WEBVTT - Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.760 Hello listeners, Caitlin here dropping in at the top of 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:07.480 the episode to give you one final reminder about the 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:11.760 Shrek Tannek tour which starts next week. And you're also 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.160 about to find out that this is my birthday episode. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.840 So if you would like to give me the most 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:20.720 wonderful birthday gift of all, you can do so by 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.320 buying tickets to the shows on this tour, which are 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.880 two shows in London on May twenty second, followed by 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.760 a show in Oxford with the Saint Audio Podcast Festival 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.600 on May twenty fourth, then Edinburgh on May twenty sixth, 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.839 Manchester on May twenty eighth, and Dublin on May twenty ninth. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.920 Right now, there are still a few tickets available for 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.360 all of these shows, and it would just really mean 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.040 the world if you came out to see us live. 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:54.600 We have so much fun, goofy stuff planned, stuff you've 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.000 never seen or heard before. So do yourself a favor. 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.360 Do not miss these shows, which you can buy tickets 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.000 to at link tree slash Bechdel Cast. We will see 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:11.320 you there. We are so freaking excited. The other thing 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.800 switching gears here, but the other thing that we want 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.319 to do at the top of the episode is to 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:23.480 place a content warning for domestic abuse and violence, as 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:30.160 that is a component of our discussion on this episode. 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:31.759 Enjoy the episode. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:36.080 On the Bechdelcast, the questions ask if movies have women 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.480 and them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:43.400 or do they have individualism? It's the patriarchy? Zeff and 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.800 vest start changing with the Bechdel Cast. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.640 Hey Caitlin, Hey Jamie, are you telling me that for 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:56.440 the last six or seven years you've also been podcasting 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:58.680 in secret? Well? 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.720 Gee, I don't know. I'm gonna be really secretive about it. 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.160 I guess the only way to get to the bottom 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:05.840 of it. 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:10.480 Is to kill each other, or to join forces and 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:12.120 do a podcast together. 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:16.800 Wow, and revitalize our relationship by hot started. God, wouldn't 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:18.839 that be I haven't seen the reboot, but what if 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.320 that is what happens, mister and missus Smith just start 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:24.760 a podcast. That would be such a bummer. I really 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.040 hope that that doesn't happen. Did you watch the show? 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:29.120 I didn't watch the whole thing, but I saw the pilot, 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.799 so I can describe the premise based on that. 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.560 Okay, I read about it, but I feel like that's 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.960 sometimes what happens now on shows where they're just like 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:45.760 they're under thirty five. Should they have a podcast? Unclear? 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:56.120 Maybe anyways, do do do? Happy birthday to Caitlin. Maybe 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:57.959 that's exactly who. 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:02.079 Oh happy thank you today, Thank you so much. It's 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.520 true as my birthday. And that's why I picked this movie, 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.560 Mister and Missus Smith, two thousand and five, because it 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.760 used to be a movie I really liked and now 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:15.480 maybe not so much. 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.200 I'm excited and if this happens to be your first 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.360 time around here, because you're a huge mister and Missus Smith, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.040 two thousand and five fan, Welcome to the Bechdel Cast. 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:28.840 My name's Jamie Loftus. 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.600 My name is Caitlin Drante, and this is our podcast 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:36.000 where we examine movies through an intersectional feminist lens using 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:41.160 the Bechdel Test just to get the dang conversation going, 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.640 except we wait till the very end of the episode 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:46.840 to talk about it. Yeah, it makes sense. 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.240 It really does, it really does. The Bechdel Test is, 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.960 of course, a media metric created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.920 sometimes called the Bechdel Wallace Test because she co created 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.920 it with her friend Liz Wallace. Lots of different versions 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.880 of this test. The one we use. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:09.120 For our purposes requires that two people, two characters of 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.680 a marginalized gender, speak to each other about something other 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.120 than a man for more than two lines. 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:21.479 Of dialogue, and it should be a meaningful exchange and 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.080 then we just sort of start the conversation from there. 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:25.000 It's thrilling. 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.760 So today's movie is, like I said, mister missus Smith, Jamie, 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:34.320 what is your relationship, if any, with the dang movie? 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:40.800 Easy? Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. I had never seen this movie. 