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I'm A Bird: The Notebook vs. A Walk To Remember
154 Plays1 year ago
It’s Valentine’s Day so Rock & Rob thought it would be a great time to bring some love to the show by passionately discussing The Notebook (2004) and A Walk To Remember (2002). See which Nicholas Sparks adaption will win their hearts as they get courted through seven rounds of questions such as ‘better moments’, ‘better soundtrack’ and ‘which movie ending made you feel more emotionally’. They are joined by a very special guest judge and sparks are flying so listen in while they talk about Valentine’s Day TV episodes, why Ryan Gosling can get away with doing almost anything and much more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Valentine's Traditions
00:00:00
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? Brothers don't shake hands.
00:00:11
Speaker
Brothers gotta hug. Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus. You sound like your friend London. I don't want your life. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. Okay, a simple wrong would have done just fine. Love is in the air, everybody, and this is the movie showdown with Rock and Rob. My name is Rob Mansfield, and with me, the only man I know that likes candy hearts, it's Alex Rockline. Call me.
00:00:39
Speaker
I actually have no clue if you like candy hearts, but I just wanted to find a way to talk about candy hearts. Do people actually eat those? I didn't think I actually ate those. Like candy corn. Do people actually eat those things? My kids weirdly eat candy corn. Oh, well, they're kids. That's fine. Adults. I'm talking to adults. Kids will eat anything.
00:00:56
Speaker
Candy hearts are a step above that. At least they're somewhat edible. I would agree. Yes. Yes. If you were to rank, no one eats. I think I would put candy hearts above candy
Romantic Movie Battle Introduction
00:01:06
Speaker
corn. It would be like candy corn, candy hearts, then the like weird heart candy that grandparents always used to have in their bags.
00:01:13
Speaker
oh the strawberry wrapping yep yep exactly i think dead last is going to be circus peanuts have you eaten circus peanuts well no i don't want to die i think they're just packaging peanuts yeah someone's like put them in a bag someone like these since it's valentine's day alex what does your typical valentine's day look like and remember we are a family show so keep it PG yeah
00:01:34
Speaker
You know, Valentine's Day has always been blah for us. We're just not very big into it. But I think my favorite Valentine's Day memory is back when we were in Massachusetts before we even had kids. And we're like, I feel like going out because everything's crowded, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do some takeout. There was a Vietnamese place down the road and we knew the people who owned it. So, you know, doorbell rings, we go to answer the door and the guy who's delivering it is the person we know. He was the owner. Yeah. He just kind of looked at us and he's like, what are you guys doing? It's Valentine's Day. And we're like, nah.
00:02:04
Speaker
It's not our thing.
Presentation of 'A Walk to Remember'
00:02:05
Speaker
And I think he judged us every day since then. Yeah. That's the extent really of of our Valentine's Day. Christa's birthday is the day after Valentine's Day. So I very early on in our relationship created a holiday called birth and tines day, which is a joint celebration. We still do things on both the days. But on Valentine's Day, much like you said, because everything is so crowded, we usually stay home and I will make a homemade pizza in the shape of a heart.
00:02:33
Speaker
And then for her birthday, we do different things every year. Very nice. Well, in honor of Valentine's Day, we wanted to bring the romance to our listeners. So this week, we decided to take two of the most romantic ish movies and battle them out.
00:02:50
Speaker
And those two movies are A Walk to Remember and The Notebook. Besides being romance movies, the connecting theme here is both of these are movies based off of Nicholas Sparks novels. Most people probably know this, but Nicholas Sparks is a romance novelist. He has had 23 novels, all New York Times bestsellers, and 11 of his books have been made into movies.
00:03:11
Speaker
Well Alex, talk to me about the movie you're representing this week. So this week I will be representing a Walk to Remember. Walk to Remember is about a nice Christian girl that turns a bad boy good through the power of songs, stars, and sweaters. Then they get married for the summer before she dies sadly of leukemia. And this is a romance movie?
00:03:31
Speaker
This movie was released January 25th. Ooh, January 25th,
Presentation of 'The Notebook'
00:03:34
Speaker
Rob. It's my birthday. 2002. Yeah, I didn't see it in theaters. Missed Opportunity. This movie was directed by Adam Shankman. I think he directed one of Wes's favorite movies. Yes, he is the director of Bedtime Stories. It was on Wes's top five list. He actually makes a cameo in this film as a nurse who was pushing Jamie out of the hospital room.
00:03:52
Speaker
Nice. This is written by Karen Jansen. This movie had a budget of $11.8 million and the box office brought in $47.5 million. A Walk to Remember has a Rotten Tomato score of 29%, but a Google audience score of 91%. And according to Google, this is a romance slash thriller. What part of this is thrilling? I don't know what the thriller aspect comes in. Like when they jump off the towel.
00:04:19
Speaker
Maybe full disclosure to not read the book. No, me neither. The book have more. I don't know. That's a weird one. Why can't it just be romance? Yeah. Drama. Whatever. Speaking of the book, it was set in the 1950s, but the movie, they changed it to current day to try to appeal more to the youths of the time. I would say it worked, making forty seven point five million. Yeah. Well, great. Well, I will be representing the notebook this week.
00:04:44
Speaker
Summary, if you ask your wife or girlfriend to think of the most romantic love story they could imagine, it would definitely be this minus the dementia. Released on June 25th, 2004, directed by Nick Cassavetes, which loyal listener to the show, Steve Olms, one of his favorite movies, John Q, was directed by Cassavetes.
00:05:04
Speaker
Written by Jeremy Levin, Jan Sardi, had a budget of $29 million and a box office of $117.8 million. Nice. Rotten Tomatoes, 54%. Google Audience, 85%, which is shocking to me. I don't know if I've really met anybody that doesn't like this movie.
00:05:22
Speaker
You're absolutely right. A Walk to Remember is six percent higher. Right. The notebook is the third film adaption of a Nicholas Sparks novel, but the book was actually his first one published, releasing in 1996.
Favorite Valentine's Day TV Episodes
00:05:34
Speaker
Oh, OK. Quick draft Valentine's Day TV episodes. I'll let you go first. Ready? Go. I will take Parks and Rec season two episode called Galentine's Day.
00:05:45
Speaker
I'm going to have to go friends. Season one, episode 14, the one with the candy hearts, Janice is back. Oh my God. And then I'm going to take The Office, season two, episode 16, titled Valentine's Day, that look from Pam to Jim at the end of the episode. Wow. They knew how to do a will they won't they?
00:06:10
Speaker
Is that the one where Phyllis gets all the stuff during the day? Yes. That's a great one. Okay, for my next pick, I am going to take Community Season Two, Episode 15, early 21st century romanticism. That's the one where Troy and Abed both kind of fall for the librarian and they're just kind of like respectfully battling it out against each other.
00:06:29
Speaker
All right, for my next pick, I'm going to dip into the office here and I'm going to take the episode entitled Blood Drive. Nice. Where there's a blood drive and Michael admits that he's been so nervous, he hasn't eaten for three days and then passes out. OK, I am going to take Modern Family Season One, Episode 15, My Funky Valentine, Clive Bixby and the trench coat. Is that where Clive Bixby makes his appearance? His first appearance? First one. Yep.
