What’s Aged the Worst?
Michael's job at Sport Magazine; a rich 20-year-old dropping out of school for a sports writer; the baseball-and-Spurs confusion; Julia pretending to marry a gay man; the ring-sucking moment; Dermot Mulroney's vacant performance; forging the email; the easy access to a billionaire's email; Julia staying on as maid of honor; the gift-of-the-song speech and the bathroom hug; Michael forgiving her
In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:56Read transcript
- Michael's big job is at Sport Magazine, which even in the late 90s was not a thing any more; one host assumed it was made up or meant to be Sports Illustrated, but it was the biggest magazine of the 50s and 60s, still good in the 70s, dying in the 80s and done by the 90s, and probably the only magazine the film could get the rights to; one host had a subscription in 2000.
- Rich girl Cameron Diaz drops out of school at 20 to follow a sports writer, which a host who was a sports writer in the mid-90s calls a low-paying job nobody would drop out to follow around crappy Major League Baseball games; the film also shifts confusingly between baseball and the San Antonio Spurs, which should have counted as foreshadowing the San Antonio dynasty under what's aged the best, since they had not yet won a title.
- Julia pretending she is marrying a gay guy remains the major flaw: it does not age well, anyone believing it is insane, and she would have mentioned an engagement to her alleged best friend.
- The moment where he sucks the ring off Julia's finger strikes one host as weird, overly sexual and over the top, to the point that the pair might as well have just started kissing; another host says there is sexual chemistry in the movie and that this is the role Dermot Mulroney is supposed to play, and the objector concedes it is fine even if scientifically it may not work.
- There are inconsistencies in Dermot Mulroney's moral compass, which may be true to life with a hot man; one host says he looks great in The Family Stone and is adorable but a terrible actor whose motivations are never clear, while another says you are not supposed to know, he is confused, and his cute, vacant look is the point and it works.
- Forging the email the night before the wedding to try to get him fired is an actual evil act that goes too far and makes you hope the character dies alone; it was not okay in 1997 either, but it plays worse now.
- What has not aged well is how easily she accesses a billionaire's email by wandering into his office, and the idea that he wrote drafts for his assistant to send; it belongs in a video of great moments from 1994 to 1997 when people did not understand the internet, leading to You Got Mail (as transcribed), called the most dated movie of the last 20 years, one that feels like it came out in the 1800s, though a happier, safer time.
- She remains the maid of honor despite everything, which is beyond a nitpick; one host likes that the film reveals Kimmy is weirded out, sees the threat and is keeping her close to neutralize her, while another says she should not be at the wedding at all and should be escorted off the property.
- Her wedding speech points out that she got them no gift and then hands them the song that was her special song with the guy, and Cameron Diaz's character is totally cool with it; the real problem is the bathroom fight ending with Cameron Diaz giving her a hug, when a truce for appearances would do, though at the wedding she goes along with it because rich people do not air problems in public.
- Him forgiving her after she explains she sent an email from his father-in-law's account to get him fired is a deal breaker; you do not come back as friends after that, and if you are Cameron Diaz she has to go, her number deleted, probably immediately after the wedding; the thought is held for later.