Transcript

Lawyer (Strange Brew)

And this, sir, is the same tape that your engineer retrieved from the television cameras that monitor the activity in your brewery?

Claude (Strange Brew)

Oh, yes. And I'd like to point out that this, uh, this tape has not been tampered with or edited in any way. Uh, it even has a, a time code on it, and, and those are very difficult to fake.

Judge (Strange Brew)

For the benefit of the court, would you please explain time code?

Claude (Strange Brew)

Just because I don't know what it is doesn't mean I'm lying.

Steve

It's 2 Dads 1 Movie. It's the podcast where two middle-aged dads sit around and shoot the shit about the movies of the '80s and '90s. Here are your hosts, Steve Paulo and Nic Briana. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of Two Dads, One Movie. I'm Steve.

Nic

And I'm Nic.

Steve

And today we are talking about the 1983 Canadian comedy smash something Strange Brew, uh, starring Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. Uh, Nic, I believe this was your pick for us. Why don't you tell us a little bit about why you picked Strange Brew for— I'll mention it here— our 50th episode.

Nic

Wow.

Steve

That's what it is. This is number 50.

Nic

Happy 50th. That's incredible.

Steve

To you too, my friend.

Nic

Yeah. And you know, to show that Steve and I have a lot of integrity, we're hitting you with an actual episode and not like a clip show of the, the greatest ums and ahs and you knows of the first 50.

Steve

Um, I could probably make a whole episode of just me saying the word ludicrous. I'm pretty sure, pretty sure I could figure it— figure that out.

Nic

Me saying basically— I started writing them down as I'm listening. I'm like, dude, you gotta stop this. Um, yeah, so basically, uh, Strange Brew— uh, Strange Brew, um, it stood out to me as one of these comedies that just a lot of folks that we know had seen. I saw this one pretty young and it was one that, you know, my dad was into and stuff, so we kind of bonded over that and we'd quote it back and forth, you know, calling somebody a hoser. It's not a swear word. There's a lot of fun stuff here. Um, and I haven't revisited this in a long time. Yeah. And I thought for '83, like, hey, we're gonna mix this up. Like, when are we ever gonna see Rick Moranis again? I'm gonna go ahead and pick Strange Brew. Yeah, I thought it'd be a fun one to, uh, mix it up in a little, uh, thematically lighter than my previous pick of Thief.

Steve

True, that's a fair point. And even lighter, I think, than last week's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which was obviously, you know, a fun movie in a lot of ways, but also dealt with a lot of serious stuff. There's nothing serious in this movie, and that's fine. There's— there's also nothing wrong with that. Um, but it is, it is comical, and it is absurdist, and it is weird. Um, and it's so funny too because I also saw this pretty young. I think I was, I was probably in, in late elementary school or middle school when I first saw this. Would have been maybe right around '90 or, you know, something in the early '90s. And for some reason, I feel like everybody I knew growing up knew this movie. Yeah, like, I feel like this was one of those movies that just everybody knew this movie, all of our friends. And I'm not really sure why, you know. I mean, we all love Rick Moranis, like, that's easy. Sure, right. And I know I watched, uh, like SCTV on like maybe like Nic at Nite or something. I don't know, there was like reruns.

Nic

Yeah, they brought it out. I do remember seeing that.

Steve

So watching all those old guys, all those guys doing that stuff, you know, and then that's obviously where this, you know, sort of originated, right? The Bob and Doug McKenzie stuff was a sketch on— yeah, on SCTV.

Nic

Um, but none of us would have known like Bob and Doug McKenzie before this, before this movie, right?

Steve

For sure not. Yeah, absolutely. And, and agreed with the, the sort of lingo. And I think it's funny because, uh I remember calling, you know, using hoser and knob. "Hey, doy, take off, you knob," you know, whatever. And like, "Eh," like saying "eh" a lot. And part of it is also funny because I grew up with— in a family that loves hockey. So like my parents met at a California Golden Seals game in Oakland back in the '70s. My uncle played amateur hockey until he was like 60 years old. So like, you know, I mean, there's a lot of hockey in my family. And, and so, you know, "Dick off, you knob" is kind of a hockey thing too in a lot of ways. But what I realized watching through this time, we'll get into it more, but like, I don't— I think As kids, we missed the best slang word in the movie, which is calling things beauty. Eh, yeah, it's a beauty beard. And it's not— it's so good because it's not like— it's not beautiful and it's not, uh, beauty. It's just, that's beauty, eh. Like, I really like that. I want to incorporate that. I also think it's weird that this is basically like everything I understood about Canadians until I was like in college.

Nic

Me too. This movie. And if I met— this movie was kind of like my mental Canadian embassy. So if I met somebody from Canada, I'd just bring up stuff from this.

Steve

Exactly.

Nic

Yeah.

Steve

Oh my God. That's good stuff. All right, well, let's jump into the facts.

Nic

Yeah, let's do it.

Steve

On Strange Brew. All right. Strange Brew came out on August 26th, 1983 with a running time of 90 minutes and a rating of PG. Uh, makes a lot of sense. There's not really much in this movie.

Nic

Pretty strong PG, I think.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

Solid PG. Yeah.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

Nothing objectionable, really.

Steve

We've seen, we've seen a lot of these early '80s PGs that like shouldn't have been.

Nic

Sure. I mean, this is not an airplane PG.

Steve

No, this one fits. Yeah. All right. Directed by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. Written by Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, and Steve DeJarnett. And starring Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, and Max von Sydow. I'm actually not sure if it's Sydow, Sydow, Sydow.

Nic

I wasn't sure. I'm glad you did that first because I was just going to follow your lead.

Steve

Let's go with von Sydow.

Nic

Yeah, von Sydow looks good.

Steve

All right. And then scores on Rotten Tomatoes, 75%. Super respectable, uh, score for Rotten Tomatoes. On IMDb, a 6.6. Definitely on the low side. Um, not particularly good. And we get a pair of thumbs downs from the, uh, you know, joyless curmudgeons, Siskel and Ebert.

Nic

Couple of hosers.

Steve

A couple of hosers, eh? Yeah, come on, get those thumbs up, you knobs. Uh, all right. And that awards— no awards that I could find any real, uh, purpose behind. There was something that I didn't recognize, whatever, buried deep in the IMDb, but nothing really to speak of. And here's where it gets kind of interesting, because this is the first time we've had this on the show. On a budget of $4 million, Strange Brew pulled in $1.9 million at the box office. This is the first time we've had a movie that didn't at least make its its money back. Wow. Because we had like— The Ref made like a couple hundred grand.

Nic

Yeah.

Steve

I think Jacob's Ladder made like $1 million or something over what it cost. This, this lost about $2 million. 0.48x its, uh, budget. So that is obviously a flop by all manner of speaking.

Nic

Canada like subsidizes the arts, don't they? They, they do a lot more of that. So I wonder if it doesn't matter as much it being a Canadian movie because they're not chasing that. But yeah, I was very surprised, especially in light of what you said about— Yeah, is this movie like The Velvet Underground?

Steve

Like something Like it's disturbing.

Nic

Nobody saw it, but everyone who saw it started a movie podcast.

Steve

Exactly. Yeah. This is like, uh, you know, discovering, discovering, putting air quotes in the air, pixies when you're like, you know, 10 years old or whatever you go, what is this? It's like, yeah, dude, people know about it. Not everybody your age knows about it, but like it's a known thing. Yeah. No, but like, um, I wonder if there's a thing here where it's like, is the budget listed in Canadian dollars and the box office in the US? Maybe that helps bridge the gap a little bit.

Nic

I'm not sure.

Steve

Um, okay. Well, that's, those are the facts on Strange Brew. Okay. Uh, Nic, let's hop in, man. How does this one kick off?

Nic

Yeah. So I I like the, the kind of immediate, like, fourth wall stuff when this starts because we get the MGM lion, you know, that we all know. And then it kind of pans over and we see that— we see the back of the lion sticking its head through this hole in the wood with the thing spread. And Bob and Doug are there kind of like messing up with it because— or messing with it because it's not roaring like it's supposed to. And they're like, hey, make some noise, you knob! Hey, crank his tail! Hey, crank his tail! When I was a kid, got me so hard. That, that made me laugh so hard. And I love doing that to my cat to this day.

