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Disclosure poster

Disclosure

year 1994decade 90sdirector Barry Levinsongenre Thriller
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Michael Douglas Tom Sanders
Demi Moore Meredith Johnson
Donald Sutherland Bob Garvin
Caroline Goodall Susan Hendler
Dylan Baker Philip Blackburn
Roma Maffia Catherine Alvarez
Rosemary Forsyth Stephanie Kaplan
Dennis Miller Mark Lewyn
Allan Rich Ben Heller
Nicholas Sadler Don Cherry
Suzie Plakson Mary Anne Hunter
Jacqueline Kim Cindy Chang
Joe Urla John Conley Jr.
Trevor Einhorn Matt Sanders
Kate Williamson Judge Barbara Murphy
Donal Logue Chance Geer
Farrah Forke Adele Lewyn
David Drew Gallagher Spencer Kaplan
Wayne Duvall Executive
Jesse Dizon Mohammed Jafar (voice)

Disclosure | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Van Lathanhost Wosny Lambreproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Moore’s best roles; Douglas’s sexual screen persona

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:57Read transcript
  • An early hottest take favors Moore in St. Elmo's Fire and Disclosure because they use her distinctive sexuality; Striptease is criticized for treating nudity as a stunt without dramatic heat.
  • The earlier hottest take is repeated: St. Elmo's Fire and Disclosure are Moore's two best roles.
  • Two further hot takes interpret Douglas's convincing sexual screen persona as exceptional coolness and speculate about his private life. These are host conjectures, not established biographical facts; they also imagine an erotic-thriller version of The American President.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Meredith encounter; hotel-room VR

In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:36Read transcript
  • Rewatchable scenes: Tom learns he may lose his job, then meets Meredith and angrily tells his staff he was passed over. The workplace banter is praised as absurdly full of statements that would now prompt HR complaints.
  • The staff's impromptu feminism debate is praised, especially the female engineer who can trade jokes with the men while explaining obstacles they dismiss. Dennis Miller supplies the wisecracks.
  • The after-hours drink with Meredith is praised for Moore's intensity and described as exceptionally charged without nudity. The hosts debate how its appeal implicates viewers because she ignores refusal, while the former couple's familiarity complicates the scene.
  • Meredith invokes their sexual history, comments cruelly on Tom's wife and domestic life, and stresses that he has more to lose. The old-flame trope and personal familiarity help explain his initial participation.
  • The encounter is compared with Single White Female's scene of a man outwardly resisting while participating; that film is preferred in the comparison, and its subsequent self-righteous response is mocked.
  • Tom seeing his reflection and recognizing what he is doing is singled out as an exceptional Great Shot Gordo moment.
  • Meredith's furious reaction after Tom stops and her demand that he return are praised for Moore's commitment and the scene's magnetic excess.
  • Dennis Miller exposes Tom's situation at a double date; Tom's wife says she already knows. Her later accounting of his mistakes is praised, along with his defensive speech about power.
  • Tom's deposition is praised for both lawyers and its squirm-inducing questions, with his female attorney opposed by Meredith's traditional male lawyer.
  • Meredith's deposition unravels through the rare 1991 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay: ordering it weeks earlier undermines her account of an impromptu meeting. The hosts enjoy the wine knowledge and legal construction.
  • The recording exposes Meredith's account, after which she doubles down with a speech about sexual aggression and women in power. The hosts compare the shift with Sharon Stone's interrogation and praise its theatrical excess.
  • The hotel-room virtual-reality sequence is a favorite for its cliff, poor effects, Meredith's avatar jump scare, and her angry computer face. Its file retrieval is contrasted with modern VR games used for amusement.
  • Getting into a hotel room by asking staff to clean it is praised as a 1990s movie device while questioned as real-world security, with Pacific Heights as another example.
  • The shareholder showdown firing Meredith is called unrealistic but entertaining. The ending gives Stephanie the job, reveals the anonymous friend, and restores Tom's family and employment.
  • The Donald Sutherland sexual-advance dream is called the funniest scene by one participant and an aged-worst choice by another, with its close-up treated as a jump scare.
  • Final scene choices: Van's sexual encounter choice is acknowledged, while another participant favors the comic hotel-room VR sequence.

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

Tom’s reflection; escalator; Meredith’s shoes

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:02Read transcript
  • Tom seeing his reflection and recognizing what he is doing is singled out as an exceptional Great Shot Gordo moment.
  • The escalator ride as Meredith senses trouble from the recording is a cinematic-shot choice.
  • Meredith’s first reveal, beginning with her shoes and Tom looking down, is another choice.

The most "year the movie came out" thing

Casual workplace sexual harassment

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:45Read transcript
  • Most 1994 candidates include reading email aloud, the Jeep Cherokee, Seattle's cultural moment, and Dennis Miller as a programmer. Casual workplace harassment, especially the assistant's backside slap, is the strongest choice.

What’s Aged the Best?

