‘It’s Complicated’ With Bill Simmons, Amanda Dobbins, and Mina Kimes - The Rewatchables

Summary4 min read

Episode Summary: "It's Complicated" with Bill Simmons, Amanda Dobbins, and Mina Kimes

In this engaging episode of The Rewatchables, host Bill Simmons is joined by Amanda Dobbins and Mina Kimes to delve deep into Nancy Meyers' acclaimed romantic comedy, It's Complicated. Released in 2009, this film has long been a favorite for rewatching, and the trio explores its enduring appeal, dissecting various aspects that make it a quintessential rewatchable movie.

Nancy Meyers: The Quintessential Auteur

Amanda Dobbins kickstarts the conversation by praising Nancy Meyers as a definitive auteur in the realm of romantic comedies. She articulates, “If we're going to call Michael Bay an auteur... then Nancy Meyer is 1000%” ([03:27]). Amanda highlights Meyers' distinctive visual style—characterized by open floor plans, high ceilings, and meticulously designed interiors—as well as her knack for crafting well-rounded, complex adult characters. Mina Kimes adds, “Every single one of her movies is a rewatchable to me” ([04:36]), underscoring the consistency and quality of Meyers' filmography.

Deep Dive into "It's Complicated"

The heart of the episode revolves around It's Complicated, where the hosts dissect the film's narrative, characters, and cinematic elements. They commend the film's ability to balance humor with emotional depth, making it relatable yet entertaining. Bill Simmons remarks, “It's a really smart movie” ([31:05]), appreciating how Nancy Meyers introduces characters and plot points efficiently within the first six minutes.

Visual and Setting Analysis:
A significant portion of the discussion centers on the movie's setting in Santa Barbara, California. The trio debates the film's portrayal of the locale, noting its almost utopian depiction versus the often foggy reality of Santa Barbara. Bill points out, “She makes California seem like the best version of California in all her movies” ([10:09]), while Amanda shares a personal anecdote about visiting the actual location, finding discrepancies between the film and real life.

Character Dynamics and Performances:
Meryl Streep's portrayal of Jane, a divorced baker, is lauded for its complexity and charm. Amanda states, “Charming” ([23:08]) in reference to Alec Baldwin's character, who she believes steals the show with his charismatic and humorous performance. Mina Kimes echoes this sentiment, saying, “He is incredible” ([24:14]), highlighting the chemistry between Streep and Baldwin as a cornerstone of the film's success.

Favorite Scenes and Memorable Moments

The hosts share their favorite moments from the movie, each bringing unique perspectives:

Amanda Dobbins: "Probably the croissants are the single most... [28:19]" praises the film's culinary elements, particularly the iconic croque monsieur scene.
Bill Simmons: Highlights the opening anniversary party, noting, “She does a good job of introducing all the characters in like six minutes” ([31:07]).
Mina Kimes: Enjoys the dinner at the bar leading into the affair scene, appreciating the blend of humor and emotional tension ([35:08]).

Critiques and Nitpicks

While the film is celebrated, the hosts don’t shy away from pointing out its flaws:

Unrealistic Elements: They critique the portrayal of divorced children who seem overly mature and unaffected, which Mina Kimes finds “confusing” ([56:06]).
Recasting Discussions: Amanda and Mina engage in a lively debate about potential recasting for Alec Baldwin's role, pondering whether stars like Sam Shepard or Michael Douglas could have brought different dynamics to the character ([52:22]).
Set Design Realism: Bill Simmons questions the film's depiction of the kitchen's functionality, noting, “How do you keep the dust off?” when it comes to open shelves in Nancy Meyers' aesthetic ([14:37]).

Life Lessons and Categories

Transitioning into their unique podcast tradition, the hosts create categories inspired by the movie:

Best Use of Food: Amanda awards the croque monsieur scene for its delectable portrayal of food that enhances the narrative ([45:43]).
Best Character Name: They humorously consider names like Pedro and Agnes Adler, reflecting on how names contribute to character development ([48:50]).
Best Life Lesson: A poignant discussion emerges around the ethics of having an affair with an ex-spouse, concluding that such actions can be acceptable under specific circumstances, aligning with the film's themes ([100:43]).

Conclusion: Enduring Appeal and Final Thoughts

Wrapping up the episode, the trio reflects on why It's Complicated remains a beloved film. They attribute its rewatchability to Meyers' masterful blend of aesthetics, character development, and relatable storytelling. Bill Simmons muses, “This movie hits the most age ranges of all the Nancy Meyers other than Father of the Bride” ([56:06]), emphasizing its broad appeal across different demographics.

Mina Kimes encapsulates the essence by stating, “Nancy Meyer's movies in general, but this movie being an example, are proof that old people should be in more stuff” ([65:28]), advocating for more films that center around older protagonists.

Notable Quotes:

Amanda Dobbins: “If we're going to call Michael Bay an auteur... then Nancy Meyer is 1000%.” ([03:27])
Bill Simmons: “She makes California seem like the best version of California in all her movies.” ([10:09])
Mina Kimes: “Every single one of her movies is a rewatchable to me.” ([04:36])
Amanda Dobbins: “Probably the croissants are the single most...” ([28:19])
Bill Simmons: “This movie hits the most age ranges of all the Nancy Meyers other than Father of the Bride.” ([56:06])

This episode offers a comprehensive and insightful exploration of It's Complicated, making it a valuable listen for both fans of Nancy Meyers and those interested in the nuances that make a film truly rewatchable.

