Transcript

Intro Clip

Double down. What? You got an 11. You always double down on 11. I know, but it's $200. It's blood money, Mike. You gotta double down. I can't double down. Mike, if you don't look like you know what you're doing, I'm gonna walk. Just shut up, man. I can't look like I know what you're doing. For a second, shut up. Mike, I'm telling you, if you don't look like you know what you're doing, I'm gonna punch you. You make a mistake, you double down. It's nice. 18. Good. 18'S good. 12. 16. 21. I'm telling you, baby, you always double down on the left. Yeah, well, obviously not always. Always, baby. I'm just saying not in this particular case. You always double down. I lost, okay? How could you see—. The lady has 11. What would you like to do? Um, I hit. 15. I don't know what to do here. I'll hit again. 17. Uh, okay, I'll hit down. Okay. 21. Oh my gosh, 21! I got it! I got it! Thank you! Hooray! Would you like to have some breakfast this morning, ma'am? Oh, I really shouldn't. But then again, it's a good idea. I'd love it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You'll fix me up. That one, 29, baby. You have 20 bucks. You know, I mean, not counting what happened on the first table. Yeah, thanks for clarifying that.

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 Steve Paulo and Nic Briana. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of 2 Dads 1 Movie. I'm Steve.

Nic

And I'm Nic.

Steve

And today we are talking about the 1996 cult classic Swingers. This is part of our 2 Dads 2 Decades run. We're at 1996 now. And this was my selection for us. Yeah. And you know, it's funny, Nic, I remember we got an email like really early on doing this podcast, maybe like 5 or 6 episodes in from a mutual friend of ours, closer to you these days, but somebody I knew in high school as well, Jeff Harrow. Yeah. Jeff mentioned that I sort of browbeat an entire cast party worth of people at our friend Jason's house into watching this one night because I was just telling— it was probably like '97 or '98— just telling everybody how great a movie it is. You haven't seen it, you got to see it, you know, kind of thing. And I think there was some resistance. And then we watched it and it was like it won everybody over. It was just a thing that, you know, everybody loved.

Nic

And, you know, I think there were friend groups across the country who had a swingers vector like you who was there to like project it into to like a further group and help spread the word. So yeah, you were an important guy.

Steve

That's right. There you go. I was, we were all theater kids. This, like I said, based on where Jeff said it happened, oh, that must've been a cast party kind of thing. And also then my, as it turns out, just a year later, my college roommate in Chico, couple years later, I guess it was actually, was a huge Lindy Hop dancer and ended up being part of why Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played the Chico State campus in probably 2000 or late '99, something like that. Nice. And I ended up watching them. There as well. Um, but yeah, this movie like does, has so much for me and I'm going to get into some of the specifics, but like it just the, the, I mean, we'll get into all of it. I can't even do it. This was an incredibly important movie to me. This was a movie that showed me that you can write a movie about hanging out. Yeah. You can make a movie about hanging out. You can, uh, you don't need to like make, uh, characters that are like fantastical or out of this, whatever. There's people that, you know, like we all know, knew these guys, dude. 100%. You know, these particular characters were probably, you know, about 10 years older than us. Give or take, you know, 8 to 10 years older than we were at the time. But like, we all knew these guys, and then into our 20s we met these guys.

Nic

Yeah.

Steve

Uh, and it's just incredible that way. And, you know, this is, you know, the feature writing debut for Jon Favreau, who obviously became— has become, you know, a massive, uh, sort of force in Hollywood, obviously. Uh, and, and it gave us the start of Vince Vaughn's career. Some people like that, some people don't, but yeah. Yeah. So I mean, like I said, this is a movie— I'm gonna get into all the details why as we go on, but this is a hugely important movie to me in my history. Nic, what's your history with Swingers?

Nic

You know, it's so funny now that that I know you so well and watching this movie and realizing, like, I love this movie. I've always really enjoyed this movie. It's just, it's, it's such a fun hang movie, right? It's like, you know, these guys going on an adventure and fun night out and all this good stuff. But there's so much in it specifically for you, so I can't wait to get it. So I was just like, oh my God, that's why this is going to make Steve's head explode. Like, everything in this, uh, everything it has for him. But so I caught this one, um, probably around the same time, probably weeks after you introduced it at the cast party, it trickled its way down to me. Um, and, uh, and man, it's just— it's fun. It's guys that I thought at the time were like super cool, guys that I wanted to be. And like, the way I feel about this movie has evolved over time. Like, the way an 18-year-old sees these guys versus the way a 40-something sees these guys would be different. But I think it's still a valuable experience, and I, and I loved it, and it was so quotable. And there's so much in our daily life where I'll say it and realize watching this like, oh dude, that's from Swingers, just a throwaway line there. And then we would just say that all the time. So yeah, very strong history with this. One of my favorites. Can't wait to talk about it.

Steve

I have a feeling we're telegraphing the end of our episode here a little bit about just how much you and I like it. We'll get there obviously, but I don't think we're not coming into this with like a lot of misconceptions or mystery around our own histories with it. So that's kind of fun. Let's jump into the facts on Swingers. The movie Swingers was released on October 18th, 1996 with an R rating and a running time of 96 minutes. It was directed by Doug Liman, who would go on to direct some really great stuff like Go and The Bourne Identity, and then something really terrible that I hate him forever for, which is the Road House remake with Jake Gyllenhaal. Written by Jon Favreau, starring Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, and Ron Livingston. Scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an 87%, super healthy. IMDb, a 7.2. I was actually a little surprised by that score. I thought it would be more in that 7.5 ballpark, but—.

Nic

Especially, it tends to favor like the more cult classics that have a later coming appreciation. IMDb scores would be pumped, but yeah, that's surprising.

Steve

We did get 2 thumbs up from the homies Siskel and Ebert.

Nic

Love them.

Steve

There was one significant award nomination. Oh no, sorry, it was actually a win. Yes. At the 1997 MTV Movie Awards, Doug Liman won Best New Filmmaker for this movie and for his work directing it. So there's that.

Nic

And then Go is right down the pipe of MTV Movie Awards. Oh my God. So he really rewarded them for giving him that.

Steve

I haven't looked ahead.

Nic

I'm sure we'll do—.

Steve

I'm sure we'll do Go at some point. It was literally like, yeah, like '99 or something. I'm sure we'll do that movie at some point. I didn't look ahead to see how it did at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. I have a feeling— I have a feeling probably did pretty well on a $200,000 budget. I love how many of these movies we're getting these days that are like, you know, a million or less, right? The number of movies we've done like that, it made $4.5 million at the box office, 22 times. And I was a little surprised by that because I remember the sort of understanding the context of this movie as a sort of bomb that became a cult classic. But it certainly wasn't by no means a bomb, right? A shit ton of money, 22 times what it cost. So it was, you know, obviously not a huge hit in like nominal dollars, but based on what it cost to make and, and, you know, the later careers of a lot of the people in it, Ron Livingston Livingston's a funny one. We'll get to him in a couple weeks as well. But, but, uh, you know, he really looked like he was poised to completely break out and be, and be a huge star. And it's kind of just— I'm not sure what happened. We'll look into Ron at some point.

Nic

We should do a whole What Ifs episode. That could be cool.

Steve

Yeah, like, well, a little, a little Lori Petty, a little, a little Ron Livingston, you know. Uh, but yeah, those are the facts on Swingers. And, uh, I think we can get started with the very beginning, which is— I, I— there's the— this movie opens up and it immediately tells you something that it's going to do for 95 minutes, which is give your ears just the most wonderful sound bath that they've had in a long time. The soundtrack in this movie is spectacular.

Nic

Start to finish. Amazing.

Steve

And I mean, literally from the opening credits to the closing credits, those two bookends are amazing songs. By the way, they're both in my regular karaoke répertoire these days. My, my, my, yeah, my portfolio of karaoke songs.

Nic

If you join the Platinum tier on our Patreon in a couple months, you will get to do karaoke with Steve.

Steve

There's no— yeah, okay. Anyway, um, but this was funny too because this was, uh, so my birthday is Frank Sinatra's birthday. So it just— that's— I learned in '94 with— from my drama teacher that— that because he was a huge Sinatra fan, I learned that Frank Sinatra's birthday is December 12th, just like mine. Nice. And so, um, when this movie came out, my like Christmas list that year— because this came out in October, right? So my like birthday and Christmas list that year included the Swinger soundtrack, but also like Best of Dean Martin, Best of Bobby Darin, Best of, you know, like everybody, like Sinatra, like all these. I really wanted to get into this whole like crooners thing, not because I wanted to like dress like them or pretend like I was in the Rat Pack. I literally was dressing like the Dave Matthews fan that I was at the time, you know, that thing. But just something about this music drew me in.

Nic

So it was this— was it this movie that first kind of like got you into that, or this combined with knowing that Sinatra's birthday was the same as yours?

Steve

The initial spark was my drama teacher would tell me that, and then he would play like Sinatra stuff, kind of like whatever, because I was like a TA for him too. So I'd just be in the drama room for a while for my TA class and he would just play it. And I was like, "This is fucking pretty cool." Like, I dig it. You know, I kind of got it. But it was, yeah, it was combining that music with this movie and the cool factor of the movie and everything that went, that was like pushed it over the edge of like, "Okay, I gotta get more into this." And now it's like Yummy Night on top of, you know, pop punk and jam bands and hip hop. I listen to like Michael Bublé. You know what I mean? It's just part of my standard rotation. And I thank this song. But we, let's move in because we haven't even started the movie yet. But yeah, we start off with, "You're nobody till somebody loves you." by Dean Martin.

Nic

And it's this great photo montage, wonderful, like nightlife photos of LA that all have this really cool-looking similar blur effect around the light. It just looks great. It's— it just makes you feel like your friend's showing you a bunch of photos.

Steve

Hey, yeah, they even got a slide in a little, you know.

Nic

Yeah, really well done. And again, on a low budget.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

What an effective intro that doesn't cost anything, right?

Steve

Yeah. There's no way— you don't need the computers or anything. You literally toss these little photos, you know, into the— really cool stuff. And yeah, we're basically getting a real quick idea of like what you know, LA nightlife looks like in the mid-'90s for 20-somethings. Frankly, it looks like a fair amount of fun. It doesn't look too crazy. It's not like a rave scene. It's not like that, right?

Nic

Yeah.

Steve

It's just kind of—.

Nic

It's not bottle service style. It's very— Yeah, exactly. It's a little more low-key.

Steve

It's both not Vegas and it's not LA in the 2000s, right? Right. That's kind of where we're at. So then we, when the intro kind of ends, we get taken to the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop, which we will be at 3 or 4 times in this movie, a standard location here. And we've got 2 men. We've got Mike, Jon Favreau, and we've got Rob, Ron Livingston, sitting there talking to each other. And basically Mike is talking about how he, you know, his girlfriend hasn't, his ex-girlfriend hasn't called. And we get the sense, we don't get like the whole story. They don't ever bother telling us exactly what happened, what order, but we get the gist of like Mike moved from Brooklyn or Queens, I think, out west to LA to like really try to kickstart his career. He's an aspiring actor. He's a standup comic. And he had to leave his girlfriend of 6 years at the time. And so she was like, okay, if you're leaving, like we're done. And she hasn't even called, you know, he's freaking out because she hasn't called, which is like, you know, it's not— it's a very vulnerable Mike at this point, right? He's very kind of in his own feels.

Nic

Yeah.

Steve

You know, dealing with that. And Rob's just trying to help him out.

Nic

And Rob is trying to help him out. And within the first couple sentences of this, you get the full sense that Rob is exhausted by having this conversation constantly with Mike. But he's a very good friend and he's his friend from back home. So he's kind of like new to L.A. So Mike is the guy he knows in L.A. This is my dude to hang with. But, you know, he's, he's a good friend and he's hearing him out, but he's also trying to give him some advice during this conversation.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

And where he starts to tell him, like, you know, after a while you stop missing them.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

You know, but you can't do that on purpose. And like this very good, like, philosophizing of something that's just like, yeah, you got to wait, bro. Yeah. And it's done.

