The heroic billionaire reflects an earlier aspirational view of wealth; a contemporary audience might instead root for the bear against a Bezos-like figure. — Van Lathan
Baldwin’s rambling, oddly mild delivery after the deadfall injury is criticized as a strange performance choice. — Van Lathan
Baldwin seems too gruff to be a fashion photographer; chief of staff is suggested instead, although his bullying could fit the profession. — Bill Simmons
Bob’s objectification of the Native man and disbelief that the cabin owner took the photograph are criticized as revealing his arrogance. — Bill Simmons
Baldwin’s delivery after falling into the pit resembles the comically injured Will Ferrell character in Austin Powers. — Bill Simmons
The silent, distant reception after Charles’s rescue feels strange; no one even approaches to shake his hand. — Van Lathan
Killing the Black character is dated; bird strikes have become more familiar, while a drowned modern phone would not necessarily solve the survival problem. — Bill Simmons
Munny and Ned at the fire discussing being farmers rather than bad men is nominated for its worn-out outlaw perspective. — Bill Simmons
The fire conversation’s recollection of shooting a man through the mouth is singled out. — Bill Simmons
English Bob meeting Little Bill is nominated as a dismantling of Bob’s bravado and a revelation of the sheriff’s brutality. — Bill Simmons
Little Bill resolving the mutilation through payment to Skinny rather than the victim establishes the film’s moral ambiguity. — Sean Fennessey
English Bob’s train argument for monarchy, later mocked by Little Bill, is praised.
Little Bill explaining how to judge killers to Beauchamp is nominated. — Bill Simmons
The three rules are to remain calm under fire, not prioritize draw speed, and kill the best shooter first. — Bill Simmons
The climax is read as fulfilling Little Bill’s lesson, except that Munny kills Skinny first.
Skinny-first is defended because he has the most invested in protecting the saloon. — Bill Simmons
The competing interpretation is that killing unarmed Skinny announces that Munny will kill without hesitation. — Sean Fennessey
Munny and Delilah’s conversation is praised for working despite seeming potentially mawkish.
Killing the first cowboy is nominated as awkward and deliberately unlike a heroic Western shootout. — Bill Simmons
Ned cannot shoot and the Kid is ineffective, undermining the image of expert gunmen. — Bill Simmons
The killers negotiating water for their victim adds to the scene’s unsettling awkwardness. — Bill Simmons
Davey’s prolonged dying and request for water underline the awkward, unheroic killing; the distress is jokingly compared with Will Ferrell in Austin Powers.
The Kid’s repeated question about whether the man is dead would exhaust a companion’s patience. — Chris Ryan
The Kid’s outhouse killing is nominated as a well-written scene that could benefit from a stronger actor. — Bill Simmons
The saloon massacre is called the obvious most-rewatchable scene. — Bill Simmons
The slow first stretch is defended retrospectively as preparation for an exceptionally strong ending. — Sean Fennessey
Munny drinking whiskey upon hearing Ned is dead signals his return to violence. — Chris Ryan
The saloon blocking keeps entrances and everyone’s positions legible, helping explain why the crowd fails to shoot Munny. — Bill Simmons
Munny’s reputation seems to fill the saloon and transform him into an avenging figure, compared with Curry silencing an arena. — Chris Ryan
The misfire and awkward pause reveal the other men’s inability to act, leaving Munny and Little Bill as the real killers. — Sean Fennessey
Eastwood’s stiffness as a reformed farmer contrasts with his fluency when becoming the killer again, making the return both thrilling and sad.
Munny’s threat while leaving is completely convincing because Eastwood has decades of authority with such dialogue.
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.
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
Will Ferrell's 2005 Kicking & Screaming title; Josh Hamilton's baseball namesake; Max dating a 17-year-old; trivia and made-up games; boredom of finishing infomercials; faded heavy blue jeans; impetuous travel on a whim
Bomback reportedly considered fighting the title and later said he was lucky none of Ferrell's brilliant movies were called Kicking and Screaming. — Bill Simmons
Max dating a 17-year-old is number one; the "17 tomorrow" line is cringeworthy and she could have been an appropriate age.
