My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

Matt (00:00:21):

Hello and welcome to Load Bearing Beams. I’m Matt Stokes.

Laci (00:00:24):

And I’m Laci Roth.

Matt (00:00:26):

Laci, if I were to attend my best friend’s wedding, it would be, we would’ve already done it. It would be your wedding. Yes. Which means it’s also my wedding. So take out the best friends.

Laci (00:00:34):

Take that, Julia, we did it.

Matt (00:00:37):

We did it. You

Laci (00:00:39):

Failed it.

Matt (00:00:39):

“Marry your best friend and you’ll never be unhappy a day in your life,” is what they say.

Laci (00:00:44):

That’s not true, but you will always have a friend in misery

Matt (00:00:48):

And we did it. Now I have sort of been won over to the idea that maybe your spouse shouldn’t be considered your best friend because friend has a specific definition. It’s like how you and I and our 14-year-old were arguing. You two were ganging up on me when I said a voice is not an instrument. If you’re a singer, you’re a musician, you’re talented, but you don’t play an instrument. You guys were like,

Laci (00:01:09):

No. You have to tune your vocal chords and stretch them and learn how to push air through them. It is just like an instrument.

Matt (00:01:17):

No. So I said, but words have meaning an instrument requires inorganic material. And you could argue friend requires nons spousal material. Okay,

Laci (00:01:28):

Well yes. Well, I agree. I see you need an outlet and I think it is important to have a best friend that is completely on your side, even probably a little bit more help. Completely duty bound to you. It’s probably the best kind because you need a respite.

Matt (00:01:44):

Yeah. If we’re just using friend to mean person I’m closest to or person I care about the most, well then we’re muddying the language. It doesn’t even describe anything anymore. Obviously in the pecking order of People I care about. It’s you. It’s our two kids and it’s Drew Brees and then not anymore, but that’s, yeah. Peyton Manning. Sean Peyton. So yes,

Laci (00:02:08):

I was just trying to name football

Matt (00:02:11):

The maker of the football.

Laci (00:02:14):

Sping. Wilson. Wilson.

Matt (00:02:16):

So what are we doing here? We’re doing our podcast where we talk about movies that we love from a long and long ago, trying to share them with our beloved best friend soulmate and see what do they think of this?

Laci (00:02:30):

And I’ve learned it’s also just as equal parts investigating. Why did something get so stuck in my craw, your craw even? Why did this movie become so important that if anyone mentioned it today, I’d be like mine

Matt (00:02:44):

To the culture. There’s a lot of good resources about My Best Friend’s Wedding and all of them are like, it’s become the language that we speak. All of us know the beginning lyrics to the song. I sing a little prayer for you and stuff, and I’m like, I don’t know about that, but okay. My Best Friend’s Wedding is the movie we’re doing.

Laci (00:03:04):

Oh

Matt (00:03:04):

Yeah,

Laci (00:03:05):

Yeah.

Matt (00:03:05):

And we usually record a bonus video and this week is no different. We suggested, we named what our favorite weddings from movies are weddings we’d like to go to. So check us out on Twitter, blue Sky Instagram,

Laci (00:03:20):

Be a part of the conversation because we want to know what movies from a wedding we didn’t even freaking think about.

Matt (00:03:26):

Yes, please. Because I looked at lots of lists and they’re all the same. They were all the same. Ones kept coming up and love actually was always very near the top. What? That wedding sucks.

Laci (00:03:35):

That wedding is a piece of shit. That wedding is a school field trip. That wedding is a fucking adult diaper. I don’t know why I said that, but don’t go to it.

Matt (00:03:43):

How uncomfortable are you if suddenly people start popping up in the audience with instruments?

Laci (00:03:47):

Oh, well that’s the actual ceremony. I assume they thought the wedding looked fun, but yeah, I guess

Matt (00:03:52):

It looks like a wedding. It looks like a place where you get food off a plate.

Laci (00:03:55):

It’s tented.

Matt (00:03:56):

Whoopty

Laci (00:03:57):

Do. And even in the movie they say, worst DJ ever. And I’m only going to weddings for the DJ

Matt (00:04:04):

And Worst food, worst caterer ever in that hilarious scene where the lady’s like, oh, actually I’m the caterer. I’m Bald Bar was still

Laci (00:04:12):

Talking about love. Actually, it’ll

Matt (00:04:13):

Never leave us. It’s still all in me.

Laci (00:04:16):

It’s all around us.

Matt (00:04:18):

So do check that video out and let us know in the comments, what are your favorite weddings from movies, any other business we have to get to? Well, do you want to plug our Patreon load? Bring beams called, want to plug

Laci (00:04:29):

It right up? Everyone’s assholes. Yes.

Matt (00:04:31):

Yeah,

Laci (00:04:32):

Yeah. You want to be my best

Matt (00:04:34):

Friend about it?

Laci (00:04:35):

You know what to do.

Matt (00:04:36):

You got to pay. Got to pay for the privilege, but it’s going to pay

Laci (00:04:39):

Off. No, you can be my best friend without paying. But can you, okay, there I left A nice and confusing

Matt (00:04:46):

You can get our episode about Get Out our upcoming episode about the first season of Apple TV Plus is severance and two bonus episodes every month for $5 a month. What a bargain. And you’re supporting your favorite podcast and helping us

Laci (00:04:57):

Grow. We’re nothing if not a bargain.

Matt (00:04:59):

Alright. Our history is with My Best Friend’s Wedding. Laci, why’d you pick this movie? What’s your relationship with it?

Laci (00:05:04):

I knew her straps were different. I would like to just point out that Julia, her bridesmaids dress, whenever she’s trying it on with Cameron Diaz, it has satin straps that go across her clavicle bones. And I will tell you that at the end, they are sparkly. Just want to say that. Okay. My history kind of a weird one, but so my mom dated a man named Stanley for a while. I don’t know, a year two, three. I have no idea. He danced strange. He was odd, but he had a fifth wheel and that is the kind of camper that attaches to a truck. You drive it, you can’t get in it while it’s rolling, but you camp with it. So I did all the camping that I was going to do in my youth with Stanley and my mom and my brother, and it was a very nice fifth wheel.

(00:05:53):

And I’m not an outside girl, so I was basically just in a camper a lot. And he had five VHS tapes and one of them was my Best Friend’s wedding. So every single time I went camping with Stanley, I watched this movie at least three times and I know it by heart and I never watched it outside of that setting and I never watched it after my mom broke up with that person. So it truly just lives in that fifth wheel. And speaking of third wheels, well now we are, go on. That’s your segue to the movie.

Matt (00:06:29):

I remember it was a big movie with moms and I remember one of my friend’s mom had the soundtrack on Compact Disc in the car. And I think I remember it being one of those situations where dialogue from the movie is inserted over sort of My Heart Will Go on from Titanic with lines from

Laci (00:06:47):

Sure. Got it.

Matt (00:06:48):

The movie in this soundtrack, and I always thought of it as kind of a musical movie, and then I only saw it once. I saw it in college in a class that I was taking on my freshman year of college. I did very badly and I had to go to summer school to get my GPA up. And so I was like, what class could I take a class on? Screwball comedies. That’s an easy a, and it was, I remembered liking it fine. I knew it’s a big deal. I knew that it sort of a,

Laci (00:07:15):

I didn’t know it was a big deal.

Matt (00:07:16):

Well, it was a big hit. And again, it was big with moms and the Compact disc had dialogue in it, and I’d always heard that it revived Julia Roberts’s career.

Laci (00:07:27):

Now what was wrong with it?

Matt (00:07:28):

Yeah, I was like, what are you talking about? She was running the table in the nineties. I mean she starts off in the late eighties with Pre Woman has her little run and then it kind of crests. There’s a little dip and then this brings her, right? Is

Laci (00:07:40):

It The Pelican Brief?

Matt (00:07:42):

Yeah, the movies like The Pelican Briefer. I’m like, don’t people like that movie? I mean, wasn’t that a solid

Laci (00:07:46):

Hit? They do. They just want her in a certain box and she wasn’t able to be this glistening, magical thing maybe in that movie.

Matt (00:07:54):

And this movie was her return to the rom-com. But the other thing that I always remembered is it’s the movie where it’s the movie from the perspective of the bad guy that you only realize as the movie goes along, you’re rooting for a bad person who doesn’t deserve to win in the end. And she doesn’t.

Laci (00:08:08):

And I don’t think that I’m ever rooting for her, though. I know I still want her to be happy, but I don’t think I ever watched this movie and went, she deserves them. Especially not through Lies, Julia.

Matt (00:08:22):

And doing some research on how the movie was written and conceived and how they produced it. They were struggling with that. How do we walk the line of people rooting for her in the way that we would root for movie characters, but also not turning on her? And there’s little things that they did that test audiences reacted to and they had to change. So I’m very impressed with how they pulled it off. I like this movie. It’s a very fun movie. We laugh throughout. I think I have the same boring complaints I always have that you’re going to disagree with. The guy is way too boring.

Laci (00:08:56):

He’s a fucking delight and a smoke show.

Matt (00:08:59):

He’s a delight Dermot. And he doesn’t deserve either of these ladies.

Laci (00:09:04):

He’s got witty things to say. He’s really sweet. He’s

Matt (00:09:09):

Genuine. Oh, my name’s Michael Sports reporter.

Laci (00:09:11):

Okay. You just didn’t get to know him.

Matt (00:09:14):

We’ll get into all of that.

Laci (00:09:15):

Fantastic.

Matt (00:09:17):

But I love a lot of hearty laughs. I think Cameron Diaz is really wonderful in this movie and I think that it’s a great idea to have the old to Bit resolution needs to be between Julie Roberts and Cameron Diaz at the end. And I think that’s a really smart thing that the movie does. No,

Laci (00:09:35):

I think they definitely need to be on the same page and I think we need to be able to trust Jules at the end and somewhat envision these three getting together and doing anything or her and Michael continuing their friendship in any way that it doesn’t seem really harmful to Cameron Diaz’s character. And I think they do okay.

Matt (00:10:00):

And they also, I still don’t actually know what is this friendship. All they do is say, we are best friends. We are such best

Laci (00:10:08):

Friends. They do say it a lot.

Matt (00:10:09):

And were you guys fucking all the time and just not calling it a romantic relationship, I don’t think so. They’re talking about it like, oh, the wild nights we had together talking and drinking. That’s it. I don’t know. I don’t necessarily buy their friendship and I wish that it had been a little more fully developed and that maybe they had been open about them being fuck buddies for all this time. So then you actually feel the threat.

Laci (00:10:35):

Okay, fine, but they did date for one month and absolutely fuck the shit out of each other then. But I think they probably kiss on the lips. I think they’re probably very flirty. I think all that’s there. But I think mainly it’s just been, Hey, you’re in town. Hey, I’m in town. Let’s go hang out. Could they just laugh and have a good time together? You can tell they have amazing chemistry.

Matt (00:10:57):

I don’t think so. And I think they were definitely fucking the whole time. They just didn’t talk about it.

Laci (00:11:03):

Well, now I know things about you and your best friends.

Matt (00:11:05):

Yeah, me and Patrick. We got wild.

Laci (00:11:08):

Yep.

Matt (00:11:30):

All right. Origins of My Best Friend’s wedding. This hall starts with a man named Ronald Bass who is already a hugely successful Oscar winning screenwriter of Rainman among many other credits, sleeping with the Enemy, the Joy Luck Club, waiting to exhale.

(00:11:44):

And he attended a Chicago Society wedding and he thought this is the perfect setting for a movie. And he says, hear from an interview in 2017 with Eon Online. It was one of those four day long parties where everyone comes in and there are all kinds of events and it’s a huge show. I realized it’s such a long weekend that plenty of interesting things can happen. And that was the birth of the movie. And then he had the hook of the movie that the hero of the movie doesn’t win in the end, that the movie Star Lady doesn’t get the guy in the end. And as a result, lots of studios were skeptical of the idea, but the studios eventually two different studios made an offer and attached a star to it. One was an unnamed studio with Sandra Bullock and then the other one, the winning bid was from Sony with Julia Roberts attached to it. And Julie Roberts was a fan of an Australian director named PJ Hogan who had made a movie called Muriel’s Wedding. I love that.

Matt (00:12:36):

Movie. And she thought he could get the tone for what this movie is going for. And so PJ Hogan, he gets signed to direct. There is a book that I started reading, a great book called From Hollywood with Love by Scott Melow about sort of the nineties era of the golden era of rom-coms in Hollywood. And PJ Hogan said, quote, the main note while developing and producing Muriel’s wedding was the main character’s not sympathetic. We hate her, meaning notes from the studio, the main character’s, not sympathetic. We hate her. And I was like, well, I love her.

(00:13:09):

So then he talks about reading the script for my Best Friend’s wedding. And he said what really surprised me was that it wasn’t really very romantic. In fact, my experience of reading the screenplay was, wow, I’m not sure I like her very much. And usually in romantic comedies, everything the main character does in order to win love and to find happiness is totally justified, even if it’s kind of awful. What Meg Ryan does to Bill Pullman and Sleepless in Seattle is kind of awful. And as I was reading it, I was thinking, God, it’s got that goddamn romantic comedy problem. She’s kind of awful. And I got to the end and she didn’t get the guy. And I thought, oh my God, that’s the point. This takes the form and smashes it on the floor. Most romantic comedies are about how all’s fair in love and war, which is something I’ve never really believed in. And this was a screenplay about how all is not fair in love and war. It was a romantic comedy that wasn’t very romantic.

Laci (00:13:56):

Yeah, well that’s because they give you someone truly deserving and hard not to root for in Cameron Diaz’s character. If it were going to be your typical romcom setup, we would start to see the cracks in Cameron pretty clearly, and they try to give you a couple, but you basically know they deserve to be together the whole time.

(00:14:21):

And this is the first time I’ve watched it and really gotten across the point of, yeah, Jules is not the same temperament as Michael. He is more affectionate, more sincere, he’s more of a romantic. And those parts of him, even if she convinced herself that he’s the best thing ever, those are why it didn’t work and she doesn’t have the stomach for it where that’s what you see in and what is her name? What is Kim Kimmy in Kimmy’s character in all the scenes where you’re like, oh, they really should be together. Is this, they’re just so open and so not at all ashamed of being affectionate and loud and I don’t know.

Matt (00:15:11):

And him being more affectionate, more sentimental. He probably tones that down around Julia Roberts because she doesn’t respond well to him, to that part of him. And I think there’s a good sort of understated scene where Jules Julianne is her character’s name. Why do

Laci (00:15:29):

They call her Jules?

Matt (00:15:31):

Where Julia Roberts’ jewels is watching Cameron Diaz and Derman passionately kissing and stuff or no, no, no, no.

Laci (00:15:41):

Talking about the karaoke scene or the fight scene.

Matt (00:15:43):

I’ve got it backwards. Sorry. I was thinking it’s got the good, got the good new spouse, new romantic partner sees the person with their old friend, and now they’re sort of acting a lot different. So I’ve gotten it backwards, but she sees how connected they are and how their verbal tennis going back and forth and telling stories to each other that she’s not included in.

