#57 - Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

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[00:00:52] Welcome to Properly Howard, a podcast that reviews classic films and other old fiction.

[00:01:27] Today we take a look at the 1997 dark rom-com Gross Point Blank. Starring all the Q's acts,

[00:01:35] GPB is a story of a hitman returning to his hometown for a class reunion and to rekindle

[00:01:41] an old flame. Is he an endearing sociopath who deserves a second chance at love or should

[00:01:47] Dan Aykroyd put him out of his misery? With me as always to discuss this is Dr. Anthony Ladone.

[00:01:54] Steve, have you ever been to a high school reunion?

[00:01:58] I've been to several.

[00:02:02] Steve, have I ever been to a high school reunion?

[00:02:05] None that I've been to and we went to the same high school so I'm going to say no.

[00:02:09] How are they? Tell me what are they like?

[00:02:14] Well they vary. The 10 is not enough time away from people.

[00:02:24] So the 10 year reunion should not be a thing?

[00:02:27] Well it's funny because I think that's the one, at least in my experience,

[00:02:30] that has the most people coming because there's still this sense of like,

[00:02:36] oh I want to see these people again and then that night is like, oh no I think it's time

[00:02:41] to move on. Like that's what it's like a lesson, it's a teachable moment for the alum

[00:02:47] and then you get to the 20 and there's less. Wait wait wait 15?

[00:02:52] I mean no, I mean there was a 15 but it was like let's just go meet up at the park or

[00:02:57] something but like come on. I mean 15 is more for like people that are still in the area

[00:03:01] and they just gotten nowhere else to go. The 20 has a certain roundness to it. Maybe

[00:03:07] there's a symbolic factor. You've actually hit middle age.

[00:03:10] People are kind of who they are right? Like you've kind of, I mean I just figured it out,

[00:03:18] may not be the right word or the right term but like you know who you are.

[00:03:23] You're settled in, you're like this is who I am. You're either like in jail or freshly out.

[00:03:32] There's just a different, it's a different state of mind. So you're kind of maybe built a little

[00:03:38] bit more you know just experiential armor that you can deal with people that maybe still are

[00:03:45] who they always were and you don't want to see them but it's okay because you're maybe

[00:03:49] a little bit more mature. I may be speaking very specifically for myself at this point but

[00:03:53] uh and then the 30th which was I did last year which way less people.

[00:04:01] I'm assuming because of the aforementioned incarceration and then just expiration

[00:04:07] it tends to be a lot more of who's sort of in the area.

[00:04:11] Did you say incarceration?

[00:04:13] I assume if you're not on social media you're in prison.

[00:04:17] Well that's me either in prison or in Dayton, Ohio.

[00:04:22] Yeah exactly I mean.

[00:04:23] We do not get internet famously in Ohio.

[00:04:27] Yeah I mean you're gonna get on you're gonna get on MySpace in like about 13 years because

[00:04:31] you'll have just got it.

[00:04:35] So you would uh so you would recommend the 20th

[00:04:40] and maybe that's it. That's what I'm hearing from you.

[00:04:43] Yeah and it was interesting too to see watch in the movie that the

[00:04:47] reunion was in the high school and Heather was telling me like yeah that's I think

[00:04:51] that's typical in a lot of places but it was not my experience in many of mine.

[00:04:55] We did we were in the town but not in the high school and I just and that just

[00:05:01] I kind of like the idea of like being in high school and you come you know you come back or

[00:05:06] like maybe you're you're you pop in in the summer for whatever reason and you see the

[00:05:09] place is just trashed by a bunch of you know alumni that were getting like hammered in the

[00:05:14] in the gym.

[00:05:16] Yeah I mean I think that there's something like of course I I've never been to one

[00:05:20] of these. I don't have any desire to go into one of these but I do feel like

[00:05:25] there would be something about being at the school and maybe seeing a teacher or two.

[00:05:33] I mean I it maybe I'm a big fat nerd maybe like I would love to go back to

[00:05:39] school and hang out with the teachers.

[00:05:43] I mean not like I had a great relationship with many of my teachers but

[00:05:47] I was like I'd love to go back and maybe maybe run a lap or two.

[00:05:52] How often do you make it back onto the the campus of Annoly High School?

[00:05:58] I mean probably 20 plus years. I mean we used to play football every Thanksgiving on the field.

[00:06:06] I do remember that that was very painful.

[00:06:09] I have gone to a couple basketball games like my nephew played and I did go to you know

[00:06:17] a football game at one point.

[00:06:21] All of these things reminded me of why I just hated the place.

[00:06:26] I really don't see the attraction to this unless I had like some old flame like in this movie

[00:06:34] like I had some old flame that I was just kind of curious about and there may be a little bit

[00:06:39] of like ambition on my part and I didn't have an old flame so that there's really no reason

[00:06:45] for me to have any.

[00:06:48] Would it be different if you were local?

[00:06:50] This is this is local?

[00:06:51] Yes absolutely.

[00:06:53] I'm gonna ask you just one more time and it's local.

[00:06:55] Like if you were if you were 10 minutes away from where the thing was happening

[00:07:00] and you could get in and get out if you needed to and you could at least

[00:07:04] from a morbid curiosity perspective and...

[00:07:07] I think I was local on our 20th and I think that there is like you were there

[00:07:11] and it was like literally five minutes from where I was where my apartment was

[00:07:17] and you were like hey dude get your ass over here and I was like working on a

[00:07:24] deadline or something.

[00:07:25] I couldn't get away from my computer back when I cared about such things

[00:07:29] and there was still no...

[00:07:32] I'll be honest to see there is a part of me that doesn't want to describe what I do.

[00:07:40] This podcast?

[00:07:41] It's very difficult to describe what it is that I do without giving people the wrong impression

[00:07:51] and I would just rather not have to do it.

[00:07:56] So the career that you worked your entire life for.

[00:08:00] Yeah which was a mistake.

[00:08:02] I mean let's be honest about this.

[00:08:03] It's your biggest source of shame.

[00:08:04] I quite understand what I do.

[00:08:06] I just picture you teaching with a bag over your head.

[00:08:11] You're like the unknown professor.

[00:08:15] I guess it's not too far from the truth.

[00:08:18] If you use a pseudonym in real life.

[00:08:25] You can just make it up.

[00:08:26] I mean I don't...

[00:08:27] I'm not fact checking anything that anybody's doing.

[00:08:30] I could probably make it up.

[00:08:31] Yeah that's true because I'm not on Facebook or anything right so...

[00:08:36] Well if you were to say I do a podcast.

[00:08:41] A podcast that no one listens to.

[00:08:43] Yeah.

[00:08:45] No one remembers.

[00:08:46] They're like wait a minute so does that guy over there.

[00:08:50] Have you met?

