‘Working Girl’ With Bill Simmons, Amanda Dobbins, and Joanna Robinson
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This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever finish a movie and the next thing you know, you're totally obsessed? Like I'm talking about ordering a book about 70s film lighting or buying the soundtrack on vinyl. Kind of obsessed. Whatever it is, Prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into or getting into. Head to amazon.com slash prime and follow your obsession wherever it goes.

The Rewatchables is brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. You can find Amanda Dobbins on The Big Picture. Dramatic return to you for The Rewatchables. I'm incredibly excited. I was, you know, you have two kids now and you're busy and I was trying to ease you back, but now we get you back for stuff. You've been very respectful. You've been on in like a year and a half. I know, but I'm back and I have to tell you in terms of like returning to the real world. This is like a real I'm back. World of adults, thank you so much for this opportunity. Joanna Robinson is here as well. Hello.

You don't live here, but every time you're here, I try to grab you for rewatchables now. And it's like a great track record of movies that you've had me cover. So, Working Girl. I can't believe it. Mentioned it a couple weeks ago to you and Mallory. Yeah. When we were doing a rewatchables. And I was like, we should do Working Girl. And Mallory, who you've known now for how long? Ten years. Said, no.

I cannot do that. I cannot take that from Amanda. Give my spot to Amanda. And I was like, you're right. Amanda has always said Working Girl is the number one movie I would ever want to do in the rewatchables. I've been waiting. It's my bad for forgetting that. And now we're going to do Working Girl. Let's run the trailer and then we'll go.

Do me a favor, be me? Tess, be my secretary. He wants to give her a chance. Hold all calls, Miss McGill. Maybe I just don't like you. Her double-crossing boss. I consider us a team, Tess. Doesn't. This woman is my secretary. But this working girl is gonna make it on her own. You are amazing. Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, and Melanie Griffith. What's going on in there?

She's dusting. Working Girl, rated R. Starts Wednesday, December 21st at a theater near you. This episode of The Rewatchables is presented to you by Amazon Prime. Prime is more than just fast delivery. It's also where you can dive deep into your favorite movie genres with Prime Video and get what you need.

fast to fuel your obsession. You also, if you watch a movie on Amazon Prime, you can click down and see the actors in each scene for a lot of the movies, which is great. Snacks for movie night, a new book on film theory. It's all there too on Amazon Prime. Whatever it is, Prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into or getting into. Head to amazon.com slash prime and follow your obsession wherever it goes. All right. Your favorite movie ever, Amanda. Why?

Perfect romantic comedy, but more than a romantic comedy. It is a cultural artifact as well as a, you know, Cinderella story. Great cast. Got a Harrison Ford take for later that I don't want to spoil, but very important. One of the great movie songs, if not the great movie song.

Well, I don't want to give ahead of myself. I mean, listen, it's in the trailer, right? We've already heard it, but incredible stuff. The first time I, when I watched it twice in four days and the first time, and I was like, do I like this song? And then when, and it plays nine times in the movies. And they keep doing the little where she's just kind of humming it a couple of times. They're like, all right. They do it on the organ, the symphony, all the different iterations. The score is great. The score is wonderful. Yeah. Yeah.

And also, you know, I was born a few years before this movie came out. So in some ways, this is how I understand the 80s, you know, and how I understand my parents for better and for worse. So just landmark, in my opinion.

Joanna. I love this film so much. I feel like this is a top five 80s movie. Yeah. Like if you're like, what was the 80s? Let's put it in a time capsule for the aliens. Working Girl is in there. It has to be. That's pretty good. That would be an interesting conversation what those five movies would be. I kind of feel like The Breakfast Club should be one of the five. Absolutely. Sure. Yeah. Die Hard. Let's see. Die Hard. The first Die Hard. The first Die Hard.

Over like Ghostbusters? Would you put Fatal Attraction in there? I'm trying to think of movies that just seem distinctly 80s. Let's see. Top Gun, I think, would have to be in the running. Oh, sure. There's a lot. Yeah. But if it can only be five, this should be a podcast. This should be an entire podcast. What's the five movie time capsule for each decade? But it would have to be these movies represent the 80s in the most 80s way as possible. And so the way that The Working Girl represents...

Well, you know, I'm just like only a few years older than you. And growing up rewatching all of these 80s movies on TNT or TBS or whatever it was, I was like, oh, every movie is set at Wall Street. Like that was that was the impression we got that every single movie was about Wall Street. That was the goal. That was the aim. Everyone was in New York trying to trading and in finance and arbitrage, which I still don't know what it is. I forgot to Google that before this podcast. Yeah, sure.

I don't know what arbitrage is. I have it under questions that can never not be answered. Okay, oh, that's good. What is arbitrage? I'll never know. There's also...

This is kind of the tail end of that. I mean, there's so many things going on with this movie, but this kind of greed is good era. Yeah. Where it's like, you just got to work your ass off. And if you get, then you'll have money and maybe you'll be able to ride in a limo. And it's just the eighties were very innocent about all that stuff. That, that was one of the things that jumped out to me is like, oh, this premise probably isn't the same kind of premise in 2025 necessarily. Yeah. I don't know that like the, the highest achievement is your

office and in a warren of all these other offices if that's like the gold ring the brass ring that you want right now but in the late 80s it was and it was a zero sum game you were getting it at the expense of somebody else alright so I have well first of all Rolling Stone wrote this in 1989 which I thought was perfect when they did a very bizarre Melody Griffith feature well sure and I cannot wait to talk about her has there ever been like an unbizarre Melody Griffith feature is my question this is wow um

Rolling Stone writes, Working Girl is the story of a secretary fighting an egomaniacal boss for credit on an idea. Griffith stars as the secretary, and she too is fighting for credit, though the character she plays in almost every scene, Griffith's billing is third behind Sigourney Weaver, the boss, and then Harrison Ford. It's so interesting that she's not the star of the movie. Yeah. Because she seems like a massive star now.

But at the time, it seemed risky to even build a movie around her. She had just done Something Wild, right? Yes. And Body Double. But those weren't big movies. Well, this is what makes her forever a star. Totally. Right. Yeah. But I can't remember other movies where somebody's clearly the star and they're like, no, we got to put you third because we need these other two for the poster, which kind of weirdly mirrors the movie. Yeah.

That's so interesting. I think it's definitely happened before. Usually maybe second builds. Right. Over a star that has an ego or something like that. But third build is under Sigourney Weaver. Because Harrison Ford's her co-lead, but Sigourney Weaver is definitely in supporting. But she was a massive star from Aliens at that point. It's not even the and, you know? She doesn't even get the and, the buffer, or introducing. She's not being introduced. She's been working for a while. Yeah, just absolutely third. Well, I can't wait to talk about her. All right, here's what I wrote down.

There's four movies going on at the same time. We mentioned The Greed is the New York aspirational money. The Gordon Gekko. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's this 70s, 80s thing that they don't really do anymore in movies where they're trying not to get caught in an elaborate lie. Right. Was basically half of the TV shows in the 70s and then a lot of movies where it's like,

Joanna's pretending to be the head of Spotify. Oh, well, it's like the TV show Younger, essentially. Oh, yes, exactly. All of which is just... Craig thinks Joanna's running Spotify. She's actually not. Right. And now they're in the same room and the actual head of Spotify is there. She's got to duck out before he sees her. I feel like I could get away with it, honestly. Yeah, but there's no Google. Yeah. You can kind of make up whatever you want. Exactly. So you have that.

You had the pretty woman Cinderella. It's the pretty woman parallels with this movie. It kind of makes me look down on pretty woman a little bit. They openly steal shit from this movie. Yeah. And then the last piece is the female empowerment workplace comedy stuff that is like,

For the 80s, because you have Baby Boom here, too. Broadcast news in a slightly different way. This is becoming an era of professional women. Huh. What an interesting time for something. Fatal Attraction is also the reverse of it, right? She's professional at the expense of a beautiful home in the countryside. You're missing the rom in the column, though. And obviously the rom-com. But out of all of those, what's your favorite?

I really... The yuppie cinema of the late 80s, and particularly the women, is fascinating to me. I love all of those movies. It is...

really fascinating to watch them now be like oh so this is how i learned how i was like supposed to go to work and supposed to dress because for our age it was you know handed down to you like okay this is what a working woman looks like right this is what it is to be a professional right you're supposed to like can you have it all should you balance your career should you accept the random child that you inherited from an unknown location um right have you done a baby boom rewatch i just

Is that what we're pitching right now? I mean, it is really fascinating. Bright Lights, Big City was another one. There's a bunch of these. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. My mom talks about... My mom's old. She talks about this all the time when she gets mad at younger generations. And she's just like, we just knew how to navigate stuff in my day. If we had people who were just jerks or they were hitting on... You just learned how to deal with them. You just recognized they're a sleazoid on the ticker. You just kind of had your...

Your way is almost like your nuclear defense system. Of dealing with it, yeah. And it's... One of the interesting things about rewatching this movie is the first 20 minutes is basically all about... Like, she's just in this world...

Weird shit's going on. They're trying to set her up with Kevin Spacey. And she's like, is he going to just try to get me the date? And the irony of it being Kevin Spacey was pretty great. But he's like, yeah, I got my hotel room. And she's just like, oh, man, she ends up getting out of the car. And it's just like, oh, that was a Tuesday. Right now, that would be like the most traumatic thing that happened to somebody. But back then, that was just kind of what the 80s were like.

Pretty crazy. She has that scene with Alec Baldwin of when she's talking about how great it is to be working for a woman and there's none of that chasing around the desk crap. And it's just matter of fact. Matter of fact. Exactly. Right, right. And she's like, I know you hate when I say stuff like this, but it's kind of nice to not have my ass laughed. But I can't think of that many movies in the 80s that even...

I don't know, casually. Nine to five is another one. Yeah. Yeah. The whole theme of it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that movie is insane. It is true. I think I was 10 or 11 when that came out. The whole point of that movie is like, do you think, did you see it when you were 10 or 11? I saw it in the theater. That's amazing. Did you see this in the theater? I did. Yeah. I mean, 87 was an all time movie. Yeah. Or 87, 88. Those, that, those two years of just big stars, cool movies. Um,

I'm trying to remember if it was perceived as a Harrison Ford movie or a Sigourney Weaver, because they were both really big stars. Yeah. Um,

I think it was probably a bigger deal that Sigourney Weaver was in it because she was, the aliens was such like a massive movie. I wonder if it was a big deal that Indiana Jones was doing sort of like a romantic comedy. His first rom-com. Yeah. You know? So an Indiana Jones movie or a Harrison Ford movie until you see it and then it's a Melanie Griffith movie. Yeah, he doesn't show up for at least 30 minutes. Yeah. We're talking about it in a second. We got to talk about, we got to talk about Melanie. Okay. Yeah. Holy mackerel.

What a performance. This is it. I still think Body Double is my number one Melanie Griffith. Really? She's so good in that movie. And she just comes in 120 miles an hour. Even though she is Hollywood royalty and she wasn't, you know, born a working girl from Staten Island. Right. This just seems like her. This just seems like who Melanie Griffith is. And I can't separate her from Tess, having seen her in any number of other things. She's also...

It's a it's an amazing performance because it's not over the top. It's not she's like she's not going to win the overacting award. Like she is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But she's still, you know, she's going to she's determined she's going to get what she wants. But I always think it's really interesting when people take these really big roles. The movie hangs around her.

And they recede a little. And they don't always raise their voice. Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada being the other one. It's not an obvious choice. And she's great in it. That's another movie...

Yeah. There's a lot of, there's a lot of, yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. There's a reason on my favorite, you know, well, that's 38 years old now. And it's just sprinkling DNA over all these beloved movies over the next 40 years. But those were the pretty woman and devil wears Prada were the two that I was like, Oh yeah. You guys just watch this one over and over again and tried to pull stuff. Melanie Griffith. We're going to talk about it now. Let's talk about tests first. Okay.

Perfect character. Yeah. Yeah. Like just like little details that are great. Like when she shows up in the office and she takes her shoes off and replaces them, it's like, okay, I get the, the hair is like a disaster. The outfit's not great. You know, the makeover or some sort of thing is happening at some point. She's like slightly trashy, but not,

You know what I mean? Like, you could see her at a bar at two in the morning, probably. She fits in both worlds. She figures out a way to fit in both worlds. Well, yeah, but they're doing, like, the class version of she takes off the glasses and, like, OMG, she's beautiful. Right. She was obviously always beautiful, but I like that the makeover montage is just, like, a haircut. It's not like every, you know, it's like she takes off her bangles in one scene and, like, she cuts her hair in another scene and that's kind of it. Also that Joan Cusack is capable of that kind of layering on such short notice. It's like Flo B-level feathering.

Really impressive. A really good career there. So she snaps, well, all of a sudden when she's going to pretend to be the boss. Yeah. Fixes her hair. Yeah. Slightly different outfit, changes the makeup, and all of a sudden looks like an absolute assassin. Yeah. But it's just, I thought it's a totally authentic, I completely believe the character. Yeah. Amanda and all her decisions. Yeah.

um i actually believe she can navigate this world yeah and she's using like her her street street smarts the right way yes and the guys are kind of that one scene when she walks in it's just a whole room of guys and she's like everything about it it's just really good i'm actually surprised she didn't win the best actress i understand why because the jodie foster and the accused that was such like right a big part it was like a big thing for her people had all history with her but

I don't know if you watch those two performances side by side. I actually think this one might be harder in some ways. Especially since Jodi's about to win again. I always like when you sort of relitigate the Oscars, I'm just like, well, would you rather give her the silence of the lambs? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought, I think this is a harder part because I don't know who else could have played the part.

There's a whole roster, which we'll talk about later, you know, but something that they talked about inside of the casting is they didn't want anyone who was like too obviously the most beautiful woman in the world. See, your beloved. Sorry to step on, you know, casting what ifs, but.

Michelle Pfeiffer. Michelle Pfeiffer. Can't work. Yeah. Right. They were like, she's too beautiful. You just don't buy it when she's sitting there. You couldn't like watch her bloom into something because she's pre-bloomed. So, you know, Melanie Griffith is like the perfect, she's so beautiful, but with the hair and the bangles and all this sort of stuff like that, you can see how people would overlook her or use her or whatever it is that they're doing. There's some baggage that she brings in real life. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

in the movie yes that is perfect it's like she just turned 30 she's slightly older than Sigourney Weaver and she just looks like there's probably been a couple mistakes in the past and now she's trying to get her shit together that I don't know if Michelle Pfeiffer would bring no Michelle Pfeiffer has it like is pitch perfect most beautiful person and there's no vulnerability to her or if there is it's like a different things have worked out for her since she was four years old

I can almost see it with Michelle Pfeiffer with like Married to the Mob or The Fabulous Baker Boys. Like there's something in those characters that is almost there. Yeah, but she's having fun doing that. I guess, but there is. I mean, Fabulous Baker Boys, the most important performance by an actress in the history of movies. Yeah, exactly. That movie? Yeah. Haven't done that one. Do we have to talk about Melanie Griffiths?

personal baggage right now or should we do it later well it's pretty well documented there's a lot of stuff going on here in her wikipedia yes there's a section for spouses oh sure don johnson married 1976 divorced 1976 by the way she was like 15 right

Don Johnson, again, married 1989, divorced 1996. Huh, that's interesting. The double marriage to the same person is a classic Hollywood thing that I don't think happens in real life. Stephen Bauer, married 1981, divorced 1989. I have a feeling that they probably had some fun.

