Ep. 7 - Day-O (1992)

[00:00:00] All right, then keep your secrets. Get that frog out of your pants. I'm the guy. The real guy. Where do all these movies come from anyway? Just fucking ding-a-ling. I will take the ring to Mordor. Though, I do not know the way.

[00:00:24] Hello and welcome to Episode 7 of The Complete Works Season 5. A deep dive into the career and films of actor Elijah Wood. My name is Mike Smith and joining me on this journey there and back again is my friend, co-host, and fellow good son... Mike Triccio. How'd you do today, Mike? I'm doing great. I'm excited for today's episode, even though as we started recording, it happened again this week. I don't remember what the movie was, so I'm kind of scared.

[00:00:53] Oh, I got it. I'm back. We're locked in. There you go. I can't wait. I was about to say, I saw you log it on Letterboxd this past weekend, Mike, so I'm pretty sure you watched it. I know I watched a movie that he was in. Yes. And it was in fact. What else happened? We'll never know. Exactly. But, before we get into today's movie, Mike, what's your familiarity with the song, Dayo, Banana Boat song? I mean, classic.

[00:01:23] Sure. You know, the airwaves and also of the screen. Yes. Should I have more of a relationship to that song than that? No, I mean, that's about right. Okay. It's a song that everyone knows. It's a big deal, obviously. The song Dayo, the Banana Boat song, dates back to the early 20th century, where it developed a Jamaican folk song in the early 1900s. So it was about the banana trade in Jamaica, which was a growing part of its economy.

[00:01:50] And Jamaican dock workers would work at night to avoid the heat from the sun. When the sun came out, the boss would arrive to tally the bananas so that they could go home. Turns out, the song, very literal. It's like the 16 tons, like for the Erie Canal. It's like, oh, this is just a historical fact. Yes, exactly. Okay. Daylight come, me want to go home, the boss tally me banana. Yes, it's all very much just like that's just a day in their life, essentially, was what the song was.

[00:02:16] But the song was first recorded in 1952 by Trinidadian singer Eric Conner. A few years later, Harry Belafonte recorded his version, which became the definitive take on the songs. There have been a million different versions from different artists over the years and different uses of the song in pop culture. You hear it at baseball games and at concerts and all using it as like a big call and response with the crowd, right? Yes. Yes, of course. He doesn't want to shout Dayo with your boys, you know? Exactly. Yeah, with the boys.

[00:02:45] You can just be hanging out with the boys, shout Dayo, and then everybody else will shout it back. That's right. On film, the song Dayo is probably best known for being at the center of the best scene of Tim Burton's entire career in 1988's Beetlejuice. The few years after Beetlejuice came out, the song made its mark in the world of TV movies. And since Elijah Wood is in it, we've got to talk about Dayo. The Walt Disney Pictures presents an exclusive NBC world premiere.

[00:03:15] Delta Burke is afraid of what the future will bring. Congratulations. Congratulations. I'm going to be a lousy mother. Until one magical boy turns her wife upside down. Hey, what about me? Why don't you walk through a wall or something and let you feel like? He's going to give her the courage she's always wanted. I can get her, I know it. Delta Burke returns to television for the world premiere of a Walt Disney classic for the whole family. You're not scared anymore. Dayo, Sunday at 7, 6 central on NBC. All right, so Elijah Wood stars in Dayo as Dayo.

[00:03:44] He's the title character. The titular role. Not only is the movie named after the song, but so is the main character. Although weirdly, the movie, the character in the movie, I don't think is specifically named after the song. I think she just like sees him and is like, we'll call you Dayo. And that's basically it. But then the song is incorporated into the movie kind of throughout too. It's really weird as if the movie is afraid to acknowledge that that's his name, like that that's a song for like an hour. It takes a long time before they play that song.

[00:04:14] Yes. So Dayo is the imaginary friend of the film's main character who disappeared when she was a little girl, but has now reentered her life as an adult. The main character, Grace, is played by Delta Burke, who is best known for her role on the sitcom Designing Women, which was airing at this time. And as a child, Grace is played by Ashley Pelden, who's on the soap opera Guiding Light. But she's also the young version of the main character in Drop Dead Fred, which is a movie whose premise is basically the same as this movie.

[00:04:43] I don't know if you've ever seen Drop Dead Fred, Mike. I haven't seen it, but a lot of people in Letterboxd have been pointing out that like Drop Dead Fred in this movie, basically the same plot. It's about an imaginary friend who shows up in the person's adult life. And in both movies, the child version of the main character played by Ashley Pelden. That's insane. What's happening? Weird. Very weird. And Drop Dead Fred came first. So this movie is kind of just, I think, like saw her in that movie was like, we know she can do this. We'll put her in this.

