The opening bank robbery, 1990s Detroit with the Cronk Jim and Emmanuel Stewart, and the color changes have aged well. — Bill Simmons
Clooney's strategy of robbing banks without a gun is admired. — Bill Simmons
The Dennis Farina and Lopez scenes: as her father he adds color without cliche, is too important for the Joey Pants award, and immediately knew she was into the guy. — Bill Simmons
Great nicknames: Dick the Ripper for Albert Brooks's character and Snoopy the boxer, who hates the name. — Bill Simmons
Catherine Caner is great in a couple of scenes, part of a 1998-99 run of Out of Sight, Your Friends and Neighbors, 8mm and Being John Malkovich. — Bill Simmons
Ving Rhames's 93-98 run (Dave, Pulp Fiction, ER, Kiss of Death, Mission Impossible, Rosewood, Conair, Out of Sight) is called automatic and compared to Ray Allen; his later commercial voice work now takes one speaker out of some line readings.
Rhames can be really scary yet also Clooney's believable loyal best friend. — Bill Simmons
A speaker's father repeated the 'get medieval' line for about a year. — Ryen Russillo
The DJ David Holmes score is really good. — Bill Simmons
Clooney's line asking whether anyone has done one last big score and gone on to live the good life holds up; only Fast and Furious pulled that off. — Bill Simmons
Agreeing on the last-score line: even on the big score the crew is dumb, one robbing steaks and White Boy Bob tripping and shooting himself; Cheddar Bob is joked to be his younger brother. — Bill Lawrence
The trunk scene is introduced as the candidate that is going to win. — Bill Simmons
Snoopy's prison shakedown of Albert Brooks's Ripley, ending with the goldfish killing, is praised as an amazing four-minute scene with a beginning, middle and end. — Bill Simmons
The ending is loved for being so mean: Clooney's character gives Ripley a prison education in being a mark, and the price rises from two grand to three. — Ryen Russillo
Killing the fish is a signpost that the character is truly bad, like Dennis Freena threatening Charles Groden in Midnight Run, and it gives the movie jeopardy. — Bill Lawrence
The earlier kidney shank after a thrown fight felt like 'just prison'; only the goldfish made him the bad guy. — Bill Simmons
Albert Brooks plays the shakedown like a pawn-shop haggle, and the Bauschen Lom mispronunciation is great comedy.
Michael Keaton's one scene is a candidate that won't win; Tarantino allowed his Jackie Brown character in the movie as a crossover, and Lopez wears a Marino jersey. — Bill Simmons
A speaker who puts actors from earlier shows on the next one recalls a Cougar Town and Community crossover with Danny Poody working as an extra. — Bill Lawrence
Keaton reportedly took no money and liked that viewers might see the character as a real cop; Tarantino had to clear the cameo across two studios. — Bill Lawrence
Keaton's uncomfortable laugh when Dennis Farina confronts him only lands if you have seen Jackie Brown; it may be the only movie with two Batmen. — Bill Lawrence
Asked for a favorite crossover, the answer recalls a Facts of Life and Different Strokes connection. — Ryen Russillo
The favorite crossover offered is Coolidge from The White Shadow appearing as a janitor on St. Elsewhere and greeting Salami in an elevator. — Bill Simmons
Next candidate: the hotel bar scene, which cuts between the sex scene and its foreplay like Don't Look Now and ends with Clooney's "what if" speech, called as good as an actor's monologue gets. — Bill Simmons
Detroit glows in the background, and the uninteresting guys from New York City who hit on her set up Clooney as the hero. — Ryen Russillo
Parts come straight from the book; the lines are not written to show off, and the stranger-connection idea is relatable because people just keep walking. — Ryen Russillo
The scene is not awkward or uncomfortable, and on rewatch there is nothing in it that could not be shown in a PG movie, yet it is still one of the sexiest love scenes. — Ryen Russillo
Free-pass anecdote: the speaker's wife, Krista, named George Clooney as her free pass and was later found sitting beside him on the Warner Brothers lot, where the Drew Carey and ER stages were next to each other; she still finds this scene sexy. — Bill Lawrence
Bottle Rocket's hotel scene under the sheet is named a favorite sex scene for its restraint; a Requiem for a Dream answer is a joke. — Ryen Russillo
The aftermath, where Lopez's character walks out angry at Clooney out of shame, plays like an actual couple. — Bill Lawrence
The trunk is the famous scene, but the hotel bar chemistry between the two actors is rare. — Bill Simmons
Candidate: the ending at Albert Brooks's house with double staircases, White Boy Bob accidentally killing himself and Lopez debating whether to shoot Clooney, a very 90s 15-minute stretch. — Bill Simmons
Candidate: the Sam Jackson cameo and the realization of why she put them in the car together. — Bill Simmons
The trunk scene was shot 45 times but none of those takes were used because a test audience disliked one long take, so it was reshot. — Bill Simmons
One speaker thinks the hotel bar scene is better while the trunk is more important for its uniqueness, and personally goes with the hotel bar scene.
