The Man Who Knew Too Little

[00:00:01] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David

[00:00:09] Don't know what to say or to expect

[00:00:13] All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check

[00:00:20] Yo, Mady! You just stabbed me with your podcast!

[00:00:24] Yo!

[00:00:26] Welcome everyone!

[00:00:28] Good voice. I like the voice.

[00:00:30] This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. They're usually your hosts, but today, today producer Ben, that's me!

[00:00:38] Hey!

[00:00:39] Hi guys!

[00:00:40] Yeah.

[00:00:41] I'm going to be stepping in as sort of a guest host.

[00:00:43] Third time's the charm.

[00:00:44] It's happened before, it will happen again.

[00:00:46] It's another Ben's choice.

[00:00:49] Choice.

[00:00:50] But Ben, it's a choice.

[00:00:52] Now let's see if I can get through this like setup of what the show is.

[00:00:56] So Blank Check, right?

[00:00:57] Yeah.

[00:00:58] Blank Check is a podcast where we look at directors' filmographies, right?

[00:01:01] Can I just point out, I mean you're nailing it so far because you got correct that it is...

[00:01:04] They called Blank Check and that it's a podcast.

[00:01:06] Shut up!

[00:01:07] Let him talk.

[00:01:08] Keep going.

[00:01:09] Great. Okay.

[00:01:10] So in this podcast we take the directors' filmographies and we kind of like look at it, right?

[00:01:15] We take it under a microscope, we put it on a slide and we're like wait a second.

[00:01:18] Okay, this is where they started, they were cultured here.

[00:01:21] This is where they had their big break.

[00:01:23] And this is where Hollywood was like you can do whatever you want.

[00:01:25] But then the thing is a lot of times those checks bounce and sometimes they do good.

[00:01:31] Clear?

[00:01:32] Deposit.

[00:01:33] I don't know, we have to figure out because I like...

[00:01:35] Griffin has his spiel.

[00:01:36] Yeah, he's got that.

[00:01:37] But you know what?

[00:01:38] This is Ben's choice.

[00:01:39] That's right.

[00:01:40] All right, so now that we've got that out of the way, here is what we're going

[00:01:42] to be talking about today.

[00:01:43] One of my favorite movies of all time.

[00:01:45] It's a fun little romper.

[00:01:47] What did you say?

[00:01:48] Yeah, and let's put it out.

[00:01:49] When we first had the idea to do a Ben's choice, we asked him what's your favorite movie?

[00:01:53] And this was the first answer he gave us.

[00:01:55] He sent it almost immediately.

[00:01:57] We asked for more answers after that.

[00:01:59] We ended up going with Fletch first and then Under Seeds 2 Dark Territory.

[00:02:03] But this was the first answer you offered up when we asked you if you could pick any movie.

[00:02:06] What would you talk about?

[00:02:07] 100%.

[00:02:08] I love this film.

[00:02:09] This is another VHS.

[00:02:11] Watch it over and over again.

[00:02:12] Yeah, this is a real 90s thing.

[00:02:15] This movie was maybe never released on DVD.

[00:02:18] Yeah, probably not.

[00:02:20] But let's say the name of it.

[00:02:22] The name of the film is The Man Who Knew Too Little.

[00:02:26] And this is the pod who cast Too Little.

[00:02:29] It certainly is.

[00:02:31] It certainly is.

[00:02:33] What was I going to...

[00:02:35] Ben has the blank check in the Ben's choice.

[00:02:38] Usually we're looking at the blank check career of a director but in Ben's choice, it's

[00:02:42] Ben who has the blank check.

[00:02:43] It's the producer who has the blank check.

[00:02:44] He wrote The Man Who Knew Too Little on the check.

[00:02:47] And we deposited it and it has cleared.

[00:02:49] It has cleared.

[00:02:50] It showed up.

[00:02:51] Here we are.

[00:02:52] Yeah.

[00:02:53] And let's just quick, we're going to try to talk about as little as possible.

[00:02:55] This is our first episode recorded after the election so we are terrified.

[00:02:59] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:01] You might notice a sort of a dead end like thud to everything I say.

[00:03:05] You might hear the blankness in our eyes.

[00:03:07] Yeah, exactly.

[00:03:09] Far off-stair.

[00:03:10] But we're actually...

[00:03:11] We're trying to make sure that everyone has fun times moving forward.

[00:03:15] Yeah, that's what we got to do.

[00:03:16] Fun times.

[00:03:17] We're trying to make sure everyone has fun times.

[00:03:19] That's our responsibility.

[00:03:20] We figured this will post a while after and so we don't want to just, you know, but we're

[00:03:25] going out with a total huge hashing through of everything that's happened.

[00:03:28] But I think everyone who listens to the show knows how we feel about this.

[00:03:31] Yep.

[00:03:32] Cheers.

[00:03:33] Cheers.

[00:03:34] No good.

[00:03:35] I think we probably...

[00:03:36] This is like post Thanksgiving so you already had that awkward interaction with family

[00:03:39] members that you don't necessarily like.

[00:03:41] Now Christmas is around the corner.

[00:03:43] That's going to happen again but whatever.

[00:03:45] Think of us as your family members that you do like.

[00:03:47] Yeah.

[00:03:48] And also, we were originally going to record this episode the day after the election because

[00:03:52] we were so confident.

[00:03:53] Just nice clean election.

[00:03:55] That's true.

[00:03:56] Roll straight from that into a podcast about Bill Murray's The Man Who Knew Too Little.

[00:03:59] We could not do it.

[00:04:00] And we woke up that morning and we were like, no one will ever want to listen to this

[00:04:03] if we record this now.

[00:04:04] So this is us a week out.

[00:04:06] So, you know, yeah, I mean today it's more like that thing where like, yeah,

[00:04:11] you know, you get up, you eat your food, you go to work like...

[00:04:14] We're trucking along.

[00:04:15] Yeah, you know, and you can't just like admit defeat to your entire life.

[00:04:19] Yeah.

[00:04:20] Like as much as you shouldn't admit defeat, you know, about certain things like...

[00:04:24] But also, you know, we should just...

[00:04:26] You can't just lie in bed for four years feeling miserable like as much as you might want to.

[00:04:31] Wait, what's that?

[00:04:32] Oh, it sounds like some cool snapping.

[00:04:34] Cool.

[00:04:35] Let's start this.

[00:04:37] Yeah.

[00:04:38] Sorry guys.

[00:04:39] All right, so.

[00:04:40] All right.

[00:04:41] Hands here.

[00:04:45] I love the snapping in this movie.

[00:04:47] I forgot how stylish this movie was.

[00:04:49] This guy, it starts off so jazzy.

[00:04:51] That's right.

[00:04:52] It's a jazzy little movie.

[00:04:54] The man who knew too little.

[00:04:56] I'm going to point one thing out about it.

[00:04:58] Okay.

[00:04:59] It came out in 1997.

[00:05:00] Okay.

[00:05:01] To bad reviews and poor financial receipts.

[00:05:04] Yup.

[00:05:05] It was, I feel like we'll talk about Bill Murray in a second, but it was kind of

[00:05:08] in his real kind of bottoming out, I feel like.

[00:05:11] Correct.

[00:05:12] In terms of coolness, especially.

[00:05:14] But also in terms of box office success.

[00:05:17] It was sort of when before his Rushmore lost in translation,

[00:05:21] bounced back as, you know, like, ooh, cool, arty actor and like fun.

[00:05:28] Sure.

[00:05:29] Personality again, right?

[00:05:30] Like, ooh, mysterious.

[00:05:32] Oh, he's got a secret answering machine and no agent.

[00:05:35] And Rushmore shows up at a bar.

[00:05:37] Yeah.

[00:05:38] Rushmore is the year after this.

[00:05:39] This is the last chapter in like, Bill Murray's a star, right?

[00:05:44] I'd say this is.

[00:05:45] Can we be in some movies?

[00:05:46] I'd say that's phase two of Bill Murray, right?

[00:05:48] I'd say phase three.

[00:05:50] You think this is the end of phase three?

[00:05:52] Yeah.

[00:05:53] Let me give you a phases.

[00:05:54] Okay.

[00:05:55] Phases of Bill.

[00:05:56] Phase one is, is Bill Murray, young comedy star.

[00:06:00] Yes.

[00:06:01] Meatball 79.

[00:06:02] Right.

[00:06:03] So we're talking, okay.

[00:06:04] Second city dude gets hired onto SNL.

[00:06:06] So he's meant for Chevy Chase.

[00:06:07] Hold on, who's Bill Murray?

[00:06:09] That's what we're doing.

[00:06:10] God.

[00:06:11] No, but there's a story here that I think is very telling.

[00:06:13] Okay.

[00:06:14] Okay.

[00:06:15] The sort of Rosetta stone to Bill Murray.

[00:06:16] Oh Jesus.

[00:06:17] Chevy Chase is the breakout star of SNL.

[00:06:19] Yes, yes.

[00:06:20] He does one season.

[00:06:21] I know.

[00:06:22] Wins the Emmy.

[00:06:23] Yeah.

[00:06:24] Leaves.

[00:06:25] Bill Murray's introduced his replacement people.

[00:06:26] Hate it.

[00:06:27] They don't like it.

[00:06:28] Bill Murray does like sort of these self-deprecating sketches sometimes where he's like.

[00:06:29] Well, there's one specific one and overnight he becomes a star.

[00:06:32] Yes.

[00:06:33] He does a couple months on the show.

[00:06:34] He's bombing.

[00:06:35] He goes on weekend update and he sits in the chair and they go, here's our new cast member,

[00:06:40] Bill Murray.

[00:06:41] And he goes, look, I know what you're wondering.

[00:06:42] Why isn't this guy funny?

[00:06:44] I know.

[00:06:45] I agree.

[00:06:46] I'm funny all the time with my friends.

[00:06:47] I've been funny on stage before and then I watch the show and I go, who is this guy?

[00:06:50] He's not funny.

[00:06:51] Right.

[00:06:52] And he said, well, we're all thinking an overnight Bill Murray fucking it hits.

[00:06:55] Yeah.

[00:06:56] Next episode.

[00:06:57] That's 77, I believe.

[00:06:58] Right.

[00:06:59] Yeah.

[00:07:00] Okay.

[00:07:01] So he becomes now this new face of comedy.

[00:07:02] He's a hit.

[00:07:03] All right.

[00:07:04] He's a hit.

[00:07:05] He's a hit.

[00:07:06] He's a hit.

[00:07:07] I'm not, I'm skipping some of his movies.

[00:07:09] There's like Where the Buffalo Roomba, like his big movies.

[00:07:11] In 80, Caddy Shack.

[00:07:13] One of the Buffalo Rooms, the only one in between Caddy Shack and Meatballs.

[00:07:16] Yeah.

[00:07:17] So Meatballs, I think they thought was a throwaway.

[00:07:19] Oh, here's the new guy on SNL.

[00:07:21] Ivan Reibn's first movie.

[00:07:22] It costs like a million dollars.

[00:07:23] It's a little camp comedy.

[00:07:24] It was made in Canada and then it is a breakout hit and they go, oh, maybe

[00:07:28] Bill Murray and maybe a movie star.

[00:07:30] Caddy Shack.

[00:07:31] Huge hit.

[00:07:32] It's not important that, but it shows him playing a goofier side.

[00:07:34] His character becomes quite iconic.

[00:07:36] 81, Stripes.

[00:07:37] Huge hit.

[00:07:38] And now he's got some juice.

[00:07:39] Now he's like molding star vehicles.

[00:07:41] Stripes was originally a Cheech and Chong movie.

[00:07:47] Do you know this?

[00:07:48] Ivan Reibn had been producing, was trying to get into directing and writing

[00:07:52] and pitched Cheech and Chong in the army.

[00:07:54] It went pretty far and then Cheech and Chong decided they didn't want to do it.

[00:07:57] He had already made Meatballs.

[00:08:00] Bill Murray was on a roll and he said, Bill, who would your second guy be?

[00:08:04] And he goes, I like Harold Ramis.

[00:08:06] He's my friend.

[00:08:07] He's a writer.

[00:08:08] He was one of the best improvisers as a straight man and he makes Harold Ramis

[00:08:12] a movie star as well.

[00:08:14] And Stripes, huge.

[00:08:16] You like Stripes, Benny?

[00:08:17] It's like honestly another favorite comedy of mine.

[00:08:20] It's so good.

[00:08:21] Stripes, a movie.

[00:08:23] My favorite line from Freaks and Geeks is when they're comparing

[00:08:25] Bill Murray movies and trying to pick which is the best one.

[00:08:28] And someone goes Stripes and he goes, same way it goes,

[00:08:31] but you can't tell me what happens in the second half of Stripes.

[00:08:34] Sure.

[00:08:35] Because every moment that everyone loves in Stripes happens in the first half of the movie.

[00:08:38] And if you ask someone what happens in the second half of Stripes,

[00:08:40] they steal like a, it's like an RV and then there's like John Larraket.

[00:08:44] I'm moving on.

[00:08:45] Stripes is fun.

[00:08:46] 82 Tootsie.

[00:08:48] Okay.

[00:08:49] Sporting roll.

[00:08:50] You pepper a man.

[00:08:51] Sporting roll but huge hit Oscar winner or at least nominee.

[00:08:55] No, I won a couple Oscars.

[00:08:56] Just go lang and I think I won a screenplay.

[00:08:58] Huge hit.

[00:08:59] But that's also a new shade of him.

[00:09:01] Absolutely.

[00:09:02] It's him fitting into someone else's movie, not a Bill Murray movie.

[00:09:04] And at this point, he's out, he's left us enough.

[00:09:08] Okay.

[00:09:09] So he's striking out.

[00:09:10] Now what does he want to do?

[00:09:11] He wants to make the Razor's Edge more than anything.

[00:09:13] He really wants to make the Razor's Edge.

[00:09:15] The summer sets novel.

[00:09:16] He's trying to make it everyone goes, you're Bill Murray,

[00:09:18] you're a comedy star, you're a goofball.

[00:09:20] Who would let you make a Razor's Edge movie?

[00:09:22] Absolutely not.

[00:09:23] He's trying to use that Tootsie juice.

[00:09:25] His seed will find no purchase, right?

[00:09:27] Yeah.

[00:09:28] Dan Ackroyd had written Ghostbusters as Belushi and Ackroyd.

[00:09:33] Set up with right men.

[00:09:34] Belushi dies.

[00:09:35] And they go, fuck, what do we do?

[00:09:37] The third guy was supposed to be Eddie Murphy.

[00:09:39] Yeah.

[00:09:40] I think, well, Harold Ramis, they brought Harold Ramis on to rewrite the script.

[00:09:43] We're not going to do a whole Ghostbusters thing.

[00:09:45] Jesus Christ.

[00:09:46] He makes Ghostbusters kind of as like, hey, if I do this,

[00:09:48] will you let me do the Razor's Edge, right?

[00:09:50] That was the deal.

[00:09:51] He says, my salary for Ghostbusters, and he got paid as well,

[00:09:54] is you have to finance the Razor's Edge.

[00:09:56] Right.

[00:09:57] So does that makes the Razor's Edge?

[00:09:59] That's kind of a bomb.

[00:10:00] No one likes it.

[00:10:01] He's like, fuck you guys, I hate everyone.

[00:10:03] Bill Murray, phase one over, stops making movies.

[00:10:06] Doesn't make any movies.

[00:10:07] Well, you forgot, Ghostbusters is humongous.

[00:10:09] Yeah, of course.

[00:10:10] Yeah, I think people...

[00:10:11] You left that off, right?

[00:10:12] But yeah.

[00:10:13] Ghostbusters is fucking ginormous.

[00:10:14] And Bill Murray drops the mic, goes to the Sorbonne.

[00:10:17] Because the Razor's Edge, yeah, he goes to the Sorbonne.

[00:10:19] What else does he do?

[00:10:20] He's afraid of fame.

[00:10:21] Yeah.

[00:10:22] He doesn't like it.

[00:10:23] He kind of pulls a Dave Chappelle, sort of like that thing where it's like...

[00:10:26] He thinks there's something more to like.

[00:10:27] He goes out on top maybe, or everyone's like, what happened there?

[00:10:30] He goes to the Sorbonne for three years studies philosophy.

[00:10:32] Yeah.

[00:10:33] I mean just imagine that in present day.

[00:10:35] If one of our biggest movie stars...

[00:10:37] I don't want to jerk his dick off too much,

[00:10:38] because I feel like Bill Murray gets jerked off too much.

[00:10:40] I'm not saying that in a complimentary way.

[00:10:41] Yeah, no, but sure.

[00:10:42] I'm just saying, imagine the...

[00:10:43] Dave Chappelle.

[00:10:44] Right.

[00:10:45] Imagine if Chris Pratt tomorrow was like, ah fuck,

[00:10:47] and he went to the Sorbonne for three years.

[00:10:49] Imagine James Franco started painting,

[00:10:51] or like write poetry, or like...

[00:10:54] I don't think...

[00:10:55] I don't think...

[00:10:56] I don't think...

[00:10:57] That really was Crubbin for Murray actually.

[00:10:58] He was a little bit.

[00:10:59] But neither of those are the same as Bill Murray.

[00:11:01] I just think that's a bizarre thing that wouldn't happen today.

