Toys w/ Drew McWeeny (HDTGM Matinee)

Summary

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.

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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).

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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).

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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)

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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.”

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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.

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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)

Transcript

[Paul Scheer]

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[Drew McQueenie]

Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree. Zoe, this thing weighs a ton.

[Paul Scheer]

Drewski, live with your legs man.

[Drew McQueenie]

Santa. Santa, did you get my letter? He's talking to you Bridges.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm not.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Of course he did.

[Paul Scheer]

Right Santa? You know my elf Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list.

[Drew McQueenie]

And elf, I'm six' three.

[Jason Manzoukas]

What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and.

[Paul Scheer]

At T Mobile you can get it on them.

[Jason Manzoukas]

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[Paul Scheer]

Right Mrs. Claus?

[Drew McQueenie]

I'm Mrs. Claus much younger sister. And AT T Mobile there's no trade in needed when you switch so you can keep your old phone or give.

[Paul Scheer]

It as a gift.

[Drew McQueenie]

And the best part? You can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Guys, my side of the tree is slipping.

[Paul Scheer]

Timber. The holidays are better. AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill.

[Drew McQueenie]

Credits for well qualified customers plus tax.

[Paul Scheer]

And $35 device connection charge. Credit and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel financing agreement. 256 gigs $830 eligible poured in a new line $100 plus a month plan with auto payments, taxes, fees required. Check out in 15 minutes or less per line. Visit t mobile.com Imagine a less charming and more preachy Willy Wonka. We saw toys so you know what that means. Now it's time for how to Disconnect People gonna have a good time celebrating.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Failure not just be a hater.

[Paul Scheer]

Catch you though you wonder how did this repay? Let's wallow in the mediocrity of subparra. Find the answer to the question how did this get made? Hello, people of Earth, and welcome to how did this get made? I am Paul Scheer, joined as always by Jason Manzoukas. How are you, Jason?

[Jason Manzoukas]

I'm good, Paul. How are you?

[Paul Scheer]

Very good. And June Dayan? Oh, she is not here. Sorry, I couldn't.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I'll. June.

[Paul Scheer]

Hello, Paul. How are you? Unfortunately, June cannot be here today. It's very sad, but there's no conspiracy. All right. We have a very.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Or is there?

[Paul Scheer]

Guys, get to the forums.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Maybe the June with her back turned photo in last week's picture June is.

[Paul Scheer]

Dead.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Is just part of this conspiracy.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, man. Oh, man. Okay. I was gonna talk about this. Well, forget it. Okay. Not worth it. Not worth it. We are joined by a very special guest. He requested this movie, as a matter of fact. Please welcome Drew McQueenie. You know him from his website, HitFix. I'm a huge fan of him and I've gotten the chance to bump into him many times over the. You are a true film fan. Amazing film writer. We're excited to have you.

[Drew McQueenie]

Thank you, man. Very good to be here.

[Jason Manzoukas]

But fuck you for making me watch this movie.

[Drew McQueenie]

I do. I apologize right up front. I say I'm sorry.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, boy.

[Paul Scheer]

Drew sent me a list of movies that we could talk about and each one of them were great. And I'm sure we'll steal some of them for the show. This one definitely jumped out at me because it was 1992 when this came out. As a kid, I love comedy. I love Robin Williams. And I was like, this is like, you know, and this is like the era of time when Robin Williams was blonde. I feel like that was a couple movies, or at least I don't know in my mind. And I was excited to see this movie. And I remember being so confused leaving it.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And I just didn't know what to expect. And this movie, I mean, it's still confusing. This is an insane movie. Just to give you some background on it, Barry Levinson wrote and directed this movie. Or co wrote and directed this movie. Took him 10 years to write this movie.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's crazy.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah, this. Because I feel like this movie. If you had equally had said, oh, Barry Levinson had 104 fever for two days and he wrote this movie, I'd be like, yep, I buy. I believe it.

[Drew McQueenie]

This is. This is the crazy part, this script for, like, 15 years was on every list of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Really?

[Drew McQueenie]

Everybody loved this thing. There were people who wrote about it constantly. And it was gonna be his first film before Diner.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, really? That's how long he was working for.

[Drew McQueenie]

Literally. They ran out of the money and he went and made Diner instead. And thank God. Cause his career. If this had been the first thing.

[Paul Scheer]

That would have been done, there would.

[Drew McQueenie]

Have been no Barry Levinson.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, absolutely.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

It's crazy because this movie, I mean, you want to talk about plot or. I mean, there's no.

I wrote. At one point, I was like, well, they don't care about pace because, like, the first seven scenes are overly long. And just, like.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It starts with a ballad. Oh, it starts with a musical number that's a ballad. Oh, just like, hit him hard and a Christmas ballad.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yeah. So it's really sugary.

[Paul Scheer]

It's like Nutcracker Light.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I was like, are they trying to make this, like, a Christmas movie? Nope.

[Paul Scheer]

No, it's not. It's always. I mean, I just didn't quite. I mean, I don't even. I guess at the root of this movie, I mean, I'll just set up the basic premise. There's a very famous toy factor.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I want to listen to how you do this.

[Paul Scheer]

A very famous toy factory called Zevo and is run by a wonderful man, a very loving man who celebrates innocence. He has two children, Robin Williams and Joan Cusack. They also are very equally loving and open and love toys. And the guy who runs the factory, he has a brother who is a British general. Now, no one else is British.

[Jason Manzoukas]

He's an American general who has a British ex. This.

[Drew McQueenie]

And is resentful of his brigade acts.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I was like, could you really? Did you have to hire Michael Gambon? Was that it? Well, that was my question. To hire Michael Gambon. I don't know why.

[Paul Scheer]

My question is, was it like, a chicken before? Like, was it like. Was it in the script as a British actor? And then they.

[Drew McQueenie]

And then I wonder about the LL Cool J casting, because there's a whole other level of. I'm sorry, what?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

So the American who has a British accent also has a black son who is LL Cool J, whose mother was.

[Drew McQueenie]

Evidently a Vietnamese spy at one point.

[Paul Scheer]

Who looked enough like Jane Fonda.

[Jason Manzoukas]

No, no, she looked like Jane. She looked like she was a Vietnamese spy. Well, she went into For Our side. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, Right.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, my God. So again, you see the movie getting off track. But basically it's two, bro. One's a peaceful, loving toy maker, the other is a hardcore general. And the peaceful toy maker dies. The general takes over and starts making war toys. And that is basically the end and all of the end of the movie, which is. That's the premise. Toy people versus people for making war toys.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I think like in the beginning when you said like that, I think the thing to keep in mind on top of that is that the entire movie takes place in a kind of Wonka esque universe where everything is a toy.

The houses are pop up books, you know, everything like everything is fantastical.

[Paul Scheer]

And I'm gonna mispronounce his name, but it's Magritte, which is, I guess so it's very heavily influenced by Magritte's work and the look of it. And it is beautiful. Yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

I do feel like though, if he saw the film, he would probably break his hand slapping Gary Levinson. Cause it is such a weird appropriation of his work.

[Paul Scheer]

It really. Yeah, it's not. I mean, it's almost like, you know, they go, oh, I wonder if that painting could talk. And if it did, it was bad. I don't want to hear that painting talking.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Unfortunately, not only do I get to hear that painting talk, I get to hear it sing. Like a bad Talking Heads or Men Without Hats song.

[Paul Scheer]

By the way, the author of that song, Thomas Dolby.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, there you go.

[Paul Scheer]

Who also composed the Howard the Duck song, of course, A classic song that we revisited just a little while ago.

[Drew McQueenie]

You know who the crazy Jamie Gertz lookalike at the beginning that sings is? Right.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Who is it?

