The Specialist LIVE! w/ Nicole Byer (HDTGM Matinee)

Summary

Podcast Title: How Did This Get Made?
Episode: The Specialist LIVE! w/ Nicole Byer (HDTGM Matinee)
Release Date: August 5, 2025
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guest: Nicole Byer

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Introduction

In this lively and in-depth episode of How Did This Get Made?, the hosts—Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas—along with special guest Nicole Byer, delve into the enigmatic 1991 action-thriller The Specialist. Known for celebrating and dissecting the most perplexing and poorly received films, the trio brings their signature humor and sharp critique to unravel the tangled web of The Specialist.

Overview of The Specialist

The Specialist stars Sylvester Stallone as Earl Quick, a retired bomb expert seeking revenge for the murder of his girlfriend's parents, portrayed by Sharon Stone. The movie intertwines themes of love, vengeance, and explosive action, all set against the vibrant backdrop of Miami's underworld.

June Diane Raphael (04:10):
"What's up, Drucks? How we doing, Largo?"

Character Analysis

Sylvester Stallone as Earl Quick

Stallone's portrayal of Earl Quick is a central focus of the discussion. The hosts critique his decision to emphasize physicality over emotional depth, leading to numerous on-screen moments that highlight his obsession with his own physique.

Jason Mantzoukas (10:58):
"He's embracing his feminine side. And I think that’s beautiful. But I also feel like he was trying to out-sexy Sharon Stone."

June Diane Raphael (10:42):
"Do you feel she leaves him? She's like, I gotta get outta here."

Sharon Stone’s Role

Sharon Stone's character is examined as a femme fatale whose quest for revenge drives the plot. The hosts question the film’s handling of her motivations and the authenticity of her relationships within the narrative.

Special Guest Nicole Byer (08:53):
"It was like trying so hard to be sexy. But then his hands were too big to be sexy."

James Woods’ Role

James Woods plays a pivotal role, purportedly the Specialist's mentor. The hosts discuss Woods' limited screen time and speculate on Stallone's attempts to overshadow his co-star to maintain control over the film.

Jason Mantzoukas (05:21):
"Stallone's ego is part of the problem with this movie."
June Diane Raphael (05:45):
"A movie that somehow fetishizes his body more than Sharon Stone's."

Eric Roberts in the Film

Eric Roberts portrays a drug lord whose interactions with Stallone and Stone add layers of unnecessary violence and confusion. The hosts critique Roberts' over-the-top performance and lack of narrative purpose.

June Diane Raphael (17:29):
"He is."

Scene-by-Scene Analysis

Sex Scenes

The episode highlights several awkward and gratuitous sex scenes that fail to contribute meaningfully to character development or plot progression. The hosts express discomfort with the portrayal of intimacy between the leads.

Jason Mantzoukas (16:04):
"When they go to the floor in the shower, I'm like, ew. It's a fucking hotel shower."

Nicole Byer (58:33):
"Respectfully, I disagree. Sharon Stone naked on the phone with Stallone was electric."

Violence and Bombs

The hosts dissect the film's excessive and often illogical use of violence and bomb-related action sequences. They point out inconsistencies in bomb placements and the overcomplication of assassination tactics.

June Diane Raphael (14:08):
"He blows up half of a building, falls off on top of an entire building."

Jason Mantzoukas (43:16):
"After he beats that man up... he kicks a man out of a bus window."

Notable Moments

Bus Scene (43:16 - 44:04):
A particularly contentious scene involves Stallone's character violently ejecting a man from a bus for taking an open seat. The hosts debate the necessity and impact of this moment, questioning its contribution to the overall narrative.

Funeral Scene (35:02 - 37:10):
The chaotic and abrupt interruption of a funeral by James Woods' character leads to a discussion on the film's mishandling of emotional storytelling.

Production and Behind-the-Scenes Insights

The podcast delves into the behind-the-scenes power dynamics, particularly Sylvester Stallone's dominance over the production. Stallone reportedly demanded more screen time by reshooting scenes and minimizing James Woods' role, reflecting his desire to maintain control and overshadow his co-star.

Jason Mantzoukas (75:36):
"Stallone demanded that James Woods' scenes were to be cut out... to have more screen time."

June Diane Raphael (76:32):
"A budget of 45 million."

Financial aspects are briefly touched upon, revealing the film's budget of $45 million and a domestic gross of $57.4 million, which suggests a marginal profit but likely falls short of expectations given the high production costs.

Audience Interaction and Reviews

During the live matinee, audience members posed questions related to the film's bomb-scene logistics and plot inconsistencies. The hosts entertained these inquiries with humorous and often sarcastic responses, further emphasizing the film's convoluted nature.

Listener Matt (64:35):
"Where would you hide your bomb? In an earpiece."

Nicole Byer (64:35):
"An earpiece. Damn."

Additionally, the hosts mocked Amazon reviews that paradoxically rated the film highly despite its evident flaws, highlighting the disconnect between critical reception and audience sentiment.

Jason Mantzoukas (69:25):
"But I'm gonna bullet through them because they are all one sentence. So here we go."

Second Opinions

Drawing from pseudo-positive Amazon reviews, the hosts satirize the tendency of some viewers to overlook a film's shortcomings in favor of superficial elements like actor physiques or setting aesthetics.

June Diane Raphael (71:04):
"It's a woman's movie."
Jason Mantzoukas (71:15):
"She’s hot, but inexplicably, he's naked."

Fun Facts and Box Office Details

The discussion wraps up with interesting trivia about the film, including its budget, box office performance, and competition with other major releases of 1991 such as The Lion King, Forrest Gump, and True Lies. Despite these competitors, The Specialist managed to secure a respectable, albeit underwhelming, position.

Jason Mantzoukas (75:36):
"In 1993, the Los Angeles Times listed The Specialist as the best unproduced thriller script in Hollywood."

June Diane Raphael (77:29):
"It came in number 21 in the top 200 films of 1991."

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

In conclusion, the hosts unanimously agree that The Specialist is a film riddled with unnecessary violence, poor character development, and illogical plot choices. Despite its star-studded cast and significant budget, the movie fails to deliver a coherent and engaging storyline.

Jason Mantzoukas (84:25):
"Would we recommend the movie? Yes, absolutely." (Delivered sarcastically)

Nicole Byer (84:35):
"Hey, you gotta see it."

Conclusion

This episode of How Did This Get Made? serves as both a humorous and critical examination of The Specialist, shedding light on why the film remains a puzzling entry in action cinema. Through sharp wit and candid conversations, Paul, June, Jason, and Nicole provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the movie's flaws and peculiarities, all while maintaining the show's entertaining and irreverent spirit.

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Notable Quotes:

• Paul Scheer (00:00):
  "Change is always happening. But no matter what changes in five years, there's one thing that will stay the same. The price of your Internet."

• Jason Mantzoukas (05:12):
  "I have some dirt about why James Woods is not in the trailer."

• Special Guest Nicole Byer (09:32):
  "He was like, gay."

• June Diane Raphael (21:15):
  "This is a movie about revenge, murder, and bombs. And this is how it ends."

• Jason Mantzoukas (72:21):
  "There's a real history in Hollywood about Stallone being kind of tricked and conned by producers and other actors."

• Jason Mantzoukas (75:36):
  "The opening weekend was 14.3 million, and the full domestic gross was $57.4 million."

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the podcast episode, highlighting key discussions, insights, and the hosts' humorous takes on The Specialist. Whether you're a fan of the show or new to it, this summary provides a clear and engaging overview of why The Specialist is a quintessential subject for How Did This Get Made?.

Transcript

[Paul Scheer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Nicole Byer]

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[June Diane Raphael]

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[Nicole Byer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

Morning. One sausage McMuffin with egg please.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, your total is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait. Let's negotiate. How's about you throw in hash browns for a dollar?

[Paul Scheer]

Well yes sir, that price is already a dollar.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Take it or leave it.

[Paul Scheer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

Turn the bomb around we saw the Specialist Bastardo with Nick Crow and take a bubble speed to hitting cruise control Shane and Big Paul and the beautiful Jewel gonna take you from the PO all the way to the room Ran against the street fighter hope to blow off steam just a sucker punch the odd Life for Timothy 3.

[June Diane Raphael]

Calling when.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They'Re badass and he's on the line cranking 88 minutes cause they cool as ice cause they bad Jim Bonnie looking kind and nice Paul is June getting literal? Jason is getting laid June is making sure all the monkey shots getting paid. They're just a bunch of movies while they making the grade. Here's a real question for you. How did this get paid? Hello people of hello people of Los Angeles. We are live at Largo talking about a modern day classic, a movie about love, a movie about revenge and a movie about very precise bombs. If you've not seen the Specialist, what do you need to know? Stallone makes bombs. Well both kinds really if you think about it in the history of the show. But in this movie, Stallone makes Explosive bombs. Sharon Stone wants revenge on the people who murdered her parents. So she wants to do it with, you guessed it, a bomb. Because, as she says, it's more precise than a gun. We'll get into all of that, but there are many twists and turns along the way that are dealt out in the most nonchalant way. No underscoring, no turn of music where you're like, oh, oh, oh. I guess that's what's happening now. Great. It's like someone's telling you a story but don't know how to add in, like, any emotional elements to it. I can't wait to break this all down. And I'm gonna do it with my two co hosts. Please welcome to the stage, Mr. Jason Mantzoukas.