[00:05:13] We need to just acknowledge that this is the same. Yes, exactly. So from there, Grace's mother, Margaret, is played by Carlin Glynn, who played Molly Ringwald's mom in 16 Candles. Her father, Frank, is played by Fred Thompson from Law and Order, Die Hard 2, and also the United States Senate. He was a senator for many years. He ran for president in 2008, I want to say it was. And yeah, he was on Law and Order. He was in Die Hard 2. He was in movies.

[00:05:39] Her husband, Ben Connors, played by Charles Shaughnessy, who was Mr. Sheffield on The Nanny. What a wild thing that was. The Nanny? No. Well, him. And doing his American accent. Yeah, that was weird. Yeah. Also The Nanny, I guess. I mean, sure. Yeah. Were you a Nanny fan growing up, Mike? No. That was one of those shows that was just on Nick at Night all the time, I feel like. So I would see episodes here and there. Yeah. I think it was just too silly for me.

[00:06:10] I couldn't tolerate this Nanny shenanigans anymore. But no, I was not particularly a big Nanny guy. Neither was I. Yeah. I definitely saw it once in a while, but it was not one of my Nick at Night shows. And I had some Nick at Night shows. Like Fresh Prince was a show that I was watching all the time. Full House was a show that we were watching all the time in my house too. But The Nanny was something that was on sometimes, but it wasn't something that I was actively trying to watch. Yeah. Yeah. I really liked The Wonder Years when I was on Nick at Night.

[00:06:38] I don't think I've ever actually watched an episode of The Wonder Years. I don't think it's ever happened. Can't tell you if it's good or bad, but I remember enjoying it. It was very popular at the time, late 80s. Absolutely. So this movie was written by Bruce Franklin Singer, who also wrote for Moonlighting in the 80s. And it was directed by Michael Schultz, who directed several movies in film and TV, including cult hits like Car Wash, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the movie with Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees as The Beatles. That movie is insane, by the way.

[00:07:07] He also directed The Last Dragon in 1985, which is a movie I showed for Inferno of Danger while I was programming that at the Roxy. Whoa. So yeah, some cult hits on his resume for sure. Personal connection to the show. Yes, absolutely. Plus, even more of a connection than you realize, Mike. Whoa. He directed a Roy Scheider TV movie that we've been meaning to go back to cover, but we missed it during our Roy Scheider season. And it's a movie that we actually have access to now. To Be Young Gets It in Black, directed by Michael Schultz.

[00:07:36] The same director. The one movie. The one TV movie that we actually have a file for. Yes. That we didn't cover. And it's that guy. That's crazy. That we've been saying we're going to do an episode for for a long time and we haven't yet. Yeah. Yeah. We can do it at some point. And now we'll have extra context for his career because we've seen Dayo. So Schultz's most recent film was 2004's Women Thou Art Loosed, which is based on a Tyler Perry play. But he still actively works in television.

[00:08:05] He's like 87 years old, but he's still directing episodes of shows like New Girl, Arrow, and actually the Wonder Years reboot. Speaking of the Wonder Years. So yeah, still active doing his thing. The Wonder Years reboot was just like a year ago. I didn't realize that had happened already. Yeah. Or yeah, I think it was a peacock thing. I feel like it might have just been on there. Sounds like a peacock thing. Sounds like it, right? This movie premiered on NBC on May 3rd, 1992, followed by part one of a miniseries called Trial, The Price of Passion.

[00:08:35] Over on Fox, you had episodes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose, In Living Color, Married with Children, and Herman's Head. On CBS, you had 60 Minutes, Murder, She Wrote, and the CBS Sunday movie, which was called Baby Snatcher. And over on ABC, you had Life Goes On, America's Funniest Home Videos, and an ABC Sunday Night movie, which was the very first movie we discussed this season, Back to the Future Part 2. Whoa. It's all coming together, Mike. Full circle.

[00:09:05] So there you go. The IMDb plot synopsis for Deo reads, Grace Connors is facing a major load of family and business problems that she doesn't think she can handle. Like a touch of magic, unexpected help returns to her after many years of absence. Her childhood imaginary friend Deo comes back to help her cope with any and every possible obstacle, but also causes new problems, which make amusing situations. Thanks, AI.

[00:09:33] I'm going to say that's a human submitted. I'm hoping that's a human submitted. I hope so. Plot synopsis. All right, Mike D, going into Deo. What were you expecting from this movie? And what did you get coming out of it? What are your overall thoughts on this film? Yeah, I think my continuing journey into TV movies to track that again. Yeah. Just a sort of cultural fascination with them. But I think at this point, this one also confirms... I'm good.

