Gigli with Jen D'Angelo

[00:00:01] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the neighbors are shy with Blank Check That's why these lesbians are always going out and buying, spending all their dough on like,

[00:00:26] you know, sexual appliances and erotic monkey wrenches and shit trying to compensate for what they don't have. The podcast. I was like watching the movie last night and earmarking potential quotes and anytime a line put a spotlight around penis or pussy,

[00:00:45] which I was like, that's going on the option pile. What if I try to start like a sort of Frank TJ Mackie-esque sort of, you know, cult of personality podcast lifestyle brand supplements where I'm just using Gigli lines like Gigli rants about heterosexuality.

[00:01:05] Well, here's what I would say is a counterpoint. People don't realize it for a while and then someone starts Googling and they're like, wait, he's just he's just doing Larry Gigli. David, this is what I'd say is a counterpoint.

[00:01:14] There is no place nowhere that has been the object of more ambitions, more battles than the sweet sacred mystery between a women's legs that I am proud to call my podcast. I'm just saying there's something brazen about it.

[00:01:28] I think if I started saying this in the right tone of voice on a podcast, I would become a low-level kind of pyramid scheme guy. And what I say in response to that is when my podcast sneezes, I say God bless you. Yeah, that well.

[00:01:41] God bless you podcast. I thought you might do it but then would fear doing the voice. You see the workaround I did here was the only voice I did is the one I'm allowed to do and then I said the other two lines in my own voice.

[00:01:51] I want to be clear that anyone's allowed to do it. We're all allowed to do it. To do our regular voice. Get clear people are worried. Comedy is being banned. Jerry Seinfeld is under attack. He can't say anything.

[00:02:04] He can't make his hundred million dollars streaming movies in peace. Any will cost a hundred million dollars of I guarantee you unfrosted. I want to believe it's definitely it's expensive looking. It is expensive looking. It has production design big out the water is an animated character. That's true.

[00:02:23] A ravioli special effects. This is a real movie unfrosted. We were talking about it before and you thought I was describing a doughboy's bit rather than the subject of a doughboys episode. It exists.

[00:02:36] I also think a lot guys several those actors must have had stupid big upfront streaming residual buyout. That is true. Like right. I need to know how much Hugh Grant got paid. Jerry probably got 30 million dollars for that movie. That's true.

[00:02:49] If we're thinking through this as like director writer star producer McCarthy Melissa McCarthy probably gets like 15 point. Let's say 15. It's not even she's not even like above the title. Well, that's what a big title. Gotta just have Jerry on there.

[00:03:05] My point I want to make is that anyone is allowed to do a Larry G. Liam. I take it back. It is about the title. Thank you along with Jim Gaffigan and Hugh and Amy Schumer and Pop Tart and and pop tart ravioli.

[00:03:18] It says a pop tart right with ravioli baby has himself. Yeah. It's weird that it's called unfrosted when frosting plays no role in the film. Correct. It's a yeah, terrible title on an otherwise perfect film just like Glee. Yeah, that is obviously there's no saving this one.

[00:03:37] Like if you're you know studio executive being shown Glee right? You're not like I I know how to get this through but I definitely would be like can it not be called Glee? Can we call it something else? That's the first change.

[00:03:48] Yeah, can we just call it anything else the whole time? I really was so baffled where I would just was like if the whole bit is that when you look at how his name is spelled you have no idea how to pronounce it.

[00:03:59] Yes, then you're gonna make that be the title. Jim I sent to you late last night. I thought you're you're an accomplished screenwriter. You're a student of the cinematic art form.

[00:04:10] I regretted not thinking to send this to you earlier, but I went oh if it's not too late. Let me pass this into Jen's inbox a listener like a year ago saying I know you guys

[00:04:21] threatening to do Martin breast a lot if you ever come around to it sent me a Google Drive folder had hot tomorrows had hot dogs for go-gam which came into play when we did our patreon series on episode on those two movies and a 2001 a March 2001 dated draft

[00:04:38] of Glee. Glee so March 2001. So okay, but not too long before it went into production. It goes into production. Well, it's a pre 9-11 draft as I said to Jen in the email, which is very important. I did a national innocence to the craft.

[00:04:52] Yes, I read the I didn't finish it. It's a hundred and forty four pages long. It's very long. Yeah, but I learned a lot and also got a lot of questions. It begged a lot of questions.

[00:05:07] But is one of them was that you described it as a pre 9-11. You thought there was going to be a moment where that came into play. I realize the breast was like now I have to take out the whole terrorist.

[00:05:18] Glee hijacking the plane just isn't going to work. It's like Tobey Maguire like being like in between the twin towers. Like there's like something where she just like has to go to the World Trade Center. Look before you gotta go look you gotta go to New York.

[00:05:30] Could have my favorite spot the World Trade says got my favorite pizza before I introduce this podcast properly. I just want to say title page Glee by Martin breast March 23rd 2001 and then the second

[00:05:43] Page on this 144 page script is blank other than just two lines of text note. The first G in Glee is pronounced like the J in Jacques. The second G is silent rhymes with really and then the script starts on the next page.

[00:06:02] If you have taken the time to write that out, you maybe already lost the battle and the craziest thing is the line like the first line in the movie when he explains that's not in the script. No, it's so clear that someone said to him.

[00:06:15] Hey, someone's rubbing their temple. Sweet, please just yeah, the thing you said more rhymes with really you put down for the reader someone in the movie needs to say this. This is blank check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David.

[00:06:27] It's a podcast about filmographies directors who have massive success early on in their careers for giving a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want and sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce Glee cannot

[00:06:40] deny that's all I mean this this isn't me Joe back where you are like, oh underperformed. This is a black hat. This is a black hat situation even beyond that. I just feel like we've been filling in some of the Mount Rushmore of the

[00:06:54] shorthand bombs Ishtar Waterworld Glee. These are like something Billy Crystal can say on an Oscar stage to have and everyone will know it means a movie that did badly. Yeah, right, right, right. Like even like the viewer in the in the Heartland will know Glee just means a

[00:07:15] bad movie. Jay Leno will go on and on about it for pretty incisive. I mean that guy really really has just like a scalpel like focus on you know, yeah industry comedy and stuff like that. Take machines. Yes instant comedy punchline for decades. Yes.

[00:07:31] It's also like it's very I find it very sweet when a movie is so bad that no One has any qualms about yeah talking publicly about how bad it is because you're not necessarily worried that you're going to hurt someone's feelings

[00:07:43] because it's just like they know like Madame Web is like that and I think it was really good for all of us. Madame Web was incredible for the culture. I think it's one of the better things that's happened. Yes.

[00:07:53] I mean, you know who agrees with what you just said Martin Bress the film recovering in a miniseries the filmmaker recovering in this miniseries that ends sadly ends today with this episode. But this is it Padre Lee Hills cast. He is so broken by this movie.

[00:08:10] He refuses to refer to it by name. Yes movie. He will cause it right. He calls it the G movie which is I think disingenuous because this film is not rated G. No has way too much cunnilingus talk to be rated G and penis sneezing and

[00:08:24] penis sneezing luckily unseen penis sneezing. Thank God. We implied though. It is let's say Bartha. I think probably would have played that scene with dignity and grace that that didn't ruin his career is actually offensive to me. Yes, no offense to Justin Barth.

[00:08:42] I think I've actually been mean about a lot on this podcast. Well, the first National Treasure key is the worst look anyone's ever had in any movie which you spent some time. I think it looks like a real dork in that movie. Well, of course. Yes.

[00:08:54] I know he's playing a door. It'll take he's a little dink. You're not wrong that he is a little ding. They made him look normal book of secrets. They did. I would argue almost like they heard me yelling funny both of them. He's fine.

[00:09:06] Yeah, he is in a time where he really needed that like when National Treasure is coming out a year after Glee and people are like, I'm sorry, the comic relief in the movie is the cognitively disabled kid from Glee.

[00:09:18] Are you guys trying to tank this and everyone's like, you know what? He's just funny enough. I mean, luckily no one saw Glee. Yes, that was that was your that saved him that saved him. Look, this is Poverty Hills cast which we're concluding today with

[00:09:33] Gigli the 2003 Calamity and today joining us on the show. One of Hollywood's hottest screenwriters. Yeah, I mean, yeah, Hocus Pocus 2. Wow, Quiz Lady. Yeah, there was a third credit you had last year that I'm forgetting right? Didn't you have three movies in one year? Totally killer. Totally killer.

[00:09:53] Jen D'Angelo's here. Hey Jen. Hey, I'm so glad to be here talking to you. Lee. Oh, you crazy person. Here's the thing. I want to throw out right off the bat off of what you're saying to people even know he was the guy in Glee.

[00:10:06] I think most people who laugh at Glee jokes who make Glee jokes who still think of Glee as a shorthand don't know what Glee is actually about truly we several years ago on this podcast did a thing called the spies in disguise challenge where we asked

[00:10:21] listeners of this show to show spouses family members close friends who did not know the plot of spies in disguise the trailer positive the halfway mark and go. What do you think the twist is what will happen now?

[00:10:32] I ask our listeners to now engage in the Glee challenge, which is go to close people in your life and go Glee. Have you seen it? No, you know it is. Yes. What do you think Glee is about and I think 99% of people will just go.

[00:10:47] It's some weird romantic comedy with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Maybe they know mob. They might know mob right? I don't think most people know that she is a self-identified lesbian. I think and they are both babysitting a developmentally disabled.

[00:11:04] They don't know that younger brother of a federal prosecutor right? Yeah, who they're holding hostages leverage against an FBI investigation. Yes, a mob case, right? I don't think nobody knows that part. I think some people might sort of know the lesbian part because it's turkey time gobble gobble.

[00:11:23] What I'm interested in the layers of the rock. I'm interested in because I'm like, yes, it's that's the order some people know. Yes, the sexuality. Yeah, the Sultan slick like monologue. I feel like I just think most people don't know that Barthas

[00:11:39] a part of it and it is the movie. It's the whole movie. It's the whole fucking movie. I had a very fun experience of watching this with my husband who is like a huge movie guy like we that's all we do and he

[00:11:51] had never seen Glee which shocked me to my core because he loves we both love watching like, you know movies that are so bad. They're good. Sure, but I wouldn't even say that this qualifies as that honestly, but you know, it's an iconically bad movie.

[00:12:03] I'm certain he would have seen it. We were watching it together and he as the live commentary of Ben Affleck walking into the assisted living facility Lucas was just like, oh no is someone going to be playing a mentally disabled person? Is it? Oh my God.

[00:12:21] It's Justin Bartha like it was just the entire narration leading up to the scene of just unfold the horrible reality unfolding and then dropping to him like hey, and this is the rest of the movie for here on. Yes.

[00:12:32] This is the only discernible sort of like stab at a plot. It's the plot. It's the conflict almost every scene is the three of them together. It's Rain Man in LA like an LA apartment, right? It's so crazy. Rain Man plus chasing Amy.

[00:12:50] Yeah is what this movie is set within the mob, right? Yeah, Rain Man plus chasing Amy plus like Prizzy's honor or whatever. Yeah, you know something like that like a light mob. Yes, Romedy. I mean, you know the studio people were like it's it's midnight run.

[00:13:08] Yeah, but but it's not it's midnight run. No one runs anywhere. No one runs anywhere. It's hidden one shitty apartment. That's intentionally shitty. What's wild about it is you go you understand how on paper studios could be licking their lips and going Martin breast

[00:13:24] is over the meet Joe Black thing, right? He wants to make a zippy rom-com about a mobster and a hit woman crime. He's got Ben Affleck and JLo cool. He's made two of the most profitable movies in this exact

[00:13:36] lane Pacino and walking are agreeing to do like one scene performances. Cameos. Yeah, Justin Barthel who's that? Don't worry about it. Look, she's the problem though. You're like on paper. Yes, absolutely. I get why people are fighting over this.

[00:13:51] I get why stars are flipping in and out of the casting at this. But then if you actually look at what he's doing you go. Hey Marty, let's maybe rethink some of these elements. I also I'm certain you guys must have read his like interview

[00:14:07] from last year in Variety where he talked about his career. He finally sort of talked about it around quote. I screenshotted it. Can I read it? Please. It really I've been thinking about it since I read it because

[00:14:20] the way that he talks about what this movie like what he thought it was going to be. Yeah, and then what it became. Okay. So this is how he described Julie extensive disagreements between the studio and myself got to the point where post

[00:14:33] production was shut down for eight months while we battled it out in the end. I was left with two choices quit or be complicit in the mangling of the movie to my eternal regret. I didn't quit so I bear responsibility for a ghastly cadaver

[00:14:44] of a movie once key scenes were cut. It became like a joke with his punchline removed endless contortions could never create the illusion that what remained was intended extensive reshooting and re-editing turned character scene story and tone upside down in the futile attempt to make

[00:14:57] the increasing mess resemble a movie for the first time in my career. I become a true collaborator not in the benign creative sense, but rather that of one who in violation of their true allegiances cooperates with occupying forces and for

[00:15:10] that kind of compromise self-castigations far exceed any possible public ones. He's an articulate person. Yes, I think about that constantly now. It's so sad and profound but I have to say after reading the original script. I'm a little bit like what are you talking about? Exactly.

[00:15:28] I was reading this being like there is a Damon Affleck 2020 long zoom interview that I'm obsessed with that I cite all the time on episodes. It has nothing to do with because it's like one of the best two people in the industry kind of like unwinding looking

[00:15:45] back on decades of their career talks and Affleck is so candid talking about the ups and downs of his career. He's never candid in interviews. I don't know what you're talking about. It's the most lucidly sort of sanely focussedly candid I've ever seen.

[00:15:58] He can be really wonderful talking about this. Yeah, it's an incredible interview but he talks about how like he and Damon idolized Martin Brest. Oh, yeah. And how when they won the Good Will Hunting Oscar and their career sort of going to different tracks and Damon's

[00:16:13] getting like pulled into like top-of-the-line prestige working for the best directors and Affleck is doing like paycheck blockbuster schlock in the public eyes, right? And for a while there Affleck was the much more bankable movie star but didn't have any credibility and Damon was

[00:16:29] like all credibility and then Bourne like flips them and Affleck tanks and the whole things kind of we know the narrative right and he talks about like people had this notion of me that I was choosing not to do the prestige things and Affleck's

[00:16:44] like none of those directors wanted me. They wanted you they didn't want me. I took the movies that I was offered. That was the decision Hollywood was making. He was not considered a quote-unquote good actor at all. Damon completely was he done things like Courage Under Fire

[00:16:59] Good Will Hunting, you know Talents Mr. Ripley where it's like, oh, he's got range. Yeah, Affleck was a pretty boy. Yes. He was like hunky. He's a matinee idol. I've been sitting on a hot take that I'm embarrassed and scared

[00:17:11] to say but I feel like this is the time. I think that Affleck is good in this movie. I mean that is and can you turn on the AC? I think it's gonna get really hot. I wasn't kidding when she said look what we're putting the

[00:17:29] world's biggest pin in that my phone just gave me that, you know, when your phone overheats and it's like take me out of the sun. I just got an Amber Alert. I really like Ben Affleck as an actor often and I think the

[00:17:41] last 10 years he's really figured his thing out. Totally. He's a great Bruce Wayne like that really is fire for the last decade in my opinion. I love we've talked about his kind of like his Prince Ling era, right?

[00:17:53] Like your Last Duel, your heir where he's sort of playing the supporting role. He's incredible in The Last Duel. He's incredible, incredible in The Last Duel, Tender Barn. He's incredible in a movie that's nothing Gone Girl, Tender Barn. Tender Barn is one of the great American films.

[00:18:07] Way back feel like three really interesting movies of him using his persona, but also just being really lived in now like you don't feel I always felt effort from him in this era where you're like he's trying so hard to show that he's

[00:18:22] not just a pretty boy that he's not an idiot. And that energy really works for Gigli. Yes. So back to this interview. The Gigli thing before you go back to your favorite interview of all time, the great moment in Diplomacy that you remember so well.

[00:18:38] It's one of those things where it's kind of like why is Renee Zellweger bad at singing in Chicago and people are like the characters bad at singing and I'm like do I want to go that far though? Like just watch a movie with someone who can't sing well,

[00:18:49] but it's part of the character Gigli. It's like yeah, he's kind of pretending to be a tough guy. He's not really one. So the effect of a bad performance is part of the performance. Yeah, and I'm like it's just like kind of hot takey like hot takey.

[00:19:04] No offense Jen where you're kind of like yeah, okay, but it's a whole movie of watching someone give a bad performance. Is that a good performance? Right. Affleck talks about how Brest wanting him for this was one

[00:19:18] of the first times he'd been like this is one of my favorite filmmakers who's asking for me right versus what he was seeing happen to Damon. Yeah, and he was like, I mean you remember Matt like we just talked about Martin Brest all the time when we were

[00:19:31] like 20 and broke and living in an apartment together. We were obsessed with that guy. They both wanted scent of a woman in that era where no one could be Chris O'Donnell. Right to play the kid right 100%. So I think Dan Affleck is just like, of course, I'm going

[00:19:45] to be in a Martin Brest movie but also admits the thing never totally worked and he's like what ended up coming out in the dust was the worst version of it. Sure, right when but maybe there's not a great version when Marty delivered his cut.

[00:19:59] It was neither fish nor fowl and then they butchered it even further. I was so curious to read this fucking draft and be like what was the thing he was trying to do that? He didn't hit but where I can at least understand what

[00:20:10] the idea was for this movie and you read through it and is astonishing how much of the script is identical identical. I was like, this is like reading just a novelization of the movie sounds like you just read essentially a longer version of Shealy.

[00:20:24] The film ends up around two hours. So it sounds like someone at least prevailed on him to lose a little bit of this hundred fifty paid thing. You're reading right? Yes, there was an additional Christopher Walken scene that was cut.

[00:20:39] There's that right or is that in the movie? I started. There's just the one walking scene. So yeah, I mean I was dying for another one after that fantastic scene but up and has a second scene that is like again.

[00:20:51] I was like reading it and just was like so fascinated by it because all of Shealy like the entire script is just a lot of characters launching into these monologues and I like these long monologues that are very circuit

[00:21:04] circuitous and then wind up at like, you know some version of some sort of point and that's like, you know such a trope in writing and I'm always just sort of like obsessed with trying to figure out like when they go wrong and

[00:21:16] when they go right because you have like on one end of the spectrum. You have like the cerulean blue monologue from Devil Wears Prada, which is so incredible. Agreed and on the other end of the spectrum, you have this cut scene from Shealy where it's just Jacob Ellis,

[00:21:28] which for some reason in the script is all one word. I wasn't sure if that's his last name or if that was some kind of joke, but that's a Christopher Walken character. His second scene is him just coming back and gives like

[00:21:37] a page long monologue about how he was so constipated. He thought he had cancer and then it it switched and now he has constant diarrhea. So he has to carry a port-a-potty in his trunk. That's a you're like there was such an intentionality

[00:21:48] and craft of this dialogue and I don't understand what he thought. You read through the script and the changes are so small that you're just like is there a tone that he thought would have made this movie work that either

[00:22:00] he didn't achieve or was fucked with in post but on paper it reads like what it is. Exactly. He's sort of saying that in the quote you read Jen, this sort of definite right? Right. He's like, yeah, they're they're fucking with the rhythm of it, the humor.

