Roger Ebert gave the film three stars; the hosts joke that he has loved their recent picks since Tommy Boy.
Ebert's quoted review calls it an entertaining exercise by Frankenheimer with a fine cast, a movie not really about anything that nonetheless comes pretty close to amounting to something.

Casting What-Ifs

Skipped

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:56:52Read transcript

Casting What-Ifs is announced and skipped: no research on casting alternatives could be found.
The research segment repeats that there were no casting-what-if pieces, only driving pieces.

Recasting Couch

Ben Affleck; Colin Farrell (Skipp Sudduth's part)

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 00:57:15Read transcript

Whether Katarina Witt belongs in the Joey Pants award or Who Won the Movie is deferred.
Sudduth's part suits a late-1990s up-and-comer, so Ben Affleck is proposed, filming before Good Will Hunting broke when he had Chasing Amy and Mallrats.
Sudduth is recalled from TV, possibly as a precinct captain on a Chicago show.
Colin Farrell would have been too early for the part but is answered 'that would have been cool'; he could maybe also have done the Sean Bean part.

Half-Assed Internet Research

80 cars destroyed; practical chases with race drivers; actor driving school; Teflon-coated bullet; two alternate endings; added peace-process radio report

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:00:38Read transcript

The hosts report that 80 cars were destroyed, that Frankenheimer avoided special effects in the chases, storyboarding them and mounting cameras as in Grand Prix, with actors driven at up to 100 mph by Formula One and high-performance drivers.
The actors reportedly attended a high-performance driving school, which De Niro is joked to have failed; fender-mounted point-of-view cameras are compared with French Connection.
The bullet removed from Sam is said to have been Teflon-coated to pierce his vest, the kind of cop-killer bullet later taken off the market.
Two alternate endings are described, the IRA abduction and a version where she just walks to her car, dropped as too Hollywood; a radio report on the Irish peace process was added, implying Sam saves it by getting Seamus.

Picking Nits

Sudden De Niro-Deirdre attraction; Katarina Witt not playing herself; overlong skating routine; absent French police

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:03:59Read transcript

Why De Niro and Deirdre suddenly become attracted is questioned again.
Witt should have played herself, since assassinating the real Katarina Witt would be a bigger international incident.
The skating performance runs impossibly long while the heroes get through security, joked as a 25-minute routine to Free Bird or Hotel California with the sniper growing impatient.
French law enforcement barely reacts to a countrywide crime spree, ravaged bistros and car chases; after the wrong-way highway chase and crash there are no cops.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Katarina Witt's character's unattractive partner; McElhone versus Famke Janssen career battle; De Niro as a bad athlete; contents of the briefcase

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:08:05Read transcript

How did Katarina Witt's character end up with such an ugly boyfriend or husband? Roman Abramovich's girlfriend is cited as a comparison.
Who won the career battle, Katarina Witt or De Niro, and McElhone or Famke Janssen? It was market corrections back and forth.
McElhone and Janssen could each have taken the other's roles in Rounders, X-Men, Taken or Californication; a third actress on that corner is described but not named, and Eva Green and Olga Kurylenko are ruled out.
The hosts wonder whether McElhone and Janssen like each other, and call it a good Ringer piece.
When has De Niro convincingly thrown anything? Raging Bull is set aside, Godfather 2, Midnight Run, Cape Fear and Goodfellas are debated, and The Irishman's beating scene is the funniest.
Keanu and Swayze look like real football players in Point Break, unlike De Niro; he gets chased down by Pacino at the end, and The Fan is another example.
What was in the briefcase? Best guess is nuclear codes or plutonium, with the Russians wanting it at the fringe of the Cold War and Seamus able to blow up the peace process.