[00:08:54] Well I think that there is an added element to this and that is that

[00:09:00] I feel like my experience of high school was significantly different than your experience

[00:09:06] of high school.

[00:09:07] Even when you were being reamed out in the principal's office

[00:09:10] Those are my favorites.

[00:09:11] It was kind of fun.

[00:09:13] Well yeah I mean I for sure enjoyed high school but not...

[00:09:17] I mean because I was circumventing high school.

[00:09:22] It was like I'm in prison and but I get you know...

[00:09:31] It's like prison without the sodomy.

[00:09:32] It's like that's kind of the whole goal right?

[00:09:35] Whereas I just focused a lot.

[00:09:36] You were just you were in the shower all the time.

[00:09:40] I was...

[00:09:41] Just waiting.

[00:09:42] Never happened but I was waiting and I was you know I showed up and that's what mattered.

[00:09:48] Yeah I mean it was a different...

[00:09:50] I mean obviously like I discovered a little bit about myself and the comedy side of things

[00:09:55] and so I tried to do just enough to graduate and I mean don't get me wrong

[00:10:02] I mean it's like just the worst part it's like the worst time of our lives.

[00:10:05] Like just in general just in terms of you know we're coming right out of

[00:10:10] middle school where we just spent all of our time angering horny

[00:10:14] not knowing the difference and then we go into high school and it's like okay now that we've

[00:10:20] assume we've mastered the anger and horniness which is now really just kind

[00:10:24] of manifested itself into a horny sadness.

[00:10:27] We have to like learn algebra too.

[00:10:32] The sequel, the worst sequel.

[00:10:33] That's the worst sequel of all time is algebra 2.

[00:10:36] It's equal of all time.

[00:10:38] This is just algebra with parentheses.

[00:10:45] It's really volume 2.

[00:10:48] It's really one story.

[00:10:50] It's just one story which was crazy because like if you didn't like well I

[00:10:55] didn't like the first one it's like well you're gonna have to watch it again.

[00:10:58] Yeah but you can't make up your mind until you've seen the whole thing.

[00:11:01] You've got to keep watching algebra 1 and then what's the reward if you finally

[00:11:06] figure it out?

[00:11:07] Algebra 2.

[00:11:08] Don't!

[00:11:10] Just don't.

[00:11:12] So I love this movie gross point blank and I don't know you've seen it a couple times right?

[00:11:19] Yeah in fact well this is the second time I've seen it and Heather and I both have seen it

[00:11:23] and we're both like if you told me I never saw this movie before I would have I

[00:11:27] I'd believe you.

[00:11:28] Like it wasn't rushing me with familiarity like I was familiar with all of the

[00:11:33] visuals and the but I kind of forgot a lot of the nuances of it.

[00:11:41] Are you a rom-com person?

[00:11:42] Because this film I feel like is sort of like a hybrid rom-com crime drama.

[00:11:49] Sure.

[00:11:51] Dramedy I guess.

[00:11:52] I don't know but for me it's probably two parts rom-com one part crime drama.

[00:12:02] I just I didn't see any crime drama in it.

[00:12:04] That's a fair assessment.

[00:12:06] Yeah I think the crime is sort of a is a bit of a MacGuffin right?

[00:12:10] Like well okay that's a good point.

[00:12:14] Like I never found myself on I never found myself like on the edge of my seat about

[00:12:18] I wonder how this this hit is going to work out.

[00:12:21] No no no and to me this is analogous to like Jerry Maguire which is absolutely a rom-com

[00:12:29] but there's enough sports sprinkled in so that you might be able to say well it's kind

[00:12:36] of a sports movie a little bit.

[00:12:39] Right.

[00:12:40] But to me this is like in the same vein it's like yes it's it's got all the

[00:12:45] structure of a rom-com but I was curious to hear do are you generally a rom-com guy?

[00:12:54] I think so actually.

[00:12:55] I mean I don't seek them out but I don't avoid them and when I watch them I kind of appreciate

[00:13:02] I kind of we talk about like your introduction to the horror genre and how maybe you've

[00:13:11] dismissed it and then now that you've engaged in it in a different way and kind of understanding

[00:13:16] like I think we talked about this before is like hey I like beer but I don't like IPAs.

[00:13:21] Well stop thinking of IPAs as like your lagers and think of them as kind of their own genre

[00:13:28] and then you might experience them a little bit different.

[00:13:31] In fact you might even start to acquire a taste for it knowing that there's a time

[00:13:36] and a place for that right and I think rom-coms are the same because there's a

[00:13:39] certain formula that goes to rom-coms there's a certain it's and it would be easy to sort

[00:13:44] of dismiss that in the same way that one could dismiss horror right and be like okay

[00:13:47] well this is just so so like feel so tropey and it's trying to move this emotion and move

[00:13:53] that and most well it's kind of this I mean most movies do that right most genre specific.

[00:13:58] Yeah but the rom-com has a very specific structure it's like we want these two to

[00:14:03] get together there are a number of obstacles that are going to keep that from happening

[00:14:08] can we remove these obstacles in such a way so at the end these two kids are driving

[00:14:16] down the road together you know off to their new life so yeah in that way this is a very typical

[00:14:23] rom-com movie. Right in fact I would say that this is so much a rom-com as opposed to that

[00:14:29] element of like the crime drama that we don't get into some of the probably the more nuanced

[00:14:35] psychosis of these two and why them being together might actually make sense right I

[00:14:41] mean there's something wrong with these people but I don't think the movie does a lot to really

[00:14:47] unpack that in a way that say like if this was directed by a Tarantino you know or somebody

[00:14:53] with maybe a little bit more you know the amorality of being a hitman and why would someone

[00:15:01] be attracted to that and well you there I mean I think it's all there I think we just have

[00:15:05] to do a lot of the connecting the dots on our own you know because it could be easy to go

[00:15:11] if he left her you know that many years ago and then now they're just like how is it working

[00:15:15] it's like because she's there's something wrong with her too yeah right and and but I don't feel

[00:15:21] like the movie does a lot to other than just have her exist you know and so I think that

[00:15:28] they sort of that's what like you know I think they sort of give us a little short

[00:15:32] shrift on on on maybe flushing her out well that's why that's interesting because until the end

[00:15:40] they are both kind of um no pun intended blank slates to each other it like they've gotten back

[00:15:47] together I mean like they see each other and they kiss immediately right so basically it's

[00:15:54] like the 10 years that have passed kind of don't matter as much but they're kind of curious

[00:16:01] and he does not reveal himself to her and she doesn't really reveal himself herself to him

[00:16:08] on occasion though they will like ask a question or retract it like like what you know what was

[00:16:14] your husband like no no don't don't don't tell me and I think it's because those two are in

[00:16:22] love with the memory right and so I don't know if this really works in real life but for a rom