The trunk sets up the hotel bar by forcing a conversation that would never happen otherwise, so it is probably more important; the changing distance between the actors in the hotel bar shots is questioned as a trick or bad editing. — Ryen Russillo
Asked 'Bill, trunk or hotel bar?', the reply goes trunk, starting from Clooney emerging from the escape hole and the chaotic shootout seen from Lopez's point of view. — Bill Lawrence
The Three Days of the Condor exchange in the trunk becomes clever on rewatch, since she doubts a quick romance and then does it herself. — Bill Lawrence
Clooney's character misquotes Network, and she is annoyed but doesn't call it out because they just met. — Bill Simmons
Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars and wrote that Clooney has never been better, that handsome young actors need miles before the full flavor emerges, and that Clooney at last looks like a big screen star. — Bill Simmons
Peterson is picked for In the Line of Fire and for set pieces and structure that rise above the accents and sappiness, despite the unnecessary Coast Guard time. — Chris Ryan
The second pick rejects Peterson over the missing 91 Red Sox footage and Diane Lane's accent, choosing Wahlberg as the best character and performance, going toe to toe with Clooney and launching the next 20 years. — Bill Simmons
John Hawks picking the bitter, chain-smoking woman at the crow's nest is inexplicable, especially her appearance at the funeral after one bar conversation. — Bill Simmons
Clooney's plan to drive through the storm is likened to Mike D'Antoony in a playoff series and later to a late-period Philly coach; the hosts say that in the movie, the captains on both boats are basically dooming them. — Bill Simmons
The Coast Guard plot with Cherry Jones, Bob Gutten and Karen Allen has no setup and pulls away from the boat; it is called the biggest flaw, as if from a version about the whole storm. — Chris Ryan
The first 45 minutes invest in the Andrea Gale crew, so the shift to the rescue story is surprising; the movie is about the six guys on the boat, not the Coast Guard. — Chris Ryan
The film is thought to be set in 1991, but no Red Sox, Clemens or a Patriots preseason game appears on the bar televisions, which bothers a Massachusetts viewer. — Bill Simmons
Animatronic fish; the real Linda Greenlaw; the families' lawsuit; discrepancies with the real events; Beau Goldman writing credit; Clooney's practical jokes
The research says none of the fish were real; they were rubber or animatronic, and no fish were harmed. — Bill Simmons
The research says the real Linda Greenlaw, Mastrantonio's character, turned to swordfishing in 2008 as part of a Discovery Channel series. — Bill Simmons
The research says family members of Billy Tyne and Dale Murphy did not like the movie and sued Time Warner in 2000, and the case did not go anywhere. — Bill Simmons
The discrepancies cited are that Linda never placed a distress call and that there was no romance between the Clooney and Mastrantonio characters. — Chris Ryan
The hosts suggest the Tyne family objected because, as they describe it, the boat was already heading back when the storm hit, and they say Greenlaw did not see it as arrogance; they note that version is less dramatic. — Chris Ryan
A triumphant score contrasts with an on-screen Billy Tyne portrayed as a captain driven to oblivion. — Chris Ryan
The research says Beau Goldman received an on-screen co-writing credit. — Chris Ryan
The research says Clooney played practical jokes on set that Hawks, Wahlberg and Diane Lane called funny without specifics; water movies are said to be miserable to film. — Bill Simmons
The segment says Ben Affleck was originally sought to play Wahlberg's character and said no, and Nick Cage signed on but backed out because of other commitments. — Bill Simmons
