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Ben

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Knocked Up The Rewatchables
Knocked Up

How Long Do They Stay Together?

No

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:01Read transcript
  • The couple is expected to separate quickly; a role-reversal sequel with them supporting Pete and Debbie could have explored the outcome. — Bill Simmons
  • Future scenarios diverge: Ben leaves Los Angeles, or he stays as a working entertainment father while Alison moves to Washington; alternatively she thrives as a television/reality host and finds a better partner.
  • The inability to predict Alison’s future highlights how little the film establishes her ambitions.
Knocked Up The Rewatchables
Knocked Up

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Pinkeye urban legend; pregnancy-position claim; Ben’s finances

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:39Read transcript
  • The pillow-fart pinkeye story is questioned without research, including whether the movie popularized an existing college urban legend.
  • A character’s gravity-based pregnancy-prevention claim prompts joking questions about evidence; the hosts provide no substantiation. — Bill Simmons
  • How Ben pays for food or anything else remains unanswered. — Bill Simmons
  • The movie may have taught a generation more about childbirth than school, with the crowning image singled out. — Craig Horlbeck
Knocked Up The Rewatchables
Knocked Up

What’s Aged the Worst?

Phone; UFC poster; length; real-name characters; clothes; prosthetic bump; anti-vax stance; webpage terminology; hostile doctor

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:17Read transcript
  • The Sprint Treo close-up and Liddell/Couture poster date the film;132 minutes is too long, with excess Rudd/Mann material and drawn-out improvised scenes.
  • More montages could clarify relationships and compress repetitive scenes, beyond Ben’s eventual growing-up montage. — Juliet Litman
  • Using the actors’ real first names now intrudes as those performers became famous; Charlyne Yi and Rogen are inconsistent exceptions. — Juliet Litman
  • Heigl’s flowing tops and low wide jeans, along with the men’s oversized shirts and backward caps, are unflattering period fashion. — Juliet Litman
  • The fake pregnancy bump and Debbie’s anti-vaccination position age badly. — Juliet Litman
  • Repeatedly calling their project a webpage rather than a website sounds implausibly unfamiliar with 2007 internet usage. — Bill Simmons
  • Jeong’s hostile doctor is belatedly added as making the experience of giving birth look particularly unpleasant.
  • An ideal 100-to 105-minute cut would shorten labor and remove the draft detour; cutting the earthquake is proposed but resisted because Segel’s cigarette-and-nudity gag is too funny. — Bill Simmons
Knocked Up The Rewatchables
Knocked Up

Picking Nits

Weight-loss demand; Mr.Skin ignorance; condom misunderstanding; Ben’s behavior; club logistics; implausible finances

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:21Read transcript
  • The demand that Alison lose 20 pounds is questioned because she already looks thin and healthy; the counterargument is that absurdly negative feedback exposes Hollywood standards.
  • Friends obsessed with screen nudity should already know Mr.Skin exists; their ignorance undermines the business premise. — Bill Simmons
  • The condom misunderstanding and Ben’s selective next-morning memory feel contrived; a broken condom is proposed as simpler, countered by its value in showing incompatibility.
  • Ben’s tactlessness at breakfast and repeated pregnancy-story telling are exaggerated beyond credibility and could be reduced. — Bill Simmons
  • Alison should leave with her sister, and the disheveled friends seem unlikely to enter the same exclusive club under its strict door policy.
  • Pete’s luxurious home, Ben’s instantly affordable large apartment and a long-lasting $13,000 settlement strain financial credibility; Big Daddy offers a similar premise.
  • Moving directly from behind-camera work to correspondent without an intermediate audition or trial is implausible. — Juliet Litman
Knocked Up The Rewatchables
Knocked Up

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Heigl/Lohan lost superstardom; Flesh of the Stars beats Mr.Skin; Alison should choose abortion

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:59Read transcript
  • Heigl and Lohan are proposed as unrealized major stars; Heigl’s broken relationships with the Apatow group and Shonda Rhimes are presented as particularly difficult to recover from. — Bill Simmons
  • Flesh of the Stars is preferred as a business name to the creepy-sounding Mr.Skin. — Bill Simmons
  • Abortion is proposed as the sensible decision for the characters given Ben’s unemployment and immaturity, with the joke that the movie would end after 28 minutes.
Spider-Man The Rewatchables
Spider-Man

