Episode 108 - Cast Away

In 2000, Robert Zemeckis made "Cast Away," the longest FedEx
commercial in history that masquerades as a
trapped-on-a-desert-island story. Granted, the middle section of
the film where Tom Hanks is marooned isn't terrible, but the pair
of audience-insulting bookending acts that surround it replace
any good will that created with seething anger.


Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a man with no time because of his
demanding job at FedEx, who is the lone survivor of a plane crash
over the Pacific—and then washes ashore a small, uninhabited
island in the middle of nowhere.


His deteriorated mental state (which weirdly happens within days)
makes him need to paint a face in his own blood on a
Wilson-branded volleyball so he has something to talk to. He
struggles to survive for years, and eventually is motivated to
build a boat to escape by wanting to return a package to its
sender and by wanting badly to see his girlfriend again.


Unfortunately his girlfriend played by Helen Hunt has in the
meantime married some other dude and had a kid with him. So when
Hanks does return, it was all for nothing. Her character is
hardly developed, so we don't ultimately care. But it is annoying
that everyone close to him blames him for getting stuck on a
desert island.


Join us as we wonder if Robert Zemeckis secretly bought stock in
FedEx while making this movie, Jim recalls a teacher he hates
from grade school, and we sing some Springsteen covers.


ALSO: Here's the link to the Wilson's website where you can buy a
bloody volleyball. 


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This episode is sponsored by Busted Nut.


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