[00:11:03] Except Dave Chappelle.

[00:11:04] I mean he didn't go to the Sorbonne,

[00:11:05] but it happens once in a while.

[00:11:07] I think that would be the same as Dave Chappelle then went on

[00:11:09] to do movies and had as much success in movies

[00:11:11] as he did on TV.

[00:11:12] All right, look, this is semantic.

[00:11:14] It'd be like producer Ben getting into fashion or something.

[00:11:18] We can't stop that baby.

[00:11:20] Oh, it's happening.

[00:11:21] For the next four years,

[00:11:22] Bill Murray makes one appearance in a film.

[00:11:24] He's in Little Shop, you know, in the cameo.

[00:11:26] One of the funniest scenes in the history of movies,

[00:11:27] but it's one scene.

[00:11:28] And then he comes back...

[00:11:29] He has like a brief, he plays himself

[00:11:30] and she's having a baby.

[00:11:32] Is that after though?

[00:11:34] Yeah, it's 88.

[00:11:35] Your Amazon list is shit.

[00:11:37] Anyway, anyway, anyway,

[00:11:39] between 1984 and 1988,

[00:11:41] the only film appearance he makes is Little Shop of Horrors.

[00:11:43] And then he comes back in 1988,

[00:11:45] much ballyhood return Scrooge.

[00:11:47] Scrooge is a hit.

[00:11:48] Not a particularly well received film,

[00:11:51] but a hit.

[00:11:52] It was kind of seen as a little bit of a disappointment.

[00:11:54] This is phase two Murray.

[00:11:56] Right, this is phase two.

[00:11:57] Which is like, I'm Bill Murray and I'm back doing Bill Murray.

[00:12:00] Yes.

[00:12:01] Scrooge, Ghostbusters 2.

[00:12:03] Yeah.

[00:12:04] Now both of these movies are humongous hype.

[00:12:06] Everyone's so excited.

[00:12:08] Murray's back.

[00:12:09] He's working with heavy hitters

[00:12:10] and both of them do well,

[00:12:12] but not as well as Ghostbusters.

[00:12:14] And both of them are kind of like middling reception

[00:12:18] or like funny in parts.

[00:12:20] It's kind of okay.

[00:12:21] It feels like it's missing the point.

[00:12:22] We're happy to have him back,

[00:12:24] but it feels like maybe the magic's gone, right?

[00:12:26] Directs us for a film, Quick Change.

[00:12:28] Quick Change, which I've never seen.

[00:12:30] I've never seen a lot people love.

[00:12:31] Yeah, but it certainly doesn't make a big impact.

[00:12:33] Was not a hit.

[00:12:34] Makes What About Bob,

[00:12:35] which I think is like a pretty fun movie.

[00:12:38] Yes, and was well regarded and famously

[00:12:41] not the best, but you know.

[00:12:42] Steven Spielberg, our next subject on Blank Chat.

[00:12:45] Got it.

[00:12:46] Thought that Bill Murray's performance

[00:12:48] on What About Bob was transcendent

[00:12:49] and spent $1 million of his own money

[00:12:52] launching a best actor campaign for Bill Murray.

[00:12:55] I swear to God this is true,

[00:12:56] because the studio was like,

[00:12:57] it's a Bill Murray comedy.

[00:12:58] We're not gonna question the best actor.

[00:12:59] No, I get it.

[00:13:00] So he just threw down his marker on it.

[00:13:03] Now around this time,

[00:13:04] a lot of big dramatic roles

[00:13:05] almost get offered to Bill Murray.

[00:13:08] Penny Marshall wanted Bill Murray

[00:13:09] to play the De Niro part in Awakening.

[00:13:12] You know, Jonathan Demi wanted Bill Murray

[00:13:15] to play the Tom Hanks part in Philadelphia.

[00:13:18] Robert Zemeckis wanted Bill Murray

[00:13:19] to play Forrest Gump.

[00:13:21] Not okay.

[00:13:22] These are all weird choices, right?

[00:13:24] But you know some of them might have panned out.

[00:13:25] But there was this shift.

[00:13:26] All these big heavy hitter directors

[00:13:29] were trying to put him in their dramas

[00:13:31] or drama Ds at least.

[00:13:32] Yeah.

[00:13:33] And it wasn't really happening.

[00:13:34] But there was already this sort of growing tide

[00:13:36] of maybe Bill Murray has more guts as an actor.

[00:13:38] Yeah, sure.

[00:13:39] Okay.

[00:13:40] Then he makes Groundhog.

[00:13:41] But one famous thing or less,

[00:13:43] maybe one thing is that he and Richard Dreyfus,

[00:13:45] the two stars of What About Bob,

[00:13:47] hated each other and fought the whole time.

[00:13:49] And this is the first time

[00:13:50] I think people are starting to hear like,

[00:13:51] Bill Murray bit him a brittle guy.

[00:13:54] Little brittle.

[00:13:55] And very much does his own thing.

[00:13:56] And now he like fires his agent.

[00:13:58] He fires his manager.

[00:13:59] Groundhog David.

[00:14:00] He only has a lawyer.

[00:14:01] Well, I know, but this is all happening at this time.

[00:14:03] I'm just finishing my phase two.

[00:14:04] My phase two ends with Groundhog Day, in my opinion.

[00:14:07] This is my argument you can...

[00:14:09] Well, phase two is short.

[00:14:10] I agree with you.

[00:14:11] Phase two is mostly sucked up by the Serban.

[00:14:13] Well, yeah, but phase two,

[00:14:14] but it's that sort of like that pocket

[00:14:18] of Bill Murray starring roles

[00:14:19] that are mostly good

[00:14:21] and or kind of goes to and scrooge

[00:14:23] like maybe not as good as he wanted to be,

[00:14:25] but at least like, you know,

[00:14:26] there's some there there.

[00:14:28] And he hasn't made that many movies,

[00:14:29] but this is already now we're in our third

[00:14:32] decade of Bill Murray being a director.

[00:14:33] He's been big in the 70s and 90s.

[00:14:35] So he's weathered cultural changes,

[00:14:37] which I always think is interesting.

[00:14:39] And you end on this great high with Groundhog Day,

[00:14:42] right?

[00:14:43] Which is a perfect film.

[00:14:44] A masterpiece.

[00:14:45] And he and Harold Ramis,

[00:14:46] him and Ramis, you know, collaborating to make,

[00:14:49] I think each one's best thing, arguably.

[00:14:53] And by all accounts,

[00:14:54] they had very different ideas

[00:14:55] of what the movie should have been.

[00:14:56] They fought the whole time.

[00:14:57] The movie ended up meeting somewhere in the middle,

[00:14:59] which worked to our advantage.

[00:15:01] It did.

[00:15:02] And then they never spoke again until Ramis died.

[00:15:05] They reconnected in the last two years of his life.

[00:15:07] No, I heard it was way, way, way, way, way, way,

[00:15:09] like like last few months of Ramis' life.

[00:15:11] Okay.

[00:15:12] Yeah.

[00:15:13] Towards the end, they really,

[00:15:14] really near the end when they went to Murray

[00:15:15] and they said like, this is like,

[00:15:17] now is the time.

[00:15:19] There's the New Yorker piece about Ramis

[00:15:21] doing the ice harvest where he keeps on saying

[00:15:23] that he wants to hire Bill Murray.

[00:15:25] That piece is such a...

[00:15:26] That piece is incredible.

[00:15:27] I can't recommend it enough.

[00:15:28] It's really, you guys should check it out.

[00:15:29] It's such a great piece because one Ramis

[00:15:31] just seems like a terrific guy.

[00:15:33] And Ice Harvest is a very underrated movie.

[00:15:35] Yeah, I've never seen the Ice Harvest.

[00:15:36] I like it.

[00:15:37] So I should check it out.

[00:15:38] A lot.

[00:15:39] I think it's really strong.

[00:15:40] Maybe we'll do...

[00:15:41] I'd love to do a Ramis.

[00:15:42] I mean, you know, there's some duds in there,

[00:15:44] but you know.

[00:15:45] Yeah, but that's what makes them interesting.

[00:15:46] But...

[00:15:47] The one other thing that happens in Phase 2

[00:15:48] that's kind of interesting

[00:15:49] because it sort of pretends

[00:15:50] what will happen later is Mad Dog in Glory.

[00:15:53] Yeah.

[00:15:54] Which is John McNaught and Arthur Henry,

[00:15:55] Portrait of Syracal,

[00:15:56] good movie, really good Murray performance.

[00:15:58] De Niro's in Alan Wright and Uma Thurman.

[00:16:00] And Murray's playing the heavy.

[00:16:02] They sort of flip expectations on Murray and De Niro,

[00:16:05] and Murray plays it pretty straight.

[00:16:07] Murray's role is he's a mobster

[00:16:09] who always wanted to be a comedian

[00:16:11] and he's painfully unfunny.

[00:16:13] Sure.

[00:16:14] Okay.

[00:16:15] De Niro is a lighthearted crime scene photographer.

[00:16:17] Cool.

[00:16:18] And Murray's got a great scene

[00:16:19] where he goes to do an open mic

[00:16:20] for the first time

[00:16:21] and he just can't land a joke.

[00:16:23] Richard Price wrote that.

[00:16:24] Interesting.

[00:16:25] It's a good movie.

[00:16:26] But that's sort of the start of Bill Murray

[00:16:28] dipping his toes into being more of a company player

[00:16:31] in lighter dramas.

[00:16:33] So my argument for Phase 3 is

[00:16:36] it's a mix of some fun little supporting roles

[00:16:39] like Edward, like Kingpin, right?

[00:16:42] Yes.

[00:16:43] That's good stuff.

[00:16:44] Wild things kind of.

[00:16:45] I would agree.

[00:16:46] He's alright in that.

[00:16:47] Yeah.

[00:16:48] With, I mean, the most obvious one

[00:16:51] that I was just larger than life,

[00:16:53] which is Bill Murray does on a road trip

[00:16:55] with an elephant.

[00:16:56] And it's just like, what the fuck are you doing?

[00:16:58] You're Bill Murray.

[00:16:59] You could do any movie you wanted.

[00:17:00] Why are you doing this?

[00:17:01] How did this...

[00:17:02] Is this one of those things where it's like

[00:17:04] someone convinced you your kid would enjoy it

[00:17:06] if you made this movie?

[00:17:07] And another part of Phase 3 is

[00:17:09] the man who knew too little,

[00:17:11] which is sort of like comes out,

[00:17:13] everyone shrugs, gets forgotten pretty quickly

[00:17:16] until Benny uncovers it in the sands,

[00:17:20] pulls it out.

[00:17:21] But then Phase 4 or whatever

[00:17:23] is like critically acclaimed Bill Murray, right?

[00:17:25] It's like...

[00:17:26] Yes.

[00:17:27] So just a couple more things.

[00:17:28] Rushmore.

[00:17:29] Right.

[00:17:30] A couple more things to throw out here, okay?

[00:17:32] One is I looked up other films

[00:17:34] that he had turned down from that period of time.

[00:17:36] Kindergarten Copp we'd previously mentioned

[00:17:38] was designed to be a Bill Murray vehicle.

[00:17:40] Rain Man, they wanted him to play

[00:17:42] the Dustin Hoffman role.

[00:17:43] Okay.

[00:17:44] Yeah.

[00:17:45] I mean there was like that kind of, you know,

[00:17:47] he was the topless guy,

[00:17:48] a who-framed Roger Rabbit.

[00:17:50] Sure.

[00:17:51] He was not first choice,

[00:17:52] someone high up on the list.

[00:17:53] I'm sure he could have gotten that role.

[00:17:54] Philadelphia, I was wrong.

[00:17:55] They wanted him to play the Denzel Washington part.

[00:17:57] Oh, that makes sense.

[00:17:59] You know what though, Denzel's got that.

[00:18:00] Yeah.

[00:18:01] People versus Larry Flint to play Larry Flint.

[00:18:03] Sure.

[00:18:04] Which obviously makes a lot of sense.

[00:18:05] Yeah.

[00:18:06] And then famously,

[00:18:07] he never found out

[00:18:08] that they had offered him Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story

[00:18:10] because as I said,

[00:18:11] doesn't have an agent,

[00:18:12] doesn't have a manager,

[00:18:13] has a lawyer and he has a 1-800 number

[00:18:15] you can call up and leave a message.

[00:18:16] This is the legend of Bill Murray.

[00:18:17] And he often misses stuff.

[00:18:18] Right.

[00:18:19] Right.

[00:18:20] But that's a key to this, okay?

[00:18:21] Because what he really doubles down on

[00:18:23] is pre-existing relationships.

[00:18:25] Yeah.

[00:18:26] So like, Reamus was his guy,

[00:18:27] Reitman was one of his guys.

[00:18:28] He never really breaks off with Reitman,

[00:18:29] but they stop working together.

[00:18:30] But he loses these people.

[00:18:31] He does.

[00:18:32] But he latches onto a new guy

[00:18:34] named Howard Franklin.

[00:18:35] Sure.

[00:18:36] Who made

[00:18:37] Writing Directs

[00:18:38] A Little Larger Than Life

[00:18:39] Larger Than Life, yeah.

[00:18:40] Is one of the writers on this,

[00:18:41] co-directed Quick Change with him.

[00:18:43] And then his other guy is Mitch Glazer,

[00:18:45] who is a comedy writer

[00:18:46] and starts writing on all of his movies.

[00:18:48] Wrote on Scrooge

[00:18:49] Right.

[00:18:50] And then he's with Michael O'Donohue,

[00:18:53] one of the greatest comedy writers of all time.

[00:18:55] That's a legend.

[00:18:56] And starts, Glazer and Franklin

[00:18:58] become the guys that he hitches

[00:19:00] rag into.

[00:19:01] And they're not at the same level

[00:19:02] as Reamus and Reitman.

[00:19:03] We should also mention

[00:19:04] he's in Space Jam

[00:19:05] in that period as well.

[00:19:06] Which I think is one of his

[00:19:07] five best performances.

[00:19:08] And I've gotten lambasted for this online.

[00:19:10] Yeah, you're wrong.

[00:19:11] Having just re-watched that movie.

[00:19:12] He's unbelievable in that movie.

[00:19:14] I think he's good.

[00:19:15] I think that movie's the epitome

[00:19:16] of what he is capable of.

[00:19:18] I mean, the thing is...

[00:19:19] Comedically.

[00:19:20] On a pure comedic level.

[00:19:21] I think he's funny.

[00:19:22] I honestly,

[00:19:23] I'm gonna put this out there

[00:19:25] just to put it out into the world.

[00:19:26] Space Jam's not a good movie.

[00:19:27] I really don't like that movie.

[00:19:29] No, it's a shitty movie.

[00:19:30] I actually, I don't even like it.

[00:19:32] Like, I don't like any level.

[00:19:34] I'm fascinated by it

[00:19:35] because it's the most

[00:19:36] crassly designed movie of all time.

[00:19:38] Yeah, that's a good call.

[00:19:39] You know?

[00:19:40] I've always been kind of fascinated

[00:19:41] by how reverse engineered the movie is.

[00:19:43] That Mitch Glazer guy

[00:19:44] wrote fucking Rock the Casper.

[00:19:46] That's what I'm saying.

[00:19:47] He just keeps coming back to these lines.

[00:19:49] And that movie, Passion Play,

[00:19:50] he starts linking up with the wrong guys.

[00:19:52] Yeah, but you know what?

[00:19:53] But he's a loyalty guy

[00:19:54] because Mitch Glazer and Howard Franklin

[00:19:56] can get his number.

[00:19:57] They know how to reach him.

[00:19:58] But also he'll be in any Wes Anderson project.

[00:20:00] Like Jim Jarmusch can, you know,

[00:20:01] get him and put him in a few things.

[00:20:03] Like whatever, you know, those guys.

[00:20:04] And this is the great,

[00:20:05] like kind of, you know,

[00:20:06] catch-22 of Bill Murray

[00:20:07] is if he's aligned with someone good,

[00:20:09] he's gonna keep on doing good work with them.

[00:20:11] If he's aligned with someone bad,

[00:20:12] he's gonna keep on doing bad work with them.

[00:20:14] And who made St. Vincent? Does he have a...

[00:20:16] That's a new guy, Ted Melphie.

[00:20:18] And that's the guy who made Hidden Figures.

[00:20:20] Correct.

[00:20:21] This is supposed to be good.

[00:20:22] I've heard it's good.

[00:20:23] I don't like St. Vincent.

[00:20:24] But he was a guy who apparently

[00:20:25] just gave a very impassioned voicemail

[00:20:27] on the 1800 number, got through to him.

[00:20:29] As with the guy who did that movie Get Low,

[00:20:31] which I thought was underwhelming,

[00:20:33] but Murray was solid in.

[00:20:34] Yeah.

[00:20:35] But that movie's well acted.

[00:20:37] Right.

[00:20:38] But yeah, at this point,

[00:20:39] post-Groundhog Day...

[00:20:40] Yeah, we're really nestled in that.

[00:20:42] Like the real lost, the wilderness years for Bill Murray,

[00:20:45] where he doesn't have as much of an identity.

[00:20:47] His leading role sucks.

[00:20:48] He's lost his cool.

[00:20:50] Yes, he's definitely lost his cool.

