The Details (2011) - Nostalgia Check

It's a first-time watch of The Details (2011) starring Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Ray Liotta, Laura Linney, and Dennis Haysbert.

Neither of us had seen this overlooked dark comedy before, so we went in completely blind. We break down the movie’s biggest moments, discuss the performances, share IMDb and Letterboxd reviews, and decide whether this strange suburban morality tale deserved more attention or was forgotten for a reason.

Can a movie about raccoons, lies, guilt, and increasingly terrible decisions become a hidden classic? Or is it simply one of the strangest films of 2011?

In this episode:

• First time watching The Details
• IMDb and Letterboxd audience reviews
• Plot breakdown and key moments
• Our final score
• Does The Details pass the Nostalgia Check?

Have you seen The Details? Let us know if you think it’s an underrated hidden gem or one that should stay forgotten.

Subscribe for weekly movie reviews, first-time watches, nostalgia revisits, and discussions covering films from every year we’ve been alive.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

We're gonna blend out what happened to Peter Plumber if he didn't give the minutes blender. Welcome back to BJ Day in the Morning, your favorite dirty name Pump Hans, where we put Arma Nostalgia to the test with first time launches, rewatches, everything else in between, and we see what holds up. My name's Brendan.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

And I'm Juan.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

And Juan, today we watched a movie.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

That was a movie.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

It was a movie from 2011 featuring the one and only Toby Maguire. Toby Maguire. Not as Spider-Man. Crazy. And the movie's called The Details.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Yeah. Um, first thing I have to point out is Toby Maguire never ages.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

God, no, he looks like a child in this movie. He looks exactly the same. Yeah, and Spider-Man came out like four years before this, the last Spider-Man movie. Wow. It's insane. Um, you know what else I want to point out? What? That we age. Uh, we're getting old. Uh-huh. Um, so if you want to see us grow in real time, you should follow us on TikTok and Instagram. You can find us. There's links down below in the description. And then since you're here already and we had to sit through this movie, I'm gonna tell you don't watch this movie right off the bat. But what you should do is leave us a five-star review on uh Apple Podcasts. That would be really awesome, really helpful.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Just just for having to go through this movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

We're gonna tell you all about this movie. Um, and it's it's a doozy, man. Yeah, for sure. It's a doozy. Let's get into some details. Are you ready? I'm ready. Let's get into the details. Um, that's the picture that showed up when I pulled up IMDB. Oh, yeah. The Allstate guy with the bow and arrow. Anyways, the details is from 2011, like I said, it's an hour 41 runtime. And I felt every fucking minute of that hour 41. I'll tell you quite. Uh the tagline synopsis for this movie. When a family of raccoons discovers worms living underneath the sod in Jeff and Neely's backyard, the pest problem begins a darkly comic and wild chain reaction of domestic tension, infidelity, and even murder. Murder. Something that I like to do when we start talking about movies we've never seen before is go over like what we thought before we watched the movie. I'm gonna I wanna talk about since we just did the tagline before we get into more of the details of the details. When we picked this movie and we read the tagline, I thought this movie was going to be a family fucking friendly movie. But it is a family fucking movie. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, this is not I I don't know why I was getting all these thoughts in my head that this was gonna be like furry vengeance. Have you seen that bullshit movie? No, don't um, but like it just the tagline makes it sound until you get to the murder part, that it's gonna be silly, like an 80s or like 90s comedy. Yeah, and I was really bummed that it wasn't that.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Anyways, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

I was expecting, you know, especially with the with the poster of the movie. The poster looks like dog shit. I was expecting like a this is Photoshop Triangle thing, yeah. More of like a rom-com type of deal, and it definitely There was no romance, if that's what you were not at all. If you're expecting.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Because even Elizabeth Banks just looks like they took a still image and fucking masked her out and put it on the background. That's not even the street they fucking live on. Yeah. Like the poster looks like some it looks like the shit we made in fucking high school when we put our each other's faces on the posters. Yeah. It's bad. Anyways, uh 6.1 on IMDb with a 56 meta score. Top build cast. You ready? Toby Maguire. Uh-huh. Elizabeth Banks. Uh-huh. Laura Linney. Nice. Gary Schwartz. Yep. Uh, Carrie Washington, Ray Leota, Dennis Habert, and uh they put Kathy Vu. She's the porn star that he's obsessed with. She's in the top build cast. Um, so she's a porn star in real life. I don't, I don't know. Do you want me to look? Let's derail this episode a little bit. She'll a porn star in real life. Actress, director, writer. She's been on Guess not. Uh Boo Bitch. That's a show she was on in 2022. But yeah, 6.1 user reviews. Are you ready for some reviews of this movie? Yeah. Let's start with a fun one. Nine out of ten. Whoa. This one's from 2012. Um, so I want to point out because someone someone will probably say it if I don't say it now. Uh-huh. This movie was released at a film festival in 2011, which means it was released in 2011, but it had its wide release in 2012.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

