Ebert is said to be on a hot streak after three and a half stars for Pump Up the Volume.
Ebert gave this film three and a half stars, writing that he was surprised by how funny, how sweet and how wise it is, and that the more you think about it, the better it gets.
Nobody is thinking about Good Night and Good Luck or Munich the same way.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Poker game

In the discussion (18)

Approx. transcript time · 00:31:55Read transcript

The opening store scene does a lot, with Seth Rogen's story about a Tijuana show featuring a woman and a horse, which turned out not as cool as it sounds.
Paul Rudd accosting Jane Lynch over the Michael McDonald DVD, ending with the 'Yamo burn this place to the ground' line; the speaker's son got bored about 40 minutes in but watched that bit on YouTube over and over.
The same DVD played over and over in the store is very real to anyone who has worked retail.
The poker game feels like an SNL sketch; the line about a breast feeling like a bag of sand makes it the speaker's personal favorite scene.
The Leslie Mann scene is bonkers, the only unrealistically unhinged scene, but in a good way.
The body-waxing scene was like Caddyshack's Baby Ruth scene coming out of the theater.
The hosts say the waxing was done for real with five cameras and an actress as the waxer, so the nipple was not oiled and his right nipple was ravaged; it was really Carell's chest, and they had to keep waxing it for later shirtless scenes.
Paul Rudd bringing over a big box of porn and the Boner Jams '03 mix tape, followed by the Everybody Loves Raymond tape; Boner Jams '03 is called the favorite line in the movie.
The speed dating scene is really good, with Mo Collins's character flagged to come up later for the Dion Waiters category.
Andy's first date call to Catherine Keener while the others do 'you know how I know you're gay', which has not aged well in some ways but is Rudd and Rogen cooking.
The support group scene and Seth with his dad, who berates him about his little Jew fro.
The ending, where losing his virginity turns into a musical number with the whole cast, is called a really good choice and credited to Gary Shandling because they couldn't figure out the ending.
A special shout-out goes to the extended version of the Kevin Hart and Malco scene, compared to Clemens and Cecil Fielder going toe to toe; the lister agrees and had it in what's aged the best.
Andy following Rogen's character's tips in the bookstore: the just-ask-questions bit, the 'be David Caruso in Jade' advice, then the best line in the movie and the 90-second seduction by Elizabeth Banks.
The David Caruso in Jade reference may have aged best or worst, since producer Craig would not know what Jade was.
Formal pick: the poker game, because it is perfectly written.
A second voice agrees the poker game is the most iconic now: the chest waxing was, but the bag-of-sand line is the one quoted back.
It fits the movie because the other guys' sex talk makes sex seem gross and foreign, so Andy's choice to stay home with his electronic drum kit seems understandable.

The title; Kat Dennings; the poster; the loaded cast; Michael McDonald credits apology; Six Million Dollar Man action-figure reference; opening credits; smoking pot out of an apple; Lionel Richie 'Hello' scene; condom scene; Seth Rogen's shirts; the music; Stormy Daniels

In the discussion (15)

Approx. transcript time · 00:45:20Read transcript

A great title that tells you everything about the movie in five words and is also funny; it made a great poster.
The cast is loaded with 12 people who became part of a comedy renaissance.
Michael McDonald and Best Buy; the credits apologize to him so as not to hurt his feelings.
Kat Dennings: a sarcastic 15-year-old daughter who is not a wet blanket, in a role that often goes wrong; she went on to a hit sitcom, and her 'no car and does magic' line is compared to D from What's Happening.
The action figures, including Oscar from the $6 million man, are a stealth mid-70s TV reference.
Opening credits that actually try, rather than running graphics of names.
Smoking pot out of an apple, which Rogen seems to have really done.
The Lionel Richie 'Hello' masturbation scene, a home run in 2005 though maybe lost on anyone under 25, is put in both aged best and aged worst.
The condom scene, where he goes through 10 condoms, the daughter and boyfriend walk in, and the boyfriend asks to be taught.
Seth Rogen's shirts: Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Public Enemy and Liquid Swords.
The music: a Joe Walsh song over the opening credits, Asia in the chase sequence, and Age of Aquarius.
Stormy Daniels is offered as one more pick. — Chris Ryan
She has a talking scene and a nude scene; a joke that she later brought down the president is immediately walked back.
Final pick: the title, with Kat Dennings second.
Another voice likes the title pick and the poster, calling it a perfect sale of a movie to an audience.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Lionel Richie 'Hello' scene; eBay-store collectibles novelty; dead tech such as VHS porn collections, VCRs, recordable CDs and the VHS DVD dual player; the 'you know how I know you're gay' running bit

