Hounded

Summary

Pod Meets World — “Hounded” (January 20, 2026)

Host: iHeartPodcasts
Cast: Danielle, Will Friedle, Rider; with guest Sabrina Bryant

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Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode, the hosts revisit the 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) Hounded, dissecting its plot, casting, and bizarre tone. The discussion takes listeners on a journey through 2000s nostalgia, offering behind-the-scenes stories, critical assessments, and plenty of playful banter. The hosts explore why Hounded remains a deeply odd entry within the DCOM canon, breaking down its storytelling missteps, surprising cast chemistry, and moments of unintentional hilarity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rewinding to the Early 2000s & Setting Up the Movie

• Film Location: Shot in Salt Lake City, Utah, notably at the Magdalene Choir School campus and its historic cathedral (06:35).
• Director & Writers: Neil Israel (of “Poof Point,” “Police Academy”), with writers Don Calame and Chris Conroy — “They have only two notable writing credits: this and the 2006 Dane Cook/Jessica Simpson Movie Employee of the Month. We'll just leave that there.” (18:16)
• DCOM “Lost Years”: The hosts note Hounded feels transitional, neither fully classic nor contemporary in the DCOM saga, with a plot that “makes absolutely no sense. This was a rough one for me.” (09:18)

2. “An Amazing Cast in a Forgettable Movie”

• Notable Cast Members:
  • Taj Mowry (“Smart Guy,” “Kim Possible”) as Jay, the lead.
  • Shia LaBeouf (pre-fame, “Even Stevens”) as the evil Ronnie Van Dusen. Hosts lavish praise:
    “If you put together a list of the top five child actors of all time, anybody who knows anything about it could not exclude him... He’s amazing.” (11:47)
  • Craig Kirkwood (“Remember the Titans”), Sarah Paxton (“Aquamarine”), Alyssa Rulin (“High School Musical” — her first role), and Ed Begley Jr. (Hollywood legend and environmentalist) as Headmaster Van Dusen.
• Discussion: There’s mutual shock that a cast this strong ended up in a movie so structurally odd and tonally inconsistent. The acting is consistently praised; the script and logic, not so much.

3. Plot Breakdown and Thematic Oddities (From 22:07 Onward)

• Quick Plot Summary:
  High schooler Jay accidentally kidnaps (dog-naps?) his principal’s dog while trying to expose the principal’s son (Ronnie) for scholarship fraud. Hijinks ensue as the dog — alternately sweet and deranged — spirals the boys into ransom schemes, slapstick chases, and a showdown with the authorities.
• Wild Tonal Shifts:
  The movie veers from “almost true crime drama” to broad physical comedy. The hosts joke it feels like Disney saw the dog-attack scenes from “There’s Something About Mary” and said, “I’m gonna make an entire DCOM out of this.” (09:18)
• On Plot Devices:
  • “Why is the wealthy headmaster’s son after the same scholarship as the protagonist? The script never explains.” (31:36)
  • “The scholarship theft is such a huge deal, but the logic is brushed off. Jay never really fights for himself.” (37:10)
  • “The film hinges on secrets the characters could solve with a 30-second honest conversation... or a smartphone. But it’s 2001.” (34:25)
• The Dog’s Wild Arc:
  • “The dog is sweet, then suddenly tries to kill Jay for two acts, then is sweet again. It makes no sense!” (54:50 and 73:16)
  • “They could have set it up better if the dog had always been crazy, and Jay redeemed himself — but instead, it’s random chaos.” (59:29)
• Unintended Dark Humor:
  • “We get dog attacks so intense, a listener said it could give nightmares to actual kids.” (84:03, review segment)
  • “At one point, it seems like the dog just needed to ‘run around and get laid’ — and that solves everything?” (75:28; both hosts lose it laughing at this realization.)
• Physical Comedy and DCOM Style:
  • The hosts admit the over-the-top physical gags are “genuinely funny for young kids — Taj’s high-pitched yelps, pratfalling, and the Home Alone-style chaos,” even if adults crave more logic.

4. Behind the Scenes & Industry Context

• Disney Kid Pipeline: Alyssa Rulin’s one-liner debut leading to “High School Musical” fame is used as a case study in how Disney rewards minor parts with stardom down the line (16:18).
• Production Fun Fact: Ed Begley Jr. appeared with his real-life wife Rachel Carson; both are heavy environmentalists, leading to jokes about “eco-friendly short movies.” (17:52)
• DCOM Tropes:
  • “Dead Dad Alert” is called out, as is the inexplicable mother-abandons-son plot device. (24:06)
  • Ridiculous props (the video game controller that isn’t a real device; Jay’s gigantic basket bike) provoke glee.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the movie’s tone:

  “It seemed to me like somebody watched the scene in There's Something About Mary where the little dog attacks Ben Stiller and went, 'I'm gonna make an entire DCOM about this.'”
  — Will Friedle (09:18)

• On Shia LaBeouf’s acting:

  “Every line he delivers, you believe it. To have that presence as an actor at that age is unheard of.”
  — Will Friedle (33:17)

• On the inconsistencies of the story:

  “The dog is finally going to get a life and fall for this guy … Keep that in mind.”
  — Will (51:07)

• On lost opportunities in storytelling:

  “Set it up where the dog hates everybody but the mom … Don’t make it so the dog is awesome and then goes crazy.”
  — Will (57:54)

• On the wild “solution” to the dog’s wildness:

  “She just needed to burn off some energy by attacking everybody around. She needed to run around and apparently … get laid, because that’s what happened!”
  — Will Friedle (75:04)

• On the movie’s legacy:

  “The story made absolutely no sense… but the cast is great. Any other cast, I’d have given this a two or three.”
  — Will Friedle (97:31)

• On Disney tropes:

  “Dead dad alert. The return of the deceased parent to the DCOM.”
  — Will Friedle (23:24)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:03–03:45 — Opening banter, fond pet memories, intro to the DCOM nostalgia.
• 05:26 — “Welcome to Magical Rewind” show format set-up.
• 06:35–13:40 — Movie background, cast listing, and Disney Channel context.
• 22:07 — Film plot begins: scene-by-scene recap.
• 33:22 — Extended discussion on Shia LaBeouf’s performance.
• 54:50 — Discussion of the dog’s cartoonish “split personality” and escalating slapstick.
• 73:16 — “Dog’s perfect again” — whiplash shift in the pooch’s behavior.
• 75:04 — Hilarious realization about the dog’s “solution” (needed to “get laid”).
• 83:38 — Listener reviews: 5-star and 1-star extremes.
• 84:44 — Game segment: “Mix That Dog.”
• 87:56 — Sabrina’s “Sabrina Sees” (funny goofs, production notes, Disney connections).
• 94:21 — Final verdict and ratings.
• 97:31 — Will and Sabrina’s closing thoughts and scores.

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Ratings & Final Thoughts

• Sabrina: 6.5/10 “nuzzling gerbils”

  “Was an easier watch than others … not too high, not too low. The cast was young and great; this is for fourth to sixth graders.”

• Will: 6/10 “nuzzling gerbils”

  “Story was weird, but the cast really did save it. Any other cast, we’d be much lower.”

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Standout Moments

• Quoting the ransom call scene:
  “So let's not waste any more time, we have your dog and we want five grand in trade. Or, you know, let's just recap Hounded.” (22:07)
• Physical Comedy Praise:
  “Taj’s squeal is so good—such a good pubescent boy, hits the high note. Physical comedy was great.”
• Disneyverse crossover note:
  “Call me, beat me, fax me… that’s almost the Kim Possible theme!”
• On production realities:
  “Everyone, at some point, gets their break from a one-liner Disney Channel part.”

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Tone and Language

This episode is lively, playful, self-deprecating, and nostalgic. The hosts riff constantly, delighting in DCOM tropes, recycling running gags (“nuzzling gerbils” becomes their inside joke), and openly clowning on the movie’s, uh, creative choices.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Show

This episode offers an honest, affectionate takedown of a deeply odd DCOM, ultimately praising the young cast’s talent while calling out the story’s lack of sense. The hosts, with genuine affection for the Disney Channel ecosystem, laugh through plot gaps, give behind-the-scenes color, tease future episodes (a preview of Ed Begley Jr. as next guest), and keep the conversation breezy and accessible for fans old and new.

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Next Up:
A review of “Cadet Kelly” (with Hilary Duff and Christy Carlson Romano) and an interview with Ed Begley Jr. (“the Dabney Reynolds Chair”) are teased for future episodes.

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Follow & Subscribe:
@magicalrewindpod on Instagram for episode updates.

Transcript

[Sabrina Bryant]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Will Friedle]

Guaranteed Human we finally switched to T Mobile because with them we could be connected here and there.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Let's watch a movie and we have.

[Will Friedle]

Netflix included to enjoy our favorite shows and movies. Now the hard part is getting them to agree on a movie. Switch today and get the new Samsung Galaxy S25 plus with Galaxy AI on us all on America's best network. Tap the banner to learn more or visit a store. Best Mobile network in the US Based on analysis by Ooklo Speed Test intelligence data to H2025 received Netflix standard with that's on us with qualifying plans.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and let you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member finra SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures want to.

[Will Friedle]

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[Sabrina Bryant]

Wasn't that delicious?

[Will Friedle]

So good.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Your bill ladies.

[Will Friedle]

I got it.

[Sabrina Bryant]

No, I got it.

[Will Friedle]

Seriously, I insist. I insisted first.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Don't be silly. You don't be silly.

[Will Friedle]

People with the wells Fargo Active Cash credit card. Prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Okay.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Rock, paper, scissors for it.

[Will Friedle]

Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot. No. The Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card. Visit wells Fargo.com Active cash terms apply. How old were you when you got your first ever pet? I wouldn't even say dog, just pet. And what was said pet? Ooh.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I want to say I was 6. Ish. Yeah, because I was pretty small. It was a big golden retriever.

[Will Friedle]

Big. He jumped right in.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't. We got him from the pound, too, so he was fully grown. I told you about him. We. His name was. The pound gave us his name. They named him Bandit because he was.

[Will Friedle]

Like, oh, he kept running away. That's right. He was stealing your passwords and taking.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Off five, five, six months of it. We had picked him up from the pound because we got. I don't know if it was the chip or whatever, but they definitely knew who to call at that point. But, yeah, they called him Bandit because he was like a. A pound regular. So that was my first dog or. Well, my. And my first pet. I didn't have.

[Will Friedle]

You have anything for that.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I might have had, like, goldfish that. You know, the ones that last a week or whatever from a fair that you win from that one specific game.

[Will Friedle]

The ping pong job is how. Teaching everybody how to play pong. The drinking game. We all started with fish.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, I might have had maybe one of those before, but he was my first pet.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, okay. Interesting.

[Sabrina Bryant]

And what about you?

[Will Friedle]

I had a gerbil named Charcoal when I was 8 or 9, and then my brother got cats, and the gerbil didn't last much after.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes. What. When do you think getting roadkill type animals as pets started?

[Will Friedle]

Well, why is it. Why. Gerbils aren't roadkill kind of pets?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Where are they from and what do they do?

[Will Friedle]

It is true. It's. They. It's. It's just like they rebranded a rat a gerbil.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Can you cut.

[Will Friedle]

Probably shouldn't, right?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Can you, like, I don't know, your gerbil, or did it just stay in a cage?

[Will Friedle]

First of all, I've got to say, just from a euphemism standpoint, nuzzle, your gerbil sounds like something that we should put on a T shirt immediately. So, yeah, let's just be honest with that. This early in the morning, Sabrina, where your mind is going, oh, my God.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I went like this. I mean, I really did. Like a whole. Like, it was not like a oh, God, no. Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

There we go. That's the shade of red I'm looking for.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Good morning, Sabrina. I missed you over the last couple of.

