‘The Sure Thing’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan

Summary

The Rewatchables: ‘The Sure Thing’ (Dec 18, 2025)

Podcast: The Rewatchables
Host(s): Bill Simmons, Rob Mahoney, Craig Horlbeck
Theme: A tribute to Rob Reiner, revisiting his 1985 cult road trip rom-com “The Sure Thing”—a lost classic that’s been out of streaming reach—unpacking its craftsmanship, performances, and lasting legacy.

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Episode Overview

In this special episode, Bill Simmons, Rob Mahoney, and Craig Horlbeck revisit The Sure Thing—Rob Reiner's beloved, under-seen 1985 teen rom-com. Spurred by Reiner’s recent, tragic passing, the hosts pay homage to the director’s unique three-act career: sitcom star, A-list filmmaker, and tastemaker/producer (including his backing of Seinfeld). They dive deep into how Reiner’s sensibilities shaped The Sure Thing into more than just another ‘80s sex comedy and reflect on the movie’s scarcity in the streaming era. The panel mixes personal anecdotes, film history, and high-spirited banter, ultimately celebrating the movie’s enduring warmth, sharp writing, and Rob Reiner’s legacy as a champion of talent.

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Remembering Rob Reiner: His Legacy and Versatility

[03:42–09:29]

• Reiner’s Tragic Passing: News of his death brings an urgent, emotional tone. Bill recounts Reiner’s unique Hollywood journey—from “Meathead” on All In The Family, to director, to Castle Rock founder and Seinfeld backer.

  • “He had these three different careers that were all pretty cool in their own ways.” (Bill Simmons, 04:13)

• Director’s Touch: Reiner’s “eye for talent,” especially in casting and capturing rising actors at the right moment, is repeatedly praised.

  • “He catches [Tom] Cruise at his apex… figures out the perfect Nicholson part… populates that movie with all these really good younger actors.” (Bill Simmons, 05:45)

• Sustained Excellence: The hosts note Reiner’s unprecedented, nearly flawless decade-plus directorial run, from Spinal Tap to A Few Good Men.

  • “He has five or six in a row to start off his career that are locks for any… I would rewatchable any of those with you.” (Rob Mahoney, 05:07)

• Best of Genre: They rattle off his genre-defining films, placing Spinal Tap as best music comedy, Princess Bride as the “best non-animated fairytale,” Few Good Men as best courtroom drama, Misery as top Stephen King adaptation, and When Harry Met Sally as the rom-com template.

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What Makes ‘The Sure Thing’ (and Reiner) Special

[09:29–17:45]

• Elevating Material: The hosts argue Reiner could take potentially formulaic, even exploitative genres and inject authenticity, layered humor, and genuine stakes.

  • “He’s able to take funny scenarios and make them feel very serious or very serious scenarios and see the humor in them… that happens in The Sure Thing.” (Rob Mahoney, 09:36)

• Eye for Breakout Performances: Cusack’s career-making turn is highlighted as perhaps the “most likable he’s ever been.”

  • “To me, like Cusack in this movie—I had season tickets for the next 12 years just ‘cause of this movie.” (Bill Simmons, 10:45)
  • “…I’ve underrated the role that John Cusack played in my imagination over my entire life… from 10 to 30, this guy was basically like a sort of North Star.” (Rob Mahoney, 11:19)

• Director as Relationship Engineer: Reiner’s true gift is matching personalities on screen and fostering on-set chemistry to create relationships you want to spend time with.

  • “The rewatchability of his movies comes down to you just hanging out with the characters.” (Bill Simmons, 12:12)

• Long Scenes as Lost Art: The “long scene” is called out as a rare, effective device Reiner used to anchor emotion and humor, culminating in the professor reading the final essay.

  • “He also is really good at long scenes which I think is a lost art… I just love the ending of this movie so much with the professor reading the story.” (Bill Simmons, 14:01 & 14:40)

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‘The Sure Thing’: Why It’s a Lost Classic

[14:40–25:29]

• Multi-genre Magic: The movie is a road trip, opposites-attract rom-com, “horny teens” 80s comedy, and college buddy flick—all wrapped up in 90 brisk minutes.

• Craig’s Fresh Take: As a first-timer, Craig raves:

  • “I absolutely loved it. This will immediately go on my favorites of the year for the rewatchables… a 10/10. … Cusack, I totally agree, the most likable he’s ever been… a little bit of, like, a ‘Before Sunrise’ element…” (Craig Horlbeck, 15:49)

• Reiner/Cusack Backstory: Details on how Reiner “had to have” a teen Cusack—even facilitating his emancipation so he could shoot—and Cusack losing The Breakfast Club role at the last minute to Judd Nelson.

  • “He has to file for emancipation… and Cusack’s still going.” (Bill Simmons, 09:29)
  • [18:10–18:52]: Details on Cusack’s near-miss with Breakfast Club, background cameos in Sixteen Candles, and break-out performance.

• Iconic Young Actors: The trio debates the great 80s youthful lead performances, settling on Cusack here, Broderick in Ferris Bueller, Judd Nelson in Breakfast Club, and Slater in Pump Up the Volume as the most memorable.

• Daphne Zuniga Appreciation: Her turn as Allison is praised—relatable, sharply drawn, and authentic.

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Screwball Roots & Hollywood Connections

[21:17–23:19]

• Classic Comedy DNA: Rob highlights its screwball roots, calling out kinship with It Happened One Night and reflecting on Reiner’s Hollywood lineage and his “institutional knowledge”—both as Carl Reiner’s son and a student of Capra/Sturgis.

• Reiner's Reputation Shift: Bill recalls how “Meathead” (from All in the Family) had to reinvent himself into a respected director, with The Sure Thing as the pivotal moment.

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The Supporting Cast and “Those Guys”

[23:51–25:08]

• Stacked Ensemble: Shout-outs to:** Anthony Edwards (pre-Top Gun), Tim Robbins (future collaboration mainstay), Nicolette Sheridan (future Desperate Housewives)**—plus a horde of “That Guy” character actors.

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Elevation from Sex Comedy to Smart Rom-Com

[25:01–27:14]

• Porky’s Era Ender: Panel argues The Sure Thing ended the run of cheap "horny teen" comedies, bringing substance and nuance.

  • “I think… you could argue that this ended the Porky’s era. Like, this actual—this was the movie that was like, we’re done now.” (Bill Simmons, 25:29)

• Mismarketed: They note the film’s raunchy marketing and poster belie its genuinely heartfelt—and mostly chaste—core.

• Critical Praise: Roger Ebert’s review is highlighted:

  • “The love story is one of Hollywood’s missing genres… that’s why The Sure Thing is a small miracle. The film is so revolutionary: [It] believes sex should be accompanied by respect and love!” (Bill Simmons quoting Ebert, 25:56)

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Most Rewatchable Scenes

[27:40–34:09]

They run through and debate the film’s most replayable sequences:

• Opening Credits with Rod Stewart’s “Infatuation” (28:02)

• First Classroom Scene: Sets up the carefree, lovable Gib and the intense Allison.

• Flag Football on the Quad: “If they wanted to do the first hour and a half of this movie being just football on the quad, I would have taken it.” (Rob Mahoney, 28:46)

• Gib & Allison Getting Kicked Out of Gary Cooper’s Car (Tim Robbins)

• Hitchhiker Scene: Gib foils a potential predator; comedic and tense.

• Downpour/Rain Trek

• Rom-Com ‘Cuddle Scene’: “Always works.” (Bill Simmons, 31:52)

• Truck Ride Confession

• Hawaiian Party

• The Professor’s Reading of Gib’s Essay: Clear consensus for best/payoff moment.

  • “It’s so f---ing good… I think this is one of the best 80s movies. I really do… it’s a road trip movie... a horny teenagers trying to get laid 80s movie. It’s weirdly kind of a fun college movie. And it all happens in an hour and 31 minutes or something.” (Bill Simmons, 14:40)

• Dive Bar Sequence: Cited for oddball realism and a standout “best-drunk-acting-ever-seen” by George Memmoli.

  • “The fat drunk guy at the bar, I think, is some of the best drunk acting I’ve ever seen.” (Craig Horlbeck, 33:40)

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The Most ‘80s’ Details

[35:14–37:31]

• Handwritten Letters:
  • “Writing detailed letters to your friends from high school.” (Bill Simmons, 35:14)
• Bulletin Board Rideshares
• Culture Club Posters, Cordless Phones
• Sex Letters to Penthouse
• Dorm Room Decor (beer bottles, tennis girl poster)

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What’s Aged the Best

[37:55–42:33]

• Soundtrack: Rod Stewart, John Waite, Eagles, The Cars, Wang Chung, Lionel Richie, Huey Lewis, etc.
• Romantic slow-burn structure
• Realness of college: “...made college seem just so great. Really seems like an awesome place.” (Bill Simmons, 38:38)
• Stuffy Boyfriend Trope, College Fashions, Dorm Life
• Early John Cusack energy and charisma

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What’s Aged the Worst

[46:34–48:28]

• Cusack’s Valley Girl Impression (“not sure anyone would get that now” - Bill Simmons, 46:34)
• Hitchhiking as plot device
  • “And you know, we don’t do it because Netflix has been [airing] 45 true crime documentaries that end with a hitchhiker being murdered.” (Bill Simmons, 48:32)
• Traveling 3000 miles to get laid—apps have changed things
• Stars/stargazing as a “deep dude” trope
• Writing Workshops as unconvincing community

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Performance, Casting, and What Ifs

[52:44–55:13]

• Casting What-ifs: Anthony Edwards nearly played Gib; Robin Wright auditioned for the “Sure Thing;” Zuniga could have slotted easily into Brat Pack films.
  • “Daphne Zuniga, I think, should have been in the Brat Pack… I just would rather have her than Ali Sheedy.” (Bill Simmons, 54:27)

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Notable Quotes & Banter

• On Reiner’s Talent:

  • “He was able to see the totality of a human experience in any given scene and in any given story… Even something that could have just been a super horny, forgettable 80s comedy... is actually like a lost classic in a lot of ways.” (Rob Mahoney, 09:36–10:37)

• On Cusack’s Star Power:

  • “Cusack in this movie—I had season tickets for the next 12 years just 'cause of this movie.” (Bill Simmons, 11:04)

• On Outgrowing Teen Romance:

  • “Gib and Allison met just a hair too early to make it really work… Freshman year is tough, man.” (Rob Mahoney, 50:47)

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Genre, Structure, and TV Potential

[67:57–68:43]

• The hosts toy with the idea of a Prestige TV adaptation, each “day” being an episode, but agree the film’s tight pace is part of what makes it work.

