#217. 'No Hard Feelings' (Netflix)
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The main review is No Hard Feelings, freshly landed on Netflix after its theatrical run, and all three hosts land somewhere between fond and enthusiastic without going overboard: Sonny calls it funny but says "I like this movie, I don't love it," raving that Jennifer Lawrence is so gifted at comedy it feels like a decade of dour Hunger Games work was wasted, and singling out the supporting cast — Hassan Minhaj's one-scene cameo, Kyle Mooney's deadpan male nanny, and Natalie Morales; Mike, comparing it favorably to the prior week's Old Dads, calls it "a real movie with a proper script" that lets its raunchy premise (Jennifer Lawrence's broke Montauk townie is paid by helicopter parents, including Matthew Broderick, to deflower their nebbish 19-year-old son before he leaves for Princeton) earn its jokes through careful motivation-building; JVL zeroes in on the age-gap gags — the "oh hey there, grandma" line when 23 sounds ancient to teenagers — the recurring silent-husband-explains-OnlyFans bit, and his theory that Jennifer Lawrence's character is basically Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place transplanted into a sex comedy. That review kicks off a long back-half discussion of why studio comedies no longer draw theatrical audiences the way Superbad, Dodgeball, or Bridesmaids once did, with the trio blaming generational squeamishness, the migration of comic talent to stand-up and podcasts, and the lack of a working "comedy crew" since the Apatow years, alongside a detour on The Marvels being "borderline incompetent" storytelling. The opening third is dominated by Sonny's deep dive into rewatching Moonlighting ahead of an interview with showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron, which spirals into a tangent on Twin Peaks' tangled home-video rights and David Lynch generally (Sonny confesses he can never get into Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive); JVL then holds forth on the "super shoe" carbon-plate running-shoe revolution after buying his son a pair of Nike Vaporflies for cross country, complete with a rant about absurdly overwrought middle-school state championship meets; and Mike recounts taking his nine-year-old to his first college basketball game, a George Mason win over Monmouth with a standout pep band, plus a tangent about Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse's tournament-bonus incentives.
From the show notes
Kinda long episode this week, but we had many thoughts about the state of comedy on screens large and small. Enjoy!
Full transcript
Mike00:00:00Michael Warren: Welcome back to the Sub-Beacon podcast. I am your co-host, Mike Warren and joining me as always are my two co-hosts who love to ride naked on a hood of a car, Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V. Last, join us at Sub-Beacon.com. Join us at Sub-Beacon.com, become a patron, join the Sub-Beacon community. You can get access every Friday morning to our episodes over at Sub-Beacon.com, but you can also comment, become a part of that community when we have bonus episodes, which we should do one one of these days again. Well, you'll get exclusive access to those on Mondays. You can vote in the polls that we throw up. Everybody's got a, you know, has a great time over at Sub-Beacon.com. So join us over there, become a patron. Sub-Beacon.com. We'll be talking about No Hard Feelings, which was in theaters earlier this year. We just watched it because it's just been put on Netflix. But we'll be talking about that later in the show. First, Sonny Bunch, what's going on?
Sonny00:01:37Not a whole lot. Not a whole lot. I I've been I've been. Watching Moonlighting, you guys
JVL00:01:45JBL, I feel like I watched that first run. You a moonlighting guy. It's fine. So I'm
Sonny00:01:51I'm interviewing the showrunner. Yes. Sybil Shepard, Bruce Willis, Bruce Willis's first real like literally like his first role. I mean, it was it was it was wild. But he's so good in it, too, isn't he? He's so well, it's it's so I'm so the reason I'm watching it is because I'm interviewing the creator of the show, the executive producer who's who's doing some he's doing some press because the show is finally on streaming. It's on Hulu. And but it was funny because I had I had watched I had watched a couple of episodes that I had like found on YouTube or something and I'd watch like some clips of it, but I never watch I've never watched the whole thing. I probably won't watch the whole series now either because I don't have enough time, but I'm watching certain episodes. And it's it's really, really interesting just watching the pilot episode because Bruce Willis appears on the screen fully formed in all of his Bruce ness. I mean, it's like it's wild. It's it's it's the sort of thing where you see and you're like, oh, yeah, that guy, that guy is going to be a real star. And it's like a very specific sort of persona. That he's playing on the show and like also kind of reflects, you know, John McClane, of course, and Die Hard anyway, when he's showing up in here is the only analog I can think of for that.
JVL00:03:09Right. I mean, George Clooney was the first time most he had been on Facts of Life. Yeah. Nobody really knew him before ER. And you're just like, oh, star. And he was already George Clooney at that point. I think that's basically what Bruno was like in Moonlighting. Do you like it? Do you enjoy it?
Sonny00:03:25Yeah. I mean, it's it's funny. It's a very it's a very interesting. And weird show in in in very in a lot of ways. I mean, it's just it's just a very strange show where they're doing like fourth wall breaks. You know, I was watching I was watching the second season finale the other day and like the the last scene of the show. They like just leave the stage and they run around the lots, the back lots, and they go to another stage. And they like instead of doing the scene, they say what they were going to do in the scene. It's like it's the sort of thing that like I frankly, frankly, you wouldn't. Really see outside of like Rick and Morty or maybe community or something like this. The show had a very clear influence on Dan Harmon. It seems pretty. But like the but the but it's it was also just like so I'm also reading an oral history of the of the show. And it's fascinating to look at the production of it because it's a reminder that like and this is still true, I guess, of network TV. But like, you know, I watch I watch a lot of HBO. I watch a lot of FX. Right. And those series. Those seasons. They shoot the whole thing and they wrap the whole thing. They they they shoot a whole season and they wrap it and they edit it and they get it ready to go. And then it rolls out week after week after week. And with with with moonlighting, it was one of these things where they were writing it. You know, they're writing it week to week. And if the script wasn't ready, they just didn't have a show that week. It's like a lot of the times like this is just how it were. You didn't. They didn't have a show. They didn't. They like I was like, this is chaos. How do you how do you actually program a schedule like this? But it. But it also didn't matter that much because you know what? Back then, three networks, three channels for me. What else are you going to do? What else are you going to watch? What else are you going to watch? PBS, you know, you're going to read a book. You fucking nerds. So like this show, the show is popular and it was good. The show shows popular and it was good. And like they would just they would just not have an episode. They would throw a rerun on and it would do like a 40 share. I mean, like they're they're just throwing out numbers of the show. And again, it was like a popular show is in the top five. Top 10, you know, not I don't think it was ever the like highest rated show in a season. But it was, you know, it did really well. It did. It did.
JVL00:05:35It's chemistry with Civil Shepherds. So good.
Sonny00:05:38Very, very good. I that she's very good. And the chemistry is real good. And like anyway, it was but it was it's just like a real thing for her. For good reason. She's very, very pretty. She's a very pretty woman.
JVL00:05:52Who was it? He said she's in Nashville, right?
Sonny00:05:56No. The last picture show.
JVL00:06:00Oh, last picture show. Who direct the last picture show?
Sonny00:06:02That's Bogdanovich, who she was with at the time. I can't remember if they were married.
JVL00:06:06He said about her at the time. It's like, you know, she's got a body made for sin. Oh, Civil Shepherd.
Mike00:06:14So, so, Sonny, back back to your point about about this sort of like meta or fourth wall breaking. Just like She-Hulk. Yes.
