Joyful Noise w/ Fred Stoller (Classic)

17:19Jason Mantzoukas:And right now you can save 25 % on your first order at Zazzle.com. That's 25 % savings on your first order at Zazzle.com. Go make something amazing. Zazzle.com. I wear glasses. I mean, I wear contacts, but I have a pair of glasses that I keep, you know, for emergencies, earthquake, or maybe I'm just tired and I didn't want to put in my contacts. And they are in a state of utter disrepair. They're abused. And you know, I've not treated myself to a nice new pair of glasses. Why? Because it's such a hassle. If you are with me and you want to get a pair of high quality but affordable glasses, well, Zenni is your one-stop shop.

18:01Jason Mantzoukas:It's an online eyewear shop with stylish prescription glasses and sunglasses and customizable lens options at prices that make it easy to own more than one pair, all starting at under$30. No store visit, no pressure. I love my Zennis. I just got back from Kenya. I bought these sunglasses from Zenni and they fit perfectly. But why I brought them to Kenya was because I wanted to bring something that I wasn't going to be so worried about if I lost them or if they broke. And that's the beauty of Zenni. They make having glasses not only affordable, but attractive. You can try on different styles. You can become a different person.

18:37Jason Mantzoukas:All right. So let those scratched up pair of glasses go. They have done their job upgrade today with Zenni. Go to zenni.com slash podcast and use the code podcast15 for 15 % off your first order, plus free shipping on all U.S. orders over$60. The styles sell out, so don't sit on it. That's zenni.com slash podcast promo code podcast15. You know, when I travel, I normally wait until the last possible minute to learn language, which is going to work, right? No, it never works, okay? Wouldn't it be great to feel like you've prepared when you travel to a different country that you know a little bit more than just hello and thank you?

19:15Jason Mantzoukas:Well, if you are thinking about taking an international trip next year, start learning a language with Babbel now. That's just 10 minutes a day. With Babbel can have you learning real conversations in less than three weeks. What's great about Babbel is it's built for real life, not vocabless. It's no verb charts. You're learning phrases that you'd use ordering dinner, asking for directions, or talking with locals. Lessons are quick, and Babbel fits into your actual schedule, coffee break, commute, whatever you do. I've always found time for it because it's also really fun. I mean, they have 25 million subscriptions, and it's backed by a 14-day money-back guarantee.

19:48Jason Mantzoukas:If you are thinking about taking a trip next year, now is the time to start so you can actually feel confident with what you've learned. Right now, Babbel is offering listeners up to 60 % off. Go to babbel.com slash bonkers. That's babbel, B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash bonkers for up to 60 % off. Rules and restrictions may apply. Every single church member has a weird side story. That is true. Every single choir member, I should say. I appreciated that, though. I really did, yeah. June, let me ask you a question. This movie, obviously, they sang to tracks. It was music that was sung to tracks. Les Mis or this?

20:23Jason Mantzoukas:What had the more powerful songs, do you think? Les Mis is all live singing, right? Well, yeah, that's the whole thing. They sang live while they were shooting. I don't think they were singing live in joyful noise. You don't? I don't think they were singing live. I think maybe the way you can tell is every time they would cut to him, it was bad lip syncing. It was like Milli Vanilli style. Dolly would miss words. Oh, everybody missed words. And the band was never in sync. There was one where there's a drummer and there's no drumming in the song. It kind of looks like the Peanuts playing music.

20:58Jason Mantzoukas:Everyone's hands are going up and down. But my favorite character was the brother who, you know, it seems so random. This is Queen Latifah's son, who is the main lead female's little brother. One hit wonders. Yep. So you go, okay, we're trying to give him a character, but then we find out he has Asperger's. Well, the Asperger's thing was really interestingly put out, because in the beginning of the movie, you see this kid in the car. He's wearing these very dark sunglasses, and he's doing something with his hands. You're like, all right, is he blind? Okay, then you find out, okay, he's not blind.

21:33Jason Mantzoukas:Then he comes down. Something's up. Something's up. We don't know what. Then he comes down the stairs and he's carrying something in his hand and he's talking about one hit wonders. And Queen LeFee was like, oh, you're like a local train. You make all the stops. Don't understand what that means. And then she touches him and he recoils. Yeah. And you still, as an audience member, you don't know what's happening. You don't know if he's still blind or anything. And then much later in the movie. What about the piano when he clanks the piano? Well, yeah. Then he starts quoting one hit wonder songs and starts singing.

22:04Jason Mantzoukas:And everyone's like, oh, this is at the pastor's house. Oh, yeah. The pastor comes over to Queen Latifah's house. Oh, that's right. That's right. He starts singing a song. He gets embarrassed. He runs into the other room and starts clanking the piano. And Queen Latifah says something to the point of, oh, that's just his Asperger's acting up. Like as if it's like, oh, it's an inflammation of psoriasis. Like, oh, he's got a tough Asperger's stick. I really think that the sunglasses might not have been in the script, and they may have auditioned. I was thinking about this. Did this guy's good? He came in with sunglasses?

22:34Well, no. I think what happened was they probably felt this is a very hard thing to play, Asperger's. And it's not coming across this person's Asperger's. Oh, interesting. And so let's put sunglasses on him so we don't see most of his face. And then we'll figure out how to kind of justify it. It looked like something. I thought the sunglasses were really weird. I did. I agreed. At first I thought he was a hipster. Such a weird choice.

23:02Jason Mantzoukas:Trying to be, hey, dude, I'm cool. But that's because the way that they kind of establish him is he doesn't want to go into the church because he's like in the car. Like you think, oh, he's like the hip hop guy in this town. It's interesting. We all put so much on to that character because of his mysterious entrance. Yeah. He comes in and out of it. Like, I'm nervous. Now I'm back. And they have him sit at the piano. It's real touch and go. It's a real touch and go. And I thought he was being groomed to be the savior. Yeah, of course. Because he starts taking piano lessons. At some point he starts singing and he can really sing.

