Good evening. This is another edition of Your Favorite Movie. The object of this game is to find the answer to these three questions:
1) Who did it? This week, I interviewed Sarah K********. I haven't hung out with Sarah probably since she graduated college in 2009. But I had a great time chilling with her back when we were both in jazz band together, and she now lives right around the corner, so yeah, it was time for an interview.
2) Where did it happen? Pam and I met with Sarah in our backyard on a muggy summer night to talk her favorite film. The interview is transcribed below with Sarah's permission, and is lightly edited for clarity.
3) And with what movie? Sarah's favorite movie of all time (if you haven't figured it out already based on this intro's tacky premise) is Clue, a 1985 farcical romp through a classic murder mystery. It's as fast-paced as it is silly, and over the past 34 years, it's become somewhat of a cult classic.
I was glad to have the opportunity to talk about the minutiae of this odd little film. Like the characters in the movie, we started the night sitting around the table making stiff conversation, and ended the discussion accusing each other of murder. And in between, we picked Sarah's brain and figured out, not who done it, but why this is her favorite.
***SPOILER ALERT***
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Pam: Not everyone who's reading this is going to watch the movie.
Joe: True.
Sarah: They better have! If they haven't, they've got a void in their life.
Pam: I just watched it for the first time.
Sarah: Did you love it? Please tell me you loved it.
Pam: I didn't love it.
Joe: She's a skeptic!
Pam: But I want to hear what you have to say about it. It was on Amazon Prime, right? I was looking for something to watch, and was like, "Oh, well I'll just watch this then." It was easy. Joe looked it up on a...?
Joe: I bootlegged it. But yeah, you might have to do a little bit of convincing tonight as to why it was a good movie. I liked it! I will probably be on your side as to whether it was a good versus bad movie. But, as far as the skeptic over here...
Pam: [laughter] I'm not that much of a skeptic!
Joe: Okay, so, why don't... fuck it. Give me a synopsis.
Sarah: A bunch of strangers get invited to a mansion. It's 1950s New England. They arrive and are told that it's to resolve some blackmailing they've been going through. The host is there, and he says that if they all kill the butler, who's trying to resolve the issue, then he'll forgive their...
Joe: Debts? Or future debts I guess?
Sarah: Yeah. And people end up dying, and they try to figure out who did it.
Joe: Slapstick comedy occurs from there. A lot of murders. It's definitely—as far as movies that could be based on something as simple as a fucking board game—it's a pretty great script. There weren't really many other movies that were based on board games that I could think of. So there wasn't really much to compare it to.
Sarah: It's the only one I can think of.
Joe: There's that Battleship one a few years ago.
Sarah: Oh god.
Joe: With, um, Taylor Kitsch? And Rhianna!
Pam: Oh yeah, that's right.
Sarah: Can we agree that this is better than that?
Pam: I've never seen Battleship, but probably, yeah.
Joe: I can assume that it is better than Battleship. And also better than the Ouija board movie. I have to assume that was a terrible horror flick.
Pam: I mean, if you were to pick a board game to make a movie based off of, Clue is the perfect board game for that. Characters that have—there's no other board game that has characters with personalities.
Joe: It's cool to me to think of the challenge it was to have this idea—"base a script on Clue." And then, it was almost a blank slate from there. They got crazy with it!
Pam: Is there a butler character in the board game?
Joe: That was the only one that they created wholesale, I guess.
Sarah: But they do use him in the role of "the instructions." It's not a "butler" in the instructions, but at one point in the movie, he's like, "That's what we're trying to figure out—who killed Mr. Body, with what, and where!"
Pam: And I did like how his name was "Mr. Body."
Joe: And I guess they [also created] the maid... and the cook...
Pam: Do we have Clue?
Joe: I don't think we do. Are you a fan of the Clue board game?
Sarah: I am. [laughter] I have four Clues.
Joe: [laughter] Do you have one that's, like, with pictures of the actors and actresses from this movie? Does that exist?
Sarah: I don't know if that exists. If that exists, I want it! No, I have Master Detective, I have The Simpsons Clue. I was recently given The Golden Girls Clue—
Joe and Pam: [laughter]
Sarah: —because, for some reason, Tom thought that I liked Golden Girls. I've never seen a single episode of Golden Girls. No one dies in that one, though. You're figuring out who stole the last slice of cheesecake!
