#315. 'Happy Gilmore 2' (Netflix)
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The main event is Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix, and the trio splits hard: Sonny hated it, calling out the bloated, morbid legacy-sequel plotting (Happy's wife is killed off, a graveyard scene reveals how many original cast members have actually died) and arguing the nearly two-hour runtime is stuffed with flashbacks that condescend to an audience who already knows the first movie by heart; Mike, to his own surprise, laughed constantly and enjoyed it, praising John Daly, Scotty Scheffler's game cameo, the ballsy early kill-off of Julie Bowen's character, and a half-serious reading of the film's "traditional golf vs. LIV-coded Maxi Golf" politics; JVL landed closest to Mike, likening the movie's shaggy, pay-everyone-you-know indulgence to Ocean's Twelve but still finding it funnier and more charming than it has any right to be, singling out John Daly, Bad Bunny's sadistic caddy, the Shooter McGavin payoff, and a scene-stealing Ben Stiller. Before any of that, the opening third runs long: Sonny recounts a surreal night at Dallas's Texas Theater watching Megalopolis followed by a 90-minute unscripted Francis Ford Coppola lecture complete with whiteboard bullet points; JVL details his escalating trash-can arms race with a neighborhood bear (straps, steel plates, a carabiner lock) that finally defeats the bear, plus a funny aside about an Amazon delivery driver spooked by said bear; and Mike recounts a farcical, money-losing odyssey trying to save cash by installing his own car air filters instead of paying the mechanic, conceding the guys were right that his time is better spent elsewhere. There's also a box-office segment weighing Fantastic Four: First Steps' solid-but-softer-than-hoped opening against Superman's weak international haul, with some debate over Vanessa Kirby's icy take on Sue Storm. They close by announcing they're taking next week off for summer hiatus.
From the show notes
It's a legacy sequel alright.
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00My name is Happy Gilmore. 30 years ago, I decided to give golf a try. But even when you're at the top of your game, you can always shank one. Happy Gilmore sucks. I'll eat a bag of...
Mike00:00:28Welcome to the Sub-Beacon Podcast. I'm your co-host, Mike Warren. Joining me, as always, are my two co-hosts who are currently in their happy places, Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Join us over at Sub-Beacon.com. Tell your friends and family if they want to listen to this show, they got to go to Sub-Beacon.com. Every Friday, new episodes drop and you can leave a comment, join a conversation, tell us what you think of the episode or dudes chatting or anything else in the comments at Sub-Beacon.com. New episodes every Friday. Every Friday, Sub-Beacon.com. We're going to be talking about Happy Gilmore 2 later on in the show. But first, Sonny, let's start with you. What's going on in your neck of the woods?
Sonny00:01:13Not a whole lot is going on in my neck of the woods. I did have a funny, a kind of funny experience last night, which I will now relate to you. So I, here in Dallas, we have this place, the Texas Theater, big, it's big. You know, movie palace style place. I mean, not, not that, not that nice, but you know, it's, it's a big, like kind of one used to be one screen. Now they're two screens theater. It's big claim to fame is that this is where Oswald ran to Lee Harvey. Oswald ran to after the assassination. They sell one shirts with, with his face on it, which is kind of funny anyway. But I was there last night. I was there last night because the movie Megalopolis, was showing and writer director, Francis Ford Coppola was in, was on hand in attendance to, to give what was, what was described as a Q and a in the, in the in the tickets, in the ticket sales. And, you know, like tickets weren't cheap. It was like, I don't like 80 bucks to take it for, for, for most of the seats we were up in like the balcony, which was a mistake. The, the view for the Q and a was, was better. And that's why it costs a little more. It was like a hundred bucks, but the, but the, the sound up there was terrible for the movie itself. Like the, the, the speakers are designed to JVL. We'll know what I'm talking about here, but the speakers are designed to hit the people on the ground. So if you're sitting in the like kind of balcony area, it's all echoey. And I would say like a solid quarter to a third of the dialogue was just unintelligible, which is not the ideal way to see. A movie that involves so much talking as megalopolis does. And like we haven't, we haven't done them.
Mike00:03:06I assume you guys have not seen megalopolis on my list of movies that I probably will never see.
Sonny00:03:13Yeah. Yeah. I, we didn't do it for the show. I don't, it's not, I don't think we're missing out on a ton, but the, but anyway, the movie is, is probably best described as it's a hundred, hundred and thirty five minutes or so. And it is Francis. The subtitle is a fable. It's megalopolis, a fable, but the subtitle should be megalopolis. Francis Ford Coppola has things he wants you people to know. And it's, it's very much his, his movie about the state of the world. It like posits this kind of alternate United States that greatly resembles ancient Rome. And there's lots of talk about artists needing the freedom to do what they, what they must to give people, reasons to hope for the future instead of just creating, instead of just simply creating jobs and economic prosperity, you know, anyway,
Mike00:04:09it sounds really deep.
Sonny00:04:11It's a way it is. It's very deep. It's very deep. But again, this movie is like, it's like a hundred and thirty five minutes. Francis Ford Coppola has got things to say. And you people are going to sit there and listen to him. And you can't hear it unless you can't hear it, which again, not, not an ideal way to see the movie. Anyway. So after, afterwards, so afterward, Francis Ford Coppola comes out and he sits on, he sits in a chair in the middle of the middle of the stage, you know,
Mike00:04:39area. Did you know?
Sonny00:04:41Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I just,
Mike00:04:43it was on the ticket that it was a Q and a.
Sonny00:04:45Yep. The, and he, he comes out, he's like, Hey, so I want to, I want to talk a little bit and proceeds to deliver a 90 minute lecture. It's complete with a whiteboard that he rolled out onto the stage with bullet points written on it. He ignored the bullet points and just kind of pick and picked and choose. It's a very good metaphor for the movie, really, which is again, kind of all over the place. And, but it was, it was, it was lit. It was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had in my life. Cause again, the, the movie itself is just like, Hey, here's, here's Francis Ford Coppola. He's got things to say. And then he came out and he did an IRL version of it. He did. He did an in real life version of Francis Ford Coppola has things to say, and you people are going to sit here and listen to it. And it was kind of amazing. I mean, it was terrible. It was, it was genuinely, it was, it was, it was this, it was this amazingly rambling thing where he was just going off on his various hobby horses. Like one of them, for instance, and if you know anything about Francis Ford Coppola, you won't have any idea where, what sort of personal animus is driving this. He was like, and you know, there shouldn't be, there shouldn't be any debt. We shouldn't have any debts in this world.
JVL00:06:03Oh, that's so interesting.
Sonny00:06:05No one, no one should be forced to live under the burden of enormous amounts of debt. I'm like, I'm sure you do think that I'm sure you do. You do think that Mr. Mr. Coppola. But it really was, it really was amazing. Just as an experience, just as like a, like I, I, again, the only word I can think to describe this is surreal. It's, and this is a million, million times better than your standard Q and a experience in the sense that like, I don't know how many movie Q and a's you guys have been to or sat through or attended, but they're uniformly terrible. They're uniform. When, when filmmakers take questions from the audience, the questions from the audience are uniformly the worst questions.
Mike00:06:47Where did you get the idea for this movie? That kind of level of question,
Sonny00:06:52but it's usually even worse. Like, so for instance, there, so there was like a traditional Q and a after the 90 minute lecture. And the first question was like, was, I swear to God was something like Mr. Coppola, or this was actually the second question. I think Mr. Coppola, my name is Louise Coppola and you're the second cousin of my dad. And that was it. That was like the, that was like the question,
Mike00:07:21more of a statement than a question. And it was just,
Sonny00:07:24and it, and like, it's always like this. It's always like this. It's always some variation of, so how, how did you get into filmmaking or how, how did you decide to become an actor or like, what gave you the idea for this movie? And those are like, those are at least on topic. Those are at least on topic. Usually there's somebody in the crowd who's like, I have a screenplay. Will you read it for me? And like, there's always, there's always a guy. Anyway, Q and A's are terrible. So this was, this was, I mean, it was terrible, but it was terrible in an interesting way, which again, very good metaphor for the movie that we had just sat through. So that was my, that was my Tuesday evening. That was the, that was the experience of the bunch household, a bunch of adults.