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.560 I feel like I'm coming in completely cold because not 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.680 only have I never seen this, I had no interest 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.880 in the reboot because I had never seen this. I 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.159 really have never had much of an I mean, especially 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.400 as time goes on, as we'll talk about, I've never 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.360 really had much of an interest in Brad Pitt or 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:05.400 Angelina jo Lee action movies. So this was just never 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:07.880 going to be a movie I was good to see. Yeah, fair, 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:09.800 even though I think that, Like, I mean, when this 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:14.040 movie came out, he was like eleven or twelve, so 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.440 I feel like I should have been I feel like 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:22.159 that's a very like gossip magazine age, but I was 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:27.640 also not very invested in the media narrative. I don't know. 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.480 I guess this one just missed me. I just didn't care. Yeah, 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.800 and I have to say not to be a downer 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:36.920 at the top of the episode. I watched the movie 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:40.039 and I care less than ever. Yeah, I didn't like 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.080 it very much. Although I do get like watching it now, 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:47.760 I do get why people liked it at the time. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.240 I get it. It's a sexy little movie, yeah, and 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.039 it has its moments. But yeah, just really was not 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.320 doing very much for me. Caitlin, what is your history 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:58.960 with mister and Missus Smith. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.640 I saw in theaters in two thousand and five. I 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:08.479 was either a freshman or sophomore in college, so you know, 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.640 I didn't have the most refined taste, and I thought 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.520 this movie was awesome. I was like, Wow, look at 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.440 these hot people being so hot, and they're hot near 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.080 each other, and they're hot on top of each other, 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.800 and they're fighting and then they're kissing and WOWI wow. 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.919 These are all the very nuanced thoughts going through my head. 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:33.080 And I thought it was a fun movie. And then 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:36.200 I bought it on DVD and I watched it a 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.359 lot on DVD, and I still have the DVD brag 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:40.080 for that. 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:44.400 Your DVD collection is a thing of beauty. 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.680 I really don't stand by a lot of it, but 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:47.760 it is there. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:49.679 That's growth. That's growth. 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:50.680 I feel like, thank you. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:55.280 It's very alarming when someone's taste never changes. Yeah, if 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:59.680 everyone can vouch for their DVD collection from twenty years ago, folks, 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.760 we've got a problem. You've got to look in word. Yeah, 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.560 you know, there has to be certain things that you 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:06.560 cannot answer for. 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:07.160 M hm. 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:08.600 What was it like rewatching? 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:15.120 I thought that the storytelling was sloppy and the pacing 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:19.960 was really bad. Yeah, because since I first saw this movie, 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.720 I of course went on to get a master's degree 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.440 in screenwriting from Boston University, something I would never mention, 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.840 but I have a far better understanding of, you know, 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:35.040 narrative structure and pacing. And I was like, oh, this 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:39.560 movie like lags. There's a lot of like unnecessary repetition 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.280 in the exposition, Like this could have been streamlined significantly. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.600 I thought the storytelling was just like not very well done, 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:48.320 especially in Act one. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.480 Yeah, it was sort of those movies where I couldn't 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.040 tell if it was the writing or if I was 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.880 just bored. But I did find like a lot of 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:03.040 the establishing information confusing, right, I mean, this is just 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.720 movie logic. But I'm like, they didn't know, right then, 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.640 you guys are a joke. You're bad at your job 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:11.640 because you're not being very subtle. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.400 They are pretty bad at their jobs. The other thing 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:18.920 about this movie is that so I teach screenwriting classes 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.360 using aforementioned degree that I would never mention. 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:30.239 Plus plus plugs, and the main assignment in my intro 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.720 level class is for students to write a film treatment. 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:39.040 And I send them various treatments as an example of 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.200 what to do and how to write a treatment. And 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:43.520 I would say the best one I have found after 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:49.600 scouring the internet is the treatment for mister and Missus Smith. Really, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.040 a lot of the treatments are either that are available 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.319 online at least that I have access to. They're either 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.360 a James Cameron's script Mint, so it's like seventy pages 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.320 long and he basically just wrote the script but kind 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:09.440 of summarized it also, so those aren't useful, or their 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:14.760 treatments that just like aren't very good at encapsulating like 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.720 what the story of the movie is. So even though 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:23.680 this is like not a masterpiece of cinema, the treatment 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:27.680 for it is at least effective at being a treatment 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.520 and serving the purpose that a treatment is supposed to serve. 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:32.560 So I send this to all my students, and this 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.640 is kind of like the main one that we study, 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:39.960 and so I'm constantly rereading the treatment for this movie. 