In this episode of Two Guys in a Chainsaw, we dive into the hilarious and charming horror comedy ‘Parenting,’ a modern film currently available on HBO Max.

With a star-studded cast including Lisa Kudrow, Parker Posey, Edie Falco, and Brian Cox, the film balances humor and light horror elements in a story about a young gay couple introducing their parents.

From unexpected antics and quirky humor to touching emotional moments, we discuss it all. Join us for a fun-filled and insightful conversation about why this movie is a must-watch, even for those who are not typically horror fans!

Episode 440, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: We are doing a horror comedy, pretty modern. I think it came out this year on HBO Max, the Parenting with a whole bunch of stars in it. Craig, uh, you recommended this movie. Obviously I hadn’t seen it. 

Craig: I like doing new things and modern things, things that people are maybe talking about and interested in, even though I know that we get way more hits on the more.

Obscure films that we cover. I know, I know that’s true. Yeah. But I still like to do, you know, I, I, I like keeping up with the things that are coming out. I don’t have many people to talk to about these things except for you and like the patrons. So Alan doesn’t want to hear it, does he? No, I couldn’t even get him to watch this one with me.

I think I’ve, I’ve just come to the realization that Alan just doesn’t like watching movies. Like I think he’s become part of the younger generation who just doesn’t have the patience for them. Like, wow, if he can’t absorb the content in like 30 minutes, an hour max, I. He’s out. If I can convince him to watch a movie, we have to watch it in shifts.

Like we can’t sit and watch it from beginning to end. We have to watch like a half an hour at a time or an hour at a time. I was surprised that I couldn’t get him to watch this because it’s a, it is a comedy and I would say first and foremost it’s a comedy. Yeah, it’s definitely a horror movie too, for sure.

But it’s a comedy and it stars multiple people that we are huge fans of and. I’m just gonna get right out of the gate and say, I thought it was fucking hilarious and I am worried about how to talk about it because so much of the comedy comes from the combination of the writing and the delivery. Yeah.

Me trying to tell you why it’s funny is not going to do it justice. You’re just gonna have to take my word for it. And that’s our podcast folks.

I will try. I’ll, you know, both of us will try to, you know. Talk about the movie, but I don’t think I can do it justice. Maybe you can, I shouldn’t speak for you. Well, I 

Todd: mean, I’m just, I’m surprised that Alan didn’t wanna watch this or you couldn’t get him to watch it. ’cause it’s such a shame because, uh, it seems like it might be right up his alley.

’cause like you said, it is first and foremost a comedy. I mean, it feels like, like a sitcom almost. And like you said, all these stars. All of whom I really enjoy. Lisa Kudrow just has a way of delivering everything to make it sound hilarious. 

Craig: Lisa Kudrow is one of those, she’s one of those rare actors, and there’s a lot of them.

And I would argue that Parker Posey is what an oxymoron. I just said one of those rare actors that there’s a lot of, but Parker Posey is, is kind of like this too, in that Lisa Kudrow is always Lisa Kudrow. Yeah. But it’s always funny. Yeah. Like it just always works. I don’t know why. It’s just that she’s so quirky and so funny that she just works.

And so, and, and Parker Posey is much the same. Like Parker Posey will play more with, I’m watching White Lotus right now, which she’s in and she’s hilarious in that too. And she’s got this funny affected Southern accent. It’s hilarious. And she was great in all of those. Uh, I can’t think of the guy’s name, but all of those Guffman movies.

What’s his name? Oh yeah. Uh, Christopher Guest movies. Yeah, all those. Chris, she’s great. She’s hilarious. And she’s in this, and she’s hilarious in this too. And, and you’re right, I’m sorry. I’m talking too much. I’m just excited about this movie. Alan would love this movie. I’m going to make him watch it eventually because he would, yeah.

Because it’s really funny and it’s not that scary. 

Todd: It’s really not scary. I mean, it’s one of those movies that’s too much of a comedy to be scary at all, and it’s not trying to be, I think No, and you’re right. I think part of the reason why it works is I think these jokes were written for these people.

It’s the writer is, uh, Kent Sublet. He’s been a writer for Saturday Night Live for almost 20 years, and this is really the only film I think that he’s written. The director, Craig Johnson has done a bunch of stuff, but nothing. I think of note, I’d be pleading 

Craig: my ignorance here. He did a movie called The Skeleton.

Twins. Okay. With Kristen Wig and Stefan, I can’t think of his real name. Bill Hader. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it too had elements of comedy, but it was a dark comedy. But those two actors were absolutely phenomenal in it. And I love that movie. I highly recommend it. It’s not horror at all, but it’s, it’s really, really good.

So when I saw that he had done that. I was looking forward to it. I don’t know that I will necessarily have a lot to say about the direction. Right, because it’s, 

Todd: it’s, it’s really just directed like a, like a TV show or a sitcom or, I mean, it’s, there’s nothing particularly notable about it because it’s not really trying, it’s not a stylish movie.

No. It’s just a, it’s not trying to be, it’s just a, a comedy. Yeah. I think that. Oddly enough, this movie isn’t getting a lot of love. Pretty low rated on, on Rotten Tomatoes, and it seemed like people were just saying, oh, it’s not scary, or, I didn’t think it was that funny, or it was corny or something. I, I don’t know.

I don’t really get it. Maybe there were expectations going into it that weren’t fulfilled. Maybe people really wanted something scarier, gorier, or I guess, I don’t know, like, I don’t know what more you want from a. A comedy, you know what I mean? Like it, I, I think it works. 

Craig: Those types of reviews frustrate me because why are you criticizing something for something that it’s not trying to be like, appreciate it for what it is or not.

And if you genuinely don’t like it, that’s fine. I. Whatever. But if you’re saying it’s not scary enough, well, it’s not trying to be scary. That’s not the point. The horror elements in the movie, which there are and they’re well executed, but they’re there to service the comedy. It’s not the other way around.