Steve

And it's so funny that when I keep these in mind, because both the image of Mike and Rob, in this case, sitting at this, at this coffee shop and the conversation they're having about essentially, you know, you can't— you got to stop thinking about them. You can't really— you can try to pretend to stop thinking about them, but, you know, they'll— they somehow know not to call till you've actually forgotten. And he's like, well, there's the Rob, you know? Yeah. Which is a Hamlet quote. Hamlet comes up later. There's all kinds of little bits that get dropped here and then, and then, you know, they show up later. But yeah, but we're at the scene and it's basically just an intro to Mike and, and Rob. And so we get that information.

Nic

And, uh, yeah, so we come back now, uh, after this conversation, and Mike's like apologizing to Rob. I'm sorry, I was talking about this, but you're the only one I can talk about. So he's not being— he's not like leaning on him so hard that he's not appreciative of it.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

So Mike comes home to his apartment and he hits his message machine, right? And, uh, it's one of these things in my head where, uh, I was thinking about this movie, we were talking about how much we liked it, and in my head I'm like, oh, it's not even dated. And then the other guy in my head jumps in, is like like the 5th most speaking lines are an answering machine.

Steve

So far.

Nic

So, so Mike comes home and he plays his messages, you know, and it's like various friends, like one who's T, played by Vince Vaughn, who's like, hey, you coming out? Hey, you gotta stop thinking about that girl. Let's go out tonight.

Steve

And he names like 6 places. If we're not here, we'll be here. If we're not there, we'll be there.

Nic

There's this party here.

Steve

It's like, yeah, dude's got plans.

Nic

And he's got a friend from back home who's like, hey man, how you doing? Whatever. And then his grandmother and all this stuff. And then when he gets off it, then we kind of dip into the fantasy realm for a minute where the message machine is like It's okay. There's other fish in the sea. You don't— she doesn't deserve you.

Steve

You have to put things in perspective. And it never really comes back.

Nic

He goes to pick the phone up and the message machine goes, are you calling her? He's like, can you— I'm trying to make a phone call.

Steve

Can you leave me alone? Would you stop? Would you stop, please? I'm trying to make a phone call. Yeah. And he does not try to call.

Nic

I like who he chooses to call back here.

Steve

He calls Trent. So of all the messages on his machine, the guy trying to get him out of his apartment and out to you know, meet some beautiful babies and like all this stuff, which we get— we get a lot more of Trent's sort of vernacular very soon. But he basically says, we got to get you out of that stuffy apartment, you know, let's, let's go out tonight. Mike's like, I don't want to. I mean, he's doing the standard stuff. I think we've all been there. So as you get in your 20s, you just don't feel like going out. Part of you probably even feels like you should, or you maybe want to, but then it's like, that's a fucking hassle. Like, I relate to this so much now.

Nic

Oh, totally.

Steve

But basically, you know, Trent is such a good friend. There's so many things wrong with Trent in this movie. This is Vince Vaughn's character, Trent. We hear him before we see him. There are so many things about his character that are like not good. But two things. One, there are also so many things about his character. He is one of the best friends you could ever have as a guy. One thing.

Nic

Yep.

Steve

And legitimately altruistically so, it seems. And then also the times where he is like problematic and it's not good, whatever. Like the movie clearly plays it as, as the, as the anti-example. He's the anti-pattern. He's right. It shows him to be doofusy with some of his like more kind of negative viewpoints. So, so that in that sense, I like Trent, but basically Trent is like, dude, this is, this is obviously worse than I thought it was. We gotta get outta town. Yeah. We're going to Vegas. And he's like, what do you mean Vegas? I'm not going to Vegas. When are we going to Vegas? We're going to tonight. I'm gonna pick you up. You get a suit. I'm gonna pick you up. We're going to Vegas. Yeah. And he's like, I'm not going to no Vegas tonight. He's like, I'm not going. And of course, smash cut to what are you talking about? Vegas in the car.

Nic

And Mike, he's keeps walking back and forth between his living room and his kitchen. So he'll like turn the light on in the living room, turn it off, go in the kitchen, right? Open the fridge, the fridge light comes on. He's kind of like pacing back and forth. And it's such a great scene of Trent like kind of inventing the idea in his head, fully convincing himself of it, and then starting to convince Mike of it. And he's like, get a suit, bring something nice to wear, you know? Mike's like, no, I gotta get up. He's like, I got callback at 9 and I'm going to this thing, you know? So, uh, so yeah, the plan is wear a suit, we're going to Vegas, we're gonna come pick you up.

Steve

So they're in the car, smash cuts of the car, and they're both hyped. Mike's counting his money, he's He's like, I took out $300, but that's all I'm gonna bet with is $100. That's like all I can afford to bet with. But I got— but if I get a lot of chips, you know, the pit boss will come and like comp you shit. This is his idea, which is like, no man, you gotta play those chips. If you play it, they'll comp you. You gotta play though. You can't just have it.

Nic

It is such an early 20s guy who hasn't really been to Vegas understanding of Vegas. Exactly.

Steve

And maybe that's how Atlantic City worked. Maybe he has more experience in Atlantic City from being back east. I don't know. I've never been to Atlantic City, but I've been to Vegas. I've blown money in Vegas. Like, I never got comped shit.

Nic

They're not eager to comp you anything.

Steve

Um, so, but he—.

Nic

So he says, you know, Yeah, we can do this.

Steve

And I love this too because there's like a little bit of argument that happened in the car and Mike's like, no, no, I'm going back. Take me back because Trent's not wearing a suit. He's got to put his suit on while Mike holds the wheel. And there's all this energy, you know, Vegas, baby, Vegas.

Nic

Yes.

Steve

Which like, how many times have you gone to Vegas with friends? And that's all you do for the first 20 minutes. Like, yeah, you know what I mean?

Nic

You can't get over how excited you are. But it is from LA, a 3+ hour drive out there.

Steve

Yep.

Nic

So it does a great job showing. Now it's late at night because it was already probably 8, 9 at night. It was after dark right now.

Steve

They're in the winter. And so, but like, but it was after dark. Yeah. So.

Nic

And they're just kind of like yawning in the car like, ah, Vegas, Vegas. But then you see the lights of the city as you, as you approach it, and then they start getting pumped again. So really nice scene of them driving in T's car, which uncharacteristically cool convertible for how like financially successful his character would be in real life. But, uh, great scene of them driving down the Strip a little bit, just the key toss to the valve.

Steve

Yeah, yeah.

Nic

And they decide the place they're going to is like like the Stardust or whatever, one of like the old chunk of Vegas, which is now a pile of rubble, which will soon be the Sphere too.

Steve

Oh, interesting. And, uh, I don't know, it'll be something, but they've demolished all these things. It's like old Fremont Street, right? Is that kind of the area? Or like— no, it's not even Fremont Street.

Nic

Okay, so it's like the Riviera, the Stardust, and all these things were kind of like at the end of the strip, past where like the Wynn is now.

Steve

Yeah, yeah.

Nic

And, uh, and then like the MGM Grand, that stuff started getting bigger. So during this time, the big ones were kind of like MGM.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

And Bellagio and all those Caesars and stuff. And then further down were the old school, like, Sinatra era thing, which is not cool to anybody but these guys at this time, right? So yeah, they're in this place and they say, we're gonna kick it old school.

Steve

And I think this was before the Sands was destroyed because that was in '97, 'cause in Con Air, which was '97, they crash into the Sands.

Nic

Yeah, and the Sands was right there with those, the Riviera, the Sands, the Stardust, yep.

Steve

That's very cool. And then yeah, actually on the car real quick, 'cause you mentioned it, just wanted to call out, that is a 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente. Convertible, and it is the— was at the time the personal-owned vehicle of one Mr. Jon Favreau. It was his own car, and he's like, let's use this car. And Doug Liman's like, yeah, let's use that car.

Nic

Perfect car for T's character.

Steve

Oh, absolutely.

Nic

And I would not put it past him to like— he's putting everything into his image. He might live, you know, in, in an apartment that's like so far away from the action with 8 roommates and all this stuff in a closet so that he can dress cool and look cool.

Steve

He would crash on Sue's couch. Oh yeah, he could have that car and a nice like sharkskin suit, you know what I mean? But the other thing you meant, because we were talking about kind of the reality of some of these bits, the Hollywood Hills coffee shop, which is that we opened on and we'll be back to later, literally where Jon Favreau wrote the majority of the script was at that coffee shop with friends and hanging out. Like, that's a lot of actors and writers and young directors all hung out there in the— I think it's either in Hollywood, actually in Hollywood, or it's nearby in Los Feliz. I'm not sure, but it's like that part of town. And he hung out there, and that's where he wrote a lot of the script for Swingers, was at the Hollywood Hills. It's now currently called the 101 Cafe. But, but yeah, so all right, so they get to Vegas and they walk in, and you're right, it's like the kind of older part of Vegas. And Mike's a little like, I thought we're supposed to be done.

Nic

And they think like, yeah, we go to the shitty place and then that makes us look that much better. So when we walk in, they're gonna be fawning over us.

Steve

At least Trent thinks that. Yeah, Mike is like, yeah, this is terrible. But they meet a waitress real quick named Christy. Trent stops her from walking through. Christy, I can't remember the actress's name, but she also played the character Siobhan in Dazed and Confused, one of the popular girls. Um, very big fan of this actress at this time in my life. Very pretty. And, uh, he stops, he stops, or Trent does, and turns and goes, baby, I want you to, I want you to remember this face. This is the guy behind the guy behind the guy. Like, for whatever reason, that is the funniest shit in the world to me.

Nic

I love it.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

And, and Trent's trying to explain to him, he's like, he's like, no, no, they, they like that. Like, she's, she's into you, whatever. Uh, so, so they're looking for somewhere to gamble. Yes. Right. So Mike has his $300, of which he can only gamble $100.

Steve

But he wants to change in all $300. Yeah.

Nic

He's like, okay, I got to buy the chips so that they're impressed by this.

Steve

It's like he's imagining they'll all be $1 chips and he'll have 300 of them piled up in front of him.

Nic

So he walks up to the blackjack table and, and it's this great scene where he's like, I'm changing $300 and he's holding his money out and he keeps counting it and recounting it. The dealer's like, sir, I can count that for you. He's like, oh, I don't want to bet it. You know, I don't want to put it on the table. He's like, I don't want to bet it all. He's like, you can't hand me money, sir. So he clearly looks like an asshole that he doesn't know what he's doing. He's never been there before.

Steve

Right.

Nic

And then a great scene where the dealer counts out this big, you know, $15, $20 bills, goes to the chip thing, and then 3 tiny pathetic $100 chips. Just the visual of that is so funny. One of the funniest things in this movie.

Steve

And he said, Mike says, do you have anything smaller? And the guy says, as a matter of fact, I do, but this happens to be a $100 minimum bet table. Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable at one of our lower stakes tables. And where he's where they're at, right, is like this kind of older silver fox kind of guy with like a nice suit and then 2 women who are probably hookers, to be totally honest.

Nic

Straight outta like a Robert Palmer video.

Steve

Yeah, exactly. But then the one they point to, it's like a fat biker dude, like a, you know—.

Nic

Old lady, big hair.

Steve

Like an 80-year-old old woman and then like a 55-year-old cocktail waitress. And like, you know, it's like not the same kind of, you know, cool crowd. But they're like, "No, no, no, we'll do this." And then Christy, the waitress walks back up and, hey, you know, can I get you— can I get you a drink? And Mike tries to be super smooth ordering a scotch. He's like, yeah, like a scotch on the rocks, please. A scotch will do, as long as it's not a blend, of course. Uh, anything single malt. Uh, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich perhaps, Glen Gown, any Glen.