The 90s were different, with Kobe Bryant and Jerry Seinfeld cited as dating 17-year-olds.
Playing trivia and dumb games to pass time, with unverifiable memories like the go bots, since nothing could be Googled. — Andy Greenwald
Finishing the stain remover commercial shows how bored people could be; hungover Saved by the Bell and Days of Our Lives viewing and the OJ trial as time killers.
The faded, heavy blue jeans went out about ten years ago. — Bill Simmons
The impetuous freedom to buy a ticket and fly to Prague tomorrow is moved to aged worst. — Andy Greenwald
Having bought on-a-whim airport tickets while dating someone outside Boston, it did not work out. — Bill Simmons
Peter, played by Jack Davenport, is the role to recast: an early Colin Farrell is floated though maybe too young, with a wish for a future star to make it six instead of five. — Bill Simmons
Todd Phillips for one host: he is bigger than Apatow by box office though nobody thinks of him that way, his next film is a Joker movie, and he will probably be Oscar-nominated this year as a producer of A Star Is Born with partner Bradley Cooper; Cooper's Toronto premiere speech crediting Phillips's note of belief made Cooper Ali (as transcribed) and Phillips Jackson.
The Ringer ran a Mike Powell profile of Phillips at launch in summer 2016 with Cooper and others quoted going to bat for him; his real skill, learned from Ivan Reitman, is choosing people at the right time, as with Ferrell and writing for Vaughn; the vote is Todd Phillips.
Another host goes Vince Vaughn for variety, calling him incredible with every line quotable.
Tic-tac-toe, three different answers; sorry Luke Wilson; a joke about whether a note saying nobody believes in you like I believe in you should have been given in 2012 to the host then running the Triangle at Grantland.
It comes down to Sean William Scott (as transcribed) and Andy Dick; Andy Dick, out of his mind in his one scene and perhaps literally so at the time, is the pick, with a warning not to sleep on Scott really going for it.
Ferrell has many Rubinek-esque moments, 'we're going streaking' at the top of his lungs and his speech to the pledges with cinder blocks tied to them, 'do you believe that I don't want to see you get hurt'; Andy Dick is still the answer.
Craig Kilburn (as transcribed) is a no: not this, not SportsCenter where one host thought he was God, but his first season of The Daily Show; he probably regards this as his apex because he had the CBS late-night show and this part, which is more than a cameo, and the hosts like him and have had him on their podcasts.
Will Ferrell is a no: his apex has to come from his movie career, Anchorman, since his SNL apex was 2000 with Strategery as Bush.
Vince Vaughn is a yes for one host, not only his best but the revival that leads to Dodgeball and Wedding Crashers and gets him out from under The Cell; another goes Wedding Crashers a year later, when it was no longer a fluke, he was dating Jennifer Aniston and on the cover of Us Weekly, one of the biggest stars in the world for a year and a half.
Luke Wilson is a yes: this is his mainstream run with Legally Blonde 2 and Charlie's Angels, when he got the lead white-guy roles, and in a different era he would be in the Harrison Ford zone, which the others call blasphemous and a wild take; he is a comedy actor like Charles Grodin, not an action lead.
The Luke Wilson conversation: one host does not think he is very good, lucked into the right movies, benefited from his creative brother Owen and Wes Anderson, and keeps replicating the doe-eyed Bottle Rocket regular guy in Charlie's Angels, Legally Blonde and this; others love his persona now as a golf, bourbon and Cowboys sportsman you could meet on a semi-private course on a Thursday with a Tecate.
The defense of the take: they fucked up by not waiting to make Star Wars until Luke Wilson was around to play Han Solo, and had he stayed in game shape there was an action-movie path for him. — Chris Ryan
Elisha Cuthbert draws a no, 24 season 1, against the argument that 24 began around 2001 and this came a couple of years in, about as good as it got; whether Girl Next Door is her best performance is asked, and she is incredible on Happy Endings.
Patrick Crenshaw (as transcribed) is probably at his apex here, going out high.