So most people saw it in 2012, and some places that I was looking at research said 2012, but it did in fact premiere in 2011. So it we are considering it 2011. It's the same thing with like Spirited Away, yeah. Where we watched the English dub, which came out years after the original release. So we're going based on the date that it was released. So this one's from 2012. Nine out of ten. Rambunctious, horny raccoons. That's the title. Toba Maguire is a pitch-perfect anti-hero in this bizarre, absurd, dark movie about love and raccoons. The movie plays like a demented fairy tale, replete with butterflies, rainbows, and crossbows. I don't know fucking crossbows. Um, the audience I saw it with was in stitches. But this isn't really a comedy. I wouldn't even call it a black comedy. I'd say this movie is more of a magical, absurd comedy, if that is even a genre. It plays like a fever dream, swinging wildly between realism and camp. I was surprised about a hundred times during watching during the watching of this film. And to tell much more about it would just spoil the fun for you. Suffice it to say, you will not get what you're expecting. If you want something normal, this isn't it. I will warn that sometimes the movie makes your stomach turn as you're forced to live in the shoes of a morally suspect character. But I think that was the point. How about a 10 out of 10? This one's a long one, so I'm only gonna read a little bit of it. The details is not a still life portrait. This one's from 2012. The details goes places where most films these days dare not venture. It's a black comedy, but it does not bother to play sight gags of the grotesque. It's a black comedy, but it is not afraid to become suddenly dramatic. It strikes me as a generally fearless movie, not afraid to deal with the darkness and ridiculousness of male sexuality. Uh, Toby Maguire plays the part of a likable loser, internet porn lover, sexual deviant exceptionally well, and it's not afraid to allow its characters to express a kind of cartoonish intensity which borders on surreal at times, nor is it afraid to allow its characters to reveal deep human insecurities. They really like this movie, huh?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Let's finish off the IMDB ones with a two out of ten. Two out of ten. Absolutely terrible. This one's from 2012. Don't bother with this movie. The premise was bad, execution, bad. Acting was overdone and overindulgent. I'll just put it this way: this movie created a new rule in my mind. If there if there is a dark comedy with several name actors in it, then don't see it unless you know other people who loved it. This is just one of those movies where it seems like someone called in a bunch of favors to get it made, even though it never came together whatsoever. The opening sequence did make it seem like there was some potential, then it just sort of drifted and the audience is left waiting for the good parts to start. We were left waiting for the good parts to start all the way to the end credits. Do yourself a favor and pass on this truly horrendous movie. Fuck. That's that's a big difference from the other two. The other ones loved this fucking movie. Yeah. They're like, we had stakes in this movie, so we have to say good things. We we put money on it. Yeah. Um, should we head on over to uh Letterboxd? I wonder how they liked it. Um, well, they gave it a 2.9 overall out of five. Yeah. I mean, it's eh. Sure. Uh, three stars for the first one. Peter Parker and Betty Brandt sex in 4K. That yep. Two stars. I don't believe in a world where Elizabeth Banks, Carrie Washington, and Laura Linney all want to fuck Toby Maguire. Another two-star, an average day in Bully Maguire's life, banging people's wives and shouting out raccoons. Right. And the last one, two and a half stars. You've heard of feel-good movies. The details is a prime example of a feel-bad movie. Everyone is either freaky, evil, or both. Sporting some of the most uncomfortable sex scenes on screen, it's a wonder the movie is watch is as watchable as it is. All I'll say is the drama is high and Dennis Haberts carries. True. True. Very true. Very true. That's the details on the details, though.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

The deets on the deets.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

And now it's time that we break down this movie as best as we can. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_02 9:46

I'm ready. Like Chris Angel.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

This movie starts off with a raccoon problem. So Jeff Lang, played by Toby McGuire and his wife Neely, are already struggling in their marriage. It's apparent very, very early on that they're I love in movies to show that people aren't in love in their marriage or not having a good time in their marriage. They sleep on opposite sides of the bed. Have you no this is like a trope in movies?

