The Worst Idea Of All Time - Episode Twelve - Acaster

Episode Date: October 14, 2018

Guy and Tim have done a double hitter, back to back watches of Grown Ups 2. And they've got special guest, UK comedian James Acaster in the studio. A thorough analysis of the how the film might have come to be is investigated and Tim's mental state is rapidly deteriorating. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Worst Idea of All Time, episode 12. I'm Guy Montgomery. I'm Tim Baird. I'm'm james a custer that's right this is our first guest in the booth i think so and and james do lean in uh as you can see we've got a state-of-the-art studio here but it's not quite as sensitive as we'd like so yeah don't be afraid to get right up to the microphone so everyone can hear your fantastic opinions on on on the on the film so quick rundown on the premise. Worst Idea of All Time.

Tim Batt and I are watching Grown Ups 2 once a week for 52 weeks and we'll review it every time for you at home this week. James Acaster joined us. He's over for the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. And I mean, I'm quite keen to just roll our sleeves up and get right into it. Well, firstly, just a slight little bit of admin. You'll remember from episode 11 of The Worst Idea of All Time that Guy and I promised to watch it twice in one go

to account for the fact that we were kind of tuned in and out last time because we were dealing with a red wine stain that Guy had created. There was a lot of noise, there was a vacuum cleaner, there was a hairdryer. A bit passive-aggressive. The blame there was solely directed at you, Guy. Yeah, it was solely my red wine stain. A bit of an emphasis on the word guy there.

I had literally nothing to do with it. Anyway, look, let's not get bogged down with the red wine stain. What it means is that Tim and I woke up bright and early. We had an 8.30 screening, then we had to go to an interview, and then we came right back, and we're joined by James at high noon for the second screening of the day. James, I mean, I was watching you watching the movie.

There were some laughs. There were some sort of exacerbated moments what's your overall feeling i've personally guys i think you've chosen the right film to watch 52 times because um there's so much going on in it that i would need to watch it about 52 times to fully take it all in um i believe that you're probably discovering something new with each each watch and there's bits that you've forgotten about um i i've never seen a film before that doesn't have a story and uh and yet still manages to take you on a journey uh an emotional journey uh all the way through um i don't know where to start with it there's there's too much well i thought i might just say i was really at the start of the film today i was really

excited having you here because just the idea of you watching it for the first time and that you got to experience like how many characters they're introducing at a rate of knots and just how they tie in a lot of storylines but there's no purpose there's no payoff in any of this and it's sort of having a first timer James may disagree having a first timer in the studio was like there was a reminder of what it's like to watch a movie for the first time I felt today

when I first saw Kill Bill and the opening scene she just answers the door and someone punches her in the face immediately and there's a fight and Grown Ups 2 is like that at the beginning where it's like there's an instantly like a stag in his bedroom and it pees all over him and um and you don't even don't even need to know what the reason is eventually you do but it's just because someone left the door open that was it but like but like there's a massive you know it's straight in with the action and it doesn't let up it doesn't stop

at any point for the whole thing there's something happening there's never a dull moment in the whole film something's happening constantly you've picked such a beautiful metaphor for the whole film like

something crazy happens a stag is pissing on everyone there's no reason well there is a reason the reason is someone left the door open and that is this whole film

something happens why does it happen someone left the door open someone did something inexplicable for no reason, and then something happened. But it never amounts to anything. It just happens,

and then once they've milked all of the negative comedic value they have out of it, they just do a hard cut to a whole new party. Yeah, that's the way to do any film, I think. You just don't bother with the storyline, and then at the end you get all the characters, you put them in a party, and then you make something happen there. You just go, we'll put them all at the end you get all the characters you put them in a party and then you make something happen there you just go we'll put them all at the party and i actually the one that

the film i can definitely defend and say i liked and i think more films should do this was the ending i think every film should end with just getting all the bad guys and just beat them up don't have any redemption for anyone just beat them all up really really viciously just fight them and punch them in the face over and over again. It's all you want to see. James, you're a comedy guy. You're an international comedian. What did you think of the cast?

