In-Studio with The Guys Who Brought You Super Troopers  + Adrianne Palicki on Their New Comedy ‘Quasi' and Stories Behind Their Famous Funny Scenes! + Movie Review: Quasi (Hulu) + Trailer Park: Barbie

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, and today I am in studio with the guys who brought you Super Troopers and Beerfest Broken Lizard in the House with Adrian Pilecki, who you would know from Friday Night Lights. Gonna talk about their new comedy Quasi, which comes out on Hulu on four to twenty. That's also what we'll be covering in the movie Review this week, and in the Trailer Park we'll shift gears and talk about the new Barbie movie. So a lot to get to on this week's episode. Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew and now let's talk movies.

00:00:29
Speaker 2: In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMTB with glasses. From the Nashville Podcast Network, this is Movie Mike's Movie.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: Podcast, about to get into my interview with the cast of Quasi, which they wrote, starred, and directed.

00:00:58
Speaker 3: It's an R.

00:00:59
Speaker 1: Radianus on the hunchback of Notre Dame. It comes out on Hulu this Thursday, four twenty or if you're listening to this episode after the fact, it could already be up there for you. So listen to this interview, go watch the movie. They've been making comedy movies for the last twenty plus years. The one you'd probably recognize them from the most is Super Troopers. So let me tell you everybody who's about to be in this studio. You have Kevin Heffernan, who directed this movie, also known as Farva.

00:01:24
Speaker 4: Give Me a Leader of Cola.

00:01:26
Speaker 1: You have Ja Chandrasakar aka Thorny, mother of God. You have Paul Soder aka Foster no.

00:01:34
Speaker 4: Budts mail that's the law.

00:01:36
Speaker 5: That's so funny, mal is it now?

00:01:37
Speaker 1: Eric Stolhanski aka Rabbit you Smell Something Rabbit Fear. And Adrian Plecki, who plays the queen in the new movie and you also made recognize her as Tyro from the TV show Friday Night Lights. So that's our cast of characters. And now let's get into the interview here now with.

00:01:54
Speaker 3: The cast of Quasi. How are you guys?

00:01:57
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, good, how you doing?

00:01:58
Speaker 3: How are you doing great?

00:01:59
Speaker 1: I imagine you guys had the after party last night when you guys go out to a bar that people automatically just want to buy you beer because you're the beer fest guys.

00:02:07
Speaker 5: Lots of chugging. There's a lot of chugging that goes on.

00:02:09
Speaker 3: And you can still handle a chug.

00:02:13
Speaker 4: You have to be prepared.

00:02:15
Speaker 6: There's certain conditions and like sometimes somebody will hold you, hand you a freezing cold beer and want you to chug it, and that that's not fun.

00:02:24
Speaker 5: I chug any temperature, guys, Kevin's the fastest chugger.

00:02:28
Speaker 1: Do You have to be cautious of the drinks that people give you. Sometimes you have to see it be poured. You're worried about none of.

00:02:33
Speaker 4: Us has been roofed so far. We're not handsome enough.

00:02:38
Speaker 6: But Johnny Knoxville showed you a trick where you throw a shot, you get the shot that you throw it over your shoulder while the other person's did.

00:02:45
Speaker 4: I showed him that trick.

00:02:46
Speaker 5: You know, I thought you chrick on the egg.

00:02:49
Speaker 4: People kept buying me shots in that and rouge, and I can only drink so many, so eventually, after one or two I would throw the third one over my shoulder. But I was usually so drunk that I would occasionally hit someone right in the face.

00:03:02
Speaker 6: Right, And then when we did Irish car bombs.

00:03:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, well what happened was I did hit somebody right in the face. They go, oh my god, oh super Troopers, I got away with it.

00:03:13
Speaker 1: I imagine that's the same effect with like police officers. They see you, guys, and you're like, oh, supertroopers, guys.

00:03:19
Speaker 5: Yeah, we get out of a lot of tickets, get out of jail free cart.

00:03:21
Speaker 6: Oh man, I was so busted in New York City. Sometimes you're out running around New York City and there's no place to go to the bathroom.

00:03:28
Speaker 4: So I ducked into like I ducked into a.

00:03:31
Speaker 6: Construction scaffolding, and as I'm still in the middle, you can be in the middle of taking a leak and feel when a cop is right behind you. And I was like, oh man, I'm so screwed. And I turned around and the guy's eyes got huge. He's like, you have no idea how lucky you are, buddy, that I'm a big.

00:03:53
Speaker 7: Because you'd go to the see why you wrote the movie. You're like, we're gonna get out of all the things.

00:03:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought it would be the opposite. We thought they were really unhappy with us.

00:04:02
Speaker 5: We're nervous.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: So I saw the movie last night, and good. There is this weird thing that happened in the theater that I haven't experienced when going to see a comedy in a while. It was this sound that I'm not I wasn't used to. It was lasting laughter the entire time. People were laughing throughout the entire movie.

00:04:15
Speaker 5: That's great.

00:04:16
Speaker 4: I know.

00:04:16
Speaker 1: I feel like from like the maybe like ninety nine to two thousand and seven, they were just comedy banger after comedy banger, just NonStop. Yeah, but now I feel like there are very few and far between. Why do you think that is as creators of comedy movies? Why do you think we're seeing less right now?

