Am I beefing with MovieGrid?
Courtesy of today's Movie Snake puzzle
The MovieGrid creators say that the Movie Snake game gets progressively harder throughout the week, just like the NYTs Crossword. So when I saw Ryan Gosling on Movie Snake today, I thought, great, an easy, fun little start to my week.
Wrong.
This clue:
Ryan Gosling x Plays a Real Person
Now your instinct is probably to say, obviously it’s First Man (2018). He plays Neil Armstrong.
Yeah, it’s correct but would result in a 91% score for this clue, effectively destroying the great work you just did using Song to Song (2017) and The Ides of March (2011) earlier in the puzzle.
Notable MovieGrid cast members: Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Christopher Abbott, Ciarán Hinds, and Shea Whigham.
Broadway person cast member: Brian d’Arcy James
But you’re smarter than this movie, so you consider the alternate options.
All Good Things (2010)
Ryan’s movie about the incredibly creepy Robert Durst. I hate Robert Durst, but I kind of love this underappreciated movie? The fashion’s on point, Kirsten Dunst is great, it led to Robert Durst confessing on The Jinx.
But no! This answer doesn’t work because Ryan’s character name is David Marks. The clue specifies that his character’s name must match the real person. This is a hugely disappointing rule.
Notable MovieGrid cast members: Frank Langella, Lily Rabe, Philip Baker Hall, Nick Offerman, and Kristen Wiig.
Notable Broadway people that no one asked for: Michael Esper and John Cullum.
Next up, The Big Short (2015).
If you also happen to be married to a millennial man, it’s literally impossible for you to not consider this movie. As you no doubt have heard about every actor and their real life counterpart.
Ryan plays this douchey looking man named Jared Vennett. However, the MovieGrid rule gets us again! Unfortunately the real douchey man’s name Greg Lippman. The movie changed several characters’ real names. So this won’t work either.
This made me mad all over again.
I don’t think I even need to list the notable MovieGrid cast for this one? Literally just ask the nearest 40 year old man.
But then I had a thought, Gangster Squad (2013). I’ve been around enough true crime media to know that the Gangster Squad was real.
Ding, ding, ding. Gangster Squad would have given you that sub 10% answer. Unfortunately I had already used it earlier in the puzzle for Ryan Gosling x Emma Stone because I know that La La Land (2016) and Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) are bad answers.
There’s another title I’d like to add to the list of Ryan Gosling x Plays a Real Person movies. It won’t work because of the rule, but I often refer to it as Ryan’s Nazi movie because I can never remember the title.
The Believer (2001)
It is loosely based on Dan Burros, a member of the American Nazi Party, who committed suicide after being revealed as Jewish by The New York Times. It’s a pre-movie star Ryan and worth watching, but maybe not until we’ve had some distance from Elon Musk.
The cast also includes Billy Zane and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
Finally, I’d like to enter Remember the Titans (2000) into consideration. Yes, Ryan is in it.
Also loosely based on a real story, it is about coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) and his attempt to integrate a high school football team in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. I saw this quite literally 25 years ago and don’t plan on watching it again, but I can appreciate how it is Ryan’s first major film role.
MovieGrid Deep Cut co-stars: Will Patton, Wood Harris, Hayden Panettiere, and Kate Bosworth
MovieGrid, I love you, but this Plays a Real Person rule is stifling my creativity.