Laci (00:16:06):

You have to stop saying she, especially when you’re confusing things. Okay, so this whole time I thought you meant Jules is seeing something, but you’re saying Kimmy is seeing

Matt (00:16:16):

Yes, is now seeing how he acts with her. And maybe it’s a little different from the guy that she knows, but it also just that thing in life of seeing the person you’re in a relationship with, reuniting with someone from their past and now they’re kind of acting a little different and it’s a little strange or just, wow, this person has a kind of relationship with that. I don’t get to see,

Laci (00:16:40):

That’s interesting you’re reading that. I think that this was, they did a good job of expressing and showing just a longstanding friendship and friendship that developed a lot of stories. And you’ve got two people who like to reference those stories and maybe you’ve got a lot of inside jokes because you’re two people who like to say inside jokes. And so you end up witnessing two people who have a language you don’t know yet and you might not ever know and it kind of makes you sick. But that doesn’t mean that either of them are acting like they normally wouldn’t. And that also just because they don’t, I’ll bet if you were to look at your relationship, but that person you’d see you guys also have inside jokes and references like that and maybe the longevity of your relationship just isn’t there yet. Or maybe you’re not the kind of person who likes that kind of banter. I don’t think that makes the other person different.

Matt (00:17:33):

I didn’t mean that they were necessarily acting different. It’s just how jarring it is to see your partner having this very, very profound relationship. I remember the first time, our last guest from last episode, Caleb, the first time you met Caleb. Caleb since our entire adult lives, lives in a different city for me. But the first time you met him, you hung out with the two of us and you said to me later, you’re like, I’ve never seen you smile that much.

Laci (00:17:57):

He makes you smile more than anybody.

Matt (00:17:59):

So it was like, I don’t know, you’re just like, oh, hey, Matt can act happy and smiley and stuff.

Laci (00:18:04):

He just delights you in a way. He doesn’t say anything that makes you feel like you need to give him a lecture. He doesn’t embarrass you. It’s just he’s very unique. He doesn’t bring up things that make you groan or things you don’t want to think about or talk about. He’s just positive and it’s the kind that you can stomach. I don’t know how he does

Matt (00:18:26):

It. The perfect man. Okay. PJ Hogan said about Julia Roberts. Julia was absolutely committed to Julianne’s Dark Side, which no one I think had allowed her to do in her previous romantic comedies. She was so committed to the dark side that I was a little bit worried. So they got Julia Roberts on board, but who were going to play the other roles. PJ Hogan wanted his fellow Ossie Russell Crow to play

Laci (00:18:47):

Michael. I could see that

Matt (00:18:48):

Michael an up and coming Russell Crow who hadn’t really broken through in Hollywood yet, but Julie Roberts had casting approval, so they had to win her over. So they invited Russell Crowe to a table read and PJ Hogan said quote, I don’t know what went wrong, it was one of the worst table reads I’ve ever experienced. Russell was seated opposite Julia. He gripped the script and he stared at the script and he didn’t look at her once. He had every line in a monotone. At one point, Julia was literally leaning over the table staring like inches from Russell’s face trying to make eye contact and he wouldn’t look at her. At the end of the reading, Russell came up to me and said, I thought it went pretty well. What? And then I knew Russell was not going to be in my best friend’s wedding. So some women up for the part of Kimmy, the part that ultimately went to Cameron Diaz were Drew Barrymore.

Matt (00:19:33):

Calista Flockhart and Reese Witherspoon and Julie Roberts wanted Drew Barrymore very much, and Hogan said, Kimmy was a really important part because you’re up against Julia Roberts, who the audience expects to get the guy at the end. If Julia’s character wipes the floor with Kimmy, the film isn’t going to work. Julia is a movie star and movie stars don’t usually share the screen with other movie stars, but whoever plays Kimmy has to be a movie star as well end. Yeah, that’s very, very interesting.

Laci (00:19:59):

I mean, they perfectly picked and they picked Hammer Diaz at a good time in her career too. She is young and can still be very sweet and demure in a way, but then she’s got that fierceness. It’s just Drew Barrymore is such a little powder. I just think of her as a spark plug. I think of her as dominating a movie. I don’t know. Yeah, it’s such a hard balance. I can’t think of many people that could have done Kimmy better than what we saw.

Matt (00:20:32):

Yeah, it’s probably my favorite performance in the movie. And it has to be exactly what he just said. It can’t steal the thunder from her, but it has to be somebody who can hold her own. And then the age difference, it’s just a few years and the movie has to make her, she’s 20 years old in the movie.

Laci (00:20:49):

I realized while I was trying to fall back asleep last night, a big part of her plot thing is that she’s not stopping her life after getting it started. She’s stopping her career before she’s even going to get the degree she needs to have that career. So I think they needed her to be young so that it seemed like there was a disadvantage. It gives you a little something to not love about her for whatever reason, and so that she can feel like she’s putting her life on hold for that to be a big enough struggle in what ultimately shakes up.

Matt (00:21:25):

And there has to be, because Julie Roberts was 29 or 30 when she made the movie, and so they need to have her actually feel like this is a much younger woman and have that threat. But how much younger can you make it without it being creepy? I’d say a 20-year-old, and Cameron Diaz was 25 when she made the movie, but they make her character 20 years old. I mean, our child,

Laci (00:21:44):

22 would’ve made me feel better.

Matt (00:21:46):

Yes, A 20-year-old getting married sounds tragic in any scenario.

Laci (00:21:49):

It

Matt (00:21:50):

Does. Sounds like a horrible mistake. Our child, our teenage child, our teenager we were having dinner with last night talking about this in six years is going to get married to Dermot Mulroy. Yeah,

Laci (00:22:01):

No, thank you. And they did great with the costume choices too. Just the striking difference between how Cameron Diaz dresses versus jewels. It helps make a smoking hot person like Cameron Diaz a little less intimidating looks wise, while still having that gorgeously perfect face and hair and all that. But the clothes are not revealing. She’s not like a sex kitten. She’s just,

Matt (00:22:32):

Oh, that’s interesting.

Laci (00:22:34):

But they give, let Julia’s character be sexy almost every time she’s on the screen. She’s sexy.

Matt (00:22:43):

The role went to Cameron Diaz. She had just broken out in the mask in 95, but this was before that. There’s something about Mary before, she’s like an Alister, but the trade off was Roberts, Julie Roberts wanted Dermot Moroney to play Michael. And so she could get that if Cameron Diaz got to play Kimmy, that’s how you end up with those three. So there were a bunch of things happened. They filmed the movie without the confrontation between Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz at the White Sox stadium. They didn’t include that. And then in the original ending of the movie, which you can watch on YouTube, Julie Roberts is at the after party and she gets her phone call from George, but George is still in New York. He’s not present at the wedding. And he’s like, oh yeah, well, you’ll be fine kid or whatever. And she’s like, oh, okay. And then this new guy played by John Corbett shows up and he’s like, say, who are you? And then she gets wet and then they all go dance together. Gross. Now, apparently. Well, although, and she says she turns him down at first, but she’s still talking on her cell phone. And George’s like, what are you doing? So she goes and finds him and it’s the beginning of something beautiful. Now, apparently Tess’s audience is fucking hated this.

Laci (00:24:05):

She doesn’t need a person. She doesn’t need to be spoken for to neutralize her. She needs to neutralize herself. Otherwise she’s always a threat. She needed to show restraint while single, otherwise. Every time Jules is in between relationships, Kimmy needs to be worried. And you can’t imagine a sustained friendship based on Jules not coming to the realization she’s not the right woman on her own. And without this little treat on the side.

Matt (00:24:41):

And what’s the sacrifice if you immediately get presented with a brand new hunk

Laci (00:24:45):

And you’re not really, she still needs to process all that she did and all that she thinks she wanted, and she immediately goes into another relationship. She’s just going to be comparing that person to Michael. What she needs to stop doing is figure out how what she needs to start doing is to figure out how to stop thinking about him in that way.

Matt (00:25:02):

But the studio said she needs to end up with, it’s a romantic comedy. It’s Julie Roberts. She needs to end up with somebody. We’re already taking a big chance by not having her end up with the guy of the movie. But this is a rare test, a rare case of test screenings being useful. Audiences reacted against this. They felt like Julianne didn’t deserve to get rewarded like this. They liked the movie basically until the last act. But they felt like Kimmy was way too forgiving of her for all the horrible shit she does to both of them. And so they went back, they added the scene in the White Sox stadium, which is my favorite scene in the movie. And then they changed the ending where her gay best friend joins her at the wedding and is like, listen, you’re not going to fuck tonight, but we’re best friends and we can dance and have fun together. So it’s, it’s about different kinds of love

Laci (00:25:54):

And this is the best possible thing because what she’s really losing is a best friend. This seems to be the person she would have anytime she had downtime. It seemed like it was with Michael. And that’s a decade of doing that. Once that person gets married and after you did all of this before the wedding, you’re not getting alone time with Michael anymore. You shouldn’t or you’re many years away from it. She really is losing her best friend in the form she knows him in. So the fact that they replace him with someone who would get on a plane and come out and see her through this, not once but twice, is showing you like, okay, they’ve really strengthened their friendship and that’s more rewarding. And her freaking laugh and smile and big old teeth and all that are just so fucking endearing. And every time he makes her laugh, I’m laughing too. And it was like this was a nice way to end

Matt (00:26:53):

George Rupert Everett, who was only in two scenes in the script, they had him in mind. So they really wanted to beef up that character knowing they wanted to cast him, but they were happy that they got to involve him even more in the final product because they were realizing this guy is really popping. He’s our favorite part of the movie. And the tension between Ronald Bass, the screenwriter, and PJ Hogan, the director, because they were rewriting the script together. Bass wanted it to be way more of a straightforward movie. It’s got the hook of the woman not getting the guy in the end, but otherwise he wants it to be a very grounded traditional romcom. And Hogan wants it to be a little, he said he basically wanted it to be a stealth musical. It’s not a

Laci (00:27:38):

Stealth musical,

Matt (00:27:38):

A stealth musical. You don’t notice it’s a musical, but you’re like, huh, there’s like five musical sequences in this movie and it has a kind of heightened reality to it the whole time. And he suggests later it’s the tension between those two that makes the movie what it is because it’s both things at once.

Laci (00:27:56):

Yeah, well, and just the addition of the two relatives, the two other women in the movie, they are so over the top and can sing and do sing and are singing. They seem like they are from a play and not a movie. I mean, they totally works, but they have those moments where it’s just like, where are we?

Matt (00:28:20):

Yes. I say a little prayer for you. Sequence at the restaurant was a big thing. The studio was like, what the fuck are you doing? What are you going for? I think I haven’t seen Muriel’s wedding, but he said, and I wish I had, he said that he figured that out during that movie as well. That you have these musical sequences, these unexpected musical sequences. They really help you cling onto the characters better if the characters are doing things that you don’t understand or don’t approve of. And usually things like an entire restaurant bursting out into song is the kind of thing I fucking hate.

Laci (00:28:54):

But they made it so believable in the kind of restaurant they chose and the way that it progresses and the fact that there’s a piano that’s actually in the room, there’s no way someone would be singing that song at a table two tables away from me. And I wouldn’t also mean, you just get into it, the waiters have crab claws, so why not wave them around? I mean,

Matt (00:29:17):

Yeah, at least I wouldn’t want to be an asshole. So I would start singing too.

Laci (00:29:21):

You would clap. That’s always your contribution thing is you add rhythm.

Matt (00:29:24):

Yeah. So I dunno. This movie’s Charm won me, won this cynical heart over at least, and that’s the history of My Best Friend’s wedding.

Laci (00:29:33):

What do you know,

Matt (00:29:33):

Folks? Now we’ll move on to talk about the movie itself. So we begin with My Best Friend’s wedding

Laci (00:30:12):

And the fact that my shirt and hair are different. It is a new day.

Matt (00:30:17):

It’s a new

Laci (00:30:17):

Day, but we’re supposed to pretend it’s not. The old shirt was chafing. My honkers.

Matt (00:30:22):

Your dicks

Laci (00:30:24):

A dick is not a hunker.

Matt (00:30:25):

Yes it is. Everyone calls a dick a hunker.

Laci (00:30:27):

No boobs are honkers.

Matt (00:30:29):

No hunker is a dick these days, my friend. Sorry. Sorry

Laci (00:30:33):

Matt. If you don’t fucking show receipts for that, I’m going to lose it. I’m going to fucking lose it. There’s no goddamn way boobs anymore.

Matt (00:30:41):

Does honker mean?

Laci (00:30:42):

And if I had a dick, I’d have to

Matt (00:30:46):

A penis, especially a large penis coined to the 1970s.

Laci (00:30:50):

Fine, but that doesn’t prove that it’s not boobs.

Matt (00:30:53):

Use honker mean boobs. Just

Laci (00:30:54):

Go on urban dictionary and type in hunker

Matt (00:30:58):

Or it can mean a woman’s breast.

Laci (00:30:59):

No shit. You’re just not that familiar with women’s breasts. Just mine. And I’m barely a woman

Matt (00:31:08):

With women’s breasts.

Laci (00:31:10):

That’s what you said.

Matt (00:31:11):

Yeah. So on.

Laci (00:31:12):

I got big honkers

Matt (00:31:13):

On Urban Dictionary. Yeah, fish, fish, fish is down there. Okay, fine. Laci.

Laci (00:31:21):

Yeah,

Matt (00:31:21):

You win.

Laci (00:31:23):

Fuck yeah.

Matt (00:31:23):

Cutting all of this out anyway. No, no one cares about your outfit. Who do you think’s even going to notice that?

Laci (00:31:29):

I always get comments when my outfit changes back and forth and back and forth

Matt (00:31:34):

On how

Laci (00:31:34):

Edit talk to Neo just depends on how you edit it. Sometimes we’ll do something because we forgot to do something. So you put it in the beginning, but we recorded it on the second day. So I’ll have that outfit and then it’ll go to my original one and then it’ll switch back again.

Matt (00:31:51):

Yeah. So this movie opens with a musical sequence. This Wish Brian, just do it. This is A Wish and Hoping In by Dionne Warwick, originally written by Hal David and Burt Backrack. Now there are I think six total songs written by Burt Backrack and Hal David in this movie.

Laci (00:32:10):

They’re all very cohesive. You can tell they are of the same ilk

Matt (00:32:16):

And it puts you right away in the mind space to watch this movie. It’s a musical, basically. This is a legit musical sequence, this opening. You’re in the heightened reality. Now, I’m not familiar enough with the song. Is the song that they’re singing right here, the original recording? Are they?

Laci (00:32:33):

No, they’re not doing a, I mean they doing their version of it, but it’s not different. This is how Dionne Warwick sang

Matt (00:32:38):

It. But is this the Dionne Warwick version? Is it the Dusty Springfield version, which was the top 10 shark

Laci (00:32:43):

Who fuck it sounds like Dionne Warwick. I said,

Matt (00:32:45):

Okay,

Laci (00:32:46):

You are in a mood.

Matt (00:32:48):

I am.

Laci (00:32:49):

I don’t know.

Matt (00:32:51):

So then we arrive at a fancy restaurant where we meet Julia Roberts as Jewels, and she’s apparently

Laci (00:32:56):

Ouie

Matt (00:32:57):

About to turn 28 years old, but she’s the world’s most admired and feared food critic.

Laci (00:33:02):

Is that what they say?

Matt (00:33:03):

I mean, just the way that everything leads up to them serving her the meal. All the people in the kitchen are freaking out like, oh, we got to please

Laci (00:33:11):

Her. Do you think that any restaurant is okay with any food critic coming in? It’s not the most

Matt (00:33:17):

I know Laci, but in cinematic language they’re setting you up that she’s a very respected food

Laci (00:33:22):

Critic. Oh my God. This is the problem with you not watching Kitchen nightmares enough. Anytime anyone, including food bloggers, anyone who’s going to someone that has access to Yelp, people freak out. It’s always a VIP.