Nic

And he's looking around for like approval of what he's saying as he's saying this. And it's so— this part is just so relatable of a guy who's like out of place. It's like, I know some of the lingo, I'm gonna try to look cool. Oh, it's not a problem, they're gonna know that I'm one of them once I say these words. And then it's not working, but you're fucking in the middle of it. So you got to keep going.

Steve

The only way through, only way out is through at that point. And he is also a walking, like, Dunning-Kruger effect, right? He knows just enough to get himself in trouble and not enough to look like he actually, you know, knows what's going on. But basically he goes ahead and puts down the bet after she goes off to get the scotch. And he puts down the one chip because he's got to bet the $100, right? And he gets dealt 11. 11, and Trent is immediately like, double down, double down, it's 11, you double down. And now look, blackjack is my game of choice when I'm in a casino, which is not often. And yes, I would always double down on 11. Yeah, partly because I'm never betting $100 a hand, right? Because it's not what I'm— that's not my stakes level, you know. But you know, Mike's like, I can't double down, it's blood money, dude, I can't do it. Like, this is my rent, like, I can't, you know. And sure enough, you know, you're gonna look like a fool, you know. Okay, double down. And of course, you know, I think he gets 18, but then the dealer hits 21. It's just— that's blackjack, you know, it happens.

Nic

And it's especially when your hopes are really up and it's first time and you really need the money, that's when that kind of shit really happens. Yeah, so he's devastated. And there goes twice the amount of money that he budgeted for this trip, the whole trip, and they just got there. So now he's very sadly like sitting there now at the $5 table with Trent kind of like, come on, man, you know you always double down. And he's just furious. But he's— I love that he's still playing blackjack.

Steve

Yes, yes.

Nic

So now they're at the table and there's this old woman at the table we talked about before. And she's, you know, doing well at everything. And they're playing and they're like, okay, you have 11, what are you gonna do? She's like, I'll hit, you know, 15. So she hits 11, 15, and 17 against a dealer 5.

Steve

It's just a terrible blackjack.

Nic

So of course the casino's like, oh, we need this motherfucker to stay. Keep playing. Ma'am, do you want some breakfast? This is one of those lines that she says. They're like, you know, ma'am, we'll get you breakfast. She's like, I don't know if I should. But then again, it sounds like a good idea. And he says, we'll fix you up. And she goes, you'll fix me up? We would say you'll fix me up all the time in college for whatever reason. Shout out PJ. He's a big person who says you'll fix me up.

Steve

I hope he still does. Do you know who that woman is, by the way?

Nic

That one was Favreau's grandma.

Steve

Yes, Jon Favreau, Favreau's grandmother.

Nic

The guy who was winning at the $100 table was Vince Vaughn's dad.

Steve

Oh, I didn't know that one. Damn, that's very cool.

Nic

Nice.

Steve

Hey, for $200 grand, you got to get whoever you can get, you know, to be in the movie, right? Like, oh man.

Nic

So they're cashing out and it turns out, you know, Favreau has $120. Vince Vaughn's like, hey, you won $20.

Steve

And it's great, baby. You're up $20.

Nic

He's like, he's furious, right?

Steve

Um, but Christy tracks him down. I've walked around with that scotch on my tray for an hour, you know, whatever. And then she says, you know, well, you should leave. You know, he's like, I didn't even want— I just wanted to order it. He's like, well, can I get you something now? You shouldn't leave here without getting something for free. Free, which I will agree with Trent. That sounds like a come on. Like, I'm not— you look, she's a waitress, she's trying to earn her tips and everything. But like, also, like, that's a way to word things that does sound a little loaded to me. Like, I don't know if that's like— anyway, Trent decided she's playing. She's playing, right?

Nic

I mean, he is, he is fun and she is like being fun with him, right? Stuff. Yeah. So for sure.

Steve

So this— Trent's not wrong. It's like, you know, so you— but he does the whole thing where it's like, I'll time you and all this stuff. And Mike again is like, you're an asshole. We should go. She's—.

Nic

What, what, uh, Trent orders is a single malted Glengarry.

Steve

I didn't catch that. Glengarry. Oh shit. Oh my God.

Nic

Yeah, he says he'll give her a 50-cent piece if she tells the bartender to go light on the water.

Steve

Shiny 50-cent piece is yours. Yeah, I'm gonna time you though. He's counting out as she walks away, which is good banter.

Nic

I mean, sometimes you get called on that, it doesn't work, but it was working.

Steve

He—.

Nic

His instincts were correct. And, uh, yeah, I mean, he read that this person correctly.

Steve

Like, first of all, she is used to working in a casino full of just old people, so they are age-appropriate, attractive, handsome men who have come into the casino. That's not crazy that she would be interested in like at least a little banter. So Trent reads people well. I mean, that does seem to be regardless of his sort of other viewpoints that I don't agree with. Like, the dude reads people well, and he's right here. But they say we're gonna meet at the Bamboo Lounge at like 6 AM or whatever, right?

Nic

She's off work at 6 AM. He said, why don't you and a friend meet us at the Bamboo Lounge at 6:01?

Steve

That's right. So at 6:20-something instead, Mike and Trent are at another restaurant getting breakfast. And I love this exchange. Mike goes to order breakfast from the waitress and he says, 'cause I think this is a decent line, I gotta be honest with you. It says here breakfast anytime. She goes, that's right. He goes, okay, I'll have the pancakes and the Age of Enlightenment, please. That's a good line. I'm sorry, that is a legit line. She doesn't react to it. So he takes it as like, oh fuck, I went over her head. Like he's being kind of shitty about it. Like, I should have said Renaissance, like, aging, like, you know, French philosophical phrase, like, you would understand this. But he— it's just— I think it's a good line. Oh, it's a good—.

Nic

It's a very funny joke. And I, I love that throughout this movie, Mike, the aspiring— well, not as— I mean, he's, he's hosting an open mic and stuff, he's doing stand-up comedy, but he's probably not— he's not making a living from it. Um, has very much bombs in many situations. And then here, yeah, where he kind of has this, like, my jokes don't suck, you suck. If I wasn't always talking to a bunch of idiots, like, I love that.

Steve

I needed to dumb down my material.

Nic

In this case, the joke actually was funny, but it's important that the joke was funny and that she doesn't like it. And then he says that for what happens next, right?

Steve

Which is, you know, he then says, hey, we're, you know, we're kind of in a hurry, would you mind?

Nic

And she says, I think this is a hold on, she goes, hold on, Voltaire.

Steve

Which I love that Trent even like recognizes, like Trent looks at Mike like, hey, you know Good job. Like, she got it. She didn't like it, but she got it. Yeah, yeah. Oh my God. So then they actually go to the Bamboo Lounge and they meet Christy and her friend, uh, Lisa, I believe. Uh, yeah, the right name. Yeah, who is dressed as Dorothy, uh, from The Wizard of Oz.

Nic

And when they first walk into the Bamboo Lounge, it's great. Like, you just hear the music and you see kind of this crowd of guys from the camera's point of view as it approaches, and then the guys all look back towards the camera and all part.

Steve

Yeah. As—.

Nic

So it's like Mike and Trent are going to these women who have like like 12 guys surrounding him in crazy outfits. If you ever want to watch this in slow motion, they really had to pull some fucking people to stand in there.

Steve

It's pretty wild. Um, but yeah, Christy lets them know, or yeah, Christy asks what they do, or at least does whatever, and, and Mike's telling the truth. He's like, well, you know, I'm a stand-up, I do this, I'm a comic. Oh, well, who's your representation? Oh, I don't have booking out here. Well, who's your representation back East? And he's just like, oh my God, like the woman's asking like legit questions he doesn't have answers to because he's trying to bullshit a little. Yeah, And then Trent, they asked about that.

Nic

He turns to Trent and he's like, she, she knows about that.

Steve

Shit, dude, what am I gonna do here? So then Trent shows him how to do it, which is if you're not going to be totally honest, which Trent would never be, but Mike could get away with it. But if you want to be— if you want to sound more impressive, just go whole hog. And they go, Trent, what do you do? He goes, I'm a producer. Because nobody asks questions about that. They just go, oh wow, that's pretty fucking cool. But Mike's like trying— it's just, oh my God. But, um, but yeah, they can't drink there, Christy. It's because I think it's at the casino, right? So she's not supposed to drink there off, uh, off her hours um, so she's like, hey, you want to, uh, want to go back to my place?

Nic

And huge music drop here. Ah, great song, but this makes me love this song so much more. We get Magic Man by Heart, just kicks right in. And then they're back at, uh, at Christy's, uh, Airstream that she lives in, and they're hanging out. And the four of them are all sitting together. Mikey with Lisa, his kind of arm around her, and then Christy with Trent. Christy's clearly really into Trent. Lisa and Mikey are like way more touchy than you would expect based on like Mikey's game that he's been—.

Steve

His arm is around her and she's like, she's like holding his hand. It's like really kind of quite cute. Yeah, and there's definitely like interest, you know, she wasn't interested. She wouldn't be sitting that close to him. Like, right, there's that. Real quick, have you ever watched the TV show? I think it's on like Peacock or NBC or whatever, but called Poker Face with Natasha Lyonne. Have you seen that one? Mm-hmm. Really funny show, like really good. It's sort of a mystery crime. She's like a female Columbo who can read everybody. That's the poker face. She can tell people are lying. Okay. But the first season opens with her as a Vegas cocktail waitress and, or maybe not, maybe it's Vegas, maybe it's Reno. It's a, but she's a casino cocktail waitress and she lives in an Airstream outside of town. And for whatever reason, when that happened, watching that show, I went, holy shit, that's just like the girl from Swingers. And like, there's a, for me, there's a perfect connection now between Natasha Lyonne's show and this one. But yeah. Nice. But anyway, so they're telling this story. Trent is telling the story about an audition and, you know, all this stuff. And it's a pretty good story about like—.

Nic

One of the best like character telling a story in a movie that I've seen— I mean, really, really good.

Steve

At least not— that wasn't Quentin Tarantino, who's like, only skill is telling stories like this in movies.

Nic

Exactly.

Steve

But yeah, like, it's really funny. And it turns out that, you know, he auditioned for a role that was like 12 or 11 years old or something. And, you know, Mike then could say, what'd you say, double down, right? Like, but, but it's basically like, haha. And it's just disarming. He's just being disarming or whatever.

Nic

And everyone was crying. He was acting so well that everyone was crying. And at one point he says, even the camera guy who was filming was crying. I don't know so much about what I was doing, even though that had a lot to do with it. I think he just had his own thing going That whole part is so funny. Really one of the best things.

Steve

And then he says like he put his head down and everybody was silent for 5 minutes. Swear to God, 5 minutes. I'm like, give me a break, right? And then I looked up, whole room erupts in applause. It is just like, you know, very funny thing. But that's when Christy is like, she's bought in, she's sold. So she offers him the tour, which of course of an Airstream, yeah, you know, a limited thing. It's one other little space, you know, uh, a little collapsible accordion door. So they head into the bedroom in the back and immediately start making out. She's— her bed is covered in stuffed animals to like a hilarious extent. They have to like knock them all onto the floor or whatever. And then Mike and Lisa are chatting a little bit, and Trent goes to check on Mike. He kind of like peeks down, and the way that they've staged Lisa talking to Mike is their head— you know, he can only see the back. Lisa, it does look like they might be making out. Yeah, could be. And, uh, so he's like, cool. It goes back to Christy, but really Mike has told Lisa about about, you know, Michelle won't call, like my ex-girlfriend, like all this stuff, how long has it been? And she's like trying to convince him it's all okay. But he's like, whatever. And he's like, oh my God, I really gotta check my messages. And I love this, so '90s. I got a calling card, so it won't cost anything. And I remember having a calling card in the '90s, especially like when I got to college, like pre-cell phone days, you know? But he's got his calling card. So then he has to go back in the back and I love his line. He's like, I don't think, they weren't in there very long. I don't think we've interrupted anything. Christy comes out wearing nothing but Trent's jacket. Trent comes out wearing nothing but like a sheet wrapped around his waist.