00:04:30
Speaker 5: Some of its budget.

00:04:31
Speaker 8: I mean, there's there's a bigger focus on these bigger tent pole movies, right, so comedies, well, they think the comedies aren't as.

00:04:36
Speaker 5: Lucrative for them, so they don't make as many.

00:04:38
Speaker 8: And then I think, since you know, COVID was obviously a problem, but comedy movies haven't come back since COVID.

00:04:44
Speaker 4: Laughter, it spreads COVID easily, oh.

00:04:47
Speaker 6: Yeahd ten times as fast.

00:04:50
Speaker 8: Yeah yeah, But I mean there hasn't really been a big comedy yet. Right, since we've come back, there hasn't been a Maverick sized comedy.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I was thinking the last big theatrical comedy was like Crazy Rich Asians. Is like the last time something came in and did gigantic.

00:05:05
Speaker 9: But that's not really like a comedy.

00:05:07
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's like, yeah, not like a traditional ur ur kind Offinger or whatever, but just in terms of something that isn't like action genre, comical genre, gigantic ip.

00:05:18
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:05:19
Speaker 1: Is it also that you have to worry about what you make fun of? Like in a canceled culture world? Is it harder to make a comedy in twenty two?

00:05:25
Speaker 4: Don't worry about it.

00:05:26
Speaker 1: I don't think so, because I feel like your movies they're very It's kind of all the comedy is inflicted towards the characters. You don't really go outside of it, you know, have a whole lot of pop culture references.

00:05:34
Speaker 3: It's all like within the characters.

00:05:36
Speaker 1: So I feel like that's why a lot of the Broken Lizard movies have stood the test of time.

00:05:39
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, our philosophy has always been to try to make a movie where you feel like it's a group of friends hanging out, you want to hang out with them, so it's not likely mean spirited. The idea is to you know, be kind of good natured. And I think, you know, the Cancel Cultures thing seems to focus a.

00:05:53
Speaker 5: Little more on the mean spirited humor, I think, which we don't really bring.

00:05:55
Speaker 4: To the hunchback in this movie.

00:05:58
Speaker 5: He's the hero. What are you talking about?

00:06:00
Speaker 4: Because we insult them a lot.

00:06:02
Speaker 6: He's there are We had to get him to zero, go from zero to hero, so we needed some zeroism and so you know, you get some stuff chucked at him or you know, gets.

00:06:14
Speaker 7: It's hilarious that like the only real issue on the movie was the thing with the oysters.

00:06:19
Speaker 8: Yeah oysters, Yeah, we had we had a problem.

00:06:23
Speaker 5: We got a letter from the SPCA.

00:06:24
Speaker 8: There's there's a lot of oyster eating in our movie, and we got a letter from the SPCA saying that we were not allowed to shoot those scenes because we would be harming animals in the making of that of the movie, which has wass do No animals were hard to making this movie and apparently you know, the oysters are live when they're in the shell, and if you eat them then you'd be violating that rule.

00:06:45
Speaker 5: So they told us we couldn't do it.

00:06:46
Speaker 8: So we had to either shuck them first, or we made a kind of gross concoction of mushrooms and lemon juice, and that was the oysters that we ate those.

00:06:56
Speaker 9: Paul just recently started eating oysters again, right.

00:06:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, guys, finally back onto oysters after like it, truly, it was so part of it was the joke in the movie is that it is the ultimate status symbol, oysters. You have really made it if you're eating oysters. And then I think when they sourced the oysters for the movie, their logic was then, well, then the biggest oysters would therefore be the best, which isn't the case at all. When we were scarfing down you know, yeah, twenty thirty oysters in a take, they were the size of your fist. Like I've never had to chomp, chomp, chomp an oyster before, you know, like and you so yeah that that that experience really took.

00:07:39
Speaker 5: Me off for a while.

00:07:40
Speaker 6: Reflex fact now and we realize I'm glad because a lot of are promoting now people bring oysters who have seen you know that when we do.

00:07:47
Speaker 3: Different media tickets you get free.

00:07:49
Speaker 6: Yeah, but this is funny now because it's almost like the maple syrup thing, like these guys have been haunted for the last whatever twenty years, never.

00:07:58
Speaker 5: Again, chugging maple never again?

00:08:00
Speaker 1: Is that the one you regret the most? Putting the maple syrup in the everybody now, everybody wants.

00:08:04
Speaker 4: To that one really almost killed us?

00:08:07
Speaker 5: Syrup.

00:08:07
Speaker 4: Yeah. I drank two and a half and I made him drink three and a half because I'm like, you don't have it yet, Well, let's do another couple of takes. And uh, you know, afterwards I had to go shoot a love scene which didn't even make the movie. But anyway, he went, I mean we were we at lunch. We laid down in the dark in my trailer and just shook all for the entire thirty minutes, just shook. And then and then when I got back to the hotel, he I saw him coming out. He goes, have you pooped yet? And I'm like no. He goes, report back to me after you wait, and he goes, there's a reason. It's part maple syrup is part of the of the Master Cleanse. And you know, like things came out of me. I don't remember putting in like like a fossilized robin fetus. I was like, I don't remember that.

00:08:55
Speaker 5: One.

00:08:57
Speaker 3: Jay is a director.