Right. This is a movie where you place wacky, you know, cartoonish people. Yeah. The movie has been described as Meet the parents. In a haunted house. Yeah. And 

Clip: that’s what it 

Craig: is, a hundred percent. So you just, you take a comedy like that and you take these eccentric characters and, and put them together. And so there’s gonna be all of that business anyway.

And then throw in the haunted element. And so you have all of these comedic characters reacting to. A haunted house haunted, and it’s funny. Is it scary? No. Are the, the, the air quotes scary parts of it executed well. I certainly thought so. Yeah. 

Todd: They 

Craig: are, 

Todd: but, but they’re played for laughs. Yeah. Even the scary parts are played for laughs.

And also I think a lot of people were saying, oh, I never felt like emotionally connected, or those moments didn’t hit. I’m like, what do you, what do you want? Come on. This is not, there’s too much going on here. Uh, for this to become some deep, heartfelt moment anywhere in this movie. And, and you know, there’s a, there’s an attempt at it, there’s a little bit, but I don’t really think the movie’s terribly concerned with that either.

You know, I suppose when you compare it to meet with the parents, that is a comedy where at some point, you know, it kind of comes to a head and there’s deep emotion and the characters are really allowed to like. I dunno, get over these, these feelings or these difficulties with each other and there’s a catharsis and there’s an arc and all that.

I don’t think this movie was ever going that direction. I never expected it to go that direction. And so you can’t cram everything in, you know, you can’t have this wacky, screwball, horror comedy, you know, with this deep heartfelt thing and these characters that come together and, oh, I care so much for him and still have these, you know, SNL style jokes going and the scary, just, what do you expect?

It’s a light. Hearted comedy and I didn’t have high expectations for it, and I ended up laughing and enjoying it, and I thought it went to some interesting directions. I thought it did some kind of newish things. 

Craig: I agree with most everything that you said, except for I do think that this movie has. An emotional arc.

Um, oh, it does. It’s, 

Todd: it’s just, it’s just not, it’s, it’s a 

Craig: story deep. No, it’s not deep, but I still think it’s poignant. It is. It it, you know, it’s a, it’s a story about these, it’s the tale as old of time, as old as time, uh, of these two. People In this case, it happens to be a young gay couple, which I didn’t know going into it and I was really excited about.

Mm-hmm. It’s this young, good looking gay couple, Rowan and Josh and I, they’re both young, good looking guys. I don’t really know much about them, but they’re coming together. They, they’ve rented a house. So that they can introduce their parents to one another because Josh doesn’t know it at first. He finds out within the first 10 minutes of the movie.

But Rowan’s planning on proposing, so, you know, this is a meet the family kind of movie, which is cute. And it’s the classic thing where, I mean, it, it’s, it’s almost meet the parents. Exactly. Yeah. One family. Rowan’s family, his adoptive parents are very successful and like straight laced and clean cut and waspy, A little reserved.

Yeah. Dad doesn’t tell him he loves him. You know, that kind of thing. Right, right, right. And then Josh, his parents are, I wouldn’t go so far as to call them like hippies, but they’re just. More normal, I guess. You know, like I, I relate, I relate much more to them. They’re, they’re a little quirky, not even really that quirky.

No. They’re just kind of down to earth, not concerned as much as the other family. You get the picture, you know, they’re, they’re, they’re setting these families up to be kind of opposites. And what I think about the emotional arc of it is that Rowan’s family who thinks that they’re perfect because in appearance they are.

They’re really not. And Josh’s family who kind of looks like a mess really, when it comes down to it, as far as family is concerned, they’ve got it together so they learn from each other and, and in the end there is, I think, kind of an emotional catharsis where, I don’t know, I, I. I thought it was emotional.

Well, there, 

Todd: there is, don’t get me wrong. There’s that there, but, and I think maybe this gets to the heart of some of that criticism. It’s not a big gap. Unlike meet the parents, these, these are not cartoonishly opposite families. There’s not incredible conflict between them when they meet. They’re generally like normal-ish people where even though they’re different, they’re trying to get along and they more or less are.

And they’re apologizing to each other and they’re giving each other space. And so it’s not one of those crazy situations where these complete opposite families clash together and there’s all this ridiculousness that happens because of it. And I was fine with that. I didn’t need to see. That either.

Right? In fact, I think that would be more cliche. I, I thought it was kind of refreshing that, you know, this, this felt like a little more of a normalish situation where, look, I mean these parents, as opposite as they may be, they both have gay sons that they accept and clearly love. So I. There’s not any of this weirdness of, oh my gosh, he’s your boyfriend.

Oh my gosh, I’m, I’m not really cool with this, or any of that that you would normally see in a movie like this. I don’t know, 

Craig: man, 

Todd: that’s going for all that 

Craig: conflict. I don’t know. Maybe we come from very different perspectives, but I didn’t see it like that at all. This is the first time that Rowan has ever brought a boy home, and I think that he’s very nervous about it.

Well, he is, and I think that it has very much to do with the fact that he’s gay and. He’s concerned about how his parents, I mean, they know he’s gay obviously, but this is the first time that he’s ever presented them with a relationship, which is a big deal. And I, I think that there is unspoken tension between him and his father, especially.

Well, there’s that, um, he expresses the 

Todd: concern, but I didn’t really see that displayed on the, the screen in a. I mean, yeah, okay. There’s a little bit of uncomfortability, but it kind of gets overshadowed by jokes and situation, you know, after a point where it never seems like it’s a big issue that gets explored.

It seems more like a setup than anything else. I don’t, maybe, maybe I just didn’t see it, or maybe I just didn’t feel that at all when I was watching this. 

Craig: It, it could have just as easily been a straight relationship and the concerns intentions might have felt. Presented themselves. In a similar way, right?

I don’t know. Again, maybe it’s just, I don’t know. Maybe it’s my gayness, 

Todd: like I You’re hypersensitive or something. Well, no, 

Craig: I got it. Like, I, it, it, there’s gonna be that layer there of introducing your parents to somebody. Who you’re hoping to assimilate into your family. I mean, that’s right. But then the gay thing is just a whole other layer and, and, and there, there does seem to be his dad.