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Transcript1,498 lines

[00:00]
Bill Simmons
This episode is brought to you by Netflix's Happy Giltmore 2. We're back. Thirty years ago, he decided to give golf a try. Now he's ready for the happiest comeback of all time. Adam Sandler's beloved golf legend returns to the green for another swing at glory. Just remember, it's all in the hips. Also starring Ben Stiller. I like him. Julie Bowen. Like her. And Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. Happy Gilmore, too. Only on Netflix July 25th. The Rewatchables is brought to you by the Ringer podcast network where you can find the big picture with Amanda Dobbins.
[00:34]
Amanda Dobbins
That's right.
[00:35]
Bill Simmons
You can't find Mina Kimes because she. She works for espn, does football.
[00:39]
Mina Kimes
You might came here.
[00:41]
Bill Simmons
She coordinated stripes with Amanda.
[00:43]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes. We actually did text about our outfits this morning, but we didn't name the pattern that we were wearing.
[00:50]
Mina Kimes
And so I changed because I felt like it was too on the nose to wear all white.
[00:55]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay.
[00:56]
Mina Kimes
Since we're doing a Nancy Meyers movie and, you know, white part party is, like, not a good thing right now. So I changed. So I changed. Literally. I was wearing a white shirt over this, and I changed. And of course. And now here we are twinning.
[01:08]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[01:09]
Bill Simmons
Did he scared off outfits like. Jesus. You did a football show earlier today. The NFL Live.
[01:15]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[01:15]
Bill Simmons
And now we're tackling. It's complicated. Just an elite movie. Nancy Myers. Let's do it. We're gonna play the trailer and we'll go. Jane and Jake used to be married until he cheated with Agnes. Now they're married, but he still has feelings for Jane.
[01:29]
Amanda Dobbins
I've really known how to live without you.
[01:32]
Mina Kimes
You're not. Turns out I'm a bit of a slush.
[01:35]
Amanda Dobbins
This is wrong.
[01:36]
Bill Simmons
I like that you stopped getting bikini waxes.
[01:39]
Amanda Dobbins
So wrong.
[01:40]
Bill Simmons
And just when it couldn't get any more complicated, you brought me a gift.
[01:44]
Amanda Dobbins
Babe, I thought that would.
[01:45]
Bill Simmons
It did.
[01:46]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, I'm sorry.
[01:47]
Bill Simmons
I'm not. It's complicated. Omg. I thought he'd never leave. This film is not getting rated. This episode of the Rewatchable is presented by Holiday Inn by ihg. It's a new day for a new stay at Holiday Inn for business travelers. Do you count as a business traveler, Sean?
[02:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Sure. Sometimes.
[02:02]
Bill Simmons
Okay. With modern spaces for meeting and working, plus delicious dining for breakfast, happy hour. Do you eat breakfast, Sean? I do.
[02:08]
Amanda Dobbins
I had an apple and a breakfast bar this morning.
[02:11]
Bill Simmons
Oh, interesting. I don't need any breakfast, but I do love happy hour and dinner. They have that too. You have everything you need to get your work done, give your everyday business travel and upgrade. Book your next business trip at Holiday Inn by IHG. Visit holiday inn.com to book your stay. All right, the goat. Nancy Myers.
[02:42]
Amanda Dobbins
Absolutely love it.
[02:44]
Bill Simmons
You go first, then we'll go to Mina. We've. We've done Nancy Myers before on the pod, but come on.
[02:49]
Amanda Dobbins
We have, but I don't know whether I fully articulated my Nancy Myers auteur theory on that. Rewatchable. So. So if we're going to call Michael Bay an auteur, if we're going to call, you know, any, any of the genre or like big budget filmmakers with specific style auteurs, then Nancy Meyer is 1000%. It like a recognizable visual style themes that she returns to with some of the greatest actors in the world, made a ton of money and a huge influence, like certainly in movies. And you can watch all the bad Netflix, Netflix ripoffs of her, like, all the time. But also, you know, design like Airbnb. Lots of companies owe Nancy Myers, like a really big check and have been selling like the Nancy Myers esthetic for a very, very long time. So I'm a huge fan. And this is, if not the best of her movies, my favorite of her movies, really.
[03:44]
Mina Kimes
Maybe my starting up high.
[03:45]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[03:46]
Mina Kimes
Ooh, it's over. Something's got to give.
[03:49]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, that's the best.
[03:50]
Mina Kimes
Yes, that is.
[03:51]
Amanda Dobbins
It's the best. And that is where, like the auto 3, like fully comes through because that movie makes over $100 million. Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and like, and Keanu Reeves. Forgive me for not saying Keanu Reeves sooner, but I don't know. You know, I realized, Bill, also when we were watching this and thinking about talking with you, this is a divorce movie and a divorced kids movie. So maybe that's a little bit where I have a soft spot. I do as well.
[04:19]
Bill Simmons
Are you a COD or not?
[04:20]
Mina Kimes
I am not a cod.
[04:21]
Bill Simmons
All right, so we'll take that part. Yeah, your Nancy Meyer's thoughts, because you have not been on a Nancy Meyer's rewatchables yet.
[04:28]
Mina Kimes
Every single one of her movies is a rewatchable to me. So I'll start off there. I don't know how many of you guys have done. You've done Holiday. I know. Yes, they're all rewatchable because the only.
[04:36]
Bill Simmons
One we haven't done is Something's Gotta.
[04:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Get and the Intern. And then. And then also, if you're counting, if you count the ones that she wrote. Yeah, baby boom.
[04:45]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, we're talking about irreconcilable differences, which is not available anywhere.
[04:49]
Amanda Dobbins
Bill and I did Father of the Bride and we both cried.
[04:52]
Craig Horlbeck
We didn't do Parent Trap.
[04:53]
Amanda Dobbins
That's true. Oh, Parent Trap. Very important to Craig's generation. And a classic.
[04:59]
Mina Kimes
The Cod movie. Yes.
[05:00]
Bill Simmons
Right.
[05:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[05:02]
Mina Kimes
I agree with pretty much everything Amanda said. I like how you defined her. Why she is an auteur. Because I feel like it's a genre movie. All of our movies are genre movies. But elevated. Right. They're comfort food both visually and the plot points and the characters and all that. But they're better than your usual rom com fare because of the performances she gets out of her actors and then they defy conventions in a lot of ways. So I love every single one of them.
[05:27]
Bill Simmons
And the actors who want to be in her movies.
[05:30]
Amanda Dobbins
Totally.
[05:31]
Bill Simmons
She gets a higher class.
[05:33]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[05:33]
Bill Simmons
She gets the best Baldwin. Probably the best movie performance he's done this century.
[05:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Absolutely.
[05:38]
Bill Simmons
He had some good ones in the 90s. I. What I like about her, why I said the goat is. I just think she's a one on one. Nobody's in this universe, like, she's going to die. And nobody's like, oh, that's the new Nancy Myers. And I don't know what it is, like the real estate, which we're gonna talk about a lot, but some sort of eye she has on how the movie should look and then the fact that she has these complicated, well thought out, well structured adults that you don't get to see in movies. Usually they're just in some sort of lane or it's like, oh, I know that person.
[06:09]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[06:10]
Bill Simmons
The Meryl Streep character in this movie is really interesting. There's a lot going on and you feel like you've been. By the time the movie's over, you feel like you know her and she's like, oh, she's in a better place now. Oh, she, she, she doesn't need to be with Jake anymore. She should be like, she's grown past this.
[06:25]
Amanda Dobbins
But you want to argue with her in the moment and you're like, no, why are you doing this?
[06:28]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, you gotta spark with Jake.
[06:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Or there's some decisions she does or doesn't make during the course of the movie that I think about regularly, including the brow lift, you know, so. And the. So it's. She's. She's going through it and you go through it with her. I'm not getting a brow lift. But every time I, Every time I think about, like, should I do something to my face? I think about that scene. And it's complicated. And that. And the plastic surgeon being like, we will staple skill back this way. And then you'll have a headache for three to six months. And I'm like, no, I'm not doing it.
[06:57]
Bill Simmons
So she writes Private Benjamin, reconcile the differences. Baby boom. Father of the Bride.
[07:02]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[07:03]
Bill Simmons
I love Trouble. A movie that I feel like, with different actors might have worked like a good example of, like, Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts together. No, thank you.
[07:10]
Mina Kimes
Do they hate each other? I feel like there's. That they hated each other and they're behind the scenes.
[07:14]
Bill Simmons
They hated each other's.
[07:15]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, behind the scenes. And then on their. Like, are they rivals or ex. They work for newspaper.
[07:21]
Bill Simmons
Newspaper rivals. By the way, dated. I don't even know what that would be now. But yeah, just. It was one of those that I think with different people maybe works. Father of the Bride, too. Parent Trap directs. What Woman Want. How do we feel about that movie now?
[07:36]
Amanda Dobbins
I will be honest. I rewatched it a few years ago and, like, if you. If you put everything you know about Mel Gibson in a. In a. In a locked box, which maybe also. Maybe also you have to do with Alec Baldwin for this movie. But anyway, he is very charming in it. And it is kind of funny. It's like, obviously a little retrograde, but it did well. Yeah.
[07:57]
Mina Kimes
They mostly do well. Right? I mean, like, this is. She's constantly underestimated. We'll get into that, I'm sure, when we talk about the criticism of it, both as an artist and when it comes to the box office. Over and over again, year after year with her. And they're all bangers. I would say what Women Want is kind of low on my power rankings, personally, if I were to do a final rankings. But it's still a good movie.
[08:17]
Bill Simmons
Something's gotta give. The holiday. It's complicated. The Intern.
[08:20]
Mina Kimes
All in a row, heat.
[08:21]
Bill Simmons
And she's. She after. It's Complicated. Doesn't really do anything for six years.
[08:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[08:26]
Bill Simmons
You know, it's getting. Getting up there in age. Maybe. Maybe only want to do really great ideas. I don't know.
[08:32]
Amanda Dobbins
And then the intern is 2015 at this. So it's been 10 years. She wanted to make a movie.
[08:37]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[08:38]
Amanda Dobbins
But they.
[08:39]
Mina Kimes
Yeah, yeah.
[08:40]
Amanda Dobbins
Well. And I think Warner Brothers, but they couldn't agree on a budget. And many people were saying that Nancy wanted to spend too much on her movie. To which I say, give Nancy all.
[08:50]
Bill Simmons
The money that she needs.
[08:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Let Nancy cook. We let everyone else cook. This stuff costs money.
[08:55]
Bill Simmons
Maybe she wanted like a $200 million.
[08:57]
Amanda Dobbins
I think it was actually like 180. Was like the budget of the whole movie. So that was a lot.
[09:01]
Bill Simmons
Well, it's funny that in the era of streamers overpaying for stuff that people.
[09:04]
Mina Kimes
Were like, whoa, yeah, too far, too far.
[09:07]
Bill Simmons
Going too far.
[09:08]
Mina Kimes
But when you go back to the beginning of her career, it was like the same thing. Ah, who's going to see this movie with just a woman as the lead? Goldie Hawn. Do women even go to. Yeah, turns out without women going like literally flux to see her movies.
[09:19]
Bill Simmons
Well, I mean, there's a. We'll talk about the Meryl Streep part, but there's a whole Nancy Meyers real estate. I don't know if you've done this deep dive.
[09:27]
Mina Kimes
I'm excited.
[09:28]
Bill Simmons
It's a cottage industry of people writing long think pieces about Nancy Myers.
[09:32]
Amanda Dobbins
You know, everybody's gotta make a living.
[09:36]
Bill Simmons
Here's what I think, the common themes. I did a lot of research. Big giant rooms with high ceilings. Of course, she loves the high ceilings. Like, it's like a lot of space.
[09:44]
Amanda Dobbins
Like a great room or just kind of.
[09:47]
Bill Simmons
If you can see another room behind the room we're looking at. Yeah, home run for her. Like if you can see the kitchen behind like the big casual living room.
[09:55]
Amanda Dobbins
She's so open floor plans.
[09:57]
Bill Simmons
She likes open floors. She. She likes when it looks lived in. There's knickknacks everywhere. There's like a mat. I don't even imagine how many. She must just be in the set for like a week. Just putting, I think so little weird knickknacks down. Neutral paint colors for the most part. Doesn't go crazy. No. Like aqua kitchens.
[10:15]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[10:16]
Bill Simmons
A lot of wood. She likes wood. She likes oak. Like big antique kind of. You can see you found it in some yard sale. And then the kitchens.
[10:27]
Mina Kimes
The kitchens.
[10:28]
Bill Simmons
Every time there's a kitchen in Nancy Myers movie, my wife is like, that kitchen is just. I just can't believe. And this one has maybe the best one of all of them.
[10:38]
Amanda Dobbins
It's true though. The irony of it is that she. The plot engine of the movie is that she wants to renovate it. And I. For many years I had it in a nitpick.
[10:47]
Bill Simmons
Cause it's a great kitchen.
[10:48]
Craig Horlbeck
Expand, expand.
[10:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. She wants to expand it. And for many years I've been like, it's perfect. I will say rewatching it again to defend that take. Like some of the storage, like things are crammed in. You know what I'm saying she can't really move the way that she wants to. She probably has more stuff and less places to put the stuff. So now I do understand why she wants a bigger kitchen.
[11:12]
Bill Simmons
Nice little table in the middle for her kids to sit at.
[11:14]
Amanda Dobbins
I like that part.
[11:15]
Bill Simmons
The high, high island deck she wants.
[11:18]
Mina Kimes
Kind of the engine of the movie is her redesigning this kitchen, which she wants, she says, four walls, its own room, which is very outdated because the format they use in the movie, though.
[11:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Is that, what about, is that standing in for what the character wants at the beginning? She thinks she wants four walls closed off. And then she needs to learn to let love in. See. See what we did, Mina?
[11:40]
Mina Kimes
Yeah, I mean, I, I like her house as it is her $10 million house that a bakery owner could actually.
[11:47]
Amanda Dobbins
Like a dream, dream house for me.
[11:49]
Bill Simmons
She makes California seem like the best version of California in all her movies too. Like she's, it's supposed to be like Santa Barbara, right?
[11:57]
Mina Kimes
And it's Santa Barbara.
[11:58]
Bill Simmons
Sun's out all the time. There's no morning haze in the, in this version of Santa Barbara, she's jogging.
[12:05]
Amanda Dobbins
At 8:30, forgets her meeting.
[12:06]
Bill Simmons
Super sunny.
[12:08]
Mina Kimes
Does it bother you at all that she lives in the house of like a Hollywood studio owner and she is the bakery owner in Santa Barbara? Like, the house has a courtyard. The garden is like, are you. Because, well, she got divorced.
[12:22]
Bill Simmons
Right, Right.
[12:22]
Mina Kimes
She got divorced.
[12:24]
Amanda Dobbins
A rich lawyer, but he didn't make partner until after their divorce.
[12:27]
Bill Simmons
Oh, interesting.
[12:28]
Amanda Dobbins
Because he says in that speech, he's like, you finally made, you know, I made partner. You have your bakery, like we made partner where we're supposed to be. Now, I do think that's a little late in the chronology because he's 58 and so he's probably making partner by 45. Even I know big law has its issues.
[12:44]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[12:45]
Amanda Dobbins
So, but you know, listen, I have lawyer parents, but he is making some money. So, you know, this is part of.
[12:54]
Bill Simmons
Movies and TV shows. Everybody's house and apartment is way nicer.
[12:57]
Amanda Dobbins
Listen, that bakery should be making a lot of money. Maybe in 2009 it was packed. It is packed. But they're only charging 650 a bag for granola. Now that granola would be definitely $22.
[13:11]
Bill Simmons
Right.
[13:11]
Amanda Dobbins
You walk in it and it's like Jones on third esque.
[13:14]
Mina Kimes
So it's, they probably shot it in the Prospect park boathouse. The bakery is not la, which kind of blew my mind. But I, I, the reason I asked that question is it came up in a lot of the reviews, we were like, this is so unrealistic. A woman like, you know, the business owner would never be able to afford. And it's. You know, and I thought, yeah, and John wick can't kill 20 people in two minutes. But it's the same part of your brain. It's just a different version of it. To your point, comparing to Michael Bay.
[13:41]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[13:41]
Mina Kimes
Shut it off.
[13:42]
Bill Simmons
It's funny, I was thinking the opposite. I was thinking how if they made this movie like 15 years later, she would be like a borderline billionaire.
[13:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[13:50]
Bill Simmons
She would have like this incredible social media and she would be a franchise and be sending her desserts out.
[13:58]
Amanda Dobbins
So, like, maybe they haven't franchised it out yet.
[14:01]
Bill Simmons
You know, that's the remake.
[14:02]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. There are multiple Jones on thirds now. So who's.
[14:04]
Bill Simmons
Who's starring in the remake when they do that? When it's basically, it's complicated again. But now she's.
[14:09]
Amanda Dobbins
But now I'm like an Instagram.
[14:12]
Mina Kimes
Dakota Johnson.
[14:14]
Bill Simmons
Silverton crossed with whoever. Yeah. Maybe it's Dakota Johnson. She's back. So this house, Spanish style ranch.
[14:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[14:23]
Bill Simmons
Soft white kitchen.
[14:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[14:26]
Bill Simmons
Just a lot of dishes. That's another Nancy Myers thing.
[14:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Sure. Can we talk about open shelving? Yeah, I. It's. It's one of my big issues with the Nancy Myers aesthetic in general. And otherwise.
[14:38]
Bill Simmons
She thinks it looks good, but I.
[14:40]
Amanda Dobbins
Guess it looks good in movies.
[14:42]
Bill Simmons
That's what I mean.
[14:42]
Amanda Dobbins
But it's. I. It's an epidemic in real life, you know, and it's just. It's so hard to maintain. You got to keep everything just. So what if you're actually using your dishes? How do you keep the dust off?
[14:52]
Bill Simmons
You don't have to worry about that in a movie, though.
[14:53]
Amanda Dobbins
I know, I know that's true. But I think that it's one of these things where we've set unrealistic.
[14:57]
Bill Simmons
Mina's like, what did I get into? I was talking about the Green Bay packers backup quarterbacks.
[15:02]
Mina Kimes
Okay. So I've been to both of your houses. Yeah, I was trying to. I was like. Actually, Bill's house, I feel like, has a little bit. Just compliments to your wife. There is a little bit of a Nancy Myers vibe to the interior.
[15:13]
Amanda Dobbins
Lovely way.
[15:14]
Mina Kimes
Yeah, it really is for you. I feel like the palette, maybe the neutrals is very. But you do like a tidier. Less.
[15:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, I just shabby chic look. I mean, I wish I liked a tidier thing. Here's the issue is that I don't like. We just have too much stuff. You Know, but the open shelves, there's nowhere to put it.
[15:34]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[15:34]
Amanda Dobbins
So it's stressful.
[15:36]
Bill Simmons
Front porch is always good. There's always a portrait.
[15:38]
Mina Kimes
I mean, the courtyard.
[15:39]
Amanda Dobbins
The courtyard.
[15:41]
Bill Simmons
Got a nice little view of the ocean.
[15:42]
Amanda Dobbins
The garden is insane.
[15:44]
Bill Simmons
Really nice house. I. I personally think there would be people there all the time working on that garden.
[15:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, of course.
[15:50]
Bill Simmons
That's like a. Five days a week. People trying to keep that, like, the.
[15:53]
Amanda Dobbins
Size of those tomatoes.
[15:55]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, there's just. Yeah, there's just too much. And probably some coyotes.
[15:58]
Mina Kimes
Maybe her chicken.
[15:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, I was gonna say there's like, no netting. There's no acknowled acknowledgment of wildlife, which are, you know, if you've tried to grow tomatoes, as I have, it didn't. Didn't last very long.
[16:07]
Mina Kimes
Why not her children? Because they appear to not have jobs or do anything other than just hang around Meryl Streep's house.
[16:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[16:13]