Nic

He's got like a towel or something like that. And then he's like, he's sitting on the couch, uh, like clutching a pillow. Yeah, just with the most defeated look on his face as the two girls are kind of catching each other up on what's going on with Mikey as he's checking his messages. And they're both getting real concerned, and Trent's kind of like, oh yeah, isn't it crazy?

Steve

But it's like, oh my God, this And so, so then we, you know, they, they, Christy puts on some coffee. Obviously the mood is dead. Uh, and, but you know, and Trent to his, to his credit is not pissed at Mike about it. They're then on the side of the highway. We cut to Trent taking a whiz before they head back, you know, the 200-something miles to Los Angeles. And they're chatting for a bit and Mike's trying to apologize and Trent's like, dude, it's okay. I wanted you to have a good time. Like, don't worry. I didn't even like her that much, man. It was just like, whatever, which is cool.

Nic

Trent, very good friend. Like you said, he's, he puts no guilt on Mikey at all. Um, even though I'm— I, you know, at this point maybe that's what he needs is like a little push. It's like, dude, you can't keep doing this every night. But it was Trent who said, I'm taking you out. So Trent took that risk upon him, you know. So he's being very, very cool. He really is pumping Mike up a lot. Yeah, it's like, you're so money, you know, with the thing that we would all say to our friends, which I say to this day because— no, this is like— some of the vocab doesn't work, but you're so money and you don't even know. This is an ongoing theme of like Mike like, "Get over this. Like, you're not this sad, like, defeated guy." Yeah.

Steve

The exact vernacular is not something I use anymore, but literally, "You're so money and you don't even know it," in a different syntax, is exactly something I tell my children every single day. Yeah.

Nic

It's, "You are still not even aware—" You are costing me so much money and you don't even know it.

Steve

No, "You're still not, so not aware of how much you have to offer the entire world around you." Yeah. "Just keep being you and you're going to do great things. Just keep trying hard." That's basically the same thing. And that's, and that's, I tell them that every single day. Uh, you're welcome kids. I hope you're not listening because daddy swears in this. Um, but yeah, so now they're on the side of the highway, they're having this chat and you know, it's basically just like, you know, they're, they're both agreeing that, that, you know, Mike's going to try not to talk about it. He's basically like, all right, look, I'm going to try. I'm going to try. And they drive off to back to LA. And I want to point something out here because, you know, I know you and I've chatted a little bit. I told you like I started writing screenplays or something I've always wanted to do. In fact, if you listen back to some very early episodes of this podcast, I would mention how I've always wanted to be a screenplay or screenwriter, never finished one. Well, I finished 3 now, and it's a lot of fun, and I'm gonna keep doing it, and maybe someday something will happen. But one of the things I've— that it's done for me is made me look at these movies with a slightly different eye of like trying to break down like, how is this story like structured, right? Like, it's something that I'm doing a little more of as I watch any movie. This movie could have easily been the first 3 episodes of a series because there are 3 incredibly distinct— they're act breaks, but they're also like episodic. And this whole sequence from Rob and Mike talking at the Hollywood Hills coffee shop to Trent and Mike driving back after the trip in Vegas. That is an episode of TV that lasts about half an hour. Yeah. That's about half an hour of screen. We'll go from here to the fateful eventual multiple phone calls to Nikki, which we'll get to. Yeah. That's about half an hour. That is literally like another episode. And then everything comes after that.

Nic

And it starts with a Rob and Mike. Exactly. Every time.

Steve

Every time it starts with a Rob and Mike. And so, yeah, it's an interesting thing where it's like, I don't know if Favreau did that deliberately in the sense that he had thought maybe this would be a pilot it in a series instead of a movie when he was first writing it, or if that was just the way his brain structured the story. Like, I don't know, you know, because it works either way. But it was something that I've never noticed before watching it. But it really is 3 very distinct television episodes, potentially, you know, with maybe a few cuts to get under the right running time. But like, pretty much, you know, uh, and this would be the end of the first, uh, episode, essentially. So we start up and we are at, uh, Los Feliz Public Golf Course, a little 9-hole par 3.

Nic

What are the great kinds of facilities just in the world? You can go somewhere and golf for like under— I mean, here under $20. Used to be, you know, you can go for like $5, $10, or $8. Um, it's so much fun. So yeah, just shitty golf. You don't have to dress up. Uh, they are in like t-shirts and shorts, but then they both have regular golf shoes.

Steve

They're good golf shoes. Yeah, they're nice. They look good, but they're both Foot Joys.

Nic

And you know what that represents, I think, is a classic— when you're in your early 20s, your parents have no fucking idea what to get you for Christmas. Yeah, yeah. So you might just end up with some golf shoes even though you don't golf that much.

Steve

And it looks like between the two of them, they have maybe 3 or 4 clubs. It looks like you're carrying like a putter for sure. Yeah, it's like a putter, maybe like some kind of wedge, and then like a high iron for the, for the initial drive off the tee, you know. And that's about it.

Nic

Uh, so, so Rob, one of the things that he does when they're finishing up the hole and they're having this conversation back and forth, and it's basically Mikey, you know, says, you notice I haven't— oh, what Rob is kind of— he's given his problem, which is, I moved out here to be an actor. The best I've gotten is an offer to be a callback, a callback to be goofy, like inside the mascot suit at Disneyland. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Uh, and he's just like, what the fuck is going on? And then Mike's like, hey, you notice I haven't mentioned it once today, right? Um, but there's a scene where Rob is putting, you know, like a 30-foot putt, and it goes like 10 feet. And as it's towards the end, he's like, get there. I say get there so fucking much.

Steve

I also love there's a, uh, 10 the pin. Yeah, when he's that far away, he's so terrible. He's like, but he goes, 10 the pin. And so Mike has to like pull the pin even though the ball is already stopping.

Nic

Uh, and Mike's telling Rob Rob's gonna come out with them that night. Oh, that's right. He's gonna meet up with people. We're gonna meet up for hockey at Sue's. Right. And then, you know, there's a party at, you know, they get into this.

Steve

Right, party in the Hollywood Hills. A party in the Hills, and then maybe like, it was just, you know, they go to the Dresden, right? We're gonna go to maybe the Three of Clubs, like all this stuff. And there's a great thing that's like, Rob, I think says like, "I don't wanna be out too late," or whatever. And Mike goes, "What, you got a Pluto callback?" "Sure, kick me while I'm down." It's just super good, like buddies just ribbing each other. Stuff. Um, so then we cut to Sue's apartment. Sue is the character we haven't met yet.

Nic

He's basically Trent's best friend. Sound drop, by the way, as it cuts to Sue's apartment, you get the organ music from NHL '93.

Steve

Yep, with Genesis.

Nic

Yeah, I always thought, because of how they talk about it in this, they're talking about they took the fights away, there's no fights in the old version. I thought they were playing NHL '94 because of that, because that's the one where they took the fights away. But in reality they're playing the one where there are fights in the one that they're playing in this movie. Very confusing.

Steve

It is if you're, if you're that, uh, uh, anal about it.

Nic

Yeah, well, I don't know, should we talk about if we make something look like an accident or not, Steve? Um, yeah, so that's an important distinction though because this is a very, uh, a very pivotal video game in, in my career.

Steve

No, I mean, 100%. Also notice again, this is the— if we go over the last like 6, 7 weeks of this podcast, you got Wayne's World has hockey. Clerks has hockey. Swingers has hockey. I wrote down all the fucking hockey. Oh my God. So much hockey. So much hockey in this. Can't wait.

Nic

We do Gilmore, Strange Brew. We go back. We've got a hockey history here.

Steve

Friday the 13th will come at some point. Yeah, a little different. But, but yeah. So I love they're talking about Trenton and Sue are playing the game. Oh, Sue, we should say real quick. So he's, he's sort of a kind of a rockabilly looking guy. He's got the like the shirt with like the sort of pauldrons or whatever, you know, the shoulder like appliqué or whatever kind of thing on it, and his hair is like kind of hangs in his face, and he's got that look to him. And, uh, you know, the, the selvedge jeans with the cuffs rolled up. Yeah, you know, he's got that, that vibe going. Um, but he's also a— he's a bigger potty mouth than the rest of them. Sue swears even more than the rest of them, and they all, you know, nobody's being careful, but he's whatever. And they're talking about, uh, Trent Scott. Apparently we get the intent, the idea maybe that Trent's from Chicago or the Chicago area originally because he is playing as the Blackhawks, Jeremy Roenick, right? Uh, we know Sue later we hear grew up out in LA, so it's like, you know, or in Anaheim. Um, and so he's playing as Kings and Wayne Gretzky and like all this stuff. And, and, you know, Mike says like, you know, you can't play with the Kings in this game, they fucking suck. He goes, no, I took them to the cup. Yeah, well, against the computer with the offsides turned off, you know. And he's like, they're a finesse team. They're a fucking bitch team. That's like, to me, the number of times they're a finesse team, they're a fucking bitch team. Yeah, those are great.

Nic

Those are so good. Yeah. And they're back and forth in this, uh, and, uh, let's see, the phone rings. Yes. And it's the pink dot guy, which is like the, the grocery delivery that they had in LA, which they had, you know, years and years. Now we have it kind of everywhere, basically Postmates or whatever now, but they had it in LA back then.

Steve

Yeah.

Nic

And, uh, and they're kind of fighting, and T is telling Mike, he's like, hey, you can make their heads bleed in this game. And he's like, I'm gonna make Wayne Gretzky's head bleed. And they're having this argument now. So Sue gets up to, to, uh, you know, get some money to pay the guy or whatever, and then he breaks Wayne Gretzky, and they start fighting each other. Very classic, like, moment of guys playing video games or having it leave the video game system and enter the living room.

Steve

I'm gonna make Lil Wayne's head bleed for superfan number 99 over here. And so anyway, so they do that. They could— yeah, they get beer and cigarettes delivered, which is like— it was a dream of mine when I was this age. But they're then gonna go out. So they go out to a club, and it's Rob and Mike walking down an alleyway, and they're walking up, and Rob says like, there's no sign here, like whatever. So this bar they're going to is called the Three of Clubs, and they do mention it like later in the movie. I have been there. So this is a fun story I have. So in 1998 '08, my grad night or my graduation trip, whatever, senior trip after graduation, a bunch of us got together. I think about 12 guys. We all got together and went down to, we rented a house in Newport Beach, like on the, on the beach, like on the sand. It was fantastic. It was a bunch of musician guys. It was like Nielsen and Eula and like Ted Humphrey and like a whole bunch of like really fun people. And we had a chaperone with us. Our friend Andy Drake, who was 4 years older than all of us, wink wink, nudge nudge, came to chaperone, i.e. Buy us beer and we had this like wonderful time. But my cousin Susan, who's about 10 years older than me, was living in LA at the time. And so I said, "Oh, I'm gonna be down there for this week." She goes, "Let me take you out one night. I'll take you out to some places." Like whatever. I can't remember now in the back, thinking back, if she knew I was into this movie or if this was all good luck. Because she took me to the Three of Clubs and then we had dinner at the Dresden Restaurant. And it was a wonderful experience. The Three of Clubs was very, not very busy when we went. She knew the bouncer, she used to date him. That's why I think it wasn't about the movie. She just happened to have previously dated a bouncer who still, they'd still chat added. And so she knew he'd, you know, let her in with whoever kind of thing, if you say, you know, whatever. So I didn't— I was 18, I didn't have an ID that said I was 21. So, but we went in, she ordered the drinks for us. But like, the cracked picture of Sinatra above the bar is real. The ceiling is all pinpricks, so it's like a black, uh, material that has these pinpricks in it with like lights above it, so it looks like stars all through the ceiling. Yes, place, dark little corners, whatever. We just hung out there for a while, and then we went to the Dresden where, uh, what Marty and Elaine were playing. Uh, I did not hear them do Stay live, but they did do Disco Inferno while I was there. And we had, we had dinner there, and my cousin Susan got carded. And when she showed her ID that she was 28, they didn't card me. And we both— because they assumed we were on a date. So it's like, if she's 28, she's not gonna be with somebody who's under 21. Yeah, it was the thinking apparently by the waitress. So, so yeah, so it was a lot of fun. But yeah, the Three of Clubs is a great place. I'm assuming it's not— hasn't been there in years, I have no idea. But it is a neat club. They're not there very long though, going back to the movie. 2 Dads 2 Decades movie. Uh, Rob and Mike show up. Mike's friend Charles shows up, played by Alex Désert, who's great as well. Loved him in PCU. We'll get to that at some point. Um, and, uh, I believe he also is a singer for the band Hepcat, I believe.

