How Did This Get Made? — "Toys" (1992) w/ Drew McWeeny (HDTGM Matinee)

Podcast: How Did This Get Made?
Hosts: Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas (June Diane Raphael out this week)
Guest: Drew McWeeny
Date: December 9, 2025
Episode: A deep-dive, comedic takedown of Barry Levinson’s notorious oddity "Toys" starring Robin Williams, Joan Cusack, and LL Cool J.

Overview:

The HDTGM crew—Paul, Jason, and guest film critic Drew McWeeny—tackle Toys, Barry Levinson’s visually stunning, narratively baffling 1992 misfire. The episode explores the film’s infamous tonal mishmash, plot absurdities, and baffling creative decisions, all delivered in the raucous, bantering style that defines the podcast. The hosts dig into everything from its failed whimsy and sex scenes to LL Cool J’s role and the reveal that Joan Cusack is a robot.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Initial Impressions: "A Confusing Childhood Memory"

• Paul shares memories of seeing Toys as a kid—anticipating a whimsical Robin Williams comedy, only to be left utterly baffled.
  • “As a kid...I remember being so confused leaving it.” (04:10, Paul)
• Drew apologize for subjecting the hosts to the film; Jason jokingly curses him out (03:34, 03:37).

2. Production History: A Decade in the Making—But Why?

• Barry Levinson spent 10 years writing the film; the script was once considered one of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays (04:25, Drew).
• “If you told me he wrote this in 2 days of having a 104-degree fever, I’d believe it.” (04:26, Jason)
• Originally intended before Diner—potentially career-ending if he'd directed it first. (04:50, Drew)
• The film’s look is inspired by Magritte paintings—gorgeous but “a weird appropriation” that doesn’t work (07:32, Paul; 07:43, Drew).

3. Plot (or Lack Thereof): Attempting an Explanation

• Childlike Robin Williams and Joan Cusack inherit whimsical toy factory Zevo; their uncle (Michael Gambon) is a general who takes over and weaponizes toys.
• “There’s a very famous toy factory called Zevo...run by a wonderful man who celebrates innocence. He has two children. The guy who runs the factory has a brother...a British general.”—Paul (05:47)
• LL Cool J as the general’s military son, Robin Wright as the love interest; the setup devolves into a war of toys versus military drones.

4. Tonal Chaos & Bizarre Choices

• Meandering pace: overlong scenes, random subplots that never go anywhere.
• Opener: a Christmas ballad but the film inexplicably isn’t a Christmas movie (05:12-05:33).
• “I wrote at one point, well they don’t care about pace because, like, the first seven scenes are overly long.” (05:09, Paul)

5. Surreal Worldbuilding—With Zero Logic

• The Zevo world is “Wonka-esque,” houses like pop-up books, with no connection to our reality (07:13, Jason; 07:32, Paul).
• The visuals impress, but nothing about the world feels consistent or makes sense.
  • “One of the biggest gambles you can do is this kind of world-building movie—because when it goes wrong, it’s nothing but trouble.” (13:39, Drew)
• Movie took 10 months to film, most of it on elaborate sets.

6. Character Oddities: Sex, Innocence, and Robots

• Robin Williams’ character vibes: “weird Peter Pan” innocence, suddenly makes sexual jokes and loses his virginity.
• Not for kids: abrupt sex scenes, nudity, and Robin Williams’ character’s virginity loss heard on-screen.
  • “It looks like it’s for kids … it is not even remotely.” (09:27, Jason)
  • “Robin Wright really gave it up quick. She was like, he’s like, I want a hug, and she’s like, let me take off my shirt.” (09:44, Paul)
• Joan Cusack’s character, thought to be just odd, is revealed in the finale to be a robot ("She’s a GOD DAMN ROBOT!" — 51:07, Jason).

7. LL Cool J & Diverse Supporting Cast

• LL Cool J as a chameleonic war-obsessed son—funny to childhood Paul, baffling to adults.
• Extended riff on his “military plate” monologue—his focus on keeping vegetables separated (24:11–24:46).
• Jamie Foxx in his first film role as a camera-watching goon (09:52, Paul).

8. Gags & Non-Sequitur Scenes

• Mayonnaise and applesauce sandwiches, random “woozy helmet” scenes, fake vomit taste tests, duplication room double entendre—none of which pay off later.
• Recurring bit: “Does anything come back?” “No, nothing ever comes back.” (15:17–17:28)
• MTV “heist” scene: infiltrating the factory security by projecting a music video, which is then passed around like a viral clip (31:16–36:49).