[Will Friedle]

Well, speaking of pets. Well, first of all, let's welcome you back to Magical Rewind, the show that makes you want to grab your friends, your PJs and your popcorn and go back to a time when all the houses are smart, the wave tsunamis, and you nuzzled your gerbil. I'm Will Friedle.

[Sabrina Bryant]

And I am Sabrina Bryant, surviving on this podcast with Will.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. So leash up your dog and lock the side gate, because this week's Magical Rewind we're barking up. I'm gonna say the wrong tree in 2001's coming of age film, Hounded. As I guessed last week off the title alone, this one involves a dog. Actually, you did too. We were both like, it's gotta be about a dog. Yes, but I would never have guessed. It's also a weird kind of true crime drama and also a bizarre physical comedy attempt. And, well, we'll get into was released on April 13, 2001, and is often forgotten within the DCOM lexicon. We sometimes might not be the worst thing. We sometimes get a High School Musical or a Xenon to review, and then sometimes we're watching a movie that's long lost in the archives, and that's what we're watch with Hounded. And to be honest, that's a little surprising considering the cast is amazingly impressive and recognizable. And that's the truth.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

First off, as everybody likes to know, we are returning to the DCOM capital of the country Salt. I'm going to say world. Not even country World. Salt Lake City, Utah. For filming, one central location was the Magdalene Choir School campus, which includes a beautiful church built in 1909 and is the only cathedral in the US under the patronage of St Mary Magdalene. And it should come as no surprise it was produced by Don Chain, the man who connected Disney original films to Utah in the first place. AVHS was released for this one almost exactly one year after its debut on the channel. But critics also did not love this one back in 2001. And currently it is below 50% on rotten tomatoes, which I guess is still the kind of the benchmark. Is Rotten Tomatoes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah. The way to.

[Will Friedle]

I guess so it's certified fresh and all this kind of stuff. But what do critics know? In this case, I think a lot. But thanks to Disney and lucky for the mission statement of our podcast, Hounded isn't actually lost. It is currently streaming on the studio's flagship streamer. You can watch it now or wait till we're done and see what we got wrong. Write down all the mistakes, then call 555-6569 and leave a message for us. If you take anything away from today's podcast, let it be that we want to hear from you. It's 99 cents the first minute, $62 each additional minute. And now let's get your voice modulators ready. It's time to kidnap a Pomeranian and get into the synopsis. In an attempt to foil his mean spirited rival, high school student Jay accidentally kidnaps his principal's seemingly cute, tiny dog, and it turns out to be a nightmare of a beast. Sabrina, what were your early thoughts on Hounded?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Well, my early thought was I was, as you said, so excited about this cast. I was excited honestly, knowing, like two of one of my favorite young child actors being linked together. I was so pumped for it. I had never heard of it, so that did make me look feel a little nervous. Once we started getting into it, instantly I was like, oh, this is like our typical, you know, what we look for as far as what a decom of this time was. And I was kind of interested to see where it went. Those were my early thoughts. I also went, oh, no, I don't. I don't think Will's gonna like this one more what my early thoughts were than anything else.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Was I right?

[Will Friedle]

You were right. Yeah. It took me three days to watch this movie. Really? It really did. And I'm with you. One of the best casts we've had of any dcom.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Which we'll get into. But I mean, a crazy cast and they were all good. There was not a single dud in the bunch when it came to acting. Everybody was great. I didn't get the story. I didn't get where they were going. Some of it made absolutely no sense. This was a rough one for me. It seemed to me like. And I even stopped to look up when it was made, 2001, it seemed to me like the one scene in there's something about Mary where the little dog attacks Ben Stiller that somebody watched that and went, I'm gonna make an entire dcom about this scene.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, my goodness.

[Will Friedle]

I swear to God. They watched it and they went, oh, I'm gonna do a 90 minute movie. Hopefully about this one scene.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah. I could see how you. My real trip up happens at the end. And, you know, I am one of the biggest things for me with DCOMs is I am looking for a good learning moment and the learning moment did not add up and I was just like, okay, that. Then I went, oh. Because other than that, I kind of took it as like on that 2001, this is right before the like full blown lock in of what these are the lost years is. Yeah, this was like that middle area. So I kind of gave it a little bit more grace, mainly because the cast was so good.

[Will Friedle]

That's amazing.

[Sabrina Bryant]

That's, you know.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Okay, well, let's get into who that cast is. But first, Hounded was directed by Neil Israel, a name we have seen before. He directed the DCOM Poof Point and had quite a career, amazing career in both TV and movies over the decades. He first burst onto the scene in 1984 with the raunchy Tom Hanks comedy Bachelor Party, which for anybody my age was the one you'd sneak into and stuck in the frat guy VHS rental scene with movies like Moving Violations and Breaking the Rules. Then in the 90s, he transitioned into family films like Surf Ninjas, two different Mary Kate and Ashley movies, and TV shows like Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens. He's also a legendary writer as the mind behind Police Academy. Real Genius and Look who's Talking To Now. Look who's Talking to is is a decent movie. The first one was better. But Police Academy and Real Genius are two great 80s films.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, I would say look who's Talking to is a great.

[Will Friedle]

It was. It wasn't as good as the first one, though. The first one was great.

[Sabrina Bryant]

The first. Yeah, the first one was great. Top notch.

[Will Friedle]

And it's the return of. Let's start this cast because it's amazing. Taj Mowry, he plays the lead. Jay Martin. Taj is part of the storied Maury siblings. We saw his sisters Tia and Tamara in Twitch's and Twitch's part. De Taj was a regular guest star in Full House, but was best known as the lead of the family sitcom Smart Guy. We know him from DCOM's of course, the Poof Point, another collaboration between him and Neil Israel. And of course I worked with him on the animated series Kim Possible. I got to go. Wayne Taj was most recently in the Disney Machine again for the 2023 show the Muppets Mayhem. And we have a very young, standout performance yet again from arguably the best child actor to ever live, which is you could really make the argument that is Shia LaBeouf as Ronnie Van Dusen. We know Shia from the Eve and Stevens DCOM and we also recapped his movie True Confessions. Shia's career began at 12 years old, and his rollercoaster life in the spotlight has included huge blockbusters like Irobot and Transformers. He'd grow up and focus on what he'd call performance art. But in the end, he's had some issues and he's just kind of shy now. But there's no denying he is an absolutely incredible actor. And again, if you put together a list of the top five child actors of all time, anybody who knows anything about it could not exclude him from that list ever. He's amazing. Craig Kirkwood is Mike Martin. He's most recognizable from his role in the Denzel movie Remember the Titans, but also appeared on TV shows like My so Called Life, Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and another Mowry family project, Sister Sister. His last acting credit is from 2006. And we've got Sarah Paxton as Tracy Richburg. The former child actress worked on a ton as a kid, like TV shows such as Will Grace, Lizzie McGuire, Passions, and Summerland. Or is it Summerland? Summerland. Summerland. Somewhere in the summer there's a land. That's the show she was on. She starred in Aquamarine, a movie with emma Roberts and JoJo. Is JoJo different than Joe Joe? Joe Siwa or Joe Joe?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, my gosh. Yes. Like, not be like, oh, my gosh. Oh, gosh. Well.

[Will Friedle]

Somebody just produce a reason. How dare you? I don't know. A Jojo is also a cookie, so there's plenty of things it could be.

[Sabrina Bryant]

JoJo was an artist that came out a lot earlier than JoJo Siwa was like a little, little girl. She was like diff. Way different. Okay, different.

[Will Friedle]

So this is a different JoJo. I've offended a Jojo, apparently. I apologize to all the jojos in the world.

[Sabrina Bryant]

We take it back right now.

[Will Friedle]

Now I have to ask, are we offending JoJo? Are we offending Joe? Joe Siwa?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Well, Jojo, the one we're talking about in this movie or. Well, she's not in this movie, but in Aquamarine, she's a singer. Like she has.

[Will Friedle]

So I'm offending JoJo when I'm comparing her to Joe JoJo.

[Sabrina Bryant]

JoJo Siwa started on that show Dance Moms. Or yeah, Dance Moms, where it was like a reality show and then. But there's not to say anything terrible what she's done. I mean, she took her career and just flew forward making. Monroe has probably four or five of her, like giant bows. Like she's I mean, she's made a career for herself in her own right, but when it comes to like music and art, it's like you got to like.

[Will Friedle]

Then I apologize to whichever JoJo I should apologize to. And I humbly mean that whatever JoJo you are. And on the DCOM side, this JoJo would star in Return to Hollow. No, I'm sorry, not JoJo. This Sarah Paxton would star in Halloween Town, the 2006 entry to the scary franchise, which was a look into her future because she has since starred in a bunch of great modern day horror movies like the Innkeepers, the Last House on the Left and Cheap Thrills. And she has also helped with two huge horror movies directed and written by her husband. One of the biggest emerging filmmakers today, Zach Krieger and his movie movies, Barbarian and Weapons worth noting. I guess those are two movies, Barbarian and Weapons worth noting. She was in a wheelchair for the film, but is obviously not in a wheelchair in real life. And then we have just credited as girl number one, we have Alyssa Rulin. This was her first acting role, but she would go on to star as Kelsey Nielsen, one of Disney Channel's biggest franchises, High School Musical. I said it like that because of course we know there's an exclamation point. She also starred in Halloween Town High, the TV series Greek, Drop Dead Diva Powers, NCIS Los Angeles, the Rookie, and more. So it all started with her one line in this movie.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and scratch. My number one star starred Sabrina Sees right off my.

[Will Friedle]

Sorry, we're gonna take that off. There you go. You can talk about JoJo.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I was so excited to see her. It's so great because that this shows how Disney works. You know, you go in, you get a small part and then later on, boom, they're giving you like one of your like Million dollar baby situations. It's awesome.

[Will Friedle]

And I did. It's obviously I didn't know who she was, but the second she popped on screen, I was like, oh, I know her. Yeah, I recognize her. Yeah. And this week we've got a pretty great one in the Dabney Reynolds position. Yes, it is. Mr. I'm gonna instantly call him Sir Ed Begley Jr. As Shia's dad and school headmaster Ward Van Dusen. An established name in Hollywood, Begley is a big dcom get. He was a TV regular in the 70s and in the 80s he starred as Dr. Victor Ehrlich on St. Elsewhere, a role that earned him six consecutive Emmy nominations. On the movie side, he appeared in Batman Forever, Pineapple Express and a slew of Christopher get movies including this is Spinal Tap, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. He was most recently seen in Better Call Saul and Young Sheldon. He's also one of Hollywood's original environmentalists as an early adapter to things like electric cars, recycling, veganism and solar power. And Begley's real life wife, actress Rachel Carson plays his partner in the movie too. I didn't know that going in. Carson has been in films like But I'm a Cheerleader and the Bling Ring and was seen in recent TV shows like Cobra Kai. She is also very involved in Earth related initiatives right alongside her husband. And one thing the Bagleys can do to help save the Earth is to be in a short movie. The less energy exerted, we all get home at a reasonable hour. So less carbon monoxide, smaller footprint, all that kind of stuff. So that's the question is how long is hounded? It's 92 minutes. ARR. So close to our target. But two minutes off and not on the side we'd hoped for. If only they could have neutered those 120 seconds, we'd be much better off.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Neutered. I love it.

[Will Friedle]

But for now, yeah, we live in a shattered reality. It's tough.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Too long. We gotta go back to that.