Uh, and then Antonio Banderas from 96 to 2015. She was married to Don Johnson, Stephen Bauer, and Antonio Banderas. Yeah. What a trifecta. Yeah. Yeah. Three of the greats. Um,

She had coke and alcohol stuff for... Yeah. Really since she was like a teenager. While she was making this movie. And you can see it in the movie. Yeah. They have all talked about this, but at some point they even had to shut down production because she was under substance abuse. So I didn't know some of this. I didn't know that they made her pay. Mike Nichols was so mad he made her pay for the whole day's shoot. Right. Stuff like that. But you can...

Part of the reason that she works is her face is sometimes a little puffy and a little something, especially in some of the early test scenes. And you're like, oh. Yeah, it's not like she looks like she had had a really rough night the night before, kind of bloated. She was carousing with Alec Baldwin, you know, living her life. So she ends up getting...

they say clean after the movie, but some of the stuff was Griffith said it was the late 80s. There was a lot going on party-wise in New York. There was a lot of cocaine. There was a lot of temptation. One of the reasons this movie is rewatchable is because it's fascinating to see her scene by scene. You'd be like, ooh. Yes.

Yeah. I think that was a rough night because the TVs are better, the HD is better and you can really, there's a couple scenes where she's just got like completely red eyes for no reason. But it just like works. I dunked my face in a bowl of ice water this morning inspired by Melanie Griffin. I was like,

I just can't. You're like, I'm going to talk about her puffiness. I need to depuff myself. Yeah, come correct. They said she would be out till 4.30 in the morning and they would have like a 6 o'clock call time. Yeah. And she would just be flying. So they finally had to shut down one of them. But it really sounded like not great. Yeah. I was watching a Harrison Ford interview that he did in promotion of this. And they were asking if she was easy to work with or hard. And he was like...

Well, I just let everyone do what they do. She's very sensitive, easy to access. And I was like, there you go. He talked right around it. Yeah. The 80s were amazing is always the lesson in the rewatchables. It was just there's no decade like it. There's a lot of that in the movie also. There is cocaine. There are muscle relaxers. Oh, yeah. Valium. Dim sum. There's a lot of, yeah, dim sum. Yeah. A lot of booze. Like, yeah, it's full 80s in the text. 100%. Yeah.

Seems fun. I like the era where it's like 630 and people just on the set and people are like, where's Melanie? Yeah. There's no cell phones. You have no idea. Like, where is she? I don't know. We're filming. We're getting this. The sun's coming up soon. And then she like comes in probably from some whatever, but that's how they did it.

It turns out to be the greatest thing that ever happened in her career. Although if you look at her IMDb, this is probably the peak in Pacific Heights. Yeah, this is it. I do love Pacific Heights. Me too. But this is the peak. So she went into rehab three weeks after filming and then...

Got back together with Don Johnson, my guy. I was pregnant with Dakota for the Oscars that year. Yeah. Ends up having Dakota Fanning. Johnson. Dakota Johnson. Yeah. Why did I say Dakota Fanning? Because I'm old? It's only 930 in the morning. Ends up having Dakota Johnson. Yeah. Yeah.

But Don Johnson is on Miami Vice. This is the ponytail year. Oh, yeah. When he gets amnesia as Sonny Crocker and thinks he's a hitman. I was looking at... And then the three-episode arc where he's just a hitman. All culture starts here. He shoots tubs. I was looking at the Oscar photos from that year and his hair is just like down past his shoulders, like waving. It's amazing. It was an amazing reconciliation. Yeah. And then the other piece of it is...

Well, they were once married before when he was 22 and she was 14. It's like, what? Yeah. 14? It's not good. It's great. So you think the 80s were different. The 70s were like a whole other level. But yeah, she's pretty legendary. She was in Night Moves with Gene Hackman. I think that was 1975. The Tubi classic. Sure. You see it on Tubi all the time. And she has nude scenes in that. And she's like...

13 or 14 and that. It's just a different era. She's talked about her childhood. Right, yeah. I would say exploited was probably a decent word to use, I would say. I saw Drowning Pool recently for the first time with Paul Newman, where she's like a 15-year-old seductress. Really, she's really, really good in it and also has chemistry with Paul Newman, who's definitely...

In his 50s at that point. Jesus. Yeah. Well, it works out. She's also, she plays a hitchhiker in the Robbie Benson basketball classic, One on One. Sure, yeah. A movie I've seen over a hundred times. And he picks her up and then she steals money from him. But she's basically just for five straight years, either a hooker or some sort of trying to steal from somebody or she's like a street person or she's a drug addict. Right, yeah. And that's just kind of who she became. And that's, so when she does Body Double-

that's the first time like a real director's like, no, no, there's something more here. Yeah. So in Body Double, it's not like she's wearing all of her clothes. No, she plays a porn star. Exactly. She plays Holly Body. And what I think is wild about this movie is like, yeah, this is the least sort of like lowly to seductress she is. And she still is more than your stereotypical rom-com lead. Like Meg Ryan couldn't do this. No. You know. Well, you know, one of the reasons I was thinking about this, because it's a great point. Yeah.

She's very comfortable. Like, she's in a bra and panties like three, four different times in this movie where she's just like getting dressed. She vacuumed. It's not like... Sometimes there's not great camera angles of her and she just doesn't care. Like, she's very...

kind of play. And I don't know if a lot of like Julia Roberts, I don't think would have been, oh, I'm just going to get dressed in three different scenes. Meg Ryan wouldn't have done it. I really love that scene where she's just sort of like kind of awkwardly bending over, fastening the garters. And Alec Baldwin, who's reading like Motor Trend magazine is like, you look a

And I'm like, yeah. Same thing with Joan Cusack when they're trying different outfits. Yeah. I don't know. She's very comfortable on screen. There's something about her in everything she's in where you're like, I'm kind of rooting for her. I don't know why. Yes.

Pacific Heights being the key. Well, sure. Evil tenant. She's got to like get rid of that guy. I, I had a lot of questions about Pacific Heights. You haven't done that yet on rewatchables, right? We're going to have, it might not even be from hell month. It might be from hell, from hell summer. Oh yeah. Sounds right. Landlord arrangements there. Yeah. You're just not allowed to go into the paper. Yeah. Your thing. Yeah. So we have her, we have Sigourney Weaver who,

Her mid-80s looks like this. Ghostbusters, Aliens, Gorillas in the Mist, Working Girl, Ghostbusters 2. Basically all in a row. And each part's different. This is a really weird Sigourney Reaver in a good way performance where she's just...

This is like a character that would not exist in a movie anymore. True. How do you mean? Just like super kind of heat checky, pompous. I use my sex appeal. I'm just lying in bed in lingerie with 10 people in a hospital bed around me. And she's just going for it. The lingerie in this movie is of a time, you know? No question. They're all,

They're all really, really invested in it. Like thigh highs, I just don't think are a part of the wardrobe in that way anymore.

She's she's really good at another performance where she is like obnoxious and unlikable, but like all under a chill. There's like an iciness and it's never it's not big. It's human until she comes in like with the crutches and is like making a whole scene and, you know, faint. Well, that's what's interesting. Yeah. She ramps it up in the second half of the movie and it doesn't feel like it's.

Somebody trying to overreact. I feel like this character still exists and this character will always exist, which is just sort of like the woman who was born pretty and extremely rich and knows how to work every room. Yeah. And and you're sore and will pretend to give you a hand up and then stab you in the back. Right. And it's kind of annoying. Like if you put Kathleen Turner in this role in the mid 80s.

I'm not convinced Harrison Ford's going to walk away from it. Oh, I thought you were going to say, but it's also like a little too big. In this case, she's a little annoying and I can see why he's like, God, I got to get. Well, I'm almost like, why was Jack with her for long enough that she thought they were going to get married? Yeah. Timelines here, you know, are a little confusing. Yeah. Well,

What's your Sigourney Weaver relationship? She checks a lot of your boxes. How so? A lot of different types of movies that you're into. Yeah, a lot of genres. My main association is Ghostbusters. That's my Sigourney Weaver association. What's interesting about her, she doesn't, like, I don't know who the 2025 Sigourney Weaver is. She was kind of a one-on-one, but nobody realized it at the time. The different types of movies she was in. I think, like, you're right.

You're Elizabeth Debicki. What's so interesting about this is that the screenwriter said that her role was originally written as a man, which is true for her role in Alien as well. And so the fact that they're like, let's get Sigourney to play the role that we thought we were writing for a man, but let's put a woman in it. So that was sort of like a niche for Sigourney Weaver for a little while, which is so bizarre because she's so like beautiful and sexual and all this sort of stuff like that. But they were just sort of like, there's something about her energy that feels like it could just slide. We didn't change how we wrote the role. Right.

I mean, they have to change some plot points. The Jack stuff, yeah. And it does become more, the fact that it's two women against each other. Oh, definitely matters. You rattled Amanda just suggesting they would have changed anything about Working Girl. She was like, what's going on? She's perfect. The Sigourney Working Girl into Dave. Very formative. So I want to talk about that because you have her in Alien and Aliens, which is like this distinct...

crazy action hero role, right? That's like... Mm-hmm. Only a couple people could have done that. Then you have this working girl character and then she's also the first lady. And mean. She's like three completely different... And I actually like her the most in Dave. I think that's my favorite Sigourney Weaver other than Alien and Aliens. The Dave and the working girl, it's someone...

who is very, very standoffish. And, you know, I guess they track opposite where in Dave, you got to wear her down and so she'll be doing harmony, you know, for the cop when they get pulled over. And in Working Girl, it's really funny. She's really good. She is. And in Working Girl, she's like sort of charming and weird about the bunny, but then her true layers are revealed. But both times,

times. So do you like villain Sigourney or are you like Ice Queen Sigourney? I like Ice Queen Sigourney. Ice Storm Sigourney is another one. But yeah, she's so patrician in this versus an alien. She's a space trucker. But there's a steeliness to all of them. Yeah. I like Sigourney Weaver. She's nice.

Not a hot take. She's one of the most successful actresses of the 80s. You got an awesome job from Craig for your bravery. I was a fan. There's a reason she was in a lot of big movies. I'm still a fan. She's still great. I mean, you know, she's blue in Avatar or whatever. I don't remember what's going on there. She's playing like a teenager in Avatar. Oh, and like also Whale or something. Yeah.

That was sort of moving. I don't remember. Also, for people in my generation, Holes. That's how we were introduced to Sigourney Weaver. You know what? I just learned about Holes last week. Oh, my God. It's formative for you guys. It's formative, yeah. Maybe one of the most formative movies for my generation. One thing with her, she's tall. Hmm.

Yeah. And it's like, she's, I think she's like 5'11". I'm not Joanna Tall, but this is the tall woman, like, consortium over here. So I'm taller. Listen, you just made a face like I don't compete and I don't compete with you. No, you, I welcome you. Yeah, thank you. But we like tall women. We have Joanna Tall. Six feet.

Sigourney. Yeah. The Chuck Closterman all-stars of Sneaky Tall. And this is why it's believable when she lands that basket in Alien Resurrection. Right. Yeah. Well, it's believable action hero.

Probably hard to cast in certain movies because you can't put her with Tom Cruise. Right. In the 80s, that is an issue. The guy's got to be like 5'10 and up. Yeah. Speaking of guys, our guy Harrison Ford. It's really... As we know, our really good friend Mallory Rubin loves Harrison Ford more than... I'm going to give that to her. Anyone else on this planet. She thinks the most attractive Harrison Ford has ever been is in Witness, canonically. This is...

pee Harrison Ford. This is my hottest take in honor of Mallory Rubin. Do it. Bang it on down. And also in honor of Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford. No, he could not. This is the hottest he's ever been. This is the hottest he's ever been. Like, keep your Han Solo. Keep your Indy. I really, I mean, The Witness, it's tough. And Mallory did give me her spot. And so I feel bad. And the Sam Cooke is powerful. She loves working hard. She loves

working girl. She does love working girl. And we're doing Witness for her and she can do Harrison Ford for an hour. Joanne and I are horrified. Inside of the hottest he's ever been inside of a movie, what's the hottest moment for Harrison Ford inside of this movie? Well, it's a little obvious.

But when he's changing his shirt and then kind of, you know, the audience is cheering. And he's also like, I like that he takes this role. It's a nothing role. He's just there to like be handsome and support her. And he does it with such charm and is like, sure, I'll just do whatever you need. And that scene where he's just like, OK, I guess I'll get shirtless and, you know, make fun of myself and let an office of women clap for me.

I find that appealing. The shirtless scene is very good. I see that, and I will raise you. A bit of Suzuki on the corner of his mouth being emotionally vulnerable about how he needs this trade. Yeah. He needs this. No, that's true. He is a little more open. He's a little goofy in this. There's almost a little Jimmy Stewart in him. Exactly. Which I wouldn't say typically is my type.

So I guess I gravitate towards the slightly more, you know, macho, you know, asshole version of him. Like, you know, I told, I promised myself when we met we'd drink tequila is a line that would work on me 10 out of 10 times. It's such a good line. Yeah. I have a question. He's 45 when they filmed this. Looks incredible. I've heard conflicting reports. So a couple years ago, I read a Harrison Ford biography where he talked about, they talked about this movie and his initial response to being offered this role was, I don't know.

I don't want to take this role. It's her picture. Why would I take this role? It's her movie. It wouldn't be my movie. And that the, the way it was depicted in that book, they then give the role to Alec Baldwin. Right. And then he goes, actually, I want the movie. And then they bump Alec Baldwin down. That is true. The other story I've heard is that it was a budgetary thing. But it's fine. Yeah. Well, and also all the Mike Nichols stuff. We haven't even heard this is directed. Mike Nichols is doing that next. Yeah. Um,

but that Nichols did want Baldwin and then the studio was like, Melanie Griffith and Alec Baldwin aren't enough names. You guys are stomping over a cast member. Sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. The cast

The casting mode is so deep already. Baldwin had it. Yeah. And then they called him and they said, hey, bad news. But guess what? He's great as Nick. He's fine. He's a perfect baseball. His career was fine, at least until Rust. This and Beetlejuice? Too soon? Sorry. This and Beetlejuice together? Come on. It's great. To back up your Harrison Ford point, I present to you this Nora Dunn story that I'm going to read.

We all had such a crush on him. One time Harrison walked up to me and said, I hear that you're working on a different project and that's why you're working today. What are you working on? I could barely speak. I said, I'm working on Saturday Night Live. He said, oh yeah, sorry, I haven't seen it. What an amazing... I haven't seen it.