Bill Simmons
Oh, I can't wait to go into the children's.
[16:15]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, my.
[16:16]
Mina Kimes
But this is a trope. This is another Nancy Myers trope, which is these, like, children of.
[16:20]
Amanda Dobbins
Right. Excuse me. Amanda Pete was a very, very high profile auctioneer at Christie's and. Or Sotheby's. Okay. She's 28 years old and is just like, auctioning off millions of dollars of art.
[16:31]
Bill Simmons
But she had children in real life, right?
[16:32]
Amanda Dobbins
Amanda Pete during.
[16:33]
Bill Simmons
No. Nancy Myers.
[16:35]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, yeah. Oh.
[16:37]
Bill Simmons
The children in the movies do not resemble adult children that people have.
[16:41]
Amanda Dobbins
No, it's true.
[16:42]
Bill Simmons
Which. It's like her fantasy of what adult children would be for a divorced couple. And this is how they would act.
[16:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Just around.
[16:48]
Bill Simmons
They're all gonna climb in bed together and just be ready to talk to mom.
[16:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[16:52]
Bill Simmons
One of them's like 28.
[16:53]
Amanda Dobbins
That's true.
[16:55]
Bill Simmons
Meryl Streep.
[16:56]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes.
[16:58]
Bill Simmons
The actual goat.
[17:00]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes.
[17:02]
Bill Simmons
Like the best actor of all time.
[17:04]
Mina Kimes
Where do you even begin? Right.
[17:06]
Bill Simmons
I wrote a column, I think, for Espin. The magazine must have been like 08 or 09, where I figured out some scoring system for actors and actresses based on Oscar nominations and whatever. And even then, she had the highest score by far. And now she's had, I don't know, six, seven more nominations. Like. But this is a really interesting stretch of her career where it feels like she's moving maybe on the back nine of something. Like, it's. She's hitting her mid late 50s maybe. Maybe time for the new generation to come in. She rips off Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia. Doubt. Julia. Julia. It's Complicated. The Iron lady from 06 to 11, four Oscar nominations and one for Iron Lady. It was honestly like Brady.
[17:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[17:51]
Bill Simmons
Just not. It was like Brady. Second three Super Bowls and Tampa.
[17:56]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[17:57]
Bill Simmons
Just ripping them off.
[17:58]
Amanda Dobbins
I was there because he lost one to the Phillies. I mean, to the Eagles. Sorry. Yeah, I know, right City.
[18:03]
Bill Simmons
I know. It's a big thing for all the Philly people.
[18:05]
Amanda Dobbins
You lop off Iron lady and that's one of like the great film runs in history, in my opinion. From Devil Wears Prada to six years. Complicated. I know, but like inter.
[18:15]
Bill Simmons
It's just like that six year run is better than most actor. Any run they've ever had where you have commercial movies, Oscar movies, Oscar performances.
[18:23]
Mina Kimes
And I feel like emblematic of like when you try to describe what makes Meryl Streep so great, which is really challenging to do succinctly. Those movies, there's no, like, clear through line. They're all. The characters are all so different. Her performances are so different. And that to me is her defining quality as an actress, which is she has played literally every type of character in every possible way. And this character is, I would say, and it's complicated. Unlike even including some of the romantic comedies, unlike any other character she's ever played.
[18:53]
Bill Simmons
She is the Saturday Night Live sketch when they pretend to be Meryl. When, like Chloe Feynman's pretending to be Meryl Streep. That's who she is.
[19:01]
Mina Kimes
She's like amused.
[19:01]
Bill Simmons
She's laughing at every joke. She's just happy. And then Devil Wears Prada doesn't crack a smile for two hours.
[19:09]
Amanda Dobbins
Doesn't raise her voice. Like, you know, everything at a whisper.
[19:13]
Bill Simmons
What's your number one Meryl Streep performance ever? I mean, you can get artsy fartsy with this if you want to.
[19:18]
Amanda Dobbins
I mean, the most important to me is absolutely. Devil Wears Prada.
[19:21]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[19:22]
Amanda Dobbins
And like. And I. And I think about Miranda Priestly all the time.
[19:24]
Bill Simmons
Do you think she thinks that she's probably, like, how the fuck do they not think this is Sophie's Choice?
[19:28]
Amanda Dobbins
She's making another one. But no, I don't, you know, another Devil Wears Prada.
[19:31]
Bill Simmons
No, I know because I actually think it's her. It's probably her most enduring performance, as weird as that sounds. Cause she's won three Oscars and been nominated like over 20 times. But I think Devil Wears Prada will live on 50 years from now and be the first movie people think of her in, which is kind of crazy.
[19:49]
Mina Kimes
Do you think that's the first one?
[19:51]
Bill Simmons
I mean, I kind of do.
[19:52]
Amanda Dobbins
What else.
[19:53]
Bill Simmons
But I'm not talking about like, how great a performance.
[19:56]
Mina Kimes
No, no.
[19:56]
Bill Simmons
I hear what's on tv, what's memorable. Like, when your kids get older, at some point, they rewatch that movie.
[20:03]
Mina Kimes
It's the most rewatchable, I would argue, in any of our movies. It's one of the most rewatchable movies of all time.
[20:08]
Bill Simmons
It's in the running for most rewatchable 21st century.
[20:11]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, I. How do you feel about them making a second one?
[20:15]
Bill Simmons
I'm. I'm. I'm actually. I'm excited for it.
[20:17]
Amanda Dobbins
So am I. I, like, my heart's open and everyone's coming back.
[20:20]
Mina Kimes
Everybody's coming back.
[20:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Except for Adrian Grenier.
[20:22]
Mina Kimes
That's fine.
[20:23]
Bill Simmons
So he needs to come back.
[20:25]
Amanda Dobbins
No, he's. He's in Boston. He's been making French fries.
[20:28]
Bill Simmons
He's come back. He's.
[20:29]
Amanda Dobbins
He's fine.
[20:30]
Bill Simmons
He's figured out a new grilled cheese recipe even though he's been cheated on 28 times.
[20:36]
Mina Kimes
All time. Pointless male romantic comedy roles.
[20:39]
Amanda Dobbins
This is a real loser.
[20:40]
Bill Simmons
It was really. When they flipped the tables on that part, and it was like, what if a guy just had the shittiest part in the movie by far. Anyways, this was a crazy run for her, and I was like, I wonder if this is the best run of her career. And then you go back and there's this, like, Sophie's Choice, French Lieutenants, woman out of Africa, Silkwood.
[20:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[21:00]
Bill Simmons
She basically gets nominated for the Oscar every year for like, seven, eight straight years.
[21:05]
Amanda Dobbins
So it's not also Deer Hunter, Manhattan. Kramer versus Kramer.
[21:09]
Bill Simmons
That was her best supporting actor run.
[21:10]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's.
[21:12]
Bill Simmons
I still think Kramer versus Kramer, I think, is my favorite performance of hers, other than. Other than double.
[21:19]
Mina Kimes
I have a take sort of related to that movie for one of my categories. I'm going to save.
[21:24]
Bill Simmons
And then Alec Baldwin.
[21:26]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[21:26]
Bill Simmons
Who in the 2000s.
[21:27]
Amanda Dobbins
Talk about it.
[21:29]
Bill Simmons
Transitions into becoming a really, really funny actor. He's an incredible SNL guest host. He's in Along Came Paulie. He's really funny. He's funny in the Departed. He's excellent in this. Does 30 rock.
[21:45]
Amanda Dobbins
Right. And this is at the. This is the same time 30 Rock's happening.
[21:48]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[21:48]
Bill Simmons
And he's kind of like an a lister again, like, in a real way.
[21:53]
Mina Kimes
Are you guys 30 rock people?
[21:54]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I never was.
[21:56]
Mina Kimes
Okay. But you've seen. You're familiar with.
[21:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[21:59]
Mina Kimes
Is he just playing Jack Donaghy in this movie?
[22:01]
Craig Horlbeck
Pretty much.
[22:02]
Mina Kimes
I just wanted to and it's not a bad thing. He. I would argue he almost runs away with this movie. He is incredibly funny. We're getting to. But he is basically just playing.
[22:12]
Amanda Dobbins
I think of it softer.
[22:13]
Craig Horlbeck
Softer Jack.
[22:14]
Mina Kimes
Like a more likable.
[22:15]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, it's like I think of this Alec baldwin as. There's 80s, there's working girl Alec Baldwin. Speaking of, you know, rewatchables. And then. And he's handsome and Are we doing.
[22:28]
Bill Simmons
The faces of Alec Baldwin?
[22:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Well, that's.
[22:30]
Bill Simmons
Cause don't forget about malice. Alec Baldwin.
[22:32]
Amanda Dobbins
Sure. Right where he's. I guess I like malice getaway.
[22:35]
Bill Simmons
Like lady man. Kind of a dirtbag. Or the edge.
[22:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[22:38]
Bill Simmons
But his nice run with those.
[22:39]
Amanda Dobbins
He reinvents himself. And in my head he's like half Jack Donaghy and half Jake from It's Complicated. But they are all just kind of rich, charming blowhards with, you know, various degrees of connection to the world, but.
[22:54]
Bill Simmons
A little bit irresistible. At least that's totally in the movies.
[22:57]
Amanda Dobbins
Totally.
[22:57]
Bill Simmons
I don't know if you two would have found the marriage.
[22:59]
Mina Kimes
He's way more. He's. We'll like.
[23:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, we'll get there.
[23:03]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. In this movie they're extremely like electric together.
[23:08]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[23:09]
Bill Simmons
I've always liked him in movies and TV shows for a long, long time. And I think his run actually exceeded how long it probably should have gone. Like he had a 30 plus year run even into the 2000 and 20s until all the recent stuff. Pretty long run compared to some of his contemporaries. You look at the people he's competing against in like 87, 88, 89, all those people are gone.
[23:34]
Amanda Dobbins
That's true.
[23:34]
Bill Simmons
And he hung around three plus decades, but I think he's so funny in this movie.
[23:39]
Amanda Dobbins
He's amazing.
[23:40]
Bill Simmons
I don't. I don't even know who else would have played that part. Well, I don't know who you could have put in.
[23:46]
Mina Kimes
She has talked about like, pick an actor. How she really does write her characters with actors in mind. And she did that for. She's talked about it with Jack Nicholson who she was like, I can't believe I got him to do this. And I have to think she wrote this role for Alec Baldwin. Like it is so specific to him.
[24:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. And his abilities and his like physical comedy and like being the home sweet.
[24:09]
Bill Simmons
Home is so fucking funny.
[24:10]
Mina Kimes
My favorite part of the movie. We lost it rewatching it.
[24:14]
Bill Simmons
He's just so good. I'm able to. I don't. I know he's gotten a little weird last couple years, but I don't think about it when I watch older movies like that. I just. I'm trapped in the moment. I do it with sports too. I don't. I don't carry the baggage.
[24:28]
Mina Kimes
So I. Okay. I actually put myself back in the headset of when I first saw this movie in 2009. I saw in the theater. I wish we were friends back then. I know our dating Zach.
[24:38]
Amanda Dobbins
No, 2011 is when we met together.
[24:40]
Mina Kimes
I think I saw it alone in New York.
[24:42]
Amanda Dobbins
That's sad. I saw it over Christmas with my. You could have come. My dad loved it would've been great.
[24:47]
Mina Kimes
And I was like thinking, what did I think about Alec Baldwin at the time? And I remember then being like, I don't know about this guy. And then I looked back and the voicemail Scandal was pretty close to when this movie came out.
[24:59]
Bill Simmons
When he was yelling at his daughter. That was tough one.
[25:02]
Mina Kimes
So I was thinking like, oh, actually back then he was also fresh off of a sort of miniature scandal.
[25:07]
Bill Simmons
He was a little bad boyish because I know they thought about that with 30 Rock, whether it was a good idea to bank on him for a five year TV show.
[25:16]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[25:17]
Bill Simmons
So like four weeks ago my dad was in town. As you know, I'm a child of divorce. And in the morning my wife wanted to put something on because we were like, oh, let's watch a movie. It was like 8:30 in the morning, we're having coffee and she put this movie on. He'd never seen it.
[25:31]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[25:31]
Bill Simmons
He was dying and we were making fun of him. We were like, is this what you're hoping would happen with me and my mom, like for the last 30 years? But. And he couldn't believe he'd never seen it. But I think this movie hits the most age ranges of all the Nancy Meyers other than Father of the Bride, which is like an eternal movie. Father of the Bride will be passed on for as long as we're having children before AI takes over.
[25:57]
Amanda Dobbins
I think you're probably right. I think Parent Trap is much bigger with Craig's Generation. And my dad wouldn't watch Parent Trap. No, no, no. And maybe something's got to give.
[26:07]
Mina Kimes
Maybe something's got to give. Hits. They both had a lot of the same sort of keys. And mainly Jack Nicholson and Baldwin just both being so funny. And that movie, I feel like if you'd put on there's a lot of similar cross lines.
[26:19]
Bill Simmons
So Nicholson could have potentially been a version of the Baldwin. It just would have been a different performance.
[26:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. A little less Oily and you kind of. And you maybe then root for it to end in a different way. This is the hard part about recasting is like with Baldwin, he's great and steals the movie. But also, we all understand how it needs to resolve to be responsible and we're okay with it. Like, if you put, say, Harrison Ford in that role, it's like, no, no, no, they actually do. Or Jack Nicholson, you're like, no, no, no. They, they need to, they need to be together.
[26:53]
Bill Simmons
$75 million budget. It made $218 million.
[26:56]
Amanda Dobbins
That is right.
[26:57]
Bill Simmons
I'm saying third biggest Nancy Myers movie. Roger Ebert tune F stars.
[27:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[27:05]
Bill Simmons
Said Meyers created, quote, a cottage industry of movies about romantically inclined middle aged people. Oh, sorry, Rod. Yeah, it's a rearrangement of the goods in Nancy Meyer's bakery, and some of them belong in the day old shelf. Raj.
[27:20]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[27:21]
Bill Simmons
Lashing out.
[27:22]
Amanda Dobbins
He wasn't feeling it, you know, a lot.
[27:24]
Mina Kimes
Okay. So I would read a few reviews, not just of this movie, but of a lot of her movies, and they kind of made me angry because a lot of them are pretty similar in tone to that. And I'm not saying this is Deer Hunter and there's obviously issues with it, but so many of them, I feel like, are. They're treating these movies as being much more cliche than they are. And they're also not identifying the things that make them great personally.
[27:49]
Amanda Dobbins
And they're also. I think that if you can say.
[27:52]
Bill Simmons
I heard of Mandez, you can feel.
[27:53]
Amanda Dobbins
No, I agree with her. Yeah, it's. I mean, it's annoying. There are, there is a certain line of film criticism that is not practiced here on the rewatchables, I'm happy to say, where certain skill sets, like, say the ones used in horror movies are like, acknowledged as actual filmmaking accomplishments. But the skill sets that Nancy Meyers uses are, you know, are just silly or puffery instead of.
[28:20]
Mina Kimes
Right.
[28:20]
Amanda Dobbins
But it is actually. It's really hard to write something this well and also make something look this good, as literally every other Netflix ripoff will show you. You know, there's a reason they don't work.
[28:32]
Bill Simmons
That's the key point.
[28:33]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[28:33]
Bill Simmons
So first of all, a movie like this, you almost have to grow into it. It's like you have to see it like three foot. You really start to appreciate it on the fourth, fifth time. But then there's been so many bad versions of these. I think it elevates movies like this where you're like, oh, here's actually a good version of these movies, which I feel that way about some action movies too, because there's so many bad action movies that when you see like even when did Die Hard with a vengeance like the first hour 20 it died with a Vengeance is so good.
[29:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[29:04]
Bill Simmons
You know, then it falls apart. But there was one critic who liked it. You've both met him.
[29:10]
Mina Kimes
I couldn't find his review.
[29:12]
Bill Simmons
His name is Wesley Morris.
[29:13]
Mina Kimes
Where was it? On the Internet. I tried to find it because it was linked on.
[29:16]
Bill Simmons
It's my job as hosted. Rewatchable.
[29:18]
Mina Kimes
He gets it.
[29:19]
Bill Simmons
He wrote the most emotionally sophisticated of all of Myers fantasies. A made for Merrill film.
[29:26]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[29:26]
Bill Simmons
Streep deploys all her best moves. She's irresistible. It's complicated. Unleashes an unabashedly, desperately romantic side of Baldwin that we haven't seen before.
[29:36]
Amanda Dobbins
True.
[29:37]
Mina Kimes
What a king.
[29:37]
Bill Simmons
He doesn't steal this movie so much as Grant All Streep's fluttering and twirling and hand fanning Stuber and counterweight.
[29:44]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes.
[29:44]
Bill Simmons
Our guy.
[29:45]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[29:45]
Mina Kimes
Gets it.
[29:47]
Bill Simmons
I knew he would like this.
[29:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[29:48]
Bill Simmons
Of course I probably have talked about but all right, we're take a break. Do the Categories this episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two factor authentication, strong passwords and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected.
[30:03]
Amanda Dobbins
But many other places also have it.
[30:05]
Bill Simmons
And they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast for 40% off. Terms apply. Rated T for Teen each year, thousands of adults lose their shred.
[30:27]
Amanda Dobbins
It's an epidemic simply known as shred loss.
[30:30]
Bill Simmons
But it doesn't have to be this way, because rekindling your shred is as easy as playing the new Tony hawk's.
[30:34]
Amanda Dobbins
Pro Skater 3 and 4. With new parks, cross platform multiplayer and.
[30:40]
Bill Simmons
Sick new game modes, we can put an end to shred loss everywhere. Get the new Tony hawk's Pro Skater.
[30:46]
Mina Kimes
3 and 4 and show the world.
[30:47]
Amanda Dobbins
That the shred's not dead.
[30:49]
Bill Simmons
Get Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4.
[30:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Available now.
[30:52]
Bill Simmons
Most Rewatchable scene Okay, I wouldn't necessarily put these two in as the most rewatchable, but I really like the first two scenes of the movie and how they set everybody up. The anniversary party. You see the slow Mo Lake Belle.
[31:05]
Mina Kimes
Coming in belly first and you just.
[31:07]
Bill Simmons
See how it changes. Meryl Streep's demeanor, you know, it's like, oh, okay, I get what's going on here. And then getting to meet all the kids. They just do a good job of introducing all the characters in the plots in like six minutes. That's so fucking hard to do.
[31:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes.
[31:22]
Bill Simmons
She's a really smart movie. All right. My first one, Jane has dinner with her friends. The first time. The first time the vagina closed up story. But just the four together.
[31:33]
Amanda Dobbins
You're so lucky Steve is dead or whatever.
[31:36]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. The roast chicken.
[31:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[31:38]
Bill Simmons
Four friends just really enjoyed each other. But that's another thing Meyer's good at. But Rita Wilson, she's back. She's another buddy rom com. She's really fine for her, you know.
[31:48]
Amanda Dobbins
She seems like I would have wine with her.
[31:50]
Mina Kimes
Is she who? Judy Greer? Rita Wilson. Like the pantheon of the all star rom com friends.
[31:56]
Amanda Dobbins
I mean, Rosie o' Donnell has got.
[31:58]
Mina Kimes
To be Rosie o'.
[31:59]
Bill Simmons
Donnell. She's had a couple.
[32:01]
Amanda Dobbins
You know what Rosie o' Donnell's up to on. And just like that, the Sex and the City. I can't.
[32:05]
Mina Kimes
I cannot believe you're still watching this show.
[32:07]
Amanda Dobbins
I. I'm actually two episodes behind, but I did see the one.
[32:10]
Bill Simmons
My wife watched the first one, Celibate Nun.
[32:12]
Amanda Dobbins
So I honestly thought she was very good on the show and they could prepare for that. More star turns like Rosie o'. Donnell.
[32:20]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, That's. So would you say Rita Wilson and Judy Greer?
[32:23]
Mina Kimes
Judy Greer.
[32:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[32:26]
Bill Simmons
She's been in like six of these.
[32:27]
Mina Kimes
Being the friend.
[32:31]
Bill Simmons
