Newcomers: Sports, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - A Madea Christmas (w/ Jason Concepcion)

Episode Date: April 13, 2021

Nicole and Lauren are joined by writer, producer, and podcaster Jason Concepcion (host of Crooked Media's Takeline and ALL CAPS NBA) to discuss a holiday film within the Madea ...Cinematic Universe, A Madea Christmas (2013). Follow Jason on Instagram and Twitter @netw3rk and tune into his new Crooked podcast, Takeline. Next week's watchlist: Acrimony (2018)Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts and let us know what Tyler Perry hit they should check out next.Advertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is a HeadGum Original. How you doing, Mary Chris? What can I get for you? Does Santa really work in the Nerf pool? No, he don't work. He lays on the couch and he drinks all day. He's trifling. I have to pay all the bills.
Starting point is 00:00:20 He kind of like your mama. Now, bye. Next! OK, Madea, this is where you'll be working. Okay. I need y'all to go give me some scratch-off. Just two or three of them. I need some help.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Hold on, because somebody's screaming at me. I'm getting ready to choke the hell out of her. Mom, I'm not going to be able to come home this year. It's Christmas. I'll come up there. I could ask your Aunt Medea to come with me. Your daughter is grown. Leave her alone.
Starting point is 00:00:42 I'll pay you. What time are you going to leave? Surprise. Surprise. Who are you. I'll pay you. What time you gonna leave? Surprise! Surprise! Who are you? Who are you? I'm Connor. Mama, Daddy.
Starting point is 00:00:50 Well, Mr. Day, looks like we're gonna be spending Christmas dinner together this year. Did you hear the one about the two rabbis and the black dude? Did you hear the one about the straight bully that killed the redneck for telling the story about the two rabbis and the black dude? This holiday season. Lacey, you do not have a Christmas tree?
Starting point is 00:01:06 Just leave this child alone. She's living her life. She happy out here in the farm playing Old MacDonald. When help is needed... God, these nipples so tough, you need a mammogram. You got to pull them things. You got to pull them hard. Pull them. Pull them. Whoa! You all right?
Starting point is 00:01:20 I done fell in bull. When children need a little guidance... The Bible say that when little baby Jesus was born, he was born to the Virgin Mary, uh, Jay Blige. And when everyone could use some wisdom. Good morning,
Starting point is 00:01:35 Miss Mandela. My Mandela, honey, my dear. What are they doing here anyway? Hush up, dragon lady. Medea's got the gift.
Starting point is 00:01:42 This is Christmas. You got to be nice to people. Pass it on, niceness. I ain't taking my medicine this morning. What medicine? Five milligrams of Don't Choke That Whole. Merry Christmas. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas.
Starting point is 00:01:55 Ho, ho, ho. Not you. Look how you jumped on. I'm talking to you. Go see a Madea Christmas. You're going to enjoy yourself. Ha, ha, ha, ha. You're gonna enjoy yourself. Wow. Okay. It's me, Nicole Byer. And you are?
Starting point is 00:02:41 I'm Lauren Lapkus. This is the fifth episode of our third season of Newcomers, where we're working our way through Tyler Perry's body of work. Oh, for the first time, with the help of Perry Scholars, super fans, and sometimes people who have contributed, this season's going to only be ten episodes, so we're not going to get to everything. But people are begging for more. And honestly,
Starting point is 00:03:05 we might give in because we might. I don't know. I'm having fun. I don't feel ready for it to end so soon. Me either. Yeah, no. So today we've experienced a subgenre within the Madea cinematic universe, a Madea holiday film. So we watched A Madea Christmas. It came out in 2013, and we'll be revisiting more movies and TV shows in the weeks to come. To come? To come. To come.
Starting point is 00:03:35 To come? If you want to watch this movie, it's available on DVD and for a fee on YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, and Vudu. We will obviously be giving spoilers. We're going to walk through the whole plot. So if you don't want to watch it, you can just hear us talk about it, which might still be as enjoyable. And also, I would have a hard time even classifying this a holiday movie. I mean, I want to get into this, but it's so not about Christmas. No. I mean, what were your initial thoughts, Nicole, before we bring our guest out? My initial thoughts was this felt a little Hallmark movie-esque.
Starting point is 00:04:11 Totally. Or Lifetime-y. But then those movies are like, when it's a Christmas movie, it is Christmas. Christmas, Christmas. And then this one was like, oh, I guess Christmas is happening. Well, there's the Jubilee. I know. I know. I know.
Starting point is 00:04:25 I feel like it was like there were just moments of Christmas. Like in the beginning, I was like, OK, it's going to be super Christmas. Like Medea like works at a department store and is dressed like Mrs. Claus. And I was like, this is fantastic. And I could have watched that for two straight hours. And then, of course, she like quits in a huff. And like we never go back there again. And there was no point to any of that.
Starting point is 00:04:47 And so you're just like, okay, what? But then, and then this is where I thought, okay, there are white people in this movie who aren't racist, but all they want is the Jubilee. And then I was like, I don't know that I want to be a white person in this movie screaming about the Christmas Jubilee and how it has to happen. I do feel like that's,
Starting point is 00:05:04 that is what made it feel like lifetimey um but we we needed more holiday stuff really um yeah i don't know i need more silly i was just so confused as like they were gonna defund the school to fund the jubilee and i was like how are these two connected is Is there one teacher? Is this school a home? I know the principal's like, we have multiple teachers teaching multiple classes at this point. And I was like, you got to figure it out. You got to figure it out.
Starting point is 00:05:36 As we show me, don't tell me. Like, you have one hallway, one classroom where you keep shoving different pieces of furniture. She truly had to, like like scurry around something to get to her desk i was dying the kids were absurd the kids were the kids were so good he's dirty and the accents the accent he's dirty he doesn't know the answer he's covered in dirt i'm like and then that kid looks like he's, he looks like Katie Holmes's child and is like literally Justin Bieber. Okay. We'll get to it. But when she went to the house to be like, he's got to go to a special art school. And then we finally hear him sing at the end. I was like, he don't got to go to any kind of school. He's fine.
Starting point is 00:06:21 Singing at the end. Okay. I can't wait. I can't wait to get it. Okay. We need to bring our guests out. Yes. Okay. We are so excited for our guests today. Jason Concepcion. Jason is a writer, editor, and producer known for creating and hosting NBA desktop for the ringer and co-hosting the podcast binge mode with Mallory Rubin. And he currently hosts the podcast take Line and the weekly YouTube series All Caps NBA for Crooked. Welcome, Jason. Oh, it's so fantastic to be here. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 00:06:52 I'm such big fans of both of you. Thank you for being here. Now, how big of a fan are you of Tyler Perry is the real question. I am generally aware of Tyler Perry's body of work. I am generally aware of Tyler Perry's body of work. I have seen bits and pieces of various Tyler Perry movies. I am a big fan of his work in Gone Girl. But this is the first Madea movie that I watched with a real kind of sense of presence and purpose. And in one sitting, really paying attention to it.
Starting point is 00:07:25 And I'm also aware of like his, you know, that he's a Survivor super fan and that Megan and Harry stayed at his house. Those are the that's the complete collection of my awareness of. Well, we just learned something with that Survivor tip. I didn't know he was a super fan. Didn't know. I would love to see him on like an island celebrity edition. Like I also would watch it i
Starting point is 00:07:46 don't watch celebrity or a survivor but i would watch that i would watch that in a heartbeat well fun fact about that he uh lisa welch who plays nancy in this uh in media christmas she was in uh the season of survivor that aired right before this shot oh wow so i have a theory that tyler saw she made it to the finals and so i think tyler saw her and then she and she won a hundred thousand dollars for being everybody's like favorite survivor and i think and i think tyler saw that and because she immediately got the audition i went through like variety i went through all the things and it was like, oh, her first audition in literally like 25 years. She immediately went into audition and got the part.
