. Do you understand? You're nobody. I'm not nobody. You're lit. Free. Don't ever say that to anyone, Sean. I say it to our staff every morning. I look everyone directly in the eye.

I look Craig directly in the eye and I say, Craig, you're lint. Could this be remade? New category. Could this be remade? There's a 10-episode Netflix series. I'd say a thousand percent, yes. I'm actually in on this. I would be in on this series.

But how similar is it? Well, you make it the 2019-20 version of it. Sure, but is it an optimistic comedy or is it like this story of a coup and a cover-up? And I mean, I think now you would make it like if Trump got replaced by a body double and became a much better president. I actually think that would be a pretty interesting movie. And people are like, what's going on with this guy? I guess so. He's so eloquent now.

Right. But then that doesn't that inadvertently help Trump and kind of do some of the. What, you just humanizing him? Yes, exactly. Or it humanizes the policies and it's like it's, it's not. not the platform. It's not the administration. That's the problem. It's just, we don't like this guy. So if we just found another guy, everything would be okay, which is sort of the underlying issue with this movie. If you really think too hard about it, which you should not, because it's a great movie. But it's this idea of... That's what we do in the rewatch. All you need is like a nice guy, and then he can be president, and it'll be fine. And the country will be great. I don't know. I think it has to... I still believe in that. This is a little Pollyanna and a little pretentious. But I think the point.

of the movie and the reason that I compared it to a Frank Capra movie is because it is about ideas. It is about trying to use public office for good, for decency. And that is like the primary point of the movie is that if you disentangle the complications of politics, ego, money, vanity, sex, all the things that tend to distort people when they get power, you could do something good for people's lives. Now, not everybody sees government that way. Most conservatives do not. but if you believe that idea and you wanted to make a show like that,

and that's kind of the sort of show that Aaron Sorkin tried to make. I mean, that really is what the West Wing is. He really believes in that. He's like a true believer in, you know, my dad went to school on the GI Bill, and that's something that happened because of the government. And because of that, he got educated, and then he had kids who were educated and more successful than him and so on and so forth. So if you buy all that stuff.

Sure, but his president is like a Nobel Peace winning prize economist and also the most educated. And it's accused all the time in the show of being, like an elitist and too smart and to experience for his own good. No, but I'm just saying that he is infusing experience into his president. And I think the one part of the setup that would hit me the wrong way today is the assumption that, not the assumption, but the implication that anyone can be president. Right.

That just like any guy, as long as you have the right priorities, you can be president. I think that takes us down some rocky pass or possibly already has. Yeah, it's complicated. I'm not sure. I mean, I'm not necessarily a believer in like the most privileged person getting the job. No, no, and I don't mean to equate like, you know, a noble prize with experience or the only way to be a president. But I just meant that this, that Sorkin clearly thinks that you have to have experience and to have been a politician and have done that work to be president. Yeah, I think Dave would disagree. So yes or no, 10 episode Netflix series.

No. I think I've answered no virtually every time on this category because I don't believe in it. I think we got Dave the movie. it's fucking amazing. I think it would just be very different and we might be bummed out by it. Okay. Probably an answerable question.

Wait, what's your answer? I think it can be done. Okay. I like, I'm ready for another president series just in general. Okay. Dave was divorced in this movie. Who would divorce Dave?

He was such a good guy. What was wrong with that person? He's a little bit... Why do you think the marriage fell apart? He was too idealistic for it? He's a charlatan. actually, I think is really the problem. He's a magic trick spewing charlatan. If you look at the way that he forces his friend to hire people to sustain his business, that's not really like, that's a complicated

thing. So you think it was more the divorce was more his fault? Well, we never get a chance to meet his wife. He's a little flighty. I mean, he does kind of stumble into this arrangement without thinking too much about it. He's like, oh, sure. I get to sit in the chair and I'll be the president. Why not? And he eventually realizes the responsibility that comes with that. But at the beginning, he's like, you know, whatever. He seems impressionable. Based on his rendition of Oklahoma, he may sing too much in the home, too. You think he's annoying?

He could be annoying. Is a tough hang after like three years? Could be a tough hang. Is Dave a tough hang? Great hang, tough hang? Would Dave, when he was running for office, ever come clean that he was actually President Mitchell for five months? Would he ever do that as, I've done this job?