[00:22:12] They're cutting out of jokes early. I don't where I'm just like you are an obsessive compulsive mentally controlling filmmaker that works well early in your career. I don't think he's right about Julie where it's like, yeah, no if I had just had my process where I get everything

[00:22:29] just calibrated it makes more sense. I don't think so. Also you have to tell yourself stories sometimes. Yeah, you know what? You tell yourself stories in order to live. What would I do if I made Julie? You know, how do you justify that thing?

[00:22:42] Like some people pull the Clooney Batman and Robin thing where they're just like on every interview. They're like I want to make clear. I know that movie shitty and I think I'm bad at it, right? You know where you just kind of like let me get out ahead

[00:22:51] of the scandal even all these years later. But the weirdest thing was he said multiple times like I feel like I saw it in multiple interviews that he mentioned that the studio and I think Ben Affleck said this too that the

[00:23:04] studio made him make it a love story because to capitalize on their connection. So again in that script, yes, it's a love story. This wouldn't make any sense if it wasn't what would it be then just they hang out. That's it.

[00:23:15] So the biggest difference just because you didn't get to the end of the script. He dies. He dies. I mean the way it's written is very bizarre. I feel like when like a decision to leave right he gets like buried under the sand.

[00:23:29] There's a storm that like takes down the entire Baywatch shoot and Julie. We really yes, that's how I read it. I'm like rereading it right now to make sure I'm comprehending it but it's written very bizarrely and sort of poetically

[00:23:44] I will read to you to where he was kind of like it's kind of a beautiful image, right? Right. Yeah, but they all die and JLo doesn't come back at the end. Like that's the biggest difference the final scene where she's like, come on.

[00:23:55] This was never going to be a real thing and drives off and leave them there at the beach was supposed to be the end of their arc then Brian goes onto the Baywatch set Julie smiles and watches approvingly as he fucking lays down the

[00:24:08] Mac on these women and then they all die in sand. That was the ending. I hope so. I hope it says clearly in the script that the entire set has disappeared that everything is like washed away and been ripped away.

[00:24:25] So the quote actually not from Africa's from Adam Brody who auditioned for the Barth apart and thank God for him did not get it and then ends up being on the OC this year. Anyway, can you imagine how terrified you would be if you audition for it?

[00:24:38] You knew that that tape was out there. There's one tape of me. He said I remember liking the script. I remember in the end Aflac died in a way that still stays with me. It's like he's sitting on the beach. He's bleeding out. So maybe he's injured.

[00:24:52] I thought he got shot by Al Pacino, right? So like there's a reason he's kind of accepting his fate maybe and the sand just comes up and buries him. It was a nice image that they did not use in the movie.

[00:25:03] So like I bet you Brody's like going to watch Julie and he's like at least that ending is going to be cool. Then he's like what the fuck? Like, you know, anyone who like auditioned for the movie is like what's where's the ending?

[00:25:13] Can I just read the way this is written? Sure. Okay. So it's the set Brian's dancing loses inhibition. He is a static bikini girl digs a style and Brian digs hers. That's basically the end of what we see in the movie, right?

[00:25:25] Julie as he dreamily watches the thumping source music slowly begins to fade in its place a transcendently beautiful piece of score starts to build way to call your shot a shot and Marty as it does the wind starts to gently pick up the set

[00:25:39] everyone continues to dance to the source music. We no longer hear the set the people have practically now all disappeared only the odd piece of set or equipment pokes through the surface, but those two are about to go and then

[00:25:50] Julie and voiceover says at the end of the day after all that is said and done the only thing that you can really count on Julie or more accurately where he was just a little blowing hair remains then that too is covered Julie.

[00:26:03] The only thing that's really for sure the set the tip of the very last hint that civilization was ever there finally disappears Julie is that you just never fucking know all that now remains as a beautiful deserted Virgin Beach just as it was exist in

[00:26:19] a distant Paradise fade out. It doesn't make any sense. Thank you. I don't understand the end of the world. I don't know that would be a taste that be the twist. It's bizarre that the world ends. Yeah, right.

[00:26:32] And frame it like a sandstorm in the distance people running. It's like it's written very elusively. That's so crazy, but they shot some version of this because there's also a point in the script earlier that I couldn't remember if this was in the movie either.

[00:26:47] I'm almost certain it wasn't but there's like a part very early on where he's walking down the street and then pauses and closes his eyes and then he's on a beach. Yes, I think that's not in there. Yeah, right. So that was setting up.

[00:26:58] So there's something very meaningful about Gilly on a beach. I guess that we just didn't know even if the movie was called Gilly on the beach would be better than just Gilly. Yeah, but like I detest scent of a woman.

[00:27:12] I understand exactly what he was trying to do and you can argue he succeeded in doing a thing that I think sucks. This film is worse than scent of a woman. This is my question going back watching this is like I get

[00:27:25] less angry watching this than scent of a woman, but I cannot identify what he thought he was doing. You really cannot pin and I you know, I like to do this anytime we cover a calamity on the podcast. I like to try to fucking salvage.

[00:27:42] What was the idea in their head? Right. What was the thing that went astray? Someone who has made good movies. So you're like the right like this person is not without skill surely and he well we can talk about I'm going to read

[00:27:53] you from the dossier but Jen did you like Julie? I love it. I know Jen came in before Griff was here and was like and I love Julie and I was like wait really wait, I'm not mad.

[00:28:04] But is that what you're going to do and you're like no, no, no, no, no, and I was like, okay. Okay. When did you first see it? You'd seen it before I seen it before I I saw it in high school. I remember I rented it.

[00:28:16] I forced my friends to rent it from blockbuster for a sleepover because I was like, it's so bad like pretty sure this is what I did as well. Yeah, right and then famously bad. Let's famously bad. Let's goof on it. Yeah, and yeah within like 30 minutes 40 minutes.

[00:28:31] You're just sort of like, okay. Well, I'm not enjoying this at all and it's like not really anything. It's just kind of boring. I I can read a leap or don't remember if I ever made it to the end.

[00:28:41] I don't think I finished before watching it last night. It's also one of those movies that like as much as there was this gawking like oh my God, what a disaster thing Sony was So on guard about it that like the second it wasn't doing

[00:28:53] well, they were like, yep. We're sorry. We're pulling it out of theaters like it was gone so quick. It was gone within like a week. It had a like 1.5 multiplier like it was that pre it. Yes, it opens to three.

[00:29:06] I believe it ends up at six but beyond that it was like it opened in 2000 screens in theaters for three weeks the next weekend. It was on like 70 screen. No, no, so no, you know, everybody has two weeks theaters basically demanded of you.

[00:29:19] You cannot pull a movie after one week, especially back then but I think even now you book two weeks. So it is on 2200 screens Queens Queens for two weeks and then in its third week. It is on 73 screens and those screens it is gone.

[00:29:34] Those screens are probably people who like didn't pick up the phone like when like Sony called being is it Sony? Yeah. Yeah, like being like hey, can you send the Julie? We're not doing Julie anymore. So they just like did one more week those theaters were caught

[00:29:46] under the sand. Yeah, they got sand over just a little hair visible. It made 3.7 million dollars in its opening weekend. It made $18,000 and it's third weekend. It yes, I didn't do well my favorite little tidbit that I

[00:30:00] saw was that Ben Affleck got paid twelve and a half million JLo got paid 12 million and their combined salary was yeah, like more than double or more than three times the the gross right money each one of them made twice as much as the movie

[00:30:17] made in total incredible as a single person and we'll get into this too, but JLo was like flipped in very late very late, which is the fascinating sort of like sliding doors of this movie because it was supposed to be Halle Berry correct and x2 ran over schedule.

[00:30:33] Sure. I mean how it's not like the movies better or worse with her but it probably is more we'll talk about more under the radar right right with her then it's just kind of forgotten. I just want to say this we're recording this pretty close to came out.

[00:30:45] We were happy to you know, wait for you. No, no, no, no, no because we've been recording a lot of episodes like months in advance. Yeah, this is coming out only a couple weeks after we've recorded it but it needs to be noted like a couple weeks ago.

[00:31:01] I get a bunch of texts that are like I hope you haven't recorded your Glee episode yet as the rumors about Affleck and JLo splitting up or like hitting a fever pitch and then I just felt like well, I hope before we record there's some sort of

[00:31:16] like settlement of this and it feels like we're existing in this very bizarre state now. We're like two months ago. We would have been recording this episode being like and the nice part is of course 20 years later. They got married and they're happy and now no one fucking

[00:31:32] knows the status of their relationship. I think it's it's broadly reported their relationship has ended he's moved his belongings out of their home, you know, again, this is all People Magazine-esque, you know a friend close to Ben tells us or whatever but it makes the cultural

[00:31:49] narrative of this film even more fascinating. It does but that to me is the Affleck thing where he like figures his shit out and the minute he does and has juice again. He's like I should be Batman and marry JLo again.

[00:32:01] Like he just like he's like let me plunge right back down. Let me try it all again. Let me get close to the sun. He was daredevil and he was dating JLo and 20 years later. He's like I should do both. I have to do them both.

[00:32:15] I got a few Batman and JLo. It's such a thing. I'm gonna marry her. I'm like because I really do think he's such a good Bruce Wayne, but then yeah, the Batman like the the movies around him are so bad. Sorry.

[00:32:29] No, no, I I agree with you firmly. So sorry Zack Snyder. Yeah, I know you listen. Yeah. Do you think Zack's gonna come for your ass? Like I mean. He seems like a nice man. I'm not a pair of demons after you only heard the best things

[00:32:43] about yeah, but yeah, it's such a like Ben Affleck is just such I I root for him. He's just so sad. It's like he's just such a sad aura around him. I think it's just we just have to accept that that is the

[00:32:58] Ben Affleck experience and he will never be totally happy for us. He will have his happy times and his sad times and we're with him all the way in all of them. I guess right? That's the we're just going to ride the roller coaster with Ben Affleck.

[00:33:12] I think so. Yeah, and we're just going to accept that sometimes he just is really really sad on the street holding a big old Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and with his large back tattoo that maybe he's altered. Maybe not the back tattoo is also very unfortunate.

[00:33:26] He's become this weird version of like an F Scott Fitzgerald Yes, I'm sure. Modern though. That's why that's why we're with him. Yeah, beautiful man at the top of the mountain who has everything and yet it's always just a little out of his grasp.

[00:33:43] He's always reaching a little bit further. Yeah, and he loves movies so much. Love them. He there's a I of course I'm obsessed with Project Greenlight and there's a talking head moment that he had in season four was it the very cursed season that I loved so much.

[00:34:00] That was the curse season. Was that the comeback HBO? Yeah, that was yeah. Leisure class season. Right, right. But like when they're when they're having all the arguments over like, oh, can he shoot on film? Can he not shoot on film?

[00:34:12] There's a talking head with Ben Affleck where he's just like I mean the Godfather were shot on film. Porky's were shot on film. Need I say more and I just like I love this so much as Ben Affleck in a nutshell where it's just like he loves movies

[00:34:27] so much and he wants to like fight for on behalf of the filmmaker and yet his two examples are just like a digital didn't exist and be like those are just such funny. Yes, but those are the two that he's Canadian showers just

[00:34:39] popped, you know the green on that white tile and those bear shower heads. I'm trying to think of like anything you can say about Porky's visually apart from that. It has TNA shirt the glory hole. Yes sweater weather is officially over.

[00:35:00] We have defeated the beast except in the blank check studios where it's always a comfortable 55 degrees, but the wicked curse of sweater weather. It's over. I said it wrong. I flipped the two words. Listen sweaty weather has replaced it. Oh brother. That's true. It's hot out there.

[00:35:18] Yeah, and so I am breaking out the Bombas. I don't know about you Griffin. Yeah, but in the summertime, yeah, you don't I'm wearing short pants as they call them shorts. I wear longies because I don't like to be looked at.

[00:35:31] I don't like my flesh to be visible but because of that I prefer to wear a obviously a shorter Gen Z style ankle or whatever sock, right? You know, well, isn't it Gen Z's always wearing the short socks.

[00:35:44] Yeah, and I'm like this is stereotype cover it up socks going up to my thighs pants going down to my toes. It's all like a tick-tock about it. Yeah, Ben's giving me a sort of casual thumbs up made with

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[00:36:19] podcasting I too am wiggling my sock feet. I kick my shoes off. We see my little socks. Look at David's little socks. I went to Bombas. I was like, I need some short socks and went and got him. Yep. Okay, that's what happens.

[00:36:31] And the best thing about Bombas of course. Yeah, they're comfy but also every time you buy a comfy Bombas item they donate an equally comfy item to someone who really needs it. They've donated over 100 million clothing items to date. And there's another thing that happens that's been happening

[00:36:48] that will continue to happen which is Bombas being and this is not in the ad copy, but I gotta say it the most successful company in the history of Shark Tank. Ready to get comfy and give back? Head over to Bombas.com slash check and use

[00:37:01] code check for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash check and use code check at checkout Bombas. Bye. From Midnight Run to Meet Joe Black. Martin Brass worked at Universal Pictures. Oh, yeah. He made hits. Mm-hmm. By hits I mean he made two hit films.

[00:37:19] Midnight Run and Scent of a Woman. Uh-huh. Then he makes Meet Joe Black. Muted reception, disappointing box office combined with as we mentioned Babe Pig in the City's disappointing box office. Casey Silver, head of the studio, longtime friend is turfed

[00:37:33] out. So Silver starts just becoming a producer freelance, whatever you call it, right? Does Hidalgo over at Disney. Sets up an Ethan Allen movie called Rebels at Walden Media that I think never was made. Okay. And sets up a little movie called Giggly E at Revolution Studios.

[00:37:53] It's not a great run if the movie that never got made is far and away the most successful of the three. Hidalgo was like quietly a financial calamity. I think the problem with Hidalgo which made money was that it was quite expensive. It cost over $100 million. Yeah, yeah.

[00:38:08] Because that was Vigo's first post Lord of the Rings role. That was a little bit of a foray. Is he an action adventure star? Can you just slot Vigo into any film with this energy and it will work?

[00:38:19] So this film is set up at the Notorious Revolution Studios. Joe Roth's, you know, sort of insane. What do you how do you want to describe it? Vanity shingle slash mini studio. Yeah, it's a little over now.

[00:38:36] Like I don't know if we'll ever see this again because it feels like people wisely go like I'm going to start an A24 or a Neon instead. They know their lane or even an STX where they're like. Stay in a certain cap. Right.

[00:38:48] Let's make the movies at a lower budget level that no one else is making. But Revolution is very in line with Dreamworks of like someone who had wild success in the studio system being like I can start the sixth major studio Martin breast according to

[00:39:03] press notes for this film JJ had to really dig because as Jen noted, he really doesn't like to talk about Julie, but the press notes for Julie. He says I've increasingly found myself pulled towards a central character who comes off mean angry and unsympathetic

[00:39:18] Gradually another side is revealed which I can see with Midnight Run. I can see with a sense of a woman. I actually can't see as much with me Joe Black where everyone's actually kind of a good guy and that's a good guy except for death.

[00:39:33] I suppose sure, but obviously you can see it was Julie. There's a video. I highly recommend. I feel like I've referenced it in other episodes, but watched it finally in full in preparation for this and called Justin Martha's Julie montage. Yes, supercut fan camp.

[00:39:51] Set to everything's going to be all right by naughty by nature. No, there's this Irish kid named Daniel fee who during the pandemic started interviewing directors and just sending cold emails and all these big directors agreed to spoke and speak

[00:40:03] to him and breast was like the first guy he reached out to and I watching the video realized JJ has been pulling a lot of quotes from this with attribution because it's one of the few public like it's certainly his first video interview in

[00:40:16] 20 years and this kid is Irish kid with two deaf parents and like movies where they're bonding force. It's like really sweet and he's really earnest and he really wants to be a filmmaker and he's like my dad's favorite movie is midnight run.

[00:40:30] He reached out to Martin breast is like I believe in you, but I don't do interviews and then this kid proceeds to get the Russo brothers and all these big people to sit down with him and Martin breast circles back and he's like I'll do the

[00:40:39] interview and he talks about that his activation point for percent of a woman and very little is taken from the Italian film in his version is just that movie has the setup of introducing you to the absolutely most miserable character

[00:40:54] you've ever seen where you're like this guy is so repellent and abhorrent. I cannot imagine watching him for the rest of this runtime and how do you keep them engaged and slowly make you like a guy? It's very clear that that's like a real fixation of his it's

[00:41:09] so fascinating to me. So I had never seen Rain Man until sort of recently like a couple years ago and I was so fascinated by it because it's like it says so much about the culture that it's sort of this

[00:41:24] was like an acceptable kind of like crowd pleaser heartwarming like huge movie and it's like and from the outset or you know, intentionally it was like this asshole character has to learn how to like, you know, have a real relationship with someone

[00:41:42] and like take care of someone and sort of like become a softer person and the fact that it's like acceptable. It's considered within the acceptable realm of asshole to be screaming. Yes, mentally ill person being like with developmental disability

[00:41:59] just screaming at them being like shut up get over it and then learning like oh they you know, they are a real person and I have to like work with them. Like it's just so fascinating and it's it's crazy to see that

[00:42:12] in a movie that came out in 1988. I think Rain Man was and then 2003. It's just like it feels so ugly and bad and just like and he has this basically continued for another decade. I mean, I feel like we're finally at the point where no one

[00:42:28] will do this ever again. Yeah, but even like motherless Brooklyn a film that came up five years ago truly might be the last one and that almost feels like it was grandfathered in from like 2000 studio development. But like that's a movie that feels very inspired by Rain Man

[00:42:44] like, you know, just like this like can I give this sort of whole performance of this, you know disability that I'm kind of basically inventing like obviously it's based on real things, but I'm kind of just making up this big Acti version of it.

[00:42:59] You know the book it is in the book. Yeah, books about someone with Tourette's syndrome. Yeah, Edward Norton reading the book and rubbing his hands together and being like there's a lot of shit to play here.

[00:43:08] Right when that used to be the metric that a lot of people viewed acting by of like, can you believe this transformation? They're doing all this shit and they're bringing humanity to this type of person. You know that whole line of thinking that's really kind of

[00:43:21] ugly when you dig into it. It feels like the response to motherless Brooklyn wasn't even how dare you it was people being like come on like it got such a shrug that it feels like everyone realized there is no gain from trying this anymore.

