The Big Hit

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23:15Phoenix, Arizona.

23:17Jason Mantzoukas:This movie is about asses and dicks. We see a lot of male ass in this movie. I mean, we also open, and I'm so bummed, why do we spend so much time in the beginning of this film with Mark Wahlberg doing Jim Cotta, and then it never comes into play in the fucking movie? I'm like, we got Jim Cotta? His training montage is literally on a pommel horse, and I was like, this is going to be instrumental to the movie. No, it doesn't. Doesn't even, nothing. I mean, that locker scene...

24:12will claim he don't bone females no more since he just now discovered wringing his rag is that true no doubt there's no maintenance ass the locker room scene to me was really again this is where i had a tough time this is where the movie ruined my day when one of the guys the guy who's like just found out how to masturbate and then spends the whole movie and this is this is very there's something about mary like i could see that 90s sort of like every scene you have a new like weigh into this joke kind of model. The payoff of it was pretty great. The payoff was probably one of the best. What was the payoff?

24:52When they're fighting in the video store and then the poster on the wall is number one customer of our adult section and it's Bokeem Woodbine, like put the thumbs up. Oh, that's true. Okay, fine. He's been in this video store so much to jerk off. They made a poster of what a prolific jerk-off guy he is to say the number one renter of adult videos in the store. But there was, but here's the thing. I just felt like, okay, that's where it felt very Austin Powers, you know, that kind of 90s comedy. But that scene, that scene where they're all speaking to each other the way that they are, and he's talking about jerking off, and then he says he's been fucking since he was 10.

25:36And that was also, So that was something that you used to hear in movies all the time about men and boys. And, you know, it's just tough because it's like, well, you were. Well, sir, you were raped. You were raped. It's like, I don't know what you think happened there with someone. Well, I mean, perhaps not if the partner was similarly aged. So it's just so hard to watch. And that was my experience the whole movie, which is like things being presented lightly and feeling so bereft. It does. It feels as though someone wrote a movie that was for Goodfellas style acting. And then somebody did a joke pass on it and they cast people and told them it's light.

26:29You know, these are jokes. Keep it light. Give it a light touch. Keep gliding right by it. Because if in Goodfellas Joe Pesci said, I've been fucking since I was 10, I'd be like, yeah, yeah, that tracks. These are monsters. These are monster people who behave monstrably. Okay, great. But when people are saying that in this movie, you're like, it's a real head scratcher because you're like, okay, now actually, let's interrogate, who are these guys? Because if I'm Bokeh Moodbine, I wouldn't allow my video store to put that poster up. I'm a murderer. Like that already is a problem. Well, I mean, he seems like he's lost track of everything.

27:09Jason Mantzoukas:The masturbation has really set him on a path where he is not good at his job anymore because even the first hit, is it a hit? Yeah, I guess it is. The first hit is, first of all, they're not subtle or smooth about anything. The first hit, they blow up a fucking building. Yeah. But they also come in. To kill a guy, like to kill a guy who's appears to be like a human trafficker you know who's trying to buy three women for fifty thousand dollars each um while he's wearing blondes under 20 yes three blondes under 20 midwestern no tattoos and then when the price is fifty thousand each one of the women goes hey you know what's crazy and this is in like a hotel or i think it's a hotel and there's like a big giant like hot tub in the middle of the floor of the hotel room and surrounding the hot tub I've never seen this are glass screens like the whole room is covered in glass screens so that when the shootout starts there can just be exploding glass everywhere but the look of it before that is so strange and odd because you're like why would you surround this tub with like weird, you know, the kind of screens you might get dressed behind, except they're glass.

28:29You know, it was really weird. Well, it is who knows what's happening design wise. But I did laugh when one of the bad guys like appeared out of the hot tub. Oh, yeah. Incredible. Like he had been hiding in there. For a long time. LOL. A very long time. He was underwater for a very long time. And then his machine gun worked flawlessly. This is the one where Mark Wahlberg does shooting while doing what is unquestionably breakdancing moves. So I wanted to ask you, June, how did you feel about combining breakdancing with pin-perfect assassinations? I didn't mind it. I got it. Okay. I liked it, too.

29:10Maybe that's the best use of it.

29:12Jason Mantzoukas:Well, it felt very John Woo-coded. Yes. And there's something about it. This is also just in case you were wondering, this is the end of Marky Mark. The single that is over the credits is the this is the death of Marky Mark. So this is the end of this era, maybe the end of the rom-com, you know, Mark Wahlberg or the romance. And then we go into Mark Wahlberg or Marky Mark may have been more of the rom-com guy. But what's so interesting about that sequence is the plan is we're going to shut off the power. he's going to go into the room and he's got the night vision goggles so he can see everybody and they're going to be in the dark.

29:50I get that. I like that. And then, you know, so he gets, you know, he gets a foot up on them and then, or a leg up on them. I like foot.

29:58Jason Mantzoukas:And, and then he takes off the night vision goggles because he knows that they're going to be blasting light in, but so he's wearing sunglasses, but his, and then there's just a lot of manipulation of light and And he doesn't seem to be affected by any change of light. But yet he is. Well, I think his team is making all those light changes. So he thinks he knows when to use what. Okay. He's still opening a curtain. When he opens the curtains. Yeah, because there's a lot made of him opening. Well, because what you have to realize is when the light gets cut, he comes in with his night vision goggles.

30:36But the other guys, the bad guys put on their night vision goggles. Right. They just had them just in case. So when he's opening the windows, he's flooding their night vision goggles with light, which makes them blind. But he also, he's not wearing sunglasses.

