What’s Aged the Worst?
Affleck's wig-like hair; the Iranian characters; the casting controversy; the invented Lester Siegel; Canada's minimized role; the late song; the multiple endings
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:18Read transcript
- Affleck's hair, also listed as aged best, is terrible and presumed to be a wig.
- At first viewing one host mistook Scoot for C. Thomas Howell for the first 20 minutes.
- Every Iranian character is angry and screaming, a simplistic and not-so-veiled racist view; only the housekeeper shows a conscience.
- There was an early controversy over Affleck taking the part because Mendez was, the hosts think, half Mexican; Mendez gave his blessing, and the outcry would be bigger in 2021.
- The hosts note Lester Siegel is not a real person.
- The hosts report the film has been criticized for minimizing the Canadian embassy's role, falsely showing the New Zealand and British embassies turning Americans away, and exaggerating the escape day; Maclean's said it rewrites history at Canada's expense.
- The hosts say Garber's Ken Taylor is supposedly the real hero and that Mendez was in Iran only a day and a half; Affleck is quoted admitting the portrayal of Britain and New Zealand was not totally fair.
- The hosts quote Jimmy Carter saying 90% of the contribution was Canadian and that Ken Taylor was the main hero.
- The hosts say Carter only briefly pulled the tickets before Mendez reached Iran and that Taylor received a Congressional Gold Medal from Reagan, yet the film gives Garber only a couple of scenes.
- The song arriving a year late is called unacceptable in jest.
- The Spielberg-style endings drag on through Cranston, the house, the flag hug, the bedside reading and title cards; it should have ended with the plane handshake and celebration montage.