July 28, 2025 • 43 mins
The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the nuanced examination of the film "The American President," a cinematic work that intertwines romance with political drama. We delve into the complexities of the film's narrative, discussing its portrayal of a widowed U.S. President engaging in an illicit relationship with an environmental lobbyist. This film, penned by the esteemed Aaron Sorkin and directed by Rob Reiner, raises pertinent questions about the intersection of personal and political lives in the public sphere. Throughout our discourse, we reflect on the implications of the evolving political landscape, noting how contemporary events render certain scenarios less awkward than they may have appeared at the time of the film's release. The episode culminates in a critical analysis of the film's strengths and limitations, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of its significance in both cinematic and political contexts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We just watched the moviewhere he was worried about dating
her.
The current president wasgetting his in the White House while
he's married.
Times are changing.
All of a sudden this moviedoesn't feel so awkward.
(00:23):
Welcome to the what's Everypodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and jury.
My name is JJ Carter.
I'm here with my co host Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go and hit that followsubscribe like bell notification
buttons.
Yeah.
Tell a friend about us.
Tell a family member about us.
Don't tell any lobbyists about us.
No, in fact don't tell anybodyrelated to this movie.
(00:47):
Yeah, I don't have a good one.
Environmentalist.
Yeah, maybe, sure.
I think those guys are cookingfor cocoa post too.
So I don't know.
But yeah, look, we're.
We're in the final week of July.
We're in the final week of ourpatriotic movies, if you will.
Kicking it off with could bethe arguably the most patriotic film.
(01:09):
Maybe I think we'll discuss this.
I parts of it are the mostpatriotic film that we've done.
Others not so much.
But with that we're doingAmerican President.
It was released November 17, 1995.
It was written by Aaron Sorkin.
Shocker.
It was directed by Rob Reiner.
Shocker number two.
(01:30):
It stars Michael Douglas,Annette Benning, Martin Sheen, Michael
J.
Fox, Anna de Vere Smith,Samantha Mathis, Shauna Waldron,
David Pamer, Richard Dreyfusand Wendy Malik.
It's about a widowed USPresident running for re election
and an environmental.
Environmental lobbyist whofall in love with.
It's all above board butpolitics is perception and sparks
(01:52):
fly.
Anyway, that was a wild synopsis.
I love Wild Ride.
I try not to read these beforewe go so I'm like shocked as I'm
reading them.
And that one, that one was.
It took a weird turn.
But before we jump into themovie, you should go check out our
Patreon.
You can vote on movies.
Right now we're vote.
We have a vote up for actorsand actresses.
(02:13):
We'll probably do those for awhile and then once we choose the
actors and actresses thenwe're going to choose movies for
those and then you can vote onthose and we'll watch.
We'll pick movies from there.
But yeah, lots to do over there.
Lots of fun.
Extra content.
I just went on a rant withAlec before we started recording
about trading card games andcrazy that you get to watch.
If you join up, you can votefor free.
(02:35):
The extra content, minimalcost but it helps Support the podcast
keeps us going and maximum entertainment.
Oh, dude.
Maximum entertainment value.
Yeah, we're pretty, we'repretty out there.
Especially we're pretty funny.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I'm.
I'm vulgar and I swear and Icurse like a sailor, but I do even
worse in the stuff that's on page.
(02:59):
I kind of ended aroundourselves a little bit when we for,
you know, YouTube and.
But I don't do anything on Patreon.
That shit's full raw doggingall day, all day long.
So go check it out.
But yeah, let's jump into theAmerican President.
This is my movie, my pick.
I was kind of surprised, like,had you seen this before, Alex?
(03:19):
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Which I'm surprised aboutbecause it's got a great cast.
Yeah.
And I think it just kind offlew under the radar for me.
Yeah.
I don't think actually.
No, I know what it was becausethis threw me for a loop.
Yeah.
It's taglined as a rom com.
Oh, that's romantic comedy on Amazon.
I don't know if that's justAmazon doing that if something.
(03:42):
But that, that could have beenthe reason because if I saw the American
President, the COVID doesn'tdo it very no justice about.
I'd be like, no thanks.
You know, this is wild.
So I'm sitting here on IMDblooking at it, right?
And it's got it listed as 4, 5 tags.
Political drama, romanticcomedy, comedy, drama and romance.
(04:05):
And see, yeah, the only one Icould really get behind them.
Yeah, it's a little wonky.
That tagline is probably whatjust like, eh, no thank you.
Yeah.
So I picked this for a couple reasons.
One, it fits the theme very well.
Two, it's one of Casey's alltime favorite movies.
Like if you were to ask likeI'd guess that.
(04:27):
Sure.
Yeah.
Like if you were to look atlike ask her like top 10, this would
be in there somewhere.
Maybe even top five.
She wants.
We own this.
She wants to watch it all the time.
And look, I'll be honest.
I like this movie.
There are parts I don't likeand it's ironic because the parts
you were talking about, likethe reason that you probably have
avoided it with the tag ofromantic comedy.
(04:47):
I don't get the comedy so muchpart as far as that.
But the romance is definitely there.
And it's my least favoritepart of the.
The film.
Like I could have completelyand utterly done without it.
Meaning, like you can't to acertain degree because it's the,
you know, the crux of thewhole situation.
I can't think of the film wordthat they use for it, but, like,
you know, it's that thingthat's at the center.
(05:09):
And the reason that's causingall the problems is the romance.
But the romance is the leastinteresting part to me.
The most interesting part ofthis film for me is Michael J.
Fox and, like, the surroundingcharacters that, like.
And here's what's funny is notlong after this movie, you know,
we.
We got Sheen, who played oneof the best presidents in film and
(05:30):
TV ever, in the West Wing.
So also written by this sameteam of.
Well, by team, I mean AaronSorkin, who loves to do his political
stuff.
He also did the Newsroom,which is one of Casey's favorite
TV shows, if not all timefavorite TV show.
So he's very good at these.
And it's well written, greatdialogue, like you said, amazing
cast.
(05:50):
But I just think it gets lost.
And it wants to be a romance,and then it wants to be a political
movie, and then it wants to bea little bit of both.
And so sometimes I get, like,whiplash watching this movie.
I'm like, okay, which scene amI in?
Okay, I gotta be in my romancebag for this one.
Okay.
I gotta be in my political,you know, thing for this one.
And so it's just like, there'sso much to it that I'm like.
(06:15):
But there are a lot of greatthings about this movie, which is
why I picked it.
And again, it fit the themevery well.
So first timer, what'd you think?
Because, like you said, thereare parts that are really, really
good that I really enjoyed.
And there are comedic moments.
Sure.
But they're.
They're mostly the beginning.
Right.
Like, I love the fact he comesoff the elevator or whatever it is,
(06:36):
and there's Michael J.
Fox.
Like, you.
You left out a paragraph.
And then walking around theWhite House, he's, you know, got
his retainers and everything,like, telling him what to say, who
to say, who he's talking to,and all this stuff.
This.
This army that keeps thepresidency going.
Yeah, really cool.
I think they did a good jobportraying that.
(06:57):
And then the romance parts, Ithink they overdid it.
Yeah.
Like, I think the state dinneris one of the best scenes in the
entire movie.
Really?
Well, you know, she shows up.
She should be completely outof her element.
She's not.
She owns it.
She speaks French, apparently,like, out of the blue, this, you
(07:17):
know, perfect, perfect scene.
And then you have a bunch ofalmost frivolous kind of dates.
Yeah, we'll say it's a good one.
And the, the running gag oflike, he cannot for the life of him
send her flowers.
Yeah.
Is like, was funny, but it notso funny that you keep it going for
(07:40):
the whole movie.
Yeah.
And it was telegraphed to thepoint where I was like, oh, yeah,
they're driving.
Guess I guess where he's goingto go because he can't make dinner.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then like there was justother parts of it with the whole
back and forth with thecharacter battle or whatever.
I can't remember what theyclassified it as.
(08:02):
Yeah.
Like, parts of that I waslike, okay, like, makes sense.
And other parts, like, hey,you're even reaching for a Hollywood
movie here.
There's a better way to goaround it.
So it was a tricky one for mebecause I liked it at what face value
was and what it presented asa, as a backdrop.
And then it was just like somethings they did with this backdrop.
(08:24):
I was like, I feel like youcould have gone a better way to make
it better.
And so it was, it was a nicefirst time Watch.
Don't mind it.
I'm glad I watched it.
Sure.
But it was also up there aslike, okay, I, I missed out not watching
this before, but I don't thinkI missed out like all that much.
(08:46):
Yeah.
If that makes any sense.
Yeah.
Like, it's not, it's not forme, a life changing movie that now
that I've seen it, it'simmediately going to go to the top
of my list.
Yeah.
No, I agree.
That's.
It's a.
You made some very good points.
And I will say, when it comesto Aaron Sorkin, like, when I think
back on what he's done, like.
(09:06):
Like.
A Few Good Men, like, or likeeven West Wing to a degree, like,
there's very little romance inthe West Wing.
There's some.
But like he wrote Moneyball,Charlie Wilson's War, he even wrote
the Social Network.
Like the things that he does,Molly's Game, like the ones that
he does, the, where he sticksto the draw, the dramatic or he fully
(09:31):
leans on, like in Newsroom,there's a ton of comedy.
And so it's like when he leansinto one thing, but this one where
he tries to do more than onething, he struggles.
It's like he's so good at likethe political and like the.
He's so good at it.
Yeah.
Show me more of buying votes.
Yeah, that's interesting.
(09:52):
Show me more of that.
Isn't it great?
Like, I love that part where The.
You have the dichotomy of thislobbyist that's working to get votes.
And then you have thepresident and his, you know, entourage,
like you said, working to get boats.
And like, when.
When.
And I listen, I'll say Michael J.
Fox steals this movie for me,like, every time he's in it.
And he's like, when he loses his.
On that senator over thephone, like, I think he's a no.
(10:18):
Well, what's.
That's some of the greatestcomedy in the movie because then
you got the numbers nerd.
Oh, yeah.