[00:16:29] com it is like the guy from say anything came back to high school 10 years later

[00:16:40] and has fallen right back in with his high school girlfriend right so to me it feels like

[00:16:47] this is a conscious play on these 1980s high school movies and we could name 10 of them

[00:16:58] right uh but with the the sort of the 10 year wisdom and almost the 10 year 10 years of cynicism

[00:17:11] which you know this is 97 perfect for 97 this is sort of the the the late gen x disillusionment

[00:17:20] with what they thought life was going to be this guy happens to be hitman not many people

[00:17:25] can relate to that I'm assuming but the cynicism is there and and I think that most of us of at

[00:17:33] that age understand like boy I was a different person back then but there's still something

[00:17:40] about that person that speaks to me and let me try to figure out how I can relate to not

[00:17:47] necessarily my old girlfriend but my old self you know could that could myself in high school

[00:17:52] have a conversation with me today and what would that conversation look like would those

[00:17:58] people even get along I think what's interesting too about this because it's 10 years removed and

[00:18:02] like we talked about with the difference of my experience anyway with the with the reunions and

[00:18:07] how the 10 year feel like like I'm still not figured I haven't figured myself out but I feel

[00:18:12] I thought there was enough distance between this world and the world I'm in now and then

[00:18:16] you realize maybe it's not and and people aren't as there's still like people's instincts right we

[00:18:24] realize we don't know each other outside of those four years for the most part and during

[00:18:29] those four years I was probably not being true to myself because I was I still had no idea who

[00:18:35] I was so some of that was curating a persona right either you're curating a persona or

[00:18:41] you're just trying to survive right exactly and it's in I think in some cases it's both right I

[00:18:47] curate this persona in order to survive right and so so there when you get around these people

[00:18:53] like well I don't know I don't even know what it would be like to be my authentic self to

[00:18:58] the point where now I'm like well geez what is my authentic self how how and when they

[00:19:03] start when you run into people and they start behaving the same way that you expected them to

[00:19:07] it's really easy to fall into the trap where you just sort of fall into that same way right so

[00:19:13] with this film and I think it does a pretty good job I like the way you really approach

[00:19:17] the cynicism because I think there's two levels of cynicism going on here one is that gen x

[00:19:21] hey I thought I you know high school was a launching point supposedly why wouldn't I want

[00:19:27] to go back because especially cinematically and I think there's a cynicism cinematically that

[00:19:32] also says hey we grew up watching the say anythings the 16 candles the breakfast clubs

[00:19:41] and the people that we gravitated toward that were in these films they did have a certain

[00:19:45] amount of cynicism in them as well like well what would they like we saw them in high school

[00:19:49] what would they be like now and there is a sense if I go if you were to really take a

[00:19:53] step back well Ferris Bueller would probably be a sociopathic hit man right but it's like so

[00:20:02] you look at it and go well if that was a hero in this particular film at this time in high school

[00:20:08] what is that trajectory that trajectory might be a hitman so returning back there is this

[00:20:14] certain like sense so there's almost a cinematic critique too that says the heroes

[00:20:19] that we looked at you know 10 years ago well where would they be today and because I mean

[00:20:25] and Cusack is perfect for this role because Cusack has obviously he'd been in plenty of

[00:20:30] those back in the day and one of the things you know was enjoyable about him was kind of like he

[00:20:35] seemed odd right he seemed sort of standoffish or like a guy who was uncomfortably connected

[00:20:43] to high school like he like maybe he doesn't he doesn't you know he's not a jock you know

[00:20:48] he's not he's he's smart but not in the way that he would get a's you know that kind of

[00:20:53] thing and so for him to get the girl that was sort of overcoming whatever the obstacle was

[00:21:01] right right and but the thing about those movies is that they did have sort of a cynical edge

[00:21:06] to them because they're 1980s movies and there's almost a class element to every single one of

[00:21:12] those movies like it's the rich girl the dorky guy or whatever it's the rich guy and the

[00:21:18] dorky girl yeah but at the end the cynicism is set aside you know you've got a happy ending

[00:21:25] in most of those movies and what this movie does is it comes along and says yeah but how

[00:21:30] long would that have lasted like at the end of Ferris Bueller very very interesting throwback

[00:21:38] to like almost 1950s culture is at the end he says he's going to marry his girlfriend

[00:21:44] there's no way that would happen today but back in the you know late 90s that was still a viable

[00:21:51] life path and then you take uh John Cusack who was in those movies I would almost say that

[00:21:59] he was only ever good in those movies like I don't I don't know if you've seen John Cusack

[00:22:05] in anything else where you thought oh good John Cusack but he's perfect for this movie

[00:22:11] because this movie is a conscious homage to those movies um I think I like Cusack a little

[00:22:19] bit better than you do well what else have you okay so yes of course say anything he's in 16

[00:22:25] candles not a big role how did you feel about being John Malkovich how did you feel about

[00:22:30] con air I think he's I think he's interesting in identity I think he's didn't like either

[00:22:35] of those but I will say this I like I feel like if you told me like do you like John Cusack as an

[00:22:43] actor I would say yes and I would immediately think of those earlier roles I I would say that

[00:22:53] I don't think John Cusack has made a movie worse

[00:22:55] I think that that matters okay all right would you rather have John Cusack uh in a movie like

[00:23:10] John Wick I think I would be I think that would be interesting would there be value added

[00:23:16] for him instead of Keanu I don't know I would I think that's a great question because I think

[00:23:22] that there would be equal value I think that he could be he could be a fun character like that

[00:23:29] um because I think he is I think he's I think he's funny I think he's uh you know I enjoyed

[00:23:35] him in like things like the grifters where you know it's a little you know what the grifters

[00:23:39] that's a good that's a good example I did like the grifters not because it's a great movie but

[00:23:45] because but I like him in that movie and it's slick right and I think he does that pretty well

[00:23:52] so I think he has like again I also like I enjoy the movie identity you know I'm not saying it's a

[00:23:59] perfect horror movie by any stretch but I think it's I think it's interesting

[00:24:04] it is fun right and I think uh you know uh 1408 is interesting um I didn't really like

[00:24:11] being John Novakovich but I thought he was good in it um I thought he was a fun uh

[00:24:18] little Conair I think is just such a fun movie and I think I don't think he I don't think he

[00:24:22] necessarily elevates it but um I think it's a fun addition to a very schlocky film that I happen

[00:24:28] to enjoy quite a bit so all this is to say that um I think he's perfect for this movie

[00:24:34] yeah and it feels because it's not just stunt casting you know like hey let's take

[00:24:38] one of those guys and put them in this but no he's perfectly believable as a hitman

[00:24:45] and someone who's sort of um I wouldn't even say morally gray like he's he's perfectly amoral

