An all-Black remake is favored with Hart as Reuben, Diggs as Claude, Nia Long as Polly, Vivica A.Fox as Lisa, Cedric the Entertainer as Sandy, Ossie Davis as the father and David Alan Grier as Indursky. — Bill Simmons
For an all-Black 2023 cast, Kevin Hart is rejected; Jay Pharoah and Jerrod Carmichael are considered, with Nicole Beharie as a wife option.
A gender-swapped version puts Regina Hall in Clark’s role and Sterling K.Brown in Ellen’s, with Grown-ish performers suggested for the children. — Van Lathan
A Carmichael-led gay-couple version remains acceptable but is considered more difficult.
J.B.Smoove is proposed as Cousin Eddie, drawing on his similar function in Curb Your Enthusiasm. — Van Lathan
The guests dying in rapid succession after the apocalypse begins is proposed. — Bill Simmons
Jonah playing with the gun and the Milky Way argument are proposed. — Bill Simmons
Danny McBride's breakfast entrance is proposed as the point when the film rises to another level. — Bill Simmons
The homemade Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red is proposed. — Bill Simmons
The group's conversation about Emma Watson and her armed departure is proposed, with the scene's sexual-threat humor acknowledged as potentially harder to stage later. — Bill Simmons
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen is proposed for a clearly high-school-aged Anna, then an all-Black remake develops around Sterling K. Brown, Sanaa Lathan, J.B. Smoove, and Tracy Morgan, with Kevin Hart rejected.
Kevin Hart is identified as the obvious commercial Bob choice but rejected because the panel doubts he would disappear into the character. — Van Lathan
J.B. Smoove becomes the preferred Bob because he can charm the family while aggravating Sterling K. Brown’s Leo. — Van Lathan
Kenan Thompson is considered for Leo as an undervalued performer. — Van Lathan
Tracy Morgan is also proposed as Bob and receives strong support.
The remake discussion pivots to an all-Black cast for What About Bob. — Bill Simmons
The opening store scene does a lot, with Seth Rogen's story about a Tijuana show featuring a woman and a horse, which turned out not as cool as it sounds. — Bill Simmons
Paul Rudd accosting Jane Lynch over the Michael McDonald DVD, ending with the 'Yamo burn this place to the ground' line; the speaker's son got bored about 40 minutes in but watched that bit on YouTube over and over.
The same DVD played over and over in the store is very real to anyone who has worked retail. — Bill Simmons
The poker game feels like an SNL sketch; the line about a breast feeling like a bag of sand makes it the speaker's personal favorite scene. — Bill Simmons
The Leslie Mann scene is bonkers, the only unrealistically unhinged scene, but in a good way. — Bill Simmons
The body-waxing scene was like Caddyshack's Baby Ruth scene coming out of the theater.
The hosts say the waxing was done for real with five cameras and an actress as the waxer, so the nipple was not oiled and his right nipple was ravaged; it was really Carell's chest, and they had to keep waxing it for later shirtless scenes. — Bill Simmons
Paul Rudd bringing over a big box of porn and the Boner Jams '03 mix tape, followed by the Everybody Loves Raymond tape; Boner Jams '03 is called the favorite line in the movie.
The speed dating scene is really good, with Mo Collins's character flagged to come up later for the Dion Waiters category. — Bill Simmons
Andy's first date call to Catherine Keener while the others do 'you know how I know you're gay', which has not aged well in some ways but is Rudd and Rogen cooking. — Bill Simmons
The support group scene and Seth with his dad, who berates him about his little Jew fro. — Bill Simmons
The ending, where losing his virginity turns into a musical number with the whole cast, is called a really good choice and credited to Gary Shandling because they couldn't figure out the ending. — Bill Simmons
A special shout-out goes to the extended version of the Kevin Hart and Malco scene, compared to Clemens and Cecil Fielder going toe to toe; the lister agrees and had it in what's aged the best.