9. Climax: The War of the Toys

• 40 minutes of “good toys vs. evil toys”: doll violence, sea monsters, and decapitation.
• Robin’s rousing, nonsensical Gettysburg Address speech to literal wind-up toys.
  • “This is a man speaking to toys that we have never set up in this whole movie have any life or personality to it.” (49:33, Paul)
  • [49:01] “The end of the beginning, the beginning of the be...”
• Violent and surreal: “Saving Private Ryan without the emotional stakes” (49:48, Paul).
• Joan Cusack is decapitated but everyone just shrugs and promises to rebuild her (52:45, Paul/Jason).

10. Musical and Visual Set Pieces

• “Happy Workers” factory song—played, presumably, on loop for all employees to endure.
• Numerous other odd songs by Thomas Dolby, including callbacks to “Howard the Duck.”
• Drew IDs Wendy from Wendy & Lisa in a cameo as the singing worker—(08:22).

11. “Second Opinions” & Cult Defenses

• Paul reads outlandish 5-star Amazon reviews:
  • “You’re definitely not going to like it if you have no imagination. Or you expect your movies to make sense.” (58:03)
  • “I like the scenes that they do in the movie.” (58:19)
• Theory: Some people love Toys because it was on HBO when they were a kid—“stockholm syndrome” for movies from childhood (56:16, Drew).

12. How Did This Even Get Made?

• Jason: “I genuinely look at this movie and I’m like, I don’t know why.” (43:11)
• Drew: “Good Morning, Vietnam. They had just done a comedy set in active war with Robin Williams. Now I can finally make my dream movie. But dream movies almost always blow.” (43:33)
• Budget: $43 million (1992), grossed only $23 million worldwide. (63:36–64:01)

Notable & Memorable Quotes

• Jason: [04:26] “If you told me he wrote this in 2 days of having a 104-degree fever, I’d believe it.”
• Paul: [05:09] “Well, they don’t care about pace—the first seven scenes are overly long.”
• Drew: [07:43] "If Magritte saw the film, he would probably break his hand slapping Barry Levinson."
• Jason: [09:27] “It looks like it’s for kids...but it is not even remotely.”
• Drew: [22:47] “Nobody would play with these [toys]. They’re nightmare machines, most of them.”
• Jason: [43:11] “I genuinely look at this movie and I’m like, I don’t know why.”
• Paul: [49:33] “This is a man speaking to toys that we have never set up in this whole movie have any life or personality to it.”
• Jason: [51:07] “She’s a GOD DAMN ROBOT!”
• Drew: [56:16] "Any movie that was on HBO when you were between 8–12—you think is great because it Stockholm's over and over and over."
• Paul (reading 5-star review): [58:03] “You’re definitely not going to like it if you have no imagination... or you expect your movies to make sense.”

Highlight Timestamps

• [03:34–03:40]: Jason curses out Drew for making them watch Toys.
• [05:45–06:51]: Paul tries to lay out the actual plot; the others intervene with details about baffling casting choices.
• [08:52–09:09]: Discussion of the 40-minute comedic void and Robin Williams’ uneven performance.
• [15:32–16:26]: Discussion of random, unresolved comedic bits (e.g., mayonnaise sandwiches, woozy helmet).
• [24:11–24:46]: LL Cool J’s “military plate” monologue performed.
• [31:16–36:49]: “MTV Heist” scene breakdown—one of the movie’s most surreal moments.
• [48:36–50:08]: Robin Williams’ epic, nonsensical “rally speech” to the toys and the resulting toy battle.
• [51:04–52:48]: Joan Cusack’s robot twist and everyone’s lack of surprise.
• [56:16–56:25]: Drew explains the effect of childhood TV oversaturation on a movie’s cult status.
• [58:03–61:18]: Paul reads hilariously misguided Amazon five-star reviews.
• [63:36–64:01]: Movie’s budget and box-office disaster revealed.

The Final Word

How Did This Get Made? pulls apart Toys with hilarious frustration, zeroing in on its misplaced whimsy, plotlessness, and “dream project” excess. It’s a film that left all the hosts and their guest baffled, slightly disturbed, and deeply amused—summed up in Drew’s closing theory: “It’s almost always a red flag when you hear a filmmaker say, for 20 years, this has been the thing that I’ve wanted to make.” (62:40)