[00:20:52] Right?

[00:20:53] He feels like a third tier comedy star.

[00:20:54] And Ben, like, please rejoin us.

[00:20:56] But I mean, in The Man Who Knew Too Little,

[00:20:57] like, the joke is that he's not cool.

[00:20:59] Right.

[00:21:00] Which I feel like is not usually the Bill Murray way.

[00:21:02] Bill Murray's defining characteristic used to be

[00:21:04] that he's the smartest guy in the room.

[00:21:06] Absolutely.

[00:21:07] And he doesn't want the people who are dumber to him

[00:21:09] to even understand that he's smarter than them.

[00:21:11] He wants...

[00:21:12] And this is that...

[00:21:13] It's all under his breath.

[00:21:14] It's the snarky over the shoulder.

[00:21:15] The whole point is that he's not smart.

[00:21:17] He's so not smart that he doesn't even get

[00:21:19] what's happening around him.

[00:21:20] But it's funny.

[00:21:21] This is Bill Murray as doofus.

[00:21:22] Before, a year later,

[00:21:24] Wes Anderson digs him up and goes,

[00:21:25] I'm gonna mine the pathos in Bill Murray

[00:21:28] and make it clear that the smartest guy in the room thing

[00:21:31] was a defensive wall against how painty he is.

[00:21:35] And that becomes the forefront.

[00:21:36] They dig that up and make that the text

[00:21:38] rather than the subtext.

[00:21:40] Now, that's all I agree with you.

[00:21:42] Now, I wanna ask Ben Hosley a question.

[00:21:45] This is his episode, I spoke to him.

[00:21:47] Ben, tell us about your love and experiences with this room.

[00:21:50] Yeah, I gotta hear this because, you know,

[00:21:53] I'm a huge Bill Murray fan.

[00:21:55] Me too.

[00:21:56] Me too.

[00:21:57] I love him.

[00:21:58] I was raised in a household.

[00:21:59] We've talked in the past about...

[00:22:00] Me too?

[00:22:01] Yeah.

[00:22:02] About, you know...

[00:22:03] Your parents had their guys and they're not guys.

[00:22:04] Bill Murray was the guy.

[00:22:05] They liked Bill Murray.

[00:22:06] They didn't like Jim Carrey or whatever.

[00:22:07] That's the exact example.

[00:22:08] Bill Murray, we could see any Bill Murray picture.

[00:22:09] I saw this with my parents opening weekend

[00:22:11] and I remember my dad reading the reviews and saying,

[00:22:13] the Bill Murray movie is not supposed to be pretty good,

[00:22:15] but it's Bill.

[00:22:16] I mean, we gotta go see it.

[00:22:17] You know, it was like, it's gonna be a Murray movie.

[00:22:19] At the very least, it's better than someone else's

[00:22:21] worst movies inherently

[00:22:23] because Bill Murray is a more interesting

[00:22:25] comedic leading man than most.

[00:22:27] Ben, tell me about how you first saw this movie.

[00:22:31] I was introduced to it by my good friend's older brother

[00:22:37] and really, he didn't sell this to me as a Bill Murray movie.

[00:22:41] He was like, this is such a really well-written

[00:22:45] and just like great funny gags.

[00:22:47] You guys are gonna love this.

[00:22:49] And I'm...

[00:22:50] Were you a teenager?

[00:22:52] I was probably just starting high school, yeah.

[00:22:54] Interesting.

[00:22:55] I was really into comedy, a huge comedy nerd,

[00:22:57] but at the same time, I very much still in my mind,

[00:23:02] I know Bill Murray's in this movie.

[00:23:03] Right.

[00:23:04] He's great in it.

[00:23:05] But this is not a Bill Murray movie.

[00:23:07] No.

[00:23:08] It's just weird almost to think about his career

[00:23:11] and then think about this film and the kind of performances

[00:23:13] he's given in the past.

[00:23:14] He's very good in the film.

[00:23:16] I think he's very funny, but you're right.

[00:23:17] It's not like a quote unquote like Bill Murray movie

[00:23:20] and the way that some of these movies

[00:23:21] we've been talking about are.

[00:23:22] Well, and when you talk about like, you know,

[00:23:24] him giving good supporting performances,

[00:23:26] this kind of feels like a Bill Murray supporting performance

[00:23:29] stretched out to the lead.

[00:23:31] And I don't mean that in a good or bad way,

[00:23:33] but most Bill Murray vehicles from his peak,

[00:23:37] there was definitely a sense of authorship to the movie.

[00:23:39] Bill Murray was the co-author,

[00:23:41] not just because he's known for improvising

[00:23:43] so much of his dialogue,

[00:23:44] but because Bill Murray at the, you know,

[00:23:47] the height of his comedic powerist

[00:23:49] kind of had this Bugs Bunny aspect to him

[00:23:51] where it felt like he was always stepping

[00:23:53] one inch in front of the movie

[00:23:55] and kind of winking to the audience and being like,

[00:23:57] that's the thing that elevates Ghostbusters.

[00:23:59] That's what makes it work is here's this high stakes

[00:24:01] insane premise.

[00:24:02] Especially, and you've got ackroyd and Ramis around him being like,

[00:24:05] Ah!

[00:24:06] and the world building in the plot

[00:24:07] and Bill Murray's kind of going like,

[00:24:08] hey nice thinker, I mean what the fuck is this stuff?

[00:24:10] He's winking to the audience.

[00:24:12] Which is in Ghostbusters, it is such a tight line

[00:24:14] because it's like he's still a Ghostbuster

[00:24:17] and he still like gets in trouble for being a Ghostbuster

[00:24:20] and like believes in the Ghostbusting

[00:24:22] but at the same time he's like,

[00:24:23] hey you guys with your crossing the streams,

[00:24:25] I don't know.

[00:24:26] But that's the magic trick.

[00:24:27] I'm just trying to get laid over here.

[00:24:28] That's the magic trick that makes him

[00:24:30] a legendary movie star in my opinion

[00:24:32] is to be able to do that

[00:24:34] and not destroy the reality of the movie you're in.

[00:24:37] To be able to sort of comment on it

[00:24:39] but maintain the propulsiveness and the stakes

[00:24:41] and the emotional resonance.

[00:24:42] I think it's different because they don't ask her

[00:24:45] to do anything character wise like that

[00:24:48] in the movie, but I did feel a similar sort of vibe

[00:24:52] to McKinnon and the new Ghostbusters

[00:24:54] where it feels like she's commenting on the movie

[00:24:56] a little bit from outside of it.

[00:24:58] The difference is that she's not a hero character.

[00:25:00] She's not the supporting weirdo.

[00:25:02] She's very much the supporting weirdo.

[00:25:04] But it feels like she's able to deconstruct a little bit.

[00:25:06] She's fucking amazing.

[00:25:07] We're not talking about that movie.

[00:25:08] I'm not even talking about that yet.

[00:25:09] But now in The Man Who Knew Too Little

[00:25:12] Bill Murray's just in the movie.

[00:25:14] He's in the movie, he's a part of the movie.

[00:25:16] The movie's happening to him.

[00:25:17] Right, in the same way that Lil Shop of Horrors

[00:25:18] or Kingpin where it's like he's part of the plot.

[00:25:21] You know?

[00:25:22] He's showing up, he's acting,

[00:25:23] he's doing his role, he's playing it well

[00:25:25] but he's just part of the tapestry now.

[00:25:28] Another thought I had too is I,

[00:25:31] around this time, recall being obsessed

[00:25:34] with very jokey movies like Airplane and Rene Ked Gunn.

[00:25:38] Sure, movies that really throw the jokes at you.

[00:25:40] Right, and I still have such a soft spot

[00:25:43] for those kinds of films that are

[00:25:45] just all about breaking the momentum

[00:25:47] of the plot or the story to just be like

[00:25:49] here's a fun little aside.

[00:25:51] I love that kind of stuff.

[00:25:52] But I would say this isn't that kind of a movie.

[00:25:54] Well, I think it falls into that realm in my mind

[00:25:57] because I feel like it's sort of a satire

[00:25:59] or a parody of a genre or a texture.

[00:26:01] But it has a real plot.

[00:26:03] It really is.

[00:26:04] It does, yeah.

[00:26:05] It's a very plotty comedy.

[00:26:06] The whole point of it is there's this

[00:26:08] sort of story that he's sure that he's in

[00:26:12] and it's like every new situation

[00:26:15] it all has to magically link into

[00:26:17] both his fantasy and the reality.

[00:26:20] My right earphone just went out.

[00:26:21] Mine too.

[00:26:22] Okay, there it's back.

[00:26:23] There we go.

[00:26:24] Here's a question.

[00:26:26] Correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:26:27] Did this film not come out the same year

[00:26:28] as David Fincher's The Game?

[00:26:30] That's a great question.

[00:26:33] Right?

[00:26:34] I was really proud that I thought of that.

[00:26:35] That's with Sean Penn, right?

[00:26:36] And Michael Douglas is the one doing the game.

[00:26:38] Sean Penn is the Peter Gallagher.

[00:26:40] They're both the same setup which is

[00:26:43] a brother.

[00:26:45] This comes out two months after the

[00:26:47] Fincher flick.

[00:26:48] So both of those movies are like,

[00:26:50] hey, take a load off.

[00:26:52] There's this interactive theater thing that's hip.

[00:26:54] Why don't you do it?

[00:26:56] Except in the game Sean Penn is like

[00:26:58] actually I think trying to give Michael Douglas

[00:27:00] a good time whereas in this Peter Gallagher

[00:27:01] is just trying to get Bill Murray out of the house

[00:27:03] for a few hours.

[00:27:04] Right and the difference is in the game

[00:27:07] Michael Douglas starts suspecting

[00:27:10] that it might not be a game anymore

[00:27:12] and in The Man Who'ed Too Little

[00:27:14] Bill Murray always believes he's still part of the theater.

[00:27:16] Absolutely.

[00:27:17] Like the heightening is that the more

[00:27:19] of these situations unfolds,

[00:27:21] it's like how could you not realize

[00:27:23] you're not in some weird interactive theater piece?

[00:27:25] Right.

[00:27:26] But it's an interesting parallel

[00:27:27] that these two movies come out at the same time.

[00:27:29] I guess the point where that sort of has

[00:27:31] some sort of cultural

[00:27:32] purchase is the idea of these

[00:27:34] living theater shows.

[00:27:35] That's amazing.

[00:27:36] Because I remember my mom and dad when we

[00:27:38] went to go see this and my little brother James,

[00:27:40] he went to go see The Man Who'ed Too Little.

[00:27:41] I must have been eight.

[00:27:42] Sure.

[00:27:43] And we saw it opening weekend

[00:27:44] and I said to what's the plot of this?

[00:27:45] I didn't even have to know.

[00:27:46] It's a Bill Murray movie.

[00:27:47] I'm excited.

[00:27:48] And they said, you know, it's like a guy

[00:27:50] who's in a living theater piece

[00:27:52] and he thinks he thinks he's in a living theater piece

[00:27:54] but he gets caught up in the thing.

[00:27:56] And I went, what's a living theater piece?

[00:27:57] Yeah, which is a fair question.

[00:27:59] They tried to explain it to me

[00:28:00] and I was just like, okay,

[00:28:01] I guess I'll take it.

[00:28:02] The movie tries to explain it to you.

[00:28:04] I'll take it from you that this is a real thing.

[00:28:06] But I feel like it was a thing

[00:28:07] that had like a very limited moment

[00:28:09] that I didn't really catch on.

[00:28:10] Yeah, I was on Vogue for six months.

[00:28:12] Right.

[00:28:13] And so two movies, one hyper-dramatic

[00:28:15] and one extremely comic were made about it.

[00:28:18] This is based on a novel though.

[00:28:20] Yeah, which is really interesting.

[00:28:21] But then Howard Franklin,

[00:28:23] because this is my sense of what happened.

[00:28:25] The novelist adapts his own novel, right?

[00:28:27] He's one of two credit screenwriters

[00:28:29] and then the other credit writer is Howard Franklin.

[00:28:31] I'm guessing he adapted his own novel

[00:28:33] then someone had the idea,

[00:28:34] oh, what if we made this into a Bill Murray vehicle

[00:28:36] and Howard Franklin made it more comedic.

[00:28:38] Right.

[00:28:39] More gaggy, you know?

[00:28:40] Yeah.

[00:28:41] I also think it is interesting.

[00:28:46] I forgot the thing I was going to say.

[00:28:48] Okay.

[00:28:50] So you saw this in theaters?

[00:28:52] I did.

[00:28:53] Did you enjoy it?

[00:28:54] I did.

[00:28:55] I remember enjoying it.

[00:28:56] I remember knowing it was like second tier Murray.

[00:28:57] Had you seen it?

[00:28:58] Have you seen it again since you watched it for this podcast?

[00:29:00] No, this was the first time watching it.

[00:29:02] And here's what's really interesting.

[00:29:03] I had misremembered it a lot.

[00:29:04] Okay.

[00:29:05] Because I had remembered an entire subplot

[00:29:07] that didn't exist.

[00:29:08] Okay.

[00:29:09] I thought the real Spencer, when he shows up,

[00:29:12] gets sucked into it and spends the whole movie

[00:29:14] on a parallel narrative going through the play.

[00:29:16] With the theater people, which might have been funny,

[00:29:17] except I think the play is short.

[00:29:19] I don't think it's like, although it's supposedly

[00:29:21] 3 and a half hours.

[00:29:22] But it seems like there's not a lot to it?

[00:29:25] Yeah.

[00:29:26] I don't know.

[00:29:27] I don't know.

[00:29:28] That would be kind of cool.

[00:29:29] Ben.

[00:29:30] Hey guys.

[00:29:31] So how many times you watch this shit?

[00:29:32] Oh, fuck.

[00:29:33] A fucking million times.

[00:29:35] Okay.

[00:29:36] I've like fallen asleep to this,

[00:29:37] like a million times.

[00:29:38] I, me and my friends would just like toss around

[00:29:42] like the, you know, all the like dumb little

[00:29:44] quotable lines, like obsessively.

[00:29:46] I saw this film once before.

[00:29:49] I was in Sag Harbor where my elementary school friend

[00:29:53] had a country home.

[00:29:55] Humble Brack.

[00:29:56] I guess so.

[00:29:57] And we were hanging out there and we went to the

[00:30:00] video rental store to rent a video because we were

[00:30:03] like 10 years old.

[00:30:04] I don't know.

[00:30:05] And the clerk who was in retrospect was obviously

[00:30:09] like a huge Bill Murray fan.

[00:30:11] In retrospect was obviously Ben Hosley.

[00:30:13] Probably.

[00:30:14] Was like, oh, you know it's great.

[00:30:16] The man who knew too little.

[00:30:17] You should rent this.

[00:30:18] And we were like, okay.

[00:30:19] And like I assume it's must, I think it's rated

[00:30:21] like PG-13 or whatever.

[00:30:22] So like it was, you know, acceptable for us to

[00:30:24] rent this movie.

[00:30:25] Sure.

[00:30:26] We watch it and I remember I thought like,

[00:30:28] oh, that was okay.

[00:30:29] And my friend was like, that was terrible.

[00:30:32] And he had a whole thing about the clerk.

[00:30:34] And he's like, man, that clerk recommended larger than

[00:30:37] life last week.

[00:30:38] Like he's just into Bill Murray.

[00:30:39] Like this sucks.

[00:30:40] So he was really mad about it.

[00:30:42] I remember.

[00:30:43] I hadn't seen it again since.

[00:30:44] But remember the other point I was going to make

[00:30:45] that I forgot?

[00:30:46] What were you going to say?

[00:30:47] Sorry.

[00:30:48] Well, I also, I lived in Britain at this point and

[00:30:50] this movie has a lot of British actors who I knew

[00:30:52] well from their British, especially David Thompson

[00:30:54] and Richard Wilson.

[00:30:55] That was my question because it feels like a lot

[00:30:57] of unknown actors here who I assume did a lot

[00:30:59] TV and staging.

[00:31:00] And Malina at the time, he's mostly a British

[00:31:02] actor right now.

[00:31:03] But I'll get talking about them.

[00:31:05] But Richard Wilson who plays, I guess the chief spy guy,

[00:31:08] the old man who's bald.

[00:31:09] And then David Thompson who's one of the butchers

[00:31:11] sidekicks and he has this kind of flat topy.

[00:31:13] He's sort of stocking.

[00:31:14] Both those guys were like, they're comedy legends

[00:31:17] in Britain.

[00:31:18] So I was like, huh?

[00:31:19] They're like a team.

[00:31:20] There they are.

[00:31:21] Yeah.

[00:31:22] I remember the other point I was going to make

[00:31:23] was the other interesting thing about this

[00:31:25] movie is that they hired John and Meal to

[00:31:26] direct it who had done no comedies up until

[00:31:28] this and did no comedies after.

[00:31:30] He had done the singing detective, which is

[00:31:32] not a comedy but is sort of on TV.

[00:31:34] Yes.

[00:31:35] Which is sort of like an arch spy movie.

[00:31:38] So maybe that's what they were thinking.

[00:31:40] The famous British miniseries, the singing detective

[00:31:42] not the Robert Downey Jr.

[00:31:44] star and remake.

[00:31:45] Right.

