Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / When Harry Met Sally (1989) - Rob Reiner | Houselights #131

Transcript

When Harry Met Sally (1989) - Rob Reiner | Houselights #131 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

0:03
Welcome to the Nerd Party. Hello everybody at home, and welcome to Houselights,
0:22
specifically House of Rhiner. We are finishing up our Rhiner of the eighties
0:28
this week with When Harry Met Sally, which came out in nineteen eighty nine.
0:32
Sorrying Billy, Crystal, Meg Ryan, and a lot of Carrie Fisher,
0:37
written by the Nora Ephron, who at this point is only an associate
0:42
producer on the film, which which made me chuckle because Nora Ephron is such
0:47
a powerhouse and cinema during the nineties and early two thousands, it was so
0:53
funny to see associate producer next to her name. But we are so happy
0:58
to be finishing this out of Ryner and moving on to the next which we'll
1:03
discuss at the end of the show. So please stay tuned and listen to
1:07
the entire show to find out what we're doing next week, and if you'd
1:11
like to hear what we've done previous weeks, go to the nerdparty dot com
1:15
slash house Lights and there you can find all of our previous works as well
1:19
as tons of other shows that give you just hours and hours and hours and
1:23
hours of enjoyment. We got star Wars, show Star Trek shows, we
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their nerd Party or at Join nerd Party with me as they are every single
1:42
week are my beloved co hosts, John Mills and Darren Moser. Now,
1:48
this was my first time seeing it, so some of you seriously, Yeah,
1:52
this was my absolute first time seeing it. I missed that I didn't
1:56
know and I'm hosting, and so this is new territory for us, because
2:00
usually we reserve the films for the person who has never seen it to not
2:02
host. But you know what, I really wanted to to talk about this
2:07
one because you know what, I know, we love to be coy and
2:09
we kind of, you know, just kind of say like, Okay,
2:12
well, you know what rating I'm gonna give this. Did I like it?
2:15
Did I not? You know, I'm going to be fair in my
2:15
criticism. I'm just gonna say at the top of the show, holy crap,
2:20
this is a great movie. And I was just I was blown away
2:24
when I watched it because this is one of those films that I just didn't
2:28
get around to. This was a missing frame which you should also listen to
2:30
at the nerdbody dot com. This name for a podcast there. I think
2:35
so too. This was something that I just didn't watch. It's not because
2:38
I didn't like Rob Bryner, I didn't like nor Frown, or didn't like
2:42
Billy Christopher, didn't like meke Rinda like all those people. I just don't
2:46
know why I didn't take the time to sit down and do it. But
2:49
I also thought before I watched it in preparation for this podcast, that I
2:53
had seen everything from this movie just out of order. You know when a
2:57
movie just exists around you so long that you're flipping through the channels and you
3:01
think you've seen every single scene. That's what I thought before I watched this.
3:05
But as I'm watching this, I was like, oh no, there's
3:07
like ninety percent of the scene of these scenes, I didn't know we're in
3:10
here. And so it was a very pleasant surprise. I watch it with
3:14
my wife, and my wife had seen it obviously, Um, you know,
3:17
she's a woman. Apparently I'm finding out that women love this movie and
3:22
some people call this a quote chick flick end quote. I'm doing Bunny Ears
3:28
right now in tune with my voice, and you know, I don't,
3:32
I don't it is it is it considered a chick flick just because it's romantic.
3:38
I don't know. Listen, this movie comes out in the summer of
3:40
nineteen eighty nine, which is a you know, like, if you're gonna
3:45
use the phrase quote unquote chick flick and I'm doing air quotes too, eighty
3:50
nine is a somewhat I guess you could say testosterone late in summer with Batman
3:54
and Indiana Jones and start well, okay, star Trek five doesn't really count,
3:58
but he climbs him out in the beginning. That's a very manly thing
4:00
to do. But you know, you've got Ghostbusters two with the male leads
4:03
like it's a very mountain with his penis. Well, that came out of
4:08
left field. That was a cut scene. But I like everything that came
4:13
out in nineteen eight the summer of eighty nine, you were going to get
4:15
the male audience with Batman like, that's just what happened, and Indiana Jones
4:20
got everybody else that wanted to go everybody loves Indiana Jones and everything like that,
4:26
and Ghostbusters too and all that stuff. When Harry Met Sally always had
4:29
a strong reputation, But this is this is one of those movies. It's
4:32
you know, it's a little engine that could, and by the time it
4:35
comes out, this is a VHS market. Now by nineteen eighty nine,
4:41
people are willing to sit back and be like, I'll catch it on tape
4:44
when it comes out. Because if I got to spend my hard earned money
4:46
and I got to take my family out, or I'm going to go out,
4:49
I'm a I'm a teenage boy at this time. Do you think I'm
4:53
going to go see When Harry Met Sally? Or I'm gonna go see Batman
4:55
for the fourth time? Batman one the fourth time. So that's not to
5:00
knock it. It obviously had success, It obviously got a great critical response.
5:04
But it makes perfect sense that this winds up for me the same story.
5:09
I saw it before this, but it was one of those that summer
5:14
it was like, uh, you know, no, I wasn't going to
5:15
watch it, And then as I got older, they are all of these
5:19
things I'm watching and it just continually stays there and it's like, yeah,
5:23
I'll get to it. I'll get to it. And the whole reason I
5:25
wound up seeing it was because my future wife said was shocked I hadn't seen
5:30
it before, because she knew I loved you know, I love movies,
5:34
and so she basically she didn't force me to watch it, but she gave
5:38
it to me as a gift. When she came over one night and she's
5:41
like, Okay, now you have no excuse not to watch it. Here
5:43
it is on desk. I was like, oh, so she knew early
5:45
on that that was the only way to get you to watch a movie.
5:48
Literally buy it for you and put it over him like she came together exactly.
5:55
No, she actually came over with it in hand. I opened it.
5:59
I was like, oh wow, this is She's like, we're watching
6:00
it this weekend. I was like, see, I cheat by sending it
6:03
to you via Amazon. Like I can't fly all the way to Florida,
6:06
so that's all that I can do. Well, you know, we had
6:10
it. We had a different vibe going on at the time. You know,
6:13
it was a little more in person back then, back at the past.
6:15
But like, yeah, so I like that's the thing, because you
6:19
know, Darren, you were making the joke that your wife, when she
6:21
found out we were going to be talking about this, she was like,
6:24
oh, great, three guys talking about when Harry met Sally. But you
6:28
know, I'll see the floor here because I think Tristan is getting at it
6:30
too. It's like, I want to know from you, why does this
6:34
get that reputation as a quote unquote chick flick. Nothing about this. This
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isn't like steel Magnolia's or something, is it. Maybe Maybe it's just because
6:44
the overall plot is just about two people's relationship, which again, is it
6:49
a bad thing, But that is literally the point of the movie is about
6:54
a guy and a girl and there you know, ten twenty whatever year span
6:59
of this relationship. Like so when that's the main plot of the story,
7:04
it's not oh, and they were going on an adventure like romancing the stone
7:09
or something, and they also fell in love. You know, it's like
7:13
literally the entire like the story is the relationship. That's a really good comparison,
7:19
really good pull man. I hate that. I honestly hate that that
7:25
just because a movie is about a relationship, it's people automatically assume it's it's
7:30
geared towards women. That really pisses me off as a modern man who men
7:34
escapes. You know, it just really pisses But see, I'll blame the
7:39
marketing department for stuff like this because I promise you I don't have any archival
7:45
knowledge in my brain or anything like that, but I guarantee you they tried
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quote unquote counterprogramming because it was the Batman summer. Because they knew what they
7:54
were going up against. They then positioned this. They said, okay,
7:58
yeah, there was a they were in the we want to get the marketing.
