Episode 003: Mortdecai (2015)

A movie about a mustache the world is wrong about and what a man will do to get his wife to accept it.

Directed by David Koepp - Starring Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany, Olivia Munn & Jeff Goldblum.

How is the world wrong about this film?

From ANDRAS: “Mortdecai” is a brilliantly acted, big budget comedy about a mustache. It's a controversial topic to some. I’ve happily watched countless films about guns and cars and jealousy and Christmas. These are subjects that are not that interesting to me but if the film is well acted and well-made like, say, “Slap Shot” (a movie about a sport I have never paid attention to) I can appreciate it.

The impact of a mustache on a man’s life?

That’s something I have lived. It’s a subject that moves me. The scorn heaped upon this film for its exploration of this topic is not that dissimilar from those who voice their disapproval whenever a man lay’s claim to the “sovereign ground” which is his upper lip. There are probably a thousand zombie movies. Can we have just one mustache movie?

We don’t talk about it on the episode but the collaboration that cemented my friendship with Bryan Connolly was his work on the ill-fated SHMUSHKIN project at a time when being pro-Shmushkin really meant something, especially in Olympia. The material he shot has never been released but here’s a video filmed in one of the board rooms at National Lampoon with at least one legitimate future TV star debasing themselves in service of the goddess.