Organizing “Movies The Worst Guy You Know Says Are His Favorite”

ORGANIZING THINGS with Jason and Shea

In the debut episode of 'Organizing Things,' hosts Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion dissect and categorize movies that the 'worst guy you know' claims as

Key takeaways

• Movies deemed 'red flags' often signal emotional outsourcing or performative vulnerability rather than genuine connection.

Main topics

• Movie taste as a reflection of personal character
• Red flag behaviors and their cultural markers

Notable quotes

"You're not alone. I am here with you, Shay."

"He's like, watch this. He could put, he had like a touch screen that controlled the car and he put the audio so that it all focused like to the back seat where I was sitting."

Conclusion

The hosts successfully categorize a range of controversial films into tiers based on their perceived

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) You are not alone. I am here with you, Shay. Speaker 2 (0:10) Now to organize, I'm looking in your eyes, you never said goodbye, someone tell me why. What Speaker 1 (0:26) is happening right now? Speaker 2 (0:28) Did you have to go? Richard, home is over. Sorry. Speaker 1 (0:45) Welcome to Organizing Things, a good movie podcast hosted by myself. I'm Shea Serrano, and he's everybody's favorite red flag, Jason Concepcion. Hey! In this show, Jason and I dissect one specific movie-related subject and then organize all of its parts and pieces into one of four tiers, great, good, meh, or bad. Today, we're organizing Movies the Worst Guy You Know. says are his favorite. We have a whole batch of them below, Jason. You and I came up with our own master list. And then also the good movie readers submitted a bunch of entries. Thank you to everyone who did that. There were literally hundreds of comments on the post about what this first episode was going to be about. It's very exciting. We're going to go over some of the funniest comments and best ones later in the show. But before we get to that, Jason, and before we get to the tears, before we get to organizing, I do want to ask you one quick question. Speaker 2 (1:35) Yeah. Speaker 1 (1:36) Has there ever... been anyone in your life who did or said something you consider to be a red flag? Because that's effectively what we're talking about here, red flag movies. So I'm curious, somebody in your life who did or said something that you consider to be a red flag, something where you were like, yeah, I probably don't want to chill out with this guy too much anymore. Speaker 2 (1:55) I mean, are we talking non-criminal version, right? Speaker 1 (2:01) If you want to give me a criminal version, I would love to hear a criminal version. If you have a non-one, I would love to hear that. As well, Jason. Speaker 2 (2:07) I mean, of course, of course, someone has told me stuff that I'm like, ooh, I don't know. You know, like, you know, recently, for instance, Speaker 1 (2:18) I Speaker 2 (2:19) was in a car with a guy driving me from the airport. I was in London recently. My driver, Giuseppe, was telling me that he's also in finance and he wanted me to invest in his fund. And then he showed me on his phone, the like AI that he uses to is just trading for him. Like it's like a agentic AI that's just like trading stuff. And he's like, you give me, you give me 10,000. I give you 5 % profit every month. And that seemed like, I don't know, it seemed like a red flag to me. Speaker 1 (2:56) You didn't get Giuseppe's phone number? No, but he seemed, he also, this Speaker 2 (3:02) is not a joke. He was like, I'm a businessman. I'm also in business. I'm like, okay. And he's doing this trading. I'm like, what else do you do? He's like. I do gutters. I do rain gutters. I have a rain gutter company in Napoli. He has a rain gutter company in Naples. They like manufacture and install rain gutters. Speaker 1 (3:21) And Speaker 2 (3:21) he's driving me to my hotel from the airport. He's a very industrious man. Speaker 1 (3:27) I can't tell if you're fucking with me or not right now. No, Speaker 2 (3:31) this Speaker 1 (3:31) was true. You were in Europe with a driver named Giuseppe. It Speaker 2 (3:36) was Giuseppe. He was an Italian guy. Speaker 1 (3:38) Was he driving a Mini Cooper? Speaker 2 (3:40) No, it was some sort of some sort of electric something like an electric Speaker 1 (3:44) Volkswagen