23:37So I was like, oh, Walter is going to save the day. No, he doesn't. But Jason, I do think that we thought. But they let him sit in and it's a mascot. Yeah, but I think we thought he could sing because Randy? Randy. Randy went to the quarry. The quarry. Yeah. What is going on right now? Did we just stumble into an episode of Sesame Street? Ready? To the quarry? Is that one of those words you've only seen written? I've only seen it written. I was not sure how to pronounce it. Quarry? Quarry. Okay, so they go to the quarry. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because that's just a place they hang out. What's interesting about that is I think we thought the brother could sing because everyone sounds good at the quarry.

24:24And I'm not sure that everyone who sings at the quarry is actually a good singer.

24:28Jason Mantzoukas:No, but he sang I'm in Love with a Stripper when they were practicing. Wait, wait, wait. This guy's supposed to be a bad guy who comes to town, and he's like, you know, pouring the house bad. This is, by the way, Randy. Juvenile delinquent. Yeah. Juvenile delinquent, because he says the word bitch. Yo, it's great hearing this bitch. You're singing the bitch out of this song, remember? By the way, they never justify how this kid comes from the, A, why is he bad? And how did it get from New York down to just being in Dolly Parton's house? There's no connection. She didn't know. She wasn't aware that he was going to have a shot.

25:00Jason Mantzoukas:She never asks him what happened. They never get to the root of it. And it seems like he should have said, I'm sorry, I missed Grandpa's funeral yesterday. Well, here's one thing. That's why he's bad. He was just eating that chicken. I guess my question is, was he trying to make it? I don't think so. Or was he just down for other reasons? I think he, they said his mom threw him out of the house. So he had nowhere else to go. He had nowhere else to go. Yeah, he was so bad, but he did nothing bad. But they make him the bad guy, and Queen Latifah likes him at first because he's helping this. Well, basically, Randy, the doinklant, falls in love with Queen Latifah's daughter, who is also very talented.

25:37Jason Mantzoukas:So that's really. They are like a young interracial singing phenom. Yeah, like both of them can sing. She's traditional. He's like a bad boy. He's a bad boy because, like I said, he said the word bitch. But that's the thing is I can't figure out. You know who's a bad boy who gets kicked out of the house? A kid who's on meth, who's selling stuff and is committing felonies. Not a kid who can play multiple musical instruments perfectly and can sing amazingly. Not the musical theater kid. So basically, you know. He's not a bad kid. And he's a great arranger. He also arranges all of the songs we learn later in the movie.

26:11And really cares about people from the beginning. Oh, yeah. From the guest room. And he's helping her brother.

26:18Jason Mantzoukas:Well, also this kid, I guess maybe they show you he's bad. That's just to get close to her, I think. You think so? What's her name? Olivia? Olivia. Olivia. They show you that he's bad because when he first meets Olivia, he says to her, he was like, hey, I want to make babies that look like you. That's a pretty intense thing to say, right? Also, by the way. How old is she, do we think? He's just confident. He's confident. But I mean, he wants to get into a very committed relationship. Very quickly. Yeah. Instead of just having sex, he wants to make babies with him. But they're nebulous because he knew her?

26:47That's what I was just going to say. Yeah, they knew each other from childhood or something, right? Or not. I don't know. There was some throwaway line about how he had seen her before when they were kids and she was always special or something like that. I can't remember exactly how it went. I think he had probably spent his summers down there and remembers her. I love the backstory. I'm so curious about what the fuck happened between Dolly and her daughter. Oh, my God. We'll never know. What happened? We'll never know. Everything is unexplained. Dolly and Queen, the daughter in her. The timeline of this movie.

27:20Things would go from night to day so quickly, and people would seem to be having the exact same conversation. It would be from night. There was one scene that was happening at night where Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton were mixing it up, and then it cuts to each of them in their cars, Queen Latifah with her daughter and Randy with Dolly, and each of them is like, can you believe she was saying this to me and can you believe this was happening? And I was like, are they talking about what happened last night? Because that was nighttime when that happened. Have they not spoken about what happened last night yet?

27:55It's very expensive to shoot at night. Here's the weird thing though about Dolly, this relationship. They're attacking each other for the worst reasons and making fun of each other. Well, I'm not really sure what happened to stir this, but Dolly says a number of times that Queen, you know, her husband left to go to the army, and that's considered bad and shameful. Well, that everybody in town is talking about it. Everybody in town is talking about it. And Queen makes several comments. Talking about your patriot husband. Yeah, and Queen makes several comments. Who just picked up and left and went to the army.

28:30Yeah, Queen starts attacking Dolly a day after her husband has died, suddenly.

28:35Jason Mantzoukas:Yeah, yeah. It's horrible. Well, I mean, it all culminates at the end in a great food fight, which we'll get to. Wait, wait, wait. But the quarry scene I love because there's an earlier scene where at some disco, it's not a disco, whatever. They're going to a club, a club in this town that does not fit in this town at all. It looks like a scene out of The Wire. An L.A. style. You know what I mean? Like from Baltimore. A big city club. Yeah. This is like Mayberry and all of a sudden there is an L.A. style club in there. And he looked like some kid from The Wire. He goes, get away from me, bitch.

29:05You know, this is much. You know, he was like a gangster. The woman goes, I like you. In the beginning, when we first meet her, that kid's name, I think, is Manny. Yeah. And she says, you know, she's kind of like, Manny is after Queen Latifah's daughter as well. So Manny and Randy naturally are in competition. But then Manny says to this woman, go away from me. I just know you 10 minutes. Yeah. And then the other guy says, go away. And this is my girl. And it's such a thing. I don't know how to dance. You could dance. Remember that thing? Yeah. Well, yeah.

