This one was good, so, you know, be ready out there. Okay. Can you give me a slap? What? Give me a slap across the face, like, trying to wake me up. Uh, okay, like that? Yeah, but a little harder. Uh, okay, like this. Ow. What the fuck, man? Are you trying to knock the teeth out of my mouth? I'm sorry you said slap you. I didn't say slap me like you were Ike Turner. Fuck. I'm really sorry. If I wanted to be abused, it'd be a woman who voted Republican Asshole. Okay, okay, I said I was sorry. Jesus Christ, you're not supposed to hate me hard enough to hurt me. This isn't a Saturday night in Pisahich. Why am I even slapping the first place? I never had to hate you before we talked about a movie. Movie? I thought you said "moony." I thought I was about to kick some unification church ass. What? I wonder what you're gonna do that. Thought we were preparing for Project 2025. No. Oh, never mind then. Let's start the show. Well, does this still work? The podcast except always an ass. Does this still work? I'm Joe Dixon and I'm George Romaka. And today we're discussing win win from 2011 and some historical context. First podcasty stuff. You can reach us at dtswpod@gmail.com on Facebook, Letterbox, and on our YouTube channel. Joe is on Blue Sky at Joe Dixon.bsky.social. Please tell your friends about us, even the ones who are cut out of the father's will, and leave five star ratings everywhere. You can pick what we watch and get extra per episode content by funding us on Patreon for as little as a dollar a month at patreon.com/dtswpod. No, Joe, take us back to 2011. And that's the way it was. This will take place in New Jersey and is about high school wrestling. Great. Two of my favorite subjects. Now, I understand if regular listeners are confused about that statement, but no need to be confused. I was being sarcastic. I don't give a fuck about New Jersey or high school wrestling. But here we are. George, read this headline from the press of Atlantic City. Growing sport, helping to save wrestling. The popularity of MMA and the links between the sport has helped wrestling and its decline. Yeah, I don't know how well high school wrestling is doing these days, but according to this article back in 2011, it wasn't doing its best. I will read. According to the National Association of State High School Associations, more than 355,000 high schools competed on 9,772 teams during wrestling tie watermark in 1977. By 1995, more than 1,200 of those programs had been cut, and participation was at 270,000. The cuts have been just as pronounced in college where more than 650 schools have asked programs across all levels, including 177 in Division One, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association. End quote. But as this article linked in show notes explains, as wrestling was declining, MMA was coming into its own. Honestly, since 1993, mixed martial arts was set on arenas by 2011. Its popularity was reason to believe that that is why young people's interests and Greco wrestling rose every year since 2004, gaining back 40,000 kids from the sport's low point. At the time this piece was written, over 10,000 high schools were sponsored wrestling as well as 68 colleges. Not that everyone was happy about this, let's quote again from the article. Many high school wrestling coaches worried the two sports would become an extricably linked. They are after all different sports, with different rules and objectives. But they've also witnessed the number of kids coming to their practices increase dramatically, and they know why. I'm starting to get youngsters coming to my camp that want to move into MMA someday, said Jeff Jordan, who's coached Saint Paris Graham to 10 straight state titles in Ohio. I'm not a big MMA fan, but I know being a good wrestler is a great foundation. End quote. You know, I guess if they ever did a sequel to this movie, maybe Kyle could be an MMA fighter? Maybe? Maybe? Anyway, in all fairness, this isn't a sports movie. A sport just happens to feature in it. It's really about a struggling lawyer working out of New Jersey who takes advantage of a situation involving one of his elderly clients. There's something somewhat similar happened in New Jersey in 2011. Are you kidding? George, read this headline from Ashbury Park Press. Lawyer, guardian for seniors, accused of theft from them. After a three-year investigation, a lawyer and her paralegal were founded to have diverted 800 grand from their awards to their personal bank accounts, I