Joe: I was gonna guess "Who has a stroke?"
Pam: So it's the characters from Golden Girls plus some other ones?
Sarah: I think there's boyfriends?
Joe: And like a cat or something probably?
Sarah: We haven't played it yet. It's one of those games you need multiple people to play, and no one ever wants to play it.
Pam: It definitely was always a fun board game to play, Clue. One of my favorites.
Joe: But I'm assuming there's no connection between feelings you have for the board game and feelings you have for the movie? Or is there?
Sarah: I'm a big fan of murder mystery in general. I have—you know those murder mystery dinner party kits? I have eight of them. We've done six of them. I love them. "Murder" is my favorite episode of The Office. All of the things I watch on Netflix are, like, British murder mysteries. I'm just a huge fan of the genre. Clue the game, I honestly don't think I have a good enough attention span for it. And no one ever wants to play. I would love to play Clue all the time. It's like asking people to play Monopoly.
Pam: No, Monopoly is much worse.
Joe: Well, if you play by the rules...
Pam: I could definitely sit down and play Clue, but Monopoly?
Joe: I don't think I'm very good at the game. I haven't really figured out a strategy to play well. I guess maybe there's a connection there when I was trying to figure out the movie as I was watching it. I mean, it happened too fast for me to figure out. Have you watched it enough times that you see the actual clues throughout the movie?
Sarah: Well, some of it's just straight up wrong. In one of the explanations, he goes "I threw the key, but I didn't throw the key, I put it in my pocket!" But in the movie, you see him throw the key, and then you see the key hit the step and fall into a bush. So it's like, no, you did throw the key. Even in the explanation... it's more that I like it for the humor? You have to ignore a whole lot. And then in the one explanation, at the end, where it's like, "I was really Mr. Body the whole time! That other guy was my butler!" They didn't act the way that they would have if that were true, so that's not a clue... it's just wrong. So they're just retconning stuff that we as the audience saw differently.
Joe: I guess watching it once would maybe be a better experience than watching it multiple time and see these wrong things? Or—
Sarah: It doesn't spoil the experience at all for me. But I don't treat as a murder mystery as much as I treat it as just a comedy that warms my heart.
Joe: It really is a classic farce. Seeing certain stage directions really reminded me of being in a comedy on the stage in the Masque. [Editor's note: The Masque was La Salle's theater program.]
Pam: Yeah, I definitely got that vibe too.
Joe: Certain things, I could almost hear the director saying, "well why don't you do this, maybe it'll be funny. Maybe one person in the audience will laugh."
Sarah: The funniest part of the movie, I think, of the movie is Madeline Kahn doing the "flames" thing. She made that up! She ad-libbed it. That wasn't even in there. I think it's hands down the funniest thing.
Pam: Wait, which part?
Sarah: She's talking about her hatred of Yvette, and she goes, "Flames! On the side of my face! Heaving!" It doesn't really make sense.
Joe: It's almost absurdist...
Pam: She was my favorite. Mrs. White, right?
Joe: I feel like everybody was good in that. Michael McKean is always good.
Pam: Obviously Tim Curry.
Joe: Apparently Carrie Fisher was supposed to play Scarlet?
Sarah: Yeah.
Joe: But she was too busy doing coke! Had to go to rehab. That's something I learned today, doing some research. Does anyone else have any favorite Clue trivia that they would like to share with the group...?
Sarah: Tim Curry was third choice. Their first choice was some guy, I don't remember. Their second choice was Rowan Atkinson.
Joe: Mr. Bean?
Sarah: Well, Mr. Bean wasn't "Mr. Bean" yet. So he was shot down because they were afraid that people wouldn't know who he was. Tim Curry had already done Rocky Horror at this point. But they were like "No one knows who Rowan Atkinson is!" I guess they were assuming, like, Martin Mull was drawing all the crowds?! I'm not sure how big everyone was. I know Christopher Lloyd was. Miss Scarlet, I think her name is Lesley Ann Warren, she's the one I keep forgetting what her name in real life even is. No one is "box office draws" there.
Pam: [to Joe] You just did Back to the Future. When was that made?
Joe: Same year. I don't know what was released first. Back to the Future was summer. I don't know if this was fall or spring...?
Sarah: This was December.
