We Love Doug Loves Movies: Mapping out The Leonard Maltin Game

The A.V. Club is a pretty big fan of Doug Benson and his wildly popular comedy podcast, Doug Loves Movies. Last time he came through town, The A.V. Club played host to a taping of DLM at Zanies that pitted Benson’s buddy Graham Elwood against hometown heroes Kyle Kinane and Dan Telfer in a rousing match of The Leonard Maltin Game, a segment that rounds out the end of every episode.

For those unfamiliar with The Leonard Maltin Game, it’s a movie trivia game that stemmed from Benson riffing with friends about Maltin’s gargantuan movie guide, which includes entirely too much information with the capsule reviews of each of the thousands of films covered. An average review provides the names of between eight and 12 actors featured in the movie, starting with the stars, working its way down to actors with minor bit parts.

In The Leonard Maltin Game, contestants pick a category of films, and then select one of three years given from that particular category. Benson then reads excerpts of the capsule reviews from his iPhone (thanks, Leonard Maltin app!), and tells contestants how many names were listed with this particular film. Players then bid how many names they’d need to figure out the particular film, and try to score points by outbidding their opponents. The catch is that the names are given in reverse order, with the smallest roles (and often, least-known actors) named first. Sound complicated? It’s not, really.



In anticipation of Doug Loves Movies returning to Chicago at Mayne Stage on Friday, June 10, The A.V. Club has compiled a list of 12 Chicago-based movies to be played in the next round of The Leonard Maltin Game. Since there have been more than a few films set in Chicago, there are also alternate categories listed here, just to keep things interesting.

Alternate Category: Major League Baseball movies
Year: 1992
Movie: A League Of Their Own
Number of names: 15
Len says: “Three stars ... first rate cast ... good-natured fiction ... later, briefly a TV series.”
Degree of difficulty: Low. Between Bill Pullman and Téa Leoni chilling at the bottom of the list and the “first rate cast” clue, it should be clear this isn’t an entry into the Major League series or Rookie Of The Year (other baseball flicks from around ’92). The TV spinoff clue would only help out total trivia geeks, and might throw off other players, but common sense prevails with this one.

Alternate Category: Barrymore, Carey, Bledsoe (movies featuring either Drew Barrymore, Drew Carey, or Drew Bledsoe)
Year: 1999
Movie: Never Been Kissed
Number of names: 10
Len says: “Two and a half stars ... a star vehicle, if there ever was one ... burdened by a barely believable story.”
Degree of difficulty: Low. This achingly dumb movie has a weirdly recognizable lineup, with John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Garry Marshall, and Jessica Alba spread evenly throughout the list of 10 names. Though Barrymore’s career has fizzled a bit lately, Never Been Kissed remains a punch line that the pop-culture savvy should be able to recall.



Alternate Category: Mob movies
Year: 1987
Movie: The Untouchables
Number of names: 10
Len says: “Four stars ... update of a TV series ... flamboyantly filmed ... powerhouse performances.”
Degree of difficulty: Low. Chicago has seen its fair share of mob movies (The Sting, The Whole Nine Yards, etc.), but this late-’80s masterpiece is well known by cinema geeks as one of the genre’s high points. This stacked lineup features Patricia Clarkson in the final slot, as Kevin Costner’s wife, which should be the final piece of the puzzle (after the TV series update hint) for clever players.

Alternate Category: Comma chameleon (movies with a comma in the title)
Year: 2004
Movie: I, Robot
Number of names: Eight
Len says: “Two and a half stars ... interesting premise squandered ... overlong ... cartoonish special effects.”
Degree of difficulty: Low. Child actor turned special-effects circle jerk mainstay Shia LaBeouf pops up pretty low in the cast listing, which might cause some contestants to incorrectly guess Transformers. Beyond that one trip-up, fickle Leonard Maltin players should be able to easily discern the film with only a few names given. How many movies with commas in their titles have “cartoonish special effects”? Not many.