will quote. Lynn Kennedy, fifth day of war, and Terry Howey, forward of brick, were charged with theft by failed to make required disposition of property received, according to a news release from Mammoth County prosecutor, Peter E. Warsaw, Jr. and Mammoth and Ocean Counties, Kennedy routinely received guardianship appointments for awards, such as senior citizens whom judges had determined lacked in this segment of faculties to manage their own affairs, their release said. As the court reported, "Garden, Kennedy was responsible for managing their finances," authorities said. Jesus Christ, it is the plot of this movie. Now, I'm sure your first question is, there are places in New Jersey named brick and wool, and there are people who live there, and the answer is yes. There is a wool township, which currently has just over 25,000 residents, and then there is a brick township, which has a population of just under 80,000. George, you live in New Jersey. In fact, you live in Jersey City, all you can remember is all these places, and also, what the fuck is a township? I know what a town is, I know what a ship is, I don't know what a township is. Joe, why are you asking me questions in your history segment that you could have fucking Googled? Because I think it's interesting to hear you answer it as opposed to me Googling it. Oh, because I don't know the answer to it. A township is like a burrow, like a New York has a burrow, Brooklyn has a burrow, Bronx has a burrow, so you need the answer to it. Yes, I did. But I wouldn't include you in the conversation. Okay. Anyway, I should probably end this with any notable event that happened in New Jersey that year, but I keep getting stuff on Hurricane Irene, which hit the state in 2011, and caused one billion of damages, killed 11 people, and I was going to say that the cost is a disaster in the state's history at that time. However, none of that relates to our movie, so we're done here, George, tell us about win-win. Alrighty, this is written and directed by Tom McCarthy, and for the show, we saw his work in "Up" for which he was a writer. And I seen his work in "Spotlight". And this was also written by Joe Teboney. Teboney? Teboney. Teboney, hey, you know what I'm going to do tonight? Don't, don't, don't. Blurbs, IMDB says- It takes two to Teboney. Blurbs, IMDB says a struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach's Shaqanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he has double-crossed comes into his life. Okay. Okay, and points for using the word Shaqanery. Amazon says, on the verge of bankruptcy, a lawyer who volunteers as a high school wrestling coach skims money from the estate of an elderly client, but when the client's grandson, a gifted wrestler comes to town, the lawyer admits his malfeasance and is ready to do so in court to protect the kid from his addict mother. Jesus, that is way too much. That is way too much, but points for using the word malfeasance. I give IMDB the points on that one. I think that's a proper summary. Yeah. So, it's just after Don on an early winter day in suburban New Jersey. We meet our protagonist, Mike Flaherty, as he's jogging in the woods near his home. He's passed by two other joggers and stops, looking quite like a man who jogs, but doesn't want to. He is a small town attorney who moonlights as a wrestling coach for the local high school. His team never wins. Mike Flaherty is played by Paul Giamatti, who I know from deconstructing Harry, sideways, American splendor, the holdovers, straight on a Compton, 12 years a slave, too big to fail, and the Truman Show. And I've seen his work in the 2008 Dr. Doolittle, saving Private Ryan and heard his voice work in robots. At home, his seven or so year old daughter Abby wakes up when a suction cupped stained glass angel falls off her window. We get her reaction. The first word spoken in this movie. And if we learned anything from love in basketball, it's that children using profanity is always at least a little bit funny. Abby is played by Claire Foley. She goes into her parents' room asking her mother if they can play croquet today. She will ask that of everybody at some point. It'll be absolutely nothing to the plot. I don't know why they kept coming up. I thought it was good at some point. Well, I guess maybe at the end they'd play croquet. They do play croquet at the end that I'll mention when, why it matters. I've never mind. Forget I said anything. Her mom, Jackie Flaherty invites her to cuddle