Episode #792: Enemy of the State
Added 2025-04-01 04:00:06 +0000 UTC“You got your Oscar, which was an unfortunate night for everyone…” - Steve on Will Smith
On this week’s episode, we’re kicking off a two-episode tribute to the legendary Gene Hackman with a convo about the better-than-you-remember surveillance thriller, Enemy of the State! First off, this ain’t no sequel to The Conversation, let’s get that straight! But you do have an amazingly cranky and paranoid Gene Hackman running around with a nearly never-better Will Smith as they dodge Jon Voight and his stable of late-90’s Gen-X character actors! Why was the great Jason Robards uncredited? Same question for Philip Baker Hall! Why couldn’t a rocket hit Jamie Kennedy and Seth Green’s surveillance van? And how incredible is that effect shot with Jason Lee and the firetruck? PLUS: Brill interrogates the Peanuts Gang!
Enemy of the State stars Will Smith, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, Regina King, Stuart Wilson, Barry Pepper, Ian Hart, Jake Busey, Scott Chan, Jason Lee, Gabriel Byrne, James Le Gros, Dan Butler, Jack Black, Jamie Kennedy, Bodhi Elfman, Anna Gunn, Lillo Brancato, John Capodice, Ivana Milicevic, Grant Heslov, Seth Green, Philip Baker Hall, Jason Robards, Tom Sizemore, and the late, forever great, Gene Hackman as Brill; directed by Tony Scott.
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Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.
Comments
I thought they were talking about the train movie Unstoppable at the end of the ep. Train goin' that fast...vaporize anything in its path
Smaug
2025-04-06 22:55:28 +0000 UTCI had a game gear. I grew up on Sega. I did not get a Nintendo until I got the WiI playing Animal Crossing
Dawn Elicia Billings
2025-04-05 02:29:04 +0000 UTCIt is a useful talent. And frankly, Grant Heslov's severed head would be something quite memorable.
MarkNM
2025-04-04 23:59:19 +0000 UTCListen .... I'm not at all proud of this..... It's become more of a curse than a helpful "skill"..... Grant Hezlov is mauled by one of the Uber violent gorillas off screen. Runs towards the group screaming help me(the part in the trailer), and then one of the gorillas runs in behind him and throws the severed head of someone else. Yeah I know this is in no way useful or even wanted. But if remembering shit I've seen in movies I've seen a few times like I watched it yesterday is my only talent then I'm just going to do it. Fantastic show gang.
Adam Ray
2025-04-04 14:40:05 +0000 UTCWell, you live up there. Shake your fist!
Brandon
2025-04-03 18:16:03 +0000 UTCI really loved ur episode. Finally, a stand in for the audience... Frank was just an honest guy, trying to make an honest living. He wasn't ready for Homer. RIPD, Frank. Soar with the Doves. Springfield wasn't ready for you.
Brandon
2025-04-03 18:15:18 +0000 UTCSpeaking of movies everyone is in, anyone seen this School for Scoundrels? Fucking garbagio flick, but dude. The faces.... You got Michael Clark Duncan, Sheldon Cooper, Bad Santa, Napolean Dynamite, the babysitter from Jerry Maguire, and assfuckloads of recognizable sag cards. its crazy. Stay Tuned this motherfucker, for real.
Brandon
2025-04-03 18:09:36 +0000 UTCLately watching a movie on Amazon feels equivalent to watching a boot leg copy your cousin let you borrow.
Barista Bran
2025-04-03 15:44:49 +0000 UTCMy LRM WLM request!
Craig
2025-04-03 11:17:45 +0000 UTCThank you guys for helping to normalize conversations about digestive health.
allegedlycool
2025-04-03 04:35:00 +0000 UTCHh
Dan Craftwerk
2025-04-03 04:00:22 +0000 UTCI’d like to recommend honey wheat pretzels for a delightful munchies experience 🙂↕️
Sass
2025-04-03 02:19:28 +0000 UTCWill Smith is going down as one of the 🐐 can’t wait for the Willaissance
Sass
2025-04-03 02:16:27 +0000 UTCHonest question: can we get an emergency episode on Tombstone to showcase Val's greatest performance ever? Also, it's one of the most stacked casts and it's a damn good time.
