Lethal Weapon (1987)
Director: Richard Donner
Cast: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Mitchell Ryan
The buddy cop genre owes everything to two guys — one who’s too old for this shit and one who’s actively trying not to be alive. This week on Dewey Pod Monster, John and Sean strap in for a re-watch of the 1987 Christmas classic (and yes, we’re calling it a Christmas classic, even if Christmas is on screen for maybe four minutes) — Lethal Weapon. Is it a masterpiece of the buddy cop genre? A bloated blockbuster that takes forever to get going? A movie where a guy gets shot through the window while holding eggnog with two fingers? Yes. All of those things. Let’s get into it.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The Mel Gibson Problem (That Isn’t Actually a Problem) — John reluctantly admits that yeah, okay, he completely gets why Mel Gibson was fuckboy supreme for three decades. The hair, the shirtlessness, the charisma — it’s all there, and it works. The chemistry between Gibson and Glover is the engine this whole franchise runs on, and even John can’t front on that.
- The MMA Fight That Broke Everyone’s Brain — Both hosts are completely baffled by the climactic hand-to-hand showdown in a suspiciously well-lit, conveniently wet, helicopter-illuminated circle of stupidity. In a movie that otherwise aims for a more grounded tone, this sequence arrives like a fever dream nobody asked for.
- Does This Hold Up or Is the First Half Just Homework? — Sean argues this is the quintessential buddy cop movie that legitimized the entire genre. John fires back that it takes forever to get to the good stuff and that he’d rather throw on something with more explosions per minute. They’re both kind of right, which is annoying.
- Gary Busey: Restrained and Menacing (We’re Serious) — In a career defined by gleeful insanity, Lethal Weapon gives us a lean, mean, genuinely threatening Gary Busey. Neither host expected to be impressed. Both of them were. Don’t tell Gary.
We Also Talked About:
- Katrina: Hell and High Water (Netflix docuseries) — Three-part documentary about Hurricane Katrina survivors with first-person footage. The third episode is a Spike Lee joint and feels like it. Worth watching parts one and two; part three is more of a celebration/recap.
- Laserblast (1977) (Tubi) — Charles Band-produced “sci-fi classic” featuring stop-motion turtle aliens, a guy with a Mega Man gun for an arm, and Roddy McDowell dying way too early. It’s basically live-action Beavis and Butthead, but less fun. Three out of 10 on IMDB. Somehow still worth watching if you’re in that mood.
- Bring Her Back (2025) (Amazon) — The latest film from the Talk to Me directors (the Philippou Brothers). A deeply unsettling Australian horror-adjacent thriller about foster care, dead dads, and something very wrong with the house. Sean watched it alone on the couch and is glad he did.
- The Chair Company (HBO series) (Amazon) — Tim Robinson plays a project manager who becomes obsessed with a chair conspiracy. It’s absurdist, it’s confusing, it looks great, and nobody has any idea what’s actually happening — including the hosts, who have now seen all eight episodes. It got renewed anyway.
- Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix docuseries) — Produced by 50 Cent. Feels like the world’s most well-funded hit piece. Damning, occasionally dull, and definitely not uplifting. Watch it if you’re into music industry horror shows.
- Goon (2011) (Tubi) — Sean William Scott plays a bouncer who can skate and punch people. John gives it a full hotdog. It earns its laughs, the hockey feels real, and nobody needs it to be anything more than it is.
- Listen to this goofy lethal weapon theme song.
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