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Episode 52: Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead featuring Stefa Nunes and Victoria
41 Plays9 days ago
Get ready because Your Favorite Bad Movie Podcast is celebrating its first anniversary and Stefa Nunes is back with a cable classic, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991). Stefa’s brought a guest herself, Victoria, so it’s a full crew as they discuss how this Christina Applegate vehicle has somehow become a part of them all. And there’s a new game full of fun names. Join the celebration and tune in!
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Transcript
Anniversary Episode Introduction
00:00:14
Speaker
It's bad to be bad, it's bad to be bad, and I guess it's understood that you would, if you could, and you know that you should, yes you know that you should.
Meet the Hosts and Guest Appearances
00:00:39
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to a very special one-year anniversary episode of Your Favorite Bad Movie Podcast.
00:00:50
Speaker
Yay! Yay! Yay!
00:00:59
Speaker
I was saying burns and yeah that's right. It's been one year of asking the question. If this movie is so bad, why do you like it so much?
00:01:11
Speaker
We're your hosts. My name is Chris Anderson. And with me, of course, I have the Cynthia to my Zach, my lovely wife, Anna Anderson. How are you? My moon Goddix.
00:01:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:27
Speaker
I'm doing okay. All right. Okay. Okay. Happy anniversary, my love. Yes, this is I did. I counted up. This is my 33rd episode, which is not bad.
00:01:41
Speaker
No, that's great. That's great. That's that's pretty much right there at the two thirds mark. And of course we have. my inimitable co-host, the skull to my lizard, Mr. Greg Bossin. Greg, how are you?
00:01:58
Speaker
i am doing good. How are you? I'm doing pretty good. Happy podversary, Greg. Yes, happy podversary. Thank you. been a good time. It's been a good year.
00:02:09
Speaker
Absolutely. And boy, I can't wait to see what we got cooking next year. Listeners, I made a great little year anniversary trailer. Check it out. It's going to be in our socials. Get hyped for year two. We've got great stuff coming.
00:02:24
Speaker
But right now we have a very great guest. Our first ever three-timing guest. That's right. It's the one, the only Stefanoonz.
00:02:37
Speaker
Hello. oh Hello, everyone. And Chris was generous enough to allow me to bring my own bestie. We have both been Sue Ellen or the Nicole throughout our relationship.
00:02:49
Speaker
mutual support. Sometimes I call her in for the last minute fashion show. Sometimes she calls me in for the last minute fashion show. We're always there for each other. My bestie Victoria is also here with us.
00:03:01
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you for having me and happy podversary everyone. Oh, thank you. Thank you both so much for
Movie Summary and Initial Thoughts
00:03:09
Speaker
being here. It's such a treat to have the two of you here.
00:03:12
Speaker
And it was such a treat to watch just such a fun, easy breezy movie after I've had a lot of challenges. Recently, I had a very hard run of three and this was just a nice delight for me after was it Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Twisted Pair and Southland Tales all three in a row.
00:03:36
Speaker
I'm still in recovery from writing those summaries. Listeners, you haven't seen this week's movie, which is Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, here is just a very short summary to hold in your mind.
00:03:58
Speaker
Sue Ellen's summer of freedom is ruined. First, when her mom hires a babysitter to watch her and her four siblings.
00:04:08
Speaker
And the second time, when the babysitter dies. And Sue Ellen needs to get a job to keep everybody fed.
00:04:19
Speaker
Much more involved than I thought it was going to be at first blush. This is a very plotty movie. It's true. It's true. A lot happens. There's, you know, the two main kid characters who have their own kind of storylines going. And then there's the three younger characters. and There's a lot of moving pieces.
00:04:38
Speaker
And it is, there's there's some of it that's kind of like, it's like a farce where she's like, she's she's literally keeping up a farce. And there's always a lot of activity in a farce. Oh, yeah. Yeah. A lot of business.
00:04:50
Speaker
I think that is part of what makes this so watchable is that because the characters are all very distinct from one another, they're very easy to keep straight that they all seem to have storylines that are evolving all the time. So it's, it's very plot driven, ah but with distinct enough characters that it it works on both levels.
00:05:10
Speaker
You're never going to mistake a Kenny moment for a swell moment. No, no. no Now, Stefa, Victoria, how did you guys first watch Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead?
00:05:26
Speaker
Well, I feel like for me, it started probably pretty young. Like I can remember. I don't really remember. It's one of those movies where I don't remember a time when I hadn't seen it. It's like adventures in babysitting and, you know, dirty dancing. Like these are things where it's like I can't pinpoint a moment in time. So I think it's always been kind of on my radar.
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah, it was one of those movies that was like always replaying on basic cable every weekend where like, you know, you'd be coming home from something before going out to something else and you throw on Comedy Central and there's Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead because I'm sure it was dirt cheap to air it a million times.
00:06:07
Speaker
And it's like, it's funny and it's light and it's it moves really quickly. So I can understand it being like, yeah, why not just throw this on again? I think of it again, like with a, like, I don't know when I first saw like Troop Beverly Hills or anything like that. It's just kind of always been there.
00:06:23
Speaker
no that makes sense. One of those things that comes from prehistory, you know, like when did I first watch the Looney Tunes? Like before I formed any memories that I have lasted to this day.
00:06:33
Speaker
They simply have always been Looney Tunes. Yeah, exactly. ah Greg, Anna, when do you guys remember, have any early memories of Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead?
00:06:45
Speaker
Well, I think only that i I don't remember for sure when I watched it, but I know for sure that it was a blockbuster rental.
00:06:57
Speaker
Okay. it Just the blockbuster v a VHS rental sometime in my early teens.
00:07:06
Speaker
That's when this movie would hit. Yeah, it truly does narrow down to like a window of time of like Blockbuster, VHS, Rental. Okay, yeah, that's I can see this window of time. I can picture
Behind-the-Scenes Insights
00:07:16
Speaker
it. Yeah, i always it used to be back in the video store days. It felt like video stores were going to last forever, but in fact, they lasted probably about as long as like malt shops.
00:07:27
Speaker
A generational signifier in the same way. Yeah, yeah. Well, and I actually, i hadn't seen it um since then. Okay. And it did it's fun.
00:07:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I enjoyed it. How about you, Greg? So I very specifically remember seeing this movie for the first time. Okay. My family would take, like every spring, we would have to go shopping.
00:07:55
Speaker
we'd go to Grand Rapids, which is a bigger town in Michigan that we could do all of our shopping in. And since we were traveling a ways to get there, We have to spend all day doing it. So once my shopping was done, my dad and I started a tradition of going to see movies. And there were like three movie theaters we could go to in the area. And one of them was a second run movie theater.
00:08:16
Speaker
And that was always the one we were the most excited about because dollar movies, even though they're the old ones that nobody liked, it's still just like super exciting. So this is yeah definitely one of those movies that we saw in the dollar theater. I'm pretty sure that my sister rented it.
00:08:33
Speaker
I don't have any memories of like watching it a lot, but I remember the movie very specifically. I remembered that there was a nurse in the movie, which is maybe a formative memory of my own, but I have to hold.
00:08:48
Speaker
So when I saw the part with the nurse, I just burst into laughter. But what I remember most was not the nurse itself, but was the exchange between Kenny and his friend or Kenneth, I should say, and his friend when he's like, I got a date with so-and-so. And he's like, the nurse. He's like, yeah, the nurse. Like, I remember that moment as a child. Yes.
00:09:13
Speaker
Good for Kenneth. And I have to say, like the first half an hour of this movie, I felt like I remembered every line. Like before people were saying it, I was like, yeah I know what they're going to say.
00:09:24
Speaker
it was a real, real shock to me that this was so deeply embedded in my psyche. I think it is what taught me about how people progress as characters as far as like Kenneth goes. And also what a job search is like.
00:09:39
Speaker
I don't know if it's the right movie for that. But this is definitely the one that taught me what a job search is like. Yeah. Like at the very least the steps involved. Yeah. This is how I landed in the career I am in.
00:09:52
Speaker
same This movie is like directly responsible for me being like, I don't know what to do. Guess I'll get an office job. It worked for 12. Yeah. Yeah. I think I had a very similar story to you guys. I'm sure I watched this on cable. I I'm probably on HBO. I think it aired a lot originally.
00:10:12
Speaker
And I remember like, Anytime it was on, I would watch and be like, oh, yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, what would it be like if the babysitter died and I was alone all summer? I bet I would crush it.
00:10:28
Speaker
That's a perfect way to put it. is like If you see it's on, you're going to stop on it. like Every time. Just because like why wouldn't you? It's so much fun. Yeah, it's so easily watchable.
00:10:40
Speaker
You know, it's it's fantastic stuff. Well, do you guys want to hear what I found out when I researched this the context of the film? I am so curious, especially about some of the set design. Okay.
00:10:53
Speaker
Well, I got some bad news because I didn't find out anything about that. But I found out other stuff. So let's check out. Yeah.
00:11:15
Speaker
I wish I had some context About the background of the film Script director, actors on set What was going on on screen? I wanna hear some details Gossips can do all that shit Can't imagine all the time
00:11:44
Speaker
I said, don't tell mom the babysitter's dead came out June 7th, 1991. ah The director, Stephen Herrick. And you got your tagline.
00:11:55
Speaker
No rules, no curfews, no baths, no nagging, no pulse. Nice. There's also one without the no baths, because I think that might have skewed a little bit too young for what they were going for. Yeah, that makes some sense. I was just surprised to see it there.
00:12:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. it It read better without the no baths, I think. That makes it seem a little bit more in the cheaper by the dozen kind of vein rather than like the zany teen comedy kind of vein. Mm hmm.
00:12:26
Speaker
And I think you can always tell like what age group a kids movie is aimed at in that it's always like one jump lower than the main character because they're always like aspirational.
00:12:39
Speaker
So this has got to be with swell being a high school graduate. This has got to be targeted at like underclassmen and like eighth graders. Is she a high school graduate or is she 17? Yeah. She just graduated because she's going to enroll in city college in the fall.
00:12:54
Speaker
This is the summer after graduation. Okay. It's like the 17 magazine of movies where it's like, if you were that age or older, you'd be like, this is such garbage. But when you're a little bit younger, you're like, I can't wait. Oh my God. It's going to be so glamorous.
00:13:08
Speaker
Uh, now, uh, Stephen Herrick was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1958. Uh,
00:13:15
Speaker
He attended the University of Texas at Austin with the hopes of playing baseball. But when he didn't make the travel squad, he realized he probably wouldn't make the majors. So he started taking film classes and he fell in love with it.