Like, I'm glad it's a no.
Otherwise we have to work onour people skills.
Such a beautiful line where Iwas just dying because he just delivered
(10:39):
it perfectly.
And it fits so well with that actor.
And in the role he's in isthis kind of sarcastic numbers cruncher.
Y.
And just.
Oh, yeah.
Lecturing.
Pretty much the speechwriterand, you know, everything on how
to talk to people.
Yeah.
Isn't it great?
Which is so perfect.
Yeah.
(11:00):
David Pamer, he's.
Or Leon Kodak, he's so funnyin this movie.
I. I don't know.
Like, I want to love thismovie like Casey does, but I think
one.
I'm not a huge Annette Benning fan.
That's.
And.
But that's on me.
She's a phenomenal actress.
Right.
(11:20):
Like, that's not anythingagainst her.
She just.
I'm just not a fan.
Like, I don't know.
She always comes across very,like, holier than thou to me.
But that again, that's a meperception thing.
Like, she switches what she'sdoing in the same role.
Yeah.
She starts off super bubblyand friendly when you first meet
her, talking to White House guards.
(11:41):
Everything like, okay, cool.
But then she does adopt alittle bit of that.
Holier than that, like, you'retalking about.
Yeah, well.
And I. I will say that thereare scenes that she does.
Like the phone scene when hefirst calls her and he thinks it's
her dude, like, pranking her.
Like, that makes me laughevery time because I could see myself
doing that.
And then he's like, okay, Iwant you to call this number.
(12:01):
She's like, the look on her face.
I'm like, I've had that faceso many times.
Like, where you're just like,God damn it, I did it again.
So, like, that's.
And I think that's where Iappreciate her.
Like, she's not my favoriteactress, but when she's on, like,
she does well.
And then like, even like this,the funny scene That I don't love,
(12:25):
except for like when she walksout of the bathroom and just his
shirt or whatever.
And he's like having this likecrisis of.
Crisis of confidence.
And he's like talking about,you know, it's been a while and look,
there's no pressure.
And then he turns around andshe's like.
He's like, well, part gets megoing too.
(12:46):
Even the part where hisdaughter like, plays like the Hail
to the Chief on the tromboneas he's walking out because he's
been busting her ass about andlike the Constitution.
But I think, Yeah, I justthink to your point, like, they get
lost trying to be both, like,have the comedy, the row, and I guess
(13:07):
maybe all three trying to be funny.
If it was just the dramatic,mostly the dramatic, you know, political
aspect plus the funny, I couldprobably deal with it.
But then you take thepolitical aspect funny and the romance,
that just doesn't.
They just all don't work to meat the same time.
(13:27):
And it's.
They don't have enough screentime to make it work.
Yeah.
Like, so the political drama, right.
You can combine that withcomedy all day long because it fits.
High stress environment, roundthe clock stuff.
You can throw in these oneliners, these zippers, and you'll
be fine.
The promise they tried to make the.
The romance too big.
Mm.
And it kind of takes over,overtakes, becomes a catalyst for
(13:51):
the political drama.
But it, it doesn't really fit.
So you can still have theromance, but use it almost as an
accent piece to your politicaldrama rather than trying to bring
it in as a major plot point.
Yeah.
Because now we get the sceneswhere, you know, vacationing at Camp
David and the cheesy ass,corny line.
(14:12):
You ever been to Camp David?
No.
Nobody's been to Camp David.
Mr. President.
What kind of stupid ass question.
Yeah, for real.
You're trying to be charming,but you missed the point.
Exactly.
Like there's a couple of thosethings flying, flying left and right
across here.
I was like, ah, no.
(14:32):
Why?
But then you had really cool.
These, you know, romancemoments where you can see that he's
falling for.
Yeah, right.
Like I talked about the statedinner, and even when she, you know,
busts his ass the first time,doesn't know he's there.
And then they have thismoment, this private kind of conversation,
let's go out to dinner orwhatever, let's talk about this.
(14:52):
So you get these moments thatmake sense, but then it's.
It's overshadowed too much.
And so by the time you get tothe end where, again, one of my favorite
parts is when they're havingtheir little moment, the Oval Office,
and Lewis comes in, and then Iforget the other two actions that
come in, but they both come in.
It's like, hi, Mr. President.
(15:12):
Hi.
Salt's commonplace now and so funny.
Great.
But after the journey of thesong I had to get to with all this
extra romance that I was not afan of.
It was like, ah, okay, good.
We're wrapping up now.
Yes, yes.
So I think they could havedone a better job with inserting
(15:35):
the romance into a politicaldrama instead of trying to turn a
very entertaining premise intoa romance movie.
Yeah, I agree completely.
Love what you just said.
Pick one lane and stay there.
Exactly.
You can cross over a littlebit, but don't be driving in the
(15:57):
middle.
Yeah, you can.
You can let some chickenscross your lanes.
Yeah.
Little.
Don't take the dirt road whenyou get there.
Yeah, I will say that again.
And I mentioned him earlier,but Martin Sheen, along with Michael
J.
Fox, absolutely steal this,like, and it, you know, and all I
(16:18):
can see when I see MartinSheen, like, it's weird to see him
in a supporting role becausehe's so good and so for him.
But I also understand why theyhad to hire someone like him.
Because Michael Douglas islike, nobody.
Yeah.
Like, so you gotta havesomebody that can go to, like in
the.
The pool scene, like whenthey're playing pool and they're
having that wholeconversation, he's like, aj, you
(16:38):
were the best man at my wedding.
You can call me.
You can call me whatever name Andy.
He's like, yes, sir, Mr. President.
But you have to have somebodythat can go toe to toe with Michael
Douglas.
And it's, you know, someone.
You need someone like a Martin Sheen.
But at the same time, likethose moments where he steps in,
like, with.
(16:59):
With Michael J.
Fox's character and he's, youknow, he has to, like, try to cool
the room off.
Like, I love that he's thatlevel head in the room at all times,
like, trying to keep everybody.
And he's trying to tell himnot to do this, but then he's trying
to tell.
And you know that he had to,like, mark it as your ch.
Staff.
No.
But as your friend, you know,here's what you.
I'd say give her a call.
(17:19):
Right.
And so it's like, I love those.
And I think that's what I loveabout these movies.
And this probably goes back tomost of Aaron Sorkin's writing is
where he shines the most tome, and this movie is proof positive
is the little moments like.
And this is where I go back to.
We've talked a lot about.
Like, what's the.
That did the D.C. zack Snyder.
(17:40):
Zack Snyder.
I about.
Popular topic on this podcast.
He is a popular.
I love to.
On Zack Snyder, but I'vetalked a ton about Zack Snyder and
the fact that he shoots formoments, right?
Like, he wants these powerful moments.
And then you have writers, tome, that are genius, like Aaron Sorkin,
who they.
They film.
(18:00):
They write movies for scenes.
And those scenes includemoments, right?
Like, again, playing pool.
It's just two guys that haveknown each other obviously a very
long time, are great friends,are in these positions of power,
and they have this really, ifyou think about it, kind of trivial
situation happening that'screating these massive ripples of
(18:22):
drama and problems for a veryserious person, like an office and
what they're doing.
But you have this very coolscene of them playing pool and getting
in a little friendly spatabout something that's really kind
of important to one personbecause he's been alone for so long
in that way, and yet he stillhas to keep in mind that he's the
(18:42):
President of the United Statesof America.
So he can't just do what hewants to do, unfortunately.
Right?
Like, he.
There's a.
There's a level of carefulnessthat he has to have.
And so that.
But that whole scene, to me.
And then you get the one like,you're talking about, like, where.
Or we talked about earlier,the phone.
The phone call that's awkwardbecause she thinks he's getting pranked.
Like, that's another scene.
(19:04):
The scene where Michael J.
Fox tells him, like, you're my president.
You work for me.
Like, that speech to me is oneof the greatest political speeches
in a movie I've ever seen.
Like, and you can take thatout like that.
Everybody should have to watchthat scene where he's like, no, no,
you work for me.
I voted for you.
Yeah.
And you have this officebecause of me.
And like, and then it's like,and you're not.
(19:25):
I love the line where he says,in the absence of leadership, they'll
follow anybody.
Right?
Like, and that's so true andit's so applicable even today.
I mean, this movie is from 1995.
We're 30 years later, and thismovie is still.
That is still as revelant, ifnot more relevant now than it ever
(19:47):
has been even back then.
And so it's like the scene.
There are scenes in this movieThat I think should be captured and
people should watch constantlyto remind themselves of these great
points that are made and thesereally endearing pieces that you
can.
Because it also helps youunderstand to a certain degree.
Right.
Like, the pressure that thesepeople have to feel across the board,
(20:09):
whether you're a lobbyist andyou're, you know, you're paid to
get boats for a certain thing,which should be illegal in my opinion,
but that's their job.
Then you got presidentpoliticians that are running around
and have to do these thingsand they're constantly being watched.
And I think one of the mostpoignant statements that's ever been
made in history is, you know,FDR would have never made it if he
(20:34):
had to be on tv.
It's a very different world welive in now.
Right.
And being in those positions,you, God, you're constantly under
microscope, which is why wehave so much corruption in the government
and places like that.
Because they have to hide the.
They're really doing.
Because it's constantly beingwatched and filmed and written about.
And so if you don't lie andcheat and steal, you're gonna get
(20:56):
caught.
And nope, not everybody'sgonna like it.
And then it's a problem.
So it's.
I don't know, I just play the.
Game of Thrones or you die.
Exactly.
That was a good one.
That was a good one.
But yeah, it's great scenes inthis movie.
Some of the.
Some of the best.
Just some of the cohesivenessdoesn't work between them.
Like, you're like, wait, whatam I watching?
Romance.
Oh, wait, no, this ispolitical drama.
(21:17):
Oh, wait, no, this is a comedy.
And then they dropped thebombshell like the Michael J.
Fox you're talking about.
But I love the follow up too.
The President does.
Talking about the desert.
Like, they're not drinkingsand because they're thirsty.