I was actually, you guys didn't realize it, but I was actually the president. You mean, after he got elected as a councilman? Yeah. Like, he's trying to be senator. You mean, I actually did this. Are you asking? Should he or like, would he just by accident? Should he?

Should he know? Because then he would be arrested as part, like for treason against the country. Would he like in the- Would he be arrested for treason? Or maybe not treason. I guess I don't know what the legal things are, but it's definitely not a legal series of events. I think isn't like impersonating a government official a crime? This is literally a coup.

I don't mean to be like, like, splainery, but this is a coup. It is a coup. It is a coup d'etat. So, you know, no one elected any of these people or allowed them to make any of the decisions that they're making. I think they did a great job, or at least Dave did. But it is technically a coup, so don't go around admitting it. The shower scene. Yeah.

I have been preparing for this since you said we're doing a Dave rewatchables. Based on the first lady's reaction, was Dave more or less healthy, than President Mitchell. I just, I want to kill myself. I didn't, I don't understand her reaction. It is coy. It is coy. Was it a woe reaction or what's going on reaction?

It's just unclear. And then it comes back later and he's like, was it the shower? And he's like, no, is when you looked at my legs. I thought you were going to do the latter. I thought you were going to do the shouldn't she have known. That's a very common male reaction I find to this movie. Oh, that she should know. Yeah, yeah.

She should recognize. Because there's a vast world of differentiation. Well, more to the fact that if they're married, she should be able to recognize. Well, I think if you've seen somebody naked for 30 years and then there's somebody else naked, it would be hard to completely match the nakedness of the other person. That's true. They haven't seen each other naked in a long time. True.

Which is, I think, kind of what's, that reaction is like, it's possibly, like, something might be different here. I think she's impressed. I think she's generally impressed. I don't know whether it's impression. And also confusion. Like is this, this doesn't match up. Huge X factor here that we're not addressing, which is he's in the shower. So there's some, some earthly components that are changing physiognomy.

Yeah. So who knows how that affects it one way or another? I'm going with more. I'm going with impressed. What was the phrase that you used? I said healthy. Healthy. Okay, good.

Who won the movie? Kevin Clyde. Can't believe this is a podcast. That was easy. Kevin Clyde won the movie. Yeah, I agree. Shout out to Ving Rames, though. Great Ving Rames.

Sure. Make a stealth case for Ivan Reitman. I think just because this is the kind of movie that I just feel is just really hard to do and to have the right tone and could go wrong in so many ways. Is this? Is this his last great movie? And that's not to smirch the movies that came after this, but he made like a lot of movies. Like, if you have stripes and meatballs and Ghostbusters and twins and kindergarten cop, like, that is for 80s, like, fun comedy that is crowd pleasing and memorable. That's a pretty incredible resume.

But then after this, like, he makes the movies like six days and seven nights and evolution, and it gets a little bit less impressive as he gets older. He stopped really directing as much. I think after this, he did junior in 94. And then, I don't know, he had made like a billion dollars at that point. He does also have a style that was very specific to a time period, as we have discussed throughout this podcast. And this is kind of the last confluence of those events. He made two really interesting movies this decade that are never, I don't think will ever be rewatchables. But they're kind of funny, like him trying to get back to a time, no strings attached, and draft day, two movies that if they were released in like 1986 and 1988, probably would have been huge.

Which one was no strings attached? That's the Milakunis? Ashton Coucher, yeah. Did we ever decide which one was better between that one and the Ashton Coucher one? No, that is the Ashton Coucher one. What was the-A-Cutcher? Oh, wait, Aschon Coucher and Natalie Porman. Sorry.

And Milacunis and Justin Timberlake are friends with benefits. I believe that no strings attached with Natalie Porman and Ashton Coochers better. I think my wife and daughter like both of those movies. I think they have aged really nicely. No Strings Attached is written by Liz Maryweather, who created a new girl. the original script of that movie, which I read for some reason before it came out. It was really funny.

It was called Fuck Buddies. And it was really a good movie, or it could have been a good movie. Also, appearing in No Strings Attached, Kevin Klein. That's right. Guys, let's just be honest with ourselves. We all like No Strings Attached. It's pretty good.