00:06:57
Speaker
And then I am going to take Boy Meets World, season five, episode 15, First Girlfriends Club. This is when three of Sean's ex-girlfriends kidnap him on Valentine's Day. I just watched it last night. It's a really good episode. That's a great episode. All right, let's go with Parks and Rec. Nice. Season four, I believe, episode entitled Operation Anne, where the gang is just trying to get Anne a date for Valentine's Day. It's a good episode. They're all great episodes. Yeah, they really are.
00:07:25
Speaker
And to close it out for me, you know what? Let's stick with Parks and Rec season six, another episode entitled Galentine's Day. For those of you not aware, Galentine's Day is the day before Valentine's Day, where Leslie throws a party with all the girls she knows. Did Parks and Rec create that? Yeah, yeah. And then this episode is Anne is leaving the show. And so she's kind of holding a contest to see who her next best friend is going to be.
00:07:49
Speaker
For my last pick, season one, episode 19 of The OC, titled The Heartbreak. This is when Seth and Summer finally get together. Let's go! Okay, that was fun. I know we've said it, but I love holiday-themed TV episodes. I did do too. It's fun when they kind of take something out. Okay, you ready to battle this out? I'm ready. Round one, best cast, take it away.
Connections to Other Shows
00:08:15
Speaker
All right, so Shane West, he plays Landon Carter. Krista told me that every girl was obsessed with Landon Carter, kind of that reformed bad boy. He had that late 90s, early 2000s, cool hot guy vibe. Can't say I remember that, but I'll take her word for it. I actually was talking to someone at work and they told me that they loved the name Landon because of this guy too.
00:08:35
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Also appearing alongside Shane West is superstar singer, songwriter, and actress Mandy Moore. She plays Jamie Sullivan. One of the comments she had on this film, she said, it was my first movie and I know people say it may be cheesy, but for me, it's the thing I'm most proud of. That's good. I don't like it when actors bash stuff that they were in, especially like early stuff.
00:08:57
Speaker
Embrace it. Yeah, and I thought she was great in this. She was. She's been in This Is Us, and then she was the voice of Rapunzel and Tangled. She's great. And she was only 17 when this movie came out, and Shane West was 23. I bought Shane West as a high school kid. Yeah. You know, sometimes I cast someone and you're like, you're way too old to be in this role. Yeah.
00:09:16
Speaker
But also during the film, she's sick. And so like as the film goes on, she gets sicker, but like subtly, they kind of like, you know, she's paler. Yeah, I thought they did a good job. But when you watch this knowing that she has like an illness, you can definitely tell little hints of things that they do with the makeup around her eyes and things of that nature gives off. She's still very pretty. But if you're looking for it, you can tell in certain scenes like, oh, she is
Iconic Lines and Music Comparison
00:09:42
Speaker
sick. Yeah, definitely.
00:09:43
Speaker
Also considered for this role were Anne Hathaway and Jessica Simpson. Interesting. Playing Landon's mom was Daryl Hannah. She's been in so much. Kind of too many to bring up, but if you check out her IMDB page, it's it's loaded with with credits. Yeah. How did you feel about his friend, Eric, played by Al Thompson? No hate on Al Thompson. He was just playing the role that was written. But that character is insane.
00:10:09
Speaker
I'm going to bring it up later with some of my issues with the high school stereotypes in this movie, but nobody acts like that. Yeah. It's like sometimes like, you know, you'll have friends who will like kind of be goofy, you know, joke around, but he is just always at that. You're just like, yeah, I get it. Like, okay. It's interesting because they did a good job of making all of the friends in that group deplorable.
00:10:29
Speaker
But then they tried to give this character a little bit of redemption at the end, but he was the most cartoonish of them all. Yeah. All he kept talking about was sexual stuff. I mean, he was just like that super horned up teen guy after like a couple of minutes of it. It was just too much. Yeah. And then like, yeah, at the end, they like he has like that really serious scene with them. Yeah. I wish they gave him a little more. Yeah. Yeah. That, you know, kind of like bring him back down to earth. But like you said, the other friends were
00:10:56
Speaker
They were just awful, but a terrible group of people. Also appearing in the film is great name, Peter Coyote. He plays Jamie's dad, also the pastor. And man, he was something else up there. Sunday mornings.
00:11:11
Speaker
He epitomized the Southern Baptist fire and brimstone pastor. I mean, in that opening scene that you meet him in and he's literally just calling people out from the pulpit. Yeah. That one scene where Jamie comes home from being with Landon and her dad is like, your behavior is sinful. He's a little too much like he's the overbearing dad, but then also the pastor. And it was just a lot of stereotypes thrown into one.
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah. And you could tell, like, that's just how they wanted it to be. You're going to be over the top on everything you do, everything you say, every scene you're in. Yeah. You know, by the end of the film, it's he's very different. You know, there are some nice moments there near the end, but at the beginning, it's like, all right, I get it. Like, OK, he's the pastor. He did have the one funny scene where Landon's at the house for the first time and he's looking at Jesus on the crucifix. Yeah. Yeah. The dad kind of walks up behind him and he startled and he's like, oh, Jesus. And Jamie's dad says, nope, Jamie's father. Yeah.
00:12:07
Speaker
It's cheesy, but I kind of always liked moments like that. That's going to be you, Rob.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm all boys, so I feel like it'll be a little bit opposite. Yeah, maybe it'll be you, though. I mean, you know what? I think I think I'm going to like reinvent my personality. I'm going to be this character. All right. In the notebook, we have Ryan Gosling. Everybody knows who Ryan Gosling is, but I just want to shout out. Remember the Titans La La Land. He is also just Ken in the new Barbie movie. That's right. He has three Academy Award nominations. Ryan Gosling superstar actor.
00:12:41
Speaker
Nick Cassavetes wanted someone unknown and not handsome to portray Noah. Therefore, he cast Ryan Gosling in the role. Yeah, whenever I think of Ryan Gosling, I think of unknown and not handsome, right? I mean, even at that point, he was, I guess he wasn't huge, but he wasn't unknown. Right. But I don't think anybody would ever accuse him of not being handsome. Yeah, agreed.
00:13:02
Speaker
Gosling prepared for this role by living in Charleston, South Carolina for two months. He rode every morning and built furniture during the day. The kitchen table
Critique and Plot Analysis
00:13:10
Speaker
in the movie actually was built by Gosling. That's cool. We have Rachel McAdams as Allie. Rachel McAdams has been in so many good things.
00:13:19
Speaker
The same year that the notebook came out, she was also the star of Mean Girls, which really shows her range. She also spent some time in Charleston before filming and hired a dialect coach and took ballet and etiquette classes. Really threw herself into this role, but it worked because she was excellent. She was.
00:13:36
Speaker
So Gosling was Cassavete's only choice for the role of Noah, but before he took over directing duties, Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Justin Timberlake were also attached to the project, but eventually backed out. George Clooney was also approached earlier for the role of Noah, with Paul Newman going to be the older version of the character, but none of that worked out.