Matt (00:33:36):

Okay. But she also just said she got done with a book tour, so she is like a celebrity food writer.

Laci (00:33:41):

Maybe she was writing about Michael,

Matt (00:33:42):

So I mean I know that

Laci (00:33:45):

Fine, whatever.

Matt (00:33:46):

It’s not that much of a problem. And she’s having dinner with her editor and he’s like, you go on the phone call from Newsweek. So she’s getting profiled by other magazines. So clearly she’s a very successful and well-known food critic. And okay, I was thinking, I love the Fred Astaire, ginger Rogers movies of the thirties. I like classic Hollywood screwball comedies and this movie is in a lineage with those. And now all of those movies took place in the world of the ultra wealthy, but because they’re in black and white and because they’re from forever ago, I’m like, but it’s like a fantasy world. It’s not supposed to represent reality. This movie, just because I was alive in the nineties, I’m like, these aren’t real people. I’m a celebrity food critic and stuff. No,

Laci (00:34:32):

You’ve hit on something. Look at where she’s sitting and eating. Look at how people are treating her. She’s mentioned in so many words, although she went to Brown, you can assume a scholarship that Michael and her both don’t come from a lot of wealth. And so she is in those spaces and respected in those spaces because of her opinions on their cuisine. But she still gets to be cool and down to earth because that’s not actually her background. And growing up. And also would like to point out her outfit. She is always dressed in a masculine way or often dressed, but it’s still sexy. Not here necessarily, but they’re flipping the script in a bunch of different clever ways. She’s the cold one, she’s the not lovey-dovey one. She doesn’t want, she does not have Michael as a boyfriend because she’s not affectionate enough. So I never noticed the wardrobe as much until thinking of it in gender being flipped for this movie

Matt (00:35:38):

And make it clear she’s way more at home with the boys at the ballpark. She doesn’t want to be with these stuffy ladies at the wedding banquet or whatever,

Laci (00:35:47):

Or just in general. And she’s not a girly girl. And that’s why before we turned this on, I was like, this is a movie where I hardcore got the signals of being not like other girls. This is another movie that really forced that

Matt (00:36:00):

Very much

Laci (00:36:01):

Down my brain hole.

Matt (00:36:02):

But here’s where I was going with the rich person world. I get annoyed right away. Why can’t movies just be about real people? Why does every movie from Hollywood have to be about a writer who’s super successful and has a job flexible enough where they can take weeks off to go attend to wedding details and stuff. And even when they say, oh, I’m just a working class writer, we have no evidence that you live anything other than the most bejeweled blessed life and walk in this super rich world. But I should view this, I view black and white movies from the thirties. I’m also looking at a fantasy. And also 1997 was a long, long time

Laci (00:36:40):

Ago. You’re definitely right that there seems to be only two options. It’s either I’m signaling a lot of money or you signal poverty like Sandra Bullock while they were sleeping. There seems to be no middle ground for a lady in the city or even a guy or something like bridesmaids. She’s in these, it’s about her not having money.

Matt (00:37:06):

It’s

Laci (00:37:06):

Like, it’s just, yeah, the

Matt (00:37:08):

Middle ground, just

Laci (00:37:09):

Normal money.

Matt (00:37:10):

The middle ground. I think we talked about this on our home loan episode. The middle ground is like the John Hughes movies. Hollywood’s conception of what a regular family lives is. They live in a giant mansion. And when I’ve told you this, you push back. But I think that to them that the McAllister house is supposed to be coded as a normal middle class family because they’re so out of touch. They don’t understand this is not how normal people live. And it’s fine. I wish I watched this movie a second time and I liked it a lot the first time we watched it. I really love it now.

Matt (00:37:40):

I think if there’s two things that I wish that I think could make it just like a perfect masterpiece. One would be I want a little more awareness of class. I want a little more of Julie Roberts feeling very distinct from Cameron Diaz via class. And I just wish that Michael was just better, just a better character. I get that kind of this movie’s realizing I don’t even love him. I just love the idea of,

Laci (00:38:08):

It’s the idea, this puppy dog, this guy that worships me, this guy that thinks I’m, he’s got her on a pedestal. She wouldn’t enc chant anyone who bothered to spend nine years with them in some capacity and she has the power. It’s only because he said, Hey, you are my best friend. While she was breaking up with him in college that she realized, oh, you’re my best friend. I’ll kiss you now and then I’ll be your friend. And that is what we’ll be. There’s this thing called SciPi romantic, which you could roll your eyes and be like, oh, there’s a label for everything these days. But it is a kind of way of attracting and being attracted. There are people who report, they don’t get crushes. It’s when they find out someone has a feeling toward them that they all of a sudden reciprocated almost always.

Matt (00:38:58):

Well then I think I’m romantic.

Laci (00:39:02):

Great. I’m glad I

Matt (00:39:03):

Don’t get crushes

Laci (00:39:04):

Shot my shot, but

Matt (00:39:05):

With you. Yes. The only people I’ve ever liked. I had a feeling they liked me and then I was like, oh,

Laci (00:39:09):

Sorry. Exactly. And it’s they’re liking of you that makes you like them back. It’s like before that opening. It doesn’t even cross your mind. Our kid says that is what they are. She might be that. In addition to also being a friendly relationship version of that, Michael said, you’re my best friend. And so Jules says, oh, you’re my best friend. And then again, in this relationship with George and Julia or Jules, she knows they’re good friends, but it’s when he takes that airplane ride two times to see her through this hard time and he hates flying that he’s basically saying, I’m your best friend. And it’s like, oh, you’re my best friend. She is a bit closed off.

Matt (00:39:58):

That is another thing. That is another thing that I personally am all my best friends. That’s like I have to be told like, oh yeah, that person is my best friend or is a much better friend to me than I realize because I’m an asshole.

Laci (00:40:10):

You’re not an asshole. You just don’t expect these things for yourself. You’re that and you’re, what was the word? Not aloof. You’re in your own world. There’s a word. It starts with a no. I can’t think of it.

Matt (00:40:26):

Elusive.

Laci (00:40:27):

No, no. You’re just a little

Matt (00:40:30):

Out there.

Laci (00:40:30):

No, Matt, you don’t notice things unless they obl scream at you. O yeah. Oblivious. Yeah, you’re oblivious. I literally have to scream at you and throw blood at you for you to notice of trippin fault.

Matt (00:40:43):

You do that a lot. You’re like Julie in this movie

Laci (00:40:47):

She falls three times.

Matt (00:40:48):

So George is Rupert Everett, her editor and a gay man and a wonderful performance.

Laci (00:40:56):

How gay Izzy.

Matt (00:40:58):

And so we’re starting to get gay characters in the nineties and that’s nice. But of course he is the best friend, the gay best friend, a very much a trope. And then later he becomes a second gay trope. The magical gay man,

Laci (00:41:09):

The magical gay. Yep. Just has no life of his own. He’s just there to help his straight,

Matt (00:41:14):

But he is played with such a joy and

Laci (00:41:18):

He’s our boss. So there’s something about that. Him having the upper end.

Matt (00:41:23):

Yeah. I think the way he has played more than the way he’s written gives a fully realized interiority to the character. So it is a trope. But I mean, this is a great example of it. I’m not saying this is the movie sucks because of this. He’s a great part of the movie, one of my favorite parts of the movie.

Laci (00:41:40):

Yeah, definitely for me too. And yeah, it’s in how he delivers things. He definitely gives it as much as he gets it. He doesn’t take her shit, but he does really value, he sees someone to go to the extra links for.

Matt (00:41:57):

So she has the news link magazine called Darling. She’s like, well, I’ll check my messages. And she pulls out her giant cell phone and calls her home to get her voicemail and she gets a voicemail from Michael and he’s like, hi, it’s Michael. My best friend haven’t spoken to you in months though. Listen, I’m at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. Give me a call. Got to talk to you

Laci (00:42:19):

Four o’clock in the morning, whatever.

Matt (00:42:21):

Yeah,

Laci (00:42:22):

He’s sweet.

Matt (00:42:22):

Whatever.

Laci (00:42:23):

I’m not going to like your impression of him. You don’t sound like him.

Matt (00:42:26):

And she explains to George, sophomore year at Brown, we had this one hot month, but you know me, I got restless. But then they became best friends, but apparently entirely nonsexual. Even though the way they talk about their times together seems like they were having wild sex the whole time

Laci (00:42:45):

Unsaid. And maybe they did, and who cares if they still thought of it as a friendship and they were still having relationships in and around it, then that’s their friendship.

Matt (00:42:54):

Yes, of course you can have

Laci (00:42:55):

Friend. You need to stop judging them.

Matt (00:42:56):

You can have a friendship like that. I would just like to know it. I would like to,

Laci (00:42:59):

It’s not your business, man.

Matt (00:43:00):

None of this is my business. I shouldn’t be watch any of this. We, I’d like a movie critic to write a review of a movie that’s like, I have no business, none of this is my concern. I have no business here. It’s like we’ve seen each other through everything. Losing jobs, losing parents, losing lovers. We’ve traveled.

Laci (00:43:18):

I’m going to kill myself if you keep doing accents.

Matt (00:43:21):

We’ve traveled all over best times of my life, drinking and talking. And again, it’s like, oh, so you’re from the leisure class. You’re from the Jet set class. You can just go anywhere at any time, just be with your friends, whatever

Laci (00:43:33):

They do both seem to have jobs that allow them to travel a lot, whatever. So maybe it’s up in the air where it’s like, are you going to be at the Sheraton over in Boise? Me too. Oh my God, let’s drink.

Matt (00:43:44):

Maybe it’s that, but it’s none of my business.

Laci (00:43:46):

Not, I couldn’t even, I’m embarrassed I even asked.

Matt (00:43:52):

So she’s like, you know what? What’s crazy is

Laci (00:43:57):

We made this very

Matt (00:43:58):

Specific pack six ago. We were in Tucson and we had this packed, and he cut his fucking hand open and smeared his blood all over me and said, promise me if at 28 28, neither of us is married, we’ll marry each other. Oh, that angered me. It’s a rippert ever. It’s like, well darling, you’re about to turn 28 and how old is he? And she’s like, oh, you might be right. Okay. And that’s what gets the gears in her head dirty.

Laci (00:44:19):

And that’s what part of my comment about the recipient romantic thing. It’s like she wasn’t thinking of him like that at all. It was just telling him, just telling George a story. And George suggested and she goes, oh, I like him too.

Matt (00:44:32):

Yeah, yeah, of course. And she calls him, calls him up at the Drake Hotel.

Laci (00:44:38):

Are you kidding? I think about that all the time.

Matt (00:44:40):

Do you ever think of that night in Tucson? He’s like, I think about it all the time. Did you peg him? What happened that night?

Laci (00:44:48):

They did a blood oath

Matt (00:44:51):

And she’s about to be, so speaking of that, Mar packed in, he is like, I got to tell you, I’m

Laci (00:44:56):

Joseph isn’t about that.

Matt (00:44:59):

Isn’t about that.

Laci (00:45:00):

That’s what he said, said, he said, I think about it all the time, but this isn’t about that. I met someone and then she falls off the bed. Well, because getting

Matt (00:45:11):

Engaged normal way for people to talk to each other. Hey, have a memory. Oh yeah. Well, I don’t want to talk about it. And he is like, yeah, so listen, I’m getting married on Sunday. It’s Wednesday. Could you drop your whole life and come out to Chicago also? You’re my best friend, but I’m just telling you about this now.

Laci (00:45:25):

But they already laid the groundwork that she is taking several days to return calls, 30 days sometimes

Matt (00:45:33):

They’ve been missing each other mail, the mail doesn’t exist. She doesn’t live at her house. All of these people coming to this wedding, they all found out about it, but she couldn’t including this wealthy.

Laci (00:45:42):

Oh my god. Matt, he wanted to tell her in voice. He knew this would be a shock. He needed to get her on the phone.

Matt (00:45:49):

So telling her about Jules, you’re going to love her. She’s a junior at the University of Chicago. She’s 20 and her dad’s also a billionaire and he owns the White Sox

Laci (00:45:58):

Salt to the earth, though they’re not like that.

Matt (00:46:00):

Also, I’m doing a profile of Frank Thomas, the big hurt. Totally not a conflict of interest that I’m covering a White Sox player. But yeah, I’ve been trying to call you, but you’ve been busy or whatever. Wait,

Laci (00:46:11):

Did you line up his wedding to work out for the schedule he already had? Well, I’m going to interview the big hurt. Can we do the wedding now?

Matt (00:46:20):

Yeah. She says, you have work this weekend. And he’s like, well, no, it’s totally cool because I’m covering Frank Hurt

Laci (00:46:28):

Or

Matt (00:46:28):

Frank Thomas

Laci (00:46:29):

Or whatever. And then his honeymoon is lined up for his work schedule as well. It is all about Michael when it comes to, every time Michael and Jules see each other, every time they meet eyes in a room, and maybe they haven’t seen each other in a long time, but they both are. They light up. They have the best reactions to each other. She’s landed in Chicago and she knows he’s picking her up from the airport and Jules is looking, where’s Michael? Then the crowd parts and it’s just like the best little zing, zing, zing. It’s sweet,

Matt (00:47:05):

It’s sweet. But they’re also biting their lips and stuff. They’ve got like we’re about to fuck and we can’t say it faces at each other.

Laci (00:47:11):

And they first, it’s so horny, and so they run to each other and they accidentally, I don’t even know how they probably had to do this a couple times to get it just right because not a kiss, it’s just they bump faces, but it’s intimate and they laugh and then the crowd parts again. And now you see Kimmy’s coming with her little cart. She’s come to the airport. Michael Little tip. If you’re going to immediately introduce your best friend to the person you just told ’em about, maybe let them know that they’re coming to the, I feel like Jules is surprised she doesn’t even get any time at all with Michael before.

Matt (00:47:50):

Now, Michael sucks. Michael’s a dumbass. He’s a bad best friend.

(00:47:54):

Never like guys. He’s a bad best friend and he’s a bad husband this whole time. He’s setting both of them up really badly. His new his about to be bride is like, Hey, I know you have this sexy Julia Roberts best friend who you fucked all the time. And now it makes me kind of insecure. And he is like, okay, but I’m going to hang out with her at the bar tonight by myself. Go on back to the hotel, babe. It’s like, no, go back with your wife idiot. Okay, we forgot. We didn’t mention this. But as she goes to the airport, she tells George, she’s like, listen, I’m going to need a week off. I need to go break up a wedding.

Laci (00:48:28):

This is when we started to get to see frantic Julia Roberts, which is one of my favorite versions of her, usually kind of, I don’t know if she’s put together. I just like when she’s real manic like this.

Laci (00:48:38):

And talking really fast and she’s a smoker, which is interesting. That’s a very male thing. Usually if anyone’s going to be a smoker and she’s the only one, also interesting, but in a shitty way. It’s kind of supposed to say single selfish. It’s some kind of moral thing, but it’s also cool. And she seems

Matt (00:48:59):

Cool. It’s all of those. Yes.

Laci (00:49:00):

Yeah. So anyway, so we know she’s plotting.