[Drew McQueenie]

That's Wendy from Wendy and Lisa.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, is it really from Lisa? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's funny. Wendy.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yes, Lisa. So it's such a strange cameo appearance.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes, Lisa.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh my God. And by the way. Well, I'm jumping ahead. I'll save this. I'm going to write down what I'm holding on to. Yeah. So this movie, the way I also think about it is it's a comedy, I guess. I mean, it's trying to be, but it's like imagined as a drama. Like that's how I kind of. It's like, it's sort of like. Cause it's kind of trying to be a comic.

[Drew McQueenie]

There was about 40 minutes in the middle where I counted not one attempt at a joke. Like they don't even try for a stretch, which is the strangest choice.

[Paul Scheer]

And Robin Williams. Robin Williams character in this movie is a very innocent young Idealistic man who then all of a sudden is making jokes.

[Drew McQueenie]

Not so much, though.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And then it turns out you think he would. Yeah, he's almost like a really weird child, like, Peter Pan type character. But then he wants to get laid and he and Robin Wright f. And you hear it. And that this movie, by the way, not for kids.

[Paul Scheer]

Not for kids.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It looks like it's a movie that's for kids. It's like big and poppy and bright and toys and all. But it is not even remote. Like, there are multiple sex scenes in this movie.

[Paul Scheer]

And the sex scene, by the way.

[Drew McQueenie]

And I think we listened to him lose his virginity at one point, which is the creepiest thing that ever happened.

[Jason Manzoukas]

100%.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And by the way, Robin Wright really gave it up quick. She was like, he's like, I want to be hugged. And she's like, let me take off my shirt.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Whoa, can I stay here tonight? And she's like, how about looking at my titties?

[Paul Scheer]

Now, at that point in the movie, Robin Williams has kind of started to figure out that the bad brother is making war toys. And I thought for sure that that sex scene was a diversion because they were being watched by a camera. Jamie Foxx, by the way, in his first ever on screen role, watching Robin Williams hump Robin Wright pen. And I thought, oh, that brought over the thing. No, no, no. It's just a sex scene. There's nothing there.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Nothing to it.

[Drew McQueenie]

But the craziest part of that whole explanation is that evidently Donald o' Connor hired her specifically hoping she would end up fucking his son.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

And Donald o' Connor is a. Yeah, is the dad.

[Drew McQueenie]

So it is like the biggest lawsuit in the universe just waiting to happen. And then it finally does, and it's creepy and gross.

[Jason Manzoukas]

He not only hires her, he says to her, according to her, you're really gonna. My son's really gonna like you. Yeah. And then Joan Cusack, when she sees that Robin Wright and she goes, oh, he finally found her.

[Drew McQueenie]

I was like, it's appropriate that he makes that crazy Michael Jackson joke because this has that same mix of supposed innocence and creepy sex predator vibe. It's perfect.

[Paul Scheer]

But there's something funny about him in the sense that Robin Williams. Again, I feel like at certain points you're like, just improvise. Have fun with this scene. Because his character drops. I mean, again, his character is all over the place, but his character makes Robin Williams esque jokes. But then for those.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Did you pull the. Did you pull the Gettysburg Address?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Should I?

[Jason Manzoukas]

We can get to later. But like, that is the quintessence of fuck you, Robin Williams for doing this.

[Paul Scheer]

I have a lot of the songs from the movie as well, if we ever want to dig into that.

[Drew McQueenie]

Their first lunch scene feels like they must have shot like six hours of them flirting. And all of it is him doing bits. It's awful.

[Paul Scheer]

And her laughing, which is such a sign of a bad comedy movie. I hate that thing where it's like the funny guy with the hot girl and the hot girl just goes, ha, ha, ha, you're funny. And that's how they connect.

[Drew McQueenie]

It's worse than that. When he walks in smoking, Joan Cusack actually goes, smoke. That's funny. She had to underline it just in case we didn't know it was supposed to be funny.

[Paul Scheer]

And I love that. There's also some weird. I mean, I'm not one to pick on the fantastical elements of the movie because obviously, yes, their house is a storybook that opens in a plane, you know, but then they're, you know, so I'm not gonna pick on that kind of stuff. But.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Well, the visuals, A lot of the visuals I will legitimately say are amazing.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, they're beautiful, you know, like really.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Beautiful visual stuff happens in this movie.

[Drew McQueenie]

And I remember the trailer kind of selling that element of it. And it looked like, wow, that's kind of remarkable to look at.

[Paul Scheer]

And I kind of. I mean, by the way we played this on the mini episode. One of the trailers for the movie is just Robin Williams in like a field going, hello, I'm Robin Williams and I think you should see the movie.

Just doing voices, advertising the movie with no clips. Just doing crazy Robin Williams voices.

[Drew McQueenie]

I think that was in theaters right at the same time that Aladdin was out. So he was at an all time high where it was like, Robin can do no wrong and let him riff. And I think that's what that was trying to tell me.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That's amazing.

[Paul Scheer]

It's really, really nuts. Cause I was like, my basic question was, I get it's fantastical, but what's the baseline? What is the real thing? What's not the real thing? Because it just. I didn't know if there was a real world outside of this world.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Didn't seem like if there is. We barely see it.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, you don't see any. We never leave.

[Jason Manzoukas]

There is nothing juxtaposed to their world.

[Paul Scheer]

Right.

[Jason Manzoukas]

We never leave their kind of idyllic, weird world.

[Paul Scheer]

The only time you leave it is when the kids are in their military training programs. And they're clearly bombing and destroying major metropolitan cities that look like ours. So like. So there is a.

[Drew McQueenie]

There must be.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

There's just basically a very large field. It's like a Microsoft or Apple campus, but only with like one very small building on it that has an elephant blowing bubbles out of its nose.

[Drew McQueenie]

I think one of the things that. And you guys have done a couple of these now. One of the biggest gambles you can do is this kind of world building movie.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Drew McQueenie]

Because when it goes wrong, it's nothing but trouble. Or it's Bruto Nash, or it's this where nothing about the world is interesting, nothing works. And it's such a mess before you even get to what's happening in it.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, completely.

[Paul Scheer]

And by the way, this movie took 10 months to make. That's a very long time.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Is that right?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, 10 months. Oof. And I feel like that thing they.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Were talking about, with how many mayonnaise sandwiches do you think Joan Cusack had to eat in that time?

[Paul Scheer]

Joan Cusack. Her character trait is she likes sandwiches.

[Jason Manzoukas]

She likes sandwiches that are just bread. Sometimes two slices of bread with mayonnaise, but that's it.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, let's hear her order another sandwich. We have this clip right here.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Chicken salad, shrimp salad. You know, Joe, I'm very disappointed that.

[Drew McQueenie]

You never once had an applesauce sandwich on your menu.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Applesauce, mis evo.

[Drew McQueenie]

The sandwich will get all saggy.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, I don't mind.

[Drew McQueenie]

I'll make you one tomorrow.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay. Okay, thank you very much.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That's a scene from this movie.

[Paul Scheer]

That's a good movie.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It's not like something we recorded to poke fun at how bad this movie is. That is actual dialogue that apparently took 10 years to write.

[Paul Scheer]

There was a script supervisor behind the camera going, yep, we got it. There was a cut. Different angles on that scene.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Let's go again. Let's go again.

[Paul Scheer]

When they were looking at the two hour length, they were like, no, leave that scene in. Does it pay off? No.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, no. We never see her eat an applesauce sandwich.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, that guy lied to her.

[Drew McQueenie]

And almost every scene, especially in the middle, I have no idea what they connect to or why they're there. There's so many scenes that are like them sitting on the couch doing the woozy helmet, which plays no part at the end of the film. The woozy helme.

[Paul Scheer]

They.

[Drew McQueenie]

They put it like three times so you know it exists.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That's the thing, is nothing.

[Drew McQueenie]

See what it does?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Nothing comes back. Yeah. You know, like all of I mean, like, he's got the smoke jacket, which could have been used later in the movie when they go to war, the sound effects jacket, the fake helmet, the fake puke and diarrhea. Although that did make me laugh.

[Paul Scheer]

Did you like the novelty test where they're going out in the field and testing?

