The first hour is watchable but rewatchability heats up around the big turn; the first nominee is Affleck coming home to find Amy missing and calling the police, with the neighbor across the street, the lady cop quietly suspicious because it is usually the husband, and the meticulousness of the search, which sets the film up as a whodunit it is not.
You have to instantly believe Rhonda Boney knows what she is doing, because she is a central figure and the last life raft for hoping someone keeps pursuing the case; her post-it notes on the blood spatter and the way she reads the plugged-in iron beside a dress that represents romance show something is up right away.
The outdoor Amy rally with protesters is a good scene with a good twist, shot wide so it feels like another bullshit vigil before the turn against Ben Affleck; Casey Wilson is great as Noelle, the extremely dumb pregnant neighbor seduced into Amy's plan, and the shots of Emily Ratajkowski mouthing words back at him and of Affleck fleeing cameras in slow motion like a lumbering old quarterback are smartly staged.
The big reveal, 'I am so much happier now that I'm dead', arrives one hour and seven minutes in, a point where Bloodsport is nearly over; Amy's monologue runs about five pages on IMDb though it is much shorter than the book's cool girl passage, and a first-time viewer briefly fears a dead-narrator movie before 'technically missing, soon to be presumed dead' lands.
Asked to read the bold paragraph aloud, she asks which part, protests that her dad listens to these podcasts, hates the 'befriend a local idiot, fake a murder' part because she feels bad for the local, and identifies the waxing passage as the part she is being made to read before reading it. — Mallory Rubin
The paragraph read aloud, waxing, canned beer and Adam Sandler movies, cold pizza at a size two, forging the man of her dreams and being the happiest couple they knew, is called the whole movie in one paragraph: a couple that learned to like the identity of being a couple more than being together; someone asks whether there were no salons in New York.
Taking issue with that reading, he recalls his father, not a speech-giver, sitting him down before his wedding to say that people change: Nick changes and becomes a less good partner, Amy becomes more insane with a history of manipulation involving Skeet Ulrich's character, and after the sparks of first meeting everyone has pitched a slightly more appealing version of themselves. — Sean Fennessey
The other key passage is 'you think I'd let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn't get to win. Grownups work for things, grownups pay, grownups suffer consequences.'
Teased that he has the happiest marriage anyone on the show knows and yet loves a film that is its opposite, he answers that it ends with her covered in blood coming back, and it is fun to watch and be glad that is not him right now. — Shea Serrano
Lola Kirk (as transcribed) is shouted out as the runaway Dionne Waiters (as transcribed) winner, especially the pool scene and her re-enactment of Affleck touching Emily's face; Nick's interview with the TV host played by the actress from The Fugitive (transcribed 'Cee LaWord') works like the unseen heist in Reservoir Dogs, cutting to the car where he is told how good he was.
Amy's return to Nick's house is called amazing: one host watching with Laramie, who had read the book, could not believe her stumbling out of the car covered in blood, with Affleck's 'you bitch' in her ear, the 'I'm not a quitter' lead-up to the interview and the twin sister crying devastated in the kitchen, an amazing Carrie Coon performance; that host's pick is Amy returning and everything after, while another much prefers the beginning.
Smaller early picks: the first police interview, where 'she's a voracious reader' reveals how little Nick knows about his wife, Boney's instant lack of trust, Gil asking whether they are really married and the blood-type question, which leaves the hosts admitting they do not know their own or their wives' blood types, or even their social security numbers.
The press conference: Nick's four words devoid of sincere emotion, the iconic pie-eating grin beside the poster, contrasted with her parents going into stump-speech mode with talking points; the parents sold her childhood and turned her into something others could digest, which earns some sympathy for Amy and explains both relationships.
The Desi murder has to be in the list as the most iconic, amazingly staged scene, with Amy untucking his shirt so the security cameras catch him tucking it back in, but some find it too unpleasant to rewatch; even on a seventh or eighth viewing, the throat slicing still shocks.
The reveal is the pick for several: one expected the familiar turn where the husband's face goes evil and the body is in the basement, and instead sat hands on head listening to her explain everything; 'America loves pregnant women' followed by calling Noelle a pregnant idiot, and the closing pregnancy reveal, tie it all neatly together.
