Episode 10: Orange County (2002)

Weird way. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Chasing Chevy Chase Podcast. I am one of your hosts, Chris Tasho, and I am joined by my two good friends all the way from Cambridge and with Shawn Mark Begley. Hello, and he's the writer of this movie all the way from the Projection Booth Podcast, Mike White. I left out all of the motorcycles.

And that you're gonna say, I changed the name on the script to Alan Smithy and they wouldn't let me. Why would I do that? This is one of my masterpieces right here. Yes, it truly is as if written by the God herself. On this episode of the Chasing Chevy Chase Podcast, we are taking a little bit of diversion away from what we normally are talking about.

Yes, Chevy Chase is in this movie. No, he's not in it a whole lot. But the gag is this movie's written by Mike White. Not our Mike White, but a Mike White, the Mike White of What the White Lotus and School of Rock and. Spackle me four, pitch perfect three, the Emoji movie.

Come on, I got all kinds of hits here. Cool and twice on the Amazing race. That's right, Me and my dad. Yep, Mike around a lot. You know that, I certainly do.

Yeah, it helps that there's at least two of me. Plus there's a guy that plays football with my name as well as I'm the mayor of Cleveland for a while. Is Mike White. So wow, I am. But yeah.

On this episode of the Chase in Chevy Chase podcast, we are gonna be watching and talking about two thousand and two's comedic film from MTV and Paramount Pictures Orange County. So the film is directed by Jake Kasen, like we mentioned, written by Mike White, stars Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin. Chevy Chase is in there technically for a literal split second, and the film attempts to make Colin Hanks, like his father, a likable teenage protagonist, which is not the case. It is never the case, and it's never going to be the case in this movie. And it's about a kid who can't get into Stanford because they sent the wrong transcript.

Feels like that would be a phone call to fix everything, but hey, two thousand and two was a different time, folks, and this was a movie. This is a movie. So Mike, I'm gonna kick it to you first. What did you think of Orange County? Yeah, the main thrust of the entire movie trying to get into this one college.

You know, if you don't get into this year, you can always go back next year. There is a thing called a gap year. You could travel Europe if you wanted to. Feels like your family has enough money to send you over there. Yeah, and if your mom and dad are you know, got you under their thumb, well maybe move away and you know, live your own life.

Kid. So but you know that probably wasn't in that book written by Kevin Klin. So what do I know? But I thought it was funny, but there were some good parts to it. I probably will never need to watch this again.

What do you think, Mark? I think I was in a really bad moon when I watched this, because sure it didn't. What's you in a bad mood? No? I think I started out and I'm not sure why, and I thought, Okay, let's sit down and watch this.

I've seen clips from it over the years, and I've seen the trailer numerous times. I'm not sure why, and always figured it was probably decent and fairly funny, and I think I laughed twice during the movie, chuck twice. And then at some point, like you both have already mentioned, thought to myself, I couldn't care less about this guy's problem. It is a non issue. He's got numerous ways to figure this out other than the way that he does try to figure it out.

And I don't care about this kid. And I don't even care that his friend died the year before in a horrible tsunami wave surfing an accident, which I'm not sure why that was in here, But yeah, couldn't care less about Colin Hanks's character into this film, And so what's the point of the movie then, Well, for me, how about you, Chris. I was watching this movie with some friends yesterday and I kept just coming back to the point of contention, which is, if you were to not have the correct transcript sent to college, it's literally a matter of calling them and saying there was a snaffoo with my transcript, let me get you the right one, and they would be like like, okay, thank you for letting us know.

There's none of this, Like, well, you can't get into college now, and your life is ruined. It's like, that's not how this works, right, And I have a problem when a movie. I have a problem when a movie is like this, when when the basic premise of the movie is completely foregoing any logic or reason or common sense. And this is one of those movies. The literal premise is some that Lily Tomlin's character sent Stanford, someone whose name is similar to Colin Hanks's character's name, sent his transcript, and that guy got in and he didn't.

It doesn't even make it doesn't even make any sense because this other person gets in as well. It's not like Colin Hanks just doesn't get in and no one else does. This other person gets in as well, the fran Kranz character from the actor from Cabin in the Woods. But well, yeah, and they kind of cover it by saying, well, I sent it in as a lark and I got in. And it's like, yeah, I mean, you don't just send in stuff as lark.

There's a fee that goes along with submitting these. There's also usually an essay. Written essays are a thing with all of this. Yeah, as someone who's applied to college in the last twenty years, this is yeah, like it's it's hard for me to take this movie seriously because the premise. Is so flawed on the face of it, Like the premise is so unbelievably stupid.

Is it's it's stupid because it doesn't make any sense. It falls apart the moment you try to think about it. And one of my friends just goes, well, it's a movie, you know, And I was like, I know, it's a movie, but that doesn't change the fact that they didn't write it very well, like, well. The central conceit has to be plausible, correct, it's not and out and above that. I don't care about this kid and his problem is not a problem like you've already mentioned.