Sonny00:06:23It's very similar to She-Hulk. Working at a very similarly high level.
Mike00:06:28Well, I was trying to think of like, because we do have this idea that like TV was so conventional until, you know, to the turn of the century. But like, I was thinking of that, but also it's Gary Shandling show was had very much the Larry Sanders show.
Sonny00:06:44Yeah.
Mike00:06:45Sanders. Yeah. No, no, no. Even before that, the the the sitcom where he. Oh, yeah. Where he would where he would break the fourth wall and like talk to this like that sort of thing was happening. And then you have. Like Twin Peaks and like the early night. It's like weird stuff was happening on TV and like a bunch of people were watching it because it was on network TV. And that's right.
JVL00:07:07That's like that's a remarkable. I mean, that is pre DVD. So nobody knows about it anymore.
Sonny00:07:13Yeah. Well, and like it wasn't on. So I think the first two seasons got a DVD release. The last three didn't. And there were there were all sorts of music rights issues. It's like a Daria or something like that or Beavis and Butthead. They like they couldn't clear the right. It's for for home video release. And my understanding is that a bunch of the Hulu episodes, they have different music on it because they couldn't. They still couldn't clear. They still couldn't clear the rights. Anyway, I plan on talking to him about this because there's nothing there's nothing more riveting to talk about than rights clearance. But I'm going to talk to him about this on the show that I can that I can promise. Fascinating.
JVL00:07:51I find it utterly fascinating.
Sonny00:07:53I did. I did. I did an episode of the board. Sorry. Talk about my other podcast for the whole. Opening bit. But I did. I did episode of the board goes to Hollywood today with a a woman, Terry Davis, who worked who works at the MPA now and works on their trusted partner network, which is basically like how they stop the how they stop piracy before a movie is released, like the process that they recommend to, like, keep movies from leaking before they come out. But what I what I what I really want to talk to her about what I talked about for the first 10 minutes, she was at Sony in distribution between 2000 and 2012. Fifteen, which is like one of the most fascinating sea changes in the world of distribution. You go from basically having like physical reels of analog material that you would have to either take to broadcast networks if you were doing TV or like to the to the you'd ship reels of film, you know, to the studio or to 4,000 theaters. Right. You'd have to you'd have to send like 80 pounds of film to 3,000 theaters and that would be or 3,000 screens. And that's how your movie would get seen. And then, you know, midway through that point, the digital projection revolution begins. And by 2015, they're like starting to move, you know, to Internet cloud based stuff, though that didn't really I don't think that really kicked in until a little bit later. But anyway, like I like again, I have this this sort of thing is is absolutely riveting.
JVL00:09:18You know, as you mentioned, Twin Peaks, Michael, do you know that you cannot see Twin Peaks? You can see the show. Once it moves to series, you can get that, but the the original Twin Peaks, which was shot as a movie for film or as a shot on film to be a movie, which then was rejected by the studio and wound up on ABC split into two like forty five minute halves. It was a two parter, right? They took the 90 minute movie and turned to and because of all the insane rights wrapped around that, you can only watch Twin Peaks, the series beginning with what is essentially episode three. Is that which is meaningless because you can't see the first two episodes would set up everything you cannot watch or you can't watch the pilot.
Mike00:10:06I feel like I'm pretty sure I've tried many times over the years because nine years ago we watched it and we watched the whole I don't know what I thought was pirating Michael.
JVL00:10:16No, I'm not. Sonny's going to cut your left hand off. No, it was on Netflix. It was on all the everything.
Mike00:10:22All the rights were secured. So is that so that's separate from Firewalkers? Firewalk with me? Yes, which is a prequel movie that was made after the fact, correct? Yeah, because I feel like I feel like I saw the I saw the pilot where where Kyle McLaughlin comes to town and the murder has, you know, has just happened and he discovers the stuff under her fingernails.
JVL00:10:48OK, well, I thought maybe that's maybe that is maybe it's changed since the last time, but like once every two years I go looking for this thing. Well,
Sonny00:10:57Maybe you can go back nine years ago and maybe you could have watched it. Can I just say I I've never gotten I've never been able to get into Twin Peaks at all. I find it I find it like I find most David Lynch to be kind of inscrutable and weird and just not not my cup of tea. And I try I swear to God, I watch I watch Mulholland Drive like once once every two years or so.
JVL00:11:19And I still like I still we have to do an episode of that show with Mike since we haven't done one on Mulholland Drive with Michael.
Sonny00:11:25We should we should we didn't we did we did. We did one with Vic, right?
JVL00:11:28I think we did.
Sonny00:11:29Why can't we do another one? But we could do it again. We could.
JVL00:11:32We could do Blue Velvet.
Sonny00:11:33I've actually seen Blue Velvet. See, I fucking hate Blue Velvet. I own Blue Velvet. And I try again. I try to watch it like every four or five years. I'm like, maybe maybe now it'll it'll click with me, but I know it doesn't work.
Mike00:11:43I do think I do think David Lynch is was helped by the TV, you know, the demands of TV structures. The structures. Yes. Of TV. And but the second season is it goes. So far off the rails. Yeah.
JVL00:11:59It should have been one season.
Mike00:12:00Exactly.
JVL00:12:01Exactly. Problem is, the economics of television won't would not allow that in that era.
Sonny00:12:06Correct. Or in this era. I mean, it's still like, yeah, you still you still need to have the.
Mike00:12:11Yes. Stranger Things should have been one season, frankly. So, OK, well, let's let's move on here, JVL. What's going on with you?
JVL00:12:19I just bought Flash a pair of racing shoes. Do you guys know anything about the racing shoe revolution? Mm hmm. These are not running shoes or they are running shoes. Well, they're shoes to run in.
Mike00:12:32OK.
JVL00:12:33But we we are living in the era of the super shoe. This began about three or four years ago, and Nike figured out a way to they have a hyper responsive foam, which is underneath a carbon plate that runs the full length of the shoe. And more foam on top of sandwich does is is it basically like running on springs and it it shaves between two and four percent off of your time all by itself. And as the super shoe revolution has swept over the entire sport, we are now at a place where we are coming close to somebody running a sub two hour marathon. This is a thing which was never really thought to be possible. And it is like I don't know if you guys remember this, but there was an Olympics probably 16 years ago, maybe 18 years ago in which Speedo came up with a new type of suit. And as a result, every single fucking swimming record fell in a single Olympic because everybody is wearing these suits and they just made everybody like four percent faster. And you know, I mean, and very quickly the organizing body of swimming. I said, you can't wear those. No, we can't do, we can't do that and started creating standards for four suits to create. There were super suits. Well, we have super shoes for running and the running world hasn't really figured out what to do about that for now. There's sort of letting it happen. The guy who won the New York city marathon last weekend was wearing a prototype, a Nike prototype shoe, which is not in production yet. It's going to be the new alpha fly. Uh, but like, you know, so Nike had to go to the sports governing body to like get approval for this particular product. I mean, the whole thing is just interesting me that technology is, has made it so that even something like running, which you think of as the most basic of all sports in order to be competitive at high levels, even to the level of like middle school cross country, right? If you can't afford the $275 pair of shoes, then you're at a 4% disadvantage over everybody else. And I don't like that. I don't like it at all.