Starting point is 00:08:30 So I think this is I think this is a survivor connection. That is 100 percent what's happened. I love that. I love that so much. And, you know, I feel like he's really tapped in with pop culture. There were a couple moments where he quoted things like he quoted Kenya Moore from Real real housewives of atlanta i spent time googling which came first me too and i wanted to make sure because i was like did she get this from tyler perry she said it in 2013 and she originated gone with the wind fabulous this movie came out in 2013 i was like he shoots very quickly
Starting point is 00:08:59 so he's like yeah you saw it he improvised it within the film. And it was there. I just loved it. I loved it. And there was something else I noticed too. I can't remember. Ain't nobody got time for that. Yes, that woman. And then hide your kids. Hide your wife was also in the Jubilee.
Starting point is 00:09:14 He was bringing in every meme from that year. I feel like. I love. I like Tyler Perry. He's like, this, that's my's my idea nothing else we're putting it in I it's great so many like long runs of improvisation in this movie that he left in the car he's like trying to get in the car I oh my god uh jason do you like holiday movies i love holiday movies i love holiday movies i think one of the fun really fun things about this particular movie
Starting point is 00:09:55 is how um how just on front street it was about the various influences from different even though it wasn't to your point actually very Christmassy, it takes from various Christmas movies in a very obvious way. Like, the beginning is Elf. There's a little bit of It's a Wonderful Life in there. It's funny to take from a movie that came out two days before this one.
Starting point is 00:10:22 Did you also notice the wipes on the screen were christmas themed but only halfway through the movie exactly i was like like an hour and a half in a jingle ball like goes across the screen and i was like wait what have i missed these and then suddenly that's how they get between every i actually oh my god i feel like he was like we need more christmas like i had to rewind to make sure because i looked down for a couple of seconds and was just like lost on my phone for like five minutes. And then I saw that wipe and I was like, wait a second. Have I missed this large part of this movie that I was not aware that this happened?
Starting point is 00:10:55 We have talked about this. Like if you look at your phone for a minute, you will miss like 10 things. And I did look at my phone and I looked back up and there was a full car accident flipped over. I don't know what happened. Also, the man was being rescued yes same i had also looked down looked back up and was like what oh wait that's chad michael murray it must have been a boring moment that we both were like maybe and then i was like is chad murray gonna blow up this car sure enough he said we got the budget for that well they didn't
Starting point is 00:11:25 even have the budget for the crash you joined the crash meteor res oh so maybe i did see what happened and i just didn't understand what was going on because you don't there was no context he's completely flipped over the car completely flipped over and then suddenly well who saves him uh no no eileen oh yeah yeah yeah eileen she's amazing and she yeah she goes out and saves that And then suddenly, well, who saves him? Madea? No. Her mom. Eileen. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Eileen. She's amazing.
Starting point is 00:11:48 And she, yeah, she goes out and saves that guy from the car. And it's like a whole, I mean, another morality sort of moment, I guess. But can I ask you, too? So I've been listening to the pod. But at least from my perspective, you know, I've seen seen again i've seen other bits and pieces of other tyler perry stuff and it's always it seemed more uh plotted out i guess this felt like tyler perry had an outline of scenes and then he managed to get everybody for like a weekend it's like hey does everybody have like 48 hours free and then they just like improv this movie for it like off the outline because it kind of felt like i'm not sure if there's any
Starting point is 00:12:30 dialogue except for like maybe chad michael murray and lisa welchel and some of the other people but like uh tyler perry is just like going off top the entire film no and i mean there was i feel like watching eileen break with him was like my favorite thing yes he made her laugh so much like he's just going off and like fully just making stuff up and i'm like she was improvising with him like clearly like it was like they were just improvising the scene but i'm like what was supposed to happen like and there were so many moments where i wondered that like even when he's um, he's working at the department store and he like, the woman's like, I need a watch.
Starting point is 00:13:08 And then he's like, he drops like all the watches on accident. Like clearly it's a mistake. And then he just goes with it. And I was like, Ooh, he looks at one watch and is like, it's my lunch break or whatever.
Starting point is 00:13:20 That woman, she learned those lines. She was so excited that she had a full scene in a tyler perry movie and then tyler perry was like you know what would be better if i improvised that i leave this scene and she was screaming get back here as if you would scream that at someone who works at a store like who cares um it was very that was very very clearly made up on the fly which i i do love and i love that ty that Tyler Perry loves his own improv. Yes, very, very much.
Starting point is 00:13:47 And I watched a little bit of the outtakes with the credits. Oh my gosh. There was a scene when they were walking through the hallway. Tyler's talking. Eileen, the mom, is talking. Tika comes in. And then everyone's kind of talking on one another. And then the boyfriend who gives her $100,000, the ex-boyfriend,
Starting point is 00:14:07 he enters the scene with like a suitcase. But you're like, I don't know if he was supposed to enter at that point. And then Tyler Perry's like, okay, now we're all just talking on top of each other. And the editor's going to hate this. And I was like, but that's all you've given her. That's all you've given this editor. This whole movie is everyone talking over one another and then there was another scene in the car where they were all talking over one another and
Starting point is 00:14:28 and tyler's like this is a i think he said this is a two shot there's a camera on me there's a camera on you and it was just it really made me laugh and i was like the bloopers yeah that's that's so not a typical blooper of like the person like being like that being the problem you know usually it's like you fall down or like save the line wrong and everyone laughs but he's like this won't work in the edit because we have two and it's like they don't shoot enough content for bloopers you get one take and you're done unless you're all talking over one another then you get to go back there was one scene where uh med is with Larry the Cable Guy
Starting point is 00:15:05 and Connor. Who, by the way, was kind of funny. It was pretty funny in this. And they're in the barn just talking about when is the truth going to come out? And man, poor Connor. I'm just watching the corners of his mouth twitch as he's just trying to remain straight throughout this entire extended whatever is happening.
Starting point is 00:15:29 And he's just holding on by a thread. Well, that whole storyline is so insane. I mean, so Connor's the boy or the husband character that we've that the family doesn't know that they're married and then we have uh the boyfriend oliver who's like giving a hundred thousand dollars to the school right smiling the entire film never is not smiling he is her ex apparently but has no clue that she's married because no one knows and then by the time like he goes in for a kiss and she's like oh like she doesn't say, like, anything. Like, you could say you're in a relationship. You don't have to say who it is.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Like, it was just so ridiculous. And at the end, he wants to give her a present for Christmas. And then he's like, he goes, Mrs.? Like, when she's introduced, Mrs. whatever. And he's like, Mrs.? It killed me. It killed me. And I'm like, that's when he found out.
Starting point is 00:16:20 Like, who cares? Like, I just thought it was so weird. until he found out like who cares like i just thought it was so weird i mean the whole arc of eileen not wanting her to be married to a white man and then the reason why the reason why the reason why she told her daughter her dad was killed by a white man but turns out he left her for a white woman and they were on glee and which i think was an improv moment as well i was like what are you talking about they're in the cast of glee i didn't understand that either this movie came out in 2013 in what world if your father was the victim of racial of a racial murder would you not investigate it a little bit?
Starting point is 00:17:05 Like, Google it and be like, did, man, let me just read some of the contemporaneous news coverage about that awful murder
Starting point is 00:17:12 of my father by a racist. Turns out, no, he just married a woman and they became successful actors, I guess.
