EP. 317 — View From The Top

Paul Scheer [00:00:00] Stanley Kubrick made Full Metal Jacket. But if he had the guts to tell the true story of America’s militia and the aviation industry, he would have made this movie. We saw A View From the Top. So you know what that means. 

Music [00:00:22] [Intro Song]

Paul Scheer [00:00:33] Hello, people of Earth and welcome to How Did This Get Made? I am Paul Scheer and today we are talking about the 2003 Gwyneth Paltrow film, A View From the Top, a movie that she has said is terrible. And what do you need to know about this film? It’s got a bunch of celebrities in it from Mark Ruffalo, Christina Applegate, Candice Bergen, Rob Lowe. The list goes on and on. Mike Myers. And it is about a small town girl who grew up in a trailer park outside of Nevada who decides to chase her dreams into the sky and become a stewardess. That’s about it. She falls in love along the way. But we’ll get into it all. As soon as I introduce my two co-hosts, please welcome Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael. How are you both? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:01:29] Oh, and when you started quoting Stanley Kubrick for a second, I was like, Oh, no. Are we on Unspooled? Are we about to participate in Unspooled and for a real moment the way you were setting it up about the militia and stuff. I was like, Oh no, I watch the wrong movie. I for sure start. I must’ve started the wrong movie. 

Paul Scheer [00:01:52] This movie is really interesting to me because. The amount of celebrities in it. Like this is a heyday movie. 2003. Now I know a big thing about this film. The reason why they say it failed at the box office was because it was supposed to come out around 911 and that. Yes. And so they pushed it. They took out a scene of Mike Myers teaching them how to deal with terrorists. And and they delayed it about two years. So this movie is. 

June Diane Raphael [00:02:26] Two years. 

Paul Scheer [00:02:28] Yeah.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:02:30] I mean that is, get rid of it. I mean, I’m assuming they can’t, but, like, you’ve been given an opportunity. Get rid of. You can’t be like we got people that got to see this movie. 

June Diane Raphael [00:02:41] I’m going to say something. I disagree. I enjoyed this movie. I, I actually thought I had seen it before because in my mind, I have this image of Gwyneth Paltrow in that flight attendant’s outfit with a hair pulled back on that lip. And so I have I have seen this before because that image is so clear to me. But I have never seen the actual movie and where it came from. You’re going to give me a plane movie. You’re going to give me a female flight attendants. You’re gonna give me Candice Bergen as as like a as the the ultimate female flight attendant. I was riveted. This is so interesting because. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:03:30] Because I have so many. June, I love this take. I have so many of the exact points you’re making in my notes. But but I keep saying, why is this interesting? You’re going to give me a movie that has all of the components that you just ran down, and instead of it drawing me in and telling a story that I found compelling, at the end of the day, I kept wondering, what is this movie about? What does Gwyneth Paltrow’s character want? Like what it reminded me of watching. It gave me the same unease as watching what was the movie we did with Jude Law and was it Gretchen Mol where he falls in love with her as a baby? 

June Diane Raphael [00:04:15] Oh, God. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:16] And then he comes back. 

June Diane Raphael [00:04:18] This is so much better than that Jason. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:20] I felt the two of them. 

June Diane Raphael [00:04:22]  it’s Paltrow and Christina Applegate on screen together for a lot of the movie. And they have a fight scene in which. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:30] Great, loved it. 

June Diane Raphael [00:04:31] Face is, like, thrown, like, pushed into a loaf of bread. I was screaming with delight. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:38] It’s bad. This movie is John Toledo’s in this movie. George Kennedy’s in this movie. I don’t understand. 

June Diane Raphael [00:04:45] We haven’t even mentioned Mike Myers. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:47] What I don’t understand what. 

Paul Scheer [00:04:49] And his eye. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:50] Happening. 

June Diane Raphael [00:04:51] The only thing wrong with this movie is Mike Myers. 

Paul Scheer [00:04:53] Okay, Well, okay, perfect. Okay. Hold on. I want to say a couple of things there. First of all, I also share an opinion with Jason that the sum total of its parts don’t make sense. And I would say that it kind of is perfectly encapsulated in a moment where Mark Ruffalo, who’s great in this movie and in a different movie, everyone seems to be in a different movie. That may be the issue. The tone is all over the place because there’s a part in the movie where Mark orders. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:05:21] Mark? Are you guys like best friends? 

Paul Scheer [00:05:23] I’m just going to say, Mark. 

June Diane Raphael [00:05:24] You worked with him and I don’t know you and Mark. 

Paul Scheer [00:05:28] Should I say his whole name, the Ruff man? 

June Diane Raphael [00:05:30] Have to. 

Paul Scheer [00:05:31] The Ruff. The Ruff dog. So Ruff dog says I’ll have a small cheese pizza with everything on it. And that to me is something that underscores what’s wrong with the movie, because a small cheese pizza with everything on it is no longer a small cheese pizza. It’s pizza with everything on it, say, I’ll have a small pizza with everything on it. And I feel like. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:05:58] Oh, wow. Now, this is something this is something I’d like to explore. 

Paul Scheer [00:06:06] I’m saying that the awkwardness of that order, the awkwardness of that order is, is the underlying reason why this movie doesn’t work, because it doesn’t feel like it’s from this planet. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:22] Please don’t be on my side. Paul. 

June Diane Raphael [00:06:28] You disown him. I don’t know that I want to either after that. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:32] I was with you until you. This is the linchpin of your theory as to why the movie doesn’t work? 

Paul Scheer [00:06:39] It’s simply. It’s just slightly off. It’s slightly off. Right? You would never. 

June Diane Raphael [00:06:45] You think he should have said I would like a small everything pizza? 

Paul Scheer [00:06:48] But that’s what I’m saying. It’s just you never say I’d have a cheese pizza. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:55] Yeah, you’re right. In the sense that you don’t order the base level cheese pizza and then start adding toppings. You order a pizza, you don’t say, I’ll have a cheese pizza with pepperoni. You say, Let’s get a pepperoni. 

Paul Scheer [00:07:08] And what I’m saying is, when you say it like that, that’s what this movie feels like. It just doesn’t know exactly what it is. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:16] I feel like. Yes, I agree with you. What you’re saying is right. I agree. You’re back. You’re back in back. Because what you’re what you’re speaking to is true, which is none of the people feel like they know each other at all. It’s like they have any, like, intimate relationship, even like Ruffalo and his whole like family when they go to Christmas at his family’s house or. 

June Diane Raphael [00:07:38] I thought for a second that scene was in turn into like a murder mystery. 

Paul Scheer [00:07:42] Well, that’s the thing. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:43] That’s great. Give me anything with stakes. I would love it. Kill the grandma. 

Paul Scheer [00:07:48] When when Mark Ruffalo shows up, when Ruff Dog shows up, the movie changes into this. I actually like their connection. I like this romance. It’s like, Oh, but before it, I’m like, Is this dumb and dumber? I don’t know, because. 

June Diane Raphael [00:08:02] I thought it was giving Rami and Michelle. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:08:04] I thought so too. But without being fun. 

Paul Scheer [00:08:08] Right.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:08:08] To me, to me the thing was, if it had been a flight attendant movie that has like a kind of almost like a sports movie because they have like training montages they have if it had had like the structure of a sports movie where they have to go through the training and be the best to get a placement and their buddies and Candice Bergen is the, you know, the the idol, everybody that they’re looking to. I would have loved it. But then it wants to be a rom com and it wants to also just be about seemingly Gwyneth Paltrow alone. 

Paul Scheer [00:08:40] Well, okay. 

June Diane Raphael [00:08:41] Well, you’re totally right. Like, I’m not going to sit here today, not on this day and debate you there. Yeah, it’s a mess, you know? Yeah. 