[00:43:35] I would yes, but anyway, Gilly Gilly for let's not talk about Barthia because he just loves the character Gilly a guy who stuck in time not unstuck in time stuck in time his sensibility hails from another era 20 or 30 years ago, which makes him

[00:43:51] kind of sad as peers have moved on gotten married started family Gilly still at his two-bit job living alone in his dumpy apartment. You know, he likes this fake tough guy that Julie is this This is why he loves, you know, whatever this story idea is

[00:44:07] that he's rooted in this sort of Gilly character that speaks to him. So well tough guy. Is he a tough guy who kind of can't keep it up anymore? I have the times left him behind or whatever. This is where I immediately start to disconnect of like Marty.

[00:44:22] I love you. I do not understand what is innately appealing about the idea of this character. Not at all. I said to a woman I can get it if you say to me, here's the idea the guy go I could see how I could lock into that.

[00:44:33] I'm blind. I'm horny. I can't stop jogging this great. I want to die. I mean, I like the idea like here's what I liked about the character of Julie. Yeah, let's just say it again. She's like Julie. I'm like, okay, there's something interesting to me about

[00:44:51] like, here's this tough guy like and he just beats people up all the time and you know is like a criminal but you know, we think he's like so cool and then we just sort of slowly realize like he's a loser and he has no friends

[00:45:06] and like he has to take care of his mom and it's really sad for him and money crappy. Yeah, I take care of his mom. She shot in her butt. Yeah. Yeah, give her. Yeah, I assume insulin. Yeah, I'm like one time. Let's see.

[00:45:21] But in other ways she seems totally fine. But then like yeah, I what I bought up against is I'm like I can see that being interesting to me. But then what happened? Well sure, but also I'm like the interesting version of

[00:45:33] that guy for me is 20 years older than this character. Like if if it was a Walnut or Affleck today, you know, well, I'm a little young for whatever breasts is talking about because this whole vibe we're talking about something

[00:45:47] about like he's out of time is it's moving past. He's losing everybody. He's a little too fresh-faced for that to be reading to me as anything other than just kind of being like irritable. That's true. And it's also like the guy that he works for.

[00:46:02] It's not like he has like a real relationship with him. Like it's their relationship is very confusing and it's not like it's like, oh, I've worked for this guy for so long and like Affleck's 32 in this movie comes out. Wow.

[00:46:15] So essentially if we're going by breasts kind of notion of this, it's like sure when he was in his 20s. There were a lot of guys running with him and being like this, but in the last few years that's changed like it just doesn't feel like quite enough.

[00:46:30] No also 32 year old Affleck is one of the least hardened looking people in the world. Yeah, so he's still so pretty and I thought that really worked for the character. So Affleck says, you know his name nobody can pronounce. It's a series of endless embarrassments for the character.

[00:46:50] He's living a life that doesn't really feel as his he's baking it. Underneath the macho posturing is someone who's actually very sweet and unhappy. The story resonated with me in a way like maybe it's sort of speaking to Affleck's vanity of like, yeah, people don't get that.

[00:47:03] I'm like, I'm a sweet guy like just because I'm so beautiful and famous and also being like and I'm such a tough guy that people like I feel like Ben Affleck really thinks of himself as like a tough South kid. Yeah, right.

[00:47:16] But yeah, there's something that should be an interesting outlet for Affleck in like I'm stuck being a like Michael Bay leading man and I have like poetry in my heart and everyone thinks I'm a dumb pretty doofus. So Ricky, of course is Gigli's counterpart.

[00:47:36] We don't even need to talk about that right now. Okay, so he doesn't have much to say about it. It's like she lets Gigli know that his bullying has no effect on him. He's just describing the movie. No one's ever affected Gigli this way before and he falls

[00:47:48] madly in love with her. It just kind of feels like someone who's lost their mind and I come over to their house. I'm like, what are you been doing? They're like, yeah, I'm doing this like this is Gigli and

[00:47:56] like holds up at a like and this is and she's going to help him read. I don't like you. These are not like it. This isn't enough. You're doing Adam Scott and Parks and Rec. Yeah, could a depressed person make this right? LA.

[00:48:11] I just want to say another wild decision for Affleck. David's putting a hand up to this. I got my listening tube in that this will now be the second time Affleck has signed on to a I fall in love with a

[00:48:22] self-professed lesbian and we just slowly kind of wait out the like but are you really game? Is there any room is there have you just not met Gigli right? And I feel like Kevin Smith has talked very I think eloquently

[00:48:38] about how like he was very intentional in crafting the chasing Amy's script that all of the worst opinions come out of the mouth of Jason Lee that there's the character who's the idiot and Affleck is kind of a dope and he's like

[00:48:51] so hung up on her but all the like she just needs a good dicking stuff comes from the moron character. Whereas in this movie Affleck is also the only character we have. There's just enough people in this. Yes, like the only other ones fucking Bartha.

[00:49:05] He's no good when as I said this to you on a different episode where Larry Veneto is your fourth lead. You are in trouble. That is not to be mean to Larry Veneto. That guy just needs to be deeper in your cast.

[00:49:15] Look when he's 15th build in How Do You Know? Perfect. He's one of the best parts of the movie. Very funny part of the movie where they're giving birth and all that. The one scene that works. We forgot to tape it right? That's the joke.

[00:49:26] Yeah, they have to restage it. Have you seen How Do You Know? No. Oh Jen. If you love Gigli. If you are busted in the head. Yeah, your brain no worky. You might you might need to watch How Do You Know? Oh my god. You specifically.

[00:49:41] Martin Bress has largely set his films in New York. However, he knows Los Angeles before he starts writing Gigli. He starts exploring it in a way he'd never done before gravitating towards downtown LA where Hollywood bigwigs never visit. He says there's a different city within the city.

[00:49:57] He says, you know, slight state of disrepair negligible architecture. Basically Martin Bress take seems to be like what if I created a shitty character who's kind of a loser put him in a dumpy apartment with nothing to look at.

[00:50:11] So it's really hard to kind of like aesthetically lock into the film set it in like kind of a no neighborhood that nobody thinks about is that is that good for like a movie that cost 75 million dollars to make like is that a good idea fundamentally incompatible woman?

[00:50:26] What if I just like put all my limbs behind my back and break them and then try to make a movie right? I but I do think that's part of the thing he was saying about like I love the idea of like the challenge the dare to an

[00:50:39] audience of like, how are you going to watch this guy for two hours and making you if I had just made meet Joe Black. I might be like what's safe territory not like what's not safe territory.

[00:50:49] What's wild is I think for him what safe territory is I do an out now comedy again. I think he react. I think he really was like I got this if I'm within the comedy space and people are holding guns.

[00:51:01] Yeah, like this is the formula of my most successful films and it's like it's just two people in a room chatting like that's electrifying like they're great characters. I get the right people. Yeah now Robert Ellsworth who shot this film who's obviously a wonderful cinematographer.

[00:51:15] He's worked with Paul Thomas Anderson Brad Bird bunch of brilliant people, but I don't know how much he did here to help. He did his best. I suppose his theory is that breast wrote the film. He's like that's where it goes wrong breast hasn't written a

[00:51:30] film since going in style and Ellsworth says nobody sets out to make a bad movie. Marty breast one of the smartest funniest most intelligent strange neurotic human beings I've ever worked with. I really loved it, but what he can't do is right. He made a horrible mistake.

[00:51:44] He tried to write his own movie. There are some people whose imaginative skills are all about taking a screenplay and working into something else. That's Marty breast incredible developer like he's talked about and it's one of the reasons that he made so few movies and

[00:51:57] Such big gaps between them is he says like I was always pretty monogamous and how I worked and like a lot of directors who will be developing 10 things at the same time waiting to see which one goes.

[00:52:09] I like commit to one project for seven years until it's there and the studio agrees, but yes starting with someone else working with someone else having someone else literally be the thing fingers on the keys. Maybe yeah, there's that there's an idea there Marty decided

[00:52:26] to write his thing himself. Somehow he talked to Roth and all those guys at Sony into doing it. It was just not a film and you know what part of it was the personal relationships. Ben fell in love with what's her name? Rude Robert, you don't know her.

[00:52:39] The whole thing was misshapen from the very beginning. I don't know if it ever would have worked out but I think Marty breast is not a screenwriter, but he is a really interesting compelling and director and a lot of fun to be on set with else.

[00:52:49] It's basically like great time, you know had loved making this and Ellsworth says why hasn't he worked with he's asked why why no more breasts and he said look the man he doesn't get along with studio executives.

[00:52:59] He's not a great partner when his films make money for his partners. They put up with it as soon as they didn't he couldn't buy a job his lack of charm and inability to compromise and interact with studio executives particularly on the film that cost the

[00:53:11] most money make things complicated. There's more like combative, you know, he's just like it's the classic like the minute you fail if nobody loves you you're in a worse situation. Also look we didn't get into it too much in the Beverly Hills

[00:53:26] cop episode, but I'm watching this like Rob the interview and a few other times. He's talked publicly since then he talks about getting fired off of war games as such a deep trauma for him where he was like that did not happen Studios did not do that.

[00:53:42] I developed that movie for like two years and they fired me after three weeks because I butted my head against an exec, you know, they're all these notions of like them being unhappy With what they were seeing in the dailies and he contends that

[00:53:57] it like it was truly they didn't like that. They couldn't control me. It was a behavioral thing more than a result thing, but that he comes out of that and he's like I'm fucking ruined my reputation is ruined. No one will touch me in this town.

[00:54:09] I'm like radioactive. He tells a story about walking down the street of La seeing somebody new and that person crosses the street because they're like this is just going to be too sad talk to Marty who's out of a conversation and Bruckheimer and Don Simpson love going

[00:54:25] in style and they like him and they're just like we want you to make a movie for us and he's just like I'm over. I'm cooked. He basically talks about them like spending months working to coax him out. He didn't want to do it.

[00:54:39] He turned down Beverly Hills Cup so many times the infamous story about him tossing the coin and going if it's it flips up and he talks about at that point time. He had $500 in the bank and his rent was $450 and he was

[00:54:51] turning down Beverly Hills Cup because he was like this isn't my zone and I just think I'm fucking ruined and they force him to make this movie. It's this miracle it works out so well, but you understand

[00:55:04] how if Glee hits him this hard and no one's coaxing him out. He's like, okay, then I'm done. And the variety interview he did in 2023. I want to find this line, but he talks about it where he's like, look, I think I just had a good run.

[00:55:17] It was over the response to Glee was so conclusive that I was like, okay, that's the end of my directing career. He's not self-pitying about it in a way that's kind of interesting. He was talking about how he like is now just writing a novel or something.

[00:55:30] He's just like, yeah, I'm just writing things myself now. Yeah, presumably lives off of residuals or he invested. Well, like I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I'm not worried about him like paying the rent like clearly he's he's doing fine, which is great.

[00:55:46] But I'm sure there was a period post Glee. We've talked he's tried. Yeah, Damon and Affleck have talked about it. Like there have been moments of can we get Marty a job like, you know, can he make one more movie?

[00:56:01] Maybe like can he you know, have something post Glee, but I think there's some version of he it's the other thing he said in this interview with this kid of just like it was weird, but I did experience a like Kubrick Ian level of freedom on

[00:56:18] all of my projects save for war games. The one I got fired off of and Glee the one that ruined me Glee basically in post-production. Right? Like he was like going in style. There was this weird thing of these old legends trusting me

[00:56:29] Warner Brothers seeing it as low budget enough. They took a flyer and putting into a prime position Beverly Hills Cop was such a weird situation and they sort of Protected me then I had cash and people let me do what I wanted to do that.

[00:56:41] I think to some degree it's like for how difficult he was. He also like didn't seem to get that much pushback and the second he's like if making movies is gonna be like this. Maybe I don't want to do anymore.

[00:56:54] You know, there's a little bit of maybe just like I'm going to take my ball and go home. Yeah, I know but it's also like it's so interesting because the way he talks about stuff when he describes it.

[00:57:04] I'm like that makes a lot of sense to me and I really feel for you and then like like that quote I read and then reading the script of being like it's basically what you mean you watch Glee.

[00:57:13] Yeah, because with the thing about like I'm going to take my ball and go home like I when I was reading that quote originally or like that interview where he's talking about like, oh, well, I'm not going to be able to make movies like with the level

[00:57:27] of control that I want and so like why would I do it a part of me was like that's like a refreshing level of self-awareness to be like, okay, like I'm not good at working with studio

[00:57:36] people and they are going to be really on me after this flop like I will have I will never have a never do it. Yeah, streets changing at this moment of Julie like even if he weren't coming off a flop it would be increasingly a part

[00:57:50] of his limit. Yeah, he knows he's not going to be able to like it's okay, you know Marty. Okay, you can make a smaller movie and we're going to we're going to have more oversight and he's like well, I just am

[00:57:58] not going to be able to do that. Ben Affleck not written for Larry's Julie. I mean, you read Larry's Julie not written for Ben Affleck in mind right, you know, but easy choice for the role breast says has the physical presence to make him intimidate possesses

[00:58:10] a wonderful vulnerability reveals a certain amount of self-doubt. I know what he means speaking to Jen the biggest fan of this performance Affleck's what we've been talking about inner tenderness Affleck like you said said really easy choice. I love you know breasts movies Marty's enormously gifted.

[00:58:30] There was wonderful stuff in there. He says there's also things where my daughter will be like this is a blist and disgusting and okay the way we see stuff has changed a little bit or a lot in some cases and there are

[00:58:41] things that seem they could work at the time and don't in retrospect. The only thing I'll say to that is there's no way this ever seemed like it could work. I refuse to believe that no, I found the quote I was looking

[00:58:52] for which is I had a good run and I enjoyed success and freedom and that was fantastic. I would have liked it to go on longer but everyone likes everything to go on longer, but I feel very grateful for what

[00:59:02] I experienced and then he's a piece and they spends two paragraphs talking about well, then a script came out of me and I shopped around and no one wanted so it's like it's I'm glad he's a piece but it's not like he immediately was at peace.

[00:59:13] Once again the Joan Didion quote we tell ourselves stories in order to live, you know, we gotta we gotta have some kind of truth. I mean JJ didn't find anything about like even if he didn't write it in mind was just immediately to Affleck.

[00:59:26] It feels like Affleck was at that moment pretty much one at the top of a lot of lists, right? He's getting gigantic projects. Obviously, they're not like as you say auteur projects usually but he's clearly a hugely in demand star.

[00:59:43] I was how old was I when this movie came out 17. I remember when Armageddon came out when I was 12 every girl I knew had a huge crush on Ben Affleck. It was not like he was some niche performer.

[00:59:54] He was below Leo in terms of like baby face cutie pies that like people my age liked but he was right up there. Everyone had a crush on Ben Affleck and versus Leo and Damon who were being so strategic about their careers and trying

[01:00:09] to clear was way lower on the list. Nobody had a crush on Matt Damon back then. Yeah, they were also like building like serious artist careers based on working with auteurs. I remember there was something to how popular Ben Affleck

[01:00:20] was and how willing he was to just like be a movie star and when he talks about as a lack of options, but I think Hollywood was desperate for someone like this at this moment. He does so many movies like he does post Good Will Hunting.

[01:00:37] So 1998 he's in three movies 1999. He's in three movies 2000. He's in three movies plus he plays Joseph in Joseph King of Dreams, which seems to be some sort of a straight to video sequel Prince of Egypt weird. Okay 2001. He's in three movies.

[01:00:55] If we include J and Silent Bob strike back. He plays two roles in that. He does Holden and himself. Yes, 2002. He's in three movies 2003. He's in three movies like he just like was inescapable. Yeah. Yes, it was consistent right where very few of these movies

[01:01:12] are good, which is definitely the mistake he made. Yeah, a fair amount of them are mediocre stuff like bounce forces of nature changing changing lanes. God, I totally some of all fears of nature forces of nature is do if you want to rewatch it, there's stuff.

[01:01:30] Okay, but it's not a great film that yeah higher group of movies. You're talking about that. You just listed are all his favorite movie. They all have stuff in them. They all got stuff. You wish any one of them was a secret masterpiece.

[01:01:41] None of them are but all of them are like pretty respectable attempts at legitimate movies and then there's just like his pure paycheck movie star Lane. Obviously, there's like right sort of paycheck movie star movies that are basically bombs like Pearl Harbor daredevil.

[01:01:57] Some of all fears is honestly almost in that category. There's stuff like is all those movies. You've listed made a lot of money and get there hated and people were like, is that a bomb even at the time not loved

[01:02:08] like I think Armageddon is a masterpiece but at the time it was it was not well received. But Paul Harbour makes like 200 domestic daredevil does a hundred some of all fears does like 130 they make money. What's his best performance in this run? That's a really tough question.

[01:02:24] Yeah, how because there's a good grouping of performances pre Armageddon. We're not talking about that. I know and then there's a good grouping of performances after this period after Zili a hundred percent. It was starting with Hollywood land.

[01:02:37] I would say that's where it's sort of like he starts to take real role. I would say it's changing lanes. He's pretty good in that. He's pretty good. He's not great. You know, everyone else is acting off the screen, but he's

[01:02:50] what you want to hear for your best performance. I'm sorry. Everyone else is acting circles around him, but he's holding his own. That's a better way to put it. So stay on the screen. Yeah, but like the circle. Yes, he's staying on screen.

[01:03:02] I really like him in Shakespeare in love, but obviously that is a broad comic performance. I think that takes him a while to come back to like I should lean back into being the doofus. Yeah, and he needs to be the asshole.

[01:03:14] Yes, he's you know, he's he's totally fine and stuff like Dogma boiler room. Yeah, he's playing the asshole. Boiler room is playing the asshole. Yes, exactly right and it's like those are big ensemble movies where he's not that crucial totally Jen. Do you have anything else in here?

[01:03:33] I kind of like him in forces of nature. I'm sort of a secret fan of that movie. Yeah. I mean, I just remember like it's actually really hard to pick a favorite. It is. I know it's kind of crazy like looking back at his filmography

[01:03:46] Like this like it is just so weird because like pre 98 you're just like he is very good in Goodwill hunting and chasing Amy in days to confuse. Yes. Yes. Yeah mall rats like, you know, a hundred percent like he was

[01:04:04] a guy who popped who's that cutie and then he's like a hot guy in Armageddon. So you're just like, okay now he's the star. He's kind of good in that movie. It's this very big emotional performance. It's a lot of yelling and crying. It's a Michael Bay performance.

[01:04:17] Like I think he's giving that movie what it wants. Totally. He's exactly what that movie right needed versus like Pearl Harbor. He's doing the same thing but going through the motions Pearl Harbor. He looks like he wants to drink poison. Yeah, yeah, right.

[01:04:30] I mean Hartnett is the one with some juice in that just because Hartnett feels like this alien they found like from like Planet Cutie Pie, right where you're just like who is this guy and he really feels corn-fed in a way like he feels like the movie

[01:04:44] is what the movie is going for Affleck just feels really lost in that movie. God, you look at 2003 and it's like Battle of Shaker Heights comes out in 2003 which I know it's just produced a crit on but you have to think about how his omnipresence extending

[01:04:59] to Project Greenlight the show right within 2003 then Daredevil which is like hosting off of a couple superhero movies that people love first Spider-Man first X-Men the first one where people are like, huh? Can these suck? We all went but are we capable of hating these Daredevil

[01:05:17] people are walking out of that being like I kind of enjoyed Colin Farrell or Michael. So like no one's coming out of that being like, you know, I feel like really rocked. He was really great. I went on a triple date to see Daredevil hell.

