[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, this is Jen with a quick message before you listen to this episode of every rom com. As you may know, the show has been on hiatus for a while. We're back on a regular basis now, but this episode on LA Story was recorded almost a year ago in May of 2024. So if anything feels a bit dated, that's why.
Also, since we recorded this episode, Los Angeles experienced the terrible fires of January 2025.
We're doing a series of shows about Los Angeles based rom coms right now. And to honor Los Angeles, we'd like to invite our audience to donate, if you can, to one of the many organizations that helped Los Angeles residents during the fires and which continue to help the community in the aftermath. You'll find a list with some of these charities in our show notes for this episode and in the show notes for the rest of the episodes in our LA Stories series.
And now I hope you'll enjoy a fantastic episode on LA Story where we were joined by Los Angeles residents and all around great podcasters Chris Iannicone and Rob Lamorgis of the Get Me Another Podcast.
Hi, I'm Jen.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: I'm Sybil.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: I'm Chris.
[00:01:13] Speaker D: And I'm Rob.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: And you're listening to Every Rom com, the podcast where we have fun taking romantic comedies seriously.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: This week on every rom com, we're continuing our LA Stories series with the movie that the series is named after.
[00:01:28] Speaker C: We'll talk about Los Angeles stereotypes, past and present, and whether or not they're based in fact.
[00:01:34] Speaker D: We'll discuss the careers of Steve Martin and Victoria Tennant and we'll explore the.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Magical side of love as we get into the 1991 film LA Story.
Hey Sybil.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Hey Jen.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: I'm glad to be back talking about more Los Angeles stuff. Are you ready for round two?
[00:02:16] Speaker B: I am, and this is like one of my very favorite movies. So when you invited me to do this one, I could not have been more stoked.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Oh, that's great. I'm really happy about that.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: I quote this movie all the time to this day and I like started when I was a kid.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I watched this when I was a kid too. I can't wait to talk about our origin stories with this film. I'm really excited too though today because we have some more guests who are also from Los Angeles and it's going to be three Los Angeles experts and me. So looking forward to that. So today our guests are Chris Ianicone and Rob Lamorgis from the Get Me Another Podcast. They Get Me Another Podcast Explores Blockbuster films and the movies that followed in their wake and tried in one way or another to replicate their success. With each series, Chris and Rob begin by discussing a watershed film, and then over subsequent episodes, they examine the various similar films that came afterward. Chris and Rob are both LA based writers who met while working at Warner Brothers Television. And I'm just so excited to have them here today. I've been on their show also. Chris, Rob, we are so happy to have you here today and welcome to every rom com.
[00:03:22] Speaker C: Oh, we're thrilled to be here.
[00:03:24] Speaker D: Yeah, thanks.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I really enjoyed being on your show. I came on to do. We did get me another When Harry Met Sally. We did Forget Paris and French Kiss, and that was just such a fun experience.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: Oh, it was an absolutely delightful episode.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: Yeah, you guys run a great show too. You have so much information about all the movies and I just really admire it. I have to tell you before I ask you some questions, I listened to your, a bonus episode you had which dealt with the movie Labyrinth.
You found stuff out about. You noticed something about Labyrinth that I swear to God, I've never noticed in, like, years, decades of watching this movie. And I thought, watching it closely, I never knew that in the beginning in Sarah's room, there was some kind of scrapbook and you could see something about her mother and like a guy who looked. Who was David Bowie in the scrapbook, like, blew my mind.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I, this, I mean, I've been. I saw Labyrinth in the movie theater when, when I was fairly young and I have seen it many times since. And this was the first time ever noticed that. Like, it was like, oh my goodness. It felt like unlocking, you know, the Rubik's Cube puzzle of that movie.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Yeah. No, seriously, like the fact that you found something about Labyrinth that I have never noticed. As a Labyrinth mega fan, I'm just, I bow down to your, you know, observations and your research. So. Yeah.
[00:04:41] Speaker C: Oh, well, thank you very much. That was a great. We enjoyed that because. Oh, God. Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal, which is also. That was our other one on that episode and enjoyed it so much. Oh, my God.
[00:04:51] Speaker D: And. And I think that this is also an advertisement for getting the 4K disk where you can see those kinds of details.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Oh, man. Yeah, I haven't, I haven't gotten that fancy yet. Maybe I should. Yeah. So I always ask people who are podcasters that come on our show, how did your podcast actually come together?
[00:05:11] Speaker C: Well, I, I, you know, was thinking to myself, I'm like, there are not that many podcasts out There about movies. And I said, well, being that there's just. It's. It's. It's. There's just not many of them. I should start one.
And. And, you know, I'm kidding, obviously. But, like, that was actually the thing was I wanted to do a podcast about movies. I like movies and I enjoy hearing myself talk, so it seemed the natural fit. And. But what I wanted to do was find a concept. And I was talking with Rob one day, and we were just you know, kind of just. We're just talking about it, and I was just. I suggested doing one about the movies. Came in the wake of other movies, and we just sort of like a light bulb went off and we were just like, I think this is the format for us.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Yeah, nice. It's like finding a new angle in this crowded podcast field can be a real challenge. And I think you guys found a great one.
[00:06:08] Speaker C: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: And so you've done a lot of different series, as we mentioned. You did get me another When Harry Met Sally with a lot of rom coms. You've done. Get me another Raiders of the Lost Ark. You've done some horror movies, like, get me another another the Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Well, technically, giallo, but, you know.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: I wonder, though, I want to know, though, like, what have been some of your sort of favorite discoveries through these series?
[00:06:33] Speaker C: Oh, goodness. There have been so many. Because, you know, many of the movies that we watch for the show would be considered what you might call knockoffs. But some of them are so interesting and fun in their own right. Like, I think one of our earliest discoveries was part of our Star wars series, and it's kind of this Italian Star Wars Conan the Barbarian hybrid called the Hunter from the Future. And is it the most polished film you're ever gonna see? It is not. But it's so full of joy and enthusiasm, you can't help but find it endearing.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Nice. Was it hard to find the movie you're the Hunter from the future, or was it, like, hanging out on tubi or something?
[00:07:16] Speaker C: Well, I had it on Blu ray for just this kind of occasion. Occasionally, I'll just buy movies for the future. I'm like, well, you know, it's a movie called you're the Hunter from the future. How could I say no to that? And so then I had it ready, you know, ready for the. Just this sort of thing.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Nice. You never know when it'll come in handy.
[00:07:34] Speaker C: Absolutely. You never know when physical media will come in handy.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Rob, did you have any you'd like to add? Any discoveries?
[00:07:42] Speaker D: Oh, yes. I was thinking that recently, as part of the Hard Days Nights series that we did, we watched a film, Roberto Carlos Emritmo de Aventura, that showcases the Brazilian musical legend Roberto Carlos, whose career is still going. And the guy's voice sounds amazing. But this is a movie that I had never even heard of. And it just came up in the research for the series. And I have to tell you that it is a joy and a wonder. And we had to get an old DVD copy. I'm going to try and get. I know some people have access to Blu Ray companies. I want this movie to come out in the States on Blu Ray.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:08:27] Speaker D: Yeah, it is, everyone.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: It's a joy and a delight. Oh, my God.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: One thing that I find interesting, given that you do a show about movies that are kind of, like, inspired by other movies, we're living through an age where studios are kind of milking intellectual property, like, for all the money they can get. So they're like, saying, get me another. Like, about, like, things like board games and old TV shows in addition to just, like, successful movies. I'm wondering, like, in this age where a lot of things are already knockoffs, are there some original movies that you see that might inspire, you know, future copies and future series?
[00:09:01] Speaker C: Well, off the top of my head, I feel like that John Wick is a recent movie that seems to have already inspired. Like, we're in the midst of that wave and we almost did a John Wick series, but we weren't able to work it out. And at some point we're going to come back to it because there's clearly a lot of John Wick style films out there.
[00:09:21] Speaker D: And another one that it's a trend that we are still riding the wave of right now is Knives Out. And I guess the precursor would be the Branagh Murder on Express. It was kind of. We often find there's a one, two punch where two films are successful, but most of this wave seems to be styled after Knives out in particular.
So in any case. And that one will be fun.
Sometimes it's weird to find myself rooting for a trend to die so that we can actually tackle it. But I'm enjoying this one. It can go a little longer. It's okay.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: You know, I saw somebody on Twitter the other day who said that we need a. The next Knives out needs to be a Muppet crossover. And I would watch that. That's what I need.
[00:10:10] Speaker C: Honestly. The Muppets can do anything, anything. Like it's there. There's.
I don't know why there aren't more Muppet movies than there are, because if.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: There were too many, then there would be glut, and there wouldn't be. They wouldn't be as good. But the Knives Out One crossover, John, that would be as. That could be as good as a Christmas Carol.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: You know, I wish that had been my idea, but it wasn't. If I find the person who tweeted that the. I will put that in the show notes.
[00:10:35] Speaker C: But, yep, it's better than my idea, which was Muppet Crime and Punishment, but no one was buying that.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Oh, man. Someday I'll tell you about Mukbit Jack the Ripper, but not right now, so.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Well, okay. No, I'll tell you about it now, but I'll probably cut it out. I was watching a Michael Caine movie. A Michael Caine movie about miniseries with Michael Caine. Yeah. But the problem is, like, Michael Caine, Jack the Ripper. The sets look almost identical to Muppet Christmas Carol.
[00:11:03] Speaker D: That's amazing.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: It's 100% true.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: That's amazing.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: So it's just, like, what we really need. Here are the Muppets. Oh. Oh, here. This. My husband made this up. It's there. Wherever you find blood, it's Jack the Ripper.
[00:11:19] Speaker C: You should definitely not cut this out. It's fantastic. No, that's. I. I remember when that miniseries aired. It's great.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Okay, I have to dial us back, though, so we can make sure that we get this whole show recorded. So you guys are delightful, but we got to keep moving, so. Yeah. So I also ask people who come on the show, since we are a rom com podcast, what are some of your favorite rom coms?
[00:11:43] Speaker C: Well, we did a whole series of rom coms with the. With the When Harry Met Sally series. And. And there were just. So. There were a ton of great films in that. Off the top of my head, too, that I just. That really stood out for me were the cutting edge. I loved that movie. And My Best Friend's Wedding was just sheer joy. And outside of that, off the top of my head, I would say I'm a huge fan of the Goodbye Girl. The Goodbye Girl is a terrific movie.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: That's interesting.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: One of my faves. I grew up on that. My mother was in love with that movie, and so I watched it because my mom watched it on repeat over and over and over again.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Oh, my wife loves that movie, too.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: I mean, beautiful and sad at the same time.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Rob, did you have any rom coms? That you wanted to shout out or.
[00:12:27] Speaker D: So, yeah, I have a bunch.
[00:12:30] Speaker C: I.
[00:12:31] Speaker D: In making my thinking about this, it turned out that I was a bunch of older movies. I swear. I do like newer ones too, but I'm a huge fan of the Apartment, even though the male female relationship isn't quite modern in that. I also love Charade. I just think Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant are just have such great chemistry in that movie and it's so fun. And then, you know, Breakfast at Tiffany's, you know, you gotta fast forward through the racist androoney, but.
And you know, it may not quite qualify as a rom com, but there's quite a bit of humor in it. And then, you know, David Lean's Summertime with Katharine Hepburn, it's got all the, all the ROM you'll ever need. Also, you know, maybe slightly less on the. On the comedy. Although there is some.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: I think we have different tastes in older movies, but I definitely respect loving the older movies.
I'm not as big a fan of the ones you just mentioned, but I think Audrey Hepburn is certainly delightful. And yeah, we did Roman Holiday on our show and I love some of the older ones. I really like the Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers musicals these days. So all the respect for the older movies. Yeah.
[00:13:39] Speaker D: Oh yeah, those Rogers and Asteroid musicals are great.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So I also want to know what are some of your favorite movies about Los Angeles? Since we're in our Los Angeles series.
[00:13:54] Speaker D: And not every one of these would you strictly say is about Los Angeles. But I would say that Los Angeles is definitely at least a major part of the heart and soul of these movies. So one of my all time favorite movies, top 10 movie for me of any stripe is Repo man. And it's Los Angeles is 100% a character, even down to the let's go get sushi and not pay for it as their crime for the punks.
But Barton Fink, 500 Days of Summer, Chinatown and Blade Runner, if that can count for hellhole Los Angeles. Yeah, yeah.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Blade Runner 100%. I was just watching the documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself and there was a lot of good content about Blade Runner in that and a lot of great LA locations they used.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: Oh, Bradbury Building particularly.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:47] Speaker D: Which is also in 500 Days of Summer quite prominently.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Oh, that's right. That's right. And in an amazing episode of the Outer Limits as well, one of the great episodes of the Outer Limits and they've used the Bradbury Building to great effect.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: And how about for you, Chris, what are some LA Movies that you particularly love?
[00:15:07] Speaker C: Well, all of the ones that Rob mentioned, I'll add, I think one movie, one recent movie that I think has some just really great LA material is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Like you just, it's. I think about that movie and I think about sitting in the Cinerama Dome as the Cinema Cinema Dome comes up on screen and lights up. And I just remember the cheer going through the crowd when that happened. And it's just one of my favorite, like, LA movie memories, like watching a movie about LA in la and it was just fantastic.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: You made me jealous now. Now I feel really jealous because I did see it on the big screen, but I didn't see it like that. So. Yeah. Damn. All right, so it was really great getting to know a little bit about your movie tastes here. I want to know where can people go to find your podcast and. And to interact with you more about movies.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: Get Me Another is available wherever you listen to podcasts and we can be found on social media, on Twitter, Instagram, threads and Blue sky all at Get Me Another Podcast. And we love to interact, we love to talk to people and we just, you know, God, we love movies.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: So before we get started today, a few notes. First, as usual, we will have a spoiler free section, but due to the structure of this movie, we're going to start the spoiler section much earlier than usual, so be prepared. So listen up for the spoiler warning if you haven't seen LA's story, we'd.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Also like to remind you that you can follow the podcast on social media. Our Facebook page is every rom com podcast and blog. Our Instagram is very Romcom. Our Twitter handle is very romcom pod. And you can also find us on blueskyryromcom.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: And as always, you can find the
[email protected], send us
[email protected] and if you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: It does, it does. And finally, if you'd like to help support the show financially, we're always grateful to people who visit our Buy Me a coffee
[email protected] everyromcom. All donations go towards producing the show and it really does make a difference. And now we're gonna go ahead and listen to the trailer for LA Story.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: Yes, I'm calling for my car. Hang on just a second, let me get rid of this other call.
This is the story of Harris K. Telemacher God, I'm sorry.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: Are you.
[00:17:43] Speaker C: Oh, A man with a love story.
[00:17:46] Speaker D: You know, I thought that I'd show you around town a little bit, you.
[00:17:48] Speaker C: Know, you secret place.
[00:17:49] Speaker D: It's kind of a cultural tour of LA.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: That's the first 15 minutes. Then what?
[00:17:55] Speaker C: A magical story.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: And my brothers found out that you can generate electrical cards and rapids.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: A cultural story. Look how he's painted the blouse.
[00:18:04] Speaker D: Sort of translucent. You can just make out her breast underneath it.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: When I see a painting like this, I must admit I get a little emotionally erect. An LA story.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: Sheila.
[00:18:16] Speaker D: She's the one who's always kissing everyone hello. I hate that I'm not kissing anyone hello anymore.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: Steve Martin, first stop to six blocks.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: Let's walk.
[00:18:27] Speaker C: Walk a walk in la. LA story. I'm tired.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: My legs are cramping.
[00:18:36] Speaker C: We should forget this crazy idea. I mean, I could injure my gas pedal foot. And if this baby.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: All right. I find this to be one of the lesser trailers we've listened to on this show. What do you guys think of the quality of the. What do you think of the quality of this trailer? Do you think it's the sort of trailer that if you heard it, you would think, oh, I want to watch this movie is still la?
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Yeah, because if you know la, I think if you don't know la, I don't know.
[00:19:03] Speaker D: The other thing is this is a trailer for 30 plus years ago. And I think back then, if you put Steve Martin in the trailer, mugging around and you had that music on the soundtrack, that was gonna sell it, man.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah, the music is the part I dislike the most. Like, maybe I am just forgetting what it was like back in 80s, because. Yeah, we'll get to that in a bit. But Steve Martin was huge in the 70s and 80s. And I mean, this is 91, but 91 is practically the 80s too.
[00:19:32] Speaker C: So I'm gonna. I'm gonna be talking about that a little bit later because I think it's actually really important for this movie.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Okay, Just.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: Just a little, little preview of things to come.
[00:19:42] Speaker A: All right, so Ellie's Story was released on February 8, 1991. It is directed by Mick Jackson, it was written by Steve Martin, and it stars Steve Martin as Harris, Victoria Tennant as Sarah, Richard E. Grant as Roland, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sandee, which we'll get into how that is spelled later, and Mary Lou Henner as Trudy.