00:08:58
Speaker 1: Do you ever ask for another take when you really don't need another take, but you just want to mess with the guys?

00:09:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, if it's something, if it's something that's uncomfortable for them, sure, yeah, I'll do it just for fun, just for fun.

00:09:09
Speaker 1: Another main focal point of Quasi is the torture. What part of filmmaking feels like torture to you, guys?

00:09:16
Speaker 5: That's an excellent question, that's a.

00:09:17
Speaker 8: Good question, But I don't know that any I mean, it's it's such a rare thing that we get to that point where you're actually shooting.

00:09:23
Speaker 5: You know, it's not really that bad.

00:09:25
Speaker 4: They say, You know, we had we had an assistant director who used to say that, because you they end up calling you to the set hours and hours and hours before you actually work.

00:09:34
Speaker 3: It's the waiting.

00:09:35
Speaker 4: It's the waiting. And this assistant director said, uh, you get paid to wait. You act for free.

00:09:41
Speaker 1: People think that behind the scenes of a movie there's a lot of fun things happening, but it's really just hang out and trailer waiting.

00:09:46
Speaker 3: To the next scene.

00:09:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, and and yes, sometimes that is painful. I think what is nice though, what mitigates it is you're with your buddies in that downtime, if even if it's in holding and you're on the side. And then when we get somebody who joins us, that becomes the time that we get to know each other and make friends and like and like all the time that we spent hanging out.

00:10:07
Speaker 5: Compare our downtime to other downtime that you haven't.

00:10:09
Speaker 7: Well, and then that's the thing, like this, who gives who gives the best downtime? I've actually sat and hung out because I usually am walking around or trying to keep my energy up. But the energy was just coming from talking to you guys.

00:10:19
Speaker 10: You know.

00:10:19
Speaker 9: It's like that's that's the that's the key, Agre.

00:10:22
Speaker 1: What is it like to get the part, to get the call like you're going to be in the movie.

00:10:26
Speaker 9: I was shocked.

00:10:30
Speaker 5: We were shocked, said yes, I mean shot.

00:10:32
Speaker 7: They called and they you know, had I had an offer and you're like, you know the Broken Lizard. Guys, was like yeah, huge fan, Like they want you to do this movie. What it's a movie about quasi motive. What okay? So I read it thirty pages in and I'm like, this is such in the vein of money Python, which I'm a huge money Python fan and and you know, a fan of theirs, so it was like, hell yes, But then I was also petrified they're the real.

00:10:55
Speaker 9: Deal, you know what I mean?

00:10:56
Speaker 7: And I'm just coming in and hoping that I can be funny and keep up up. And everybody was so warm and welcoming. From the moment I met everybody, it was just boom boom boom boom boom boom.

00:11:05
Speaker 1: Another part of the movie is the winning of a lottery. Now, if you guys won the lottery, which is like half a billion dollars right now, and you were able to make any movie you wanted with that budget, what kind of movie would you make?

00:11:16
Speaker 5: Oh boy, a really sad drama.

00:11:18
Speaker 4: Isa, we have a movie set in ancient Greece with the Plato and Socrates and Zeus, Poseidon and haighties, and it's got some visual effects. It'll probably be.

00:11:29
Speaker 3: Is that what takes up most of the budget, the visual.

00:11:30
Speaker 4: Lie and that one and that one. We're gonna need some some green screen.

00:11:34
Speaker 9: Do you need an Athena he always always need a goddess.

00:11:37
Speaker 4: I was saying to Medusa to I never.

00:11:40
Speaker 9: What are you trying to say?

00:11:42
Speaker 6: Okay, I never get jealous about somebody else winning the lottery, But that last big two billion one, the guy was a mile from my house. It could have been in my town a gas station that I go to. And I'm still mad about it, which is terrible, you know, but like coming, it's coming, that's close, which still.

00:12:03
Speaker 5: How many takes you buy?

00:12:04
Speaker 9: Yeah, did you buy one?

00:12:06
Speaker 6: I did buy yeah, at that gas No, because there's also a donut shot. My logic was a lot I'm not gonna win the lottery, but at least I'll get donuts if I don't buy my ticket at the donut shop. And so instead of going to the gas station, I went to the donuts.

00:12:20
Speaker 4: My uncle won the lottery twice. Twice he won a million and a half. Once he kept playing the same numbers for years, and then he played the same number and won fifty thousand more. And his name was Money, and they and he invested in our first film.

00:12:37
Speaker 8: Wait, he a million, the first million and a half and then and then fifty thousand.

00:12:42
Speaker 3: Okay, that's a lot of money.

00:12:43
Speaker 5: That's pretty good, pat for the tickets bought himself the corvette.

00:12:46
Speaker 1: I think Quasi is also the most visually studying movie you guys have made, and ironically it's going straight to streaming. So I wonder, as filmmakers, where do you stand on that debate of if it comes out on streaming or if it comes out in theaters.

00:12:59
Speaker 3: How do you want your art to be seen?

00:13:01
Speaker 5: I mean, obviously, I think we would love it always to be in theaters.

