There is not a single nit to pick in a movie called perfect several times; Tina and Rosie Perez were discussed, but that is not a storytelling problem. — Wesley Morris
The key nit many people raise is why Mookie did it, but the hosts decline to have that conversation. — Sean Fennessey
John Savage's scene in a Larry Bird jersey, stepping on Buggin' Out's new Jordans, is offered as the pick and as a potential rewatchable scene.
Savage's story that Larry Bird gave him the jersey through his sister is called apocryphal: per the hosts, Lee debunked it to Savage's face, saying he bought the shirt and gave it to costume designer Ruth Carter. — Sean Fennessey
Challenged on picking a white guy, the picker is not scared: Savage's one memorable scene is a heat check moment. — Wesley Morris
There is not a lot here; one hedged answer is that Perez's first-movie inexperience shows. — Wesley Morris
What she is made to do has aged worst: browbeat Mookie as a bad father, morally in the right but made unpleasant, though she still has two dimensions. — Wesley Morris
The nude scene has not aged well; a Perez interview is read on air saying she had a big problem with it, felt the atmosphere was not correct, and did not want to do the ice-cube shot. — Sean Fennessey
The hosts note Perez and Lee remain in communication, that she is honestly reflecting on a bad experience, and that the film launched her career. — Sean Fennessey
Her run through White Men Can't Jump, Fearless and Untamed Heart is praised; she became a character actress without her Latina identity being a talking point. — Wesley Morris
The opening sequence of Rosie Perez dancing to Public Enemy is the first scene on the list. — Sean Fennessey
Perez was choreographing the Fly Girls at the time, and five years of dance are visible in the sequence. — Wesley Morris
Lee reportedly met Perez in a Brooklyn club and told her she was in his movie even though she said she was not an actress; the film is described as full of accidents like this. — Wesley Morris
Buggin' Out's Wall of Fame argument with Sal is a complicated scene; Lee has said both sides have good points: it is Sal's shop, but only black people eat there.
The Wall of Fame argument is called a proto-internet conversation with no subtlety or compromise about how many and which black figures go up. — Wesley Morris
Buggin' Out represents an emotional, ahistorical form of activism whose confrontation can only make Sal feel aggrieved. — Wesley Morris
Frank Vincent driving through the open fire hydrant is one of the funniest parts of the movie and recognizable to anyone who played in hydrants as a city kid. — Wesley Morris
A childhood memory: opening the corner hydrant and using a can with no top or bottom to spray passing cars, because there was no pool to go to. — Wesley Morris
Pino and Sal's debate about selling the pizzeria plays in one long shot interrupted by Smiley.
That conversation is necessary but not essential and creates a false sense of trust in Sal, coming right after his moment with Jade, as he says he is proud to have fed the neighborhood. — Sean Fennessey
Sal also hates rap and being confronted and smashes the boombox; like the Martin and Malcolm pairing, Sal and everyone in the film carry both love and hate, with Jade possibly the only purely good character. — Wesley Morris
The final extended sequence is the last pick, painful and hard to watch rather than comforting, with the camera tumbling in and out of the pizzeria and the trash-can jump cut repeated three times. — Sean Fennessey
That final sequence is thought possibly to be the only one Lee ever storyboarded, with Ernest Dickerson, from the moment Smiley, Buggin' Out and Radio Raheem enter the pizzeria. — Sean Fennessey
The racial slur montage is added to the list; later Lee versions such as the 25th Hour mirror speech have made the device less effective, but here it establishes the factions. — Wesley Morris
A Turturro story: after watching dailies of his rant he asked Lee to get on the cover of Ebony with his arm around him so he would be safe on the subway; his rant is called the best of the sequence and extremely rewatchable. — Wesley Morris
After the list is recapped, one participant goes with Rosie Perez; the ending is chosen by a participant who calls Rosie a close second. — Sean Fennessey
The production is credited with taking a chance on Rosie Perez rather than Holly Hunter; a participant imagines Hunter playing either a different Gloria or, jokingly, the same characterization. — Chris Ryan