and tells her her dad is out running. Jackie Flaherty is played by Amy Ryan. For the show, we've seen her work in Gone Baby Gone and before the devil knows you're dead. Both Joe and I have seen her work in Birdman or the unexpected virtue of ignorance and the office, the TV show. And I've seen her work in War of the Worlds from 2005. Now, when you saw her play the character in Gone Baby Gone, you insisted that that character then got her cleaned up with to the office. Yep. So what about this character? It's also the same character. This is after she leaves Michael. OK. And the office. All right. Yeah, we get a hectic family breakfast scene with Shelley refusing to eat and spilling juice. We also see that Shelley gets her foul language from her mother. Jackie asks Mike if anything is wrong and because this is a movie, he has to say no. The reality is that he's under a lot of fiscal stress. When he's getting into his car, Jackie asks him to call a tree service about a dead tree in their front yard, not wanting it to fall on the house. I saw that and thought it was Chekhov's tree and was definitely going to fall on the house at some point. We get a brief commute through Suburban, New Jersey with a stop at Dunkin Donuts montage. He shares an office building with his friend, Stephen Vigman, a CPA and assistant coach of the high school wrestling team. Their building has a toilet that frequently clogs and a boiler that they're assured will eventually explode. But again, never does. Never does explode. That's true. But the toilet does clog. So they got that going for it. Stephen Vigman is played by Jeffrey Tambor, who we know from the show in Mr. Mom, the man who was there and the hangover. And I know from the death of Stalin, there's something on Mary and city slickers. And I know him from the 2008 Dr. Doolittle, girl interrupted, Hellboy, and the invention of lying. Once inside, his secretary, Shelley, asks about his wrestling team and complains about the toilet. Shelley is played by Nina Arianda, wife seen in Midnight in Paris, Stan and Ollie, and crisis and six scenes, the TV movie. She got a disappearance from the film near the end, doesn't she? Yeah, I mean, they just don't need the secretary for most of it. We meet one of his clients, Frank, an older gentleman who wants to sue his son for stealing his cat, of whom he was jealous. You're going to understand that, can't you? Of course. Then we meet his other client, the one that matters to the movie. Leo Poplar is old and in the early stages of dementia. He needs a lawyer because he's gotten lost a few times and the police had to help him get home. So what do we do now? Well, if that judge deems you incapacitated, then you'll need a guardian. And if we can't find your daughter... If she can't even find herself... Okay. If we can't find her, then the state will become your guardian. What state? You know, the state of New Jersey. Well, that's crazy. I don't need New Jersey's help. Yeah, nobody needs New Jersey's help. For the show, we've seen his work in Chinatown and back to school. And I've seen his work in the choir boys and across 110th Street. In fact, the choir boys is the first movie I ever saw this man in. I just realized, and I was looking at the credits. We've both seen him in Rocky and Rocky 2, and I've seen him in Rocky 3, 4, and 5. 'Cause you love that Rocky. I must've. Leo really wants to stay in his home. And to do that, he needs a guardian, or New Jersey will put him in an old folks home. The guardianship role comes with a $1,500 a month paycheck. Ideally, this would be Leo's daughter, but she's been unfindable. We watch a brief scene of Mike and Stephen coaching wrestling. And in the morning, Mike is out jogging with his friend, Terry Delfino, who lost his house in his divorce and is bitter about it. They have a mutual friend who makes lots of money, and talking about that sends Mike into an anxiety attack. Terry's lack of first aid skills is played for a laugh before an ambulance is called. Mike says his doctor prescribed jogging to help with his anxiety, which is not funny, but is believable. Terry Delfino is played by Bobby Cannavale, who we both seen in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and The Wasp. And I've seen in Blue Jasmine, Mrs. America, the TV miniseries, the Irishman, Mother's Brooklyn, and I, Tanya. By the way, one of the reasons I think the second Ant-Man flop, is they didn't use the latest Ant-Man flop, the one where he goes to Ant-Mania, whatever