[00:31:46] He did a radio romantic thriller called

[00:31:48] Tune in Tomorrow with Keanu Reeves

[00:31:50] and Barbara Hershey, America's sweethearts.

[00:31:52] Man, I love Keanu Reeves and I have

[00:31:54] never heard of that movie.

[00:31:55] Me neither.

[00:31:56] But like, yeah, you know, singing

[00:31:57] detectives is the big thing that puts

[00:31:58] them on the map.

[00:31:59] He was mostly a TV director before that

[00:32:00] then Queen of Hearts, Summers B,

[00:32:01] and then the Copycat.

[00:32:02] Yeah, these are, Summers B and Copycat are

[00:32:04] both like big mainstream Hollywood movies

[00:32:06] that don't go anywhere.

[00:32:07] You know, like there's a world in which

[00:32:09] Summers B was one of the Oscar winners

[00:32:11] of 1993 or whatever.

[00:32:12] Yeah.

[00:32:13] And instead it's like, oh, some movie with

[00:32:15] Richard Gere that nobody remembers.

[00:32:16] And then the year after Man Who

[00:32:17] Too Little he does Entrapment, which is

[00:32:19] a big hit.

[00:32:20] Yeah, a moderate hit.

[00:32:21] I saw that in theaters.

[00:32:22] I remember that movie kind of popping.

[00:32:24] John Connery was okay.

[00:32:25] Then he does The Core, which was a

[00:32:27] big flop.

[00:32:28] Yeah, Bad Movie.

[00:32:29] Interesting cast.

[00:32:30] And then he pretty much makes TV after

[00:32:32] that.

[00:32:33] The only other narrative feature I see is

[00:32:35] the creation of the Darwin movie, which

[00:32:38] was Jennifer Connelly, Paul Betteney,

[00:32:41] and that movie didn't go anywhere either.

[00:32:43] So like Man Who Too Little is a real

[00:32:45] anomaly on his filmography.

[00:32:47] It's an odd one, but I mean that's

[00:32:48] maybe why this movie almost plays

[00:32:50] like a straight drama at points.

[00:32:51] It's, you know, it's a...

[00:32:53] I think that was the idea of a

[00:32:55] violent sort of spy movie.

[00:32:57] A serious director to make the

[00:32:59] film feel grounded, but then it also

[00:33:01] feels like he's trying to play, I mean

[00:33:03] performance-wise, it's very broad.

[00:33:05] But then visually it doesn't look

[00:33:07] like a comedy.

[00:33:08] It's got a very weird, like it looks

[00:33:10] like a 60s spy drama.

[00:33:12] Because it's set in like a London

[00:33:14] that doesn't pop.

[00:33:15] No.

[00:33:16] It's kind of set in a pre-cool

[00:33:17] Britannia London, so it's like rainy,

[00:33:19] it's nighttime, it's a little grey.

[00:33:22] It's mostly sound stages.

[00:33:24] All the interiors feel like sound

[00:33:25] stages that are pretty stylized.

[00:33:27] Like it doesn't look realistic.

[00:33:29] Sure.

[00:33:30] It's heightened.

[00:33:31] Yeah, it's heightened.

[00:33:32] But dark.

[00:33:33] Dark and like the theater for new

[00:33:35] people or whatever it's called, that's

[00:33:37] kind of gross.

[00:33:38] You know, like the scenario they

[00:33:40] have which is like a sort of abusive

[00:33:42] boyfriend and you have to like protect

[00:33:44] the girl.

[00:33:45] But then within that you have like

[00:33:47] not just like Bill Murray being

[00:33:49] goofy but the other characters are

[00:33:51] goofy too.

[00:33:52] I mean even like the dude who is it

[00:33:54] the minister who keeps on on the

[00:33:56] side of the story.

[00:33:57] And that's what I'm talking about.

[00:33:59] Richard Wilson, the bald guy.

[00:34:01] Yeah, yeah.

[00:34:02] Right and he's playing it like pretty

[00:34:04] much to the rafters and you have

[00:34:06] even just...

[00:34:07] Well that guy is a...

[00:34:08] I'll talk about him in a second.

[00:34:09] There's a hand to hand watch.

[00:34:10] But I'm just saying it's like there's

[00:34:11] a very interesting combination of

[00:34:12] tones in this movie.

[00:34:13] This to me plays out especially with

[00:34:15] the supporting cast like I was

[00:34:17] even thinking like Bill the

[00:34:18] Butcher looks exactly like I had

[00:34:20] imagined him to look like.

[00:34:21] Wait, he's not called Bill the

[00:34:22] Butcher is he?

[00:34:23] Boris the Butcher.

[00:34:24] Boris the Butcher.

[00:34:25] Boris the Butcher looks exactly how

[00:34:27] you imagine Boris the Butcher to look

[00:34:29] based on what prior to you seeing Boris

[00:34:31] the Butcher.

[00:34:32] Because when someone says hey this is

[00:34:33] my friend Boris he's a Butcher and I go

[00:34:35] I'm like oh hey yeah that's what he

[00:34:37] would look like.

[00:34:40] What?

[00:34:41] Can I quickly quote one of

[00:34:43] my favorite things my sister ever said.

[00:34:45] Sure, your sister comes up almost

[00:34:47] every week these days.

[00:34:48] She's one of my best friends.

[00:34:49] I know.

[00:34:50] Wait, she was like...

[00:34:51] Wait is she part of the...

[00:34:53] No, not the two friends.

[00:34:55] That's you too.

[00:34:56] No, no, where are the two friends?

[00:34:57] Hashtag the two friends come on.

[00:34:59] Someone tweeted a bar in Florida

[00:35:02] that was called the two friends.

[00:35:04] Oh cool.

[00:35:05] Like a napkin from there.

[00:35:06] I think I missed that.

[00:35:07] Okay, alright what did you say?

[00:35:08] Anyway, I got home from school and

[00:35:09] my sister was sitting there at

[00:35:10] the table she was drawing with

[00:35:11] crayons.

[00:35:12] I said hey Ron how was school today?

[00:35:14] And she said it was good you know

[00:35:16] we went to the aquarium.

[00:35:17] You know how you always imagine

[00:35:19] what sea lions would look like?

[00:35:21] And I said yeah I guess and she

[00:35:24] went that's exactly what they

[00:35:26] looked like.

[00:35:27] That's pretty cute.

[00:35:29] I just still think that's one of

[00:35:30] the funniest things I've ever

[00:35:31] heard.

[00:35:32] That's great kid wisdom.

[00:35:33] You know how you always imagine

[00:35:34] what sea lions would look like?

[00:35:35] That's exactly what they look

[00:35:36] like.

[00:35:37] She was so excited.

[00:35:39] That's great.

[00:35:40] Anyway.

[00:35:41] The wisdom of children, that's

[00:35:42] what we need right now.

[00:35:43] Yeah.

[00:35:44] We got to shrink my sister back

[00:35:45] down to a four year old.

[00:35:46] We gotta do it.

[00:35:47] I mean I honestly I will say

[00:35:49] that like the performances are

[00:35:50] great.

[00:35:51] I don't know if I'm paying

[00:35:52] attention to that as much as

[00:35:53] just like how the story unfolds

[00:35:55] I think the story and the

[00:35:56] writing is so like just tight

[00:35:58] and on point and funny.

[00:35:59] But you also you kind of like

[00:36:00] noir.

[00:36:01] You've talked about this a lot.

[00:36:02] I do.

[00:36:03] I love detective stuff.

[00:36:04] You like that.

[00:36:05] It's kind of a fun little, it's

[00:36:06] fun thinking about how this

[00:36:07] movie works.

[00:36:08] You know it is fun watching

[00:36:09] its little cogs like click

[00:36:10] together.

[00:36:11] So you've got you know it

[00:36:12] goes to the theater of the

[00:36:13] thing and the improv, the

[00:36:15] live improv thing that he's

[00:36:17] supposed to be part of and

[00:36:18] this like dead drop that a

[00:36:19] spy is part of are both

[00:36:21] happening at the same pay

[00:36:22] phone and that's how this

[00:36:24] mix up happens.

[00:36:25] Bill Murray gets diverted onto

[00:36:27] the Russian nesting to all

[00:36:28] that stuff.

[00:36:29] I mean I kept on thinking like

[00:36:30] I guess in my head I had

[00:36:32] rewritten it to have the

[00:36:33] parallel narrative with the

[00:36:34] criminal now getting into the

[00:36:36] theater.

[00:36:37] I had always remembered the

[00:36:38] thing where the criminal there

[00:36:40] the spy whoever it is with

[00:36:41] the gun, the real is

[00:36:42] confronted with the fake

[00:36:44] improv set up.

[00:36:46] Yeah.

[00:36:47] And then he shoots the

[00:36:48] guy.

[00:36:49] I always remembered that

[00:36:50] because it's so cold-blooded

[00:36:51] and it's funny but it's

[00:36:52] dark like pretty dark.

[00:36:54] I remember when I was 11

[00:36:55] being like whoa.

[00:36:56] Yeah see I just remember that

[00:36:57] plot line going on for a long

[00:36:58] time which I think if the

[00:37:00] movie pulled off that I'd be

[00:37:01] like fucking standing out

[00:37:02] like you could the

[00:37:03] machinations to make both

[00:37:04] of those things fit together.

[00:37:05] This is a short movie PS.

[00:37:06] Yeah it is.

[00:37:07] It's a 90 minute movie.

[00:37:08] But it's an interesting

[00:37:12] picture.

[00:37:13] So I think you guys are

[00:37:14] sort of like even getting

[00:37:15] into the plot so let's

[00:37:16] just like let's just get-

[00:37:17] Take us on our tour.

[00:37:18] Let's just get us to where

[00:37:19] you mentioned the pay phone

[00:37:20] so it starts off and you see

[00:37:23] the setup of there's a bomb

[00:37:25] being planted in this Russian

[00:37:26] nesting doll.

[00:37:27] With a little animated pink

[00:37:28] panthery kind of jazzy cartoon

[00:37:30] credits.

[00:37:31] Well I was doing the snaps

[00:37:32] before.

[00:37:33] Right yeah the snaps.

[00:37:34] Okay and then we meet

[00:37:35] Wallace Ritchie at the

[00:37:36] airport and he's Bill Murray

[00:37:38] and he's a silly silly man.

[00:37:39] I like the airport scene a

[00:37:40] lot where he has the

[00:37:42] you know the drawn out

[00:37:43] conversation with the

[00:37:44] passport guy.

[00:37:45] How long are you going to

[00:37:46] be staying in England?

[00:37:47] He goes that's a good

[00:37:48] question.

[00:37:49] It's just bits for days this

[00:37:50] movie it is so good.

[00:37:52] You're a weird guy.

[00:37:54] Ben let me tell you something

[00:37:56] about yourself.

[00:37:57] What's up?

[00:37:58] You're a weird guy.

[00:37:59] Come on.

[00:38:00] Ben?

[00:38:01] Yeah.

[00:38:02] You're weird though.

[00:38:03] Thank you.

[00:38:04] Keep on truckin'.

[00:38:05] So we truck on to then we

[00:38:07] have the brother Ritchie

[00:38:09] at home.

[00:38:10] Peter Gallagher.

[00:38:11] He's a businessman.

[00:38:12] He's a performance in the

[00:38:13] movie.

[00:38:14] I think he's a really good

[00:38:16] man.

[00:38:17] I think Peter Gallagher

[00:38:18] is a hysterically funny guy.

[00:38:19] He's great.

[00:38:20] He's such a good straight man

[00:38:22] in this.

[00:38:23] He's one of those guys who has

[00:38:24] such a straight appearance and

[00:38:26] sort of voice and tone but

[00:38:28] most of his career is doing

[00:38:29] comedies and upending that.

[00:38:30] Something a little off

[00:38:31] about him.

[00:38:32] That's something a little

[00:38:33] off.

[00:38:34] Those big Gallagher

[00:38:35] pussy willows over his eyes

[00:38:36] when they start wiggling.

[00:38:37] When those pussy willows

[00:38:38] start wiggling.

[00:38:39] He's the best obviously

[00:38:40] Gallagher's a big Broadway

[00:38:41] star who you know

[00:38:43] transferred over to Hollywood

[00:38:45] just fine but never is

[00:38:47] like a star.

[00:38:48] Because he was a leading man

[00:38:49] on Broadway.

[00:38:50] Absolutely.

[00:38:51] Pal Joey, guys and dolls.

[00:38:52] But the thing is when you

[00:38:53] put him in pictures

[00:38:55] he's often kind of

[00:38:58] a parody of a leading man.

[00:39:00] Exactly.

[00:39:01] Like in the player or in

[00:39:02] what's another...

[00:39:03] He plays two slick.

[00:39:05] He's the one who needs to

[00:39:06] learn his lesson.

[00:39:07] He plays the full...

[00:39:08] Right.

[00:39:09] But he never plays...

[00:39:10] He doesn't play

[00:39:11] straight leading man.

[00:39:12] Summer Loving which was

[00:39:13] his big romantic whatever.

[00:39:14] Yeah.

[00:39:15] Yeah.

[00:39:16] He did good work with Altman.

[00:39:17] Mr. Deeds.

[00:39:18] He's like the fucking

[00:39:19] stiff upper lip guy

[00:39:20] who's trying to wrestle

[00:39:21] a lot of money in it.

[00:39:22] He plays a fair amount of villains.

[00:39:23] He's a good villain.

[00:39:24] Oh, American beauty of course.

[00:39:26] Oh, he's great in.

[00:39:27] So good.

[00:39:28] The king.

[00:39:29] He's the king.

[00:39:30] The king.

[00:39:31] But then of course

[00:39:32] he makes the OC

[00:39:33] and transfers into sort of

[00:39:35] more like legendary dad territory.

[00:39:37] But also his role in the OC

[00:39:39] is very much like

[00:39:40] everyone's like,

[00:39:41] God we're all rich

[00:39:42] and crazy.

[00:39:43] And then he's just like

[00:39:44] full of shit.

[00:39:45] He's good at deflating.

[00:39:46] And he also,

[00:39:47] he's doing killer dad work

[00:39:48] on New Girl these days.

[00:39:49] He plays Schmidt's dad.

[00:39:50] It's interesting

[00:39:51] because that's flawed dad too.

[00:39:52] Yeah.

[00:39:53] You know real flawed dad.

[00:39:54] He's playing a really good broken

[00:39:55] sad kind of guy.

[00:39:56] He's a good actor.

[00:39:57] Okay.

[00:39:58] Wallace Ritchie

[00:39:59] cut to him man.

[00:40:00] Well we see the brother Richie.

[00:40:01] He's the rich and richie this guy.

[00:40:02] And then you know

[00:40:03] just kind of doing work

[00:40:04] for the story purpose.

[00:40:05] They do then

[00:40:06] the newscast of the theater of life

[00:40:08] which is setting up essentially

[00:40:09] that there's this theater company

[00:40:11] where for three and a half hours

[00:40:12] you can be involved in this

[00:40:13] immersive theater sort of production

[00:40:15] where you're like

[00:40:16] not on a stage

[00:40:17] but going to actual locations

[00:40:19] on the streets

[00:40:20] and in apartments and whatnot.

[00:40:21] And it's that thing I love

[00:40:22] where the local news reports on

[00:40:24] interesting trends in underground theater.

[00:40:26] Yeah.

[00:40:27] I mean you see that all the time.

[00:40:28] All the time.

[00:40:29] Whenever I turn on

[00:40:31] ABC7 Eyewitness News

[00:40:33] they're always talking about

[00:40:34] the new shows at La Mama.

[00:40:41] Oh boy.

[00:40:42] Okay.

[00:40:43] Well, so

[00:40:44] so he

[00:40:45] Wallace then you know arrives

[00:40:47] at his brother's home.

[00:40:48] He surprises him

[00:40:49] his birthday.

[00:40:50] It's Bill Murray's character's birthday.

[00:40:52] Yes.

[00:40:53] Just an odd move to show up

[00:40:54] for your own birthday.

[00:40:55] This is the biggest stretch.

[00:40:56] Weirdly this is the biggest

[00:40:57] plot stretch in a movie

[00:40:58] that has to jump a lot

[00:40:59] in narrative poops.

[00:41:00] And then he's like

[00:41:01] really pissed or not pissed

[00:41:02] but like bummed

[00:41:03] that Peter Gallagher doesn't

[00:41:04] want to hang out

[00:41:05] because Peter Gallagher's got

[00:41:06] this like big business deal

[00:41:07] of a land like you and the coal.

[00:41:08] Yeah.

[00:41:09] The sweaty justification is

[00:41:10] Peter Gallagher sent his brother

[00:41:12] money for his birthday

[00:41:13] which is clearly

[00:41:14] a condescending move of

[00:41:15] I don't know if you're doing that

[00:41:16] well.

[00:41:17] I'm going to give you money

[00:41:18] because I need some help.

[00:41:19] Bill Murray chooses to take

[00:41:20] that money and spend it to go

[00:41:21] visit his brother in London

[00:41:22] unannounced apparently gets

[00:41:24] on a flight right away

[00:41:25] the second the money arrives

[00:41:26] because you have to imagine

[00:41:27] if he sent it for his birthday

[00:41:28] he's arrived that morning

[00:41:29] or maybe a night early.

