iTunes Exclusive Episode Learning To Drive

The following is a sooner orgator production.
The following is a sooner orgator production.
The following is a sooner orgator production.
The following is a sooner orgator production.
The following is a sooner orgator production.
The following is a sooner orgator production.
I mean the following conditions have been met.
It means at least once in your life you've listened to the Clubhouse podcast or one
stop shop for all being sports and entertainment live every Sunday night 70's from
for Pacific and it means you listen on iTunes because it is time for another welcome.
My name is Rob I am the executive producer of the Clubhouse podcast and been driving
a long time but I am not alone for this particular episode joining me across the desk
because he tends to do is my co-host and a man that's been driving longer than me.
He just chat.
Welcome sir.
But doing everything longer than you.
Moving on, also joining me across the desk is the ginger ninja and a man who's got
the largest vehicle in the room.
You may know Mr. King of Bowling he is Andrew Beckham, welcome sir.
Thank you, great to be here.
Also joining us is the official fact checker of this show and a man who may have the oldest
vehicle in the room.
You may know I miss fun, don't go but his mom and him, don't want to call him Don Ford.
Welcome sir.
It's a 2004 Pontiac.
I bought it new and it's still run so you got you beat on that.
Yeah, by year.
Okay, so yeah, you have the oldest car in the room.
Still runs, it's paid off.
It's all mad.
How's wrong with that?
Whenever we do one of these, it is usually to review something.
This particular episode, no exception.
We are going to today review the new film directed by Isabelle Quasé, C-O-I-X-E-T, based
on a New Yorker Arkel article by by Katha Pollett and then turned into a screenplay
by Sarah Kernotion called Learning to Drive.
It stars Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingfully.
Patricia Clarkson plays Wendy.
She is a New York literary critic who gets dumped by her husband one night when they're
out and they take the same cab home and she ends up leaving something in the cab so
that the cabbie, you know this is coming.
Yes we did.
May it named Darwin who's played by the great Serben Kingsley who is a cab driver at night
and he does driving lessons during the day brings her back this package and it turns
out she doesn't know how to drive.
So as part of her newly found independence, she's going to learn to drive so she can
drive to see her daughter at a farm in Vermont.
Her daughter played by Grace Gummer who you might know is the daughter of Merrill Streep who
was recently with Merrill Streep in Riti and the Flash.
So there's growth by both of your main characters in it.
Kind of as far as I want to go.
I'm thinking that's good.
It was first runner up for the People's Choice Award at last year's Toronto International
Film Festival.
So it's been shown around a little bit.
It's just now getting a wider release.
Before we begin, we got to think Ashden at Marock for inviting to this thing in the
great people at the Brock Green Pictures.
Absolutely.
So wonderful about how much better than they ever have to be.
Thank you so much.
Chad is going to be a casual observer.
Probably put in some questions here and there because he was not able to join us for this
particular screening.
But the rest of us in the room were all there and our big redcliners.
Shout out to the studio movie girl Spring Valley, very impressed by the presentation there.
So you really can't say much about the visual style of the film because it's not a slam
bang action film.
This is a story driven piece.
But one thing I will say that I really kind of thought was cool is a lot of times when
you have films that are set in New York or Chicago or San Francisco.
It's like the director has to beat you over the head with the fact that we're in that
city.
And in this film, she didn't do that.
Not too much.
I didn't remember seeing the Ed Koch Bridge.
Oh yeah, but that was part of what was going on at the time.
So it was like the story drove the scenery and not the other way around, which I really
kind of dug about that.
Yes.
But it wasn't anything special that it needed, you know, eccentric, I thought they
did it just right.
I don't know.
It was filmed well.
Yeah.
And to me honest, there was one point I thought, what city are they in again?
And then it took me a while and I'm like, oh yeah.
It was more subtle.
Yeah.
Very, very much so.
Because like you said, I'm just used to them like throwing it in my face and that's
all I can see.
Yeah.
They didn't do the Times Square in an Empire State Building and all that make
big shots.
Yeah.
There were like little things were like a real service said, you know, something
that you would only hear in New York of if you want to view, you sacrifice
to space.
You want to space?
You sacrifice to view.
I mean, that's New York City in a nutshell, if you want to live there.
So I felt that it was good for what it was.
It knew what it had to be and it was that.
The story I thought, I going into this, I was like, whenever there's movies like
this, where they grew together and they learned together.
But I really enjoyed the story here.
It's well written.
You know, although I did the novel to one point out to Andrew and I go, did Ben Kingsley
do this like right after Iron Man 3?
Because he looks exactly like he did in Iron Man 3 does place an Indian very well as
well he should his father is from India.
Yeah.
Well, we are talking about the guy that played Gandhi here after all.
Well, but it was, the thing is it's real easy to fall into that Gandhi thing, but
it really was.
He played it completely differently.
Well, but he gets the man arrested.
