Post-COVID improvement is proposed as a mild take; the stronger choice places this performance above King Richard, with Six Degrees as a rival. — Van Lathan
The contemporary Oscar field is reviewed, with the There Will Be Blood performance treated as unbeatable.
Taggart and Rosewood are named first, with a wish that Beverly Hills Cop movies had kept coming every two years, seven in all, to add more of them. — Bill Simmons
Brigitte Nielsen is raised next, and this is judged the best part she ever had, better than her earlier Schwarzenegger film and definitely better than Cobra. — Bill Simmons
An opening song thematically drawn from the movie is praised as something no longer done. — Chris Ryan
Shakedown was reportedly meant for Glenn Frey until his voice gave out, so Bob Seger sang it; Harold Faltermeyer’s score is compared to 48 Hours, Escape from New York, Miami Vice, and Fletch. — Bill Simmons
Shakedown is called Bob Seger’s only number-one hit, a late peak after Springsteen pulled ahead of him around 1981. — Bill Simmons
George Michael’s I Want Your Sex is called an amazing ‘80s song used perfectly. — Bill Simmons
A scene at the villains’ apartment revealing their strange relationship is wished for, and the debt-driven alphabet scheme is called too cute by half. — Bill Simmons
Simpson and Bruckheimer have aged best; Simpson reportedly had Paramount pull writer Larry Ferguson off The Presidio to work on this film. — Bill Simmons
A deleted gun-club scene where Axel, Rosewood, and Taggart sneak past lasers should have been kept. — Bill Simmons
It was reportedly the first movie filmed at the Playboy Mansion after Hugh Hefner had long refused. — Bill Simmons
The Alphabet Crimes concept could be a Fincher-style limited Netflix series with one letter per episode; the crimes ran through the jewelry store, Bogomil, City Deposit, and the racetrack, and should have reached J. — Bill Simmons
Paul Reiser appears to be reading a Playboy’s Sisters magazine in several scenes, possibly a payoff for mansion access. — Chris Ryan
Another vote goes to Cruise, who would have learned skills like flying a helicopter or winning at race-car driving; no one loses.
An amendment requires putting Cooper into the swapped star's movie: take 2004 Will Smith after Bad Boys 2 and swap out I, Robot for Cooper.
Cooper as Mike Lowrey in Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence is offered as the obvious swap; Cooper in The Firm is another, and Cruise didn't make enough Limitless-type movies, unlike Keanu.
With cops coming, the oven is questioned as the best hiding place and called underrated for money, drugs or guns.
A childhood memory recalls an aunt who hid drugs in the microwave; anything oven-related is endorsed.
An old-fashioned air-conditioner vent, as in No Country, is always great. — Chris Ryan
The alternative is to take all the NZT and make yourself police commissioner.
Asked which actor signed on in 2008 and dropped out, the guess is Will Smith, who would have been so good. — Shea Serrano
The guess is rejected: it is not Will Smith, though a good guess.
The answer, as transcribed, is Shia LeBuff. — Chris Ryan
LaBeouf was getting good parts around Disturbia and Eagle Eye, but the movie doesn't work with him because his face is too kiddish, like a child in a suit after Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
The necklace is floated and dismissed ('That necklace sucks'); one participant has no answer, and Will Smith's collared shirts are raised as a question. — Bill Simmons
A car is wanted, and the suitcase of cash is affirmed ('Yes, thank you'). — Bill Simmons
An aside objects that great acting now means playing real people, as with I, Tonya, the Roger Ailes film and Richard Williams, suggesting a best adapted performance Oscar; Meryl Streep as Thatcher and Saturday Live celebrity impressions are cited. — Wesley Morris
Brad Pitt's original character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is more interesting; Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is floated as Robbie's Apex 'right now', immediately qualified that it doesn't feel like it has happened yet. — Bill Simmons
New Orleans movies: no. B.D. Wong: no, despite Law & Order and And the Band Played On. — Bill Simmons
Super Bowl movie scenes: definitely not. Gambling scenes: up there, in the conversation, alongside The Sting and Maverick. — Bill Simmons
Maverick is called a caper movie; a Maverick anniversary piece was written as a special request, and it tapped a rarely seen Jody Foster. — Wesley Morris
The film was originally to star Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, two people mentioned earlier in the episode whom the filmmakers would want to reunite; they dropped out, possibly toward La La Land. — Bill Simmons
Doing this and La La Land back to back would have made them a Tracy-Hepburn pairing, prompting a tangent on audiences recognizing pre-1970 references. — Wesley Morris
Stewart is praised as a subtle sexual actor, citing an extremely erotic film with Julieta Benoche, versus Robbie's externalized style; Smith and Stewart are predicted best actor and actress winners this year. — Wesley Morris
Per the internet research, Affleck dropped out over scheduling, Will Smith signed, then Stewart dropped out; whether she left over scheduling is unknown, assumed busy. — Bill Simmons
Smith-Robbie chemistry; music choices; title said in the movie; Will Smith's collared shirts; pharmacy car-crash sequence; non-lethal staged shooting; thief lessons
Most of the music choices are liked, including the opening song, Iggy Pop's Gimme Danger and a White Bird song. — Bill Simmons
The title is said in the movie ('this is a game ... of focus'), which always wins a heart. — Bill Simmons
Will Smith's clothes, especially checkered collared shirts, are elite, though the decade they aim for is hard to place. — Wesley Morris
Smith's S curl hair is a sticking point: sometimes it looks fantastic, sometimes terrible. — Wesley Morris
The hair may be meant to make McRaney plausibly his biological father; the film says he is 'basically my father' and leaves the biology ambiguous. — Wesley Morris
A three-years-later dateline graphic is welcomed by one side, while the other asks why a caper needs a dateline, unlike Siriana or a Bourne movie; the location is corrected from Buenos Aires to New Orleans. — Wesley Morris
The bad guy buying products at the pharmacy for the car accident is a really good sequence. — Wesley Morris
The deliberate non-lethal shooting, aimed between ribs, is hard to pull off but works here, called the best one ever seen. — Bill Simmons
Thief lessons are liked: give stolen cards back within an hour, married guys make the best marks, sell everything, take no chances. — Bill Simmons
A never-pickpocketed participant doubts anyone could take his watch and calls her stealing the Piage watch at the end impossible; the cuts on every move and one visible wrist-wiggle suggest liberties. — Wesley Morris