Matt (00:49:05):

I have four days to break up the wedding, but then when she arrives,

Laci (00:49:08):

She’s right there. I mean, they are together immediately and it kind of ruins this little moment of them reuniting after a long time since they haven’t seen each other. But we don’t love Kimmy right away, but there’s nothing to make us not like her yet. And then it’s smash cut to them just going so fast on the interstate and now Kimmy’s talking really fast. And

Matt (00:49:38):

Yeah, it’s a mirror of the last scene where she was on her way to the airport saying, I’m going to break up this wedding in four days. Now she’s saying, you have to be my maid of honor because my maid of honor broke her pelvis, and I don’t have anyone else in my life

Laci (00:49:47):

That gives you four days to become my best friend. Yes. Yeah. I mean, Kimmy’s hardcore doing the thing where I’m going to get you in my court. I’m going to keep you close. I’m going to give you a lot of things to do while you’re here for these four days because I need you to be with me most of the time.

Laci (00:50:02):

It’s smart, but it does seem sincere and really sweet, and I still don’t take it. I don’t think kimmy’s wrong for doing this. If Michael’s so adamant that, no, this is my best friend. She’s going to pestle. Here’s all these stories. She’s going to be in my life no matter what. I think it’s okay. That Kimmy went hard this way too.

Matt (00:50:23):

And usually a bride, I’ve never been a bride, but usually a bride in the four leading up to a wedding doesn’t have time to be doing things like going with the brand new best friend to try on clothes and stuff and just devote all over attention to her.

Laci (00:50:36):

Well, and just going karaoke, going on a boat ride. There’s all these different, yeah, really this is a four day event wedding, but you are sure available,

Matt (00:50:46):

But if you’re a billionaire, then

Laci (00:50:48):

All

Matt (00:50:48):

Of those things are taken care of.

Laci (00:50:49):

Wedding planner and Yeah,

Matt (00:50:51):

I was a female friend. I had a female friend who

Laci (00:50:54):

You was, was a female friend.

Matt (00:50:55):

I was a female friend’s member of her bridal party. I was a bridesman for a woman who was a good friend of mine, one of my best friends, and I was the Julia Roberts, except, yeah, I was put into the, wait, no,

Laci (00:51:10):

What were you trying to break up their wedding?

Matt (00:51:13):

No, just in that I was part of the wedding party, but I was a bridesman. I wasn’t a groomsman.

Laci (00:51:19):

That’s your whole point.

Matt (00:51:20):

The woman was my friend. What? I just want it to relate it to me and my own experience,

Laci (00:51:26):

But what do you have to say about it?

Matt (00:51:29):

Nothing. I guess. I just think it’s interesting kind of.

Laci (00:51:32):

Yeah, that’s all that happens here. We get to meet Kim and Julie does too, and gets to see like, oh, you are magnetic as well. How are we both magnetic in completely different ways? They immediately go for a dress fitting because time is absolutely of the essence. This would not be possible if you weren’t immensely rich. So we go straight to a fitting of her getting a bridesmaid’s dress, and Cameron Diaz is helping her with it and saying, and she’s like, oh, well, I match the other bridesmaids and Kimmy’s like, you wouldn’t be comfortable if you weren’t distinctive. Nothing traditional, just kind of rattling off these things that she knows all about because Michael never stops talking about her. And then Julia’s like, what else did he say about me? And I don’t know, they’re just kind of going back and forth on, here’s what I know about you, but here’s what I know about him, but here’s what I know about him. Anyway, so then she ends up back in, I guess she’s in a changing room now. She’s in a bra and underwear, and someone knocks on the door to give her dress that she just got fitted for, and it’s Michael, and he sees her naked and she’s like, oh my God. And she hurry up and covers herself up.

Matt (00:52:39):

She’s not naked.

Laci (00:52:40):

She’s in a bra and underwear. Yes.

Matt (00:52:42):

Telling the audience this,

Laci (00:52:43):

Oh my fing. And he’s like, I’ve seen you way more naked than that. And she goes, yeah, but things are different now.

Matt (00:52:50):

Exhibit B in my, they’ve been fucking way more recently than nine years ago. If you saw her naked nine years ago, then yeah, it would be way more of a big deal that he’s seeing her now. But it’s like,

Laci (00:53:03):

Yeah, it’s a gray area. They’re definitely flirty friends, but sometimes that’s a fun person to hang out with. I don’t feel so good about myself. I’m in between shit relationships. Let me just go hang out with my best friend who makes me feel attractive. And we have all these inside jokes and we have boned, and we could if we want,

Laci (00:53:23):

Think he’s walking out and she’s on the phone with George talking about how annoying Kimmy actually is because she’s not annoying at all, her perfection. And she says something really sweet. If I wasn’t here to destroy her, I would’ve adore her. And I think that’s so nice. But then Michael walks in and all the kerfuffle happens with seeing the brawn panties. And on the way out Michael says, you look good naked. You look good naked or whatever. He said, almost naked. And then so she picks the phone back up talking to George, and she’s like, she’s toast. So now I guess we’re just kind of a tour to meet the rest of the cast for this movie. All we know about these other two brides fulls, brides MAs are that they’re vengeful, sluts, vengeful. That’s always confused me. They seem

Matt (00:54:22):

They’re debutantes from Nashville.

Laci (00:54:24):

They just seem horny and vengeful though. Like they’re evil or just does vengeful mean. They’re just really going to be slutty and be out about that? Or does it mean that they’re going to

Matt (00:54:35):

Be No, they’re conniving. They’re, they’re going to pull one over on you. There’s a lot of weird throwaways about that. And when Julia Roberts meets them, they’re like, Hey, we’ve heard so much about you. You’re the one woman who’s always making everything about herself and falling over and stuff. And also, yes, and also Kimmy’s a virgin is what they say.

Laci (00:54:57):

What?

Matt (00:54:57):

Yes. They say Kimmy’s a virgin.

Laci (00:54:59):

I thought, although we thought that line was Jimmy’s a virgin. Are you double, triple sure that that’s what they say because they’re talking about the groomsmen. Don’t take the fat bald Harry when he’s man, and then they’re being pushed off and she’s like, and blah a virgin. And I thought they’re saying the brother’s name, the curly head, young man of honor, Mike’s brother. They’re talking about their prospects for who they want to fuck.

Matt (00:55:29):

Yes. Okay, I have to turn on the subtitles and go back, but I did rewind it. I was like, wait a minute, and rewound it and very much heard Kimmy’s a virgin. But it’s like the way they’re presenting Cameron Diaz in the sort of conservative and even childish clothing and that she’s young. It’s like, oh, maybe that

Laci (00:55:47):

Childish clothing. It is proper housewife. So it’s so country club. It seems almost older than she is. I’m just looking up real quick, the cast names for, because I want to see if the brother’s name sounds anything like Kimmy.

Matt (00:56:03):

Scotty is the younger

Laci (00:56:04):

Brother Scotty.

Matt (00:56:06):

Is there a Jimmy? No,

Laci (00:56:10):

But Scotty Kimmy.

Matt (00:56:13):

I have an update for you from the future. I have watched the DVD with the subtitles and confirmed Kimmy’s a Virgin. One of the characters says this, and then I tried to find the script and I found the first draft of the screenplay from Ronald Bass. And this line is not in the script. And I don’t know, maybe this was improv on the set. I can’t find any information about, I don’t know, just kind of weird.

Laci (00:56:34):

But yeah, God, that changes things for me a little bit. I don’t know how to feel about that. It doesn’t seem like that would be something important to Michael.

Matt (00:56:44):

You’re marrying a child.

Laci (00:56:46):

Yeah. It seems like it would be a turnoff, but if that’s a debutante thing, if she’s only 20, I mean, I don’t know if she’s like, I don’t know what rich people do, man. All right. We meet her mom who everyone is remarking on how beautiful Jules is and how much they already know about her. It’s odd. I mean, she gets this. It’s basically, you could not want more from this situation. Just stop being a bad person. Because look, this family who doesn’t need to you, who should be kind of shady toward you honestly is open arms so sweet. It’s like no. Oh look, it’s Kimmy and the woman she’ll never live up to. That’s what they said when they first saw her, which it’s like Jesus Christ. I don’t know.

Matt (00:57:36):

No, I think in a real situation like this, you’d be like, I have to convince these people that I mean something to the groom, but instead they’re all taking it as a given and going one step way further. I mean, that’s the woman of the

Laci (00:57:50):

Hour, right? We love Michael so much that if you’re his best friend and you must be

Matt (00:57:55):

Amazing. Yes.

Laci (00:57:57):

And yeah, there’s never a moment where you’re feeling like these people deserve to get Michael stolen. They’re definitely making it hard for you. But basically this seems like it’s some sort of shout. It’s an event for the wedding. It’s unclear what kind it is, but the mom of Kimmy is like, okay, well, I’m told I’m supposed to scoot you off to the ballpark to hang out with the guys, but first you have to meet a lot of really old women. So she’s got a good sense of humor. We like the mom, we like the dad who we’re about to meet.

Matt (00:58:30):

And there’s this bizarre scene with Kim and Jules in the elevator, or Kimmy

Laci (00:58:37):

Cameron

Matt (00:58:38):

Diaz is like, I have to tell you something. And she pushes the emergency

Laci (00:58:40):

Stuff

Matt (00:58:41):

And she’s like, Michael has so many flaws that I can’t get past. He likes action movies and also he snores. But guess what? I love him so much that I can look past all of those things except for one little flaw You

Laci (00:58:54):

And she pushes the, and then now Julia or Jules is having a claustrophobic panic. What she expected was going to happen, and now it’s happening in a confined space. But then Kimmy surprises her and he is like, I just decided you win. I’m not going to try to compete with you. He’ll have you on a pedestal and me on his arm. And in a way it’s really sweet, it’s really grounded, it’s really smart, but it’s also kind of a bitch slap, kind of like, well, you can stay up there. I’ll be down

Matt (00:59:23):

Here with him. It’s also like, yeah, say that now. We’ll see how you feel in two years.

Laci (00:59:28):

I don’t know. I mean, I’m glad. I think it’s mature of Kimmy to get that elephant out of the room right away.

Matt (00:59:34):

Yeah.

Laci (00:59:36):

Let’s address that. This is strange. I already asked you to be my maid of honor. It’s weird. We are Eskimo sisters, whatever the fuck it’s called, when you both have fucked the same person.

Matt (00:59:45):

So they go to Comiskey Park, which is of course owned by the new, he’s Jerry Reinsdorf. He’s not really Jerry Reinsdorf. He’s some guy who also owns a cable company, but decidedly not. Jerry Reiner was a very famous guy at the time. He also owned the Bulls, owned the Chicago Bulls, the most famous sports team in the world, but he owns the Chicago White, and they’re all go into the luxury, the owner’s box. And she meets up with Michael and his new family and his old family, including M at Walsh. Now we all know my love for at Walsh. She’s my favorite character actor. And I’d say the movie’s number one biggest flaw is nothing for Poor

Laci (01:00:24):

At Wall. I think. Give him a little bit to do at the singing part at the

Matt (01:00:30):

Lunch. Yeah. He gets to do that. And there’s the scene where Cameron Diaz goes to buy poison from him. He’s like, I don’t give out poison unless she going to pay me. And he plays Papa Joe, which I remembered from the first time I saw this movie like, oh yeah, because my grandfather’s name is

Laci (01:00:47):

Papa

Matt (01:00:48):

Joe. It’s weird to hear that spoken by someone,

Laci (01:00:51):

Even as a kid. I kind of thought it was weird that she brings a big tray of beers that makes her seem cool, but it also makes her seem like a servant. And I’m also in my kid brain. I’m like, wait, you’re with the owner in the owner’s box. They have people that do this. There’s no way all these men don’t have a beer. It’s not the same as you going all the way up and then all the way down the state, you just took beers off of the table that was directly behind them, or you took a tray from a server who was going to come and get some tips.

Matt (01:01:23):

You intercepted the tips

Laci (01:01:24):

And you’re standing in front of the game, you’re blocking the game. He’s there to report on the gate, get out of the way. Anyway, this scene, I always liked it and it annoyed me.

Matt (01:01:36):

Christopher Masterson is Michael’s younger brother. He’s the oldest brother from Malcolm in the middle, and he stands up to hug Julie Roberts. You can see him getting a boner and then

Laci (01:01:45):

Hugs her for too long.

Matt (01:01:46):

Yeah,

Laci (01:01:47):

That’ll do, Scotty. That’ll do.

Matt (01:01:48):

And she’s like, but you know, are the best man. And I’m a maid of honor. We’re going to dance.

Laci (01:01:54):

There’s a lot of kissing on the lips in this movie a lot. Kimmy kisses her dad on the lips. Jules kisses Michael’s dad on the lips. Julia kisses George on the lips. Julia kisses. I keep doing it wrong, but maybe Jules just kisses a lot on the lips. I don’t know. It doesn’t totally bother me, but I always noted it as,

Matt (01:02:19):

Who wrote this movie, Tom Brady now? Yeah. And speaking of Kiss earlier, I forgot to bring this up earlier. Cameron Diaz, when she’s giving her her monologue about how flawed that Michael is, but on the other hand can kiss, but he sure can kiss.

Laci (01:02:34):

I guess that does kind of hint at the fact that they don’t

Matt (01:02:37):

Bone. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Laci (01:02:39):

All right.

Matt (01:02:39):

I mean, you’re supposed to read into that. You can share a munch box, but are we, well, I can go on with the wind, Scarlet. You need to be kissed and by someone who knows how to kiss. And you’re like, I know what you really mean there. Rhet butler, you dog. Same thing’s happening here. Okay, Matt? Yeah. So you are the best man. And I’m the maid of honor, and that means we have to dance. And Michael’s like, but you don’t dance. And she’s

Laci (01:03:07):

Like, I’ve got moves you’ve never seen.

Matt (01:03:09):

Yeah, you don’t know everything about me. So they go and they have this little one-on-one.

Laci (01:03:13):

Who are you? You imposter. You just lemme know if you need quotes. Okay,

Matt (01:03:17):

Yeah, you got ’em. And she’s like, so what’s the deal with your getting married and stuff? And he’s like, well, I met Kimmy and I just like her a lot because when I hug her, even in public, she lets me hug her as long as I want. And she’s like, can I ask you something Michael? And he’s like, you don’t even have to ask, I’ll tell you.

Laci (01:03:39):

He said, no you didn’t.

Matt (01:03:40):

When we hugged in public, you pulled away.

Laci (01:03:43):

That’s just, I think they are doing a good job of setting up these personality differences that they definitely have love for each other that doesn’t make them a good couple. And he had that locked and loaded. He had that example for her for a reason. And I’m sure he does kind of feel like he needs to explain in some kind of way, like, Hey, this might be a shock to you. And of course, I remember our pac and I know we’re both turning 28 right now. Here’s why once you friend zone me, I didn’t fight back too hard.

Matt (01:04:19):

Exactly. That’s a great way to put it because I like that. And I like this scene. I like that you can read it on her face. She hears. She probably didn’t even know that that’s something she does, but she’s like I, or

Laci (01:04:30):

Something he likes.

Matt (01:04:31):

I didn’t realize that was a flaw of mine or something that I needed to work on if I wanted to stay in your good graces.

Laci (01:04:40):

And she also, she does great face acting. You can also see, she’s like, I don’t want to change in that way. That’s not even you talking to me about it right now. I’m like, Ew.

Matt (01:04:52):

And then she’s like, well, I’ve changed. I’m really different now. So yeah, she doesn’t want to be, but she’s like, I guess, no, no, I’ll fake it.

