Con Air LIVE! (Re-Release)

Summary

How Did This Get Made? – Con Air LIVE! (Re-Release) Summary

Release Date: January 3, 2025
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guest: Seth Grahame-Smith
Platform: Largo, Los Angeles

---

Introduction

In the re-released episode of "How Did This Get Made?" titled "Con Air LIVE!", the trio of comedians Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas, along with guest Seth Grahame-Smith, delve into the 1997 action-packed yet critically panned film Con Air. The episode offers a humorous yet detailed breakdown of the movie's plot, character dynamics, and the myriad of plot inconsistencies that have made the film a cult classic.

---

Movie Overview: Con Air

Con Air centers around Cameron Poe (played by Nicolas Cage), a decorated Army Ranger who is wrongly accused and convicted of murder. Upon his release, Poe boards a high-security prison transport plane, only for the convicts to seize control, turning the flight into a deadly hostage situation. The film is noted for its over-the-top action sequences, memorable lines, and a star-studded cast that includes John Malkovich, John Cusack, and Steve Buscemi.

---

Host and Guest Perspectives

Initial Impressions

• Jason Mantzoukas [07:00]: Opens the discussion by reflecting on his initial dislike of the movie, comparing the joy of re-watching it to the fleeting pleasure of a Jaeger shot.

• Paul Scheer [08:31]: Contrarily, Paul defends the film's coherence, stating, "This is an awesome movie that should be… Thank God this got made."

• Seth Grahame-Smith [10:21]: Admits to taking extensive notes after re-watching the film, highlighting his deep analysis of its elements.

• June Diane Raphael [11:30]: Shares her initial misconception of the movie, confusing it with other plane-centric films like "Air Force One."

Character Analysis and Plot Logic

• Nic Cage’s Accent: The hosts commend Cage's Southern accent, noting its authenticity.

  • Paul Scheer [17:22]: "Flawless accent."

• Cameron Poe’s Characterization:

  • Paul Scheer [15:04]: Questions Cage's character's suitability for the Army Rangers, joking, "he's too old."
  • June Diane Raphael [29:37]: Critiques Poe's prioritization of masculinity over his role as a father, stating, "he makes the decision to be this valiant hero, as opposed to a father and a husband."

• John Cusack’s Role:

  • The hosts hilariously dissect Cusack’s wardrobe, particularly his "socks with sandals," portraying it as a symbol of his character's quirks.
    • Jason Mantzoukas [36:03]: "He is the most dangerous."

Plot Inconsistencies and Logical Flaws

• Plane Operation and Geography:

  • Paul Scheer [33:07]: Points out the improbability of landing a plane like that on the Las Vegas Strip, emphasizing geographical inaccuracies.
  • Seth Grahame-Smith [33:53]: Highlights the unrealistic logistics of the plane's escape and the surrounding environment.

• Legal and Procedural Errors:

  • Jason Mantzoukas [26:13]: Critiques the courtroom scene where Poe is deemed a "lethal weapon," questioning the legal ramifications portrayed in the film.

• Character Arcs and Development:

  • June Diane Raphael [28:23]: Observes the lack of meaningful character progression, noting that Poe remains unchanged throughout the movie.
  • Paul Scheer [35:06]: Agrees, stating, "he just was always a good guy."

Themes of Masculinity and Morality

• Masculinity:

  • The discussion veers into how Con Air glorifies hyper-masculinity, with characters prioritizing action over personal relationships.
    • June Diane Raphael [29:04]: "I do love a plane movie... stakes are so much higher."

• Moral Messaging:

  • Seth Grahame-Smith [30:08]: Criticizes the film for sending mixed messages about justice and heroism, suggesting it misses deeper moral undertones.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Paul Scheer [07:00]: "This is one of the most visual podcasts we've ever done."

• Jason Mantzoukas [14:20]: "Cameron Poe, who, if for you Bachelor fans, I would hope is a brother of Sanderson Poe."

• June Diane Raphael [12:34]: "I realized something about myself, which is that I do love a plane movie."

• Seth Grahame-Smith [16:29]: "That's what sends the whole thing started within the first three minutes of the movie."

• June Diane Raphael [50:28]: "Because here's the weird thing. I will say this."

• Jason Mantzoukas [71:25]: "The tagline will be what one man's mullet will do to get home."

---

Insights and Conclusions

Throughout the episode, the hosts employ a blend of humor and critical analysis to unpack Con Air's appeal and shortcomings. They acknowledge the film's entertainment value despite its logical inconsistencies, attributing its status as a beloved "so-bad-it’s-good" movie to its over-the-top performances and memorable, albeit flawed, plot elements.

Paul Scheer consistently praises the movie's enjoyment factor, likening it to other beloved action films despite acknowledging its flaws. Jason Mantzoukas offers a more nuanced view, appreciating the film's chaos while pointing out its numerous plot holes and inconsistencies. June Diane Raphael provides a critical lens on the film's thematic undertones, particularly concerning masculinity and character development. Seth Grahame-Smith contributes a sharp critique of the movie's logic and moral messaging.

The episode concludes with the hosts affirming their love for Con Air, despite its myriad of flaws, highlighting how its sheer absurdity and entertainment value make it a standout example of a "bad movie" worth celebrating.

---

Final Thoughts

"Con Air LIVE!" serves as both a nostalgic revisiting and a critical examination of a film that has secured its place in the annals of cult cinema. The hosts, through their comedic chemistry and insightful commentary, provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of why Con Air continues to captivate audiences, offering laughter and laughter-worthy critiques in equal measure.

---

Note: Advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections from the transcript have been excluded to focus solely on the substantive discussions about the movie.

Transcript

[Paul Scheer]

Nowtaxes is 100% free when you file in the TurboTax app. If you didn't file with us last year.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Just do your own taxes in the app by 218. What if I have lots of forms? All good, all 100% free. What if I had three jobs? Still 100% free.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What if I once saw Bigfoot?

[Paul Scheer]

That has nothing to do with taxes. So still 100% free.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Paul Scheer]

Now this is taxes. See if you qualify in the TurboTax app. Excludes TurboTax Live. Must start and file an app by 2:18.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

ABC Wednesday Tim Allen and Kat Dennings star in the new family comedy Shifting Gears.

[June Diane Raphael]

Dad, I'm broke and I need a place to stay until I figure out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What the rest of my life looks like. So a couple of days when his daughter moves back in. The last time you walked out that door, you looked back at me and gave me a double bird. I was 18.

[June Diane Raphael]

The double bird was how I ended all our conversations.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

The wheels come off.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can we try to talk to each other like rational adults?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Have you watched the news lately? That's not a thing anymore.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Series premiere Wednesday, 8, 7 Central on.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

ABC and stream on Hulu. Put educational improvement on your New Year's resolution list. IXL makes learning fun through engaging video lessons and interactive problems that adapt to your child's learning pace. Plus, with the app, kids can learn.

[Paul Scheer]

On the go, and one subscription covers.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All your children's educational needs.

[Paul Scheer]

Make an impact on your child's learning.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Get IXL now and our listeners can.

[Paul Scheer]

Get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up [e-mail] 20.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Visit ixl.com 20 to get the most.

[Paul Scheer]

Effective learning program out there at the best price.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Hello, people of Earth. This week we are taking a holiday hiatus from Last Looks and instead we are re releasing the how did this Get Made Classic episode on our favorite guy, Nic Cage. All right. In a movie that we love to call a feel good plane film. That's right, it is 1997's Con Air. You'll be hearing us discuss John Malkovich's amazing death scene, Nic Cage's Southern accent, John Cusack's socks with sandals, and so much more. You know what? Before we even get into the episode, I want to make sure that you've secured your tickets to see us on the road. This March and April, we're going to be in Austin, Denver, Boise, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland and Los Angeles. We are blown away by Denver and Seattle coming out in a major way. You've been asking for us and you, you did it. You got those tickets right away. So we appreciate that. Go to hdtgm.com to check out how did this get made live. You can also see Dinosaur with me and Jason and Nicole Byer and a whole bunch of other great people in San Franc at Sketchfest and at Largo in January. So just go to HDTGM to get all the info that you need to get tickets for all these great shows. But now, while there are no Last Looks today, I wanted to make sure you could still prep for our next movie because we wanted to start off 2025 with a bang. So next week, please prepare yourself for the Francis Ford Coppola passion project that was over 40 years in the making. I am talking about the 2024 sci fi drama Megalopolis. That's right. Rotten Tomatoes gives this film a 46% on the Tomatometer. And Adam Graham from the Detroit News says Megalopolis is an experience more than it's a movie. And as an experience, it's unforgettable. And honestly, I agree. You can rent Megalopolis on Apple tv, Amazon prime, and Google Play. And remember, if you have any corrections on our last episode, Bad Boys Ride or Die, you know, post them because we're going to be covering both Bad Boys and Megalopolis in our new Last Looks episode. So make sure you submit those corrections and omissions on our discord at discord gg hdtgm or leave us a voicemail by calling 619Paulask. That's all I got, people. So now, without any further ado, enjoy this rerelease of Con Air. It's like an all star version of the Love Boat, except with sociopaths, murderers and serial killers. We saw Con Air, so you know what that means.

[Paul Scheer]

How did Schwarzenegger grow a baby in his belly? Rock a rhinestone vest while whipping Justin.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

To Kelly or maybe see a burlesque show with Nick Throw and take a.

[Paul Scheer]

Boat with speed to hit and cruise control J man Big Paul in the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Beautiful June gonna take you from the goob all the way to the room.