8:01
We're going to market towards that sliver that's not gonna get soaked up by
8:05
Indiana Jones and Batman. But but also they're saying, look, the boys
8:09
love that one. Let's market to the girls. And so all of the
8:13
marketing winds up leaning heavily towards the female. I'm gonna put this DVD on
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the pink aisle and then everybody will go see it. We want to.
8:20
Yeah, So I honestly I'll bring the marketers for that one, because you
8:24
could have easily marketed this as in everybody movie. Yeah, something to see
8:31
together, even that, Yeah, a couple yeah, yeah, yeah,
8:33
yeah, I like that. Yeah. With this movie, I mean,
8:37
I think because you know, it's directed by a man, written by a
8:39
woman, and you have great leads, male lead, female lead, fantastic
8:46
comedic actors right off the top. So it's just it's not like it's like
8:52
you said, you know, like I love that Steel Magnolia. It's like
8:54
totally the go to. I mean, come on, let's be fair,
8:58
Yeah, let's let's be honest. Um. Yeah, so this is I
9:03
hate that I slept on this so long because I absolutely loved it. I'm
9:07
saying this right at the right at the top, this is this is this
9:09
is so well written, this is so well acted. And you know,
9:13
um, Darren, you said the before we started recording, They're like,
9:16
holy crap, Billy Crystal is young in this and we looked it up and
9:20
he's forty. He looks young. I mean, maybe he isn't actually young,
9:24
but yeah, I was comparing it to last week when we talked about
9:28
The Princess Bride, which obviously was old age makeup. But for me,
9:31
Billy Crystal resides in this eternal snapshot of time of the last few times that
9:39
he hosted the Oscars in the fifties, like he's actually in his fifties,
9:45
like fifties. Yeah, and but yeah for this, I mean, I
9:50
mean, obviously they're doing they're doing things to make Ryan's hair, They're doing
9:54
things to like his sideburns and stuff in the in the past where they're trying
9:58
to make them look even younger. And it worked because it's like baby face,
10:01
you know. Uh. I think they to him to like yeah,
10:07
and then later he's got a beard and so like I mean, because it
10:11
time jumps a couple of times, like five ten years at a stint,
10:16
so it this is a very long meeting, guys, It takes takes a
10:20
couple of years. Well, you know, I want to talk to that
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because that's one of those things that I think it really sets this one apart
10:26
is Reiner and Ephron who you know who wrote it. Obviously they lean into
10:35
borrowing a little bit of that documentary feel that worked so well with this is
10:39
spinal tap because they have the interviews with the quote unquote real couples as the
10:45
markers. So it gives Harry and Sally this feeling of reality because when it
10:52
all caps off with them talking to the camera at the end, you get
10:54
a feeling they know the story. Well, not just that we know the
10:58
story, but it lends this authenticity to the telling. I think if you
11:03
remove that, the little interstitials, with the interviews with the you know,
11:09
the older couples and everything, honestly, you know, flash forward a couple
11:15
of decades. It's what helps make Interstellar work so well is they use these
11:18
real documentary talks and it makes the story more grounded. And I think,
11:24
I mean, I'll put it out there. I think that's what makes us
11:26
work so well, is you believe in Harry and Sally because you're seeing real
11:33
people talking to the screen about their relationships. I like that. Like,
11:37
as I was watching this and I was like, as I was watching the
11:41
interstitials, I was actually thinking to myself, I was like, these stories
11:46
feel real. I was like, this, this feels real. But their
11:50
their ability on camera is to practice right, right, they're obviously actors,
11:56
but they're right there. They took ninety eight percent of a real story and
12:00
they're just presenting it way. They aced the public speaking at All of them
12:05
were ace public speakers at school, and they just happen to be the ones
12:07
on camera. Yeah. Yeah, I liked it though, I think that
12:11
was a very smart approach. I mean with with Interstellar, I think those
12:13
were real Internet they were real, they were real interviews from the dust Bowl.
12:18
Yeah, but I like, I love that comparison. I love that
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comparison. I think that that's that absolutely rings true. One thing I do
12:26
want to ask about is, and you don't have to give any any kind
12:31
of like personal stories or anything like that, anything that you're not comfortable with
12:33
talking about, but like, was there anything that rang true to you?
12:37
Speaking of ringing true? Is there anything that rang true to you during this
12:41
movie where you're just like, Yes, this is exactly how men act,
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This is exactly how women act. This is exactly how we interact with each
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other. John, I would love to hear from you. My wife always
12:52
loves to point out the line from Billy Crystal the White Man Overbite about dancing,
12:56
and I cannot not hear it in my head every time I go somewhere
13:01
where there's dancing. I was like, white Man over but like it's in
13:03
my brain. I'm like, yeah, that's that's a thing. It happens,
13:09
you know. I think that what I enjoy about it is, I
13:16
mean, there are so many things I enjoy about it. But something I
13:18
think also as the authenticity is the relationship between Jess and Harry Bruno Kirby's character,
13:28
because that feels very authentic to how guys talk to each other. It's
13:33
not it's not the played up locker room talk for a comedy movie. It's
13:37
not being overly vulgar talk. It's not the like they take Bruno Kirby in
13:43
City Slickers a few years later and they amp him up to the nth degree,
13:48
you know, to make him an absolute pig. But this these conversations
13:52
feel very real. Like when Billy Crystal is talking with with Jess and they're
13:58
you know, they're at the football game and he's just distraught because his wife
14:01
is leaving him. This is a complete mass in the way he the movers
14:07
knew like a week before. Yeah, man, you're just that right.
14:13
That his hard. Like there's so many things that universal in this film,
14:18
like regardless of the time period, like, yeah, this took place in
14:20
eighty nine, which is a long time ago if you think about it,
14:24
and it's just this is there's I mean, at least for our demographic,
14:30
this is how men and women talk. This is how they interact. With
14:33
each other, whether you're in a big city, small town. You know,
14:37
university doesn't matter, Like there's certain kinds of interaction that are ever present
14:43
and just the way that we are. Like granted, okay, I'm obviously
14:48
generalizing here, so don't come after me, but you guys know what I'm
14:52
saying. And with with that, I think for me, the thing that
14:56
really rang true was because I I've had I've had several successful relationships I should
15:05
say friendships with women that I've had no romantic interest in, but there's always
15:13
that outside perspective where they're just like yeah, but you know, there's there's
15:18
always that time when people think like, yeah, you're your friends now,
15:22
but you want to sleep together, or like the man wants to sleep with
15:26
him, or I don't even sleep with her or something like that. But
15:30
yeah, no, I'll defend you on this one because there is I think
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what the movie is really talking to, and of course it's played up for
15:37
comedic value, is that when when people with potential romantic situation, like if
15:48
there's a potential romantic situation because of whatever circumstance, you have to acknowledge that
15:56
at first, at least it flies through your mind of like project out on
16:00
the timeline what would that look like? And sometimes you make that decision very
16:04
early on. You're like, yeah, that one wouldn't work, so okay,
16:07
like and it's it's going or there might be something where as you go
16:11
along, you start to feel an attraction to somebody and you think to yourself,
16:17
Okay, well is this Do I need to stop hanging with this person?