30:51Jason Mantzoukas:No, he takes the first entry into the room. He's wearing sunglasses. But then by that point, that's the next one when he throws in the flashbang. Oh, right. He throws in a flash grenade. I thought he ran across those curtains. I mean, you're right. It's a lot of on and off. Yes. There's a lot of light play. It's a lot of light play. It's a lot of erotic light play. To just watch guys get shot like they are attached to the fender of a car that is furiously pulling out of a parking lot. That is a question I had. They are blown back. Yes. Style, baby. Six feet. Oh, easily. Easily. The impact of a bullet hitting their body sends them backwards in motion.

31:38I'm going to say 15 miles an hour. You should watch out.

31:42Jason Mantzoukas:They should almost be hitting other people like bowling balls. Also, Mark Wahlberg is able to, this is a pre-parkour kind of dominating action movie style. So he's doing the thing that used to happen, which is he's jumping around, but clearly launching himself off of trampolines because he's getting length and height of these jumps that are enormous. but he's really just crossing a hotel room. But it's clearly he's being launched off of trampolines. And my favorite moment, and I know I shouldn't get down to this kind of nitty gritty because I'm going to go down my same rabbit hole with the glasses and the night vision goggles, but when they say, let's synchronize our watches, they just all put their watches together, but they don't look at the time.

32:33They don't. Nobody has to adjust. Nobody has to be like, oh, I'm a minute ahead or I'm a minute behind. They don't. They just, it's as if they think from the movies, synchronizing your watches just means putting them all in one shot. Yes. And like somehow the watches will sink themselves. It was like magnets or something. I love that moment. And I loved that. And I also loved the, there's an audible record scratch in this movie. Oh, yes. I noticed that. I was like, what the fuck are they up to, man? Here's the thing. We never get a sense of the team, really. No. Because you know he's sort of a bad guy.

33:10You know he's like an asshole, but he's also the leader. But then like Antonio Sabato Jr. just disappears for the rest of the movie. Truly. We don't see him at all. And then, so it's like I was kind of attached to him. Yeah. He was my favorite one. You loved when he came to those girls and said, I want to pour milk all over you because you're part of my balanced breakfast. Yeah, he was my favorite one. Yeah, of course. And then he disappeared. Disappeared, yeah. And then we're introduced to this young tech guy, like the computer nerd. Weird. Who has a stutter. And I guess that's something we all saw and was very distressing to see.

33:47Well, they also call him Gump in the movie, which is very strange. Wow. That was very, very upsetting. Could have been a coincidence. Could have been a coincidence. And now we're with him for most of the movie, really. And then Antonio Savada Jr. we see again at the very, very end. And I was like, well, what's the team here? It makes no sense. I agree because what should happen is they should be hunting down every member of the team until they get to Mark Wahlberg. That's it. Like the good guy, the bad guys should be hunting down the team that is responsible for kidnapping the girl and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

34:26But they don't. And so everybody, you're right. Anthony Sabato Jr. I at some point was like, where is Vince? We need Vince to get in the mix. I love that you remembered his name. I mean Oh are you Are you kidding me He's electric on screen I'm sorry He is great He is great Now The other thing is like You guys might be I hate to ask this question Putting a little bit too much spin on that one But I'm gonna He's the best actor of our generation I thought he was wonderful I thought it was great acting Really wonderful acting But the other thing is like I guess So I guess her dad kidnapped her What do you mean On purpose Whoa what Wait how do you mean well well okay let me ask let me put this to both of you who arranged her kidnapping

35:12Jason Mantzoukas:they just they lou diamond phillips like just did a little the most minimal research on the richest person in town and he was like oh it's this um like this chinese uh millionaire and then was like let's kidnap his daughter and we'll get a lot of money and then what the the issue with the movie is, you fucking idiot, you didn't do any research on this. Oh, so I thought he was hired. Yours makes better sense, June, but go ahead. Let me just pitch, are you sure about that? Because, Paul, I thought he was hired, and that's why when Melvin Smiley was like, well, we're moonlighting with this other job, I thought they've been hired to kidnap someone.

35:56We don't know who hired them, but Lou Diamond Phillips does, and then they realize, oh, that's their actual boss's goddaughter because then at the end at the very end when her college friend quote unquote is walking out of school with her she says i hear your dad's in la making the kidnapping a big movie and then i thought oh her dad arranged this so he could get out of financial debt i like that interesting i really i don't mind that idea at all i don't think that's what the movie's trying to do i think i but i got it so lou diamond phillips is just is not a hired contractor he's completely going rogue he's going rogue and trying to make side money and that's why in the beginning he was hired to kidnap her no when he says hey you should do this job with us tomorrow mark walberg is like no i'm not doing that um our our boss would get mad at us because we're not supposed to be freelancing or moonlighting or whatever they call whatever he says right but i thought moonlighting with someone else who had hired him.

37:01Right. No, no. So, so, and yes, and then you're right, Paul, the coincidence that somehow the crime Lord that they work for is involved with so much so that he's the godfather of the businessman's daughter. That makes, I don't understand. Now this all seems so small worldy that I'm like, I don't understand.

37:20Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, it seems like they could be doing, they could be hit men in a very small, I don't know what town they're in um at canada oh that would be so funny if this was an entire group of hitmen that were all in cincinnati that's what that's what it kind of felt like to me it felt like a very small group now i will say that that storyline was my favorite storyline that the jiro nishi was this like enormously wealthy person who was so wealthy he made the most expensive movie of all time cast himself in it. The jokes of that were great. And then the fact that he only printed posters on gold leaf paper.

37:59He made a movie theater standee out of gold. The idea that you are a multi, multi, multi-millionaire, so business successful millionaire, but you could bankrupt yourself on one movie was very funny. But it was also, and the fact that he had his shirt off and was kissing this girl, it was like the taste of my juice or whatever the name of that movie was. I loved every moment of whatever that was. All the way to when he's going to commit ritual suicide because of the shame. And he keeps being interrupted. That's a joke that worked to me. But again, some of those jokes worked. Also did not know at certain points if I should be offended by this because it was every, every stereotype in this movie is being played.

