Don Cavendish and Tobias Menzies are additional heat-check candidates, though the latter may have too much screen time and an unnecessary villain subplot. — Chris Ryan
The sports-season structure ages well, especially the chaotic 2008 Eagles season, playoff contingencies and DeSean Jackson’s premature celebration as a metaphor for self-sabotage.
The Sweet Forever is another example of using a sports season as narrative backdrop, with its crime story following Len Bias’s final Maryland season. — Chris Ryan
Philadelphia sports anguish remains current, and the film’s blind optimism is jokingly compared with the Eagles’ current coaching mindset. — Andy Greenwald
Lawrence and Cooper’s raw performances before their stardom solidified age especially well; Lawrence’s later choices are contrasted with this breakout energy.
The Halloween-to-Christmas setting makes this an unexpectedly strong holiday movie, with seasonal weather and decorations contributing. — Chris Ryan
Standalone iPods and casually exploring a friend’s music collection feel appealingly quaint.
The strong 2012 film year is raised, including Flight, Argo, The Master, Django and Lincoln.
Reading and talking about the Eagles as father-son connection ages well; the panel recalls sports-page etiquette and receiving box scores in summer-camp mail.
The question of what the family watches leads to joking memories of arguments over newspaper film reviews.
Shea Whigham’s brother Jake ages well: his tearful attempt to connect through insensitive comparisons and loyalty at the game; tax or real-estate law is conjectured from his advice to his father. — Chris Ryan
The neighbor filming Pat’s breakdown anticipates everyday recording of disturbances, though the subplot lacks closure; the crowded neighborhood’s instant awareness feels lived-in.
The list: Bo Dietl, Ethan Supley (as transcribed), Stephanie Kurtzuba as Kimmy Belzer, Christine Ebersole as Leah Belfort with little screen time, Kenneth Choi as Chester Ming, who is great, PJ Byrne as Rugrat, Shea Wiggum (as transcribed) as the captain, Aya Cash as Janet, close to being known but still in contention, Thomas Middleditch as the Stratton broker with the fishbowl, Fran Leibovitz (as transcribed) as the judge, the real Jordan Belfort introducing Jordan Belfort, and Stephen Kunkin (as transcribed), Ari from Billions, as the man under Mark Hanna.
Belfort had a weird time with his cameo: unique energy, like someone off the street trying to act or an emcee at a bad comedy club, while Leo is weird with the pen; maybe all the drugs changed his brain chemistry or he was just nervous with Marty, Leo and possibly Spielberg; it is choppy and takes you out of it at the end, though he acted every day of his life for his telephone terrorists.
Selections: one host goes Middleditch, from the very beginning of Silicon Valley; another was going to go Belfort, a pick retracted shortly after, and adds that Ethan Supley (as transcribed) is doing good work.
A Kevin Smith tangent: not a big Kevin Smith guy, liked Clerks and Mallrats but Dogma bummed him out, which gets him thrown off the Dogma rewatchables.
The Joey Pants award is clarified as more of a list of people who wound up in lots of other stuff, so the Belfort pick, a man in nothing else, is conceded as wrong and withdrawn; still, the guy in the back is Belfort, who has spent ten years getting rich training salespeople, prompting a life-coaching joke.
Possibly the hardest one ever done, ranked least to greatest: Bo Dietl as Bo Dietl, with an 'are you fucking high' impression; he was a recurring in-studio character on a New York radio show, New York's top cop turned PI turned conservative pundit praising Rudy, an object of obsession for Scorsese and Spike Lee as a New York institution, like Curtis Sola (as transcribed) commenting on crime; a New York One regular; he is good in it and has a prominent mob-boss role in The Irishman.
Kristen Milioti (as transcribed) as the first wife may be the most likable and only innocent character; Jake Hoffman as Steve Madden is a purposeful cold check, like Mikhail Bridges (as transcribed); Shea Wiggum (as transcribed) as Captain Ted Beecham making a little chop; Joanna Lumley as Aunt Emma, with nobody admitting to being an AbFab guy.
Rob Reiner as Max Belfort is amazing: the Equalizer phone tirade, the weird British accent he affects as soon as he answers, and the seemingly improvised 'sides cure cancer' exchange with Jonah while explaining marriage to his son.
Jon Bernthal as Brad, the Quaalude King of Bayside, has not been discussed enough: the diner performance, asking for the ketchup, 'tell your sister I was asking about her'; visually incongruous with these guys, he is the one animal every crew of normal guys had, the one with the Adderall; a guy still in his hometown asking younger dudes to hang out is a red flag, yet Belfort likes him most as the guy who gets it; a human wrecking ball who is a classically trained, thoughtful actor kept getting cast as violent meatheads after The Walking Dead and The Punisher, and is now a jacked Lee Ayacocca (as transcribed) in Ford versus Fari (as transcribed).
A tangent on Craig Kilbourne (as transcribed): his 'old man Ferrari' Instagram videos, made with his old writing crew, are ten times funnier than expected, awaited like Christmas morning, and he is floated as the new Robert Evans.
Spike Jonze as Dwayne the investment center leader, blotchy skin, bad shirt, uneven mustache; Spike Jonze is only ever great in movies, Three Kings, Moneyball and this; a host's wife found him cute, prompting a re-evaluation.
Jean Dujardin as Jean-Jacques Sorrel is doing a lot; for anyone not alive in 2013, he starred in The Artist, which won best picture and won him best actor during the Benigni run of handing Europeans best actor, compared to the late-nineties NBA draft and Jan Vesely; a host has still not watched or returned the DVD; he is in a different movie and takes one host's overacting award.
Number one is McConaughey with one scene; the only other name to throw in is PJ Byrne as Rugrat, who is in much of the movie but whom one host did not like, preferring Cuthbert and Sea Otter, who sold meat and weed; those guys go in the That Guy award.
