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Blank Check with Griffin & David

Green Card with Esther Zuckerman

03 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

1.87 - 18.495 Unknown

Blank Check with Griffin and David Blank Check with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check

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21.648 - 28.582 Esther Zuckerman

The story of two friends who got a podcast, did bits, and then fell in love.

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28.883 - 29.364 David Sims

So true.

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29.464 - 32.651 Esther Zuckerman

Now, this movie does have a perfect tagline.

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32.731 - 34.655 David Sims

It's a really great tagline. Do you know the tagline?

35.336 - 38.78 Griffin Newman

No. Was that it? That was a riff.

38.82 - 40.162 Unknown

That was a little bit of a riff.

40.242 - 40.903 David Sims

It was a riff on it.

40.923 - 42.806 Unknown

It's the story of two friends who got married.

Chapter 2: What is the significance of the tagline for Green Card?

78.915 - 92.467 Esther Zuckerman

It really is. And yet, it is all this study of what is the weird charm of this guy? Totally. And part of it is, this guy is why no Shrek? Is he emotional terrorist?

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92.487 - 101.58 Unknown

You know, like, I thought you were going to do something like... I wanted you to do something like in a French accent, like, I am a beast, or the beast will come out.

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101.801 - 102.041 Esther Zuckerman

Right.

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102.382 - 103.163 Unknown

Or something like that.

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103.223 - 124.816 Esther Zuckerman

Right. This movie is trying to present Gerard Depardieu as like the Walt Disney version of the beast, who's not actually that bad of a guy, but obviously has this kind of like rough, oafish personality. And then you're just like... You know, it's really close to like just we took all the bad things out of Gerard Depardieu and left the baseline.

125.297 - 126.179 Unknown

I mean, I'm sure.

126.219 - 131.769 David Sims

Gerard Depardieu was hot and sexy, guys. I hate to break it. I do not get it. That's fine. We can discuss.

131.789 - 132.85 Unknown

We'll discuss that.

133.512 - 141.025 David Sims

But it was not like a shocking proposition in 1990. This is the thing. Times change. Or do they?

Chapter 3: How does Gérard Depardieu's persona affect the film's reception?

229.548 - 234.697 David Sims

Like, he made a bunch of silly... Like, he probably did something... Also, French comedy is... I know.

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234.717 - 237.401 Unknown

I don't want to offend someone who is French.

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237.561 - 239.184 Esther Zuckerman

My mother is French. Yes. Yes.

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239.645 - 244.713 Unknown

Are some of the most insane stupid things on the planet.

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244.733 - 248.94 David Sims

Or isn't it always like, oh, my daughter, she married an immigrant. Oh, no.

248.92 - 251.824 Griffin Newman

Sacre bleu, right? A lot of that, right?

251.844 - 266.746 Esther Zuckerman

A lot of that. Let's also acknowledge that Depardieu's breakout was in the movie Going Places, which is basically just about a fucking contest. I'm sure a bunch of French listeners are going to explain how I'm not paying proper respects to Going Places.

266.906 - 284.932 David Sims

No, I don't think so. Going Places, you know what in French it's called? Like, you know, that was the American title for Going Places. And then we'll introduce our podcast. In France, it's called Les Valuses, which means the balls. Yeah. It's like slang for the balls, but like, that's what it means. That's what it means.

285.372 - 301.231 Unknown

Every year I can, I've been going for three years now, and every year there's some movie that sort of pops up that's like... the French pick and it's like often there's like a French comedy and you're like, oh, wow, this is just playing so much differently here than it would.

Chapter 4: What challenges did Peter Weir face in making Green Card?

395.693 - 406.302 David Sims

That's a good movie. Is it? Is it? Have you seen it? The Cedric Lepage film? Yes. Correct. Yeah, I've seen it. Yeah. And I remember when I was just like looking at that, I was like, is this like the biggest French movie? It's just called Paris.

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406.322 - 409.09 Esther Zuckerman

Is this the biggest French movie of all time? Or is everyone?

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409.11 - 410.655 Griffin Newman

What if we had like New York?

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411.983 - 420.353 Esther Zuckerman

Because there was Perry and Don Perry were around the same time. And Don Perry is much better. Don Perry is Louis Garel and Romain Derise.

420.653 - 425.699 David Sims

Yeah, that one's fun. That's about like some, you know, shaggy boys, right? It's about depression.

425.719 - 431.205 Esther Zuckerman

Yeah, it's about two brothers. That movie rules. And then Perry, I'm trying to remember, but I have seen as well.

431.285 - 437.312 David Sims

It's got a huge cast, man. A lot of Frenchies. Romney Doree is in that one too. Yeah. What's he up to these days?

437.652 - 441.857 Esther Zuckerman

Yeah, I realized because he's so good in All the Money in the World.

Chapter 5: What humorous incident involving Jeffrey Katzenberg is mentioned?

