'Our guy, Raj' did not hate it as expected; he gave it three stars.
The review is quoted as calling it a superb example of what it is: a glossy, skillful, cynical, smart, utterly corrupt, and vilely misogynistic action thriller, described as one of the weirdest sentences he ever wrote.

Casting What-Ifs

Grace Jones for the Halle Berry part; John McTiernan as director

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 00:53:03Read transcript

There were fewer casting what-ifs than expected.
A report that Jack Nicholson was up for Joe Hollenbeck is not believed.
Tony Scott wanted Grace Jones for the Halle Berry part and the studio overruled him, which the hosts approve.
John McTiernan declined to direct because it was another Bruce Willis project, having also not done Die Hard 2.
Admittedly a stretch: Tony Scott hated Joel Silver so much that he based Lee Donowitz in True Romance on him, played by Saul Rubinick, and Silver went nuts when he saw it.
An open question is which Joel Silver movie Coming Home in a Body Bag parodies.

Recasting Couch

Don Johnson as Joe

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 00:58:39Read transcript

The recasting is done for the original era.
Chelsea Field could be improved on, with respect to her as Mrs. Scott Bacula, though the part is better as written.
Renee Rousseau is floated for the wife, but the reply is that Chelsea Field wears the toll of the failed marriage and Rousseau would not be dragged down by someone like Joe.
A jab about finally doing a Two for the Money pod follows.
Treating Renee Russo as vetoed, Don Johnson is proposed for Joe and welcomed, seven years out of Miami Vice.
Don Johnson never had the right movie part and lobbied Oliver Stone to play Jim Garrison; this could have been an awesome Sonny Crockett part.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Troubled production; O.J. Simpson and Al Cowlings as football experts; a Lethal Weapon deleted scene; a near riot of extras; the body count; the original script

In the discussion (8)

Approx. transcript time · 01:00:33Read transcript

The assistant director attributed on-set tension to an overabundance of alpha males; Joel Silver told the New Yorker it was one of the three worst experiences of his life.
Shane Black was forced to keep rewriting; the studio wanted a Die Hard-style Bruce Willis follow-up, and the save-the-wife plot was changed because it repeated Die Hard.
The two football technical experts were O.J. Simpson and A.C. Cowlinks, per a Taylor Nagrond interview; it is called possibly the best research item ever.
The $650 pants conversation was a deleted Lethal Weapon scene Shane Black repurposed.
During filming at the Los Angeles Coliseum, extras who were told to go home after a canceled recall nearly rioted.
About 27 people die in the movie.
Shane Black's original script had a different second half: bigger roles for Milo and Shelley Marcombe, Milo directing snuff films and killing a family, a boat chase, two more shootouts, and Joe's wife killing Milo.
Script scenes like Jimmy throwing a football at a player abusing a woman build character, and the shooting script is worth reading or maybe making as a Netflix series.

Jimmy shrugging off his girlfriend's murder; football continuing after the Billy Cole shooting; the daughter not in school; Joe as a Jimmy Dix fan; the fall from grace ending his love of football; the reconciliation; Joe's pay; the bleeding-hand throw

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 01:06:21Read transcript

Jimmy should be far more upset that his girlfriend was murdered in front of him, seeming more worried about his football comeback.
Football continues after the Billy Cole shooting with no consequences, and a senator attends a game soon after.
Craig, who had never seen the movie, is invited to comment; the reply says the Billy Cole scene was shocking and the stadium was pitch black.
Whether the NFL would shut down depends on the week; the first game is placed in Cleveland in late fall or early December.
Why the daughter was not in school, perhaps Christmas break since Shane Black movies are Christmas movies.
Joe, who hates rap and just likes getting drunk, being a big fan of the young Black quarterback Jimmy Dix is doubted.
Nobody stops liking football because one player turned out to be a prick.
Joe and his wife getting back together three days later is questioned, as is whether Joe gets paid, though they have the suitcase of money.
A bleeding-hand perfect spiral into the upper deck to save a senator from a sniper is the main nitpick, with mock calls imagined.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Did the movie foreshadow the gambling era?; Was Shelley a Jerry Jones character?; How did Shelley end up owning the LA Stallions?; Would Urban Meyer find the movie accurate?

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:12:26Read transcript

The movie more than foreshadowed the sports gambling era.
Shelley overlaps heavily with Jerry Jones, with some Glanville and possibly Bud Adams, fitting a trope of giddy Southern owners.
How Shelley ended up owning the LA Stallions and why that name suits L.A., perhaps moved from San Antonio.
The script referenced real NFL teams, and Pete Roselle denied the real uniforms after reading three pages.
A late question asks whether Urban Meyer would watch it and find it pretty accurate.