[00:10:02] I think they are fascinating as a thing that we've just largely evolved beyond in at least today's TV landscape with all of the thousand streamers. I guess this is like downstream of those. Sure. The other way around. The streaming originals are downstream of TV movies and all that. So I had never heard of Deo, obviously. I could barely remember it at the beginning of the episode. But we're back. We're back in.

[00:10:27] And I think overall, this is like kind of fine, kind of boring, kind of what is this about? Who is this for? You know? Yeah. I think... So this is uploaded on YouTube. You can watch it there. I think it's just like, you know, Deo TV movie, whatever. You can find it. Something like that. And I think the most interesting part of this whole thing is that it's from before Disney owned ABC. So it's a Disney night at the movies on NBC. And I was like, what the fuck? What?

[00:10:56] And I kind of had me like going onto Google to figure out when did that happen? And I think it was 95 or something or 94. Okay. It was after this movie, obviously. So I think this is most interesting for that, just to like take a peek at what network TVs were, network TV networks were before Disney owned one of them. Yes. So there's that aspect of it.

[00:11:18] But then otherwise, the movie itself is, I think, too intense for kids, but too boring for adults. Like it's kind of this weird middle ground where it's got this kind of whimsy flights of fantasy. You know, Deo, it's imaginary friends. He comes back in her adulthood to like help her through her troubles and stuff. And like, I could see where that's like wacky, you know, could be like a wacky, silly thing for kids. And isn't that kind of fun?

[00:11:43] But, but it's like, no, it's because her family hates her and she's pregnant and like her life is falling apart. And because of, you know, wacky miscommunications, her husband thinks she's cheating on her. And like all this stuff is going on. That's like way above a kiss, sort of like what we talked about last week. So it's like, this is like just too much, I think for, for kids, I guess too much for kids, but also it just walks this weird middle ground between these two things. So yeah, ultimately I was kind of like, okay, I'm ready. You know, it's only obviously 90 minutes.

[00:12:13] It's pretty short. I was ready for it to be over in those 90, by the end of that 90 minutes. So understandable. Yeah. What's funny is, uh, so the, the runtime is listed as like 120 minutes on letterbox and IMDb. Uh, but then you go to YouTube and it's like 92 minutes. And I think it's because there was commercials when it initially aired. Oh yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Uh, and the YouTube upload does not contain those commercials, even though it does have like the opening thing with NBC, like, you know, the NBC logo and you see Disneyland at the movies and then it will show you the commercial breaks. Like it'll say like, yeah, it has the fade in and fade out. It's like, yeah.

[00:12:43] And occasionally it'll be like Disney night at the movies. We'll be back after this. Uh, and then it'll just jump right back into the movie. Honestly, I kind of wish that it had the commercials. I think it would have been fun to like watch like the old 1992 commercials that were airing during this movie could have been pretty neat. Now that would have been like cultural artifacts for sure. Yes, absolutely. And maybe the most interesting part about this, uh, watching experience, unfortunately the commercials were cut out, uh, which on the one hand is fine because that cut out

[00:13:09] a half hour of the runtime, uh, that I didn't have to deal with, but, uh, yeah, no, I think day Oh is okay. It's a fine time. Uh, I didn't hate it by any means. I think it's, uh, it has some fun stuff going for it. And in particular, I think Delta Burke is like pretty like fun and wacky in this movie, uh, and plays off Elijah would pretty well, uh, who is also very fun and wacky in this movie. Uh, I was also reminded of radio flyer, uh, which you, which you kind of refer to Mike, uh, we talked about last week.

[00:13:37] Uh, but I think this movie is a lot less dark than radio flyer is, you know? Uh, and it's, it's really just like manageable adult problems, I guess that, uh, the, the lead character grace is dealing with a lot of different adult problems all happening at once. And she needs the whimsy of her childhood friend or her childhood imaginary friend to help her kind of make sense of those problems and get through them all get back to like what makes her happy at heart and that kind of thing.

[00:14:03] Uh, like you watch it and like, it feels very much like an early nineties Disney product. It feel, it feels like the kind of thing that Disney would be making a few years later on the Disney channel. It feels like the kind of thing that like, this is what Disney channel movies are. Yeah. Yeah. It's too, I think adult focused, like the characters for it to have, have just fully that, that Disney channel original movie feel, but it absolutely is the kind of thing that like you'd see on there for sure. A hundred percent.