Steve

I bet the cat Does it too?

Nic

Yeah, she, she's— she hasn't moved out yet. Very good stuff. Yeah, so like, they're basically— we find out that it's their movie that's showing in a theater inside of the movie. So Bob and Doug are some type of characters of note, at least regionally or whatever, who have made a movie. And then all these people are in the theater watching their movie, and it's them kind of like, you know, screwing around and then showing their movie. So it's like a movie within a movie within a movie, right? Right?

Steve

Yeah, something like that. Yeah, it's— well, it's— so I think, let's think of it this way. I think it's sort of like if you take, uh, like this sort of American, uh, counterpart, right? It's sort of Wayne's World, right? Where it's like if you, if you think of Bob and Doug as, you know, guys with a local Toronto suburbs public access channel show, they've somehow been given the money or they've raised money or whatever. They've, they've tried to make a movie and have been able to release in theaters somehow. And this is the movie that is being shown, right? And people coming to see it are coming because they watched Bob and Doug's cable access show. It's kind of what it feels like, okay? Uh, because one of them even says something. He goes, uh, Doug goes to do the, oh, you know, if you want to get a free beer, you put a mouse in the bottle. And the guy says, like, from the audience, like, oh, they did this on their show. So it's like, okay, so people are aware of who these guys are.

Nic

But then on the, on the screen, they're showing a movie that they made, that space alien, uh, 2051, uh, movie, which is really funny. And it does say 2051, 10 years after World War 4. TBD, but, uh, the boys may have had it pretty close.

Steve

Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. Uh, they always said, we don't— I don't know, I don't know how World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones, right? Because yeah, um, but yeah, so they are— it is, yeah, the monster aliens or whatever of 2051. And I love— there's, uh, so they— we get a little bit clip from this movie and it's like the, the effects are actually not bad. They've done up their van to make it look a little bit like a spaceship. Yeah, they have a really bad model on a string that goes along, but it's like, okay. And then it's clear they put it on like, um like a lift in like a garage.

Nic

Yes.

Steve

Right. To make it look like it's flying, you know? And it's like, I kind of dig the little, the little touches here and there. But then, uh, uh, Bob is playing like a, a guy who's like flying this van around. He goes like, I'm looking in the Omega sector for the, for the aliens and the mutants or whatever. And the forbidden zone, I think he says, right? And then it's like, he like lands and he gets out and then Doug's got this crazy getup on and he's like, hey, I'm a, I'm a mutant.

Nic

He's like, oh, hey, fleshy-headed mutant.

Steve

Fleshy-headed mutant. Are you friendly? No way, hoser.

Nic

Like, uh, the way that they're talking is really funny. Um, yeah, so, you know, then the people in the audience are kind of— they're getting pissed. They're like, this sucks. Reminds me a lot too of the movie, uh, Hot Rod. Oh yeah, yeah, they put together that stuntman movie and then the people start

Steve

laughing at it or whatever.

Nic

So they're leaving and then there's like a mini almost riot basically with people looking for refunds. And they have like such a great version of the fed up fat guy.

Steve

Yeah, who's like, come on, we're out

Nic

of here, we need our money back, folks, this is ridiculous. Like trying to get everybody on 'You believe this?

Steve

Oh my God!' Like, talking to everybody around him. But you're right, it's like, it's like they're— the people in the movie theater are watching a movie that is Bob and Doug sitting on a couch showing the projection of the movie they made. And in that case, that projector breaks. Yeah. So that alien movie can no longer be shown, but the movie in the theater is still running. Yeah. Which is them on a couch drinking a bunch of Elsinore beer and like you know, talking about like, you wanna, you wanna mess up a movie, you bring these mods in the car and like the whole deal.

Nic

And there, yeah, there's things going and he's trying to like hold the film up. He's like, hey, hey, zoom in on this, eh? So it's frame by frame and it's like, it is funny to think that no, so this isn't a live broadcast.

Steve

No, right.

Nic

Because they're there. So somebody had edited this and put this out as, okay, well this is the movie we're showing.

Steve

I have to assume either Bob or Doug did that editing. You have to figure, but how they even got in the theater, like this is all like very much too deep. Yeah, uh, for this movie. But I do also want to— real quick, I'll say, when, when the— when that film breaks, the Bob and Doug on screen, uh, Bob's got a huge, uh— I should make sure we're clear in case you can't remember. Bob is Rick Moranis, Doug is Dave Thomas. Um, but Bob's got an enormous garbage bag full of popcorn, and there's something that always tickled me about, like, just the sheer amount of popcorn that he's got. Um, but yeah, anyway, so they are able to escape from the movie theater after releasing moths in the cinema that they're in. Um, to, to I guess ruin the theater, and that just makes them— that kind of causes the riot. Like, people, yeah, start running out because the moths are flying.

Nic

Well, and they all fly to the projector light, so it'll block the thing eventually.

Steve

Yep.

Nic

They didn't really show it very well,

Steve

but that's the idea. Yeah.

Nic

Uh, yeah, so then we're kind of like into the intro of the movie, right? And they're driving home in their van, and we get a pretty like rip-ass theme song. I think it's a decent theme song. Uh, it's weird though that there's a very famous song called Strange Brew by the band Cream that was like, I don't know, it's kind of expensive, too expensive, but like just make a different song or I don't know, like that was kind of odd to me as a kid.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

Because I knew this as Strange Brew, the song first. Oh, before I knew the other one. So I was like, who's this ripoff artist? Eric Clapton, you're no, uh, Ian Thomas.

Steve

Oh my God. Screw Eric Clapton. So they pull up to a really cute little suburban Toronto neighborhood. Really nice. You know, it really looks kind of nice. I'm like, I'd live on that street. That looks nice. We pull up and it's like their parents' house. They still live with their parents. And, um, we just see the backs of their mom and dad's heads. They come in, there are 3 beers left in the fridge. And so they each pop one open and drink it. And then as they pour one into their dog's dog bowl, which has obviously had the dog's food in it, it's very dirty dog bowl. It says Hosehead on the side. That's the name of the dog. Uh, that's when their father voiced by the incomparable Mel Blanc of Looney Tunes fame yells back at them kind of in his Yosemite Sam sort of voice.

Nic

He is very Yosemite Sam-ish. Kind of that style. Yep.

Steve

You know, like, hey, save me a beer, you idiots. You know, or whatever. And that's when they realize, oh no, like, we, we don't— you know, so they, they pour in a glass out of the dog's bowl into— and it's got all the dog food. It's the grossest thing ever.

Nic

And then he continues to pour like the last bits of the grime and everything too. And they're kind of fighting back and forth like, hey, hey, go give this to dad. No, I'm not giving him the beer. You give him the beer. Um, and earlier there were people demanding a refund for the movie. And he was like, oh, here, here's $15. And they're like, oh, that's dad's beer money. So yeah, they were supposed to buy beer for their dad, but they didn't.

Steve

Right.

Nic

So these were the last 3 beers and, ah, you better go get us, uh, you hosers better get me some new beer tomorrow.

Steve

Right. Yeah. And they're like, well, you need to give us money, dad. Take the money I gave you today. So they're in trouble. Basically they got to figure out how to get beer without any cash. They got no money.

Nic

I like that they're— the beer place is closed. I mean, that's, uh, I wouldn't have expected that of Canada.

Steve

I mean, I think they've— well, they've got a beer store. So yeah, I don't think you can buy beer in grocery stores. Maybe couldn't in the '80s.

Nic

Like a liquor store type thing.

Steve

So they obviously have some kind of tighter, tighter grip on some of that. Maybe then every, you know, and in the US it's state by state. I have a feeling in Canada, whatever that is, it's probably the whole country does it one way. If you're, if you, if you're familiar with Canadian blue laws, please let us know. But yeah, so they go the next day and they're going to— and Doug's got this idea and he said, well, we're going to go to the beer store and I'm going to show them the mouse in the bottle and they're going to give us free beer. And I love to— he mentions you got to put the mouse in the bottle when it's little and let it grow up in there, like as if that's Like a thing.