00:13:57
Speaker
Jessica Beale, Ashley Judd, Reese Witherspoon and Britney Spears were all up for the part of Ali. And Britney Spears audition footage was actually put on sale on eBay for one million dollars in May of 2021. I imagine if we had a Mandy Moore, Britney Spears matchup in this one, that would have been pretty interesting. I don't imagine Britney Spears could have carried this movie the way Rachel McGathey could have. I don't think so either. Look at those names, too, involved. I always like the what if, like who it could have been. Yeah, this is a good one.
00:14:24
Speaker
Out of all of those names, Reese Witherspoon could have done it well. Yeah, I think so, especially like considering her role in Sweet Home Alabama. Maybe that's why she was considered. I mean, Rachel McAdams is perfect. I wouldn't change it at all. But Reese is a phenomenal actress, too. We have James Garner as Old Noah. Gosling actually wore brown contacts throughout the movie to match Garner's eye color. Gosling has blue eyes. Gina Rollins plays Old Allie. This is actually director Nick Cassavete's mom. Ooh.
00:14:54
Speaker
That's fun. Yeah. We have James Marsden as Lon. Every time I watch this movie, I always feel bad for Lon. I do too. He's not a bad guy. He's like pretty cool, smooth, charismatic. I felt like James Marsden had a run there where he was always playing the like second fiddle guy. Lon was like super cool through this movie. You know, he almost reminded me of was Patrick Dempsey in Sweet Home Alabama. Yeah. Where, you know, like they split at the end and it's like kind of like amicable. Yeah.
00:15:23
Speaker
And you're like, okay. At least though, at the end of Sweet Home Alabama, they have that newspaper headline where you find out Patrick Dempsey's character ends up with somebody. Yeah. I like wanted Lon to end up with that widow Martha. Give those two characters some love. Come on. Sing with her. Yeah. Yeah. They're just such nice, cool people. A roof for them.
00:15:41
Speaker
I did too. And I mean, I get it. You know, you can't stand in the way of true love and everybody wants Noah and Ally together. And like I did too, but you still feel bad for these other people. Yeah. All right. What kind of connections do we have? Yeah. So Seinfeld and Friends, not really any connections here. So we're going to do a little pivot. We got a different, we'll call it connections corner tonight. Oh, love it. We have an entourage connection.
00:16:01
Speaker
which is very interesting. We know the show Entourage, HBO, very popular show. Vinny Chase in the show was actually credited as having a small supporting role in the movie, A Walk to Remember. In the fictional Entourage universe, Vinny Chase has an onset relationship with Mandy Moore during the filming of A Walk to Remember. It's funny that they used A Walk to Remember as a major plot point for Entourage.
00:16:26
Speaker
It was like just obscure enough that it's like, yeah. Yeah. It makes it a little bit funnier. Okay. All right. That was cool. And then Kevin Connelly, who also appears in Entourage as Eric. They just call him E. He plays Finn. So Ryan Gosling's best friend in the notebook. Yeah. Yeah. That's like really his only two things, notebook and Entourage.
00:16:45
Speaker
And then I have one more, one more little connection here, and this isn't pretty interesting. Considering that both of these films have some sort of like health, medical plot points, I'm going to take two shows, ER and Grey's Anatomy, two of the biggest shows of the 90s, 2000s in terms of, you know, darker shows. Shane West actually was a full-time cast member on ER and then Mandy Moore appeared in, I believe, four episodes of Grey's Anatomy.
00:17:08
Speaker
OK, pretty interesting. Very cool. And Rachel McAdams plays a doctor in the Doctor Strange movies. There you go. Yeah. Look at that. And Ryan Gosling in Drive. He was a doctor of vehicular movements. He was just a doctor of cool in that movie. Yeah, that's what I got for my connection. I love it. I love it. Those are great. OK, I mean, I have what I think wins this. But let me hear your thoughts.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think this one is particularly close. I mean, I think Shane West and Mandy Moore had great chemistry. I think they did a great job in the movie. But I mean, the cast of The Notebook is just like, ooh, it's pretty elite. Mandy Moore is a superstar, and I will not discredit her for that. But I mean, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, they would beat most casts. It's very true. They played their parts perfectly.
00:17:56
Speaker
Yeah. Where you're cheering for them the entire time. You don't get annoyed by either of them. It would have been really easy to get annoyed by Ali's character. Mm hmm. And you never do. Agreed. They're an elite romantic couple powerhouse notebook taking round one, round two. Best line or moments.
00:18:16
Speaker
for a walk to remember we got the chemistry between Landon and Jamie's they had some good back and forth some good banter one scene I'm thinking of is when they're on the bus together kind of having some back and forth and then Landon like how do you know about that did you read it one of your precious books and the cut to the Bible and then he kind of like gives it like uh yeah he's like oh sorry like yeah my bad yeah your dad will bring that up in church on Sunday
00:18:41
Speaker
This part was really mean, but yeah, they're talking about like running lines later at school. She's like, well, I see you later. And he's like, yeah, he'll see me later in your dreams. Yeah. Who talks like that? Like it was so much. Yeah. She just kind of took it in stride. Like, all right. It did lead to a great moment when he did show up at her house later. Yeah. He's trying to play it off and like we could be secret friends. Exactly. Exactly. It's like you're reading my mind. Great. Um, maybe you could read mine.
00:19:11
Speaker
I love that part because so often you see people be jerks to people without any like consequences. It's nice to see her kind of stand her ground. I think that's the part in the movie where you're just like, this is not just like this poor helpless girl who's going to be taken advantage of.
00:19:27
Speaker
yeah yeah stand up for it and like i love that he thinks he's in the clear he's like oh yes like you get it and she's like she's basically like no you don't get it yeah i thought that was great and i do think like that's the point in the movie too where like i think a flip switches for him and he's like all right like i think i met my match here
00:19:44
Speaker
Oh, that's true. That's a good point. And then like even their first date, the part where they go, you know, she's got her list, her bucket list, essentially. Yeah. And one of them, she wants to be in two places at once. So he takes her to the border of North Carolina and Virginia and has her stand, you know, kind of straddling the state line. And he's like, hey, you did it two places at once. The first date scene is really good. I might kiss you. I might be bad at it.
00:20:09
Speaker
It's not possible. It's a good line. It's a great line. And then, you know, some funny parts when Jamie's like, are you trying to seduce me? And then Landon's like, why are you seducible? And she just like looks at him. He's like, that's what I thought. And then like, you know, he goes and names a star for her. Do you remember when like that? I feel like that was.
00:20:28
Speaker
bigger thing i do i feel
Emotional Endings Debate
00:20:30
Speaker
like that used to be a big thing and used to hear about it as like a big romantic gesture yeah i don't truly believe i would ever be able to find a star that i named for somebody so i would never do it but uh i'm sure some people can you take a left at that star and then you make a right at that star and it's like that dot that dot no no that dot no that dot no that dot yeah
00:20:48
Speaker
And then, of course, the big twist. She reveals that she has leukemia, not responding well to treatment. There's twists in both of these movies. We'll talk about it in a later section, but I just can't imagine seeing this movie for the first time, not knowing that twist is coming. Yeah, right. And then you're like, surely she will be healed by the power of God. Right.
