The segment opens by saying there is an obvious winner but the candidates will be walked through. — Bill Simmons
The opening hotel-bar scene recalls Out of Sight; the whole movie has an Out of Sight vibe with Soderbergh color schemes and a retro jazz-ish soundtrack. — Bill Simmons
The hotel-room shakedown where Will Smith isn't buying it is liked, quoted through the Saudi bachelor party and cancer lines.
Her thief audition on Bourbon Street is short but good; she carries it, and the sequence won one participant over on her, with a Pretty Woman-like sense of an actress blossoming in the part. — Bill Simmons
The pre-Super Bowl bedroom scene, where he explains the Mello nickname and his dad's hammers-and-nails advice, is the needed quiet scene showing why to care about the couple. — Bill Simmons
The Super Bowl scene is called one of the most rewatchable scenes of the last 10 years. — Bill Simmons
The fake teams and uniforms, resembling Seahawks or XFL gear, are indefensible because the Super Bowl rights were not obtained; the sequence runs over 10 minutes. — Bill Simmons
On rewatch you see Smith setting up B.D. Wong's gambler Lee Wan, and Sympathy for the Devil, often misused, works well. — Bill Simmons
First time through it looks like he will blow the money; Jess spots Farhad through binoculars and gets it; B.D. Wong is great and it is a good 10-minute scene despite fake teams. — Bill Simmons
B.D. Wong is having the time of his life off a Law & Order set and is probably overdoing it, flagged for the later overacting award. — Wesley Morris
For a non-gambler the scene seems to head into a dark Leaving Las Vegas turn and reveals you can bet on anything. — Wesley Morris
As a gambling scene it works, like a home-run hat pool at a ballgame; the one flaw, saved for nitpicks, is the terrible odds of the final double-or-nothing bet. — Bill Simmons
Bored rich men betting in a suite is realistic, the reveal of the planted fives is cool, and the clever switch is worrying about Smith instead of the actual gambling addict. — Bill Simmons
Liyuan just loves the action and the story, so losing does not bother him; the high matters more than the stakes. — Bill Simmons
The limo dump with the $80K payoff, held as one shot while she breaks down, is very Soderbergh; why he does it is deferred. — Wesley Morris
In Buenos Aires three years later she flips the con on him over drinks; the music is unnecessary goosing. — Wesley Morris
On rewatch Smith visibly seems turned on in the drinks scene, rated a seven on a scale topped by William Hurt in Body Heat, with The Big Easy also cited. — Wesley Morris
Owens (Gerald McRaney) sniffs around the hotel room while Robbie escapes by the balcony; balcony escapes are always welcome.
The Owens rant is called overwritten screenwriting leaning on McRaney's southern military masculinity. — Wesley Morris
The final candidate is Nikki explaining the con to the bad guys, the shooting and the whole ending. — Bill Simmons
The Super Bowl scene is named most rewatchable 'for me'. — Bill Simmons
Asked 'What do you have?', the reply picks the explanation of the con: the keylogger necklace and two montages letting Robbie then Smith tell their sides. — Wesley Morris
The ending also features Rodrigo Santoro and the beefy security guy; the guy's roughly 90-second pharmacy sequence is praised as a Soderbergh- or Michael Mann-style bit and deferred to aged-best. — Wesley Morris
During filming Hoffman and Cruise called the movie two schmucks in a car and constantly worried it would not work. — Bill Simmons
Principal photography happened during the 1988 Writers Guild strike, so the final scene was apparently winged without writers. — Bill Simmons
The ending is questioned as unsatisfying for a Best Picture winner, since it lacks a sappy payoff where Raymond stays with Charlie. — Sean Fennessey
A sentimental Amtrak scene always lands for someone who spent the 80s riding Amtrak between a mom's house and a dad's house. — Sean Fennessey
Card counting is meant to be the climax that brings the brothers close and saves Charlie's business; the ending is neither victory nor defeat, and its ambiguity is liked. — Chris Ryan
Jokes imagine a modern version with Raymond as a Marvel superhero, a Wallbrook driveway epilogue, or Lenny killing Charlie.
Airline versions deleted the airline-accident scene, except on Qantas. — Bill Simmons
Choosing a flight at the airport and hopping on last minute was possible through the late 90s. — Bill Simmons
The film was written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass; Morrow created Raymond after meeting real-life savant Kim Peek. — Bill Simmons
Hoffman beat Gene Hackman for Best Actor and hugged him; they were playhouse classmates who shared Hackman's apartment on 2nd Avenue and 26th Street, where Hoffman slept on the kitchen floor before moving in with Robert Duvall on West 109th Street. — Bill Simmons
The three as roommates is pitched as a documentary or original series, compared to LeBron, Wade and Carmelo on one AAU team. — Bill Simmons
Asked whose career they would rather have, one voice picks Duvall and Hackman is picked as well; Hackman was the most liked by other actors; Denzel and Will Smith took movies to work with him. — Bill Simmons
Hackman won a second Oscar for a supporting part in Unforgiven, something Hoffman never did. — Bill Simmons
Duvall is picked as the best storyteller of the three, with Godfather and Apocalypse Now stories.