Andy following Rogen's character's tips in the bookstore: the just-ask-questions bit, the 'be David Caruso in Jade' advice, then the best line in the movie and the 90-second seduction by Elizabeth Banks. — Sean Fennessey
The David Caruso in Jade reference may have aged best or worst, since producer Craig would not know what Jade was. — Bill Simmons
Formal pick: the poker game, because it is perfectly written. — Bill Simmons
A second voice agrees the poker game is the most iconic now: the chest waxing was, but the bag-of-sand line is the one quoted back. — Sean Fennessey
It fits the movie because the other guys' sex talk makes sex seem gross and foreign, so Andy's choice to stay home with his electronic drum kit seems understandable. — Chris Ryan
The chemistry between De Niro and Grodin has aged best, even though De Niro reportedly did not like Grodin much, stayed in character through take after take, and Grodin, probably playing close to himself, kept trying to annoy him; that kind of two-guy chemistry is rarer than you would think.
There are 119 f-bombs in the movie though it feels like 280, especially in the last call to Eddie; the phone call where Farina has Moron Number One put Moron Number Two on while the other guy shadow-boxes the one on the phone is too short to be a rewatchable scene but slays.
McCarran Airport, the saddest place on earth when everyone is leaving Vegas, has not changed since 1988 and makes you want to shout that Serrano has the discs; Grand Central Market in downtown LA still looks much the same, though you could not take a payphone call from a restaurant there now.
Danny Elfman's score (transcribed once as 'Danny Offen's') is like the Bus Boys from 48 Hours doing a soundtrack, one of the best ever despite some people disliking it: it slows down and kicks back in at the right places and sounds like Steely Dan's backing band vamping before Becker and Fagan (as transcribed) walk on; anyone anti-soundtrack is called a moron.
'Looks like I'm walking' is one of the better last lines of any movie covered, especially since walking out of LAX is no fun; the visit to the daughter is one of the favorite De Niro scenes: awkward, he has nothing to ask her beyond what grade she is in, she offers him money as he leaves and he cannot take it, and then he holds the door of his wife's station wagon so Grodin's coat does not get caught, every beat graded A plus.
The weird sentimental moments may be what has aged best, with several unexpectedly poignant beats including the ending; a tangent on the greatest De Niro scenes names the Godfather 2 killing, moments in Cape Fear, the Goodfellas slow-motion smoking shot at the bar, nearly every scene in Heat including the diner, and many in Deer Hunter and Taxi Driver, while Raging Bull is now a tough, one-and-out watch.
Asked at the end what was said for what aged best, the recap is the poignant moments and Danny Elfman's music; the chemistry, the last line, the unchanged settings and the profanity were raised along the way.
Cube: no, but close; the film is a memento of the best of Cube, who went on to Three Kings, Barbershop and several Kevin Hart movies yet has made no better movie than Friday, so it might be his apex as an actor, though Three Kings has him in a supporting role and this is Cube's movie only in a constitutional sense since it plays as a Chris Tucker vehicle.
Barbershop is defended as low-key really good; Friday is not Cube's commercial or stardom peak but the peak of him balancing the realistic gangster figure and the softer comedy type, the crux and pivot point of every angle of his career, the one movie that holds all his multitudes.
Chris Tucker: the question is whether he is better here than in Rush Hour or The Fifth Element, with the caveat that calling anyone's apex their early twenties is cruel; Rush Hour 2 Tucker is judged better, leading the movie and hamming it up ten degrees higher, with the outtakes credits and the gefilte fish rant as peak, which is allowed.
John Witherspoon is proposed since the others stalled; he has been in a ton of movies, was the dad on The Wayans Brothers and granddad on The Boondocks, but this is still called peak Witherspoon (transcribed 'Pete Witherspoon'), with the bathroom scene, the food scene and the gun speech cited; one voice says it feels comfortable with that while reserving the right to reset later, and nobody objects.
