Will Smith reportedly declined Trey for Fresh Prince; his fit is praised with a height concern.
Doughboy was written for Ice Cube, studio awareness of NWA is disputed, and the planned group casting became an entourage recast with an EZE shirt joke.
The famous Fresh Prince of Bel-Air father-departure scene is accused of copying a basically similar Growing Pains scene in which young Leo reaches an emotional place.
A participant introduces this as one of his all-time hottest takes. — Sean Fennessey
The famous Fresh Prince scene with Will Smith, the observed Ben Vareen, and Uncle Phil is said to echo a basically similar Growing Pains episode in which young Leo reaches an emotional place. — Bill Simmons
Dreyfuss trying-not-to-cry face perhaps best ever,lip bite/head drop repeated and conducting finale succeeds. — Bill Simmons
Young Terrence Howard likability,charisma,handsomeness raises career do-over and Will Smith-scale potential wish; off-set issues acknowledged. — Bill Simmons
Multi-decade aging,being pushed to care,rock-and-roll alarm,Howard funeral callback,Rowena coaching and credible conducting admired. — Bill Simmons
The two choices are Robert Duvall in James Kahn's coach role, coming off Days of Thunder, or a young Ben Affleck, big and the right age after Dazed and Confused, as Joe Kane. — Bill Simmons
Affleck is the choice for his athletic size and connective tissue to the story. — Kyle Brandt
Duvall is the choice because Khan mails in too many scenes; Kane's age matters less since people age differently. — Ryen Russillo
Damon would have overpowered the movie in 2015; missing this part and another led to The Martian, the best result for everybody. — Bill Simmons
No other casting what-ifs were found; the film seems to have been assembled quickly, and a Will Smith as Marty Baron idea is raised as a question. — Bill Simmons
Will Smith: he needed politics to get into the movie and took second billing to Martin, then went from the safe, non-cursing guy to Independence Day and Men in Black. — Logan Murdock
Martin won the battle, Will won the war: Independence Day was Will's Thriller, and he became the biggest movie star of his generation, though Martin had big films right after. — Van Lathan
Martin Lawrence is debated: one view says yes because of Martin and this hit, while others argue a second life with Life as a possible Apex, before conceding he never had as much juice as coming out of this film.
This was Club Hell's Apex Mountain; it never got better, and it sounds like a club Stefan would make up on SNL. — Bill Simmons
Is it the Apex for Miami movies? Miami is like Gene Hackman, always perfect, so the case is no. — Bill Simmons
A follow-up asks whether mid-90s Porsches are the Apex and answers not the Apex Mountain, then asks whether another hit buddy-cop movie came after; Rush Hour counts. — Bill Simmons
The class is loaded: Joey Pants, Imperioli as Jojo with the 'you're selling tires' exchange, the liquor store guy, and John Salley, whose standing up is a sight gag. — Bill Simmons
Max gets the award: her death hurts every time, and Will Smith is attached to her while juggling many women. — Bill Simmons
Chet the doorman is in the conversation but is not the pick. — Logan Murdock
Pick: Jojo, the Imperioli character, a dopey informant played by a young actor with great things ahead; Chet was hysterical too, but it goes to Jojo. — Van Lathan
The only answer is the captain, who is in about three scenes and kills it every time with the 'you are Mike Lowry... you be you, but not in front of her' routine. — Logan Murdock
The captain is felt to be better in the next movie and a bit muted here, though his Michael Jordan reference is a buzzer-beater and no one but Martin goes at Will like he does. — Logan Murdock
The captain is conceded as the correct answer, yet Max remains a personal pick; an objection says this is the Dion Waiters Award, not a DJ Banga Award, and the reply is about being as upset as Will Smith every time Max dies. — Bill Simmons
After about 20 movies with the award, this is the first zero out of 10 given to a pet. — Bill Simmons
The dog ruins Mike's apartment, barks annoyingly, and chasing the dogs during the shooting almost got everyone killed; Will Smith at least knocks it off the couch.
The hosts say Dana Carvey and Lovitz were first wanted in a film written for them called Bulletproof Hearts; Carvey backed out after a Vegas trip with Simpson, and the project moved from Disney to Columbia. — Bill Simmons
Bay wanted Will Smith, and Arsenio Hall reportedly turned down Mike Lowry and calls it his worst mistake; nobody can picture Arsenio in the opening or the open-shirt run.
Martin Lawrence reportedly told a magazine that Fishburne also turned down Lowry; Fishburne is said to have turned down Jules in Pulp Fiction and Die Hard 3, about seven iconic roles in five years.
Fishburne would have made this a different movie; he was born to play Jules, a cold pill to swallow until Morpheus. — Van Lathan
Younger Will Smith; the music; rival-cop banter; Chet the doorman; Me Against the World; Passenger 57 references; Max; 1994 Porsche 911 Turbo; Miami backdrop; the comedic banter
A point held for this category is raised early: Lethal Weapon 2 has vanished from TV because of Mel Gibson's behavior, which has helped Bad Boys feel fresher.
The Tupac song Me Against the World and the Jordan-retired joke were held for this category because they root the film in early 1995. — Van Lathan
Younger Will Smith, the music, the rival cops busting each other's balls as Running Scared mastered, and Chet the doorman.
A whole point about Me Against the World, plus the Passenger 57 references that pay off later. — Bill Simmons
Maxie, aka Max, has only two movies on IMDb but remains a big-time model; she's delightful and should have been in the movie more. — Bill Simmons
The 1994 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6, the last rear-wheel-drive Porsche Turbo, makes this an iconic car movie; Bay put his rare car at risk on set. — Bill Simmons
Miami as the backdrop is independently named by two participants, along with the banter, such as the 'your mama snorted up all the heroin' joke. — Van Lathan