They're doing it because theycan't tell the difference.
And I was like, dude, yeah,still can't.
We have so many people in thiscountry who for some stupid reason
(21:40):
believe that the government isactually there to help them.
Yeah.
Hasn't been that way in a verylong time.
Never really been that way.
But yeah, it's gotten a lot worse.
It used to be.
Yeah.
Like they were trying to hideit a little bit.
Yeah.
But it's gotten to that pointwhere people are, you know, the government's
gonna do this, government'sgonna do that.
It's like the governmentdoesn't care two things about you.
(22:02):
Yeah, not even.
So it's like those are thepeople that don't know the difference
between water and sand.
Mm.
That's a good point.
It's just there.
It's just always the way thatit's been.
And so you have this great, beautiful.
Almost like mic drop, as itwere, of Michael J.
(22:22):
Fox giving this great speechof, like, this.
This is.
This is why I voted for you.
Blah, blah, blah.
And then you almost haveMichael Douglas just drop it all
back in his face and be like,no, you don't know any better.
Nobody knows the differencebecause, you know, I. I could give
them sand and tell them it'swater and.
Oh, okay.
(22:43):
Because they don't know whatactual water is.
Yeah.
And so, you know, it's.
It's great.
Absolutely.
Great writing, great scenes.
And then you have the stupidback and forth with the freaking.
What is it, the GDC or something?
Whatever.
And, you know, the.
The back and forth where yougot the Republicans meeting in their
mountain lodge about howthey're gonna shame the president
(23:06):
because of his alluring affairor whatever.
Yeah.
And then the.
I think the greatest thingwhere I was like, okay, yeah, that
does happen, is where you had.
Was it Rum.
Sprinter or whatever.
Rumson.
Yeah, yeah, Bob Rumson.
It was like, yeah, we couldn'trun a character smear three years
ago because he just lost his wife.
(23:26):
Okay.
No, no.
Every single politician gonnabe like, ha.
Vulnerable.
We're going for him now.
Yeah.
In 1995, maybe you wouldn'thave done it, but 20, 25, they'll
latch onto that real quick.
In fact, they'll find a way toblame him for the fact that his wife
died.
Exactly.
So, yeah.
So, I mean, that's thestruggle that I have with it because
(23:48):
it's so great at points.
And then other times, I'mlike, okay, well, that's five minutes
I could have done without.
Because who cares if it's theDish Room or the China Room?
Yeah.
I don't.
Nobody cares.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's.
That's a good point.
I think, now that I thinkabout it, and you say, like, the
Dish Room and the China Roomand all that shit, like, it makes
(24:09):
me laugh because the flirtingthat Michael Douglas, like, for his.
Phenomenal of an actor.
And I'm sure he was doing it.
It was a choice that he made.
But his flirting in this is terrible.
I'm like.
Other than the fact that she'sso completely awkward that it fits,
like, which you get that point.
But you could have done thatwithout, to your point, without that
(24:30):
much of them being awkward together.
Right.
Like, we see that they're bothterribly awkward, but they're both
terribly like.
What's the word I'm looking for?
What's the opposite of inept?
Because in moments, they'recompletely inept.
Yeah, but they're.
They're so overly competentwhen it comes to doing the things
they do.
Him being the president, himbeing a dad, her being a lobbyist,
(24:55):
her understanding politics.
And, like, because even shewas like, this is a bad idea for
you.
Like, yeah, I want this, butthis is a.
Like, she understands.
If I was running yourcampaign, I'd tell you to knock this
off.
And so.
But they're so inept at beingtogether and, like, making.
Because of the awkwardness.
(25:15):
And I get what they weretrying to do, but it just didn't
work for me in.
When it's surrounded by all ofthis other phenomenal content and
speeches and dialogue and inrelationship building.
And so you're just like.
Because you're dropped in themiddle of this.
This thing.
Like, you're four years in oralmost four years into this, you
know, register thisadministration, and they're getting
(25:37):
ready to run this campaign,and you're.
You don't know any of thesepeople, but 10 minutes into this
movie, I'm like, oh, I'mrooting for him.
You know what I mean?
I'm not.
I'm.
I. I'm not.
I'm not anything.
I'm.
But, like, I grew up around Republicans.
I'm pretty conservative dudein a lot of ways.
But I'm watching this going,let's go Democrat.
Yeah, I'm voting for this dude.
(25:59):
Right.
So.
And I, you know, because Ilike the people around him, but it's
like.
Yeah.
So it's just weird to me.
Like, he's terrible atflirting in this movie.
That's actually a really goodpoint that you brought up about the
inept and then the competence.
Right.
Because something that.
A scene that really bugged,like, really bugged me was when he's
tied up with Israel, right?
(26:21):
And the daughter comes out andsays, no, he told me to tell you
he's, you know, on the phonewith his dentist.
Right.
Because then he comes out andshe already knows he's talking about
C. Stan.
Or whatever it was.
Yeah.
And it's like, okay, you.
You know, she knows stuff, right?
Like, she's competent.
She's.
You have enough proof.
Even I can't remember if thishappened before at this point, but
(26:42):
to the point where she canread your face and she already knows
when you're holding something back.
Just by looking at you.
Right.
Very, very smart, very intelligent.
Yeah.
You know this already andyou're still gonna pull the.
Oh, yeah, I was talking to my dentist.
At nine o' clock at night.
Yeah.
Locked up in the freaking OvalOffice or whatever.
Wherever I got.
(27:03):
I got a cavity up in my upperbicuspid region.
Like, shut the up.
You could come out and belike, oh, yeah, no, sorry, that was
a state call with Israel.
Yeah.
You're not giving away statesecrets by saying you were talking
to Israel.
Get the out of here.
Yeah.
And who's she gonna tell?
Like, she's trying to bed youas much as you're trying to bed her,
(27:26):
so.
Or vice or.
I don't even.
I'm with you.
I don't remember.
Did they.
Had they already slepttogether at that point?
I don't remember.
I don't remember that.
But it was, it was up to thepoint where I was like, hey, you
already know she's intelligent.
Yeah.
Why are you bounced aroundthis bush trying to be like a normal
guy?
She already knows you're the president.
Yeah.
Normals out the window.
(27:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You had to sneak your ass outthe back.
Like, yeah, no, I'm with you.
I. I think another scene thatI think about that I get is you have
this really cool moment whenhe's at the end.
When he's at the, you know,he's in the press room and he's given
(28:07):
this just.
He's just laying into BobRumson in the greatest way possible.
Like, look, if you want to go,let's go.
Yeah, believe her ass out of it.
Like, she's better than bothof us.
Like, get the out of here.
You're a prick for bringingher into it.
Let's dance.
Right?
And I'm like, get a.
You know, and I get all riled up.
And then I'm like, yeah, cutthe black.
(28:29):
Let's be done.
But no, now we got to resolvethis issue that they had because
he messed with her, right?
And he went.
He, you know, he went behindher back and didn't do their deal
and to get the votes.
And I'm like, oh, now I gottasit in this weird romance thing where
he's like, I'm sorry.
And she's like, no, I.
You.
You did what you had.
(28:49):
I'm like, get the out of here.
I didn't even hear the speech.
I was on my way back before orwhatever it was.
Yeah, no, that was anotherproblem, because she's like, I saw
your speech.
And I was like, it was twominutes ago.
You came 12 blocks, but youget stuck on Dupont Circle this time
of year all the time.
It would have been much betterif it was just.
(29:09):
She came back.
The White House staff knows her.
Yeah.
They know what's gonna happen.
They let her in.
She gets to hear that speech,and then it's.
She comes.
She came back for a different reason.
Yeah.
But hearing the speech whileshe was there, because I was like,
I picked that out.
I was like, no way.
(29:29):
First of all, how do you knowhe's giving a speech?
It seemed pretty impromptuthat he walked in there when the.
Yeah.
Nobody else is ready for that.
Yeah.
The press secretary was giventhe speech.
Yeah.
And then I was like, so you're.
Just happy to be tuned in atwhat, 2:00 clock on a Thursday?
Yeah.
Out of here.
And then you made all the waydown and beat him to the Oval Office.
(29:51):
No way.
Yeah.
And so it's like you.
You could have gone about thatin a much better way to tell that
story.
But I was like.
Because then they threw in theDupont Circle joke, and I was like,
yeah.
I mean, imagine how cool itwould have been.
Like, if.
To your point, I love whatyou're saying.
Like, she.
You see her in the car and shedecides to just turn around and go
(30:13):
to the White House.
Because she's like, look, heme over, but I love this dude.
I want to make it work.
We'll figure it out.
You know, he's a big.
You know, he's bigger thingsthan making me happy.
Right.
So she goes back.
But to your point, I love theidea that maybe she walks into the
back of the press room or, youknow, she's sitting in the Oval Office
watching it on a TV or in liketo say, you know what I mean?
(30:34):
Somewhere there's got a TV ofthe speech that she can watch it
and he's not aware.
And then the very end of thismovie, he comes out and she says,
I saw your speech.
And then they walk into theOval Office and close the door.
And then it cuts to black.
Like, how great would that be?
Like, yeah, what an ending.
The only thing that make itbetter is if AJ's the one.
Martin.
She's the one who brings herin the press.
(30:55):
Yeah, that would have been great.
But instead we get thisperfect storybook ending.
Yeah.
We get this goofy awkwardwhere I'm like, ah, get the out of
here.
We knew you were gonna end up together.
But I don't need to see it.
Just.
Just have him have, like aquick line because I don't mind the.
Saw your speech.
And then he's like.
Holds his hand out.
They hold hands and walk intothe Oval or they go to the residence,
(31:15):
whatever it is.
But don't talk anymore.
We know you're awkward as I know.
You just gave this killer speech.
She saw it.
All's right.
Go cut the black leave.
Yeah.
We don't need the extra of yousaying it's all right.
We.
We already know based on whathas already been told to us.
Yeah.
And so it was.
It was just a little bit onthe extra side to where once again,
(31:39):
you know, of course,hindsight's always 20 20, and there's
always going to be someonelike us who's, oh, you could have
done it better.
