Nominated scene: the greeting-card Pocketful of Sunshine montage over the weekend, which builds the character so you root for her; it is just her alone in a room carrying the movie with an annoying song. — Shea Serrano
The montage has a winning goofiness that never feels like look-how-zany-I-am; it feels like she was caught unaware, playing with the dog.
Nominated scene: the Knock on Wood performance near the end, where Stone becomes a capital-M-S movie star; a teen comedy needs a musical number with a crowd reacting. — Amanda Dobbins
Whether she was lip-syncing is wondered, since she can sing per La La Land; the scene arrives like a deus ex machina but is delightful.
Not a pick, but the confessional scene is where she weaponizes her eyes and pulls emotion out of you; it signals she will win an Oscar someday, before Fred Armisen's appearance takes the speaker out of it.
Another pick, declared a final answer: telling her parents she used the word twat and got sent to the principal, with the spell-it guessing game.
The alchemy of Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci and Emma Stone is special; this is Tucci's comedy phase alongside The Devil Wears Prada.
Supportive parents like those in Booksmart (Will Forte and Lisa Kudrow) are appreciated; these may be the most underrated movie parents.
Wanting to be in the family versus finding their constant quips exhausting after two days; the film acknowledges their quippiness, and few other actors could pull off the trio.
The parents are sneakily essential to Olive seeming in control despite choices the podcast would not recommend.
In the final-answer round the twat kitchen scene is loved, but Pocketful of Sunshine is chosen as the iconic Oscar reel and another voice says "I think you're right"; she should have been nominated for an Oscar for this, a point to be repeated five times.

What’s Aged the Best?

YouTube and vlogging; Ojai location; mocking California hippies; Emma Stone's wardrobe; the one-liners; Emma Stone's performance; webcam framing; act signs

In the discussion (14)

Approx. transcript time · 00:35:35Read transcript

Number one with a bullet: YouTube and vlogging, foundational to the film; Stone reportedly auditioned via a webcam reel; it does not feel dated.
Vlogging was also first on another host's list, a moment of community; Stone could be a YouTube star or TikToker.
Second: choosing Ojai as the location was prescient.
Ojai is described as about 100 miles north of Los Angeles off the 101 toward Santa Barbara, a wealthy, hippie-rooted second-home enclave like Woodstock or the Hudson Valley, with the pink moment sunset seen when Olive and her mother sit on the car roof, and pixie tangerines. — Amanda Dobbins
Ojai first registered from Brothers and Sisters; it has a resort, golf course and spa and the outdoor Bart's Books, where Olive reads the Bible; the town is called boring, now an Architectural Digest mainstay, and as a commuter suburb like Ferris Bueller's it is off base. — Amanda Dobbins
Making fun of California hippies never gets old.
The California setting did not register for a non-Californian; the opening sign seemed only to show a small population of about 8,700; reading it as a hat tip to John Hughes suburbs is plausible. — Shea Serrano
Emma Stone's wardrobe: both regular and supposedly slutty outfits fit today's fashion.
The script's clever one-liners, especially Tucci and Clarkson scenes, though some jokes fall flat or have not aged well. — Amanda Dobbins
Returning to an original pick: Emma Stone's performance, tracing her rise from Superbad to Zombieland to carrying this film.
The performance is called undeniable but a cheat; another voice says it is not a cheat and agrees it aged best, but since Stone will win 45 categories adds webcam framing as a 1A, because teen technology usually ages poorly and this still feels spot on.
In 2010 vlogging marked a high-school stereotype; now it is ubiquitous. The webcam echoes Peyton's broadcasts on One Tree Hill, and it reinvents narration.
Her held-up act signs work as analog counterpoint to the odd landscape-text credits.
One host changes their answer to the signs device, likening it to 500 Days of Summer's early setup; the hosts agree, one out of 18 things so far.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Marianne's Christian stereotype; Griffith and Micah chlamydia plotline; Chip adoption jokes; Huckleberry Finn references

In the discussion (14)

Approx. transcript time · 00:49:04Read transcript

Number one: Amanda Bynes's character as a negatively portrayed Christian, recalling One Tree Hill's clean teens.
Marianne resonated because a Fellowship of Christian Athletes group at the speaker's school behaved just like her and got meaner through high school. — Shea Serrano
Bynes is super funny and a really good actress, which makes her not taking pride in the work sad. — Shea Serrano
Marianne's group is partly plot necessity, needing teens believably outraged by one instance of sex; the speaker also had FCA and got sex education through a strain of Christianity, and understood the choice as a nod to The Scarlet Letter and puritanical heritage. — Amanda Dobbins
The rose-petal sex-ed demonstration is recalled.
Very pro-Amanda Bynes and fond of the performance, but tying Marianne's busybody ideology to her Christianity felt like stereotyping; coming from the Upper West Side and a large public school, Christianity just gets a bad rap in media. — Juliet Litman
A joke offers to email an FCA application to make her postgraduate chapter chairman.
The movie gets away with a fundamental problem: that a virginity rumor would be a scandal, would not be shut down immediately on Facebook, and would not become uglier bullying; it falls apart if you think too hard.
A teen movie in 2020 would address bullying; here the biggest slight is being forgotten, though Marianne is clearly the bully.
Olive being unfazed by Marianne continues the Tracy Flick line through Booksmart's Beanie Feldstein character; the formerly ignored now hold the power, a self-described reading-too-far.
Nominated for aged worst: the Mrs. Griffith and Micah plotline, where the guidance counselor sleeps with an of-age student, gives him chlamydia, and her marriage to Thomas Haden Church's teacher ends; unnecessary even if the movie telegraphs it is wrong.
The most sympathy goes to Thomas Haden Church's character, whose marriage is ruined while everyone else is fine. — Juliet Litman
Chip, Olive's undeveloped adopted little brother: Tucci's adoption jokes, like asking where he is from originally, feel aimed at the audience rather than a 10-year-old.
Everything tied to Huckleberry Finn is super weird: Olive's line about not knowing anyone who snuck off with a hulking black man and the ending where Brandon runs off with his black boyfriend are called offensive and dehumanizing, a bizarre characterization of the novel that could easily have been edited out.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Cam Gigandet; Dan Byrd