[Will Friedle]

It is too long. Yes it did. I had to watch this in chunks. This is one of those movies. There's two names with the script credit on this one. It is a writing team. We have Don Calamy who is the husband of Big Chill actress Meg Tilly and his teammate Chris Conroy. They have only two notable writing credits, their names, this and the 2006 Dane Cook Jessica Simpson Movie employee of the Month. We'll just leave that there. We finally switched to T Mobile because with them we could be connected here and there.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Let's watch a movie and we have.

[Will Friedle]

Netflix included to enjoy our favorite shows and movies. Now the hard part is getting them to agree on a move movie switch today and get the new Samsung Galaxy S25 plus with Galaxy AI on us all on America's best network. Tap the banner to learn more or visit a store. Best mobile network in the US Based on analysis by Ooklo Speed Test intelligence data to H 2025 received Netflix standard with ads on us with qualifying plans.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an invest Index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures Breaking news everybody.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.

[Will Friedle]

Let me start by saying it's a great day to be a gray shirt team Rubicon. You know, it truly is a team. Those folks, myself included, all had one desire which is helping folks in disaster. Trying to be a little bit of hope in a really really bad situation.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's like magic you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me Jenna for the Ripple Effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.

[Will Friedle]

We give just that nugget of hope helping other people. For some of our gray shirts it's during a time when they need help and by helping others it helps them.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Listen to the Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Coming off a GLP1 and looking for a weight loss solution that actually lasts this new year. Research shows up to 40% of weight lost on GLP1s comes from lean muscle, slowing metabolism and making weight regain almost inevitable. Prolon's five day Fasting Mimicking Diet offers.

[Will Friedle]

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[Sabrina Bryant]

It activates fasting pathways to trigger fat, focused weight loss, protect muscle and rejuvenate cells. No injections, no guesswork, just real results. Get 15% off when you [e-mail] iheartra that's prolonlife.com iheart.

[Will Friedle]

So let's not waste Any more time, we have your dog and we want five grand in trade. Or, you know, let's just recap Hounded. We open with some black and white animation, almost like preliminary sketches you see for cartoons. A young boy knocks on the door of his school headmaster and is welcomed by a man who removes a mask to reveal a terrifying big, bad wolf. Wolf. The rabid animal tries to eat the head of the boy, who just barely avoids it by ducking his head into his shirt. The kid runs off and the wolf laughs. We pull out to find it is in fact a cartoon being drawn by a real life teenager in a school uniform. His name is Jay, and he's in his art studio inspired bedroom. Starting in a bedroom, let's get to know our characters. We hear a parent yell out that breakfast is ready. And so he grabs a backpack and makes his way downstairs. We also get a glimpse of a framed picture of the kid with what appears to be his dad on a baseball field. Now, in the kitchen, his mom reveals she got a call from Aunt Lois this morning. She broke her ankle again and is in the hospital. His mom will need to go stay with her for a week to help. Even though Jay assures her he can be home alone. She's called his brother to come down from Starkwell Military Academy to keep him company. Jay is very much not thrilled with this decision. His brother is just going to yell at him and boss him around all day. He even says he hates me, which I thought was like, wow. His mom swears it's just because his brother cares about him. She leaves cash for the week and some frozen dinners in the freezer, then apologizes for missing the award ceremony tonight. Jay explains he hasn't won anything yet, but she insists she's proud of him, and his dad would have been, too. So, yes, folks, it seems like we have a dead. A dead dad alert. Dead dead dad. Guys. The return of the deceased parent to the dcom. Did you see this coming?

[Sabrina Bryant]

I. The picture frame gave me a little. A little twinkle of, oh, there's something there. But also, did you not go? Okay, so we just got the entire backstory within like a minute and 43 seconds.

[Will Friedle]

Yep.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Of this is what's happening. This is why it's okay that you're going to be at the house by yourself. Your brother's going to be here. Like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Like, that was a lot of information within the first three minutes of the movie.

[Will Friedle]

I'm also. It's also, I'm sorry your. Your son is that night Not a week from now. That night has a huge presentation that could determine his entire future. You can't wait 24 hours to go be with your sister who broke her ankle? She's. Yeah, she's not in a coma.

[Sabrina Bryant]

She's not. Yeah, she's not. It's not a life threatening situation.

[Will Friedle]

She broke her ankle and. And had the mom been there. See, this is where the movie to me was like, had the mom been there? And he said, mom, this is my presentation. I. I read part of this to you.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Like, oh, no, no. Well, then you're gonna go up and give it and we're gonna have a talk right now.

[Will Friedle]

Movie over. That's what it is. But no, mom has to go now. I have to leave right now because she broke her ankle. It's like, come on. And you even said this is the second time she's done it. She's broken her ankle before. She can be okay for hobble around for 24 hours. It's literally about his entire scholarship chapter of his life.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Next chapter.

[Will Friedle]

So that to me, right away I was like, all right, I'm already not buying this. Like, you're not going to wait for 24 hours for this. Like, good luck on your giant thing you're doing. So, yeah, I was. That was already, like, from a writing standpoint, I was like, really make it something better. She was in a car. I mean, you don't have to go crazy, but she. Something to where it's not like she broke her ankle. I have to go again. Good luck on that giant thing you've been working your whole life on. See you tomorrow.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Right?

[Will Friedle]

That was weird to me.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Or even the fact that he was like, so okay with it too. Like.

[Will Friedle]

Like he's constantly abandoned.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, okay. To me, it would have made sense easily to just be like. Like, she's a now single mom who has a high powered job and she has a conference that she can't miss. Like, this is part of try to make a something.

[Will Friedle]

Yes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Ex day life that she is always just unfortunately unable to be there because she's a single mom.

[Will Friedle]

Like, right.

[Sabrina Bryant]

There you go.

[Will Friedle]

That would have been good, but nope, they didn't do that. So sister broke her ankle again. So she's going to leave him some money and hopes he's alive in a week. But Jay is worried. His dad would have been disappointed because he didn't go to Starkwell, but his mom encourages him to focus on the Peterson Scholarship instead. We're now at Starkwell. It's a cold day at a Boot camp. Troops are marching in all directions and Sergeant Mike Martin, Jay's brother, is shouting insults at his battalion. Mid crash out, he's told that Colonel Douglas wants to see him asap. He dismisses his platoon and runs off to find the higher ranking officer who is aware that Mike's soldiers are close to failing this semester. Mike blames their bad grades on laziness. The Colonel knows he works hard, but thinks he doesn't know what it's like to be a leader. We learn that the dead dad used to teach at Starkwell and his advice was always to lead with love, not fear. The Colonel has heard that Mike is needed at home right now, so he suggests some time off to think about his future in the military. It's not for everybody, he tells him, which is true. We transition from the soldier's disappointed look to Columbus Hall High. It's J's school starting up for the day. The headmaster, Ward Van Dusen, scans the crowd of students and confiscates a portable game system, which in reality is just a video game controller, just one you'd plug into a console. There's no screen on it or anything. There's literally no chance anyone could play it without plugging it in at home. It's not a thing, but that's what he takes and becomes part of the story.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh my gosh. Like, it comes back so much. Like if you didn't see it the first time, by the end, you're like.

[Will Friedle]

Wait, it's what's going on with this controller. Jay arrives with his friends, Bill and Tracy Richberg. Not Bill and it's Bill and Tracy Richburg. They're not a married couple. It's not Bill and Tracy Richburg, the latter rolling into the quad in a wheelchair. A boy on the soccer field, Ronnie haphazardly kicks a ball into the school founder's statue. Then it bounces off and hits a teacher in the head. He laughs it off. And when the angry staff member sees it was Ronnie who kicked it, she just quickly smiles and waves. Jay notes that the privileged few get away with everything while the nice kids get their unusable video game controllers taken away. It's unfair. Jay excitedly pulls it. You know what? I was just gonna say nuzzle my gerbil again, but I didn't want to do that. Jay excitedly pulls out a stack of flashcards to show his pal. He flips through them, creating the moving animation we saw earlier of the big bad headmaster Wolf. You're still. You're still laughing over nuzzling your gerbil aren't you? There we go. There you go. That's your. Your. Your hashtag of the day is nuzzle my gerbil.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

The other side of the cards are filled with words from his important scholarship presentation. Then Headmaster Van Dusen gets on the microphone for an announcement. He says, if you had the rice yesterday, see the nurse if you're feeling differently, which I thought was very funny. Secondly, all 8th graders should report to the auditorium 5th period for the Donald Peterson Memorial Awards competition. The bell rings, and everyone's off to class. And once again, Ronnie kicks a soccer ball into the crowd, this time hitting Jay right in the face. The flashcards fall to the ground, and that squad. Ronnie seems pretty proud of himself. Then Headmaster Van Dusen walks out into the yard as Jay scurries to pick up the cards. But unfortunately, before he can scoop them all up, Van Dusen catches a glimpse of the drawings. And he knows it's a terrible cartoon of himself because he picks up a picture of a wolf head. That's the one he shows. He goes, it doesn't look too much like me. It's like it's the picture of a wolf. Why wouldn't they pick up the one that's supposed to be him?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, I would imagine because he is such a bully. Like, he walks. I mean, when he. We've already established, like, everyone's kind of either afraid or, like, basically just doesn't like, like him or hates him.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Sabrina Bryant]

As being this, you know, headmaster. Because he's a jerk to everyone, I would assume this is, like. I kind of just let. Let it go because I figured this wasn't the first time he's seen a caricature of himself.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, so that's fair.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Like, it's like an ongoing thing on campus that everyone hates him.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Sabrina Bryant]

He doesn't care because he's a jerk.

[Will Friedle]

Okay. I was just reading too much in it. Okay, that's fine.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, you already did like the movie.

[Will Friedle]

I could tell. No, by this point, I'm still okay, because again, I thought right when Ed Begley comes on and he's like, if you had the rice, I'm like, okay, this might be more tongue in cheeky. Some funny comedy and all that kind of stuff. And again, all the acting was great, so I was like, okay. And Shia. Yeah, I was very much still in at this point. Although I was like, really? You're leaving your kid to go? That was the only thing that bumped me. Yeah. So he knows it's a terrible cartoon of himself. And even Though Jay tries to say it isn't him, the headmaster wonders what his mother will think of his creative endeavors. He takes all the cards, not caring that they also include Jay's big presentation. Now in the hallways, Jay is freaking out. He has no time to rewrite the presentation. And to make matters worse, Ronnie aggressively joins him on the walk. He calls Jay Martian instead of Martin and knows that they're all front runners for the scholarship awards. He also flirts with Tracy and tells her about the victory party he's throwing in his pool house for when he wins. In all honesty, the pool house party sounds pretty life changing. Rumor is he has arcade games and his own phone number and a pool table. I want to be there, too. We all had a friend that had the coolest bedroom. My friend Jeff was like that.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

I just had all the coolest stuff. He's the first person I ever had a waterbed. He had. It was like the coolest thing ever. So I had to get a waterbed. I was like, yeah, Jeff had all the cool stuff. And now we're in Headmaster Van Dusen's office. He's playing the video game he confiscated again, which is still just a controller. When Ronnie enters, he calls the private school's headmaster dad. Oh, that's right. Ronnie is Ward Van Dusen's son. Ward asks if Ronnie is ready for a scholarship presentation and really hopes his speech isn't the one about how Jackie Chan would make a great president. Unfortunately, it is. And this was another thing where I was like, okay, they're. They're obviously wealthier. They're from a family of wealth. So why is he going after this scholarship to go to this school? Right?

[Sabrina Bryant]

That. The.

[Will Friedle]

The.

[Sabrina Bryant]

The whole idea of him having to do this is just insane. Except for it to just be that the headmaster's son, you know, is that great. Is. Is able.