[00:20:06] Speaker C: So here's the basic premise for LA Story. Harris K. Telemacher works in Los Angeles giving a comedic TV weather report. He has an active social life, including a girlfriend, as well as a regular routine, which allows us to see the weird and wonderful signs of LA in the early 90s. When he meets a visiting English reporter named Sarah at brunch with friends, he's instantly drawn to her and he feels a sort of magic. This sense of magic increases when a freeway sign begins communicating with Harris, predicting his future and helping him to find happiness and love.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: So I looked for some interesting facts about this movie. I didn't find as much as I had hoped. Granted, I probably should have gone to the library earlier and hit the books, because apparently Steve Martin has a comic memoir that details a lot of the making of a lot of his movies. But. So there's probably more stuff out here, but here's what I was able to find so far. So Steve Martin was married to his LA Story co star Victoria Tennant while he was writing the screenplay. And there's a lot of articles out there that will say this movie was written as a valentine to her. But he told vanity fair in 2021 that he didn't write it as some kind of valentine. He said it would be romantic if I did, but it really was just a screenplay. Martin and Tennant were married from 1986 to 1994. So during the whole making and release of this film. And Martin conceived of the film when he noticed some freeway signs being put up. And then he thought to himself, what if the freeway signs, like, started speaking and only spoke to me? And he also thought the signs would be a perfect metaphor for telling you what would happen up ahead in your life. So I think that's great, like the kind of idea that you can have when you're just like, I guess, stuck in traffic.
[00:21:55] Speaker C: Totally.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: So Mick Jackson was brought in to direct the film because he was an outsider and specifically because he was British for his perspective on Los Angeles. Mick Jackson told Los Angeles magazine that before he started working on the movie, he hated la. He said, quote, I thought it was vulgar and showy and trashy and shallow.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: I mean, all those things are correct. Yes.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. There's truth in all of that. It is other things as well.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:22:24] Speaker D: I like to say that the cliches about LA are true, but only about 10% of the city. It just so happens that's the 10% that if you've never been here, you're probably spending all of your time in.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: So, yeah, Martin Jackson did change his mind, because Martin took him on a tour of Los Angeles and he said it opened his eyes to The City. And Mick Jackson eventually ended up moving to LA with his family and lived there for 30 years. So in the special features on the LA Story dvd, Jackson said this about his attitude to la. Now, I love it here.
I love also the sense of optimism about the place. It is almost a place of magical opportunity. Los Angeles seems to be saying to the people who live in it here, you can do anything. And this movie is saying the same thing here. You can be what it is in your nature to be, end quote. So I think that's. That's really beautiful. And I think you see both sides of LA in this movie, like, both of his kind of feelings.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Definitely.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: And this movie is also another. Is important because it is one of the movies that introduced Sarah Jessica Parker to the world. She credits LA Story as the movie that changed her career. She said she thinks she wouldn't have gotten Honeymoon in Vegas or Sex and the City if she hadn't appeared as Sandy in this film. I keep saying it's Sandy. She just pronounces it Sandy, but she.
[00:23:45] Speaker C: Doesn'T say it any different. It's just how it's spelled.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: It's funny because prior to this, she wasn't like the sexy girl. Like, she was like the nerdy character. Like, think, like, girls just want to have fun. And even though she's the main character in that movie, she's the nerd next to Helen Hunt's cool kid.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And then she's in Footloose as the kind of supporting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She said that Steve Martin, like, she was surprised that she was cast against type, kind of like as not, I guess, the quote unquote bimbo or whatever. But she was very pleased because she received a lot of pressure to change her look. So she was really grateful to Steve Martin for kind of seeing her that way.
And I mean, she is hot. Like, I don't know.
[00:24:28] Speaker C: She looks great in this movie. Her hair is incredible in this movie. My goodness.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: So she doesn't.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: I don't really think Sarah Jamar, like, she's not a person who I'm like, she's an amazing actress. And then I actually, like, watched this again, and I was like, you know what? She's incredible when she wants to be.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker C: And when the script gives her the material to be incredible with. Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:51] Speaker D: And she just really. Her comic timing is so great. And I love the fact that she pretty much. I don't know that she ever stops moving in this film. She's always moving in Every scene.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: That's right.
So Ellie's Story, the movie shot for 57 days, and it shot in at least 87 locations. There's some disagreement about how many locations, but apparently at least 87 different locations. And I wasn't able to find a budget on the movie, but it made $28 million, which, you know, doesn't sound like much, but, you know, depending on the budget, that could have been just fine.
We can get into general opinion now if you guys are all ready for that. I remember seeing this movie when I was quite young. Like, I realize now that it must have come out when I was about 14. But I swear, I feel like I saw this movie when I was 10. But of course, that is literally impossible. But, yeah, I feel like this movie has always been with me. I don't really know how I came across it, but I watched it so many times on tape, like on vhs, and it, like, really formed a lot of my opinions about what Los Angeles must be like. And also, even though my father watched lots of Steve Martin movies and I watched SNL with him as well, I think this is probably the Steve Martin thing that I've seen the most and kind of formed my feelings on Steve Martin. And I've watched it every few years over my lifetime, and I always enjoy it. It's always a good time. So that's. That's basically where I come down on LA Story.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: It's interesting that you say that it was like, 14. I don't think I did any math. But I do feel like I've watched this forever. And I do. I know that I watched it at a time that was very formative for me, and I watched it. My sister is four years younger than I am, and she watched it with me. And we would have so many inside jokes with this film. And, like, just constantly into this day, it is the number one film that I will quote. No one will catch it. Except for once in a while, someone will look at me and I'll just, like, make eye contact. I'm like, you got it? You. You caught that?
[00:26:49] Speaker A: Okay, tell me, what is one of the quotes that you will do from this one?
[00:26:53] Speaker B: Twisted lemon.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: Oh, okay, that's like that. That's small enough that it would seem.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Like you have to say it the right. You're like, I'll. I'll also have a twist of leaven.
[00:27:01] Speaker C: I'll also have a twist of lens of lemon.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: I'll also have a twist of lemon. Right. For no reason. Just like, from when somebody makes, like, a really Weird order. I'm like, I'll also have a twist of lemon, and if somebody catches it, like, at the table or something, they'll just like, right on. I get that. I understand.
[00:27:15] Speaker C: Well, I'm gonna start doing that now.
[00:27:18] Speaker B: But, yeah, that's one of my favorite. That's one of my favorites.
[00:27:22] Speaker A: And any. Any other thoughts you have about Sybil, or should we.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: No, you can move forward. Let's go ahead.
[00:27:27] Speaker D: Yeah. I first saw this movie in the theater. I come from a Steve Martin family. He was beloved by everyone. Mom, dad, my brothers, we all saw every. The first Steve Martin movie I remember seeing was the man with Two Brains. And then all the way through. And so I had not seen this in a long time, and I was a little concerned by the early 90s ness of it, how it was going to hold up for me. And I have to say, it held up like gangbusters. I just really loved it and I was surprised by how touching it actually is.
[00:28:04] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:28:08] Speaker C: Well, I'm going to shock everybody and say that my history with this movie begins Tuesday.
[00:28:16] Speaker A: No way.
[00:28:17] Speaker C: I had never seen this movie. I knew of it. I certainly knew of it. I think I remember the trailer. I remember when it came out, but it was the Steve Martin movie that I missed. Now I owned it because, you know, I bought it a couple years ago on Blu Ray for just this sort of occasion, as I tend to do. But it. So this was the opposite. This is the opportunity to see. So I'm coming in from the point of view, having seen it for the first time and thought it was delightful. Delightful and fantastic. There are some things in it that are dated to the era. There are some things in it that are absolutely forward seeing into the future in ways that it's amazing and we'll get to those. But I thought it was great.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: No, I really love it, actually, when somebody is on the show and there's a movie that I think is wonderful and that they've never seen it before, and then by being on the show, they are able to see that movie. So that makes me very happy, actually.
[00:29:08] Speaker C: Oh, I'm glad.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: And also, I think when you bring a fresh perspective, you might see things that we have missed. So I'll be interested to see what you have to say about it.
[00:29:16] Speaker C: I knew Rob had seen it, so I felt comfortable coming in as. Oh, I'm the one who hadn't.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah.
[00:29:24] Speaker D: No, I got your back, Chris.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Yeah. I also introduced somebody to the music band with our podcast, which made me very happy.
[00:29:31] Speaker C: I have Never seen the music.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Okay, travesty.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: Another time. We'll talk. We'll talk about that another time.
[00:29:37] Speaker C: Hey, you know what? Every movie you haven't seen is an opportunity to experience something that could be new and wonderful. It's never a bad thing. It's always an opportunity.
[00:29:47] Speaker D: I grew up in Iowa, and if you do not watch the Music man yearly, you are murdered.
They just, they just put you into a mass grave and they're like, no, it is not Iowan anymore. Let's get in there.
[00:30:03] Speaker C: Sorry.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: They, like, take away your badge and like, no, get out.
[00:30:07] Speaker C: You guys have badges in Iowa, the.
[00:30:10] Speaker D: First thing is they take away your corn. You can no longer eat corn with your dinner or your lunch. But breakfast corn flakes are still it. That's a loophole. Yeah.
[00:30:20] Speaker A: Wow, that's. Thank you for my first snort of the episode.
[00:30:25] Speaker D: There you go.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: So I am glad. It sounds like everybody likes the movie very much, which is good. I never mind if people have a contrary opinion, but I think it would make me a little sad if somebody really didn't like Ellie's story.
[00:30:37] Speaker C: No, it's just so charming and fun. I mean, it's, it's. And, and as, as Rob said, it's got depth to it. It's not, you know, it's not just, you know, it's not just a fun trifle to watch. It's got some. Some heart to it.
[00:30:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And so does Steve Martin. Speaking of, like, we're now going to talk about the cast and crew, and I learned a lot about Steve Martin, and I'm still reeling from all the things I've learned about Steve Martin. So apparently, in addition to being an actor and a comedian and a writer, which I knew about, he is also a magician and a musician. Not just a musician, a Grammy Award winning musician. Did you all know this? And I'm the only one who doesn't know this.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: I've seen his. I've seen his music.
[00:31:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:19] Speaker D: Amazing virtuoso, I believe, on the banjo.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: Yeah. This guy does everything. So. Yeah. So he was born in 1945 in Waco, Texas, but his family moved to California when he was pretty young and he grew up in Los Angeles. He started working at Disneyland as a kid. First he sold the Disneyland news, then he worked in a magic store. And eventually he began performing magic, music and comedy at Disneyland. So he was performing quite young, which is kind of cool.
He then went to Long Beach State College and ucla. And initially when he was in school, he was studying philosophy. So there you've Got that depth to Steve Martin right away. Before and during college, though, he was still performing. He performed music, magic and comedy both at nightclubs and for community groups. And then in 1967 he got a job as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. And he actually ended up winning an Emmy for his work on that show in 1969. So he was getting started young winning awards.
During the 70s, Martin wrote for variety shows and performed comedy on late night shows as well as in clubs. And in 1976 he had a big breakthrough when he appeared on Saturday Night Live. After that, his standup shows became even more successful and he released several Grammy Award winning comedy albums. Let's Get Small and A Wild and Crazy Guy. And Let's Get Small was also the first comedy album to go platinum.
[00:32:45] Speaker C: Really?
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:47] Speaker D: Oh, wow.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I learned a lot of this. I watched. There's a documentary right now.
Let me see the.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: It's on Apple, I think.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's on Apple. It's Steve. A documentary in two pieces. And so I learned a lot of information from that documentary. If you're a big Steve Martin fan, I think you'd really enjoy it. Although I am going to give you a lot of highlights right here as well.
Yeah. So then in 1977 he wrote and starred in his first film, which was a short called the Absent Minded Waiter and he was nominated for an Oscar for that as well. So he's already getting a lot of awards attention kind of early.
[00:33:21] Speaker D: And that was also the year that he published his collection of essays and humor, Cruel Shoes. And we had this growing up in the house and I highly recommend if you're a Steve Martin fan, to track down Cruel Shoes. It's a fun one.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: Nice. I like that you grew up in a Steve Martin house. It's fantastic.
[00:33:41] Speaker D: I have his two stand up records on vinyl thanks to my mother. Yeah.
[00:33:49] Speaker C: Oh, that's great. That is great.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: So Steve Martin then started getting into movies a little bit. He had supporting roles in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which. Did you guys cover that in your latest series?
[00:34:01] Speaker C: Probably we have not, but we are going to do it on a bonus episode.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:34:05] Speaker C: It's a little outside the timeframe we were doing, but we are definitely going to cover it for sure.
[00:34:11] Speaker A: Say hi to Steve for me there.
And then he was also in the muppet movie in 1979, which is probably the first.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: So great. In the Muppet Movie.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: Yeah. That's probably the first time I saw him.
[00:34:22] Speaker C: Would you care to smell the bottle cap?
[00:34:26] Speaker A: Then of course, later in 1979, he starred in one of his most well known films, the Jerk, which he also co wrote. And while these movies were coming out, his solo standup show was this huge success. Like, apparently he performed for audiences of like 45,000 people, which is.
[00:34:43] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:34:44] Speaker A: Astonishing. Yeah, when you watch that documentary, you can see some of these crowds he performed for. And he was performing this kind of like, kind of magic show inspired in a way, comedy with like these like arrows through his head and bunny ears and magic tricks interspersed with his comed and a lot of physical comedy. So it was kind of playing to a large audience, so it was really interesting to see that. I had no idea he was as successful as he was as a comic. I knew him from the movies, you know, and let's see, he. But he actually stopped doing his standup show in 1980 and then he just moved into the movies. So I think we all know like his 80s movies, right? Like, yeah, he. He wrote and starred in a lot of his movies, including Dead Men, Don't Wear Plaid, Three Amigos and Roxanne. And he also starred in movies where he didn't write them. All of Me, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Parenthood. Do any of you guys have favorites among those?
[00:35:36] Speaker C: Oh, those are. That's. What a great lineup. Roxanne was the Steve Martin movie that I really remember watching a lot. I think it was on HBO a lot when I had, like when we first got hbo. So it was a movie that I just. I watched over and over again. And you know, that that's. It feels like a precursor to this because it's that. That romantic comedy, it feels like LA story is sort of an evolution from Roxanne. I also love Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with all of my heart. Oh my God.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: Father the Bride isn't on here, but that's one of my favorites.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: Oh, that's. Cause it's in the 90s, babe. We're getting. There you go.
[00:36:10] Speaker B: I don't know. They're all the same to me. That's the one. That's my favorite of all of his films.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Nice, nice.
[00:36:15] Speaker D: And I am a Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid man. I actually got to see it at the New Beverly with Carl Reiner was there before he passed and it was.
You know, they show a lot of old movies here, but that. That was kind of a weird bucket list. 1. But three amigos and dirty Rotten Scoundrels also are just hilarious.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it was a great run.
So during the 80s. Also, Martin, as we mentioned, met Victoria Tennant, his first wife, and he met her while filming the movie all of Me. Ellie's Story was Martin's second movie in the 90s after my blue Heaven, which I particularly like. My Blue Heaven. It's kind of fun.
[00:36:56] Speaker C: I love My Blue Heave.
[00:36:58] Speaker D: Great, great movie.
[00:36:59] Speaker C: My Blue Heaven. I saw that in the movie theater back in the day.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: Nice. And then, as Sybil mentioned, in the 90s, Martin starred in Father of the Bride. And then there was the Father of the Bride sequel as well. He was also a mixed nuts and house sitter. He also wrote and starred in A Simple Twist of Fate and Bowfinger. Oh, yeah. I just also wanted to say my in laws really like Bowfinger. For some reason, I. Bowfinger's a fun movie. Well, it's weird because they're like evangelical Christians and they were like. And we went to the house and they were like, you really need to see this movie. And I'm like, well, okay. And then we watched it. I'm like. I was looking at my husband like, what? They like this movie?
[00:37:37] Speaker C: That is. That is. That. That does not track. That is. That is a surprise.
[00:37:42] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know. They really like Chubby Rain.
[00:37:44] Speaker C: That's all I. Chubby Rain is so good.
[00:37:46] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[00:37:48] Speaker C: Okay, now, that was my first snort of the podcast.
[00:37:54] Speaker D: And this. I think I'll say it because I think it applies a little bit to this movie, too, when you get to Richard E. Grant and some of the other performances. But, I mean, Boatfinger, he wrote a movie for himself and said, yes, Eddie Murphy, come in here. How many comedians have enough confidence in how funny that they are that they go, no, I want Eddie Murphy in the movie I wrote for myself.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: Absolutely.
So in the 2000s and the 2010s, his movie career slowed down a bit. Some of the better known work he did included Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel, Pink Panther and its sequel, It's Complicated, and Shop Girl. And in the Case of Shop Girl, he also wrote the screenplay for it, and it was based on a novella he wrote by the same name. So. Yeah. And in addition to writing Shopgirl, he's also written articles, other fiction books, a memoir, as you mentioned, Rob, a book of comedy. And he's also.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: I'm gonna step in for a second, too. Sorry. I also saw he wrote a play rendition of Shop Girl that showed at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles. I don't actually know if it went anywhere, but he does have it out there.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And he's written. He's written other plays too, like.
[00:39:04] Speaker B: Yeah, he's written a bunch.
[00:39:05] Speaker C: Yeah, There's a terrific play by Steve Martin that he wrote in the early 90s called Picasso at the La Pagil, which is incredible. It is just. It is just a great American play. Play.
[00:39:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I didn't write down all the specific names of them. Like, he wrote a bunch of plays and then he also wrote a musical called Bright Star with Edie Brickell and he got a Tony. He got Tony nominations for best book of a musical and best original score for that.
[00:39:32] Speaker B: So it's bluegrass. It's bluegrass based.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: This guy is like, so egot adjacent, though.
