Steve Martin in 1979; Parenthood for Mary Steenburgen, tentative; A Beautiful Mind or Apollo 13 for Ron Howard as director; Happy Days free-throw scene for Ron Howard as actor; Harley Jane Kozak; the Ford convertible; Randy Newman; Amadeus for Tom Hulce; City Slickers for the screenwriters; The Bad News Bears films for Little League scenes; The World According to Garp; the Pam and Tommy Lee tape
Steve Martin’s Apex was previously assigned through Father of the Bride; the real peak is 1979 with Saturday Night Live guest-hosting, The Jerk, comedy albums and arena stand-up, prompting mock objections for Shopgirl and HouseSitter. — Bill Simmons
Mary Steenburgen’s Apex might be this film rather than the Howard Hughes movie, and her character is linked to Randy Newman’s song.
Ron Howard’s directing Apex is argued as A Beautiful Mind because it won him the Oscar; Apollo 13 is offered as the alternative.
Apollo 13 is favored for Ron Howard’s directing Apex, described as a mainstream rather than unusual view. — Chris Ryan
Ron Howard’s acting Apex is the Happy Days scene where Richie misses a game-winning free throw and his father offers a candy bar. — Bill Simmons
Randy Newman is a yes for the Oscar-nominated song and the era when I Love L.A. became a Lakers staple; a fan argues he had several peaks, Toy Story is attributed to Craig, and The Natural score is noted, while another host resents him for the Lakers and Dodgers. — Bill Simmons
Parent comedy movies are considered, with Folks! and National Lampoon films raised. — Van Lathan
City Slickers is the Apex for the film’s two screenwriters.
For feel-good Little League scenes the answer is not Parenthood but The Bad News Bears and Breaking Training, with Hardball and Rookie of the Year also raised.
A fan theory imagines the Hardball coach as Keanu’s Parenthood character after moving to Chicago and picking up gambling from Larry.
Parenthood is called up there for funny great-grandmother characters, which are hard to pull off. — Bill Simmons
For car accidents caused by oral sex, The World According to Garp is declared the winner, recalling its driveway scene to horrified reactions. — Bill Simmons
This film is not the road-head peak; the answer is the Pam and Tommy Lee tape, with a story about ordering it by phone before the internet. — Van Lathan
Redford is a yes: one of the most bankable actors, at his handsome peak, and a Best Director winner who took down Scorsese; the Sundance Institute was formed in 1981. — Bill Simmons
Timothy Hutton is a probable yes, with Taps also considered, but the Oscar closes the deal.
Mary Tyler Moore is a no, followed by a tangent on attractive stars of earlier decades and her Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. — Bill Simmons
The 1981 Oscars are considered, but one host names 1994 as the Apex telecast and 1975's hosts are read; no Apex call is made for 1981.
Sutherland could be talked into Apex, but his peak is also placed at the 24-era moment when viewers learned he is Kiefer's father, and at JFK.
The name Buck is declared Apex Mountain by one voice, supported with Buck Henry, Buck Showalter, Magic Johnson's nickname Young Buck, Craig's suggestion of Uncle Buck and Bucky Barnes, while Yankee fans' Bucky Dent is waved off. — Bill Simmons
The name Ward belongs to Ward Cleaver, but Buck and Ward in the same movie is declared Apex Mountain. — Bill Simmons
Intense Chicago movies are becoming Apex but are not there yet, and fucked up family movies are a no. — Bill Simmons
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
Jimmy should be far more upset that his girlfriend was murdered in front of him, seeming more worried about his football comeback. — Chris Ryan
Football continues after the Billy Cole shooting with no consequences, and a senator attends a game soon after. — Chris Ryan
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. — Chris Ryan
Whether the NFL would shut down depends on the week; the first game is placed in Cleveland in late fall or early December. — Chris Ryan
Why the daughter was not in school, perhaps Christmas break since Shane Black movies are Christmas movies. — Bill Simmons
Joe, who hates rap and just likes getting drunk, being a big fan of the young Black quarterback Jimmy Dix is doubted. — Bill Simmons
Nobody stops liking football because one player turned out to be a prick. — Chris Ryan
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. — Bill Simmons
A bleeding-hand perfect spiral into the upper deck to save a senator from a sniper is the main nitpick, with mock calls imagined.
