The marshmallow mascot, ghost movies, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, New York Public Library scenes, dog transformations, occult architecture, and ghost combat each receive separate apex checks.
Ghostbusters narrowly beats Ghost as the apex ghost movie, with Poltergeist and newer horror franchises also considered.
Ghostbusters is considered Ernie Hudson's best-known role, while Oz is noted as substantial work; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids beats it for Moranis.
The movie is favored as the apex of ghost combat after Ghosts of Mars is raised as an alternative.
Venkman's biased ESP experiment with the two students opens the candidate list and is praised as very funny. — Bill Simmons
The library investigation is praised for exploiting the uneasy quiet and scale of a large library. — Bill Simmons
Dana's groceries, the frying eggs, and the Ghostbusters television commercial are nominated together.
Venkman being slimed during the hotel call leads directly into one participant's favorite: the fame montage set to the theme song. — Bill Simmons
Louis Tully's party is praised for Rick Moranis's improvised financial introductions and detailed comic business.
Possessed Dana's invitation to Venkman is admired partly because he recognizes she is not herself and refuses to exploit her.
The finale is praised for Ray's comic timing when he realizes he imagined the marshmallow figure and for the decision to cross the streams. — Bill Simmons
The jail and mayor sequence, including Venkman's confrontation with Peck, is another finalist. — Chris Ryan
The first hotel call is a personal favorite because the team uses its equipment for the first time and the scene functions like an origin story. — Van Lathan
The group ultimately identifies the fame montage as the most rewatchable scene. — Chris Ryan
Towering Little League pop fly; Martin playing 35; baseball positioning; uninjured car-crash couple; sexual content; Moranis’s classroom song; developed sex photos
Moved up from picking nits: the first baseman explodes into the outfield impossibly fast under a pop fly that hangs for about fifteen seconds. — Bill Simmons
A 32-mile-per-hour pitch and a weak batter could not produce that pop fly, and the first baseman is a slow slugger type rather than a quick first baseman like John Olerud.
The biggest nitpick is that Martin, 44 and looking older, plays a 35-year-old; he is called miscast despite being great.
If Gil is 35 with a nine-year-old, he would be about fifty at the college graduation yet appears elderly with a cane. — Van Lathan
A generational talent gap is suggested between the Hanks-Keaton group and Martin; Dan Aykroyd or Bill Murray might have fit, but the character should have been written older, which would also sharpen the late pregnancy. — Bill Simmons
The team’s best player would pitch or play shortstop rather than first base; Lou’s grievance comes from Gil’s positioning of Kevin, and a manager could simply move the left fielder to second. — Bill Simmons
Gil or his wife should have been hurt in the car accident, although the nature of the crash is unclear.
The film pushes the limits of its rating with a vibrator, pornography, oral sex and sex photographs.
Rick Moranis singing in the classroom is called a least-favorite, overly long scene. — Bill Simmons
Developing sex photographs at a local shop seems implausible; developers reportedly refused to print some photos. — Bill Simmons
By the account attributed to Crystal, Palance was the first choice but had another film; Charles Bronson was contacted and said no because the character dies; Palance then got out of the other movie.
Crystal's story of Bronson on the phone insisting 'I don't die' is great given the movie turns on Curly dying, Palance won the Oscar, and Palance came back as a twin anyway.
Bronson, younger than Palance but in the same Western-hero space, would have been good. — Chris Ryan
Curly should not have died since the movie falls apart after; alternatives like a broken leg are floated, countered that Ganz and Mandel's rules require testing the main character. — Bill Simmons
Rick Moranis was originally cast as Phil but left because his wife became ill with cancer; Stern was added about three weeks before filming, and Moranis left movies for 25 years, returning in a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel said to be called Shrunk. — Bill Simmons
Bruce Willis gets a thumbs up with doubts, and his Look Who's Talking voice work is praised. — Shea Serrano
Tim Allen has said Pixar wanted Jim Carrey for Buzz and Paul Newman for Woody but could not afford them, meant to reflect new Hollywood taking over old; Newman later voiced Doc Hudson in Cars. — Sean Fennessey
The hosts say Ringwald was meant to play Allison but wanted Claire, and Hughes initially resisted because it was close to her Sixteen Candles role; switching would have broken her persona. — Bill Simmons
As the hosts relay Ringwald's account, Hughes wrote Sixteen Candles around her headshot, and their mentor relationship changed after she began dating Anthony Michael Hall during this film. — Bill Simmons
Estevez was originally to be Bender but switched when Hughes couldn't find an Andrew; Tom Cruise was unavailable and is called perfect for it.
Nicolas Cage was considered for Bender and is judged too much.
John Cusack was originally cast as Bender and replaced by Nelson for not being threatening enough; it would be a totally different, more sensitive film.
Rick Moranis was originally cast as the janitor and left over creative differences.
The soundtrack: generic, predictable songs that are perfectly executed and make sense with the plot, not a Dazed and Confused soundtrack but what guys going to Vegas then would be listening to; the music under the blackjack scene with the numbers is smart, and the T.I. song Live Your Life was huge and still is.
A tangent on which songs from this century have joined the wedding mix: Heya (as transcribed) by Outkast, probably the T.I. song, Bruno Mars, Adele, and 1901 by Phoenix heard at 18 weddings, pitched as a Ringer piece.
Todd Phillips' taste for hard rock, the Danzig song at the start and the Metallica in Old School; the Dan Band has also aged well, with future generations asking why they never played the Super Bowl halftime show, and the 'just the tip' setup turning inappropriate fast.
Rachel Harris as the girlfriend from hell is an incredible character, every stereotype put on steroids to make her the worst character of all time; the 'you fucked a waiter on a cruise' bit and Galifianakis's 'what did she say' after Helms walks away are singled out.
The elevator scene with Todd Phillips' cameo; his habit of going down on a woman in his own movies is his version of Hitchcock walking across the frame.
Alan reading the letter on the roof with 'that's why they call it Sin City'; the subtle cut where he is finishing a description of the Ted Danson and Magnum PI movie as they head to Heather Graham's hotel; and the 'it's not illegal, it's frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane' exchange ending in 'thanks a lot, Bin Laden', the hardest one host laughed.
'Alan, you're the man' answered with 'you are too, Phil' shows he has no idea how to be one of the guys; his aping of Phil throughout is well done; the two made-up songs are enjoyed, and Ed Helms' piano song while they wait for the tiger to fall asleep was apparently ad-libbed.
Old-school, last-decade Vegas; every Alan line, especially 'this isn't the real Caesar's Palace, is it? Did Caesar live here?', and the pitch-perfect reaction of the woman at the desk.
How high Alan ranks in the pantheon of comedy characters: the criterion is someone who was not the star but stole the movie, so Frank the Tank, John Candy in Stripes, Bill Murray and Ted Knight in Caddyshack, Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters, Matt Dillon and Chris Elliott in There's Something About Mary, Michael Keaton in Night Shift, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd in Anchorman, McLovin, the Wedding Crashers character as the backfire case and Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids as the perfect example.
Galifianakis belongs in that conversation as the breakout; John Candy in Stripes was like that for a host who knew him only as Ox and never watched SCTV; Galifianakis is named the big winner.
The movie stood up in total for a host without as much of a rewatchable relationship to it; the actual plot of what happened to them is well done, with Jade, Mr. Chow and the roof payoff; the brevity, about an hour thirty-five with no wasted section, makes it the last comedy before the two-hour-ten Apatow era.
The DVD's deleted scenes were anticipated; the end credit sequence has held up as a convention, 'they pretty much invented Marvel right there', though another host had it for what aged worst.