00:21:05
Speaker
Right. Any other parts for you? I think like one of the bigger parts at the end when they get married is like, you know, such a big deal and like such a happy and really sad moment all at the same time. Well, it's like really, really happy. And then two seconds later, Jamie died at the end of that summer. Yeah, right. What? Oh, yeah, by the way, man, it's heavy.
00:21:27
Speaker
Well, the notebook is just filled with iconic moments. I will have to say up front, I'm not a big fan of the old people part of the notebook. You're not really going to hear me talk about things that I love from that aspect of it. But I love the opening scene where Noah first meets Ali. They're at the carnival. Life just seemed simpler in the 40s. It really does. Made me a little nostalgic. I mean, can you be nostalgic for a time that you weren't alive in? I don't know. Forty seemed cool up until the part where it was like, oh, then you had to go to war. Yeah, same.
00:21:56
Speaker
But that Ferris wheel scene is so good. Noah just like jumps onto the Ferris wheel and then that guy's yelling at him. He's like, I'll pay you when I get down, Tommy. It just like shows that little like small town vibe, which I think was really effective that he's just like hanging from the Ferris wheel, which is insane. It's insane. But that whole conversation with them when he's like begging her to go out with him.
00:22:18
Speaker
Okay, okay, fine, I'll go out with you. No, don't do me any favors. No, no, I want to! You want it? Yes! Say it. I want to go out with you! Say it again. I want to go out with you! All right, all right, we'll go out with you. Their banter is so funny, and maybe I just feel like it's because I feel like Krista and I have similar banter with each other. It resonates with me, but it's really good. Probably the most famous line from this movie.
00:22:47
Speaker
Now say you're a bird too. If you're a bird, I'm a bird. Kind of beautiful. I don't think like an average person can pull off saying something like that. But when you have like a movie soundtrack behind you and you look like Ryan Gosling and everything is like building up, like you can say it and like melt people. Yeah. But I feel like if I tried to say something like that, Christo would have just been like, cool. And I will be going bird hunting.
00:23:16
Speaker
Well, this is where I get off. But still, iconic line. There's a small scene when he is trying to sell the house, and I think it's just funny, but I want to point it out because the house is listed for $45,000, which is just like, what has happened? I understand inflation. I get it. All you economics people out there, you don't have to explain it to me. But that's ridiculous. I can't even imagine. No, that's the price of a new car right now. I just can't.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to I don't want to hear that. Oh, well, you know, like it that equals present day. No, no, it doesn't. No, I don't hear it. Obviously, we got to point out probably one of the most iconic romantic scenes in the history of movies. And that's when they're on the boat. They're rowing. It starts pouring. They're sitting there laughing. I don't think I would have been laughing on the boat when lightning is striking the back. Lightning is what did it for me. I mean, it's like hurry a little bit. Yeah. But they're getting drenched. They get onto the
Trivia and Fun Facts
00:24:10
Speaker
dock and then it happens.
00:24:12
Speaker
You wrote me. I wrote you 365 letters. I wrote you every day for a year. You wrote me? Yes. It wasn't over. It still isn't over.
00:24:29
Speaker
Commence lovemaking scene. It's a great scene because it has it has the buildup and the payoff. I mean, it's like the cover of the movie or the poster. And I feel like even if you haven't seen that movie, you know that scene. Yeah, I really like their argument scene kind of after that when, you know, she's telling him she doesn't know what to do and.
00:24:47
Speaker
Stay with you. What for? Look at us. We're already fighting. Well, that's what we do. We fight. You tell me when I'm being an arrogant son of a ... Tell you when you're being a pain in the ass. Which you are. 99% of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. They have like a two second rebound rate and you're back doing the next pain in the ass thing. It's really good.
00:25:05
Speaker
it's so funny it is the rebound rate thing is so good and i honestly i'd rather see a couple like that than people who are just like dreamy all the time yeah it doesn't seem way more real and reliable where you're like i don't think i'd ever say that but you know like that's where you and i differ though because i definitely would say that
00:25:24
Speaker
and then get punished later for it but uh but yeah you're better at not saying everything that pops into your head and i am more of a oh you want to take it there let's go anyway happy valentine's day christine
00:25:41
Speaker
One of the things that just like sells me on Rachel McAdams in this movie though is when she decides on Noah and she shows back up. She's holding the suitcases and just does like the little shrug. It's so good. So great. I like that too. I know it's so simple. I realized as I was watching this though again, I'm like, how many times have I seen this movie? Because so many things that I say in my everyday life, I like forgot were from this movie when they're at like the lake or whatever and Noah's like,
00:26:07
Speaker
Get in the water. I say that all the time. If I'm in a pool trying to convince my kids to get in, just like, get in the water. All right. I'm using that this summer. And then after their ravenous night of love, he's talking about wanting breakfast. He's like, some pancakes and some bacon.
00:26:25
Speaker
and thumb chicken. I say that all the time too. Not in that situation, but if I'm like, oh, I want some pancake, I say it like that. I think I've seen this movie probably too many times and I just didn't realize it, but I brought that up to Krista and she was like, well, yeah, it makes sense. We didn't have streaming when we were back in college. This was one of her favorite movies.
00:26:42
Speaker
and I think she owned it. So yeah, we watched it all the time in college. It just becomes part of your lexicon scene with Happy Gilmore and Tommy Boy. You watch a movie enough, you start repeating that. Without even thinking, yeah, absolutely. You know what scene I do love is when
00:26:58
Speaker
she's trying on her wedding dress and everyone's going crazy. And then she sees a newspaper article with him in front of the house and she faints. And then the next scene just cuts to her like in a bathtub with the veil still on. Yeah. Yeah. That is a really good scene. Yeah. Plays into the story. I mean, it's just like, you want this payoff to be seen. And then it's like, that's how she finds out. And there was this whole thing. He thought like, I'll build the house and then she'll come back. I'll win her back, which played a big part in it.
00:27:22
Speaker
I love the banter and some of the lines in A Walk to Remember. And it's fun. It's a fun high school movie. Sure. But I don't even think this is close. No. The notebook has some of the most iconic romantic movie scenes in the history of romantic movies. I think we got to give this to the notebook in a landslide. Yeah, I do, too. It's so hard when there's there's just so many. I feel like even if it had just the scene in the rain, even that scene enough is like, I mean, like I said, everybody knows that scene, even if you haven't even seen the notebook.
00:27:49
Speaker
Well, cool. Okay. Notebook takes a two to nothing lead heading into round three. Better title or soundtrack.
00:27:58
Speaker
A walk to remember the band that's featured throughout the movie is Switchfoot. How do you feel about Switchfoot? I'm a big Switchfoot fan. Loved them growing up and forgot that they were so prominently featured in this movie. And when I was watching it and the first Switchfoot song comes on, I perked up a little bit. I was like fired up for it. And I've honestly, since I watched this movie, I've been on a Switchfoot kick, but Switchfoot is fired.
00:28:23
Speaker
to move, learning to breathe, elite songs. Funnily enough, I have a Switchfoot story, one of my closest friends and a loyal listener to the show, Justin Ellis. So his wife, Charissa, the Foreman Brothers, who are two of the members of Switchfoot, actually babysat her growing up.