[00:14:33] Like, yes, she, she's got to recapture those seven truths you forget or whatever Tom Hank says in radio flyer. Uh, and, and Deo helps her remember them basically. Yes, exactly. Uh, so of course, Elijah Wood plays Deo in the movie Deo. Uh, what did you think of Elijah Wood in this movie, Mike? I think this might be the first rearing its head of child haters, Mike and Mike for me, which is intentional.

[00:14:59] Like that's the character of Deo is that like just talking in, in, uh, sing songy rhymes and like, I forget you lose, got to eat your old shoes or some shit or whatever the thing he says a bunch of times and, and just actively trying to drive a Delta Burke character insane, which is wild because it's a figment of her imagination. Um, and so, but it is just, uh, I mean, it's a good performance, but it is just like a great deliberately grading performance.

[00:15:26] And, uh, it's just like, shut up basically, you know? So I think he's, I think he's fine. I just hated Deo. Fair enough. So I will say, I got to push back on one thing, Mike, which you said that he is a figment of her imagination. However, I think the movie does imply that Deo is in fact a very real being. He's an eternal being. You're right. And especially at the end when a different kid like sees him and knows him by a different name. Yeah. He knows him as Elvis. Right. Yeah.

[00:15:54] And so the implication being that Deo is in fact a real being that I think exists as sort of like a fairly, fairly odd parents kind of situation. Right. Where to torture people. Yeah. Um, he's like pan, you know, like the, the, the God pan, you know, or the character. Yes. And yeah, I guess I forgot about that. Yeah. He does, he is seen by other children, uh, or another child, another kid. But, uh, I think it only happens once. Is it the same kid in the hospital as at the end?

[00:16:23] Cause when they're in the conference room at the conference, the cafeteria in the hospital and she's trying to tell her father that she's pregnant, Deo is talking to another kid and she's like, can he see you? And he's like, yeah. Yeah. Uh, but then I don't know if that's the same kid that shows up at the merry-go-round at the end. I'm not sure. Yeah. He, he exists, uh, in some sort of eternal chaos being, uh, for children and also one adult woman. So, yeah. So the way the movie essentially plays it out and I, he shows up to kids in distress, right?

[00:16:51] I'm, I'm comparing it to like the filial parents because that's sort of the, uh, the thing in that show where like Timmy Turner is 10 years old and everything's bad, right? His parents neglect him and his babysitter's evil and all that stuff. Do the, do the theme song. Like tell us the plot of the show. So here's the thing you got to understand that Timmy is an average kid that no one understands. Incredible. Um, but yeah, Cosmo wanted to show up and they are his fairly odd parents, the fairy god

[00:17:16] parents who are there in total secrecy, uh, to make his life better and all that stuff. And Deo sort of exists within that same paradigm, right? Like the movie starts and the young version of grace, uh, like finds out that, uh, you know, her, her mom is pregnant and, uh, the dad's like hoping for a boy. And, uh, she's like, no, I don't want a baby brother. And she runs away. And that's when Deo like initially shows up. Uh, and he shows up and helps her out.

[00:17:43] And within flashbacks, you see kind of like more of their relationship as kids. Um, but then you do flash forward to grace as an adult played by Delta Burke. Uh, and it is, uh, you know, she's kind of living her adult life. Now she is working with her father and her, and her brother, like they did have a baby brother. Uh, they all like work in the family business together and she's clearly the one that's like actually running this place, but she's not appreciated by the family. Her brother's always slacking off. He's no good. All of that.

[00:18:10] Uh, like there's a real like deep rooted sexism by the father that, uh, is kind of getting in there. Uh, and so that's going on. Meanwhile, she finds out she's pregnant, uh, and she's trying to figure out how to tell her husband. And that's when Deo shows up again, uh, in her adult life. And so it's like, and another moment of crisis, Deo has arrived again. Yes. Yeah. Where she's, uh, eating ice cream in the aisle at the, at the supermarket after finding out she's pregnant. I think, Oh, and then she, is that when he first shows up? I don't really remember.

[00:18:37] Uh, it might be like right after that, but yeah, it's around that time. Yeah. Yeah. When she's in the moment of crisis, like you said, and he comes back to, uh, destroy her life more now, um, to learn, remember the whimsy, the, the, the, the pleasures of life. And then, yeah. And so in one of the flashbacks, when you were like kind of seeing her at child age with Deo, there's a moment where like, they're like playing around and they accidentally like spill coffee on her father's, uh, you know, desk or whatever with like all his papers and he's mad at them

[00:19:04] and they run off and they go to like the local restaurant that they like to hang out at like a local pizza place. Uh, and the guys, they're like, Oh, is Deo here too? Like, yeah. Okay. And like everybody knows it. Yeah. Like everybody knows that she's imaginary friend named Deo and all that stuff. Uh, and in this sequence, like the father shows up and they go to like a carnival type thing. Uh, and they put Deo in a like helicopter, uh, merry-go-round type situation. Right. Yeah.

