The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast – GO

Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
Episode: “Go” (1999)
Published: 28 August 2026
Hosts: Stephen Fenech (techguide.com.au) & Trevor Long (eftm.com)

[00:01:43] Stephen Fenech: Hello and welcome everyone to The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, our podcast about movies. My name is Stephen Fenech. I’m the person who chooses the movies for the show to show them to my co-host Trevor Long, who is watching them for the very first time. That’s me. Hence the name of this podcast.

[00:02:01] Trevor Long: Yes, this week I’m honored to have a show named after my inability to watch movies during my 50-year career of living.

[00:02:09] Stephen Fenech: There, I think this week I’m positive you haven’t seen this one before. It’s Go. Probably one of the shortest titles for—

[00:02:18] Trevor Long: there wouldn’t be many. I mean, there’s one word, one letter in any movie.

[00:02:23] Stephen Fenech: I don’t think so. I think this would be in the record for being one of the shortest.

[00:02:29] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:02:29] Stephen Fenech: It is a movie.

[00:02:31] Trevor Long: Yeah, it is a movie.

[00:02:32] Trevor Long: Go.

[00:02:32] Trevor Long: There you go.

[00:02:33] Stephen Fenech: It isn’t Stephen King.

[00:02:34] Trevor Long: Yes, well, I could have said that, but there you go. All right, well, show off my knowledge.

[00:02:38] Stephen Fenech: Go was released in 1999 starring Sarah Polley, Jay Moore, Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant, and Scott Wolf, and many others. Uh, it was written by a guy named John August.

[00:02:51] Trevor Long: Okay.

[00:02:52] Stephen Fenech: Uh, he intended for this to be a short film. So what he’d written was the Ronna part. Remember the first part?

[00:02:59] Trevor Long: Oh, okay. Gotcha.

[00:03:00] Stephen Fenech: Where she’s in the supermarket.

[00:03:02] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:03:02] Stephen Fenech: Simon’s gone off buying his—

[00:03:02] Trevor Long: And I think you did tell me last week that this was a very Pop Fiction-esque, you know, intersecting storyline. Yes, intersecting stories.

[00:03:08] Stephen Fenech: And so he had the Ronna part down and then the other two sections, because, you know, Simon was in it and Adam and Zach were in it. Remember the two guys asking if they can score? So he fleshed it out and the other two sections were added to explain why those other people were there in the first place.

[00:03:25] Trevor Long: Which is just in itself an interesting concept. I’m gonna— I’m gonna make a story, but then I’m gonna explore each of the other parts of the story.

[00:03:33] Stephen Fenech: Each of the background of it. And they literally intersect. You see some scenes that are— Repeated. Some of the script is said again.

[00:03:40] Trevor Long: All I wanna know was, you can get to that later, but I feel like it was shot multicam and just reused. I’d like to lay it on top of each other on a timeline.

[00:03:47] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, maybe, maybe. But John August, he watched Swingers back in ’96, which we’ve done. Which was directed by Doug Liman. He watched that and he thought, wow, he’d be the perfect director for Go. Yeah, right. And he jumped on board. And as you mentioned, intersecting stories, a little bit like Pulp Fiction. Yeah, more about that in a moment. But had you—

[00:04:10] Trevor Long: and I feel like I want to watch Pulp Fiction again.

[00:04:12] Stephen Fenech: Oh yeah, that’s worth a rewatch, definitely. But have you— had you had any idea of this movie?

[00:04:18] Trevor Long: No, to the point where I, I think even Even the poster made me think, is this about racing? I don’t know, the way the font was. I don’t know. Yeah, I had no idea what it was about. I’d never heard of it.

[00:04:28] Stephen Fenech: No. Well, go is, um, according to the notes that I’ve— the research I’ve done, go is another name for methamphetamine.

[00:04:36] Trevor Long: Oh, okay, good to know.

[00:04:38] Stephen Fenech: That’s, uh, as we’ll discover, that’s kind of a theme. One of the plot lines of the show is, uh, drugs. But, uh, let’s talk about, uh, Roger Ebert’s review.

[00:04:48] Trevor Long: Oh man, man, Rog.

[00:04:49] Stephen Fenech: Big Rog, uh, 3 out of 4 stars.

[00:04:50] Trevor Long: It’s pretty good.

[00:04:51] Stephen Fenech: He Here’s what he said: This is an entertaining, clever black comedy that takes place entirely in Tarantino land. Lyman is a talented director who works as his own cinematographer and finds a nice off-center humor. His Swingers was an accomplished debut film, and here, with a screenplay by John August, he does more and better. And yet the shadow of QT— Quentin Tarantino— falls on many scenes. Tarantino has created a generation of footnoters and cross-references. I’m not I’m not saying Go couldn’t have been made without the example of Pulp Fiction, but, uh, it can’t be seen without thinking of it. What it adds is a grittier feel. Lyman’s characters are closer to ground level. Go has energy and wit, and the performances are right for the material, especially Sarah Polley, who thinks fast and survives harrowing experiences, and Fickner, the cop who’s so remarkably open to new experiences. The movie is ruthless in its attitude toward the apparently dead or dying, but then grisly indifference is central to the self-centered values without which these characters would have no values at all. Lyman shows here, as he did in Swingers, that he has a good eye and can create screwy characters. But can he break out of QT land? So that was, as we mentioned, the intersecting storylines. It had a big Pulp Fiction feel to it. Do you agree?

[00:06:15] Trevor Long: Yeah, no, absolutely. Like, the vibe was— yeah, apart from— yeah, you know, I guess the presence of Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta, you know what I mean? Like, that’s really all it lacked.

[00:06:26] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely. Yeah, but it did have that sort of, uh, the structure, similar structure to, uh, Pulp Fiction. Radio, this is your last exit before the freeway. We’re going to go deeper into Go, uh, as the show progresses. And if you haven’t seen it, you can watch it through Fetch.

[00:06:42] Trevor Long: And Fetch’s motto here is, we’ve got movie covered, movies covered. Enjoy the latest releases and loads of your favorites in the Fetch movie store. Add Movie Box and enjoy 30 on-demand pre-selected movies every month. Plus there’s a load of movies as well on Netflix, Stan, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many, many more. There are 11,000 movies to choose from in the Fetch store, allowing you to rent or buy. And something I haven’t mentioned for a while, but it’s worth noting, is— excuse me— if you’ve got subscriptions to Netflix and Stan and other things, the Fetch movie search will opt to give you the best quality at the best price. So if a movie is available on Stan and it’s available in the Fetch movie store, they won’t just throw the Fetch movie store version at you for $14.99 or $9.99 or whatever it costs that day. They’ll just say, click here to watch, because you’ve got Stan, you’re logged in, and you’ll watch straight away, and you won’t have to pay a cent. So it’s a great way of ensuring you’re actually getting the best from your subscriptions, because Fetch also has all the major streaming platforms available right there on one box. One all-in-one entertainment box for your TV. You can buy Fetch at major retailers, you can get it through Telstra, and you can buy it through fetchtv.com.au, and it’ll change the way you see entertainment.

[00:07:52] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:07:53] Stephen Fenech: Trevor Long has now seen Go.

[00:07:54] Trevor Long: Correct.

[00:07:55] Stephen Fenech: I did. You did send me your proof of life. Proof of life was sent. On a plane. I think you sent it to me, by the way.

[00:08:00] Trevor Long: Oh, was it? Yes, it was.

[00:08:02] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Our schedules forced us even. I think I watched this on the plane too.

[00:08:05] Trevor Long: We’ve been traveling a little bit too much.

[00:08:07] Stephen Fenech: But give us, without giving away the farm, give us your first impressions.

