1985 Hanks is proposed as Paul for stronger awkward-romance comic timing, although his lack of kookiness is questioned. — Bill Simmons
Keaton becomes the preferred recast for chaotic energy, while Dunne’s original performance remains loved; Guttenberg is plausible but less desired. — Sean Fennessey
McCarthy is too young, Reinhold is floated, and alternate eras suggest Cusack circa1990, Josh Hamilton circa1996–97 and Hoffman circa2004–05. — Sean Fennessey
Eisenberg circa2010–11 and Hader circa2013–14 are proposed; Chalamet seems too handsome and Cooper Hoffman promising but perhaps too young. — Bill Simmons
Having a boat looks appealing in the movie despite upkeep and immediate depreciation objections.
The self-harm reaction image and a Bridge Nine Records flag are cited as lasting cultural and local details. — Chris Ryan
Gretchen is praised as a strong character actress after one participant admits earlier doubt. — Bill Simmons
The accent scores are Affleck ten, Gretchen nine, Williams nine, Hedges seven, Chandler three, Donovan roughly two to four, an unnamed local nineteen, and Wilson at least eight after being mistaken for a local.
Survival films lose to Cast Away; The Revenant is also discussed, and a preference for group-survival stories is retained. — Bill Simmons
Cannibalism movies are discussed without a settled Apex, comparing Bones and All, an unclear Cannibal Hall title, Sweeney Todd and Lecter; Alive may be unusual as non-horror.
Uruguayan rugby movies receive an affirmative Apex choice. — Bill Simmons
The Andes as a film location receive an affirmative Apex choice. — Bill Simmons
Cigarette movies are rejected here in favor of The Verdict, with Mad Men, Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II supplying other screen-smoking peaks. — Chris Ryan
Is Prague overrated? A visitor found it beautiful but not the hyped vibes, and Paris was still Paris; absinthe was the draw and Amsterdam is wilder. — Andy Greenwald
A Eurail arrival in Prague meant following a stranger to a ninth-floor walkup shared with two backpackers from Finland; another stay was in an ex-USSR dormitory. — Andy Greenwald
A Before Sunset-style sequel with Grover's first book tour could have worked, opening what happens to these guys. — Bill Simmons
In 2010-11 Grover could have covered the Knicks for Grantland after a critically acclaimed but under-read book about LaTrell's Freewell; his last name is Carey; joke headline about two months with Andrea Bargnani.
Baumbach skipped characters in their 30s; a sequel could be Grover in LA adapting his book, a less toxic Greenberg. — Andy Greenwald
Max and Grover are still best friends; they lost touch with Otis. — Bill Simmons
Miami is the most successful, ahead of the culture; she declined Grantland to write for the New Yorker. — Andy Greenwald
Jason Wiles; Carlos Jacott; the Bad Reputation singer; would-be-professor tweed-jacket look; Eric Stoltz's clout; Prague as an unseen movie destination
Jason Wiles may be the all-time Apex Mountain the category has covered, ripping off this and 90210 at once. — Bill Simmons
Josh Hamilton has had a respected career; since the movie did not do well, his Apex might instead be a supporting role like Alive. — Chris Ryan
Carlos Jakat, a Bombach friend who shows up in his later movies, gets an Apex Mountain yes; the food-in-his-beer scene is the biggest laugh.
Bombach no; Chris Aigman probably not, since Barcelona may be his best and showiest performance, though this one is sweeter. — Bill Simmons
Olivia Diabo no, because of The Wonder Years. — Bill Simmons
Fridi Johnson yes, for his song ending a movie out for 25 years, recalled alongside Can You Fly and Village Voice hype.
Jessica Heck's great career includes being on Friends when this came out.
Whether it is Apex Mountain for non-over-the-top college movies is debated against Animal House, Old School, Everybody Wants Some, Shithouse, School Days, Higher Learning and Blue Chips; it is only "definitely in the conversation."
The would-be-professor tweed-jacket look is the Apex Mountain of that style, with sport coats also in Bright Lights Big City and The Last Days of Disco. — Andy Greenwald
Eric Stoltz: a year after Pulp Fiction, the movie could only be made with him, so it is the Apex Mountain of his clout and the best use of him. — Andy Greenwald
Prague as a movie destination never actually seen is the pick, noting Arthur Phillips's novel Prague about people in Budapest. — Andy Greenwald
Will Ferrell's 2005 Kicking & Screaming title; Josh Hamilton's baseball namesake; Max dating a 17-year-old; trivia and made-up games; boredom of finishing infomercials; faded heavy blue jeans; impetuous travel on a whim
Bomback reportedly considered fighting the title and later said he was lucky none of Ferrell's brilliant movies were called Kicking and Screaming. — Bill Simmons
Max dating a 17-year-old is number one; the "17 tomorrow" line is cringeworthy and she could have been an appropriate age.
The 90s were different, with Kobe Bryant and Jerry Seinfeld cited as dating 17-year-olds.
Playing trivia and dumb games to pass time, with unverifiable memories like the go bots, since nothing could be Googled. — Andy Greenwald
Finishing the stain remover commercial shows how bored people could be; hungover Saved by the Bell and Days of Our Lives viewing and the OJ trial as time killers.