SPEAKER_04 10:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

And they show it right at the beginning that they're sleeping on other sides of the bed, like with a gap in the middle.

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I'm like, that's how I sleep. That's how I sleep too. I'm like, yeah, we'll cuddle, but as soon as it's time to sleep, I'm turning over. It's too hot. During this, Jeff becomes obsessed with the raccoons that are destroying his new lawn. He attempts to get rid of them, which kicks off a chain reaction that slowly ruins his life. I want to point out that Neely, his wife, says, get rid of the grass and do what I said for the garden, and the raccoons will go away. And if he would have just fucking listened, nothing that was nothing that's gonna happen next would have happened at all. And they're trying to re-like renovate their house and make another bedroom so they can have another kid. And they're gonna break permit laws by building this room. And he says, They're not gonna find out. And then he has to convince the neighbor next door to not tell on them. If he would have just listened to his fucking wife, nothing else would have happened. Yeah. Anyways, uh the raccoons are basically like a metaphor for all the problems that he keeps ignoring.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Yeah, especially later when he starts seeing raccoons when they're not really there.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Yeah, I honestly thought that scene was funny as well. Yeah, I mean there's one breaking through the wall, and the one that's fucking on the toilet and it flushes and it hops off and it farts. Yeah, I'm like, that was the one time I laughed. I'm like, great, a fucking fart joke made me laugh in this movie. During all this though, Jeff starts making really terrible decisions. Instead of dealing with his marriage, Jeff has an affair with Rebecca, who is, I think, his therapist friend.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

They're both doctors. They went to med school together, so I think they were friends to begin with. Right. And then he uses her as a therapist?

SPEAKER_00 11:57

I think so. It's not really established, but they hook up pretty quick.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

They weren't that drunk. And I have to I just love that. He goes to talk to her about how he's got a porn addiction, uh-huh, and his wife is pissed off at him. And this is where we get cuts to his porn addiction, right? Like it cuts and he's showing him like talking to cam girls and emailing what did he call him? His internet whores or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Yeah, some crazy shit.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

But he what were you saying? No, go ahead. He's talking to one specific girl, fruit lover uh 69 or 40. No, 420, because he says he's got a thing. Whenever it says 420, he's there for it. And then it shows him talking to this girl on the online, and she says, This is the this is what I was saying before we started recording. I can't wait to tell you about this. Um, she's lighting up a joint and smoking it, and she goes, Don't forget to bring your friend Mary Jane. And I made the face like, huh? What? And so did Toby Maguire because that line is only funny because we know he played Spider-Man.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

And I'm like, it's not even funny. Yeah, it is so stupid and cringy.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

I made that face too.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

I was like, Wait, what? Your friend, Mary Jane and Betty Brant's in this fucking movie? What the fuck, dude? Um, so the affair though, it leads to Eli's guilt and Rebecca's husband, played by Ray Leota, blackmailing him for a hundred thousand dollars. Yep. Honestly, Ray Leota's pretty great in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Probably one of the best performances in this movie. Especially when they're on the bridge.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Oh, yeah, that monologue that he gives is powerful. Very I I just want that scene. If I ever have to think about this movie again, I want it to be that part. Um, or anything with um what's his name? The Allstate guy later on. Um I forgot his name, and I should I I just said in the last episode I should be better about this. And look at me. His name in the movie? Uh his name in the movie is Lincoln.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Lincoln.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Couldn't forget that one. Dennis Haysbert, he's great in this movie, honestly. Like, when when I only know him as the Allstate guy, and then I see him actually acting in a movie and he's got range. Um, I have more to say about him later, but like it was it was crazy to see him actually acting, you know? Yeah. I knew I was in good hands. Right. So yeah, every every attempt he has to cover up his affair, though, um Jeff's affair, right, um, makes things exponentially worse for him. It's like a recurring theme here that everything that he is doing is easy, but it also makes everything worse. Then we're introduced to his weird ass, what they call wack-a-doodle neighbor, played by Laura Linny. Uh, her name's Lila. Um I I have some shit I need to say about Lila. Um Lila. But I'll say it later. Um, but Lila is a nosy ass neighbor who sees and hears everything, and she uses that as her superpower. So she discovers all of Jeff's secrets, finds out about his affair while Jeff's trying to butter her up to keep her quiet. But their relationship becomes really weird when it's found out that her cat ate the poison that was meant for the raccoons and she knows about it the whole time and doesn't tell him until she tries to fuck him.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