00:28:42
Speaker
And when Justin and I were working in admissions at Gordon, they used to do this like Christian music festival up in New Hampshire. And Gordon was a pretty big sponsor of it. And so one of the years Justin and I were working it and we were tasked with going and picking up some of the bands from the airport. And so I drove down and picked up Third Day, which was cool. But Justin went the next day to pick up Switchfoot.
00:29:07
Speaker
And so he's talking to them because they had this connection with his now wife. They were just dating at the time. And Justin had this big elaborate plan. He was going to propose to Charissa a little later that summer. And for some reason, he decided to tell Swishfoot all about his plan. But he's like, it's a surprise. Like she doesn't expect this at all.
00:29:27
Speaker
So then, Sharissa and Justin drive them after their show back to their hotel. And when they're saying goodbye, Tim Forman, one of the band members, turns to Sharissa and he says, so good to see you and congratulations. And Justin said, everybody just went dead silent.
00:29:44
Speaker
He was like John Foreman, the lead singer was just like staring daggers at him. And he said that Tim realized what was going on and then tried to play it off like, you know, like on finishing everything you've been doing and college and all that stuff. I don't think she picked up on it after I think she was just like, Oh, that was weird. Yeah.
00:30:05
Speaker
That's fun. I want to meet them. Maybe we'll get them on the podcast. Who knows? Yeah. So the reason they got onto this film was because Mandy Moore, she was a huge fan of them, but they didn't know who she was. Which is surprising. But then the lead singer, who you just mentioned, John Forman, actually recorded a duet with Mandy Moore. Someday we'll know. Good song. And she also sings one of their songs in the movie called Only Hope. That is a fire song. It's kind of crazy. They literally play the entire song.
00:30:29
Speaker
during the play. It's a little long, but it's good. I sung the entire song when it came on that scene. In the movie? Yeah, I sung the whole thing. I had the subtitles on, so I got all the words right. And I'm just belting it out. It was probably 9, 30, 10 o'clock at night, and I'm just no regard to my children sleeping, just singing. I love that song. If you woke them up, then it's like, hey, listen, this is an important song.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's true. Let me see if you notice something when Jamie and Landon are in the car. Jamie's driving and he keeps switching the radio station and she keeps switching it back. Did you hear who she was listening to? No, who was it? She was listening to Mandy Moore.
00:31:07
Speaker
So maybe more exists in this universe. I love it, man. It was pretty ballsy of him to keep just changing the radio in that scene. Yeah, they weren't there yet. No. Yeah, they had some other, you know, 90s ish songs to some new radicals were in there. Get your freak on for like 10 seconds. Yeah, that was good. Even heard some dancing in the moonlight. It was a good soundtrack. Yeah, good soundtrack. I'd say pretty solid.
00:31:28
Speaker
Notebook has like one song in it. It's the I'll be seeing you the score is nice. It sets the tone I used to include that I'll be seeing you song on like a ton of the playlist I used to make for Krista Oh, yeah, that's a that's a classic playlist song for someone you are pursuing
00:31:43
Speaker
But I mean, in general, that's really it. But let's talk about the title. Why is it called A Walk to Remember? Actually, I have some information about this. Let me hear it. It's actually more of a plot point in the book than it is in the movie. So go all the way to the end of the movie where they're having their wedding. You know, we're number one on our list to get married in the church that her parents got married at. In the book, she's weak. She's in a wheelchair, but she insists on walking down the aisle so that her father could give her away.
00:32:08
Speaker
which is part of the dream that she has. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She said she wants to walk down. Yeah. Yes. And then Landon remembers and he's thinking it was the most difficult walk anyone ever had to make in every way a walk to remember. Wow.
00:32:23
Speaker
It seems like that would have been a good part to include. Like I know the wedding was supposed to be like the pinnacle of, you know, it's number one on our list, but I feel like it was just such a minor little detail. Yeah. It went like pretty quick. I guess like a lot of people probably who are seeing this were already familiar with the story in the book. So maybe the title made more sense, but for someone who hasn't read the book. Yeah. Yeah. I have to do some digging. So Abby sent me that one. She was like,
00:32:46
Speaker
I have some information and I was like, that's a good one. Well, for the notebook, I understand why it's called the notebook. It's because that's what he's reading out of. I don't think it fits. Like, I wouldn't change it. I'm sure the book goes into more detail on that too. I don't know. I wouldn't really call what he was reading out of a notebook. Same. Yeah, I know. It is an interesting title. Like, even like, I don't know, the diary doesn't really sound right. I mean, the notebook as a title sounds great. Yeah. But in terms of tying it into the reason why it's called the notebook, I'm just like, it falls a little flat.
00:33:15
Speaker
Yeah, no, I totally agree. Yeah, just like in a vacuum, great sounding name, but like, I just don't think it does justice to the story. Like I said earlier, the old people part of this movie doesn't do it for me. And when you're calling this the notebook, it's almost putting the emphasis on that part of the storyline. Yeah.
00:33:34
Speaker
When like when I feel like everybody thinks of the notebook you think of them as younger people You almost wish there was some scene or scenes where like she's writing stuff down like as it's yeah I don't know something like that. I would say like title wise I like what you had said about a walk to remember that makes more sense I don't know if it fits for the movie, but it definitely makes sense coming from the book music score soundtrack wise I can't
Final Verdict and Closing Remarks
00:34:00
Speaker
go against the walk to remember in this
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah, me too. I think it plays such a big role in the whole movie. Yeah. It's hard to go against a locked-room member for this category.
00:34:08
Speaker
All right, The Notebook has a two to one lead going into round four. Before we jump into round four, we have a very, very special Valentine's Day guest with us today. You know her pretty well. I know her as your better half. Let's welcome to the show, one of my oldest friends, Abby Rockline. Hey, Ab. Where are you? Are we in the same house right now? Yes, we are. I'm just downstairs.
00:34:35
Speaker
This is my author. It's very nice. When you said that I'm one of your oldest friends, I realized I think I met you before you and Alex met actually. We definitely did. Abby lived in the same dorm as Krista and Abby, the pride of Connecticut, Krista and I used to watch Gilmore Girls and Abby walking past the room once heard it and was like, oh, I'm actually from like one of the, you're from like one of the towns that it's based on, right?
00:35:05
Speaker
There's two towns that they argue over who it's based on. I think the creators have since said that it was Washington Depot that they made the show after. It's just a town over from where I grew up, which is New Milford, but we both have very similar downtowns with gazebos. I remember I kept hearing the Gilmore Girls theme song down the hall, and I finally was like, I need to go meet whoever this is. I don't think I expected to see you in there, Rob.
00:35:31
Speaker
It wasn't even there. It was just Rob. It was just me. It was in there, but I was really surprised. You play a TV show over and over again, and this was before streaming, so you couldn't skip the opening theme song. Just listen to it over and over again. Whatever that theme song is, right? Yeah, there we were watching Gilmore Girls, and the other crazy thing, we've known each other for half of our lives. Yeah. When you break it down like that, it's so weird. 17 years.
00:35:59
Speaker
17 years. I know. Insane. I was 18 when I met Krista and you. Alex and I met. You were 19 when we met because I remember your 20th birthday. We were just friends though. Yep, just friends as you still remind me.