38:44I mean, we are doing it. And I guess maybe if we're just saying every character is up to a 10, then maybe you can't say anything about any of them because everyone is playing something aggressive. Oh, big time. Yeah. Like, right. And this is like what we then get into because the movie, I want to be clear, like it has all of the hallmarks of a John Woo action operatic kind of big explosions movie. but it thinks it's a comedic farce. So like when Marky Mark's girlfriend drops off, she's leaving him for her side piece and she drops off the bagged body parts that have not yet been destroyed and the very living kidnapped girl, all of which have been at her apartment, the girlfriend's apartment.

39:36She drops them at Christina Applegate and Mark Wahlberg's house. So now Christina Applegate's parents have arrived. The kidnapped victim has arrived. And bags full of body parts are arrived that the dog becomes obsessed with. And the next 15 minutes of the movie are just a farce where Mark Wahlberg is Inspector Clouseau trying to keep everything in order. And that also was funny to me. Well, Jason, you did my favorite part of that, which was set to ska music. Oh, yes. So it's a farce set to, I think, Real Big Fish. I'm going to bet it's Real Big Fish. And that was, to me, I was like, this should be the whole movie because whatever this was.

40:21And this movie does aggressively put you in a moment that you're like, oh, right. This is all cool. This is very cool. The best part of that sequence was that there is in Mark Wahlberg's house, which is set up to be, you know, very suburban house, suburban living, regular. guy. There's a bathroom and I'll never forget this as long as I live. That has two doors and two entrances. I've just never... Have you ever been in a bathroom in a residential home that has two ways in?

40:51Jason Mantzoukas:Nothing. June? June? Hold on one second. Uh-oh. Think about our house. Wait a minute. We have a bathroom that has two entrances. Your own house? Yes. Oh, okay. But that's a Jack and Jill situation. Okay? That's two connecting bedrooms. You're just talking about that I can accept. Wait, does that mean that it's at the top of the hill? Every time you go there, you have to roll down. That's a Jack and Jill situation where, by the way, one of my favorite movies, but like, that's totally different. This is two entrances from a hallway. Okay, got it. All right, so that's your issue. I'm not talking about connecting bedrooms.

41:28Yeah. That was pretty wild. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. I mean, that's such a set house. What is the anticipation? What are you, why are you building it like that what are you thinking oh my use case is that i want two people to be able to enter and or leave at the same time and can you imagine having to go to the bathroom in there and like sitting down on a toilet and just like the terror of of knowing there's two ways in how are you always when you're on the toilet clocking what what how many possible I'll never forget. I had a very traumatic experience at a friendlies when I was like in fifth grade.

42:09Not as friendly as you'd think. Where I had to go to the bathroom and there was one. It was a single stall type situation. Just, you know, you open the door. There's the toilet. And I went to the bathroom, sat down, you know, got everything ready. And a woman walked in on me. And you know, sometimes you're close enough that you can say, oh, excuse me. And but she was too far. The door was too far away. And she stood there for too long. I was completely vulnerable. And I was like racing to try to get over. She couldn't understand what was happening. It was absolutely horrifying. She couldn't understand.

42:47Wait a minute. I mean, she should understand. I think if I walked in and saw, I would be like, I understand every I don't like that. I'm here for this. But picture her walking in kind of with her back to me. Like she's still kind of with the restaurant. So she got too far in. Wait, she doesn't get all the way to be. She doesn't sit on your lap, does she? She doesn't get that far. It traumatized me for life. She asked her back to you the whole time. And since that moment, I've never felt safe in a public restaurant. Now, I will say this. June, I was that woman. And as a little boy, the first time I ever saw a woman naked from the bottom down was on an airplane because I just boldly opened a door to a woman on a toilet and airplane.

43:34It's burned in my memory. And I stood there frozen. There was nothing erotic about it. There was nothing. I was like, oh, and I didn't know what to do. And then I didn't know how to close the door because it's like one of those, it's not like a open close. It's like a collapsible folding door. And then she was trying to close and she yelled at me and I was like, I didn't know what to do. And I was shook. Shook. Okay, so you get it. I agree. I don't think, like, bathroom stuff is, you're just too vulnerable. It's just too, it's one of, especially as a child, it's one of the great unknowns. That's why we never see Kiefer Sutherland take a pee or a poop in 24.

44:14Because it's too vulnerable for him. He would be. It's also, what a stressful day. Your body just shuts down. You're not really producing good poop on that day.

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48:05They are fragile. Now, these are body parts with, I'm assuming, sharp edged bones that have been cut in there. Like these should be leaking every the dog bites into the bag. No leaking. Come on. either get better garbage bags for body parts or or get a black bag stop this nonsense what are we

48:24Jason Mantzoukas:doing why are and why are we bringing by why are we doing so much work with this like at least bring it to the basement like give me some a lot by the way there was a lot of transporting of things and people like that for no good as far as i could understand no good reason yes other than just like, I don't want it right now. I don't want it in my house right now. I mean, she was leaving town to go to Hollywood to make her fortune. This is Mark Wahlberg's side piece. And with her side piece, or I guess maybe her main piece. And so they're going off to Hollywood. She's like, but before we leave the house, I'm going to go bring this girl to you and this body.

49:04Yeah.

49:04Jason Mantzoukas:Like, why not just call and just be like, go get it. But no, they have to be in the room. She has to drop it off. Also, they then go and drive for hours. Four hours. But somehow wind up back where they started? Because he knew a shortcut. Because he, yeah. He knew a shortcut that got them nowhere? Well, that was the thing. She's like, you know how long it's going to take? It's like four days to get to L.A. And then he says, don't worry, I know a shortcut. Which to me is one of the most insane things to say when you are driving four days away. Like, well, there's no short, there's no real shortcut.

