My name is Joseph K***, you killed my father, prepare to talk about it for 90 minutes on our backyard deck. This is Your Favorite Movie.
I was really excited to get a chance to talk to Maeve D*** about her favorite movie for a few reasons. First, Maeve is fun to hang out with, and while we already hang a decent amount, I'll always look for another dumb excuse to do so (and make no mistake about it, talking about a movie is a very dumb excuse, but it works!).
Secondly, through five or so years of my life, Maeve was pretty much the only reason I watched any movies at all. Before life got in the way, a group of friends would gather at her house every Thursday night to watch a movie and drink beers and play a drinking game to whatever movie we were watching. In terms of quantity of movies seen in my life, Maeve made it happen, and so I was glad to sit down and actually talk movies (ya know, without our other friends yelling over the movie with limp jokes and ruining the movie-watching experience GODDAMN IT FUCK).
And third, I thought it was important to talk to her about her favorite movie, The Princess Bride, before she turned 30 years old, because I feel like, while it's definitely a movie about action and romance, it's also a movie about the types of stories we tell as we grow older. I wanted to capture that before Maeve got too old.
Capture it we did, a few days before her 30th birthday party, with the help of Pams, and some Hamms. Out conversation is transcribed below, with Maeve's permission, and edited slightly just so I could have the chance to be snarky about her favorite basketball team. Enjoy, folks.
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Maeve: It is a fairy tale, kind of? I would categorize it like that... I feel like I'm in class right now. [laughter]
Joe: Drink up.
Maeve: It's pretty much the best of all world. You're going to get a fairy tale, with a very funny movie, and also an action movie. But it's pretty much about this farm boy who works with this girl, and, like... I feel like I'm on Drunk History right now.
Joe: Shorten it up. What's the general premise here?
Maeve: The premise is that a grandfather is reading this story to his grandson on a sick day. He had read it to his son, and his grandfather had read it to him. It's carried down. It's a book about falling in love, essentially.
Joe: Before I forget, what do you think happened to Fred Savage's dad? Do you think he's not in the picture?
Maeve: No... I think he's at work.
[laughter]
Maeve: It's never addressed in a bummer way.
Joe: He said "I used to read this to your father," dot dot dot.
Maeve: Yeah, because he's a grown adult male now. I think Mom was home with him, and the Grandfather came over. It's also a Christmas movie. I've never thought about that till I watched it last night.
Pam: Wait, how?
Maeve: It's all Christmas decorations in his room. When she opens the blinds, it's snowing outside, and there's Christmas decorations on all the houses.
Joe: We'll agree to disagree.
Maeve: I thought, "Hmm, that would be a fun conversation to have."
Pam: I definitely didn't pick up on that.
Maeve: I mean... it's definitely not a Christmas movie. [laughter] But it takes place at Christmas.
Pam: You can watch it at Christmas.
Maeve: Yeah!
Joe: Do you feel like this is a kids movie or an adult movie?
Maeve: I feel like this is the best of both worlds, right? Because I can't remember a time in my life when I hadn't seen this movie. If that makes sense.
Joe: Yeah, for sure. It came out a year before you were born, right?
Maeve: I think two? I was born in 1989.
Joe: That's right, you're a little younger.
Maeve: My parents were quoting this forever, growing up. Last night, when I was watching it, Wallace Shawn, what's his name, Vizzini. When he's like, "I'm waiting!" I was like, oh my god, my mom used to do that all the time! The memory was so visceral. [laughter] I was like, that's it! That's the impression she had been doing, and I had never connected it to this. And she'll still do it.
Joe: Did you parents see themselves in the main love interests in this? Buttercup and Wesley?
Maeve: I don't think so.
Joe: Do you see your Dad as a Wesley? Or your mom as a Buttercup?
Maeve: I don't think... it's so far removed from me watching this movie, to think of them in that scenario.
Joe: So you're the Fred Savage, not wanting to picture your parents making out.
Maeve: I guess initially, when I watch this. I... yes. [laughter]
Joe: One of my favorite parts, of any movie really, is when it's a story-within-a-story. Which is what they call a "frame story," which is a term I learned today, looking this up and making my notes. [laughter] Okay, so, you knew this was based on a book.
Maeve: Yeah.
Joe: Have you ever read the book?
Maeve: I think I tried to read the book when I was... Did you ever go through a phase when you were taking out a bunch of books from the library because you were like, "These are all important, I have to read these."
Joe: It's like the same reason you buy a bunch of produce at the grocery store.
