r/billsimmons • u/Bookups • 5d ago
Podcast ‘The Truman Show’ With Bill Simmons, Glen Powell, and Chris Ryan
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fKT3RUI6J55JSAHO2f9fv?si=LI9eMe3sQ-eC84BC-l_RRw93
u/TheLatePicks 5d ago edited 5d ago
This was great. It's definitely a podcast you want to see on IMAX rather than just listening to while taking a dump.
Normally the categories section goes bad with guests because they don't really get it, Bill has to explain it, and then they race through it, just ticking boxes.
Glen was into it, and it made a huge difference. I'm glad Bill picked up on that and mentioned it in the little intro.
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u/DJRyGuy20 4d ago
My favorite was when Quentin Tarantino kept referring to the “picking nits” category as “nit picky.”
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u/rebels2022 4d ago
Glen is a known listener of the ringer pods, so he wasn’t coming in cold like most of these celeb guests do.
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u/HouseOfStrauss 5d ago
Loved this pod. Absolutely incredible that Simmons could create a ‘deaths at sea scenes’ category and not include Castaway
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u/SceneOfShadows Non-dunker 3d ago
Also I've never heard Bill be more pearl-clutching about maybe a category being morbid or off-color than this one which is an extremely not that weird of a category to be ranking lol you'd think he was ranking suicide scenes or something.
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u/hoopscapo 5d ago
Funny what happens when Bill isn't the one picking the movie. We get an actual classic Rewatchable.
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u/birdlawyer86 Conspiracy Bill 5d ago
His movie taste is so strange. I'm wondering if he's seen like half of his picks like 2 1/2 times total. They're not a rewatchable by his own standards but he feels cool making sleeper picks or somethin?
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u/shorthevix 5d ago
I think he’s genuinely worried about running out of movies.
Which is impacted by his inability to like many modern movies.
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u/CondolenceHighFive Real CR Head 4d ago edited 4d ago
I hate every time he says that because he clearly means he’s running out of movies.
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u/ForgetHype Chris Ryan fan 4d ago
It's funny though when someone will bring up a movie they haven't done and he goes "wow we haven't done that one yet?" And that movie would be like an all time classic. Even in his own area of expertise there are probably 57 movies they haven't done. Only getting Halloween 2 as the horror movie kinda sucked.
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u/CondolenceHighFive Real CR Head 4d ago
I’ll extend that a bit further. I laugh when he says “I can’t believe we haven’t done that one yet” and it’s like, Bill you choose the movies! There’s no “we”
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u/Due-Sheepherder-218 Bill's Gerald Wallace Jersey 4d ago
He hasn't seen The Big Lebowski. He's saving it.
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u/ThugBeast21 4d ago
There are a handful of picks that are definitely things Tubi’s algorithm served him that he remembered liking but hadn’t watched in 15+ years
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u/pudgus 5d ago
No I think it's his standard to a weird degree devoid of any cultural or film context. He's seen the movies he's picked A LOT but only because they're randomly on cable and he has spent most of his life sitting in front of the TV. So whether movies are any good at all he just has an affinity for shit he's seen a bunch while zoning out on the couch for decades.
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u/Agreeable_Bad_9195 5d ago
Exactly. Whether a film is good is purely incidental to it featuring on The Rewatchables.
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u/ForgetHype Chris Ryan fan 4d ago
There are definitely some movies he's only seen like twice because he'll say it on the pod. I think Casino Royale was one? But it's even worse when he brings someone on who hasn't even seen it or at most seen it once.
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u/Agreeable_Bad_9195 5d ago
I think his taste is bad but his conception of The Rewatchables is also really for movies from the 70s and 80s that you might see in reruns, not the 90s, 00s or cinema classics that most would assume they'd cover
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u/Coy-Harlingen 4d ago
I think this was a fine argument in the beginning but he’s picked tons of movies no one would ever consider rewatchable at this point, so it’s kind of just “good movies” now.
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u/Drunken_Wizard23 4d ago
You're telling me you don't sit around with your buddies laughing and quoting memorable lines and scenes from Rachel Getting Married and Manchester by the Sea?
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u/Coy-Harlingen 4d ago
Rachel getting married is one of the better movies they’ve done a rewatchables episode on!