00:13:28
Speaker
After graduating in 1980, he moved out to Hollywood and started working his way up through the industry. in In 1981, he worked as a PA on the slasher parody film Saturday 14th.
00:13:45
Speaker
In 1982, he worked as an apprentice editor on the Slumber Party Massacre. yeah Classic. these These both sound like movies that you have either covered or at least watched at some point in your life.
00:14:00
Speaker
I've definitely watched. I think I own both of those. There you go. By 1983, he had worked his way up to assistant editor for films like Space Raiders and My Tutor.
00:14:17
Speaker
Space Raiders being sci-fi. My tutor, I think is about a guy having a sexy tutor. Good for him. Yeah. yeah the the dream As long as they're adults and having a nice time together, you know?
00:14:32
Speaker
Yeah. they They probably weren't. It was 1983. Yeah, it was probably problematic just based on like context. yeah so Now, in 1983, he was the assistant editor on a movie called City Limits, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie about teenage biker gangs that I'm very curious about.
00:14:52
Speaker
I'm going to write that down. Put that in the group. Your interest, check. Yeah. well Now, the other assistant editor on this was Dominic Mweir.
00:15:05
Speaker
Dominic M U I R. I Muir. Muir. That yeah feels much better coming out of my mouth than what I was saying. i'm I'm going based on new England or pronunciations of things. So take that as you will.
00:15:18
Speaker
No, I'll take it. Uh, Dominic Muir had just written an early draft of a script for a movie that we all know and love. That's right. He wrote an early draft of critters.
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah. yeah So Herrick began helping him with rewrites, and then they brought it to show films, the producers of City Limits, and they greenlit it.
00:15:41
Speaker
ah Critters was a smash hit, making $13 million dollars on his $3 million dollars budget. This success gave Herrick the opportunity to move on to bigger and better movies, specifically his next movie, which was the biggest success of his career,
00:15:59
Speaker
That's right. In 1989, he was hired to direct the smash hit Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Ah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Small world. i had no idea.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah. Now, a couple of years earlier, writing partners Neil Landau and Tara Ison wrote a script called The Real World, which was their only collaboration.
00:16:25
Speaker
and Later on, when the film came into production, MTV's The Real World was just starting to air, and the title was changed to Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. It feels like a really focus group title. Like, they really just, like, focus group the bejesus out of that title to boil it down to something.
00:16:44
Speaker
I feel like... it won through focus groups because it was so memorable and so punchy. And I think it does help the film a lot. Yeah. It puts the name on the tin. So you know what you're going to get. Yeah.
00:16:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And you can't forget it when you hear it, you can't forget it. And it tells the whole story pretty much right now. You know what I mean? Like you, you lock into what this movie is when you hear that title. And that was something that, uh,
00:17:12
Speaker
one of my professors in school like suggested when you're thinking of titles, like when you hear it, you know exactly what the movie is about. Like Titanic, you know, it's going to be about the fucking Titanic.
00:17:22
Speaker
You know what I mean? It establishes the stakes. Yeah. Like it's like apocalypse now. Yeah. Or pop star. Never stop. Never stopping.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yes. You know so much about that movie by that title. Yeah. yeah Now, ah the concept was to tell a story about kids ultimately rising to the occasion when left on their own.
00:17:46
Speaker
Also, the originally the babysitter was supposed to be nice, but they realized they made her death kind of a bummer. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it was originally supposed to be more like ah Disney and like a story, like a little bit more dramatic.
00:18:00
Speaker
You know, that the kids were like, how are we going to feed ourselves? It's like overcoming adversity rather than wacky hijinks. And they're like, no, wacky hijinks is just more fun. Yeah. Yeah. And the writers were against that for a while, but obviously once it became the only thing that they ever did in their careers, they, they got more.
00:18:20
Speaker
I I've turned around on this cult classic that I accidentally created against my own, you know, better judgment. Yeah, these royalty checks are the only ones I'm getting. As far as I care, this thing's perfect. Now, in any case, the script then gets optioned by 20th Century Fox and shelved for a few years.
00:18:38
Speaker
Then picked up by a company called Outlaw Productions in 1989, and they brought on Stephen Herrick to direct. They also began assembling a cast.
00:18:49
Speaker
ah Most importantly, they had to find the right gal for the lead role of sue Ellen, a.k.a. Swell. Our plucky hero. Yes. Landau and Neeson wrote the script with Justine Bateman in mind.
00:19:03
Speaker
But by the time the film went into production, she had sort of aged out of the role. I had initially read that ah Jennifer Love Hewitt was also considered, but upon further research...
Cult Classic Status and 1991 Comparison
00:19:15
Speaker
I found out that she was actually considered for the role of Melissa, the younger sister, which would make more sense because she would have been 12 years old. this yeah just And I think she was um contractually obligated ah to Disney under the Kids Incorporated banner at that time in the Jennifer Love Hewitt extended universe lifespan.
00:19:35
Speaker
Yes. Now, she was she on Party of Five? Yes. I'm pretty sure. Similar premise. Yeah, she was Bailey's girlfriend a bunch of episodes.
00:19:48
Speaker
And she had a spinoff of Party of Five. Sorry, I could go on about the Jennifer Love Hewitt expanded, you know. I'm just happy she's working, you know. I'm always happy to see for her when she's like, get that check, girl, you know.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, no beef with Jennifer Love Hewitt on my book. Now, their next and final choice was ah Christina Applegate, who at that point was famous throughout the nation for her role as Kelly Bundy on Married with Children.
00:20:19
Speaker
The producers were excited to get a teen comedy and, if we're being honest, sexual icon. And Applegate was excited to do some acting that would require more than wearing a tube top and a miniskirt.
00:20:33
Speaker
A really fun thing about her wardrobe throughout this movie is how... covered she is, frankly. Like, it's it's not form-fitting. It's such a departure from, you know, the expectation of her at the time.
00:20:46
Speaker
And it fits so well in, like, both the movie and the time and the setting she's in. but and it wasn't until you mentioned that did it really hit me that, like, her, you know, having a break of, like, just wearing cool, baggy, early 90s, late 80s clothes, that must have been fun for her, like, in and of itself among, like, how fun the movie is.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think the only time when she has any sort of va va va voom is the, uh, the black halter dress at the final scene. oh yeah. Which was just a fantastic dress. She looks seven fantastic. Oh my God. Yeah.
00:21:20
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, but all of her looks in this. Yeah. the The costume designers in this really slam dunked it for, I want to say all the costumes are great, but obviously hers as your lead it gal, like, Oh yeah. Look at her and you think she was genuinely cool.
00:21:35
Speaker
Now, despite her young age, Applegate was apparently a consummate professional on set. And the actors playing the kids all became very close over the two and a half month shoot. They're all still in touch except for the kid who played Zach who passed away due to a drug overdose in his 20s, unfortunately. Oh, wow. More baby.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, R.I.P. Now, unfortunately, the professionalism and good vibes did not lead to widespread box office success.
00:22:06
Speaker
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead only pulled in $25 million at the box office. It did find an audience on cable and VHS, though, and was such a touchstone that it was remade for BET Plus just last year.
00:22:22
Speaker
More information on that, listeners. Later, get excited. I'm excited hear. Yeah. It's going to be interesting. Yeah, it was but it was an interesting watch. Anyway, other comedies of 1991, just to put a thing in its place.
00:22:39
Speaker
You also had that year, The Addams Family. Classic. That is a classic. I will. That's one of the very few movies where I'll argue that the sequel is better. That's fair. You could be. That is a fair choice.
00:22:52
Speaker
But it's still a good movie. Not to, you know. Not to smirch. Yeah. If, if Adam's family values didn't come along, everyone would still be talking about the Adam's family. Absolutely.
00:23:03
Speaker
What about Bob? Love that movie. As a new Englander who has spent time at Lake Winnipesaukee. Like, yeah, that's those people. I went to Lake Winnipesaukee and all, I was just like, I just want to see Bill Murray attached to Anyway, we should talk about the actual movie that we're talking about. I'm just going mention my dad grew up on Lake Winnipesaukee.
00:23:26
Speaker
Oh, good. It's beautiful up there. Beautiful part of the world. Yeah. Yeah. Cold winters, though. Sure. Yes. had Father of the Bride. That's another kind of a classic. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of good comedies this year. City Slickers.
00:23:41
Speaker
yeah That's a solid one. Hot Shots. Okay. Very funny. Okay. King Ralph. Yeah, we recently re-watched it, and it was still very funny. I tried to get someone to watch King Ralph with me, and it was decided that we would watch something else, but I want to revisit King Ralph.
00:24:00
Speaker
We re-watched King Ralph a year or two ago, and yeah, obviously you got John Goodman up in the mix. You're not going to complain. yeah Oh, yeah. I thought it was great. I had never seen it before. and Okay. Yeah.
00:24:11
Speaker
ah If Looks Could Kill starring Richard
Plot and Character Analysis
00:24:15
Speaker
Grieco. I have absolutely no recollection of this. I can see the cover of the tape from the video store.
00:24:23
Speaker
It's him sitting on the hood of a Ferrari. It just popped up in my head like an image of him standing there. Yes. He's a kid that goes to Europe on a class trip and then gets ah confused for a spy and has to pretend to be a spy. But he's like the coolest kid in school.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah. He has all his cool kid powers to get him through the spy mission. It's awesome. i love And that's all it takes. Yeah. You just got to be cool. Yeah. Hey, Christmas goes a long way these days.
00:24:56
Speaker
And the other sort of teen comedies that were out of the time you got, or teen and kid, let's say. ah Problem Child 2, House Party 2, and possibly the closest to this, Big Girls Don't Cry, They Get Even.
00:25:13
Speaker
oh Oh, I love that one. That's an obscure one, but the ones that I don't think they're love it. That's another like Comedy Central weekend afternoon one where you'd you'd catch it and you'd just be like, yeah, i'm watching this.
00:25:29
Speaker
Well, with that, do you guys want to talk about the plot of Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead? Oh, yes. we Yes, please. All right. Here we go
00:25:57
Speaker
Plot bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the plot summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:26:10
Speaker
Plot bumper, plot bumper.
00:26:23
Speaker
So we open with some nice animated credits showing a mean old babysitter yelling. The voice of that babysitter, Dan Castaneda, Homer Simpson himself.
00:26:35
Speaker
The animation is so of that moment, too. It's like late 80s, early 90s. Everything has to have an animated component because that's the in thing in this moment.