It's pretty good. It's not Dave, but it's pretty good. You're in safe hands with Ivan Reitman. Like, he doesn't make, he's never made a bad movie. Everything he makes is kind of entertaining. It's just Dave transcends something. I'll go further. I liked a couple Ashton Coochard movies in my day.

Wow. I liked a lot like love. I thought it was really good. Is that the one with Amanda Pete when they drive in Chicago is playing? Great music event movie? That's my wife's favorite random rom-com movie. I saw that movie on a date with a girl who I was dating right before my current wife. So that's your current wife.

I thought you were dating your wife. My only wife, my beloved, singular, truly only wife. I thought you've been with your wife since my fourth grade. Are you on a break? No, it was not fourth grade. Seventh grade? I think a lot like love came out in my junior year. 05?

No, is it 05? Yeah. What a movie am I thinking of then? Sean cheated on his wife with a lot of love. This is freezing. What is the movie I'm thinking of if it's on a lot of like love? With Ash and Coochard? Or Amanda Pete? That movie wasn't like 1998?

No. No, I don't think so. No, it turns out I've ruined my marriage on this podcast. Shit. Not like Love had the unlawful. Aqualong song. I don't even remember that I have.

Oh, what's the movie? I never run and mom before. What's the movie Claire Forlani? Is that a lot like love? No. That's the movie you're thinking of. What's that movie?

I don't know, but a lot like love is Amanda Pete. I don't remember what happens in the movie. I just remember the Chicago scene. Hold on. We're going to find out what movie I'm talking about. I think you would really like that movie.

Which one? I think you would really like a lot of love. I've seen it. I just don't remember what happens. I'm thinking of boys and girls. What's that movie? With Freddie Prins and Jason Biggs.

Wow. That's the movie. I saw on a date, 1998. Tough beat. It's a good save. Tough beat. As your attorney, I like what you did there. I don't remember Freddie Prins and Jason Biggs.

Well, maybe you weren't going on as many dates as I was back then when I was killing it. 1998. Loser with Jason Biggs is a movie that is not age well. I would say that's age top five worst out of, but that had a great soundtrack. And I really liked that movie when it came out. And now it's like, I don't even think it could be showing. Are we just doing Jason Biggs movies there? You've seen American Pie?

That's a great one. 20-year anniversary of a couple. That's right. Might be on the re-watchables. Wow. For all we know. Wow. What a tease.

Interesting re-watch. Yeah. That's it for Dave. We've ended Sean's marriage. We found out about President Mitchell versus Kevin Klein, who was healthier. We picked it apart. We figured I had to manage a budget. We solved the problem of American politics.

Yeah. And destroyed my personal life. Great. Congratulations. Next week on the rewatchables is reality bites. Yeah. Reality bites. And then a week after that is four weddings and a funeral.

No, it's not anymore. Oh. What? No. Cancelled? Cancelled? What the hell? Cancelled.

Why? How did this happen? Got canceled. Who canceled it? It got bumped. It didn't get canceled. Okay. Cancelling is getting that, okay.

Got bumped to like 20-29. All right. We're going to have a conversation about this. It got bumped for Fletch. Okay. Yes. I'm going to do a solo four weddings and a funeral we watchable like in your office as a sit-in.

It's just going to be me yelling about four weddings and funeral until you record it. One of the problems with four weddings and a funeral is I'm not sure we have the second person for you for that movie. You might be the only one on the staff who really loves it. I don't understand that. We might have to go outside ringer circles. It's one of the classic rom-coms. Four weddings, one funeral, and one podcaster. Yeah.

Maybe you solo it, like Tom Hanks and Castaway. You don't like four weddings? I'm not a Hugh Grant guy. Wow, this is blasphemy. I mean, I just think... You wait until after this podcast to tell me, so I wouldn't be upset. I don't get the Hugh Grant thing. I never understood weddings in seven straight movies over four years.

Can we make a deal here like they do in American President? If I find someone who will do four weddings and a funeral rewatchables with me, can I do it? You need to get your Charles Groh to balance the budget. You can absolutely 100%. do it. Okay. Thank you. You might have to go outside ringer circles. I will find someone. This is like... I'm fired up about Fletch, so I don't really give shit. I'm angry, I'm angry, but I have a plan, so it's going to be okay. All right. Man of Diamond's Sean Fantasy. Thanks as always. We will see you next week. And then we'll watch for us.