Paul Scheer [00:08:52] Okay. Well, how about this? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:08:54] You still had fun, which I get. 

June Diane Raphael [00:08:55] I really enjoyed it. I honestly love watching Gwyneth Paltrow. I enjoy looking at her. I loved, well, personality. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:09:03] And that was part of my problem, which was it is like so immediate from the jump that she is like so next level beautiful that I couldn’t understand why she, what was holding, what was holding her character, what did she want and what was holding her back.  

June Diane Raphael [00:09:22] She wanted to go to Paris. First class. 

Paul Scheer [00:09:24] Oh, babe, you know, I mean, here’s it I’ll say when it starts off to you, cut to this little girl in a trailer park and like she seems five or six in that opening. And she goes, I always wanted to leave here. Can you imagine a five year old being like, I need to get out of my home? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:09:42] I love that though. I do, I’m like onboard for that as a drive, because the her childhood was miserable and I liked a lot of the and I think we’re only off by a matter of degrees. 

Paul Scheer [00:09:55] Yes. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:09:56] You know what I mean? I think I would feel very similar to you, June. Very similar because and I think part of my frustration with the movie was, was that it was putting forth so many good potential movies. Yeah, so many good potential elements. I mean, the ensemble, as we’ve said, is like stacked. We haven’t even talked about like Josh Molina’s in this. 

Paul Scheer [00:10:16] How about Mark Blucas?

June Diane Raphael [00:10:18] Oh my god, Josh Molina. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:19] Blucas, Josh Molina, Will Bailey from the West Wing. We see you in here. We get to see. 

June Diane Raphael [00:10:25] Stacie Dash. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:27] Great. 

Paul Scheer [00:10:28] But he’s like, Stacey Dash brought me that like, oh is this bring it on? It just didn’t have a tone because when Mike Myers comes on and Mike Myers. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:39] We should do an entire Last Looks episode with all three of us that’s just about the blooper reel. 

Paul Scheer [00:10:43] Oh. Oh, my God. I mean. Well, here’s what I’ll say. What is so odd about her. 

June Diane Raphael [00:10:49] They look like they had a great time. 

Paul Scheer [00:10:50] They did have it. I mean, they like they did a dance number, which you always know. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:53] You know it’s a good movie. 

June Diane Raphael [00:10:55] But why wasn’t that dance number in the movie? 

Paul Scheer [00:10:57] Because I feel like that was for the credits. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:59] Well, I think they needed both the bloopers and the dance number to make it long enough to qualify as a movie. 

Paul Scheer [00:11:05] I’ll tell you this much. Just we were asking about why is this cast so good? I know for a fact, this movie is a Miramax movie. So I know for a fact. 

June Diane Raphael [00:11:14] I know. And I thought a lot about that, watching it. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:11:17] Like the minute that credit came up at the top, I was like. 

June Diane Raphael [00:11:20] Shivers down my spine. And knowing Gwenyth is in this, I was like, Did he fucking make her do this? Well, like. 

Paul Scheer [00:11:26] My my answer to that is this. I have done a Miramax movie and I knew that there’s a, there’s one or two very big guest stars in the movie that I did. And the reason that I heard was. 

June Diane Raphael [00:11:41] Guest stars? 

Paul Scheer [00:11:41] Like. Like cameos. And and the thing that I heard was Miramax did this kind of like grab of people. And they forced them into these movies because it was like, Oh, we had you for this movie, but you didn’t ever make it. So now I’m going to pull you in here. So this movie feels to me like we’re calling in every one of our favors. It’s like boom you’re in. You’re in. You’re in. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:12:06] This movie felt like a Harvey special. Like, I’m going to make everybody do this. 

June Diane Raphael [00:12:13] Yes. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:12:14] And I don’t know, but what I can’t figure out is why. Why? Like, why did this seem like a good bet? 

June Diane Raphael [00:12:21] I will say something like I also you know, I do think that there’s something and of course, yeah, there’s a better movie in here. And, you know, I was thinking while watching it like, there is a narrative in here about women, especially at a certain time, having really only two professions that were available, you know, to become a flight attendant was like total access and freedom for a lot of women and there is a, there is a powerful story in here lost somewhere in the deep recesses of this movie. 

Paul Scheer [00:13:02] Do you think it was a drama that they tried to make? Do you think that’s it? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:05] I think yeah. Making it light comedy seems weird. 

Paul Scheer [00:13:08] Like it seems like. 

June Diane Raphael [00:13:10] Light? It was broad as hell. 

Paul Scheer [00:13:12] At certain points, but at certain points it’s like super grounded. It’s super grounded at certain points. It’s like there are moments in here where I’m like, They are playing this scene, and maybe this is Gwyneth Paltrow, because I actually, I like Gwyneth Paltrow. I’m on board. I think that she can do comedy. I feel like I would have liked to have seen the Romy and Michelle version of this. But there are moments where they play like her stealing the soap. When Christina Applegate steals a soap like that’s played too real in a way. Like when I think about scenes in Dumb and Dumber, there’s something it’s like, Well, this is comedic but maybe it’s the actresses are bringing like too much depth to this. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:51] Well, it’s unclear. This feels also to me like, what? And what did you say, 2002. What? Oh no. It’s pre-9/11. So it’s certainly a 2001 shot movie. 

Paul Scheer [00:14:03] So you think about it like this, you think about Romy and Michelle comes out in 97, right? So you feel like, okay, let’s get this going. And it feels like it’s in the zeitgeist. Be like, we’ll make we’ll make something like that. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:14:12] But this feels a little bit more like, more like the indie movie, indie like Miramax. It’s frankly, it feels like a Miramax comedy from that time that weren’t very funny necessarily. Like, yeah, it feels like an indie comedy that has like a lot of, frankly, just dramatic actors. And then here we have just Mike Myers as “But what if Mike Myers was doing all this nonsense?” And there’s a version of this movie where I’m like, Oh, this could have been an SNL movie, and it would have been like or like tonally more similar to Romy and Michelle, but is what we’re talking about. But like an SNL movie where it’s 100% actually like broader characters who are leaning into the broad. Oh, yeah, leaning into the broad elements of it rather than I felt like they kept trying to ground it and then do big broad bits. And I couldn’t tell, I guess, what the tone was. 

June Diane Raphael [00:15:06] I felt like this was sort of a response to the success of Legally Blond. I was like, Oh, interesting, you know, of this character who is open hearted and wants this thing but is a good person, a super type A and really, you know, studious and earnest and smart. Well, but but the difference is like legally blond. The tone is so clear. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:15:35] Yeah. And her drive is as well, like, her goal, her, her. And each threshold is understood and met. It’s like structurally helping. 

Paul Scheer [00:15:46] I mean, this is the thing. Her first flight. She’s never been on a flight the way that she freaks out on that flight that is pure, Dumb and Dumber. Like, that’s not it to me. It’s funny. 

June Diane Raphael [00:15:58] Laughed really hard. I don’t want to forget these beats. 

Paul Scheer [00:16:02] These beats are funny. 

June Diane Raphael [00:16:04] Her head going into that loaf of bread like I laughed so hard when she’s screaming We’re going to crash. And just the even this shot of her just simply the composition of that shot where she’s holding on to the chairs screaming for her life. That’s quite funny. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:16:19] You know, and I agree. I think that was very funny. And I think like but then the button to that broad comedy bit is Rob Lowe coming back to give like a heartfelt hey, kid you okay? speech. 

Movie Audio [00:16:31] How are you doing? 

Movie Audio [00:16:34] I was terrible. I couldn’t walk. I spilled the coffee. I totally freaked out the passengers. 

Movie Audio [00:16:42] It wasn’t exactly a frozen lake up there. Turbulence is tough. You’ll get the hang of it. 

Movie Audio [00:16:49] I’m going to get fired. I’m going to get fired. 

