Randall Park Breaks Down His Top 5 Blockbuster Movie Rentals

I remember as a kid sitting in the theater thinking,

Oh my God, that alien is so ugly and so weird looking.

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Hey, I'm Randall Park and I am gonna break down

my top five Blockbuster movie rentals.

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So I consider myself an expert,

when it comes to movie recommendations

because I used to work at a video store.

A little mom and pop called New Way Video.

It's a neighborhood video rental store.

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Also, I play a character who owns The Last Blockbuster,

and that character's a cinephile.

I guess that really says nothing

about my own personal knowledge of movies.

But yeah, maybe I'm not qualified, I don't know.

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Starting at number five, Better Luck Tomorrow.

If someone came to us about doing a scam

and we didn't like them,

we just tell 'em to [bleep] off.

Having that kind of power quickly became an addiction.

The great thing about this movie

was that it was about young Asian Americans

around my age but also that they were criminals

and I thought that was so cool

because we rarely saw ourselves on screen and when we did

it was always like either the butt of the joke

or just like the side character without much of a story,

hardly ever a bad character that was complex

and nuanced and very human.

One image stands out to me is John Cho

riding in on his motorcycle.

I remember watching that and thinking, oh man, he's so cool.

I've seen a lot of guys riding in on motorcycles but never

like an Asian dude with sunglasses looking so cool.

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It first premiered at Sundance,

at the Sundance Film Festival.

There was a reporter in the audience who stood up and said,

how could you make this movie about your people

and them be such bad people?

How could you do that to your community?

Roger Ebert stood up and was like

what are you talking about?

This filmmaker could make a film about whoever he wants to

as an artist and the whole room ended up like applauding.

I think about that a lot in part,

'cause I just directed a movie and the protagonist

of that movie is it's a complex character who's not

the nicest person and he's Asian American.

We want to see everything,

the whole kind of breath of humanity,

and I think in that sense Better Luck Tomorrow

was ahead of its time.

[Host] Do you remember any of the VHS covers?

Yeah, I remember all the VHS covers.

Better Luck Tomorrow.

It was the whole gang just lined up looking cool,

kind of black and whiteish.

[bell ringing]

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Number four E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

Can you say ET, ET?

ET.

[group laughing]

I must have been in elementary school

when that movie came out like every kid in the country.

I was just completely awestruck.

I remember as a kid sitting in the theater

when ET first comes on screen thinking,

oh my God, that alien is so ugly and so weird looking.

I don't know if I can watch a movie

with something so disturbing.

And then by the end of that movie being in tears

wishing that I could see more

of that alien wanting to be best friends with ET

and that's just the magic of a great movie.

That it could actually open your mind

and let you intimately know someone.

But as a young kid

I feel like that's a very powerful message

and I feel like we're all as a culture

very lucky to have had that movie in our lives.

Wasn't until I got older that I really got to appreciate

just what Steven Spielberg does.

Only like a master filmmaker could provide that experience

for so many people.

The VHS cover ET of course is a big moon

and the bike with ET and the little basket up front.

[bell ringing]

Number three is Boomerang.

You're the most gorgeous woman I've ever laid my eyes on.

I had to come over and meet you.

[group laughing]

I'm sorry.

Why are you laughing?

I'm sorry.

It's just that what you said was pretty pathetic.

One of my all-time favorites.

You could ask me on another day, it might be number one

but today it's number three.

I just never seen anything like it.

It was just so funny.

Some of the characters were so outrageous and absurd

but it all felt, still felt so grounded and real to me.

We all grew up with Eddie Murphy,

and we all loved Eddie Murphy but I felt like here

Eddie Murphy was like, I don't know,

there was something very exciting

about seeing Eddie Murphy in this context.

It was about these very successful black business people,

in advertising.

The world felt so real and the side characters just real.

It just felt so full and the cast is just bonkers.

I mean you have Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens,

Halle Berry in like an early role.

Martin Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Grace Jones is in it,

Eartha Kitt is in it.

I mean these legends, I mean one of my favorite characters

from that movie was David Alan Grier's character

is Marcus' friend.

He was kind of like a bit more kind of uptight

but his parents in that movie,

I remember distinctly the dad, John Weatherspoon

when he's like like talking about you got to coordinate

and he has like the mushroom belt with the mushroom lining

in his jacket.

