Daily Dialogue — October 31, 2012
Matt Damon: Just take it from “It’s a good course.”
Ben Affleck: Oh, now you’re the director.
Matt Damon: Hey shove it, Bounce-boy. Let’s remember who talked who into doing this shit in the first place. Talking me into Dogma was one thing, but this…
Ben Affleck: Hey look, I’m sorry I dragged you away from whatever-gay-serial-killers-who-ride-horses-and-like-to-play-golf-touchy-feely-picture you’re supposed to be doing this week.
Matt Damon: I take it you haven’t seen Forces of Nature?
Ben Affleck: You’re like a child. What’ve I been telling you? You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture. But then sometimes you gotta do the payback picture because your friend says you owe him.
[They both take a beat and look at the camera]
And sometimes, you have to go back to the well.
Matt Damon: And sometimes, you do Reindeer Games.
Ben Affleck: See, that’s just mean.
— Matt Damon (Matt Damon), Ben Affleck (Ben Affleck), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), written by Kevin Smith
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is Kevin Smith, suggested by Sean Harris. Today’s suggestion by DJ Holloway following up on his recommendation yesterday.
Trivia: As the characters exit the El Rey theater at the end of the movie, the poster for “Bussing” — a movie for which Kevin Smith has scripted but as of yet not made — can be seen behind Justice and Willenholly just before the camera whip pans to Jay.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary from DJ Holloway: “This next scene is a further example of the above, it just makes me laugh like crazy (as does the later “Good Will Hunting 2″ scene.) For Damon and Affleck, there is a playful acknowledgement, even as Oscar winners, of the varied content any actor or filmmaker will have in a career, and choosing to label people elite doesn’t necessarily encapsulate them. Also, I love that they are part of the continuing development of the pop culture canon I mentioned above. For instance, at the end of his career, Affleck looks like he’s going to be remembered as quite the director. And Gigli was his big ‘terrible movie’ as an actor, but he’s had some fine performances (Chasing Amy, Changing Lanes) as well. But who’s going to remember Reindeer Games, except those of us who watched in the theater? Yes. I did. It speaks to the necessary UN-timelessness of a lot of Smith’s work. A teenager watching this movie, even if they were the same age as I was when I saw it, will probably think it’s lame, because it doesn’t reference things they have any idea about. I also think it’s handled more deftly than a parody movie — as these references don’t destroy the plot or anything, they’re just allusions that give the audience an extra level of “part of the family.”