[June Diane Raphael]

What's up, Drucks? How we doing, Largo?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Jason. Have you ever seen the Specialist, Paul?

[June Diane Raphael]

Shockingly, no.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Same. I don't know.

[June Diane Raphael]

I missed it. I would say, for the record, shame on me. Shame on me. Yes. This movie is awesome. I would watch it right now with everyone here instead of doing the show. Because no notes except to say boobs. Yes. Explosions.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. You got. And James Woods. Woodsy, I feel like, is like, take your script and leave it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cause I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want.

[June Diane Raphael]

You just. You call action, and I will just start screaming at anyone nearby. And that's the movie, Adam.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm here for it. But you know what?

[June Diane Raphael]

He must have been furious that he was not in the trailer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I have some dirt about why James woods is not in the trailer.

[June Diane Raphael]

I want to hear it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And we'll get into all of the James woods stories because it really is prime Stallone ego stuff.

[June Diane Raphael]

So really you're saying that Stallone's ego is part of the problem with this movie? A movie that somehow fetishizes his body more than Sharon Stone's. Let's go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's get into all that. But first, let me introduce my other co host. Please welcome a person who fetishizes Sylvester Stallone's body more than anyone. I hear you, June Diane Rayfield.

[June Diane Raphael]

I hear you. I hear you screaming. I hear you screaming. Save it. Save it. Save it. Popped.

[Special Guest]

Yeah.

[Guest]

Our special guest had something to say. And we need to conserve and we need to economize. And we can't talk about it yet.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I know, I know, I know. And I've tried to move forward. I tried to move forward. We won't. How are you, June?

[Guest]

I'm well. How are you, Paul?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm very well. You're looking Very nice tonight. Great to see you.

[Guest]

Oh, thanks.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

June, your thoughts out of the gate on the specialists.

[Guest]

So I also had not seen it and yet I feel I have. I feel it was very strange watching it because I thought for sure this is a movie I watched with both parents, like, sitting in between them in 1994. Like, I was 14 years old and I know I watched this on TV with a parent.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That is so similar to many movies that were made in this period. They all had like, a similar vibe. It was like a movie for adults.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, you know, like, this is the era of the, like, erotic noir, like neo noir noir, story of Liver Jade, all these things. Basic Instinct. This is three years after or two years after Basic Instinct.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, this is better than Basic Instinct. I don't know. We'll get into it.

[Guest]

I enjoyed it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I enjoyed it.

[June Diane Raphael]

And I've got real thoughts about how to really make it sing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We're gonna get into all that, but we must welcome our special guest. She's a. How did this get made? All star. She is the star of the hit NBC sitcom Grand Crew, which you can watch on Peacock and on NBC. You know her also as the host of Nailed It. Her Stand up special on Netflix has to be watched. Please welcome Nicole Byer.

[Special Guest]

My feet, my feet. Your feet don't touch the floor. What are these chairs?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm in this one over here. I'm in a little. I'm in this guy over here.

[June Diane Raphael]

Having fun at the show.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You look like you're doing a Lily Tomlin character, baby. Nicole, over here. Nicole, welcome back. You are a favorite of ours, but you are a favorite of the audience of how did this get made? Because I will say that when we didn't have guests for a long time, the number one person people wanted back was you.

[Special Guest]

Oh, that's nice. Oh, thank you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

People always, like, get Nicole back on. Where's Nicole? And now you're here and I feel like we brought you in with a good movie.

[Special Guest]

Boy, oh, boy, I had a great time. Oh, my God, it was like trying so hard to be sexy. But then his hands were too big to be sexy. Like, the sex scene reminded me of the hot dog scene and everything everywhere, all at once. His hands were just like patting her head. Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

At one point. At one point they close up on them kissing. And he's kissing below her lips. Like that was.

[Special Guest]

And I also feel like.

[Guest]

Can you be Sharon Stone for a second, Nicole?

[Special Guest]

Uh huh.

[Guest]

Actually, no. You be sly. Stand up for a second. I feel like she Was always behind.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Always behind.

[Special Guest]

He was like. He would turn. You could see his, like, thighs. Yeah. And then he would just be like the big hands. He would just be like, yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Was he.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, was he somehow Sly was more naked than Sharon Stone at all times. I was like trying to look around him. It was really fetishizing to get his.

[Guest]

Body in a very sensual, feminine way on camera and front of camera.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, do you feel she leaves him? She's like, I gotta get outta here. And he's like in the tussled bed.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, this is a movie where he is. He's embracing his feminine. And I think that that's beautiful. But I also feel like there was something about him where he was like, I know Sharon Stone is one of the most attractive women right now, and people want to see her naked, but I think they'll want to see me more. Like it's like the main attraction at this point. Oh, the person from Basic Instinct. Oh, my. Oh, sexy. He's like, no, no. Think I can out sexy her.

[Guest]

But here's the crazy thing too is it's so clear that the actor wants to get his body out to the. The American people. And. And I'm like, well, you're playing. But he's playing a bomb maker. I think.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, he's playing.

[Special Guest]

He's the specialist.

[Guest]

He's the specialist. But like, that doesn't actually require, I don't think any physical. I'm so sorry, strength or.

[June Diane Raphael]

Or June, one might argue. But have you read any of the novels that suggested this movie? Did everybody see the credit at the beginning of the movie?

[Special Guest]

Because I was like, what's it up?

[June Diane Raphael]

It says suggested by the specialist. Novels by John Shirley. Suggested by here, Jim, what mean.

[Special Guest]

What does that mean?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here is the thing. I mean, I will just say hinted.

[June Diane Raphael]

At in the novels of.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

To.

[Special Guest]

June, look, I took a picture.

[Guest]

What is that suggested?

[Special Guest]

Because I couldn't believe it. I was like, why is it just suggested and not based on this?

[June Diane Raphael]

This credit is when I was like, oh, this is going to be so good. Because, you know, you know, it's only suggested by. Because Stallone must have rewritten everything.

[Guest]

So you're saying that the novelist that John Shirley himself was like, I don't.

[June Diane Raphael]

This no longer represents my work.

[Guest]

This is a mere suggestion.

[June Diane Raphael]

My guess is the character. Because the character in the movie, the Specialist, the Stallone character is supposed to have been trained by James Woods. That would make him young and he's somehow a decade older than James Woods. James woods is his boss. What are you talking about?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's what we know about Stallone and I love this fact, and I'll repeat it nonstop. When he made the movie Cobra, it was based on a book and Stallone met with the author and said, what I'd like to do is put my name on the book. And as the author. And the author's like, no. He's like, no, you don't understand that when the movie comes out, more people will buy your book if they see that I wrote it. He's like, but you did it. I'm the author of the book. He's like, dude, don't be a dick. And so Stallone does have this habit because this character of the Specialist, his name is Earl Quick, they don't keep even his name. So it's like they bought the rights to the Specialist and the character's Earl Quick. And they're like, throw all that out. We like bombs. And that's what they focused on. That's it. The bombs are the only part of the story.

[Guest]

That's a suggestion.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's the suggestion.

[Special Guest]

Yeah. Interesting.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I want to get into the sex scene, but I also want to walk it back and say that the opening scene takes place, you know, in this country where they are trying to kill a drug lord with a bomb.

[June Diane Raphael]

And how are they trying to do.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

A series of bombs? And how are they going to do it? Blowing up a bridge. So the intel is, we know the drug dealer is coming. He's going to be driving a jeep. Let's blow up a bridge. No one's like, how about a sniper? No bombs. And is the bomb going to blow up the bridge? No, it's just going to blow up the truck. So the truck flies off the bridge. The bridge will stay intact again. Maybe we use a sniper.

[June Diane Raphael]

What if people survive? And don't worry, the jeep is going to collapse like it's made of cardboard because that's what happens when it hits the water. It's like fold. And there is a child once again. Yeah, we're doing a movie where it begins with infanticide. They're like, you know how we can get you on board for this movie? Our hero kills a child by accident. He tries to save, but he locks eyes with that kid when she gets blown up. And, you know, a fetish is born.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He.

[Special Guest]

The way he runs over. His lips are so loose. Do you know what I mean? They just jiggled in a way that I was like, how is that happening?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

His lips. And I do want to going back to the sex scene very Briefly, when he locks onto her, it's like an octopus because it's like. It's not like a kiss. It's like I have now suctioned my mouth onto yours and my. It's like implanting an alien embryo from the movie Alien. Like. Like. It's like his lips. There's a lot going on there.

[Guest]

Was very upsetting.

[June Diane Raphael]

The sex scene.

