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The Rewatchables ·

Enemy of the State

year 1998decade 90sdirector Tony Scottgenre Actiongenre Thriller
host Bill Simmonshost Sean Fennesseyhost Chris Ryan
All 16 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 40:32

Brill’s getaway-lair escape (two preferences)

The Jason Lee apartment break-in, rooftop pursuit, shop exits, bicycle escape, and collision are nominated as one extended Tony Scott chase showcase.

Brill meeting Robert Clayton, identifying the trackers on him, and immediately controlling the situation is nominated.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 1:17:59

“You made a phone call”

Brill’s explanation that he destroyed the building because Clayton made a phone call is selected as the best line.

The film

Enemy of the State (1998)

Directed by Tony Scott · Action

132 minutes

IMDb Letterboxd JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Will Smith Robert Clayton Dean
Gene Hackman Edward Lyle / Brill
Jon Voight Thomas Reynolds
Regina King Carla Dean
Loren Dean Hicks
Jake Busey Krug
Barry Pepper Pratt
Jason Lee Daniel Zavitz
Gabriel Byrne NSA Agent / Fake Brill
Lisa Bonet Rachel Banks

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

40:08

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:08Read transcript
  • The review is introduced as a recovery after an earlier unfavorable Tommy Boy discussion. — Bill Simmons
  • Ebert is reported as awarding three stars and concluding that the movie mostly works. — Bill Simmons
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40:32

Most Rewatchable Scene

Brill’s getaway-lair escape (two preferences); Jason Lee pursuit (one)

Brill’s getaway-lair escape (two preferences); Jason Lee pursuit (one)

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:32Read transcript
  • The Jason Lee apartment break-in, rooftop pursuit, shop exits, bicycle escape, and collision are nominated as one extended Tony Scott chase showcase.
  • Brill meeting Robert Clayton, identifying the trackers on him, and immediately controlling the situation is nominated.
  • Clayton’s hotel escape across balconies, the closet fire, and the ambulance exit are nominated. — Bill Simmons
  • Clayton’s first visit to Brill’s getaway lair, its destruction, their escape by car, and the train pursuit are nominated; two panelists ultimately prefer this sequence. — Bill Simmons
  • Clayton crashing the mafia dinner is nominated for the confrontation and Tom Sizemore’s committed spaghetti eating.
  • The opening park-bench exchange between Hammersley and Reynolds and Hammersley’s murder are added as a nomination.
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49:59

What’s Aged the Best?

Lisa Bonet

Lisa Bonet

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:59Read transcript
  • Lisa Bonet’s screen presence, beauty, and chemistry with Will Smith are the emphatic leading answer.
  • Jason Lee’s late-1990s run and sarcastic screen persona are praised.
  • Barry Pepper’s ability to look menacing while sprinting is singled out. — Bill Simmons
  • The exceptional supporting cast and the foresight of casting then-young performers are nominated, with the cast ranked second by one participant.
  • Brill’s practical surveillance-avoidance tricks are praised. — Bill Simmons
  • Tony Scott’s disorienting chase editing is argued to put the viewer in Clayton’s position.
  • Washington, D.C. and the surrounding region are praised as an action-thriller setting.
  • The premise that government technology can invade ordinary life is offered as the most consequential answer. — Sean Fennessey
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59:47

What’s Aged the Worst?

Reynolds being diminished by domestic scenes

Reynolds being diminished by domestic scenes

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:47Read transcript
  • The film takes too long to regain momentum after the opening murder. — Bill Simmons
  • The NSA’s satellite and image-reconstruction capabilities are described as implausible, even though later real surveillance makes the premise less dismissible. — Bill Simmons
  • Scott Caan’s increasingly exaggerated hairstyle is nominated. — Bill Simmons
  • Reynolds’ domestic scenes with his much younger wife undercut his menace; the panel settles on this as the answer. — Bill Simmons
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1:02:37

Casting What-Ifs

Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, and George Clooney were considered for Clayton; Sean Connery was the backup for Brill, prompt...

Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, and George Clooney were considered for Clayton; Sean Connery was the backup for Brill, prompting a role-swap discussion with The Rock.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:37Read transcript
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1:04:02

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Lillo Brancato

Lillo Brancato

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:02Read transcript
  • Anna Gunn is considered because many viewers may know her as Walter White’s wife, then rejected because her name and Emmy-level profile are established. — Bill Simmons
  • Lillo Brancato is selected because the panel expects viewers to identify him through A Bronx Tale and The Sopranos rather than his name. — Bill Simmons
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1:04:51

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Tom Sizemore

Tom Sizemore

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:51Read transcript
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1:05:57

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Lisa Bonet

Lisa Bonet

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:57Read transcript
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1:06:31

Recasting Couch

Lisa Bonet in a larger role

Lisa Bonet in a larger role

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:31Read transcript
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1:08:28

Half-Assed Internet Research

Uncredited writers, NSA noncooperation, the failed NEC handheld, and Reynolds’s assigned date

Uncredited writers, NSA noncooperation, the failed NEC handheld, and Reynolds’s assigned date

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:28Read transcript
  • Aaron Sorkin, Henry Bean, and Tony Gilroy are reported as performing uncredited script rewrites. — Bill Simmons
  • The NSA is reported as refusing to cooperate with the production. — Bill Simmons
  • The handheld game device is identified as the failed NEC TurboExpress. — Bill Simmons
  • Reynolds’ in-film birthday is reported as September 11, 1940, the date of an early remote computer demonstration over a phone line. — Bill Simmons
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1:09:39

Apex Mountain

Lisa Bonet

Lisa Bonet

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:39Read transcript
  • Lisa Bonet’s post-Cosby Show visibility is proposed, with a joke that the birth of Zoë Kravitz is her actual apex. — Bill Simmons
  • Jake Busey is proposed and rejected because Starship Troopers is judged his apex.
  • The panel explicitly agrees to treat the category as Lisa Bonet’s Apex Mountain. — Bill Simmons
  • The Washington–Baltimore–Virginia film setting is added as another Apex Mountain candidate, short of All the President’s Men. — Chris Ryan
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1:10:44

Picking Nits

The murder premise, character decisions, impossible movement and imaging, repeated fires, pet-driven plotting, and th...

The murder premise, character decisions, impossible movement and imaging, repeated fires, pet-driven plotting, and the rapid marital reconciliation

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:44Read transcript
  • Reynolds’ decision to attend and order the public murder of a sitting congressman merely to advance surveillance legislation and his career is judged absurd. — Bill Simmons
  • The coincidence of a wildlife camera capturing the murder, followed by Jason Lee reviewing the footage, is criticized as flimsy. — Bill Simmons
  • Clayton behaves too aggressively in the first mafia meeting and appears implausibly bad at labor lawyering.
  • Barry Pepper nearly matching a bicycle on foot and Clayton outrunning a Camaro are criticized as impossible human speed. — Chris Ryan
  • Clayton intentionally setting himself on fire in a closet and escaping without major burns is challenged. — Bill Simmons
  • The lingerie-store security footage being rotated and enhanced in three dimensions is called the most implausible technology in the film. — Bill Simmons
  • The cat and dog are judged to consume too much plot attention.
  • Carla’s quick reconciliation with Clayton, despite his earlier affair and continued lies, is judged unconvincing. — Bill Simmons
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1:17:59

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

“You made a phone call”

“You made a phone call”

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:59Read transcript
  • Brill’s explanation that he destroyed the building because Clayton made a phone call is selected as the best line.
  • Clayton correcting the mafia’s ethnic insult to “eggplant,” with a later callback, is praised as the other memorable line.
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1:18:23

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A ten-episode series expanding the Hammersley/Reynolds conflict, Jason Lee, the mafia, Brill, and the NSA manhunt

A ten-episode series expanding the Hammersley/Reynolds conflict, Jason Lee, the mafia, Brill, and the NSA manhunt

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:23Read transcript
  • A ten-episode adaptation is endorsed as a way to deepen the large ensemble and institutional conflict. — Bill Simmons
  • The man-on-the-run premise is compared to The Fugitive and the frantic storytelling to 24.
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1:19:43

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Carla’s later conspiracy-board life; Tom Sizemore’s career between Heat and this film

Carla’s later conspiracy-board life; Tom Sizemore’s career between Heat and this film

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:43Read transcript
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1:21:36

Who Won the Movie?

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:36Read transcript
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Gene Hackman
Speaker not identified
Gene Hackman
Speaker not identified
Gene Hackman
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More from the conversation

The panel frames the film as a heightened paranoid thriller whose telecommunications surveillance concerns became more plausible after 9/11 and the Snowden era.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:06Read transcript
Extended discussion argues that Gene Hackman elevated younger leading men and gave commercial thrillers unusual credibility; the film is treated as an unofficial, stylistically amplified cousin of The Conversation.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:42Read transcript
Extended Will Smith career discussion contrasts his major box-office run and mainstream command with missed chances to work in riskier roles and with elite directors.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:13Read transcript
The unusually deep supporting cast and Tony Scott chase editing receive sustained praise, along with Washington, D.C. as an action-thriller setting.
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:11Read transcript

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