Not, not that his dad seems to be a bad guy, but he seems he’s, he’s reserved, he’s older. Like he’s older than my parents. He looks to be in his. Late sixties or seventies, so I’m sure you know he and the mom too. They come, the mom, by the way, is played by Edie Falco, who I, she’s known for The Sopranos, right?

Mm-hmm. For the most part, which I never watched. No, me neither. But she’s hilarious. She is so funny. Both her and her husband are the. Straight man. But she’s hilarious too. I guess the point I’m making is I don’t know what point I’m making. 

Todd: No, you’re you’re saying that it’s there. I mean, I’m not saying it’s not there.

I’m just saying I feel like it, it’s not a big part of the plot. Ultimately. It’s not, but it is. I mean, 

Craig: I, 

Todd: I, I, 

Craig: look, I, alright. ’cause the, the data eventually gets possessed. This is a haunted house movie. Yeah. And when the dad is possessed, the demon inside him starts hurling horrible, homophobic things. Yes.

At the boys. At first they don’t know he’s possessed. And then even after they know he’s possessed, I. That is something that troubles them. I don’t know. The son sometimes says things like, they, they talk. When they try to communicate with him, they’ll say like, I’m, I’m talking to the real you. I’m talking to the person inside.

Yes, I know you’re not, I know you’re not really saying these things, but I, I really just think that that tension. Is intentional and I, whatever we can get over it. Well, no, it’s fine. I 

Todd: just, I just feel like, and, and that moment in particular kind of deflates it right at the moment where he realizes they’re possessed and he says, I know this isn’t the real you.

I was like, oh, okay. You know, I felt that way. I’m like, if this son recognizes, or, you know, you could say he’s saying it in a hopeful manner, but. The way I took it. He was saying that realizing, oh, you’re demon possessed. And we know from movies that possess demons say ridiculous things to try to get us angry.

And so I, I feel like the movie kind of brushes that aside, gives an excuse for it. Look, I mean, again, I’m acknowledging there is a little bit of tension there. I’m just saying unlike a movie, like Meet the Parents, where that is the antagonizing. That’s the inciting incidents. All stem from this. That’s kind of a side thing, but.

The movie really isn’t about that. I think. I mean, it’s ostensibly trying to be a little bit about that. You know, obviously they do provide this character arc where eventually dad hugs and says, I should tell you, I love you more often. I really do accept you. Son says, I know Dad, thank you. They all love and embrace and everybody’s happy.

So it does go from awkwardness to that. But I don’t see that hill, that mountain that they climb as being that steep. I guess is what I’m trying to say. At least I didn’t feel like the movie presented it that way. It was way more concerned with k cracking some jokes that were not related to any of that and, you know, all this craziness with the possession and, and whatnot.

And I think maybe that is why some people criticize this movie is because they’re like, oh, I just didn’t feel that deep emotional connection. I didn’t feel that, you know, the characters were real enough for me to care about this predicament that they’re in. So that’s how I read it anyway, but it has, it, it, I mean, it’s sweet, it’s nice and it’s cute and that’s all it is as far as I’m concerned.

It’s sweet and it’s nice and it’s cute and it’s got this happy ending and everybody kind of changes a little 

Craig: bit and Right. I mean, it, it, it’s, it’s. Typical in that way. Yeah. I mean, it, it’s formulaic in that way. The, the, it’s not different in that way, I think. No, I, I think filmmakers are, are clever to take something that we are familiar with and throw a wrench in it.

Like in this case, you know, throw a haunted house in it. Throw a possession in it. Yeah. And. See how these people would respond and it’s very, very funny. There’s a cold open where we see this house and there’s this family and I don’t know, the teenage daughter won’t come out of her room for dinner or something and she’s got a brother 

Todd: mom’s preparing dinner.

I think this cold open really sets you up for the kind of movie this is gonna be because it is this very, very. Stereotypical 1983 house, right where it’s still coming outta the seventies. There’s wood paneling on the walls and brightness, and she’s watching the end of MASH on tv. Mom is cooking, but it’s also kind of cartoonish because she’s so styled and so perfect and everything is so properly in its place.

The thing that struck me about this more than anything else was the Catalina salad dressing. Did that mean anything to you? I mean, I remember it. It was good. This is one of those things, I’m like, whatever happened to that? Like somebody remind me of Catalina salad dressing. I’m like, oh yeah, that was like one of our three or four staples.

And I went, it’s, it was basically just ketchup. It’s totally gone. Yeah. It was like thinned out ketchup in a way. But I’m telling you. This is a secret that maybe if we ever become popular enough, this, this recipe’s gonna spread. If you want the best taco salad in your life, you just crush up. All right? So you take, you know, you chop up lettuce, you put the diced tomatoes in, you get like shredded cheddar cheese.

Throw that in there. You ground, you brown up some taco meat. You toss that in. You crush up nacho cheese Doritos and you throw that in and then you top it all off, alright? You need a big bowl of this with an entire thing of Catalina salad dressing. Mix it in there so you have like a super wet taco salad.

I’m telling you that combination works like you would not believe. You are welcome. Trust me on this one. Just try it sometime. There’s something about it that works and I only from this movie was I reminded that that recipe even existed, but that was a staple of our camp outs when I was growing up.

What’s even funnier 

Craig: is. I’m pretty sure you’ve told me about this before, like you are really passionate about this recipe. I guarantee you, anytime 

Todd: I’ve seen Catalina salad dressing, I have to evangelize a little bit. Oh gosh. Because nobody remembers 

Craig: it. I hope they still sell it in the cold open. All you see basically is this.

The, the mom knocks on this teenage girl’s door and she won’t come out and the wallpaper starts peeling behind her. Something weird is going on. She goes back downstairs, she’s in her kitchen. The pantry door opens and a demon arm reaches out and grabs her. And then a demon also takes the teenage son and the last.