To keep him quiet.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

To keep her quiet.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

And it is the most awkward sex scene in this fucking movie.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah. It's and also it's very uncomfortable when Toby Maguire changes his mind halfway through, and he's like trying to push her off, and she's like and she loses her mind.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah. Because she's a manipulator. Yeah. And then she keeps going and he gets into it. And then more problems come up. Um, but honestly, Laura Lenny steals a lot of the scenes with her fucking crazy, unpredictable attitude. Like she'll go from sweet, kind to fucking pissed off, demonic woman, and then bring it back down to weird ass fucking neighbor, like crazy, scary, and her hair changes based on what mood she's portraying in the scenes. I don't know if you saw that. It would be weird and wiry and crazy when she's like acting that way, but then it would be all nice and put up when she was like, I'm a sweet girl next door type, like fucking housewife style. Yeah. And then she was always wearing like too sexy of nightwear around him. Like you could tell she was coming on to him from the start. As soon as he brought the fucking plant over, yeah, you're like, she she's gonna fall in love with you and not love love. Like she wants to have your baby. Yeah. So Jeff is constantly trying to redeem himself. So he feels guilty about everything and he's trying to become a better person. He's friends with this guy named Lincoln, um, who's a terminally ill basketball friend. Like they play basketball together. And in this weird twist, he gets Lincoln a better job as a basketball coach and decides to give him his kidney to save his life. It's like he's trying to redeem the two times that he fooled around on his wife.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Um he's like really trying to make up for the damage he's caused. Because it it to him, it's like good deeds erase bad deeds. Not true.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Not true at all. It doesn't make things better at all. Um, but you can definitely see like the thought process here on hey, I did some really shitty things that I normally would have not done.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

At least out loud. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

I mean, up until the point of cheating on his wife the first time with his friend, he he hadn't had an affair with anybody else. He was just doing it online.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Right. And it's like weird, it's that weird line where it's not porn if you're emailing someone right. I don't know. I don't know how that shit works, but like it's he thinks that it's cheating and he says it to his friend who he then fucks. Right. So it's like I don't know how much I need to listen to you. Right. Uh, but Jeff's lies finally catch up to him, right? There's a lot more violence, more blackmail, not only from um Ray Leota, but from the neighbor, more infidelity. Things just get worse and worse for him. I love I loved the parts though where we're at the end of the movie and he's getting recognized by the church that Lincoln goes to for giving his kidney after he confides in Lincoln about how the one time he had sex with his neighbor, she got pregnant. Uh-huh. And she's blackmailing him to keep the baby. And he's freaking the fuck out.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

And she's even saying your wife doesn't have to know. No, it'll just be. We're just neighbors, and you can be the fun uncle.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Yeah. What?

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Dude.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Psycho. Yeah. Psycho. But he confides in Lincoln about how he keeps having these daydreams and a real dream of her being killed. Yeah. So he doesn't have to deal with it. And he goes into detail. I loved this. It made me laugh when he goes, I just see these football players running through the field, and they throw a football and it turns into an arrow. And when he's describing it, you see these two football dudes run out of the woods, and that made me chuckle. Yeah. It was like one of the few times I laughed in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

I think most of these cutscenes that were like the interimaginary were pretty funny. I mean like these these are scenes that you normally wouldn't see when people are people are describing things.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Like when Lila describes her dream of having sex with him. Yeah. And she's like, We were on these stallions and dressed in Victorian, and it just cuts to her on the horse.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

It was in the trailer that shot, and I had no idea how it was going to fit in. And then you see it, and it it was pretty funny.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

It was it was pretty funny. But he tells Lincoln about his dream of the the football player throwing an arrow and it splits her head open. Yep. And Lincoln, who has gotten a better job because of Jeff, and a new kidney because of him.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

And now he's gonna survive, he's gonna live.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

He decides that that's how he's gonna kill Lila for him, and he's gonna repay Jeff by killing Lila.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

And you know what really confused me about this part was it didn't portray you know, like when when Lincoln was in the shower and he was just thinking about it, it didn't portray to me that he had the idea to go kill this lady. To me, it seemed like almost like he was regretting accepting this kidney from a fucking asshole.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah, from him.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Yeah. So I'm like, oh what like is his now friendship that we love with Lincoln?