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Awards and Categories Segment (Selected Highlights)

(All time stamps approx. / paraphrased where categories were riffed rapidly)

• Best That Guy: Larry Hankin as Trucker (55:28)
• Dion Waiters Award (scene-stealer): Vivica Lindfors as the professor (58:01)
• Apex Mountain: Not Cusack (probably Say Anything); probably Zuniga for Spaceballs.
• Best Needle Drop: “Penny Lover” during the slow dance.
• Weak Link: Underdeveloped “Sure Thing” character (Nicolette Sheridan).
• Unanswerable Question: How did Cusack’s character actually get in the rapist’s truck? Did Gib and Allison last through college?

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Final Thoughts & Who Won the Movie?

• Who Won? The hosts agree: this one’s for Rob Reiner—“Let’s say Reiner for this one.” (Bill Simmons, 71:22)
• Closing Vibes: A hope that this pod will inspire streamers to license the soundtrack so a new generation can rediscover this “lost Rob Reiner classic.”

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Memorable Moments & Meta-Banter

• Meta-pod moments: Debates on retiring the “Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford” hot take category (in favor of Rob Mahoney’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit Sucked” award) and imagining a March Madness bracket of the wildest Rewatchables takes. (50:08-50:47)
• On streaming negligence: “If Amazon got it or Netflix got it, it would immediately be, like, number one... because it’s so much fucking fun to watch.” (Bill Simmons, 17:46)
• On Reiner’s casting genius: “Once you did something with him, you were like a friend for life. And Hollywood’s not really that way. This guy was friends with every type of comedian and actor that we had.” (Bill Simmons, 12:16)

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Conclusion

A heartfelt, funny, and enthusiastic salute to “The Sure Thing,” this episode celebrates Rob Reiner’s knack for timeless entertainment and finding humanity in unlikely places. The panel makes a persuasive case that “The Sure Thing” isn’t merely a hidden gem—it’s a generational all-timer that deserves a reappraisal and a proper streaming “re-release.”

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TIMESTAMPS:

• [03:42–09:29]: Rob Reiner’s career and impact
• [14:40–25:29]: “The Sure Thing” as a road-trip/rom-com classic
• [27:40–34:09]: Most rewatchable scenes
• [35:14–37:31]: Most “1985” details
• [37:55–42:33]: What’s aged best
• [46:34–48:28]: What’s aged worst
• [52:44–55:13]: Casting what-ifs and Daphne Zuniga’s potential
• [58:01]: Scene-stealing/ Dion Waiters Award winner

“Rip, Rob Reiner. We’re gonna miss you.”
(Bill Simmons, 71:57)

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For listeners and newcomers alike, this episode is a compelling case both for Reiner’s enduring influence and for rediscovering “The Sure Thing.”

Transcript

[Bill Simmons]

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[Rob Mahoney]

Night with the watch the top 10 shows.

[Bill Simmons]

I did. I watched 40 minutes. I was lying in bed. My wife was playing Block Blast. Just enjoying the chemistry of you and Andy Greenbault lot. I'll tell you, a lot of foreplay before you got to the actual top 10.

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, that's the end of the year. We like to cheese people out.

[Bill Simmons]

A lot of fluff at the top.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I might have been on the side going, Come on, guys, let's get to the list.

[Rob Mahoney]

They put timestamps in these things for a reason.

[Bill Simmons]

It's an honorable mention. Let's bring it up. Let's go, let's go. Let's get to a show.

[Rob Mahoney]

Can I give you some constructive feedback at some point? Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

I did enjoy the Kaia jokes. It was good that you brought her in, but great chemistry. Glad to see you guys still cranking it all these years later.

[Rob Mahoney]

Thank you. We owe it all to you for.

[Bill Simmons]

Giving us Frank Korbek end of the fantasy football season.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, I'm knocked out of the ringer league. Kind of devastated Chris Ryan's still alive.

[Bill Simmons]

You're in the toilet bowl playoffs, though.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, me and Sean, you guys have a lot of complaints about this league. I thought we've handled it well.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think the league worked out good.

[Bill Simmons]

I think the league was great. And I don't know who to root for between Craig and Sean. So Craig, if you lose, what do you.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Mine's easy. No caffeine for a week. If Sean loses, he has to wear a headband on an episode of the Big Picture and Not address it.

[Rob Mahoney]

And with a director interview. Right.

[Craig Horlbeck]

We want it to be with the director. That was not stipulated.

[Rob Mahoney]

I really want him to have to wear like a headband while he's talking to Park Chan Wolf.

[Bill Simmons]

Chloe's out. All right, well, we don't normally do two rewatchables in a week, but we wanted to do a very special one this week. So we are going to do the sure thing. And it's next. This episode of the Rewatchables is presented by State Farm. Whether you're debating watching that award winning sports drama or rewatching your comfort buddy comedy Movie for the 10th time, choices are important when it comes to choosing coverage. A State Farm agent can help you find options that are right for you. Go online@state farm.com or use the award winning app to get help from one of their local agents. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right. I wish these were under better circumstances here.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

The sure Thing. A movie we've been waiting to do for a long, long time that has not been available on streaming. But it was available on YouTube.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

We didn't want to tell people that it was available on YouTube because I was worried it was gonna get pulled down and we needed time to both watch it.

[Rob Mahoney]

Is this the second time we've done a movie that is actually not on streaming or on vod?

[Bill Simmons]

I think it might be the third. What was the one we just did?

[Rob Mahoney]

We'll pull up the volume. This and was there a third one?

[Bill Simmons]

Well, maybe this will bring it back.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I guess. Although rewatching it, the soundtrack's pretty.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's why I was wondering why it's. If that's one of the reasons why it's not in streaming.

[Bill Simmons]

But Rob Reiner, this is the second movie he directed and was tragically murdered on Sunday by his son, it looks like, allegedly, but it seems like it was his son. But one of the worst Hollywood stories in a while. He was a beloved guy. You talked about him in your pod. I talked about him on top of my pod on Sunday. And we had done six Rewatchables movies with him. We had not done this one, but we wanted to do a Reiner movie, so we. We threw this together. The thing I said about him on Sunday was that he had these three different careers that were all pretty cool in their own ways. He's this supporting actor on probably the second most famous 70s sitcom we had other than Mesh. He's the son of Carl Reiner and even that. And he could have just been an actor. For 50 years. And that would have been a cool career. And everybody liked him. Then he becomes this director and has put together one of the best 15 year runs any director's ever had. Then he also, on the side, has this whole Castle Rock thing with this company that he creates independent outside the studio infrastructure. And he starts basically supporting voices that he cares about and taking bets on young talent, because he knows young talent, which is the same thing he had in his movies. That ends up funding Seinfeld, which is the most successful backing, I think, in the history of anything, and was a beloved guy out here in Hollywood. So we felt like of all the directors, this is the seventh one, I think, which puts him in third place. Yeah, there's only a couple directors where we're like, emergency pod, we gotta do one. This is one of them.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, this is five.

[Rob Mahoney]

And he has five or six in a row to start off his career that are locks for any. Any. Like, I would rewatchable any of those with you. I. I was. I thought it was really helpful to try to organize my thoughts about Reiner through the lens of this movie, which is. It's nice. Cause, like, if you're trying to summarize a guy's entire contribution to entertainment and to, like, American cultural life, it's hard. But if you can just look at something as simple as a screwball comedy like this, you can really see a lot of his specific skills and talents and gifts come through.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, one of those gifts which he, you know, he also applied with Seinfeld in some of the movies and TV shows that he did, which is great eye for talent, great eye for somebody's moment in their career, just seeing something either potential that hadn't been realized, or knowing the impact that they already had, which Few Good Men's a good example of that. Right. He catches Cruz at his apex, he figures out that this is the perfect Nicholson part, convinces him to do that, and then populates that movie with all these really good younger actors or actors on the rise, like Kevin Bacon or semi established.

[Rob Mahoney]

And you see all the clips that have been running since his passing, since his death on Sunday, of people having these remembrances, and it's like Kevin Bacon in tears, talking about how, like, he needed a job and, like, Reiner came through and got like, you know, Noah Wiley just being like, I'm on that shoot for like a week or two. And he basically makes me feel like I'm the most important person on that set. So it's just everybody seems to have this incredible, like, connection to him.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Spinal Tap, I mean, one of the things when you write down all the movies that he did and they're like best blank. Spinal Tap, which is the best music comedy ever made. And he taps in with these three guys who, you know, had, had, were known in comedy circles. But Christopher Guest wasn't really Christopher Guest yet. Shearer's in that. McKeon, he was known from Lavernich early, basically. But he gets in with those guys early and it ends up being what it is. Princess Bride, he's in with Goldman at this point. He identifies Robin Wright, all the people he cast in that, that ends up being in the running for best non animated fairytale movie probably ever. Oh, it's one of the first ones. It might be the best. I don't. Who's it competing against?

[Rob Mahoney]

It's also one of the most like beloved movies across generations.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

How many movies are loved equally by 7 year olds and 70 year olds?

[Bill Simmons]

And how many movies doesn't even matter when it came out. Yeah, it's like that movie. I mean, Craig, when did you see that movie as a kid?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I've seen it a ton of times.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it just. It was one of those. There's certain movies that it just kind of came out in the 80s, you don't even remember when. And it just keeps going. American President, we did that in the rewatchables too. In the running for best president movie. It's for me, it's that and Dave in the finals and I'd really have to have to target that. But that one he captures gets Douglas right at the tail end of his apex. Puts Annette Bening in there. Whole thing. Few Good Men. Best courtroom movie. Probably the best modern court movie courtroom movie. There's some older ones that would have a case, but we've done that one twice. Misery might be the best Stephen King movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

It might be. It's up there with Shawshank.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Also might be the best scary actress movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Does that with Goldman. Stand By Me. Probably the best preteen Best Friends.

[Rob Mahoney]

Another King adaptation. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

One of the best coming of age movies ever made ever.

[Bill Simmons]

When Harry Met Sally. Not only in the running for best rom com ever, but basically created the rom com, the modern version of it in 1989. It's. From that moment on, every movie is chasing. Let's try to pull this off like When Harry Met Salad. In that one, he identifies as Billy Crystal. Meg Ryan. Not only the relationship, but both of them. Nobody thought Billy Crystal was going to be in a movie like that nobody thought Meg Ryan could play that character. Basically a Diane Keaton thing. So he nails both the Stand By Me. He nails the River Phoenix. The way he cast that movie. You go on through and it's just. He just had an eye. And sure Thing is maybe the ultimate example of that because he's in on this Cusack 17, the whole story of this, where they have to. He has to file for emancipation and.

[Rob Mahoney]

Roger has to like adopt him.