[00:41:31] I guess he just goes

[00:41:32] to Des Moines airport and is

[00:41:33] like hey we're into

[00:41:34] next flight to London

[00:41:35] to walk down the money.

[00:41:36] Got the envelope immediately

[00:41:37] held a cab went to London

[00:41:38] right.

[00:41:39] So it's been a time

[00:41:40] step making this sort of

[00:41:41] like bemused expression

[00:41:42] and no one can see it

[00:41:43] but yeah.

[00:41:44] For the listeners at home

[00:41:45] David looks very bemused.

[00:41:46] So bemused I'm non plus.

[00:41:51] Those famous Sims

[00:41:53] pussy willows are furrowed

[00:41:57] shows up at the doorstep

[00:41:59] and Peter Gallagher is like

[00:42:00] first of all you don't even

[00:42:01] call second of all you picked

[00:42:03] arguably the biggest night

[00:42:05] of my life terrible.

[00:42:06] I mean most of these

[00:42:07] Germans this is getting a

[00:42:08] classic bit which is

[00:42:10] this is my favorite bit

[00:42:11] in the entire movie.

[00:42:12] Are we talking about what he

[00:42:13] picks up the maid

[00:42:14] and he starts rocking her

[00:42:15] and goes oh I thought you were

[00:42:16] going to get married to stuffy

[00:42:18] stuck up British you know

[00:42:20] woman and she comes out.

[00:42:21] Anna Chancellor.

[00:42:22] What was the bit you were

[00:42:23] going to say?

[00:42:24] My favorite bit in the entire

[00:42:25] movie is he shows up

[00:42:27] Peter Gallagher plays the

[00:42:28] scene very well

[00:42:29] because he's very excited

[00:42:30] to see his brother.

[00:42:31] He is happy to see him

[00:42:32] and then the sister

[00:42:33] his wife reminds him

[00:42:35] that he's got the Germans

[00:42:37] come over he's got a big

[00:42:38] presentation.

[00:42:39] Anna Chancellor

[00:42:40] and he very gently says

[00:42:42] you know I mean I don't think

[00:42:44] she will invite him over for

[00:42:45] the dinner.