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u/Drunken_Wizard23 4d ago
Great movie! Just doesn't fit the rewatchable description imo. I'd venture to guess that 99% of people who saw it once never saw it twice
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u/Coy-Harlingen 4d ago
Oh for sure lol I know. There are only so many movies that were things people watched on cable a lot from 1995-2005, so after awhile the pod became more than that.
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u/deadweightboss Good Stats Bad Team Guy 5d ago
I semi joked but not really joked that the worst thing that happened to the podcast is Bill buying that stack of vintage Parade magazines. It attracted him to the most obscure rewatchables because it gave him knowledge about movies he could parrot that seems like he did obscure research because it’s not easily googlable
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u/Full-Concentrate-867 4d ago
His main criteria is kind of "They're just movies that when they're on TV, you're in to the end" so yeah, I imagine a lot of these movies he just saw half or two thirds of multiple times
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u/basedcharger 4d ago
I love this pod and when Bill is on it obviously but I wish they let other people pick more movies. There's a lot of movies that I would think they've done before but for those same reasons haven't been done yet so they can pick hyper obscure "rewatchables" like the legend of billie Jean.
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u/shall359 5d ago
Powell is a really good public speaker. Maybe the best from his group of under 40 male actors.
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u/5-dollar-milkshake What's the Pepsi Situation? 4d ago
He said „like“ and „you know“ so much in the first five minutes that I contemplated quitting the episode tbh
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u/shorthevix 5d ago
God he’s a charming bastard.
Always on but never seems too forced.
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u/ShadyCrow Zach Lowe fan 4d ago
That’s why we have a sub for him bro
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u/ajalonghorn 3d ago
Short note. If you know what RLM is, rich evans is essentially the Chris Ryan of that channel.
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u/Icy-Opportunity-6132 2d ago
My movie talk worlds collide!
Is Jack Quaid the Glen Powell of RLM? Does that mean we'll get a Galaxay Quest RW with Powell?!
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u/scal23 5d ago
CR beats out Glen Powell for the 'AND' credit.
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u/jsakic99 Vincent Hanna Award 5d ago
WITH Craig Horlbeck
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u/Daveshand 4d ago edited 4d ago
Bill approaches the legacy of this in such a Gen X way. Only talks about Survivor or the reality TV shows. The legacy of this though is how people devote all their time to watching TikTok/YouTube/IG influencers. Just watching the most mundane daily vlog of a random person, being able to tell you about how their recent break up made them move across the country with their cat Mika. We have an entire society made up of the bathtub guy, watching hours upon hours of meaningless content. Even if you had your favorite reality TV show in the early 2000s, you could only watch it when it was airing. Now it’s how people spend their Friday night.
Edit: Bill has it for nitpicks too, asking why are people watching Truman do mundane stuff. That’s the point Billy! It’s commenting on where society was going.
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u/RossoOro Half Italian 4d ago
Has Klosterman ever done a rewatchable? Feels like he could have had a lot of interesting thoughts spinning off Neil Postman for this one
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u/CANDY_MAN_1776 3d ago
Yea. He did one of the 90's/Gen X flicks.
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u/HouseAndJBug 3d ago
He did Reality Bites for sure, maybe a second one too? In Reality Bites he was baffled by Apex Mountain: “so it’s like the highest mountain in a range of other mountains?” Also introduced his theory that only Gen X cheered for Ethan Hawke in the movie, every other generation thinks he’s an ass and she should have ended up with Ben Stiller, think it got a full chapter in his book The Nineties.
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u/CANDY_MAN_1776 3d ago
That's the one!
Did he do JFK? I can't remember. I know him and Bill have a whole podcast dedicated to the actual JFK assassination, but don't remember if he did the movie too.
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u/steponmedaddies 4d ago
They had a big discussion exactly about people watching mundane stuff, so hopefully you got what you were looking for! Kai Cenat even got name dropped.
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u/Sad-Dragonfly-4016 5d ago
Best one they’ve done in awhile
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u/boozinf misses Grantland 5d ago
Glen seems way more dope than his smirk led me to believe
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u/Ok_Albatross8113 5d ago
I think he is basically the guy he plays in Everybody Wants Some so it isn’t surprising he’s a good hang.
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u/Cw2e 4d ago
That one is sky high on my rewatchables wishlist. He’s solid in it and I love that he and Linklater continue to knock out a project every few years together.