And then as we mentioned, he's also a musician. He plays the banjo. He's released several bluegrass albums and his album the New songs for the Five String Banjo won a Grammy in 2010 for Best Bluegrass Album. He's also won two other Grammys for his bluegrass music. So insane. And in addition, if that wasn't enough, he's also known as a fine art enthusiast and collector. In the documentary I was talking about, he called it his third priority after his family and performing and creating. There's this, like, anecdote they tell where they go to the National Gallery with Steve Martin and they kind of challenge him. Can you name all the painters on the. In this. This section of the gallery? And he goes through and names all the painters without looking at the. At the labels. He just knew them all.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:40:25] Speaker A: So, yeah. And in terms of his personal life, he did remarry again in 2007. He married his second wife, Anne Strinfeld. She's a bit younger than him, but the way they met was really cute. She was a fact checker from the New Yorker. They initially were talking over the phone and then they got together at a lunch with a bunch of other people. They were the only people to arrive early. And they both had the New York Times Times crossword puzzle. I find that adorable. So he also had a child with Stringfeld in 2011. So kind of late in life he got his family. And then also, of course, recently, most people know he's been working with Martin Short. They did a dual comedy shows together that we started performing those in 2015. And then they're in the popular Hulu show Only Murders in the Building with co star Selena Gomez.
There's just a few more things I want to mention. We've talked about Steve Martin for a while. This is going to rival the Gene Kelly biography that we did once. It was like 10 minutes.
He's also. Martin has appeared and written in several romantic comedies, and he told the LA Times in a 2021 interview. I think at heart, I am extremely sentimental, and romance has always meant a lot. The magic of romance. And I love that. I love it when we have a creator who embraces romance because it can be a genre that's kind of demeaned in Hollywood. And one of the reasons we started the podcast is to raise romance up as a wonderful part of our cinema, a wonderful and respected part of our cinema. So.
[00:41:46] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: Okay. We are moving on to Victoria Tenant, who played Sarah, who, if you remember, was married to Steve Martin at the time. Tenet was born in 1950 in England. So, I mean, London, England. So she was, you know, British. Her mother was a Russian prima ballerina, and her father was a producer and talent agent. So maybe like a little bit of a Nepo baby going on there. Legendary actor Lawrence Olivier was her godfather. Initially, Tennant followed in her mother's footsteps and trained in ballet. Tenet switched to acting, however, and her first IMDb credit is for the movie the Ragman's Daughter in 1972. Her most famous role prior to working with Steve Martin was in the TV miniseries The Winds of War, which was in 1983. But she appeared in a wide range of movies and TV shows, including such offbeat titles as Inseminoid Sphinx and IC Bin Dyne. Killer. Killer, which, you know, sounds like German.
[00:42:45] Speaker A: I need to see. I need to see. Ikbin died. Killer, like, kind of immediately. I don't know. It's really. It's a toss up between that and Inseminoid.
[00:42:52] Speaker C: I would watch them both.
[00:42:54] Speaker B: Yeah, right there.
[00:42:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: In 1984, she played a supporting role in the Steve Martin film All of Me. Tenet appeared in several other TV series and movies before LA Story, including the movie Flowers in the Attic. Oh, yeah.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: Oh, right. That was. She was the mother in Flowers in the Attic.
Yeah. Oh, my goodness.
[00:43:16] Speaker B: The miniseries War and Remembrance and the movies Whispers and the Handmaid's Tale.
[00:43:23] Speaker C: War and remembrance was the sequel to the Winds of War, so presumably she was the same character.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Tennant did not have many other notable roles in the 90s, but in 1996, she was the screenwriter on the movie Edian Peter, starring Stalker Channing and Jennifer Tilly. She also played a small role in the film. Tenet continued to act in the 2000s and 2010s, with scattered TV appearances on shows including JAG, Monk and Scrubs, which, you know, is what you did then. And the movies including the Awakening of Spring, Irene in Time, and Alex. And the list her most recent credits is for the movie the Bait 2021. Tenet also published a book about her ballerina mother in 2014. I bet that's really interesting. Interesting. Victoria Tennant married film producer Kirk Justin Stambler in 1996, just a few years after getting divorced from Steve Martin.
[00:44:14] Speaker A: Yeah, like, she had not a. Not a super, like, prolific career, but I'm glad that at least she got to be an ikbin dying killer. No, to be serious, though, you were.
[00:44:23] Speaker C: All like, wouldn't want to be in that. Honestly, that sounds awesome.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: But I love the way you guys were like flowers in the attic.
[00:44:30] Speaker C: You're like, oh, Oh, I. Yeah, like, yeah, for real.
[00:44:34] Speaker B: That was like a seminal, like, time for me when that came out. I mean, I think we all. I think we, we all read that book probably if we were teenagers, like, when we weren't supposed to, because it's about incest. And then you watch the show and.
[00:44:48] Speaker D: You'Re like, oh, no, I think that was at the front of B. Dalton for 15.
[00:44:55] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:44:56] Speaker D: It was just a paper bag. Yeah, I can. That cover is burned in my brain.
[00:45:01] Speaker C: V.C. andrews.
[00:45:03] Speaker B: Yes. V.C. andrews.
[00:45:05] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:45:05] Speaker A: Okay, so some other important cast and crew in the movie. We have Richard E. Grant, who plays Roland, who is Sarah's ex husband. And I gotta say, Richard E. Grant just plays such a wide variety of dudes who don't get the lady.
[00:45:17] Speaker C: Like, he's great. He's a terrific actor.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: Absolutely. That's always his part, though. Like, I always associate him with, like, the sad husband of Anais Nin and Henry and June. I mean, he gets the lady, but he also doesn't.
Or the sad man in Bram Stoker's Dracula. The sad. Why can't I remember the character's name? I've read this book a million times.
[00:45:36] Speaker C: Dr. Seward.
[00:45:36] Speaker A: Dr. Seward. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's always the sad dude who doesn't get the lady.
[00:45:41] Speaker D: I mean, Richard E. Grant has to be one of the only actors, unless I've blacked out on 10 movies, but who didn't make his bread and butter heyday based off the movie that made him most famous.
So I don't know that he ever played a withnail and I type character again. And this is certainly a million miles from that character.
[00:46:01] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:46:02] Speaker A: Okay, so other other cast and crew, we mentioned Sarah Jessica Parker who plays Sandy. Marilu Henner who plays Trudy, who's Steve Martin's girlfriend in the movie at the beginning of the movie. And I wanted to note the composer because I actually found the music kind of nice in this movie. But it turns out the composer probably is a Nepo baby. It is Peter Mellow Melnick, who is producer of the movie. David Melnick's son. I don't know. Do you guys like the music in this movie? I liked it.
[00:46:26] Speaker C: It was good. It suited the film.
[00:46:29] Speaker A: All right, let's get into the actual movie. We now come to, like, kind of the opening shot and opening images of the movie. And the first image is this beautiful light blue water of a pool. And then it kind of shifts to a view of the whole pool scene with the people sitting by the pool. And it says, Los Angeles, temperature 72 over the. On the screen. And this I found really interesting. There's now, like, a shot of a hot dog, like a giant hot dog being flown by on a helicopter. And did you all know that this was an homage to the opening of La Dolce Vita from Fellini? You knew this, Sybil?
[00:47:04] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: Like, I think even when I saw.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: This as a kid, I knew that.
[00:47:09] Speaker A: Really?
[00:47:09] Speaker C: I See, I did not know it as a kid because I didn't see it as a kid, but I did know it because I saw it, too. Tuesday.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: See, I had not. I've only seen La Dolce Vita once, and I just never connected the two things. And I didn't see it when I was a child. You saw the Dolce Vita when you were a kid, Sybil.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: Remember? So I'm gonna. Actually, I have nothing I've talked about that much. I hated commercials as a kid, and my family stole cable, so I only watched, like, hbo, Cinemax, and Showtime.
[00:47:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:47:37] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:47:38] Speaker B: Yeah. So from the age of, like, 10 on, I just. I watched so many things you probably should never have seen.
[00:47:44] Speaker A: Just to, like, also make clear, though, the homage. There's not a hot dog in La Dolce Vita, but in La Dolce Vita.
[00:47:50] Speaker C: It'S all the poorer for it.
Image is a hot dog flying to the air to open your movie. My God, it's beautiful.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: I was just going to clarify that rather than a hot dog in La Dolce Vita, it's set in Rome. So there's like, a big, giant Jesus being thrown. Flown by the helicopter.
[00:48:09] Speaker C: Well, there you go.
[00:48:10] Speaker A: So. So, you know, they were like, they're in Rome. They're like, should we have a hot dog, which is an American food, or should we have Jesus? We don't know. Chris thinks it would be better if we had a hot Dog.
[00:48:18] Speaker C: But, well, I mean, for Rome, maybe it should be like, you know, you know, gelato or, you know, something like that, you know, or, you know, just, you know, the pasta, some pasta flying through the air.
[00:48:30] Speaker A: This will be in the remake of La Dolce Vita, which will have an homage to LA's story.
[00:48:35] Speaker C: So I love this idea, I love this plan. I'm excited to be a part of it.
[00:48:41] Speaker A: So the hot dog is also supposed to represent the Tale of the Pup hot dog stand in Los Angeles. And we see that stand later in the movie.
[00:48:48] Speaker C: What I think is interesting about that, and I think this is sort of one of the things that is kind of key to this movie is that it plays off of this 50s post war notion of Los Angeles as the idealized expression of the American dream. And I think that is like, if you think about the opening of another great LA movie, LA Confidential, where they're selling LA as this ideal America. And if you grew up in the 50s like Steve Martin did, who was born in 45, he moved to California in 1950, that was all part of the dream. Like the ultimate culmination of manifest destiny. We've crossed the continent, tame the wilderness. We've gone as far west as you can go. And now everybody's got a house, a car and an orange tree in their yard. That's the California dream. And that doesn't necessarily exist in anymore in the A's, or maybe it never did, but it was the California that, that. That baby boomers like Steve Martin grew up with. That image.
[00:49:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And they're all sitting by a pool and waving at a hot dog. One of the symbols of America. So I see where you're going with that.
[00:50:01] Speaker C: What could be better?
[00:50:02] Speaker D: And Tale of the Pup is still in existence. And on their website is the still from LA story.
And there's nothing.
It is. It's still in West Hollywood. So it's on Santa Monica Boulevard. It is right at La Cienega.
[00:50:20] Speaker B: There you go, y'all.
[00:50:21] Speaker D: But also, the Googie architecture of Tale of the Puff is also super Southern California, super la.
[00:50:28] Speaker C: Yeah, that mid century Googie architecture, that's that California dream.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: Right?
[00:50:36] Speaker A: So over this whole opening montage, like beginning with this scene, opening image and then the montage, the song La Mer by Charles Trinet plays La Mer da da da da da da. Which is one of the things that's interesting to me is La Mer means the sea. Right. And there's a lot of water imagery throughout this entire movie. Movie. And a lot of water imagery in this opening Montage, like, there's constantly sprinklers in this. It keeps cutting back to other sprinklers and there's just tons of water imagery. I'll get into that more later. I think that's significant in some way.
[00:51:06] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. Like, and. And that the. The sprinklers making a paradise out of the desert.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:51:14] Speaker C: Sarah actually says it later in the film. She's like, Roland thinks LA is a place for the brain dead. If you turned off the sprinklers, it would turn into a desert. But I don't know, it's not what I expected. It's a place where they've taken a desert and turned it into their dreams.
[00:51:28] Speaker A: Wow, that was a good recall. I actually have a clip of that. I might still play it later, just in case. But you have it. You have the clip, you have the quote. Wow. So what else. What do you guys want to say about this opening montage? Like, it's a lot of different images of la. What stuck out to you in it?
[00:51:44] Speaker D: Well, I think in totality there are two things. Number one is this montage, because it's not.
[00:51:50] Speaker C: Not.
[00:51:51] Speaker D: It's mostly our reality, but not quite. It kind of sets the. This table for the whole, you know, it's not quite magic, magical realism, but it's at least adjacent.
[00:52:01] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:52:02] Speaker D: Okay. The other thing is just on another note, I moved to LA in 1997, so about six years after this movie came out. And look, the opening montage, it really does kind of capture the spirit of la, if not the total reality. At that time, you know, we didn't actually have Libra only parking signs. It was Gemini. Yeah, but it is.
LA is not this weird and goofy anymore. It used to be.
And. And look, it's not just me that I've gotten older, although I'm sure that's part of it. You know, I've talked to, you know, younger folks around here. It's just not the same.
A lot of that charm has been rubbed away. You know, you hear about. Everyone knows this about New York York. Right. And I think in la, it's kind of happened. And either no one noticed or cared because, you know, it's a city with.
That loves to pave over its own history. Maybe that's why. But this is really a time capsule of the LA that I moved to. And I think that's one of the reasons I love it so much.
[00:53:05] Speaker A: Yeah, the same thing happened with Portland. I lived there right before Portlandia and then post Portlandia. A lot of things changed. So, yeah, A lot of the time.
[00:53:13] Speaker C: I mean, for example, that clothing store that he goes to later in the movie where he meets Sarah Jessica Parker, that was an actual clothing store that they obviously shut down and redressed. But it's a save on drugs now.
[00:53:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
Anything else anybody wants to say about the montage or that part of the opening?
[00:53:33] Speaker B: I like when all the. When all the cars come to the four way stop and then they wave at each other and then they hit each other. Because that is absolutely LA.
[00:53:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:53:44] Speaker A: I would not expect that. Okay.
[00:53:46] Speaker B: Yeah. 100%. Like, people are like, I'm. No, you go. No, you go. None of us know how to use these stop signs. We're all so nice. And then, oh, well, if I can go now, I will. And then y'all hit each other.
[00:53:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good image. And shot from above as well. It's very artfully shot, this montage as well. So post montage, we find out about Steve Martin's character. His name is Harris K. Telemacher and he is narrating.
He also narrates Shop Girl, his another movie he does. I think the narration works way better in this movie than it does in Shop Girl, though. I think it's fairly unobtrusive here.
[00:54:19] Speaker D: Yeah, I think the voiceover works well. I. I think it kind of fits with the overall a little dreamy feel to this thing.
[00:54:26] Speaker C: It also adds a subjectivity like this is. This is LA through Harris Telmacher's eyes. It's not necessarily the LA of reality.
[00:54:35] Speaker B: Reality, exactly.
[00:54:37] Speaker A: So one other thing, I'm going to talk about this a little bit more later. Introduce a little bit more about this later. But his narration partially opens as Harris claims that this famous Shakespeare speech from Richard ii, which was written about England, was actually written about la. He says this other Eden, demi, paradise, this precious stone set in the silver sea, this earth, this realm, this Los Angeles. And there's a whole bunch of Shakespeare stuff. I have a whole section where we can talk about that. But what's interesting to me is that Richard ii, this is a deathbed speech for the character John of Gaunt, and he's predicting a dire future for England. So I don't know, the War of.
[00:55:16] Speaker C: The Roses were coming up. And so, you know, Richard II was correct in that didn't go well.
[00:55:23] Speaker A: Yeah, like all the Shakespeare references Martin puts in his are from tragedy. So that. That is interesting to me as well because this is a comedy and, you know, pretty light magical comedy and it's all tragic references. So interesting. All right, so I want to talk about in how driving culture now is expressed in this movie because there's a lot of stuff about driving culture here. One of the first scenes in the movie, we see Harris get into his car amidst major gridlock and then he leaves traffic, taking a ridiculous and circuitous route through people's yards downstairs. We also see the 6th street viaduct make an appearance, which we saw, we talked about in our Grease episode. What do you all think about this part of the driving culture in the movie and other scenes that we see?
[00:56:06] Speaker D: True. It's all true.
[00:56:08] Speaker C: It's all true.
[00:56:08] Speaker D: Every single person who's driven a car in Los Angeles who has been in gridlock has looked at that sidewalk and thought my car could fit.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: There's also also. And through la, there is a lot of what I call alleyway driving where like, you know, all these weird back alleys that, that collect, that connect through the streets differently. And if you're willing to take potential, like tire damage, you'll do it.
[00:56:40] Speaker D: Oh, yes, absolutely. I do it all the time.
[00:56:43] Speaker B: Right.
[00:56:43] Speaker D: And.
[00:56:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, totally, totally. And you'll drive in that breakdown lane and just be like, you know, that third lane that is. So there's a lane, there's usually three lanes.
[00:56:51] Speaker A: Lanes.
[00:56:52] Speaker B: And there's one that has parked cars in it potentially. And it's called, like, you know, it's called the lane of death or the breakdown lane. And you'll. It also has like the worst potholes known to man. And you'll drive in it if, like, you have to because, like, you just need to get somewhere faster.
[00:57:09] Speaker A: So what is the longest any of you have been stuck in gridlock in LA?
[00:57:14] Speaker B: 3 and a half hours.
[00:57:15] Speaker C: I don't know, it's. It's something, something and I can't relive it. It's just, it's, you know, it's one.
[00:57:22] Speaker D: Of those things I would say the longest for me, because LA gridlock can go beyond la.
[00:57:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:30] Speaker D: There was an incident where I was coming home from Palm Springs, which is a sub two hour drive, right?
[00:57:38] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true.
[00:57:39] Speaker D: I was on. I was on that stretch, I kid you not, for 13 hours.
[00:57:44] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:57:46] Speaker B: I mean, I drove back and forth from Vegas, right. And that's a la. Vegas drive is very common. It's usually three and a half, four hours tops. And I've definitely been on the road for like nine and a half hours.
[00:57:57] Speaker C: Oh, God.