[Paul Scheer]

Ran the games in Street Fighter help to blow off steam just a sucker.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Punch the odd life of Timothy Green.

[Paul Scheer]

Sharpnado the birdemic how we staying alive.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They call it in the badass and.

[Paul Scheer]

He'S on the line cranking 88 minutes cause cool as ice cause the bad Jim Bonnie looking kind and nice Paul.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And June getting literal Jason is getting laid June is Making sure all the.

[Paul Scheer]

Monkey shots getting paid. They judge a bunch of movies while.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They making the grade. Here's a real question for you. How did this get made? Hello, people of Earth and hello people of Largo. We are coming to you live from Los Angeles at the Largo. Largo is an amazing theater. If you're ever out here in la, come to this theater. They have amazing shows. I don't care. When you're listening to this, cool shit happens here, check out their calendar. They're awesome. So we want to thank them for always giving us such a nice place to do the show. And thank you guys all for coming out. Thank you guys. Yeah, thanks. I've pimped you into unnecessary applause. Please welcome my co host to the show, Jason Mantzoukas. Hey.

[Paul Scheer]

How are you?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now, as I told this crowd before, it wouldn't be a live show if we didn't not have the full team here. We do not have June in person today, but I would like to welcome June via Skype.

[June Diane Raphael]

So wish I could be there. It's making me crazy. I'm so sorry I'm not there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, well, welcome, June. Welcome.

[June Diane Raphael]

Obviously, I know, Paul, you've said this, but if this doesn't work, really feel free to just cut the cord with me, you know, Just let me go. Just let me go.

[Paul Scheer]

I have great news. June, it is working.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You can see a little bit of Jason.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, that's good though. I can see Jason now.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We have a very special guest tonight. You know him as an author, as a super talented writer. Seth Graham Smith.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Welcome. Seth Graham Smith.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, my gosh, here we go.

[Paul Scheer]

This is one of the most visual podcasts we've ever done.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, well, one of. Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

One of our members of this is predicated on June. You are. Do you know, June, that you're on the big screen? Right.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm not. I'm not totally comfortable with it. This feels insane to not be able to see the audience.

[Paul Scheer]

It is completely insane, Connor.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, so let me just start off and I thought about Con Air when we were watching it, remembering back to a how did this get made episode where we had Danny Trejo on the show?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And give it up for Danny Trejo. And I asked Danny, I said, you've worked with all these people. You are like a Hollywood badass. Like when movies, people don't want to mess with you, they don't want to fuck with you. Like in Con Air, you were surrounded by a who's who of what I guess people generally think of the craziest actors in Hollywood, right. You are on this insane like Love Boat esque prison ship with them. Who is the craziest guy? And he answered us after a moment of thinking and said, john Cusack.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. He said he was most afraid of John Cusack, which is interesting. Joe has been to prison.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He said that John Cusack just has something behind the eyes that scared him. This is true. So I just want to put that in perspective. But Con Air, I had to go out and say, this is a movie that when I first saw it, I did not like it.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh yeah, Paul, I'm going to disagree with you. Here's the deal. And I thought it before we did the movie, before I watched the movie because having seen it before and I then was reminded, this movie is fucking awesome. This is an awesome movie that should be. We should call this whole night. Thank God this got made. Because both of these movies are fucking dope.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think in watching it again.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And watching again, I feel like I enjoyed my experience of it more. But it's also like drinking like Jaeger. Like it's like in the moment, it's like, yeah, Jaeger shots. Then the next day it's like, why did I do that? Was it really that good?

[Paul Scheer]

See, I don't know, man. I am. What. I have legit, almost no notes because for me the movie made sense. Add it up. There was nothing that I was like, oh, I gotta make a note of that because that's crazy. Nope. I'm like, nothing. Yes. On board. On board. Nick Cage's accent. On board. On board.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's, let's see. Let's see what our guest, Seth, what was your. Coming into this movie? Where were you?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, I hadn't seen it since, what was it? 1997. So I hadn't seen it since the theater. I don't remember liking it or not, but I watched it a few times in the last few days and I do have some notes.

[Paul Scheer]

You have pages of notes. I have pages at home. You have pages of notes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I have pages and pages of single space notes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I have a lot of notes too.

[Paul Scheer]

Didn't take them. Just loving this movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cause I would argue that the one thing the movie doesn't do is make sense.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Correct.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think it is enjoyable to a certain degree, but it does not make sense.

[Paul Scheer]

It adds up, this movie, top to bottom, T2B, guys, this movie adds up.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

What I love most about the movie is I think I love most its subtlety. The fact that the characters are real complex, three dimensional living Breathing human beings with hopes and dreams and nuance, and certainly not stereotypical. It may be the most racist movie since Birth of a Nation. I'm just putting that out there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I am glad that you brought that up, because that is a theme on our second opinions.

[Paul Scheer]

June, did you have to say.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, okay.

[June Diane Raphael]

I just want to talk about where I was coming from, just as a viewer. For a long time, I thought this movie was a different movie. And I was going around telling everybody, I love this movie, thinking it was. What did I think it was, Paul?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I don't remember what you thought it was.

[June Diane Raphael]

I thought this movie was another airplane movie.

[Paul Scheer]

The movie Airplane.

[June Diane Raphael]

Not the movie Airplane.

[Paul Scheer]

Soul Plane on a plane.

[June Diane Raphael]

Not soul. Plane.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Flight plan. That's a serious plan. No.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, well, we had a whole discussion about it. Was it President on a plane?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Oh, Air Force One.

[June Diane Raphael]

Air Force One.

[Paul Scheer]

Thanks.

[June Diane Raphael]

But here's what I realized.

[Paul Scheer]

I thought Con Air, the movie about convicts on a plane was Air Force One, the movie about Harrison Ford as the president.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Welcome back, June.

[June Diane Raphael]

But you know what I realized, though?

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, wait, where'd she go?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's there.

[Paul Scheer]

She's there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's there. No, she's there.

[Paul Scheer]

She's there. We got her. We got her.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's only on audio. It's only on. It's audio. You'll see her.

[June Diane Raphael]

I realized something about myself, which is that I do love a plane movie. I like a movie that takes place in the sky because the stakes are so much higher. And you're dealing with the stakes of what's happening. You understand what's happening?

[Paul Scheer]

Because they're on a plane.

[June Diane Raphael]

And also the stakes. I'm sorry.

[Paul Scheer]

Because the stakes are so much higher because they're on a plane.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's right.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

June, may I just check in with you and see, what do you think about a boat movie?

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm not interested in it.

[Paul Scheer]

But for you, some sort of thriller that is set up on a plane really ratchets it up for you.

[June Diane Raphael]

Love it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, so now that we've got.

[June Diane Raphael]

Last, can I say one more thing about movies on planes?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, we would love nothing more.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay. Because I think one would. One could feel like it would get claustrophobic to be on the plane the entire time for the entirety of the movie. And I never feel that way. I never feel that way.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

All right, can we start? Agree the plane is. I think we. Let's go through the movie a little bit.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And let's talk about some logic, because you said the movie starts.

[Paul Scheer]

I see where you're going. I think it's a mistake.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

You said the movie starts and it's great.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, it.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, it starts with kind of like a History Channel. The Army Rangers. Yeah. You know, and all of a sudden we meet Cameron Poe.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cameron Poe, who, if for you Bachelor fans, I would hope is a brother of Sanderson Poe. Sorry, the four people.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not. Why are you guys watching the Bachelor?

[Paul Scheer]

Backstage, Poe was like, I've got a bachelor joke that's going to crush Sanderson Po.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Come on, guys. This Sanderson Po.

[Paul Scheer]

Get out of the way when I do my bachelor joke. Guys, get out, because it's going to destroy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

How dare you.

[Paul Scheer]

People will riot. You said.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So.

[Paul Scheer]

So.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Okay, so Cameron Po gets honorably discharged from the Army Rangers.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And so he goes home to see his baby girl.

[Paul Scheer]

Can I ask a question just before we get into that?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Sure.

[Paul Scheer]

How old does he seem? Too old.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Way too old.

[Paul Scheer]

Because it like. Yeah, it was like, here's Nick Cage. And I was like, oh, no, you're too old. Yeah, you're too old to be doing this. You are.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You.

[Paul Scheer]

You don't look like you belong in the Rangers at all right now.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Maybe that's why he was discharged. He was like, yeah, you're pushing 35.

[Paul Scheer]

Realize you're prohibitively old.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

F.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

It was a pre 911 army, so. Different. Different stance.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, sorry.

[Paul Scheer]

No, you say 911. You say 911 as if it happened.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right. Thank you.

[Paul Scheer]

Those buildings are still there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Guys, stop worrying about what happened in this country. Start watching the Bachelor.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So Cameron comes home to see his. His. His super hot waitress wife who's been. You know, it's in Mobile, Alabama.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And something interesting. He steps off of a tiny little dinghy fishing boat onto a dock and walks up to the bar where she works. Now, does the army send all of its Rangers home via tugboat?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I thought that was odd because it didn't seem like he was. That that place was on an island.

[Paul Scheer]

Yep.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right. You could have probably just flown.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

You could have flown or driven or.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, you could have come the other way.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

But what.