Starting point is 00:17:19 Because literally, Tyler Perry goes, and they're ugly. And then someone else is like, I like that show. And then it's like, okay. I think it was just repeating it. It's, and they're on Glee. And then someone else is like, I like that show. And then it's like, okay. I think it was just repeating it. It's like, they're on Glee.
Starting point is 00:17:29 They're on Glee. They're on Glee. They're on Glee. That makes all the sense in the world. Should we do our News Madea? Yes. News Media. So Tyler Perry and Showtime are developing Mabel,
Starting point is 00:17:45 a Madea prequel series. And I have to thank everyone for tagging us in this story on Twitter. But okay, so it's a drama. It's a drama series that will focus on Madea's early life with an official description that reads, long before she was the force of nature known as Madea, she was a smart, fierce, irresistible, dangerous, crazy 20-something black woman named Mabel Simmons.
Starting point is 00:18:10 When she moved to Atlanta in 1972, she set the city and the world on fire. Twin sisters Janika James and Jashika, I think, James, are attached to write and executive produce. Their credits include, ooh, Empire, and the reboot of Gossip Girl, the upcoming reboot. So the drama will be there. I'm excited about this.
Starting point is 00:18:33 What I really want to know is the casting. I'm like, who is Madea? Is Tyler Perry playing Madea? If he's doing like reverse This Is Us and like playing young and a woman and it's a drama right so this is the weird thing about medea it's like she's these medea movies are not humorous for the most part like there's moments of humor so i get that it's a drama but it's so funny because like what what is going to be happening is it going to be a man playing a woman? And then that's kind of inherently silly
Starting point is 00:19:06 with the way he dresses and does the whole thing. So then, but she's 20 and she's like got this whole life. I just need to know like everything about this. Yeah. But then also I'm like, can I play Medea? That's what I want. Oh my God. Can you imagine?
Starting point is 00:19:20 Can I please be Medea? That would be the best fucking thing. Let me be Medea. Oh my God. I would love that so much. How about the part when Medea lowered her voice and just Tyler Perry did a really deep voice for two seconds. Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:19:33 It was so it was just what a record scratch moment when all of a sudden you just like drops. Hello. And drops it. You're just like, wow. Oh my gosh. Nicole, I think if we started a twitter campaign you would be cast in this like i feel like maybe we should start it because all i can think is like
Starting point is 00:19:50 i think maybe when i'm an old woman i will look like tyler perry as medea you know maybe my titties will sag the kids in this movie mike when she runs away from the kkk meeting which is also an insane part of this movie i think i literally don't know what you're talking about and i'm like so they go to a rest stop because medea's like i gotta pee i'm pulled over here right and then there's a man sitting there and she's like where's the restroom and he points to across the street she opens the door it's a full-blown i did not see this and i i need people to give me a break because there's a lot happening okay i missed this scene but then that explains when when uh
Starting point is 00:20:31 when the sheet is over the sheet on him okay okay because they've already seen yes i was like what a jump to okay that makes more sense wow when she runs away i'll just i'll find it and send it to you her titties she runs in a way where she pushes her titties with her arms, and they flop so close to her face. And when I tell you, I tee-hee-hee'd, I tee-hee-hee'd. I mean, that's funny. They were very uneven in this movie, and I also enjoyed her ass in the Santa Claus outfit.
Starting point is 00:21:00 It was low. It was low. It was low. It's very humorous. One thing to add in that in that truly incredible scene so they're they had left atlanta because they were going out to the farm uh where lacy tika sumter now lives with her husband and they pull as you say they pull up to the rest stop and the man isn't just like doesn't just point it out he's like just sitting on the curb like whittling a stick yeah you know in a manner that seems like uh like something out of 1885 it's i i feel so insane that i missed that scene because that's crazy but like that
Starting point is 00:21:41 really goes to show like what happens in 30 seconds in this movie like i mean like i i was not very distracted so i clearly missed that but it's a quick scene too i don't even know if it's a full minute it's so quick i love it i love it so much they move so fast should we take a break? Yeah, let's do it. And we're back. We're back with A Madea Christmas, written by Tyler Perry, directed by Tyler Perry, starring Tyler Perry.
Starting point is 00:22:28 It was released December 13th, 2013. Should we go through this summary the plot summary okay so medea's great niece eileen talks her into getting a job at a local department store during the holidays this could have been the whole movie she gets fired the first day after taking personal calls and straight talking a woman who wants to buy lingerie oh that was yes this woman's like, I want to buy some lingerie. And then Tyler Perry or Madea is like, for you?
Starting point is 00:22:50 You're like, yeah. You don't get to wear lingeries no more. Uh-uh. No, nobody wants to see you in lingerie. Because she was like 60
Starting point is 00:22:57 or something. Yes. Didn't she say something like no one wants to see you with like a floss in your butt or something like that? Mm-hmm. He's just like that straight up body shames this poor woman until she leaves yeah yeah it's so funny meanwhile
Starting point is 00:23:14 eileen's school teacher daughter lacy finds out her school won't be able to fund their annual christmas jubilee which i was like why is the school funding a town jubilee? Why is the school funding it? Why are there 20 people in there screaming that we need to have the jubilee? I was like, the idea that these people care about this jubilee is beyond me. It's so wild. So then Lacey does an insane thing. She asked her ex-boyfriend Oliver to fund it through the corporation he works for. And he gets her a hundred thousand
Starting point is 00:23:46 dollars yeah it's an insane amount and then calls her mom to say she won't be home for Christmas and I love the moment when she was she got a hundred thousand dollars because everyone had to like really act like so excited and for some reason that felt really fake like I don't know like she like when she got it she's like 100,000 that's amazing and then she goes out and finds lisa welchell who's the principal and she's like we got a hundred thousand dollars a hundred thousand dollars that's amazing and then it's also really funny that you say that was her first audition in 25 years because she was on facts of life like she was you know a very popular actress in the seventies,
Starting point is 00:24:26 eighties, whatever. But it does feel like she hasn't done it in a while because it's very, it's very sweet, but it's, it's like really over the top. And she couldn't believe the a hundred thousand dollars. And she was like crouching down,
Starting point is 00:24:37 like in it with excitement. Oh, wow. I got to go run and tell whoever. And like, it just felt like a little kid. Um, okay.
Starting point is 00:24:47 So Eileen determined to see her daughter for the holidays, brings Medea and Oliver with her to visit Lacey in Alabama as a surprise. Um, and the car, the car ride is really funny. Like Medea is like telling, um, Eileen,
Starting point is 00:25:01 like you don't have to yell at me. I'm like right here. It's like, honestly, it made her laugh. Like she was cracking up. She's like, you're talking to me. at me. I'm like right here. It's like, honestly, it made her laugh. Like she was cracking up. She's like, you're talking to me like I'm in coach
Starting point is 00:25:07 and you're in first class. Eileen hopes that Lacey and Oliver will get back together. She does not know that Lacey is married to Connor, a white man. Lacey is surprised when they arrive and she tells them Connor
Starting point is 00:25:18 is her farm hand in a panic. Lacey brings Oliver to a town meeting and asks Medea to look after her class which is insane. Wait, one thing about her coming to the house
Starting point is 00:25:28 remember when she goes in the kitchen and she's like it's yellow in here. Like Medea like insults the set design which I do think was like completely
Starting point is 00:25:36 off the cuff. Imagine that was her first time seeing it and she was like they went with yellow. It's yellow in here. And they left it in the movie.