Moe Tilden
2025-04-03 01:03:07 +0000 UTCI appreciate the moment of silence post-signoff. Respectful way to acknowledge the passing of one of the greats.
John Edwards
2025-04-02 23:57:36 +0000 UTCBut did Will Smith thank Jon Voight even once?
Eren Keskin
2025-04-02 19:30:45 +0000 UTCDude, that Richard Kind imitation is just amazing!
Knut Farstad
2025-04-02 16:16:18 +0000 UTCEric - I too am getting into pretzels in my 40s. Would love to have you on my pretzel podcast, “Knot Talk” anytime.
Samuel McGuire
2025-04-02 14:04:35 +0000 UTCThis was one of those rare movies that filmed in the city proper. I grew up there and was in high school when it was made. Production shut down a huge section of Connecticut Avenue to film the chase and car accident scene. A few of my friends and I got to be extras. The famous bookstore that doubled for the lingerie shoppe was called Lamda Rising. Really cool spot.
Ay Ay Ron
2025-04-02 13:01:00 +0000 UTCNext February can be Kilmer movies. Do a true Val-entines Day celebration
Jason
2025-04-02 11:35:11 +0000 UTCGame Gear!
Infinite Terror
2025-04-02 10:55:37 +0000 UTCRIP Val 😢 Hackman, now Kilmer.
Paul
2025-04-02 07:22:01 +0000 UTCI ended up seeing Loose Cannons the week Hackman died, and…hoo boy. I don’t remember watching a duller comedy like that in a while.
Stewart Moncure
2025-04-01 23:42:14 +0000 UTCDots Pretzels is the answer.
Aaron
2025-04-01 21:46:26 +0000 UTCJust FYI, Stuart Wilson is also the doctor in Hot Fuzz who gets his toes blown off with a shotgun by Nick Frost. You're a doctor, deal with it. Yeahhh mutha fucker.
duck of death
2025-04-01 21:28:48 +0000 UTCEnemy of the State The Mask of Zorro Morbius “Name three trailers that played before every movie!”
Jonnie Sea
2025-04-01 21:26:40 +0000 UTCOne the Hemsworth's is fighting a Gane of Thrones actor in Gun Man 2! Streaming now. And look forward to Diarrhea Santa and the Sexy Elf Man starring Jack Black and Ryan Reynolds in November!
Jason
2025-04-01 20:36:51 +0000 UTCI'm so thankful you guys explained the no text thing. When I watched this I heard the typing sound, but nothing would come up, and then a subtitle would appear with location and time and I was so confused what the hell was happening
I.C. Weiner
2025-04-01 19:01:23 +0000 UTCThe Turbo Express was a great little system if you didn't mind going through 8 AA batteries in like 9 minutes.
MarkNM
2025-04-01 18:50:45 +0000 UTCMan, Hollywood really knew how to just turn out star vehicles that people could actually care about back then, couldn't they? Now Netflix gets 3-4 famous names together, advertises the shitty result for a week, no one gives a shit, then they pretend it's profitable.
MarkNM
2025-04-01 15:46:35 +0000 UTCApril Fools?
MarkNM
2025-04-01 15:44:43 +0000 UTCCould it be 4 minutes of foreign dub credits? Not sure they have those for older movies though.
MarkNM
2025-04-01 15:44:01 +0000 UTCI’m glad Steve is imbedded with the Nazis.