Maeve: It's the same reason I took out Les Mis when I was in like eighth grade, I was like, "I can read this Victor Hugo novel!" and then was like, "Shit... this is so boring."
Pam: Every time I go to the library, I make that same mistake.
Maeve: And then I'm like, "Hmm... what's a fast beach read?"
Joe: Okay, so that was the question-within-a-question. My main question was—I guess the book had a frame story as well? But it was a different frame story.
Maeve: That's news to me.
Joe: In the book, the author, William Goldman, presented it like he was taking this history of an Italian family, and whittling it down to the "good parts that [his] dad used to tell" him when he was young. So the story The Princess Bride is his non-technical version of this "history" that his family was aware of.
Maeve: Interesting.
Joe: Which I guess wouldn't translate well to a movie?
Maeve: No. The Peter Falk character is perfect. I did have the thought last night—is he wearing old people make-up?
[laughter]
Maeve: Doesn't he look crazy?
Pam: Was he a lot younger than the character he was playing?
Maeve: I don't know, but he looked a crazy old man.
Pam: Maybe he was wearing stage makeup.
Maeve: Honestly, he could've been that old. I was really trying to focus in to prepare for this interview, and I was just like, "...huh."
Joe: I didn't know he was Columbo until I looked at his Wikipedia page. I guess that's what he's known for, right?
Maeve: Yeah.
Joe: Not that I've seen an episode of Columbo ever. And Fred Savage, we all know as... the guy from The Grinder.
Maeve: The brother of Ben Savage, is what I believe he's best known for.
Joe: Exactly. The director of many It's Always Sunny episodes. But, okay, so just the idea of a story-within-a-story, was that something that appealed to you personally?
Maeve: 100%.
Joe: Because I know you as a person that enjoys storytelling more than a normal person.
Maeve: 1000%.
Joe: I feel like we had an argument about the purpose of the Olympics.
Maeve: Oh! I could get into that right now too. I feel like you said it was all like "Fact, fact, fact. This is what it is"—
Joe: Well, it's a sport, so... there are winners and losers.
Maeve: But my favorite part of sport is following a journey of a person, and how they got there. It's like, how could you not cry thinking about certain players, and what they've been through? Right?
Joe: That's fair, and I guess I could see that. I kind of feel that way about the Phillies. There's a story.
Maeve: I love ever single Sixer. Like, "Oh my god, Zaire's nut allergy last year! He lost a hundred pounds!" And was, like, going in and practicing his jump shot with feeding tubes spilling out, at 5 AM, because he was embarrassed to show the other boys.
Pam: What?
[Editor's note: Pam finally looks up from her cell phone and promptly derails the conversation by tapping into Maeve's love for storytelling. I am cutting Maeve's goddamn five-minute detailed story about some fucking jabroni with a nut allergy. And for the record, this interview occurred before Maeve's 30th birthday party, a party at which Sixer Mike Scott attended, and got so drunk that he spent his resulting hangover punching fat Eagles fans in the face. Anyways, my point is that I don't have to cut any Mike Scott bullshit because Maeve hadn't met him yet.]
Maeve: So, yes, that is the best way to get me involved in anything. It's to find the human aspect of it.
Joe: Compare and contrast Joel Embiid with Andre the Giant.
Maeve: Um... I think they are both very kindhearted, but Joel is a little sassier and more dry-witted? Fezzig feels very jovial all the time. You never see him mad.
Joe: There's no irony in his actions.
Maeve: I feel like if Joel was that character, he'd be ribbing people.
Joe: Who would be the Mandy Patinkin from the Sixers?
Maeve: Wow... what a fun...
[laughter]
Maeve: What a fun exercise that you're going to cut all of!
Joe: I'm certainly going to cut that extended nut allergy bullshit.
Maeve: Um, I think... it's a dumb answer, but I do think Ben, just because he's so quick and good on his feet. It would be very sword-fight-y.
Joe: He's going to stick a sword through that Kardashian's new boyfriend?
Maeve: Whatever new NBA player...
Joe: Yeah, whatever Kardashian is involved, I don't fucking know.
Pam: Jenner?
Joe: Oh, is that who it is?
Pam: Kendall, right?
Maeve: Yeah.
Joe: Sure. I'll footnote that.
Pam: It's definitely Kendall Jenner.
Maeve: It is. It's different than the Kardashians. They have different dads.
Joe: Maybe the footnote will be "They were right."
Pam: Bruce. I mean Caitlyn.