00:36:15
Speaker
We had a nice long run where I really held off there before I finally was like, well, he's not going away. You guys had a nice good love story though. Alex was in the friend zone, but kept at it and through his resiliency, finally broke through. I was hanging on that Ferris wheel.
00:36:34
Speaker
I always give a little credit to your mom though. I don't know if it would have happened had I not met your mother. I almost dated Alex after meeting his mom. She's a creeper. We've all lived at her house before. I know she's going to listen to this episode. Yeah. Well, we are very excited to have Abby be the first wife represented on the show. Honestly, if I'm being true, probably the only wife that will ever be represented on this show.
00:37:00
Speaker
I tried to sell Krista on coming on and she has told me on a number of occasions, I have to hear you talk enough in my life. I don't need to do it for a podcast setting, but maybe one day. But so, Abby, we have a score of two to one. The notebook is leading heading into round four. Plot holes, cringiness, random questions. We are excited to have you as our guest judge here. So let's jump into it.
00:37:28
Speaker
Can anybody explain to me why Landon's punishment involved him being a part of the school play? I wondered that too. I was like, really? That's a punishment? The principal's like, we can't suspend you, but we can make you be in the theater. But what? I also had an issue with like, I don't know how theater was for your schools, but like a lot of people tried out for the plays and the musicals. Like, no, no one would have gone for that. That's not fair.
00:37:53
Speaker
I think even more ridiculous was that he was assigned the lead in the play. Just assigned, no auditioning. He shows up, he has a terrible reading audition, and the teacher's like, I see something in this guy. Let's make him the lead. He's never acted before in his life. I would have been more inclined to believe it if they were like, you're going to help build the sets. I feel like that's always good. Hard labor, they could always use more help.
00:38:18
Speaker
Actually, that would have made sense. Your punishment is you're building the sets for the screenplay. Anyway, Alex, you had mentioned you really liked the being in two places at once scene, which is a great scene. However, Beaufort, North Carolina, which is where this movie is set, is actually nowhere near the Virginia state line. It literally couldn't be further away.
00:38:38
Speaker
from the Virginia state line or any of the state lines. So it would have definitely been tough for them to get to that part of the state in one night. Couldn't they just have gone to like the neighboring town and been like you're in two towns. That would have made way more sense. Jump into cringiness. I mentioned earlier, but the high school stereotypes in this movie are just really bad. The friend Eric is like so cartoonish, just that whole friend group in general. There's such a-holes that it's not believable that anybody would like them.
00:39:07
Speaker
Which doesn't make it bad for the movie. I just like pointing out dumb high school stereotypes. I noticed this in this movie. I've seen it in a ton of other movies. It really doesn't take anything away, but I just want to point it out. I don't know about you guys. I've never seen cheerleaders just like practicing cheer routines in the front of the school. Right. And there's no, there are no mats while they're practicing either. They're just like on the hard ground. That's how good they are. They practice so much. They don't need the mats.
00:39:32
Speaker
Alex, there's always a through line of us talking about how it always is just shocking to me when girls just throw themselves at guys in these high school movies. And I feel like that part of the storyline was just not fleshed out, not Mandy Moore, the other random girl. They did allude to them being in a relationship previously. Oh, that's true. When he dropped her off and he said, I told you it's over. But then I was like, what happened?
00:39:55
Speaker
Yeah, I don't feel like high school guys. Okay, this is probably stereotypical But if a girl even if they were like not into them anymore was like my parents aren't home I feel like he would go for it like regardless. I always think that yeah
00:40:08
Speaker
I feel like he wouldn't care. I feel like afterwards he'd be like, by the way, not emotionally invested in this. Maybe they were trying to make him seem like not as horrible of a person, but he's definitely doing that. He's like, all right, sure, let's get after it. It was still in that time in the movie where he was still being a jerk. He hadn't yet softened his ways.
00:40:28
Speaker
I agree. They're in the play. She's singing the song and then he like ad libs and just kisses her. I don't think anybody's doing that. No one made a comment, though, did they? The kid that wrote the play did. Oh, yeah. OK. I don't know if he commented on the kiss specifically, but he was like, oh, you kind of went off book there a little bit or something. That's another one, too. How did he get the right to play? I don't know.
00:40:47
Speaker
Also, that play wasn't just a big plot hole for me. I didn't understand what was happening. It was about some guy that was running alcohol, but then all of a sudden he's making out with lounge singers. I couldn't figure it out. And dreaming about her. And then somehow she was singing. It didn't make any sense to me.
00:41:04
Speaker
I also don't think they're like performing a play that a kid wrote. They're probably just like, let's do cats again or something. The teacher was like, she seemed to know the ins and outs of it. Like, oh, this is how you have to play this role. I also struggled with that scene where she kept like pushing their faces around and their arms. I've been in musicals and never once did I have like the director like physically moving my face and like my arms like that. I was like, that's a little bit much for me. Yeah.
00:41:33
Speaker
You're right. I do think the play was just one bottle. Alex, this one's for you. The whole Photoshop scene. Yeah. They made it seem like these people spent hours and hours on this Photoshop and I couldn't remember the payoff. And so then when you finally see what the picture looks like. Yeah. And it's the worst Photoshop job.
00:41:52
Speaker
so bad in the history of photoshop like first off one it wasn't even a good joke no it wasn't funny at all but two it's a black and white face on like a pin-up girl's body and it literally looked like they just like cut it out with scissors and like glued it off it was ridiculous like it wasn't like oh so realistic like look at these photos she takes yeah no no as a professional designer i know that one must ate you up a little bit yeah i was a little jealous of their skills i was like
00:42:19
Speaker
I also felt it was a little cringy. Every time Landon called Jamie, baby, baby, baby, I'm sorry. Yeah, it just like really stood out to me like, oh, they like weren't dating yet. He just was calling her baby. That time was like right after the photos. And I was like, wait, you have not even gotten the date yet. It's aggressive. It was aggressive. Yes. Every time you said it, even after that, it didn't fly for me.
00:42:45
Speaker
It was no good. She didn't come off to me as a no. Like, I feel like he would have had a different name for her. I don't agree. All right. Some random questions. I don't understand what the deal was with all of the hate for the sweater that she wore. Like, I get it. She had one sweater and I kept waiting for it to come back. Like, oh, it was her mom's sweater or something, but it didn't. She just had a sweater that she wore and they made fun of her for. And it's like, cool. Are we just making fun of people for being poor? Like, I don't know. I wouldn't put a nice sweater to like, it was
00:43:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was. I actually thought it was nicer than the one that he gave her late. That one looked a little cheaper to me, if we're being honest. He shows up and he's like, oh, I got you a gift and it's another sweater. And it's like, I don't think the issue was that... I don't think she couldn't get another sweater for herself. And then she wore that sweater all the time. She's a minimalist is what it is. She was ahead of her time.
00:43:39
Speaker
If I knew that I was potentially dying, I probably wouldn't want to waste time thinking about what to wear every day, too. Fair. Yeah, that's very true. Here, this is my biggest question. Is A Walk to Remember a Christian movie? They have a Christian soundtrack. They speak a lot about faith in it.