Joe: December, okay.
Sarah: I remember... because I was also a December release.
Joe and Pam: [laughter]
Joe: Well there you go.
Pam: So Christopher Lloyd was big. Although... didn't Kev say that—was it popular? Or not?
Joe: I mean, he described it as a "cult movie," which is... not true for Back to the Future.
Pam: Definitely not as much as Clue. Or like, Rocky Horror.
Joe: Do you believe that it's a cult movie? I guess I was trying to think today what actually defines a "cult movie." Do you have any idea?
Sarah: I don't know. I think part of it is... I have a history of liking movies that a lot of other people don't like. But then when you have a movie like Clue where you have other people that do like it—Mystery Men is another one. Like, that did horrible at the box office. We just had a Mystery Men night where everyone watched Mystery Men. "Cult" is, ya know, you don't have lunch boxes and backpacks. They're not making T-shirts of it at Hot Topic, for the most part. But you do have people who are like, "Yeah, I can quote that for you."
Joe: Uncomfortable being part of the crowd.
Pam: It's like a community following. Like you have your own little community.
Joe: It does feel good to make a connection to people that you wouldn't normally from some "stupid little movie."
Sarah: But even with [something like Mystery Men], I saw it in theaters. And my best friend Abby—Abby and I lived together for multiple years. We've been best friends for fourteen years. She had never seen it! But then other friends of our friend group were quoting the whole movie with me. It was split down the middle between "people that have seen it more than five times" and "people who have never seen it." Clue is also one of those. My sister and I have probably seen that movie maybe fifteen times just together. We were a household where we would have a movie and just be on a kick of it. Run it over and over. It would end, and we would start it from the beginning.
Joe: Do you remember the first time you saw it?
Sarah: I was either six or seven. I think that's part of why it's been a favorite. I remember liking it before I even understood half the jokes.
Pam: There are some jokes that would land for a six-year-old.
Sarah: You get the tone of it. It's very silly.
Joe: Yeah, it's one of those rare comedies that... I mean, it doesn't have any cursing, it doesn't have any nudity.
Sarah: All the humor is "nice," even though it's about murdering a bunch of people.
Joe: There's no blood, no gore. There's... implied dirty humor? But not outright stated. Probably the dirtiest part was Professor Plum grabbing Miss Scarlett's ass.
Sarah: That's that character establishment.
Joe: Yeah, I guess so. Ya know... I feel like I come across a moment like this in every movie that I've been watching so far [for this project], where I'm like, "I feel like that doesn't hold up." I dunno. Maybe I'm too sensitive about that kind of stuff. Do you think... is there any movie that holds up completely? Or is every movie going to have this moment where, like, it doesn't seem as funny as it may have in '85?
Sarah: I don't even know if it was supposed to be funny. I think it was just supposed to be, okay, we're establishing that this guy is a sleazeball. At least the women were fighting back.
Joe: That's true!
Sarah: He tries to grab them several times throughout the movie. And they're like, "Yeah, no, get off of me." I think it was in there mostly for like, we're establishing that this guy is a scumbag. I don't think we're supposed to like it or find it funny.
Joe: I'm appreciative of that answer.
Pam: Yeah, I don't think it was a "funny" moment. I think... that wasn't the tone necessarily. I mean, some people might giggle.
Joe: It wasn't, like, "this is a dark sexual harassment scene."
Pam: There's nothing like that in the movie. It's a light movie.
Sarah: If anything, we've got a woman running a women's brothel of sorts. It's kind of empowering!
Joe: So your answer to my question is: "Yes, there are movies that hold up completely. And Clue is one of them." [laughter]
Sarah: I mean, in that regard too. 1985 was a terrible year for fashion and a terrible year for design. The fact that this movie was supposed to be set in the '50s makes it still okay to look at. And you're like, "That's a nice dress, Miss Scarlet!" [laughter] It doesn't have giant poofballs. You don't have a side-pony.
Joe: It was definitely a good choice, setting it in that time period. And there was some bits from that period, where they were like, ya know, Communism red herrings and "Gasp! Socialism!"
Pam: They said that like ten times at the end, "Communism was a red herring."
Joe: It's a great bit! A lot of... I felt like there were so many groan-inducing jokes, and they all piled up for me. I was appreciative of how fast they piled up.