Starting point is 00:25:49 So, okay, well, Medea tells the class her version of the first Christmas. A student steals her purse. She notices it and then crucifies this child. She literally ties her. She legitimately crucifies a child. She ties her to a cross with christmas lights puts a wreath on top of her head and people and puts the christmas lights in the child's mouth so she cannot speak and that is um one of the least crazy parts of the movie i would say
Starting point is 00:26:19 so meanwhile connor's parents buddy and kim um arrive so that's larry the cable guy and kathy and jimmy arrive at connor and lacey's house for christmas and are told to keep their marriage a secret from eileen um and they oh they're keeping connor and lacey's marriage a secret they play along with the cover-up and eileen offends kim by cutting down her father's memory tree which was so well and showing no remorse for the act, which was weird. Like it was so weird. You wouldn't at least be like, oh, my bad. I'm sorry. Yes. It was like there's something wrong with that. She's like it had a yellow ribbon on it. She's like, what does that mean? She's like, anyone knows that you mean something.
Starting point is 00:27:00 They don't even really explain what a yellow ribbon does mean. But they were just like, if there's a ribbon on it, you would think maybe it meant something which is true and after eileen witnesses buddy flirtatiously chasing kim with a sheet over his head i wouldn't say he was chasing her they were in bed they're about to um have sex probably she's convinced they're part of the kkk and bars the doors to the room she and medea are sharing wait oh and medea had... We have to... So, okay. When Connor's parents, Buddy and Kim, arrive, Tika Sumner's like, I can't tell my mom that I'm married to Connor. And they were like, why?
Starting point is 00:27:33 And then she was like, my mom wouldn't approve. And then Larry the Cable Guy's like, does your mom think in black and white? And then they're like, oh. And then Kathy Newchimmy goes, I never taught my kid to see anything but people's hearts. And then in the next scene, they're like oh and then kathy jimmy goes i i never taught my kid to see anything but people's hearts and then in the next scene they're like medea you're black so much there's like that's like the whole back and forth of the conversation and medea's like going along with it
Starting point is 00:27:58 and then who who was it who's sitting there watching and who gets uncomfortable is it connor or i can't remember who's watching that he's like connor's like i better get my dad a beer to calm him down he was like drink keep keep drinking the beer dad and i thought like this is gonna lead to like him falling asleep or something like i didn't know what but nothing happened there was no reason for that when eileen walks into uh into buddy and kim's bedroom she just like straight up comes in it's night time they're in there together. She knows that a couple is in there and she doesn't even, there's no knock.
Starting point is 00:28:29 There's no anything. It's just, I'm coming in to see what's going on in here. Yeah. And it's of course very weird, but also I, because I missed the KKK scene, I was like,
Starting point is 00:28:39 why is she, does she think they're having sex? I thought she thought they were having sex. And I was like, I don't get it because it doesn't look like sex at all. It looks like. But also it doesn't look like a clan meeting. No, it does.
Starting point is 00:28:53 I mean, that's not what the clan does. He just has like a bed sheet on his head. Yes. If anything, it's like, oh, I guess they're playing like the ghost game. I don't like. It was so weird. But Medea had a couple really funny moments in this movie where she says numbers did you catch those where she was like i my car has like 550 billion thousand
Starting point is 00:29:12 million possibilities really when you turn on the screen says don't go in me don't take me nowhere yeah medea is just funny i know I know you can't deny it. Tyler Perry improvises in a way where he knows he's the funniest. Yeah. So he doesn't give you room. 100%. There's no air. There is no air for anyone.
Starting point is 00:29:38 Nobody like has a topper ever. No, there's never. Which is, that's part of what makes it feel so odd, I think, is that there's never a button from somebody else. He will just keep going until they go like,
Starting point is 00:29:52 they're about to laugh and then he's done. And like, I see that it's fun. Even the outtakes are, Tyler Perry's improvising. The scene has gone completely off the rails to the point where now
Starting point is 00:30:03 in character, he has acknowledged that the edit won't work off the rails to the point where now in character he has acknowledged that the edit won't work and we have to do something else but then he keeps going for like an extra 10 or 15 seconds where he just keeps running the other person completely off the screen i feel like he must have figured out that at this point like when he's in the editing room like he will he can make something work if he keeps talking like he's like it'll get funny again and it'll be good i can use it i just love it uh so lacy finds out oliver's corporation will only fund the christmas jubilee if it's renamed the holiday jilee. And like, what? Yeah, they're trying to take the Christ out of Christmas, baby. It's so silly.
Starting point is 00:30:49 It's so silly. The corporation is also funding the dam upriver, which has put all of the farmers out of work, which I was like, wait, what? They threatened to rescind the $100,000 funding if a nativity is allowed on the premises. Tanner, a parent at the school, Aunt Connor's childhood bully, demands Lacey be fired. As a result, she is immediately terminated by the mayor.
Starting point is 00:31:16 The mayor fires a school teacher who then goes into the classroom that now has a piano in it, her tiny desk, their tiny desk. And she's like, I'm sure your new teacher will be incredible. And they're just like, okay, I guess this is how life goes for us. So ridiculous. Well, that entire class was sociopaths,
Starting point is 00:31:35 except for Bailey. The entire class was just literally the meanest fucking kids ever, except for poor Bailey. Bailey's whole deal, like, so in the first minute of the film like he's singing in the bathroom and then the teacher's like was that you and then he's like
Starting point is 00:31:49 no no ma'am. Yeah. And then she's like you're the only one in there and he's like but he's there's something so weird about this kid and like I couldn't put my finger on it and then at the end when he sang I was like oh they hired a singer and then they were like he be an actor in the scenes and he was like sure and then they like figured it out also i thought
Starting point is 00:32:08 he was being abused i too why was he covered in dirt yeah i don't the makeup was literally they rubbed just like a little bit of dirt on one little bit and and his parents are not dirty they were just like you know poor but it was like, yeah. Why is he covered in dirt? I don't know. Very weird. Okay. So Lacey's conflict at home reaches a boiling point when Eileen and Kim argue.
Starting point is 00:32:33 Lacey tells the truth about her marriage to Connor. Eileen reveals her husband left her for a white woman and that she lied to Lacey her whole life by saying he was killed by a white man. So nuts. Eileen storms out hoping for a taxi to pick her up which seems impossible i mean they're in the middle of nowhere she called no one she's just sitting like on the lawn like it's gonna drive by yeah lacy then tells connor that tanner got her fired and connor storms out of the house in a rage like he's so mad. As Eileen walks into town, she sees Tanner in his overturned
Starting point is 00:33:06 burning truck and saves his life. It's so random. Connor walks up to the scene. He punches Tanner because he's still angry that I'm getting Lacey fired. Imagine seeing a car
Starting point is 00:33:16 that's just blown up, a man with a cut on his head and being like, I should hit him. Yeah. He's staggering. He is staggering out of the wreck
Starting point is 00:33:25 in the arms of an elderly, an older woman. He can barely walk. He ends, and your first instinct is, I must punch this man now. And then Connor, and then Connor somehow after this punch
Starting point is 00:33:40 gets Tanner, like Tanner apologizes. Tanner's like, I'm sorry for everything. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, his whole character is just a lot.
Starting point is 00:33:48 So it's so much, but he's doing so little and is in so little of the movie, but every piece he's in is a lot. And then he's got like a henchman who like, he's just like, yeah, no. Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:02 Chad, Michael Murray's entire energy and, and like facial expression was, oh, my God, I'm so scared that you will improv around me. Like he was hanging on to whatever shred of the script was there, like with both hands. That feels true. Please don't go off the script too much. And it feels really true because it felt like he wasn't he was really weirdly cast in this movie. Like it did feel kind of random. And I think that's part of it is like you, you have to be willing to go with the flow if you're going to be in this movie because it's,
Starting point is 00:34:32 it's not going to follow whatever you think it's supposed to do. Also, did you know, uh, Connor played by Eric Lively is Blake Lively's little brother? Wait, what? Yes. Uh, the nice man who lives with me Googled it. And I think it, I, I don't think he was lying to me. I think it's true.