[Jason Manzoukas]

That was so stupid.

[Paul Scheer]

It was like they're in a room. They're like in an R and D room watching like. Like old. Like 8. Like, it almost looks like 8 millimeter footage of, like, Robin Williams wearing very big ears in a supermarket going, we're testing out the big ears. And like, what, is he just walking around the supermarket? Like, what? Like, I just. I mean, that is just a great dumb thing. It's like, oh, yeah. They test out these things.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Like, the idea that it took him to just. The more I think about the idea that it took Barry Levinson 10 years to make to write this makes me depressed because this is what he came up with.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, to me, it's like. But what is this?

[Jason Manzoukas]

This is what he was honing.

[Paul Scheer]

But from minute. I would say from after the first couple of scenes, which are very long, but you are set up that the military guy wants to make military toys and Robin Williams does not want to make that. And then there is no other plot complication, really.

[Drew McQueenie]

I think that's why they give so much time to the Robin Wright pin thing. Because why not? They need to do something to kill time.

[Paul Scheer]

That's their B story. And the B story is not really. There's no real obstacle. He meets her, they fall in love pretty instantly, and then they consummate it just a couple scenes later. And then at the end, it's cool. It's like there's that. It's just kind of like flowing. You're just kind of like, ah, look.

[Jason Manzoukas]

At like, why does she dress like a crazy person? Why do they. I mean, they all dress like crazy.

[Paul Scheer]

She dressed like Cher from Clueless. I felt like Robin, right?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah. But it's at one point she's wearing like, a Scottish outfit. Like a.

[Drew McQueenie]

No one else is eccentric.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Tam o'. Shanter.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Everybody else is like, normal. And in wearing, like, all the other toy people are wearing, like, lab coats and blah, blah, blah. And she's dressed like a fucking maniac. In one point, she's wearing, like, a Sgt. Pepper's jacket or something. I was like, what the fuck is happening?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, she's in charge of the duplication room.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, God.

[Paul Scheer]

I do have that scene as well. LL Cool J. Now, this is what I'll tell you that. I remembered from the movie thinking LL Cool J was hilarious.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Really?

[Paul Scheer]

I was like, I love the fact that he disappears. He's like in the wall, basically. LL Cool J is a very highly trained milit. He can blend into anything. He's. And I just thought LL Cool J was the best. He was super cool.

And now it did not hold up for me. I thought he was full of laughs.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

No, I mean, this movie. This movie, I don't even know. I want to dig into it and I'm just like. I just keep on thinking back to scenes like the scene with LL Cool J and Michael Gambon around the fire, talking about basically Michael Gambon coming up with the idea of drone ships. Like, he's like, that's basically the premise of the movie. He's like, I'm gonna create little drones.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Do you think that drones, our current military drones, were inspired by somebody watching this movie?

[Paul Scheer]

That's what I said. This movie. This is it. This is the foreshadowing. Barry Levinson was right. It was took 12 and he figured it out.

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Man, oh man, that's the thing.

[Drew McQueenie]

I wonder if there was ever a draft of this that was more normal. That was More like a strangelove that actually understood toys and war toys. Cause it seems like that would be maybe interesting, but then you layer all this other stuff on top, and it just gets so busy that you can't even get to that.

[Paul Scheer]

Here's my issue with movies about toys in general. And not like Toy Story, but movies that are Santa movies. They're never making the toys that most kids play with.

[Drew McQueenie]

Nobody would play with these. They're nightmare machines, most of them.

[Paul Scheer]

They really are crazy. Oh, speaking of nightmare machines, they do one thing where they're testing out, like, one doll, and they're pulling it by all the arms. Ooh, it's the Last Temptation of Barbie. Robin Williams makes that joke. It's like, all right, so in this world, the Last Temptation of Christ exists. He has seen it, and he is familiar with it. So again, where's the fucking baseline? Is he innocent?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Where is reality? Yeah, you know? Cause he's got a million. He does a million weird Robin Williams references that I'm like, what?

[Paul Scheer]

What the fuck is like, has he.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Ever been outside this compound?

[Drew McQueenie]

And if he's hyper innocent, how does he have all of this in his head? Yes, because it seems like there's no way he's this innocent, naive character with all this also bouncing around in him.

[Paul Scheer]

Making dick jokes the next second. I mean, that's the other thing, too.

[Drew McQueenie]

I get why the devil puppet has got to be the creepiest thing.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, my God, I want to get laid.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yeah. That's so wrong on every level. And he was carrying it around just in case, just to make the reference.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It look like, oh, yeah, he's stalking her. He's clearly. She's riding her bike home, and he drives right at him. He's like, ha, ha, ha ha. You know, he's like a real pervo.

[Paul Scheer]

It's super creepy. And again, we'll say the movie is called Toys. The logo for the film has, like, rubber duckies on it and stuff like that. It is not a movie for children.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I swear to God. I think every single person in this movie is on the spectrum. You know what I mean? Like, there isn't a person.

[Paul Scheer]

I don't disagree with you.

[Drew McQueenie]

LLPJ is just thinking about the vegetables on his plate.

[Jason Manzoukas]

How we.

[Paul Scheer]

How weird was that?

[Jason Manzoukas]

I don't want this touching that. I don't want this touching that. That was crazy.

[Drew McQueenie]

I'm a military man. I like a military plate.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

By the way, I was saying that that has an.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It's a military plate. Does that exist? Is that a real Thing I was.

[Paul Scheer]

Actually saying that that was my go to monologue when I was auditioning for theater because it was so, like, prepared. It was so like, I don't like this. Touching that. I don't like this. It was such a. Like. Like, I feel like he really got into the meat of that scene. Let's hear LL Cool J interrogate Robin Wright Penn in the duplication room.

[Drew McQueenie]

Are you.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Ms. Cointyla.

We'Re doing some routine questions. We'd like you to cooperate. All right. Okay. There's any duplicating going around here when you're not present?

[Drew McQueenie]

Uh huh huh.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah, maybe. Do you duplicate alone? I think that's kind of a personal question.

[Paul Scheer]

Why are you laughing?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Ms. Tyler, are you taking my duplication investigation seriously or are you disrespecting my duplication investigation?

[Drew McQueenie]

No, no, I'm not.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm not disrespecting you.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I'm just saying that there's no real.

[Paul Scheer]

Way I can check, you know, because I leave at a certain time. I'm not.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Duplicating is taking place.

[Paul Scheer]

And when duplicating takes place, that means.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That there's more than one.

[Paul Scheer]

There may be two or three.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Ms. Tyler.

[Paul Scheer]

Two, three or four.

[Jason Manzoukas]

What?

[Paul Scheer]

What is going on? What is going. These are scenes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

These are lines. These actors memorized. They said them in front of Barry Levinson, the writer director, and he was like, yeah, just like I wanted it.

[Drew McQueenie]

Thanks.

[Paul Scheer]

Cause. And like that.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's.

[Paul Scheer]

Hearing these scenes without the visuals make it even crazier, because it really is. It's like, what is the purpose of that scene? Again, something that doesn't come back. The duplication room. Is it just wordplay? Is that. What that. Why is that funny?

[Jason Manzoukas]

I think that's what it is. I think that's. It's just like. It's meant to be funny. Wordplay.

[Drew McQueenie]

Meant to be? Maybe.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I don't know.

[Paul Scheer]

I don't know.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Because otherwise I don't know what the point of the scene is. His investigation never yields anything.

[Paul Scheer]

No.

[Jason Manzoukas]

She never duplicates anything. No, no. Duplication is not even like a thing in the movie.

[Paul Scheer]

And that, by the way, you would think any of you would think anything would come back or they would use that duplication room at the end when they have the war of the bad toys and the good toys. There's so many things that I also felt like were fixed in ADR too. Like they. Like there's one scene where Michael Gambon is out there talking to LL Cool J, and they're like, having this heart to heart. And he's talking about his dream to get children to fly airplanes and massacre people. And that would be the new military. And he's doing this impassioned speech, and then all of a sudden these flares start going off in the sky.