the hell it was called, Quattamania. I think that flop, because Bobby Cannavale and all the railchairs supporting characters were not in it. And then those characters made Ant-Man and Ant-Man and The Wasp. I'm done. Okay, that night Mike calls a lawyer friend asking if he has any overflow clients that toss his way. Nope, so he pulls Leo's file and looks at the guardianship stipend. It's Leo's day in court now, and the judge is all set to have the state become Leo's guardian. Mike offers to take that role, saying that Leo wants to stay in his home. And despite the state attorney's valid misgivings about Mike's guardianship qualifications, the judge lets him have it. The very next day, Mike moves Leo into the Oak Knoll senior care home, telling Leo that it is temporary. After church on Sunday, Mike has to go to Leo's house to shut off the water. Jackie asks why, and gets less than properly upset that he took a guardianship without telling her. Then again, she's also wrangling two kids, so it's not like her full attention could be on that conversation. And does that ever establish what she actually did before they got married? Like, did this woman ever have a, have her had a job? Nope. Because it's not established. Yeah, because if you think it would, uh, that would be one of the things that would come up, but we're financially strapped. Maybe you need to go out and find something. Or somebody's gonna take care of the little one. And I'll tell you, child care is super fucking expensive, and you can't afford it on a minimum wage. Like, it costs more than minimum wage to have somebody take care of your child. Well, I'll question, but does she have a mother? Yeah, but mom, the grandparents aren't guaranteed child care. Yeah, they are in my world. Grandma might be working. But they never established that either. When they get to Leo's, there's someone sitting on the stoop. That someone is Kyle, Leo's grandson, and he has come to live with his grandfather. And Kyle is played by Alex Shafer. Mike takes him to see and meet Leo, who is rather accepting of this new relation, and asks him to watch TV together. So they do, and Mike says he'll be back in an hour. Can you imagine, like, uh, long list relative just showing up like that? No, you couldn't. I could totally imagine. Unfortunately, I don't have a house, so there'd be no way I could put them up. At the Flaherty home, Jackie is complaining about the plot to Mike's mom in the kitchen. They all agree that the whole situation is crazy. Yeah, she's like, what is my husband doing? He's like, he's busy with his law practice, and then somebody's taking a couch up. He doesn't tell me, which is obviously they have a relationship where he usually tells her things. So she's very suspicious about all of this. Yep. And rightfully so. When Mike picks Kyle up, he soft sells the guardianship as making sure his grandfather is taken care of. Kyle stays with the Flaherty's at night, two Jackie's discomfort. Yeah, she, uh, she doesn't trust him around her children, which is reasonable. I mean, he's a strange after all, but this is the most soft-spoken kid you can imagine. Yeah. For a wrestling dynamo, no less. Yeah. Mike and Kyle have breakfast with Leo before Mike puts Kyle on a bus back to Ohio. That night, Mike gets a call from the police station, because they caught Kyle breaking into Leo's house. Which is, you know, completely understandable what happened. I'm not going back to freaking Ohio. Who wants to go back to Ohio? Right. Although granted, still staying in New Jersey, but of the two, I can understand. I'll take Jersey over goddamn Ohio. Me too, Joe. Back at the Flaherty's, Jackie interrogates the kid. He has a bruised eye from his mom's boyfriend, who he was living with while his mom was at some clinic. He's got a cell phone, and his mom has his number, but she doesn't call to check on him. Upstairs, Jackie and Mike talk about it. We don't have a choice now. Ah, so what are we going to do with that? Don't? No. But I'm not sending him back there until I talk to his mom. But a freak can call me back. Honey? Honey, I know that this is tough, but we're not in the position to take care of another kid right now. Well, I don't care. I'm not sending him back there. I can't. For the record, I'm not very happy about it. Fine, then we don't have to do this. Yes, we do, Mike. We do. Makes me so angry and so damn sad to see him in this situation. He's just a kid. Yeah, she does a 180 when she finds out the mother. It