As Guy said in the middle of the film, it's like SNL, the movie, but fucking terrible. It's nice to see the old familiar faces popping up. Any Adam Sandler fans, any fans of the Happy Madison franchise will be very glad to see a lot of his friends popping up any Adam Sandler fans any fans of the Happy Madison franchise will be very glad to see a lot of his friends popping up again

Peter Dante playing the cop he's played many people in the past if I can remember any of them I'm pretty sure that Peter Dante

and the guy with the with the funny eyes and the guy who played the hippie teacher are all people who just worked for Adam Sandler at one point

in his just like his general management and then he started putting them in his films not even in an acting capacity or a comedic just like his plumber

he's like you want to be in a movie jump in funnily enough though after this many viewings some of those guys particularly Peter Dante and the hippie teacher

those are characters which I think are stronger than other guys. I mean, we could use more of them. Well, they're just playing the same people. Actually, the teacher isn't. Alan Cover is the teacher. I believe that's his name.

And he's played a lot of, more of a variety of characters over the years. So it's harder to place him in films, but he was like his best friend in Wedding Singer. He was the guy who just, Michael Jackson. He got old yeah well I think he's wearing

a wig in this right I think he's wearing a wig he's played many different characters in all this in um

and somehow I mean we were we were speculating a while ago that Sandler must have dirt on Steve Buscemi why does Steve Buscemi

keep committing to these they've been friends forever those two they were in Airheads together at the start that was really early on those two and and brendan fraser we're doing films forever steve bachemi enjoys doing his films and i think the whole film is probably worth it for bachemi

dressing as flavor slave that as i imagine that grown-ups too started because sandler said i want to have a film where bachemi dresses as flavor slave and one of them went well how about a party that's an 80s party who would have that what about your character from Grown Ups who would probably host a party like that

okay well we'll write a film that climaxes to that I'm glad you said this because I had a thought what might be fun is Tim and I will pretend to be

network executives okay and you're the guy you're Adam Sandler you're Adam Sandler well no you're not you're just the guy who's

you're pitching Grown Ups 2 to us okay so you've. Well, no, you're not Adam. You're just the guy who's, you're pitching grown-ups too to us. Okay. So you've just seen it, but imagine you're coming in. We haven't given it the green light yet. You're saying you have to make this move. If I may, I'd like to give you a bit of preamble on behalf of the network. So, James, thank you so much for making some time with us today. I appreciate you coming in.

No problem. Look, as you know, times are tough. We've had the global financial crisis. Piracy is weighing heavily on our industry. We need some dynamite. We need some gold. Please let us know. What's your idea?

Well, guys, we can only make so many films. We can't make all the films we'd like, right? This is true. You'd like to make a film about a stag that runs loose and pees on people. I would love that. On the other hand, you'd like to make a film about a gay aerobics instructor who all the women fancy and his funny janitor sidekick who makes them do stuff, right? But you can't make both those films.

But wait, you'd also like to make a film about a guy who finds out that he's actually got a son who's fully grown up and he's really scared of him because he's definitely a psychopath. You'd like to make that film as well. Plus, you'd like to make a film about a guy whose wife wants him to have a baby and at the end of the film you discover that she's pregnant.

Yeah, you'd like to make that film. You'd also like to make a film about a guy who remembers his wife's anniversary but she forgets that it's their anniversary and then he can hold it against her forever and yeah you'd like to make a film about

James I'm going to tell you I want to make all these films yeah I just don't think we have the money yeah where's this all going here's the trick guys

it's one film fuck off we put all those characters in one film together a community we disregard any kind of uh main plot and we link

them all together because you know what guys life is a series of small stories all linked together in a beautiful tapestry and then we bring them all in at the end and that

is what it's like to be a grown up wait wait two oh my god this is how the movie got made that was really convincing

it was so good yeah see that's this is how it happened that's what happened you just go... I think you just realise there's so much...

It's bursting with life, the whole film. There's so much going on. It's like a Summer Slammer from Burger King. Yeah. I can have all of that for $5? Sign me up. Yeah. Well, you can't have all of this for $5.

This hasn't even made it to the bargain bin yet in the Blu-ray. It was a cheap movie considering the cast, though, I think. What did you say? 80 mil? Now, another thing, James, because we haven't really... I mean, a lot of people are sort of incredulous towards the whole podcast concept. How do you feel about two people watching this 52 times?