[Drew McQueenie]

Not only do flares go off, but then we lose them in the sound mix completely. So Gambon's going in the background and there's flares from nobody and there's smoke and he's on a. It's the weirdest staging.

[Paul Scheer]

He's clearly not launching those flares.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Clearly.

[Paul Scheer]

Where are those flares coming from? And then all of a sudden you hear like this 80 yard line from Robin Williams. Like, always carry a flare. It's like, wait, he was shooting it.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Where was he? He wasn't even in the scene.

[Paul Scheer]

No, no, no, wait.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I thought Michael Gambon ADR'd that line.

[Paul Scheer]

No, Michael. Robin Williams says a flare line underneath it. No, so Robin Williams. I rewound it. So, like, in my mind it was like, oh, he's also in the field shooting flares.

[Jason Manzoukas]

No, I thought, whoa, that's weird.

[Paul Scheer]

Cause he would see.

[Jason Manzoukas]

No, I thought it was Michael Gambon who had looped that. Oh, that's.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm like, true. I'm like 90% because I rewounded. Cause I. I was like. Cause I rewound it. Because I was like, where are these flames coming from? Because you would show him shooting a gun.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I saw. I thought the exact. Cause I thought, in my mind, I thought they were fireworks.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, that's what I thought.

[Jason Manzoukas]

He's like giving this like big impassioned kind of rah, rah, rah, military speech. And fireworks start going off. And I was like, oh, okay, so there's fireworks going off. Well, maybe this is just a bit. Maybe this is just a bit of. You know what? In this fucking movie, I'll buy a bit of magical realism. Whatever. I don't.

[Paul Scheer]

What.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I don't know what's happening. So why wouldn't there be fireworks? And then somebody. I thought, Michael Gimbal goes, always carry a flare gun or whatever. And I was like, whoa, whoa, wait, See, like, I. What?

[Paul Scheer]

To me, I thought that was like the. They were bridging the date scene with Robin Williams and Robin Wright Penn. They were gonna go back over to them. Cause they were out in the field. I don't know. But there's also just moments like. I mean, Robin Williams also, he's. I mean.

There'S so many things about this movie.

[Drew McQueenie]

I have a question.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, please.

[Drew McQueenie]

This scene early on where they're all working and you see the factory floor, and they play that awful Tori Amos song that they're all dancing to.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes.

[Drew McQueenie]

So they're obviously listening to it on the factory floor.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And they're singing along, and they're singing along.

[Drew McQueenie]

So then when Michael Gambone takes over, suddenly there's the hip hop remix of that song. Are they playing that in the factory too? And is that to let them know that he's now a bad guy and that everything has changed?

[Jason Manzoukas]

And it's awful, I'm assuming. Yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

How weird is that?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Because those people are all singing along in the beginning with that song, which I thought was very strange.

[Drew McQueenie]

So he actually went in himself remix the song that they listened to, and then started playing that on the factory floor.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Well, look, as much. Yeah, go ahead.

[Paul Scheer]

As much as he got them to make a camouflage clown costume for him as well. Cause he also went from being a military. He outfitted all of his people to be like pretend Nazis. And then he put on a colorful military man outfit.

[Jason Manzoukas]

He's got like. Yeah, he's got like fatigues that are. The camouflage colors are bright poppy toy colors. Yes.

[Drew McQueenie]

I feel like we've seen those conversations.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

If we had to watch terrible conversations, why not those at least?

[Paul Scheer]

See, I mean.

Because also, it also goes against everything that he's setting up. Because when you're in his office, his office is taking out all the color and putting up stark black and white, almost propaganda, like images in his office of war. But then he's in this colorful thing and he's running over people. Do you want to hear the Happy Workers song for a second? We'll just hear a second of it.

So that goes on for like four minutes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It goes on for like four minutes. And this is what everybody. This is the presumption. Because then you see people singing along with it on the factory floor. The presumption is. This plays all day. Yeah, constantly.

[Paul Scheer]

It is like a weird FAO Schwartz world. And these people. And by the way, these people are coming in. Workers don't live there. They're coming in. Cause that's when they take over the factory. They're being scanned and outfitted and everything like that. So, yeah, they're going insane. This is an insane asylum that they.

[Drew McQueenie]

Get paid to go to every day.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, they're going there.

[Jason Manzoukas]

They're like, I gotta go to fucking work. I gotta sing that song all day. And then have an applesauce sandwich I gotta make. I'm gonna kill myself.

[Drew McQueenie]

You said FAO Schwartz. How much do you want to bet when Robin Williams delivers that oh yeah, FAO Schwarzkopf line? What do you bet Barry Levinson was high fiving?

[Paul Scheer]

That was like. That was.

[Drew McQueenie]

That line is. You're like, the whole thing exists for that line. It's so not worth it.

[Jason Manzoukas]

No, no.

[Paul Scheer]

It's the longest drive possible to get FAO Schwarzkopf. Well, I do wanna bring up if I. If you know, Drew, you might actually run into J.J. abrams. So I think this is a great chance for you to ask him, did he steal that Mission Impossible 4 gag from this movie?

[Jason Manzoukas]

I was gonna say that it's.

[Drew McQueenie]

The hallway gag is exactly like the one in the last movie.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes.

[Drew McQueenie]

It's just that that's the good version that doesn't somehow involve a terrible music video, basically.

[Paul Scheer]

All right, here's the plan.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Why don't the.

[Paul Scheer]

Why don't the.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Okay, let's you explain it and then I've got real questions.

[Drew McQueenie]

Robin Williams, MTV logo.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, the MTV logo. And Robin Williams needs to break into the bad guy side of the factory, cuz he's taking over the factory, slowly but surely. And they come up with an idea that they just go, ooh, mtv.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That's the answer. How are you gonna get in? They're asked, how are you gonna get into the restricted area? Mtv.

[Paul Scheer]

What now, by the way, also going against the morals of these characters, because you wouldn't think that these characters are watching mtv.

[Jason Manzoukas]

We haven't even seen a television.

[Paul Scheer]

Never. So they create an elaborate thing where they just like Mission Impossible 4 set out a screen in a hallway where the security hallway is. And anyone can help me out to describe this. And then they are broadcasting a video on that screen. But.

This is all to distract the security camera which they have planted a fake MTV logo on. So it would say like security.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Security camera. So the two guys, the two guys who are sitting at the security desk are looking at a bank of monitors.

[Drew McQueenie]

You don't realize one of them suddenly changes completely.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And the one that the monitor that is in the restricted area suddenly is mtv.

[Paul Scheer]

Just suddenly has an MTV logo on it. It's changed.

[Drew McQueenie]

It must be MTV then.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Must be mtv. And they go, I guess it's part of the cable. And the other guy goes, we have cable now.

[Paul Scheer]

Meanwhile, again, what.

[Jason Manzoukas]

These are security cameras. These are not broadcast. This is not. These are not TVs.

[Paul Scheer]

If you are at your cubicle, if you were at your cubicle right now listening to this, just imagine all of a sudden someone just putting an MTV logo on the bottom of your computer. You would not be confused that your computer is no longer your.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You wouldn't look at it. A screen you've looked at for a long time. You wouldn't look at it and be like, huh, mtv. This is MTV now.

[Paul Scheer]

So that was their big plan to create an MTV music video. Now here's my version of that plan, which is just bypass the chords and broadcast the signal on. That is mtv. No, they're doing a live MTV music here.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I got a better one for you.

[Drew McQueenie]

Then they got in front of the screen to perform instead of using that time to sneak into something.

[Paul Scheer]

Exactly.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It's Robin Williams and Joan Cusack, two people who are. They're performing as Yolanda and somebody else.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yolanda and Steve.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yolanda and Steve is the name of their group.