[00:57:58] Speaker D: The first time I drew it was from Phoenix. It was from Phoenix, not just Palm Springs.
[00:58:02] Speaker C: Oh. The first time I drove to Vegas, like An idiot with a couple of friends on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. I don't know how long it took us, but we were just so stupid. Why would we do that?
[00:58:12] Speaker B: My God, you gave up life. You did the thing where you had to abandon your car.
[00:58:17] Speaker C: Oh, God. Just to become a creature of the desert. Like, like, like the wastelands. Like a Mad Max.
[00:58:25] Speaker D: Chris, I have news for you. Yeah, yeah, it's true.
[00:58:28] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:58:31] Speaker D: Mega man.
[00:58:32] Speaker B: There is something we said like, like I have been to many other places and traffic is, can get bad lots of places. But LA traffic, I think, has its own uniqueness to it.
I, I will say, as somebody who has driven in other countries, that I think our traffic is actually a little bit more civilized. And not to be, not to say that Maybe in the 90s it wasn't. I don't know, but it's a little more civilized than other countries can be.
[00:58:58] Speaker C: I agree 100%. Right, 100% agree.
[00:59:02] Speaker B: But I mean, road rage in LA is something that, like, is a next level.
[00:59:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And that brings us to our next driving topic. There's a scene with Harris and his girlfriend Trudy where they hear that it's the first day of spring, and then Harris says an alarm. First day of spring, open season on the LA freeway. And everybody starts getting out guns to shoot at each other. So what do you all make of this part?
[00:59:26] Speaker B: That was a very 90s thing. So there were, there was, at that period of time, so many, like, shootings on the freeway. Like people would just be like shooting each other.
[00:59:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:59:36] Speaker D: I think there was even one of.
[00:59:37] Speaker C: The dated jokes of the movie.
[00:59:40] Speaker D: Yeah, I, and I don't know that he would make a cavalier gun joke like that to begin with, but. Yeah, no, it was also just very. Of the time period.
[00:59:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Now people on their phones, they can't be shooting each other.
[00:59:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:59:53] Speaker A: Oh, that's true. Can I ask a question, though? Like, were these shootings like, like, like based on people who already had beefs with each other or did they get a beef with each other on the road?
[01:00:01] Speaker C: No, it's like, you cut me off, so I'm going to kill you strangers.
[01:00:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:00:06] Speaker C: And it was a thing for like in the late 80s, early 90s. Like, it's also in Scrooged in that opening promo in Scrooge Freeway shootings, you know, blah, blah. You know, it's like that was a thing for a time and. Yeah, it's just, it's. Again, there's some elements of this movie that are a little dated. It's not to say there's not funny.
[01:00:24] Speaker B: But they are true for the time. They are like a slice of history.
[01:00:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Isn't there a gun pulled out in Clueless too? Doesn't somebody pull out a gun?
[01:00:33] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: In the freeway scene. Oh, my God. Okay, so let's see. And then we did talk about this a little bit, the culture of driving places instead of walking. There's a gag in the movie where Steve Martin, like, drives, like, two houses down in the car instead of walking. So where. What is the. What is. What are your all positions on this? Do you walk in la? Have you walked some place?
[01:00:54] Speaker D: No, no, no, no.
[01:00:56] Speaker C: Walks are really long.
[01:00:58] Speaker D: But what.
[01:00:58] Speaker B: Even if they're short, you don't walk in. Like, nobody walks in la. You just don't.
[01:01:02] Speaker C: If I walk, then I have to go back and get my car later.
[01:01:04] Speaker B: That's right. That's correct.
[01:01:06] Speaker D: You know where you walk in a city without a council that's constantly getting thrown in jail for corruption?
They don't keep the city nice. It's not a good walking city.
[01:01:20] Speaker B: So there's nothing to see when you walk. So, like, if you think about, like, a city, like, like, like a real city, right. When you walk, there's, like coffee shops and restaurants to stop in. And, like, look at. That's not how it is in la. It's just like. It's just like a bunch of, like, homeless people, trash, and apartment complexes.
[01:01:37] Speaker C: If, if you. You plan where you live very carefully, you can find little bubbles of walkability, like a Toluca Lake or.
[01:01:48] Speaker B: Or Brentwood.
[01:01:49] Speaker C: Toluca Lake, yeah, Brentwood, you know.
[01:01:54] Speaker B: Right.
[01:01:55] Speaker C: But like, for the most part, like.
[01:01:57] Speaker B: You know, even so those people are still gonna. They're gonna invariably drive their car. Yeah, they're probably not gonna walk very much.
[01:02:06] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. It would be a very limited circle. Like, it's a. Just if, you know, and, and. And there's only a few of them. It's not. It's not. I mean, you know, there's. It's better than other cities where you don't have those at all, I suppose.
[01:02:18] Speaker B: I think there's even a song no One Walks in la. Nobody Walks in la.
[01:02:22] Speaker D: There is only a Nobody walks in la.
[01:02:26] Speaker A: Literally, though. Literally. If it was like two houses down, you wouldn't walk, though, because that's the joke in this movie.
[01:02:31] Speaker B: I mean, I think that that's. That's poking fun at it. Very hard.
But, like, I mean, if you were five houses down or next block over, I'd drive.
[01:02:39] Speaker A: Okay, Okay.
[01:02:41] Speaker D: I have. My grocery store is a Boston or New York short walk away. I have walked there once in four years.
[01:02:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:02:51] Speaker A: Wait.
[01:02:52] Speaker B: My Trader Joe's is literally like four apartment complexes down. It's one block over. And I will only drive.
[01:02:59] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
[01:03:00] Speaker C: The only. The only things you're gonna viable.
The only things that are viable for me to walk to our gas station and a Wendy's. And the Wendy's is now closed for renovations.
[01:03:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:03:10] Speaker B: And yes, I will. I will drive to the Trader Joe's and brave the parking lot. Lot.
[01:03:15] Speaker A: Wow. Because Trader Joe's.
[01:03:17] Speaker C: Trader Joe's parking lots are. That's the real deadly place. Like that. Oh, my God. That. The Trader Joe's parking lots. It. It makes me doubt that liberals are good people.
[01:03:30] Speaker B: Right. And I will still drive there. And I live a block away.
Not even like half a block away.
[01:03:37] Speaker C: Oh, my God. They're terrifying.
[01:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So that just goes to show you how very little we walk.
[01:03:43] Speaker A: Well, thank you for illustrating this point. I think you've all made illustrated this very well for those of us who live in, like, other parts of the country where we walk all the time.
Okay. So we'll now move on to another topic that is poked fun at in the movie, which is weather. And we. We see this via, like, tell Harris K. Telenreaker hosts the wacky weekend weather on the station K Y O Y.
And yeah, the joke basically is that Ellie is always sunny and warm, so there's no need for him to give a serious weather report.
Yeah. And later, there's a report he does where he asks a guy what he did when the temperature was 58 degrees.
[01:04:22] Speaker C: 58 degrees is cold. 58 degrees is cold.
[01:04:26] Speaker B: 100%. So when I watched this as a kid and I grew up in San Diego, so I was in la, but I was in San Diego. Go. I was like, 58 degrees is cold. You got to bring your cats and dogs in. They'll die.
[01:04:37] Speaker A: I'm from Wisconsin, by the way, for context here. I live in Wisconsin.
[01:04:41] Speaker D: Yeah. I. I grew up in Iowa. I mean, I no longer need winter. Ever.
I will be the bummer person and say that some of this, the not needing a weather person, it just doesn't play the same because of climate change.
[01:04:59] Speaker C: There is. There's true. That's true.
[01:05:01] Speaker D: The weather in this city is so different. There used to be two weeks that were unpleasant, and then it literally was. It felt like the rest of the year was 72 and sunny, and now, like, it's all bets are off. You know, hurricane.
[01:05:17] Speaker B: Yeah, we had a hurricane this year, 100%. Oh, yeah, we had snow like three years ago in Burbank. Wow, that stuck. That stuck to the ground for, like, overnight.
[01:05:27] Speaker C: I mean, that said, you know, LA weather is still nicer than most. Like, I. I refuse to buy a new winter jacket. Like, the one I wear is literally 25 years old. And the reason I keep it is, like, I wear it once a year when I travel back east because I'm from New Jersey originally. I travel back east during the holidays to see family. That's the only time I ever use it. I never need it here. I have light jackets that I wear, but I'm not, I'm not investing in another winter coat. I don't need that.
[01:05:55] Speaker B: Okay, agree.
[01:05:56] Speaker D: I'll put it in Midwest terms. I only ever have to put on a barn coat at the coldest.
[01:06:04] Speaker B: As somebody who lives in Las Vegas now, and it's. I think it's interesting, as when I live in Las Vegas at part of the year is that people be like. I'm like, this place is a hell hole. I don't understand anybody who chooses to live here, except that it's cheap. And they're like, but you can't beat the weather. I'm like, yeah, you can. It's called Southern California. And they're like, oh, yeah, but that doesn't count town. So the weather in LA is very special, Is that what I'm saying? LA weather is very special. And the idea that you, you know, would be a weatherman there, I mean, it's probably not as hard to be a weatherman there as, say, maybe other.
[01:06:35] Speaker A: Places, but like Rob said, maybe changing. Yeah, I noticed you had that hurricane. Was that, was that coinciding with There was some kind of flood. I remember reading we had so much.
[01:06:44] Speaker B: Crazy weather this year.
[01:06:45] Speaker C: Yeah, it's been. It's been insane. Yeah, it's been insane.
[01:06:47] Speaker B: Yeah, like flooding, flooding, flooding, flooding. So much flooding. A hurricane like thunder and lightning storms like we've never seen before. Like, you can, you can definitely tell weather, shifting, hail coming down, size of baseballs.
[01:07:01] Speaker C: So it's like brimstone is next.
[01:07:04] Speaker A: Yeah, essentially it's the movie. The Day After Tomorrow is starting to. Okay, that is happening.
[01:07:08] Speaker D: Well, and the hail of frogs that came down outside of.
[01:07:12] Speaker C: Well, there was that. There was those frogs staying under the thing at the gas station station for the frogs.
[01:07:17] Speaker A: Wait, what? Is this real, though? Or you.
[01:07:19] Speaker B: No.
[01:07:19] Speaker A: Okay. I'm so gullible.
[01:07:21] Speaker B: I'm sorry.
[01:07:22] Speaker C: That is a reference to another great LA film Magnolia.
[01:07:25] Speaker A: Yep. Oh, that's right. Okay, I gotcha. We're all on the same page now. All right, so let's move on to some another scene. We have a bunch of different sort of all these LA stereotypes hitting us at once. There is a lunch or brunch scene. I'm not really sure which it is. So this happens. A little background of the scene. Harris goes to pick up his girlfriend friend Trudy for lunch. And one of the jokes here is that everyone arrives late and Harris is literally the only person who wants to be on time. He come, we hear in the trailer he complains he doesn't want to kiss hello anymore, but then everybody kisses hello. And there's all kinds of these bizarre personalities at this lunch. There's this, like, movie critic guy who's really petty. There's a person studying the art of conversation who has no conversation at all. There's a guy who complains about everything. He plays the dad in 10 Things I Hate about you. I noticed. And Trudy is a stylist, kind of gift service kind of person. And then Sarah, the British expat, wanders into this scene. What did you take away from this lunch brunch scene with all these personalities?
[01:08:25] Speaker B: The first thing I want to say is that LA on time is a real thing, and it's almost.
[01:08:29] Speaker C: No, that is a real thing.
[01:08:30] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, they take it to extremes here where, like, you're like, I think it's like an hour late or something. But LA time, literally, Elian time, is 15 minutes late.
[01:08:39] Speaker C: Yeah. No, there's only one person who's truly on time in la, and it's me. And it is a vestigial tale of my Northeastern upbringing.
[01:08:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Midwest to Midwest, you have to be, like, five minutes early to be on time, so. Yeah, but.
[01:08:53] Speaker D: And I've learned when I get invited to parties, if I show up on time, I am putting the host out.
[01:09:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
[01:09:01] Speaker D: I am a burden because they aren't ready for anyone to show up on time.
[01:09:05] Speaker B: 30 minutes. You should. 30 minutes. If it's an event, like, 30 minutes late is what you should at least be.
[01:09:11] Speaker C: Yeah. You don't. You don't want to be the first person there. You don't want to be the last person there, but you don't want to be the first person there.
[01:09:16] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely not. Like. Like, you know, 30 to 45 minutes in is, like, where you should arrive. That's a good spot. So, like, this. This particular restaurant, I think, also shows because it has. It's like an outdoor Eating patio. And it has all these, like, lush tropical everything. And I think it shows off a very, like, LA kind of style of eating as well. You can eat out all year long. Right. And it's all, like, catered to this, like, beautiful aesthetic.
[01:09:41] Speaker A: They did the lushness on purpose, actually. Mick Jackson. I'll talk about that a little bit later. But yeah, he. They. That was part of his visual theme that he wanted from the movie was to have a lot of these jungle y scenes kind of things going on. What about the earthquake? What do you all think? There's an earthquake in the middle of their brunch. Nobody's paying any attention except for Sarah, the expat.
[01:09:59] Speaker C: Absolutely. Real realistic.
[01:10:00] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:10:01] Speaker D: Real. Absolutely.
Yeah. It's. It's a little over the top. It lasts how it feels when. When you're in your first one here and everyone else has been here, that is how it feels to you.
[01:10:14] Speaker C: Right.
[01:10:15] Speaker D: But. Which is interesting because it puts us technically in Sarah's POV for maybe one of the only times in the movie.
[01:10:21] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:10:22] Speaker D: We're not in Harris's pov.
[01:10:25] Speaker C: Yeah, it's heightened because it lasts longer than earthquakes really do. But, like, it's accurate. And. And the big difference, like, if that was. If this was. If LA story was made today, the difference is they'd all be on Twitter immediately afterwards, which is. That is how I learn about 78% of earthquakes. Because a lot of times I don't even feel them. But I read it on earthquake Twitter. Thank you. Thank you, Earthquake Twitter.
[01:10:49] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:10:50] Speaker B: Yes. I'd be like, oh, my God, was there just an earthquake? There was. Okay. And I mean, I have. I mean, we all have, like, earthquake stories. Like, some of the bigger, some are small. But I always tell the story of. I lived in a really old apartment complex in Los Angeles that had not been what's called retrofitted, which means it hadn't been made earthquake safe yet. And every time we had an earthquake, and even if it was like a very small one, it felt like this apartment building was just gonna fall down. And I would just put my shoes on, and I was living with somebody who was originally from Maine, and he would freak out. It never got old where he would just, like, freak out. He's like, what do you do? And I'm like. He's like, should we stand in the door? I'm like, like, this part. My phone is just gonna fall down. Just put on your shoes. Because we're gonna fall down to the people below us and we just have to walk over their Dead bodies.
[01:11:32] Speaker A: That is dark, Sybil. Oh, my God.
[01:11:34] Speaker B: What it was gonna be like. Like, that's how it is.
[01:11:39] Speaker A: We're afraid.
[01:11:40] Speaker C: Dead bodies. But if you're gonna do it, you should have foot. Would you rather do it barefoot?
[01:11:45] Speaker B: Yes. You should have your shoes on.
I mean, in general, you just keep going.
[01:11:50] Speaker D: Yeah, clearly. We don't want to walk over dead bodies. We want to drive over dead bodies. Angelino's, for crying out loud.
[01:11:58] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[01:11:59] Speaker B: That is. That is correct. That is correct. But, like, yeah, most times there's like, an earthquake, and you just kind of like. You're like, is this an earthquake? Or is it.
[01:12:06] Speaker C: Is this an earthquake? Oh, my God. How many times. Hey, honey, is this an earthquake? Like. Yeah.
[01:12:11] Speaker B: Is it a truck going by? Is an earthquake. Is it like a. Is it. Is like a Mach 2 plane? No. Whatever. Go on Twitter or just keep working and it doesn't matter.
[01:12:20] Speaker C: Exactly, exactly.
[01:12:23] Speaker A: So more restaurants and food stuff in the movie. So one of my favorite things in this movie, and I'm gonna play a clip of it in a minute, but there's this hot restaurant in town called Lidio, and it is spelled like the French word the idiot. So. Which is, of course, the joke. This is the restaurant that everybody wants to go to, but it's impossible to get reservations. And Harris tries to get reservations at Lydio, at which point he has given a meeting at a bank with a. The owner of the restaurant, who is played by Patrick Stewart. And I'm going to go ahead and play a clip of this scene, which is a lot of people I know who love this movie. It's their favorite scene. So here we go.
Visa.
[01:13:04] Speaker C: And I have MasterCard.
[01:13:08] Speaker D: I think what Mr. Pardue is looking for is more than a promise to pay. I think he's looking for a kind of depth in your financial sea, so to speak.
[01:13:19] Speaker C: Let us make this easier.
Suppose you get a reservation, and let us. Suppose you come down to the restaurant and we honor it.
[01:13:30] Speaker D: What do you think you might order?
[01:13:35] Speaker C: Well, I might like to have the duck. You can't have the duck. You can't have the duck.
[01:13:42] Speaker A: Why, you think with a financial statement.
[01:13:45] Speaker C: Like this, you can have the duck?
[01:13:49] Speaker B: Where do you summer?
[01:13:52] Speaker C: What do you mean? Where do you spend your summers?
Right here.
[01:14:00] Speaker A: He can have the chicken. You can have the chicken.
[01:14:03] Speaker C: What about my date? I can't tell her what to order. Well, you can certainly urge her in one direction.