He's from a wealthy to wealthy family who you have to live in Orange County? What the fuck do du what are you a fucking baby? Like? And the way he goes about trying to solve everything he does to try and solve it is using his privilege instead of making that simple phone call you know, Lily Tom that can call and say, hey man, I sent Shane's instead of Shawn's, et cetera. You know I've got his transcripts right here.

Let me resend them in a story. I can't really empathize with this kid though, as far as Lily Tomlin, the school counselor, because I had one of the worst school counsels ever. At least she talks to him about submitting for college and probably has given him a little bit of advice. I mean, the advice of don't apply any place except for this school is always bad advice because you never know what's going to happen. But still, Fiz said on there, Okay, great, but my gosh, Missus Brockbrad, who we used to call Missus Browbeater, she was the worst, never told us anything like I went through four years of college prep classes, never knew that there was placement tests to place out of different classes that cost me thousands of dollars.

That to me is more of an affront to school counselors and this whole idea. Then this kid, like, this kid can afford to pay a few thousand dollars if he happens to not take the college prep classes and pass out of you know, Spanish one on one or whatever. It's just like, okay, dude, yeah, it's a simple, simple mistake and just so easy to get out of it, and I love what you're saying, Mark as far as using it as privileged, like, oh, I know somebody who knows somebody who can get the actual people here for me to do this in front of and then embarrass myself over and over again. But it feels like every single time he's like, oh no, I'll try to skirt the system, and it's like, why why are you doing that?

Like there's no reason for you to be engaged in these hijinks when all you have to do is just state what your case. Is, right or get his dad involved. His rich dad is going to take care. And I'm like at that point when he goes to the house, I'm like, you know, it's like those those people that those actresses, the Felicity Huffman and that other gal that oh, yeah, you know, paid this money to get their kids into schools they didn't belong in. Not that he doesn't belong in, and he obviously is a high achiever, but none of that is really spelled out very clearly.

That was my other problem with this movie, Like I had no idea who Bob was. I thought that was his grandpa or just some old dude that lived in there. I had no idea until like halfway through the movie that that was his stepdad, that he was married to Catherine O'Hara's character. No idea because he keeps calling him Bob, which I get, you know, a stepdad you don't call dad or whatever. But there was no indication that that that he was daddy.

And then I think when he went to John Lithgow's house, I was like, oh, oh, oh, that's who that old guy is. I thought he was grandpa living with them and the Hispanic gal was there to take care of him when she says she's not. But I know, nothing was spelled out. It's not really explained that he's this great student and you know, is automatically on the fast track to Stanford. It's just like, oh, I've read this book, I want to be a writer, and now I'm going to go to Stanford so I could meet this guy you take his classes.

Okay, good luck with that. Well early in the movie that you forget, well I didn't forget, and I don't imagine you guys did either. But this whole revelation of Kevin Klein at the end of the film, you're like, oh, yeah, he said that story and it's like the whole movie. I'm like, well, when is the author, Like, who's going to play the author? Because they're cameo's galore in this movie, who's going to play that author?

And when is he going to show up? And then when he does show up, he makes that a look of difference in the world. It's not like, you know, he just kind of gives him a little advice rather than you know, oh here, let me help you out, because I was like, oh, of course, Kevin Klein probably is like I want this kid in my class, and i have to do everything i can, and I've been looking for your name in the roles or something like that. Showed that he actually cares. But you know, he remembers the story, so that's good, but otherwise doesn't make a lick of difference to this whole movie.

Mike George Murdoch is in this movie, I'm Barney Miller to tell you, Scanlon, Yeah, it was nes the hell? What the hell? And yeah, like you Mark, I had no idea that he was the new husband because he seemed so much older than Catherine O'Hara. I really think he was the grandfather. Yeah, and she's horribly underused in this film.

Her being a drunk like that appears out of nowhere. When when Gary Marshall and what's her name show up, you know, one of his means to an end. Friend of theirs at school knows. I don't even remember what their relationship was, but now they're over at the house and apparently she's an alcoholic all of a sudden, I don't. Know it was his girlfriend who we never really get a beat on, because the first time they show the girl friend she does this, this might be, this might be the best story that's ever been written.

I'm like, Okay, is she just completely brain dead? Because I don't see this story garnering that much praise, But apparently it is a great story. And then the next time we see her, she's doing this whole thing about like saving dogs. Then you get her saving the dog later on, which is a total nightmare, and I'm like, Okay, she is she stupid or what? And then to the hid of the film, you're like, no, she's actually a very nice person, and like, I can understand where she's coming from that she doesn't want to lose her boyfriend and all this.

But for the rest of the movie, I'm just like, who is this person? And even when she helps him out with this whole trying to get Gary Marshall over there, it's her blackmailing that another girl with all of those shenanigans. Where the friend who's basically like a Heather from Heather's She's just this awful, awful person who just keeps trying to fuck anything. That moves well. And then then you have the sur the surfboarding friends who are also not gay.

I guess for a minute, but they didn't they are. Well, they were talking about fondling each other's balls, so yeah, and then it disappears though, and then in the next scene they're not a couple. So it's like, well, what was the joke? Right? Yeah?