[Special Guest]

Oh, my God, that butt. They're in the shower. That's the biggest shower in the history of showers. You're fully missionary on the floor of a shower.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

When they go to the floor in the shower, I'm like, ew, It's a fucking hotel shower.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wrote the same thing. That is a hotel shower floor. They have for real, like, last of us fungus going on now. Like, it is game over for them.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The bed is a mere four feet away. Just dry off. Fuck on the bed.

[Special Guest]

Well, they started on the bed and then they said, we gotta get in that shower. Worth.

[June Diane Raphael]

We see more of Stallone's body than Sharon Stone's.

[Guest]

Absolutely.

[Special Guest]

You do. And the way he straddled her on the bed, I was like, what is that?

[June Diane Raphael]

It was like. And it was like. It was like the scene where it's like she's taking his clothes up.

[Special Guest]

It was really flip.

[June Diane Raphael]

A gender flip flop.

[Guest]

Because he was like, my body is the gift I've got.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, it's basically your unwrap, everybody.

[Guest]

Yes.

[Special Guest]

I'm the present.

[Guest]

I'm what you've paid for, sir.

[Special Guest]

No, we haven't. The only sexy thing that happened is when he lifted her up onto him. I like when he was traveling and then, like, somehow her legs were, like, on the other side. I don't know how they did that, but I was like, well, that's pretty hot. But then those hands.

[Guest]

That was one moment, Nicole. That was it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What I think I learned from this movie is that Stallone is not good at having sex. And. And he was like, I'll show you some of my moves. And everyone was too nervous to say, ye, that's weird. He's like, grab her from behind the head. I'll bring her like this. And I'll suction her mouth and I'll throw her on the floor. I'll put her right on the sewer. And then.

[June Diane Raphael]

And he's like, you know. You know. You know, people want. They saw Basic Instinct. They want me to be sexy. Now, what if I'm the Sharon Stone of this movie?

[Guest]

Oh, God.

[June Diane Raphael]

Also, Eric Roberts is in this movie as a Cuban. As. As a Colombian.

[Special Guest]

Wait, was.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, his dad in this movie.

[Special Guest]

Straight up dad was. Yeah, his name is like Hispanic.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

His name is like. And it said like Tomas. It's not Thomas. So they say Tomas a lot. But I want to just. Again, as we're going to get back and forth in the movie, but I will say what I don't like about this movie is the way that they handle explosives. Because it's about an expert, a specialist if you will, who literally when we first see him, he's pounding explosives onto a wall. Like the way I pack a suitcase that's overstuffed. Like clank, clank, clank, clank. Like you would think you might be a little more gentle around like.

[Special Guest]

Well, later he gets gentle when he's covered in sweat and is wearing those tiny glasses and is like.

[Guest]

That's right, that's right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right. He's a very. Like when he's putting it in a, in a, in a china doll's teacup.

[June Diane Raphael]

When he, when he's busy living in what appears to be an industrial gear factory.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Nicole Byer]

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[June Diane Raphael]

For the rest of the movie. Stallone detonates explosives in only public places. Yeah, country club, strip club or bar or whatever that place was like he's only blowing up. There have to be so many casualties.

[Guest]

No, there aren't though, because he has a special type of technology.

[June Diane Raphael]

He blows up half of a building, falls off on top of an entire building.

[Guest]

But that's planned. That was that particular explosive.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But when it comes to.

[Guest]

That was the one one section, one apartment explosive.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

When it comes to people, it normally just shoots them out like they're in an ejector seat. Like when he kills the guy in the parking lot.

[Special Guest]

That was perfect. It was absolutely perfect. That man strapped to his seat, on fire, going to the sky.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He flies up like he is ejected from an airplane from Top Gun. And yet. Is the bomb in the car? No. Is the bomb under the Seat. No, the bomb is in, like, the parking meter reader that you bit when you leave the garage. So that oddly, like, at the bomb.

[Guest]

I thought that was the.

[June Diane Raphael]

The keypad was.

[Special Guest]

The keypad was the bomb. But there was nothing in front of the car.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then it says, bye bye. How long did it take him to get. How long. How long did it take him to be like, oh, good, it does say bye bye. Thank God I was able to make that work.

[Guest]

Bye, bye.

[June Diane Raphael]

This guy is so long to escape. 10 seconds and two bye byes.

[Guest]

Okay, so just riddle me this. He gets to Miami and decides to set up what type of business exactly?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, this is my big question, because he is constantly telling us he's not in the bomb making revenge business, but yet he's on a private, like, Internet message board called the Weekend Warrior, which seems like black market.

[Guest]

That was his website.

[June Diane Raphael]

It feels like this is an a team situation, like. Or an equalizer. Like, if you're in trouble, I'll help you out. Secretly kind of underground, like, hero guy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But why was he rejecting her?

[Special Guest]

I don't know. Because he.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think he was worried it was a setup.

[Special Guest]

But was he rejecting her? He was like, I like your voice there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And that's. And by the way, they're essentially having phone sex for the first hour of the movie.

[June Diane Raphael]

Longer. Yeah, longer. He's. He.

[Special Guest]

He is.

[June Diane Raphael]

He is sensually working out, listening to recordings of their phone conversations.

[Guest]

That was wild.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, this shit is absolutely nuts. He thinks, this is what we want.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You see more of him shirtless than you see of Sharon Stone, like, throughout this entire movie. But, like, he's doing tai chi. But he also has this big cumbersome earpiece in.

[June Diane Raphael]

And he's so big.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's so big. It looks like he has, like a microphone, like the front of a microphone on the side of his ear. He's like. And he's like, just being casual, just listening.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's also tailing Sharon Stone. He's like, like, you know, spying on her, watching her while she is Sharon Stone. This in. In a noir sense. She's the femme fatale. She's inserted herself into the Eric Roberts drug lord world with his father, Rod Steiger, who appears to be doing a desi arness jr impression.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Bastard.

[June Diane Raphael]

Some next level insider.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I heard. I heard that Rod Steiger was like, I don't need anybody. I'm just gonna watch Scarface over and over again.

[Special Guest]

I thought they were just like spicy whites. I didn't realize that they were going.

[June Diane Raphael]

For Cuban spicy white.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is Rod Steiger's accent on full display. Now. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Give me a second here. I have to make a decision. Little time to think, huh? Okay, you take over. Okay, Papa.

[June Diane Raphael]

I said Trent will handle it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay. I don't hear you saying okay.

[June Diane Raphael]

What would you say?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, that's nice. Thank you.

[June Diane Raphael]

Lucy, Lucy, we are in trouble here. It's nuts what he's up to.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's also like drops into just Rod Steiger at points. Like that was a mix and match. It was not a full like he goes in and out of that accent. But they are supposed to be these drug lords that killed Sharon Stone's parents. In front of her, she was hiding in the closet. Eric Roberts, who seems to be the same age as Sarah.

[Guest]

Yeah, he has an age.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He is.

[June Diane Raphael]

But yet it's 20 years later. She is a 6 year old in the closet and is now Sharon Stone. Eric Roberts. Eric Roberts. 20 years ago. Eric Roberts. Now this is. That should be examined.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I did like that. The flashback was like a noir Lifetime movie.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Special Guest]

It was truly wild. And Eric Roberts was like pretty rude. He was like, hurry up. And I'm like, if I'm being murdered, can you not rush it? Take your time, be kind.

[Guest]

And why were they being murdered?

[Special Guest]

We don't know because they didn't have.

[June Diane Raphael]

They were being asked for information they didn't have. And I don't know that we ever found. It was not ever clear. Yeah, he just. He loves murder and dancing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What I loved about Stallone doing his research on Sharon Stone as a child. He pulls up like an old newspaper and it has a picture of the child. It's like Maya Sinclair's parents killed kid still alive. And it's like no one would write an article like showing a picture of an alive child being like she's alive. Parents are dead. Like you would think that they would go back a. If they were executed, they might go back and kill her too. Right? I mean, but it's also like, it feels like a weird thing to put her in the front page of the paper. Like, I'm orphan Mae Monroe. I'm sorry? Mae Monroe. That was her name.

[Guest]

So just to go back to Stallone for a second and his work in Miami. So he is just on call in case a bomb maker.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think he comes there because she's asked him to. Because he says at one point, I don't work in Miami, but he's there.

[Special Guest]

Oh yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait, so he's renting that fairy house?

[June Diane Raphael]

I think. Yeah, I think he's Temporarily set up shop at the gear factory.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Temporarily. Jason, it's like a three story facility on the water. That he is. That he is. Set a computer program up. It's so weird. He walks in the house to hit a button to say, no one's in the house. Well, guess what? If they were behind the door that you walked in on, you're dead.

[June Diane Raphael]

He gets made immediately. He's so bad at being subtle. Eric Roberts clocks him immediately, like, oh, that guy right there.

[Special Guest]

That interaction made me so happy. You like the bitch. You like me.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't like you.

[Special Guest]

He was like, gay.

