Steve Martin in 1979; Parenthood for Mary Steenburgen, tentative; A Beautiful Mind or Apollo 13 for Ron Howard as director; Happy Days free-throw scene for Ron Howard as actor; Harley Jane Kozak; the Ford convertible; Randy Newman; Amadeus for Tom Hulce; City Slickers for the screenwriters; The Bad News Bears films for Little League scenes; The World According to Garp; the Pam and Tommy Lee tape
Steve Martin’s Apex was previously assigned through Father of the Bride; the real peak is 1979 with Saturday Night Live guest-hosting, The Jerk, comedy albums and arena stand-up, prompting mock objections for Shopgirl and HouseSitter.
Mary Steenburgen’s Apex might be this film rather than the Howard Hughes movie, and her character is linked to Randy Newman’s song.
Ron Howard’s directing Apex is argued as A Beautiful Mind because it won him the Oscar; Apollo 13 is offered as the alternative.
Apollo 13 is favored for Ron Howard’s directing Apex, described as a mainstream rather than unusual view. — Chris Ryan
Ron Howard’s acting Apex is the Happy Days scene where Richie misses a game-winning free throw and his father offers a candy bar.
Harley Jane Kozak is definitely at Apex here, as is the Ford deluxe convertible.
Randy Newman is a yes for the Oscar-nominated song and the era when I Love L.A. became a Lakers staple; a fan argues he had several peaks, Toy Story is attributed to Craig, and The Natural score is noted, while another host resents him for the Lakers and Dodgers.
Parent comedy movies are considered, with Folks! and National Lampoon films raised.
Tom Hulce’s Apex is Amadeus, which predates this film.
City Slickers is the Apex for the film’s two screenwriters.
For feel-good Little League scenes the answer is not Parenthood but The Bad News Bears and Breaking Training, with Hardball and Rookie of the Year also raised.
A fan theory imagines the Hardball coach as Keanu’s Parenthood character after moving to Chicago and picking up gambling from Larry.
Parenthood is called up there for funny great-grandmother characters, which are hard to pull off.
For car accidents caused by oral sex, The World According to Garp is declared the winner, recalling its driveway scene to horrified reactions.
This film is not the road-head peak; the answer is the Pam and Tommy Lee tape, with a story about ordering it by phone before the internet.
Keanu Reeves seems to be in a slightly different movie with an unexplained racing career and backstory; the award, not always given, goes to him approvingly.
Tom Hulce is the alternative: he is in the right movie, but his flight to Chile to escape gamblers suggests a separate film, and his father says he will never be seen again.
Baseball scenes; boyfriend’s racing subplot; rosy final act; Kevin’s school handling; tower-shooting fantasy and bomb-threat joke; Leaf Phoenix credit; limo stunt double; Cool’s treatment; Larry’s gambling talk; Martin as a 35-year-old
Moved forward: all the baseball scenes are poor, especially the Cardinals nostalgia montage, where research says the runner pulled a hamstring over twelve takes.
Beyond the baseball scenes, the boyfriend’s shoehorned racing career and crash, after which he walks away and gets a job, is called the worst part of the movie.
The last twenty minutes are too rosy; the writers needed a closer like Rivera or Bill Goldman, as with City Slickers; killing the grandmother could have supplied a funeral, though ending with a birth may be why it is rewatchable.
The school ambushing the parents with a therapist and effectively expelling Kevin would not happen now and seemed extreme even then; Kevin’s portrayal would spark lengthy online backlash today.
Kevin’s tower-shooting fantasy and a throwaway joke about a school bomb threat have aged badly, part of a 1980s motif also seen in Full Metal Jacket.
The Leaf Phoenix credit is joked about, with a suggestion to recut a trailer touting Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix.
Larry being thrown from a limo uses an obvious stunt double, though the scene is loved.
Cool’s treatment is mentioned again as rough.
Larry’s gambling dialogue lacks sports-betting fluency despite Tom Hulce’s greatness in Amadeus; late-1980s films did not know gambling language, with Pete Rose and a later 90210 gambling plotline recalled.
Steve Martin not looking 35 is added as a final item.