Mike00:15:11So I'm a little skeptical of this having, you know, in a, in a past life, I was a seller of running shoes. I know. Um, and I remember hearing, getting pitches from sales reps every like six weeks. Uh, you know, from all of the running shoe companies about the, how their technology, you know, was going to be better. And it was all just some version of foam or air or blah, blah, blah. So, um, so my question is, does it shave off two to 4% for everyone or only for the elite runners who are elite athletes and like, is it, it, would it actually be true? That if you were a middle school cross country, which I don't even know they had cross country middle school, um, that you would have a, you know, demonstrable advantage wearing these shoes. Um, I'm a little skeptical about that, but we put a pair of these shoes on one of the
JVL00:16:14kids on flashes team for their last race and he was 30 seconds faster placebo effect. Well, how, how does it actually, except that it's, I mean, it's demonstrated all levels and the times everywhere. They're coming down. Yeah. So again, like, so you just see it, times are coming down much quicker than they had
Sonny00:16:32been. No, I, I I've read about this and I like, I believe it's real, but my question is what is the actual what's so what is the actual mechanism that improves the speed? I mean, is it just lightness?
JVL00:16:43It's rebound. So it's rebound. What it's doing is it's saving you energy. Yeah. So that's what the speed it's not making you fat go faster. It's saving energy. And so each step is like 4% more efficient. Mm-hmm. Um, and what's. What's very interesting about these, uh, these things are good for about 200 miles, never any more than 250 miles, because at that point they just start to disintegrate because they are engineered to within an inch of their lives to be as light as humanly possible. And so they're absolutely gossamer, you know, like they've, they've shaved off every place they can get. And so that's why they, they really are not meant to do anything but race in them. Like you would never wear them out into a. Yeah.
Sonny00:17:28Like for a workout. Right. So there, so they're like only for racing. Like you, you, you, you practice in your regular heavy shoes and then you put these things on and it's like taking off. It's like in, it's like in dragon ball Z when they practice with the, they practice with weighted geese and kimonos and stuff, they're fighting the bad guys. And then they take those off and they instantly get a power boost. Basically.
Mike00:17:48That's what it's like. Basically. Anyway. This is because I, this is because I said, I don't watch it. I never watched anime. Is that why you brought that up?
JVL00:17:55Anime. Uh, I. Josh has been working real hard at cross country all season and he really wants to go 19 flat in the final race of the season. So it was an early Christmas present. I said, I'll get you a pair of vapor flies there. That's what I got. Well, it is fascinating though. And, but as God is my witness at even at the middle school cross country meets, which by the way, I'm going to a middle school cross country state championship meet on Saturday because that's how insane the world is. State championship meets for not just middle school. This is third through eighth grades, third through eighth grades. Start them young. There is a state champion grades three, four and five team and a state champion grades six, seven, eight team, because that is a thing we should do clearly what the children need for their development is to be told that they are the best in the state as a fourth
Mike00:18:54grader. What the fuck?
JVL00:18:57It's absolutely meaningless and it drives me crazy. The idea that we are setting up these things to then like tell the kids, look at this, you are a state champion as a third grade, just give them a fucking ring pop. That's what a third grader wants. They want a bag of ring pops. They don't need to be part of a state championship team. So what?
Mike00:19:20So why don't you not go JVL protest?
JVL00:19:22Don't enable it. I'm not the head coach. Okay. I am. I'm one of the assistant coaches and I am, you know what, I'm there to support the, to support the team. There to support the team. I, uh, I follow orders.
Mike00:19:35Do you say, do you say this, do you say this JVL, do you say, yeah, I just want to back up what coach said there, uh, that I feel like every assistant coach prefaces everything they say with like nothing or they say, I'm just backing up what head coach said there. And then they say the exact same thing that the coach said. So that's like your role as the assistant coach.
JVL00:19:52No, my role is to be the heavy, I'm the bad coach. Oh. I'm the lead Tasso. Like the head coach is, is Ted Lasso. He's like super happy-go-lucky and I'm the one who yells at the kids for, for good mom.
Sonny00:20:05You're more of a beard. You coach beard.
JVL00:20:07Uh, yeah. Much more coach beard. And we had, um, yeah, we had, we had a very bad, we had our worst meet of the season last, last week for the, the meet of champions. You can't hear me rolling my eyes, but I'm rolling my eyes. The idea that we have a meet of champions, but I would say our, our, our six, seven, eight girls team. Is just very, very fast and they should have won this meet of champions and they got absolutely smoked. And I was not like, Hey, you did your best. I was like, wow, that was a piss poor performance. Can't believe you guys were so slow out there. What's wrong with you?
Sonny00:20:47Were they actually slower? Was the other team faster?
JVL00:20:50No, they beat this team like four times this season and it hasn't been closed. They were, they were all like 30 seconds slower than they normally are. And uh, you know, two of them had, one of them had soccer practice the morning before the meet. One of them had field hockey practice the morning for the, before the meat. Like that's great. We're sending our kids out for three hour practices and running sports that they then go home, get changed, eat lunch and go for a race. What, what, what is happening?
Mike00:21:19What I don't understand is, and you may disagree with this JVL, the, the two sports in one season thing. Like what? Growing up, I did one sport, one season if there was Mike, how are we going to get into
JVL00:21:31an elite college if you're not doing two sports in one season and volunteering to do prom dresses for homeless people and also making sure that you write your essay about how wrong homophobia is or I only say that because I'm thinking about the, the bit from the Princeton house party in a, that's right. In this movie. Anyway, enough. I'm going to stop talking. Michael, how are you? And I really do want to talk about this movie.
Mike00:21:59Uh, good. I, I do too. I'll just say very quickly that, um, I took my, uh, I, I, I should say I did not take, I was just a, uh, uh, I was just a tag along with my nine year old son to his very first college basketball game. Uh, he was invited by one of his good buddies, uh, uh, to see Mason for the, to see George Mason, the George Mason university Patriots, um, to, uh, for a birthday party. So it was, uh, that's awesome. Yeah. It's like six kids. Uh, you know, they, all the dads came and, and, and then the birthday boys, um, mom and brother and sister also came and, um, and you know, so we, we got to say it was Mason's first game of the season. So George Mason is, is, is 10 minutes, 15 minutes from my house, um, just down the road. And, um, and so we went, we had a great time. Um, he had never been to one. I was about his age, maybe it was a little younger when I went to my first college basketball game. I went to see, uh, the Georgia tech yellow jackets play and Bobby Cremins was the head coach then. And, uh, you didn't see Tim Duncan play. Did you? Uh, no, I was, uh, Duncan what, by then, um, he would not have, no, was he in, no, no, no, no. He was, he, yeah, he w he would have been in college, but I don't think I can't remember, but, um, He went to Tech, didn't he? No, he went to Wake. He went to Wake.
JVL00:23:29Oh, he went to Wake. Right. Right. Correct. Correct. I was gonna say they may have played Wake. I can't remember.