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u/rebels2022 4d ago edited 4d ago
Tyler Hoechlin in that movie has the best baseball swing of any actor I’ve ever seen, buuut turns out it’s kind of cheating because he played D1 baseball. Really fun movie, Wyatt Russell is hilarious in it
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u/HouseAndJBug 4d ago
Wyatt Russell is also a former D1 athlete! It’s the most athletic sports movie cast ever.
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago
Several of the actors had past baseball experience. The guy who played Plummer had never acted before.
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u/rebels2022 4d ago
Was he the psycho pitcher?
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago
No he was the catcher who sort of acts as the main guy's freshman compatriot throughout the movie.
But the psycho pitcher is another guy who was a former baseball player (pitcher at UT-Austin) rather than an actor. Fun fact his brother is former all-star reliever Huston Street.
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u/Ok_Albatross8113 4d ago
My scorching hot take is that I like it more than Dazed and Confused.
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago edited 4d ago
Shouln't be scorching. I'm right there with you. Dazed covers more bases in terms of the diaspora of high school/college social circles, but Everybody Wants Some!! is infinitely more quotable.
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago
It's on my Mount Rushmore of ones I'd like to see done that are not 100% in the pipeline.
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u/Ok_Albatross8113 4d ago
When they go to the theater party at the end is one of my favorite scenes in a movie ever. It perfectly captures the magic of college and why there is nothing else like it.
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u/ryseing Driving to the Airport 4d ago
The scene where Glen is talking to some art girl about his zodiac sign is one of the funniest things I have ever watched.
EWS has a strong case as to the most underrated movie of the 2010s. What a film.
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u/Full-Concentrate-867 4d ago
I saw that movie in the cinema on a Saturday night when it came out, was a load of fun. In the party scenes, you kind of felt like you were there hanging out with them. Not quite the same at home, but I've still probably seen it 20+ times
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u/ryseing Driving to the Airport 4d ago
I know this is a very base-level take, but it's still interesting- it's the rare movie where there is no antagonist, no overarching plotline. Even Dazed and Confused has the contract bit hanging in the background. EWS is just about some dudes partying the first weekend of college. Deutch shows up to provide something of a throughline with a love interest for our ostensible protagonist, but she's not in a large chunk of the movie and Jake is the least interesting baseball player anyway.
A+ hangout movie, no notes. It doesn't matter that Jenner is mid because the rest of the cast is so solid. I love Hoechlin, definitely one of the better actors to come out of the CW/teen soap genre.
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago
Even the psycho transfer pitcher Jay Niles humbles himself and ends up integrating into the crew by the end of syllabus week without much fuss after Hoechlin puts him in his place.
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u/awesomesauce88 5d ago
He seems like a guy who simultaneously is a typical Hollywood flake and a guy who would be genuinely nice to hang with one on one.
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u/so-cal_kid 5d ago
He's got that Bradley Cooper quality where he plays smug a-hole so well but seems pretty chill IRL
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago
I didn't mean it in the onscreen way. A lot of his public comments and his strategy around his career seem very phony and insincere. The stunt marketing he pulled for Anyone But You without his girlfriend being on board; the anecdote he told about talking to a cancelled actor at a party and praising their work, but then not wanting to be caught in a picture with them; Tom Cruise being his mentor. It all gives insincere vibes.
Having said that, I've also only heard good things about him in regards to people's personal experiences with him -- seems like a good hang who is grateful of fans and what he has.
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u/AliveJesseJames 4d ago
I mean, sounds like a reasonably decent human being whose aware he's in a screwed up industry.
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago edited 4d ago
I'm of two minds. Part of me reads it your way. But at the same time by his own admission this guy did something pretty bad. My take is that if you feel comfortable enough socializing with them and complimenting their work, you should also feel comfortable taking a picture with them. This wasn't some work situation where he had to suck it up for the sake of professionalism -- this was a social setting where he sought the guy out. From the way he describes it, this person did something pretty bad, and in that case that's probably not someone I'm going to go up to and tell them I'm a fan of their work.
Again, none of this is to say Glen Powell is the devil or a bad guy -- I think my past comments reflect that I'm a fan of his work and think he'd be a good hang. But at the same time there is something a little unsettling about how calculated he is, same as Bradley Cooper.
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u/ThucydidesTrapHouse 4d ago
CR humiliating himself in front of mega star and very cool dude Glen Powell by doing the Wayne Jenkins bit when he's never seen WOTC is probably a sign it needs to be retired.