16:22
Because the potential is there now? Like, I think that's what That's
16:26
what the dialogue really speaks to is you have an awareness and it creeps in
16:30
at some point and at some point you deal with it mentally and emotionally to
16:34
say this is either gonna never go down that road or it could go down
16:40
that road, and you have to decide exactly how comfortable you are if if
16:44
could is a word that's in there. You have to make a conscious decision
16:48
of how comfortable you are, and you know whether you're significant other would be
16:52
comfortable with that situation as well. You know, it's a thing. I
16:56
think that's well put. I think that's well put. No, Darren,
16:59
I have a question for you. Yes this is okay. So you're the
17:04
biggest star wars NERD out of all three of us, and that is saying
17:08
something right because we are like one of our hosts here of this is my
17:12
time to shine. Okay, like has its own Star Wars podcasts, and
17:18
down here Darren has encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars. But you crafted your own
17:22
five first armor. So it means I win, John, You do you
17:30
win? Can you watch a movie with Carrie Fisher without picturing Leia Organa in
17:41
that situation? I say yes, because Carry Fisher is such a dichotomy between
17:49
Princess Lea. When she's Princess Leia, she's Princess Leia, and then every
17:52
other role is Carrie Fisher, like like just the because carry Fisher, you
18:00
know who just got her Hollywood star on the Walk of Fame on May fourth,
18:06
On May the fourth, I mean to break it. People pay for
18:10
that, and it's just a money thing. It's not there's no vote,
18:12
there's no popularity contest. It's just it happens to you that you you knew
18:18
that when Carrie Fisher was alive, she didn't give a crap. Oh no,
18:22
she doesn't care. Yeah, but yeah, so I feel like that,
18:26
like again when I see her in Blues Brothers or when I see her
18:27
in something else, like even in this which is a fairly larger role,
18:33
Like she's not the top lead, but she's like number two or three,
18:37
you know, she's she's say she's the third leads or the second female lead.
18:41
I'd say as well, Um, but yes, so it's I don't
18:48
see Princess Leia really in any of her performances that is not in Star Wars.
18:53
I think it's such a Carrie easily brings out more carness in pretty much
19:00
everything else that she does. At least that's my interpretation. I'll back you
19:04
up on that. But I'll go so far as to say that I have
19:07
trouble not seeing Carrie Fisher because I agree with both of you. I will
19:11
say that, yeah, that is that is probably more of what I mean
19:15
where it's oh, it's Carrie Fisher playing, you know, in the role
19:19
of Marie. Like not, that's Marie. Oh who is that again?
19:23
Oh it's Carrie Fisher. It's like, no, it's Carrie Fisher. And
19:26
she's wearing a Marie named tag today. Tomorrow she might be wearing a different
19:30
name tag, but today she's Marie. Carrie Fisher was such a beautifully flawed
19:37
and powerful personality that it's hard to hide that underneath the character. And that's
19:45
okay, and it's I think there are certain little moments when watching this film
19:52
when I was just like, you know, that was her, Like that
19:53
was her idea. Like, well, she's also like a renowned script doctor,
19:59
so she probably script doctored all of her own words from that movie.
20:03
I don't doubt it at all. Yeah, I like, I'm not saying
20:07
this was or wasn't her, but when she when her character kept saying,
20:11
you're right, you're right, I know you're right. Like every single time
20:15
it came up that like's he's never going to leave his wife, it's like,
20:18
you're right, you're right, I know you're right. I laughed every
20:21
single time. Well, what's what's doubly funny about that to me is that
20:26
I actually have known people like Marie where they have specific attraction just to people
20:33
who are in relationships, people who are ungettable or or out of their reach,
20:38
or they might be the side person sort of thing. And it's and
20:44
you you know, some people might judge me and be like, well,
20:47
why did you not? And it's like some it's sometimes you feel like Sally
20:49
does, which is like, you know, this is just my friend.
20:52
I was friends with her before she started doing this, and man, I
20:56
wish she would stop, but she obviously needs somebody to talk to and she
20:59
can't like, if anything, Marine needs to be in therapy and Sally is
21:03
her therapist in a sense. Total slide note. But there was one time
21:08
when I was watching Madman with my wife and there was a moment when a
21:15
guy who was married, like is like Don Draper's best friend and you know,
21:22
business partner played by John Slattery, like, he got drunk. He
21:26
was with a woman who was not his wife, and he had a heart
21:30
attack and the EMTs came, and as that character was being wheeled out,
21:37
he was like saying the other woman's name, and and Don Draper like paused
21:44
the EMTs. He grabbed John Slattery by his hair, slapped him and said
21:48
Mona, your wife's name is Mona. And then my wife looked at me
21:56
and said, what would you do in that situation? I said I would
21:59
do the exact same thing as Don Draper, and she's like, really,
22:03
you, like you can done that kind of thing. I was like,
22:04
no, I don't condone it at all. I think it's horrible, and
22:07
I think he should absolutely stop. And I would tell him that he should
22:10
absolutely stop, but I wouldn't advance him to get caught. I wouldn't go
22:18
to his wife. He's compromised right now, I would do I would say
22:22
that things are complicated enough in that moment. I haven't watched mad Men,
22:27
so I'm surprised. In the fifties, like that seems odd, but you
22:32
know, and the ambulance wasn't invented until the nineteen seventy five. Yeah,
22:37
this new maneuver called mister yeah please, the maneuver. Yeah. Yeah.
22:48
I'll just say in passing that it's like there are certain moments where it's complicated
22:52
enough and you're you're just like, Okay, we'll deal with this problem later.
22:56
This is the problem, yes right now, yes, yes, Like
23:00
And that's the thing like as I hate to say this because it makes me
23:03
sound like a douchebag, but as a bro like you can criticize, you
23:07
can yell at them, you can say they need to stop that, you
23:10
can say that they need to come out to their wife. But at the
23:12
same time, you're not going to go to the wife and say he's doing
23:15
this. See the thing is this, I'll I'll continue taking it down this
23:21
this strange rabbit hole. But there was I was one person removed from somebody
23:26
and I found out that they had used the other person as cover for what
23:30
was going on. And the person like found out about it was fine with
23:33
and like I looked at the person. I said, you got to stop
23:36
being their friend right now. Yeah, because that's where it crosses the line
23:40
is when you sit when you're like it's one thing to be like, I
23:42
was friends with you before you started doing this. I will constantly counsel you
23:45
to stop doing it. But the instant you use me as your cover story,
23:48
done, you're out. No you can't ever say you were over at
23:52
my house that night. No, no, no, no, no.