Nic

Like, would you just shove a dead mouse into a bottle?

Steve

Well, this is the thing too, is that every mouse— this mouse in a bottle thing happens several times in the movie and they're all alive. Yeah, yeah. So they clearly weren't bottled in with the beer because they would have drowned and, and suffocated in the sealed beer bottle. So, but that's okay. That doesn't— that kind of logic is not important to the McKenzie boys for sure.

Nic

Uh, another question though, since we're on the thing about the Canadian, uh, liquor stores and, and the rules and stuff, the way this beer store is set up, you just go up to the register, tell them exactly what you want, and then it appears on a conveyor belt. Is this how they are, or is it a budgetary constraint thing that they were like, look, we can't afford to stock a fake beer?

Steve

No, because they already— seems like that

Nic

must be how it is.

Steve

But they already had like 50 or 60 boxes of like Elsinore beer and Molson and stuff like around on their little movie, so they, they could have

Nic

just done it, just stack those, right?

Steve

They could have stacked even empty boxes, right, that look like that, because it also is a lot of pressure anyway.

Nic

You have to know exactly what you want. I— yeah, certain people— I, I think my wife would have trouble with that store.

Steve

We gotta go— you just gotta give her a shopping list.

Nic

Yeah, because you like to browse and everything. But, uh, yeah, so they get their beer, and, uh, on PriceWatch here, 24-pack of Elsinore beer is $14.70 Canadian.

Steve

Yeah, right. So it's probably $12 US.

Nic

It's when the— yeah, it's probably a lot worse.

Steve

That's probably true.

Nic

Um, so yeah, they went to the beer store. The guy did not buy their bullshit though. They put the mouse in the bottle. He's like, look, get out of here. You want free beer, you better go to the brewery.

Steve

Right. Which I guess, you know, there is some logic behind the idea that I have a clear problem with this bottle of beer that I bought from you. Please make it right. Like, on its face, that's not an insane, you know, concept, I guess. But, you know, the way they're going about it is, is pretty strange. Um, hey, strange— look at that. Okay. Um, but yeah, so, so they're gonna head off to the Elsinore Brewery. Uh, and it's funny, when they first kind of get there, this is the first, uh, really obvious use of matte backgrounds, which is all over this movie— the painted sort of scenes, you know. And so it's like they clearly like drove up to someplace with hills and just filmed it. And then they've got painted into the background, you know, several buildings, right? There's like a castle and it says Elsinore Castle. And then right next to, right next to it is like, you know, some smokestacks. It looks like a brewery, it could be. So then it says Elsinore Brewery. And then the other direction is the Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane. And it's just kind of, it's a different road, but it really is kind of right there. Yeah. Right next to the other ones. And so, um, you know, they make jokes about, I'm gonna take you to the loony bin. Yeah.

Nic

They're driving to the brewery. It's like, okay, uh, we'll go to the brewery first, then I'll take you to the loony bin.

Steve

Um, yeah.

Nic

They walk into the brewery.

Steve

Well, no, first they, they at the, at the front gate. Oh yes.

Nic

Right.

Steve

The gate thing. The front gate, they come up and there's a car stuck, like the gate closed on her car. Like, you know, and, and she's stuck there and she can't get out cuz it's like right on the doors. And they notice there's like sparks and stuff. So Doug smartly says, don't get out. Not that she could, but like, don't get out. The, the rubber tires are helping keep you grounded. Like you get out and you could get shocked, you know? And it's like, okay, I mean, you should probably shouldn't touch any part of the metal car at that point. But They decide to go ahead and ram her from behind. And I love— there's an element here of like Doug telling— because Doug drove the whole time and he's telling Bob, no, you got to drive because if she says she gets whiplash, it's going to be you, not me.

Nic

She sues for whiplash and it's this big emergency. And before he solves it, he has to get back out and be like, hey, you're not going to sue for whiplash, right?

Steve

Yeah. So, but they do, they help her out. And this woman, it turns out, is, uh, Pam Elsinore, the daughter of the— we soon find out late, uh, uh, sort of owner of Elsinore Brewery. But this is who they've helped., get through. And so she goes off because she's got stuff to do, she's got people to talk to, and they're taking their time to kind of get into the place. They don't go in together.

Nic

Oh yeah, yeah, um, yeah, so that's important that they save— they save Pam there. And then they walk into kind of like the main office there and are speaking to the receptionist, and he just says, uh, uh, we have an appointment with that guy there, and points to the painting. Yeah, yeah, John Elsner, I guess, who's right— passed away. Yeah. Um, so, you know, she finds out they're full of shit, and they end up, uh, this very funny scene of them bribing her with donuts. They just have like loose donuts in their pocket and she takes it. The, the way that like currency works in this movie is really funny. Like, it's not quite grounded in we're doing this to be rich or whatever.

Steve

It's like, I think the only cash exchange we see in the entire movie is that guy in the alley getting his money back, uh, from the— for the movie, whatever.

Nic

Yeah, it's everything else is other stuff. Beer and donuts.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

Um, so they end up getting in Uh, they, they get into— well, they get hired basically.

Steve

Pam, Pam kind of comes and is like, you know, well, you guys can,

Nic

can— they take their complaint. They're like, oh, well, you got a problem, or you got a problem with mice in the bottles? Stand here on the line and make sure there's no mice in the box.

Steve

Because what we find is, is that basically what's happening here— I'm gonna try to like, like sum it up without giving away too much— but basically like there is a brewmaster named Brewmeister Smith is the name, but you know, he's basically like the head brewing guy, right? And he worked with the last owner, um, but the owner died recently. His brother's very Hamlet. His brother then married his wife, the late man's wife, to become potential, I guess, owner of the brewery. But then there's this whole thing of like, no, once the man died, his daughter actually, Pam, gained all the rights or, or 51% or something of the ownership. Yeah. But the brewmeister's got something else going on and he's been eliminating other workers from the brewery. Like there's nobody working on the lines, right? It's like a, it's like a skeleton crew basically. He doesn't want people around. Yeah. And so then there's this other sort of like, it looks like maybe like the floor manager or whatever, the foreman kind of thing. And he's like, yeah, there might be mice in our beers because there's nobody here to do quality control. You two, you're hired. Come do quality control. Which is— I love too, because then they're like watching the spot. There's literally a mouse checking station where like all the beers are like backlit for one part of the conveyor, and they're standing there just looking at him. And I love— you can tell Doug is like mouthing numbers, like he's counting them, which is interesting. Yeah. But they're both just looking, and then finally Bob grabs a couple off the line like, hey, here you go.

Nic

Hey, let's have a beer today.

Steve

We're working.

Nic

Well, yeah, beauty. Yeah, beer on the first day of work, right? Um, but yeah, the way that they're watching the line is funny, uh, because Doug is kind of like counting, and then Bob, it's like he can't do it fast enough, so he keeps getting lost and like starting over.

Steve

And there's an element here too, I'm mentioning Wayne's World again, but there's an element of Wayne's World where they actually directly spoof the opening of the Laverne and Shirley show, right? But I think it's maybe Wayne's World 2, but, um, but for some reason reminded me of this too. Like there's an element to just, just the conveyor belt and the, and the industrial, you know, sort of place and, and, and following things with their heads moving back and forth. For some reason it really gave me Wayne's World 2 vibes.

Nic

Yeah, totally. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, we wouldn't have Wayne's World without Strange Brew. I agree with you. Yeah. Um, so one of the things that the brewmeister is doing is there's— they're giving the beer that he's brewing, this special formulation of the beer, to the inmates at the, at the loony bin. Yep. That's next door there. Um, and you know, there's this other— I forget the guy's name, but he's kind of their henchman. Yeah, one of the other scientists or whatever. And he's sitting at a big synthesizer. He's like, okay, watch this. You know, when I play this, their behavior changes. Yeah. And then what they do is they're— and they're wearing like classic Looney Bin outfits, you know, like Ace Ventura at the asylum.