The scene is set at halftime of a Cleveland versus Los Angeles game with Vern Lundquist, Dick Buckkiss and Lynn Swan as sideline reporter, who berates the L.A. owner about ratings, attendance and where all the heroes have gone. — Bill Simmons
The hosts want sideline reporters to ask NBA players like Brandon Ingram and LeBron James where all the heroes have gone. — Chris Ryan
Billy Cole is alleged to take PCP in the locker room, though one host always thought it was cocaine until reading Wikipedia. — Bill Simmons
Early nits: whether he had the gun in his pants the whole quarter, how it did not affect his burst while breaking four tackles, and whether his touchdown would count for gamblers. — Bill Simmons
He says 'Ain't life a bitch' as he shoots himself, and the broadcast presumably cuts to a test signal. — Chris Ryan
Only one spotlight seems to be on in Cleveland Stadium, like a German expressionist film; Tony Scott's football is closer to Zach Snyder's 300 and the rain device returns in The Fan. — Chris Ryan
The scene was a watershed; the movie arguably peaks in the first six minutes, helped by the Bill Medley Friday Night Football song. — Bill Simmons
Other rewatchable scenes offered: Joe finding the guy in the closet, which leads to the first of several car bombs. — Bill Simmons
Jimmy's speech on the NFL stance on drugs and gambling, played back by Craig, reads like Shane Black at 3:30 in the morning.
Joe versus Kim Coats, where Joe warns him not to touch him again and then kills him. — Bill Simmons
The quirky hitmen, like Pablo playing piano and Taylor Negron, feel Tarantino-like before Tarantino made a movie. — Bill Simmons
The stuffed-animal scene with the car chase, despite not knowing how the gun fits in the stuffed animal. — Bill Simmons
The Hollywood Hills car chase with cars going down the hill that lands in the pool. — Bill Simmons
The strip club with Corey and the Corey car-chase murder right after it are offered as another rewatchable scene; the other side left it out because seeing Halle Berry murdered hurts, wishing she had just taken one in the shoulder. — Bill Simmons
Asked for a most rewatchable pick, the answer is the opening scene, watchable a hundred times in a row; it is jokingly why football had to leave L.A. — Bill Simmons
The changing roster, uniforms, substitutions and trophy shot make the team’s player count inconsistent. — Bill Simmons
The nice Catholic school teacher being single is treated as implausible. — Bill Simmons
Trading tickets to weak Bulls basketball for a $46 pizza bill is disputed; the trip itself and Dallas stars could justify it. — Bill Simmons
A Craig observation says there is too little actual coaching by Keanu; Bad News Bears in Breaking Training is the comparison, and the children seem skilled without instruction. — Bill Simmons
An online nitpick questions the apparent handgun-like wound versus a shotgun on screen; limited firearms knowledge is explicit and alternative explanations remain possible. — Bill Simmons
Connor’s age makes never having heard Big Papa or the Notorious B.I.G. implausible, prompting a shared familiarity argument. — Van Lathan
Before the winner, Greg Mottola gets a shout-out as not the winner but maker of Superbad and Adventureland, which could come in the 200s.
Rogen and Goldberg win for the backstory: two buddies writing their big break, which rarely works, leading to their production company and the peak of the Apatow era. — Bill Simmons
Knocked Up (June 1, 2007) and Superbad (August 17, 2007) within 10 weeks were a rocket ship of fame; both were phenomenons, and Goldberg and Rogen is a second vote. — Sean Fennessey
Seeing comedies like this in a theater, as with Long Shot or There's Something About Mary, is a rare roof-tearing experience. — Chris Ryan
Asked for Craig's pick, the reply agrees it has to be Rogen and Goldberg, who made every kid think they could write a script about high school. — Bill Simmons
Jonah Hill, twice Oscar nominated and now a director, was on a Belushi-like track; 21 Jump Street is offered as his apex, after Moneyball changed opinions, though this may be the movie he is remembered for. — Sean Fennessey
Jonah and his peers are thoughtful fans of earlier movies who planned their careers. — Bill Simmons
This is definitely an Apex Mountain for Michael Cera, with Juno the same year and Scott Pilgrim in 2010.