was dating these creeps. Yeah. Can't even get back to where... No, it's where her child is. She loses it. And you're like, what the? Fuck that lady. She gets really upset about it. So you sent me a text about this movie saying, I probably have to talk about my bonus kids. Joey, this was similar. They were in a bad situation at home, and they came to stay with us. And I see a kid needs help. If they're in my life, I am now their father. Without getting, invading their privacy, how did these children come into your life? Joey was a friend of my oldest in high school. So that's how they came into my life. And they would just come over and then suddenly it's like, all right, I see something's wrong here. Would you like to stay here? Or did they say, can I stay? I think my oldest asked. Okay, at the time. The next day, Shelley, the secretary of anybody's forgotten, finds Kyle's mom at an inpatient drug treatment program in Columbus, Ohio. Kyle asks and then goes to visit Leo. That night, Kyle observes as Mike and Steve coached the wrestling team. Mike gets all angry and yelly at them for not paying attention and losing all the damn time. You were in music, right? So you wouldn't even know about the coaching thing. I did one period of wrestling, like one school semester of it. Huh, but I guess you didn't like it. Yeah, it wasn't any good. It's a sport. I'm not good at sports. Weirdly enough, in boys and girls high school, we didn't have wrestling, but we did have golf, which is always very weird to make it so like we're a poor school. Golf is a very expensive sport. How these kids can golf clubs and stuff? I do not know, but we had it there. I remember them having golf clubs and everything. That's a good question. At dinner, Jackie brings up the tree again. Abby asks Kyle if he'll play croquet with her when it's warmer out. And he says, sure, he is the only person to even acknowledge that she is asking that question. Oh, I didn't even notice. And that is why she's asking it. To show us that Kyle can relate to these kids and to start forming the relationship, but you know, the sort of big brother relationship there. Ah, good catch. He asks Mike if he can practice with the wrestling team tomorrow night. And at that practice, we learned that not only has Kyle wrestled before, but he was really, really good. It's you know, win-win. Yeah. It's getting the grandfather's money and the kick and wrestle. Woo-hoo. Uh-huh. Mike and Terry look Kyle up and find videos of him wrestling on YouTube. Terry encourages Mike to enroll the kid in the school so he can wrestle on the team. And also because school is in session and he's a kid with nothing to do. And also the state would make that happen anyway at some point. So that happens. Then Mike gets his first check for that guardianship and is relieved to be able to pay his family's health insurance for that month. The next day, Terry shows up to the school and asks to be another assistant coach for the wrestling team because he needs something to do too. So that happens. Sometime later, Jackie answers a call on Kyle's cell from his mom, but his mom hangs up. She's a habit of doing that. He asks her to not answer his phone anymore. Reasonable. Yeah. And Kyle takes wrestling seriously. He starts an early morning workout regime. He also quits smoking. At their first match, he asks Mike to slap him across the head before he goes out. And that becomes the thing all the players ask for. And as expected, Kyle kicks butt. Why do you suppose? I guess he says he's just a waking up, but he doesn't seem to be asleep. Like, is this a motivating thing? I mean, I think that was probably something that his old coach did. I would imagine, yeah. It's something like, I seem to remember there was some sport. It's silly and football. It wasn't in the head getting in the ass. That is, everybody slaps asses. It's a good game. Slap on the ass. Is that okay? Yeah. That night, Kyle accompanies Jackie on a nighttime grocery shopping run. And they have a getting to know each other scene. Then at wrestling practice, the coaches asked Kyle to share his secret to success. I just tell myself that the guy on top trying to take my head and shove it underwater and kill me. And if I don't want to die on bottom, I have to do whatever the fuck it takes to get out. Okay, so the move is whatever the fuck it takes, let's go. Let's work on it. Whatever the fuck it takes, let's go gentlemen up. That was funny. That was funny. And it's always dangerous