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 00:48:33Read transcript

The Lionel Richie 'Hello' scene is put in both aged best and aged worst.
A personal pick: Get Out ruined Catherine Keener, whose tea-stirring character makes her creepy in all her earlier films; the speaker admits it is personal and unfair.
Pushback: Keener is amazing and oddball enough that she and Andy work, with her weird eBay store.
The eBay store and collectibles trend felt new in 2005; the speaker recalls a column around 2000 about finding a vintage Patriots jersey and hunting cards and uncut sheets, before 20 years of nerd collector culture.
So much dead tech makes it a full period piece: a big box of porn tapes, buying a VCR, recordable CDs and the VHS DVD dual player.
Porn collections on VHS and everything VHS; you can't even buy a VHS player now except on eBay.
The running 'you know how I know you're gay' theme would not play in 2020, though it is essential to how the characters interact.
The gay panic joke has not aged well; per a DVD commentary, the scene was supposed to be Rudd's character describing ways he would kill himself before an improvised pivot, so a well-known scene was never in the script.
Rudd's character's obsession with his ex, played by Mindy Kaling, at the dating event makes him a stalker and a dirtbag.

Casting What-Ifs

Jason Segal as another of the friends

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:54:38Read transcript

The only casting what-if found: Apatow wanted Jason Segal as one more of the buddies alongside Rudd and Rogen, but Universal refused.
The speaker recalls Segal being bummed about missing the movie when they talked on a podcast.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Gerry Bednob

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 00:55:03Read transcript

It is one guy: the older Indian co-worker, whose stats are surprisingly good and who brings the heat.
His real name is Jerry Bednob; spotted on a TV procedural you would just recognize him by his character's name, the definition of that guy.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 00:55:52Read transcript

Elizabeth Banks dials it up, though it is in the script; she is called worthy, but it is hard to give the award in a comedy.
She is doing the 50s-and-60s sexpot comic character of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield, not far from Singing in the Rain.
Asked about Leslie Mann: 'You could', but both performances are exactly what they should be, and it is hard to give this to comedies because doing it is doing it right.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Leslie Mann; Kevin Hart

In the discussion (5)

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

Nominees listed: Muge, Leslie Mann, Jane Lynch (eligible though maybe in too many scenes), Kat Dennings and Elizabeth Banks.
Kevin Hart is added after a prompt, and David Kekner is nominated for 90 seconds in the therapy session.
One voice names Leslie Mann and Kevin Hart as finalists; Jonah is raised but not winning.
One voice picks Leslie Mann as really funny.
Another goes with Kevin Hart because he steals Malco's career right in front of him.

Recasting Couch

Cast left unchanged

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 00:58:41Read transcript

A case for 2004 Courtney Cox in the Keener part, while saying the cast should not change: a comic, neurotic, sexy, Monica-like role she never found in movies; she is called underrated.
Keener's legacy as the unconventional leading lady of indie films such as Living in Oblivion fits; Cox would bring too much famous-and-beautiful baggage.
The speaker just watched her in Your Friends and Neighbors, calling it insane.
A second voice also would not change it: being used to her as an indie actress makes her appearance striking, and anniversary pieces said she made it feel like a more real, weightier movie.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Shandling's ending idea; champagne for a million feet of film; withheld American Humane credit; Leslie Mann's drunk footage; repurposed Staples set; influence on The Office

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:00:29Read transcript

The host reports Gary Shandling came up with the ending, per Apatow, noting it was important to show Andy having better sex because he was in love, which led to the musical number.
The host reports the film company does send champagne whenever someone shoots a million feet of film.
The host reports the American Humane Association withheld its no-animals-harmed line because several tropical fish were accidentally killed; the hosts joke that the credit has no effect on release, making it an animal snuff film.
The host reports Leslie Mann got drunk at a club with Seth Rogen and her friend Denise, who filmed her, and she used that footage for the scene; outtakes show Apatow feeding her lines.
The host reports the electronics store was not a set but a Staples that had just shut down.
The host reports the movie changed The Office: after a first season where Carell's character felt too nasty and menacing, seeing him as a buffoon here led them to incorporate more of that.