49:38So they are not in L.A. They are four days drive from L.A. So that's interesting. I do think that they're Cincinnati. The Midwest. Yeah, because first of all, they're also asking. Our first crime boss is asking for Midwestern women. Now, I assumed when he said that, that he wasn't from the Midwest. But now I'm like, oh, I guess they were right there. Yeah. He wanted a local flavor. I mean, or maybe he's visiting. That's maybe why they did the hit. because he's at the hotel. He's like, get me some of these Midwestern girls. And I do like that this is a movie that I do think skates on this line of it was supposed to be a high school student.

50:18They just say, geez, college, although they don't change anything else about her. When do they say that, Paul? I do need to know. When do they say that? I don't, yeah. I never heard that and I felt I was listening pretty good. All right. I mean, you know,

50:30Jason Mantzoukas:look, I will double check, but I know that that was in the production notes I have about the movie. Oh, so you're relying on your production notes. I'm really, yes. I see. Production. And why do you keep putting that in quotes? Well, I think that that one of the things that is absolutely true, though, is whether she's in high school or whether she's in college, I do understand and firmly believe that when two people make a kosher dinner together, they cannot help but fall in love. It was one of the sexiest activities you could take part in. There's so much handling of the raw chicken. The fingering of that chicken was so disgusting.

51:14I actually had to turn away. It was disgusting. The raw chicken that they're manipulating with their hands was treated with the same erotic charge as the potter's wheel in Ghost. And I will say this.

51:28Jason Mantzoukas:It wasn't done over the top enough for it to be funny. And it was done too realistically that it made me uncomfortable and, again, sick to my stomach. Because it was like, it was neither here nor there. And I think the middle ground was worse than either side of it, right? Because if it was sexy and it's a chicken, it's like naked gun style, like I'd be like, oh, that's funny. But it was like too sexually charged. They get like so sexually charged, but their hands, again, salmonella-wise, their hands are covered with raw chicken grease. You know, like this is dangerous. They don't show them cleaning the prep areas.

52:03They don't show them switching cutting boards. Like this is a dangerous meal. I'm going to be honest.

52:08Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, and then, and they really seem that they're into each other, but that is just a ruse by her because she like she's actually in charge because he then spills some sauce on her leg. so he has to like take off her bondage gear, not sexual bondage gear, but like just her tied feet so he could clean her legs. But he does that by putting her entire physical body laying down on the countertop. I was like, why would you do this? This is a very strange way to just clean a spill off someone's leg, just lean down and wipe it with a towel. But it makes it such that they can do like romance stuff. But he's into her.

52:49I mean, that's the whole thing. I mean, you know, you know, this is the thing. Remember when in during the farce period where the dog is dragging the body and this and that, he at one point places the kidnap victim in the trunk of the car in the garage. And then the Christina Applegate and her parents load into that truck and leave. The kidnap victim is in the trunk, but it's not a trunk because it's an open truck. So they have gotten into and are driving around with just a person visibly in the back of the car. That's right. And that, I was like, what's this? If I'm the kidnap victim, I just make one noise and they know I'm there.

53:33Well, I think she was knocked out at that point, I think. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. But yeah, I had the same question because there's also like a lot of different sort of configurations of how that family was sitting in the car. like big time christine applegate's driving mom's in the passenger seat dad's in the back okay now both parents are in the back now there's a shopping bag in the front with like there were many they were using that car in many different ways to get to temple i mean and and and uh

54:05Jason Mantzoukas:they're trying to get to temple and i will say that i don't know what i'm supposed to think about in this plot line because we know that their relationship is over, right? It's not like a meet the parents situation because it seems like We're not rooting for them. We're not rooting for them. That's so hard. Here's the thing. Here's my big question about him. Was he a hitman before he met these women? Or did he meet these women and get so sort of lost in his, you know, romantic issues, which is he could never say no, that he got into financial debt with both of them and then had to become a hitman to pay for the lifestyle?

54:47Interesting. Maybe. I mean, it certainly seems like he is like adept at all of this. So like, yeah, how did he get drawn into being part of this like hit squad, this Cleveland based hit squad? Or yeah. It's such a good question, too. It's like how much work is there? Yeah. Well, it seems like they're working constantly. Nonstop. His girlfriend knows exactly what he does. There's dead bodies in the house, etc. But Christina Applegate doesn't seem to know that he's a hitman, right? No, she doesn't know at all. I don't think so now. Right. Okay, okay, okay, good.

55:24Jason Mantzoukas:Well, now, I will say this, that in case we're just, you know, just to put it in perspective, in the original script, Melvin did have more of a backstory to explain why he was afraid of people disliking him. And it dealt with the fact that his parents were both dead. But due to budgetary restrictions, this element was cut before shooting began. I don't understand how the budget could have cut in there. So really, all we get from Mark Wahlberg about backstory is a line where he goes, I need the people, please. And then he goes, there, I said it. And we're like, yeah, yeah, we know that. We've said it.

55:59This is another movie in the pantheon of movies that we've done where none of the action of the movie would be necessary if a man could admit he would have benefit from regular therapy. Yeah. If he could just go to therapy, he would not need to engage in any of the bad behaviors in this movie.

56:23Jason Mantzoukas:Well, I think he actually, I think that he likes, I think that he likes his job. He makes a killing. Oh, boy. Which is what he says in the movie. And I think that he is not apologetic for what he does. But what he's learning is that he's got to make his own path. He's got to stand up for his own self. And that's what we're following. That's the part that's inspirational. But, Paul, I'm sorry. I identify with this character, sure. Okay. Because I know that she was, when she was first kidnapped by him, and he's the driver. I know that she was being sexually assaulted by that young man, thought he was a high school student, who inexplicably has crystal in his suitcase or his bag.