Pam: Has it ever been a play? Clue? Because it felt like I was watching a play.
Joe: It did feel that way.
Pam: I think if I was seeing it in a theater, I would've laughed more. I expect that humor from a play.
Sarah: I don't know if that story has been a play. Senior year of high school, me and most of my current friend group, at Roman, we did a play called I Don't Have a Clue. We made our own Clue board for the director and everything.
Joe: That's great!
Sarah: But I don't know if this has actually been adapted.
Joe: So, a couple points. One, I did read a couple times today, there was an eighth grade class in the midwest that wrote to the producer and was like "Can we put this on?" And they did it, and sent him a home movie of it. There were a couple of other [groups] that did it. For free, because... as opposed to getting the rights from Paramount.
Pam: That's cool, because I definitely feel like it's a high school—like, I could see doing it in high school, thinking it was the funniest thing ever.
Joe: And also, the screenwriter was mainly a playwright at that point. Jonathan Lynn. Who ended up being the director too. So, John Landis, the dude from Blues Brothers and Animal House, he was originally going to direct it. But after he asked Jonathan Lynn to write the script, he got tied up with something else, so he asked Lynn to direct it too.
Pam: Why was John Landis' name in the credits then? Did he produce it?
Joe: Well he was the one that came up with the idea of, like, "Somebody should write a movie about Clue. I have this basic premise, but I just need"—his quote, not mine—"I just need a real screenwriter to write this." After they cycled through a few potential screenwriters [Editor's note: including Anthony Perkins, weirdly enough, because we just fucking talked about him], they landed on Jonathan Lynn. Who was a British playwright at the time.
Pam: That makes sense.
Joe: So yes, I agree with you—I think we can all agree—it seems like a play. It all happens in one house the whole movie. It's a "bottle movie," I guess you could call it. All cool things. Definitely makes it a unique movie. I guess another unique part of the movie that I appreciated was that there was different endings. I don't if anyone has a favorite ending...
Sarah: I think you have to watch all three, all taken together. I can imagine how much it would've sucked if you just got one. It's not complete. And then, if you, and your aunt, and your mom all went to different theaters and talked about it afterwards, and you were like, "wait, that's not what happened at all!" I think you have to watch all three. And I think all three... they're all flawed.
Joe: Like, logically?
Sarah: Yes! Logically!
Joe: I was curious watching it this time, hearing the explanations that Wadsworth was giving, like "Did that shit actually happen?" So I guess not. Or some of it did, some of it didn't?
Sarah: Yeah, some of it did, some of it didn't. But also, I think it's a cop-out to say, "Oh, just this person did it," or, "Oh, just this person did it." Some of his explanation, the one where everyone had a hand in it. That couldn't have happened that way.
Joe: It might be true to the spirit of the game, in that every time you play it, someone different did it.
Sarah: I think Murder on the Orient Express is done like that too.
Joe: Different endings?
Sarah: If you read the book. I watched—I don't know how you pronounce his name, David Suchet or something?—he does the role of Hercule Poirot. The film rendition of the book has a different ending, so you're not sitting there like, "I already know how this ends." I don't know if the most recent one that came out is the same way. But, yeah, they legit changed the ending of it. Because, well, if you already know how it ends, why would you want to watch this?
Joe: I have never seen that movie. [Editor's note: Okay, but we're gonna briefly clear it up, only so that Drew doesn't have a stroke. David Suchet played the lead role, not in the movies, but in an Agatha Christie British crime drama series, which had an Orient Express-based episode. And as far as the endings go, according to this article, all the endings are basically the same, but there are some major differences in the 2017 version of the movie with the ending, more character decisions than the actual mystery's solution being different. As for differences between the 1974 version and the book, I couldn't determine from a cursory Google search, and I'm not going to dig THAT deeply into it, because I don't want to ruin the ending, ya feel me?]
Pam: Me neither.
Joe: No one said it was their favorite.
Pam: Not yet!
Joe: But yeah, you were definitely right about the frustration one might have felt only getting one of those endings. Or, that very small slice of people who went to the theater again to see a second ending, because they had heard about that, and then seeing the same ending again.
Sarah: I was wondering about that too. What would they have to do? Call up the theaters and be like, "Excuse me, do you have Reel A, B, or C?"