They're performing their hit song whatever, and the two security guards are into it. And. And they don't seem to recognize that the two people who are the owner's son and daughter, who are the tall two most important people at this company are Yolanda and Steve. They never say, like, hey, isn't that. What's his name? And who's Miguzi?

[Paul Scheer]

There's only two people that are. It would be like, I was thinking, I wrote this down. It would be like if Obama put on a red hat, they'd be like, oh, who's that gentleman singing on mtv? This is Obama. He didn't do anything different.

[Jason Manzoukas]

We all know who these people are.

[Paul Scheer]

They are the heads, the figureheads of this company.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Now I want it. This is what I want to try and explain. Okay? So. So, so when they push the screen in front of. They push the screen in front so that this. So that they can mask with they. So they can go behind a door behind them, right?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And when they push the screen in front, the first image that's projected onto the screen is a mirror image of the door, of the hallway and the door. So like, it looks. It looks unchanged now.

[Paul Scheer]

And that's by the way, the Mission Impossible version.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Exactly.

[Drew McQueenie]

Which is.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You just said now, rather than just leave that. So when the guys look at the camera, what they're looking at is the same security feed and it looks fine. They could have gone and done way more super sleuthing and spying.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

They take 10 minutes to perform an MTV style music video that would have.

[Drew McQueenie]

Never played on mtv.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That would have never played on mtv. That MTV would never be on. The security, by the way, leave the first thing with the door image, by the way. Fucking idiots.

[Paul Scheer]

They have figured out that much of the technology to already get away with it. Yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And that they can't help themselves. They're like, I wanna. It must have taken them days to make that music video. Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Ridiculous.

[Jason Manzoukas]

All those visuals and all the special effects.

[Paul Scheer]

By the way, again, I will point out. I will trump your thing and say. Or we've already talked about it. Which is. They perform it live.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. They shouldn't have done that. Yep. They should have. Just if they wanted to do the projection. The MTV plan. If we agree that the MTV plan was a solid one.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yep.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Just show a video.

[Paul Scheer]

Rejected the video. And, by the way, had other videos to follow it. They basically had one video. And Robin Williams and Joan Cusack are both heavily involved in that video. Then he has to wait so they.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Don'T have time to go and spy.

[Drew McQueenie]

He's got, like 12 seconds of workable time to go in and get inside.

[Jason Manzoukas]

While she has a guitar solo.

[Paul Scheer]

Let's hear a little bit of this song, just so you get a taste of it.

[Jason Manzoukas]

These are the people you haven't even met. Looking forward into the old days.

[Paul Scheer]

Looking back. You don't need to hear more. But that is.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That's a real song in the movie. It goes on forever.

[Paul Scheer]

Never.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It's even called back later.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

When other security guards are watching it. Jamie Foxx is watching it. And they're like, where'd you get that? And they're like, oh, we taped it off of a security feed from an old.

[Paul Scheer]

What? So, by the way, these guys are taping security feeds and just passing them out.

[Jason Manzoukas]

So now this is a viral video. This invented viral videos.

[Drew McQueenie]

Only at Zevo factories, by the way.

[Paul Scheer]

I will buy that. When they wrote this original in 19. Well, I guess it'd be 1980. This would have been a video that played in 1980. MTV. So that I guess it makes sense. But 1992. I mean, this is on the ver. Actually grunge. We're in grunge era at this point. We're in. Oh, yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

We're past Nirvana.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Nirvana, Smashing pumpkins. That's all 91.

[Paul Scheer]

Can we talk about Randy Quaid, who pops up in the movie for a scene and a half.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Wait, I missed it.

[Paul Scheer]

Where Randy Quaid pops in. In the room when he's shooting the gun at a foot.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Wait, no, no.

[Paul Scheer]

You know who that is?

[Drew McQueenie]

That's Blake Clark.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, okay, good. I'm sorry. All right.

[Drew McQueenie]

And that. I think some of his earliest work, he was cast as military because he was Blake Clark used to be military.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, okay, good. Because I was like, I, I thought that was Randy Quaid just around that day. Oh, get in there, get in there, get in there. Do this scene.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Quaid, get in there.

[Drew McQueenie]

And the scene. If you're talking about the scene with the fly. Right?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yes. Another scene. How does that connect to anything? Isn't this guy a three star general?

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes, yes.

[Drew McQueenie]

This guy actually made it to three star general and yet he's dumb enough to shoot his own foot to try and kill a fly.

[Paul Scheer]

He's going. And by the way, at that point in the movie, he's going crazy.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

Because you have the two minute opera scene first.

[Paul Scheer]

But there is also where he's singing along to the opera. But there's also no reason for him to really go crazy. Cause I guess he basically has a point to meet up with the military. Pitch this idea of children killing people.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah. Children operating remote controlled, like toys that are actual killer drone weapons.

[Paul Scheer]

Meanwhile, Jamie Foxx and his partner are watching on in a van where they're basically 3D and they're skeletons. That's odd. I won't get into the fact that.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Also there's a sea monster. Also they've invented a sea monster.

[Paul Scheer]

The sea monster.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I don't know.

[Paul Scheer]

Gotta get to that sea monster.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Don't know. But if you're wondering if there's a sea monster in this movie. There is.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And we're not even quite. Yeah, that seems. All right. So he pitches the idea to the government. The government goes, ah, we gotta think about it. To which immediately he starts choking this man.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Choking him and trying to kill him. But that psychotic break seems to be not really founded in any way. Like he's only been successful. It looked like these kids are doing a great job at killing people. Everything seems according to plan.

[Drew McQueenie]

But when you talk about them being on the spectrum, that scene where he goes to see Jack Warden, which by the way, oh my God. Saddest, creepiest use of Jack Warden.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

Between the first one and then the last one where he just pops up and goes. That is so upsetting. If you ever like Jack Warden ever.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

But yeah, that, that whole scene, he's playing it like he's an infant. Like he's.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, like he's a little boy, like having a temper tantrum.

[Drew McQueenie]

It is so strange the way they do that. Is that on purpose? Like everybody's supposed to be a kid.

[Paul Scheer]

But that's the thing. They aren't though. Like sometimes they are like that it the first. It fluctuates from scene to scene.

[Jason Manzoukas]

What about Debbie Mazer?

[Paul Scheer]

Debbie Mazer.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Can we talk about Debbie Mazer's character? Both the dad fucks, both the military dad and his son, Jamie Foxx.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, but no, no. His son LL Cool J hinges on.

[Drew McQueenie]

The idea that he figures out that he fucked his dad, that she fucked his dad. And that's why he finally helps the good guys. Not because they're right.

[Jason Manzoukas]

He tells him that his dad killed his. His dad is responsible for killing his mom by sending her appendicitis.

[Paul Scheer]

Right.

[Drew McQueenie]

Disguised as Jane Fox. But that never would have happened if she hadn't made the mistake and said, oh yeah, I fucked your dad too.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, yeah, that's like that coincidental. Like everything hinged on this one. He's like just about to have sex with her and she calls him the wrong name. Which I feel like is such a movie trope.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Can everybody write in and say on the message boards or whatever, have you called someone or had someone call you the wrong name during sex?

[Drew McQueenie]

Yes, I buy that. That is just in movies.

[Paul Scheer]

And that moment that basically hinges if that moment doesn't happen, none of the ending does. None of the ending does.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

None of it does.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, no. Because that's the only thing that drives LL Cool J to help the Robin Williams gang.

[Paul Scheer]

And help him. He does. By basically saying, we'll have a war. We'll have a war of toys. Yes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Because it's basically at this point the movie turns into like good guys versus bad guys. Like a kids game. Except that there's real stakes because all of the bad guys toys have real guns in them.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Like there's a little doll that pushes a little baby in a carriage and then the baby's bottle raises up and is a six shooter and starts shooting at them.

[Paul Scheer]

And then where would that.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And then John Cusack goes, that's a bad baby.

Like, you were almost just killed.