Mike00:08:08Does it, does it sour you on anything else in Mr. Coppola's oeuvre or it doesn't sour me at all.
Sonny00:08:16This was amazing. This is an amazing experience. Like again, it's, it's the sort of, it's the sort of story I will be able to tell for the next five years. Anytime, anytime someone's like, you know, so what do you think about the Godfather movies? Well, oh, they're great. Obviously, but let me tell you about the time I saw Francis Ford Coppola.
Mike00:08:34Somehow this reminds me what Emily Blunt hosted Saturday night live a couple of years ago. And they did a sketch where it was like at a film festival and they had the entire cast of the film, but like one microphone. And there was like, there were like two people in the audience doing the Q and a, and they would like pass the microphone all the way, like doubt, like to every single person. And it's like, it, it felt like it came from a very real place of like people in show business who have like been on both sides of these like terrible.
Sonny00:09:07Well, you've been to, certainly you've been to like AEI or heritage events. I've been to,
JVL00:09:12I've been to, yes, those kind on these weekly standard panels on cruise ships.
Mike00:09:17Totally. Totally. It's, you know, and it's always, you know, like what are the, what are they really like? You know, what is, what is bill crystal really like sort of questions? You know, it's like, I don't know. What do you, how do you answer that? Right. Exactly. Great.
Sonny00:09:31How do you answer a question? It's very easy to answer that.
Mike00:09:33No, no, I know, but it's like, well, what, what you get the feeling they want something as, as what they want something more than what, within what you just suggested. Right. Yeah. And it's like, I can't give you what you want and he's,
Sonny00:09:48he's a great, he's fun to be around. Right.
Mike00:09:50Right. But, but like, I can't give like, you know, I don't know what the Francis Ford Coppola thing. It's like, what do you want me to say that we're distantly related? And you know, what more can, what can be said?
Sonny00:10:00Exactly. Exactly. Anyway, you know, I go to these things occasionally. Like I went to the Kevin Smith one a couple of months back and that was, again, that was a very, that was a pure Q and a, that was just like, Kevin Smith will talk about anything you throw at him for like 10 or 15 minutes, but at least he's like taking questions and, you know,
JVL00:10:20it's like a performance though. Right. Cause he is. Yeah. Yeah.
Sonny00:10:23Yeah. Yeah. He's like, he's a raconteur. He is like, he's just like a guy who at this point in his career is paid to talk. Which is good. Yeah.
Mike00:10:30I love the, the Ted talk movie being followed by the Ted talk Q and a, this is like, you can't make this up.
Sonny00:10:38Not even Q and just lecture. Just like I took a picture of the whiteboard. I actually, I, I took a picture again. He rolled a whiteboard out and there were 10 bullet points on it. And they were here. One time to work three money. Four politics slash government five, education six loss slash penology seven cast slash war eight art nine sport, not sports sport and 10 celebration celebrate. We were all there to celebrate Mr. Mr. Coppola. So anyway, it was a fun, fun evening, funny.
JVL00:11:18Well,
Mike00:11:18all right. That's so that sounds memorable. JBL. What is going on with you?
JVL00:11:22I, I want you guys to know that I have achieved victory over nature. Ooh, finally, finally someone has, has triumphed.
Sonny00:11:31Man has defeated nature.
JVL00:11:33Been fighting a small war of aggression with our bear. And, uh, the bear really likes our trash and the bear. I have been instituting an increasing layers of security to try to protect our trash against the bear. Uh, the reason I did not simply buy a bear proof trash can when we moved to New Jersey was because when I went to home, Bebo to purchase a trash can, I could not actually open the bear proof trash can like the one that is. And so I just realized if I can't figure this out after five minutes on my own, the chances that the rest of my family will be able to use this on a daily
Mike00:12:16basis are essentially zero. Yeah. Uh, maybe you're a bear.
JVL00:12:20And so once the bear showed up, I, uh, I employed, I first, I went with straps. I have these very, very heavy duty straps that go over. The thing. And we, we tried one strap. The bear figured out how to do that one. I double strapped it. That worked for a little while. Then the bear figured out how to, how to do that one. And he defeated the triple strap this past weekend. And with this triple strap, like, I just feel like the straps are simply not going to work as deterrence. We need more. And so I went with a new system, which required me drilling holes in my trash can. As I installed some steel plates in the trash can. And then like a, a long ratchet ratchety type. It's a strap, but it's no longer like stretchy material. It's a nylon tight. Yeah. And if ratchet it's down and then the class, you put a carabiner through it to lock it. So in order to defeat this one, you'd have to figure out how to open a carabiner clip that is wedged so tightly. In there that it takes me about 15 seconds to undo it. He'd need opposable thumbs for, at this point today, the bear came by and he went to the trash can and he knocked it over as he always does to undo it. And then he starts looking and it, I hand to God, you can see him looking at it with confusion because this is not the system he is used to defeating.
Sonny00:13:56There's not, that's not the straps,
JVL00:13:58right?
Sonny00:13:59He wanted, he wanted more straps. He was like, I'll do five straps.
JVL00:14:02Go ahead. Put them on. I know how to do your little stretchy straps. They do not all day human. And he, he sort of bats at the thing. And, and after hand to God, like 30 seconds, he just turns and walks away in his posture was the posture of a defeated Charlie Brown. I felt, bad. You broke a spirit. Normally the bear comes around. He's like, he's fun. And he like, you know, sometimes he'll lay on our back porch, like a cat, like looking at the trash can for a little while. You could see, he's like, you know, he's, he's like thinking through, Oh, I'm going to go get it. I'm going to go and get it. And he's like, really cool to have around. I really liked the bear. I did have, did I tell you guys about them with the Amazon delivery? No. When the, no, I got a, something. I've, I've never had before happen, which is I got a incoming phone call. And the thing on the iPhone was like Amazon delivery services. And I was like, okay, scam. That's clearly a spam call. Right. And so I sent it to voicemail, but then it rang through again after. And so I answered it. I was like, Hey, and a guy's like, Hey, it's a, it's Jason. Yeah. We were Amazon delivery guy. I was like, okay. And I'm like preparing for the, we need the last four. He's like, I, uh, I'm here to drop off some packages. I, I think there's a bear in your driveway though. I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We got a bear. He comes by sometimes. It's like, okay. I, uh, at first I thought it was just like the biggest dog I'd ever seen, but, uh, cool. All right. Well, I'm just going to back out of the driveway and I'll come back later, but that's why you're not getting your packages. And I was like, sure thing, Jason. Appreciate you, buddy.
Sonny00:15:50Understood.
JVL00:15:51So normally he's just a happy, fun bear, but he turned away from this and he, I mean, again, I'm, not exactly like his head was sort of hung and he was loping in a way that was neither majestic nor joyful, but kind of like sad. And now I lost a step. I feel a little bad about it.
Sonny00:16:14Well, I don't feel bad. You put the bear in his place. First of all, the bear needs to have, it needs to learn.
Mike00:16:20It does not belong in your garbage like that. Keep that as your North star in this JVL.
Sonny00:16:26The only thing you have to be worried about now, is bear vengeance, because now the bear might turn his, his attentions on something else. Like you got that nice shed, be ashamed. Put their bear claws on it. Be a real shame. Be a real shame. If somebody, you know, pushed in the windows of this shed with his massive weight,
JVL00:16:45I bet you a hundred percent. He could open the shed because you don't need opposable thumbs to open the, the lock on the shed is just one of those things where you just have to like slide the, the class up. Right, right, right. Question open that thing in a second. Just, move in there. Squat. He'll be a squatter. Squatter bear.
Mike00:17:03Question JVL. What is your trash retrieval situation? When, when your trash is full and it's time to dispose of it, do you drive it somewhere or does someone, does a truck come and retrieve it?
JVL00:17:20No, I wheel it to the bottom of my incredibly steep driveway. And, uh, the good gentleman at Toselli's,
Mike00:17:28it's a, it's a good family owned, family owned waste management,
JVL00:17:32waste management company, which, you know, I'm sure is not a front for anything. Uh, well,
Mike00:17:37not in New Jersey. Let's be clear. Never in New Jersey.