Look, either we go there and she.
[01:14:12] Speaker D: Orders what she wants, or let's forget it.
[01:14:18] Speaker B: That's that.
[01:14:18] Speaker A: Neither.
[01:14:21] Speaker D: All right.
[01:14:23] Speaker C: I like a little gamble.
[01:14:25] Speaker A: We can take you in.
[01:14:29] Speaker C: Eight weeks.
Hi, Sandy. Listen, every.
[01:14:33] Speaker A: All right, what do you guys think? What did you guys all think of this scene? And do you relate to it in any way? Are you fancy restaurant people?
[01:14:41] Speaker C: I am not. So I don't try to get reservations at places like that, but I absolutely believe that that that is the case. Like that this is how, this is how restaurants work. They want to see your financials first.
[01:14:58] Speaker D: Yeah. I'm not a fancy restaurant person on the high end, but, you know, I have gone out and la, the dining culture, the food's gotten better, but it is still very much a gimmick and new based restaurant scene to my eyes. I mean, there are restaurant groups that own a spot spot and they'll open a restaurant and it'll be packed and do well, and then three, four years later, they literally just shutter it and then start over with a new one. So it can be a new fad and go again.
[01:15:32] Speaker A: I mean.
[01:15:32] Speaker D: And I know there's a lot of turnover in restaurants in general, but LA is so gimmicky. Yeah, super gimmicky.
[01:15:39] Speaker B: And I would say if you were to redo this now with scene, it would be a matter of like, you drive by and there'd just be a giant line around a building and somebody walk up, like, what is this line for? And they'd be like, oh, I don't know. And you just get in line.
Right?
[01:15:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:15:52] Speaker C: Well, also, I think it's interesting, the restaurant, when they do go to that restaurant, the small portions of like that highly curated. Because, like, it's all a precursor to like the deconstructed food, like molecular gastronomy kind of thing that dominates. Fine. It's like, it's the thing that the movie, the menu was satirizing.
[01:16:10] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes.
And it does seem like very normal now.
[01:16:14] Speaker C: Like, yeah, this movie was ahead of the curve.
[01:16:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Like when the. Wait. The rapping waiter is rapping off a restaurant menu that I can only assume is supposed to be kind of like cheeky, like a joke. He talks about spicy guacamole, goat cheese pizza, artichokes. I remember when those things were all, like, weird to people, right?
[01:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:16:33] Speaker A: And now it's like, of course you're gonna have spicy guacamole. What are you talking about? I mean, I don't personally eat goat cheese pizza, but if it's on a menu, I'm not gonna think, oh, that's weird, right?
[01:16:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[01:16:42] Speaker C: I mean, it depends on the kind of pizza you get like a California pizza that, you know, that was pioneered by Wolfgang Puck has all these kinds of things that is different from New York style pizza, which, you know, in my house we're very traditionalist about.
[01:16:55] Speaker A: And I also like the Lydio experience. Like when we actually get to the restaurant eventually in this movie, not through Harris, but through Roland, Sarah's ex, there's a Chevy Chase cameo that's pretty great where he doesn't. He doesn't get the table he wants. And he's like, is this part of the new cruelty? And he's like, yes, I'm afraid it is.
[01:17:13] Speaker C: Yeah, that was, that was clear. The new cruelty was clearly a larger concept in the movie that. Because there's a cut scene with, with John Lithgow playing an agent that, that has a meeting with. And it also mentions the new cruelty.
[01:17:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know what that was, but I. But it's funny. I don't know if anybody has any insight on what that could have been referencing, but yeah.
All right. And yeah. Anything else about lydia, it's very 80s.
[01:17:39] Speaker C: The decor and everything feels very 80s.
[01:17:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:17:43] Speaker C: And I'm going to come back to that because I think it's important.
[01:17:46] Speaker A: Okay, well, we. Why do you have to come back to it? Is it.
[01:17:50] Speaker C: Well, I want to, as we get into the film a little bit more. I want to. I don't want to. I don't want to go too. But here's the thing. I think this movie at its core is really about the transition from the 80s to the 90s.
And I don't know if this is the right place for it. So I don't want to.
[01:18:07] Speaker A: I don't want to expound. Expound. I'm interested.
[01:18:10] Speaker C: Well, so the movie was. Was shot in 1990 and it was released in 1991. And it's. So it's right on the cusp of that transition from the 80s to the 90s. And. And a lot of the, the subtle signs are about this transition from the vapid 80s to the ostensibly more serious 90s. And people that feel more attached to the 80s are the things that Harris has to outgrow over the course of the movie. If you look at Mary Lou Henner's character and the way Victoria Tennant's character are styled like Mary Lou Henner's character is of the 80s, Victoria Tennant's character is of the 90s. And that transition from one to the other is. I mean, that's the other restaurant they go to that's sort of prominent in here. Here is the Hard Rock Cafe. I mean, you don't get more 80s than the hard Rock Cafe.
And that was the original LA location. That was the first one in the U.S. it opened in 1982 at the Beverly center, which for a time was like the upscale mall in LA before being displaced by the Grove. And now it looks like a prison from a sci fi movie. And you know, it's, it's, it's like, it's so very 80s. But I think that, that, that transition, it's really interesting when this movie happens and that there's still a lot of these shadows of the 80s, but now you're, you're moving into the 90s.
[01:19:42] Speaker A: I think you've hit on something very important there. Yeah, I totally agree.
Yeah, we're kind of coming to the end of the section where I wanted to primarily talk about like sort of the LA stereotypes and parodies in the movie. Are there any other examples of kind of LA cliches that you want to bring up? The random things that you notice throughout the movie?
[01:20:02] Speaker D: One big thing. And you know, some of this may come as we go, but there is a real divide based on your micro neighborhood. Yes, you'll see that a lot with Sandy, who, when we get to her place, it's, it's down in the old Venice area. Venice now in Los Angeles is tech, bro, you know, heaven. Heaven. So it is not, not that, but Sandy's Venice is still the Venice of, you know, Jane's addicts diction and Red Hot Chili Peppers and surfing and, you know, weirdos on the boardwalk. And that is far different from, you know, Harris's, you know, manicured. It's in the city, but it feels kind of that suburban. You know, you're, you're away from everyone and so, and I think you get that a lot with, you know, some of the different characters as you go through this, that their personality is almost zip code based.
[01:21:01] Speaker C: Totally, totally. I 100% agree. Louisiana is a lot of little enclaves stitched together, pretending it's a city.
I mean, it is a city, but it's, it's like, it's like, you know, the kids in the raincoat pretending to be in a adult. It's just all these little, it's all these little places and they're all interest. Like there's a lot of interesting. I like living in la. It's a lot of interesting, but it's not always cohesive.
[01:21:30] Speaker A: Sure.
One more question I want to ask, and I was going to maybe put this at the End. But let's just put it right here. If. And I just name one or two. Okay. We'll have to limit ourselves. If they were going to make a movie about la, like an LA Story remake today, what are some stereotypes about LA that you feel they would have to put into the movie or that you would like to see featured?
[01:21:52] Speaker B: I would do. Like, we were just talking about, like, all these, there. There's all like these little micro cities that people don't want to go to the other ones, like, it's like this big drama. Even if it's like right next door to yours because of the traffic and also just because the world we live in where we don't like to leave our homes anymore, like, it's just so much. It's just such a huge, dramatic thing.
[01:22:14] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, every time I have to think I live in the San Fernando Valley, and every time I have to think about going to the other side of the hill, like, it's, it's like, I got to plan that.
Like, oh, I guess I can do this while I'm there. Oh, you know, it's like, it's, it's a. It's an outing.
[01:22:30] Speaker D: The one I feel would be good to put in an updated L A story is no one's ability or everyone's inability to plan anything.
[01:22:40] Speaker C: Oh, God, yes.
[01:22:41] Speaker D: It's. It is always, oh, you want to go to a movie tomorrow night? And they go, maybe, like, what is going on here?
[01:22:51] Speaker B: Can I get back to you about that? Like, late, like closer to time. And you're like, tomorrow.
[01:22:56] Speaker D: Yeah, let's put a pin in that.
[01:22:58] Speaker C: What. What time do we wanna. What time do we want to get together?
I'll have to circle back to you on that.
[01:23:04] Speaker A: Okay. I hate to tell you guys, this is true in Wisconsin too, at least in the younger generations. This is also true here. This might be a nationwide phenomenon, I think. Yeah.
[01:23:15] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness.
[01:23:16] Speaker A: But I, I could imagine that it could be accentuated in la, especially when you're talking about these vast distances that people are traveling unwillingly.
[01:23:23] Speaker B: It's not even vast distances, it just feels that way. Oh, yeah, we'd have to talk about time. Like, so you don't talk about distance, you talk about time.
[01:23:29] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:23:30] Speaker B: It's not, it's not, it's not like how far you're going, but how long it's going to take you to get there.
[01:23:34] Speaker C: No question. Because thing about, here's the thing about LA freeways is they're actually laid out in a way that is logical and, and would get you where you want to go. It's not like, oh, I gotta. You know, it's gonna take me, you know, it's not. It's. It. They make sense. There's just too many people. Like, if there's nobody on. Like, that day after Covid came, when there was nobody on the road, it's like, oh, you could get anywhere.
[01:24:01] Speaker A: Anywhere.
[01:24:02] Speaker B: Yep.
[01:24:03] Speaker C: Why would you want to? But, like, you could.
[01:24:06] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:24:06] Speaker B: And then I have to do something about, like, people charging their cars because LA has a lot of Teslas and Prius. Like, not Priuses, the other ones. And, like, I think it's become a huge thing where, like, people have to, like, talk a lot about charging their cars and where they're charging the cars and how they're charging their cars. And this is, like, a thing. At least in the group of people that I. I am around. Around.
It's a lot of, like, I don't. Well, if I go there, I'm gonna have to make sure I spend time supercharging, and I need to find a charging station, and that one's broken.
[01:24:37] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah.
[01:24:38] Speaker D: And Harris would totally try to pull into a parking spot, and it would be marked charging electric only.
[01:24:44] Speaker C: Yep.
[01:24:45] Speaker D: 100%. And he would. He would have to move any other.
[01:24:50] Speaker A: Last trends or, like, in food or. Or going out or anything that anyone wants to mention before we move on.
[01:24:58] Speaker D: I guess the last thing. And this is many other places as well. But you would have to have weed and clouds of weed figure somehow in this movie, because it's everywhere.
[01:25:09] Speaker B: Just be eating gummies.
And you'd probably have to poke fun at Hollywood somehow, whether it's just like, you're like. You have that person who's always humble, bragging about who they know what they were at that you weren't invited to.
[01:25:23] Speaker A: Nice.
All right, so we're gonna move on now. Like, path. We can still bring up stereotypes if you want to bring something up, but we're gonna move on to the themes of magic and romance in the movie. And we'll do a little bit. Before we get into the spoiler section, just. I wanted to mention that the first meeting between Sarah and Harris occurs at this lunch scene we talked about. And I really like how the camera work and this sort of magical music on the score highlight that they're noticing each other, that they've set each other apart from the rest of the group. And there's also a little bit here where Sarah notices a newly married couple and another table, which gives it a kind of a magical Romantic feeling. And we find out during this lunch, or we find out right after this lunch though, that Sarah has come to LA and she's kind of thinking about giving it another chance with Roland, her ex husband. She seems kind of reluctant. Reluctant, but she's kind of going along with his idea. Anything anyone wants to mention about any of that?
[01:26:19] Speaker C: I think this movie does a very interesting and clever thing in this scene because it basically tells you what it's going to do specifically that it's going to position Victoria Tennant's character, Sarah, as this outsider who is, quote, unquote, more real than the other characters we meet in the film. And now from my perspective, that immediately puts my guard up because if I know that like the film is trying to position a character as more real or special in some way, I feel like it's got to earn it. And, and moreover, I, on general principle, am very pro Mary Lou Henner. So, like, it really, you know, you have to, you know, okay, but you can't just tell me that this person's special. You got to show it. And then it does it. From that first line where she's like, like, yeah, I'm shattered. But it's nothing but some sleep and a good fuck wouldn't cure. She's a delight. Like, you know, I keep thinking I'm a grown up, but I'm not. Okay, you got me. You totally got me.
[01:27:19] Speaker D: The other, I think, secret and this comes through the whole movie, but you get it here in a scene where, you know, Steve Martin and Victoria Tenet aren't really interacting with each other, but, but you get that chemistry. And I'm guessing it was because they were actually husband and wife, but I mean, it comes across instantly.
[01:27:40] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[01:27:40] Speaker B: Just.
[01:27:41] Speaker D: And you, I don't know, just in this scene after a couple cross cuts where they, they kind of interact at the beginning and then they're at the table and they, they look at each other once or twice. I mean, at that point I want them together.
[01:27:53] Speaker A: Nice. All right, so we are now going to begin the spoiler section of the movie. If you haven't seen the movie LA Story, you might want to like leave the podcast now and come back after you've seen it or if you don't care about spoilers. Hang on in here. All right, so the freeway sign is. The hu is a huge part of this movie. This is part of the magic of this movie, kind of the, the, the gimmick of the movie. So there's these freeway signs on the side of the highway. They mostly Say like what road conditions clear or something like that road clear up ahead.
[01:28:23] Speaker C: It will also tell you how long it will take you on the freeway to get to, to certain exit exits, like, you know, this far to the 405 and you know, they're really accurate.
[01:28:33] Speaker A: But in this movie, the freeway sign starts communicating with Harris. But the first time you actually see the freeway sign as being a magical object. In the movie, Harris and Trudy are driving to the lunch and Harris notices another man in a suit has gotten out of his car next to the freeway sign and is looking up at it. We only see the freeway sign saying freeway clear here. But after having seen the movie, you can imagine the freeway sign is saying something else to that man. Did you guys catch that as well?
[01:29:01] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[01:29:01] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:29:02] Speaker D: Yep.
[01:29:03] Speaker A: And then, then the first time the sign actually talks to Harris, he's returning from a shopping trip with Trudy where he first meets Sandy. The car breaks down and as Harris is trying to fix it, the sign says to him, hiya. And when Harris doesn't notice it, he says the, this freeway sign says I said hiya. And they have this interesting way that the sign kind of makes the words bigger and makes little sparks come out of it so that like Harris will interact with it. The other things he says during this one are, are you okay? But written out like letters. Harris doesn't understand the letters. This was not the texting generation. Then the sign says hug me. Harris hugs the sign and when Harris talks to him, the sign then says, I see people in trouble. And I see stop them. LA wants to help you. So that's the beginning of that interaction. I'm going to get into the last part of that in a second. What did you all think of this for you especially Chris? I'm interested in what you thought because this is your first time watching this movie. What did you think of this concept?
[01:30:00] Speaker C: I thought it was, I mean I, I, I knew of it like I knew I'd heard oh, the freeway sign in LA story. Like that's a, that's a famous thing. That's the thing people remember about this movie. But I thought it was great. Like I, I love the, you know, I just, just, there's something about that. It just, it, it, it again, it, it, I think Rob mentioned it touches on magical realism. I'm not sure it's quite like it's, it's adjacent to it.
And, and what's interesting is I, I looked this up. That location where they shot that is very close to where I happen to live.
[01:30:34] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:30:35] Speaker C: It's not on an actual freeway. It's on Burbank Boulevard in the beautiful St. San Fernando Valley. But like, I know that area. I take it all the time. Because if I want to go from one end of the valley to the other and the actual 101 freeway is congested, you could get on Burbank and there's this part where it's like a mini freeway.
[01:30:53] Speaker A: Yep, yep.
[01:30:55] Speaker B: So I lived on Burbank and Woodley. That's where my apartment complex was. So I lived right by this sign.
And I knew exactly, like when, when you said that, I was like, oh, I know exactly the sign you're talking about. What I thought was really interesting about this is that you move into this magical realism. You look at the backdrop setting. It's all drawn, it's not real. It's all like this hand drawn, like fake blinking lights. The moon is, you know, is like a, is a sliver.
And you, you're like, you. It's kind of like you're in a dreamlike state.
[01:31:26] Speaker A: Sure.
Yeah, for sure. And then the moon keeps changing. The moon is very prominent in this movie as well.
[01:31:32] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. And, and so it's. I, I think it's really interesting if you, if you go back to the beginning where, you know, you were discussing the fact that like, is this, this is narrated in like a dream sequence, almost like a dreamy kind of way. This is part of him. Is how real is this? Is it all in his head or is this really happening?
[01:31:55] Speaker A: It's really happening. I don't like the things that, where it's all in people's heads. I go with, it's really happening.
[01:32:01] Speaker D: But yeah, and I, you know, the sign says I see people in trouble and I stop them. Which, given the fact that when the sign is done talking with Harris, the car just restarts, makes me believe that this is the first of probably two times in this movie that the sign affects the outer world other than just talking to Harris.
And the first, you know, the first time here is very important because it gets Harris in conversation, which is starting to. Harris already has this itch, right? He, you know, he's already kind of taken a first step on the journey, but it's tentative and the sign or LA is really pushing him to keep going. Really.
[01:32:42] Speaker C: Right.
[01:32:43] Speaker A: Yeah. And then Harris has given his kind of assignment statement. It says, you will know what to do when you unscramble how daddy is doing.
Which.
Did you guys try to unscramble this before you? The reveal at the end of the movie or like, you just kind of.
[01:32:59] Speaker C: No, because I'm terrible at those kinds of things.