The bar dinner scene.
[32:32]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah.
[32:33]
Bill Simmons
When they run into each other at the bar leading to the home sweet home. I like that you've foregone bikini waxes. You've gone native about it Wasn't so dumb. And FYI, I like that you stopped getting bikini waxes. You've gone native. I was into it. It's just like an SNL sketch. Everything about it is so good. She's good. They're just like. They just have it. They have, like, electricity.
[33:01]
Amanda Dobbins
They do.
[33:01]
Mina Kimes
He also says the Pilates are paying off. Don't forget that. All these backdrops, every line delivery. He has in that. That was my favorite scene. Is so funny. So funny.
[33:08]
Bill Simmons
Family graduation dinner scene. The. Oh, God, it's official. We're having an affair. I think this is very French of us. Yeah, I have that one. Jane tells her friends about the affair.
[33:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, yeah. I'm having an affair with Agnes Adler's husband.
[33:25]
Mina Kimes
I am having an affair with Agnes Adler's husband.
[33:33]
Amanda Dobbins
That is genius.
[33:35]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. A lot of screaming and shrieking.
[33:37]
Amanda Dobbins
It's like. It's a good meme. Like, has it been memed reaction shot? I think I always think of it in my head of everyone being like, yeah. All at once.
[33:46]
Bill Simmons
Steve Martin, dinner date with Jake. Stalking, leading to the Jake seduction. And the bathtub scene.
[33:52]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Bathtub scene is really nice. Yeah.
[33:54]
Bill Simmons
Jake has a heart attack.
[33:56]
Amanda Dobbins
Sure.
[33:57]
Mina Kimes
Another classic trope.
[33:59]
Bill Simmons
Talking about Flomax.
[34:00]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I like a lot of sperm.
[34:01]
Bill Simmons
I prefer a lot of semen. I always have.
[34:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, that's right.
[34:05]
Bill Simmons
Jane gets everyone stoned. Is really funny.
[34:07]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[34:08]
Bill Simmons
The chocolate croissant scene. The laptop nudity scene.
[34:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Sure. Yeah.
[34:13]
Bill Simmons
And then Jake and Jane realized it's not going to happen.
[34:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[34:17]
Bill Simmons
So what do you have?
[34:18]
Amanda Dobbins
Probably the croissants are the single most. Well, no, no, no. Or the. I never get prepared for this. I already said the plastic surgeon scene. I think about a lot. The hotel.
[34:29]
Bill Simmons
I have hotel bar leading into the home.
[34:32]
Amanda Dobbins
The hotel. That one. The bar scene.
[34:33]
Bill Simmons
That stretch is awesome.
[34:34]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay. But I also. I like the second one when he has the heart attack and then Krasinski's in the lobby being like, I don't know what's going on. And then I have always liked a lot of semen. It's pretty good. And then they have the emotional thing at the end. Maybe I do that one. Maybe I pick the second one.
[34:49]
Bill Simmons
Change your mind seven times. What do you have been asking for me?
[34:52]
Mina Kimes
It's the dinner at the bar leading into them having sex. Because of the lines we talked about. Because they're so funny. And while I guess I should just say this now, I understand they couldn't be together. The breakup made sense, or whatever you want to call it. The resolution of the film made sense, but they just have such better chemistry than her and Steve Martin.
[35:13]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, yeah.
[35:13]
Mina Kimes
And I see struggle with it in this movie and how it ends up. And it's all stemming from that scene. Like everything about those two actors, they look like they're having the time of their lives. I mean, this is like sort of the whole movie. All the actors seem like they're having the timelines. But in that scene and in the bedroom scene, it is just two. Two actors at the top of their games. To me.
[35:33]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[35:34]
Bill Simmons
Do you. Do you ever. Are you ever in the same room with your parents together or were you after the divorce or. Not really.
[35:41]
Amanda Dobbins
I was telling this story the other day. The first time I was supposed to be was after was my college graduation. And there was like a department breakfast beforehand. But then I got too drunk and I slept through It. And so then my professors had to introduce my parents. I don't know if I. Sorry about that, everyone. So I don't think that they've ever.
[36:05]
Bill Simmons
We'll go one of two ways. Like, they don't interact at all. Or they actually do because I had the opposite.
[36:09]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[36:10]
Bill Simmons
And when my dad and my mom are together, it's like, absolutely the most fascinating thing.
[36:14]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[36:15]
Bill Simmons
And then as my kids got older, they became fascinated by it.
[36:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
[36:18]
Bill Simmons
When my dad was here, my two kids went out to lunch with them and they were just like, you know, they could have made it. Like. It's like one of those. Like, you can see it. It's still. There's some sort of chemistry still there. It's really funny.
[36:30]
Mina Kimes
I have a question for you guys because my husband and I talked about this after we watched a movie. How often do you guys think divorced couples hook up years later?
[36:41]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, interesting.
[36:43]
Bill Simmons
I don't think it's a very common.
[36:44]
Mina Kimes
No, I don't know any. No one. Our ape. There's not any divorced people. But, like, in our cohort, I don't know of it happening.
[36:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[36:50]
Bill Simmons
It's happened with celebrities where people have gotten divorced and then gotten back together, like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Bergman.
[36:56]
Amanda Dobbins
But if it happens, they are just like, no, we're getting back together.
[36:59]
Bill Simmons
You know, Don Johnson and Dakota Griffith.
[37:03]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. If you. If. If it happens, you find out about it. Because they're like, well, I guess we're just doing this again.
[37:08]
Bill Simmons
I mean, the worst is JLo and Affleck.
[37:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[37:12]
Mina Kimes
Or the best.
[37:13]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[37:13]
Bill Simmons
Or the best. But that one. Yeah. So, you know, if the spark's there, the spark's there sometimes.
[37:20]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[37:21]
Bill Simmons
All right, what's the most 2009 thing about this movie? I have two, but do you have any.
[37:26]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay, normal size. John Krasinski.
[37:32]
Bill Simmons
That's a good one.
[37:33]
Amanda Dobbins
And. Or just John Krasinski, pre superhero. Yeah. Yeah.
[37:36]
Bill Simmons
So I had John Krasinski being the seventh lead of a movie.
[37:39]
Mina Kimes
I like this version of him. Yeah.
[37:43]
Amanda Dobbins
Charming, you know? Yes.
[37:44]
Mina Kimes
He's. He's.
[37:45]
Amanda Dobbins
It takes me back to a time.
[37:46]
Mina Kimes
Breaking the Force.
[37:47]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[37:48]
Mina Kimes
Kind of.
[37:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[37:49]
Bill Simmons
The answer is actually being sad about having nobody to watch the Hills with. The thing said during the movie that just traps you in 2009. This is exciting. The Amanda Dobbins Award for best piece of Real Estate. Even though we've already covered it, we have to do it.
[38:04]
Amanda Dobbins
I mean, it is. It is the house. Right. But then I was trying to think of, like, secondary things because we all know it's the house?
[38:10]
Bill Simmons
No, we can skip over. I just had to give it because you're here.
[38:13]
Amanda Dobbins
The kids bungalow is pretty nice. Yeah, I just. They don't have a job but they have a guest bathroom, you know.
[38:18]
Bill Simmons
How do you feel about the house being in Thousand Oaks in real life? Well, surprised to hear that.
[38:23]
Amanda Dobbins
I did as well. I mapped it out and it's like, it seems like the address is Thousand Oaks, but it's kind of down in the wilderness sort of in a way that seems less settled. So I'm okay with that. It's good to go.
[38:35]
Bill Simmons
Greg, are you surprised by a Thousand Oaks being the location?
[38:38]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, because it also just doesn't look like it's 100 degrees, which it would be in thousands.
[38:42]
Amanda Dobbins
Right?
[38:42]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I was suppressed. What stage? The best. There's good tidbits in the early part of this movie showing that she's kind of lonely. They just do a nice job. Like she's in the elevator and she watches like the couple together and.
[38:57]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[38:57]
Bill Simmons
But Nancy Myers is good at that. It's like I'm not going to tell you about what this part, but I'm just gonna give you like five, six little tiny things.
[39:06]
Mina Kimes
Yeah, I have a literal one which is Meryl Streep because she looks beautiful in this movie and like just has literally aged gorgeous. And this is again a hallmark of Nancy. Everybody looks great in her movies and there are movies about adults for adults. And she makes, you know, our cinematographer who, I don't know who it is if she has the same people that she always works with. But everybody's shot like just so gorgeous. I love this in a golden glow.
[39:34]
Amanda Dobbins
As a compliment to the technicians at work. But like you can see that when Meryl gets her special light, you know, and they cut from. Especially from Baldwin who's supposed to look a little haggard back to Meryl. And it's beautiful work and it is like a Renaissance painting and that is everyone doing their job.
[39:52]
Bill Simmons
Well, this would be. This would have been a good ASPN segment. Gotta bring them in. Meryl Streep doesn't get enough credit for being beautiful. Dating back to Kramer versus Kramer in Manhattan. But she's certain movies like I think in Kramer versus Kramer, like she's just beautiful.
[40:11]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh yeah.
[40:12]
Bill Simmons
But she's in Devil Wears Prada in this where they just feel like two different people. But you would just, you would immediately.
[40:19]
Mina Kimes
Notice some of it also is like the performance is. We talked about at the beginning how it's kind of. She's not really like this in any of other movies. And you kind of.
[40:28]
Bill Simmons
It's happy, giggly Maris and that.
[40:30]
Mina Kimes
And this is what I love about Nancy Meyers female characters is so often with rom coms, it's the uptight trope. Right. The uptight woman.
[40:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[40:38]
Mina Kimes
Even a movie as great as Sweet Home Alabama, it's a cliche character. And there's a million other examples of that.
[40:43]
Amanda Dobbins
I think that's the first time the sentence a movie as great as Sweet Home Alabama has been said on this podcast. I totally support it, and I am really happy to be here.
[40:53]
Mina Kimes
This is a safe space for that take for a million reasons. But like her whip, Diane Keaton is the same way. And something's got a gift. Like, she is successful. Maybe she has put her life or, you know, chosen work at the expense of other things. But she's, like, kind of chill, you know, like, she kind of rolls with the punches. She laughs a lot. She's quick to smile. I always enjoy that about her characters. They don't feel like stereotypes.
[41:16]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. They enjoy life.
[41:17]
Bill Simmons
Well, that's the thread to do with any good rom com. Or they go sideways because the trope is always this person's a mess. They can't find anybody.
[41:27]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[41:27]
Bill Simmons
They've got to bring a date to the wedding, and, oh, my God, they can't find anyone. And just their life's just a roller coaster. In this one, it feels like a realistic roller coaster. It's like, I get it. She threw herself in her career.
[41:40]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[41:41]
Bill Simmons
Got her shit together and her kids and. Yeah. Whether she'd be attracted to Steve Martin as a whole in this movie.
[41:47]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[41:48]
Bill Simmons
The Steve Martin version of this movie, I have some doubts, but we can talk about that later. Any movie, but especially any rom com where there's a smoking hot, bitchy second wife. It's a home run. It's never not worked.
[42:03]
Amanda Dobbins
It's true.
[42:04]
Bill Simmons
And it's like most of the female characters are older and. And then you have this other one who just sucks.
[42:11]
Mina Kimes
The scene where she's in the elevator and notices her tiger tattoo for the first time killed me. Like, Bell's tiger tattoo I liked.
[42:17]
Bill Simmons
I don't speak Pedro is just really funny.
[42:19]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[42:21]
Bill Simmons
Caitlin Fitzgerald.
[42:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[42:24]
Mina Kimes
Not given. A lot to do in this film.
[42:26]
Bill Simmons
Not a lot to do. But now you get to watch this movie with the library of her as Roman's girlfriend for, like, 15 Succession episodes where she's so funny in that movie. And I don't. I just wish that character had been in this movie because she's basically a Blank slate blonde child number three. Really understand anything about. Does she work?
[42:47]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[42:47]
Bill Simmons
What's going on with her and John Krasinski? Why does he treat her like a 8 year old child? Why don't they have adult conversations? How old is she supposed to be? Is she 18? Is she 30?
[42:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[42:59]
Bill Simmons
What is she. But I was excited to see her.
[43:02]
Amanda Dobbins
It's still it. I know her primarily from this movie. So every time I saw her on Succession I was just very weirded out. I was like, what are you doing here? That's not. This doesn't make sense to me.
[43:13]
Bill Simmons
Apparently Joanna Robinson is a big. She says there's a whole library of work. Like Masters of Science. Like she's got it. Definitely one of those who hasn't been in the right situations.
[43:24]
Mina Kimes
Hunter Parrish, who is in Weeds. I don't know what else he's.
[43:27]
Bill Simmons
That's the youngest one.
[43:28]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. The boy who graduates.
[43:30]
Bill Simmons
I have a couple categories for him later.
[43:31]
Mina Kimes
None of these kids have anything to do in this movie. And then Zoe Kazan, who I went to college with. Never interacted with her in college.
[43:39]
Bill Simmons
Marlborough School, Louisiana.
[43:40]
Mina Kimes
That checks out.
[43:42]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[43:43]
Mina Kimes
She feel like has done mostly more serious movies.
[43:46]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[43:47]
Mina Kimes
Than this. But she doesn't have much to do in this one either.
[43:50]
Bill Simmons
I don't have. I did all my other. What's Asia Best? If you want to move on the title.
[43:55]
Amanda Dobbins
Can I throw that one in?
[43:56]
Bill Simmons
What do they. They don't say the title verbatim. No, they say like it get. It's gotten complicated. But nobody says like it's complicated.
[44:05]
Amanda Dobbins
You don't think it's a good title?
[44:06]
Mina Kimes
No. This is the only thing I don't like about Nancy Meyer's movies is some of the titles are really bad.
[44:13]
Bill Simmons
So what do you think the title should be?
[44:16]
Mina Kimes
I guess you can't put divorce in the title because that turns people off.
[44:19]
Bill Simmons
Faking it up.
[44:22]
Mina Kimes
Where she talks. Maybe something like Second bake so bad. Home Sweet Home.
[44:30]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[44:31]
Bill Simmons
Home Sweet Home's a great title.
[44:32]
Amanda Dobbins
Isn't that actually. What was the name of the movie that her daughter.
[44:35]
Mina Kimes
Oh, the one with Reese Witherspoon directed.
[44:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Home Again. Home Again is what that one was called.
[44:40]
Mina Kimes
Something's Got to Give is like an objectively proven movie with a terrible title.
[44:44]
Bill Simmons
Honestly, Mina, you nailed it. Home Sweet Home is a great home.
[44:47]
Amanda Dobbins
Is I fucking hilarious. I just remember, you know.
[44:50]
Bill Simmons
Craig, are you down with that? Home Sweet Home.
[44:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, it's great title is another. Like what's the most 2009 thing about this movie?
[44:57]
Mina Kimes
Yeah, like the generic.
[44:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, also The Facebook of it all.
[44:59]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[45:00]
Amanda Dobbins
Because that is still when we were complicated. You know about this, Bill.
[45:04]
Mina Kimes
It's complicated. So when around this time, because Facebook had just launched, you could put your relationship status on Facebook. And one of the options was.
[45:13]
Amanda Dobbins
So I always thought that's what it was. So in that sense, I'm like, oh, what a nice snapshot.
[45:18]
Bill Simmons
Maybe that's the most 2009 thing. What were you gonna say, Craig?
[45:20]
Craig Horlbeck
You know what else has aged the best is Meryl Streep not getting a ton of plastic surgery in real life after this movie.
[45:25]
Amanda Dobbins
True.
[45:26]
Craig Horlbeck
Because she looks like a man.
[45:28]
Amanda Dobbins
It is a great no.
[45:29]
Craig Horlbeck
Because she famously is anti plastic surgery. I don't know if that's true, but she still looks great.
[45:33]
Bill Simmons
That's why she's our queen.
[45:34]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah.
[45:34]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[45:36]
Bill Simmons
The Big Kahuna Burger award for best use of food or drink. It's obviously the croak monsieur. I can't speak.
[45:43]
Amanda Dobbins
What about the crystal?
[45:44]
Mina Kimes
I thought he was gonna say chocolate croissant. It was like a little.
[45:47]
Amanda Dobbins
The whole scene where they say it.
[45:49]
Bill Simmons
For me, I can't.
[45:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Croque monsieur.
[45:50]
Bill Simmons
Croque monsieur.
[45:51]
Amanda Dobbins
It's hard. I mean, I also. I had a problem with auteur early. Like the R's and the. The.
[45:56]
Bill Simmons
I'll say this. You can. You can go chocolate croissants here.
[45:59]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[46:00]
Bill Simmons
But when she's. Everyone is so excited about her croque monsieur.
[46:04]
Amanda Dobbins
No, it's true that it really made.
[46:06]
Bill Simmons
Me, like, I even asked my wife, you just gotta make these.
[46:09]
Mina Kimes
Like, I'm doing the thing when I. I can't say French words either, Bill. And I just say them really fast and hope nobody notices.
[46:14]
Amanda Dobbins
I know.
[46:15]
Bill Simmons
That's one of the reasons I don't like the French.
[46:17]
Mina Kimes
Remember the chain vowels together? Aubompain. Whenever we had to go there, I'd be like, do I go to A. Because I couldn't say it.
[46:24]
Amanda Dobbins
I also, in this movie, when Steve Martin has to say, he leans in, he does, like, the full thing.
[46:31]
Mina Kimes
I'm actually. No, I'm with you. Because while watching that scene where she makes the croque mon source and the lavender ice cream, I literally. I was like, I want both of these things right now.
[46:42]
Amanda Dobbins
The lavender ice cream does also stick in my head because then when Alec Baldwin shows up and he's like, oh, you can't sleep. You're making lavender ice cream again. I will also do honorable mention for the chocolate cake, which I just want a piece of, you know, so.
[46:57]
Bill Simmons
So the lavender ice cream, that's not something I would be like, oh, cool. They have lavender ice cream, right? What does that taste like?
[47:03]
Amanda Dobbins
I mean, I think it's mostly sweet with hints of lavender. I don't know. Olive oil ice cream, similar vibe.
[47:09]
Bill Simmons
No, thanks.
[47:10]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, it's olive oil.
[47:11]
Bill Simmons
What would you have for that one? Craig, what made you the hungriest as you watch this movie?
[47:16]
Craig Horlbeck
Probably the. The croque monsieur, I would say. It's basically just cheese bread, right?
[47:21]
Bill Simmons
No, it's got ham. Yeah, ham on it. Ham and cheese croissant.
[47:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, the lavender.
[47:25]
Craig Horlbeck
The lavender ice cream is like some salt and straw bullshit. You don't need that.
[47:28]
Amanda Dobbins
All right, well, you know what? Salt and straw is another place you should always cut a check, but that's okay.
[47:34]
Craig Horlbeck
Turkey and gravy with real turkey salt and straw.
[47:37]
Bill Simmons
Like lavender and pears.
[47:39]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[47:41]
Bill Simmons
Great shot, Gordo. Or most cinematic shot. So after the daughter moves out, this is what I have.
[47:46]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[47:48]
Bill Simmons
And everybody leaves. And Jane's in her house alone. And it's just like a good wide shot where you can see the whole house, but she's just like, oh, I'm alone. Yeah, I like that one. What do you have?
[48:00]
Mina Kimes
The second time that they have sex, he comes over, he convinces her, it smash cuts to the sprinkler.