57:12But I don't know why. I thought that was going to come back. I thought that was going to come back. That would be the money. I said that this movie has the energy of rejected auditions for Mountain Dew commercials. very much so but but i thought okay he is going to stop this and he did but he stops it and then executes that very young man yeah he does shoot him down in front of her in front of her and she is she like is alarmed but then totally normal and then like repeatedly people point guns right in her face and she is her look is like well the idea is like she's also

57:58Jason Mantzoukas:really tough to appoints like she can hold her own with him like you would want it to be like oh yeah this is the daughter of a guy who trained his daughter like never get kidnapped and she had all these skills and that's a funnier like i mean not taming the shrew but it's like but this idea that they kidnap somebody that they can't even handle. Well, it would have been great if her, you know, skills with biology or whatever came back. Whatever college level courses she's taking. She brings it up while they're cooking kosher. But like that never returns. That never plays into anything that happens at the end.

58:38Yeah. When she says, I'm in AP English. She doesn't. Again, I just have to ask. I just never. This is the issue I have with them saying that she's in college. If there was a line, which I didn't hear, Paul, despite your production notes. Sure. Like, I just like, even if there was a line, like everything you're showing us tells me high school. Correct. The movie wants it both ways. The movie wants her to be a uniformed high school girl. And it also wants you, the audience, to be invested in their love story as as an opportunity to show that he's choosing a better partner. She's a better partner to him, you know, or something like that is like that's what I think the movie is trying to do is like he's breaking his bad habits because he's fallen for her and she sees him for who he really is.

59:40you know blah blah blah blah you know whatever but to have both be true means that he is a

59:46Jason Mantzoukas:reprehensible human being well i i before i mean we've talked about a lot of criminal you know yeah he's a criminal and and and also like like no there's no mention of like stockholm syndrome is she really falling in love with him or is it just because i don't know he's kidnapped her and she's she seems to have her own issues because she says to him like he because he's like i'm a hit man like you have to be okay with this lifestyle like it's constant you know are you are you okay with this like this is what i do and she's like you're asking me if i would like want this kind of adrenaline rush every day for the rest of my life yes yes a million times yes no that is not what is happening what i also you know they started handling that meat and she i think she'd been up at that point for like 24 hours and I was like what?

1:00:39If you haven't showered, you're going to wash your hands or? Well, she's not going to eat it. She's been in and out of trunks. I mean, and those trunks are literally always carrying garbage bags full of leaky dead bodies. I mean, we know that to be true. Paul, a few moments ago, you said that you really identified. Yeah. I want to go back to Mark Wahlberg's character. Thank you, Jason. I want to go back to that as well. I think Paul, if you're not mistaken, There might be another character in this movie that you might identify. Be kind. Rewind. I was like, Paul, how did you feel that the final set piece of this movie was set in a video store?

1:01:23Jason Mantzoukas:I fucking loved it. I loved it. I loved the again. This is like going back to the projected Mountain Dew ads. like whoever that guy was, like they're shooting him like with a fisheye lens like and he is, he is the nemesis of Mark Wahlberg throughout the entire movie. Like, hey man, you gotta, like we just play a clip of that now. Melvin Smiley, please. This is him. Mr. Smiley, big top video. We're calling to inform you that you've had our copy of King Kong Lives out for over two weeks now. Return it immediately or we will have you killed. Like that character, to me is amazing because he's trying to chase down King Kong lives, like, which is at this point an old movie.

1:02:11Jason Mantzoukas:And what I love about Mark Wahlberg, and this is where I feel like Mark Wahlberg's like, yeah, I got to save this girl. I got to kill my friend, but I also have to rewind that VHS tape. And June and I have gotten into many a disagreement. I got to, I get that. I'm like, gotta get that videotape back gotta i gotta make it make it really is it's it inserts again all of the elements of suburban life into the narrative of a crime hitman story like the idea that you're right paul he's juggling all these life you know ending level uh catastrophic events while also having to constantly field calls from an increasingly annoyed video store clerk, you know?

1:02:54And then when they go and have to do the final shootout explosion, everything at the video store, I was like, this is incredible. Like this is a part of our lives that was so ubiquitous. It could be the final movie set piece. And it's now just gone.

1:03:09Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, and what I love about it too, is that it is as somebody who loves a video store, A two-story video store is really just, I mean, a relic of... You could spend a day there. It was exciting. I mean, although it seemed like they only trafficked in trauma films, which I also really loved. It was only trauma movies that they had there. I didn't notice that at the time. I guess you're right. I can see some similarities where it's like everything to you... Well, and I don't say this as a... Well, I guess it is a critique of both you and Melvin Smiley, which is like not being able to necessarily prioritize what's really important.

1:03:48Jason Mantzoukas:Well, what you're saying is that it is important. I have to get that VHS date back. I got to get my name off that wall. That is priority number one for that gentleman. That's not maybe my priority. But video stores are never sending you into collection. Like there's no, are they? Did they? There's no, really? Would you have to call people? Oh, I did. all the time. Did you take that kind of attitude with them? I mean, he seemed like he had memorized the number and the name. I was always looking at a screen. I didn't seem like he was Mr. Blockbuster. He had some sort of investment in this. Well, because back when I was working in the video store, there was no email, so you couldn't just pop an email or shoot a text.

1:04:28Jason Mantzoukas:You did have to make that physical phone call. And we were chasing down a lot of new releases, but you had to make that call. And the thing that was really hard, and one of the hardest parts of the job is charging people because they would return it really late and then you'd then they'd rent their next movie and you say hey um it's gonna be it's 57 dollars and i wait 57 dollars for one movie it's like no you didn't you didn't return uh the river wild uh so uh for over a week so and then they're like i'm not paying that and you're like well i i have like and then you have to call over your manager those late charges were pretty astronomical though that It seems like they were a little bit predatory.