[00:08:12] Trevor Long: I am glad you told me about the intersecting story thing because not that any part of the story was boring, but it actually got me interested. From very early on, I’m thinking, okay, so where will it intersect? How will this be done? Do you know what I mean? And so there was a small scene and then it came into the Ronny, like it actually introduced that. And so I’m like, okay, so this must be where it’s set down.

[00:08:33] Stephen Fenech: I think it even said that on the screen.

[00:08:35] Trevor Long: That’s right. It said that. And so that, just that concept of it made me go, okay, this is interesting. And it made me think what’s next. Do you know what I mean? It’s not like I was not paying attention to what was happening, but it made me think about what was also next. So I found that fascinating. But how? And so enjoyable in that sense.

[00:08:51] Trevor Long: What—

[00:08:52] Trevor Long: how was it promoted? Because I’m assuming you don’t put in a trailer that it’s an intersecting story thing. So the trailer is just about the general theme of the film.

[00:09:01] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I can tell you what was in the trailer. The trailer was the guys in Vegas. The trailer was the two guys with the wire. The trailer was Ronna in the rave, and it was a lot of really high-paced trailer. That’s how it was sold. And it was meant to be, but, and even at the time it was meant to be sold as a, it was sort of very Pulp Fiction-esque at the time. ‘Cause it was still very much, there’s only a few years after Pulp Fiction. So yeah.

[00:09:34] Trevor Long: Riding the coattails.

[00:09:35] Stephen Fenech: Social media posts on this one.

[00:09:37] Trevor Long: Go is not a story. It’s a bunch of stories about the same timeline. And knowing that going in makes it a fun watch. The concept of perspective as a viewer was fascinating, not unique. But rare in Hollywood.

[00:09:48] Stephen Fenech: Well worth a look. Definitely. I watched it.

[00:09:50] Trevor Long: What I’m saying is I’m all in on just the format, you know, it’s like that really got me.

[00:09:55] Stephen Fenech: It is, and it’s different too. It’s not just your average, your run-of-the-mill, you know, middle, beginning, middle, and end sort of structure. It is, I think that’s another reason it keeps you engaged. I did see this at the movies and was, you know what, was a, it’s become a hidden gem because it wasn’t widely available. I think, where did you watch it on Netflix? Was it Netflix it was on? I’m pretty sure it’s Netflix.

[00:10:18] Trevor Long: Yes, it was.

[00:10:18] Stephen Fenech: And that’s the reason I thought I’m going to do it now because I couldn’t find it anywhere. Like, I’d had it on DVD.

[00:10:24] Trevor Long: I would dedicate a whole episode of this show to interviewing someone who understands movie licensing and why stuff just doesn’t stay on every platform all the time. Well, I wouldn’t— it’s amazing.

[00:10:34] Stephen Fenech: But, um, yeah, it’s been a—

[00:10:35] Trevor Long: we should get someone on.

[00:10:37] Stephen Fenech: Regular, regular rewatch for me. Uh, and I think you could— this is kind of hidden gem too because it was very hard to access this unless, unless you owned it on disc.

[00:10:46] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:10:47] Stephen Fenech: Let’s look at the cast.

[00:10:48] Trevor Long: Sarah Polley plays Honor.

[00:10:51] Stephen Fenech: She was in The Suite Hereafter, another show called Existenz with a Z on the end, My Life Without Me. And in 2023, Sarah Polley won an Oscar.

[00:11:03] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:11:03] Stephen Fenech: For best adapted screenplay for a film called Women Talking. She was in it and wrote it as well, right?

[00:11:12] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:11:12] Stephen Fenech: So pretty good. She’s got an Oscar.

[00:11:13] Trevor Long: Very good.

[00:11:14] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:11:14] Stephen Fenech: Katie Holmes plays Claire. She was in Disturbing Behavior Batman Begins, Dawson’s Creek. Were you at Dawson’s Creek?

[00:11:24] Trevor Long: No, I wasn’t a fan. I’d seen a couple of episodes.

[00:11:26] Stephen Fenech: Uh, and, uh, we should mention former Mrs. Cruise.

[00:11:29] Trevor Long: Yes, I don’t know why that was.

[00:11:31] Stephen Fenech: We shouldn’t mention that. Yeah, well, but yeah, do you think it’s kind of part of her identity? Oh, idiot. What do they got? They share a child. They’ve got a child. They do. Yeah. Uh, Desmond Askew, and that’s his real name, Desmond Askew, plays Simon, the British guy. He was in Roswell. The Hill— The Hills Have Eyes. And I’ve noticed just on his IMDb page, he’s done a hell of a lot of video game mocap and voice work.

[00:11:56] Trevor Long: Wow, really?

[00:11:57] Stephen Fenech: Heaps of it.

[00:11:58] Trevor Long: Jeez.

[00:11:58] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he’s right in the Call of Duty and all these other shows.

[00:12:02] Trevor Long: There you go.

[00:12:02] Stephen Fenech: All those other games. Yeah. Jay Moore plays Zack. Did you recognize Jay Moore from Jerry Maguire?

[00:12:08] Trevor Long: He’s one of the ones I definitely recognized.

[00:12:10] Stephen Fenech: He was in Jerry Maguire, Pay It Forward, The Adventures of Pluto Nash. I think that was with Eddie Murphy. Timothy Olyphant plays Todd. He was in The Crazies, The Justified TV series. Were you a Justified fan? No. Deadwood, did you ever watch Deadwood?

[00:12:24] Trevor Long: No.

[00:12:24] Stephen Fenech: He was in that too. Scott Wolf plays Adam. Were you a Party of Five guy?

[00:12:30] Trevor Long: I think I did. Yeah.

[00:12:32] Stephen Fenech: Him and Matthew Fox, I think, was the other guy, the guy that was in Lost.

[00:12:34] Trevor Long: So Adam is the young— I’m going to say he’s got a high school musical.

[00:12:40] Stephen Fenech: Tom Cruise look-alike.

[00:12:40] Trevor Long: He’s got a Tom Cruise look to him. He’s got that young face that never ages look to him.

[00:12:43] Stephen Fenech: Yes, he has.

[00:12:44] Trevor Long: And I definitely recognized him. Yes.

[00:12:46] Stephen Fenech: Who is this guy? Party of Five.

[00:12:48] Trevor Long: That’d be where it is.

[00:12:49] Stephen Fenech: The Night Shift as well. William Fichtner, he’s been in lots of films. He plays Burke, the cop that tries to set up Bronner. Uh, he was in Armageddon, he was in Crash, remember that one? And he was in Heat.

[00:13:01] Trevor Long: Oh, was he? Yeah, right.

[00:13:03] Stephen Fenech: He was the guy who was the, the wealthy guy where Tom— Robert De Niro says, I know I’m talking to a dead man here, right? Yeah. And then they go and and meet him up in his mansion, right? Anyway, he was also in Black Hawk Down.

[00:13:16] Trevor Long: Oh really?

[00:13:16] Stephen Fenech: Well, I might— he’s made, he’s made plenty of movies.

[00:13:19] Trevor Long: He’s doing very well on residuals.