Steve

Too many robes.

Nic

Yeah, yeah, like unmatching flannels. But they immediately sprint and put on these super cool looking like Stormtrooper hockey outfits, like one black team and one white team. And as he's playing it, it'll make like, you know, black be aggressive towards white, vice versa and stuff. So there's some kind of like mind control in the, uh, in the beer that we're shown.

Steve

And I feel like this is maybe one of the most realistic parts of the movie. And when I say that, I mean the idea that a Canadian brewery has its own hockey rink somewhere on, on site. I 100% buy that. I feel like that is— it's like

Nic

an American— it's like an executive racquetball court. Yeah.

Steve

Or having like a basketball hoop, right? I feel like, yeah, there's a hockey rink there. That makes total sense. I don't question that for a moment.

Nic

Oh, we only got a half-court rink here. Uh, we don't have room to put a full one in.

Steve

It's all for shootouts, eh? Like, you just go from the red line. Yeah, but yeah, this is also— oh, so, um, this is kind of when I realized as I'm watching, oh my God, the storyline here is so like Hamlet. Uh, there's obviously not quite the same, uh, like there is no Hamlet because Pam kind of isn't that play, that character, but the whole like brother kills brother to— or, or we don't know that yet, but like, you know, whatever, like brother dies, his brother like comes and like marries the wife, like it's all gross and weird but is pulled straight from Shakespeare, it feels like. So, uh, Bob and Doug are taken into— Pam takes them into like the break room basically looking for like the employee cafeteria, and it is empty. Like, there's like nothing. The power's off. It looks like it hasn't been used in ages. Um, but like, I actually noticed before they mention it specifically, the Galactic Border Patrol game— for some reason that name really struck me as funny. Like, what, what an interesting concept of there being a galactic border.

Nic

New governmental agency coming soon, look out for it. Um, but yeah, it's, uh, not a bad break room. I mean, for '83. Yeah, working a blue-collar job, you got 4 arcade machines, you got vending machines. Yeah. And, uh Bob is talking about, oh hey, they got, uh, they got smokes in these, uh, and sandwiches in these vending machines. And then, you know, it starts spitting stuff out at some point because, well,

Steve

they turn the power back on and a bunch of stuff pops out, you're like, like, all like comes flying out. And that's when somebody notices like, oh man, these, these sandwiches have been here for months and months and months.

Nic

These are not— he's like drinking a chocolate bar.

Steve

Oh, that's right, it makes him super sick.

Nic

Um, but one of the, uh, in our, in our second magical video game movie— yeah, yeah, that's right— one of the arcade machines turns on and it has these weird names. Like, it has high scores, but it'll have, yeah, Pam Elsinore, but then it has her birthday, right? It has her dad and his birthday or whatever.

Steve

The date that he died. Yeah, because it was like 04/04/03 or something, or whatever that was.

Nic

Uh, yeah, so it's like showing all this weird stuff, and then, uh, it starts to kind of overheat and they have to like unplug it. But it's like, you know, uncanny stuff that is not in the video game. So they're like, what, what's happening here?

Steve

And the little bit of special effects, like, obviously 1983, $4 million budget. They obviously spent a lot of money on the matte backgrounds because those are great. Those actually look wonderful. A lot of these other special effects are really rudimentary. Yeah, the little like things lighting up, and there's like a few different points in this movie where like lasers kind of fly around a room sort of, and they all look, just to be totally honest, kind of shitty. But you know, what are you gonna do? Um, but yeah, so then, uh, Pam goes to Brewmeister Smith and basically tells him that he's fired, but 'Cause she's gonna take over control. You know, she's basically maintaining control. They try to buy her out. They try to buy her out. Her uncle and Smith try to buy her ownership stake out. And she says, "No, like, this is my father's brewery and I'm gonna keep running it the way he ran it. Like, this is special beer because of the way my dad ran this place. So I'm gonna take care of it and you're all gone," you know, or whatever. And she goes to fire him. And this was the weirdest thing in the world to me. She gave him 2 weeks notice.

Nic

[Speaker] Okay, that was very odd to me. [Speaker] Yeah. [Speaker] And that's just, you know— [Speaker] Maybe that's a Canadian thing. [Speaker] That's how much Canadians respect their workers. Even if they're firing you for cause, like, hey, I don't like this mind control beer that you're brewing, uh, or you killing, uh, my dad, but, um, I'm gonna give you 2 weeks because I know you got a lot to—

Steve

and from, from the, the bourgeoisie side, I now understand why you don't give somebody 2 weeks notice to fire them, because now he goes into ultimate fuck everything up mode, right? And he, and he unleashes his plan faster to try to kill her and everything. I mean, you know, it's like, oh, it's like, yeah, if you fired him and had him escorted off the premises, maybe this doesn't all happen, right?

Nic

Like, so you had a whole army of hockey guys. Well, maybe she couldn't control them.

Steve

Well, she certainly wouldn't know about how to control them, right? She'd have to stumble upon that.

Nic

But yeah, uh, so, so one of the, um, the workers that first brought Bob and Doug into the office was this guy that they had recognized as being a former pro hockey player named, uh, Rosie La Rose. It was like Sean La Rose or something.

Steve

Rosie went by Rosie, played for the

Nic

Montreal Canadiens, and, uh And he's kind of like a worker and kind of a patient at the asylum. Like, it's hard to tell where he lies, right?

Steve

It's really odd because he— when we first see him, he's got the hard hat, he's got the outfit that very much makes him look like an employee of the brewery, but he's also got that zoned-out sort of look like he might be on lithium or something, right? Expect, you know, the loony bin people, right? And he's obviously also clearly involved somehow in the hockey now. But here's the thing though, I don't think he actually is under mind control, although he does say later it wears off, but maybe he's like mid whatever, 'cause he's conscious enough to talk to Bob and Doug, 'cause this is the kind of what you're getting at right here is that he's bringing them into the game. They're both getting goalie uniforms on. And he's conscious kind of enough about what's going on to say like, "All right, hey, like, just, you know, I've—" He's got a French-Canadian accent I can't do, but like, you know, basically like, "I'm gonna play. I gotta play hard. You guys will be okay. Like, but just forgive me 'cause I'm about to play hard 'cause I have to." But he's got enough wherewithal to like recognize that as like a thing he should say. So he's obviously clearly not completely under control. Right, of the, the magic organ that is, that is doing this. But he's also clearly, you know, part of it. But yeah, they do— they put him up, they put the two of them in gear to play goalkeeper. Uh, they got, you got Bob in the white, you know, outfit and, and, uh, Doug in the black. And that's when Doug is like, come to the dark— or give in to the dark side of the Force, you knob. Like, he's, you know, and he's like, oh, he saw Jedi 20 times in the theater.

Nic

Yeah, they're making fun of the skates that they have. He's like, oh, these white skates, they look like figure skater skates. He's Oh, these figure skaters can skate. You look like referee skates, you know?

Steve

Also, there's a point where the, the white team charges at Doug on the ice rink, and then they stop because like the music changes, because they're kind of testing these out. And he's like, underneath his mask, it's kind of hard to hear, he goes, "The power of the force stopped you, you hosers."

Nic

Definitely appreciate the Star Wars stuff.

Steve

Totally.

Nic

And at this time, I mean, you know, Star Wars was, was big and stuff. Oh yeah. Uh, but it was just the just the first two, I think.

Steve

No, no, '83 would have been— would have been Jedi.

Nic

So I guess it depends on when it was made or— yeah, versus when it came out. Um, let's see here. So there's another, uh, kind of magic video game scene because they bring this like shop foreman guy to show him. Yeah, like the guy who seems like on the side who, who showed them around when they first got their jobs. I forget the character's name. Um, but they're like, hey, look, this is what happened. And they go and plug everything in again and it gets crazy. Yeah. Um, and then, uh, the video game is now showing like video— oh yeah— of, uh, Pam's dad, you know, just kind of weird of his death. But then it's like the video that she had already seen of his death plus some extra footage to show that it had been edited and everything. So we're getting some information now from the magic video game.

