Rewatchables Reference

• Bill Simmons: The dinner for the clients where Oliver pees on the fish, escalating to the monster truck scene and throwing statues/china at each other.
• Mallory Rubin: Oliver reading his letter to Barbara, leading into Barbara plugging his nostrils.
• Amanda Dobbins: The dinner party scene into the car/monster truck scene into the Staffordshire figurines being thrown.

• The Douglas/Turner chemistry – both as sex symbols and comedic geniuses. The depiction of the stage of marriage where everything your partner does annoys you.
• The house as the one contested object that represents everything. Liver pâté as a recurring plot device. The framing device giving the story a fable-like quality.
• The line 'Never apologize for being multi-orgasmic.' The creativity of the revenge tactics.

• Young Michael Douglas's wig – shockingly bad for a major movie. The animal cruelty (cat tossed off a stool, cat run over, fake-throwing food at the dog).
• The foot job scene (goes on too long). Michael Douglas playing a college-age law student at 45.

• Bill: The Danny DeVito scenes/framing device – could have made the same movie without him appearing on screen. The first 5 minutes before we see Turner are wasted.
• Amanda: The floor/decor of the house – very late 80s, gaudy with Staffordshire figurines.

Danny DeVito – unanimous. His framing device scenes lead to lines like 'I should have seen her toes in the pit of my crotch.' He gave himself a foot job scene at the dinner table while directing the movie.

• Mallory: Gavin (DeVito) orchestrated the entire thing as a long con – encouraged Oliver to move back in, stood to benefit from their destruction. A 'Usual Suspects' kind of conspiracy.
• Amanda: 'The War of the Roses' house is not even a top 20 movie house (she lists 17 better ones including 'Home Alone', Royal Tenenbaums, Something's Gotta Give, Parasite, etc.).
• Bill: The dog should have actually died in the pâté – it would have been a better, darker movie.

Cher was in the mix for the Barbara Rose role (late 80s, post-Moonstruck era).

G.D. Spradlin – the senator in Godfather Part II, also in Apocalypse Now, North Dallas Forty. He plays the older partner in the law firm.

• The guy in the hospital whose wife stabbed him ('They're always sorry after') – cooks for about 40 seconds of screen time.
• Susan the housekeeper. The 'mine too, babe' / 'my house is on fire' guy.

• Director: Jonathan Demme (would bring 'Something Wild' black comedy energy, characters talking into camera, 'Rachel Getting Married' vibes).
• City: Amanda argues it should be set in Connecticut or Westchester rather than D.C.

• Phil Collins wrote 'Something Happened on the Way to Heaven' for this movie but took too long.
• 20 minutes of deleted scenes on YouTube. A real person was inspired by this movie and got a 70-year prison sentence.

• Michael Douglas: No – his apex was 1987 ('Fatal Attraction' + 'Wall Street'). Kathleen Turner: No – probably mid-80s (Romancing the Stone era).
• Danny DeVito: Close – this plus Twins around the same time. Divorce movies: 'Kramer vs. Kramer' is the apex. Revenge pâté: Apex.

Bill: The chandelier falling/swinging. Mallory: The pan up from Oliver's Baccarat crystal symphony past his face to the chandelier as a harbinger.

• The dog insert shot (clearly added later). Could have cut DeVito scenes for 10 more minutes of Douglas/Turner.
• Where did Barbara get a monster truck in 1989? The neighbors never called the police despite all the destruction. Would the chandelier fall actually have killed them from ~20 feet?
• Not filming in actual Nantucket. Michael Douglas playing a college-age law student at 45.

Bill: The wig. Mallory: The chandelier. Amanda: The car PA system from Kathleen Turner's monster truck.

• 'My father used to say there are four things that tell you what a man is: his house, his car, his wife, and his shoes.'
• 'When a man who makes $450 an hour wants to tell you something for free, you should listen.'

Mallory: Triple feature – 'Body Heat' + 'Fatal Attraction' + War of the Roses. Bill: Romancing the Stone. Amanda: Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

The combo of Douglas and Turner together, but at gunpoint, Kathleen Turner – she has the more fun, active part throughout the whole movie.

Producer Craig Horlbeck: 'This movie's genuinely perfect because it's so imperfect.' Loved how deranged and weird it was, called it 'in the we don't make movies like this anymore Hall of Fame, top four not even close.' Compared it to a prequel to 'Gone Girl'.