The ranking covers only comedies, excluding horror and science-fiction versions such as Face/Off, Freaky (called actually really liked), Nine Lives with Kevin Spacey trapped in a cat, and The Cobbler with Adam Sandler.
The list builds from one out of ten, The Hot Chick with Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams, joking she should make a Notebook sequel to buy up all copies.
Two out of ten is Dream a Little Dream with the Corys, a rare four-person switch that somehow got a sequel.
Three out of ten groups the father-son versions: 17 Again, Like Father Like Son with Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore, and Vice Versa with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage, the best of the three.
Four out of ten is The Change-Up with Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, not a very good movie.
Five out of ten is Prelude to a Kiss with Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin, called the Juliet stratosphere.
Asked for thoughts, the reply places it in the latter days of Meg Ryan's arc, a film that felt like a favor but was enjoyable; it made the playoffs but is not a round-two movie. — Juliet Litman
Six out of ten is All of Me with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin; seven is the 2003 Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, called rock solid, with a tangent on Lohan's Parent Trap to Mean Girls run.
Eight is 13 Going on 30, nine Being John Malkovich as the highbrow version, and ten Big, called the best one ever and the icon everything else derives from.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:45:06Read transcript

Ebert was not impressed: two stars, saying Jennifer Garner is a charmer but the victim of a charmless treatment.
Ebert could not buy the magazine office, professionals not noticing a 13-year-old mind, Jenna's spectacularly bad redesign being accepted, and emotional and sexual puzzles; he said it should have been a musical. His points are called decent.
He liked Garner, which is credited for getting two stars out of him.
Wesley Morris, then at the Boston Globe, called it a contagious but dopey first star vehicle for TV's Jennifer Garner, tailor-made for women who lust for dream houses, dream jobs and dream hubbies; a host guesses that if asked now he would call it one of his favorites of the last 25 years.
Dopey can still be fun; Ebert's logic points are correct but part of the genre, and the office looks like the Working Girl set.

Casting What-Ifs

Reported backups Gwyneth Paltrow, Hilary Swank and Renee Zellweger; Paul Rudd and Sam Rockwell for Matt

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:33:38Read transcript

Paltrow, Swank and Zellweger were reportedly backups if Garner couldn't do it; neither participant thinks they work, though mid-90s Zellweger might.
Young Jenna looks like Hilary Swank; Paltrow and Ruffalo later made a flight attendant movie that was not good.
The casting director reportedly said Paul Rudd and Sam Rockwell were next if Ruffalo turned it down; Rudd could work.
Test audiences reportedly hated the original young Matt and young Jenna, who were reshot with different actors.

Recasting Couch

Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Alex Carlson

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:36:26Read transcript

Tim Curry is offered for the magazine editor role.
Ryan Reynolds as Alex Carlson, post-Van Wilder, is suggested, but the other participant has always been anti-Ryan Reynolds and finds him unlikable here.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar is offered instead, the most important actor to that participant from 1986 to 1992; "I could see that working."
Scott Wolf would have been great but is shorter than Garner.
The movie would work in almost any city, such as Chicago, Boston, LA or San Francisco.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Christa B. Allen's repeat young-Garner role; Garner's childhood photos on the closet door; deleted Alex Carlson breakup scene

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:39:37Read transcript

The hosts report that Christa B. Allen played 13-year-old Jenna and again played Garner's younger version in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
The hosts report that the seven-minutes-in-heaven closet door shows actual photos of Garner as a child.
The hosts report that a deleted scene of Jenna breaking up with Alex Carlson is on the Blu-ray special features; one participant owned the DVD in college.

Living with an undone alternate life; New York geography; unemployed Matt; unrealistic magazine business; Jenna not looking things up; Six Chicks dressed for 1985; anachronistic video camera; Matt too accepting; littering; unchanged basement; junk food without consequence; kept Sparkle letters; overnight bus ads; the dollhouse; the home wedding

In the discussion (16)

Approx. transcript time · 01:47:09Read transcript

The biggest nit is how she lives knowing she undid an alternate life.
New York details: 61 Fifth Avenue is at 11th Street but they show 12th, she asks what the Village is while living there, and travel is too quick.
Matt seems unemployed and always available; he needed hobbies like fantasy football or the Knicks and is probably a pothead, which suits Ruffalo not wanting to be there.
The magazine business is unrealistic: relaunches are normal, not a death sentence.
She would have had more questions and could have looked things up on a You've Got Mail-style computer.
The Six Chicks are dressed like 1985, not 1987, lacking big hair, per a participant in high school then.
Jenna's dad's small video camera didn't exist in 1987, when cameras were bulky.
Matt should have been far more alarmed by how crazy Jenna was.
Adult Jenna litters, throwing shrimp over her shoulder; one participant admits to littering as a kid, and an off-mic participant is said to hate littering.
The parents would have remodeled the basement in 17 years.
Jenna eats junk the whole movie with no jeans-don't-fit payoff.
Evil Jenna keeps the Sparkle letters in her desk drawer.
The class-of-2004 ad is on buses within 12 hours, though bus ads are booked far in advance.
A participant's wife's biggest nit: engaged Matt keeps a dollhouse of Jenna, with a bathtub picture, for 17 years; any partner would smash it.
The dollhouse is at his parents' house, which is still weird and suggests they want him back with her; she threw it at him, yet it is unbroken.
Weddings at a parent's house are a movie trope; home weddings in the Hamptons are very expensive, and someone who can afford San Ysidro could afford a hotel.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Why she is named Tom Tom; Lucy's first Sparkle issue; who won Poise versus Sparkle; an R-rated version

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:59:52Read transcript

Why is she named Tom Tom?
What is the first Sparkle issue Lucy oversees?
Who won Poise versus Sparkle in the 2000s? Neither: Us Weekly knocked both out.
An R-rated version with Cameron Diaz is interesting; Poor Things is called Ruffalo's R-rated version, and an R version would not have made $100 million.

Best Double Feature

Poster unavailable

Freaky Friday

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 02:02:18Read transcript

It has to be Big, unless Freaky Friday; the movie intentionally nods to Big, so it is an easy choice.

Producer review

A first-time watch that impressed

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 02:02:47Read transcript

Never seen it before: nine years old and a boy at release, watching Superbad by 16.
It is one of Liz's favorite movies and she was extremely excited to watch it.
Garner is seen more around Brentwood than in movies; the recalled credits are Juno, Draft Day and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
Agreeing with an earlier point, most people in their 20s think of Garner as the Capital One lady who was married to Ben Affleck, like Paul Newman and salad dressing.
Garner's physical acting is amazing and subtle, down to the giant pina colada gulps; the movie is better seen in your 30s than at 13.
A daughter identified with the teen parts while a wife loved it in her 30s; adult themes include Matt insisting on marrying his fiancee and Jenna apologizing to her mom for missing Christmas, flipping the usual rom-com ending.
Someone recently watched Clueless for the first time; this holds up better as an adult watch, while Clueless is a 1995 time capsule and LA has changed.