[00:42:46] She goes I don't think

[00:42:47] Wally's really a kind of guy

[00:42:49] sure he's a fun guy

[00:42:50] you need someone with a sense

[00:42:51] of humor like a lot of

[00:42:52] movies like this would be

[00:42:53] like my brother's an idiot

[00:42:54] and he's just kind of going

[00:42:55] like look Wally's a specific

[00:42:56] taste and I don't know if

[00:42:57] I can drop him into this

[00:42:58] environment and she goes

[00:42:59] well you'll have things to

[00:43:00] talk about don't you work

[00:43:01] in the film industry

[00:43:02] and this is the bit I

[00:43:03] remember I lost it at this

[00:43:05] in the movie he works at a

[00:43:06] blockbuster in Des Moines

[00:43:07] Iowa and the family joke is

[00:43:08] that he works in the movie

[00:43:09] industry right which keeps on

[00:43:11] coming up I just thought that

[00:43:13] was such a funny I also like

[00:43:15] they're like it's like

[00:43:17] it's like a joke you know

[00:43:18] it's like a funny joke but

[00:43:19] the sister clearly he's never

[00:43:20] talked about the brother

[00:43:21] because the brother's kind of

[00:43:22] a black sheep a black sheep

[00:43:23] who he loves yeah now that

[00:43:25] I'm thinking about this

[00:43:26] though this is kind of a

[00:43:27] film about the traditional

[00:43:29] British concept that

[00:43:31] Americans don't understand

[00:43:33] irony reverse interesting

[00:43:35] this is like a movie of

[00:43:36] where he goes to Britain

[00:43:38] and nobody gets his jokes

[00:43:40] everyone just takes him seriously

[00:43:42] because isn't that kind of the

[00:43:43] point of the movie is like no

[00:43:44] matter what Bill Murray does

[00:43:46] everyone from like other spies

[00:43:48] to the British intelligence

[00:43:49] agencies to terrorists like they

[00:43:51] all take him totally seriously

[00:43:52] yeah and as does his sister

[00:43:56] in law here you know she's

[00:43:57] like you're in the film

[00:43:58] industry yeah it's also I'm

[00:44:00] with blockbuster like even

[00:44:02] just the way he says it to

[00:44:03] God it makes me laugh it's

[00:44:06] a movie about confidence too

[00:44:08] which is interesting I mean

[00:44:09] they kind of they tell

[00:44:12] don't show this and it doesn't

[00:44:13] end up really being an emotional

[00:44:15] arc to the movie but Peter Gallagher

[00:44:17] sets up that like he always wanted

[00:44:19] to be an actor he got the lead role

[00:44:21] in the play and he froze up

[00:44:22] and forgot all his lines this guy

[00:44:24] is now working at a blockbuster

[00:44:25] you get the sense that he

[00:44:26] loves movies he loves acting he

[00:44:28] loves all this stuff but kind

[00:44:30] of gave up on him being able

[00:44:31] to ever do any of it and

[00:44:34] the fact that he has a situation

[00:44:38] without an audience for the first

[00:44:39] time gives him the confidence to

[00:44:40] feel like he can live out the type

[00:44:42] of life you always want to live

[00:44:43] right and even though he's

[00:44:45] constantly admitting to everyone

[00:44:46] he comes into contact with like

[00:44:48] this is a play I'm just playing

[00:44:49] the part like saying all the

[00:44:50] stuff yeah he's all the time

[00:44:51] being like hey can I break

[00:44:52] character for a second and

[00:44:53] everyone just sort of ignores

[00:44:54] it yeah he's being vulnerable

[00:44:55] it's not like he's playing

[00:44:56] macho stud the whole time but

[00:44:58] the fact that he's so strong

[00:44:59] in his convictions which in

[00:45:01] context to them looks like a

[00:45:03] fearlessness and a certain

[00:45:05] guile yeah makes everyone open

[00:45:08] the doors and just go I mean let

[00:45:09] him do what he want I can't I

[00:45:10] don't know how to fight with

[00:45:11] this guy yeah you know not that

[00:45:12] sort of a funny game not to

[00:45:14] trumpet too much but it's like

[00:45:15] how do you fight with a guy

[00:45:16] who's playing a different game

[00:45:17] than everyone else you know you

[00:45:18] can't you can't fight you're

[00:45:20] playing chess he's playing

[00:45:21] checkers that's a good way to

[00:45:22] put it you're on the same

[00:45:23] board he's playing checkers you

[00:45:25] know but that's the thing

[00:45:26] yeah he never seems confident

[00:45:27] in playing one dimensional chess

[00:45:29] yes right you're right it's

[00:45:32] interesting yeah it is it's

[00:45:34] funny too okay so the brother

[00:45:36] remembers the newscast they're

[00:45:38] looking for play for him to go

[00:45:39] see the big thing is oh that's

[00:45:40] three and a half hours yes

[00:45:41] they're like perfect he'll be

[00:45:42] out of the house for a long

[00:45:44] time yeah jump to that phone

[00:45:46] booth hell yeah alright talked

[00:45:48] about the phone booth they

[00:45:49] set up you know remember to

[00:45:51] flush remember to flush always

[00:45:53] remember to flush here's the

[00:45:54] address your name Spencer

[00:45:55] right his name Spencer and

[00:45:57] then they set up also that

[00:45:59] later on the brother Richie

[00:46:01] and Wallace will have two

[00:46:03] Cubans to cigar while I asked her

[00:46:06] while the way is Bill Murray's

[00:46:08] name yeah and the brother is

[00:46:10] James Richie yes and that's a

[00:46:12] Richie brother this is a

[00:46:13] character detail that makes it

[00:46:14] clear that fucking Peter

[00:46:16] Gallagher isn't just the

[00:46:17] shirt in this movie you know

[00:46:19] sure he loves his brother he

[00:46:20] hates that he's not able to

[00:46:21] spend the birthday with the

[00:46:22] brother yeah he's like you

[00:46:23] gotta let me do this but I

[00:46:24] promise at the end of the

[00:46:25] night before midnight I like

[00:46:26] that he points that out he's

[00:46:27] like it's gotta be he's like a

[00:46:29] midnight before midnight to

[00:46:30] him bare birthday right 1159

[00:46:32] the latest come on and of course

[00:46:34] we should say yeah there's a

[00:46:35] brother undercurrent to the

[00:46:36] film is Peter Gallagher's little

[00:46:38] arc of like realizing like I

[00:46:39] don't have fun anymore and you

[00:46:41] know what my job's really

[00:46:42] stifling me and you know that

[00:46:43] he's got the emotional arc in

[00:46:45] the movie yeah it's true because

[00:46:46] Bill Murray basically just goes

[00:46:48] through the whole thing yeah

[00:46:49] he's like Mr. Magoo just

[00:46:51] walk around the building and

[00:46:52] the thing we get three million

[00:46:53] dollars and a girlfriend from

[00:46:55] this movie but his personality

[00:46:57] and outlook are not changed that

[00:46:59] thing where Mr. Magoo would

[00:47:00] walk through the construction

[00:47:01] site and you think he's about to

[00:47:02] walk off the end of the building

[00:47:03] and then a steel beam comes up

[00:47:04] and lands just at the right time

[00:47:06] right it's like he's never

[00:47:07] changing it's the world is

[00:47:08] somehow shifting around movie

[00:47:11] star movie it is it's it's

[00:47:13] interesting because it's so out

[00:47:16] of place with the persona he

[00:47:18] had established that point but

[00:47:19] it is very much a movie star

[00:47:21] movie so the then the plot

[00:47:23] happens correct too much plots

[00:47:26] for us to explain everything

[00:47:27] but there's way to much plot

[00:47:29] it's so much plot for us to

[00:47:30] explain not not too much for

[00:47:32] Ben that's true okay so we're

[00:47:34] gonna go right to the mugger

[00:47:35] scene okay because he's going

[00:47:36] to the apartment right to start

[00:47:38] playing out this living theater

[00:47:39] thing and he's on the streets

[00:47:41] these two guys approach him

[00:47:42] they give me your money right

[00:47:43] first screen appearance of Eddie

[00:47:45] Marson the great Eddie Marson

[00:47:47] playing thug number one and

[00:47:49] so at first he's scared and

[00:47:51] then he laughs in their face

[00:47:53] and so thus kind of setting

[00:47:55] the tone of the movie of where

[00:47:57] Bill Murray doesn't realize that

[00:47:59] these real things are

[00:48:00] happening around him are not

[00:48:02] just some fucking play and

[00:48:04] it's so fucking funny just to

[00:48:06] see him like play out these scenes

[00:48:08] like my favorite thing is where he

[00:48:10] does two versions of sort of like

[00:48:12] his monologue before giving his

[00:48:14] wallet away yeah it's just

[00:48:16] it's so funny yeah it's like

[00:48:18] reset a couple of kids just

[00:48:20] couple of kids and he also gets

[00:48:23] really into like you know he's

[00:48:24] gonna put his sunglasses on before

[00:48:26] he enters a room because he's got

[00:48:27] this idea of who the character is

[00:48:29] right right other kind of just

[00:48:32] like we're just gonna jump ahead

[00:48:33] like then he gets to the apartment

[00:48:34] and this is where we sort of meet

[00:48:36] the girl of the movie the female

[00:48:39] femme fatale femme fatale who is

[00:48:41] played by Joanne Whaley Wally

[00:48:43] Wally Wally did she do you know

[00:48:47] she's a British actress yeah she's

[00:48:49] most famous for being married to

[00:48:50] Val Kilmer for eight years oh during

[00:48:53] his famous I know her name

[00:48:55] interesting because they made Willow

[00:48:57] together interesting what else has

[00:49:00] she been you know she's kind of a

[00:49:02] British TV actress more than anything

[00:49:04] else but for a while she was called

[00:49:06] Joanne Wally Waley Kilmer and this

[00:49:10] is actually the first movie post

[00:49:12] Kilmer interesting I think she's

[00:49:15] super great in this movie I think

[00:49:17] she's I have a lot I definitely have

[00:49:19] a little bit of a crush on her to

[00:49:20] still this movie is like some kind

[00:49:22] of like ur text for Ben's personality

[00:49:24] it is the weirdest thing I think this

[00:49:26] and I want to say a frequent guest

[00:49:28] and great friend of the show Emily

[00:49:30] Yeshita and we talked to I think we

[00:49:32] talked about it on mother blankies

[00:49:34] mother blankies she loves this movie

[00:49:36] and she wanted to be on this episode

[00:49:38] but I feel like you know she was just

[00:49:40] on it yeah she was just on four

[00:49:42] hours of Titanic yeah we can't ask

[00:49:44] her to be in that little room again

[00:49:46] yeah for a little while so but

[00:49:48] but you know there are people who

[00:49:50] and like for some it was just some movie

[00:49:52] that I guess her mother could agree on

[00:49:54] or something like that but

[00:49:56] there are people who really hold on to

[00:49:58] this movie even though this movie was a

[00:50:00] nothing when it came out a total

[00:50:02] nothing I was on a plane with my mom

[00:50:04] last night and she was like what are you

[00:50:06] going to do on the plane and you load

[00:50:08] a movie onto your Amazon Fire Kendall

[00:50:10] and I was like yeah I did I got to

[00:50:12] watch the man who knew too little

[00:50:14] for the podcast tomorrow and she went

[00:50:16] the Bill Murray movie and I went yeah

[00:50:18] I'm gonna have that on the podcast and I had

[00:50:20] to explain like the nose

[00:50:22] she doesn't listen to show thank god

[00:50:24] but she knows the basic idea of what her show is

[00:50:26] how does that fit into anything you would ever

[00:50:28] talk about it's a fair question we let Ben

[00:50:30] choose and I tried to even explain

[00:50:32] Bender and I couldn't I went look if you

[00:50:34] met him for four minutes you would

[00:50:36] immediately understand why we're talking

[00:50:38] about this movie Ben's like look and she

[00:50:40] wasn't being reductive to the movie she

[00:50:42] went no I remember that movie it's fun

[00:50:44] but like understand why you would single

[00:50:46] out a bunch of people who were watching

[00:50:48] roster you know Griffin and I were

[00:50:50] throwing fastballs we're throwing curveballs

[00:50:52] we're throwing change ups you know

[00:50:54] even sometimes they're in mad balls yeah

[00:50:56] we got a repertoire mad balls 90s toy

[00:50:58] craze mad balls no merchandise spotlight

[00:51:00] they're in mad balls Ben is like a

[00:51:02] knuckleball he like comes in

[00:51:04] and we're like you know we don't

[00:51:06] know where this is going to end up

[00:51:08] in the you know I don't know I can't

[00:51:10] even set the strike zone with this

[00:51:12] guy

[00:51:14] you think the ball is going to go this

[00:51:16] way but then it's like whoop

[00:51:18] that's what I'm all about

[00:51:20] I'm now looking at mad balls

[00:51:22] this one passed me by they were cool

[00:51:24] they were balls and they looked really gross

[00:51:26] it was like a head with like snot coming

[00:51:28] out remember when that was like a chief

[00:51:30] way to appeal to kids it's like grosser

[00:51:32] grosser I want to

[00:51:34] make America gross again right and

[00:51:36] stimpy kind of I look at kids and

[00:51:38] I think it's too sleek now I think

[00:51:40] kids just too concerned with being cool

[00:51:42] whereas it used to be concerned with being gross

[00:51:44] and I love that whole mentality of like

[00:51:46] this isn't for parents parents are going to be grossed out

[00:51:48] kids you speak the language you know

[00:51:50] yeah like it was fucking board games

[00:51:52] would be based around like fucking snot and vomit

[00:51:54] toys were all like yeah pussy

[00:51:56] and shit yeah slime

[00:51:58] Gack

[00:52:00] flow back back was big alright

[00:52:02] so sorry just

[00:52:04] queasy bake oven

[00:52:06] men man

[00:52:08] they got from boys was crazy

[00:52:10] so chocolate dirt cake with worms enough

[00:52:12] enough so we'll just

[00:52:14] get back into it

[00:52:16] he he meets the femme fatale

[00:52:18] they have a little kind of exchange

[00:52:20] at this point in the movie I feel like

[00:52:22] they're really like trying to hit you over

[00:52:24] the head with like her

[00:52:26] misinterpreting him yes yeah

[00:52:28] it's a little I don't know the early part

[00:52:30] you're kind of like yeah I get it

[00:52:32] and I'm playing it real hard yeah

[00:52:34] and there's all there's the flush jokes which I don't think are funny

[00:52:36] flushing your toilet isn't quite enough

[00:52:38] for me to laugh but the absurdity stuff

[00:52:40] plays so well like even just like

[00:52:42] what's your name they just said

[00:52:44] Spencer like I love that

[00:52:46] I love that like those weird

[00:52:48] like where he's just trying to

[00:52:50] like stay in the reality of the play

[00:52:52] but like what the

[00:52:54] the person in the real world is

[00:52:56] interpreting is like sure what the fuck

[00:52:58] is this guy talking about like and I guess the other

[00:53:00] thing I can see appealing to you is like

[00:53:02] the precision of the miscommunication

[00:53:04] because in order for a movie like this to work

[00:53:06] every line has to be

[00:53:08] able to be seen from two different angles

[00:53:10] the duality and I think that really

[00:53:12] holds up for the most part throughout the movie

[00:53:14] I agree they make it through most of the film

[00:53:16] without getting kind of sweaty yeah

[00:53:18] another favorite part in this scene

[00:53:20] and like again I mean this

[00:53:22] movie plays out kind of how you would imagine

[00:53:24] it's like super straightforward for the most part

[00:53:26] it's just like a lot of high

[00:53:28] jinx working up towards this bomb

[00:53:30] sort of like the like

[00:53:32] moment at the end of the

[00:53:34] in lieu of doing the whole plot which is a ridiculous

[00:53:36] right we can't we can't go there

[00:53:38] I mean I like the car chase scene a lot

[00:53:40] I think it's really that's I like

[00:53:42] the way Bill Murray is breaking the reality

[00:53:44] where he's just like impressed

[00:53:46] with the technical proficiency

[00:53:48] of the car chase you know

[00:53:50] what's what's what are some

[00:53:52] my favorite line in the movie which is

[00:53:54] which is

[00:53:56] Bill Murray is like

[00:53:58] well I mean there all my favorite

[00:54:00] lines are in this scene actually in the car chase

[00:54:02] but he's like swerving between the traffic

[00:54:04] cones and like just making a meal

[00:54:06] out of it and doing everything he'd ever want to do

[00:54:08] in a car chase right right right

[00:54:10] and he goes like this must cost you a fortune

[00:54:12] there's no way they can be making a profit on this

[00:54:14] because he's going like they have to buy the traffic cones

[00:54:16] they have to clear off the blocks and he just

[00:54:18] decides to after swerving through the traffic cones

[00:54:20] he clips them off and they all pop off

[00:54:22] and he goes God I always wanted to do that

[00:54:24] and they cut the police car

[00:54:26] and the one guy sort of roofily goes

[00:54:28] I always want to do that and then it pans over

[00:54:30] to the guy in the driver's seat and he goes

[00:54:32] I just want to do that too

[00:54:34] it looks so fun it looks so fun

[00:54:36] and that all three of them specifically had

[00:54:38] this fantasy in their life driving down the street

[00:54:40] wouldn't be fun to do that and also

[00:54:42] the movie does it so well you're like

[00:54:44] yeah that does look fun it looks so much

[00:54:46] fun when they fucking do I will never

[00:54:48] drive I don't like driving as a theory

[00:54:50] I've never driven at all

[00:54:52] but I watch this and I'm like man it'd be

[00:54:54] cool to learn how to drive just so I could do that

[00:54:56] and then retire from the game

[00:54:58] so I'll say some

[00:55:00] yeah another favorite moment

[00:55:02] Lori and Bill Murray are driving

[00:55:04] and he goes are you crying

[00:55:06] how do you people do it

[00:55:08] wait do you poke yourself in the eye or do

[00:55:10] hold on do you think I dog

[00:55:12] is dead

[00:55:14] like I god damn it

[00:55:16] man it makes me still laugh

[00:55:18] to this day and I've seen this movie a million fucking times

[00:55:20] but I mean like

[00:55:22] or do you poke yourself in the eye

[00:55:24] the best thing is the

[00:55:26] whole Russian dancing

[00:55:28] like the movie

[00:55:30] wait I don't trust you hold on

[00:55:32] I don't trust you

[00:55:36] this is just like the Fletch episode where Ben's

[00:55:38] making himself laugh with its own life

[00:55:40] but the movie's best

[00:55:42] when it's juggling the most balls I would say

[00:55:44] or juggling the most

[00:55:46] Russian nesting dolls

[00:55:48] indeed so that's why

[00:55:50] the early scenes with just him and the girl

[00:55:52] Lori

[00:55:54] but like the more layers you add

[00:55:56] on to this the better it is

[00:55:58] I think the funniest moments are when you have other characters commenting on

