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Episode 30: Just Friends featuring Courtney Collins
37 Plays5 months ago
It's our first ever holiday special! Chris, Anna, and Greg are joined by special guest Courtney Collins to talk about her pick, Just Friends. This early Ryan Reynolds movie is vaguely Christmas themed, a cable classic, and is the most casually homophobic and structurally fatphobic movie we've watched yet! You've got Anna Farris and Julie Hagerty, though, so it's not all bad! We weigh Just Friends' heart against a feather so you don't have to, so tune in, and happy holidays!
https://courtneysetting.substack.com/
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Guests
00:00:40
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Your Favorite Bad Movie podcast holiday special. The only holiday special, brave enough to ask the question, if this movie's so bad, why does it make you so jolly? We're your ho-ho hosts. My name is Chris Anderson. And with me, as always, I have the clerk to my Chris, Greg Bossi. How are you, Greg? Hello, I'm all right. How are you?
00:01:15
Speaker
i'm I'm doing pretty good. I'm gonna cut these jingle bells. That's a lot of bells. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, they're I'm sorry about that. I lost track of jingle bells. And I also have with me, of course, the Chris to my Samantha, my wife, Anna Anderson. How are you, my love? Hello. I'm all right. yeah All right, we'll take all right. And we have a very special guest this week.
00:01:42
Speaker
If you're a baby, you might know her as a mother. If you're a husband, you might know her as a wife. If you're a co-worker, you might know her as an HR specialist. But I know her as the Spice Weasel. It's Courtney Collins. How are you, Wheezy?
Why 'Just Friends'?
00:02:00
Speaker
Hi. I am very happy to be here. We're happy to have you.
00:02:06
Speaker
And you chose this week's movie for our, I came to you with request. Maybe a Christmas movie would be nice. We can have something in December for the holidays. And you came back with just friends. who who what What drove you to pick just friends? So this is a movie that I like to call a movie of convenience. Okay. Whereas when I was in my early twenties and still living at home and my parents had HBO,
00:02:36
Speaker
and all those other movie channels, it was like always on no matter the time of year or whatever. And so, you know, when you're 22 years old or 23 years old and you don't have anything else to do and this movie's on, you're like, all right, I'll check it out and see what it's all about. And I barely remember anything about it other than thinking that Chris Klein was very funny, Anna Faris was very funny, and the rest of it was just kind of like predictable rom-com crapola.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, Brian Reynolds is like a huge star now. And I can't believe this movie that he was in and a lot of movies like it at the time. And so I just kind of was like, I really haven't seen this movie in almost 20 years and I wanted to revisit it because I thought, okay, something worthwhile.
Background and Context of 'Just Friends'
00:03:22
Speaker
that I watched it on HBO all those times, so. yeah I had a very similar experience ah the last summer I lived with my mom watching the movie Volcano 20 times. Okay. course Of course, it was summer. It's just like it's on, it's there, why not? Yeah, this is this is good enough to get me through the next 85 minutes since I missed the first 15. Right. Let's go. ah So,
00:03:50
Speaker
Have either of you guys, Anna, Greg, have either of you seen Just Friends before? I have not, no. i was not It was not on my radar at the time either. That was a period when it where I was watching art films. Oh, okay. Okay.
00:04:09
Speaker
I understand yeah pornography. how I, uh, side never seen the movie, never really even heard of it. Had such little experience with it that I saw the cover and I was like, Oh, it's a Ryan Reynolds Reese Witherspoon movie is Reese Witherspoon is not in this movie.
00:04:30
Speaker
I mean, she could have been. Yeah, she could have been. No, I mean, and that might, no offense to Amy Smart. I've got no beef with Amy Smart. We'll talk about Amy Smart later. No, right. i I had seen this back at the time. I remember having um sort of liking Ryan Reynolds in this era. I remember throwing out Van Wilder at the video store and be like, yeah, yeah, this is funny. this is this guy He's doing sort of like a Chevy Chase light for for the aughts sort of vibe. It's like, yeah, I get it. i I get the kind of comedy that he's trying to do. And it's it's it's funny enough. and then But then he never did like a movie that was actually good. He he always seemed like he was better than the movie he was in. In this one, I'd say he's just about as good as the movie. I think a couple of people in here outshine him.
00:05:29
Speaker
I think he's not a great fit for this movie, ah but that's my background with Just Friends, personally. With that, do you guys want to hear about the background of Just Friends itself in our context section? Should we get the synopsis? Yes, we should, Greg. That's a very good point. Okay.
00:05:52
Speaker
God, you're a hero every week. I try to be. This guy keeps me on my toes. So.
00:06:04
Speaker
I put this here to help me remember. Former high school dorkus turned A and&R agent to the stars, finds himself back in his hometown over the holidays.
00:06:18
Speaker
Will he finally be able to seduce his high school crush, Jamie Palomino? Or will the sexpot pop star that's obsessing with him sabotage the whole thing?
00:06:33
Speaker
Fair enough? Yeah. Yeah. It's about right. Okay. So with that, let's get into some content.
Film Overview and Reception
00:07:20
Speaker
So Just Friends came out in 2005, is directed by one Roger Cumble. The tagline, he loves her, she loves him not. Okay. thats Yeah, witty, witty. i It works. Yeah. There were several other alternate taglines that were much worse that I did not write. Wow.
00:07:43
Speaker
ah Roger Kumbel is a director and playwright. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1988 and then moved out to Los Angeles. ah He made his bones writing and directing comedic plays about the movie industry. His so-called Hollywood trilogy, pay or play, de-girl and turnaround.
00:08:06
Speaker
D-Girl, starred David Schwimmer, who was at that point on Season 3 of Friends. So that opened up a lot of doors for Roger. no kidding ah Roger parlayed this success into his first directing gig, writing and directing the sexy teenage drama Cruel Intentions.
00:08:27
Speaker
And it's cruel intentions. head and i am ah I am a huge cruel intentions fan. I watch that about yearly, I would say. Yeah. And I would say much better. And you would never guess if you know. No, no. So looked him up. I was like, what did this writer do? And what did this director do? And I was like, oh, I've seen like several things this director has done and actually enjoyed those. Yeah.
00:08:53
Speaker
He followed it up with the instantly forgotten Cruel Intentions 2. And then to the even more forgotten Cameron Diaz romantic comedy The Sweetest Thing in 2002. My friends in college actually were like obsessed with that movie. Really? Yeah, yeah. They were like super into it. And I kind of hated it because one of the characters was named Courtney and you don't hear that name a lot in movies and she was kind of a wreck. And I didn't appreciate it.
00:09:23
Speaker
What, what did they like about it? Do you recall? Um, well, I mean, Ferris bear, like they liked that the girls were a mess and it was kind of like a gross out comedy for women, which in 2002 wasn't really a thing yet. Um, it was pretty rare. So like, it was kind of like, you know, girls doing stuff like dudes would do in a movie like that in 2002. So.
00:09:45
Speaker
Okay. i give I could see that. I could see that in the Roger Kumble DNA too. This is a little bit pushing some boundaries in terms of taste.
Plot Summary and Character Dynamics
00:09:58
Speaker
Now a few years after that, he was tapped to direct Just Friends, which had already been written by a screenwriter named Adam Tex Davis. Nice.
00:10:08
Speaker
but Tex Davis graduated from and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Go, Violet! Hey! Davis's other credits include Aloha Santa and Spring Break Lawyer. So I got to say, this guy rocks. Yeah. Wow. A violet marker in your own heart. Yes. great lawyer This guy is out there living my dreams. Salute to you, Tex Davis. ah He wrote just friends inspired by his own friend zone experiences. oh When he brought the script to producer Chris Bender, Bender assumed that the main character Chris Brander was based on him and his experience of being friend zone. Text Davis told him that it was based on his own experiences and that maybe this was tapping into a universal experience if they both were saying, Hey, I think this is literally based on my own life.