23:52
That that is definitely crossing the line. This went down some weird territory all
23:57
to say that Carry Fisher was Carrie Fisher. I like it though. Any
24:02
any time that we that Carrie Fish, I think Carrie would enjoy this,
24:04
and yes I called her by her first name. Carrie would enjoy us going
24:07
down this rabbit hole. Yeah, you know your rabbit holes. I don't
24:11
have a segue. So with Meg client Sally, all right, we see
24:18
her. Okay, so we're at the beginning of the film. They're take
24:22
the same beginning as a sure thing. That's the why are these two people
24:26
in the car together. It's literally the same thing. Yeah, you're I
24:32
didn't even think about it till that moment. You're absolutely right. No,
24:34
as soon as how do we start this movie? Well, just so you
24:37
know, I've I've started this other movie it's called a shirt Thing. It
24:41
was really successful. Let's start it again just like that. Yeah, So
24:45
in that scene, like they're in the car, they're driving. I was
24:48
a little worried at first because when Meg Ryan was like the uptight you know,
24:55
a person who like you know, did the math on the on the
24:57
on the check and was just like you could tell she was like the character
25:00
and the sure thing. Yep. And then when Billy Crystal was like John
25:03
Cusack, you know, like was free lovin and like was spitting out the
25:07
seeds on which was hilarious of the grapes, like when he hit the window
25:11
and he's like maybe I'll roll that down. I mean he's literally making out
25:15
with his girlfriend before getting in this car with another girl to drive across country,
25:18
which again ye seems odd by whatever. I was really scared when I
25:23
started this because even though it was a funny interaction, I was like,
25:26
holy crap, is Rob Ryan are already repeating himself? It was like me
25:30
yelling at my theater in college. It was like, are you already redoing
25:34
the play that we did three years ago? But I was. I was
25:38
scared. But then thankfully they veered it into a different direction. So what
25:42
were you guys thinking right at that interaction in the car? Were you entertained?
25:48
Did you think it was too similar to this sure thing? Or how
25:52
what were you guys thinking, Darren? What were you thinking at the opening
25:56
scene? This is an interesting movie, Like I definitely don't hate this movie,
26:02
but it has a hard time kind of like growing on me it In
26:07
some ways, it feels like it feels kind of like Ghostbusters, where Ghostbusters
26:11
like a sketch. It feels like an SNL sketch. It's like, oh,
26:17
hey, guys and girls can't be friends because of the sex thing.
26:22
Let's pull that sentence into a ninety minute movie. And that's kind of what
26:27
they do. And not that it's not brilliantly written, Like I'll totally give
26:32
it that but at its core at the beginning, I'm like, okay,
26:36
so where are we going with this? And then it jumps five years and
26:40
I'm like, how ok okay, Like it's you know, I didn't realize
26:45
this was an epictome of the courtship of Harold and Salad Salad Ford, you
26:52
know, as they're as they're growing together. It's like geez, but yeah,
26:56
So I mean I definitely picked up on the sure thing connection or redo,
27:00
but um, yeah, it's I don't know, I just didn't know
27:04
how to feel because I'm like, am I obviously they're kind of setting up
27:10
Billy Crystal as this jerk, you know, he's a little a little bit,
27:14
yeah, a little bit. But I was a little I was a
27:18
little scared of that because like during that scene, I'm glad that you brought
27:22
that up, because during that scene, I was just like, let's not
27:23
make him an ass, you know, like, don't don't make him ass,
27:26
because I want him to be likable. Like he rides the line.
27:32
He's not full on, but he is very close to the line through the
27:36
whole first two time jumps. But the yes, but the thing is,
27:40
though, while you're on right, like I started thinking about what I was
27:45
like in college and how much edge lord crap I probably said in you know,
27:52
like in that four years when I was in college. The other comparison
27:56
I felt, too, was this fell like a bit from How I Met
28:00
your Mother. This felt like something Barney Stinson would do. He's pulling open
28:04
the bro code that says on page twelve men and women can't be friends because
28:11
the sex thing gets in the way. And then i'm it's my mission in
28:15
life now to prove to you that you are wrong and I am right.
28:18
And he doesn't let it go for twenty or ten years. That's kind of
28:23
the movie, I don't know, with great writing, with great writing,
28:30
but that's you know, I don't know. I think I actually think Billy
28:34
Crystal's character shows great growth through the movie. I think that ultimately what that's
28:41
true. What I think is one of the beautiful ironies of the movie is
28:45
that in a sense he's right, but he's right because Harry and Sally are
28:53
I mean, they're sort of like the yeah, and this is what the
28:57
interstitials prove is like they're sort of that their story is going to be shrunk
29:03
down to oh, well, you know, I met her you know,
29:07
I met her twelve years before we got married, but you know I knew
29:11
back then, No you did and I did. No. Like, It's
29:14
got that sort of vibe to it, and I think the interstitials serve that
29:18
additional purpose of showing how when you tell the history of your relationship after it's
29:25
gone on for so long, you realize that it's all way more complex than
29:32
you really feel like telling sometimes, and eventually it's just easier just to say,
29:37
yeah, you know, I remembered her for twelve years and then we
29:41
got together, and you know, I was just happy as anything. But
29:45
you take that twelve years apart, and you realize it was a really complicated
29:49
and weird time with a lot of personal growth. But I think there's definitely
29:53
a marked difference between Harry at the beginning and Harry at the end, and
30:00
I think that's what makes there that's what makes their relationship feel earned. They
30:04
weren't ready for each other in seventy seven. They should not have become a
30:08
couple from a car drive. I'll even turn it on its head, But
30:14
what I think the movie does a really good job and well, I think
30:15
Crystal does a really great job conveying with his facial expressions. Is he is
30:23
very outwardly the difficult person. He's made it his bit. That is who
30:30
he is. Is he's going to be difficult, and he's going to say
30:33
these things and he likes getting a reaction from people, and we all know
30:36
people like that. But Sally is unquestionably what people would term high maintenance.
30:44
I want this type of sandwich, but if you don't have this type of
30:47
ice cream, then I want whipped cream. And if you don't have the
30:48
whipped cream that's not in a can, I don't want that. But I
30:52
want the apple pie, but don't heat it up, and that sort of
30:56
yeah, really onerous sort of thing where it's like, do you under stand
31:00
how much you're putting this poor waitress. If I would have like been in
31:03
a friend group and been like kind of like, you know, okay,
31:06
you're checking your prospects and one of them orders like that, you're kind of
31:10
like, yeah, okay, no, no, that's that's that's a that's
31:14
a that's a flag. It's gonna be a very difficult person to try to
31:18
keep happy over time, and gee, and she keeps doing it. It's
31:21
not like a one time bring like she it's not a bit, but it
31:23
is kind of part of her personality. And I think one of the most
31:27
beautiful moments in the entire film is it's a it's an outside observational shot.
31:33
They're in a Chinese restaurant and you see her gesticulating while she's doing the order,
31:38
and you see the waiter has this face where he's like he's being the
31:42
necessary polite level, and it's just he's sort of overtaken, and he looks
31:45
over at Billy Crystal and they both have this moment where they both sort of
31:48
like to shrug at each other and it's like, yeah, you know,
31:51
what are you gonna do? Um? So you know, I mean all
31:55
of that. That's that's really long. Wait a way to say that,
31:56
Like, I think that it's easy to come at Harry and say, oh,
32:01
he's such a jerk at the beginning, and yeah, but he's a
32:07
performative jerk. He's very obviously trying to get a rise out of people,
32:12
and so you can be very freaking wanted. He wants to imprint himself on
32:16
the people that he interacts with through his life so they'll remember him. Yes,
32:22
and we want him to be flawed to a point. We want him
32:23
to grow as a character. If he was Prince Charming Wesley and Buttercup,
32:29
if they were Wesley and Buttercup in the first scene, we would have been
32:31
like, well then why did you guys wait twelve years? You wasted a
32:36
decade of your life not being together. But that is not this story.