or something like that. And Speaker 2 (3:47) then he got into a screaming match with this other taxi driver, like one of the, you know, the kind of like classic looking London cabs. Like, yeah, Speaker 1 (3:56) he Speaker 2 (3:56) was trying to, like, get into the turn lane. And like getting in, he was like pointing. He was like, hey, let me in. Let me into this guy. And he rolls down his window and he's like, watch this. He was like talking to me so much, this guy. But I was like kind of enjoying it. He was like, watch this. He's like, hey, let me go there. And the other guy's like, you got to get in line, son. You missed the light. You got to get over it. You know, you got to understand how to drive in London. You got to have your head on a swivel. You won't drive like that. You're never going to make it. It's a drive-in. And then he started having this screaming fight. And then he. The guy drives on, he rolls up his window and then he's like, yes, you know, so look at my trading program. You like the speakers in this car? He started telling me about the speakers in the car Speaker 1 (4:37) and how good they were. And then he started like showing me the surround sound in the car and being like, watch this. He put, Speaker 2 (4:45) this happened. He, he put on Rihanna, fell in love in a, in a hopeless place. And then he's like, watch this. He. Like my fucking ears are bleeding. He turned this shit up so loud. And then he's like, watch this. He could put, he had like a touch screen that controlled the car and he put the audio so that it all focused like to the back seat where I was sitting. So all these speakers are just like. Speaker 1 (5:15) He's like, Speaker 2 (5:16) amazing. No, it's incredible. No. I'm like, Giuseppe, you're fucking killing me over here. Jesus Christ. Red flag, Giuseppe. Speaker 1 (5:22) Two things. Number one, there are so many people who this is the first time they've ever heard me and you on a podcast together. Speaker 2 (5:28) Yeah. And Speaker 1 (5:29) we're supposed to be talking about movies. They're like, what the fuck is happening right now? Why are there so many accents in this show? Second, I have been, I'm very on the record about that. I think you're a very handsome man. Speaker 2 (5:42) Oh, wow. You've said it many times. Thank you. Appreciate interviews. Speaker 1 (5:46) But hearing you talking in London accent is the first time I thought you were sexy. And I think that's my type. I think it looks like Jason, but sounds like Jason Statham. That's what I'm looking for. That's what I'm after. Speaker 2 (6:04) That's Speaker 1 (6:04) what I'm Speaker 2 (6:05) after. So specifically my, my red flag is people who say who are working. some other job who tell me in the course of performing that job, I'm also in finance. You should invest in my fund. Yeah. Speaker 1 (6:20) When, uh, when I was, that's a red Speaker 2 (6:23) flag to me. When Speaker 1 (6:24) I was in college, I worked at like a mall kiosk and the security guard there, he's just like a 20 something year old guy comes out walking around and he's like, Hey, nice to meet you. How are you? I said, I'm Jay. I go to Sam Houston state. He's like, oh, cool. I'm a security guard here. You'll be seeing me around. I was wearing my glasses. And he's like, I'm also, I also do optometry. So like, let me see your glasses. Speaker 2 (6:48) And Speaker 1 (6:48) he was like, Speaker 1 (6:52) I don't think Julio the security guard is also an optometrist. I respect the hustle. Oh, Speaker 2 (6:59) wait, I got to tell you one more thing about Giuseppe that made it even more of a red flag. I was like, where did you get the AI? Like, how did you, did you develop it? Like, where did you get it? He got access to the AI. There's some shadowy figure that he only knows is like Doc or Pop or something. Speaker 1 (7:21) Pop has their own Speaker 2 (7:23) Discord and you have to pay like a monthly subscription fee to get access to the Discord. And then through that, once you earn Pop's trust, Doc or whatever his trust, he gives you access to the AI that you can then use for your investing. At all sounds. Speaker 1 (7:38) Sounds Speaker 2 (7:39) very organized Speaker 1 (7:40) crime to me, but what do I know? Sounds legit. Yeah. Like I want to get involved. He Speaker 2 (7:46) wanted me to give him like $10,000. Speaker 1 (7:51) All right. Well, this seems like a good segue