Is it good? It's been for 13 years at that point. And I go, oh, it's not that good. Laughs. I disowned everything about myself. I even had my hand in my pocket wrenching off my wedding ring. I turned into a complete ignoramus. I came home very late that night, five in the morning. My husband was bad. He said, I'm glad you're home. I have a better off, blah, blah, blah. And she goes, I was such a traitor because I was blown away by Harrison Ford. He was in such great shape and such an absolutely perfect movie star.

the whole package. Mm-hmm. Agreed. Nor done. Yeah. By all accounts, one of the most unfriendly actions of the 80s and 90s. Just completely all in on Harrison Ford. All in on Harrison Ford. His 80s, just wanted to mention this, not that people who listen to this podcast wouldn't know this, but two Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, actually a third, because he made the third. Last Crusade came out right after. So three. Two Star Wars, Blade Runner, Witness, Mosquito Coast,

Frantic. And then this movie. That's all in the 80s. Just from 80 to 89. Just banging them out. This man does not have an Oscar. Banging it out. It is a crime. They're going to give him the Irving G. I want it on stage. What would his Oscar have been? Yeah, what would you give it for? Regarding Henry? Fugitive.

By the way, I love Regarding Henry, Mosquito Coast. I liked, I saw it. I like your joke. It's a recurring bit, Regarding Henry. He's, you know what? I like Regarding Henry. I don't like it, but he's good at it. Is this your audition for the Regarding Henry watch list? I'm just saying, I love it. It's on the list. I love Regarding Henry. He's floppable. He is, like, he goes some new places, you know? And you never really see him be that sweet.

The cast in this movie, I love Harrison Ford. Yeah. Can brain damage make you a better person? That's the question regarding Henry. The answer is yes. Yeah. Harrison Ford, I think, might have the highest approval rating of any actor of all time. Craig, what's your relationship with Harrison Ford? He's my number one favorite actor ever. Okay, good. Every generation loves Harrison Ford. It's nice that it's been handed down. The rule with this stuff is if you're at a party and somebody said,

you know, I fucking hate Harrison Ford. People would be like, why? Like, you just wouldn't believe it. Everybody loves Harrison Ford. Not even the airplane antics could bring him down. You know? Not even, he's had a lot of weird moments the last 20 years. I think he actually has a higher Q rating than even like a Tom Hanks. Genuinely. Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah.

He's Indiana Jones and Han Solo, among all the other things that he wanted to do. He's the most popular actor of my lifetime. Yeah. Now, some of that helps because he was been in some of the most popular movies of all time. He's also just so cool.

And, like, is still cool. Yeah. Chris Ryan thinks Luke Wilson could have had his career. Other people in this cast. Alec Baldwin. You mentioned him. Yeah. Young Alec Baldwin. Yeah. We'll cover him later. Not landing Alec Baldwin. Joan Cusack, nominated for an Oscar, which I found strange, but very good. It's girl power. Guess what? I would give it to her. Nora Dome mentioned Oliver Platt. Yeah. Oliver Platt. Starting his role of, like...

this guy's in an office or in a business. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? Is he going to be the villain in this movie or like the sidekick? Who knows? Spacey, Olympia Dukakis is in this. One scene. The year after winning the Oscar. She's wonderful. We got to take a break and then we'll talk about Mike Nichols.

This episode is brought to you by Amazon prime ever finish a movie. And the next thing, you know, you're totally obsessed. That's happened to me. Like I'm talking about ordering a book about seventies film lighting. You've done that. I have. Yeah. We're buying the soundtrack on vinyl, kind of obsessed, whatever it is. Prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into. We're getting into head to amazon.com slash prime and follow your obsession wherever it goes. All right. This movie is directed by Mike Nichols, who, uh,

had such a fascinating career that Mark Harris wrote, I think, one of the best Hollywood biographies I ever read. It's so good. It's really good. And it was one of those careers where I was like, I always thought this guy was interesting. And then it's like 500 pages of how interesting and bizarre his life was. And this...

So his run in the 80s, just from 83 to 89, was Silkwood, Harper, Biloxi Blues, Working Girl, Postcards from the Edge, and then Regarding Henry in 91. But movies that just intersect with you, your brain, your life. This is like, is he like your favorite director? One of them. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that of all those movies that you mentioned,

all starring or centered on women, which in the 80s, you know, you didn't always get that. He was famously a comedian, part of Nichols and May. And then, you know, moved into, and a theater legend, moved into directing films, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and then The Graduate. And

Because he has so much theater work, he's really good at people talking and characters and people being believable. And in real life situations, and the world around them is always very well observed. And we say all the time they don't do it like they used to. But Mike Nichols types of movies where people are just...

Trying to get something in life and being people. And they are people that you recognize. He is fantastic at it. There's this personal piece that didn't click for me until I reread this section of the Harris biography, is that this is when he gets together with Diane Sawyer, who, you know, he considers the love of his life. They describe them as like giddy teenagers. They're so in love in this section in the book. And so the fact that he's like found the great love of his life, right?

Right as he's making this, like, beautiful love story inside of Working Girl is really sweet. And there is also, like, so I think that Mike Nichols' biography, which is wonderful, so much of it is, like, his life seems so great. I mean, he was, like, the creme de la creme in New York, friends with Nora Ephron, married Diane Sawyer, like, has a house in Connecticut and, like, raises horses for some reason. I don't even really know what that is all about. Like, a very, like, educated, fancy, like, wealthy, um...

you know, New York society guy, but he is in fact like a German immigrant, like worked through all of that. And for me, the biography pointed out like the test character is an immigrant to him. Yeah. And there are a lot of shots of her going past and forth the statute of liberty. Like it's not subtle once you see that. And this person, an outsider who like wants to be in the finer things, like wants to be a part of this, like great quote unquote American, whatever. Yeah.

Definitely comes from him as well. It's interesting. I was watching a Candace Bergen interview where she was talking about his horses. Yeah. And she was like, I think he surrounded himself with wealth to sort of inoculate him. Like, because he was so afraid of going back to that sort of humble immigrant roots. And so he's just sort of like, I've got horses. I eat caviar. I'm BFF with Carly Simon. Like, all this sort of stuff like that. It's just sort of like, I'm never going back. Yeah.

Yeah, he was big on chartered planes and just kind of obscene wealth. It seems like he lived well. How about that? The book made a big, that was a big piece of the second half of the book is he's so kind of obsessed with just garnering wealth because he wants to fly private everywhere he goes. He wants to stay in like the Bay. So he ends up taking some,

some projects that basically just for the paycheck and his nineties get pretty strange. Yes. He makes some, some bad ones and basically does some money grab stuff, but, but also the masterpiece regarding Henry. So, right. But he, he belongs to this different era though, of when like these,

these like very powerful, creative guys felt like they were in New York. And now it's kind of over, like Graydon Carter retired and Lorne Michaels is 80. But you had this run in the 80s, 90s, where it was like Mike Nichols, Graydon Carter, Mike Nichols. There was like these six, seven of them. And it felt like,

all of New York culture just kind of ran through all of them. Yeah, Harrison Ford talks about- They're all friends with each other. Yeah, Harrison Ford talks about how like every day they shot, they also went out to these like really long lunches at the best restaurants and had the wittiest conversation. And that was what it was like to work with Mike Nichols. Yeah, and Spy Magazine was starting to even parody some of this stuff at this point. But Nichols, fascinating guy. I think-

When I think about his movies, especially when you look at all these in a row, just really good with lead female characters. Yeah. Like he just, for some reason, and they all loved him. Works with Meryl Streep three times. Yeah. Yeah. Well, in that decade. And then, you know, she comes back for Angel of the Marys. And a real famous man, too, which, you know, I wouldn't call him like breathtakingly handsome, but it seemed like the... I think he and Melanie have the same number of marriages. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, he had a lot going on in really his whole life until he found out. But yeah, to that point, when they gave him the sort of like AFI award, every single tribute speech was given by a woman. Yeah. Yeah. It was like Nora Ephron, Elaine May, Meryl Streep, Cher, Candice Bergen. Like, yeah.

There was an oral history. I didn't read it. It came out last year. So I felt like the biography, I was good with my nickels. I didn't really need to double down, but there was an oral history. It's called something like Mike Nichols as told by 150 of his closest friends. So that was a really good title. Yeah. Screenplay is written by Kevin Wade, who went to New York city in 84 and

And saw all these career women walking through the streets in tennis shoes, carrying his high heels. And it's like, that feels like a movie. Yeah. Then we go. Ends up getting nominated for six Academy Awards. Best picture. Best director. Doesn't win. Best actress. Griffith loses. Best supporting actress. Weaver and Cusack. And only wins for Carly Simon's. Yeah.

One of only, I think this is right. Guys, how are the levels on that? Only this and Bruce Springsteen's Philadelphia. I think at least in my research, maybe there's been one in the last couple of years they didn't update, but won best original song Oscars, Grammy, Golden Globe, all three. Triple crown.

Not like you wouldn't know it's a Carly Simon song? I think so. Right? You would think it could be like... No, it's not. Does it sound like Carly Simon to you, though? I don't know. I don't remember a time where I didn't know this was a Carly Simon song, so this just is the Carly. But the way that she hums throughout the movie is very Gilmore Girls to me. You know what I mean? So all of that is connected in its own special way. More DNA for this movie. Gilmore Girls. But I think that...

That's Carole King, but it's a very similar vibe. And I think what's interesting, according to my research, is that originally she wrote a bunch of songs for this movie, and they were all very explicitly telling you what was happening in the plot. Yeah. And so they just cut all of those. She's just trying to get ahead. Time to cut your hair. You know, whatever. Best picture, Rain Man beats it. Okay.

Good category that year. Rain Man, Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl. I'd probably give it to Dangerous Liaisons, but I would give it to Working Girl over Rain Man. I would as well. You're a Dangerous Liaisons person? Oh, I love Dangerous Liaisons. Yeah. Is that you throwing your hat in the rain? No, I'm not. Just every time I say I like a movie doesn't mean... No, because I love that movie. Yeah. It's a great movie. I don't think CR, it's too...

It's too risque. Yeah, he doesn't work blue. It's a little risque. CR turns into that timid Irish Catholic guy. Glenn Close? Malkovich? It's good. I still go for Working Man. I mean, Working Girl over Rain Man. Oh, yeah, Working Girl over Rain Man. But Rain Man was a real thing. Rain Man was a phenomenon. Yeah. This was too, but Rain Man was a phenomenon. Oh, yeah. I think... We were constantly quoting Rain Man. We weren't quoting Working Girl necessarily. Well, Barry Levinson wins for Best Directing.

My dad's favorite director. And Hoffman wins for best actor. Best actress. Melanie Griffith loses to Jodie Foster. Glenn Close is in there for Dangerous Liaisons, which is a fucking incredible performance. That's the winner. I think that's the winner. But is that where...

her like trajectory of always being the loser starts um that's the one her taking off the makeup at the end yeah she's very good I think it it took like a couple more nominations before everyone she became the Susan Lucci of Oscars but like that's where we could have turned it around stopped it right yeah before it started honestly Meryl Streep and A Cry in the Dark I don't remember that movie um that's not is that Dingo Ate My Baby the Dingo Ate My Baby oh that's it yeah yeah and then uh Sigourney got nominated for Girls in the Mist alright

No best actor supporting, but best actress, Cusack and Sigourney. So Sigourney with the double nomination. I always love when that happens. Stronger. This is also one of the rare three women nominated from one movie. Right. Yeah, I don't think that they're, it's like maybe All About Eve. Chicago? Yeah, it's only happened a couple times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Her Day. Frances McDormand, you might have heard of her. I have. Mississippi Burning. Pfeiffer. Dangerous Liaisons.

And then Geena Davis wins for The Accidental Tourist. Well, don't, don't, no, don't say that. Some really good ones didn't get nominated that year. I just want to point out that I don't, I think Joan Cusack's really good in this movie. I also don't think it's that important of a part. And I can't believe she got nominated because Elizabeth Perkins in Big. She's pretty good. Wouldn't that be lead?

I think you could throw in that in supporting. Susan Sarandon, Bull Durham, not nominated? Once again, that's leave. Yeah. But she should have been nominated. Is it leave? I think you could have shoehorned it into supporting to try to get... Are you a category purist? Not necessarily, but I don't think they played such fast and loose games with category fraud back in the 80s. Here's where it goes. I don't mind it at the end of the day, especially if someone...

like hasn't gotten an award and can get an easy one in supporting where they can't compete and lead. What about Hopkins? 16 minutes for Hannibal Lecter, best actor, 16 minutes of the movie. That's fine with me. Okay. I support it. Three, three men who didn't get nominated, Charles Grodin and a midnight run. That's Alan Rickman and diehard. Also tough.

Malkovich, Dangerous Liaisons. What the fuck are we doing? They nominated Dangerous Liaisons for Best Picture and did not nominate Malkovich. It's wild. Truly wild. But what's funny is, like, you mentioned Die Hard, and you say Die Hard to me now, and I was like, well, Die Hard's not going to get nominated for something. But Working Girl is such an improbable... Doesn't it seem like now Working Girl feels like... I mean, not in an Enora year, necessarily, but, like...

You're like, oh, this is just an 80s rom-com. And I think growing up, it wouldn't have occurred to me that this was a six Oscar nominee. Yeah, I was surprised by six. But it was a massive movie. Yeah. Malkovich really hurts. It does. I don't understand that one.

We saw this movie when I was in college. It was right when I was really getting into movies from like a bigger picture way. And we just, we all left the theater and we're like, holy fucking, that movie. Dangerous Lezos. And we're like. Uma. Malkovich. Yeah. I mean, just everything. But we were like, that was like, is that like the greatest acting performance of all? Like, we didn't know any better. Who was nominated? So best supporting. Kevin Kline won for Fish That Saved Wanda. Al Guinness.

Little Dorrit. Martin Landau. Tucker, the man in his dream. River Phoenix running an update on that. And then Dean Stockwell married to the mob. Okay, so just some old timers. They just stayed. Yeah, and Kevin Kline. And Kevin Kline wins. Yeah. Grodin, I think, bothers me the most other than Malkovich, but regardless. $28 million budget for Working Girl made $103 million and then lived on for the next 38 years and counting and then something. Guys, we used to live in a better world.

Where Working Girl could make over $100 million and get nominated for six Oscars. Yeah. Well, Roger Ebert, four stars. Raj. The plot of Working Girl is put together like clockwork. Carries you along while you're watching it, but reconstruct it later and you'll see the craftsmanship.

Yeah, it's called Cinderella, but that's fine. Working girl is Nichols returning to the top of his form and Griffith finding hers. Agree. Yeah. Yeah. Solid. Yeah, because they didn't like Biloxi Blues very much. No. Yeah. I defend Heartburn big time, even though it was not well received. I like to think about Heartburn more than I like watching Heartburn. Craig, who's Melanie Griffith for your generation? I mean, Dakota Johnson. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

I think that's fair. I mean, she kind of, you know. She's single. Similar-ish beginnings. Let's do the categories. Okay. We just saw a Dakota Johnson movie earlier this week together. She has really shiny hair. Yeah. Okay. But a similar smile. She does. But when we were talking about Don Johnson's hair, I was like, oh, maybe the hair is from Don Johnson. Yeah. And the smile is from Melanie. It's really, really shiny. What a legend. Most rewatchable scene.

Opening credits, I'm just throwing it out, are just really good. With the Carly Simon song and the Statue of Liberty. And you get to see all New York. And then it's like, ah, there are the Twin Towers. And then they're standing on the ferry. Yeah, and then it goes right into them on the ferry and the shoes. You know, they get that in in the first few minutes. It feels like it's cheesy. Well, it's on my list. No, we have a bunch. I don't know. It feels like it's going to be cheesy, but...