32:40
No, it isn't. And I think that another thing that makes it work
32:43
really well is I believe Nora Ephron was friends with Woody Allen, and you
32:49
know, I know the name carries certain blah blah all that stuff. A
32:53
Hall. Well, I mean this feels like a Woody Allen film at a
32:57
lot of points. Well, I'm so glad you brought that up. Yeah,
33:00
well, but it's a it's a not a remake. But I heard
33:04
it was I was clicking through uh Norah's stuff and it said that this was
33:08
based off of Annie Hall. Like I'm sure of terms. I've never seen
33:14
Annie Hall. I'm mad at it for winning over Star Wars and seventy seven,
33:17
so I won't watch it. But h it's a great film. It's
33:22
not Star Wars, but it's a great film. But um, I mean
33:25
Barry Sonenfeld, who's Okay, Rob Reiner once again benefits from some incredible talent
33:34
with him. You got Nora Ephron writing the script, you god, yeah,
33:39
yeah, Janet Hertchinson and uh and I can't remember the other name right
33:44
now. But like they've been his casting directors this whole time, they definitely
33:47
picked the right cast. Um. But you get Barry Sonnenfeld as the cinematographer,
33:52
and he goes on to do like Adam's Family, Men in Black,
33:59
all of these things. He's a great comic director. He did get Shorty
34:02
all of this stuff, and he's obviously just you know, he's being his
34:07
director of photography self here. So I want to go ahead and throw it
34:09
out there with Efron as the writer, Sonnenfeld as the director of photography.
34:16
I'll thord to you first, Tristan, because this is your first time seeing
34:19
it. Do you see Rob Reiner? Is there any signature Rob Reiner thing
34:24
that you see in this movie? I don't. I don't see Ryner in
34:29
this at all. I see Efron, and I see Sonnenfeld, I see
34:32
Crystal, I see Ryan. I don't see Reiner. I really don't,
34:37
Darren, do you? I mean? I think we already mentioned the opening
34:42
matching sure thing, and that's I mean, that's Reiner right there, right,
34:49
But I think obviously you were more inferring like the visuals and the h
34:52
but I mean, honestly, I mean it's it's tricky because this isn't Ryners,
35:00
not west Anderson. He's not one of those directors where that is has
35:05
a look and that's okay. I don't want every single director to have l
35:08
look where oh I mean, and because otherwise we wouldn't get the storybook softness
35:15
of Princess Bride or you know, the coming of age kind of grit of
35:22
you know, stand by Me and stuff like that. So yeah, I
35:27
I honestly think that's the biggest connection is that some of those story beats.
35:32
And then I will say this with Ryner also seems to know when when to
35:45
let the actors improv and when not too he I want to talk about that
35:51
for a second, because this doesn't feel this is different than Billy Crystal being
35:55
miracle Max. This is this is It feels like Billy Crystal read every single
36:00
word that was written and it was like, this is such a good script.
36:05
I am going to just read it as is. I'm sure he improvs
36:07
up. I mean it's Billy Crystal. I'm not I would not be surprised
36:10
by that, But does it feel like that to you? John, Like,
36:14
this feels like he honed way closer to thus script, probably because of
36:20
its it's goodness or that's the kind of the vibe I was getting, at
36:24
least off of his role. It the little felt like that manic improv where
36:30
you can kind of tell they're kind of just coming up with it as they
36:32
go. I think you're right in this sense, in the sense that this
36:39
is a more disciplined Billy Crystal performance. Disciplined get up to this point in
36:45
his career, not very disciplined, very sticky, very im a standout co
36:52
star sort of thing. He seems to take it very seriously when he's put
36:55
in the co star role here and what I see as I see an actor
37:00
very responsibly giving his co star mc ryan everything she needs to be successful and
37:07
vice versa. I see two people who showed up on set and said,
37:09
I want you to have a great time and and great opposite and they and
37:16
they both hit it off and they got it right. They got that rhythm
37:22
right. And I think he has to hit the emotional moments internally for Harry.
37:30
He can't like when when he's at the baseball field lamenting over about to
37:36
be divorced, he can't throw in zingers, you know, like that has
37:40
to otherwise that movement, that moment is broken. And say every single moment
37:45
in the progression of Harry's life, I mean it's not like we've been ten,
37:51
ten, twelve years. Those those moments that we see him he is
37:54
in. He has to progress the character, but he can't just be like
38:00
oh but he always has that funny one liner or he always like no he
38:04
And I think that's maybe that's what I'm picking up on, is that is
38:07
him sticking to the script. And like you said, John, I totally
38:09
agree with that, where he's creating the moment for Meg Ryan in a way
38:15
to be a little more spontaneous, a little more flowy. Again, also,
38:21
I think she's sticking to the script really well. But there was also
38:24
reading behind the scenes stuff and you know, doing research for the podcast.
38:30
Apparently a lot was found in rehearsal, like with all of them together,
38:35
you know, just riffing off of each other and figuring things out, like
38:37
even the once they were shooting then it's like it feels more locked in because
38:42
all that improv was off camera exactly. And I love, like, yes,
38:47
you have the Adam McKay early comedies where everything's improv and they just shoot
38:52
from three angles and then they're just like piecing a movie together in the edit
38:57
bay. Yes, there's that that happens, and there's good things and the
39:01
bad things about that kind of process. But I love hearing things that are
39:05
found and rehearsal, and like when he when they're at the museum and he's
39:09
making that voice and he does like apparently there was a moment when he says,
39:13
he's like and I would love to have your peak and pie like that
39:15
was just off the cuff. That wasn't found a rehearsal that was off the
39:19
cuff. And in the moment you can actually see Meg Ryan look off screen
39:24
and look at the director, and the director is saying, off screens,
39:29
go with it, go with it, going it, and but Meg Ryan
39:32
like, you know, like you think Billy Crystal the improver, you know,
39:37
like he's the one, but Meg Ryan is the one in rehearsal who's
39:40
who It was her idea to do the orgasm on screen. You know because
39:46
in the original script it was just her talking about faking an orgasm. But
39:52
and that became an iconic moment. It is one of the most moments of
39:55
film of last fifty years. Oh yeah, easily. It is one of
40:00
the most iconic moments in cinema in the last fifty years. And that's the
40:07
when you think Harry Metslly. That's what people think. And it was Meg
40:10
Bryan's idea. And what sucks from my perspective is the movie gets a ton
40:15
of credit. The scene gets a ton of credit. I've never seen Meg
40:20
Ryan herself get the appropriate credit for what for what you just said coming up
40:25
with it. I've never seen somebody say, hey, Meg Ryan came up
40:30
with that idea. It's always oh, what a charming movie. Oh that's
40:31
great. Oh look that's Rob Reiner's mom said I'll have what she's having.
40:35
Isn't that the perfect ending into the scene and all that. I didn't know
40:37
that was his mom. Yeah. Well, one other shot, I just
40:40
because I was still thinking of what what makes us think of a Rob Reiner
40:45
movie. I feel that the four way conversation of the phone call, that
40:53
is a Rob Reiner. The half split dual screen like that is him.
41:00
But it worked at sixty two takes. Sixty two takes. Oh, that's
41:04
right, all Wonders. It's always all filmed at the same time, like
41:08
so they it was. It was all Wonders. So you had Billy.
41:12
It was all on one sound stage where Billy Crystal was to the left,
41:15
um uh, Jess and Marie as in Carrie Fisher and Bruno were the middle
41:22
in the middle, and then Megran was on the right. They all filmed
41:24
at the same time, and the phones were real like they all hooked up
41:28
to one line and so that they could talk to each other. And it
41:30
took sixty two takes to get it right. Because one shot, one take,
41:37
it does work. I think that what works even better is the scene
41:42
where they're watching Casa Blanket in bed together, even though they're not in bed
41:45
together. No, that is a good that is a good scene. I
41:49
can I never watched Casa Blanket with anybody. But you know, as much
41:53
as it might shot people, I did date women before I got married.
