Episode 34 Car Wash and The Nice Guys

Dave & Christopher review "Car Wash"-- a 1976 comedy starring Franklin Ajaye, Ivan Dixon, Bill Duke, Antonio Fargas, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Professor Irwin Corey, and Garret Morris; directed by Michael Schultz and written by Joel Schumacher. 

The boys also review  the Shane Black film, "The Nice Guys,"  a 2016 buddy cop comedy starring Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Margaret Qualley, Kim Basinger and Keith David

"If You Were Here" © writers: Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie, and Joe Leeway performed by J.Christopher Thomas

"Ride Captain Ride "© writers: Mike Pinera, Frank "Skip" Konte  performed by Blues Image

Transcript

Car Wash

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Hello and welcome to Let's Go Get Some Ice Cream, a weekly film review and podcast hosted by me, Dave, and my co-host Christopher. We worked together for several years at a small town movie theater and ever since have shared our love of movies and have seen thousands over the years. We provide unique perspectives on some well-known movies everybody's seen, and some you might not have, but should. If you're looking for a good movie or two to enjoy, you've come to the right place. Let's get started.

unknown 0:53

Woohoo.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

So, okay, so here we are again. Yes, we're back, folks. So we're still kind of doing more lightweight movies, I guess you could say.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Not so serious, but although I would probably like to get back to them at some point.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Right. But we're having fun with this, so.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Yeah, I am stuck in the 70s for some reason. That's all good, kid. Um, so my movie that I chose this week was Car Wash. Car Wash. And I'm gonna say ahead of the ahead of time here. Um I think we did Up in Smoke, which was I want to say 78.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

Yeah, it was late later.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

And this is what, 76? Mid, right. Uh somehow I got 78 was the least PC movie we'll ever do. This one was before that, which seemingly should be worse, but it's not. It's got some things there that are little little touchy. A little sprinkle, yeah. Let quote unquote would not fly today, that literally would not fly today, but you know, as opposed to what a lot of people say, and they kind of throw that around a little too much, if you ask me. But in this case, yeah, there's some things that would not work this uh in 2026.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

So can I interject real fast?

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

This is my first time watching this film. That's all I wanted to really say, because I had never I mean, I remember it, you know, but I'd never really watched it.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

And I'll get let you go in a sec. I it was quite a treat. It was fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Yeah, it's a it's a this a nice light movie. Uh again, we're doing light movies. Oh, yeah. So uh not really big on a plot. Anyway, I'll get to that. But um uh so this the movie was written by uh Joel director of Lost Boys, Julian's Flyer, yeah, uh Joel Schumacher. Um he also did Falling Down, right? With Michael.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

I believe he did. He was uh big time fashion or something like that. He did the costume design, I want to say costume design and stuff inside the industry.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Yeah. I researched this, but this has been a while now. But I I I'm pretty sure he before this, they wanted this movie to be uh this is back in the days of um Jesus Christ Superstar, but you know, Greece, things that were going from Broadway to movies to the big screen. They wanted this to be that, so they wanted to do it as a play first, which the producer said, Oh no, just go just make the movie. And so that's kind of what put Joel Schumacher on the map in a way, because he wanted to just do like the play, and they're like, No, just just do it, just whatever.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

I was telling you as I read, it was conceived as a musical comedy too, because those were big too in that time. Yeah. There was the thing with what the village people they did a movie.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Oh, I don't remember that.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

I think it's thank god it's Friday, but that was with Donna Summer. And anyway, so that kind of goes with what you're saying, that timeline with those movies.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

I feel like Kiss did a movie around that time too.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

They did that made-for-television movie. Something Kiss and the Phantom Park.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

That might have been later in the 70s. Well, no, this is late in the 70s. Yeah, it might have been. Everybody was doing musical theater for some reason. Sure. Uh Pinball Wizard, right?

SPEAKER_04 3:53

Was that kind of like well, there was Rocky Horror Picture Show this time too, and all that.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Oh wow, that's right. Yeah. So anyway, that was the uh the flavor of the month or the year that at that time. So anyway, this movie was conceived in that way. Um, I want to say that Joel Schumacher also did the Wiz. He had some kind of hands in that in some way. And so that that was before this movie. And the Wiz, of course, had like Dana Ross and Michael Jackson, you know, he's some heavy hitters.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

He was a yeah, he was a writer for The Wiz, you're correct.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Yeah. Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

So big brain on it.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Yeah, I know. So that was his his uh his his Melou is like was he was into musical theater or whatever. Right. So anyway, the like I said, the producer said, go ahead and make it a movie, skip all that, and here we are with Car Wash. Uh they also got Norman Whitfield, who was uh instrumental songwriter for Motown. Oh, okay, who did the soundtrack. He's the one that wrote Car Wash. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did he write the song? I think he did actually. There's like a whole story about that where he was out eating chicken or something. And he uh came up with the melody in his head and and wrote it down in the chicken bag. And next thing you know, it's a hit. But that's the way it is with Genuses, though, you know?

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Anyway, um and uh so the things of note to me are the um Joel Schumacher's behind it. You know he has a good track record, you got Norman Whitfield, I believe this soundtrack went a Grammy, and he's known for the Temptations, Marvin Geg last night. So you got that solid. And then um I also put as a kind of a um wild card, it features two of what I would say would be two of the four faces on the comedy Mount Rushmore, and you know what I'm talking about, right? They're actually featured on the the new cover of this uh the DVD cover, even though they don't really have big roles.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

You're talking about one's Richard Pryor, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Richard Pryor and I can't George Carlin. Oh yeah, George Carlin. So if you ask a lot of comedians, most of them will say one of those two or both are like top one or two.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

Uh as an aside here, real quick, and it also won a technical grand prize at the 1977 Conn Film Festival. Oh, yeah. It was actually nominated for the which the big award is the Palm d'Ore, which is huge.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

How does that happen? You just like you just decide you want to go to con or they invite you, or I'd be interested to see how that works.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

Well, this was 76, so somehow it had enough influence or and they asked it to be played at the Calm Film Festival and it for it to do that well, you know, almost win the huge award at that. I mean, a lot of people won't understand that because I mean some of those movies have come here after they've won that award. One one of the biggest ones of all time was Pulp Fiction. Oh, it was it Con too? Yeah, it won the Palm Dior. So that also helped and it helps to launch movies, it helps to also get that across the pond people who are, you know, able to watch it, especially back then. I mean, now you have digital, you have everything.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

But back then the internet and the whole nine yards, yeah. But back then that was a big deal, like to put you on the map.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

So when you got into a foreign market and obviously almost win one of the biggest awards, that's huge. Yeah. That speaks volumes.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Yeah. I I saw that. I didn't know exactly what that meant as far as like the prestige technical prestige. But I mean, is it are are they saying like I don't I don't know what that means. What's the criteria for that award? I guess.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

Yeah, that that's different. I think it's the audience, the whoever's judging it.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Right.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

But I mean it just gave as an example sound or something like a black culture movie to transcend across the pond. Right. You know, that's huge.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

For any, I mean, for any demographic, it's huge. Right. Especially back then. Now, like I said, there's internet where we can touch anybody anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Right.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

But back then that's huge.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah, definitely. Um so yeah, like I said, Car Wash is from 1976. It's a comedy film and set in Los Angeles. It was directed also, uh give us uh special mention to him, Michael Schultz, is that right?