[48:06]
Amanda Dobbins
I literally have the sprinkler on the lawn written down as well. It's good.
[48:10]
Mina Kimes
Smash cuts back and it's Alec Baldwin. Like a good old laying back. She's like, not again. She's like moaning and he's. He's got the shit eating grin on his face. Just a perfect transition.
[48:20]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[48:21]
Bill Simmons
Kid Cudi. Pursuit Happiness Wear best needle drop. I can give you Tom Petty. Don't do Me like that.
[48:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[48:26]
Bill Simmons
Or I can give you the Fine Young Cannibals. Good to hear from them.
[48:29]
Amanda Dobbins
I have Tom Petty Don't Do Me like that. Or Benny and the jets when she's stoned.
[48:35]
Mina Kimes
No one. None of the Beach Boys dance can do those too. In the moment when they realize everyone's kind of looking at each other and like, what's going on here?
[48:43]
Bill Simmons
Rip, what do you have for the Chess Rockwell and Brock Landers award for best character name? I like that the little kid was named Pedro. Just wasn't acknowledged.
[48:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Exactly.
[48:52]
Bill Simmons
I don't speak Pedro.
[48:53]
Mina Kimes
Agnes with two S's. The second wife, Agnes was good.
[48:56]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, is he two S's? Oh, I missed that.
[48:58]
Mina Kimes
I don't know if that's explained in the movie or if it's just Nancy Myers writing, but it's a very funny. Like a Generational contrast to, you know, Jane, Jake, Adam, and then Agnes. With who else?
[49:09]
Bill Simmons
We should have given the Nancy Myers backstory of how she had the writing partner that directed the movies she wrote.
[49:16]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[49:16]
Bill Simmons
They got divorced.
[49:17]
Mina Kimes
Her husband.
[49:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, her husband.
[49:18]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[49:18]
Amanda Dobbins
Charles Shire. Yeah.
[49:19]
Bill Simmons
So did he. Do you think he married an Agnes? I wonder how much real life shit's in there.
[49:25]
Amanda Dobbins
I don't know. She wrote Modern Love, but I think it's after this movie. Right. About they, like, going on a road trip with Charles Shires, who died last year. And they. And, like, it was an it's complicated type vibe of remembering what was, like, good about him, but it was different because it was a nice thing. But she didn't get into the specifics of whether he married an Agnes Adler who has a big job in marketing.
[49:53]
Bill Simmons
Amanda, you have a flex category.
[49:55]
Amanda Dobbins
I do.
[49:56]
Bill Simmons
What are you doing?
[49:57]
Amanda Dobbins
So I think that I'm gonna go with Lake Bell. Well, there are two categories here, and it's either.
[50:07]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Lake Bell can't be a category, though.
[50:08]
Amanda Dobbins
I know, I know. But she's the answer to two categories. It's either the person in their own movie.
[50:15]
Bill Simmons
You know, that's a good one. Who do we name that one after?
[50:19]
Amanda Dobbins
It's at the very bottom of the.
[50:21]
Bill Simmons
Oh, that's the Judd Nelson. Oh, we never get that one out.
[50:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I think that, like, Bella is in a different movie. She's not bad.
[50:27]
Bill Simmons
Judd Nelson in New Jack City. He's just in his own. He's filming his own thing.
[50:31]
Amanda Dobbins
He's just in, like, a very different, aggressive movie.
[50:35]
Bill Simmons
Really good one.
[50:35]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[50:36]
Mina Kimes
So that's wearing boy shorts the entire movie, Right? Just little.
[50:41]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Her styling in general.
[50:43]
Mina Kimes
Hard.
[50:46]
Amanda Dobbins
You know, just. What. Why is she living in Santa Barbara and dressing like that? And also, what is her big job?
[50:52]
Bill Simmons
What does she do in Santa Barbara?
[50:54]
Amanda Dobbins
She. So she is in marketing. And the joke is that she markets for, like, ky, but I think it's supposed to be like, a radio station, which is. Yeah.
[51:02]
Mina Kimes
Do we think it's funny that Nancy Meyers basically cast Lake Bell's Wario Amanda Pete in the similar movie in the same. Not kind of the same role. I don't know who's Wario? Actually, I texted you. I was like, who's the poor man's version of whom? But literally playing the same.
[51:21]
Bill Simmons
I feel like you discounted Amanda Pete.
[51:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[51:24]
Mina Kimes
So maybe Lake Bell's her Wario.
[51:25]
Amanda Dobbins
I think Lake Bell is her Wario.
[51:27]
Mina Kimes
With respect, she is a better character.
[51:28]
Amanda Dobbins
We respect Amanda Pete in this house, if only because Amanda's need a win. Just generally, you know, she's one of our leading Amanda's also.
[51:38]
Bill Simmons
Just when you think like she's ready to give up the steering wheel, your friends and neighbors, the college episode happens and she just takes the mantle back for another couple years. Link Bell, though I will say this.
[51:49]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[51:49]
Bill Simmons
And all, you know Dave Jacoby.
[51:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, of course.
[51:52]
Bill Simmons
Her and how to make it in America was her. The all time favorite Kobe Parker and she was really good on that show.
[51:59]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes, yes.
[52:00]
Bill Simmons
And I actually feel like that that's probably her bet. That was probably her best performance. Right. She's been in a bunch of stuff, but I think that was probably my favorite version of her. Butch's Girlfriend award. Weak link of the. Of the movie. I'll let you go first.
[52:16]
Mina Kimes
Well, okay. This is kind of. I was going to cast.
[52:18]
Bill Simmons
I wonder if we all have the same one.
[52:19]
Mina Kimes
I was going to do recasting, which is part of this conversation.
[52:23]
Amanda Dobbins
I know where you're going and I. And I agree completely. So I came up with something else to save it.
[52:29]
Mina Kimes
Is this time to talk about Steve Martin?
[52:31]
Bill Simmons
What's that?
[52:32]
Mina Kimes
Oh, am I. Is that not where you guys thought I was going with this?
[52:34]
Amanda Dobbins
That's where I thought you were going. I came up with something else just for variety's sake.
[52:38]
Mina Kimes
I don't think it's his fault.
[52:40]
Amanda Dobbins
No.
[52:40]
Mina Kimes
I think his character is a little bit underwritten. I think he is going up against a juggernaut in Alec Baldwin who is just so charismatic and so funny. But I do question my. I was going to do one of my flex. One was the recasting. I was going to throw out the idea that if he was played by a more charming, charismatic man, we would. There'd be a little bit more energy to the rivalry.
[53:06]
Bill Simmons
Like. Like nerdier. Charismatic, maybe.
[53:09]
Amanda Dobbins
No, I think you got. You got to go away from nerdy and steer towards sensitive. So it's, you know, so there's a balance.
[53:17]
Bill Simmons
Who are you giving me?
[53:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Sam Shepard.
[53:19]
Bill Simmons
Oh, that's not fair. Women love Shepherd.
[53:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, come on.
[53:24]
Bill Simmons
Can't compete with that.
[53:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, he could.
[53:27]
Bill Simmons
You always throw Sam Shepard. I know, but I think it's not fighting Sam Shepard.
[53:32]
Amanda Dobbins
But he's not supposed to ultimately, you know, but there's a little more of a. Of a. There, there.
[53:37]
Bill Simmons
Could you do like a Dennis Quaid?
[53:40]
Amanda Dobbins
No, no, no.
[53:42]
Mina Kimes
I had two ideas.
[53:43]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[53:43]
Bill Simmons
Cruz.
[53:45]
Amanda Dobbins
No, sorry.
[53:48]
Mina Kimes
Feral streak.
[53:49]
Bill Simmons
A lot of girlfriends.
[53:51]
Amanda Dobbins
We rewatched the like the first half of Top Gun Maverick again last night at my house.
[53:56]
Bill Simmons
Did you get to the bedroom Scene.
[53:57]
Amanda Dobbins
No, because we only made it as far as like the first penny encounter in the bar when she's like, don't give me that look. He is not giving a look. He's just.
[54:05]
Bill Simmons
There's no looks handed out.
[54:08]
Mina Kimes
Okay. One is a guy who's actually been in a romantic comedy with Meryl.
[54:12]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[54:13]
Mina Kimes
And that man is Tommy Lee Jones.
[54:17]
Bill Simmons
Interesting.
[54:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Interesting.
[54:18]
Mina Kimes
Going for a little more of a blue collar.
[54:20]
Bill Simmons
Not as handsome as Al Baldwin.
[54:22]
Mina Kimes
Maybe he's a contractor instead of an architect. Maybe he's in there fixing stuff.
[54:28]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[54:28]
Amanda Dobbins
Little gruff. I'm not opposed to it.
[54:30]
Mina Kimes
The other one. I alluded to this earlier, but what if like as a callback and kind of a meta joke within the movie being about divorce. What if we brought back Dustin hoffman from Kramer vs Kramer but this time the callback is that too, too weird. They also famously hated each other.
[54:49]
Bill Simmons
Have you ever had a normal rom com relationship? He's too weird, right?
[54:53]
Mina Kimes
She's been in some.
[54:54]
Amanda Dobbins
Actually it is funny that they do their movie night. They watch the Graduate. Speaking of. But here's the thing.
[55:03]
Bill Simmons
I vote no on this.
[55:05]
Amanda Dobbins
I don't think that you're rooting for him over.
[55:08]
Mina Kimes
You need someone who you can actually root for over Alec Baldwin.
[55:11]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Or to be okay with. I think I did great work. I think Sam Shepard really was a good one.
[55:17]
Bill Simmons
Pretty good.
[55:18]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay. Thank you.
[55:20]
Bill Simmons
Here's my weak link of the film. The kids aren't damaged enough. Their children of divorce. We need one of those kids. Needs to be slightly fucked up in some way.
[55:30]
Amanda Dobbins
So funny.
[55:30]
Bill Simmons
These are the happiest divorced kids that have ever been in a movie or a TV show.
[55:34]
Mina Kimes
I'd be happy if my mom had a $10 million house and made amazing food all day. Bankrolled my but they got divorced existence.
[55:41]
Bill Simmons
These kids were all teenagers during this divorce. There's no way they're all just doing great.
[55:45]
Amanda Dobbins
That's true.
[55:46]
Bill Simmons
On one of them's up. One of them. One of them is like, oh no, it's been in college seven years.
[55:53]
Amanda Dobbins
It's really funny and it's. I think it's revealing of. Of our respective divorce experiences where I watched this and I was like, they are way too invested in their parents getting back together. In my opinion. They're all just like sitting there like sad babies. Yeah. They're just sitting there being like, you and daddy need to get back together. And I'm just like, what? Your parents have put you through hell for 10 years?
[56:13]
Bill Simmons
Like, that's not the reaction. The reaction would be like, mom, what the fuck are you doing?
[56:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, what's going on?
[56:18]
Bill Simmons
That's a cad.
[56:20]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[56:20]
Mina Kimes
I read it as. They didn't want them to get back together. Maybe this is where our life experience.
[56:25]
Bill Simmons
No, they get.
[56:25]
Amanda Dobbins
They're disappointed when Zoe Kazan gives this speech at the post graduation breakfast. She's like, I just want to say it's nice, just us. Like, all of us together.
[56:35]
Bill Simmons
The original five.
[56:37]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[56:38]
Bill Simmons
No, it seems like they want them to get back together, which is.
[56:40]
Mina Kimes
But then at the end they're like, yeah, but we. This was really hard on us.
[56:44]
Craig Horlbeck
The kids make no sense.
[56:45]
Amanda Dobbins
The kids are really. This is really the point. The kids don't make any sense. Yeah.
[56:50]
Craig Horlbeck
Bizarre.
[56:50]
Amanda Dobbins
But I think even when they find.
[56:52]
Bill Simmons
Out it's a qu. It's the trio plus Krasinski, who has no job either. It's just. Just hanging out. He's the interpreter.
[56:59]
Craig Horlbeck
Did they all sleep in the same bed together without Krasinski? And Krasinski was like, I'll just be on the couch tonight.
[57:05]
Amanda Dobbins
Just like the next. Next morning. They're all like, gathering under the covers.
[57:10]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, okay, listen.
[57:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[57:12]
Bill Simmons
It's one of the reasons this movie's fun to rewatch. It's not a bad thing. It's not a negative for the movie. It's actually hilarious how weird the kids are at this and how happy they all are like that. Why are they so happy? The kids graduating college. They're acting like he's landed from Mars.
[57:30]
Amanda Dobbins
And he's like Photoshopped into the big.
[57:33]
Bill Simmons
Screen and they're like, wow, he's graduating from university. They're screaming.
[57:38]
Amanda Dobbins
No, I agree. It's nice that the, like, they don't make sense. But also, the movie doesn't care about the kids, which I sort of appreciate. You know, it's like, well, they'll be fine. You know, we actually can just talk about divorce through the eyes of the grownups.
[57:51]
Mina Kimes
There's no chance they'd be living in Santa Barbara either. Like, if you. No chance.
[57:55]
Amanda Dobbins
And definitely can't afford that bungalow with two bathrooms. Even in 2009.
[58:01]
Bill Simmons
Well, I guess they don't have jobs.
[58:03]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[58:04]
Mina Kimes
In between.
[58:05]
Bill Simmons
And they're either 13 years old or 30.
[58:08]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I don't know.
[58:09]
Bill Simmons
Very strange. Wood Stage. The worst. We mentioned an incredibly likable Alec Baldwin. It's kind of weird. I wrote down. Are we sure Steve Martin isn't a loser in this movie? He's a loser veering too close toward Loserville.
[58:24]
Mina Kimes
Are we surprised he agreed to do the movie? Because so, you know, she gets another thing that's great about Nancy Meyers. She gets these. The movies are about women and she gets a list. Men. Which is not always an easy thing to do to sort of subsume themselves to these great actresses. But Alec Baldwin gets this great meaty role. Jack Nicholson had this great meaty role. If I'm Steve Martin, I'm reading this and I'm like, I don't know. This is really a lot here for me to do.
[58:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Maybe he wants to. I mean, Steve Martin has tried to be serious. Steve Martin in movies like once every 10 years or so.
[58:59]
Bill Simmons
It's been more than that. Yeah, he does it a couple times a decade.
[59:03]
Amanda Dobbins
And he like, clearly he has a side of him that's not just being the funniest person in the world that he.
[59:08]
Bill Simmons
At least all comedians have to do it. There's more to me here.
[59:11]
Amanda Dobbins
I guess I'm a serious guy too, you know. And who doesn't want to be an architect? That's a pretty. I mean it's the classic romantic comedy job.
[59:20]
Bill Simmons
The Manchester. What about Bill Murray?
[59:24]
Mina Kimes
I was thinking 2009. What was Bill Murray in around that time?
[59:28]
Bill Simmons
Steve Martin's part. So it'd be like five years after. Man. His favorite movie. Lost in Translation, right?
[59:32]
Mina Kimes
Yeah, Lost in Translation. Broken Flowers around that time.
[59:35]
Bill Simmons
He's like a quirky, goofy architect.
[59:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. But he has a little. I worry that she's gonna have to do too much taking care of him, you know? And you. And that's. You want her to be living her own life.
[59:50]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. I don't love Steve Martin in this movie.
[59:52]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[59:53]
Bill Simmons
I don't think any of us do like Steve Martin.
[59:54]
Amanda Dobbins
Of course. Yeah.
[59:56]
Bill Simmons
And then I have for what stage? The worst. The youngest son. You mentioned the kid from Weeds. I don't know what he's doing in this movie. Talk about being in your own movie. This kid is like a smiling serial killer. He's just grinning mania. He's a sociopath. If he became American Psycho, that would American Psycho too.
[60:15]
Amanda Dobbins
Maybe he is. Maybe he is.
[60:16]
Bill Simmons
I'd be like, that totally makes sense. He's moving to Wall Street. He's gonna killing people. I have no idea what he's doing. Why he is so happy all the time.
[60:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[60:24]
Mina Kimes
They kind of remind me of Meryl Streep's real life kids. At least the two who are actors who I know May or. What are her kids names? Luisa and May.
[60:34]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, the. They're one.
[60:35]
Mina Kimes
One is in the Gilded Age.
[60:36]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes. The youngest. And she was also in the Materialists for one scene.
[60:40]
Mina Kimes
Really?
[60:40]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes. And Then Mamie is older and was on Ashanda rhimes show with QB1.
[60:49]
Mina Kimes
She was on the Good Wife, too. She played like a mean lawyer, I.
[60:53]
Amanda Dobbins
Think, from Friday night. Matt Saracen. What was his real name?
[60:56]
Mina Kimes
Zach Guilford.
[60:56]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Yeah. They were on that show for like half a season. That's all. That's what I know.
[61:02]
Mina Kimes
Cause Meryl, she's got three or four blonde children.
[61:05]
Bill Simmons
And you would think, like, the acting gene gets passed down. There's some sort of performance acting thing that I would think. Think it's almost like sports. That's why when people get mad about the Nepo baby stuff, I'm always like, no. Would it make sense to me that Meryl Streep's kids would be good at acting at some point? That's gotta be something in your DNA also.
[61:27]
Amanda Dobbins
But, like, sometimes, like, Meg Ryan just takes over his body and it works. But I'm like, oh, yeah, I get it. This was handy.
[61:32]
Bill Simmons
He's a good example. He's a good actor. But he's. Both of his parents were actors. What are the odds he's gonna be a good actor?
[61:37]
Mina Kimes
Like, probably grew up around the game. It's like Kyle Shanahan March, man. Yeah. Immersed in the play.
[61:43]
Bill Simmons
Calling Ruffalo Hannah Rubenic Partridge. Overacting. Word.
[61:49]
Amanda Dobbins
Is it Beryl Stream, I was gonna say.
[61:52]
Bill Simmons
Are we 10 laughs too heavy in this? Not that I'm arguing.
[61:56]
Amanda Dobbins
Wow, that cake is good. I get it.
[62:03]
Bill Simmons
She's deliriously happy in this movie, except.
[62:05]
Amanda Dobbins
For when she's having emotional revelation, in which case just a lot of quivering. But there is a lot of movement.
[62:14]
Craig Horlbeck
When she announces the affair to her friends. And she does, like, a twirl. The hair's in front of her face.
[62:19]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, it's true.
[62:20]
Mina Kimes
Do you feel like she overacted the pot smoking scene? Do you poke smot? Please don't think that I'm weird or out of line or anything, but do you by any chance poke smot?
[62:31]
Bill Simmons
Do I?
[62:31]
Mina Kimes
Do I what? I mean, do you smoke pot? One. One.
[62:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Like, maybe we both did. It's the only one poll. It's the only time that Steve Martin comes.
[62:42]
Mina Kimes
She was acting like she was on acid.
[62:44]
Bill Simmons
I know. It is true.
[62:46]
Mina Kimes
Also, we believe, like, rich white people in California have gotten this long without smoking. Bottom.
[62:51]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. In 2008.
[62:53]
Amanda Dobbins
No, it's true.
[62:54]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[62:54]
Mina Kimes
It's a funny scene, though. I like it. I. I enjoy it.
[62:56]
Amanda Dobbins
It could be. Can it be Merill? But in a good way.
[62:59]
Bill Simmons
That's. I was a compliment. I love her in this Movie. She just dials it up a couple times.
[63:03]
Amanda Dobbins
I agree.
[63:04]
Bill Simmons
Meaning you have a fle prepared for it or you're.
[63:06]
Mina Kimes
Well, I was doing the recasting. I could do some other ones, though. My Steve Martin hate. I feel like Steve Barton hate. Well, I don't know. Criticism. I. Yeah.
[63:17]
Amanda Dobbins
All right.
[63:18]
Bill Simmons
You already did yours.
[63:19]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[63:20]
Bill Simmons
Well, this is exciting. The CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford. Hottest takeaway. A category I think we've added since the last time you've been on.
[63:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Or at least mine's fairly low stakes because, like, Steve Martin is the obvious. But. But it's. Steve Martin's not a hot take. It's a cold take. So I have a More like Nancy Myers universe.
[63:39]
Mina Kimes
Oh, I have a lot about Nancy Hot take that.
[63:42]
Amanda Dobbins
But it's not. It's. I think someone else should go first.
[63:45]
Bill Simmons
No.
[63:46]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay. Mine is that. Mine is that roast chicken might be the most overrated food in the universe.
[63:52]
Mina Kimes
I like when it's really good, and even when it's. The problem is it's often bad and dry. But when it's good and listen, I.
[63:59]
Amanda Dobbins