00:11:09
Speaker
Wow. we like I would hope that that says more about those particular guys, but it's probably probably a little of both. oh Yeah, perhaps not a universal experience, but yeah, ah a common experience now ah during people.
00:11:30
Speaker
ah P production. During pre production, several leads were discussed including Jimmy Fallon, so ah Bradley Cooper, who's in a very different place at the time. you was Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
You could have put on a big synthetic chin. It would have been look great. oh Adam Sandler, the Sandman with Jennifer Aniston, maybe make it 20 years instead of 10. But once Kumble was on board, he was like, no, we got to do this. We got to make this a Ryan Reynolds joint. I like that Ryan Reynolds. So at this point in his career, Ryan Reynolds was mostly known for two guys, a girl and a pizza place. And you guys ever watched that one?
00:12:20
Speaker
Yeah, the reason I like this movie because um I was a freshman in college when that show was on. So I'm aging myself here, but I don't care. But um I would watch it sometimes with James with my now husband. And i was like I think that guy's funny. And he's like, I guess. And so but it's likes like, the connection. here and it And it turns out you were both right. Yeah.
00:12:45
Speaker
Um, no, it's Ryan Reynolds kind of like reminded me of that time, like when I first met him. And so I was like, Oh, guys, in this movie, I'll watch it. That that makes perfect sense. Yeah. Uh, let's see. thattatatata And also we had done van Wilder, which established him as sort of a smarmy, but likable CAD type, uh, like a Chevy chase that didn't alien alienate everyone that he ever worked with.
00:13:11
Speaker
ah Still, he he struggled to find success and define his star persona after that. you know he's still It wasn't clear how smarmy he was supposed to be. is He was a little too specific to just like slot into any romantic comedy. right People didn't know if he had a range. ah So this was his first attempt at sort of playing a romantic leading man. This was his first major romantic lead role.
00:13:40
Speaker
The set was apparently very collaborative. Kumble was very open to improvisation and rewrites going with the missed. May the best idea win approach with comedy ringers like Reynolds and Aaron of Ferris and you know, Julie Haggerty and Chris Klein even surprisingly was a bit of a ringer. You know, why not take these people's ideas. Everybody seemed it was doing a pretty good job in terms of performances.
00:14:10
Speaker
ah The film was shot, not in New Jersey as it claims, but in Regina and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Very loose tie to the apple. apple Where of course Alfie and Bebe were from Moose Jaw. Temperatures would often reach negative 40 degrees at night. Oh, wow.
00:14:34
Speaker
This didn't bother native Canuck Ryan Reynolds nearly as much as it did everyone else, or so they say, ah but he did have his fair share of problems. Producers assumed that he would know how to play hockey being Canadian, but it turns out that he did not even know how to ice skate. Whoa! That's fantastic. The first day they got him out there to try and train and learn how to skate, he fell and dislocated his shoulder.
00:15:02
Speaker
Oh, shit. ah why I'm allowed to cuss. Yeah, no, that's fine.
00:15:10
Speaker
um It was not a box office smash upon release pulling in a humble thirty two point six million dollars at the domestic box office. But I think that's probably enough to turn a profit on this. I couldn't find what its budget was. But could I like.
00:15:25
Speaker
Amy Smart, Anna Farris, and at this point, Ryan Reynolds probably weren't pulling down more than two, three million to pop, I would say, times. So I can't see this costing more than 20 million to make ah at this time. Best guess, audience. Now, ah critics were mixed.
00:15:46
Speaker
Nathan Robin of the AV club said it had some good ideas, but never gelled. Whereas Richard Roper of Ebert and Roper said, just friends is just stupid. z but Get their asses Richard Roper.
00:16:06
Speaker
Now, just to put a thing in his place, other romantic comedies of the year 2005, you've got The 40 year old virgin. Oh. Error defining. Yes, definitely. The part of it. It's it's funny. It's funny. It was funny. The part that
Character Analysis and Film Critique
00:16:29
Speaker
I saw. Steve Carell really got his chest waxed. He's a real one for that. Yes. That I've never had my chest waxed, but waxing hurts. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He put it on the line. ah You've also got Hitch.
00:16:43
Speaker
I know there are people who like Hitch. I don't think I've seen Hitch. It's okay. I think they would call it. Okay. The wedding date. That's such a 30-rock name. I think that's the one with like Dermot Mulroney or Dylan McDermott. I confuse those two all the time. They've never been in the same place at the same time. There we go. Elizabethtown.
00:17:12
Speaker
Oh, my brother. That was the manic pixie dream girl. Yeah, the defining. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and you've got Little Manhattan. Anybody see Little Manhattan? No. No. I never even heard of that.
00:17:26
Speaker
I had a sort of a soft spot for it in that it was like a very traditional down the line ah romantic comedy, but it was about two 12 year olds living in Manhattan. poo And like, there was at one point where the guy was like really nervous about holding the girl's hand. And I was like, that's really cool because like me as an adult with anxiety,
00:17:49
Speaker
trying to hold the girl's hand. If I like her, that's going to make me really nervous, but you couldn't put that in a normal romantic comedy because you would make their main character look like a dweeb like me. yes but So I can relate to someone who's very emotionally immature and enjoy this romantic comedy.
00:18:06
Speaker
You've also got bewitched. Okay. The very convoluted where they were rebooting bewitched in bewitched and they cast a witch as the witch and bewitched. Also you got the family stone, which I've heard also has its defenders. I love that one. I almost picked that one for this, but I think it's I think it's a good, I think it's actually a good movie. So I could that's fair. one Yeah. But also very like, this was also very family oriented. Like obviously the tones of them were very different, but I think that sort of returned to family and coming home was in the zeitgeist at the time, you know, in a post 9 11 America. Yeah. Now that I've evoked the specter of 9 11, you guys want to move on to the plot? Yeah.
00:19:42
Speaker
So we open in New Jersey It's 1995 over here. Chris Brander, played by Ryan Reynolds in a fat suit, unfortunately, signs a confession of love in his dream girl's yearbook before lip syncing to I swear by all for one in front of a wall of photos of her. He looks absolutely insane. He does. And it's a fairly creepy moment. I feel like it's not great.
00:20:12
Speaker
It definitely starts the film off that you know it's going to be. making you uncomfortable at times. Oh, yeah. You know, it's going to have it's just like um I always think of the movie Carrie and how in the opening, you know, they show a bunch of full frontal nudity and a ah girl menstruating. And it's just like put you back on your heels so that, you know, the rest of the movie, it's going to be crazy. You don't know what this guy is going to show you. And this has a very similar effect of being like, oh, man,
00:20:47
Speaker
What kind of questionable calls is Roger Cumbold going to be doing for the rest of the story? If we're starting here, where are we going? Yeah. wow just Just a glass of ice water right in the face. He then rides his bike over to Jamie's impromptu graduation party. Jamie being the girl that he's in love with, played by Amy Smart.
00:21:10
Speaker
Uh, after saying hi to a couple of people at the party, most of whom don't like him, except for good friends, Clark and Darla, uh, he gets her alone in her bedroom and he keeps trying to get her to read his heartfelt inscription. First he gets interrupted by captain of the football team, Tim, who obviously is very cruel to him. And then by zip faced Troubadour, Dusty Dinkleman, played by Chris Klein.
00:21:38
Speaker
Does it face Troubadour? Great online handle, by the way. Yeah, that's my new Twitch name. yeah ah In the commotion, Tim steals Jamie's yearbook and reads his confession of love to the entire house party. Before Chris can flee in shame, Jamie stops him to make it explicitly clear that she loves him, but not like that.
00:22:05
Speaker
Chris rides off crying and saying that he's gonna get out of this town and boy, everybody's gonna feel bad about how great he is. Yeah. And then he's gonna talk to any of them for 10 years. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. It's really hard to rub it in their faces when you never come home. He completely cuts himself off from everybody.