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

He also later directed Richard Pryor and Which Way is Up, which is not a great movie, but okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Well, you know, Richard Richard Pryor.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Richard Pryor was in it by then.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

He was like Yeah, his name.

SPEAKER_03 8:14

Oh yeah, heavily.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

I mean, in this movie, he was, I guess, there's a they said that he doesn't remember this movie or he's dead now, but yeah. Uh and I've watched his performance, I watched it a lot, and I was like, he's I mean, I I'm always fascinated by how people who are really heavy into drugs, especially in the 70s, like Aerosmith, the guy's marriesmith, they did all those great albums, but they were so high.

SPEAKER_04 8:37

Look at Robin Williams. I mean, there's times he said even on Marcum Mindy that he he there's times he couldn't remember because he was flying on stuff.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 8:45

And that goes to what you said earlier, right? I mean, some of these people, and I'm not throwing the word around loosely, but they are geniuses.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

They literally can just at the snap of finger, they fly off and they're creating this. And when you ask them, it reminds me of Will Farrell in old school, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:00

When he does that thing, oh yeah, and he's like, Oh my god, what happened?

SPEAKER_04 9:03

I can see and literally I know it's funny, right? But that's literally what these people do. They get tap into something, some reservoir, and boom.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

And blast it out and filtered on you, and and then forget that it happened or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

I mean, I'll I'll use another little antidote, which is uh Denzel Washington and training day, uh, the whole King Kong that speech, right? Yeah, he's spewing out Antoine Fouquet's filming in. That was all ad-libbed, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Yeah, I heard about that.

SPEAKER_04 9:29

And at the end, he goes, I I and then like Antoine looks like he goes, Where's that?

SPEAKER_03 9:33

He goes, I don't know, but I hope you got that as film.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Because I mean it just at the moment, you just you know, it's at that moment something comes out of you.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

The flow, flow state. Right. Uh Michael Schultz directed Which Way Is Up? He also directed Sgt. Peppers after this.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Uh later on he did uh kind of a cult classic, The Last Dragon, which is Motown, trying to trying to get into the movie business. They didn't really do that well, but the movie kind of lasted, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Oh, yeah, it's a cult, very much so.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

I mean, who back when Vanity, they tried to make Vanity a thing.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

Well, that was Prince, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Didn't quite work. Yeah. Anyway, um uh he also did a movie which is uh me and my sister's one of my our our favorites. We used to watch when we were a kid. It's called Scavenger Hunt.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

It's got um the guy that played Face in the A Team. Was his name Dirk Dirk Benedict?

SPEAKER_04 10:29

Is that Dirk Benedict, yeah. Dirk Benedict.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

He was from Star Galactica with the Willie Ames. Willie Ames. It is enough. Yeah. Anyway, it's like a group of people, and it's a scavenger hunt. So basically a game, a guy that makes he's like a knockoff on Milton Bradley. He's got an empire of games, he's been rich or whatever. It's a movie. Uh Michael Schultz directed it. This is I think it was after this movie.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Okay, off the little movie.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

But me and my sister used to watch when we were a kid, and it's like one of our favorite movies. Is this another really light 70s? Oh, Tony Randall's in it.

SPEAKER_04 11:00

Oh, Tony Randall. Tony Randall.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Uh Clevon Little from uh Blazing Saddles. Blazing Saddles, yeah. Uh so anyway, um, and all a bunch, you know, all a bunch of different people in little groups of two and three having to um pr um perform the scavenger hunt to win this big prize, and it's a great movie.

SPEAKER_05 11:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Um yeah, a lot of great people in that. Uh Beverly D'Angelo, maybe? Anyway, um anyway, he directed all those, so he's got quite a resume on him. I I guess I'm pointing this out because Car Wash is to me is just a light, fun Saturday afternoon movie. Okay. But then you got Joel Schumacher and Norman Woof. We got some really heavy hitters on this. You got the uh con film festival, so it elevates it kind of a little bit beyond just being, you know, yeah, just a light film. A light film, yeah. Right. Um Car Wash was literally the blueprint for the movie Friday. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Um, because they interviewed Ice Cube and he said um he that movie was influential to him too, and he wanted to do a movie that was more a hood movie that was more fun.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

And light, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Yeah, that's lighter, yeah, not so and hour again, as we're saying. It's both movies feature diverse casts of characters who get into various comedic adventures over the course of the movie, all in a all occurring in the course of one day, which is what this movie does too, and culminating in an event that turns the comedic atmosphere serious, which is I won't go into that at the end of this movie, but um yeah, but both feature, you know, those same things, yes.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

The word sorry is relatable, right? And that's what you're looking for, even though you call it a hood movie, whatever, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:41

You just want it to be relatable because regardless of skin color or whatever, we often relate.

SPEAKER_04 12:47

You know, we're not all but we're all born with the silver spoon. Some of us came from different areas of life. Yeah. So we've experienced different cultures. So realistically, as a storyteller, you're just making it relatable to your audience. That's what it comes down to. That's like music or anything.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

It's you know, and I don't remember where Fr Friday came in the midst of these things, but I think if I remember correctly, I think in the interview he was saying something like there had been Menace of Society and these other really like heavy gang movies, and he wanted to do something a little bit more different, more well-rounded version of what his experience was as a kid. And it's like you said, everyone can relate to, you know, no matter how poor you grew up, your life wasn't always dour all the time. You had moments where it was fun. Yeah. I've heard a lot of people say, Oh, I didn't we didn't know we were poor. We just had fun outside doing free shit, throwing rocks, or whatever it is. So then other people told us we were poor when we got older. Right.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

It just that's your norm.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Yeah. That's your normal. Speaking of which, uh the one of the reasons why I like this movie is because it is nostalgic for me. I mean, I was really young when this came out, but I remember watching it after later on, like in Saturday matinees and stuff like that. Um, but the idea of the camaraderie between the people at the workplace, yeah, I was thinking this is GCC. That was us, actually. Total one-to-one.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

And I was I was gonna say, because exactly when we were coming here, driving here, I was like, I was like, oh yeah, these are so relatable.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

But yeah, this movie totally reminds me of that camaraderie, like where you had you would get stuff done, you wouldn't slack off. No, but I mean, every time I turn around in every little vignette, you know, the vignette they have, it's like someone's laughing or they're like throwing stuff at each other or whatever. And it's like they're more like their friendship is more like a bigger deal than the national job. Although, again, they're not slacking off, they're doing their job.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

I mean we get our jobs, right?