JVL00:17:40They come by and, uh, take it, but I am going to have to figure out what to do. That was my question.
Mike00:17:46Yeah.
JVL00:17:47I mean, clearly I can't ask the good gentleman of Toselli's to monkey around with the carabiner clip on this Fort Knox level thing. But on the other hand, uh, I can't, peel it down and then leave it unguarded because bear will come back. He has done this. He has sometimes come and decided to like, Ooh, they brought the trash down here for me. I don't even have to go up the hill. Hey,
Guest00:18:11you'll be doing. Hey, boo, boo. They brought the trash to us.
JVL00:18:15It's like door dash.
Mike00:18:17I don't know about this.
JVL00:18:18So I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Mike00:18:22That's that's that. This is the, this is the flaw in your otherwise brilliant plan. Um, do you have, do you have ideas? So what do you have a sense of what time of day? Uh,
JVL00:18:33the good gentleman, the gentleman from to sellies who again are absolute waste management professionals. They are not doing this as a side gig while I really do other sorts of collections or body disposal. Sure. Not a thing they do. Right. Sure. Uh, they do vary in the time they come by quite a problem by quite a bit. Sometimes it can be like 7 00 AM. Sometimes it can be 3:00 PM.
Sonny00:19:00Oh, that's, that's a big window. Yeah, that's too big. Huge window.
Mike00:19:03Cause I was going to say, also, what time does, uh, does Mr. Bear like to come around any time of day? You know, it,
JVL00:19:12he does often tend to come the day before trash day. So trashes is picked up on Thursdays and Mondays and it's fullest and he somehow manages to most often come today is Wednesday. Right? We're taping on a Wednesday. That's why he came today because tomorrow's trash day. So he'll come on Sundays and Wednesdays. Uh,
Mike00:19:38he will sometimes come in other days as well, but those are his,
JVL00:19:41his big days. He's learned, he knows, you know, he's got a little calendar. He marks it.
Mike00:19:45I was going to say he understands, you know, days of the week. Um, because I think your solution here is like you try to see if you can get away with putting it out the morning of, I guess, like as early as you can get it out there, undo everything so that, so that, uh, the good, the good local gentlemen that to sell these can unload it without any sort of, uh, any sort of obstacles for them. And then the worst case scenario is they don't come till three and the bear happens to come on a day. He doesn't normally come by and he gets in your trash. What happens when Mr. Barry gets in the trash? What happens then is that somebody usually.
JVL00:20:28Flash, but sometimes me, sometimes Shannon will go out. We have one of those, uh, grippy thing like,
Sonny00:20:34you know, the, the law.
JVL00:20:35I don't even know what they're called, but they're called grippers,
Sonny00:20:38trash grabbers,
JVL00:20:39trash grabbers. We go out there and we use the trash grabber to pick things up. But what, what Mr. Bear likes to do is he has a favorite spot in, uh, in our yard. And so he likes to take out a trash bag, carry it up to his favorite spot, place it down and then open it up and route through. You find the things he really, you know, his favorite thing is, Ooh, empty ice cream containers. Oh, Oh,
Mike00:21:05he loves the empty ice cream containers and he'll just sit there and
JVL00:21:09he'll, he'll feast for hours in his little spot. Really something else.
Mike00:21:16Could you, is there some kind of repellent like coyote urine or something like that, that could, that you could spray?
JVL00:21:27I don't know. I don't want him to not be there. I have thought about just,
Mike00:21:31just around, just around the, the, the, the trash can. That's what you gotta do.
JVL00:21:35I have thought about leaving out like food for him instead. No, we've got a couple of beaches, terrible beaches, maybe a thing of peanut butter. So he doesn't feel like he needs to go into the trash. He can get his food. Let me tell you, I was going to say,
Mike00:21:50do you know the, the, the children's book, give a mouse a cookie.
JVL00:21:54I can't, I don't see how this could possibly go wrong.
?00:21:57Okay.
Mike00:21:59Well, you got to keep us updated on, on our, you don't have a name for him. He's just the bear. He's just your bear. He's just the bear.
JVL00:22:05We don't, we don't have a name for him. We should, a second bear showed up today, which we had never seen an even smaller bear. So this is the, the bear who tends to come here is a cub. He is still pretty young. I mean, he's huge, but he's not, we've seen the mom when, when the mom is there, we know she's there because she's huge. Right. But another, a little bear sister showed up, showed up today at the end of, as,
Mike00:22:30as Mr. Bear was walking away dejectedly,
JVL00:22:32she came into it. I, all I could think is, Oh, now he's got to be humiliated that his little sister showed up to see his moment of shame. And here's what I've done to him. It's going to go to his bear therapist.
Mike00:22:42Yeah. He's going to be on the couch there. My, my solution is wolf urine. That's what you use. What are you up to, Michael? Me? Um, so you guys are always telling me that, I need to not do things myself and that I need to be willing to pay to do things. And I think, I think I'm, I'm not quite, I've not quite come around to that point of view, but I'm starting to see your point. Uh, so I have the experience of we're, we're getting ready to go on a, uh, on a family trip down to the beach. So I'm doing all of the pre trip planning with the car, right? Uh, the, the, the, the minivan, the minivan needed an oil change. So I took it to get its oil change before we go. And like they always do at the old chain shop, they pulled out, uh, my air filter, my cabin air filter and my engineer filter showed me that they really needed replacing, but I ain't no dummy. I was born at night, but I ain't born last night. I know that whatever they're going to charge me for parts and labor on that is going to be so much cheaper for me to go down to the auto parts store and buy the air filters.
JVL00:23:59The air filter, especially that's the biggest scam in the universe.
Mike00:24:02Totally. Totally. And, uh, even the engineer filter, like it's not like this stuff is, is, is idiot proof in the way you do this. Um, so 20 minutes, 25 minutes for my oil change, you know, from pulling the car in to, to tap in the, the, uh, credit card to pay for it. All right. On my way home, I'll stop by the auto parts store and get all four for not only for my car, uh, for my van, but for my car, the car that I mostly drive. Um, it needs new air filters too. So I'll get it all. Um, it turns out the girl helping me at the auto parts store, it's like her third day. So she doesn't know nothing is out by the way. Like, so that like the wall of air filters, I know exactly what I'm looking for. It's like the ones that the models that I'm looking for are not out. They're behind. They're behind. The counter or they're like in the back. So this is taking forever because like she can't find some of them, you know? And of course what they say they have online, they don't always have in the store and blah, blah, blah.
JVL00:25:08Can I ask why you went to a store with human beings instead of just letting Lord Bezos take care of this for you?
Mike00:25:14Because I'm leaving in a couple of days and I wanted to get this done.
JVL00:25:19Lord Bezos will bring it to you overnight, Michael,
Mike00:25:21but we don't, we don't have a Amazon prime. So, um, what we don't have Amazon, prime Sonny.
Sonny00:25:27We've, we've discussed this with Mike before, and it's the most bizarre fucking thing about it. Frankly, it's expensive.
Mike00:25:34It's expensive for us. And, uh, it's a, it's an easy expense to cut. Um, you know, it's, you know, I, I need all the shekels I can, I can get, you know, I'm, you know, I got three kids. I got all this, you know, this is, uh, the Amazon prime account. It's just not worth it for us. Um, so I, all right. All right. I don't even know what to say. Anyway, cause I wanted to get it done today. Like when we are done recording this, I'm going to go change the filters in the, the two cars, um, and scratch it on my list. So I get to the store. She can't, she finds three of them, but not the, the cabin air filter for the van. And she's like, Oh, um, it's at our other store in our same town on the other side. And this is my, my fatal mistake. Uh, she said, there's the, they have it there. Um, you can go, you can, we can, you can either have us go pick it up for you, or you can go pick it up yourself. And I was like, well, I'll just go pick it up myself. Like, I don't want to stand here and wait for you to go get something where I know where it is. It's just like on the other side of town. Um, so my fatal mistake was I paid for all four filters. Oh, so I drive again. It's like a 10 minute drive to the other store and they've already called ahead to say, Hey, this guy's coming to pick up. He's already paid. It's easy. All you gotta do is grab the filter off the shelf and hand it to the customer. He's got the receipt. Easy peasy. Uh, I get there and the guy goes to the back of their, of their store and he, says they don't have it. And I said, but they said you did have it. And he said, yeah, but they didn't call before you left. And, uh, I couldn't tell them that I couldn't go check that we didn't have it. So they should have done that. And I was like, great. Um, what do I do? And he was like, Oh, well we have another one that also fits your van. And in fact, it was a dollar cheaper. So I said, yeah, give me that one. And can you just make this exchange? I'm sorry. If you want to get your money refunded on the filter that you bought, but neither of us have, you have to go to the first store and tap your stupid credit card. And so they can do that. So anyway, so that I was like, okay, by now the clock is ticking. I got to get back to, to, to take this show. Um, I got a, I got, I got lots to do things to do exactly. But I was like, all right, I got like, I don't want to, I don't want to let $25 just go out the door here. So then I went back to the original store.
