The opening, with him on a ledge saying that for a guy with a four-digit IQ he must have missed something, is nominated as a hook that works even though telling viewers where the story ends often fails; it is called good but not the most rewatchable scene.
Vern is loved as a great drug dealer who seduces Eddie and then immediately becomes unavailable. — Chris Ryan
Vernon Gant is identified as Johnny Whitworth, the star of Empire Records.
The dealer explains the drug to Eddie in a grimy, perfect way; Eddie takes it, has sex with the woman down the hall, cleans his room for three days and says he was blind but now he sees.
Asked how close someone would have to be to get them to take NZT, the answer is that it would be taken after side-effect questions if a trusted colleague offered it; one late-night Camel Light while writing once felt like a small NZT kick.
A runner-up choice is the tablet-a-day title line and the montage in which he finishes a book in four days, learns piano, plays blackjack, has sex with models, diagnoses tumors, learns languages and kung fu, holds court with business elites, cliff dives and trades stocks, all in about 10 minutes.
The cliff dive did not look CGI'd, and it is a jackknifed, non-professional dive slamming into the water.
The holding-court scenes are loved, though things-are-going-well sequences are always hard to pull off; a joke imagines Chris holding court about the 2022 World Cup with seven experts.
The short subway fight, with five people wanting to fight him at once, shows Cooper could have had his own Jason Bourne version, but he never made a straight-up action movie and got artsy.
The Bourne Legacy may have misfired choosing Renner over Cooper; the Limitless TV show likewise had the same material without Cooper and did not work.
Abbie Cornish's park chase, where she takes a pill to think her way out of a knife attack, is nominated; the film keeps surprising, as when she slices the bad guy's face with a little girl's ice skate or Eddie drinks the bad guy's blood.
Asked whether he lived in New York, he says Brooklyn rather than Manhattan and jokes that cabs drive through Central Park every day like in Die Hard with a Vengeance. — Chris Ryan
Eddie fighting Russian gangsters and drinking NZT blood is nominated; his vocabulary grows through the film, and the suddenly blinded villain who is still a threat is a favorite trope, as in Halloween and Big Trouble in Little China.
The sterile New York arms-dealer apartment is a real fantasy spot.
One pick is the Cooper-versus-De Niro ending, with 'I see everything, Carl,' the predicted car accident and his diagnosis of Van Loon's heart; it is also De Niro's best scene.
Most action movies end badly, as Taken does with its coda; a 'Bill Simmons cut' ending movies when the villain dies is floated, and this film pulls off not needing another scene, with the lunch ordering scene as dessert.
Another favorite is the come-up after he gets the stash, especially the editor leaving three increasingly excited voicemails about his first pages, which is what a professional writer is after.
A joke recalls Chris leaving Shea three messages about his eighth-grade football team diary.
The pick is the montage where he cures Helen's cancer, learns to play piano and starts day trading. — Chris Ryan
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love, La La Land) is the favorite re-pairing because they could make another completely different movie now. — Bill Simmons
The script is called well-constructed and well-written, with a shout-out to the writers, including Richard Price for the screenplay. — Bill Simmons
The kidnappers, by shorthand, are Lieutenant Dan, the bald Californication guy, New Kid on the Block number two, the HBO narrator guy and Lily Taylor; Lily Taylor is praised. — Bill Simmons
Early email as a plot device, when getting an email signaled that he must be really rich. — Bill Simmons
The crew is a sneaky good cast who all played their positions; Donnie Wahlberg was stunt casting in 1996 and has since become a successful actor on Blue Bloods. — Van Lathan
The narrative of the dirty cop as the lead villain has aged best. — Van Lathan
Cooper is named first and seconded; another says it has to be Todd Phillips because he made 70 million dollars, which cannot be understated; Galifianakis became a star after this, but looking at what happened since, the case is made for Cooper.
A dissent says the others are wrong and Galifianakis clearly wins: the funniest character, going from a random dude in comedy circles to an A list comedy star right away, and still the funniest thing in it ten years later, though he never seemed to want that.
Asked whether the people who made it are embarrassed by it now, the hosts think Galifianakis is, being super douchey about it despite making two more, since the money was irrefutable for a guy on his North Carolina farm; Craig, asked who won, says Galifianakis, recalling the Facebook pages for every Galifianakis quote in high school, like 'it's a satchel, not a purse'.