00:26:46
Speaker
It reminded me of that, like, ah there was like a dog cartoon that was real scary, like a dog cartoon show that was on primetime TV. Courage the Cowardly Dog. there's A little older than that, I think, actually. i don't think it was, it didn't last for very long. i just remember it was like it just terrified me as a child. And that's what it made me think of. But I feel like that animation style was big at the time.
00:27:10
Speaker
Listeners, if you know Greg's scary dog show, please write in to favoritebadmoviepod at gmail.com. God, I hope that's the right email address.
00:27:23
Speaker
We then meet our hero, Sue Ellen, a.k.a. Swell. She's out there thrift store shopping with her friends looking for cool vintage gear. So relatable. So cool. So 90s.
00:27:36
Speaker
yeah Her friends are all off to Spain for the summer. ah But Swell needs to stick around because her mom is going to Australia. And Swell believes that she'll have to watch her four siblings, Kenny, Zach, Melissa, and Walter.
00:27:50
Speaker
So basically, Kenny's a stoner. Zach is ah like a 13-year-old lover boy. Melissa I'm going to say, like 12 and a tomboy.
00:28:02
Speaker
And ah Walter is maybe 11 or 10 and loves game shows. Those are their things. How do you guys feel about these kids? They do lampshade the mom being able to go to Australia, but Swell not being able to go to Europe with like, oh, her boyfriend's paying for Australia.
00:28:20
Speaker
hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah, it intobi plays. It all checks out. listeners I mean, truthfully, the first couple of scenes when they're going through the house and introducing the kids, I'm just noticing how disgusting the house is.
00:28:32
Speaker
Yeah. They got like stacks of newspaper on the stairs. That's a bad sign when you see that on hoarders. Yeah. Yeah. Like the counters are covered in stuff. And I'm like, I understand it's five kids. It's a single mom. Don't be judgmental. But like in the back of my mind is like, damn.
00:28:50
Speaker
oof No, you got to get these kids to do some damn chores, lady. That's a little bit on you. Five children and a dog. And a dog. Oh, God. that an as reeks All the dirty dishes in the sink, probably covered in bugs.
00:29:05
Speaker
yeah Anyway, it turns out that mom doesn't think Swell is up to the task of caring for four children and tells her that at the very last minute. And she tells her that she's actually hired babysitter.
00:29:18
Speaker
And speak of the devil, right then, the babysitter appears, pulling up in a big old black Buick. It's Mrs. Sturrock. She is one million years old. And at first, she seems very nice. But then when mom leaves, it's all business. We got a Twilight Zone theme to introduce her. and We got that weird rack focus where it looks like something's zooming in and zooming out and everything changes all of a sudden. Love that.
00:29:45
Speaker
classic uh spielberg uh what do they call that uh uh truck zoom something like that hitchcock thatrued not something or other i could text somebody but it's yeah we all know what we need yeah yeah yeah jaws the shot of brody on the beach dollies that's it thank you my dove and So mom gives the kids goodbye and hops in the airport shuttle.
00:30:13
Speaker
And Mrs. Sturrock gets out a gym whistle and starts barking orders at the kids. And she's mean to the dog, which immediately tells you she's a bad person and she deserves whatever she gets. Elvis is precious snowflake. And how you could ever be mean to him, I'm sure I don't know.
00:30:28
Speaker
What is that? A ah corgi? yeah Oh, yes. Yeah. i He's a very cute little corgi. And ah let's see. Lover boy Zach gets his date ruined.
00:30:41
Speaker
ah Tomboy Melissa is force femmed into girl clothes. And ah TV addict Walter is told to go read the encyclopedia in his room because he has to write a report about aardvarks.
00:30:54
Speaker
She also says TV rats your brains, which is a phrase that has been burned into my memory. Not that anyone said it to me Just for some reason ah just like her pronounce Her delivery is so good It's indelible They must have used that in all of the commercials And all of the trailers I'm pretty sure they did Yeah, it's such a good moment. And yeah, her voice is just so gravelly and old and mean.
00:31:23
Speaker
And like her eyes are like pale yellow. She has like 45 seconds to sell us wanting her to die and she crushes it she really does. I mean, I will say that it is fair for her not to let the 17 year old smoke.
00:31:40
Speaker
Yeah. yeah It is strange that it's arguably fair to not let the 13, 14 year old neck in a car.
00:31:51
Speaker
Admittedly, his his his ah his whole thing is really bizarre. He's going to get somebody pregnant before high school. And he's going to romanticize the hell out of it. And it will involve money. It will involve a lot of cash.
00:32:10
Speaker
He's also a thief, right? No, no. The littlest brother is the thief. They're both kind of thievey. They all spend the time. I thought in the very beginning he was the one that took and then the little brother saw it and was like, okay, I'm going to do that too.
00:32:25
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. He did start it. He's, of the five, he's the shithead. yeah If we have to... If we have to say, I don't blame him yet. He's not to the point where he can be blamed for things. You know what I mean?
00:32:40
Speaker
Someone needs to put a stop to some of his behavior if it needs to be put a stop to. I'm not going to say that that's on him. He's eight or whatever. I think you guys are being cruel to Zach. I think he's a romantic. He reminds me of me.
00:32:53
Speaker
He's a little lover boy. Yeah. He's in love with love. There's nothing wrong with that. Now, ah these kids, this is more than enough for them to unionize.
00:33:05
Speaker
That's literally always the answer. Always the answer. Anything goes wrong in your life, unionize. yeah Yep. Yep. 100%. Guy cheats on you, unionize with the other woman.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yes. Now ah they go to Sturak's room, but unfortunately Sturak just went into Kenny's room and saw how it was all full of like ah weed posters and unfortunately a Confederate flag.
00:33:34
Speaker
And it freaked her out so much that she had a heart attack and died.
00:33:41
Speaker
i I like to think that she was so horrified by not the drug paraphernalia, not the heavy metal babes and all the satanic imagery. It's really like Dungeons and Dragons posters and stuff. She was like, nope, the Confederate flag is too far. And that is what has killed me.
00:33:55
Speaker
My daddy died for the union. That's how old she was, folks. That's how old she was, folks. Now, ah the kids ah all agree that they don't want mom to come home.
00:34:09
Speaker
They're like, she really needs this vacation. yeah she'll be And if she came home, she'd be so mad. yeah So they all agree. Let us not tell mother the babysitter has died.
00:34:22
Speaker
So they stuff her corp inside a steamer trunk and they leave it on the front steps of a funeral home with a no with a note reading, nice old lady inside died of natural causes.
00:34:35
Speaker
This is totally normal and fine. You can do this, definitely. Yeah. Nobody will ever ask a follow-up question. No, no, no, no. I mean, I walk out, if I'm working in a mortuary and I walk out and I see a dead person in a box, I think, well, this is what we do.
00:34:50
Speaker
Well, let's say the cops do come out. What are they going to do? This is the perfect crime. You could be right. You know, they'll bring her back to the, what do you call it? The autopsy place? Autopsy location?
00:35:03
Speaker
Yeah. Mortuary? autopsy yeah Well, there's no. The medical examiner. erg Morgue. The morgue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. the the yeah they get her on the table they cut her open oh she did die of natural causes the note and checks out that's right there's still like a problem with messing with a dead body and like those those are crimes when you do stuff like that there's there's still problems but this is a light-hearted and teenage farce yeah so maybe we'll just gloss over those yeah
00:35:34
Speaker
Instead, they have an entirely different complication. And that complication is they cannot find the money that mom left for Mrs. Derrick to provide a summer's worth of groceries. They assume that it was on her person when they stuffed her into the trunk.
00:35:48
Speaker
After ransacking her room and then just leaving it like that. And this is just a lesson to everybody. If you've got a corpse on you, you want to check the pockets. loot the bodies you are yes exactly you gotta to loot the bodies of video games have taught us anything there could be a hairpin in there there could be a hairpin in there might have five gold you never know buttons o this would actually match my cardigan that lost a button now uh they're gonna have to fend for themselves
00:36:22
Speaker
ah Kenny is technically old enough to go to work, but one of them has to stay home with kids and he doesn't want to go to work. So he and Swell flip a pizza box to see who's going to be the breadwinner.
00:36:34
Speaker
It's also really good product placement. We'll just flip this Celeste pizza box. Mama Celeste face up. And indeed it does land Mama Celeste face up, which means Swell is off to find her first job.
00:36:50
Speaker
first job is working at a fast food joint called clown dog and the only thing that she likes there is a cute boy named brian what did you guys think of brian little baby josh charles yes i liked him i had i was like i've seen this guy before where have i seen this guy before his which only makes sense o i know him from sports night That is a such a random pull for his off wear of work.
00:37:23
Speaker
Fair enough. So I know him from Threesome. Do you guys remember that 90s classic? I think yes. Was that the one that had Bizarre Love Triangle in it? Yes. And with a Baldwin. brother had the soundtrack to that. There was a Baldwin and I think Laura Flynn Boyle and then Josh Charles are in a polyamorous love triangle at college.
00:37:45
Speaker
Okay. yeah Yes. Complicated. I know. That is wild for like 90s television. That's a swing. No, it's movie. It's a wild transition to go from the clown dog boyfriend in five years into that role.
00:38:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And he does still look very boyish here. Maybe maybe it's the butt cut, but he does like a 17-year-old. he does look like a seventeen year old i buy him.
00:38:11
Speaker
Yeah. And it's funny. I rewatched this last night for this record. And anybody who knows me knows that I'm obsessed with weird cult stuff. And this is actually the first time I picked up the Dianetics joke that swell throws out at the the manager. mr oh yeah He's just like, he's so cheerful. And he, she's just like, what'd she say? I actually wrote it down. Uh,
00:38:33
Speaker
yeah did he just read dianetics or something and now i actually know that is and i was like oh swell love you she knows what's up that's also a joke for this particular context yeah it was also back when they were advertising dianetics on tv like constantly with those advertisements with the um with the the but volcano yeah And all of like the crazy stuff happening.
00:39:00
Speaker
Actually, to go for a slight digression, I remember seeing those all the time when I was a kid and asking my dad, like who's L. Ron Hubbard? I keep seeing this stuff. He's like, I don't know, some crappy sci-fi writer? That was all the context he had. And I was like, okay, i guess he's just some crappy sci-fi writer and just went on with my life.