SPEAKER_04 14:31

We I mean, to the perception of like Mr. Kidder, our our former boss, he might have had that, oh, they're goofing off. Yeah, they're goofing off. But realistically, we we handled what those rushes like nothing. We cut through it like a hot knife through butter. But you know my point, we just we worked, yeah. We would joke and crack Y's and all that, but everything got done.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

No, you you you'd have like the person at the box office and the person that was tearing the tickets was not a thing anymore, I guess. Uh, right behind. So, you know, there's a lot of times you'd lean on like, hey, how's it going? What'd you do for the week or whatever?

SPEAKER_04 15:03

You know, just it's funny. A 70s movie, and I guess because we were in the mid-80s, yeah, we're relatable, right? It's it's and it's just funny how that all carries over.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Yeah, it was more than when we were at the theaters, more than 10 years after this movie. Oh, yeah. But the it still kind of applies, you have different personalities, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:21

But we all blended well, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:23

All could work well together, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

We were puzzled that you could fit every piece perfectly, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

And then you're kind of like you as a group of people would kind of like face like these kind of weird customers every now and then, which is kind of like the way it was in Car Wash.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

It's like what you're saying, like when uh Richard Pryor's character comes in, the Reverend, right? Because that one guy has his picture, right? And he's like, oh, and he's the shoe shine guy, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Right, right. And he and he's just like, oh, when he comes in, oh Reverend. Ever since I've been following you, I got a color TV.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Yeah, and then I love the I don't know if you caught it. There was a point where he Richard Pryor pays him for the shoe shine, and then like 15 minutes later, makes him I caught that.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

I was like, oh my god, I love it.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

This guy's good. Yeah. Oh my god. He was all about just money, you know. And that's I mean, you and I have kind of touched on it, you know, these religions and how they have the basket come around and yet, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

I think even then it was like he had that gathering people, he like motions to his driver, you know, get the the the hat or whatever. Right, and they start passing around and they're like, okay, give them their money. It's like wow. It's amazing. But you know, people on them uh just start doing it. That whole thing, that whole I don't get me started on that. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 16:39

Right, unless for another time kids, but real quick, uh some call-outs, because uh Ivan Dixon, who plays Lonnie, right? He's one of the main characters. He was actually his start was in Hogan's Heroes.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Hogan's Heroes is my dad's favorite show.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

Yeah, I I mean I remember watching it as a I'm not gonna be I already give my age away, but as a kid, I mean in reruns, I didn't watch it when it first came out, but it was in syndication.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 17:05

And but he plays a really important part in the movie.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

I feel like he I want to say he after Hogan's Heroes he stopped acting and was doing directing or something like that. I believe you're correct. I want to say maybe Garrett Morris, who's in the cast, oh yeah, Garrett asked him to like come we need you to act in this, we need your gravitas or whatever for this role, and he came out of retirement order for this role. But yeah, um it was fun.

SPEAKER_04 17:31

I mean, it's fun to see because I I know who Bill Duke is. I mean, a lot of people don't, but you know, he's obviously Predator. Yeah. And he's also another director, but seeing someone, it's interesting to see them starting out young, right? And that's a young Bill Duke.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, good actor.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

Yeah, he you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Uh speaking of which, the the the movie does feature a large ensemble cast, most notably Garrett Morris. Oh, yeah, Garrett. He was uh at the time he was on SNL right at that same time, I don't know, I guess it's off season or something like that. Uh Franklin Jai, who's like um very underrated, uh, went on to write for a lot of like comedians and stuff in the 80s and 90s. He played uh Maya Rudolph's father and bridesmaids. Yeah, it's funny. That was him. Yeah, but he kind of another one, uh that's weird. There's something in the water here on the set. Like a lot of these guys, I guess they saw Schultz, who's a black man, and they said, Oh, I'm gonna do this. What am I on this side of the camera? I'm gonna do what you're doing. A lot of these guys, uh Jai, you know, Dixon was already directing, you know. Um I think a couple other people just like, you know what, I'm gonna go into directing after this.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Or writing or behind-the-scenes stuff, which is probably makes a lot more sense. Sure.

SPEAKER_05 18:41

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

You know, my my favorite um cast member is uh Moscone's Bail Bonds. Oh, uh Jack Kehoe.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. He's the white guy, the cowboy. That's true. I was looking at him, I was like, why does that guy look so fucking familiar? I'm gonna get some donuts.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

That's where I know that name. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

I was like, dude, bugging me to death. Yeah, right. And that's kind of the playing up the diversity of how everyone's so different. So they have this the white guy, quote unquote, is in a cowboy hat in Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles. I mean, you could say we played in the stereotypes, whatever. Uh Native American guy and one Hispanic, and yeah, and the Jewish boss.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

And I mean, let's be real. I mean, honestly, even when we worked, there was diversity. We all had our little we came from every corner of whatever the world, right? But we, in conjunction with the movie, we all fit together well. That was my point. We're like puzzle pieces, and you could never tell that we came because we all collaborated and we got along so well.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah, we all are basically Western culture, so it's not like we're not as different as we think we are. Sure. Uh also, real quick shout out to Danny DeVito was in this movie too. Was he? Yes. He had a big role in the movie. As a matter of fact, So they cut it down. How much time we got? Um So there is a there's a subtext about um Oh, I can't think of the guy's name. Just uh Antonio Fargas plays the gay guy.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

Yeah, Lindy Lindy, right.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

You gotta have the stereotypical super gay guy. Sure. Um yeah, the 70s at the time this came out, the the most of the gay jokes were kind of like they uh how to put this, they were making fun of it. It wasn't like they were saying we're in on the joke, it was like, oh, that's weird, you know, that's that that guy's terrible. And so later on, like when it came out on TV, networks were like, nope, you can't have we don't want nothing gay, blah blah blah this is the 70s. Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

I'm just a little more conservative or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 20:35

I understand.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

And so uh Danny DeVito's part, he played the owner of the restaurant where they went to next door. Okay, but they cut all of his parts, they put the the gay guy back in and cut out DeVito's parts. You can see him. I want to say there's a scene where the one receptionist lady. Oh, uh the one white dude, I can't think of his name, he comes up, he's like her crush or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

Melanie Mayron is it?

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Melanie Mayron, but the guy that he's got the blonde hair and he's got the suit on. Right, right. When he comes in, I I want to say, like, right when he comes in, you can see Danny DeVito behind on the street, because you can't miss, you know, he's like five foot or whatever, and he's got a few.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

It's only four eleven, technically.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Yeah. So you see him run into the uh into the restaurant because I was looking for him, like that's such a bummer that he took out.

SPEAKER_04 21:20

I'd have to re-rent it.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Apparently, it was like him and his wife owned the restaurant, and their their roles were like they were kind of like um the feuding couple, because that was kind of a thing back then in sitcoms, right?