I mean that's just one of so many scenes,

so many scenes in that movie that are just hilarious.

Most people don't coordinate, see the coordinate.

Boomerang was one of the influences,

of Always Be My Maybe,

'cause Ali Wong and I have been obsessed with Boomerang.

We wanted to fill it with really kind of fun characters

and we thought of Boomerang.

The VHS cover was Eddie Murphy

if I remember correctly as a hand probably

like Robin Givens hand and like kind of tugging at his tie.

[bell ringing]

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Number two is The Apartment.

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Look Mr. Vandoff, I've got your dad here for tonight

but I'm gonna be using the place myself

so I'll have to cancel.

Cancel?

But it's is your birthday.

I already ordered the cake.

It is directed by Billy Wilder and I think

before The Apartment made like the Seven Year Itch

and Some Like it Hot, this movie I got introduced to it

I believe it was through my mom who was obsessed with movies

in Korea, American movies and I think I was just watching it

with her on the couch.

I was pretty young and the first thing that really

caught my attention was New York City

and the way it was filmed.

Just thinking, oh my gosh, I want to go there,

I want to go to New York.

It's such a like, it looks so cool.

The apartment is about this guy played

by Jack Lemon who's one of my all-time favorite actors.

He plays CC Baxter.

He's basically like works in this office in an attempt

to try to be in good standing with his bosses.

He lends his apartment to his bosses so that they have

a place to conduct their affairs

without their wives knowing.

This is your mother's apartment?

That's right.

It's a beautiful film

and it goes to dark places, which I love.

It's a comedy, it's fun, but it's also like very real

in a lot of ways and I really it blows my mind

that back then in 1960 that they would go there

for some reason when I think of The Apartment,

I can't think of like a specific scene,

but I think of a lot of images that have just been seared

into my mind from watching it so much and one of them

is just such this amazing shot of him at his desk.

This like super wide shot of a sea full of desks

and all these workers and him just kind of toiling away.

I mean it tells such a story in a single shot.

You know, here's a guy, he's just a cog in a machine.

The Apartment cover, I believe it was very kind

of old school classic kind of a cutout of Jack Lemon

kind of looking back and a lot of words

like you know like they two, those old classic movies.

My number one movie, When Harry Met Sally.

[upbeat music]

Amanda never said how attractive you are?

Well maybe she doesn't think I'm attractive.

I don't think it's a matter

of opinion empirically you are attractive.

The quintessential romcom.

It is also, if not the quintessential New York movie

it's definitely up there as one

of the great New York movies.

Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby.

I mean the entire cast is just so amazing.

I have a lot of debates with my wife about chemistry.

I always felt that if you have good writing

and two capable actors you'll have chemistry.

I thought you didn't believe men and women

could be friends.

When did I say that?

On the ride to New York?

No, no, no, no.

I never said this.

Yes, that's right.

They can't be friends.

My wife feels that chemistry is very much

a magical thing that just exists between people.

I see that spark in in the big final scene,

with Billy Crystal running to the New Year's Eve party

in his like regular clothes while Meg Ryan's

in this beautiful gown and Harry delivers this speech.

I came here tonight

because when you realize you want to spend

the rest of your life with somebody

you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

And the way she looks at him, the way he looks at her,

I mean it's great acting, but to me it's also, yeah,

it's this great chemistry.

♪ Auld lang syne ♪

It's such a wonderful moment and the best kind

of romcom ending you could imagine.

♪ If they asked me ♪

♪ I could write a book ♪

And I love the soundtrack.

I mean I became a big Harry Connick Jr. fan after that

and I went to go see Harry Connick Jr. live.

That was the first concert I ever went to.

I begged my dad to take me to Las Vegas.

I got a ticket with my friend

who was also big into the movie.

My dad drove the two of us to Vegas,

checked in the hotel room

and we were just kids went to see the show

and we were just like, this is so cool.

That was our rock concert,

it was seeing Harry Connick Jr. in Las Vegas.

The VHS cover, it's actually kind of odd in retrospect.

It was like Harry on one side, Sally on the other

and I think like a big New York building

in the middle and they're kind of blown up

and I believe like the cities below them.

I'm not sure about that, but I'm pretty sure.

Hey everybody, I hope you had fun.

Thank you for hanging out with me.

Maybe check out one of these movies I recommended

and make sure you watch Blockbuster on Netflix

streaming right now.

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