into what we're talking about today, Jason, which is movies. The worst guy you know says they're his favorite. That's what we're going to organize. We have a bunch of them written down on little tabs, paper. I'm going to pull them out of a hat. We're going to organize them as we go through them. You tell me, Jason, are these movies great, good, meh, or bad? Number one. What are we starting with? Oh, Garden State. How about a little... Garden State. This is a good little appetizer. Garden State comes out in 2004, written and directed by Zach Braff, my beloved Zach Braff. I'm a big Zach Braff. I also star as Natalie Portman. Ian Holm, Peter Sarsgaard. Zach Braff plays this guy with some longstanding issues with his father who comes back home. It's a whole thing. It's a coming-of-age movie that's also here's-who-I-am movie that's also emotional. Speaker 2 (8:41) So I have created a series of buckets to explain why. These movies affect the worst person you know. Speaker 1 (8:53) That's great. That's great. And the Speaker 2 (8:54) bucket that Garden State falls into is emotional outsourcing. This is the guy who is very closed down. doesn't share his feelings, is scared of being vulnerable. And the only way that they can connect, like let people into who they are is they will be like, listen to this song or watch this movie. That'll explain who I am. And, and garden state is like one Speaker 1 (9:22) of those. You hit me right in the chest with that one. I took a direct shot. Speaker 2 (9:28) So I think this is a, people have, people have. conflicted feelings about this movie. For me, it's like the soundtrack lived in my iPod at the time. Speaker 1 (9:37) And Speaker 2 (9:38) I had warm feelings about the movie when it came out. I'm sure I'd have less warm feelings if I saw it again now. But I'm going to say it's a good, it's good. It's a good movie. Speaker 1 (9:50) There have been so many times in my life where Laramie and I have been talking about something or even arguing about something or I'm trying to express an emotion that I have that includes me saying some sentence of like, okay, listen, but just like, do you remember in The Color of Money when Paul, like, Speaker 2 (10:09) so many times, Speaker 1 (10:12) so many times. Do you remember in the song Blank Face, Groovy Tony with the, like I've done that so many times. And that's probably why I like this movie. That's probably why I like Zach Braff because that's what he does. That's like his thing. And yeah, I'm with you. I think this is a good movie. I think if you haven't seen it, you should watch it. Probably if you watch this when you're 24, I know when I watched it when I was younger and I was like, this guy, this guy knows how to live life. And then you watch it as 45 and you're like, this guy's an idiot. This guy. Speaker 2 (10:49) Well, there's also like, there's just things in this movie that would never happen. Speaker 1 (10:52) Yeah. Speaker 2 (10:52) Particularly as it pertains to Natalie Speaker 1 (10:54) Portman's character, but Speaker 2 (10:56) that's be that as it may, a movie that had a. a very special place in time. And I don't think you can disconnect it from that. Speaker 1 (11:03) Yeah. You're talking about the part where they're in the waiting room and he's just sitting there chill. And she comes over with some headphones, like check this out and play some music for him. And then he just goes pretty good. This is like one of the most beautiful women who's ever been Speaker 2 (11:16) alive. Like that would ever happen. She's going to walk up to you. That's never happened to you, Jason. And that happens to me all of the Speaker 1 (11:24) time. Speaker 2 (11:25) Instead, I get guys like Giuseppe. Asking me to Speaker 1 (11:28) invest in their fund for $10 Speaker 2 (11:29) ,000 and Speaker 1 (11:31) give this to fucking, Speaker 2 (11:32) I don't know, $10,000. I can get 5 % interest like every month. Speaker 1 (11:41) All right, next one. I'm excited with how these are coming out of the hat. They feel like a good flow. Second one, Jason, V for Vendetta. Remember V for Vendetta? Do you remember this movie? I Speaker 2 (11:50) do. Speaker 2 (11:53) This is a bad movie to me. I put this in the bucket of complexity as like a personality, comprehension as a personality. Like, oh, I understand the, you want to like, here's what I know about politics. V Speaker 1 (12:07) for Vendetta. Speaker 2 (12:10) And for me, this movie just, maybe it's because I'm not British and have no connection to the true events. I think Giuseppe is like, yes, you know, the guy Fox, you know, put on the mask. This guy, you know, he wants to blow up the parliament. Speaker 1 (12:25) V for Vendetta, 2005, the year after Garden State, directed by James McTeague, written by the Wachowskis, Natalie Portman. We're two for two so far, Natalie Portman movies. Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't like this movie. I don't like it. It just didn't work on me. I didn't like all the alliteration. Oh, the victorious vivaciousness of the vivacity of the... What are we doing? Who cares? Do something cool. Do something cool. All right, we're putting this in bed. Dumb. Get out of here. Get out of here, V for Vendetta. How about W for Whack? Speaker 1 (13:05) So stupid. Oh, a masterpiece here, Jason. Speaker 2 (13:08) Okay. Speaker 1 (13:09) Next one. Taxi Driver. 1976. My boy, Marty Scorsese. Written by Paul Schrader. Starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel. Now we're cooking, Jason. Speaker 2 (13:25) This I put under the bucket of, like... Speaker 2 (13:32) irony blindness when you don't understand who the bad guy in the movie is yeah Speaker 1 (13:37) and Speaker 2 (13:41) This movie is great, first of all. Speaker 1 (13:43) It's so good. It's so good. But Speaker 2 (13:46) even with the issue of it being built around a guy who is really kind of the villain of the piece, I don't think it has the problem that a lot of the other movies I think we're going to talk about today have, where it's easily misunderstood. Like, there's never a moment where you're like, you know what, Travis Bickle, I like his life, seems pretty good living in this very small one-room apartment. eating soup cold out of a can and driving a taxi cab. Like it seems good. Speaker 1 (14:16) Yeah. Speaker 2 (14:16) And, uh, but this is a great, great movie. Speaker 1 (14:20) Yeah. This is really good. This is only troublesome if. What's supposed to happen is you're supposed to watch it and see Robert De Niro and you're supposed to feel bad for him. Right. And so if you watch like that, if somebody tells you this is their favorite movie, oh, I just it just was like very touching watching this this like lonely guy go through this thing. And I have felt lonely before. And, you know, it's just a heartbreaking movie if that gets their favorite because they like to feel sad. Sure. But if it's their favorite because they're like this guy fucking rips. He's got the best ideas and nobody was listening to him. Speaker 2 (14:52) What ideas? Speaker 1 (14:56) That's when it gets a little bit dicey, but we're putting this in great. Speaker 2 (15:01) It's a great movie. Speaker 1 (15:02) I agree. I agree, Jason. Movies, the worst guy you know, says they're his favorite taxi driver. Great. Next one. Oh, American Psycho. Oh my God. We're in the thick of it now, Jason. Speaker 2 (15:15) This is another one of those where. I'm a little worried if you identify with the main character too much. I'm going to put this. This is a good movie. Although. Speaker 2 (15:26) When he starts really killing, it's hard for me. I basically check out. But it's a very fun movie, subversive, fun movie about a lot of things. But once it gets to the killing, I'm like, I can't. Now I'm out of here with the killing. But it's a good movie. Speaker 1 (15:43) I feel the exact same way. The first hour, pretty fun. First 45 minutes or so. It's fun to watch. It's funny. Even when he kills Paul Allen, when he kills a Jared Leto character and he's doing all of the like music criticism, hey, this is pretty, this is pretty entertaining. But then it, then it makes that turn and it gets real dark. And then now he's, you're watching him pull hangers out of drawers and you're like, oh my, oh my God, what is, what is that? The part where he's having sex and pointing at himself in the mirror. Hilarious. Flexing and shit. So funny. Have you, Jason, have you ever done that? Speaker 2 (16:18) Yes. Speaker 1 (16:19) Is that just flexing in the mirror while having sex? Speaker 2 (16:25) Yes. Flexing my back muscles though. Anybody can flex the arm muscles. You gotta flex your back muscles. Speaker 1 (16:31) You're like a bodybuilder. Just like, yeah, Speaker 2 (16:33) just like, Speaker 1 (16:33) wait, just