Most Rewatchable Scene
Bridal-shop food-poisoning dress fitting
In the discussion (29)
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:24Read transcript
- The first hangout lunch between Annie and Lillian opens the category, with Annie's penis impression called first class and possibly improvised.
- Apatow understood the value of four-minute hangout scenes establishing why characters are friends, a template later seen even in The Hangover.
- Jill Clayburgh, a major late-70s star, plays Annie's mom; her chicken-coop scene is longer in the extended version, and the character was toned down after she died.
- The dueling engagement-party speeches were largely improvised; Rose Byrne invented fake Thai and a sensible Thai sentence was dubbed in.
- The rest of the engagement party works too: Megan's introduction (dolphin telepathy, "I survived. I thrived.") and Annie being repeatedly paired with random men, where everyone else, not Annie, raises her single status.
- The speeches push secondhand mortification until guests are holding their glasses up waiting to drink.
- Asked about memorable wedding speeches, one participant recalls a best-man speech for best friend Jeff 23-24 years earlier that ended on hoping to someday find what the couple had.
- Every character introduction before the speeches is distinct and funny, including Rita on her teenage boys and Becca with her husband after a Disneyland honeymoon.
- Rose Byrne is one of the most underrated aspects of the film, also great in Neighbors (on the 2021 schedule); the dueling speeches felt more cringe-inducing than the bridal-shop scene.
- Per the research, Byrne had been a dramatic actress hired as a Glenn Close-type villain foil, with nobody knowing she was this funny; she has the hardest, passive-aggressive part.
- The food-poisoning dress-fitting scene is the iconic one; it was not in the shooting script and was added after Apatow and Paul Feig pushed for one more physical-comedy scene.
- Setup details include the stray dog at the Brazilian restaurant and theme suggestions of Pixar from Becca and Fight Club from Megan.
- The gross-out sequence was written in one participant's outline under most rewatchable scene before the rewatch; favorite lines include "I just need to get off this white carpet" and "Look away."
- Annie refusing to concede anything to Helen, looking worse with each cut and inching a Jordan almond toward her mouth, may be the funniest part.
- It is one of the funniest scenes of all time for any age; after it was shown to a five-year-old son, "look away" became a household running joke.
- The immaculate white bridal shop makes the chaos funnier.
- Asked which sick character they would be, one participant picks the character who throws up on someone else; another says they would be the "look away" character, like a dog that avoids eye contact.
- Megan should have owned using the sink; the janitor's next-morning cleanup was on one participant's unanswerable-questions list.
- The plane trip, a spouse's favorite scene, is a great 10 minutes: McCarthy's air-marshal bit and Annie escalating to "Welcome to Germany."
- Good ensembles work in any pairing, compared with the Russo brothers' pairings in Infinity War and Endgame; seating Rita and Becca together to discuss their sex lives is a delight.
- The film shows up in gifs a lot, like Anchorman: "look away" and Annie's sarcastic reply to Helen's Vegas restaurant offer.
- Planes are not funny places, especially since 9/11 and now the pandemic, so unlocking comedy there works.
- Annie getting fired over the fight with the teenage girl at the store is a smaller favorite.
- The bridal shower, including the bleached-asshole exchange, is another set piece; Lillian's "talk behind my back like a normal person" line is praised, and Megan takes the golden retriever puppies home.
- Megan's pep talk, which opens with Annie watching Cast Away, is nominated as a quieter pick blending humor and heart.
- McCarthy was the film's stunning revelation; she was an improv legend largely unknown to the public, compared with a John Belushi documentary, and was nominated for an Oscar.
- Annie repeatedly driving past the cop to get his attention is a spouse's favorite.
- Jon Hamm's scenes are flagged as a likely heat check, including the "open for biz" lap-nap line.
- The final pick is the shit scene, with agreement.