Sonny00:28:32That's like one sixth of an Amazon prime membership. Anyway.
Mike00:28:36So then I went back to that store. They, to their credit, they were like already getting ready to go. I don't go some, go to a third store and pick up what I needed. And I was like, and they're like, wait, wait, that's the air filter guy. And I was like, hold on. I just came here. I, I just came here to get my, to get my refund. I already bought another one that fits my car. And they're like, Oh God,
Sonny00:29:00he's back. He's back. He's got a gun. Get out of here.
Mike00:29:06The woman who checked me out literally said that's the air filter guy.
Sonny00:29:10It's like falling down, but for air filters. Exactly. Exactly. Rolling in with your button down, short sleeve shirt.
Mike00:29:18The customer is always right.
Sonny00:29:20I want breakfast.
Mike00:29:22So, so anyway, so then it also, it's all fine. Then I can get in the car and I can go home. And it's like, I've done all of this. I've spent this money, which is fine. I'm getting a cheaper. And I still haven't even installed the freaking things like they, like for an extra 15 minutes and an extra, like, I don't know, a hundred dollars. This would have already been done. And, and, and yet here I am. So that's the lesson is you guys are right. I'm, I'm wrong. You should just pay other people to do it. I can do things for you that you can do yourself. I mean, this is the thing that I can't get over is I can do this myself. It's so easy. It's just about,
JVL00:30:03it's about getting the thing. You've taken an economics class. You understand special. I majored in economics. Right? Yeah. So specialization and value, you know, time, value, money and all that. Like this is, you have specialized so that your labor is most productively applied to typing. And these other gentlemen have specialized that their labor is most productively applied to putting air filters. And so the most efficient exchange here is for you to do your typing with your time and then to do the, the air filter changing with their time,
Mike00:30:36the typing and the talking. Let's be, let's be clear. I have, I have, I have many, many skills that are remunerative. So you're right. But anyway, as I said, after this, after we record, after we, after we talk about happy Gilmore too, I will be installing these myself and I will have the satisfaction of having completed. So any thoughts or should we move on?
Sonny00:31:00No, I, I just, I like how much would it have cost to get the filters done there? So that,
Mike00:31:06that, so here's the other thing is I also was picking up filters for my other car that I did not have with me.
Sonny00:31:12No, no, no. I mean, how much did they want to charge you at the oil change?
Mike00:31:15I don't even remember because I, because my knee jerk reaction is no, I'll do it myself. But I, I want to say it was probably going to be a, an extra a hundred dollars and the filters themselves cost 20 20, $25.
Sonny00:31:27So you say 50 whole dollars.
?00:31:29Yeah. Okay.
JVL00:31:31Confession. I almost never changed the cabin air filters, just the cabin. Like what's going to happen. Are we going to die of bad air quality while we're driving? Cause if it, if it, if it look the, the engine air filter, sure. You're protecting your engine.
Sonny00:31:50Right. Yeah.
JVL00:31:51But the cabin air filter, give me a fucking break.
Sonny00:31:54I assume that that has to do. With like the air conditioner or the, like AC pump unit. Right. Like it probably makes it work harder. Yeah. It's like you're right. It's like you're, it's like you're AC at home.
Mike00:32:07You need to change that air.
Sonny00:32:08If you don't replace that air filter, the motor that runs the air has to run harder. Yes. Right.
Mike00:32:14Correct. Correct.
Sonny00:32:16You don't want to have to replace that. Replacing the air conditioner motor is expensive. Like that's an expensive.
JVL00:32:21So you think that this filter is working on the intake, not the, not the output of the,
Sonny00:32:29I don't know. I mean, I would assume, I would assume the, it still has to work harder to push the air through.
JVL00:32:34If it's all right. Yeah. I'll be a better boy about changing that. Listeners sign off in the comments. If you change your cabin air filter,
Sonny00:32:41I'm not, I, I don't have strong air. I actually really need to change our air filter in our like home air conditioning unit. It's been, I just did at least six months.
JVL00:32:50I do those puppies every month.
Sonny00:32:52I know you do. I know I am like, it's like, I I'm such, I got, I'm so bad. At home maintenance stuff. I knew I really need. The other thing I need to do is remember, remember the whole tankless water situation a couple of hours ago. I, it has now been two years. It was a year. It was two years ago. Uh, July of 2023. Um, uh, that this, that this happened. And, uh, I need to, I need to like clean the, the tankless water heater. It's like a, like you, you have to, you had, there's like a cleaning process you have to do. It's not hard at all. It's not hard,
Mike00:33:25but it's a lube. It's not a looming task.
Sonny00:33:27It's just a, it's just a thing I have to do. It's like, it's like a thing I, I like, I know I need to do it. You're supposed to do it every year. If you don't do it every year, the life of the tankless water heater goes from like 20 years to four years or something. And they're expensive. They're like way more expensive than, you know, regular water heater. So like you want, you, you have to do it. It's like a thing you have to do. And I know I need to do it. And I just have so much other shit going on right now that I have not had time. And I,
JVL00:33:54and like somebody to do it,
Sonny00:33:55but, but this is, this is where the paying somebody to come and do it thing breaks down for me, which is that having somebody in my house doing a thing distracts me from like, I can't do my regular job.
Mike00:34:08Correct.
Sonny00:34:08Right. When there's somebody else there. So like, if I'm going to, if I'm going to not be able to do my work anyway, I might as well just do it myself and save the totally. And like plumbers are insanely expensive. Like just to have them come to your house, it's 200 bucks or whatever. And they're all, we'll put it toward the service or, but like I, I paid, I paid $200 for this kit to do it myself once a year and I'm going to fucking do it. But like it's, you know,
JVL00:34:33but you got to maybe, maybe I got to do it.
Sonny00:34:36I got to do it. I like, I, I, I'm starting to get like stressed about it. I'm like, it's been more than 12 months. I got to do this. Just,
Mike00:34:44just rip the bandaid off. All right. Oh, let's move on then. Let's talk box office because number one, the box office this week is a movie that we are not seeing for this show. The fantastic four, four steps in its first week in the box office is Marvel back. A hundred and seventeen and a half million dollars in its opening weekend. That's just short of the number two movie this week. And Superman from its opening weekend, right? The opening weekend for Superman was one was 20 was one 20. I was just over that. So fantastic. Four first steps, a, a, a Marvel, an M. C. U. Movie, right? This is officially an M. C. U. Movie coming in. What do we make of this first opening weekend? It's it's soft. Yes or not. It's higher than I thought.