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Um all the way back from the honeymoon or on forward with the you know, all in the families, like the whole husband and wife don't get along, but they really love each other, that type of thing.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

So I guess what it says here is that there's two versions, right? There's the theatrical, which when we saw there's a television version because they don't have those anymore. Well, it says on here, he that's where if you were to watch it somehow, it would be the television version. They've reinserted that him and Bro. Brooke Adams.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Yeah, so they took out the gay stuff because it was an i it had to be family friendly, so therefore, yeah, they took the stuff out. And they had Danny DeVito with with his wife. Anyway, um they did win a Grammy for the uh the soundtrack. The music for this the soundtrack was written before the movie was done. So I think that I just wanted to point that out because it's kind of goes along to what you were kind of saying, said in a few times is that music kind of inspiring something when you're writing a movie.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

And so you I mean, if you listen to the lyrics of the song, I mean it's literally like one-to-one with the scene. Uh, what's that one? There's when TC goes to his crush, works next door. Oh, yeah. I want to get next to you. Right. I don't have money, I don't have this and that. The lyrics are like right there. That's exactly what he's saying. Like, I know I'm a bum, I work at the car wash, but no one's gonna love you like I do, baby, you know, whatever. And it's like they literally like Norman wrote the song and they said, Oh, okay, let's make that into a scene, you know.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

I get it. Like I said, I could I've in my head I can I see you know how it could play out.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Yeah. So I thought that was interesting.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Yeah. As a another aside here, for the budget, it was two million dollars. Yeah, it gross 14. I mean, that's a hit. Yeah. I mean, I know Hollywood math is different, but still seven times what it you know cost to make.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

Yeah, well, because I would cause I was reading that it didn't do well, and I I saw the same figure as you did, and I'm like, how is$12 million profit? How is that not good? Right. You know? Anyway.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

Well, like I said, they're creative math.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Yeah, maybe there was that much advertising even back then, although I doubt it.

SPEAKER_04 23:46

I doubt it.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

I mean, comparatively to today, I mean and then again, so we don't have TV versions anymore of some movies, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:54

Not I mean, I'm sure what TBS and all of them maybe because they don't play the actual movie they have to cut out cursing and all that. Oh, do they? Yeah. But I'm just using those as an example.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

But I mean the ones that we grew up with, it was like, you know, KTV. Take that back, you wacky fun story.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

No, I'm talking about like the ABC, like the eight o'clock in the house. Right.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

They would edit it.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Dub it. Heavily edited.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

Well, I don't even think they'd dub it. They just insert the Danny DeVito scene, whatever, because it was toned down, right? Because they can't have cussing. Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

So they would cut out the cuss and well, this movie, I don't know if that's part of the technical word, but from what I understood is that they filmed the whole movie, and then because of the noise of the car wash, they had to redub all the dialogue, like every single bit. Right. And you can actually tell a lot of times it's like the dialogue's pretty bad. It's that doesn't match up quite right. But they also said at that point, they said, well, as long as we're redoing all the dialogue, well, let's do the TV version right now. That's what I'm saying. They don't do that anymore. That they don't, right? They don't cut out the cuss words and all this stuff. So because there's no TV really. I mean, I mean there is, there's no like.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

No, I understand what you're saying, right. Um I guess. So I that's where I would agree with you today. They would dub the the, you know, instead of saying damn or whatever, darn you or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

And it's it's it's something you can tell. It's not, you know, the way it's even it's bad, but yes. You fool.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Fool you. Um yeah, so anyway, um, yeah, so I put the movie did not do well commercially, that's what they say, but right. Grossed 14 million, so that seems pretty good to me. Um, 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, 71% on Metacritic. My boy Roger Ebert finally got it right. 3.5 out of 4. Uh called it a study, lively comedy with a tremendous sense of life. Siskel gave it 3 out of 4. Said it's quite entertaining with plenty of strong performances.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

Yeah, it's just a slice of life that you and I kind of grew up with. I mean, different occupation, but similar, right? Just yeah. It's weak, it's it's relatable, like I said. It is. Anyone who's ever worked, I mean, even the fact that when Lonnie goes to the boss and the boss keeps trying to like, oh, and they finally at the end, okay, Lonnie, we'll talk.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Right.

SPEAKER_04 26:07

You know, because I mean, everyone's doing a job trying to make a living, you know. Right. And you who like Lonnie's character has done all these extra things for his boss is like, hey, I uh trying to put to move up.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

I got a family, I got kids. Right. You know, his kids came by and visited him. You know, I mean, I he's I guess he was did some time or whatever, and now he's trying to turn his life around.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

And he has, like you said, he's been sober because the cops come and mess with him, and you know, and it's like, hey, I've been sober. Whatever you go ahead. You know, you got nothing on me.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

So that's his, you know, certain people, you know, like other people that work on staff are like, well, I'm going on to do this other thing, you know. I I'm not gonna be here forever. But everyone, you know, takes from the job what they want or makes the job what they want, which like most jobs.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Most people like everyone doesn't want to have the corner office, you know? So it is nothing wrong with that.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Yeah, exactly. It's like I said, it's relatable. Yeah. We've all been there. I'm sure anybody even today could relate because sometimes we feel like in our jobs, but it's really you make it better by who you work with and you know, you just make the best of it.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

So often. I I want to say, and I haven't been on Indeed in a long time, but I feel like they have reviews where people you can review your old job, and then other people that are applying can see, oh, it's you know, and I feel like the people that you work with, whatever they call like staff or whatever, is like part of the reviewing process. Like, oh, I really got along with my co-workers or it was a fun environment to work for. Right. And then they have like pay and all this other stuff that you know they rate. So a lot of times it's like, I love my my crew, but I hate everything else or whatever, as the case may be, or they love it, whatever, but it's always like the people you work with, that's what you really I mean, those people that come to your friends.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

That's what endears you to the job, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Now, like two friends that started working together.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

Oh, yeah, look at us.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

You have relationships sometimes, you meet people, you know.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

We're looking at what almost 40 years together we've known each other. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Yeah, so I mean that's one of the things that um that uh makes this movie kind of special for me because I see so much of our ourselves and our whole crew, even though you know they can they're not not all of them around anymore, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

We had that same kind of you know differences, but we all came together, so you know it's at the end of the ship, be like, all right, see you tomorrow, you know.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

We'd like kind of like the end of car wash, right? Right. We'd all because we did have that changing room, right, or whatever later on when we'd go and take the votes, you know, put our jackets or whatever, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:33

But yeah, and even music, you know, because they these guys had music on they could listen to music while they were working, and we had the popcorn. I mean, you can listen on the floor, but when you did popcorn, you brought your boom box. Yeah, exactly. You brought all your shit. My mixed tape. And people would like stop by, like, oh, what'd you got going on in there, you know?

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

So yeah. Fun times. So yeah, so that's that's uh all I got for that movie. I would just say, yeah, it's uh very nice. I literally said it's a Saturday afternoon movie.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Nothing to you know it's nothing serious, good time. Nothing serious, just a nice, light, fun movie, bunch of little like you know, little scenes where they have little adventures with different customers and it's funny, and you know, it's and you get to really like the cast. Oh, yeah. They have great chemistry. Just a good, good, fun movie.