[00:19:32] And then like the father's like, no, we're not going. We're leaving. We're leaving Deo behind. It's time. You're a big girl now. And he takes her away. Uh, and Deo gets locked in the helicopter. And, uh, this is when Deo reappears. She goes to find the helicopter. Right. She's like thinking about it and like thinking about like the old pier with the stuff and the old rides. And she finds the warehouse where the old rides are located and she finds the helicopter and Deo is inside. And he's been trapped in this helicopter for 30 years. You know, hell.

[00:20:03] I think it's more purgatory than anything else, but yeah. The movie's dark if you think about it. That's, that's true. Uh, I, the movie doesn't really get into what Elijah Woods like mindset was like during those 30 years. Yeah. Has he just gone insane? Uh, being trapped in there for 30 years, but yeah. And then he's back in her adult life. Yeah. Correct. Yes. Uh, and Elijah Woods, like a still the wacky little kid, but now she's an adult with adult responsibilities and she has to deal with, uh, this imaginary friend.

[00:20:30] Uh, yeah, I think Elijah Wood is pretty fun in this movie for what he's asked to do. Uh, you know, I think, uh, he is asked to be a kind of annoying kid and I think he plays with Delta Burke pretty well. Uh, and I think to that end, I think he succeeds in his performance. Uh, you know, there's a lot of like wacky kind of slapsticky stuff that I enjoyed. Uh, you know, a lot of stuff where like Deo is like in the room, but nobody else can see him, but Delta Burke and he'll be like sitting behind her and she'll be like, shut up.

[00:20:58] And the other guy will be like, Oh, sorry, honey. Or what? Yeah. Yeah. That kind of thing. Yeah. That's like the main mode the movie has basically whenever he's around, um, which is kind of fun, especially when he's doing some of the silly stuff when he's, you know, like, I don't know, I'm trying to remember any of them. Is he like jumping on the couch or whatever? He's doing stuff like that while she's trying to have a very serious conversation with her husband about baby, about how she's pregnant. Um, and he's back there like eating handfuls of chips and stuff. And like, you know, that's, that's, that's fun. Yes.

[00:21:28] But then you have to wonder, do other people see the chips being eaten, uh, in the, in the air? Are they just like getting up there and disappearing? Cause again, Deo is real. He's, he's a real being as implied by the ending of this movie. Correct. Yes. Eternal imaginary friends. Yes. Uh, so much to consider there. Um, but yeah, I think Elijah was pretty solid in this. Uh, how do you think this fits into the Elijah Wood roles we've seen so far, Mike? I think we've already mentioned radio flyer. Yes. Uh, which I think that's probably the closest comparison in terms of like,

[00:21:56] just kind of trying to straddle the line between like childhood whimsy and some more adult issues. Yeah. At least the plot wise, um, for sure. The role very different, um, as the older brother, I guess it'd be the closest, uh, of a role to the Peter Pan fantasies in a child of the night where it is this kind of theatrical heighten, you know, me, uh, and all that stuff where they're tied to the mast and all that. I guess that's kind of really it as far as direct comparisons go.

[00:22:25] Those are sort of the meatiest roles we've had. I think I can't think of a, another, he's got more than two lines. So that rules out back to the future too. And, uh, and internal affairs, internal affairs. Yeah. I was gonna say inherent vice. That's crazy. Um, he's not an inherent vice. He has not worked with PTA yet, but one of these days. Damn. PTA and, uh, child in the night, I guess are the two ones for me. I mean, those are the two that I thought of as well. Um, radio flyer, especially, I think it's interesting that this movie came right after radio flyer.

[00:22:55] Both movies have this kind of like fantastical element to them. Uh, in this movie, it's like the, the full character of Deo. Uh, those two movies are kind of the, what I was kind of drawing to too. But what are the scenes or moments in this movie that stand out to you, Mike? What should we be talking about in Deo that we haven't talked about yet? And we haven't talked about yet. Well, that's going to be hard for the person that didn't remember the movie. 27 minutes ago. Um, well, I think, uh, Fred Thompson, right? The dad? Yeah. Fred Thompson plays the dad who is, uh, yeah.