Maeve: Yes, Caitlyn is their dad.
Joe: There ya go. This is the frame story. We're talking about them, I'm going, "Ew, this kissed?!" Did they? On Instagram?
Pam: ...
Joe: I'm trying to act like Fred Savage.
Pam: Oh, okay.
Joe: Just because you're texting, and you don't know what I'm talking about!
Pam: I'm sorry!
Joe: Yeah, I dunno... that whole idea of the storytelling really made the movie. Do you think it would be the same movie without Fred Savage and Peter Falk stuff?
Maeve: I would still enjoy it, but that's really the heart of it. Even at the end, when it's all wrapping up, and you forget that the kid is involved. And you cut back in right before they kiss at the end, and you're like, oh! It's comedy too.
Pam: It makes it more of a movie for kids. Because then it would just be a fantasy movie.
Maeve: It would be like a Medieval Times adult movie.
Joe: A good devil's advocate argument would be, does the audience need Fred Savage to hold your hand a little bit, to tell you exactly what you should be feeling during these moments? I don't agree with it, but...
Maeve: I don't agree with it. Taking those aspects out of the movie, I don't think it would change anything. I think you would still need a voiceover though, because otherwise they are just showing vignettes the whole time. Their beginning of their relationship, how everything's connected, you need the narrator.
Joe: And there are moments when they use that effectively. Like with the eels, intercutting between both stories.
Maeve: I love that. That was very scary. There are like three moments that really scared me as a child.
Pam: I feel like I probably saw this movie once as a kid, and I was definitely scared of certain things.
Joe: Like what?
Pam: The shrieking eels.
Maeve: The R.O.U.S.es. Terrifying! But you kind of know it's coming, because he's says they're coming.
Joe: Right, and they're like in the background.
Maeve: The third one is weirdly specific, and wouldn't normally scare a child. But I remember it affecting me, and affecting Bridget, and all the kids we were friends with. Princess Buttercup is having that dream, and she walks out the second time, and that lady stands up and yells: "Filth! Queen of putrescence!" And she's yelling at her!
Joe: That scares your more than a human-sized rodent?!
Maeve: It was along the same lines. As a kid, we'd be like, "Putrescence!"
Pam: She's a scary figure!
Maeve: She was definitely a witch.
Joe: Because I was going to say. That would say more about someone if they found public disapproval scarier than a monster! [laughter]
Maeve: No, no. But if you're age five watching this—Buttercup does that same walk earlier, and nothing happens, but this time someone stands up and is like [witch screams] and uses a word you don't understand—"Putrescence!"—it's like, alright, okay.
Joe: Buttercup must have had a high vocabulary if she was dreaming these words inside of her head. Good for her! She ain't no dumb princess. She knows what's up.
Maeve: Exactly.
Joe: Going back to the rodents, which were legitimately scary.
Maeve: Yeah! R.O.U.S.es.
Joe: What does that stand for?
Maeve and Pam: Rodents of Unusual Size.
Joe: Okay. And there was a human inside that rodent [costume] that was fighting Wesley.
Pam: And you could kind of tell it was someone crawling on their hands and knees, right?
Joe: So my favorite—I always try to say my favorite piece of trivia that I read on IMDB for each particular movie—apparently the actor that was playing the role of "Rodent" was going in for his only day of work. A cop pulled him over, and he explained that he going to a movie set to play a "Rodent of Unusual Size," and the cop arrested him because he thought he was drunk, and talking out of his ass.
[laughter]
Joe: So he was late for his only day of work! And everyone was like, "Where the fuck is this dude who's supposed to be playing the rodent?" And he got there and was like, "I was in jail."
Maeve: Wild.
Joe: That's a Rob Reiner story. Whether it was a tall tale or not, I'm not sure. He had a pretty good streak going, I guess, Rob Reiner.
Maeve: Yeah! It was Spinal Tap, and Stand by Me?
Joe: Yeah, and there was one in between, which I had never heard of. I forget the name.
Pam: And he directed When Harry Met Sally too?
Joe: Yup. So it was Spinal Tap, this one I can't remember that I'll footnote, Stand by Me, Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally.
Maeve: Truly one of the best.
Joe: Yeah, a good streak!
Maeve: I think you can say that four you can remember were all classics.
Joe: I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up talking about all of them in these interviews if I do this long enough.
Pam: So Princess Bride came out before When Harry Met Sally then.
Joe: Correct, this was '87, that was '89.
Pam: So... does he love Billy Crystal?