SPEAKER_04 29:20

I concur. Two thumbs up here.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Yes, definitely. Hey, sorry to interrupt, but if you're enjoying the reviews, please take a second to like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast. We'd really appreciate it. And now back to the reviews. All right, so what do you got for us?

SPEAKER_04 29:44

I picked The Nice Guys because I think it's a very underrated film that didn't do as well as I hoped because when I saw it, I was blown away. There's the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and um Russell Crowe is tremendous.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Yeah, definitely. Um why did it never do a sequel?

SPEAKER_04 30:02

Money. Oh it didn't make it and since you're speaking on that, I'll just tell you right now. It was budgeted at 50, it made 62.8.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Oh, that's not enough, right?

SPEAKER_04 30:12

Oh, yeah, not enough. I mean, and sad because Shane Black, who directed it and co-wrote it with uh Anthony Bagrazi. Um well it's set in the 70s anyway, but it is a throwback to the 70s, that feel, the vibe.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

I like the fact that it's a subtle period piece. It's not over the top, like look at my giant collar on my shirt. It's like it's just like oh.

SPEAKER_04 30:33

It just fits in the movie. You go.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Wait a minute, that's you know, weird-looking car or whatever, you know. So and then the arc architecture and everything like that.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

So right. And I liked it because, well, obviously, Shane Black, who's written Lethal Weapon Predator, one of the Predators? Oh, yeah. He was actually in Predators, uh he two, yeah, because he did direct the the last one, which was Thumbs Down. Yeah. But yeah, he's uh he also did the movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which I really enjoyed. Yeah, that's another one uh the late uh Val Kilmer. Val Kilmer, right? Right, and I think that was a good movie. That launched Michelle Monaghan because she was kind of unknown and you see her now. But yeah, I'm digressing. But yeah, Shane Black's a great director, and this is and those two movies, unfortunately, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, another one that I love it, but for whatever reason, I don't understand the audience sometimes. I'm missing like how do you not like these movies? And I again I'm not trying to speak for everybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

But going back to nice guys technically, I mean I don't mean to cut you off, but I mean if this movie, for example, made it budget for fifty and made sixty-two, is that what you said? I mean, that means people did like it. It's just that not enough for the people who make these arbitrary rules, but I mean, like if you know, if I had a liminate stand and I it cost me five bucks and I make six, that's a good day for me, unless I say, well, my mom comes and takes all, you know, you owe me ten bucks, then it's uh you know, then it's terrible, but that's her fault. That's not the customers. I clearly have a good business. It's just like the the whoever the people the powers that be that make these movies, they're the ones that say, Well, we didn't make enough, so now we're not gonna give you a sequel, which is what people would really want if you gave it to them. Because clearly they wanted the first one.

SPEAKER_04 32:15

I think it's so well well written, and the characters, uh Gosling and Russell Crowe, are so work so the chemistry between them is so phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

It's seamless. Yeah, I will say that um uh Russell Crowe, he expands on his role of what I how I knew him, because all I know of him is like Gladiator and being real stoic and like a bruiser, but he shows he has some uh little bit of comedic chops, you know, a little little you know, doesn't take himself quite so seriously, or maybe makes fun of that part of himself. But Ryan Gosling is like that's another one I was thinking again, not to get to beat this dead horse about about Wahlberg, but I'm thinking, yes, this dude. Right, you were just saying that's what I'm saying. One to one. Who do I want? Gosling or Wahlberg? That's not even no, no, it's not even close.

SPEAKER_04 33:04

Well, you were saying to uh allude what you're saying, like we were talking before we started here, that you would have picked Crow for Will Farrell for you.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yeah, can't you see that? Yeah, like the the big gruff Bertley, you know, I want to be out there kicking ass, and you know, he's a bully. Because even that part, like Will Farrell's what 6'2 or something like that. 6'4, but yeah. And so then he's got little Wahlberg, like he's supposed to be threatened by this guy. I don't I don't but but Crow, then you're then you're onto some. So anyway, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

Yeah, we're digressing.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

But yeah, that's and I think Gosling is like six three or something, six two.

SPEAKER_04 33:40

He's about six two, yeah, somewhere there.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

It's like the intimidation fact, like, you know, being a badass, like a fake badass. I could totally see, and with the humor, I could totally see him in that role way more than Wahlberg.

SPEAKER_04 33:52

Yeah, because um anyway, I'm I'm getting ahead of myself. But it's a plot set in 1977, uh Los Angeles, and it involves pornography. Uh they get they're saying this is before the catalytic converter was installed in the car. They were saying that the cars were, you know, having uh what do you call it, making pollution, right? Because I remember the smog. You don't really see it in LA now, but back then you're right. It was you could see that haze, right? And that was the thing for climate control and all that. But this movie tackles it by saying that the car manufacturers don't want the catalytic converter because it would something with the engines. Like it it smallly touches on it, doesn't greatly touch on it, and they get a politician in their back pocket.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

But well, it's money.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Right, it's all about money because if they have to add it, that means that it goes into the cost, less than their profit margin. You're right. So they hire basically they get this Congresswoman, which is played by Kim Basinger who um her character's name is Judith Cuttner, and her daughter Amelia Cuttner is in these pornographic films. They make a film that they want to show how the industry in their way, right? Well, it's not pornography. Well, they keep like saying no, it's but it is, you know, you should they're making fun of it.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

But they're trying to get their message out and they know that they can do it through pornography because people will watch it. Right. Not maybe realizing that people will only watch the sex scenes and then turn the message off.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

They'll watch the message. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_04 35:32

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 35:33

I think there's like a scene of the porno, right? And where they have like the scientist guys like you know they're really bad at porno acting or whatever. Right. These catalytic converters will ruin my business or whatever. Right.

SPEAKER_04 35:44

Well, they get the genius idea to they're having a car show, so they're gonna inter splice it in the other promotional yeah. But that's getting ahead of the sh that's the the story here. Um because uh Ryan Gosling plays Holland March, who's a PI, and he's hired by this um Lois Smith, Mrs. Glenn, because she claims as the movie starts, we see uh this one kid who goes into his dad's his dad's sleeping, and he takes his porno mag and it has Misty Mountains, and he's like, Oh, and all of a sudden we see a car in the background and it crashes, and as we see it's Misty Mountains who crashes a car, and the kid, you know, and then she's dead. But Holland gets hired by uh Miss Glenn, uh the actress Lois Smith, saying she saw her her niece, right, after supposedly she's claimed to be killed. And so she has him investigate. Uh we see in the beginning that Holland March is not the most uh what's the word I want to say? He's a drunk. Well, he's a drunk, but it he'll take anybody's money. Like he's the fuck up. Well, like, okay, there's a lady that we see, she's like, uh, I yeah, I want you to find my husband. He's been missing since you said he's been missing since the funeral. Since the funeral. And he looks and there's an urn, right? And he's like, Yeah, I get started right away, right? Because she's paying him money. He knows she's sl slowly forgetting things.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Right.