[00:13:21] Stephen Fenech: He’s got his mailbox is just packed every day, every week. Righty-o, before we jump into the top scenes in the run-through, let’s chat about our other great sponsor, and that is Hisense. If you’re after a new TV, give Hisense a look because their new UR9 RGB Mini LED range. This is their brand new technology. This is their new backlight technology. So the, the backlight and the red, green, and blue cells are one and the same. They create color at the source and offer really nice, really nice color representation and accuracy. So you’re getting even better quality. And that’s all controlled with their HiView AI engine. So they’ve got a little traffic cop in there thinking, okay, we need this color, we need that color, and all generated from the backlight at the same time. So if you want to experience great picture quality in 65, 75, or 85 inches, that’s what this model is available in. Uh, plenty of choices there. Also too, it sounds amazing. 4.1.2 multi-channel surround sound out of the box. No need to add a soundbar. This sounds good as soon as you set it up. And there is anti-reflection and glare-free as well. So even if you set this up in your bright living area, you’re not going to get distracted by those pesky reflections. And of course, if you’re a gamer, hello, native 180Hz game mode. You’re going to be struggling to get the other members of the family to say, get off, we want to watch a movie. No, I’m playing my game. But that’s all there as well, as well as great, great options for watching sport as well. Pure elegance start to finish. The Hisense UR9 RGB Mini LED range. Check them out now, get into a store, or check them out at hisense.com. Au. Okay, it is Christmas Eve at an LA supermarket, yet this is not a Christmas movie. Doesn’t feel like a Christmas movie, does it? Yes, no?

[00:15:22] Trevor Long: It’s absolutely not a Christmas movie.

[00:15:24] Stephen Fenech: It’s set in Christmas, uh, and we meet Ronna, who is— that’s Sarah Polley’s character— facing eviction because she can’t raise $375 for rent. Now I’m going to jump in with an interjection straight away off the bat here, right? My interjections are going to be called pill pops.

[00:15:42] Trevor Long: Okay, you are getting AI’s help with these?

[00:15:45] Stephen Fenech: No, this is just my— this is my brain.

[00:15:47] Trevor Long: I’d like you to say it.

[00:15:49] Stephen Fenech: Come on, mate. My pill pop here is that, do you remember just at the start of the film, they’re on a break and they’re playing— have you ever played that game Dead Celebrities? So when you say the name of one—

[00:16:01] Trevor Long: no, I couldn’t work out what name they were saying. So what they were doing, was it the last letter or the first one?

[00:16:06] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I think it’s the first letter, and then you’ve got to— that’s got to be— or the last letter or something, and you’ve—

[00:16:10] Trevor Long: then you’ve got to Right, I was not across that game.

[00:16:14] Stephen Fenech: When they were playing the game, they’re playing the dead celebrities game, and they got to a letter and Omar Sharif was mentioned. Now this was filmed in, released in 1999. Yeah, so I don’t know how Omar Sharif feels about this, but he didn’t pass away till 2015. So yet in 1999 when the film takes place, was filmed, they said he was the dead celebrity.

[00:16:37] Trevor Long: Okay, but I’ll give you this. Wikipedia wasn’t around in ’99, innit? How are you fact-checking your mates playing this game?

[00:16:42] Stephen Fenech: I don’t know, you’d have to ask. I don’t know.

[00:16:44] Trevor Long: That’s a tough one.

[00:16:45] Stephen Fenech: Coworker Simon, he comes across, he asks Ronna to cover his shift.

[00:16:52] Movie Audio: [Simon asks Ronna to cover his supermarket shift so he can go to Vegas, offering to pay her upfront — with a cheeky aside about a tip for a sexual favour.]

[00:17:44] Stephen Fenech: So cheeky bugger, innit?

[00:17:46] Trevor Long: All right, yeah, I think we genuinely learned this in the third exposition of this movie, but of this story. But yes, I didn’t think he was going over to ask for a shift. I thought he was going to ask her out. Oh, because at no point does he say, hey, can you do my shift? And Katie Holmes says, don’t ask, don’t ask. If you listen to that again, fair enough, under the premise of he’s asking her out for the 15th time, it’s like, stop asking me out, mate. No, I’ve asked you.

[00:18:12] Stephen Fenech: Well, she said no. I haven’t even asked you yet.

[00:18:15] Trevor Long: But that’s what I’m saying. I think he’s just asking her out.

[00:18:18] Stephen Fenech: He’s doing his best, mate.

[00:18:19] Trevor Long: He’s just doing his best. And he’s asked her so many times, she’s got the irrets. And then he’s trying to help her out by giving her the shift.

[00:18:25] Stephen Fenech: There you go. Now we see at the checkout two soap— we learn they’re soap—

[00:18:31] Trevor Long: we learn later. Yeah, we learn in their bit.

[00:18:33] Trevor Long: That’s right.

[00:18:34] Trevor Long: We don’t learn for 40% of this movie.

[00:18:36] Stephen Fenech: These are just two random dudes who walk up expecting to find Simon, but they can’t find him. He’s obviously gone to Vegas. And Zach and Adam is their names. Jay Moore and Zach.

[00:18:47] Trevor Long: But again, we don’t know they’re expecting to find Simon until they say to her, they’re normally the redhead guy.

[00:18:52] Stephen Fenech: He’s the British guy who hooks us up. So they are looking to buy 20 hits of ecstasy from Simon. Now, Ronna is sort of thinking about this. She sees this maybe as a quick way to make some—

[00:19:02] Trevor Long: we know she’s on the bones of her ass, she needs the money, so she’s now turning in everyone.

[00:19:06] Stephen Fenech: So she went, give me a number. She reckons she can handle the deal herself. So Ronna goes to see Simon’s dealer, Todd Gaines.

[00:19:18] Movie Audio: [Ronna negotiates with dealer Todd Gaines to buy 20 pills on credit, offering her friend Claire as collateral for the shortfall.]

[00:20:29] Trevor Long: See, and I’m initially thinking there’s going to be a sexual favor here, but then you’re like, no, he’s definitely going to want something left. Yes, something. And what is she doing?

[00:20:36] Stephen Fenech: Nothing. Early on in the conversation when she first arrived, and he, he may— he turned the stereo up and made her take her top off.

[00:20:43] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:20:44] Stephen Fenech: And she was just in a bra making sure she wasn’t wired up.

[00:20:46] Trevor Long: That’s right.

[00:20:46] Stephen Fenech: Because he never knew or met her before, right?

[00:20:47] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:20:47] Trevor Long: So always—

[00:20:49] Stephen Fenech: he was all about precautions.

[00:20:50] Trevor Long: Well, because he mentioned that, and there’s also a little tiny included exposition which is relevant later, which is like 20 is the trigger for trafficking. It’s not just, you know, illicit sale.

[00:21:00] Stephen Fenech: There you go, little things like the magic number. So she, uh, the collateral she speaks of is her friend Claire, Katie Holmes’s character, and she is left behind as human collateral when she takes the 20 pills to sell at a markup. Now she arrives and meets Adam and Zach at this apartment, and inside, uh, we see that they’re with this creepy middle-aged guy, Burke, who she’s sensing something doing here.

[00:21:28] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:21:28] Stephen Fenech: And he, uh, they start pressing her.

[00:21:30] Trevor Long: This is the point where I’m like, these are cops. Like, yes, I instantly go, these are—

[00:21:34] Stephen Fenech: oh, you, you—

[00:21:34] Trevor Long: these three are cops.

[00:21:35] Stephen Fenech: Okay.

[00:21:35] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:21:36] Trevor Long: And she drinks too.

[00:21:36] Stephen Fenech: She— I think Burke is the one— Burke’s the cop who was probably the one who gave it away that he’s a cop.

[00:21:41] Trevor Long: Maybe. But also, you remember, she’s just been put in fear by the dealer. Yes. With the whole, you know, show me the wire, and it’s a big, big crime. So she’s been given this concept of this is a bigger deal than she might need to know.

[00:21:55] Stephen Fenech: And well, she, she sort of cottons on to the fact that this is probably a bit of a sting happening here.

[00:21:59] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:22:00] Stephen Fenech: So she locks herself in the bathroom, flushes all 20 pills down the toilet, and, uh, I love when she goes— when he’s knocked— Burke’s knocking on the door and she goes, okay, all it. All yours.

[00:22:12] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:22:13] Stephen Fenech: And she walks out. Now she’s now down 20 pills. Yeah. And down $200 and owes him $100.

[00:22:21] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:22:21] Stephen Fenech: So she’s thinking, what happens? I do laugh at the fact that Manny, you know, her friend, he took 2.

[00:22:27] Trevor Long: Took 2, even though he doesn’t know you shouldn’t have taken one. Like, one is already a strong dose.

[00:22:31] Stephen Fenech: He’s taken them and he gets the giggles and starts hallucinating. So it is, it’s on. So desperate to pay Todd back, she and Manny, they go back to the supermarket and they think, right, we’re going to try to fool these people with over-the-counter cold medicine.

[00:22:50] Trevor Long: Yes. So which seems—

[00:22:52] Stephen Fenech: she’s thinking insane because she’s going to a rave, right? So she’s got these repackaged Sudafeds and aspirins and fake— it’s fake ecstasy.

[00:23:00] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:23:00] Stephen Fenech: She, she returns the fake pills to Todd, which is the dumbest thing, which I’m thinking, what are you doing, mate? Because I think Claire was still there. So if Claire wasn’t there, I don’t think she would have gone back, but Claire was there, so she went, here’s your pills back, I’m out. They head to the massive rave and sell the rest of the fake drugs to these young kids.

[00:23:21] Trevor Long: Yeah, she starts making money.

[00:23:22] Stephen Fenech: A couple of funny bits where, remember, they’re in the car, he goes, oh, hang on a minute, I can feel it.

[00:23:26] Trevor Long: He goes, oh yeah. And then she encourages him to just smoke a bong more.

[00:23:29] Stephen Fenech: It’s better with heaps of pot, she says. Yeah, it’s great. And, uh, so she’s thinking, I think she was $400 up at one point, so, you know, it’s all working But at the rave, Manny begins tripping heavily.

[00:23:41] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:23:42] Stephen Fenech: And, uh, meanwhile, Todd has discovered the pills Ronna gave him are fake. And remember, he’s got the— he’s got the leaflet of the rave and he’s heading over there, so he knows where she is.

[00:23:53] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[00:23:54] Stephen Fenech: So Ronna hides a now incapacitated Manny behind an alley dumpster and runs into the parking lot, which is where she finds Todd.

[00:24:06] Movie Audio: [Confronted by Todd over the fake pills, Ronna admits she owes him money and offers to pay — but Todd, gun in hand, isn’t in a forgiving mood.]

[00:24:46] Stephen Fenech: He’s got a gun.

[00:24:47] Trevor Long: He’s ready to shoot her.

[00:24:48] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, before he can pull the trigger, a car comes out of nowhere and hits her and knocks her down into a ditch.

[00:24:53] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:24:54] Stephen Fenech: And the car flees the scene.

[00:24:56] Trevor Long: And she looks dead for days.

[00:24:58] Stephen Fenech: Did you think that she was definitely— she’s dead? Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

[00:25:03] Trevor Long: I think Todd thought that as well.

[00:25:04] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, and he just went, what? So anyway, switch to Act 2.

[00:25:09] Trevor Long: And so that’s essentially Ronna’s story.

[00:25:11] Stephen Fenech: That was her story at this point, up until this point. Now we’re going to switch to Simon, who’s on his Vegas trip. They’re on a road trip to Sin City. So it rewinds to earlier that day now. So Simon, and you see, here’s the bit where he plays out with Ronna at the start of this as well. Yep. And he’s driving to Vegas with his friends Marcus, Tiny, and Sing.

[00:25:33] Trevor Long: Good, good people.

[00:25:34] Stephen Fenech: Simon pays for their hotel using a credit card— or no, he doesn’t pay for the hotel, he uses the drug dealer Todd’s credit card to get him a discount.

[00:25:44] Trevor Long: Like, it’s a— let’s say it’s an affiliate credit card, so it’s getting a cheaper room. And he says, nah, I’m just going to pay with cash.

[00:25:49] Stephen Fenech: It was funny, they chat in the car and everything, and they go to the buffet as well. This was quite funny. But then Marcus— this is a really fascinating part of the story— he lays out his experiences with with tantric sex.

[00:26:01] Movie Audio: [In the car, Marcus boasts to Simon and the others about his tantric sex stamina and prolonged abstinence, to general disbelief.]

[00:26:49] Trevor Long: Hour and a half.

[00:27:08] Stephen Fenech: Uh, it’s funny. Yeah, it’s very funny. So yeah, he’s paid, uh, for the user. He got the discount. Uh, Tiny and Sing are now—

[00:27:17] Trevor Long: so we’re told not to have the shrimp. Don’t eat the But now they’re rubbish and they’re wiped out. They can’t go out, they can’t go to the casino now because they’re sick.

[00:27:25] Stephen Fenech: Simon and Marcus are left alone. I love how Marcus, uh, Simon comes back and says, um, I need more money. He goes, what do you mean?

[00:27:32] Trevor Long: He’s been here like 40 minutes, he already lost all his money.

[00:27:34] Stephen Fenech: He said, give me your wallet, and he takes it and he puts his pocket— he goes, come back in an hour, leave me alone.

[00:27:38] Trevor Long: What does he expect him to do for the hour without his wallet?

[00:27:40] Stephen Fenech: Well, I don’t know, but he does find his way. He crashes a hotel.

[00:27:44] Trevor Long: Genius. You go to a hotel, uh, chapel, yeah, in Vegas, just walk in, there’s food and drinks, yeah, and as soon as they As soon as they turned to a picture of the bridesmaids, I thought, I know what’s going to happen here. Yeah, because he’s going to hook up. But he looks like with not just one.

[00:27:57] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, with both of the two bridesmaids.

[00:27:59] Trevor Long: Because he’s got the accent.

[00:28:00] Stephen Fenech: He’s got the accent. He’s killing it.

[00:28:02] Trevor Long: And in your early days with that Australian accent, you could have done okay in Vegas.

[00:28:05] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely, baby. Yeah. We won’t discuss that right here, but he gets into the room. There they are. They said, I think, are you wanting to get high with us? And he goes, yeah.

[00:28:15] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:28:16] Stephen Fenech: And they get in the room. There’s a little bit of action.

[00:28:19] Trevor Long: There’s a lot of action.

[00:28:20] Stephen Fenech: And then he accidentally sets the room on fire.

[00:28:22] Trevor Long: Well, not him.

[00:28:24] Stephen Fenech: They left the tissues. Maybe she put the tissues in her nose and they caught fire. She went, oh my God.

[00:28:30] Trevor Long: It was quite a funny little scene, but you don’t see the whole place burn down, but it’s a pretty major drama.

[00:28:35] Stephen Fenech: But halfway through it, do you remember when he goes, oh, and he’s— remember how Marcus was saying about China? He was going in, he went inside, not outside. I don’t know how it worked, but I don’t know whether he just at what happened there.

[00:28:47] Trevor Long: I don’t think he was finished. I think the fire interrupted things.

[00:28:50] Stephen Fenech: It maybe did, yes. So he’s thinking, uh-oh, I’m out of here. So he finds Marcus, he goes, mate, we’ve got to go, the alarms are going off.

[00:28:59] Trevor Long: And the best thing is Marcus is wearing this mustard-colored suit jacket, which Simon has taken the mickey out of a little bit, but it turns out it’s the same color as the valet attendants. So a bloke pulls up in a Ferrari and just throws his keys at Marcus, and frankly He’s got every right to take it for a drive because the bloke didn’t say, you know, anything about being a valet.

[00:29:18] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely right. And he just says, get in the car. Now here’s my other pill pop here. Yeah. Taye Diggs, who plays Marcus, is a New York native, didn’t know how to drive.

[00:29:30] Trevor Long: What?

[00:29:31] Stephen Fenech: He had to have lessons, driving lessons, New York, get his license to drive.

[00:29:35] Trevor Long: There you go.

[00:29:36] Stephen Fenech: So they put him behind the wheel of a $400,000 car and he’s a learner.

[00:29:40] Trevor Long: That’s hilarious.

[00:29:42] Stephen Fenech: Now Marcus and Simon naturally take the car to a strip club.

[00:29:46] Trevor Long: I don’t see how that’s natural, but okay.

[00:29:48] Stephen Fenech: Well, he’s there in Vegas.

[00:29:49] Trevor Long: Simon found a gun in the car and he’s waving it around like an idiot.

[00:29:52] Stephen Fenech: Were you thinking that’s going to go off?

[00:29:54] Trevor Long: I thought there’s going to be Pulp Fiction here. Yeah, I thought the old mate behind the wheel was going to lose his head.

[00:29:59] Stephen Fenech: You remember Pulp Fiction? That’s great, mate. So I love what he says to you guys. Look, we’re going to go in here, they’re going to offer us champagne. Do not ask for champagne. That means a private dance and all this sort of stuff. And I love how when they go inside, he’s besotted by this woman says, “Oh, bring me your bottle of your finest champagne.” And he goes, “You idiot.” Anyway, they go up, uh, they’re in a VIP room and, uh, charged to Todd’s credit card, by the way. And Simon, though, he breaches the rules. Did you know that the rules are you don’t touch the dancers?

[00:30:31] Trevor Long: I’ll be honest, I’ve never been, okay? And I don’t understand the point.

[00:30:34] Stephen Fenech: You’re not supposed to touch the dancers. So are here. And, uh, but you know what? All hell breaks loose.

[00:30:40] Movie Audio: [A brawl breaks out in the strip-club VIP room after Simon breaks the no-touching rule; security and other patrons scuffle before Simon and Marcus flee.]

[00:31:25] Stephen Fenech: So they’re out of there.

[00:31:27] Trevor Long: That escalated real quick.

[00:31:28] Stephen Fenech: So he shot, uh, we learned his name is Victor Jr., in the arm, and then he’s out of there. They jump in the Ferrari and whoosh, go, they’re off.

[00:31:35] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:31:36] Stephen Fenech: Now Victor Jr.’s dad, he’s a mobster father. Victor Vegas, Virginia. They track Simon using the receipt from Todd’s credit card.

[00:31:45] Trevor Long: This is that whole, I’m connected, you know, ring every hotel. He finds out where they’re staying because they’ve got a name and the name’s on the room. So connected in Vegas means you find where they are. They’ve got to get the two blokes that are—

[00:31:54] Stephen Fenech: yeah, the two suit guys.

[00:31:56] Trevor Long: Yes. In the funny little moment where they’re trying to get the little kid in trying to negotiate the room who they annoyed earlier, and so he’s brutal to them.

[00:32:03] Stephen Fenech: It’s $100.

[00:32:04] Trevor Long: It’s really cool. I like that.

[00:32:05] Stephen Fenech: Money. Uh, and so they’re on a high-speed chase throughout Vegas, older Vegas than what we’re used to seeing. That’s sort of— it’s changed a lot since, uh, yeah, definitely.

[00:32:14] Trevor Long: Um, but Riviera ain’t there anymore.

[00:32:16] Stephen Fenech: After a high-speed chase, the bouncers crashed their car.

[00:32:19] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:32:19] Stephen Fenech: Simon and their friends escaped back to LA, but Victor Senior now knows Todd’s credit card details and his address.

[00:32:27] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:32:27] Stephen Fenech: So park that for a minute.

[00:32:29] Trevor Long: End scene.

[00:32:30] Stephen Fenech: Act 3, we’re up to Adam and Zach. So this is the— they’re rewinding again, uh, to the other scene the soap actors, uh, and secret lovers.

[00:32:39] Trevor Long: But you don’t really find that out early, but you get the gist of it after a bit.

[00:32:43] Stephen Fenech: They, uh, they play for both teams here. Adam and Zach are busted for drug possession by a narcotics detective. That’s Burke, so William Fichtner’s character. Now, a little bit of a pill pop here for you too, uh, Scott Wolf, uh, TV actor. So Doug Liman originally didn’t want to cast him in the movie because he already had Katie Holmes, who was another TV actor, right? Uh, he didn’t want two to two TV stars in the movie. And but he saw that, they, he saw them together, saw him talking with Jay Moore in the hallway. Their chemistry was really good. And they thought, oh no, they’ll be good for this.

[00:33:21] Trevor Long: Also, what a snobby—

[00:33:23] Stephen Fenech: Well, at the time, I suppose TV, people look down their nose at TV.

[00:33:26] Trevor Long: It’s funny now you’ve got the biggest actors in the world doing series on Netflix, you know what I mean?

[00:33:30] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it changed now. But back then TV was kind of a downgrade, you know. Yeah, yeah. Anyhow, so to avoid jail time, Burke has made them agree to wear a wire.

[00:33:41] Trevor Long: This is where we essentially learn what’s going on in all those other scenes.

[00:33:44] Trevor Long: Correct.

[00:33:44] Trevor Long: These two actors are pretending to be these, you know, partygoers and wearing a wire for this cop.

[00:33:50] Stephen Fenech: So the intention was to bust Simon, their usual contact, but then Ronna, she involves herself.

[00:33:56] Trevor Long: I think bust Simon and get to the dealer as well.

[00:33:58] Stephen Fenech: Burke, so if she gets the stuff, what, you just arrest her?

[00:34:02] Movie Audio: [Cop Burke presses Adam and Zach for details on the drug buy while Ronna, sensing a sting, excuses herself to the bathroom and flushes the pills — Zach quietly warns her to get out.]

[00:34:29] Trevor Long: Isn’t that entrapment?

[00:34:56] Stephen Fenech: Here, let me show you. So did you notice at this point when he goes, here, let me show you, you, he whispers to her, get out of here, go. Remember he told her, did you know in this, that very scene, he leans down, he goes, oh, let me show you, um, Zach, Jay Moore’s character, the blonde one.

[00:35:13] Trevor Long: I didn’t notice that.

[00:35:13] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he leaned, when he goes, oh, here, let me show you, and he leans down, he goes, get out of here.

[00:35:18] Trevor Long: He tells her, I didn’t know, he whispers to her to say out.

[00:35:21] Stephen Fenech: That’s how she knew. I thought she, she sussed it, but he said to her, mate, get out. Yeah, right. Yeah. So that’s— then they decide that, you know, she has to get out. She flushes the drugs down the toilet. And so she gets away, remember? Now, still in the house, disappointed by the bust, Burke invites Adam and Zak to his house for Christmas Eve dinner.

[00:35:45] Trevor Long: The weirdest.

[00:35:46] Stephen Fenech: Now, here’s— I don’t know what you— honestly, I’m pretty sure the night was— it felt a bit surreal for these guys and for your viewers. Do you remember the scene where I think, um, Zach was coming out and sees, um, Burke naked?

[00:36:01] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:36:02] Stephen Fenech: And he goes, oh, try this. And he goes, um, and he goes, oh, try the mattress. Remember, he goes, oh, and he pushes him on the mattress. So you’re thinking, what is this bloke doing? Yeah, what’s doing? And, uh, in, in the Scott Wolf’s character— which one’s Scott Wolf? The Scott Wolf character, remember, he goes in the kitchen and meets his wife Ira. Irene, and he— she kisses him and makes bizarre sexual advances too.

[00:36:24] Trevor Long: And you’re thinking, where are you thinking this is going? Somewhere weird.

[00:36:27] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:36:28] Stephen Fenech: But the evening culminates—

[00:36:31] Trevor Long: such a surprise. Such a surprise. I text you.

[00:36:33] Movie Audio: [Burke and his wife Irene reveal their real motive for the Christmas dinner — recruiting Adam and Zach into their multi-level-marketing side business, Confederated Products — leaving the pair stunned.]

[00:36:44] Trevor Long: No, I don’t She’s right.

[00:36:46] Stephen Fenech: Okay, okay.

[00:37:01] Trevor Long: JCPenney?

[00:38:02] Trevor Long: They’ve gone from thinking these people don’t know we’re gay to what, huh?

[00:38:07] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, well, now there was that. I got to admit, the first time there was like a— I thought there’s some sexual tension going on there without question.

[00:38:15] Trevor Long: And old mate standing bulky naked.

[00:38:16] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:38:17] Trevor Long: And everything else.

[00:38:18] Stephen Fenech: He wants to flog Confederate products.

[00:38:20] Trevor Long: Amway. I said, oh my God, Amway. I remember.

[00:38:25] Stephen Fenech: So they get out of there and Adam and Zach argue after leaving. Leaving, they realize they both cheated on each other with the same rival actor, Jimmy, who they see at the rave. Yes, they go to the rave, confront Jimmy, end up cutting off a lock of his hair in revenge.

[00:38:39] Trevor Long: Just weird. Yeah, that’s what you do.

[00:38:41] Stephen Fenech: They speed away from the rave parking lot in a panic. Adam hits Ronner with his car.

[00:38:46] Trevor Long: Yeah, so now we know who was driving the little Mazda Miata, which makes sense. Two gay blokes in a Mazda MX-5. That’s a yellow MX-5. Whoa, I’m Sorry, hello.

[00:38:56] Stephen Fenech: All right, you said that. Now thinking she’s dead and they spot Todd with a gun, yes, they go, oh, she’s— we’re out of here, baby. So they dump her body and she— well, her body’s in the ditch and they bolt. Um, now at a nearby gas station, Adam realizes in horror he’s still wearing the police wire the entire time.

[00:39:17] Trevor Long: So again, what’s been recorded?

[00:39:19] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, have they recorded the hit and run? So they decide they’ve got to go back to the scene scene to retrieve Ronna’s body.

[00:39:29] Movie Audio: [Zach frantically tries to convince a panicking, hallucinating Adam that Ronna isn’t really dead — play-acting that it’s all just a movie scene — to get him to help move her.]

[00:40:38] Stephen Fenech: They discover she’s still alive.

[00:40:40] Trevor Long: Alive.

[00:40:41] Stephen Fenech: They prop her up against— they put her on a parked car, trigger its alarm, and so other partygoers call an ambulance.

[00:40:46] Trevor Long: Exactly.

[00:40:48] Stephen Fenech: So, uh, that was, that was that standoff. That was that episode over. Now, uh, it’s now Christmas morning.

[00:40:55] Trevor Long: So that’s the end of the kind of 3 stories coming to one point.

[00:40:58] Stephen Fenech: So we’ve seen— so Ronna’s in the ditch.

[00:41:01] Trevor Long: So it’s like 4 acts really, isn’t it? It’s Ronna, Simon, the 2 boys, and then the 4th act is bring it all together and end it.

[00:41:07] Trevor Long: Correct.

[00:41:08] Stephen Fenech: So Claire walks from the rave to a nearby diner, happens to see Todd there as well. So, uh, they have a little interesting interaction as well. But this is, uh, one of the quotes there was. I think for some reason they played this little snippet at the very start of the film before the action got started.

[00:41:27] Movie Audio: [At the diner, Todd delivers a rambling speech to Claire about Christmas surprises and unexpected connections — an overture that unexpectedly wins her over.]

[00:41:54] Stephen Fenech: And they actually hit it off. They do. And end up having a bit of a pash on the stairs.

[00:41:58] Trevor Long: Katie Holmes. Yeah. Oh, Come on.

[00:42:00] Stephen Fenech: But, uh, what I like about this is as they’re making out on the stairs, uh, Victor Jr. and Victor Sr. arrive hunting for the person who used Todd’s card.

[00:42:12] Movie Audio: [Victor Sr. and his men corner Simon, Todd and Claire, ready to shoot Simon in retaliation for his son’s injury — but ultimately lets them go after making his point.]

[00:42:34] Stephen Fenech: You won’t believe— So Simon’s just—

[00:42:38] Trevor Long: Oh, guys, guys, really poor timing.

[00:43:08] Trevor Long: The justice is gonna shoot him in the same spot, but then his son can’t do it.

[00:43:11] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he’s about to shoot Simon, uh, to match his own injury.

[00:43:19] Stephen Fenech: It’s all right, I’m okay. That’s really cool. Uh, anyway, Ronna wakes up in hospital, sneaks out, heads back to work with a bit of a limp. She’s limping.

[00:43:39] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:43:39] Stephen Fenech: They realize when they’re back at the supermarket they left Manny at the rave.

[00:43:43] Trevor Long: Like, legit left him big time.

[00:43:45] Stephen Fenech: They go back, find him dazed behind some garbage bins in the alley. Meanwhile, Ronna’s counting her cash. She has more than enough to pay her rent. And as they’re driving off, a recovered Manny turns to them and asks, so what are we doing for New Year’s? And off they go. End of the movie. Righto, there you go. I’ve got some lines here. These are some pretty good ones here. This is, uh, Todd early on. Remember when he his— Ronna’s sort of kind of implying that she needs a favor.

[00:44:22] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:44:22] Movie Audio: [Todd tells Ronna, in characteristically blunt terms, that their friendship doesn’t entitle her to any favours.]

[00:44:35] Trevor Long: Solid.

[00:44:36] Stephen Fenech: I like this, but this line when— remember when she was suggesting you stay here with Todd and she is— look, I don’t want to get involved.

[00:44:43] Movie Audio: [Claire protests that she’s being made “an accessory” to the crime; Ronna puns back about her bracelet.]

[00:44:50] Stephen Fenech: You’re making me an accessory. And this is Breckin Meyer. Remember in the backseat of the car? Remember, this is one of the— I could have quoted 10 things.

[00:44:59] Trevor Long: Well, it’s not the car, right? You can play it.

[00:45:01] Movie Audio: [A joking, race-tinged back-and-forth between Marcus and the other guys in the car, riffing on family heritage.]

[00:45:20] Trevor Long: That’s actually the line. You don’t need all the first bit. That’s the bit.

[00:45:24] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, at the end. All right, how did that happen? Uh, a couple of little plot holes here we can, uh, talk about. Uh, the— when the fire alarm goes off at the hotel, yes, um, you see the police coming up in an elevator.

[00:45:36] Trevor Long: Yeah, and the security guard, it’s like, where’s the fire brigade?

[00:45:39] Stephen Fenech: Law enforcement protocols to use the stairs, not the elevator. Of course. Um, here’s the other biggest plot hole, I reckon. Adam and Zach, they don’t recognize Ronna when they collected her from the ditch. So of course they met her at the supermarket, met her at Bert’s house.

[00:46:00] Trevor Long: How do you know they didn’t recognize her?

[00:46:01] Stephen Fenech: Well, they would have said it. They didn’t. She’s bloodied and dirty, right? So she’d be—

[00:46:06] Trevor Long: what does it matter? I think I, I, I assumed they absolutely recognized her and knew who she was.

[00:46:11] Stephen Fenech: No, I don’t think so. They accident—

[00:46:13] Trevor Long: there was an accident.

[00:46:13] Trevor Long: They hit her.

[00:46:13] Stephen Fenech: They didn’t mean hit her. It just so happened to be the girl that they were talking to.

[00:46:17] Trevor Long: If they saw her in the ditch and recognized her, what difference happens?

[00:46:20] Stephen Fenech: Well, they would have said, oh my God, it’s that girl. They didn’t refer to it at all.

[00:46:24] Trevor Long: I think the hysteria encompassed that.

[00:46:27] Stephen Fenech: I reckon if they would— if there would have been some recognition that that was the girl they were trying to entrap her in a drug deal only hours earlier.

[00:46:35] Trevor Long: No, I think it’s assumed by his hysteria that he knew.

[00:46:39] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, no, I don’t think I’ve got no proof. Not at all.

[00:46:43] Trevor Long: There’s nothing they do that insinuates that they didn’t know her.

[00:46:47] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but they don’t say anything that they did, that they do know her though. They don’t say it. You think it would be referred to, oh my God, that’s that girl. That would have been, I would have written that in if I was the writer. Anyhow, let’s move on.

[00:47:02] Trevor Long: They might have won awards for their writing, mate.

[00:47:03] Stephen Fenech: How about you step out of it? Let’s talk the speaker workout. The music, awesome. The rave party was kicking. The Vegas chase was a good action scene too. That was, uh, my, the, uh, my headphones got to work. I did watch it on a plane.

[00:47:18] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[00:47:19] Stephen Fenech: Uh, thank God I got a big screen. I wish I watched this on the big screen again. I have seen it in my theater many times. Uh, the great shots of the rave. My, one of my favorites, and this is whether you’ve got a big screen or not, but the when Manny was being Todd Gaines apartment and then the cat was talking to him. He goes, “You’re gonna die.” He’s imagining this conversation. That’s funny. Cat. Also the Vegas skyline, which is a little bit different today.

[00:47:45] Trevor Long: They do well.

[00:47:45] Stephen Fenech: They look pretty good. They did look pretty good as well.

[00:47:47] Trevor Long: Just the shots in there when they’re on the highway and stuff as well was pretty nice.

[00:47:51] Stephen Fenech: Let’s talk about the business. In this case, the portrayal of a business.

[00:47:55] Trevor Long: Are you gonna tell me the shot of X, how much a pill is now?

[00:47:57] Stephen Fenech: No, I’m not. I’m talking to you about multi-level marketing.

[00:48:00] Trevor Long: Am I?

[00:48:00] Stephen Fenech: How does multi-level marketing work? Independent work sellers are not regular employees with a fixed salary. They work as independent vendor contractors. Now the downline downstream structure, you make more money if you bring in new sellers. These new sellers then expand your network or team. Now they sell common products, cosmetics, skincare, wellness items, oils, dietary supplements. Well-known examples, Amway, Avon, Herbalife as well.

[00:48:27] Trevor Long: I think Avon’s gone, isn’t it?

[00:48:28] Stephen Fenech: I’m not sure. Now the problems here, the risks of this is the large majority of people who join multi-level marketing make very little money and end up losing losing money.

[00:48:38] Trevor Long: Yeah, and these days it’s the same stuff. Like I have some friends on Facebook who they’re always pushing these makeup products and stuff and it’s just more multi-level marketing. Mate, you see it now on Instagram. It’s like people, they’ll tell you how to do this and I’ll tell you click this code and you’ll get this. It’s just all multi-level marketing.

[00:48:55] Stephen Fenech: MLM now it’s on Instagram. And the issue too is that if a company pays more for recruiting new members than it does for actual product sales to buyers, it may be regarded as an illegal pyramid scheme.

[00:49:07] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[00:49:08] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, if the movie was made today, it would be easy to find drugs.

[00:49:14] Trevor Long: Yeah, if the movie was set today is probably what we need to change that to sometimes.

[00:49:18] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I agree. Social media would have played a massive part. There would be a lot of texting.

[00:49:22] Trevor Long: How do you mean it’s easy to find drugs?

[00:49:25] Stephen Fenech: Well, I’d say that they’re—

[00:49:26] Trevor Long: I’ve got to be honest, I wouldn’t know how to find drugs.

[00:49:28] Stephen Fenech: Well, no, being able to text and get— make phone— there’s no— they didn’t have mobile phones. Yeah. And also there’d be— I reckon there’d be mad texters. There’d be a lot of— there’d be— you put the text down on the street. Yeah, bubbles are coming up on the street. I reckon you get a bit of fun with that in this movie.

[00:49:41] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:49:42] Stephen Fenech: Every day is a school day. What’s the theme?

[00:49:45] Trevor Long: Don’t do drugs. Don’t do drugs.

[00:49:46] Trevor Long: I’ll write that down.

[00:49:47] Stephen Fenech: I’ll bring that down. Leave no man behind.

[00:49:50] Trevor Long: Yeah, that’s a good one.

[00:49:52] Stephen Fenech: You gotta look after the poor old man. He was left over.

[00:49:55] Trevor Long: Also entrepreneurial spirit.

[00:49:57] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:49:57] Trevor Long: What she should have done. Yeah. What Ronna should have done was not given fake drugs back to old mate.

[00:50:03] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:50:03] Trevor Long: She should have gone to the rave on her own and hustled. Yeah, I know. And just kind of given him the money. Yeah, but for her friends. She would have been longer than 45 minutes.

[00:50:10] Stephen Fenech: It’s fine. Yeah, yeah, okay. No, that’s true. But yeah, so were you saying sell drugs responsibly? Is that what you’re saying?

[00:50:16] Trevor Long: No, sell Panadol.

[00:50:17] Stephen Fenech: Sell Panadol. All right, yeah, but the entrepreneurial spirit, I guess you do, you do it the right way though. Make sure the products are legal would be the message as well.

[00:50:28] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:50:28] Stephen Fenech: Best use of the pause button. I mean, interesting, and involves a license plate again. Really? The license plate 2GAT123, which I think was on the Ferrari. Murray also features in Beverly Hills Cop 2, Traffic in the year 2000, Pay It Forward, Mulholland Drive, Crazy Beautiful, LA Story, Two and a Half Men, and SWAT.

[00:50:51] Trevor Long: Really?

[00:50:51] Stephen Fenech: I don’t know why though. It’s just a—

[00:50:54] Trevor Long: is it the same? Must be the same letters.

[00:50:57] Stephen Fenech: Same letters.

[00:50:58] Trevor Long: Yeah, right.

[00:50:58] Stephen Fenech: Prop department. I could not find out why.

[00:51:01] Trevor Long: A wild number plate to have.

[00:51:02] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. What is it? 2GAT123.

[00:51:05] Trevor Long: So it’s one too many for Australia, but That’d be a sick plate to have in Hollywood.

[00:51:09] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely.

[00:51:09] Trevor Long: It’d only be an insider’s joke.

[00:51:11] Stephen Fenech: Oh yeah, they might think your car was in a movie.

[00:51:13] Trevor Long: Maybe.

[00:51:14] Stephen Fenech: Things you might not know. Now, the director picked the grocery store, you know, they filmed at the grocery store.

[00:51:20] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:51:20] Stephen Fenech: So they wanted it, they, the, he was after, his quote, a rundown but big city quality to it.

[00:51:27] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:51:27] Stephen Fenech: Now, when they did the deal with the owners of the supermarket, what did they, what did the owners do? Painted it, freshened it up, and they go, no, we wanted it to look like it did before. So they actually had to go back and make it look like it did in the first place.

[00:51:42] Trevor Long: That’s hilarious.

[00:51:43] Stephen Fenech: So yeah, it was a little funny little—

[00:51:46] Trevor Long: that’s gold.

[00:51:47] Stephen Fenech: Um, Jay Moore, who has a lead role in the movie, originally wanted to be cast as the drug dealer. Okay, Todd, pretty cool role. And, uh, but he continued to push until he learned that he got the— he was basically one of the lead roles. Yeah, okay, I’ll take I’ll take that. Uh, Doug Liman, really interesting thing here. He had no qualms showing multiple uses of drugs, but he did his best to not have any show anyone smoking. Ah yeah, no one’s smoking, but they’re doing drugs. So is it the lesser of two evils?

