Giamatti is selected because the film made him a viable movie star rather than a supporting actor. — Sean Fennessey
A second explicit Giamatti choice emphasizes the leading career this film enabled.
A stray M.C. Gainey interjection interrupts the Giamatti discussion; it is not treated as an unambiguous final ballot. — Chris Ryan
Payne is the competing winner because Sideways made him a must-see director and gave his filmography an enduring commercial success; earlier acclaim did not guarantee that leap. — Bill Simmons
De Niro is the pick: after Jackie Brown and Meet the Parents he made paycheck movies, doesn't seem fully into this one and scales it back like Gene Hackman's autopilot in The Replacements, though it works.
A disagreement: not a top-20 De Niro performance, but he brings gravity to Carl Van Loon, is better than Paul Giamatti would be, and has an affinity with Cooper while letting him chew the scenery. — Chris Ryan
De Niro could have met Cooper's final threat with a stare and a Heat-style reply; De Niro scales back on autopilot while Pacino gets big.
The biggest aged-worst item is the rating: this should have been rated R, with more violence and sex.
PG-13 is liked as is, because kids walking through the room are no problem and adults still get the drug and sex material. — Shea Serrano
PG-13 suits the TNT, USA and Paramount cable universe with few edits; the TV series was canceled after one season.
Eddie's smart-sounding speeches are rough on inspection: the Portugal salt-cod and Brits lines captivate an audience of nine people, and he sounds like he could have run Germany better than Hitler.
The basketball version of Eddie sounding smart would be saying threes are worth more than twos, or the Process's bottom-out logic.
Abbie Cornish runs pumping her fists; a track coach should have been hired for that scene.
There is not much aged-worst; the disappointing TV show is the one item, despite excitement that Cooper pops up in it. — Shea Serrano
An R version is wanted to see Cooper break an arm; older movies like Jaws are cited as more leniently rated, countered that a shark is a naturally occurring phenomenon, unlike Total Recall's violence.
CBS should have made the show with an older lead, a 62-year-old CEO taking the drug.
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
Steve Buscemi for sure: he could have had the Paul Giamatti part or played the wedding caterer, since there are a lot of small roles for him to pop up in.
Rupert Everett is ruled ineligible because he is in too many scenes, and so is Cameron Diaz; one host picks Carrie Preston, who answers the phone at the end and talks about her sister licking the ice sculpture of the David, and calls her a good CBS sitcom and drama actress now on a CBS show transcribed as 'The Good Way'.
Paul Giamatti's big scene as the hotel bellhop who has a life talk with Julia is the most empathetic he has ever been on screen, really strong, though the hosts now have too much history with him and half expected him to take her to an S&M parlor.
Another host's choice is the three helium kids, a very small amount of screen time but phenomenal; the Carrie Preston voter sticks with Carrie Preston.
The reboot is proposed as a streaming series that could recruit current young basketball players, including an observed Emmanuel Moodye example, for roles.
One participant volunteers to play a token white player imagined as Ricky Roe's son.
Rick Fox's ability to combine basketball, acting, and later television work is treated as a model for current players seeking a second public career.
A younger coach and an AAU subplot are proposed, with Jamie Foxx as a Shaka Smart-type lead. The scenario is compared to Andy Enfield at U.S.C. and to Shaka Smart moving from VCU to Texas and confronting booster pressure as results worsen.
A Duke and Olympic-team coaching model is outlined, and Jack Nicholson is separately joked about as Jerry Colangelo.
A successful Olympic coach who uses those connections in recruiting, hires a previously sanctioned assistant, and has a persistent retirement drama is outlined as another model.
An uncertain observed Koster or Costa candidate is rejected as insufficiently morally compromised. Alec Baldwin and Michael Douglas follow, but Baldwin is rejected because anything he appears in is said to turn into a sketch rather than a credible performance.
Paul Giamatti receives a positive response followed by a joking demand to stop selling him. Tom Hanks is proposed as Pete Bell and judged capable of making it a different movie, with A League of Their Own identified as the comparable prior role.