[Bill Simmons]

Producer has to legally adopt him. And he's like, I need this kid in the movie. And Cusack's still going.

[Rob Mahoney]

Let's talk a little bit if like you can about like what. What are some of the things across those movies that jump out? Because the thing that hit me watching sure Thing again is that he's able to take funny scenarios and make them feel very serious or very serious scenarios and see the humor in them. And that happens. Both of those things happen in the sure Thing, right. Like he's able to put these kids in such dire straits on this road trip and see the hilarity in it, but also their desperation. And it's like the same thing for Stand By Me. There's absolutely heartbreaking moments in Stand By Me. And then he'll follow it up with a joke to kind of even the scales of the dramatic experience or the film going experience. And that's why I think we go back to these movies so many times, is because he was able to see the totality of a human experience in any given scene and in any given story. And it's like even something that could have just been a super horny, forgettable 80s comedy that like you and I would be like, oh, you know what's really good is that this is actually like a Lost classic in a lot of ways.

[Bill Simmons]

No question. I think a couple things he was really good at pulling out exactly what you should like about somebody.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, like Billy Crystal. That's the best he's ever been in a movie. When Harry Met Sally. But Robin Wright is like just perfect in Princess Brad in this movie. Like, it's the most I've ever liked Cusack in a movie. And to me, like Cusack in this movie. I had season tickets for the next 12 years just cause of this movie. Oh yeah, I loved him in this movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

Doing this and high fidelity in such close succession makes me realize I think I've underrated the role that John Cusack played in like my imagination over my entire life. Like when you think about this one crazy summer, better off dead.

[Bill Simmons]

Say anything.

[Rob Mahoney]

Say Anything. And then on a. Yeah. All the way up through High Fidelity, I'm like, yeah, from like, 10 to 30. This guy was basically like a sort of North Star in my life. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And Misery is another one where Kathy Bates, who we didn't really have a history with, and she just absolutely crushes it and is awesome. But that's weirdly a relationship movie. It's her relationship with this writer that she really, really loves and she becomes obsessed with. But it's a lot of scenes where it's just the two of them. You could take a lot of the movies that he's made, and they could probably be a.

[Rob Mahoney]

How many times could you simulate the casting and filming and. And entire thing of Stand By Me and not get River Phoenix, Wool Wheaton, Jerry o', Connell, Corey Feldman in that exact points in their lives. And, like, the. Like, you know, basically contrasting those performances against one other. It's like the perfect group of kid friends at that age.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Like, I think in a way that, like, transcends anything like Spielberg ever did in that room with.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. I mean, he had so many lifelong friends, and a lot of them poured out this week with just really being upset. Obviously heartbreaking, heartbroken, how it played out. But I think one of the things. And I know Goldman, like, loved him. This was one of his favorite people ever worked with. They did a lot of stuff together, but that was the theme over and over again. Like, once you did something with him, you were like a friend for life. And Hollywood's not really that way. This guy was friends with every type of comedian and actor that we had and seemed like he kept our relationships and got the best out of them. But I think when I think about the movies that he made, the relationships in the movie are why they work. And I think you have to have a director that understands, like, a set, how to put people together, how to mesh two characters that might make sense on screen and actually have a relationship and then foster that on the set. And I just don't think a lot of people can do it. And ultimately, the rewatchability of his movies comes down to you just hanging out with the characters.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. I mean, there's a really good making of the sure thing that's on YouTube that you can watch along with this movie. And he talks about. He just reads a script, figures out who he is in the movie, and then starts thinking about things from that perspective of, okay, if I'm Gib in the shirt thing or if I'm Kathy. Even in A Few Good Men, like How would I go about and how would I perceive these different situations? And he's just really, really good. I mean he has a quote in that making. In this making of that. He says the emotional difference differences create the obstacles. You don't create the obstacles ahead of time. And so he just finds these people who are just dissimilar enough to create tension. But you know, going into it like they're going to figure it out by the end of the two hours. And there's something deeply satisfying about that.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. And he also is really good at long scenes which I think is a lost art. You know when we do most rewatchable scene. But you think of some of the great scenes that his movies have had. Like Stand by Me, the story about the fat kid throwing up.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, and him. Well, I forget Wil Wheaton's character's name but him telling the story to his buddies. Oh yeah. And just the way that plays out. It's like an eight minute scene. There's a couple unsure thing like that too where just these long, long pieces. And then he really would know how to nail a moment like I not to step on rewatchable. But I just love the ending of this movie so much with the professor reading the story.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It's so fucking good. And I'm just, I'm so glad we're doing this because I think this is one of the best 80s movies. I really do. Like, I like. I'm not, I'm not talking. I'm talking about like teen, the high school college. I. I have a hottest take for that later. But it's a road trip movie. It's a two opposites rom com. It's a horny teenagers trying to get laid 80s movie. It's weirdly kind of a fun college movie. And it all happens in an hour and 31 minutes or something.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. I mean it's essentially coming in the aftermath of Risky Business and definitely has some elements of Risky Business in it but is a much more grounded, maybe less overly stylized and much more like kind of human regular everyday story. I mean you could see this happening to yourself at any point up until the adventure of the Internet pretty much.

[Bill Simmons]

We usually do Craig's take at the end. We're doing it early because he'd never seen this movie before. And I knew out of anyone we'd ever done. I knew you would love it. And we have talked about doing this movie for years because I can't believe it's not streaming. I think it's not streaming because of the soundtrack. But what'd you think?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Embarrassed to say. I never even heard of this movie. And I absolutely loved it. This will immediately go on. My favorites of the year for the rewatchables. I adored it. It's a 10 out of 10. 5 out of 5. Whatever letterbox score you want to give it, you only need. First of all, you only need 90 minutes if you're doing it right. You can do it right in 90 minutes if you have it all pieced together. Cusack, I totally agree. The most likable he's ever been. I've never even really felt that connected to Cusack's characters. And I thought this was his best one. I can't believe he was like, 16, 17 ye when they filmed it. Chris and I were talking before that. There is a little bit of, like, a before sunrise element to this movie where it's a lot of these long, slow moments between these two characters, and it's just one shot of them interacting and there's no cuts between them. And you just fully buy into their evolution and their connection by the end of the movie. I think it's incredibly funny and really well written, really heartfelt, like, across the board. It's just. I loved it.

[Rob Mahoney]

When you're a kid, when you're young and you watch this movie, whenever I saw it first on, like, VHS in the 80s or whatever, you just take. Give at face value and you're like, oh, this guy's really funny. And he's got like. Does all these different voices and has, like, all this energy. And then when you watch it now, you're like, oh, he's. He doesn't know who he is.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

And so he's putting on all these airs and he's doing all these different characters basically within the movie. And it's such a subtle thing to notice over the years. Craig, you mentioned Link, like, the Linklater movies. Castle Rock was the production company Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Right.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. And this feels like it could have been easily a Linklater movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

I found some list a couple months ago that just, like, I had it from a notebook in college where I just wrote down my favorite movies of all time. This is like, in 1991, and this was like, number seven. It really was. I love this movie. I watched it every time it was on.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And for whatever reason, the last 15 years or so, it died. And I do think it's one of those movies that, like, if Amazon got it or Netflix got it, it would immediately be like, number one. Number two, or number three in the trending for three weeks because it's so much fucking fun to watch. It's also crazy that for Cusack, he's probably not in it because he thought he was going to be in the Breakfast Club.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And he was cast as John Bender. And then they actually brought him to the. And I don't know what the timing was, whether it would have overlapped with this, but he shows up for Breakfast Club and they're like, oh, he's all wrong.

[Rob Mahoney]

And they dump him. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. So they brought in Judd Nelson. So he's at a point in his career where, first of all, Reiner wouldn't meet with him because he was TM for the party. He's supposed to be in college. He'd only been in class. He was in Sixteen Candles. He's in the background. You could barely see him. And they ended up filming it from March, April 1984. He's emancipated. And you watch this and you would have thought he would have been in eight movies. Yeah, it's basically the first time he's ever been in a movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's fucking home run almost every shot of the movie. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

He's so good. He's doing different characters and just carrying everything I wrote down. I was trying to think of the Most memorable young actor, 80s movies performances, and I think it's this. I think it's Broderick and Ferris Buer and weirdly, I think it's Judd Nelson and Breakfast Club.

[Rob Mahoney]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

And I think those are the three for when you watch a movie. First of all, they just kind of own the movie. But then when you saw it, when it happened, you're like, that guy's gonna go on and win nine Oscars. And Slater and pump up the volume, which is later.

[Rob Mahoney]

Another one. Yeah, I was gonna.

[Bill Simmons]

Is there anyone. Who am I missing?

[Rob Mahoney]

Sean Penn and Taps.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, that's a good one.

[Rob Mahoney]

Because when you watch that, you're like, holy shit.

[Bill Simmons]

I was thinking more like comedies where it was like, wow, this guy's killing it in this. Yeah. There's some other ones, like Timothy Hutton, like, we could go through Cruise. And Risky Business, I guess, is a really good one. But definitely a moment where you're like, oh, this guy's gonna be in my life cruisin. Risky Business is a good one. And then Daphne Zuniga, who's in this and Vision Quest, same year, ends up in Spaceballs. Everybody liked her. And just another one of those things where not enough good parts probably got market corrected.

[Rob Mahoney]

A couple times and did TV and.

[Bill Simmons]

Ends up on Melrose Place as Joe, the rebellious photographer who ends up getting involved with Jake.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's my favorite kind of photographer.

[Bill Simmons]

And ends up in a little love triangle with Jake and Amanda in season two. And then eventually gets impregnated by somebody who tries to kill her at our high school reunion.

[Rob Mahoney]

What season is that happening?

[Bill Simmons]

That's probably season three. And. And then her baby gets kidnapped by the dead guy's parents. And she had quite a run.

[Rob Mahoney]

Did she die in the show?

[Bill Simmons]

No, she escaped with the baby. After the in laws tried to kidnap the baby, she decided it was time to leave Melrose Place. But I always liked her. And this part is a great part.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, I know this person.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Really uptight, kind of cool, pretty. You could tell there's a fun person in there somewhere. But she's like, this is gonna be my life. I knew these girls in college, as did you.

