American Beauty (1999) / Crown Royal Blended Canadian Whisky
Bob and Brad revisit Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, a film once hailed as a masterpiece and now one of Hollywood’s most divisive Best Picture winners. With guest critic Noah Gittell, they unpack Kevin Spacey’s complicated legacy, late-’90s suburbia, and whether the movie’s satire still works in 2025. The pour: Crown Royal, a whiskey as polarizing as the film itself.
(01:04) Brad’s Big News (and chaotic baby-dad energy)
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(07:11) Brad Explains – a one-minute recap of American Beauty
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(12:53) Satire, sincerity, and the tonal tightrope
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(17:14) Performances: Spacey, Bening, Suvari, Bentley, and Cooper
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(50:26) Whiskey Review – Crown Royal Blended Canadian Whisky
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(1:02:20) Two Facts and a Falsehood – “Does Brad even know about silk?”
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(1:17:12) Let’s Make It a Double – pairing picks and final scores
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Noah Gittell
Film Critic, Author of Baseball: The Movie, and Unofficial Mets Morale Officer
Noah Gittell lives at the intersection of America’s two great pastimes: baseball and movies. A frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Ringer, The Guardian, Slate, GQ, and many others, Noah brings thoughtful, sharp cultural analysis to everything from Michael Bay chaos (Armageddon) to modern Westerns (Gran Torino). He’s a regular face on BBC’s Talking Movies and the author of Baseball: The Movie, a deep dive into how the sport shaped American film history. On Film & Whiskey, Noah’s appearances are as wide-ranging as his bylines—equal parts blockbuster nerd-out and deep character insight.