His 2010s dip is attributed to not wanting fame and choosing smaller indie parts as an art-house fan; Molly's Game and Twin Peaks show a possible second life in a White Lotus-style series, though at 33 he is too young for the part mentioned there.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse is raised with an unclear "absolutely, yeah," then credited with more career than expected (Role Models, Neighbors, Promising Young Woman) and a good essay about being trapped as McLovin. — Bill Simmons
Rogen's 2007 was massive and his mogul career since (shows, weed line, books, pottery, Sony hack, fighting Ted Cruz) is the most impressive of the group; Long Shot shows his ideas, and his apex is probably Neighbors.
Pineapple Express got greenlit because of his stardom, from a generation that wanted to make its own Midnight Run or Lethal Weapon; producer Craig is asked about it and it is predicted as a late-300s episode, 383. — Bill Simmons
Comedic cops could be at Apex Mountain since the subgenre faded after this; Observe and Report was darker, and 21 Jump Street is offered by Craig. — Bill Simmons
Apex for flipping a boner into the waistband is asked as a question. — Bill Simmons
A joke Apex for Dartmouth credits the movie for Ringer staffers going there. — Bill Simmons
Goldschlager vodka was not a real vodka; Goldschlager is called an evil liquor, and a modern version would be marketed with an NFT. — Bill Simmons
The Hawaiian driver's license has got to be the peak, a cultural wave with shirts of it; one host's son Ben has a McLovin license flag from Amazon covering a window. — Bill Simmons
The school exterior is El Segundo High School; the mall scenes were at the Fox Hills Mall, later Westfield Culver City, possibly defunct; the opening convenience store is in Culver City. — Bill Simmons
Per Wikipedia, the McLovin liquor store is in Glendale, though it looks like the Hillhurst plaza with the drawing room near Nathan Fielder's Dumb Starbucks.
The donuts were at the California State University Northridge campus, and the bar is near L.A.X. though it looks like a Valley bar. — Bill Simmons
The restaurant Fogell names was Rogen and Goldberg's favorite in Vancouver. — Bill Simmons
David Goldberg, Evan's brother, made close to a thousand penis drawings, only a handful used; the MPA objected to one Becca holds. — Bill Simmons
Guesses at how many times the word fuck is used include at least 200 and 13, with garbled figures around producer Craig (280, 176) and "over 202". — Bill Simmons
The Coke scene is based on a real party Rogen and Goldberg attended at 14 to say goodbye to a local stand-up; everyone did blow, and per Goldberg the house belonged to a little person and a bodybuilder couple and there was a pig. — Bill Simmons
The Ringer piece is a reservoir of anecdotes, such as Cera falling out of a tree early in the shoot; a 15th-anniversary oral history next year is predicted, maybe by The Ringer. — Bill Simmons
Rogue cops, entrapment and police brutality made more sense as a theme in 2007.
Buying booze with a fake ID may be antiquated since Euphoria never mentions alcohol, only ketamine.
Craig, 27, producing the pod, is asked about fake IDs; the answer is a best friend had one, fake IDs still circulate, and Euphoria is the least accurate high school depiction. — Bill Simmons
One host would react to his son having a fake ID with pride, then pretend to be mad; he used a classmate's lost ID as "Bart Osmond" for two years, slouching to hide the height gap, until a Worcester state liquor store clerk sized him up. — Bill Simmons
Long Island beer distributors sold to kids 80-90% of the time without fake IDs. — Sean Fennessey
Working the door at the Middle East in Boston meant seeing lots of Hawaii IDs judged on the hologram; others had Maryland and Jersey IDs, and Rhode Island was the big one in the late 80s and early 90s. — Chris Ryan
Kids with a lookalike older brother had it made; one host's brother used his IDs for years.