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah, because their group their friendship's great. Like I love everyone of it. Yeah, anytime they're interacting, it's great.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

So like I was worried that their friendship was not ruined because you found out that Jeff is a piece of shit.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

That's funny you thought that because I I immediately was like he was gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Oh, killer? Yeah, in the shower. Like it was the actual spark when he went to the the sports store. Yeah, the surplus store.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Uh I I think like the fact that it dwelled on his tattoo of um, was it like the army or marines or something? Yeah, dwelled on that where I'm like, oh, he's killed people before, you know, and that's what put it together for me. Uh, but I think you gave this movie too much credit. I guess I guess so. Uh, because it definitely wasn't that deep, right? Yeah, uh, because he immediately goes and buys a bow and arrow and fucking goes out to the woods and he sees Lilo with her little dog and he comes out of the woods, no mask, yeah, which told me immediately he's gonna do it right because he Can't let her run away if he's seen his face. And she had already mentioned that Jeff was in the paper for donating the kidney. So she knows this guy. Like there's gotta be pictures of him, right? So there's no way he's gonna let her get away. But he hesitates. And she starts running, and then he just kind of has a fuck it moment and pulls pulls the bow and kills her. Yep. And the movie honestly it goes back. We're at the church now, like we mentioned before this. And Jeff's struggling. Like you can see it on his face, he's struggling with everything because he knows he puts it together that that Lincoln killed her.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Because of the bow.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Because of the bow, because he's the only person he told was Lincoln. But that's when he realizes he needs to just come clean about everything. And while they're driving home, there's a raccoon in the street, and he floors it, runs this bitch over, reverses, runs it over again, while Neely's screaming, like, don't do it, don't do it. And they both get out of the car after he tells her that he cheated on her twice in two days.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

And she just starts laughing and gets out of the car. And I think the laughter went on too long because I got annoyed with it.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Yeah, Elizabeth Banks is one of those actresses that just doesn't really do it for me. And then she can. She can. She has the ability, but it's also like most of her characters are all the same people. Right? Essentially. It's the same character. Right. There's just something about the way she executes certain things. I'm just like, I don't believe you. I don't believe you at all.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

No.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Uh that's annoying.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

But they get out of the car. And yeah, her laugh goes on way too long where you're like, this isn't it's not real anymore. Like at first, I was like, yeah, she's laughing because she's hurt. She's fucked up. She's like processing all the stuff. Because Jeff just told her everything. Yeah. From fucking Rebecca to the neighbor with the baby to telling Lincoln about his fantasy of killing her to knowing that Lincoln killed Lila. And he just laid all that out and she just kind of loses it. But then she tells a story about how she was having an affair.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Already.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

And I think it was fake. I think she made it up.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Really?

SPEAKER_00 24:28

I don't think she was actually having an affair. But everything lines up with why they weren't having sex at the beginning of the movie for the last six months. So it's weird. The moral of this story is that there is no moral of the story because the movie just ends with everyone being okay. All the problems that were caused by these raccoons have disappeared. Yeah. Jeff has no repercussions. They do the backyard the way his wife said at the beginning. They have another baby on the way. Don't know if they finished that fucking room.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

But there's no neighbor now. Link's alive with his kids and his wife, and he's gonna live for longer because of the kidney and everything.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Yeah, ultimately they decide to just brush everything under the rug and move on.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Move on. Nothing happens in this movie. This movie had no point.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

It just ends this they're the same at the beginning that they are at the end. They are the same. Except Lincoln and Jeff's friends, Ray Leota and Rebecca.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

They're split up now.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

And they're fucked up. Jeff has one less kidney.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

One less kidney and another kid on the way. And it's like nothing. This movie had no point. Yeah. Nothing changed for Jeff. I mean. He just had sex with two more people. Like.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Yeah. I mean I definitely didn't hate this movie, like, uh as a first time watching it. Yeah. Will I ever watch it again? No. Probably not. But I did enjoy s finding out where they get the meme from of Toby McGuire yelling at at me. Uh-huh. You know? Because that's obviously not in Spider-Man. But then just the whole thing in general is just so chaotic. And it's non-stop chaos. Right. That it was, I guess, watchable for me. Like it was definitely not gr not a good movie when you think about it as a whole. But it wasn't like boring for me. I mean, sure, there's no real payoff at the end. And it is kind of crazy to think that, oh, we're just gonna brush this under the rug. We know a murderer. We've all cheated on each other.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Which is and he cheated on his doctor school. He said he admits that he cheated through medical school.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