But it's just like there wereso many things that you could have
done to make this better andmake it fit more rather than almost
trying to force this 90s romance.
Yeah.
Into a political drama forwhatever goddamn reason, because
(32:01):
everybody loves a scandal.
That's what, three?
There it is.
I got it.
90s Bill Clinton.
There's.
There it is every time.
Jesus.
So funny.
Oh, it's great.
Would have been right about that.
Same time, too, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's funny.
(32:23):
We just watched the moviewhere he was worried about datener.
The current president wasgetting his in the White House while
he's married.
Times are changing.
All of a sudden this moviedoesn't feel so awkward.
Yeah.
(32:45):
Good stuff.
Oh, yeah.
All right.
No.
What were you gonna say?
Oh, no, I just.
I was just agreeing with you.
Good stuff.
That is good stuff.
Should we rate this thing?
Let's do it.
All right.
My movie.
I'll go first.
I'm so torn on this moviebecause it does have some sentimental
value from me because we watchit all the time and I.
It's grown on me.
(33:05):
I'm gonna give it a four.
I want to give it higherbecause it has the potential.
Blink twice if Casey's outsideyour door watching you.
That's fair.
I would get my balls choppedoff if she heard me say even a four,
so.
But no.
Yeah, I'm gonna give it a four.
And I think the.
(33:26):
This one is outside of my norm.
It's because of the potentialthat it has and the fact that the
scenes that do work.
God bless.
They work really well for me.
Like, I.
There are so many scenes inthis movie that I remember and I
think of even when I haven'twatched this movie for years.
Like, and people talk about.
And it comes up in my mind,like, if I'm Talking politics with
something.
With someone.
(33:47):
I can promise you, whether Isay it or not, some scene from this
movie pops into my head thatfits the conversation that we're
talking about.
Right.
Because it covers the gamut ofpolitical issues that we still see
today, probably more than weeven saw back then.
And it was already a show backin the 90s, so to say that now, like,
it's.
There's so many lessons to be learned.
(34:08):
And then I love the passionthat he has for the Constitution
and like.
Like the speech he gives hisdaughter about this is a great.
Like, read the first paragraph.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like, that's.
Yeah.
And that's the kind ofpresident that I want.
Right.
Like, someone that actuallybelieves in the system and what it
is for what it should be.
But we haven't had that in aslong as I can remember.
(34:28):
And so it's.
It's one of those thingswhere, again, this movie pops into
my head.
I think there's somephenomenal scenes, but I think there
are things that don't work and.
And I could do without.
And if it weren't for howphenomenal the things that do work
were, this would be a muchlower rating for me because the things
that don't work really don'twork for me.
But they.
The other things are so good,including Michael J.
(34:51):
Fox, Martin Sheen, MichaelDouglas, like, those three that they
just kill it.
And so I. Yeah.
Giving it a four.
Obviously, I'm gonna watchthis movie again because it pops
up on my TV on occasionbecause Casey's like, I'm gonna watch
the American President.
And I'm like, okay, sou.
Right.
I.
You know, so.
But I. Yeah, I think I'd watchit on my own relation as well, just
(35:12):
because I. I do like the moviein general.
All right, Alec, your turn, buddy.
Yeah, I'm also.
It's also tricky because thestuff that I didn't like in this
movie, I really, really didn't like.
But there is so much good,like, you're talking about.
You can tell that it's.
It's someone who cares, wantsto make a difference, wants to make
(35:35):
a change.
Even on the point where, like,a line that I'm gonna keep with me
is, you know, America isadvanced citizenship or whatever
it was along those lines,like, it's not a ride, a free ride.
It's not a ride.
Walk in the park.
It's not just passive.
Like, it's an advanced citizenship.
And that the.
The coin of freedom has reallytwo sides to it.
(35:57):
Right.
Like, because this is a bighot topic with freedom isn't free.
But also there's two sides,that coin of freedom.
And typically when you talkabout things like that, one side
is overpowering and notrealizing that it's a two sided coin,
it always has been.
(36:18):
But that goes back to thatadvanced citizenship stuff.
Sure.
And I would almost guaranteethat most people today couldn't give
you the preamble.
The Constitution couldn't giveyou the first couple words of the
Declaration of Independence.
Yeah.
Like it's become a passive thing.
So this is a great movie for that.
Almost like hit you, hit youover the head.
Wake up call.
Yeah.
At this point I'm juststalling because I think, I think
(36:43):
I'm gonna come in at a threeand a half.
Yeah.
I will watch clips of this again.
I don't know if I will go the,the distance on it and watch it beginning
to end, but there's definitemoments that I could just sit, you
know, search up on YouTube,find the clip and.
Yeah.
Oh, hell yeah.
Yeah.
From this I think I get threeand a half.
(37:04):
Nice.
That's an Aaron Sorkin thing,I swear, because I like again, I
don't love Newsroom, but thereare parts that I'm like.
Like the first.
I don't know if you've everwatched the show, have you?
I've watched bits of it.
Not you in any.
You should watch it.
It's only three seasons.
I think you'd like it for themost part.
Like when it's really fun,it's a lot like this movie.
(37:25):
When it's serious, it's.
There's some really phenomenalscenes in it.
There's some hilarious asscomedy in it.
There's some romance, but mostof the romance doesn't work.
I don't think Aaron Sorkin'svery good at writing romance, in
my opinion at this point.
But like the comedy in theseries is very good and it'll get
you riled up at times too.
You're like, yeah, like it's,it's good.
(37:47):
So I'd recommend watching it.
I gotta make sure Casey didn'thear that either because I on that
show every time she turns it on.
But it's actually pretty good.
Yeah, you'll have to hbo.
It's on there.
You can watch anytime.
But anyway, so like it's good.
But the Aaron Sorkin thing,like, I don't remember where I was
going with this, to be honest.
Oh, the clips, like allYouTube stuff, like the opening scene
(38:08):
that Jeff Daniels gives in thecollege, like they're having this,
like, Q A thing where he'slike, the United States isn't the
greatest.
Yeah, that's from that show.
And I'll watch that all thetime because it is such a great point.
And it fits a lot of what helike, mentions.
Like.
Like you're talking about theadvanced citizenship thing.
And.
And then on top of that, like,I don't know if you saw the clip
of Arnold Schwarzenegger onthe View recently.
(38:30):
Like, I hate the View.
I don't watch that, but Iwatched and I.
For Arnold Schwarzenegger,what he said in that clip, like,
the whole look, I'm animmigrant, but at the same time,
like, you can't just come andleech off the United States.
Like, you have to.
It's a give and take.
Right.
Like you said, it's.
There's two sides to this coin.
Like, you don't just get tocome and have freedom.
Like, you have to come andprovide back to the United.
(38:51):
To the.
To America as an immigrant tohelp make the country even better
and improve on things and thenget the benefits that come from being
a citizen in the United States.
So it was a great speech.
If you ever watched this, yougo watch it anyway.
Listening.
But it fits that.
It's like those.
Those moments.
Sorkin is phenomenal at writing.
So you can go YouTube a lot of that.
Aaron Sorkin does.
It's.
I mean, it's the same as A FewGood Men.
(39:12):
How many of us don't go backand YouTube the courtroom scene?
Like, are you me?
It's one of the greatestwritten scenes in film history.
And so it's like, he's a great writer.
Anyway.
Yeah, clip it up.
You should YouTube the out ofAaron Sorkin clips, including these
ones.
Yeah, because I. I've seenthat news room clip of Jeff Daniels.
(39:35):
The Belgium has freedom.
100, 208 sovereign nations,like 180 of them have freedom.
It's so.
I love that.
Yeah.
I love what he's like, dude,when you ask me if the United States
is the greatest country in the world.
The.
You're talking about the.
The.
What is the Giants or the.
(39:55):
Yeah, the.
So whatever.
One of the baseball teams or.
Yeah.
Football teams.
The jets again, I don't knowyou're talking about.
It's great.
Anyway, good movie.
It's a good discussion.
I like this.
Oh, yeah.
Matt's a.
Missed out vacations.
This guy.
It's because.
It's because he's a communist.
That's why.
Exactly.
(40:16):
Better red than dead.
This.
This guy over Here.
Great.
Anyway, all right, with Alec,before we go, I almost skipped your
whole piece, dude.
Oh.
Yeah.
Tell everybody where they canfind this dude.
Happy to.
So, like JJ said at thebeginning of the episode, Patreon
(40:38):
is the place to go.
This has been week five.
Yeah.
Four, five, four.
Four.
Big four.
And the last week of ourpatriotic month of movies that patriotism.
But we kind of left war out ofit because we do a lot of war stuff.
Like JJ said, there's votes upright now for actors, actresses.
(40:58):
We're doing kind of what wedid a little a few months ago with
Nicolas Cage, where we'regonna go back to actors or actresses
and make that a focal pointfor months.
So go on, vote for the actorand actress that is up, and then
we'll go ahead and get a movievote up, and from there we can go
from there.
It's gonna be amazing.
With that said, also go stickaround on the voting stuff because
(41:22):
it's looking more and morelike October is gonna be another
horror month.
So it's.
It's gonna.
It's gonna get even better.
But that's place to getinvolved with content.
And like JJ said, it'scompletely free to vote if you want
to stay.
Want to get access to over 550bonus shorts, episodes, clips, whole
(41:44):
shebang where we're making funof each other.
Because even though this is afun podcast, if our picks get picked,
it's a real thing.
We are competitive.
We want to be the one who getsto go first in rating.
So that's.
It means a lot to us.
It's.
It's us living our glory daysin the equivalent of the high school
(42:05):
basketball player who justwon't give up on their knees.
So that's the place to go.
That's place to get involved.
We love to see you there.
Join us and our little misfit group.
With that, I'll kick it backto The Wazir of WAP the Great Bambino.
A J.J. that's right.
(42:25):
Just so everybody knows, rightnow, Amy Adams, Brad Pitt, and John
Cusack are winning in theactor poll.
A single one of mine.
Damn it.