I thought they were learning that they were actually in love with each other. Right, Oh, well, that's kind of cool. So in the next scene they should be together, but it didn't appear like they were together. No, so it was I don't know. I think maybe Mike White's just afraid of gay characters.

I think Mike White is super homophobic. How would you say? You know that? I So the thing that really bugged me about this movie, and you guys have already both kind of touched on it, but I do want to I think kind of maybe go back to a little bit more the Colin Hanks of it all. All I could see when I was watching this movie was a very poor attempt at trying to make this guy like his father.

And I'm not saying Collein Hanks isn't a talented actor. Far from it. I think Colin Hanks is an immensely talented actor. But to quote Matthew Lillard from Scream, He's no Tom Hanks, as they would say, and they try really hard in this movie to make him as likable as his father. And I mean there's points in this movie where his hair is oddly reminiscent of Tom Hanks's hair, as.

There's changed multiple times in this movie. Yeah, and there's one of his haircuts makes him look like Tom Hanks. It's kind of like this like kind of big dragnet era, like kind of like messy hair, and you know, and I was just thinking to myself, like, well, I appreciate what they were going for, and I understand that, you know, Neppo babies are a thing. Colin Hanks does not have the same charismatic abilities that his dad does. That's just a fact of life.

And it's not his fault. It's not Tom Hanks's fault, it's nobody's fault. It's just a fact of life. And it's not that this movie, you know, is some you know, amazingly written film and you know, oh, it's Colin Hanks bringing the movie down because he's not a good actor. No, I don't think that the movie does much of anything to help out him as an actor.

I think the movie is pretty poorly. Written, and I don't know, like it feels like a movie written in two thousand and two, can I put it that way? Like it definitely shows its age in terms of just like, I don't know, there's something so infantile about the premise of this movie that makes me just like shake my head at the entire idea of what this movie is going for. But then when you see Colin Hanks on screen. Every time I see him on screen, I'm just like, you're not Tom Hanks, and this movie really wishes you were, because if you had been Tom Hanks, maybe you could be.

More endearing to the audience than you are. But yeah, for me, Colin Hanks and his character in this in this role, as his character is so off putting and so just kind of abrasive and an affluent little dick. Like it's just if you don't like the main character of your movie, you're not gonna have a good time with the film, especially when that's the point of the movie. This is not a casino situation where it's like, well, share and stones meant to be obnoxious and you're not going to like or this is no. We're supposed to empathize and sympathize with our main character in this movie, and we don't, not once because he's just kind of the worst and he's yeah, he's a little trust one baby that all he does is complain.

And and that affability of Tom Hanks is completely missing from him. They think they have it. Though they think they've got it, you can see them trying in some scenes in this movie where they're like, we've got the next Tom Hanks. It's like, no, you don't know, you don't know, you don't, you really don't. It's hard to see that when he's strangling Lily Tomlin, you know, yeah.

Yeah. As soon as it starts to go for I was like, oh, wow, this is going to be bad. I'm surprised it didn't end up worse than it was. When she starts running around talking about, you know, a code red being pulled, I was like, oh, okay, you're. Early two thousands.

We didn't have stuff like this. Come on a year post nine to eleven. What are you talking about? Oh yeah, I like Alan Hanks quite a bit, but yeah not yeah, great, And there I thought he was. There was a TV show and.

I'm trying to remember what it was called where it was him and Bradley Whitford and what. Was it called. Sorry, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, it was like, are you telling you about the good guys? Yeah?

It was like a cop show. Yeah, you know, I think Mark, when we take over the one season show, we need to do in a whole season about the good guys here. So I'm making notes. I've got that list going for us. So I'm not Yeah, I don't.

I'm not familiar with that. It's really good. He's basically the young cop who's buy the books, and then Bradley Whitford's the older cop who is just a real fuck up in life. And it's one of those like all right, Ken, the guy who goes away from the books gets more stuff done than the guy who goes by the books, And it was actually pretty good. I like their kind of streak quite a bit.

It was Matt Nicks. I want to say, did oh, what's that one that I like so much? Burn? Notice? He was the guy behind Burn?

Notice? Oh yeah, but yeah, I liked Colin Hanks and that. I think he's actually a better writer than actor sometimes, but well, better director than actor sometimes. I'm more of a fan of his work on the acclaimed hit TV show Roswell. Oh God did see that?

Either which which version of Roswell, the New, the reboot, or the origin? He was in a he was a character in the original run of the show in ninety nine. Wow, I know he's been acting that long. I mean he was in he was in Peter Jackson's King Kong. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't.

Yeah again, I don't. I don't want anyone who's listening to this to take away that I dislike Colin Hanks is actually far from it. It's just in this movie, the way his character is written and portrayed is so unbelievably unlikable that, if anything, the movie should have been about Jack Black's character, and we have this guy coming in from stage left every now and then to reaffirm to us that he's an asshole. And Jack like, because Jack Black's character is a stoner, but that's it, Like he doesn't. Everybody's underwritten, well everybody.