[01:05:28] Yeah, Peter and it was like it's such a it will be forever in my brain. Did you get lucky? Okay, so no I didn't but because it's a flag. It was athletes fault. Earlier that day. I had been at softball practice and cool guys.

[01:05:46] We had to do it in the gym because it was raining outside and I was rounding third base and I slipped off the little mat and I checked my shoulder like into a brick wall and I thought that my shoulder that I had maybe broken it or

[01:05:59] something that something was really wrong the whole time during the movie the whole time. I was like something is wrong with you. Should I be going to the hospital? And you can't do the old. Literally your shoulder hurts.

[01:06:08] The guy that I was with like trying to do that and you were like, Oh, I was like, And then he offered me a Listerine breath strip. Yeah, which I just find very disgusting. And so I was like, no, I don't want that.

[01:06:23] And then only like hours later was I like that probably read as like do not kiss me. Oh, yeah, you were putting off a bit of a no touching vibe no touching vibe, but one of the couples that we were with made out the whole time.

[01:06:35] They missed all of Daredevil, but sounds like the right I got to enjoy Daredevil. I got to learn about Elektra. If Daredevil played softball in the rain, he would have done so well because his radar sense would have been going crazy.

[01:06:46] That's the other big takeaway from Daredevil is that like Daredevil comes out it opens to like 40 million. It makes a hundred million kind of like sneaks to a hundred right and very quickly Hollywood is like we've heard your cries Elektra movie.

[01:07:01] Yeah, and everyone's like didn't Elektra die on screen and they're like Elektra movie. She's here. She's gonna fight a guy whose tattoos come out of his body is Daredevil 2 happening. We're not even talking about that. It's true. So they haven't talked about like a bullseye movie.

[01:07:16] Nobody talked about a Daredevil movie 2003 project green lights airing. He's now been dating JLo for like six months since production ended on Geely. This is how they met. Yes. Oh my God, but he is listed as boyfriend and Jenny from the block the music video. Sure was 2002.

[01:07:35] So then you're before they film it in 2002 got to get this movie also took a while to get to us because months of freeze-out and post-production eight months of freeze-out. So just think about project green light. He's dating JLo.

[01:07:47] He's all over the tabloids Daredevil comes out Geely comes out in August. And then what I would argue is the thing that is actually the most damaging final nail in the coffin of this era of Affleck isn't even Geely.

[01:07:59] It's ending the year with a movie called paycheck where Everyone's like you're admitting it. Yeah, really bad in that movie. But I just feel like the movie sucks. So that on a date and everyone's like dude, we're all looking at you as a paycheck guy.

[01:08:13] Yeah, you can't be in a movie called that and like cash in a lazy 20 million to be just dude with a gun. I really want someone to write like a very well-researched, you know, basically book I guess about just like movie star

[01:08:30] couples that met on a movie because I feel like almost always the movie itself is very bad. Like it's almost always a calamity. It's pretty bad. Usually hearing like right there chemistry was so through the roof that they just had to like run to the trailer and

[01:08:43] fuck and then you watch the movie and you're like did they even were they even in the same room in these scenes? Like you're about there's nothing here. So many great directors say when they notice like the zing to use Hotel Transylvania parlance between their stars that

[01:08:58] they're like my number one job has become making sure they don't fuck until the movie wraps. There's this like belief. It's not even like a superstitious curse. Maintain the tension. Right. That's what you need to capture on camera and then let them go off. Mr. Mrs.

[01:09:11] Smith is one of the only examples of they met and fell in love and got together during the movie and the movie was a hit. Beyond most of them turning out poorly and the chemistry not being there. I would argue for all of Mr. Mrs. Smith's misshapenness.

[01:09:26] They do there is a palpable chemistry. They bottled some of that and that's the whole juice to that film and it worked. That's all that film is. Yeah, but when Affleck and JLo get together filming this movie before they're even whispers of like maybe this script

[01:09:41] got away from breast people are like this is probably a bomb. This is probably a bomb because they fell in love and now people are going to be tired of them by the time the movie comes out. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:09:52] JLo was supposedly the first choice because she was reported by Variety for the part before it then is reported that Halle Berry will be taking the part. Then Halle Berry drops out over scheduling conflicts with X2 a film that had a very normal production process where

[01:10:06] no one was weird and no one told anyone to kiss their black ass. One of my favorite Halle Berry moments is when she told Bryan Singer that. The most normal thing about that production was the director's chair, which was always filled with the director of the movie

[01:10:21] who would show up and do his job every day at the normal hours. Lopez says look, I thought the project was risky, but I also felt it was juicy. It was tough stuff to work with. It's about relationships.

[01:10:32] She says it's about men and women what and what they think of each other. I'd say it's definitely. I'm going to cut you off there. It's definitely about men and women and what they think about each other. I don't think it's about the former. I don't yeah. No.

[01:10:42] I disagree. It's not. It's mostly a movie of people just yelling at each other. Yes, people just monologuing. Martin Brest is right. What's Gili about? He's like it's about this guy called Gili and I'm like you're not wrong. That is what it is about. I detect no liars.

[01:10:55] Brest says about JLo. She's someone who can look you right in the eye and tell you exactly what she's thinking who doesn't care what you think about her and yet her manner is soft and sensual. Okay, Lopez and Affleck start dating on the set of this film.

[01:11:07] She was married to contender Chris Judd files for divorce from him rampant tabloid stuff follows Affleck asks Kevin Smith to cast Lopez in Jersey Girl, which is the movie he's making after this. Obviously, she's just at the start of Jersey Girl because

[01:11:22] she's the mom who has died right? And it's this thing that totally fucks them that she is like the Drew Barrymore kind of fake out of the movie. But when there was so much juice around them as a couple, they pushed really hard.

[01:11:35] It's another JLo Affleck movie coming down the pike. Isn't it both of them on the poster? Well, and then when Gili bombed they tried to like roll it back but people then they started hiding her in the marketing.

[01:11:47] But people were like no you told us this was the two of them. We can't forget this now. But yes, they film all of Jersey Girl before Gili comes out Gili opens wedding rumors continue to circulate but then break up January 2004.

[01:12:01] And many people think that the pressure of the fallout of this movie took its toll on their relationship. I mean it can't have helped. No, that's horrifying. Gili both Affleck and Lopez and breast and everybody else all think that the press coverage of their relationship

[01:12:18] probably negatively affected the film people's perception of it and so on and so forth a lot of baggage. We don't really need to get into it too much. This movie opens with Larry Gili monologuing seemingly straight to camera about what it's one of his fucking monologues

[01:12:36] nature of man or some shit. Yeah, it's something about I think it actually might be like part of I feel like part of the monologue that you read from the original ending. I feel like they repurpose. Yes, right.

[01:12:45] Maybe or maybe he's calling back to it because you know breast new like people are still going to have those sage words ringing in our ears. By the end of the movie. Yeah, I'm watching this and I'm like, you know, Bruce is like trying shit.

[01:12:57] This is kind of interesting to have like the character narrate the movie to camera. He's in a laundromat guy walks in behind him. He's like, hey, can you see I'm talking here kicks the guy out. I'm like, this is kind of funny playing with the form

[01:13:09] and then we cut into the washing machine. It's a guy tied up and immediately. I'm like, this is just kind of hacky boring shit. It's hacky boring shit. It's so uninterested in whatever this guy's actual life would look like instead.

[01:13:23] It's like cartoon like hey, give me the money or I'll punch you, you know, we want to turn the washing machine on and then like in his inner monologue. He's like, you know what there are five boroughs in New York

[01:13:33] City, but you never fucking know like I the first part I made up and the second part is real like that's it's that it's his first three studio films all have concepts that on paper sound

[01:13:43] like they could be as silly and broad as this and he kind of directs them like dramas. Yeah, well knowing where the jokes are and this immediately is telling you it lives in goofballs McGillicuddy world. It's so crazy.

[01:13:56] It's the script feels like it was written like stream of consciousness. Yes, and because the fact that you go from like you open with him just intimidating a guy to laundromat and then he just wanders down the street and just happens upon his boss who's

[01:14:08] also intimidating some other guy and it is just very vague general like give me the money like I'm gonna kill you feels like the film Queens Boulevard from Entourage. I was gonna say it feels very entourage II and I think like

[01:14:22] part of it is 2003 part of it is the LA of it all but like it does feel like it exists in the entourage. It's like hey, I gotta do my gangster movie and suddenly right there's just like a bowling shirt on him and there's

[01:14:32] like gel in his hair and he's like a and you're like right they of course this is Entourage. They took 10 seconds on this breast talk so much about how we go $75 million crazy. Where did the money go besides to the 25 was two of them?

[01:14:45] Yeah, I'm guessing like both Pacino and walking got stupid amounts for how little they were. I'm still seeing a missing 40 on like one shitty apartment extensive reshoots. Uh-huh. Sure post months of like there like a cutscene in Quantum

[01:15:05] Realm or whatever like, you know, like what are we talking about here? She should enter the Quantum Realm. Get in there. No, I don't want him here. It is a where did the money go movie outside of just like

[01:15:17] much like how did you know you're like, okay, so the stars cost a lot but also if you have a director who takes nine months to film this and then two years to edit it. It's a lot of right just people being paid to kind of stand around.

[01:15:29] We're yeah, it's a lot of waiting tax. I do feel like I read a lot of like the actors talking about Martin Brest specifically on this movie and all of them mentioned like he really gives you like a lot of leeway like

[01:15:42] it really seems like everyone was doing like 800 takes and that every scene probably took weeks to film every other probably look many of the actors. We've read quotes from who worked on his films were very frustrated by his process, but it always felt in every other

[01:15:58] instance you hear someone like Yafit Khodo who like wanted to strangle him while filming Midnight Run and then goes to see the movie at the premiere and is like he was fucking right about everything and I thought he was being persnickety and

[01:16:10] too particular about everything but he was right and then you watch this and you're just like did he give anyone a note the entire time? Yeah. I believe he did 800 takes but what was he just saying like hey camera still rolling feel free to keep doing shit.

[01:16:25] Yeah, it feels like there was no direction. It's also crazy that it's just like again like reading the script. It really just feels like you are seeing the movie again like It's so like even just the like the way that he describes

[01:16:41] like there's during Ben Affleck's huge monologue of like Sultan of Slick Gangsters Gangster or whatever. There's an action line that describes like, you know, Ben Affleck like or Gilly savoring every word like Gangsters Gangster and you do see him doing exactly that.

[01:16:56] So it is just kind of like what were the multiple takes? What were people trying? They were just doing. He describes shots and there were no shots that are in the movie. So you're like what got away from you?

[01:17:05] This opening I was like I this feels like the kind of thing that might have been a studio forced reshoot. A hundred percent. We want the comedy to be broader start with a guy in a fucking washing machine. That's silly and big right?

[01:17:16] And then you're like no, this is how he started his draft. I was also certain I was like, okay, like if the if he got so much pressure to like lean into the love story or whatever from the studio then like certainly it was a reshoot when

[01:17:28] they kiss in the script. They have sex. I was like this is insane. Yes, and there's stuff where I'm like the score feels very studio man. The score is insane. The score is horrible. No disrespect to John Powell, but it just feels like.

[01:17:43] Well John Powell can give you something good or he can probably clearly be told with one day's notice like hey, can you just fucking do some bouncy shit with this movie? I mean he did a great job for Rat Race.

[01:17:55] This is for where you're like the studio is like we don't trust the audience. You need to tell the audience what kind of movie they're watching the entire time. Although the craziest part was like the score was so intrusive and kind of all over the place.

[01:18:08] Like it would be like, you know him walking down the street and it would just be like do do do do do like I'm walking down the street and then it would get like very serious. But then when he first when JLo first shows up at his door,

[01:18:19] it's like okay if you're leaning into like make this a love story. This is the meet cute essentially there is no score. It's completely dry and it's completely dry for like so long when they're in the apartment and I'm just like that is the number one.

[01:18:33] That's the first thing you do when you're just like God, we're really stuck in this apartment. Can we make it feel bigger? You would add score. But as you said the score goes hardest in the moments were like nothing is happening because it's like the movie is

[01:18:43] trying to yell at you. You're having fun. This is fun, right? We love him walking down the street. Right? When these two when Gili and what's her name? Ricky. Ricky get together the fireworks that you know, that's what the movie seems to think right of itself, right?

[01:19:02] That there is a fireworks display happening inside this beautiful downtown LA apartment. Yeah. I love the part of breast conception was I went to downtown LA and I was like this place looks terrible. I should set a whole movie here. He's like, okay, no architecture.

[01:19:17] What I am saying to you. I said he's like, okay, so I've come up with a completely unlikable character but where to put it like somewhere interesting. No, like let's turn. Even like this. Oh, the sparks are gonna fly with Ricky and Gili stuck in apartment together.

[01:19:32] What is Ricky do mostly just yoga in a chair reads books. Yeah, the yoga is like at least a little like, oh look her body on display and I was like, wow, she's really doing a lot of yoga.

[01:19:42] I think she's strong number one like had in her contract of like I get to do it just a day of yoga. She definitely like she was doing she starts off in a pose where I was like she a hundred percent was like I can do this pose.

[01:19:53] You're going to show me doing this pose, right? But Ricky's main characteristic I would argue is the gracious reader has a yoga mat and a book. Yeah, those are her thing and she makes fun of him for not reading books.

[01:20:03] She's supposed to be a hitman a hit woman a contract killer. She's a contractor. She gets hired out for various types of jobs. She never shows any interest in doing anything like that. And also that doesn't she yells at those kids.

[01:20:16] That's the thing you're like when she says I do various types of jobs in this kind of movie you infer. Oh, she must be saying I kill people for a living and by the end of the movie.

[01:20:26] I'm like does she truly just do various types of is she just a gopher because that's what's so crazy. It's like okay. She attempt it's basically for the model. Yeah, like if this is a movie about a guy who has been doing

[01:20:38] all this like low-level crime or whatever and it's sort of like disillusioned with it and wants and doesn't know what his life is going to be like or whatever. It's sort of like why would you pair him with someone who

[01:20:49] seemingly is going through like the exact same thing but not in a different way. So they have no like they've no conflict really between them except just random hostility. It basically only makes sense if you believe that the letting

[01:21:03] Benito character was trying to set the two of them up. Yeah, this is an attempt at me. Guys like each other. You're going to love her. She hates penises. It's also like it's one of the first things she'll tell you

[01:21:16] not to speak ill of Martin Bress, but he is the only writer of this film. He seems to think lesbians are just women who think men are full of shit and have a yoga mat. I think penises are gross. Disgusting. This is a big point.

[01:21:30] I'm not just being like Lib in the joke. I'm making of like this. Right? It's it's very text not subtext very odd. And this was a very small thing in the script, but it really I feel like was very telling in her speech that culminates

[01:21:46] in pussy like that's like the the punchline. Very long speech. Very long speech. She in the script. It's my pussy instead of just pussy and then pussy is capitalized which I really feel like just shows you like he thinks because I also does he think he's doing Tarantino

[01:22:08] the script is very stylized in the way. It's like not just the dialogue but the way it's formatted. Yes, and the way it's written like it's just all very like Yeah, very stylized and it just feels like he really thinks

[01:22:22] like he's he's really doing something and yeah getting into it and he's like really blowing our minds with these dueling monologues about like what's the sexiest for man or woman that monologue about the difference between a penis and a pussy if I may.

[01:22:38] Does feel like it's his words. I know I'm like as soon as I was saying we must reckon with It's the unexploded bomb at the center of Gili. We simply have to go and engage with it. What she's basically arguing that a penis looks like a night slug.

[01:22:55] Is that what she says? Yeah, she has a whole right and then she makes this weird circular argument where she's like vaginas are beautiful because they look like the mouth and why do we like kissing mouths because they remind us of vaginas and you're like

[01:23:09] so which one are you arguing is boosting the other one? You're saying one is getting a glow up. It's a 12 year old's idea of sexuality. It's like yeah, lesbians hate penises. Right? They might love men guys like Larry Gili for example, you

[01:23:25] know kind of crunchy outside soft inside, you know, like going on with that guy, you know the Tarantino thing of like I'm gonna write a three-page monologue that's explaining do you know what Superman or Top Gun or like a virgin is

[01:23:37] really about and breast is like I want to do that kind of monologue about what kind of human genitals. Yeah, not in metaphor and it will have no effect on either character either like they don't really I mean, I guess he

[01:23:51] kind of like she gets in his head. I guess right. He's like, why don't you like penises and she's like here's why vaginas are great and he's like gotta agree. I do love vaginas. He's like you stumped me but then the movie sort of starts

[01:24:03] getting not jump ahead but like the whole second half is her making him question his masculinity. Yeah, which I was sort of like again. Okay, like Ben Affleck is like, I don't know. I'm like that's maybe interesting if it's just like this

[01:24:19] tough guy and then all of a sudden it's like well, are you so tough? What's your masculine? You know, like sort of the Chasing Amy version of this of like what are these labels is all of this blurry is it all

[01:24:29] about people or whatever but like she sleeps with him and then is like by the way, I think you're kind of a lady. It's so crazy because of the way you look at your nails. Yeah, the nails thing that was so that's the most like early

[01:24:43] 2000 thing of like, you know how I know you're gay you look at your nose like this instead of like this. It's like so stupid even Barthel looks at his nails the man way that really was here's the plot of this movie fucking

[01:24:57] washing machine right wanders out into the street as you said runs into Lenny Bonito. Let me know is like a do me a favor. We got this guy. We don't want to crack down on this go get his little brother.

[01:25:07] He's a little bit of Ben Affleck at like 12 minutes in the Max the work you did I would say subtler than Larry Vinny. Just a little subtle but like maybe 10 minutes into the film Affleck walks into this home finds Justin Barthel Justin Barthel is like you're an idiot.

[01:25:25] I love Baywatch. He's like cool come with me brings it back to an apartment then immediately JLo shows up and then we're basically just stuck in that for an hour and a half. Yeah over half the movie is in the apartment.

[01:25:37] Yes, sometimes people come visit so sometimes people drop by this police officer that he has a relationship with that. We don't understand very rarely they leave they do eventually. Yeah, sometimes they try to commit suicide. Yeah. Yes.

[01:25:52] This film has sort of three pop ins I guess like walk in Lainey Kazan, which is them popping in with her but that's right and then Pacino right like and the girlfriend fuck the girlfriend. I actually erased that from my memory saying it was so upset.