And then it's not cheesy. It's like, oh, I'm actually enjoying this little... And you liked it both times? Because you said you liked watching this movie the second time more than the first time. Yeah. What did you bump on the first time? The first time, because I was just... Every time, it's like the hair and the clothes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, oh my God, this movie feels... Yeah. My son walked by the TV at one point and was like...

the fuck is this movie? He was just completely confused by it. He's like, is this a Mad Max movie? He was like, what is this? All right. Next one I have is Bob from Arbitrage in the limo with Tess. Cause it's so fascinating to see Spacey. We're going to party. I'm starting a new category.

The Kevin Spacey doing cocaine, showing porn, and inappropriately sexually harassing test in a limo award for craziest foreshadowing of a real-life event. Yeah, yeah, yes. I don't know if we'll ever hit that category out again. I haven't been what aged the best. Yeah, it's like, wow. They knew. Wow, you really laid in. Mike Nichols, perceptive. I really like that when she types in, David Lutz is a sleazoid pimp with a tiny little dick. Sleazoid pimp is incredible. It's one of my most 1987 things, the word sleazoid, which we don't use anymore, and that's sad. Yeah.

Tess in Sigourney's office. I'm just going to call her Sigourney throughout the movie. Okay. I know she's Catherine. She's talking German? Yeah. Oh, sure. When she calls to make the... She's like, Hans! She's just really turning it on, but then gives the Tess...

You don't get anywhere in this world by waiting for what you want to come to you. Make it happen. While wearing her ski boots over her nylons. Yeah. Before she gets on the phone and starts speaking German, she says, well, did you tell them it was me? Right. Which is just like, that's some special energy to bring to the world. I also like how Melanie Griffith is reacting off of

what a pompous, like, piece of shit boss she is, but she's just kind of... She's absorbing. She's trying to absorb, and she's actually, like, genuinely interested in her answers. I really like when she asks Sigourney, like, well, what happens if he doesn't propose? And Sigourney goes, I really don't think that's a variable. Right. And I'm me, so... Also, good office. Get a nice little shot. Oh, yeah. Can you hear the fairy in the background? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, so you got that...

Tess goes to the bar and meets Harrison Ford. That's mine, obviously. That's my number one. 100%. I have a head for business and a bod for sin. Yeah. All-timer. I've been looking for you. Why? Do you know me? No. No. But I promised myself that when I saw you, I would get to know you. You're the first woman I've seen in one of these damn things that dresses like a woman, not like a woman thinks a man would dress if he was a woman. Thank you, I guess. What are you doing here?

Actually, I'm looking for someone myself. His name is Jack Traynor. He works at Dewey Stone. Do you know if he's here? Why are you looking for him?

You're the first woman I've seen at one of these things that dresses like a woman, not like a woman thinks a man would dress. Yeah. I thought that's a good line. The costuming throughout is great, but you see all the other women in their suits. And they clock her and look at her like, what's wrong with her? She shows up in thinking that she completely misdressed for this occasion, which she kind of did, but caught the eye. She looks great. She looks incredible. And really good Harrison Ford double take shot. Yeah.

This scene's really good. This has one of my favorite moves that you can do in a rom-com. The guy not saying who he is when he meets our lead character is just like...

That works 98% of the time. The costume designer, Anne Roth, one of the things that she said was like, I cheated with that dress. She's like, because no way could Sigourney Weaver wear that dress because it's way too short on her. So it would just look silly on her. But she was like, who cares? Yeah, it's fine. Craig, when you write your AI rom-com. Okay.

put in something about the guy who meets the lead character. And lies to her. Doesn't admit that he's the character. Yeah, I didn't tell Liz who I was when I met her. She's like, don't you work at the ring? I was like, no. Maybe I might be alone on this for a rewatchable scene, but I like the party when Nick and Tess get in the fight after.

And he goes, who the fuck died and made you Grace Kelly? And then she comes back with, I am not steak. You can't just order me. Yeah. It's just fucking great screenwriting. But I like that scene. I like when they fight.

It's good. She looks good in that one, too. Because the incident where they had to shut down production happened on Staten Island, the whole time I was just watching me like, is this the one? Is this the one? I don't think that that's the one. I think it's when they're walking with the pizza box. Oh, you think it's the wedding? No, I think it was the wedding because that was the one they had to delay by a day. But I think it was the wedding where she's dressed in the bridesmaid's outfit. Do you think she was so tanked because she couldn't stand being in that?

Bright turquoise bridesmaid dress. That was tough. Yeah. I really loved every single moment of the Luau wedding party. Yeah, of course. The drinks are great. I like the bartenders and the waiters. I went to a memorial day and they played that song and I was like, this is a working girl wedding song. Where am I? Why didn't you have a Luau wedding? Because we didn't dream big enough. You know? Yeah.

Any regrets? Would you do it over again? Also because Zach planned it. So I, you know, I wanted to do City Hall and he planned the wedding, but maybe we should do a renewal of Vows Luau. A renewal Vows Luau wedding. I agree. Can Joanna be invited? Please. I also, I never, I didn't have a 40th birthday party, so maybe it can be 40th birthday Vow Renewal Luau situation. Working girl homage. Yeah. Let's go. We need a tall, like...

Like just red 40 drinks, whatever it is that he was drinking. With the straws from Dunkin' Donuts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Craig, have you ever been to a themed wedding? No. See, I think this was a 70s, 80s thing that went away. Because we took weddings less seriously when I was a kid. Yeah. And then they eventually had to become these big, serious, major events. I love it when the bride enters the bathroom in tears. And she's like, my husband says it looks like Nicaragua. I don't know if we can make a statement.

a statement. Did we go too big? We get a Ricky Lake cameo out of nowhere. Oh, yeah. Duchovny's in this, too. Duchovny's in the scene when they fight. He's also in the surprise. Oh, he's in the wedding, too? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Duchovny's got this slick back hair thing going on. It's his Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead hair. Yeah. I like when she dances with Trask, too. I like Trask. I think he's good. Yeah. A couple more. Jack

Telling her where he got a scar. You guys talked about that scene earlier. No, no, no. That's a different shirtless scene. Yeah. When after he's come back from Memphis and he's at the office. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he's on the phone. Gotcha. And so he's doing like the gym class, change the shirt while the phone thing. You know? It's great. And all the ladies in the office beyond outside of his window start cheering for him. And he's like, yeah. That was...

You know, you like you imagine what offices are like watching these things. So growing up watching like the Mary Tyler Moore show is like, OK, you always have a bottle of booze in the bottom drawer of your desk. And then watching this, I was like, and you have fresh shirts, of course, in case you just flew back from Memphis and shoes and sneakers. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody would steal anything. I thought it was believable post-coitus bed talk with them. They usually ruin those scenes in rom-coms.

Yeah, it was charming. I mean, well, just laughing hysterically. My favorite. Craig, we might have to break that scene down on Ringer Movies. Yeah, I just I have so many thoughts. It's one of the funniest two minute scenes of this century. It's really, really good. A couple more. Jack visits Catherine with Tess hiding in the apartment. I was like that when we had to do the Three's Company. Can Big Jack come out to play? Makes me laugh.

The boardroom showdown got that. The elevator showdown. And then I really like when she meets the new assistant at the end. Oh, yeah. That whole interaction is so good. Amy O'Connor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I expect you to call me Tess. I don't expect you to fetch me coffee unless you're getting some for yourself. And the rest will just make up as we go along. Okay? Says the thing about...

only get me coffee if you're also getting whatever she says. Yeah. She's like, oh, this is good. She's learned lessons. And the rest will make it up as we go along. Yeah. And then Mike Nichols is like, but don't get too excited and just hand back. You're just a rat in the hole. Yeah, you're just a mouse in the trap. All right. So what's your most rewatchable? Can I add one? Yeah. So after they meet at Harrison Ford and Tess meet,

And then she passes out from the Valium and he takes her home and props her up in the chair and then is doing like a whole solo date with her. Would you like a nightcap? I guess not. It's too late for coffee. Herb tea. Herb tea. I don't have any. It always sounds good when people offer it to me when I'm in your shape.

He's like, would you like some nightcap? Would you like some tea? And she's flapping over. He is so funny. And he is just, I mean, he is acting against, you know, Melanie Griffith as a rag doll. He's very funny. I do have it under what age the worst. Sure. But. But he didn't. And.

In the end, he did the right thing. Mostly. He took off her dress, which he didn't need to do, got in the bed with her while he is also naked. I'm saying, put her on your bed, sleep on the couch. We don't know if he's naked. Bare leg, bare shirt. No shirt. I had for what stage the worst for this whole thing that they just wouldn't have this scene in the movie now. Yeah, that's true. But...

But there's kind of an innocence to it that I appreciated. When he says, would you like a nightcap? No. And he's like, this always makes me feel better when I'm in your position. It is funny. It's really funny. That part is really funny. And the whole thing about the apartment maybe not clean and I don't mind, but people become like... Yeah, it's very funny. It's really, really good Harrison Ford. It's very good. And good physical comedy. I would like to add the farce of...

Melanie Griffith pretending to be the boss. Joan Cusack pretending to be her secretary. Oh, yeah. Trying to get in and Harrison Ford's in the office. That's a good one. Yeah. So what do you have for most rewatchable? I mean, the opening, I think it's, I think the opening. That's hard, though. The wedding and then also the elevators. Do I have to pick the whole movie? You have to pick. It's all part of the category. Okay, okay. The elevators. The elevators is so good. Nobody's ever asked that on rewatchables. No.

excited it took me like my second watch to find any like what aged poorly yeah too happy yeah um i i picked the wedding i'm not uh no i picked the elevator no i picked the elevator at the end okay what do you have joanna uh the meet cute at the bar yeah it's really good it's really good i don't think he'd be ordering gold tequila but other than that 10 out of 10 no notes i have the bar okay yeah what's the most 1988 thing about this movie i have seven candidates but give me your best one

The eye shadow. The hair. Yeah. So I had all the haircuts. Yeah. The makeup and the eye shadow. Yeah. When they have sex and they're undressing each other in his apartment and she's got like a translucent blouse on, but you can see the shoulder pads. Oh, yeah. Through the translucent bath. Yeah. That's shoulder pads. I have a couple more runners up because the hair is the answer. I feel great. Yeah. Yeah.

What about the powder blue ruffle tux look at the wedding? Sure. The Twin Towers, sadly. Yeah. Sure. Multiple women calling themselves secretary? Yes. That's true. I don't think that word's been said in 15 years. Well, Amy Aquino corrects it at the end. If it's okay, I prefer assistant. Lark cigarettes? Oh. Oh, good one. I don't know what those are. I don't remember those. Me neither. Okay.

A lead movie character regularly reading newspapers and magazines? What about radio being a thing? But my number one other than the hair is Catherine's exercise bike. Oh, yeah. That she gets on it. That thing looks like it's out of like 1884. That's very good. I think Taylor Sheridan used it for one of his go-back shows. I think I can't even, it looked like it weighed 140 pounds. It's like made of wood. I mean, it's clever.

because you're also like you're sort of doing a crunch you're using the core as you're as you're peddling it looks hard and they have like the old mid 80s tv with like the vcr on it it was like it's just the most 80s scene in all the movies yeah the uh all the all the computer monitors yeah all the printouts oh yeah the computers the email yeah all that stuff okay let's take one more break and we'll do what's it's best

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Alright, what's aged the best? What do you got? Let the River Run. The song and the score. And the way they use it, you know, when the chandelier is coming, when they're coming down and it's just like the organ, like you're in a church, but it's Let the River Run. It's like rom-com gospel music. Yeah, but it's

really really well done and I do also think like that like the bigness of it that first shot of the Statue of Liberty and got all the drums going and it's like oh okay we're I'll go further it shouldn't work yeah

It should have, it should have failed. Yeah, but it works. Like, we're going to make rom-com gospel music and that should just be like, that shouldn't work. Yeah. And it works. It works. Gets me. I'm singing it, walking into the pod. I love it. That gets stuck in my head all the time. That song gets stuck in my head all the time. It's anthemic. Yeah. What do you have? Supportive work husband, Jack Traynor. Yeah, that's great. Oh.

Yeah. He liked when they were making toast together and buttering it. It was so cute in the kitchen scene at the end. And he packs her a lunchbox, which he got monogrammed very quickly. I'm still waiting for my first fun morning experience with that. When does Trap say report to my office? Tomorrow morning. Oh, okay, wow. And they do have to go back and finish their contracts. It seems like they've been living together for a little while when she goes. Right, I'm also like, how did you get the lunchables and everything? I wish he had said report next week or something like that. Do you and Zach share a toast and lunch?

It pops out of the toaster and you butter it and then he puts jam on it. He does bring me coffee, though. So, yeah. Really? Yeah, he does. Oh, that's great. Yeah, it is very nice. And he's the barista. So, Zach plans weddings and brings you coffee. Yeah. It's really a renaissance band. The full package. The full package.

I have for what's aged the best other than David Duchovny's cameo. And I really love the round table that they have near the end of the movie. It's just, it was almost thinking about it for the ringer. Could we do like a 12 person podcast with this giant round table? What's aged the best? Jack's tequila gold order, which seems...

really rambunctious in the late 80s like you ordered tequila it was basically like doing cocaine yeah that's how she reacts but just that he was a tequila guy yeah now it's like tequila's you know one of the go-to that's my drink tequila but just neat yeah i'm telling you in the 80s people were afraid of tequila yeah it was like you drink tequila you'll black out like

I don't even know what tequila gold is. It's cheaper than what I think a Jack trainer would order. Jack being on tequila early, though. It was also a double. And then he got two of them. So they really had four shots in like 10 seconds. And she had taken four volumes. I should check the milligrams. Live and learn. Live and learn. What's aged the best? This will be my Harrison Ford contribution to whatever. Great clothes in this movie by him. I was admiring all of the outfits and the tie choices. It wasn't...

Yeah. 1988 at all. It actually felt like you could wear a lot of those suits. I was impressed. I mean, Joanna mentioned Anne Roth did the costumes, who is like a legend. And it, like, across the board. All solid colors for the most part. But, I mean, because once Tess has her makeover, it's like really communicating something, both like very 80s, but very different about who that character is or who that character is trying to be. Like, the...

Sigourney Weaver's entire closet is so... All of her skirt suits. Yeah, the details are spot on and they really do make the characters. But I agree that he looks great. His overcoat, he's got a scarf. Great, great, great clothes.

Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, also great clothes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a sneaky thing when you have the rom-com guy who's got to be a wealthy guy. The clothes have to work. And the clothes fit, which I would just give a note to all men now. Oh, okay. Yeah. You can find a tailor. Clothes don't fit anymore. I have for What Saves the Best the Melanie Griffith hot mess, stealth smart, baby voice archetype.

Okay. As a movie character, I'm always in. Who else you got? I don't know. It's just, I'm in when it's like, oh, I'm going to underestimate her. Right, right, right.