Laci (01:04:59):

I’m already here. I’m still going on with the plan.

Matt (01:05:03):

Go to this karaoke bar jules’s suggestion because when Kimie was like, he’s so different from me. He likes karaoke and I hate karaoke.

Laci (01:05:10):

I can’t sing a tune.

Matt (01:05:11):

I can’t Kara a tune. So they go to this karaoke bar because Jules has started to initiate conniving planning and scheming, and we get to see them now. I think PJ Hogan does a lot of shots where you have two characters speaking to each other in profile, and then the third wheel is in the middle of the frame in the background. They do it a lot in different configurations with these three characters. And I really like it. And I like how much you can feel like Jules and Michael are really reminiscing about all their crazy times together. Remember when we were Florence.

Laci (01:05:46):

But it also does seem like Jules is pouring in on things. Oh yes. Kind giving Michael the stuff that he finds the most fun to talk about because she wants to get ’em kind of riled up and there’s no way this energy is the energy they have all the time. You can just guess that she, no, she’s kind of cool, laid back, a little bit removed and just turns on that charm when she feels like it. And she’s nice and you can talk to her, but only about certain things. And yeah,

Matt (01:06:11):

Cameron Diaz does a good job of being not moping or pouting about it, but just trying. I love Florence. Just try and keep up and connect in whatever way she can without being a sad hanger on

Laci (01:06:24):

And showing that she’s paying attention and wants to be a part of the conversation. What was I going to say? Oh, something that I always noticed is Kimmy is confident in how much she loves him and how they have broken through something. When you’re going to marry somebody, and it’s not stupid, I can’t explain it, but getting to know you. I knew that we had something that I’d never experienced before. And so they do a good job of, they might have little spats and they do all throughout this movie, but they immediately go back to either being really sad that it happened or you think she’ll take me back. You think he’ll take me back. They do a really good job of just like, no, they are very much in love and very much compatible. They’re on the same wavelength in terms of they’re giving each other what they need on a level that Julia’s character could never understand.

Matt (01:07:27):

When you and I started dating, I was very good friends with, one of my best friends was a woman, a platonic female friendship that I had. Was it awkward for you to,

Laci (01:07:37):

At first I knew that I needed to be vetted by her and this movie I was sent on outings with her. It was a weird situation where she worked in my work because you got her job there and you no

Matt (01:07:54):

Longer she took over by old job.

Laci (01:07:55):

You no longer work there. So I was already being vetted the whole time. It’s like you sent a little spy and once we knew we were going to be together, then she would ask me to go to places. And I mean, I wanted to be friends with your friend. She was important to you. But I did always kind of feel like she was giving me little tests, but then I feel like we became actual friends. It’s just she’s not Kimmy. It wasn’t a whirlwind romance situation. I already had you. I never felt like I needed to compete. Exactly. But I more felt like I had to compete and keep your respect around other people with college degrees and people that read books a lot and knew about politics, all those things. I definitely feel like I had to keep up with you,

Matt (01:08:50):

Which is

Laci (01:08:51):

Just, I felt left out a lot if we were in a social situation where we were around more people like you than me.

Matt (01:08:56):

You having to keep up with me as wild. All

Laci (01:08:59):

I know. I can’t believe it was ever like that.

Matt (01:09:01):

Yeah. Because all I ever feel like, is Laci’s moving too fast here on show, going to try to kiss me now? No, no. Just that’s none of my business. There’s more social situations that you and I have been around, been in where I’m the Kimmy who can’t keep up with you and the person or often the group, whether it’s your family or your friends or

Laci (01:09:24):

Your friends. Honestly,

Matt (01:09:26):

Fuck me,

Laci (01:09:29):

You got good friends.

Matt (01:09:30):

So they’re at this karaoke bar and this is apparently a karaoke bar where there’s no list or anything. Another person will just hand you the mic and be like, you’re up

Laci (01:09:39):

Sugar plum. It’s tagged. You don’t go there. If you don’t, you’re not okay to get tagged.

Matt (01:09:42):

Okay. You think this is a real thing?

Laci (01:09:43):

I don’t know, but I like it.

Matt (01:09:45):

Yeah. Yeah. I

Laci (01:09:46):

Feel like I’d never get picked though. I’d like, oh, oh, oh

Matt (01:09:49):

Yeah, you want it too

Laci (01:09:49):

Much. I want it too much. Yeah.

Matt (01:09:51):

So they give it to her and they’re like, get up there bitch. And she’s like, no, no, no, I’m too shy.

Matt (01:09:56):

Then Julie Roberts is like, no, no, no, she doesn’t want to, she’s too shy. She picks up the mic, she’s about to sing. She’s like, let Ms. Cameron Diaz come on up here. And so it’s not like she requests a song, they just start playing. I just don’t know what to do with myself. Another song written by Bur Backrack and that other guy recorded by Dusty Springfield,

Laci (01:10:14):

Way to go, other guy.

Matt (01:10:15):

Now she’s 20 years old and knows this 40-year-old song. Okay. I just, oh know I have to do. And her voice is extremely flat. This is me.

Laci (01:10:25):

It’s the shaking that gets me.

Matt (01:10:27):

This is how Cameron Diaz really sings. She said she was embarrassed, but the director’s like, no, no, no. Own it. And it is a great performance because it is her. She just goes for it. And you see, she wins over the audience with her sincerity and her bubbliness

Laci (01:10:39):

And her dancing because she gets into it. And I even like that part where in a midnight, I’m like, yeah, Kimmy sing a Kimmy style.

Matt (01:10:49):

And Jules, all she can do is not an acknowledgement and clap,

Laci (01:10:53):

But she does start to like her here. It’s hard not to like her.

Matt (01:10:57):

God damnit, God damnit Kimmy. But apparently Julia Roberts was very against clapping for her. She’s like, no, no, no. My character would be ruthless. She would not give her the, okay, you win this round my friend. But the director’s like, let’s just get one take where you clap. And she’s like, fine. He’s like the type we ended up with in the final cut,

Laci (01:11:16):

But she’s rolling her eyes while she does it, so it works.

Matt (01:11:18):

Yes. So Kimmy, after they leave the karaoke bar, Kimmy is going back to the hotel and Jules is like, Hey, I’m just going to stay here and hang out with

Laci (01:11:25):

Michael. No. She’s like, well, I’m the maid of honor and as the maid of honor, it is my duty to escort the bride. We’ve got a big early day and I wouldn’t want to not do my duties. And as soon as Kimmy’s like, oh no, it’s not your, okay, well, if you insist, okay, bye, bitch. I’m just saying it’s more underhanded than that. She fainted. She wanted to do right by Kimmy and then made it Kimmy’s idea, which is such a dick move.

Matt (01:11:51):

It’d be like if you’re like, oh, I’m tired. And then the other person’s like, yeah, I guess I could go home. And you’re like, well, if you want to go home, you go on by yourself. But this is why I say Michael’s a bad boyfriend.

Laci (01:12:01):

He sees through it, Kimmy sees through it. There’s no way Michael doesn’t see through.

Matt (01:12:05):

No, even if this weren’t a scheme, you know that your fiance is insecure about your relationship with this woman, but you’re like, no, I’m going to hang out with her and get drunk and stuff. That’s, that’s

Laci (01:12:16):

Not what they end up doing. But I guess, I mean, I think she just trusts Michael and she probably has not said she’s jealous. I think he doesn’t want to think she’s jealous. And so if she’s not going to just flat out say it, I think he’s enjoying not having to worry about it. So I’m not going to say that he knows.

Matt (01:12:33):

Well, he’s a dumb ass.

Laci (01:12:34):

He’s young. He’s

Matt (01:12:35):

28. Oh, poor guy.

Laci (01:12:36):

Oh my God. Matt, you do not guys in movies. Jesus. I didn’t know that.

Laci (01:12:43):

It’s just a reoccurring theme. The guy’s not good enough. The guy’s not acting enough. The guy’s boring. I don’t know. You really need a lot. You don’t need much from women though. Guess because we’re simple beings. All right.

Matt (01:12:56):

Yeah, that’s a great way to turn it around. You’re welcome. Okay, so they have a little conversation while eating some Chicago dogs, and he’s like, you’re surprised when I told you that I’m getting married. And she’s like, I fell off the bed. He says, that explains the thump.

Laci (01:13:09):

It was a much more fucking cute exchange than that. If you’re going to repeat it, do it. Why? Right.

Matt (01:13:17):

So Jules says, it’s a pretty big sacrifice for Kimie to put her career on hold because she’s got this whole big career in front of her.

Laci (01:13:24):

She’s going to be an architect.

Matt (01:13:25):

But the thing about that Jules, is she’s a billionaire heiress. So there’s no sacrifice. When she decides it’s time to be an architect, she’ll be an architect, but she’s trying to find a different angle. Okay, how about this?

Laci (01:13:38):

Well, she’s sowing these seeds of doubt on both sides. It’s smart because she knows that their big conniving thing is she’s going to get Kimmy to get her dad to offer something that she knows Michael will not want and will be insulted by. And so she’s sewing these little, I think it’s pretty smooth.

Matt (01:14:00):

I think it’s smooth too.

Laci (01:14:02):

What do you, okay,

Matt (01:14:05):

She’s not lots of different tracks. She’s laying out, so I’m going to try this one. Now you, it’s a big sacrifice for her. Have you considered how bad it’s going to be for you? Because you’ve made her give up on all of this stuff,

Laci (01:14:18):

Adding conflict to their conflict list moment. Right now, there are things that they’ll have to work out grownups, but these aren’t things in either of them brought up Kimmy’s, not complaining, and Michael isn’t either. And it almost kind of seems like Jules is reporting on something Kimmy was talking about rather than, I just thought of this.

Matt (01:14:43):

And the big stretch was, she’s like, your job, you’re a working sports writer, a very coveted job that lots of people would love to have, but it’s not a grownup’s job. He’s like, what? Okay. So he’s like, why don’t you go work for Kimmy’s dad? He owns the White Sox. And he’s like, I would never do that because I love my job and I don’t want to do that, or whatever. This gives her the plan. Kimmy Kimmy, you’ll go talk to your dad and you’ll set up a job that he will make it seem like you’re pressuring him to take a job working for her dad, whether at the White Sox or working with the cable company or whatever. And so we see Jules talking to Kimmy about this and how they can set it up. And then we go to dinner with the three of them. These three are always just going to get dinner or whatever.

Laci (01:15:36):

Well, she’s there to spend time with Michael, but Kimmy, like we’ve been saying, deserves to be in the picture. So yeah, just a bunch of that.

Matt (01:15:46):

So they’re there at the dinner and Kimmy makes the pitch, my dad really needs a sports writer to work for him. And he’s like, you are kidding me. I’m supposed to, I’m glad. I’m glad I’m hearing this now before it’s too late, just come out and say it, Kim, my job’s not good enough. I’m not good enough.

Laci (01:16:05):

He’s being really earnest. They’re having a really emotional fight in the middle of a very crowded restaurant. And him and Kimmy are like neither of them embarrassed. They just want to get it out. They’re both emotional and both really hurt and think that they’re in a much more loving, understanding situation. And they are.

Laci (01:16:21):

It’s sweet. It makes me uncomfortable. I wouldn’t want to do it in public. Jules is uncomfortable, but then they reunite. It’s adorable.

Matt (01:16:28):

Well, and Julia Roberts again in the middle of the frame with the two of people, and it’s funny, the score in the movie has been very comedic, very screwball comedy, very like she, Ooh, she’s doing her plans. She’s doing, she’s pulling the strings behind the scene. But oh, that dastardly Kim. She keeps foiling her and now all of a sudden she’s like, oh my God, I just caused a real serious fucked up thing to happen.

Laci (01:16:53):

Crying is hard to watch. And it sounds like a child because it’s so honest. And she gets so red and her eyes are so blue and it’s sad.

Matt (01:17:04):

Yes,

Laci (01:17:04):

It’s sad how scared she gets.

Matt (01:17:06):

She’s like, no, no, please forget it. Please forget I ever said anything. And then he forgives it right away. And now the score actually changes a little bit. The tone of the movie kind of shifts from here on out. It’s not so, well, it is still kind of flighty, but right here we get like, oh, this is real shit that’s happening. That this isn’t just like fun, little fun, sexy pranks that Julie Roberts is pulling.

Laci (01:17:30):

If you are successful in breaking them up, you are going to be completely destroying Kimmy for a while. This is real love. She seems like she has everything. She’s perfect. Just get another Michael, but there’s not another one. They have something you don’t understand. And it’d be a big loss. You would be a bad guy. You’re not doing a service because you’re breaking up something that’s never going to work. It’s working.

(01:17:57):

So I think we then, I don’t know, I think the next thing we see is her surrounded by waking up to knocking on her hotel room door and little mini bottles of alcohol all over and she’s hit the candy. Is that right? Yeah. And she answers the door. I assume she’s hungover. She’s just looks a mess. No, she doesn’t. And she answers the door and it’s George, he’s shown up. He hates flying, but he could tell that she’s in between all these moments. She’s having these calls with him and freaking out. Is there the dinner scene where he’s having dinner and she’s on the message recording? Did that happen right here? And that’s why he

Matt (01:18:45):

Came? Yes. Yeah. There’s

Laci (01:18:47):

Having a dinner party

Matt (01:18:48):

And she leaves a message, a very manic, terrifying message.

Laci (01:18:52):

And all the guests are listening to it and what the fuck is this? And then it ends and then he’s like, anyone want dessert? And then it goes back. But he can sense that she needs support and we need him in this because all of a sudden now I’m feeling real lonely with Jules because she’s got to understand this isn’t what she thought. You are alone here. You’re doing the devil’s work and it’s not working, man.

Matt (01:19:18):

And you might think he’s come in to be her partner in crime, but what he is actually there to do is ground her, talk her down from this crazy manic episode she’s

Laci (01:19:28):

Having and says exactly what’s going to happen the entire time. He’s not saying you’re going to get that man. He’s saying, here’s what’s going to happen, and then you’re going to do the right thing and then you’re going to come back home. And he never feeds into her shit. And in fact, he just foils it. He’s only there for the day. He’s actually got to fly right back out that same day. So he goes with her to whatever Aaron she’s running. And so he’s like, look, just fricking, you’re here to tell him you love him. If you have to get that off your chest to see what, let’s just go do that. Where is he right now? And she finds out where he is getting his suit fitted, which is stupid. That would’ve already been fitted anyway.

Matt (01:20:14):

Well, I really like this hotel scene when he joins her in the hotel and they just lay down on the bed together and it’s just a static shot. Well, it slowly zooms in, but there’s, there’s no cuts. It’s just one take. Both of them in the frame having this really lovely 92nd conversation.

Laci (01:20:29):

Well, and in the beginning of the movie she says, and it seems like a throwaway line, but more and more you realize what she means by it is when George says, what’s he like and is he just like you? And she says, well, no. He’s like you actually. And you’re starting to see it because George is unapologetic about the way that he is him. He’s a gay man. What the fuck? He doesn’t care what she thinks. That’s her boss.

(01:20:49):

So he’s just going to be him. So he just says it all out loud and tells her what she doesn’t want to hear, and she respects him for it. And he’s laying there and he’s being sweet to her and she’s being vulnerable with him. All these things that make her uncomfortable, but she needs it. And he’s trying to tell her what she doesn’t want to hear. And she goes to get up and he pulls her by her whole ponytail and forces her to lay down in a sweet, it’s completely sweet. And he’s like, hear me? So it’s like he’s this sincere, earnest, funny, loving, grounded person. And I don’t know, I just like that we get to see what we don’t get to see. Michael is through George

Matt (01:21:33):

And two,

Laci (01:21:34):

He likes to sing too, just like Michael.