The Replacements is called a top-five Hackman performance, with scenes apparently done in one take. — Bill Simmons
All agree yes; it could be run back and Netflix should do it. — Shea Serrano
Will Smith should be given a boat full of money; the sequel without him made about $350 to $380 million and would have doubled with him. — Shea Serrano
Not everything needs a sequel; this is a perfect standalone movie. — Chris Ryan
The sequel may have been made because someone thought the speech would make a cool trailer. — Shea Serrano
A sequel should be a rom-com love triangle with Pullman, Margaret Colin's character and Goldblum while rebuilding America, directed by Soderbergh and called Infrastructure Week. — Bill Simmons
The Netflix answer is restated as yes. — Bill Simmons
Will Smith: no, it is Men in Black, three for three, though this or Bad Boys is also floated. — Bill Simmons
His peak was not longer because he kept chasing the biggest box office instead of weaving in something different, not only because of Wild Wild West. — Bill Simmons
He passed on Denzel-type roles such as Man on Fire and Django. — Bill Simmons
Will Smith in Man on Fire would be welcome but could not be better than Denzel. — Shea Serrano
Long dumbfounded action-movie stares peak with Jurassic Park rather than this, with Close Encounters also mentioned.
Vivica A. Fox gets a yes, countered by Set It Off where she is the star.
Alien-invasion movies: this over War of the Worlds, whose ship sound is better but whose baseball throw ruined it. — Shea Serrano
Concussed aliens: definitely, though CTE knowledge would put the aliens in protocol now. — Chris Ryan
The film is argued to be the apex of the presidency, before Lewinsky, with Dave in 1993 and The West Wing coming; Whitmore is put up with Obama, Kennedy and Lincoln, with nuking his own city a con and speaking and flying the pros. — Chris Ryan
Computer viruses are a last apex: early in the computer-virus era, the plot point worked. — Bill Simmons
The idea came while Emmerich promoted Stargate: asked about aliens, he imagined waking to a 15-mile-wide spaceship and told Devlin it was their next movie. — Bill Simmons
The U.S. military was originally involved and bowed out, apparently over Area 51. — Bill Simmons
There were 3,000-plus effects shots, with models such as a 10-by-5-foot White House blown up; the White House interior set was reused from The American President and Nixon. — Bill Simmons
In a game naming the six Oscar nominees in the cast, Will Smith and Pullman are named first. — Shea Serrano
Robert Loggia was told to watch Airplane instead of Airport, thought they were secretly making a spoof and refused to leave his trailer. — Bill Simmons
Rebhorn and Judd Hirsch are creative options, but it is Connick: he pretends to kiss Will Smith's ass, does a Reverend Jesse Jackson impression and dies, a loud nine minutes. — Bill Simmons
One other person offered: the alien handling ship intake on the mothership like a regular workday at a cubicle, a favorite character. — Shea Serrano
Kevin Spacey was supposed to be the president, but Fox refused because he was not a big enough star; the part was written for a Bill Pullman type. — Bill Simmons
Relief is expressed that Spacey is not the president in this movie. — Bill Simmons
Ally Walker was supposed to play Margaret Colin's character; Colin jokingly told a casting assistant she was 22, it was written down, and she nearly lost the part. — Bill Simmons
Jada Pinkett was supposed to have the Vivica Fox role but had a Nutty Professor conflict, and ended up with Will Smith anyway. — Bill Simmons
Matthew Perry was reportedly offered Captain Jimmy Wilder and pulled out, though this could not be confirmed; a Chandler version is imagined. — Bill Simmons
The end-of-the-world song was originally supposed to be Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World. — Bill Simmons
There were fewer casting what-ifs than expected because they knew who they wanted. — Bill Simmons
Bad rip-offs; Randy Quaid's real-life weirdness; the sequel without Will Smith; Super Bowl blockbuster ads; the Miguel character; the Quaid kids subplot
Bad Independence Day rip-offs such as Volcano, and its influence on culture has probably not been positive; care is urged because Shea likes these movies, down to Lake Placid and Anaconda. — Bill Simmons
A run of blow-up movies followed, including Godzilla. — Bill Simmons
Independence Day 2 without Will Smith has no acceptable explanation; they recast Pullman's daughter instead of using the original actress and should have waited Smith out after his $50 million ask and conflicts with Suicide Squad and After Earth.