And there's way more going on here, but nobody sees it. But we, the audience, see it, but nobody else does yet. It just works. Craig, add that to the rom-com. I mean, I guess Princess Diaries. Yeah. It's another one. Sure. Well, I guess she's not really baby voice. She's just a teenager. Well, but she doesn't believe in herself. And Devil Wears Prada, the first half hour when Meryl Streep's just ripping her a new one. Yeah. Before the makeover. Yeah. Yeah.

What's Age of Best? Trying to guess which scenes Melanie Griffith filmed right after she was out 430 in the morning. It's weirdly like a great part of rewatching this movie. And you can win that game, actually. You can. How about this tidbit? I don't know what category to put this, but I'll put it in What's Age of Best. Working Girl became...

an NBC series in 1990 because this is what we did in the 80s and early 90s. A movie was successful and they had no idea. Before they turned them into Broadway musicals. Right. Do you know who starred as Tess? I do not. I don't. Will you give us a hint?

Want to play 20 questions? Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. Brunette or blonde? Well, you have to say. I was going to say, is she blonde? Is she blonde? No. No. Okay. Is she brunette? Yes. Okay. Is she still working today? Yes. Is she more of a TV? Is she TV actress? No. Has she been in a rewatchables movie? Yes. Okay. Has she won an Oscar? This is really fun. Yeah.

She won an Oscar. Yes. Okay. Dark hair has won an Oscar, has been rewatched. Still working. Still working.

I'm like, my hands, I'm like controlling them under the table. I'm like, I can't. I want to reach for my computer. So I'm like, okay. It's not Sandra Bullock because she's not really still working. It is Sandra Bullock? Sandra Bullock. She's not working. I mean. Well, she hasn't been working. She hasn't made movies in a long time. She has her own life. Listen, people make choices. Take the win. It's Sandra Bullock? Take the win. It's Sandra Bullock. Take the win. Oh, okay. Wow. Okay. Sandra Bullock. 12 episodes of Working Girl. Yeah. Somewhere on YouTube. Wow. Okay. Yeah.

Does she have the hair? Craig, does she have the hair and the makeup and everything? That I don't know. I'll look that up. Okay. What was her Oscar? I forget. Blindside. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You ready for that rewatchable? That's Van. Van's already. Yeah. Van didn't just request to be on it. He's just like, I have to be on it. Yeah. Yeah. Um,

What's aged the best? This quote, never burn bridges. Today's junior prick, tomorrow's senior partner. Yeah. And then I had the officer and a gentleman homage when they're kissing in one of the secretaries says, which is like, I, that could either age the worst or the best. Uh, big Kuna burger award for best use of food or drink. I'll give you champagne on Spacey or the dim sum dumplings. Dim sum dumpling. Uh,

the souvlaki sure I mean I was gonna say tequila tequila shots wedding drinks and then the wedding drinks the other one oh that's the winner the wedding drinks okay fair what do you have for great shot Gord or it's the opening credits right I was gonna say the last shot that last shot when she is like because it is like a whole idea about the movie and it is otherwise like

Not a saccharine movie, but I think that last shot adds, like, a lot of ideas to what you're supposed to take away from it. And you also, like,

Think about it. You know, it's famous, right? It's the finest. It's just her and that's everyone. That is the most famous shot of the movie, I think, or her on the ferry at some point. I would say there's a after Baldwin cheats on her. And I think basically she spends the night on the ferry. Sure. There's a shot of her on the ferry with just like a fog machine behind her. And then you get this crazy. It's a helicopter shot over the water into the night skyline, but it's sped up. So it looks like a drone did it. It almost looks fake. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah.

Keep Cutty Pursuit of Happiness Award, Best Needle Drop. I'll give you Lady in Red by Krista Byrd or the Pointer Sisters with I'm So Excited. So Let the River Run is not eligible. Not eligible. Okay. It's obviously Lady in Red. It's definitely Lady in Red. They milk it too. You know, they give you like a long, long intro and you're just like, oh my God, is this really? They're doing Lady in Red the whole time and then they dance. That's one of those karaoke songs that it's almost weird if somebody picks it.

It's not almost. I've never seen you lose. You're like, what's this guy doing? You have to really commit to it. It's also like everyone has to have had tequila at that half-assed Lady in Red. Fun fact. Did you know that, I'm sure you did, that they first cut the opening to The Eagle's Witchy Woman?

And everyone liked it. And Mike Nichols told Carly Simon that. And she's like, how dare you? You can't. And upped her game. That absolutely ruins the movie. I agree. If it's Witchy Woman. Witchy Woman. That would be so bad. Yeah, then Mike Nichols called her. He's like, we're going to use it at the end, but we're going to open with... It really fucks the movie up. Yeah. The Eagles' Witchy...

Ooh, witchy woman. It's a good song, but not for that. Not for that. Chess Rock World, Brock Lander's Award for Best Character Name. Can I submit Doreen DiMucci? It wasn't me popping Doreen DiMucci in our bed. Doreen DiMucci. Or Trask is a good runner-up. Doreen DiMucci. I'm so happy to give this out with Amanda Dobbins here. The Amanda Dobbins Award for Best Piece of Real Estate. One of the great categories. Listen, this is like one of my great career achievements that this career exists. So you would

I think that I would go for the townhouse, and it is a beautiful townhouse. However, when you see the exterior shots, it appears to be on an avenue. I don't know whether that's Madison or Lex, but it looks a little busy. Yeah. The office. That's what I was going to say. Catherine Parker's office with the view. I had that as well.

And the Statue of Liberty. I don't know how a 30-year-old transferring down from Boston is getting that office, but... Family money. Yeah. Well, still, it's really... I knew that was going to be the answer. Yeah, of course. It's incredible. Amanda's still up because you have a flex category. Okay, all right. So I know what I'm going to do. It is... I just have to read the full thing. It is the Vincent Chase Award for Are We Sure This Character Was Actually Good at His Job?

which goes to literally every single person in this movie besides Tess. What are we doing here? Okay? Jack Traynor, like, has not had an idea. In 10 years, he desperately needs it, but he's also not going to take the meeting at the work thing. He just wants to go drink with someone else instead. Then all he has to do is call someone in Memphis and be like, hey...

Come to... He takes a flight. He goes down. He glad hands them. Sure, that's true. But here's what I'm saying. That's like half a day's work. Meanwhile, Catherine gets promoted or transferred down from Boston, immediately goes on a ski vacation, you know? Also is not bringing any ideas to the table as far as I can tell.

Everyone else, all of the Trask subordinates... Not sold on any of the Trask people. They're just like, he's not going to do that. And then they get a phone call. That's such a good scene. Like, no one has ideas. No one's doing anything besides checking their schedule. Nora Dunn is trying to do things, but her printer's not working. Yeah. And also her party ideas are bad. They are bad. So I just...

I mean, I guess mergers and acquisitions. I'm not sure if they're good at their jobs. Arbitrage isn't doing well either. No, it's not. Certainly not. Yeah, that's a good point on Jack. Yeah. I expected more from Harvard class of 1970. I don't know. Jack should have asked one question.

Sure. I mean, that ruins the premise of the movie. But like one person's like, hey, has anyone heard of Tess McGill? Have you worked with her before? Should I work with her? Should the fact that I'm sort of in a relationship with her colleague have any impact on what's going on here? Wouldn't Jack be like, Tess, where'd you go to college? Where'd you go to business school? Where are you from? School of hard knocks. School of life. And that's a good one, Amanda. Thank you.

I have the, I don't know if I put this in the rundown for you all, but the Tom Cruise, which end do I light award for terrible onscreen smoking goes to Sigourney in the office. Doesn't actually put the cigarette in her mouth.

does the classic the character is supposed to be smoking right does one of these but when you see like there's no it's almost like she was so bad at it that they tried to cut it out but they didn't have anything else for that one thing because she only is smoking in that one scene and they barely show it and that's it might also be a character decision where they're like she no she would not be a smart but it seems like she's just not good at it not what that's okay she's good at other things

The Butcher's Girlfriend Award for weak link of the film. What do you have? I don't think there is one.

What do you have? I mean, Doreen. Doreen DiMucci just having sex with Alec Baldwin and then showing up at the party? The reaction. I don't know if you're supposed to be looking at her face and emotional reaction in that moment. When Baldwin proposes? No, no, no, no. Once they catch her in the bedroom. But her fake crying as she is astride Alec Baldwin. Yeah. It's not believable. Okay. Shut up.

Shots fired at Dorian Demuth. That's a really good candidate. Thank you. Don't get mad until I finish what I say here. Okay. Uh-oh. It's not too late. It's not too late to not do it. No, don't get mad. Is this the one where you were gleefully saying earlier you are excited to piss us off about? No. This is an absolutely absurd premise for a movie. It's absurd. So is Die Hard. Yeah. I said, you gotta let me finish. Okay. Uh-huh.

And they pulled it off and it works. Yeah. It is a nine. I have it as a 9.6 out of 10 on the no fucking way scale that Tess is able. Her boss goes away and she's just able to pull off like basically a merger with Trask. Right. And she doesn't have an office and she's just in her office and nobody else in the. I mean, if you actually like really look at this. It's absurd. Yeah.

Wow. It's a set move. Swayze disagrees. Do we want to get that? We'll fix it later. I'm on a heater. Look, most movies are absurd. Pretty Woman's absurd. Most movies that we love are absurd. I just want to point out that this movie fundamentally is absolutely absurd that she pulls this off and then they're like...

Swayze's furious. This is what your take did to the studio. My take, Swayze. I think we leave that. I agree with you. It's absurd. Of course it is. It aligns with my point that were anyone good at their job, then maybe they would notice what's going on here, you know? First of all, she's fired immediately. They're like, wait, you...

You're a secretary and you just arranged this merger and then we caught you? Pack your bags. How does nobody in the office leak it? Everybody is seeing her pretend for two weeks. But the movie is so good, you actually just buy into it. But Pretty Woman is the same way where you're like, yeah, I think this would happen. He would fall in love with this hooker on Hollywood Boulevard. 0% matters if the premise for a movie is absurd, if the human emotion works. What's aged the worst?

I have a lot. Okay. This is a good one. You'd still be able to do your job in 2025 with a broken leg. Yeah. Oh, remote work. Right. Remote work is like, she's fine. Remote work ruins this movie. She's just on Zooms. LinkedIn and remote work. She's texting. I think she could be making phone calls and having ideas. If she's like a hard-charging M&A. Also, why can't you fly home with a broken leg?

Yeah, that's... Because she's boning her doctor. Well, that's the 80s. Yeah. You got to be thankful for our medical innovations, Craig. Oh, okay. Yeah. Sure. I have... 1988, you couldn't fly out of the broken neck. It was hard, okay? I have just about everyone's hair except Harrison Ford. Yeah, absolutely. Probably nine out of 10 hairdos and even Duchovny.

How women were treated in the workplace has not aged well. Someone reading Motor Trend magazine in bed? I'm positive that doesn't happen anymore. It was the Lamborghini edition in Motor Trend magazine. Sad shots of the Staten Island ferry. Hasn't aged well? No, just...

I don't know. Fairies like just, I had a colleague who like an editor at Vanity Fair and he used to say that he took this out and I have Island Ferry and, and he would talk about how he could like hear Carly Simon. Oh yeah. Like playing in his head. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Alec Baldwin, whatever look he has at this point in his career. So is he handsome in 1988? What's your relationship with him? Because to me, he looks like he'd be playing on the Pittsburgh Penguins. He does, but it's like a styling... He looks like a hockey player. Well, it's a styling issue. The hair and the way that... The amount of chest hair that is being shown to us. But in that, the wedding scene, like where he's in the tux... You're going handsome. I mean...

You see his face when he's clean shaven. I'm like, this is a very handsome man. He looks like all three of his brothers at the same time. And then he grew out of it and started to look like Alec Baldwin. I think he's greaseball handsome. Yeah. Yeah.

Where do you stand on Tess not wiping the hot dog crumb off of Jack's mouth? Because it drives me crazy when I watch this movie. I think it's Tzatziki. Oh, yeah. Whatever it is. Whatever the white. I like it. It's a nice touch. Yeah, I really like that it's there. Yeah. But that she doesn't fix it. They're not ready for that yet. They're not there. Yeah.

You know? She can't let her guard down yet. What do you make of Jack not washing his hands after he uses the restroom and then he does like one of these with his finger in his mouth? I didn't like that at all. Yeah. Didn't like that at all. Annie, what stage are you at? Other than everything we covered? You know, Joe alluded to some of this, but sleeping together before you close the deal, it's like just, you know, girl boss wise, that's not what we would be doing anymore. You got to wait. But a kiss so good you drop your briefcase? That's fine. Is it fine? I don't know.

I don't know. They're consenting adults. I don't hate that. I just like... It's a little bit like... I always feel this way when Travis Kelsey is reported to have stayed at Taylor Swift's house the night before a game. I'm like, you guys have a big meeting the next day. Eyes on the ball. You know what I'm saying?

She just has high standards. I see it. The other thing I have is just like the concept of like of hard copies of making records of things, whether it's the dictaphone or the day planner. Yeah. Like great movie, you know, plot devices, right?

But just really comes down to bite everyone in the ass. And if you're just doing this all on your phone where no one else has access. Catherine never knows. Yeah, you don't do the cloud. None of this happens. Yeah, it's true. Never do the cloud. Yeah. I really think he could have just left her dress on. That's all I'm saying. He carried her up the stairs and that's great. But he had no need to take her dress off. You're right. I think it's fair. Yeah. I think we've solved it. Yeah.

The Ruffalo, Hannah Rubinick, Partridge overacting word, clearly Kevin Spacey. Kevin Spacey. I mean, he just... It's Bob and Arbitrage. All-time dial-up. What do you have for a flex, Joanna? Okay, I contemplated...

the Jamie Lee Curtis Unnecessary Nudity Award for the topless vacuuming. That was mine. Yeah, it's... Okay. I mean, it's... And apparently it was Melanie Griffith's idea. Oh, I was going to ask about that. Yeah, apparently she was like, this is what I would do. And Mike Nichols was like, okay. Just right out of the bender. Melanie Griffith was lit. Yeah. She's just like, I wouldn't put a shirt on. He's like, sounds great. Back...

I mean, you do get overheated, you know? She's in heels. If you're really going for the vacuuming. Why is she in heels? No reason. Well, that's just to feel glamorous, you know? Sometimes you need it. But I am going to actually, my actual word is the okay motherfucker exact moment when the movie goes up a notch. And it's at 36 minutes and four seconds when Harrison Ford aims his lopsided smile at Mellie Griffith's legs and enters the story.

That's it. 36 minutes, four seconds in. Nice, tight close-up. Yeah. He looks great. And he just gives the little lopsided Harrison Ford and we're off to the races. I like it. The CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford. Hottest take award. Amanda gave hers. What do you have? I had this should have won Best Picture over Rain Man. Yeah. Agree. Yeah. Not even sure that's a hot take. Great. That's my tepid take. No, I think you're right. I really worked on this one. I feel like I've done this before. I'm just getting my posture ready. Okay.