Nominated lines: 'I didn't know they gave out rings at the Holocaust'; 'it's at the corner of get a map and fuck off'; the reminder that their best friend Doug is probably face down in a ditch with a meth head butt-fucking his corpse; and Bradley Cooper on Alan, 'he's like a gremlin, comes with instructions and shit'.
'Phil was always our designated drunk driver' was a very 2009 line you could not joke about now; 'yeah, I do believe that because she's grossed out by semen' is really funny; and the exchange between Alan and Rachel Harris' character after Ed Helms walks away, with the bartender's license and 'suck my dick' answered 'no thank you'.
Not a line but a moment: the way Bradley Cooper behaves during Alan's blackjack run, yelling 'fuck you, he's a dealer' and flipping off the security cameras; the hosts have seen guys get too familiar with dealers, and one does the overhead camera joke, shouting 'turn it on' when a table is running; after moving on they realize they never picked and settle on the Holocaust line as the funniest joke.
Earlier, during the research segment, the Holocaust ring line was flagged as one host's intended best line and the funniest thing in the movie.
The villa could not cost 4,200 dollars; Alan looks nothing like his sister; how the tiger got into Caesars; where the chicken came from; nobody checked the roof for a full day; Doug sits on 80,000 in Bellagio chips for two hours; the room damage bill; the tiger never used the bathroom; no rehearsal dinner; Stu hanging up on his girlfriend with no fallout; a Sunday backyard wedding; the fiancee accepting the extra night; whether Stu, Doug and Phil are even friends
There is no way the room costs 4,200 dollars, which really bothers one host; in 2009 it would have been eight to ten thousand and now around twenty, unless it was a day-of rate or a Caesars-approved trick to lure people into villas.
Whether they are ever held accountable for the room damage is held for later; Alan was the bride's brother yet looks nothing like her, so he must have been adopted, though another host feels he does look like Tambor's offspring and it is the fiancee who does not.
How did they steal the tiger and get it into Caesars Palace when there are always people in the lobby even at five in the morning; Cooper's oral history bit that the cast showed up after night shoots with tiger scratches and nobody blinked is enjoyed, though people would blink at a tiger; where the chicken came from is better left unanswered.
Nobody thought to check the roof during a full day of searching, with Ed Helms' epiphany coming 24 hours in; in mitigation, these guys are stupid, they were roofied, and they were misled into thinking Doug was with them at dinner.
Doug waits two hours to tell them he found 80,000 dollars of Bellagio chips in his pocket; the speaker would lead with that in the first seven minutes. — Bill Simmons
The chips note is mocked as 'hey guys, I'm super sunburned, but good news, 80,000 chips right here'; nobody recalls them being in Barstow getting chips, and the money presumably gets split four ways.
The room damage, carried over from unanswerable questions, would be 20K easy or 20 to 50, given Vegas charges 11 dollars for a water bottle and hundreds for a broken lamp, and they definitely got soaked on the second night; it is also hard to believe the tiger never shit in the bathroom, excused as a road game and no morning coffee yet.
One host's biggest nitpick, bigger than any tiger issue, is that a huge wedding on a Sunday has no rehearsal dinner.
When Ed Helms hangs up on his girlfriend from the back of the cop car she would definitely be calling the Las Vegas people and the fiancee for the next three hours, since she thinks they are in wine country; the idea of calling to say you will be a day late might fit the payphone era, but this was 2009 not 1999, everyone has cell phones and there is texting in the movie, so bad job on tigers and texting, great job on everything else; there is definitely a rehearsal dinner that Saturday.
The Sunday outdoor wedding at somebody's house is ludicrous; nobody gets married on a Sunday unless they are saving money, which is called bullshit and a money save, and Craig is told no getting married on a Sunday.
Earlier, during what aged worst, the fiancee accepting the guys staying an extra night and getting back the day of the wedding was flagged and deferred to nitpicks.
Whether Stu, Doug and Phil are really friends was earmarked for the nitpicks: it is a weird threesome, and the guess is Doug was friends with each separately and united them.
Justin Bartha and Ed Helms doing The Office at the same time are offered first and answered 'two for two'; Cooper is a no; Galifianakis is weighed against Due Date.
