What’s Aged the Best?
Leo’s reaction to Bob’s reported suicide, the spoken title, the Wagoneer, Julie Haggerty, Leo’s clothes, the local shirt, family conferences, the psychiatry satire, Bob’s humanity, and compact movie-star comedy receive praise.
In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:05Read transcript
- After hearing that his patient committed suicide, he calls it horrible and then says not to let it spoil the vacation.
- The movie’s spoken “What about Bob?” title line remains a crowd-pleasing device.
- Leo’s Wagoneer is praised as an important 1980s comedy vehicle.
- Julie Haggerty is praised as a durable comic performer from Airplane! and Lost in America through Marriage Story.
- The wife character is the family member who can tolerate and understand Leo.
- Albert Brooks and Gary Marshall’s casino negotiation in Lost in America is recalled as a favorite scene.
- Dreyfuss’s vacation clothes are praised as perfectly chosen for the character.
- Bob’s local shirt remains memorable.
- The family conference and puppets efficiently reveal that Leo’s home life is less controlled than he believes.
- The movie satirizes a period of branded celebrity psychiatry built around slogans and gimmicks.
- Bob connects with Leo’s children by listening and encouraging them, while Leo repeatedly fails to connect.
- The discussion argues that the film targets Leo’s fame-hungry narcissism more specifically than all therapy.
- Dreyfuss’s thighs and trimmed beard are nearly included as an Aged Best answer.
- The panel misses compact high-concept American comedies built around major movie stars.