Steve

Yeah. Yeah, and it's like a video. Yeah, basically it looks like what, what the official story is, is that like he somehow touched the electrified front gate, what, for whatever reason, that electrocuted him and he died. Right. Sort of, it was accidental, right? That's the thing. But then we see additional footage that clearly, yeah, was edited out of whatever was given to the, to the Mounties or whatever of, you know, uh, basically the, the uncle. So, so the dead man's brother, Pam's uncle, and Brummeiser-Smith, like kind of putting a clearly already dead man up against that thing to make it look like that's what's going on. So we, we're getting hints here that there's really you know, really horrible, uh, uh, stuff happening in the background, right? Right. This is all nefarious.

Nic

And there's— and there's cameras everywhere here, but Brewmeister Smith and the uncle, like, they know where everything's at, right? Right, right. So they're manipulating that. They have this whole, like, really cool back control room that we hadn't really talked about yet. This big, you know, control center and everything. Computers. And, uh, so they basically get Bob and Doug while they're in the hockey game. They get their clothing. Yes, that's right. And position themselves in a way that from behind they are Bob and Doug. Yes.

Steve

And that's what the camera can see, basically, right?

Nic

And they take, uh, Pam and the other foreman dude out with a tranquilizer dart. Man, I love how easily tranquilizer darts

Steve

work in movies, you know, especially this movie. It's— they're not even a dart because nothing's visible. Like, we have several times where someone gets hit with a, you know, this tranq gun. There's several, but like, uh, where someone's nearby. So if an actual— if this was like, you know Uh, uh, was it Old School when Will Ferrell takes the tranq dart into the neck? Like, it's hanging out of— it's a big dart, right? Nothing like that. It must be some minuscule— it just has the sound.

Nic

So as long as you make that sound, it's a tranquilizer. Exactly. So, so they've done this to set up Bob and Doug, and now, uh, Pam and this dude have been sealed into beer kegs, and then they have Bob and Doug, you know, coming to in their clothes again in their van, and they're like, oh hey, 'Oh, you guys have a nice nap. All right, I need you to deliver this stuff.'

Steve

Right, for a party. It's for a party. Pam's got a birthday party. You got to deliver these kegs to the party.

Nic

Yeah. And, uh, and, you know, we see that they had cut the brakes in the van. They had had their, like, henchman guy take care of the brakes in the

Steve

van in a very specific way because he says something like, 'Oh, they get two stops.' Yeah. And then it won't work. And it's like, like, you can press it twice because you got to press the brake to just go down a hill, right? Like, that's not— so it's an interesting thing, but they say they got two stops and then it won't work. Yeah. And this is important because They're driving along and Brewmeister Smith and the, and the uncle are following them in a car and kind of to make sure that they're gonna do what they want them to do. And they stop in the middle of the street. I can't remember why even, but they just like stopped.

Nic

Like, what was it? Slams on the brakes. And then, uh, Bob is like, oh, what are you doing? He's like, uh, you just gotta test the brakes out sometimes. So it's like he's burning one of the two stops that, that they have, which is very good.

Steve

And then they decide to go home to their, to their house, and they've— they're, they're— they go home and they uh, walk in on their mom and dad having sex, but it's Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis as like dressed up. Okay. And you only kind of see them from the waist up, but it's like, yeah, wearing wigs. But then the voice, because the dad goes like, what are you idiots doing? And it's still Mel Blanc. But yeah, the actual mom and dad

Nic

are played by— oh, that's funny. Yeah. Uh, yeah. And the, the dog, you know, the dog hasn't been fed or whatever, and they go to feed the dog. Um, I love the, the cartoon scene of the dog looking at them, and then they appear as these like giant

Steve

steaks with heads, right? Because he's so hungry. Oh, we forgot to mention Doug and, and, uh, uh, Bob, they got into the computer room, and at some point a disc was spit out, and Doug threw it into his pants, like, like a disc from a machine, right? Right.

Nic

It keeps telling him bootleg. Hey, it's a bootleg.

Steve

It's a bootleg.

Nic

And I love that he was just so interested in it. He didn't know what was on it. It's just like, oh hey, there's music on this.

Steve

Must be, right? It looks like it's one of those square records. Yeah. So they've taken it home and they go to put it on their, on their turntable, whatever, on their hi-fi, and, and it doesn't make any noise because it's a computer disc and so it doesn't do it right. So they toss it at Hosehead the dog, who like catches it perfectly. And one of my favorite lines in the movie is Bob going, "Beauty, Hank Aaron, wonder if he can hit."

Nic

I just love that. I always— yeah, I really love that too. Beauty, Hank Aaron. Uh, so, so they're back in the van now and, uh, Um, one of my favorite parts of the film is they're having this conversation and Bob is like, hey, you ever notice, uh, in movies, uh, how when they're driving they're never really looking at the road? And then Doug just kind of— he's steering and then leans on the steering wheel like it's a counter and fully turns towards Bob. He's like, huh, no, I had never noticed things. And then, you know, oh no, yeah,

Steve

whatever, they're being towed by a rig. And then that's when they realize the brakes have been cut, so they're, they're now kind of out of control. Yeah. And I love this too because then Doug is like— he lets go of the wheel and he's like, well, no point in steering now, which is just like, no dude, please steer.

Nic

What a great reaction though. Over there, and oh, there's no point

Steve

steering now, we're done. And they get to like a dock. They're basically, you know, they end up on like the, the dock somewhere or whatever, and, and, and the van drives right off into the water. I'm not even sure exactly— it's Toronto, so whatever river or something, I guess, because You know, right there. And the, the boat starts to sink. And Rosie, who I guess has been following them, right, was the thing, uh, runs. Cause he, I think, I can't remember exactly how this works, but I think Rosie knows Pam is in the thing, like is in the back of the car. And so he dives in and is able to help save her or something like that. Yeah. Whatever the car, the kegs fly out. So Rosie, uh, basically gives Pam his oxygen and she's able to swim to the top. And then he's left really down on the roof of the van underwater. Yeah. We don't see Bob and Doug at this point either. Um, and that's when we get the intermission. Intermission card, which I totally forgot happens. It's only a 90-minute movie, so like you don't really need an intermission, and

Nic

it's like 5 seconds long, right? Um, yeah, I like the— I like the intermission, but it's funny that they're giving us this impression like, oh, well, they must be dead, quick intermission, and then it just— and it doesn't even change scenes, it just goes to the scene it was already on.

Steve

But like the police have arrived, there's divers, and so they're now sort of like investigating, you know, what's left, or if there are survivors or whatever. So the divers get down and we see Bob and Doug and Rosie are all inside the van Somehow they've like trapped air in beer bottles and have been able to continue breathing. Now they haven't tried to leave. The back of the van was open if I remember correctly, but they could have— Yeah, 'cause the other window rolled

Nic

out before they went in the water too. So they opened his keg up and stuff.

Steve

So like everybody's safe basically, but it's like, why haven't Bob and Doug and Rosie tried swimming to the surface? They're just sitting down there, you know, inhaling air out of beer bottles. But then the divers are like, "Oh hey." And then so they're, they're able to come up, but yeah. So funny.

Nic

It was a good way to, to end that scene. Yeah, yeah.

Steve

Um, but this also means Doug and Bob have now been arrested, right, on the suspicion of kidnapping Pam and the other, you know, brewery worker. So they are in deep trouble now.

Nic

Yeah. And they're, they're having this conversation, you know, the, the classic scene of you're in jail and you're embellishing your story to try to sound tough. It's like, oh yeah, I don't even do the killing, you know.

Steve

It's— what, he keeps calling him Chip? Yeah, Chip here. It's his job to do the killing.