[00:56:00] like this guy's unbelievable

[00:56:02] yeah I really like that scene so you've got

[00:56:04] Alfred Molina a younger

[00:56:06] Alfred Molina playing Boris the Butcher

[00:56:08] looking exactly how you imagine to see Lyon would look

[00:56:10] I like the scene

[00:56:12] where Bill Murray like accidentally takes

[00:56:14] out the two henchmen while he's tied to the hotel chair

[00:56:16] and they're just like

[00:56:18] you know like what we even do

[00:56:20] is great physical

[00:56:22] and then there's the Bill Murray behavioral comedy

[00:56:24] where he's got his allergies acting up which they've set up

[00:56:26] yeah they've set it up they layered it in

[00:56:28] and not just didn't feel like foreshadowing

[00:56:30] and now he's like hacking and coughing

[00:56:32] right and needs his nascent ex while

[00:56:34] they're right so he gets John Thompson

[00:56:36] is that game Kerplunk

[00:56:38] which is a marble version

[00:56:40] of Jenga essentially

[00:56:42] right it's more fun to say too

[00:56:44] definitely and so

[00:56:46] John Thompson

[00:56:48] who any British person probably knows from the

[00:56:50] fast show have you ever heard of the fast show

[00:56:52] no humble brag

[00:56:54] I mean

[00:56:56] just great it's such an innocuous name

[00:56:58] that there are one million

[00:57:00] John Thompson's but yeah

[00:57:02] he's so funny I love him

[00:57:04] and he's the one who has to

[00:57:06] squeeze the

[00:57:08] nasal spray

[00:57:10] and it's not right it's not right

[00:57:12] then he ends up accidentally knocking the two guys out

[00:57:14] and while it's all happening Bill Murray's like

[00:57:16] terrific wow this is great

[00:57:18] he just flip on the marbles like he's like

[00:57:20] he just thinks it's all these elaborate stunts

[00:57:22] now a little fun little moment

[00:57:24] in that part is when then he knocks

[00:57:26] into one of the passed out henchmen

[00:57:28] and he goes oh I'm sorry

[00:57:30] like he is still thinking

[00:57:32] like he oh I bumped into this guy

[00:57:34] by accident I'm so sorry

[00:57:36] about that well that's the other scene I really

[00:57:38] like is when they come across Spencer's dead body

[00:57:40] and he's just amazed

[00:57:42] at how well the guys able to stand still

[00:57:44] and in his mind it's just this guy's really good

[00:57:46] at playing dead right she's horrified

[00:57:48] and she immediately goes into like shock seeing

[00:57:50] a dead body right and she just thinks he's

[00:57:52] such a cold-blooded mother fucker he's yeah

[00:57:54] he's just like inspecting this dead body right

[00:57:56] she says like I've never seen dead body before

[00:57:58] and he's like please I've seen this a thousand times

[00:58:00] and then he's trying to catch him throwing the

[00:58:02] the ash tray at him saying thing

[00:58:04] turn around go boogie boogie boogie

[00:58:06] I like this movie

[00:58:08] dead body bit man

[00:58:10] this is kind of exactly the movie I need to see

[00:58:12] in the state of the world

[00:58:14] before

[00:58:16] it's just like your mind off of stuff

[00:58:18] we're jumping around I'll say um

[00:58:20] yeah no we just gotta jump around guys

[00:58:22] in the words of Chris Kaisi gotta jump around

[00:58:24] oh okay I know what I wanted to talk about

[00:58:26] it's where uh brother Richie

[00:58:28] is calling the theater of life

[00:58:30] people yes because he's like

[00:58:32] I need an extension my brother's

[00:58:34] you know ruining this dinner

[00:58:36] with the Germans and so he calls

[00:58:38] but what happens is the real police

[00:58:40] has shown up

[00:58:42] to the offices and so they're like

[00:58:44] answering the calls right

[00:58:46] and there's this like confusion

[00:58:48] of who's the cop

[00:58:50] who's the actor who's in character

[00:58:52] who isn't it's similar to that there's

[00:58:54] something about Mary seen with the cops

[00:58:56] are interrogating him and he thinks he's being

[00:58:58] interrogated about picking up hitchhikers I just

[00:59:00] love that joke always

[00:59:02] where the cops are like what's the matter

[00:59:04] with you you know like and he's just like

[00:59:06] disgusting monster right but and

[00:59:08] they think he's bribing them because he's like

[00:59:10] how much would it cost to get another hour out of this

[00:59:12] I really need to stall

[00:59:14] and it gives Peter Gallagher some fun stuff to do

[00:59:16] right and they keep on going like are you trying to bribe us

[00:59:18] and he's like yeah if that's the terminology I have to use

[00:59:20] yes I'm trying to bribe you

[00:59:22] you know like he keeps on calling him Shakespeare

[00:59:24] but then it gets to a point where he's just

[00:59:26] like talking about why he doesn't like

[00:59:28] British people you fotsy little

[00:59:30] like yeah yeah yeah that's true

[00:59:32] and then and then it's this is his awakening

[00:59:34] it's maybe the best pure joke of the movie

[00:59:36] is when the

[00:59:38] police officer

[00:59:40] who gets off the phone and just like

[00:59:42] I don't know what to say the guy's American you know

[00:59:44] and then he goes over to a cop and he goes

[00:59:46] tell me you were recording that phone call and she goes

[00:59:48] I'm an actor

[00:59:50] yeah and this is one good team with shot he goes

[00:59:52] tell me you were recording that

[00:59:54] yeah yeah yeah

[00:59:58] good and then so fuck even the

[01:00:00] SWAT team remember he like

[01:00:02] he does the bit where he's like oh shit

[01:00:04] my brother's in trouble I have

[01:00:06] to go out for some

[01:00:08] ports and the car keys

[01:00:10] and then later the SWAT team shows up

[01:00:12] and you know it's even like

[01:00:14] the port and the car keys is a good

[01:00:16] but it's like setting up this whole thing where like

[01:00:18] misinformation like the maid says

[01:00:20] Mr. Richie go to a port and they're like

[01:00:22] closing all the ports in the whole

[01:00:24] country like

[01:00:26] but there's also I like this

[01:00:28] setup of you know he goes I

[01:00:30] had to get another bottle of

[01:00:32] port and then she goes we already have a bottle of

[01:00:34] port here and he goes yes but the thing is

[01:00:36] I have to go down to the basement and it's dark

[01:00:38] down there like he

[01:00:40] he no butts her you know

[01:00:42] she negates the logic

[01:00:44] and he just doubles down on it

[01:00:46] makes it more complicated

[01:00:48] yeah he ends up breaking into

[01:00:50] I mean the meta levels now

[01:00:52] he goes into an area that says it's for performers

[01:00:54] only because he thinks he's performing

[01:00:56] right so now he's doing a performance

[01:00:58] in the room with all the people who are trying to pull off

[01:01:00] the actual assassin and so you've got

[01:01:02] the Russian doll

[01:01:04] where like if you click it one way it's on

[01:01:06] and click it the other way it's off and he keeps clicking

[01:01:08] I love that yeah I mean it's Bill Murray dancing

[01:01:10] that's a good that's a gift

[01:01:12] Bill Murray in a Russian hat

[01:01:14] always funny that's funny don't they repeat the same

[01:01:16] bit in fucking Charlie's Angels

[01:01:18] I think they realized his head looks funny with

[01:01:20] the hat on it yeah I think they do

[01:01:22] I think he wears the hat he's funny in Charlie's Angels

[01:01:24] he is well we'll have

[01:01:26] famously like basically got punched in the face

[01:01:28] by Lucy Lou because when we wrap up this episode

[01:01:30] we'll talk about what happens to Bill Murray after this movie

[01:01:32] but that's kind of the end of

[01:01:34] okay well then let's you know let's move on

[01:01:36] but he also on Letterman a couple times he wore

[01:01:38] a fucking Russian for a hat like that I think he knows

[01:01:40] he's got a head built for that hat

[01:01:42] he's got a good I'm now

[01:01:44] looking up him with

[01:01:46] like I just looked up Bill Murray Russian

[01:01:48] hat yeah I'm actually just getting a lot of

[01:01:50] Bill Murray wearing many kinds of hats

[01:01:52] yeah I'm just saying I mean first of all

[01:01:54] Bill Murray looks great in a hat second of all

[01:01:56] someone make a Bill Murray Rusky comedy

[01:01:58] yeah sure let's put him in that hat for the whole

[01:02:00] RT baby give me a full

[01:02:02] 95 minutes of him in that hat

[01:02:04] yes

[01:02:06] I'm just

[01:02:08] trying to think of other fun moments

[01:02:10] so he

[01:02:12] what he thinks to be

[01:02:14] the evil scientist lady is actually

[01:02:16] just this lovely older couple

[01:02:18] that's funny we're just like trying to like

[01:02:20] throw some spice

[01:02:22] that's a joke you couldn't do now

[01:02:24] him and him in the Nazi regalia but

[01:02:26] that's funny because she's kink playing as a Nazi

[01:02:28] right but it is funny because he's just

[01:02:30] like you've been very naughty haven't you

[01:02:32] like yes you know they're so

[01:02:34] English about it but they're having a good

[01:02:36] time in their way because even before

[01:02:38] he takes her out of the room there are four

[01:02:40] times that he walks in right

[01:02:42] where you see her whipping and it never gets

[01:02:44] any crazier than that it's just her in one

[01:02:46] position with me he's a schoolboy

[01:02:48] very naughty

[01:02:50] you know it's funny but

[01:02:52] he takes her onto the elevator right

[01:02:54] as a hostage with the real gun

[01:02:56] you know he doesn't know it now absolutely

[01:02:58] and then there's this lovely little

[01:03:00] Asian couple and he goes

[01:03:02] oh actually we're just acting and then

[01:03:04] he starts doing lines like

[01:03:06] to like just like again playing

[01:03:08] out this like theater of life right

[01:03:10] and he teaches them how to act he's just going to be natural

[01:03:12] be in the moment right

[01:03:14] yeah you had your fun

[01:03:16] yeah this is what's fun about bill Murray's

[01:03:18] performance in this right yeah he's

[01:03:20] just like look this is it's not hard

[01:03:22] and then his head

[01:03:24] got sent home

[01:03:26] in a podcast

[01:03:30] I like the scene where Alfred Molina comes

[01:03:32] to him while he's trying to assassinate

[01:03:34] bill Murray while he's doing the Russian dance

[01:03:36] and then he ends up firing the arrow into

[01:03:38] the nesting doll which then deactivates the thing

[01:03:40] right um oh and the move

[01:03:42] that Murray does there is so funny

[01:03:44] he sees the thing

[01:03:46] on the doll then he looks out

[01:03:48] like if someone like had given him

[01:03:50] a rose do you know what I mean

[01:03:52] he has this like move where he's like who did

[01:03:54] that yeah what a nice gesture

[01:03:56] and also Murray's killing it I mean it's like

[01:03:58] he's finally had his moment where he's performing

[01:04:00] in front of an audience and he didn't freeze up

[01:04:02] and he says that to Gallagher he's like there he down in my

[01:04:04] hand right because there was the thing where he goes

[01:04:06] like hey do you mind if I take because he realizes he's the only one

[01:04:08] without the rushing nesting doll it takes off the table

[01:04:10] and he gets a laugh even from that and he's starting to like

[01:04:12] come into his power

[01:04:14] but then Molina comes up to him afterwards and he's

[01:04:16] like what just happened

[01:04:18] nothing like a Charlie horse or something

[01:04:20] where there's an animal in my

[01:04:22] got a little spooky and muscle spasm

[01:04:24] essentially David look like a

[01:04:26] like a ghost just grabs his arms

[01:04:28] how it felt alright carry on

[01:04:30] Molina comes to him and he's like game recognize game

[01:04:32] like you're the best in the bit like I've been trying

[01:04:34] to kill you this whole time yeah that's always

[01:04:36] a good gag but he gives him his

[01:04:38] gun and he's like you know I this was given to me

[01:04:40] by the best shooter I ever seen and he gave it to me

[01:04:42] and you're the most impressive operative

[01:04:44] you know Molina is always good

[01:04:46] right he's been better

[01:04:48] yeah he doesn't like

[01:04:50] totally pop yeah because I

[01:04:52] think in this movie totally pops if that's

[01:04:54] my criticism of it I think it's all good

[01:04:56] the best absolutely a lot of memory pop but

[01:04:58] like you know one thing holding Gallagher back

[01:05:00] I would say

[01:05:02] the only running gag in this movie I'm not

[01:05:04] crazy about I think it's terrible but I

[01:05:06] just go every time it comes up is the

[01:05:08] when Bill Murray calls him it sounds

[01:05:10] like he's talking about a prostitute

[01:05:12] oh sure that gag is just like we don't

[01:05:14] need that level yeah we're gonna do that

[01:05:16] too I think a thing that takes me out of it is

[01:05:18] where he shoots

[01:05:20] yeah the the the female lead

[01:05:22] like he shoots her yeah that's just

[01:05:24] really stupid no one's that I agree

[01:05:26] but yeah Molina you know when I saw this

[01:05:28] movie when I was eight I didn't know who

[01:05:30] Alfred Molina was sure and so rewatching

[01:05:32] it and seeing Alfred Molina's name come up

[01:05:34] in the credits I was like oh Molina's in that

[01:05:36] but he's but he kills in this and he

[01:05:38] watching it's like Molina's like doing his job

[01:05:40] you know this the same year he's in Boogie

[01:05:42] I feel like that's what begins to launch his

[01:05:44] yeah sort of American career

[01:05:46] really in earnest he'd been in American

[01:05:48] movies before but that that takes him to a

[01:05:50] whole new level yeah yeah I mean he's got

[01:05:52] a real butcher sort of look

[01:05:54] about him you've made that clear but

[01:05:56] I feel like

[01:05:58] if if yeah if he ever

[01:06:00] needs like you know to pick up work

[01:06:02] just give him a butcher

[01:06:04] actually become a butcher yeah um

[01:06:06] do you want to take us to the end of the movie Ben you

[01:06:08] want to wrap it up

[01:06:10] yeah we sort of haven't mentioned there's like this justification

[01:06:12] for uh really why

[01:06:14] the bomb is there because the Russians

[01:06:16] and the Brits want to get back

[01:06:18] together to basically

[01:06:20] have another cold war because they want

[01:06:22] their weapons

[01:06:24] you know hungry kind of bad guys

[01:06:26] you know they miss the cold war

[01:06:28] we should also mention Peter Gallagher gets tortured

[01:06:30] yeah he does get tortured and that shocks him

[01:06:32] into realizing his life's been no good

[01:06:34] all he's been chasing after his money but he needs happiness

[01:06:36] and his brother lives his life the way

[01:06:38] he wants to on his own terms

[01:06:40] even if he does work at a blockbuster

[01:06:42] well there's that moment too

[01:06:44] where the brother calls up

[01:06:46] where Bill Murray calls up and on speakerphone

[01:06:48] which they don't turn off keeps on describing

[01:06:50] what sounds like a sex session

[01:06:52] with a sex worker

[01:06:54] and then everyone is aghast

[01:06:56] all the Germans are aghast and they go

[01:06:58] uh the his wife goes

[01:07:00] he's in show business and they go oh

[01:07:02] funny

[01:07:04] pointed

[01:07:06] at the end you've got a very funny little coda

[01:07:08] where like the CIA

[01:07:10] approach well okay we should also mention

[01:07:12] Bill Murray gets the girl and all the money

[01:07:14] yeah he gets the girl and the money

[01:07:16] but he approaches them on vacation and Bill Murray

[01:07:18] again uh oh he like knocks everyone out by mistake

[01:07:20] they're like trying to poison him

[01:07:22] and so they're like we knew it you're like the best

[01:07:24] the best agent there ever could be

[01:07:26] and you gotta join us and he's like cool

[01:07:28] cause he thinks like he's gonna be in a movie

[01:07:30] there he is

[01:07:32] right Ben

[01:07:34] he thinks he's being approached for like Hollywood

[01:07:36] it's not clear

[01:07:38] I took it that way

[01:07:40] no I think that's what it's supposed to be

[01:07:42] but it's almost the thing where

[01:07:44] he knows that he was

[01:07:46] the guy who saved the day

[01:07:48] because he's sort of aware of

[01:07:50] the newspaper article

[01:07:52] uh huh

[01:07:54] I feel like it's insinuated that

[01:07:56] he's aware of what he did

[01:07:58] but then it's not clear even to me

[01:08:00] still at this point

[01:08:02] everything that happens around him

[01:08:04] even after it

[01:08:06] he can interpret it as part of the theater of life

[01:08:08] and thus is still just on the level like

[01:08:10] yep people have got it I'm a really great actor

[01:08:12] I believe that he never wises up

[01:08:14] and thus the thesis of the movie is

[01:08:16] life is but a play are we all not but players

[01:08:18] on this stage that we call humanity

[01:08:20] and in fact

[01:08:22] if you treat life like play

[01:08:24] perhaps it frees you up to live the life you want

[01:08:26] all he needed was

[01:08:28] pretend in order to become

[01:08:30] real do you know what I'm saying David

[01:08:32] we live cathartically through our media

[01:08:34] and I want fresh flowers

[01:08:36] and ice

[01:08:38] I

[01:08:40] wanna shout out Richard Wilson

[01:08:42] who plays uh

[01:08:44] Roger Dagenhurst you know like the guy

[01:08:46] on the other end of the line the British

[01:08:48] is he like the secretary of something

[01:08:50] he's like the head of a spy agency

[01:08:52] he famously plays Victor Meldrew

[01:08:54] on One Foot in the Grave

[01:08:56] which was a very popular British

[01:08:58] sitcom in the 90s

[01:09:00] about a grumpy old man

[01:09:02] who famously

[01:09:04] one of those like British shows that seems like

[01:09:06] a cute sitcom but like you know

[01:09:08] weirdly dark but his catchphrase was

[01:09:10] I don't believe it

[01:09:12] and like in Britain if you say that

[01:09:14] everyone knows what you're saying

[01:09:16] it's a you having a laugh

[01:09:18] but the weirdest thing about One Foot in the Grave

[01:09:20] just to put this out there

[01:09:22] is it was remade in America

[01:09:24] as Cosby

[01:09:26] the Bill Cosby follow up to the Cosby show

[01:09:28] now I think they tweaked it

[01:09:30] honestly but the

[01:09:32] that show like in the

[01:09:34] credit says like based on One Foot in the Grave

[01:09:36] like the BBC comedy

[01:09:38] that's crazy in which he plays like a grumpy old man

[01:09:40] the Cosby he was like grumpier

[01:09:42] yeah he wasn't like friendly

[01:09:44] uh this one comes out in 1997

[01:09:46] it bombs

[01:09:48] 1998 Rushmore comes

[01:09:50] at end of the year and it's I mean

[01:09:52] this is phase three right this is the huge

[01:09:54] turning point yes and then

[01:09:56] after this the next couple years plays

[01:09:58] a supporting role in Tim Robbins

[01:10:00] Cradle of Rock which he's good in but that movie

[01:10:02] is a bomb he plays Polonius

[01:10:04] and Hamlet which he's also good in and that

[01:10:06] movie's okay yeah he plays Bosley

[01:10:08] and Charlie's Angels which was arguably the last

[01:10:10] big paycheck Bill Murray role basically

[01:10:12] very funny but clashes heavily

[01:10:14] with everyone on jet working on it

[01:10:16] they write him out of the sequel Bernie Mac plays

[01:10:18] his role in the sequel I went to see

[01:10:20] almost as funny my family

[01:10:22] we were big nader supporters in 2000

[01:10:24] and we went to the nader rally at Massent

[01:10:26] Square Garden and Bill Murray came up and gave

[01:10:28] a speech and I remember this because

[01:10:30] it was amazing that Bill Murray came up

[01:10:32] and he said you know last thing you want

[01:10:34] to hear some lefty liberal celebrities

[01:10:36] getting up telling you who to vote for

[01:10:38] you know I mean it's presumptuous of me

[01:10:40] to assume that I have any sway any power

[01:10:42] I was saying to my wife I don't even want

[01:10:44] to come out here I don't want to speak I

[01:10:46] you know I think it's too much and then

[01:10:48] I remembered Bill you're

[01:10:50] Charlie and the new Charlie's Angels

[01:10:52] movie you have a rare power

[01:10:54] and responsible and the whole bit kept

[01:10:56] on being like you're no mere celebrity

[01:10:58] you're Bosley and the joke was so

[01:11:00] clearly he was so embarrassed that he was

[01:11:02] in that movie I mean this was like a month

[01:11:04] after Charlie's Angels had come out

[01:11:06] you know yeah he's funny

[01:11:08] he's funny he's funny in that

[01:11:10] but then after that

[01:11:12] real Tana bombs

[01:11:14] which were shot earlier had a long post

[01:11:16] production because it was animated

[01:11:18] and that are terrible and belong to the

[01:11:20] sort of pre the phase three murder he was

[01:11:22] doing that as a I think a favorite of the

[01:11:24] fairly fairly brothers he clearly doesn't look happy in that movie

[01:11:26] it's an unhappy that the half

[01:11:28] that is live action is really unhappy the

[01:11:30] animated stuff is pretty fun I agree

[01:11:32] lost the translation obviously

[01:11:34] big one big one get the Oscar

[01:11:36] what did uh what did uh

[01:11:38] he whispered what did he whisper

[01:11:40] shut up Ben I'm gonna tell you at

[01:11:42] the end of the episode oh okay great

[01:11:44] now he still makes some

[01:11:46] paychecks because Garfield Garfield

[01:11:48] you gotta do two days of voice work

[01:11:50] it's different you know but then

[01:11:52] also there's that famous like apocryphal

[01:11:54] possibly story that Joel Cohen

[01:11:56] right and he's like oh the

[01:11:58] co-brothers wrote this alright I'll do Garfield

[01:12:00] but yeah I mean who knows if that's true

[01:12:02] so he makes his he makes like

[01:12:04] the life aquatic and the dark dealing

[01:12:06] limited in all the West Anderson movies he always pops up

[01:12:08] in broken flowers so he's doing the drama

[01:12:10] so he's in a limit to control he's

[01:12:12] in coffee and cigarettes

[01:12:14] he does zombie language was like his biggest

[01:12:16] like purely comedic performance and it

[01:12:18] was you know like an uncredited cameo

[01:12:20] but it's funny it is good it is good

[01:12:22] gets smart he's got one scene and he's really funny

[01:12:24] but the only funny part of that movie

[01:12:26] then I might even argue that

[01:12:28] somewhere around there around where

[01:12:30] starts no I will face for

[01:12:32] ends and then yeah phase five which is

[01:12:34] what we're in now starts where it's like

[01:12:36] he makes these leading man roles

[01:12:38] again I'd park on the Hudson

[01:12:40] Hyde Park on Hudson Vincent

[01:12:42] and rocks the Casbah where you're just like

[01:12:44] dude what what this is

[01:12:46] your new career phase

[01:12:48] he's in a weird space I thought

[01:12:50] he was very good in the jungle book and a lot of people didn't

[01:12:52] I really liked him in that

[01:12:54] I didn't think it was great

[01:12:56] I thought it was okay

[01:12:58] it felt to me like the kind of movie that Bill Murray would have made fun of

[01:13:00] boring you know it felt

[01:13:02] like it was too tidy at the end

[01:13:04] it felt like it didn't own

[01:13:06] his harassability enough yeah yeah very true

[01:13:08] it felt a little too sanitized

[01:13:10] he's in like the monuments man which is also

[01:13:12] kind of like that he's fine in it

[01:13:14] he's in a weird phase right now

[01:13:16] because he's no I mean he doesn't really seem to be that

[01:13:18] interested in being a comedic leading man but the dramas

[01:13:20] he picks are odd choices I think

[01:13:22] he either needs to find

[01:13:24] a new director maybe like a really good director who can

[01:13:26] maybe get something new out of him

[01:13:28] or perhaps make another very good

[01:13:30] movie with one of one of his guys

[01:13:32] that he works with right now I mean he hasn't done

[01:13:34] a couple of movies since Lawson translation and also

[01:13:36] Wes Anderson has been giving him

[01:13:38] small roles he's been a company player lately

[01:13:40] he hasn't had a media I mean moonrise was his

[01:13:42] medias one Wes Anderson gave him the

[01:13:44] life aquatic which I feel like was that was his big role

[01:13:46] yeah for Wes Anderson and that was notably

[01:13:48] a difficult shoot

[01:13:50] but you just need you just need the

[01:13:52] 800 number right and you could just call

[01:13:54] and leave a message yeah I mean does

[01:13:56] then do you guys know anyone I have

[01:13:58] access to it what I don't think I've ever told

[01:14:00] you guys this I have told me I have the 800

[01:14:02] number oh shit I just

[01:14:04] want to point out he actually did do something with Sophia Coppola

[01:14:06] he did a very merry Christmas with him

[01:14:08] oh I didn't like that nope

[01:14:10] so like six years ago

[01:14:12] I was working at a summer camp

[01:14:14] that I referenced a lot before where I

[01:14:16] went as a kid and then taught this fast

[01:14:18] yeah I we were having

[01:14:20] a really hard time getting kids to care about

[01:14:22] comedy and I really thought

[01:14:24] because we had a picture Bill Murray hanging up

[01:14:26] in our little cabin and I had the thought one day

[01:14:28] my dad is close friends

[01:14:30] with one of the people who's in the

[01:14:32] Bill Murray kind of inner circle sure

[01:14:34] not you know Howard Franklin

[01:14:36] but one of these guys who he

[01:14:38] does trust I was trying to port my

[01:14:40] name with the universe and it wasn't working

[01:14:42] and so my dad

[01:14:44] my dad has the number

[01:14:46] and I called him up and I said

[01:14:48] I just have this crazy idea

[01:14:50] I feel like if he checked his voice

[01:14:52] your dad up you're being I call my dad up

[01:14:54] and I said I have this crazy idea I feel like

[01:14:56] if the timing was right and he checked

[01:14:58] the voice machine on that day

[01:15:00] if I said hey we're at a summer camp

[01:15:02] in Connecticut I'm trying to get 12 year

[01:15:04] old's to care about comedy and they won't give a shit

[01:15:06] right do you want to come teach a workshop

[01:15:08] because we don't have workshops and it'd be like

[01:15:10] this guy used to go here and now he's a writer's assistant on this

[01:15:12] you know yeah at the very best to be like this guy writes

[01:15:14] on weekend update it's like oh cool

[01:15:16] and I just love the idea of doing a secret workshop

[01:15:18] and my dad gave me the number and he's like I'll give this to you

[01:15:20] sure I just want you to think

[01:15:22] about if you do it because take your shot

[01:15:24] you got one shot I know you have ambitions

[01:15:26] you know in in your career

[01:15:28] you're saying I've had this screenplay

[01:15:30] I've had this idea that I've never written

[01:15:32] and that I'm not going to say on air because I don't want anyone to steal it

[01:15:34] what if this guy was in like a living theater play

[01:15:36] and then it turned out it got

[01:15:38] crossed over with like an action movie

[01:15:40] I've always had this movie idea that I felt like was the best

[01:15:42] modern Bill Murray movie you could make

[01:15:44] about a man who knows too little

[01:15:46] a man who knows too little too

[01:15:48] no I'm not going to say what it is because I don't want to air it

[01:15:50] that's fine but my notion was always

[01:15:52] and I'll just say this

[01:15:54] is there a way you can make a Bill Murray movie

[01:15:56] that marries the two sides of Bill Murray

[01:15:58] a movie that owns both

[01:16:00] the sad sack modern you know

[01:16:02] Malaise Bill Murray

[01:16:04] and the wild

[01:16:06] crazy guy Bill Murray

[01:16:08] and I think I have an idea that works for that

[01:16:10] because I feel like if you could make a movie that has the pathos

[01:16:12] of current Bill Murray

[01:16:14] and allows Bill Murray to be a fucking

[01:16:16] a fun guy you haven't got a fun Bill Murray one

[01:16:18] it's true we haven't

[01:16:20] someday I'm going to write that and I got the phone number

[01:16:22] and that's the call and this is the dramatic tease I'll do for something