SPEAKER_04 37:05

Right. Um, they would call that and he's unscrupulous.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 37:08

That's the way I want to say. Um, so she, I mean, back then they would have called it sceneelity. Now they'd call it, you know, Alzheimer's or dementia, right? Yeah. But yeah, he takes advantage of people, basically what I'm saying. And we also have Russell Crowe, who plays Jackson Healy, who's an enforcer, like a guy people call, like, somebody's following me. I want you to go rough him up, you know. Like we see him, it's like, hey, you know so-and-so, yeah. And he smacks him with the uh the brass knuckles, right? Yeah, you don't want it, don't be don't be following her anymore. You know, that's how we get introduced to these guys. But it's uh a fun movie. They're both characters. Uh, you're right. Holland, we learn, is an alcoholic. Yeah. Who either he's because of what happened with his wife and his daughter, because he can't smell. As we learn in the movie, I guess there was a fire, and he couldn't smell the gas. So his wife might have complained, hey, and he he can't smell.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:01

And then unfortunately she passed, and him it's him and his daughter. So the drinking, I'm thinking, is reactionary.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

Post, yeah, afterwards. Can I just interject? Yes, please. So this movie is set in the 70s, although it was actually 90 or something, 2000? Uh what, this movie. When was this movie? When it was it released? 2015. 2015.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

I can tell you right now.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

I was just gonna say that uh 2016, but 2016. So uh Holland's character is like this kind of uh he's obviously uh single. He's not single. I mean he's got a kid and he's probably either divorced or was married, but he's kind of a bum, basically. He's kind of a bum that kind of like you know, you know, flits around from lily pad to lily pad, just like flying by by the seat of his pants, doesn't really he's not really gainfully employed, he makes money, but he's kind of not shady in the way he gets it. Uh he's clearly good at his job, he wants to be, but he just doesn't have any motivation. So for whatever reason, when I was a kid, I used to see a lot of characters like that. And I have to say, like when people say that you know you shouldn't be influenced by things you see on TV, I mean I kind of I mean I don't think you can really help it a lot of times. And I like you know, a lot of those type of characters, I saw them was like, yeah, that's the coolest. I want to be like a dude who like you know wakes up at a bunch of beer cans all over, but somehow he pays his rent, he's he gets by, he's you know, he seems relatively clean. I mean, right. I got the wrong message from those things, but I will say, in my defense, they always make them look like glamorous. Like Ryan Gosselin can be a bum, but in real life, if you were that dude and like you know Especially with the daughter, right? You you're doing all this shit with your daughter that's dangerous, and she's gonna they're gonna take her away, put you in jail. Somehow they avoid it. But in the movies, it makes it look like, oh, look at me, I'm gonna fuck up, I'll do it. I'll land on my feet anyway.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

Just to piggyback on what you're saying, there's a point where she basically learned how to drive and she's what?

SPEAKER_02 39:53

She's driving him. Right, and she might be 14. 13, I think, yeah. Yeah. And then there's that scene where I'm like, What what how come she's in that what's this one of those English cars or where it's backwards or whatever? And he's talking to her in the car. He's in the passenger seat, and I'm thinking, like, does he have one of those driver's ed cars or the with the you know the she's learning how to drive and and he he goes uh whatever, just go. And she pulls away from the car. I'm like, Right, what is happening? That's what I mean. Like in a movie, it's like, oh, that's funny, but in real life, you do that. You're you know, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:25

I mean, that wouldn't that might work in some backwater state with right where there's a small town, but here in LA, I mean there's cops everywhere, right? But yeah, it's your point. It's a movie, right?

SPEAKER_02 40:37

But it's when I was a kid and really influential, I was like, wow, uh Smoky in the Band, and we covered that. And it's like this guy didn't have no job, he just had a hot car, a hot woman. He just drove around, he had his friend, they had a bunch of money.

SPEAKER_04 40:49

It's like well, our introduction, another introduction with between Healy and Holland is Amelia pays uh Healy to stop because Gosling's searching for Misty Mountains, right? And he knows Amelia's tied to her because of they're both in porn. Right. Um, so but she gets freaked out by him and tells Healy, I need you to get this guy off of me. Yeah. So he goes up to Holland's house or the house he's renting, and that's another thing. How does he afford? Because even he's like, how do you afford it? We're all like that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

As a little kid, I'm like, wow, that guy's rich. Right.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

And that's an interesting little introduction. I don't want to ruin it because it's funny what happens with the interaction between them. Yeah. I mean, they later team up, but their first introduction is pretty funny.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:31

I liked it.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

I mean, it's this is a really, again, as I stated when we first started, very underrated. And if you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat. I think it's well written.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Very well written.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Well acted. Definitely two great actors. I mean, these roles are they're they're light, quote unquote, but there's some really good, good chemistry, good timing. I just love it.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

Right, and that's what I'm saying. And that goes to what you're saying about my amount of take a shot at Wahlberg. I don't think he has that.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

No.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

And you know, and with all the years of experience from acting now, you would think, you know. I think he thinks he does, and the studios obviously have said, oh, because he had made money, now he's not. But yeah, there's just some people, music, whatever industry, just have that gift. And I think Gosling and Crow have it.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

Yeah. I mean, you you've seen their track record, you know both of them can tear it up on the screen. So when you see these little tossed off lines almost, you didn't really think about them. But there's a scene where uh you know Crow's character comes in and he's like gonna like start busting, you know, Gosling's ass, and he goes, Well, I need to know whatever this and he goes, Oh yeah, sure, it's this.

SPEAKER_03 42:39

You just gave it up like that.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

It's like, and you're like, Whoa, that's so clever the way he said, Yeah, I don't want I don't want to get my ass beat. I I don't give a shit, you know. And you're like, wow, that's such great timing and the great delivery. That's that's what a scumbag would do, you know.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

So I also want to point out uh was it a Gowrie Rice who plays Holly in the movie. Yeah. I mean, because to fill that role, I mean, and she's another one. I know she plays uh Gosling's daughter. Right, Holly, Holly Mark.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

She's kind of like the voice of reason, kind of, would you say?

SPEAKER_04 43:09

Oh, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Uh uh precocious, obviously, because she's probably 13, but she has more sense than maybe both of the two adults.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

But I mean, I'm just pointing out her performance because she is a young actress, just starting out, was amazing too.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

You know, she pulled it off. I mean, she adds to that. As Mel Gibson said, it's like a three stooges, you know, trio. I mean, yeah, but they all fit so well together. The movie, like I said, is phenomenal. The acting, Margaret Qually, who plays Amelia's good, and I know that's one of her earlier roles.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

I was gonna say, and she's like a kind of almost everywhere nowadays, but I was like, wow, she's even in roles back then. I just do want to say about what's her name? Anguri Anguri Race.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

I was like looking at her like, where have I seen her before? It bothered me so much. Then it's like Spider Man.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Uh was a brand new Debbie Brandt, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

She played the new one uh with uh Tom Holland.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

She was like the the young uh the kid that was the kid journalist or whatever. Right. Yeah. I was like watching her, it's like why have I seen her? It was bugging me so much.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

I think she was in Mayor of East Town too.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_04 44:14

Yeah. Um but yeah, she's uh really, really good in the film. Matt Bomer plays John Boy, who's like a hired hitman. I'm getting ahead.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

Um I like the we get introduced to the guy that's called Blueface, right? Bo nap, him and uh Keith David, because they Keith David, yeah. They're uh they're integral to the story, trust me, as you go on, because their first interaction with Healy. It's funny because after Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe's first introduction, Holly comes in and asks Healy, Hey, you want a youhoo? Oh wow, I haven't had one of those. And next thing you know, we see Healy carrying like a case, yeah, and he's introduced to uh Keith David, who goes by older guy or Eddie Harris, and then the bad guys, basically. Yes, the bad guys, really.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

Not the nice guys, but the bad guys, right?