1:05:07Well, but you have to remember, too, like an individual copy of a VHS movie to buy it cost like$80. $120. Which is crazy. $120 back in the day. I mean, I just want to not. That's what always blew my mind is that they were so expensive to purchase.

1:05:22Jason Mantzoukas:And so, you know, but also it's supply and demand, June. It's like I am working at a video store where I am telling you we are going to have it in. And if we don't have it in now, we're going to have it in tomorrow. And the minute. Audience. audience, Paul is the minute. We brought it up. The joy that existed while we were talking about the movie has evaporated. He is in a full body. I'm saying this as someone. Paul, we don't have any of your movies. And I always had late charges. You know my family always had late charges. And I took such pride in getting that money out of those people. I loved it.

1:06:02Jason Mantzoukas:I loved it. I think my Brooklyn video store closed because I did not pay my I would now. Now, if it's me, what I'm doing is and I think I've talked about this maybe on here on the show. I would go early in the week when I was just a renter before I was a seller. I would go early in the week and I would hide like I go on a Wednesday. We all know that hack. Yeah. And I would hide it in the store. So then when I came in on Friday, it would be perfect. Ready. So good. I love that movie. You know, that's the way you got to go. Before I know we're getting close to the end here, I just want to, I do need to talk about Lou Diamond Phillips.

1:06:37Jason Mantzoukas:Oh, please. Sure. Because this is, honestly, I've loved Lou Diamond Phillips on The Chair Company. Oh, he's so good. I've loved him in Young Guns. I am a Lou Diamond Phillips fan. Even Renegade, when we did Renegade, this performance. He was great on a recent season of Goliath. Oh, yes. The Billy Bob Thornton show. Nothing bad to say about him, but wow, this character. like I've never seen him in a way so free and he is wearing for the majority of the film something that looks like a Vegas showgirl would wear like he is wearing some sort of sequin patterned shirt I mean he is in the best, all these dudes are just buff as fuck everybody's jacked and it's always funny to let dramatic actors play larger than life comedic characters Yes.

1:07:27You know, and that and for the most part, everybody's struggling a little bit. But Lou Diamond Phillips, I thought, was the one who was genuinely got it, got what his guy was about and was able to be both funny and scared. I didn't know why he deserved to be stabbed at the end. I thought, geez, Mark Wahlberg, like he was your friend. Give him a quicker death. You know, he's got to die here.

1:07:58Jason Mantzoukas:But he was putting him through the ringer, though. Oh, yeah. He's been hunting him down. He's trying to kill him. He activated the what was that bomb that Mark Wahlberg carries around? It's a maglock bomb. It was like, yeah, weird device. We don't know what that was. I just felt like it was a big jump for Melvin Smiley to stab him in the heart and watch him bleed out. Yeah. You know, and like gently send him off into the afterlife was so bizarre. Not, I don't, I would say not. Well, I guess not so gently, but he was sort of talking you through it. Oh, oh, oh, sorry. He was sort of side coaching him.

1:08:35You're doing great. Just if you see the light, yes, and it.

1:08:39Jason Mantzoukas:Well, he, to me, what's so fun about him is I feel like I understand the bravado and the dumbness. And he crosses that line with, I think you're saying, Jason, like where he gets really evil and he was going to sacrifice Mark Wahlberg in a way. So I didn't have a problem with him being stabbed in such a way because he left him for dead first and it didn't work. He jumped into the water. So now he's like, I got to get the job done. I tried to do it this simple way, which is just get his head decapitated from a car falling from a tree. that didn't work now i must i must take matters into my own hands because i can't trust it i can't trust this guy yeah because he's only out for himself and his boat which is called uh big pussy i mean in spanish uh yeah uh that's the the name uh i will double check what it was written for uh yeah the it's hard because it's like he's clearly the biggest bad guy of the movie in terms of like, you know, antagonist.

1:09:38But he is, over the course of the movie, the person who I come to like the most. Same. You know, who I, it's not that I'm rooting for him. I'm just enjoying him most. Can I, I also need to just call out Avery Brooks, who Jason, I know that you love from Sensor for Hire. I love from Deep Space Nine. Yep. Asisco. He, to me, is such an untapped talent because I actually think, and I say this with so much love that he is a little bit insane and and i feel like he's improvising within this character he's like paris must have house of paris play that clip when the rules are broken in the house of paris the machine breaks down discipline must be enforced order must be restored In my house, there has been a transgression, an unauthorized kidnapping in my house.

1:10:36Who could be that stupid? It gets worse in this particular case. The transgression is personal. In this case, the kidnappee happens to be my goddaughter. Oh, fuck no. Some rock, some dolt, some less than senseless thing has decided to come to my house and kidnap my goddaughter and I am looking. I am searching for a motherfucker stupid enough to fuck with me. Hey, yo boss, what's this got to do with me? I want to know what you would do to that son of a jackal. Me? I would, you know, I would. What would you do to someone who decided to fuck with you in your own house? I bought some caps. Bust some caps.

1:11:40Give this man a gold star. And the two of them together, like when he pulls Lou Diamond Phillips in and Lou Diamond Phillips thinks that he's going down for this kidnapping. thing. The energy between this man who is borderline insane and then Lou Diamond Phillips playing like this big character is so much fun to watch. I always think about this clip of Avery Brooks from a Star Trek documentary where he starts talking and then just starts playing the piano and singing a song like in the middle of his answer. Like, I'm like, this is what I want. Like, I just feel like that kind of scenery, I am all in for.

1:12:14And I would have liked, and one of the things that's hard about the movie is even though this is a unit of guys who do these hits and stuff after that first hit they're never together again i mean when lou diamond phillips is hunting down mark walberg he's not with anthony sabato jr and bokeen woodbine they're not it's not his team is hunting him it's that everybody is like scattered to the wind and now has to talk to each other on phone calls, which makes no sense. Also, when they hang up the phone in this movie, you do get a dial tone and they are using cell phones. I love it. Well, we also didn't discuss the tracing technology in this movie.