Starting point is 00:34:49 Wow. That's great. I wonder how many, how much he acts or like what his deal is. Um, so Connor demands Eileen get in his truck so they can return home. But Tanner follows Connor to apologize for everything and to thank Eileen for saving him
Starting point is 00:35:05 and following the events aileen accepts connor and lacy's marriage which at this point it's like come on yeah it's like she's been married you have to accept it also tanner's wife somehow at that point has made a pie for them oh my god yeah she's like you saved his life and then she's like smelling the pie like wow i have never smelled a pie like that. She truly smelled it like it was a perfume sample. She like lifted it up to her nose. In a way that I was like, I feel like it would slide right out of the pan. It's freshly baked.
Starting point is 00:35:37 At the Christmas jubilee, Lacey thanks the corporation and announces their promise to help the town the promises were not in the original agreement but she knows the repercussions the sponsors will face if they back out afterwards she reveals to oliver that she's married to connor which like okay so yeah so she goes she has like her speech and she basically just starts making up all the things that the company's going to do they're going to give a hundred thousand dollars every year for four years. And they're going to have a hundred thousand gallons of water goes downstream so that the farmers can get the water. And everyone's like,
Starting point is 00:36:14 yay. And there's like one guy who works at the company who's like, but he doesn't do anything. He just like is gonna do all that stuff. I guess like, I'm like, he's not going to do any of this. Like the company will not be filling out this prophecy.
Starting point is 00:36:27 Also, it's like what company is this that they're putting up dams and that they're funding Jubilees? I don't understand how the whole town works. The whole town, the economy of the entire town, just a note, I think is way too dependent on the Christmas Jubilee to stay above water. Like everybody is way too concerned that the Jubilee might not happen.
Starting point is 00:36:52 Is it really that bad that if the Jubilee doesn't go, that a whole town might go under? Like they're standing in the school principal's office. The mayor is saying it's not going to happen. The 20 white people and all're it's all the people that are there are just like angry white people who are like you have to do it and then you're like why is this happening here it's so confusing and i and i just think about the whole the whole like plot of this movie just thinking about even jason if it is an outline that they're just like loosely going with like this this outlines out of control.
Starting point is 00:37:25 Like starting at the department store, going to the school, the Jubilee is funded by the school, which is already underserved. Like they don't have enough teachers for the classes, but they only have 10 students. This school is in a house. It is a weird little house.
Starting point is 00:37:42 It truly, it makes zero fucking sense. i love it i mean i wanted i wanted more christmas i really was like i just wanted more red and green like i felt like it it just felt like there was this opportunity to make the whole thing feel really christmasy that just wasn't there like even when by the end like then the who was it um lacy where she's like my dad was killed on christmas eve and i'm like yeesh like but it's also like i want to have like holiday fun like you don't just mention christmas eve as being a really bad thing and that wasn't even true which is another one of those like
Starting point is 00:38:18 in the last one we watched like tyler perry's like um this woman i'm having an affair with is pregnant with twins and then he's like just kidding just kidding and like that's like, um, this woman I'm having an affair with is pregnant with twins. And then he's like, just kidding. Just kidding. And like this whole thing, like your dad was killed by a white man. Okay. No,
Starting point is 00:38:30 he wasn't. He ran off with a white woman. It's like, that changes your whole mentality about your life. Like you have been thinking about life a certain way and it's not true at all. Imagine finding that out. Imagine living at this point. I mean,
Starting point is 00:38:43 you know, uh, Lacey is, I'm, you know uh lacy is i'm you know 25 26 or something like that living your entire life believing that you are the victim of a murderous hate crime that tore apart your family in the most brutal fashion imaginable and then your mom being like actually no he left. And fun fact, he's on Glee. Yeah, you can see your dad right on Glee. Every week. Also, who is it on Glee?
Starting point is 00:39:14 Is it Mr. What's his name? The teacher? Like Matthew Morrison? That is the other weird thing about it. Because Glee was so popular. And there were only like a set number of actors on this show that you're like there were no who was the teacher like a black male adult older man i don't know i don't i don't think i can think of one well if anyone listening knows who medea is talking about on
Starting point is 00:39:37 glee let us know yeah because then that's who that is and then so then any so maybe it's like leah michelle's the woman oh maybe yeah wow wait i loved at the scene where the white people were So maybe it's like Lea Michele's The Woman? Oh, maybe. Oh, yeah, wow. Wait, I loved the scene where the white people were mad about taking Christ out at Christmas when she was like, I need to say Jesus during Christmas. There's a bunch of bull! And everyone's like, no! Yes! They screamed at her saying bullshit.
Starting point is 00:40:00 Don't do it! They can't say the shit word! Oh, boy. So many things in this movie really tickled me oh my god same well okay so i mean one of our questions here for you jason is there anything you would punch up since you're a writer i mean obviously oh my god here's the thing about this you know it's weirdly perfect because i think that uh that I think these movies really just shine when Tyler Perry just is given the runway and just takes off and goes. And there is so much that in this movie. There are like a few interstitial scenes between like Connor and the family and Chad Michael Murray's like extremely angry character.
Starting point is 00:40:43 But it's mostly just like Tyler Perry just going. There's like a part in the, in the department store scene where he, where Medea casually reveals that she had like a very extensive, like marijuana growing and selling operation like at one point, and then just breezes past that. Oh, it's a fully like,
Starting point is 00:41:01 he's, he's like, I grew trees. And then she's like, what kind? And he was like, like, I'm going to make you feel good or like whatever. Like, it's a fully, like, he's like, I grew trees. And then she's like, what kind? And he was like, the kind that make you feel good. Or like, whatever. Like, it's like.
Starting point is 00:41:08 And then I think it's just to make the actress laugh. Like, I don't even think there's any point. Also, Medea's exit when she quits, when they were like, all right, you need to leave. And Medea's like, okay, pay me. And like, we'll send you your check in the mail. I didn't come work through the mail. I came and gave me my money. And then hits the register, opens the register, takes money,
Starting point is 00:41:29 takes two dresses, leaves the store and does a twirl outside. And that was so, so good. I'll say this about Tyler Perry. I want to play a cartoon and I get told so much, bring it down, bring it down to where down yeah to where like you're like oh i guess it's not gonna be fun but then you watch it you're like no no it's still funny but it's not as cartoon like as you'd like it to be yes and tyler perry's a full-blown cartoon and i want in i want i was i was fantasizing about getting to play a crazy character opposite
Starting point is 00:41:59 medea i was like this would be so fun so fun to To be like, if I was like in the family of like the farmers and I'm just like a white trash like idiot screaming at Madea, like that would be the most fun thing ever. Right? How do we get Tyler Perry to let us be in a movie? I want to be, well, I want to be on the Showtime show because I want to play Madea. Well, that needs to happen.
Starting point is 00:42:22 I want to be in a Madea movie but i think she retired medea but see what we need is we need a medea movie where where tyler is willing to let both of us be characters as well that are not like ourselves and then we can be in the medea level of the movie yes but the problem is that prosthetics is like oh my god medea goes to uh the old folks home so they they trick her into staying at the old folks' home. So they trick her into staying at the old folks' home because nobody wants to clean up after her anymore. And we're two old people
Starting point is 00:42:51 at the home! What did we put in for? Oh, Medea! Welcome to the home! And it's just called the home. Medea goes to the home. It doesn't happen until the last five minutes that's where we show up truly because i did i i mentioned this but i i watched medea goes to jail because we have we were supposed to record it last week and got canceled and she doesn't go to jail till the end and i was like go to jail like this and the same with this movie being medea
Starting point is 00:43:23 has christmas or whatever i was like it doesn't happen till the end give me a tree give me a jingle like and then like just those jingle ball wipes were not enough for me like i i was like i'm not in the spirit yet you know well let me ask you you you two have been uh you know you uh you're in the biz so the budget for this was a reported 25 million it then uh it then grossed something like 53 million and change. I feel like 25, are we padding this? Like how much of that is going straight into like Tyler Perry's slush funds? Because there's no, there's three sets.
