THE CATEGORY
CABINET

Todd Louiso's recognizable control-room presence narrowly beats the other familiar faces.

Hawthorne James was recognized for playing Sam and the library security guard in Se7en.

Rob Thomas is selected as the most recognizable supporting character actor.

Oscar’s recognizable presence as the security guard most strongly catches the hosts’ attention.

Clarence Gilyard’s recognizable run across Top Gun, Die Hard, and television wins out.

McGlone is the main answer, with Robert Weil and Malachi McCourt also getting nods.

The teenagers, especially the older daughter, are considered the film's weakest element.

The otherwise excellent film loses momentum when it extends beyond the bus escape to resolve Howard.

Joan's married-man storyline is viewed as the film's weakest element.

The movie’s implausible financial math becomes the main weak-link discussion.

The movie delays meaningful karate action for nearly an hour.

They debate the weakest element, with Ian as one candidate and the wish-cancel sequence also getting pushback, without a clean consensus.

Walter Cronkite steals the show through his archival television appearances.

Joe Morton’s performance was judged the most likely to steal attention beyond its intended supporting role.

The married woman is treated as the obvious Dion Waiters winner.

The candidates are criticized for overacting, but no winner is declared.

Sutherland’s brief, outsized performance gets the most support.

Kreese dominates his brief appearance.

The hosts cannot identify a deserving overacting performance.

Both Sato and Chosen receive enthusiastic support for their heightened performances.

They explicitly call out Modine's acting as the over-the-top performance in the movie.

They mention Marty Craven and Ernie Hudson, but do not fully agree on a single overacting winner.

They identify the actor playing Gozer as the movie's over-the-top performance, while acknowledging the casting rumor uncertainty.

They agree Richard Tyson is going for broke and overacting hard as Crisp.

Jack Traven was treated as the perfect short, unmistakably ’90s action-hero cop name.

Bernie Litko is selected as the best character name.

Handsome Rob narrowly emerges from a field of memorable crew names.

Chosen is amusingly literal for the character destined to follow Sato.

They land on Baron Bear Bailey as the movie’s best character name.

The court-appointed locksmith Manfred Bagel wins after they get a kick out of the name alone.

They frame the supporting dad role as an Andy Richter-type part and settle on that casting lane.

They discussed several possibilities, but Levinson, appearing in the film, emerged as the best-matching casting callout.

They decide the assault sequence needed better handling and that the movie's intimate violence was poorly staged.

They discussed several recasting options but treated Season Hubley as the key successful casting choice in the movie.

They praise the casting, especially for getting Joey Pants as Guido and building a very strong ensemble around him.

When they revisit who truly carries the film, the conversation circles back to Palminteri’s central performance.

The redhead Serena is named the clear Dan Waiters pick because she has the movie-star juice and feels tailor-made for the category.

They landed on Lonigan’s henchmen because the no-lines presence still stands out.

They explicitly give the Dan Waiters Award to Linda Fiorentino from a very deep supporting lineup.

They choose the diner chef as the movie’s best waiter-type presence.

They treat Chris Cooper as the easy choice for the category.

They named Reggie Jackson the clear winner for essentially playing a version of himself in the baseball finale.

Among the real-life sports and media figures in the film, Aikman is the name that gets the strongest support as the clearest 'playing yourself' pick.

Johnny Chan is named as the clear example of a real person playing himself in the film.

They call out the Bush footage as the clear example of public figures just appearing as themselves.

They floated Bradley Cooper as the best then-era replacement for Vince Vaughn, while also mentioning Dave Chappelle as an alternate idea.

They float modern recasts, settling most strongly on Sydney Sweeney for Maddie and Miles Teller for Ned.

They float several alternate casting ideas, but do not settle on a single replacement cast winner.

They imagine a younger star in the Charlie role and favor Leo, while noting Damon and Affleck as other possibilities.

They think Hoffman would have been a strong Remick, with a brief mention that he could also have played the Klan villain.

They imagine Philip Seymour Hoffman as an older version of Max Corkle.

They mostly place Hoffman in the Farrell role, while noting he could also fit some of the smaller eccentric parts.

They mostly landed on Hoffman as the poet, though they briefly considered him in Jesse's orbit as well.

This is treated as an easy win for Spielberg.

The room unanimously picks Spielberg over Scorsese for this movie.

They test the idea against several movies and generally favor Scorsese for crime-heavy titles and Spielberg for more tonal fits.

The quiet entrance of Buzz and Neil instantly raises the stakes.

Sato emerges like Darth Vader in a strikingly composed warehouse reveal.

They treat Bundini Brown's first entrance as the standout introduction because it instantly sells Foxx's energy and the character's importance.

Jerry is treated as the obvious person you would least want to be around.

Kate is nominated as the least relaxing hang, mostly because of her procedural rigidity and arguments about how things should be done.

They decide Ace would be the most exhausting hang, though Melissa is also described as a poor conversational option.

They like Flanagan’s scarred enforcer best, while also noting Ilya’s memorable presence.

When discussing weak villain work, they favor Grant Heslov’s character over the main terrorist leader.

They note how hard the role was to cast, but do not identify a real casting miss in the final discussion.

They argue the friend group is thinly drawn and that some casting choices, including Brancato, are a miss.

The hosts debate the category and ultimately land on Anna Deavere Smith as the best fit for the role/player-position notion.

They settled on Val Kilmer because his one-scene comeback is such a remarkable acting moment that it outweighs everything else.

The nerdy supporting guys, especially the Trekkies and reptile guy, are treated as the Dan Waiters-style pick.

They give the heat-check award to Woody Harrelson for being excellent in a very small number of scenes, with Kelly Macdonald also mentioned.

The hosts agree Richard Pitino is the cleanest example of a person essentially playing himself in the movie.

The panel sides with Wilbon and Kornheiser as the best example of excelling at playing themselves.

Bill calls Leslie Mann the unquestioned winner for the category, while Mr. Hurley is briefly mentioned as an alternative.

Merle emerges as the favorite because of how memorable and scene-stealing he is in the movie.

They briefly debate a few bit parts but favor Jennifer Esposito for the most memorable underused supporting turn.

After discussing several candidates, Bill and Sean settle on Aretha Franklin as the person who steals the movie most decisively.

Craig's director-choice answer is a Wes Anderson Robocop version.

They never firmly settle on a director-city winner, but discuss Dominique Dunne and the boy as possible candidates.

They answer Spielberg as the clear directorial fit for the material.

They note that Bob Fosse was once circling one of the early screenplay versions as a possible director.

They pick Annabelle as the unusually attractive, independent love interest who owns a bar and cheerleads on the side.

They invent this category and give it to Nancy Travis for playing a very attractive butcher despite the job seeming wildly improbable.

They single out Shue’s glamorous-but-brilliant scientist casting as the classic Rewatchables stretch that somehow works.

They pick 23-year-old Nicole Kidman as the neurosurgeon as the most implausible casting choice in the film.

They joke that Zodiac is a bad serial killer because he fails to finish murders and leaves too many identifying clues.

They call out the FBI's readiness to trust Billy and send him back in as the questionable job performance pick.

Miramax is picked as the one whose handling of the movie raises the biggest 'was this a good job?' question.

They question whether Rooker's killer would really be competent enough to keep avoiding capture, with some side doubts about Frank's police work too.