What’s Aged the Worst?
Royal calling Henry 'Coltrane' is the final answer; Margot and Richie's romance, a Charlie Rose-like figure, and the crowded wedding climax are also examined.
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:56Read transcript
- Margot and Richie's romance is initially flagged because they were raised as siblings, although the movie emphasizes that she is adopted and avoids showing a sexual relationship.
- On rewatch, one participant feels less troubled by the romance than memory suggested because the movie leaves it unresolved.
- The film's childlike treatment of sex and romance is compared with Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom.
- Making the romance more explicit would turn the film into something closer to The Dreamers, which the participants reject as a fit.
- The Charlie Rose-like interviewer groping Margot now reads as an unsettlingly accurate dark detail.
- Royal's racial language toward Henry, especially calling him Coltrane, interrupts one participant's modern rewatch.
- The discussion places Royal's speech in Anderson's affection for Hackman's 1970s roles while still rejecting the line as cute complexity.
- The wedding climax is criticized as a slapstick collision of plot lines after the emotional climax in Margot and Richie's tent.
- The staging of Eli's crash and the dog in the wedding sequence is considered awkward and overcomplicated.
- The emotional release of Chaz telling Royal he has had a rough year partly redeems the ending.
- The final explicit answer is Royal calling Henry Coltrane.