00:22:26
Speaker
But they say the best revenge is living well, right? And indeed, it seems like he's living well. 10 years later, he's on the West Coast. He's at some sort of sexy Hollywood party, where a sexy babe is like, Chris, the sex with you is so good, but I wish we had a deeper emotional connection. He's like, bye. I guess them bye, you know? 2005, truth bomb.
00:22:59
Speaker
Uh, he's also, he's no longer wearing a fat suit. He is in fact now traditionally handsome Ryan Reynolds. And, uh, the next day he's at hockey practice with his buddy, Ray, who was never in the movie ever again. Oh, that's a good point.
00:23:16
Speaker
actually ah Ray is back to his home planet. Yeah. Ray never gets out of the hockey rink, unfortunately. He's so stupid. He can't turn on Lee. Yeah. like Not only can he not get out of the friend zone, he can't even get out of the ice skating rink with this guy.
00:23:36
Speaker
ah Ray is, in fact, struggling with being friendzoned. And Chris gives him some pointers. First of all, he points out that, yes, you are, in fact, in the friendzone, a concept that I, Chris Brander, have conceived of, even though it was conceived in an episode. You said it was from an episode of Friends? It was popularized by the seventh episode of Friends. Yeah, I remember that episode very specifically.
00:24:05
Speaker
I don't, I didn't remember that, but I was like, I know this has been discussed before this movie, like at like somewhere. So thank you. Cause I totally could not think of it. Yeah. It's weird that they both came from friends that he's got that, uh, you know, yeah connection to Ross. So small world, eh? He wasn't involved with the writing, you know, it's just kismet. Everything's comes back to the friend zone. Um,
00:24:34
Speaker
But gene one thing that I think is weird, right? Like they the the the writer and the producer, they talked about how like, oh, we have to capitalize on this concept. That is this common occurrence that we all know about. And you haven't I feel like it's come up actually quite a lot in movies. This is a fairly common concept of unrequited love. It's specifically this type of friend zoned unrequited love.
00:24:59
Speaker
But you never once have I seen it from the girl's point of view, not in a single movie. Yeah, that's the only, that's kind of like a good way to flip the script, I think. I do appreciate that a little bit.
00:25:10
Speaker
They don't take too much from Amy Smart's point of view in this. I think there's only like one scene that is specifically from Amy Smart's point of view that happens like two thirds through the film. I would really love to see a film that was strictly from Amy Smart's point of view. I think that would be ah definitely a much fresher take. And obviously, I think a great source of comedy if you have this lovable loser type. I don't know yeah how you would describe. I guess you would have to be a lovable loser for this film to work. I don't know.
00:25:39
Speaker
Yeah. But to me, I don't think this was as fresh as they were assuming.
Narrative Decisions and Audience Reactions
00:25:46
Speaker
Now, he then heads over to his fancy A and&R job at Red Bulb Records. His scene-stealing boss, Steven Root. Love Steven Root. Yeah, Steven Root coming in and crushing it just one day's worth of work, easily improving a solid five, 10 minutes of the movie.
00:26:07
Speaker
man earned his paycheck on this one. Steven Root tells Chris that he needs him to drop whatever his Christmas plans are and fly pop superstar, Samantha James, played by Anna Faris to Paris. Anna Faris, the 500 pound gorilla in the room. Let's talk about Anna Faris. Yeah. Who is incredible. She's doing like a really aggressive Ashley Simpson. Um, and I feel like At the end of the day, when I watched this movie yesterday, I was like, you know, the only person I'm rooting for, everybody in this movie is kind of terrible except for her yeah because she like is who she is. And she's very unapologetic about it. Like she sucks, but she's like, I know.
00:26:49
Speaker
and she yeah in that I don't know. she yeah like She's so good. And like Ryan Reynolds keeps on saying he doesn't like her music, but obviously millions of people do. You can't take away that she's creating something and she writes her own stuff. Like let's cut her some slack. She's actually, and what, because she's young and she wants to have sex and she communicates effectively, you know?
00:27:15
Speaker
She's the hero of this picture. Yeah, I would like to point out that during the scene, Stephen Root says that her poster is their fastest selling poster. And I thought that was such a weird little detail. Also, I was like, were posters still really that big in 2005? Like, was it such like this is our best selling poster? This weird concept to me. Yeah, the number one indicator. Yeah.
00:27:44
Speaker
Now, uh, so he heads over to Samantha's recording studio. We quickly learned that she's super horny, completely deranged and wants to get back together with Chris. They used to have a thing. Uh, and he does a terrible job masking how much he loathes her. really And I think, yeah,
00:28:08
Speaker
That's one thing that keeps you, I think, from rooting too much from ryan for Ryan and Reynolds in this movie and why I think he's ultimately wrong for it is he does come off as a little bit mean, yeah like very hard to like for a large. I mean, he's supposed to have like a redemptive arc. You're, you know, not supposed to like him too much, but he's like actively unpleasant sometimes. Yeah. You know, I think they were trying for a very difficult tone and I don't think they stuck the land. No, they did not.
00:28:36
Speaker
They take off for Paris, but en route, Samantha puts some tinfoil in the microwave, forcing them to make an emergency landing in Trenton, New Jersey. Instead of finding a luxury hotel, as you might imagine, they head over to Chris's mom's house. The good news is Chris's mom is Julie Haggerty. yay ya Yeah, you'd love to see these two together. These three together. And Julie Haggerty, you'd love to see her anywhere.
00:29:05
Speaker
Uh, Lister's probably know her best from airplane and maybe something else at some other point, but what about Bob? Oh, okay. What about Bob? Another classic yet. You love Julie Haggerty and she, she does a great job playing a mom in this. She really does. Uh,
00:29:30
Speaker
And both she and Anna Faris have a sort of distinct but related spacey energy. So it's interesting to see those two energies overlap in a scene like it's like having to Mr. Magoo's.
00:29:44
Speaker
Then Chris's horny little brother shows up, Mike, and, uh, he's just adding to Chris's woes. And he also was pretty overtly sexually harassing Samantha. Oh yeah. What did you guys think of Chris Marquette as Mike? He he plays a surprisingly large role in this film. So I didn't like the Mike character. His portrayal may have been good, but like every time he's on screen, he's like, Oh brother, here we go.
00:30:11
Speaker
I mean, I'll get into a little bit of the some things that I did like about what where his character fit in as a whole later, but as a character, just like any time is like, oh, God, it's the brother again. then Yeah, I didn't appreciate that he used a gay slur. I totally forgot that that happened in this movie. That was a lot in this movie. Yeah. Yeah. i Like, what the hell? Whatever.
00:30:38
Speaker
I black that out, I guess. I don't know, but it might have even been censored if you're watching it on TV. Good point. Um, but I do think that I, the physical comedy in this movie is actually really great. That might be like think it's the biggest redeeming quality for me. You don't get a lot of good physical comedy. I feel like in a rom com, um, it's usually like a woman that's like, I dropped my papers and then she, you know, trips and falls into a vat of,
00:31:03
Speaker
coffee. I don't know. But like, yeah, more papers. but little more paper um But the the brother fights are like, Oh, man, that that shit is funny to me. Like when they're just like beating the crap out of each other, and they call truce, like that made me laugh. But yeah, when he's he is really, I got to agree with Greg, like, not the best, but the fighting I liked.
00:31:25
Speaker
Yeah, there's something that I I almost like the actor more than the character. I feel like the character was really annoyingly written. Yeah. And I i did like the the brotherly vibe that the two of them had and yeah the slap fights that they would have. And this there's one point where Ryan Reynolds shoves him into the couch and then stomps on his butt. And it just you you know, like they had some good fighting.
00:31:53
Speaker
Yes, like in in almost like a Three Stooges sort of fighting comedy way where it's like, oh, damn, but it's still funny. Now, Chris needs to get out of there.