Starting point is 00:43:57 And I think they filmed this legitimately in two days. And there's one overturned car where you don't see the car accident again there's like no action there's a little i guess when the the klu klux klan chase there's maybe you could that's kind of a stunt but not really um and then you know they crucify the child that you know so that was a little bit that probably took some time um but it feels like man he's just pumped these. He pumps these out at an unbelievable clip. And maybe people get paid well.
Starting point is 00:44:30 And so I was just hoping I was just hoping that like, oh, my God, if he gives everyone like a good salary, then that would be that would feel really good. And also, no, it might be what he does because he does get a lot of great actors. I mean, like every movie that we've watched, there's like, you know, successful actors in it. And I mean, his movies are seen so widely that I would understand people doing it anyway, and it seems fun. But like maybe he does pay really well.
Starting point is 00:44:54 Do you think Prilosec got, you know, like, did they pay for that native advertising within the film when Larry the Cable Guy says, I guess you should try some Praloseco TC. I literally, my jaw dropped when he said that in the film. I felt like that was like authentic recommendation from Larry the Cable Guy.
Starting point is 00:45:17 I thought that was great. I feel like that was just a natural sort of moment of him giving real advice. Because that is sometimes what improv is. you like speak through the character as yourself you're like this i really like this i just want you to know we can get back in the scene if you want but like this is good for me oh my god so this movie was nominated for 10 razzie awards including worst Actress, which Tyler Perry won for his portrayal of Medea. That's so funny to be nominated for Worst Actress. And it's a man. I like that we're all taking Medea so seriously in this way
Starting point is 00:45:54 that they just put it in that category. Critically, the film was not well-received. This is a theme. It currently has a 20% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Hollywood Reporter wrote, Bah humbug to this latest screen outing for Tyler Perry's inexplicably popular character. I'm sorry. It's not inexplicable.
Starting point is 00:46:12 It's not inexplicable. Watch it and laugh. Like, I don't know what. People are just too, too serious about this stuff. Yeah, I agree. But audiences liked the film, which is another trend that we see, giving it a 91% Google audience rating. Its budget was $25 million, a gross $53.4 million at the box office. And it was number three, its opening weekend, behind The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug,
Starting point is 00:46:36 and Frozen, which are two heavy fucking hitters. I love that. Number three. Big hitters. To come in right behind Lord of the Rings is so perfect for our show. That's so amazing. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:46:49 So we have some trivia here. This is the first Tyler Perry film to win a Razzie, the second to be nominated for one, and Perry won in the worst actors category we know. And after Medea mentions Eileen's heartburn, oh, we already covered this, but he's suggesting Prilosec OTC. Larry the Cable Guy was a Prilosec otc otc larry the cable guy was a
Starting point is 00:47:05 prilosec otc spokesperson yeah that's why i was like i didn't realize he was me either he did the commercials yeah oh my god i didn't know that that's really funny that's so funny so he was literally at that time working as the spokesperson then he was like i'll put this in here like that's like that's just like a free i hope he got a bump like that's like, I'll put this in here. Like, that's like, that's just like a free. I hope he got a bump. Like, that's like free ad. So funny. This is the 17th film by Perry, which to me is that he has done so much. So many movies, 17 movies.
Starting point is 00:47:39 So many. And that's only by 2013. Yes. And this is the seventh film in the Madea franchise. Oh, my God. This this this is like, I mean, he's just so busy. I read I think I read somewhere where he writes a script on average, like in two days. And I heard that and I wanted to kill myself.
Starting point is 00:47:58 Yeah. But see, if you let yourself just free flow in this way, like go do it too. Like it's like, it starts over here. It ends over here. There's like a whole thing. Like this family hates each other for no reason. Like it's just, it can go anywhere. I think that freedom really makes it, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:14 just work really fast. So the soundtrack for the film was released in stores by Motown Records, November 25th. It was the first soundtrack to a Tyler Perry film since 2010's For Colored Girls featuring artists such as Smokey Robinson, Mariah Carey, Brian McKnight, James Brown, Boyz II Men, Kelly Rowland, Jeremy
Starting point is 00:48:31 Zayasian, and Stevie Wonder. I didn't notice the soundtrack in this movie. I also truly didn't clock a single song that I was like, not a single one. And also like no Christmas songs. like that's the other thing like not a one this is not one interesting though because you're like so
Starting point is 00:48:53 you're gonna make a christmas movie which you should like i i kind of think like every musical artist should make a christmas song if you're tyler perry you should have a movie for every holiday like yes get the money where it is like Like they're going to watch it every year. But to not take this opportunity to use every Christmas song and make it like feel really like wintery. It didn't even feel like winter. I couldn't even tell what season it was or where they were. I don't know. Apparently somewhere in the rural, like in rural Georgia or something like that,
Starting point is 00:49:21 wherever it is, the dam has done, uh, almost irreparable harm to the local agrarian economy to the point where no one can grow anything. Oh, wait. Also Connor at one point is sitting on the couch or not on the couch on the front steps with test tubes and is just playing with empty test tubes and then later he says to tanner i figured out how to make a new variant of corn would you like to help and he was like i sure
Starting point is 00:49:53 would and i was like i don't know if that's how farming works meanwhile he tried to milk a bowl yes oh yeah i think that was just an improv moment, too, because basically, Connor says, I can't get milk out of that one. And then Medea's like, and Medea had been milking a cow before this like really successfully, but then she was like,
Starting point is 00:50:17 the black and white one? Oh, well, there's a reason you can't milk that. You know, you can't get milk out of testicles or whatever. And then Connor, it was another moment where connor was fully trying not to laugh and he was just like i don't think i'm cut out to work on a farm meanwhile he's making corn in a lab i'm like i think you're cut out for it i don't know there was a bunch of improv about long titties and then medea falls down oh my god for four minutes they talk about long nipples yeah and how the cow had long nipples and the medea had long nipples like someone else had like a what do you call the
Starting point is 00:50:51 thing that you decorate a cake with like a cake oh my god i thought that was a great improvised moment larry the cable guy says her titties look like cake frosting um bags yeah yeah yeah i guess what i need is more Larry the Cable guy, which is not something I knew. I know, right? Never thought I would say that. There was also a moment with Kathy and Jimmy
Starting point is 00:51:10 where she was like, you're like Jeff Foxworthy. He's like, I could try. But so I was like, so that was like a funny, like he's making fun of himself. People must say that all the time. I thought that was funny.