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:45.360 Wow. Yeah, So, like you actually have a consistent and 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:47.760 like rather intimate relationship with this movie. 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.400 This is wild, right, But I hadn't rewatched the movie 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:57.160 probably since like twenty ten, twenty eleven, Like it definitely 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.120 fell off for me, and it wasn't something I was 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.240 consistently watching after the first few years of enjoying it. 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.280 But I do have this kind of like intimate relationship 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.840 with at least the premise of the movie, and so 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.200 I was excited to go back and rewatch it to 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:16.040 see if it held up at all. And I would say, 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:20.360 generally the answer is no, although I don't know if 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.240 it was just the nostalgia, but I was like, I'm 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:27.439 still having fun. There's still some fun set pieces and sequences. 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.880 Definitely, and also I mean like there's certain like images 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.840 where well, I don't even know if this is necessarily true, 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.040 but there are a few images in this movie that 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.760 I'm like, they don't make shots like that anymore. And 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:43.679 I'm thinking of Angelina Joe snapping someone's neck basically as Catwoman, 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:45.920 then jumping off a building with an umbrella and getting 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.960 into a cab all in the space of twenty seconds. 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.680 I'm like, yes, now that was cinema. That was cinema. 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:54.000 That was pretty amazing. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:56.559 The movie feels like a movie in that moment. 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.360 The movie was really feeling like a movie, because this 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.000 is not a movie in which magic is a factor. 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.360 But like Catwoman, Mary Poppins, I know there was some 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:09.360 sort of gadget, but I was like, no way, no way. 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.880 I know, wow, that's passive. Well, I'm excited to talk 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.000 about the story. I also did a fairly deep dive 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.640 on the meat because I mean that to me, when 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:21.640 I think of mister and Missus Smith, I think of 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:24.199 the media cycles around it more so than the movie 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.600 that I didn't care about, never saw. So we're firing 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:31.000 on all cylinders today because it was. I mean, it's 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.200 probably one of the most famous tabloid sagas of our 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:40.040 lifetime that has oh boy been, I think thoughtfully reappraised 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.480 many times in the last couple of years. And also 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.120 Brad Pitt is a domestic abuser. We simply have to 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.320 say it at the top of the show. Whose children 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:55.000 hate him? So you know, so much to talk about today, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.679 a rich church uterie of discourse. 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:01.400 Indeed, shall we make a quick break and then come 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:14.839 back for the recap. Let's do that, Okay, and we're back. 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.960 We're back. It's still Caitlin's birthday and we are mister 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.880 and missus Smith. Can I just say before we even start, 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.800 how I've never like because I didn't outside of Brad 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:29.840 Pitt and Angelina Joliet, had no idea who is in 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.800 this movie. I haven't experienced this in a long time, 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.319 But when Vince Vaughn came on the screen, I experienced 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:41.400 a full body shutter. And I don't even like hate him, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:45.000 but I just like, for whatever headspace I was in 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.280 when I was watching this yesterday, I was like, not today, No, 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.520 I can't do Vince Vaughan today. And of course he's 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:53.959 the worst character. 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.120 In the movie, Oh my gosh. 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:57.040 And you're like, why is he here? And then you 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:58.760 do a little research and you're like, well, it's the 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.000 same director as Swingers. That's why he's here. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.800 Yes, that is why he's here. And he's playing a 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.920 character that was his like bread and butter during this time, 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:09.920 and also in Swingers era. 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.480 Misogynists, Piece of Shit, Loser. 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:16.760 Wedding Crashers, he plays basically the same character. Oh really Yeah, 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:22.320 he's just like spewing hatred toward women in every line 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.080 of dialogue, and that is his character. 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.640 Also on top of that, it seems like, I don't know, 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.400 I feel like you see misogynist characters who are meant 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.040 to look very like smooth, and then you see misogynist 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.360 characters and I'm just talking about this era of movies 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:44.280 who it's clear that they're being hateful out of rejection. 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.160 I don't like to see either. But right you know, 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.760 the very like he lives with his mom, which are like, 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.280 it's just all so lazily written. 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:57.840 And I feel like this movie falls somewhere in the 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.280 middle because we're not supposed to be like, Wow, he's 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:04.320 awesome and hilarious, but we're also like, he's still an 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.520 ally to the characters we're meant to be rooting for, 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.880 and no one ever calls him out on his behavior. 