Nic

Uh, I'm more the brains of the operation. And then they say something about, uh, oh yeah, we're not gonna lawyer up, we're not weak like that. And then immediately, Baba Doug McKenzie, your lawyer's here! And they get up and

Steve

start— they run. And all the other inmates in the holding cell are pissed, like, wait a minute, you know? Yeah, it does remind me very much— I think same calendar year, right, was Trading Places. Yes. In the, in the Philadelphia jail with Eddie Murphy, very similar vibes. Um, but yeah, but their lawyer is actually a lawyer. We have seen this guy earlier in the movie. He's clearly a lawyer for the brewery, like he works the uncle, Pam's uncle, and with Brewmeister Smith. Um, and so, you know, we're already suspicious, whatever. But they even say like, oh yeah, we recognize you from the brewery, eh? And he's like, yeah, I'm your lawyer, boys. And so basically, uh, you know, he says like, yeah, you've got all these charges, but you know, we'll, we'll, we'll figure it out, like, don't worry kind of thing. So then they go to the court and the lawyer's walking up and, and there's all this gaggle of press, right? So all these people ready to like ask them questions. This is hilarious. He goes, oh boys, wait here, I'll take care of this. And it was, it It's— he just— lawyer karate. He just starts whooping everybody.

Nic

It was awesome. It was like, it was like Robert Stack taking out the Hare Krishnas in Airplane on his way into the— very similar vibes. I mean, excellent. And that lawyer looks like he would know. I mean, that guy looks like badass. He looks smooth.

Steve

You can tell sometimes actors try to do stuff like that and it's like, man, they had, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming through the choreography to figure it out. This guy looks like he has some moves, like for sure, whoever this actor is that played the lawyer. And then there's one woman, uh, like reporter or whatever, who like also kind of like like once everybody's been like kind of scattered, there's one left and she's got like the right pose and the right moves, and there's like more of a fight. Like they actually fight for, you know, 20, 30 seconds. It's like, I love there's a little choreographed karate battle in the middle of this movie.

Nic

Yeah, I mean, there's definitely— there's things that they probably decided like, all right, if we ever make a movie, it has to have this in it, and they made sure it was in there.

Steve

Exactly.

Nic

Um, I think we get a quick view back to Brewmeister Smith basically saying oh, looking for, uh, the disc.

Steve

Yes, that's right.

Nic

And he's like, oh, we're missing one. Oh, they took the only disc that would incriminate me, even though the machine just spit it out, right? So it's obviously being helped by the, the ghost of John Elsinore.

Steve

That's the thing that we've been getting between like the, the, uh, video game machine in the cafeteria and then a handful of things that have happened in that control room and like the disc spitting out and like all this stuff. We're getting the sense that, yeah, like the spirit of John Elsinore is like helping you know, the Mackenzies solve this mystery, even though they have no idea that they're doing it. Like, they don't know they're involved in figuring out a murder, right? Uh, but they are being helped along in a way that has convinced the murderers that they are in fact very savvy investigators, right, that are here.

Nic

It's kind of like, uh, like in Dumb and Dumber where they're like, oh, these guys are really good. How do they know I have a gas problem? You know, that's right.

Steve

Um, how'd they know about my gas? Can't wait to do that one too. But yeah, now, so they, they are in— so what I do— yes, so, so we have that. Brewmeister Smith realizes that that disc is gone and that, you know, that's the incriminating evidence. So the last time we saw that disc, it was in Hosehead's mouth, right? Like, they literally— like, they don't even have it anymore. They just threw it to the dog.

Nic

Yeah. Um, and, uh, and we're at the trial now. I guess Bob— pretty, uh, quick trial turnaround.

Steve

It might have been more like— uh, the arraignment or whatever, maybe. I don't know if this was like the full— because there's no jury, so like, I think this is probably just the arraignment, like, you know, kind of thing. Like, and what they're doing is the, the ju— their lawyer, because he's really working for the brewery, is trying to say, well, they're going to plead, um, guilty to like a couple of things, but then not guilty to like the kidnapping and all this other stuff by way of mental insanity or whatever, right? Like an insanity defense. And so, which, you know, on its face is pretty easy thing to prove with these two because they, they talk and act like kind of morons. So like, okay, um, but then there's,

Nic

uh, when they're in the, um, when they're in there, uh, the uncle is— they're showing the video of, you know, Bob and Doug. Not Bob and Doug, right? I'm making air quotes for everyone. Exactly right. Bob and Doug, who is really the brewmeister, and the uncle, yeah, in their clothes, like, you know, taking out Pam. Yeah. And he makes a comment about like, uh, 'Uh, it has a time code, and, uh, that's extremely difficult to fake.' And then the lawyer says something like, um, you know, 'Could you explain what that is to us?' He goes, 'Just because I don't know what it is doesn't mean I'm lying.'

Steve

I love it. The guy could not be more inept.

Nic

He gets a couple— he gets a couple really wonderful lines.

Steve

Yeah, but then they end up, uh, I think Doug gets a nosebleed, right? And, uh, or no, that's near the end. That's like the end of the hearing. No, Brummeiser-Smith comes on, and they talk about him as if he's— I guess he runs the Institute too, like Yes. So it's like, I don't— we don't think we got an indication of that prior to this point in the movie, but he's apparently also a doctor of psychology or whatever that is the— that runs the Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane. Um, and basically is just saying like, yes, these two are clearly, clearly insane, whatever, like, you know, that, that they should be remanded to his care rather than put in jail. That's sort of like the gist of it. They want control over these two, right? Right, right. So that's when I get— think Doug gets a nosebleed and, and Bob You know, it's like, oh, he needs tissues. And he's just got, you know, mounds and mounds of tissues.

Nic

Yeah, they can't get it and they

Steve

can't get it to stop. And for whatever reason, the bailiff or the other lawyer, like the prosecuting attorney, like for the state, asks the bailiff for a couple of bullets and they shove two bullets up into Doug's nose and that stops the bleeding. Yeah, until he sneezes.

Nic

Well, Bob is— Bob is trying to make Doug laugh this whole time. Oh, that's right, right. So he's— they're doing their, uh swearing in on the Bible, and he keeps making little jokes and comments like, oh, we're gonna have to split the plea. He's like, oh, I'd like two bowls of split-plea soup, please. And he's like, quit making me laugh, quit making me laugh. That's right. And I think he finally makes him laugh so much that he— ah, and the nose gun blasts out of his nose, and it's a great shooting around the— so I mean, if they weren't already screwed, yeah, right, exactly, then now they definitely are. So they got to go off to the asylum.

Steve

Attempted murder of a magistrate maybe getting added to their— yeah, to their like rap sheet. Um, but yeah, so they are remanded to the Royal Canadian Institute of the Mentally Insane under the— under the protection, whatever, care of Brewmeister Smith, which he calls himself BM Smith rather than Brewmeister because in this context he's supposed to be like doctor, right, professor, whatever the hell he is.

Nic

So are we, are we to believe that his first name is Brewmeister in this? I guess so.

Steve

Okay, maybe that's sort of a, uh, what's that, what's the old, uh, uh, banking, uh, Rankin and Bass, uh, with Meister Burger, Burgermeister, whatever that whole thing is. Maybe it's a reference to that somehow. I don't know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with that. That. Um, but yeah, so, uh, so they do that and now it's time to— you know, they're gonna put them through electroshock therapy basically.

Nic

So they're like, quickly before this, when they're at the asylum. Okay, really funny. They're in their padded cell and they're both in their, uh, straitjackets on the floor and still fighting with each other. There's no sense— I mean, the unreality of this movie is that they never really have a sense of like, what are we doing here? We're screwed. Like, they're so just at each other no matter what and So they're not like, oh, why are we here? They're just bickering with each other about dumb stuff.

Steve

It's like, it's like they have no understanding of the context of anything. Yes. Right? And they, and so they just, they don't understand where they are, why they're there. They're just like, all they care about is, yeah, kind of bickering with each other. 'Cause that's just how they, that's basically how they show brotherly love is just sort of messing with each other, which is not uncommon. Um, but they did, when's our next beer? You know? Mm-hmm. And, and you know, they don't ever think to themselves like, well, no, we're not gonna go home tonight. We're staying here. Like, you know what I mean? It's like, they're honestly just kind of like, ah, whatever. We'll go here.

Nic

Okay.

Steve

Very precious. All righty. Like, yeah, exactly.