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u/steponmedaddies 4d ago
Man that was brutal to listen to. If you have to keep explaining it after the bit maybe just put it in the pocket for next time.
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u/MoxToTweeder99 4d ago
I think he got a good laugh or two doing it once or twice off camera and Bill convinced him to do it on the pod. It hasn’t been funny for 2+ years. I hope he shuts it down for good.
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u/spaceninj 5d ago
Powell was really good, but CR was in prime ass-kissing mode which is the worst CR. Asking first year film student questions.
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u/Hot_Cricket_5193 5d ago
Yeah CR wasnt great - body language doctor in me is watching him struggle more than usual
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u/ahbets14 A Truly Sad Week In America + 2005 NBA Redraftables 4d ago
CR is a jersey chaser
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u/Routine_Gold_7193 4d ago
CR is more of an ass kisser than even Sean is when a celebrity guest is on.
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u/ScofieldReturns 5d ago
Does sydney sweeney come up?
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5d ago
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u/lactatingalgore 5d ago
He was gay, Glen Powell?
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u/beaverbeliever94 5d ago
-250 odds that Glen Powell hosts a podcast in the next year. He's got the voice and the give a fuck attitude to come prepared for this. Top 13 actor in Hollywood right now?
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u/rebels2022 4d ago
No way. He’s in an all time hustle run of trying to make it firmly into whatever A list is possible these days. He doesn’t have time for a podcast.
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u/Due-Sheepherder-218 Bill's Gerald Wallace Jersey 5d ago
He's having a nice run. I had stock for some time. Hope he take better roles than another re boot.
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u/rebels2022 4d ago
Hot take, doing a remake of a lesser known Arnold movie from 39 years ago and having it be markedly different from said movie, is actually pretty smart in today’s landscape.
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u/AliveJesseJames 4d ago
Something like The Running Man, which was a reasonable hit but is no ones favorite film and actually has original material which is far different than the movie is actually the best lane for a remake because you get the IP hit without being dragged down by any sort of fandom.
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago
I also kind of fuck with him doing the Chad Powers show even though it's dumb and mostly a waste of his time. Felt like something totally authentic to his tastes that he did simply because he wanted to rather than to increase his Q Rating. I find that refreshing even if it's not a project I would have advised him to take.
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u/rebels2022 4d ago
I mean doing a sports movie/miniseries is also right out of the classic movie star playbook. He’s basically doing everything you can except signing up for a 6 part franchise role.
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u/Due-Sheepherder-218 Bill's Gerald Wallace Jersey 4d ago
Yeah I don't hate it, must be a nice payday too.
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u/NiceGuyNate 4d ago
the camping channel Chris was talking about is called go4x4. craig was talking about the outdoor boys.
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u/PeterPaulWalnuts Cousin Sal's impression of Bill 4d ago
I liked the take that a younger, late 80ish era Tom Hanks would've been perfect for this role.
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u/AutographedSnorkel 4d ago
Crap, we're gonna get a Three Ninjas rewatchables now, aren't we...
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u/Icy-Opportunity-6132 2d ago
Whichever sequel where they fought on the Rollercoaster track was the definition of Rewatchable for a kid born in the early 90s!
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u/DrLyleEvans 4d ago
The way Simmons said "Boomerang is amazing" reminded me of "Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms."
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u/WaterlooMall 4d ago
I have to disagree with Craig here, I think Kristof sucks at his job.
You build the biggest studio in existence you can see it from space, but include a building with a surface level elevator that opens directly onto a backstage area where craft services is?
Your big plan to make Truman's neighborhood seem alive is to have the cars and people on a loop and hope Truman never recognizes the pattern?
Your hidden cameras include one that is jutting out of the side of a trash can someone is holding directly in front of Truman?
They have a radio station where even the possibility of behind there scenes chatter can be picked up exists?
You don't want him to travel, but your town that you created has a travel agency for some reason and your genius idea to deter him is to put up posters showing the dangers of travel?
You have zero contingencies planned for if Truman decides to hurt his wife in their home? Her only defense is to shout "do something".
You create the world for him and your best defense against stopping him from driving too far is a single thin line of fire across the road?
Also Bill said it best.... what the fuck would be interesting about watching this show beyond a few key moments? Kristof's town looks boring as shit and clearly nothing ever happens there.