00:43:57
Speaker
I mean, I have a hard time with that one because the dad who's the pastor was rough. If that's how we're representing Christians, I have a hard time with that. This kid's gotten into some trouble. If you date him, you're a sinner. I don't know. But I do switch foot darts of clay. We're in there. I don't know. It definitely had Christian themes. Yes.
00:44:21
Speaker
I would say it was more of like a feel good love story with heavy Christian themes. It's more of a romance. It felt like it was written by someone who maybe like was a every Sunday church goer, not necessarily someone was like trying to make it a faith based movie. It does. We've been speaking of the Christian part of it. I have a plot hole that really bothered me. Oh, tell me.
00:44:44
Speaker
When she tells him that she has leukemia, she says, I found out two years ago I had leukemia and now the doctors are saying nothing works. We all grew up in church. If someone in the church found out they had leukemia, what is the first thing that would happen? Especially the pastor's daughter. He would get up there on Sunday and tell everybody that his daughter was sick and they would all be praying for her.
00:45:06
Speaker
and his mom went to that church. So I'm like, there's no way that all of a sudden everybody's just finding out now that she's dying. Like it's a small town. I would assume someone who went to church was at the hospital she was at. People would know she was sick from treatment. Wow. No one would have been keeping that under apps.
00:45:26
Speaker
That is so valid, especially like, I mean, her dad was calling out everything from the party. Two years is a long time to keep that. Every pastor that I've ever met really strongly believes in the power of prayer. So like, they're having everybody, they're being prayer warriors for sure. Wow, that's a good plot point.
00:45:43
Speaker
Alex, what do you got for the notebook? Plot holes. I mean, there's not really not many in the notebook. One that kind of comes top of mind is, so Ryan Gosling's character, Noah, sends 365 letters. So one every day. And every single one of them got intercepted. Like you would think like at some point, either she would see one or she would check the mail. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. She didn't get the mail once in 365 days.
00:46:07
Speaker
And also like he knew where she lived. Why didn't he just go there? I think that's a better point. He could have gone to New York. He could have gone to where she lived. Like after like the 100th unreturned letter. Yeah. Aren't you just going up and being like, Hey, your fingers broke. Like what's going on? Or why didn't she write him a letter?
00:46:23
Speaker
Yeah, that bothered me. Like when she was like, you never wrote, neither did you like you knew exactly where it was. Yeah, that's not a one way. Like, I would have tried writing to the school like I know he didn't know her address at school, but he knew where she was going. So like, why was he still sending the letters to her house when he knew she was like way up in New York?
00:46:44
Speaker
Great point. Basically, if he would have tried a little harder. Or if she had put in any effort whatsoever. Yeah, any, any effort at all. You watch me cry myself to sleep every single night. Well, like, then do something about it. Right, right. Something that's cringy, it's being of the mom too, when she takes Allie out to that job site and she's like, yeah, see that guy over there? Like, I used to, we were in love. And I come and check on her every so often. It's like,
00:47:09
Speaker
Why? Oh, is that weird? Is that weird? Should you not be doing that? Oh, yeah. Well, no, if you do it, it's fine, but- I mean, check what Chris saw on that one. I don't know what that was. No, it was like olden times Facebook stalking, but she just went and did it in person and watched him. She totally saw her too. She was driving a very nice car, a convertible, and she just kind of parked behind some gravel. For sure, people noticed her.
00:47:33
Speaker
I love how the mom had to like clarify to Ali. She was like, he might not look like anything now, but back in the day, he was like, I don't think she was questioning that. She wasn't judging you on your game of the level of man that you're looking at anyway. All right. Just some random questions here. So they go to the plantation and they hook up there with all the candles in there. Oh yeah. That seems like a bad idea. The house is burning down. When did they light all those candles?
00:47:58
Speaker
They show him carrying like two candles to this house, but then they go in there and the house is like fully lit up. I don't know. We've lost power a couple of weeks ago and we're like lighting candles. It would take like a hundred to illuminate a house at that level. Yeah. In that scene when they're undressing, it's really, really awkward. But is it also kind of realistic, like how they would have done it? Yeah. They go like piece by piece.
00:48:23
Speaker
I do think they captured the awkwardness of the first time very well in that moment. I will say if I looked like Ryan Gosling, I probably wouldn't mind going piece by piece like I feel real confident in myself. So the ending in the streaming version is different. They cut out the nurse at the end finding present day Noah and Ali. That really threw me because I'm watching it. I streamed it. I own the movie, but I streamed it and it's getting to the end.
00:48:50
Speaker
and it just ends. So they lay in bed together and then it just cuts to birds flying away. And I'm like, whoa, wait a second. Am I imagining this? And I looked it up and no, they changed it for the streaming to be more ambiguous. And it's like, why?
00:49:01
Speaker
Why? Give us the closure. Let us let them find them. I know. What's interesting is I don't know. Like when I watched this, I didn't see it in the theaters. And I remember that ending where it's like super ambiguous. And you're like, did they die? Did they not? So then when Alex and I watched it and we watched the one with the ending with the nurse, I was like, that's not as ambiguous as I remember it being. So it's pretty black and white. Alex explains it.
00:49:24
Speaker
Yeah. So the house that he's living in, like, so it's like the nursing home, that's like the house he restored, right? They have one exterior shot and it looks exactly the same. Yeah. And it's on the river or whatever that grows. Yeah. I know I kept getting confused because then they would go to the interior of the house and it just looked straight like a nursing rehab. Yeah.
00:49:44
Speaker
type center I had read in the book that it isn't they have the house that he fixed up but then they have this nursing home for them to be taken care of but in the movie they were definitely combined it was just the same yeah yeah I'm not convinced that it was their house I think it just looked similar
00:50:00
Speaker
I tried figuring out I couldn't find like I said, the book was definitive that it wasn't. I mean, it looked a lot like it. I had moments where I was like, is it but that part where he goes to the hospital and then they like put her in a caged in area? Like, is that really their house? Would they have done that? Like, that's weird. Well, and then there's the scene when he sneaks into a room and they show it from like a hallway perspective. And I'm like, that's really there's like a lot of rooms.
00:50:25
Speaker
That looks more hospital, too, than like a hundred percent that's been fixed up for nursing home. Yeah, but I don't know because some of the exteriors are the same. It's a question we won't be able to answer. All right, Abby, moment of truth. Which movie had the bigger plot holes was more cringy.
00:50:42
Speaker
Oh, A Walk to Remember, for sure. So many more plot holes, way cringier. I would agree. Yeah. We were like really kind of stretching for some of the notebook type of things. A Walk to Remember, it's like... You don't have to try very hard. No. Okay, great. Well, notebook takes a three to one lead going into round five, our miscellaneous question of the week. Which movie ending gets more emotion out of the viewer?
00:51:09
Speaker
So obviously in the notebook, you have the, can our love take us away together? And they pass into the great beyond in each other's arms as like old people. On the flip side with a walk to remember, you have the wedding which leads to her death. And then for me, that scene where Landon
00:51:28
Speaker
goes to see her father at the end is pretty emotional. And I'm not even afraid to say it. I'm not ashamed to say it. I got a little choked up when he says to her dad, I'm sorry, she never got a miracle. She did.
