The Kick

Our long summer continues with a mini-episode on the 2015 music biopic "Love & Mercy." Chance and Noah are torn on this two-headed telling of the Brian Wilson story. One is a deep studio dive into Wilson's orchestral pop genius and the other is an overcast, nearly unrelated custody drama.

Listen to all episodes of BRG at bereelguys.com. Love & Mercy is streaming now on Hulu and Amazon.

You know we'll wave the flag for a few bad movies. Hell, we have a whole category on the show for them (bad-good). But are we fans of "Bad" movies? The kind that take a career or societal station and stand on a premise of someone doing a heinously poor job at it? This week, we're talking "Bad Moms" (2016), "Bad Company" (2002) and "Bad Lieutenant" (1992). Misbehaving never felt so good, baby. (Nor has it previously created such an odd, deranged quasi-genre of movies.)

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At a certain point in life we all make that choice: Are we chasing tornados because they killed our dads or are we corporate posers who barely even listen to classic rock in pursuit of a cyclone? You have until the end of our mini-episode on 1996's "Twister" to decide. Also discussed — oh, that's too much Paxton, there are no other tornado films, and what movie does Philip Seymour Hoffman think he's in?

Find all past episodes of the show at bereelguys.com.

Right, so let me introduce you to your bunkmates. This is Moonrise Kingdom (2012), meticulously packed and maybe too earnest. This is Heavyweights (1995), vaguely inspirational and with an insane look in its eye. And this is Sleepaway Camp (1983). Who knows what the hell's going on with it.

Play your cards right, and this could be the best summer of your life.

Find all episodes of Be Reel, Guys at bereelguys.com.

Toss the kids in the back and chart a winding course to a kitschy destination — we're at the wheel of three American road trip comedies this week. Pit stops include a deep psychological analysis of Clark Griswold, a theory on how you market indie pop and questions about whether Netflix is making the new cable movie.

Chance begins the episode in conversation with writer Saul Austerlitz. They discuss his book, "Another Fine Mess" (a history of American comedy film), as well as the 1941 road trip classic "Sullivan's Travels." At 15 minutes, Noah and Chance transition to "National Lampoon's Vacation." At 26:30, they give "Little Miss Sunshine" a push. And at 37:45, why does nothing bad happen in the Netflix original "The Fundamentals of Caring"?

Toss the kids in the back and chart a winding course to a kitschy destination — we're at the wheel of three American road trip comedies this week. Pit stops include a deep psychological analysis of Clark Griswold, a theory on how you market indie pop and questions about whether Netflix is making the new cable movie.

Chance begins the episode in conversation with writer Saul Austerlitz. They discuss his book, "Another Fine Mess" (a history of American comedy film), as well as the 1941 road trip classic "Sullivan's Travels." At 15 minutes, Noah and Chance transition to "National Lampoon's Vacation." At 26:30, they give "Little Miss Sunshine" a push. And at 37:45, why does nothing bad happen in the Netflix original "The Fundamentals of Caring"?

Noah and Chance briefly considered the genre of sci-fi cowboy films before realizing our ill-fated manifest destiny: watching "Wild Wild West" on HBO and reconciling that decision as best we could. This mini-episode raises all sorts of questions. How do you pronounce "Kenneth Branagh"? How do you pronounce Kenneth Branagh pronouncing the nonsense words he says in this movie? And what didn't go wrong with the most expensive movie of 1999?

Live from Noah's bed in Brooklyn, we cozy up and discuss the genre that houses our favorite film. But not that film; what is there to say about "Jaws" anyway? So we watched three lesser shark movies: Blake Lively battling a great white in "The Shallows," the deranged shark science of "Deep Blue Sea" and attempts at disaster camp in "Sharknado."

The moms took their turn; yesterday the dads were on deck. Noah and Chance called "Big Rod" and "Digdoug" to discuss a pair of movies about early 20th century sporting. (It's worth noting that the dads chose movies independent of each other.)

First, Chance called his father to discuss 2005's Cinderella Man, listening to classic fights on the radio, and remembering Great Depression anecdotes passed down through the family. At 27:15, we transition to Rod Ballard's selection, Chariots of Fire. There's talk of post-WWI anxiety, Antisemitism meeting classism, and Olympic running. Ya know, dad stuff all around.

With the presidential election cycle eating itself (and many of our souls), this week's episode takes on three recent electoral satires: 1999's "Election," 2012's "The Campaign" and 2003's "Head of State." In them, races for student council president, a rural Congressional seat and the highest office in the land are wrought with the betrayal, the puppeteering and the backroom handshakes we imagine (or try not to) in the political system.

This week, we're joined by journalist Leo Adam Biga, author of "Alexander Payne: His Journey In Film," to talk about "Election," a young Payne trying to capture Omaha, and a sneak preview into Payne's return to satire with 2017's "Downsizing."

Table of Contents:

3:40 - "Election" and its fearlessness

16:00 - Leo Adam Biga on Alexander Payne's career and his next movie

29:00 - "The Campaign" doesn't understand satire

39:40 - "Head of State" gets a bad rap