Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: DJ Rob doing the concert, introing Sonic Death Monkey ('coming off that album with the two kids, their song I Sold Mom's Wheelchair'), then Jack Black singing 'Let's Get It On.' The last 8 minutes of the movie are fantastic.
• Joanna: The 'hand selling' sequence – the Beta Band scene expanded. Jack Black emotionally manipulates a customer, Dick makes a genuine connection, Rob plays passively and hooks people. 'I think this is such a good retail movie.'
• Rob Mahoney: Going to see Marie DeSalle play – the Dillinger trivia, Peter Frampton, the daydreaming sequence, Lisa Bonet.
• CR: Tied between Jack Black's entrance scene (culminating in 'you fucking bitch, let's work it out') and the side-one-track-one list-making scene with Captain Beefheart.

• CR: Laura coming back to get her laptop – reminded him of 'yeah, I leave my computer at work.' Nobody was checking email at home.
• Rob Mahoney: Calling the operator to get someone's home address.
• Joanna: Rob's Oakley sunglasses – 'right on the edge of 90s and into 2000 style.'
• Bill: Last days of mixtapes; describing someone as 'Sheryl Crow-ish'; being tortured by answering machine messages.

• CR: Best breaking of the 4th wall in cinema (with Ferris Bueller as the only real rival). Also: vinyl/records having a massive resurgence since the movie came out.
• Bill: Two great theories from this movie – 'Is it better to burn out or fade away?' and Rob's punching-your-own-weight-class theory about dating. Also: Katrina and the Waves' 'Walking on Sunshine' as a top-five happiest song ever; Iben Hjejle belonging to this movie; the Hulu TV remake (cancellation was a crime).
• Rob Mahoney: Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' – only gets better with age. The vinyl culture comeback.
• Joanna: Stephen Frears' casting insight – if he cast an American, she would seem too much like Rob's mom, so he needed someone European.

• Joanna: Penny's date scene where she reveals 'it was basically rape' and Rob's response is essentially 'yes, I rejected her' and moves on. 'Not great.'
• Bill: Semi-stalking, mean-spiritedness, misogyny (acknowledged as 90s culture). Springsteen's cameo isn't as good as you remember. Also: Fever Pitch (Jimmy Fallon) as a downstream consequence of this movie.
• CR: Rob doesn't reckon with the wreckage of revisiting his exes – one is off her meds, one describes something close to assault, and he just keeps going.

• CR: Rob walking with the Metrograph movie theater in the background, talking about Dillinger.
• Joanna: Rob on the Kinsey Bridge with the camera going back and forth – the five things he loves about Laura.

• Rob Mahoney: Stevie Wonder close-out, or Bob Dylan coming out of the funeral – 'a fucking powerhouse.'
• Joanna: Beta Band's 'Dry the Rain' – though CR and Joanna note it starts 4 minutes into the song, which is a nitpick since they're such purists.
• Bill: Katrina and the Waves' 'Walking on Sunshine' because Jack Black switches it on – 'it's like a pure needle drop.'

• Joanna: Lily Taylor's character – 'too real for this moment, too sad.' Needed more Elizabeth Banks in 40 Year Old Virgin energy.
• CR: Piggybacks – Rob doesn't reckon with the damage his 'exit interviews' with exes cause. Sarah is off her meds and unemployed, and he's like 'great, OK, moving on.'
• Bill: Rob ended up with the wrong girl. Should have been with the Chicago Reader music critic (Natasha Gregson Wagner).

Jack Black (not an insult – it's the role). Also Tim Robbins.

• CR: Rob and Laura never stay together – 'the Marie stuff comes out one day. Barry's like, hey, this is Marie DeSalle.' It's done the moment he's caught making the tape.
• Joanna: Laura should not have come back. The movie does some things for Laura that the book doesn't (we're at least in her POV sometimes), but in general, she should not have come back.
• Rob Mahoney: 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' kind of sucks and nobody wants to talk about it – the biggest reaction of the entire episode. 'Grunge feels so put on to me. The ethics of grunge do not feel authentic.'
• Bill: The Hulu TV show is better than this movie. 'It's an absolute crime that they cancelled it.'

• Jack Black initially passed and was bullied into doing it.
• Dick (Todd Louiso's role) was originally offered to David Arquette.
• Liz Phair was considered for Marie DeSalle.
• Bob Dylan was considered for the Springsteen cameo spot.
• Philip Seymour Hoffman auditioned (unclear for which role).

• Stephen Tobolowsky as the record store regular. Also: the coffee shop woman, Alex Desert.
• Joanna: Todd Louiso as Dick – 'such a that guy that he elevates this movie.'

• There's a 2020 Entertainment Weekly oral history where Cusack is 'on a heat check' – Bill created a new award for it: 'The John Cusack Hero Ball Award for biggest heat check in an oral history anniversary feature.'
• The Green Mill bar (from Thief) appears as the location when Rob imagines what Laura might have told Liz.
• Nick Hornby was paid $500K for the book rights.
• John and Joan Cusack have appeared in 10 movies together.

• Jack Black: Yes – 'this launched School of Rock and everything after.'
• Beta Band: Yes.
• Iben Hjejle: Yes – she belongs to this movie.
• Todd Louiso: Yes (over Jerry Maguire's Manny).
• Breaking the 4th wall: Discussed but given to Ferris Bueller.
• Cusack: No – apex was more like 1996-97 (Grosse Pointe Blank, 'Con Air').

Discussed but not formally picked. CR suggested the Scorsese version would have De Niro as Rob and Pesci as Barry.

PSH actually auditioned for this movie (unclear for which role). Bill and Joanna suggest he could have been Dick or possibly the Springsteen-type cameo.

• Bill: The record store itself. 'Smoking indoors is allowed, we listen to records all day and argue with each other.'
• CR: The Marie DeSalle poster (the black and white one outside the club).
• Joanna: John Cusack's great coat – the long leather jacket. 'He's a really good coat actor.'
• Rob Mahoney: The flyer for the record release party (Kinky Wizards in space, happening literally on his birthday).

• Joanna and Bill: 'It's not what you're like, it's what you like.'
• CR: 'Character is not taking it out on people when you're having a bad day.'

• Joanna: 'Say Anything' – bookend Cusack's Gen X run (the beginning and the end).
• Rob Mahoney: Grosse Pointe Blank or About a Boy.
• CR: Empire Records. Also Juliet, Naked (Nick Hornby flip from Laura's perspective).

• Bill: Jack Black. Joanna: Jack Black as well – 'his entire career.' CR agrees.
• Rob Mahoney: All the iconography (cover, poster, record store) is Cusack, but Cusack wins because he knew Jack Black was the perfect part.