Starting point is 00:51:20 One thing I wanted to, you mentioned it before, but Oliver, James Roach, who plays Oliver, who is the ex-boyfriend of Lacey, who gives them $100,000 for the Jubilee. You mentioned that he smiles throughout. And I think that really underplays how much he smiles and the variety of smiles. and the variety of smiles. Like he does smiles that I've never seen before with the top of his face moving in ways
Starting point is 00:51:48 that like the car drive where they drive out to the farm from Atlanta is really a showcase for his smiles because he's just looking straight ahead. He's driving. And then he's like doing, I'm trying to do it, but I can't like, like he just moves the top of his face independently from a smile and they're telling him sometimes like awful things and there's in the scene when lacy calls him and
Starting point is 00:52:11 is like so how's your uh whatever the name of the woman that he left her for and he went oh we're getting divorced and he's smiling through all this and she's like yeah good she was she was fucking terrible and he's just like with this incredible smile on his face the whole time, no matter what is happening. She used some word too. I can't, it was something like, not hussy, but she said something like, it was a really weirdly dated word about this one. But then I was like, that was mean. Like, I don't know about this one that he was married to. It's like, I feel like that's a running theme in Tyler Perry movies where people are just like vaguely mean or directly mean. And people are just like vaguely mean or directly mean and people are just like yes well okay whatever totally and so he was like very very happy to reconnect with her
Starting point is 00:52:51 just smiling and I was like okay so he's like flirting over the phone like and then the first scene I was like okay he's talking on the phone alone so his the actor is smiling maybe more than he should be or something like I kind of just wrote it off like oh he's kind of smiling a lot but I guess it's awkward when you're doing a scene like that. And then, no, the whole time he's smiling. And then he sees her and he's just so happy. Doesn't take in at all that there's this man next to her
Starting point is 00:53:14 who clearly shares a bed with her. It's just like, if you thought for one second you could probably piece together that they're a couple. Why is he there all the time? Why are his parents there? It's like, no one puts it together i also couldn't believe that lacy told eileen that she owns a farm yet she's doing no farm so she bought a farm has a farm hand does no farming work because she's a teacher and then her mother was
Starting point is 00:53:39 like okay that means i could walk into any room i want, rip up any tree I want, because this is my daughter's land. You need to leave. Everyone has just such strange, strange ownership things. It was just so weird. Totally. It's also just like a family of complete liars. Like from top to bottom,
Starting point is 00:54:01 the apple has not fallen that far from the tree. The mom is an unbelievable liar. The daughter is lying also. But I guess you could, you know, for more understandable reasons. But they're just the lies are. So we're to believe that a school teacher in a town that has become destitute because the Christmas Jubilee may not happen, can afford to buy an entire farm and then have like a full-time farmhand who may or may not live there?
Starting point is 00:54:31 When you really think about that, it makes no sense at all. And then she gets fired and has this farm to deal with. It's like, I feel like that'd be a lot of pressure. I'm looking at Eric Lively's IMDb because I just wanted to get some sense
Starting point is 00:54:42 of what he's been up to. So that was one of his last movies. He was in, in 2014, he was in BFFs. Um, but he, that was right after Madea Christmas. And before that he was in like American Pie. He was in Butterfly Effect 2. So he had like some, oh, he was on the L word for 10 episodes. Wait a second. I gotta figure out who he is. Wait, who's he on the L word for 10 episodes wait a second I gotta figure out who he is wait who's on the L word his name was Mark Wayland hold on I gotta oh I do think I remember
Starting point is 00:55:12 that Mark Wayland was the new lecherous heterosexual white male for season two he moved in with Shane and Jenny when they needed money to help cover the rent amateur filmmaker places camera through the house to tape his roommates having sex yes I very much remember this. That's hilarious.
Starting point is 00:55:27 Wow, that's a pretty big role. But yeah, I guess he stopped. I don't know why. That was a long time ago. We gotta figure it out. Yeah. I mean, it must be weird having- Eric Lively, if you're listening,
Starting point is 00:55:38 let us know why you stopped acting. Keep going, please. Please. We need it. Wait, is he producing something maybe maybe oh i didn't scroll maybe he's moved to production i'm like i hope so i hope he's still in the business no he's not doing anything and then it says is he retired? Where did this go? Yeah. He started acting as a baby in 1983 film Brainstorm. That's a good movie. Then he was a model
Starting point is 00:56:12 for Abercrombie and Fitch. Okay. As of 2020, he retired from acting with his last role being in 2014 in the film BFFs. So he literally retired during the pandemic. He was like, you know what? I'm done. They were trying to make him do self-tapes. He was like, you know what? I'm done. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:25 They were like trying to make him do self tapes. He's like, I'll just fucking quit the business. I refuse to do a self tape. I mean, I think it's been horrible trying to like do these tapes because typically you have to do them anyway as an actor. Like every once in a while you get a self tape,
Starting point is 00:56:44 you have to do it at home, have somebody help you you it's a whole big pain in the ass but of course during the pandemic it's every audition is like this and then they'll send you like 20 pages and i mean they send so much and it's like yes i have the time but like why do you have me acting out the whole script i it's so unnecessary like i always feel like you can just tell by other work that the person's done if they are right for it or not. Like, how did, I'm fascinated by this.
Starting point is 00:57:08 Do you have, so do you just go or do you have someone off camera? Like, uh, read the other person in the scene and you just, and you just go like against a white wall and just do the entire, but even that's annoying because in my house, it's like,
Starting point is 00:57:21 I have to like take something down or move some furniture, like make something make sense to like get, and then they have to put a ring light up and then you get in a fight with whoever's reading with you because you fuck up 10 times and then they get annoyed like do you want to say it perfectly and you're like I'm gonna say it the way I've been saying it you're like well you're missing this word and that actually makes it funny and you're like okay well we've been doing this for two hours and they're're like, well, you know, you asked me for help. It's truly a whole thing. And you really can't hold your script
Starting point is 00:57:47 because when you're doing it at home, like you basically don't have the excuse of time. You have time to have read it. So then when I go audition in a room with people in real life, I would bring my script and hold it and then glance at it and it's fine. But it feels wrong to do at home.
Starting point is 00:58:02 You cannot do it at home because you have the time. And it's like, well, if you're going to send a tape of like your best take, it should be without the script. Exactly. But so you end up wasting so much time trying to make a one five minute video that no one ever watches for some reason and gets zero views on Vimeo. And then you're like, okay, no one watched it or something. And then they cast like a really famous person.
Starting point is 00:58:24 And you're like, oh, so then they never wanted to see my thing. It's just like, it's just torture. And so you post them to Vimeo, like locked, and then people like you give people a code on sale. So I like upload mine to Dropbox and then send a Dropbox link. Yeah, yeah. It's a whole process. And that's the industry, baby.
Starting point is 00:58:44 And that's how it all works yeah eric lively was like i'm done yeah i'm not doing this like i win them over in the room i can't win you over in a self-tape it's not which is half the problem i feel like if we just keep going as actors we eventually will audition for a tyler perry film and we eventually will be in one. Like there is, he's making 20 things a day. Like there's enough content being made that we can fill a role somewhere in there. I will be like an angry, like shopkeep or something like that.
Starting point is 00:59:14 I want to be Medea's long lost daughter. And it's never explained how Medea didn't know she was pregnant. Like it's just never explained. That's good. That's good. They're like Medea, you had a child good that's good they're like medea you had a child she's like i don't know she would be like you fell out one day like i'm sure like medea 20 versions of how that happened i mean i have no aspirations to act but are there uh there is an
Starting point is 00:59:38 asian woman in this uh she's the she tries to buy a watch for medea and Medea basically yells her out of the department store. Are there any, like, if I wanted to try out for a Medea movie, do you think I'd have a shot? Like, are there any Asian people in these movies ever? I feel like the, I was initially thinking that there were no white people for the first, like, few that we watched.
Starting point is 01:00:01 And then they have started to come in. So I'm like, I don't know how it goes as the films go on and more, know he's expanding himself more but i don't i don't feel like there have been any prominent asian characters in these no i don't think so either but then again we're like just dipping our little toes in we have only seen like five things so he's made 150 i feel like i initially thought there was no room for me in the franchise at all. I was like, I think I can't get cast.