Matt (01:21:36):

Two really great performances. And I think that Hogan just does, there’s just real filmmaking here, allowing these two actors to just go uninterrupted back and forth in the single shot. And it’s this really intimate moment. And because of moments like this and so many moments, the guys doing singing with the Helium, it’s like you don’t usually get just kind of a, I dunno, you don’t get small moments like that in your typical romcom. I think that’s what elevates this above sort of the average

Laci (01:22:10):

And the leading person not looking perfect. I mean, oh look, there’s mud all over you or something like that. But somehow you’re still insanely sexy though. She just woke up, she’s upside down in this shot. She’s ugly crying. She’s got a vein bulging out of her. She’s still her, but it’s like this just feels really real.

Matt (01:22:28):

And he asked her, are you doing this because you actually love him or is it because win? You need to win. And she’s like, well, I think at first it was because I needed to win, but now I’m realizing like, oh, I love him or

Laci (01:22:39):

Whatever. And that was the point I was making earlier, which was like she’s realizing, oh, he’s really, he can commit whatever it is. I think about people and why I don’t get close. That’s not true about him. Look at him. He’s going to marry someone. That means he can marry someone and he’s nice and he puts up with me and he gets really lit up when I’m around. And so no one, I can’t trust anyone else. I dunno that anyone else is going to marry somebody. How will I know they’ll marry me? She thinks of him as the perfect guy of a sudden because she seen him do something she never thought she’d see him do. And that doesn’t mean he’s perfect, it just means he is capable of commitment. Not to you though. We don’t know because maybe what works about you guys is that you are aloof. Maybe he needs you in small doses

Matt (01:23:22):

When you’re a lot. It’s like it’s hard to take on new people. I have to onboard them with a lot of stuff. Here’s a lot you’re going to need to know about me and what I’m like. So it kind of limits you to, it’s just kind of the people who are already with the program who are my options.

Laci (01:23:40):

And George is gay, which is a problem because he’s the other one that’s just around,

Matt (01:23:46):

I wrote in my notes that George says, just tell him you love him. And I wrote, that’s bad advice, but talking about it with you, it’s because he knows you’re not going to get off of this until

Laci (01:23:56):

You

Matt (01:23:56):

Tell him, and then he will give you reality.

Laci (01:23:58):

Exactly. You think that you’re holding some kind of special magical key, but if you were, Michael would’ve already come to you and said, Hey, I’m thinking of marrying this woman. Do you have anything to say to me? And Michael didn’t do that. And that’s really obvious from the outside that he didn’t take that stuff because he’s sure of what he’s doing. But because he’s treated you like this magical thing on a pedestal for all these years, he’s been the source of your self-esteem. He couldn’t possibly be about to take that away, but he is. He needs something too. He needs it back.

Matt (01:24:36):

Also, just circle back in five years. They’re not going to be together in five years.

Laci (01:24:39):

That’s not true. Up. She’s

Matt (01:24:40):

20 years old.

Laci (01:24:41):

That’s up.

Matt (01:24:42):

Okay, well then he’ll cheat on his wife with you. So yeah, he’s getting fitted for his wedding costume one day before the wedding, and that’s where she’s like, oh mom, Michael, I got to tell you something. Oh, mom, mom, mom. You know how some people have feelings for each other and they change over time? And he’s like, yes. Anyway,

Laci (01:25:01):

She’s taking forever to get around to the thing. And so that Rupert can be doing all kinds of stupid shit in the background and he’s causing a ruckus. And finally Michael interrupts her to be like, who’s that guy? And then that’s when she gets, because he’s got this gleam in his eye, she can just tell Michael doesn’t like that there’s another guy around. So she just, yay, this is easier. I’ll kick this can down the road. I don’t want to know if saying I love you is going to do the trick. This is my fiance. He’s here to fuck me. Anyway,

Matt (01:25:34):

He just ruined the best joke of the movie.

Laci (01:25:36):

I know. Sorry. You deliver it

Matt (01:25:38):

So well.

Laci (01:25:40):

It takes a while.

Matt (01:25:42):

Sorry. So she’s going to tell him the truth and then realizes she can’t. She just can’t. So instead she makes up a lie on the spot George. George is here to see me, and then they walk over to George and she’s like, George, honey, I’ve told him everything. You know how we’re getting married? Well, that’s what I told him. And George is like, oh yes, I am totally marrying you. And he just flew into Chicago. He has to go back to New York tonight. He just came to town for a little while to fuck me, and it’s great. I love the unexpected PG 13. Fuck. Especially, it’s never, you can get one fuck in your PG 13 movie unless it literally means have sex. But here it does mean that it

Laci (01:26:31):

Does. Whoa. But it’s sex with a gay man, so it’s not actually

Matt (01:26:36):

Threatening. You’re right. That’s like how if an old woman shows her tits, you can keep your PG 13, but if it’s a sexy young woman

Laci (01:26:46):

Only, I can’t remember the exact words. It’s like he’s just here for a while, easier to fuck me, takes a while, damnit. I can’t get it. Right. Anyway, so now they’re in a cab ride onto the next wedding event, which is apparently a lunch at a Red Lobster

Matt (01:27:00):

First the rehearsal

Laci (01:27:03):

At the

Matt (01:27:03):

Church.

Laci (01:27:05):

They do? Yeah. Oh, right. Because everyone’s like, ah, yes. They find out

Matt (01:27:10):

In the cab. Michael is like, so this is George. The way you always talked about George made him sound like he was And Rupert Everett’s like gay. Yeah. Common misconception

Laci (01:27:20):

Worked for me.

Matt (01:27:22):

And it’s very funny. She’s like, just act like you’re my fiance. So basically,

Laci (01:27:26):

But he’s so aggravated by it because he just wants to, he flew here. I flew here to get you to snap you out of this. You are in a manic place and you’re going to keep needing me. You’re going to keep calling me. And I’m telling you, I came here to help you do the hard thing. Here I am. You’ve got me for a few hours. Do the hard thing. And instead what he does is makes it more complicated and makes him an accomplice in the thing he doesn’t want to do, which is this fucking ruse, this prolonging the inevitable. So he tortures her.

Matt (01:27:59):

Well, you sucked me into a screwball comedy, into a dumb romantic comedy. And I’m not,

Laci (01:28:03):

He’s wasted. She’s wasting his time.

Matt (01:28:06):

Yes,

Laci (01:28:06):

Everyone’s time.

Matt (01:28:07):

But then, and I think this is a couple of things. I think it’s a great idea to have a character that you present as a side character, as the comic relief, and then pull him into the center of the movie and say like, you are now part of a story. You are now vitally involved with the dynamic between the main characters. So that’s a great idea. But I think the super inspired choices, he’s like, he starts as annoyed, but then he is like, you know what?

Laci (01:28:32):

Fuck it.

Matt (01:28:32):

I’m not going to be the normal movie character who’s like, yeah, I’m totally, instead, I’m going to totally embrace the deception and have the most fun I could possibly have

Laci (01:28:40):

By doing all of the things I would normally do in a relationship, just not in a relationship with you. I’m going to do all the things that you don’t like PDA sweet stories, affectionate things and intimate moments. I’m going to share them, and then I’m going to break out a song motherfucker with how much I love you. Let me show you much. You don’t want this.

Matt (01:29:03):

They go to the church and now they start introducing him to all of Kimmy and Michael’s families.

Laci (01:29:10):

He slaps

Matt (01:29:10):

Her and Kimmy runs, Karen Dees runs and jumps into his arms and they’re both screaming and he just slaps her on the ass

Laci (01:29:19):

All so Kimmy could not be more excited for this news. It really is a relief.

Matt (01:29:24):

And she’s like, well, why didn’t you say anything? And George says, well, she wanted to say, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, but Jewels the angel. She said, no, pumpkin. It’s Kimmy special

Laci (01:29:36):

Day here. Sweet chocolate covered Kimmy. Those were her exact words. And then the mom and Kimmy.

Matt (01:29:42):

Yeah. So yeah, obviously he is being the magical gay man and the gay best friend, but he is,

Laci (01:29:49):

But he’s doing it on his own terms. He is annoyed. So if you want to make me waste my time and be part of this thing that you need to just handle a big girl, I am going to make this the worst time for you.

Matt (01:30:05):

And we have the cutaways to him having a dinner party and later him be attending a reading. And it’s like those serve a purpose to show you this guy has his own life. He’s not a

Laci (01:30:13):

Manic

Matt (01:30:15):

Yes. He’s not partner. Yeah. He’s not a manic magic gay guy whose only purpose in life is to help you get over your

Laci (01:30:20):

Emotional crisis. Exactly. And that’s why I looked at this for a different way for the first time as an adult, the kind of thing it is to get an airplane ticket the same day of travel, not one, but two, just because you hear she is interrupting your life over and over again. These phone calls are constant. I mean, that’s not nothing. And okay, you’re flying off the rails. You just need help to do the hard thing. I’m going to fly there. Please fucking handle this. And then she doesn’t. I would be so pissed. But he’s just, you need this, we need this. We need this relief right now from this fucking magical singing man at the Red Lobster.

Matt (01:31:04):

So in reality, it’s a Joe’s Crab shack in the reality of the movie, it’s bury the kudos.

Laci (01:31:10):

I like that too. They’ve got the whole room maybe, I don’t think, which makes more sense as to why they all break out in song in this room. It is like a private room. It is for the wedding party, just the immediate families at this big, big table, but all around, or this other guests and people who are there for the four day thing.

Matt (01:31:35):

It’d be weird if, yeah, the owner of the White Sox is here at Joe’s Craft Shack. Yes.

Laci (01:31:39):

Right. And that’s why this entire waitstaff is there for this big VIP. And we’re going to make this fun for you. We have a piano guy, you’re going to run a propped in the song. We’re going to play that song, and then we’re going to do the wave or whatever this is. It’s not the wave. And that’s, anyways, just, everyone’s just so jazzed that George exists. So they just want to know everything about him. And he is happy to oblige in the most embarrassing gay way possible by singing a Dionne Warwick song.

Matt (01:32:11):

Well, how did you two meet? And he’s like, well, and he just improvs this story and he is like, I was visiting a mental institution. I had a friend who thought he was Dionne Warwick, and she was visiting a French chef who she drove mad with a bad review,

Laci (01:32:23):

The siren, this vision.

Matt (01:32:25):

I saw her and I said, Dionne, could this siren love me? Are the gods that kind? Oh, it was some beautiful Doris Day Rock Hudson Extravaganza and Rock Hudson of course was gay.

Matt (01:32:37):

Yeah. Are the gods that kind and Dion said, and just a long pause and everybody’s on pins and needles. Well, the moment, what did she say?

Laci (01:32:46):

He let me do it.

Matt (01:32:47):

The moment I went,

Laci (01:32:49):

It’s always bothered me how breathy he sings. But it is he on, is this a Broadway actor?

Matt (01:32:57):

Maybe a London stage? I don’t know. But he starts singing. Everybody starts to join in, including Emmett Walsh who has a beautiful voice. He is a stage actor himself. And then the guy starts playing piano, and then it switches to a studio recording. You can hear it. It suddenly switches. And now it’s like a legitimate musical sequence, which I think in other movies would bother me. But here I’m like, no, this is fun. This is funny that all of a sudden the reality of the movie has totally broken

Laci (01:33:25):

And everyone is just having the best fucking, weddings are stressful and hard, and everything is planned to the teeth. And so the whole time you’re sitting there through every event waiting for the beats that you planned, okay, that happened, that happened. What needs to, you don’t enjoy them. You’re not just relaxed. So for this impromptu guest with an impromptu song, this would be a big, huge relief for any fucking wedding set of events. I tell you what,

Matt (01:33:53):

Apparently the priest is played by Chelsea Ross

Laci (01:33:56):

From

Matt (01:33:57):

Mad Men as Mr. Conrad Hilton. He does two lines of dialogue and they do all of that. And you see, and

Laci (01:34:06):

George goes home,

Matt (01:34:07):

Well, during the sequence, like husbands are kissing wives. The only two people who are unhappy are Jules and Michael. He’s unhappy too. What’s going on? So Jules and George, they’re going to have their goodbye at the airport. And George gives his parting advice, and she’s like, you just have to tell him. And he’s like, well, what will he do? He says, he’ll choose Kim. You’ll stand beside her at the wedding, kiss him goodbye and go home. That’s what she came here to do. So do it. And the character needs it, but the audience need it. We need somebody to rec tell you, we understand this woman’s being a lunatic, and she’s being told, Hey, you’re a fucking psychopath.

Laci (01:34:44):

Yeah, George has never wavered. This is a crazy wild hair. You have up your ass. You are just trying to prolong growing up or something. You don’t want him to marry you. You want him to not Kim, there’s a difference. This is more just part, you don’t want to lose your friend, your fuck buddy. But it’s like you need to grow up now.

Matt (01:35:04):

And so when it cuts, and now it seems like Jules is actually about to confess to Michael what’s really going on, but then she stops and then once again is like, you know what? I’m going to continue keeping up the ruse. And it’s like she thinks she’s in a romantic comedy where you can deceive and stuff, and the audience are starting to really, really get annoyed with her. I think it’s a funny way of playing with our sympathies and our expectations.

Laci (01:35:29):

Yes. Well, because they need to transition her to the real villain where she crosses the line where she needs to leave us behind in the expectations as we fully know what’s going to happen now, unless she does something that’s really backhanded. And so yeah, we have to switch from like, oh, is she going to do it? To she going to do it? But let’s say this, as soon as she’s back with Michael, she confesses, I’m not actually marrying him. He thinks he just can’t let it go. So that ruse is no longer part of the plot. Michael knows that she does not have a fiance because that just didn’t make sense to him.

Matt (01:36:13):

But maybe we were engaged, but we are not together anymore. But he can’t handle that. So she’s continuing to lie and now making George look like an asshole or look pathetic and just continuing the ruse doubling down on the lies.

Laci (01:36:29):

But that helps Michael come up with some of his big feelings, which is probably some feelings he’s had every time she’s had a relationship. And every time he’s not been the one

(01:36:37):

Or every time he’s witnessed her to do something slightly new, something that she didn’t do with him, or maybe this is the first time that’s happened. Yeah, that would make sense, because this is fake. This is not her. And he says he was insanely jealous. And that’s really human to be on the hook for nine years and to not get this person to budge in the way that you expect them to be. And all of a sudden this guy comes in and she is unrecognizable and she’s been unrecognizable this whole visit because she’s been putting on for you. So I’m just very relatable. But it gives her hope. But then they have a nice monologue about how when you love someone, you just say it, otherwise you miss the moment. And then the bridge, they’re under the bridge and that’s their moment. And then they’re outside from under the bridge and the light comes in and you just know that that’s it.

Matt (01:37:31):

Yeah. They’re on one of those Chicago River Lake River tours on the Chicago River, and it seems like they’re about to say it to confess to each other. We love each other and pass under the bridge. The moment has passed.