[Will Friedle]

I think you'd need. They needed more dialogue. They needed something like. Because they got a little bit into the grandfather thing, where it's like, your grandfather doesn't think I'm raising you right. He thinks you're, you know, right not. Not being brought up the proper way. So maybe it's something like. And he said, you've got to go to this prestigious school and we're not allowed to pay for. I mean, something. There's a way to do it. It. Where it made more sense.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Like, more at stake of why this.

[Will Friedle]

Kid who can't afford it and the kid who's from massive wealth should not be going after the same scholarship unless you really Explain why they're going after the same scholarship. I mean, even if it's something as simple as making me even more of a. Where it's like, you know, ronnie, why are you even going after the scholarship? Because you want it Martian. And then walking away. I mean, like, something simple. But it's. There's no reason that this kid needs this scholarship.

[Sabrina Bryant]

So there's a lot of stuff with Shia's character that should have been beefed up in general to make the, like, dislike out of him even, you know, of. We have to get into it later. But, like, it just was kind of like that was a missed moment. And the best part, the worst part for me is knowing how well Shia would have leaned into.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, God. Because he's so good. Every line he delivers, you believe it. And it's. Is just. To have that presence as an actor at that age is so, like, I go back and watch myself occasionally at 11 or 12, and I barely know how to stand up. So, I mean, it's like I'm doing everything but. No, it's true. I mean, I'm literally doing everything but looking down at the T mark to stand, to see where I'm supposed to stand.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Will Friedle]

So to have that kind of presence as an actor at that age is just unheard of.

[Sabrina Bryant]

To be sure. I mean, if they would have given him more, he would have just.

[Will Friedle]

Just.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It would have. It could have made a difference for sure.

[Will Friedle]

And it, again, shows you how good he is, because Taj is great. Yes, Taj is phenomenal. But when anybody that age is on screen with Shia, you. He's just playing at a different level. He's just playing at a different level, so. And Taj is a phenomenal young actor, so, yeah, it was. It's so good. Yeah, I agree. He needed to be beefed up in some way, shape or form, but then maybe he would have stolen the movie even more. Who knows shows? But anyway, apparently Ronnie's grandfather, the founder of the school, thinks that Ward is doing a bad job as headmaster and that he's a bad dad to Ronnie. So to prove him wrong, Ronnie must win the scholarship. That's what they said, but I still didn't buy it. He hands his son Jay's impressive presentation about recycling a nice ode to Bagley's own interests, and tells him to read the cards because that speech is perfect, which, again, is pretty sketchy. Ronnie will need to at least beat Jay to win. He leaves to take care of that Spanish rice incident as Ronnie starts on his superior speech. But he quickly turns his attention to Jay's cards.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, well, he said, you've got 20 minutes.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, here's a speech that's already written. What's the kid gonna do?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes, that. Like that. I kind of was like, oh, man, this guy. Poor kid just thinks by his dad.

[Will Friedle]

Like, what do you think's gonna happen?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Putting Skittles in front of my 2 year old and say, you cannot eat these. Yeah, I'm gonna go in the other room, but don't you dare eat them.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, whatever you do, don't open my giant magical closet of mystery. Yeah, exactly. So we're now in the library. Jay tells his friends that his mom can't afford Peterson or Starkwell, but since his dad taught at the military academy, he could get in for practically nothing. But he doesn't want to go there. The presentation's in 15 minutes. And so he tries his hardest and magically remembers everything from the cards. Maybe things aren't as bad as he thought, studying them.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Which is what you would do if you were giving a big presentation.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly.

[Sabrina Bryant]

He's just like, of course you have your cards just in case. This kid has been doing it for probably weeks.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. Saying it over and over to yourself in the mirror and all that good kind of stuff. Yes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

20 minutes. Let me write a new one and then know what I'm talking about.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. Then we get in our favorite. An optical flip to the fifth period assembly, and Ronnie Van Dusen is reciting Jay's exact speech to the student body. Jay knows he's been bamboozled. Great word. So he walks. Walks out. With the assembly over, he could. Which again, I would have stood up and been like, hey, he's reading my speech. You've got to have all the notes from the speech you made. You've got to have all the research you did. Right.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Well. Well, no. I mean, he. That's why he said he had no proof. But he could have gone up and started saying everything that he was saying, Right? Like, shy, shy, shy, his character. He was reading from a script still. Like, you could have been like, okay.

[Will Friedle]

Take the cards away and go. Go tell me about it.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I'm gonna read the exact same thing like, I know it already.

[Will Friedle]

Yep. There's plenty of ways to do it. But no. And that they at least explain that. Where he says, I should have stood up and said something, and they didn't just blow past that, which was good. With the assembly over, he complains to Tracy about that cheating Van Dusen meanie. Since he didn't have any proof of theft, which, again, I think if you did all the research for months for your project, you probably would have the proof that you researched everything that you did in your notes and all that good kind of stuff. But anyway, anyway, Jay did not speak up. Tracy is mad. He should have said something because he's supposed to go to Peterson's amazing art program with her the next year. Then that weasel Ronnie walks up to rub his victory in their faces again, not only stealing, but then rubbing it in. Jay asks him how it feels to steal his speech, and Ronnie loudly denies it and tells him to have fun at the army academy. It's. This is when I was like, he literally just stole. It's gotta be $80,000 from this guy because it's got, what figure, $20,000 a year for four years to go to a private academy?

[Sabrina Bryant]

I mean, yeah, I. I guess. I don't know, but, I mean, this.

[Will Friedle]

Is a massive thing. This wasn't like, hey, you know, I took something from took your girl or whatever. It's like, you just stole four years of my life and put me in military school. This is massive.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Well, he calls himself a wimp later on. Like, he outright says he's a wimp. So otherwise, I mean, I think most kids, there would at least be some shoving, some type of like, like, you.

[Will Friedle]

Know, punch in the nose, something.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes, something. Absolutely. Especially not a small thing. Yo, it wasn't. I mean, and even, like, money. Money aside, he really wanted to go, and he really does not want to go and do this military situation.

[Will Friedle]

Like, crazy. Yeah, this was a big. This is a big one. I was like, wow, they're making Chai is evil in this movie. Yeah. So crazy. Jay asked him how it feels to steal a speech, and Ronnie loudly denies it and tells him to have fun at the army account academy. He also reminds Tracy again about his pool house party, and Shia is amazing yet again. Now headmaster Van Dusen is alone in the cafeteria, fidgeting with a vending machine and panicked on the phone, asking about his wife's Pomeranian, Camille. Jay notices him stealing a candy bar like father likes on, and he tries to confront him about the presentation. But the headmaster's attention is back to the dog's groomers. On the phone, he's mad that the dog's nails weren't cut correctly, and he's bringing back the dog tomorrow to have it fixed. With that, he walks back to his office with Jay apologizing about the scholarship. He also reveals that the Spanish rice epidemic has spread to the hash Browns. And that's when I was like, not the hash browns, please. Not the potatoes. Don't mess with potatoes. I love them so much. Oh, they're my fave. Jay points out that Ronnie stole his presentation, and Ward isn't having the accusation. Cheating is a very big deal at the school, and maybe they just had similar ideas. But the speeches were word for word the same. Same. Ward claims he destroyed Jay's note card, so it's impossible that his son cheated. Jay asked the headmaster to ask Ronnie anyway. So the administrator pulls out a flip phone and calls Ronnie to his office. He promises he'll get to the bottom of this and tells Jay not to spread any rumors in the meantime. And I was like, ooh, Ed Begley. On his way out, Jay hears Ward in the office interrogating his son. Ronnie admits to cheating and says he did it because his dad said to win the scholarship by any means necessary. And this is where I thought, okay, difference in a 2001 movie and a 2026 movie, instantly, the kid would just pull out his phone and start recording, but couldn't do that here, so it'd just be his word. Yes. So Headmaster Van Dusen explains he was supposed to use the speech as a benchmark. For what? To beat, not to copy it. He's furious. Ward wants his son to get rid of the cards, which are now in his locker. All the evidence must be destroyed. One more misstep, and there will be consequences for Ronnie. Now, on his way back to class, Jay runs into a nerdy hall monitor asking for his pass, but he doesn't have one. And right before he can be assigned detention, Ronnie appears with the hall pass he's stolen from his dad's office. Office. He throws his arm around Jay, explaining that he would have ruined detention for him and his friends. That's the only reason he helped out. I love that. He's like, you're gonna ruin the vibe of detention, so I don't want you in my detention with me. We got it. We got it all worked out.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

With that, I thought we'd get to.

[Sabrina Bryant]

See what the detention situation was like. He was, like, running some kind of mafia situation.

[Will Friedle]

That would have been funny. I think by that point, they would have gotten too much into Shia's character, and it wouldn't really have been Taj's movie anymore.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I know, I know.

[Will Friedle]

So with that, it's after school, and Jay is speeding down the street on his bike, being trailed by determined Ronnie. The bully catches up and kicks Jay off his bike, leaving him floored on somebody's front lawn. And with that, Ronnie pedals off. Jay notices the note cards are in his backpack. He was right. So this guy's not just a D, but he's also now assaulting him on like for no reason on his bike, just minding his business.

[Sabrina Bryant]

No reason.

[Will Friedle]

You just destroyed this kid's life. Do you need to break his leg too?

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's like bad enough he's got this bike that he's driving around with this weird basket in front. Like this kid's like, you know, come on.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, we don't need giant basket. Come on man. We finally switched to T Mobile because with them we can be connected here and there. Dad, the cousins in Mexico have a surprise for you and enjoy the gift of staying connected. Switch and start saving today. Get four Samsung Galaxy S25 phones with Galaxy AI on us and four lines for just 25 bucks per line plus non stop talk, text and data between us and Mexico. Tap the banner to learn more or visit a store. See details@t mobile.com.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

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[Sabrina Bryant]

Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The ripple effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.

[Will Friedle]

Let me start by saying it's a great day to be a gray shirt team Rubicon. You know, it truly is a team. Those folks, myself included, all had one desire which is helping folks in disasters trying to be a little bit of hope in a really, really bad situation.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's like magic, you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me, Jenna, for the ripple effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.

[Will Friedle]

We give just that nugget of hope helping other people. For some of our gray shirts, it's during a time when they need help, help. And by helping others, it helps them.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Listen to the ripple effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

This week on Point game with me, C.J. toledano and Isaiah Thomas. It gave his take about the Dennis Schroeder and Luka Doncic beef. Give it a listen. It had to be serious if you're still that mad after the bell, right? Because usually guys be mad in the heat of the battle. You gonna say your little two cents. He gonna say. His guy's gonna be like, man, meet me in the back. They're gonna say all that. Then when you get in the back, there's no action that ever really happens. Okay. So that's real. They're not really gonna do nothing. Yeah. So for that to happen, though, either somebody hit somebody below the belt in terms of saying some words that were just not right, talking about money, or they got previous beating to where it's like more personal than basketball. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use Code Point Game. New customers can bet just $5, and if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets instantly. With code PointGame in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER NEW YORK. Call 877-8-HOPE and WHY or text HOPE and WHY CONNECTICUT. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas. Wager tax pass through may apply over in most states, void. In Ontario, restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng Co Audio limited time offer. So we're now home. Jay walks in as his brother is leaving a message on the family's answering machine, but doesn't pick up. Mike explains that his Jeep broke down and the part isn't coming in until tomorrow, so he's stranded for the night. He instructs his little brother to call up the Zachary family next door and ask if he can stay with them for the night. Jay rolls his eyes and Mike warns, no screw ups. Jay is back with Tracy now with a dog on her lap. For some reason, he's telling her all about the new Ronnie information and how his dad is complicit in the crime. She encourages her pal to pet her dog. Not a euphemism. It could relieve some stress. But he admits that dogs hate him and returns to moping. What's your problem, Sabrina? What's going on, Sabrina? What's. I don't know.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I think it's the time change.