1:12:55They took everything from this man except his patented call tracer, which when effectively works, it dials up a face image of the person that is calling you. That whole thing made me laugh. Oh, God. And the Trace Buster couldn't work. I mean, it was so wild. The Trace Buster Buster? The Trace Buster Buster. Wasn't that what he had? Because they had a Trace Buster, and doesn't he have a Trace Buster Buster? Buster. Yes, that's right. And that's where I felt like this movie had jokes that were written by non-comedians. This movie's jokes were written by, like, uncles.

1:13:35Jason Mantzoukas:I mean, it is. I mean, that Hitman joke, I make a killing. Like, that is it. Like they're in the straight jacking and all that kind of stuff. It just feels like it does feel like we want to be bad, but we don't know exactly how to be bad. There's another way to identify when this movie was made. And it's during peak. Every kitchen has a hanging pot rack. Do you remember this? This is a real moment where hanging pot racks became a thing. And then every like a hanging pot rack. Yeah. Over an island. And so there's a scene in this movie where there's a fight that happens in a kitchen and then there's a hanging pot rack that is just swaying in and out of the it's so funny.

1:14:17And I was like, that's what this movie lives in the time of pot racks. You know what? Bring him back because I hate searching through a drawer for me.

1:14:25Jason Mantzoukas:I want to hang that up. Hang that pot. Hang that pot. Hang that pot. I do want to just, you know, say that this movie brought love into our world because China Chow, that is the actress's name who is kidnapped by Mark Wahlberg. This is her first film ever. And her and Mark Wahlberg did date for four years after this film. Oh, wow. They did have chemistry. Yeah, they were good. That's why I actually think it didn't work. I mean, she is the best part of the movie in many ways. I agree. Because she just seems like a real person. I agree. Yeah. Yes, she seems like the movie she's in is the closest movie to reality.

1:15:03Yes. And everybody else is in a cartoon movie, including all their clothes, everything they're doing, looks like they are cartoon characters.

1:15:11Jason Mantzoukas:She, I like this character. I like her in this movie. I feel like if they gave her more to do, even, it would be great to see that she had some skills. I think I would have liked to see some skills. But obviously, we had opinions about this movie. But there are other people out there who might have thought differently. It is now time for Second Opinions.

1:15:56Give me a second.

1:15:58Jason Mantzoukas:We need a second opinion. Thank you, Wolves of Glendale. All right, this movie has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon. There's over 1 ,000 reviews, and 74 % of them are 5 stars. And this one, written in 2015 by Reed VIP Brown, starts with, my favorite movie to date. Just note that this was written in 2015. This review was written in 2015. My favorite movie to date. Love Marky Mark doing breakdancing as he saves the day and shooting up those bad guy mobsters. Buy this and remember the late 90s as they were the best time for this country and for hip hop. You can hear and see Marky Mark in my music album called Speed Kills Power Corrupts, which can be downloaded on Dat Piffed.

1:16:57If you like this movie, you will love my album, which represents the 90s and great hip hop. Rock on, Mark, and kudos to Reed VIP Brown, which is him. So he also thanks himself at the end of his own review for the big hit, and he is not in the big hit. Wow. This one from Shane in 2022. just says, so great. What could happen when you get a whole bunch of bad guys together to do some bad, like a kidnapping? Everything can go wrong. Five stars, title, full of excitement. And then LJ writes,

1:17:40Jason Mantzoukas:this has to be the most fun and fatal frolic any group of hitmen could have in the course of a two-hour movie. It's a great ride from start to finish, and I hope the guys had fun making the flick. Mark is cute. Lou is crazy. Bokeem's got soul. And Antonio is so fine. Pass me the hot buttered popcorn. Five stars. This one's a keeper. Oh, wow. Well, I mean, yes. I mean, it is hunks on parade. That's very true. I mean, we didn't talk about the fact when they do their first hit, I would say they are conspicuous. They are not inconspicuous. They are dressed as, I didn't even know what. Workmen? Workers that are not wearing shirts.

1:18:27Or sleeveless shirts. They're all wearing aprons. And they're oiled up. Oh my God. And they didn't need to enter the building through the front door. That's the other thing. They didn't need to enter the building. And why would, oh boy. Front door and guest elevators. I would love to know, I would love to know, like from our audience, are you guys all doing like like a lot of hangout time naked in the locker room chit-chatting is that part of normal life i mean when lou diamond phillips came in and dropped that towel and had to i mean every guy is trying not to show their dick but they're also trying to show off their ass they're all happy about their ass and they are they're getting those underwear on quick even though marky mark is wearing like very baggy like a boxer briefs everyone else is in the tightest Well, this is his Calvin Klein era of boxer brief ads.

1:19:21Or maybe it's not. But when I watched him put those pants over the boxer briefs, it reminded me so much of the trouble that I had as a child to tuck those fuckers in because they were so loose. You're basically wearing shorts under pants. Oh, yeah. But I think that these guys work their ass. And by tuck those fuckers in, you mean the boxer briefs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Not my balls. Not my numbers. Not my numbers. I gotta tuck these fucking balls in. Oh, my God. Also, that locker room was in a... All windows. Locker room was completely in a glass... Not that anyone could see that high up, but it still was funny to me that it was all windows.

1:20:05Jason Mantzoukas:The movie was made for$13 million and made$27 million. It was a modest hit. and of course the tagline was hit happens and it does and I'll say this was one of the very few instances of a movie where I had that kind of itchy brain of like how much time is left I feel like I'm going to click the thing and it's going to be like 40 minutes is still left I clicked the thing and it was only 10 minutes and I was like I did it this movie has just flown by It's basically like four set pieces, most of which kind of don't make sense. So it went down pretty smooth this morning over my morning coffee, I will say.