[00:23:24] Starts the movie and is like, boy, I'm hoping for a boy when he finds out his wife is pregnant. Uh, and then that upsets Grace. And then later you find out Grace's, uh, brother's wife is pregnant. Right. Uh, and the same thing is happening. I was like, oh, I'm hoping for a grandson. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think his arc is interesting because he's just basically a bastard misogynist the whole movie. Um, until Grace confronts him in the restaurant after she sings karaoke, sings Deo and karaoke.

[00:23:51] Um, you know, they're, they're also there to like, I think, I think they own the pier where the carnival thing was or something. Right. There's like some real estate deal thing they're doing. Um, yeah. In this restaurant. And she sort of embarrasses him by singing karaoke. And it's this whole thing. Um, and, uh, she kind of confronts him about like, you know, I've spent my whole life trying to get your attention and you never, never noticed me. Like what color shirt am I wearing? You know, she's, she's put a jacket on and he doesn't know what color shirt she's got on. And, um, and it's like during a meeting with the Japanese investors or something.

[00:24:21] Right. Yeah, exactly. Um, and that's sort of when he realizes like, ah, maybe I have been neglectful of my daughter who's running my business. Uh, and then, and then he sort of confronts that too. When she goes, oh, maternity leave or vacation or something that towards the end of the very end of the movie where he's like talking to his son, who's just like a buffoon and is like, oh, I've been giving you the credit for everything Grace has been doing this whole time. And he finally like realizes what's been happening.

[00:24:47] Um, so yeah, I think his arc is, is pretty good and, and he's a believable bastard Republican senator. So like, that's cool, I guess. Uh, yes. No, I like his arc in the movie. I like, uh, you know, a lot of it is about, uh, Grace kind of finally standing up to her father, uh, and all of that, uh, which, you know, I think her, I like that scene. I liked the day Oh karaoke scene, uh, which is pretty fun, but that's the first time the movie acknowledges like that, that song and his name. I feel like you might hear it like one other time. Oh, you might be right.

[00:25:17] I think they're like running through a park and like, you hear like a childhood choir or something or something, but I think it's after day Oh is born. I think it's like after the name day Oh has already been established. So it's a weird, I mean, that's like the first three minutes of the movie. She's like, I'll name you day Oh. Yes. Okay. Weird. Uh, it's like an hour before anything else. She just really likes that song. I guess. I don't know. Yeah, sure. Maybe she was a big, uh, Beetlejuice fan at three or whatever. I mean, you know, conceivably she would have been born around the time Beetlejuice came out.

[00:25:46] Uh, so yeah, we, and so I, and I did want to mention that too, that it's just, it's weird that like, you know, Beetlejuice comes out. It's a pretty big hit when it comes out. Like, it's not like a cult minor thing. Like Beetlejuice is a pretty like solid movie. It's huge. It, you know, gets Tim Burton, the Batman job and all that stuff happens. Right. So the day Oh scene in Beetlejuice, I mean, now we look back on it. It's like, that's like the most iconic scene, like whatever, you know?

[00:26:10] And I, I gotta, it takes a lot of balls to do a whole movie that's named day Oh, that's heavily featuring the song day Oh, like four years after Beetlejuice just like did the perfect day Oh scene. Like this can't be topped. So what are you doing? No, we're reclaiming day Oh. Okay. Sure. So yeah, I found that interesting, but you know, I like hearing the song day Oh and I think the karaoke scene was pretty fun. Uh, she has a good time doing it shortly after that, I think is when she realizes that like day Oh has to go right.

[00:26:39] Like she, um, like they had their various adventures and there's a whole thing with, um, the reason they're in the hospital before is because they're her niece, like her brother's daughter, um, is like chasing after them with day Oh and she like falls off the pier or something. Right. Isn't that what happens? So sort of, yeah. Well, they're there. It's, um, her sister, like you said, her sister-in-law is pregnant and it's the same thing where the, everybody's hoping for a grandson, right? That whole thing. So her niece is in the same position as she was when she was a girl, a little girl, right? She doesn't want a baby brother.

[00:27:08] And she tells the niece about day Oh and her like secret hiding spot under the pier, which is like maybe the most irresponsible thing I've ever seen an adult do in a movie. You're going to tell like a six year old about this. If you climb down this busted ass ladder and crawl underneath this thing, that's where I used to hide when I was your age. Where do you, what do you think is going to happen? Um, and so yeah, she goes missing and it's this whole, the whole, that we're all the whole family's looking for her while the mom's in labor and all this stuff.