[01:26:06] I really was like, it's genuinely upset. Cuts her wrists. It's very very fucked up. It happens. I think the comic that's just it's played as comedy as like what look what I did now like and it's like there's a very

[01:26:18] dark comic version of this film where sure you could go that hard and have it kind of work. I mean clearly clearly it's not Julie character that was right out the movie kept trying to show up and JLo kept trying to

[01:26:31] shake her and she kept trying to she kept threatening to kill herself. I'm not against like maybe there's a dark comedy version of that gallows humor in say, you know, but like it is not a 75 million dollar movie where everyone's like, you know, like

[01:26:43] but is that where breast is like I conceded I gave in is was there a version of this movie? That was word for word basically the same save for a couple reshoot scenes, right? But the the pacing was a little more naturalistic.

[01:26:58] The color timing was a little darker. The score was moodier weird though, because the way it's shot is very like bright and poppy and like doesn't look good. I don't really know. Yeah, it looks like legally blonde which I said with no

[01:27:12] disrespect to legally blonde, but it's like very much in the de rigueur like broad comedy of the early 2000s visual style and it's so and the performances are at that level. Yeah, except for Ben Affleck's who's really good. He is not Jen.

[01:27:29] I've your first appearance on this podcast and I would like to have you back and pulling that pin out. I appreciate you coming in with a take, you know, you coming into like to take the gloves off and do battle with us, but

[01:27:44] I don't know that I could call him good in this movie Griffin. I mean, no, I was really struggling with it and it's a bummer for me because it is as I said, it's the kind of heart.

[01:27:55] I think he now does so well sure and he carries the weight with him right where he doesn't need to force these things. Like I do feel to some degree we talked about it so much in

[01:28:07] our Gone Girl episode, but it's why the it's the best he will ever be cast and one of the most ingenious like strategic movie star castings of all time is the text of that movie is like why isn't this guy defending himself harder?

[01:28:21] There's something about him just coasting where you're just like there's something about this guy that drives me a little bit crazy. I just don't want to like this guy is a little too lucky. There is it the fucking Cheney has to cover up whatever it

[01:28:34] is and this is that era where I'm like Aflac is always almost simultaneously trying too hard and not hard enough. Where you'll feel this weird distribution of energy of like certain things. He thinks he can kind of just finesse and glide through on charisma and other things.

[01:28:54] He is overselling so hard and sometimes it's not even like one scene is like this and one scene is like that. It's like elements of the character simultaneously within one scene. I don't think he's good in this. Okay, here's the thing.

[01:29:10] I think I can almost make the argument for JLo being good in it. Wow, almost whoa. I mean, I just think okay you have to like of course as a given all the characters are very bad. They're bad. It's a bad.

[01:29:26] It's a very just sort of like all over the place movie like nothing really matters or make sense. So removing that from the equation just looking purely at the performance. I was like him giving that monologue like the ridiculous monologue of like I am the Sultan slick.

[01:29:41] I am the gangsters gangster. Like I was just like this is interesting to me because I do buy that he that Gili believes what he's saying. Yes, but it's not true. Right and like that the layers of that of like this is a man who's lying to himself.

[01:30:00] I was like, this is interesting to me and I feel like he's really pulling that off probably because he himself is kind of lying to himself in this moment and he's in a weird spot where he's just like I think you can sort of feel like the

[01:30:11] anxiety of like this is my big shot and like am I going to do it right? And I just feel like that that worked there was something I was just sort of like I buy this as a character him psyching

[01:30:23] himself up in the mirror, which is often a funny scene. Paul Rudd in Wanderlust. Yeah, great version of it, but I'm like that's the closest I get to seeing the version of him at this age. Fitting this character to a certain degree and then that

[01:30:38] scene which is obviously like I don't want to say the beginning of the end, but it's one of the scenes where you're like, what is this movie? Yeah, the beginning of the end is minute. Oh, oh, oh, oh, one or whatever. Title card Glee is pretty tough.

[01:30:54] It is one of the aspects of this movie that is so conceptually bizarre to me and I wonder if it is this part of breasts that likes building narrative challenges for himself making things that the audience is going to doubt he can pull off,

[01:31:07] but you're just like why is it not a kid? Yes. Why is it not a kid? Like this movie makes so much more sense and is so much less like delicate. Let's say if it's like they have to kidnap the fucking guy's

[01:31:23] son and it's an annoying kid and there's sort of this weird they're stuck in an apartment playing a family. Yeah, and here are like two people who are sexually incompatible and a child who isn't there who is being kept against his

[01:31:36] will versus like Justin Bartha is the inference that he is now developmentally disabled as the aftermath of some attack or did I misunderstand that? No, I think he just thinking this is just this is just who he is. Yes.

[01:31:51] I although I was I will admit possibly zoning out during exposition in Glee because I hated the movie. He has a line in his first scene of like it's not my fault that my brain got messed up. I think that's just his you know, really unique and funny

[01:32:06] way of looking at the world. You know, like when he talks about his penis sneezing. That's another example for you know, just like only through The mind of Brian can we think of ejaculation that way? He's very horny.

[01:32:18] He loves dancing to sort of let's say suburban 90s hip-hop hits again. If you separate the performance from the character, it's a committed performance. It's committed and I'm just sort of like I feel bad for him. I didn't choose to do this.

[01:32:38] I mean, but also it's like if you're offered a role in a movie The third lead and you know, it's Martin breast and then after he's basically his first real movie 100% his first real movie. I can't believe this came out the same year as National Treasurer.

[01:32:52] I didn't National Treasure is one year later. Oh when you're in a way that makes me wonder like did he book National Treasure when they were like him out? Yeah, look, he's the third lead in a fucking JLo Affleck

[01:33:03] movie or did his agents work so hard to be like we got to get your rebound project ASAP immediately. Yeah, that's so interesting. I mean, I feel like they must have leveraged him being cast in this to get him that but then it's sort of like but don't

[01:33:15] you think they would have asked to see the dailies and if they saw the dailies they would have it is truly 1998. He is uncredited club goer in 54 1999. He's credited in a short film. Glee is his first feature film in a speaking role. I mean, it's crazy.

[01:33:30] But yeah, I was going to say that in the scene when Ben Affleck goes to get him. I was also zoning out a little bit because it was that location is where I got married. What? I was truly in honor of Julie. In honor of Julie.

[01:33:46] You had a Fast and Furious themed wedding. I did lightly elegantly. You wouldn't know unless you know, you know, I would know my hats off. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah, we got married at the e-bell in Los Angeles, which

[01:33:58] is like a beautiful venue, but we knew that it sort of was used a lot for filming but we didn't really know like how much and it's actually been like kind of a fun thing is that we keep seeing a pop up.

[01:34:10] We're like, oh, look at the e-bell but seeing it pop up as the assisted living facility that Justin Barth is living in Julie. I truly was like, oh God, it's so uncomfortable. You get uncomfortable. Just the second you're like, this is what the performance

[01:34:26] is. This is going to be the rest of the movie. I think people were uncomfortable in 2003. It's certainly only aged worse. Yeah, right. We've moved past. This is a culture. It feels like finally but you're also just like part of the

[01:34:38] characterization is like, oh and he is annoying. It's not even like just the Rain Man thing of like what you're saying that part of the calculation of Rain Man is over showing you that Cruz is an asshole by how much he gets

[01:34:52] annoyed by him when he is operating from a good place versus Barth as character sort of being annoying by design. He keeps calling Julie stupid and talking about his penis and Baywatch. It's also the reason that he's calling Julie stupid is

[01:35:07] because Julie comes up while he's eating sunflower seeds and says, are you eating poly seeds? And he's like their sunflower seeds and he's like, okay. Well, I call him poly seeds and it's just sort of like what what are you talking about?

[01:35:18] Like why would you just assume that someone would know? Like I've never heard weird start exactly right or he's like, oh, well, I'm from the cone poly seeds and I'm like who can't the room like this is a developmentally disabled person.

[01:35:31] You're already picking a fight with him on like what sunflower seeds are called when he got it, right? Yes, and once they're stuck in the apartment with them, all that's left to do is just they get annoyed by him while

[01:35:44] Affleck continues to try to fuck JLo versus let's say if it's a child and the child's like, you know, you have to like take me out. I need exercise. Whatever you love that your plus thing of this movie is that

[01:35:55] with an annoying kid, which obviously is something that basically always sucks in a movie. Yeah, but obviously would be better than this. I'm watching this and like longing for Alex D. Lin's with like a fucking bowl cut the thing about Rain Man

[01:36:10] is Rain Man has a pretty specific conception of that character. It is stereotypical or like kind of magical in this way. That's like kind of a shortcut, right? But it's like he isn't he is a savant and he's got a perfect memory. He's a specific way of talking.

[01:36:26] We've right. We've done research into this kind of specific kind of person. It's a very rare sort of thing but blah blah blah right and then you're watching Cruz initially. We use them as this pawn and then grow and learn about him and yada yada yada.

[01:36:39] This has no conception of what this guy is like. Brian is the dilemma. He exists to annoy them. That's the point but like there's no he's sort of an overgrown child. I guess is what they're doing with the Baywatch and the I

[01:36:51] need a bedtime story kind of stuff. The Tabasco scene. You can almost see how that would be fun. It's the cutest idea they have because it's putting it all on Gili to be like since 1905 or you don't like to read the

[01:37:04] back of a bottle to him and it's making fun of the fact that it is good at which is why can't this guy try harder and he has no books in his house. Yeah, you know, but like bring an entire suitcase of just books.

[01:37:17] She shows up by the way. He brings Brian back to his place. She shows up like two hours later. They don't give him a chance to fuck up. I also I was fascinated by this scene because it's again very

[01:37:27] stream of consciousness of just like okay now they're in the apartment. What's going to happen now? Oh lady shows up and like she walks in and the way that they reveal like the reveal of why she's there and that she's in on it.

[01:37:39] She's been hired blah blah blah like it's done so strangely like she makes that phone call. What is that phone call? She just walks in. She's like, hey, how's it going? Yeah, really? Like who are you? She's like Ricky. Yeah, what are you doing here?

[01:37:50] All will get to it. She really should be like hi. I'm the lesbian character but like feel free to hit on me because that wall is going to fall right down with a little bit of work. Instead. She's like right. I've been sent to help you.

[01:38:03] I'm, you know, kind of someone who does stuff like, you know, and that's it. It's also so strange because it's like then she's like, okay. So like she has this whole charade of just being like the

[01:38:14] girl from down the hall and she needs to make a phone call to no one and then she's like, can I talk to you for a second? She pulls him out in the hallway and it's just like, okay,

[01:38:21] so I'm assuming that your boss didn't tell you that he doesn't trust you and he thinks you're a fuck up and like you can't do this and blah blah blah blah blah and I was sort of just like, why have we not seen that?

[01:38:30] He's like really a fuck up like I get that he was annoyed that Larry was annoyed or Lewis was annoyed with him earlier. He successfully put this guy in a washing machine. So far. I've only seen this guy accomplish his.

[01:38:40] He only got half the money out of him because he's too soft Griffin. Let's also say the closest thing this movie has to a twist is that Lenny Veneto was operating on. He's out of pocket. Yes, that this whole assignment was him trying to make a good

[01:38:59] impression not on marching orders. The ultimate revelation is that Pacino is the boss. Veneto is the cop or whatever. Julie is the nobody and Veneto eventually is like cut this kid's thumb off and we'll use it to like threaten this DA or whatever.

[01:39:16] Yeah, they refuse to take some like things are not going good cut his thumb off now. I'm paid to love Brian too much to cut his finger instead. There's a whole fault or all where they go to the fucking hospital and get it from a corpse or whatever.

[01:39:28] We the audience are relieved that they're leaving their apartment arguing a different travel location. The reason they're in the hospital is because the girlfriend killed her tried to kill herself. Tried to kill herself. There's a successful intervention. We otherwise they would not have left characters drop like

[01:39:46] a fucking brick after that obviously, but then Pacino shows up and is like right. I disapprove of this strategy. What were you guys doing? This was an insane thought, but also why didn't you do it? I demand loyalty and if you're going to do it, you might as

[01:40:03] well do it and the thumbprint didn't match and now we're in trouble. We're jumping way ahead here and we'll circle back to walking. We'll circle back to turkey time and walking. Pacino was just like I never approved of this plan shoots

[01:40:15] Lenny Veneto in the head and simultaneously is angry at them for going along with Lenny Veneto and also not doing it. Well, I'm doing it right. He basically comes in. He's got like kind of a couple drops left of his Roy Cohn

[01:40:28] performance from Angels in America kind of just like sprinkles it on the carpet and then is like I'll see you later. He's 100% without dispute the best part of the movie in the best performance. He does not embarrass himself at all.

[01:40:39] It's kind of like hacky Pacino shit, but he is at least you like yeah, he's good at this like this is fine. Yeah, the only part of the movie where you're at least awake that in Turkey time.

[01:40:48] Yeah him casually sitting next to the guy's body and just like chatting and like being a psycho is like this is great. No as a counterpoint to this walk in has the second scene deleted but similarly just has this like extended 8-minute

[01:41:02] dialogue scene where he's circling Affleck and trying to get a read on him and his performance in this is so strange because it is like breast and the movie think that this is the first time anyone is putting walk in in a comedic context.

[01:41:17] Yeah, he is walking in basically wearing the exact same suit. He wore in the Fat Boy Slim video. Yes, he looks identical. It's that look so laid off the set walk-in has been codified into a comedy meme at this point like it is it's it's honed right?

[01:41:32] He's hosted SNL fucking four times other comedies have used him. He's in a fucking music video that one's wins the VMAs or whatever like we all get it. Funny walk-in we're here for it and then he comes in and he

[01:41:46] plays it fairly straight without putting the extra 10% of like stakes on it like Pacino where it's like is this guy truly a little scary. It feels like it's a well just the context of walking being in a movie like this is funny this guy being serious in a

[01:42:03] movie like this, but it's also I mean, it was sort of like maybe this would have worked if I understood at all what their relationship was other than just like this is a detective that just showed up and seemingly knows this guy well enough to barge into it.

[01:42:17] Like I don't know trying to figure out everyone's dynamic. Yeah point Jennifer Lopez's characters lesbian. Okay. Yeah, that's a relationship to the world maybe but yeah, Christopher Walken like he's not really doing some walk-in ism. No until the very end when he walk-ins out so hard to be

[01:42:37] like your tongue would slap your face if you put it on your head or whatever about ice cream. That line is insane. But like envy is the year after this two years before this is America's Sweethearts both movies that like deploy him

[01:42:51] in the last 30 minutes and are just like walk and do whatever the fuck you want and put him in crazy wigs and you're like this guy's like doing to automatic comedy your tongue would slap your brains trying to get to it.

[01:43:03] I was trying to remember him describing Marie Callender's ice cream. Yeah. Yeah interested sure. That's what this movie is doing. This movie breast is deploying him. This goes back to the does he think he's doing Tarantino this movie is deploying him like the Pulp Fiction scene.

[01:43:20] Yeah, where it's like what's the funniest thing in the world it be walk-in monologuing for eight minutes in a silly movie or about a silly subject but he's playing it straight. Do you remember when Julie says that lesbians buy wrenches

[01:43:35] and stuff so that they can compensate for not having a penis? Yeah, that's his main argument. Yeah, what like Allison Bechdel would make of all this she should she should do a graphic novel version of Julie where she really delves into it.

[01:43:49] Four hours into them knowing each other. She's like making a bed on his like bench press right on the floor. Yeah, I thought it was like on his exercise equipment. She was like whatever. I feel like Julie doesn't work out room. Sure. He pretends he does five minutes.

[01:44:06] Then he eats some M&Ms jerks off looking at a bear wall. It's nice to be does. When he was shirtless I did have this like very kind of like sad weird moment of being like, oh, it's so nice to see like

[01:44:19] a regular body like a regular good body. Yeah. Yeah. It really is a dark sign of where we are now. Right? Because now Affleck fluctuates between his kind of like slightly assisted kind of Snyder abs where like work is being done.

[01:44:37] We all know this is part of it or his kind of like his right. His Dunkin Donuts way back. I'm on the beach. I'm looking a thousand miles into the distance body, which is a body I support and you know aspire to to be clear way back

[01:44:50] was the last movie I saw in theaters before covid. I was really sorry. I didn't think me too. You know, I saw The Hunt after it was just terrible way back would have been a way better. Okay, she's making her bed on the floor next to his exercise

[01:45:02] equipment, but I want to say this is minute 30 like basically he gets Bartha. He meets Bartha at minute 6 there at the apartment at minute 10 and then there's 20 minutes of these characters just fighting before he gets to the point where he's like, you know, I got

[01:45:19] half a bed that's open if you want to get in there. She's like, thank you. That's very nice of you. What a gentleman clearly is responding in a non-sexual way, right? It's just like I trust you. He goes in the bathroom.

[01:45:31] He's like, you're going to fucking give her the dick. He's like flexing muscles goes in there plays really hard. She's seemingly charmed. She's like, this is so funny. You're not my type. How could I not be your type for one thing your penis and then

[01:45:45] he goes like Google would and then they basically woman now I've heard everything basically start negotiating over whether or not she is a lesbian which then is the next hour of the Yes, and her performance is very much leaning into the fact

[01:46:00] that she might not be right which is crazy. Which Lainey Kazan basically opens up where she's just made. I want to submit that as my review for the film just FYI. They go over to Lainey Kazan's house so he can inject his mom

[01:46:14] right and he's just like and she's like no, I'm gay and then Lainey Kazan looks at her in the eyes and is like but you have slept with some men haven't you and then basically they bond around their mutual like exploration. Yes, that was very strange.

[01:46:29] I was like are they gonna thought that would have been interesting this episode is you'll never guess who it's brought to you by tell me take one guess movie. Yep, curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema around the globe and here's another thing they're

[01:46:49] dedicated to semi regularly bringing you episodes of our show sure. Yes, they are. They're a lovely and loyal sponsor of blank check and I want to tell you some of the stuff you can catch on the great this is what I love streaming service movie.

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[01:48:21] Anyway, you can try movie free for 30 days of movie.com slash blank check. That's Mubi.com slash blank check for a month of great cinema for free movie movie is this movie better if she Lee and Ricky do not sleep together.

[01:48:36] Yeah, if she learns that Ricky is yes indeed a gay woman a thing that exists and is still a whole person not just a penis phobic weirdo or whatever you think she is. Yes, and then it's just about this kind of like complicated friendship.

[01:48:51] They develop in this bizarre assignment they have and that's what the movie is about. I think so. Yeah, sure. And it almost feels like what the movie is getting at is her making him realize that he's gay. That would be on honestly that would kind of be awesome.

[01:49:05] That would be incredible. At least I understand. Wait, I want to keep fixing Julie. Okay now Ben is just a regular guy. Yes. Okay. He's three or four years younger than Julie. That's it. He's just a regular guy. They kidnap and it's her engineering a gay romance between

[01:49:19] them helping like helping you with the character. Yeah, Brian whatever his name is. What did I call him? You said Ben that's why I got confused. Right now Brian. Right. Yeah. Yes, right. Okay, we just Brian is just a yeah, it's just Justin Bartha. Right? Yeah, right.