Mike00:23:36Steph Marbury was the, the last great Georgia tech player. Uh, I think so. Um, but Bobby Cremins was like a legendary coach and I got an autograph anyway. So I was like reliving that and thinking about that and, um, as we went to this and everybody had a great time and, and so this was a nine year old's birthday party. So everybody there is eight or nine, um, third graders. And. It was, it was also great because all of the dads who we, we all know each other, um, cause they all play on baseball or basketball teams with each other. Um, we all sat next to each other in the row behind where the kids were sitting and none of us were sitting behind our own son. Um, and so we had the experience of sort of like, kind of like parenting each other's kids, which was fine because they were all well, they were all well behaved. It was fine. But one of the kids, you know, they got, they, they got water bottles for everybody and, and, and popcorn. And one of the kids just like, without even looking like kind of half turned to hand one of us the water bottle to, to open it, you know, and it's just like, just here, you know, it's like, okay, all right, here you go. Um, and you know, it was like, you know, the dads are interchangeable basically is the, is the, well, we don't, we don't add much to the, uh, to the picture in that scenario. But I was struck by how wrapped the kids were with the game, you know, it was a little worried. It's like, are they going to get bored? Um, you know, I know how exciting college basketball can be, but are they going to get bored? They never done it before. And they were all into the game, like into the game, not just like sitting there politely and watching it, but you know, and, and Mason won, they beat, um, Bonaventure. Uh, no, no Monmouth, Monmouth, um, um, up in your neck, neck of the woods. Yeah. They beat Monmouth. Um, first game it was this, it was, uh, the coach's first game as the head coach for Mason. He was a former player now coaching. Um, so that was very exciting. George Mason apparently has the number one pep band in the country as deemed by somebody at the NCAA. Uh, they were terrific that they had the first pep band I've ever seen with singers. Um, they had a elevated, um, uh, an elevated platform with a full drum kit. Sitting there. And they had like four percussionists who would cycle through the drum kit and then the others would play. And they, um, they, so they were incredible and they got the, they got everybody riled up and, and, uh, it was just a, it was a really, uh, terrific experience. And then to top it all off after the game, uh, the kids got to all go on the court and they got a picture with the mascot and a picture in front of right on the court. And, um, you know, college basketball is just. Great. Good. You know, decent fun. I love it. So it was a great, it was a great, it was a Monday night. It was wonderful. Michael. So, um, I think I got a college basketball fan out of it, so good for you.
JVL00:26:40Well, this can be, this can be the Commodore season, uh, Jerry stack. So I probably shouldn't share this at Jerry's tech house, the, the, is the, uh, is the head
Mike00:26:50coach for, uh, the head coach now. Yeah. He's been the head coach for a couple of seasons now. So, um, So he's, he's struggled, but you know, the second half of Vanderbilt season, they, they had a great run and they were just, just cut out, shut out of the NCAA tournament. Um, and they went to the NIT and they didn't do great, but, um, everyone was, everyone sort of in the college basketball community was sort of like, oh, like they had such a great end to the season. They really should have made it and, and, um, so a friend of mine from school said his his godfather is friends with Jerry Stackhouse. I don't know how all that works. And apparently, uh, uh, Stackhouse is very motivated to make it to the tournament this season, uh, because of the size of his bonus, uh, if he, if he gets the, is it is, um, substantial. So, uh, anyway, so got all the motivation the Vanderbilt commoners need to get to the tournament this year. So, uh, looking forward to a good season. Yeah. And good season for George Mason. Go Patriots.
JVL00:27:59All right. Should we talk?
Mike00:28:03J law. Yeah. Because we don't, we're not talking about the box office. Right. Five minutes at Freddy's has another, it's like make 113 million at the box office. What more is there to say? We're out of touch.
JVL00:28:14Marvels is going to just blow the doors off this thing, right? Because everybody can't wait for Marvels.
Sonny00:28:21The Marvels. Is it the, the Marvels? I saw it.
JVL00:28:27It's bad. How bad? Are we going to talk about on the show? Disaster bad?
Sonny00:28:31Bottom, bottom quintile. Flash bad? I liked flash much more than this, frankly.
JVL00:28:37Do you think this will be the lowest MCU open ever? Eternal's bad? Is it eternal's bad?
Sonny00:28:46Eternals is bad in a different way. Uh, Eternals, Eternals was bad because it was boring. Marvels is bad because it's incompetent. It's, it's, it's, it's borderline incompetent. From a storytelling perspective that Marvel movies almost never are. I mean, the last time, the last time a Marvel movie was this bad, just from a pure storytelling point of view was probably, uh, Thor, the dark world. And that's a movie where, uh, they, they were trying to, they were basically trying to do like six different MCU building things that all kind of collided into each other and it just didn't, it didn't work. Um, and that is, I would say the last, the last time eight. The story in a Marvel movie was this, this bad and this incompetently told, um, it's, it's, it's totally, it's totally, uh, it's just, it's, it's like, it's unnecessary is what it is. I mean, it just like there, it does, it, it brings, it's not, it's not, there's no weight to it. There's no half. There's no, it's not that fun. I like found that the things where they were trying to have fun to be like totally miserable. Um, I dunno, I, I did not, I did not care for it. Uh, so I, I don't think it's, I don't, I do not think it's, it is going to open well. I think the audience reaction to it will be probably a little kinder than, um, critical reaction, which has been pretty, pretty mixed to negative. Um, it looks like it will not be the lowest, uh, rotten tomatoes scoring Marvel movie. I think eternals is probably safe there, but interesting. It's not good. It's, it's a bad movie.
Mike00:30:26Surprised. Well, um, we're not talking about the Marvels this week. We are talking about, uh, a different movie about a certain form of female empowerment, but not really about that at all. No hard feelings. Uh, Sonny, you want to give us a big boy review of, uh, this, uh, J law ranch, calm, no hard
Sonny00:30:45feelings, no hard feelings. Starring Jennifer Lawrence as a Montauk townie who is, uh, facing bankruptcy because she owns her house in Montauk and the property taxes keep going up. She can't afford it. So she, uh, she needs to, she needs to make money during the summer, but then she has her car repossessed because she owes, she has her car repossessed because she owes property taxes on her house. I'm not a hundred percent sure exactly how that specific chain of events works, but like whatever it's, she loses her car. So she needs a car. How's she going to get a car? She looks on the internet. She finds out that Matthew Broderick wants to give a car to the woman who deflowered her showers his 19 year old, uh, college bound son. That's so that's the plot. It's high concept, high concept. What if, what if you had to have sex to get a car, but you had to, you had to convince a terrible Gen Z sex averse individual, a sex negative individual, one might even say, uh, to, uh, to, uh, uh, give it up to give, to give it up to, to hot Jennifer Lawrence. Um, and that's it. That's it. That's the whole, that's, that's the long and the short of the plot. That's, that's, that's all I'll say about that. Uh, my big, here's my big takeaway from this movie. And it's, it's, I think I said this in my review, but my, my, the thing I find most frustrating about this movie is that Jennifer Lawrence is hilarious. And Jennifer Lawrence has always been very, very good at comedic roles. She's very good in silver linings playbook. Um, she is, she's great here. Uh, and it is, I think to the very, very much the detriment of Hollywood that she was stuck in like sourpuss Katniss Everdeen for a decade making hunger gang movies. Like that is like, she was fine in those movies. Like she's good in the, don't get me wrong. I think she's good in those movies, but she's so much better doing this sort of thing that it was, it's so frustrating to watch this movie. Cause I'm just like, we missed out on 10 years of these. We're going to add 10 years of these movies. And instead we got, uh, this one. And again, like silver linings playbook back in 2013 or 2012, whenever that came out. Um, so I, uh, I, I like this movie. I think it's very funny. I like, uh, I like all of the supporting cast. Uh, I think Matthew Broderick is great. Um, I love, I love the concept and I love the, uh, I love, I love the little digs that this movie takes both. Uh, Gen Z and millennial types, you know, the, there, there's the moment. So, uh, uh, to set the scene here, she, uh, Jennifer Lawrence has taken a young master, uh, hold on. What's his name? Uh, young master Percy, uh, who's played by Andrew Barth Feldman out to dinner and they have a very nice dinner. And then as they're leaving the dinner, he decides he wants to go to a party with kids, his own age. So he kind of storms into the party and she follows after him and all the kids are like doing their Tik TOK videos. They're all like shooting themselves on video. And it's, it's, it's a very funny scene because you know, she, she like, I, she makes, she makes a gay
JVL00:33:58joke. She's like, Oh, you, you're gonna, you know, you guys are propositioning her and she makes a, her response is, you know, why don't you fuck each other? And they take a great deal of umbrage.