He failed through medical school and he had a cheat.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

So he's a fucking phony. Yeah. He's a bad husband. He's a bad friend. He's a bad doctor. Yeah. He's a bad dad. He's a bad neighbor. And he killed a cat.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Horrible. By accident, but he still killed a cat.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

It's just so wacky. Wacky. The movie is wacky. Yeah. That like, I mean the first thing I thought while watching this, I'm like, this movie is crazy.

SPEAKER_05 27:30

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

And this movie is crazy, but I I didn't I didn't get bored watching it. I didn't you you might have or someone else might have, but I thought it was a decent watch. Now the plot of the movie is horrible. And the f and the fact that we have no real payoff at the end. I liked it for a first-time watch. An only time watch. You know what I mean? Like I wouldn't go back and watch it again.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah. I have a lot I want to say about this. I have some notes that I wrote down during the movie. I did write down the Mary Jane line because that stuck out to me immediately, and that was at the beginning of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Before we give her like final numbers and scores and everything, right? Like, was that technically your review, or do you have more you need to say?

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Yeah, I mean, that could be my review. I don't really have much to say about this, except for like Elizabeth Banks didn't do it for me. Ray Ray Leota was the best performance in this movie. Yeah. And the movie's wacky. That's really all. I can't really go any deeper than that.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

I want to point out Laura Linny. I think she was fantastic in this role. Um, she's like the perfect crazy cat lady neighbor, but she plays it with like a like little bit of sensual energy where you're like, is she hot or like crazy? Like, you know, in How I Met Your Mother, the crazy hot scale? That that came into mind when you look at her. Like, because like she's an attractive person, like as Laura, Laura Linny is attractive. In this role, she's like so crazy that you're like, nah, nah, but like she's super manipulative, and she uses the strangeness that she portrays to convince Jeff to do all these things for her. She mentions she's not sleeping, so she gets drugs from him, Ambient, to help her sleep, and then she uses that against him later. Yeah. And I thought that was a smart writing, and B, the way that she does it and handles those line deliveries was really solid.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Oh, yeah. I mean, that is something that I forgot to bring up that I was thinking about earlier was everything that happens in this movie, everything that Jeff decides to do or brings up or talks about has a purpose later on.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Yeah, it bites him in the ass. And it bites him in the ass.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

And it's never a good thing, but it's the pills, the poison, the kidney, the poison for collection. The cheese, the everything. Yeah. The cheese, the cheese board. Yeah, and and like even like little things throughout the movie, it comes back later. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

And I think it's smart writing. Yeah. It's executed poorly, but some of the actors handle it really well. I do want to point out that uh Dennis Habert's reaction to getting a kidney got me a little teary-eyed when he's he's coaching the the middle school girls, and Jeff comes in to tell him he's gonna give him his kidney, and he gets really excited and then like calms down and just gets teary-eyed himself and really brings in that performance really strongly.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

I can't tell if his performance is grounded and subdued but powerful, or if it's just his voice.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

But his performance feels really strong compared to Toby Maguire's, especially in those scenes. Cause I I kind of kind of on the fence with Toby Maguire's acting abilities.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Toby Maguire is Toby Maguire, though.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Like you don't see him anywhere else than Peter Parker in this movie because he feels the same exact way. There are some shots in here where if I put it if I made a fucking game for you like I did in Shrek and said, Is this from the details or a Spider-Man movie? You would not be able to tell sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Because he he just feels the same.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

I mean, he had played Spider-Man for so long. Right. And just came off of it essentially.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

He was also a jockey in Sea Biscuit, okay? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Like Yeah. Um but like you know he has the chops, right? Like and he showed him in the great gap Gasby and he's pretty good, yeah. In other movies, but he feels the same. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

He's Toby Maguire. He's Toby Maguire. Like he's I'm not saying he's bad.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