[01:49:34] He's basically in the the Duke role for Midnight Run. He's just annoying adult man and he's gay and then she's like yeah, not only am I gay. I think you're gay. Julie's like no, I'm not let me put this comb through my hair again. I don't like books.

[01:49:49] Is this all a posture? I've never thought about it as much as I'm like, this is a better movie. It's like then the point of the whole movie is just like if you hang out with gay people, you will become a perfect movie.

[01:50:00] I just say hated the movie were described when also Sony's like shave us 70 million dollars off this budget. If that's the premise. Let's get this down to Sundance levels because we're almost just describing chasing Amy at that point which makes it so

[01:50:16] weird that he made this movie that I have like wanted to do it. They're change. Please sure. Bartha. I say big lizard just just a big lizard. It's a beloved pet not a humanoid lizard person. Just a large lizard like from the zoo essentially like a dragon

[01:50:39] or whatever, right? But it's like they have to clean up after the lizard. Yeah. So now it's almost like bringing up baby but with an iguana or something like that. Oh, yeah, maybe an alligator a crocodile. How do they keep that in an apartment?

[01:50:53] That sounds like some hygiene. Yes, and soon it sounds like it's hurting time. They have to dress it up in a disguise and bring it to the hospital but already some conflicts rather than them just walking out to the living room seeing Brian doing something

[01:51:06] and being like shut the fuck up Brian. Stop. It's also like what it could have been that Brian knew something and the federal prosecutors dirty and then all of a sudden they're in danger because they know something that they shouldn't

[01:51:19] like waiting for that to be the reveal instead. You're just like no, this was just a bad plan. Yeah, it was a bad plan enacted by idiot. Yeah. No one in this movie is smart except for you know, you know

[01:51:33] Val Kilmer and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is another better version of this same kind of stereotype which is in that's another movie written by like a wise-ass Gen Xer where he's like Shane Black is clearly like gay people are just like magic.

[01:51:45] They're like walking encyclopedias who also get to get laid all the time, right? Like they're intelligent their area diet. They're like magical people. She's kind of like that too with with her with Ricky. It's like Ricky's just kind of smart and wise in a way that

[01:51:59] others can't be yes. Yes, and like that's it's take but here's a series of events that seemingly take place all within one calendar day in this film. Okay, J Lo's ex comes in. Attempt suicide in their apartment.

[01:52:14] They take Emily de Ravan from Lost but isn't it's Missy Crider. I almost thought it was Alicia Cuthbert as well, even though I knew that would be too young those people. I think a slightly too young right look right.

[01:52:27] Yes, Missy Crider who I think I best know from Mulholland Drive. She's in one scene of Mulholland Drive. Yeah, she comes in attempt suicide. They get her the hospital while their afflict goes great place to cut off a thumb cut a thumb off a corpse go to a

[01:52:43] FedEx attempt to mail it and at no point are they ever like they don't even mention like do you think the fingerprint will be a problem? Ah, who's going to check the fingerprint like that? They're not even smart enough to foresee that that is an issue

[01:52:57] dumb screwball banter about what the right envelope size is to send someone a thumb realize that J Lo also has seemingly fucked the woman working behind the counter at the shipping store then go all of this is still daytime daytime daytime

[01:53:12] daytime daytime then we cut back to the apartment. I think there's maybe a drive back where they're fighting. Yes, cut back to the apartment. She's like lotioning up her body in her bathroom in her night gown her satin nightgown while he's in bed being like

[01:53:28] she's Liam Shealy so straight and she basically immediately is like, you know what you want me over? I want to try out this is why you just fuck this penis. I've heard. I think she's also she's power tripping him right where it's

[01:53:42] like if you're so good at eating pussy, why don't you fucking give it a try buddy first? There's some version of like is this her being impressed and won over by how well he handled the thumb situation. It's very unclear. It's like oh wow. Yeah.

[01:53:56] Yeah, she is into this then it's this weird power tripping thing of her just being like gobble gobble. It's turkey time. I challenge you. Let me let me see this man a lingus you've been bragging about that is the I'm sorry cuz right there's this early point

[01:54:10] where she's just like I don't care about penises and he's like, well, I'm great at eating pussy and she's like, what's your strategy? And he's like, I can't really get into it. Right? He like attempts to brag about how good he is at going down

[01:54:21] on women and bails immediately and then 40 minutes later. She's like, let me see that hetero lingus magic and he's like, oh, I can't sorry right and then the next morning. It's like maybe I do like that. Like she doesn't she plays it the next morning is if like

[01:54:41] I'm starting to fall for Julie. Right? You are correct that that is the thrust and direction of the film when you think it would be an interesting power play thing where it's like well now she's on the hook and she was like this meant nothing to me.

[01:54:55] This was an experiment and he's like, I'm in love. Let's not forget. He thinks his penis the next morning. Oh, right. We should just see it at that point. It's it's such an object of discussion in the film.

[01:55:06] It should really just we should just be laying stuff out here. We should at least be a character. Yes. Yes. Yeah, like the little pop-tart ravioli. He should be running around. Probably the same VFX department did the pop-tart ravioli baby from unfrosted and Affleck's hog and gone girl.

[01:55:25] Those are reused assets. It's so because the him thinking his penis that's from Brian, right? That's like, yeah, bless you bless you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, his penis Brian Todd again appreciate his own penis fully in the pre 9-11 script 9-11 didn't make him change

[01:55:43] his mind about any of that. Nope. Yeah, it's not like 9-11 happens things like it's it's just no longer turkey time. He starts like taking pages out and then basically the next morning morning after right like honeymoon glow Lenny Vanito

[01:55:57] is like come with me but she was like fuck you Lenny Vanito bullet brain a kind of engaging minutes of Pacino doing like his kind of automatic. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, giving you his number four combo. I will say the tension of that scene does dissipate rather

[01:56:17] quickly considering that there is a dead body and a crazy man with a gun. It does. Yeah, like a low again just uses her lesbian magic to just be like, why would you do that go away? And he's like, all right. Yeah.

[01:56:27] See you later is my check on the mantle. I'll take it. Thank you. What's with you? I mean, like I said, Angels in America is this year. Yeah, is there a like where is Pacino months the year before this right?

[01:56:43] His his wife is being his current wife is being born around now. First night. Thank you, Mike. How far away are we from Jack and Jill and Duncan Gina? That's a great call. It's that 2011. That's seven eight years away.

[01:56:58] Yeah, because Simone the recruit is this year, which is him. Yelling at Colin Farrell like you're in the CIA or are you I'll keep you guessing what I remember of that movie. Yeah, but that movie is like a mod. It did well.

[01:57:12] Yeah, maybe in my like is one of those movies at the time where I saw it and I was like five out of ten if I watch it now, I'm probably like this is like the conversation like this is brilliant. This wasn't nominated for Best Picture.

[01:57:24] I remember being like a fun movie with like eight twists and the last twist is like in fact, you were all in a box the whole time like, you know. Thing that Tarantino always talks about of like the way

[01:57:34] we used to develop movie stars is you put the new movie star with a like legendary movie star in the mentor role that movie just was kind of seen as like Al Pacino is collecting a check to validate Colin Farrell who Hollywood

[01:57:50] kind of like one one rung up right? Yeah, yeah, yeah shows up to the premiere of that movie with Britney Spears. Everyone's like, hold on. Oh my God, I'm out. You know, shut up with Britney Spears, but that's my memory.

[01:58:00] He shows up to the premiere of The Recruit where it's like Hollywood is all behind you being the next guy shows up with Britney Spears. Everyone's like this might be going a little too fast. Terror Devils a month later. Yeah, baby good times.

[01:58:12] Oh man, but yeah when Al when Colin and Britney were briefly together, it was like when two black holes like intersect in space or and scientists were like we will study the events for millennia. Yeah, the way it had the way it impacts energy like it's

[01:58:28] just these two gigantic trains like running into each other Pacino. So I mean Pacino as Julie is this year. He was in a film called Julie in 2003 people. I think straight up do not know the Pacino and walking

[01:58:39] around this that this movie has a hundred percent to Academy Award winners, you know at the time of its release the poster billing block is Affleck JLo Julie Bartha done there in the opening credit. Yeah, I think Pacino was agent might have been like a leave

[01:58:54] him off that marketing. Yeah. Yeah, the year after he did that Michael Radford Mercer Venice movie where he plays Shylock which is like, you know fairly bad. You're telling me Pacino playing Shylock. It's a little heavy year after that is true for the money

[01:59:14] which is like a wonderful garbage soup like stupid-ass fucking movie where everyone's just like the money right, you know, just nonsense pretty fun year after that is 88 minutes in Ocean's 13. Oh, you're after that is righteous kill and then he takes

[01:59:30] three years off right and then Jack and Jill is like, oh look he's trying to get like a he's great in that I mean he rocks in it. He's great. He's so funny. I literally only remember Al Pacino's part.

[01:59:43] That's true for most Jack and Jill generally underrated in my opinion and in yours, but I think genuinely very locked in he's really funny in every scene. I mean honestly, I'll watch it again. I love the other so much.

[01:59:55] You should also win more of it than you would remember. I totally am only remembering the end credits like the Duncan Gino. Yes, which is what everyone remembers and assumes it's like a weird cameo scene where he's dressed in it as a Hasidic man

[02:00:06] at the Lakers game in disguise because he doesn't want to go see him and then there it's Dap. Johnny Dap starts talking to him being like, hey, Alan. He's like don't talk to me. Is Jared Fogle in that same scene or a different scene?

[02:00:16] I think Jared Fogle is in a different scene. Jared Fogle and Johnny Dapper. I just think there's a third cameo like that, you know, like Mussolini or someone pops up. Marc David Chapman. They released him on work release just to do Jack.

[02:00:35] Caitlyn Jenner pre-transition not quite as bad. There's also a Shaq is in it, McEnroe, Drew Carey, Regis and his final film appearance. Oh, wow. A lot of great cameos. God, McEnroe really I feel like. You can get McEnroe with that. He just pops up anywhere. Text.

[02:00:51] You don't even need to call him. Five Sandler movies at once. He's he's he's in Mr. Deeds. I think he's an anger management on some prize. I'm like, oh yeah, they definitely are like, can you even believe who's here?

[02:01:03] It's just like the gag where the Lakers camera just slowly pans in on Pacino in this outfit. Yeah, and then it just flashes out Pacino's name on is so funny. This shows up from rehearsal for Manila Mancha to sing the impossible dream.

[02:01:19] And start laying at the rotating fan on this. Good. It's a good movie. People think we're trolling. No, it's good. We introduced it that the Nighthawk and I think we both thought it was terrible when it came out and then got asked to introduce

[02:01:34] it the Nighthawk and sat through a 35 millimeter print of it and it was truly like this is we fucked ourselves. Yeah, we were shitting on this and now we don't get comedies in theaters anymore. I know this movie is jokes every two seconds.

[02:01:47] I mean, I love Sandler and I'm just like that's the other well-researched book. I want is just like about like the reaction to Sandler and then sort of relitigating the reaction to return of Sandler right the the intellectualization of Sandler and like so many

[02:02:01] people just being like, why do you keep making these dumb movies? And he's like cuz I like them. That was his first movie. I mean like real Hampton Madison vehicle to not make a hundred million dollars since Little Nikki. Yeah, and the Netflix deal happens pretty quickly after

[02:02:16] that. He basically jumped ship. Anyway, as Julie what else happens? Oh, I'm talking Pacino out of it. And they decide to just leave and they're like we'll just get rid of Brian. We'll just get and then Brian's like Baywatch Baywatch the whole movie.

[02:02:33] He's been saying I can't go with you. I have to go to Baywatch and Julie's like you have to. Fucking three. Yes, that was insane. That was sort of funny in friends in 94 when like Chandler and Joey liked Baywatch right? It's Baywatch is even on the air.

[02:02:48] Watching Baywatch Hawaii, which was its own show. It's pretty good. I'm a mullet. You know, it's in Hawaii. I have a small bone to pick with earlier in the movie. Sorry to take us back. But when Ben Affleck leaves with Brian from his home and

[02:03:03] he's like, oh yeah, I'll take you to the Baywatch and then they're driving in the car and Ben Affleck fakes a phone call on a flashlight. Yes, he does like a couple times. I believe like it's the Baywatch because he gets Brian into

[02:03:16] his car by being like I'll take you to Baywatch. Brian's like I gotta do Baywatch and Affleck's like I got a TV. You can watch Baywatch. He's like, no, I gotta go to the Baywatch Affleck just will continually act like a giant flashlight is his phone and

[02:03:29] be like, oh no Baywatch not today. Yeah, we'll do it tomorrow. It's closed. Oh, no, but the craziest thing this is so tiny, but I was like he picks up a flashlight from his car and pretends that it's a walkie-talkie and less than one minute later.

[02:03:44] He uses a cell phone. Yeah, I was like why didn't you? I agree with you. Use that. I think that would make more sense. He's almost spiting Brian for not. Right, I think Brest is going for a gag.

[02:03:54] The gag just seems mean because he's treating this kid like he, you know, like wouldn't even understand something very basic like that. Like a flashlight is not a walkie-talkie. In conclusion, Gilly sucks F. And there's nothing there's no moment where

[02:04:10] the movie tries to do it like but you know what Brian actually taught them something along the way. Yes, he's basically just the dilemma and then after he successfully bedded JLo. He gives this big speech to Brian Bray's like, you know what

[02:04:24] sometimes women act like they don't want you to be hitting on them and you got to keep doing it. Every woman wants to fuck you and if they say otherwise, they just need a little more finessing and then the one

[02:04:36] moment where he sort of has any emotional connection to Brian is when he watches Brian sort of use his moves in quote on a background actor on the Baywatch that that he's just wandered onto. They've just wandered onto. And Gilly like fucking like

[02:04:53] grins and nods and gives him a like that'll do pig. It's so crazy. It really is just like, you know, the trope of like wow, this like, you know, intellectually disabled person like has, you know, like they've they've taught us something like to have some magical quality.

[02:05:12] Their world view that actually made us see something else differently. Absolutely not. None of that. None of that and it's like that in itself is like kind of offensive because it's just like can you even believe that they have thoughts and it's just like yes, I can.

[02:05:24] I can believe that they have thoughts and opinions and you know our people but it's like the fact that you don't even do that. Yes. It's like a level of it's just so baffling. It's like what did you think you were doing and like were

[02:05:38] you even thinking of that or was it as mean-spirited? It's just like it'll be funny if. In a way where David is always complaining and I back him up in this complaint every time we see a trailer for a new big star studded straight to streaming comedy.

[02:05:52] David's first comment is why do all of these have to be about guns? Not the ones Jen has written. Of course. Thank you so much. Of course. I do try to limit guns in stuff that I write. But all these trailers. Where people have guns.

[02:06:05] I feel like there's one. The hook of this trailer and the twist is someone takes a gun out. It's like a secret agent, you know, nobody knows but actually she works for the mob or whatever or terrorists are attacking quote-unquote. Now we've got it now.

[02:06:20] The wedding is the action wedding. So much in the same way that it's like this movie drives you so insane that you're like why isn't Justin Barthel teaching them a lesson? Why aren't they doing the thing I hate in other movies?

[02:06:32] I'm like, why isn't this an action comedy? Yeah. Why the fuck is Martin breast making this movie in the world of crime and not having any action happen and also like falling in love with sort of like the dinginess of LA or whatever and

[02:06:45] it's like yeah, show us that get out on the streets. It is pretty crazy. Yeah that that breast is like, you know, I really wanted to dig in with downtown. I like you don't see anything. You just you're in an apartment.

[02:06:58] There's no sense of the neighborhood facing a shitty communal pool is like the view of this movie. I feel like I honestly have never had this a big statement, but I'll stick with it. I've started it.

[02:07:09] I don't think I've ever had like more of a drop-off in within five minutes of a movie in terms of excitement to watch it where I just was like, you know when I put this on I was sort of like, okay.

[02:07:20] I remember watching it at a sleepover that my main memory was that everyone was mad at me that I made us rented because it was a poor it was boring and it sucked. I don't remember really anything beyond that and so I was

[02:07:30] watching it and I was like, okay, I totally forgot. This is an LA movie. I love LA movies like especially early off LA because I moved to LA in 2010. So I was like, I like seeing sort of like what was there like

[02:07:43] that was kind of changing right when I got there and like yeah, very entourage II and so I was like, oh shit. This is cool. Like regardless how bad the movie is. I'm gonna see like cool LA like dingy LA.

[02:07:56] Yes, and the fact that they just put it in a frickin Vanderpump rules apartment like vertical blinds gray carpet just like and here's where we stay and my point of the pool is like you're not even gonna put them in an apartment with a view

[02:08:09] of the fucking Beach or whatever of anything anything a balcony that looks on to anything that you could sit out on press said like he appreciated the challenge of like no, there's nothing in the apartment. Like what can we do to make it less interesting?

[02:08:25] What is the movie was it something we watched for the podcast recently where a character has like the worst apartment you've ever seen in the view is of the highway. Do you remember what I'm talking about? I'm already laughing.

[02:08:39] No, I don't like halfway through you go to the characters apartment and they have like a big huge picture window and they literally live like on the freeway. This sounds funny and I just the filmmaker talking about like

[02:08:52] we built the house there because we felt like it was so indicative of like the characters viewpoint. I cannot remember what it is for the life of me now. Someone will yell it at us and it will fucking but I'm like action hero. Yes, thank you. That's right.

[02:09:06] It's like totally right exactly. It's totally jokey worst apartment ever. That's a movie where people ding it and McTiernan dings it himself for like I didn't trust the comedy. I didn't know how to commit to it whatever but you're like

[02:09:17] that's the successful version of this joke versus what this movie doesn't do which is like there seems to be a deliberateness to how unappealing this all looks you could own the dingy ness of this fucking apartment complex. Just nothing. Yes instead. Yes. She should be gay.

[02:09:37] She should be gay. That would be incredible that was that would honestly make the movie a hundred times better just right at the end. He's like, I think I am actually I do love penises a lot. It would also make it so much more fascinating as a cultural

[02:09:51] object where you're like this movie where JLo and Ben Affleck fell in love about two people realizing they are not they are both gay. They have to be clear. We can like they have not much chemistry in this movie. No again movies not giving them much.

[02:10:06] Yes, then it is and it is giving them turkey time. It is. Yeah, but yeah, it is a like there you don't watch this movie and go like I'm I bet they had a 20 year on off thing.

[02:10:17] Sorry, not I don't know if this is a productive line of conversation. What were you gonna say Jen? I'm not gonna forget my point. I mean, I was just gonna say that I feel like part of the reason that their chemistry is so bad is that JLo's character

[02:10:31] is so stupid and insane and not believable. So you're just sort of like, yeah, no, I bet I like is good. I'm saying like his character is not intelligent. Yes. Yes. Yes. No, they're both like and but she's just not believable. It's like a complete miscast.