The Pointer Sisters, I'm so excited. Yeah. It's secretly the most important pop culture song of all time. Okay. It's in National Lampoon's Vacation in a pivotal Christie Brinkley scene. Right. It's in Beverly Hills Cop. Okay. It's in... We covered this in the Miami Vice Calderon's Revenge episode. The only TV show we've ever done that rewatchable is me and CR. It is an absolutely crucial...

point in this Miami Vice episode. That's one of the most important episodes of the 80s. Yeah. It's in the second best. The NBA had these, it's fantastic commercials that they ran that really made the league more likable. And the best one ever was one-on-one with Hall and Oates where they would just show all these slow motion. The second best one ever was I'm So Excited with Pointer Sisters. Was it also the 80s?

80s. Yeah. So my question is, is that working girl? Are you going to build a bridge to our generation? Most important of all time or of that decade? I said pop culture. Yeah. For the, for the 20th century. Yeah. I'll go there because it's hottest take. Yeah. Because you have working girl important. Yeah. And everything culminates in the Saved by the Bell Caffeine Pills episode. Yes, of course. This is, this is a 10 year run and it's 10 years. Yeah.

It's 10 years of this goes into major movies, major TV shows, and the NBA. And then Elizabeth Berkley. Six times. Yeah. It's a great take. Thank you. Yeah. I love it. Really good. Casting what ifs. Okay. At one point, this movie was supposed to be directed by Jim Bridges starring Demi Moore. Absolutely not. Demi Moore, if she's Jules in St. Elmo's Fire, like, I'm not saying better than Melanie Griffith. I'm just saying, I'm not not giving it a chance.

Raspy, kind of looks like she's been out the night before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Little puffy face. I can see it. I can see it. But that version was... Amanda's horrified. No, it's... A very different movie, I think. I am horrified. I mean, it's hard for me to imagine anyone but Melanie Griffith, but also...

Demi Moore, I've realized, is sort of like the generational divide for me. Like, I've seen all the movies. They were handed down to me, but I was not conscious. You were never buying it. Demi Moore, like the big star. It would be Jules from St. Elmo's Fire, Demi Moore. And so I was learning about it all after the fact. And I would say like her biggest celebrity moment to me is still the Vanity Fair cover where she's very pregnant. So you're later. Yes.

So I just, I don't always like get it. You know? So the thing, the reason I think it would have worked is because 80s Demi Moore, who was battling a lot of the same stuff, Billy Griffith was, I think brings some baggage into it. Would you also have a scene where she's alone in a room with just a fan on her as she is in St. Elmo's fire? With all the windows open? Yeah. I would. Yeah. Okay.

Molly Ringwald apparently auditioned was deemed too young. I mean, they auditioned everybody, including they thought about Michelle Pfeiffer and Madonna. Scott Rudin was running Fox, which I don't think I knew, and was really pushing for Shelley Long, who was red hot on Cheers. They squashed that. Lorraine Bracco wrote in her memoir that she thought she nailed the audition and didn't get it. That was mildly interesting. I would love Lorraine Bracco in this movie. She does. Someone to watch over me.

Right around the same time. Nichols finally said, fuck it. I'm dropping out if we don't hire Melanie Griffith. So they do the casting credits thing. Then there's this whole weird Lawrence cast and wanted to, he was testing that accidental tourist part. Yeah. Gina Davis and Melanie Griffith are both for the part. And Scott Rudin says, if she tests for another movie, she's out for working girl. And this executive producer, Carlisle,

tells Melanie Griffith, whoever plays Muriel in Accidental Tourist could win the Academy Award and whoever does Working Girl would be a star. This is in the oral history from 30 years later. And then...

She says, I want to be a star. It goes for Working Girl. And then at the Academy Awards, for whatever reason, Melody Griffith hands the Oscar to Geena Davis. She's the one presenting it. For the other part she didn't go for. And I would just say that Geena Davis was both an Oscar winner and a star. So that wasn't the top tier advice. You're talking to...

Somebody who bought Gina Davis stock as early as it could go. Yeah. She was just buried in Fletch. We argued about this on Fletch. It was the maddest CR has ever been on a movie watchables. That Gina Davis should have been the lead in Fletch, not Dana Will or Nicholson. And CR got really mad. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Um,

Can we, can I just add a few more casting what ifs? Yeah, because I couldn't tell how much was 100% true, but go. I sort of cross-checked that THR thing that you pulled from and also the Nichols biography. Whoopi Goldberg was someone they were considering because Nichols did her stand-up show. Goldie Hawn. Too old, though.

Was she too old at that point? She's too old. Yeah, she's too old at that point. Okay. She did Private Benjamin in 1980. No, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's like in her 40s at that point. Meg Ryan. Meg Ryan, maybe. I don't know if she could have pulled off the accent and the baggage part. And not the sex appeal in the same way. This movie has a lot of sex in it for a romantic comedy. Cher. No. Okay. Okay.

Thanks for coming. Are you not a Moonstruck person? You don't like Moonstruck? Just Cher. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Wow. Not for this. You don't like Cher? No, I agree with you. She brings too much Cher. She's still Cher. She's like one of the most famous people of the 70s. I love Moonstruck. I love Moonstruck as well. Mermaids. Incredibly important. Yeah, why did I see mermaids in the theater when I was like five? Cher was like incredibly famous in the 80s. Yeah, yeah. No, I agree with you. I think she's too famous. I agree with you.

I completely agree with you for this role. I was a big Sonny and Cher guy. I thought that that was a reaction to Moonstruck and I was a little concerned. No, Moonstruck's good. Wonderful. Yeah. Okay. I just wouldn't buy her as Tess. Agree. Best that guy. Oliver Platt counts according to Craig's rule that just because we call him Oliver Platt, that doesn't mean anyone under 35 knows who Oliver Platt is. Okay. But that's not the winner of this.

It's either the bad guy from Beverly Hills Cop 3, who's one of the two people, Trask. Right, right, right. I don't even know what that guy's name is, but I'm like, hey, it's the bad guy from Beverly Hills Cop 3. Or that guy who worked for the evil law firm in Philadelphia and had second thoughts about maybe ratting out Jason Robards. And then on the stand, it kind of is on the Tom Hanks side. What role is he in this?

he's just in the movie. And I was like, that guy. So I almost feel like that makes him the winner because I don't even remember what part he played in this movie. What about Caroline Aaron who plays Dr. Marsha Fieldstone in Sleepless in Seattle and is also the mom on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? That's a great one. It's a really, really good one. Yeah. Yeah. Dionne Waiter's a word. Joan Cusack eligible. Okay. I don't think she's in it that much. Really?

She's for 12 minutes. I mean, Joan Cusack would be a classic Dionne Winters. May I ask if Carly Simon is eligible? Not eligible. Okay. What about Olympia Dukakis? I thought I was doing something. She's great. Yeah. Olympia Dukakis. Yeah. Robert Easton, who plays Armistead, who is the like, who is the guy in the deal with the like Colonel Sanders. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. He's like Metro's owner. Yeah. Yeah.

I think the answer is probably Nora Dunn. She's very good. She's very threatening. Yeah. She was also really good at that specific kind of part. Yeah. Recasting couch director of City. What's her name? Danucci? What's her... Dorian. Dorian. Okay. Danucci. Yeah. Could we have gotten... Could we have snuck a young Marissa Tomei in that part? Love it. Could we have gotten an actual famous actress? Mira Servino? Yeah. I love it. Mira Servino. Somebody...

I accept. Like, wow, she played... Doreen DiMucci? Yeah. Yeah. Half-assed in her research. We did a lot of these, but my favorites, Melanie Griffith revealed in a 2017 interview that she repeatedly made passes at Alec Baldwin and he said no thanks and hurt her feelings. Wow.

But I think he thought she was a little hot mess express. And he's also like, I know Dawn's just waiting in the wings to remarry you. Yeah, no question. There's a Bob's Burgers episode about this and Die Hard. That's apparently a famous Bob Burgers episode. My kids used to love that. Okay. You mentioned the Mike Nichols thing. And then the lobby of seven World Trade Centers in this too. So it's in this multiple times. Can I read you an excerpt from the New York Times, 1989, written by Maureen Dowd?

Oh, boy. George Bush ended his first week as president by having some friends over to the family quarters of the White House on Friday night for beef pie, whatever that is, and a screening of the movie Working Girl. He warned his guests, a mix of prominent Democrats and Republicans, that he had heard that the film about a Wall Street Cinderella had some, quote, dirty parts, so they had better watch out.

Ooh. Meat pie. Beef pie with George H.W. Bush. His first week as president, he said, let's watch Working Girl. Some beef pie and Working Girl. Hearing George H.W. Bush say the words dirty parts out loud is not... Also beef pie. Makes me really, really unhappy. I wouldn't be really, really unhappy either. Wow. Apex Mountain. I'm going to say yes for Melody Griffith. I agree. It really...

Carly Simon. It goes downhill very quickly from here. And I didn't really remember because she's so big to me. The 90s were... She's really good at nobody's fool. 90s are bad for her. Yeah. I really like Pacific Heights. I mean, me too, but you know. Harrison Ford, no. No. I think there's a Sigourney Weaver case. She's nominated in two categories at the same time. It's two years after Aliens. It just feels like she never had more juice than she did in 1988.

I'm thinking. She's about to make Ghostbusters 2. She's probably the most bankable actress in Hollywood at that point. Don't you think that Aliens might be? Yeah, I would say it has to be. Yeah, right before. It has to be like- It's somewhere in there. Somewhere from Aliens to here. It's near. It's near. It's in the range. Female struggling in the workplace movies? No, those are evergreen. Yeah. We're all just all doing our best every day, Bill. This isn't the best one? It's one of my favorites. I mean, like, broadcast news-

Devil Wears Prada. Devil Wears Prada. Yeah. And they're all in the same area. You know what? The answer is Devil Wears Prada. It is. Because that's the best movie of all time. Can you believe they're making a sequel? I'm beside myself with joy.

Oh, I thought you were going to say beside myself with anger. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't care. It's like, fine. All the nerds have gotten us, no offense, have gotten all of their movies forever. Like, give me all of it. Do you want like nine Devil Wears Prada? I would watch a TV show. I would watch a novel. I would read the novels. I've read the original, but. Are they getting Tucci? Yeah. Are they getting Blunt? Yeah. I don't know about Blunt, but I think so. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, Hathaway looks incredible these days. She does. She's a great, great, great job by her. She's got a brand new face. Looks great. Great job by her. Yeah. My daughter. I think they're just new eyebrows. It's the whole. Well, yeah. My kids who don't consume my content at all. Mm-hmm.

and actively disparage me at all times. My daughter does like the rewatchables and listens to it. And she thinks the Devil Wears Prada one is one of the best podcasts ever recorded. Zoe, thank you so much. I do think that- Amanda was on that podcast. That was my, it was me, Juliette, and Bill. It was one of the first rewatchables where we were like, this is probably where the show is going. I was freaking out a little. I do think it was my professional peak, but like, and this is pretty close.

in terms of things I've worked hard for my whole life. We did that. It was in the first year. I'm looking up.

Yeah, it was in the office on the couches. Yeah, we did that. I'm going to say within the first. I hope it's okay for me to say that Amanda said. Oh, no, we did that later. This is more important than giving birth to your children, this podcast episode. I said more fun. Yeah, more enjoyable. Yeah, just as an experience. Mike Nichols' Apex Mountain, no. No. No.

Yeah, I think so. He wins the Oscar. I mean, he made The Graduate. Yeah, it's pretty good. Finding movies of the 60s. Carly Simon, I'm going to say no. You don't think so? I don't know. You're So Vain is the whole thing. She was killing it in the 70s. You're So Vain was probably one of the biggest single songs of the 70s from a female artist, right? And also led to 50 years of who was she talking about in the same dialogue. Fair, yeah.

The Staten Island Ferry? I had that. That was mine. It has to be, right? 100%. Never got better for the ferry. All right. My son is really into transportation. So I was like, how will I show him Staten Island Ferry? Just pulled up, let the river run. Watched it. Wrapped. Colin Jost and Pete Davidson bought it, apparently. Yeah, but they don't know what to do with it. Yeah. That's not Apex, man. Devastating. Bony asses? Just being used repeatedly as a disparaging term? Sure. Memorable. And sleazoid. Yeah.

Alright, that's probably good. What about 80s hair in a movie? 80s hair in a movie. It's probably... And like a non... There's music videos I think that do it better. Yeah, like White Snake music videos and like Mad Max, stuff like that. But in terms of like a less extreme version, I think you might have something there. You know, like this is just supposed to look normal. In a music video, you're going for something extreme. I need to think about it more. I feel like there's some 85 range high school movies that are probably 86 range. But it kind of has become the shorthand for it. Like,

Maybe Apex Mountain for shoulder pads. Also Cusack's eye makeup. Yeah. You can't overstate how much these people look like aliens. Like every 15 minutes Liz and I were like, man, the hair. But like, but the clothes are back. Yeah. And like Working Girl is the reference and all the copy of like, you know, get your inner, you know, whatever on with this suit. Unleash your inner. Craig, you have a flex category.

I was going to do the vacuuming naked. I kind of, I'll do it like a pseudo hot take. I think Jack, is it Jack trainer? Yeah. I think he's a little creepy in the beginning of this film. And I know that everyone's in on it and I like Harrison Ford. I like the character. Eventually I feel like they were still figuring it out. The first scene, it's like,

Cheating on his girlfriend. I guess he wanted to get out, but like the back-to-back double shot of tequila. Yeah. Doesn't say his name. Doesn't say his name. Takes her home, takes the dress off. And then the next day is like dinner and a movie. I'm like, this guy's coming on a little hot. You forgot about, he did buy her a briefcase though. Also weird. Yeah. Super weird. A gift the next morning is like huge red flag. As,

As always, the timelines are an issue here because they say I love you within four days. I love you. I love you. It was the span of like five days. I had that in picket nets. Yeah. I love you. Out of. Yeah, sure. But like, like sometimes, you know, he is like a man in his acne right away. Yeah, that's true. He is a pretty sleazy. He's supposed to be a sleazy Wall Street guy. But he starts as sleazy. And then by halfway into the movie, he's like dopey.

I think that like, I think it's called, it's called character shading. I really think that if he had kept her dress on, I can defend almost all of it. I'm, I'm with Bill's mom on this. Not saying your name is weird. Are you Jack? No, I don't know who Jack is. He like whispers the double shot to the bartender. Yeah. That part is a little weird. Oh, not great. Yeah. Then again, he didn't know about the milligrams. Yeah. Yeah. That is, he did whisper double shot. Yeah. This man was a menace.

Sex pest, Jack Traynor. Cruz or Hanks? Okay. It's Hanks. It is Hanks. It has to be Hanks. Yeah. The height thing that you mentioned earlier, but Cruz is just too powerful. Who's ahead at this point, Craig? Hanks. Hanks is ahead. By like three or four. Scorsese or Spielberg? Marty. Marty.

Yeah. Really? I had Spielberg. Yeah. I mean, we did it with Wolf of Wall Street. It's a different movie. It's a very different movie. It's way more of the last shot of the film. Yeah. I would watch parties. It would be great. It would be wonderful. What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman have played? Probably Spacey. Oh, I was going to say Oliver Platt. Oh, yeah. Good call. This is his scent of a woman. Yeah. Vibe. Picking nits that we haven't done yet. Okay.

