The review segment reports three out of four stars.
It is not considered his kind of movie since he loves strength of character and plot, though he probably appreciated its Hitchcockian formal inventiveness.
After watching twice, he concluded greater understanding helped on the plot level but did not enrich the viewing experience; confusion is the state we are intended to be in.
A counterpoint holds that being disoriented and confused the whole time is the best part of the movie and exactly what the filmmaker wants.

Casting What-Ifs

Brad Pitt; Thomas Jane; Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" over the end credits

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 00:27:59Read transcript

Brad Pitt was initially slated to play Leonard; after he passed, the line was that a movie star was not wanted anyway, and Aaron Eckhart and Thomas Jane were considered.
Guy Pearce is joked to be a lab-cloned hybrid of Brad Pitt and Thomas Jane.
Thomas Jane would have been really good; his brief run with 61* and Deep Blue Sea is fondly recalled before off-field issues.
Eckhart in the role is hard to see.
A controversial take: this would have been an amazing Brad Pitt movie, catching him after Seven, an uncertain stretch and Fight Club, and before Ocean's 11; this and Moneyball would have been favorite Pitt movies, and the other participant agrees.
Radiohead's Paranoid Android was going to play over the closing credits and Nolan was fired up about it, but it was too expensive for a low-budget movie.
A digital-release director's cut whose only change adds Paranoid Android over the end credits is floated.

Recasting Couch

Nicky Katt; Michael Imperioli; Madsen or Sizemore

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:34:50Read transcript

The drug dealer who is hit over the head and stripped should have been a more famous actor of the era: Nikki Kat, who looks and acts like him and was available.
Michael Imperiali is offered, still gettable as Spider from Goodfellas and on The Sopranos; Madsen or Seismore are also named, though possibly already in the wilderness.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Was there a second attacker?; How did Leonard's wife die?; Joe Pantoliano as Eddie Moscone; Memento in the phone-video era; Is Leonard in a mental institution?; Did it borrow from Mr. Short-Term Memory?; Why no sequels?

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 00:42:45Read transcript

Was there a second attacker? One view says no, meaning Leonard is Sammy Jankis.
How his wife died is debated: an attack causes his memory loss, and his memory of grabbing her thigh leads him to insist she did not take insulin.
Nolan has said people refuse to believe Teddy because he is so oily, yet Teddy elsewhere tells elaborate stories that prove false; the conclusion leans toward Leonard being Sammy Jankis after an attack on his wife.
Should Joey Pants have just played Eddie Moscone here? Yes.
In the era of phone video Leonard could vlog every interaction, which might be the Netflix series, though he would keep forgetting to charge his iPhone.
The shot where Sammy in the mental institution is replaced by Leonard in the chair leaves open whether Leonard is institutionalized.
Did the film take from Tom Hanks's Mr. Short-Term Memory sketch on SNL, perhaps discussed on the Nolan brothers' road trip?
Why no ten sequels like Saw? A Memento 2 should have happened, such as a Super Bowl plot or one set inside the Patriots during Spygate.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Development and financing; studio passes; Newmarket self-distribution; Weinstein buy attempt; chronological DVD; Nolan voicing 'you freak'

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:54:34Read transcript

The brothers' idea took a couple of years to develop; Newmarket gave it a $4.5 million budget and screened it for studio heads in March 2000, who liked it but thought it too confusing.
After Soderbergh's championing, Newmarket distributed it themselves, reached 500 theaters, made $25 million domestic and sold international rights.
Harvey Weinstein, who had passed, tried and failed to buy it.
The limited-edition DVD lets you watch the movie chronologically.
Nolan felt Joey Pants did not nail 'you freak' and recorded the words himself.

Picking Nits

Teddy not simply killing Leonard

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:02:04Read transcript

One participant is not smart enough to pick nits; the other has one.
Teddy should just kill Lenny since he is now in danger; since the plot revolves around the cash in the Jaguar trunk, he could have killed him and taken the keys, though then there would be no movie.