Sonny00:34:08And they, why would that be offended? Why would that be offended? And they pull out their, their videos and they're like, say that again, say that on the camera. And she's like, no, I didn't mean it in a homophobic way. I just mean like, you suck. She's like, I've been with girls. She's like, no comment, no comment. And the best part is if you look at the screen, it's very funny. If you look at the screen, the comments on the screen, like one of them is like, Hey, that's my Uber driver. Uh, it's like, it's, it's, it's just, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's funny. And like, I, and, but I also, I also kind of appreciate, um, uh, I like, I don't know how you guys felt about Matthew Broderick being the, uh, the, the patriarch of the, uh, the, the Becker clan. But I, I, I, I was like, this is like all of the generations are colliding here. You've got gen X, totally millennial Gen Z. It's like, this is, this is the new, this is America now. This is, this is where all the action and energy is. Um, I don't know. I like this movie a lot. I thought it was funny. I like every performance is pitch perfect in it. Uh, Mike, before the show started, we were talking like Hassan Minaj is in it for like literally one scene and he's, he's perfect in it just as the like slimy real estate guy, uh, Kyle Mooney. So shows up as the male nanny. So funny. And is it like, just again, just like perfect and funny. Um, uh, I like Natalie Morales and the guy who plays her, her husband, Natalie Morales is a national treasure. She's, she's so funny. She's so good. Um, both of them
Mike00:35:38are funny, but like that, that couple had, they have great chemistry and they're very funny.
Sonny00:35:43I, I, I like long story short, I like this movie. I don't love it. It's an only fans page, Jim.
JVL00:35:48Yeah. So I'd say one of the things that I appreciate about the movie is they, they spend the initial scene where they come up with the pitch, like, you know, do this for money. They spend a whole scene where she tries to get out of doing it for money and thinking about other things she could do. And so they, they bat around and it was like, you know, you could sell your eggs, you could sell your hair, you'd sell your blood, you could start an only fans page. And, and this is Jennifer Lawrence's character is with her couple friends. Yeah. One of whom was pregnant. And, uh, the wife says to her husband, Oh yeah. What's an only fans page clearly just to make him explain out loud what it is.
Sonny00:36:31And he's just like, Oh, I don't know. He just goes, yeah. He just like goes quiet and starts peeling his potato or whatever. Very good. But, but, but I will say,
Mike00:36:42and I want to get your thoughts on this JVL. And I assume you, you're, those are your thoughts, Sonny. I mean, you like it, don't love it. Um, but, but, but, uh, you know, even that scene, which is very funny, also does some great plot work, which it's sort of like expository work, right? It sort of cycles through, it gives her a chance to sort of like explain why she's willing to do this truly insane thing. Like they, they take through the other possibly insane things she could do to make money. And like, get them out of the way. And the movie does a really good job of like, of like using the, the, the, the, those kinds of things to like move through what is really kind of a crazy idea for a, like, like if they didn't do that, well, you'd be kind of like grossed out by it, or you'd be like, what the fuck is this? Um, so it's well done. And the, the other thing about
Sonny00:37:35this movie, uh, compared to old dads, you know, which we watched, uh, which we watched for the last week show this, this, this is a real movie with a proper script that like has it like the comedy serves the thematic underpinning and like every scene and every set piece basically either moves things along or develops characters, develops characters or like it, like, and it shot like a real movie. I mean, like underrated underrated element of this film is that it looks like an actual motion picture that could play in theaters. Like the scene, just very simple stuff, like the lighting in that restaurant scene, um, where it's all lit, it's all, I mean, like, I'm sure it is not all lit by candle. It's not Barry Lyndon, you know, they didn't have space cameras out there shooting the footage, but like it looks, it looks like in feels like a candle lit restaurant. It's, it's not all top lit from fluorescence in this, you know, five star Montauk restaurant. It's like, it's, it looks, it looks real and it looks, you know, cozy and nice. And, um, that is just like, it's just kind of indicative of the level of care that was taken on this. Now that costs money. This movie costs $45 million. Granted, like probably 15 of that went to Jennifer Lawrence. Um, but like when you make a movie like this, it costs more than the $12 million that, you know, old dads cost. Like it's, it's, it's not cheap and, you know, we can get into the economics of all that if we want, but like, you know, that's why a movie like this kind of needs to be in theaters. Uh, and even if it doesn't, even if it doesn't light the world on fire, you still make a chunk of that back and then you make more of it back selling it on VOD and more of it back selling it to Netflix, et cetera, et cetera. Like it, you know, whatever, uh, point is it looks good. It's, it's a good looking movie in a way that a lot of, uh, these comedies don't necessarily try to be.
JVL00:39:33Yeah. I really, I really appreciate it. The Jennifer Lawrence is just so game to do a movie like this. Fearless. Yeah. Fearless. I mean, she, she is a fearless, she's a wonderful actress and she carries a movie effortlessly. Like she, she just, her presence is really something. Um, I, so the, the, the two things that really struck me about this were one for this ridiculous premise, the script does a really nice job of making the ridiculous premise as believable as possible. So meaning that the motivations for all three of the most important parties, Jennifer Lawrence, the high school kid and his parents are all basically, so the parents motivation is like, we've got this kid, he's a nebbish, like he doesn't even like want to have sex. And the reason they're doing this is because they're helicopter parents. Like that's funny, right? It's not like, ah, I want to drop my boy off to a prostate. It's because they're helicopter parents, even trying to stage manage their kid, right? That's hysterical. That little throwaway line with Matthew Broderick is talking when their first meeting is like, yeah, you know, I met a woman who really opened me up section. Her name was Barbara. I was like, that's enough. Little stuff like that. But then, you know, another big problem with the script is how do you make it believable that an 18 year old soon to be college freshman would not have sex with Jennifer Lawrence? Because that is as unbelievable a premise as Superman being able to fly. Right. But I think it does. I think the script does a pretty good job of doing that. And part of it is because she's way too old for him. So one of the recurring jokes is their their online ad that they place for this asking for somebody in their early to mid twenties. And Jennifer Lawrence is like, yeah, I can do that. And we don't quite know what's going on. But her friend is like, yeah, really? You know, she's like when she shows up and they say, well, how old are you? And she's like, you know,
Mike00:41:45it says mid to early. She said, I just had I just had my twenty ninth birthday. She's
JVL00:41:49like, I'm in my late 20s. How late? I just have a twenty ninth birthday. So you're twenty nine. I just had my twenty ninth birthday. How old are you now? And it becomes that she's thirty two. And so like that adds a creepy. But one of my favorite gags in the entire movie is when she goes up to the second Princeton freshman house party and she's walking through and these two guys are looking and one of them says, how old are you? Without batting an eyelash, she says, twenty three, thinking this is going to shut them up. The two guys go, oh, hey there, grandma. Because again, to 17 and 18 year olds, even twenty three is an unimaginably old age. And there's really no difference between a twenty three year old and their own parents. Yeah. And I just. It's a little shit like that. I just I thought it was lovely.