You see is the teenage girl like scared, huddling in a corner, screaming as though the demon is about to take her to. Mm-hmm. So we got a haunted house. All right. Then we meet our couple and they’re so cute. Like Rowan is stiff, you know, he’s the product of his environment. He’s, he’s anxious, he’s concerned about appearances.

Josh on the other hand, is footloose and fancy free. He, he’s a musician. He’s recently quit his. Job. I think he was like a salesman or something, I don’t know. But he’s quit his job to be a musician, but he doesn’t really do much. He just kind of jams with his friends. And so it’s cute. I love these romantic stories where they’re very different, but, and, and there’s a little bit of, I.

Conflicts, you know, in their relationship, but it’s stuff that they’re willing to work with each other on because they love each other. Mm-hmm. That’s the biggest thing. You know, they may be different, they come from different backgrounds, but they love each other, and you can tell that it reads in the movie, it’s a Sweet romance, and I never felt that that was in jeopardy ever.

No. Mm-hmm. Right. I, I was concerned about the family dynamic and knew that that could potentially be, and, and that’s very real too. I mean, that’s real for anybody who’s in a relationship. You know, you, you, you marry into families and sometimes that works out really well and sometimes it doesn’t. Yeah. But they’re cute and they’re funny and, you know, they just have small talks so that we can get to know them and.

I don’t remember which of them is asking the other one, but one of them is like, okay, 

Clip: would you rather have a cat that can talk? Okay. But all I can say is, fuck it. So just walks around all day saying, fuck it all day. Fuck it. Or, or a cat with a human butt. Okay. Is it a sexy but like mine? No, it’s very saggy.

Ew. Well, can it wear pants? Just decide. ’cause it’s, it’s not really happening. So you said this cat, is it chill? Like, I’m down for whatever? Or is it more like, fuck. I don’t wanna live anymore. What is wrong with you? Did you take a gummy? I don’t even have any gummies. I’m just having fun. What’s that? 

Todd: That is the most random thing.

Oh my 

Craig: God. I think it’s hilarious. Like they talk about it for a while, like it’s, it’s just a funny way of establishing that they’re cute and fun and they have a good relationship. Okay, so then they get there and they’re met by the property manager Brenda, played by Parker Posey, who I have been a fan of.

Since the early nineties, she was in so many great indie movies in the nineties. She’s still working. She’s very eccentric, and she looks very eccentric. They comment on it. They’re like, is that a wig? Is that two wigs? Like she may be wearing two wigs. I don’t know. She’s, she’s very eccentric, but she tells them that there was a fire in the 1980s, and the family, she said the family didn’t live.

Oh, I mean. They couldn’t live here anymore, and she takes them in and she gives them a tour, and she’s like, I don’t know. I, I just wrote down all these lines just out of context. They don’t even make any sense, but I just, she’s like. She offers them refreshments. She’s like, wine in a meats stick. Yum. Like it’s just, it’s so silly.

The silliest stuff and the wifi password. She gives ’em the wifi password and says, this is gonna be really important. And I feel like one of them starts to read it off and there’s a noise like, yes, a thump in the background or something. Real anxious to get out. Yeah. And she’s anxious to get out. She tells ’em Good luck with the parents.

There’s a short scene that I guess is important because Rowan calls his friend. Sarah, there was a term for these women that we used to use when I was in college, but it doesn’t seem very nice anymore, so I’m not gonna say it. I’m just gonna say straight. Women who are really close friends. With gay men, right?

She’s one of those women and he’s nervous and she tells him not to propose. I don’t remember why. Well, 

Todd: it is a bit of a tall order, right? Like he’s bringing this guy home to introduce him for the first time, and he’s also gonna propose right there in front of all of ’em. I mean, it’s kind of a dumb idea, really.

Craig: Oh, I thought it was romantic. 

Todd: Uh, I don’t know if you’re a little concerned that your parents are gonna be accepting, you might wanna take things a little bit slower, I 

Craig: guess. I mean, you, 

Todd: you can always 

Craig: abort. Like if things aren’t going well, you can, again, that’s why I didn’t really believe it too much.

You know what I mean? Fine. The, the only other funny thing before the parents arrive, they go outside. I don’t remember why. They find Brenda clearly drawing a circle in the dirt around the house, and I don’t even remember what excuse she gives. Does she say she’s like sweeping or something, like it’s just a big measuring for a sprinkler system and she’s like, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Yep. Five, yeah. 

Todd: Units. Oh God. I love these horror comedies where they, you know, they do these obvious, like goofy setups and little hints that something’s not right, that the characters are oblivious to 

Craig: it. The comedy comes from the fact that we know we’re watching a horror movie, but they don’t, like if you were in their shoes, like if that were me and Al, I’d be like, what the fuck is she doing?

She’s weird. But, but I, I certainly wouldn’t think she was drawing a. Spell circle around the house, right? I don’t know, whatever. Sarah accidentally, I think she was trying to text Rowan, but she accidentally texts Josh about the proposal and it’s so obvious that she can’t even get out of it. So now he knows and he’s excited about it, but he’s, you know, keeping the secret or whatever, and then the parents show up

and you know, all of this is really just set up for establishing tension. Then introducing the haunted house stuff. And like I said, I can tell you what happens, but I can’t do it justice. The humor is in the dialogue and in the interaction. Right? So just explaining what happens. Does it know justice at all?

Justice at all? Honestly, I mean, you’re already. A half an hour in, and we’ve barely gotten started talking about the plot, but if you’re really interested in watching this movie, just watch it first and come back to us. Yeah, because I think that that will be a better experience. This isn’t going to do a lot for you, but his parents are Sharon, played by Edie Falco, who is hilarious.

Again, she plays the straight laced hard ass. Matriarch of this family, but she’s so funny in the way that she does it and, and the dad. Is Frank Play played by Brian Cox? I don’t know. Do you know him from stuff? Like, he’s obviously been around forever. I recognize him, 

Todd: but Oh yeah, he is been in a million things.