[Will Friedle]

Okay. It's 2026. That's the problem.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

Tracy tells him to do something about it. There must be a way to get some proof that Ronnie cheated. And Ronnie knows he needs those cards back. He says goodbye, trying to kiss the dog for some reason who he didn't like before. And I thought, was he leaning in to kiss the girl? She puts the dog up in front of him. Was that what was happening?

[Sabrina Bryant]

I. To me, I was like, oh, they're dating.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Sabrina Bryant]

That's why. It's also a kind of. Maybe an importance of why he wants to go to this school. Because she said that they were gonna go together. But I. That's what I. But I felt like, oh, we missed some. There was a. There was a scene that got cut that we missed, like something that wasn't explained that they were dating or anything like that. So I. That's what I was like. Like, not the. The storyline starting to get all over the place. We're hoping left and right.

[Will Friedle]

I agree. Something's, something's.

[Sabrina Bryant]

But I thought that. I definitely thought the kiss was to go into her.

[Will Friedle]

That's what I thought too.

[Sabrina Bryant]

She just put the dog up like, you're like.

[Will Friedle]

Right. Kind of. Kind of a. Well, let's call it a dog block. Yeah. So, yeah, that's kind of what I thought it was.

[Sabrina Bryant]

That's what I. Yeah, yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I felt the same. Okay.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I was like, put it in my notes. Like, you can't just, like all of a sudden they're going in for a kiss because they weren't even holding hands or. Or, you know, like.

[Will Friedle]

Right. And he just said he doesn't like dogs. So he's not gonna instantly go in and try to kiss the dog.

[Sabrina Bryant]

No, no.

[Will Friedle]

So he was trying to kiss her. Okay. I'm just making sure that I got that right. Yes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. But the kiss of the dog doesn't work out. It in turn pushes him off a ledge and the stunt looks as natural as it sounds. Jay rides his bike over to the Van Dusen household, where he hides and watches Ward, his wife, and Ronnie rush to leave. They drive off, revealing a bumper sticker that reads, my kid is a Ronald Peterson Memorial scholarship winner. And man, they gave out those bumper stickers really fucking so fast. Yeah. With the coast clear, Jay makes a beeline for Ronnie's pool house. And we now have to admit, the pool house is as cool as advertised. Ultimate teenage boys room. It has foosball, a pool table, barbershop pole, jukebox, p. Rollerblade posters, BMX posters. It has it all. And yet all Jay has is a giant yellow bubble jacket which he wears for most of the movie. And yet it. It. I think it's cold because when you. Well, it's all sunny. Like, it looks like everybody could be wearing shorts, but in scenes that they shoot in Utah, the. The mountains right behind them are clearly covered in snow, right?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah. Like, they're probably. I would say it seems like they would be doing kind of what. What happens where they, like, shoot in October, November. Trying to say that it's like fall time.

[Will Friedle]

Right?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Like, you know, like. Or which it's not.

[Will Friedle]

He's in a big bubble jacket. Yes. Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Especially if he. Which I pretty sure shy, is like a SoCal born and raised kid.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryant]

You go to Utah, you're going to feel it. It's cold.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, you're going to feel it. So now Jay has officially broken into somebody's house, and he's searching the room looking for the cards. And then the earlier mentioned tiny white show dog Pomeranian named Camille appears and knows someone's in the guest house to defend her family. She starts loudly barking at Jay, who knows this could be his downfall. He begs the pooch to stop, but it doesn't work. So instead, he offers Camille some nearby gummy worms, and she's not interested. Then the housemaid appears. She's very concerned and yelling out for the dog. Jay knows his time is running out, so he does what you normally do. He puts on one of Ronnie's hockey masks. Masks. And walks back into the yard. And as soon as the maid spots him, she screams and runs away. And this scene played more like a scene from Fargo than a dcom. Right. I mean, wasn't there something super creepy about this at this point?

[Sabrina Bryant]

I thought when I saw the mask, I thought he was gonna try to play himself off as Ronnie. Like, just put it on, pretend he was me too. Yeah, something like something just a little bit less like, let me walk out.

[Will Friedle]

Of this as opposed to serial killer.

[Sabrina Bryant]

As a serial killer, which basically should have had a knife in his hand running towards the maid. It was so scary.

[Will Friedle]

100%. Ronnie ditches the mask and hops back at his bike. But he also puts on his helmet because safety first. But he doesn't get far. Camille catches up, and now, no matter how much he tries to ditch her, the dog follows him home, even crossing a busy street and almost getting crushed. Jay saves her and decides he'll call the family later. Until then, though, Camille just needs to chill out. But the dog won't stop bothering him. Okay, this is where I'm like, what? Okay, so the dog won't stop bothering him, repeatedly trying to sit next to him on the couch watching TV with him, which, to add insult to injury, is only playing war movies. But to try to stop Camille from barking, Jay checks the fridge to see if there's anything she might want to eat. He pulls out some spaghetti. As a dog owner, I'm like, oh, don't just be feeding this dog all this horrible stuff. But he pulls out some spaghetti, and she goes to town on it. Then he offers her some meatloaf, then some chicken, then a hot dog. All how this dog must have been starving. She didn't leave a crumb behind. Eventually, she passes out covered in food, stuffed and whimpering. But this dog clearly loves him. She does not want to leave his side. She wants to be next to him. And I'm like, okay, so this dog is finally going to get a life and fall for this guy and not want to go back. And this is what our movie is going to be about. Keep that in mind. Tracy then rushes over to Jay's house, who explains the whole story about why Camille is now falling him. She asked the question that's of course on all of our minds. Why not just call the Van Dusens? Buddy wonders, how will he then explain why he was in their house? Which you don't have to. You can come up with a thousand lies about why you have the dog, especially because the maid saw him in a terrifying mask. But again, how is she gonna know who it is? She suggests taking the dog back to the house and just leaving her there. Great idea. And so off he goes. But when he tries to abandon her, she doesn't want to stay at the house. Once again following Jay and now flinging herself himself into his stupid little handlebar basket, which now we know why that's there. But the dog clearly loves him and does not want to leave him. Like, I love you, Taj. Mowry. I love you, Taj Mowry.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Take me home.

[Will Friedle]

Take me. We're now back at home. Jay and Camille are retaking their spots on the couch. Jay is pining over the Peterson school catalog, but he knows he's stuck in the military academy. And with that, he dozes off to sleep. Meanwhile, at the Van Dusen household, Eliza, Ronnie's mom, is panicking because she can't find Camilla Meal. Ronnie carelessly throws his scholarship plaque on the floor, and Ward is startled by the maid. By the way, he got his plaque at the ceremony that night, but somehow already had the bumper sticker, right? So, yeah, the. The maid is now roaming the house with a spatula, still scared of the hockey mask intruder several hours later, and then just starts to beat Ed Begley. Like she doesn't know the difference between the short guy and the hockey mask. And her boss, who she's probably worked for for years and years and years.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Right?

[Will Friedle]

Made no sense whatsoever. It's not even dark. Wasn't even dark.

[Sabrina Bryant]

At some point, though, you feel bad for the guy because everyone just hates him. Like, it's like, no wonder he's a dick.

[Will Friedle]

Yep. Nobody likes you.

[Sabrina Bryant]

The maid hates you. She's taking any reason to use you and beat you with the spatula. She hates you. Your wife doesn't seem to care about you either.

[Will Friedle]

No one likes you. Your father in law doesn't like you. The dog doesn't like you. Your students don't like you. Your son doesn't like you.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I kind of don't. I mean, I kind of understand why he's just walking around and it's a human huge to everyone because playing is. Everyone's mean to him in his life. The people he should be loved by.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. It's like Oscar the Grouch. Why are you so mad? Maybe because everyone's a dick to me and I live in a garbage can. Yeah, same thing. But yes. So she's panicking. She hits him with the. The thing. She apologizes and tells him all about the pool house melee. But Ronnie hasn't noticed any issues in his room. But Eliza isn't sold. She can't find her dog anywhere. Ronnie says the dog is probably just hiding. Eliza thinks it's much more sinister and is worried because. Because without her medication, Camille has problems. Oh. And that's when I was like, okay, what are they doing? So now we're back with Jay, who's just waking up from a nap, and Camille is breathing down his nose and growling with these weird puppet that they're using for this dog now. Terrified, Jay begs the dog to calm down, but as soon as he moves, the dog chases after him, ready to bite. And so the dog we're supposed to understand is, like, it has split personality or bipolar or something, where all of a sudden, this dog that clearly loved him is now a sociopath. Crazy. And I was like, wait, what the hell is going on? So when Jay stumbles on a house plant, Camille lunges at him, just missing his head by inches, literally trying to kill him. Finally, he finds some protection by locking himself in a bathroom. And with a little different editing, I was like, is this now a horror movie? This is now Cujo. What the hell has just happened?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Get worse. It gets worse.

[Will Friedle]

Buckle up, Will. So hours later, he's still in his bathroom, sleeping in the bathtub, and Camille is absolute clawed at the door. That this dog that loved him. Eventually, the barking stops. So finally, Jay feels safe. He slowly exits the bathroom, and the coast is clear, but the house is thrashed. He tiptoes around, surveying the mass amount of damage. She even destroyed his dead dad's baseball glove, which for some reason, that hurt he had out in the living room.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It might have been, like, something that was, like, on a shelf or, you know, displayed of some sort. That hurt. That hit me.

[Will Friedle]

I was like, yeah, that was tough. That was tough. But I was still like, why did they change the dog? The dog just loved? Okay. Then he almost stumbles on a frozen Camille. She has fallen asleep on the carpet. So Jay quietly gathers some items, making sure not to wake her. Jay decides to cover the sleeping pup with a basket, and as soon as she starts barking, he sits on it, making sure she can't escape, and then uses electrical tape to secure the basket to the carpet, a strategy that has absolutely zero percent chance of working. But it's a dcom, so it works for a bit of a time. And in another futile attempt, Jay places, of course, a vase, or vase, depending on where you're from, filled with marbles on top. And that's not going to backfire at all. All else fails, just put a giant vase of marbles. The next morning, Jay has reconvened with Tracy. He knows his brother's gonna flip out about the house, so he kept the dog overnight taped underneath the basket.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Is that right? Okay, copy that.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes. This dog at least doesn't seem like has used the restroom in hours and hours.

[Will Friedle]

Not only that, but he was also the sweetest dog in the world that just wanted to be rescued, which is what I Thought it was. Now he's the craziest dog in the world. Yeah. So they need to return the dog, but can't figure out how. Tracy suggests calling the Van Dusens with a mysterious voice and telling them he'll be leaving Camille in the park for pickup. So he does what all kids do. He goes and finds his voice modulator and dials his them up. Ward answers, and then Jay performs what can only be seen as a hostage call for ransom. Instead of giving in, though, Ward tells the captor to keep the dog. He doesn't want it, especially because he's allergic and he knows the dog doesn't have her medication. He hangs up, and Jay knows that he is screwed. And then he realizes Camille is no longer sleeping. He can't find her, but he knows she's somewhere. This has a real Jurassic park vibe from it. Hiding from the raptors. Eventually, just when he thinks he's safe, Jay is attacked by the flying Pomeranian. They wrestle, and eventually Jay once again rushes off to the bathroom. And this is. Again, this is the scene from There's Something About Mary where I was like, this is this. What are you laughing at?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes, because I just. Honestly, I thought it was so funny. I mean, this is.