Everybody's a stereotype. Every character is underwritten. Uh yeah, Harold Ramis, he was one of the highlights. That's where I started to chuckle that little scene, even though it's pointless, and I don't know, for some reason, I was happy to see him and thought he was, you know, pretty funny. And I kept that you mentioned his girlfriend, the Skuyler Fisk and I was like, got that girl looks familiar.

And then I read up and I'm like, oh, because that's the see Spasics daughter. Oh, let's see a lot like her. Wow, we got baby's everywhere. Yeah, in a film directed by Jake Asden. I'm surprised that that Ivan Rayman's son didn't just produce this.

God Ben Stiller in there. We've got that's true Ben Stiller for an ex. Lizzie Kaplan's in the movie for a minute. Yeah, hot second, that whole that repeating riff with that song and the group. It's like, what is this Butterfly by crazy Town speaking two thousand and two my goday time, so I need to hear that terrible song.

Apparently three times that's the answer, three times in the span of an hour and a half movie. It so reminded me of white chicks with that making my Way downtown and all those white girls go, oh, it's my. Jam, it's my jam. Yeah, But somehow that was actually funny. This is just like, all of a sudden, we take like a pause to have our characters do a synchronized dance, like yeah, like no nobody does nobody does this in real life.

I've been to college party. Stop like you fucking movie, Like I don't know yet. It's it's like it's again like this feels like such a movie. It doesn't really feel like a real idea. This feels like a premise for a movie.

And it's like and it's not even a good movie. It's just kind of I don't know. I don't dislike college movies, but I dislike when a college movie isn't even like honest about what it's trying to do, which this movie is not. I think that thing with the synchronized dancing was to show just how much like high school college is, because it's like, go to that college party. I mean that alge Dufis that his girlfriend is talking to.

I'm just like, you know, she's expecting some big intellectual and this guy's just like what was he talking about? Like is tennis score or something like that he was obsessed with. He says at one point he's working on a TV show that's ostensibly about vampires, but it's also but it's actually about the reunification of Germany, right, which was the only line in the entire movie that made me laugh. I chuckled at that one line. And Nate Faxon is pretty funny because he's he's in a lot of comedic stuff, including beer Fest, which is what which is what I always think of when I think of Nate fax And he plays one of the German brothers in beer Fest, and he's pretty funny.

But I yeah, sure, it's trying to show that college is just like high school. Wow, they're just like us. God well, and the dance thing made me think, it makes makes it feel like an MTV movie, that's what it makes. Well, right, But I was early on even I was going, is this gonna be? It wasn't hitting any particular tone.

Is this gonna be kind of absurd and ridiculous or straight? And it couldn't. The movie never figured out which one of those it was gonna be. That dance thing could have been a recurring deal all throughout the movie and just more and more ridiculous every time, And the shenanigans could have been way more over the top to you know, be absurd instead of just annoying, which is what they were annoying to the characters, un annoying to the audience. I was just annoyed at I return it.

Hey, I know that this Gary Marshall scene isn't gonna go. Everything that he's telling his family not to do, they're going to do and worse, So I don't know, either play that up or switch it around and have it go great but still not work. You know. Gary Marshall's like, well, I'm sorry, I really have no pull there, but you know, thanks thanks for the wine, and then leave something like that. I don't know right right, but it yeah, yeah, and again I didn't care like using your weight to schmooth some people to get into a college that maybe you don't deserve to get into although I guess that's the premise, is that he does deserve to get in there.

Not this other guy's an up and coming Bukowski Mark. Sure, he's one of the youngest Orange County Yeah. Yeah, had he been like the the opposite of the black sheep of the family, you know, that list a Simpson of it all, where everybody else in their fam in her family is a mental midget, but she's the one who has the smarts and has to do things on her own and has to you know, trades to get out from under the you know, the stifling intellectualism or non intellectualism of the rest of her family. That would have been interesting. And then at the end she realizes, you know, oh, I'm Simpsons after all, so I have to I love my family and I don't want to leave them, and I don't want to leave everybody else.

But he's not. It's not like Colin Hanks. Yes, I guess he's supposed to be super smart in here, but it's not like the rest of the family is just completely awful. It's not like they're living in squalor. You know.

It's not like when Catherine O'Hara divorced the John Litsgow character that he's living in the mansion and she's just living in this piece of ship house, unless that's supposed to be a piece of ship house. But for me as a Midwesterner, I'm like, well, that's a very fancy place that you. Got there, especially in Orange County, right right, Yeah, one of the highest you know, real estate. Yeah, I mean obviously this guy was living in a much more you know. Got tons of cars.

Yeah, he's got the ocean view, he's got the hot young wife with Leslie Man, you know, and her. I love the scene with her in the background with the pool guy like yeah, massaging, massaging her feet and everything. But I'm just like, Okay, we don't need the moment where he turns and sees that. That just needs to be in the background. That needs to be a funny bit in the background.

But they're doing rules exactly, Zaz rules. Just have that play out. I'm like, Oh, he's gonna notice. He shouldn't notice, but he's gonna notice, and he does. Yeah, and it doesn't work.