Themes of Growth and Change
00:39:14
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that's the smart play. And it's so cute how they they trauma bond at this crappy, crappy job yeah of fat bats and corn things and yeah and brian seems more resigned to his fate he knows that he's going to college in the summer or in the fall so he's like this is just for another couple months so he's not sweating it too much but swell is pretty uh unhappy so brian suggests that she quit clown dog and find a job that she'll like better and so she does
00:39:48
Speaker
ah So we got a little job search montage with circling ads. Circling ads in the paper. That's the way to find a job. You go to the print paper.
00:40:01
Speaker
Yeah. And then you type up your resume on a typewriter. I did my first resume on a word processor. There you go. That's not a program. That's a whole machine just processing those words.
00:40:15
Speaker
It was such a wild... time warp to see that scene. I'm like looking at Victoria's face and I can see the recognition of just like, yep, I remember doing that. I remember faking my fucking resume to get the job. and In fairness, I'm still faking my fucking resume to get the job, but not on a word processor.
00:40:37
Speaker
Yeah. And it was such a ah visceral of like, oh, this is where that came from. This is like where I realized like, oh, if all things go wrong, her line literally like ah why Why can't I just work in a nice clean office?
00:40:52
Speaker
Why can't I just go, okay, let me go find a job in a nice clean office. That sounds pretty good. I can do that. Seems better than slinging coffees. not No disrespect to slinging coffees, but you grow of things. Yeah.
00:41:04
Speaker
bro out of things yeah And she, we also get a great little ah different outfits montage, different like ah interview outfits montage. There's a lot of fun montages in this movie. If you're a fan of montage, definitely check out Don't Tell Mom the Babies.
00:41:23
Speaker
There are so many fun montages in this movie. And I love, this is like the professional transition montage. Yes. And she gets her first job interview at a clothing company called G.A.W.,
00:41:37
Speaker
She gets waylaid by a very mean receptionist named Carolyn before running into a very nice executive named Rose. Swell tells Rose that she's here to apply for the receptionist job, which is going to be vacant once Carolyn gets promoted being Rose's assistant.
00:41:54
Speaker
But Rose hires Swell to be her assistant instead, leapfrogging Carolyn. Office politics, am I right? my I love the insult that she throws out of like, carol oh yeah, the one who talks like she's chewing her own face.
00:42:07
Speaker
Oh, Swell, you beautiful, beautiful angel. I love you. Also, the fact that like she goes in there and the person is like, you take that to personnel downstairs. And then she leaves and then Swell's first response is, maybe I could get in if I talk to this person instead. Is a great and valuable lesson in a job search, by the way. yeah And it's like Rose came right up to her. She's like, I'm to be receptive.
00:42:33
Speaker
I'm going to just answer this woman's questions and roll with this whole thing. hang me up Yep, yep, yep. As you go through, you know, this movie is extremely good at signaling immediately who sucks. Yes. Yes. Very good at that.
00:42:46
Speaker
Not a lot of surprise twists in character. No. Now, Rose immediately shows swell around the office and also introduces her skeezy coworker slash friend with benefits, Gus.
00:43:01
Speaker
Another one where like A single glance they do a shot on Gus And he like raises his eyebrow a little bit At her and you're just like oh yeah this guy sucks Yeah yeah Very easy to read.
00:43:12
Speaker
Very easy to follow. Very watchable movie. Now, she also tells Swell her most important rule, which is whenever Rose asks Swell anything in front of anyone else, Swell needs to respond.
00:43:30
Speaker
I'm right on top of that, Rose. That is. Which know is like a mantra. It's the rallying cry. of like admit like When I'm having a weird day with work and I just don't know how to deal with my boss, I've got like four of them that can tell me to do stuff.
00:43:46
Speaker
I switch into that swell mode of just like, whatever you say, I'm right on top of that. Sure, I'm right on top. Okay, I'm right on top of that. And it works. It works. It works.
00:43:57
Speaker
Rose teaches so many important lessons throughout this movie that I didn't realize that I picked up until like rewatching it all these years later, this father further into my career where it's like, Oh, people just need to feel like you're listening to them. And she really got that in a single sentence.
00:44:16
Speaker
o Now Rose tells her that her starting salary is $37,500, which is about in today's money. Oh my God. So that's market.
00:44:29
Speaker
Yeah. That's market for an EA. Yeah. yeah Yeah. For someone on that level, that makes sense to me. Uh, to celebrate swell takes the family out to Chuck E. Cheese. Uh, but unfortunately a trio of drag Queens steal the late Mrs. Sturax Buick.
00:44:46
Speaker
So they need to find a ride home. Yeah. So the first time I saw this movie and when I was a kid, I didn't really know what a drag queen was. Like I knew what they were. But only like vaguely.
00:44:57
Speaker
So in this scene, I thought they just knew a person named Liza who stole their car and then it would eventually come back around. That's hilarious. it's It's like those dumb kid things where you just like, you just roll with it. I'm just like, how do they know this Liza person? She must be coming back. and And now I'm an adult. I like, yeah, obviously Liza Minnelli, drag queens. They're going to steal the classic Buick. This all makes perfect sense.
00:45:20
Speaker
The kid is like, who's this Liza lady? But it's also, that's a great example of how like some jokes can go over your head when you're a kid and it's fine. You just keep watching the movie and you don't. And it was still a funny scene when I was a kid of just like these, these very, you know, elaborately done up ladies are stealing this very elaborate car. What a funny like visual thing to have happen.
00:45:40
Speaker
Yeah. What, what glamorous car thieves they have. It feels like they wrote that entire scene, not just to force the clown dog, but simply so Kenny could yell those Queens stole our car because the way they zoom in on him for that line. I'm like, you guys are giving that line way more weight than it merits.
00:45:59
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. They were like, maybe we need to really sell it. If we hit it hard enough, it'll work. ah So they do, as you said, end up needing to call Brian for a ride home, who drives them all home in the clown dog delivery truck.
00:46:17
Speaker
I love. i Yeah, he's so confident in his clown dog truck. Yeah, he he might as well be on like a white horse by the vibe that he's giving off in this moment of just like, I am here to help you.
00:46:32
Speaker
Well, let me tell you, there's no better feeling than showing up to a hot girl's rescue. Do you know what I mean? Maybe. Hell yeah. ah Now,
00:46:47
Speaker
ah that da da da da she drives them all home and then asks Swell if she'll meet up with him to watch the grunion run. Normal. Very normal.
00:46:58
Speaker
We find out what that is later. The next day, Swell starts at her new job. Rose introduces her to Franklin, the head designer, who's played by Sidney Lazzik, the mechanic from Cool as Ice.
00:47:13
Speaker
Small world. Yeah. Also, again. Okay. That's what he was so familiar. Oh, my God. And I saw him in the film Sunny Boy, which is very, very bizarre. And again, I'm not suggesting anyone watch that film.
00:47:29
Speaker
God, that that's the best way you've ever tried to sell anything. I'm literally not trying to sell you on it. I am just warning you that I am not actually suggesting that you watch it.
00:47:40
Speaker
You are slam dunking it, my friend. Now, ah Rose explains that the company is not a high-end fashion line, but rather a slowly failing industrial uniform company.
00:47:53
Speaker
ah She then gives ah Swell a shit ton of work to do, including sending a fax to the New York office. She doesn't know how to use a fax machine, ah place where I'm going to say a lot of us have been.
00:48:06
Speaker
Yeah, and still are. They're... rarely used you yeah not very often these days though yeah they're not go i had to use one at one point in my life and just being like what what good is this skill gonna be for me at this point also why am i still doing this because phone lines are more secure than email A lot of um hotels have finally started upgrading, but a lot of medical facilities still use faxes because it is the most secure.
Reflections and Ratings
00:48:35
Speaker
No, I mean, it makes sense. Yeah, but it definitely is one of those, like, if you didn't need to do it specifically for your job, why would you know how to do it? And I'm going to say the situation in which I used the fax machine, we definitely could have used email.
00:48:49
Speaker
yeah yeah The important thing to remember about a fax machine is that you can ignore about three quarters of the buttons. Yeah. You're never going to use those. And don't pick up the phone. It's useless.
00:49:01
Speaker
Yeah. Skip everything, but dialing the number and pressing start, and you're going to be good. And I love how she takes the fax to Carolyn at the front desk and she's just like, this isn't my job.
00:49:13
Speaker
And then she just kind of goes over and wanders the fax machine. But in that moment, I'm like, Carolyn, this is why you're never going to advance in this company. You're not a bro to your to your fellow admins. Like you're not helpful. You're not collaborative.
00:49:24
Speaker
i you know I don't love doing you know the legal documentation garbage for my work. But if another admin asks me for help doing it, I'm going to help them. That's just what you do.
00:49:35
Speaker
So I'm like, yeah, Carolyn, you're never getting that promotion. Everyone's going to cut her out of the knees the first chance they get. She does run into ah much more helpful office mate, Kathy.
00:49:49
Speaker
Kathy does know how to use the fax machine and swell is able to figure it out by looking over her shoulder. Another good, valuable life lesson. Yeah. of Just watch somebody else.
00:50:01
Speaker
Yeah. Kathy also knows how to do the monumental QED reports that Rose just assigned to Swell. So Swell quickly delegates that work to Kathy.
00:50:12
Speaker
Well, Kathy is in the very slow sales department, as we learned, because the company is slowing down. So Kathy's just desperate for like stuff to do. Yes, she is climbing the walls. She likes to work.
00:50:24
Speaker
And that's why when there's a round of layoffs, Kathy's going to last and Carolyn's going to get cut. I do love that the fashion they do is like work uniforms because it's also an aspect of like work. We don't like, there's so many jobs you see where it's just like, I'm in fashion for ah uniform maker. Like it's a very real world job.
00:50:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Like, I think I have a cousin last I heard who designs children's underwear for target. There you go. Which sounds really fun, but is not like what you think of when you think of a fashion designer.
00:51:01
Speaker
Yeah. for For every haute couture type of person, there's like a thousand or ten thousand people who are like, i design t-shirts. Yes. T-shirts. Shirts shaped like T's. That's what I do.
00:51:15
Speaker
Here's our spring colors. Yeah. Okay. I gotta i gotta to get back on that. Okay, here we go. Back at her desk, Swell meets her new co-worker, Bruce, played by a fresh-faced David Duchovny.
00:51:27
Speaker
ah Bruce stops by for some numbers on the Bob's Big Boy account. Swell tells him to buzz off, and Bruce becomes Swell's second office enemy. Another amazing introduction of, like, this greasy baby David Duchovny motherfucker. Just three seconds, you're like, we can't trust him.