[Paul Scheer]

I thought that Joan Cusp was sick the entire movie. We'll get to what she said.

[Drew McQueenie]

I remember you said that in the Many. So you said, I think his sister's sick. And I started laughing. I'm like, oh, he hasn't watched it again?

[Jason Manzoukas]

No.

[Paul Scheer]

She's like. So I was like, oh, she's gonna be. No, we'll tell you what she is in a second.

[Drew McQueenie]

That fight sequence is 40 minutes from when they decide to go to war to when they stop the war after that insane plane sequence. It's 40 solid minutes and of a.

[Paul Scheer]

Two hour long movie.

[Jason Manzoukas]

A two plus hour.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I feel like I fast forward forwarded through part of that.

[Paul Scheer]

That end sequence. Yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I couldn't deal with it because I legitimately was like, what the fuck is this?

[Paul Scheer]

I was playing a little bit of Simpsons. Tapped out during some of that. I was like.

I will say that again. The conceit of this is an interesting conceit, which is kids flying drone ships and killing because they're really good at video games. Oh, we didn't talk about it. When he goes to the video.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, the General.

[Paul Scheer]

The General goes to a video arcade in one part of the movie and he's, oh, what are these video games? And he starts playing a video game and like, oh, you have to help protect the UN Trucks.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You have to shoot tanks and don't shoot the U.N. trucks.

[Paul Scheer]

And he just starts shooting the U.N. trucks. Cause he hates the U.N. yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And he's super awesome at this game.

[Drew McQueenie]

And he's got the spit on his chin the whole time. Like, Michael Gambon was so disturbing in his career before this. When you look at the cook, the thief, his wife, or the singing detect or. Yeah, any of these. He was so disturbed. The idea that they cast him in a comedy was like somebody had an aneurysm while they were in the casting process.

[Paul Scheer]

This whole movie is weirdly.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I mean, this truly is like. And I don't have any answers. Like, I. This really is. How did this get made? Like, this is a true. Like, there's plenty of movies we do that. I'm like, I get it, right? I get why this got made. I get what the. It's a failure or it's a mess or whatever, but I genuinely look at this movie and I'm like, I don't know why.

[Drew McQueenie]

In certain four words, I know how it got made.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, really? Oh, my gosh.

[Drew McQueenie]

Good Morning, Vietnam.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, really?

[Drew McQueenie]

Because they had just done a comedy that was set in an active war with Robin Williams and Barry Levinson. It was a huge, critical, hitting commercial. Now I can finally make my dream movie.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Got it.

[Drew McQueenie]

But dream movies almost always blow by the time they finally get.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Isn't that so interesting?

[Drew McQueenie]

Because people have overthought them and they've had them bouncing around their heads for so long.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Or it's a movie that there is a dream, but everybody thought it was bad. So people were like, no, we're not gonna do that other movie you want to do now.

[Paul Scheer]

Let me talk to you about this. So Good morning Vietnam was 87, right? Then he did Rain Man, Then he did Avalon. Then he did Bugsy, and then he did Toys.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yep.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Really?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, I would. That's interesting.

[Drew McQueenie]

Building clout. Like, he was, right? He was in such a role at that point.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

And then he finally got to say, here's this thing that's been in my drawer. I'm going to do this now. And I want Robin, because Robin and I can do this. We can pull this tone off.

[Paul Scheer]

And now here's the thing. He made Wag the dog in 96, which is a funny commentary on war.

[Drew McQueenie]

And politics because it knows something about war. This movie. It's like he doesn't even understand the army. How is LL Cool J, who's evidently active military, hanging around and fucking off with his dad? Oh, he's so stupid, and nobody cares.

[Paul Scheer]

And it's.

[Drew McQueenie]

He doesn't. It's like he doesn't get how the army works. So why would you try to make a military satire?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, and I feel like people are going, it's like Strangelove. It's like Strangelove. Or like, that's what. Like. But it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is not. This is not.

[Drew McQueenie]

Strangelove is about how the reality is so fucking crazy that it's hilarious. Yeah. Because everything in that movie is real. Everything.

[Paul Scheer]

And this movie is just. It's sort of like the most.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And this movie is like, what if hilarious was reality? It's like the opposite of that.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I was thinking it's like a psychiatric ward put on a show. And it was like, exactly. It's just. It has those feelings, like. And then we'll talk about an applesauce sandwich, and then we'll have the duck, and they'll fire weapons. Because again, again, the toys that he's setting up make sense. The drones make sense, but the baby carriage with the machine gun doesn't. Where is that going? We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. Talking more about this war scene.

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So anyway, they decide that the only way to win this war of the toy factory is to have toys versus toys. And Robin Williams must, I guess, empower the toys which we didn't really realize are alive?

[Jason Manzoukas]

No.

[Drew McQueenie]

He gives them the Patton Henry V speech and it's insane.

[Paul Scheer]

Let's take a listen to this speech. And I left the whole thing in.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Because it's plug please something please it's so worth it. Four stores. Many Christmases ago, my father brought forth.

[Paul Scheer]

A factory conceived in innocence and joy and squeezable fun for everyone.

But today may be beginning of the end. The end of the beginning, the beginning of the be.

And when you go fourth today, or fifth, depending on your order in line.

[Jason Manzoukas]

We are here today, put you in.

[Paul Scheer]

Harm'S way, because we determined today in this warehouse.

The future of toys as we know it.

[Drew McQueenie]

Try to imagine watching.

[Paul Scheer]

And being excited. Oh, God, we got it. We got it.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Trying to imagine being like junkies. Like a Robin Wright having to do take after take of this while he just does this.

[Paul Scheer]

Endangered species. You know that. I mean. And by the way, this is a man speaking to toys that we have never set up in this whole movie have any life or personality to it.

[Drew McQueenie]

And I don't think by the end we're supposed to believe that either. I think it literally is just he gives a rallying speech to toys that they wind up and push out. Yep.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And that's all it is.

[Paul Scheer]

And then when you watch those toys, they get decimated. Like saving Private. It's like Saving Private Ryan without the emotional stakes. Cause you're watching heads get blown off like little football men just getting destroyed. It's ultra violent. It's ultra violent. But yet again, no one is really. The toys are getting hurt.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

I don't know.

[Drew McQueenie]

It's the lowest stakes war humanly imaginable.

[Paul Scheer]

So the war scene is getting out of control at this point. Dolls are dying.

[Jason Manzoukas]

The sea monster's been activated.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, and the sea monster. Cause we want to talk about the sea monster, too. Well, I don't know what you're talking about. Elise Alice. Is that how you say her name? Junkie's Excell.

I guess. Basically, the war is almost over, and then Joan Cusack gets hurt and we find out that Joan Cusack is a robot. Yes, Joan Cusack is a robot. I'm saying that again.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You thought in the movie that she was just kind of a fragile, kind of autistic, maybe like on the spectrum kind of oddball, this girl. A sheltered kind of homebody. Nope, Total robot.

[Paul Scheer]

A robot? She's a robot.

[Jason Manzoukas]

No, no, no. I just need people who are listening to the podcast to know.

[Paul Scheer]

Just take it in.

[Jason Manzoukas]

The Joan Cusack character who's been one of the main characters we've seen eat multiple sandwiches. She's eating sandwiches with vitamins in them, which she did say, though they go through the same.

[Drew McQueenie]

Yep.

[Jason Manzoukas]

She said they see. They easily go through my system, which now means something. She's a God damn robot.

[Paul Scheer]

Which by the way, here's the other thing. Everyone knows. Yep, everyone knew that she was a robot but us, the audience.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Romulan's like, oh yeah, she's a robot. My dad created her for me because my mom died early. Wait, wait, wait. Okay, like, like this.

[Jason Manzoukas]

How is this possible? And, and how is this. No, no, no. How is it possible?

[Drew McQueenie]

So what's she been making?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, that's the question.

[Jason Manzoukas]

She can't grow.

[Drew McQueenie]

Have they been building a every year that's a little bigger?