Like Nancy Myers believes in this and that. That's, you know, Jake's favorite meal. She kind of gets her recipe and her belief from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, who I also really respect.
[64:11]
Bill Simmons
Chang would lose his fucking.
[64:12]
Amanda Dobbins
And I'm just like, you know, it's. It's good and that's fine. And you put vegetables or potatoes or whatever, and then you have, like, some chicken. It's fine. It's fine. There are many, many really good ways to prepare chicken and many other things you can roast. There we go.
[64:33]
Mina Kimes
Isn't that, like, Ina Garten's thing, too?
[64:35]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes. She's like, I know she is. I know. I know that I am disrespecting, like, the. The women who came before me. You know, I. I get it. But, like, it's fine.
[64:46]
Bill Simmons
I like it the most when it's when the juices are crazy or when there's, like, a focaccia bread situation with it.
[64:52]
Amanda Dobbins
Totally.
[64:52]
Bill Simmons
When, like, they roast a chicken, but it's on top of a bread thing.
[64:55]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, Yeah. I absolutely like with the croutons, and it's absorbed.
[64:59]
Bill Simmons
So you're saying, like, if it's just. I'm just serving you a roasted chicken, you're not that impressed.
[65:03]
Amanda Dobbins
Just listen. If. If Ina Garden herself is making it for me.
[65:07]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[65:07]
Amanda Dobbins
Then I, I. It's one of the best things in the world. That's never happened. I'm very open to that opportunity. Also, if you go to a really fancy restaurant and they. They're like, this is our specialty. It is pretty good. But like me at home, the average person at home, you know, it's. We. We can move on.
[65:25]
Bill Simmons
I like it. It's a good, hottest take because it made me mad. Mina.
[65:29]
Mina Kimes
I've. Okay, here's one. I think Nancy Meyer's movies in general, but this movie being an example, are proof that old people should be in more stuff. Yeah, like, we need more movies of all genres. Action, spy, romance, comedy, where the leads are all over 50 years old.
[65:52]
Amanda Dobbins
I agree with that.
[65:52]
Mina Kimes
Just the characters are more believable as having lived interesting lives. The actors tend to be better. I'm. Maybe this is me aging, but I felt this way when I saw this movie in 2009. I was just out of college and I loved it. So I feel like her oeuvre is a strong case study for making more movies like this.
[66:17]
Bill Simmons
I don't even know if that's a hot take. That was a good one.
[66:20]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. Why don't we have that great take?
[66:23]
Bill Simmons
I'm going full hot.
[66:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[66:25]
Bill Simmons
Go Santa Barbara.
[66:28]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, boy, here we go.
[66:29]
Bill Simmons
Your biggest disparity between movies in real life of any location.
[66:33]
Amanda Dobbins
Speak on it. Go.
[66:34]
Mina Kimes
Like, good or bad, the sun doesn't.
[66:36]
Bill Simmons
Come out till like 2:30 in Santa Barbara. It's just a fact.
[66:39]
Amanda Dobbins
I will. I'll fact check this Sunday morning because I went to Santa Barbara this weekend.
[66:44]
Bill Simmons
I don't believe it.
[66:45]
Amanda Dobbins
It came out at 10. And I know because that's a miracle. And it was. And it was cloudy and that's like the sun. And I was worried about my son, like getting frostbite from the ocean when we went to the beach at 9am and by 10 the sun was out.
[66:59]
Bill Simmons
Santa Barbara's in a lot of movies. It's always a great location. It's perfect. It's beautiful. And then when you actually go, yeah, it's like just cloudy until 1:30. And it's never addressed by any character. It'd be like if you do Seattle movies. And it's like, whoa, another nice day here in Seattle. It's like, come on.
[67:16]
Amanda Dobbins
It is.
[67:17]
Bill Simmons
Pull this leg and place. Jingle bells.
[67:19]
Amanda Dobbins
You're making a good point. I do think you're underrating other aspects of Santa Barbara.
[67:25]
Bill Simmons
I'm pro Santa Barbara. I'm just pointing out the sun doesn't come out until 1:30 to 2 in the afternoon. And everybody there knows it. And they don't want to admit it because they all talk about how great it is.
[67:33]
Mina Kimes
It's such a strange place for people to live. To me, it is like. I mean, I know there's many people who live there and clearly love it, but like, I can't imagine spending more than three days. It's like the perfect place to spend two days.
[67:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[67:49]
Mina Kimes
Unless you're Craig.
[67:50]
Bill Simmons
Do you have Santa Barbara thoughts?
[67:51]
Craig Horlbeck
I think Santa Barbara is heaven on earth.
[67:54]
Amanda Dobbins
I'm kind of with Craig.
[67:55]
Craig Horlbeck
I would retire there in a second.
[67:58]
Bill Simmons
So you like when there's no sun until 1:30? First of all, that hasn't been my.
[68:03]
Craig Horlbeck
Experience in my drive in Santa Barbara, it's. And anywhere on the California coast, you're going to get the fog.
[68:07]
Mina Kimes
An incredible city. If you have a ton of money.
[68:10]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, sure.
[68:11]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, that's the thing. Yeah.
[68:12]
Mina Kimes
Right.
[68:13]
Amanda Dobbins
I mean, you would have horses. Yeah.
[68:16]
Bill Simmons
I don't think you have wine country.
[68:19]
Amanda Dobbins
You know, you like, how many friends.
[68:21]
Bill Simmons
Do you have who couldn't live there because the wine thing would get out of control? I have at least 12.
[68:28]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay. That's nice. Okay.
[68:31]
Bill Simmons
And all my wife's side of the food.
[68:32]
Amanda Dobbins
I would like to be friends with all of those women.
[68:35]
Bill Simmons
I have a couple of my wife. Wife's friends would be dead if they lived there. Like, dead for real.
[68:40]
Mina Kimes
How do we feel about Santa Barbara versus Ojai?
[68:43]
Bill Simmons
I really like Ojai.
[68:44]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. We were just talking about this.
[68:45]
Bill Simmons
I. The cool thing about this location thing. Santa Barbara's got a lot of options around Santa Barbara.
[68:52]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[68:52]
Bill Simmons
Cuz you can go to all these different. That's the coolest part about it. All these different things. But I just think if you're going there and pretending you're going to get an awesome tan, you might be disappointed.
[69:00]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. But maybe you just want to be by the water.
[69:03]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[69:03]
Amanda Dobbins
It's so like the amount of Bring a jacket.
[69:06]
Mina Kimes
Well, sure is. Okay.
[69:09]
Craig Horlbeck
It's also 20 degrees hotter than it is.
[69:12]
Mina Kimes
The whitest conversation ever held on rewatch.
[69:14]
Bill Simmons
We're just giving people a taste of California cereals. Yeah, we did. We did 10 minutes on cereal.
[69:21]
Mina Kimes
How do you feel about Santa Barbara versus Zohai? Is probably the widest thing I've ever said out loud.
[69:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[69:25]
Mina Kimes
Which is, you know, I mean, we're doing a Nancy. If there's, you know, Nancy Myers movies, that is. We are.
[69:32]
Amanda Dobbins
We're on topic.
[69:33]
Mina Kimes
We are very on topic.
[69:35]
Bill Simmons
Well, that was a perfect segment. We're gonna have to take a break.
[69:39]
Mina Kimes
Living with schizophrenia isn't easy, especially when you're not getting relief from some of your symptoms. It can Be hard when you're still dealing with symptoms like hearing voices or seeing things that aren't there and negative symptoms like feeling unmotivated or avoiding social situations. If this sounds familiar, it might be time to talk to your healthcare provider and explore a different kind of of schizophrenia treatment. Discover your possibilities@treating scz.com.
[70:08]
Bill Simmons
Casting what ifs?
[70:11]
Mina Kimes
Are there any.
[70:12]
Bill Simmons
They said Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas and Tom Hanks were all considered for the role of Jake. I don't know if I believe that. That's why it's. Some of this stuff's half assed. There's a Michael Douglas.
[70:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Maybe you can see it, but you even.
[70:26]
Bill Simmons
Michael Douglas is the architect.
[70:28]
Mina Kimes
I was just about to say. You were saying that. I was like, what about his arrival?
[70:31]
Amanda Dobbins
No, he's.
[70:32]
Bill Simmons
Then you just expect him to really be getting it on at some point.
[70:35]
Amanda Dobbins
Exactly. Like, there's no weakness with Michael Douglas.
[70:39]
Mina Kimes
You know, he's pretty old at this point. 2009.
[70:42]
Amanda Dobbins
No, he's okay.
[70:44]
Mina Kimes
So Craig sent the question of who's the hottest old guy ever in a romantic comedy. When we were talking about this movie, right. My mind went to Michael Douglas in American President.
[70:52]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Huge, huge fan.
[70:55]
Mina Kimes
Early Mina times, Dream Crush.
[70:58]
Amanda Dobbins
The first time that I saw Michael Douglas in a movie just because of how old I am. So then I went backwards and saw that's 95. But like, I didn't see Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction until after that. So I was. Yeah, well, I know, but I was a little taken aback. You know, I was a little disappointed in Michael Douglas.
[71:17]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[71:18]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Hottest old guy. I mean, it's gotta be the oldest Harrison Ford was ever in a rom com.
[71:24]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, but I was gonna say, if you didn't say Harrison Ford, Mallory is gonna come charging through the wall.
[71:28]
Mina Kimes
He was pretty old.
[71:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, I mean, he's older and working Girl Morning Glory. He is like the old fuddy duddy. But then he makes a frittata, you know, so God love him so much.
[71:40]
Mina Kimes
Pour one out to James Gandolfini and enough said.
[71:42]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, that is. That's a very important one. It's really good.
[71:45]
Bill Simmons
It's good.
[71:46]
Amanda Dobbins
Amazing movie.
[71:48]
Bill Simmons
Tom hanks.
[71:49]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[71:50]
Bill Simmons
Is two parts shy of movies like this in the 2000, in the 21st century.
[71:56]
Craig Horlbeck
He's the Steve Martin recast, right?
[71:58]
Bill Simmons
He should have been. Yeah, but he should have just done two of these just to get over yourself. Tom Hanks.
[72:02]
Amanda Dobbins
I know, but I think he wanted.
[72:03]
Bill Simmons
To be like part number three in a rom com. Like, why not?
[72:06]
Amanda Dobbins
Because I think he, like he did all The Nora ephrons in the 90s. I know.
[72:09]
Bill Simmons
I get it.
[72:10]
Amanda Dobbins
Wanted to break out. I guess that's fine.
[72:13]
Bill Simmons
Best that guy. So the anniversary guy in the very beginning of the movie. When With Nora Dunn. The toast.
[72:20]
Amanda Dobbins
Nora Dunn was the best guy for me.
[72:23]
Bill Simmons
She's Nora done, though.
[72:24]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[72:24]
Amanda Dobbins
But still I was like, what's Nora done doing?
[72:26]
Bill Simmons
Her husband in the movie is the guy from 2 Jillian on her 37th birthday with my queen, Michelle Pfeiffer. She's their friend. I'm probably the only person that knows that.
[72:37]
Amanda Dobbins
I don't know what that guy. That's why. Yeah. My answer was Nora, Dad.
[72:40]
Bill Simmons
But it seems when we do the Michelle Pfeiffer mountain of just the movies where she reaches queen status, I think that's okay. Fabulous Baker Boys is here. And then we get there.
[72:50]
Mina Kimes
Where's what lies Beneath?
[72:51]
Bill Simmons
She's just a dead ghost. And do you know what happens in that movie?
[72:56]
Mina Kimes
You know what happens in that movie? I was traumatized by movie. I saw it in the theaters. It was the first time. What lies Beneath?
[73:02]
Bill Simmons
No. To Jillian in her 37th.
[73:04]
Mina Kimes
Oh, pardon me. Don't think I've seen that.
[73:06]
Bill Simmons
She's married to Peter Gallagher and she dies.
[73:08]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[73:09]
Bill Simmons
And he goes to Nantucket the next year with the whole crew. But he still was still in love with Michelle Pfeiffer. That he just wanders on the beach and talks to her ghost. Because I would do the same thing if I had been married to her.
[73:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[73:23]
Bill Simmons
That's not the answer to the best. That guy, though. From Succession. The guy who played Ravenhead. Not the guy Hitler loving anchor is the New York City hotel clerk in the beginning.
[73:36]
Amanda Dobbins
Wow.
[73:36]
Bill Simmons
Ravenhead.
[73:37]
Mina Kimes
Another Succession callback.
[73:38]
Amanda Dobbins
There you go.
[73:39]
Bill Simmons
There you go.
[73:41]
Amanda Dobbins
Guess the Nancy Myers to Succession plotline is not the most surprising thing.
[73:45]
Bill Simmons
He had the same name as Hitler's dog for his dog, but it was different spelling.
[73:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay.
[73:49]
Bill Simmons
On Succession.
[73:50]
Mina Kimes
In Succession.
[73:50]
Bill Simmons
Remember that tidbit? Deanne Waiter's a word. Lake Bell eligible. Not in that movie. She's in four scenes.
[73:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Pedro, the little kid, he's doing a lot of important work. Pedro's really good. When he's like, why did you take your cell phone?
[74:07]
Bill Simmons
Pedro might be the answer.
[74:09]
Mina Kimes
It was a funny moment. And then when Alec Baldwin later says, you know, I've got a five year old at home. And also Pedro. It's a great laugh line.
[74:16]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah.
[74:17]
Bill Simmons
Recasting couch. Director City. I have Chris Pratt as the youngest son. And it's a good era.
[74:24]
Amanda Dobbins
2009. Chris Pratt.
[74:26]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. When Chris Pratt was a little chubby, had a sense of humor, was popping in different rom coms, brought something to the table. It's in five year engagement. He's.
[74:35]
Amanda Dobbins
But he doesn't have to play like. And then he just plays like. No, he has no power.
[74:39]
Bill Simmons
He's just funny. He's getting a couple jokes off one of these three kids.
[74:42]
Mina Kimes
I don't think anyone's bringing anything to the table in these roles.
[74:45]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[74:45]
Mina Kimes
These thankfulness.
[74:46]
Bill Simmons
That's why I'm bringing in Chris Pratt. Who do you have?
[74:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, Chris Pratt plus John Krasinski is like a little bit too much. NBC late 2000s comedy night. Plus plus Alec Baldwin and 30 Rock. You know, it's. That might overload it.
[75:02]
Bill Simmons
Juliet chimed in because I had to clear with her that we were doing this.
[75:08]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, of course.
[75:09]
Bill Simmons
She's in maternity leave. Just wanted to make sure she doesn't feel threatened in any way. Loves Nancy Meyer. She said, just make sure you kill Krasinski during the podcast.
[75:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I knew that she would say that.
[75:19]
Bill Simmons
That was her.
[75:19]
Mina Kimes
Does she think he's bad in this movie?
[75:22]
Amanda Dobbins
I don't think. I think that she has had her fill. Yeah. Of John Krasinski.
[75:28]
Bill Simmons
I think she's good.
[75:29]
Mina Kimes
This, to me, harkens back to a time when I liked him more and it felt like he was.
[75:33]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[75:34]
Bill Simmons
I missed this version of John. Right.
[75:35]
Mina Kimes
Like I was watching this and being like, oh, yeah. I found him so charming back then.
[75:40]
Bill Simmons
Adam Brody in that part, maybe.
[75:42]
Amanda Dobbins
Definitely.
[75:42]
Mina Kimes
Definitely. Yeah, absolutely. Same vibe.
[75:46]
Bill Simmons
Craig, you have a flex category I.
[75:48]
Craig Horlbeck
Wanted to go back to. Amanda brought it up earlier, but I wanted to hash out what the hottest job of a male love interest in a rom com could be, because I think.
[75:58]
Bill Simmons
Great topic. Right.
[75:59]
Craig Horlbeck
Steve Martin as architect is certainly up there.
[76:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Architect is a traditional.
[76:04]
Craig Horlbeck
We have perhaps a male pediatrician. There's the journalist is always in these movies. Perhaps a chef.
[76:10]
Bill Simmons
How about Delmit Mulroney in My Best Friend's Wedding? Sports writer, but son of the owner of the Chicago Cubs, but also a sportswear. Trying to forge his own way.
[76:20]
Amanda Dobbins
But he won't take a job.
[76:21]
Bill Simmons
Won't take a job with the team because he loves writing.
[76:24]
Craig Horlbeck
Grounded rich guy.
[76:25]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, grounded rich guy, but still probably.
[76:27]
Amanda Dobbins
Gonna take a job.
[76:28]
Mina Kimes
Tom Hanks is a grounded rich guy. And you've got mail. Same kind of vibe. Yeah.
[76:32]
Bill Simmons
I mean, he's destroying small bookstores all.
[76:34]
Amanda Dobbins
Over New York, but now Barnes and Noble is basically. So it's. It's okay again to like.
[76:41]
Craig Horlbeck
So you would say architect is probably on the Mount Rushmore Yeah, for sure.
[76:46]
Bill Simmons
Architect's a good one.
[76:47]
Mina Kimes
Why? What is it about?
[76:49]
Craig Horlbeck
Because it's a job that everybody wants when they're like 12.
[76:53]
Amanda Dobbins
It's creative, but still practical. Yes.
[76:56]
Craig Horlbeck
You're working with your hands A little bit.
[76:57]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[76:58]
Mina Kimes
Yes.
[76:58]
Bill Simmons
What about like Don Draper? Like running your own ad agency where you get to do pitches to clients in Iran. Parades coming in. We gotta.
[77:06]
Amanda Dobbins
I do think. I think Don Draper has sort of ruined that because Don Draper himself. So it's like, you know what comes with it, which is womanizing and zoobie, zoobie, zoo.
[77:15]
Bill Simmons
Defense attorney.
[77:18]
Craig Horlbeck
I don't know if it's lawyer.
[77:19]
Mina Kimes
Lawyers or businessmen.
[77:21]
Craig Horlbeck
What about stay at home dad whose wife has passed away?
[77:25]
Mina Kimes
It's gotta have a job. Very hard to be the male lead of a romantic comedy if you're unemployed.
[77:30]
Bill Simmons
Chef.
[77:31]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[77:31]
Craig Horlbeck
Chef.
[77:33]
Amanda Dobbins
I'm trying to think.
[77:35]
Mina Kimes
So speaking of some of the classics Chang.
[77:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Right, right, right.
[77:39]
Bill Simmons
But then Grace is great.
[77:41]
Amanda Dobbins
Burnt. That's not really a romantic comedy.
[77:44]
Craig Horlbeck
The movie chef, you know.
[77:46]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, sure.
[77:48]
Craig Horlbeck
What about a vet?
[77:50]
Bill Simmons
What's his job in Sleepless in Seattle?
[77:52]
Amanda Dobbins
I think he's an architect.
[77:54]
Mina Kimes
That's right.
[77:55]
Amanda Dobbins
I think so.
[77:56]
Bill Simmons
How about about. Well, this isn't totally romcom, but Campbell Scott and singles. What's he like? A building planner. There's like a city planner. Planning, like transport.
[78:07]
Mina Kimes
Urban.
[78:08]
Bill Simmons
Urban planner.
[78:10]
Amanda Dobbins
Sure.
[78:11]
Mina Kimes
What is sports jam?
[78:12]
Bill Simmons
The sports agent. And sports is out.
[78:14]
Mina Kimes
Sports doctor Bill Hader and train wreck.
[78:16]
Bill Simmons
Sports doctor. That's a good one.
[78:18]
Mina Kimes
Like a good veterinarian.
[78:22]
Amanda Dobbins
Maybe a physical therapist. Life balance. I mean, you will have to be on call, but not all of the time.
[78:27]
Bill Simmons
Plastic surgeon.
[78:28]
Amanda Dobbins
You know, too vain. Then you get too close to the.
[78:31]
Mina Kimes
Face of everything romantic comedy stand for.
[78:33]
Craig Horlbeck
I think Nancy knew that. It's architect, which is why she gave it to Steve Martin's character. Because he needed as much help as he could get.
[78:39]
Bill Simmons
How about oil billionaire? No. Half ass Internet research. In the scene where Jake.
[78:48]
Mina Kimes
Jake.
[78:49]
Bill Simmons
Where Jane answers a phone call from her daughter and Jake kisses her. Jake wasn't supposed to kiss her. And she screwed up and said the wrong line. And they kept it in the movie because they thought it was funny. I always liked that Baldwin said they used a body double for his nude scene.
[79:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, no joke.
[79:06]
Bill Simmons
And then a lot of this movie was filmed in New York. It's kind of depressing.
[79:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[79:12]
Bill Simmons
What is that about a lot of soundstage interiors.
[79:15]
Amanda Dobbins
I know. Do we.
[79:17]
Bill Simmons
And then use the wide shot. A Thousand Oaks. Probably because thousand oaks is 100 degrees and they did some monacino in Santa Barbara. And that's it.
[79:26]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[79:27]
Bill Simmons
Apex Mountain.
[79:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay.
[79:30]
Bill Simmons
It's no for Meryl Streep. I don't know what her apex mountain was. And she probably just is on top of the mountain. Just with chilling.
[79:36]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[79:37]
Bill Simmons
I don't know if she even had an Apex Mountain.
[79:39]
Mina Kimes
I'm kind of with you on Devil Wears Prada.