I'm like what I mean by life said, yeah, miss missing the tone, Like, have that be a silly thing going on in the background and right, and. Needs to have run away with one the pool boy at the end of the film, rather than also being part of this big mix. And obviously the kid puts the pool guys right. Is that where we're I mean, because oh, is that kid has seemed like he was mixed make. More sense, That would make a lot more sense.

But I didn't pick up on that joke. It was a joke. Yeah, Well, that's the thing. It's like, it doesn't seem like it's one of those cases where stuff is missing, like this is was in the script and maybe it was, but a lot of it just seems like under this needed like two or three more passes by Mike White to get things sorted out. Yeah, I might see lazy Mike White.

That lazy Mike White. Well, I mean look, I mean, look, we you know, we've talked about the term neple babies. And this movie has plenty of them. And technically, I mean Lisa or Lisa Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow's daughter is the original Lake. She was the one that the tweet was about, right, The original neple baby tweet was about their oldest daughter.

So yeah, well, you know, Nepple babies are a dime a dozen. Literally, it's been going on since the beginning of movies. Oh yeah, talk to the Barry Morries. Yeah, well, is you know, born into the family business, what do you expect? I have no issue with.

I have no issue with it either, as long as they're talented. Because there are certain actors, actresses, filmmakers where you're just like, wow, had this guy not been the son of the producer or this or that. I mean you look at like Friedberg and Seltzer like freakirts. Dad is uh is an actual talented director, and then his son has no way of carrying water. Yeah.

Max landis one of the worst. I mean you look at John Landis's films and we'll talk about that. Actually a couple of this film, yes, yeah, coming up here on the Chasing Chevy Chase podcast. But man, oh man, that oh Max just is the worst. Yeah.

Well, and I would say another name that's up there is Dakota Johnson. I mean, you know, it's just and and I think like her. I like her, but I think she I like her because I think she just doesn't give a fuck, which I like, deeply appreciate as She's just like, yeah, well. There's nothing I can do about it, So what do you want from me? Like and and and you know, like there is something to be said for that, because none of these people were born as Nepple babies intentionally.

That's just that's just what happens. But this movie's full of them, and it's hard to overlook how many there are. There's like Nepple babies, and then there's like clearly like friends of the Nepple Baby's parents, like Harold Raymis Chevy Chase, like Lily Tomlin the movie. Speaking of chevy Chase, Yeah, let's talk about chevy Chase. Let's talk about him more than he's in the movie.

The raison detra of our podcast there, Yes, what a strange little turn. And yeah, to your point, Mark, I wonder if there was supposed to be more of him. I yeah, I don't know, but he's in it for a hot minute and has his reason for being There is a pervy joke about Britney Spears and then cut and that's it. And I thought ten minutes in, okay, he's gonna pop up at least two more times, right, thinking back on dirty Work or some of the other ones that I know that we're doing where he is not the lead, but they're they're more contemporary. Nope, I thought, Okay, we're getting down to like fifteen minutes left.

It still kind of makes sense if he pops in, maybe saves the day, fixes the transcript issue. Yeah, Nope, this is a short movie too. This is it's listed as under ninety minutes, and then there's a good four minutes of credits. So I think it was about one hour and eighteen minutes of movie film, and so I still was like, look, even at five minutes, I'm like, well, well he could pop up again. Nope, credit's gone done.

And I think I was being generous when I said he's on screen for two minutes, and it really literally is a minute. You can find his scene on YouTube and it is a fifty eight second video. Yikes. Yeah, I mean Mike White is in the Mike White ist in the movie more than yes, Yes, yeah. Two or three scenes, and even ben Stiller's scene is longer.

He has more lines and more interaction with Jack Black than than Chevy Chase does with Colin Hanks. This was a weird time in ben Stiller's life where he was doing a lot of cameos. I mean just would show up in odd places, like like the happ the Happy Madison movies. He would show up and like, isn't doesn't he abuse Anna Sandler's grandmother in one of the movies. Or yeah, you will go to sleep or I will put you to sleep.

I'm happy Gilmore. Yeah, right, and you're in my world now, Grandma. Yeah, he's great. He's great and happy Gilmore. I mean Ben ben Stiller, Ben Stiller's too old for this movie.

But Ben Stiller could have played the Shane Bremder character in another lifetime, I mean early nineties, you know, yeah, be still a you know, reality bites right, like. And then you kind of like to see him punished. I mean that that's the thing about Ben Stillers that he knows he can be an asshole. One of the best. Really, he's a fantastic asshole.

Yeah, and it just like, yeah, put him in here and get this guy punished, or like even Jack Black, like you were saying, like he he would have been a much more interesting character to follow, and either the way he helped helps quote unquote his brother or screws up some of the things with his brother and just that he should be that voice rather than Kevin Klein, that voice to be like, listen, this is your home. This is also what's. Giving you all of your best story ideas. You don't want to leave Orange County because this is a rich vein of incredible fiction that you can now fashion in on young man. It shouldn't be like, oh my god, I hate all these people.