00:32:08
Speaker
This is, there's a lot going on. He doesn't want to be in this town. He doesn't want to be with this woman. He definitely doesn't want these things interacting. He's going to head down to the local bar, the maple. That's where he runs into his old, the high school friends, Clark and Darla. We're all amazed how skinny he is. Everyone's amazed that he's not fat anymore. Every single character needs to say, you used to be fat. Now you're better. That happens a lot in this movie. That's the worst crazy. Yeah.
00:32:37
Speaker
yep like every every or not like it's not crazy because apparently that's extremely true to life but well yeah crazy that that is true to life extremely true to two thousand and five as well i feel like in twenty twenty five if they made this movie it would be less they would be less Gross. Honestly, if they made it now, they shouldn't have made him fat in high school. Exactly. Or they should have had him stay fat, but like dress better and yeah better. Yeah. yeah Now.
Comedic Scenes Breakdown
00:33:07
Speaker
ah He also runs into former football captain Tim, who has now just got a horseshoe of hair, and but still wearing his Letterman jacket and begging for money in a bar. So just what you want to see happen to an evil jock.
00:33:22
Speaker
That hits, you know, they they they don't even make that a storyline. That happens right away. And then, of course, behind the bar is former flame Jamie. He talks to Jamie and they plan to meet up. Unfortunately for lunch, even though he said lunch dates are a friend zone thing, he was like, yeah, lunch sounds good because he doesn't want to push it. It it was her idea. And he's already choking. He's already in his own head.
00:33:50
Speaker
and also Samantha's in the bar and that's making everything worse. And she starts making a scene and he's like, well, let's just get the fuck out of here. I'll see you tomorrow. The next day, Chris puts Mike on Samantha duty and sends them off to the mall to connect with her fan base.
00:34:07
Speaker
Chris picks up Jamie at her parents' house in his rental Porsche, which it's not meant for the snowy roads of New Jersey in December. It's sort of a sight gag. I think it would have been funnier if he had snow chains on a Porsche. I would have liked to see it. He didn't he have snow chains on the Porsche. I couldn't tell. Whatever it was. He did. Whatever gag they were trying to sell. I don't think they sold it clearly enough. Yeah. Make it a cyber truck if they reboot it. They should have. Yeah.
00:34:36
Speaker
They should have had it like skidding on ice more often. and Yeah. like Yeah. Him trying to put it in four wheel drive. I don't know something. ah So they head out to their old diner, which they went to in high school, which obviously rings true. Everybody went to high school or everybody who went to a diner with the girl they had a crush on and couldn't ask out. I mean, obviously.
00:35:00
Speaker
That was your typical Saturday night. And, uh, that's where his, uh, they get the same waitress who also treats him like a fat kid. And he acts kind of like an asshole to her. yeah Meanwhile, at the mall, Mike accidentally tases Samantha, making her fall over a railing and giving her a concussion. Good shit. One of the best parts of the movie, frankly, in front of a Hallmark store. Yeah. Great stuff.
00:35:29
Speaker
ah Chris brings Jamie home and he sort of blows the drop off. He tries to go in for a kiss. they don't do it again He doesn't get that working out. Then he goes back in his car and he starts freaking out in his car, which she sees when she goes back to retrieve her gloves. The whole thing is very embarrassing. yeah He checks in with Clark and Darla at Clark's dentist office. Clark confirms that Chris is on an express train back to the friend zone.
00:35:58
Speaker
And I want to point out that when he does that, Chris, ah or not Chris, the the dentist is with a patient and they're just talking to him and it's never addressed that he just shouldn't be allowed in that room. Like they'd never talk about that. And then they just move on. It's a really weird moment for me. It'd be pretty weird. I'd be like, can we get this guy out of here? Like, why is he in the room? My mouth is open. I'd be like, tell me more, go on. That's fair. It's true. It could be distracting.
00:36:27
Speaker
Well, Greg and I both have dentist appointments tomorrow, so if that happens to either of us, we will catch you up. Tell me. Tune in next week. That's right. Some friend zone sad guy is like, I'm in the friend zone. I need to know. Josh Buhan!
00:36:45
Speaker
ah They then head home and find out that Samantha is zonked out on Vicodin and eating toothpaste. This to me I think was Ferris's best scene. Yeah. There's some great work in here.
00:36:57
Speaker
At one point she has a mouthful of toothpaste and then she goes to kiss Reynolds on the cheek and she squeezes out all the toothpaste on her mouth onto his face. It's great. graphic Yeah. And she's got like a big comedy ice pack bandaged to the top of her head like she's in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. God bless this woman. Just a hundred percent. Just sitting there in a she commit black bra and tights.
00:37:26
Speaker
Now Chris then meets up with Jamie for some ice skating the next day. Let's do some ice skating scene. Unfortunately he has to use rental skates. So he's not at his best.
00:37:37
Speaker
and also And I don't know why he's this big rich muckety muck. He couldn't go down to the skate shop and just buy some new skates. Yeah, I was really confused on that point. It's like you did rent a Porsche, so why don't you just buy some ice skates? I think everyone's movie has an IQ of like, I don't know. That's fair. Their friends stuck in the ice rink. Ryan Reynolds forgets to see his money. Like, well I don't understand.
00:38:03
Speaker
Yeah, this is one that you don't want to look at too close. This is one that you want on TV while you're doing something else. Movie of convenience. Mm hmm. Exactly. Now rental skates. It's not as best He also tries to prove himself with a child's pick up game of hockey. This kid's game is like, hey, you adult man, we need one more guy. Do you want to play with us? And he's like, yes, yes. I want to. They get an adult to play a child's game and don't just have the adult like. Be goalie or some or like be something very minimal so that the kids can largely play.
00:38:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's an odd choice to have him play. I think he plays like left wing or something. and Yeah. And they're just like, you're sucking out there. It's just like, why is he an integral part of the team at this point? like me You shouldn't let an adult be an important part of a child's pickup game of hockey. But that's again, you look at it too closely. You'll find a problem.
00:39:10
Speaker
If there's nothing funny about it to be though, that's what really annoys me. like I'm like, there yeah I guess if you're doing this to be funny, but a man like getting angry at a bunch of children for like thinking that he sucks at hockey, and then he's really mean to them back, like I just... I thought it was kind of funny when he was punching a kid in the face. That made me...
00:39:30
Speaker
I genuinely had the hardest time with this scene. i yeah this This whole thing, I was like, don't do this. Why are we doing this now? Don't do that. Don't do that there.
Climax and Character Resolutions
00:39:42
Speaker
Yeah, it it is. It makes it harder to care about Reynolds character that he can't see what he is doing and that it's so clearly a bad idea. ah And then he does ah get hit in the mouth when he ricochets a slap shot off the top bar of the goal and it knocks out several of his teeth. It may appears or he does some sort of severe damage to his mouth. He's still got the team there, but he needs some stitches.
00:40:09
Speaker
ah So the EMS rushed to the s rescue. And look who one of the EMS is. It's Dusty Dinkleman. That's right. Now, now he's going by Dusty Lee and he's played by handsome Chris Klein, who has a lot of real good boy charm. Like your classic Chris Klein type.
00:40:31
Speaker
Mm hmm. What are your thoughts on Chris Klein in this? Loved him until I hated it. Amazing. So good. and And like was always kind of like the cornball guy and other stuff like election and American pie, you know, and then he shows up and he just freaking knocks it out of the park with this role. And he's only yeah in the movie for maybe like 15 minutes tops. Mm hmm.
00:40:55
Speaker
But yeah, he really steals a lot of scenes and his heel turn is really good. Yeah. He's the first thing I remembered about this movie. I was like, he's in this movie and he has the scene. This is an audio medium, but he's, he's doing like the devil horns and like flapping his tongue. Like that's the first thing I remembered. Cause he's, my sister and I would always just go dusty dingle men to each other. Like that was kind of our code, like dingle men.