Nic

Very zen, actually. Yeah, yeah, it is nice.

Steve

But maybe a little concern for your immediate future is, is good for survival.

Nic

But yeah, but to mess with each other as they're in their straitjackets, they're doing this thing that, uh, that Doug calls the steamroller, which is just rolling over them in slow motion, and they're just rolling. So it's funny that the doctor who's about to pull them into the shock therapy and stuff comes in and he's just like, you guys cut it up. Like, they have so many people who have to be like, you guys knock it off. Yeah, exactly.

Steve

As Oh my God. So they go into the electroshock therapy room and the doctor leaves and is just like, "Stay here," basically. At which point Doug's like— Doug hooks up some of the electroshock to himself. And they basically like, Bob is shocking Doug like a small amount. They're like playing with it. They're like, you know, trying it out or whatever. And then it gets to be Bob's turn. And that's, you know, he's like getting it on his head. He's like, "I'm gonna turn it up to 98." Like it was on 30 before. He's like, "Oh, okay, that'll be fun, fun." And then, uh, and that's when the doctor comes back. He's like, oh, what are you guys doing? And it kind of like looks like they're gonna be in some trouble. Yeah, except here comes Rosie. And that's when Rosie pops in and basically like hip checks— like literally it's like a hockey hip check— knocks the guy into the little control room and it's just like, okay, let's go. Where's Pam? I'm looking for Pam, eh?

Nic

Like, Rosie's great. I, I really like that guy. Uh, they were hooked to— before they were hooked to the electric stuff, they were hooked to the lie detector. Oh yeah, that scientist was asking, you know, about what they knew and everything, you know. So, uh, is your name Bob McKenzie? Yes. Okay, he's telling the truth. And then Doug farts. Yeah. And then he's like, yeah, no, that wasn't me. And the needle starts going crazy. Really, really juvenile, but this is the kind of thing that made me love this when I was younger. Yeah, yeah. So, um, yeah, so Rosie saves the day and now they've got to go

Steve

look for Pam, right? So Pam, fortunately, is right across the hall. They, they saw Bob, I think, look— oh, that's right, so they know that she's there, so they're able to go and release her her from her straps, uh, and so now the four of them are, uh, going, and Rosie knows about the tunnel from the mental institute to the brewery. So he says like, hey, come on, let's go through and, and go and go back to the brewery through here. And I think at this point that's when the, the, the lunatics are sort of let out of the asylum as well, right?

Nic

Yeah, so they're going to let them out, um, and they have to, they have to split up when they're, when they're going, uh apart. So I think Bob goes with Pam, Pam, and then Doug with Rosie.

Steve

Exactly.

Nic

So when they leave, we find out that Bob and Doug have never been apart before, like, at all. And so, so Bob, Rick Moranis, is like crying. He's like, we've never been— and then Doug is like, hey, I'm glad we got rid of those losers, right?

Steve

Like, it's just— oh yeah, big brother versus little brother. Yeah, um, but yeah, so they're going to the brewery And that's when, um, how do they get captured? Because I'm forgetting. I know that Bob and Pam end up in an empty beer vat, like, like a big, huge 6,000-gallon beer vat, but I can't remember why or how. Yeah, I'm trying to think of how— oh, because that's right, when they're complaining, when Bob's complaining about not being apart from Doug, Brewmeister Smith shows up with his tranq gun. They don't know it's not a real gun, it's just a gun. He's pointing, you'll come with me now, you know, kind of thing. So he captures them basically and puts them into one of these beer vats and then, you know, tells them like, oh, you know, you'll be dead soon or whatever. And then basically locks it up and turns on, you know, the thing to fill the vat. So now that's slowly filling with beer. And this made me think of the movie Beerfest when— I can't remember the character's name, but he's the guy who plays Farva in Super Troopers. Lampersville. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He ends up going into the beer vat and having to try to drink his way out.

Nic

100%. Yeah. There would be no Beerfest, which I think is a great movie. I really get a kick out of that one. Yeah. Um, yeah, so of course, uh, the, the solution, yeah, to get out of there is, uh, he just starts drinking all the beer in these very silly looking like swallows of the beer and stuff. But, uh, and it makes him gigantic.

Steve

Yeah, but like even before that, I think Rosie found— Rosie finds Brewmeister Smith and they're like fighting. Oh yes. And I don't understand why is Brewmeister Smith so strong? Like he is throwing Rosie around, he's like ripping apart railings to use his weapons.

Nic

Why is he super strength? He's like, yeah, he's like the T-1000. It's crazy. And earlier he picked up the uncle like by his ear. He like grabbed his ear and picked him all the way up off the ground. Bizarre. So, uh, that's probably in Max von Sydow's rider. He's like, I need superhuman strength if I'm gonna be in this dumb of a movie.

Steve

I will be in your stupid movie

Nic

if I'm allowed to whoop some ass. But it did, it did look like Rosie's final move that like took him out was like a hockey check into the wall.

Steve

Yep.

Nic

And then he goes into this wall where they had this map of the US bus with all these different lights on it, which were, uh, probably the places where Elsinore Beer is distributed, his world domination plan. But then all the lights just start blasting through him like they're lasers.

Steve

So brewmeister's outie. Yeah, brewmeister's done, but all the beer

Nic

still got— it's on its way to Oktoberfest, right?

Steve

Big Oktoberfest celebration, Toronto Oktoberfest. And, and all this Elsinore Beer with all of its mind control drug in it is headed there. And it sounds like, as we start getting some clips as they're setting up the Oktoberfest and the beer kind of arrives, like, that's the only beer there. 'Cause it was free. Like, Elsinore, obviously if you're gonna take over the world, you might as well give the beer away for free. Don't charge people for it. So, so they do that. So basically the cops have shown up, you know, they understand that, that because Pam's, you know, everybody's kind of like on the up and up that Brewmeister Smith was the problem. Doug and Bob are not criminals. They helped save the day, but now we got this beer out there. So they're like, oh hey, like we gotta go home first, but like, you know, let's do this. And so they go home. Doug got this idea. They go back to their house and he's like, we're all waiting outside or whatever to see what happens. And out comes Doug with hose head, the dog, and he's painted big white stripes on his back like a skunk. Yeah. And it's like, all right, cool. Then the dog flies. Like, they give him a map to show him where the Oktoberfest is, and he flies there.

Nic

And a cape grows out of the dog as he's midair.

Steve

Yeah. And I don't think there was any indication before this that the dog had

Nic

magical powers, but he flies to Oktoberfest. We're just, uh, we got magic video games. The, the magic ghost, uh, came up to tell them specifically about Oktoberfest, right? And this text appeared and said, Oktoberfest, stop them. And then it said, nice effects, eh?

Steve

Nice effects, eh? So yeah, so the dog is flying to Oktoberfest while the cops and Bob and Doug and Pam and Rosie are all driving there to try to get there. So, and sure enough, man, when, when Hosehead shows up, he just starts running through the tent and everything, and everybody gets away. Because if you actually thought that was a skunk, which doesn't look that much like a skunk, but it would be the biggest fucking skunk you've ever seen in your life. So it would be terrifying.

Nic

And also, dude, if I saw a skunk and didn't smell the skunk smell, I'd be like, hang out, you're cool, you're not gonna— you're not gonna do your skunk thing.

Steve

I would leave, but it wouldn't be in a panic. Yeah, I'd be like, I'm not gonna

Nic

hang out with this. This skunks are very— we need to find out how to de-stink them. Yeah, so Hosehead gets everyone to clear out and they've saved the day. Yeah, yeah. So now, now what Bob says is, uh, Hey, that, that truck there, that's all the beer that was going here. Is that— so, so what happens to it?

Steve

You know, what happens? Does it make you sick?

Nic

Or like— yeah, yeah. They're like, no, well, you know, you, you have the effect, it wears off for a few days, but if nobody's trying to like mind control you, then it doesn't really matter, right? So then, you know, it ends with them driving off in a semi full of beer.

