The Big Picture · Discussion · Hall of Fame

The Nancy Meyers Hall of Fame

October 9, 2020/ 114 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins

For Private Benjamin's 40th anniversary, Sean and Amanda build a chronological Hall of Fame out of Nancy Meyers's filmography: all ten inductees, plus the four movies that didn't make the cut.

16 films across 3 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

Where Meyers comes frombefore the countdown starts

An Unmarried Woman 1978

Paul Mazursky's Jill Clayburgh film, about a wife whose husband leaves her out of nowhere. Meyers named Mazursky as an influence in a 2015 interview, and Sean calls this the proto Nancy Meyers movie.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice 1969

The other Mazursky title that comes up when tracing Meyers back to '70s dramedy.

The Nancy Meyers Hall of Famechronological, and all ten make it in

Her only Oscar nomination, for a movie neither host can fully defend. Goldie Hawn's rich widow joins the Army; the tone swings from pratfall comedy to melodrama to spy movie and the ending explains nothing. In on the strength of the nomination alone.

Irreconcilable Differences 1984

A barely disguised, fairly savage take on the Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt split, framed around tiny Drew Barrymore suing to divorce her parents. Shot by William Fraker. Hard to find (Amanda had to buy a copy), and the pick both hosts enjoyed most all week.

Baby Boom 1987

Diane Keaton's ad executive inherits a baby and trades Manhattan for a Vermont farmhouse and a baby-food company. Directed by then-husband Charles Shyer; called the source code for every Meyers movie that follows.

Father of the Bride 1991

A remake of Vincente Minnelli's 1950 original, narrated by Steve Martin. No real conflict beyond a wedding, 'the fun ten minutes stretched out to the whole movie,' and it still works.

The Parent Trap 1998

Meyers's directing debut, Lindsay Lohan playing both twins. Amanda's formative Meyers text at thirteen; Sean, a few years too old for it at release, didn't come around until much later.

What Women Want 2000

Mel Gibson's ad man gets electrocuted and starts hearing women's thoughts. A rewrite Meyers doesn't have credit on. Neither host buys his arc, but it made $182 million.

Something's Gotta Give 2003

Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, and a Paris ending. Called the masterpiece and one of the great films of the 21st century on the show.

The Holiday 2006

Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz swap houses over Christmas while Jack Black sings movie scores in a Blockbuster. Neither host loves it, but they defer to its cult following and vote it in unanimously.

It's Complicated 2009

Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin in an $85 million domestic comedy that made $225 million. Amanda's favorite of the ten; shot by John Toll, scored by Hans Zimmer.

The Intern 2015

Robert De Niro as a seventy-year-old intern at Anne Hathaway's e-commerce startup. Meyers answering her own Baby Boom thirty years later, without the happy ending.

Cut from the Hall of Fameconsidered, then left out

Once Upon a Crime 1992

Co-written with Charles Shyer and Steve Kluger, directed by Eugene Levy. Neither host rewatched it; Amanda calls it a not-good Clue.

I Love Trouble 1994

Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts as rival newspaper columnists with no chemistry. 'I kind of want to turn this off,' Sean says, the one clean no of the episode.