Episode 206 - Little Italy

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Paul, June, and Jason are in-studio to discuss the 2018 romantic comedy Little Italy starring Emma Roberts and Hayden Christensen. They talk about the stereotypical Italian accents, the hair dye, the rain soccer game, the Luigi character, and everything else in this bonkers movie.

 

 

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[bonerhonkfarts 16]

Can we talk about how the only decent joke in the movie was almost a direct quote from Gordon Ramsey? They just changed it from idiot sandwich to moron sandwich (unless that’s what they call it in Canada like subs and hoagies).

[pscudese 701]

2 hours ago, bonerhonkfarts said:

Can we talk about how the only decent joke in the movie was almost a direct quote from Gordon Ramsey? They just changed it from idiot sandwich to moron sandwich (unless that’s what they call it in Canada like subs and hoagies).

Let alone it's a direct rip off of this famous clip of Ramsay!

[JCVDFanClub 16]

I know they talked about how they thought the two leads appeared to possibly be siblings. However, they didn't mention how, by the end of the movie, their grandparents are married. Which makes them step-cousins? Or something? I don't know. It's weird that they're in a relationship and their grandparents are married.

[JCVDFanClub 16]

Paul and Jason made the claim at the end of the show that the movie wasn't filmed in Toronto, however it actually was.

https://onlocationvacations.com/2017/05/30/little-italy-starring-emma-roberts-spotted-filming-toronto

There's also a comprehensive guide online to visit all of the locations that they filmed at:

https://www.narcity.com/ca/on/toronto/lifestyle/you-can-visit-all-the-toronto-spots-in-emma-roberts-and-hayden-christensens-latest-movie-little-italy

[pscudese 701]

I was surprised that the story didn't kick off with Emma returning home and still feeling hurt by Hayden's initial lack of interest. To Paul's point, this is possibly why she left for London in the first place.

With this storyline, Emma would be aligned with her family and try to help make a more refined pizza, which in turn would bring more business. By introducing Emma's culinary expertise, Hayden must now take over his family's place and create a stellar pizza too. Then you have two businesses that have upped their pizza game all leading to the final showdown. Of course during this time of back and forth pranks, we can see their love blossom and cause conflict due to their initial familia allegiance.

[pscudese 701]

11 minutes ago, JCVDFanClub said:

I know they talked about how they thought the two leads appeared to possibly be siblings. However, they didn't mention how, by the end of the movie, their grandparents are married. Which makes them step-cousins? Or something? I don't know. It's weird that they're in a relationship and their grandparents are married.

I too thought that was insane. Honestly at the very beginning of the film I thought they were cousins. 

At least they aren't blood related, however the family tree will surely be wonky after both marriages. 

[ChunkStyle 1160]

There is a twitter joke format that goes "I made a bot watch 1,000 hours of BLANK and then write its own BLANK and this is the result...." and the punchline is a page of a screenplay that is a nonsense version of the source material.  Watching this movie felt like a real life version of that joke format.  I tried to laugh off the feeling but then I dug a little deeper.  If you take the last names of the two "screenwriters" (Virmani and Gallucio) and rearrange the letters you get "A.I. vim our calling."  Vim being a popular Linux text editor that is a clear statement that this movie was actually written by a crude artificial intelligence and I would say it is essentially Skynet's first act of aggression against us humans. 

[pscudese 701]

Regarding the Marijuana prank, I'd like to understand what the rival shop owner did to get so many customers to show up? Up until that point, both shops were struggling for business and it's not like the owner promoted the prank... "Hey go to this resturant for there's free pot in the pizza."

Some people could argue that a few people showed up and the rest was word of mouth. My counter to that, is that everyone in the restaurant reacts at the same time to the results of the pot. So that means everyone essentially showed up like a flash mob.

So again, if one owner is able to get so many patrons to show up for this prank... why isn't he doing that same leg work for his own business and sell legit pizza? 

[grudlian. 4725]

How many outfits did Emma Roberts pack for what was supposed to be a week long trip? I know Jason brought up her changing clothes from the pizza challenge to the airport but I think she changed clothes every single scene. Especially since gett only suitcase she puts in the taxi was carry on size.

[Auden 1809]

When Nikki and Lay-O were kids they appeared to be roughly the same age. But as grownups there is an obvious age gap between the two. And in fact Emma Roberts is 10 years younger than Hayden Christensen.

[grudlian. 4725]

Did anyone else notice this dialogue in the opening voice over:

Hayden Christensen: They call my dad the don on dough.

Emma Roberts: The don? That is stuck a stereotype!

Is that where they drew the line on stereotypes?

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

 

3 hours ago, JCVDFanClub said:

Paul and Jason made the claim at the end of the show that the movie wasn't filmed in Toronto, however it actually was.

https://onlocationvacations.com/2017/05/30/little-italy-starring-emma-roberts-spotted-filming-toronto

There's also a comprehensive guide online to visit all of the locations that they filmed at:

https://www.narcity.com/ca/on/toronto/lifestyle/you-can-visit-all-the-toronto-spots-in-emma-roberts-and-hayden-christensens-latest-movie-little-italy

My cousin got married pretty much right at the place where the pizza competition at the end was filmed!  (The brick-lined Distillery District on the above map.) That was the best part of the movie for me - recognizing the Toronto spots I'd been to.

Anyway - gotta love yet another "throw your career away, ladies", unromantic, unfunny rom-coms.  Thanks to HDTGM, I know this is a whole genre.

[Wil Dride 121]

Hayden has a history of being in movies where the younger version of his character has way more chemistry with the younger version of the female lead than his version of the character does with the adult version of the female lead.

[pscudese 701]

I’m surprised this didn’t come up on the podcast, but I was blown away by how many times the cast said “Little Italy.” 

Although 23 times may not sound like a lot, it’s word combination that definitely stands out... especially when it’s delivered in a stereotypical Italian accent. 

Attached is a quick compilation of a few of them: 

Little Italy Little Italy Little Italy.mp3

[pscudese 701]

10 minutes ago, AlmostAGhost said:

It 

My cousin got married pretty much right at the place where the pizza competition at the end was filmed!  (The brick-lined Distillery District on the above map.) That was the best part of the movie for me - recognizing the Toronto spots I'd been to.

Anyway - gotta love yet another "throw your career away, ladies", unromantic, unfunny rom-coms Thanks to HDTGM, I know this is a whole genre.

But the real question is... did your cousin marry their 2nd Step Cousin?

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

also this bit of Amazon Prime trivia has a lot in it

[pgconley 36]

44 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

Did anyone else notice this dialogue in the opening voice over:

Hayden Christensen: They call my dad the don on dough.

Emma Roberts: The don? That is stuck a stereotype!

Is that where they drew the line on stereotypes?

I came here to write this exact thing! I was like is this movie trying to self-aware? So bizarre.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

1 hour ago, pscudese said:

Regarding the Marijuana prank, I'd like to understand what the rival shop owner did to get so many customers to show up? Up until that point, both shops were struggling for business and it's not like the owner promoted the prank... "Hey go to this resturant for there's free pot in the pizza."

Some people could argue that a few people showed up and the rest was word of mouth. My counter to that, is that everyone in the restaurant reacts at the same time to the results of the pot. So that means everyone essentially showed up like a flash mob.

So again, if one owner is able to get so many patrons to show up for this prank... why isn't he doing that same leg work for his own business and sell legit pizza? 

I thought it was all the old ladies from the retirement home.

[upton 17]

Years and years of listening to this podcast and something in one of these movies finally broke me to the point that I have to post about it. And it's just SUCH an awful reason. 

It's 7 minutes in, and Emma Roberts says that Jane Seymour is teaching her how to cook, "like, four Michelin stars cook".

The Michelin guide tops out at 3 stars. And the line VO where she says it *almost* makes it sound like a joke, but IS IT A JOKE? I honestly can't tell if this was just an awful non-joke or they couldn't be arsed to know how the Michelin Guide works. In a movie centered around food. I had June's reaction to the release date of this movie. 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

So there's no way they would have been able to pull off the pot prank. I have never actually had marijuana anything because I'm allergic to smoke and as a giant nerd (until this year) would have been paranoid about getting in trouble with an edible. However because I have far less anxious, guilt ridden friends (which might be why they aren't so anxious) I now know that cooking with pot is fucking disgusting. I spent a night recently googling how to make weed butter without the very pungent smell for one. There are ways but cooking marijuana in an oven is going to release those smells.  No matter how much oregano and other things that go on that pizza that place was going to REEK. 

Also it didn't look like they bothered to ground the marijuana up . Lay-O holds a huge clump. Frankly even if they had they should have been able to smell that there was something wrong with the oregano before cooking. 

[upton 17]

Ok also, why does this Canadian Little Italy pizzeria have Italian, Canadian, and *AMERICAN* flags in the window? It seems to support the theory that at some point in 1950 several blocks of Brooklyn were transported, Philadelphia experiment style, into "Canada".

[gigi-tastic 2322]

46 minutes ago, AlmostAGhost said:

It 

My cousin got married pretty much right at the place where the pizza competition at the end was filmed!  (The brick-lined Distillery District on the above map.) That was the best part of the movie for me - recognizing the Toronto spots I'd been to.

Anyway - gotta love yet another "throw your career away, ladies", unromantic, unfunny rom-coms Thanks to HDTGM, I know this is a whole genre.

Congrats to your cousin! On the topic of the whole Throw Your Life And Career Away bit  why couldn't fucking Dye Job go to London with her??!?! They could BOTH become successful restaurateurs and we could have a cut back to them visiting for the wedding. If one of the main complaints Nicki had was nothing changes here no one leaves, have them go off and start a new adventure and come home to the newly reopened Pizza Napoli. Fuck having her give everything up for a sallow faced pizza delivery boy !  

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

Just now, gigi-tastic said:

Congrats to your cousin! On the topic of the whole Throw Your Life And Career Away bit  why couldn't fucking Dye Job go to London with her??!?! They could BOTH become successful restaurateurs and we could have a cut back to them visiting for the wedding. If one of the main complaints Nicki had was nothing changes here no one leaves, have them go off and start a new adventure and come home to the newly reopened Pizza Napoli. Fuck having her give everything up for a sallow faced pizza delivery boy !  

Exactly!  And how about when they were making dinner and he was basically like 'stop helping me, I'm making you a pizza'.  She's in culinary school!  She's better at this than you are, even if you're a man with a pizza oven in his apartment.

Also, I should have screenshotted this but when he took the pizza out of that pizza oven, he put his hand right straight on that pizza paddle thing!

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Okay I just want to point out something that I could not let go of throughout my entire viewing of this movie.

Hayden is ten years older than Emma Roberts. A fully blown decade and they wanted us all to believe that they grew up together. Now that's not where this post ends because I looked up someone else - Miss Perfection Alyssa Milano, and she is 9 years older than Hayden.

This leading man is literally closer in age to the woman playing his love interest's mother.