What’s Aged the Best?
Gibson-Russo pairing; Sinise-Gibson chess match; script; kidnapping crew; email as a plot device; sneaky good cast; dirty-cop narrative
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:29Read transcript
- The Gibson-Russo reteaming leads off; actor pairs who run it back in different roles are rare, with examples including Julia Roberts and Richard Gear, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, Sana Lathan and Omar Epps, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper in multiple movies with a co-star (more of a David O. Russell thing), and Winslet and Leo.
- Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love, La La Land) is the favorite re-pairing because they could make another completely different movie now.
- The chess-match aspect of Sinise and Gibson has aged well.
- The script is called well-constructed and well-written, with a shout-out to the writers, including Richard Price for the screenplay.
- The kidnappers, by shorthand, are Lieutenant Dan, the bald Californication guy, New Kid on the Block number two, the HBO narrator guy and Lily Taylor; Lily Taylor is praised.
- Donnie Wahlberg as the good kidnapper recalls the good Nazi in Victory.
- Early email as a plot device, when getting an email signaled that he must be really rich.
- The crew is a sneaky good cast who all played their positions; Donnie Wahlberg was stunt casting in 1996 and has since become a successful actor on Blue Bloods.
- The narrative of the dirty cop as the lead villain has aged best.