The sequel is compared to a Duncan-era Spurs sequel without Duncan. — Bill Simmons
The movie is blamed for the trend of Super Bowl blockbuster ads, starting with a $1.3 million spot in Super Bowl 30, part of a $30 million campaign with product placement, toys, an Apple deal, strong trailers and an early limited release. — Bill Simmons
Miguel, played by James Duval, is a bad Keanu Reeves rip-off; the Randy Quaid kid material, such as the car-sick scene and the disappearing daughter, would be cut, keeping only the scene where he is mocked. — Bill Simmons
Better Miguels exist, including in Kobra Kai. — Bill Simmons
Area 51 and UFOs; the alien drag; the sky-staring gag; the loaded cast; the 'better be good' official; 1990s effects; Nimziki; the first-to-know character; Goldblum-Smith improv; the title
Margaret Colin's career did not happen the way it should have; she was on Chicago Hope, which lost the medical-drama race to ER, and she is good here and in Unfaithful. — Bill Simmons
The film perfected the aggrieved official who says "this better be good" after being woken up, such as a submarine captain whose job is to solve crises. — Bill Simmons
1990s special effects are listed again. — Chris Ryan
Nimziki is a needed subtle villain for most of the movie, second-guessing Pullman and pushing to nuke Houston, compared to working in fantasy. — Chris Ryan
The character who recognizes the danger before everyone else and has to explain it is a favorite trope; Paul Giamatti in San Andreas is the one time the explanation felt right. — Shea Serrano
Goldblum and Smith are clearly improvising for the second half, which makes the heady spaceship-and-virus plot work. — Chris Ryan
There was only one rewatchable scene in the first 45 minutes because of character development; the reply jokes that the movie was 30 minutes too short and Will's morning routine should have run 40 minutes. — Bill Simmons
The spaceship arriving is listed first, with a complaint that people are never scared enough of a giant ship over their city. — Bill Simmons
Goldblum explaining to the president that the aliens are using the satellites to coordinate is listed next. — Bill Simmons
The welcome wagon being demolished follows; a question is raised about how few Black characters are in the movie, and nobody questions the orders they are given. — Bill Simmons
"Times up": everything starts blowing up, yet Vivica Fox's dog Boomer is sure to survive. — Bill Simmons
The aborted Air Force attack: Will Smith is on fire, Harry Connick Jr. dies, the parachute move, and the "Welcome to Earth" punch; whether aliens can be concussed gets the ruling yes, if Will Smith punches you. — Bill Simmons
Every best scene leans toward Will Smith; seen at 15 or 16 it was the coolest thing ever, a fighter pilot talking trash to the aliens with two one-liners. — Shea Serrano
Dragging the alien across the desert is where Will Smith becomes Will Smith, capped by the "what the hell is that smell" rant. — Shea Serrano
Trae Young is the current NBA star who could pull off the sequence; definitely not Ben Simmons. — Bill Simmons
The Area 51 descent into a secret facility, Adam Baldwin, and opening the alien's head with a slightly Total Recall second alien that is not friendly and the bulletproof-glass moment are listed. — Bill Simmons
The speech is a vote for most rewatchable, quoted through "We will not go quietly into the night" and "Today, we celebrate our Independence Day." — Bill Simmons
The speech had not received final edits and ran longer when filmed, per the account from Pullman; much of the first take is in the movie, and the onlookers' reactions were genuine awe. — Bill Simmons
The only change from the rough draft, per Devlin, was adding "today we celebrate our Independence Day" because the studio was starting to change the title to Doomsday; title plus release date in the movie is called a trifecta. — Bill Simmons
Three more: Will taking off backward with Goldblum and the "oops" exchange, the comeback landing, and the walk back with cigars as the women run to them, with Goldblum tall enough to match Smith; Top Gun did that return best. — Bill Simmons
A side Mount Rushmore of good guys returning to be greeted lands on Armageddon, Independence Day and Top Gun; Captain Phillips is floated for a fourth and rejected.
The pick is the Will Smith sequence, the air fight and desert drag, best watched as a stitched-together YouTube clip; the speech needs its lead-up like the Knives Out reveal, and the first destruction of the White House, Capitol, Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty felt real at 15 or 16. — Shea Serrano
Recognizing the L.A. tunnel where Vivica, Boomer and Dylan hide, the rewatchable scene is still the speech, set up by the president deciding he will fly too; it makes one want to go pick up litter. — Chris Ryan
Emmerich's signature is showing a thing and then exploding it, as in Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012; a joke imagines him wanting to blow up the Phoenix arena during the Clipper-Sun series. — Bill Simmons
