What’s Aged the Worst?
Lionel Richie 'Hello' scene; eBay-store collectibles novelty; dead tech such as VHS porn collections, VCRs, recordable CDs and the VHS DVD dual player; the 'you know how I know you're gay' running bit
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:33Read transcript
- The Lionel Richie 'Hello' scene is put in both aged best and aged worst.
- A personal pick: Get Out ruined Catherine Keener, whose tea-stirring character makes her creepy in all her earlier films; the speaker admits it is personal and unfair.
- Pushback: Keener is amazing and oddball enough that she and Andy work, with her weird eBay store.
- The eBay store and collectibles trend felt new in 2005; the speaker recalls a column around 2000 about finding a vintage Patriots jersey and hunting cards and uncut sheets, before 20 years of nerd collector culture.
- So much dead tech makes it a full period piece: a big box of porn tapes, buying a VCR, recordable CDs and the VHS DVD dual player.
- Porn collections on VHS and everything VHS; you can't even buy a VHS player now except on eBay.
- The running 'you know how I know you're gay' theme would not play in 2020, though it is essential to how the characters interact.
- The gay panic joke has not aged well; per a DVD commentary, the scene was supposed to be Rudd's character describing ways he would kill himself before an improvised pivot, so a well-known scene was never in the script.
- Rudd's character's obsession with his ex, played by Mindy Kaling, at the dating event makes him a stalker and a dirtbag.