Since the movie makes things up anyway, Denzel Washington as David Ferry is suggested; Denzel as Mr. X is called insanely great, with doubt about him as Ferry.
Recast Sissy Spacek because she is too good an actress for a crummy part, freeing her for a better role.
Sally Field is suggested for the part; pushback says Costner and Spacek do not fit together.
Madeline Stowe is suggested for 'Renee Rousseau' (character name as transcribed) and called perfect.
Gary Sinise would have killed as Ferry; whether Oldman and Sinise ever had a showdown is asked.
The movie is called too long at three hours and eight minutes; another disagrees, nearly naming three-hour movies as what aged best.
Cut the Sissy Spacek scenes: nobody cares about Garrison's family, compared to the domestic scenes in Donnie Brasco where the wife drags the hero away.
Liz Garrison's big contribution is telling the housekeeper to get hold of herself; Spacek has no good scene, and she yells at Jim over his JFK nightmares.
Counterpoint: the family scenes carry 'daddy never keeps his promises' and the trauma of the American male lied to by the American father; the reply is that the fatherhood style has aged the worst.
It should have been an assassination movie; a parenting tangent follows, then the argument that a movie about an obsessive must show the cost of obsession, with agreement that the scenes are badly written and could be cut.
Stone is said to have cared about making Garrison a well-rounded role Costner would want; the Kathleen Quinlan role in Apollo 13 works because her husband is in a spaceship.
Worst line: Garrison saying 'I should have loved you more' as he and his wife are about to have sex.
Tangent: Kay's return scene in The Godfather is called the worst scene of the best movie ever by one participant and defended as perfect by others.
Costner's accent goes in and out, better than his Prince of Thieves accent and like Bull Durham in the courtroom; Pesci's is worse; a courtroom line echoes The Untouchables.
The hosts say the magic bullet theory has been pretty much debunked over how Connolly was sitting, while Stone's documentary still argues the trajectory; one participant still believes in four bullets.
Last: Pesci, liked far less by two participants; conflating homosexuality with the mafia and anti-communist soldiers is called whacked, and one cannot suspend disbelief with Pesci's baggage in the role.