[Paul Scheer]

Here's.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

But here's. Here's what gets the whole thing started. This is what sends Nicolas Cage to jail.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And gets the whole thing started within the first three minutes of the movie. And I grant you that, Jason. It wastes no time. It wastes no time. So he goes, and this guy, Army Ranger in uniform walks into a bar in the deep South. And his beautiful girl is there. The waitress there. And what's the first thing that happens Two rednecks go, fuck you, army guy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, they hate him.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Out of nowhere, they hate an army guy.

[Paul Scheer]

They hate him for his service.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, exactly. Right.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

That's what I'm saying.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

By the way, he's also Southern. Like they would know how, you know.

[Paul Scheer]

Flawless accent.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Flawless, Flawless.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I will, I will say that in the research of this movie, I will tell you that Nicolas Cage traveled specifically to Alabama to perform. Perfect. His accent.

[Paul Scheer]

Well done, Nick.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Time well spent, mission accomplished.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I want to even take. I want to take one step back and go. When he goes to see his smoking hot waitress wife.

[Paul Scheer]

Monica Potter.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Monica Potter. Monica Potter, who was going to be here tonight. Sadly, Easter plans kicked in. She was going to be our very special guest. So a real bummer there. She was very excited.

[Paul Scheer]

Joining us is Nicholas Cage.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Also via Skype.

[Paul Scheer]

That would be amazing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But to me, the thing that kind of already started this off, he has been away for a while. He comes home, kisses his wife's belly. Her belly is flatter than anything.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

She's one hour into her pregnancy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. And who got her pregnant?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Who got her pregnant?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. Cause he just is like, hey, honey, like, when did that happen?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean, I'm sure he had some leave at some point. Guys, you're not gonna find holes in this movie.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Try as you might adds, but Monica.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Potter literally has a six pack.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And it is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She is built.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And he leans down, he kisses it and goes something like, oh, baby girl. How's our baby girl? You know? And he knew everything. And you already know it's a girl. Right. And so apparently with one hour into the pregnancy and like they put her.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

In a pregnancy suit. It's only one scene.

[Paul Scheer]

No, wait, guys, this is a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. There's nobody in a pregnancy suit. Okay? These girls are. Even if they are seven months pregnant, they are shredded.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

True. That's a good point. But these.

[Paul Scheer]

So she is nine months pregnant in that scene.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So these two redneck guys at the bar, or two or three redneck guys at the bar.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's three.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

There's three. They see a special forces guy. Now, they've seen this waitress, Monica Potter, every night at this bar.

[Paul Scheer]

They know her name.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

They know her name. They've left her alone.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

But tonight they wait for her Special forces proudly serving this country hero to come back. And then they want to kill him.

[Paul Scheer]

They hate him. And they even go so far as to be like, it's guys like you that are the reason we lost Vietnam. Right. I was like, these guys are these like, where are these guys coming out from? Like, what is their.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That means they are, that means that they are like, they think of him as being a weak military guy, right? Because they, they by saying they lost Vietnam. We want strong military. But you're a pussy.

[Paul Scheer]

But you're a pussy, right?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I bet you, I bet you never flamethrower to village full of children, you son of a bitch. I'll teach you to come home from war, you asshole.

[Paul Scheer]

Without any, without a necklace of ears.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And. All right, well, yeah, so they go ahead.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So he, him up, Nicholas Cage, like, he walks his pregnant allegedly wife out to the car and these three guys come at him to kill him in the rain. In the rain, in the, in the Mobile, Alabama rain. And he kills one of them in self defense.

[Paul Scheer]

It's that thing and it's that thing that I love. And the, the, the, the, the, the police know. The judge says it at his trial.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I have that clip. Okay, great.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, but I love, and I love that, like, I feel like Nicholas Cage, like all they said was, you're a guy who's always so up for justice, but you're a deadly weapon.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I don't know if I have the exact quote, but it's something like, but it's something like you, you. You are not subject to the regular laws of the land because your body is a lethal weapon. A tray, a killing machine.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, right. Because he isn't. Now that is not something that is true.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

That's not true.

[Paul Scheer]

Being. Being as it may be that these men wanted to rape and murder your pregnant wife, you as a special forces guy are just too dangerous. You have to withhold.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

You got to go to jail for seven years.

[Paul Scheer]

For seven years.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Another thing too, we don't see it in this clip, but seven years. Seven years.

[June Diane Raphael]

Seven years.

[Paul Scheer]

That was too long, June.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Did you think it was too long?

[June Diane Raphael]

It was way too long.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah, it's way too long.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Way too long.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

It's way too long. So immediately before.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

If you are not seeing it, June really is taking in the seven years almost more than Nicolas Cage does.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can I say one thing? I also, I know I've expressed a couple fears. I have. I. It gets me so upset when people are incarcerated for too long or they go to jail and they shouldn't. And yeah, seven years is upsetting. It's upsetting.

[Paul Scheer]

And that's just for a fictional character, right?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

That's right.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, imagine June like people in real life.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, believe me, I watched Cameron.

[Paul Scheer]

Poe is a fictional character. Well, you still do that podcast about maximum minimums, right? That is just about unjust prison sentences for small amounts of drugs.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Now think about it. What do you want your 2025 to bring? I mean, every January we sit and we go, oh, no, I have a full year in front of me. What can I do? There's 365 blank pages, aka days waiting to be filled. But life isn't just about making a resolution that you're going to break by February. It is about making a change that you can actually look back on in years and go, my God, I'm so glad I did that. And that's where you guessed it BetterHelp comes in. BetterHelp is a fully online therapy service that is affordable and convenient that serves over 5 million people worldwide. You can access a diverse network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists. You can easily switch therapists at any time for no extra cost. So this year, when you're looking at those 365 blank pages, why don't you write your story with better help? Visit betterhelp.combonkers to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp. H E L P.combonkers. you know what? We're spending so much energy on everybody else. Why don't we spend a little bit of that energy on ourselves? I'm telling you people, this is a great time of year to treat yourself to a little something without spending a fortune. And you can do that with quince. All quince Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they partner directly with top factories that cut out the cost of the middleman passing the savings on to you. And of course, they use premium fabrics and finishes for that luxury feel in every piece. I've tell you, I've been looking around for we call it top coat. And they were expensive. Everywhere I looked, it was hundreds of dollars. I went on Quint. I found one that I actually loved, that I saw, I'm gonna say in a much fancier store for almost triple the price. And I bought it and it is absolutely stunning. And you know what? Treat yourself this winter without the luxury price tag. Go to quints.combonkers for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.combonkers to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.combonkers I know, I know. This is the year that you are going to make that promise that you are going to learn a second language. But guess what? You're never going to follow through on it. Why? Because it's too hard to learn a language. It was too hard to learn a language. Key because Babbel makes it easy for you to learn a new language in less time than you think. Babbel's 10 minute lessons created by over 200 experts help you start speaking a new language in three weeks with a focus on practical, real world conversations. It makes learning to communicate easy and effective. I love Babbel because I can do it wherever I am. I'm in the car, get somewhere early. I can babble. I have made a promise to myself to learn Spanish and maybe by the end of 2025, I will make that dream come true. Actually, I know it can come true as long as I stick with Babbel. So let's get more of you talking in a new language. Babbel is gifting our listeners 60% off [e-mail] Bonkers get up to 60% [e-mail] Bonkins it's spelled B A bbel.com Bonkers babel.com Bonkers rules and restrictions MAY apply.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

One of my theories about this movie immediately preceding this courtroom scene in which we learned that he's a deadly weapon and therefore subject to a whole different legal system.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. And you would think that it would go the other way, saying, hey, you're an army ranger. We know that you wouldn't use force unless it was a situation in which it called for it.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

But I want next time people watch this movie, just the scene before this is Nicolas Cage sitting in the hallway of the court building with his lawyer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And his lawyer is like this sweaty, nervous wreck who's not. His like shirt is disheveled and his hair is all fucked up. And like, I think lawyer, right. You know you're fucked when your lawyer cannot afford a coat.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, and by the way, when your lawyer when. When you in self defense killed someone who was stepping up to you and your pregnant wife in self defense killed someone. And he's like, you should take the plea.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Take the plea.

[Paul Scheer]

You should. Like, I can't handle this. It's basically what his lawyer does, which is amazing and I love it. There is something about. There's something fantastic about a movie like this that is so testosterone driven and so much about like machismo and all this stuff that the lawyer is like, I can't do it.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But it's like it's like the. It's like the lawyer from the Wire. Like, you know, it's like that.

[Paul Scheer]

Like Maurice Levy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, but I feel like wouldn't this movie just to go out for a second and say, but wouldn't this movie be a way more interesting if he was a bad guy who then is, like, turned good and then he was tempted by the bad guys again and then, like, makes the right choice, like that would at least give.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, I do hear what you're saying, Paul, because there was a part of me halfway through the movie that thought, I don't think he wants to go home.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You don't think he wants.

[Paul Scheer]

June. June, can you hear me? It's Jason. June, can you hear me?

[June Diane Raphael]

What'd you say? Jason?

[Paul Scheer]

At what point specifically did you think he doesn't want to go home? Because he.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think I would argue that the whole movie is him saying, I want to go home.

[June Diane Raphael]

I disagree.

[Paul Scheer]

Continue.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think that when. Even when. Even when he says, you know, I refuse to bring my daughter to the jail to see me, I would never want to see her. I would never want to have her see me in jail. It just doesn't. He's such a martyr that at a certain point you have to ask yourself, does he want a relationship with these people?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, there's.

[Paul Scheer]

June, I think he 100% does.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Like, he somehow managed, I don't know how, in prison to purchase a stuffed animal very.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

In the butt, in the. The plastic bag, as if they sell cigarettes, toys.