00:13:03
Speaker 8: I mean seeing on the big screen like we did last night is great, it's fantastic, but you know, the realities of the world. You know, we made the deal for this movie when the pandemic was going on. There was no theatrical and so you know, we didn't even know how the movie would get seen, you know, So it was a good it was a blessing that we were able to do this thing through Hulu. But ultimately for us, you know, people discover our have discovered our movies with watching with their friends and their living room or their dorm room or whatever it is. You know, we we they really kind of grooved prominence that way, and so I think, however we can get it to them, We're happy.

00:13:34
Speaker 5: We're happy about that.

00:13:35
Speaker 3: Another part I really enjoyed was in the credits.

00:13:38
Speaker 1: You have all the bloopers, and what I noticed is there are different lines, there are different jokes, and so do you just shoot a bunch of different jokes and then how do you pick the one that ends up making it in the movie?

00:13:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, we do. People.

00:13:47
Speaker 8: People come with alts, or they come with you know, options, or we'll be sitting there and think of them on the spot and do it and then in the edit room you kind of decide, you know, which one lands.

00:13:55
Speaker 5: Like the funny thing was.

00:13:56
Speaker 8: That thing you have where he's down, he falls over the railing and you look down and you have that Schwarzenegger type line. And we shot like six of them. Remember, were shooting at the end of the night. He was like two o'clock in the morning. Me, you and Lemmy were standing off camera just ye say this, say that, and the crews like rolling their eyes, They're like, come.

00:14:13
Speaker 5: On, we want to go home.

00:14:15
Speaker 4: I was texting for that one. Yeah, yeah, and.

00:14:18
Speaker 8: They were there were We had the eddit room and we tried all of them, and I liked a different one.

00:14:24
Speaker 5: It was had the word shucking it what was. It was like a hucks to be You. Yeah, shucks to be you. I like that one. Uh, but the studio hated all of them. They hated all They're like, they're terrible lines, and we're like, well they're supposed to be there. That's it's a Schwarzenegger line. You know what I meant?

00:14:40
Speaker 4: You know, I mean I love the one.

00:14:42
Speaker 5: I love it too.

00:14:42
Speaker 4: I guess you fell for me.

00:14:44
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:14:44
Speaker 10: We had a scene when Michelle's Tawney gets shot in the neck and we and then Gabe improvises a line and then we react to it.

00:14:53
Speaker 4: But we just went off for maybe twenty thirty minutes.

00:14:55
Speaker 10: Yeah, it wasn't in the script or anything. Every character just was reacting, making scenes character and you had to be in that room.

00:15:02
Speaker 5: I brought a bunch of times, gave breaks, breaks all the time.

00:15:06
Speaker 6: Did you ever cut together a version that just sort of made a whole scene out of us yelling at the guard who shot Michelle.

00:15:13
Speaker 5: And the neck.

00:15:13
Speaker 8: The editor cut has that I would love you with everyone's thing.

00:15:17
Speaker 5: And then there's a longer version of the one where he stabs.

00:15:19
Speaker 8: The guy and the guy's not dead and he stabs there's a longer version of that I cut.

00:15:23
Speaker 1: So super Troopers came out when I was ten years old, and I feel like it was very influential on my sense of humor rewatching it as an adult, I feel like you guys don't get enough credit for the writing. The writing is just so solid and every single one of your movies. So I wanted to share with you the top three quotes that I use in my everyday life.

00:15:40
Speaker 3: Oh yes, and it is from all your movies. So and number three I have he can't pull over any farther.

00:15:55
Speaker 7: You get.

00:15:57
Speaker 1: Is it true that that opening scene was based on a true story.

00:16:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a true story.

00:16:01
Speaker 8: It was I think it was Lemmy or They were trying to go over the border into Canada and these guys got pulled over and they had mushrooms and some guy ate all the mushrooms and then they got thrown in jail and the brushrooms kicked in.

00:16:13
Speaker 5: When the guy was in prison.

00:16:14
Speaker 4: He ate mushrooms for six people.

00:16:15
Speaker 5: Yeah, terrible. I've had a.

00:16:17
Speaker 3: Problems the trip for.

00:16:19
Speaker 1: He's still I think he's still His eyes went black and he's still tripping. I had trouble in the Canadian border too. One time, I was trying to get back into the United States and somebody with my exact same name.

00:16:29
Speaker 3: I think they were charged with murder.

00:16:31
Speaker 1: You know, they had to like identify that I was not that guy, so they held me at the airport for like an hour and I'm like, I'm not him, and number two on my list, I have give me a double bacon cheeseburger.

00:16:43
Speaker 2: Welcome to Dippis.

00:16:43
Speaker 5: Can I take your order?

00:16:45
Speaker 1: Give me a double bacon cheeseburger.

00:16:47
Speaker 4: Double baker cheeseburger.

00:16:49
Speaker 6: It's for a cop.

00:16:50
Speaker 4: Are you gonna spend it now?

00:16:51
Speaker 6: No?

00:16:52
Speaker 2: I was just to him that say makes it good?

00:16:53
Speaker 3: How hard was it not to break during that scene?

00:16:56
Speaker 4: I was just happy to be in the scene and get to watch it up close. Was it's It's one of my favorite scenes we've ever done, because not only is Kevin great in that scene, but the kid who plays the burger dimpestburger guy is also one of my favorite actors.

00:17:11
Speaker 5: He's great, and he's just Charlie Finn.

00:17:13
Speaker 4: The two of them, Charlie Finn and him are just going at it and I'm like, I'm right here.