One host votes Galifianakis and is once again confused by the category; Todd Phillips is a hundred percent yes, six years removed from Old School with School for Scoundrels a miss in between and everything after this a big deal, especially when you make 70 million on one movie; Galifianakis probably too, at the peak of success and creative cachet.
Rob Riggle is a yes, having had a CBS sitcom; the Dan Band is not, since Wedding Crashers is preferred and this repeats it; Ken Jeong is a yes, or Community, and one host does not care about him.
Whether Vegas itself hit Apex Mountain in 2009, more than Sinatra at the Sands, splits the room one to one: one host says no but wants the conversation and would take Casino over this, noting Vegas makes more money than ever; this was right after the housing crisis started but before it demolished casino projects, and another says yes because Vegas is like pop music, ever replenishing for young people, though it was in trouble five years ago; Vegas is therefore not listed as a yes.
Lindsay Lohan nearly cast as Jade but judged too young by Phillips; Jack Black turned down Alan; Paul Rudd turned down Phil; Jeremy Piven turned down Stu; Mike Tyson refused until he learned Phillips made Old School; Alan was written as a Jonah Hill-type younger brother and Thomas Hayden Church (as transcribed) was considered
Lindsay Lohan was almost cast as Jade; Phillips decided she was too young and is adamant about it, while Lohan's version is that she turned it down and it was the biggest regret of her career.
Lohan in the movie would have felt very 2009 and not a good version of her; Heather Graham is perfect, and being a little older makes the part work better.
One host is not as much of a believer in the theory that Lohan was a great Goldie Hawn-esque movie star whose talent was frittered away. — Sean Fennessey
The reaction is 'Oh, how dare you?' and 'This is your worst take you've ever had', with Parent Trap offered as proof: she plays two people, one with an English accent, like a 17-year-old Meryl Streep in training; Freaky Friday is weaker.
The Heather Graham conversation runs License to Drive, Twins, Drugstore Cowboy, Six Degrees of Separation and Swingers, by which point one host was in love, then Austin Powers; she may have been his number one 90s crush, Ed Burns dated her, and Boogie Nights, Even Cowgirls Got the Blues, Diggstown, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Scream 2, Two Girls and a Guy and Bowfinger show she was always in good stuff and good at sending up her persona; another gets her confused with Terry Polo.
Her ABC show Emily's Reasons Why Not never worked; Grey's Anatomy is raised as a show she might have led, but she is a comic actress who thrives in comedy; she is good here and way better than Lohan would have been, her 35 making more sense than weird 25-year-old energy.
Jack Black turned down Alan, thank God, since he would have overpowered the other three; Paul Rudd turned down Phil and would have been doing Brian Fantana and Sex Panther while making fun of it, whereas you believe Cooper as a shit bag even greeting his wife at the wedding; Rudd has not played a guy like that outside Neil LeBute (as transcribed) plays.
Jeremy Piven turned down Stu, thank God, probably because he was at the height of Ari Gold; Stu is the third lead.
Mike Tyson refused to appear and changed his mind on learning Phillips directed Old School; the Galifianakis character was written as a younger brother-in-law of the Jonah Hill type until Phillips realized an older brother was funnier, and Thomas Hayden Church (as transcribed) was the other option, a different movie.
First nominee is the drive to Vegas, a fantastic five and a half minutes from the gas station stop through Galifianakis in the car to checking in at the hotel; Phil starts drinking as soon as he gets in the car, like the two guys at every bachelor party who get wrecked on the way there, and the others realize in the car that Galifianakis has 17 screws loose.
Waking up in the hotel room not knowing what happened is phenomenal: a nice camera move that follows a disoriented Ed Helms looking around, Galifianakis naked pissing next to a tiger he does not register for ten seconds, a chicken from nowhere, everybody sleeping on the floor and the woman sneaking out; a smart scene that sets up everything.
Brunch with Carlos the baby: Cooper's 'not at the table, Carlos' and the bit where he pretends to jerk off the baby hits one host's funny bone every time, so inappropriate it would never happen now; the hosts like that the baby is named Carlos and seeing him in the Bjorn.
From the Hollywood Reporter oral history: Galifianakis did the bit first with a doll while the shot was set up, Todd Phillips waited for the baby's mom to go upstairs and asked the dad, who answered that his wife would be gone for half an hour and asked them to do it in that window; it belongs in the conversation of all-time inappropriate throwaway laughs alongside Stripes and Caddyshack.
