Second Opinions and Final Thoughts

A dedicated mentor, an empowered parent, an effective after-school program, digital literacy tools that protect kids online . These are just some of the solutions to the youth mental health challenge at the Coalition to Empower Our Future , we're bringing together experts in youth well-being to solve this complex challenge. Our mission? Keep kids happy and healthy. Learn more at Empower Our Future Coalition.com slash solutions When it comes to designing your outdoor space, there's more to it than pure function. You need a space to unwind, make memories, and enjoy a meal. You need versatility, style. Bellegarde pavers are different. They're designed to elevate your life outdoors. They're designed forward, weather tested, and built to last. No matter your style, Belgarde can bring it to life. Just a paver? Think again. Learn more at belguard.com. That's B-E-L-G-A-R-D.com . Looking for a gift to make Dad's Day? Shop Betsy for all his favorites like personalized golf accessories, a handmade leather camping bag, or an original apron for those summer nights at the grill. We can't count the ways your dad means the world to you, but you can count on Etsy to help you find a gift that will make him feel seen. Celebrate dad with original Father's Day gifts on Etsy. Celebrate being human. Pour some milk all over yourself because we're about to bust some caps. We saw the big hit, so you know what that means. Now it's time for how to discreet We're gonna have a good time celebration failure, not just need to hate it How to discreet Lux war in the mediocrity of some bar art, perhaps we'll find the answer to the question: how did this get made? Hello, people of Earth, and welcome to How Did This Get Made? I am Paul Shear. Today we are talking about the 1998 classic. U,h the big hit where Mark Wahlberg plays a mild-mannered hitman who works for Avery Brooks. You might know him as Hawk from Spencer for Hire or Cisco from Deep Space Nine. He's this very powerful crime boss and melvin is a people pleaser to a fault actually he will never say no to anyone not his fiance or his girlfriend who he is supporting and when his crew run by Lou Diamond Phillips, Bo Kim Woodbine, and Antonio Sabata Jr. talks him into kidnapping uh for some quick cash. It seems simple enough. However, the catch is that the girl that they kidnap is the daughter of a wealthy businessman, but also the girl's godfather is their own boss. So they've essentially kidnapped their employer's goddaughter without knowing it. Now, everything spirals from here. Mark Wahlberg is on the run for kidnapping. He didn't conceive, and Lou Diamond Phillips is trying to place the blame on him all while his girlfriend's parents are in town. And we'll get into it all. Um ladies and gentlemen. And please don't forget that he's also busily falling in love. Oh, right. This is a romance. This is a romance . Let me introduce my co-host. Please welcome Jason Vanzukis and June Diane Rayfield. Wow. Wow, you two. Wow. Every once in a while, we you know we're recording um, you know, mid morning and so we will be we will have an earlier recording and so I will watch one of these movies at like eight AM even earlier still top of the morning certainty yeah. But to watch this movie, thank God, because a version of the movies that we watch that are true dog shit can really color the whole day. You know? And this was was like like I , okay, this is fine. This is I have plenty to say about it. Sure. But I I I'm not I don't feel as though my day was ruined. No, it's not a it's not a wrecker of days, but what I will say is it's a time capsule of a moment that I would like to erase from my memory. Right? That's where I guess, yeah. If I could say I I it did ruin my day. And I watched it yesterday in the afternoon and it did ruin my day and I thought what what this came out in nineteen ninety eight, like I was eighteen years old. There's formative these were formative years for me. It's a weird moment . And so to swatch it, yeah. And that's why you know what? I I I know that a lot of people can get really down on the moment of time we're in and I don't for not one second mean to minimize what we're going through collectively as a as a you know, region, as a culture, as a community. Like these are serious times with serious things happening. Yeah. And and and but all the you can hold two truths at the same time. Yes, if we could expand if we could expand our sort of points of view and remember that yeah, there were there was a time in history where you know babies didn't live, most babies didn't live past two. And there was a time in history where this movie was written , made , and you know, on screens for people to see. And not only that, but it was a mo ahead I'm sorry, go ahead . No, again you say rom com and I say statutory rape. So I I June she's in college. Is she in college? Well, she's she's wearing a high school uniform. Why is she in a uniform? Well, the original intention was for her to be in high school to kind of pair up with like much more of like uh a Japanese anime kind of character of like a young girl hero, but they felt that that wouldn't actually play. So it is college, even though it's a college that requires uniforms. I mean all girls college that requires uniforms, I was like, this is that makes no sense. She's a high school. Well it just doesn't exist. She's a high school student. She's played as a high school student. Her friends seem like high school students. I mean maybe the actual school they said was college, but that's not what they're presenting to us. Like everything that is hard-edged, kidnapping , murder, statutory rape, uh all of these things. This movie rounds all of those edges away and tries to be like, isn't this funny? Isn't this a farce? And you're like , no, well, this is the thing, and I very rarely do this, but when I was watching it, there was a moment in me looking at the fonts and hearing the music, and I was like, What was going on in this year? Because it does seem odd. And if you look at 97, like 97's kind of normal, but 98 goes off the rails, and 99 is still like in that zone. But this is what's happening here. This is the year where um you know the Clinton Lewinsky scandal is going on in sync, and Britney Spears are like exploding. TRL is like a must-see show, sex in the city premieres, Dawson 's Creek premieres, Will and Grace comes on, IMAX are first released, like the candy ones, and Furbies are like the number one toy. And what do you have by any chance? I'm curious, like what other movies can't hardly wait. Very bad things. Sour grapes fifty-four, that movie about studio fifty-four. Yeah. Uh half baked. Basketball. You know, so this is I feel like it's an era, because I saw also that John Woo's a producer on this. So it's got like that big, huge, stylized action stuff. But it also is a place, it's a time when there was a real glib attitude towards murder. You know, like a real like the people that are being murdered either deserve it or like when they blow up the uh the the when they blow up the entire floor of the hotel or the apartment building, whatever it is, or for that matter the video store. They completely blow up these places that I'm like dozens, if not hundreds of people, collateral damage must be dying throughout this movie. The the number of casualties has to be enormous, but we're meant to but everything's tossed off with like glib quippy jokes. Well I think this is like kind of what's going on in the culture , in a sense, where we've had great success with movies like FaceOff and 97, right? And Gross Point Blank, and even something about Mary. And these are kind of like the rip-off, it's like a copy of a copy of a copy. It doesn't feel earned like those other movies do, but you can tell that people are like, this is what people want. They want it raw, they want it this way. Yeah. And so much so that the movie opens with , you know, uh with Mark Wahlberg picking up garbage bags full of a human and he's then bringing it to his uh second house, not his main house, because he has a girlfriend house and he has a fiance house. He brings it to his girlfriend's house, and I don't know what he's doing. He's emptying the garbage bags in the bathtub. Yeah. And and he's w he's also wearing an apron, but like not like a butcher apron. He's wearing like a I'm making cookies. Well it I feel like the movie wants to do uh these are the hitmen that you might recognize from you know uh mafia movies or murder mov ies, but these guys they live in the suburbs. They're doing suburban living . Which is fine, but what was his plan with those body parts? I assumed he was gonna put like lie Well that's what I thought too, but then he started bringing melt an entire body away. You gotta chop it up. You gotta chop it up. It looks like it was chopped up. It was multiple batteries. Easier