Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
11:11 – 14:01… he's, he's really good in this movie. And, and you think like The Office has also started this year and you think like, this is just an amazing year. Like Apex Mountain, not hard to figure out for, uh, for Steve Carell here, but he does some, it's not just that he's great in this movie. The character is so detailed. And I think for a comedy, especially like coming off Caddyshack last week, where it's just these broad strokes of like Ty Webb, he's kind of a dick. And this one, the amount of thought they put into like his room and the action figures he had and all of the subtle shit going on there. It was …
The whole segment, as transcribed
that he was in before that, but I really- The Daily Show. Well, he was one of the correspondents on The Daily Show. But I didn't watch The Daily Show back then that much. Hmm. So when he, I knew him as the anchorman guy and I don't know, he's, he's really good in this movie. And, and you think like The Office has also started this year and you think like, this is just an amazing year. Like Apex Mountain, not hard to figure out for, uh, for Steve Carell here, but he does some, it's not just that he's great in this movie. The character is so detailed. And I think for a comedy, especially like coming off Caddyshack last week, where it's just these broad strokes of like Ty Webb, he's kind of a dick. And this one, the amount of thought they put into like his room and the action figures he had and all of the subtle shit going on there. It was like, it's about as complex of a movie character as you're going to have. What does that character look like in 2020? Do you guys think? Hmm. He's, he's called an incel then he's on a message board. I did. I did have that in my notes. I had that in unanswerable questions. Does this become an incel comedy? If this is 2020, I don't know. It just seems less fun. I mean, I think it's, it's, it gets, it gets to be more sweet in this period of time. And it's, it's got Steve Martin vibes. You know, it's got that weird, like this is the outcast. This is the idiot, but he's somehow lovable vibes. And for some reason that has become a really like third rail topic, like to make these outsider movies, it's usually you wind up with Joker, you know? Right. But, but with, with this, there was still a kind of weird, and Carell just has this, uh, in almost all of his movies, except for like Foxcatcher. Uh, he, he has like an inherent sweetness to him. Well, I think that Steve Martin, the jerk is a good parallel to this. Cause that was kind of the version of this for the late seventies. It was the late seventies movies, but for that generation where it's like, this guy's just a doofus, but it's completely conceivable that somebody would fall in love with them and you're rooting for him. Steve Carell's character in this movie is like a semi doofus, but you know, it's also conceivable that he could get Catherine Keener. It's also conceivable. He could get promoted at Best Buy, you know? And it's like, he's got this other side and it's like, Oh my God, look at this. And when his friends see his apartment, they must have a heart attack, but it's not like psychotic. It's just like, yeah, this guy's had no girlfriend this entire time. It's realistic. He has a hundred thousand dollars worth of collectibles. By the way, those would be worth like a million dollars now. Um, I don't think they ever, do you feel like they tilt it too far, make them too crazy, Sean? Or is it like the right balance? Cause I think it's the right balance. No. And I think, I think the Steve Martin call is a great one. The Steve Martin movie, this reminded me of was the lonely guy where, you know, like this is an inherently nice, decent, hardworking guy who had some bad luck with women early in his life and it completely shattered him and traumatized him.
63:01 – 70:41… some of the stuff that he was doing, they realized that they had to incorporate more of that in the office. So that was cool. Uh, that's all I got for that. Apex mountain, Steve Carell. Definitely. Mm-hmm. Cause this movie comes out, becomes a smash hit and he's got the office. I don't, I don't think there's, it's gotta be the pinnacle of anyone's comedy career. Apatow. I'm going to say no. No. I don't know what it is, but we can litigate that at a later date, but I mean, you could argue. Probably knocked up. Yeah. Yeah. It could probably be the number one thing. Catherine Keener. I think you could make a …
The whole segment, as transcribed
Um, oh, with the, uh, this movie had a big effect on the office because the first season of the U S version of the office, the Steve Carell character, they felt like it was a little too nasty and menacing. And when they saw this movie and they saw like him being a buffoon and doing some of the stuff that he was doing, they realized that they had to incorporate more of that in the office. So that was cool. Uh, that's all I got for that. Apex mountain, Steve Carell. Definitely. Mm-hmm. Cause this movie comes out, becomes a smash hit and he's got the office. I don't, I don't think there's, it's gotta be the pinnacle of anyone's comedy career. Apatow. I'm going to say no. No. I don't know what it is, but we can litigate that at a later date, but I mean, you could argue. Probably knocked up. Yeah. Yeah. It could probably be the number one thing. Catherine Keener. I think you could make a case for yes. Cause she's had, you know, at least a decade of being a really respected indie film actress peaking an eight millimeter, which, you know, Chris, you and me, buddy, you and me. One for us. One for us. Eight millimeter. But, but then this, she's in a smash hit. I think this is as good as it gets. She was in Capote this year too. So I think it's a good call. Oh, good one. She plays Harper Lee. Virgins. Apex mountain. Someone go Virgin Mary here. Last American Virgin. Oh, that movie is fucking great. What are we doing? That one, Chris? 