Sonny00:35:36I think it's about it's it's I think it's higher than well, I'll put it this way. It's it is only about I think it's like 15 million dollars less or maybe 20 million dollars less than the opening weekends of the three previous Fantastic War movies combined. Okay, so that's not bad. That's not, you know, that's that's not bad. The big question is, how does it hold and how does it play overseas? Overseas box office is really becoming a thing folks are worried about because like, for instance, you know, Superman's probably going to end up grossing about what Man of Steel grossed. It's probably going to end up grossing about what Man of Steel grossed worldwide, but it's also going to gross probably a hundred, million more domestically than it did. The Superman will gross a hundred million more domestically than Man of Steel gross, right? Which is, which means that the worldwide box office is incredibly soft on, on this movie. I like it is again. It's I'm just looking at the number right now. It's 57.7% domestic, 42.3% international. And those numbers have been, those numbers have been flip-flopped. You know, as long as I can remember the last 20 years, those, those numbers, those percentages would be reversed. And you know, I, I, I think that you were seeing a kind of similar softness in fantastic four, which is hold on. Let me pull up the opening weekend numbers. A 128 million domestic so far, including Monday and Tuesday 99 million international, which is again, it's 56.4%. Domestic 43.6% international, which is, you know, there, and look, there's something to be said for focusing on the domestic market. You keep more money from the domestic market than you do from overseas markets. It's that's especially true of China, which where you only, you can only repatriate like 10, 10 cents on the dollar or something. But it's true everywhere. France keeps more. England keeps more in the United States. The Disney take on the first four, weekends or something like that is like 70% of the box office. So like, you know, it's or 67%, some, some insane number. So it's like even, it's even better than a 50, 50 split. It's, it's, it's, you know, you make more, a studio makes more money on domestic movies, but they, they have built these budgets for so long to account for, we're going to get, you know, $400 million worldwide on top of the $300 million we get in the United States. And if that number is closer to 200, a hundred million, it changes everything, um, changes everything pretty, pretty drastically is marble back. I don't know, man. I like, I, again, it just, it depends on how this holds. Um, I, I, I will say that's a, that's a bigger number kind of than I expected. It's bigger than like Thunderbolts, I think, uh, hold on. Thunderbolts, Thunderbolts, uh, yeah. Thunderbolts only gross $74 million and it's opening weekend.
Mike00:38:53Yeah. But nobody knows what, nobody knows what Thunderbolts is. Everybody knows what fantastic for is right. Like, I think that's, but nobody cared what fantastic for was.
Sonny00:39:03Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the thing, right? Is that, yeah, every, everybody knows what, yeah. And Captain America, brave new world only grossed $88 million. So like, this is, this is a big weekend for marble in comparison to recent openings. Um, you know, fucking Pedro Pascal, people love him. Who knew? Uh, I don't know. I don't know. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a big number. I'm curious to see, I'm curious. I'm curious to see how it holds. Uh, and Disney has to be happy with this. Uh, I think everybody is still kind of on pins and needles waiting to see what happens with, um, both. I think the next MCU movie is technically the new Spider-Man movie though. Again, Spider-Man is kind of a, it's co-owned by Sony. It's not strictly, totally MCU. Um, it just kind of exists in that same universe. Um, and then the next one after that is Avengers doomsday. Like, like it really feels like they're skipping a lot of steps here to get to.
Mike00:40:04Is that the return of Robert Downey? When is Robert Downey jr. Coming back?
Sonny00:40:07That's, that's the, yeah, that's the, the Robert Downey jr. Is Dr. Doom movie. And like,
Mike00:40:13which makes no sense to me. I don't understand how the same actor can be.
JVL00:40:17It doesn't make any sense.
Sonny00:40:19Multiverse.
JVL00:40:20Uh, Chris Evans is both the human torch and, uh, but, but, but,
Mike00:40:25but the, that original fantastic four is not in the MCU. Multiverse is saying,
JVL00:40:30I'm just, I, I have multiverse. I have questions.
Mike00:40:33Shut up. Go ahead. Go ahead. JBL.
JVL00:40:38First of all, am I correct? That this is the last superhero movie we're getting in 2025.
Sonny00:40:44Yeah. So I, I think the next superhero movie that is coming out is the super girl movie in like July of 26, June, June of 26,
JVL00:40:53July full year. Basically a full year. That seems healthy.
Mike00:40:58Yes.
Sonny00:40:59Right. Absolutely. Well, and remember there, there was last year, really the only Marvel movie that there was, was Deadpool Wolverine. I think.
Mike00:41:11Yeah. No. What about, um, is that true?
Sonny00:41:16Maybe I'm pretty sure that was the only wasn't there a,
Mike00:41:24um, yeah,
JVL00:41:25I think you're probably this year. We've gotten Thunderbolts and the Harrison Ford Captain America.
Sonny00:41:31Well, there were, there were all of the Sony. I'm sorry. Because, because there was Adam Webb Craven and Venom, Venom three. So,
Mike00:41:39but the Marvels came out in November, 2023. And then the next one came out in 23.
JVL00:41:46So Sonny, you've seen this. How is Vanessa Kirby in it? Because I have rebelled at her casting as Sue storm. You don't like her as Sue storm. Well, I don't know. I don't think I do. I don't like the idea of her as Sue storm. I like Vanessa Kirby, a very great deal. I don't think I like the idea. She feels horribly miscast to me. Does, does, how was it on screen?
Sonny00:42:13I have a theory here, but I'm curious. What, what is your, what is your, what is your misgiving?
JVL00:42:23Vanessa Kirby is, um, too icy and too distant as a screen presence, uh, in ways where Sue storm as a character is supposed to be intensely grounded and relatable. Like Sue storm is the member of the fantastic for who the audience can most see themselves as, uh, and her thing is sort of a little, I mean, she's very arch, right. As a,
Mike00:43:01as a screen presence and she's a little bit removed and I,
JVL00:43:06it just feels, just feels wrong.
Sonny00:43:09I will say this, which is that I am kind of, I am fascinated by this movie just as an adaptation of the fantastic for, because the, it is, we're going to end up at the short version here is that it is set on it. It's multiverse. It's set on earth eight to eight. Right. And so it's not, it's not the mainline Marvel universe where, which is six one six, which is wherever. And in this, in this version of earth, the fantastic four are the only superheroes basically. And there is this kind of creeping techno utopia slash authoritarianism that is kind of right. Under the surface of all of it to, to like just one very quick example. There's a moment in the film where right before Sue's baby is going to be born. The, the, the team is kind of looking out on the city and all of these cop cars start shooting around all of these like cop cars start going around and the, the rest of the team's like, Oh God, something's going on. And Reed's like, no, no, it's just me. I've sent police. I've sent my drones to capture all of the criminals. I have, I am ending crime in the city. And, and everyone's like, uh, read what you're doing. You did. You're doing what now? And he's like, no, I'm taking care of it. I'm just, I'm just stopping crime. And throughout the film, there's a lot of like, they, they start the future foundation. Right. And read is like to join the future foundation as a nation, you need, you can, we'll give you all the technology. I have mastered faster than light travel, for instance, just kind of toss off. And I will share, I will share technology with everybody who comes and joins us. If you dissolve your militaries. Interesting. It's again, there's, and like the, the, the, the movie is kind of, the movie kind of builds up to this massive effort to stop Galactus, which involves essentially marshalling all of the world's resources, whether or not people want to. But again, none of this is really examined. Anyway, I say all this because the, the characterization of what's that is read the villain. There's a much more interesting version of this movie where the answer to that is yes, but that's not what they're going for here. The, the but I say all this because the, the version of Sue in this film is very imperious and kind of icy and, and like not, not, not,
Guest00:45:44she's not,
Sonny00:45:46she's not, again, not like a villain, not like Emma Frost or something like that, but like she is, she is the head of the future foundation and essentially, like kind of the head of the world government and is like negotiating with the mole man for instance. Like she, she has a whole, she has a whole thing.
JVL00:46:06So not miscast. They, they cast what they wanted.
Sonny00:46:09I think not miscast. I think cast to, to give her a very specific affect that I, I agree with you is different than what I've seen. Certainly in the movies,
JVL00:46:19I'm open to that. I really would have liked to storm as Emma Frost. I forget. Who, who we were given as Emma Frost in the X-Men movies.
Sonny00:46:29It was the, it was the girl for, it's a lady from Mad Men. January.
JVL00:46:32Yeah. January, January. But she, she's a terrible, she's a terrible actress in one of the most interesting characters in the entire X-Men universe. She,
Sonny00:46:41she, she fits the role in one way.
JVL00:46:43She fits the role in a single way. Vanessa Kirby, Emma Frost would have been fantastic. I like you guys. You guys know the Emma Frost, like the bit. I have no idea who Emma Frost is. So Emma, Emma Frost is a, a villain who falls in love with Scott Summers, Cyclops.
Mike00:47:01Who was Scott Summers. Cyclops. Yeah, that's right. That's right.