Movie Audio [00:16:52] Nobody’s getting fired. Really. You’re going to be a pro. You’re going places. 

Movie Audio [00:16:58] You think? 

Movie Audio [00:16:59] I’m a pilot. It’s my job to know where people are going. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:17:02] And I was like, Oh, wait, is this the movie? Or is that other scene the movie? And I think it wants to have it both ways. But the reality is like, you can’t I don’t think you can have Rob Lowe in that single scene and then never return again. I don’t understand. I thought they were going to. You’re going to set something. No, you can’t have Rob Lowe playing. 

June Diane Raphael [00:17:25] Did you see Jason and Paul that he crashed? 

Paul Scheer [00:17:28] Oh, yeah he died. Wow. 

June Diane Raphael [00:17:30] Another flight. I mean, he doesn’t have a great record. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:17:33] I think he was kidding with that. But I would believe it. I mean, I mean, that’s what I, because that’s the thing is like they set up this airline in act one that she works for, like the down and dirty grungy one. Yeah. You know, like the airline runs out of a trailer. It’s disgusting like that. I was like, okay, this is a funny broad comedy. 

Paul Scheer [00:17:52] But then she shows it, too. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:17:54] Then she gets out of that world almost immediately. 

Paul Scheer [00:17:57] And then there’s so many things about this movie that. Now here is what I’ll say. I believe the person playing the tone perfectly. Candice Bergen, like Candice Bergen is like. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:18:11] Kelly Preston knows the assignment. 

June Diane Raphael [00:18:14] And Christina Applegate. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:18:15] Oh, yes. Obviously, Christina. 

Paul Scheer [00:18:17] Oh, no, no. Here’s what I think is like, I feel like they, I think that Gwyneth Paltrow and Christina Applegate are very funny and good and killing it. But I feel like tonally, it’s all over the place and I feel like they’re in one movie. Candice Bergen is in one movie. Mike Myers is in a movie that’s even more heightened than the Dumb and Dumber movie. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:18:37] I think what’s really, I think very difficult and it’s hard to watch and I think is what’s creating a bit of the dissonance in watching it for me was that I think Gwyneth Paltrow is a fantastic actor and is electric to watch. Always has been. I’m always a fan, but in this movie she is able to do the broad, physical, comedic stuff with Christina Applegate when called upon. And that’s a movie I would watch like a Romy and Michele’s. But then the movie also seems to want us to have an investment in her relationship with the absolutely dead normal Mark Ruffalo He is. He is a normal guy in a normal rom com. 

Paul Scheer [00:19:19] Mark Ruffalo is playing the 2000 like Miramax romance rom com, right. Like he’s playing that. And I guess maybe that’s a role that women have often been assigned in a comedy. But he’s even laughing at her. He just has a dream. And like what we understand his dream to be is he was going to be a top lawyer at one of the biggest firms. And he’s like, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to like waste my life. I want to go eat great food. I want to travel the world. But I’ve been in Lake Havasu. There’s no good food to be had there. There’s no real traveling the world. It’s the most landlocked place you could possibly get. 

June Diane Raphael [00:19:52] It’s where you go when actually, like all your dreams have, have died. 

Paul Scheer [00:19:59] I will tell you this, and I may I admit. 

June Diane Raphael [00:20:02] Am I wrong, Paul? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:03] All those dreams are at the bottom of the lake. 

Paul Scheer [00:20:05] I will say this and I may I may have said this on the podcast before. When June came to visit me in Lake Havasu, she said to me point blank, You’re hanging out with trash. You’re becoming trash. 

June Diane Raphael [00:20:18] It is. That is because when I went to Lake Havasu, Paul had been there for about five weeks. And he we went out to dinner and he immediately ordered, as though I would like as though it’s most normal thing in the world, a blue lagoon, like a giant blue frozen drink. 

Paul Scheer [00:20:36] Was I eating at Chili’s 6 to 7 days a week. Yeah, I was eating at Chili’s 6 to 7. 

June Diane Raphael [00:20:43] It was very distressing. And I saw you ordered that drink. Like what? Yeah. What? We get blue. It’s a cocktail. What am I? I was like, That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. Like it was. 

Paul Scheer [00:20:52] June, I want to. I just want to clarify something you said here. It wasn’t frozen. It was just a giant goblet of blue liquor. It was not. It didn’t even have. It didn’t even have the. 

June Diane Raphael [00:21:05] Right, it wasn’t frozen. 

Paul Scheer [00:21:06] It didn’t even have the respect of being frozen. It was. 

June Diane Raphael [00:21:09] I just remember looking around that restaurant and being like, every single person here is on meth, maybe including Paul. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:18] You came to visit Paul on set and all of his teeth had fallen out. 

June Diane Raphael [00:21:24] Listen, I definitely didn’t understand Mark Ruffalo’s journey because he yeah. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:32] Because he’s in a different movie that we frankly don’t care about. 

June Diane Raphael [00:21:37] But what was his job on the lake? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:39] I think I can break down a little bit of this. So he was in law school and he was like one semester away from graduating law school and he dropped out and ended up on this as a law enforcement officer. Like, whatever water. Well, I can’t remember what his title is.A lake enforcement officer. You know, that is some whatever. So then blah, blah, blah. And then later when we meet up with him, he’s re-enrolled in law school and then becomes a lawyer. So by the end of the movie, he’s a lawyer in Cleveland and that is his life. 

June Diane Raphael [00:22:14] What type of law does he practice? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:15] You know, he gets hired at that firm that she sees announced in the newspaper. 

Paul Scheer [00:22:20] Yes. It looked like a national paper too. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:23] Do a lot of newspapers. Like like it had to be a national paper. I don’t, she’s not in Cleveland, I don’t think. So his hiring at a Cleveland law firm is announced in like the Wall Street Journal? 

June Diane Raphael [00:22:39] Here’s what I found fascinating about the movie is they present a world in which international first class flight attendants and I know there’s there’s a big difference between serving like, you know, us in economy and serving people in first class. At the same time, I’m like a job as a job as a job. And also, is the pay difference that much where these women who were working international first class flights can buy Chanel and Louis Vuitton and all of these luxury items like how much are they making? 

Paul Scheer [00:23:14] This is the crazy part of this. You’re not, you don’t become as wealthy as the class that you’re serving. Like, that’s what this movie is positing. 

June Diane Raphael [00:23:22] And then and that’s what was confusing to me is like it even if you’re serving a baloney sandwich or you’re serving, you know, filet mignon. Like you’re still serving food. You don’t get to eat that food. I guess what I’m saying. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:23:40]  I believe the movie is suggesting that a bit of magical thinking in a way, which is once she gets her, once she gets her like her destiny, because the movie keeps coming back to it’s your destiny. It’s your destiny. And I kept being like, is there like some sort of magical element to this movie? I don’t quite get it, do you? It’s your destiny. You have to international, to Paris to blah, blah, blah. It almost seems to suggest like she is granted access to absolute luxury. Her clothes change. She has a beautiful New York City apartment. 

June Diane Raphael [00:24:14] Look at Candice Bergen’s closet. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:24:17] Yeah. Everything seems to be like, she no longer seems to be in a job that is frankly, a grind. Well, she still has to deal with the fucking maniacs on an airplane. 

June Diane Raphael [00:24:30] Well, listen, I think they’ve gotten so, you know, we’ve gotten so much worse there. I do think that plane travel used to be a bit more civilized. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:24:40] That’s what I was just going to say. You said this earlier, June, because it seems as though this movie could have been made in the sixties or seventies. And I would understand a little bit more what it was about. 

Paul Scheer [00:24:52] Make more sense. 

June Diane Raphael [00:24:53] Yeah. Like that TV show Pan Am. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:24:55] Exactly. Thank you. Perfect. 