00:41:21
Speaker
Yeah. No. Dinkleman is a great villain's name. It's great every time someone says contemptuously, Dinkleman. It's fun. It rolls off the tongue. So they ride to the medical center in Dusty's ambulance, which gives Dusty the opportunity to get Jamie's digits across Chris's prone and broken body. Almost literally. Yeah. Yeah. They they pass a clipboard over him. It's pretty sad.
00:41:48
Speaker
Yeah, and then I believe an oxygen tank falls on his dick. Yeah. Yes. The nut shot. He'll blink for a movie like this. Yeah. Now, Clark gives Chris some stitches in his mouth and also fits him up with a retainer, which once again makes him feel like his high school self. ah But then he realizes that maybe Dusty's working this nice guy angle and that angle is working. Maybe I need to go back to being sensitive, Chris, from high school.
00:42:18
Speaker
That's the plan. Back at the house, Samantha is feeling much less brain damaged, but also very bored and horny. She almost sleeps with Mike after clarifying that he is in fact 18. Uh, but then Chris pops in and ruins it, but this is another great scene. Any scene with Samantha and Mike, I think is a really fun scene. I think those two have great chemistry together. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:44
Speaker
Oh, but Chris pops in before they can sleep together and then starts slapping Mike around and like pinning him to the bed and spinning in his face. Older brother stuff. Not my older brother. He didn't do too much of that, but in general. Didn't he close you into a hide-a-bed? Yes. dad Yes, but only for an hour. Okay. It seems like a long time to me.
00:43:13
Speaker
That's a pretty long time. I might be misremembering this story. But you know me, I'm also a very passive person. I probably would have been in there like, well, they have to let me out sooner or later. There's nothing I can really do. so Worst places to be trapped. Just wait it out. I'm not going to die here.
00:43:37
Speaker
but so Now, uh, Chris tries to switch over to sensitive mode. He puts on some like Chino's and a Cosby sweater and he invites Jamie to go see the movie, the notebook that night, classic Nicholas Sparks, the notebook directed by Nick Cassavetes.
00:43:58
Speaker
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Gina Rollins. Ryan Gosling. Ryan Gosling. I was going to say wait a second. Wait a second. They should have gone to a Ryan Reynolds room. Let's go see waiting. What the hell is from Vancouver? It's true. They are? I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay. New info on Gosling for me. I knew Reynolds was Canadian though.
00:44:24
Speaker
Now, unfortunately, Dusty invites himself over that night. He's coming along to see the notebook, too. um And to add insult to injury, Dusty invites Chris's mom, Julie Hasby. This is the worst double date you could imagine. Yeah. good Now, the good news is, ah he can't come over for Coco after the movie, because he has to go work the night shift at the hospital at Christmas, so his coworker can spend the night with his family. Such a good guy. He's dusty. Now, ah Chris, Jamie, and Mom, they all go into Chris's house, they drink Coco, and they watch some old home movies, and they laugh, and they remember how they used to be before Chris got all weird and lost all that weight.
00:45:09
Speaker
Now, the next day, which is Christmas, Chris puts an old list of things I love about Jamie that he found in a memory box. He puts that in a Christmas card. And one of those things was she's a great dresser, especially where it says that pink low cut top, which was really gross.
00:45:34
Speaker
That's wow. Maybe that was an in joke they had. Maybe, but it was just like I'm going to hope it went along with that whole like I have a corner of her pictures and think about her constantly kind of kind of a vibe. but Yeah.
00:45:51
Speaker
Yeah, there's a reason why she didn't want to go out with him in high school. And I think that's what the film really needs to address. And it's more than him just being fat. Yes.
00:46:03
Speaker
that dot that um Where was I Home Movies? The next day, which is Christmas. Chris puts an old list of things I love about Jamie in a Christmas card and he brings that Christmas card over to Jamie's family and they're having a Christmas party. Unfortunately, Dinkleman is already there and he's wowing everyone with his accomplished acoustic guitar playing.
00:46:33
Speaker
And this includes He plays his original song that he wrote for Jamie when he was a boy. When Jamie smiles. This obviously freaks Chris out on a double neck to guitar. That was really nice to see. That was nice to see. Yeah. Good sight. Yeah, there's a good sight gag and little things that like show the the cracks in the dusty persona. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
00:47:04
Speaker
You know, there's just to be like, there's something weird about this guy. He's not completely charming and cool. Now, Clark is also at the Christmas party and he tells Chris not to let this break his stride. This is just Dinkleman. You can't get intimidated by zit-faced troubadour dusty Dinkleman. And so Chris walks outside where everybody's caroling on their own front porch for some reason. Sure.
00:47:34
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to start with singing to our own house and then maybe we'll go to the neighbors later if we feel like it.
00:47:43
Speaker
But then but but but but goes outside to talk to her out there. That's what he does. But just then, Samantha drives a car right through Jamie's dad's huge Christmas display, the Christmas display that Anna called out. That will definitely be destroyed at some point in this movie. Yeah. Check out Christmas display. yeah They never exactly.
00:48:10
Speaker
And indeed, she does end up wrecking this thing, but not before she accuses Chris of having sex with Jamie, punching him in the throat. Then she drives off, setting the entire Christmas display on fire.
00:48:25
Speaker
It's great. Yeah, fortunately, the interior of the house is completely fine. God bless. No problem. Yeah, a little miracle. Samantha also yells, get off me, God boy, to a minister who's attending the gathering.
00:48:39
Speaker
That's pretty good. her best line in many good lie
00:48:47
Speaker
So it's looking bleak for old Chris that night, but Jamie comes by his house. She found his list and it really touched her. They spent some time going down memory lane, flipping through a yearbook, and then she invites herself to sleep over.
00:49:04
Speaker
She pulls the plastic, I'm gonna wear your shirt to bed as a nighty, classic look. And it looks like they're gonna work it out. It looks like, boy, everything's coming up for all the Chris. Not me, that one. But then he chokes, which is actually very much like me.
00:49:23
Speaker
And then the next day he's ah commiserating with Charles and this we get one scene from her point of view where she's commiserating with Darla being like, I don't know. I really threw myself at him. Maybe he just doesn't like me. And this is the classic like rom com scene where they're both having an argument or giving a monologue and it keeps cutting back and forth between the two of them. And you realize that they're both thinking the same thing and feeling the same thing.
00:49:49
Speaker
But it's also it's weird that it is literally the only scene that has. Yeah. Amy Smart and not Ryan Reynolds. at Yeah, it feels really out of place for that reason. Yeah, it jumps out at you now. ah Then after Chris is done commiserating with Clark.
00:50:10
Speaker
They're leaving the medical center and he sees dusty there, macking on a nurse who is wearing thigh highs at work. Very revealing nurses you uniform not the ilin at this part. I said to James, I can't actually be a nurse. Like he, that's a hooker that went to the yeah ER. r Yeah. Which is fine. Good for her. But like.
00:50:31
Speaker
yeah yeah i don't think I don't think that's appropriate uniform for an actual nurse. She was ripped right off the cover of the Blink-182 album. ah Totally. And ah he's singing to her when Jamie smiles, but this time it's when Janice smiles. What a twist! yeah Move over, M. Night. And that's ah Chris Confronts-A-Mon.
00:51:01
Speaker
says, Hey, Dusty Dinkleman, I'm onto your game. That dog won't hunt Monsignor. And then Dusty hits him up with the old, we're not so different to you and I.
00:51:16
Speaker
my Yeah.
00:51:20
Speaker
yeah And, uh, so we got a worthy adversary, worthy adversary heads. Keep an eye out for just friends. Uh, but Chris is like, we're very different in that I'm going to leave town. Fuck this.