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah. There aren't a lot of likable men in this movie. No. And now ah back at home, Walter is enjoying his favorite pastime daytime game shows, but Kenny snags the remote to channel surf, but he stops for a moment when he sees Julia child making a cake and he gets excited because he has the munchies.
00:52:07
Speaker
But he will, this begins his cooking journey every now and then we'll see Kenny doing something in the kitchen and slowly getting better as the film progresses as his like E plot to the rest of the film.
00:52:18
Speaker
It's fun seeing the waffles improve throughout the course of the movie. Yes. Yes. And I like that his friends are into him doing these things. Yeah. Like instead of being and being like, if you and you cook it, it's just like, you make us, you make us.
00:52:36
Speaker
Can I was a 17 year old stoner? I'd have given anything for a friend who would make me Belgian waffles from scratch. right Yeah. Especially when he's trying like different bespoke recipes. Like there was like a hazelnut one. Like, yeah, dude, let's go.
00:52:53
Speaker
Now, the next day, Rose wants to treat Swell to some shrimp for lunch, ah but tells her to take the money out of the office's petty cash. Yes, another life lesson.
00:53:04
Speaker
Yeah. For those who are not familiar, it is a small lockbox full of money that Swell will be in charge of, but it will be audited by accounting, so she needs to keep receipts.
00:53:16
Speaker
Sadly, all electronic nowadays. Yeah, now it's all on credit cards. You got to get it approved in advance.
00:53:24
Speaker
So Swell pockets some of the cash to tide her over because she doesn't get paid for another two weeks. And the family needs groceries. Is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread?
00:53:37
Speaker
i ask you. Mm hmm. She has time for a quick bubble bath after picking up the groceries before yelling at Kenny and his stoner friends for getting the dog high.
00:53:48
Speaker
And then she i has to go hang out on her grunion date with Brian.
00:53:57
Speaker
Very normal. Yeah. Kenny... has the one line that has stuck with me my entire life from this movie in the next scene. When, ah in order to, ah placate Sue Ellen, he does the dishes, but he does them by having his friends throw them like skeet and he shoots them with a big gun.
00:54:20
Speaker
And then he says, dishes are done, man, which has anytime I finish washing the dishes, I say that quietly to myself, just reflexively.
00:54:33
Speaker
yeah
00:54:35
Speaker
Yeah. 34 years later. and Dishes are done, man. This movie really shaped us, I feel like. Yeah. I think we're now realizing the effect of the fact that it got played so often when it was in rotation that we've probably seen each of us movie at least 10 times. Only more.
00:54:55
Speaker
I've seen it way more than 10 times. I'm not going to lie to you. we didn't We didn't have cable. I remember all of this stuff from seeing it like two times. Okay. Maybe one and a half. Like, this stuff sinks in.
00:55:08
Speaker
Dishes are Done was also in the advertisement or the trailer. In the trailer. Yeah, definitely. Now, ah the grunion run date goes good. A grunion run is a bunch of small fish going out onto the beach to spawn.
00:55:23
Speaker
And ah Brian is interested in this because he's an aspiring oceanographer. Sure. Classic 90s. Yeah. everybody I remember even as a child being like, man, everybody wants to be a marine biologist for some reason. Lisa Frank and those dolphins.
00:55:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. and like And like the lingering legacy of Jacques Cousteau and a very small Ben Affleck on the voyage of the Mimi.
00:55:52
Speaker
Anyone else familiar with that one? no The title, but nothing else. It was for... Deep Sea Voyager DSV with Jonathan Brandes.
00:56:04
Speaker
I do you remember Jonathan Brandes and the dolphin that could talk. what Could it talk? I couldn't remember. It did something fun. yeah yeah It could It could communicate. I don't know if it spoke English, but it definitely was telling people other things. need to track those down. I should watch that show.
00:56:20
Speaker
You should. You should. Now, ah let's see. Where was I? There we go. Brian and Swell make out while ankle deep in a spawning ocean of fish.
00:56:32
Speaker
The next day, sleazy Gus invites Swell out to lunch and tells her that he and Rose are not exclusive. She tries to get him to buzz off, but he isn't picking up on what she's putting down.
00:56:46
Speaker
That night, she has another date with Brian, this one at the Walmart, where they goof around on some bounce hoppers. That's such a fun little date. I do like how their dates are very like age and kind of income appropriate.
00:56:59
Speaker
yeah as She's having all of this adult responsibility and taking care of the the house or trying to and trying to have this adult job. All of her interactions with her cute boy Brian, that's the name. He has a name.
00:57:12
Speaker
um Yeah, you know, they go do the cheap or free, you know, grunion run date to do something cute and spend time together. They have like the cute free day in little store and he convinces her that like, no, you can just do the fun thing. And then she does the fun thing. And I think it's it's such a good balance for the movie and for the the characters to have those little outlets of like youth and being silly.
00:57:36
Speaker
And I feel like this became a trope in sort of nineties teen comedies of the montage of the young lovers goofing around in the toy aisle of a big box store.
00:57:48
Speaker
Yeah. I feel like it happened to other places. Oh, definitely. And I think my favorite take on it brings it outside of that. And 10 things I hate about you. They have a Heath Ledger and Julia styles do like a paintball water balloon kind of fight. And I think that's like, no, that's that.
00:58:04
Speaker
That montage. Yeah, that's that's what it makes me think of is like the goofy, lighthearted moments, but still true and honest to the character of like, you see Swell cringing and when they get caught, she's just like, oh my God, I can't believe I did this. But while she's doing it, you see like, oh, she can kind of let go of the work stuff and just like be 17 and be a goofball for a second. Yeah, this was the summer that she imagined having to be goofing around with a cute boy and maybe getting to second, you know?
00:58:33
Speaker
two Mm hmm. Now, but instead of getting to second, when he drops her off, they end up getting into a fight about swell being so evasive about her job. At this point, she has realized that Carolyn is Brian's sister.
00:58:48
Speaker
And so she's trying to both make sure that Brian doesn't find out that she's the gal that Carolyn's been complaining about. And also to find out that Carolyn And also to make sure that Carolyn doesn't find out that she's only 17. Yeah.
00:59:02
Speaker
yeah So, ah you know, she's being evasive for a lot of reasons. But what did you guys think about this fight? I feel like she could have talked to Brian about it.
00:59:13
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I agree with you. they They got to have some kind of falling out. You know what I mean? And this is a fair enough one. And I feel like for a person of her age and in her position, i probably just would have been like, I got i got get in the house and then just get out of there, you know? So it makes some sense. Yeah, that's true. It is believable at least.
00:59:34
Speaker
And it's one of those, like, again, like a very believable 17 year old kind of like, yeah Like it's just a recursive argument. A 17 year old hasn't walked their way into an office job at their boyfriend's sister's place. It's more like the, like, why won't you up ah open up to me? It's like, well, it's because you keep like trying to drag stuff out of me. it's like, well, I wouldn't drag stuff out of you if you would just open up to me. It's like, well, i'm not going to open up to you. If just keep trying to like drag. so And it just, it's that very like teenage, like, yeah.
01:00:06
Speaker
your, your sides are not going to come to an agreement. Kind of like you, you both kind of have a point. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. Now, uh, the next morning swell still upset from this fight. Probably, uh, yells at everybody some more about the house, basically going to shit.
01:00:24
Speaker
It looks even worse than it did at the start of the movie. Yeah. It's very bad. Some very bad shit. At work. She has to deal with more sexual harassment from Gus and more scheming from Carolyn and Bruce. Um,
01:00:36
Speaker
ah Back at home, the kids have boosted all the petty cash from Swell's purse and spent it frivolously. Walter specifically bought a whole new home entertainment system.
01:00:48
Speaker
Whereas, obviously, Zach did the classy thing and bought his girlfriend a diamond. Because he's a good guy. He's a romantic. Yeah. I mean, if I saw my 13-year-old daughter come home with a diamond, I'd think...
01:01:02
Speaker
That guy's good. i like that kid. Definitely. that's i would I would be like, we are going back to that child's house. You are returning that ring and we are not having this happen. and oh yeah. It's just a chip. I would start looking really suspiciously at all of her teachers.
01:01:19
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, my God. Oh, God. i hadn't even thought about that. hadn't even thought about that. All right. Now, Kenny is supposed to be watching young Walter, but he's too stoned to notice when Walter goes up to the roof to adjust the antenna for his new entertainment system.
01:01:37
Speaker
ah He promptly falls off the roof and breaks his leg. Back at the office, Swell gets her first paycheck, and that's how she learns about income tax.
01:01:49
Speaker
and Another valuable life. Absolutely. She should have learned about it in high school, though. And yeah there's also that that with ah Brian is there talking to his sister and she has to like figure out how to like avoid the situation. And she ends up ducking into Gus's office. And my first response to that was like, wow, Gus's office is right off reception.
01:02:13
Speaker
That's such a shitty office location. Everybody at that company must know he sucks. Yeah, probably. I think they do. I think they're just like, no, you can have that crappy office. That's loud where everybody walks by it all the time. And there's phones ringing constantly. Yeah.
01:02:28
Speaker
Let's just give that one to go. And I think also he was in sales. So he's probably out of the office a lot. So he's like, yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm going to be out, you know, glad handing the customer. When he took class well out for that lunch, the note I made was like, never go with a businessman to a second location.
01:02:44
Speaker
No, no, especially not alone. Jesus. Now, ah let's see. that the dot the top Then after that, she finds out about Walter.
01:02:56
Speaker
oh When she gets home, gets Walter out of the hospital. ah She finds out about the kids spending roughly $3,000 in petty cash on dumb shit, which will take her all summer to pay back.
01:03:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's about $7,000 today money. And what they get? and They got the diamond, the entertainment center on sale. So they couldn't return it. They're good at lampshading this, like things in this movie. They're really good at like calling out why you wouldn't do the obvious thing. Yeah. um And Melissa for Elvis.
01:03:29
Speaker
Yes. Melissa made sure to get a really good rawhide bone for Elvis. Yes. He deserved it. Yeah. And they're very expensive. It's true. That was one of the big ones. Uh, Now, the kids all agree that none of them want to go to jail for embezzling.
01:03:47
Speaker
And so they'll all step up to the plate and they'll start acting more responsibly. Now, at the office, the bad news keeps coming. It turns out that Rose couldn't close a school uniform account.
01:04:01
Speaker
And now the whole business is going to shut down. But Swell has a great idea that just might save the company. Funky, fresh, new uniforms for a new generation.
01:04:15
Speaker
yeah Rose loves this idea. Swell even convinces her to let her throw the launch party at her house. That way she can hide all of that embarrassing embezzlement that she's been doing.