He gets the man arrested.
But what I'm saying is for him, it would have been easy for him to fall into that
Gandhi thing.
But he played it completely differently, which I guess that's admirable.
It's the brilliance of Ben Kingsley.
Yeah, it's be honest.
Yeah.
The guy's been in more movies in the last year than he's done in the last 20.
But it didn't seem like it was a fake accent.
It seemed like if he didn't know who he was.
This guy is actually from India.
You thought he would be a native.
Yeah.
Let's just go ahead and segue that into the performances.
Because there's not really a lot to talk about here.
It's a very straightforward film.
But it's mostly just two people.
Exactly.
Basically, when it comes down to it, it's the minor roles here and there.
You know?
What I love about Ben Kingsley is you.
He knew this character.
He and Patricia Clarkson have been actually trying to get this movie done for nine years.
That long.
Okay.
I read up on this a little bit.
And the director directed them in a different film that they did together.
So they wanted this.
They wanted her to direct this one.
They said it was going to be perfect for him.
But what I loved about Kingsley's performance here, because if you know anything about
the culture of the East Indians, it is a very male centric.
The husband is the head of the household.
You saw him.
His character wanted to be that.
But he wanted to be Americanized at the same time.
So he had that sternness that he felt he needed to have.
But he had a vulnerability, which I really, really dug about this character.
Whereas like he wants to do right by his culture.
But there were, you could tell there were pieces of his culture that he didn't quite agree with.
And so that's why he had that that sensitive side to him.
Which I thought he played brilliantly.
By the way, the, the film he did ago was called LG.
It was in 2008.
Okay.
I thought his performance here was just spot on.
And I thought the chemistry between him and Clarkson was just, you know.
They, they nailed it, I thought.
Yeah.
You could feel that.
In the beginning, she overacted a little bit.
But we got them together.
I thought their chemistry was incredible.
And what do we know about Patricia Clarkson, Chad?
What do we know about her?
I don't know how.
That's what we know about her.
Tell me one.
Shoot.
Exactly.
Why don't I walk?
But again, I thought she overacted it a little bit in the beginning.
But as the film kind of got settled, so did she.
Yeah.
Which I thought was great.
Well, I don't think she overdate because what she's going through.
If you, it was, it was a little over top for me.
But I could understand.
And one thing I wanted, you know, bring because this was very important to me.
If you read my written review at the clubhousepodcast.com.
That's our website.
I put on here that, and even told Raymond this after the show to the current
of the show, Raymond Garcia, who is taking the comments and said,
This movie touches a very serious subject of divorce.
But it had some great comedy that added great.
This complimented it very, very well.
I kept it from getting to intense.
Exactly.
You know, is it, is it the greatest divorce film ever?
Like, Raymond versus Cramer?
No, but it really touched the subject very well.
But it wasn't about divorce.
It was about recovery more than anything.
I thought it was more divorce, but it hit the subject very well.
And how do you deal with it after the fact?
But again, it's more about the recovery than the divorce.
Whereas, Cramer versus Cramer is more about the divorce.
But it still says about how she comes back from her entire world
shadowing on her own.
But it's a very serious subject.
What you know, it will be a win.
Yeah.
It's not just I really love the comedy, which is why it worked for me.
Because there's less about poor, pitiful me and more about, I need to get myself back
up again.
Yeah, even though she has those stages of, I'm hurting, you know, you could understand
that that would happen to anybody in real life in her situation on that.
Very uncomfortable moment when the mistresses were fueled.
Oh, yeah.
I can't until the elevator.
Oh, because we go, why is everybody going, huh?
Then there was some great laugh out loud moments too, which, and it didn't feel forced.
That was the, that was what I loved about it.
It was there were some great comedic moments that weren't just, you didn't feel like
they were shoehorned in there.
Yeah.
Just so, it was there, you know.
And I really liked how it touched some racial issues somewhat, but it didn't spike
into it.
It didn't spike into it.
It didn't spike into it.
It's like, this is a thing, but we're not going to shove it down your throat.
You know what I mean?
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
I can't drive 55, she drives me crazy.
The logic here is not that difficult to follow.
But again, it was, it was a good balance of the drama and the comedy and the social
issues that weren't that didn't get preaching, which I thought was good.
And it didn't overdo the racism.
I hit it a couple times in which that's dealing with coming to America over here.
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
Get a great.
And there's a couple of threads that don't even start until about halfway through the film
that worked as well, which I really thought was cool.
What they want.
Right if you can.
The visitor that comes back from overseas.
Okay.
That doesn't even pick up till almost act three, which is kind of neat.
And it didn't feel rushed.
It worked within the context of it.
Come on.
Anything else you guys want to add?
I.
Yeah, which I said in my written vehicle, that's podcast.com.
That's our website.
I really love how it.
It hit so many issues so well.
And it had that mix.