I mean, he was in, I don’t know, man, like he’s been acting since the seventies and he’s got parts and everything. Long kiss, goodnight glimmer, man. Yeah, just for the love of the game. He’s been in a ton of stuff. Yeah. All of them have been in a ton of stuff. Oh. Brian Cox, man, he was in trick Our treat. He was the old guy, Mr.

Krieg, who has to battle the Oh, San Sand him, the, the, the, the little guy. 

Craig: Oh gosh. He looks different than that. Uh, I don’t 

Todd: know when you think about it. Not too different. 

Craig: No, I don’t know. He’s 

Todd: got hair. He’s got more 

Craig: hair in that room again. Yeah. I, I, I believe you because I’ve seen him in a million things.

He’s very familiar as are Josh’s parents. His mom, Liddy, and there’s a, God, there’s a hilarious joke like when. The mothers are introduced. Sharon Rowan’s mom, like can’t wrap her head around Liddy’s name, like she just can’t get it. 

Clip: Hi, we are Sharon and Frank Liddy. Hi, Libby. Uh, no, it’s, it’s Liddy like lid of ajar.

It’s uh, short for Lydia. It’s actually short for Elizabeth. Uh, wouldn’t that be Libby? Well, it could be, but uh, I’m Liddy. So like the canned vegetables that’s Libby’s. Call it whatever you want. I’m Cliff, like the, uh, rock that you fall off, break your neck and die. 

Craig: They kind of clash immediately, like their personalities are just so opposite.

And Lisa Kudrow, I love, I, I’ve already mentioned, you know, I’ve talked about her already, but of course from friends, but she’s done a lot of film work. One of the most impressive things I’ve seen her in, I, I won’t be able to remember the name of the movie, but it was about. John Holmes and the murders that he was involved with.

Oh, tangentially. And, and she played his wife, John Holmes was married before he got into porn and then got into porn while he was still married. Lisa Kudrow played his wife and, and it was a dramatic role. And she was still Lisa Kudrow, but if you wanna see her in kind of something different, I was very impressed with her performance.

Oh. And like I said, they are just, they’re my people. Yeah. They’re quirky. They’re down to earth. They’re funny. I don’t know. They seem very normal to me, but as compared to the other parents, they’re a little bit wacky. Hmm. They’re, they’re wacky in the way that she shows up with a dish. Like she brought food and she’s like, here, I made my crazy noodles.

Todd: The crazy noodles. 

Craig: I know this woman, I’m friends with this woman. Yeah. This is not eccentric to me. These are the people that I hang out with Uhhuh and, and they brought with them three little dogs that aren’t even their dogs, like she’s. Dog sitting for somebody, and she’s like, her son’s like, well, what are their names?

She’s like, ow. I don’t know. Frick Frack. And I know,

Todd: and she’s just funny like that. I thought it was God. It was very smart. Later on, it becomes kind of obvious why these dogs, they don’t belong to them, because there isn’t that emotional aspect of bad things happening to these dogs that the characters care about. Ultimately right now. 

Craig: It’s funny, they’re comic relief.

It’s hilarious. Yeah, it keeps it light. Yeah. Yeah, it keeps it light. But then, okay, so now they’re all there and we see somebody. I mean, who’s it gonna be? It’s Brenda, obviously. We see a hand shaking a snow globe with the, uh, house inside and, and stirring up the snow, and it immediately starts snowing.

There at the house. Mm-hmm. There’s a lot of family stuff that goes on, like Liddy accidentally spills the beans that Josh has lost his job and, and says that, you know, he’s a songwriter and she encourages him to sing, which he does, which is. So cringey like I actually really enjoy just the comedy parts.

Like there are so many parts of this movie, especially up till now, where really nothing scary has been introduced, and I am still a hundred percent into this movie. I would’ve watched this movie if it weren’t a horror movie. Yeah. If you took that element out and it was just this family comedy, I still would’ve enjoyed it.

It’s not like I was invested in the characters in an emotional way, but I believed them and, and I believed their circumstances. I understood Rowan’s. Anxiety about how his parents were gonna react, not only to Josh, but to his family. I, I felt that emotional investment, but the reason that I brought that up is because a lot of stuff happens.

That’s just, I. Family interaction. My favorite one is when Josh and Rowan are not arguing but disagreeing with how to deal with their parents or whatever. And Rowan says something like, well, whatever you do, don’t just bring up my mom’s pussy again. And Josh is like, oh my God, I can’t believe I did that.

And then he opens the door and it’s a bathroom door and Rowan’s mother is sitting. Spread eagle off the toilet just staring at me. And they all just, they all just stare at each other for a second. And finally Josh was like, oh, I’m sorry. And closes the door. It’s just that funny thing, like, I don’t even remember what Josh says at that point.

Like I. What am I gonna do about it? I don’t know. He tries to bring it up again later and she just pretends, she’s like, I don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s like, I’m sorry about what happened. She’s like, whatcha talking about? He’s like, you know, upstairs. Like, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

She’s just to ignore it. Silly little things like that to establish family dynamics. 

Todd: Yeah. Well, I guess what, what really basically happens now that all this is established is they’re getting on the wifi and the father reads the wifi password out loud because it’s kind of odd. It’s, it’s like three Latin words.

Craig: Mm-hmm. 

Todd: And that is the trick. That is the trick that she had. Because you have to say these words, what, which in English mean? I welcome you into me or something like that. Mm-hmm. And that’s the thing. Take me something like that. Yeah. And that’s the thing that brings the demon out and possesses Rohan’s dad.

And so now he is possessed and Hijinx and Sue. 

Craig: Yeah. They have a dinner, which is really funny. Josh, because he’s anxious, takes three gummies, which. That’s a lot. So he’s, he’s baked anyway, and they’re having this kind of awkward dinner. He sings again, which I thought was gonna be awkward, but then inexplicably, all of the parents join in, which was silly, but kind of cute.