[01:16:24] that probably won't pay off 15 years from now

[01:16:26] I also have some ideas

[01:16:28] I've been sitting on

[01:16:30] let's all call him at the same time once a day every day

[01:16:32] no no but we've got to make sure

[01:16:34] that this is a thing

[01:16:36] that we keep in the back of our minds guys

[01:16:38] no question because I got the number

[01:16:40] he's got the number I got the number

[01:16:42] alright I'll maybe

[01:16:44] you know I'll can I just

[01:16:46] maybe not today because we're about to wrap up here

[01:16:48] but yeah I'm gonna maybe

[01:16:50] I'll throw some log lines your ways guys

[01:16:52] okay alright some Murray logs

[01:16:54] we'll keep that there'll be a new segment I'm gonna flow

[01:16:56] to couple logs your way guys

[01:16:58] we should play a box office game though

[01:17:00] yes yes but we'll go ahead

[01:17:02] I'll do what I was going to say after we play box office game

[01:17:04] you've got some big thing

[01:17:06] no it's not it's not

[01:17:08] November 14th

[01:17:10] 1997 is the is the weekend

[01:17:12] the movie opened

[01:17:14] to 4.6

[01:17:16] million dollars at number 5

[01:17:18] not good

[01:17:20] it earned a total of 13.7

[01:17:22] million dollars on a 20 million dollar budget

[01:17:24] even worse

[01:17:26] that's a low budget wow yeah

[01:17:28] there's no worldwide gross listed I don't think

[01:17:30] this film had almost had almost any impact

[01:17:32] overseas okay so this is a month before

[01:17:34] titanic comes up that's correct

[01:17:36] this is in the you know 97

[01:17:38] it's a hot year but this is

[01:17:40] it's not a great list

[01:17:42] number one is an action movie

[01:17:44] an R rated action movie starring

[01:17:46] a big action star franchise

[01:17:48] or a one off it's a remake

[01:17:50] it's a remake

[01:17:52] you know honestly it starts two stars

[01:17:54] but one big action star

[01:17:56] okay one plays the villain

[01:17:58] the big action star plays

[01:18:00] the villain

[01:18:02] and the title role

[01:18:04] interesting I don't know if you'll get this

[01:18:06] kind of a shrug of a movie

[01:18:10] and the other person plays

[01:18:12] like the guy who's hunting the villain

[01:18:14] now this is an interesting

[01:18:16] I always am interested by the phenomenon

[01:18:18] of the bigger star plays the villain

[01:18:20] and thus gets top billing and kind of

[01:18:22] unbalances the movie

[01:18:24] you know the hunt for red October thing

[01:18:26] which I think is a good movie but that's always that weird imbalance

[01:18:28] where it's like Baldwin isn't at the fighting level

[01:18:30] which is usually what that is

[01:18:32] is like you've got the more older star

[01:18:34] playing but in this one it's actually not true

[01:18:36] like honestly they're both about the same age

[01:18:38] interesting but no doubt

[01:18:40] the villain is the bigger star

[01:18:42] especially for action so it's not

[01:18:44] that you're not so long I always have to ask that when we say action

[01:18:46] it's a big hit movie

[01:18:48] is it Bruce Willis yes is it the jackal

[01:18:50] correct okay cool

[01:18:52] the jackal

[01:18:54] it took me a while to get it once I got it I got it

[01:18:56] immediately big hit I mean

[01:18:58] big hit movie worldwide

[01:19:00] right not a huge hit in America

[01:19:02] yet open to 15 million so number two

[01:19:04] had been number one the week before

[01:19:06] it's a massive super

[01:19:08] violent sci-fi epic

[01:19:10] starship troopers yes one of my favorite movies

[01:19:12] fantastic film

[01:19:14] we will you know one questionably

[01:19:16] covering one day due on this podcast

[01:19:18] unquestionably that was making

[01:19:20] 10 million in its second weekend

[01:19:22] misunderstood friend of the show pilot

[01:19:24] it was so misunderstood very misunderstood

[01:19:26] I just rewashed it and I was blown away

[01:19:28] that's the best friend of the show pilot

[01:19:30] Vera was recently telling me that she

[01:19:32] that was like the first aria movie she went to see

[01:19:34] because her parents were like what's like

[01:19:36] some sci-fi movie go have fun like

[01:19:38] and she saw like a bunch and like that movie is like a ton of nudity

[01:19:40] as well as like really insane

[01:19:42] violence because I'm always directed by

[01:19:44] Paul Verho and right and then later

[01:19:46] her mom watch it years later she's like wait a second

[01:19:48] wait a second you were seeing this

[01:19:50] number three is a

[01:19:52] reissue of a disney animated

[01:19:54] film

[01:19:56] 1997 I honestly didn't even remember that this

[01:19:58] got reissue this was the tail end of when they were

[01:20:00] doing reissues yeah

[01:20:02] because that was for a long time disney wouldn't release

[01:20:04] their movies on home video or they

[01:20:06] would for a second and then put it back in the

[01:20:08] the issues for the big thing

[01:20:10] 1997 can you tell me what era of disney was

[01:20:12] disney renaissance

[01:20:14] you know it was not that old a movie

[01:20:16] okay so it was like an 80s movie

[01:20:18] yeah was it little mermaids

[01:20:20] interesting yeah they reissued

[01:20:22] that one you know number four

[01:20:24] you know british comedies

[01:20:26] they were they were in

[01:20:28] in there I think I know what it is

[01:20:30] the full monty nope fuck

[01:20:32] but I bet the full monty

[01:20:34] the full monty's hanging out in there okay I got another

[01:20:36] I feel like the full monty is about to make

[01:20:38] it's like I think it was a slow build yeah

[01:20:40] I got another guess

[01:20:42] bean yeah

[01:20:44] 97 I remember pretty vividly

[01:20:46] which I saw in theaters for sure

[01:20:48] yeah 97 was like one of the years

[01:20:50] where I started getting really serious about movies

[01:20:52] you know okay so you just started

[01:20:54] to go see movies like bean yeah well

[01:20:56] yeah I saw bean probably three times

[01:20:58] in theaters but I also I'm not joking

[01:21:00] people asked in the past

[01:21:02] why like how I know all this shit

[01:21:04] that not to

[01:21:06] I'm gonna say this very quickly

[01:21:08] my father loves sports

[01:21:10] and he loves sports stats and my brother and him could always talk

[01:21:12] about that my brother want to be a sports caster

[01:21:14] my dad want to be a sports caster right

[01:21:16] when toy story came out and I love toy

[01:21:18] story and I saw that it was the number one movie in America

[01:21:20] my dad was like oh you know there's a box

[01:21:22] office right and so every Monday

[01:21:24] morning when I woke up for school my dad would take

[01:21:26] out the New York Times and we'd read the top 10

[01:21:28] yes so it's all burnt by America's it was a bonding

[01:21:30] exercise with my father and now I still do it and we talk

[01:21:32] on the phone on Mondays and go like hey what about that

[01:21:34] hey Dr. Strange good hold you good hold we talk about the

[01:21:36] hold good hold my dad I talk

[01:21:38] about is your dad listen to the podcast

[01:21:40] absolutely not he never had a better not

[01:21:42] man who knew to know Matt yes seriously man who knew

[01:21:44] too little was number five so that's your top five

[01:21:46] okay other movies in there you've got I know what

[01:21:48] you did last summer as good as it gets is that

[01:21:50] in there later

[01:21:52] later yeah comes later you got the devil's

[01:21:54] advocate okay a lot of our rated

[01:21:56] you know that was the days where the fall

[01:21:58] was really like movies just suddenly got violent

[01:22:00] yeah

[01:22:02] Jack another Richard gear vehicle by the way Richard

[01:22:05] gears in the jackal red corner

[01:22:08] know that one that's like he went to China

[01:22:11] and China was really fucked up and

[01:22:14] like locks up journalists like very

[01:22:16] and China yeah and like I think Richard gear

[01:22:19] is like banned from China please please please

[01:22:21] Dickie here Dickie gear okay I kept

[01:22:24] I realized this recently when I emailed

[01:22:27] Sony I think it's so yeah Sony to see to see

[01:22:30] Billy Lin's long half-time walk I was like

[01:22:32] hey if you got any screenings for Billy

[01:22:34] Flynn's long

[01:22:36] which is a Richard gears character

[01:22:38] Chicago

[01:22:40] to their credit did not correct me

[01:22:42] um cool boogie nights is in there okay

[01:22:45] Eve's Bayou very underrated

[01:22:48] Cassie lemons never seen I need to see

[01:22:50] a lot of black cinema mad city

[01:22:54] oh yeah with that's the it's Costa

[01:22:56] Gaviris I believe and you know

[01:22:58] John Travolta yeah Justin Hoffman

[01:23:00] weird time scintillating satire

[01:23:03] yeah of the media yeah weirdest one in

[01:23:06] here you've got like the full month one

[01:23:08] last one let's go yeah men in black I

[01:23:10] was gonna guess lept seven hundred

[01:23:13] percent from the week before because it

[01:23:15] added like 300 theaters yes

[01:23:18] well this was a thing they used to do

[01:23:20] already made 250 million dollars but it

[01:23:21] just like bumps back in I feel like

[01:23:23] I just simply remember this and from that fall

[01:23:25] yeah cuz they come out in July this is

[01:23:27] they would do this thing that was like

[01:23:30] the summer movies in the fall once

[01:23:32] they were like pretty much down they do

[01:23:33] one last splash you want to see it again

[01:23:35] sometimes what they would do was they

[01:23:37] make it a double feature so they'd be

[01:23:38] like I know in 2002 both Spider-man

[01:23:42] and men in black two in like September

[01:23:44] October we're like done with their box

[01:23:46] office runs and they were like double

[01:23:48] feature two for the price of one

[01:23:49] and that was like number eight at the

[01:23:50] box office yeah was people sitting for

[01:23:52] three hours of men in black two and

[01:23:54] Spider-man David mined shooting

[01:23:56] himself in the head so here's the last

[01:23:58] thing I want to say today a little

[01:24:00] housekeeping in our previous episode we

[01:24:03] talked about our next mini series which

[01:24:05] could be Spielberg the DreamWorks years

[01:24:07] on official title working title yeah we

[01:24:09] might not do better dream working title

[01:24:11] you didn't do Ben's names it's his

[01:24:14] episode oh yeah that's the reason I

[01:24:17] just I'm shocked that you didn't even

[01:24:19] though I love you not doing your

[01:24:20] shock that insight producer Ben you're

[01:24:23] really you're shocked I didn't say the

[01:24:24] bandu sir producer Ben the poet laureate

[01:24:26] the haze the tiebreaker birthday Benny

[01:24:28] the fuck master the poet laureate our

[01:24:31] finance film critic yeah Joe and Katie

[01:24:33] recently told me that their favorite

[01:24:35] one our finance film critic white hot

[01:24:37] Benny so can what Benny birthday

[01:24:39] better back many I'm repeating them

[01:24:41] you're shocked that in which amount of

[01:24:42] hell fennel I'm shocked you're

[01:24:44] shocked that I didn't mention these

[01:24:45] graduate to certain tells about the

[01:24:47] series now this is why I remembered

[01:24:49] it because I've got a couple ideas

[01:24:51] oh fuck that are people have pitched to me

[01:24:53] well you know there's there's been one

[01:24:55] Ben one of the no be a little bit of

[01:24:58] a little bit of a good Ben Kenobi producer

[01:24:59] Ben Kenobi by Ben say Ben I'm on any

[01:25:03] say anything say Benny so for the

[01:25:05] James for the James Cameron now

[01:25:06] concluded James Cameron series T Ben

[01:25:08] thousand I've heard T Ben thousand

[01:25:10] Joe Reed gave me on a tainy Ben I

[01:25:13] was a bit of a name and I'm tainy

[01:25:15] and I'm tainy him Dan Dadaria who

[01:25:17] came up with say Benny thing uh-huh

[01:25:20] okay a lee bends that's really good

[01:25:27] and you DM me with trying to make this

[01:25:31] two for two yeah a lee bends pretty good

[01:25:35] oh god good I think this one over so

[01:25:41] those are floating out there maybe

[01:25:43] we'll think of one more so we can have

[01:25:45] your classic Twitter poll for option

[01:25:47] Twitter problem is we're recording

[01:25:49] these episodes like five months in

[01:25:50] advance we can't pull it because then

[01:25:51] they'll be like you know I'm saying we

[01:25:53] could pull whatever fuck I don't care

[01:25:55] who gives a shit here's the plan

[01:25:57] we'll do something yeah where the

[01:25:59] schedule is gonna be a little weird

[01:26:01] okay just gonna be weird look so this

[01:26:03] episode's coming on the tail end of

[01:26:05] a nice James Cameron mini series right

[01:26:08] what's going on after that the week

[01:26:10] after this our next episode will be

[01:26:12] Rogue one we're dipping back into

[01:26:14] Star Wars right where we started new

[01:26:16] Star Wars film we've always promised

[01:26:17] someone we've covered as a new project

[01:26:19] we got to cover it right so we're talking

[01:26:21] about Rogue one what are we doing after

[01:26:23] that technically we're gonna be off for

[01:26:25] the next month but releasing new

[01:26:26] episodes we're gonna give you some best

[01:26:28] ups a lot of people jumped on blank

[01:26:30] check days we want to show some respect

[01:26:32] for the Star Wars days and for people

[01:26:34] maybe jumped on in a later blank check

[01:26:36] mini series a hundred percent things

[01:26:38] like that so we're gonna give you

[01:26:39] one mini series each of our Star Wars

[01:26:41] mini series is gonna have its own

[01:26:43] best of episode we're gonna do a lot

[01:26:45] of origin stories for where a lot of

[01:26:47] our great bits come so I guess yeah we're

[01:26:50] gonna have a bit of a Star Wars return to

[01:26:52] Star Wars because we rogue one and then

[01:26:53] some Star Wars greatest hits that'll be

[01:26:55] in January guys and then and then

[01:26:58] and much on lines new film split comes

[01:27:00] out yeah baby so Ben night showman

[01:27:02] will come back and then talk about

[01:27:04] split we start Spielberg so the end

[01:27:06] of January we're planning Spielberg

[01:27:09] the DreamWorks years will start with

[01:27:10] his one non DreamWorks movie from

[01:27:12] the DreamWorks years right the

[01:27:14] Lost World Jurassic Park so just want

[01:27:16] to give everyone the fair warning there's

[01:27:17] gonna be a gap before we get to the

[01:27:19] next mini series you're not gonna miss

[01:27:20] out on blank check content you're gonna

[01:27:22] get stuff every week yeah it'll be fun

[01:27:24] guys that'll be fun and also come on

[01:27:25] give us some time we gotta bank up because

[01:27:26] we're gonna make sure we keep on

[01:27:28] releasing episodes while I'm well I'm

[01:27:30] ticking also we're working on merch

[01:27:32] guys it's just yeah I don't know if

[01:27:34] it's we're trying to get our you know

[01:27:36] our stuff in order we'll see what

[01:27:38] happens well the problem is it was

[01:27:40] about to dock into the port and then

[01:27:41] Peter Gallagher made that phone call

[01:27:43] yeah Consuela picked up and now this

[01:27:47] all the ports are closed we have we've

[01:27:49] had the blank check the night mask sleep

[01:27:52] mask so Ben what's your next it won't

[01:27:54] be along and a long time from now it'll

[01:27:56] be a long time from now actually cuz

[01:27:58] Spielberg will take a while yeah but

[01:28:00] start thinking about your next Ben's

[01:28:02] choice yeah I will say it's seven

[01:28:04] months from now I'm actually I feel

[01:28:06] like there's an aspect of me because

[01:28:09] I'm a goof I don't take I don't take

[01:28:12] movies that seriously you know yeah but

[01:28:15] there was definitely appeared in my time

[01:28:17] a time of my life where I was studying

[01:28:19] to be a fiction writer and had sort of

[01:28:22] my light art movie phase okay so I've

[01:28:26] I'm gonna you know I feel like we

[01:28:27] haven't done any like our house

[01:28:29] penny kind of stuff yeah so that's a

[01:28:31] tease for what's gonna happen next

[01:28:32] summer maybe it'll be 500 blows I mean

[01:28:36] it'd be 400 bush or no he's like with

[01:28:39] the sequel 101 plus well that's that's a

[01:28:43] good tease for what's going on in the

[01:28:44] future Ben's calling his shots he's gonna

[01:28:46] do an art house movie tune in next week

[01:28:49] for Rogue one and then a nice Star Wars

[01:28:51] run before we go back into M night

[01:28:53] territory before give you Spielberg the

[01:28:55] dream works here we gotta do split man

[01:28:56] it's gonna be the first time I know

[01:28:58] it's just it's gonna be the first

[01:28:59] time we're doing like you know going

[01:29:01] back to the pool our little kids are

[01:29:02] growing up it's gonna be fun thank you

[01:29:04] all for listening please remember to rate

[01:29:06] review subscribe tell your friends all

[01:29:09] that good stuff and as always yes oh

[01:29:14] shit I got one I want to say if you

[01:29:17] don't know if you don't please because

[01:29:19] I'm gonna do your favorite here Ben I'm

[01:29:21] gonna answer a question you ask and as

[01:29:23] always Ben do you want to know what

[01:29:25] Bill Murray whispers to Scarlett Johansson

[01:29:27] at the end of Lost in Translation yeah

[01:29:30] producer Ben aka the Ben Dooser aka

[01:29:33] producer Ben aka the Haas aka

[01:29:37] Mr. Positive aka the tiebreaker aka the

[01:29:41] fuck master he is not Professor Crispy

[01:29:44] he is refined as film critic he is the

[01:29:47] poet laureate he's white hot Benny he

[01:29:51] so can what Benny he's dirt bike Benny

[01:29:54] you see him on the streets you know

[01:29:56] with a hearty hello fennel he's

[01:30:00] graduating titles over the series of

[01:30:02] over the course of different many series

[01:30:04] such as Kylo van produce been Kenobi

[01:30:08] and I trauma and say it's a very

[01:30:11] I mean they sped it up in post so yeah

[01:30:16] I was gonna say that's a lot just for

[01:30:19] him to whisper right but I swear to

[01:30:21] God that was the whisperer that's awesome

[01:30:23] yes I mean I wasn't even producing

[01:30:26] then but I guess they knew what was

[01:30:28] going to be like I mean that's what

[01:30:30] makes a great filmmaker sometimes you

[01:30:32] come upon happy accents David's left the

[01:30:34] studio yeah David's gone well hey that

[01:30:36] was a good end to an episode I think

[01:30:38] I felt like that was a fun one we didn't

[01:30:41] talk about politics too much which is

[01:30:43] good because by the time people are

[01:30:44] listening to this there it's gonna

[01:30:46] want to hear about it no probably new

[01:30:48] yeah no one's gonna want to hear us

[01:30:50] in the past talk about the terrible

[01:30:52] things that are currently happening

[01:30:54] right now that's the thing because

[01:30:55] they're gonna be new terrible things

[01:30:56] by the time this comes out I don't

[01:30:57] expect anything is going to resolve

[01:30:58] there's just these terrible fears are

[01:31:00] gonna be they're gonna look quaint

[01:31:02] he's gonna have been like here's the

[01:31:04] department head of babes right yeah

[01:31:07] have a babe department and it's gonna be

[01:31:10] him lure ex not he's gonna resurrect

[01:31:13] him when I make him I think we

[01:31:16] should cut this part I don't know I

[01:31:18] think we should double it great

[01:31:21] here we go

[01:31:31] check out our other shows on the

[01:31:33] you see the comedy podcast network