JVL00:47:04And so she reforms so that she can be with Scott Summers, but she's never really reformed. Like she just, it's one of these, like the heart wants what it wants and she understands it and she hates herself for it. And she hates all of the goody two shoes superheroes around her, but she understands like this is the man she wants to be. It's the man she wants to spend her life with. And so she, it, it's a fan. It's just a fantastic character. Question. Yes.
Mike00:47:34Are the fantastic four and the X-Men in the same universe?
JVL00:47:39Yes, but in the same way that Marvel tends to keep the muties and the non muties separate separate. Okay. They, they keep the fantastic four separate from, and the fantastic four is even largely separate from Avengers universe. They're orthogonal to Avengers. Yeah. But, but, but they're not muties. So they're, they're acceptable.
Mike00:48:00Isn't the silver surfer also a villain for somebody else besides, besides the fantastic four?
JVL00:48:07He's not really a villain. He's a, he's a Herald who becomes a hero, right? Would you say that's, that's about right? He, he is introduced.
Sonny00:48:14He's introduced as a villain because he is the harbinger of doom, but he very quickly gets his own series and you know, he's, he's misunderstood. He's Norrin Raddy. You know, he's, he's just, he,
JVL00:48:25he just surfing was just so hot. This is one of the most, like the idea that Marvel was like surfing is hot. Uh, let's have a character who does stuff with a surfboard. We'll make him sort of, it is, it's the poochy.
Mike00:48:43It's the poochy of, of, of Marvel. Yeah.
JVL00:48:46And it worked. It worked. Silver surfer became so big.
Sonny00:48:51All right. Yep. There was a silver. There was a silver surfer cartoon. Uh, on, on Fox in the nineties. So that like kind of coincided with the, you know, the, the Spider-Man and X-Men X-Men books.
?00:49:06All right.
Mike00:49:07Uh, well, please let's move on. Um, any more box office thoughts? No. Okay. Uh, we're not talking about a box office movie this week. We're talking about happy Gilmore too, which is, uh,
Sonny00:49:1849 minutes later.
Mike00:49:19Yeah. Which is currently airing, uh, or streaming, whatever on Netflix. Uh, Sonny, you want to give us a big boy review of happy Gilmore too.
Sonny00:49:30Happy Gilmore too. Uh, starring Adam Sandler as happy Gilmore, the golfer, uh, who hits the really long drives and has to learn how to coincide, you know, fit in with the rest of the PGA, uh, is back after 30 years. Um, uh, here, the plot, this movie has so much plot, by the way, I like the, in the original movie, it's pretty straightforward. You got happy Gilmore, kind of a goof who, it turns out has one singular skill,
JVL00:49:57which is driving the snubs.
Sonny00:49:59It's slobs versus snobs. He can drive the ball real far. And in, in, he uses this talent to save his grandma's house. Like that's, that's the movie that's. And there's other stuff wrapped in with, you know, if he falls in love and gets the girl and fights with Christopher McDonald, blah, blah, blah. But like, that's the movie. That's, that's pretty much the movie. And this movie has so much plot. Uh, Adam Sandler as happy Gilmore kills, his wife on the golf course. So he gets out of golf, gets out. Yeah. Spoilers to come. I had somebody fucking complained to me that I had spoilers in my fantastic four review for across the movie aisle. And I was just like, you, if you are listening to a podcast about a movie and you haven't watched the movie yet, do not complain to me about spoilers ever. That's on you. That's a, you problem, not a me problem. Anyway, sorry,
Mike00:50:49I will email you again. Sonny.
Sonny00:50:51Uh, anyway, um, uh, kills his wife.
?00:50:55Uh,
Sonny00:50:56and after she dies, he gets out of golf and, goes to work at a grocery store and is trying to raise all of his money. Loses all right. Well, obviously loses all his money. Uh, just trying to raise his kids. His daughter wants to be a ballerina in France for some reason. His, his sons are all idiots. Uh, and he lives next door to John Daly.
Mike00:51:16That's no John Daly lives in his garage, lives in his garage.
Sonny00:51:19John Daly lives in his garage. Sorry. John Daly lives in his garage for some reason. Uh, anyway, um, uh, again, the daughter wants to go play. It wants to be a ballerina in France. So he needs to make money. So he's like, I, I will, I will become a golfer again. And he goes and he golfs with Margaret quality and a couple other guys for a little bit. And, and rediscovers his lovely. I, this movie is so bad. It's so, it's so bad. And it's so bad in ways that I, I find, I find very frustrating because I have been a quasi, I've been a, a defender of the Adam Sandler Netflix movies by and large. I think the murder mystery movies are fun. Like they're not like none of these is great, but they're all watchable and entertaining murder. Mystery movies are fun. Hubie Halloween was fun. Um, uh, his daughter's bat mitzvah movie is fun. Like I kind of, I kind of appreciate what he is doing with this whole thing. He's, he's getting paid a lot of money to make, you know, like mediocre comedies and hang out with his friends and travel the world. Good for him. This movie is, is very bad. Uh, not just because of, not just because of all the extraneous plot and the fact that it's 110 minutes almost before you get to the credits. It's like 107 minutes or something like that, which is way too long for a movie like this. Um, but it's, it's, it's bad because it relies. It's, there are so many flashbacks to the first film and there are so many references back to the first film and, and, and the like really shocking thing about it is how many people from the first film are dead. How many of those, how many, and there's even a scene, there's even a scene in this movie. There's a sequence in this movie where Adam Sandler goes kind of traipsing through a graveyard and it's all of the gravestones are actors from the original film. Yep. Some of whom have like, some of whom have their like kids are in this, you know, the care, the kids, the characters are in this movie. It's like a real legacy sequel sort of thing. And it's, there's a read on this that it is a very intentional critique of the whole legacy sequel thing. Like this is what you, your nostalgia is dead and you want to resurrect it as some sort of awful morbid thing. And that's what we're doing here. And on that level, the movie is kind of interesting, but I don't think that's actually what they were going for here at all. I just think it's a, it's a pretty, it's a, it's a pretty straightforward, good sequel. It's filled with awful performances by PGA golfers who I like. I, I said the movie wasn't good. And a lot of people were like, if you like the PGA, it's really good. I'm like, I'm sorry. It's not, it's it's the PGA is fine. I like the PGA fine. It's not good. It's bad. This is all bad. Just because you recognize the person delivering the line badly, that doesn't mean it's bad or it's good. It's still bad. Boy, I hated it. I hated, I hated everything about it. Mike, did you love it?
Mike00:54:26I wanted to go to JVL first. No, no, you want me to, you want me to share? I just see your face right now. Tell me. So tell me, Michael, why don't you go first, Michael? So I,
Sonny00:54:37sorry, JVL. I didn't mean to skip you, but I was looking at Mike's face right now and he's like getting madder and madder over there.
Mike00:54:42No, that's not what my face was showing. Not at all. Um,
JVL00:54:45in spite of everything,
Mike00:54:48I enjoyed this movie quite a bit more than I expected to. Like I didn't like that I was enjoying it, but I was like laughing constantly and I just, I am not a regular viewer of Adam Sandler's, uh, Netflix movies. Uh, I think I saw one of the murder mysteries, um, but that was about it. I haven't seen Hubie Halloween or any of those. Um, so I've, this one, I sort of appreciated what he was doing, maybe more than if I had, uh, seen some of the other ones, which is the, like, I'm just going to make movies with my friends and, and my family. And like, we're all going to like spend time together and everybody's going to have a good time and make some money and I'll make money and everybody's happy. Um, and I just, so to speak, I, I just appreciated that aspect of it. And, uh, I found myself laughing. Like I found myself laughing at all the John Daly stuff. Um, I agree. The performances from the professional golfers were not great, but I did get a kick out of Scotty Scheffler, uh, sort of sending up both his clean cut image and his actual arrest. Um, I just thought that was like, I thought of all the golfers he was, he did the most, um, uh, acting wise in this movie. Um, I thought it was a very clever idea to sort of, because I've seen a lot of the promotion for happy Gilmore too. And, and, um, and, and what's her name? Uh, has been involved in a lot of the promotion, uh, from the modern family, Julie Bowen. Um, and like kill her in the first five minutes. I was sort of a, uh, made me laugh. Uh, I was like, Oh, that's like a, that's like a subversion of, of my expectations. Uh, I thought I'm going to put my sunny hat on now and, and make an argument that there's an interesting idea in this movie, which is, so the first happy Gilmore is, is slobs versus snobs. It is this young upstart. Who's, not even a golfer. He's a hockey player, sort of like shocking and, uh, and bringing golf, this stayed, uh, stodgy sport kind of updated. And what's interesting is that the movie comes out one year before tiger woods explodes. Right. And, and golf actually does become like cool again. Um, and, and it's in a weird way, like happy Gilmore, uh, kind of almost presaged what would happen. Not quite the same. Cause yeah, tiger woods is a traditional golfer, but like it made it cool again. Um, he opened,
Sonny00:57:30he opened the doors to a non-traditional golf audience.