[79:41]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[79:42]
Bill Simmons
It's like the two versions of her. Right. Like early Meryl streep is like mid-80s and then second career. It's like the Tom Brady 23 game.
[79:52]
Amanda Dobbins
You could argue she does Devil Wears Prada and then does Mamma Mia. Which makes like almost a billion dollars leading to this.
[79:59]
Mina Kimes
And then she just. I was kind of. When you talked about Brady, but she didn't have a dead period. There's like no skips on her. Like every decade. She has classics. She still make like. Like don't look up, which is flawed movie. She's so funny in it. In a small role. I mean she's just big. Our rip. Big little lies.
[80:22]
Amanda Dobbins
She was so good at it and so funny and otherwise. I don't know what happened. But you know, I like literally actually.
[80:28]
Mina Kimes
Blacked out the entire series. The only thing I remember from the season that you and I recapped is Meryl Streep screaming yes at the table.
[80:36]
Bill Simmons
I miss that show.
[80:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Are they going to a. Did they make a third season or they just talked about it?
[80:41]
Bill Simmons
They're making it just as different shows that are on like Hulu where it's like. And then nobody's figured out how to crack.
[80:47]
Mina Kimes
It's like, what if Nancy Myers went super dark?
[80:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Is kind of looking. I would watch all of it. But I still don't actually remember how it ended.
[80:55]
Mina Kimes
All blank.
[80:56]
Bill Simmons
Realtor for best rom com job. Own your own real estate place.
[81:00]
Craig Horlbeck
It's not bad. It's no architect.
[81:02]
Bill Simmons
Like what about like. Like corporate real. Real estate.
[81:05]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Like real estate investor. How about that?
[81:08]
Bill Simmons
Buildings.
[81:09]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[81:09]
Craig Horlbeck
I got a humdinger here. Read Marine biologist.
[81:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. But then.
[81:14]
Mina Kimes
So never seen one Sandra Bullock because.
[81:16]
Craig Horlbeck
You'Re like animal lover.
[81:17]
Mina Kimes
That's just what kids want to be.
[81:18]
Amanda Dobbins
When you're just thinking about what kids.
[81:20]
Mina Kimes
Want to be when they maybe.
[81:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, that's what these characters are. Two Weeks Notice starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. I think pretty underrated. Even though Donald Trump is in it. They. They call her like boyfriend that she never sees. And it's not a real relationship. Is a marine biologist.
[81:36]
Mina Kimes
I think for like in two weeks notice.
[81:38]
Amanda Dobbins
C piece or something. And so he's never around. So that's the thing about marine biologists is they're unavailable.
[81:44]
Mina Kimes
Female. Female job in a romcom. Sports writer. There's been a few over the years. Oh, yeah, it's happened a few times, which I feel like.
[81:53]
Amanda Dobbins
Are any of them good at sports writing?
[81:55]
Mina Kimes
Oh, I see the movies. I don't think there's any good ones with female sports writers.
[81:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Is Zoe Deutch in Set It Up?
[82:02]
Mina Kimes
Yes. She wants to be a sports writer. Yes.
[82:05]
Amanda Dobbins
Remember, that's the one with one of.
[82:06]
Mina Kimes
The rare good ground fake ringers. Yeah, that movie. It's one of the best.
[82:13]
Bill Simmons
It's fake, wasn't it. Was it fake Ringer or fake Greenland?
[82:16]
Amanda Dobbins
It was during ringer time. But, you know, probably with turnaround. It's fake Greyland. They didn't. They didn't have podcasts.
[82:22]
Bill Simmons
What would be the best ESPN job for a rom com?
[82:25]
Mina Kimes
For the man or the womanhead?
[82:27]
Bill Simmons
It could be either they. Could it be PTI co host? Rom com can't find love in Washington?
[82:34]
Craig Horlbeck
Sideline reporter.
[82:35]
Mina Kimes
Sideline reporter is the answer.
[82:37]
Amanda Dobbins
Good job. Yeah.
[82:38]
Mina Kimes
Because you set up so many good. That's the perfect for you to set up so many, like, funny moments with players. This is why Trainwreck, I think, made him a sports doctor. For the setup, the set pieces that came out of that. And also to get LeBron James in the movie.
[82:52]
Amanda Dobbins
I thought LeBron was good in it.
[82:53]
Bill Simmons
LeBron was good in that movie. I support LeBron's performance.
[82:56]
Mina Kimes
One of the better athlete acting performances.
[82:58]
Bill Simmons
Alec Baldwin. Apex Mountain. It might be with this and 30 Rock at the same time and SNL and he's like his character Steve Martin. No, Steve Martin's apex was the late 70s when he had the Jerk and the number one comedy album and was selling out or maybe is everywhere and was the best SNL host and.
[83:14]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[83:15]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. His and her sinks. Apex Mountain.
[83:19]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, well.
[83:20]
Bill Simmons
Has there been more conversation about his and her sinks in a movie ever?
[83:24]
Amanda Dobbins
I'm. I'm literally thinking through the other Nancy.
[83:26]
Bill Simmons
M. I thought she made a good case about.
[83:28]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. And it makes his sink.
[83:30]
Bill Simmons
Just makes you feel bad.
[83:31]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. But then Steve Martin says, well, maybe you might want these.
[83:34]
Amanda Dobbins
I gotta tell you, though, we. We find her sinks after.
[83:38]
Bill Simmons
They're a must.
[83:39]
Amanda Dobbins
Just not waiting to brush your teeth is absolutely. It's the little things, you know, that change your life.
[83:45]
Mina Kimes
Are you guilty of the same creep as I am? Where my stuff is just slowly migrated over and taken over the entire.
[83:52]
Bill Simmons
That's the thing, the double sink situation.
[83:54]
Amanda Dobbins
We actually have separate. Like, there's a bake like, separate basins and the counter doesn't go. No, but then I do use that sometimes for, like, other stuff because mine is, like, full of everything. And so then I gotta go over and use his counter space.
[84:13]
Bill Simmons
Nancy Myers. I think it's the Holiday.
[84:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, the Holiday.
[84:18]
Bill Simmons
Holiday. Make, like, a shitload of money.
[84:20]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[84:20]
Amanda Dobbins
Did it.
[84:21]
Bill Simmons
It's gotta be the Holiday. I thought it did.
[84:22]
Amanda Dobbins
I think that. I think that's.
[84:24]
Bill Simmons
It's. Something's Gotta Give.
[84:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I think. Because I. Let's do Nancy Meyer's box office really quickly, because if I recall the Holiday.
[84:30]
Bill Simmons
Holiday crush.
[84:31]
Amanda Dobbins
Nancy. I might be.
[84:33]
Craig Horlbeck
They all make about 200 million.
[84:35]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, I think that's true, but I think the Holiday was a little bit lower in domestically. And then.
[84:43]
Bill Simmons
All right, so we'll go. Something's Got to Give.
[84:45]
Mina Kimes
Something's Gotta Give also gets more nominations.
[84:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[84:48]
Mina Kimes
And acting. I mean, Something's Gotta Give is a better movie. I love this movie. I'm thrilled to rewatch it. But I actually rewatched Something's Gotta Give Give this weekend as well. I'm a completist. And that was actually kind of a mistake, because the compare. When you watch them back to back.
[85:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[85:05]
Mina Kimes
Something's Got to Give is slightly better.
[85:07]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, I think I agree with that.
[85:08]
Amanda Dobbins
It. I. I mean, it is performance, but.
[85:11]
Bill Simmons
I enjoy this movie more because it's funnier and there's more stuff to make fun of.
[85:14]
Amanda Dobbins
Complete. I with you 100%.
[85:16]
Bill Simmons
We don't get three zombie unemployed kids and Something's Got to Give. Divorce. Couple movies.
[85:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Not the apex, but where the couple is still.
[85:27]
Bill Simmons
It centers around the couple being divorced but still being together.
[85:31]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I mean, sorry to be Sean for a second, but then there is like a whole.
[85:35]
Bill Simmons
Well, you go the 50s, 60s.
[85:37]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. The. The comedy of remarriage. Like His Girl Friday. They're divorced, you know, and then they wind up.
[85:42]
Bill Simmons
I thought the greatest thing you did.
[85:43]
Mina Kimes
There was to be.
[85:44]
Bill Simmons
Sorry to be Sean there for a second, which somehow felt insulting, which I loved.
[85:49]
Mina Kimes
I was like, I know she's gonna say something pretentious.
[85:51]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[85:52]
Mina Kimes
And I don't know what direction.
[85:54]
Amanda Dobbins
Good movie.
[85:54]
Mina Kimes
I didn't hear. I thought you were gonna go like some French movie or like a Separation, the Iranian movie about divorce, which is amazing.
[86:00]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. No, just like, basically in the 40s and 50s.
[86:03]
Mina Kimes
His girl Friday, I think Nancy Myers has said, is, like, one of her greatest influences as a film.
[86:08]
Amanda Dobbins
It shows up on all of the screwball comedies.
[86:10]
Mina Kimes
Philadelphia Story.
[86:11]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[86:12]
Bill Simmons
Krasinski.
[86:13]
Amanda Dobbins
No, no, but close.
[86:16]
Bill Simmons
It's not the Quiet place. I mean, they did that.
[86:19]
Amanda Dobbins
That's a great point. I forgot about that. That. Yeah. And Marrying Emily Blunt.
[86:23]
Bill Simmons
I do like this version of Krasinski I'm good with.
[86:26]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[86:26]
Bill Simmons
I didn't like when whatever. This new version.
[86:29]
Craig Horlbeck
Chris Pratt ruined him because he saw what Chris Pratt did.
[86:31]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[86:31]
Craig Horlbeck
And then was like, I can do that.
[86:33]
Bill Simmons
And who's the other guy? Comme Nani. Yeah. When he did the superhero movie and then he got ripped. Anyone who's like, look how buff I am now, he's just like, put a clock on that. When that's going to go bad. The Nancy Meyer's houses. Probably the holiday. That one.
[86:50]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, the Holiday Cotswolds.
[86:52]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[86:53]
Amanda Dobbins
The British house.
[86:54]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. That's pretty great.
[86:55]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[86:55]
Mina Kimes
This is the best kitchen.
[86:58]
Bill Simmons
I agree with the kitchen.
[86:59]
Amanda Dobbins
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Something's got to give. Kitchen, guys. Come on, kitchen. But this. There's something's got to give. It's got the island, and then it also has, like, the wraparound counter so you can use the island for cooking. Plus people can be sitting at the counter. There's more storage space. I don't want to get into it, but there are cabinets. You know, I think it's just. It's roomy.
[87:22]
Mina Kimes
It's a little more conventional.
[87:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, it is. It is. This is. This is lived in. But, like, she does have, like, an Ikea storage thing on the. Okay, well, now we just have unlock your dream bathroom ads.
[87:33]
Bill Simmons
Oh, man, look at the Internet these days.
[87:36]
Mina Kimes
Something's gotta give. Kitchen we are looking at.
[87:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[87:39]
Mina Kimes
Has a giant island.
[87:40]
Amanda Dobbins
I know. Do you know in real life, Nancy does two kitchen islands. Islands. Did you know this? She has one for cooking and one for.
[87:46]
Bill Simmons
Does love the islands.
[87:47]
Mina Kimes
So.
[87:48]
Amanda Dobbins
So do I.
[87:49]
Mina Kimes
You guys, I'm sure, have read or heard her speak about being, like, having mixed feelings about the fact that people are so obsessed with the interiors in her movies or that really, I would think, too.
[88:00]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. She doesn't like it at all because I think she finds it reductive. And I think to the review that Mina or the reviews that Mina was talking about, like, it is often discussed as. As, you know, fluff. As a.
[88:13]
Mina Kimes
It's for chicks, it's for women. It's escapism.
[88:17]
Amanda Dobbins
Not with respect to Nancy.
[88:18]
Bill Simmons
If you're listening, please don't feel that way.
[88:19]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, Nancy, this is hardware production design. It's like. It is actual. It's character development. I. It's. She has a gift.
[88:28]
Mina Kimes
I feel, again, to go back to, like, the John Wick analogy of a genre film. It is like a beautifully choreographed fight. Like it's taking an element of a genre film and. And cranking it up to 11 and doing it in a better level than anyone else.
[88:40]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[88:41]
Bill Simmons
Nancy shouldn't feel that way. It's like my mispronunciations and factual errors that the audience enjoys. I embrace it. I'm super happy that they can share that with me.
[88:52]
Amanda Dobbins
Croque monsieur. One more time.
[88:53]
Bill Simmons
Croque.
[88:54]
Amanda Dobbins
Croque monsieur.
[88:55]
Bill Simmons
That might have been my toughest one ever.
[88:56]
Mina Kimes
Monsieur.
[88:57]
Bill Simmons
Croque monsieur. Monsieur Craig couldn't say it either.
[89:00]
Amanda Dobbins
French, I think it's like monsieur, but it's like, even though it's spelled M O, N. I don't know.
[89:06]
Mina Kimes
Don't bite me. My first date with my husband, I confidently ordered broccoli rabe.
[89:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, yeah.
[89:12]
Mina Kimes
And have gotten shit about that forever, I think.
[89:16]
Amanda Dobbins
Forever. I thought it was Tame Impala instead of Tame Impala. I don't know. I don't know. I just. I didn't hear it said outside for a long time, and then I just. That's what I thought. Anyway, we're all here.
[89:27]
Bill Simmons
The mispronunciation things are so funny. We were in a wedding in Pittsburgh, and one of my college roommates, Blue Boy, we drove by Duquesne University and he said, hey, it's Duquesne.
[89:36]
Mina Kimes
Oh, no.
[89:37]
Bill Simmons
We still. 30 years later, it still comes up, like, can't get enough of it. Lake Bell. Caitlyn Fitzgerald. No. Zoe Kazan. No. And we'll go to Cruise or Hanks. I think this is a Hanks movie.
[89:48]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. A th percent.
[89:49]
Bill Simmons
I didn't cruise in this movie.
[89:51]
Mina Kimes
I don't know any part runs away with it. Like, totally.
[89:55]
Bill Simmons
It would have been a good.
[89:56]
Amanda Dobbins
But then there. Yeah. But, like, maybe there's less tension.
[89:59]
Bill Simmons
Scorsese. Spielberg. Spielberg.
[90:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, I think Scorsese. Crazy. Give me a gritty version. Give me, like, gritty Santa Barbara. Well, maybe. Maybe it's not Santa Barbara.
[90:08]
Mina Kimes
Kramer is the gritty version.
[90:10]
Amanda Dobbins
But she, like, doesn't know what to do, and she's spiraling, spiraling out. And like the one joint.
[90:14]
Bill Simmons
Because pot turns into cocaine.
[90:16]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. And it's just like, what do I do? I, like, fucked up my whole life and now I'm, you know, sleeping with my devil's playing. Yeah. Then the kids are actually screwed up.
[90:25]
Bill Simmons
Does the head bob?
[90:26]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, there we go. She's already kind of doing the head bob, just for different reasons.
[90:30]
Bill Simmons
What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman have played? The Steve Martin part would have been interesting.
[90:35]
Amanda Dobbins
Plastic surgeon. Oh, he would be so funny.
[90:39]
Bill Simmons
At that, he could have. Also young Philip Seymour Hoffman as the youngest kid. Just as we keep recasting that guy picking knits. Why did they break up in the first place? I don't know. It seemed like they had a lot of chemistry. I guess he just got a little randy with Agnes.
[90:55]
Amanda Dobbins
He cheated. And then why did he marry Agnes? It's very confusing.
[91:00]
Bill Simmons
Well, and it seems like she. And then she cheated on him with somebody else.
[91:03]
Mina Kimes
And then they got weird.
[91:05]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a little.
[91:08]
Mina Kimes
Throw that in to not to make us not feel sorry for her. Not that we should anyways, because she is already the other woman. But I think that little bit of biographical data is so that we as an audience have total permission to be like, screw that woman.
[91:22]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[91:22]
Mina Kimes
She was complicit in one affair. She had another affair. It's not even his kid. Like, if it was his kid, I actually think we would have felt maybe a little bit differently about him skipping out on them.
[91:33]
Bill Simmons
There's a lot of moves to make us not like her over two hours in this movie.
[91:38]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[91:39]
Bill Simmons
Krasinski's picking it. Krasinski's definitely telling his wife immediately. I just saw your dad and your mom going up into a hotel elevator and they're about to fuck. And you should know this right now. Now nobody's hiding that information. You don't hide from your spouses like that.
[91:56]
Mina Kimes
Especially that. Because it's not that.
[91:58]
Bill Simmons
What's the upside of hiding?
[91:59]
Mina Kimes
There's not. It's not actually, like, bad.
[92:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, sense.
[92:02]
Bill Simmons
I. Like, I wouldn't.
[92:03]
Amanda Dobbins
I wouldn't be able to wait to.
[92:05]
Bill Simmons
Tell my wife that this is happening.
[92:06]
Amanda Dobbins
I was like, you're not going to.
[92:08]
Bill Simmons
Believe what I just saw, that I.
[92:09]
Amanda Dobbins
Don'T have any information like this in my real life. But I am thinking a little bit about. I don't know. No, not Patrick Swayze. Just got into the mix. He's like, what?
[92:21]
Mina Kimes
He's leaning in.
[92:23]
Amanda Dobbins
There are some things where to protect the other person. It's like, do you need to know this thing that's gonna just like, freak you out for something.
[92:31]
Bill Simmons
There's something wrong with her. Which there might be the way they presented her.
[92:34]
Mina Kimes
We're drawing a line here.
[92:36]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[92:36]
Mina Kimes
Which is there's two types of people. And Bill and I both love being the purveyors of gossip.
[92:42]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[92:43]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. I feel a hard time. The pricing relationship is built on this foundation. I love nothing more than going to the group chat with like a. I mean, sure.
[92:52]
Amanda Dobbins
I love also having gossip and sharing the gossip. But like she would probably have a meltdown, as she eventually does. So does she.
[93:01]
Bill Simmons
Like she put pajamas on outside for one minute.
[93:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, I don't. I guess I would tell the person, but I don't know if I would run. It wouldn't feel like I found out this amazing story about like someone else's marriage or someone else's something, you know what I mean? It would feel a little bit more like, I gotta tell you, this thing.
[93:16]
Bill Simmons
That'S going on, his father in law and his mother in law sneaking up this elevator to go fuck each other. Like he's definitely telling his.
[93:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, he is, but I don't think he's going to be like, can you like, you know, it's, it's not like the.
[93:32]
Mina Kimes
I would be texting as I'm walking away from them to 20 people.
[93:35]
Amanda Dobbins
I don't think that I would be Meryl being like, I'm having an affair with Agnes Adler's husband, you know?
[93:39]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[93:40]
Mina Kimes
I would tell my partner. I would tell it as a blind item to people I know who have never met them. You would not believe what just happened to me. And post a Reddit thread.
[93:50]
Bill Simmons
Any other picket nits? We did a lot already.
[93:52]
Mina Kimes
I have one. Do we think the laptop scene was believable? Like the, like the, the whatever they're in 2009. Are they like eye chatting or video chatting?
[94:02]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, yeah, it was. They were very quick to, to like Skyping or whatever that you were doing.
[94:08]
Mina Kimes
Baldwin, the computer's open there.
[94:10]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[94:11]
Mina Kimes
He sees it. He's looking straight at it and he's.
[94:14]
Bill Simmons
I don't understand what he's trying to do in that scene. I guess he's like, like he's the computer.
[94:19]
Amanda Dobbins
He's seducing. But it's like a fig leaf. But instead of a fig leaf, it's a computer screen.
[94:24]
Mina Kimes
Even in 2009, surely you would look at the computer screen before putting your junk in front of it.
[94:30]
Amanda Dobbins