to be a bottom. How would you know? I've heard things. Kyle visits Leo, who can't tell the Black Judge on TV from the Black Judge that he thinks is responsible for sending him into Oak Knoll. I'm a little racist there on this. A little bit, yeah. He tells Kyle to listen to his mom, even though she says bad things about her own father. And right here, because I had to watch this twice, he says, let's go take a walk in my park. And that'll add truth to something later. Yes, it will. Kyle asks Mike if what Leo said is true, that he's there because the judge said so. Mike lies and says it is. Then Mike gets a call from Kyle's mother, who will be out of rehab in a month. It'll be way sooner than that. Mike and Jackie decide to continue taking care of Kyle. Isn't it weird that Mike and the character is written as such that he's not only on these pressures to the point where he's having anxiety attacks, but he seems to be able to lie really well. The lying doesn't seem to bother him, which you think it would. I mean, he's a lawyer. True, but small town lawyer, it's not the same as a big city lawyer. They go to an away match, and everybody but Kyle ends up getting pinned. Kyle takes down the rival school's toughest wrestler to everybody's delight. I believe it was you say to him that remember you could catch him because this kid doesn't know your name and then he wins a match in the system. He knows my name now. Yeah, good line. Jackie and Kyle have another conversation. We learn that Kyle didn't quit the wrestling team in his old school. He was kicked off for stealing a teacher's car. Also, he's got a bunch of tattoos. Jackie has on her ankle the initials J.B.J. for John Bon Jovi. She is a huge fan. Jersey Strong. At what age? I mean, you probably don't even know the answers, but isn't there an age limit to getting an attack? Because he seems to be underage to get one, but he's got a bunch of them. He's a senior in high school. He could be 18. Oh, I guess. I was only approaching him slightly younger than maybe he was 18. Maybe he could get him. He's curious if they make him being thrown off the wrestling match, and it's because he stole a car, but that totally doesn't develop into anything. It's not a check-off car. The fact that he's not in jail tells me that the car was recovered by the teacher in Ohio that owns it. Oh, sure. I'm just saying it doesn't come up again. So I'm just curious if it's there. It doesn't have to. It's backstory. Just backstory? Okay. Yeah, I mean, he was a little criminal. He was a little hoodlum. And then we get a Bongiovi-backed montage of Kyle leading a workout regime for the entire wrestling team, and that team beginning to win some more. And of Terry, Mike, and Kyle successfully taking down that tree in the front yard without damaging anything or injuring anyone. I was a little disappointed, but I guess this movie didn't have house-crushing money. We also see Kyle and a teammate, Stemler, getting close as friends, playing a Star Wars game together on the Wii. That'll become a kind of secret motivational language between them. Stemler's been on the team but never wrestled a match. Stemler's played by David Thompson. And he's never wrestled a match until now. In their next match, Stemler squares off against a kid in an almost gimp mask and freaks out before Kyle uses a Jedi mind trick on him. Then, when Stemler's about to lose the match, Mike gets down in his face and repeats the "whatever the fuck it takes" line. Stemler breaks free and avoids getting pinned, which lets their team win on a technicality or something. Yeah, you didn't understand any of the digits. This has happened, or we're going to lose, but if this doesn't happen, then we can win the game. I'm like, "Ah, okay. Whatever you say, movie, I don't know. I can't contradict you." After school, Kyle goes to visit Leo. And his mom, Cindy, is there. Kyle Bales. Cindy is played by Melanie Linsky, who I've seen in Heavenly Creatures, up in the air, and Mrs. America, the TV miniseries. And I've seen her in Ever After, a Cinderella story, Coyote Ugly, and Don't Look Up. Mhm. That evening, Cindy comes to the flatteries. They talk about Kyle and how well he's doing. Cindy breaks down crying, and Abby tells them that Kyle left out a window. Another window story! Yeah? Kids sure do like going in and out of windows in these movies, we say. At least this one's basement level. That's true. Mike and Cindy drive around looking for him, and come to an agreement where