He's just one of those actors that is like you accept that that's yeah, his role.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah, I don't think the I don't think he's necessarily bad, but he wasn't right for this role. A, he looks too young to be married with a kid who went to medical school. He looks too young for that. It doesn't fit for me. Especially when like Ray Leota is one of his friends.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Fucking the guy who plays Lincoln is one of his friends. You know what I mean? Like, he just feels really young. Um, it it's kind of the same vibe of like when we saw Tom Cruise and Eyes Wide Shut, where you're like, he just doesn't seem like a doctor with a kid. Yeah, he's too young, he looks too young, he sounds too young, he feels too young. Sure. Um but I do I do want to say that after Lila's murdered, the pacing like jumps in speed, and the music is really loud and orchestral, and it it kind of pounds in your ears to make you feel the anxiety that Toby Maguire is feeling in this. And I thought that was that was great, but the anxiety went away quickly when I just kind of felt more disgusted and disappointed in the entire situation, you know? Um, because I really don't know what this movie was trying to be. It's not necessarily funny, it's really just dark, um, but almost not even interesting dark for me. The whole movie, I was just pissed off watching this guy make really, really bad decisions after really, really bad decisions. Um, and then trying to hide that he might, in fact, be the devil um with good deeds, but it really doesn't pay off, and his wrongdoings are never satisfied. Like he doesn't get any come up as for being a fucking piece of shit. You know, his wife stays with him, sick, awesome. She just lets it go. His wife that he knocked up, she's dead, the baby's dead. That's a double murder. Um, but it just kind of felt like the writing was a little flat from here here to there, you know. I felt like a lot of the times the characters were repeating what the last character said, but louder to make you feel it, but it didn't work for me. Um, especially when uh Neely and Jeff are arguing, they'll repeat something the other one said, but angrier and louder. That doesn't mean emotion. That means, oh, were you paying attention? Despite the lack of a proper plot um for the main character, uh, the flat dialogue, uh, and the tone struggle, because it says it's supposed to be funny, it's really not that funny, it's really not that dramatic either. It feels like a fever dream movie, it feels very inspired by the Truman show, very inspired by uh the burbs. If you've seen that, I got those kind of vibes from this movie.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

I think, yeah, I think like the comedy aspect is the whole the piano fell on him and the whole raccoon thing. And I I think that's what where they got comedy from.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yeah, I don't know. The movie felt bland to me overall. Um, and that's where I'm gonna leave that. Um, for nostalgia check purposes, uh unfortunately, because of the meme, it almost lives up to nostalgia check, where we're gonna think about it because of that meme, but overall, nothing else about this movie stands out to me.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

I say fail.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

I don't think it, I don't think it's nostalgic whatsoever. No, but if we were gonna give it like a scale one to ten, uh, it's a really tricky one because you know the bottom of the barrel for us is hell of a summer or our number one spot, hell of a bummer. Yeah, I don't think it's that low though. I'd rather watch this movie over hell of a summer.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Should we say our uh rating at the same time?

SPEAKER_00 35:20

If you want, I'm scared. You're scared? Yeah, three, two, one, four point five. I I thought you were just saying four. My bad. Um, I ruined that shit. Uh, but I'm giving it a 3.75. I give it a 4.5. 4.5, you're you're saying it shows its age a little bit. It shows its age, and it like, you know. I'm saying it failed the assignment. Is it's not a great movie.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

I mean, the whole the the only thing is is like I was invested to see it play out. And like, I don't know, like a movie that actually holds my attention like that, even though it wasn't the best writing or the best plot or the best ideas, it's gonna show for something, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Like, um, looking at our list, I ranked Hell of a Summer higher than that at a 3.75. I gave this movie a 3.5, which tells me we definitely have to do some rearranging on our list because this movie was more enjoyable than Hell of a Summer. Uh-huh. Um, so I think we gotta do that in the future. That's our review and ratings for the details. Yeah, I don't know. It it wasn't a bad movie, but it definitely isn't one I'd want to watch again. Yeah. But if if you handed me two movies and said we have to watch one of these and it was Hell of a Summer and this, this hands down overall. If you handed me this movie and Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, this movie 100%.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

Yeah, what did we rate Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy?

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Um, I can pull the list up and I'll eventually go that low, I'll eventually put it online. We both gave Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy a three.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Really?

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

Really?