Steve Lyon
2025-04-01 15:42:09 +0000 UTC"The Enema Industrial Complex" THIS is why I'm a patreon supporter
Matt
2025-04-01 15:24:35 +0000 UTC“I love when they finish…” cum/gunshot
Daniel Cloud
2025-04-01 15:19:10 +0000 UTCCooper's in Austin. - Eric
We Hate Movies
2025-04-01 14:17:43 +0000 UTCI tried to tell my doc I wanted one but he's like not till you're 50 or 60
Frank Grimes
2025-04-01 13:27:42 +0000 UTCEvery male over 35 should get a colonoscopy if you can! Colon cancer is on the rise in younger men!
Rod
2025-04-01 12:03:28 +0000 UTCThe films on Disney plus here in uk so I thought I'd check if the text is there and it is. Also noticed for some reason on disney the film is 2hr 11 min and on amazon prime to rent/own it's only 2hr 7 min. Wonder what the difference is?
Kureigu
2025-04-01 11:31:53 +0000 UTCI always 😂 when Jake busey gets into it with the NSA guy about the satellites....this film was will Smith at his finest. My fave will role. Hackman absolutely kills it as brill....will: "you blew up a building..." hackman: "BECAUSE YOU MADE A PHONE CALL!"
Frank Grimes
2025-04-01 08:41:41 +0000 UTCSame
Frank Grimes
2025-04-01 08:38:17 +0000 UTCSo glad you guys brought up the on-screen text debacle with the Amazon copy because I literally tried watching it on multiple devices to see if my app was just messed up! That's ridiculous stuff even for Amazon. But at least I got a good laugh when Larry King ends the interview mid-way through the movie and has it go to commercial and then Amazon started playing ads at that moment. The only time ever where the ad placement was perfect.
Busiris
2025-04-01 06:47:52 +0000 UTCThis is an outrage! I watched the first 75 minutes of Enemy of the State for "free" on Bezos' bullshit Amazon outfit for the first time earlier this afternoon. After really enjoying the first half of this absolutely stacked cast make a TON of choices in a filled-out world that is literally a utopian joke in 2025. I digress. So I'm a bad employee, right? Well, today when I was working from home, I was not really working from home. Now I assume that DOGE has already flagged this comment to support the firing of numerous government employees for no reason other than to tank the economy and buy it all back up for pennies on the dollar at our expense because somehow $800 billion is not enough for these bastards. I digress. Anyways, I go to Bezos Prime Video and hit the "Continue" button. Only to be told, I now have to pay $3.50 or whatever to finish a movie I ALREADY STARTED THAT DAY. I assume this is because the month changed and now Enemy of the State is not included with the monthly offerings we must make to our bald overlord. Some of you might say, WHERE IS LUIGI?? I do not say that. LUIGI is behind bars. I say to you: WHERE IS WALUIGI!!!
jribs
2025-04-01 05:34:13 +0000 UTCWhich Texas BBQ spot shit the bed?
Graham Trainor
2025-04-01 04:51:06 +0000 UTCYeah, I think this is my favorite Will Smith movie. He and Hackman REALLY work well together here. Also really love the whole supporting cast. Voight as an evil asshole, Jason Lee as a dead meat hippie, Green, Kennedy, and Black as the fascist geek squad, Jake Busey and Scott Caan as the douchebag hit squad... it's all working for me.
johnny stocker
2025-04-01 04:40:31 +0000 UTCProlonged toilet talk up top means this will be a very good episode
Aaron Dowler
2025-04-01 04:39:37 +0000 UTCAdd it to the PBH filmography
Matzar
2025-04-01 04:37:59 +0000 UTCWatched this today in anticipation of the ep for the first time since the 90s and had an unexpectedly emotional reaction to Jason Lee's grungy neighbor misdirecting the NSA goons and giving him time to escape. Solidarity in the face of fascism, beautiful to see.
Chris Rose
2025-04-01 04:17:51 +0000 UTCI’ve watched this movie at least 36 times. I’ll never leave it after I find it on tv. It’s definitely a chair magnet
Papa Taylor
2025-04-01 04:14:58 +0000 UTC