[Paul Scheer]

Yep.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. It's not that there's not a convenience store in the local prison.

[Paul Scheer]

Even if there is a convenience store or some sort of place where you can buy stuff at the prison, I'm finding it hard to believe that a plastic wrapped stuffed animal is amongst the choices. Go, June.

[June Diane Raphael]

But can I say one thing? Okay, this goes to what you were saying about the movie. Sort of glorifying masculinity and it's so testosterone driven that I actually think, you know, when he does not get off that plane and he stays on it for his fellow man and to be a man, it's in place of actually being a father to a child who needs him. So he does make the decision time and again to be this valiant hero, as opposed to a father and a husband to the people who really need him at home.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

June, if I can interrupt you.

[June Diane Raphael]

Thanks, guys.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I'm a little fucked up right now because it's almost like you're saying this movie isn't sending the right messages.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, by the way, if we're gonna talk about masculinity and how the movie treats masculinity. The gay character, the gay con.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, that's a whole. We have a whole topic.

[June Diane Raphael]

I couldn't feel it is essentially his crime was being too gay.

[Paul Scheer]

A very respectful portrait of homosexuality.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

To the point of this movie. Just. We were talking about this briefly backstage. Apparently this movie was rewritten every day on set. And I feel like every actor was like, yeah, and I'll be this and I'll be that. Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson used to make cocaine fueled movies. Yes. And Don Sims is like, no, I'm out on this one. He checked out.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He was like, no.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, he died.

[Paul Scheer]

And that such.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Werkheimer had died before this was done.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Really?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, he did. He did die, but this is he.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So a man who died on the toilet after doing untold numbers of amphetamines and. And who literally wore a leather race suit to the shoot of Days of Thunder and had himself photographed with Tom Cruz. This movie was too much for that guy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not in. He was out of that movie.

[Paul Scheer]

I would argue that. I'm assuming that Bruckheimer just then had twice as much coke and as a result made this movie. This. Cause this movie is, in the best way, absolutely bonkers. I know that I overuse that, but this is it and this is it on like 10.

[June Diane Raphael]

You know why I think it is, Jason? I know I said it was about, you know, there's something exciting about seeing action in the air, but I think it's also the added element of.

[Paul Scheer]

You love planes, June, you love.

[June Diane Raphael]

I love a plane movie. I do love a plane movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Surprisingly, though, tell the audience how you feel about planes in real life.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hate them. But I think that's why I think we're all scared of planes. I mean, it's crazy that they fly us around and we're just all up there together for that period of time. Like, not tethered to the ground. I mean, it's insane.

[Paul Scheer]

So you're talking now.

[June Diane Raphael]

But then also combined with that, there's also. I think the movie taps into a real fear of prisons and prison culture and what it is to be like, locked up. And the fact that the movie combines those two things together, it's just. It's just incredible.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We haven't even gotten to the plane taking off yet.

[June Diane Raphael]

By the way. I do want to ask a genuine question I do not know the answer to. Are there really prison planes like this?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, now. Now we're getting somewhere.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yes. Although Although the ones in real life go more than 200ft in the air and more than 100 miles an hour.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Which I was gonna say this movie, I don't have a map, but the sense that I got is this movie really just circles about 50 miles. Like, they're never too far away. Everyone can drive to it.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then they, at the end of the movie, choose to like Las Vegas.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Oh, my God.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They choose to crash into a hotel instead of go to the airport, which is.

[Paul Scheer]

They run out of fuel. They. Goddamn you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's not even a difference.

[Paul Scheer]

Do not do this, man. Do not misrepresent right here. Mc Gainey is doing his best to land this plane. One of his engines is out. He's out of fuel. He's got to land it on the Las Vegas.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The Las Vegas International airport is literally 1.1 mile away from the Hard Rock Casino.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I. I don't think you're using literally correctly.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

1.1 mile. We can't land there. We gotta take it down on the Strip.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

On the Strip. Arguably the busiest road in America.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's not gonna end well. It's not desert on either side. They've already landed in desert.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No, that's the only place that's.

[Paul Scheer]

I would like to ask a question. Concern, conservatively, how many people do you think died in the landing of that plane?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Worse than Fast5, when they had that safety tied to the back of that car.

[Paul Scheer]

What I could only describe as a hilarious level of civilian death must have happened. This is like man of Steel level, civilian death.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is the 911 of Las Vegas.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Yes. Where the New York. New York casino is hit hard. Hang on. Stay with me, guys. The government did it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's so many. I just want to like again. I just, like. If you look at this movie, you could argue that nothing, like nothing. No characters arc in this movie at all. Right. There was no change from the beginning to the end. Nick Cage is like, I want to go home. He got home.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There was no, like. There was no like. He just was always a good guy.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The. The bad guys, there's no changes with them.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, they're just dead.

[June Diane Raphael]

There's a huge chamber.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

And there is a change for John Cusack, which is. Well, I mean, I feel like he becomes an action star by the end of the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's not.

[June Diane Raphael]

He does.

[Paul Scheer]

You mean John Cusack has changed? Not his character.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Not Vince Larkin.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. The only person. The only person who I think does change a little bit in an insignificant way is What's Col Meanie? Yeah, he goes from being a prick to being like, I guess you're okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Again, in true Bruckheimer fashion, Cole Meaney from Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Next Generation comes in and is just an asshole from moment one. And he hates John cusack, who's a U.S. marshal, who we've only. Only I know of U.S. marshals as, like, badasses. They're not like.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm sorry. Not if you're in the dea, bro. If you're in the dea, the US Marshals are basically pussies, apparently. Can we.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

The first shot of John Cusack in this movie is of his feet, and he is wearing sandals with socks.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I did not put that together. Okay.

[Paul Scheer]

Is that true?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

That is true. And there is. There is another shot in Las Vegas. So he arguably doesn't learn anything either, Right. In the movie. Because at the end of the movie, he's still wearing sandals with socks.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But. And he rode the motorcycle.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

He rode the motorcycle. And by the way, apparently he flies an attack chopper. He knows how to do that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, but. All able to just drive wherever. He got in that car, drove to the airfield in record time.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Record time. But. But. No, but Cole Meaney thinks from moment one that he's a liberal. At one point, he says, like, where is Larkin? Oh, he's probably saving the rainforest.

[Paul Scheer]

Larkin, who is like, I'm going to where they're at. The. The bad guys are actually going. I have the information. I'm going there.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No, I'm gonna chase the goddamn Taurus plane.

[Paul Scheer]

Mean, he gets distracted. And then they try to call him. He's like, yeah, makes that like, he's probably trying to save the rainforest. No, no, he told you where he's going. You're a terrible listener.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What we understand of Larkin, or at least my knowledge of Larkin, is this.

[Paul Scheer]

Guy'S like, larkin is John Cusack's character.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's like, I'm taking the world's dangerous prisoners and putting them in a supermax jail. He's not like, I'm putting them out on parole. Like, he's just like, yeah, he's for incarceration. He's up.

[June Diane Raphael]

But I will say, if he. If John Cusack didn't see them as human beings on any level, he would never have known to, you know, to really investigate Nicolas Cage's character and find and assume that he would have a chance with him. Like, there was. He did believe on some level that prisoners can be rehabilitated.

[Paul Scheer]

No, he did.

[June Diane Raphael]

And that they can do the right thing. He did.

[Paul Scheer]

No, I don't think so. I think he. I think John Cusack only cared about his plane. John Cusack's thing was that plane was his idea. June. Does that make sense?

[June Diane Raphael]

I disagree.

[Paul Scheer]

I think that John Cusack cares about this plane and he's like, don't shoot it down. That's my plane. He only thinks of Nicolas Cage when he realizes, hey, I think we have an ally on this plane. I think it's this guy. I think he knows he's got a plane full of.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Only a means to an end maniacs, you know? Yeah. Because in the beginning, Cameron Poe is a nobody.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm sorry. If he felt, though, that he had a plane full of maniacs, he would have no problem with that DEA agent having a gun.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think he was being smart. He was like, this is a plane full of insanos.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, he put a gun in the mix.

[Paul Scheer]

No, that was. Then the same thing as he was like. And what he said was, it's the same rules as prison. Nobody has guns. You know, like prison guards don't have guns either.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And by the way, the only reason that Colmeni puts that DE agent on the plane and he says it in the movie is because it's their last chance to get a confession from Cindino, the drug lord, before he gets into FBI custody. And Colmeni says, and I'll be damned if those FBI bastards are going to get the credit. So he's putting this guy's life in danger and putting a gun on a plane full of insanos.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So that he can get the confession before the fucking FBI bastards get it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So basically, the DEA is just pissed off at everybody. Everybody.

[Paul Scheer]

You know how after 911 they were like, wow, this is really the 911 podcast. They were like, ah. None of our intelligence agencies talk to each other. They could have looked at this movie and known that this movie is an illustration of how little our intelligence services are willing to work with each other. It is a scathing indictment.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

It was ahead of its time.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, God.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, I also want to bring up a point.

[Paul Scheer]

And it took Snowden. We had Con Air guys, and it took Snowden that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This movie. All right. There. All right. We're not even in the air. I guess we are. We're kind. We're getting in the air. The other thing was, there is a. They are not putting a weapons on the plane. But oddly, the entire belly of the plane is full of weapons. Like shock full. Yeah. And at no point does, like, when they. When the prisoners take over the plane, do they go, let's go get that. Like that boatload of weapons.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

The very end, when they're at Lerner, yeah. They break into the front of the plane and they get all those shotguns. And then Cyrus the virus makes his little coke can map. Remember, he's like General MacArthur in the.