they can stay at Leo's house for a few more weeks, so that Kyle can finish the wrestling season. Mike gets a call from Terry and says Kyle is there, and that he hates his mom like Terry hates his ex-wife. Cindy is relieved and asks to be dropped off at her motel. Hmm? Would you say his hatred of his mom equals your hatred of your mom? I didn't hate my mom. Okay. I had issues with my mom that resulted largely from my mom's mental illness. And I don't hate my ex either. I didn't say that. I know, but it's kind of there. Anyway, Cindy shows up at Mike's office with her own lawyer, and says she wants to take the guardianship role and bring Leo back to Ohio with her. Mike makes an excuse to kick that down the road for a bit. Then before practice, Kyle confronts Mike demanding that he stop his mom from taking him in Leo back to Ohio. Mike gets an idea. He sets up a meeting with Cindy and her lawyer and tells them a true thing. That Leo cuts Cindy out of his will and is leaving everything to the municipal park system. He wants a park in the city named after him. Mm-hmm. And that's his park. His park. Yeah. Cindy loses her shit along the lines of, "Well, if I'm not getting anything out of it, I'm not taking care of him." Mm-hmm. Cindy is a B-I-T-C-H. Yep. The next wrestling match is a home game, then Cindy shows up, which throws Kyle off and he ends up losing his match over unsportsman-like conduct. That blows their shot at state and his chance at a scholarship. Outside, Mike makes Cindy an offer. He'll send her the $1,500 every month and take care of her father. If she'll let Kyle stay with them through the rest of his senior year, she says Kyle belongs with her. That night, Jackie asks Mike to fight Cindy in court, but he is certain it's a losing battle. Sure, especially after what he's been up to. Yep. Kyle goes to visit his mom at the motel. She shows him the transcript from Leo's day in court and explains that Mike is getting paid to take care of him and that he put Leo in oak knolls so he wouldn't have to take care of him. Then she says that they deserve that money. Not some lawyer. Kyle attacks his mother, like pins her on the bed, covers her mouth, tells her to shut up, then tells her that he doesn't care about any of that and to leave him and Leo alone. Then he leaves. That was, when I first saw that, I was like, "Whoa, whoa, what exactly is it going to do?" But before he just leaves, that's it. For a second, I was concerned for her. Which this also makes me question those tattoos because if he's 18, she can't make him go home with her. Oh, good point. Yeah, that's right. That had a fuck did he get these tattoos? Of course, I mean, it's possible he got him from a friend in high school who could draw. Yeah, he's putting on his body. Yeah. Kids do do that. Mike gets a call that Leo has left oak knolls. So he goes there with Jackie and Terry and the clerk says that when that happens, they usually just try and go home. So to go to Leo's and find him there watching TV. Kyle manages to jump scare them. Then he produces that transcript and shows it to Jackie. When he tries to leave, he and Mike end up wrestling on the front lawn and Kyle wins, I guess, and then runs off. Jackie confronts Mike about all the lying and sneaking around. Together, they say the thing at the heart of 99% of crime cheating in general dishonesty. I did not think that it would get this complicated, okay? Really? Or you just didn't think you'd get caught? Right? He didn't think he would get caught. Yeah. So Kyle crashes at stammlers and gets woken up by a call from his mom that she immediately hangs up. Mike had taken Leo back to oak knolls and falls asleep on the couch. When he wakes up, he asks Leo if he wants to go home. Well, of course he does. Back at home, Mike tells Jackie that he's going back to court and is going to come clean. They hear Kyle in the basement gathering his things. Mike apologizes to him and says he is fighting to keep Leo in his home now and asks for a second chance. Kyle says he needs to be alone so they go back upstairs. Oh, I wish you'd pulled the quote of, uh, I thought it was very emotional because she says, just so you know, the mother, obviously, uh, Jackie says, just so you know, we love you. Mm-hmm. What are those very sweet? Yeah. And obviously what he really needed to hear. Yeah, because a little while, well, I also think he needed Mike to ask him for a second chance. Oh, sure. Yes, yes, yeah. Because what he's like, did you just expect me