00:17:17
Speaker 5: It was so fun because I said to him, I'm gonna I'm gonna tackle.

00:17:21
Speaker 8: He's like, okay, here ye are, and then I did it and he's like, oh my god.

00:17:25
Speaker 5: And it was a you know, that's the take that we used.

00:17:27
Speaker 1: You know, my number one is from Beerfest And this is one of my wife hates because I do it every single time. She cannot say the word frustrating, saying it's frustrating, it's frustrating.

00:17:37
Speaker 6: Frankly, I find the whole thing a little frustrating because I can't figure it out.

00:17:40
Speaker 8: It's frustrating, frustrating, it's frustrating, it's frustrating.

00:17:48
Speaker 3: He improvised liner is that in the script?

00:17:50
Speaker 5: It was improvised. It was improvised.

00:17:52
Speaker 4: It was just a matter of originally my line, yeah, and I couldn't it was your bit. Yeah, I couldn't quite get my mind around on how to make it funny, and so I'm like, you do it, and so he did it, and he started doing it. I'm like, yeah, that's good, that's better. We'll do that, and so then they riffed on it on that frustrating.

00:18:10
Speaker 8: Yeah, there's that's another one of those things where there's probably a lot on the editing floor about me messing on him.

00:18:15
Speaker 5: Yeah, with trying to make it a snap.

00:18:17
Speaker 1: So between Kevin and j how do you decide who is going to direct the movie? Because you directed Quasi I did.

00:18:23
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:18:23
Speaker 4: I was doing a movie called Easter Sunday with Joe Koy and when this movie got greenlit, so I just said, why don't you direct it?

00:18:31
Speaker 3: You said, okay, simple as that, simple as that.

00:18:34
Speaker 5: We've known each other for a long time.

00:18:36
Speaker 3: Jay I.

00:18:36
Speaker 1: Speaking of directing, I loved your episodes of Unstable that you directed. Oh thanks, I'm really into like a twenty four minute comedy right now. Nice And I know you guys are writing Super Troopers three. Did you ever think that that would work as a TV show? Like a twenty minute TV show?

00:18:51
Speaker 4: Our process is too thorough to crank television out at the rate it needs to be done, I think, I mean, because we write thirtyfts of scripts and it's it's possible. I mean, that would be a good show. I agree with you. I just don't know if we'll ever I don't know that we'll ever do it.

00:19:07
Speaker 8: No, No, I mean originally it was conceived that way. There was a there was a moment time where we're going to do it as a as a TV show and then and then Fox past, so screw them and pilot.

00:19:17
Speaker 1: And then where are you guys on the Superture Verse three D script right now?

00:19:20
Speaker 4: And drafts?

00:19:21
Speaker 3: What does that mean? What are the draft what does that?

00:19:24
Speaker 4: It's about a month.

00:19:26
Speaker 8: It's a full script, you know, and it's just it's just in an early form, you know, we keep going through it.

00:19:31
Speaker 5: We had jokes and we you know, fixed plot stuff and.

00:19:34
Speaker 4: Mostly trying to get the structure working, and then we'll just pour jokes on top of it.

00:19:38
Speaker 7: I'll say, as an actress like coming in and not being a writer, like in the writing room, to get to experience that, because every time there was a different version, we did another table read and then watching you guys just you know, pitch more ideas back and forth to each other, and it's just it's a really cool process to watch.

00:19:52
Speaker 3: It's.

00:19:52
Speaker 6: Yeah, as much as I enjoy shooting stuff, like those sessions, you get past, Like what Jay was saying, the initial sessions are about structure and storytelling and character and plot, and then those sort of second ten drafts are just riffing and riffing and riffing, and that's when the miles get put in, you know, that's that's when the random ass stuff gets put in, and those sessions are the best in the world.

00:20:17
Speaker 1: So Quasi comes out on four to twenty. If you're listening to this at any other point, it could already be out. Go watch it right now.

00:20:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's twenty.

00:20:24
Speaker 3: The new Broken Lizard release day March.

00:20:27
Speaker 5: We trademarked I think, so it's become our holiday.

00:20:30
Speaker 4: We write these movies occasionally with a little bit of weed, so watching them on weed is really it unlocks their true, true potential.

00:20:40
Speaker 3: That is the true meaning.

00:20:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I appreciate the time, guys, thanks for hanging out.

00:20:46
Speaker 6: Yeah, thank you.

00:20:50
Speaker 1: So since we just talked to the cast, I felt it was only appropriate to do my review this week on the movie Quasi that we've been talking about. I almost thought about, for the first time ever, reviewing a movie with the people who created it, but realize that would probably be entirely awkward. I also want to share with you my entire experience going to my first ever movie premiere.

00:21:09
Speaker 3: I am just a big fan.

00:21:10
Speaker 1: If you can't already tell of the Broken Lizard, guys, so I already feel I am coming from a bit of a bias place of I am just their target audience when it comes to these movies. When I walked into this theater, it was all a bunch of people who looked like me. That combined with getting to sit down and talk to them, It's an entirely different environment when you go to a premiere and the actual people who made the movie are watching it with you. So I know that going into this review, I'm wearing the freakin T shirt of all things, but I will still give you my honest opinion on their new movie. Before we get into that, here is just a little bit of the Quasi trailer, which is a spoof on the Hunchback of Notre Dame, a spoof on Quasi Moto broken Lizard style. Here's just a little bit of Quasi.

00:21:54
Speaker 5: WHASEI why they wase gonna be late?

00:21:58
Speaker 4: You know what your problem is?

00:22:00
Speaker 6: Is it that I've got a fatty deposit the size of a giant gord.

00:22:03
Speaker 5: On my back? Hunchback?

00:22:06
Speaker 8: Morning four twenty Get a Tale of Love.

00:22:12
Speaker 4: I very much like Phil Rats and I yours the trial. I'm scandal.

00:22:21
Speaker 1: So it's from the guys who brought you super Troopers, the guys who brought you beer Fest, and it is an R rated spoof on the Hunchback of Notre Dame. In this version of the story, you have Quasimoto aka Quasi, who is trying to live a normal life, trying to find his purpose in the world in midieval France, and then he finds himself in this ordeal where both the king of where he lives and the Pope who comes to visit in town. The first thing I had to get used to watching this movie is all of the Broken Lizard guys play two different roles throughout the movie. It was a little bit jarring to see them go from one roll to the other and try to focus in on what the story was trying to be early on in the movie. So once I got used to that, it really allowed me to enjoy the movie. But what really helped watching a comedy like this a very over the top, a very raunchy, a very I don't want to call it low brow, but it's very goofball. If you know the Broken Wizard guys, that is what they go for. And I feel like it's a very fine line of you finding it funny and you finding it dumb. I am the target audience. I find this stuff hilarious, and I was worried about that because when you go watch a comedy, the way you judge it on whether or not it's a good movie or not is doesn't.

00:23:30
Speaker 3: Make you laugh.

00:23:31
Speaker 1: And what really helped with this movie and the ironic thing we talked about earlier, is that it's going straight to Hulu. I have an experience watching a comedy like this in a very long time, and I wonder if I would have watched this movie at home on Hulu, like everybody else is going to have to do, would I have the same experience. Because this was the first ever movie premiere that I went to. I've been doing this thing professionally now for probably seven years. I've gone to screenings before, but it's a much different environment when the people who created the movie are actually there. So the entire Broken Lizard cast was there. Adrian Pilecki was there, so they came out before the movie, did a little intro talking about the film, watched the movie there in the theater, and then came back and did a Q and A afterwards, and I just felt like I was in this group that was a very safe place, and it was all these fans of all their movies that it just felt so much more welcoming, and there was laughter throughout the entire movie, and when you hear other people laughing, it is infectious and I felt good laughing at things. And it was just an experience I had to where I completely turned off my movie critic brain and just allowed myself to watch something fun for the sake of it being fun. And that is something that you don't really get when you watch a movie alone at home. So I wonder how this is going to translate to all of you who end up deciding whether or not to watch this movie, how that experience differs because this is their first movie not coming out in theaters, and I really feel like a comedy needs to be seen with people. And we talked about in the interview how comedies are being made less and less, and I think it's because during the pandemic, we had that time where we stopped spending time with each other and we got used to it, and we got used to watching different types of things, and comedies were not being made that we forgot how to watch comedies. Comedies are the best when you go and watch them with your friends. It gave me, you know, feelings back to when I would go watch a movie on Friday night, you would want to go watch a comedy. You don't really do that anymore. We are so focused now on, you know, consuming things on our own and telling other people about them. When it comes to comedies, when you experience something by yourself, sometimes it doesn't hit the same way, especially with a broken Lizard type comedy. Although a lot of their comedies, what they said earlier, a lot of people discovered them at different times. I never watched super Troopers in theaters. I never watched beer Fest in theaters. But it came through the power of word of mouth, people telling me about that movie at school. It's a movie that people passed around the VHS tip so you could experience it by yourself. But then from there you go back and you quote all these movies with your friends. A comedy is meant to be experienced among friends, and that is exactly how I felt watching this movie. It was watching it with other like minded people and then also having the people there who created it and seeing them be genuinely.

00:26:24
Speaker 3: Excited to share this with people.

00:26:27
Speaker 1: I found that was an important factor for me too, because for somebody who watches and talks about movies all the time. It's all I think about is movies. I don't always put a human element to it. I think if I come on and talk about a movie I didn't like, it's not going to affect them. But they have so much passion for their movies to the point to where they're out here doing this tour promoting this because they believe in it so much. It really gave a human factor for me too. Route for it still had to be a good movie. I wasn't going to enjoy it if it was terrible, but it definitely felt like a personal touch that I haven't really experienced with any other movie. I know. They try to put these teasers now at the beginning of movies, where it's the actors coming on before it starts, saying thank you for watching it in the theater the way it was intended to be seen. But it's a whole different level when they're actually there with you. It actually feels like they care about their art. But when it comes to period pieces, I will have to say that is a genre that is right there at the bottom. It goes Christmas movies and period pieces of movies. I just can't get into the only period piece movie that I just straight up love and would consider one of my favorite dramas. Is the favorite a movie I was not expecting to love. I don't like classical music. I don't like movies where people are dress funny and talking in weird accents. It's just hard for me to get into a movie like that. I was also just coming off with Dungeons and Dragons, so I'd already been in a similar pool of a type of movie like this, But that really kind of gets thrown out the window when it comes to this movie because it's so off the wall, because it's so zany, because it's so crude. It didn't feel like any of those type of movies. Other movies have done this before. They took off a lot of inspiration from Monty Python, which is why I believe this movie was so self aware. They make jokes about the same actors playing different characters throughout this movie. And while it is a spoof on the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, it's really a story about two friends, and that is what is at the center of every single Broken Lizard movie. It's a story about friendship, about people you just want to hang out with. It was a little bit tougher to do that with medieval characters, but they got there at the end. I will say the only part of the film that lost me a little bit was the third act. It got a little bit clunky there towards the end. Unlike all of their other movies, where the third act is where they really win you over, where something very ridiculous happens, this movie kind of walked off in a stumble for me. First act, second act kept the plot moving, kept the laughs coming, but it was almost like they didn't know how to end this movie. That being said, I still enjoyed every other aspect of this movie, and it was maybe because I wasn't expecting to as much as I did that I would say this is a top three broken Lizard movie for me. It's hard to knock Supertroopers out of that number one slot. Beer Fest on any other given day could probably be number one for me, but for the sake of this right now, I'll put it at number two. Although that is the movie of theirs that I have rewatched the most. It is kind of my comfort movie when it comes to broken lizard movies. Supertroopers is obviously more iconic and the one that put them on the map. So that being said, I would put this at their number three movie, although I don't think if they put this movie out first that their career would have been on the same trajectory. Now, Quasi is their oldest script and this is the movie they pitched before they did Supertroopers, So I will say things worked out better for them that they didn't make this movie first, because I think if they put out Quasi first, I don't think they would have got the Supertroopers, they definitely would not have got to beer Fest. So sometimes things just work out the way they are intended to, and this is an example of that. I think it was also important that they made this movie now because it does look the best out of any other movie that they've done, and that adds a great deal to it. Because a lot of it is set design, a lot of it is costumes, you obviously have to make it look somewhat like they are in medieval France, and it did a pretty good job at that, given it is a comedy, so it doesn't have to look entirely correct. They're not full on making game of Thrones here, so I think this was the perfect time for them to make this movie. Now that being said, I think if you are a fan of Broken Lizard and all their other movies, you're going to love this one. It's a lot of what they have done in the past, and a little bit more refined when it comes to the production. I don't think it's as memorable as all of their other movies. It doesn't have it's not the same setting to create those memorable quotes that they are known for, but it definitely shows a different side of them that they can really go outside of their genre and still be funny. I don't think it's gonna win you over if you haven't enjoyed any other Broken Lizard film, if you're not a fan of super Troopers, if you're not a fan of beer Fest, this one is not going to be your next favorite movie. Comedy out of venue genre is very subjective, so I'm not saying you're going to be rolling around on the floor with side splitting laughter. But if you watch this with some friends with just the intention of having a good time, I think.

00:31:12
Speaker 5: You will enjoy it.

00:31:13
Speaker 1: So for Quasi, I give it three point five out of five Hunchbacks.

00:31:21
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to Movie Mike Trailer Paul.

00:31:26
Speaker 1: If you are new to the podcast, this is a portion where I break down a trailer of a movie coming to you very soon in theaters or streaming. And this week I want to talk about Barbie. I've had a couple weeks now to sit and think about this trailer and what exactly this movie is going to be about, and two weeks later, I still don't really have any idea. What they say, just based on the plot, is that Barbie is going through an existential crisis. She wants to leave Barbie World and goes into the real world. But really, what this trailer does is just give us the aesthetic of Barbie World, what that looks like, what goes on there, how they speak in that world, and doesn't really offer us a whole lot on the plot. But I am okay with that. That is what a trailer's supposed to do. It's just supposed to tease us and make us want to watch this movie. Mission accomplished with this Barbie trailer because even though I don't know exactly how that is going to translate to a full length feature film, I'm already into the aesthetic. I'm into this entire cast. I'm into the look of Barbie. So they are doing a really great job on that front. So before I get into my full thoughts about Barbie. That just sounds kind of weird to say they're making a movie about Barbie. But there are so many times we say that I can't believe they're making a movie about that, and then we get proved wrong. We just had that with Air. So here's just a little bit of the Barbie trailer.

00:32:43
Speaker 4: I thought I might stay over tonight.

00:32:45
Speaker 5: Why because we're gross, boyfriend?

00:32:47
Speaker 9: See do what?

00:32:49
Speaker 4: I'm actually not sure what are you doing here? I'm coming with you.

00:32:55
Speaker 9: Did you bring your role with Blates?

00:32:57
Speaker 5: I literally go nowhere without them?

00:32:59
Speaker 3: Oh, looks like this was a little too much Beach for you.

00:33:01
Speaker 10: Ken.

00:33:01
Speaker 5: If I wasn't severely injured, I would beat you off right now.

00:33:04
Speaker 4: Ken.

00:33:04
Speaker 5: I'll beach off with you any day.

00:33:06
Speaker 1: Ken.

00:33:06
Speaker 3: Anyone wants to beat him off has to beat me off first.

00:33:09
Speaker 9: I will beat both of you off at the same time, beach.

00:33:11
Speaker 4: Both of us.

00:33:12
Speaker 6: All.

00:33:12
Speaker 3: Nobody's gonna beat anyone off. So you have.