[June Diane Raphael]

No. He's like, no, no, no. Don't get that. Don't get the wrong idea. But do look at this body. Do look at me oiled up and come guttered out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Would you be surprised to learn that Stallone decided to add that scene in during production? Because he's like, oh, I really want to have a scene with Eric Roberts because I don't have a scene with him.

[Special Guest]

So he picked a scene where he says one sentence where he holds a.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Knife and basically says, you're looking at me because I'm attractive. Like, it's the weirdest scene to add. It's like a threatening scene.

[June Diane Raphael]

It also makes him appear bad at his job, you know, because he's.

[Guest]

But again, what is his job exactly? Because if his job is to just make the bomb, I think he's fine at that job.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think he's a bomb expert for hire for people that need help dealing with some sort of situation.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But then why is he rejecting Sharon Stone? Because it seems like her situation qualifies. These three men killed my parents who were innocent, and I watched them die. It doesn't check all the boxes for me.

[Guest]

Like, do you think, though, Jason, that this is his normal vetting process?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wow. Yeah, I think. I think his vetting process is go to a city. I think if this movie set up, get a pet. If this movie had worked. My guess. My guess is that there are a number of other novels to suggest storylines for. Maybe he goes to Cincinnati and he sets up shop in an abandoned water warehouse. I don't know what.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Give me the biggest concern, conspicuous thing in your city. I'll move to Chicago and own the Sears Tower. Great. No one will ever find me there. But I will say this. There's a screenwriting book called Save the Cat. It was very popular for a couple years. And the idea was that in the first act, you would see your character do something that was nice, that you get him on your Side that you would save the cat. Here. He kills the cat, which is the child, and then also. Then saves the cat. The movie wants it both ways. He saves the cat and kills the kid.

[Special Guest]

That was so weird. He doesn't know how to hold a cat either. He's just like, oh, okay. Got to take you home with me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You on the sewer. Kiss your mouth.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's like Lenny from Of Mice and Men. You think. You think he might crush the cat or crush Sharon Stone or. I don't know. He seems capable of murder.

[Special Guest]

Well, after that, cat was pretty distracting in the scene where he's sweaty, like, doing the bomb. That cat's climbing a chain link fence in his house.

[June Diane Raphael]

And it's like, I'll tell you one.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Thing I don't want near a bomb. A fucking cat.

[Guest]

The way everybody treats. I mean, the bomb squad of the Miami PD is also treating bomb material very casually, like, strewn across. And we see them. And by the way, is James Wood a cop? Was a cop?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No.

[Special Guest]

I don't know. He had access to the CIA.

[June Diane Raphael]

Is he lying?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I thought he is a cop.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, he's not. Rod Steiger inserts him into the police department. That's the scene with the chief of police, who's there? Rod Steiger's like, hey, I need you to make this guy part of the police investigation. But what then happens is James woods just walks into the police station, is like, you fucking idiots. I handle this. You do that. You. You fucking idiot. I created a bomb out of a pen. I'm crazy. James woods is eating every morsel of screen time he is allotted. He is chomp, chomp, chomping away.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He clearly, like. And he's often not with anybody else, so I feel like he's like, look, these people that are in my scene, shut the fuck up. Let me. Let me cook.

[Guest]

Oh, my God, let me cook. And he's always like, again, running a different part of the Miami PD where they're staging a sting to try to get. To try to get Stallone to call into the message boards. I don't know. And they have all of. So they have all of these women pretending to be Sharon Stone because.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is he attracted to women in distress?

[Guest]

I think he's attracted to.

[Special Guest]

He likes phone calls with women. He's like, just like. This is like his disembodied voices.

[Guest]

Yeah.

[Special Guest]

He's like, they make me so hard.

[Guest]

A thousand percent. He likes it over the phone, so. But what's so crazy about that scene is that he. Those wonderful background artists who are All. Most of them are women and I guess they're cops there. They genuinely look terrified.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, truly, nobody in those scenes is safe.

[Special Guest]

Yeah, I like the scene when James woods is going to the elevator and is literally like, get a new shirt, you fucking idiot. Get out of my fucking way.

[June Diane Raphael]

I got next one, next one.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's a man who witnessed a murder. A young boy who's a car valet who's like sitting there and he's like, the fuck are you laughing at? Piece of shit.

[June Diane Raphael]

This kid is given, like three sticks of dynamite. He's given like a cartoon level bomb. He looks like a Tim Bolt character. He's fucking freaking out. And James woods comes in. It's just. He's like. My whole thing is I yell at whoever I'm in a scene with. I dressed them down fully. And it's incredible.

[Guest]

So here's the thing. One second, Paul. So you're saying that James woods and Stallone just happen to both be in Miami?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, no.

[June Diane Raphael]

James woods is using Sharon Stone to draw Stallone.

[Special Guest]

Because that scene where he hits her.

[Guest]

Got it right. Of course, of course, of course.

[Special Guest]

Like fucking hits her.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, yeah.

[Special Guest]

And then plays with the blood on her lip. I was like, this is wild.

[Guest]

I did not like that.

[Special Guest]

No, I don't like it.

[June Diane Raphael]

E. But did you like it when she slapped that woman in the bathroom?

[Special Guest]

I loved it.

[Guest]

Love that.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, I recall. Loved it because that was the hottest thing I've seen in a while. Bam.

[Guest]

She pushed her.

[June Diane Raphael]

Henry, she'll call you back. Couple am.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There was elements of this that felt like Stallone was embracing his feminine side. But then there's another element of it where everyone just felt up Sharon Stone willy nilly. Like, everybody was like, I gotta touch it everywhere.

[Special Guest]

Yeah. At the funeral, he, like gets on his knees and then shoves his hand up her skirt. And I was like, dios mios. But then, then she did have a gun. And I was like, okay.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, what's really sad is that's not the first time someone was felt up in that church. He was just so. He was just moved to a different parish. I wrote that. I wrote that joke down. You explained that joke is in my notes.

[Special Guest]

Wait, at the funeral, I really loved when James woods comes in. He's like, open the casket. Everyone's like, what?

[June Diane Raphael]

He's like, open it.

[Special Guest]

And then he goes, that bitch too. That was my favorite part of this movie. Bitch.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

To a woman who we've heard in the eulogy as being a pillar of the community, a saint.

[June Diane Raphael]

This funeral has been Twice interrupted by rude white men, first of all. So I was like, wait a minute. What?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

By the way, that was he.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, like, can you imagine being at a. Who's that guy? Walks straight up and needs to look into the. Oh, that's not her. And then James woods comes in, points a gun at the priest and calls her a bitch. Those people will have. Have questions for the rest of their lives. What do you think Grandma was up to?

[Guest]

That's what I love so much about this movie. Like, there's moments like that. There's moments when Sharon Stone pushes a very nice lady and steals her phone and slaps her where it's surprising. And I'm like, I love that this movie goes there. Now, I was trying to follow Sharon Stone's plan and how she. That whole mixaroo with that grandma. So what did she do exactly? She put her own.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, this doesn't entail. I didn't understand the funeral part.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I did not. I literally was like. I don't know why everyone's confused. I don't know why this is even working.

[June Diane Raphael]

I can tell you what it is and what's said, but there is a disconnect. So James woods is looking at the paper and he sees that a woman who has the name of Sharon Stone's alias.

[Guest]

I didn't know she had an alias.

[June Diane Raphael]

She has an alias. Her funeral will be the funeral.

[Guest]

That's like, Harley, blah, blah, blah, whatever. That's right.

[June Diane Raphael]

So he notices that and obviously Stallone notices it. So they both converge on that church. If James woods had been there early enough, he would have run into Stallone. Doesn't matter.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So wait, just out of curiosity, so it just happened that her alias died at the same time that she was also.

[June Diane Raphael]

This is where it falls apart.

[Special Guest]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Guest]

What she says is that she took. That Sharon Stone went by a hospital and dropped.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, somebody. Somebody OD'd. And she was able to make it seem as though that was her. But then that's clearly not who's in the casket.

[Guest]

Okay, so whoever's in the casket, that's.

[June Diane Raphael]

Where the movie falls apart.

[Guest]

I see. So whoever's in the casket is not Arlene, the alias. Certainly not May. It's someone altogether different.

[June Diane Raphael]

I believe so.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow.

[June Diane Raphael]

I believe so. Wow. Can I get Stallone to show up to.

[Guest]

Well, it does make sense because nobody else but those two people would know that alias. So I guess the obituary.

[Special Guest]

I guess it does.

[Guest]

I'll check out now.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't think the woman. I don't think the woman who's being eulogized or who's being. I don't think her name matches the alias. I think the. I think the obituary announcement was a fake out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, boy. This is confusing. Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

I also don't care that it doesn't make sense because it's a home run.

[Special Guest]

Yes.

[Nicole Byer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Nicole Byer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

I want to get back to the random acts of violence because there's one scene that I feel like we weren't going to be able to talk about, which is Stallone on a bus.

[Special Guest]

Oh my God, I wrote it down. It's my favorite quote of the movie. After he beats that man up. All of them up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

After.