[00:24:53] uh now that's going to change over the course of the movie but I did want to talk about the

[00:24:58] first scene where you kind of are introduced to him I think it's almost the perfect scene

[00:25:04] for this particular movie it establishes him in very very few words as a cold-blooded killer

[00:25:13] but you kind of like him because he's got some immediate uh chemistry with Joan Cusack right

[00:25:21] and uh also who's he killing he's not he's killing someone who's about to kill someone else

[00:25:28] right if you just look at like the first 30 seconds of this movie it has to do a lot

[00:25:34] you almost are rooting for him to succeed because that guy on the bike is about to

[00:25:40] whack someone else right so I just thought it was it's just a great first scene of a movie

[00:25:46] yeah and it establishes a tone right I mean it uh it's light and dark at the same time which

[00:25:52] I think is which is which is good for this because um it maintains both um yeah and I

[00:26:00] think this so 97 interestingly you know this is and there's a uh a nod to Pulp Fiction

[00:26:08] literally in this uh in this film um but in the post-Pulp Fiction era it almost feels like

[00:26:15] this was an attempt by maybe a director who doesn't have that level of

[00:26:24] determination to go to the edge right so there's definitely killing in this and there's murder

[00:26:31] it feels like it never goes that dark right right and it but it feels like maybe like it almost

[00:26:35] feels like a movie that was written one way and they go well add another little bit of darkness

[00:26:39] to it because that's what people like so it doesn't feel like maybe as uh as genuinely

[00:26:46] orchestrated as like some of the other films that were happening around this time that would

[00:26:51] you know because we see we see it later too and many you know years later you get things

[00:26:56] like Pineapple Express that uh really uh toe the line between uh slapstick and and like

[00:27:05] heavy violence to the point where almost the heavy violence becomes slapstick yeah Game Night

[00:27:10] does that too right that's another one right right so I guess Tarantino really liked this

[00:27:16] particular script and was sort of um corresponding with armatage about it and

[00:27:23] at one point he wanted to make a cameo in this but what they settled for was just the you know

[00:27:30] the the pop-up poster right that gets blown up in the convenience store

[00:27:37] which by the way I'm curious as to where when those were around and available because

[00:27:41] Samuel L. Jackson does not have he's not sporting the jerry krill in that he is not

[00:27:46] wearing the wig um I want to talk about uh the uh the uh the uh the uh the uh the uh the

[00:27:54] the role of uh Alan Arkin in this yeah Dr. Oatman all right so the story here is that QZak

[00:28:04] has gone to Dr. Oatman you know during his existential crisis and about four sessions

[00:28:10] and has revealed to him that he's a contract killer I'm not taking notes Martin because

[00:28:16] I'm not your doctor please don't start with that stuff again Martin I'm emotionally involved

[00:28:21] with you how are you emotionally involved with me I'm afraid of you you're afraid and that

[00:28:25] constitutes an emotional involvement and it would be unethical for me to work with you under those

[00:28:29] circumstances don't you think maybe you're just upset because I told you what I do for a living

[00:28:33] and you got upset and you're letting it interfere with our dynamic whoa Martin you didn't

[00:28:38] tell me what you did for a living yes I did you didn't tell me what you did for a living

[00:28:41] for four sessions then you told me and I said I don't want to work with you and yet you

[00:28:47] come back every week at the same time that's a difficulty for me on top of that if you've

[00:28:53] committed a crime or if you're thinking about committing a crime I have to tell the authorities

[00:28:57] I know the law okay but I don't want to be withholding I'm very serious about this process

[00:29:02] and I know where you live oh now see that wasn't a nice thing to say that wasn't designed

[00:29:08] to make me feel good that's a kind of a not too subtle intimidation and I uh I get

[00:29:13] filled with anxiety when you talk about something like that I mean that's I was just kidding all right

[00:29:17] the thought never crossed my mind you did think of it Martin you thought of it and then you said it

[00:29:21] and now I'm left with uh with the aftermath of that thinking I gotta I gotta be creative in a

[00:29:26] really interesting way now or Martin's gonna blow my brains out you're holding me hostage

[00:29:29] here that's not right I just want to work okay there's some issues that I need to work on

[00:29:33] in my life well I don't know what to say well what do you say to other patients you know

[00:29:37] I don't know how does it work ask me how I'm feeling how do you feel I'm feeling uneasy man

[00:29:41] and Cusack keeps coming back this is 97 so this is before the Sopranos this is before analyze this

[00:29:55] I think that this movie invented that trope I think you're right and I was kind of that that

[00:30:03] is something I did not recall from the first viewing and it's something that was so

[00:30:08] like oddly prevalent right uh it's almost like analyze this was like that part of the movie

[00:30:14] was really interesting to me let's build the whole movie out of that relationship and it's so

[00:30:21] clever when you look back and see is this the first one and that the notion that uh all the

[00:30:28] arc and scenes are so good and uh I love I love the um like he'll give the advice

[00:30:39] like the right advice but he delivers it in a way where it almost feels like he's held hostage

[00:30:43] so he doesn't like he's all of the the therapist affect is gone yeah and it's like yeah yeah go do

[00:30:50] that you know as a which which is a very interesting way because that's not like therapists

[00:30:55] are constantly you know using you know uh reflective language and all that and instead it's like yeah

[00:31:01] yeah no no anything just get out of here but also that's the right advice you know but it's

[00:31:06] and then also just eating a microwave burrito got me I don't know why he's perfect in this

[00:31:10] role he he really plays it like you there are times when you think that the movie is going

[00:31:17] to play something for a slapstick it's like almost every scene that an acroids in is played

[00:31:23] for slapstick a bit right and but arkin is perfect because this is how someone would actually act

[00:31:32] in that situation right you need those kind of straight characters in this film for it to work

[00:31:41] like you need mini driver to walk around the corner and be horrified that she saw her high

[00:31:47] school boyfriend kill someone with a pen right the movie doesn't work if everyone in this movie

[00:31:52] is like jeremy piven who's like oh dead body let's get rid of it with you right right but they

[00:31:58] they don't do it so much that it changes the tone of the film and it's almost like walking

[00:32:03] a tightrope and it's brilliant pretend like we have a normal doctor patient relationship i'll

[00:32:08] ask you a piece of advice you give me an answer you know advice should i go to the

[00:32:12] reunion yes yes get out of town thank you go see some old friends have some punch visit

[00:32:18] with what's her name debbie debbie don't kill anybody for a few days see what it feels like

[00:32:23] all right give it a shot no no don't give it a shot don't shoot anything i like the idea i like

[00:32:27] the radio dj aspect of this with mini driver i think that the fact that she is one of these

[00:32:35] i don't even know if they still have these kinds of djs the kind of djs that like will