Maeve: I feel like he definitely... they're very very similar, in my head.
Pam: Was this Billy Crystal's first Rob Reiner movie appearance, in Princess Bride?
Joe: Hmm. I guess.
Maeve: Is he in Spinal Tap? As a cameo? I wouldn't be surprised if he was. [Editor's note: Yup.]
Joe: I feel like, when we were talking about "kids movie" versus "adult movie," there's no way any kid is going to appreciate fucking Billy Crystal doing his fucking late-'80s shtick, talking about mutton sandwiches and shit. No kid is going to laugh at that.
Maeve: Can I tell you that my parents say [Crystal impression] "Have fun stormin' the castle!" every time I leave. [laughter]
Pam: That's what's so good about kids movies now. Kids movies now are taking advice from this. The parents are the ones who are taking them to see the movie, you have to have some that's funny for the parents.
Joe: Even Sesame Street, or like Nicktoons or whatever. I feel like Rugrats had some adult jokes.
Pam: Kids are only taking in 10% of what they're watching.
Maeve: I genuinely was laughing so hard watching that scene last night, when he was like "Valerie!!!"
Joe: Right, because you're an adult now.
Maeve: 100% watching Carol Kane. It's wild.
Joe: There's something in it for everyone, I guess.
Maeve: I remember watching it as a child, and the chocolate-coating was very funny.
Joe: The what?
Maeve: That she coats the pill in chocolate—
Pam: "To make it go down easier." I'm genuinely surprised this isn't a movie I watched more as a kid, because it fits right into my wheelhouse, of the type of movies I watched. I feel like my parents got it from Blockbuster, and we were not interested or something.
Maeve: I feel like it made me love "Medieval" movies too. Because that is very much my drama now. I'm watching anything that takes place during that period.
Pam: Like what?
Maeve: Game of Thrones fits in, but growing up, I liked any Robin Hood movie. A Knight's Tale could've been my favorite movie of all time too.
Joe: Do you remember the first time you ever saw Princess Bride?
Maeve: No.
Joe: It's just kind of always been there?
Maeve: I genuinely feel like it's always been on.
Joe: Was there a point when you were like, "Oh shit, I actually get this movie," as opposed to it being just a family romp?
Maeve: I don't know. Not that I remember. I don't remember it switching. It's on TV a decent amount, or at least it used to be.
Joe: I can't imagine there's anything they have to cut for cable.
Maeve: Zero. It's one of those movies, like Overboard or The Fugitive, that anytime it could be on at my parents house, it will be on. Like, "Might as well put it on, because everyone will enjoy this."
Joe: That was something we talked about with Clue, in that it was popular on cable. But me and Pam were talking about this, and were contrasting the two movies.
Pam: Yeah, I didn't enjoy Clue as much. But, the humor is very similar.
Joe: Like, slapstick-y I guess?
Maeve: I guess there is a lot of slapstick, yeah.
Pam: They both fit into a kind of Mel Brooks type, with the jokes.
Joe: Python-esque?
Maeve: But this was more rom-com than Clue. Clue is more mystery, and this is more rom-com.
Pam: Maybe that's why I like this better.
Maeve: This follows conventional rom-com standards, but takes place in a genre, and takes place in different settings.
Joe: As opposed to Clue, in which the characters are blank slates. They are vehicles for the jokes. Whereas, these are characters first, and... not to say one was better than the other, but they were definitely different types of humor, even though the both also seemed similar at certain points.
Maeve: Definitely.
Joe: Do you think there is a signature "Rob Reiner" moment in this movie? Do you think Rob Reiner has a certain style that comes out in this movie? Or is he a chameleon?
Maeve: This is such a Drew A******* question.
Joe: Yeah, he's clutching the sides of his temple right now.
Pam: He's waiting to comment on Facebook.
Maeve: I feel like the Billy Crystal bit is definitely the vibe you get from other Rob Reiner movies. But even just the banter between characters, and moments that shouldn't be funny but are. When they're getting on the ship for the first time, and they're rhyming. It's so silly. Like, [Andre the Giant impression] "Anybody want a peanut?" [laughter]
Pam: I was thinking about when Mandy Patinkin was sword-fighting Wesley for the first time, and they're having a conversation, like, "Wow, you're really good at this!"
Joe: Is it bad that I always picture Rob Reiner from his role in New Girl? The bumbling father. Just even when I'm picturing him behind the camera in Princess Bride, just him acting as that character. The jovial goofball.
Maeve: No, I think that makes sense.