Picking Nits

Unnoticed powers; slow Mary Jane recognition; outburst at Uncle Ben; Harry dating Mary Jane; Harry's spider flirting; gun in drawer

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:25Read transcript
  • After webbing the tray and flipping over Flash in front of the school, no one, including Mary Jane, figures out he is Spider-Man. — Van Lathan
  • Mary Jane only connects the kisses at the cemetery, after more than a year of obvious clues. — Charles Holmes
  • Peter blows up at Uncle Ben for no reason when he is only being dropped at the library. — Van Lathan
  • Harry dating Mary Jane without telling Peter is criticized; Craig is asked whether that is acceptable and the answer is obviously not. — Van Lathan
  • Peter is called a nerd by Harry, who then uses his spider facts to flirt with Mary Jane. — Charles Holmes
  • Harry pulling a gun from a drawer in the Osborn mansion is questioned, countered by the argument that Norman sells weapons to the military. — Van Lathan
The Ice Storm The Rewatchables
The Ice Storm

Picking Nits

Nixon poster; no follow-up about the death; key-party invitations; marked keys

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:12Read transcript
  • A 1973 boarding-school student having a Nixon poster seems unlikely unless ironic. — Bill Simmons
  • Jim Carver never asks whether the drunk Ben hit his son with a car. — Bill Simmons
  • The key party guest list is questioned: one woman brought her son, and a single reverend attended. — Sean Fennessey
  • Early key-party rules are compared to early fantasy football and salary-cap stretch provisions.
  • Proposed rules bar solos, reverends, and kids, and call for a blind draw so no one can mark their own keys. — Chris Ryan
The Ice Storm The Rewatchables
The Ice Storm

Recasting Couch

Sharon Stone for Weaver; Harrison Ford for Kline; a Culkin for Elijah Wood or Sandy; Philip Seymour Hoffman anywhere; a bigger name for Jim Carver

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:41Read transcript
The Ice Storm The Rewatchables
The Ice Storm

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

No overacting selection

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:40Read transcript
  • Instead of an overacting pick, an award is proposed for Jim Carver needing a bigger reaction on seeing his electrocuted son. — Bill Simmons
  • Jamey Sheridan could go big as Randall Flagg in The Stand but is restrained here; nearly everyone is restrained, with the Ben character only at about a seven. — Sean Fennessey
The Ice Storm The Rewatchables
The Ice Storm

What’s Aged the Best?

Self-abuse talk; key parties; split-level house; Nixon shadow; Kline and Weaver pairing; bong scenes; Maguire and Holmes debuts; dorm posters; Francis and Paul; Weaver

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:29Read transcript
  • Ben’s awkward self-abuse advice to his son is the first pick.
  • Key parties as a pop-culture gimmick age well; CBS’s Swingtown tried and failed, and Mad Men had adultery but no key party. — Bill Simmons
  • The 1970s house with a single step up between rooms is a style never seen again, recalling the sunken living room in Help! — Bill Simmons
  • The Nixon and Watergate shadow is cited again. — Chris Ryan
  • Kline and Weaver, who played a president and first lady four years earlier, reuniting as adulterers is enjoyed. — Bill Simmons
  • Bong scenes and the Amaretto-and-brandy combination are enjoyed. — Bill Simmons
  • This was the Paul actor’s breakout before Pleasantville and Katie Holmes’s first film, before Dawson’s Creek and Disturbing Behavior; admiration for Holmes and a sneaky-tall anecdote follow. — Bill Simmons
  • Paul’s boarding-school posters, including Planet of the Apes, the Doors, and Nixon, reward set-dressing attention. — Bill Simmons
  • Francis and Paul’s roommate banter, including their reading-recommendation exchange, is a welcome change of gear. — Chris Ryan
  • Sigourney Weaver is picked out of simple love for her. — Chris Ryan
  • Asked who should have been Oscar-nominated since the film had no acting nominations, the hosts agree on Joan Allen, citing her tearing up when the Reverend hits on her. — Chris Ryan
  • Reviewing that year’s supporting-actress field, the Titanic nomination is called an abomination that took Allen’s spot, and Heather Graham in Boogie Nights is also raised. — Bill Simmons
Displaying discussions 13 - 24 of 48 in total