I think it's good. I think it's a good experiment. And I genuinely do think you've chosen the right film for it. I think I would rather watch this 52 times than, like, Schindler's List or something. I think this has a lot more to offer on each viewing. I think it's a good experiment. I feel sorry for you guys. I think it's going to be horrible for you.

Thank you. I don't know how much you want to reveal to the listeners, but you were both fading within the first five minutes of this watching. You weren't doing well. Tim, I'm going to say, did descend into genuine depression at one point. Not even like a little jokey,

I'm going to pretend to be depressed and put on a show. I think you were genuinely quite sad. I was very sad. And really didn't want to be here at all. And Guy was exhausted by the end and not happy at all. Having you here gave me fresh life for the first 20. Like, I was in delirium. I was actually laughing quite hard at jokes, just at the idea that you're seeing these jokes for the first time.

Yeah. But then, yeah, I mean, I did dip pretty quickly. For me, it's just the fact that we watched the movie twice today and that is a ridiculous proposition. That's crazy. I never want to see it again. I'm never going to watch that again.

I don't want to. And I would only enjoy watching it again if I was showing it to a friend who I knew would hate it. Have you seen the first one? No. Would you? I don't think I need to. I think I've caught up on... I knew would hate it have you seen the first one no would you I don't think I need to

I think I've caught up on I think that's told me everything I need to know about the characters if every day also that's one day yes if every day

their life is like that that is relentless they don't even think it's anything amazing at the end of the day they don't think it's that spectacular if the same day

that a stag broke into your house and peed all over you your wife told you she was pregnant and you had a brawl in your garden with like about a million frat students yeah you would probably go to bed thinking i can't believe what happened you wouldn't go to bed do a sneeze fart burp and then celebrate which is how the film ends you're so succinctly um name checked so many

features of the film that monty and i have tried to drill into we have a segment that we like to do on the podcast which is called The Shining Light and what it is is the movie clearly is

more than slightly intolerable but we like to pick a bit that we enjoyed on this week's viewing that kind of stood out for us as a positive

something we enjoyed something that might have caught us off guard as being genuinely funny do you have a moment in the film that you genuinely enjoyed? The little Chris Rock's son shaking his butt

when it's full of poop. That's funny. Every time he does a little dance and shakes around, that's genuinely funny. It's funny that the kid's doing that. Especially when you think that he's got a diaper full of poo and he's a little kid who knows what he's doing. So he's shuffling his butt around

and he knows he's making it harder for his mum to clean his diaper. It's funny. That's a little kid who knows what he's doing. So he's shuffling his butt around, and he knows he's making it harder for his mum to clean his diaper. It's funny. That's a funny concept. That kid is dynamite, eh? Like, that kid's a great actor. He is pretty good. It made up for, you know,

it got me through some of the more misogynistic elements of the film later on. It's pretty horrific in its perception of women, let's face it. Yeah. Well, while we've got you on a roll then what do you think you similarly the low light i mean at what point were you saying this is um most of the scenes that uh involved uh this the the women just either doing nothing let's face it most of the they've got like three pretty big stars females uh leads in this film who do nothing each. They don't do anything. Hayek does the most and all she does is be a caricature that is really emotional and cries

all the time and is really unreasonable and just has her boobs pushed together for the entire film. I think Mayor Rudolph is the only one who stipulated in her contract she wouldn't wear a push-up bra. And when we did the drinking game episode a couple of weeks ago,

we made rules, and one of the rules Monty floated and we went with is that every time there's a push-up bra on screen, drink. Hammered within, what, the first two minutes? We got shit-faced. There's so many rules,

but it's a great game. So many. But you're right, the misogyny is coming thick and fast. It starts early and it doesn't let up. Yeah, it's really, really crazy. Yeah, that's a bit silent. Also, I guess the low light is when the ice cream guy

throws a scoop, a metal scoop, and just brains a woman for no reason. Now, that is Tanya, who's the extra that we will be hosting on the podcast at some point in the not-too-distant future. She's a yoga instructor in LA not an actor, just was friends with the executive producers

I believe, I had a quick chat to her over Twitter because we we were quite drawn to her because I really like the noise that she made when she got hit and fell down she makes this kind of and I really wanted to find out if that was additional dialogue recording or if it

was her voice that's her i asked her i asked her on twitter i said is that your voice she said yes i said you're hilarious she said thank you i said you want to come on our podcast she said sure thing i said i've got to give you a heads up we're not huge fans of the movie but we are watching it 52 times she said that's fine i'm not a big fan of the movie either brilliant so we're going to have a chat to that that woman speaking of that how do you feel

about the extras James you've got because when you do watch it enough when you have watched it say you're pushing

8, 9, 10, 11 12 times what I like to do is I start watching I'm not watching the dialogue anymore you're watching the actors reacting

because there's a famous saying in acting, which is acting isn't acting, it's reacting. Yes. I mean, do you think that the people, all the frat boys, all the party extras, are they aware that what they're in essentially is a bit of a dunger? I, well, they must be, sure.