I have to get away from here. Speaking of Ben Stiller, when you were talking about him being a jerk, it just made me think of his turn on Friends, where he I don't know if you guys, I know a lot of people hate that show, but my wife and I watched it like the whole time week after we got together, and he does that where he's super nice, super nice, and then he flips out and no one else sees it but Ross or whatever. And it made me think of all those turns he takes in movies, those those little bits where he just instantly goes off on stuff and they don't get there in this. They don't get quite that far in this, but I always love them when he does that. I love the irony of Ben Stiller and Jack Black being in this movie together.

What like ten almost ten years before Tropic Thunder comes out. The two that are in this scene together, and then like Black the. Voice of Jack in heat visioning Jack the pilot that I don't even know if it's a real pilot or not, but the thing that Ben Stiller directed with Owen Wilson as the yeah astronaut. Yeah, oh my god. Oh, and they're both in Cable Guy.

I mean they're. Oh yeah, that's where Leslie Mann and uh Judd Apatow met if if memory serves, Yeah, I think a lot of. This goes back to to Freaks and Geeks. A lot of the people that were involved in this also were involved in that, especially in Mike White and I want to say Jake cast and even directed an episode he. Did, Yeah he did.

I was looking at his credits. Oh he directed five episodes. Okay, I forgot show. I've a show I've never seen. Oh, it's pretty damn good.

I don't know if I'm want to do it on the one season show or not, but. That might be a little on the nose. It's like doing Firefly on the one season show. Like what what? What is?

What have? What have you got to say that everybody else has said? Right, Yeah, if not Freaks and Geeks, then Undeclared is kind of the offshoot of that. There was no Jason Siegel in this movie. That's what I was surprised by.

No Jason Siegel. No, Paul Rudd. Threw yeah, Paul Run's almost I was there. I forgot Jake kas and directed Zero Effect with Ben Stiller. And that's what I was talking about, Like that was an earlier ben Stiller movie.

That's exactly what I was thinking of. No, but that's a no, But that's exactly what I just couldn't remember the name, but that's exactly what I was thinking of. It's like ben Stiller at one point was like that reality bites, like they're trying to make this guy like a thing, and it's like, I'm not saying ben Stiller's not a thing, but ben Stiller doesn't need anybody else. To make him a thing. Like he's fine.

And that's the funny thing. Jake Kazen directed one of my favorite comedies period and he wrote it, which is walk Hard. I mean, Walkhart Is. Walkard's amazing, Like I think Walkhard Is is kind of in a lot of ways the movie that like why are we doing biopics anymore after this movie kind of made fun of it succinctly, to the to the point where, even like the Bob Marley movie that came out earlier this year, is still doing the things that that movie. Was making fun of almost you know, over a decade ago.

And that's I mean, Jake Kasden can direct and right, I just don't think that this Looking at the things that he's worked on since that he has directed and written, the things that he has only directed, even those things, for the most part, are better because I actually enjoyed that Jumanji movie, that first one a fair amount. I haven't seen the second one, but the first one's way better than it has any right to be. And and I'm not going to see that fucking Jksimon Santa Claus movie, no matter what anyone says. I'm not going to see a movie with snowmen asses dancing around. Okay, It's just not happening.

I'll tell you. I agree with you completely on the first Jumanji, the reboot or whatever we want to call it. Welcome to the joke Bull. That second one, I was not a big fan of it. The I liked Aquafina and she was okay, but it was the Dany Devido and Danny Glover effect of it, where they're just like, oh, we're old men, so now our avatars have to talk like old men.

And I'm like, okay, I don't know anyone, any real old man in real life that actually speaks the way that you guys are speaking. Yeah. No, well, and that's kind of how I felt in this. This is one of those Mike White isn't that old, And he probably wasn't very old when he wrote this. I'm not that far removed from high school or college maybe, but it felt like one of those this is an old guy writing teens for fellow kids.

Yeah, it doesn't quite get it right exactly. He would have been thirty. He was thirty one when this movie. Yes, yeah, you know. That's funny that his first Reddit is for what was that?

The Dead Man on Campus? Right? There were two movies that came out the exact same year that were both about the and I think it's an urban legend about if your roommate commits suicide that you get all a's at school. So it's yet another allege movie. And I thought that one was actually a little bit better.

I think Tom Everett Scott is better than Jake Kasten because Tom Evertt Scott can play or not Jake Cassen. I think Tom Evert Scott is a better protagonist than a at least in this movie, Colin Hanks, because you really can dislike Tom Evert Scott super easily. Well, and we're not supposed to like him as a character in this movie. We are supposed to. Like Colin Hanks, and it couldn't be further from that really, Like, so.

What was the other movie? You said? There were two movies? Oh, that Jake Kasden had done. It was so it was so it was walk Hard and Jumanji.

I will find that out because I'm trying to remember. It was written by Now, this is Chris. This is off the record, and it was written by the guy who shit. It was called the Dinner Party. Dinner Party movie.

That's that called sorry guys, Oh, the Last Supper, that's what it's called. Last Supper movie from nineteen ninety five. He went in and hitched this movie about if your roommate dies, you get all a's And the next person that was pitching was Mike White. So he's always held a grudge Cansen. The Curve is the name of the other movie.