29:33Jason Mantzoukas:So basically, Randy teaches his, what's her name? Olivia. Two seconds at a dance. Yeah, she's like, I don't know how to dance. And they're on the dance floor, and he just starts kind of just grooving on her, just getting up in her business. This is a scene out of Step Up. Yeah. This is a scene out of a Step Up movie to me. But it doesn't go really past that. It doesn't. It never goes anywhere. It just kind of stops. He just kind of gets in her face for a second, and she starts laughing. It's like, cut. Well, that's what I was going to say before. That's what's so odd about this movie, is that you would think it started off with the choir only singing gospel music.

30:06And then finally, by the end of it, with all these new people coming in and with Queen's big shift, that she would move to more contemporary tracks. No. They're singing Michael Jackson from the beginning. Yeah, they were never really singing gospel songs. They were never singing gospel music. Well, no, they were. They were not doing the... No, I think they start doing pop stuff. Man in the Mirror is them trying to convince Queen Latifah. Because I think under Chris Christopherson, they did not do anything that wasn't traditional. I think they tried to convince Queen Latifah to remember it. And they're like, just give it a try.

30:46Just give it a try. And then it's Queen sitting there. And she starts singing Man in the Mirror. And Queen's like, no, you're singing too bright. You're singing too bright. And then Man in the Mirror, they calm it down. And it becomes Man in the Mirror is like a god thing. That's what I thought. I thought she was, I didn't pick up on that, the earlier part of that scene. I thought all, I thought Man in the Mirror was one of their numbers. And what, what, what the young girl was trying to do was do it. Mariah and Christina style. But the quarry. Oh, so basically this bad guy, sorry.

31:14Jason Mantzoukas:Our bad guy is set up. Shows up at this place. At the quarry. And they're going, they're doing something like. By the way, they're laying on the quarry as if it's like a beach. Like they're laying out. They're like laying out getting some fun. It's a good place where people get murdered, where people go. It's so barren. And they're saying something like, I like myself. Or what are you both screaming out? And then he comes in and he starts singing it too. So you thought they were all going to get along. They're singing a song. I think she's a bitch or something. She doesn't. She bothers me. Something like that.

31:44Yeah, they're singing a song about Queen Latifah. They're singing a really terrible song about his mother. It's something like your mom's a bitch. And then he comes in and chimes in like you think he's going to sing it. So then they get into a fight. A terrible fight. A terrible fight.

31:56Jason Mantzoukas:It was a great fight, in my opinion, because it looked so real. It was not well choreographed. You thought it was going to be a third heart attack. I thought that kid was going to die because he belts him. Well, first of all, the brother is chiming in. And he punches him in the balls? He punches him lightly in the balls, and he punches him lightly in the ass. I mean, wasn't that fight great? When he punched him in the balls, it felt like— He also kicked him in the bum. Yes. Very lightly, like I said. That's why I say bum instead of kicked him in the ass. Because he really did. He tapped him in the bum with his foot.

32:30Jason Mantzoukas:But then Randy kind of gives him one shot across the face. And it's slow motion. And you thought his head was going to, you know, jaw was going to come off. Yeah, it's slow motion turning around. Yeah, and just blood explodes from his mouth. It's a very violent scene that has no consequences. Yes, because then Manny isn't around anymore until they realize the band needs a little more juice. And then Randy goes out and finds Manny. And everything's okay. because we need you. No, no, because the band, they're going, yeah, we don't have what it takes. And the other guy is like a Hendrix. He goes, all right, yeah, I'll be in the thing.

33:03But the kid that he punches in the face,

33:06Jason Mantzoukas:he goes, hey, man, you got great sound. I see you at these house parties playing your guitar. You need to come in. We as the audience have never seen this kid with a guitar. We have never established that this kid is talented. Well, everybody in this movie, I feel like, is fronting in the craziest ways. like everybody is supposed to be it's the same way he is supposed to be the town bad boy or the town thug in the same way that Randy is supposed to be like a city bad boy and he's just like a kid from the fame high school you know what I mean like none of these archetypes fit with the actual characters that they've written the same way the queen is spoken about like she is such a monster the way her children talk about her the way everybody talks about her in this movie as though she's like the she devil I mean, she seems like a nice person.

33:56Well, no, no, first of all, to show what a hard worker she is. This is what I was going to say, yeah. They show a shot of her as a nurse, and you go, they're not going to do a bedpan shot. And then the joke was she takes the piss, and it falls.

34:09Jason Mantzoukas:Well, it doesn't fall. She takes the piss, and she takes the bedpan, and the patient starts having a spasm and starts, like, slapping it out of her hand. And she's like, ah. But that was the joke in the scene, just to show, okay, she's a hard worker. she gets pissed See I didn't think that was supposed to be a joke No I thought it was supposed to be deadly serious I thought it was supposed to be deadly serious and very Like sad Dark and sad and I felt You don't think that was a joke No I thought When I saw it I thought it was like oh this woman has a really tough life But it was a joke Was it?

34:38Jason Mantzoukas:You don't think so they were going for I don't know What did you think Jason When they dropped the bed band I thought that was supposed to go towards she's got it tough That's what I thought Yeah that's what I was reading that is she's got it tough like now she's got like piss on her I thought it was shit to be honest with you later on she's got another job as a waitress because when your kid likes one hit wonders you gotta have two jobs well she gets two jobs because she gets fired from being the choir director spoiler alert eventually that happens when she steps down and Dolly takes over as the choir leader she's like maybe you'd be better off without me or whatever I love after the fight they come home all singing because he was feeling good he beat someone up but then he's not your mentor anymore and he went back to the piano.

35:21Jason Mantzoukas:And then this is the best, this is close to the time where he sits down with Queen Latifah and starts crying, you talk about him crying, where he says, I think everything is fine and then they leave a tissue of shit in my locker. A tissue of shit. I wanted to see that scene. Yeah. I was like, wait, what? A tissue of shit. A tissue of shit. Now that's not like someone's... Wait, wait, shit in the form of a tissue? Is that like someone pooping onto a tissue? Is that somebody wiping and putting their wipe in there? I thought it was in a tissue. I thought somebody shit in a tissue and wrapped it up like that.