Sonny00:42:43Yeah. Yeah. No, it's fine. The timing on all of that stuff is great, too. And I don't I don't know how much of this, you know, was put together in editing or on, you know, on the actual set. But that scene with with Jennifer Lawrence and Matthew Broderick and the mom and like they're just like back of just like the back and forth, you know, how old are you? You know, I just had my 20. Like it's it's perfectly done. It's so funny. Well,
Mike00:43:08and I would say that scene does a good job of continuing and expanding the characterization of Jennifer Lawrence's character as like the type of person who would be willing to debase herself to do this because she's like she keeps like eating in that scene because they have like all this spread of food. And she's like she's like getting up and eating and like looking around this house, this fancy house and like shoving food in her mouth. It's like it's walking up. Oh, she's kind of gross. Walking up the stairs.
JVL00:43:38I don't know why that scene killed me, but the fact that it just left the camera on it. Yes. Which I was so appreciative. I was like, this is great physical comedy. This is just
Sonny00:43:47funny as hell. It's great. But it's also like it again, it serves an actual thematic point here, which is that like you've got these you've got this class conflict of like the rich kind of clueless guys who are trying to pay this woman to have sex with their 19 year old son and like her her having to debase herself by like climbing awkwardly up this. Yes. Like it's just like it just it just it works. It works on both a a a joke level, a physical comedy level and a thematic storytelling level. It's like, again, this is what I'm talking about when I compare it to last week's movie, because like that movie would occasionally do one of those things. Yes. Yeah. Very occasionally would do one of those things and like often didn't. And this movie frequently does all three of them at the same time. Again, like I mentioned Kyle Mooney, but like the the Kyle Mooney thing is very funny because at first you're expecting at first you're expecting a
Mike00:44:47female nanny. It turns out they introduced that he adds this nanny that he was really attached to with a name, with a with a with the name Jody. So you're expecting even more so. Yeah. And then
Sonny00:44:59and then they introduce him as a guy. And then and then you and then they introduce him. And
JVL00:45:07like, like he literally treats the kid like a dog, like throws the Frisbee way out of out of
Sonny00:45:14the and then like turns with a straight face. Like, what are you after? You know, the money's not his. Right. And like, you can't quite tell what's going on. Just like, again, it's it's it's very funny and it works on multiple levels. And I got one thing, one thing to say. Are you guys
JVL00:45:30good place watchers? Yeah. Yeah. I watch the good place. Yeah. Jennifer Lawrence's character in this, Maddie, is Eleanor Shellstrop. Yes. Like this. It is. Is that Kristen Bell? Yeah. Kristen Bell character. It is as if we took Eleanor Shellstrop, gave her a slightly different backstory and motivation and just watched three weeks of her life. And once I had that thought in my mind, it was so clearly that maybe wasn't clearly drawn from it. But if it was Maddie's character, the Jennifer Lawrence character is not drawn or influenced by Eleanor Shellstrop, then it's an amazing writerly coincidence. Well, no, look, I think it's I
Mike00:46:19think and the point I think I want to make about this movie is it is so remarkable to me because of how much it is like. Comedies that used to be, you know, made all the time, you know, movie comedies, you know, the kind of sex comedy like it's kind of a that that is kind of a type. Right. And usually they're not they're not women. So maybe that's where you're drawing that. Right. Like the the central character is sort of like, you know, a fuck up in their life. And I'm like,
JVL00:46:51that's that's that's where all of this Dylan, the sure thing. Remember the sure thing? Yeah,
Mike00:46:55of course. Or or in in what's his name? Frank the Tank, Will Ferrell in old school. I mean, it's like American Pie. American Pie is a good. So like, in in in a lot of ways, this movie was so appealing because it I felt like I was watching or take another one with a female bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig's character and bridesmaids like this was this reminded me of that movie, not because it was a lead with a, you know, a female lead kind of sex comedy, but like it's like, oh, like Bridesmaids was kind of one of the last movies that was like this, where they actually made. Uh, they, they, they had somebody who knew what they were doing comedy wise, um, like make a small, but, uh, like laugh out loud, funny from like beginning to end, uh, movie and wasn't sort of like ashamed of it or like had felt like it had to shoehorn in it. It was just, it's just like raunchy and hilarious and doesn't really care about anything else too much. I don't know. That's my view.
JVL00:48:04I don't know the idea of having her nude scene, not be the sex scene, but her, oh my gosh, her like getting into a, like a brawl isn't even really the right, uh, and almost like Coen brothers style, you know, like a raising Arizona style fist fight on the beach where she's calling, calling the, the people who have taken their clothes, cunts and punching the girl in the vag.
Mike00:48:29And I just, oh, and, and, and then doing a suplex.
JVL00:48:32Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That all seems great. Again, absolutely. I was watching on my phone. So from, from what I understood, she's barely naked. You guys said there's a little bit more, but it's just funny. Like it subverts expectations.
Sonny00:48:48It's different. It's different to, from American pie, right? You just mentioned American pie. And like, think about, think about the nude, the big nude scene in that the big nude set piece in that movie, which is the Shannon Elizabeth scene, which is like very explicitly voyeuristic. Right. I mean, it's very explicitly like we are watching. A webcam show through the movie screen. Like it is like, it's almost, it's like almost Hitchcockian really. Uh, it, it, not, not in terms of like, you know, drama or thrills or anything, but just like in terms of the pure voyeurism of it. And this movie does something very different with the nudity. I mean, it is very, it is played for, it is played not just for comic laughs, but also like slapstick comic laughs.
Mike00:49:31Yeah.
Sonny00:49:31And, and it's a, it's, it's, it's Frank, it's Frank the tank.
Mike00:49:35Going streaking in old school or, or, uh, you know, it's, it's much more like that than, than, yeah. And, uh, yeah, it's the whole thing. I mean, I also loved like little funny thing. Like, again, this was a movie made by comedy professionals and it shows in, in like throughout the movie at the very end when spoiler alert, the, the 19 year old is getting ready to go to Princeton and he's in his room and he's got all of his bags packed up. And now it's like, they've, they've done the scene with his parents where it's like, okay, they're saying goodbye to him and they could have just like gotten out of that scene. And instead they have this extended bit of physical comedy where he's trying to get all of his bags together and pull them out of his room. And like, it goes on for longer than it should. And he's like, then gets stuck trying to get out of the door. It's a character moment for the parents because they don't help him as much as they're dying
JVL00:50:38to help him.
Mike00:50:39That's right. And like, you see that he's like for everything he's just gone through, like he's still like an awkward nebbish, like the world is maybe going to eat him up if, if, uh, you know, and I, but it was also just fun. Like I was just cracked, like it's hard to get you laughing at the very end of a comedy movie like this, you know, with, with stuff like that. So, um, I, I loved it.