movement. It was e well he definitely was in different bags, but then he was seemed like he was bringing some stuff into the shower. And then that's what I'm saying. The plan for these body parts was just utterly baffling. Well, okay. I 'm saying with the plan for the kidnapping. It's like fully agree. If these are if they're making hundreds of thousands of dollars, okay. Seems like they're not maybe making that much. Like you made twenty-five thousand dollars for that thing where they blew up a building. Twenty-five . I think that was just the bonus, wasn't it? That was the bonus, yes. Okay. I mean the uh listen, I think the main problem I had. I didn't really upset by this. And overhead upset by this. I just wasn't in the right place for it. Were you more upset when his girlfriend came in and they started making out and she accidentally put her toe in the human body trash bag and it went squ ish. Oh and she doesn't get like crazy or angry. She knows it's a human body and she says he's cute. Who is that? The head in the bag. Which is that a three compliment. And is that a threesome ? And also what a what a compliment to do. She's like, let's keep going, but I'm gonna dip my toes in and out of this this dead guy's mouth. What what's up? Okay, again, can we just this is the moment that I really took like a beat to wrestle with. Can you imagine the smell in that bathroom? You have a bull like a still blow Oh, so you think there's no smell? You don't think that the hot garbage bags that have been sitting in the back of one person's trunk, then going to another person's trunk, and then being dumped out like like slop at a factory. Okay, sure. shirts in this movie. No, they never wear shirts. So I'm listening to me kids very wear shirts. It is a zero shirts movie. So much so that by the way, when his girlfriend comes upstairs, comes into that apartment, which I I guess it's his apartment, her apartment, who knows? She's wearing a dress that's just inexplicably opened to her bra. There's no it's like you can't it feels like once you go into a home there, you can't have your shirt buttons. You gotta you gotta have it. You gotta be in a certain state of disrobe. I will say I'd I wasn't caught up, Paul, in the smell of that bathroom. I was just caught up in the parts of it all and the bags of it all, and also the Okay, well then maybe I am a more of a smell person, but I will say the opening moment when we meet Mark Wahlberg, he does greet, you know, the the person giving him the bags. He goes, uh who is this? Big Johnny? And he go he sniffs. It goes, oof. Now also, why would you ever sniff a dead like why would you sniff a dead body? You know, maybe to identify it. Maybe to identify it like It seems like his head is in very good like if he if we're saying that this is an attractive man, we can see that it's clearly this person goes, oof, oof. I mean that's and that's like and you're I think we're supposed to be like, oh it's a n yeah oh yeah, being a hitman isn't as glamorous as you think. It's like it's like I don't think anyone has been thinking that it's glamorous. Right. Yeah. And he's just to go back to Oh man. Sorry, Jason. Yeah. It's so light. And to go back to the premise of it all. The why. The sort of like what is what are we following here? You know, the character the character of Melvin Smiley. Of course. Melvin Smiley. It's just his name kind of gives you a little hint about what kind of person he is. But boy, is it hard to root for him. Is it just because he has red hair, June? No. And in fact, like I didn't think he had red hair until certain shots. Right, certain shots, yeah. Certain shots he does have red hair. Other shots he has the hair we know. It's certain shots. There are moments where like, did you go to David Caruso's trailer and grab his wig? Like, because it is Caruso NYBD blue hair. And I'm like, oh wow, I didn't notice that. And it's weird for me to notice that your hair has changed color. Mid-movie. Mid-movie. But the other thing is like he it's so hard to sympathize with this man who is cheating on his fiancee with another woman. And the reason we are told that we like the why of that is because he can't he cannot take people not liking him. He's a people pleaser, he says. He's a he's a people pleaser. But men who cheat and have multiple partners, the reason is never because I'm a people pleas er. Right. And that I agree. I agree. And that's why this movie is so interesting because it profiles one of the very few men who is in multiple relationships against his will . Because yes, he's simply too much of a people pleaser. And what a rarity. Wow. He's such a people pleaser that he single-handedly, raid style, takes down a building, you know, murders everyone, blows up the building, saves the day, gets all the money. And then Lou Diamond Phillips simply says, No, I did that. And he goes, All right, yeah. He gives him the money. Like it's it's actually And also Lou Diamond Phillips and Anthony Sabato Jr. are like they don't even help him. They sit outside the firefight drinking espresso coffee or espresso uh while Mark Wahlberg does literally all of the work. So he is inexplicably a beta alpha. Right. He is a beta presenting alpha. In that he's an expert at the killing meaning. you You know know?, Right. He's very, very good. He's never like he's on top of it. He's he's kind. He's working out. Like he is a guy by the book. Like at one point when they're like, hey, do you want to do this side gig? He's like, I don't know. I don't want to get in trouble. He doesn't, he's nice to Elliot Gould, who plays his fiancé's father. Uh, which his fiance, you mean Christina Applegate? Yes. Let's just not forget that this movie attracted Mark Wahlberg, Christina Applegate, Bocain Woodbine. Like, this is a lot of people. This is a great cast for a movie that is very unsuccessful. And also a movie where everyone, I feel like for a couple days, were really committed to a hard accent. And there are moments where I'm like, is this racist or is this anti-Semitic? Because I'm like, there there are stereo I'm like, I don't even know what stereotype I'm offended by, but these are stereotypes. Like these are like I thought Christina Applegate was Italian, and then I found out that she was Jewish. Uh and then I was like, okay, I she's doing like a married to the mob thing, but then he like but then blue diamond Phillips. I love her in everything. She's just not the first person I would cast. Christina Apple gave Jewish woman. Like a practicing Jewish woman. Practicing Jewish woman like they are so much so that she's here to be kosher. Yes, she ends up wanting sh you know, to end the relationship because he's a Goya. Laney Kazan and Elliot Gould are her f parents . I mean it is cool. Okay, so I love him so much. It was very tough to see him have to do this. That's where like when I say it ruined my day, it was like, I love this actor, I love this I love everything. I thought he I thought he he held it together pretty good. Of course he did, Paul. That's not my that he did the best he could do, but I'm like watching him puke over yeah. I just don't want to see him do that. I felt bad that his whole character driving engine was he needs a drink and no one will let him have one. Well, this is the question I was gonna ask you both, right? They say you can't give him a drink because something weird happens. And in my mind, I'm like, oh, well, that's interesting, right? What could it be? Like, does he become violent? Does he become this other person? Like I it would be very funny for the third act climax to be that he does drink and then he be, you know, whatever. He has to join in uh and yes and he g guess what he's a an adept hitman. A hundred per something. But no, it's just that he gets a little nauseous. Like he gets a big I think it's that he tells the truth. I think it's that I think it's that he speaks his truth. It's truth serum. But what you're right about is it doesn't get us anywhere. Plot. Yeah. Does not it doesn't help us because the movie doesn't need a truth teller at that point because we don't really at that point in the movie care about any relationship that Mark Wahlberg's in, because at that point he's in three relationships. He is in the relationship with the kidnapped girl, he's in the relationship with the girl who is using him, and he's in the relationship with his fiance. And at that point. Ma and my co star in Infinite, of course. Yes. Is not a character that oftentimes feels open to love in movies. He's not a I would not say Mark Wahlberg has convincingly played a romantic lead necessarily. I I I would would uh yeah but boy somehow he's got three going relationships in this movie. Maybe this was it. Maybe they used it all up in this one movie. I mean, and one of the the arcs of the character, which I don't think they fully pay off is that this