[00:32:40] work all day and as you know this weekend is points high class of 86 reunion so in honor of

[00:32:50] this momentous event i'm making this an all 80s all vinyl weekend stay tuned to window on the

[00:32:56] points and i'll keep you posted on all this reunion related nonsense hey i know everybody's

[00:33:03] coming back to take stock of their lives you know what i say leave your livestock alone

[00:33:08] and kick back and relax and ponder this where are all the good men dead

[00:33:15] in the head so here's another cold cup of coffee from the clash yeah it's a very small town

[00:33:24] nostalgic like it establishes her as as kind of motivated by nostalgia

[00:33:33] both professionally and personally but also a little bit like um she gets she's got the

[00:33:38] microphone so she gets to like at one point she says i was just going to be mean about it on the

[00:33:43] radio instead of going to actually going to the reunion and right there's a few times in the

[00:33:49] movie where people treat her like i really like your radio show you know because they're all a

[00:33:57] little bit bitter that she's she gets to be cynical on the air when they're just trying

[00:34:02] to live their lives right you know maybe they tune in because they like the music but then

[00:34:07] they hate her because they know her from high school right and if they and if they there are

[00:34:12] people in this film that like give the impression that they're they haven't changed right like like

[00:34:18] i was talking about the tenure they haven't changed a whole bunch um in fact they're just

[00:34:23] grown-up versions of that adolescent self um and they might still be like pining for high

[00:34:29] school is like their that that was when they at their peak right and so if she's looking

[00:34:34] at it with an air of like nostalgia but also a cynicism towards it then yeah then she sort of

[00:34:42] acts as a foil to to their lives and uh and it gives off a sense of like well what makes

[00:34:50] you so special that's exactly it that's you're on radio uh you get to say whatever you want

[00:35:00] and you get to be kind of an asshole about it and we kind of resent you for it

[00:35:04] and you get the last word on the experience that's right yeah and they totally resent that

[00:35:10] but it's a perfect little movie making trick to allow you into her mindset because that's the

[00:35:20] whole obstacle of the movie is like is she gonna take him back right right there's no

[00:35:25] question that he wants her back the question is he hurt her now she's experiencing a range of emotions

[00:35:36] but she's the kind of person who thinks out loud and so she gets to almost have

[00:35:43] the voiceover because of this radio program i thought that was a great little trick

[00:35:48] i love the um the security guard friend you needed you needed a few guys just like that

[00:35:57] see and that's what i think that's what you're afraid of being if you go to the uh

[00:36:01] the reunion is that you'll be perceived as him well i i might pull out my gun just to

[00:36:08] just to say check this out and put it right away

[00:36:11] put it right away

[00:36:15] i know it's good i think that's it's it's a nice little um moment for him to like wonder

[00:36:20] like am i really that different than this guy this guy is legally allowed to shoot people

[00:36:28] and he went through like a two-week training two week training and now he's he's not even a real

[00:36:34] cop but he's got a gun and if he sees an intruder on the rich person's property he will shoot them

[00:36:42] and he's looking at him and thinking how am i any different than this guy

[00:36:49] uh both in terms of like you know kind of the inks like how come society allows that guy

[00:36:55] to exist uh out in the open but i can't that's the first thing but also like

[00:37:02] looking i'm thinking that guy's a dork am i a dork you know i thought i thought this was

[00:37:10] gonna be cool right a license to kill should be the thing that makes me interesting

[00:37:18] but i could have got that in a two-week course

[00:37:23] well i think it's interesting he tells everybody what he does

[00:37:26] that's a it's a great little trick yeah because it's so absurd

[00:37:30] that he it's almost like four times four times yeah i'm a professional killer and he's wearing

[00:37:37] that black suit you almost get the impression like yeah he's probably on wall street or

[00:37:41] something no he just says that you know and he's got the whole effect because he knows what

[00:37:47] he looks like right now and so probably yeah part of the gag because nobody cares i don't

[00:37:52] know i don't know i feel like there's a lot like i don't really understand the high school

[00:37:58] union reunion but uh i do feel like there's a lot of measuring happening the first thing that

[00:38:05] was ever said to me at a class reunion when i got there to get my name badge um i guess like

[00:38:10] the former class president or whatever that's who kind of puts it on they said wow steve

[00:38:15] you know what are you up to these days and i you know i'm like i'm uh you know i'm like

[00:38:21] a manager at a major corporation i got uh i got two kids and they're like man we really expected

[00:38:31] more out of you like we thought you would we thought you'd be somebody and i was like okay

[00:38:41] well where's where do i sit away i would have turned around and walked home

[00:38:49] i have we got a sitter

[00:38:50] so that was the first thing that was said to me and uh it was almost but it was that's great

[00:38:56] because it was a collective we it wasn't like i expected more from you it's like you let us all

[00:39:01] down yeah it's like go go sit down but i mean like the night wasn't a total waste we got to

[00:39:08] watch somebody that you know i considered to be a very intelligent person who was

[00:39:12] whacked out on uh you know fried from drugs and he was

[00:39:16] saluting a tree and screaming at the radio i mean those are fun things

[00:39:23] i've got other ideas of what i might want to do with my time

[00:39:30] um i think that jone kusak is a very underrated comedic actor uh yeah we were talking about that

[00:39:38] last night just as far as character actors go like it's uh it's a very

[00:39:44] talk about somebody who never makes something worse i mean she's almost almost exclusively make

[00:39:49] stuff better yes that's right so i'm trying to think of like what was her best film

[00:39:57] and i think maybe this is it i mean she i think she was great in uh school of rock

[00:40:03] very very good in that but i would prefer this what do you think what's what do you think

[00:40:09] most memorable i think she's fun in my blue heaven i think she's um i think she's very fun in uh

[00:40:17] an adam's family oh that's right i forgot about that one well i guess i i guess i'll just say

[00:40:23] that this is my favorite bit from her filmography i think she's amazing in fact i think all four

[00:40:31] kusak children are in this film yeah that is correct i guess the there's a waiter with no lines

[00:40:37] which is a bill kusak all this is also my favorite movie of his

[00:40:47] yeah it's up there i like it when jone kusak is yelling about how to make a soup

[00:40:54] yeah it's up there i like it when jone kusak is yelling about how to make a soup over the phone

[00:41:05] amelia no it's not going to be a boring soup it just that's just the base you put the chicken

[00:41:11] you've got to add other flavors carrots and celery are just a base of a soup right it's a

[00:41:16] base just really frustrated that the person does not understand the just the basics of soup making

[00:41:23] you right i mean it does add it adds a level of humanity and uh and it sort of

[00:41:32] reminds you of the absurdity of everything to some degree because the movie is very interesting

[00:41:38] in how it um it's it's taking an absurd idea the idea that a contract killer would want to

