Dr. Evil as Lorne Michaels; Elizabeth Hurley; Mimi Rogers as her mother; opening credits; musical interstitials; Will Ferrell as Mustafa; steamroller murder; the sequels; five stages of defrosting; head-loss jokes; Basil's mom; character names; the capitalism line
Dr. Evil as Lorne Michaels remains hilarious; every Dr. Evil scene is lights out, from Bigglesworth to the finger to the mouth and the run, an all-time creation.
Elizabeth Hurley is great and still aging well; this is really her only well-known movie besides Bedazzled; casting her as Mimi Rogers' daughter is a home run. — Bill Simmons
The opening credits are praised as unusual for a comedy; a world-famous spy living through Beatlemania is a stupid paradox only noticed on this rewatch. — Bill Simmons
The dance interstitials with close-ups of Austin's teeth are funny. — Bill Simmons
The slow-motion steamroller murder, still ten feet away in the wide shot, is called the funniest thing ever seen. — Bill Simmons
The sequels belong here, since some, including someone who might produce the podcast, find them better than the original. — Bill Simmons
The five stages of defrosting, with cutaways to Michael York and Charles Napier nodding, and the FemBots are cited, though the FemBots' 60s parody may land less in 2022. — Bill Simmons
Beating a dumb joke into the ground works in the five-straight head jokes ('a shame he wasn't more headstrong'), and punching Basil's mom kills. — Bill Simmons
The character names (Basil Exposition, the name heard as 'A lot of vagina', Random Task) and Austin emerging from cryo with the capitalism line are highlights.
The cryogenic unfreezing with Gary Coleman and Vanilla Ice is a home-run four minutes: chest hair, the very long pee, the voice-volume side effect, meeting Vanessa, and the penis enlarger inventory gag. — Bill Simmons
Mustafa's Las Vegas scene, where he keeps saying he was shot and asks for the hatch to be opened, is nominated; he was brought back in the sequel.
The introduction of Dr. Evil's crew with bald Bigglesworth and his plan is a phenomenal four-to-five minute sequence; Will Ferrell slays, arriving from SNL, where he was still new and not yet mainstream.
The evil laughing scene, Austin naked while Vanessa eats a sausage, and the returning Mustafa death scene show Myers pushing a bit past unfunny and back; the evil laughing should be a meme, though there may be concerns about Robert Wagner. — Bill Simmons
The group therapy scene with Carrie Fisher is in the running for the greatest four minutes of 90s comedy and is one pick for most rewatchable; the Dr. Evil childhood speech is played in full.
The evil petting zoo line and the dynamic between Dr. Evil and his son are favorites, and the sequel leans into it more.
The dinner-party exchange questioning why Dr. Evil doesn't just shoot Austin, the reportedly improvised shushing scene, 'liquid hot magma' and the honeymoon ending are also cited.
Other nominations: the Electric Psychedelic Pussycat Swingers Club with Mimi Rogers, the airplane seduction with Austin spinning around, and Tom Arnold's 'showed that turd who's boss' moment.
All agree on the group therapy scene; one is partial to Austin waking up with the long pee and the penis enlarger and calls the two tied.
Whitney and Costner at their peaks; bodyguard-romance premise; soundtrack; Dolly Parton connection; resentful-sister concept; 'permanent position' quote; widescreen; Costner's haircut; a cappella opening; song-swap story; Costner's eulogy; Secret Service guys
Whitney in her late prime and Costner at his peak head the list. — Van Lathan
Professional bodyguard romances are loved, including Ridley Scott's late-80s Someone to Watch Over Me with Mimi Rogers, which has a similar premise. — Bill Simmons
A British terrorism series possibly called Bodyguard, with a Game of Thrones actor named Richard is liked. — Bill Simmons
Protectors crossing lines are compelling because the job is so intimate: a rigid, disciplined guy whose gooey center someone reaches. — Van Lathan
The Sentinel with Michael Douglas as a framed Secret Service agent is recommended as a rewatchable mid-2000s entry. — Bill Simmons
The soundtrack is loaded and called the best of all time; I Will Always Love You was a Dolly Parton song that finally found the right voice. — Bill Simmons
One participant learned only about four years earlier, from a Dolly Parton fan at TMZ, that the song was a cover, at 37 years old. — Van Lathan
The original singer owned and loved the cover, pulled over the first time she heard it, and showed no bitterness. — Bill Simmons
The resentful older sister-assistant concept is an untapped idea for movies and TV. — Bill Simmons
A favorite quote: "I'm no good in a permanent position, Monty, my feet go to sleep." — Bill Simmons
The widescreen framing was hard to follow on square TVs for 15 years and now plays better. — Bill Simmons
Costner's crew-cut, Steve McQueen-style hair became a thing that Clooney took further on ER and Jake tried on Melrose Place, sparking a Grant Show tangent. — Bill Simmons
Costner's idea to open I Will Always Love You a cappella was great. — Bill Simmons
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted was meant to be the cover until Fried Green Tomatoes used it to end that film in 1991. — Bill Simmons
A piece of Costner's eulogy is read: Whitney lacked confidence during filming, sang the whole song without a band, and was the only one who could have played Rachel at that time.