[02:10:48] I say but also tension for her performance working a little more than his just in my eyes. Wow, is that I feel like she's playing the insane version of what she had successfully nailed like she's playing like the worst version of the out-of-sight character, right? Uh-huh.

[02:11:06] Like this was her movie star persona basically that she had honed like twisted into demented areas, but it's close enough to home base that you're like she this is within her. She's in the pocket and then everything she actually has to

[02:11:20] do in this character is insane, but there is a level of comfort ease to what she does it that probably makes it feel more insane when she's so casually is like gobble gobble. It's turkey time. Yeah versus Affleck's like really trying to get his hands around it, right?

[02:11:34] He's really trying to do something. I get what you're saying where that gives it some sort of like metatextual power. I guess I feel like we just should have I think we really needed to see her beat somebody up.

[02:11:46] Yeah, but then I go back to why is this not an action comedy? Yeah. Why do they not get into fucking conflicts? I know. Why are there not like guys coming after them that they have to like fight off or why aren't their car chases in this that

[02:12:01] is the craziest things that breast is good at weirdly. It's literally a UCB show level like plot development to be like I got a phone call. We gotta cut off his thumb what I was going to say. Uh-huh. Please. Why does she say it's turkey time gobble gobble?

[02:12:18] Is that has anyone ever well equated referring to kind of lingus to Turkey did get but why are we going to turn Turkey? Yeah, nothing. No, it's backwards. It's she's thinking of eating you're eating pussy not to not to be so vulgar.

[02:12:35] What else is a word for eating gobble Ling and what else makes a gobbling noise a turkey? So it's turkey time gobble gobble. That's my read on it. And I think Batman says he's not wearing hockey pads, not pants. This is why he's a film.

[02:12:55] It is definitely not. The thing where fans do with they take one of your quotes and then they say really in David's of the Atlantic that is a perfect shop says a poll quote. It is a perfect poll quote.

[02:13:09] I just feel like why wouldn't you say like it's dinner time? Yeah, or like I'm ringing the dinner bell. Yeah, or like time to shout down any other number. Yeah, she's Italian. In this interview with this 15 year old Irish kid that I highly

[02:13:27] recommend everyone watch where Martin Bress comes off as a real mensch and is perhaps as sort of a postscript to this episode a nicer note to end on where you're like Martin Bress seems pretty happy and fulfilled. Whatever, right?

[02:13:41] He doesn't seem bitter about this movie as much as it still clearly is like a great regret of his he talks about how he thinks he has a fairly invisible style and how what he really is interested in in filmmaking is like being able to construct

[02:14:01] everything using all the tools of filmmaking and narrative Performance and humor and emotion whatever to make the audience feel very specific things. He talks about the development of movies like he is a sculptor and he said to this kid who's trying to give like, you know,

[02:14:19] actionable advice to on how he developed his skill set. He's like this might sound crazy. But when I was like in my 20s, I would as if I was an actor sit at home alone in my apartment and try to make myself feel

[02:14:34] certain emotions very intensely and then try to sort of then deconstruct it. How did I get to that point? What are things that make people feel ways and he's like when I was developing scripts, I'm going through every scene every

[02:14:48] line and then I'm thinking about it through performance and where I'm placing the camera in the edit about like I love being able to bring the audience on a very intentional journey. None of that is fucking felt in this movie. None of it. I watch it.

[02:15:01] I'm like, I don't know what I'm supposed to feel. It makes sense as some sort of like weird. He got on his own wavelength and was like, I'm just feeling shit out, but he talks about it like every film I made every

[02:15:13] choice is trying to like get you to this point and then it's what you said. It's like the gobble gobble logic of like he's trying to sort of deconstruct a thing that doesn't make sense to begin with right.

[02:15:25] It's just a collection of thoughts kind of like it's just sort of like like the fact that JLo is like really into like Chinese War philosophy and like Muay Thai, but she's lying. It's just like all everything is yeah, there's no some of its parts.

[02:15:44] It's just like what were you trying to do right and and reading the script does not make it any more clear. What if the answer was just Julie? Like ask me what are you trying to do with the movie?

[02:15:55] What are you trying to make with the film sheet? Julie, honestly, I'll be thinking about that. If that was his goal, I cannot deny that he succeeded. Why did you say it's turkey time gobble gobble gobble? Julie. Julie. Yeah, the Tarantino thing makes a lot of sense.

[02:16:10] I didn't think of that. This is like like the initial Tarantino wave comes in the 90s right and then like everyone says like the facts of the facts of the like it's like some deformed creature that's like I'm trying to do Pulp Fiction over here.

[02:16:23] It's just like let it die run off copycat shit has like run It's course by this point and this is the same year that Kill Bill volume one comes out after like a Tarantino hiatus right that felt like something new.

[02:16:37] It's not gangsters in LA and also everyone's kind of getting tired of my whole thing and everyone else ripping me off and I need to back off for a little bit but this is kind of like old guy out of touch.

[02:16:47] It's a little it's so out of touch. The comedy is just like I guess there was a time where this was acceptable maybe no, but whoa, that was a long time ago. It's unbelievable. It's crazy. It's also like the like the script reading the script really

[02:17:07] threw me because it's exactly what the movie is. Yes, and so like and then yeah hearing people talk about like, oh, he's not a screenwriter and it's just like it's such an interesting and it just happens all the time where it's just

[02:17:21] like people know that something is doomed from the jump and they just hope that they are wrong and they don't want to be the one to say it and like rain on the parade. You can't just be like, can we just stop this doesn't seem

[02:17:31] like it's going to be good. You can't just be like sorry Marty. What is the movie like it sucks. I think I'm going to anonymize this. I read a script about a year ago. For an upcoming film from a director. We've covered on the past in this podcast.

[02:17:45] So a film we will someday do an episode on and someone who has made some of my favorite films and some films that I think are terrible right was a classic blank check arc. We've covered on the show much like Martin breast and I was

[02:17:55] reading this script and I'm like cracking it open. I'm like, I want him to be back. I want this to be the comeback right? Let me say I want them to be back. I'm going to try to make this more vague.

[02:18:06] I think everyone's probably gonna be able to guess who this is right and I'm reading it. I'm like the pockets that are really working. I can see it. Yeah, some stretches nothing's like totally bumping but the Certain things from like her you losing it this and that and

[02:18:20] I'm reading it and I'm saying like, okay, did his best movies read like this on paper? And then the final step of the process is what he discovers on set if he casts it, right if he edits it, right?

[02:18:32] Yeah, or did his worst movies read like this on paper. There was enough potential there that you got the big stars attached and then you just lost it. And Glee's one of those things where you're just like, what

[02:18:47] what I it doesn't feel like there is anything on paper that makes sense for anyone to sign on for outside of this guy has hit a home run a couple times in the past, but he's coming off of a humongous flop.

[02:19:03] He's coming off a movie that should have made everyone question him more. And even if in theory, he's going to his safety genre then they should have gone like hey Marty, you know what actually before we start filming before we start paying actors 12 million dollars.

[02:19:19] Let's like go through the development to make this more like the movies that people like of yours. That's the moment for breasts to be like I quit or I concede right? I know that's what I'm like.

[02:19:30] I do you know that is for real the original script that that's not like so we should Clark right? We don't know no, no, right? Like we were given this script by somebody and it's clearly an earlier draft and it is longer but I think by all accounts

[02:19:46] it has the ending that was spoken of like one of the drafts that was read by Columbia Pictures where they were like, yes or a revolution who's releasing it through Columbia is their distributor right and that and that they're sending out

[02:19:59] to agents like if not this draft specifically one of the ones in this period. I know because I'm just like when like when would he say was like the beginning of the studio involvement and overreach and stuff because it's just sort of like but it also doesn't

[02:20:15] seem like he would take notes at a script level if his whole thing is that he's like I feel like it right. It was probably more after the shooting of yeah, which is then even crazier because I'm like people reading it and yeah

[02:20:26] signing on and like Adam Brody being like I like the script like it's just like what did you like and the only meddling I'm sensing is the score and the very very ending cutting out his weird ending and putting on the JLo actually loves him anyway.

[02:20:39] She circles back. I mean, it's so funny that like she clearly leaves the movie and it's like this is the end of my character and then four minutes later. I'm back. I got my line. Happy ending. Ben Affleck loved the New York Times headline on the Julie

[02:20:57] box office JLo and Ben Affleck finally get some privacy. It is funny. He calls it a bomber Rooney the Ishtar of our time. If you're going to do a bomb do nothing small. You know what I mean? He says it's my favorite Affleck quote from that fucking

[02:21:12] fable Damon interview. Damon says I remember you calling me after that weekend and saying my career is in the worst place. It could possibly be I can sell magazines, but not movie tickets. Oh, no. Yeah, and it but it's like it's such a good encapsulation of

[02:21:29] the weird like golden cage. Yes, Affleck found himself in where it's like this is one of the most famous men in the world and no one likes him at the thing he does. Affleck said the film tested around a 28 which to be clear

[02:21:43] for our listeners is out of a hundred is not a desired number. Was that the breast cut or the post meds just says I knew the movie was a dog. It was testing at like 28. It's people soundly rejected the picture.

[02:21:57] They sat through it and said we have spoken to me hate it. It's garbage. I don't think she would have worked with other actors. It just would have failed more quietly, which is probably true. When was it released? It was released in on August 1st 2003.

[02:22:13] So they were dumping it but also as much as I could have dumped like you release that the last week of August or the first week of September. They were still like is there any chance the fucking like tabloid obsession with these two gets us a little money.

[02:22:28] I do want to just and then just bail before we do the box office game a couple other things Affleck does credit working alongside Marnie breast as the best directing school he ever got. He says like, you know, he he taught me how to help an actor

[02:22:42] right like he's brilliant. He's so gifted. He's one of the first people he thanked when he won his Oscar for Arco. Yeah, which was kind of an amazing little moment. I think he forgot to thank Jennifer Garner. Right? Yeah, but Marty Brass, I said it was work.

[02:22:56] Yeah, being married. Oh, that's what he did. Right? It's yeah, he forgot to thank Gwyneth Paltrow or Gwyneth Paltrow forgot to thank him when she was yes. And he was in the audience and like Hillary Sink definitely forgot to thank Chad Lowe.

[02:23:06] Remember that one everyone made fun of her for that. I mean, that's a whole other part of the of the Bennifer thing is that like he's coming off of years of the Paltrow Affleck relationship being so hot and she's coming off of Diddy to

[02:23:19] Chris Judd to him and then go straight back to Marc Anthony. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, and he obviously goes right to Jennifer Garner after this right the other actress he co-starred with in 2003 right now. He just has to marry Uma Thurman. He's done the hat trick.

[02:23:34] Pacino says it wasn't doing the role wasn't a favor, although I would have done it just as a favor. Yeah favors. You don't usually get paid two million dollars for two days at work or whatever the fuck he says.

[02:23:44] I trust him to make a good movie which he does. He just missed with it. Sometimes you miss it the wrong time. Blah blah blah blah Pacino's very nice about everything read the test screenings and the meddling Roth basically apparently

[02:23:56] started to give him final cut Joe Roth gives breast final cut but after making him shoot. Well, no it tests so fucking abysmally the Roth is like we have to do something so he leans on breast to make cups and do reshoots.

[02:24:10] Okay, which is kind of what that breast quote is saying right rest is like I capitulated and I understand why he's capitulating because the film is probably testing very poorly and everyone's panicking right and what are you going to do walk away and

[02:24:22] let them well, it's quote-unquote fix it. It's honestly what we hear a lot now from like the huge behemoth Franchise movies, especially when they have not like Martin breast a sort of less tested second time filmmaker who gets

[02:24:36] this big job and they like make their cut and the studio will say like okay. We don't like this. Here's the deal either. We're going to tell you how you fix this and you follow our orders or we hire someone else to do it. We'll never credit them.

[02:24:52] We won't shit talk you to the press. Yeah, but you only get to sit in the director's chair. If you take our notes now and it's like that's sort of what they did to breast. It sounds like breast claims.

[02:25:02] I wonder if a movie has ever been changed so much. I'm sure it has in the history of Hollywood, but it changed so radically. I know I know but nonetheless he says I can't escape blame. I literally don't remember the movie that was released because

[02:25:18] it wasn't underneath it in the way. It was at the under the hood of all my other movies. It's a bloody mess that deserved its exploration. I as we said he refers to it as the G movie the less said the better. Hey, okay.

[02:25:31] So this is Griffin and David and Ben from a couple weeks after we recorded the episode D'Angelo is not here. There's a thing I forgot to mention in the original record that I just need to for posterity say and get you guys

[02:25:42] reacting to okay was talking about how the shooting script or the 2001 draft was more similar to the finished film than a lot of the stories. I had heard about breast saying it was a wildly different movie, right? There was one major plot convergence in the script from the

[02:25:57] finished film that I forgot to mention. Okay, which is that it turns out that JLo is not actually who she's pretending to be does not work for the Mafia is the lover of the suicidal girlfriend who is the one who's supposed to be doing her job.

[02:26:14] I low has stolen her identity. That is stirring some memory. My brain. I think I gaslighting thing like I don't know who she is. She's crazy. She was supposed to be a fake hitman or whatever. So at the end of the movie, she's like to Affleck like by

[02:26:27] the way, I am gay. I'm not a hitman by and then she leaves the movie. That's what that's a stupid more and less sense at the same time. Well, but it's the problem of the movies. The final movie is just like she's a hitman.

[02:26:41] You're like she isn't there like I don't know who cares. But in that version of the movie you're like but that scene With the fucking ex-girlfriend is so bizarre with the right to what is that? Yeah, it makes more sense if she's fucking her over but then

[02:26:54] also why is she doing that? Anyway, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that great, but we're not going to record our horizon pick up right now. No, we'll do that later. Okay, cool back to the episode. The film came out August 1st 2003 Griffin opening at number

[02:27:16] eight of the box office, which I want to be clear for our listeners. This is my expert opinion is lower than you were would hope for with 3.7 million opening weekend. So it's it's eighth. So not first now first is a comedy and it's new this week

[02:27:36] in August a comedy sequel 2003. It's not American wedding. Is it? It is American wedding. Really? Yes. What if there was a wedding involving the people from American pie? What if there were pubes on a cake and people hate it? I don't think I've ever seen American wedding.

[02:27:52] I want the pubes on the wedding cake. I just immediately had like a visceral like yes, I've seen that. Someone gives Jim the recommendation that he should manscape for the first time before his wedding night. Oh, yes.

[02:28:08] So he shaves his pubes and then throws the shavings the trimmings out the window and they land on the cake which is walking by and you cut to elderly relatives being like it's kind of tangy or whatever. That was like the big fucking trailer joke.

[02:28:24] It gets to the point where it's like these movies are like, how do we reverse engineer? What can get put in what? Stifler fucks Eugene Levy's mom in the movie and the bit is that he wants to fuck January Jones who I believe is Allison Hannigan's sister.

[02:28:40] It's a very a very early January Jones. Like first major role. Just like Out Cold. Wait, is it Out Cold or you're? She's in Just Married. Am I wrong about this? Because she was dating Kutcher for a while. Let's look up January Jones.

[02:28:56] The wonderful American actress January Jones is in hmm, Full Frontal the Soderbergh movie. Huh? She's in The Glass House that thriller. She's in Bandits. She's in Taboo. That's not a thing. Anger Management. She's in Anger Management, right? This is 2003. Actually. Yeah, right. That's it.

[02:29:16] Maybe love actually is what I'm thinking of. She's one of the three girls with Chris Marshall that who's being like on British and they're like we're so fucking horny for you like get in a cab with us right now. It's Elisha Cuthbert her and that third person.

[02:29:31] It's the woman from Elizabeth. Am I wrong? I think it's the woman that I only know her from head over heels. It's Ivana Milosevic. She was like a hot like Russian who is in like she isn't head over heels.

[02:29:46] Yeah, that's like a hot that is a crazy but had the Monica Potter ready Prince Junior rom-com. Yeah, that's like kind of rear window. He lives next to models. But then is he like a secret agent or something? There's some point in FBI agents.

[02:30:01] Yeah, I just want to I just want to finish saying very quickly the sweaty set up an American wedding is January Jones is like Stifler. You finally convinced me. I want to fuck you meet me in the equipment closet of the hotel room in the house, right?

[02:30:16] Yes, and then he's like great and he's like running to get there. Which I bet Sean William Scott sells that really well and I feel like the grandma's doing something embarrassing. So Eugene Levy is like mom just stand in this closet for

[02:30:28] five minutes and then some William Scott just walks in starts fucking her in the dark and like five minutes later January Jones knocks on the door opens it up is like Stifler and then you see Eugene Levy's mom and she's like don't stop.

[02:30:42] Oh, and is American wedding two or three three three two has the really great premise of they go to a beach house. Yeah, that's the entire premise of two great. It's just the summer. What if we made another it's just like they all go to a beach house.

[02:30:57] Why I don't know. It's the summertime gotta get to a beach house and then that's it American wedding is a few years on although not really no, they're pretty it's two years later and it's Biggs is getting married to Hannigan and Chris Klein has dropped

[02:31:11] out of the friend group Klein's not even in it. No, the others are there everyone else is doing rollerball. I mean, yeah, roll or whatever. Yeah. Yeah Stifler at this point is basically the co-lead of the film obviously right and then reunion is I think supposed

[02:31:28] to be their 10-year reunion even though it's 15 years later maybe it's all no it's only it's only nine years after American Wedding and it is there. I'm 13 years after their graduation. Yeah, that's my favorite year and Oz is back Klein is back. Oh, he's back big day.

[02:31:47] They got everyone back in a mid-credits scene. Jim's dad gets fellatio from Stifler's mom in a movie theater. That's the last sentence on the Wikipedia. Yeah, it's basically like Captain America catching Thor's hammer. It's like isn't this what we've been building up to they literally

[02:32:02] It's kind of like Stifler accidentally fucking Jim's dad's mom. But he walks into a room and he's like, oh, I'm sorry. I think I was supposed to be in a different room and then Ben's pointing at the time.

[02:32:18] Jim's dad is like I'm Jim's dad and she goes I'm Stifler's mom. They introduced themselves solely by I do love that Eugene Levy was like I'll be in all of them. Don't watch some interview with him recently where he's like

[02:32:31] maybe I did too many but the money was there. What's number two at the box office? It's a sequel. It opens number one fairly strong the week before and it is going to make it all the way to 111 million dollars. It's the third in a kids franchise.

[02:32:47] Spy Kids? It is. Good job, Jen. Great call. Two sort of asked for three quills at the top two here where it's kind of like do you want a third American Pie movie people like I suppose you made automatic money. You want another Spy Kids?

[02:33:04] Yeah, I mean I gotta get out of the house. Spy Kids 3 was up from two. It was because it had the 3D thing and sliced alones in it before there was even a surcharge just the gimmick was exciting to people. Well, it's red blue.