Paul Scheer [00:24:57] But here’s the thing. This is a this is a movie that takes place here in the 2000s. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:05] This is a movie where Hooters is referenced. 

Paul Scheer [00:25:08] Gwyneth Paltrow is living on Fifth Avenue, living on Fifth Avenue in a very again, a very oddly decorated apartment. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:19] Painted like blood red. 

Paul Scheer [00:25:21] Blood red and the bed is like in the center of the room, which I imagine is awkward when you have guests over just to be like the bed is where the couch might be. It’s it seems a little odd, but her whole but then also, you know, she’s having all this success all this time, but she’s not happy. Right? That’s we know that’s where we’re from and we don’t know. You know, I mean, we didn’t even talk about the twist. The big, giant twist of this whole movie is we said Gwyneth Paltrow going through this rigorous training, this is why I was going back to this Kubrick level style training. And I just felt like when when she was put there, I really I mean, did you guys fall for it? Did you think that Mike Myers had it out for her? Mike Myers and his lazy eye. And we have to get, we didn’t even talk about Mike Myers yet because Mike Myers is and, I know we keep on saying is on a different plane. But Mike, I mean. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:26:06] He’s on a literal different plane. 

Paul Scheer [00:26:08] He is on it. I mean, Mike Myers, I feel like they let him run ragged. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:26:14] And it’s like and it’s clear in the bloopers that they’re just being like they’re letting him do whatever. 

Paul Scheer [00:26:19] He’s got a cross eye for the entire film, which pained me to watch because I knew that he was holding it in, you know, or making it. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:26:28] I thought it might be a contact. 

June Diane Raphael [00:26:30] Think it was. 

Paul Scheer [00:26:30] Okay. All right. 

June Diane Raphael [00:26:32] I don’t even know how you would do. Well. 

Paul Scheer [00:26:35] I feel like Mike Myers would have that skill set. You know, I might he might have that. 

June Diane Raphael [00:26:38] Maybe, But that’s quite a cross. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:26:41] I like to think that he spent like three years from the ages of 9 to 12. Just learning how to do that. 

Paul Scheer [00:26:46] Like that to me is like, Oh, you made my dad laugh, you know? And then that was this whole thing, you know? And when he gets into the screen and he start, he is not only he is not only the face of royalty airlines, he is the trainer of Royalty Airlines. He’s the interviewer of royalty Airlines. Like at every step of the way. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:04] He is like the door. The woman who was the Vulvania in that movie who was opening, who was the bouncer, who was the password. She was then the bartender at the sex club in that movie. 

Paul Scheer [00:27:17] Yeah. So he’s doing everything. There’s no other employee that we see from Royal Airlines or Royalty Airlines besides Mike Myers. He is bringing these people in. They’re in a classroom setting. They’re on a plane setting. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:30] You’re right though, there’s no other people in the world and their entire graduating class of flight attendants to work, again, it’s like a school movie for this portion of it. There’s only like 15 of them. But mustn’t there be necessary, like hundreds and hundreds of new employees to train and get ready in 2002? 

June Diane Raphael [00:27:52] Sounds like a sweet gig that did people ever retire? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:56] Yeah. Yeah.  

Paul Scheer [00:27:57] Well, I mean, clearly Candice Bergen and but but by the way, he’s just as successful as Candice Bergen because he also wrote a book. He has an audio book and an actual book. Candice Bergen has a book. That whole idea that, like Candice Bergen, is the world’s most famous flight attendant, that does make me laugh, too. It’s like I don’t even understand how you would get that. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:16] That to me feels like, that to me feels like, Paul I feel like if you get to the notes section and you’re like, This is based on a book I wrote in 1967 that they modernized into the like, I would believe that there is a woman who is the most famous flight attendant who would be like on The Merv Griffin Show or The Tonight Show as a guest or something like that. But now I just don’t think that’s true. You know, and I also think right now and correct me if I’m wrong, I’m certain we have flight attendants in the in the audience. Isn’t it a job that is like rife with problematic situations throughout the lifespan of this job with, weren’t women subjected to weight requirements and all sorts of like horrible inside of this industry. 

Paul Scheer [00:29:03] Their hair has to be up. I mean, by the way, she shows up. 

June Diane Raphael [00:29:06] Not anymore. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:07] No, no, I’m saying yeah, I’m saying in the past. 

June Diane Raphael [00:29:10] In the world. 

Paul Scheer [00:29:12] In the world of the movie she puts her hair up for the interview to then go to the bathroom to have her hair down to getting around the plane, to have her hair up there. When she freaks out on the plane, it goes back. That hair is going up and down like an elevator. Like I feel like it’s like I don’t even understand. Like, I feel like there’s a lot of reshoots here, too. One thing, Molly found a piece of information that Mike Myers has two hair people for this movie and Gwyneth Paltrow, one. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:38] Amazing. Amazing. 

June Diane Raphael [00:29:43] Was his story that he could, he so he couldn’t be a flight attendant because of his eye or he couldn’t be a pilot? 

Paul Scheer [00:29:52] No, this other thing about like why couldn’t he be a flight attendant because of his lazy, I guess because he couldn’t see things, Because sometimes he had to put every document right up to his eye to see it. 

June Diane Raphael [00:30:03] Now, did I laugh when he said, you know, you’re landing on runway six and then corrected himself and said NINE NINE! 

Paul Scheer [00:30:10] Is that in the movie or is that just from the blooper? 

June Diane Raphael [00:30:13] But I did laugh. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:14] The big laugh that you just quoted is from bloopers. It didn’t make it to the movie. 

Paul Scheer [00:30:20] And by the way, that sequence, which he is in a it’s a this movie has. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:25] Air traffic control. 

Paul Scheer [00:30:26] Yes. Which is the shittiest set of all time. Like, this is a this is a. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:31] It looks like an Airplane the movie. 

Paul Scheer [00:30:32] It looks like it looks like a student production of Airplane. Like like we’ll make our version of that and and it’s so bad. And then what he does, and the reason why it’s not in the movie, obviously, is because he crashes a plane and then he calms down by ringing the bell. I just want to go back to Marc Blucas who because this movie I don’t think understands jobs because Gwyneth Paltrow gets a job at Big Lots and she is a bespoke luggage salesperson. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:04] I think she’s just in the luggage department. The same way that Mark Blucas leaves her for someone from the barbecue department. 

Paul Scheer [00:31:12] This is what I’m saying. Like, I’ve been to Target. I’ve been to Big Lots. I don’t think that they have people that are just working like the, like the luggage, like you don’t go to like, Oh, I need to go to I need to talk to a luggage expert at Big Lots. At Big Lots. It’s like that bag is about the size that I need it to be. That’s it. Like she’s showing off this bag is like she’s doing a Vitamix demonstration at Costco. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:37] I agree. And that’s. Okay. So that’s another perfect element of the weird dissonance of this movie, which is it purports to be showing you like regular people’s ordinary lives. And they’re not right. It’s like a movie that’s about the working class that’s just written by rich people being like, I think this is what they do. I don’t know. Maybe she’s the luggage salesperson at the Big Lots store. That’s her job. Wait, what? 

Paul Scheer [00:32:04] And then Marc Blucas is like, I got a promotion and I’m moving into a different Big Lots and I can’t take you with me to the next Big Lots. Like, as if he owns Big Lots. It’s like, No, you’re just.

June Diane Raphael [00:32:18] I think he just wanted to break up with her. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:19] Yeah, that was. He was just trying to dump her. 

Paul Scheer [00:32:22] Oh man, I don’t even understand why he was trying to dump her. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:24] I also don’t get. 

June Diane Raphael [00:32:25] I don’t understand why he’s trying to dump her. She’s literally the most beautiful woman you’ll ever see in your entire life. And she couldn’t be lovelier. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:34] Gwyneth Paltrow is stunningly gorgeous from beginning to end. She has no glow up whatsoever in her journey. She’s just absolutely like a smoke show throughout. 