[Rob Mahoney]

Both Daphne Zniga and Cusack talk about their similarities to the characters. And they were like, Reiner, clearly, just like, she was like, I am way more like Allison than I. I was way more like Allison than I was comfortable admitting. And Reiner obviously just, like, got to know these people and recognized who they were and were like, let's bring this part out of you. He worked a lot on the script. I think the movie has so many connections to classic Hollywood screwball comedies like It Happened One Night.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

And that's one of the really, you know, like, among the hundred awful things about what's happened here, one of the sad things is the amount of institutional knowledge that goes with Rob Reiner.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

You know. Cause, like, obviously going back not only through his television career, but his father's huge career in Hollywood and this ability to kind of make connections between the past and the present in your work and to show people, like, you know, there's only so many stories. Right. Like, we're just telling them in different ways with different references and with different, you know, updated characters. But, like, opposites attract. On the road. Make two of those a year.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Like, that's all you need. Like, they're classics for a reason. You just have to modernize them.

[Rob Mahoney]

Why is it not that hard? And he. He kind of sees, like, he's, you know, the fan of Preston Sturgis, fan of Frank Capra, wants to, like, kind of make something like this. He gets. Gets this gig before Spinal Tap even comes out.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

When you think about how different this is to Spinal Tap, those are his first two movies that's amazing.

[Bill Simmons]

I. As somebody who was a kid, as his career kind of arced up, he was meathead. It was hard for him to believe that he was even going to direct the movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

And did you think about him as Carl Reiner's son necessarily, or was he.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I only knew him as Meathead. And it was like, meathead's going to be director. Like, that's. You just knew him as Meathead. How else was I going to know him? And also, like, 35 million people watch that show every week.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And he was like the. You know, that show is like, I would love to be in a room with kids in college watching, like, season one of our all in the Family just to see the reactions. But he was like the hippie, you know, Vietnam protester, kind of son in law with, like, this reprehensible but lovable father in law who would just insult everybody and he would just kind of battle with them. And that's kind of who he became. And he was smart enough. He left the show. Cause he was like, I don't want to be meathead.

[Rob Mahoney]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

I think there's probably more here. But yeah, he didn't shed meathead until this movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

And after this movie, it was like, oh, Rob Reiner, he's good at this. And then, you know, stand By Me. That. Then he was cemented. But this was a big movie. Like, this was a really important high school college movie for everyone in my generation. It was in there. It was one of the OGs. It was with Ferris Bueller, it was with Breakfast Club. It was with Karate Kid, Teen Wolf, all those. It was right there.

[Rob Mahoney]

Of the Cusack movies from this era, I think I watch. I mean, before say Anything came out, I think I probably watched One Crazy Summer more. Yeah, but that's just like a higher joke volume. So when I was a kid that was like that, just watching, like, something that had animation and had, like, all these different, like, skits within the movie.

[Bill Simmons]

That was a zag movie, too, where some people are like, you know what's fucking awesome? One Crazy Summer. You know this. I. I watched this a bunch of time. The soundtrack's great. The two of them are awesome together. Zuniga and Cusack. But then you have young Anthony Edwards with hair.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yep. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

What a run for him. Revenge of the Nerds.

[Rob Mahoney]

And he was.

[Bill Simmons]

And Top Gun.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. Not to step on it, but he was up for Gibb.

[Bill Simmons]

Right. You have young Nicolette Sheridan.

[Rob Mahoney]

Fantastic.

[Bill Simmons]

Just throwing her fastball. Shows up 20 years later in Desperate Housewives.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Is that the sure thing woman.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. I have a thought about her character I'm saving for later.

[Bill Simmons]

Great. Tim Robbins singing show tunes in the car.

[Rob Mahoney]

One of what would be many collaborations with Cusack. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yep. Really good cast.

[Rob Mahoney]

A lot of that guys in this.

[Bill Simmons]

Movie written by Jonathan Roberts and Stephen O. Boom. Congratulations, guys. You did great. $4.5 million budget made $18.1 million. Not bad for 1985. Roger Ebert, 3 1/2 stars.

[Rob Mahoney]

Fucking loved it.

[Bill Simmons]

Fucking killed it.

[Rob Mahoney]

I watched Siskel and Ebert talking about this today. They were like over the moon for it.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, this is coming off. We should have mentioned this earlier, but this is a five year run of horny teenagers trying to get laid movies.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

The poster of this, the premise of it makes it seem like, oh, we're doing this again. And it's like, no, we're actually not doing this again. Stick with us. So I think those guys were so grateful somebody put some actual thoughts. And I think. I don't even think this is the hottest take. I think you could argue that this ended the Porky's era. Like, this actual. This was the movie that was like, we're done now.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh.

[Bill Simmons]

Like we've now elevated beyond this. We're gonna move this way now and we're gonna put some more thought into this. And you know.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Cause this movie sells sex, but doesn't give you any.

[Rob Mahoney]

I mean. Yeah, I mean, there's one sort of comic sex scene in this movie. And other than that, it's pretty chaste.

[Craig Horlbeck]

And like the marketing and the poster makes you think this is much more of a raunchy teen sex comedy. And it's really not. It's closer to like, if the road trip scene from When Harry Met Sally was like the whole movie with two 18 year olds.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

There was another movie a year before that Koppelman's been badgering me to do on Rewatchables forever. The Flamingo Kid. Sure, that's different than this movie. But also was like kind of that elevated. You think it's one thing, but it's actually a way better version of it. Ebert said the love story is one of Hollywood's missing genres. The movie industry seems better at teenage movies like Porky's with its sleazy shower scenes than with screenplays that involve any sort of thought about the love lives of its characters. That's why the sure Thing is a small miracle. The film is so revolutionary. Believes sex should be accompanied by respect and love. Exclamation point. Yeah, Raj. Raj just wanted us to work on our relationships in movies. You want to cut to the chase? All right, we're going to take a break and we'll do Most rewatchable scene this episode is brought to you by Netflix. J. Kelly, the new film from Academy Award nominee Noah Baumbach. My Guy. George Clooney stars as an actor confronting his past and present on a journey of self discovery alongside Adam Sandler, My Guy as his devoted manager. Critics are calling it a declaration of love to the chaotic art of filmmaking, with the Wall Street Journal praising it as, quote, a transcendent comedy drama. Jay Kelly, now playing only on Netflix. This episode is brought to you by AT&T. America's First Network is also its fastest and most reliable based on root metrics. United States root score report 1H 2025 tested with best commercially available smartphones on three national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. Root metrics rankings are not an endorsement of AT&T. When you compare, there's no comparison. AT&T. All right. Most rewatchable scene. The opening credits are great. Rod Stewart.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

You like that song?

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, I think Infatuation, his disco Y funk era is not my favorite Rod Stewart, but it's a cool song.

[Bill Simmons]

Like if I put that on at a holiday party would people thought that was weird. Like hey guys, here's Rod Stewart's Infatuation.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I'd love it.

[Rob Mahoney]

You should have just played the sure Thing soundtrack party.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's a great opening credits. Talk about like a way to hook you into the movie. Like you're locked in.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, yeah, she does a great job.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The opening credits is a lost art in movies now. We don't do that anymore.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, I mean the like a lot of the big blockbusters now I feel like pretty much skip the opening credits and get right into like a big action.

[Craig Horlbeck]

There's no vibe setting which really does.

[Bill Simmons]

The next rewatchables movie we're going to do, which I'm not going to spoil, has opening credits.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, that's true.

[Bill Simmons]

It was noticeable. It's like, oh guys, old school. Look at this. Going back to the well, most rewatchable scene, the first classroom scene that sets up Gib as our carefree lovable kind of fuck up. I hope he can pull the pull off just everything in life. And then Allison as the intense overachiever. Some good back and forth with them. I like that. I like a good football scene in these 80s 90s.

[Rob Mahoney]

Honestly, if they wanted to do the first hour and a half of this movie being just football on the quad I would have taken it. This is such a funny scene.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. From, like, him announcing it.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, the announcing that's going on. He also keeps getting. He's like Ed Reed.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I know.

[Rob Mahoney]

He keeps getting.

[Bill Simmons]

Interview that good athlete.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, pretty good. He's tall.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. I love this scene. And I love the moment where he, like, runs by Allison and her friend and never, like, says hi, but just keeps his Pat Summerall announcing going. And then, like, it's just kind of looking at her and she's kind of looking. It's just such a great little moment. And they don't have any real interaction until he goes and stalks her down by the pool.

[Bill Simmons]

Craig, how much 212 football have you played in your life?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Tons of on the beach.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a big movie truck.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Movies love the two on two flag football.

[Rob Mahoney]

And then what is it like? They were playing 51000 for blitz. Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They did the stop and go. That's always a good one. That's the best route.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's the Kevin Petullo right there.

[Bill Simmons]

I knew nothing.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You got to sell the pump fake, though, right?

[Bill Simmons]

True. I knew nothing as an only child. So basically anything I knew from colleges were from going to visit my Uncle Don and my Aunt Louise in college or movies. And I just thought movies were like. I thought. I thought college was like, movies like.

[Rob Mahoney]

This where I absolutely went to your.

[Bill Simmons]

Buddy'S room and he had 10, 000 beer bottles all stacked up. Is it not like that people play football? No. In my head, I was like, this is college.

[Rob Mahoney]

But I thought when, like, when they're like, it's Friday night.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. A guy opening the window going, it's Friday night.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You want to do most giveable moment. I don't know how that Friday beer is. Get on that right now because that's an iconic moment of that. That guy's also, like, 28, but I love that.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I love that.

[Rob Mahoney]

And then immediately everybody is, like, playing soccer in the hall and exchanging kegs.

[Bill Simmons]

It's like the swimming pool scene's funny. That's where you're like, oh, Q sac's just gonna go for a swimming movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Gib and Allison getting kicked out of Gary Cooper's car, played by Tim Robbins, which includes show tunes show shotgunning a beer and eating cheese balls, I think, which is the Big Kahuna Burger word for best use of food to drink. Allison flashing a car. It'll turn the tables and then Tim Robbins escaping with a.

[Rob Mahoney]

Lock the doors.

[Bill Simmons]

Lock the doors.

[Craig Horlbeck]

When that woman screams, she Is so funny. His wife locks the door and she's.

[Rob Mahoney]

Like.

[Bill Simmons]

Possible great shot, Gordo award here. They're outside, the car's gone in Cusack City on the ground, the camera and the road behind them. And Daphne Zanugu's character is behind them. It's a good one. Gib foiling the hitchhiker, possible rapist. Where he does that. I mean, that could be some crazed.

[Rob Mahoney]

Slime ball, like a shit brain.

[Bill Simmons]

He's really funny in that. Eat it just for pleasure. The scene where it just starts pouring rain on them.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And she remembers she has a credit card, but can only use it for emergencies.

[Rob Mahoney]

For emergencies.

[Bill Simmons]

I hope one comes up. Maybe one will come up. I'm a big fan of these scenes of the rom com. The accidental cuddle scene.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Always works. Gib wakes up cuddling. Allison. Oh, sorry. Sorry. No, it was all right. At that point, it's like, come on, Gib. She's sending you the official signs now.