JVL00:51:00And, uh, my, my lovely wife watched it with me. The resolved the relationship between the two of them.
Mike00:51:09So, so, okay. Well, I was just saying that my wife and I watched it together and she has been kind of bringing it up to me along those lines, JVL of like their relationship and kind of how it resolves or how it, how it was kind of treated at the end. Um, so, so it's a little weird and it's, it's, I think it's difficult, right? They they're it's. Because it, once he finds out that, because right, his parents, Matthew Broderick and the, and the mom don't want him to know that they've, that they've paid her to, uh, to do this. And once he finds out in his way, he like, he's mad at her and he destroys the car and all that stuff. But then like, he goes to have sex with her. Um, and, and she, and my wife thought that was like, that was a little odd or like, she thought like, it, it doesn't. It doesn't necessarily make sense.
Sonny00:52:07What's, what's interesting is that the movie very much wants to have it both ways here in explicitly at the end wants to have it both ways where he says, no, we, we had sex and she says, no, you didn't. No, we didn't because, you know, again, spoilers, but like he, he, he goes to, uh, uh, make relations with her and finishes before the second and a half finishes before he begins. I'll put it that way. Uh, and, and so she, I mean, she very reasonably says we did not have sex and he insists, no, we actually did. And that is a, it's, it's, it's an interesting little thing because, because I think, I think on some level, the filmmakers understand how creepy this premise is and like how it's, you know, it's, they're all adults. So we're not, there's no reason to keep saying that he's 19.
JVL00:53:01Yes.
Sonny00:53:01They keep saying he's 19, not even 18.
JVL00:53:03It's like, yeah, we want to make sure you guys understand we're way over the line here.
Sonny00:53:07He is 19 years. He might, he's almost 20. Probably he skipped a year because of the pandemic, you know, didn't go to Princeton. Uh, I don't know. Uh, but he's very much of legal age. Uh, so it's fine. Um, but it's, it's, uh, it is definitely a, again, I, I think, I think the, the filmmakers kind of understood how creepy it was. So they wanted to give both characters essentially what they wanted, which is for her to maintain her dignity. And for him to believe he has triumphed sexually and, and move on from, and just kind of comment
JVL00:53:39on men and women too, in the way teenage boys were like, Oh yeah, I count it.
Mike00:53:44No, no, no, no. I had this conversation. I had this conversation with my wife. I was like, no, like I get why I get why he did what he did. And like, she was like, what? I don't get, I'm like, I can't explain it to you.
JVL00:53:56Uh, if you're 19 years old and you just sort of got to rub on naked Jennifer Lawrence, you're going to say that it counted. You are not going to be like, yeah, I was right there and I couldn't get it over the goal line. You're going to say, Oh yeah, I hit that.
Mike00:54:09Um, but are you speaking JVL at the, the very end when they're basically like going off as friends? And, um, I, I thought it was actual, I thought it was a great resolution, frankly, for, for the characters. It was because they should not be together.
JVL00:54:27Yeah. A lesser movie would have been like, and actually they, it, these two crazy kids made it work. Right. That's what like a bad version of this movie would have done.
Mike00:54:37That's right. But instead it was, it treated the characters like, you know, with respect. It's like, no, no, no. These are, these are like people who should not be together and they have both learned something from their insane premise, uh, reason for, for coming together and meeting each other and having a relationship.
Sonny00:54:56She's going to drive him to Princeton and there, and then he's, she's going to go off to California and they're going to FaceTime two times over the next three months and then, then never talk again. That's right. That's that's like, that is, that is, which is exactly how it should be.
JVL00:55:08And they will always think fondly of the other, right? That's, that's how this should be. Yeah, no, I really, I asked because I was very, I really thought it was a very deft ending in terms of, yeah.
Mike00:55:20And, and can I just say as a point of personal privilege, the soundtrack on this movie was fantastic and I loved the end with, uh, with Bob Seger and, and, um, uh, and that it was just like, it was all perfectly, the whole thing was just well made and like, yeah, thank God.
Sonny00:55:38Which Seger song was that at the end? You'll Accompany Me. Yeah. Great song. Great song. Underrated Seger.
Mike00:55:43Underrated Seger and perfect, perfect for, it's a perfect road trip song, you know?
JVL00:55:48How much money did this make in a domestic release?
Sonny00:55:52Nah, 40, I want to say 45, 50 million. Oh, it got to 50.
JVL00:55:55Okay. For some reason I thought it really, really tanked. This movie deserves a bigger audience. It should have done better. I don't know why it didn't.
Mike00:56:02Can I just say, it has a terrible title.
JVL00:56:05It is a god awful title. Yeah.
Mike00:56:08I don't know why they named it that and I don't know.
JVL00:56:11It's so bland. It feels like a Netflix title. Yes, it does. Honestly, it doesn't feel like a theatrical release title.
Sonny00:56:18Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, no, I, this movie was, it was, it's, it's a hard movie to sell because people are just not going to see comedies in, in theaters anymore. I mean, like.
JVL00:56:33Unless the comedy is based on a, on an iPhone game.
Sonny00:56:37I mean, the, the, the, the comedy, what people go to see now are Marvel movies that have comedy in them or DC movies that have comedy in them or, you know, like frankly, fucking Oppenheimer's the second funniest movie of the year. Like, like it's, it's, you know, the, the, the, the movies, comedy is a spice that adds to other things, pure comedies. People simply do not go to see them anymore. Which I think it's a shame.
JVL00:57:07And it's wild.
Sonny00:57:08It's, it's wild because, well, I mean, like even 10 years ago, something like Neighbors, right? The Rose Byrne, uh, Seth Rogen movie with Zac Efron. That movie did a hundred something million dollars like that. Like there was a, or Superbad, uh, I guess that was 2008 or like even like Good Boys, like more recently.
Mike00:57:29Which was made by the same people who made this movie. Yeah.