5135.767 - 5145.577 Unknown

Somebody can correct me. But basically, the long story short of this is that it seems like Jeffrey Katzenberg might get eaten by a lion in this video.

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5145.597 - 5147.6 David Sims

Right. The lion gets aggressive.

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5147.64 - 5150.723 Unknown

The lion gets aggressive towards Jeffrey Katzenberg.

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Chapter 6: What significance does the 9 train have in the context of New York?

5151.091 - 5172.076 David Sims

so when this film I want to say begins with RIP to her we love her we miss her the nine train little shot of a nine train disappearing yeah you need to tell us about the nine train you don't know about the nine train I don't know you're kind of pre nine train back in the day I was born in 1990 Yeah, well, the 9 train was still existing then, but it was on its way out.

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5172.096 - 5194.135 David Sims

So back in the day, Ben, you know on the 7th Avenue line, the red lines of the subway, right? There's the 1, 2, and the 3, right? The 2 and the 3 are express. In Manhattan, the 1 is the local. There used to be a 9 train on that line, too. Weird. And it was a local as well. It was the same as the 1 in every way, except... There's no 8 train. There used to be an 8 train, Ben, long ago.

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5194.155 - 5212.962 David Sims

What the hell? Yes, there used to be an 8 train as well in the Bronx. Let's not talk about that right now. But the 9 was skip stop with the 1 north of 96th Street. So like when the 1 is on its own. And the idea was just like, oh, a rush hour, like just to speed things along. These trains kind of like hop. And it was too annoying.

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5212.982 - 5225.783 David Sims

And I think people who lived in upper Manhattan and the Bronx didn't even like it that much. For me who lived on that line, but not in the skip stop area, it did nothing different from a 1 train. But I was just still always if we got a 9, I was like, look, a 9 train.

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5225.948 - 5232.857 Esther Zuckerman

It was so funny to get to the platform and be like, what's here? One, two, three. Okay, cool. I bet I can guess what the fourth train is.

5233.578 - 5234.54 Griffin Newman

Nine!

Chapter 7: How does the film 'Green Card' reflect on the rom-com genre?

5234.56 - 5258.463 David Sims

Skipping all the way over. Yes. So when Peter Weir, this movie has great New York, I would say, energy in general. I would agree. Is navigating a subway station. He hears a chorus of voices led by the unhoused singer, Harry Stewart and the Erasmus group, sorry, the Emmes group singers named after Harlem's Emmes house for the unhoused. And he was like, I love this. I want this to be in the film.

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5258.483 - 5260.649 David Sims

So that's why those guys are in the movie. For the opening. Yeah.

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5260.669 - 5266.843 Esther Zuckerman

I do want to call out because I know what happened while I was in the bathroom. Oh, Uh-oh. I do think Hans Zimmer's score in this is great.

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5267.083 - 5268.305 Unknown

I agree. Oh, yeah.

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5268.325 - 5270.089 Esther Zuckerman

We already talked about that. I just wanted to second it.

5270.109 - 5271.531 Unknown

Did you hear us or did you just think?

5271.692 - 5283.192 Esther Zuckerman

I heard David saying this was an early Hans Zimmer score. It's a great score. I think a lot of the early Hans Zimmer comedy scores have aged to varying degrees. Yes. Some of them age better than others.

5283.433 - 5287.002 David Sims

I was just talking with Esther about his kind of early like world music.

5287.022 - 5287.504 Esther Zuckerman

Yeah.

Chapter 8: What insights does Esther Zuckerman share about the film's characters?

5298.273 - 5301.998 David Sims

It's interesting to hear it now, obviously, knowing what he turned into. Correct.

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5302.718 - 5324.005 Esther Zuckerman

Which he turned into something interesting as well. It's just completely different. But this is like, it's so much my problem of the modern rom-com, which barely exists, but what does exist feels like it is just trying to be one step elevated above the Hallmark Christmas movie churn. which is this could have been shot anywhere and we're pretending it's anywhere else.

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5324.706 - 5347.114 Esther Zuckerman

And rom-coms benefit so much from like a place of specificity, from the feeling of like neighborhood haunts and like the rhythm of whatever the fucking city or the town is. And like just the fact that I put this movie on and immediately it's like subway drummer, people getting on and off the train. No, I mean, I'm like, this is set in a place, right?

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5347.364 - 5359.686 Esther Zuckerman

And it speaks to very quickly what is kind of actually the biggest point this movie is making. We talk a lot about the cinema of men will literally blank to avoid going to therapy.

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5359.706 - 5361.409 David Sims

One of your favorite tropes.

5361.429 - 5364.615 Esther Zuckerman

Yeah. This is and I think this movie is dead on the money.

5364.695 - 5365.256 Unknown

Can I say it?

5365.516 - 5365.997 Esther Zuckerman

Yeah.

5365.977 - 5369.406 Unknown

Women will literally get married to get a great apartment.

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