Well, yes, I haven't seen either of them. I watch both of them because I'm always fascinated by these two movies are based on the same idea, and let's see how they do it. That That other one starred Matthew Lillard and Michael Vartan. Else that's a blast from the nineties, right, Michael Vartan. Wasn't he an alias?

Yeah? And Rogue the Killer Crocodile movie? Yes? Wow, he was on an episode of something We did an episode of the one season show on So it all comes back to the one season show, which you guys can have. I don't care, take it and do whatever the hell you want with it.

I got zioned for that. Nobody got time for that. Can we talk a little bit about Jack Black in this movie? Jack Black star of such famous video game films as the Super Mario Brothers movie Borderlands soon to be the Minecraft Moved. Why is Jack Black all of a sudden the video game movie?

Guy? Don't I don't get it, but he's probably be. A little bit characters though, so I'll take him over Chris Prett. Yeahs, At least Jack Black seems like an endearing human being and not dead behind the eyes like Chris Pratt is like more and more striking. Me.

I think Jack Black could have actually and should have probably been the main character of the movie. Uh, And I think that it would it should have been Colin Hanks's character is the one checking in from time to time, because again, like having Colin Hanks be the main character in this movie feels like a mistake. And look, Jack Black's character is written in such a way where he's meant to be annoying, but you ultimately I think kind of empathize with everybody, but Colin Hanks's character more because he's kind of treating everyone in his life rather poorly, or at least that's the way it would seem to me. Oh, he's not as bad as Scott's Pilgrim, but he definitely isn't Dilus. Isn't that same vein though?

Yeah he's selfish. Yeah, well he only think so, he only thinks about what he wants in terms of the way the movie has told him to. And so it's like, you know, I don't like characters like this, Like I have a hard time empathizing with a guy who's acting this way, So. I don't care that you didn't get into Stanford and your methods of trying to achieve that now are annoying and self entitled. Yeah, and not everybody can just invite family friends over to try and schmooze them much And I don't even in college.

And if that was intentional, they didn't hit it hard enough, like have him be a total prick throughout the movie. Ye be one of those smarmy characters who's using everybody, even his girlfriend whoever, haven't come out that everybody ends up realizing, hey, you're a selfish asshole. It's like they're trying to help him. I'm kind of his mom is sort of useless and dad's too busy, but they sort of all want to help him achieve this goal. At the end of the movie, they give enough money to open up the so and so wing of the of Stanford because there was an accident at the admissions office.

What do you know? Oh my god? And I could just so see that coming as soon as he had the list. And when he has the list, Jack Black has the list of here's all the people that get into Stanford. I'm just like, okay, we'll write your brother's name on there boom end of movie.

But No has to light it on fire throat in the garbage can, which is right next to the curtains, and we're going to burn the whole place down. I'm like, okay, great, And then he has to be on the run from the cops and I'm just like, ah, this is not good. And the way he escapes from the cops makes no fucking sense. And again, yes, I know this is a comedy, but it's just not that funny. It's not funny at all.

Really. I mean, it's it's a kind of comedy that was coming out at a certain time in in our kind of movie history that I don't know. It's just when I was watching it last night, a friend of mine was like, is there a movie that's Jason Lee and Tom Green in it where they're trying to get into college. Yeah? There is.

It's called Stealing Harvard and it has a very similar plot to this movie. And then the Perfect Score. You guys remember that movie, the Chris Evans movie where they're trying to steal what SAT scores. There's a whole series of movies about stealing SAT scores. I also did an article about that, And there was even a Turkish comedy Get This, with a small role by Jean Claude van Dam where he shows up in this Turkish film about kids stealing test answers.

Yeah. I don't know if I like those ideas more or the one of like, let's make our own college more with accepted. Do you remember that movie where it's with Justin Long where they make their own college and they all. Go to it. I don't remember that one.

Yeah, yeah, fun though, just Jonah Hill a couple other people. It's like they don't get into college, so they make their own college. Oh, I have seen that movie. Yeah, I saw it in theater. I think it came out like two thousand and eight or something like.

I think I saw it when I was in college my freshman year. That's kind of like the Will Ferrell Vince Fawn movie in a way. Let's old school. Yeah, let's create our own fraternity. Yeah, Todd Phillips, everybody, what's that guy doing?

Blue? Poor Blue? Well? And that was also didn't he also do road Trip, that Tom Green film, also about college admissions. Yeah, and then he also directed Starsky in the Hutch, which had Ben Stiller in it.

Playing, it all comes back. All it's all circular people. The comedy, a certain sub section of comedy in this country is very incestuous. This movie is kind of in that world, as it were, of like a lot of people working together that work together on a lot of things, or have family members that like the Harold raymis is in this movie only because somebody was like, hey, Harold, do you want to be in my kids movie? Like, oh, you mean Lawrence was probably doing that.

That's probably Larry Cast and that got it Sevin Klein because I'm like, well, Kevin Klein was in The Big ChIL, he was in Grand Canyon, all these Silverado, Silverada. Yeah, fucking great in Silverado. And yeah, it's like just made me want to watch Silverado. Probably you know, was around the house when Jake was growing up. Who knows.