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:08:34Read transcript

Malcolm McDowell as the principal is set aside as too famous, though his presence is weird. — Shea Serrano
McDowell's defining roles vary: A Clockwork Orange, Terrence from Entourage, and a mix-up with Jeremy Irons in Die Hard 3.
Pick: Cam Gigandet as Micah, remembered as the outstanding bully in Never Back Down goading a fight at a party. — Shea Serrano
Gigandet is always one of the Twilight guys and a that guy in Twilight; the first Twilight is recommended to Juliet. — Amanda Dobbins
Gigandet is also Volcheck from The O.C., who leads to Marissa's death in season three; it is good to have a new generation of that guys rather than a famous name like McDowell.
Asked if all pick Cam, one says yes; another instead picks Dan Byrd as Brandon, recognized from the Chad Michael Murray Cinderella remake and many aughts roles.
Sidebar: The Duff is praised, including Mae Whitman and the monster-voice scene.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Patricia Clarkson; Stanley Tucci

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 01:13:12Read transcript

Introduced as the Vincent Hanna give-me-all-you-got award for overacting; a controversial pick of Patricia Clarkson, who takes it too far asking whether Brandon is gay, like a slight nod to the Amy Poehler cool mom in Mean Girls.
Olive showing her the door acknowledges she is a little much; everyone plays a heightened stereotype so the insults do not penetrate, so Clarkson being extra is okay.
Lisa Kudrow is raised as the unneeded extra one, yelling in the who-would-you-believe scene.
There is a fine line between Vincent Hanna and Dion Waiters; Kudrow arguably has a great heat check.
Kudrow's character, the chlamydia and the marriage plot are unnecessary, as is Thomas Haden Church's teacher; a counterpoint says his character develops Olive as a thoughtful student (the bit about watching a movie version instead of reading the book) though his love life and flirting with Kudrow are weird.
A theory: the script needed a teacher, Church wanted more to do, and that created the subplot; he is called the only non-hyperbolic performance, or instead demure by his standards.
Another pick is Stanley Tucci, explained as wanting to hurt feelings the way the speaker's own were hurt; no consensus is reached.
Loving Clarkson while acknowledging she could have done better is defended.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Patricia Clarkson; Stanley Tucci; Lisa Kudrow

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:18:26Read transcript

Pick: Patricia Clarkson, the icon, going for it with awkward, goofy mom lines; discovered further via her Jane Davis in House of Cards. — Shea Serrano
A co-award to Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as great movie parents whose instant chemistry explains Olive; the speaker is hurt that the other two picked them for overacting.
The family-movie-night bit where the family member of the week picks, but Clarkson's character actually decides, is loved.
Another pick: Lisa Kudrow, never unwelcome, wisely within her range, making an impact in probably two days of work.
The hosts see very different movies; before the rewatch one could not have said for sure Kudrow or Bynes were in it.

Apex Mountain

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:25:27Read transcript

On paper this is not Stone's Apex since her career starts here, she won an Oscar for La La Land, and made bigger and more serious films; she should have been nominated for this. — Amanda Dobbins
The 2010 Best Actress field is recited (Natalie Portman winning for Black Swan, Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Williams); there was room for Stone but the Oscars do not acknowledge comedy; not technically her Apex, but she does not reach it without this. — Amanda Dobbins
Her Vanity Fair cover came the following year, thought to be October 2011; her fame would probably have happened anyway, and this is not anywhere close to her Apex.
Her Apex is probably La La Land, though the Oscar victory lap was short because of the Moonlight mix-up; a disagreement says the Oscar let her get any movie made, and she chose Cruella.
Cruella draws concerns as a children's origin story for a dog-skinning villain, versus the pitch of evil Emma Stone; Easy A made an equally unpromising premise work.
It is not anyone's Apex, a pivotal canon movie without a peak; a hedged suggestion that it is probably director Will Gluck's peak "in my opinion" gets a "That's true."

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

Yes, as a Netflix show or movie

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:42:40Read transcript

Could it be a 10-episode Netflix show? Obviously yes, several say.
Ten hours would strain the suspension of disbelief and everything-is-okay tone; a darker version becomes a different thing.
Today it would go straight to Netflix as a movie and be a hit; whether it launches a career is uncertain, though Netflix has done so within its ecosystem (Millie Bobby Brown and her Sherlock Holmes sister movie).
Netflix teen movies target only teens, so whether a remake works for adults too is the major question.

Who Won the Movie?

Emma Stone

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 01:50:58Read transcript

Emma Stone, 2010, the cornerstone of the teen-movie rebuild; she deserves a retroactive Oscar or at least a nomination.

Podcast choices

Speaker not identified: Emma Stone