[Will Friedle]

Sure.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes, it's definitely. I will say one of the things is, by this point, you are realizing this is definitely when the dcoms are being catered toward a young audience.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. Yes, very much so.

[Sabrina Bryant]

This is a young audience. And so when you kind of get in that. That realm of thinking, like, this dog, it's a teeny, tiny, like, adorable little Pomeranian who has just lost its marbles.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's just great.

[Will Friedle]

But then set it up, like, set it up where the dog hates everybody but the mom, so everybody that goes near it starts to growl. He then attaches himself to the back of Taj's bike and follows him home. And it's been a standoff the entire time. Don't make it to where the dog's awesome with Taj. Like, he's want to sleep next to him. He's the nicest person in the world. God, I love this dog so much. And then all of a sudden, he gets crazy. Because then if you start him crazy and then Taj wins him over and becomes his one friend, it's a better arc for Taj. It's a better arc for the dog. It makes more sense. Whereas he's the sweetest dog in the world. He finally found a friend. Now he's insane. Now he's friendly again. It did that, didn't make any sense. And I get what you're saying. The actual. And this is where Taj, you know, we keep talking about Shia, but this is where Taj is great. His physical comedy of wrestling the dog and jumping around from the dog. Great.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

Really good and awesome in a dcom. You're right. For younger people, if you're 9, 10, 11 years old, watching him wrestle this dog must have been hysterical. Yeah. Pay it off. Make, build it up. Know it's just from a story standpoint, it's like again, I know it's not written for 50 year old guys, but still.

[Sabrina Bryant]

But that. But still, like you said, just in general, that's a better arc. That's a better, like a better win for Taj's character.

[Will Friedle]

Yes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

In the end of this, like Psycho dog. I mean, especially because you set it up as like a show dog. So, you know, when you watch cartoons with show dogs, what are they? They're very prim. Proper.

[Will Friedle]

Yes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

They don't want to deal with anything. They are like this like little princess. Princess dog. If it was set that way before and then the princess dog just like falls in love. That's a better win for the main character.

[Will Friedle]

Absolutely. They make this dog a total diva that hates everybody.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I can't lie. I was giggling this whole time. It's just like this.

[Will Friedle]

It was great.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Is so good. I love physical phenomenal comedy.

[Will Friedle]

Yep.

[Sabrina Bryant]

His squeal is so good. Like such a good pubescent boy. Like, you know, not that man voice yet, like hits the high note like, oh, it's so good.

[Will Friedle]

He's good. No, he's great.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Cracking up on this.

[Will Friedle]

And the physical comedy was great. I just wanted. I wanted it to be earned. But anyway, that's just me and my liking stories.

[Sabrina Bryant]

And you've already stopped the movie four times by this.

[Will Friedle]

No, I think I'd made it to this point. I think I'd made it to this point. We finally switched to T mobile because with them we could be connected here and there.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Let's watch a movie.

[Will Friedle]

And we have Netflix included to enjoy.

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[Will Friedle]

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[Sabrina Bryant]

Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.

[Will Friedle]

Clean the world. We have almost 10,000 hotels that operate our soap and plastic recycling program and we have created and distributed 90 million free bars of soap to children, families, mothers in 127 countries across the globe.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's like magic you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me Jenna for the Ripple Effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.

[Will Friedle]

Best stat of all is that the death rate to children under the age of five dying to hygiene relationship related illnesses has decreased by more than 60% since the day we started.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Listen to the Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

Refresh your bathroom with Big Savings at.

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[Will Friedle]

40% off select faucets during our Bath Savings event. Need it today. Order by by 2pm for same day delivery by 8pm Shop for your bathroom refresh at Lowe's. We help you save wall supplies last election varies by location same day delivery on eligible in stock items subject to availability fees vary. Visit lowe's.com SameDay Delivery for full terms. So Jay's attacked by the Flying Pomeranian after he thinks he's safe. They wrestle, and eventually Jay once again rushes off to the bathroom where he is trapped.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

Trapped.

[Will Friedle]

Then a nightmare comes true when the dog finally cuts through the door like Jack Nicholson in the Shining. And again, all this if the dog had been crazy the whole time. You're escalating. The craziness would be hysterical. But I was like. But he was just friends with the dog, right? Eventually, the dog bursts into the room and slams Jay into the bathtub. Luckily, Jay uses the shower curtain to wrap the dog up and finally contain its madness. But almost immediately, Camille shoots out of the containment and bites onto Jay's leg. He like, pops out out and bites on. He screams in pain and runs off to the bathroom once again. But with the hole still in the door, Camille easily crawls through and Jay throws himself out the window, landing in the driveway just in time to see his brother pull up a little bit early. The drill sergeant brother is already barking orders at Jay and has heard about the Peterson scholarship. But Jay is purely focused on making sure Mike doesn't enter the house yet. He blocks the front door and suggests going out to eat lunch. But Mike knows something is up. When he does enter, he sees the destruction and assumes Jay threw a party. Party. He angrily chases his brother and in turn slips on those marbles, of course, throwing him to the air like one of the wet bandits from Home Alone. And just before he gets his hands on Jay, the kitchen cupboard starts shaking. What is that? Jay tries to convince him, hits nothing. And then at 200 miles an hour, the dog comes flying out and attaches itself to Mike's face. And that got a genuine laugh from me. Yes, that was very funny. It was, but that's what I was like. I literally stopped and googled. I'm like, when did this come out? I'm like, yep, this is after there's something about Mary. They watched that movie and went, what if we made this a decom? As his brother wrestles Camille off his nose, Jay hides in a closet, barely able to watch. Eventually, Mike breaks free and joins his little brother in the closet. Jay explains that the dog is Ward Van Dusen's and lies, saying he was asked to babysit her. Mike pushes his little brother aside to show him how a real man does it. But he's immediately met with doggy aggression, forcing him onto a cracking living room table. Now with a half eaten shoe, Jay uses a dust buster to ward off the dog from hell until the vacuum runs. Out of batteries, out of options, the boys retreat into the kitchen just in time for the dog to knock itself out by walking into a wall. Mike is impressed. He just walks in and boom. That was it.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, that was it.

[Will Friedle]

Mike is impressed by his brother's instincts and thinks he might have the qualities of a soldier after all. Elsewhere, Ward Van Dusen's in his study, still playing that video game controller, which isn't a thing, when he's interrupted by his angry father in law, the real big wig of the school. He knows Eliza is upset about the dog and tells him to do whatever he can to find her or he will be replaced. Replaced as the headmaster. Back at Jay's now, the brothers are cleaning the mess, and Mike promises some military drills when they're done. He also wants to call Ward Van Dusen to pick up his insane dog, but Jay stops him. He'll make the call himself. But once alone with the phone, Jay uses the voice modulator again and calls Ward, who's now willing to do anything to get the dog back, including offering $5,000 to meet at the ice skating rink. So now Jay is apparently doing a ransom handoff. Yes, this is a full Give me back my son. Gotta love it. Jay convinces his brother to drop him off at the park. Leaving out the ransom part Mike demands. He asks the headmaster for money to fix the house, which is tricky. And just then, Camille wakes up from the coma in the basket and explodes with barks and fangs. And this. The. The like little fangy face that was clearly a puppet was really freaky as they're like, following this crazy little puppet dog around.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, I know.

[Will Friedle]

It was nuts. Yes. The boys jump out of the car and run for their lives. As a result, the dog runs off. Off. Okay, movie over. That's what I thought. Shut your car doors and drive away like nothing ever happened.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, yep. No one saw you? No one? Nothing. Oh, man.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you very much. I am out. But instead of chasing after him, Mike goes back home and leaves Jay behind to tell Mr. Van Dusen he lost his dog. Now at the ice skating rink, Ward is getting anxious, thinking every random guy is a dog napper. But in reality, Jay has already returned home, pretending he returned the dog dog. And Van Dusen didn't give him any money. Okay, so that's what they did. They're like, let's. We're just. Never happened. Thank you very much. Mike is furious. He came home empty handed. So instead of letting his older brother call the headmaster, Jay finally has to come clean. When the truth finally comes out, Mike can't believe how far his little brother let this go. This is the type of behavior that will get him crushed at Starkwell. But Jay doesn't want to go to Starkwell. He wants to study art. Mike defends being in the service and explains that this type of situation can ruin his career. Career. This becomes a larger argument between siblings about who is actually there for each other and an overall theme of missing their dad. It's a nice scene. Jay starts crying, telling Mike he hates him. And it all ends with them calming down and trying to figure out what to do with the dog. Mike suggests just letting it be out in the wild and letting someone else adopt it. Good idea. But the guilt seems to be weighing heavy on Jay. Oh, God. Because now he cares about the crazy dog. Mike also calls Van Dusen to talk about the presentation, but he just denies anything sketchy happens. Happened. Mike doesn't believe him and isn't willing to drop it. The plan now is to find the dog army style and accept the reward to make up for the missed scholarship that he was going to get to Peterson. Back at school, Ronnie is trying to convince Tracy to come to the pool party. Still, this Ronnie is just macking on Tracy. Just as he finally leaves his crush alone, Jay is called to the headmaster's office to talk about getting his wife's dog back. So Jay obviously thinks he's about to be busted. But Van Dusen just needs the student council to help, posting $5,000 reward signs all around town. And the headmaster reveals whoever shows up for the reward is just going to get arrested anyway. This terrifies Jay, who immediately calls his brother to warn him. They decide to meet back up at their house later while Mike calls the headmaster as the dog napper with a new plan to meet at a nearby bakery. No cops now. Okay. He's now doing this on a payphone on a public street street with the giant voice modulator, like the size of a megaphone. It's a megaphone. It's a literal megaphone. And there's people walking up to him and he's like, hey, man, do you mind? I'm in the middle of a ransom call. I mean, it's the weirdest thing. And then he sends him to this bakery for no. Which we don't get a reason why he's just sending them all over. I think it's just because he wants to teach him a lesson. So he's just trying to embarrass him. Right. Because there's no reason for any of it. No.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

Okay. I. I thought maybe I missed part of.

[Sabrina Bryant]

No. It just seemed like it wasn't explained and it didn't really make that much sense. But what I assumed it was was him kind of giving a payback to like messing with.

[Will Friedle]

That's what I figure too.

[Sabrina Bryant]

And being a part of a situation where he's the adult and could have made. Could have made it right from the beginning.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, gotcha. So at school, students are busy painstakingly making the signs by hand instead of photocopying him. This is because Jay is stalling for time. Now. Why is he stalling for time? Because they haven't found the dog, right?

[Sabrina Bryant]

No, they. Oh, right, yes.

[Will Friedle]

That's why they're stalling is so they can find the dog.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

But he's in school and Mike's making calls, not looking for the dog.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, he's not finding. He. Yeah, he's. He's trying to get time, I guess. Guess so that the cops don't get involved, I think is what they're trying to do. I think it's a pretty big stretch.

[Will Friedle]

You think?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, because I think we're all kind of just confused at this point. It made sense how. How they were doing the posters. Like they don't want. They clearly don't want the posters up in case someone does find the dog.

[Will Friedle]

Is that why he sneaks half of them out right in front of them, a foot away, puts them behind his back, which are not in any way.

[Sabrina Bryant]

A shape or form, so there wouldn't be as many posters them to actually even hang up. Because he says that all 300 of them are not done, that the couple of them are going out to do the. Some of the ones that they do have done. But that's his way to. To sneak in. Throw.