June Diane Raphael [00:32:46] I don’t think that was anyone’s fault, though. You know, you can’t put her on screen and yeah. Yeah, it’s just like I, I think they made some attempt, but it yeah, it just doesn’t work. I thought this is interesting, too, which we haven’t even talked about, is the fact that Christmas stakes are sort of inserted into the movie so haphazardly, like at one point I’m like, is this a Christmas film? Because then the third act of the movie she’s racing to Mark Ruffalo to get to him, I think on Christmas Eve. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:17] I think it’s the day after Christmas. 

Paul Scheer [00:33:20] They’re taking down the ornament. 

June Diane Raphael [00:33:21] Why was she wearing that red sweater? 

Paul Scheer [00:33:22] They’re taking down the ornaments the day after. This family doesn’t fuck around. They’re wearing red sweaters on Christmas. The day after, like it’s done, we’re gone. Everyone out of house. 

June Diane Raphael [00:33:32] Way too quick. I think that’s insane. 

Paul Scheer [00:33:34] I think it’s nuts. I think that. 

June Diane Raphael [00:33:35] Like, absolutely the day after. 

Paul Scheer [00:33:37] Mark Ruffalo and her left the night of Christmas. Be like, we got to get out of here. That was it we did it. We took the picture, we’re gone. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:43] Also, why didn’t she put the red sweater they gave her to be wearing the red sweater in the picture? They just gave. it to you. Put it on. 

June Diane Raphael [00:33:54] I think put it on for that picture. 

Paul Scheer [00:33:55] And that family was nice to her, right? 

June Diane Raphael [00:33:58] I think the family was lovely. I think a part of her thought.  

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:01] I can’t. 

June Diane Raphael [00:34:01] I’m not ready for this red sweater. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:02] I think that too. But it made no sense. 

Paul Scheer [00:34:04] Would have been it would have made a beautiful, it would have made a beautiful twist if she wore the sweater after. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:11] If she showed up. If she showed up in the sweater. 

June Diane Raphael [00:34:13] She was going to show up in the red sweater, which she did not. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:15] This person who dumped me and then doesn’t call but shows up at Christmas wearing this sweater, I would be like, You psycho, get out of here. Like, that’s what I wrote. I was like, She flies this 12 hour flight to bup bup bup, all this hubbub to get back to him. It’s 2003. She can call him. She can call him and say, Hey, can I talk to you? Can we have an adult conversation? But the movie wants to be romance. But it’s not. 

June Diane Raphael [00:34:40] And it’s not also because, like, we haven’t felt a connection really, to Christmas. Like if it was like, every Christmas is my whole thing. I just hate being alone on Christmas. I want to find someone. That never. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:52] For example, when she goes to her friends for Christmas, her friend invites her in New York to Brooklyn, to Christmas. Right? And it’s like, whose house is this? Where who are all these people? Make them take a family picture that she sees and it reminds her of the family she could have been a part of. Yes. Give something. 

June Diane Raphael [00:35:12] In the red sweater. And well, so. So she finally does catch up with him. 

Paul Scheer [00:35:17] Wait, can you just talk about when she first comes into the house? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:21] Oh, with the grandmother? 

Paul Scheer [00:35:22] She first, yes, she first knocks on the door. And it’s not even his house. It’s the family house. She opens the door, walks in bold, you know, bold move, and then has this monologue. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:34] Again, remember that Jude Law, Gretchen Mol movie. It’s kind of the same. 

Paul Scheer [00:35:38] Almost the same house. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:39] Yeah. Go ahead. 

Paul Scheer [00:35:40] And has this monologue about the mistakes that she made and, to this woman who is completely ignoring her. And I’m like, okay, here’s the funny thing. She’s going to turn around and say, Oh, I have to put my hearing aid in. I didn’t do anything. There’s a joke here. There’s a, this is a funny setup because she’s having this heartfelt monologue. And no, I don’t even know. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:12] The old woman keeps looking at her. But then just going back to her chore of taking slowly all of the elements, all of the ornaments, rather, off of the Christmas tree. 

June Diane Raphael [00:36:22] Yeah. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:23] So you’re right, I thought it was going to be that as well, because that’s what the visual language of the movie is telling us. There’s a joke here. But there isn’t. 

Paul Scheer [00:36:34] Wow. 

June Diane Raphael [00:36:35] Yeah, there isn’t. Well, when she finally gets to Mark, she does tell him that, you know, she thought she wanted this. She really wanted him. She understands that now. And then they get back together. Now, we haven’t even talked about when he said that he had a school partner, which is a phrase I never heard before. 

Paul Scheer [00:36:54] But again, cheese pizza with everything on it. 

Paul Scheer [00:36:57] School partner is just a brand new idea. Not study partners, school partners. 

Paul Scheer [00:37:03] For a lawyer.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:37:05] You know, Mark Ruffalo was like, It’s weird. Nobody calls this a school partner, but we need the We need partner. So can I just say my project partner, we’re working on a you know, like my school. 

June Diane Raphael [00:37:17] Long story short, they get back together and she’s. 

Paul Scheer [00:37:20] So easily. 

June Diane Raphael [00:37:22] Essentially like, you’re my destiny, right? And this is my destiny. Cut to.

Paul Scheer [00:37:27] He’s like, I don’t want you. He’s like, I don’t want you to not do the thing that you want to do. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:37:32] Yeah, I don’t want to ground you basically here in Cleveland. 

June Diane Raphael [00:37:35] Overlap with a voiceover before we see her. 

Movie Audio [00:37:38] Sally had said that life is a series of arrivals and departures. But I learned there is more than one way to spread your wings. 

Movie Audio [00:37:52] Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Please keep your seatbelts fastened until we reach the gate. We know you have a choice when you travel. And we thank you for choosing Royalty Express. If this is just a stopover for you, we do wish you a safe and planning continuation of your journey and if Cleveland is your final destination. Welcome home. 

June Diane Raphael [00:38:17] This is interesting because I didn’t, it didn’t sound like her voice. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:25] Well, you’re about to realize why. 

June Diane Raphael [00:38:28] Right. But I genuinely was like, I just was very confused about whose voice it is. And the voice is saying something along the lines of like, we know you have several options when it comes to travel, but we’re going to get you there safely, blah, blah, blah. Please listen to your whatever it says, some sort of flight announcement. And then we slowly, the camera slowly finds its way into the cockpit. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:50] The camera has been tracking through the airplane on one of her flights. 

June Diane Raphael [00:38:53] Thank you, Jason Yes. We’re seeing a flight attendant, it looks a lot like her who’s sitting down, you know, getting into her jumpsuit. And then we see the copilot as we head into the to the little crew area that the cabin, the pilot’s cabin. Then we see the head pilot turn around. And it’s Gwenyth Paltrow.

Paul Scheer [00:39:14] Was she giving that monologue to the airplane? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:17] Yes. 

June Diane Raphael [00:39:17] Yes. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:19] I don’t get what this movie is about. That felt like that. Really felt like a reshoot. Felt like, I don’t know, the ends not working. What if she becomes a pilot? 

Paul Scheer [00:39:27] Like the training to become a pilot seems really intense. Like she should be much older. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:37] And it seems as though she’s a pilot, like, six months later. Like, she would have had, she would, in order to become like a like commercial airline pilot, she would have had to go through like, I don’t know, six years. I don’t know. 

June Diane Raphael [00:39:51] Like they make it seem like it’s like somehow a talent agency, like you work in the mailroom and then you go assistant. No, it’s a completely different. 

Paul Scheer [00:39:59] First class international. No, you did first class International. We’ll get you behind it. We’ll get you as copilot first for a couple of weeks, and then we’ll switch over to pilot. And she might even look out the window. 