SPEAKER_04 45:00

And he ends up losing that whole case. You're like, Oh, the you-hoo! And that's a pretty interesting little interaction, too, how that all transpires.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:09

Um, but a lot of action, a lot of comedy, all of it is just to me, genius. All of it fits the action. Doesn't feel superfluous, it feels like it all just fits. Even when you meet uh Tally, Yaya DaCosta, because she's part of it too. She's which character? Uh the assistant to Kim Basinger.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

Oh, right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 45:28

That Gosling's trying to hit on. Oh my god, that whole little thing. Tally, it's not you.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Now, can I get her card too? Or, you know, because I might need to contact her. I love that.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

It's and it's you know, it's funny as I was watching this movie now, because the first time I saw it, I didn't pick up on Gil Gerard, who was Buck Rogers back in those days. Which one is he? He was actually the car guy at in the at this beginning and at the end, I go, it is Gil Gerard. Sorry. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Yeah, but a lot of people look familiar, and I just was a wow, okay. I'd like I'd look at that again.

SPEAKER_04 46:02

But yeah, he I was like, oh, it is Gilgerard. He's obviously older, but he played one of the car manufacturers, a car somebody not manufacturers, but he owned one of the car dealers. But yeah, he's in it. So the the story basically goes that Jackson and Holland team up to research what's really going on. You know, because Amelia, they're out looking for her because these two bad guys obviously they want Amelia. And so now Jackson says, I'll hire you because I need to find Amelia. And then the word is that you're a pretty good PI, private investigator, right? Although Holly tells him you're one of the worst, you know, and then not bad, right? But um, no, it's a lot of fun. Uh they st it's funny how they even stumble upon Amelia. She stumbles upon them, actually. Yeah. Um, there's a scene what before they they go to this airport hotel and he's interacting with the guy. Hey, have you seen no, I haven't seen her.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

Well, oh I you know the sooner you tell me, the sooner he'll stop doing this.

SPEAKER_04 47:08

What I don't want to ruin it, but it's that's a great line.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Yeah, they the two leads have great chemistry together. I'm kind of almost disappointed they didn't have a sequel.

SPEAKER_04 47:20

I I mean there's been loose talk because I I know Ryan recently is a what a couple years ago was saying his thing was unfortunately monetary didn't, but he would love to, I know Russell Crowe would too, because their characters together, I mean I could see a lethal weapon kind of. I mean, they're not having costs, but it plays like that.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

It's definitely lends itself to a series.

SPEAKER_04 47:40

Oh, I mean, even if they I mean I hate to say it, God forbid, but if it went TV, I had to go I'd watch it.

SPEAKER_02 47:46

Yeah, I'm yeah, if it was the exact same crew and everything.

SPEAKER_04 47:50

I mean, if you could do it as a I hate to say this, but I'll give credit to like a Netflix or Amazon.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

If you were to do Oh, like a multi-episode series.

SPEAKER_04 48:01

But via those venues, I would watch it.

SPEAKER_02 48:04

Yeah, I wouldn't care what who made it.

SPEAKER_04 48:06

I mean just make it because they're so good. And there's I mean, it's opens itself up to being multiple arcs of different stories.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:15

Uh and Gallery Rice, though she might be a little older. I mean, you can still play it because she's gotten older, could have gone to college, it still helps her dad. Yeah, you know. Of course. Yeah, I these are just the characters, the stories that could have been told. And I know I saw a little clip on my yes, kids. We forgot to say, we'll get to how you can watch these. Um, I watched it on my Blu-ray, and um Shane Black was trying not to jinx he goes, I don't want to jinx myself because they were talking about already writing sequels even as they were making this. And I'm like, it's so rich. I agree. But again, for those who haven't, I thoroughly highly recommend seeing this film. I think you'll be as you said on Saturday. I think, yeah, it's one of those just pop in a nice movie, sit back, and enjoy the ride. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_02 49:00

And I think it's one of those movies where I mean, I think if I remember correctly, I think Shane Black has had his issues in the last couple of years or something, but he is a good director, he's a good writer.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

These are like with Car Wash, it's kind of more of a light fun thing to watch. And I watched on YouTube, by the way, for anybody who's wondering.

SPEAKER_04 49:16

It's on Amazon as well.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

Um so yeah, everything they own everything.

SPEAKER_04 49:20

Almost.

SPEAKER_02 49:21

Um I think you could watch Car Wash and it's kind of like this you let it flow over you, it's you can do other things, whatever. But whereas this one, I feel like if I watched it multiple times, I'm always gonna pick up on more details. Right. So it is that kind of like the tradition of like the mystery uh. Well, for me, mystery books, sure. There's a million mystery books, all different stories. That's what I'm saying. They could have gone, they could have had millions stories. Even this is a kind of a weird analogy, but James Bond is just a he's just a fixture, and there's always like he just gets in all these different adventures and they're all different movies. These guys could have been the same thing, they could have been in all kinds of different things. I'm just kind of bummed out that they didn't right.

SPEAKER_04 49:58

I know, because I when I first saw it, I went with my boy Craig and we watched it, and I was just blown away how great it was. And it still holds up, right?

SPEAKER_02 50:06

It's very smart, and it's funny, but it's smart too.

SPEAKER_04 50:09

Yeah, I mean, you would think because the way they play themselves that, but you know, yeah, it's very smartly written. Yeah. But they play it so well.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:17

Um, it's it's a hoot. Like I said, it's a fun I again. I've my recommendation if you're gonna watch it, you can't have young kids because there is it does deal with the pornograph the porno industry.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

It doesn't waste any time either. Oh, yeah, I guess.

unknown 50:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

And I was like, well, this is Shane Blacker, right?

SPEAKER_04 50:36

You know, but I mean that's the fun part. I know what to expect with his movies, and that's the fun. You know, he does create stories with a good time.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Yeah. You know, and yeah, that's that's funny because even Keith David in the uh well, the guy the guy's dead, but he could have been a recurring foiler for them or something, you know.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

Oh yeah, yeah, I know what you mean now, right. But I mean, there's always other people to be foiled, but yeah, it's just the oh my god, I know I'm repeating myself, but I just had a hoot of a time watching it. I just never get I like the even the soundtrack, the beginning of it when it starts out, it has that 70s flared and then they even had a group to make themselves look like Earth, Wind, and Fire when they were at the party. Right, right. And it reminded me of the video. That's what was you know.