1:20:51Jason Mantzoukas:I enjoyed the watch, but it also gave me that thing where I want to forget 97 and 98. I don't like being back in that time. It felt unsafe to me or just felt cringy to me in a way that I don't know. It feels like this could have had an entire soundtrack that was rap rock, you know, but thank God it didn't. Yeah. And I mean, for me, it really like it made me kind of reframe the timeline we're currently in and like just take a second to, you know, appreciate some of the advances we have made. Wow. I'm serious. Meaning we can stream movies now and not have to go to the video store? Yeah, and numbers pop up on your phone.

1:21:44You don't need the trace machine or the trace monitor. You've got a blocker. You've got a burner. Very easy to burn. Look, this is trying to be all things. And I think that I always put these kind of movies in the camp of we're trying to be Quentin Tarantino and we don't quite know exactly what that means. at this point. Yes, yes. There's a lot of like eight heads in a duffel bag. Very bad things. That movie with Christian Slater where they kill a stripper. Yeah. Yep. The other one that Two Days in the Valley or whatever. These are all movies that are trying to crib off of Quentin Tarantino's ability to be funny and light inside of horrific violence.

1:22:27Jason Mantzoukas:And I think the difference in what you said earlier about like, oh, it's like uncles writing jokes. I think what that is is a pass on a serious script. I think that they have this script and they go, okay, we'll make it Quentin Tarantino. We'll make it funny. And that's what's going to get people involved. And then people look at it and they go, oh, we got to be in the next verse of our dogs. Like us talking about jerking off is like us jerking about tipping. It's like you can see all those little machinations going on. I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that this was written first as like a straight ahead action movie and then somebody did a joke pass.

1:23:01Yeah, because I did not know that this was a comedy until... No. Until maybe... I didn't know it was a romance. I didn't know that there would be a love story between the assassin and the high school student. College. Now, yes, I will say, June, there are no colleges that require uniforms besides medical schools. Play the clip. You keep on saying we're playing clips. Play the clip. Molly, Cody, if we have a clip, we should play that clip. Play the clip. I need to pick up my daughter cottage here's what i'm gonna say um if you enjoyed the component of this movie that took place in the video store and they have nostalgia for movies and watching movies at home um or just video stores in general this movie is on criterion right now it's on other things too but this movie is on criterion and one of the other things that's on criterion right now is the new documentary that Alex Ross Perry made called Video Haven.

1:24:03And it's a documentary about video stores inside of movies and what it what it was to have access to video stores and all this stuff. And it's all about the video store. So and it's a fantastic documentary. It's worth watching. And then another thing that I'm going to plug that I think is related just as a person who loves movies is Amy Lou Wood's BBC series called Film Club. This is an absolutely hilarious and heartbreaking sitcom, six episodes, there's only one season, about a young woman and her friend who every Friday night watch movies together, but it's really about what is going on in their lives and what are the struggles that they're kind of going through in their friendship, their relationship, but it's all tied to the movies they're watching.

1:24:54So every week, whatever movie they're watching, Aliens, The Wizard of Oz, infects their dynamic and their relationship. And it's really incredible and beautiful and devastating and a wonderful watch. Oh, wow. Oh, okay. Film Club. Film Club, got it. Yeah, I think people would absolutely love it. It is beautiful and she is fantastic. Everybody's great in it. But, and she wrote it. It's like her show. It's very, it's really great. Cool. Amy LeWood from White Lotus and Sex Education.

1:25:24Jason Mantzoukas:All right. So I think we like this movie. It wrecked June's day. Jason and I are a little bit easier on it. We all agree Antonio Sambato Jr. is the star or the untapped star of this. And it could have been a better movie with more Vince. Give me more Vince. A thousand percent. I will say this, that I know Jason just recommended a bunch of things, but Columbia Pictures, I I think did put together a box set of Lou Diamond Phillips movies. And it is, uh, La Bamba, the big hit. And that movie that we did with the bats. So, uh, those are, and Lou Diamond Phillips did a lot of press for it and said, this is a great box set.

1:26:01Jason Mantzoukas:Cause it shows off my range. And I gotta say he's right. Yeah. Oh, he's great. I think he's fantastic. And that's the thing is the movie has great actors in it. It's just unsuccessful. Uh, all right. Thanks so much for listening to how did this get made? If you have a correction or omission from this episode that you want us to hear, well, just go to speakpipe.com slash H-D-T-G-M to leave us a voice message. Okay, you can use your phone or computer. The link is in the show notes. But if you don't want to leave messages, just go to our Discord at discord.gg slash H-D-T-G-M. Tune in next week to listen to our last looks episode where we respond to all of the best messages that you have left for us.

1:26:45Jason Mantzoukas:and we'll announce next week's movie that we'll be covering on the show. Plus, Jason is always joining me on Last Looks to chat about our favorite TV shows, movies, music, books, whatever is on our minds. Sometimes we just hang out. And if you need even more How Did This Get Made before Friday's new episode, know that we re-release classic episodes from the vault every single Tuesday. If you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please make sure you are subscribed to our feed and you have automatic downloads turned on in the show settings. That really helps us and we appreciate it. So make sure you got those automatic downloads turned on.

1:27:17Jason Mantzoukas:And lastly, I got to give a huge thanks to our behind the scenes team. I'm talking about our producers, Scott Sonny, Molly Reynolds, our engineer, Casey Holford, and our social media manager, Zoe Applebaum. We will forever be thankful to the one and only Averill Halley. That's all I got, people. See you next week on Last Looks. Bye for now. Traditional home security only alerts you after a break-in. And that's too late. SimpliSafe is changing that. Stop. This is SimpliSafe. Police are on the way. We don't just alert. We stop crime before it starts. SimpliSafe, plans starting around a dollar a day.

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