Laci (01:37:44):

And then one of the sadder moments of the movie, and you think this is Jules realizing, but what it actually is, is the audience that he’s going to sing their song to her and they’re going to dance and it’s romantic and sweet, and it’s nice that they have a song and it’s a very romantic song. But then Jules starts to tears going down her face, but she doesn’t show him. And it, it’s, to me, I take it as Michael breaking up with the audience of like, no, no, I’m going with Kimmy.

Matt (01:38:20):

I like that. Well, he’s like, but Kimmy and I, because the way, it’s the few days before my wedding, I’m going crazy over here. I feel like I am on a freight train that can’t be stopped, and maybe I’m getting cold feet and having second thoughts, but you were always the one for me. And now I don’t know, I’m with someone else. And Kimmy and I, we don’t even have a song. Unlike you and I, we have a, you know how earlier everyone knew this 40-year-old song? Well, our song is actually 85 years old. It’s the way you look tonight.

Laci (01:38:49):

I love that. That’s not true because what’s his name did a cover of it. It’s my friend Kim’s favorite song ever.

Matt (01:38:56):

Okay, fine. But that song is from 1936. It’s

Laci (01:38:58):

From, yes, but the cover is from the eighties or something. Who covered it?

Matt (01:39:03):

A billion people have

Laci (01:39:03):

Covered it. No, but it’s a very famous person. Prod rock. No, maybe not. Genesis. God damnit.

Matt (01:39:12):

So I referenced Sterian Rogers earlier. This song originated in the Astaire Rogers movie Swing Time. So Fred Steria did the first really famous version.

Laci (01:39:21):

Great. I’ll notice soon as I see it.

Matt (01:39:26):

So Michael Bule,

Laci (01:39:27):

No,

Matt (01:39:28):

Fuck do I look

Laci (01:39:29):

Like

Matt (01:39:29):

The Disdain. So Frank Sinatra’s the most famous version.

Laci (01:39:33):

No, you’re pissing me off

Matt (01:39:36):

Me.

Laci (01:39:36):

No, just view all please. Oh, darn it. It’s a different song. It’s a different song that I’m thinking of. It’s like about coming home from a late night and oh God, thinking that she just looks really pretty from across the room. What the fuck is it called?

Matt (01:40:02):

Are you thinking of Eric Clapton’s Wonderful tonight?

Laci (01:40:06):

Yes.

Matt (01:40:06):

Yeah, same song. It’s made in the

Laci (01:40:10):

Evening. She wanders close to Wow, whatever. I perfectly described it.

Matt (01:40:20):

We had our song and then he stares dead eyed into her and start singing, which would make me jump off the boat. And then they start dancing. And these kids in the boat point and laugh, which they should. Have you ever seen people dancing on a boat to no music?

Laci (01:40:33):

Yeah, we used to live at Elger Point. Drunk people were always on the ferry.

Matt (01:40:38):

So Jules, the craziest thing she does into the movie, she breaks into K’S dad’s email at the cable company

Laci (01:40:44):

Headquarters. She knows full well that she’s breaking up something real, and she knows that there was a perfect moment for Michael. She knows deep down there was a perfect moment for Michael to say that he loves her and he didn’t. That already happened. And now you’re still going to go through with this. Let me see if I can get Michael fired by his, I think she just wanted, she knew the boss would pass this along,

Matt (01:41:11):

So no, no. So what happens is she, for some reason, has to go to the father-in-law’s office because he’s going to give her a ride

Laci (01:41:18):

Somewhere. No, no. She’s picking him up.

Matt (01:41:19):

Okay, well this billionaire needs a ride from Julia Roberts. And he’s like, well, I still have some work to do. And she’s like, I actually can I go, could go use your office. I have some call to make. He’s like, sure. So she goes into his office and she gets on his computer. And I love nineties email. I love nineties email written from Hollywood screenwriters and directors who have no idea what email is you’ve got. Mail also does this.

Laci (01:41:42):

It’s literally a letter.

Matt (01:41:43):

Yes. She opens up the computer and it’s like new letter, new letter. And it’s like it says to silly, here’s where you put the email address you’re writing to. And she just writes somebody’s name and job title. And then from you’re sending it from an email,

Laci (01:42:01):

Here is the thing, and it’s the email is like tabbed in one for the first line after just like you do a letter. And at the end, Walter,

Matt (01:42:12):

I did have lots of older attorneys who I would exchange emails with who would intense stuff. Yeah, stop it.

Matt (01:42:19):

But she writes this crazy email to Dermo Maroney’s boss saying, Hey, please do fire this guy because he won’t work for me unless you fire him

Laci (01:42:27):

Too. My daughter’s, every happiness

Matt (01:42:29):

Depends on this. Okay, thanks. Buy you. He

Laci (01:42:32):

Doesn’t even say, Hey, I’ll owe you one, just do it. I’m the owner of the cable socks. Do

Matt (01:42:36):

It. And she’s like, and then as all emails do, a little window pops up saying, send or save for later. And she’s like, I can’t really send her. I’m not

Laci (01:42:46):

Going to send her.

Matt (01:42:47):

So she then talks directly to the audience and she’s like, here’s what I am doing.

Laci (01:42:51):

She’s not talking to me.

Matt (01:42:52):

What I am doing is I’m going to save this in his drafts folder. And later I will contrive a reason that Michael and I come back to this office where then I can say, what’s this on this computer that I see? But then we cut over to the boss, to the father-in-law, and he’s talking to his secretary and he is like, I have five emails on my email that I need you to send out, please. And this interview with PJ Hogan with the ringer from 2022, half the questions were about this. He’s like, who? What? Sorry, who does this? This was before

Laci (01:43:30):

Something like Boomerang, you do this, you write things and want to send them later. Maybe he just didn’t want to get responses.

Matt (01:43:38):

You are being mighty kind to this guy. In my experience, the richer and higher up somebody is the less they care about attacked and when to send emails. I have always been a you schedule, send that shit. I’ve gotten so many shitty emails in the middle of the night or on a weekend from a boss that could have waited till Monday in the am. But yeah, I guess they were just like, I don’t know, email. It’s like real mail. But on the computer,

Laci (01:44:02):

You send them all together in the mail

Matt (01:44:05):

At the end of the day, that saves you money. You don’t have to pay as much in stamps. So I have a few emails to send. Go ahead and send them please. So this email that was never meant to go out does go out. Next scene, she’s with Michael and they’re at the entrance of this building. It’s later that evening. She’s like, I got to get in there.

Laci (01:44:23):

She’s really losing her shit. She’s going off in a way that we’ve not seen her unhinged this way. She thinks she’s lost her last possible chance of really breaking up this marriage. And he is calm. And he’s like, I’m sorry kid can’t win ’em all.

Matt (01:44:37):

Well, the movie doesn’t do a great job of explaining what her scheme is.

Laci (01:44:40):

I understood.

Matt (01:44:41):

Yeah, I know you’ve seen it a billion times when we see them at the bottom of the building and she’s like fabricated a reason she needs to return to this building. She says, I have a file that I left here. It’s an important file.

Laci (01:44:53):

She has a deadline, a deadline with an editor,

Matt (01:44:55):

A deadline with my file. And he’s like, well, I was given the key, but the key isn’t working. Sorry. And she’s like, this is insane. He’s like, no, it’s insane that you need to go in. I’m getting married tomorrow. It’s Saturday night. It can wait until fucking Monday. And she’s like, nah, her plan is being spoiled.

Laci (01:45:11):

Then she finally says, alright, and they get in the cab, but she’s super quiet unlike herself and just really sad. And he’s finally like, all right,

Matt (01:45:21):

Well, they’re back at the hotel and he is like, Jules, if that much to you, let me just go call my father-in-law and he’ll get me the key. But he’s carrying a stack of letters that I guess he got from the hotel front desk with here. Also some facts, Mr. Mr. Michael. And he’s like, oh, and this is a fax from my editor, boss,

Laci (01:45:40):

Eric, do you think they’d leave me alone on the weekend on my wedding? Maybe it’s congratulations.

Matt (01:45:45):

He’s like, dear Michael, I got the strangest email from your son of a bitch father-in-law saying that I need to fire you.

Laci (01:45:53):

So sorry to do this to you, but I think you need to know what you’re marrying into.

Matt (01:45:58):

And he hands it over to Jules and she’s like, she doesn’t know how the email got sent, but clearly it has been sent. She is,

Laci (01:46:05):

Nevermind. We don’t need to go to the building.

Matt (01:46:07):

Yeah, she’s done, entered the launch codes, done the key on both sides. The bottom is out. She cannot retrieve.

Laci (01:46:14):

Nuclear football has been

Matt (01:46:17):

Hiked. It has been hiked. So now all we can do is wait and hope for the best. And so Michael is like, babe, or no, Jules.

Laci (01:46:26):

Jules.

Matt (01:46:27):

Babe, I got to call Kim. Could you give me some privacy

Laci (01:46:30):

Please? You think you’re going to hear yelling, but you don’t because she just goes,

Matt (01:46:34):

So she goes out and slumps over onto the floor of the hallway and starts smoking a cigarette and then a hotel bellhop or whatever comes over.

Laci (01:46:42):

So a mythical, mystical nugget named Paul Giamatti

Matt (01:46:47):

Played by Paul Giamatti. Now in my memory, it was like a, Hey, what’s crazy? Paul Giamatti plays the Bell book. I guess he was not well known at the time, but now I watch it and they’re like, no, this is a crucial scene. And they needed a real actor to do this character who you think is just a background character, but it has a real meaty

Matt (01:47:05):

One scene performance. So he, it’s like, I’m sorry, obviously you’re a very rich and powerful food critic, but there’s no smoking. And she’s like, oh, I’m sorry. And he gets down on her level. Paul Ani says he has terrible knees. This put him in a lot of pain. And he’s like, mask, can I help you? And she says, I don’t remember what she says. She’s like, I know it’s an non-smoking floor, but would you like some? And he does take a drag off her cigarette. It’s so sweet. And he just says, my grandmother come.

Laci (01:47:40):

Everyone doesn’t need an accent.

Matt (01:47:42):

That’s not an accent. That’s his voice. This too will pass. And then he leaves. It’s just one scene. So in my head, this was a weird, what is the point of that scene? But you see her saying to him, because this is a stranger, she can say it to him, I’m the bad guy. I’m fucking up everybody’s lives. I need to be stopped. I’m a villain. And then he gives her some empathy and just says, it will all be okay. I think of it like a scene from Fargo, the scene where Marge has lunch with Mike Yita, and you think back to that scene, what is that scene doing in the movie? I love it, but it’s a very bizarre one scene does seemingly unrelated from everything, and yet it’s so important to the movie, to the texture of the movie and your understanding of the characters. So Michael opens the door and he’s like, yeah, I called off the wedding, and by the way, can I have my wedding ring back? Because earlier he put her in charge of the wedding ring.

Laci (01:48:45):

When he opens the door, she falls down on the ground and she’s upside down the whole time and still smoking a cigarette. I don’t know. I just find it very sweet.

Matt (01:48:53):

Yeah, she had tried on the wedding ring earlier and couldn’t get it off,

Laci (01:48:58):

So she just makes this very, I tried it on and I can’t get it. Then he fucking sucks it off her finger, which is, all right, that’s a move.

Matt (01:49:09):

It’s working for us.

Laci (01:49:11):

I have rings on my finger. Dylan McDot, Malaney, what’s his name? T

Matt (01:49:17):

Moroney. So he’s like, it ain’t my business,

Laci (01:49:22):

Moroney. Sorry, I’m still thinking about how this movie is none of our business.

Matt (01:49:29):

He’s like, Hey, listen. Yeah, my life is in shambles. I call it off the wedding. I don’t know, maybe you and I can take a trip together, but listen, for now, I just need to be alone. And it is crucial. He doesn’t ask her to stay and comfort me or anything. He’s

Laci (01:49:44):

Like, doesn’t even want to get food. He just wants to be alone.

Matt (01:49:47):

I am so my own person in a way you don’t really

Laci (01:49:50):

Even understand. Well, no, I’m so sad, but this is not like I just lost a girlfriend my whole life just changed the trajectory of it. I’m truly in love with this woman and I feel like I didn’t don’t really know her. I thought I did. And he needs time to talk himself out of it and back into it. And she needs to be alone because she just says something really awful and she doesn’t deserve to be comforted and she needs to wake up wondering what’s going on. And I don’t remember how she finds out that

Matt (01:50:24):

She gets like a telegram. She gets a little note under the door and it really looks like a telegram. And she reads it and she’s like, Hey,

Laci (01:50:31):

That was the thing. Wait, wait, wait. Before cell phones were widely used, you definitely could send these messages at especially at a nice,

Matt (01:50:39):

You’re right. You’re right.

Laci (01:50:40):

Absolutely a fucking thing.

Matt (01:50:42):

Yes, you’re right. That’s what it was. She’s like, Hey, what?

Laci (01:50:46):

And now we get really frantic, slutty, Julia, which I love it because now all of a sudden she’s showing some skin. She looks great, but she’s dressed very inappropriately for this very haughty totty brunch thing that’s happening with a million balloons. And they show that she’s frazzled because she’s got two pairs of sunglasses the whole time. One on her head, one on her face, one on her shirt. Sometimes it’s just, yeah, she’s just fast walking New York quick, quick feet, lady. Hey, what are you doing here? Why are you at a brunch? What the fuck happened? Are you going to go through with this? And he’s just like, well, everyone’s here. We’re not just going to slink off. I need to tell people. And Kimmy didn’t say anything to anyone. So now it’s all up to me. That is a big deal. If neither, what are you going to do? Just stand up there. And I went behind Michael’s back and got him fired from his job. And due to this, he will no longer be marrying me. Thank you for coming.

Matt (01:51:48):

How many weddings do you think have been called off day of you think it’s under a hundred?

Laci (01:51:53):

I have no idea. Well, I mean, people get left at the altar.

Matt (01:51:57):

Really?

Laci (01:51:58):

That’s a thing.

Matt (01:51:59):

Come on. I don’t

Laci (01:51:59):

Fucking know.

Matt (01:52:01):

No, when you just go through with it and getting divorced in 18 months, it’s

Laci (01:52:04):

Fine if you get an annulment, Matt, as long as it’s within a certain amount of time,

Matt (01:52:08):

Especially if you’re a child bride who’s a virgin?

Laci (01:52:11):

It’s Scotty. That’s a virgin. No, I have no idea.

Matt (01:52:16):

So do you want to get married? And he’s like, no, I need to tell everybody. But first, Jules, could you go check on Kimmy? Please?

Laci (01:52:25):

See, and this is something really sweet. Again, this movie shows you over and over again. This is not some whirlwind romance thing that there’s nothing to it. The first thing both of them say, are you okay? And they are on the same. They truly care about each other and in the same.

Matt (01:52:46):

And so she sort of has to now play courier back and forth between Kimmy and Michael. So she goes to tell to check on Kimmy, and she says to Kimmy, why haven’t you told your parents that the wedding’s off? And she’s like, I don’t understand what’s happening. And Angels is like, well, let me try and explain it to you. Okay,

Laci (01:53:06):

I’m better with food. It’s like, okay, we totally forgot you were a food critic till just now. We think it’s going to be a thing. But it’s not. But I guess the overall thing is she’s a critic, right? She’s

Matt (01:53:16):

Cynical. I was going to say they drop that she’s a food critic, but I guess this is the one other time they reference it just because she talks about food for a second.

Laci (01:53:26):

But Annie’s a tone maker. People are scared of her. She is serious. She’s not warm and fuzzy. She’s

Matt (01:53:32):

Critical. Michael, he went to a fancy French restaurant and he ordered creme brulee. But then he decided, you know what? I don’t want creme brulee. I want Jello. And Cameron Diaz is like, I could be jello.