[02:33:16] Oh, yeah, the 3D is bad. I remember Spy Kids 3D lacking the juice. Two having some fun and by three you're kind of like everyone's getting a little too old for this. But it's like a Gonzo masterpiece. I think three is insane. Maybe we should do them.

[02:33:32] I'd like to look at all I'm gonna say is I shelled out some good money on eBay for the 3D Blu-ray of Spy Kids 3D just in case you ever made such a statement. Wow. Number three at the box office. It's the biggest hit of the summer.

[02:33:47] The biggest hit of the summer would be Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl. Oh, wow. Yeah. That people were happy to see. Oh, I saw that so many times in theaters. So did I. I loved it. I think I saw it three or four times.

[02:33:58] People loved it. Talk about a great score. John Powell can never. But then Zimmer doesn't do that one, right? Oh, it's not? It's Klaus Bedelt. I always love to tell people this. One of Zimmer's, you know, protégés, right?

[02:34:11] He basically was like, I'm gonna toss it off to one of my guys. Right, and then when that movie hits, Zimmer's like, get out of the fucking way! Oh my God. So he grabs it back after that point. That's incredible.

[02:34:22] And as I've said before on this podcast, Zimmer scores for the two Pirate sequels are some of the greatest work he ever did. They're absolutely incredible. Yes. Yes, they're so fucking good. But it's also one of those things where like Captain Jack doesn't

[02:34:34] have a theme in the first movie and he watches it and is like, oh, they never bothered. Yeah, and he gives Jack Sparrow an amazing theme. One of the great characters, Jack Sparrow. Nothing weird ever came out of that whole phenomenon.

[02:34:44] Number four at the box office is going to be a Best Picture nominee this year. It's based on a bestseller. Seabiscuit. Because this is coming off of, I referenced this the weekend before this at the time. Broke a record.

[02:34:56] It was the first time the top five movies at the box office all made over 20 million dollars. Whoa, just as an interesting counterpoint to where we are today 21 years later. It was like there's room for everybody. So I remember now that you've pinned Spy Kids 3D.

[02:35:12] I remember the other things that would have been in that previous top five. Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit. It's fun. A big hit? Yeah, never seen it. Seabiscuit. I've never seen it. You know why? It was illegal to watch that movie after like 2004.

[02:35:25] It's like now, there's nothing even wrong with it, but we're just not going to talk about it. I was like, I feel like I get it. Yeah, he's a horse. He wins the race. The DVDs that people bought literally crumbled on like January 1st. Leprechaun gold. 2005.

[02:35:39] Number five at the box office is a sequel, an action film and it got a third film many years later and then a fourth film. It's Bad Boys 2. Yeah. The most vulgar film ever made. Yeah, yeah. A truly exceptional work, but it is horrifying to watch.

[02:35:58] It is so funny to watch the response, the split of people's feelings about the two Adil and Bilal Bad Boys movies, which you and I both love. But people... I had a great time in this last one. Oh, great time. So good.

[02:36:10] People are either like, oh, it's nice that like they came in and figured out a more humanist way, like viewpoint for these movies. And then some people are like, the second Bad Boys cares about any aspect of humanity. We've gone astray in this franchise.

[02:36:26] Well, but the whole thing is like Bad Boys 1 is pure nihilism. Yes. Bad Boys 1 is not, in my opinion, a really good movie, but it's got like just you're just seeing like the beginning of Will. You're seeing Bay starting to figure things out.

[02:36:37] All that stuff. Martin's kind of on fire. Bad Boys 2 is just them all coming back together and being like, right, what if we just made the most like ridiculous shit of all time, right? With nothing to do with anything.

[02:36:47] And then those two movies are handed to Bad Boys 3 being like, can you cook kind of a Fast and Furious-y like movie about guys getting older and family? They do it with great aplomb. What you make of it.

[02:36:58] And they very wisely recognize that like if you codify this into a quote unquote meaningful mythology, there is an audience of people who grew up on these movies who will be ready to be like, yes, Reggie is important. Reggie rocks. Reggie rocks. Fucking love Reggie. Reggie rules.

[02:37:15] I mean we saw that film together, although not together. Separately. Sitting in separate seats. Yes. You went with Alex and I went with Alex. Your friend Alex. And we sat opposite sides of the same room when I went to the

[02:37:25] bathroom. I recognized. The audience's reaction to Reggie was, you know, off the scale screaming and cheering. Everyone else I have spoken to who saw that movie in theaters has described the reaction their audience has had to Reggie as one million times what we experienced. Yes.

[02:37:43] I mean and for us it was like the foundations of the Elmo Draft House. We were seeing it like 11 on a Tuesday or whatever. It was like not. Yeah, packed. I think like weekend two, maybe three and it was like a very

[02:37:55] packed theater and people lost their minds. Reggie matters. For Reggie and for The Big White Gator. Oh my gosh. Ben, you still haven't seen it, right? Oh, so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. We told him there's gators.

[02:38:07] We've spoiled it for him, but you wanted more gators out of Gigli. Yeah, it's true. Oh, yeah, you wanted a gator in Gigli. Yeah, but I grew up going to that kind of place in Florida. Oh really? My grandparents lived nearby. Oh, whoa.

[02:38:24] Back in the 90s when it was just like, I don't know, we just get a bunch of gators together, charge people 20 bucks a head and see what happens. They had a gator place. A Florida man would stick his head inside the mouth of a gator.

[02:38:35] Hey Ben, I just want to quickly. Jesus, we've been doing it all the time. I just want to alert you. All right, number six at the box office, Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, The Cradle of Life, a flop. Number seven at the box office, Finding Nemo, the other giant

[02:38:49] hit of the summer. Number eight at the box office, some sort of film called Gigli. Don't know what that is. Number nine, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, another flop. And number 10, Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines, a sort of like soft hit yet underwhelming. Yeah.

[02:39:03] Ben, like Beckham is growing and doing well down in this sort of, you know, 12 range. Just Keira Knightley was the sexiest tomboy being pulled. I can't believe that was the same summer as pirates. 2003, how old were you? 15, 14? I was...

[02:39:19] Since you went to college with my wife, I know your exact age essentially. It was the summer after my freshman year of high school. So yeah, 15. I was 17. I was like, I have agency. I have an allowance. I think I had a job.

[02:39:30] I'm seeing every single fucking movie that exists. And Keira Knightley that same summer was also 17, I believe? Yes, she was 17. Yeah, because it was like in Britain where I lived, you know, it was like she's doing her A-levels and being in Bend It Like Beckham.

[02:39:46] I'm like, I'm also doing my A-levels and seeing Bend It Like Beckham. Right. But yeah, 2003, US release of Pirates, Bend It Like Beckham and Love Actually. Yeah, she just did that. And she was 17 years old. Such bizarre casting in Love Actually. Why is she getting married to anybody?

[02:40:02] Insane. She's a child. Also, Keira Knightley just reminded me because of course I iconically think of that picture of her from the red carpet. I think it's a Pirates premiere where she's wearing the lowest cut jeans you've ever seen in your life and the most crafty.

[02:40:13] Most insane jeans. It looks like they're drawn on because you're like, no way could her body support these. Right. It's like her abs are so long. If you were trying to dress up as 2003 for Halloween, this is

[02:40:24] the costume you would put on. Or JLo's costume when she first walked in in Chili. I was like, these jeans! Well, it looks like somebody, you know that thing where Lenny Kravitz is wearing the big scarf and then people have made it even bigger for comic effect.

[02:40:36] It looks like someone's just kind of clicked and dragged her torso to make it longer. Yeah. My ranking of Martin Brest's films, Griffin, this is the only other thing I feel like we need to do. Yeah. Is as follows or would you like to go first?

[02:40:48] No, you go first. I'm curious. Number one, Midnight Run. Number two, Beverly Hills Cop. Number three, Going in Style. I actually debated two and three. That's how much I liked Going in Style. Yeah. Number four, I'm Gonna Have Meet Joe Black. Over number five, Hot Tomorrows.

[02:41:03] I debated that too. Sure. Yeah, because yeah, Hot Tomorrows may be actually more functional in some ways as a movie. I kind of like the swing of Meet Joe Black more. Number six, Comfortably at Six, Scent of a Woman and Bottom Feeding is Julie.

[02:41:18] I'm really tempted to put Scent of a Woman last even though it feels a little bit intellectually dishonest. I don't think there's really an argument for that. My list is very similar. Midnight Run is number one.

[02:41:31] I think I do put Going in Style above Beverly Hills Cop because it really grew for me on this watch. Have you seen Going in Style, Jen? I have not. Check it out. Yeah. It's fucking good. But Beverly Hills Cop is like kind of one of my ultimate

[02:41:41] comfort food movies and I love and I think it's like a fucking does not get enough credit as a directorial work. So many people got in touch with me being like, I didn't realize that movie was good and I'm like, yeah man.

[02:41:52] Breast tells a very funny story of he was like and perhaps this is ominous but he was like, I do listen to podcasts when people talk about my work. Hey Marty. And he was like I was listening to a podcast with a bunch of

[02:42:04] like esteemed critics at a legitimate outlet who are talking about how much they love Beverly Hills Cop for like an hour and how perfect every detail was in it and then one of them went and this movie was directed by Martin Breast and someone

[02:42:16] said, well the less said about him the better. What? Oh no! And he was like you can't credit me for the things you liked about the movie and I do think because that movie is so much Eddie Murphy and then even Bruckheimer behind that people

[02:42:32] fail to connect and I think fully give him credit for what he did on that film. That was very skillful. I agree that I put me Joe Black above Hot Tomorrows. Okay, and then I guess I do have to do Scent of a Woman and then Gigli.

[02:42:44] The difference is that like I hate Scent of a Woman versus Gigli. I think is a calamity. You feel pity for it. Right. Yeah. It's more it's like there's something interesting about it because it's such a myth. I have no ire for it though. Right.

[02:42:58] I got a little ire. I got no ire. I just feel so sad for him. I'm like same. He really was like he tried to do something. He sort of was lost from the get-go. I can't defend it at all. No.

[02:43:10] Ebert like did not give this movie a good review but was on the upper end of reviews. Yes, but Ebert and Jennifer Lopez. It is a long and tortured history. He refused to give her movies bad reviews.

[02:43:22] She could be in a movie called Fuck Roger Ebert and he'd be like she's still sizzling in this one. Like he could not help himself. I God bless him. Like it was I always respected it that you would see like what do you get the cell four stars?

[02:43:35] I mean fit. That's a famous review, of course where he supposedly saw a different cut of the movie. That's another sleepover. I ruined I made us. That will fuck up a sleepover. That movie is disturbing. Like he gave Angel Eyes three stars.

[02:43:49] He gave Made in Manhattan three stars. He gave an Unfinished Life three stars like Jersey Girl three and a half stars. He had a crush on her. Yeah, I'm sorry. She Lee two and a half. I was wrong.

[02:43:59] The quote I was thinking of actually wasn't Ebert was Joel Seale Segal on Good Morning America. He gave it a D but I do think this perfectly describes how I view this film to qualify as a historic failure a film needs

[02:44:14] a measure of pretension and all Julie ever wanted to be was a romantic comedy shirt. It's not wait. I'm sorry. Okay. What it is is a dreadful romantic comedy and I'm like it is maybe the worst romantic comedy ever made in a certain way.

[02:44:30] Yeah, but but there is something to how unpretentious it is. Yeah, that makes it hard for me to hate it versus sensible woman, which I think is very impressed with that. So I would say this film does have a lick of pretension to

[02:44:42] its whole like let's wander into the gender debate or what you know what I mean? Like it's like monologuing. It is also like to start from a place of like I want the challenge of like a very uninteresting visually bland. Yeah, nothingness and a guy who's very pretentious.

[02:45:02] A main character you're going to hate. Yeah, like when anytime you start from like I'm going to make a movie because like XYZ and it's not just like I'm gonna make a movie because I have this story that I really

[02:45:12] like just like then you're off to a really bad start. I agree. That haven't been said. Breast we want to do him forever. I'm so glad we did. What a fucking insane arc basically for movies that I think are some degree of great or let's say four movies.

[02:45:29] I like unabashedly if you include Hot Tomorrow's in there, which I feel like is kind of a rough draft with amazing pockets and then two movies that are outright calamities in my mind David's nodding vigorously. Nod. Yeah, Julie. Yeah. Next up on the podcast is Kevin Costner.

[02:45:48] You hear that? It's the sound of the West. Whispering in agreement. You mad? I can't wait until you guys can do Jerry Seinfeld. Bee Movie, Unfrosted. D'Angelo, here's a pitch that I've been I've been working on a little bit recently because I watched these other

[02:46:05] two for the first time. You do the cinema of quote Seinfeld. So you have Sour Grapes. Sour Grapes, Clear History, Bee Movie, Unfrosted. Wow. If you want to go hug wild you add the Larry Charles movies in there, but I think the Larry David Seinfeld.

[02:46:20] Larry Charles has his own career. Yeah. Yeah. Which is the best of those four movies? I think, I'll confidently say. I think it's Bee Movie. I was gonna say it's Bee Movie too. I think it's because Bee Movie is also just like culturally

[02:46:39] insane. It had a strange legacy as opposed to the non-legacy of the Larry David movies. Like the fact that Jerry Seinfeld was like this is my opus. Like I will go on 30 Rock specifically to advertise Bee Movie. I care about this so much. Good episode Seinfeld.

[02:46:55] And Larry David's two movies are him being like I want to stop doing Seinfeld and I want to stop doing Curb Your Enthusiasm. And both of them feel like stretched out versions of plot lines that would have fit into either one of those shows.

[02:47:09] They both have things that are funny in them, but are disasters. I'd say close to both. Anyway, Kevin Costner. We'll be covering Waterworld on Patreon. We're doing Kevin Costner guys. So yeah, have fun with it. Are you gonna go to the Waterworld stunt show? I've gone before.

[02:47:29] We discussed it. Really great. I feel like you should do just an episode on that. I agree. We discussed it a fair amount. Yeah, a fair amount in the West. We talked about it a good amount. As you may or may not know, Kevin Costner has recently

[02:47:41] released a passion project called Horizon An American Saga that he's sinking all his money into because he wants to tell stories slash maybe bankrupt himself before a divorce hearing. We can't tell, maybe both. Unclear. Who knows? And if that is not a blank check project, what is? Yeah.

[02:48:00] And so we're talking about his short but interesting directorial career. Yeah, so Waterworld on Patreon, but we'll be talking dances with wolves. We'll be talking postman, open range, the two horizons, and then after that we'll go into David Lynch, the March Madness winner. So that's it.

[02:48:15] That's your schedule for the rest of the year. Okay, and for everyone asking when Twin Peaks is going to be discussed on the podcast, late October for season one, November for season two, and sort of December for season three.

[02:48:28] If you want a time, you're watching to that. Lynch takes us to the end of 2024, plan accordingly, obviously with new release movies in between there. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, don't repeat it. Two times is the most we can say that. Zemeckis is here, which looks normal.

[02:48:46] That is, I really, it really threw me. I was like, this is ghoulish and we have to stop. I'm amped and I wanted to do more. I think he's just getting warm. I can't, I really, it really disturbs me to see Robert De

[02:49:02] Niro and Harrison Ford and now Tom Hanks just walking around in old man's bodies with old men voices with young men's faces. It is so horrifying. We have to stop. Have you seen a man called Otto? I have not.

[02:49:19] There is a DA. Talk about an annoying kid. David's pointing at the clock. There is a DA, Hanks in that movie for one scene that is so horrific looking that when I saw the hero trailer, I was like, this is the greatest special effect I've ever seen

[02:49:31] because in comparison, I'm like Bobby nailed it. Zemeckis hit the bullseye. This is the whole thing with Zemeckis much like Ang Lee where it's like you're doing the best version of this. I'm not denying that you have the technical acumen to push this to its limit.

[02:49:46] It still looks cursed. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like even you tweaking all the knobs as best you can. Yes, it's better than that schmo over there, but is it good? Is it human? That's the question. Yeah, the human I think there's no question.

[02:50:00] It is not human really, but it's like animated movies. I feel like can be human. Yeah, but this is not human. Of course also want to mention that we're doing an episode on Joker follow you to Jen. Thank you so much for being here. Oh my gosh.

[02:50:11] Thank you so much for having me. Also, I'm not sure on strap. Oh, which is we're very excited for it. But also Joker's gonna make shit twist. I may or may not be there for that one. We'll see. I think you're really good.

[02:50:22] I think you're gonna be here more than you've ever you're gonna be like fucking Zemeckis here. You're gonna be stuck in this room forever. There's one room from one angle for centuries. That's how here you're gonna be millennia potentially dinosaurs.

[02:50:38] You're gonna start that episode out like a dinosaur. You're gonna be here Jen anything you want to plug. Oh my gosh. I mean quiz lady on Hulu. Check it out. Totally killer on Amazon. Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney Plus.

[02:50:53] I'm hitting them all and as you talk about very often on your Instagram watching them is very beneficial for you because the residual structures of writing original streaming movies is great. Oh, yeah, and they make a lot of money falling. Sound effects.

[02:51:08] Yeah, like, you know when you hear like, oh wow, it was the most watch movie on this platform. You're like, oh wow, that probably means it'll make a lot of money and then you email them and they're sort of like

[02:51:18] it actually didn't meet expectations for us and you're like, what's your model then? Anyway, everything's good. Yeah, but yeah, you know follow me on Instagram at Jen underscore D'Angelo. You have a great IG. Oh, thank you so much. You're welcome. And also 84 Brady Doughboys episode coming soon.

[02:51:35] Let's just state the intention. Yes, let's just get that out in the world. Yeah, thank you for being here and thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate review and subscribe. Thank you to Marie Barty for helping to produce the show

[02:51:46] AJ McKeon for editing and being our production coordinator JJ Burt for our research lay Montgomery in the Great American novel for our theme song Joe bone and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. You can go to blankcheckpod.com for links to some real

[02:52:01] nerdy shit including our patreon where you can hear the hot tomorrow's episode. We talked about water world coming up and as we transition from the sewers of the Ninja Turtles to the top of the table the tabletop games patreon series and all I'm going

[02:52:18] to say is we committed to what we're doing to end off the year and I'm very happy and I want an argument and it's going to be good. It wasn't even an argument. It took maybe 20 gifts sent in one text thread to convince

[02:52:29] you decided to do that unprompted and it were clear I was rewarded and now I've learned a good behavior. Ben, would you say that Griffin usually just gets what he wants by just like pushing the button over and over

[02:52:40] again until we're all like fine stop pushing the button. I'm very mature. Yes, I would. I would agree to that. Very mature and I am very diplomatic. Tune in next week for dances with wolves. Yep, and as always spoiler alert both of us are kind of

[02:52:56] getting on that movie. Yeah, everyone's gonna get mad at us. But don't worry the next two we have really a lot of fun with yeah, and as always gobble gobble.