The 1969 prologue divides the panel: one participant would omit it, while the casting of the younger leads earns praise.
The supposed NSA agents confronting Marty is nominated.
The password-surveillance scene is nominated for Carl and Crease both wanting a look at the seduction.
Marty getting caught in the mathematician’s office is preferred to the preceding surveillance gag. — Bill Simmons
The Scrabble-code breakthrough is nominated. — Bill Simmons
Cosmo’s return and his financial-equality monologue are nominated.
Redford’s restrained reactions make an effective counterpoint to Kingsley’s large performance.
The discussion questions why the film treats Cosmo’s equality rhetoric as madness and compares its aging radicals with other films. — Bill Simmons
Reconstructing Marty’s journey through remembered sounds is selected for its suspense. — Bill Simmons
The sound deductions are enjoyed despite doubts about concussion and implausible memory; the apparent missing Bay Area bridge is defended geographically.
Cosmo addressing Marty over the intercom and revealing Liz as a hostage is nominated. — Bill Simmons
James Earl Jones’s surprise arrival gives the ending an extra burst of excitement.
The team’s requests for rewards make the final negotiation especially funny. — Bill Simmons
Praises the entire Warner Brandes operation, from identifying him to the restaurant ruse. — Kyle Brandt
Chooses the final fortress heist as his most rewatchable sequence. — Kyle Brandt
Chooses the cocktail-party sound reconstruction and also praises the simultaneous Scrabble decoding and box testing. — Joanna Robinson
The opening Swans therapy session is nominated, with the delayed reveal that the supposedly traumatized child is a dog praised as one of cinema’s great openings. — Bill Simmons
The Flecks’ introduction is nominated: Cookie corrects dozens of boyfriends to hundreds, Gerry’s ugly school photograph undercuts his Casanova claim, and his two left feet set up the finale. — Bill Simmons
Scott and Stefan’s meat-market introduction, college photo and hotel-room decoration are celebrated as consistently funny. — Mallory Rubin
Leslie and Sherri Ann’s introduction, shared soup and snow-pea interests and conversational emptiness are favorite moments; Coolidge’s American Pie connection to Levy reportedly led to Guest’s ensemble. — Bill Simmons
Christy’s explanation of a supposedly functional family model, ending in her mother’s suicide, is a nominated scene. — Bill Simmons
Dinner with Cookie’s old boyfriend is the explicit scene pick, defended through Zach’s toy parachuter, the father’s hostage-negotiator boasting, Gerry’s breast compliment and the violent threats when Zach climbs outside. — Bill Simmons
The dinner scene receives dissent: Cookie’s brazen exes work better when encountered unexpectedly at the party or recording studio. — Mallory Rubin
The pre-show party’s melting ice sculpture and another former lover praising Cookie’s waitressing are nominated; her repeated reassurance that Gerry is her future sustains the joke. — Bill Simmons
The missing Busy Bee sequence is nominated for Posey’s frantic performance, Hamilton entering the crate and the escalating demands to retrieve the toy.
The Swans’ two-Starbucks courtship and catalog upbringing are an explicit number-one scene choice. — Bill Simmons
The airport argument is another scene nomination and a recognizable portrait of a couple blaming each other over a pet’s needs. — Mallory Rubin
Harlan’s long party story tormenting the Swans and Hamilton’s jacket question are additional pre-show highlights. — Mallory Rubin
Willard’s Sherlock Holmes dog-costume idea, Christy’s makeup refusal and attempts to unsettle Harlan lead into the shih-tzu airplane joke. — Mallory Rubin
Scott and Stefan mocking Christy while watching television is another highlight. — Mallory Rubin
Willard’s priest aside, terrier count, miniature-dog breeding question and dog-bathing book title are praised as inspired commentary. — Mallory Rubin
Meg’s toy-store search is nominated for its terrifying quiet rage, the bear-in-a-bee-costume rejection and her insistence she asked for an unavailable toy rather than an opinion; Posey is judged capable of more leading roles. — Bill Simmons
Beatrice attacking the judge inspires the ham and Shoeless Joe Jackson commentary; the Rhapsody-has-two-mommies line adds to Higgins’s flawless comic run. — Mallory Rubin
Cookie’s injury and limp followed by Gerry handling Winky is an explicit favorite; Willard’s questions about the dogs knowing the stakes, Gerry’s feet and the repeated proctologist joke sustain the climax. — Bill Simmons
Every part of the six-month epilogue is praised, including the therapy bookend and the Flecks’ Captain and Cookie cassette; Busy Bee is the first memorabilia choice and the cassette second. — Mallory Rubin
The epilogue’s dog songs anticipate A Mighty Wind, and recording engineer Bulge recognizing Cookie provides another payoff to her romantic history. — Bill Simmons
American Bitch magazine, dogs posed as classic-film characters and Kipper’s leg-humping therapy epilogue are closing-scene highlights; Casablanca is the favorite photo recreation. — Mallory Rubin
The omission of Harlan from one scene list is acknowledged; the final choice between Busy Bee and Cookie’s injury settles on the injury because it is impossible to look away.
Cookie’s limp is proposed as an underused sports-injury meme; Joanna explicitly chooses the Starbucks-and-catalog scene. — Mallory Rubin
It's set in Detroit and it did: the community college teacher, maybe one of the sex workers and the two cops are about it, and Naomi Aki (as transcribed) is second billed in the sequel.
The category ran with Van for Friday the 13th, where he did his movies that didn't need black people; this one at least had a couple.
An explicitly invited flex asks whether Terry is a good journalist; the article’s unclear subject and apparent romantic focus offer little evidence of skill.
The visible opening of Terry’s article is judged terrible, settling the answer against her journalism ability; liability avoidance is jokingly proposed as the reason she wins. — Joanna Robinson
Her slow word-processor typing adds to the criticism of her credibility as a writer. — Joanna Robinson
Bullock’s call could interrupt sex, with Fraser out of breath or an Internal Affairs-style camera reveal, rather than merely exchanging glances. — Joanna Robinson