00:51:43
Speaker
That one got me a little bit. Obviously, they're both pretty sad at the end. Big emotions, though, for like in both movies in both ways. Which twist is bigger? So the twist of Jamie having leukemia or the twist of Ali having to mention Noah and Ali being the old couple? What do you mean bigger? Like like if you were watching these movies for the first time without any background knowledge, which one are you more shocked at? Probably a walk to remember, only because I think you figure out what's going on in the notebook pretty early on. I think so, too.
00:52:13
Speaker
what you agree with that. I mean, I'm thinking back when I watched these books for the first time. And I remember like pretty early on the notebook being like, I'm pretty sure these two old people are supposed to be Noah and Allie. And then like a walk to remember when she's like, I have leukemia. You're like, what? I think in a walk to remember the movie, Alex, you talked about the book making a bigger deal of the wedding and that walk going down. He gave you credit for that. So nice. I didn't steal it. I knew you were coming on.
00:52:40
Speaker
I feel like in the movie, it kind of just like rushed into like, oh, we got married. And then it was like, she lived the rest of that summer and then died. So in the movie, the wedding aspect of it like that didn't really hit me. It was the after effects like years later for me personally, the notebook ending. I've said it 400 times already on this episode. I really don't care at all about the old people in this movie. I guess it's cool that they die together. But I don't know. I just kept thinking about their kids and stuff.
00:53:07
Speaker
I know. I kind of wanted to see their life with kids. Yeah. Me too. I kept wishing that there was one more scene at the house with them out in the yard or something running around with their kids.
00:53:19
Speaker
I agree. Abby, which movie gets more emotion out of you? I'm going to go with A Walk to Remember on this one. I wasn't as invested in the older Allian Noah storyline. It did feel like it tried a little too hard to me. In A Walk to Remember, I thought from the wedding until he goes to see the dad and realizes that he's the miracle was much sweeter to me than an emotional. I like it. Okay. We have a notebook with a three to two lead heading into round six. Better Trivia.
00:53:49
Speaker
In a walk to remember, the inspiration for Jamie Sullivan's character and actually some of the events in the book slash movie were inspired by Nicholas Sparks's sister, Danielle Sparks Lewis, whom both are dedicated to. That's nice and sad at the same time.
00:54:05
Speaker
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were both born at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario. Oh, I guess I didn't realize Rachel McAdams was Canadian. I knew Ryan Gosling was. Shane West loved the car he had in the movie so much, so that's the 67 Camaro, that he bought the car. Price of the car? $5,000. That was a pretty cool car.
00:54:25
Speaker
So the pictures of an older Ali and Noah throughout the years that you see in the movie are actually the personal photos of Gina Rowlands. She's the actress that played Ali. And it's her and her husband, John Cassavetes, with James Garner's face photoshopped over John's face. And that Photoshop job was much better than the Photoshop job.
00:54:44
Speaker
in a walk to remember. They didn't hire that girl. They were the same color at least. All right. So a walk to remember was shot in North Carolina. And if some of the sets or locations look familiar, that's because they were also used in Dawson's Creek, specifically the school hospital and Landon's home. Nice. Love Dawson's Creek.
00:55:02
Speaker
So according to director Nick Cassavetes, Gosling and McAdams did not get along at first, and Gosling actually tried to have McAdams replaced on the movie. To improve their relationship, Cassavetes staged an intervention by bringing them into a room where they could air all their grievances that they had with each other and work something out. And it must have worked because they ended up dating in real life for a few years after the movie. It's like couples therapy before they were a couple. All right, Abby, which ones do you like more? Oh, this one's tough.
00:55:32
Speaker
Sorry, Alex. All right. Notebook. Clinching it on that one. We'll play it out. We'll see what kind of score we can finish with. Playing for pride now. So round seven, better story, better script, more fun.
00:55:46
Speaker
For me in A Walk to Remember, I wish they cut all of the friend stuff. I wish they would have just focused on the relationship part of it. The friend stuff, like, that didn't really do much for me. It wasn't until they started the relationship that I got really invested. Yeah, no, Rob, I totally agree with you with the friend stuff in A Walk to Remember. Maybe, like,
00:56:05
Speaker
a little bit of it, but it just seemed like it just kept building and building and then just kind of like stopped. They all got so serious. Their friend, we said his name, Eric, was just like such a caricature of himself. And then like he comes to talk to him and he's like really serious. And I'm like, yeah, I wish they kind of had more of that or more of something, you know, to kind of like offset it.
00:56:23
Speaker
But it's something we talked about even before, just like the couples in both movies, I thought, you know, you get invested in them. I know it's totally different, you know, the teenagers versus more of the young adult. And then like, as now an adult rewatching these movies, you definitely do connect still with the notebook where I walk to remember, you're like, that's not what high school was like. Or I don't know about that.
00:56:43
Speaker
They're both fun movies. I would have to say, though, that the moments in The Notebook are some of the most iconic moments in romantic movies. It's hard to say that anything is more fun than that, especially out of these two movies. Yeah, I mean, I have to go with The Notebook. It's just having rewatched it, I probably haven't seen them since I was like,
00:57:05
Speaker
young 20s in or in high school. And I like the storyline better. I still vibe with it in a different way. And like a lot of a walk to remember, I was like, Oh, those friends are terrible until like the very end. And then they're like, Oh, she's dying. Okay, we'll be nice now. I didn't really go for that whole thing. And I wish they had focused more on Jamie and Landon and fleshed that out a little bit more. So
00:57:29
Speaker
I'm giving it to the notebook. Well, there you have it. The notebook with our biggest blowout of the show, winning 5-2-2. Oof. 2-2. 2-2. 5-2-2. All right, what do you rank in these? For the notebook, I have an 88. And for a Walk to Remember, I have a 78. I was not such a fan of Walk to Remember, this go around. I gave it a 70. And for me, the notebook, I just love it so much. 90 for me.
00:57:56
Speaker
I love these movies, didn't rank them as high as you two, but they're still phenomenal. I went with the notebook in 81% and a walk to remember a 68%. I mean, listen, y'all are really into like the comedies and the action. I'm a big romance person. So I'm just gonna rank them higher than others. And I'm also gonna be more critical of them because that's my cup of tea. Everyone has a different connection or different reaction to the same movie. And it's fun that we have a nice range of scores here.
00:58:26
Speaker
Well, Abby, thank you so much for coming on our special Valentine's Day episode of the movie showdown. We'll have to have you on again because you brought some killer insight into these movies. Appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed this. It was fun to revisit some movies that I haven't watched in a while. Where can people find you if they want to find you? They can't. They can't find me. Don't find me. I live a very anonymous life and I would prefer to keep it that way.
00:58:54
Speaker
That's awesome. Yes. Everybody, have a great Valentine's Day. Buy somebody some candy hearts or dough. I don't know. This has been the movie showdown with Rock and Rob. Make sure to like, subscribe, rate, and review all that fun stuff. And follow us on all the socials at Rock and Rob Show. Until next time, peace. I'm out of here. See ya. Bye. Oh, I love it. That's good. That's good. Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this.
00:59:24
Speaker
and totally redeem yourself. I'm not sure what to do with my hands. Bye, Felicia. That's your home! Are you too good for your home? Answer me! Hasta la vista, baby.