Alternate Category: Coma chameleon (movies that feature a character in a coma)
Year: 1995
Movie: While You Were Sleeping
Number of names: 11
Len says: “Two and a half stars ... pleasant, well cast ... cute story, but it should have been snappier (and shorter).”
Degree of difficulty: Medium. This CTA-based movie was Sandra Bullock’s post-Speed victory lap, playing a timid transit worker who worms her way into the life of a dude in a coma. The lower half of the cast listing is stocked with mid-level TV stars like The Sopranos’ Michael Rispoli and Undeclared babe Monica Keena, who may be familiar to savvier (or geekier) players. Depending on how things fall, someone could theoretically eke a point out of this chick flick.



Alternate Category: Ice, Ice, Maeby (movies featuring Ice Cube, Ice-T, or Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat)
Year: 2002
Movie: Barbershop
Number of names: Nine
Len says: “Three stars ... canny screenplay, [which] counterbalances the film’s sentimentality,” features a “community gathering place.”
Degree of difficulty: Medium. The “community gathering place” line might give it away, but the cast listing tries its damnedest to prevent things from getting too easy. Unless players are big enough fans of The Cape to recognize Keith David’s name at the bottom of the list, there’s not much to work with until Eve turns up in the fifth position.

Alternate Category: The films of Michael Rooker
Year: 1986
Movie: Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Number of names: Three
Len says: “Three and a half stars ... unpleasant ... powerful ... minimalist.”
Degree of difficulty: Medium. Henry was DLM favorite Michael Rooker’s breakout role, playing a maniacal serial killer. The incredibly brief (for the Maltin Movie Guide) list of names is a huge hint (one of the the three names must be Rooker), but also a cause for intense competition and potential for things to escalate into contestants bidding negative names, which is always exciting.



Alternate Category: Sequels of remakes
Year: 2006
Movie: The Grudge 2
Number of names: 14
Len says: “One and a half stars ... plodding, confusing mess ... switches clumsily from Japan to the U.S. repeatedly.”
Degree of difficulty: Medium. Sarah Michelle Gellar is the 14th name, which would be a huge hint if anyone actually saw The Grudge 2, a warmed-over sequel to a blockbuster remake of a J-Horror flick. Hints from Len’s description might alleviate things a little bit, but most folks would probably guess The Ring 2 before recalling that a sequel to The Grudge exists.

Alternate Category: Little league baseball movies
Year: 2001
Movie: Hardball
Number of names: 11
Len says: “Two and a half stars ... [story of an] addictive gambler ... emphasizes that one person can make a difference in the world around him.”
Degree of difficulty: High. There’s not much in the way of clues in Maltin’s description, and the appearance by a man named Michael Jordan (but not THE Michael Jordan) midway through the list of names (which is full of unrecognizable names until third-from-the-top John Hawkes) is enough to throw off even the most skillful of Maltineers.

Alternate Category: High Travoltage (movies starring John Travolta)
Year: 1996
Movie: Michael
Number of names: 12
Len says: “Three stars ... genial, wry,” features Travolta as a “seedy, randy” character.
Degree of difficulty: High. This weird piece of feel-goodery that plays like a bizarro-episode of Touched By An Angel was written and directed by rom-com queen Nora Ephron. Lost mostly to the sands of time (and the bargain bin), the rundown of names offers little help as well (unless players have an encyclopedic knowledge of the work of Joey Lauren Adams).



Alternate Category: Graphic novel movies
Year: 2002
Movie: Road To Perdition
Number of names: 10
Len says: “Three and a half stars ... a good yarn played out on a grand scale ... the emotional pull of a story about fathers and sons.”
Degree of difficulty: High. The meaty names don’t really come in until around five deep (starting with Daniel Craig), and the combination of “graphic novels” and “fathers and sons” might confuse players into thinking it’s a superhero picture, and not the gritty depression-era tale of vengeance it is.

Alternate Category: Superhero movies
Year: 1994
Movie: Blankman
Number of names: Seven
Len says: “One and a half stars ... shrill, witless ... might have some appeal to less discriminating five-year-old boys.”
Degree of difficulty: High. Few people remember this ridiculous farce, featuring a post-In Living Color Damon Wayans at the height of his popularity. Footage of this superhero spoof (which is, in some ways, a precursor to Wayans brother Keenan’s Scary Movie franchise) is scarce online and all but erased from the cultural hivemind. Jason Alexander at the bottom of the list might seem like a helpful hint, but Blankman’s too far gone for most to recognize.

Blankman Trailer by cracklemovies