[Rob Mahoney]

I mean, she's like, you can sleep in the bed with me.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, come on, Gib. They get a ride and he tells the trucker his whole sure thing story. Which, of course, she wakes up for two more scenes. The Lance's Hollywood.

[Rob Mahoney]

The Tahiti Fritz.

[Bill Simmons]

His Hawaiian 80s party just sounded amazing. The punch bowl insults were funny. And then the last one, which is my pick, the professor reading the sure thing essay. Yes. Does God exist? Who invented Liquid Soap and why? And then the answer was no. That seems awesome.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

She.

[Rob Mahoney]

You're like, why do they keep going to this professor? Like, what's going to be the payoff with her? And. And it really. Vivica Lindforce. Is that who plays her?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. She's some old school.

[Rob Mahoney]

She's old school Hollywood actress.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. I just want to shout out a honorable mention rewatchable scene. The dive bar scene.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

But the guy being like, I had fried food today. I shouldn't have done it. You know, like. And it's just like those three guys sitting at the bar being like, we're pretty good looking, you know, I love that.

[Bill Simmons]

But we better at the 80s and 90s with just having random dive bar scenes with weird characters.

[Rob Mahoney]

But it's also like that that scene doesn't actually have like a purpose other than this is maybe where he's gonna wind up if he doesn't get his together.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I guess it's the only scene that can be cut. And it might be my favorite scene in the movie.

[Rob Mahoney]

The waitress who keeps coming back and he just keeps giving her like, Random facts. And she's just like, cool.

[Craig Horlbeck]

That's one of my two flexes. Are that two I wrote down. In this scene is the Rick Dalton Award for the best fucking acting I've ever seen in my life. The. The fat drunk guy at the bar I think is some of the best drunk acting I've ever seen.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's amazing. I was like, is this Brando in makeup or something?

[Craig Horlbeck]

He's remarkably good. I looked him up. His name is George Mamoli. He actually died in 1985.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He's been in a bunch of other movies. He had an accident on set. He was supposed to be in Taxi Driver. Scorsese, in an interview in 2002, said he died because of that injury on set.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh. But whoa.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I know. It's crazy.

[Bill Simmons]

Craig's, like, really bringing it today.

[Rob Mahoney]

I know.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I honestly loved it. I feel like I've already seen the movie 10 times, even though I've watched it once.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm gonna. I'm gon say fuck it. I'm gonna go with the dive bar. Even though Allison's not in it. That's the most rewatchable scene.

[Bill Simmons]

Have you ever had a professor who could read anything that well in front of a class?

[Rob Mahoney]

I was gonna bring up creative writing workshops in a little bit later, but we can. I'll save it. I've had some pretty magnetic professors, but they were more like monologuing, doing their lectures. The creative writing workshops are a real crapshoot.

[Bill Simmons]

My 8th grade English teacher, Wally Ramsey, father of my buddy Gus, he would read essays sometime. It was really good at it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

That's the only one I come up.

[Rob Mahoney]

She's going, first pass on that essay is just nailing it.

[Bill Simmons]

It's really, really crushing it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Also, she does the thing that I don't think teachers do anymore, where she. She grades people out loud in front of everyone.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Now, that would cause. That would cause an absolute.

[Craig Horlbeck]

She's like, allison, I liked it, but open up a little bit more. Yeah. B plus just, like, goes to the next.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's how they got Lydia Tar.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, I should do that at the end of the year with the.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Ringer staff on Mike review every podcast.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought you had a great year.

[Rob Mahoney]

To be fair, you opened this podcast. Doing that to me.

[Bill Simmons]

That's true.

[Rob Mahoney]

Little bit of fluff in the beginning.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Cr.

[Bill Simmons]

But then you got to where you needed to go.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

What's the most 1985 thing about this movie? Writing detailed letters to your friends from high school.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Dear Sean, I'm Having a great time in school. I saw one battle after another. I thought it was awesome. I know you must have loved it. And then you just send it. Not here for three days. Yeah, we really did do that. I would send letters to my friends.

[Rob Mahoney]

I would say that my emails to friends were still pretty long until I got G chat in like O2 and then it just turned into like. Like everything was one sentence. But like up until like when. When you first had to like go to the library to log into your email, I would still be like, well, I'm only coming here like twice a week, so I'm writing a long email.

[Bill Simmons]

We would have the mailbox in college was like genuinely exciting to go to the mailbox every day and see if you got a letter from somebody. It's really strange.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Sounds like a better time. I like the line from Lance, I'm talking to you, Cordless. Y. That's pretty 1985.

[Bill Simmons]

More 1985 writing funny sex story letters to Penthouse. Yes, everyone tried this in the 80s.

[Rob Mahoney]

I did not.

[Bill Simmons]

But yeah, I'm talking to Cordless.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Everyone.

[Bill Simmons]

Everyone, trust me, I'm talking to you, Cordless. I had. And then Allison had an amazing Culture Club poster in your room.

[Rob Mahoney]

She had the Paul Newman one in Culture Club. Right.

[Bill Simmons]

The Culture Club poster probably had a five month shelf life by 1986. You're not having that poster.

[Rob Mahoney]

You've moved on to the boss or something.

[Bill Simmons]

Did you have any other.

[Rob Mahoney]

I had. I don't know if this is still a thing, but the. The ride bulletin board.

[Bill Simmons]

So I wondered about that. I wondered if they. They still must have that though, right? Or maybe it's now a message.

[Rob Mahoney]

I just feel like it's either a message board or it's just like, yeah, my buddy is driving back to Atlanta, so I'm gonna get a ride with him or something. You know, like it's the idea of just being like, I guess I'll get in this car for three days with this person who's the only thing I know about them is that they put an index card up on a bulletin board. It seems highly unlikely I had this.

[Bill Simmons]

In what stage? The worst. But getting a ride with them but then also sharing a hotel with two double beds with strangers. I gotta admit, I don't think that happens in 25.

[Rob Mahoney]

No. But I will say what. Some of the best road trips I've ever had have been like, random. Going back to. Going back home for Thanksgiving with a couple of like. Like Andy and I used to go back to Philly Thanksgiving and he would take a bunch of his buddies from Brown University with him. So I would drive some people with me, and it would always be the best. Like those. Those. Like, we're out of school for a week. Let's go.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Is.

[Rob Mahoney]

Is the best feeling.

[Bill Simmons]

What's age the best. The soundtrack, which I think is the reason this movie is not streaming, includes Rod Stewart, Infatuation, Huey Lewis, Hard of Rock and Roll, John Waits, Crying over you, which I forgot how much I loved.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. Heartache.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Sing it.

[Bill Simmons]

Crying over you.

[Rob Mahoney]

He had a couple of bangers.

[Bill Simmons]

Wait, he really did? Eagles, Heartbreak Tonight, the Cars, you might think Wang Chung, Dance All Days, Lights out by Peter Wolf, and then Penny Lover by Lionel Richie.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Which is maybe his best song. I think that's like, a zag. I don't know if I believe it, but I think you could say it's his best constructed song.

[Rob Mahoney]

Better than Smells Like Teen Spirit.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, I can't wait to talk about that. More would Sage the best. I mentioned how the movie made college seem just so great. Really seems like an awesome place, I would say.

[Rob Mahoney]

I couldn't decide whether to put it in best or worst. But the. The scene of Anthony Edwards calling John Cusack from. From.

[Bill Simmons]

With 10 people just lounging.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's in UCLA, but it seems like he's at Pepperdine because he's got the.

[Bill Simmons]

No, he said he was at his buddy's Malibu.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's right. He's at his buddy's Malibu place. And, like, there's just, like, 14 girls drinking diet Cokes in the Playboy Mansion. Basically.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

And he's just like, were you doing.

[Bill Simmons]

That at San Diego buddies?

[Rob Mahoney]

It wasn't.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Not like that.

[Bill Simmons]

Dude, we're in La Jolla.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I'm talking to you, Cordless.

[Rob Mahoney]

That is one of, like, the hardest things to get your head around, though. Like, when you. If you've gone to. If you went to college in the Northeast and then you hear about what college was like for people who went to school in Southern California. You're just like, God damn it. What was. What was I thinking? Why did I think nine months of dark, cold weather would be a good idea?

[Bill Simmons]

There's a couple schools out here that are like that. Like that. You. The UCSB was like, the Stealth, like, Fight Club. The student body didn't even talk about it. They don't want anyone else to know.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Now everyone knows. But I think that they had it, like, hidden for a while.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Just, like, how great it was.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. How great it is to go to school in Santa Barbara and just have. I Love.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's a huge party town. They're like legendary for their. For Halloween there.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's insane.

[Bill Simmons]

But San Diego is another one, like, just good place to go to college. A lot of stuff going on. I like the line, how would you like to have a sexual encounter so intense it could change your political views? Just good writing. What stage the best? Professors with cool accents reading essays in class. Yeah, I had this in college. Professor Vanicelli. RIP Snowy college campuses. Fun. I want to shout out for what's age the best. The stuffy boyfriend that she had in two minutes.

[Rob Mahoney]

Jason.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, in two minutes he talks about his flannel sheets that he just put on. He has choices of tea. He cleared out his. Her draw for her for the week. And then he's a big gin rummy guy offering to give her extra points. They just nailed everything with that.

[Rob Mahoney]

And every time she's just like, let's go to Disneyland. He's like, well, Disneyland.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. He just.

[Rob Mahoney]

For children. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

The whole concept of giving somebody a real name, like Nick. Nick's your buddy. Nick's a guy you can trust. Nick will let you puke in your car. Do you think Nick's the right name.

[Rob Mahoney]

For that in 1985?

[Bill Simmons]

Probably. I think it's Ben. That was one of the reasons I named my son Ben. I feel like Ben's are just really reliable. When has a Ben ever let you down? And then Lance's room, which not only had the 100 different beer bottles, but had the 1984 tennis poster of the girl's ass where she's putting the ball in. And there's an ass cheek, which was there in the 80s for a while. But I think. I think people realized eventually, like, this isn't the greatest way to have the opposite side.

[Rob Mahoney]

I did have the worst. What Lance's room probably smelled like because, you know, he's not thoroughly washing those beer bottles out. So it probably just smells like sweat. Oh, it smells like skunk beer and skunked beer. And he's like, this is the love palace. This is where I take all the chips.

[Bill Simmons]

You have any other. What's age the best?

