The hosts enumerate ten lessons using movie lines and their own addenda.
In the discussion (10)
- When you love someone, you have to trust them and give them the key to everything, though the hosts dispute the advice.
- Have the hole dug before arriving in the desert with a body.
- For gangsters, Vegas washes away sins like a morality car wash.
- Casinos are the only winners; players do not stand a chance.
- In Vegas, everyone watches everyone else.
- Keep players playing and returning because the longer they play, the more they lose.
- There is the right way, the wrong way, and Ace’s way.
- A control freak should avoid dating an attractive grifter who does not love him.
- Do not give one partner sole access to a two-million-dollar security deposit.
- Avoid dating someone with an ex named Lester.
The cheater punishment and count-room system lead a huge scene field including the whale, Nicky’s arrival, arguments, murders, and old-Vegas ending.
In the discussion (17)
- The casino surveillance and count-room explanation is nominated.
- The Ichikawa whale sequence is nominated.
- Ginger’s entrance is nominated.
- The card-counter and cheater punishment is a leading choice.
- Nicky’s arrival and ban montage are nominated.
- Ace confronting Ginger about Lester in the diner is nominated.
- Ace and Nicky’s argument about lost control is nominated.
- Catherine Scorsese in the wiretap scene is nominated.
- The desert argument is nominated.
- The Lester finger-snapping confrontation is nominated.
- Nicky and Ginger’s affair material is nominated.
- The murder montage and cornfield killing are nominated.
- The old-Vegas ending is nominated.
- The sports-book operations are nominated.
- Ginger’s wedding phone call to Lester is nominated.
- Ace giving Ginger the fur coat is nominated.
- The film’s opening fifteen minutes are nominated as a run.
Sharon Stone, old Las Vegas, casino systems, music, costumes, and supporting performances dominate aged-best.
In the discussion (23)
- Sharon Stone’s performance is praised.
- De Niro and Pesci’s improvisation is praised.
- Pesci becoming violent in bars is praised.
- Ginger tipping service workers is praised.
- The head-vice sequence and its ratings history are discussed.
- The old Strip and real locations are praised.
- James Woods is praised.
- Ginger’s scenes with her daughter are discussed.
- Nicky’s recurring oral-sex behavior is treated as a darkly comic character detail.
- Frank Vincent and Pesci reversing power from Goodfellas is praised.
- Ginger’s beehive and diamonds are praised.
- The golf-course airplane landing is praised.
- The casting of old-Vegas personalities is praised.
- Aces High is praised.
- The music choices are praised.
- The count room is praised.
- The blueberry-muffin complaint is praised.
- The explosive opening is praised.
- The Rain Man dealer is praised.
- Scorsese’s inventive cocaine imagery is praised.
- The aged hitmen are praised.
- Ace’s house is praised.
- James Woods’s Lester is ultimately offered as another leading aged-best answer.
The runtime, narrator structure, mannequin explosion, ethnicity, Gimme Shelter, shootings, and childcare draw objections.
In the discussion (9)
- The three-hour runtime is questioned.
- Repeated Ace–Ginger fights may be redundant.
- The use of three narrators is debated but defended.
- The mannequin in the car explosion is visible.
- De Niro playing a Jewish real-life figure is discussed.
- The repeated use of Gimme Shelter is noted.
- Pesci’s physical dominance is sometimes hard to accept.
- The staging of repeated shootings is questioned.
- The treatment of Ginger’s child is criticized.
Nick Mazzola and John Mankiewicz split the That Guy discussion.
In the discussion (3)
- Nick Mazzola, the blackjack dealer, is nominated.
- John Mankiewicz, identified as Nicky Eyes from Goodfellas, is nominated.
- No unambiguous final winner is stated.
De Niro’s commission hearing and Donnie, played by Joe Bob Briggs, are the main overacting candidates.
In the discussion (2)
- De Niro’s gaming-commission scene is nominated.
- Donnie, played by Joe Bob Briggs, is criticized as conspicuously broad.
James Woods wins over Don Rickles and Catherine Scorsese.
In the discussion (3)
- James Woods is selected.
- Don Rickles is nominated.
- Catherine Scorsese is nominated.
De Niro, Pesci, Sharon Stone, golf-course landings, Las Vegas details, and skimming receive distinct apex judgments.
In the discussion (11)
- De Niro is judged below his overall apex.
- Pesci’s apex is assigned to Goodfellas or My Cousin Vinny.
- The 1981 Cadillac Eldorado is judged at its apex.
- Kevin Pollak is judged at an apex shared with The Usual Suspects.
- Sharon Stone’s angry blackjack-table scenes are judged at an apex.
- Movie oral-sex references are denied an apex.
- Emergency golf-course airplane landings are judged below other examples.
- Lester is proposed as an apex scumbag ex-boyfriend.
- Star 80 is invoked as an alternate scumbag story.
- Skimming from a casino is assessed.
- Meetings conducted in code language are praised.
A prestige casino series sounds compelling, with Kansas City or Chicago operations and a Fredo-in-Vegas interquel discussed.
In the discussion (3)
- A large-budget prestige series about the casino operation sounds compelling.
- Kansas City or Chicago Mafia operations are suggested as alternate series subjects.
- A Fredo-in-Vegas story between the first two Godfather films is proposed.
The house, robe, dice machine, brooch, ledger, jacket, vice, pen, and sports book are proposed.
In the discussion (9)
- Ace’s house is proposed.
- Ace’s John Barrymore robe is proposed.
- The weighted-dice testing machine is proposed.
- Ginger’s first diamond brooch is proposed.
- The Kansas City expense ledger is proposed.
- Joe Bob Briggs’s jacket is proposed.
- The head vice is proposed.
- The stabbing pen is proposed.
- Part of the Tangiers sports book is proposed.
Sharon Stone wins over Martin Scorsese.
In the discussion (3)
- Both responding hosts select Sharon Stone.
- Martin Scorsese is the principal alternative for the movie’s scale and control.
- Stone is praised for holding her own against De Niro and Pesci and for the scarcity of comparable later roles.
The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson
