(Every furlough day Dublin and Robert Fong get together to view a film and have a discussion about it. This time Bob Fong's neighbor Paul joined them as well. The following is a transcript of that discussion.)
D: So, Paul has brought in a movie.
R: What? The Descendants? Oh, f__k me. A God damn adult movie.
D: What's that mean?
P: I got it from a video store.
D: Right.
R: What f__king video store? There's one that's still open?
P: In Berkeley.
R: There's one in Berkeley? That's f__king sad. There was probably 200 ten years ago, just based on how many students and nerds live there.
D: Let's get to it.
R: It's gonna suck, but okay. Let's go.
P: Your just saying that because I picked it Bob, you f__king a__hole.
(They watch The Descendants.)
P: Jesus.
D: Yeah.
R: I wasn't really expecting that.
P: I thought we were gonna watch a comedy!
D: It was sort of a comedy.
P: That was no comedy. That was a drama! And one of the sloggiest.
D: Sloggiest?
R: What the f__k does that mean?
P: It just stayed dark. It never lightened up a bit, just slogged on.
D: I wouldn't say it did.
P: I was waiting for a laugh and all I felt was more depressed and weighted down. The whole thing is about death and betrayal.
D: That's not totally true. It's about life in general, family. I gotta say, I liked it.
P: Really?! I was upset. I was waiting for it to get funny and it never ever did. I was not into it. Right Bob?
R: I liked it too.
P: What?! You even said at the beginning. What did you say? Piece of s__t yuppie movie? Right?
R: I said adult movie.
P: Which it was! It was a totally dramatic adult movie.
R: Well, let me clarify. I went and saw Sideways and I was f__king pissed. I couldn't have cared less about those two middle aged f__ks going around trying to get laid in the wine country. F__k them.
P: What's the difference?? This was about rich a__holes in Hawaii.
R: This was real.
P: Real? What?
R: It means it was real. It felt like real life to me the way that the dude was going through so much s__t and it all just hung on him. And who's got his back? His drug addict daughter and her stupid friend.
D: Was she a drug addict? That wasn't totally clear.
R: Well, she was a f__k up.
D: The younger daughter was great.
P: I can't believe you guys liked this. It was like Little Miss Sunshine but with less laughs. Jesus.
D: This was better than that. Little Miss was a little too designed. You know what I mean? This seemed much more original.
R: It was based on a book.
D: You know what I liked about it? The fact it was in Hawaii, real paradise. Every shot showed off the island's beauty. But here's a guy who's life is really in the sh__ter. He's not a happy man. And the beautiful shots of this green paradise clashed with that and kind of put you in a weird place.
R: His wife was a b__tch.
D: We don't even meet his wife. We get that one shot of her at the very start, supposedly right before her accident, and the rest we learn from the dialogue.
P: I don't think she was a b__ch Bob. She was just unhappy.
R: She was cheating on Clooney!
P: Because all he did was work. They had grown apart.
R: I liked the scene where they got up in her lover's house. The whole: "she's dead. Oh yeah, f__k you, she's dead" scene. Clooney actually flashed there.
D: That was good, yeah.
P: But it wasn't funny.
R: Yeah it was!
D: It wasn't trying to be funny. It was funny in a weird real life way.
R: Real!
D: What did you guys think of Clooney anyway?
P: He's always good.
R: Not as f__king Batman!
D: How about this?
P: He was good.
R: He kept it real.
D: What stands out for me is the scene between him and his wife at the end. You know? Where he forgives her. That scene kind of killed me.
R: He shouldn't have forgiven her. What kind of s__t was that?
D: I don't think I agree Bob but I do think you're right, that it was real. The way the movie portrayed death seemed real. People do lie in hospitals and waste away. There is a crazy mixture of emotion.
P: That true. But it's not funny.
D: There was some devastating stuff in there. It didn't hold back. I mean, Clooney searches out his dying wife's lover, asks him if they loved each other and the guy tells him she loved him and wanted a divorce but he didn't love her. That's just sad.
R: It's real.
P: But it's not funny!
R: Get over it Paul.
P: I think I'm just pissed because the ads on TV made it out like it was a comedy and I thought I would get a few laughs.
R: There were laughs.
P: Not enough to market it as a comedy.
D: Well, either way Paul, I'm glad you brought this movie. Me and Bob both thought it was pretty darn good. So good call.
R: Paul, I'm just glad it wasn't Ghost.
P: F__k you Bob.
D: Alright, see you guys next time.
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