Pam: I think that comes across on screen too.
Joe: Does he have serious movies?
Pam: Stand by Me is kind of serious.
Maeve: I feel like he started with TV? Are we not allowed to use our phones to look this up?
Joe: Go for it. I was looking at his directing filmography, and I didn't recognize a lot of them in the past fifteen years.
Maeve: He did A Few Good Men, Misery.
Pam: A Few Good Men is serious.
Joe: And Misery is a Stephen King flick?
Pam: Yeah, with Kathy Bates.
Joe: I dunno. Even with the four movies we discussed already, they are four very different movies. I think he did a good job mixing it up.
Pam: He doesn't have a typecast genre.
Joe: Apparently after Stand by Me, they were like, someone at 20th Century Fox or whatever the fuck was like, "What movie do you want to do next?" and he was like, "I know you're not going to want to do this one," and they were like, "No no, you can do whatever you want." So he was like, "Alright, Princess Bride," and they were like, "...No, we're not doing that." [laughter] And then he had Norman Lear finance it. Apparently this movie script was being tossed around for like fifteen years, and not being made.
Maeve: Interesting.
Joe: Alright, let's talk Oscars. What was it nominated for?
Maeve: I didn't think anything.
Joe: It was nominated for Best Original Song, "Storybook Love"?
Maeve: Oh, the one that plays over the credits?
Joe: ...Probably?
Pam: It's funny, I feel like so many of the movies that we've watched for this have been at least nominated for Oscars.
Maeve: Which I think, when I was picking this, it was like, it feels cliché. But it also feels like cliché because it feels cult-y, because it wasn't a nominated film.
Joe: Yeah, it lost Best Original Song, so it is not an Oscar winner.
Maeve: To what?
Joe: [singing] "I / had / the time of my liiiife."
Maeve: Oh, yeah yeah. I mean, I love Princess Bride a lot more, but I love that song.
Joe: Let me ask you this. Obviously, Andre the Giant, by all accounts, was a stand-up dude.
Maeve: I really keep meaning to watch that documentary on HBO.
Joe: Would you say he was a good actor? I don't mean to be cynical about it, because he seemed like a good dude. Did it ever take you out of the story?
Maeve: I can't imagine anyone else playing that part.
Joe: True.
Maeve: I don't know if that means he's a good actor or not. But I truly believe, he is Fezzig.
Pam: Exactly, he was playing himself.
Maeve: Him and Inigo Montoya are perfect together. The clip of Fezzig dumping Montoyo's head in the buckets? [laughter] The two of them together is just perfect. Mandy Pantinkin.
Joe: I've heard he's a decent dude as well.
Maeve: He is a Broadway legend. He has the best voice of all time. Sunday in the Park with George. Avita.
Pam: I feel like I only know him from Homeland.
Joe: He was a Zipcar member, and I listened to an audio call that he made to the Zipcar Hotline.
Pam: What, dog hair in the car? [laughter]
Joe: Probably something like that! And he was really nice about it. Like, alright dude, that's what's up.
Maeve: But his voice, you guys. Incredible!
Joe: I certainly wouldn't have known that just based on Princess Bride and Homeland.
Maeve: Also, I can't picture anyone else playing that role either.
Joe: That's probably the most iconic role in this movie, would you say? Just because of the phrase?
Maeve: You think? I mean, as someone who is very close to this movie... I feel like there are so many quotable things from it. "Inconceivable" is a big one. And "As you wish."
Joe: Ranking movie quotes, like, for the general populace, "My name Inigo Montoyo..." has to be at the top.
Pam: What about [with a lisp] "Mah-wedge..."
[laughter]
Joe: According to Michael Scott, that one would be at the top of the list, probably.
Maeve: I think this might be the best movie marriage scene, rivaled only by the Four Weddings and Funeral wedding, which is just Mr. Bean doing that wedding. It's very similar. Maybe not best wedding scenes, but funniest.
Joe: It was definitely an out-of-nowhere laugh for this movie. I wonder if that was planned?
Maeve: It was perfect.
Joe: I wonder if that was in the book? The plot is very similar, besides the whole difference of the frame stories. Very similar. Except for a more pessimistic ending in the book.
Pam: As usual.
Maeve: What was the ending?
Joe: Like, Wesley relapsed into his being a cripple. Montoyo fell off his horse and got injured—
Maeve: I feel like they cut the movie off at the perfect point though. Like, Inigo is not living for many more hours after that scene. [laughter] He got stabbed so far.