00:51:37
Speaker
ah But then while Clark is driving that to the airport, he changes his mind and he says, you know what? I can't let Jamie fall into Dusty's hands. So they head over to the church where Dusty is going to be performing an impromptu sing along for local children. And Jamie is going to be there because she's a substitute teacher and all the local kids love her. Mm hmm. There's no impromptu anything on Christmas in a church. Well, this is Boxing Day.
00:52:08
Speaker
This is okay, fine. Yeah, they didn't have anything planned for boxing. They got Dingleman was there. Yeah. Yeah. So really keep those kids. We got to extend it. Let's go sing a church. No. Yeah. And they're not even doing Christian song. He's doing like coming around the mountain. That was super weird. Like when they walk into a church and it's coming around the mountains, like what is actually happening in this church?
00:52:34
Speaker
Again, I must reiterate, I think everyone in this movie is extra stupid. Yeah, yeah yeah that that's some real Protestant stuff. yeah so
00:52:47
Speaker
So he Chris pulls Jamie aside and is like, listen, Dusty's evil. And she's like, really? Because Dusty just said that you're evil.
Final Thoughts and Ratings
00:52:57
Speaker
And he's like, no, no, he's the one that's evil. And then he and Dusty get in a fistfight and everybody blames Chris. And he's like, I'm getting out of this stink town. I'm sick of stink town. Understandable.
00:53:11
Speaker
The kids are all on Dusty's side, by the way. Yeah, they are all chanting Dusty, Dusty. Yeah. And Dusty does the classic, which you can't see, but that was the horns. Tongue flapping, rude gesture on the on the pulpit in church, by the way. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:53:34
Speaker
So Chris tries to flee town, but he's too drunk and he gets kicked off of the bus. And he gets kicked off the bus right in front of the maple. It's time for our big final confrontation. He goes in and he confronts both Dusty and Jamie and he apologizes to Jamie being like, listen, I love you. And Dusty's like, listen, are we going to fuck or what?
00:54:02
Speaker
Listen, what are you talking about?
00:54:08
Speaker
Uh, so obviously this freaks out Jamie ah Dusty's like, ah, fuck it. Plenty of fish in the sea. He's moving on. Uh, he's caused enough chaos. His, his arc wraps up kind of uninteresting for such a fun character. It's a shame that he just sort of, they just drop him like that.
00:54:28
Speaker
And then he accuses her of being a tease. She cold cocks him and knocks him out. Uh, it's a very ugly fight between the two of them. Very vicious. So Chris, he flies back home. And when he gets back home, Samantha is there in his house, his ultra cool, ultra modern California house.
00:54:52
Speaker
Uh, yeah, hooray for you and me, but Chris gives this one a big thumbs down. He instantly realizes he's made a mistake. this This is what he is leaving his dream girl for. This is all that California has to offer him is more and more Samantha's. And as Samantha like comes onto him very aggressively and he's telling her, you can't just make people like you. And he's sort of, they could have made it clear that this was a message that he needed to learn right because he did need to learn it, but they didn't hit it home as well as they could have, I think. No, because he got chased in the nuts while it was happening.
00:55:31
Speaker
Yeah, there was a lot going on. yeah The movie needed to slow down for 30 seconds and have to be like, guys in the friend zone, you're not the hero of a movie, you know? Right. And he flies back to New Jersey and where he apologizes one more time to Jamie on New Year's Eve. And this time she accepts it and they kiss. And it's the end of the movie.
00:56:00
Speaker
Hooray, we made it. We sure did. We made it to the end, just friends. What did you guys think? Final thoughts, five star rating. Who wants to start? I'll start. Aces. What I like about this movie besides Anna Faris, who is incredible, i i but I loved every moment of her.
00:56:25
Speaker
um is that it's structured basically like a Hallmark Christmas movie. And I love those. yeah And those don't have to be good to me. that's true Those are just following a formula. And like as much as the movie was that, I liked it. And I wish that it didn't have So the horrible 2005 specific ah mean streak, it's just yeah yeah the movie is often very mean and it's a real shame because I don't think it, I don't think it has to be to be funny. Like I laughed a lot actually, but I didn't, I didn't laugh when the movie was being cruel. um With that said, I'm going to give a put that at this at a three stars. I think that's tough, but fair.
00:57:20
Speaker
Yeah. How about you, Greg? Well, so I did like The one thing that I liked, and I mentioned this earlier with like the brother, I liked how like him coming home sort of turned him back into his old self, partially because that's what everyone was doing to him. That really, you know, everyone's like, Oh, you're who you've always been. It's like, but I'm not that anymore and haven't been for 10 years. I liked what they did there. I thought that was really interesting.
00:57:51
Speaker
ah And maybe it was my mood. It was an interesting weekend, but I really had. and I did not like this movie a lot. Like I was not into this movie. ah Some of the things that I wrote were um everyone is so loathsome. Everyone speaks in this. Everyone talks to this movie so bad. I don't know what this movie wants me to think or feel. ah What do I want to happen? This is so confused. Like every turn. like one Like it was so one of the things was like When they finally like kind of get back together, I'm like, okay So this is gonna be the moment and then he blows it and it's like what did what what am I supposed to be rooting for here? Do I want? Do I want this terrible person to be with this other person who seems fine but also kind of terrible in a way? There wasn't really any character I was rooting for except for Chris Klein until he was no longer the person you were rooting for. Oh, so you didn't see that twist coming? No, I should have. I should have. I take these things maybe a little too literally in a way.
00:58:59
Speaker
Um, and it had the same feeling. So I don't do this a lot in horror movies where you're like, don't, don't open that door. Don't open that door. But I do this in movies like this and meet the parents where it's like, don't do that. No, don't do that. Don't punch that child. Don't punch that child. Like that's me during a movie like this. And I think it was probably my reaction to.
00:59:22
Speaker
a lot of the movies at the time because I feel like Meet the Parents was kind of around a similar time in a similar vein. Because the honest truth is I don't think I saw a lot of movies during this time because you were listing all of those off at the beginning. I was like, I don't really recall any of these. So I'm going to give it a two. I think a two based on your description of your experience is generous. That's very kind of you.
00:59:48
Speaker
Yeah, it was torn between one and a half and or two, but everyone kind of talking. Rosanna Ferris is pretty good in this. So it's like, yeah, I'll go to two. Also want to have some room to be lower for the future because it wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen. It was just a lot of times where I'm just like, please don't do this now. We know this isn't going to go well. So don't do this. Just pull out of this spiral. Stop. But anyway.
01:00:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was the, the, the comedy of discomfort, like the same way that I can't watch curb your enthusiasm. Yeah, I have trouble with curb your enthusiasm as well. I get that. How about you, Courtney? Where did you wind up? Okay. Um, so I have, I'm like totally on board with Greg. When I was watching this yesterday, I was like, everyone in this movie is a horrible person and I don't care about any of them. Like the scene where Amy smart sees.
01:00:41
Speaker
Ryan Reynolds again, ah Jamie sees Chris the again at the bar and she says, she hugs him and she says, I could fit my arms around you. And I was like, I was like at that. Like I would have, yeah I would have been out. I would have been like, Oh, I get it. I see how it is. um So like, I was like, you know, 10 years you didn't come back home and that's the first thing she says after she hugs him. But anyway, um I think there, as I mentioned before, there's really good physical comedy in this movie that I think is, um Redeemable and affairs is great. Chris Klein is great Stephen root crushing it in the one scene he's in um The brother fights made me laugh a lot um There is a tiny bit of acting a couple of scenes where like Amy smart and Ryan Reynolds are looking at each other with misty eyes And I'm like, okay, so like they they did a little something here um And the formulaic, you know
01:01:32
Speaker
If you just kind of let it be a romantic comedy and the formulaic stuff wash over you, then you just kind of get to enjoy like the Anna Ferris scenes and the Chris Klein scenes as like a little bit of a bonus. um I would say my rating is a 2.5. It's like straight down the middle. Like there's enough like bullshit in there that I'm like, ugh brother, but there's enough funny stuff in there that I'm like, okay, it's worth watching. um Which is kind of precisely why I chose it, so.