Nic

Yep. Yeah, for the ska heads out there. Yeah, exactly.

Steve

Yeah. And, um, but I love— because this is one of many times we get from Charles, uh, when they say like, hey, you know, we're gonna go to this, uh, bar up, or they go to this party up in the hills, use some modeling agents, you want to come with me? He goes, yeah, yeah, sure, this place is dead anyway. I mean, it's I know, I love Charles, and he's—.

Nic

He doesn't get a lot of lines, but he is a very important character. Yeah. Um, in this— yeah, and there's a kind of a scene of them. So the plan is we're going out, and they say earlier, they're like, okay, the party's at 8, everyone's getting there at 10, right? So Mike's like, oh, so when are we getting there, 11? They're like, no, midnight, right? So this is all the stuff they're doing before the 8 o'clock party. Yep. And they're at the diner again. Yep. And they're kind of talking about some of their favorite classic movie scenes while it's doing a version of like the Goodfellas It's a scene—.

Steve

No, it's more like the Reservoir Dogs diner because they're turning around.

Nic

Dogs diner.

Steve

Yeah, they're turning around showing everybody's faces, which is like the Madonna big dicks conversation from Reservoir Dogs. And they're all talking about how dope Goodfellas is, and they're talking about the shot, the single shot follow shot. That's right, Copacabana through the kitchen and into the thing. And it is money, and they're all talking about how great Scorsese is, but Sue is the one who's like, yeah, but Tarantino killed it in Reservoir Dogs with the slow-mo walk. Yeah. And they're like, ah, fuck Tarantino, like kind thing, which is funny because I'm pretty sure Favreau and Tarantino knew each other at this point in, in Hollywood history. Yeah. So I think he was again friends ribbing friends in a lot of ways. But they end up copying, you know, the sort of Reservoir Dogs slow walk thing. Yeah. To, to Tarantino's credit though, it looks much smoother in Reservoir Dogs.

Nic

Whatever Doug Liman's doing to make it slow down, right? Yeah, I don't, I don't like it very much. Um, but I do love that— so as they're kind of leaving the diner and they're on their night out. Yeah. So we've got another great music drop, uh, Pick Up the Pieces by the Average White Band. Great instrumental, uh, funk song. And, uh, they're each in their own individual cars, kind of driving in a synchronized way, so close to one another. It is so funny the way these cars are like traveling, right, from place to place. And it's like the fact that none of them are driving together, it's like a combination of like the optimism that they all have, like, well, I'm taking somebody, right?

Steve

I'm gonna meet a beautiful baby tonight.

Nic

The overconfidence that they have that I'll definitely be okay to drive You know, it's fucking crazy. So I do love— and it's a very LA thing though. It's such a car culture, and that's like, it really hammers it home that all these guys who are going to and coming from the same 5 places are all driving themselves. Absolutely.

Steve

So there's this party, they go to the party in the hills, and there's a great moment where they all walk in and stop and kind of survey the, the, the room. But the room all looks to turn to see them, to see whether they are anyone who was worth knowing is there. And of course, after a moment, everybody looking at each other, everyone else in the party turns back because no, none of these guys are famous. Yeah, nobody famous just walked in the Hollywood Hills, you gotta look. Maybe the last guy that walked in is famous. You don't know if Skeet Ulrich isn't coming around the corner, you know what I mean?

Nic

Yeah, seriously.

Steve

But yeah, so they just go and they get some drinks. And I love Mike and Rob are hanging out at the bar, making themselves some drinks. And a guy walks up to Mike and he's just like, "Hey Mike, how you doing, man?" He's like, "Oh hey, how you doing?" And they're just like talking like they've known each other for 100 years, like whatever. And he goes, "All right, well hey man, I gotta talk to some people, man. I'll talk to you later. You call me, okay?" "Oh yeah, I'm gonna call you." And Rob goes, "Who's that guy?" He goes, I don't know. I don't know.

Nic

I don't know. I don't know that guy. This exchange here is one of my favorites here. So Rob is— he's kind of new to the group and he's clarifying, like, who is everyone? He's like, so, so your friend's name is Sue? He's like, oh yeah, yeah, Sue. Yes. His parents were big Johnny Cash fans. He's like, okay. He's like, yeah, he's a nice guy. He's a bad guy though. He's like, what do you mean he's a bad guy? He's like, oh, he's a mean guy. I seen him in a fight once. He took a guy, he took the back of his head and just fucking smashing his teeth up against the curb. His fucking teeth are breaking. He's fucking smashing blood everywhere. Nice guy though. That guy's cool.

Steve

It's a cool guy. We've all known that guy too, dude. Where would you—.

Nic

You're in with people where like, if I'm describing this person to you in 2 sentences, they're going to sound like the biggest piece of shit that's ever lived. So I have to be like, oh, but it's cool.

Steve

But it's like, but I'm friends with those, but it's cool. You know, just don't piss them off, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, um, so yeah, so there's that. And then they go and they meet up. Trent and, and, uh, Sue are hanging out kind of in the main— it looks like the main room of this house. A lot of people in there. And there is, uh, a woman, uh, smoking a cigar over by the fireplace who we recognize, of course, from Starship Troopers. She's one of the, one of the, uh, uh, boot camp mates of Casper Van Dien in that movie. Uh, they refer to her as Groucho here, uh, because she's smoking a cigar. And basically, like, Trent's trying to get her attention without looking at her, and he keeps asking Sue to glance to see if she's looking at him and not all this stuff, go back and forth. And then finally, oh yeah, man, she looked over. Okay, all right, well, here we go. And then Mike, of course, comes over, hey, what's going on? And stares right at her, at which point Sue and Trent are both like, oh, you fucking— you fucked it up. Like, now I gotta go in early. I wanted to wait longer. You know, there's this whole like unspoken rule Mike didn't even know about that he's not broken, right? Yeah. Um, but Trent goes to talk to her and she tells like a really boring story about why she should be an actress, and because someone told her she was dramatic in kindergarten or whatever.

Nic

And it's playing like the Jaws music, like And it's getting more intense, so it's kind of like half over her story, so you're only kind of half hearing it. Really funny of just illustrating like, oh, having to sit through making the mistake of entering a conversation that you can't leave until this terrible story is done, right?

Steve

It would be too rude to just walk away. That would like draw attention to you, rudeness. So instead he waits to get her number, but then as he's walking back towards the boys, Trent rips the number stop. Yes. And Mike is offended by this. Dude, she saw that. No, she didn't fucking see it. Whatever. And sure enough, she looks over him and just gives him the call me hands, you know? And it's like, okay, see, she's cool. Yeah. She didn't notice kind of thing. And then one of the jokes that does not hold up at all, in my opinion, is that she's business class, which means she's too big of an ass to fly coach. Which, first of all, this woman looked skinny as hell. Like, I don't know what was being referenced here, but like, yeah.

Nic

Yeah, it would have been better if he was It's like, yeah, she was fucking annoying. You're right.

Steve

Like, which she legitimately was. Super irritating story.

Nic

Uh, before, um, before Rob and Mike came up to T and Sue here, they were kind of like checking out the women walking by and Rob kept commenting, oh my God, I can't believe how beautiful the women are here. Let's go talk to someone. And they got, they got their courage up. And when they go over, Mike talks to like just the most repellent woman, just the worst attitude I've ever seen in somebody's face. Like, the hate in somebody's eyes is at how bothered she was. And he just went up and he said, hey, how you doing this evening? And she just turns and says, what do you drive? And he's just like, what? She's like, what kind of a car do you drive? So I love this scene because as he's kind of stumbling with how to answer the question, Rob is looking at him like, come on, man, we gotta get out of here. Like, giving him these very slight head nods. And that's such a good friend You've got to do that to your friends. You can't let them die like that. You got to try to pull them out. So props to Rob there.

Steve

Also, that, that woman's hubris and sort of expectation of kind of the social capital that she would have to expend in that, in that facility, not commiserate with her appearance. Like, the forehead goes back way too far.

Nic

I didn't like it at all.

Steve

Like, it was a very strange-looking person. And then she was very rude just to anybody walking up to her. But hey, you know You know, she didn't want to talk to him. That's fine. You don't want to talk to somebody, just tell them to fuck off. So yeah, so then the whole thing happens with Groucho, and Charles walks back up to the group and is like, this place is dead anyway.

Nic

Yeah, they're all out of whatever the Scotch, they're all out of Glenfiddich.

Steve

Well, because he like opened it. He opened a thing of Glenfiddich, and you know, because you can see him taking it out of the tube where they put it together. And now he says, yeah, they're out of Glenfiddich. So either Charles just drank an entire bottle of Scotch to himself in the last like 5 or 6 minutes, or he was just passing it around, which I'm kind of hoping. Pooping because he then drives.

Nic

So they all drive. So we get another great synchronized drive, and then this time they all park in a synchronized way and then all zip the club onto their steering wheel, which is very enjoyable, very funny. Classic.

Steve

I had a club back— you had a club, I'm assuming, at some point in the '90s? I never had—.

Nic

You never had a car worth clubbing? I didn't either.

Steve

I, I drove an '83 Accord that cost probably $2,000, but I still had a club for some reason. I mean, you know, hey, quadruple digits.

Nic

My first car was $925 and it was a Datsun 280Z, which we might get into soon in this podcast. Um, okay. So this place they go into is the Dresden. Once again, just hits you with the music right when you walk through the door and we get a funky, like, 2-man version of Stayin' Alive. They seem really hammered or zanned out or I don't know what happened, or that's just their style, but it's really funny.

Steve

And they started playing— Marty and Elaine started playing at the Dresden in like the late '80s. '80S, and they did not stop until like, I think I read it was like 2016 or 2018 when Marty died at 82. Damn. So they played there like basically like 6 nights a week, or maybe it was even every night, but like a lot. I love that. Until he died. And so yeah, so they were there and they were playing, and it's just a neat little atmosphere thing, you know? So they all grab a booth near the back. There's enough space for all 5 of them to sit, and Sue and Trent are scoping out some girls sitting at another table. There's a line that I initially was like offended by when Trent said it, but then I realized what he was referencing. He said, "It looks like somebody got out of school early." And I thought to myself, are they saying that these girls look so young that they could be like in school? Like, that's gross.

Nic

Oh, but they were wearing like those outfits, right?

Steve

One of them was wearing like a plaid skirt. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's the reference he's making was like the plaid skirt thing. So I was like, oh, okay, all right. I'm not gonna get pissed about that. But basically they're chatting up some girls and then Mike goes up to get a drink from the bar and he's standing next to a woman drinking a martini. And he's trying to get the bartender's attention and he can't. And she just nods, you know, he's like, I can't get this guy's attention. She just nods. And the guy goes, one second, Nikki. And it's like, obviously she's a regular and she helps, you know, Mike get the attention of the bartender. He buys her a drink or no, gets her more olives, right? Yeah. He gets his drink and he tries to chat her up. He does, you know, he does a good job of trying, but you know, it doesn't quite work out because she works at Starbucks.