Sonny00:57:31and like but now i just like you can you cannot drag people to the theaters to see comedy is
Mike00:57:38is there can i can i posit a completely uh a theory that maybe reveals how out of touch i am um and maybe we've talked about this before but i is is there a generational thing going on here because like which they they again when they talk about in this movie right the sort of like humorlessness of the young like who drives the the the theater going for those kind of movies like when when i was growing up when you guys were growing up it's like it's like young men you know like they want to go see like like american pie like super bad is it comes out in 2007 actually and um like it is like i do not know a person my age i'm a young man i'm a man my age who is not seeing that movie and i'm like i don't know a person my age who is not seeing that movie a million times there's every line to it and because we all went and saw it in the theater like i remember where i remember what theater i went to see and all that stuff and like does that happen like i don't think that is where people young people get their comedy anymore it's like or it's like maybe they're not remember 21 jump street yeah yeah right i mean like there was a
JVL00:58:45whole universe of hell 40 year old virgin right all of the all of those the apatow picks is like
Mike00:58:53but that's not that but that's old that's the generation before you know yeah that's what i'm trying to put a point like
JVL00:59:02that stuff it just doesn't exist i don't think anymore do young men just not like
Mike00:59:08doing that and like not like you know those type of comedies because like part of i don't know what
Sonny00:59:14you think i don't know i i do think look i think there is um i think there is a general it's it's i i it's very hard to talk about without sounding like a straight up bright bardian reactionary and i don't want to i don't want to sound like that but i do think that there is a there's a uh we we live in a universe where people are afraid to make certain types of jokes and people are also afraid to laugh at certain types of jokes and i think that is i think that is like an actual real problem for a movie like this like i don't think the gen z people watching this movie find that party scene to be as funny as we do correct um and i i like i just think that's i think that that you know that pervades the entire world of comedic filmmaking um and i and and there's a reason i think why comedies do better on tv it's because people watch at home by themselves and i think maybe feel a little more free to be themselves comfortable putting their hair down or whatever and you know just just laughing but also i like i frankly don't think most of the comedies on tv are very funny right now either like i don't i don't know
JVL01:00:26it's too bad because watching a comedy like a really funny movie in a full theater it's a
Sonny01:00:33really great experience totally i the one of the best experiences i've had in the theaters uh like since since the pandemic ended was watching the most recent jackass movie and i even saw that movie with a bunch of critics and just dying dying in the just falling out of my chair laughing uh surrounded by other people doing the same and like that's a lot of fun that is a lot
Mike01:00:55of fun it's it in many ways it's like this the other side of the coin of of watching a horror movie in the theater right it's like everybody's screaming at the same time it's that it's that
Sonny01:01:04visceral reaction those still do very well or they do relatively well or you know like uh you know saw 10 or whatever still in theaters now it's you know doing it's gonna 60 70 million dollars domestic uh um you know we're doing that for next week's show right movies like smile or whatever like those those things all still still do fine and comedies at just absolutely do not they all they all die and i
JVL01:01:35died strays was really funny strays was kind of pretty funny it was pretty funny right it's a
Sonny01:01:42gross out comedy i mean this is the other what this is the other thing and i i think i talked to jpod about this over text message but like part of the problem is that like none of these movies are as funny as super bad or knocked up or dodgeball
JVL01:01:55dodgeball yeah i watched dodgeball again or old school last week or old school there is a we just need like to have another creative boomlet with people who are we're making stuff that's so good that the people have to say it i mean this is and this is the other thing like
Sonny01:02:12like we're running along here i but like the the you look at these waves of comedy from since 2000 right you had you had the frat pack guys of vince vaughn will ferrell luke wilson right owen wilson like that that group of guys and then that then that kind of they traded uh they passed the torch to the apatow crew of rogan and um uh jonah hill jonah hill thank you and and that that michael sarah like that that kind of group of guys and then there's not really anything after that they're like that well i'm sorry no i take that back there was the um the bridesmaids guys there was like a female version of this right there was a what's her name melissa mccarthy who was in a bunch who was in a bunch of very successful very funny comedies with sandra bullock and you know and like zach alphanack and like that that but like those there is no crew there is no comedy crew like that working right now well at a high level in the world of film
Mike01:03:19it just does not exist yeah and and look i mean the truth is is that judd apatow like is like it does not just burst out of nowhere on onto the movie scene in 2006 when when his movies like he comes out of like you know the same the same world that adam sandler
Sonny01:03:39ben stiller exactly you know he's making the ben stiller show he he made three unsuccessful sitcoms right but there's like a pedigree 90 from like 98 to 2004 or something like that and then
Mike01:03:54hits it with 40 year old version but like i don't know there there is like a there is like a a sort of um community that that these great comedies all kind of come out from and at different times and like i don't think that really exists all of that energy has really moved into in the direction i think of stand-up comedy if we're like we could do a whole show on like yeah where it's going i
JVL01:04:18think a lot of stand-up right so i mean i'm thinking about this now right so you have things like ted lasso community i mean there are people doing high level comedic work on tv uh the what was the apple show that we liked about the the video game company mythic quest mythic quest right
Sonny01:04:39always sunny mythic question always sunny would be a kind of that's true team like i always sunny remains one of the funniest shows on television uh but but even something like ted lasso like ted was more like the good place i think and that it moved away from like pure comedy to like comedy with a point yeah and that and that and i feel like that happens to lots of comedies i don't know i like there's a new season of curb your enthusiasm coming out uh in in a bit and i'm sure that will be very funny and like i don't know it just it just seems to me the creative
Mike01:05:17energy is not like there is no in terms of up and coming or sort of like where where comics and feature comedy is it is it all on tiktok is it on the seat this is what i
JVL01:05:29think is that where comedy is now i think it's i think it's on snap how do i get on to the tiktok is it do i go to the apple store is it on my telephone i'm looking at do i
Sonny01:05:40watch do i watch the funny stuff how do i make the text bigger i can't see so all right
Mike01:05:46i'm going to i'm going to use my powers as executive co-host here to end this before because we're going along and before it devolves completely into uh sounding like the old fogies that jvl sounded like so that is all the time anybody have any thoughts on no hard feelings no okay that's all the time we're going to give to this episode go to subbeacon.com and uh leave us your comments tell us what you think and we will talk to you next time i do think i do think
Sonny01:06:23i'm not getting on tiktok i'm not letting china tell me what's funny i am serious kidding me uh
Mike01:06:29i am serious that uh about stand-up comic comedy like that seems to be like a lot of and like podcasts like comedy podcasts like all that stuff is really where like i would say like
Sonny01:06:41young creative people are sort of yeah no that's probably true well isn't that because netflix has
JVL01:06:46just put hundreds of millions of dollars into stand-up right and so if you're a young person rich you should get rich by hopefully getting it no but that all but that all went to like the
Sonny01:06:58previous generation of comic that all went to like the dave chapelle generation of comics i would say
Mike01:07:02it's no but touring touring you can make a lot of money as a touring as a good stand-up uh that's that's touring if you've also got a podcast like they have there are all these like they all go on each other's podcasts like it's it's not like some of it filters through joe rogan but like like they're not really like the joe rogan podcast it's just like stand-up comics like bullshitting with each other and like they come up with like they come up with bit ideas and other stuff and like you know it looked like like the nate bargatze who is uh i think a very funny stand-up comic he just hosted saturday night live and like he is sort of like the leading edge of this movement like does he like where does that go like where's his movie exactly and i don't know where it is i
JVL01:07:48don't think it exists i mean these things go in waves right once upon a time you were chevy chase and you were the biggest comedian in the world so you went and did movies and then you're bill murray and you're very very funny so you did a bunch of movies and then it shifted so that if you were very funny you were roseanne barr and you got a tv show and we went through like 15 or 20 years where the apex of comedy was getting a tv show centered around you because that's where you could make the most money and this is where like you know what every everybody loves raymond and drew carey and roseanne and cosby and that whole universe of comedy and then we switched back to with the judd apatow revolution i think comedy moved back to the big screen in part because seinfeld destroyed situation comedy because you just couldn't do it anymore after seinfeld because it was perfected
Sonny01:08:40seinfeld and friends like a one it was a one-two punch of like the perfect deconstruction and the perfect the the perfect construction yeah like and then after that it's like well i i don't and then it becomes kind of a joke right it's like a big bang theory or you know it becomes a joke unless
JVL01:09:00you're doing arrested development right this is arrested development reinvents the comedy but it reinvents it as something different like you they just realize you can't do a three camera comedy yeah i mean that you do
Mike01:09:13have like malcolm in the middle a single camera and scrubs single camera sitcoms or the office or then you get to the office with the mockumentary stuff and and all that so i think we i think we just solved the the question of what's what's going on with comedy and just this three minute little tech talk it's sure it's tick tock sure
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