June Diane Raphael [00:40:09] At why did she want to do this? What does this change for her and her relationship with Mark Ruffalo? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:15] Why? Why is her want different now? 

Paul Scheer [00:40:18] Okay, by the way to learn to be a pilot. 

June Diane Raphael [00:40:20] On the same trip. 

Paul Scheer [00:40:21] To learn to be a pilot, it takes 6 to 12 months with a minimum of 40 long flying hours, and you must get certified. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:33] That’s not to be a commercial airline pilot. That might be for like a Cessna. 

June Diane Raphael [00:40:38] It says FAA requires 1500 hours to fly as an airline pilot to be earned in two years. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:44] That’s what I felt like was true. 

June Diane Raphael [00:40:45] Yes. 

Paul Scheer [00:40:46] 1500 hours. So she’d have to be clocking that. She’s got to clock that by herself. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:51] Yeah. No, that seems, this I mean. Well, I mean that. But again, this movie really. 

Paul Scheer [00:40:56] Or join the military. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:57] If the movie was more fun and fantastical, I genuinely wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t be poking at these. But the movie also wants to exist in the logical world where she wants to settle down in Cleveland with it’s a love story at the end. It’s not this Fun in the Sky kind of broad comedy at the end, except that at the very end she has the glasses down like this and gives us a wink to the camera. She gives a wink to the camera at the end of the movie, like, can you believe this? Can you believe this? 

June Diane Raphael [00:41:31] We don’t know what we’re supposed to believe. Like it seems like this. I’m not, I don’t know what has changed for her. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:41:37] Correct. Correct. Because here’s the thing. At the end of the movie, she’s now, she’s now decided I’m going to be in love. She’s decided. And so the cut to the future isn’t now they have a beautiful, loving family, but she still gets to do what she loves. The cut to the future is, guess what? Now she’s a pilot. What? 

Paul Scheer [00:42:00] So to June’s point. This goes back to what we were saying about Big Lots. This movie posits that when you are a pilot, you have way more control over your schedule. 

June Diane Raphael [00:42:10] Listen, which may be true to its, I’m sure that is probably. 

Paul Scheer [00:42:15] For an airline, I think you work, I don’t think that anyone. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:42:18] You know what I think? I’ll tell you what I think. This is what I think and I think it is just craven movie nonsense. I think they were like, Well, it’s not enough. We’ve already shown that she doesn’t want to be a flight attendant who works out of Cleveland, and it’s not enough that she goes back to Cleveland to choose the guy because that’s giving up on her dreams. So the movie has to end with an elevated dream come true for her professionally. So the only thing that’s available is she becomes a pilot. It might as well have been in the future. She’s the drummer for Motley Crew. It doesn’t make any difference. 

Paul Scheer [00:42:52] Just so you know, too, a pilot has to bid for his or her schedule using a company system. So there’s not like, they’re just saying, well, I hope I’d like to get this day off or that day off. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:04] Do you think that this movie is like, Hey, America, get back in the sky? 

Paul Scheer [00:43:10] Well, I mean. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:11] We know shit’s been crazy the last few years, since September 11th. You know what? Here’s a movie, feel good about getting back in the sky again. 

Paul Scheer [00:43:18] All right. So here’s what I’m looking at. Flight attendants and pilots essentially pick their schedules the same exact way, you know, So there is no, there’s no freedom that she’s getting by being a pilot more than she’s just a pilot. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:35] I agree, it introduces new problems rather than answering any questions. 

Paul Scheer [00:43:42] Yeah, because. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:43] It’s creating a nightmare. 

Paul Scheer [00:43:45] Because she just wants to be, unless she could work anywhere. 

June Diane Raphael [00:43:51] I don’t know. I do not know. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:55] I, I think I’d like to stay on with the two of you as long as possible for us to figure it out. 

Paul Scheer [00:44:02] Well, look, while we think about it a little bit more, let’s just take a look and. And go deep dive into some second opinions. 

Music [00:44:16] [Second Opinions Song]

Paul Scheer [00:44:37] All right. These are second opinions that are culled from Amazon. These are five star reviews. Now, this movie is pretty well-reviewed here. It has an average of 4.6 out of five stars. It has a 1389 total reviews. Like I said, 78% are five stars. And I want to read you some of these. They all are pretty wonderful. Amanda Diane Standish writes, “Great movie. It was so true to life. It was astounding. Five stars.” And now we’re getting into this zone. Schoolmom writes, “Very cute. Surprisingly accurate. If you do the research, you will find that this movie does the exact same training that stewardesses do online. Just ask your YouTube stewardess. So, yes, there are required bikini scenes and she moves up from the tiny town in the trailer park where she was a child in her small town to discover who she can be as adult, charming and engaging characters. I watched together with my daughters who are possibly interested in becoming an airline attendant. A few well-known actors and actresses. Not bad.” It’s a mix of a lot of different things. And then schoolmom goes on to say she finishes the review, but then comes back and edits and says, “You don’t think about the stewardesses as much more than a glorified waitress. But she is actually responsible for your life in an emergency and must be somewhat athletic, intelligent and super patient with the passengers. Five stars.” And then Christine Kay Mitchell writes, “I love this movie because it gives me a good idea about becoming a flight attendant. I chose this movie because I wanted to know what a flight attendant has to go through. I’m really looking forward to becoming a flight attendant one day. Five stars.” 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:30] Well, I’d like to hear a follow up. 

Paul Scheer [00:46:34] And then this is my favorite one here from Shirley. “This movie makes me laugh. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because I’m born in Cleveland. Five stars.” 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:45] So this is a Cleveland based humor? Like, if you’re from Cleveland, you’ll like it more. 

Paul Scheer [00:46:53] Oh, my gosh. So people like this movie. I mean, you know, I feel like this is a movie built for cable in the sense that if whenever you tune into it, it’s a different movie. Like, if you get up to go to the bathroom and you come back, you’re like, Oh, what’s this movie on now? It’s as if it’s a montage of a lot of different movies. I think it’s a built for TV movie. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:47:15] Yeah, I was going to say, it feels to me like. Like a movie that kind of just doesn’t get made anymore where they, like, force a bunch of people to make a movie against their will who are somehow tied to or tethered to a studio. You know. 

June Diane Raphael [00:47:33] And yet they did seem to be having a lot of fun in those bloopers. Now, something happened in those bloopers which. It really upset me, which was Mike Myers scolding Gwyneth Paltrow for laughing and. I just. 

Paul Scheer [00:47:47] Made me a little. Yeah, it made me feel bad. 

June Diane Raphael [00:47:49] It made me very uncomfortable. 

Paul Scheer [00:47:51] Don’t do that. Don’t do that. 

June Diane Raphael [00:47:53] It made me very uncomfortable. 

Paul Scheer [00:47:56] Let’s play that clip. 

Movie Audio [00:47:57] That is bull S. 

Movie Audio [00:47:58] Do you want to know what’s bull s? Eye exams! You can’t keep laughing at that.  

Movie Audio [00:48:08] I’ll get it. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:48:09] The bloopers are 90% Mike Myers. Just riffing and doing bits. And frankly, to watch it, I was like, This is too much. This must have been annoying. 

June Diane Raphael [00:48:20] I know. And I’m also like, there’s this sense from the bloopers that the filmmakers are like, We know what you loved about the movie and we know what you didn’t get enough of. 

Paul Scheer [00:48:31] And then they added a dance scene. 

June Diane Raphael [00:48:32] This is for you. This is for you guys. 