[Paul Scheer]

No, because LL Cool J goes. It looks like she's always been the same age.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's creepy. That's insanely creepy.

[Jason Manzoukas]

So when he was like 10, he had a 30 year old sister.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I mean, what the fuck is going on?

[Paul Scheer]

And by the way, their relationship is. He takes care of her. Which you would think would be the opposite.

[Drew McQueenie]

You know, he doesn't have a mother. Let me build him something that's going to be a burden and responsibility for the rest of his life.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It's some next level craziness when that is revealed. It makes.

[Paul Scheer]

When her head came off.

[Drew McQueenie]

Absolutely.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It's infuriating.

[Paul Scheer]

When her head came off, not only did I stop it, but then I had to go, wait, wait, I rewound it again. Because the crazier thing about her head falling off is no one reacts to it as if like, oh my God.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah, they go, oh wow, it's over there.

[Paul Scheer]

And oh, and by the way, here's. You want to take out the stakes of it? It's fine. We will just rebuild her.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

If that's the case, why not send her into war immediately?

You know, like, why protect her? Why not just be like robot go.

[Paul Scheer]

She gets taken out like a wimp. She gets taken out by just a stray bullet to the head. She should have done much something. She should have like touched electrical equipment. She should have done something wrong. Why?

[Jason Manzoukas]

She has powers.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

She's a robot. Why doesn't she have strength? Why doesn't she have.

[Paul Scheer]

Cause she's not getting the applesauce sandwiches. She needs that for the property strength.

Okay, so she gets her head blown off and at which point Michael Gambon runs away to be kind of targeted by this sea monster that has like a robot.

[Drew McQueenie]

It is the weirdest. They never remotely explain it.

[Paul Scheer]

They need slug thing, the sea slug, we don't know really what it is.

[Drew McQueenie]

But it, it's a defense mechanism. But you have to fall into a hole.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You have to fall into.

[Drew McQueenie]

Of water that nobody would fall into.

[Paul Scheer]

Keeping it there to monitor it. And then they would eventually unleash it on people in the society. Like, almost like this is how I drew it. That it was like a dolphin, like one of those dolphins that finds mines. But it is actually a dolphin that is like a mine. That's how I kind of thought.

[Drew McQueenie]

You gave it more thought than they gave.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You really thought this out.

[Drew McQueenie]

I think that's way more thought than they gave.

[Paul Scheer]

I was just trying to make up for monster.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, nice call. Nice. Good, good.

[Paul Scheer]

But that is really what I did think. The. But that sea monster is loose at a certain point.

[Drew McQueenie]

On land, of course.

[Paul Scheer]

On land, of course, yes. And he's targeting the bad brother. And he's like, targeting, targeting. So he's part robot. The sea monster, too. The sea monster, I guess, is a toy.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I don't think so. I think it's like a war thing.

[Drew McQueenie]

And then he quotes the Day the.

[Paul Scheer]

Earth Stood still at it to get it to stop. But then the screen just goes to white.

[Drew McQueenie]

It still fires, and it looks like it kills him.

[Paul Scheer]

Right. And so you think he's dead until the very next scene when you're like, oh, that's kind of crazy. The movie kills two characters and then they immediately take that back and they go, well, no, they're both out there.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Everybody's fine. Yeah. Jk, guys. Jk.

[Paul Scheer]

And not only are they. Not only are they fine, but he's now next to his dad, Jack Warden, in the bed, and they're both in the military hospital, which is just in a room in the house.

With Debbie Mazur. And he's kind of now gone full. Like, he's moved up on the spectrum.

[Jason Manzoukas]

He's super cool.

[Drew McQueenie]

So that's the rest of his life now. What a horror movie ending that is.

[Paul Scheer]

He's in that bed and it's just a conveyor belt of little action figure or warmin figurines coming across. So upsetting.

[Jason Manzoukas]

This movie is a fun.

[Drew McQueenie]

And then they have a happy Christmas song again.

[Paul Scheer]

And a happy Christmas song just to.

[Drew McQueenie]

Make sure that they leave you on some weird note.

[Jason Manzoukas]

So has a year passed in this movie?

[Paul Scheer]

I believe a year has passed. Everything is back to normal again.

And Joan Cusack has still got some learning to do.

[Jason Manzoukas]

It's a bummer.

[Paul Scheer]

It's a movie bummer.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Thanks a lot, Drew.

[Drew McQueenie]

The crazy thing is, I know people who defend this and really, why do they defend it? I have a theory that any movie that was on HBO constantly when you were between the age of 8 and 12. Sure. You think is great because it's stockholders over and over and over.

[Paul Scheer]

That Spice World was one of those movies that really people were.

[Drew McQueenie]

And then you go back and you look at it as adult and you're like, oh, my God, my skull wasn't hard yet. What was wrong with me at that age that I love this?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean, again, I remember laughing at, like, LL Cool J. I thought he was really funny. I don't remember any of this other plot. I don't remember the toy fight. I don't remember, you know, But I mean, I mean, man, was there anything that we didn't cover that. I'm just looking through my notes. I wrote at one point. My pen is breaking. I'm taking so many notes because they're just like.

[Drew McQueenie]

I did too. I took tons of notes on this just because you.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, see, I didn't take barely any notes because I started taking notes and then I was like, fuck this movie.

[Paul Scheer]

I do want to tell you. Well, let's. I do have some information.

[Drew McQueenie]

I owe you at some point.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You do, you do. God damn right.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm glad that you brought it to our attention. We needed to see it. This is the one movie that on Twitter, I've gotten the most negative response to by people like, why are you making me watch it with screengrabs of the movie? It has been so great to watch that come out, considering what you've shown.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's a high, high endorsement.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, well, it was easy to get. Now, obviously, we had an opinion about this movie, but there are other people who have. They think it's a little bit better. And this is now time for a second second opinion.

Okay, here we go. There are so many good ones. I may just read you samplings from them. This one is from Britt Scharrenhausen, and he says, I describe this movie as whimsical. That's a nice way of saying that most people won't like it. You're definitely not going to like it if you have no imagination. Imagination. Or you expect your movies to make sense.

Like any work that strays far from the mainstream, it's going over the top sometimes. But let that slide and enjoy the bits that do catch your fancy.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Five stars. Five stars.

[Jason Manzoukas]

What? Come on, man.

[Paul Scheer]

How about this one from Adele Thompson? Tinkey from New Jersey. She writes, I like the scenes. She spells scenes. S, C, E, A, N S. Wow. I like the scenes that they do in the movie. Is good.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Wait, what?

[Paul Scheer]

Yep. Oh, that's real I'm reading it real. I like the scenes they do in the movie is good. Like how they made this big room with all these toys. I'm not talking about the storyline. I like this movie for ideas. I saw the buggy and horse that have Ken and Barbie on it in Disney World. It displayed in the Cinderella Castle. And I remember when I just turned 17 then I have a good night memory.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Whoa.

[Paul Scheer]

Five. Five out of five.

[Jason Manzoukas]

There's a lot going on in that review.

This is at Disneyland at 17.

[Paul Scheer]

That might have been. That might have been someone that worked at Zevo.

These are. Now I'm just gonna. Okay, this is another one. Possibly the only film next to Peter Sellers. The Mouse that Roared. This has to be the most ingenious film of all time. It's simply a shame that they have yet to release it on dvd. Yet they carry all of Adam Sandler's films. That should tell us something about the intelligence and sophistication in America. Oh, well.

[Drew McQueenie]

Wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, well. I guess I just have to buy another copy of this film and press it to DVD myself.

Right? So that means.

[Drew McQueenie]

I don't know that it inspires that much passion. Seriously, I'm gonna make the dvd.

[Jason Manzoukas]

And you know what? Fuck you, Sandler. Let me make sure to get a slam in on Adam Sandler here.