[Paul Scheer]

Philippines so much in those 12, 10.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

12 minutes, which, by the way, 10 to 12 minutes, Ving Rhames gets up to the top, and he looks out into the desert and he sees the dust plume of the cars, the approaching, and he goes. They're 10 to 12 minutes away, and.

[Paul Scheer]

They just eyeballs it.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

They dig the plane 10 to 12 minutes away.

[Paul Scheer]

They dig the plane out. 13 to 17 minutes around the plane. They pull the plane out, they find a tractor, they attach it to the plane. They have time to build propane tank bombs. Everybody gets in. They do, conservatively, three days worth of work.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Correct.

[Paul Scheer]

In those 10 to 12 minutes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And to my point, Cyrus makes a two scale map of the entire airfield.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

By the way, the plan was not that intense. He didn't need to make that much.

[Paul Scheer]

He didn't need to go back. He could have just pointed at the thing and been like, right here is where we're gonna do it. We didn't. He didn't need to assemble any of that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It wasn't like the back to the future model where Doc had to show Marty, like, how it all would have to work.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And then the cops drive in at like four miles an hour in single file, and there's this huge, vast desert, and they drive through the only bottleneck in the entire, like, for miles.

[Paul Scheer]

Why? Why? Why? Why would you do it? Why? You have to know. It's a trap. Come on. Still so good, though.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm still.

[Paul Scheer]

You would think. You would think that frustration would make it. That. That frustration would make it not fun to watch. In fact, the opposite is true. This is some sort of. This movie is some sort of perfect elixir where everything just is perfect.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What did the plane like pulling the plane out of the dirt. I don't think the plane's gonna just take off again either. Like, that just didn't seem like that plane was grounded.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No, you're wrong. I'm. I'm an aviation expert. Yeah, it's fine. It works. It's great.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace, Oh, I love it. Is the all in one platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. I have been using Squarespace for years, and Whether you're just starting out or you're managing a growing brand, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything from products to content. Okay. All in one place on your terms. Now, this is what I love about Squarespace. You can constantly tweak and update it. It's easy. You don't need to hire a designer. All right. You can get 10 off your first purchase of a website or [e-mail] bonkers. Plus, Squarespace is introducing design intelligence. This is pretty cool, all right. Design intelligence empowers anyone to build a beautiful, more personalized website tailored to their unique needs and craft a bespoke digital identity to use across one's entire online presence. So check out squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch squarespace.combonkers and you will save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Paul Scheer]

Now, taxes is 100% free when you file in the TurboTax app. If you didn't file with us last year.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Just do your own taxes in the app by 218. What if I have lots of forms?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All good.

[Paul Scheer]

All 100% free. What if I had three jobs? Still 100% free.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What if I once saw Bigfoot?

[Paul Scheer]

That has nothing to do with taxes. So still 100% free.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now that's what I'm talking about.

[Paul Scheer]

Now this is taxes. See if you qualify in the TurboTax app. Excludes TurboTax Live.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Must start and file an app by 218abc Wednesday. Tim Allen and Kat Dennings star in the new family comedy Shifting Gears.

[June Diane Raphael]

Dad, I'm broke and I need a place to stay until I figure out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What the rest of my life looks like. So a couple of days when his daughter moves back in. The last time he walked out that door, you look back at me and gave me a double bird.

[June Diane Raphael]

I was 18. The double bird was how I ended all our conversations.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

The wheels come off. Can we try to talk to each.

[June Diane Raphael]

Other like rational adults?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Have you watch the news lately? That's not a thing anymore. Series premiere Wednesday, 8.7Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. And meanwhile, Steve Buscemi.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Oh, my God.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, I mean, this movie.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Garland Green, the Marietta Mangler with. With Nick. With Nick Cage's accent, by the way, when he gets. When Garland Green gets on the plane and with that accent, he goes Mario Mangler when he sees him. So Garland Green goes over to a trailer park somewhere in the desert and.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, yeah, the Trailer park that's attached to an abandoned airfield. Like, again, right. Geography in this movie is like, wait, what? It looks like there's nothing there.

[Paul Scheer]

And then some people in America, you know what? They're down on their luck. They're having a hard time. They live near an abandoned airplane graveyard, slash small plane strip. They let their kids hang out in empty pools, and if a plane crashes next door, nobody notices.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No one leaves their trailer. When a. The. Arguably the biggest thing that's ever happened.

[Paul Scheer]

I will just say this and I will say it again. Five stars.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

But. Okay, so here's a serious question, because honestly, the film never resolves this issue.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Which I find disturbing, too.

[Paul Scheer]

I bet it does.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, so this little girl is playing, and she's out there in the. In the abandoned pool. And she is filthy and her playground is filthy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I wrote that she looks like somebody out of the Depression, right? Like, literally, like. Like she is out of like the. The dust bowls.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Straight up. Yes, straight up. The Kenzie and Orphan.

[June Diane Raphael]

Because here's what's weird. Sorry to interrupt, but. But in terms of her look, she does look like she was put together at one point. Like, she looks like she got dressed up 50 years ago.

[Paul Scheer]

Right.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's very strange.

[Paul Scheer]

Do you think she's a ghost?

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know.

[Paul Scheer]

I found this interaction to be very compelling.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Oh, it's compelling. It's absolutely compelling.

[Paul Scheer]

And by the way, this was a more believable love story than Nicolas Cage and Monica Potter.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But wait, but here's the thing. I don't know what he's really even guilty of. Like, he's wearing the Hannibal Lecter get up.

[Paul Scheer]

He murdered. He massacred 30 people, they say.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right. But it seems like any. As he tells us, he wore one person's head as a hat.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yes, for three states.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

For three states. That seems. Do you know how comfortable.

[Paul Scheer]

Do you know how hard it would be to wear someone's head as a hat?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Even the balancing of it would be a difficult problem.

[Paul Scheer]

It would be heavy. You would need something as a chin.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Strap, I think maybe a tongue.

[Paul Scheer]

And where would you. Or maybe their hair.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

If it was a woman who had long hair, you could use her hair to tie it under your chin.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Maybe if you had the appropriate amount of scrunchie.

[Paul Scheer]

If it's a guy's head, good luck. What? You're like, jauntily putting it atop your head.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Unless he killed, like. Unless he killed like a night. Like an. Like an 80s metal band or something. Like, if he killed a member of Poison, I'M a Lady would work too.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, no, you're probably right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, so go ahead. Okay, so he meets this girl.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

He meets this girl in the pool, the little girl. And they start singing together, right?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And the whole world in his hands. And we're obviously meant to think something terrible and ominous happens because we cut back and there's a broken teacup and her doll is there alone and she's nowhere to be seen. And yet. And yet, when the plane finally takes off, they cut to the little girl running out of her trailer waving goodbye.

[Paul Scheer]

Goodbye, Bob. She says, goodbye, Bob.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's his name.

[Paul Scheer]

He like, he was like, you know what? I'm not gonna tell this little girl my real name. I'll just tell her my name is Bob.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I just want to say the last thing about Garland Green is if there's any doubt about where this film's morals.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Are and what the message is. Garland Green is the only person in the film who truly gets off scot free and is truly way better off at the end of the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, true, but he's the most dangerous.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Exactly.

[Paul Scheer]

Or he's not, because he is the one that we see. He's the only criminal we see not engaged in his criminal behavior. He doesn't. No, he was. I don't think.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No, he.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Jude, Dude, I don't know. Jude. He admitted. He admitted. He admitted to wearing a person's head on his own head. He was not in there under false pretense, Jude.

[June Diane Raphael]

I haven't seen. I don't know anything about those cases.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Jude does not know anything about the cases.

[Paul Scheer]

You can go through the case files, June. I'm pretty sure. Oh, my God, that is unbelievable. That he was wrongfully accused is like a. Like, I would love to see that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Also self defense. He just happened to cut somebody's head off and wear his hat.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Because here's the weird thing. I will say this.

[Paul Scheer]

Like Robert Durst.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, but it's interesting because he does. He does not kill that little girl. And if he's that much of a, like, serial murderer, it would seem that he would need to kill her more than he would need to get back on that plane.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I think this is. My conjecture is that he is. Because he says. I mean, he does say something. That he has that whole riff about those that killed, like Bundy and Gacy killed for the thrill of killing. And some of. But other people kill only when they are pushed to kill or whatever. And that is like Robert Durst, you know, like somebody says in that the same thing. Like when he. When pushed to a corner. I think Robert Durst is capable of murder. I think he didn't kill that little girl because he. That's not his deal, man. He doesn't.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why have that scene in the movie.

[Paul Scheer]

To make you afraid he's gonna. And then it's like, oh, he didn't. What a sweetie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But if he was given. But if he was given his deal, whatever that was like, 80s, you know, punk rock or, you know, rock bands, and he was in a situation, would he have then killed? Like, if it was the person, it's his deal.

[Paul Scheer]

I don't know. Maybe.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The one thing. The one thing I can say, that.

[Paul Scheer]

Person is freaking out. Are you okay?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We have so much. I mean, we do have so much to talk about.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Can we.

[Paul Scheer]

Man, I want to talk so much more about this movie. I would roll right through the next show just talking about this movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We barely scratch the surface.