35:55You think it's a bum wiping? I think it's a bum wiping. Oh, really? Wait, bum wiping versus turd in tissue. Jan, do we think it's human or dog? I think it's human shit. I will say this. Because, by the way, one tissue, if you were to shit in a tissue, you couldn't use one ply of tissue to carry it around and place it in someone's locker. No, you'd need a bunch of tissue to, I mean, I've done this. You know, enough for nothing in a sexual context.

36:21Jason Mantzoukas:That was my favorite part. We're going to get a quick commercial break. We'll be right back. How Did This Get Made is excited to collaborate with Audible. Audible has a massive library of audiobooks and ad-free podcasts. Now, I am a giant audiobook fan because audiobooks help you get way more out of your day. I'm able to kind of check in when I'm in the car. I love an audiobook so much so that I actually created my audiobook, Joyful Recollections of Trauma, to appeal to listeners of audiobooks. And that's what Audible is known for, right? They have this range of amazing titles. There is something for everyone, like The Deal and Heated Rivalry.

37:03Jason Mantzoukas:You could finally read where those series originated from. You can replace doom scrolling with audiobooks. And it's fun for the entire family. And, you know, don't take my word for it. Just listen to my book, Joyful Recollections of Trauma, which is available in Audible that I feel like is going to have a bunch of fun moments for you as How Did This Get Made fans, but also if you just enjoy a well-told audiobook. Audible, stories that speak to you. New members can start listening with a 30-day free trial at audible.com slash bonkers. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. You know, if you could wake up tomorrow and be better at one thing, what would that one thing be?

37:36Jason Mantzoukas:Think about it. Maybe being able to apologize, maybe putting my phone down and being present with my family and my friends, shopping less online, I don't know. It's just that better doesn't have to come from major victories. It can be from the small habits that you create and how you honor your needs on a daily basis. Most people aren't trying to become completely different. They're just helping to feel a little better every day. And better is a feeling defined by you. And for BetterHelp, it's a BetterHelp therapist who really gets you. It's a focus on global emotional wellbeing with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries.

38:11Jason Mantzoukas:It is progress, and it's getting better at the thing that matters to you the most, big or small. If you haven't tried BetterHelp yet, well, it's easy to get started. Just answer a few questions and get matched with a therapist online. Sign up and get 10 % off at betterhelp.com slash bonkers. That's betterhelp.com slash bonkers. You know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing on repeat. You know, that sweater that goes with everything, that perfect pair of pants or that tee that you somehow always reach for first. These are the pieces that make getting dressed easy. And that's what Quince does best.

38:46Jason Mantzoukas:Quince focuses on high quality wardrobe staples made with premium materials in timeless, versatile styles designed to become dependable pieces that you reach for day after day. And it's not just clothing. I mean, they bring that same approach to everything they make from hotel quality bedding and bath to kitchen essentials and thoughtfully designed furniture. Now, I am actually right now wearing a black tea from Quince that I find so incredibly comfortable. I'm actually even wearing, I'm fully Quince'd out right now. I am living a Quince life and it is great, but this tea, it's so comfortable.

39:20Jason Mantzoukas:It fits my body so well and it doesn't get messed up on washes. Now, you can find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com slash get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in canada and the uk too that's quince.com slash bonkers all right here's my theory on it i just had this thought right now we're still doing to tissue shit tissue well look we can go back because we just heard that whole commercial yeah i just want to make sure where the audience will not forgot about while they were listening to that uh that commercial for the borgata i think of i think of it like This movie is like a bad documentary filmmaker.

40:04Jason Mantzoukas:He came to this town to make a documentary about a choir, and then he's getting confused. He's not getting the shots he needs. He's like, oh, shit, I should have been at the school when the shit tissue happened. I wasn't there. I should have been at the house party. He's running around but catching all the wrong scenes. I should have got that phone call between Dali and her daughter. Everything was slopped in. It looks like one of those paranormal movies, those home footage things, where they show them having good times, like this weird kind of like camcorder look and they're just walking. Oh, that happens twice.

40:34There's one where Queen Latifah is. So at one point, the episode was... No, no, no. She puts on... It's her and her husband. She shows why she misses her husband. She puts on a tape on a big screen TV of some camcorder of them practicing saluting and showing they had a great marriage. It's just them in a park practicing saluting and hugging.

40:56Jason Mantzoukas:Well, basically to me it seems like They had Jesse L. Martin for one day. For one afternoon. And they were like, okay, we got to shoot the same outfit. Keep on the same outfit. Queen, you put on his jacket. Do we have time for a change? No. Go, go. Shoot this, shoot this. Oh, yeah, during the day he did that and night they did the diner. So, yeah, that was it. Should we leave his mustache on or take it off? Leave it off. But you're not sure why it was a good marriage, but then you see her watching someone else tape. You have a good marriage. Could you tape me and my husband saluting? That's what I kept being like.

41:26Who's shooting this?

41:27Jason Mantzoukas:Yeah, that was like a very intimate moment between her husband and her wife. And then the other one that happens is when Olivia and Randy break up. Olivia is sitting there like staring at him and has like all of these flashbacks to her and Randy. Again, that's the weird footage. That's super weird footage that's to scenes we've never seen. It's like Kodachrome style. It's like she's remembering this long life. And again, like we said, this movie. They've maybe known each other for two weeks. Yeah, this movie could take place over two weeks or about two years. I don't know. Here's a question. Well, I'll tell you, I'll say this.

41:59At the end of the movie, not to spoil too much, at the end of the movie, the husband returns from duty. Yes. So a year has to have gone by. Oh, no, no, no.