[Paul Scheer]

Also. She's been watching the VHF so much, he's got to buy another copy. The only trouble with this film is that since Barry Levinson took his time writing it, it shows wit and compassion on so many levels that I doubt the average American intellect could understand the film. Most people that I enjoy being around find this to be one of the funniest films in existence. Five stars.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, my God.

[Paul Scheer]

And I just wrote, these are two more that are good.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Imagine what if you were, like, on a date with somebody and they were like, you know what my favorite movie is? I would straight up punch that girl in the face.

[Paul Scheer]

First you go, oh, Toy Story. Yeah, I love Toy Story.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, me too. I love Toy Story.

[Paul Scheer]

Two toys. What toys?

[Drew McQueenie]

Bam.

[Paul Scheer]

I believe in the state of California, you could shoot somebody.

[Drew McQueenie]

Totally justified.

[Paul Scheer]

Curlingriver says the war between the good toys and the war toys is heartbreaking and oddly very realistic. No, no and no. 5 stars there. And finally, and I know I'm reading.

[Drew McQueenie]

A lot, but it's an airplane that looks like a badly blue scre.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, God. This is one of my favorites here too. Okay. This is the best from GilbertGilbert. I'm not a fan of rap by any means, but I really got a Kick out of LL Cool J's performance, and it's fun to watch his character develop into a toy factory loving guy. Robin Williams, brilliant as always. And the rest of the cast is enjoyable as well. I think the most important scene in this movie is definitely the fake vomit test that turns into a potentially deadly crossword puzzle.

[Drew McQueenie]

Wow. That's a totally different read than I had.

[Paul Scheer]

That is the most important scene. That scene feels like they went in for reshoots. Like, shit, we didn't have anything.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That's fine.

[Paul Scheer]

We need a scene where you guys just improvise about fake vomit for five minutes.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That scene, actually, I did enjoy.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, we have that on tape too, but they basically just like when.

[Jason Manzoukas]

The guy goes, oh, that's diarrhea. That shouldn't be in here.

[Paul Scheer]

They sit around a fake vomit. Oh, that's our Wolfgang Chuck. That's our Maui Heav. And, oh, we need to add fake carrots in there. And then the room is basically coming in on them because as they expand, I guess the walls are flexible in this world.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah, because the cafeteria walls.

[Paul Scheer]

Guys, Drew, I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

[Jason Manzoukas]

I don't. Drew, because you and I are enemies.

[Paul Scheer]

I do.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's fine.

[Paul Scheer]

I do believe, though, that this is, if we have to vote on it, this is the number one movie of how did this get made? Because it really. How would you sell it? How would you pitch it? And I think you're right. The only way you could have done it is based on Barry Levinson was just hitting them out of the park. Boom. Consistent, consistent, consistent. And then it was like, and this is my dream. Do you know, you probably have a memory of this. What are some other of these dream projects that have gone horribly wrong? Are there any that come to mind?

[Drew McQueenie]

Oh, man.

It's not a fan. But yeah, it's one of those things that. 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. And they make it finally. Yeah, it just seems tough.

[Paul Scheer]

I want to see because, like, James Cameron also talked about Avatar and writing it, and they weren't ready for it. But I want to see Barry levinson Throughout those 12 years taking that script out of the shelf and the drawer and going, okay, okay, let's get back into it. I think we need a fake vomit scene.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah. Anyway, I did some good work on Toys Today.

[Drew McQueenie]

It was him and his wife at the time, Valerie Curtin, who was his co writer for, like and justice for all and old friends. And there was a whole series of things. And then he went off and started making movies and just kind of held onto it as his thing. I wonder if she saw the final film and recognized anything that they had made.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That'd be interesting. Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

I would love to hear Barry Levinson talk about this movie. Cause I don't think he has.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Was it received well? No, it was.

[Drew McQueenie]

It vanished quickly.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, it was.

[Jason Manzoukas]

How much did it cost?

[Paul Scheer]

It actually costs quite a lot, I'll tell you. Right here. Here we go. The movie. The movie. The budget was $43 million, which in 1992 was a lot.

[Jason Manzoukas]

That's a lot of money. Yeah.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's a big movie.

[Paul Scheer]

And especially a movie that's pretty much all on sets. It's not, you know, and it only made 23 million.

[Drew McQueenie]

That's worldwide.

[Paul Scheer]

That's worldwide.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Really?

[Drew McQueenie]

Worldwide.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[Drew McQueenie]

And this was between. Between Aladdin and Miss Doubtfire. So he was as hot as hot got at that moment.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Holy cow. That's amazing.

[Paul Scheer]

When you see that. And the way. I mean, the tagline for the movie is laughter is a state of mind. Everything about it is making you go, this is fun. Yeah. As I'm looking at this poster right now online, I'm going, I think my dad had this on laserdisc. Cause I think he was like, you like Robin Williams? We'll watch this.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, funny.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. And I remember just like, maybe it's adults. I don't get it.

[Jason Manzoukas]

But, I mean, I remember I did. I think I saw this in the theaters. I mean, I was 20 at the time, so.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. Wow. Wow, Wow. I want to get if anyone knows Barry Levinson, and I would love to hear him speak about this movie, because I feel like now with perspective, I wonder if he defends it. He did win. Was nominated for a best Razzie Award.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And the movie won. Was up for an Oscar for best Art direction, which it should have been totally great.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Beautiful. Visually beautiful.

[Paul Scheer]

The painting came to life. You wouldn't want to see it. That's how I describe toys. Thank you guys so much for listening, as always. You can check us out in all different ways. Drew, what's the best way people can see you and check out your stuff?

[Drew McQueenie]

They can follow me @drewhitfix on Twitter or hitfix.com is the website where I review films and write about everything that's in production.

[Paul Scheer]

And I gotta say, that is. There are many sites out there, and that site is a great site. I love the iPad. I'm a fan I'm a fan of that site and you guys do great stuff there. If you have not checked out that site, check out that site. You can follow me on Twitter. Paul Shear, Jason.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Yeah. No, no, you can't follow me on Twitter.

[Paul Scheer]

Of course not.

[Jason Manzoukas]

You guys know better.

[Paul Scheer]

And Jason and I are in the league this week on the League, Dirty Randy and Rafi have their own adventure the whole episode. This is going to be crazy. None of the characters from the league are in it. It is a solo adventure of those two characters. Check that out once you Wednesday 10:30. And as always. Oh actually very big week for NTSF. Our London episode, we went to London. We shot in London with amazing people. Anthony Stewart head, Julian Barrett Giles, Colin Salmon, Saskia Reeves from Luther. Amazing, amazing people. We're doing a half hour long episode all in London. Check that out. Adult Swim Thursday night. Please watch that. It starts at midnight this week. And also this show would not be complete without thanking everybody here at Earwolf. Give it up for our engineer, Frank Capello, who cuts. This show does an amazing job every single week. And also all of the interns who have been working so tirelessly to help this out. They are Nathan Kiley, Avril Halley, Katie Dyer. Am I pronouncing that right? Katie, Leanna Waldron and Sonya Weiser. These people have worked their asses off to make sure that I have the most up to date info about these terrible, terrible movies. Thank you guys so much for all of your help, all of your creativity and we couldn't do the show without you. All right, thanks so much and we'll see you next time. Running a business means I wear lots of hats. Luckily, when it's time to put on my hiring hat, I can count on LinkedIn to make it easy. I can post a job for free or pay to promote it and get three times more qualified candidates. Imagine finding your next great hire in 24 hours. 86% of small businesses do with LinkedIn. I can also easily share my job with my network. No other job site lets me do that. Post your free [e-mail] Pandora that's LinkedIn.com pandemic Pandora. Terms and conditions apply. 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 O' Connell, ketamine therapist, Dr. Stephen Radowitz, Paul Scheer, Ego Wodom, Gillian Bell, Dr. Dolittle staying alive with John Gabris and Adam Pali is out right now.

[Jason Manzoukas]

Get them a week early and ad.

[Paul Scheer]

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