[Paul Scheer]

Guys, shut up. We can't do that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Can we.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Can we talk about really quick? Can we talk about the reason that Cameron Poe does stay on the plane, which is Baby o, played by McKeltie Williamson.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right. Who we know famously as Bubba Gump or Bubba. Bubba. Bubba Blue.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. I didn't even know his last name, but Bubba, the guy who likes shrimp, the guy who launched a thousand Bubba Gump restaurants.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right. So. So they meet in prison, their cellmates in prison, and they bond over Nick Cage gives him a, like a ho. Ho or a snow. Snowball. Snowball. And then we learn and he, like, takes it, and they're like, we're friends now, and.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And he, like, runs the library.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And he runs the library. But then we learn he's diabetic.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, wow. Wow. That just blew my mind. He essentially almost almost killed him.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Almost killed him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then maybe that's why he had to stay on, save his life.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So that's what I'm saying. I also want to point out the fact.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And why was he even on that plane?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Because they were both.

[Paul Scheer]

They were moving him.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

They were moving him, but they were like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I just. To me that the logic of this was weird is like, we're taking the most dangerous criminals and putting them in a supermax jail. But then we'll also, like, take this guy who only seemed to live, like, not that far away. Like. Right.

[Paul Scheer]

I would have thought if. What you're saying, Paul, appears to be that because they're moving them to a brand new prison that they built. So they're saying this prison is all of the most dangerous the most deadly. The guys who have nicknames. And this guy and this guy over here and the guy that murdered all these people. And this guy too. Like Nicholas Cage's roommate. Nicholas Cage and his roommate are meaningless to the plane. They don't need. They're barely. But what is that prison? Is it just going to be like hundreds and hundreds of the deadliest and then. Baby. O.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right.

[Paul Scheer]

That's what I was saying.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's what didn't make any sense.

[Paul Scheer]

Perfectly nice.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Every prison, Every prison needs a library.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He was brought in as a librarian in residence.

[June Diane Raphael]

The other question too is why not just make a couple of trips?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, yeah, this one, this plane was making layovers.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, there was stops, right?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There were stops like. And again, Nicholas was. Oh yeah. He. I'm trying to think.

[Paul Scheer]

He.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

When that plane does do the layover, he wasn't even getting out there.

[Paul Scheer]

He was good. No, he wasn't.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

That was in Carson City. That where they loaded on Garland.

[June Diane Raphael]

He doesn't really want to go.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Want to go home.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Well, but they, they. So they. But he couldn't leave.

[Paul Scheer]

Baby.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Can't leave a man behind. That's the ranger creed.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Which actually, I don't know if that's the ranger could. But that, that perfect. That like weirdly perfect sandstorm that's going on, which we don't even need to get.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Which is great because there's a sandstorm that perfect.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, again, landing a plane in a sandstorm seems, I would say, unadvisable.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And hard for MC Ganey, who appears to have a hard time landing any other time, but in a sandstorm.

[Paul Scheer]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The hardest thing, he's like.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

He's a very capable pilot.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. But when it was in that airfield, that was a big mess.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

But. But I just also want to point out this is McKeltie Williamson. Bubba, when he gets shot, right. There is a scene where he lay dying in Nicolas Cage's arms that is almost exactly the same scene that he has with Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. It is him literally going like, I don't think I'm gonna make it. And literally the second time in three years that he has had to die in the arms of a feeble minded Southern man. There's also a thing that he says in that he goes out of nowhere, this religious component comes into the movie in that one moment when he's dying in Nic Cage's arms. He goes, he goes. All I can think about is that there is no God. Out of nowhere yeah. And then. And then Nick Cage goes. He stands up and he goes, where are you going? He goes, I'm going to show you that there is a God. And then he fights his way to the front of the plane, like effortlessly. He gets shot.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He gets shot. He doesn't flinch.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

It doesn't flinch.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like it didn't even bother.

[Paul Scheer]

You know why? Because God is on his side.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Correct.

[Paul Scheer]

Cuz he was right. This movie proves the existence of God. Can there be any other answer?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I also. Can we just. I want to talk about the score for a second too, which. And of it which was like this there. The fight scenes are not. They're like the score that you would think of like a. Like an action fight scene. It's not that. It's kind of like this slow kind of electric guitar that seems to be as if a person. They're like, yeah, just score it and we'll put it in later. You don't need to see the movie. It just. It doesn't. It doesn't match at all.

[Paul Scheer]

Noodle around on a guitar as a temp track. We'll put it in. Oh, we accidentally put the movie out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, it's like. It's like the. The way I thought of it was like. And I know it's an obscure reference, but like in Lethal Weapon, in the in between scenes when like Murton Rigor talking, they're like, Clapton. Clapton. Yeah, like that Clapton stuff. But that's going on during like bam, bam, bam. Like does not fitting at all. It's way too relaxed.

[Paul Scheer]

You say that, except it fits perfectly into what is arguably one of the greatest movies ever made.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's. We're gonna be able to keep on talking about. But let's go out to the audience here and the audience, I'm sure will have some questions because we need to give them some answers. And tonight, if you have a good question, you will get a toy from our friends at Mezco Toys gave us some toys. That Bob is heavy. So I'm gonna have to run back and get you some toys. All right.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, great.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

June is now looking at the audience. All right, the audience is waving at June. All right, here we go. Here's a question. Who has a question? Yeah, right here. Your name. A tagline that you would give this movie and your question. Here we go.

[June Diane Raphael]

My name's Holly. The tagline is the greatest movie in history.

[Paul Scheer]

That's fucking right on. It is.

[June Diane Raphael]

And I actually have two comments.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Two.

[June Diane Raphael]

Two. One is, am I supposed to find Nick Cage attractive in this movie? Because there's a lot of shots that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Tell me I'm supposed to, but don't. June, could you hear that?

[June Diane Raphael]

I couldn't hear the last part. I'm sorry. I only heard. Am I supposed to find Nic Cage attractive?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's it. So are you.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's it.

[Paul Scheer]

What do you think, Jude?

[June Diane Raphael]

I think so.

[Paul Scheer]

Strong. Disagree. He is the hunkiest of hunks. You know how I know? Tank top. Muscles. Hair. Tmh, guys. Tmh.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, your second comment.

[June Diane Raphael]

My second comment is. And I'm not a physics person, but I'm fairly certain you wouldn't be able to read the message on Dave Chappelle's shirt when he hit the car.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Very good point. In this movie, we. We have jumped out of a big plot point. They dropped Dave Chappelle out of the airplane. And. And. But before they do.

[Paul Scheer]

He's dead already.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's dead.

[Paul Scheer]

And.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But before they do, they write in magic marker on his chest and then let him go. Thousands of.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, no. If he. If that happened in real life, he would legitimately explode into tiny bits. He would like, explode like a. Like a water balloon.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I saw someone boo. I was in New York City when someone jumped off the Harley Davidson Cafe. And that was maybe, like, legitimate.

[Paul Scheer]

Though if I was at the Harley Davidson Cafe, I'd be like, I don't know why I'm here. I got one way out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, you're right. They were able to read. They read his lettering similarly to like in Die Hard, where they write on the guy's chest, but this guy dropped from 5,000.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, here we go. We got another question out here, ma'am. Your name, your slogan or tagline for the film and your question. Okay, my name is Daphne.

[June Diane Raphael]

My tagline would be before Angry Birds.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Con Air. I like it.

[Paul Scheer]

I like that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I like it. Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, My question is when they introduce John Malkovich, aka Cyrus the Virus, they say he's 39 and he spent 25 years in prison, which means he would have had to gone to jail when he was 14.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

He.

[Paul Scheer]

No, they said he has total 25 of them.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

That's correct.

[Paul Scheer]

In our prison. So on and off, on and off, on and off, I think.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, but then he would have had.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Time off and so what? He went to jail when he was.

[June Diane Raphael]

Three for having the air conditioned cookbook.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean. Yeah, yeah, Daphne, like, you say that like it's impossible, but he's the bad guy. Doi.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

John Malkovich would refuse to do press for this movie because he did not know what his character was doing or what his character ended up doing based on what he shot.

[Paul Scheer]

But is that true?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

John Malcolm, the idea that you could do an entire movie and be like, I don't know what my character was doing. I don't know what my character did. I don't know. What has happened in this movie is when you are one of the main people in. That's amazing.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

He has, though. I will give him this. He has. I don't think this is up for debate. Maybe the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

The greatest villain death of all time in this movie. It's a pretty four parter. It's a four parter.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Let's talk one. By the end, he's up on a ladder. He's been handcuffed to a ladder on a moving ladder truck.

[Paul Scheer]

Because after there are airplane chases, helicopter chases, car chases, dump truck chases. There's a fire truck chase.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Correct. Oh, and by the way, they get off the strip and into a very industrial facility.

[Paul Scheer]

What did you think that Bond movie too, that we did also had a fire truck chase, Right?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, it did.

[June Diane Raphael]

But why? Question. Why not just get into the sort of car part of the fire truck? Why was he hanging off the ladder?

[Paul Scheer]

Unclear. Yeah, I would argue because it's cooler.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

It is cooler. Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

You know, like I'm the cool guy, so I'm not gonna ride up front with MC Ganey. Yeah, it's the same reason he doesn't spend a lot of time in the cockpit of the plane.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's like dorks. It's like Teen Wolf when he's driving that van, he's got a surf on the top.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, when you're the cool dude, you don't ride in the cab or the cockpit. You ride either atop or in the back of whatever vehicle.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So, yeah, he did have a four part death, which then ends. Yeah, go ahead, Seth.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, he.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah, so he. My recollection is he gets. He's on the ladder. The ladder drives through some kind of in between casino land bridge and he's thrown through the structure. Then he lands on somehow, inexplicably, power wires.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And he's fried. But then he lands. Comes down off the power wires and lands on a conveyor belt in an abandoned construction site in which all the machinery is still going.

