Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
17:06 – 19:52… comedy actors. That's really what he was the best at. There's, there's nobody who does it better. Um, I struggled a lot. I know we're going to get to apex mountain. I thought a lot about it because, so the deal is 98. There's something about Mary is this landmark movie and he blows up for me. Like I had seen the Ben Stiller show a little bit before then, but something about Mary was me. Um, Cameron Diaz wins that movie. Like the takeaway from that movie is holy shit. Cameron Diaz is going to be a superstar two years later than now. Now when he hits meet the parents, it's now he has two massive, huge …
The whole segment, as transcribed
And he's just for 12 years, he's probably in the most successful comedies of anybody. Would you, where do you stand on Stiller? Just big picture. Cause I wrote down the Michael Jordan of emasculated comedy actors. That's really what he was the best at. There's, there's nobody who does it better. Um, I struggled a lot. I know we're going to get to apex mountain. I thought a lot about it because, so the deal is 98. There's something about Mary is this landmark movie and he blows up for me. Like I had seen the Ben Stiller show a little bit before then, but something about Mary was me. Um, Cameron Diaz wins that movie. Like the takeaway from that movie is holy shit. Cameron Diaz is going to be a superstar two years later than now. Now when he hits meet the parents, it's now he has two massive, huge financial movies. And then Zoolander's coming and we didn't, I mean like years later, he's going to do the whole night at the museum thing, which kids love. So, um, I think the question is like, I was thinking about is like, is this my favorite Stiller performance? I can't think of one that I like better. I know he does funny character work and he's like really good and dodge ball and stuff like that, but just him playing Ben Stiller. I don't think he's better. Yeah. It's this, or there's something about Mary, right? Yeah. It's just those two. And I just think he, him working with De Niro, I like just a little bit more than him working with Cameron Diaz. He would also, when this thing blew up, Bill, like he would get a couple of times he would host the VMAs when the VMAs really mattered or the video music awards or the MTV awards. And one of my favorite things he's ever done was he did Mission Improbable where he played Tom Cruise's stunt double as Tom Cruise. And it's laugh out loud funny. It's unbelievable. He had a really nice, uh, rise in the nineties, right? He was on SNL for a split second and they should have kept them and they fucked it up. Did the Ben Stiller show, um, just kind of scrapped around, had this little comedy group, directed reality bites and everybody liked them. And I think everybody was rooted for him. He was still in mayor's kid. They still started to have this second, uh, his dad, um, started to have the second run on Seinfeld. So then he was directing cable guy and it just was like, Oh, I like this guy. This guy's going to be something. And I'd never expected what happened to happen where he became basically like the first call. Um, it was now we have great casting. What ifs for this? He was not the first call of this movie, but by the time we get to the mid two thousands, he's the first call for any movie like this. No, he's running it. And cause then you're, you're getting in Tropic Thunder and he's running that whole thing. If anybody wants a really fun watch, there's a crazy video of, uh, Ben Stiller auditioning for Marty McFly on YouTube and it's really weird. And he looks out of place and he's obviously very young. Didn't get the part, but like, I remember him starting to show up in places like when he shows up and even in happy Gilmore, just in a few scenes, it's like an all time Dion
88:14 – 96:00… bankruptcy in 2014 thing with her too. And she did all those sequels and everything? Yeah. Hmm. Who knows? All right, one more break and then we're gonna do Apex Mountain. This episode is brought to you by Mazda. Wanna be as confident behind the wheel as I am about a movie nobody else will admit as a top five all-timer? Get the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid. It comes standard with a suite of proactive safety features and lets you explore far and wide with an EPA estimated 38 miles per gallon combined and electronic all-wheel drive. Mazda, move and be moved. Visit mazdausa.com, discover how confidence comes standard. …
The whole segment, as transcribed
Oh, you mentioned Terry Polo, like a weird 2000. She also had the, there's this whole, like she filed for bankruptcy in 2014 thing with her too. And she did all those sequels and everything? Yeah. Hmm. Who knows? All right, one more break and then we're gonna do Apex Mountain. This episode is brought to you by Mazda. Wanna be as confident behind the wheel as I am about a movie nobody else will admit as a top five all-timer? Get the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid. It comes standard with a suite of proactive safety features and lets you explore far and wide with an EPA estimated 38 miles per gallon combined and electronic all-wheel drive. Mazda, move and be moved. Visit mazdausa.com, discover how confidence comes standard. Mileage will vary based on vehicle condition, driving habits, and other factors used for comparison purposes only. Actual results will vary. All right, ripping through this. Apex Mountain. Ben Stiller, we litigated already. It's somewhere between here and Zoolander, I think. We're in like Apex Mountain range. You can see the top of the mountain. Yeah. De Niro, no. Nicorette gum in a movie? I think it has to be. It's a huge part of it. They name it by the brand name. In-law movies. So older people would make the case for The In-Laws with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, which I think is considered a true 70s comedy classic. My dad's best friend, Roy Anderson. It's his favorite movie. And forever and ever, he'd be like, did you see The In-Laws yet? Did you see The In-Laws yet? And I find it. It's super funny. It's