Apex Mountain

Steve Carell; Catherine Keener; Six Million Dollar Man action figures; Malco; Asia's ironic phase

In the discussion (10)

Approx. transcript time · 01:02:52Read transcript

Steve Carell, definitely: the movie becomes a smash hit and he has The Office, the pinnacle of anyone's comedy career.
Apatow is a no, to be litigated later; one could argue Knocked Up.
Catherine Keener: after a decade as a respected indie actress peaking in 8mm, a smash hit makes this as good as it gets; she was also in Capote that year as Harper Lee, which is called a good call.
Virgins in general prompt jokes about Last American Virgin, a Virgin Week with Last Temptation of Christ and A Midnight Clear, and making Craig watch with Liz; that movie ends with James Ingram.
The Six Million Dollar Man action figures are definitely at Apex Mountain.
Paul Rudd is first a no, but he gets praise: Brian Fantana in Anchorman, carrying stretches of this movie, his SmartTech meltdown and his souls-connected poker speech; one voice says you could make the case this is his Apex.
Counter: Ant Man, from about 2014 or 2015, was great and a huge hit; the other host just doesn't like comic book movies and is teased about Munich.
Malco: 'Yeah. Has to be.'
Tech stores like Best Buy are raised as an Apex for that era; the reply calls it one of the speaker's unanswerable questions, with SmartTech badly run like a Boston chain and Circuit City, stores run by jackasses, as with Vince Vaughn's character in Old School.
Asia's ironic phase: not the band's Apex, since the speaker says they won four or five Grammys one year, but the move into ironic 'Heat of the Moment' appreciation 20 years later; the hosts joke they are already in their own ironic phase.

Picking Nits

No nitpick selection

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:08:33Read transcript

The speaker had no nitpicks; the movie ties up everything.
You could ask why he is a virgin, but the host says the filmmakers' research found people who had bad experiences, gave up and built solo lives, so it was conceivable.
Hard to have a nitpick because it fully creates a reality, so the category is skipped.

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

A SmartTech workplace series

In the discussion (2)

Approx. transcript time · 01:09:32Read transcript

In 2020 it would probably have played out as a show rather than a movie; the speaker would watch the SmartTech show.
A really raunchy Superstore kind of thing that could dive into Jane Lynch's character and Cal's novel.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

What the movie looks like in the 2020 incel era; why Andy lacks more Star Wars stuff; whether Andy's electronics store succeeded

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:09:48Read transcript

What does this movie look like in the 2020 incel era, with social media and a lonely guy online all day without seeing other humans?
Response: the '40' matters; he cocooned himself in nostalgia, is weirdly happy and just looking for connection, which would be hard to replicate now but does not seem foreign.
He would probably look more like Mine Hunter now.
Why doesn't he have more Star Wars stuff? Born in 1965, he was 12 when Star Wars came out; maybe it was a rights or licensing issue.
Rogen's shirts are all Universal Music Group artists such as Public Enemy, so they were cleared easily.
Was Andy's electronics store a success? No: he gets wiped out by the 08 housing crisis, they break up when her eBay store goes under, and they end up working in a diner.

Who Won the Movie?

Judd Apatow

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:12:23Read transcript

Carell and Apatow are the first calls, followed by a request to make the case.
Case for Apatow: a respected writer-producer not yet considered a comedy auteur, this kicked off 10 years of him at the center of American movie comedy, minted stars, earned critical respect, and the movie itself has aged well.
Agreement: Apatow was a high lottery pick whose shows, including Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, were canceled, and this became a massive hit that minted people and set up a comedy revolution begun with Anchorman.
Carell's success probably would have happened anyway because The Office became a phenomenon.
Counterpoint on Carell: the movie's success may have given The Office runway, with a blockbuster star going back to TV like a reverse Caruso.
Producer Craig is asked for his pick; the reply is transcribed as 'Hamilton's probably the right call', which is unresolved, and he is teased as a brown-noser.

Podcast choices

Speaker not identified: Judd Apatow
Speaker not identified: Judd Apatow
Speaker not identified: Steve Carell

More from the conversation

The cold open replays the 'Yamo be there' line and a trailer for the film.

Approx. transcript time · 00:00:43Read transcript

The film is called sweet and adorable, the start of many careers and of the Judd Apatow run (with Anchorman the year before), rewatched 15 years later at its anniversary.

Approx. transcript time · 00:01:44Read transcript

It is framed as the beginning of a comedy revolution: people who became the face of American comedy for the next 10 years, mostly dudes, from a filmmaker who processed a century of comedy through his own lens.