00:33:16
Speaker 1: Margot Robbie as Barbie. You have Ryan Gosling as Ken You have Dua Lipa as a Mermaid. The list of a list actors in this movie goes on and on.

00:33:25
Speaker 3: The movie is.

00:33:26
Speaker 1: Directed by Greta Gerwig, who has become one of the directors that I will watch any movie they put out. There's a very short list of directors like that for me. Up there on that list is Greta Gerwig, who has done movies like Ladybird, Little Women. She is a writer, a former actress, and this will be her third major film and I am just so drawn to her work. When I first heard she was attached to this project, I knew it was gonna be good. Also on that list, I would have probably put Olivia Wilde, who won me over with Book Smart, who I felt was really ambitious in making Don't Worry Darling. Even though that movie didn't an entirely hit for me, I do believe it was one of the most noteworthy movies of twenty twenty two, making her a very noteworthy director. And also on that list is Jordan Peel, who was probably just my favorite director right now. But the movie is also written by Noah Bomback, who is a great director and writer in his own right. He wrote and directed Marriage Story on Netflix. Also co wrote The Life Aquatic with Wes Anderson. Noah Bomback also wrote and directed The Myrowitz Story, so he definitely has a writing style that I am also drawn to. And the movie was also co written by Greta Gerwig, so all the credentials are there for me to take away from my cynical brain thinking this is just a cash grab movie of Warner Brothers and Mattel trying to cash in on one of their most iconic brands that they have ever created. Just by the look of this trailer, it feels like a work of art to me, between the costume and set design, probably already oscar worthy in its own right, and then that leads me to all of the performances I'm seeing so far from just the trailer, and it kind of looks like a comedy version of La La Land. Maybe that's because I see Ryan Gosling, I see dancing, and I see and even though they aren't fully singing in this trailer, it has that kind of musical vibe of everybody dancing, and it's just cool to see how they created Barbie's Town, all of the accessories, all the clothes.

00:35:18
Speaker 3: It looks like a child's playset come to life.

00:35:21
Speaker 1: The interesting aspect of it that I might have to get used to while watching this movie, and I hope it doesn't become tedious to watch.

00:35:28
Speaker 3: Is the level of acting.

00:35:29
Speaker 1: But you have to think they are playing dolls, and the way they are speaking feels a little bit cheesy. It feels a little bit unnatural. But when you think about, yes, they are playing plastic things, and how those things would interact if they came to life, it starts to make a little bit more sense. But I wonder in context, is that gonna feel a little bit weird to sit and watch a two hour movie like that. It kind of reminded me of Toy Story three and the plotline between Ken and Barbie in that movie.

00:35:56
Speaker 3: It's like they plucked that out of.

00:35:57
Speaker 1: Toy Story three and met an entire movie based on those sims their personalities. But this is one of the best looking trailers I've seen in a long time, not just the set design and costumes, but everybody in this trailer is so attractive. It's like they went out and got the best looking actors to play everybody in this movie. So I definitely feel like that is by design. And then you also get a glimpse of Will Ferrell in this movie, who seems to play an actual human living in the real world. There towards the end of the trailer that we heard there, it is Ken tagging along with Barbie as she is leaving in her pink car going.

00:36:30
Speaker 3: To the real world.

00:36:31
Speaker 1: So it appears that after her existential crisis, she will go in what resembles a city like Los Angeles, and Will Ferrell is there, possibly as the creator of Barbie or somebody working out Mattel. That plotline feels a little bit familiar to me. It could kind of have that Truman Show vibe of where Barbie realizes that she has actually been a doll this entire time, goes out into the real world and sees herself completely differently and has to come to grips with the fact that she is this imaginary thing. So for that reason, I think this could be a low key sci fi movie, or maybe Warner Brothers is setting us up to merge this with the Lego movie and at the end of this we're just going to get one big Avengers Mattel type movie where it's Barbie where it's Hot Wheels where it's legos all coming together and forming one super movie. So we will have to wait and see, but I'm excited about this one. The Barbie movie sets to come out in theaters on July twenty first.

00:37:31
Speaker 6: At that for this week's edition of Movie Line Framer bar and that is going to do it for another episode here of the podcast.

00:37:39
Speaker 1: Since we had an interview on this episode, what I like to do is create a secret emoji. So if you listen to that interview you enjoyed it, go and comment on my socials with the lizard emoji. I feel like that it's very appropriate for this episode. Drop a lizard in the comments. Let me know you listen, let me know what you liked about that interview, and then I'll pick one of those comments to shout out on next week's episode. But for this week, I want to go over to my YouTube page, which is YouTube dot com slash Mike Distro, where you can watch all my individual movie reviews. Over in that comment section. I got a comment from the James Rambling Show who said, I only discovered your channel recently, but you make good points and try to find ways to not be so negative and be fair in the process. Shizam two didn't deserve the hate. Yes it is fun, but it's not a perfect movie smiling emoji. So listener shout out of the week is James Rambling Show, who is now a subscriber over on the YouTube page.

00:38:35
Speaker 3: So thank you, James.

00:38:36
Speaker 1: Thank you to everybody who has subscribed on YouTube or subscribe wherever. You listen to podcasts and listen every single week really means a lot to me, especially when you tag me in your Instagram story listening to every episode. And until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.