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:15.440 So it's just sort of presented uncritically and where I 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.720 think meant to laugh along at what he's saying. 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.280 I think in two thousand and five seems likely. I 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.360 don't know. I haven't seen wedding crashers, and I'm God 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:32.400 willing I'll never have to. If you're a mad trend, 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:37.320 and I hope you are, please never vote for wedding crashers. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.680 But it's on the poll. I never want to watch it. 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.600 If I can get through my whole life with never 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:44.880 seeing wedding crashers, that'll be all right. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:46.360 Yeah, I agree. 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.400 Anyways, mister and Missus Smith, what happens to this damn movie? 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:54.240 So we open on a couple's counseling session where we 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:59.400 meet a married couple mister and Missus Smith, that's the 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:05.280 name of them, who are John and Jane played by 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.680 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. And we see them talking 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.480 to the therapist and they are not on the same 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:17.560 page maritally, and they then start to tell the story 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:22.960 of how they met. So five or six years ago, 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:28.160 they were both in Columbia during a flurry of police activity, 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.800 so they kind of come together to keep each other 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:38.320 safe and they hit it off and have a whirlwind romance. 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:43.080 A few weeks past, John is talking to his friend 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:49.400 slash colleague Eddie that's Vince Vaughn, saying how he proposed 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.600 to Jane. They're getting married. Meanwhile, Jane is talking to 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:58.000 her friend Jasmine played by Carrie Washington, who is too 0:15:58.120 --> 0:15:59.280 good for this movie. 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.720 Kerry Washington is too good for so many of her 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:04.760 early roles. I just hope that this is the kind 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.480 of movie where you look at the budget and you're like, 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:08.720 I certainly hope she got a good paycheck. 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:10.720 I hope, but I also doubt. 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.760 Yeah, yeah, I mean I also have such doubts. 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.720 We have such doubts, much like Meryl, Much like Merrill. 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:19.840 I have such doubts. 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:24.280 Yes, So they are talking about John aka they're not 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:29.840 passing the Bechdel test, and Jane thinks that John is 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:35.840 a construction contractor. John thinks Jane works in tech. What 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:41.600 they don't know is that actually they're both assassins. 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.560 WHOA. Yeah, I mean so much of this movie plays 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.280 on I think very tropey views of what hetero marriage is, 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:53.000 which is you secretly hate each other, uh huh. But 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.840 also like this movie just takes it to such a 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.400 far flung extent where I'm just like, oh my god, 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.680 what is this writer's marriage. Like, we're like, obviously it's 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.399 not autobiographical, because then he would be cool. But the 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.600 fact that they're like they don't even know really what 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.440 each other does, I don't know, it's funny. It's weird, right. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.320 So I have a little bit of information on this, pulling, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:22.679 of course, from scholarly journal Wikipedia once again hit me. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.560 The movie was written by Simon Kinberg. 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.040 Who's written I think some of the most hated X 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:28.760 Men movies. 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.840 Also, oh, I didn't even realize that. 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.480 Throughout Dark Phoenix, I believe or produce Dark Phoenix. 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:41.479 Ooof well, he wrote and sold the script while he 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:46.399 was a grad student, and he had the idea for 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.600 the movie after listening to a couple of his friends 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.800 who went to marriage therapy, and he thought that it 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:59.080 sounded aggressive and mercenary, and he's like, hmm, this would 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.719 make an interesting template for a relationship inside of an 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:07.480 action movie. So he just like took his friend's marital 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.040 problems and then put that in an action movie. 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.040 Question mark, So I mean, I don't hate that, Like 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.560 I get what he's saying, but also I don't know, 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:22.680 it's weird. I sort of thought that, like, the therapy 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.919 was presented less hatefully than therapy often is in movies 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.520 of this era, So it's interesting to think that he 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.440 actually didn't feel that way. Well, who knows, but it 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.640 didn't read to be as like outwardly like I thought. 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.560 It was like a fun framing device that makes it 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:40.960 clear that he's a piece of shit, which I know 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.560 the movie isn't really capable of showing, but I had 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:45.359 no issue with the actual framing device. 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:50.600 Yeah, yeah, it works for me. So then we cut 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:55.120 to five or six years later, and again their marriage 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:59.640 is rocky and unaffectionate. They are not open with each other. 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.320 They still don't know what the other one actually does 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:06.760 for a living. Then we see Jane leave one evening 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.919 on an assignment. She goes to see an arms dealer 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:16.560 pretending to be a dominatrix, then kills him. Meanwhile, John 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:21.080 assassinates a few guys at a poker game. They both 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:26.840 make swift escapes, and they reconvene at their suburban neighbors 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.960 holiday party, and we're like, Wow, what a contrast between 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:38.000 their sexy lives as assassins and suburban life. 