Corporate culture; consent; white-male anxiety; Dennis Miller; entrances and suspense

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:57Read transcript
  • Aged best begins with casting Dennis Miller and allowing a comedian to perform his own style, alongside affection for his HBO show and The Net role.
  • Dennis Miller's brief appearances and familiar comic voice are an aged-best choice.
  • Tom's small chair, mocked tie, and steadily diminishing confidence effectively undercut his expected promotion over the course of the day; weekday title cards reinforce the progression.
  • The dehumanizing corporate culture, embodied by Dylan Baker’s automaton-like executive, is an aged-best choice.
  • The discussion of consent that can begin or end at any moment is an aged-best choice, recalling later Me Too debates and the long history of this conversation.
  • The film's clumsy but substantive treatment of social issues is compared with Philadelphia; its anxious straight-white-male rhetoric is seen as anticipating later public discourse.
  • Meredith’s going-down elevator entrance is praised.
  • Sneaking into a hotel room while its occupant approaches remains an effective suspense device.
  • Tom's sudden shower after the encounter is both suspicious and compelling filmmaking as he hides scratches and his wife mentions Meredith's call. A DeRay Davis routine about habitual showers is used to explain the attempted cover.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Unnecessary harassment scheme; wife disputed

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:44Read transcript
  • Weak link: the harassment scheme is unnecessary to framing Tom for the failed CD-ROMs, although it is necessary to the movie's premise and marketing.
  • One participant names the wife as weak link, arguing that she adds little and inconsistently supports Tom; another participant had her under aged worst. The suggestion that Tom should instead partner with Meredith begins here.
  • The wife is criticized for insufficient anger and inconsistent characterization, unlike Jeanne Tripplehorn's Basic Instinct character, who continually exposes the protagonist's nature.
  • A defense reads the wife's doubt as showing how harassment victims are questioned even by loved ones. Dennis Miller's response is compared with victim-blaming arguments heard in the 1990s; the hosts explicitly reject those arguments as excuses.
  • The wife is still judged too forgiving, with a proposed scene of renewed anger over mundane requests such as coffee.

What’s Aged the Worst?

CD-ROMs; nightmare; final slap; family email; anonymous friend

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:29Read transcript
  • CD-ROMs as a crucial plot device have aged poorly.
  • The Donald Sutherland sexual-advance nightmare is an aged-worst choice.
  • The assistant’s closing backside slap is criticized as a terrible full-circle payoff.
  • The sentimental family email is considered corny, making the film end like a Disney movie.
  • The anonymous-friend device is called tacky.
  • The SuperSonics are named as aged worst, though affection for the team makes aged best an alternative.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Douglas; Sutherland; Baker

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:26Read transcript
  • Overacting: Michael Douglas is one choice, especially the angry power speech; a response argues that rage is appropriate to the character.
  • Donald Sutherland is another overacting choice for cartoonish corporate menace and grabbing a subordinate during the crushing-Tom conversation.
  • Dylan Baker is a third overacting choice for signaling his character's untrustworthiness immediately and insistently.

Apex Mountain

Sexual-harassment movies; actor Dennis Miller; 1991 Pahlmeyer; Miss Teenage New Mexico; Seattle setting

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:59Read transcript
  • Michael Douglas is rejected for Apex.
  • Moore's Apex is disputed among Disclosure, Indecent Proposal, and Ghost. The argument for this film centers on the record Striptease salary secured afterward, while opponents emphasize the films most associated with her.
  • Sexual-harassment movies are affirmed as an Apex choice.
  • Older Donald Sutherland is considered around Disclosure and Six Degrees of Separation, with Outbreak and Invasion of the Body Snatchers as alternatives.
  • Virtual reality is rejected for Apex.
  • Dennis Miller’s acting career is affirmed, with this film and The Net as the relevant stretch.
  • The 1991 Pahlmeyer is an affirmative Apex choice.
  • The Miss Teenage New Mexico pageant is an affirmative Apex choice because the hosts had not otherwise heard it mentioned.
  • Seattle as a setting is affirmed in the context of its sports and technology rise, with a correction from Singles to Sleepless in Seattle during the discussion.

Cruise or Hanks?

Cruise

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:30Read transcript
  • Cruise wins over Hanks for Tom's aggrieved, incredulous speeches, though his exceptional looks may weaken the ordinary-man quality. Eyes Wide Shut is identified as his closest erotic-thriller role.

Just One Oscar

Demi Moore (two choices); Michael Douglas (one)

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:05Read transcript
  • Two Oscar choices go to Demi Moore.
  • The other Oscar choice is Michael Douglas, praised for steadfast self-belief even when caught in compromising behavior.
  • Tom's realization that he mistreated his assistant and subsequent apology are praised, along with the assistant's performance.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Sonics item; basketball; wine; torn underwear

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:18Read transcript
  • The Sonics item in Tom’s office is a memorabilia choice.
  • Tom’s noiseless basketball is another choice.
  • An unopened Pahlmeyer bottle is another choice.
  • Meredith’s torn underwear is another choice, followed by a remembered Larry Sanders Show joke about similar movie memorabilia.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Don’t predict the internet; aging; avoid boss’s shoulder rub and wine

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:18Read transcript
  • Do not assume what the internet will become.
  • Dennis Miller’s joke about aging and erections becomes a comic life lesson.
  • Do not give the boss a shoulder rub or accept the after-hours wine invitation.