Yeah, they're up againstBradley Cooper, Samuel Jackson, and
Sandra Bullock.
So go vote if you want to vote.
Only a couple days left inthat one, and then we got to get
movies picked so we can startrecording for August.
(42:46):
But, yeah, go check it out anyway.
As always, we appreciate youtuning in.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Hasta la vista, baby.
Cinematic.
We just watched the moviewhere he was worried about dating
her.
The current president wasgetting his in the White House while
he's married.
Times are changing.
All of a sudden this moviedoesn't feel so awkward.
(00:23):
Welcome to the what's Everypodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and jury.
My name is JJ Carter.
I'm here with my co host Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go and hit that followsubscribe like bell notification
buttons.
Yeah.
Tell a friend about us.
Tell a family member about us.
Don't tell any lobbyists about us.
No, in fact don't tell anybodyrelated to this movie.
(00:47):
Yeah, I don't have a good one.
Environmentalist.
Yeah, maybe, sure.
I think those guys are cookingfor cocoa post too.
So I don't know.
But yeah, look, we're.
We're in the final week of July.
We're in the final week of ourpatriotic movies, if you will.
Kicking it off with could bethe arguably the most patriotic film.
(01:09):
Maybe I think we'll discuss this.
I parts of it are the mostpatriotic film that we've done.
Others not so much.
But with that we're doingAmerican President.
It was released November 17, 1995.
It was written by Aaron Sorkin.
Shocker.
It was directed by Rob Reiner.
Shocker number two.
(01:30):
It stars Michael Douglas,Annette Benning, Martin Sheen, Michael
J.
Fox, Anna de Vere Smith,Samantha Mathis, Shauna Waldron,
David Pamer, Richard Dreyfusand Wendy Malik.
It's about a widowed USPresident running for re election
and an environmental.
Environmental lobbyist whofall in love with.
It's all above board butpolitics is perception and sparks
(01:52):
fly.
Anyway, that was a wild synopsis.
I love Wild Ride.
I try not to read these beforewe go so I'm like shocked as I'm
reading them.
And that one, that one was.
It took a weird turn.
But before we jump into themovie, you should go check out our
Patreon.
You can vote on movies.
Right now we're vote.
We have a vote up for actorsand actresses.
(02:13):
We'll probably do those for awhile and then once we choose the
actors and actresses thenwe're going to choose movies for
those and then you can vote onthose and we'll watch.
We'll pick movies from there.
But yeah, lots to do over there.
Lots of fun.
Extra content.
I just went on a rant withAlec before we started recording
about trading card games andcrazy that you get to watch.
If you join up, you can votefor free.
(02:35):
The extra content, minimalcost but it helps Support the podcast
keeps us going and maximum entertainment.
Oh, dude.
Maximum entertainment value.
Yeah, we're pretty, we'repretty out there.
Especially we're pretty funny.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I'm.
I'm vulgar and I swear and Icurse like a sailor, but I do even
worse in the stuff that's on page.
(02:59):
I kind of ended aroundourselves a little bit when we for,
you know, YouTube and.
But I don't do anything on Patreon.
That shit's full raw doggingall day, all day long.
So go check it out.
But yeah, let's jump into theAmerican President.
This is my movie, my pick.
I was kind of surprised, like,had you seen this before, Alex?
(03:19):
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Which I'm surprised aboutbecause it's got a great cast.
Yeah.
And I think it just kind offlew under the radar for me.
Yeah.
I don't think actually.
No, I know what it was becausethis threw me for a loop.
Yeah.
It's taglined as a rom com.
Oh, that's romantic comedy on Amazon.
I don't know if that's justAmazon doing that if something.
(03:42):
But that, that could have beenthe reason because if I saw the American
President, the COVID doesn'tdo it very no justice about.
I'd be like, no thanks.
You know, this is wild.
So I'm sitting here on IMDblooking at it, right?
And it's got it listed as 4, 5 tags.
Political drama, romanticcomedy, comedy, drama and romance.
(04:05):
And see, yeah, the only one Icould really get behind them.
Yeah, it's a little wonky.
That tagline is probably whatjust like, eh, no thank you.
Yeah.
So I picked this for a couple reasons.
One, it fits the theme very well.
Two, it's one of Casey's alltime favorite movies.
Like if you were to ask likeI'd guess that.
(04:27):
Sure.
Yeah.
Like if you were to look atlike ask her like top 10, this would
be in there somewhere.
Maybe even top five.
She wants.
We own this.
She wants to watch it all the time.
And look, I'll be honest.
I like this movie.
There are parts I don't likeand it's ironic because the parts
you were talking about, likethe reason that you probably have
avoided it with the tag ofromantic comedy.
(04:47):
I don't get the comedy so muchpart as far as that.
But the romance is definitely there.
And it's my least favoritepart of the.
The film.
Like I could have completelyand utterly done without it.
Meaning, like you can't to acertain degree because it's the,
you know, the crux of thewhole situation.
I can't think of the film wordthat they use for it, but, like,
you know, it's that thingthat's at the center.
(05:09):
And the reason that's causingall the problems is the romance.
But the romance is the leastinteresting part to me.
The most interesting part ofthis film for me is Michael J.
Fox and, like, the surroundingcharacters that, like.
And here's what's funny is notlong after this movie, you know,
we.
We got Sheen, who played oneof the best presidents in film and
(05:30):
TV ever, in the West Wing.
So also written by this sameteam of.
Well, by team, I mean AaronSorkin, who loves to do his political
stuff.
He also did the Newsroom,which is one of Casey's favorite
TV shows, if not all timefavorite TV show.
So he's very good at these.
And it's well written, greatdialogue, like you said, amazing
cast.
(05:50):
But I just think it gets lost.
And it wants to be a romance,and then it wants to be a political
movie, and then it wants to bea little bit of both.
And so sometimes I get, like,whiplash watching this movie.
I'm like, okay, which scene amI in?
Okay, I gotta be in my romancebag for this one.
Okay.
I gotta be in my political,you know, thing for this one.
And so it's just like, there'sso much to it that I'm like.
(06:15):
But there are a lot of greatthings about this movie, which is
why I picked it.
And again, it fit the themevery well.
So first timer, what'd you think?
Because, like you said, thereare parts that are really, really
good that I really enjoyed.
And there are comedic moments.
Sure.
But they're.
They're mostly the beginning.
Right.
Like, I love the fact he comesoff the elevator or whatever it is,
(06:36):
and there's Michael J.
Fox.
Like, you.
You left out a paragraph.
And then walking around theWhite House, he's, you know, got
his retainers and everything,like, telling him what to say, who
to say, who he's talking to,and all this stuff.
This.
This army that keeps thepresidency going.
Yeah, really cool.
I think they did a good jobportraying that.
(06:57):
And then the romance parts, Ithink they overdid it.
Yeah.
Like, I think the state dinneris one of the best scenes in the
entire movie.
Really?
Well, you know, she shows up.
She should be completely outof her element.
She's not.
She owns it.
She speaks French, apparently,like, out of the blue, this, you
(07:17):
know, perfect, perfect scene.
And then you have a bunch ofalmost frivolous kind of dates.
Yeah, we'll say it's a good one.
And the, the running gag oflike, he cannot for the life of him
send her flowers.
Yeah.
Is like, was funny, but it notso funny that you keep it going for
(07:40):
the whole movie.
Yeah.
And it was telegraphed to thepoint where I was like, oh, yeah,
they're driving.
Guess I guess where he's goingto go because he can't make dinner.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then like there was justother parts of it with the whole
back and forth with thecharacter battle or whatever.
I can't remember what theyclassified it as.
(08:02):
Yeah.
Like, parts of that I waslike, okay, like, makes sense.
And other parts, like, hey,you're even reaching for a Hollywood
movie here.
There's a better way to goaround it.
So it was a tricky one for mebecause I liked it at what face value
was and what it presented asa, as a backdrop.
And then it was just like somethings they did with this backdrop.
(08:24):
I was like, I feel like youcould have gone a better way to make
it better.
And so it was, it was a nicefirst time Watch.
Don't mind it.
I'm glad I watched it.
Sure.
But it was also up there aslike, okay, I, I missed out not watching
this before, but I don't thinkI missed out like all that much.
(08:46):
Yeah.
If that makes any sense.
Yeah.
Like, it's not, it's not forme, a life changing movie that now
that I've seen it, it'simmediately going to go to the top
of my list.
Yeah.
No, I agree.
That's.
It's a.
You made some very good points.
And I will say, when it comesto Aaron Sorkin, like, when I think
back on what he's done, like.
(09:06):
Like.
A Few Good Men, like, or likeeven West Wing to a degree, like,
there's very little romance inthe West Wing.
There's some.
But like he wrote Moneyball,Charlie Wilson's War, he even wrote
the Social Network.
Like the things that he does,Molly's Game, like the ones that
he does, the, where he sticksto the draw, the dramatic or he fully
(09:31):
leans on, like in Newsroom,there's a ton of comedy.
And so it's like when he leansinto one thing, but this one where
he tries to do more than onething, he struggles.
It's like he's so good at likethe political and like the.
He's so good at it.
Yeah.
Show me more of buying votes.
Yeah, that's interesting.
(09:52):
Show me more of that.
Isn't it great?
Like, I love that part where The.
You have the dichotomy of thislobbyist that's working to get votes.
And then you have thepresident and his, you know, entourage,
like you said, working to get boats.
And like, when.
When.
And I listen, I'll say Michael J.
Fox steals this movie for me,like, every time he's in it.
And he's like, when he loses his.
On that senator over thephone, like, I think he's a no.
(10:18):
Well, what's.
That's some of the greatestcomedy in the movie because then
you got the numbers nerd.
Oh, yeah.
Like, I'm glad it's a no.
Otherwise we have to work onour people skills.
Such a beautiful line where Iwas just dying because he just delivered
(10:39):
it perfectly.
And it fits so well with that actor.
And in the role he's in isthis kind of sarcastic numbers cruncher.
Y.
And just.
Oh, yeah.
Lecturing.