Joe: Apparently the original plan was that movie listings in the newspaper were supposed to mark them A, B, and C. And they fucked it up.
Sarah: I don't know if it would've made it to [being] my favorite movie without the end. Because it kind of just spirals from being "chuckle humor" to "noises escape my mouth" kind of funny, when he's running around. I don't think it gets actual "I'm laughing"-funny until that point.
Joe: And that's the whole back third of the movie! Just Tim Curry running around, yelling.
Pam: And they're all following him around as a group.
Joe: Which is great. I can't imagine being Tim Curry and having to memorize that whole back third of the script. I can't imagine being any of the other actors, being like, "We're going to spend the next month just watching Tim Curry do this shit."
Sarah: That's what I was wondering too. If it was hard for them to—because some of the dialogue overlaps [between endings]—if it was harder for them to remember which one they were blocking out. Starting to say wrong lines because they're thinking of the other ending.
Joe: They're professionals, I guess. Apparently, the billiard room in the house was real, so during breaks they would play pool... I know a lot of this trivia from the Buzzfeed article that I read this morning. [laughter] And of course Buzzfeed made it seem like, ya know, "There were SHENANIGANS on the set of Clue! It was just as crazy off-screen as it was on-screen!" And then it was like... oh yeah, they made sure the pool table worked so they could play pool. Wow! Fucking crazy!
Pam: It was actually filmed in a huge mansion?
Joe: A set, but it was...
Sarah: I think it was both.
Joe: I guess they didn't rent out a mansion, but it was a mansion on a movie set.
Sarah: It was a mansion, for parts of it. I think it was the hall? But other parts were built. I remember—it wasn't that long ago—the mansion that some of it was filmed at burned down. [Editor's note: Okay, according to wikipedia, all scenes were shot on a movie lot dressed up to look like a mansion, except for the ballroom scenes, and the exterior driveway scenes. Indeed, the mansion where these scenes were filmed burned down in 2005.]
Pam: In California, I'm assuming?
Joe: That's where everything burns down!
Pam: ...Well it's also where they film movies?
Joe: Okay, so. I guess we talked about the nitty-gritty of it. What's you main thesis as far as: Why is this your favorite movie? Does it have to do with the movie itself, the feelings you feel about it, the memories you have of it? All three?
Sarah: I think it's probably all three. My parents never put any parameters... we basically didn't have rules. So we were allowed to rent whatever we wanted. There was this little corner video store in someone's basement at Castor and Pratt called "Family Video," but it was just a dude's basement. And you'd go down there, it was this small basement's worth of movies. We were allowed to pick whatever we wanted. I remember picking Clue enough times that I was told I can't pick Clue anymore. I just remember being a little kid, being like, "I like this." I remember being six- or seven-years-old, watching it, and enjoying it, and then getting older, and not being allowed to rent it from Blockbuster, because, like, "I'm not spending three dollars to rent a movie that you've seen before." So when I finally got I-can-buy-my-own-DVDs money, it was one of the first five DVDs that I bought. And then it would just be on. Like, I'm doing homework, AP Bio till three o'clock in the morning, what do I put on in the background? Just put that on, and when it's over, just hit play again. It's just in the background of all the... cleaning the house and doing homework, it's kind of my go-to. It's very chill, it's got a lot of people that I like in the movie. Unfortunately, some we've lost, some we're going to lose soon. That movie is still going to be there, though, even when they're all gone.
Joe: You feel like you've grown with Clue.
Sarah: Yeah.
Joe: Did you, when you were six or seven, I guess that was before it became a cult classic? Or was it right on the cusp of that?
Sarah: I have no idea. None of my other friends were watching it, of course. [laughter]
Joe: Were you the reason?! Were you the sole fan at six? And then everyone took after Sarah K********?!
Sarah: I'm sure grown-ups liked it! I honestly don't even know how my own parents feel about the film. But I know I rented it because I used to play the board game with my mom... in whatever way a six- or seven-year-old can.
Joe: Cheating a lot?
Sarah: Pretending to play Clue?
Joe: So it was like, you didn't have a dollhouse. You had a Clue board.
Sarah: More importantly, I didn't have cable.
Joe: [laughter]
Sarah: I was very limited with what shows I had. Arthur, Sesame Street, other random PBS shows, and whatever movies I could rent. And then, whatever my parents put on. Interestingly enough, one of my other favorite movies kind of ruined my childhood. I saw Total Recall at way too young of an age.