42:00
There are enough people that you know, I don't know they had something going
42:04
wrong with them that they went up finding value in that proposition. But there
42:09
were so many phone conversations like that where you're just I think what that really
42:15
captured is the real energy that exists. And it's so easy. I know
42:22
there are so many people right now that would be like back in my day
42:25
the town, and I'm sure it still happens now. It's just with cell
42:30
phones. It's face just on the phone with somebody for a long time.
42:34
You're watching them, we're watching Netflix together. Yeah, but I mean even
42:39
better than texting, even better than FaceTime. I actually think the disconnected voice
42:44
thing, it's such a safer, more open space. I hope people still
42:50
do that on a very frequent basis of just having the phone conversation. It
42:54
also forces you to be wittier with the disembodied UM voice. Oh yeah,
43:01
I agree, because I can't. You can't rely on the face twitch,
43:07
the eyebrow going up. You can't say like like like gets better than texting
43:12
like. There's so much subtlety lost in texting that there's no inflection, there's
43:16
no nuance. Not really yep, exactly. I was opening my mouth to
43:22
say the exact same thing. There you go, there you go. I
43:25
know this has been one heck of a love fest, but I gotta ask
43:29
you guys, you know, because this is a passion of mine to ask
43:31
about the music. Got to ask what do you think of what Mark Shaman
43:37
does with the arranging? This the you know, it had to be you
43:38
and yeah, I as if I recall correctly, this is the moment where
43:44
Harry Connick Junior really burst onto the scene and people. This was his first
43:47
soundtrack, his first soundtrack, which is hilarious to me because even in it,
43:52
like as eighty nine, I was just like, wait, we really
43:54
really like Harry Knnick Junior in eighty nine? That seems a little early,
43:58
and I was like, oh, it's his first one, it makes sense.
44:00
Um so but did he's perpetually like twenty seven? In my mind?
44:06
Yeah? Did the did the music choices work for you guys? Didn't?
44:10
I mean like, I don't know, I think last week I talk nothing
44:15
super I'm the wrong person to talk. Yeah, I'm curious, I don't
44:19
know, I've always I'm I'm maybe I've been ruined by Williams. But like
44:24
I usually do not remember a soundtrack unless it Yeah, William you should have
44:29
scored this. There wasn't enough soon in this score. Yes, But now
44:36
I'm saying like, I usually will not remember a score unless it has like
44:39
a motif, it's built around moutis for characters, like, it's just harder
44:45
to remember. But I will say the use of pop culture music like that
44:51
that was well done, you know it's and that can be While I don't
44:55
necessarily think like, oh well, when I hear it had to be you,
45:00
it makes me think of when Harry met Sally, Like I don't make
45:02
that connection in my mind. Other movies might have that where they have that
45:06
one song that connects, but see that. That's what I think is so
45:09
wild about this is I'm used to rom coms having that big swell music at
45:16
the end, like that big orchestral swell, you know, and it where
45:22
the camera spins around them, right they meet in the middle of the street
45:25
and they kiss. Yeah, And I think, what's amazing about the way
45:30
this film works is it never relies on those tricks. And I go back
45:36
and forth, I'm like, does it work as well as it does because
45:39
it feels more honest because it doesn't have those tricks, like is it undercutting?
45:45
Like I have an expectation I go into a rom com with a guard
45:47
up where I'm like, Okay, here it comes like you're talking about trist
45:52
and where it's like, here comes the camera, spin move, here it
45:53
comes the big swell a music. And this movie seems to cut you off
45:58
at the knees, and it's like, I'm not gonna play by the rules
46:00
you're expecting. And I would say also the fact that, okay, if
46:06
this movie wasn't called when Harry met Sally, which is basically telling you that
46:09
they get together, Like, would you think that these characters are going to
46:13
get together like or that you could have predicted how their story was going to
46:17
go based on that first scene, I would say no, I'm not sure.
46:22
Because apparently they had a really, really, really hard time naming this
46:28
film, and it got to the point where Rob Briner actually went to Castle
46:34
Rock executive starts at the board and yeah, and like you said, he's
46:37
like they had a poll going where like what do you think this movie should
46:39
be called? So it's just one of those It was the name until we
46:44
think of something better. Then we never thought of something better. I think
46:46
that's the thing. Because Nora Ephron even said, like if if she could
46:50
change one thing and be the title of the film, which I think,
46:52
but it's memorable. It's not like we get it confused. I mean the
46:57
poster looks just like Sleepless and Seattle, so that doesn't really do it any
47:00
favors for Sorry, I should say, Sleepers in Seattle looks just like this
47:05
post. There you go. That's what you know. I U whenever I
47:09
hear Ryan meets so so in certain blank here, Whenever whenever I think of,
47:15
um, you know, title discussions going back and forth, I always
47:19
think of the fact that rom Com that I actually enjoyed, called it could
47:24
Happen to You with the Cage movie. Yeah, that's a good movie that
47:29
I remember seeing them doing behind the scenes stuff and the clapper said cop tips
47:34
waste waitress and I was like, thank god, that wasn't the title of
47:37
this movie. Well, I mean that was probably a you know, blue
47:40
harvest stand in like we don't oh no, this was no, no,
47:45
it could happen to you that they were not covering anything. They were just
47:47
like, who the hell knows what the title of this, Like it should
47:51
have just been we'll figure it out later. Take twenty two untitled so its
47:54
director film. Take five like yes, now, speaking of Sleepless in Seattle
48:00
and Meg Ryan of course, because as we know, you know, they've
48:04
done three movies together, and uhum not with Rob Bryner, but um,
48:12
You've Got Mail was also done by Nora Nora ut Front, So like Sleepless
48:15
in Seattle, You've Got Mail nor uf Front Tom, it's like a like
48:19
a trinity of you know. Well, Tom Hanks was approached for this role
48:23
for Harry and he turned it down saying it was too light weight. And
48:29
Michael Keaton was approached for this role. And oh, but Brooks was approached
48:32
for this role. Oh oh, I could see Keaton, I could see
48:38
I could see Hanks like sub Keaton, just like Blow People Away with Batman,
48:46
you can't see Brooks. I can see Brooks, the three of them.
48:50
I can see Brooks the most. I cannot see Brooks because maybe it's
48:52
because of my own where Brooks lives in my head. I Brooks is too
48:58
big for this. Have you have you seen Defending Your Life? No?
49:05
If you saw Defending your Life, you would think he could do this film.
49:08
I might, but I haven't, so I insist that I'm correct.