But then Josh, I think, says the password again for some reason. And he’s been feeding Kate the dog under the table, but he reaches down to feed her something and a hand grabs him and he freaks out. Now, mind you, he is stoned and they don’t know they, they can’t figure out what’s going on. But it’s still at that dinner, isn’t it?

It’s, it’s at this dinner, isn’t it? That the Rowan’s dad slices Josh’s. Yeah, with a knife 

Todd: twice. He just reaches out and cuts his arm just very, very quickly and does it twice. And like, what the hell dad? And you know, he runs off and dad’s kind of confused, right? He’s a little like, uh, he is not fully possessed yet.

He’s kind of coming in and out of the possession. He is like, I don’t know what, what’s going on? And. They’re awfully forgiving. 

Craig: Well, they are. Like I, I think Sharon, the mom kind of ushers him away and says he’s not feeling well or something, and that kind of ends the dinner. And, you know, they fix, they want to get Josh to a hospital, but they, the snow has blocked the roads and they can’t get a plow out there.

So Sarah shows up at some point. I don’t remember when it is. Maybe it’s this night, I don’t know, but they go off their separate ways and Rowan’s parents talk and, and Sharon says something about Josh, like she doesn’t like him. She’s been pretty cold to him throughout so far. And she says, yes, Josh is attractive.

But is that it? Honestly, like I don’t have kids, but I understand. Where parents come from, you know, you want the best for your kids. Yeah. And, and here, you know, Josh is a very good looking guy. He’s very charming, but you know, he, he, he, he’s not working. He’s a little flighty. I, I, I understand where the hesitation comes from, but I.

Ultimately, and I think that this is what you are supposed to learn from these movies is that you have to just trust your kids. Yeah. There’s nothing you can do about it. If they Yeah. And if they love somebody, like you just have to do your best to love them too. And if it works out great and if it doesn’t, whatever, that’s gonna have to be their mistake.

Yeah. Like you can’t. Try to control. You can’t fix these things for your kids. Yeah, yeah. Trying to control it is not gonna work out. There’s a big gag that goes on for like five minutes where there’s a lot of banging in the night and it kind of sounds like sex banging, but it’s the gag is that it, you know, starts on one couple laying in bed and they’re like, oh my God.

Like, I can’t believe they’re, I don’t even remember who it starts with, but the gag is that it goes through every couple and it’s none of them. Yeah, it’s. Like a zombie girl beating her head against the wall right in the hallway, but none of them know that. And then they all get up in the morning and I think maybe Sarah came in the night.

I don’t know. Then Frank gets he, he goes down, I guess he’s having wifi problems, so he goes down to the router and says the word and gets totally possessed. Wow. 

Todd: By the way, for an older guy, Frank is really techie. Yeah. I, I don’t, I don’t know many people his age who would like, oh, let me find the wifi router and see if I can fix this.

Craig: Yeah. And, and I’m looking at my notes and I was conflating, there were two dinners, you know. Oh, right, right. All of this stuff, this is, this is act, it’s actually the second dinner when he cuts the, the guy, and then this is where. Things start to go more off the rails. After he cuts him twice, he yells like supernaturally loudly.

Like, I feel like the, the movie shows us like sound waves, right? And it’s, it’s so loud that it causes a cabinet to fall over and kill one of the little dogs, which, you know, I hate violence against dogs in movies, but when you play it for comedy, and I like, I thought it was so. Funny. They’re like, oh no.

Bad things happen to these dogs. What? One of the dogs gets possessed? When does that happen? I don’t remember. It does. One of them gets possessed and it’s funny. Um, but the next thing that I have in my notes after the little dog gets killed is Frank comes out naked and hard

and. People, like everybody’s kind of upset and this is where it starts. He’s like, he says to the boys, what are you crying about? Now you’re queers like, and, and then from that point on, it’s just a barrage of don’t touch me, you chocolate munch and poof. And it’s so funny. 

Todd: It is 

Craig: after all that Frank Pukes all over and the dog, one of the other dogs, eats the barf.

And that’s what turns it evil. 

Todd: That’s it. He pugs up all that, all that crazy, crazy noodles to which the mom’s like crazy noodles. I just made, I mean, I just made a, a small bowl of it. It just kept coming. Yeah. And coming and coming. I kind of want crazy noodles now. It’s just like every pasta she had in the pantry just, uh, cooked up together and tossed together.

Yeah, it 

Craig: looks like a mess again. Throughout all of this, there is dialogue that is so funny. Lisa Kudrow everything she says. Is funny and, and I like you said, whether, I don’t know if it was written with these people in mind. Oh, I sure. It either had to be that or they allowed them to play. That could be, um, yeah, it could just be good writing.

Like you said, this guy wrote for SNL, so it could just be good writing delivered. Well, but I have a feeling that there was some collaboration probably. I don’t know. It’s just, it’s, it’s, it’s so funny. I don’t know Frank at some point, like he’s acting very ill. You know, he’s not, well, he’s not himself. He’s, he’s feverish, he’s sweaty.

He keeps saying to his wife, who is legitimately concerned about him, he keeps saying he’s okay. But we see, I. Like demon writing on his back. Right. That says, I’m not okay. He’s in his bed and the demon tau taunts him, like the demon appears to him as kind of a demonic form of himself. Yep. And, and taunts him and tells him that he’s going to eat his entire family and then, then he’s gonna die.

And, and, and these horror elements are silly, but they’re treated, I don’t know how to, I don’t know how to explain it. I mean, they’re played 

Todd: straight, but. You don’t really take them seriously, 

Craig: I guess, but he, the demon version of him looks scary. Yeah. Like it doesn’t look comical. No. Like you could take that look and put it in a more straightforward horror movie and it would still look good.

Todd: Yeah. But be scary. Exactly. Right. 