Nic

Well, I think he came in like, do I know you from somewhere? And he's trying to name it. Oh yeah. His comedy credits, right? Right. And what she remembers from is that she worked at Starbucks and he came and asked for an application, right?

Steve

And she introduced him to her manager or whatever. He's also, you notice, still doing the like, uh, lying just a little bit too close to the reality, to the truth, because he talks about being in the Vegas circuit. He's got a booking agent in Vegas now. And it's like, man, you're not really learning the lesson of like, either just tell them the truth, or if you're gonna lie, you just gotta make shit up. Have a good lie. Because it's, you know— but yeah, he's playing that game. She doesn't really question it though, except for the Starbucks stuff. But he basically walks away. He's like, "Okay, well, this is dead," right? And then as he's walking back to the booth, Trent and Sue are like, "Hey, we got digits." He's like, "Yeah, what a big fucking surprise." I'm like, "Well, we saw you talking to that nice looking girl. Like, what's going on?" And this is their, I don't love the analogy they use of like the bunny and the bear and the claws and trying to kill the bunny or whatever. Like, it can feel violent, but I understand like the bunny is sort of like, it's obviously a metaphor, not for the person, but for the like barrier. It's the conversation. Yeah, it's like the barrier between you and the other person is sort of what they're talking about. Going. And this is a good— they're good hype men. They are good hype men. This is, you know, this is the, you're so money and you don't even know it. You know, we've got these claws and you, you know, you're batting the bunny around. You don't know how to kill the bunny and stuff. And it's like, they're really, really good hype guys. And I think this is fantastic. And sure enough, you know, I love this line where Trent goes to Mike and he goes, look, I want you to go back over there and I want you to— I don't want you to act like the guy in the PG-13 movie everybody's really hoping makes it. I want you to act like the guy in the rated R movie. The guy you're not sure you think, you know, sure you like him yet or not. Go be that guy. You're a bad man. You're a bad man. You're a bad man. And you like hit him on the ass as he goes along. And I'm thinking while watching, I was going, he wanted— it's Trent. Trent's the guy in the 2 Dads 2 Decades movie. You're not sure if you like it.

Nic

Totally. Yeah. No. And he gets it. I mean, he knows how to like— he's had successful interactions and yeah. And he knows what Mike needs to hear from him. So yeah, Mike goes over and it doesn't show any of the conversation, just kind of shows goes, talks to her, walks away with the number. We get— it's a very brief shot, but I love the shot of his friends all like looking up very happily. Like Charles, Rob, and Sue and T are all just like so proud of him.

Steve

Yeah. So I really like that shot, and I think it was a great choice. Uh, again, I don't— I haven't read the screenplay, so I don't know if this is how Favreau wrote it, but I'm assuming it is. But like a great choice by either him or Lyman or both to not give us that, that conversation. Yeah. You know, because then it's like you'd have to sort of explain like what exactly did Mike say that was so different. But now we can kind of imagine and be like, hey, he probably walked up, was a little self-deprecating, and probably just straight up ask for her number. Yeah, because she was clearly enjoying the conversation, even though she thought it was kind of funny what he was saying, you know, right, about the, the job and all that stuff. But she seemed to be enjoying it. She cared enough to like let him, you know, help him get a drink, you know what I mean? There's like a nice little opening there. So hopefully he just walked up and asked for it.

Nic

She works at Starbucks. She wouldn't think someone was a loser for asking for an application to work at Starbucks.

Steve

Yeah, much better than the model from the other party or whatever, you know. Um, yeah, so then they head outside. They're done for the night at the Dresden. They head outside, and as they go outside, Sue bumps into a guy shoulder to shoulder pretty hard. Yeah. Oh, a quick, uh, quick conversation.

Nic

Conversation that's important here is Mike's like, how long do I wait to call her? Oh, that's right. And they're like, well, industry standard's 2 days, but I feel like everybody's waiting 2 days, so I think it's kind of money to wait 3 days. And, you know, going through all this stuff, and Mike's like, oh, how about if I just wait 3 weeks, you know?

Steve

And I'll say, I was looking at my wallet, found your number, uh, I remember you. Where do we meet? And should I ask her if we fucked?

Nic

Yeah, another good joke by Mike. Mike's the comedian being very funny there in that moment, and Charles and Rob visibly enjoyed his, his material there. And so then he's like, "Well, how long are you guys gonna wait to ask your girls?" And Sue and T at the same time both say, "6 days." 6 days. So really good. So now we're leaving the dressing room. Right, so we're leaving the dressing room.

Steve

Some guys are walking in as they're walking out and everybody passes fine except Sue bumps shoulders hard with this guy, this tall guy from the other group. And it's like, "Watch your going," you know, "Fuck you." He kind of said, "What'd you say, bitch?" Like there's this whole like jawing happening. And these guys look like on the tough side of things. Like they certainly look, you know, look, Sue looks like he could hold his own in a scrap. I'm sure T could if he absolutely had to. Charles, maybe. Rob and Mike do not look like the kind of guys to me that are gonna fight a lot, just, just by their looks, you know what I mean?

Nic

Like, they were like 5 or 6 very excited to get in a fight guys versus just Sue and the other guys being like, come on, man, let's fuck.

Steve

Like, you know, but Sue ends up pulling a gun. He's got a gun in his back of his pants, and he pulls a gun out on them and waves it at him, and they all, you know, run off and into their car and drive away. And all the friends are like, what the fuck is wrong with you? And I love that Mike goes, didn't you see Boyz n the Hood? Now one of us is gonna get shot.

Nic

Really good line. He's absolutely right.

Steve

And this is when he says, you know, like, Charles and Robert both just like, I got to go, I got to call back in the morning, I'm leaving. So they leave. So Mike and Trent and Sue are left chatting, and, and Trent and Mike are both like telling Sue he's an idiot for having the gun, for pulling the gun, like all this stuff. And they're right, um, and you know, Sue's like, you know, you didn't grow up out here, I grew up, I grew up in LA. And Trent corrects him, Anaheim, which I always love that line.

Nic

Not that like there isn't shit that happens in Anaheim, because it's a city that we would quote all the time, like And just because we always had friends, like in college, you know, when you move in the dorms, everyone has their hometown. Oh yeah, yeah, sure. So we'd have people who were like, oh yeah, you know, I'm from wherever. It's like, actually, you know, it said Newport Beach there, so you're not, you're not really from Compton.

Steve

It's like, it's like Oakland, uh, San Ramon. It's like, that's not the same thing at all. Um, but yeah, so, so they're basically, you know, they're having this conversation, and this is when Sue basically like kind of fucking gets him down, really. You know, have you fucked even once since you've been out here? Like, you're such a pussy. Like, all this stuff. And Trent is coming to Mike's defense, but Mike leaves. He's like, I'm not fucking listening to this anymore. And he goes home, which is probably the biggest mistake of the night he could have made. He probably should have stayed and gotten verbally abused by Sue because it would have been better than what comes next, uh, which is he gets home and he puts, uh, the card that he had that has Nikki's name on the back, right? I think is— no, no, that's right. He just decides to call her. It's like 3 or 2:30 in the morning. Yeah. Something, which is insane. And so he calls her and he's like trying to leave her, leave his number. Hey, I, you know, thought it was really nice talking to you. You should give me a call tomorrow, blah, blah, blah. Tries to leave his number and sure enough, the beep of like the end of the message comes right as he's saying that last digit of his phone number. So he calls back to like leave the number again. And I think it's cut off again. It's, he ends up calling like, I think it's 6 times, leaves 6 messages. The last of which is like, I don't think this is working out.

Nic

And every time the amount of time he's allotted for his message is completely random. Yes, you know, one time he's calling, it's like, I'm just calling back, my number's 825-6— oh shit. Really good comedy by Favreau here, just excellently done.

Steve

And then the last time he calls and he's basically like, you know, I don't think this is working out, it's me, it's not you, I just got— you know, she like picks up and he's like, oh hi, have you been there the whole time? She's like, Mike, never call me ever again. Oh, okay. And she hangs up. And this is the end, by the way, of another episode. I mean, this really is so too, you know. And so then we cut to the kind of next episode of the movie, and Mike is on his— sitting on his floor. The blinds are closed. He's got a, you know, a few days old beard. He's obviously not shaving. He's like wrapped up in a blanket, looking through old pictures of him and his girlfriend, reminiscing in the worst possible way. And who comes over but Rob? Because of course we have to start each episode with Rob and Mike talking.

Nic

Yeah, Rob. Exactly. And, and again, Rob being like putting in the effort to be a good friend. Yeah. He comes over, he's got some OJ and a salami, the two things that you want.

Steve

So weird. Whatever. And they're both eating the salami like, like, like it's the Wild West and they have an apple.

Nic

Old hobo style. They're, they're Christopher Lloyd in the Dennis the Menace movie. So yeah, it's really funny. And opening blinds. He's doing all the things that you need to do when you have your friend and he's being such a good friend. So he has this conversation with But then what Rob says to him, the first of a few people who say this to him, is, uh, hey, it's been 2 days. You should call that Nikki girl.

Steve

You should call that Nikki girl, see if she wants to hang out.

Nic

Um, and so he gets into it with Mike, but part of what Rob says is like, you know, you're saying— like, when I look at you, I think you're doing great. Like, the reason I moved here is because you were doing so well.

Steve

Like, you were in a movie. Yeah, you're hosting an open mic.

Nic

Like, you have something going on and you have a plan. And if you're 'Your life sucks, then my life must be god-awful.' And, you know, I refuse to believe that.

Steve

Yeah, right. It's gonna fuck me up.

Nic

So just a great, a great, like, pump-up convo. And it, like, right before Rob showed up, T had left a message. Oh yeah. For Mikey saying, 'Hey, we're gonna be doing this tonight.' And again, he lists like 1,000 or 5 places, alternate places.

Steve

If we're not there, we'll be here. And if we're not there, and then of course we'll always end up at, you know, the whole deal. And, uh, so, so Rob gets through to Mike. I mean, he really does. It's clear he gets through to Mike. And, uh, you know, one of the things Trent said they were gonna do that night was hang out at Sue's for a little hockey before they go out. So sure enough, he heads over, uh, to Sue's place. You know, he shaves, he's looking good, he's dressed up like whatever. And the guys from, from the outside of the Dresden are there, uh, you know, the Fowls of Pain they referred to them initially, uh, and Mike is definitely taken aback at first. Um, but Trent and one of the guys from, from the other group are playing hockey against each other and jawing at each other. And Sue gets up to apologize to Mike. He's like, dude, I should never fucking said that shit. And Mike's like, he's like, no, no, look, like, I needed a kick in the ass. We're better friends for it. Which is a fucking— one of the most honest for guys that are like 25, 26 years old.

Nic

I mean, that's such a mature way to do— to see that.

Steve

But it's also— it's, it's, it's incredibly honest way of how, at least at the time, I know for sure, and into the early 2000s, I don't know today, the, the younger generation now seems much more emotionally in tune with themselves than we were in our 20s. So maybe it's different now, but like, this was how guys fought made up when they were friends, when they were really friends. You'd say stupid shit intentionally hurting the other guy's feelings because you were pissed about something. And then eventually, a day later, whatever, the next time you see him, somebody would just be like, dude, that was fucked up. I shouldn't have fucking said it. And the other guy's like, yeah, well, you know, I probably needed it. You know? And it's like, here we are. And that's just, that's just how it works. And I think it's such a great, really shows how, you know, even though there is this sort of underlying note of like toxic masculinity, especially in Soo and Trent. Um, there's still this element of like real friendship. It's not that they just, you know, Sue doesn't just hang out with Mike because Mike is Trent's friend, right? Which is kind of intimated at early. It seemed like maybe that'd be the case, but no, Sue and Sue really likes Mike. Mike really likes you. They're definitely buds, and that's cool.