to forgive you now? And Mike says, no, but I'm asking you for a second chance. Because I think the people who have abused him in his life never asked for a second chance. They never really tried to change. Right. No, I agree. Yeah. So a little while later, Kyle comes up and joins Mike at the table for breakfast. And it almost seems like the movie's going to end there. Almost. Doesn't it? So they're both sitting there and the camera sort of pulls away. Yeah. But it also doesn't last much longer. Mm. It's Leo's date in court again. Before they go in, Cindy and her lawyer are there. Cindy asks if the offer's still on the table for Mike to send her the money and still be caring for Leo. And it is, so Kyle comes over and Cindy says her goodbyes to him and then walks away. And now it's springtime or summer. Kyle and Stanler are playing croquet with Abby on the front lawn. Mike comes home from a busy day at the office and gets ready for his new other job as a bartender. The end. The end indeed. Still curious about why is why me okay? They got kids, but they do have a mother. It makes you do a part-time job, makes you find a job in the house. And this seems weird, but it never suggested it maybe. I mean, if he could, if being a bartender brings in enough money in top of his lawyer job, then surely her just having a part-time job would be at bringing enough money. And it seems weird to never bring that up. But anyway, George, what did you think of this film? Um, this was a fucking lovely movie. Like, this kind of movie usually loses me. Oh really? Because it's kind of slow paced and it's a lot of dialogue. Okay. There's no action. None. And I mean, they're wrestling. It's wrestling and bringing down a tree. Yeah. Like, but this was, it was a very sweet story about themes that I have dealt with in my life. And like, there is everybody grows, who everybody who needs to grow grows, right? Cindy grows to not be so controlling over her son. Kyle grows to learn how to forgive and how to give second chances. Mike grows to get past his phase of dishonesty, I guess. I thought it worked really well. Yeah, I think it completely works. I loved it. Uh, I'm so grateful too. I remember liking this movie a lot. I'm really afraid. I reseed and go, oh my God, this is terrible. What the fuck? As happens with so many movies. Oh, so many movies to the both of us. My God. So it was so happy. Oh, good. This is a sweet and wonderful as I remember it. There's no racism that I forgot. There's no sexism that I forgot. There's no like homophobia. It's like, it's cool. It's all works. It's all good. Thank you. Yep. Yeah. There's not much more to say about it. No, it's really isn't. It's a good movie. If you've never seen it, please, please, please say it. It's very good. Yeah. All right, George. What's up next? Next week, we'll be talking about 10 things I hate about you from 1999. Have you seen this? I've never seen it, but you have, yes. I have. I'm not sure it worked. Well, I know about it. I know it's like based on the Shakespeare play. It's based on Taming of the Shrew, yeah. Okay, which is problematic when I understand it. This is source material is like, oh, very questionable. But the courses will have that discussion on the day of and that day is not today. We are done with this episode. So, but it is not this day. It is not this day. So, I guess that's it for this episode. I'm Joe Dixon. Thanks for listening. And I'm George Romaka. Thanks for listening indeed, because of a podcast drops and there's nobody around to hear it. It's just another collection of ones and zeroes. Doesn't matter. I want to go to Ohio and beat the crap out of his mom. Come on. Oh, I do. I want to beat the crap out of her and her stupid boyfriend. Okay. You've been listening to "Does This Still Work?" produced by Joe Dixon and George Romaka. The hosts can be reached via social media, email, or the contact page at dtswpod.com. Be good to yourself and others, because that still works. Go to New York as a borough, Brooklyn as a borough, Bronx as a borough. What's the matter? What just happened? That was a bug hitting my bug zapper here. Which monopoly piece is your favorite one to play as? And why? What is something that you waste even though you shouldn't? Is it just me or what a fast food restaurant that serves nothing but appetizers be amazing? What is the middle class must have in the home that has taken the place of the piano? And finally, what was the equivalent of a meme before the internet?