is a character who's always getting blue balls. He's always getting like there's this that opening sequence when the girl before she puts her toe in the dead man's torso or wherever it was, um, like when they separate, because he's like, oh, you brought your work home. He is grabbing and massaging his dick, like, oh, I fucking got to deal with this hard on now in the bathroom. To a point that I was like, I'm uncomfortable with this. Like there's some things I don't need to be . I yeah, I don't need to see him like fixing his hard dick in his pants. See that with that long. I think that was so great to show us. Movies almost never show us men's dick management. You that you have to be managing this thing you guys. Right. It's this isn't. It's over here, it's over there, it's bigger, it's smaller. You you really and movies shy away from showing us those truths. Oh, and we're seeing and we're hearing . It's not fixed. It's broken. A dedicated mentor, an empowered parent, an effective after-school program, digital literacy tools that protect kids online . These are just some of the solutions to the youth mental health challenge. At the Coalition to Empower Our Future, we're bringing together experts in youth well-being to solve this complex challenge. Our mission: keep kids happy and healthy. Learn more at Empower Our Future Coalition.com slash solutions. Paid for by the Coalition to Empower Our Future. Your outdoor space is where you unwind and make memories. So make it count. Belleguard pavers are designed to elevate your outdo ors, designed forward, and built to last. Learn more at BellGard.com. That's B-E-L-G-A-R-D.com. At Verbo, we understand that even the best of plans sometimes need a little support. So we plan for the plot twists. Every booking is automatically backed by our verbo care guarantee, giving you confidence from the very start. Whenever you need help, it's ready. Before your stay, through the moments in between, and after your trip. Because a great trip starts with peace of mind. And maybe a good playlist. But we've got the peace of mind part covered . This movie is about asses and dicks. We see a lot of male ass in this movie. I mean, we also open, and I'm so bummed. Why do we spend so much time in the beginning of this film with Mark Wahlberg doing Jim Cotta? And then it never comes into play in the fucking movie. I'm like, we got his training montage is literally on a pommel horse. And I was like, this is gonna be instrumental to the movie. No, it doesn't even nothing. I mean no mo I that that locker scene Yo, you gonna stand there and tell me you ain't never jerked your dick in your whole life until last week? That's bullshit, man. I never needed to . I've been fucking since I was 10. You know I can relate to that. Sisco! Cisco, yo. I can't wear green, baby. Flash my eyes you know what I'm saying it's gonna look good on you though. Bust the move, man. We're gonna be late. Shit. Hey, yo, Vinny. Yo hear the news. What's up? This fool claim he don't bone females no more since he just now discovered ringing his rag. Is that true? No doubt. Just a lot of maintenance ass . That locker room scene to me was really The guy who's like just found out how to masturbate and then spends the whole movie. And this is this is very there's something about Mary. Like I could see that 90s sort of like every scene you have a new like way into this joke um kind of the payoff of it 's pretty great. The payoff was probably one of the best What was the payoff that he had? When they're fighting in the video store and then these the poster on the wall is number one customer of our adult section and it's Bo Keep Woodbine, like with a thumbs up. Oh, that that''ss true. Okay, fine. He's been in this video store so much to jerk off that he's they made a poster of what a prolific jerk-off guy he is. To say the number one renter of adult videos in the store. But there was, but the here's the thing. I just felt like, okay, that's where it felt very Austin Powers, you know, that kind of 90s comedy. But that scene, that scene where they're all speaking to each other the way that they are and he's talking about jerking off and then he says he's been fucking since he was ten. Yeah. And that was also that was something that you used to hear in movies all the time about men and boys, and you know, it's just tough because it's like, well, you were well, well, sir, you were raped. You know , you were raped. Like, I don't know what you think happened there with someone . Perhaps not if something if the partner was similarly aged. So it's just so hard to watch. And that was my experience the whole movie, which was like things being presented lightly and feeling so bere ft. It does. It feels as though being said. Wrote a movie that was for Goodfellas style acting. Yes. And then somebody did a joke pass on it and they cast people and told them it's light. You know, these keep it light, give it a light touch. Yeah. Keep gliding right by it. Because if in if in Goodfellas Joe Pesci said I've been fucking since I was 10, I'd be like, Yeah, yeah, that tracks. Right. These are these are monsters. These are monster people who behave monstrably okay great but when it's when people are saying that in this movie you're like it's a real head scratcher because you're like okay now actually let's interrogate who are these guys well this because so many guys if I'm bokeh mood bang, I I wouldn't allow my video store to put that poster up. I'm a murderer. Like that that that that already is a problem. Well, I mean he he seems like he's lost track of everything. What the masturbation has really set him on a path where he is not good at his job anymore because even the first hit I don't is it a hit? Yeah I guess it is the first hit is first of all they're not subtle or smooth about anything. The first hit, they blow up a fucking building. Yeah. But they also come in To kill a guy like to kill a guy who's appears to be like a human trafficker, you know, who's trying to buy three women for fifty thousand doll earsach . Um while three blondes under twenty. Yes. Three blondes under twenty, midwestern, no tattoos. And then when the price is fifty thousand each, one of the women goes , Hey. You know what's crazy? And this is in like a hotel or I think it's a hotel. And there's like a big giant like hot tub in the middle of the floor of the hotel room. And surround ing the hot tub, I've never seen this, are glass screens. Like the whole room is covered in glass screens so that when the shootout starts, there can just be exploding glass ever ywhere, but the look of it before that is so strange and odd because you're like, why would you surround this tub with like weird, you know, the kind of screens you might get dressed behind, except their glass. You know, uh it was really weird. I mean it's ninety seven. I I it is who knows what's happening design wise, but I I did laugh when one of the bad guys like appeared out of the hot tub. Oh yeah. Incredible. Like he had been hiding in there, which for a long time. LOL. A very long time. He was underwater for a very long time. And then his machine gun worked flawlessly. This is the one where Mark Wahlberg does shooting while doing what is unquestionably breakdancing moves. So I wanted to ask you, June, how did you feel about combining breakdancing with uh pin perfect Assassin ations. I didn't mind it. I got it. Okay. I liked it. Maybe that's the best use of it. Well, it felt very John Woo coded. Like this movie right. And there's something about it. This is also just in case you were wondering. This is the end of Marky Mark. The the single that is over the credits is the This is the Death of Marky Mark. So this is the end of this era, maybe the end of the rom-com , you know, uh Mark Wahlber g or the the romance and then we go into mark wahlberg or marking mark may have been more of the the rom-com guy um but what's so interesting about that sequence is the plan is we're gonna shut off the power he's gonna go into the room and he's got the uh night vision goggles so he can see everybody and they're gonna be in the dark. I get that. I like that. And then all you know, and so he gets you know he gets a foot up on them and then or a leg up on them. Uh I like foot and uh and then he takes off the night vision goggles because he knows that they're gonna be blasting light in but so he's wearing sunglasses but his and then there's a just a lot of manipulation of light and he doesn't seem to be affected by any change of light, but yet he is Well, I think his team is making all those light changes so so he thinks he knows when to use what. Okay. Because I he's still opening a curtain. Yeah, because there's a lot made of him opening the curtains. Well because what you have to realize is when the light gets cut, he comes in with his night vision goggles, but the other Right, they just had