I mean, I think Sandler doesn't care anymore. We all know he stopped caring a long time ago. He got to a point in his career where he went, I'll make whatever I like, I don't give a shit so like funny people yeah yeah funny funny people it's kind of i think it's like a proper one wasn't it it's like i'm gonna do a proper but then don't do it with apatow was gonna leave all the deleted scenes in and then sorry yeah that's what that movie is but um yeah i think they all know that the movie's not good I imagine on set

while they were filming it they were all going this is awful yeah I can't believe that any of those people thought it was good but I think they just thought

who cares we're making loads of money we're really rich and we just get I bet it's fun to make I bet a film like that must be well fun yeah

I would think so you get a lot of it's your mates you're hanging out with your mates every day. It's big budget. Well, you know, it's in a class of big budget. So you've got all the trappings, you've got trailers,

you've got lovely catering, you've got people looking after you. You have the assistant too, Mr Sandler. And you're just skiving off. No one's putting too much work in. We also had Rose Matafea dropping in and out of the viewing. Part-timer. Yeah, not committed like you were, James. Or me, actually. working we also had Rose Metaphia dropping in and out of the viewing and she had part time not committed like you were James

or me actually Tim I mean you did a wee in the middle of the movie I noticed we're allowed though texted I texted

that was particularly naughty very early on in the film because I had to let someone know that I wouldn't be at a place because I was watching

Grown Ups 2 for the second time that's ok let someone know you're a cheater let someone know that the whole world or like 10 people

know now the fuck thing is we're watching it twice today to catch up on last time because I was so stringent about us technically watching

this film in totality 52 times so don't you dare get me up on a technicality this time I'm sorry

you've got to ease up on that rule though you've got 52 times if another time something happens that distracts you, let it go. Fuck no, James. You can't let it happen. This is the thing.

If we don't do it, all of this is for nothing. The entire process is for nothing. This is the one thing pulling us through now. As I say to Tim, I say, because, Tim, we've flirted with quitting, or just there have been moments when we're so despairing. It's like, what's the end? But then you think,

no one cares about someone who watched Grown Ups 2 11 times there's nothing in that that's not a thing 52 times yeah that's a thing

that's pretty interesting yeah you've got to get guests every time now though you can't do this on your own every time there's no way well thank you

I feel like that's coming from a place of being concerned for our mental well-being you're rightly so I don't think you two can be friends after this i think we've grown together i think i think it's made us closer it's correct it's a weird sense of camaraderie that is created from just diving into this little pit it's not you've got to stop comparing it to wars we're in it's not like a war. We're in the trenches together, watching this terrible film week after week,

trying to enjoy the horrible acting and extras that they picked up who don't have any acting. Very similar to a war. What I was going to say that Rose said, though, which I thought was on point, was it's like a really well-produced but terrible 48-hour film festival film. Yes.

Like, it's just... It really hit me today when watching it. It's just so many disparate parts and they think that to create a sense of cohesion if they reference things that they've introduced earlier in the film there'll be payoff but there's no payoff because you don't care about anyone none of it is amounting to anything and it is it's a fucking high budget too long 48 hour film festival film it's a trojan polished herd i thought at the beginning when they show all their different lives you think okay there's four stories for the whole film it's a Trojan polished herd I thought at the beginning when they show all their different lives

you think okay there's four stories for the whole film that's what it tricks you into doing you go Adam Sandler has got his crazy family

who are all out of control and there's a stag in the house and the guy from Mike and Molly has given jams

has got a really stupid kid and he's got to figure that out and Chris Rock's anniversary is happening and David Spade's got a son he's just heard about. So you think that's the whole film, is those four stories. And the fact that that doesn't even last two minutes,