[Special Guest]

Well, yeah, he beats them all up. He's got five dudes up, but he tries to give that lady the seat. And then the guy sits down and he beats them up. And then he turns to that woman and goes, I believe there's a vacancy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And in that moment, moment, Nicole, in that moment, I was like, this guy is a straight up psychopath because he didn't just like punch a guy and knock him out. He kicks a man out of a bus window. The man is jettisoned out of a bus window.

[June Diane Raphael]

There's no way that bus is gonna continue on its route.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And that's what I'm saying. The bus is done. You fucked up the whole day. She's like, I would rather stand everybody.

[June Diane Raphael]

Else on the bus. Their whole day is ruined. Why am I late for work and getting fired because some asshole kicked a guy through a window of My bus.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I also found it really funny that he always was on payphones. And obviously that's a different time than 84. There's more payphones. But I'll tell you where there's not a payphone. At the edge of a dock, right There is one moment where she's like looking at the. There's like a. Like a jetty, like it's about 20ft off a larger dock. It's like, where should we put the pay phone? Out there? Maybe like, it couldn't be. There's no way, like no way phone lines are getting out there. And he's like, yeah, the very tip of the donkeys. I was like, that was my favorite shot him alone in a little payphone. Yep. Who's using that?

[Special Guest]

I also liked before the fight, he said, oh, my glasses. Because he can't fight with sunglasses on.

[June Diane Raphael]

I love this as a. As a like very inspired impression for you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It is good.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, at one point I had to.

[Special Guest]

Turn on the subtitles. I was like, what the fuck are you saying?

[June Diane Raphael]

I did that about 12 years ago. Never turned him off.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Jason has got me into subdos. What?

[Guest]

But Jason, you watch movies just for fun and enjoyment. Not for this, but like subtitles.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, me too. You always yell at me about it. You always are saying, get it off.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's a problem. It's now, it's now conditioned me to look at the bottom of the screen in a way that I'm genuinely missing. Visual filmmaking so strange because I'm like, ah, you gotta read.

[Guest]

Jason. That's so weird.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's talk about the moment when. So Sharon Stone is telling Stallone about his plan. I would imagine the plan is this. Sharon Stone finds a bomb expert, James Woods. Tells James Woods, I need to kill these men. James woods, like, I'll do that for you, but you need to get this person I'm trying to get. So why don't you pretend like you don't have me. You get him the same way you got me.

[Guest]

Complicated.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then I'll get my. My payment is. Is me getting him. And then we'll kill your people too.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, no, I don't know because James woods is working for Rod Steiger, but.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think she did the same thing. She recon the first specialist because he's also a specialist and out of work specialist.

[Special Guest]

Yeah, but how do you find the.

[Guest]

Specialists on that bulletin board Warriors?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, that seems to be their dark web thing. I think it's go on the dark web and you can find somebody.

[Special Guest]

But like, how do you Even get that idea. Bomb.

[Guest]

It's absurd.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She literally says they're more precise than guns. That's not true.

[Special Guest]

That's. Nobody's ever said that.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's like that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No one's ever said, like, I want revenge. I want to blow them up.

[June Diane Raphael]

And so much so that she. Her moment. Her moment of like, finally, my job is done, is to face Eric Roberts while he explodes. She's in the room with him while he is exploded to death. Mae Monroe says to Stallone afterwards, like, I knew your control, your explosions were so controlled that I would be just fine. And I'm like, how?

[Guest]

What a risk.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She was too close, by the way.

[Special Guest]

She was too close.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Again, not to. You know, look, Stallone's got that cat in his apartment or warehouse gear house, but he also put that coffee cup in a tennis bag.

[June Diane Raphael]

His name is Timer. Cat's name is Timer. You know how I know that? The closed caption. He told me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I also want to go back to the first bomb in the brothel. The first bomb in the brothel, the mini bomb, where the lowest tier guy that he has to kill, he kills.

[June Diane Raphael]

Brent Sexton from season four of Bosh Baby.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, Bosch.

[June Diane Raphael]

Bosch is where it happens. I wrote that down too.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But I love that it goes, you've been stealing from me. You've been cooking the books. And then the reveal is the whole month of September is gone. Like, that's a shitty way to cook the books. You should be murdered. You should be executed for that.

[Guest]

It's not like trimming out the top.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's erasing one of the 12 months.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can you imagine being like, I didn't think you'd notice. An entire mouth is gone. And then the guy that kills him gets blown up by one of Stone's, like, mini bombs. And his head goes through the aquarium.

[Special Guest]

Oh, my God. That's when I was, like, so hard. It was a shoe in a head.

[June Diane Raphael]

Incredible. Give me more of that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And whose shoe? Stallone's at a bar talking to a sex worker. And. And is it her shoe that also flies off?

[June Diane Raphael]

The other woman's shoe. She's fixing her shoe in a scene, and I believe it is her shoe. So she's at the ball and there's.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The vibration from the other room.

[June Diane Raphael]

There's a lot of collateral damage in this room.

[Guest]

There seems to be. They're bombs. They're bombs.

[Special Guest]

And there doesn't seem to be any, like, aftermath. Like, the bombs happen. Everyone's like, back to work.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But this is what we see the entire time. Like, James woods is on a date with Sharon Stone or not? James Woods? Yeah. No, Eric Roberts is on a date with Sharon Stone. He's like, hold on a second, let me beat the shit out of this guy in this cafe. Like, there's multiple times he just walks away, pulls out a knife, beats somebody up, and it's like, no one reacts. Like, no one in that bar is like, oh, yeah, you just beat up my customers. No, it's cool. It's fine. There's just ultra violence going on in my end also.

[Special Guest]

I was like, is this how I get into a relationship? Be like, completely disinterested in the man and, like, borderline mean to him, and then I'll be like, moved into a big fancy place. Sharon Stone hated him.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She sometimes gave him, like. I feel like the idea would be like, look at him with, like, loving eyes. And then when he turns, be like, fuck you. But she gave the fuck you eyes.

[Special Guest]

Yes. She wouldn't wait till he turns. She'd be like, I love you. I'll kill you.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's what I'm gonna say. Sharon Stone didn't need Sylvester Stallone. He is terrible at his job. She is so much better and has so many opportunities to kill Eric Roberts. She's like, basically dating him seriously. They are pre engaged and she could have killed Eric Roberts at any point. And she has access to him fully. She doesn't even need Stallone. She's better at Stallone's job then he is. I think she just wants the bombs.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, I think. No, I think that she wants to get all three, but she really didn't want to get all three because it's all double cross.

[Guest]

I'm still a little confused about what she was up to with James woods and what. Why that was necessary.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is my plan. Like, so my plan is that she's like, oh, God, I need a bomb specialist. She goes on that weekend warrior thing. James was like, hey, I'm your person. Tells her the story. He's like, I'll go down to Miami. I'll set myself up there. You pull out Stallone from the woodwork. You would do that. So he's infiltrating that. She's getting Stallone, telling him the same story. James woods is like, I'm gonna get you this like. Like they're dump. It's a full plan.

[Special Guest]

I can.

[Guest]

I'm just like, if I'm her, I'm like, can I just pay you? And if not, like, I'll go back on the site and try to find someone Else.

[June Diane Raphael]

James. James. Yes, yes. Basically, James woods is using her to draw out Stallone. And she's using James woods to get access to the. To the Ross Jaiger, Eric Roberts, the guy she wants to kill.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But I think I understand it. James woods is like, this is gonna cost a lot of money, but if you just pull out Stallone, I'll do it for free. And Stallone's like, I'll do it for free if it checks all my boxes. But it doesn't check all of his boxes.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't think Sharon Stone hired James Wood.

[Special Guest]

Well, no, I think she did, though.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. Because she's.

[Special Guest]

There was like the double cross, like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, yeah, right. Like, she's like, my payment is you do this.

[Special Guest]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But she's reneging on that because she's falling in love with Stallone. And he's like, look, if all these guys die and I don't get Stallone, I'm killing you. And that's like. That's his. That's the only thing he can really do.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know that I ever believed she was in love with Stallone.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Maybe if James woods read a line in the script, we would understand the plot a little bit better.

[Special Guest]

Wait, you don't think they're in love as they ride away and that. I mean, at 64 Mustang with. What was the song that played that was unhinged? It was like, back me up before I go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Go now.

[Special Guest]

Like, what was it?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That was Turn the Beater Around.

[June Diane Raphael]

That was wild.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The craziest ending.

[Special Guest]

Saxophones and horn music.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is the craziest ending of any movie ever made.

[Special Guest]

It reminded me of Greece when they fly away. Except this is in a boat.

[June Diane Raphael]

Incredible.

[Special Guest]

What is happening?

[June Diane Raphael]

I love that she's. She blows up Rod Steiger with a locket.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I doubt it.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then she drives them away. He's waiting in the car, and she's like, let's go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is it. This is the final scene. Here we go. I thought he was opening up candies, but it's. He's like, oh, yeah. What is this?

[Special Guest]

How do you feel?

[June Diane Raphael]

Better. She's the hero.