01:04:28
Speaker
It's a great idea. Kudos to Swell on this. She made it work. Another valuable life lesson. We get another fun montage this time. It's the house sprucing up montage where even ah Kenny, soon to be Kenneth's gro ah stoner burnout friends pitch clean things up.
01:04:46
Speaker
One's hacking at a big chunk of ice for a bodacious ice sculpture as noted in the receipt. I love both the receipt in the act that this guy is the one being like, I'm going to do the ice sculpture. It's like, I'd love to see the ice sculpture afterward. Well, they did show it. It was a big electric guitar.
01:05:04
Speaker
And it fucking rules. Now, I'm sure it's very good, but I just like that everyone, everyone in this movie is like, yeah, sure. I can bake a cake and do fabulous. They add it. It's just like, everybody's just really on top of everything. in Good work. yeah It's like a fucking rager, but with like cleaning the house.
01:05:21
Speaker
so So a reverse rager? Yeah. But it's also like we need to save the old ah civic center. Or not civic center. we need the The teen center? the community center. Yeah. The community center. yeah Best damn breakdance off this town's ever seen.
01:05:37
Speaker
Yeah. That's right. Now, so the kids are all on board. Like we said, they're all doing different cleaning things. And Kenny teaches himself how to cook even better. He and Swell do have a little couple fight that's sort of like funny, like almost like they're an old married couple.
01:05:54
Speaker
And the genders are swamped. That's one of my favorite scenes in the entire movie is the exchange they have. It's a rat race and it sucks, Kenny. So what do you want? A medal?
01:06:06
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. They get you sort of vicious. Like they don't, ah they play it totally straight. Like if you had this scene where it was just a married couple, you'd be like, oh no, their marriage is falling apart. It would just be a sad scene.
01:06:18
Speaker
But it's so funny that it's just these two kids yelling at each other. It reminded me of that scene. And it's always sunny in Philadelphia where Mac and Dennis are living together in the suburbs.
01:06:30
Speaker
Okay. Yes.
01:06:34
Speaker
Now, next thing we know, it's the night of the fashion show. ah Kenny has cleaned up his look. He's cut his hair. He's combed it back. He's looking sharp. He's wearing a tucked in shirt. He's gone by going by Kenneth.
01:06:47
Speaker
He's going by Kenneth. That's his cover ID, Kenneth. here ah Swell's friends are all back and they are ready to model. ah Swell tells Rose about Gus's ah repeated workplace harassment incidents.
01:07:03
Speaker
ah But there's no time to deal with that. It's time for the fashion show. Swell introduces the models who are wearing some of the ugliest clothes I've ever seen in my life.
01:07:13
Speaker
yeah that time the at that time though that shit fucking ruled that shit was like they had that shit on oh i always thought this looked ugly as shit personally uh it looks like sort of jewel toned silks with some silk screen geometrics on it and like neon orange tights it's all very uh I didn't like it. Trapper Keeper?
01:07:43
Speaker
cuspy It's very It's a very cuspy movie in terms of the transition from the 80s to the 90s. And nowhere do I see that more than in the clothing. like Yeah. It's such... it Because we all remember, right?
01:07:56
Speaker
That transition. And and it's just here it's just so huge. You see the elements from both. And i think I think now, obviously, look at these outfits and I'm like, oh my god, my eyes, they're bleeding. But... At the time, it was a really good like transition into 90s fashion.
01:08:11
Speaker
They actually did a good job with it, which, they let's be real, they didn't have to do. Fair enough. All right. Yeah, because they they captured that, like I call it like the hair metal moment.
01:08:23
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah, especially i love the ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly pink and orange combination that the nurse Nicole is wearing. It's so, i love that dress. It's so dumb and I love it. Those types are so ugly.
01:08:38
Speaker
Those sneakers are so stupid with the late, like their high top, hot pink sneakers. And then they lace up like ballet shoes for no fucking reason. And the hat, but you see the way I'm even describing this outfit. I'm like that she's got that shit on. And then she does a body roll in it.
01:08:52
Speaker
And you're like, oh, okay. Like this may be the stupidest outfit I've ever seen, but she is wearing it That's fair. Yeah. And they they do look cohesive. It is a cohesive collection.
01:09:03
Speaker
They are all sort of based around different uniforms, but zhuzhed up in in this way. And i think um I think they're just very unpleasant to look at, and they look like ah embarrassing to wear.
01:09:18
Speaker
But other than that, it's a great fashion show. What's also weird is like, I thought it was like school uniforms for high schoolers, but it's just like, so you're a bellhop or a nurse. It's like, okay, I guess these are for a job. Yeah. think it's like general uniforms.
01:09:32
Speaker
Like if you have a hotel job, no matter what the job in the hotel is, you're going to have a uniform for it. Housekeeping has one, like like they're the different jobs will have them. And when they were going through the factories, like that's what like, oh, those are housekeeper at a hotel uniform kind of things. Like, oh, those are chef jackets for, you know,
01:09:49
Speaker
california pizza kitchen or cheesecake factory like right right right right all due respect to to both those fine establishments absolutely sure uh the crowd they love these ugly uniforms uh sure but unfortunately the presentation it keeps on getting interrupted ah First by Brian driving by in the clown dog truck and announcing his love for Swell over the public announcing system.
01:10:19
Speaker
And it's like, Brian, you can see that there's a big event happening here. what a swing. and All these cars parked in the circular driveway. You got to read the room, my dude.
01:10:32
Speaker
Once you got yourself worked up, you know, that'd be super weird. Like, I'm going to do it. going to do it. Actually, it's probably not a great time to do it. You know what I mean? You're never going to do it if you're not going to do it then. It's true. And it ended up working out in the long run for him.
01:10:45
Speaker
And I love Kenny's friends as the ah the valet guys being extremely rude to Carolyn and David Duchovny's Bruce. Yeah. yeah yeah Calling him Metallica Breath. Park it yourself, Metallica Breath.
01:10:59
Speaker
And why is that in my head? Why is that taking up real estate in my head this many years later? i don't know. Again, this movie this movie is written inside of all of us somehow. Yeah. it It almost feels kind of like when you... The last time I watched Top Gun, I felt like Top Gun had always existed, and this had just was just at being captured on film.
01:11:22
Speaker
This feels like Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead has always existed. It just was waiting for someone to film it. Yeah. yeah Now, ah the second interruption at the fashion show is mom coming home.
01:11:36
Speaker
Mom's home. da da From there, the dominoes fall pretty much as you would expect. ah The buyers at the show are all convinced that this is kayfabe and they love it.
01:11:48
Speaker
The kids promise to mom that they'll explain everything. And mom is impressed at all the growing up that they did over the summer. Especially, boy, Kenny's got a nice new haircut. That's got to be a big relief to mom.
01:11:59
Speaker
I do appreciate that they have her walk around the house and note how much cleaner it is. Yes. They really spruce the place. It looks so much better than when she left. Like it it's, I would be extremely not mad at my kid. Like it would just tamp that down so much to be like, wow, you actually like, okay, great.
01:12:20
Speaker
Whatever made this happen. Yeah. All right. i'm not I'm not all mad. I'm not 100% mad. Now, ah Kenny tells a stoner buddy that he's going to stop getting high and go work towards a career in the culinary arts, a field that certainly isn't famous for encouraging substance abuse.
01:12:39
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:43
Speaker
Swell explains to Brian that she didn't tell him the truth because of all the reasons that she didn't tell him the truth. And then mom pokes her head out of the window and said, where's the babysitter?
01:12:56
Speaker
The end. Well, there's the stinger with the mortuary workers laying flowers on her grave because ah they got her money. So to her, she will always be the nice old lady.
01:13:13
Speaker
Yes, who died of natural causes. he So, final thoughts. Five-star rating on our unique two-axes rating scale, watchability and weird.
01:13:25
Speaker
Who wants to go first?
01:13:29
Speaker
I can go. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. um I mean, this movie is not that weird if you filter out the things that come from time ah and also the like kid movie logic of it.
01:13:48
Speaker
Like, just dropping off a body is going to be... That would be a weirder moment, but in a kid's movie, it's just like, we're going to breeze past that. So I think this is probably weirdness. Probably like a one, maybe one and a half, but I'm going to go one. I don't think it's that crazy. I think it's a pretty standard, straightforward...
01:14:04
Speaker
Got a simple little plot. And as far as watchability goes, I'm going to go four and a half. I think it's pretty breezy and easy to watch this thing. um i think maybe if you weren't there at the time, it might not resonate as much, but I don't know.
01:14:21
Speaker
But I think it's a good time. If you're looking for a good time, it's a good time. Perfect. How about you, Adam? Where did you land? Oh, I'd give this, honestly, I'd give this a five for watchability.
01:14:36
Speaker
yeah but not we not particularly challenging or upsetting in any way um not particularly weird either i'd give it maybe a one and a half like the half just because just because the plot does revolve around ah death um and the death is treated you know humorously and that's always a little weird That's fair.
01:15:04
Speaker
That's fair. What about you, Stefa? So for weirdness, i I can't have any objectivity about that since it's always been. it simply is what it is. So it's like a zero for weirdness because it's like, well, that's the movie.
01:15:19
Speaker
What else do you want it to be? like That's what it is. And for rewatchability, it's like it's a five. If this movie is on, I will watch it. If this movie is available on a streaming service and I'm like idly searching around, i will watch it. i will quote it.
01:15:33
Speaker
I will apparently base my entire career on it and it worked. So thank you swell and the makers of this movie for keeping a roof over my head. baron What about you, Victoria? Yeah, I think i'm I agree with Steph on that. It's always been there. So the weird is is difficult, I think, to categorize.
01:15:51
Speaker
But I also agree with Anna about the death thing because that has always been the one thing that's been a little weird. yeah um So I go with probably a one on that. There's a couple other small things. um And then in terms of watchability, I've got to give it a five.
01:16:04
Speaker
um they The stakes are so low. You know, what's the worst that's going to happen? You're going to make a long distance phone call and your mommy's going to come home and everything's going to be okay.
01:16:15
Speaker
So yeah ultimately the stakes are really low. There's no real stress here. and And it's pretty seamless in terms of like, there's no jarring scenes that take me out. The grunion run scene is still to this date, my least favorite, most cringy scene. but it's not really that bad.
01:16:33
Speaker
So when you put it on the scale against everything else, I still have to give it a five because I can just look at my phone for the two minutes. They're standing under the pier. Fair enough. It's always good to have a little break.
01:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, I i landed at about ah one and a half in terms of weird, ah just because I do think that Mrs. Sturak was a little bit intense, ah you know, when she was alive and it was also intense that she died. ah And i think also the fashion show was very strange because they, me, they really look like clowns.
01:17:09
Speaker
And it was so strange. And especially like the rest of the fashion in the movie is really good. Everybody's looking really sharp and well-dressed in the rest of the movie. And then to be like, and here's our big fashion reveal.
01:17:24
Speaker
And it just looked so bad to me. Uh, so that, but I will obviously rank it high in terms of watchability. I gave it a four there. I thought it was fun. I thought it was breezy.
01:17:35
Speaker
You know, I think, uh, lots of great memorable characters. I think, uh, uh, Christina Applegate did a fantastic job carrying the movie. She obviously was a huge part of this movie.
01:17:47
Speaker
And I thought that she was charming and cool and like fun and relatable and sort of everything that you would want the hero of a teen movie. I think, It could have had some bigger laughs here and there. i didn't I didn't think it was like a home run in terms of a comedy, but I thought it was like a solid double or triple.
01:18:04
Speaker
You know what I mean? So that's why I'm giving it a four instead of a five. ah But overall, a great film.
2024 Remake Review
01:18:11
Speaker
In fact, it was so great that they remade Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. do you guys want to hear about the remake? Oh, God. Yes, please. am interested.
01:18:21
Speaker
yeah please. Yes, please.
01:18:41
Speaker
I saw this film, it was pretty good. What if you and me, we made it, dude? This film was pretty great, but we can make it better.
01:18:53
Speaker
This film was alright, it got good grades. The film is so great, it's getting remade. It's getting remade.
01:19:14
Speaker
So Don't Tell Mom, The Babysitter's Dead also came out in 2024. It was directed by Wade Allen Marcus. Don't know anything about him. So I just wrote down a list. I watched it. Here's everything I remember that was different about the 2024 one as opposed to the 1991. The first big difference that you can't miss is that the family is black.
01:19:39
Speaker
This comes up, ah it's more than just like a palette swap and changing the script. ah yeah They did, ah you know, integrate it into the story a little bit more.
01:19:50
Speaker
ah Specifically, when Mrs. Sturak dies, ah Kenny says that they can't call the police because he's afraid he will be tried as an adult.
01:20:01
Speaker
It also, it features a lot of contemporary sounding hip hop. To me, it sounded... like contemporary. I don't know much about contemporary hip hop, but that's what I, it sounds like to me, I guess.
01:20:14
Speaker
Um, and I feel like it was very much of the moment in the same way that the original was very 1991. You know, it wasn't trying to recreate 1991. It was trying to be 2024. And I think they have that DNA in common.
01:20:29
Speaker
ah There was also, there was a lot more weed among Kenny and his friends in this one. A lot, you would see like a lot of ground up flower on screen and Kenny was a go-to was a blueberry vape.
01:20:44
Speaker
Uh, They also condensed the two younger siblings into, or the three younger siblings into two. Instead of being, you know, a lover boy, a tomboy and a TV fanatic. It was just a goth and a nerd.
01:21:03
Speaker
Okay. and Okay. the two genders the two genders yes yeah yes the goth was the gal the nerd was the boy and who could tell that you know who could who could who knew uh the nerd he had a plot where he was befriending local crows so that was pretty fun that's good now ah instead of working at clown dog our main teen who's named tanya her middle name was sue ellen uh But instead of working at Clown Dog, she works at Road Bro, a generic Uber.
01:21:36
Speaker
Oh. Which is more contemporary and feels apt to the times, but it was less interesting visually because it was just her in a car. Sure. And ah the only customer of hers that we meet, they don't even like...
01:21:50
Speaker
take as an excuse to ever meet a bunch of different wacky customers and have some funny hijinks that way. She just meets Brian who is in this, instead of being into oceanography, he's an architecture student who wants to build affordable housing.
01:22:03
Speaker
Of course. they They're all architects after a certain point in time. And you don't even like get a fun montage of like different wacky Uber rides. Like I, yeah you gotta have fun montages if you want it be, don't tell mom, the babysitter's dad.
01:22:18
Speaker
There were montages. I will give it that. Okay, good. Thank goodness. Okay. A lot of them involved Kenny and his friends smoking weed and listening to rap, but that was fine. I wasn't complaining. and ah Now, ah the clothes at the fashion show, instead of being ah hideous, are instead ah upcycled vintage.
01:22:39
Speaker
They're like, we're not doing fast fashion anymore. We're upcycling. We're going green. And it's like, okay. I get that. That's a fun way to keep things contemporary, I guess. They did shoot it in the same house.
01:22:52
Speaker
Oh, fun. Yeah. you could I could really only tell ah when they got to the pool because their pool is very distinctive. And the inside of the house, this time, it was not ah filthy like it was in the first one.
01:23:06
Speaker
Okay. There was also a scene where they were watching Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. And it was a shot of Rose. But then later on, there was a scene where Joanna Cassidy was in the film playing someone other than Rose.
01:23:20
Speaker
So that was weird. Wild. What? If I had to choose one, she might've been playing herself. I'm not sure. If I had to choose one specific weak spot, I would say that it was Nicole Richie as Rose.
01:23:36
Speaker
um Oh, that's kind of weird because I know this is a very random thing, but Nicole Richie is very funny. she She was in the show Great News by Tracy Wigfield, who also did 30 Rock.
01:23:48
Speaker
And I was like honestly surprised by how funny she is. She has great comedic timing and she really like held her own in a role where she was mostly paired up with John Michael Higgins.
01:23:59
Speaker
So she has a skill set for this, but to hear like, Yeah, I could see this not quite stretching to the authority that Joanna Cassidy as Rose had, because Rose had such a presence.
01:24:12
Speaker
Yeah, Rose had such like a manic energy that Nicole Richie wasn't quite able to bring. And like Rose, you get the feeling like she's been in the trenches. She's seen some shit.
01:24:24
Speaker
And you never get that feeling from Nicole Richie. um And And maybe maybe it's partially the material. Maybe she wasn't getting the right direction.
01:24:35
Speaker
But whatever was, she was not slam
Anniversary Trivia Game
01:24:38
Speaker
dunking this. But she did do a better job than the person who I believe was originally supposed to play Rose, who was Tyra Banks. Oh, no. therere Sorry.
01:24:50
Speaker
No. No. No. She would have brought the wrong energy. Tyra Banks did executive produce, though. Uh, and yeah, I ended up rating it around to like a three star movie. I would say three and a half, uh, you know, but once again, if I was a black teenager, I might feel very differently.
01:25:12
Speaker
Well, that's my report. Do you guys have any questions about the 20, I would like to thank you for falling on that sword for all of us. And spending your time watching that movie because in my research I saw it and I was not willing to do so. So thank you. You are the true hero.
01:25:27
Speaker
yeah My pleasure. I'd love to go the extra mile for our listeners. Did they have the petty cash ah scenario? Was that changed? No, the petty cash was there.
01:25:39
Speaker
But i mean, like, was it a physical money or how did they operate? think it was a card. I think they just called it. a She had a corporate card. Okay. and Okay. It's crazy the types of things that you can get at jobs.
01:25:56
Speaker
And it's crazy the type of jobs that you can get in film. We're going be playing a brand new game. That's right. One year anniversary and a brand new game. That means a brand new bumper.
01:26:09
Speaker
We're going to be talking about how there's a lot of different jobs if you want to work in film.
01:26:21
Speaker
One year means one extra long
01:26:28
Speaker
We show up at the film set. Running from the mob. I'll take whatever I can get.
01:26:41
Speaker
There's so many kind of jobs. A key grip. A PA. I'll do it if it pays.
01:26:52
Speaker
A best boy. Makeup. I tell you folks, that's what's up. There's a lot of different jobs if you want to work in film.
01:27:06
Speaker
There's a lot of different jobs if you want to work in film.
01:27:21
Speaker
That's right. There's a lot of different jobs if you want to work in film. And what we're going to be doing in this game is I'm going to tell you a job description and the name of that job as it's listed in the credits of Don't Tell Moms the Babysitter's Dead.
01:27:37
Speaker
And then I'm going to read three names from those credits. And I want you to tell me the one name that had that job. So if you stuck around and you read the credits, don't steal mom, the babysitter's dead, then you're at a distinct advantage.
01:27:49
Speaker
And this is going to be a buzz in game. You'll buzz in by saying your own name. And if the first person doesn't get it, there will be an opportunity to steal. Everybody ready? All right.
01:28:01
Speaker
Yes. yeah Okay. Okay. Question number one. and We wait till you're done reading it to say. Yes, right until I've read all three names before you ring in.
01:28:12
Speaker
Question number one. They set up and break down temporary sets while the rest of the crew is off work. It's the swing gang. Was the swing gang Ted Hardwick?
01:28:26
Speaker
Ellen Freund? Or Ken Dubel III?
01:28:33
Speaker
Greg. Greg. Ken Dubel III.
01:28:39
Speaker
Now, I'm sorry. Anybody want to steal?
01:28:43
Speaker
have No idea. but Anna. Ellen Freund.
01:28:50
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It was Ted Hardwick. Ted Hardwick. And don't worry about having an idea. This is ah guessing game. Yeah. and i would I would argue that there are really no clues. No.
01:29:03
Speaker
Other than guts. No. I don't know. a feeling and inside of you. This is truly ah guessing guess. Question number two. A post-production audio engineer who mixes dialogue, sound effects, and music to create the final soundtrack, it's the re-recording mixer.
01:29:22
Speaker
Was the re-recording mixer Margie O'Malley Warren Paif Or Leslie Schatz?
01:29:33
Speaker
ah Greg. Greg. Warren Paif.
01:29:39
Speaker
No, it wasn't Warren Paif. Victoria. Victoria? Leslie... Did you say Schatz?
01:29:48
Speaker
I did say Leslie Schatz. Victoria's on the board. Yes. Question number three. a production assistant that will work closely with the director and have 20% of their salary covered by the director's guild.
01:30:04
Speaker
It's the DGA trainee. the DGA trainee Zia EM Pietro, Bradley M. Gross.
01:30:15
Speaker
Am he? Or Patricia Clawan.
01:30:21
Speaker
Greg, Greg, Bradley M. Gross.
01:30:27
Speaker
I'll tell you what, he am not the DGA trainee. All right.
01:30:35
Speaker
Anybody want to steal? um is what do you want to hear the other two answers? Patricia Gowan?