that all their lives change in the next scene and it continually just bounces around. An interesting thing that i would like to mention this week is that uh i thought i noticed it in the first watch today and then i looked out for it and definitely noticed that in the second one chris rock's character's name is never mentioned in the film not once because me i asked monty when we were we went and did a little press thing we did some radio to do publicity for our comedy shows but we ended up just talking about the podcast because that's what we do now and um on the way there i was like do you know what chris rock's character's name is

because i feel like we've seen this double digit times now we should know what everyone's name is couldn't think of it and then on the second viewing I tried to see it capture any moment where anyone says his name it's not there the first time you know what his name is is in the credits and it's Kurt I think surely there's more

examples of that in the film I can't think of a lot of people's names in that film Salma Hayek what's her name in it they mention that they do they do

Rudolph mention her name yeah she's Deanne they say that I mean but it's stuff it's just they're throwing so much

at you it's really difficult to remember the specifics of everyone but they should name just once they should say

Chris Rock's name oh yeah yeah I mean I mean a lot of things they should I think there's only a few films where that doesn't happen

yeah ever another thing I want to drill into while we've got you James you're obviously you're a comedy fan

I mean are any of the people in this film have you ever grown up like admiring or respecting their work I mean are you a Chris Rock stand-up

fan some Chris Rock stand-ups yeah really good I used to love Adam Sandler when I was growing up I used to good I used to love Adam Sandler when I was growing up I used to proper

I used to watch Happy Gilmore all the time and I really liked Wedding Singer I still really like Wedding Singer I think that's a really good film

and I really like Punch Drunk Love and I used to watch all of his comedies I thought they were really really funny and what I liked about them was that it was just

him and his mates goofing around and it didn't matter but his old films even they had a really simple plot that at least went through it but now all and his mates goofing around and it didn't matter. But his old films, even they had a really simple plot that at least went through it. But now all of his stuff is ridiculous. Nothing's relevant at all.

There's that film, that 51st Dates film, where his animal doctor is a vet. And the only reason he's a vet is so that they can do a scene where some animal shits itself. I can't remember what the animal is. But it's just like like because that's not relevant for the whole film

it's relevant for a bit where he shoves his hand up his butt and it poos over everyone and so it just becomes irrelevant whereas the wedding singer

it was relevant that he was a wedding singer throughout the whole film it was important so how do you I mean does it stir anything in you to see them all

just mailing in cashing a cheque like this or it's just you're just like fuck it who cares they don't yeah i i think good on them i think i think they they don't care and like and if people are going to keep on like filling out the cinemas watching this yeah then uh they deserve everything they get which of these films no one to blame but ourselves speaking of watching this sort of thing at the film tim Tim, you were saying earlier you read a Reddit AMA with David Spade.

Yeah, on the website reddit.com, David Spade didn't ask me anything, which is like a Q&A session, and he mentioned that there is a distinct possibility of Grown Ups 3. Yeah. I think he said that they might have started working on the script for it. Well, the whole... The fact that the pregnancy thing things tied in at the end suggests that there's more to come from these

lovable characters and families Well there's infinite stuff, they don't have to ever stop the whole film is a series of just like random events that just keep on happening to them, they can do it forever they don't ever have to stop doing these films, they can just have a next film, they can sit down and start it now, you know, right, it starts with

he wakes up in a skate park and a skateboarder runs over his head. He chases the skateboarder for ages and then he catches him and breaks his skateboard. And we'll bring that back later on in the film. And then we go to Chris Rock and Chris Rock's at the swimming pool

with his daughter and he jumps in the pool and then he gets his ankle bracelet. He's got that on him. He gets caught on the ladder and he's like swimming around and then a kid comes along and pees on him

and then just do that you're the money because we we pitched another sequel in the grips of delirium after the 48 hour

film festival when we hadn't slept and we watched it sort of in a group viewing afterwards we got quite deep

in the idea of starting at doing a kickstarter for grown ups 3d and we'd ask people to pledge on twitter how much they'd donate using the hashtag grown-ups 3d and we've got a little bit of heat there'll be

a lot more boners in uh grown-ups 3d i feel oh the boobies yeah those are boners and uh yeah it'd just be a horrible idea for society we we should probably wrap this thing up um guy montgomery uh i want to check in with your mental stability and just see assess where you're at a cool dozen watches now or 13

no we call it a dozen officially so Guinness World Records we'd say it's a dozen a cool dozen you've seen it twice today how are you feeling look man

I mean next week we're doing a live record on the Friday so that means that I've got a week and a bit off I mean do we yeah fuck man Next week we're doing a live record on the Friday, so that means that I've got a week and a bit off. I mean... Do we?