Tess wears all white to the wedding. That's just rude. You know? - Even I know that, and she's trying to blend in, man. - Yeah. - You know? - I mean, how does she know what the dress code is also? Because she's wearing like sort of a business suit.

Well, it's more like a daytime tiki wedding. A mother of the bride type suit. She's wearing something that Jack conceivably thinks they could just be going to a lunch for and they're going to the wedding of like... He's wearing black tie. He's not wearing a tuxedo, but the tie is a very dark color, which would suggest that even though he thought he was going to a three o'clock lunch, he was also wearing black tie, which is confusing. Yeah.

I have. Why didn't anyone wonder why Tess was in her boss's office so much? Yes. As number one. Yeah. I can buy. Two days in. It's like, what's going on with Tess? Here's what I can buy. I can buy the boss is not like paying enough attention to notice. And I can buy the secretary's covering for her. But why is the door always closed? Right. She's watering the plants. No, it's. Yeah. People are talking by Wednesday. What kind of broken leg did Sigourney have where she's.

good in three weeks. She's bed, goes from bedridden to just like, she just has a cane hobbling around. I don't know. You're the, you're the sports expert. I, it's one or the other. It's like, if you're bedridden for three weeks, you're coming out of there and you have like one of those like huge brace, like a walking thing. Yeah. Did they have those brace things yet?

In the 80s? Again, our medical, our scientific achievements. Were we just killing people when they broke their legs at that point? She had, like, a really giant plaster. But, like, I don't remember...

You know, when kids breaking their arms or legs. I don't remember the flexi casts. No. Yeah. It went from a broken leg to a torn MCL. Yeah, yeah. The way they're treating it. She just had the cane at the end. Yeah, I don't get it. When Jack shows up to her apartment when Melanie Griffith is hiding in the closet, and he's trying not to get drawn into her, and he's just like...

oh, you're cast and like knocks on it. He's like, whoa, look at that. He's so good. Sure is broken. Yeah. I think Catherine would just be suing everybody right away at the end of this movie.

I mean, we don't know if she gets fired even. Well, Oren Truss says that he's going to make sure she gets fired, which once again... It's like, why am I getting fired? My secretary pretended to be me for four months. What did I do wrong? Well, maybe in the 80s he could get her fired, but I do think she's a legal candidate. My biggest mistake was taking credit for my assistant's idea. I mean, she's going to get her bony ass out of his sight, but I don't know that he can get her fired. I still do ask, like, my impression of mergers and acquisitions in the 80s is not that you could just

transfer down from Boston and immediately go on vacation. Yeah. So, and listen, I believe in vacation and work-life balance and all that, but like, she's just very absent. So I don't, do they want her? How long was Tess working for her before she went on vacation? Like, two days? Is that true? Yeah, enough to get the dim sum party. Yeah. I feel like it might have been a couple weeks. But,

Yeah. Oh, OK. So maybe 10 days. Yeah. She might have been like a couple weeks on the job. She's like, I already had this ski vacation planned. I guess. But do you not think it's weird that she was expecting Catherine was expecting to be proposed to on this trip? Yes. Her boyfriend bails. Yes. And she just still goes. It is skiing alone.

No, that's a coping mechanism. It feels like it's going to be the first of three or four marriages for her. I also feel like she has sex with her doctor. Yeah, they do suggest that. You wouldn't reschedule the trip with your fiance to Germany? You go on it?

Yeah. I guess he makes it seem like now Amanda's on defense. Yeah, no, it's true. Listen, she knew so many people there. Like, it's not like she was going to go and be alone. She knew like the guy who ran the hotel and then her hotel room was just like the biggest party room. It just feels like if Amanda was like, I think Zach and I are going to get engaged in Germany. And then Zach's like, I can't go. I have work. I don't think she's getting on the plane and spending the money for that vacation.

If I had the money, maybe. I think Catherine Parker has so much money that it doesn't matter. I have my biggest nitpick we mentioned earlier, and I don't think we hit it hard enough. I don't understand Alec Baldwin having sex with Dominic DiNucci, whatever her name was. Doreen! Put some respect on Doreen's name! I just don't understand the scene.

You don't think he would cheat on tests? No class? No class. Life was different in the 80s. I'm not here to judge. Things happen. Maybe adultery was a little more common. I don't understand. You don't think a guy reading Motor Trend who gets his girlfriend...

trashy lingerie on her birthday yeah is three days later on her it's like he doesn't think she's coming home he's doing it in bed yeah she has class she walks in it's just and then he thinks it's going to be fine three days later and he's not only that but he just thinks it's going to be fine i just have some issues i just tell like if that was my wife walking in yeah 10 years later

That's it. Like she's moving out. It's not even a question of the issue is at the party when he is, you know, it's like, are we still there? Yeah. And then he proposes in front of everyone, which like just, you know, don't take days after the adult. I really that's insane. And then she doesn't just lie.

just lie you know i mean that doesn't make for a good movie i liked maybe i think maybe it's fair enough it's a good movie and then he's mad he's like you embarrassed me back there it's like you motherfucker you were just getting rid of our bed i genuinely believe that those are the gender politics of that like culture at that time you're right when the whole friend group know that he cheated on her and they're all like say yes but they're like no i don't i disagree i mean even when

Even when Joan Cusack... And Denise is there? Joan Cusack brings her stuff to the office and she's like defending him. Yeah, this isn't like you. So this is just the 80s. I think it's a cultural thing. It's just sort of like... It's like, ah, he couldn't keep it in his pants that night. Guys will be guys. Boys being boys. Baldwin's will be Baldwin. The sneaky best scene in the movie is in that moment in the bar when they meet, when Melanie Griffith and Baldwin kind of meet for the first time and they're just sitting at the corner of the bar. He's slamming scotch and he's like, I got the boat loan. And she's like, oh my God, congrats.

And then he brings up the boat again at the wedding. Yeah, Dory is working the phone. Yeah, yeah. The boat loan. Yeah. What does he do? So is it like a boat tour? Yes.

It's like, what is, he's booked for three weeks. It's like the arbitrage of boats. Yeah. I'll never understand it. Honestly, they should have made him like high school hockey coach or something. He should have been a high school coach. Is hockey big on Staten Island? I don't think he should be anywhere near high school kids, Nick. Oh, that's fair. Baseball, whatever. I think he should be like a used car salesman. That's Nick's energy. Sequel, prequel, prestige TV, all black cast are untouchable. This is untouchable to me. Untouchable. I don't know how you'd review this. Even though I guess they made it a TV show. Yeah, they did make it a TV show. Yeah.

Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trejo, Doris Burke, Sam Jackson, Nell, Byron Mayo, Barney Cousins, Tony Romo, Harling Mays, Chris Collins, or Daniel Plainview, Longlegs, or Wilford Brimley in the firm? I was thinking, I'm not going to do Chris's Wilford Brimley. But heartbreak. It would be funny if like bringing the photos to Catherine. So Catherine, here's your fiancee, oral and whatnot. And he's just doing the whole, showing the photos. I would love it. Yeah, I accept. Yeah.

Just want to ask her who gets it. Well, Carly Simon did get one. So I really don't think you're putting enough respect on Joan Cusack in supporting. $6,000 and it's not even leather? Yeah.

I do like the Madonna thing where she's like, singing dinks. Yeah, doesn't make me Madonna. Like, I think this is what a supporting actress Oscar should be. Yeah. It's just like a really fun... It's just not the type of part that normally wins a nomination. Not necessarily true. I just think that like, you know, you're Mira Sorvino's and you're Marissa Tomei's, you know, like... It's true. I can see that in the movie enough, though. I don't know. I thought if you're going to take...

some of the spots that got taken like susan sarandon and bull durham like like that is true that she's she's very good in that um what do you say for this melanie griffith okay i'm open to it but i still think going closer to one that year yeah um carly simon's fine i it's a good one rom-com gospel i'm here for yeah probably an answerable questions i have three do you guys have any i have one yeah go ahead what do the lyrics of let the river run mean

The New Jerusalem? Well, I mean, I understand what that means, but let me read it to you. Which river are we talking about? It's there for the taking. Let the river run. We're coming to the edge, Ron, and out of water. Right. Your eyes are the color of blue that you've only never seen in the eyes of your lover or whatever. Okay, the sky is the color of blue. Okay, so they're going somewhere. They're building a city. Yeah.

I think it ties back into your whole like immigrant. I mean, I think that's right, but I'm just saying it's not like the most evocative poetry that I have ever read. Is it a New York river or just a...

just the river of life. It's the Hudson River. It's the Hudson River. It's an energetic river. It's the Hudson River. So the answer, I have an answer. Let the Hudson River run. There's just an incredible amount of cocaine going on in the 80s. And at some point, at five in the morning, these lyrics made a ton of sense. Right. And they just kind of ran with it. Trembling, shaking, oh, my heart is aching is an accurate representation of what's happening. That's 5.30 in the morning when that was written. What do you have, Joanna?

Okay, it's not what did Jack ever see in Katherine Parker because it's a Gourney Weaver, but how did that ever progress beyond just like we have sex a couple times? It's just corporate. Corporate arrangement. Well, yeah, I think it's sort of like social business climate. It just reflects poorly on him. Yeah, it does. And it underlines Craig's point that maybe Jack Traynor is not the best guy we've ever met. He's a sleazoid too until he's not, you know? Yeah.

It's like if Sean was single and he just started dating like the CEO's daughter of Letterboxd. It's like, I don't trust Sean's intentions. What's he up to?

Marriage is a business contract. By the way, I was going to make a big deal about starting a Letterboxd because I refuse to do it and start it. And then all the movies would be completely fucking weird. Like Cinemax movies from the 90s and just every choice would be weird. And people would be like, what's going on with that guy? No movie would be good.

That's a good idea. Why is this a what if? Why aren't you doing this already? I might do it. I did start a Letterboxd profile and then I don't use it because it's just like way too much homework. But my it's not a picture of me, obviously, because like, what are we doing? It is a picture. Is that getting you coffee? No, it's Melanie Griffith in the red glasses from Working Girl. It is my icon. I love that. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Here are my three unanswerable questions. I also have a Letterboxd I don't use. It's just like, I don't know. Log. Listen, you know, I got a life.

One of these is going to make you both mad. Okay. Dim sum dumplings at an office party. Mm-hmm. No. I mean, the steam...

I think, no. Does not work with her hair. I think you just can't. They're not passed. They're not passed. You need like a table. You need to dip them. Now I have sauce. I'm dripping sauce on my shirt. I have bad breath. I'm getting stuff stuck in my teeth. What about one of the little, you know, the spoon and the dumplings with the sauce and then you do that? It's a flat no. And not a lot of people like dumplings. It's a bad choice. What's your number one top tier party food? Yeah. Look, there's a lot. I'm just saying, dim sum dumpling. You want past hors d'oeuvres to be

You want some like salmon and creme fraiche on some puff pastry? Is that what you're looking for? Best one I ever had was coconut shrimp at my friend Tim and Jen's wedding. Coconut shrimp's good. Not everyone eats shrimp. I mean, it's hard. You're never going to lay in the bed. Pigs in the blanket is always good if people write one and they're smaller. That was my one request of the wedding plan. In-N-Out burger at a Vanity Fair Oscar party.

You have to hold the burger. Yeah. That's also so big. A slider is better. Yeah, a slider is better. Went to a wedding recently with mini lobster rolls like an inch big on pretzel rolls. I think you can do dumplings, just not...

hot piping, freshly steamed ones. Yeah. That are dripping. Craig, what are your thoughts? That's fair. I think you could do a pot sticker. Yeah. Pot sticker. Pot sticker, way more sense. What's your favorite party hors d'oeuvre? Pigs in a blanket, Undefeated. Pigs in a blanket. It's true. It's true. All guys, you're getting 50% of the room immediately. Yeah. Plus,

Maybe 25% of the rest of the room. So you're batting 75%. Pigskin blanket are good for people who like are never going to eat a hot dog, but they kind of miss eating a hot dog. And they're like, oh, I can have a pigskin blanket. There's some...

Some split up buffalo chicken finger stuff you could do. Yeah. Like the toothpicks. Yeah. Where it's like you could dip it, not dip it. Maybe there's some cheese. You know, the Chick-fil-A party platter is the Amanda Dobbins signature. Yeah. You were that you were there. You can come next year. Everyone's invited holiday party. Honestly, I was in awe. Thank you. Yeah, I was in awe. It was one of the smartest party things I've ever seen. Listen, and it's because when growing up in Atlanta, you go to a boring holiday party.

Chick-fil-A powder. Super easy to eat. They kept coming out. People were getting a little drunker and a little drunker. And then all of a sudden you just see like four guys like, ha, ha, ha, ha. It checked all the boxes. It's undefeated. There's probably none left at the end of the night. No. Yeah. Yeah. All right. My second unanswerable question. Does Harrison Ford ever actually have sex in movies? Just presumed innocent. I couldn't think of even another movie where he had sex. What about What Lies Beneath?

It doesn't, though. It's like a lot of kissing, but not... No, doesn't he have sex with... Well, I mean, he hasn't done it. Like, what are we defining as, does he actually have sex in a movie? You know, we're sort of going technical here. Not to Mallory this out, but... Witness, it's a lot of, like, longing and lusting, but... So are you talking about, like, is he disrobed in the bed? Yeah.

I think it was a very intentional choice from the moment he was Han Solo on to be like, I'm not, there's a line, like, I'm not going to be in fatal attraction fucking Glenn Close against Kitchen Sake. So basically like a bare butt situation. Presumed innocent. That's it. That's the only time where he really gets it on with somebody. Other than that, not really. So you're just talking about like sex scenes. Yeah. Yeah.

Like Michael Douglas. Well, sure. Not only have sex scenes, but he'll like his balls will be flapping around. Michael Douglas made his career on it. You know? Yeah. The first Michael Douglas movie I ever saw was American President. And then I went backwards. Can you imagine? Oh, my Lord. Oh, no. I still. Like Harrison Ford's never going to be the cop in Basic Instinct. No. I guess that's my point. All right. I think it was an intentional choice. All right. This is probably the one that makes you mad. Okay. Okay.

Probably unanswerable questions is the category. Yeah. Are we sure Tess isn't the villain of this movie? You can play it that way. She steals her boss's boyfriend and job. Okay, rebuttal. The boyfriend was going to leave her anyway. The boyfriend was going to leave her. Just because her feelings were hurt? No, she was stealing her idea and passing it off as her own. Yeah, she worked for her.

But she's lying to her about it. She's like, nice idea. Yeah. Okay. Okay, Bill. This is good information. I'm talking it out. I'm talking it out. I'm trying to defend Sigourney Weaver. Keep your good ideas close to your head. The assistant works for her. The assistant is assisting her. Yeah. Has an idea. And she says, you know what? I'm going to tuck that one away. Not tell anyone. Goes skiing, breaks her leg. And then this person takes her entire life. Yeah.

Right. Hard to disagree. I understand that, like, if you're the boss. That's why it's unanswerable. If you're the boss and you're like, I like your idea. I will be leading this deal. That's fine because you're the boss. You're not going to say, hey, Tess, you lead this deal. It's your idea. She's the boss. She can lead it.