[00:27:35] And yeah, the day Oh, day Oh goes under there and saves her and brings her out, which right by the end of the movie, the implication at the end of the movie, maybe he really does. You know? Yeah, absolutely. Um, but yeah, that's how they end up in the hospital and stuff like that. Day Oh has been causing like enough chaos in her life where she has to have a conversation with him and be like, you've got to go. And he's like, you're right. I do. Uh, you learned your lesson. Good job. Yes, exactly. Uh, and so he disappears, uh, and he's gone for a little bit and that's when she like gets the company from her dad and, you know, ends up like time passes.

[00:28:04] She has a baby and she opens up her own restaurant. The restaurant is named day Oh's. Right. Uh, and then, uh, she finally sees day Oh again at the end of the movie. And, uh, you know, they kind of go their separate ways, say hi one more time. And then the other kid sees him. It's like Elvis, what are you doing here? And, you know, and then suddenly day I was in an Elvis costume, uh, which happens a few times, like every once in a while, like it'll cut away and day Oh suddenly in a new Yeah. Which is a fun bit. I enjoyed that. That's a fun, like imaginary friend bit.

[00:28:31] Like sometimes he's in a skin scuba gear or like, you know, red baron pilot, uh, kind of stuff. Like that's, that's neat. That's a good bit. I like that. That's pretty fun. Um, otherwise it's pretty much it. Mr. Sheffields, uh, her husband, the guy from the nanny, he is very accepting of the fact that she's seeing an imaginary friend, I think very quickly. Um, like immediately. Yeah. And, and I guess she's brought up Deo before because he's like, Oh, you're seeing this Deo character again. Uh, as if it's like this, like this imaginary friend really left an impression on her.

[00:29:00] They'll be like at a family dinner or something like that. And, uh, she's trying to tell her dad that like, you know, she's pregnant and then she like offhandedly mentions Deo and the dad's like, Deo, you're not seeing him again. Are you? And, and, you know, Mr. Sheffield's like, well, what if she is seeing Deo again? That's not so bad, is it? Or what? Like he's like all in on like this. I think a lot of people would consider it to be like a crazy person behavior. Yeah. Well, I think he's, uh, I mean, you know, kudos to being a supportive husband. Sure.

[00:29:26] And I think, I think he's so relieved that she's not having an affair because he keeps hearing her talking to somebody and he's like, I, she, she like saying, I love you. And like, I forget all this stuff. And, uh, he's like, no, I have a husband now. Like, but she's like having a conversation with Deo about like what's been going on in her life. Um, yes. And so he thinks that she's having an affair and that's part of the tension for a little bit until she finally admits like no Deo is back and also I'm pregnant.

[00:29:54] Uh, and so, yeah, he follows her to the park at one point and he like, he's a, he sees a stranger. Yeah. And it's just like another guy that's on the bench or something that she's sitting on. Yeah. Well, she's actually, that's, yeah, she's sitting there like at the playground and he's like, Oh, like which ones are yours? And she's like, Oh, that went on the slide. And it cuts to Deo. And then it cuts back to him looking at an empty slide. It's like, huh? But yeah, so he thinks that like they're having this, these meetings and stuff. So then when it's all revealed, like, Oh, it's all a big misunderstanding.

[00:30:22] He's like, Oh, maybe you're just having a breakdown. Like, you know, you're like, and he's kind of trying to support her through that. He's fine. I think there's also the movie has, um, a bunch of like those weird fisheye moments where she's imagining her future just like with 18 babies and everybody's like getting real close to her face. And it's all like on these weird fisheye lenses and stuff. And it's like, Oh, neat. I don't know. Yeah. Cool touch. I think that's pretty much all I got to say about Deo, Mike. I don't know. Pretty much.

[00:30:51] The fact that I got 36 minutes out of not remembering it, uh, I think we're in pretty good shape. Yeah, no, it's a, it's an okay time. I thought, I think Elijah Wood is charming in it. I think it were, he worked for me much more than you, uh, in this movie. Uh, but, uh, yeah, no, it's a, it's an okay time. Again, interesting kind of cultural artifacts of the early nineties, just being a Disney thing from before Disney had ABC. So it was on NBC, uh, interesting for that reason. To me, I think so. Um, yeah, absolutely. And then, uh, yeah.