Joe: There was a gag at the end of the book where the author was like, "Yeah, there's a sequel to this called Buttercup's Baby that I'm still trying to get the rights to!" Which I thought was a good gag. So maybe the book is as funny as this movie?
Maeve: I hope so! But I do think the actors bring a lot to it.
Joe: There was a riff on this with Deadpool 2 apparently?
Maeve: I heard that! I didn't see it. I can't fuck with the Deadpool movies. It's my worst kind of person.
Joe: We watched the trailer, because I didn't want to watch the entire goddamn movie.
Pam: Oh, that's actually the whole movie?
Joe: The frame story of the PG-13 version of Deadpool 2 is that he captures Fred Savage and tells him the story against his will. The scenes with Fred Savage weren't particularly funny in the trailer, so...
Maeve: It's a bit that probably got old quick.
Joe: Also, Ryan Reynolds is kind of smarmy.
Maeve: Did you guys see Hobbs & Shaw?
Joe: [laughter] No, I didn't.
[Editor's note: And if Maeve thought that she could sneak any goddamn Fast and Furious bullshit into this transcription, then she was badly mistaken.]
Joe: Let's talk about what the "drinking rules" for this movie would be.
Maeve: I should've brought them.
Pam: Did we watch this for Beerito?
Maeve: Mhmm.
Pam: Okay, so we already have the drinking rules.
Maeve: I want to say it was... any of the catchphrases, so—"Inigo Montoya...," "Inconceivable!" "As you wish," I wanna say "Any time they went to the pit of despair," maybe? I'm trying to think what the other rules would've been.
Joe: Do they ever say the name of the movie, in the movie?
Maeve: I don't think so.
Pam: Just when the grandfather was like, "I'm going to read you this book, The Princess Bride."
Maeve: Oh yeah!
Pam: But they don't look to the camera and go, "And then she was a Princess Bride!" [laughter]
Joe: I feel like we've had this argument before too, just the general idea of "movie drinking games." So we can put it on the record.
Pam: Argument?
Joe: Yeah. I'm not the biggest fan of movie drinking games.
Maeve: Because—if I can answer for you—you don't think that everyone plays along, and continues with the game the entire time?
Joe: Yeah—
[laughter]
Joe: This isn't me being haughty, I'll include myself in that. You get wrapped up in the movie, and forget about the drinking. Drinking becomes secondary to the movie.
Maeve: I feel like in that case, it's fun regardless. That's my outlook on it.
Joe: It's probably more fun coming up with the rules than actually following them.
Maeve: Yes. And it's fun reminding people of the rules when you're watching it. Like, if no one else is paying attention, you can be like, "Oh, he said this!"
Pam: I think it would be more fun to do with a movie that all of us know so well, that we didn't have to pay attention to find out what was happening, because we already knew it. And then we'd all know when the rules were coming up too. That would be ideal.
Joe: But then, alright, say the three of us went inside and watched this movie, and knew those rules, having just watched it this week. It would probably be an uneven drinking game, right? It's not like they are evenly saying these catchphrases throughout. You're going to be drinking a lot at the beginning with the "As you wish."
Maeve: And then at the end you'll be drinking a lot when he's doing the "Inigo Montoya" speech.
Joe: I dunno. Despite playing the movie drinking rules with you for like five years—
[laughter]
Pam: You certainly played them enough to make it seem like you liked playing them.
Maeve: In general, though, it's like, what's the harm? We're already drinking anyway. Adding a little incentive to it, even if it doesn't pan out.
Pam: That's like my favorite type of drinking game, I think. I would much rather do that than, like, do an impression of someone or something like that. Like an improv game.
Joe: No, it definitely has more to do with my own peccadilloes than anything, that I want to get invested in the movie that I'm watching, and not just fuck around. And like you said, people may not have been paying attention, which may have irked me a little bit.
Maeve: That... I mean, there's been plenty of times when that has driven me crazy. But it wasn't because we were drinking when things were happening. It was because there were like eighteen conversations happening at once.
Joe: They're connected in my mind, just getting them mixed up emotionally. But I apologize if I ever came off as snide... I feel like a couple years you took offense to me writing about all this in a negative way. With that King Kong movie we watched?
Maeve: Oh yeah, Skull Island.
Joe: You felt like I was shitting on Beerito.
Maeve: But I was like... literally, we're just having fun. [laughter]
Joe: And the fact that I had never reached the end of the movie while continuing to play the drinking rules, that it was a chore to do so, says to me that playing drinking rules during a movie may not be my favorite thing, I guess. But to each his own.