01:02:01
Speaker
That's very good. Yeah. Yeah, I think I might have wound up on the more generous side of the panel. I gave it a three most because I did really like Anna Faris. I did really like Stephen Root. i I think this is a good comedy cast. I think yeah the the big problem with it is that it has no problem punching down with it. Yeah. Yeah. And that that's, you know, just something that doesn't fly for me as a member of today's audiences. they It just age poorly. And I think there's a lot of ah casual homophobia and oh f structural fat phobia. yeah ah And I'm going to talk a little bit about that structural fat phobia when we go to our first segment, Trends in Film.
Discussion on Fat Suit Representation
01:02:57
Speaker
right
01:03:40
Speaker
So fat suits are bad period yeah We're going to put a full stop on that one. In order to understand why, you need to understand that our society systematically oppresses, marginalizes, and dehumanizes fat people. I think that's fair to say. And if you're not on board with that concept, then understanding why fat suits are bad is going to be harder to pick up. But once you get that, it becomes pretty obvious.
01:04:08
Speaker
Fat suits take roles that could go to fat actors and gives them to straight-sized actors. There are no prosthetics that work the other way, and so fat people aren't able to steal roles from straight-sized people. And fat people are already underrepresented on screen.
01:04:24
Speaker
straight sized people using fat suits ah to portray fat people on screen consistently make the fat people look oafish slovenly and arguably inhuman the way that their bodies move, their skin looks artificial. A very dehumanizing thing to do in a depiction of a person that you are not and is treated shittily by society already. The suits make you move unnaturally. The facial prosthetics limit emotional range. Let's consider some iconic uses of fat suits on screen.
01:04:55
Speaker
You've got Mike Myers at fat bastard in Austin powers. The spy you shagged me. Nope. Not great. Any Murphy as the clumps in nutty professor and nutty professor too. And also in Norbit also wearing a fat suit. Yeah. Thumbs down to all those John Travolta and hairspray. Thumbs down. Ben Stiller and the end of dodgeball. Other thumbs down.
01:05:23
Speaker
Robert John Burke in thinner. It would be very difficult to tell the story without the use of a fat suit. But obviously Stephen King has a very problematic history with fat people in his work. and Okay. I'm going to, I'm just going to go ahead. I'm going to give this one a thumbs down Keenan Thompson in fat Albert. Obviously it's very hard to find an actor who is as fat as fat Albert, but I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to give that one a thumbs down as well.
01:05:54
Speaker
Even the most recent notable use of a fat suit, Brendan Fraser in the whale was largely considered insensitive, uh, at best by most fat rights activists, I want to say. Uh, so in conclusion, fat suits, not even once. Cosine, cosine, cosine, cosine.
01:06:19
Speaker
All right. So now that we have come out on the moral right side of Fett's, you know, let's move on to something a little more pleasant. And it's also, I think that while it's, while they're always, you know, while they're inappropriate for various reasons in this, there wasn't even any reason for this character to have no, ah no, to have the truth. yeah Like he did not. Yeah.
01:06:48
Speaker
He could have just either been, they could have just cast a fact actor. And for whatever reason, my brain immediately went to that guy from, I never watched modern family. What's his name? phil street I never watched it either. I mean, Eric stone street, very handsome, fat actor could have been him or you could not had him been fat in the fricking first place. It wasn't necessary. Like it just, the worst. Yeah, they, they did not.
01:07:18
Speaker
They did not crush it in terms of this. Get at me, Hollywood. Eric, Stone Street. Why isn't he in more stuff? It's true. That's the solution to this problem is we need more Stone Street. I agree. The other thing that we need is to transition to the next game, which is a win
Ryan Reynolds Trivia Game
01:07:36
Speaker
game. We're going to play a little wins going on.
01:08:36
Speaker
All right, so we're gonna do a little winds going on with the career of Mr. Ryan Reynolds. I'm going to give you the title of a film and a brief synopsis of the plot. And you will tell me if that movie came out before or after Just Friends, which came out in 2005 as a reminder. This was obviously in a transitional period of Reynolds' career, so I think it's a decent enough milestone.
01:09:05
Speaker
So, and you this is a ring-in game. You will ring in by saying your own name. There's no opportunities to steal. Okay. Question number one. Life. A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discover a rapidly evolving life form that caused extinction on Mars and now threatens all life on earth. Courtney. Courtney. After.
01:09:36
Speaker
Correct. Courtney's on the board. That came out in 2017. I watched it in a bathtub. Uh, no, but, um, Gyllenhaal's in it. Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I have a freak brain for movie trivia. I'm very sorry. I'm going to probably smoke you guys on this. That's fine. with a The, the gun that has been thrown to you. What do you mean? fucking greg I never intend to win a game. I just like to have fun.
01:10:05
Speaker
You've had a perfect game, Greg. Doesn't that sound fun? It didn't intend to have a perfect game. It just happened. that's I guess that's the only way. Question number two. Fireflies in the garden. The Taylor family is devastated by an accident that takes place on the day their matriarch is due to graduate from college decades after leaving to raise her children. Courtney. Courtney?
01:10:35
Speaker
Before.
01:10:40
Speaker
I'm sorry, that one was after. That was 2008. God. OK. OK. Question number three. A secret between friends. o Two friends keep their vomiting a secret until one of them almost dies. A secret between friends. I don't even know how to respond to this.
01:11:05
Speaker
Anna. Anna. Before. Correct. That was like a made for TV movie about bulimia. Afterschool special. a Yeah. He was not one of the two friends. Okay.
01:11:23
Speaker
Question number four. Mississippi grind.
01:11:29
Speaker
a down-on-his-luck gambler named Jerry, teams up with a younger poker player named Curtis for a gambling road trip across the South. Mississippi Grind. Greg? Greg. After. Correct, that is 2015. It is tied up at a- 2015? How about that? Yeah. Yeah, he played Curtis. Question number five.
01:11:58
Speaker
Ordinary Magic. A young boy is sent to live with his aunt in Canada, where he and his friends stage a hunger strike to save her house from being demolished to make room for a ski resort. Courtney. Ordinary Magic. Courtney. Before. Correct. That was 1993. I believe his screen debut. I should say, I bet he was a child in that. Yeah, that sounds like it. Yes, he was the young boy.
01:12:25
Speaker
Question number six, serving in silence, the Margarethe Commermeyer story.
01:12:34
Speaker
but The true story. ah do i need it I'm going to take that again from the top. Question number six, serving in silence, the Margarethe Commermeyer story.
01:12:48
Speaker
The true story of a decorated officer's legal challenge to her involuntary discharge when she admitted she was a homosexual. Serving in silence, the Margaretha Kummermeyer story. Okay. I'm sorry. I laughed at you Margaretha.
01:13:05
Speaker
Uh, Greg. We're laughing at your name. Greg. Before? Correct. That was 1995. I believe Glenn Close played Margaretha Kummermeyer. Okay.
01:13:20
Speaker
Question number seven. it's Yeah, it's fun to say, try it. Question number seven, the Adam project. Oh, Courtney. Please wait until I've read the entire question.
01:13:36
Speaker
I'm sorry, I have a very good reason why I knew this one, but please go ahead. Question number seven, the Adam Project. After accidentally crash landing in the present, time traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12 year old self for a mission to save the future. Courtney. After.
01:13:58
Speaker
Correct. How do you know that? Because I did review his wiki and I don't recall anything but that stupid fucking Adam project movie. I looked it up and I said, what? This is a recent film. And I could see that being like a last star fighter. That could be fun. Yeah. The Adam Project. It's a weird name. i Yeah.