[Will Friedle]

Gotcha. Okay, so none of that made sense to me because I still didn't understand what they were doing. But anyway, they're stalling for time. He even helps and picks the dumbest kids to staple them all over town. Headmaster Van Dusen is aimlessly circling the bakery to no avail outside with a sheet cake while singing Itsy Bitsy Spider. And that's when I thought I got a bad hit of weed. Where I was like, am I. What's. What's happening? Am I really seeing this? I was like. And then I was like, okay, so he's just trying to humiliate him for how he treated his brother. But they're stalling for time to. To find the dog, I guess. But no one's actually looking for the dog.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Right?

[Will Friedle]

Got you. Okay. Hay. So Mike and Jay then to find the Dog do what anybody would do. They get a bag full of whole rotisserie chickens and meat to drive around nearby streets. It is attached to the back of their car like a giant fishing line. The scent of poultry and meat brings a dozen or so dogs to the car. But no sign of Camille. And just when they're about to give up, they see her join the chicken loving pack and grab onto the bag like a fisherman line. That's, I think that's when I shut it off again. They drag the pup through the area, eventually tossing her into a backyard trampoline, losing her once again. And this movie is insane.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Ward is still getting pressure from his father in law. The dog show is Friday and Mike continues to waste the headmaster's time with meetups that go nowhere. Which again, I, I, I guess is still just them buying time to try to find the dog again. Now he's at a bowling alley where he needs to throw 10 straight frames of gutter balls while wearing a woman's bathrobe and fluffy slippers. And obviously nothing comes of this. And that's when I was like, I think I shut it off again. But the brothers have found Camille in a different backyard, barking at a swimming pool. They approach her slowly, capturing her with a pool net and landing her lovingly into Jay's arms. And now she's a perfect dog in love with Jay again. That was it.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes, that was it.

[Will Friedle]

A perfect dog in love with Jay again.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I literally rewound thinking there was some type of, of what I missed when. Something that I missed.

[Will Friedle]

Nope.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Because I mean, we know, I mean that, I mean, I guess that's how they were able to, I, I don't know. It was just nothing. It just.

[Will Friedle]

Nope, Dogs. Dog's amazing again.

[Sabrina Bryant]

And he tries to make a comment of oh, she just needed to run off all the energy or she's just, she never has. She's always at the groomers and you know, these kinds of explanations. I'm kind of like, like.

[Will Friedle]

And it's so easy to do. You don't have him savor. In the beginning, crossing the street. They get home with her being an awful dog. She's been chasing him the entire time. She's nipping at his heels. She jumps into the house, they do all the fun attack stuff. And then at the end here, they find her and she's in some death defying whatever. He saves her life here and the dog falls in love with him.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yeah, she's dirty.

[Will Friedle]

Yes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

You know the obvious. She's trapped in a New York street pothole.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. An entire girl comes, they sing her out.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Then it makes more sense of why this dog would. Yeah. I mean, there's an easy jackal.

[Will Friedle]

Johnson shows up, offers him a record contract.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Obviously an easy fix, right, with how to get a dog to, like, get over.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you. How hard is that? My God. Then. Then this is what? Hounded 2 takes place in Spain. Taj falls in love with a guitar player. Yeah. Camille gets her first kiss.

[Sabrina Bryant]

That Hounded didn't turn into that. I'm one for one grateful because it.

[Will Friedle]

Should have seen Hounded in India. My God. It was crazy. Okay, so. Yeah. But no, they didn't do that. No. Ward is still getting pressured.

[Sabrina Bryant]

That's where this movie went wrong.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you. This is where they lost me is they easily could have sung the dog back into reality, but they didn't. Scott. Back at home, Camille is now acting totally normal. She just needed to burn off some energy by attacking everybody around. She needed to burn off energy and apparently we find out later, get laid, because that's what happened. She literally. Oh, my gosh.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I did not even put that together.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you. They even show her with her boyfriend. Oh, my gosh. Yep. Out there, doing it like Snoop Doggy Dog out there. There. I'm telling you. So that's what she needed. She needed to run around, attack a whole bunch of people and have sex. Yeah. Am I wrong? That's what happens. Thank you.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I did not even think about that.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, there you go.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

There you go.

[Sabrina Bryant]

She met my dog, Bandit.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. Crazy.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

So they trade off. The trade off can finally happen now that the dog is back and. And perfectly normal again. But Van Dusen has called the cops and they've set up a sting at the school so it doesn't look good for the boys. The headmaster wants the dog Napper behind bars. Jay is called back to the office not to get busted, but van Dusen wants 300 new posters made now, with the police hotline included. Jay tries to warn his brother about the police presence. But a girl who keeps saying no way, no way, no way is holding up the payphone. So when Mike does call Van Dusen, the cops are already tracing him. But he hangs up just in time to stay un undetected. Jay and Mike meet back up that night with no sign of the cops in their tail. They know they can't just return her now. Their lives are going to be ruined. Jay apologizes for getting his brother involved, and he'll take all the blame if they get busted But Mike says they're in this together and they'll get out of it together. And with that, Jay announces he has a plan. Mike dresses in disguise to distract Ronnie while Jay sneaks through the neighbor's yard to get to the pool house. And when Mike hears a bird call, he'll need to leave. Amongst all this planning, Mike is impressed with Jay's drawings on the map he made. Just in case you forgot he wanted to be an artist.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Just in case.

[Will Friedle]

Just in case. Jay says goodbye to the now perfect docile Camille and they place her in a basket for the long awaited return. Jay starts his trek through the neighborhood backyards and is quickly caught by a guard dog, A mean looking one. He busts through a fence just in time and then is able to just stick the boards back on and they end up staying somehow.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I did, I did rewind. He's like leaning against them and then.

[Will Friedle]

He leaves and the board stops. Stay up.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes they did. They did stay up. He was able to to perfectly balance them right?

[Will Friedle]

Attach them back on the wall so he busts through the fence, barely escaping the attack. Mike arrives at Ronnie's pool house. And while pretending to be a reporter from BMX magazine, he's wasting Ronnie's time. Who is? Ronnie's holding an awesome 90s Discman mine. And it still works. Ronnie is skeptical, but falls for it when he promises a free bike if he just answers a very time consuming survey. All this is to stall while Jay runs through the house yards like Ferris Bueller. He skirts past a kids party and a pinata, then right into Ronnie's pool house. The bully is still busy with Mike's survey, so Jay returns Camille to his room, then calls Van Dusen to meet at the deli in an hour. But unfortunately the cops were able to trace the call this time. Oh, it seems like part of the plan. Jay says his final goodbye to Camille, the dog he now loves. Because why not? They've been together for a half hour now and everything's been great. As opposed to the three days where the dog destroyed everything. Then bird calls to his brother to end the survey. And once Ronnie to his pool house, he doesn't even notice the dog is back. The cops. And then they show the dog. They cut to the dog eating gummy worms. For some reason, the cops have figured out that the call is coming from inside the house. It's from inside the house. The call. Like a horror movie. Yeah, it's their address. And they deduce it's coming from the pool house. His parents Grandpa and the cops storm his room and they find him sitting near Camille. They all assume Ronnie was behind the dog, napping the whole time, hoping to get money for his New beginning BMX bike. We cut to a new assembly and Jay is giving a speech, this time about how the city needs to be more handicap accessible. Finally giving a reason for Tracy to have been put in the wheelchair because they brought it back to where he's his girlfriend or friend is now kind of his muse. Very nice. And with that, Jay wins the full scholarship, which is apparently stripped from Ronnie because of his cheating. Jay's mom and friends applaud in the audience, and Mike is finally proud of his little brother. Ronnie's grandpa has now taken over the school and informs Jay of his duties at graduation as the student body president. President Ward Van Dusen has become his father in law's receptionist. Eliza arrives with Camille and the dog clings to Jay for a reunion. She announces that the vet has cleared Camille of any psychological issues. She was probably just stressed. Okay, so they'd been medicating this dog for years when it didn't need it. He just needed a walk. And now the dog is gonna have puppies. Yes, that's right. Let's get it on. And one of them is gonna go to Jay. Ward is concerned about his dog allergy, but Eliza says with Ronnie going off to school, he can just move into the pool house. And I'm sure at this point he would love to do that, right? Yikes. Back at the Starkwell Military Academy, Mike is back commanding his troops. All of his soldiers have passed their tests and guess who's joining them? Ronnie Van Dusen. The little jerk is now being bossed around by the fake BMX magazine reporter who got him there in the first place. And that's our movie. We finally switched to T Mobile because with them we can be connected here and there. Dad, the cousins make Mexico have a surprise for you and enjoy the gift of staying connected. Switch and start saving today. Get four Samsung Galaxy S25 phones with Galaxy AI on us and four lines for just 25 bucks per line plus non stop talk, text and data between us and Mexico. Tap the banner to learn more or visit a store. See details@t mobile.com.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

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[Sabrina Bryant]

Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.

[Will Friedle]

Clean the world. We have almost 10,000 hotels that operate our soap and plastic recycling program and we have created and distributed distributed 90 million free bars of soap to children, families, mothers in 127 countries across the globe.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's like magic you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me Jenna for the Ripple Effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.

[Will Friedle]

Best stat of all is that the death rate to children under the age of five dying to hygiene literally related illnesses has decreased by more than 60% since the day we started.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Listen to the Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

Refresh your bathroom with big savings at Lowe's. Reimagine your bathroom with up to 40% off select faucets during our Bath Savings event. Need it today. Order by by 2pm for same day delivery by 8pm Shop for your bathroom refresh at Lowe's. We help you save wall supplies. Last selection varies by location. Same day delivery on eligible in stock items subject to availability fees vary. Visit lowe's.com SameDay Delivery for full terms. Sabrina can you give us our real reviews? You got the five star this week and I'd love to hear who gave this movie five stars.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Somebody who is at least willing to claim it. Our friend Unamid. Unamid's back willing to claim this five star. Just an incredible campy movie about dog stealing Shia LaBeouf plays a hilarious evil rich kid. Taj Maury is essentially the same character as smart guy, but slightly dumber. Five stars.

[Will Friedle]

Five stars. All right, I've got the one star. Now, I don't agree with the one star, but I also don't agree with the five. Five star. But this is from Movie Addict 2016. I don't want to sound like some peace hippie, but the image of a boy being bitten and attacked by a small dog could result in nightmares for children and headaches for the parents. Other than that small fact, this movie is still lousy. I wouldn't recommend it either way. Bad actors, bad dialogue, bad everything.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Why?

[Will Friedle]

I don't agree with that. Some of the dialogue wasn't great. The acting was not bad in this movie, and the cast was incredible.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

We're now coming to Sabrina's favorite portion of our program, and that is our feature presentation. The game this week is called Mix that Dog.

[Sabrina Bryant]

All right.

[Will Friedle]

In the modern era of dog breeding, weirdos have decided to put together different types of dogs to create these scientific experiment mashups that probably never should have made it in the first place. So we'll be given two breeds, and we have to pick from multiple choice options which name these creatures have when they're mashed together. Three out of five wins. Oh, God, here we go. Who are we playing with this week? I'm here. Hey, it's producer Tara. Great. So, number one, we have a Chow Chow. And I assume all these are real, by the way. We have a Chow Chow and a Siberian. And a Siberian husky. Is it A, a sow sau, B, a saibow. See a Chiberian. Or D, achosky.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Ooh, I'm gonna go with D. Choski.

[Will Friedle]

I'm gonna say C Shiberian.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Sabrina's right.

[Will Friedle]

It's D. Wow. Love it.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Wow. I would love to.

[Will Friedle]

One and one. There you go.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I'm gonna make notes so I can look up what these animals look like.

