Was Stanley Tucci's character gay?; Who should have played Adrian Grenier's role?; Was this Meryl Streep's greatest role?; Who else could have played Miranda?
Was Stanley Tucci's character gay? Called unanswerable even after googling; one online claim that he looks at male models an extra second is dismissed.
One panelist cannot remember that character in the book.
Adrian Grenier's role: they should not have gone white male in 2006; John Cho or young Dave Chang are suggested, making a Korean dish instead of mac and cheese.
Was this Streep's greatest role? One says yes; another says Sophie's Choice, and Julia Child is also mentioned.
Nobody else would have made the panel even 70% as happy as Streep; in the spirit of the podcast Candice Bergen is offered, but she was too old in 2006.
Julia Roberts with aged hair is where it could have gone most wrong; Sandra Bullock could do it now or later, with doubts about whether she is mean enough.
Kate Blanchett (as transcribed) and, now, Kate Winslet are also suggested.
Asked whether this is Hathaway's Apex, the first answer is no; Rachel Getting Married, Ocean's 8 (admitted recency bias) and 'intercellar' (as transcribed) are floated.
The correct answer is declared to be that this is her Apex, since she becomes a top star with her whole career ahead; this is accepted, and she gets 'the Dark Night' (as transcribed) because of it.
Emily Blunt's Apex is said to be happening right now, with A Quiet Place leading into Mary Poppins; one panelist is nervous about Mary Poppins.
A tangent debates whether anyone under 40 knows Julie Andrews' Mary Poppins, and one panelist shames musicals.
For Meryl Streep a yes is offered; one panelist recounts fighting with her husband over calling this Streep's greatest performance.
Sophie's Choice is called the iconic example, and Streep is argued to be the best actor ever, male or female.
Her best performance is said to have to be something like Sophie's Choice, though she lacks a Vito Corleone-type mainstream role, with Miranda the closest.
A March 2009 column called her the best actor ever; she is compared to LeBron for durability, and Adaptation and The Hours back to back are praised.
Stanley Tucci: absolutely his Apex, with a joke that his Apex is his cookbook.
Simon Baker is called rough, now making a lot of money on a CBS show as The Mentalist.
A case for Adrian Grenier is first rejected because Entourage was his apex, then accepted because this came during Entourage, putting him on the mountaintop.
Adrian Grenier is called not just a poorly written part but bad in it, like Vince Chase in a bad movie, with no romantic chemistry with Hathaway.
A counterpoint: the character is a classic college boyfriend you are not supposed to believe she cares about, but the missing chemistry still sinks it.
His cook character, with the port wine reductions and a job at Bubbies in Tribeca, is noted, along with his odd availability at night.
A joke suggests crediting him as Vincent Chase, the kind of synergy that would happen in 2018.
The hotshot reporter played by Simon Baker is picked apart: a writer on the side of a bus with no clear beat, never a girlfriend, always available to hit on Andy; one panelist had him for unintentional comedy but still enjoys the fun-bad character.
Media careers are made to look cool on screen; in real life that guy is in the corner of the party tweeting about being at the party.
The soundtrack is called garbage generic top-40, part of a pattern in movies targeted at women including Ocean's 8; paying for Vogue was the great exception.
Movies targeted at women are said to skimp on the DP, soundtrack and lighting; City of Blinding Lights and 'Crazy' are cited, and a defender is swayed that the soundtrack is distinct because it is bad, while the opening song is still called good.
A tangent praises the soundtrack of A Lot Like Love as a lost great movie of the 2000s.
The Grenier concept is seconded; the Rich Summer (as transcribed) appearance and the whole friend group, including the best friend known from the Rent movie, feel like people who would never be together.
The gay friend is never mentioned again, and Andy makes no work friends, explained as the isolating assistant position.
Lily judging Andy and calling her a glamazon at the party is called bad friend behavior.
Andy's hats and the accessories, including jewelry that looks plastic and a Fendi bag Miranda carries early, are not on par with the clothes budget.