01:14:29
Speaker
The Courtney Project. Question number eight. Tourist trap. A middle-aged father sets out on an RV trip with his family based on an old Civil War diary to follow in the footsteps of his great grandfather. Tourist trap. Anna. Anna? Before? That sounds like a kid movie.
01:14:54
Speaker
Correct. 1998. The middle aged father was played by Daniel Stern. How about that? He's in like a 500 movies. Yeah. What's funny is he has like 112 credits on his IMDB, something like that, but at least 50 of them are Deadpool related short films. Oh my God. Okay. All right. The last one, you can either tie it up with Courtney or Courtney, you can close the book on your competitors.
01:15:22
Speaker
huh
01:15:26
Speaker
Bolt Neck. A student receives a serial killer's brain and a transplant after being thrown into a pool with no water in it. Bolt Neck. I'm going to try for the win here. Okay, Courtney. Before. Yay. Correct. That was 2000. 2000? Oh my God. He was already on that pizza place show at that point. He didn't need to be in Bolt Neck.
01:15:52
Speaker
Well, I mean, when you get to work with Joey Lawrence's brother, uh, yes, as bolt neck. My sister has a huge crush on him. Well, Joey, but Matthew, does yeah, we we should invite them on and we can talk about bolt neck. I would love to watch bolt neck and talk to my sister would love that. All right. Listeners keep an eye out.
01:16:18
Speaker
ah With that, are you guys ready to move on to our final segment, the Batty Awards?
Batty Awards and Conclusion
01:16:23
Speaker
Yay. I sure am. Mm-hmm.
01:16:49
Speaker
Congratulations to all the nominees!
01:16:57
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to all our nominees. It's the Batty Awards. Does anybody want to go first? I'll go first. Oh, okay, my love. What is your Batty Award? Well, it's another from my ongoing series. Hey, this guy was on Supernatural!
01:17:17
Speaker
Gary on that way, Winston. And this time, shout out goes to Ty Olson as Tim. He, e of course, played the vampire Benny the feet in Supernatural. OK. He is currently engaged to DJ Qualls. They met and fell in love with the Supernatural convention.
01:17:46
Speaker
and Yeah, that's very sweet. It is very sweet. Yeah, Mazel Tov, you too. Well, I will give my bet. My bad award is going out to, ah this is the Jersey Tomato Award for the most New Jersey scene I'd seen in a while where Chris was in New Jersey and the soundtrack was playing the song Hackensack by the band Fountains of Wayne, named after a fountain store in Wayne, New Jersey.
01:18:21
Speaker
yay The original name of fountains of Wayne was the wall flowers. Oh, I can see why they might have had to just just bought it from him. Smart. job Really? Yeah. Get that Dylan money. Hell yeah. Way to go, brother. Fountains of Wayne is a way better name anyway. It's true. It's true. Well.
01:18:40
Speaker
Greg, do you have a bad idea? Yeah. So I struggle a little with this one due to my distaste for the film. Uh, but I will say this, I'd like to give my tip of the cap award to Julie Haggerty, just cause I'm always excited to see her. And as soon as that door popped open and it was her, I was like, Hey, I like you. So Julie Haggerty, I tip my cap to you.
01:19:05
Speaker
All right. um Chris kind of stole my thunder because I was going to do it. I really got into fountains of Wayne over the summer and Hackensack is like an on repeat song for me. Nice. Yeah. So another big part of the reason I was like, wow, this movie has some stuff going on. um So i off the top of my head, here's my award. ah My baddie is the 30% more award. Courtney's 30% more. This movie needed 30% more Anna Faris.
01:19:33
Speaker
e that probably could have bumped it to almost a four star rating for me. Everything should have 30% more Anna Ferris. She's fantastic. and she is Yes. yeah And it's, it's so strange that she never really had like a vehicle that I feel was worthy of her. Never. You know what I mean? What the hell? Anna, get at me. I will figure it out for you. Yes. You need to stop being a position player and get in the spotlight girl. Yeah. ah She deserves it. Bet you've rejected a producer.
01:20:05
Speaker
Probably. yeah I mean, not to be a bummer, but like... That sounds right. She's doing her principles, and she's also very, very funny, which means she's smart enough to not go for that kind of crap. Yeah. Well, we still salute you, Anna Faris, and we salute you listeners. You've made it to the end of the show. Congratulations. Courtney, thank you so much for coming this week. It was great to see you, and it's great to talk about this movie for our holiday special.
01:20:32
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you. I had a fabulous, fabulous time. Do you have anything that you want to plug? I'm trying to do a sub stack and I'm not doing a very good job at it. So I can't really plug that. um We'll still put it in the show notes. Okay. Thank you. Plug my sub stack. You have the link.
01:20:53
Speaker
um The other thing I wanted to say was like this week has been not good for obvious reasons. um e So Chris mentioned earlier in the show, I'm an HR specialist. I work at a very cool, very forward-thinking place. It's a nature conservancy. It's a local nature conservancy in Delaware, not to dox myself. But I do want to say, if you are feeling really like, what do I do? Where do I start? um Check out.
01:21:22
Speaker
you know Google like local neighbor nature conservancies or gardens or somewhere like that that is in your community. If you're an introvert like me and you don't really want to like maybe you feel a little shy or whatever, you can like go to a garden and plant some seeds or take a class. The place where I work, their mission is all about preserving native habitats and wildlife and plants. and They teach a lot of classes and the future generations are very top of mind for them.
01:21:51
Speaker
So I am lucky enough to work somewhere like that, but places like that do need a lot of help. Um, so if you want to help, you know, conserve your, your local wildlife and habitat, um, do a little Googling and and check that out and, uh, and take a look around and see what you think and see if you want to help them. I believe in Wichita, that would be the Great Plains Nature Center. Oh, see. Nice. It sounds like a very similar place. Yeah.
01:22:21
Speaker
Which attends, you've got your marching orders. Other listeners, go and investigate your local Nature Conservancy. Now is a time more than ever to think global and act local. That's right. Thank you.
Gratitude and Next Episode Preview
01:22:36
Speaker
I am going to shout out something much more selfish. Us! Hey! If you're still listening, that means you listened to an entire episode of this show. I bet you know it was pretty good.
01:22:50
Speaker
Uh, and I bet you'll want to come back next week when we'll be talking to Mallory Rhine about The Balcony movie I have not seen and nor am I familiar. Yeah, me either. But other things that you can do, obviously you can give us that five stars. If not you, then who? That's a real question.
01:23:12
Speaker
You can follow, you can subscribe, you can leave a comment. Any of those things that help us beat that algorithm, help us beat that AI that says we're better than any computer, that really helps. And obviously telling a friend is really great. All the time, when I show up at work and someone says, hey, what did you do this weekend?
Listener Engagement and Closing Greetings
01:23:34
Speaker
I can't think of a dang thing I did all weekend. What am I gonna say? I sat on the couch for nine hours, but hey, you could say,
01:23:42
Speaker
I listen to this podcast. You could tell your coworker about the podcast. You could tell your friend that you're catching up with for drinks about the podcast. It would mean the world to us. And ah if you want to keep abreast with what we've going on, you can email us at favorite bad movie pod at gmail dot.com. And if you do that, I can send you a link to our discord where you get lots of early announcements about shows. You can talk with other people who listen to the show. It's a fun little place to hang out.
01:24:10
Speaker
Uh, you can also find us on Instagram at your favorite bad movie pond. You can find us on the blue sky at favorite bad movie dot B sky dot social. And you can find us at your favorite bad movie podcast on YouTube, where I've been uploading little trailers I've been making for the show. You got to check them out. They're tons of fun. Uh, and I think, I think I've plugged everything. So until next time, happy holidays.
01:24:37
Speaker
Be good everyone to Goodbye hi Goodbye
01:25:05
Speaker
Means accepting people's flaws.