Maeve: Fair.
Joe: So... why is this your favorite movie?!
[laughter]
Maeve: I just have so many questions for you guys. You had seen it before?
Pam: I definitely saw it from front to back, but not in a while.
Joe: I probably watched it at your house whenever we watched it there.
Maeve: So like... did you enjoy it? Like, it's not a chore to watch.
Joe: Honestly, any movie that we watch that is shorter than an hour forty-five is refreshing to us. We watch a lot of long movies for this project. 98 minutes?! We'll fucking eat that up in a day.
Maeve: What was your favorite part?
Joe: You trying to fucking do The Rewatchables? [Editor's note: If you remember from the interview with Dwyer, The Rewatchables is a fucking podcast. BOOOOOOOO.]
Maeve: No, I'm genuinely asking! Because I feel like there's a thousand parts of it that we haven't talked about. I know that's because we're talking about it as a whole. Like, we haven't talked about Prince Humperdink once!
Joe: Oh yeah. That dude.
Maeve: Or the Count! Which are two huge characters.
Joe: So the villain in Shrek, his costume is based on this dude?
Maeve: 100%, absolutely.
Joe: Makes sense. Speaking of great fairy tales!
Maeve: Shrek is one of the best. I mean it certainly has a better soundtrack than anything.
Joe: [Regarding favorite parts,] I personally was taken aback about how emotional Montoya's phrase became after a while. Like, all of sudden, it wasn't a joke anymore. Which is really cool, when a movie can take a turn like that.
Maeve: But even the Wesley and Buttercup story, by the end its so slapstick-y, again. But it's not any less important, ya know what I mean? I just love at the end, when they ride away on the four white horses. And I can't believe Andre the Giant fit on that horse. All I could think about was that one Nathan for You episode.
Joe: [laughter] That's what I was thinking about too!
Pam: I was thinking that there's no way that was Andre the Giant on his horse? Maybe someone else wearing the same costume?
Maeve: It's pretty impressive when he climbs that cliff though!
Joe: Oh yeah, how did they do that?
Maeve: I don't know, but I was thinking, "This doesn't look too fake."
Pam: Well, he's very strong.
Joe: Yeah. [laughter] That explains it!
Pam: He's really strong. He used to drink, what, a case of beer in one sitting?
Joe: He actually holds the official record for the most beers drank in one day by any human. 180 or something?
Maeve: Not Wade Boggs?
Joe: No, that was on a cross-country flight.
Maeve: What did you think about the Pit of Despair?
Joe: Apparently that was way more complicated in the book. It was, like, the "Zoo of Destruction" or something. I guess the Prince had built it to—
Maeve: To just fuck with people?
Joe: I guess to prove how strong he was? It was a labyrinth-type thing.
Pam: I was going to say, it reminded me of Labyrinth a little bit! All the twists and turns they had to go through.
Maeve: It feels very Christopher Guest-y when the guy down there is [whispers] talking like this, and then [coughing noises]. [laughter]
Joe: I appreciated the meta gag that Christopher Guest had eleven fingers, and—
Maeve: "It goes to eleven!" He's great in this movie.
Joe: Alright, let's get back to it.
Maeve: We're not just going to talk about fun facts about this movie for hours? [laughter]
Joe: Ya know. Here's the link to IMDB's trivia page. That'll cover that.
Maeve: But that doesn't cover what you guys think about it.
Pam: And you already gave multiple trivia points yourself, didn't you?
Joe: I did. But the whole point of this interview is to crack open Maeve's head and ask, "Why? Why is this your favorite? What does that say about you? What does this mean to you?"
Maeve: I think nostalgically, it's the first movie I remember watching all the time, if that makes sense. I feel like it's pretty similar for a lot of people.
Joe: A family thing.
Maeve: Pretty much every interview you've done has been like, "It's a family thing!"
Joe: More or less.
Maeve: I was also considering White Christmas. Very similar. Watched those constantly. Even though we learned tonight that Princes Bride is a Christmas movie—
Joe: Nope.
Maeve: But you watch White Christmas for one month a year. Princess Bride is anytime. This is satisfying for anyone in the family.
Joe: Your whole family. Bridget feels the same way? Your parents?
Maeve: I'm not kidding when I say my parents say "Have fun storming the castle!" all the time, still.
Joe: I mean, you did tweet on December 28, 2011—
[laughter]
Joe: "Watching the Princess Bride with mom as we both update our recipe books. Doesn't get any whiter than this."