them just in case. So when he's opening the windows, he's flooding their night vision goggles with light, which makes them blind. But he also I didn't know he's not wearing sunglasses. No, he takes he at the first entry into the room, he's wearing sunglasses. But then by that time No that's the next one when he throws in the flashbang. Oh right. He throws in a flash grenade also. I thought he ran across those curtains of this. No, it's on and off. Yes. There's a lot of there's a lot of errors. It's a lot of erotic light play. To just watch guys get shot like they are attached to the the fender of a car that is furiously pulling out of a parking lot. Like there's a lot of question I had. They are blown back. Yes.. Style baby Oh, easily. They are they are the their the impact of a bullet hitting their body sends them backwards in motion, I'm gonna say fifteen miles an hour . You should watch out. They should almost be other people like bowling balls. Because there's also Mark Wahlberg is able to this is a pre parkour kind of dominating action movie style. So he's doing the thing that used to happen, which is he's jumping around, but clearly launching himself off of trampol ines because he's getting length and height of these jumps that are enormous, but he's really just crossing a hotel room. But it's it's clearly he's being launched off of trampolines . And my favorite moment, and I know I shouldn't get down to this kind of nitty-gritty because I'm gonna go down my same rabbit hole with the glasses and the night vision goggles, but when they say, Let's synchronize our watches, they just all put their watches together like yeah but they don't look at the time they don't they don't nobody has to adjust nobody has to be like oh I'm a minute ahead or I'm a minute behind they don't they just it's as if they think from the movies synchronizing your watches just means putting them all in one shot. Yes. And like somehow the the watches will sync themselves. It was like it was like magnets or something like that. I love that moment. And I loved that and I also loved the there's an audible record scratch in this movie. Oh, yes. I know. I was like, what the fuck are they up to, man? Well, he here's the thing. We never get a sense of the team really. No. Because you know he's a sort of a bad guy. You know he's like an asshole, but he's also the leader. But then like Antonio Ba Sabata Jr. just disappears for the rest of the movie. Truly. We don't see him at all. And then so it's like I was kind of attached to him. Yeah. He was my favorite one. You loved when he came to those girls and said, I want to pour milk all over you because you're part of my balanced breakfast. Yeah, he was my favorite one. Yeah. And then he disappeared. Disappeared. And then we're introduced to this like young tech guy, like the computer nerd. Weird. Who has a stutter, and I guess that's something we all saw and was very well stressed. They also call him Gump in the movie, which is that was strange wow very very uh upsetting and then but then could have been a coincidence could have been a coincidence and now we're with him for most of the movie really and then Antonio Sabata Jr. we see again at the very very end and I was like well what's what's the team here it makes no sense I agree because what should happen is they should be hunting down every member of the team until they get to Mark Wahlberg. That's it. Like the the good guy uh the bad guys should be hunting down the team that is responsible for kidnapping the girl and blah blah blah blah blah. But they don't. And so everybody, you're right. Anthony Sabato Jr. I at some point was like, Where is Vince? We need Vince. I love that you remember his name. I mean Oh, are you are you kidding me? He's electric on screen. I'm sorry. He's great. He's great. Now, the other thing is like You guys might be putting a little bit too much spin on that one. But I He is the best actor of our generation. I thought he was wonderful. I thought it was great acting. Really wonderful acting. Um but the other thing is like I guess so I guess her dad kidnapped her? What do you mean? On purpose? Oh what? Wait. How do you mean well , okay, let me ask, let me put this to both of you. Who arranged her kidnapping? They just they Lou Diamond Phillips did a little the most minimal research on the richest person in town. And he was like, oh, it's this um like this Chinese uh millionaire and then was like let's kidnap his daughter and we'll get a lot of money. And then what the the issue with the movie is you fucking idiot, you didn't do any research on this. Yours makes better sense, June. But go ahead. He was hired. And that's why when when Smiley was like, well, we're moonlighting with this other job. I thought they've been hired to kidnap someone. They don't we don't know who hired them, but Lou Diamond Phillips does. And then they realize, oh, that's their actual boss's goddaughter. Because then at the end, at the very end , when her college friend, quote unquote, is walking out of school with her . She says, I hear your dad's in LA making the kidnapping a big movie. And then I thought, oh, her dad arranged this so he could get out of financial debt. I I like that idea. I I really I don't mind that idea at all. I don't think that's what the movie's trying to do. I think uh but uh so Lou Diamond Phillips is just is not a hired contractor, he's completely going rogue. He's going rogue and trying to make side money. And that's why in the beginning when he says fired to kidnap her. Okay No, when he says, Hey, you should do this job with us tomorrow. Mark Wahlberg is like, no, I'm not doing that. Um, our our boss would get mad at us because we're not supposed to be freelancing or moonlighting or whatever they call whatever he says. Right. What I thought moonlighting was someone else who had hired. Right. No, no. So so and yes, and then you're right, Paul. The coincidence that somehow the crime lord that they work for is involved with so much so that he's the godfather of the businessman's daughter. That makes n I don't understand. Now this all seems so small world y that I'm like, I don't understand. I mean it seems like they could be doing they could be hitmen in a very small town. I don't know what town they're in. Um it Canada. Oh that, would be so funny if this was an entire group of hitmen that were all in Cincinnati. That's what I that's what it kind of felt like to me. It felt like a very small group. Now I will say that that storyline was my favorite storyline that the Jiro Nishi was this like an enormously wealthy person who was so wealthy, he made the most expensive movie of all time , cast himself in it. I the jokes of that were great. And then the fact that like he only printed posters on gold leaf paper. He made like a movie theater standee out of gold. Like he the idea that you are a multi multi multi-millionaire. So so business successful millionaire but you could bankrupt yourself on one movie is was very funny but it was also and and the fact that he had a shirt off and was like kissing this girl was like the taste of my juice or whatever the name of that movie was . I loved every moment of whatever that was. And he keeps being interrupted by the joke. that worked to me But again, didn't know that was that some of those jokes worked. Also did not know at certain points if I should be offended by this because it was every every stereotype in this movie is being played. I mean, we are doing it. And I guess maybe if if we're just saying every character is up to a 10, then maybe you can't say anything about any of them because everyone, everyone is playing something aggressive . Oh, big time. Yeah. Um like right and this and like what we then get into, because the movie I want to be clear, like it has all of the hallmarks of a John Woo action operatic kind of big explosions movie , but it thinks it's a comedic farce. So like when Marky Mark's girlfriend drops off she's leaving him for her side piece, and she drops off the bagged body parts that have not yet been destroyed, and the very living kidnapped girl, all of which have been at her apartment, the girlfriend's apartment. She drops them at Christina Applegate in Mark Wahlberg's house. So now Christina Applegate's parents have arrived. The kidnapped victim has arrived and bags full of body parts are arrived that the dog becomes obsessed with. And the next 15 minutes of the movie are just a farce where Mark Wahlberg is Inspector Cluseau trying to keep everything in order. And that also was funny to me. And well, what Jason, you didn't say my favorite part of that, which was Please set to ska music. Oh yes. So it's a farce set to uh I think real big real big fish. I'm gonna bet it's real big fish. And uh and and that was to me, I was like, this this should be the whole movie because whatever this was, and that's this movie does aggressively put you in a moment that you're like, oh right, this is all cool. This was very cool. And the best part of that sequence was that there is in in Mark Wahlberg's house, which was set up to be you know very suburban house, suburban living, regular guy, there's a bathroom. And I'll never forget this as long as I live. That has two doors and two entrances. I've just never have you ever been in a bathroom in a residential home that has two ways in? Never. June? Never June? Hold on one second. Uh-oh. Think about our house. Wait a minute. We have a bathroom that has two entrances. Your own house? Yes. Oh, okay. But that's a Jack and Jill situation. Okay. That's a that's two connecting bedrooms. You're just talking about that I can expect every time you go there you have to roll the situation where by the way one of my favorite movies, but like that's that's totally different. This is two entrances from a hallway. Okay, got all right. So that's yours you can. I'm not talking about connecting bedrooms. Yeah. That was pretty wild. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. I mean that's such a what is the anticipation? What are you build why are you building it like that? What are you thinking? Oh my use case is that I want two people to be able to enter and or leave at the same time. And can you imagine having to go to the bathroom in there and like sitting down on a toilet and just like the terror of of knowing there's two ways in? How are you always when you're on the toilet clocking what what how many possible points of entrance are there? I'll never forget I had a very traumatic experience at a friendly's when I was like in fifth grade. Not as friendly as you'd think. Where I had to to go the bathroom and there was one, it was a single stall type situation, just you know, you open the door, there's the toilet. And I went to the bathroom, sat down, you know, got everything ready , and a woman walked in on me. And you know, sometimes you're close enough that you can say, Oh, oh, oh, oh, excuse me. And but it she was too far, the door was too far away. And she stood there for too long. I was completely vulnerable. And I was like racing to try to get over. She couldn't understand what was happening. It was absolutely horrifying. She couldn't understand. Wait a minute. I mean she should understand. I think if I walked in and saw I would be like I understand every I don't like that I'm here for this, but picture her walking in kind of with her back to me, like she's still kind of with the restaurant. So she got too far in. Wait, she doesn't get all the way to be she doesn't sit on your lap, does she? She doesn't get that far. It traumatized me for life. And since that moment, I've never felt safe in a public restaurant. Now I will say this. Um, June, I was that woman and as a little boy, the first time I ever saw a woman naked from the bottom down was on an airplane because I just boldly opened a door to a woman on a toilet and an airplane. It's burned in my memory and I stood there frozen. Not there was nothing erotic about it. There was nothing but I was like, oh, and I didn't know what to do. And then I didn't know how to close the door because it's like one of those like collaps, it's not like a open close, it's like a collapsible folding folding door. And then she was trying to close it and she yelled at me, and I was like, uh I didn't know what to do. And I was and I was shook. Shook . I I agree. I don't think like like bathroom stuff is you're just too vulnerable. It's just too Especially as a child, it's one of the great unknowns. 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Now, these are body parts with I'm assuming sharp edged bones that have been cut in there. Like these should be leaking every the dog bites into the bag, no leaking. Come on. Either get better bat garbage bags for body parts or or to stop this nonsense. What are we doing? God why are and why are we bringing b why are we doing so much work with this? Like at least bring it to the basement. Like give me some lot by the way, there was a lot of transporting of things and people like that that for no good as far as I could understand, no good reason. Yes. Other than just like I don't want it right now. I don't want it in my house right now. There I mean she was leaving town to go to Hollywood to make her fortune. This is Mark Wahlberg's uh side piece. And uh with her side piece, or I guess maybe her main piece. And so they're going off to Hollywood, she's like, but before we leave the house, I'm gonna go bring this girl to you and this body. Yeah. Like why not just call and just be like, uh go get it? But no, they have to be in the room. Like she has to drop it off. Well also they then go and drive for hours. Four hours. But but somehow wind up back where they started? Because he knew a shortcut. He knew a shortcut that got them nowhere. Well that was the thing. She's like, you know how long it's gonna take to like four days to get to LA? And then he says, Don't worry, I know a shortcut. Which to me is one of the most insane things to say when you are driving four days away. Like well, there's no short there's no real thing because so they are not in LA. They are four days drive from LA. So that's the thing. I do think that they're Cincinnati. The Midwest, yeah. Because the first of all, they're also asking the our first crime boss is asking for Midwestern women. Now I assumed when he said that that he wasn't from the Midwest, but now I'm like, Oh, I guess they were right there . Yeah. He wanted a local flavor. I mean, or maybe he's visiting. That's maybe why they did the hit. He because he's at the hotel and he's like, Give me some, get me some of these Midwestern girls. And I do like that. This is a movie that I do think skates on this line of it was supposed to be a high school student. They just say cheese college, although they don't change anything else. When do they say that, Paul? I do need to know. When did they say that? Yeah. I never heard that and I felt I was listening pretty good. All right. I mean uh you know look, I I I will double check, but I know that that was a uh in the production notes I have about the movie. Oh, so you're relying on your production notes. I'm really productive I see production. Production. And why do you keep putting that in quotes? Well um I I think that that that one of the things that Make a kosher dinner together, they cannot help but fall in love. The sexiest It was so gross watching part of it. There's so much handling of the ch of the raw chicken. Oh, both of their hands. It really I actually had to turn away. It was disgusting. The the raw chicken that they're manipulating with their hands was treated with the same erotic charge as the um potters' wheel in Ghost. And I will say this: it wasn't done over the top enough for it to be funny, and it was done too realistically that it made me uncomfortable and again sick to my stomach because it was like it was neither here nor there, and I think the middle ground was worse than either side of it, right? Because if it was sexy and it's a chicken, it's like naked gun style, like I'd be like, Oh, that's funny, but it was like too sexually charged. They get like so sexually charged, but their hands, again, salmonilla-wise, their hands are covered with raw chicken grease. You know, like this is dangerous. They don't show them cleaning the prep areas. They don't show them switching cutting boards. Like this is a dangerous meal. I'm gonna be honest. I mean, and then and they really seem that they're into each other, but that is just a ruse by her because she like she's actually in charge because he then spills some sauce on her leg so he has to like take off her bondage uh gear, not sexual bondage gear, but like just her tied feet, so he could clean her legs. But he does that by putting her entire physical body laying down on the countertop. I was like, why would you do this? This is a very strange way to just clean a spill off someone's leg, just lean down and wipe it with a towel. But it makes it such that they can do like romance stuff. But he's but he's into her. I mean, that's the whole thing. I mean, you know, uh, you know, this is the thing. Remember when in during the farce period where the dog is dragging the body and this and that, he at one point places the kidnapped victim in the trunk of the car in the garage. And then the Christina Applegate and her parents load into that truck and leave. The the kidnapped victim is in the trunk, but it's not a trunk because it's an open truck. So they have gotten into and are driving around with just a person visibly in the back of the car. That's right. And that I was like that's what's this? If I'm the kidnapped victim, I just make one noise and they know I'm there Well,. I think she was knocked out at that point. I think. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. But but yeah, I had the same question because there's also like a lot of different sort of um configurations of how that family was sitting in the car like Christina Applegate's driving, mom's in the passenger seat, dad's in the back. Okay, now both parents are in the back. Now there's a shopping bag in the front with like there were many they were using that car in many different ways. what I'm supposed to think about in this plot line because we know that their relationship is over, right? It's not like a meet the parent situation because it seems like Christine We're not rooting for them. We're not rooting for them. It's so hard. Here's the thing. Here's my big question about him. Was he a hitman before he met these women? Or did he meet these women and get so sort of lost in his, you know, romantic issues such as he could never say no, that he got into financial debt with both of them and then had to become a hitman to pay for the life. Maybe. I mean it certainly seems like he is like um adept at all of this. So like yeah, how did he get drawn into being part of this like hit squad, this Cleveland-based hit squad? Um or yeah or it's such a good question too. It's like how much work is there? Yeah. Well it seems like they're working like constantly. Non stop. His his girlfriend knows exactly what he does. There's dead bodies in the house, et cetera. But Christina Applegate doesn't seem to know that he's a hitman, right? No, she doesn't know it all. I don't know. Right. Okay, okay, okay, good. Well now I will say this, uh that in case we're just, you know, just to put it in perspective , in the original script, Melvin did have more of a backstory to explain why he was afraid of people disliking him, and it dealt with the fact that his parents were both dead. But due to budgetary restrictions, this element was cut before shooting began. I don't understand how the budget could have cut in there. So really all we get from Mark Wahlberg about backstory is a line where he goes, I need the people, please. And then he goes, and then he goes, There, I said it. And we're like, so we're like, yeah, yeah, we know we know that. We've said it. Yeah. None of this is another movie in the pantheon of movies that we've done where none of the action of the movie would be necessary if a man could admit he would have benefit from regular therapy . Yeah. If he could just go to therapy, he would not need to engage in any of the the bad behaviors in this movie. Well I think he actually I think that I think that he likes I think that he likes his job. He makes a killing. Oh boy. Uh which is what he says in the movie. And I think that he is a he he is not apologetic for what he does, but what he's what he's learning is that he's gotta make his own path. He's gotta stand up for his own self. And that's what we're following. That's the part that's inspirational. It's like, yeah. That's somebody I identify with this character, sure. Okay. Because I know that I know that she was when she was first kidnapped by him and he's the driver. I know that she was being sexually assaulted by that young man. Thought he was a high school student who inexplicably has crystal in his uh suitcase, but or his bag. But um don't know why. Thought that was gonna come back. I thought that was gonna come back. That would be the money. I said that this movie has the energy of rejected auditions from Mountain Dew commerci Very much so. But but I thought okay, he is going to stop this and he did , but he stops it and then executes Yeah, he does shoot him dead. In front of her . And she is she like is alarmed, but then totally normal. And then like repeatedly people point guns right in her face, and she is her look is like Well the idea is like she's also really tough too at points. Like she can hold her own with him. Like you would want it to be like, oh yeah, this is the daughter of a guy who trained his daughter, like never get kidnapped, and she had all these skills. And that's a funnier, like I mean not taming the shrew, but it's like, but this idea that they kidnapped somebody that they can't even handle. Um Well, it would have been great if her, you know, skills with biology or whatever uh came back and in any sort of college level courses, she's thinking about it. Well she brings it up while they're cooking kosher, but like that never returns. That never plays into anything that happens at the end. Yeah. Wait, she says I'm in A P English. She's she doesn't again. I just thought you just have to ask. This is the issue I have with them saying that it's a it she's in college. If there was a line, which I didn't hear, Paul, despite your production notes. Sure. Like I I I just like, even if there was a line, like everything you're showing us tells me high school. Every correct the movie wants it both ways. The movie wants her to be a uniform high school girl. And it also wants you, the audience, to be invested in their love story as an opportunity to show that he's choosing a better partner. She's a better partner to him, you know, or something like that. Is like that's what I think the movie's trying to do, is like he 's breaking his bad habits because he's fallen for her and she sees him for who he really is. You know, dah, blah blah blah blah. You know, whatever. But to have both be true means that he is a reprehensible human being. Well I I before I mean we've talked about like no there's no mention of like Stockholm syndrome. Is she really falling in love with him? Or is it just because I don't know he's kidnapped her and she's she seems to have her own issues because she says to him like he 'cause he's like, I'm a hitman, like you have to be okay with this lifestyle. Like it's constant, you know are. Are you you okay with this? Like this is what I do. And she's like, You're asking me if I would like want this kind of adrenaline rush every day for the rest of my life? Yes. Yes, a million times. Yes. No, that is not what is happening. What ? I also, you know, they started handling that meat, and she I think she'd been up at that point for like 24 hours, and I was like, what? J haven't showered. You've got to wash your hands or Well, she's not going to eat it. She's been in and out of trunks. I mean, she's trunks are literally always carrying garbage bags full of leaky dead bodies. I mean we know that to be true. Paul, um a few moments ago you said that you really identified Yeah, I wanna go back to Thank you, Jason. I wanna go back to that as well. I think Paul mistake. There might be another character in this movie that you might identify. Be kind, rewind . I was like, Paul, how did you feel that the final set piece of this movie was set in a video store? I fucking loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I loved the again, this is like going back to the rejected mountain do ads like the whoever that guy was like they're shooting him like with a fisheye lens like and he is he is the nemesis of Mark Wahlberg throughout the entire movie like hey man, you gotta like we'll just play a clip of that now. Melvin Smiley, please. This is he Mr. Smiley, big top video . We're going to inform you that you've had our copy of King Kong Lives out for over two weeks now. Return it immediately, or we will have you killed . Like that character to me is amazing because he's trying to chase down King Kong Lives. Like which is at this point an old movie. And what I love about Mark Wahlberg, and this is where I feel like Mark Wahlberg's like, yeah, I gotta save this girl, I gotta kill my friend, but I also have to rewind that VHS tape. And June and I have gotten into many a disagreement like I gotta I that would I would I get that I'm like gotta get that video tape back gotta I gotta make it make it really is it's it inserts again all of the elements of suburban li fe into the narrative of a crime man story. Like the idea that you're right, Paul. He's juggling all these life, you know, ending level uh catastrophic events while also having to constantly field calls from an increasingly annoyed video store clerk, you know? And then when they go and have to do the final shootout explosion, everything at the video store. I was like, this is incredible. Like this is a part of our lives that was so ubiquitous. It could be the final movie set piece. And it's now just gone. I mean, and what I love about it too is that it is as somebody who loves a video store, a two-story video store is really just I mean, it a relic of you could spend a day. It was exciting. I mean, although it seemed like they only trafficked in trauma films, which I also really loved. That it was only trauma movies that they had there. Re I didn't I guess you're right. I can see some similarities where it's like everything to you well I and I don't say this as a crit well, I guess it is a critique of both you