I agree with all of that. My nitpick is like a two seconds later in that very scene, which is just like the butt double that you mentioned, like, is smooth as a baby's bottom. And that's just not very convincing given the amount of body hair that we're seeing on the rest of Alec Baldwin. Yeah, it's just, it's a very obvious butt double. I have one more also. Chocolate croissants are usually square. Thank you. They are. And they roll them up. Yeah, they're like Pillsbury Dough things. But when you buy, you know, I bought one yesterday and it was. It was square. It was delicious.
[95:03]
Bill Simmons
They're really great. They're really, really delicious.
[95:06]
Mina Kimes
There's never enough chocolate for me. I'm always, like, eating around it.
[95:09]
Bill Simmons
Well, I think that's the secret with her with. In the movie. I think there's a lot of chocolate.
[95:16]
Amanda Dobbins
In those crusts also.
[95:18]
Craig Horlbeck
It takes, like days to make a croissant.
[95:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Does it?
[95:22]
Craig Horlbeck
You gotta let the dough sit. You don't just crank a croissant out.
[95:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, then maybe that dough was already there. Do you see them mixing the dough?
[95:29]
Craig Horlbeck
She's running the dough through the thing to thin it out.
[95:31]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, yeah, but maybe that dough was made and set and then she's thinning it out before. They are handling the dough a lot. For what? I. I'm not an expert expert for.
[95:39]
Craig Horlbeck
Like a midnight croissant one. It's perfect.
[95:42]
Amanda Dobbins
You're not supposed to get that handsy with dough. As I understand it. It toughens it up.
[95:47]
Bill Simmons
Anyway, my thing is for the amount of time it takes to make a cookie versus the amount of time it makes to it takes to make a croissant.
[95:55]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[95:55]
Mina Kimes
Yeah.
[95:55]
Bill Simmons
The disparity of quality is not worth the extra time. I'd rather just have the cookie. Just have a really good chocolate chip cookie. Versus, like, I'm gonna spend three more days making you chocolate chip cookies.
[96:05]
Craig Horlbeck
It's a very patient thing for them to do, to hide people.
[96:08]
Mina Kimes
I have been been almost shunned from my family for having box of baked goods, taking a chocolate croissant and just taking out the chocolate part and eating chocolate because I don't want to eat the rest of it. You know, there's like a strip in the middle of chocolate. You just kind of like, rip off the other sides of it.
[96:24]
Amanda Dobbins
I'll do that with the bottom of the croissant because that's where the chocolate and the butter meet the pan. And so the dough is extra chocolatey. Buttery. I now.
[96:37]
Bill Simmons
Sequel prequel, Prestige to the All Black cast or Untouchable. I'd actually be in for the all Black cast for this one. I think they could run that back. I got kind of excited thinking about it. Maybe that's what Netflix could do.
[96:49]
Amanda Dobbins
I would also watch a prequel. That is why they got divorced. I mean, and it would be gnarly. It wouldn't feel as good.
[96:56]
Mina Kimes
That's Kramer versus Kramer.
[96:58]
Amanda Dobbins
It is sort of Kramer versus Kramer. But, you know, whatever's the whole Santa Barbara scene, the affair, whatever's going on with Lake Bell, I'd watch it.
[97:06]
Mina Kimes
Her movies never really put, you in the pain. And I think that's part of why they're so enjoyable to rewatch is like, I'm never gonna feel that bad. The worst I'm gonna feel is when at the very end, like, oh, Alec Baldwin's not gonna get by Chicago.
[97:19]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[97:19]
Mina Kimes
Yeah, that's it.
[97:21]
Bill Simmons
Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trejo, Doris Burke, Sam Jackson, Nell Byron Mayo, Tony Romo, Chris Collinsworth, Daniel Plainview, long legs or Wilford Brimley in the firm? Since Mina said we got to do football, I think Tony Romo doing the. No, Tony Romo announcing the laptop scene.
[97:41]
Mina Kimes
Oh, yeah.
[97:44]
Bill Simmons
He'S going for it.
[97:46]
Amanda Dobbins
I was also thinking football, but what about Chris Collinsworth just at the bakery ordering, like, in a little quarter vest.
[97:54]
Bill Simmons
Oh, my.
[97:54]
Amanda Dobbins
You can see it, right?
[97:55]
Bill Simmons
Look at these chocolate croissants, Mike. They look so good a guy. Oh, man.
[98:00]
Mina Kimes
He has a little bit of a romantic comedy energy to him.
[98:05]
Amanda Dobbins
You could see him in the M.
[98:07]
Bill Simmons
This bakery smells so good. M football's coming back.
[98:10]
Craig Horlbeck
Craig Collinsworth is a sneaky Liz Kelly crush.
[98:13]
Bill Simmons
Really?
[98:14]
Amanda Dobbins
Wow.
[98:14]
Craig Horlbeck
She's kind of a silver fox.
[98:16]
Bill Simmons
We're less than. What are we, eight weeks away now, as we take this on Monday, July.
[98:20]
Mina Kimes
7Th, I did Division previews this week.
[98:22]
Bill Simmons
Holy mackerel. Just one Oscar. Who gets.
[98:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Gets it?
[98:25]
Bill Simmons
Interesting question.
[98:31]
Amanda Dobbins
It's a classic supporting actor. Fun one. I'm. I'm for it.
[98:36]
Bill Simmons
Do you want to quickly go through the 2010 Oscars to see.
[98:39]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, of course.
[98:40]
Bill Simmons
Who we go 2000. I'm always so confused with the Oscars. It's like the Super Bowl. There we go.
[98:45]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. Like, what do we call it? The 2019, 2009 season.
[98:48]
Bill Simmons
All right. Sporting actor. Wow. Christoph Waltz. Bastards.
[98:53]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I mean, he should win.
[98:55]
Bill Simmons
Stanley Tucci. Lovely bones.
[98:57]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, we could replace it.
[98:59]
Bill Simmons
Christopher Plummer in the Last station. Woody Harrelson and the Messenger. Matt Damon and Invictus. What the hell is going on there? Jesus. Baldwin could have snuck in there.
[99:09]
Amanda Dobbins
Absolutely.
[99:09]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Glad we did that. Probably an answerable question. Does. Does Jack have a job? What's his job? Does he have an office? Where's he going? It's time to just drive. Hang out at his wife's driveway.
[99:26]
Mina Kimes
Jake, Jake, Jake. He's a lawyer, right?
[99:27]
Amanda Dobbins
He made partner.
[99:28]
Bill Simmons
Did I say Jack?
[99:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, you said Jack. Yeah.
[99:30]
Bill Simmons
The gas is really starting to get the gasoline in my sleeve, Jake. But, Jake, no cases.
[99:37]
Mina Kimes
He has a lot of time.
[99:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, I mean, what kind of lawyer and what kind of business did he take a work Santa Barbara firm seeing? Like what all the people who have money in Santa Barbara. What's it from? Like, oil, aerospace.
[99:50]
Bill Simmons
There's probably a lot of, like, real estate disputes and, like, trying to sue companies that are trying to.
[99:55]
Mina Kimes
Who grew up there with money. And his dad is a lawyer. No. His mom is a lawyer, and his dad is a doctor.
[100:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, okay.
[100:02]
Mina Kimes
And I think that's it. I think it's like, doctors and lawyers.
[100:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, wow.
[100:04]
Mina Kimes
And retired people.
[100:06]
Bill Simmons
Is this the Meryl Streep laugh record for a movie? I think it has to be. It's like over 120 mirrors.
[100:13]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Probably. Nervous laughs, funny laughs.
[100:16]
Bill Simmons
Like one to two a minute. 1.12 laughs per minute.
[100:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[100:22]
Bill Simmons
In this. I have one more. If you guys have any. If you. Either of you have one. I have a really good one.
[100:27]
Mina Kimes
What is it?
[100:28]
Amanda Dobbins
I mean, I do.
[100:29]
Bill Simmons
It's probably an answerable question.
[100:31]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes. I would like to know what's in the noodle thing that they talk about and fight over at the end.
[100:35]
Mina Kimes
I thought it might. They show a pasta salad earlier, and.
[100:38]
Amanda Dobbins
I was thinking maybe the green one. Like the pesto.
[100:40]
Mina Kimes
Yeah. The cherry tomato looking in it.
[100:44]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[100:45]
Bill Simmons
All right, here's my unanswerable question. Should it be okay to have an affair with your ex wife?
[100:52]
Amanda Dobbins
Like, so you're remarried or ex.
[100:55]
Mina Kimes
I have.
[100:56]
Bill Simmons
So should the first wife have territorial dibs for eternity? Regardless of what happens with future marriages?
[101:04]
Mina Kimes
I. Okay, so you guys are.
[101:05]
Amanda Dobbins
This.
[101:05]
Mina Kimes
You're in the. This is your lives.
[101:07]
Bill Simmons
This is the kind of content we need. Craig.
[101:09]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[101:12]
Mina Kimes
My take is this kind of connects me. We were talking about Lake Bell's character. If the second wife is who you left her for.
[101:20]
Bill Simmons
Green light green, so.
[101:22]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, that's.
[101:24]
Mina Kimes
Okay.
[101:24]
Amanda Dobbins
Good.
[101:25]
Mina Kimes
Was.
[101:25]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[101:25]
Mina Kimes
She knew what she was buying into.
[101:27]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes.
[101:29]
Mina Kimes
If, however, you get divorced, you met someone else. Not cool.
[101:33]
Bill Simmons
So how do I feel some sort of connection to the first marriage.
[101:37]
Mina Kimes
I think that's pretty good.
[101:38]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Yes.
[101:40]
Bill Simmons
I think I agree with that.
[101:41]
Amanda Dobbins
I'm. I'm okay with it.
[101:43]
Mina Kimes
No one watching this movie feels an ounce of sympathy for, like, Bill's character at any point. And the movie takes great pains.
[101:49]
Bill Simmons
But if he had. They gotten divorced and he had just married some, like, schoolteacher who's, like a kindergarten teacher, then you. You start feeling bad.
[101:57]
Mina Kimes
Okay, let me refer.
[101:58]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay.
[101:59]
Mina Kimes
The age factor. What if he was with a woman his age?
[102:03]
Amanda Dobbins
Would we. I still think you made the key distinction, which is. Is if. If the spouse cheated with the new, you know, the new spouse.
[102:14]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
[102:15]
Amanda Dobbins
Then the, like, the other person, the third person. Is fair game. Maybe it doesn't have dibs, but it's not bad. You're not a bad person.
[102:22]
Bill Simmons
I'm really glad we talked this out.
[102:23]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[102:24]
Bill Simmons
What piece of memorability would you want or not want from this movie? It can't be any of the food, cuz. Food.
[102:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Or the house.
[102:30]
Bill Simmons
Or the house. Or.
[102:34]
Amanda Dobbins
Garden hat. Meryl's garden hat. I thought it looked pretty good. I told you I'm in the market for a wider brimmed hat.
[102:41]
Mina Kimes
Are you gardening?
[102:42]
Amanda Dobbins
We're trying. We're doing.
[102:44]
Mina Kimes
He's a great little terrace.
[102:46]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. No, I mean, listen. We already had to get rid of one plant. But listen, they teach the children to garden at like in preschool now. So my son has a little basil plant that he wants to. So we're trying to keep one thing alive for Knox.
[102:59]
Bill Simmons
I didn't have an answer for this one. I wouldn't want any memorabilia from this movie.
[103:03]
Amanda Dobbins
All right.
[103:04]
Bill Simmons
Couldn't come up with one thing.
[103:05]
Amanda Dobbins
Cars aren't eligible either. Right.
[103:07]
Bill Simmons
I thought like the fake joints they use for this could be fun. But I don't know where you would like. Who would I show that to?
[103:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Right.
[103:12]
Bill Simmons
Well, what about. Come into my study. The fake joint from. It's complicated. I don't know.
[103:18]
Amanda Dobbins
Do you garden?
[103:19]
Bill Simmons
Maybe the sign of the. Was there a sign of the bakery she owned?
[103:23]
Mina Kimes
I don't think they show the outside of it ever. Only the inside side. I don't garden.
[103:27]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay.
[103:27]
Mina Kimes
But I. You know, I bake. But no gardening.
[103:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[103:31]
Bill Simmons
The Coach Finack award. Best life lesson. I think it's okay to hook up with your ex husband if she. If he's with the person that. That he had the affair with. I think we've just figured that out. I think that's now a life.
[103:45]
Amanda Dobbins
Okay, that's good. That's important.
[103:48]
Bill Simmons
Best double feature choice. Mina, what do you. You have and is this movie first or second in the double feature?
[103:54]
Mina Kimes
It's Something's gotta give. I would not watch this if something's gotta give.
[103:57]
Amanda Dobbins
Actually, you wouldn't.
[103:58]
Mina Kimes
That is my recommendation after literally doing that this weekend. Do not do it. They're too similar and this movie does not benefit from the comparison.
[104:06]
Bill Simmons
Good to know.
[104:07]
Mina Kimes
Okay, I think his Kramer. Kramer versus Kramer in this movie would actually be a very funny double feature.
[104:13]
Bill Simmons
That's a good one. I like it.
[104:14]
Mina Kimes
The Meryl Divorce.
[104:15]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. I have a slightly lighter weight one which is Julie versus Julia and Julia, which is the same year. Also Meryl Streep. You get one lesser but still enjoyable. Nora EFRON. One like mid tier, but great. Nancy Myers.
[104:33]
Bill Simmons
Okay.
[104:34]
Amanda Dobbins
Same era.
[104:35]
Bill Simmons
Compare and contrast and have a great irreconcilable differences.
[104:39]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, that's a good one.
[104:40]
Bill Simmons
Which is not available.
[104:41]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Which is impossible to see.
[104:42]
Bill Simmons
God hate us. Who won the movie?
[104:47]
Amanda Dobbins
Baldwin. Yeah, I think Baldwin won the movie.
[104:50]
Bill Simmons
As good as Streep, as likable as she is in it. I think he's just really great in this.
[104:56]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah. Yeah.
[104:57]
Mina Kimes
Especially like someone whose reputation, like, I. I hadn't seen this movie since 2009 until rew or no. I'd seen it maybe once since then, but it's been a while rewatching it. I was shocked by how good he is in it. And I remember thinking at the time, but it's like, oh, my God, what a performance.
[105:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Yes.
[105:13]
Bill Simmons
Craig, who won the movie?
[105:14]
Craig Horlbeck
Baldwin for sure.
[105:15]
Bill Simmons
Okay. Your thoughts?
[105:17]
Craig Horlbeck
I've seen this movie a couple times. It's great. Super enjoyable. I think it's. I think it was better this time than when I had last watched it. Poor Ebert just didn't know what was coming. I mean, there was probably only 5 good rom coms after this movie since that.
[105:29]
Bill Simmons
Right?
[105:29]
Mina Kimes
I mean, true.
[105:30]
Craig Horlbeck
There's just not a lot out there. And I think he was a little bit of an embarrassment of riches of rom coms for a while. It was slowing down, I think, in the 2000s. But, um, I also think this movie is, like, more about food than any movie that's not explicitly about food. Like, I just. So many of the relationships are surrounded by food. I love the subtext of, like. And I just noticed this, this time, like, the way Baldwin's character eats and interacts with her food versus how Steve Martin's character eats and interacts with her food is, like, very indicative of their relationships and the way they interact with one another. Even like the family, there's just. There's just so many. Like the late night snacking after the. After the family dinner where they're all at the fridge, like, eating the leftovers around the island, the dinner party, her serving everybody the late night ice cream, the drunk croissant. I just think this is one of the best food movies ever, and it's not really about food at all.
[106:17]
Mina Kimes
Are you saying it feels like everyone else is, like, entitled to her food and they expect it to just be around and behave with the food?
[106:24]
Bill Simmons
Like, moments like a glutton noodles.
[106:27]
Mina Kimes
Oh, no, I finished it. Yeah.
[106:28]
Craig Horlbeck
And how indulgent he is with it. Him, like, coming over and eating the croque monsieur, even though it was like Steve Martin's. He doesn't give a shit. Yeah, yeah, it's great. It's a. Mom calm.
[106:39]
Bill Simmons
The youngest son is just smiling like a psychopath as he eats leftover. Yeah, kids make things about killing people.
[106:46]
Craig Horlbeck
I had a title idea. This was actually the title of a rom com that came five years later, which I never saw, but Meryl Streep in this movie refers to herself now as the other one. Woman, which I thought would have been a good time.
[106:57]
Mina Kimes
Is the rom com. That's not as good.
[106:58]
Amanda Dobbins
That's a good one. Yeah. And it is not as good.
[107:01]
Craig Horlbeck
She calls herself.
[107:02]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, I mean, it's. It's funny.
[107:04]
Bill Simmons
Who's in that one?
[107:05]
Amanda Dobbins
It's Brooklyn Decker, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[107:09]
Mina Kimes
What you're talking about.
[107:10]
Bill Simmons
No. Kate Upton. It's Kate up.
[107:12]
Amanda Dobbins
Is it?
[107:12]
Craig Horlbeck
Yeah, it's Kate Upton.
[107:14]
Amanda Dobbins
Oh, wow. Okay, Well, I apologize.
[107:15]
Craig Horlbeck
Is it Leslie? Who's the other. Who's the other woman?
[107:18]
Bill Simmons
My wife likes that movie, the Sweetest Thing. Thing is a big, big favorite for her. Although she likes every romcom. I don't even know if it's. It's just. She likes all of them.
[107:29]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[107:29]
Craig Horlbeck
It's the biggest casualty of streaming, right? The rom com. It'll never come back.
[107:32]
Bill Simmons
They've just got. They're bad now.
[107:34]
Amanda Dobbins
They just.
[107:34]
Mina Kimes
They won't set it up really good. I thought it was the Glen Pal.
[107:38]
Craig Horlbeck
Pre pandemic eight years ago.
[107:39]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah.
[107:39]
Mina Kimes
Geez. Palm Springs I thought was good.
[107:42]
Amanda Dobbins
It was.
[107:42]
Mina Kimes
That was the last.
[107:43]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, that was 2020.
[107:44]
Mina Kimes
That's the last good one that I.
[107:46]
Bill Simmons
That's also like a genre like that Sydney Sweeney. We love Glenn Powell here in the rewatch. Balls. But that movie was bad.
[107:52]
Mina Kimes
One of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life.
[107:54]
Amanda Dobbins
Incredibly bad.
[107:55]
Mina Kimes
And I say that as one who loves rom coms. So many plot points in that movie hinge on someone overhearing something.
[108:01]
Amanda Dobbins
Right, Right. Yeah, it's bad.
[108:05]
Bill Simmons
My daughter loved it and saw it, like, 10 times. Maybe that's your answer.
[108:08]
Amanda Dobbins
You know, that's the problem. The other one is they won't give Nancy the money to make her movie.
[108:13]
Mina Kimes
Give Nancy the money.
[108:14]
Amanda Dobbins
Give Nancy the money.
[108:15]
Mina Kimes
All of these movies are good.
[108:16]
Craig Horlbeck
She was getting crazy budget budgets. 80 million for something's gotta give in. Oh, three. That was more than the Matrix budget.
[108:21]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, but then it made.
[108:25]
Mina Kimes
Which movie has stood the test of time.
[108:26]
Amanda Dobbins
We're gonna Listen. Hydrangeas cost a lot. Okay? Hydrangeas are expensive. And that volume to have on set every day, that's what it costs.
[108:34]
Bill Simmons
It Is insane to spend $180 million on an AC. My.
[108:39]
Mina Kimes
Is also better and something's got to give than he was in the Matrix. That's my hottest.
[108:43]
Amanda Dobbins
That is a. That. There we go. Absolutely. Yeah. So good. He is an incredible performer.
[108:48]
Mina Kimes
The perfect younger man.
[108:50]
Amanda Dobbins
It's. I can't believe he wanted 180 for her.
[108:53]
Craig Horlbeck
That's like twice Sinner's budget.
[108:55]
Amanda Dobbins
Well, it was Netflix. They were gonna have to pay everyone in advance or something.
[108:59]
Bill Simmons
I don't know. Had an agent who was just like, I think I can get.
[109:02]
Craig Horlbeck
Well, she got big stars.
[109:04]
Amanda Dobbins
Scarlett Johansson.
[109:05]
Mina Kimes
A lot of. It's an actor.
[109:06]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[109:08]
Bill Simmons
Thanks to Craig and Jack and Ronnie. Amanda, Bill, it's good to have you back in the fold.
[109:14]
Amanda Dobbins
It's really nice to be here.
[109:16]
Bill Simmons
Mina Kimes. First time in a while. First one in person. You'll do this again with us at.
[109:20]
Mina Kimes
This point to talk about the goat. Oh, my God. You texted me. Do you like It's Complicated. Nancy Meyers. And I was like, this is the moment I've been waiting my whole life.
[109:29]
Amanda Dobbins
I know. It's really, really exciting when you get one of those texts. Just. Yeah.
[109:33]
Bill Simmons
When I'm, like, feeling you out for the movie.
[109:35]
Amanda Dobbins
Yeah, but, like, the two I've gotten were Working Girl and then it's complicated in a row. Like, I'm living my dream.
[109:41]
Bill Simmons
But I knew you loved Working Girl.
[109:43]
Amanda Dobbins
I know, but, like, your favorite movie. It's really exciting to get to talk about the movies.
[109:47]
Bill Simmons
All right, good to see you both. Thank you.