Maeve: Ah, hmm, I don't not regret that tweet? [laughter] I think that would've been a fine tweet, had I left out the last part.
Joe: Is this a white movie?
Maeve: I guess?
Joe: Not to sidetrack us.
Maeve: I don't know.
Joe: Race neutral, maybe. One of the second choices for the giant was Kareem Abdul-Jabaar.
Maeve: I don't think its a white movie.
Joe: That was just "Edgy Maeve" tweeting from Massachusetts?
Maeve: Connecticut.
Joe: Connecticut.
Maeve: Tough luck for me in the past.
Joe: A family movie.
Maeve: 100%. I've watched this countless times with my mom, my whole family, at any given time.
Joe: Do you feel like your relationship with the movie has changed as you grow older?
Maeve: Weirdly enough, not really. I feel like it's so... surface level? Not surface level. I don't think that me maturing as an adult has affected this fairy tale, ya know what I mean?
Joe: The movie itself might be shallow, but it might mean something deep to you as a person. It can be both. If that's what you're trying to say. Or do you feel like the movie itself is deep?
Maeve: I don't think the movie is as shallow as a Disney fairy tale. But I think... I dunno what do you guys think? [laughter] I mean, you care about every character. And there's certainly more depth to it there. But I'm not "finding myself" in any of the characters or something.
Joe: My point wasn't to make an opinion about the movie. But some movies can have a lot of deep symbolism and hidden meaning and unstated moments—
Maeve: I agree, and I don't think this is it. Which I think makes—for as many times as I've seen this, it makes it a pleasant watching experience. There's definitely movies that are more symbolic. But this is just, face value, you're getting dumb jokes, you're getting a love story, you're getting action. You're getting all the genres at once. It's perfect. Truly.
Pam: It's the perfect story to read to an eight-year-old boy when he's home from school.
Joe: That's what I was thinking about most of all when I asked the question "Do you feel differently about this movie as you grow up?" because I was thinking about whether Fred Savage, the character, would think about the book that his grandfather read to him differently as he grew up.
Maeve: He would have that same nostalgia, right? Do you think if you were being read this book, you would all of sudden see yourself as Wesley? Because that's very presumptuous. To say to yourself, "I would go off as the Dread Pirate Roberts, and come back..." As far as hero roles go, it's different from, say, a Harry Potter, which everyone can see themselves in, or whatever, because of all his flaws. This is a character you're not with the entire time, so you can't put yourself in his shoes? I dunno.
Joe: Yeah, I'm not sure either. I took a lot out of it being about storytelling, that aspect of it. Whereas, ya know, Kevin Arnold's not getting that. He's just getting this fairytale, as an eight-year-old. So maybe he wouldn't feel the same when he was thirty years old. But I dunno. You're turning thirty soon—
Maeve: Don't get me started.
Joe: That's what I was most curious about. Is this a movie to grow old with?
Maeve: 100%.
Joe: Are you going to become Peter Falk eventually?
Maeve: 1000%. I will show this movie to any children I have, and their children. The whole movie is timeless. I mean, the oldest thing in the movie is the video game at the beginning, which is wild to watch. [laughter]
Pam: What was it?
Joe: Like, a Commodore 64 or something.
Maeve: But that's the only thing that's dated in the whole movie.
Joe: So you're going to be eighty years old, still thinking about sword-fighting and Andre the Giant.
Maeve: Yeah.
Joe: I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Hell yeah.
Pam: When Willow gets older, it's going to be a movie where you're like, "Let's throw this on." Because it's a family movie. There's nothing offensive in it—
Maeve: Besides the word "putrescence."
Joe: Besides Billy Crystal's whole shtick.
puk
Pam: Well, we'll still be laughing at it, even if Willow won't get it for a long time.
Maeve: I feel like Princess Buttercup and Wesley are so cute. A great love story!
Pam: True love.
Maeve: Yeah. What does Miracle Max say? "To blave." But genuinely, this movie feels comforting, in the best way. I put it on last night, and I was like, "[sigh] It feels good to watch this." I can just put this on and, like, do laundry. Pay attention or not. You can go in and out.
Pam: That also seems to be a theme of all these movie interviews. "Something you can just put on in the background."
Joe: So what does that say about our movie-watching habits?
Maeve: Well, it wouldn't be that way had I not seen this over a hundred times. I can pretty much word-for-word quote this entire movie. A true fairy tale.
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