Apex Mountain
Shaq, Cousy and Pitino as actors; flunking TV; college basketball; Jenny as ex-wife
In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:09Read transcript
- Nolte is rejected. Cheating in a basketball movie prompts alternatives from White Men Can’t Jump and Above the Rim.
- Mary McDonnell and Bob Knight are rejected, with Knight’s 1987 championship after A Season on the Brink recalled as an alternative.
- Flunking television in college is accepted, followed by a joke about doing it again in 1996.
- Rick Fox’s brief role is placed in a strong acting run including Eddie, He Got Game and Oz, leading to a joke about an Oz rewatch.
- The Gambler remains the choice for basketball point-shaving scenes. Uncut Gems is suggested for sports betting but distinguished from point shaving.
- If widened to taking a dive in sports films, The Longest Yard and the devastating ending of The Color of Money are considered.
- Shaq and Penny as a pair are rejected, but Shaq as an actor is accepted emphatically.
- Bob Cousy and Rick Pitino as actors are accepted; Algiers is introduced with another joke about how difficult it is to reach.
- Blue Chips is named a favorite college basketball movie for capturing a generation of players, though 1970s films including Fast Break remain an alternative preference.
- Recruiting-scene competition includes Moneyball’s first-base pitch to Chris Pratt’s character.
- Hoosiers’ apparently indifferent approach to Jimmy Chitwood is preferred as another recruiting scene.
- He Got Game’s sexually charged Tech visit is another recruiting-scene choice.
- Jenny is proposed as an apex movie ex-wife for helping with tape, recruiting and emotional support while remaining physically separate from Pete.
- Jenny is compared with the wet-blanket sports-movie partner tradition; her final disappointment is defended because she has the film’s moral conscience.