and Melvin Smiley, which is like not being able to necessarily prioritize what's really important to time management. Well, what we're what we're saying is that it is important. I have to get that VHS date back. I gotta get my name off that wall. That that's that is priority number one for that gentleman. That's not maybe my priority. Like but but video stores are never sending you into collection. Like there's no are they? Did they there's no really would you have to call people Paul? Would you have to call people like that? Did you take that kind of attitude with them? I mean, he seemed like he had memorized the number and the name like I was always looking at it. It was Mr. Blockbuster. Like he had some sort of like investment in this. Well because back when I was working in the video store there was no email so you couldn't pop an email or shoot a text. You did have to make that physical phone call and we were chasing down a lot of new releases, but you had to make that call. And the thing that was really hard and one of the hardest parts of the job is charging people because they would return it really late and then you'd then they would rent their next movie and you say, Hey, um it's gonna be it's fifty-seven dollars. And I wait fifty-seven dollars to rent one movie. It's like no, you didn't you didn't return uh the river wild, uh so uh for over a week. So and then they're like, I'm not paying that. And you're like, well, I I have like and then you have to call for your manager. Those lay charges were pretty astronomical though. That seems like they were a little bit predatory. Well, but you have to find demand too. Like an individual copy of a VHS movie to buy it cost like eighty hundred and twenty. Which is called and twenty back in the day. I mean I just want not that 's what always blew my mind is that they were so expensive to purchase but also it's supply and demand June. It's like I am working at a video store where I am telling you we are gonna have it in. And if we don't have it in now, we're gonna have it in tomorrow. And the audience, audience, Paul is the minute we brought it up. The joy that existed while we were talking about the movie has evaporated. He is he's in a full body. I am ready to and look in this this I'm saying is someone Paul, we don't have any of your movies . And I always had late charges. You know my family always had late charges. I would I and I took such pride in getting that money out of those people. I loved it. I loved it. I think my Brooklyn video store closed because I did not pay my stuff. I would uh now now if it's me, what I'm doing is, and I I think I've talked about this maybe on here on the show, I would go early in the week when I was just a renter before I was a seller. Uh I would go early in the week and I would hide. Like I go on a Wednesday. Yeah, and I would hide it in the store. So then when I came in on Friday, it would be perfect. Ready for it. I love it. You know, that's the way you gotta go. Um before I know we are we're getting close to the end here, I just wanna I do need to talk about Lou Diamond Phillips. Because this is honestly, I've loved Blue Diamond Phillips on uh the chair company. Uh I've loved him in Young Guns. I am a Lou Diamond Phillips fan. Uh even Renegade, when we did Renegade, this performance. He was great on a recent season of Goliath. Yes. The Billy Bob Thornton show. Nothing bad to say about him, but wow, this character, like I've never seen him in a way so free and crazy. Like he is wearing for the majority of the film something that looks like that a Vegas showgirl would wear. Uh like he is wearing some sort of sequin patterned shirt. I mean, he is in the like all these dudes are just buff as fuck. Everybody's jacked, and it's always funny to let dramatic actors play larger-than-life comedic characters. Yes. You know, and that and for the most part, everybody 's struggling a little bit, but Lou Diamond Phillips, I thought, was the one who was genuinely got it, got what his guy was about, and was able to be both funny and scared. No, I didn't know why he deserved to be stabbed at the end. I thought, geez, Mark Wahlberg, like he was your friend. Give him a a a quicker death. You know he's gotta die. No, but he but he was putting him through the ringer though. Uh oh yeah. He's been hunting him down. He's trying to kill him. He activated the what was that bomb that mark Mark Wahlberg carrier. Weird device. Weird device. I don't know what that was. I just felt like it was a big jump for Melvin Smiley to stab him in the heart and watch him bleed out. Yeah. You know, and and like gently send him off into the afterlife was so bizarre that not I don't I would say not very well, I guess not so gently, but he was sort of talking him through it. Oh oh oh sorry he was sort of side coaching him. You're doing great. Just if you see the light, yes, and it. Well, he to me, what's so fun about him is I feel like I understand the bravado and the dumbness and he tried crosses that line with I think you're saying Jason, like where he gets really evil and he was going to sacrifice Mark Wahlberg in a way. So I didn't have a problem with him being stabbed in such a way because he left him for dead first and it didn't work. He jumped into the water. So now he's like, I gotta get the job done. I tried to do it this simple way, which is just get his head decapitated from a car falling from a tree. That didn't work. Now I must I must take matters into my own hands. Because I can't trust it. I can't trust this guy. Because he's only out for himself and his boat. Which is called uh Big Pussy. I mean in Spanish. Uh yeah, boat. Uh that's the the name uh I will double check what it was written for. Uh yeah. The it's it's hard because it's like he's clearly the biggest bad guy of the movie in terms of like uh you know uh antagonist, but he is over the course of the movie the person who I come to like the most. Same. You know, who I it's not that I'm rooting for him, I'm just enjoying him most. Can I can I I also need to just call out Avery Brooks, who Jason I know that you love from Sensor for Hire, I love from Deep Space Nine, uh Cisco. He to me is such an untapped talent because I actually think and I say this with so much love that he is a little bit insane and and I feel like he's improvising within this character is like Paris must have played that clip when the rules are broken in the house of Paris , the machine breaks down . Discipline must be enforced. Order must be restored . In my house, there has been a transgression an unauthorized kidnapping in my house who could be that stupid it gets worse in this particular case the transgression is personal. In this case, the kidnappee happens to be my goddaughter. Oh, fuck no! Some rock. Some dold. Some less than senseless thing has decided to come to my house and kidnap my goddaughter and I am looking . I am searching for a motherfucker stupid enough to fuck with me . Hey, your boss, what's this gonna do with me? I wanna know what you would do to that son of a jackal . Me ? I I would, you know, I would uh What would you do to someone who decided to fuck with you in your own the house I bust some caps bust some caps give this man a gold star and the two of them together like when he pulls loot diamond phillips and the loot diamond phillips thinks that he's going down for this kidnapping. The energy between this man who is borderline insane, and then Lou Diamond Phillips playing like this big character is so much fun to watch. I always think about this clip of Avery Brooks from a Star Trek documentary where he starts talking and then just starts playing the piano and singing a song like in the middle of his answer. Like I'm like, this is what I want. Like I just feel like that kind of scenery chewing I am all in for. And I would have liked and one of the things that's hard about the movie is even though this is a unit of guys who do these hits and stuff, after that first hit , they're never together again. No, I mean, when Lou Diamond Phillips is hunting down Mark Wahlberg, he's not with Anthony Sabato Jr. and Bodine Woodby. Is hunting him, it's that everybody is like scattered to the wind and now has to talk to each other on phone calls, which makes no sense. Also, when they hang up the phone in this movie, you do get you do get a dial tone and they are using cell phones. I love it. Well, we also didn't discuss the tracing technology in this movie. They took everything from this man except his patented call tracer, which it when effectively works, it dials up a face image of the person that is calling you? That whole thing would made me laugh. Oh God. And like the Tracebuster couldn't work. I mean, it was so The Trace Buster Buster wasn't that what he had because they had a trace buster, and doesn't he have a trace buster buster? Buster, yes, that's right. And