The seduction scenes are also good: the meet-cute at the party, the proposal at the Amazing Amy book party, Nick posing as a journalist, really a men's-magazine writer; the reveal, another host's pick, references those fairy-tale early days as true and crucial, the foundation for believing in their love at all.
What makes the reveal great beyond the shock is the pride and vindication in Amy's meticulous steps, 300 diary entries written with different pens, sitting on the kitchen floor of a home in his hometown she never wanted, an IV draining her own blood while she reads a book, with a quick shot that Nick would clean poorly; one host would pay for just the first part as a rom-com, which is said to already exist as He's Just Not That Into You.
Kimble, a smart doctor and the clear sole suspect, never gets a lawyer, and the 18-27 month trial is yada-yada'd into a first-degree murder conviction on a phone call and an insurance motive.
Gerard is the first to suggest a rich doctor may not need the insurance money. — Andy Greenwald
In the rapid-fire interrogation, the youngest-looking cop is the one who gets to say 'book him.' — Andy Greenwald
Shaving off a grown beard always hurts, yet Kimble shaves with an old guy's razor and scissors and looks great; the counter is that he stitched himself up without flinching.
Would anyone really call Dr. Nichols Chuck or Charlie; why would Nichols help Kimble with money at all. — Bill Simmons
Why they had to kill Kimble and his wife doesn't make sense, compared with The Firm; the last third spends too much time on Provasic, though a counterpoint says it foretold the pharma industry.
Context questions: the Silence of the Lambs-style misdirect is used about five times, and a modern version would add a twist; the helicopter search and isolated L train audio felt cutting edge then. — Andy Greenwald
Why the friend didn't turn him in right away, and the long Devlin MacGregor fishing-trip exposition. — Bill Simmons
The one-armed hitman is too risky and should have afforded a nicer apartment; the counter is that he must be twice as good at security with half the arms.
Sela Ward's rose-petal homecoming gilds the lily; one participant says it should have been in most dated. — Andy Greenwald
This is not Joe Pantoliano's apex; candidates raised include The Sopranos, Guido the Killer Pimp, The Matrix, Bad Boys, Eddie and the Cruisers, Running Scared and Risky Business.
A case is made that The Fugitive was the apex of Pantoliano being likable and welcome, when people recognized him and were excited he was there. — Andy Greenwald
Development history; Ford ligament injury; Dillsboro wreck site; crash and dam costs; unscripted parade chase; Richard Jordan replaced; improvised donut line; Pantoliano and Ward lobbying; love-interest rewrites
The script took five years, with nine screenwriters and more than 25 drafts, and Tommy Lee Jones ad-libbed his lines anyway. — Bill Simmons
Ford damaged leg ligaments filming the woods scenes and delayed surgery so his character would limp, prompting a riff that Ford is unbreakable.
The wrecked train and bus remain a tourist attraction in Dillsboro, North Carolina, leading to jokes that it is the home of Tate Frasier (as transcribed). — Bill Simmons
The crash cost $1 million to film and the dam scene cost twice as much, $2 million. — Bill Simmons
The St. Patrick's Day parade chase was not scripted; Andrew Davis, a Chicago director, followed Ford and Jones with a Steadicam without permits, and parade-goers were genuinely reacting to Ford. — Bill Simmons
Richard Jordan, originally cast as Dr. Nichols, fell ill with a brain tumor and died three weeks after release; Ford refilmed his first scene with the replacement, whose beard looked slightly different. — Bill Simmons
Tommy Lee Jones improvised 'think me up a cup of coffee and a chocolate donut with some of those little sprinkles on top.' — Bill Simmons
Joey Pants lobbied for Cosmo Renfro to survive in case of a sequel, and was in the sequel; Sela Ward reportedly lobbied for her character to be in a coma instead of dying. — Bill Simmons
Sela Ward is thought to have deserved a bigger career.
Julianne Moore's part was reportedly meant to be a love interest, and Jane Lynch's researcher possibly too; deleted scenes may exist on a later release.
Two Cosmos in 1993: Cosmo Renfro and Cosmo Kramer. — Bill Simmons