Pretty much the speechwriterand, you know, everything on how
to talk to people.
Yeah.
Isn't it great?
Which is so perfect.
Yeah.
(11:00):
David Pamer, he's.
Or Leon Kodak, he's so funnyin this movie.
I. I don't know.
Like, I want to love thismovie like Casey does, but I think
one.
I'm not a huge Annette Benning fan.
That's.
And.
But that's on me.
She's a phenomenal actress.
Right.
(11:20):
Like, that's not anythingagainst her.
She just.
I'm just not a fan.
Like, I don't know.
She always comes across very,like, holier than thou to me.
But that again, that's a meperception thing.
Like, she switches what she'sdoing in the same role.
Yeah.
She starts off super bubblyand friendly when you first meet
her, talking to White House guards.
(11:41):
Everything like, okay, cool.
But then she does adopt alittle bit of that.
Holier than that, like, you'retalking about.
Yeah, well.
And I. I will say that thereare scenes that she does.
Like the phone scene when hefirst calls her and he thinks it's
her dude, like, pranking her.
Like, that makes me laughevery time because I could see myself
doing that.
And then he's like, okay, Iwant you to call this number.
(12:01):
She's like, the look on her face.
I'm like, I've had that faceso many times.
Like, where you're just like,God damn it, I did it again.
So, like, that's.
And I think that's where Iappreciate her.
Like, she's not my favoriteactress, but when she's on, like,
she does well.
And then like, even like this,the funny scene That I don't love,
(12:25):
except for like when she walksout of the bathroom and just his
shirt or whatever.
And he's like having this likecrisis of.
Crisis of confidence.
And he's like talking about,you know, it's been a while and look,
there's no pressure.
And then he turns around andshe's like.
He's like, well, part gets megoing too.
(12:46):
Even the part where hisdaughter like, plays like the Hail
to the Chief on the tromboneas he's walking out because he's
been busting her ass about andlike the Constitution.
But I think, Yeah, I justthink to your point, like, they get
lost trying to be both, like,have the comedy, the row, and I guess
(13:07):
maybe all three trying to be funny.
If it was just the dramatic,mostly the dramatic, you know, political
aspect plus the funny, I couldprobably deal with it.
But then you take thepolitical aspect funny and the romance,
that just doesn't.
They just all don't work to meat the same time.
(13:27):
And it's.
They don't have enough screentime to make it work.
Yeah.
Like, so the political drama, right.
You can combine that withcomedy all day long because it fits.
High stress environment, roundthe clock stuff.
You can throw in these oneliners, these zippers, and you'll
be fine.
The promise they tried to make the.
The romance too big.
Mm.
And it kind of takes over,overtakes, becomes a catalyst for
(13:51):
the political drama.
But it, it doesn't really fit.
So you can still have theromance, but use it almost as an
accent piece to your politicaldrama rather than trying to bring
it in as a major plot point.
Yeah.
Because now we get the sceneswhere, you know, vacationing at Camp
David and the cheesy ass,corny line.
(14:12):
You ever been to Camp David?
No.
Nobody's been to Camp David.
Mr. President.
What kind of stupid ass question.
Yeah, for real.
You're trying to be charming,but you missed the point.
Exactly.
Like there's a couple of thosethings flying, flying left and right
across here.
I was like, ah, no.
(14:32):
Why?
But then you had really cool.
These, you know, romancemoments where you can see that he's
falling for.
Yeah, right.
Like I talked about the statedinner, and even when she, you know,
busts his ass the first time,doesn't know he's there.
And then they have thismoment, this private kind of conversation,
let's go out to dinner orwhatever, let's talk about this.
(14:52):
So you get these moments thatmake sense, but then it's.
It's overshadowed too much.
And so by the time you get tothe end where, again, one of my favorite
parts is when they're havingtheir little moment, the Oval Office,
and Lewis comes in, and then Iforget the other two actions that
come in, but they both come in.
It's like, hi, Mr. President.
(15:12):
Hi.
Salt's commonplace now and so funny.
Great.
But after the journey of thesong I had to get to with all this
extra romance that I was not afan of.
It was like, ah, okay, good.
We're wrapping up now.
Yes, yes.
So I think they could havedone a better job with inserting
(15:35):
the romance into a politicaldrama instead of trying to turn a
very entertaining premise intoa romance movie.
Yeah, I agree completely.
Love what you just said.
Pick one lane and stay there.
Exactly.
You can cross over a littlebit, but don't be driving in the
(15:57):
middle.
Yeah, you can.
You can let some chickenscross your lanes.
Yeah.
Little.
Don't take the dirt road whenyou get there.
Yeah, I will say that again.
And I mentioned him earlier,but Martin Sheen, along with Michael
J.
Fox, absolutely steal this,like, and it, you know, and all I
(16:18):
can see when I see MartinSheen, like, it's weird to see him
in a supporting role becausehe's so good and so for him.
But I also understand why theyhad to hire someone like him.
Because Michael Douglas islike, nobody.
Yeah.
Like, so you gotta havesomebody that can go to, like in
the.
The pool scene, like whenthey're playing pool and they're
having that wholeconversation, he's like, aj, you
(16:38):
were the best man at my wedding.
You can call me.
You can call me whatever name Andy.
He's like, yes, sir, Mr. President.
But you have to have somebodythat can go toe to toe with Michael
Douglas.
And it's, you know, someone.
You need someone like a Martin Sheen.
But at the same time, likethose moments where he steps in,
like, with.
(16:59):
With Michael J.
Fox's character and he's, youknow, he has to, like, try to cool
the room off.
Like, I love that he's thatlevel head in the room at all times,
like, trying to keep everybody.
And he's trying to tell himnot to do this, but then he's trying
to tell.
And you know that he had to,like, mark it as your ch.
Staff.
No.
But as your friend, you know,here's what you.
I'd say give her a call.
(17:19):
Right.
And so it's like, I love those.
And I think that's what I loveabout these movies.
And this probably goes back tomost of Aaron Sorkin's writing is
where he shines the most tome, and this movie is proof positive
is the little moments like.
And this is where I go back to.
We've talked a lot about.
Like, what's the.
That did the D.C. zack Snyder.
(17:40):
Zack Snyder.
I about.
Popular topic on this podcast.
He is a popular.
I love to.
On Zack Snyder, but I'vetalked a ton about Zack Snyder and
the fact that he shoots formoments, right?
Like, he wants these powerful moments.
And then you have writers, tome, that are genius, like Aaron Sorkin,
who they.
They film.
(18:00):
They write movies for scenes.
And those scenes includemoments, right?
Like, again, playing pool.
It's just two guys that haveknown each other obviously a very
long time, are great friends,are in these positions of power,
and they have this really, ifyou think about it, kind of trivial
situation happening that'screating these massive ripples of
(18:22):
drama and problems for a veryserious person, like an office and
what they're doing.
But you have this very coolscene of them playing pool and getting
in a little friendly spatabout something that's really kind
of important to one personbecause he's been alone for so long
in that way, and yet he stillhas to keep in mind that he's the
(18:42):
President of the United Statesof America.
So he can't just do what hewants to do, unfortunately.
Right?
Like, he.
There's a.
There's a level of carefulnessthat he has to have.
And so that.
But that whole scene, to me.
And then you get the one like,you're talking about, like, where.
Or we talked about earlier,the phone.
The phone call that's awkwardbecause she thinks he's getting pranked.
Like, that's another scene.
(19:04):
The scene where Michael J.
Fox tells him, like, you're my president.
You work for me.
Like, that speech to me is oneof the greatest political speeches
in a movie I've ever seen.
Like, and you can take thatout like that.
Everybody should have to watchthat scene where he's like, no, no,
you work for me.
I voted for you.
Yeah.
And you have this officebecause of me.
And like, and then it's like,and you're not.
(19:25):
I love the line where he says,in the absence of leadership, they'll
follow anybody.
Right?
Like, and that's so true andit's so applicable even today.
I mean, this movie is from 1995.
We're 30 years later, and thismovie is still.
That is still as revelant, ifnot more relevant now than it ever
(19:47):
has been even back then.
And so it's like the scene.
There are scenes in this movieThat I think should be captured and
people should watch constantlyto remind themselves of these great
points that are made and thesereally endearing pieces that you
can.
Because it also helps youunderstand to a certain degree.
Right.
Like, the pressure that thesepeople have to feel across the board,
(20:09):
whether you're a lobbyist andyou're, you know, you're paid to
get boats for a certain thing,which should be illegal in my opinion,
but that's their job.
Then you got presidentpoliticians that are running around
and have to do these thingsand they're constantly being watched.
And I think one of the mostpoignant statements that's ever been
made in history is, you know,FDR would have never made it if he
(20:34):
had to be on tv.
It's a very different world welive in now.
Right.
And being in those positions,you, God, you're constantly under
microscope, which is why wehave so much corruption in the government
and places like that.
Because they have to hide the.
They're really doing.
Because it's constantly beingwatched and filmed and written about.
And so if you don't lie andcheat and steal, you're gonna get
(20:56):
caught.
And nope, not everybody'sgonna like it.
And then it's a problem.
So it's.
I don't know, I just play the.
Game of Thrones or you die.
Exactly.
That was a good one.
That was a good one.
But yeah, it's great scenes inthis movie.
Some of the.
Some of the best.
Just some of the cohesivenessdoesn't work between them.
Like, you're like, wait, whatam I watching?
Romance.
Oh, wait, no, this ispolitical drama.
(21:17):
Oh, wait, no, this is a comedy.
And then they dropped thebombshell like the Michael J.
Fox you're talking about.
But I love the follow up too.
The President does.
Talking about the desert.
Like, they're not drinkingsand because they're thirsty.
They're doing it because theycan't tell the difference.
And I was like, dude, yeah,still can't.
We have so many people in thiscountry who for some stupid reason
(21:40):
believe that the government isactually there to help them.
Yeah.
Hasn't been that way in a verylong time.
Never really been that way.
But yeah, it's gotten a lot worse.
It used to be.
Yeah.
Like they were trying to hideit a little bit.
