The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie
"You see, that's the sort of crap people are always trying to lay on me"; "It's not my fault you wouldn't play catch with your father"; "Hey, Dad, you want to have a catch?"; "Oh, people will come, Ray"; "is this heaven it's Iowa"; "well then i guess i'm real"; "we just don't recognize life's most significant moments while they're happening"; "Officially, my major was English, but really it was the 60s"
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:49Read transcript
- A lot of candidates: Ray never having done a crazy thing until he heard the voice, you build it, he will come, that's the sort of crap people are always trying to lay on me, it's not my fault you wouldn't play catch with your father, hey, Dad, you want to have a catch, and the this is Terrence Mann, Easter Bunny exchange, which is really funny.
- The people will come, Ray speech is performed in full and one voice says it has to go to that now, recalling a joke about planning the Ringer as podcasts mixed with text.
- Is this heaven, it's Iowa made one host sob; the Shoeless Joe and Karen exchange, are you a ghost, you look real to me, well then I guess I'm real, is quietly a mission statement for the movie and for life, the most important idea in the world to one host.
- A Harry Potter parallel: Dumbledore telling Harry that happening inside your head doesn't mean it isn't real explains why people invest in stories, teams and Game of Thrones; people love this movie because they put themselves in Ray's position and wish they believed in something without a payoff; movies articulate longing, and closure with your dad experienced secondhand can feel safer than the real thing, with a Game of Thrones 1280s joke.
- Moonlight's it was coming this close to your dreams and then watching them brush past you like a stranger in a crowd and we just don't recognize life's most significant moments while they're happening, I didn't realize that that was the only day, are gutting; the dream is ultimately human connection and fulfillment, not one at-bat; most rom-coms is a joke.
- The movie asks you to see the totality of its characters: Moonlight saved lives rather than being haunted, Mann didn't want to be that thing anymore, and Ray gets to see his dad beyond the man who rejected his counterculture; it is underrated on perspective and the lingering consequences of decisions.
- The comedy lines: oh Lord, you're supposed to build a football field now; officially my major was English, but really it was the 60s; and Ray answering what do you want by pointing at the three men with arms crossed; the hosts have to move on.
- Later, favorite voice lines: ease his pain, go the distance, and the iconic if you build it he will come, often misquoted as they will come; one host likes ease his pain most as the best thought experiment; a joke about a Trump tweet calling Ray Kinsella a loser bringing back cheaters.