[Rob Mahoney]

No, I mean, just the vision of 1980s college life has really aged the best. Between the classes, the fashions, the. I love the way Allison has divided her day where she's like, you know, 6 o' clock calculus, 6:45 phone call, you know, like. Yeah, and just like the. The Friday night partying and stuff like that. That was my favorite also. What's age the best is. Or actually you know, you could say it's the worst, but was it easier back then when somebody would just be like, hey, here's a picture of a girl I think you might like. And that was the extent of the knowledge that you had. And you had to actually, like, go.

[Bill Simmons]

Meet the first person going cross country. We should mention what's age the best young Cusack. Just knowing that you're gonna spend the next 40 years with this guy. I have a special Amanda Dobbins award for the best piece of real estate. The three story Malibu house in Gibbs's dreams.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

Great house. That's like a $100 million house now.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, it's insane.

[Bill Simmons]

Three stories, right on the beach. It's like a staircase.

[Rob Mahoney]

Do you think that was in Malibu? Do you think that was in like.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it was like way down in Malibu. Closer to like when it. When it gets a little barren. Great shot. Go to award.

[Rob Mahoney]

Can we just say the man who shot this film shot There Will Be Blood. That is fucking nuts. And another hallmark of Rob Reiner movies, he works with incredible people. He picks, like, the best people to shoot and cut and write his movies. And Robert ElSwit was the DOP on this. Yeah, I wouldn't know that if you put two frames next to each other. But it is an indication of. Of his eye for talent.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I mean, that was like Goldman's favorite guy to do stuff with. Yeah, And Goldman, when he started working with him, Goldman, Goldman and Robert Town were the two best screenwriters.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

Reiner's like, come on. And Goldman was going through, I think, a little bit of a tough time, like writer's block, back issues and the Reiner stuff. Really, like, reinvigorated.

[Rob Mahoney]

Like Tracy McGrady.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, a little bit like Tracy McGrady going to the Rockets. Great shot, Gordo. I was going to say the wallet being in the bed is so well done. When it's that shot of them looking. Them looking. They're looking around and then they leave and it just comes down and you just see the. The wallet and all the stuff is really good. What'd you have?

[Rob Mahoney]

I just had the dolly shot of Gib walking up and down the pool yelling at her while she. It's just like a right on the edge of absurd and he jumps in the pool and it's just like such a great, like, piece of visual. Visual joke.

[Bill Simmons]

Kid Cudi Pursuit of Happiness where best needle drop. It could be infatuation up in Credits, but I think Penny Lover drops at a really nice time for the slow Dance.

[Rob Mahoney]

I thought you when you walk into the frat party was like, that's what I want to hear. If I was walking into a Tahitian themed frat party.

[Bill Simmons]

That's good. CR's choice for a flex category. What do you got?

[Rob Mahoney]

Book about Medals award for belatedly best quote or exchange is when Cusack says that he plays football for Grambling and his friend is like, I thought. I thought Grambling was all black. Just goes, so what? It's such a random little line. He's like, it's nine interceptions on this season for Grambling. And he's like, I thought Grambling was all black.

[Bill Simmons]

That's a good one. Butch's Girlfriend award for weak link of the film. They just don't do a good enough job with the Sheridan character. The sure thing. Even in the moment, not feeling great for her. But then the years later, she's just. I don't know. I just feel bad for her. I wish she had been like 10% more like kind of on it.

[Rob Mahoney]

So neither.

[Bill Simmons]

No. You think it's perfect?

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, no, no. I think it's.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The only glaring issue with this movie is that he's getting. This gorgeous woman at UCLA is just roaming around a frat party with no one near her. Nothing.

[Rob Mahoney]

She's literally getting pimped out by Anthony Edwards. He's just like, come here. And she's ready for it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Sure. And for the next hour and a half, I'll just follow John Cusack around and hope he talks to me. No other man is speaking with me. I have nothing else to do.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

She's like the hottest woman. No.

[Rob Mahoney]

No one's getting near Don Simpson's step. Stepson is probably there or whatever.

[Craig Horlbeck]

She would be hounded.

[Bill Simmons]

She'd have been hounded about some guy.

[Craig Horlbeck]

On the East Coast.

[Bill Simmons]

But this was an 80s trope where the. Either it was that or it was Lori Laughlin and secret admirer with Nobody likes her. And she's like, smoking hot.

[Rob Mahoney]

The. The. The casting or the presentation of the two other people in these people's lives. So Jason, the boyfriend at ucla and Nicolette Sheridan. It's like I. I could stand for them to be a little bit more relatable or human, but, like, I understand why you have to make them caricatures.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. They're like props. Yeah, yeah. Wood Stage. The worst. Cusack tries a Valley Girl accent at one point, which was very in Vogue in 85, but now is like, I don't know. Somebody did that now. I don't know. If anyone's getting the joke.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Or you think they were doing like California. What was that?

[Rob Mahoney]

The California Californians. Yeah. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I have a good. What's age the worst, though? And this was a theme for 80s movies. 80s teens being really fascinated by stars in outer space as a way to make it seem more human to girls. This is a big one in Can't Buy Me Loves, but it's a lot like. It was a way to show that there was more to the guy than just trying to get laid. Where he'd be like, it's all out there, man. Yeah. All these stars. And it'd be like kind of them having a moment. Yeah. Yeah. I, I now I realize I probably should have done that more when I was trying to.

[Rob Mahoney]

Do you think that there's like a Telescopes became more widely available kind of thing that's happening with that, or do.

[Bill Simmons]

We have too much info in outer space now? And it's like, yeah, there's some shit up there.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

We've kind of, we've kind of explored everything. Put some satellites. Yeah. It's just some stars. There's no human life.

[Rob Mahoney]

I have. For what stage the worst? The character named Walter Gibson. Not a name you see a lot on a lot of white guys anymore.

[Bill Simmons]

No. He'd be like a left guard for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Walter Gibson's probable to come back.

[Rob Mahoney]

He really is Kirby smart. Really saw something in him. Right. Writing workshops. I know they help people with their work, but I, I. You have to listen to a lot of bad writing when you're in running workshops and you.

[Bill Simmons]

And you have to do a lot of kind of really forcing a compliments.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. Like, I had to like at every. I had to listen to like vampire erotica and just be like, that was pretty good.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think you may want to think about the last act.

[Bill Simmons]

Chris, you really have an eye for characters.

[Rob Mahoney]

Your ear for dialogue is amazing.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, ear for dialogue is a good compliment.

[Rob Mahoney]

Hitchhiking. Yeah, we don't do that too much anymore. It's probably aged the worst.

[Bill Simmons]

And you know, we don't do it because Netflix has been 45 true crime documentaries that end with a hitchhiker be murdered.

[Rob Mahoney]

Not to get dark. But was there a definitive end to.

[Bill Simmons]

Hitchhiking if something happened at the end of the seventies?

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. I think the seventies it was going. And then they were actually like PSA TV movies that I remember watching Hitchhike in the late 70s where it was like this guy.

[Rob Mahoney]

Do you ever hitchhike?

[Bill Simmons]

Never.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

By the 80s, people didn't do that.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

But it was member Paul Thomas Anderson's dad.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Who would do the ABC ads. They would do like. Sally thought it would be a good idea to go cross country. She thought wrong. The angel dust diary of a teenage hitchhiker to die to dad coming up. But yeah, it was. They put the fair God in you with the after school specials and everything else.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's a good scene, obviously, and it helps his character develop. But I don't know if Allison for who she is, for how pragmatic she is, if she would have gotten in.

[Bill Simmons]

That car with that guy.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think she's at her wit's end. I guess we're. I mean, they are in the Great Plains in that scene. So, like, I don't know where she's going. Yeah. I'm probably at this point it. It's aged the worst to travel 3,000 miles to get laid just because there are apps now.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

He's just going on what, What. What site would he go on now? Craig?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Not that I use them, but Bumble Hinge, Tinder.

[Rob Mahoney]

No free ads.

[Bill Simmons]

Not that I use them.

[Rob Mahoney]

That.

[Bill Simmons]

That, that. That'd be a good sponsored segment. Craig.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Raya, if you're. If you're really cool.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think Gibbs getting on Raya the Ruffalo hand of Rubenic Partridge Overacting word. It's Q sac a couple times, but I love it every time. Totally necessary.

[Rob Mahoney]

Cusack the crazy hitchhiker.

[Bill Simmons]

Totally necessary. So do we retire this CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford Hottest Take award and change it to the Rob Mahoney think Smells like Teen Spirit Sucks award.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I think it's.

[Bill Simmons]

Is it time I will let break vote?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, I think so.

[Bill Simmons]

The categories.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Sure.

[Rob Mahoney]

The categories could use a new coat of paint. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

So we call it the Rob Mahoney thinks Smells like Teen Spirits sucked the whole time.

[Craig Horlbeck]

We should do a rewatchables hottest take. Like March Madness bracket.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, like a clip show. And then just have like a all.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Of the hottest takes, like the best 64 we've ever done and have them compete and see which one wins my.

[Rob Mahoney]

Hottest take for be it Rob Mahoney or the Luke Wilson. Is that Gib and Allison met just a hair too early to make it really work in their lives. It's just freshman year's tough man. Freshman year. And for that to be the forever relationship, those guys are going to go through a lot of changes. They're going to discover a lot of new music. They're going to Try some different drugs. You know, like it's about to get really cokey out there in the 80s. You never know what's going to happen.

[Bill Simmons]

And hasn't died yet.

[Rob Mahoney]

I just don't really know if Gib is. Gib's going to be able to like dial it in academically. I think they're. They're supposed to be at like Cornell, you know, Allison's not going to knock.

[Bill Simmons]

I always thought Brown, but yeah, Cornell.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think it's a state New York that they're supposed to be in. But yeah, it's. It's a sad, sad little truth. But I don't think given Allison, our.

[Bill Simmons]

Forever couple, I had this later for probably unanswerable. So I'll just do it now. I think it's going great. And I think he gets drunk one night and makes out with another girl and she never forgives him. And then at some point campus police might have had to intervene because he kept showing up at a room at.

[Rob Mahoney]

3 o' clock over under sophomore first semester that they make it to. You think they make it through that first summer?

[Bill Simmons]

No, really?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I think they do. I think they make it through most of college and he starts to have the same crisis he has at the end of high school where he's like, I. I like got to go on and be myself and do something else. I can't be with the same girl into my 20s.

[Rob Mahoney]

Do you think Lance remains a thorn in the side for the relationship or has he become like.

[Bill Simmons]

No, Lance is out. He marries a biologist. Yeah. I think Gib wins the intramural football championship and it goes right to his head.

[Rob Mahoney]

Transfers to Grambling.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Transfers to gambling.

[Rob Mahoney]

He hits the portal.