[00:41:44] go back to a high school reunion and just kind of be open about what he does and you

[00:41:50] know for whatever reason and and so like he's a very he's enigmatic in a sense because we're

[00:41:59] only getting any glimpse of his high school background through kind of anecdotal interactions

[00:42:06] that he has right uh we know his father died at a young age we know uh you know his mom is

[00:42:14] not present um the whole idea of coming you know you get a sense of why he's not coming back home

[00:42:20] um uh beyond just the fact that he's a contract killer uh and then there's also this sense of

[00:42:27] like well there was an expectation and not only was there an expectation from like certain

[00:42:31] people about what he might do there was this he just fled yeah you know he and and that

[00:42:37] you have to you don't you don't come back without reconciling that yeah if you flee like

[00:42:41] that then the what you're gonna have to do if you come back is you're gonna have to explain

[00:42:46] yourself right and maybe you don't quite understand yourself you know so

[00:42:53] um hank azaria this movie is full of people who have immediate screen charisma

[00:43:03] right it's like uh jeremy piven jone kusak hank azaria these are people that do not need to

[00:43:12] establish themselves on the screen like as soon as you see them you're rooting for them and

[00:43:18] hank azaria is perfect any kind of like small role where the person is only going to have

[00:43:25] four or five lines in the movie but you want that person to be memorable you want that

[00:43:30] person to have charisma hank azaria is the guy he's gonna do it every time stop the competition

[00:43:39] i don't deserve to win i sabotaged all the other entries looks like me and marge are both

[00:43:46] going to hell that's where i'll make my move i would say he's the male jone kusak interesting

[00:43:53] yeah i mean it very effective uh character actors choices um in some ways alan arkin just feels

[00:44:03] like maybe almost too much for that role i mean he's great but it's like kind of like man i mean

[00:44:09] you didn't even know you don't even know if you needed alan arkin for this for this role

[00:44:12] but i'm glad you got him because his role could have been so much more but like his impact

[00:44:19] is sort of echoes throughout right i mean it's it's amazing how little screen time he has

[00:44:23] but how important he is throughout the structure of the film so at the heart of the film and i

[00:44:29] don't know how well this is done but i'll get your take on it this film is trying to talk

[00:44:38] about sort of someone getting in touch with themselves like trying to figure out who they

[00:44:43] are authentically embracing life uh instead of like just being a blank slate right it's

[00:44:51] an identity film but it's also trying to do this sort of nation state ethical conversation

[00:44:59] at the same time where it's like you know why is it okay for a security guard to hold a gun

[00:45:07] but it's not okay for a contract killer like is is is kusak's character any different morally

[00:45:13] and when he was killing for the cia versus killing for a private organization

[00:45:19] right and it wants us to i think have that question like every now and again like you'll

[00:45:24] see him watching the news and i think that the movie is consciously playing with like

[00:45:29] the normative violence of the bush years and i wonder if that's too much i wonder if this

[00:45:37] movie's a little bit too light for that kind of conversation do you think that that weighs it

[00:45:44] down well i think and i think that that's where uh my critique of this film sort of

[00:45:51] lies is that i think it's trying there's a i think it's it's one of these movies that has

[00:45:57] so many great ideas that it maybe gets bogged down in the plot of moving it along because

[00:46:07] it's like i feel like okay the priorities are rom-com like that's how maybe how we sold it or

[00:46:13] that's what the studio wants so we're gonna really need to to make sure that when whatever

[00:46:18] we're doing sort of defaults back to that but we want to make it edgy so we're gonna have some

[00:46:24] violence and we'll have some action i don't like so when the movie resolves in this

[00:46:29] shootout at the house if that to me that almost like it's fun but i think that have been

[00:46:35] more fun somewhere in the middle like heather's critique was this movie needs like another

[00:46:41] half hour 45 minutes i was going to just ask that question because it's a pretty short movie

[00:46:46] right yeah and and so the idea being that like you know have there be some aftermath and you

[00:46:51] had you could really have some really nice dialogue to chew on that could uh discuss

[00:46:58] a myriad of things including those very things we just talked about you brought up about like

[00:47:03] the the violence and in and where we assign it and where we allow it where versus where

[00:47:08] don't you know you you could do that with fun exposition right like i mean i tarantino would

[00:47:14] right and um i think that there would be there was an opportunity there to really

[00:47:19] kind of let like in a any kind of a sequence whether it's an aftermath sequence or it's a

[00:47:25] date night like where you can really talk about those types of things so i think what

[00:47:30] happens is you get these elements i think all these elements are there but i feel like they're

[00:47:35] stripped down to hit a runtime is what it feels like and that's where the rom-com emphasis might

[00:47:41] undo it a little bit because you could have actually had a very cynical rom-com at the

[00:47:45] same time and they could have served as a critique of that genre the same way that i feel

[00:47:50] like it's kind of critiquing those 80s genres you could do that same kind of thing because

[00:47:53] that's because a rom-com in a way is sort of a the same sort of like well okay but what

[00:48:00] happens next that you saw in those 80s high school movies it's like okay they got the girl

[00:48:04] they got through the obstacles but like now they have to go through life now they gotta go get you

[00:48:09] know they gotta go through escrow or whatever it is that just regular life and that's not as

[00:48:13] fun so i think there's so it sort of it sort of betrays itself in a sense that as it

[00:48:18] critiques one genre it's sort of you know maybe kind of uses another one as a crutch

[00:48:23] i think that maybe part of it is like they're worried that the audience won't approve of

[00:48:33] kusak's character like he must be a bad person because he's a hitman so it wants to kind of like

[00:48:40] prop him up by saying yeah but look at all the stuff that our government does

[00:48:45] and we think that these things these people are heroic right um i don't think you needed it

[00:48:51] i think that that first scene did all the work for you well i think i think this movie ends

[00:48:56] up getting remade as a tv series called berry to some degree i was just thinking that um

[00:49:05] you could almost trace the origin story of john wick to this movie like the inciting moment

[00:49:11] of this guy's life is he accidentally kills this rich guy's dog which which creates you

[00:49:17] know it sort of creates a problem for him professionally that's john wick right i mean

[00:49:22] it's the other it's it's flipped right uh but yeah there's there's an element i think this movie

[00:49:29] i i get the sense that this movie is appreciated by a lot of uh filmmakers like obviously you said

[00:49:36] that with the the tarantino aspect but i think i think there is something about like i said

[00:49:42] i mean berry does that right i mean berry has a guy that is military killer um and he wants to

[00:49:51] live kind of a normal life and so he tries to blend in but he also has this he's also a

[00:49:55] contract killer at the same time but like so they really ramp up the the the damage the

[00:50:02] sociopathy all of that whereas this one sort of ignores it while it's still present it