42:10Jason Mantzoukas:I think that he's... Oh, is that a year later? Oh, it's a year later. No, it's a year later. It's a one year later. Sorry. But the reason the husband came back, this got cut from the script, there was a scene where he was watching the same footage. And he said, we had that one time in the park. We said, can you hold the camcorder? I was really confused, though, about the husband and why he left. Or why he came back or why they were ever together. He left, he says. I mean, I think what you're meant to believe is that the presumption is that he abandoned them. And that's what Dolly is saying that the townspeople are saying.

42:46Like, people are like. He wrote the fake letters. You know, but that's what I don't understand. Because he went to war, though. The townspeople also know he went to war. Well, yes, well, Randy, when Randy, because people are saying, why did he sign up as he's 35? He's too old. He's 35, he's too old. He looks 50. He signed up to get away from you. He had signed, blah, blah, blah, whatever. But then when Randy. That's a crazy concept, by the way. Randy kidnaps Olivia. That's a crazy idea. Wait, wait, wait. He says, we're going out, and they're driving for like hours. For like 12 hours. Where are we going?

43:15This is a surprise. And she's all smiling, like this is going to be fun. So then they get to this army base. I figured it out. I'm not that smart. And you think that the father works as the security guard there because they probably couldn't afford a scene in the army base. Oh, no. He meets him at the gate. Standing there by the gate.

43:32Jason Mantzoukas:Well, yeah, he came out to the gate. By the way, this whole kidnapping sequence where Randy takes Olivia away, they're like, where is she? They don't have cell phones in this movie. No one ever pulls out a cell phone. No, no. Randy has a cell phone the whole time. You know, he's like showing videos on his cell phone. Oh, yeah, right. They're always showing. And they have good cell phones. I just don't understand why nobody called. I had the same thing. Why isn't anybody calling unless they were not picking up? Why wouldn't they pick up? They go to the cops and the cop goes, it's okay. All right.

44:00So is that why? I know that's what we're led to believe. Is that why Walter left? The dad says, I couldn't take it anymore. The way your mother looked at me with such disappointment. I couldn't find a job. This is all back to the economy. I couldn't find a job. I couldn't pay for my family. Do you know what it's like to not be able to support your family? So I'll abandon them. I reenlisted. I figured she would want me gone. Doesn't he say I figured she would want me gone? And at least this way I get to send the paycheck home is what he says basically. So I don't know. And so he's – okay. And he says she doesn't want me around anymore anyway.

44:33And then the daughter says she still watches that video of you guys in the park. That's what she says. And then later we see her watching that video. What we don't know is that that video turned into a hardcore sex scene. Hardcore porno. Doesn't Queen, though, at that point think that Walter's away overseas fighting a war? Wait, no, Walter is her son. Or is he Walter too? I'm sorry, I think he's, I thought the father's name Walter. Maybe it's Walter Jr. Jesse L.

44:58Jason Mantzoukas:Martin, Jesse L. Martin. Well, yeah, yeah. I thought Queen thought. Marcus. His name is Marcus? Yeah. Yeah, Walter is the son. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought Queen thought Marcus was overseas. Was it a surprise that he's just at a base mere hours away? No. Queen is writing fake letters as her husband to her kids. Right. So she knows he's at that base. She's making up her own narrative. at some point the daughter they said where's the dad and the daughter says for whatever now I just want to you know so she knows that I think everybody knows I gotta say though that that's a complicated character for this type of movie yes every character is complicated but that's like a very heady idea that this man because he couldn't support his family would enlist in the army yes this many times it's like it's a really wild idea but I mean this whole movie is full of that.

45:49Jason Mantzoukas:It is. It's like Asperger's this. There's never stakes to any of it. On theory, it sounds complicated, but there's no consequence. It doesn't pay off in any way. The other thing is, he then says when they're leaving, when he's saying goodbye, Jesse L. Martin is basically saying goodbye, he says, I'm getting shipped out in a week. He's going to Afghanistan or Iraq or someplace like that in a week. I was like, oh, that dude's going to die. Like this is just the blase nature with which he says goodbye to everybody is like bizarre. It's almost like he's I'm going to go to the store and get some stuff I'll see you guys later.

46:27Jason Mantzoukas:I'll see you guys never. Yeah. And what is he doing over there? Is he building things or is he Special Forces? Yeah. Special Forces. Seal Team Six. He killed Osama Bin Laden in the world of this movie he is one of the Seal Team members that killed Osama Bin Laden. No I think I don't know. And then he writes the book and goes on 60 Minutes and then they get all this money and all this stuff. I also thought the reveal that like, because the daughter and the Olivia and Walter, the Queen Latifah's kids, each get weekly letters from their dad. And then it's revealed when Olivia meets her dad that he's not writing the letters, that Queen Latifah is writing the letters.

47:01I then thought the dad would start writing letters. Nope. Because I'm like, I'm like, shame on you, dad. Yes, shame on him. And here's the other weird thing about the letter writing. She must have been writing in a different handwriting. And the kids call it out when she hands him the letters and says, well, why doesn't dad text or email like everybody else? If she was doing this, well, we know she was doing this, why not just create a fake email? Oh, it'd be so much easier. It would be so much easier. It's like my mother. Than trying to mimic this man's handwriting.

47:33Jason Mantzoukas:MarcusHill at AOL.com. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that would be easy. It would be easier. But again, this movie is not about being easy. The movie is about two hours, about 47 minutes without the songs. And now we're deep into the movie. Oh, my God. Dolly has not yet sung. She has been in the background singing. That was really hard for me. And so we're like, when is she going to sing? And when she sings, they pull out all the stops because she doesn't do it. You mean the final? No, the duet. Oh, the duet. She does a duet with a dead man. Well, first I'm going, why did Chris Christopherson agree to do this?

48:08Did they go, you're getting$300 ,000 just to do a thing where he touches his heart? And then he does a duet, but I still don't know why he did it.