Steve

Well, I love it too because he said— Doug's just like, oh yeah, I'll take that off your hands, eh? And then like, I think Pam asked, do you know how to drive one of those things? And Bob goes, oh, he doesn't know how to drive a 10-speed. And then Doug kind of elbows in like, you know, whatever. It's like, but I'm still thinking to myself, damn, that— you, you can't just sit in one of those and drive.

Nic

No. And they were even saying like, yeah, 10 speeds, 5-speed times 2, right?

Steve

Like, can't be that hard.

Nic

Yeah.

Steve

But sure enough, you know, they drive off, uh, into the sunset, as it were, and with their huge thing of beer. And then this is one of those movies that like, it never actually ends until the credits are done, right? Like, because now we're back to sort of the Bob and Doug sitting on the couch at the beginning of the movie talking about how good that movie was, you know, like, and all those other people left and they for— they missed this part, don't they feel stupid, you know? Yeah, but yeah, they do it through the whole thing all the way to

Nic

the end of the credits. Yeah, and I like pointing the names, uh, as they're going by. Oh yeah, oh, there's a guy right there, and they, you know, track their finger up and say, oh, he's the gaffer. What's the gaffer do? Oh, I guess he gaffs. He gaffs.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

Um, so yeah, I mean, they, they did everything they could with that. And what a, uh, what a goofy-ass movie. And, uh, with, with some people that I really, really Like, so, uh, this

Steve

was your pick, Nic. Yeah, give us your, uh, give us your final thoughts first.

Nic

Yeah, so, uh, I did enjoy watching this for sure. Um, there's nothing objectionable about it. There's not really anything that I feel drags. It's pretty, pretty good 90 minutes. Yeah. Um, I'm not laughing my ass off like I used to, but it, it's a PG movie too, right? It's something that's fine for a 7-year-old to watch, you know, as long as you're fine with glorifying beer, although I don't know if it really does that. Um, but man, I do, I do like these characters. I like what they inspired as well. Yeah, like knowing that we wouldn't have Wayne's World if we didn't have this, like, for sure, definitely pumps up my, uh, my feelings about this movie. One thing I do wish though is with all these other great SCTV folks that we knew of at the time that they were working with, that, you know, they were friends with, that they were close with, the Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara. Yeah, exactly. Uh, John Candy. I would have loved to see a couple of them in different roles in

Steve

this movie, even as cameos. Yeah, small parts.

Nic

So looking back at this, because like $4 million budget, it's not that much, but it's enough to get some of your friends to come quickly and to like be a cashier or something. Exactly right. So, uh, that's one thing looking back that I might have liked, although, you know, at the time they didn't know that all these people would become who they were, right? So Um, but yeah, this is a fun one. It's enjoyable. Uh, I like talking about this one. I love Rick Moranis. His commitment to all his characters is really one of the best. Like, we talked about Brewster's Millions, which is a movie he's in for 30 seconds, and he's like the best part. He's the best part of the movie for sure. Um, so yeah, I thought this was fun. It's not as rip-roarin' as I'd like it to be, so, uh, I'm gonna give this one a solid 3 out of 5 though. I think this is is— it's worth seeing. It's worth checking in on if you haven't seen it in a long time. And, uh, yeah, I like these guys.

Steve

They're fun. I— yeah, I think I'm kind of right, right where you are with this. I, I— it was a great kind of trip down nostalgia, you know, down, down the path of nostalgia for me and things I hadn't thought of in a while. Like I said, I, I was so surprised that, you know, Beauty didn't catch on as much with me as Hoser and Nob and A did, right? Um, but I did find myself more than a little irritated by their delivery by the end of it. Like, 90 minutes of them talking the way they talk and like, "Take off your hoser," like every 2 seconds. It's like, yeah, okay, I'm getting, I'm getting over it a little bit by the end. And you know, it's definitely not— there's not much to the movie. It's silly. It is fun. It is absolutely totally family friendly. I don't even care that they drink beer, like whatever. It's fine. None of them are ever really shown drunk.

Nic

No, you know what I mean?

Steve

So there's nothing like that. Exactly. So that's all good. I'm actually also a 3 out of 5 on Strange Brew. And no listener, we don't talk about that ahead of time. That's just how that happens. Happens. Um, you know, very enjoyable still. Like, if you ask me thumbs up, thumbs down, I'm thumbs up, just not a, not a rip-roaring thumbs up. Yeah. Um, but a very, very fun movie. It was a lot, a lot of fun to watch. I don't think I'd seen it in

Nic

probably 20 years at least. Yeah, it had probably been about that for me too.

Steve

So definitely fun to, to see again.

Nic

Uh, I wish I could get Elsinore beer. Like, I would buy Elsinore beer if

Steve

that was available, if it was real, right?

Nic

I mean, they can make like Uh, Black Panther 2 Wakanda Forever brand mac and cheese, like things that had nothing to do with the movie, right? Why can't I get Elsinore beer that

Steve

was beer in a movie? Because $2 million at the box office, that's why you can't. But yeah, so the two dads are 6 out of 10 on, uh, Strange Brew. Not like a glowing, uh, rave, but definitely thumbs up. And I think like Nic said, like if, if you've seen it but it has been a while, go back and watch it.

Nic

It is a lot of fun. Yeah, it, it it holds up the way you'd expect something that's PG and 40 years old to hold up. So definitely good. Um, well, shit, that was my pick for 1983. As we move on and we wrap up our 50th episode here, moving into 51. So we're getting into the— you know, as we're approaching our goal of 1 million episodes, folks, we're trying to get episode 1 million. Help us get there someday. Um, we're going to 1984, and, uh, Steve, you got to pick pick for us from that year, right?

Steve

I do. I'm super excited about it. And I want to say first, like, you know, we talked, I think, as we were doing like '80 and '81 especially, we both recognized, gosh, when you really think about the movies that we love from the '80s, it gets a lot more— when you get into '84, '85, '86, there's a lot more movies that we kind of really grew up with, really, for sure, you know, kind of affected us. And the movie that I've picked for 1984, I got to be honest with you, is, is, um, it's, it's not my favorite movie of all time now, but it was my favorite movie all time for like the longest stretch of my life. Like, you know what I mean?

Nic

For, for a long time, this was— it held the belt longer than another film.

Steve

Yeah, absolutely. Like, if you were to ask me right now, Steve, favorite movie of all time, I'd probably say Step Brothers. Like, I feel like for me it's like my, my style of comedy. It's like informed like a lot of kind of how I think about absurdist stuff, you know, in, from post-college life kind of thing. Yeah. But this movie was my favorite movie for a long time. And it, and it is stars— it was written by the director Everybody involved in it was involved in so many movies that we love from the era. Um, I'm talking about people like, you know, this was directed by Ivan Reitman. This stars Dan Aykroyd. It stars Bill Murray. It's Harold Ramis. It's Rick Moranis. We're going to see again, right? Oh yeah. Sigourney Weaver, who's gorgeous and wonderful in this and everything else she's done. Yeah, we're going to see Ghostbusters, man. And this was like, all right, this was it for me. I literally still have hanging on the wall in my bedroom. Daddy, as a 46-year-old middle-aged dad, I have a framed, uh, photograph of Ramis and Aykroyd and Murray in their, you know, getups with their proton packs autographed

Nic

by each of the actors.

Steve

Oh nice. Like that is like a prized possession in my house. Oh, that's awesome. So, uh, yeah, we are gonna go watch 1984's Ghostbusters next week. Beautiful. Yeah, I love it.

Nic

Beauty, eh?

Steve

Beauty, eh? That's a wrap. So if you like what you hear, please consider heading over to Apple or Spotify and leaving us a 5-star review. It helps new folks find the show. Be sure to check out our website at twodads1movie.com. That's the number 2 and the number 1. There you can explore the movies we've covered, sign up for our newsletter, The Rewind, and even get sneak previews of upcoming episodes. We'd also love it if you followed us on Instagram at @twodads1movie. Once again, this has been Strange Brew, another episode of Two Dads One Movie.

Nic

I'm Steve. And I'm Nic.

Steve

Thank you so much for listening, and we'll catch you next week. Thanks everyone.