Costner's feelings for Houston deserve their own discussion; a Grantland party anecdote says Costner, brought by Kimmel five or six years earlier, still had it. — Bill Simmons
Secret Service guys have aged well: The Last Boy Scout is defended, later entries include the Channing Tatum White House movie and the Fallen films, and Ving Rhames in Dave is a shared favorite. — Van Lathan
The actress playing Rianne has eight IMDb credits, four of them Lethal Weapon; she married and had kids; she is seen as a good actress but too old for the part. — Bill Simmons
Runtime; reporter girlfriend subplot; Meg Ryan as Pam; Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama; Wayne's World 2 parody; wigs; desert special effects; Doors missing Woodstock; easy fact-checking; the film's potential audience today
The movie is 25 minutes too long; the reporter girlfriend could be cut to a minute like Mimi Rogers' photographer, and the timeline of Jim's girlfriends and the Wiccan subplot, later negated by "I was stoned," is superfluous.
Teased as the all-time aged worst: Meg Ryan as Pam was horribly miscast, like Meg Ryan in a wig in a different movie; Stone later disowned the casting. — Bill Simmons
A reply calls it a thankless part as Stone conceived it, criticized by people around the Doors, though she does seem to be in another movie.
A different view: she is not that bad, seems to impersonate Nicole Kidman on the roof (Kidman would have been better), and is funny at Thanksgiving; the role was central partly because her family contributed. — Chuck Klosterman
There was controversy over nude scenes Stone required of whoever took the part; it ended up halfway. — Chuck Klosterman
Kevin Dillon reads as Johnny Drama; Entourage should have made the Doors drummer Drama's best role. — Bill Simmons
Wayne's World 2 parodied the Native American material, which a son did not understand. — Bill Simmons
The wigs are terrible on everyone except Morrison, with Ed Sullivan even joking about hair. — Bill Simmons
The desert drug special effects are dated, and the witch reporter girlfriend is noted again. — Bill Simmons
The film is a reminder the Doors were not invited to Woodstock, a giant miss where they might have stolen the show or been the worst band. — Bill Simmons
It would be hard to be the worst band there, but drunk Jim could have; by 1968-69 the Doors were moving into something darker than the hippie movement. — Chuck Klosterman
The office scene where everyone tells Jim they were not invited to Woodstock is another expository gem. — Chris Ryan
Allegations about Stone's casting process surfaced during Me Too in 2017, with Malora Hardin (as spoken), Melissa Gilbert and an actress named Caitlin O'Haney (as spoken) (who broke a non-disclosure agreement) speaking out; listeners are pointed to research it themselves. — Bill Simmons
What has not aged well: a biopic today is easily fact-checked, unlike 1991, which would have hurt Stone; critics would dwell on invented scenes rather than, as in Ebert's review, a self-destructive man. — Chuck Klosterman
Offered hesitantly: the potential audience has aged worse, as a new viewer feels an obligation to have the film declare Morrison a bad person, whereas in 1991 that was not a conversation. — Chuck Klosterman
Counter: it was assumed then that the character was a sociopath; one view says that is why movies are less interesting now. — Chuck Klosterman
The hosts say that during filming Cruise was with Mimi Rogers, who was getting him into Scientology, and call this the movie that officially made him a Scientologist. — Bill Simmons
The hosts estimate the brandy bottle from the $500 bet at about $3,600 in 2020. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say plastic bottles were apparently given to Cruise because things kept breaking. — Bill Simmons
The hosts say the trailer shows part of an extended, darker final yacht meeting that has Doug claiming a move on Jordan; it was cut, which may explain Brian's revenge with Kelly Lynch. — Bill Simmons
Nominees are Snoop Dogg in a wheelchair, Eva Mendes in a rookie performance and Tom Berenger, with Smiley and Bone added as the other two heat check performances.
Tom Berenger looks exactly like this host's father, which is disorienting, so Berenger from Training Day to Inception is like watching that father in a movie; Berenger also plays a narcotics cop here, which the father is. — Sean Fennessey
Berenger was a massive star for about six years after The Big Chill and Platoon, shows up as the Marine recruiting Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July, and Someone to Watch Over Me, with Mimi Rogers, is slated for year seven of the show.
Scott Glenn is ruled out as a Dion Waiters candidate because he is coming up in a different category and one host is not allowed to talk about him yet, though when asked for a heat check a voice still answers Scott Glenn.
Snoop, by all accounts, should have been bad and Snoop in a wheelchair should have been one of the biggest movie disasters, but his crack-corner lines are recited admiringly as really good Snoop stuff; a nomination for Harris Ewan (as transcribed) is held for another new category.
Bone was played by Klee Shahid Sloan (as transcribed), an activist and documentary director who worked to reform gang culture from inside the Athens Park Bloods, part of how much Fuqua worked within L.A. gang culture to make the movie authentic.
One host gives it to Cliff Curtis for Smiley, now on Fear the Walking Dead and great in Danny Boyle's Sunshine: Smiley did not have to be so interesting, making you feel it will be okay with menace underneath and the tattoos; another concedes Smiley is great but gives it to Snoop Dogg because it was so unexpected.