48:14Jason Mantzoukas:Basically, his opening scene makes those medical alert bracelets look subtle. He's like, oh, oh. And then the second scene, no dialogue. He's still not singing really. Yeah, he's singing. Basically, she starts playing the piano and talking about this love, and she looks out the window, and then Kris Kristofferson comes up to the window. And then they dance in a cornfield, and they sing. Because she says that's what they used to do. They set it up really, not subtly, where, oh, I want to sing this, but it's usually a duet. Oh, come on. All right, I'll do it. Randy's like, I know the song. Her grandson is like, I know the song.

48:47And he starts her off. And then she starts singing. And then she looks out the window. And Christopher's in her eyes. And then he takes over for Randy. Yes. And he is struggling in this song. I mean, I may have cried during it. You did. You definitely did. Really? Yeah. All right.

49:02Jason Mantzoukas:Interesting. Yeah. I got my pretty good. Well, you cried when he came up on the porch again. I did. She got really in the mode of Dolly seeing her husband approach the porch. Okay, this was the thing that I had a real problem with in this sequence, is that Dolly goes to the window and she sees Kris Kristofferson. And he's approaching, like she said, like they would sing the song. So she's singing and then he approaches and then Dolly visualizes herself out there as well. So there's Kris Kristofferson all in black. There's Dolly in the house in white. And then there is a Dolly in black. She's picturing them.

49:41There is already dead Dolly out on the porch singing Chris Christopherson. He's also singing. So I was like, when Christopherson walks out, I'm like, great. She should walk out. They should sing the song. No. There is a weird ghost version of Dolly that is going to sing. It was. And then she stops singing inside and is just watching. I think she was remembering them singing it to us. Well, then. And so she had. All in black. Both of them. Who are they? June and Johnny Cash? I don't think so.

50:10Jason Mantzoukas:But then there was a moment, too, where, yeah, and then she sits back down at the piano to finish the song. To really do nothing, she sits back down and be like, and the song's over. Yeah. But that song was pretty great. That was a great Dolly moment. Oh, I loved that. Now, meanwhile, things are not going well in the church. Now, back to one of the main plot lines that you would think the movie is about. Is the competition. Yes. Now, things - They've lost. Did you get to the detective yet? Wait, what detective? Where she hired a detective. She did her own research and found that - They have these competitions you never explain.

50:43Like they never show them. They just talk about them. So it turns out they're all of a sudden in the finals because she did research and found out there was professionals.

50:52Jason Mantzoukas:Right. Basically, their church group is always losing in the semifinals. To the Detroit group. No, no, we do see that. The Detroit group does. We see that. That's the James Brown-esque choir leader and his choir. what's interesting is we see a competition we see their competition but we never see our choir perform in that competition you just have to assume that we're going to be that bad you just assume they performed and lost you've seen them sing enough maybe that weirded me up how do you do a competition and not show one person competing I honestly do think they thought, well, you heard them all sing, so you know the barometer we're working on, so you figure it out.

51:43Jason Mantzoukas:I think that you're supposed to feel like when you see the James Brown guy, you're like, oh yeah, they have no chance. So why even shoot that scene? Because as an audience member - I bet they shot it. I bet they shot it, and they were like, we got to pull at least one song out of this movie. This movie's got too many songs. That's why the movie's so long. And so then they can be like, well, pull that song out, because that song doesn't really matter, because they lose anyway. Right. You know? So then they get on that bus and then you find out later that who hired the detective? I don't know. She goes, I did some research.

52:09I did my CSI. Yes. They find out that there's some – So you don't see all the work that she found out they were professional gospel singers. Yeah, they're like scab gospel singers.

52:23Jason Mantzoukas:They're not like – I don't even know how you become a scab. They're not church members. They're not – well, I think what she's contending is these aren't – this isn't church members making up a church choir. These people hired professional singers to make up a church choir. That's what I think that's what it is. It's basically like if you had an amateur team and you hired professional basketball players to play for you. How many of the plot points were not shown? As they said, the old cliche show, don't tell. Of course. You know, like she would go, hey, I got a, you know, they should have had Queen Latifah at the bedpan scene going, hey, I think so.

52:59I'm on to something, you know, show somebody's work.

53:01Jason Mantzoukas:After the investigation. Yeah. Again, it's a bad documentary filmmaker. He's missing all the crucial scenes. He's getting a lot of the exposition. He's like, oh, I have to go to the bathroom. Did I miss my choir at the competition? I did? Oh, no. They said, oh, yeah, this is what happened. It's like those reality shows where someone talks to the camera, the testimonials. So we lost, but then we found someone. They're not allowed. That would have made the movie so much more efficient if they'd had first-person confessionals. Just to establish what's going on. So they get redeemed. They get to go to the finals.

53:29Jason Mantzoukas:but now things are falling apart because Queen Latifah doesn't want her daughter hanging out with the bully who punched that kid in the dick. And so now they kind of have a pretty intense standoff. And the other guy doesn't want them to sing certain kind of songs. Oh, the pastor. Yeah. So everything's kind of falling apart here in the third act. But if you know anything about this movie, don't worry about that. Don't worry about the third act obstacles because they're going to get wiped away very quickly. But anyway, the daughter gets really mad at Queen Latifah. Oh, is that in the hotel? In the hotel.

53:58Jason Mantzoukas:I have a clip of this. This is probably one of the best monolos. This is Queen Latifah responding to her daughter's angry monologue. Bullshit. It's lazy and it has no class, but it's not hard. You think I'm not pretty? Didn't say that. I am an incandescent, board-certified supermodel, baby. I happen not to flaunt it because I am a married woman, and I would never disrespect my husband the way you just disrespected your mother. But beautiful as you are, and you are very, very beautiful, I would hang mirrors all over my house if I could just to look at myself. I'd put one on the refrigerator just to watch myself eat all of them calories.

54:36And if I gave myself a heart attack from all that food, I'd just give myself CPR. Because I'm a nurse. That's right. I save lives. And that is not bullshit.