Craig: And, and the, the effects, like most of the effects, some of them are goofy. Like when the, the dog eats the barf, like its eyes flash red, that’s corny. Mm-hmm. And then that dog just randomly shows up at some other time later to attack Lisa Curo. And it’s, it’s a funny, you know, scary dog puppet attached to her arm and she’s like shaking it around.

I love that bit. ’cause then he 

Todd: grabs. Because then, uh, oh, by the way, I absolutely love, uh, Dean. What’s his name? Dean Norris. E Norris. Yeah. Dean Norris is so great. I, he’s just like the kinda like overly chatty neighbor, kind of easygoing dude, but like, you know, basically the dude from breaking bat. Yeah.

Yeah. And uh, I just love him and he just comes in and he grabs the DA dog and just starts bashing it with a hammer. You don’t do that to my wife. You don’t do 

Clip: that to my wife 

Todd: and nobody cares. They’re like, all right, well, we took care of that. And they chuck it in the, in the washing machine or the dish washer.

Again, that kept the movie light. The dog didn’t belong to anybody, so nobody’s like really heartbroken, no emotion when all these emotional mistakes, terrible things happen to this dog. But then at the end of the movie, like they had to get a little seen of after everything is all right again, that I. Door pops open and the dog comes out.

Unharmed. 

Craig: Uhhuh. I was like, okay. I thought I was actually kind of cute. It was cute because everything ultimately does work out in the end talking about him, the dad, that dad, I don’t even remember at what point it comes. I think at some point, at some point when the craziness has began, you know, of course Sharon is struggling because her husband is possessed and she doesn’t know what to do.

She and Liddy have a lovely exchange. Before I get to that. At some point the dad Cliff sits down with his son Josh and just has a warm heart to heart with him where he just tells him that he loves him. And I don’t even remember in what context, but it’s really sweet and it sets up that’s, you know, his family may be quirky.

Whatever, but they just love each other and they know that, and they tell each other that, and they’re there for each other no matter what. The dad makes that clear no matter what happens. You know, I, I, I don’t remember if he says that, but that’s, that’s clear. On the other hand, the other family, I. It seems like Rowan’s anxiety stems from the fact that he doesn’t know that his family will be okay with it.

Yeah. And that they will accept it no matter what. And I think that that’s where the arc comes in. Of course, you know, Rowan’s family, that’s the lesson that they learn that they, I. Do need to, you know, accept him and accept Josh and accept the family and everything. That’s where it goes. But they both have to get there.

And I think it’s really sweet and cute that the, the two dads never have a heart to heart because the one dad is possessed by a demon. But the two moms do, they sit down and they have a heart to heart, and they talk about worrying about their sons. But I think that Lisa Kudrow, you know, says something, I don’t remember what she says.

Mm-hmm. I just remember that the message is, you know, I, I love Josh and. Whatever he wants to do, you know, I, I support that and eventually Sharon figures it out too. And they, the families work through all of this together. The dad becomes full out demon and they lock him in a room. There’s also a couple of zombies.

I don’t know, were those zombies or ghosts? I guess they were ghosts, right? 

Todd: Um, I guess, yeah. They were ghosts. You mean that girl with the face? That’s, that’s the, 

Craig: with no face. With no face. I think she’s the daughter, both of them. She is. Okay. So all of this stuff is going on. My other favorite joke, and I don’t remember, Josh goes to try to talk to Frank, the possessed one.

Mm-hmm. And he’s trying to, like, he’s trying to talk to the real frank and he’s trying to talk, tell him like, you know, I, I really love your son and all of this stuff. And he says, he says something like, I love your son. He is a great guy, but there’s just one problem. And the dad says something like. Is it his dick?

Is it too small? Is it too small for your butt? And then, oh my God, I was died laughing. He’s like, 

Todd: no, Frank, the dick is fine. And he is like, I don’t know, I’m looking down at the dads. And if it’s anything like this, it’s too small. Too small for your butt. 

Craig: Oh God. So funny. So anyway, whatever that happens.

Eventually the boys, the couple, they see a light outside and they realize that there’s like a, a guest house or, or something. And so they go down there and they find Deborah in there. Deborah just tells them like very nonchalantly the whole story that she was best friends with the teenage girl who lived in that house.

They were a very normal family. She was into the occult when the teenage girl who lived there, I think her name was Jamie or something, I don’t remember. It doesn’t matter when her mother. Didn’t want her hanging out with Brenda anymore. She and Brenda conspired on how they would get back at the parents or whatever.

And Brenda’s like, I knew we, we could summon a demon. Yeah. So they do. So now we find out that that’s what was happening in, in that cold open. When the mom was banging on the girl’s door, what was going on on the other side of the door was Ali. The teenage girl and Brenda were summoning a demon. Yeah. And they did, they had placed a protective circle around themselves when they summoned the demon, but obviously the, the family was outside of that circle and the demon killed the mom and it killed the brother.

And then when. Ally was like, wait a second. I just wanted to scare them. And Brenda, she was like, uh, I don’t know you. They seem pretty scared to me.

Uh, ally gets scared and she runs out of the circle, and then she got killed too. So now Brenda, apparently, I guess all of this time, has been plotting away to get a human host to this house so that she could free the demon into the world. Yes. Why? I don’t know. I still 

Todd: don’t understand this. What was, why was she trying to do this?

Craig: I don’t know. I think she’s just like crazy, crazy. She’s just evil. Yeah. And she wanted to summon a demon. I thought she was. Why? Why she had to wait 18 years, like a, does she own this house? And if so, how? B, why did she wait 18 years to turn it into like a bed and b and b or whatever? 

Todd: Because they’re the first ones.

She’s like, oh, I thought it was gonna take forever, but you, you know, just lucked out on the first try. Okay, so this isn’t a thing you’ve been trying for a long time. It just didn’t make any sense. 

Craig: And who cares? I mean, yeah, it doesn’t matter. Whatever. And so that’s what’s happening. She says she’s going to the bathroom and while she’s in the bathroom, they’re like, um, well, I guess we have to.