49:13
Now. I love Sleep in Seattle. I love never seen that Mail,
49:20
never seen what never seen one of those. Are you talking about chick flikes
49:27
at the opening of this show? They always market them wrong. I'm just
49:31
kidding everybody that's used a bit send send your angry letters to doctor sci Fi
49:36
on Um. Yeah, one of my most recent chick flicks that I really
49:42
enjoy. We used to love watching like Love Actually. I love that film,
49:46
which for that film it just Tristan I will I'm gonna bounce off the
49:52
page ice Cold Pavement that since Chicago, I'm gonna bounce you up and down
49:57
on that. I will say that. Love Actually, though, does the
50:00
Arnoldson of saying the name of the year of the movie in the movie,
50:02
which I hate because every time they say two thousand and three, it pulls
50:07
me out, like no, no, no, hang on. Dick Clark
50:10
in this movie talks about the sixteenth New Year's Rock and Eve, which instantly
50:15
dates it because I know that there were more than sixteen. I was,
50:21
well, I will though, Um. That really great romantic comedy is The
50:25
Holiday with um Jack Black and that's Underrate Winslet and Jude Law, Jude Law
50:37
and Cameron Diaz. Cameron Diaz, Yeah, really really good. I wasn't
50:42
expecting you too, John. I'm just saying for our man, I love
50:46
a good rom com. This is doesn't sound like it doesn't sound like you
50:51
do. All right, this is where have you seen? Is where I'm
50:54
going to defend myself. Have you seen two weeks? Two weeks? Notice
50:59
no? Then no? Okay, if you haven't seen the things that we
51:02
mentioned tweks, there's three movies I haven't seen out of the what fifteen thousand
51:07
releases we keeps, you keep not seeing them? That's all see. And
51:13
this is where I where I offer explanation to defend myself. Is I am
51:15
actual. I am a huge fan of rom coms. I hate bad rom
51:22
coms. I hate rom coms that disappoint me. So I wind up not
51:25
seeing a lot of rom coms because if I see the rom com and I
51:29
dislike it, I get mad at it. I hate rom coms that disappoint
51:34
me, So it does take an extra little bit to push me over the
51:37
edge to go see the rom com because I'm so scared of disappointment. Because
51:43
I care that much, I'll go see a thousand star Trek Next Generation movies
51:46
because they all suck. So I'm like whatever, I know what I'm getting
51:50
into with this. You're breaking up. Yah, that's where I come.
51:53
I'm so sorry everybody. We have to we have to continue on without John's
51:59
and then John having technical problems back to his home planet between commercial breaks.
52:05
I was killed with Puccia. No. But that's what I'm saying is my
52:08
my my demands are very high of rom comes, and so it becomes very
52:13
difficult for me to go see them. Also, let the holiday on your
52:16
list. I I Darren recommend it. I will even though Jack Blacks in
52:21
it in a lead, I will go ahead and put the home. He
52:22
is amazing, amazing as the lead, as the lead. As the lead,
52:30
Jack Black is supporting character, fantastic stuff. As a lead, he's
52:34
the lead of the secondary couple. Okay, see, okay, there you
52:37
go, secondary couple couple, so and and he and he brings it.
52:43
Jack absolutely brilliant. But like but but like Jack Black. That that's a
52:49
that's a that's a great example of like when you're talking about the casting sort
52:52
of thing. It's like he's an Albert Brooks type where I just can't see
52:55
him in the lead in a movie like this. I can see him in
52:59
a Bruno Kirby role, but I can't see him as the Billy Crystal role.
53:02
No. Yeah, And I definitely wanted to say the holiday would be
53:07
work with Jack Black as the primary couple, but as the secondary couple it
53:12
works really well. So this is what we were talking about. Nobody,
53:16
nobody would expect our rom com knowledge to go this deep or this passionate.
53:22
I mean, we do have a movie podcast, so I mean there's there's
53:24
a chance that we would know a little something not known for our rom coms
53:29
up to this point though, just going to throw that out there. That's
53:30
true. There's not a lot of rom combs on our list because we usually
53:34
go towards directors who don't do them, or we just put the years like
53:37
the eighties or nineties where they're not doing rom coms. Did I thant Christopher
53:42
Nolan to do a rom com? Feel like that needs to happen? Maybe,
53:45
Okay, Like I'm looking up Nora Efron right now because I can't remember
53:49
what she has directed, but I feel like maybe we could do House Unfortunately
53:53
she If we do House of Efron, I think she directed Mixed Nuts with
53:59
Steve Martin, and I will be sick that week. This is this is
54:04
My Life, Sleepless in Seattle, Mixed Nuts, Michael, Michael's Great,
54:09
Michael is a great movie, Lucky Number, Bewitched, and Julie and Julia
54:15
Mixed Bag. Yeah, just like Mixed Nuts. No, no, Mix
54:19
Nuts is just vile. It's terrible. Nobody should ever watch that movie.
54:22
Okay, so we're we're. I mean, I feel like I got to
54:25
pull the plug here because I feel like we could keep going. All yes,
54:30
absolutely, but let's let's let's go ahead and talk about our ratings because
54:35
we talked about. One thing that I do want to mention before we give
54:38
our ratings is that apparently Harry is based off of Rob Reiner post divorce.
54:45
Oh really, yes? And I really find that interesting because I love when
54:50
I hear stuff about that where it's just like this is about me, or
54:53
like this character is based off of me. I'm the director, or I'm
54:58
the writer, or I'm the one ever and this is the kind of experience
55:01
that I was going through. I love that kind of connection with film because
55:06
film is such a personal medium. It's you devote a year or more to
55:10
your life, of your life to this, to this creative endeavor and to
55:16
find out that you have such a personal connection to it. It really intrigues
55:21
me. And it feels makes you feel like you get a peek behind the
55:24
curtain when it comes to the head honcho, the hefe of Rob Reiner with
55:31
this movie, and and so it and apparently Nora Ephron wrote a lot of
55:37
the dialogue based off of the interaction between Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner, which
55:42
again makes me happy. But we're at the fifty five minute mark. I'm
55:45
not cutting a single thing from this episode. We're gone tape. This is
55:52
live to tape people to get letters. So look it's our sixty fifth take,
55:55
so we're gonna get it right this time. Yeah, Darren, I
56:00
need to know, like how many how many times I want you to tell
56:02
me how many times have you seen this film? And oh man, and
56:06
and and what's your what's your rating? Because you do not give half stars,
56:09
so what's your full star? I do not full ast. So so
56:15
this is probably the second time I've watched this. And what's really interesting is
56:19
the first time was probably back before I was even in a relationship, so
56:23
pre dating, pre engagement, pre married virgin. So yes, yes,
56:30
I mean that is that is true. Uh so, yeah, So going
56:34
from that to now, why do you you lose it at John? You
56:43
lose it? I can handle it. When John loses it, I cannot
56:49
handle it. I can't keep a straight face with John loses it, just
56:57
slid it right in there. You just gotta Okay, Okay, take sixty
57:06
five. We could do this, all right, Let's stay with it.
57:07
Let's say okay, so yeah, I mean you're talking fifteen twenty years between
57:15
the first and second watch of this once when I was a virgin. Sorry,
57:24
guys, I'm sorry. I can't help it. Okay, okay,
57:28
okay, all right, okay, okay, I'm gonna turn around. Y'all
57:30
can't say okay. He's wafting his eyes like like you just won Miss Universe.
57:36
Thank you, thank you. I'd like to thank the Academy right now.
