Dialogue; Tangerine Dream; Frank's collage; "I want a boy" exchange; film debuts; 1980 Caan and John Belushi in Chicago; Belushi's sideburns; Tuesday Weld; Mann's nihilistic ending
The dialogue: Mamet-influenced; per a Belushi video interview, Mann insisted the characters never speak in contractions because they are so precise; it never dumbs down the Chicago underworld lingo for criminals or cops, including the beating speech. — Chris Ryan
Tangerine Dream, fresh off Sorcerer and before Risky Business; with Vangelis and Faltermeyer they were the cool music of the early 80s. — Bill Simmons
Frank's collage of children, a car and a house he doesn't have, his jailed mentor Willie Nelson and 12 skulls; jokes about a personal collage of Sean that is now an NFT, and Mann inventing Pinterest. — Bill Simmons
Caan saying "I want a boy" and Prosky answering "Done"; the second meeting in the bar is a favorite conversation ("Wham-Bam Magic Sam"). — Sean Fennessey
A participant saw it in a Boston theater in 1981 at 11 or 12 with his dad and was puzzled by Jim Belushi, who looked like John Belushi, then still alive. — Bill Simmons
John Belushi visited the set, and the cast and crew hung out free all night at his Blues Brothers bar in Chicago; 1980 Caan and Belushi together must have produced stories. — Bill Simmons
Belushi's sideburns were fantastic. — Bill Simmons
Tuesday Weld: Wesley approved the take that Jessica Lange market-corrected her; she is terrific and perfect here, an Oscar nominee famous from Dobie Gillis who hasn't acted in 20 years, and, with a weak Best Supporting Actress category that year, could probably have nailed that down.
These films shortchange wife and girlfriend roles, but this one gives her a big scene to come off the bench and score 22. — Chris Ryan
Mann on the final decision, from the Ringer piece: having something makes Frank vulnerable, so the nihilistic act of destroying it returns his power. — Chris Ryan
A joke about deleting the feed after the last Mann movie, with Heat as the 500th episode alongside Tom Sizemore.
Wiig is the performance you recognize more on later viewings; McCarthy knocks your socks off the first time, like John Belushi in Animal House. — Mina Kimes
The first hangout lunch between Annie and Lillian opens the category, with Annie's penis impression called first class and possibly improvised.
Apatow understood the value of four-minute hangout scenes establishing why characters are friends, a template later seen even in The Hangover. — Bill Simmons
Jill Clayburgh, a major late-70s star, plays Annie's mom; her chicken-coop scene is longer in the extended version, and the character was toned down after she died. — Bill Simmons
The dueling engagement-party speeches were largely improvised; Rose Byrne invented fake Thai and a sensible Thai sentence was dubbed in.
The rest of the engagement party works too: Megan's introduction (dolphin telepathy, "I survived. I thrived.") and Annie being repeatedly paired with random men, where everyone else, not Annie, raises her single status. — Mallory Rubin
The speeches push secondhand mortification until guests are holding their glasses up waiting to drink. — Mallory Rubin
Asked about memorable wedding speeches, one participant recalls a best-man speech for best friend Jeff 23-24 years earlier that ended on hoping to someday find what the couple had. — Bill Simmons
Every character introduction before the speeches is distinct and funny, including Rita on her teenage boys and Becca with her husband after a Disneyland honeymoon. — Mina Kimes
Rose Byrne is one of the most underrated aspects of the film, also great in Neighbors (on the 2021 schedule); the dueling speeches felt more cringe-inducing than the bridal-shop scene. — Mina Kimes
Per the research, Byrne had been a dramatic actress hired as a Glenn Close-type villain foil, with nobody knowing she was this funny; she has the hardest, passive-aggressive part.
The food-poisoning dress-fitting scene is the iconic one; it was not in the shooting script and was added after Apatow and Paul Feig pushed for one more physical-comedy scene.
Setup details include the stray dog at the Brazilian restaurant and theme suggestions of Pixar from Becca and Fight Club from Megan. — Bill Simmons
The gross-out sequence was written in one participant's outline under most rewatchable scene before the rewatch; favorite lines include "I just need to get off this white carpet" and "Look away." — Mallory Rubin
Annie refusing to concede anything to Helen, looking worse with each cut and inching a Jordan almond toward her mouth, may be the funniest part.
It is one of the funniest scenes of all time for any age; after it was shown to a five-year-old son, "look away" became a household running joke. — Bill Simmons
The immaculate white bridal shop makes the chaos funnier. — Mallory Rubin
Asked which sick character they would be, one participant picks the character who throws up on someone else; another says they would be the "look away" character, like a dog that avoids eye contact.
Megan should have owned using the sink; the janitor's next-morning cleanup was on one participant's unanswerable-questions list.
The plane trip, a spouse's favorite scene, is a great 10 minutes: McCarthy's air-marshal bit and Annie escalating to "Welcome to Germany."
Good ensembles work in any pairing, compared with the Russo brothers' pairings in Infinity War and Endgame; seating Rita and Becca together to discuss their sex lives is a delight. — Mallory Rubin
The film shows up in gifs a lot, like Anchorman: "look away" and Annie's sarcastic reply to Helen's Vegas restaurant offer. — Mina Kimes
Planes are not funny places, especially since 9/11 and now the pandemic, so unlocking comedy there works. — Bill Simmons
Annie getting fired over the fight with the teenage girl at the store is a smaller favorite.
The bridal shower, including the bleached-asshole exchange, is another set piece; Lillian's "talk behind my back like a normal person" line is praised, and Megan takes the golden retriever puppies home. — Mallory Rubin
Megan's pep talk, which opens with Annie watching Cast Away, is nominated as a quieter pick blending humor and heart. — Mallory Rubin
McCarthy was the film's stunning revelation; she was an improv legend largely unknown to the public, compared with a John Belushi documentary, and was nominated for an Oscar.
Annie repeatedly driving past the cop to get his attention is a spouse's favorite. — Bill Simmons
Jon Hamm's scenes are flagged as a likely heat check, including the "open for biz" lap-nap line. — Mina Kimes