Starting point is 01:00:29 But then I saw that I could be a clan member and I thought, oh, yes. Imagine posting on Instagram. You're like, guys, tune in to my new role. I'm on Tyler Perry's House of Everything. I play a Klan member. Honestly,
Starting point is 01:00:50 I would like repost it and be like, support my friend Lauren who's in the Klan. Oh no, I hope someone doesn't take that snippet out. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Starting point is 01:00:59 Just post that somewhere. But that is even the crazy thing of this movie. Like people being cast as being Klan members and being like, I'm in the movie. It's like, I don't think this is good.
Starting point is 01:01:07 This isn't good at all. You don't want a picture of yourself in that outfit. Yeah. I don't know. If I was a white person, I think I'd be like, I think I have to turn this down. I don't think I can do it. No, it's like going against too many things. It's too wild.
Starting point is 01:01:25 And pictures live forever online. They sure do. Do you think that they're like, besides Madea, do you think that there's a lot of like makeup, hair and makeup like for the rest of the cast? Just because Eric Lively, again, who plays the husband, seems like he just showed up on set and then they were just like, that's fine. Your hair is that way. And we're just going to go. And that which is not to say that like he looks bad, but he just looks like really like a farmhand and shaggy in a weird way where I don't understand why Lacey and he are together at all like i did wonder where did the spark happen yeah what is this couple
Starting point is 01:02:06 and like they're they're on totally different pages yeah but how did they meet like how how is her hair so neat and like she's in love with him yeah i don't know but i will say the whole hair budget went to medea medea's wearing yes stunning lace front that is pretty great eileen her wig terrible lacy's her hair is good because i think she came with it done i don't think anyone did it on set kathyna jimmy's wig is pretty funny i like her wig i thought they did a nice job with it uh amber tanner's wife they nobody brushed her hair nobody was kind to her even in the picture in our like character sheet she has all of these flyaways like nobody nobody helped her her hair is so bad it's so crazy yeah medea looked really good the whole time yes yeah everyone's focused on medea looking good yeah that's really funny connor's hair does look really he just took like random regular scissors
Starting point is 01:03:05 and just started cutting like pieces yeah in between uh growing new corn and test tubes he was cutting his own hair and he's literally he was literally an abercrombie model so you're like this person is attractive but they have done everything they can to make him look like he oh boy these movies they are fun i'm like having like this one i do not think is good i think this is a fundamentally bad movie but i had fun watching it i will say so i was like watching it with john i'm a nice man who lives with me and i was like guys let's watch this i love medea and we were watching it and midway through I was like okay this one isn't as like great as the other one yeah it's hard because you start
Starting point is 01:03:49 to feel defensive of Medea and then it's like I have to admit this one's not that good but like I did like a lot of parts of it but the parts I liked were the parts that I always like with Medea which is like Medea being funny over the top and everyone having to play like she's real like that's the part I really like and everyone having to play like she's real.
Starting point is 01:04:05 Like that's the part I really like is how everyone's reacting. Like she is just like this is a 100% authentic human and you're just responding like you would. Like they never rolled their eyes at her. They never think she's too much. It's always like, okay, Medea. Yeah, Medea crucified a child and was allowed to just leave the room. Yeah, she tied her to a large cross with Christmas lights, wrapped
Starting point is 01:04:28 the Christmas lights through the child's mouth, and then left her hanging there for an unknown amount of time until the teacher returned to the room. And when she's telling the story, when she's telling the nativity story, and she's like,
Starting point is 01:04:44 that's a thing that happens. No, it's so insane. Like, she's, when she's telling the nativity story crazy that's a thing that happens no it's so insane like she's and she's like it has a minute and she's like i'm gonna tell you the story of the nativity uh mary j blige got pregnant and i'm just like it's so perfect i just love how she was like allowed to just leave the room after that there's a play called the pillow man where they talk about like the worst thing that's happened in like a fairy tale. And it's a child being crucified. Oh, my God. And it's like this like big deal.
Starting point is 01:05:16 And the Medea is like, I'm gonna do it for fun. And it's just it's so wild. I love it. Tyler Perry, I think, is a genius. I really think he's extremely talented. I love it. Tyler Perry, I think, is a genius. I really think he is. He is extremely talented. Just a genius. I agree this is a bad movie.
Starting point is 01:05:31 I think the one thing that I really appreciate about it and the one thing that really keeps your attention on it is it moves so incredibly fast. It's like a hundred minute movie. fast it's like a hundred minute movie and especially when medea is just doing her thing there is just information and dialogue and jokes coming at you at an incredible clip that by the time my brain registered that oh this is not that good actually uh i had watched half the movie like the movie was was gone already and there's like 30 minutes left. That's so true. It's only when you really get to the point where you're like, how is this going to play out? And then it either starts to like,
Starting point is 01:06:12 they start to zip through stuff that feels like it needs more attention or they just throw in some weird, like huge moments and you're like, okay, I guess that'll get to the point. Like that's when you start to wonder about the quality of the film,
Starting point is 01:06:24 but it's still fun. Yeah, I maintain that'll get to the point. Like, that's when you start to wonder about the quality of the film, but it's still fun. Yeah, I maintain very, very fun. I give it 18 stars. So we're at the end. Jason, thank you so much for joining us. Do you have anything you want to plug? Listen to Take Line Tuesdays on the Crooked,
Starting point is 01:06:41 which is wherever you get your podcasts. I host that podcast with two-time WNBA champion Renee Montgomery. Watch All Caps NBA, which drops on the Take Line YouTube channel every Friday. Like and subscribe. Five stars. All that. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 01:06:54 Yes. Yes. Well, speaking of five stars, this is our segment called, and here I go again trying to say this. Five hallelujahs. Okay. Look, it doesn't feel right coming out of my mouth. It doesn't feel right to hear it.
Starting point is 01:07:15 I'm sure. Perfect. I love it so much. So this one comes from Miss Danny 537. And they said, you must watch. I'm a big fan of both of you, but finding out you hadn't seen these gems earlier was devastating.
Starting point is 01:07:29 This season is my first and will be hard to top because my family just stares at me laughing out loud all day. Please, you have to watch Acrimony. And when you do, just explain the boat. That's all I ask. Do 15 episodes also. And then we got another one from Ada mac perfect family fun this podcast is amazing
Starting point is 01:07:47 my brother and i listen every week and discuss topics afterwards we both grew up watching lord of the rings star wars and tyler perry movies what a combination i'm excited to listen every week and it's a joy to listen to so and then this other last person expansion 311 says more of the real mcu the real mcu which is the Medea cinematic universe is the only cinematic universe that deserves 20 episodes or more with so much fun to have and drama to enjoy. Please do more. Nicole and Lauren make me want to listen to recaps of things. I don't even want to watch hello,
Starting point is 01:08:15 star Wars and L O T R. And they make Tyler Perry's works even more fun to take in must listen and must do more than 10 episodes for Mr. Perry's work. So we will be considering this. I also, when I was flipping through trying to find this movie, I saw that there were some Madea plays that you can watch. So some, I accidentally bought or rented Madea goes to jail. The play. And I watched a little bit of it and I think we gotta watch a play.
Starting point is 01:08:46 I think we have to. I'm really curious about what it's like and I'm curious how it's filmed. But I think that's Tyler Perry's ideal situation to just do a one-shot thing and have it done in two hours and then you release it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:58 Yeah, no reshoots. It's live. He's like, yeah, we shoot this movie in two hours. So please write us a review that those reviews were so nice. And we will be reading more next episode. And we'll be back next week with another one of Tyler Perry's works. And I'm,
Starting point is 01:09:16 I think if I, this is what I think it is. I'm very excited about this one. So you've been telling me to watch this for a long time. So we will see you then. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you. That was a Hiddem Original.

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