Approx. transcript time · 00:02:11Read transcript

It marks the rise of improv-style comedy in big movies; Seth Rogen or Paul Rudd seem not to know what they will say, and the outtakes, bloopers, alternates and unrated version become almost a second movie.

Approx. transcript time · 00:02:11Read transcript

It came out almost exactly 25 years after Caddyshack, called the cocaine stumbled-into-it version of the same put-funny-people-in-and-let-them-cook premise; this one is more smartly executed.

Approx. transcript time · 00:03:26Read transcript

The hosts say over a million feet of film was used, that film companies send champagne when that happens, and liken it to an Apocalypse Now number; the keep-rolling 'do another one' approach set up a new ad-lib way of making comedy with Anchorman.

Approx. transcript time · 00:03:52Read transcript

Shooting before the digital revolution made the footage count notable and probably made it a surprisingly expensive movie.

Approx. transcript time · 00:04:52Read transcript

A running disagreement over whether Apatow's movies, and the Gary Shandling doc, are too long: one side compares it to too-long columns and too much food at dinner and wants documentaries that don't waste a second; the other wants the maximalist version to evaluate for himself, like a long book or a three-hour movie.

Approx. transcript time · 00:05:22Read transcript

The unrated version runs about two hours 12 minutes versus Caddyshack's hour 40; this is called the shortest Apatow movie, with rough runtime guesses exchanged for the theatrical and unrated cuts.

Approx. transcript time · 00:07:01Read transcript

Early Apatow films are high-concept with a ceiling on how much story is needed; later slice-of-life films, such as those with Amy Schumer and Pete Davidson, feel longer regardless of runtime.

Approx. transcript time · 00:07:45Read transcript

The unrated version doesn't drag; like Bad Boys' set pieces, it has five or six really memorable scenes you wait for, making it probably one of the most rewatched movies of the last 15 years, unlike later Hal Ashby-style dramedies.

Approx. transcript time · 00:08:23Read transcript

It balances career-making set pieces like the chest waxing with inane bits like hitting each other with light bulbs; the morning opening-credits scene is striking given where Carell is now.

Approx. transcript time · 00:09:56Read transcript

Carell, like Stephen Colbert, became famous later than he could have; he was known from Anchorman and as a Daily Show correspondent, and The Office also started this year.

Approx. transcript time · 00:10:20Read transcript

Apex Mountain is flagged early as not hard to figure out for Steve Carell; the character is richly detailed (his room, his action figures) compared with Caddyshack's broad Ty Webb from the previous week.

Approx. transcript time · 00:11:26Read transcript

Would Andy be an incel on a message board in 2020? It is noted for unanswerable questions; the film instead has Steve Martin outcast-but-lovable vibes, now a third-rail topic that tends toward Joker, and Carell has an inherent sweetness except in fox catcher.

Approx. transcript time · 00:11:26Read transcript

The Jerk is the late-70s parallel; Andy is a semi-doofus who could conceivably get Catherine Keener and a promotion; his apartment gives his friends a heart attack but is realistic, and $100,000 of collectibles would be worth about a million dollars now.

Approx. transcript time · 00:12:50Read transcript

The Lonely Guy is offered as a closer parallel: a nice, hardworking man shattered by early bad luck with women; the speaker, with some 9,000 Blu-rays, relates to collecting, and Andy is a functionally good guy missing one strand of life.

Approx. transcript time · 00:13:25Read transcript

Apatow has made essentially the same movie five to seven times about suspended late childhood, including the Amy Schumer and Pete Davidson films; this one adds huge physical comedy, like watching Carell ride a bicycle.

Approx. transcript time · 00:14:35Read transcript

The Lonely Guy is called a favorite random early-80s movie, liked more than The Jerk though not quite a rewatchable, with the table-for-one spotlight scene cited.

Approx. transcript time · 00:15:32Read transcript

Apatow tripled down on ball-busting male bonding scenes, after Swingers and Kicking and Screaming, and was the first to execute them correctly before they were ripped off on TV and in movies for 15 years.

Approx. transcript time · 00:15:50Read transcript

Because the characters are co-workers first and friends second, a wider variety of people bust each other's balls than in Clerks or Knocked Up.

Approx. transcript time · 00:17:06Read transcript

Seth Rogen's influence: he was 22 when it was made, had worked as a TV producer at 19 and 20, and brought a fuck-it-era chaos to Apatow's comedy; the age gap with 40-year-old Andy makes a generational clash, and one co-worker is in his 60s.