Kill her if she’s the one that’s gonna bring the demon. And they eventually, she takes a long time and they open the bathroom door and she’s gone. And she’s back up at the house. She’s back up at the house. Now the snow has completely disappeared. They were in like feet and feet of snow. Now it’s completely gone.

And Parker Posey is standing outside the house in this crazy like priestess garb. Her hair is all wild as crazy. She looks hilarious. She’s chanting. And the circle around the house catches fire at some point. I don’t know. Yeah. 

Todd: Uh, the thing is something like about the demon will be free when it leaves the circle.

Was that the whole thing? Right, right. She’s trying to get the, 

Craig: the demon outside of the circle and, and so, so Frank comes out, he bursts out of the room that they had him in, and he’s, he’s slow marching towards the edge of the circle and ro they have this demonology book, I guess whatever Rowan’s looking in it.

And he finds out that those ghosts in the house were not trying to scare them all along. They were really just trying to help. But he said something like, yeah, that. Was not clear. 

Clip: Right. That was really funny. 

Todd: Which is hilarious. ’cause that also gets me to, you know, everything I think about ultimately with these haunted house ghost stories.

You know, these ghosts that come back and scare everybody, but really they’re asking for help. Like, why don’t you guys just try not being scary, you know? 

Craig: Right. Get a pen and a piece of paper and write it down. Right. But this is the big end. And Rowan learns from the Demonology book very quickly. He, he, he, he says to possessed Frank, like, Hey, you don’t want this body, it’s old.

You know, I’m young and I can be more powerful, and how are you gonna take over the world? And that old gross body or whatever. Mm-hmm. And he says, the chant and the demon starts to come out of his dad and go into him. Now, before he did that, he. Said to Josh something like, I love you. You know, I’m, I hope you’ll understand that I have to do this.

And so now the demon’s going into him. So now Josh goes up and he starts saying the chant too. So I don’t know. How would you describe it? It’s like, it’s not smoke, but it’s like the essence of the demon. Yeah. It’s like coming out of Frank’s mouth and like going into now both Rowan and Josh’s mouths.

Mm-hmm. Then somebody else, I don’t remember if it’s Sharon or Liddy, somebody else steps in too. And what it all comes down to is that everybody in the family, including the friend, you know, the Sarah, the friend, they all come in and in all of them taking in part of it, it confused, weakens it and kills it.

Yeah. Confuses and weakens and kills it. It’s, it’s silly, but it’s fresh. I thought it 

Todd: was kind of cool. I did really wonder how I liked it, how they were gonna figure all this out and I thought that was cool. Yeah, it’s just floating around in there and between them all, can’t, can’t, can’t go from one body to the other.

And finally is just isolated and it takes its true form of a bird, like a big bird demon thing, which we saw in the book. And Frank is, that was his name comes up and stomps on him. It says, my dick is big 

Craig: stops on my dick. That was funny. Meanwhile, Brenda is freaking out and she’s like, you killed him. He was supposed to come out of the circle and Lisa Kudrow says, we made our own circle, bitch.

Oh. Oh, I’m, I’m sorry. That’s, that’s not me. That’s not me. I don’t say it. That’s like her running gag.

Oh God. It’s, she says it several times. It’s so funny. Yeah, and then they all hug and everybody loves each other. And Frank says to Rowan, I love you and I. And Rowan says, I know. And he says, no, no you don’t. How could you know? Because I don’t tell you. How could you know if I don’t tell you? And like it’s all very kumbaya.

But it’s also I again, you know, it’s that type of movie. It’s supposed to. Yeah, these people are supposed to come together. They’re supposed to learn the air of their waste. They’re supposed to be happy family at the end. And I found it. Very satisfying on that emotional family level. I also just found it to be a very funny movie.

The the very la I think the last line is Parker. Posey says, 

Clip: I am beat. So I’m gonna scram check out. Set 11. You’re going to jail. You psychopath write a review. I have a review. Suck my dick. Sorry, that’s, I’m not myself this weekend,

Craig: and I wish that I could do a better Lisa Kudrow impersonation because she’s hilarious. But you’re gonna have to watch it and I a hundred percent, a hundred percent recommend it. Watch this with friends. Yeah, 

Todd: I recommend it as a comedy. It’s just a comedy. 

Craig: And I think even your friends who aren’t necessarily horror fans will like this movie because the emphasis is on the comedy.

Yeah. The horror elements are there, but it’s in such a silly context that it’s not scary at all and it’s not gross and gory. So you know, pretty much anybody coming? Not really. There’s some barfing, but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh gosh. I, I was looking forward to it because I, you know, Lisa Kudrow and Parker Posey were enough to sell me.

Mm. They did a movie together too in the nineties, clock Watchers, which is an interesting dark comedy also that I would recommend. That was enough to sell me on it, and I knew, you know, I recognized the other actors. I knew that they were, you know, good actors. So I was, I was looking forward to it, and to say that I was pleasantly surprised wouldn’t even be.

True. I, I, I expected to like it, and I did. I, I liked it very much and I would recommend it to just about anybody. 

Todd: Yeah, I echo that. I, I liked it a lot. It was just fun. It was light. Nothing deep. Nothing’s super scary, but clever and cute and I don’t know why it would get any hate at all, honestly. So, uh, yeah.

I feel the same way You do. Highly recommend. Well, thank you so much for joining us for today’s episode. If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend. You can find us online. Just Google Two guys in a chainsaw podcast. Uh, you’ll find our website, which has been recently refreshed. There’s a link on there for you to click through to all of our back episodes.

You can leave. Comments, you can click the talk to us button and uh, chat with us directly. That basically allows you to record a quick up to 92nd MV three file that immediately gets sent to us. You don’t need to solve special software. Log into anything to do that, and we will definitely play it here on the episode and a respond to you.

We also have a Patreon patreon.com/chainsaw podcast. Go on over there and that for just five bucks a month. Um, join the inner circle. Until next time. I’m Todd. And I’m Craig with Two Guys and a Chainsaw.