54:47Jason Mantzoukas:So that day is one of the best. Why that wasn't nominated? I do this as a monologue during auditions. I perform this as a monologue. I couldn't hear in my head. Because I am a nurse. Was it more ugly to her mother? I couldn't hear. Well, yeah, it all started off because she said that she's jealous of Queen Latifah. No, Queen Latifah is jealous of her. Of her because she's just pretty. That's why this movie is so crazy at certain points because you're right, Fred. There are tonal shifts. I mean, that's a crazy, dark, deep thing to say for a daughter to say to her mother. It's crazy. There is, I mean, there is a version of this movie that is just a harrowing story about a single mother whose husband has left to join the army.

55:32There is a precious version of this movie. Struggles, yes, with an Asperger's son and two jobs and a feisty daughter who is being, you know, lured away by a dangerous guy. Yeah, I think for light humor of guys having heart attacks. Yeah, exactly. But this movie is not that movie.

55:48Jason Mantzoukas:No, I feel like maybe it was based on a book. so I wonder if the book is was the book by Sapphire? yeah and that's what I believe it was I thought Queen delivered the shit out of that monologue she did I loved it and it all takes place at an elevator bank in like a Wyndham hotel in like a Wyndham hotel to that set it's so weird it's crazy just random out of nowhere and not at the quarry maybe someone punched it up go we should point out she doesn't look like her daughter she's much more attractive but that is a really weird thing because Queen does not seem to be struggling with her looks or her age or anything throughout the entire movie.

56:22No. But everybody's leveling those charges against her. Dolly is. Everybody is. Dolly says she's fat. Dolly says she's ugly.

56:29Jason Mantzoukas:Yeah, well, her and Dolly kind of have this, like, Simon Cowell-esque, like, dig moment, which breaks into a full-on food fight in a diner while people are eating. Where Queen Latifah has now taken a second job. You know what I think happened? The food fight is so feeble, I think these two diva actresses said, I don't want to get food all over me. So they just sort of held the tray up and just sort of, You know what I mean? She throws pasta at her. But it doesn't hit. It doesn't hit. It just goes a foot away. The crazy thing was Queen, in only one shot, Queen Latifah has her fists up. Yes, I was going to talk about that.

57:01I was like, is she going to punch Dolly Parton? But then they go into this feeble. What was that show with Wilma Valderrama, Rank Out Show? Oh, Your Mama? Yeah, I thought they did some Your Mama jokes. She's like, yeah, you have so many facelifts that you don't even know who you are. I picture these random punch-up guy getting hired. All right, let's put some. Yeah, yeah. That's got Valance written all over it. I did like Dolly's line. They didn't make plastic surgeons so they could starve. Yeah. I did love that line. I mean, that's a great line for Dolly to deliver. And I thought she handled it.

57:32But again, random and like. Totally random. She's this rich diva with plastic surgery and this black choir.

57:38Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, where is that plastic surgery? She must have to go travel very far for that plastic surgery. I have to say, her wealth is strangely defined in this movie because her house does not seem that nice. No. The car she's driving does not seem that nice. Oh, remember the joke that she drives slowly? Yeah, she drives slowly in that car. But, I mean, yeah, you're right. There's nothing in the movie to show she's not overtly wealthy. I don't think she's, I mean, I think the thing is the town is so depressed. This, like, rural Georgian town is so depressed that she is wealthy in comparison. So she basically, like, I don't think she's crazy rich.

58:10And do you think Kristofferson left her a lot of money? Like, she's going to be okay? I don't know. I really worry about her.

58:16Jason Mantzoukas:That's the sequel. He left her a song and a video of them saluting. Well, he – there is a – Dolly – not Dolly. Queen Latifah puts Dolly in a headlock and then urges – this is just back to the food fight – and urges a diner to videotape it because she wants to put this on YouTube. Yeah. I thought it never shows up. It was going to go somewhere. I thought that was going to turn into something new. I forgot about that. It was like the evidence that I'm not – right. She repeatedly refers to the man videotaping it. Yes. Are you getting this? Are you getting this? Yeah. Put it on YouTube. We thought this was going to be evidence or some.

58:48No, never thought this back. There's another weird thing that has a payoff and then no setup. When the woman who killed Mr. Sue at the final competition. Oh, boy. I want to feel what happened. Oh, boy. I'm excited. She's at some dinner, not dinner, a lunch thing with the competition. And a black guy sits down and he's, hey, how you doing? She goes, my name is whatever. And he runs because you're going to get a heart attack if you sit next to the woman. And then her friend comes over and says, don't worry. You're going to meet somebody great. And she says, if I do, I'm going to do the splits. Oh, I didn't hear that.

59:22Well, there is the setup that I didn't understand. That's the setup you didn't get. She's on a toilet doing her warm-ups. Yeah, she's in a toilet. She likes all Asian guys. All Asian guys like her. The other guy was like 55. This guy was like 23, good looking and slim. He opens the toilet door, says, hey, I've heard about you. This guy didn't hear about you. He says, Miss Hughes, to a closed toilet door. Yes. Like, he knows she's the person in there. He's walked into the women's room. What?

59:51Jason Mantzoukas:She's in the women's bathroom. This is not even a thing. She's in a stall, and he says, Miss Hughes? Now, she could be taking a shit. She could be doing anything. At this point, she should presume she's about to be murdered. Yeah. Like, in my mind, that's possible in this movie. But if she has this reputation of, you know, the one that kills Chinese guys, why would he know that? She only did it once. Okay, but the other guy ran. The other guy knew it. I know, but it's like, how did that word get out? Like, in the southern Alabama town? They're in Los Angeles. Yeah, they're in Los Angeles now, and the word has gotten out.

1:00:21And by the way, how did Mr. Sue die? Oh, no, you found that high blood pressure. Yeah, he had high blood pressure, she says. Which is odd, because he's very slender. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It does not line up that this is. Should she have been the one that died of a heart attack? Well, yeah, she's making all that bacon for him. Guys, we've got to back off of this. Guys, I'm telling you. But the thing I was hoping for is that when Mr. Sue dying, I hope she would do a solo and Mr. Sue would dance with her. I was hoping so much for that. One of my favorite things was, so after the man, what we're describing, the woman who sexually kills Mr.