[00:50:07] has to be you can't like i mean he talks about the the like he enjoys killing uh he doesn't

[00:50:13] necessarily see it as immoral uh just a job but at the same time in order to do that you've

[00:50:17] got there's something's got to be off so that's that that discuss those discussions happen and

[00:50:21] that's why like the moment at the uh the cafe with dan acroyd that should be like 15

[00:50:27] minutes longer there's an opportunity to really flesh out that concept right um so those

[00:50:34] moments you just feel like you're like every time i thought it was going to happen it didn't and

[00:50:37] you're like oh we're on to the next kind of move this move this story along um and i think there

[00:50:44] was so much rich there and i think it's hard too to fully appreciate this now because we've

[00:50:49] seen the sopranos because we've seen berry because we've seen more of these types of

[00:50:55] movies played out in a way where you can you can sort of have all of those things all of

[00:50:59] those ingredients together but maybe part of the critique is saying like yeah but this one was

[00:51:04] trying to do it kind of early so it laid a foundation i feel like the tone of the first

[00:51:11] episode of berry was very different than the final season of berry i mean i loved berry

[00:51:20] but i feel like this one almost had like a rom-com north star to it and i'm glad that it

[00:51:26] kept it um so it sounds like heather's one tweak would be you know add another 30 minutes to this

[00:51:37] movie right and i feel like my one tweak would have been just don't weigh it down with the

[00:51:44] nation state commentary not that i did not that i really disliked it but there there was a

[00:51:50] little it did feel a little bit heavy for a movie like this but i'm wondering or if you're

[00:51:56] going to introduce it you gotta i gotta commit to it that's right that's right like every bit

[00:52:00] you introduce you gotta commit to it and and that's i think that's where i felt like a lot

[00:52:04] of things were just like were flirted with and then i can make those connections but then

[00:52:09] now i'm like well i feel like i'm doing more work um than i necessarily need to and maybe

[00:52:13] i'm now now i feel like maybe i'm advocating on behalf of something that maybe didn't even

[00:52:18] put that much effort into it which is fine i mean i do that all the time with with uh

[00:52:23] gremlins too and things of that nature but um so so what's your one tweak um i i would i agree

[00:52:31] with heather i want more time and i also think that i want more like there were tricks that

[00:52:37] were done to get me to understand mini drivers a character but i think i wanted more time with

[00:52:43] her sometimes she felt like a prop as opposed to a person and i think that that's something

[00:52:50] that could have been uh developed a little bit more like i don't care if she ends up with the um

[00:52:56] the killer at the end in fact i kind of think that that's fun and but i want to know why as

[00:53:01] opposed to like like is she a damsel is she desperate is she is she does she have agency is

[00:53:07] she on board like all like i feel like there's too many of those types of questions that were

[00:53:11] left for me okay let me throw a tweak at you right what if instead of her father being

[00:53:19] the ultimate target what if it's her ex-husband and i'll take you a step further what if it was her

[00:53:28] well all right if it's her ex-husband that would allow us to

[00:53:33] explore a little bit of what she did after high school right because you're introducing

[00:53:39] that relationship with her relationship with him maybe you get to explore a little bit more

[00:53:46] of what makes her a complicated character um true i think that's i think that that's that's a much

[00:53:54] more interesting well and it does and it requires because even with it being her father was kind

[00:54:00] of like that felt um a little forced or rushed it didn't have i don't know that seemed a

[00:54:07] little less organic to me and uh and who knows i mean like again i think it mentions something

[00:54:12] about studios and you wonder you wonder how much a studio like this feels like maybe a studio

[00:54:16] got involved a little bit like there may have been more meat on on the bone um but they're

[00:54:23] like i think we want to keep it like like we don't you know we don't mind doing the

[00:54:29] tarantino-esque thing but we're not looking to do a tarantino movie type of thing i'm glad

[00:54:34] that it wasn't a copycat of tarantino i'm glad that there was you know little little

[00:54:39] nod little homage to pulp fiction even sort of like them comically carrying the body to

[00:54:45] the basement of the high school right it's a little bit pulp fiction right yeah and it's

[00:54:50] and it's pretty dark i mean like a throw in the incinerator you know but then of course

[00:54:54] you're also doing homages to 16 candles like you've got the the woman with the neck brace

[00:55:01] right oh totally and there was another woman who was wearing a wedding dress

[00:55:07] right i think that that maybe also is homage to 16 candles because it wasn't it wasn't you know

[00:55:13] at the end of it uh molly ringwold goes to her sister's wedding right right so i there it makes

[00:55:20] no sense for that person to have a wedding dress right yeah and kuzak is in 16 candles

[00:55:25] that's right that's right she's the woman with the neck brace is there a trope that you

[00:55:31] enjoyed in this movie uh i like when you see a uh a notoriously secretive

[00:55:43] person or or profession uh navigate regular life and i think that this movie does that a lot

[00:55:50] and i think uh the jone kuzak is a really good example of that as she's

[00:55:55] you know arguing over getting the ammunition that that she was supposed to get and then

[00:56:00] immediately talking about soup with almost the same level of enthusiasm

[00:56:06] the trope that i chose was i like it when someone who's just working a regular joe job

[00:56:14] has headphones on and there's something ridiculously violent happening behind him but

[00:56:21] he doesn't he doesn't know because these headphones just work amazingly to cancel yeah

[00:56:27] there was apparently noise canceling technology that we didn't know about in 97 so i like that

[00:56:34] i love that guy in general i think i don't know who that guy is i don't know who this actor is

[00:56:38] but he he was perfect well there's also i think there you know when you talk about the commentary

[00:56:43] of all these things about like the violence and everything what game is he playing he's

[00:56:46] playing doom 2 which is just hyper violent he's listening to ace of spades is going on

[00:56:50] yeah he gets blown up and he you know picks him up are you okay he's like no i'm not all right

[00:57:01] i'm hurt i'm pissed gotta find a new job right yeah great lines given to just uh you know

[00:57:08] bit player actors this movie is great for that one last thing about jone kuzak she's describing

[00:57:18] the profile of felix lapu bell who's the the eastern european assassin and she says he's

[00:57:29] into native american art ballroom and pornography yeah ballroom dancing and pornography that was

[00:57:35] that was a sensational sequence it's just a great line just just the the constellation

[00:57:42] those three things right that that's the and also that's the intel that they gathered

[00:57:48] like that's it's gonna be valuable use that use as much of that as as you need to

[00:57:57] a fun fact about that uh individual is that's uh john kusak's kickboxing uh trainer

[00:58:04] oh i like that a lot because and say anything that's his sort of career aspiration nice little

[00:58:12] call back to that um piven i piven i thought was really good in this role just he just

[00:58:20] totally pulled off the like i just got my life together but i i don't quite like it but i'm