[01:33:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:33:02] Speaker B: Yeah, ditto. And I didn't. I'm like, they'll tell me, it's fine. I don't need to know.
[01:33:05] Speaker C: Yeah. I assumed I was gonna learn by the end, you know, I didn't.
[01:33:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
What were your kind of favorite interactions he had with the freeway sign or favorite things the freeway sign did.
[01:33:16] Speaker B: I like that it's bagpiping. I like that it's. Yeah. Thinks it's reincarnated from bagpipes. And so it's trying to be a. It's trying to bagpipe again.
[01:33:24] Speaker C: And. And that. It's the. It's a whole network of signs. It's LA itself.
[01:33:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:33:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. You see, like, all the freeway signs will kind of blink at once. And you get the impression that all the freeway signs are talking to each other. There's a deleted scene where the freeway sign has a crush on a different freeway sign.
[01:33:44] Speaker C: That's great.
[01:33:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And apparently they programmed these signs to. They made these the sign and programmed to speak in all the different languages they needed for foreign release so they wouldn't have to put subtitles, which I think is brilliant.
[01:33:55] Speaker C: That is fantastic.
[01:33:56] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[01:33:57] Speaker B: The world before cgi, y'all.
[01:34:00] Speaker D: My one bone to pick. And we can. I'll completely pick it when we get to that spot in the movie. I don't believe the weather actually does change his life twice. Because the second time I. I think the life has already changed. But that's.
You know, I don't think the weather is the. Is what did it.
[01:34:18] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. Yeah. The sign predicts the weather will change your life twice is one of the other predictions the sign makes to Harris. Just to make it clear, in case there's listeners who haven't watched the movie yet, we have some scenes where Harris takes Sarah on a mini tour of Los Angeles. Again, she's there to report a story about Los Angeles. And this leads to a grave digger scene, which is part of our Shakespearean theme. And I just want to dig into this, like, Shakespearean thing a little bit because I thought it was so odd, like, that this movie had all this Shakespeare stuff in it. So as we said, the movie narration opened with Harris using that. This other Eden, Demi, paradise, this precious stone, etc, this. This Los Angeles. There's another. The second Shakespeare reference. He's waiting for Trudy in the car and Harris references Macbeth. He says, I want to tell you another quote from Shakespeare. He said, hey, life is pretty stupid. With lots of hubbub to keep you busy, but not. But really not amounting to much. Of course, I'm paraphrasing. Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. That's our second reference. Macbeth.
[01:35:21] Speaker C: Well, it's true.
[01:35:24] Speaker A: Very downbeat, though. Again, he's using these tragedies in this comedy.
[01:35:28] Speaker B: And then tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
[01:35:31] Speaker A: Yeah, and then. And then Harris go on this tour that Harris is giving. Sarah. Sarah. He shows her Shakespeare's grave. And there's this, like, grave of William Shakespeare set up in this LA cemetery.
[01:35:42] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, it's at Hollywood Forever. William Shakespeare is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Nobody knows that.
[01:35:48] Speaker A: But there's not, like, a real fake, like, Shakespeare grave there, right?
[01:35:52] Speaker C: It's the real William Shakespeare. How many movies has he written? He is clearly in Hollywood forever. There's no question.
[01:36:00] Speaker D: Well, Chris is. Chris is wrong. Because I think a lot of the evidence shows that's Christopher Marlow's grave.
[01:36:07] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah.
[01:36:11] Speaker A: So KCRW.com interviewed Steve Martin on the 30th anniversary of LA Story and asked why he included Shakespeare references. Martin told them that he couldn't remember why he brought it in, except that he wanted to replicate a specific scene. He said, quote, I felt I wanted to do a simulation of the gravedigger scene because I thought the gravedigger scene in Hamlet is so poignant for a person to pick up the skull of someone who used to play with them, who used to be their guardian. And I don't know why, it just seemed good and mystical and magical.
[01:36:41] Speaker C: And it is all of those things and wonderful.
[01:36:46] Speaker A: And it brings us to. We do this graveyard digger scene and Rick Moranis is the gravedigger here, and he says, and when he picks up the skull, it's the magician, the great blunderman. Steve Martin says, I knew him. He was a funny guy.
And Sarah, this is how we know Sarah's perfect for him, picks it up and says, a fellow of infinite jest, he hath borne me on his back a thousand times. Where be your jibes now? Your flashes of merriment that would set the table on a roar? So this is like them connecting. Because he makes. Paris has been making references throughout the movie that other people don't get, but Sarah gets them.
[01:37:22] Speaker C: Well, I. I feel that I. I have been there many a time, whether it's Shakespeare or, you know, welcome back, Cotter. Sometimes I put out these things and, you know, it's, you know, not that many people. My wife gets it. Rob gets them sometimes. You know, that's. You know, that's how you connect with people. It's the stuff you watch, the stuff you like.
[01:37:44] Speaker A: What do you all think of this Shakespeare, this gravedigger scene set in the middle of this movie? This Shakespearean element being brought in? What is it? What impression did it give you?
[01:37:52] Speaker C: Oh, it's so good. It's so good. And Rick Moranis as the gravedigger is fantastic. God, I miss Rick Moranis in movies.
[01:38:01] Speaker B: Yeah, true that.
I think that. I think that this. If it was standalone, without the other Shakespearean pieces, it would not make as much sense. And so that he pulls in other Shakespeare stuff. It's like his. He is trying as. As a human who, like, is a weatherman to just, like, see, like, he is a person in California, in Los Angeles who. California, in Los Angeles is supposed to be, like this place of shallowness. Right. And he's trying to rise above that shallowness. And with Sarah, he can.
[01:38:34] Speaker A: True. Yeah.
And let's see. Director Mick Jackson also had a take on the Shakespearean elements. So he's quoted in la meg.com the idea was. It was kind of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the romance between these two people. And the idea that for all its sophistication, Los Angeles is a kind of jungle, like the forest in which the misadventures occur in A Midsummer Night's Dream. So he's referencing also there, the production design where they tried to have a lot of foliage around Harris's house, around the place where they have lunch, that restaurant. Like, Mick Jackson was thinking about this in a visual level to signal this kind of more of the Shakespearean comedies rather than to tragedies. And I also like that because the moon is very prominent in A Midsummer Night's Dream too. So he's bringing in this. These elements from the comedy side. So they're coming in.
[01:39:21] Speaker C: There's also that scene where they go into that. That. That. That area where they, for a moment, they become kids.
[01:39:27] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:39:27] Speaker C: And it's that. It's that, like, sort of magical forest. Magical, you know, kind of realm.
[01:39:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:39:34] Speaker C: Where everything is a little unveil. And it's very different from, you know, the LA river, which is made of concrete, you know.
[01:39:42] Speaker A: Yeah. That's like the most extreme magical realism in the movie. There's, like, flowers growing suddenly and there's like lion statues. Yeah, lion statues are moving. You're like, Enya music is playing. You're like, what.
[01:39:54] Speaker C: What is more magical than Kenya in the 90s.
[01:39:58] Speaker B: Literally nothing.
[01:39:59] Speaker A: Exactly.
[01:39:59] Speaker C: Literally nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing. And. And I said before, this movie is about transitioning from the 80s to the 90s, and Enya comes in late. What's more 90s than Enya?
[01:40:10] Speaker D: And what's more real? Right. This goes back to your. Your changing from the 80s to 90s thing, right?
[01:40:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:40:17] Speaker D: You're signaling authenticity of emotion.
[01:40:20] Speaker C: Authenticity. Exactly. You're moving from and from glam rock to grunge.
[01:40:24] Speaker D: And what's more authentic than our childlike self unencumbered by all of the crap we all carry around. Around and as we, you know, take on things in adulthood?
[01:40:35] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[01:40:36] Speaker A: Nice.
So our final Shakespeare reference in the movie, I think Harris is asking this freeway sign, how did you do everything? And the freeway sign's answer is, there are more things in heaven and earth, Harris, than are dreamt of in your philosophy, which is also from Hamlet. So, yeah, I love the Shakespeare theme. It made no sense, but I. But I always felt clever, that I understood that it was Shakespeare when I was a kid. You know what I mean? I think it might be one of those things put in where an audience is like, I'm smart. I understand these Shakespeare references.
[01:41:06] Speaker B: I hope that that is the reason.
Well, you know.
[01:41:10] Speaker A: You know how that is, though. You know how that works when there's, like, you know, smart references and you feel clever because you get them.
[01:41:15] Speaker B: Right? Absolutely.
[01:41:16] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
All right, we've got a part now. Now, Chris, you did quote this already, but let's. I want to remind the audience about this quote, too. There's a section where Sarah is kind of talking into her little tape recorder, and she's giving her thoughts about Los Angeles. And this occurs on her way. She's going to go to an art gallery. So let's listen to this.
Roland thinks LA is a place for the brain dead. He says if you turned off the sprinklers, it would turn into a desert.
But I think I know. It's not what I expected.
It's a place where they've taken a desert and turned it into their dreams.
I've seen a lot of la, and I think it's also a place of secrets. Secret houses, secret lives, secret pleasures. And no one is looking to the outside for verification that what they're doing is all right.
So what do you say, Roland?
[01:42:22] Speaker D: I still say it's a place for the brain dead.
[01:42:25] Speaker A: Why do you have to be so snotty?
Really, I think you're just being superior.
I've met some pretty intelligent people here in Los Angeles.
All right, we hear that music playing. This is that indicates that Harris is doing one of his hobbies, which is roller skating through art museums. But before we get into that, does anyone have any comments upon her narration there?
[01:42:52] Speaker C: I think she's right. I think ultimately the thing about LA is that it. It in some ways is every stereotype and in some ways is none of them.
[01:43:03] Speaker A: Anyone else or should we move on to the art museum?
[01:43:06] Speaker D: We can move on art museum.
[01:43:07] Speaker B: I'm ready for art museum, my friend. Let's do this thing.
[01:43:09] Speaker A: Okay, so Harris's hobby, he has these two female friends that help him record these videos where he roller skates through art museums. This one that we see in the movie is shot at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. And Martin was given permission to shoot in the art gallery because he served on the museum's board of trustees from 1984 to 22,004. So, yeah, good connection there. As we mentioned, he's an appreciator of art in real life. And I think it's a great scene. It kind of reminds me a little bit of the Godard scene from Bond Apart where they're running through the loose, but, you know, it's much more playful and fun.
[01:43:46] Speaker D: And the most important thing about this scene is that LA museums do not have standing art collections that are this impressive.
He's roller skating by some. Some what? I think the Scream is one of those in there.
[01:44:02] Speaker A: And a Van Gogh sunflower. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:44:05] Speaker D: LA had money way later than New York and the East Coast, American cities and the European cities. So we just don't have this kind of standing collection here. So I just found it. It tickled me that, that they had it dressed like this because, you know, movie.
[01:44:22] Speaker C: Well, yeah, you have to have art that people will recognize.
I just think it's. It's interesting that, you know, the roller skating. He's not just roller skating museums, he's filming it with a. With a camcorder back in the day. Now we all have camcorders as our phones. And I was like, this is the movie ahead of the curve. Like he is. He is a precursor to the tick tocker. Like this. If this movie were made today and you know, like in the course of the movie, he will get to it, I suppose, but he loses his job as a weatherman in. If this were movie were made today, he would have then stumbled into a career as a tiktoker when one of those videos got posted.
[01:45:04] Speaker B: Posted, yes. He would gone viral. He would go viral and he would have gone viral.
[01:45:08] Speaker C: And that would have been.
[01:45:09] Speaker B: And selling T shirt.
[01:45:10] Speaker C: Yeah, that would have been it.
[01:45:12] Speaker B: Yep. You're 100 correct.
[01:45:16] Speaker A: Anything else anyone wants to say about the art?
[01:45:17] Speaker B: I always thought when I watched this as a kid that this part was, like, fun, but, like, super random. Like, I'm like, this is so random.
But now that I know so much about Steve Martin, I'm like, well, he wrote this in because he just thought this would be fun.
[01:45:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:45:31] Speaker A: And I mean, really, so much of this movie is like sketch comedy. It's just like little pieces and put together. I think.
[01:45:36] Speaker D: You know, I do think it's important for Harris's character and just briefly, because, you know, he is the lead. This is pretty much his pov. This is not a balanced. It's not him and Sarah in this movie. It's him pursuing her. Right. And, you know, in his job as weatherman and doing whatever he does and interacting with some of the more 80s people that he doesn't like. He does at times act like quite a jerk, and he does have goals and things are important to him that probably the audience won't be on board with in the beginning of this movie. And so seeing this side of him that is just completely joyous and frivolous, he's not doing this for career. It's just fun with his friends. And I think it's important because it's. This is the part of him that's going. That is connecting with Sarah.
[01:46:31] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:46:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:46:32] Speaker A: And he literally connects with Sarah. He bumps right into Sarah and then they end up hanging out together, which is moving the plot forward. Yeah.
So after this art museum scene and they have dinner together at Lydia, the freeway sign kidnaps Sarah and Harris. The freeway sign causes Sarah's car to start driving towards it, and they end up right in front of the freeway sign.
Sarah's trying to explain why this happened with logic. And the sign tells Harris. She can't see it. The sign tells him, kiss her, you fool. He kisses her. She's still talking. The sign says, kiss her again. So this is our first kiss in the movie.
[01:47:12] Speaker C: She's not entirely on board with the whole thing. Like, she, you know, her reaction is not, you know, oh, there's a. There's a. There's a. There's. There's still a distance between them after that kiss.
[01:47:24] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[01:47:26] Speaker C: I think it's an interesting thing when, you know, with this movie, like, and often the case with romantic comedies, the question is, what is stopping the characters from being together?
[01:47:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:47:37] Speaker C: And, yeah, like, Sarah's got the lingering thing with her ex husband. But that, to me, never felt like the real obstacle. The real obstacle is that they both have to be ready to accept. Accept the feelings that they have. And Los Angeles through the freeway sign is helping them get where they need to go emotionally. Like, that's. That's the thing. It's not. There's not like, a more traditional obstacle. It's really just. They need to feel it.
[01:48:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:48:05] Speaker C: Paris feels it first, but they both need to feel it.
[01:48:08] Speaker A: And I. And I like. I like movies like that better where it's something met internally rather than these ridiculous obstacles that get put in the way of people. Yeah. Sybil, did you have something you wanted?
[01:48:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I was about to say that. Well, one of the things that I like about this film is one of the things that's going on is that Sarah is here and she knows herself incredibly well. But she's like you. From what you understand about Sarah, she understands herself very well. She's very secure in herself. But she maybe is insecure in, like, where her life is at the moment. Where Harris, he. There's this underlying lying. He doesn't know himself. He's also not sure about who he is, but also there's this underlying current of, like, just, like, ennui. Like, he has this, like, his life is good, but he's unhappy with it, which is very Los Angeles. Right. This idea that, like, we have it all and it's not feeding us. It's not feeding our soul. Right. Where Sarah's soul is fed, she plays music and she's happy and whatever. And as you see Harris come closer to Sarah, as their relationship builds together, as they're meeting, you find that she is finding a person who sees her, which is actually maybe what she needs. And he is someone who not only sees her, but actually sees what he needs to see in himself because of her.
[01:49:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:49:21] Speaker C: There's that bit where he writes it. Like, was it so very bored on the window?
Bored beyond belief? That's it. Yeah. Yeah. It's. It's like, oh, yeah, there's nothing really wrong. It's not like, oh, there's the. You know, it's. It's just this feeling of. It's not quite right.
[01:49:36] Speaker B: Right. He hates it. Like, his job is like. Like stupid and like, he feels smart. Right. He feels smart and he feel has. He has a job that doesn't appreciate him and that he doesn't really like. And, you know, his friends are great and all, but, like, they don't get him. I'm putting that in quotation marks. They don't get him per se. And, and you know, I think he's, he's kind of old for that really, but like he's going through this like, crisis.
[01:49:59] Speaker C: Right.
[01:50:00] Speaker A: One thing I wanted to put in with Sarah is I think she's also a bit of an overthinker. And I think this one line she says, so she tells story to Roland about how she went roller skating and this tall black man said to her, let your mind go and your body will follow. I think that's a really key line in this movie. And like Sarah's in the place where she's thinking, oh, what could go wrong? And she really just needs to let her mind go. And, and Harris even says this to her in this. Another scene that's coming up. They're at this dinner. They're like, with the foliage around them at this fundraising dinner. They go outside and there's foliage around them.
[01:50:33] Speaker B: Them.
[01:50:33] Speaker A: And, and here. And this, the sign, the sign said to Harris, yet let your mind go and your body will follow. And he says the line to her. This is her line that she knows that she doesn't know, Harris knows. And that's what gets her to kiss him again and have sex with him. And I think that's like a very key element here. And that is the most quotable line for me from this movie. That's the one that stuck with me. Let your mind go and your body will follow.
I. I don't know. It just took that with me after watching this.
[01:51:00] Speaker C: Totally.
[01:51:01] Speaker A: So we, we're at this fundraising dinner. They, they go. This is shot at the Bowler House, which is also called the Bird of Paradise House, which is a Frank Lloyd Wright design. So that's kind of cool to see that in the movie. And. And they do end up having sex outside.