Yeah.
But it's gotten to that pointwhere people are, you know, the government's
gonna do this, government'sgonna do that.
It's like the governmentdoesn't care two things about you.
(22:02):
Yeah, not even.
So it's like those are thepeople that don't know the difference
between water and sand.
Mm.
That's a good point.
It's just there.
It's just always the way thatit's been.
And so you have this great, beautiful.
Almost like mic drop, as itwere, of Michael J.
(22:22):
Fox giving this great speechof, like, this.
This is.
This is why I voted for you.
Blah, blah, blah.
And then you almost haveMichael Douglas just drop it all
back in his face and be like,no, you don't know any better.
Nobody knows the differencebecause, you know, I. I could give
them sand and tell them it'swater and.
Oh, okay.
(22:43):
Because they don't know whatactual water is.
Yeah.
And so, you know, it's.
It's great.
Absolutely.
Great writing, great scenes.
And then you have the stupidback and forth with the freaking.
What is it, the GDC or something?
Whatever.
And, you know, the.
The back and forth where yougot the Republicans meeting in their
mountain lodge about howthey're gonna shame the president
(23:06):
because of his alluring affairor whatever.
Yeah.
And then the.
I think the greatest thingwhere I was like, okay, yeah, that
does happen, is where you had.
Was it Rum.
Sprinter or whatever.
Rumson.
Yeah, yeah, Bob Rumson.
It was like, yeah, we couldn'trun a character smear three years
ago because he just lost his wife.
(23:26):
Okay.
No, no.
Every single politician gonnabe like, ha.
Vulnerable.
We're going for him now.
Yeah.
In 1995, maybe you wouldn'thave done it, but 20, 25, they'll
latch onto that real quick.
In fact, they'll find a way toblame him for the fact that his wife
died.
Exactly.
So, yeah.
So, I mean, that's thestruggle that I have with it because
(23:48):
it's so great at points.
And then other times, I'mlike, okay, well, that's five minutes
I could have done without.
Because who cares if it's theDish Room or the China Room?
Yeah.
I don't.
Nobody cares.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's.
That's a good point.
I think, now that I thinkabout it, and you say, like, the
Dish Room and the China Roomand all that shit, like, it makes
(24:09):
me laugh because the flirtingthat Michael Douglas, like, for his.
Phenomenal of an actor.
And I'm sure he was doing it.
It was a choice that he made.
But his flirting in this is terrible.
I'm like.
Other than the fact that she'sso completely awkward that it fits,
like, which you get that point.
But you could have done thatwithout, to your point, without that
(24:30):
much of them being awkward together.
Right.
Like, we see that they're bothterribly awkward, but they're both
terribly like.
What's the word I'm looking for?
What's the opposite of inept?
Because in moments, they'recompletely inept.
Yeah, but they're.
They're so overly competentwhen it comes to doing the things
they do.
Him being the president, himbeing a dad, her being a lobbyist,
(24:55):
her understanding politics.
And, like, because even shewas like, this is a bad idea for
you.
Like, yeah, I want this, butthis is a.
Like, she understands.
If I was running yourcampaign, I'd tell you to knock this
off.
And so.
But they're so inept at beingtogether and, like, making.
Because of the awkwardness.
(25:15):
And I get what they weretrying to do, but it just didn't
work for me in.
When it's surrounded by all ofthis other phenomenal content and
speeches and dialogue and inrelationship building.
And so you're just like.
Because you're dropped in themiddle of this.
This thing.
Like, you're four years in oralmost four years into this, you
know, register thisadministration, and they're getting
(25:37):
ready to run this campaign,and you're.
You don't know any of thesepeople, but 10 minutes into this
movie, I'm like, oh, I'mrooting for him.
You know what I mean?
I'm not.
I'm.
I. I'm not.
I'm not anything.
I'm.
But, like, I grew up around Republicans.
I'm pretty conservative dudein a lot of ways.
But I'm watching this going,let's go Democrat.
Yeah, I'm voting for this dude.
(25:59):
Right.
So.
And I, you know, because Ilike the people around him, but it's
like.
Yeah.
So it's just weird to me.
Like, he's terrible atflirting in this movie.
That's actually a really goodpoint that you brought up about the
inept and then the competence.
Right.
Because something that.
A scene that really bugged,like, really bugged me was when he's
tied up with Israel, right?
(26:21):
And the daughter comes out andsays, no, he told me to tell you
he's, you know, on the phonewith his dentist.
Right.
Because then he comes out andshe already knows he's talking about
C. Stan.
Or whatever it was.
Yeah.
And it's like, okay, you.
You know, she knows stuff, right?
Like, she's competent.
She's.
You have enough proof.
Even I can't remember if thishappened before at this point, but
(26:42):
to the point where she canread your face and she already knows
when you're holding something back.
Just by looking at you.
Right.
Very, very smart, very intelligent.
Yeah.
You know this already andyou're still gonna pull the.
Oh, yeah, I was talking to my dentist.
At nine o' clock at night.
Yeah.
Locked up in the freaking OvalOffice or whatever.
Wherever I got.
(27:03):
I got a cavity up in my upperbicuspid region.
Like, shut the up.
You could come out and belike, oh, yeah, no, sorry, that was
a state call with Israel.
Yeah.
You're not giving away statesecrets by saying you were talking
to Israel.
Get the out of here.
Yeah.
And who's she gonna tell?
Like, she's trying to bed youas much as you're trying to bed her,
(27:26):
so.
Or vice or.
I don't even.
I'm with you.
I don't remember.
Did they.
Had they already slepttogether at that point?
I don't remember.
I don't remember that.
But it was, it was up to thepoint where I was like, hey, you
already know she's intelligent.
Yeah.
Why are you bounced aroundthis bush trying to be like a normal
guy?
She already knows you're the president.
Yeah.
Normals out the window.
(27:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You had to sneak your ass outthe back.
Like, yeah, no, I'm with you.
I. I think another scene thatI think about that I get is you have
this really cool moment whenhe's at the end.
When he's at the, you know,he's in the press room and he's given
(28:07):
this just.
He's just laying into BobRumson in the greatest way possible.
Like, look, if you want to go,let's go.
Yeah, believe her ass out of it.
Like, she's better than bothof us.
Like, get the out of here.
You're a prick for bringingher into it.
Let's dance.
Right?
And I'm like, get a.
You know, and I get all riled up.
And then I'm like, yeah, cutthe black.
(28:29):
Let's be done.
But no, now we got to resolvethis issue that they had because
he messed with her, right?
And he went.
He, you know, he went behindher back and didn't do their deal
and to get the votes.
And I'm like, oh, now I gottasit in this weird romance thing where
he's like, I'm sorry.
And she's like, no, I.
You.
You did what you had.
(28:49):
I'm like, get the out of here.
I didn't even hear the speech.
I was on my way back before orwhatever it was.
Yeah, no, that was anotherproblem, because she's like, I saw
your speech.
And I was like, it was twominutes ago.
You came 12 blocks, but youget stuck on Dupont Circle this time
of year all the time.
It would have been much betterif it was just.
(29:09):
She came back.
The White House staff knows her.
Yeah.
They know what's gonna happen.
They let her in.
She gets to hear that speech,and then it's.
She comes.
She came back for a different reason.
Yeah.
But hearing the speech whileshe was there, because I was like,
I picked that out.
I was like, no way.
(29:29):
First of all, how do you knowhe's giving a speech?
It seemed pretty impromptuthat he walked in there when the.
Yeah.
Nobody else is ready for that.
Yeah.
The press secretary was giventhe speech.
Yeah.
And then I was like, so you're.
Just happy to be tuned in atwhat, 2:00 clock on a Thursday?
Yeah.
Out of here.
And then you made all the waydown and beat him to the Oval Office.
(29:51):
No way.
Yeah.
And so it's like you.
You could have gone about thatin a much better way to tell that
story.
But I was like.
Because then they threw in theDupont Circle joke, and I was like,
yeah.
I mean, imagine how cool itwould have been.
Like, if.
To your point, I love whatyou're saying.
Like, she.
You see her in the car and shedecides to just turn around and go
(30:13):
to the White House.
Because she's like, look, heme over, but I love this dude.
I want to make it work.
We'll figure it out.
You know, he's a big.
You know, he's bigger thingsthan making me happy.
Right.
So she goes back.
But to your point, I love theidea that maybe she walks into the
back of the press room or, youknow, she's sitting in the Oval Office
watching it on a TV or in liketo say, you know what I mean?
(30:34):
Somewhere there's got a TV ofthe speech that she can watch it
and he's not aware.
And then the very end of thismovie, he comes out and she says,
I saw your speech.
And then they walk into theOval Office and close the door.
And then it cuts to black.
Like, how great would that be?
Like, yeah, what an ending.
The only thing that make itbetter is if AJ's the one.
Martin.
She's the one who brings herin the press.
(30:55):
Yeah, that would have been great.
But instead we get thisperfect storybook ending.
Yeah.
We get this goofy awkwardwhere I'm like, ah, get the out of
here.
We knew you were gonna end up together.
But I don't need to see it.
Just.
Just have him have, like aquick line because I don't mind the.
Saw your speech.
And then he's like.
Holds his hand out.
They hold hands and walk intothe Oval or they go to the residence,
(31:15):
whatever it is.
But don't talk anymore.
We know you're awkward as I know.
You just gave this killer speech.
She saw it.
All's right.
Go cut the black leave.
Yeah.
We don't need the extra of yousaying it's all right.
We.
We already know based on whathas already been told to us.
Yeah.
And so it was.
It was just a little bit onthe extra side to where once again,
(31:39):
you know, of course,hindsight's always 20 20, and there's
always going to be someonelike us who's, oh, you could have
done it better.
But it's just like there wereso many things that you could have
done to make this better andmake it fit more rather than almost
trying to force this 90s romance.
Yeah.
Into a political drama forwhatever goddamn reason, because
(32:01):
everybody loves a scandal.
That's what, three?
There it is.
I got it.
90s Bill Clinton.
There's.
