De Niro as Moss or a younger Levene and Willis as Williamson or Blake are considered; the discussion’s Jimmy Conway reference leaves the final Blake alternative ambiguous. — Sean Fennessey
Modern franchise stars and British actors may lack the ordinary, badly dressed New York or Chicago quality needed for these roles. — Chris Ryan
Joaquin Phoenix, then credited as Leaf, gives a performance that forecasts an Oscar winner, especially when his face breaks while asking his father if he can live with him. — Bill Simmons
One participant did not realize the actor was the boy from Parenthood until after Gladiator, when a sister pointed it out. — Van Lathan
A Kanye West lyric from Gone about a new wife and “now you’re Jennifer Aniston” is said to borrow from the film’s line about a new wife and family. — Van Lathan
Gil’s thumb trick still delights small children. — Bill Simmons
The grandmother inhaling helium is favored, as any helium scene is funny. — Bill Simmons
Per the research, there was a rivalry in which DiCaprio sought the Garry role, Phoenix got it, and the two competed for parts, with Phoenix measuring himself against DiCaprio. — Bill Simmons
Garry’s chaotic room is praised as a horror show compared with a real teenager’s room. — Bill Simmons
The boyfriend character as every parent’s nightmare who turns out decent is a favored concept. — Bill Simmons
The nude-photo discovery reportedly happened to producer Brian Grazer; developing such photos in the 1980s is joked about. — Bill Simmons
The Cure's Boys Don't Cry poster in Julie's room is appreciated. — Bill Simmons
Kevin’s tense face became a recurring reference in an early sports column, seen in a head coach during the Super Bowl and in LeBron James. — Bill Simmons
Harley Jane Kozak, also Helen in When Harry Met Sally, is appreciated as an actor who never quite broke through. — Bill Simmons
The film’s candid treatment of money, including Larry’s debts, Gil’s worries about private school, and summer-school pay funding a vacation, is more relatable than shows where money is no object. — Chris Ryan
The car sex-act gag is raised but deferred to Apex Mountain.
Baseball scenes; boyfriend’s racing subplot; rosy final act; Kevin’s school handling; tower-shooting fantasy and bomb-threat joke; Leaf Phoenix credit; limo stunt double; Cool’s treatment; Larry’s gambling talk; Martin as a 35-year-old
Moved forward: all the baseball scenes are poor, especially the Cardinals nostalgia montage, where research says the runner pulled a hamstring over twelve takes. — Bill Simmons
Beyond the baseball scenes, the boyfriend’s shoehorned racing career and crash, after which he walks away and gets a job, is called the worst part of the movie. — Bill Simmons
The last twenty minutes are too rosy; the writers needed a closer like Rivera or Bill Goldman, as with City Slickers; killing the grandmother could have supplied a funeral, though ending with a birth may be why it is rewatchable.
The school ambushing the parents with a therapist and effectively expelling Kevin would not happen now and seemed extreme even then; Kevin’s portrayal would spark lengthy online backlash today.
Kevin’s tower-shooting fantasy and a throwaway joke about a school bomb threat have aged badly, part of a 1980s motif also seen in Full Metal Jacket. — Bill Simmons
The Leaf Phoenix credit is joked about, with a suggestion to recut a trailer touting Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix. — Bill Simmons
Larry being thrown from a limo uses an obvious stunt double, though the scene is loved.
Cool’s treatment is mentioned again as rough. — Bill Simmons
Larry’s gambling dialogue lacks sports-betting fluency despite Tom Hulce’s greatness in Amadeus; late-1980s films did not know gambling language, with Pete Rose and a later 90210 gambling plotline recalled.
Arnold is shot in the shoulder, offers to fight one-armed, and two minutes later uses both arms as if the wound healed.
The wound was needed to make the Bennett fight plausible at all, like the end of Gladiator, where Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) will not fight Russell Crowe's character unless he is wounded. — Kyle Brandt
It is unclear whether Jenny goes to school or whether they are in hiding while still getting ice cream; the house was easy for the killers to find. — Bill Simmons
The father-daughter opening is uncomfortable, shot like a harlequin romance with kisses on the lips and an 'I love you' sign; he carries her like a small child at the end. — Kyle Brandt
Rae Dawn Chong's character is not upset enough when her British sports car is wrecked, and nobody is hurt in the crash. — Bill Simmons
They conveniently find a seaplane she can fly, and she seemingly naps through the shootout. — Bill Simmons
The seaplane base guarded by Uzi fire is in L.A., and a flight attendant trained only on a Cessna flying a seaplane is doubted. — Bill Simmons
Why the villains did not kill the daughter once Arnold escaped is raised, then withdrawn after it is explained that they learn of the escape late; the host likens missing it to Tom Brady missing a read.
In the opening, Arnold carries his barefoot daughter across rocks on a hike. — Shea Serrano
Phoenix is selected for adding edge and reality, over the obvious Cage choice and a possible Schumacher argument. — Chris Ryan
Another speaker initially considers Schumacher’s recovery after Batman & Robin but ultimately chooses Machine as a character and wishes he could have returned. — Van Lathan
A sequel twist preserving both Machine and Max is imagined. — Bill Simmons
The final selection puts Phoenix first for his electric limited screen time, with Machine second for distinctiveness. — Bill Simmons
Called the most anticlimactic final question of a podcast ever: an amazing actor giving an amazing performance in a role that should not work in movies, basically stupid and larded with existential questions, and the hosts get caught up every rewatch; Heath Ledger is then named as the conversation turns to what his career would have been.
He gave only two or three iconic performances across maybe 12 or 13 movies, good in all of them: Dark Knight, Brokeback Mountain, 10 Things I Hate About You, very good in only ten minutes of I'm Not There and in the not very important Lords of Dogtown, serious fare like Monsters Ball and The Four Feathers, and movie-star attempts like The Patriot; Brokeback and Dark Knight read as the start of what would have been an incredible run.