[Bill Simmons]

My, my CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford. Hottest take. Which we're now retiring and naming after Rob Mohoney and Smoszlik. Teen spirit. Hottest take a wor. I think Risky Business and the sure thing are the two best 80s teen movies with teen characters as the protagonist.

[Rob Mahoney]

Risky Business and the sure Thing. Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I think they are the top two out of Breakfast Club. Third and I have Karate Kid.

[Rob Mahoney]

Fourth.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You don't have.

[Rob Mahoney]

Is Bueller 5.

[Bill Simmons]

I think I would have Bueller 5.

[Rob Mahoney]

Really?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Wow.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

That's. If I do Mount Rushmore, I'd have those as the four. And then Buer 5 and Buer versus Karate Kid's a good argument. I mean, Karate Kid's like, I don't know.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think of it more as a sports movie than I do as a teen movie.

[Bill Simmons]

All right. Fair. I'll bump Karate a Kid. Risky business. Sure thing. Breakfast Club. Ferris as a Mount Rushmore. I think that might be it for me. I'll move Karate Kid to the sports movie territory.

[Rob Mahoney]

Thank you.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

All right.

[Bill Simmons]

Casting what ifs? You mentioned Anthony Edwards almost got the lead, and then QSAT got the part. They moved him over. Robin Wright auditioned for the title role. Didn't get it for Nicholas Sheridan's part, filed it away for For Princess Bride.

[Rob Mahoney]

To your point or to our point where we're like, if it's Robin Wright.

[Bill Simmons]

The movie doesn't work.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Because she's the most beautiful person who ever existed. It's unrealistic that she would be single for, like.

[Rob Mahoney]

Thanks for the ride, Alison. I'll see you later. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Right. House. And I hope it works out with boy transferring. Good luck. Best that Guy award.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, there's a couple other casting what ifs. Anthony Edwards was up for Gibb, as we said. And Mayor winning him for Allison.

[Bill Simmons]

Probably. Zuniga is probably better.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. But you can see it. Insane, Almost fire. Yeah. See, like, where they were coming from.

[Bill Simmons]

I almost did that for my hottest take. Maybe I could do a second one.

[Rob Mahoney]

Go ahead. It's your pod.

[Bill Simmons]

Daphne Zuniga, I think, should have been in the Brat Pack. I think she easily could have replaced Ali Sheedy and all the Ali Sheedy parts. And I just would rather have her than Ali Sheedy. Just in general, I think St. Elmo's Fire is better with her. I think Breakfast Club's better with her.

[Rob Mahoney]

So I would say I even think.

[Bill Simmons]

Bad Boys would be better.

[Rob Mahoney]

There's a weird moment right at. Well, not weird moment, but it's like one crazy summer. Demi Moore is a. Is basically playing the Daphne Zuniga part. It's the person that. That Cusack's character is kind of with the whole movie.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

But is distracted from. And then eventually realizes, like, I'm in love with this person.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Right.

[Rob Mahoney]

And I wonder how much of a Demi Moore career. Zach. Daphne Zuniga could have had.

[Bill Simmons]

Interesting. Well, she ended up getting knocked up by her high school reunion guy and then fighting for custody with her in Laws season three. Best that guy. The Trucker.

[Rob Mahoney]

Larry Hankin.

[Bill Simmons]

You know who the trucker is?

[Craig Horlbeck]

No.

[Rob Mahoney]

Did you reckon, like, were you, like.

[Bill Simmons]

Legendary nine TV actor.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Didn't recognize him.

[Bill Simmons]

He played the cranky friends neighborhood who ended up dying. Oh, he also played Kramer's alter ego in the Seinfeld.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The Bizarro episode.

[Rob Mahoney]

No.

[Bill Simmons]

Was it the Bizarro episode or the one where they did the TV show about Seinfeld.

[Rob Mahoney]

I can't remember.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it was when they did the TV show.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

And Kramer didn't get to play Kramer, but somebody else did. I think that was Larry Hankin. It's been around for a long time.

[Rob Mahoney]

Carmen Flippy was. Or Philippe was the bus station bum in Almost man in this movie. He was the preacher in Halloween 4. And he's in a bunch of Tim Burton movies.

[Bill Simmons]

That's a good one.

[Rob Mahoney]

And he's in Wedding Singer. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

One more break and then we'll do DM Waiters. This episode is brought to you by the Focus Features film Hamnet from director Chloe Zhao and producer Steven Spielberg and.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Sam Mendez discover the untold story behind Shakespeare's greatest masterpiece.

[Bill Simmons]

Winner of more audience awards than any.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Film this year, Hamnet is a monumental cinematic experience.

[Bill Simmons]

And now it's nominated for six Golden Globes and 11 Critics Choice Awards, including best picture of the year.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Hamnet ready?

[Bill Simmons]

PG13 may be inappropriate for children under 13. Now playing only in theaters. This episode is brought to you by Coca Cola. From the first time you turn on your Christmas lights till the last president is placed under the tree, the holiday season is packed with iconic moments. But with every exciting minute spoken for, it can feel like they're flying by faster than Santa's sleigh. This Christmas, cherish them all with crisp, refreshing Coca Cola. Hissing, clinking, gulping and eyeing your way through the most exciting moments the season has to offer. That's a gift in and of itself. Enjoy a Coca Cola refresh your holidays. Dan Waiter's a word you know. I checked. I'm due to do a rewatchables mailbag. Or a mailbag for my pot or some sort of mailbag. Multiple people have push for this to be the Bill Paxton award instead of the Dan Waiters award. I'm not good with changing Dan Waiters. I think Dean spent 10 years at.

[Rob Mahoney]

Dan Wades core part of the philosophy.

[Bill Simmons]

I feel like we can change that. It's also funny that he's been out of basketball for five years.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's a real race to see who people know less. Deion Waiters or we own the city.

[Bill Simmons]

Wayne Jenkins might be Deon. Deon Waiters the teacher. Vivica Limb Force. Tim Robbins. Anthony Edwards as Lance or the short thing. I actually think it's the teacher.

[Rob Mahoney]

I think you're right. Robbins is right behind them.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, Robbins is gonna take good care of himself.

[Rob Mahoney]

He belongs.

[Bill Simmons]

Why aren't you singing, honey? He's kind of mad that they're not singing in the back. Recast the couch. Director of City. I love everybody. I wouldn't change a thing. I maybe would identify the college campus and really go hard on like a Georgetown or a Brown or just so we know where we are. But they didn't want.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, it year too late. It would just be really. It would. It would be really fun if like Tom Cruise was Lance. You know.

[Bill Simmons]

Rob Lowe could have been Lance. I'm surprised he was available.

[Rob Mahoney]

I'm coming from. I'm coming to you. Cordless.

[Bill Simmons]

Craig has a flex category.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I did the. The Rick Dalton. I. I Can I just save it for picking it?

[Bill Simmons]

Yep. Half ass Internet research. Some guy named Robert Bauer played the same character named Moke in this and Spinal Tap. The scene when Gib teaches Allison a shotgun and beer was added to the script because Cusack told Reiner this was one of his talents. So threw it in.

[Rob Mahoney]

Way to go.

[Bill Simmons]

Reiner said he shot at multiple colleges so it'd be a generic but obviously Ivy League or Nescac title.

[Rob Mahoney]

I will say I forgot to put this. At what stage. The worst is that now that I've lived in California for a little while, you can tell 90% of the movie is shot in California, even though it's a road movie. And you can be like, oh, yeah, this is just Stockton.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, Gib is wearing the green and gold. Green and gold kangaroos jersey of an Australian national rugby league team of that era. And they just. They gave it to them because they liked the way the jersey looked. But then I guess for the next 10, 20 years, people were mentioning it to Cusack.

[Rob Mahoney]

I just assumed that all T shirts that John Cusack wears in John Cusack movies are John Cusack's T shirts.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Yo, kangaroos. He's like, what? Apex Mountain? Cusack? No, Daphne Zuniga said probably Spaceballs the next year.

[Rob Mahoney]

How about Apex Mountain for whatever sexual position Gibbs roommate is pulling? Because I honestly he.

[Bill Simmons]

We should have put him in DM way.

[Rob Mahoney]

I gotta say, I've never seen it before. I don't even know what you would call it. Is that the spelunker? Like, what's he doing?

[Bill Simmons]

He was the skit. What do they call him? Skin crawlers or skin walkers? He's like skinwalker. You believe in skinwalkers? No. I don't know.

[Rob Mahoney]

What are skinwalkers?

[Bill Simmons]

It's on Instagram. You can, if you follow, like any of those weird accounts, they'll start serving you skinwalker stuff.

[Rob Mahoney]

What are you talking about?

[Bill Simmons]

It's like it's like the wide shot of like, there's like a security camera at a bank and like a skinwalker walks by. It's like these little skeletons that walk weird. They kind of look.

[Rob Mahoney]

What does this have to do with the sexual position in the dorm room?

[Bill Simmons]

Because they have like, their. Their legs are backwards.

[Rob Mahoney]

Bill, what the are you talking about?

[Bill Simmons]

I've never seen this. You've never seen skin walkers?

[Rob Mahoney]

No, I've. No. It's like, like an AI, like, bit.

[Bill Simmons]

Obviously I'm following better Instagram accounts.

[Rob Mahoney]

Give me what's like.

[Bill Simmons]

Although I may be done with Instagram. I'm tired of the AI.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm tired of getting fooled by the AI.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

I saw one the other night of like. I was. I was pretty gripped by it. I got. I got hoodwinked with. You got clanked people in like a skyscraper pool. Like a pool that like, looks out into the sky and then the glass starts to break. And they were like, oh, it's AI. And I was like, fuck, dude. I was like, this is pretty good.

[Bill Simmons]

I saw one where there was a fist fight at a game and the guy got punched and rolled down the stairs and went off the baseball stadium. Like triple deck.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, like, I wouldn't have heard about that.

[Bill Simmons]

And I was like, I probably would have seen this on SportsCenter if this happened.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, they would have let Sports center coming up next. Honestly, can you imagine if SportsCenter just became like the Chive and it was just like. It's like an incredible thing that happened.

[Bill Simmons]

That's what they should do at sports centers. Just do AI videos.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's just ridiculousness.

[Bill Simmons]

Instead it's like Saturday or Saturday. What do you got first, Jeff? I told Trager he's got to do Peter's pants. That like, that could be his hook segment.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Did he like that?

[Bill Simmons]

It's time for Peter's pants.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And then he, like, has pants.

[Rob Mahoney]

Hannah Storm doing Skinwalker of the Week.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Is a skinwalker a real thing or a made up name?

[Rob Mahoney]

This is like, kind of terrifying because he's like, he. I don't know. First of all, how you made that association.