There it is every time.
Jesus.
So funny.
Oh, it's great.
Would have been right about that.
Same time, too, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's funny.
(32:23):
We just watched the moviewhere he was worried about datener.
The current president wasgetting his in the White House while
he's married.
Times are changing.
All of a sudden this moviedoesn't feel so awkward.
Yeah.
(32:45):
Good stuff.
Oh, yeah.
All right.
No.
What were you gonna say?
Oh, no, I just.
I was just agreeing with you.
Good stuff.
That is good stuff.
Should we rate this thing?
Let's do it.
All right.
My movie.
I'll go first.
I'm so torn on this moviebecause it does have some sentimental
value from me because we watchit all the time and I.
It's grown on me.
(33:05):
I'm gonna give it a four.
I want to give it higherbecause it has the potential.
Blink twice if Casey's outsideyour door watching you.
That's fair.
I would get my balls choppedoff if she heard me say even a four,
so.
But no.
Yeah, I'm gonna give it a four.
And I think the.
(33:26):
This one is outside of my norm.
It's because of the potentialthat it has and the fact that the
scenes that do work.
God bless.
They work really well for me.
Like, I.
There are so many scenes inthis movie that I remember and I
think of even when I haven'twatched this movie for years.
Like, and people talk about.
And it comes up in my mind,like, if I'm Talking politics with
something.
With someone.
(33:47):
I can promise you, whether Isay it or not, some scene from this
movie pops into my head thatfits the conversation that we're
talking about.
Right.
Because it covers the gamut ofpolitical issues that we still see
today, probably more than weeven saw back then.
And it was already a show backin the 90s, so to say that now, like,
it's.
There's so many lessons to be learned.
(34:08):
And then I love the passionthat he has for the Constitution
and like.
Like the speech he gives hisdaughter about this is a great.
Like, read the first paragraph.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like, that's.
Yeah.
And that's the kind ofpresident that I want.
Right.
Like, someone that actuallybelieves in the system and what it
is for what it should be.
But we haven't had that in aslong as I can remember.
(34:28):
And so it's.
It's one of those thingswhere, again, this movie pops into
my head.
I think there's somephenomenal scenes, but I think there
are things that don't work and.
And I could do without.
And if it weren't for howphenomenal the things that do work
were, this would be a muchlower rating for me because the things
that don't work really don'twork for me.
But they.
The other things are so good,including Michael J.
(34:51):
Fox, Martin Sheen, MichaelDouglas, like, those three that they
just kill it.
And so I. Yeah.
Giving it a four.
Obviously, I'm gonna watchthis movie again because it pops
up on my TV on occasionbecause Casey's like, I'm gonna watch
the American President.
And I'm like, okay, sou.
Right.
I.
You know, so.
But I. Yeah, I think I'd watchit on my own relation as well, just
(35:12):
because I. I do like the moviein general.
All right, Alec, your turn, buddy.
Yeah, I'm also.
It's also tricky because thestuff that I didn't like in this
movie, I really, really didn't like.
But there is so much good,like, you're talking about.
You can tell that it's.
It's someone who cares, wantsto make a difference, wants to make
(35:35):
a change.
Even on the point where, like,a line that I'm gonna keep with me
is, you know, America isadvanced citizenship or whatever
it was along those lines,like, it's not a ride, a free ride.
It's not a ride.
Walk in the park.
It's not just passive.
Like, it's an advanced citizenship.
And that the.
The coin of freedom has reallytwo sides to it.
(35:57):
Right.
Like, because this is a bighot topic with freedom isn't free.
But also there's two sides,that coin of freedom.
And typically when you talkabout things like that, one side
is overpowering and notrealizing that it's a two sided coin,
it always has been.
(36:18):
But that goes back to thatadvanced citizenship stuff.
Sure.
And I would almost guaranteethat most people today couldn't give
you the preamble.
The Constitution couldn't giveyou the first couple words of the
Declaration of Independence.
Yeah.
Like it's become a passive thing.
So this is a great movie for that.
Almost like hit you, hit youover the head.
Wake up call.
Yeah.
At this point I'm juststalling because I think, I think
(36:43):
I'm gonna come in at a threeand a half.
Yeah.
I will watch clips of this again.
I don't know if I will go the,the distance on it and watch it beginning
to end, but there's definitemoments that I could just sit, you
know, search up on YouTube,find the clip and.
Yeah.
Oh, hell yeah.
Yeah.
From this I think I get threeand a half.
(37:04):
Nice.
That's an Aaron Sorkin thing,I swear, because I like again, I
don't love Newsroom, but thereare parts that I'm like.
Like the first.
I don't know if you've everwatched the show, have you?
I've watched bits of it.
Not you in any.
You should watch it.
It's only three seasons.
I think you'd like it for themost part.
Like when it's really fun,it's a lot like this movie.
(37:25):
When it's serious, it's.
There's some really phenomenalscenes in it.
There's some hilarious asscomedy in it.
There's some romance, but mostof the romance doesn't work.
I don't think Aaron Sorkin'svery good at writing romance, in
my opinion at this point.
But like the comedy in theseries is very good and it'll get
you riled up at times too.
You're like, yeah, like it's,it's good.
(37:47):
So I'd recommend watching it.
I gotta make sure Casey didn'thear that either because I on that
show every time she turns it on.
But it's actually pretty good.
Yeah, you'll have to hbo.
It's on there.
You can watch anytime.
But anyway, so like it's good.
But the Aaron Sorkin thing,like, I don't remember where I was
going with this, to be honest.
Oh, the clips, like allYouTube stuff, like the opening scene
(38:08):
that Jeff Daniels gives in thecollege, like they're having this,
like, Q A thing where he'slike, the United States isn't the
greatest.
Yeah, that's from that show.
And I'll watch that all thetime because it is such a great point.
And it fits a lot of what helike, mentions.
Like.
Like you're talking about theadvanced citizenship thing.
And.
And then on top of that, like,I don't know if you saw the clip
of Arnold Schwarzenegger onthe View recently.
(38:30):
Like, I hate the View.
I don't watch that, but Iwatched and I.
For Arnold Schwarzenegger,what he said in that clip, like,
the whole look, I'm animmigrant, but at the same time,
like, you can't just come andleech off the United States.
Like, you have to.
It's a give and take.
Right.
Like you said, it's.
There's two sides to this coin.
Like, you don't just get tocome and have freedom.
Like, you have to come andprovide back to the United.
(38:51):
To the.
To America as an immigrant tohelp make the country even better
and improve on things and thenget the benefits that come from being
a citizen in the United States.
So it was a great speech.
If you ever watched this, yougo watch it anyway.
Listening.
But it fits that.
It's like those.
Those moments.
Sorkin is phenomenal at writing.
So you can go YouTube a lot of that.
Aaron Sorkin does.
It's.
I mean, it's the same as A FewGood Men.
(39:12):
How many of us don't go backand YouTube the courtroom scene?
Like, are you me?
It's one of the greatestwritten scenes in film history.
And so it's like, he's a great writer.
Anyway.
Yeah, clip it up.
You should YouTube the out ofAaron Sorkin clips, including these
ones.
Yeah, because I. I've seenthat news room clip of Jeff Daniels.
(39:35):
The Belgium has freedom.
100, 208 sovereign nations,like 180 of them have freedom.
It's so.
I love that.
Yeah.
I love what he's like, dude,when you ask me if the United States
is the greatest country in the world.
The.
You're talking about the.
The.
What is the Giants or the.
(39:55):
Yeah, the.
So whatever.
One of the baseball teams or.
Yeah.
Football teams.
The jets again, I don't knowyou're talking about.
It's great.
Anyway, good movie.
It's a good discussion.
I like this.
Oh, yeah.
Matt's a.
Missed out vacations.
This guy.
It's because.
It's because he's a communist.
That's why.
Exactly.
(40:16):
Better red than dead.
This.
This guy over Here.
Great.
Anyway, all right, with Alec,before we go, I almost skipped your
whole piece, dude.
Oh.
Yeah.
Tell everybody where they canfind this dude.
Happy to.
So, like JJ said at thebeginning of the episode, Patreon
(40:38):
is the place to go.
This has been week five.
Yeah.
Four, five, four.
Four.
Big four.
And the last week of ourpatriotic month of movies that patriotism.
But we kind of left war out ofit because we do a lot of war stuff.
Like JJ said, there's votes upright now for actors, actresses.
(40:58):
We're doing kind of what wedid a little a few months ago with
Nicolas Cage, where we'regonna go back to actors or actresses
and make that a focal pointfor months.
So go on, vote for the actorand actress that is up, and then
we'll go ahead and get a movievote up, and from there we can go
from there.
It's gonna be amazing.
With that said, also go stickaround on the voting stuff because
(41:22):
it's looking more and morelike October is gonna be another
horror month.
So it's.
It's gonna.
It's gonna get even better.
But that's place to getinvolved with content.
And like JJ said, it'scompletely free to vote if you want
to stay.
Want to get access to over 550bonus shorts, episodes, clips, whole
(41:44):
shebang where we're making funof each other.
Because even though this is afun podcast, if our picks get picked,
it's a real thing.
We are competitive.
We want to be the one who getsto go first in rating.
So that's.
It means a lot to us.
It's.
It's us living our glory daysin the equivalent of the high school
(42:05):
basketball player who justwon't give up on their knees.
So that's the place to go.
That's place to get involved.
We love to see you there.
Join us and our little misfit group.
With that, I'll kick it backto The Wazir of WAP the Great Bambino.
A J.J. that's right.
(42:25):
Just so everybody knows, rightnow, Amy Adams, Brad Pitt, and John
Cusack are winning in theactor poll.
A single one of mine.
Damn it.
Yeah, they're up againstBradley Cooper, Samuel Jackson, and
Sandra Bullock.
So go vote if you want to vote.
Only a couple days left inthat one, and then we got to get
movies picked so we can startrecording for August.
(42:46):
But, yeah, go check it out anyway.
As always, we appreciate youtuning in.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Hasta la vista, baby.
Cinematic.
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