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Yeah. Oh because we were bored and confused.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Got it.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

Um, but you know what we're also confused about is why we did 2011 twice. Yeah. Uh so we took it upon ourselves to fix that. Uh so this is the second time we've watched movies from 2011. The wheel has decided, it decides the years for us. So we decided to fuck with the wheel, right? If it's gonna fuck with us, yeah, we're gonna fuck with the wheel. Yeah. So what we've decided is we are not gonna do three times on any of these years. No, it gets tough, it gets tricky, and also there's more movies out there that came out before 1992.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Pretty repetitive, right? You know? Um, especially like some of these years feel similar the closer we get. And we're we're getting 2011, 2013, and then 2021, 2023. Yeah. Like we need some some heavy hitters. We need broader, like if it if it was actually 90s, 2000s, 90s, late 2000s, you know, it would be more fun, but I feel like we've got to add a little spice in there.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

So what we're gonna do is we remove 2011 from the board. Uh, and we will do this for every movie, every year that we land on twice. It will get removed and replaced. So we replaced 2011 with 1991.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

So anytime we land on a year twice, it will get removed and replaced with one year going in reverse order from 1992.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

And we will keep it that way until the end of the season. So you can expect it until December. Um, this is what we're gonna do. So anytime, and if we get 1991 twice, it will get replaced with 1990. Yeah, you know, and then if we get 2001, because we already did 2001, then it'll get replaced with 89, right? And so on and so forth. Saying that, we got that out of the way. We're gonna spin the wheel to see what our next movie's gonna be, our next batch of movies.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

Let's spin it.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

I already replaced 2011 with 1991. So we're gonna spin the wheel. You still want more 90s movies, right? Yes, I still want 2010 just because I want to watch one specific movie and they just announced a tra uh but they just released the sequel trailer.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Um, so it would be time. But let's see what we're gonna get. Are you ready? Uh-huh. It's uh spin it. Big money, big money, big money. Big money, five we're gonna be watching a movie from 1995. Let's see some of the hits from 1995. What could we possibly be watching? Um, anything stand out to you? Um, first on the list, seven. Have you seen seven? Yes, that's so good. Uh Jumanji. Yes. Ooh, a big one because the sequel's coming out, the fifth sequel, Toy Story.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Toy Story.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

Toy Story came out in '95. Uh, we have Heat, The Usual Suspects, Braveheart, Casino, Too Wong Fu, thanks for everything. Before Sunrise, Clueless, 12 Monkeys, Goldeneye, Major Pain, Batman Forever.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

95's a good year. Friday, you know what? I've never seen Friday. What are we gonna watch for the movie we have seen? Uh I kind of feel like Toy Story because it's relevant. You can join us next week for Toy Story.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

I I'm excited. I love Toy Story.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

I love Toy Story.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

I haven't watched the first one in a long time. I think Toy Story is too good to review. Is it gonna be a Tippy 10 for us, dude? Top of the list.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

It might be, but then you have to think about Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

And who knows how Toy Story 5 is gonna be because I didn't like four at all.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

Right. I didn't like four. I didn't like four at all.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

But it's gonna be a tough one. So yeah, join us next week while we watch Toy Story for our rewatch of 1995. We'll put it to the nostalgia check, man. Yeah. Let us know ahead of time if you've seen Toy Story and want to tell us your thoughts and feelings and review of the movie. Yeah, if you want to send us a review on Toy Story, you can use the fan mail button in the description of the podcast or send us a message on Instagram. Uh, we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Uh, it'd be really cool to hear some people and include your reviews in the next episode. Um, but you can only do that if you go over to Instagram at speech in the morning underscore. Yeah, that's the one. Um, and shoot us a shoot us a direct message as as it would be, and we'll read your review online if you want us to. If you want to submit video or audio of you reviewing the movie, we'll take that too. It'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

And then um, you know, if you're listening on any of the podcasts listening apps, be sure to leave us live star reviews. It'd be really cool. You can leave comments over on Spotify about the movies we are watching, the movies we uh haven't watched yet. We read all the reviews we respond to, all the reviews. And I think that's another movie, Apple Podcasts comments coming. Lots of new people joining us for the for this adventure. We're only getting better. We're evolving with each episode. And we've only done this like 15 episodes worth of this adventure, this journey, this experiment, form, whatever you want to call it. So um it's really cool to have a lot of new people joining us. So thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of DJ in the morning, and all the other episodes of BJ in the morning. My name's Brendan, and I'm Mom. And welcome to night.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

Acting like a fucking deranged Mormon fucking you keep your fucking voice down. This is it.