[Paul Scheer]

And this is within throwing distance of the strip.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Of the strip.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Correct.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And then there's one of those like earth flattening giant hydraulic hammers. So he slowly rolls off the conveyor then is dumped in a pile of rocks, then looks around like, what? What's going on?

[Paul Scheer]

What?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And looks up and then he gets flattened. But it is. I mean, it's truly. But what the testament to this movie is. And by the way, that fire truck crashes because a. An armored car star stalls.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

For no reason, in the middle of the strip at precisely the right time. It's a testament to the logic of this movie that you're like, oh, that could happen.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah, well, that's what I'm saying. When I watched this movie again, I was like, I enjoyed this. And then I'm like, wait, what did I just watch? None of it holds up.

[Paul Scheer]

Except it all holds up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is that your. Is that. You seem like you're standing here. All right, who has a good question? Well, let's only take one question. You, sir, come over here. One question. One question. Yeah, come on. Here we go. Oh, you got a notebook. Good. I picked the right person. Sir, your name, your tagline for this movie and your question. My name is Justin. Welcome, Justin. Thank you. The tagline is actually my friend's idea. It's Nicholas Uncaged. Oh, like that? Really like that one?

[Paul Scheer]

That works really well.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I was wondering, you guys touched on it earlier. Could you argue that Steve Buscemi's character.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

With a little girl.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That little girl was actually a figment of his imagination? She doesn't interact with anything.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I mean, I. I pray to God that she was.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, well, no, because the figment wouldn't wave goodbye.

[Paul Scheer]

She has her own shot. Yeah, she has a shot where she exists alone in the shot. So I don't think that would work.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But you could also argue the filmmaking of this movie would not pay attention to that kind of true logic. So it's open to interpretation that this could have been a ghost or a.

[Paul Scheer]

Figment of his magic. Yeah, you could argue the whole movie could be. Wow. Okay, let's unravel this. The whole movie could exist in the head of an autistic kid.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Which is Nicolas Cage's daughter.

[Paul Scheer]

Correct.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Which we don't know.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No, absolutely.

[Paul Scheer]

Who then gets a little bit older and. Oh, no, it was a little boy elsewhere.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

But in jail. Nicholas Cage is trading letters with Casey.

[Paul Scheer]

Yep.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And he says, I can't wait to get home and do all the things that we love doing together again. They haven't done anything together.

[Paul Scheer]

Wait, does he say that?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yes. Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And Casey. Casey is writing full on letters, this.

[Paul Scheer]

Could be a Jacob's Ladder movie. Casey, he might get killed by the three Thugs. At the beginning of the movie, in the rainstorm.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

100% what happens?

[Paul Scheer]

And the whole movie is the last moment of his life.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Imagining the hero's journey that he might have gone on.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I just want to just call out. Before we move on to the next question, I just want to call out that Casey, at the end of the movie, there is a shot, and please go and watch this.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She is terrified.

[Paul Scheer]

Terrified.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

She is terrified of Nicolas Cage.

[Paul Scheer]

Why? Because he looks. He's covered. He's a maniad. He's covered in blood. He is a man. He looks like he just has killed a lot of people, which is what he's done.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And he also, like, goes to grab at her pretty. Does he grab at her right away, or. That may be the.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No. He tries to give her the bunny that he fished out of the sewer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Sewer.

[Paul Scheer]

The bunny went down a sewer drain. And he's like. I got this for you.

[June Diane Raphael]

Paul.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

Sorry, I'm having trouble hearing now. I think I should sign off.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Bye, June.

[June Diane Raphael]

I hope this was okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Bye.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Can we talk about the drug dealer's death scene? That Psy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Remember this? There are two awesome lines in this movie I just want to acknowledge really quickly. One is, he goes, psy. And Malkovich goes, anara.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He says it so quick that it makes me feel like he's done it a lot. Like that Cyrus, the virus is like. This is my thing. When I kill people in the middle of saying Cyrus.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

But he only gets the first bit outside. And Malkovich completes it with Onara.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And then throws a cigarette.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

That ignites the. The drug dealer aflame.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The other thing.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And that's Cindino's death, by the way. Cindino the drug dealer. The other. My other favorite bit of dialogue in this whole movie is also. Also in relation to Cindino's character. And it's in the most incredible line of expository dialogue. And it's spoken by Nicholas Cage. And he goes. He's saying to Cyrus, how well do you know this Cindino? I don't know him that well myself. Just what I read. Like how he firebombed that senator's yacht with two of his own cousins aboard. That's the line. And it's so incredibly specific, like we're supposed to. To believe this dude is hardcore. Because he firebombed the senators.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. With two of his. I want to see that movie and this movie.

[Paul Scheer]

This movie was not nominated for an Academy Award for Best Game Plan, but.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It was for best song. For best song, it was. Thank God, we'll play that video. I will also say this. I feel like they. There is a knowledge of all these criminals, and all of them had nicknames. As a person who. I feel like I'm illiterate to the news. I don't know that many criminals with that many nicknames. I feel like that was a lot of.

[Paul Scheer]

Chemical Ali. That's all I got.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, even Robert. Robert Durst doesn't have, like, Jinx. Now he is called the Jinx.

[Paul Scheer]

That's like a super Blinky Blinky.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

He's Blinky.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, your name.

[Paul Scheer]

But I would like it if we gave our. Our cultural villain more nicknames. I think that's a really good point.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like Pinball. Okay. Yes. Dave Chappelle's character. Your name, your tagline, and your question. My name is Julie.

[June Diane Raphael]

The tagline would be con hair for the mullet, obviously. My question is when they show the little hangar where Sandino is hidden, the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Plane where he's hiding it, they zoom.

[June Diane Raphael]

In on a box. They open the box, and it has onions and chicken feet in it, but.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nobody ever addresses it. It's like some sort of weird.

[Paul Scheer]

It's because the box is a first aid kit. It's a first aid kit. And he's looking for the needle. So he's like, oh, yeah, first aid kit. He opens it, and it's onions and whatnot, which I love.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

The set dresser's like, what can we put in here that's not. That's better than empty.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And by the way, they just pulled out like, some witchcraft is going on there.

[Paul Scheer]

I fill it full of stuff for Santeria.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That. And by the way, finding that syringe, I mean, that was. I mean, that was a great journey, too.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here you go. Your question. Okay. Your name, your tagline, your question. My name is Cole. The tagline will be what one man's mullet will do to get home.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not without my mullet. Take it home without it.

[Paul Scheer]

My question is Buscemi's character gives, like, this little monologue of, like, am I.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Any more crazy than a man who works 9 to 5?

[Paul Scheer]

So I guess I'm saying is that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The writers is using Buscemi as, like, a mouthpiece to say that a man who simply sits behind a desk from.

[Paul Scheer]

9 to 5 is the equivalent to.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

A Charlie Manson, Ted Bundy type killer. That's a good question.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, it's a real existential quandary that he gives to us in that moment by saying, what is real insanity. You know, the mass murderer or the office corporate drones.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's true.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I think this movie gets that point across. Better than Fight Club did. Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yep. Better than wanted.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Clearly we had opinions about this movie, but there are other people out there with different opinions. It's now time for second opinions. Okay, these are second opinions. I feel like we've been talking about this movie for a very long time. We haven't even. There's giant areas that we haven't even gotten into. These are second opinions from Con Air. This review I hesitated reading because it pays off kind of at the end. But it's called Beautiful Men all around. And it just says the action is fantastic, the casting is perfect. The love is just plain cute. Nicolas Cage has class and a great ability to show emotion. John Malkovich is just so damn cool. He plays the intelligent guy who makes everyone else feel stupid. He's scary, but laid back. John Cusack is beautiful. The way he spends the entire film looking out for Cage is really cute. All the men in this movie are hot and they are fantastic actors. Everyone needs to see this cute film.

[Paul Scheer]

I feel like that was written by, like, a 13 year old. I did think it was. Those sentiments are not wrong. It is a very cute movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, well, here we go. This is. All right, so this is. The dress is something that we've talked about here. Okay, for all of you who say it's racist, well, fine, go ahead. I'm not gonna slam you for your opinion, so don't slam me for mine when I say this is the greatest movie. If you didn't like it, don't share it with me because there are millions of people who did like it. And I'm not gonna slam your favorite movie because I didn't like this. All right? This movie also is not about glamorizing criminals. Not at all. They all got caught in the end, didn't they? So what if their sociopaths are likable? They are not real.

[Paul Scheer]

Right? So this reviewer successfully discerned this wasn't a documentary.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Some kids might think that they are. But then again, those kids shouldn't be watching this movie. People still like computer games and Nintendo and hey, James Bond even throws a few funny kills. So stop badmouthing my movie if you don't like it. So what? Don't criticize us who did. Which is followed by this guy. This is a great movie. It says, quit the special effects. I think he means quite the special effects. Anyone who thinks that this movie is racist seriously needs to wake up I could argue the film was racist against whites because there are more white criminals than black criminals on the plane, but I don't.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Signed the Ferguson chief of police.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then this one is pretty great. This one is very passionate. This movie is fiction.