that's where I felt like this movie had jokes that were written by non-comedians. These movie's jokes were written by like uncles . I mean it is. I mean that Hitman joke. I make a killing. Like that is it. Like there in the straight jacking and all that kind of stuff. It just feels like it does feel like we want to be bad, but we don't know exactly how to be bad. There's another way to identify when this movie was made, and it's during peak, every kitchen has a hanging pot ra ck . Do you remember this? This was a real moment where hanging pot racks became a thing, and then every movie kitchen pot rack. Yeah, over an island. And so there's a scene in this movie where there's a fight It's so funny. And I was like, that's what this movie lives in the time of pot racks. You know what? Bring him back because I hate searching through a drawer for the biggest. Me too. I want to hang that up. Hang that rap. Hang that pot. Um, I do want to just, you know, say that this movie brought love into our world because China Chow , that is the actress's name who uh is kidnapped by Mark Wahlberg. This is her first film ever. And her and Mark Wahlberg did date for four years after this uh film. Oh wow they did have chemistry. Yeah, they were good. That's why I actually think it didn't. She is the best part of the movie in many ways. You know, because she just seems like a real person. I agree. Yeah. Yes. She seems like she seems like the movie she's in is the closest movie to reality. Yes. And everybody else is in a cartoon movie, including all their clothes, everything they're doing, looks like they are cartoon characters. I I she I like this character, I like her in this movie . I feel like they, if they gave her more to do, even it would be great to see that she had some skills. I think I would have liked to see some skills, but obviously we had opinions about this movie. But there are other people out there who might have thought differently. It is now time for second opinions. Paul and Jason and June talk a lot about what makes a movie good or not . But everyone knows they're actually full of she need a second opinion Someone that knows what they're talking about, we need a second opinion we need a second give me a second we need a second opinion thank you wolves of glendale. All this right, movie uh has an average rating of four point five out of five stars on Amazon. There's over a thousand reviews, uh, and seventy-four percent of them are five stars. And this one written in twenty fifteen uh by Reed VIP Brown starts with my favorite movie to date. Just note that this was written in 2015. This review was written in 2015 . My favorite movie to date. Love marking mark doing breakdancing as he saves the day and shooting up those bad guy mobsters. Buy this and remember the late 90s as they were the best time for this country and for hip-hop. You can hear and see Mark Mark in my music album called Speed Kills Power Corrupts, which can be downloaded on Det Pifft. If you like this movie, you will love my album, which represents the 90s and great hip hop. Rock on Mark and kudos to read VIP Brown, which is him. So he he also thanks himself at the end of his own review for the big hit. And he is not in the big hit. Wow. Uh this one uh from Shane in 2022 just says, so great . What could happen when you get a whole bunch of bad guys together to do some bad, like a kidnapping? Everything can go wrong. Five stars, title, full of excitement. Uh and then LJ uh writes this has to be the most fun and fatal frolic any group of hitmen could have in the course of a two-hour movie. It's a great ride from start to finish, and I hope the guys had fun making the flick. Mark is cute. Lou is crazy. Booking's got soul and Antonio is so fine. Mmm . Pass me the hot buttered popcorn . Five stars. This one's a keeper. Oh wow. Well I, mean yes . I mean it is hunks on parade. That's very true. I mean we didn't talk about the fact when they do their first hit, I would say they are conspicuous. They are not inconspicuous. They are dressed as I didn't even know what workmen workers that are not wearing shirts or sle eveless shirts. They're all wearing eight. Boils up. Oh my God. And they didn't need to enter the building through the front door. That's the other thing. They didn't enter the building. And why would Oh boy a fr ont door and guest elevators? I I I would love to know. I would love to know like from our audience, are you guys all doing like m like a lot of hangout time naked in the locker room chit-chatting. Is that part of normal life? I mean when Lou Diamond Phillips came in and dropped that towel and had to f I mean every guy is trying not to show their dick, but they're also trying to show off their ass . They're all happy about their ass. And they are, they're getting those underwear on quick. Even though Marky Mark is wearing like very baggy like uh boxer briefs, everyone else is in this tightest. Well, this is his Calvin Klein era of boxer brief ads. Or maybe it's not. But when I watched him put those pants over the boxer briefs, it reminded me so much of the trouble that I had as a child to tuck those fuckers in because they were so loose. You had to like you're basically wearing shorts under pants. Oh yeah um but I think that these guys worked and by cut those fuckers in you mean the boxer briefs. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah not in the balls. Not my numbers. Not my numbers. Tuck these fucking balls in. Uh oh my God. I mean they also that locker room was in a all windows. Locker room was in a was completely in a glass wind not that anyone could see that high up, but it still was funny to me that it was all windows . Um the movie was made for thirteen million dollars and made $2 7 million. It was a modest hit. All right. And uh, and of course, the tagline was hit happens. Okay. And it does. Okay. And I'll say this is this was one of the very few instances of a movie where I had that kind of itchy brain of like, oh, how much time is left? I feel like I'm gonna click the thing and it's gonna be like 40 minutes is still left. I clicked the thing and it was only 10 minutes. And I was like, I did it. They did it. This movie has just flown by. It's basically like four set pieces, most of which kind of don't make sense. So it I it went down pretty smooth this morning over my morning coffee, I will say. I enjoyed the watch, but it also gave me that thing where I wanna forget ninety-seven and ninety-eight. I don't like being back in that time , it felt unsafe to me or just felt cringy to me in a way that uh I don't know. It feels like this could have had an entire soundtrack that was rap rock. You know, but it thank God it didn't. I uh yeah. And I mean aga for me it really like it made me kind of reframe the timeline we're currently in and and and and like just take a second to you, know, appreciate some of some of the advances we have made. Um Wow. Meaning stream we can stream movies now not have to go to the video sty . Yeah, and like numbers pop up on your phone. You don't need the trace or the trace. Very easy to get out. Look, this this is trying to be all things, and I think that I always put these kind of movies in the camp of we're trying to be Quentin Tarantino and we don't quite know exactly what that means. At this point. Yes. There's a lot of like eight heads in a duffel bag. Um very bad things. That movie with Christian Slater where they kill a stripper, yeah. Yep. The other one that um Two Days in the Valley. Yeah. These are all movies that are that are trying to crib off of Quentin Tarantino's ability to be funny and light inside of horrific violence. And I think the difference what you said earlier about like, oh, it's like uncles writing jokes. I think what that is is a pass on a serious script. I think that they have this script and they go, okay, we'll make it Quentin Tarantino. We'll make it funny. And that's what's gonna get people involved. And then people look at it and they go, Oh, that we gotta be in the next reservoir dogs. Like us talking about jerking off is like us jerking about tip tipping. It's like you can see little machinations going on. I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out if that this was written first as like a straight-ahead action movie, and then somebody did a joke pass. Yeah, because I did not know that this was a comedy until No. Until maybe the I didn't know it was a romance. I didn't know that there would be a love story between the assassin and I will say, June, there are no colleges that require uniforms besides uh medical schools. Play the clip. You keep on saying we're playing clips. Play the clip. Molly, Cody, if we have a clip, we should play that clip. Play the clip. I need to pick up my daughter cottage . Here's what I'm gonna say. Um if you enjoyed the component of this movie that took place in the video store