Nic

Yeah, it's, uh, it's— the relationships are really great. And I love that the guys that they had beef with in the parking lot are back, and Sue's like, uh, you know, we ran into him at Roscoe's, bought him some chicken and waffles, everything is cool. That's another thing that we would say all the time is just to, to refer to, um, to resolving any kind of beef is you're just like, bought him some chicken and waffles, everything's cool. Those guys love it. They love tea. That boy can talk. And I shout out to people like that because I have friends like that. One of my friends, Ryan, every time I go out with him will get in like seemingly make enemies with the entire building that we're in, and then by the end of the night he's like everyone's best friend. So it's quite a skill set. It's quite a skill to have. Yeah. So they're going to go see Big Bad Voodoo Dad at the Derby.

Steve

Yeah, at the Derby.

Nic

And we get one of the coolest scenes in this movie. And again, $200,000 budget, right? Yes. And what I read is that he spent like half of that on the music.

Steve

Oh, well, that would make sense. Yeah. $100,000. $100,000 budget. Yeah. Yeah.

Nic

And they kind of recreate a version of the Goodfellas, like walking into the back door of the Copa scene very effectively. Incredibly. And it's so fun. Like, it's great. I love, I love watching this part. It's fantastic.

Steve

And it was so funny when they were talking about it at the coffee shop, you know, a little while previous to this, they talked about how, you know, I heard it was like, you know, a million dollars just to light that scene or like whatever it was, you know, it's kind of all this stuff and it took 3 days and like all this kind of, you know, whatever they're talking about, how difficult it is to shoot a follow shot like that on a single take. And yet, you know, Lyman pulls it off and it's look, is it as clean as the one in Goodfellas? Of course it's It's not Scorsese. You know, Lyman's not Scorsese, and Scorsese had, you know, $25 million or something to work with on that picture. So, you know, it was definitely a different world, but like, it really is a lot of fun. It's a clear homage. They do a great job when they come out into the Derby, into the dining room. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is playing. They actually do two songs. They do both, uh, You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three and Go Daddy-O. Uh, and so yeah, it's a cool place. They've got a reserved table in the back. It's clear Trent knows people, or maybe Trent and Sue, right?

Nic

And it almost looks like they they got seated at a table that was reserved for someone else because the way they just shoved the glasses and the napkins out of their way when they sit down.

Steve

I think it's a set for dinner and they're just like, we're here for drinks, we're not, we're not eating. Yeah. Um, yeah. So then, uh, they're, they're hanging out. Trent and, uh, Sue are hanging out and these girls are showing up and like, there's obviously a girl Sue has some history with and Trent's not really making things better for him and saying stuff. He is being very funny.

Nic

Uh, so this girl is obviously said that Sue's not, you know, paying attention or not following through. Yeah, what he said he would do. And Sue's like, I called you on Monday. She's like, I was home all day Monday. And Trent's like, you know, it's funny, as much as we've hung out, you've never mentioned her before. Just classic cockwalking between two guys who are messing with each other.

Steve

We were hanging out on Monday all day. I don't remember you taking a break long enough to make a phone call. But there's— and so then Mike, the booth gets crowded because now there's like several girls girl next to him. Here's the thing. What happened? This is— she's a nice girl. This is what happened. He's like trying to explain to the girl next to him. So Mike gets up to go get a drink, and while he's standing at the bar trying to get the bartender's attention, he looks across and he sees Heather Graham, uh, who's gorgeous, and she's dolled up. She's got the sort of swing dance, you know, look to her. Yeah, the 1950s, uh, or '40s, waiting for my, my beau to come back from war. Totally.

Nic

You're gonna run next to a train as it leaves town and wave. Exactly.

Steve

That outfit and hairdo knowing. And he looks over to her, and then it kind of, uh, like a bartender passes into the shot, and when he comes out of it, uh, she's a bunny. Yeah, right. She's sitting as a bunny, and he kind of smiles to himself. And it's, it's, you know, he's gaining some— I think between the conversation Rob had with him and, you know, making up with Sue and, and the shit-talking Sue gave, I think there's a lot that's happened just in the last day that has helped Mike kind of get some recognition of, like, what he really needs to do with his life, which is no longer pine after Michelle. And so he's starting to turn this around. So he goes over to talk to her, or at least stand next to her at first. Yeah. But they start getting. And it really is, uh, you know, kind of fun because she's got a similar story. She came from like the Midwest, I think she said, um, but, you know, left somebody in order to do so, and it was a long relationship, and she's been out here for 4 months. And, you know, he's like, oh, it's 6 for me. And so they're like, they're commiserating kind of on this stuff. In the meantime, we get cut back, everyone's with Sue and Trent, who are getting progressively just destroyed, hammered, absolutely blotto. Um, yeah. And then Lorraine is like, so, you know, what's an advantage of being single? And he's like, well, you know, you could do whatever you want. He's like, so if I met a handsome man at a bar and wanted to dance with him, I could just ask him. And he's like, yeah, I mean, if, if, you know, if he wanted to, you could do that. And if he wanted to, he would, you know, yeah, he could, you could do that. He was just like stumbling.

Nic

That scene, her saying that was like her turning into the bear and him turning into the 100%, like, because he just started like whimpering. Yes. And then she's like, she's like, do you want to come dance? And she takes him out there as this— they're kind of like in the middle towards the end of a slower song. So they're dancing, and then it ends the classic thing where it's like, okay, thanks for the dance. Yeah, right, right.

Steve

And the fast 2 seconds, the Go Daddy-O song kicks on, and everybody around them look like professionally trained Lindy Hoppers because every single person, yeah, ready to roll. Absolutely going crazy. And, and clearly Favreau must have taken some dance lessons before this because they look good. They're not doing anything crazy. They're not doing the cradles and they're between the legs and the flips and, yeah, any of that kind of stuff, but they are doing a lot of nice spins.

Nic

It's an awesome sequence.

Steve

It's a great scene. It's a great dance. It's a good song to dance to. It's a great dance, and Mike's clear, and Trent and Sue are watching this. And so we keep seeing, cutting back to seeing them, and they are both just jaws on the floor watching Mike spin and twirl Lorraine. Yeah, dip her at the end. And it's a really great moment, and it's nice. And it's, and it's like you watch Mike gain confidence through the song and through the dance from beginning to end. Yeah, starts off very kind of timid and whatever, and then, and then just starts turning her a little more and spinning and then doing more and more. And it's like once he gets into the groove, it's like he gets out of his own head, which is exactly what he's all needed the whole time, is to get out of his own head. Yeah, out of his own way. And he starts doing that, and it's really, really awesome to watch.

Nic

Yeah, it's, it's great to see the arc that the Mike character takes from sitting on the floor of his apartment carving up a salami with a Bowie knife to this. It's really nice. Yeah, so dances with her, obviously great, and it kind cuts to him like walking. He'd walked her to her car. Yes. And he takes her to her car and he's kind of chit-chatting and he's like, oh, you know, I want to hang out. She's like, I'm around. He's like, no, I want to— I'm going to make plans to see— not good enough. Yeah. And, and she recognizes— she asked for something to write on and he gives her one of his business cards. She recognizes the logo on there, I guess, as the logo from the show Let's Make a Deal.

Steve

You Bet Your Life.

Nic

Or You Bet Your Life. And he was like, nobody ever gets that. So again, these little connections that they're making, things that are important to Mike that he has not met a single person in L.A. who seems to notice or care about.

Steve

Right.

Nic

And she's noticing, which we learn a little bit in a minute too, some of the stuff she says. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so he ends up parting ways with her. I love where she says, uh, can I give you a ride to your car? He's like, no, actually, that's my hog right here. Points to the motorcycle. She's like, oh really? He's like, nah, actually, the piece of shit across the street. She's like, well, it suits you. And he's just like, get out of here. It's so great that there wasn't like a kiss scene. It was just like, I'm gonna flirt with you, I'm gonna continue flirting with you until our next state, you know. I, I love that.

Steve

I was watching this this time and I was thinking to myself, I remember they don't kiss, I've seen this enough, I know they don't. But like part of me this time was like, oh man, I wish they kissed here. But as I watched the scene, I went, no, that would have felt so out of place. They really did a good choice not, not having him even try to kiss her here. Um, one line also that I just love, the little back and forth we missed when they first started chatting. She introduced herself, said her name's Lorraine, and he said, oh, like the quiche? Uh, and he go— and she said something about like, you know, I thought real men didn't like quiche or whatever. And he goes, well, it sounds like my reputation has preceded me. And he goes, you're not a real man. He goes like, not lately. Yeah. Great back and forth and disarming and wonderful. And, you know, obviously she's into dudes who are self-deprecating. Some people are, some people aren't. Totally. Um, but yeah, so there's that. So now we cut to, uh, back to the Hollywood Hills coffee shop.

Nic

Yes. And, uh, Sue and Trent are drunk. Yeah. And so, so Mike was Sue and Trent's ride home that night. Exactly. You know, so he's kind of like, you know, I should have— too bad you had to take us home. You had to get good friend once again though. And, uh, yeah, and T is hammered. He's being his most obnoxious, right? Yes. Uh, very funny, but also if you're not in the mood for it, like there are definitely people there who are not in the mood for it, right? Uh, and some people might be loving his shit, but yeah, some of the stuff he says, look, some people don't like me, I don't like certain people. I like that line a lot.

Steve

I, I still to this day say you're grown up, grown up, grown up, and grown up. Totally. All grown up. All grown up.

Nic

So T is up on the table and he's undressing and all this stuff and these big plans, right? And then, you know, they're finally like, are you going to get out of here? He's like, I would never eat here. I would never eat here. Oh, so I'm the asshole? I'm the asshole is another one. He does with the bar with the—.

Steve

He's got the plate of food. He turns around to the guy in the booth behind him. He goes, here, I couldn't touch it. Yeah, I couldn't. I would never eat here. Like, he's like, I would never eat this food. It's so funny, but also so super annoying, obviously, but relatable.

Nic

I mean, you're going out, you're partying that often. There are going to be several nights where you're encountering or hanging with people that are that drunk and annoying.

Steve

So when I lived in Walnut Creek in my early 20s, there's a couple of 24-hour diners in town. There was Mel's and there was Hubcaps. And, uh, at the Mel's, I remember one night being out in the bars, and, and this was before I was dating my wife, uh, you know, now, uh, I was single and just living alone. And I was like, I'm gonna get some food before I go out. And I went to the, to Mel's, and the place was packed because it was like, you know, 1:45, 2 AM, right as like last call comes. There's much people out. And that was a place, and if you remember this, but like they had the jukeboxes at each table. Oh yeah, yeah. Music, and somebody put on Build Me Up Buttercup. And I swear to God, the entire diner— because it was entirely filled with drunk 20-somethings— sang along to that song. And for some reason, that made— that me— I— this scene made me think of that because it's like that late night diner thing where you're like, you probably should have gone home. Yeah. But instead you're gonna pile some eggs and bacon on, you know, to what you've been drinking. And just having like a thing happen like that is so much fun.

Nic

It is. It's an important part of the night out.

Steve

But, uh, but so Mike gets home and he, uh, puts Lorraine's phone number on the answering machine and then decides to he looks at the time, he goes to bed. When he wakes up in the morning, he looks and it's like currently like the 10th or 11th of December, and he pins her card on the calendar on the 12th, which is good, he's a little disciplined. Wait a little bit to call. I don't, you know, 3, 4, 5, 6 days, that's shitty, but like a couple of days, not calling the next day does make some sense to not seem too eager, I get it. So he does that, but of course once that happens, the phone rings and it's Michelle.