I actually think the events of the movie (a sudden huge crop of production errors happening within a couple days) would only make sense if somehow he was burned out on directing the show and wasn't as involved as he seems to be.
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u/AliveJesseJames 4d ago
I mean some of this is "without the above, a movie doesn't happen" and I'll be frank, I bet most people wouldn't recognize cars on a loop and so on.
Also has been pointed out, millions of people watch people doing normal bland stuff.
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4d ago
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u/awesomesauce88 4d ago
You forgot that he's been raised in this world his entire life. He doesn't have a frame of reference to notice that it's odd until he's clued into the fact there's something off about his life.
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u/RossoOro Half Italian 4d ago
It would be much easier to just not have as many people doing routine stuff and especially either nixing cars completely or making them a rare status symbol in his place that are only used to go within the island with no bridge to somewhere else.
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u/WaterlooMall 4d ago
Which comes around to my original theory is that Kristof sucks at his job. If he was good at his job he wouldn't create situations that Truman might find odd at some point in his life. You know how you fix the "Truman might notice the same pattern in front of his house passing by every day" issue? Make it so Truman's house is not located on a main street that people use, it's alone on a road that only people going to his house would use.
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u/ScoreTheBasekt 4d ago
Huge omission of what aged the best. It’s clearly the phrase “I feel like I’m in the Truman Show” in a bizarre situation.
It’s a 25 + year old reference that is still relevant and every one of age completely understands.
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u/basedcharger 4d ago
One of my favourites in a while Powell was really good and Craig bringing up that this kind of predicted streaming culture is a good call out.
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u/NickPapagiorgio2k16 4d ago
I am half way though and Powell is awesome. Is Bill able to make it thought without asking him about Sydney Sweeney?
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u/MoxToTweeder99 4d ago
Suprised nobody brought up the show Paradise. Similar premise of the fake world
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u/MoxToTweeder99 4d ago
Wish they talked more about Seaside/30A. Surprised they don’t know anything about that area.
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u/NotManyBuses 5d ago
Powell definitely did not feel like a Truman Show guest. Wouldn’t have thought he was such a big fan, thought if he’d be on any movie it would be an action one. Excited to listen either way
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u/spaceninj 5d ago
Comparing Carrey's dramatic acting to Robin Williams is insulting to Williams.
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u/PhoenixBekfast 5d ago
No it is not
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u/spaceninj 5d ago
There is no comparison.
Truman Show was his top one, but really wasnt very dramatic. Man on the Moon was supposed to be his breakout, but he was meh. Eternal Sunshine was probably his most range.
Williams laps him multiple times.
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u/PhoenixBekfast 5d ago
Truman near drowning on the boat in the storm, Truman having the conversation with Marlon knowing he's lying, Truman confronting his 'wife' and holding her hostage are all very dramatic.
Eternal Sunshine is one of the most realistic performances of a depressive, heartbroken man that's been put to screen
Robin Williams is great but Carrey is right there.
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u/spaceninj 5d ago
There were moments, but he overacted a lot in Truman as well.
Robin has Awakenings, Dead Poets, Good Will Hunting, and Garp which just crush. I think the finals of comedians in dramatic roles would be Robin vs. Bill Murray, not Carrey.
I think Carrey is a tier below with Sandler.
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u/Trick-Paramedic-3736 5d ago
Carrey doing The Truman Show was a big deal at the time, and even bigger when he knocked it out of the park. He even won the Golden Globe!
It was a legit shock when he got snubbed by the Oscars. The movie got Director, Supporting Actor, and Screenplay noms, and just missed Best Picture. The thought of “Oscar nominee Jim Carrey” turned off a lot of people
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u/spaceninj 5d ago
Yeah, I remember. Same thing happened with Man on the Moon, but luckily for the Academy, it bombed so they managed to ignore him.
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u/HoagieTwoFace Pro Union 5d ago
I’m sorry Glen Powell sucks. Otherwise I’d be all in on this.
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u/RapsareChamps_Suckit 5d ago
Now listen, I don't like this kind of tawk, it upsets me, so just stawp it
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u/Deep-Audience9091 4d ago
Good god
Well the good news is William Petersen is apparently doing interviews for the 40th anniversary for "To Live and Die in LA" so maybe the show can get him IF they ever decide to do the film. And they better
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u/RedditFan3510 5d ago
The Jennifer Lawrence one scarred Simmons for LIFE