But you don't lie to her and say, you know. The dictaphone where she's like hard copy from the home computer. Do not go through tests. Do not let tests know. Suggest. Fair counter. Good counter. And it's still patronizing her. And she's like, I really tried. It didn't go. It's a too-me street. And if you had seen this, you simply would have asked me about it. Obviously, I've been in charge of some stuff. One of the best things you can do is if somebody works for you and they have a good idea, you then give them credit after the fact that they had the idea. Yeah, yes.

With that said, she did steal her job and her man in this movie. She didn't steal her job. No, she got a different job. Tess doesn't get the corner office. She stole the merger. She led that to get an entry-level job. Catherine has no mergers, no acquisitions, no ideas. She has dim sum parties. She has dim sum parties and weird perverts hitting on her. In Bill's defense. Yeah, I agree. Craig sees it. I agree with Joanne and Amanda. However, in Bill's defense,

Tess has been working for Catherine for like 48 hours. And like, sure, maybe Catherine wasn't the nicest. To just kind of immediately risk your entire career by kind of like taking her job is pretty bold as an assistant. Yeah, and that's the point of the-

That's the point of the movie. Sigourney Weaver tells her, don't wait for your opportunities to come to you. You have to go after and get them. And she says to Joan Cusack, like, I'm supposed to follow these rules that I didn't make up so that I can't, like, don't ever get what I want? You rationalize it to yourself however you want. Karate Kid, when they made the Cobra Kai and they were like, we're flipping this. Johnny Lawrence, maybe he was the victim and maybe...

Daniel-san was a bad guy. Oh, so you're waiting for the Catherine Parker show? I think you flip it around. It's like Catherine's life is that ruin from this assistant she had for 48 hours. It is. She's got a limp. YouTube, if you're still making original TV content, call the Garni Weaver. The thing about Devil Wears Prada is that it does sort of understand your point and that, like,

The Anne Hathaway character comes. It's another one over time. Yeah, but like, and she has that moment in the car of like, you already did. You did it to Emily. I was doing that. But we talked about this on the blog. Anne Hathaway, ultimately a bad person in the movie. Yes, exactly. That's true. But the movie knows that and is written that way. The working girl is not written for sex. I think if Tess treated her new assistant at all remotely shabbily. Right.

Then it's the Devil Wears Prada thing where she's just like. Cool. So. Right. And also we have that last, the last shot, which is still, it's, she doesn't get Catherine's office. You're on the record. You support identity theft and man stealing. That's what we learned. It's not identity theft. She uses her own name, which is another thing that you could not do now. You can't steal a man that isn't hers. No. They were dating. She didn't know that though. Yeah. She was over it. Yeah.

Devil Wears Prada, she's a much worse person. Way worse. So annoying. So entitled. And poor Vince from Outer Oz. No, I made you a grilled cheese. That guy sucks. Just because she sucks doesn't mean he doesn't suck because he does. He does, yeah. I put some extra Jarlsberg in it. You lighten a little mustard. What piece of memorabilia would you want or not want from this movie? The Sigourney Warhols.

Oh, that's a good one. I want the dress. Like the dress that she wears. It's not even leather. Yeah, I don't think it would suit me. I googled inflation. I think it would be $16,000. Because it's $6,000 in the movie. The bunny? The bunny? What about the gorilla? The bunny she brings to the office? For a minute, I thought we were talking about Fatal Attraction. And I was like, no. The gorilla? Yeah.

Oh, that's a good one. Catherine's Gorilla. I think the answer... The gorilla, like, right there in the corner where Patrick Swayze used to be. Before he fell over. Before he fell over. He hated this movie. No, Swayze just hated your hot take. What about the two tall Harrison Ford Luau wedding glasses with the straws? Movie-used glasses. Those are good. Props. Harrison Ford put his linty umbrellas and everything. Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson.

You don't get anywhere in this world by waiting for what you want to come to. You make it happen. Yeah. Even if you have to steal identity in somebody's man. Yeah. Check the milligrams. Check the milligrams for Valium. Double feature choice. Yeah. What do you have for working girl? I have a triple feature. I think this baby boom and broadcast news are like a very fun, you know. I have baby boom and broadcast news, but also Morning Glory.

Love Morning Glory. Oh my gosh. Which is Rachel McAdams' Working Girl. Patrick Harrison's favorite. Yeah, I know. It's incredible. And Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford. Yeah. In the sort of, yeah. You could talk me into Working Girl with Pretty Woman back to back. Good. 1988, 1990. Just so you can get mad at Gary Marshall for what he stole. A double Cinderella and then you're watching Pretty Woman seeing all the things they took. There's also Witness as just double hot Harrison Ford. Well, I think that there's a Devil Wears Prada case. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

Because that steals, but way, way more subtly from some stuff. But just, it's 88, not 2006, two different eras. If I were to pick from any of these great options, I think my number one would be Baby Boom because it's not as seen. And if you could get people in the door for Working Girl and say, stay tuned to watch Diane Keaton start a baby food empire, then you're doing good work. Sam Shepard in Baby Boom does not meet Harrison Ford in Working Girl, but like...

It's getting up there. He's just like in Vermont. Country veterinarian. Let me help you. Is he the all-time number one every woman loves somebody guy? Besides Harrison Ford, yes. And they are of a type. Yeah, it's powerful. If Sam Shepard were still with us, he would be in a Taylor Sheridan show. Yeah, he's an all-timer. Who won the movie? Melanie Griffith. I think it's Melanie Griffith.

Roger Ebert, our guy, wrote, this is Melanie Griffith's movie in the same way The Graduate belonged to Dustin Hoffman. She was not an obvious casting choice, but she's the right one. I agree with that. I agree. All right. Amanda, how do you feel? This is a delight. No, we got to get Craig's pick. Oh, wait. Oh, yeah. 38 years ago, this movie came out, which means Craig was minus seven, minus six. 38, minus eight. Minus eight. What do you got, Craig? This movie single-handedly saved Liz's relationship with the rewatchables. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. We were in a rough room. Death Wish did not go well. It was a dark time after Death Wish. This really pulled her out of the mud. When this movie ended, she was like, best movie ever made, I believe was her exact quote. Wow. Great. Better than Country Strong? I think a little better. A little better, although she loves Gwyneth. But...

This is a wonderful rom-com. I like it because I feel like the rom-coms from back in the day are a little bit edgier. Yeah. There's just a little bit of unpredictability in these, a little bit of edge in these. And even the rom-coms that have succeeded in the last, like,

10 or so years or like, you know, like anyone but you, those just have a safeness to them, like a glossiness to them. And these have no one's really bland. The characters are a little bit deeper, you know, like Harrison Ford's character being like a little bit questionable at times. I just like that the 80s and 90s kind of provide that in these rom-coms. Agree. You know, I have a theory on this, not to get all philosophical. Speak on it.

There wasn't a lot going on in the eighties. You just kind of worked and then you went out and you watched television and listen to music and went to sporting events. And what do you mean? We didn't have, we had nothing. What do we do now? We had no, we had no internet. Right. People were around each other all the time. You don't have devices being people, you know, the internet. Okay. Uh,

Intensity. Interacting with other people was basically everything you had to do. You couldn't go down your phone. You could sit at home and just read a book. Or you could just actually go out where other people were. Yeah. So, well, we all loved reading books. But you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, I do. Like, so movies were able to tap into that in a way that I think the last 10 years of movies...

with social media. I think people have really... It all happens on your phone. I think they've found out. Even you see it in a lot, especially in the later movies, they're really good now at showing people texting on phones. And they'll have somebody on the phone and you'll see the text or they'll put the text on the screen and the texting. And I just don't think it's as good as just people being together. Oh, I agree. Yeah. So Anyone But You is a good example of that because that movie was...

Really successful. And it was terrible. It was really bad. It's really bad. And guess what? My daughter watched it like seven times and loved it. And I'm like, I just, if that movie is winning over a movie like Working Girl, then that kind of tells us where we are. When do you think the last great rom-com was? So I am not really even on board with,

as late as 2005. I agree. So crazy, stupid love doesn't do it. No, no, I'm sorry. And I, I have to tell you, like, I think forgetting Sarah Marshall is really important and I appreciate. Yeah. Yeah. But it's about, and it's about men. Um,

So Notting Hill is 99. Yeah. Bridget Jones Diary is 2001. Yeah. You've got Mellis. 98. Yeah. I want to say. Yeah. So. If my wife was there, she would throw out a lot like Love in 2004. Okay. One of her favorite movies ever. I would say, yeah. Is that the one where they sing Chicago to each other on the, in the car ride? Like, ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's powerful. That movie's elite. Yeah.

I think it's pre-2005. Pre-2005. Yeah. Because I have rewatched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days recently. You know, and sorry to the Knicks or whatever. But...

It has not aged as well as you would like. Oh. Yeah. Not for my daughter. She loves that movie. Yeah, no, I know. And that one, so that one and 27 Dresses are, I think, the signal for a slightly later generation. I just think they're not, I agree. I agree with you. Delivering the way that, like, the 90s and the 80s. I think we kind of, the genre of,

I don't want to say it died. It just shifted into this 2010s. It stopped being as smart. There's a movie, Drinking Buddies. Yeah. It was on cable, but it was like those type of movies. That's like Mumblecore. Yeah. Yeah. Like that Mumblecore era combined with like the brain dead anyone but you type movies. Right. We never. We don't get the like Mike Nichols, Nora Ephron. Like this is smart. Yeah.

Right. And a rom-com at the same time. You know what I mean? It is a romantic comedy, but there is also the professional plot line as well. And it's as much about, like, is Tess going to get the life that she wants? Yeah, getting the man is not the point. And the last shot and the last scene is not about Harrison Ford. It's about...

her and her dream. And she calls Joan Cusack. She doesn't call Harrison Ford. So you have a, this is a rom-com that has three, two of the best actors of the 80s with Melanie Griffith in a breakout spot. It doesn't hurt. And then one of the most famous directors of this whole generation. Right. And now we do not have things like that. They used to respect romantic comedies now. I don't know. I just feel like we've done so many versions of the same idea that might be part of it too. Where you would still feel like people falling in love would be timeless, but...

Every time you watch them, they're so self-aware to the movies that have already happened before them, they almost are afraid to be original. But you can do iterations. Like, I'm a big defender of You've Got Mail. I love that movie. And that's a remake. That's a story that had already been made like three other times before it was made for the AOL era. You know what I mean? Yeah, but that movie has two massive stars in it. Well, yeah, but you can remake...

story premises again and again and again as long as you do it intelligently and have a good cast. The movie with Sudeikis and Alison Brie is good when they're friends for a long time and then I forget that one. That one is that was early 2010s. I thought that was good. I like that one.

But I feel like by the time Amy and Paul Rudd made their rom-com, making fun of all the rom-coms, that was when we were kind of like all good with the genre. Well, the other thing is that there aren't, it's the movie star thing, right? Because you just identified that it's, whether it's Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, like those are people who are already movie stars in, and they're like early 30s, they're the late 20s.

And we don't have movie stars like that anymore in the same way because of superheroes or whatever. I keep hearing like, oh, they're all in commas back when Set It Up. Which I like that movie. It's good. Nobody wants this was a TV show. Set It Up is a good example. That hit and was successful. But it was like a Netflix. It was a Netflix movie and a Netflix movie doesn't feel as big as, do you know what I mean? And Glenn Powell was not.

a star in the way that that was like early 2018 2018 they become like lovable streaming hits yeah exactly right they're not like or TV shows we're talking about Working Girl and Die Hard in the same conversation and you wouldn't put a rom-com in the same conversation as a big epic event movie the last duo we had was Gosling and Emma Stone

I will say, with the parts of Crazy Stupid Love that is just them, that's a good rom-com. Then there's a lot of other movies. You know, it's so different than sports because in sports, sports is constantly new and the athletes can change. Right. And rom-coms are competing. It's the ghosts of the iconic rom-coms that are just better. Yes. Yeah. And...

I don't know. You go back to... I just think that, like, in the 90s, where there's a ton of great rom-coms, you could argue, oh, well, they're competing with the screwball comedies of the 1940s, which were, you know, you can't beat Katherine Hepburn, you can't beat... But they are. They are equally great. So I feel like you can keep doing it. We just don't value it anymore. We just consider that small ball sort of thing. I think Craig's point about that they used to be edgier is an important point. Yeah, yeah. Because even, like, About Last Night, which I don't think gets enough credit for 80s...

kind of paving the way for When Harry Met Sally and some of these other ones. That's a pretty, like... There's a lot of sex. That's an R-rated movie. There's a lot of sex in that. Right, right, right. Rob Lowe kind of goes nuts at one point. Yeah. I just think that movie would be completely different. They remade it with Kevin Hart and Michael Ealy and it's just like, all right. Yeah, right. But I do think it's a star power thing. Yeah, definitely part of it. We never really replenished... We had this...

You know, every time, like, Sandra Bullock and Meg Ryan, and then it was like, next generation, here's Reese Witherspoon, and then Kate Hudson's gonna make a bunch. We always had people to put in those, and it was always a Matthew McConaughey. And now it's basically, like, Glenn Powell. Well, I think it felt like a necessary piece of the star playbook, because you had to do your rom-com, and I don't think that's... Like, Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone would be wonderful in them if they could write... You know, if someone committed, like, the script, the money, and the...

the release to them, but they don't want to do it. That's not their strategy. Emma Stone is instead like winning multiple Oscars for, for art house movies. But people used to do both, which is cool. Yeah. I would rather she did that than that Nathan Fielder show. I would rather she remade Picture Perfect. Where you see that in Picture Perfect. That's another one where somebody's pretending. Yeah. It's, oh, I need a date for a wedding. So here's my fiance and this guy I just hired. Yeah. It's such a great era. Yeah. I think part of it is,

The rom-com premises were so crazy that I almost, they're too self-aware now. They don't stand up to any ethics treatment that we have today. Maybe we're too scared to be problematic. Yeah, exactly. Okay. We should say that. We solved it. In a week, there is a rom-com coming out starring Dakota Johnson with Celine Song as director. We saw it this week. Yeah, we saw it. And I would not call it a rom-com. Not a romantic comedy. They're trying to market it. They're mismarketing it. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, never mind. It's in conversation. But I wish it was. Yes. Like, that's the part of it that I really liked. Yes. But, yeah. Well, one of the most fun things about having a daughter was watching her hit all the rom-com tears with my wife. Oh, yeah. Or sometimes by herself. But I just think there's a timelessness to them and it doesn't matter. Like, I'm positive my daughter would like Working Girl. Oh, yeah. When she got past the hair thing.

She would definitely like it. And it's also the way for her to learn about the 80s and the hair. True. You know, it is because the format is recognizable. So then it's just kind of like, yeah. Yeah. It's like, that's how I first learned about Wimbledon was the 2004 film Wimbledon starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany. Yeah. And James McAvoy. Yeah. And now here we are.

Amanda, a true pleasure. Joanna, a true pleasure. An honor. Thank you so much. Thanks for letting me witness this incredible moment in your career. It feels so great to be back. Producer Craig, always a pleasure. Who else do we have to thank? Marcelino. Thank you to him. I guess it's New York month because we've done two New York movies in a row. Might have to do two more. Only need two more for New York month. Sounds great. These were two good ones though. Thank you both. Thank you. Thank you both.