great. Oh, good. So I think it's probably those two in the finals. But it's old. It's a movie out of the 70s. Terry Polo, I'm going to say yes. Yeah, definitely. How about septic tank disasters in a movie? Can you think of a bigger one? I can think of clogged toilets, like dumb and dumber, and like a lot of shit humor, but not quite like this one. Did you have any septic tank experience in your childhood or life? I didn't. I told a story on the radio once that I was house hunting, trying to find a place to live in Hermosa Beach when I was about 28 years old. And I went to an open house, and I had to use the bathroom because it had a bender the night before. And I clogged the toilet, and I didn't know what to do. And it was like an open house, and the owner was walking around. So I just left. I just left and never came back to the house. And I don't know what happened. I told that story on the radio years ago, and people still ask me about it. I'm giving the sped up version now, but I couldn't go up to the owner and be like, hey, do you have a plunger? I just couldn't. So I left, and I don't know what happened to the house or the owner. Sorry. That's a plumbing story. That's not a septic tank story. Yeah. I enjoyed it just as much, though. It's septic adjacent. You clogged an open house in Hermosa. I did. Yeah. Dump and run. Amazing. That's right. Why? Have you? Do you have a septic tank story? I do, actually. What do you got? The lady who lived next to us when my mom remarried in Connecticut had a septic tank that occasionally would overflow and have issues. And we had this dog, B, who used to, the goal in his life was if the septic tank in this place overflowed or had some sort of spillage or anything, he was getting over there and rolling around in it. And then he would just show up back home. Like, sorry, guys. Did it again. And we just have these pictures of him just covered in septic tank. It's disgusting, by the way, when those things overflow. And so B would come back covered in shit and you would yell at B and its tail would go between its legs to cover its genitals. Yeah. Because he's an emotionally shallow animal. Yeah. That's what happened. Sell out. Little Kim posters. Definitely Apex Mountain. How about smoking meal nurses? It has to be. It has to be. I mean, I don't know. I don't know any. The Mountie strap-on dildo for $24.99. 100% yes. Did they move product because of that? No question. Bill, you usually Google crazy stuff for this show. I did not Google it. I made a point of not Googling Mountie strap-on dildo. Kitty litter in a movie? It's way up there. I mean, it has a whole shitting on the ashes scene. Yeah, there's a movie where a cat shits and I can't think of it. But yeah, I mean, it's not even litter. It's actually like a burned up old grandmother. So yeah, that's up there. Do you think this was the peak for Atlantic American Airlines? Do you ever fly Atlantic American Airlines? What's their lounge? Yeah, they have a good lounge? A lot of points. I think subtle lacrosse camp jokes, 100% the best that's ever been done in this movie. And then lie detectors. Yeah, there must be some 80s movies where they use them earnestly to figure it out. But this is what you think of. It's the poster. The lie detector is the poster of the movie. And it made 300 million bucks or something. Basic NSYNC has some pretty good lie detector stuff. And there's the debate about can you beat one? Yeah. And she can beat one. It's an essential part of the plot. That was the only one second. It's got to be Apex Mountain for cats in movies, right? Oh, Apex Mountain for cats, period. Great performance by the cats. Good cat. Also- It's a central storyline. Yeah, great defense of cats over dogs. Probably the best ever done. Other than Mallory Rubin just babbling on about how great cats are. This is way better than that. The low point for cats in movie would be the movie Cats, actually. I think so. Right. So we're off on that, too. Sorry, Taylor Swift. She was in it. Or I would say the low point for cats is the last season of The Sopranos when Paul is the cat staring at the painting of Christopher. And Paul is getting freaked out. And I think he finally- The cat! They're the fucking devil tone! He gets totally weirded out. Also, great cat in Pet Sematary, a movie that scared the shit out of me as a kid. Spooky in movie once was last week, but great cat in Pet Sematary. Cats creep me out. I think they're creepy. Cruise or Hanks? For the Ben Stower part. I'm going to make the case for Hanks, but I think Cruise is a more fun movie. Okay. You guys got into this during the Halloween pod where Craig was running in like a referee. It has to be the lead role, right? This movie has two leads. It can't be a side character. All right, make the case. It's more of a Hanks part. I think he was really good at these kind of parts in the 80s. He did this a bunch of times in different ways. In Bachelor Party, that's an in-laws movie, which features one of the funniest scenes ever when he's playing tennis. But I think he would have had trouble playing it as an emasculated one. Cruise trying to do this would have been way funnier. Cruise trying to be funny with scenes with De Niro, but I think it's Hanks. It would be weird if it was Cruise because there's dialogue about Maverick and Iceman. Oh, right. It's like crossing the beams. Yeah, and he's playing volleyball again, and you know that he's not doing volleyball again. So it's got to be Hanks. Put one in the Hanks score ledger. Racehorse, rock band, wrestler, fantasy team name. Probably something Fokker related. I got for a horse, I got Bolivian Wormwood, which is the floor is in Kevin's kitchen. I think it works nicely in here. I was the Bolivian Wormwood is my horse. The Siemens Chapel. Yeah. And then tuck it. Picking knits. Well, Pam's sister got engaged and then married in two weeks. Who does this? I don't literally don't know one person who's ever done this. Especially in an old fashioned family where the father's an asshole and has all these tests you have to pass. That doesn't make sense.
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