Paul Scheer [00:48:33] This is like a Something About Mary special. Like Something About Mary started this idea of, like, we’ll have the whole cast dance at the end. It’s going to be Grease, I guess you know, to certain, but Grease is a musical. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:48:43] It also felt to me like Mike Myers, as we said earlier, was in a different movie. And frankly, and frankly, I think that would have been a more a more Romy and Michelle’s style movie. And as a result, because he’s the only person executing that tone, it just feels wildly out of place. And now in 2023, like deeply inappropriate. 

Paul Scheer [00:49:06] Well, also, Josh Molina did say once Mike Myers came aboard the film, it amped up the tone in a way that was unexpected because I think he had to answer to playing a gay character and Molina. Molina, Yes. Josh Molina. Yes. And and he said, well, you know, once once Mike Myers came in, it really it kind of put the bounce of the film off kilter a bit. So I buy that. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:49:30] No, it’s too much. 

Paul Scheer [00:49:36] Just so you guys know, they did cut out cameos by Robert Stack and Regis Philbin which I don’t know why they were not in there. The cameo by George Kennedy was a tip of the hat to the film Airport. Yeah. And you know. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:49:53] Did you notice that when she’s on a date with Ruffalo, he says to her, apropos of nothing, “Don’t Run with Scissors”, which is the name of another Gwyneth Paltrow movie. 

June Diane Raphael [00:50:05] Oh, interesting. There’s just weird moments. And Paul, I’m kind of with you now that there’s you know, they’re the cheese pizza stuff. And and then there’s that moment also where he finds her in Cleveland and he’s like, can I take this chair? And she says, Sure, not looking up. And then he goes to pull the one beneath her. Oh, oh. It was so strange. 

Paul Scheer [00:50:33] Because that seemed like something like. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:50:35] Well, they felt like they thought, okay, so that’s a great example. June, thank you. The Chair is a great example of things I believe the movie believes are jokes and they are not.  

June Diane Raphael [00:50:48] Oh really? I thought the movie was like, This is, to me, I got the sense this is a movie written by someone who has like never dated, dated and was like, This is a cute way to interact with someone. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:51:06] I know what you’re saying. Yeah, like I felt like this movie. I feel like stuff like, I felt like there was a bunch of stuff that to me feels like it was, there was a pass on the draft maybe kind of what you’re saying, Paul, that is related to Romy and Michelle’s or Something about Mary or where they were like, Let’s do a pass and just put some goofs in. Yes, let’s put a goofs in there to a script that maybe previously was much more about a, you know, trailer park child unwanted, miserable childhood turns into exploring the world, reaching your destiny, maybe something that wasn’t as broad and that there was a past that put in broad jokes, hired Mike Myers and the movie just becomes like a jumble of tones and weird plot digressions. 

Paul Scheer [00:51:57] Yes. You know, and I will say this much, what could have been Gwyneth Paltrow also in a movie called Sliding Doors. And because because this movie took so long to make, she missed out on being in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. She couldn’t make it, so she had to drop out at the last second. And then Kate Hudson replaced her. So that’s the sliding door scenario. I will say that the other thing about this guy, the director, this Bruno Barretto, Portuguese director, one of the biggest film directors of in Brazil, has really only made dramas. And so that’s interesting. Yeah. And so we made these movies like four days in September or Bossa Nova, You know, Tati, he made a cop movie with Billy Baldwin before. Not really the guy that’s going to be delivering the comedy. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:52:51] That makes sense, then that makes sense that it’s not as somebody who has a light touch or that makes sense as to why the movie feels so like without stakes and aimless and kind of not fun for what is obviously a movie that’s supposed to be about people having fun, you know? 

Paul Scheer [00:53:08] You know, and he was married to Amy Irving for quite some time. And here’s I’ll tell you here’s a I think we’ve and would we recommend this movie. I mean, June, I know you came in hot. 

June Diane Raphael [00:53:20] I know. And you guys, you know, I hate doing this podcast sometimes because I just sometimes I just want to sit and watch a movie, you know, without all this discussion around it. Because it did, this movie washed over me rather nicely, and I did genuinely enjoy seeing a lot of these people on screen together. I just did. I enjoyed seeing Christina Applegate. I enjoyed seeing the other 2 of them in a flight attendant dorm room together in their PJs. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:53:49] Love it. 

June Diane Raphael [00:53:50] I was like, thank you, on a on a Wednesday afternoon. But in the context of this podcast and what I am subjected to. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:02] Oh, yeah, sure. 

June Diane Raphael [00:54:03] But for me, this was a breath of fresh air. This was a great welcome relief. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:10] I agree with you in the sense that, like it is, it’s very good performers trying their best in something that doesn’t live up to the amount of quality they are putting into it. Right? So it makes it a much easier thing to watch than some of the other movies that we are forced to watch, which truly are like either a mess or don’t add up or are really frustrating. This wasn’t frustrating. I just felt. 

Paul Scheer [00:54:36] Weird. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:36] Kind of bored. Honestly, I just felt like it was flat and there were times that I. I was enjoying moments or performances or whatever, but I was, it just felt boring. And a lot of in a lot of I just didn’t, I don’t know. 

Paul Scheer [00:54:52] It felt like walking into a house and every door led to a room that, like it just it was always a little bit off. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:55:00] Wait, where do the doors go?

Paul Scheer [00:55:01] The doors go to the cheese pizza place and now hear me out. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:55:07] All the movies we’re referencing as as like Romy and Michelle, Something about Mary. Watch all of those movies instead of this movie, you know what I mean? Like, there’s so many movies that are. Yeah, I know, But. 

Paul Scheer [00:55:19] It just needed a comedy director, and I feel like somebody must have dropped out and they assign it to this guy, Bruno Borreto. And the taglines for these movies are “Don’t Stop till you Reach the Top.” “A comedy that goes for first class.” “And prepare for her arrival.” I will say that in the research of looking up stuff about this movie, Roger Ebert liked this movie, Gave it three stars, said This is a beautiful journey. And he thinks that just like Top Gun brought in young men to the Air Force, this movie would be, would bring young children to flight attendants. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:55:52] We’ve seen that that has been proven true. 

Paul Scheer [00:55:55] Now, I will also say that this is a great movie that ends on the same song, begins and ends on the same song. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:02] Oh, and it’s throughout. Actually, I’m so sorry, Paul. It doesn’t just begin and end with. You’re talking about true colors. 

Paul Scheer [00:56:07] Oh, not true colors. Isn’t it. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:10] Because True Colors is woven into the movie multiple times in both vocal and instrumental versions. 

Paul Scheer [00:56:16] Oh wow. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:18] But. But I’m sorry. You’re talking about a different song. Go ahead. 

Paul Scheer [00:56:21] I no, I was saying just the Don’t Stop believin. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:24] Yes, you’re right. 

Paul Scheer [00:56:25] Because that really is the theme of the movie. Don’t Stop Believing, because one day you’ll get to something that you didn’t even believe in because it’s actually it’s more convenient. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:36] I guess. 

June Diane Raphael [00:56:36] Or it’s like beyond your wildest dreams. I think that’s maybe it’s like beyond your. I don’t know. I do not know. And also, there’s a world in which, like, I guess maybe she’s not with Mark Ruffalo at the very end when she’s the pilot, because that’s what’s really confounding. 

June Diane Raphael [00:56:53] That would be incredible. 

June Diane Raphael [00:56:55] Well, but. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:55] If she’s like making out with Rob Lowe. 

June Diane Raphael [00:56:58] But they set it up like it’s a choice, but it’s not. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:57:01] Well, I feel like what they’re saying is it’s not enough to just choose Ruffalo. She also has to choose herself as well, which must mean she has to become a pilot. It’s not enough to go to Cleveland, be a flight attendant and marry Ruffalo. That’s that’s not believing in your dreams. That’s somehow making a step backwards or something. So she must have another great destiny, another great ambition, which is she becomes a pilot. So it weirdly is at the end of the movie a fuck you to flight attendants. 