Joe: I've never seen that one either.
Sarah: It's really good if you like bad '80s sci-fi. Or '80s future sci-fi.
Joe: Who's in that one?
Sarah: Schwarzenegger is the lead. But there's this one scene where this thing comes out of the guy's belly and starts talking to him. And I couldn't look at my own stomach for like four years.
Joe and Pam: [laughter]
Sarah: I would take a bath and just avoid looking at my stomach because I was afraid that Kuato was going to come out. But no, that was what we did for fun—
Joe: You weren't afraid that you were going to get shot or hanged after watching Clue?
Sarah: No. My fears were dolls, Kuato, and the bunny from Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. I still won't watch that movie.
Joe: You've never been a singing telegrammer?
Sarah: No. Did you know that girl is from the Go-Gos?
Joe: Really?
Sarah: Yeah, she was the guitarist or bassist or something. [Editor's note: Jane Wiedlin is the guitarist.]
Joe: No shit. So that was just, like, she wanted to be in it? Or someone [on staff] liked the Go-Gos or something?
Sarah: I don't know.
Joe: I mean, it's such a bit part, but it's so funny. That's probably my favorite bit of the whole movie. Like, in the middle of all this craziness, someone singing, and then immediately getting shot.
Sarah: And that's why I think the one ending where they're like, "Hey, everyone killed these people for different reasons." Only one person had a reason to kill her. In the explanations where it's like "One person did it all!" No! They have no reason to kill her. They'd just shut the door in her face.
Joe: It's great, it's too funny, man. There's a lot of funny moments in this movie. Um... damn. I think I talked about everything I wanted to talk about. What do you want to talk about? Anything?
Sarah: I guess one of the things that I think about a lot is, if they remade it—and I heard that there's rumors that they are—
Joe: Ryan Reynolds is attached to a potential remake.
Sarah: The problem that I have with movies being remade now is when you're just trying to fill the shoes of something that already exists. It's something that I think about when I'm washing the dishes, like, if I were to recast Clue, who would I cast in it? But I think the problem is, if you remake Clue and you don't do it like how Jumanji did it, with a total reimagining of everything, you're doing a disservice to the one that's already out there.
Joe: And I can't imagine that... how could you possibly reimagine Clue? It's already an insanely basic premise to begin with.
Sarah: I just mean more like, being like, "Okay, whoever is Yvette has to be a busty maid character. We need a sleazy professor. We need a Senator's wife." All of those characters were made up for the [movie]. There's already characters from the different games. They just made up all that stuff. I would hate to see that movie happen, and they're like, we're just ripping off what they did.
Joe: Okay, so you're in charge of Clue the reboot. What does it look like in your mind?
Sarah: I think it's still the basic premise of, you have all these people in a house. But I think you would have to come up with a different idea. There's nothing about being blackmailed in the original game. So, you're not tied to that. The only thing you're tied to is characters with color-based names and the weapons and the rooms. I think that that stuff is the anchor, that stuff should be there. But everything else, I would hope somebody would come up with a whole new story. Like, Mr. Body's the dude who dies, but to be like, "Who's our Wadsworth, who's our Ms. Scarlet?" I think that's such a waste of... Plenty of people have ideas out there. To just redo something that was already done, exactly the way it was done, is silly.
Joe: I might see it as, maybe a group of people are having a "Clue Party," and they're watching the original Clue movie, and they're trying to recreate it, and hijinks ensue... I'm stealing that idea from Human Centipede 2.
Pam: You also talked about that in your [interview] with Kev.
Joe: [pause] I'm going to try to drop as many Human Centipede references as I can in these interviews.
Pam: Are you hoping someone says that's their favorite movie?
Joe: Sure! ...Oh yeah, and I'm gonna try this bit. [reading from notes] "That's how the interview could've ended. But how about this?" Now we can continue our interview.
Sarah and Pam: ...
Joe: Because, you see, this interview is going to have three endings.
Sarah: Okay.
Joe: The first one is going to be the Human Centipede ending. I dunno, what's the second ending?
Pam: I don't know! I thought you wrote this all down?