Cage is suggested as a good Billy or a Captain Ahab, or as the old guy at the bar. — Bill Simmons
Ironside's accent is rough; a real Massachusetts actor, or even someone making no accent attempt, would have been better, with Dickie Barrett suggested. — Bill Simmons
Clooney's accent comes and goes and then disappears, and he never coordinated with Mastrantonio, while Walberg and John Hawks are committed to theirs. — Bill Simmons
John C. Riley's son is a pet peeve: the dad talks about how much the kid means, and the kid just stares blankly; a counterpoint says an eight-year-old would be intimidated. — Bill Simmons
Diane Lane's accent is called legendary and usually the first mentioned in worst-Boston-accent conversations, alongside Kevin Koster in 13 Days and Jeff Bridges in Blown Away. — Bill Simmons
Diane Lane is loved, but she is called too beautiful for the role, and nobody in Massachusetts ever acted like that. — Bill Simmons
A joke notes that both of these characters are named Chris, prompting a riff on Chrises from Massachusetts. — Chris Ryan
The character lacks a real flaw beyond hating when her boyfriend goes fishing, which makes Bobby leaving hard to believe. — Chris Ryan
The attempt is admired because the Boston accent is half attitude, but nothing about it feels authentic. — Bill Simmons
Her lines read like Hallmark speeches, such as the curtains and pillows from J.C. Pennies, and she is compared to the wet-blanket girlfriend from a sports movie. — Bill Simmons
The crow's nest scene where Clooney tells the crew they are going back out introduces Diane Lane and many characters. — Bill Simmons
The crow's nest bar is called the happiest bar ever on the North Shore; a real North Shore bar would be quiet, with Red Sox games on, smoking and drinking, a sign the director was not from there. — Bill Simmons
Clooney's speech to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's Linda is another pick; he delivers it with no Boston accent, and the dialect coach is called one of the big losers of the movie. — Bill Simmons
The walkthrough also picks Wahlberg and Clooney together as the boat sets sail, Fickner saving Riley after he goes overboard, Clooney driving through the storm and blowtorching the anchor off, and Wahlberg saving John Hawks. — Bill Simmons
The boat flipping through a wave and the sun coming out, with Clooney saying they made it, is praised as heartbreaking because it is a false reprieve. — Chris Ryan
The most rewatchable scene is when the wave actually crushes them. — Bill Simmons
It is called the best scene in the movie, with a question whether "rewatchable" fits something so dark. — Chris Ryan
A first viewing without knowing the real story made the sun going back behind the clouds devastating; in 2000 the ending could still be kept secret. — Bill Simmons
The last hour is called really strong, though much of the Coast Guard material is not liked. — Chris Ryan
Pitt seems miserable at this time, his life heavily scrutinized around Troy and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and one can argue Ocean's 12 is his Apex Mountain. — Chris Ryan
Arsenal FC is nominated, with Liverpool fandom ribbing and speculation that the film helped Americans discover the club. — Chris Ryan
Amsterdam is jokingly nominated, prompting a spat about its history.
Lake Como is offered since the film popularized it in the American consciousness alongside Clooney's house there, followed by gossip about Clooney's dating life.
For a certain kind of silk shirt it is Apex Mountain; Pitt's outfits are art, but no one else should dress like him, and Ocean's 12 is not a heist manual.
No nominees; this is a takeoff point for Damon, whose apex is cutting Franca Potenta's hair in the first Born movie. — Amanda Dobbins
The pick is settled: 'Apex Mountain Brad Pitt. Let's just say that.' — Chris Ryan