[00:52:21] Trevor Long: Only ecstasy, in inverted commas.

[00:52:23] Stephen Fenech: I don’t know, maybe.

[00:52:24] Trevor Long: I don’t know.

[00:52:26] Stephen Fenech: Now, Sarah Polly, she was, uh, the director Doug Liman and John August, they, they really wanted her for the role. Now Sarah Polly agreed for the role on the strength of one line. Do you remember when she’s in the, the woman, the older woman trying to check out and she’s on, on my coupon, you didn’t double my coupon. And then remember she says, oh, don’t get so smart, I used to be you, I used to have your job. And then her response was, well, look how far that got you. That, that line Lime says, I’m in, I love it, I’m in.

[00:53:00] Trevor Long: That’s nice.

[00:53:01] Stephen Fenech: That was a good line. Put her over the line. Over the line. Now we referred to Scott Wolf earlier as a sort of Tom Cruise-esque.

[00:53:09] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:53:09] Stephen Fenech: Didn’t he look like him, acts like him? There’s a little bit of a six degrees of separation here. Jay Moore worked with Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire. Um, Katie Holmes would be the wife of Tom Cruise. There’s a few Cruise connections. Doug Liman would eventually direct Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow, an American made.

[00:53:29] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:53:29] Stephen Fenech: So there you go. Did you notice— now you’ve heard of Melissa McCarthy, haven’t you?

[00:53:34] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah, I saw her.

[00:53:35] Stephen Fenech: This is her film debut.

[00:53:36] Trevor Long: Oh really?

[00:53:37] Stephen Fenech: You know when she answered the door?

[00:53:38] Trevor Long: It was a bit part, but yeah, yeah, that was her first film appearance. Wow.

[00:53:42] Stephen Fenech: Did you— and you recognize her?

[00:53:43] Trevor Long: That’s Melissa McCarthy. She’s Suki from the film.

[00:53:45] Stephen Fenech: Of course. All right, um, Simon, did you notice the car they were driving?

[00:53:51] Trevor Long: Uh, Buick Riviera.

[00:53:54] Stephen Fenech: And they stayed at the Riviera.

[00:53:56] Trevor Long: There you go.

[00:53:57] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:53:57] Stephen Fenech: All right, what’s theme. Go, go! Uh, I liked— I reckon there’s a real smartass photo of, uh, Simon saying, I want a bottle of your finest champagne.

[00:54:07] Trevor Long: I would have thought the mistletoe, uh, freeze frame would be a pretty good one.

[00:54:11] Stephen Fenech: I’ll give you $20 for a, uh, a BJ.

[00:54:13] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:54:14] Stephen Fenech: Also, when he’s got the gun, I hold the lives of 10 men in my hand. When you remember when he’s got the gun?

[00:54:18] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[00:54:19] Stephen Fenech: Or the guy— remember the guy with the yellow glasses in the back of the car with the kids? I think I feel something. That guy too, I’d put in there. By Any Other Name, it could be a million other names. I would go— I’ve got a couple of suggestions here. Rave Nation. No, it’s Rave, or just Rave.

[00:54:36] Trevor Long: Rave would have been—

[00:54:37] Stephen Fenech: yeah, uh, or Double Crossed.

[00:54:40] Trevor Long: Sting.

[00:54:41] Stephen Fenech: Sting, you reckon?

[00:54:43] Trevor Long: It’s a Sting.

[00:54:43] Stephen Fenech: A musician named Sting. Yeah, yeah. All right, let’s go. The One Thing You Want I’ll take the gun that Simon had. The Ferrari, I’ll take that.

[00:54:57] Trevor Long: Okay, I’ll take the Mazda.

[00:54:58] Stephen Fenech: Uh, you know the wire that they strapped to the guy? I’ll take that.

[00:55:01] Trevor Long: Pretty cool, yeah.

[00:55:02] Stephen Fenech: Todd Gaines credit card I’d take as well.

[00:55:03] Trevor Long: That’d be cool on the wall. That’d be a nice signature, wouldn’t it?

[00:55:05] Stephen Fenech: Little thing, yeah. Todd Gaines.

[00:55:07] Trevor Long: That’s a good bit of memorabilia.

[00:55:08] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. What if it’s available on Prop Store? I regularly look online for the, for these sorts of little trinkets. Uh, righto, 3 questions for Trev. What is Simon’s future after that adventure? What does he end up doing? Simon?

[00:55:23] Trevor Long: Simon?

[00:55:24] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, the British guy.

[00:55:26] Trevor Long: I mean, I don’t see much from him, I’ll be honest.

[00:55:28] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he’s gonna be—

[00:55:29] Trevor Long: he’s at best still at the supermarket now.

[00:55:31] Stephen Fenech: Well, that leads me to question 2: do Claire and Ronna ever get out of that supermarket? Do they?

[00:55:36] Trevor Long: Yeah, because finally, because Ronna’s entrepreneurial spirits kicked in.

[00:55:39] Stephen Fenech: Oh, okay, so you reckon she’s gonna graduate out of it?

[00:55:41] Trevor Long: And I feel like Claire is gonna study and become something.

[00:55:44] Stephen Fenech: Okay, there you go. All right, question 3: sequel, prequel, or leave it alone?

[00:55:48] Trevor Long: I mean, I feel like you could do either end, but it needed to be done back in the day with them, you know.

[00:55:53] Stephen Fenech: Maybe, or maybe just— well, you can’t really involve the same characters because how do they so coincidentally interact again?

[00:56:00] Trevor Long: Yeah, but you could pick a line. In fact, you could spin off multiple, you know. You have a prequel with Ron or in the supermarket, you have a sequel with the actors.

[00:56:12] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, maybe, maybe. All right, righty-o, that is Go. Uh, give us your wrap-up and rating.

[00:56:18] Trevor Long: No, I enjoyed it. I, I— it wasn’t confusing, it was easy to follow, it was a good yarn, it wasn’t stupid. Yeah, I thought it was a good movie and, and just a relaxing watch. Just 7.5 for me.

[00:56:29] Stephen Fenech: I’m an 8.5. Thank you very much. Uh, let’s talk about next week. Next week we are watching What Lies Beneath. This was released in 2000, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Harrison Ford, directed by Robert Zemeckis. This is the movie that Robert Zemeckis made in the year break in Castaway. So they filmed the first bit of Castaway where Tom Hanks is on the island, yep, and then they go, right mate, we’re going to come back in 12 months, lose a shit ton of weight, Yep. And we’ll be— we’ll get back to you. In that 12 months, he went off and made this film.

[00:57:06] Trevor Long: Right, right.

[00:57:08] Stephen Fenech: But here’s my question though, uh, it’s about Robert Zemeckis, and I know you love these questions about directors and stuff, but yeah, which of these movies did Robert Zemeckis not direct? Okay, okay. Now there’s some obvious ones here, but there’s a couple that might throw you. A, Forrest Gump. B, Cast Away. Well, I gave that away. C, The Blues Brothers. B, Blues Brothers, or D, Death Becomes Her?

[00:57:31] Trevor Long: Oh mate, come on, Blues Brothers.

[00:57:35] Stephen Fenech: Correct. He did not direct Blues Brothers.

[00:57:37] Trevor Long: Didn’t feel it. Doesn’t have a— that was John Landis vibe.

[00:57:39] Stephen Fenech: John Landis directed. So he did direct Forrest Gump, did direct Castaway, and did direct Death Becomes Her, which stars Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Meryl Streep.

[00:57:47] Trevor Long: There you go.

[00:57:47] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but anyway, glad you enjoyed Go. Uh, it’s time for us to go, uh, but next week we are gonna— I hope you enjoy What Lies Beneath. I look forward to hearing from you. See you then.

[00:57:57] Trevor Long: See you then.