Paul Scheer [00:57:35] Right. Because she doesn’t go. 

June Diane Raphael [00:57:38] Like you fucking idiots. You should just become pilots. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:57:40] Come out of Cleveland. It’s not worth it. So become a pilot. 

Paul Scheer [00:57:44] The only. The only good flight attendant gig is one. There’s only one good flight attendant gig. The rest is all trash. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:57:50] International first class. Everybody else is garbage. 

June Diane Raphael [00:57:53] It seems like that’s true. I mean, I do think that’s, well I think this is an incredibly difficult job. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:57:59] Now more than ever now. 

June Diane Raphael [00:58:04] This is an incredibly difficult job. Shout out to all of the flight attendants out there who are doing it because, my God, my God. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:58:14] And then essentially these last these last three and a half years have just been a disaster for that industry. 

June Diane Raphael [00:58:22] Yeah. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:58:23] I mean, we are just boarding planes full of monsters.

Paul Scheer [00:58:29] It’s a ridiculous. Upsetting. Does anyone want to say anything about Christina Applegate pounding Gwenyth Paltrow’s face into bread? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:58:37] Incredible. Incredible. 

June Diane Raphael [00:58:40] I feel like we’ve spoken about it multiple times. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:58:42] It’s been. It is, but it deserves repeating. Just for everybody. There is a there is a fight scene. Again, this is post September 11th. But Christina Applegate, having been fired by the airline, is somehow able to walk on to Gwyneth Paltrow. 

Paul Scheer [00:58:58] For stealing shotzky’s. Like little like. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:01] Little little bottles of booze. 

Paul Scheer [00:59:03] Well, listen. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:06] Anyway. But she’s able to walk back and have a fistfight with Gwyneth Paltrow in first class on one of the planes. And the fight is so funny. And they do. She smashes Gwyneth Paltrow’s face into like a loaf of sour dough bread. 

June Diane Raphael [00:59:19] For that moment alone, it’s worth it. 

Paul Scheer [00:59:22] A loaf. As if it just came out of the oven. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:24] Oh, a giant full round loaf. Man, I would have liked some of these people to come back. You know, I wanted to know some of these stories I was interested in. Well, some of these players. 

Paul Scheer [00:59:35] And this is what I wanted to tell you both. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:37] Go ahead. 

Paul Scheer [00:59:37] The reason why I picked this movie is because I am developing this into a limited series and I got the entire cast back. 20 years later, we’re going to bring it back. We’re going to go back to the top one more time, guys, Rob Lowe is on. Everybody is signed back on. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:53] That would be that would be kind of amazing. 

Paul Scheer [00:59:57] Oh, great. It’s on Starz. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:00:00] This is the kind of movie, instead of making legacy sequels or to like beloved movies. I’d love it if you took a movie that was genuinely unsuccessful. I think everybody. And you saying that Gwyneth Paltrow said this was a bad movie, genuinely taking an unsuccessful movie and turning it into something incredible. 

Paul Scheer [01:00:18] Let’s take a shot. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:00:20] That would be incredible. 

Paul Scheer [01:00:21] Always believe that that’s the secret to remakes. I just want to call one thing, which is Richard Ayoade, A wrote a book called Ayoade on Top. It is a full book only on this movie. It takes, it breaks down this movie. It is like it’s 300 pages. This is the book that I was reading and laughing out loud. Remember, you were like, What are you reading? And I’m like, I’m reading this book about a Gwyneth Paltrow movie. I would read her chapters are sections. It is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. It is. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:00:54] I’m going to get this. 

Paul Scheer [01:00:55] It has an audio component, too. You could listen to the audio. It is so fucking funny. And it’s you know, I didn’t see this movie before reading that book and it’s and I didn’t even watch the movie after reading the book. I didn’t need to. It’s so good. It is. It is so funny. So I just want to plug that as one of my favorite things I’ve read in recent memory. It was one of the reasons I wanted to do this. I wanted to watch what like what could inspire a 300 page book. It literally breaks it down. Scene by scene. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:01:27] I get it because of kind of what we’ve been talking about, which is when you watch this, you are like, why isn’t this working? Like, you really are elements. It’s very frustrating because it really should work. These are good actors giving, who have chemistry with each other, giving good, ostensibly good performances in service of I don’t know what, you know. 

Paul Scheer [01:01:50] I mean, he he treats this like it is like like it is Peckinpah to Paris by way of Nevada and other places we don’t care about. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:02:00] Wow. 

Paul Scheer [01:02:01] What do we got to talk about here? June, I know you have a big event coming up. 

June Diane Raphael [01:02:05] Yes. On May 13th, the Deep Dive and Bitch Sesh are coming together to host I’d Hit That, which is our big extravaganza pickleball tournament/show/dance party/everything. And Paul is going to be our our DJ and MC. It’s going to be so much fun if you head to Janeclub.com/pickleball. And use code HDTGM. That’s code HDTGM at checkout you can have 15% off of tickets and they are going fast. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:02:43] Nice. 

Paul Scheer [01:02:46] I love it. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:02:48] I can’t wait. That’s amazing. You guys have introduced me to pickleball, and it’s pretty good. You know, I’d like to get better. I’d like to get better. I’ll throw out a plug for the animated show. Housebroken that I do one of the voices of. A show about people’s pets when the people aren’t around and the mischief they get into. It is on Fox. Sunday nights. It’s on Fox. Sunday night. Season two is going right now. Please tune in. And also on Paramount Plus, Star Trek Prodigy, one of the best animated Star Trek shows, as well as Lower Decks that you both have been on. Fantastic. But Star Trek Prodigy, it needs your eyeballs. So watch the whole show on Paramount Plus, please. 

Paul Scheer [01:03:33] Completion rate people. Completion rate is the secrets of success here. All right, everybody. 

Jason Mantzoukas [01:03:40] I’m sorry. Just because this movie had, like, light rom com vibes. I would like to just put a call out to everybody to please watch the British rom com Rye Lane that’s on Hulu. I’m not associated with this at all. This is a plug for something I watched and loved. It is absolutely fantastic. A deeply funny and compelling and lovely and sweet like straight up rom com. It’s funny. I was completely on board for the love story. The performances are great. Rye Lane. 

Paul Scheer [01:04:12] I love it. I’ll say this, that if you want to see Jason and I in Los Angeles, a lot of times it gets us at Largo doing our improv show Dinosaur, which is a monthly show, and it’s always a great cast of fun people. The show may be over, but it continues next week on Last Looks. That’s right. We want you to join us on Last Looks to tell us all the things that we might have messed up, that we might have gotten wrong. And you get a chance to prove that you are better than us. You can do that very simply by going to our discord at discord.gg/HDTGM. Or you can call me at 619- PAULASK. I also run a very impromptu advice line, so if you have any problems I am there to solve them. Normally, I’m joined by Jason on Last Looks. So tune in to Last Looks to hear interviews with some of our great past guests, some deleted scenes and so much more, including what we’re watching next week. You know what? If you’re big How Did This Get Made fan, that means you must have some merch. And if you need our merch, go to Teepublic.com/stores/HDTGM. And that’s Teepublic.com. You can find us online everywhere and any kind of social platform @HDTGM. And if you really just want to go old school, check out our website at HDTGM.com. That has links to everything you could possibly imagine. But this show, what you’re listening to right here, couldn’t be done without a couple of things. First of all, you listening, but more importantly, I’m talking about the amazing producorreal work of Scott Sonne, Molly Reynolds and our movie picking producer, Avril Halley. Our engineer, Alex Gonzalez, and our publisher, July Diaz. People, they make the trains run and we love them. So we will see you next week for Last Looks. And until then, bye for now. 

Movie Audio [01:06:08] Now you get out of here. Get out of here. Oh, and Donna. (whisper) Fly away.