And then we get to that part you were talking about, Chris referencing where they go into this. I don't know where this part was filmed. This weird neon lit jungle that we talked about with the flowers and the, the statues and everything. And that's where they turn into the children, child versions of themselves. I just want to do. I do want to point out the Enya song that's playing during that is called on youn Shore. And some of the lyrics from it, Soft Blue Horizons reach far into my childhood days. So the music seems chosen thoughtfully. Like actually if you take all the Enya songs in this movie and look at the lyrics that were playing at the time they are in the movie, they relate to the Plot lot. Anyone want to say anything about that scene before we keep.
[01:51:55] Speaker B: I do. Like when she comes in and the lady at dinner, she come. They come back in from having sex, and, you know, they both look tousled, but her. Her dress is on is, like, buttoned up wrong.
[01:52:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:52:06] Speaker B: And I'm just like, yeah, girl, get some. Like, every time. Even as a kid, I was like, you get some.
[01:52:12] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:52:13] Speaker D: And proof that the reaction shot is often where the laugh is. The. The woman who notices that the look on her face is. Is priceless. Yeah.
[01:52:23] Speaker A: All right, we're gonna come now to my. Probably one of my favorite parts of the whole movie. Sandy.
[01:52:29] Speaker C: Oh, she's so good.
[01:52:30] Speaker A: Who wants to. Who wants to say the way she does her name before we hear it in the clip? Anybody?
[01:52:34] Speaker B: That's little A, little N, big D, little E, big A, E. Yep.
[01:52:38] Speaker A: And with a star at the end.
All right, I have a clip. So Harris, as we said, meets Sandy at a clothing store called now where she's met Measuring him. But here is a clip from their date that they go on their first date.
Were you shocked?
[01:52:56] Speaker C: Shocked but glad.
[01:52:57] Speaker A: Well, I could tell that you wanted to ask me for my number, so I just asked for yours.
[01:53:02] Speaker C: But I didn't know I wanted your.
[01:53:03] Speaker D: Number until it was too late.
[01:53:05] Speaker A: Well, I went to this psychic once. I mean, I don't really believe in that stuff, but he told me that I have this special fifth sense about things.
[01:53:12] Speaker C: I mean, about guys wanting your number. I figure that any guy would want your number.
[01:53:17] Speaker A: Oh, that's sweet.
[01:53:18] Speaker D: Wow.
[01:53:19] Speaker A: Hey, wacky weather guy. How you doing?
[01:53:23] Speaker C: Can't help but be nervous out here.
[01:53:25] Speaker A: Why? You're not doing anything wrong.
[01:53:27] Speaker C: I mean, you must have a boyfriend.
[01:53:29] Speaker A: Oh, he doesn't care. I mean, he can't care. He gave me this big speech about, you know, how even though we live together still, he thinks that we should.
[01:53:38] Speaker B: Be able to see other people.
[01:53:39] Speaker A: So I said, you know, that's okay, but it backfires on him every once in a while.
[01:53:44] Speaker D: Where is he now?
[01:53:45] Speaker A: He's over there at the bar.
[01:53:48] Speaker C: What?
[01:53:49] Speaker A: Don't worry about it. This is his idea. This is him.
[01:53:52] Speaker B: No, stop it right here.
[01:53:57] Speaker A: Hi.
[01:53:59] Speaker B: Do you have my phone number?
[01:54:01] Speaker C: No. No, I don't want your number. That would be a disaster. If I had your number, I might call you.
[01:54:05] Speaker A: It's 555-2312. Say it back.
[01:54:08] Speaker C: No, stop.
[01:54:09] Speaker D: I don't want to know it.
[01:54:10] Speaker A: 55523. Stop.
[01:54:11] Speaker C: You're gonna make me memorize it. No.
[01:54:13] Speaker A: 5, 5 5, 2 3.
[01:54:16] Speaker B: 1 2.
[01:54:18] Speaker D: Jeez, now I know it.
[01:54:19] Speaker C: 5.
[01:54:19] Speaker A: 5.
[01:54:19] Speaker B: 5, 2.
[01:54:20] Speaker D: 3.
[01:54:20] Speaker A: 1.
[01:54:23] Speaker C: What was your name again?
[01:54:25] Speaker B: Sandy.
[01:54:26] Speaker C: Sorry? Sandy.
[01:54:27] Speaker A: Sandy.
[01:54:27] Speaker C: It's a nice name. Everybody has such weird names now. It's like Tiffany with a ph. I.
[01:54:32] Speaker A: And.
[01:54:33] Speaker C: And instead of Nancy, it's Nancine.
[01:54:35] Speaker B: Big S, small A, small N, big.
[01:54:37] Speaker A: D, small E, big E, what? Big S, small A, small M, big.
[01:54:41] Speaker B: D, small E, big E.
[01:54:44] Speaker A: Big S.
[01:54:46] Speaker B: Small A, small N, big D, small E, biggie.
[01:54:51] Speaker A: Then there's little star at the end.
All right, there's Sandy. And like, the thing about this character, though, that's most delightful is not even what she says. It's how she moves. And before I open up the table to mass discussion, I just want to say that Sarah Jessica Parker prepared for audition by watching all of Steve Martin's films. She noticed that he brought a lot of physicality to his roles. So she told Vanity Fair that she thought maybe one way in would be for me to be physical as Sandy. Maybe she just doesn't stop moving at. So that quality of this character, Sandy, that was Sarah Jessica Parker. And I find that such a great acting choice.
[01:55:30] Speaker B: I do too. It is. She is like. She is like the epitome of youth, which is what she's supposed to appear be in this. She's supposed to be the young person that's supposed to be giving him life and reminding him that, like, he's, you know, he's alive.
[01:55:47] Speaker C: Yeah. And. And here's the thing. It's to the film's credit that it makes her so likable because she essentially ends up as one of the two romantic possibilities for Harris. And a lesser movie would have make her. Made her unlikable or had some, like, terrible quality that would have come out later. And this film doesn't do that. Like, she's, she's great. Sandy is also great.
She's not necessarily the right one for Harris, but she's also great.
[01:56:13] Speaker B: They would have made her like a dumb, typical blonde, which, I mean, she's maybe not like the smartest, but she's just young.
[01:56:20] Speaker D: Yeah, she is there. Really. If Harris learns anything, it's. This is a woman with zero hang ups.
[01:56:26] Speaker A: Yep.
[01:56:27] Speaker D: And that, that is probably an example that's good for him to see. And I don't know. I know this is a bit early for the trope, but somehow she does not come across as a manic pixie dream girl.
[01:56:39] Speaker A: No, she doesn't. No, you're right. She's. She's.
[01:56:42] Speaker C: Her style is all different. It's. It's manic pixie dream girls never have that kind of hair.
[01:56:49] Speaker B: She has a lot of depth to her character.
[01:56:51] Speaker A: But can I tell you the key thing I think that makes her not a manic pixie dream girl. She's not Harris's dream girl. She is. She's not.
She has not catered this behavior to Harris's particular. You know, like, if anything, the manic pixie dream girl is Sarah, who's taken a boomerang and a weird ball out of her purse at the lunch in the first scene because that's Harris's dream girl. She.
Sarah Jessica Parker's character, Sandy, is just her own thing, like her own spirit, like, spinning through the movie, studying to be a spokesmodel because she likes pointing.
[01:57:23] Speaker C: Oh, my God, I love that line. I love that line.
[01:57:26] Speaker B: And the other thing. The other thing. She is. Is so very Los Angeles.
[01:57:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:57:31] Speaker B: She is so very la.
[01:57:33] Speaker A: Yeah. She literally lives inside a mural called Venice reconstituted on Venice Beach.
Like, they. They made a fake door and a stoop inside this famous mural. Like Venus, you know, coming out of the clamshell, like, but with jeans on. That's in Venice Beach. Have you guys seen this mural, by the way?
[01:57:51] Speaker C: I have not. Except.
[01:57:53] Speaker D: Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. I. A little personal. I've drank out of a bum's cup near there. So there you go.
[01:58:01] Speaker B: We were talking about things, how you would remake this part.
Is that you. If the place that they're dating, they would. It would. It would definitely be like they had to stand in line when they finally got in. Like, she's the person who got them in because she was cute. Cute. And so she, like, cut the line.
Like, that's how this would be done, in my opinion.
[01:58:21] Speaker C: Totally.
[01:58:22] Speaker A: I also like Sandy's little open relationship with the really sad boyfriend.
[01:58:27] Speaker B: The stalker dude is, like, staring all.
[01:58:29] Speaker A: Sadly, like, so sad, man.
[01:58:33] Speaker C: That dude had an idea and it did not work out.
[01:58:36] Speaker A: I mean, that's usually how it goes, man. The guy's like, oh, this will be a great idea. And it's the women who have the. The open field there.
[01:58:43] Speaker D: So I was like, yep, ahead of the curve again. Sandy was Polly. There you go.
[01:58:50] Speaker A: All right. Anyway, there's so much to say about Sandy. I feel like we barely covered her. Like, any greatest moments of Sandy anybody wants to bring up or anything.
[01:58:58] Speaker B: I mean, I love Sandy.
[01:58:59] Speaker A: I'm gonna.
[01:59:00] Speaker B: It's farther forward, but I love when Sandy's like. Like doing cartwheels on the beach later when we meet her in Santa Barbara.
[01:59:05] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[01:59:06] Speaker B: I think that that is so, like, every. It encapsulates everything we know about Sandy and that also she loves colonics because clearly she does.
[01:59:17] Speaker A: Okay, are colonics or enemas, like, still a thing in California?
[01:59:21] Speaker B: I mean, not really.
[01:59:23] Speaker C: Speak for yourself, pal.
[01:59:25] Speaker B: I mean, I have had them there. Not. But like, it's a different. You'd be doing a cleanse. You'd be doing a cleanse, right? You're like, oh, I need it for the other cleanse. If that part was done again, they'd be getting Botox of some court, some kind.
They do standing in line, just getting a little Botox.
[01:59:40] Speaker D: Touch up cupping. The Korean spa, maybe?
[01:59:43] Speaker B: Yeah, something like that. A body scrub, you know, at the Korean spa or something.
[01:59:49] Speaker A: All right. Any other Sandy moments or. We should move to Santa Barbara.
[01:59:52] Speaker B: Let's get to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is like, when. When the stuff, like, really gets, like, started, in my opinion.
[01:59:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:59:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So Harrison, Harrison. Sarah have slept together now, and they both have to go away for the weekend. Head. Sarah is pretty much honest. She says, I need to see if I could. I need to have. Do this thing with my ex. I promised him I'd, you know, go with him. So she's. She doesn't say it's Roland, but she does say she's going with her ex. Harris says that he's gonna, like, play bridge with his mother or something. It's like, dude. And initially he's not gonna go, but then Sandy talks him into it. She says, like, oh, she's going with her ex. Well, why don't you just go with me?
[02:00:27] Speaker B: And yes, she has the best logic in this too. She's like, so you met like, Because Harris is like, I'm not gonna go because I like this new lady and I don to ruin that. And she's like, yeah, but aren't you. Isn't she going with, like, her ex to, like, try to get back together? And he's like, yeah, but, like, it's her ex. And also like that they made that agreement before we got together.
[02:00:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[02:00:48] Speaker B: And she's like, yeah, but you made the agreement with me before we got together. And like, I'm. We're not serious. So, like, who cares? He's like, well, I'd just be having sex with you. She goes, yeah, that's great. Let's just do that.
[02:00:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[02:01:00] Speaker C: She had this obligation before we even met.
[02:01:04] Speaker B: We love Sandy. We love Sandy.
[02:01:06] Speaker C: Yeah. There's no question. She's. She's great.
[02:01:09] Speaker A: She's.
[02:01:09] Speaker B: She's like, I just want to go on a little trip. Like don't take the trip away from me. We're gonna have a great time. You're gonna pay for stuff. It was gonna be great.
[02:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah. She says, quote, I want to spin on the beach.
I love her.
And they go away to a resort called El Pollo de Mar del Mar.
[02:01:25] Speaker C: Which is so funny.
[02:01:27] Speaker D: Great joke.
[02:01:28] Speaker C: Oh, it's so great. Good.
[02:01:29] Speaker A: Should we translate it or does everybody know this already? I don't know. The chicken of the sea. The chicken of the sea.
[02:01:34] Speaker C: Fantastic.
[02:01:36] Speaker A: And once they get to the resort, they end up in adjacent hotel rooms and Sandy and Harris start having sex. First, Harris or Sarah and Roland hear them through the wall, at which point Roland manages to successfully seduce Sarah into also having sex. So they're on opposite sides of the wall having audible sex. And then. Then of course, they come out and see each other. And Sarah is mad.
[02:02:00] Speaker C: Well, there's also that bit where it's. Who are they actually all thinking about?
[02:02:04] Speaker B: Yes.
[02:02:05] Speaker C: Thinking about Sarah, and Sarah's thinking about Harris. But both Sandy and Roland are thinking about Mel Gibson, which might be the most dated thing in this.
[02:02:14] Speaker A: Wait, was it Mel Gibson? I couldn't tell.
[02:02:16] Speaker B: Yeah, it's Mel Gibson.
[02:02:17] Speaker A: Really? Yeah, I thought it was just some random dude's head.
[02:02:20] Speaker B: No, that's Mel Gibson.
[02:02:22] Speaker A: Really?
[02:02:22] Speaker C: At 91, that makes sense. That was peak Mel Gibson era, but. But now it feels like the most dated thing in the movie.
[02:02:29] Speaker A: Sure.
[02:02:30] Speaker B: Yes. But then you're like, absolutely Mel Gibson. Absolutely.
[02:02:35] Speaker A: Never my thing. But yeah, yeah, the early 90s. I was already in my Kevin Costner phase. So yeah, okay, so, yeah, so Sarah's angry. She tells Harris she doesn't want any lies or complications. This is just what she was trying to avoid.
Harris is trying to convince her to stay in Los Angeles and she. He says this about her leaving on the plane. Quote, all I know is on the day your plane was to leave, if I had the power, I would turn the winds around, I would roll in the fog, I would bring in storms, I would change the polarity of the earth. So compasses couldn't work, so your plane couldn't take off, end quote.
And yeah, let's just get right right to the end on this, because this then does in fact end up happening, which I think is a baller move for a movie to make. You know, to have this crazy statement come true. What do you guys think?
[02:03:29] Speaker C: Well, they set it up with all of the crazy kind of quasi magical realism things happening. So when you get to the storm, it's not, you know, if it had been, you Know, kitchen sink. Realistic drama. And then. Then the storm happens. It's like the frogs in Magnolia here. They've. They've built to it. So it feels like the culmination of all these things that have been happening.
[02:03:54] Speaker A: Yes, I agree.
[02:03:56] Speaker B: And also, like, I've never felt that, like, it was Harris who did it. It was totally the sign.
[02:04:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree that I think it's the sign, but I think. Rob, were you the one who disagreed that it was a sign?
[02:04:07] Speaker D: I think I do disagree. Although obviously it's, you know, know, the movie does not definitively say. Right.
But I think that it's Harris. And the reason I think that. And look, there can be a cut scene. He's waiting for her.
Yeah. And he knows she's coming back, which to me, it gives more of that weather. It gives it from him. He knows what this means. Right. Right. So. But it can be just the sign. And then he runs out and sees her. But I also think it fits just fine because, you know, this is the proper ending for a movie that opens with the. That opening montage of hot dogs floating by and Gemini parking only. Right, Exactly. This is that world.
[02:04:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
[02:04:59] Speaker A: So one thing I wanted to mention about this ending is apparently the end of the movie where the weather changes to bring Sarah back, was inspired by an Irish song called the Maid of Coolmore. The lyrics of that song include, if I had the power the storm to rise I would blow the wind higher for to darken the skies I would blow the wind higher to make the salt seas to roar on the day that my love sailed away from Coolmore. So it's the same concept. I think that's a really cool reference to have.
[02:05:26] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[02:05:27] Speaker D: Totally.
[02:05:28] Speaker A: And then the Enya song that is in fact playing during this movie or during the scene also references sort of weather and love and so forth. It says, cold as the northern winds in December mornings Cold is the cry that rings from this far distant shore Winter has come too late Too close beside me how can I chase away all these fears deep inside I'll wait the signs to come I'll find a way I will wait the time to come I'll find a way home My light shall be the moon and my path the ocean my guide the morning star As I sail home to you so, yeah, all these references to coming home, to sailing, to water once again. And tons of rain at the end of this movie, too. Like, yeah, I was gonna talk more about water, but I feel like water is a big motif in this. In this film.
[02:06:19] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[02:06:19] Speaker C: And here's the thing about la, when it does rain, it rains.
[02:06:24] Speaker B: It floods. Yeah, yeah. We don't. We. Our ground does not accept water.
[02:06:29] Speaker C: So it's just not. It's not set up for it. It's just. There's no drainage.
But I mean, honestly, I don't. The storm. That, that, that whether. Whether it is him or the sign or whether they are both one at that point, it's, it's. It is less unrealistic than the fact that she gets off a plane with nothing but a person a ton. A tuba.
[02:06:52] Speaker A: I noticed that too. I noticed that too. She let all her clothes what go to London or something? I don't know.
[02:06:59] Speaker C: Presumably they were checked bags. But who lets a tuba be a carry on?
A carry on?
[02:07:05] Speaker A: Maybe it's got to be checked too. Maybe you could back then. They've gotten real.
[02:07:10] Speaker B: Oh, there's no room. No, absolutely not. Okay, how does it fit in the upper carry? You can't fit.
[02:07:15] Speaker D: I think a woman like. A woman like Sarah bought the extra seat.
[02:07:20] Speaker C: Oh yeah.