Approx. transcript time · 00:17:31Read transcript

The workplace setup lets Malco and Jane Lynch wander around; Apatow's taste in talent shows in going all in on Rogen from day one, loving Paul Rudd, and cameos from Kevin Hart, Elizabeth Banks, Jonah Hill and Mindy Kaling (called her first movie).

Approx. transcript time · 00:18:52Read transcript

Malco is so good you would have wondered what happened to him next; one theory calls it a real-time market correction, with Kevin Hart, called the biggest comedy movie star of the last 10 years, going face to face with him on screen.

Approx. transcript time · 00:20:13Read transcript

A 15th-anniversary piece is cited as saying Malco called Apatow begging him to cut all his scenes because his family was religious and his mother an ordained minister; the host suggests it may explain safer career choices.

Approx. transcript time · 00:21:27Read transcript

The show has no who-stole-the-movie category; Dion Waiters is the closest, and the hosts float introducing one for comedies.

Approx. transcript time · 00:21:59Read transcript

The host reports the film was based on a Second City sketch by Carell about a 40-year-old man hiding a secret; the poker scene feels like such a sketch.

Approx. transcript time · 00:22:35Read transcript

The host reports Universal halted production the first week, worried Carell's character seemed like a serial killer, disliked early footage lit like an indie and said Paul Rudd was too fat; Rudd reportedly lost 10 or 11 pounds, and a text to Judd confirmed it was a weird note to deliver.

Approx. transcript time · 00:22:35Read transcript

Citing William Goldman's 'nobody knows anything', the hosts say it cost $26 million and made $177 million, near superhero numbers for 2005, because people love R-rated comedies, dick jokes and ball-busting, as with The Hangover.

Approx. transcript time · 00:24:10Read transcript

The hosts run through the 2005 Oscars as a legendarily bad Best Picture year: they say Crash won over Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck and Munich; Munich is called overrated and Good Night and Good Luck's nomination ridiculous, while a defender calls it solid and recalls a Knocked Up bit about Munich.

Approx. transcript time · 00:24:54Read transcript

On Best Actor, the hosts say Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Capote, with Terrence Howard, Heath Ledger, Phoenix and the Edward R. Murrow performance from Good Night and Good Luck nominated; they would redo that last slot for Carell, since comedies get kicked aside.

Approx. transcript time · 00:26:54Read transcript

Carell's nuanced part is called harder than playing Murrow; imagining Hoffman or Terrence Howard as Andy; critics compared Apatow to Billy Wilder; A Fish Called Wanda was acknowledged while There's Something About Mary was ignored, and Knocked Up's lack of recognition was even weirder.

Approx. transcript time · 00:28:00Read transcript

A joke about watching Munich together on Zoom with an over-under of eight and a half zone-outs, or choosing a Raptors-Nets Game 4, before the break.

Approx. transcript time · 00:29:48Read transcript

The characters are jackasses, which is the point; the speaker fears comedies in the 2020s will lose such characters amid cancel culture and week-long discourse, arguing that movies, like Game of Thrones, are fake.

Approx. transcript time · 00:42:37Read transcript

Andy is the nice-guy hero among damaged idiots; the sad-life montage (French horn, 'Word Up' karaoke) is noted; the film forecasts the rise of nerd culture, and by the end Malco's character needs a kid, Rogen's is a novelist in the extended edition and Rudd's a lonely drifter.

Approx. transcript time · 00:44:05Read transcript

The co-workers apparently didn't know each other before SmartTech and hang out there all the time: 'Shades of Grantland'.

Approx. transcript time · 00:44:47Read transcript

An aside says someone made an Al Pacino Cruising action figure, relevant to the 150th Rewatchables; the picture came via Instagram, with a warning not to give that person an address.

Approx. transcript time · 00:47:13Read transcript

The film is set in Encino in the Valley, though it looks like Pasadena to one host.

Approx. transcript time · 00:48:14Read transcript

Asked to tell a virginity story, the reply is 'No, absolutely not', followed by a Munich-screening joke and a plea to stop bringing up Munich.

Approx. transcript time · 01:15:13Read transcript

Producer Craig is congratulated because the hosts finally did a movie he likes.

Approx. transcript time · 01:15:37Read transcript

A 2020 Andy would have an insane gaming chair, stream on Twitch, play Call of Duty and have neon lights.

Approx. transcript time · 01:15:52Read transcript

The closing promotes the next episode on Wednesday: Dangerous Minds for its 25th anniversary.

Approx. transcript time · 01:16:37Read transcript