This movie is only three years removed from Wild Wild West. So why didn't we get another Kevin Klein in an address? Right? That's what I was wondering. Yeah, Colin Hanks, who grabbed my boobs?

What do they feel like, Colin Hanks? I feel like they're full of sand. I was wondering if this had any connection to that show. The o C I sort of. It just made me feel like the same way I felt about all those characters on that show, like I don't care about any of you people in your problems.

Well, it uses the music from the OC because the theme song for the show is that fucking Phantom Planet song, which, by the way, speaking of speaking of speaking of NEPO babies, Phantom Planets lead singer or not lead singer but drummer is Jason Schwartzman. Yeah, speaking of NEPO babies. Speaking of like again like the with the NEPO babies. Like my Neppo family family. Yeah, hey, hey they got they got the chops though, So I mean you can argue that at least.

Begley says, and then no one agrees necessarily. I'm not a Wes and I'm not a Wes Anderson guy. So I love Jason Schwartzman. So he's he's a He's less annoying as a NEPO baby than in the things I've seen him in. Then Colin Hanks is in this movie, but hey, that poster has Jack Black with an orange in his mouth.

Oh yeah, just like The Godfather. Speaking of Frances, Yeah, it's a it's a it's a it's a film of cinematic caliber of that of The Godfather. Really, m yeah, god, I don't really get the poster. I mean, I get it, said, I don't get it. It's the Oranges from Orange County minute right, short, any oranges in Orange County.

There's no king, it's a dozen king. I think we should double check our next nine. Just be movie first. Yeah. No, this wasn't because of Cherry Chase.

This was because of Mike White. Okay, oh that was why. Okay, I get it. Ah, I'm glad you mentioned that at the beginning. Then, because I've always wanted to and I'm putting this out into the universe.

I've always wanted to interview Mike White, but it has to be a print interview so that it just says Mike White and now show with them Mike Waller and then the answer that's what I want? Is it? Who's talking? Who's not talking? I don't understand, yes, but at least like funny money and I don't know about the last laugh.

That's not that it's gonna look at her films it. So what's really funny is we we missed an opportunity to watch another Nepo Baby movie because chevy Chase is actually in snow Day, which is a Nickelodeon film, and Skyler Fisk is also in that movie, of all things, playing the main character's girlfriend, and then chevy Chase plays the main character's father, and he's actually in that more than he if I I guess, if I could have gone back in time and changed it, I would have changed this to be snow Day because at least chevy Chase is in it a little bit more. But yeah, chevy Chase is barely in this movie. Well, I appreciate you highlighting Mike White, so well, yeah, got it? Got it.

Where people need to know about Mike White and how awesome he is? Well, they watched the White Lotus. I think they know at this point. Yeah, Sean Brumder. What kind of last name is Brumder?

Oh? Are you going to get racist now about people named Brumder? Yeah? Geez drud? Like is this an act not an acronym?

But whatever? He arranged letters to something agram? Yeah, No, not watched us expecting a lot of trivy Chase. It's all that. Yeah, don't expect this, expect don't watch us expecting a lot of anything really.

Roger Ebert liked it apparently. Yeah, boy, three and three out of four stars. Whatever, Wow, dude, Okay, them horror movies are really what the problem is? All right, did David Lynch's Orange County? What did you what did you say?

You're trying to go to Stanford? Now it's a horizon. I'd watch that movie. Shane Brunder walks into his dad's Oh my god, his dad is just the creature from Eraser had the baby talking to him. It gets to Stanford and this professor is just a.

Tree, a living tree. God, it's actually a Carol Strichen. It's that who it is? It's quiz time again? Yeah, I would.

I would rather sit for another hour and talk about that movie that doesn't exist, then watch an hour long movie known as Orange County, because at the end of the day at least the movie is only about an hour long. There is that. Yeah, so it's just move fast. Yes, yes it is short. But moving on.

On the next episode of The Chase and Jimmy Jay's podcast, we're going to be returning to the world of vacation with a look at nineteen eighty five's National Lampoons European vacation, the one that I may have seen the most other than Vegas vacation. But we'll get to it, We get to it. Until then, where can people find you and the things that you work on? Mark Begley, you can find my shows Cambridge, what are they called? Camber, Joe Machean and Wake Up Heavy over on Wordingwaymedia dot com.

How about you, Mike White, the other Mike White. You can find the new season of The White Lotus the available on Max which we now just call Max. I've got a fantastic cast lined up for everyone, including John Gryce himself. Uncle Rica will be back, so yes, be sure to check that out. How about you, Chris?

You can find me and the things that I work on over at Weirdingwaymedia dot com, which is where you can also find the things that you work on. I know people know that, but I'm just going to make sure that they're aware. Yeah. Other than the one show that you and I do, which is on Patreon on a respective Patreon pages, ten dollars or higher gets access to us talking about James Bond with our dear friend mister Richard Hattam. So until then, like rate and review the show on iTunes.

Please anywhere else is not going to be nearly as helpful as helping us out on iTunes. And we'll catch you on the next episode. Hope is