[02:07:22] Speaker A: There you go. You've solved it. So, yeah, when Sarah does come back, she's got the tube of the purse and she and Harris kiss in the rain. There's several. I usually don't like this when they do this in movies. There's several cuts where it cuts to them kissing and then kissing and then kissing instead of having one prolonged kiss. But it works somehow here. I don't know why any I. Did anyone even notice this besides me? This is one of my pets pet peeves.
[02:07:44] Speaker C: I was. I was too swept up with Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.
[02:07:48] Speaker B: Oh, well, that's a different.
[02:07:50] Speaker C: That always makes me so emotional.
[02:07:52] Speaker A: That's the later kiss. This is the first kiss. Oh my God.
[02:07:54] Speaker C: I got the kiss.
[02:07:55] Speaker A: Oh, that's okay. There's a lot of kissing. This is good.
[02:07:57] Speaker C: Well, it's a romantic comedy. It should be.
[02:07:59] Speaker A: Well, not all of them. Not all of them. Some. Some of them are as stingy as they are with the tube is on the planes. That's all I got to say. Anyway, anyway, they kiss in the rain in front of the house and then like. Yeah, as you mentioned, then they go to visit the sign and they think.
They think the sign for all its beneficence and. And the. The baked pipes are blazing and playing Amazing Grace and they kiss in front of this giant moonstruck style moon which is fantastic.
And Sarah solves the how daddy is doing and which we is sing. Do a ditty which he is playing on the tuba throughout the Movie. And this, to me, is the single most random thing in the movie. And the sign kind of admits, like, what. What does the sign say? Like, I had to think. Think of something vast or something.
[02:08:42] Speaker B: Yes, I made that up. Whatevs.
[02:08:46] Speaker C: There it is. That's the sign is. Is quintessentially la. It's making it up on the fly.
[02:08:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[02:08:52] Speaker A: Nice. And, yeah, it's also quintessentially la, because the last word the sign says is, what I really want to do is direct.
[02:08:59] Speaker C: That is true. That is true of everybody in this town. That is absolutely true.
[02:09:06] Speaker A: So we. We went over the end of the movie pretty fast. So I, like. I want to open it up to just any. Any thoughts about the general end of the movie here.
[02:09:13] Speaker B: I think it ties up the film, like, really well. Like, when we get there, like, I believe that, Like, I believe their relationship comes together. I believe they're a couple that lasts.
I believe that they live happily ever after together, living in Los Angeles. And then Sarah can, you know, begin to really love Los Angeles like he does.
[02:09:33] Speaker C: I absolutely agree 100%.
[02:09:35] Speaker D: And I feel that part of them finding each other was finding, you know, the world they can live in in la. And that I think, you know, it is what is in their minds. Right. The city's. The city.
It hasn't changed, but their experience of it and each other has. And so, yeah, this feels like on really solid ground. And. And on a personal note, all of that aside, I just felt really good when they got together. The end of this thing like this. This is what I wanted to have happen.
And even though, you know, it probably is, if, you know, if you're watching it for the first time, it's still. It's extra good if you know it's coming, and it still functions as if you didn't know it was coming anyway.
[02:10:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very satisfying movie all around.
[02:10:28] Speaker C: Can we talk about. There is one mistake at the very end?
[02:10:34] Speaker A: Sure, sure. What's that?
[02:10:35] Speaker C: In the closing credits, Sarah Jessica Parker's character, her name is just spelled Y, big S, little N, little.
Not big S, little A, little N, big D, small E, big E. That is. I don't know why you would not spell it that way in the credits. It is bananas to me. I honestly, honestly, my jaw dropped when I saw that it was spelled the conventional way.
[02:11:03] Speaker B: Wow. I guarantee you the person who was, like, who typed those credits out did not in any way notice that. That's why they're just, like, not good at their job.
[02:11:14] Speaker C: Not good at their job. That person.
[02:11:16] Speaker B: Right.
[02:11:16] Speaker C: It's a real problem.
[02:11:17] Speaker D: Did someone think, oh, this list I was given, this is incorrect. I'll spell Sandy correctly.
[02:11:23] Speaker A: Yep.
[02:11:24] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[02:11:25] Speaker A: Oh, man. Just as good as the fucking transcripts of, like, fucking TV shows and movies these days that drive me insane. And I just want to be the transcriptionist. Oh, my God. Okay, sorry, that's a, that's a tangent.
[02:11:38] Speaker C: Okay, so I now say the most LA thing at all. That person should have been fired for that.
[02:11:42] Speaker B: Clearly. They probably. They might have been. They might.
[02:11:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Honestly, I would have fired him.
[02:11:47] Speaker A: Now, I'm going to give a few random notes, and if other people have some, they may also deliver them a few things. I just wanted to say, say there is a deleted scene with John Lithcow, which we kind of alluded to before. He plays this super agent, Harry Zell, and there's a scene where he comes in on a jetpack to take a very brief meeting with Harris and Sybil. Are you the one who used to sing this part with me? Like, there's this scene. Yeah. Okay. They're doing some. He's telling Harris about all these projects he could work on, and one of them is like, some musical about prostitutes. You want to sing or should I sing it? So who wants.
[02:12:19] Speaker B: I'm not.
[02:12:20] Speaker A: No, okay, I'll sing it. I'll sing it.
[02:12:22] Speaker C: Oh, it's funny.
[02:12:23] Speaker A: Okay, I'll go ahead and sing it. The part then. So. So John Lithgow is. They're in the middle of this busy restaurant, and John Lithgow bursts out with the lyrics from this musical. I for a living.
I too.
We forgot. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm not done. We for a living.
That's what we do.
[02:12:46] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
Oh, my God.
[02:12:52] Speaker A: I mean, this really goes in the hall. Like, this is the hall of fame for deleted scenes that really probably should have been in the movie, because they're that cool, in my opinion. What do you guys think?
[02:13:02] Speaker C: Oh, I, I, I think that all the stuff with John Lithgow is gold. I, I wish it was in the movie.
[02:13:08] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm sure that he was very sad that he ended up on the cutting room floor.
[02:13:11] Speaker A: I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a deleted scene that I thought was better. Really? Like, I'll watch deleted scenes from movies, and usually I'm like, oh, I can understand why that was deleted, but this is gold. I'm just like, Steve Martin just kept giving and giving here.
[02:13:24] Speaker B: Maybe they didn't want to use that. Fuck, Maybe that Was like, there were too many fucks.
[02:13:28] Speaker C: The PG 13 fuck ratio. Yeah.
[02:13:31] Speaker B: Yeah. They can't have that many fucks.
[02:13:33] Speaker C: Fuck limit.
[02:13:34] Speaker A: Sybil. We used to sing this together, right, in college.
[02:13:37] Speaker B: 100% did, my friend.
[02:13:39] Speaker A: Okay, good.
[02:13:39] Speaker B: We 100% did.
I told each other by it, we'd be like, I for a living. And then we'd wait for the other person to, like, essentially holla back.
[02:13:49] Speaker A: Yeah, this is the kind of college we went to. Yeah.
Okay. People did look at us strangely, though. It's true. So, yeah, we ran the movie group at our college, too. That's. That's. That was our jam. So. All right, so moving on. Random. Other random thing I noticed, and I only noticed it this time for the podcast. Podcast. Harris's shower has a knob that one of the settings is slow mo. And sure enough, there's slow mo showering scene.
Chris, don't tell me you noticed this the first time you noticed this.
[02:14:21] Speaker C: I did. I absolutely saw Slow Mo shower because. Because Sarah's shower is all slow mo.
[02:14:27] Speaker A: You are so observant. This is a really good thing. You're very almost.
[02:14:31] Speaker C: I should have a podcast.
[02:14:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I know.
[02:14:33] Speaker B: Crazy.
[02:14:35] Speaker A: All right. And then one other. The last one, I have a whole bunch of rant. I'm only going to limit myself here, though. One other thing. And I. When I heard this voice, I was like, oh, that's got to be a Monty Python guy. But maybe it's just trying to sound like a Monty Python guy. The person who plays Sarah's mother that we only hear over the phone is Terry Jones from Monty Python. And I'm like, I felt so validated that I. That I noticed that, and it was true.
[02:14:56] Speaker D: Good cat.
[02:14:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[02:14:59] Speaker A: All right, so we're going to now move on to our double feature recommendations, and I think we'll do them. We'll each do our little batch. Batch and just tell a little bit about why we think these would be good movies to pair with LA Story.
So for my first double feature, I have the Player, the Robert Altman movie from 1992. And the reason I chose this is because it came out a year later. And these two movies, LA Story and the Player, those. These, like, sort of formed my entire idea about what Los Angeles was when I was growing up. And I watched both of them quite a bit. So I had this idea of Los Angeles that was based on these two movies. And the Player is, of course, much more set in the Hollywood milieu. It stars Tim Robbins as this producer who's kind of this callous guy and he's a mover and shaker. There are like a million Hollywood cameos in this movie. Like all kinds of famous actors show up. And basically the plot is this writer is threatening Tim Robbins producer's character through a series of postcards. And he confronts somebody who thinks is the writer, but he ends up killing that guy. And then the rest of the movie is kind of this, like what is going to happen? Is he going to be caught? Like who is the actual writer of the postcards? Like what's going to become of him? It's a Neo noir, it's fantastic and it has great LA atmosphere from that very specific again 80s moving into the 90s time period. Have you all seen this movie like as well or.
[02:16:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[02:16:23] Speaker A: Oh yeah, yeah.
[02:16:25] Speaker D: No one likes the Bicycle Thief.
[02:16:31] Speaker A: Deep cut cuts. All right.
And now my second. Oh, oh, sorry. And one other reason I'm recommending it is Richard E. Grant is also in the Player. So there you go. Richard E. Grant was hanging out in these LA movies. And then my second double feature recommendation is going to be Midnight in Paris from 2011. And the reason I'm recommending that is it's another kind of romance which is about a city as well as it's about the romance and also has a magical element of this time traveling character that takes Owen Wilson's character back in time to the 1920s. So I think they'd be a nice match together. And I'm gonna kind of cheat and I'm gonna give you two honorable mention double features which are Groundhog Day, Weatherman Connection and Magic Connection and Xanadu, which is just so.
[02:17:18] Speaker B: You know, I almost put Xanadu for one of mine.
[02:17:20] Speaker A: Oh, that's good.
[02:17:21] Speaker B: I'm here for Xanadu.
[02:17:22] Speaker C: It's fantastic.
[02:17:23] Speaker A: Yeah, Sybil and I covered Xanadu on another episode of every Rom Cobb. So in our music.
[02:17:28] Speaker C: Roller skating.
[02:17:28] Speaker A: There's roller skating. There's roller skating.
[02:17:30] Speaker B: Magical realism.
[02:17:31] Speaker A: Yeah. So yeah, that's also a fantastic LA movie with some great LA sites and Venice beach as well.
[02:17:37] Speaker B: Venice Beach, Yeah.
[02:17:39] Speaker A: All right, I'm done. Chris, would you like to give your double feature recommendations?
[02:17:43] Speaker C: My first one is another Steve Martin romantic comedy, Roxanne, which was. That was the one I watched a lot when I was, I was younger and I think it's just a great movie and I think it will would pair well if you wanted to do a pair of Steve Martin romantic comedies, you know, Roxanne and. And LA Story would be, I think a great, a great pair.
[02:18:05] Speaker A: I'm going to shock you and say that I haven't seen Roxanne, but I have it out from the library. I was going to watch it for this show, but then I saw you already recommended it. So I was like, well, I got to prioritize other things, but I will watch it, I promise.
[02:18:16] Speaker C: Oh, it's really good. It's a, it's a really good movie.
[02:18:19] Speaker B: It is.
[02:18:20] Speaker C: My other one is 1996's Swingers because it also it's in LA. It's an LA movie. It's LA of this time. The character played by Jon Favreau is in a lot of ways very similar to Steve Martin's character, although they are at different times in their lives. Like, you know, Jon Favreau at that point was in his twenties there the where Steve Martin plays a character in his 40s. And so it's, it's, it's very similar movie. I think you have a sense of magical realism like that. Things are, you know, kind of powers at work. And they both have Groucho Marx references.
And I too decided to cheat because this morning I thought of another one, 1995's Get Shorty, which also presents this sort of idealized, slightly silly, but fun la. Like there's a lot of LA restaurant stuff in Get Shorty that would go well with the stuff in LA story.
[02:19:17] Speaker A: Nice. I haven't seen that in forever. I would like to rewatch that sometime.
[02:19:20] Speaker B: And I will say again that I almost put Get Shorty on my list. So honorable mentions are still honorable.
[02:19:26] Speaker A: All right, so that's you.
[02:19:28] Speaker B: So I'm going to go with mine. And the first one is the man with Two Brains. And for me this is like obvious it was a no brainer because one it has Steve Martin in it, the other one, it also has pointy birds, the poem in it which both this and LA Story has in it. So. And I'll leave that for you as an Easter egg to go find if you don't know where it is in the movie.
[02:19:50] Speaker A: That is a deep cut, Sybil. That's all I'm going to say about that.
[02:19:58] Speaker B: Anointed Birds Anointing 90.
So and that's a movie from 1983. I'll say it's one of my absolute favorite. Favorite.
[02:20:09] Speaker D: Yes.
[02:20:09] Speaker B: I just think I love Fantastic, right?
[02:20:14] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[02:20:15] Speaker B: The next one I'm using is I'm do I'm doing the Big Lebowski and it was a toss up between a bunch of different films, but I think the Big Lebowski kind of has the same kind of like magical realism. Right. Has some like, like feeling. And then like LA Story, L.A. is such a character in the Big Lebowski. You can't have the Big Lebowski without living way 100%.
[02:20:37] Speaker C: I mean, right. He's writing a check at Ralph's.
[02:20:40] Speaker B: That's right. So I think you can watch those two films together, have a love story for, you know, the era of Los Angeles, and also enjoy the magical realism from two completely different feelings.
[02:20:56] Speaker A: I think that would be great. That would be a great double feature.
All right, Rob, you got. What do you got for us, Rob?
[02:21:03] Speaker D: Yeah, and my double feature, I tapped into the.
With LA story. I wanted to go with that, you know, kind of like the real searching feelings, you know, and the changing of one's life. And so first up is 1989's Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones. And of course, it is another movie about a man at a crossroads in his life life where things aren't going so great and the universe starts communicating to him.
But instead of romantic love, it is a different kind of love that it's pointing him toward. And I guess I won't say more just in case people haven't seen that film. It's fantastic. While, yes, it is very much. Baseball is a heavy element, but that is a 100% not what the movie is about at all.
[02:21:59] Speaker A: I love Field of Dreams, and my family went and visited the actual Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, at my insistence on one of our vacations. So, yeah, when I saw you put this double feature, I'm like, this makes total sense. It's. They're both hearing voices from a mysterious source. So I love it.
[02:22:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[02:22:17] Speaker D: And my second, I also finally went with a Steve Martin film, 1992's Leap of Faith.
Now, this is a very different character than Harris. He plays essentially a con man preacher with a big traveling sideshow.
His number two, who keeps everything running is played by Deborah Winger. She has a romance of sorts with Liam Neeson, who plays the small town sheriff who is not happy that Steve Martin has. Is coming to town. And the whole town has been in drought. You know, people have lost their jobs, the crops are dying. Just all sorts of terrible things are happening.
And part of his entourage. You get meatloaf, you get a young Philip Seymour Hoffman dressed like David Foster Wallace. It's incredible.
And this is a movie about.
It is a Steve Martin, but it's really a two hander with Deborah Winger. I think when you watch it, this is another movie about people who have lost their way in the world and. And, you know, coming to some realizations about what actually matters and what kind of life they want to live.
It's not a romcom, per se, though. It is. There's a lot of humor and there is also romance in it as well.
[02:23:36] Speaker A: You have my attention with this. I've. I've heard of this movie a long time ago, but I'd forgotten it existed. But when you're telling me about. About this cast, you have my attention. Yeah.
[02:23:44] Speaker D: And a young Lucas Haas.
[02:23:46] Speaker A: Yeah. What was he? Did he ever get to be old in movies? I don't know, but. Yeah.
[02:23:52] Speaker D: But.
[02:23:52] Speaker A: Yeah. No, these are great. I appreciate all of your double features today. You're really bringing them. Yeah. And I really thank you so much, Chris and Rob, for appearing on our show today. It's been a wonderful time talking about this with you, so.
[02:24:05] Speaker C: Oh, it's been a delight. No, it's been great. Great.
[02:24:08] Speaker D: And yeah, thanks for having us.
[02:24:09] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I would be delighted to have either of you back again. So just keep that. Keep that in your back pocket.
[02:24:14] Speaker C: And we work separately or together. You know, you. You could either one or other. Or. Or both.
[02:24:22] Speaker D: We're. We're poly podcaster. I don't know.
[02:24:25] Speaker B: There you go, though.
[02:24:27] Speaker A: The other one of you will just, like, sit across the bar and glare, right?
[02:24:30] Speaker D: Yes, that would be.
Yeah, that would be me.
[02:24:36] Speaker A: All right, so coming up on every rom com, we're going to be covering some more romcoms set in la. So look forward to at least hearing about Pretty women, Pretty Woman, 500 Days of Summer. So lots to come. So thank you for listening, everybody. Goodbye.
[02:24:52] Speaker C: Goodbye.
[02:24:53] Speaker D: Bye.
[02:24:53] Speaker A: Bye.
[02:24:54] Speaker B: Bye, everyone. See you next time.