[Will Friedle]

Look like? Good idea.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

Number two, A German shepherd and a pug. Oh, for the love of God. I'd hate to see that mating that poor pug. Oh, God. Is it A, a shug, B, a permanent C, a jermug, or D, a poo guard?

[Sabrina Bryant]

I think I'm gonna go with C germug.

[Will Friedle]

I am 2C Jermug.

[Sabrina Bryant]

The answer is A, a shug. A shug.

[Will Friedle]

Go for two. Okay, and you're one. You're one for two. Three. A coyote and a D dog.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, it's coyote season right now. It's everywhere around.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, they're all around here. Is it a doyote, A, B, a koi dog, C, a cog, or D, a dio? I think it's A, A, a diot, isn't it?

[Sabrina Bryant]

I don't know. I guess I'll go with you then. A, a diot.

[Will Friedle]

You are both wrong.

[Sabrina Bryant]

The answer is B.

[Will Friedle]

Damn it. A koi dog? Really? That's a terrible name. So I'm over three. I've already lost. You need to get the next two right, Sabrina to win. Okay, number four, a mastiff and a great Dane. Is it A, a mane, B, a daniff, C, a great mastiff, or D, a mate ganiff?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Uh.

[Will Friedle]

I don't.

[Sabrina Bryant]

A main.

[Will Friedle]

I'll say that too.

[Sabrina Bryant]

The answer is B.

[Will Friedle]

This is a horrible game. All right, so we both lost, but we'll finish it out. Number five, a greyhound and a pointer. Is it a grayster, a payhound, a hounder, or a grointer? I'm gonna pick D grointer just because I like the sound of it, and I know it's wrong, and I don't care. D. Groit.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I'm gonna go with a. A grayster. Sabrina's right.

[Will Friedle]

It's a. Wow. All right, so you got two out of five.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I got two out of five. Damn it.

[Will Friedle]

That was terrible. Can we do a Sabrina Seas, please?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes. Okay. So there was just some moments that really were. To be honest, these aren't the best Sabrina sees. Just, I guess my kind kind of brain that's working while I'm watching kind of at first wasn't very believable that Jay's brother was this, you know, bad military guy. He's yelling and doing his part when we first see him, but as soon as his. I don't know, Sergeant. I couldn't.

[Will Friedle]

I didn't. The colonel.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Sergeant. General. Colonel Calls him over and. And. And questions him about it. He becomes, like, so whiny. And that just was, like. You would never be like that if you were really trained. There's just no way you'd be that whiny. Like, oh, well, sir, they just. They don't get it. And I was like, whoa. And then he, like, gets back into character of what? His thing. So that was just kind of funny. Oh, okay. The secretary moment. When first we find that this was another thing that I feel like they could have even beefed up more clearly. They were try. They. It seemed like Ronnie probably stole the. The, you know, hall passes. Right.

[Will Friedle]

Right. Yay.

[Sabrina Bryant]

So they kind of. It. He's selling them. But they kind of just like, breezed by it. It was like. And then brought up a little bit later. But these were. This is just like a number of lists of things. Like, even when he got. That was number one with Ronnie. But then it was like later on when he was like, oh, how did you know I lived here? And he's like, oh, you. You get the magazines. And he's like, he didn't really. He's like, oh, I get them up the street. He should have been like, you know what I mean? Like, diving into the fact that this kid is just like a jerk. He steals everything. He's obviously a klepto. Like, there's just things about him that they just, like, let happen but didn't blow it up. Because I think that would have made more reason towards the end of the movie for us to really be happy that Ronnie's the one that got, you know, pinpointed for this. Because other than that, it's kind of like, yeah, he's like a jerk little kid, but now he's in military school.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, right. Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Okay, so. But also with the secretary part, when she got up and her headset was still on, the way she reacted like, oh, I do that all the time.

[Will Friedle]

I do that all the time.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I swear that. That looked like it was an accident that she just, like, went with. Yeah. The way she got up, it was like, oh, I do that all the time. It just like, kind of kept moving. I was like, I would have loved to know if that was a blooper that. That she made.

[Will Friedle]

Yep.

[Sabrina Bryant]

That they just. That she made work. The basket.

[Will Friedle]

The.

[Sabrina Bryant]

These kinds of things with Disney movies I think are funny to watch. As an older, I don't think I would have really 100% noticed his weird basket like that. Like, first of all, boys that age don't have bikes with baskets anymore. But not only that, it wasn't even like a kind of a cool, like, leather or like some kind of a, you know, Indiana Jones vibe. It was like a. Like a packing basket.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Just a basket.

[Sabrina Bryant]

And so that's the kind of stuff I think is funny to like, clock. Because I probably would not have noticed that when I was younger. But like, as like a grown up, you're going, no, like, boys, you know, kids that age, girls are no longer the white woven basket with daisies on either.

[Will Friedle]

The wicker. The wicker basket in the front of the bike. Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryant]

So it was just funny to kind of note, like, that's definitely something that is different now. Rewatching movies or watching them these movies at the same time. The random kiss threw me off again. I just really had a hard time. Because if they would have. That's another thing with the writing. If they would have pulled it in at the end to like, make it, like, now he got his real kiss. He's doing his whole presentation for her and her. Her situation. But no, it just was like a missed thing. The next thing was because of you and Taj. And obviously they didn't know we would be re watching this. But how funny. There's a moment where Ronnie says something, call me or, you know, beat me, fax me, blah, blah.

[Will Friedle]

I would have loved the Kim Possible. They would.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Did the Kim Possible, like, call me, beat me if you want to reach me.

[Will Friedle]

Like two years before Kim Possible, though.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I know, but could you imagine if it was that and he ends up doing Chris like a show with Christie. Like, oh, my God, that would have been too much. I just like, oh, it was such Disney.

[Will Friedle]

Too much Disney.

[Sabrina Bryant]

We didn't say when we saw the cameo from our girlfriend.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, that's right.

[Sabrina Bryant]

We didn't say it. It is when the poster making for everyone that might want to watch this. It's when they're making the posters and he assigns someone to go with the boys to go with them to pass them out. The girl who questions it because those boys didn't even finish any of their posters. We've got our girl right there. She has like one line. Are you kidding me? They haven't even finished their posters. And then we move on. But I totally recognize moment on Disney. You cannot forget her gorgeous, gorgeous face. She's adorable in this movie. She's young, she's fun, she's bright, she's perfect for Disney. That's my last one. Oh, no. Itsy Bitsy Spider. You passed right over it.

[Will Friedle]

What? I said no.

[Sabrina Bryant]

I know, but these little moments, although they were silly, that's when we got to see him do some really funny, just comedic, like, silly stuff. Got him in silly positions. He's falling on the ice. He's doing the singing.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, it's wacky.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's wacky. And for some reason he's singing went up the drain and he sees rolling his Rs in the weirdest way. But to me, it was like this showed him in a wacky, fun comic thing. And like, when you've got such a funny actor, you've got somebody who's just so great giving him a couple scenes. Like this was actually, I thought, golden.

[Will Friedle]

I just Wish it was earned, but yes, he's great. He's always great.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes, that's it.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you so much. We now, of course, come to our part of our program where we have to rate the film we saw. We're doing one out of ten this week.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Okay, just keep it simple.

[Will Friedle]

Ten the most this time and we'll make five in the middle those weeks, you do them.

[Sabrina Bryant]

So I know complicated that are hard.

[Will Friedle]

But here are our possibilities this week. 1 out of 10 DCOM dead dads. Let's not pick that one. 1 out of 10 unusable video game controllers kick pool houses. President Jackie Chans. One out of ten Spanish rice epidemics. One out of ten infected hash browns. Quickly printed bumper stickers. One out of ten backfiring jars of marbles, barks and fangs. One out of ten bags of whole rotisserie chickens. One out of ten Ronnie Diskmans. Or I'm gonna add one out of ten nuzzling gerbils. What would you like to pick? Sabrina, it is up to you. Your pick this week you pick nuzzling gerbils, but that's just up to me. So what, what is your pick gonna be?

[Sabrina Bryant]

We gotta go with nestling.

[Will Friedle]

Yay. I'm so glad you picked nuzzling gerbils. It doesn't make it better. It doesn't make it better when you add the visual. I'm telling you, it doesn't make it better. Better. Yikes.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

I don't remember who rates first. You remember who goes first.

[Sabrina Bryant]

It's my turn.

[Will Friedle]

All right, what do you got?

[Sabrina Bryant]

Oh, man. Okay, so this movie actually was an easier watch than others, I will say. And I know we're not really 100% supposed to compare them to others, but it was, was, it wasn't a movie. I will say there was moments where I was possibly, you know, folding laundry, doing things, watching, but I didn't have to turn it off for me again. And I really put that on how great this cast was. It made it to where for me going to, you know, getting too into the particulars. I was able to, especially because the cast was young. You could tell Shia was so young. You know, Taj, like, you just, you were. I was able to, to recognize and keep my brain in the idea of, like, this was early or Disney. Which means this dcom was geared towards a fourth to sixth grader, right? Like a younger, a younger demo than what I think the dcoms are now. And so I, I, it didn't sit high as well we've been seeing, but it certainly Wasn't as low as we've gone. I mean, when I think of the last time with Taj, we saw Push Poof Point, this was for me a lot better than that. So I gave this one a 6.5 nasaline gerbil.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, that's all right. You know, I'm not too far away from you.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

And the only reason I'm not too far away from you is because of the cast. Yes, the cast is great. The story, a lot of it made absolutely no sense to me. The dog being nice and then being mean and then being nice again. And it turns out it just needed to run around and have sex was weird. A lot of the story just didn't make sense. But again, Taj and then Shia and then you throw in Ed Begley Jr. I mean that's going to sit. Save it to me.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

So I'm giving this one. I will give it because of the cast and the cast alone. I'm going to give it six. Okay. Gerbils. Any other cast, this would have been a two or three to me where. Because the story was just really weird but the cast saved it because they're great. So yeah, very excited. But let's see what our next movie is going to do. Our next movie is a cult classic and just in time for her return to music and the opening in a mom franchise friend group. We've got Hilary Duff in Cadet Kelly. It also stars my good friend Christy Carlson Romano. So this is going to be a fun one. It is streaming right now on Disney. So if you're the type who does their homework a week before it's due, then get on it. But before that, guys. Ooh, we have a really special Park Hopper episode for you. We interviewed our first ever actor who sat in the Dabney Reynolds chair. Yes. We classed this place up with actor and activist six time Emmy nominees nominee, the legendary Ed Begley Jr. I swear to God that's this is real. And with all the history on his resume, we somehow decided to talk to him about Hounded. So let's get a little preview of what to expect. Being in Salt Lake was fun. I've been there before and I loved working on the movie and the script was charming and funny and it's quirky and we enjoyed it, you know, we enjoyed every minute of it. And I had my daughter with me at that point. Point. Very young daughter. She's about two or something. So her and a little pink parka walking around and running around Salt Lake and the snow was great. We don't get any snow in la. So she was in heaven was such an awesome conversation. Yep. Still can't believe he came on the show. You don't want to miss this one, so make sure you are subscribed to the dedicated Magical Rewind feed so it ends up in your library the moment it's released. And for more info you can follow us at. Magical Rewind Pod, which is on the Instagram machine, which is on your telephonic device right there in your pocket. It you can do that now. Thanks everybody.

[Sabrina Bryant]

Bye bye. At cvs, it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it. It matters that we're here for you when you need to us, day or night, and we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded. It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and yeah, healthy snack. At cvs, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So Visit [e-mail] or just come by our store. We can't wait to meet you. Store out hours vary by location With.

[Will Friedle]

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[Sabrina Bryant]

Intuit QuickBooks feature availability varies by product this is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.