[Special Guest]

Oh, this is wild.

[June Diane Raphael]

This is irresponsible driving.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is a movie about revenge, murder and bombs. And this is how it ends. And by the way, I will say that Gloria Estefan's husband, Emilio Estefan Jr. Has a small part as a piano player. And a few other members of the Miami Sound Machine are in the film.

[Guest]

Did he also compose the music for the film?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yes, he did. Yes. I saw that wow. Way to go, June. Knowing that little detail, let's quickly also just talk one second about this idea they set up. I hate knives. Stallone hates knives.

[Special Guest]

That was weird.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But then when it goes into that very dark.

[Special Guest]

Oh, that was so funny. He said, before I fight, better turn off these lights.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Turns off all the lights in the kitchen. And what does he grab a knife and uses it effectively. Like the. Like it to set up. It's like Indiana Jones goes like, I hate snakes. And then you put him in a situation where he's surrounded by snakes. It's like, oh, fuck. He's gotta figure it out. He's like, well, I mean, I hate knives, but I'll use it. Not my preferred.

[Special Guest]

You know, Also, there was, like, a sink of boiling water.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Special Guest]

I was like, what are they cooking in this?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Potatoes?

[Special Guest]

Like, what? It's so big. And then when that man gets in it, he's like. It made me laugh so hard. There were so many moments that I had to pause it and rewind it and be like, like, what the fuck happened?

[Guest]

I loved it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I agree with you. And I will say that this movie oddly moved fast and very slow. Because at one point, at 45 minutes in, I was like, shit, it's another hour and, like, 20 minutes. I was like. Cause it's like. It is moving at a clip, but it's almost like you're in quicksand. It's like people are flailing, but it's not.

[Special Guest]

There's so many scenes that weren't needed. We didn't need that bus scene.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, no, the bus scene does nothing.

[Special Guest]

It doesn't move the plot. Nothing.

[June Diane Raphael]

And it's arguably, like, once again, bad for Stallone. He shouldn't be making this much of a spectacle of himself if he wants to remain quiet, off the grid. The reason he takes the bus is to be an invisible ghost. But then he can't, like, clobber six guys on the bus.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, can I also say. And again, I'm not trying to defend these gentlemen, but I felt like you are. I know I'm against kids and punks, but. Or four. But there's a moment where basically this guy took another woman's seat. Rude. And then he goes, hey, can you get up? He goes, fuck you. It seems like the penalty was very high for that. It seems like to be kicked out of a bus window. Again, I'm not saying it's good.

[Special Guest]

There was an open seat.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Special Guest]

Where he came from was now an open seat. I didn't. She could have sat right here. He slid right on over and left a seat for someone else to sit in.

[June Diane Raphael]

This bit of violence was unnecessary.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It was unhinged.

[Guest]

That guy was also harassing a young woman on the bus.

[Special Guest]

So, yeah, I get it.

[Guest]

Not realize there was an open seat.

[Special Guest]

Yes, A fully open seat.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, he. When he says that line, Nicole, that you said, like, I believe there's a vacancy. Let's like, she should have been like, get away from me, you monster. Yeah, I just watched you kill three people on a bus so that I could have a seat like that. I don't want to be a part of your.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I want to see. I want to see, like, the after scene of that where it's like the bus going to go. And the bus was like, no, I have to file a report now.

[Special Guest]

But when that lady handed him back. Back the glasses, she seemed a little turned on. The pregnant lady, the lady, when she gave back the glasses, she was just like, here are your glasses. I think she liked it.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wish someone see any of his vascularity.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

My God. Did anyone have any issues? And we'll kind of come to the audience in one second with Sharon Stone taking off all of her clothes and sitting naked in, like a chaise lounge.

[Special Guest]

Yeah, it was fucking weird.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What shocked me about that scene was I was like, oh, I think she's naked. But then when she gets up and you see her breath, I was like, oh, it was so unnecessary to see her naked in that scene.

[June Diane Raphael]

Respectfully, I disagree. Sharon Stone naked on the phone with Stallone, trying to peep out the window to see if he's in the phone booth across from her apartment was electric.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's when he's in the doc phone booth. That's when he's in the little baby doc.

[Guest]

Listen, I was saying to Paul, I was like, the idea of coming home to relax and just taking off your top and taking off your bra and just sitting is so absurd to me. I'm like, I get taking off your bra immediately. But she keeps her shoes on.

[Special Guest]

I know, it's just.

[Guest]

It's so wildly uncomfortable that I just kept looking at her and thinking, like, oh, put on a tank top. Like, just put on something that's. We all know that's very uncomfortable.

[Special Guest]

I didn't realize her shoes were on. That's so funny. Oh, I gotta free these titties, but, ooh, gotta keep the dogs locked up. You're good. Is that a lip it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Breathe. It also looks like she threw the dress in a trash can. Like, she's like, that dress her entire.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wardrobe is single use, like Tobey Maguire in his underpants.

[Guest]

I was obsessed with everything she wore. I loved the fact that she was in an evening gown and a scrunchie. I. I wish I loved it.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wish everybody else else was in the. Well, James woods might have been. I was gonna say was in the same movie that Sharon Stone is in because she is firing on all cylinders. And imagine, if you will. This is what I was. What I was going to say earlier. Imagine, if you will, instead of an aged Sylvester Stallone for this, you know, dynamic, what if it was young Nicolas Cage as the specialist trained by. Or somebody, I don't know, somebody else else. Somebody younger somebody.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Picture this scene with the two of them yelling. Then. Come on, talk to me.

[June Diane Raphael]

You sell your service to the highest.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Bidder, won't you, you stinking nugget.

[Guest]

These women are terrible.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You.

[Special Guest]

You can't get that lady. This one.

[June Diane Raphael]

10, 15, 100 before you lost count with your bombs, by the way.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Look at this guy. Oh, Jesus.

[Special Guest]

This.

[June Diane Raphael]

Way. This is like take 35. James woods is just like. I'm going to go to my trailer for five minutes and then I'm coming back and I'm going to be brilliant. In Bogota. You're bombing the cabana, but you're getting sloppy, Ray. You broke your famous code, didn't you?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You killed an innocent.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can you pause right there for a second? His watch is on the outside of his sleeve. Watch. What's happening?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, my God.

[Special Guest]

God, that is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is movie star shit. Like they said to Stallone, we can't see your watch. And he's like, fuck you, director. I'll put it on the outside. Like, this is like a pissing contest. He's mad.

[June Diane Raphael]

God, I think the opposite. I think Stallone is like, I want to be. I got to know. It's. It's a minute in, I'm going to be traced. So I need a watch. And they're like, well, yeah, but it would be under all your clothes. They'd be like, put it outside.

[Special Guest]

I love it. I really do hope it was like his choice.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think if. I think if it's 1994 and it's a Sylvester. I think everything is his choice.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Erica, did you watch a little bit more James Woods? Oh, didn't you?

[June Diane Raphael]

You killed an innocent bystander, Ray, and.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It'S just eating you up inside, isn't it?

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, you were always too fucking sensitive. But guess what? I'm coming, Ray. I'm coming to take all the pain away. I'm gonna Pause for one second and I'm gonna close those. I believe they are in love. More so.

[Guest]

That's interesting.

[June Diane Raphael]

More so than Sharon Stone and Sylvester Stone? Because I believe my headcanon for this movie is that Sharon Stone is playing everybody. Stallone, woods, everybody.

[Special Guest]

She gets her way.

[June Diane Raphael]

She's the one that ratted them out to the Colombians. She's like, this is exactly what I wanted. Like, she seems to be, to me. She seems to me to be the most capable person in this movie because these two, woods and Stallone are clearly involved in some. Some sort of like, nightmare. Decades long romance.

[Guest]

Yes. Psychosexual. Something. Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Heart in my hand. I'm right behind you and I know you. I know you.

[Special Guest]

Yep. Right behind you.

[June Diane Raphael]

He said, I'm gonna hold your heart in my hand. That's romantic.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Time's up.

[Special Guest]

58 seconds. Yeah. And I think, I hope Stallone might be the bottom in their relationship.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What is he doing?

[June Diane Raphael]

Why is he wrecking the recording?

[Special Guest]

I love that woman. Terrified.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's the only one reacting to the environment.

[Special Guest]

Watch her. Please.

[June Diane Raphael]

Just give her an Oscar.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, yeah, she's the only one.

[Special Guest]

I love her.

[June Diane Raphael]

She's out acting. James woods on every level.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's the shirt for the show, that woman's face. Let's go to the audience. Let's see what questions you all have. Okay. In this movie, they hide bombs in lots of things. Teacups, cigarette cases, you know, britches. Where would you hide your bomb? Is my question to all of you. And just ask me your question. Raise your hand if you have a good question. Anybody? Okay.

[Nicole Byer]

Yeah, right here.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What's your name? Matt. Matt, and where would you hide your bomb? In an earpiece. Ooh, that would be tricky. Okay.