Mike00:57:33Correct. And I thought this movie was very much reflect that it was made by a man who was almost 60 years old because the whole idea of the movie is that it, I mean, it is quite literally like young upstart, uh, expanding golf to a new audience is bad and traditional golf is good. And happy Gilmore is on the side of traditional golf. Like they quite literally have it like traditional golf versus this like, uh, monster energy drink fueled like riff on live. And yeah,
Sonny00:58:08well, that's, I mean, that's the thing, right? Is that it's actually about live. It's not about, you know, it's, it's about this. It's about, it's about like Saudi, the Saudis coming in and like taking over golf.
Mike00:58:19Right. And which is interesting that like Brooks, Brooks Koepka and, uh, uh, Bryson Deschambeau are, are in it, you know, which is, you know, these are two, these are two of the faces of, of, of live. So, um, I don't know. I thought I was like, Oh, that's like kind of an interesting idea. Um, I don't know. Like I was just won over by Adam Sandler's like natural charm. And there are so many problems with the movie. Like the references are, are, are overtly made in ways that are distracting and, and, you know, and, and take away from it. Right. Like there was a couple of, I'm trying to remember which one of them was where like, they sort of, they made a reference to the original movie. And then they like, they like, it was like, they pointed to it being like, remember when that happened? Like that happened a few times where it's like, well, if you've seen the old movie, which you probably have, if you're watching this one, like you don't need to be reminded that it's a reference to the old movie because, uh, the audience for this movie knows the original happy Gilmore word for word backward and front. Like, cause we watch, we watched it a thousand times. So like, you don't need to keep pointing at it. You really don't need to like, keep, uh, if you took out all the flashbacks and cutaways,
Sonny00:59:34this movie is like closer to a hundred minutes probably, which is totally closer to reasonable.
Mike00:59:39Yes. So anyway, so that's, that's my long and short of it. I enjoyed it in spite of it. And, um, I laughed and whatever, but I'm a rube, but like if you, if, if a comedy makes you laugh, then it's done its job. JVL.
JVL00:59:55Yeah. I mean, it's, it's way too long and it is shoddily made in a lot of ways. And as you say, Michael, the, the things like the flashbacks are ridiculous. It is too long. Uh, and it's kind of insulting the extent to it. It reminds me of oceans. 12. Like oceans. 12 was a movie that George Clooney and his friends made for themselves and their contempt from the audience for the audience was on like every single frame of that movie. It was, yeah, you suckers went and saw the first one. And so we were able to extort whatever we wanted from the studio to do this one. And my friends and I had a great fucking time in Europe for five months on your dime here. Oh, I guess we'll act for you. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Right. And you think that's what I'm saying?
Sonny01:00:48I was doing for the listeners out there. JVL was doing the double finger guns in that, like the double middle fingers. I would say it was the middle finger gun. Yes.
JVL01:00:57And, uh, and there is a, I mean, that is sort of happening on screen here where Adam Sandler is paying everybody who he likes in his life just to be in his two daughters and his wife and O'Hurley. He's kid. And, uh, you know, all of the people who have ever guessed it on Saturday night live, who he thought was personally funny and Steve Buscemi.
Sonny01:01:24And so I'm Schneider,
JVL01:01:27Rob Schneider, Rob Schneider gets a line so that he can get, you know, why does he have a line? A Rob and Rob Schneider's kid. One of the Rob Schneider's kids is in it. Wait,
Mike01:01:36which one is the kid?
JVL01:01:38One of the one of the boys is.
Sonny01:01:42That's funny.
JVL01:01:43And, uh, you know, like it, it is a full employment project for everybody that Adam Sandler has in his life. And despite all of that, it is much, much funnier and more charming than it has any right to be. And I enjoyed, I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it totally, but I enjoyed it for like 80% level. And there are multiple times at which I was just like, this is just fun. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but this is funny. Yes. And, uh, some examples, um, everything with John Daly. John Daly is like a little secret weapon in this, like totally great. So good. And he's written so well. Um, everything with bad bunny, bad bunny is a weirdly talented guy. I don't know if you guys know about his foray into wrestling. No, no, but bad bunny did a, a, not, not brief, but a foray into wrestling. This has happened a couple of times before where they will, you know, WWE will bring in somebody from the culture, right? To do a spot in wrestling. The idea of being like, Oh, we can, we can steal some of, of their audience, right? They'll bring, you know, bad bunny will bring his Puerto Rican rap audience to us and we'll be able to get some, some more eyeballs that way. But bad bunny is a real wrestling head and he wanted to, he was like, no, no, that's great. I'll do that. But also I really respect wrestling and I'd like to learn more and maybe, maybe grow into it. And so like he became a recovering character in WWE for like a year and a half and was actually quite good. Like always, always stayed within himself, was never doing anything preposterous, learned how to actually take a bump and work. He's been very funny on Saturday night live when he's guested on Saturday night live. And in this, he's great. He's really, really funny playing this like mildly psychotic valet slash waiter slash caddy who, who has a sadistic streak a mile wide for all the people in his life that he likes. Like, I just, I don't know, man, the, the idea that maxi golf is actually looks kind of awesome. Like that's the funny, like the, you know, the, they bring us maxi golf and it's absolutely preposterous, but it also does look kind of awesome, which is itself kind of subversive.
Mike01:04:12Yes.
JVL01:04:13Uh, the payoff to shooter McGavin's character, right? Are so good. So shooter McGavin has been relegated to a mental hospital and we first meet him. At a parole hearing where he is denied because he's clearly still insane. And then he is sprung from the hospital by the safety brother who is playing the tech bro crypto mogul who is starting maxi golf with the most perfect beard rush. So good. So good. Everything about him is really fun. I mean, he's the bad breath. Yeah. Yeah. Safety guy's great. And, uh, the idea is he is, he has brought shooter McGavin out. In order to get to allow shooter McGavin to get revenge on happy Gilmore. But McGavin by McGavin is so incensed by what a front the maxi golf is to the traditional to golf. Damn it. You people, this is golf. He blinds him by throwing scalding coffee running out. I'm sorry. It was great. They did. They held to the load star of shooter McGavin's character as if every thing you need to know about him, you know, from the scene where he yells, damn it, people, this is golf and that everything else in his character moves from that direction. Yes. And we get the shooter, the finger guns from him at the end. It is me. I'm sorry. It's great. Sonny, how did you not? And then the idea that, that what do old, what happens to all of us when we middle aged men, when we come middle aged men, we all wind up. On shooter side, right? Because that is that happy, happy winds up where shooter was in the first movie, which is that. Yeah, you know, I guess we're just on the side of tradition against these upstarts because this is what it means to be middle age.
Sonny01:06:11And I just, ah, it's kind of Joel Osment.
JVL01:06:15Haley Joel Osment is great in this. And Sandler does this thing in the movie where he really does. Hey, this is as hands off. Performance as I have ever seen him give where it looks a little bit like he's disinterested at times, but what he's really doing in the movie is so stuff full of so many other actors doing small bits, right? Like the Margaret quality thing. She's the movie from 90 seconds or something. But Sandler realized that there is not enough movie to go around for everybody plus him, the star. And so he just sort of sits back and lets everybody else do their thing. And it's really works. For the way that the movie is structured.
Sonny01:06:58I will say I do. I do love Margaret quality in this movie. I think that sequence with her and like the other guys,
Mike01:07:05Eric Andre and Tim Hurley. He's kid.