[00:58:29] like it but i'm gonna do this because this is what it would look like for me to be an adult

[00:58:35] not very comfortable but i'm trying well and that feels like and so that's and that's an

[00:58:42] interesting juxtaposition right because you do have the sense of like kuzak like i don't know

[00:58:46] if i want i don't want this life i don't want to do this anymore right um there's a

[00:58:50] similar thing going on right where you've got you have piven who's like well this is

[00:58:55] i mean i'd like to do what i was doing before it was just maybe like kind of farting around and

[00:58:59] not being real responsible but i'll do this because this seems like the right thing and

[00:59:02] that's kind of what you see too but like kuzak is actually making a living doing the thing he

[00:59:07] likes it's just the thing that he likes it's probably not the most socially acceptable thing

[00:59:11] well it's not the thing that he's gonna be able to keep doing and win his high school

[00:59:17] heart back like if it wasn't for mini driver and the moment he has with the baby in the

[00:59:25] the reunion if it wasn't for that he could probably keep doing what he's doing

[00:59:32] but he's not going to he's not going to be able to move on to the life stage of life

[00:59:38] while he does that yeah heather had a really interesting like evaluation with the baby

[00:59:44] seems really staring at it you know and it's like i think the uh the more i'll say obvious

[00:59:50] but like maybe like the more prevalent uh take would be like hey if i want to have kids you

[00:59:56] know can i live this life right where she looked at it was like looking at it he's

[01:00:00] looking going yeah 20 years from now i might be taking you up like there's a

[01:00:06] uh because i think there was i think that there is a

[01:00:11] i think he has to have the sociopathic tendencies to do what he does yeah that's right and

[01:00:18] and i don't know that the movie totally leans into it but i think the movie at least

[01:00:22] allows for it and which complicates any it complicates a rom-com when your main

[01:00:30] protagonist is a sociopath that's right as we've gotten to understand psychology a little bit

[01:00:36] better we know that these things all exist on a spectrum right so it's you could lean toward

[01:00:43] a certain kind of like she she always jokingly calls him a psychopath she calls him like a

[01:00:48] psychopath like three times it kind of as a joke but he's a psychopath right right so i mean

[01:00:57] he he's not the kind of psychopath that doesn't also care what she thinks

[01:01:04] but he's the kind of guy that will take down a target if he's paid enough money so right well

[01:01:12] i think if you really get into a complication of this and this is maybe the movie that i

[01:01:16] you know would prefer to have seen would be the one that's you know where he's confronted

[01:01:21] are you are you in love with me or are you and are you in are you trying to reset

[01:01:27] you know are you trying to go back to a time before you were this

[01:01:30] or at least before you realized right you had the proclivity to do this and it does the movie

[01:01:35] does not in that direction when she comes to his hotel room and she says oh am i part of

[01:01:40] your big romantic second chance right right um which which i think is yeah which i think is

[01:01:48] all great but again i just feel like i think is insightful i think i think that i think there's

[01:01:52] just some meat like i said meat left on the bone and that's true types of yeah yeah and if this

[01:01:58] movie was something other than a rom-com maybe we would have got that right which i'm okay i'm

[01:02:04] okay with it as it is um now you are a guy who loves ghostbusters indeed and maybe even

[01:02:13] ghostbusters too i enjoy ghostbusters too but famously not a big acroid fan

[01:02:22] not really i'm curious to hear where this sets for you this is the kind of acroid i think i like

[01:02:31] um it's because i like him when he's a little bit more in a supporting type role right like i

[01:02:39] don't i mean not like he's he's a leading man a lot but i mean i have to pick on dr detroit but um

[01:02:48] that's a lousy lousy film i was just gonna say i i don't think i've ever seen a movie that

[01:02:53] was set in detroit that i didn't like but i don't think i've seen dr detroit yeah yeah um

[01:03:01] um i mean i do i do enjoy him in trading places um i think i i think maybe he's best when he's

[01:03:10] just kind of playing one note maybe to some degree like because i think he plays one note

[01:03:13] well like instead of just you know i think when he's locked in on something like that

[01:03:18] um i mean there's a lot of movies that he's in that i've enjoyed um maybe not you know in

[01:03:26] retrospect but like there's movies that i think i enjoy now like i might be i might have to

[01:03:31] sort of change my tune on dan akroyd just in terms of when i look back and if i'm looking

[01:03:36] at movies right now where i'm like ah i really i actually thought coneheads is is better than

[01:03:43] than uh i thought it would be and yeah underrated conehands is underrated uh for sure

[01:03:50] and find him funny in that uh i do like the great outdoors it's a silly one for sure but

[01:03:56] i think he's very effective in that uh in that role where you don't really like him a whole lot

[01:04:03] um i think he's the classic guy that the right amount of him is kind of essential

[01:04:12] right he's like he's a little bit like cumin he's like yeah well you're gonna need a just

[01:04:18] the right amount of that to make this guacamole work but you don't want to build

[01:04:24] an entire meal around that right so anyway i like him and i may have held a lot against him

[01:04:33] because of caddyshack 2 but oh interesting um is this movie better worse or on par with

[01:04:40] a ron howard film i think this is properly howard interesting because i because of my

[01:04:50] criticisms because i enjoyed it i thought that uh they had a lot of really great actors doing

[01:04:56] a lot of really great things but i felt a little like i said that meat that was just left on the

[01:05:02] bone that's where i would say that this feels a little properly howard for me like not willing

[01:05:06] to take that extra step and and and you know maybe there were moments where and again

[01:05:14] i think this is not to say that ron howard is not a courageous director but there were

[01:05:18] moments where i felt like that felt like the safe for play for the masses i was gonna say howard

[01:05:25] plus one and the reason why is because on occasion howard will do a movie like parenthood

[01:05:34] that will speak to me like oh i see myself in this movie and in some way um otherwise i just

[01:05:41] think his movies are kind of fun uh most most of the time you know that was a fun ride you

[01:05:47] know uh the apollo 13 that was a fun ride um that kind of thing this movie was more than a

[01:05:53] fun ride i feel like this movie speaks to me in a certain way i relate to this movie in a number

[01:05:59] of ways there are little easter eggs in this movie that it feels like this was made just for

[01:06:04] me and people about my age and uh because of that i'm gonna i'm gonna give it a howard plus

[01:06:11] one steve okay not too far off we're not too far off in our our appreciation of it is there a

[01:06:17] half the battle one to grow on moment in this film um i mean i would say skip skip the 10 go

[01:06:23] to the 20 that's a good one it's a good one you're not going to get the girl back at the

[01:06:30] 20 there's no way mini driver isn't more settled down uh i would say if you're happily

[01:06:38] self-employed don't join up with other people right his unions are going to be meetings of course

[01:06:52] no meetings

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