57:38
Um yeah, no, I think you guys have helped me kind of
57:44
grow, growing a little bit. I think I've always agreed that the writing
57:47
was amazing. Um, you're Mike, You're Mike. But the other trick
57:57
again, Like like I said in the beginning, you know, at its
58:00
core, it did kind of feel like this SNL sketch of you know,
58:06
here's this one sentence premise, how do we pull it into a ninety minute
58:09
movie being based off of any Hall didn't give it any favors in my book,
58:15
but ah, I I want to give it a three, But I
58:24
also don't want to be that harsh because okay, I'll say this, I'm
58:30
going to give it a four. I would have given it a three at
58:31
the beginning of this conversation just off of having watched it. But I think
58:37
you guys have talked it up enough and really like it is a good movie,
58:45
and Rob Breiner is a good director for this, so I'm gonna get
58:47
it. What's your what's your criticism? Like what I mean? Like obviously
58:51
like we can have some sway because we had a good time tonight. You
58:53
know, we talked about the good things. But what's your first when I
58:58
say, hey, why did you get to three? What's the first thing
59:00
that pops in your head? I think it's just maybe just the unlikability of
59:07
Billy Crystal's character, and I don't I just don't relate to it as much.
59:13
I don't. This wasn't my I don't have that much of a worldly
59:16
experience of relationships and divorce, and things like that. So I don't connect
59:21
to this movie on that level. I mean the fact that you know,
59:25
I had one girlfriend and then met my wife and that was a relationships.
59:31
That was it. So I don't as a little different than John apparently.
59:35
But that's freaking lucky, man. I'm like jealous. That's awesome, that's
59:38
amazing, that's fantastic. I was the guy who chose not to date in
59:43
high school because I kept seeing the fact that person A went one direction and
59:46
person B went another direction. So wait, so wait, so so this
59:55
is the episode Guys where Tristan mocks me for not day in high school.
1:00:00
John calls me out from being a virgin before I got I was just too
1:00:07
times. Don't blame me, don't play this stuff. I can no no,
1:00:15
no, no, no, like, but you know, we're all
1:00:16
friends, so it's all good, no no no man, like it all
1:00:20
seriousness. Like the thing is like you and your wife, you're you're the
1:00:23
couple that has like the beautiful story in the interstitial. Nope, And I'm
1:00:28
like, I'm not saying that it's like a jackass. I'm saying that's like
1:00:30
legit, like and that is that is sort of the thing That's what I
1:00:35
think elevates the movie in a large sense, is that you get the sense
1:00:39
of how many different types of relationships there are. I think the big problem
1:00:44
with rom coms in general, although apparently I haven't seen enough of them,
1:00:46
according to you, you haven't, but is that they sort of present it
1:00:51
as a one size fits all look at relationships, and the relationships in them
1:00:55
are everything. And I think these interstitials really go along way to laying it
1:01:00
out there. It's like, this is a story that is one of many
1:01:05
stories, and it might not be your story, but it's still a fun
1:01:09
story to go along with because you wouldn't mind knowing You wouldn't mind having them
1:01:14
tell you this, Like, wasn't there one interstitile where it was like,
1:01:16
uh, it's like, well, we met, but then you got married
1:01:21
and then you divorced her, and then you got married to her, and
1:01:22
then you divorced her, and then like it was and it's just like,
1:01:24
oh, oh dang. It's like, but but true love one out at
1:01:29
the end, and twenty years later we ended up getting back together. It's
1:01:31
like, yeah, but that shouldn't marry anyone as you say, that's oh
1:01:37
yeah, that guy Yeah, that was you know, he personified uh saying
1:01:44
that I've popularized at work, which is solved for X. You know,
1:01:46
if there's one common denominator, what's the problem figured out? I had a
1:01:52
friend who constantly said, like like there was her favorite demotivational poster was you
1:01:58
are the common denominator and all your field relationships. I love it. It's
1:02:01
so true. It's true. But yeah, you know, so maybe not
1:02:06
a bit of it, just just connecting. So but I'll give it.
1:02:08
I think I can give it a I can give it a four. Awesome,
1:02:13
John, how many field relationships are you giving this film? I'd love
1:02:16
to give it all of my failed relationships, because stead I would get a
1:02:20
thousand of them. But I will. I will give this a solid five
1:02:24
because even though I might look at it at certain points and say, ah,
1:02:30
you know, there's nothing really spectacular happening as a director here, there's
1:02:35
nothing really spectacular. This is one of those ones where, even though I
1:02:38
hate the phrase the whole was greater than the sum of its parts, if
1:02:43
I pull this thing out of it, it's not the greatest I've ever heard.
1:02:45
If I pull the script and I read the script, I'm like this
1:02:47
isn't the best script I've ever read, but the combination of the casting of
1:02:53
Ryan or getting those performances, of the fact that Snenfeld is able to give
1:03:01
In one particular scene, I looked at it and that, even though I
1:03:06
didn't know until this conversation that she had based it, that f Ron had
1:03:09
based it a bit on Annie Hall. There's a specific shot where they're walking
1:03:15
down the street, and I was like, this is the Max conversation from
1:03:19
Annie Hall right now where he's walking down the street with his friend and they're
1:03:22
calling each other Max for no good reason because that movie makes no sense.
1:03:25
But I can tell right there. And Sidenfeld is also he's a terrific director
1:03:30
of photography, so why all of his movies look beautiful? Yeah, this
1:03:34
is beautifully shot, This is well crafted, very new, this is this
1:03:37
is easily I'm going to throw it out there. Of the films that we've
1:03:40
watched with Ryaner, it's the best shot film period, best shot film that
1:03:45
he's done up to this point at least. But yeah, so I give
1:03:50
it a five. He got at least acknowledge it's cultural footprint on top of
1:03:53
everything else. I mean that this is the rom Com that all rom coms
1:03:58
after are measured against. That's it. So for me, I'm gonna give
1:04:03
it a four and a half. So I'm going to split the difference between
1:04:05
the two of you. I'm giving it. Honestly, I kept trying to
1:04:09
think, like, why am I giving it a four and a half?
1:04:11
Why am I? Why am I not giving it a four? Why am
1:04:13
I not giving it a five? I just for the I'm not ready to
1:04:16
give a movie that I've seen once a five star. I feel like I
1:04:20
have to see it again to see if it earns that five stars, kind
1:04:24
of like with like John, like you and I with once a bunch of
1:04:27
time in Hollywood. We watched it and we're like, man, what a
1:04:30
picture. One an amazing film, four and a half stars. This may
1:04:34
bump up to five, you know, it's just and then we watched it
1:04:36
and we're like, yes, this, Oh my god, this is a
1:04:40
five star film, you know, like that kind of thing, Like That's
1:04:43
maybe where I'm at with when Harry met Sally's I love. I love so
1:04:46
much about this movie, like ninety nine percent of this film. And I'm
1:04:49
saying ninety nine percent because I can't think of that one percent, but I'm
1:04:53
not going to say it's one hundred percent, So I am saying four and
1:04:56
a half stars. This was great. This This is a c packer jack
1:05:00
script, cracker jaft script, great performances and just I think make grind needs
1:05:05
to get more confusing that word. I don't think it needs. So here
1:05:12
we go. We got four, we got four and a half, we
1:05:14
got five. All around good movie. We all agree that this is a
1:05:16
cultural footprint. This is a touchstone. Everybody should see it, even though
1:05:20
it was made in eighty nine. This is has a universal appeal. Man
1:05:25
or woman, doesn't matter anything in between. John, what are we doing
1:05:30
next week? Well, Tristan, we're actually going to stay here in the
1:05:34
Ephron Hallway and we're because I haven't seen Sleepless in Seattle or you've got mail,
1:05:41
we figure let's stick with it. When Harry met Sally is the gold
1:05:44
standard. Where do sleepless in Seattle? And you've got mail following that?
1:05:47
So next week will be we will be watching nineteen ninety three's Sleepless in Seattle.
1:05:55
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