Sonny01:07:09Yeah. And the and then Sandler joins them for a foursome. And like that whole sequence is actually I found that I found that that was like the best sequence in the movie for me. But it was also like it's also like again, it's it's. I don't know the whole thing. Maybe I need maybe I was just in a bad headspace.
JVL01:07:31Travis Kelsey is in this movie. Why? Because everybody on Saturday Night Live sentence seems to love Travis Kelsey for some reason. And so like, yeah, yeah, we'll shoehorn him in for no room. It's just full employment.
Mike01:07:41Right. Can I say something about Ben Stiller's performance in this movie? Because when he shows up and the way that the movie squeezes him in, he is running the sort of at the Alki anonymous. Like when it started, I was like, oh, this is so obnoxious. Like that. They've like they couldn't figure out a way to to squeeze in the guy who in many ways steals the original movie with his like his like 10 minutes on in the movie. How are we going to fit him in? But like he won me over. And like it's a reminder because my Ben Stiller consumption lately has been you know, severance. He's been doing some more sort of dramatic behind and behind the camera work. And you just forget. You should not forget. But you do forget just how funny he is.
Sonny01:08:39Tremendously talented comic extremely.
Mike01:08:42And like in this, like when he when happy is imagining him on the on the ball, like I could not stop laughing. I was like, this is so stupid. And I freaking love it.
JVL01:08:54But G money, G money was on the floor. Yeah, the entire movie. I mean, just rolling around, guffawing it. I don't know, man. Like, I don't I don't know what to say, except that all of the things you said are true. Yeah, I would have made a whole bunch of cuts. It's absolutely 25 minutes too long. It is shambling. And also, it's just it's also a great deal of fun. Yeah.
Mike01:09:25All right. Any any final thoughts on Happy Gilmore, too? Are we going to get are we going to get other sequels to classic Sandler movies?
Sonny01:09:34Well, there's I mean, there's so much there is low hanging fruit here, right? Which is Billy Madison goes to college.
Mike01:09:41Oh, Billy Madison. It's a back to school. It's back to school. It's back to school.
Sonny01:09:45But Billy Madison goes back to college. You know, like it would be, you know, it'd be somebody somebody bribed. He didn't have time to, like, get his M. B. A. Properly.
JVL01:09:55And so I have I have something to tell you guys. This has been on my my to tell you list. So while I was driving up through New England this week, we hit a stretch of road. You ever see this with billboards where one company will take over a series of like five or six billboards in a row. Yeah. So you'll get the right there. They're telling a story, right?
Sonny01:10:17Like three billboards in Missouri and three billboards in Ebbing, Missouri.
JVL01:10:20Yeah. So there is a personal injury firm. Somewhere in Massachusetts or Connecticut. And I think it's like golf G.O. F. F. Law. But the whole theme of them is is golf because I guess they're trying to play off of the name. Right. And the idea is that we'll. Well, it sounds like golf, like personal injury. We fight for you. We're the firm with balls.
Mike01:10:45And it's got like a guy holding like two golf balls. That sort of thing.
JVL01:10:48Various. And in one of them, the guy who is the face of golf law appears with Christopher McDonald in Shooter McGavin mode. And the minute I saw that, I just thought to myself. Did they pay Christopher McDonald for that? Or did they just screen grab that and make it? Well, I would say personal injury lawyers are very scrupulous. IP infringement. Is that IP infringement?
Sonny01:11:18No, a 100% Christopher McDonald agreed. He does. He has like a he has like a.
JVL01:11:24Cameo.
Sonny01:11:25He has a cameo account where he will do. He'll do like very happy. He got paid.
JVL01:11:29I'm very happy he got paid for that. That that makes me happy.
Sonny01:11:32Yeah.
JVL01:11:32And I was afraid coming into this, honestly, that Christopher McDonald was going to be that it was going to be very sad. Yeah. Seeing him like, oh, he's reprising his most famous character. He's really old and rough. He doesn't look great. But if what was not sad at all, it was great. And he was great. And it made me happy.
Sonny01:11:56Agreed that that. Yeah, that was the the best of, I think, the legacy stuff that in the Ben Stiller thing were the two best. Yeah. But that's because they're still here.
JVL01:12:06Yeah.
Sonny01:12:06Because they're still alive.
JVL01:12:07I'm sorry. I thought the PGA golfers were all great. In fact, I thought those were some of the best sports figures on screen I've ever seen. I thought they were basically with it. They got the joke. They knew how to hang.
Sonny01:12:23They got the joke for sure. They're just not good actors.
Mike01:12:25I thought I thought I know I said I said that that I thought Scotty Scheffler was was the best, but I actually think even better was what's his name? Bubba. No, no, no. Bubba was good. Gosh, what was Zalatorris? Will Zalatorris, who who plays he's supposed to be the former caddy that. Oh, yeah. Happy choked out in the first one. And I actually thought he was great because he I mean, he's he's villainous in a way or, you know, he's fantastic. He's terrific. And it was it's a harder thing for a non actor to do is to like be kind of like to have a little bit more character than just what is what is Post Malone doing in this thing?
JVL01:13:15And why isn't he playing Post Malone? Why isn't he playing himself? Because that was the other. The one thing that I thought like, oh, they missed an easy joke here is when they go to the Maxi Golf Telecast, which imports Vern Lundquist, who really does look like he's on Death Store. Well, yeah, but they then pair him with like the Maxi Golf guy. And it is Post Malone in like an urban cowboy with glitter get up. But he's introduced as like DJ Khaled or something. We're not like, yeah, not DJ. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But and I was like, no, this should actually it should be Post Malone like he should be himself as golf commentating on this. Right. Right. That's a better joke.
Mike01:13:56I don't know. This this movie is worth it, if only so that we could hear Vern Lundquist say gangsta shit indeed. That was good.
JVL01:14:05That was so good.
Mike01:14:06Read by Vern. By the way, Vern, 85 years old. God love him. He's 85. Still got the pipes. Totally. I mean, yeah, he's he's a pro. All right. Oh, also, I did love John Lovitz's little cameo as well. John Lovitz. Is a acquired taste. You either love him or you don't. But I thought it was great.
JVL01:14:28All right. Anything else about this movie? I think, Sonny, you need to give it another try. Watch it with Charlie.
Sonny01:14:35Oh, I'll give it. I'll give it another try. I'll watch it. Maybe I'll watch it with Beth or something. But I, you know, I have boy. I was I'm surprised you guys liked it this much. Frankly, I like against my will. I feel like I've been like a kind of lonely defender of the. I know this is a subversion of the Hubie Halloween. And I think, again, I think part of it is just like I I did not like revisiting all of these things in this way. I prefer I preferred the like kind of new stuff that kind of apes the old stuff. You know, I like again, Hubie Halloween is a movie that Adam Sandler would have made in like 2006.
Guest01:15:13Right.
Sonny01:15:15And instead, it's it came out, you know, two years ago. Anyway. All right.
Mike01:15:20All right. Well, that is all the time we're going to give this episode. So tell us what you thought. Who you thought the best professional golfer was in Happy Gilmore to join us over at Sub-Beacon dot com. And we'll talk to you next time. I also laughed at like at like Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino popping up in this, like just all the little like the bit, you know, the sort of nod to the way that it's. Yes, Stephen A. Smith is there. And they have and they have Dan Patrick kind of playing, you know, but they did sort of not like nobody actually watches like cable news anymore. Let's do podcasts. Yes, Sean. You know, hot ones and all that stuff. I thought it was like that was a good nod to like things have changed since since Happy Gilmore came out. So, yeah, I don't fully agree. Chris Berman, by the way, that guy is looking old. That guy's the worst. I have a I know how you feel. Hatred. I feel about Chris Berman.
Sonny01:16:25You hate that guy. We should tell folks we're going to we're going to be off. Oh, yes. We're taking we're taking next week off. So but bonus long episode this week, 70 to 80 minutes or so. You're so lucky rambling. But the but yeah, the we're off next week. It's our summer summer hiatus summer. We have to travel all over with families and children.
Mike01:16:50All right. I'm sure it's fine.
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