40th anniversary. Should we do Virgin Week where, you know, we do Last Temptation of Christ. We should do Virgin Week. Yeah. Last Temptation. Maybe a midnight clear, you know, like just like a bunch. I want to do Last American Virgin just so Craig has to watch it with Liz. Because I think Liz would actually probably move out. Move out later that night. Movie ends with James Ingram. I gave my best, but I guess my best wasn't good enough. Tears are streaming down his face because he had his heart broken. Six million dollar man action figures. Definitely Apex mountain. Paul Rudd, no. No, but I feel like we haven't given him enough credit for being absolutely incredible in this movie. He's really funny as Brian Fantana in Anchorman. And that's when everyone realized he was going to be a great comic actor. But he, at times, carries this movie. And his like meltdown, his slow evolution of like completely losing his shit in smart tech. And like taking his clothes off and filming himself and showing his ass. Like we forgot all that stuff. He's so, so, I really want to highlight how much I love him in this movie. His, his like, his bit at the poker table. When, when he's like, we were like two souls meeting. You know, sometimes Amy and I would make love. So it was almost like we weren't two people, but we were two spirits or something. Our, our souls were connected in this way. I can't describe it. Time stood still. It was like we were sharing the same heart. Stop, man. Why do you always come and kill the vibe with those things? And then when Andy starts talking, the look he gives Andy is just amazing. I think you could make the case. This was Apex Mountain for him. I think, I think Ant-Man. Ant-Man. What year was Ant-Man? Like four or five years ago. 15, maybe 14. Ant-Man is great. It was a huge hit. Fuck it. What? So mad. What are you mad about? I just don't like comic book movies. Okay. This guy hates Munich and he hates Ant-Man. I didn't hate Munich. I thought it was great. It, it, you know, I think it's nice to nap during a movie. Romany Malco. Yeah. Yeah. Has to be. Tech stores like Best Buy, those kinds of stores. Is this the Apex Mountain for that era of those kinds of stores? Yeah. I, that was one of my unanswerable questions. I, in addition to the fact that like these stores are not as important to our lives as they used to be. Yeah. Smart Tech was really, really badly run. Oh my God. Yeah. But that was almost all these stores, right? Like in Boston, we had Tweeter. And Tweeter was fucking terrible. And then eventually all went out of business. But Circuit City, those were terrible. They were always run by jackasses. Which was. It's so funny. These guys in this movie are jackasses. Because that was my experience with every one of these stores ever. And Vince Vaughn's character owns one of these in old school as well. This is basically his job. Why is this a recurring theme in comedies in the 2000s? Because all of us had the experience. Yeah. And they all lived in the valley and would just be like, man, this must be like such a weird place to work. All of us have had the experience of just going into one of these stores and be like, hey man, I need a 50 inch TV or whatever. And then some jackass comes over and is like, hey man, can I? And you're just like, get away from me. You're offering me no guidance at all. You're annoying me. I almost want to leave because you're so annoying. Another Apex Mountain. Asia, the ironic version. This wasn't Asia's Apex Mountain because they won, I think, four or five Grammys one year. But this was when they moved into ironic Asia, which was 20 years later, where it's like heat of the moment. And it's a good song, but you're also like 20% mocking it as you're listening to it. Yeah. I think they do a nice job with that. That's a good call. I'm pretty psyched for my ironic phase. You know, when people are ironically appreciating what I'm able to accomplish. Hopefully I live that long. We're in it. I hate to tell you, we're in it. Oh no. No. I got to say, next category is picking nits. I didn't really have any. This movie really ties up all the stuff that, you know, that we would potentially be like, ah, what the fuck? I mean, you could pick nits about why is this guy a virgin? But I think they did research on that when they were making the movie. And they, you know, the theme they got over and over again was what they hit in this movie where, you know, there were people out there that they had bad experiences. A couple of things didn't go well and they just kind of gave up. And they just assumed it wasn't going to happen and they just built like their own little solo life and that was it. So if you're going to pick a nit of, oh, nobody's going to be a 40-year-old virgin who's like a handsome guy who has a decent job. Like their research said that, you know, it was conceivable. I don't know. Do you guys have any nitpicks here? It's hard to have a nitpick in this movie. I mean, you know. And it's a comedy. Yeah. Yeah. So we're skipping that. Could this be remade as a 10-episode Netflix show? Like, I actually think that's how it would have played out in 2020 for this movie. I don't think it's a movie. I would watch the smart tech show. Yeah. Like a really raunchy superstore kind of thing. Like, I would watch that. Yeah, because then you could go, like, you could dive into the Jane Lynch character. Find out more about Cal's novel. Right. Probably unanswerable questions. Yeah. I had, what does this movie look like in the 2020 incel era? What does this movie look like in 2020 just with social media and the internet and somebody who's lonely like this guy is in this movie now, but now in 2020, you can just be on the internet all day, every day. You don't even have to see other human beings. Like, is that where it would have gone? Like, I don't even know how they handle that. I think the important part of the title is the 40. Part of the story is the reason why he's kind of like who he is, is he's cocooned himself in this nostalgia stuff.
Open the full episode on Spotify — it cannot start at the timestamp, so the segment above is the mp3.
A grade for each call is not built yet. The board's answer is shown; whether the pod landed on it is a separate judgement, and it is not made here.