1:00:59Sue, tries to sit down with the man and says to her friend, if I ever find a man, I'm going to do the splits, right? This is in the third act. Then she goes, oh, look. The other woman goes, oh, look, and points off camera. And then they run to a – like they run a distance to a window where they see two floors below them, Dolly and Randy have arrived. And I'm like, from where you were sitting, it would physically be impossible to see down two floors. The cross-country trip took like two seconds, a cross-country trip. They were also on like a city transit bus. They drove from Georgia to Los Angeles in a bus from the Xperia, and you think you're going to cut into it, and it's going to be like a coach bus, like a bus.

1:01:45And it's not. It's like a city transit bus with hard plastic seats. I was like, is this the only bus interior they could get? Like, what's happening? I think it was actually the same bus interior that they used the first bus for when they were going to the regional or whatever. Yeah, that's the church bus. The producer said, look, we could give Chris Christopherson$500 ,000 for one day or get buses.

1:02:08Jason Mantzoukas:And so now we're up to the competition as we're wrapping up this movie. We're up to the competition. They let the church do the performance that they really want to do. Did you get to the part where the first group before them kicked ass? Oh, right. The first group before them are genie. Children. Children. They're great. And they are unbelievable. They must be real. They must be like a real choir. The kids sing like a true gospel, beautiful, but it's like they're dancing and they're doing great. There's like a baby Michael Jackson. There's like a baby Michael Jackson is the lead. It's great. But then our group goes up and they start their traditional song, right?

1:02:52And then this happens.

1:02:53Jason Mantzoukas:This is how they combine the best of the old world, the best of the new world. Here we go.

1:03:02I'm on the low key, because you know how it is. That's just one of the medley. They do a medley of songs. Like seven songs. That is crazy. Like Justin Bieber.

1:03:14Jason Mantzoukas:Yeah, they Catholic-fy all the. Yes, they put God and Jesus and church into all these pop songs. I mean, I would never think that you could put God into that Usher song. No way. And they didn't. And they didn't. They did. They tried, but that was a failure. And spoiler alert, they win. Basically, what I feel like happens at this point is like, oh, boy. Remember all those plots we started? We need to wrap them up quick. Oh, yeah. And they race to the end to, like, wrap up plots with just no happenstance. So they're singing in the choir. But then Queen Latifah's husband comes home. And then they're back in love.

1:03:50Jason Mantzoukas:And they're kissing. So everything is just, like, jammed in at the end. Like, okay. And it all worked out. Right? We are. We're all happy. Everything's fine, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Except that the town is still economically destroyed. Yeah, they do not set up how the town gets. So they didn't win anything from that competition. No financially, no financial. No, no, but they have the trophy out the window of the bus when they return. Well, that's great. And everybody's out with signs. The townspeople are celebrating their return. Obviously, we had opinions about this movie, but here are some five-star reviews from Amazon.com.

1:04:19Jason Mantzoukas:These are people who thought the movie was so good, they give it five stars.

1:04:26Jason Mantzoukas:This is from Edward Cullen I'm assuming that is a fake name Oh really? The character from Twilight? All in caps This movie is awesome If you aren't 13 It is still okay for your young age The only bad things are That they say the S and H word Otherwise it's totally appropriate What's the H word? Hell Hell? Hell I guess They say bullshit a lot Bullshit a lot Bitch And then here's from Joyful Fanatic. I purchased the DVD as soon as it became available because I had seen the movie in the theater on three different occasions. I enjoyed the movie so much I was willing to pay for it three different times.

1:05:04Jason Mantzoukas:I couldn't wait for it to become available on DVD so I could purchase it. I purchased two copies, one for myself and one for my cousin. After my cousin received her copy, she gave it to her husband who enjoyed the movie. They have watched it more than once, and that says something, because my cousin only watches movies once. Oh, my God. Five stars. The craziest, weird. Well, I guess if her cousin liked it. I mean, if that cousin watches it more than once, that says a lot. And this is my favorite review of all time. I don't think I've ever read this before. Five-star review. My granddaughter-in-law loves this DVD, especially when her husband's home to watch it with her.

1:05:39Jason Mantzoukas:Five stars. Whoa. So. What? She doesn't even watch it. The grandma doesn't even watch it. She's kind of making a sad cry for maybe her daughter to come back home, her daughter's son to come back home. Would you guys recommend watching this movie to anybody? For these amusement, if you listen to the podcast, it's fun. I think it's not so terrible that you can't sit through it. I mean, it's sweet. It's a saccharine-y sweet movie. Yeah, yeah. I would say if you're into singing competitions and stuff like that, you'll find a lot. It's not bad. There's so many inexplicable parts of it, but it's not bad.

1:06:21It's just not good. Maybe it's not good, yeah. I don't know how to explain it. It's certainly not so bad it's good. It doesn't get into that territory. I mean, I would watch it for Dolly, you know. I would tell anyone to watch it for Dolly, but be ready for the fact that Dolly's not really in the movie.

1:06:37Jason Mantzoukas:That's our show. If you are listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please rate and review us. and make sure you are subscribed to our feed and have automatic downloads turned on in the show settings. It helps us. And we also just simply appreciate it a lot. We'll see you next week. Bye for now. Halliday presents, in the red corner, the undisputed, undefeated Weed Whacker Guys! Champion of hurling grass and pollen everywhere! And in the blue corner, the challenger, extra strength, Halliday! Eye drops that work all day to prevent the release of histamines that cause itchy, allergy eyes! And the winner, by knockout, is Halliday!

1:07:24Saturday, bring it on. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Roof repair, done well. Kitchen sink install, done well. Deck upgrades, done well. Electrical upgrade, done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly 30 years, so we know the difference between done and done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.