Summary
Overview
The How Did This Get Made podcast hosts Paul Scheer, Jason Manzoukas, and June Diane Raphael, along with guest Howard Kramer, dissect the 2000 Ben Affleck thriller Reindeer Games - John Frankenheimer's final film. They tear apart this convoluted Christmas casino heist movie featuring bizarre performances, an incomprehensible plot with multiple twists, and questionable creative choices throughout. The film follows ex-con Rudy who impersonates his dead cellmate to romance Charlize Theron, only to get pulled into a casino robbery scheme with increasingly absurd twists.
Introduction and Film Background
The hosts introduce their Christmas Day special episode covering Reindeer Games, noting it was legendary director John Frankenheimer's last film. They reveal the movie missed its Christmas release window entirely, coming out February 25th instead - a sign of how bad the studio knew it was. Paul expresses immediate anger at how terrible the movie is, while the group discusses Frankenheimer's prestigious filmography that included classics like The Manchurian Candidate before ending with this disaster.
- Reindeer Games was John Frankenheimer's final film, following classics like The Manchurian Candidate and French Connection
- The movie was released February 25th instead of Christmas, indicating the studio knew it was terrible
- The film stars Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Gary Sinise, and features a cameo by Ashton Kutcher
" This movie sucked. This movie was awful. I hated watching this movie. This movie is everything that's bad about the movies that we watch, to me. "
The Minotaur Sex Scene and Questionable Romance
The discussion turns to the film's graphic sex scene between Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron, which features unusual camera angles and culminates with them inexplicably falling asleep on the floor instead of the bed. June describes Affleck's appearance as "minotaur looking" in certain shots. The hosts debate whether these supposedly attractive characters are meant to be seen as beautiful or ordinary, given Theron's supermodel looks contrasted with the film's attempts to make her seem like a small-town girl.
- The sex scene features unusual shots of Ben Affleck that make him look like a minotaur
- The characters have so much sex they fall asleep on the floor instead of using the bed
- Charlize Theron delivers the line about men wanting to 'get inside' rather than know what's inside her
" There was a shot of him where you couldn't see his legs, but you did see sort of right above the ass. It's like butt and back. It didn't look like a full human. It looked minotaur. "
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