And I was really, I thought it was going to be that predictable movie after watching
the trailer.
And I was so surprised after seeing this thing of how well it was.
It might have been a little predictable.
But it wasn't.
You know, it had some good points in it, which didn't make it this.
Oh, I know we're not what's going to happen here.
And it ends like it's supposed to.
Yeah.
And I thought the.
And it very, very well.
You know, I was really surprised.
And it didn't really strike for me.
No, it didn't.
No, I thought the storyline flowed very well.
You had your good pace.
You had your minor characters really pick up your major characters when they were down.
Which is what their role was.
Right.
And they weren't in there too.
But they were put in there perfectly at the right moment.
They kept it on the rails.
Right.
Did any questions that you might have about this film?
No, I think you'll broke it down pretty well.
Fair enough.
Let's get to the final house.
What actually there is one.
Sure.
How would you compare this considering that the way you guys describe this thing?
Huh?
How would you compare it to a movie that we all sat through recently, the end of the tour?
Apples and orange.
Okay.
Completely different ball game.
Well, just two people in a car.
It's all I can really go by here.
That's when the best moments were to me when they were in the car.
But.
And then I mean, it's to me.
I don't know if I could pick the best moments.
It was just good all the way through.
Okay.
The way we do the final analysis on this show.
We don't give you thumbs up thumbs down.
We don't give you letter grades, stars, number rankings.
Our audience whom we affectionately refer to as the Empire.
Does there's better than that?
Two prong question.
Question number one.
Would you see this film again?
If the answer is no, we're done here.
If the answer is yes, it becomes how far are you willing to go to see it again?
Would you see it full price in first run?
Would you see it at a twilight matinee early morning?
Would you wait for it in second run at the dollar theater?
Would you physically go to a red box to rent it?
Would you stream it on Netflix?
Or would you wait for it on cable?
Don't let's start with you.
Would you see this film again?
Yes, I would.
Okay.
How far are you willing to go?
I would.
I'm going to do this too prong.
I would probably watch this on something like HBO or it's ilk or something like that.
But as a recommendation, I think this would be a really good date night,
especially first or second date movie or the husband wife with kids away.
See this as a twilight and go to dinner afterwards.
Okay.
Because I really make you think about relationships.
You talk about the movie after the while you're eating after the watching at a twilight.
Or do you know how you guys did it?
Dinner while you're watching.
Yeah, fair enough.
And Andrew, would you see this again?
Yes.
How far are you willing to go?
A cable TV.
Okay, fair enough.
I would see this again, but I'm going to split the difference.
I think it's a good date night movie.
Yeah.
That's why I recommend as a date night.
But my thing is as a date night in.
Go get, you know, get some to go food from the olive garden or wherever you're going to go.
And then go rent this, bring it back to the house or stream it either way.
I'm going to say it's just one of those things where it's it's available on iTunes as well as theaters at the same time.
That I don't know because I know they're that that's becoming a more and more of a thing now.
So, but yeah, you can I wouldn't mind not having iTunes rental or an on demand.
Yeah.
I would be a bad idea.
And just eat dinner in enjoy the film.
It's a good movie.
It's enjoyable.
It's fun.
And it's got a really good heart at the center of it, which I really really you get me when you have
heart.
A young teen I don't think would like that, but I think the older teens that even like this and everybody above that.
I think older teens in above, but really, you know, if anybody 20s 30s 60s.
I'd say I'd say probably early 20s would be my would be by low end, I think.
Anything else you want to add?
Yeah.
Before we get in, we got to think Ash and again.
But she's so wonderful to us.
Oh, yeah.
She's a very very nice lady.
We can't think her enough.
She's good to us.
All right.
Gentlemen, let's do the plugs.
Visit our website, www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
Find out everything you need to know in some stuff you don't.
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on the under it's something completely different.
Follow this show on Twitter at Clubhouse Show.
You can follow me on Twitter if you'd like.
I am a yes that Rob Irvin that is spelled ERV-I-N.
I am at Chad and PG69.
I am at King of Bowling.
I'm at Von Dongo and you can email me at Don at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Email Don with inquiries about us coming to a live show for you.
We love doing live remote shows.
We've got some coming up.
You can email me if you'd like questions, comments, concerns.
Tell me to go pound sand.
I am Rob at theclubhousepodcast.com.
I am Chad and theclubhousepodcast.com.
I'm going pound sandagemail.com.
Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest.
And Jules Womick.
She'd like her drive everyone so I'll just run that.
No.
Our normal show every Sunday,
97 Eastern for Pacific is your one-stop shop for all things sports in entertainment.
So until next time, for Don, for Andrew, for Chad, for the Empire,
I'm Rob, clubhouse is closed.
I don't know, patron in the restaurant or something.
Put her in there somewhere.
It'll work.
The preceding was a sooner orgator production.
Get it on, get it on!
Why?
Because I have to.
See ya!