Nic

The ex. So the second he made a plan to move on from his girlfriend, right? The second. As Rob said, he would. As Rob's been saying, right? Yeah. And Michelle calls and, um, yeah, this is a crazy conversation. And I don't like Michelle. No, we're not meant to like Michelle, but the way that she deals with it, even her voice is just like, oh, fuck you.

Steve

And she's basically saying like, I heard you might be coming back. Because he, he had told Rob that he was planning on moving back to Queens and Rob sort of talked him out of it in a sense. So he may have also said something to like his mom. Like, we know a few days went by, we didn't see. So He's obviously told somebody back home that he's at least thinking about it. 'Cause that got back to Michelle and she's calling to say, "Oh my God, are you moving back to Queens? You know, that would be great. I'd love to see you." Like all this stuff, like we could get back together is kind of what she's saying. But he gets call waiting. And before he takes the call waiting, he even says to her like, "Ah, yeah, I don't really know if that's gonna happen. Can you hold on a second? I gotta see who this is," you know, kind of thing. "I'll get rid of him," he says. And it's Lorraine. And so it's the next thing she called. And she even says something about like, well, at first it's just, you know, "Hey, you know, can you talk?" And he's like, "Let me get rid of my other." call. Yeah, right, which is just like, whoa, really? You know, so he, you know, goes back and tells Michelle like, I can't talk. And she's like, I'm going out of town, you know, it'll be a week before we can talk again. He's like, okay, well, I'll call you when you get back. Okay, bye.

Nic

And as he's clicking over, can't talk to him because she's going— she's got like a car, you don't have a calling card too.

Steve

Yeah, right, the cab is coming in a minute. She said whatever. But like, you know, but he— as he clicks back over to talk to Lorraine, you hear her say like, I love— you know, as if she's gonna say I love you.

Nic

It's such a great unexpected like hammer drop in this movie for the Mike character to ultimately like— yeah, she's mid I love you as he's clicking over to the top. Who— nothing is set in stone, but it's just someone who's a good prospect, someone who he had a good rapport with and stuff.

Steve

And it's like— and he doesn't really want to leave LA. He does think he's going to build something there. So that's, you know, that was just desperation talking and depression talking. Uh, she mentions it's Sinatra's birthday, so there's this event, and I wonder if you wanted to go with me tomorrow, and all this stuff, which is great.

Nic

And she says something like, you know, my friend said that I should wait 2 days, but I don't know about that. And, uh, you know, it's at this bar, and the bars always have no signs, you know. So she's like kind of repeating this stuff that he's already said, um, which is really nice.

Steve

And we've established that she's like only a few months more recently transplanted to LA than he is. It sounds like Rob moved, you know, weeks, maybe, maybe a week or two before the movie opens. Rob moved to town. Yeah. But, you know, Lorraine's been over there. But yeah, it's very similar because it's clear they're in the same boat and, and navigating very similar situations. Like, we are led to believe there is a very good chance these two will at least be exploring a relationship with each other. You know, whether it lasts or not is something else, but that first spark, that initial thing, they have it, you know, and it feels really good for, for both of them. Um, and so we cut to back to the Hollywood Hills coffee shop. I think this is the fourth scene in the movie at the Hollywood Hills. Yeah. And it is a perfect mirror of the opening sequence with a bit of a reversal. We've got a character arc that has evolved. Our character Mike. But this time instead of Rob, it's Mike and Trent chatting. Because if you'll notice, not only did every little episode begin with Rob and Mike talking, they all ended with Trent and Mike talking, except for the second one, which was Mike and Nikki. But it was close. Trent was near the end there. But yeah, so they're chatting and Mike's basically telling him the story of what just happened. Michelle called and then Lorraine called. And then I took that call and he's like, oh my God, dude, you took the call from— not from your girlfriend, the new girl. He's like, yeah, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? That's what I'm gonna do. You know, kind of thing. At this point, Trent starts— he sees a woman like down several booths.

Nic

Oh yeah, but real quick. Oh yeah, yeah. So Trent says— Trent's like, what'd she say when you called back?

Steve

Oh, that's right.

Nic

Mikey goes, I didn't. And Trent's like— he has this look that he's like visibly shook by, like, you learned the lesson that we've been trying to teach you, you know? And then Mike, very funnily, right before this next part, is just kind of like, yeah, you know, in the end I realized Guys, it's just as simple as— and then Trent's like, hold on, somebody's vibing. So he's about to do like, it turns out the meaning of the life was blank.

Steve

He's gonna drop the knowledge bomb and Trent cuts him off because this woman down the booth is like, he thinks is like looking at her, at him and winking. And he starts playing, he puts a little napkin in front of his face, he's talking baby talk. And every time Mike tries to turn around, look, he goes, no, no, no, you're gonna ruin it. Oh, just stop, stop. This, she's putting out a weird vibe, but it's good, you know, it's a hot, it's like a sexy vibe thing. But I put out the playful vibe, baby, it's gonna be great, watch, it's Come over here. So she gets up, he goes, here she comes. And she's been flirting with the baby in the, you know, across from the table from her, picks up the baby to like walk out. And Trent looks so sheepish, so devastated. Oh my God.

Nic

And then he goes, so what, so you did what, you call her? You didn't call her yet? And Mike is basking in that and he's like enjoying it so much. I don't understand that it was just like a loose baby. It wasn't in any kind of a carrier or stroller or something.

Steve

I think it was in like a, like, like a high chair, booster seat that belongs to the diner, but That baby was really too small to be in one of those. It didn't quite work, but that's okay. We need it, we needed it to be realistic that Trent maybe thought she was looking.

Nic

Yeah, no, it was a great gag, really funny gag. And to see Trent be humbled in the silliest possible way to end the movie, uh, and then that's it.

Steve

That's the movie. And we hit to, uh, the opening of Beginning to See the Light by Bobby Darin, which is again one of my favorite songs to karaoke. So, um, and just another, you know, just perfect kind of bookends, starting with Dean Martin, ending with Bobby Darin. It's a fantastic book weekends sonically to this movie. And goddamn, man, that's Swingers.

Nic

That is Swingers.

Steve

All right, this was my pick. I'm going to, I'm going to go first with it. And I got to tell you, you know, whenever I watch these, I'm usually sitting next to my wife when I watch these for taking notes and stuff. And, you know, she'll usually look over and go, so did you like it? You know, because it's either something I'm seeing new, something you brought to us, and it's new for me, or it's something I haven't watched in a long time. Generally speaking, you know, I don't, you know, and so, you know, she's always curious, like, how'd you like that? And I like this one the other night when I watched it, I turned to her I go, that was an absolute delight. This was so much fun. It— there's— there— this movie, look, maybe to some extent you kind of had to be there. Not that I've ever lived in LA. I didn't go to school in LA, but like in a sense, right? You know, dating in the kind of mid-'90s to like mid-2000s, pre-iPhone maybe kind of era, uh, you know, is similar. And there's a lot of stuff in this movie that I feel like is properly nostalgic even if you weren't literally there. So maybe there is an element where you need some of that to really appreciate this, but like, this is a movie about good friends that generally are giving each other good supportive advice. There's a lot of, no, there's a lot of vernacular that's a little misogynistic in its, in its nature, but the characters that espouse those ideals are shown to be fools in many ways. So this is not the, the movie arguing that Sue and Trent have it figured out. It is quite the opposite. They are, they are pointing out how Mike has got it figured out by the end and Trent and Sue still definitely do not, right? And so there's an element where as long as your characters that are espousing kind of stupid things are shown to be kind of stupid, you can't hold it against the movie, right? There's the nature of the characters. Um, I, I had so much fun watching this. It was a great nostalgia blast for me. The soundtrack is unimpeachable. I think every single track earns its place. There is no dud on the soundtrack. Um, it's a tight 95 minutes. It goes real quick, uh, in the best possible way. Like I said, the episodic breakdown is kind of a fun thing once you notice it to really kind of understand how the character moves through arc. Um, maybe it's a little bit of inflation, but I don't care. I'm a 5 out of 5 on Swingers. I had an absolute blast watching it. This is everything I hoped it would still be for me, uh, watching it again. And I will, I will start— this is going to end up being a twice a year regular watch for me, I think, moving forward.

Nic

It is so much fun. It is. I mean, and I agree with everything you said. The music, I appreciated so much more this time around. And like this, the spot in the songs where they all drop and everything, it's just just like, I— it is fun. The characters are fun. You want to hang out with them more. If, if you found out that there was like, you know, 15 minutes of deleted scenes, it's like, shit, dude, I want to see that. What are they talking about? Like, is there more Charles? Is there more Rob? You know, and, uh, the types of friends— like, it's such a perfect example of how your friends can help get you through a tough situation. You have these different types of friends. You got T, and he's like the newer friend, but he's your biggest cheerleader, and he's trying to pump you up. And you have Sue, who's a new friend who has a clear perspective on you because he hasn't been, you know, he hasn't known you for 15 years. Then you got Rob, the guy who knows your old life and knows what you like. And then honestly, Charles, the guy who you know from a completely different place, is an important friend to have who can talk. I bet he doesn't talk to Charles about his fucking ex-girlfriend, you know? Like, that's an important guy to have. Yeah, yeah. Again, I love this movie. I love Favreau's writing. I love, like, Chef is one of my favorite movies of all time. I think he just makes really, really beautiful stuff. And on this budget, mm-hmm, I gotta give this thing a 5 too.

Steve

Yeah, yeah, 10 out of 10. I just love this movie.

Nic

It's not gonna hit for absolutely everybody. Don't think of it as a— this is relatable to mid-20s guys going out and trying to fuck, because it's not really about that so much as it is trying to overcome something and how your friends help you through it. So it depends on the lens you look at through, but just sit back and enjoy. It's visually nice and it's audible just absolutely beautiful.

Steve

It really is. And I think, you know, yeah, it's not going to be for everybody. I totally agree with you. But I got to be honest with you out there listening. If you are like, I think a lot of our audience is in basically the same boat Nic and I are in mid-40s, your dads, you were kind of, you know, you lived this life, if not in the mid-'90s, certainly by the early 2000s. It's going to hit. It's going to hit for you like it just is totally a lot of fun. So that was Swingers. That was 1996 for 2 Dads 2 Decades. Yeah. Nic, hey, I'm going To next?

Nic

Okay, so for 1997, uh, we're actually staying in the LA area. So geographically we're going to be similar to Swingers. Uh, thematically we're going to be a lot different. Uh, Swingers, you know, very kind of like lighthearted and, you know, it goes fast and everything. And this one, uh, gets a lot more in-depth and takes us to a world that, you know, a lot of people don't know about the, the ins and outs of. Not that it teaches, makes you an expert, but it just takes takes you into a different world that we're not used to and introduces us to a crazy amount of characters. Um, we're gonna be hanging out in LA, and we're gonna be hanging out with young Eddie Adams, Mark Wahlberg, as he finds a new job. He's a dishwasher, but then he finds a new job, and it's about him and his new job and all his new co-workers in 1997. P.T. Anderson's first big smash movie, an amazing movie.

Steve

Boogie Nights. Wonderful. I have never seen Boogie Nights. Oh, funny enough, I have seen Hard Eight, which is the movie P.T. Anderson did before Boogie Nights. That was a flop for a lot of reasons that weren't his fault. But like, yeah, have never seen Boogie Nights. Very excited to watch it. It's just one that passed me somehow. Yeah, I've never got around to it.

Nic

Okay, well, good. I'm excited about this.

Steve

All right, 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 2dads1movie.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. Once again, this has been Swingers, another episode of 2 Dads 1 Movie. I'm Steve. And I'm Nic. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll catch you next week. Thanks, everyone.