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.639 There's a lot of these coming out. I was thinking 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.639 about the bad sorry frank Oz, but the bad Stepford 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.159 Wives adaptation that came out like the year before or 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.359 after this. Like there's a lot of oh yeah, weird attempts. 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.800 I feel like, with like summery blockbusters to comment on 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:59.040 suburban life. And I'm sure there was a good one. 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.840 I don't know that I've seen it. Anyways, this is 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.439 another one where you're just like, sure, they're not like 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.600 other suburbanites, but like, that doesn't mean that we like that. 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:10.320 I don't know. 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:15.240 Well, Stepford Wives was the reason that Nicole Kidman, who 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.680 was originally considered for Jane Smith oh right, yes, couldn't 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:24.040 do the movie because she was too busy filming Stepford Wives. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.560 Wow. Well, I guess this movie was technically more successful. 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.879 But I mean, I feel like there would be a 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.080 rift in the space time continuum if this movie's casting 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:33.840 went differently. 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.960 Oh yeah, oh my gosh, yeah, because I mean, I mean, 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.640 you would probably never have the Branjelina of it all. 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.439 Which might be for the best for all parties, but 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:49.200 also like, yeah, if the casting for this movie's leads 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:53.520 went different, America, as we know it would crumble, like 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:55.520 what would people have talked about? 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:01.679 True? In any case, So John and Jane then both 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:06.439 head off to work at their respective assassin offices, and 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:11.120 they both get the same assignment to kill Benjamin Dance 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:16.920 played by Adam Brody, who we've already seen receive an 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:20.439 assignment of his own, although we don't know what it is. 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:21.520 See. 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:26.280 That was my pleasant jump scare was Adam Brodie's appearance 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:27.359 in this movie had. 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:29.520 No idea good for him, good for him for. 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.719 A second when I think you first see him from 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.320 the back, and I was like, if that is justin Bartha, 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:38.960 I'm gonna lose it. But regrettably it was not just. 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:42.120 I mean, I'm happy either way. I'm happy either way. 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:46.159 Yeah. Now it's Adam Brody, and he's also being a 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:49.960 misogynist because he's like ordering a woman to bring him 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.959 a cup of coffee and that's not her job and 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:54.719 he sucks. 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:57.080 Yeah. And if there's one thing Adam Brody's gonna do 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.960 and he's typecast, it's be a piece of shit. 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:01.000 True. 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:03.960 I was like, Wow, it's really been twenty years of 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.120 Adam Brody being type cast as a piece of shit. 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:09.000 I wonder what He's like, in real life, we're seeing 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:14.280 a pattern, aren't we of male actors being type cast 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:18.920 as misogynists? Hmm, wonder what's up with that? 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.439 But the twist is, in this movie, we're supposed to 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:26.080 be rooting for at least one of them. Yeah, we're 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:29.520 supposed to be laughing, laughing, laughing. Yeah. 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:34.400 Anyway, So John and Jane separately go to a location 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:39.200 in the desert near the US Mexico border where they 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:42.719 know Benjamin is going to be, and they're planning their attack, 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:46.719 and then they both realize another assassin is there, and 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:50.720 they try to sabotage the other one because they don't 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:56.000 realize it's their spouse whoa Neither are successful in their 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:02.200 mission to kill Adam Brody. Jane flees the scene. Great, Yeah, 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:04.560 I think I just started calling him Adam Brody like 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:05.360 from this point on. 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:07.480 I mean, what the hell are we supposed to call? 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:11.520 Yeah, I know, Benjamin, you're right now, get a grip. 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:16.000 So Jane flees the scene and John takes her laptop 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:20.440 to try to figure out who that was. Meanwhile, Jane 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:26.560 is at Lady Assassin Headquarters Industries because everyone she works 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:30.120 with is a woman whoa feminism alert. 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:35.080 I mean it's a fun idea. It's a fun idea. 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:40.600 Although her boss, who they call Father played by Keith David, 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:44.840 is I think the only man and he's like, you 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:49.480 have forty eight hours to clean the scene, aka find 0:23:49.520 --> 0:23:52.600 the other guy and kill him, or else she will 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:57.560 become the next target. So we cut back to John, 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:01.560 who finds out an address for the left and goes 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:10.159 there discovers that it's the office of his wife wa Meanwhile, 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:13.760 Jane is looking at footage of the other Assassin in 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:20.240 the desert and she realizes it's her husband. So they 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:24.159