[Special Guest]

An earpiece. Damn.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, what's your question? So at the end, the bomb truck explodes. Did he have a bomb on there the entire movie? Just waiting for them to show up. Oh, that is interesting because at the end of the movie, everything. Wait, what was it called? So at the end, the bomb truck explodes. Yeah. So did he have a bomb, like there the entire movie in the bomb truck? Like.

[June Diane Raphael]

Cause everything floats at the end underneath or. He seemed to have made the entire gear factory and its environs into a live bomb scenario. I felt like he could explode anything in that area. You know, the way. The same way that he was somehow able to explode the top floor of that building. He and James woods seem to have the raw materials for the most subtle bombs on their person at all times.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But yet they're blowing Up a fucking giant bridge when we meet them, like, it should have been like, he's leaving in that car with like, they could have just the way that this movie acts. They could have blown up the drug dealer and the daughter would have been fine. Because his bombs are so precise. It only gets the front seat. You know, it's like, that's it. But they decide to, like, rig two parts of it. Like, that seems so wildly big and is maybe the idea being that he used to do big bombs and now.

[Guest]

He does small bombs because of what happened. If he could have only blown up the front seat. He's got to live with that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I will say the damning look of that girl, that. That girl looks at him like, you're gonna kill me.

[Guest]

And, you know, like, sometimes in movies you could tell, like, they couldn't make her that young. Cause it would be. It would devastate us as an audience, you know, but they couldn't make her like a preteen either. Like, she was exactly the age where we were gonna have to be okay with it.

[June Diane Raphael]

See, I'm like. I'm like, you know what? I don't love it, but I'm cool if an 11 year old dies.

[Guest]

Yeah, they've lived 11 years.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's enough.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right. Your name?

[Special Guest]

Melissa.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Melissa. Welcome, Melissa. Where would you put your bomb?

[Special Guest]

Definitely on that stinky ass shower floor.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. And your question.

[Special Guest]

Okay, sorry. Cut this out if it's wrong, but when James woods was interrogating the Miami.

[Guest]

PD's bomb squad, was that Greg Brady from the original Brady Bunch?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, somebody was thinking that too.

[Guest]

It looked a lot like him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's say.

[Special Guest]

Yes, a lot like him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Great question. Will never be cut out. Don't ever correct it. I don't want any correction or omission on the discord about that. It's Greg Brady. We all knew it. We all agreed to it. Be cool.

[June Diane Raphael]

This movie takes place in the Brady verse.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That was Barry Williams. And if anyone says differently, we will bomb you. Okay, Your name?

[Special Guest]

Nina.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nina. And where would you put your bomb?

[Guest]

In the telephone booth.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, great. Oh, nice. Cute. All right. Where you can put it in any. You don't have to put it in the movie. You can put anywhere you go. It's a. What's your question?

[Guest]

Okay, so there is a scene where Rod Steiger's trying to get up off the couch and the police, like, chief.

[Special Guest]

Guy is, like, helping him up.

[Guest]

Whose idea you think it was to keep that in the movie?

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, Rod Steiger. Rod Steiger nails it with what is clearly an improvised line where he goes, I hate these deep couches. I hate these deep couches. I love that this movie is taking a stand. Give us shallow couches or give us no couches at all.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, well, we heard from the audience there, and now it is time for second opinions.

[Special Guest]

Timer. The cat Assassins. You hire an app. I want you to hang up in 58 seconds. This way he cannot be tracked. X eia Hired by someone named May. It turns out that Ned set up Ray and bombs are their favorite way. Oh, Stallone's a specialist. You know, I have no notes to give you. Did you all get a boner too? You know, it gets a. A five star review. Amazon. This is true. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. Five stars.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Amazing.

[June Diane Raphael]

Great.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Thank you. All right, let me tell you, these are second opinions pulled from Amazon and they are wild. Wild. Okay, there are. This gets an average four out of five stars on Amazon, where there's over 1,000 reviews. 76% are five star reviews.

[Special Guest]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But I'm gonna kind of bullet through them because they are all one sentence. So here we go. I'm just gonna speed. I'm gonna speed right through them. Here we go. Bob writes, reminds me of when I lived on the Miami river on a 51 foot trawler. Beautiful cinematography. Sharon Stone isn't too bad either. 5 stars. Amazon Customer writes, honestly, it's not a particularly great movie, but it's got a Porsche 968 in it, so it's good enough for me. 5 stars. DLG writes, Critics did not rate this film. Well, they must have been men, because this is a woman's fantasy. Five stars. And that sentiment continues when someone writes, I enjoyed this movie. Great bodies and beautiful people in a beautiful Miami setting. Yes, it's a woman's movie in. In spite of the action.

[Special Guest]

What?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Five stars.

[Special Guest]

I get it. I do get it. It's because you're seeing Stallone's body, all sexual and shit.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I wouldn't call it a woman's movie.

[Special Guest]

I think it's like. It's like the romance is for the ladies and that's like heavy in the movie. And then the bombs are for the.

[June Diane Raphael]

Boys, so they stick around.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Jason, you missed people calling this a woman's movie in the five star reviews.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, I do feel like this movie exists in the Fried Green Tomatoes verse.

[Guest]

Yeah, it's like Steel Magnolias.

[June Diane Raphael]

Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, the Specialist. It's a trilogy for the ages. It's. They've all got. Roberts is in them.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

A Couple of fun facts about this movie. Eric Roberts, only two years older than Sharon Stone, but he was supposed to have killed her parents when she was a child. Okay. Stallone said the secret to their shower scene was bringing a bottle of Black Death vodka up to the set that was given to him by Michael Douglas. And after half a dozen shots, we were wet and wild.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't like that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nope, no, no. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

[Special Guest]

I don't like it from a safety standpoint.

[June Diane Raphael]

Not at all.

[Special Guest]

That's why they were on the floor. Yeah, they were like, we don't. We can't stand up anymore.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So I. There's a. There's a real, like, history in Hollywood about Stallone being kind of tricked and conned by producers and other actors. The most famously, like, Schwarzenegger wrote a really bad script called Stop where My Mom Will Shoot. And he's like, get the rumor out there that I want to do it. So Stallone will try to steal it from me, and then he'll do this real shit ball movie. And then he did. And Stallone never wanted to do the movie. He was just to fuck with him. And it's been like, they have a history. So in this movie, like, Stallone was kind of playing hardball. And the producer said, hey, look, if you don't decide in 15 minutes, Warren Beatty wants to do this movie. And he's like, all right, I'm in. And Warren Beatty was never attached or anywhere near the movie.

[June Diane Raphael]

How much did it make?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, I'll get to that in one second. How much it made?

[June Diane Raphael]

Relax.

[Special Guest]

Wow, he just really needs to get to the pole.

[June Diane Raphael]

I've been watching this whole show to. I want. I want to know how much it made.

[Special Guest]

I saw numbers.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hey, log on to box. I didn't come here for jokes.

[Special Guest]

I came here for bullshit. Let's get the metrics going.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's the data data dump. Give me above the line and below the line costs.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Before tonight's show.

[June Diane Raphael]

You're an asshole, guy. Wrap the show up. I got a sitter. Give me the box office and let me out of this place. I'm done with this show. I came for box office and I.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Got for some context. Before the show started, we played the trailer to the Specialist. And when Jason came out here, he said, paul, were you upset that James woods did not get billing in the sequence in the credits like that? He's one of the lead characters in the movie. There's a good reason for that. Stallone demanded that James Wood's scenes were to be cut out of the film and some of his scenes to be reshot so Stallone would have more screen time. He was worried that woods would steal the movie away from him because he was a better actor than him. And Stallone also did the same thing to Rucker Hauer on Nighthawk. So that is the reason why Rucker.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hauer was in two Hawk based movies.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Lady Hawk and Nightmare Hawk. And here's the thing that I found most interesting before we get to how much it made.

[June Diane Raphael]

Are you okay, my guy? Are you okay to wait a couple more seconds.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Before there was a blacklist. A blacklist is this amazing thing that Franklin Leonard does where he polls people in Hollywood. What are the best scripts that aren't made? And there's a list, and it can help screenwriters really get to the top of the heap. You know, it's just about who has a great script. The Los Angeles Times did something similar to that. And in 1993, the Los Angeles Times listed the Specialist as the best unproduced thriller script in Hollywood, based on a poll of 40 agents, producers, and studio executives. So this movie was a hot commodity. And it had a budget of 45 million.

[June Diane Raphael]

Ooh, all your dreams are coming true.

[Special Guest]

Get ready.

[June Diane Raphael]

We're talking those numbers, Paul. What do we got?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

A budget of what, 45.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow, wow, wow, wow.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's what I'm here for.

[Special Guest]

We're getting closer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The opening weekend was 14.3.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, God.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And the full domestic gross.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, give the. Dump it all on me. Give me the whole number, Paul.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

$57.4 million. The worldwide growth, 170 million, adjusted for inflation, $347 million. Wow. That came in.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's an Avatar.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Came in number 21 in the top 200 films of 1991. And that's the year where the Lion King, Forrest Gump, and True Lies comes out. This movie beat Time, Cop Disclosure, the Shadow junior Color of Night, Street Fighter, Ghost in the Machine, and Double Dragon. It beat all of those movies. It came in number 21. And the tagline is, killing is his profession. Revenge is her goal. Together they take on the battle against the underworld mafia. Kind of got.

