Night Shift

Kurt Russell or Mickey Rourke as Billy Blaze

Kurt Russell and Mickey Rourke are reported as having auditioned for Billy Blaze. Kurt Russell is considered plausible based on Big Trouble in Little China; Mickey Rourke is considered a much stranger fit. Jaid Barrymore and Ola Ray's small roles are noted.

Jamie Lee Curtis, Ellen Barkin, Linda Fiorentino, Demi Moore, or Emma Stone as Belinda

Jamie Lee Curtis is treated as the likeliest period replacement for Belinda. Ellen Barkin and Linda Fiorentino are proposed, with concern that Fiorentino is too early. A late-1980s Demi Moore and a time-shifted Emma Stone are proposed as later-era alternatives.

D. B. or a football announcer

A D. B.-style commentary praises Billy becoming a love broker after his earlier ideas. A football-announcer commentary repeatedly warns that the morgue business is too risky.

Keaton preparation, cast friction, and the Stutz

Michael Keaton reportedly played 10th Avenue Freeze-Out to enter Billy Blaze’s character. Henry Winkler named Shelley Long as an annoying co-star and described framing disputes over their relative height. Billy's car is identified as a rare 1981 Stutz IV-Porte built on a General Motors platform.

Morgue inactivity, consequences, finances, and careers

The women’s lack of depicted substance abuse or other crises is questioned within the movie’s stereotype. Billy's behavior is interpreted as an unmentioned cocaine addiction. The Times Square morgue is implausibly quiet on the night shift. Chuck and Billy getting their jobs back after arrest is considered convoluted. Charlotte disappears in the second half, making her setup scenes feel expendable. Charlotte’s Thanksgiving scene and near-heart-attack reaction in court are defended as funny despite her later disappearance. The Christmas party is considered too brief. A fifteen-to-twenty-percent commission or higher customer rates are proposed to make the business finances plausible. The business is estimated to operate for roughly one month, from around Thanksgiving until the day after Christmas. The short operating period is still judged insufficient to fund Billy’s car and watches. The business operating without any security is questioned. The group reacts too slowly after Franklin’s murder and the women’s reassignment. Billy falling from successful broker to towel attendant and his unexplained qualification as a mortician are questioned. The claim that there were no phones is made explicitly as a joke while discussing that slow reaction.

Billy’s drugs, prison terms, business revival, dog, and pornography

Whether Billy is using large quantities of cocaine is asked and treated as historically plausible. Franklin’s killers are estimated to face roughly fifteen to twenty years in prison. The panel asks whether Chuck and Billy could quietly restart the business after those competitors are jailed. Belinda is proposed as a capable third partner who could run the revived business. The unexplained attack dog and silent neighbor in the apartment hallway are questioned. Whether Belinda or Lupe appeared in contemporary pornography is asked. The business is imagined moving into direct-to-video pornography or cocaine distribution. Chuck is alternatively imagined working for Gordon Gekko after the film.

Risky Business

Risky Business is the unanimous double-feature choice.

Positive

The producer calls the film charming, funny, heartfelt, and consistently watchable. Michael Keaton's performance balances awkwardness, irritation, lovability, and pathos without exhausting the audience. Keaton is proposed as a plausible Michael Scott because of that balance. Shelley Long is praised, with a wish that the movie gave her more comedy. Belinda's morgue dialogue is singled out as funny before Keaton takes over the movie. Charlotte's rigid parents are praised as comic supporting characters. The discussion closes by considering Keaton in several Tom Hanks and Robin Williams roles.