[Paul Scheer]

Again, people seem to have trouble with this they need to assert online. I understand where this falls on the line between fiction and nonfiction.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I am so tired of people who become omniscient after they've seen the movie and they claim it's so predictable. All right, in the boneyard, you have the convict's plane that's mixed in the sand, the drugs cartel's jet hidden in the hangar. Cusack has arrived, and the FBI is arriving in the distance in a cloud of dust. If I stopped the movie at that point and asked you what was going to happen next, I would have gotten a zillion different answers and none of them would have been right.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, man, I love statistics.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I knew Buscemi was gonna slice and dice that girl in the boneyard, but guess what? It didn't happen. For you guys who don't like action movies or violence, don't watch it, don't rate it. I'm not gonna click over to Wuthering Heights and rate it low because it's predictable, unpredictable love story that lacked any semblance of action.

[Paul Scheer]

But, I mean, there's plenty of action. Heathcliff and Kathy out in the horse. I mean, come on, guys.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So that has some five star reviews. Oh, my gosh. So those are some five stars.

[Paul Scheer]

I think when a lot of your reviews start with people say this movie's.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Racist, I think that was a very big, tough one. Thing just to note that this girl is from the copy place, from Friends.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Ginny. Ginny.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

If you recognize her, she's Cusack's number two, but doesn't really do much in the movie.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

She disappears.

[Paul Scheer]

Who is she?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, she. She's just the girl.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

She's. Angela Featherstone is the actress. As I looked it up, because I was like, this poor girl.

[Paul Scheer]

This.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

There is a cut of this movie somewhere where she has, I'm sure, like a whole plot. A whole plot.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They set her up.

[Paul Scheer]

It's her. Silence of the Lambs where she's Jodie Foster.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

She's just.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Anyway, yeah, so you might recognize her from Friends.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Now.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Who is she on Friends from the copy place?

[Paul Scheer]

I don't remember.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, all right.

[Paul Scheer]

So Friends, the TV show.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, and the play.

[Paul Scheer]

Cool.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is there anything that we didn't cover that's worthy of covering here in the last couple of minutes. I think we know very clearly what we think about the movie, but anything that we haven't talked about that's worthy of mentioning.

[Paul Scheer]

I loved when the cops find all of the plain schematics.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And all of that stuff in Malkovich's jail cell.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Because it's not just a few little things. It is a volume of stuff hidden in a. A legitimate crawl space in a cement jail. That is like, so. And he's down there. There's journals.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, to me, how is he getting stuff in and out of there? Look like he put up a brick every time.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

He made a brick out of powder, too.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Made a perfect replica of the brick out of powder.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But every time he would have to go in there, he'd have to make another one of those bricks. Oh, yeah, because you broke it.

[Paul Scheer]

My question is, there appears to be a camera looking right at that spot. Because they're upstairs looking at the camera and they're like, hey, chief, you should come down here and look at this. So you're telling me this thing you just found has a camera that's pointing right at it and none of you dum dums have ever looked at it and been like, what's he doing down there? He seems to be in front of the sink. Why does he have a trowel? Why does he.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's been praying for a long time.

[Paul Scheer]

He's doing a lot of mason work.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And those cops got it for being nosy. He had a little thing that said, by the way, he constructed a liquid bomb.

[Paul Scheer]

A liquid bomb in like an Altoids tin.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That was the crazy. Like, that was a lot of shit that came in there.

[Paul Scheer]

Cuz he's fucking awesome.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Seth, anything that we haven't talked about that you want to talk about?

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I still don't like this movie. I mean. No, that's not fair.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, I think it's.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Watch.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I feel like it's watching, but I agree with you. I don't think it's good. It's not. It's not on the level of the.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I feel like this is where it all goes south for Nick Cage. If you look at the history of Nick Cage, because you look at him up to this point, at this point, he's just made the rock.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

This is right after the rock. He's won the Academy Award for leaving Las Vegas. He's proven that he's an incredible comedic actor in Raising Arizona. Brilliant.

[Paul Scheer]

Moonstruck.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Moonstruck. Peggy Sue Got married. Like, he's worked with all the best Filmmakers. He's on the. And if. I don't know, like, that crazy Nick Cage, like, inexplicable. Inexplicable craziness. I feel like you could trace it all back to this movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, here's a fact that Worthy for the. The next show we're gonna do. The day he finished this, he went to the set of Face Off.

[Paul Scheer]

Really?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He did these two movies back, literally, like, not even 12 hours past, between one to the other.

[Paul Scheer]

And I will say it was the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Fueling of let's Go. Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

It works. This movie. I feel about this movie akin to how I feel about Crank or Fast and Furious movies. I think this is. I just enjoyed this movie for the nonsense that it is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

How many people here love the movie? And I don't think hate is the right thing, but how many people did not love the movie? The opposite of it. Oh, interesting.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

50.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

50.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I don't hate the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I just. It didn't get me in the same way that the Rock gets me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The Rock is great. You know, Like, I feel like.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

And I feel like Bad Boys gets me the whole thing. I just. I get that I'm fully in all.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The Fast and the.

[Paul Scheer]

You guys are all in for Michael Bay. But Simon west, you're like, I don't think so.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, there's just something. I think there is something missing from this movie that those movies have, like, I don't know what it is. Michael Bay. Yeah. Maybe it's Michael Bay. Yeah. Maybe the only one who's come close to Michael. A Michael Bay experience. Knock wood. Well, first of all, I can say the Fast Furious movies, I think that has that same energy.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Right?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then this James Wan with his new Fast 7.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I love those movies.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, they're great. I think that this one, for whatever reason, it just doesn't feel like it all clicks. Although the cast is awesome and I would love to see a remake of it.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm all, yeah. Oh, prison plane, please. Come on. This is amazing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

One interesting fact about this movie. It's called Con Air, but in France, con means vagina. They had to change that, ladies. And it did not win the Academy Award. They really did destroy the Sands Hotel. And John Cusack refuses to answer any questions about this movie.

[Paul Scheer]

Something there that's amazing, too.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So before we go, let's just talk. Seth, you're doing the coolest shit right now. I feel like you have so much cool stuff going on. Tell us a little bit of what we can look Forward to. You have a brand new. You have a book out.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

You do have everything. Yeah. Still writing books. The Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie comes out in February, so I'm excited about that. Right now I'm busy writing the Lego Batman movie, which comes out. And then it looks like this summer, I'm gonna be in New York producing Stephen King's it with the. With the director of True Detective, Cary Fukunaga, directing the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That is gonna be amazing. So you have the. You have the best plugs that we've ever.

[Paul Scheer]

And Matthew McConaughey is the go Is the clown. Right.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Don't make me do a version of that voice. And we all float down here. See, I knew it was bad before it came out, but I had to do it.

[Paul Scheer]

Still work.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

I had to do it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Was that. Did you get to work with Stephen King at all, or do you or.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No, I've done two Stephen King projects. I did a TV pilot that didn't go that was based on one of his short stories, and now we're doing this as two parter. Two movies for it. But I have not yet had the pleasure I'm hoping to because, you know, I grew up worshiping the guy. Yeah. I'm kind of afraid, though, because it's one of those people that you put so much stock in their opinion and in their talent. Like, if that guy turned to me and goes, you know, you're kind of a dick, I would have to kill myself.

[Paul Scheer]

I also feel like he would tell you.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Yeah, he would tell me to be.

[Paul Scheer]

The kind of guy who's like, oh, no, I tell it like it is. Yeah, I. I don't like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I will. I will say I. I grew up with Stephen King. I love Stephen King. But every now and then, when I read those. Ew. Like what I like. I'm like, I don't know all the time, but we'll see.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

So I'm afraid.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, you should be. You should never meet anyone.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

No, I'm never gonna meet anybody.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right. So, Jason, what would you like to plug?

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, boy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, obviously your community was getting a lot.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah, my community. Community this season is airing on Yahoo, and I was just in an episode that came out last week, so search that out. I don't know. Kroll show just wrapped up. If you haven't watched that, please watch that. Just a fantastic season of comedy. I don't know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, great. I'll plug the how did this Get Made?

[Paul Scheer]

Podcast on the Gearwolf Network.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Check that out. Check out how did this get made? You can check out Fresh off the Boat, which is a show that I that I am on, which is a super funny show. And and I want to give a big thanks to everybody here that's helping us out. Nate Kiley, Avril, Halle, July Diaz. We have brand new How'd this get made T shirts. They're based on no holds barred. Check that out. Thank you guys so much.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Thank you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Thank you, Seth. Good night.

[Paul Scheer]

Taxes was waiting around for your taxes to be done, which led to worrying about not getting any money back.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nowtaxes is matching with a TurboTax expert.

[Paul Scheer]

Who can do your taxes in a.

[Seth Grahame-Smith]

Day to get you up to $4,000.

[Paul Scheer]

Fast with a refund advance loan. Now this is taxes intuit. TurboTax get an expert now on TurboTax.com expert filing only available with TurboTax lifeful.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Service refund advance has zero dollar loan fees and zero percent APR.

[Paul Scheer]

Refund advance loans may be issued by First Century Bank NA or web. Bank terms apply subject to approval.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's time to have your High Five moment with High Five Casino. The top social casino where the action and real prizes never stop. Fun spins. Big wins are right at your fingertips with over a thousand games, including High Five Casino exclusives. High Five Casino is always free to play with free coins given out every four hours. Sign up today for a free welcome offer that can get you spinning and winning right away. Visit high5casino.com high5casino no purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Must be 21 years or older. Terms and conditions apply.