[Special Guest]

That's the longest tagline, by the way.

[June Diane Raphael]

Terrible tagline.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And here's the alt tagline. The government taught him to kill. Now he's using his skills to help a woman seek revenge against the man.

[Special Guest]

These are like poems. These are not taglines.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They're haiku.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's a better tagline. She's hot, but inexplicably, he's naked.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's hot, he's not. Boom.

[June Diane Raphael]

Bye.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Bye.

[Special Guest]

Bye bye would have been the best tagline.

[June Diane Raphael]

Holy shit.

[Special Guest]

Bye Bye.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, well, well. We really got into the specialist. Nicole, we have talked on our show about your show Grant Crew, which is amazing show on Peacock and Netflix. Tell us a little bit more about it.

[Special Guest]

Oh, Grand Cru is about six friends who hang out in a bar and we drink and we fuck and we. We talk about life and relationships and it's like.

[Guest]

It's silly.

[Special Guest]

It's a very silly throwback to the 90s. It's a fun show.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's a great ensemble. And where we talked to Phil and Carl on Last Looks. Where are you on your wine drinking journey?

[Special Guest]

Oh, well, last night I drank half a bottle of wine after I had, like, I don't know, eight vodka sodas. It was bad. It was bad. I woke up this morning and I was like, I'm unwell. And then went into my kitchen to watch this movie.

[Guest]

I'm so sorry.

[Special Guest]

I was so hungover just being like, well, this is good. It was honestly really nice to watch it. Hungover?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's the way that they shot the shower scene.

[Special Guest]

Yeah, more or less.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nicole, anything else you can. You want to plug podcast?

[Special Guest]

Oh, yeah, I got podcasts. Why won't you date me? Best friends 90 day bae. I'm like, working out material in D.C. and Denver and you could just go to my Instagram and hit the link in the bio. I don't know the days.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I love it. That's great. June. I know you and I are very excited about this show that we're on. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur on Disney. It's actually fantastic. It's a great show. Really, really fun.

[Guest]

I'm so excited. And also, Paul, you'll be at it. Bitch Sesh and the Deep Dive is hosting a show pickleball tournament slash extravaganza called I'd hit that on May 13th. So if you're in Los Angeles or traveling to Los Angeles and you want to buy tickets, you can head to janeclub.com pickleball and come to the show. Paul will be our celebrity DJ and MC. And it's going to be so much fun. May 13.

[June Diane Raphael]

I will shout out, even though I'm not in it, John Wick 4 get involved.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait, you went to a movie theater?

[June Diane Raphael]

Nope.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, wow.

[June Diane Raphael]

Don't worry about it, but go see this movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Can you? I. I can't afford the three. I can't find those three hours. I need to talk to your source. God damn it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Also, I. I play a recurring part in the Netflix show Agent Elvis. That is an animated show.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I was cut out of that show.

[June Diane Raphael]

What's that?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cut out of that show.

[Special Guest]

Really?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I recorded. I was recording my voice and I was like, they're gonna cut me. I wasn't doing whatever they wanted me to do. And I've had this experience twice in my life, and I was feeling it. And then, like, a couple months later, like, we're gonna recast.

[Guest]

You listen, it sounds like we're still in Moon Girl Dinosaur.

[Special Guest]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

I will say congratulations on the pickup of lower Star Trek lower decks, which is fantastic. And I will. I will please urge people to watch. Watch Star Trek Prodigy, the show that I am on, which is absolutely fantastic and needs your eyeballs. Get involved.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I'll also say if you like Star Trek Picard Season three, don't worry about one and two. It's great. But more importantly, Dungeons and Dragons, the movie is good. You saw it there.

[Special Guest]

Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right.

[Special Guest]

I hate medieval shit. It makes me, like, really upset. But I was not upset watching that movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's a fucking comedy. It's really funny. It's really good. Dungeons and Dragons.

[June Diane Raphael]

Why does medieval shit make you upset?

[Special Guest]

That makes me so mad because I could just imagine how stinky they are. I don't like that. Like, there's no, like, hems. Everything's, like, jagged and nasty. And they got stupid fucking belts and there's, like, rocks everywhere.

[June Diane Raphael]

I agree. The belts are stupid.

[Special Guest]

I don't. I'm not here for it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I agree with you that they made medieval stuff look nicer. It was. It was better. It was. Yeah, it was.

[Special Guest]

But the jokes made me happy. I was like, these people look like trash. But, like, it's funny and I'm not angry.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

A lot of funny, funny jokes. Jokes, like, really great surprise.

[Special Guest]

They make a choice with this dragon that made me laugh so hard. I don't want to ruin it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They have a cameo in it that was shocking. And the scene plays out like this drama in the middle of this comedy movie. It's beautifully done.

[Special Guest]

Anyway, wait, can I say one last thing?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, please.

[Special Guest]

I thought it was really interesting when they were running at the end and the bombs were going off, like, in front and behind them. Sharon Stone yelped every time a bomb went off. And I was, like, kind of concerned. I was like, are these happening too close to her? Did they rehearse? I was like, well, I kinda liked it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cause it gave me, like, a human reaction to bombs. Like, this movie is like, bombs go off all the time. Like, it's like a doorbell. Like she's like, oh, fuck. Like she, she. She should be jumping another.

[June Diane Raphael]

Just a tiny bit of evidence that this is really a love story between Stallone and Woods is the. You're the rigger, I'm the trigger. That is the most romantic line in the movie. That's what the movie's about. You're the rigger, I'm the trigger. James woods is saying in the whole movie, why don't you see, I'm in love with you? You're the rigger, I'm the trigger.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Come on. Would that be the shirt? Yeah, that may be it. You're the rigger, I'm the trigger. And a silhouette of both their faces. I love this. Nicole, so great to have you back.

[Guest]

Hey, would you recommend the movie?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh.

[June Diane Raphael]

But before we go, lady. But before we go, would we recommend the box office?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Sometimes I feel like this question is we've already gone through it.

[Guest]

I think that's clear. Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. Would we recommend the movie?

[Special Guest]

Yes, absolutely.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Great. Give it up for our amazing crew. Up in the booth, we have a producer, our sound engineer. Got new live engineers up there. It's an amazing group. They put this show together every week. Thank you for coming. Thank you, Nicole. Thank you, June. Thank you, Jason. We'll be back in april for a three night run and then back in May and come see dinosaur April 15th. Thank you, everybody. Good night. The show may be over, but it.

[Nicole Byer]

Continues next week on last looks.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's right.

[Nicole Byer]

We want you to join us on last looks to tell us all the things that we might have messed up that we might have gotten wrong. And you get a chance to prove that you are better than us. You can do that very simply by.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Going to our discord at discord gg.

[Nicole Byer]

Hdtgm or you can call me at 619paulask. I also run a very impromptu advice line, so if you have any problems, I am there to solve. Normally, I'm joined by Jason on last looks. So tune into last looks to hear interviews with some of our great past guests, some deleted scenes and so much more, including what we're watching next week.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know what?

[Nicole Byer]

If you're a big how did this get made Fan, that means you must have some merch. And if you need our merch, go to teepublic.com stores hdtgm. That's t e e public dot com. You can find us online everywhere on any kind of social platform at hdtgm. And if you really just want to go old school. Check out our [e-mail] that has links to everything you could possibly imagine. But this show, what you're listening to right here, couldn't be done without a couple of things. First of all, you listening. But more importantly, I'm talking about the amazing producerial work of Scott Sahni, Molly Reynolds and our movie picking producer, Avril Halley, our engineer Alex Gonzalez and our publisher, July Diaz. People, they make the trains run and we love them. So we will see you next week for last looks and and until then, bye for now.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Adam Pally here and I'm John Gabris. We're a couple actors and best friends who you may know as the host of the TV show 101 Places to Party before you die. Now we're bringing you a comedic look at health and wellness with our new show, Staying Alive. We'll have guests like our friend, actor Jerry oconnell, ketamine therapist Dr. Stephen Radowitz, Paul Shear, Ego Wodo, Jillian Bell, Dr. Doolittle. Staying alive with John Gabris and Adam.

[Nicole Byer]

Pally is out right now.

[June Diane Raphael]

Get them a week early and ad.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Free with SiriusXM podcast plus on Apple Podcasts. Morning. One sausage McMuffin with egg, please.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, your total is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait. Let's negotiate. How's about you throw in hash browns for a a dollar?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, yes, sir, that price is already a dollar.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Take it or leave it.

[Paul Scheer]

Take it, I guess. Buy one, add one for a dollar on sausage McMuffin with egg, hash browns and more with McValue. Most locations open 5am or earlier. Price and participation may vary. Limited time only. Valid for item of equal or lesser value.