Yeah. Fuck, man. I don't know. No, we do it on Sunday. What day is it today? No, we're doing it next Friday. It's Wednesday. Yeah, we'll do one before then.

No, that doesn't make any sense. Does it? It's one a week. Okay. Look, we don't need to talk logistics, mate. I'm feeling good. I'm glad we had James this week. I think he breathed new life into the film.

I think he's right. We might need to get more, mate. I'm feeling good. I'm glad we had James this week. I think he breathed new life into the film. I think he's right. We might need to get more regular guests. I mean, I don't know how much more new stuff I can find in this thing. I'm fucking working my arse

off over here. Oh, do you have a shining light? My shining light this week, I said it was that, and you said I might have used it before, but I liked it anyway. It was twice today.

I genuinely laughed at the moment. It's in the supermarket. The lady, Penny, who wears a barrette, she points at it. She she says there's a moment of confusion and adam sandler like accused of having brain damage or something and it was just i don't know it was a scripted joke which which worked for me today you go how are you doing what's your shining light let's get the fuck out of here okay but i also really quickly want to introduce a new segment that'll be at the tail. Just bear with me on this.

Okay. Firstly, my mental state is bad. I am like, I'm quite terrified now of having to watch it another 40 times. Like, genuine fear. We've done more than 20% of the work. Yeah, that's a fifth, mate. And I feel, James, you were sitting next to me. You captured some of the mood, like a splashback.

Oh, it's horrible. Horrible to see. Yeah. I of the mood, like a splashback. Oh, it's horrible. Horrible to see. Yeah. I never wanted to see a person like that. And I'm going through that another 40 times. Like, I hate the movie. I hate watching it. I hate the experience.

It's getting pretty bleak. What was your shining light? My shining light today was in the scene where they're at the garage. And Higgins reveals that he's been fooling around with, quote-unquote, Fabio, the... The muscular lady. Muscular one. And, oh, what does he say?

He says, oh, he's talking about Hiccups McGinn. He says she's really hot, and then she goes, if she's so hot, why don't you make her your late-night booty call? And then Kevin James says something, and then he says, oh, no, she's going to kick the crap out of me, and there's an extra that they cut to to who was an old man working in the garage who looked back inquisitively, and I just think he nails it. He was my shining light today.

That is a triumph of watching it 12 times, Tim, that you picked her up on that. I'm really proud of you. My new segment of this podcast is called Top Three. Let's blitz through it. We're going to do a Top Three every week on a new thing, and today's Top Three is going to be the top three stunts. Okay. Counting down backwards, obviously.

We haven't talked about this at all, so this is going to be a shit show. Definitely one of the top... Okay. Officer Dante on skis on the roof. Oh, of course. Comes charging down, shooting guns in the air and lands in the water. Great. Phenomenal stunt.

Really good physical humour. Great gag. James, you do one I would say the when Swanson is on the blow up life raft and rolls into the rec center or whatever it is some

building it's not even say what it is but they're just a little roly-poly and this is I like that I like it when he does that for me it would be the Shaquille O'Neal cartoon throw of

a man okay over a house yeah I thought that really definitely would have died yeah a couple people die in this film if you kind of

look at the biology of it certainly who should die Nick Swartzen when they're in the bus you see how they rip him down he just drops on his neck and then slides

right down the back smashes his head on the back alright so there you go brand new segment brand new guest it's been a hell of a week next week only one episode coming out on the Friday it's a live record at the Classic so if you want brand new segment brand new guest it's been a hell of a week next week

only one episode coming out on the Friday it's a live record at the Classic so if you want to come down and watch it it's happening at 5.30 we'll probably figure out

something special for that as well thank you so much for listening remember not to watch the movie James thank you so much for joining us and putting yourself through it good luck thank you

lots of love don't watch the movie yeah and find us on Facebook now fuck off