High school movies rely on parents leaving for the weekend; a single mom going out and a friend, Jim Grady, whose mom was often at her New York City apartment made parties possible, like having a good big man in the NBA. — Bill Simmons
Alcohol delivery now scans IDs, probably making it harder to buy liquor; the lube question for Ben gets the four-inch line as an answer. — Bill Simmons
The breakup scene is a first candidate: the sorority sisters set up an expected proposal and the boyfriend says he needs to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn. — Bill Simmons
The breakup scene sets the tone of defying expectations and presents Warner tidily, but is not this participant's most rewatchable pick. — Juliet Litman
The Harvard admissions montage is nominated second; the LSAT buildup and her being carried around the sorority make a great seven minutes.
The one-woman costume party is enjoyed, though trusting Vivian shows she lacks people smarts; a counterpoint says she is the open-hearted one.
Asked who did the bunny costume first, the answer is probably this movie, though the bunny costume is in the Bridget Jones book. — Amanda Dobbins
Craig is asked to check whether this or Bridget Jones came out first; the 'frigid bitch ... constipated' line is praised, and Elle staying in costume all night. — Bill Simmons
The computer store bonding between Vivian and Elle, 'I have new representation', the murder confession and nailing the evidentiary hearing are further candidates. — Bill Simmons
The Bend and Snap scene feels important but from a different movie; it is placed in both aged best and aged worst and called probably the most rewatched but not a favorite. — Juliet Litman
The host's daughter asked why the Bend and Snap was in the movie.
One theory is that the Bend and Snap is the fulcrum for the musical adaptation; it also serves as the dance scene of 80s and 90s films geared toward women.
Footloose started the shoehorned dance scene, followed by My Best Friend's Wedding and 27 Dresses. — Bill Simmons
One pick is the Harvard admissions montage plus the leap of a first-year law student handling a murder trial.
The Harvard video essay is the pick: it has great one-liners and summarizes the movie in three minutes; the perm courtroom ending is also credited. — Amanda Dobbins
The others are right, but the preferred scene is the near-montage of her becoming a serious person, taking off when she nails the evidentiary hearing. — Juliet Litman
Craig introduces the Vincent Chase flex for Catherine: her planning is admired but excessive stabbing, abandoned weapons and disregard for evidence are criticized; her authorial quality is debated using bestseller and review-blurb clues. — Bill Simmons
The counterargument says Catherine gets away with everything; an ice-pick search before bed becomes a joking hypothetical. — Chris Ryan
Craig introduces a Movie Franchise Tag flex proposing that a small annual group of films, including Sicario and The Devil Wears Prada, be protected from sequels.
Chris counters that once Sicario’s sequel exists the series should continue, while a prestige television version is discussed and Del Toro’s participation doubted.
The franchise-tag proposal expands to Sinners, Barbie and Oppenheimer with disagreement; Limitless is explicitly exempted and its television series recalled.
Craig’s female-sex-killer Mount Rushmore names Xenia, Catherine Tramell, Sil and Amy Dunne. Die Hard with a Vengeance, Mia Goth and horror alternatives are additions. — Bill Simmons
Craig introduces the Millennial Missed Reference Power Ranking flex, beginning with Love Boat, Crying Game, Star Trek and Binaca references; it is not yet a numbered ten-entry list. — Craig Horlbeck
Craig’s missed-reference flex continues with Binaca, Claude Rains, Poltergeist, Tone Lōc, Miami Vice and Connery. Zach dislikes the exorcised-demons punchline and also missed several references when young. — Craig Horlbeck
The hosts defend dated cultural references as entertaining later discoveries, contrasting Wayne’s World 2 relying on a whole-film Doors parody. — Bill Simmons
Laurie has been unable to walk, yet receives no stretcher and must put weight on the injured ankle.
Jimmy’s extreme injured acting is an additional low-key overacting joke; an alternate TV ending puts him beside Laurie in the ambulance. — Bill Simmons