01:30:45
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It was Zia Ian Pietro. That was my first choice, too. I don't know why I went with the other one. You should have stuck with it. Question number four.
01:30:57
Speaker
They record on location sound, maybe even wielding a boom mic. It's production sound. Was production sound Alan Splett, Freddy Potato Head, or Jenny Osnowitz?
01:31:17
Speaker
Oh, Stefa? Greg? Was it Mr. Potato Head? It was Freddy Potato Head. Greg is on the board. yeah That was a real name.
01:31:30
Speaker
i was going to guess that to be funny and it's real. Yeah. There's a lot of different jobs if you want to work in film.
01:31:40
Speaker
Question number five. Our fuzziest actors sometimes need their own special acting coaches. It's the dog trainer. Was that Paul Sled Reynolds, Boone Nahr, or Ursula Browner?
01:32:02
Speaker
Steffa? Anna. Steffa. Was it Ursula Browner? That was a trick question. All of them were the dog trainers. All three were dog trainers. How about that?
01:32:14
Speaker
I'm so glad that dog was so well taken care of. yeah Yeah, Elvis was a beautiful dog. All right, question number six. When you're the star of a motion picture, the whole production can rest on your shoulders.
01:32:28
Speaker
So you want somebody around to keep things running smooth so you can focus on your job. It's the assistant to Ms. Applegate. Was that Andrea Lawent, Liz Wartenberg, or Lori A. Depp?
01:32:44
Speaker
Victoria. Victoria? Liz Wartenberg.
01:32:50
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It wasn't Liz Wartenberg. Greg? Greg. There's one that ended in Depp.
01:33:00
Speaker
Correct. It was Lori A. Depp. Lori A. Depp, ex-wife of Johnny Depp. How about that? Small rule. That explains that last name.
01:33:11
Speaker
yeah Question number seven. This person doesn't have to be a boy, but they do have to answer to the key grip and lead the lighting department in physically setting up lights.
01:33:23
Speaker
It's the best boy grip. Was the best boy grip John Steamer Preston, Elwyn Bub Greer, or Bill Brady Major? Bill Brady being a hyphenated first name.
01:33:39
Speaker
Greg? Greg. The one with Bub in the middle of Elwynn Bub Greer?
Storytelling and Awards
01:33:46
Speaker
That's correct. That is correct.
01:33:50
Speaker
Greg taking a commanding lead. Just two more to go. Question number eight. You could probably figure out that they assist the casting director, but they're not a casting assistant.
01:34:04
Speaker
They're a casting associate. Was that Debbie Manwiller, Sandy DeCrescent, or Christopher Conkeling? steffa Anna. dea Christopher Conkling?
01:34:21
Speaker
no I'm sorry. It wasn't Christopher Conkling. Anybody want to steal?
01:34:28
Speaker
Can get the two names again? I don't remember who I'm picking from. Is it Debbie Manwiller or Sandy DeCrescent? o Greg. greg DeCrescent.
01:34:46
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It was Debbie Manwiller. All those names sound so fake. That's what's incredible about credits. That's what's great. If you stick looking around and shouting out people's names during the credits is one of my greatest joys in a film yeah watching.
01:35:04
Speaker
It's just so fun to roll someone else's name around your tongue for a second. Sometimes they just need somebody who looks kind of like an actor to just stand there. So the camera and lighting department can get things set up.
01:35:17
Speaker
It's the stand-in. Was the stand-in Glenn student, John Fountain, or Tim Fox?
01:35:30
Speaker
Greg. Victoria. Anna. Greg, fast on the draw, playing to your advantage. ah Student, the Glenn student. Yeah. It was not Glenn's student. Anybody want to steal?
01:35:45
Speaker
Your other choices are John Fountain or Tim Fox. Tim Fox.
01:35:56
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It was John Fountain. Greg, you're the big winner this week. Congratulations. and oh Our big anniversary winner. Yes.
01:36:09
Speaker
Uh-oh, it's time for the Batty Awards!
01:36:19
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards! Congratulations to all the nominees!
01:36:43
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to all our nominees. Congratulations to you, listener. You've made it almost to the end of our anniversary special. We just need to hand out a couple of Batty Awards. I'll kick us off.
01:36:54
Speaker
well I'm going to give my award to Gus. And it's the Not All Bad Award. You may remember that there was a scene... When ah Rose has come back from a weekend away with Gus and she asked Sue Ellen, Sue Ellen, have you ever had 48 hour orgasm?
01:37:17
Speaker
And gotta figure, if Gus is willing to put the work in, all of a sudden, you see what Rose is, why is she spending time with Gus? Like, okay. He's not all bad.
01:37:29
Speaker
he He's not all bad. somewhat justified his existence a little bit there. Okay. i I mean, I don't think it's right, but i at least now I get it. Sure. You know?
01:37:43
Speaker
Who wants to go next? Who's got a bad award? I can go. do.
01:37:48
Speaker
Oh, Greg, you won the game. Why don't you? So I'm going to give my Batty Award to a film, maybe featuring a Spinal Tap song like it's an actual song. um Because during the petty cash scene, the song Give Me Some Money is definitely a Spinal Tap song.
01:38:05
Speaker
And thank God it's not that horrendous 80s song about wanting money because I hate that song. But the song Give Me Some Money is pretty the Flying Lizards?
01:38:16
Speaker
Yeah, I hate that song. ah Never have liked it. But Give Me Some Money is great. It's very stupid. yeah That was the point. It's a fun nod. and you're right. Like every movie goes for that weird like 80s new wave version. I want money.
01:38:30
Speaker
That's what I want. Shut up. I don't want to hear anybody. I don't. i I literally never want to hear that song again ever. I never wanted to hear it originally. And I still don't want to hear it.
01:38:42
Speaker
And again, that was another thing. I didn't clock till I was older that that's a joke of a song. Like, that's a joke song. I'm just like, oh, that's just a song that exists. But it's, ah no, it's in there just like just like it's a normal song.
01:38:53
Speaker
It's great.
01:38:56
Speaker
Well, who's up next?
01:38:59
Speaker
Anna.
01:39:03
Speaker
um I would like to give my baddie a word to the outfit that their mom is wearing when she gets back from Australia. She's wearing a like a cargo vest, you know, with lots of pockets on it and stuff.
01:39:19
Speaker
And ah an an Outback hat that's, you know, subtly up on one side, but they're both in like a ah pale shell pink. And it's just the funniest, very low-key Australia outfit.
01:39:35
Speaker
I love it. She's got that great leather backpack, too. And she's carrying it really weird. I noticed that, like, both the straps are on one shoulder. And it was just, like, odd seeing it. But I'm like, yeah, that's the look you would want to use to communicate, like, this woman is just back from Australia today. Absolutely. Absolutely.
01:39:53
Speaker
How about you, Stefa? You got a baddie award? I do. And it is for our young and lovely Melissa, played by Danielle Harris. When I was kind of poking around Wikipedia, learning more about this movie, i you know you click through the different people, and I learned that Danielle Harris is Hall of Famer uh as she was inducted into the fangoria hall of fame in 2012 she has been in a ton of horror movies she's been in like five of the halloween movies
01:40:27
Speaker
She's been an urban legend. She's been in ah another Halloween. Jesus. She's been in bunch of, ah she was in the last boy scout. She was in free Willy. She was in this team movie that I loved on Disney channel called when you wish upon a star. And it was her and Catherine Heigl.
01:40:45
Speaker
And it was like the popular girl and the nerdy girl and their sisters. And they switch places because they want to be each other. And then they learn a lesson and see things from each other's perspectives. Yeah.
01:40:56
Speaker
So yeah, Danielle Harris has been one of those people who has been kind of a staple in my TV and movie watching life. And I never really connected it until like I was doing the research to do this talk with you guys. And I was like, Oh my God, that's her. She's been in all of these things. So I just wanted to take a moment for Danielle Harris and all of her contributions to our pop culture.
Closing and Next Episode Tease
01:41:18
Speaker
Well, salute to you, Danielle Harris. Victoria, do you have a Batty Award? I do, actually. And I might even fit the brief, so i'm very excited about this. My Batty Award goes to Rose's Brooch Collection.
01:41:31
Speaker
is a wonderful collection. um My favorite being the scene in the warehouse where she has a lizard, I think it's a gecko of some kind, on her shoulder, and then another matching one down on her chest.
01:41:44
Speaker
So this is a double brooch. On a dark, like red shoulder pad jacket. It is everything and it deserves its own movie. So I will content myself with giving it a Batty Award.
01:41:59
Speaker
Ah, yeah. The glamour. You love it. a beautiful award, a beautiful show, a beautiful year of podcasting, and of course, a pair of beautiful guests.
01:42:09
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining us, you guys. Thank you for having us. Yes. Thank you. Do you guys, are you doing anything that you want to plug? Do you have any plugs?
01:42:20
Speaker
No, we're just civilians who like talking to us a lot. We're just civilians. Well, we love having you. Thank you so much for coming and hanging out.
01:42:32
Speaker
And ah listeners, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to plug us. First of all, you got your phone in your hand. Why don't you give us that quick five stars?
01:42:43
Speaker
The question that I'm asking you. If not you, then who? Someone that doesn't listen to the show? They're not going to do it. You've made it all the way to this point in the show.
01:42:56
Speaker
Why not give us that five stars? Hey, why not tell your best friend about the show? Tell them that you love them and that you want to hear their opinions on these two best friends hanging out on our show.
01:43:10
Speaker
And how, oh, dont doesn't their rapport remind you of us? That deep bond... And ah you can also, you can find us on Instagram. ah You can find us on blue sky.
01:43:22
Speaker
ah If you click the link tree in the show description, ah you can find those. You can also shoot us an email. can get an invitation to our discord. We watch movies in there once a month.
01:43:33
Speaker
ah We're doing a bunch of other stuff that we're getting started. There's a lot of fun going on. Come hang out with us. And ah come back next week when we will have special guest Manolo Moreno from Dr. Game Show.
01:43:47
Speaker
And we're going be talking about M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water. Very exciting. Very exciting. Our first Shyamalan. I'm very excited. Shyamalan's got so much to work with, too. Yeah.
01:44:01
Speaker
Those are movies you have conversations about afterwards. Yes. I'm excited. Listeners, you get excited. And to get you excited, here's just a selection of one of the great 90s hits from the Don't Tell Mom soundtrack.
01:44:18
Speaker
That's right. It's Beat Goes Bang.
01:44:24
Speaker
Enjoy it. Until next time, be good. Goodbye. Goodbye.