Laci (01:53:44):

You’re never going to be Jello.

Matt (01:53:46):

How she delivers because Jello makes him comfortable. And this is why I think what I said earlier about the class component of the movie, if the movie had been able to make a distinction between the world as Kimmy experiences in Jules experiences and that Michael relates more to Jules because they’re working class or they’re middle class at least, then this would be a little more powerful. But instead it’s like you two are both super movie stars and beautiful and rich. There doesn’t seem to be any difference between you at all. They would just be a little more powerful. But it’s still funny for her to

Laci (01:54:16):

Be like, I could be jow. Well, and there’s never any real difference in the, Jules never feels uncomfortable with what she’s wearing or how she’s presenting herself. She’s very distracted. And those would’ve been easy and obvious moments to play into the class of it all. She did not prepare for this trip. She didn’t know that she was going. And you would get a whole wardrobe for this and Kimmy’s jazzed to the nines and every single thing that she wears, and they dress very differently. But Jules is never bothered by what she’s wearing. She never feels uncomfortable. So I don’t know. I say I am like, until Jules says she’s jello, I’m like, you’re jello because it’s red and you have red hair. What are we doing?

Matt (01:55:03):

Kim says to Jules, just tell him it is my fault. I’m so sorry. Will you ever forgive me and please marry me. So she goes back to Michael and

Laci (01:55:12):

She’s just owning up to something that didn’t happen.

Matt (01:55:14):

Yes. And Michael says, do you think she still loves me? And Jules is like, yeah. And he’s like, okay, tell her I’ll marry her at six. I do like that Jules isn’t lying that they don’t turn this into, she’s still manipulating things. She’s just a reluctant carrier of the message.

Laci (01:55:30):

So Jules takes him over to a gazebo and says the speech, we’ve been waiting for her to say the whole time, and it’s heartfelt and it’s sweet, and he doesn’t have a chance to respond. She kisses him and from a pretty far distance away, Kimmy sees it and is like, fuck this shit. And starts running. And

Matt (01:55:51):

I watched it twice to see does he kiss back at all? And is

Laci (01:55:55):

He holds, he puts his

Matt (01:55:56):

Arms up up. No, but his hands do not touch her shoulder. He’s like hovering them above her. So it’s decidedly him not reciprocated.

Laci (01:56:05):

And from a distance you could read it a different way. And Kim, he does. And so he sees Kim and he starts chasing her. And it is very effective, like long spans of distance between them all and Jules chasing Michael and such, cam Cab Michael. Michael and the rich people are just doing what they do and just like, oh, that’s the wedding party. How unconventional.

Matt (01:56:38):

I like Cameron Diaz getting into a car, speeding away. Michael getting into another car, speeding off after her. And then Julie Roberts needing a vehicle to get into, and the only one she can find is a bread truck.

Laci (01:56:48):

Yeah, a good Samaritan.

Matt (01:56:50):

And this is when in the car is when what the world needs Now

Laci (01:56:54):

That’s playing. Yep, you’re right. And she’s on the phone to George again because his visit did not stop. The insanity did not stop the phone calls.

Matt (01:57:04):

He’s sending a reading with an author being played by Harry Sheer. How about that?

Laci (01:57:09):

How about it? And he once again, has to be like, Jules, did he kiss you back? Who is chasing who? No one’s chasing you. That is your answer. Oh my fucking God. Can you get a goddamn grip?

Matt (01:57:22):

I like that. He says, when you kissed him, did he kiss you back?

Laci (01:57:26):

She pauses

Matt (01:57:27):

And she’s like, that’s not important. Or she’s kind of had the like, listen, he might not know that he loves me. I’m going to make him realize that he does. And also I’m doing Cameron D as a favor.

Laci (01:57:38):

Well also we got interrupted. He didn’t have time to say that he loves me back. It’s like think he said it.

Matt (01:57:45):

And she tracked him down at a train station. Jules tracks down Michael at a train station. He’s just sitting despondently by himself and she sits down next to him. She’s like, I have to make a confession. I know. I told you I love you. This is way worse. I sent the email. I’m the bad guy.

Laci (01:58:01):

Do you think Bailey Eilish got it from here?

Matt (01:58:03):

I was going to say, and then Dermot, he said, duh. Yeah, this might be the origin of bad guy. Everything that has gone wrong in this movie, it’s my fault. Sorry. Sorry about that. And he’s just like, Jules, how could you do that? It’s really

Laci (01:58:19):

Flattering, but like, oh

Matt (01:58:21):

My God. But he takes it pretty well, all

Laci (01:58:23):

Things

Matt (01:58:23):

Considered. And she’s like, I’m s Scum lower. I’m the fungus that feeds on Ponds Gum. And he’s like, look, yeah, I’m kind of flattered, honestly kind of hot, but oh, oh, woe is me. My Kimmy, my Kimmy. Where has she gone? She’s like, well, what are we even doing here? And he says, well, this is where I proposed to her. So I just decided I’d go look for her at moments of romantic significance to our relationship. Oh, okay. Yes. Makes sense. So he tells the story about how he proposed to her because when she’s putting him on a train to Milwaukee, and as the train sped away, he shouted, marry me. And she said Yes, just once. And I love, I think this is just another really cool trick that the movie does, is him suddenly telling a story of a different romantic comedy that we haven’t been watching, that their story is a real romantic story.

Laci (01:59:12):

And this is maybe the first time it clicks for her. Yeah, that makes sense for you. And that would never be what I do. It’s this resolve that washes over her face of like, alright, yeah, fuck, you’re my best friend. Let me get you the girl. Let be your wingman man.

Matt (01:59:29):

Yeah. So we’ll split up and find Kimmy, and she calls up the bridesmaid, he’s like, Hey, do you know where Kimmy is? And one

Laci (01:59:37):

My sister’s sucking an ice dick. And then somebody called from a park and something about nachos and tampons.

Matt (01:59:43):

Explain both of those things. Please

Laci (01:59:48):

Doesn’t know where to start looking for Kimmy. So she calls her giant mansion and someone answers the big mansion phone, and it’s one of the vengeful sluts. And she says, oh yeah, Kimmy slinked off probably getting it on with Michael,

Matt (02:00:01):

Probably doing the nasty

Laci (02:00:03):

During all the commotion. And then Julia, because she’s got time, I guess, is like, what Commotion. And then she said, well, they’re paint this. And then the statue of David and my sister licked it in there. She stuck. Anyway,

Matt (02:00:15):

Her sister’s such a slut that she, but

Laci (02:00:17):

She’s sucking dicks

Matt (02:00:18):

Sucked David’s ice dick. Alright.

Laci (02:00:21):

She was probably trying to really turn on the child, Scotty like, look what I

Matt (02:00:24):

Can do

Laci (02:00:25):

To little tiny pieces. I think that’s

Matt (02:00:26):

Exactly it. Yes, it’s, it’s like the eat a hot dog trick.

Laci (02:00:30):

Right? I got one batter,

Matt (02:00:32):

But I heard a weird rumor that Kimmy’s at Comiskey Park.

Laci (02:00:35):

No, she got a crank call. Matt. Not a weird, everyone’s been whispering all around the wedding and pass it on a crank call.

Laci (02:00:47):

Some lunatics saying Kimmy was crying in her nachos

Matt (02:00:51):

At Comiskey Park. You mean the place that her father owns, owns her, owns? No, that would never happen. So Jules runs to Comiskey Stadium,

Laci (02:00:59):

Runs her, goes to go to the bathroom. But now that you, I’d never put together her dad owns this place. I just thought of it as some random, I dunno why a truck stop bathroom. I don’t know why I thought it was.

Matt (02:01:09):

And because this is in reshoots, this was added at six months later. It totally makes sense that Jules is like, she knocks on the bathroom door. She’s like, Kimmy, I know you’re in here. The guard saw you come in. It’s like, oh, that’s why we’re not seeing a big chase through the ballpark stadium

Laci (02:01:23):

Because

Matt (02:01:23):

This is literally the only we’re seen a bathroom. Yeah, we shot here, we shot this in 45

Laci (02:01:27):

Minutes, but also the guards and saw you come in. Never made sense to me until you just said, this is her dad’s fucking place. So they know what she looks like. And

Matt (02:01:35):

Yeah. You know what stadium employees love doing is giving you the whereabouts of the children of the

Laci (02:01:41):

Owner. If a frantic fucking redhead shoots in is like, have you seen Cammy? What

Matt (02:01:46):

About a Burnette?

Laci (02:01:47):

No, it’s the red. It’s the red. It tells you it’s an emergency. Red is for emergencies.

Matt (02:01:51):

So I love this so much that a crowd then gathers around them and Cameron D is especially, they start confronting each other and she especially basically delivers a wrestling promo on her cuts a promo on her in wrestling promo cadence. She’s like, you kissed him big haired at my parents’ house on my wedding day. And you get the crowds like Bitch tramp. She’s like, I’m not giving up him up to some big haired two-faced food critic and the crowd’s going nuts. Yeah, she’s a food critic piece of shit, yo. And Julia Roberts is like, Kimmy, yeah, I tried to steal your man. I did it, but you won fire in Squire and I’d like to drive you to the church so you can marry the man of our dreams because he sure wants to marry you. And then they hug and the crowd goes wild. I love it.

Laci (02:02:46):

See Julia’s dress. Now the straps that go around her neck on her bridesmaid’s dress, our fricking glittery and sparkly.

Matt (02:02:56):

So what

Laci (02:02:56):

They were satin in the scene, wherever she’s trying on the dress

Matt (02:03:00):

To sing plot hole, oh my God, the wedding goes off without any drama. They’re just imagine the years of resentment and suspicion from Michael’s new in-laws who have former massage agents on payroll. So yeah, later they’re during the reception, the little brother gives the best man speech and then Jules gives a speech and she is like here, the wedding couple alone, they don’t have a song, but I’ll give them my song until they find their own. Which that’s weird.

Laci (02:03:31):

That’s a weird thing to fucking do.

Matt (02:03:34):

But he does say, my best friend has won the best woman. It was a contest and she won. And then the bride and groom leave on their honeymoon. Is this actually a thing that happens at

Laci (02:03:44):

Weddings? No. I mean, I don’t understand rich people weddings. Maybe these weddings because they’re not on the clock. They just go until the next day. I don’t know. But yeah, I was saying the exact same thing of when does it happen that I know you see the bride and groom off, that’s a thing. But then you keep partying,

Matt (02:03:58):

The party keeps going. It’s like, yeah, that’s the whole room. Aren’t the bride and groom, they should enjoy that,

Laci (02:04:02):

Right? You can keep your different outfit on Kimmy become dance maybe.

Matt (02:04:08):

No, but if she’s a virgin now, it has this whole element that now they’re being taken off to the conjugal bed where a whole crowd of onlookers watches them fuck for the first time. So yeah, Jules gets a phone call from George and he’s like, you did the right thing kid. And also look over that.

Laci (02:04:25):

Now here it’s me, I’m Deb. I’ve got my hand tucked in my pants.

Matt (02:04:29):

And he gets up and he’s like, Hey listen, I know what you’re thinking. This guy’s gay so we can’t fuck, but we’ll be dancing and we can best friends and it’s so sweet.

Laci (02:04:38):

And that’s what she actually needs right here is what she really lost is her best friend in the way that she knew him. But now she can have a new chapter with a more grownup best friend so that when she moves on to, honestly with Michael in her life, it would’ve been hard for her to also find a spouse and get married and settle down. He needed to go, he needed to settle down. They can still be friends, but not what they were. And now she can have a grownup male best friend, which is a gay, non-threatening male best friend. So when she actually wants to let her guard down and let someone else in her life, he doesn’t have this fucking Kimmy hurdle. The thing that Kimmy had to get over rich and perfect, and she can be the bigger woman. I might be asking too much of some

Matt (02:05:25):

Man. And Kimmy now can actually be your best friend. Julia Roberts, like you said, if you didn’t have to hate her, you todo her. You guys are going to be great friends now. You guys get to be best friends and that’s great. And that’s my best friend’s wedding. What are our final thoughts and star ratings for my Best Friend’s wedding 1997?

Laci (02:06:00):

I knew I’d be asked.

Matt (02:06:01):

All right, well, I’ll go. I think this is an excellent, excellent, classic romantic comedy. I think it is so well directed. I think the performances other than Dermot Moroney, who’s fine, but Julia Roberts, great. Cameron Diaz and Rupert Everett. If I did Oscar Balls, I might put them both for supporting actress for this year and hell, I might even give it to Julia Roberts. Yeah, just thinking of it. Trying to think of it. If this movie came out in the thirties and forties it, how would I think of it? And I think it’s nearly as good as those. I give it four and a half. The reason that keeps me away from five is I think we are missing a little bit of a connection between Jules and Michael. But other than that, it’s great. Four and a half stars,

Laci (02:06:41):

We’re going to piggyback off that shit. And as per huge, our conversation has made me understand the movie more and like it more. Four and a half.

Matt (02:06:50):

Yay.

Laci (02:06:51):

I’ll maybe let her box and prove that

Matt (02:06:53):

One of my favorite movies we’ve covered recently.

Laci (02:06:55):

Yay.

Matt (02:06:56):

Next week on the program, we’re watching Mortal Kombat from 1995. Now, long time fans of Load Bearing Beams might say, but you guys already did an episode

Laci (02:07:05):

On this. You already made me do this, Matt.

Matt (02:07:07):

It was four years ago. It’s true now look at the running time of that episode. That episode is 27 minutes long. What happened? I don’t know. I don’t remember if there was tech difficulties or whatever, but this movie deserves our full attention. So we’re going to out world and we invite you to join us for episode 145. We got to be thinking about what we’re doing for episode one 50. It’s got to be something huge,

Laci (02:07:28):

101 dalmatians, just to really fuck with people’s minds.

Matt (02:07:31):

Yeah. Okay. And also, if you’re a patron of us, if you subscribe to Lord, bring Green’s Collector’s edition for $5 a month, you can get our episode on severance. The first season of Apple TV plus is severance, which will come out

Laci (02:07:42):

We’ll do. We’re reviewing the entire season.

Matt (02:07:44):

Yeah. Reviewing all of season one with spoilers on January 15th,

Laci (02:07:48):

Just in time for the release of season two. And

Matt (02:07:52):

Early Buzz for season two has me excited.

Laci (02:07:56):

Season one has way more in it than you remember, so if you haven’t done a let’s catch up on what that is. This would be a great way to catch up because we’ll get it done in an hour.

Matt (02:08:06):

Yes. This is really one of the only TV shows I’ve really loved of the past few years, but I think it’s both of our favorite shows of recent show of recent years. Tell a friend about Load Bearing Beam. Subscribe to us on YouTube Load Bearing Beams Pod. Follow me on letterbox at Mad Stokes nine. Follow Laci on letterbox at Load Bearing Laci, and listen to my music by Rural Route nine. That’s my band with Patrick Pro and Wade Heel. We have an album called The Joy of Averages. If you like the music of Wheezer Green Day Air Blink 180 2, you

Laci (02:08:34):

Might like it. Look at you giving context.

Matt (02:08:36):

Yeah,

Laci (02:08:36):

Excuse me.

Matt (02:08:37):

Well,

Laci (02:08:38):

Okay, I guess I love you. Goodbye.