[00:31:21] I mean, I think we probably have a bunch more TV movies to get through in this era, but, um, Elijah Wood's working. That's interesting. You know, he's, he's cranking them out. Absolutely. No, he's making a lot of movies, a lot of like pretty high profile ones. Actually next week, uh, some pretty interesting names that we'll be talking about. Okay. Uh, in next week's movie, which I'll, I'll mention in a bit, but first let's get into letterbox reviews, Mike. Let's see what the people have to say on that day. Oh yes. Tell, tell me about drop dead Fred. Yes. Uh, the first review. So my first review here, uh, is a review with no rating, which, uh, by Sylvia, which

[00:31:50] reads, okay, but this is literally drop dead Fred WTF. I knew it. And yeah, there it is. Uh, again, yeah. I haven't seen drop dead Fred. Uh, and it sounds like you have neither, Mike. Correct. I have not, but I've heard that title. Yeah. Heard that title. I am vaguely familiar with it. And, uh, yeah, it sounds like it has the exact same plot as day. Oh, uh, here's a one star review from Jordan Falk, which reads awful. I had to keep taking breaks every 10 or so minutes to remember that there was more to the world than this. Damn.

[00:32:20] That's pretty harsh. Uh, that is pretty intense. However, if you were watching this in 1992 on TV, you would automatically have breaks every 10 or so minutes. Uh, that would have happened already. So that would have helped. Uh, and finally, I got one more review here. It's no star or it's a not no review, like no star rating, but from, uh, gain in which reads. So obviously I'm in my designing women phase, but this movie was odd decisions like Mr. Sheffield is American. Fred Thompson sits on Elijah Wood.

[00:32:50] Deo's usage in Beetlejuice was iconic and shouldn't try to be replicated, but it seemed like they were trying. And Elijah's impish laughter sometimes veered on evil maniacal. True. It does. Yes. Uh, he is, uh, intense sometimes in this movie. Yeah. Yeah. He's a, he's, he's pan. Like I said. Yeah, no, you are a hundred percent right. And that's, that's the whole review. That's it. That's all we got for Deo. Uh, so we're gonna, we're gonna wrap up Deo and we're, we're done with this now. We don't have to talk about this movie anymore. Uh, I don't want to play with you anymore. Exactly.

[00:33:20] Mike D where can we find you online this week? You can find me at MD film blog on letterboxd and blue sky. You can also donate to support the show on our Kofi page, Kofi.com slash Mike and Mike pods, where you can donate $50 and pick a topic for us to discuss on the bonus episodes and Mike might go to the movies. You want us to watch drop dead Fred? I guess we could. We could. Absolutely. I just looked 10% on rotten tomatoes. So that's cool. Can't wait. It's a secret masterpiece. You never know. Maybe.

[00:33:49] Um, but that's $50 on a Kofi page. And if you would like merch, we have merch available on our red bubble, Mike and Mike pods. Red bubble.com. That's right. You can find me online at M Smith film blog on Twitter and blue sky, Mike Smith film on letterbox radio, Mike sandwich, and Instagram. Thank you so much. Listen to complete works. I'm Mike Smith. It's Mike Decretio. Don't forget to rate and view the show on Apple podcasts or any other podcast app. And if you want to contact us, you can ski at us at blue sky at complete works pod. You can find the rest of our podcast and rapture press alongside many other podcasts, but kinds of comic books and movie news and all that good stuff.

[00:34:18] Our theme song was created by Kyle Cullen. Can you reach for your own podcast themes at Kyle's podcast themes at gmail.com. And our logo was designed by Mac V or at fearless guard on blue sky next week. Elijah Wood stars in one of JJ Abrams is very first screenplays. Whoa. Yes. Back when he was Jeffrey Abrams in 1992 is forever young. Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Mel Gibson. Oh no.

[00:34:48] Yeah. This is Mel Gibson in the early nineties before he went insane. Right. Theoretically. Yeah. I think so. Before he publicly went insane. Right. Yeah. So yeah, we got that to look forward to next week. That'll be fun. Yeah. I think that's what he's also credited in, uh, night beast. JJ's first film credit. Yes. He's like the sound guy or something, right? He has the music, music by or something. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And that's like 84. I want to say 80. I think he's like 16. If I remember the, yes. Yeah.

[00:35:17] So I think in this case, and we'll talk about it next week, but I believe in this case, his first screenplay was regarding Henry in 1991. And then this was his followup. And I believe Mel Gibson was trying to get regarding Henry because he loved that screenplay so much. Wow. And he was like, whatever this guy does next, I'm in. Uh, and hell yeah. Hell now we got forever young, which we're talking about next week. Can't wait. You think they play the music? I feel like, uh, if, if day Oh played day Oh, then forever young has got to play forever young. Right. Okay. Sure. Yeah. You're right.

[00:35:46] Uh, remember to check out other podcasts. Mike might go to the movies for all kinds of other movie related stuff, including recent releases, ranks list, general discussions, and more. Thanks so much for listening guys. Join us next time. Would you?