Further nominees: the stun gun scene, Tyson reviewing the security footage, getting the tiger out of the car with Bradley Cooper pretending to hump it from behind while calling it a beautiful majestic animal, the blackjack scene with the calculus floating in front of Galifianakis's face, and the wedding reception with the Dan Band and Ed Helms breaking up with his girlfriend, about ten minutes one host had forgotten the movie still had.
One host goes for the entire police precinct sequence, not just the stun gun but the payphone call, the kid taking a cell phone picture and the phone kicked out of his hands; it is called the funniest thing Rob Riggle has ever done, with 'in the face' recited.
Brian Callen's wedding chapel scene is added as an amendment to how he was treated on the Old School episode: the same character and Greek accent, greeting them as the craziest bastard he ever met, the first clue in putting the puzzle back together, plus the baby goat while he is on the phone pretending to be in Napa; the hosts think he never found the right role and that the Greek grifter should have his own series.
One vote goes to brunch with Carlos the baby together with the Bjorn elevator ride to the brunch, the speaker's favorite part of the movie.
About four weeks ago the speaker and his son were flipping channels when the movie came on during the drive, not as a planned viewing; the son did not see the closing credits, was dying laughing at everything Zach Galifianakis did, and also liked Ken Jeong's character. — Bill Simmons
The nominator planned four nominees for Most Rewatchable Scene and adds the ending as a fifth. — Bill Simmons
One participant rejects the ending as the most rewatchable scene.
Nominee: Edward picking up Vivian on Hollywood Boulevard; the directions negotiation and her driving are essential, though it is ludicrous that he brings a hooker in a Lotus that is not his; LA geography is deferred to nits.
Because Pretty Woman is a classic cable movie usually joined in progress, the opening cocktail party at a well-known LA house had been forgotten.
Nominee: Edward seeing Vivian in the black cocktail dress; the hosts reenact "You're late. You're stunning. You're forgiven." — Bill Simmons
His double take is some of his best acting, and his skill at appreciating her is compared to Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born.
Nominee: the shopping scene, with Edward promising to spend an obscene amount of money and asking for more sucking up.
Nominee: the opera scene, the nominator's wife's favorite, loved for the Pirates of Penzance and "almost peed my pants" joke and her broken-glasses screwball moment.
After throwing in the ending, the nominator picks the shopping scene as the most rewatchable scene, and it is placed in the rom-com pantheon. — Bill Simmons
When Harry Met Sally comparisons: the "I'll have what she's having" deli scene and singing Surrey with the Fringe on Top. — Bill Simmons
Larry Miller as the helpful salesman is praised; every beat of the sucking-up exchange works.
The shopping trope echoes a crying shopping scene in "Romney Michelle's High School Reunion"; the shopping part extends to the confrontation with the boutique saleswomen and walking down Rodeo Drive in his white shirt, one of her best looks.
A special outfit category is announced for later, with the host's wife's controversial take promised. — Bill Simmons
Asked whether this created the shopping montage, Can't Buy Me Love with Patrick Dempsey is offered as a precursor and jokingly the best movie of all time.
My Fair Lady makeover scenes connect to it; the makeover is aspirational if the clothes and makeup are good, and Clueless's makeover is a successor.
A case for the opera scene, while conceding it is not most rewatchable: La Traviata is about a prostitute, and she runs the gamut of emotions in 80 seconds without dialogue. — Bill Simmons
A theory: she became a superstar so fast because her best moments show her glammed up, so people could picture her at the Golden Globes or modeling for Gucci and Louis Vuitton. — Juliet Litman
Cooper’s Eddie Vedder influence; Jackson’s real-world musical analogue; public reaction to the Grammys incident; the absence of celebrity-gossip texture
Jackson is compared to an imagined solo-career Eddie Vedder after leaving Pearl Jam. — Bill Simmons
The Grammys accident is imagined as a huge breaking-news and social-media event. — Amanda Dobbins
The response cycle would move through mockery, addiction ethics, responsibility, sexism, backlash, treatment coverage, and counter-backlash. — Amanda Dobbins
The movie largely avoids magazine covers, gossip sites, and blind-item culture to remain less tied to one era. — Bill Simmons
The opening geography, Jackson’s contemporary arena-level fame, the instant “Shallow” arrangement, unaccounted-for night hours, and the effort to make Sam Elliott a plausible brother