[Bill Simmons]

You were talking. His body was like, bent in a weird spot.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Where. Where did that phrase come from? Is that what is a skinwalker?

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, here's a skinwalker. Look at dogs barking at the skinwalker.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, Bill, they're like skeletons. Cartoon man.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm just telling you that Instagram.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't know what's going on.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, my God.

[Bill Simmons]

Wait, I have more Apex Mountain Skinwalkers.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Anthony Edwards. No.

[Rob Mahoney]

Did you say road trip movies?

[Bill Simmons]

I was about to.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Road trip movies. No.

[Rob Mahoney]

This or Green book.

[Bill Simmons]

No, it's Midnight Run.

[Rob Mahoney]

Green book.

[Bill Simmons]

We got to stop here. I'm doing some music. Hitchhiking.

[Rob Mahoney]

No, no.

[Bill Simmons]

Shotgunning beers. Has it been done better? Has it been a more integral part of a movie process?

[Rob Mahoney]

Do they shotgun beers at Animal House? Am I forgetting that I like how.

[Bill Simmons]

They bring it back in this where she does it in front of her boyfriend.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's really funny.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm gonna say yes. Nicola Chair. Didn't know. Desperate. As was Rob.

[Craig Horlbeck]

She also does it's. She shotguns it in real life. I mean, she crushes that.

[Bill Simmons]

She does a good job. Cold 45.

[Rob Mahoney]

Is he drinking beers just in this guy's car, like, at 10 in the morning? Yeah, that is pretty funny. I'd be pretty annoyed by that.

[Bill Simmons]

80S teen movies. No Cruise or Hanks.

[Rob Mahoney]

I got Hank Spielberg for Cruise.

[Bill Simmons]

I have Hank Spielberg as well. This would have been a good Tom Hanks movie. Although you're right. Cruise easily could have been the Anthony Edwards part.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Talking to Cordless buddy. What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman have played? I think it's Gibbs buddies.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, it's definitely Lance coming to you.

[Bill Simmons]

Cordless.

[Rob Mahoney]

And then when Gibbs like, I can't come, he's like, shut the fuck up. Shut up. Shut up.

[Bill Simmons]

Be like, hey, Gibb, how's the peeping picking? It's. How did Gib actually get in the cowboy rapist truck?

[Rob Mahoney]

He jumped in the truck.

[Bill Simmons]

But how did the trucker not know?

[Rob Mahoney]

I think he was more interested in taking off his wedding ring and stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

We talked about this. But why is the sure thing so excited about meeting Gib?

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, we don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

Pretty sure she has plans every night.

[Rob Mahoney]

And then Lance completely bottles it by being like, he's gay and a virgin.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

When.

[Bill Simmons]

When it's like, well, she was trying to. It was a ploy to make her feel bad for him, I guess.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's just such a weird move.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The whole thing's a little weird.

[Bill Simmons]

Was Lance a good friend?

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, it actually leads me to a possibly unanswerable question, which is, you know, in the beginning of the movie, Gibbs, like, I had sex six times in high school, sophomore and junior year mostly. And I'm like, you think he's lying? Do you think Gibbs a virgin? And that's why he's like, I'm willing to go all the way across the country to get laid.

[Bill Simmons]

So he's doing the Niagara Falls area. Yeah, it's Like, I had sex six times. Yes, but Lance seems to know that he had sex.

[Rob Mahoney]

Lance just seems to be taking his word for it. But I don't think he's like interrogating.

[Bill Simmons]

It much because he seems to think Gibbs like in a slump.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah, well, he's using all this astronomy pickup lines. I mean, like, start there.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Outer space. It just never really worked.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah. But then we find out like later, like, you know, that's a.

[Bill Simmons]

That's when friends went off the wheels a little bit. When Ross was using that with Rachel. He took her to like the astronomy whatever to try to get her. It's like, look at the stars.

[Rob Mahoney]

Oh, the.

[Bill Simmons]

What do they call those?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Observatory.

[Rob Mahoney]

No, but like, isn't it like the planetarium? Planetarium.

[Bill Simmons]

The edit at the end is very 80s and corny. When she reads the essay, for some reason, the class stops. Everybody just starts talking. It's just chaos in the class. And she comes up to him and it looks like they're about to kiss. And then it cuts to them on the roof about to kiss. And it's just like, let em kiss. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know if that one worked. I don't know if we had the technology in 1985 for that one.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The only thing Liz and I were like, oh, I think I could have. I could have lived with another couple minutes. Like, it ends so abruptly. It's like this awesome resolution and they're on the roof, they're kissing credits. I could have like. Yeah. Had them exchange a couple lines or something.

[Bill Simmons]

But this is your rule.

[Craig Horlbeck]

But it's only 92 minutes. Like it could have been 94 if you give me a little. I mean, I feel like you build up all the way to this and then it ends. It kind of cuts you off.

[Bill Simmons]

Is this your flex?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Well, yes, that and then a very small picking knitzer. I feel like Gibbs pajamas on this trip are bizarre.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He's in like a really like translucent dirty white cut off. That's like almost a V neck. Yeah. And like thin capri gray sweats.

[Rob Mahoney]

It's kind of awesome.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Really weird.

[Rob Mahoney]

Jump on in bed. He also is like, how many clothes did he pack in that duffel bag?

[Bill Simmons]

And he also has a nice suit to wear for dinner that's like perfectly ironed. Yeah, Yeah. I don't know how much. I don't know how he was able to pull that off. I could have gone with another like four minutes at the Hawaiian party.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

We didn't need to just be immediately centered on him versus Allison. I could have met a couple other people.

[Rob Mahoney]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

I was almost thinking, this could be a Craig rewatchables category. How many minutes should this movie have been exactly? Because Craig, he's never satisfied with the length.

[Rob Mahoney]

You know what, though?

[Bill Simmons]

Even when it's 90 minutes, he's like, I could have gone for another eight.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I. Truman show could have been 10 minutes longer. I think this just needs a minute more at the end for the resolution.

[Rob Mahoney]

Don't know what they need to do there, because that's when I think you get into, like, it's the graduates, like, now, what with them, you know, like, football game champions. That's right.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It might even just have been. The editing was so quick. Like, it was just. They really, like, get in and get out.

[Bill Simmons]

Sequel, prequel, Prestige tv, all black caster, Untouchable. You know, there. There's, like, definitely a prestige TV kind of something that you could have pulled off with this. I just don't know where it goes.

[Rob Mahoney]

I was trying to think of the other day, like, if there are really good road trip TV shows that aren't, like, Kung Fu, like, that aren't like. The whole point is, like, this person goes from town to town, but how long could their road trip be before it would be, like.

[Bill Simmons]

So could it be, like, seven episodes? Each day is its own episode.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's a long time to be getting into hijinks, maybe.

[Bill Simmons]

Untouchable.

[Rob Mahoney]

This is so perfectly paced where I. You think that they're on the road the whole movie. They don't get into Tim Robbins's car until the 31st minute. You get so much time in college getting, like, the. The opposites part before they attract. It's really great.

[Bill Simmons]

All black cast could have worked, too. Is this movie better than Wayne Jenkins could have.

[Rob Mahoney]

The grambling thing really worked, you know?

[Bill Simmons]

Is this movie better than Wayne Jenkins or everyone else we have in this category?

[Rob Mahoney]

I haven't done Brimley in a while, you know, and I was just imagining, like, what happens. Like, Allison and Gibber together for a little while, and then. And then here's your Allison going down to the mailbox to get her latest copy of Branta or the Paris Review. What does she find instead? She finds heartache. Gibb, another one of your letters to Penthouse has been published. Do you think Gibb gives up his. His, like, you know, like, he obviously won. I know that's his roommate's letter, but you think Gibb gives up, like, the writing letters to Penthouse even after him and Allison do the deed?

[Bill Simmons]

Yes. Okay, I do. I Had long legs picking them up with their hitchhiking. Come on in the car.

[Rob Mahoney]

Allison, she's pretty much like, sure, whatever. I gotta get out of here.

[Bill Simmons]

It seems like you're fighting with that boy. Just one Oscar. Who gets it?

[Rob Mahoney]

Reiner. Reiner.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I think it's Reiner. Probably unanswerable questions. What kind of credit card bill was her dad looking at in January?

[Rob Mahoney]

Set dinner alone. It's granted.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a couple hotel rooms.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Some food on the way.

[Rob Mahoney]

Bucks in 1985.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Sounds good. And you think Gibbonhaus. And you think they made it a year?

[Rob Mahoney]

I think that they maybe make it to first semester sophomore year. But then it really starts to come up apart.

[Bill Simmons]

I think that's fair.

[Rob Mahoney]

That's when intramural football really kicks into high gear for him.

[Bill Simmons]

What piece of memorability would you want or not want from this movie? I would take the actual essay that closed the movie, whatever the written one would be.

[Rob Mahoney]

I would even take the one with the pepperoni stains on it.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, either one. Coach Finock award. By the way, was that handwritten? That essay? Right.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I think that we should have put that in. What's the most 1985 thing about handwriting? Their essay? Handwriting your word.

[Rob Mahoney]

I didn't see any like word processors or typewriters or anything like that.

[Bill Simmons]

Coach Finstock award. Best life lessons. Next time just take the bus the whole way.

[Rob Mahoney]

Well, I didn't get to this and probably answer questions. What's the return trip plan? Because Gibbs, like, I'm broke. I can't fly. So if he's in la, what's the plan? To get back to class in time to start taking tests. Is it.

[Bill Simmons]

He's borrowing money from Lance. Yeah.

[Rob Mahoney]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Who's at that point has become one of the. One of the best madams in Hollywood.

[Rob Mahoney]

He's investing out everyone invested in the Clippers.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Best double feature choice. I'd stand by me.

[Rob Mahoney]

I have one crazy summer.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah. I like it. And then who won the movie? It's probably Cusack, but we'll say Reiner. Yeah, let's say Reiner for this one. Any last thoughts?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Craig, I agree with you. This and Risky Business are probably my two favorite teen movies that I've never seen before. So good.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, we haven't done Sacred Admirer yet. I'll be interested to see how that resonates with you. This is great.

[Rob Mahoney]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe this will inspire somebody to just pay for the music and have this stream again. It's the lost Rob Reiner class.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Really?

[Rob Mahoney]

Can't tell what the deal is here. I guess it must be the soundtrack.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, that's it.

[Rob Mahoney]

Rip.

[Bill Simmons]

Rob Reiner, we're gonna miss you.

[Rob Mahoney]

Good to see you, man.

[Bill Simmons]

Thanks, cr. Thanks, Craig. Thanks, Gahau. See you next time in the rewatchable.

[Rob Mahoney]

It.