The faded, heavy blue jeans went out about ten years ago. — Bill Simmons
The impetuous freedom to buy a ticket and fly to Prague tomorrow is moved to aged worst. — Andy Greenwald
Having bought on-a-whim airport tickets while dating someone outside Boston, it did not work out. — Bill Simmons
The pick is narrowed from the opening cocktail party to Josh Hamilton and Olivia Diaba on the balcony, where she says she is going to Prague and he claims he has been to Prague; it introduces their relationship. — Bill Simmons
Prague was a mythical post-Berlin-Wall destination heard about on campuses, requiring a Fodor's book, a visa and travelers checks, so "going to Prague" became a thing in itself. — Andy Greenwald
A college roommate came back from a Prague junior year abroad judging everyone; skipping a semester abroad is a regret; the movie was seen on Thayer Street in Providence before the first Starbucks there. — Bill Simmons
The graduation party is up there with the wedding in The Godfather for getting to know every character, Skippy, Max and Otis. — Chris Ryan
The "You never even been to Prague" exchange riffs on the stop-shaving-your-armpits, read-The-Unbearable-Lightness-of-Being version of Prague.
The book club scene, added because Eric Stoltz had to be shoehorned in with ad-libbed scenes, has about seven laugh-out-loud lines about All the Pretty Horses.
Hollywood roller coaster: Stoltz was removed from Back to the Future, and ten years later this movie could not get money without him. — Andy Greenwald
Further nominations: Grover confronting Max about sleeping with Miami, with Chet sneaking back in; Skippy confronting Max; and Grover and Chet at the bar, where Chet saw it as a postponement of his life until realizing it was his life. — Bill Simmons
The final airport scene is spectacular: Grover's roughly three-minute monologue on a whim to go to Prague, with the camera on him.
Hamilton's airport performance echoes Dustin Hoffman banging on the church at the end of The Graduate. — Andy Greenwald
If asked at the end of 1995 which five young actors to bet on, Chris O'Donnell, Damon and Omar Epps would have been on the list along with Hamilton; the part could easily have been a Matt Damon part, but Hamilton is perfect in it. — Bill Simmons
Hamilton suffers on Google from the Texas Rangers ballplayer of the same name and is part of the 90s New York theater crew with Billy Crudeup, Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard. — Andy Greenwald
Jessica Hacked, who was on Friends as the lesbian lover of Ross's ex-wife, is great as the stewardess in the airport scene. — Bill Simmons
The flashbacks work, perhaps as the story Grover is writing, and the ending goes straight into the Fridi Johnson song Bad Reputation, a needle drop that hits like a bomb.
The last line, "let's pretend we're an old couple," happens before everything chronologically, and they do not actually kiss. — Andy Greenwald
The airport scene is one pick, with a special shout-out to the entire graduation party as a meet-everyone-at-a-gathering opening.
Every scene is equally rewatchable because the tone is so consistent, but the shout-out goes to the scene where he would rather be bow hunting.
Hobbs versus the Whammer is fantastic; Joe Don Baker is the best Hollywood Babe Ruth, with the size, nose, gut and swagger, compared favorably to John Goodman; the scene dates to 1923, Ruth's 14-WAR MVP season, and both hosts prefer the Whammer as a cover rather than naming Babe Ruth, partly because a lefty would have been needed.
The foul tip taking out Duval (as transcribed), or rather the poor old catcher, with nobody wearing masks is noted, and Duval backing up twenty paces, to the Whammer's protest about how he will call it from there, is a classic moment.
Hobbs' first batting practice, with the Wonderboy clip played, is wonderful for three reasons: the sheer spectacle like Josh Hamilton in a home run derby, Brimley guzzling the filthy water he had complained about, and the 'I've been here every day' line that shows Roy is kind of a dick, entitled and owed something; Redford's swing was modeled on Ted Williams per the Roger Angel New Yorker piece (as transcribed), and he and Costner both looked like ballplayers.
Roy storming out of the meeting, deflowering Iris and immediately falling for the bad-luck niece after Pop's warning, then slumping, shows poor judgment with women and no understanding of birth control, which is excused as 1923.
Third on one list is Hobbs' first at bat, tearing the cover off the ball as the rain comes at the perfect time; the 'is this team alive' exchange between Red and Pop captures the rhythms of a baseball season when a team gets hot; Roy's batting-practice pitch and Max Mercy sprinting from his seat raise whether he could still pitch with the bullet in his side, answered with pain tolerance and no Toradol.
Other nominees: the lady in white scene with Glenn Close standing up, Hobbs' homer breaking the Wrigley Field clock, which did not exist until two years later, Brimley crossing Hobbs out of the lineup, Roy's last at bat, and the lightning bolt splitting the tree to forge Wonderboy, with the glowing stump called good special effects for 1984.
The 'losing is a disease' speech, comparing losing to syphilis and the bubonic plague, is hilarious, and the newspaper headline montages are praised for propelling the pace like Twitter or push notifications, though that is ruled to belong in what's aged the best.
One pick is the walk-off homer, the greatest chill scene of any sports movie, except perhaps Rocky getting up in the 14th round of Rocky 1; everything leading up to it, breaking Wonder Boy and 'pick me a winner, Bobby' with the Savoy special, is iconic.
The other pick, after 35 years of watching, is Hobbs showing up for the final game while Brimley shaves, with the 'suit up' clip played twice; a dad who calls whenever it is on to quote 'you're the best damn hitter I ever saw' is recalled.
Wilford Brimley's chest hair in that scene, and every scene, is like a forest, a peninsula, a platypus bill, a pelt; the hosts wonder how he does not trim it, whether it is a masculine calling card and whether he is still alive at 84.