Joe: Okay! How about... um... Sarah, make your case to the skeptic about why she's wrong about not appreciating Clue. In terms of... okay, so you talked about why this is a good movie to you personally. But why should other people besides you appreciate this movie?
Sarah: I don't think I can do that.
Pam: [laughter]
Joe: That's fair.
Sarah: My favorite movies are this, Mystery Men, Super Nintendo Bros., the live-action film, the greatest movie of 1993—
Joe: Super Mario Bros.?
Sarah: ...yes.
Joe: [laughter] That seems... if you like Clue, you like Super Mario Bros.
Sarah: I like The Island of Dr. Moreau with Marlon Brando. I like... very bad movies.
Pam: No, I think hearing you talk about it, and talking about how it has a cult following, definitely makes me appreciate it more.
Joe: It's definitely one of those movies that, like, you either like it or you don't. The humor is derived from the fact that it's just a classic farce, and some people just don't like that shit. If you do, you do, if you don't, you don't. I don't know if you can necessarily convince somebody that slapstick humor is funny.
Sarah: I think you have to admit that, even though it's based on a board game, it's very loose, and it's a good idea. It's very original. I think that a lot of people... like, how Mad Max did really well, but Mad Max did really well because it had a good story, and it had good costumes, it had good music. It was all of those pieces working together. I think that Clue has all of those things enough to be timeless. The set, the costumes... I don't know if you noticed, but their cars matched their color, even though their outfits didn't.
Joe: Ahhh. Okay!
Sarah: Just little things like that. The guy who did the music is the guy who did the music for almost all of the Mel Brooks films. So, even listening to that... I rewatched it Thursday, because I was like, "Let me make sure I know what I'm talking about." Usually it is on in the background. And I was thinking about how much that the music really gives me that nostalgic feeling too.
Pam: There was definitely a lot of Mel Brooks feelings that I got.
Joe: "Brooks-isms"?
Pam: Yeah, like, "This feels like I'm watching a Mel Brooks movie."
Joe: Which is a mark in its favor?
Pam: It's definitely a type of movie. I won't say it's my favorite type, and probably that's why I didn't love it that much. But... it's a type. But I also get the point of you "growing up" with it too. I like the movie Beetlejuice for the same reasons. If I watched Beetlejuice for the first time now, I would be like "This is so fucking dumb." I get it.
Joe: And these interviews don't necessarily have to be a "defense" of the movie. I'm not interested in why other people don't like it, I'm interested in why you do like it. I think you've adequately done so. [reading from the notes again] "But here's how the interview really ends!"
Joe: Who do you think done it, and why?
Pam: [laughter] ...What?
Joe: Who do you think done it?!
Pam: Like, pick out of those three?
Joe: I don't know. Answer the question as you see fit.
Sarah: I think... I guess... [pause]
Joe: [laughter]
Sarah: Like you were saying before, if you're watching the movie, you have to watch all three endings. Three different explanations. But I think personally the one I like best is the one where the people with actual motives to kill those certain people are the ones that "done it." ...I don't want to spoil things for someone reading this who hasn't seen it.
Joe: I'll put a big "spoiler alert" at the top.
Sarah: But, the ending where Mrs. Peacock kills everybody, and the ending where Miss Scarlet kills everybody, like, why would they do that? Miss Peacock only had motive to kill one person. Miss Scarlet only had motive to kill one person... two people.
Pam: It made the most sense, the other one.
Sarah: The one where it's like, "This person killed this person because..." and "This person killed this person because..." And it also explained why those extra people were killed. Without the proper explanations, there's no reason for the motorist to die. There's no reason for the police officer to die. There's no reason for the cook, or the telegram girl to die. But then when they explain motive, it's like, "Oh, okay."
Joe: So you're more comfortable watching a film where there's more murderers versus less.
Sarah: Well, yeah.
Joe: That's the fourth interview ending that was never shot completely.
Pam: What?
Joe: There was a fourth ending that they didn't shoot [for the movie]. So this is the fourth ending of the interview, where... [pause] It was a joke, where we talk about how you were comfortable with murder.
Pam: I mean, if you play the board game, then you can say the same thing. "You're comfortable with murder."
Joe: No, I mean... that was the joke! I was trying to end the interview with a bit.
Pam: Oh.
Joe: I failed.
Pam: I think this is why you didn't make the improv team.
