Summary
Overview
The How Did This Get Made podcast team, including hosts Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, June Diane Raphael, and guest Pete Holmes, dissect the Al Pacino thriller '88 Minutes.' They explore the film's nonsensical plot about a forensic psychologist who receives a death threat, its misogynistic portrayal of women, confusing character motivations, and Pacino's surprisingly calm performance despite having only 88 minutes to live. The hosts relentlessly mock the movie's excessive phone calls, unnecessary character names, and bizarre creative choices while celebrating it as prime bad-movie material.
Introduction and Initial Reactions
The hosts introduce the movie '88 Minutes' and immediately establish that this Al Pacino thriller is spectacularly bad. Guest Pete Holmes reveals he watched it that morning in daylight, describing it as potentially 'the best, worst movie' he's ever seen. The team discusses early warning signs including the cheap production company logo 'Family Room Entertainment' and how the movie's cover is a blatant ripoff of The Bourne Identity, setting expectations for the disaster to come.
- The movie opens with a cheap production company logo called 'Family Room Entertainment' written in comic sans, immediately signaling low quality
- The cover is a one-for-one ripoff of The Bourne Identity despite being an entirely different type of movie
- The movie unnecessarily establishes it takes place in 1997 by having characters discuss Princess Diana's death
- Pete Holmes watched it in the morning daylight, 'wasting a beautiful day' on what might be the best worst movie ever
" I just watched it this morning. It's actually the perfect way to watch it in daylight. So you know you're wasting a beautiful day watching what might be the best, worst movie I've ever seen in my life. "
The Taxi Cab Hijacking and Phone Obsession
The hosts discuss one of the movie's most baffling sequences where Pacino hijacks a taxi cab for no good reason, negotiating with the driver to let him drive while the driver sits in the back seat. They're amazed that Pacino is 'hemorrhaging cash' to this cab driver who appears in shots throughout. The movie becomes dominated by phone calls, with the hosts estimating that 90% of the movie consists of Pacino on his cell phone, including a ridiculous scene where he calls into MSNBC during a live interview.
- 90% of the movie takes place with Pacino on the phone - it should be called 'Telephone Calls'
- Pacino hijacks a taxi cab and negotiates with the driver to let him drive, hemorrhaging cash
- The cab driver sits in the back seat and appears in shots for the rest of the movie
- Pacino calls into MSNBC during a live interview, creating impossible technical scenarios with call waiting and conferencing
- The killer can hijack phone calls mid-conversation, just jumping into other people's calls
" 90% of the movie takes place on the phone. And it's like a foreign film in the sense that if he has to fill out paperwork, they show him filling out paperwork. "
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