SPEAKER_02 51:19

That's what I was saying. It's like it's a period piece, so it doesn't hit you over the head with it necessarily. There's a scene where he I think they're at the gas station or something like that, and you see off in the off in the distance, it says like when they had the gas lines.

SPEAKER_04 51:30

Oh, I remember that.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

And you can see it off in the distance, but it's not like right in your face. It's like, oh, is that you know, you have to at what is it, certain license plates could line up at certain even. Yeah, so it was one day to see it way off in the distance. It's like because it's not even a part of the scene necessarily, unless you look carefully.

SPEAKER_04 51:49

And I know because you can only fill up half or whatever they allowed you a a lot allotment of so much.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Right.

SPEAKER_04 51:55

But yeah, but you're right, it didn't hit you over the head. It just that was normal. Again, we're aging ourselves, but we knew because we grew up in that.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

Right. I just yeah, I just have a problem sometimes with period pieces that are like too over the top, like you know, we're just gonna put on a bunch of costumes and like, you know, make up, you know, use this fake lingo or whatever. It doesn't seem natural to me.

SPEAKER_04 52:16

And that was it. It's seamless the way it all flowed, the way they dress. You didn't even like it wasn't done for just like, oh, you just felt like, yeah, it was the 70s and that was normal.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

It literally kind of jumps out at you all of a sudden and say, Oh, are are we like in the set? Because it wasn't like, you know, like I said, they're very subtle with it, they're not like beating you over the head with it. This is the 70s, whatever, look at this guy's crazy tie, and you know, it's disco or whatever. It's like they didn't do any of that. It's just you just see these little subtle hints here and there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:47

I mean, I'll give in uh what's his name? Is it Matt Bom Bomber or Bomer?

SPEAKER_02 52:52

Uh one of those two, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:54

He I mean, his little he short in the movie, but he plays John Boy, and he's really convincing. I'll say that.

SPEAKER_02 52:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:00

He did a good job. I mean, all they all do a good job, but I'm just pointing out, you know, they they make this movie go.

SPEAKER_02 53:07

Yeah. It's and I think we're probably short-selling the fact that it's um we are the plot is fairly complex. I mean, you have to think about it a little bit, and there's some twists and turns here and there, but just like I said, it's like reading a mystery book or or you know, a mystery movie or whatever. You if you've done that, then you kind of know the gist of what you're gonna get into here. You have to pay attention to the clues, and you're following along as they follow these clues to the inevitable conclusion or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 53:33

Showdown, correct.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

Well, in this case, it's a bit of a twist or whatever, but right.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

And and yeah, we we have not really divulged a lot of the plot, but I think it's one purposely done because I think like my friend here said, it's it's like a mystery and it's fun if you don't want to give it away. Right.

SPEAKER_02 53:49

Because I I want you to I don't want to short sell it either. I want you to know it's right. You need to like be paying attention. This is not like I was saying earlier, care wash, you get a little play it and be washing the dishes or whatever, and it's fine. You'll jump back in, you're fine. But this you kind of need to pay attention a little bit of attention, yeah. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:05

And it's worthwhile when you're if you do. Um, like I said, that I don't own car wash. I did rent it from Amazon.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

This one I was gonna buy the vinyl, just like we're talking about, you know, physical goods, right? Just to put my money where my mouth is. But the vinyl's like 30 bucks. It's like, God damn. Isn't that crazy? But it is a it's a double LP, but still it's like I I mean for that money, I want it to be brand new, and it's because it's not. So uh yeah, you know, I mean, we know we grew up in the era of LPs, and it's like I don't want to get this thing and have it be a few scratch at it and be like, oh, I know now I gotta get my money back. And so I was like, uh I like it, but I don't like it that much. Excuse me. I'll get the I'll just get the regular CD or I'll stream it or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 54:49

This one was on Amazon, so you can rent it for$3.99, but I can not but I own it because I love the movie. Yeah. And I I'm with you. If they if somehow we get out to Shane Black, if you can somehow make a deal to make one more movie, I mean I'd love to see a couple, but these these characters, the story, different stories, it's should be done.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Yeah. I think it's I I was almost literally expecting it at the end of this movie. It's like, you know, they've the two main leads have such a great chemistry, and there's so many other mysteries and things they can tackle out in LA in the 70s. Uh why would we not have another movie?

SPEAKER_03 55:29

Right.

SPEAKER_02 55:30

But at this point, ten years, I guess it's probably not gonna happen. Although I don't want it to be I I don't know what the cutoff is for legacy sequel, quote unquote whatever, but uh at this point it's getting like if it would come out now, it would be kinda late in the game. Like they should have done it like five, six years ago if they were gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04 55:50

Yeah, I I agree. I mean, and that's the thing, maybe it's a one and done. I mean, unfortunately, because you know, we could sit here and wish all we want, but you're right. There's a point where how far how long is too long before it's oh, you know. I mean, I'll give Top Gun Maverick, that's an exception, right? Because we've seen movies. I mean, I'll you throw out Eddie Murphy's tr attempt at uh what's the one he did?

SPEAKER_02 56:14

Uh oh coming to America. Oh god. Coming to America too, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:19

That was god awful. It's like, why did you make that?

SPEAKER_02 56:22

Yeah, but that one didn't need a sequel, though. That one's like at the end, it was like it was done. Right. Nice, happy ending with a bow, the end. Whereas this movie, it's like, I want to see them do more stuff. I mean, they're detectives or whatever, and Crow wants to become a detective. That's a whole story that could be for the next movie or whatever. Right. So yeah, just left a lot on the table. But I guess that's a good thing. What's this added to entertainment? Leave them wanting more.

SPEAKER_04 56:45

Yeah, they do they left us, obviously. And I think if you watch it, you'll understand where we're coming from. But again, do watch it. These two movies I do think both thumbs up. They're different, but they're both fun. Just escapist movies. Yeah, one you have to pay attention more than the other, but yeah, it's well worth it.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

And we just saw the other Ryan Gosling. What was the space?

SPEAKER_04 57:05

Oh, Hail Mary, uh Project Hail Mary, which is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 57:08

If you've seen that, you're kind of familiar with what he can do. He's done a lot of drive and a bunch of other things. But I'm just saying he's a treat to see on the screen. This is one of his better roles. So putting that out there.

SPEAKER_04 57:19

I concur, sir.

SPEAKER_02 57:20

All right. Well, we've got to get out of here because it's been about an hour now.

SPEAKER_04 57:25

Yeah, we're good. But yeah, until next time, we'll decide. We'll you'll find out what we have for next week. Yeah, or you won't.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

All right, kids. All right, that's it.

SPEAKER_03 57:38

That's a wrap for today's movie reviews. Thanks for listening. And remember, if you like what you've heard, make sure you like, subscribe, and rate our show in there. Let's go get some ice cream.