"Mac and Charlie Write a Movie" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Synopsis[]
When Dee gets a part in the new M. Night Shyamalan film, Mac and Charlie seize a chance to pitch their movie script.
Recap[]
1:30PM on a Thursday
As Mac and Charlie excitedly tell Dennis an uneventful story about being trapped in a stairwell, Dee enters, telling them that she has scored a part in an M. Night Shyamalan film. Frank, who is eating sausages out of his shirt pocket without using his hands, offers to be her agent, and Mac and Charlie decide to write a movie to pitch to Shyamalan while he is in town.
At the film set, Dee tries to get into a trailer. An assistant director tells her that she is not a "featured actress" but a "featured extra". Back at Paddy's, Mac and Charlie hack away at their script. They start with the idea of rebooting an actor's career and choose Dolph Lundgren. They decide to make him a scientist who wears a mesh shirt. Charlie wants him to either be a dog or run like a dog, but Mac shoots down the idea. The agree on calling it The Fifth Sense and making it so he can smell crime before it happens.
At the movie set, Frank and Dennis enters. Frank gets Dennis, who has been completely obsessed with his new touch screen phone, a role in the movie next to Dee. Mac and Charlie arrive with their ideas for the film and practice pitching it to Dennis is a trailer. Dennis suggests adding a love interest - a young lab assistant that Dolph bangs in between solving crimes. He suggests they show full penetration and make it as erotic as possible.
At the library, Charlie and Mac try to type their ideas into a script. They see a Pakistani kid sitting in front of them and ask him to help write the movie, assuming he is good at twists due to his ethnicity. He helps them flesh out some of their ideas but doesn't want to write the script. Dee and Dennis begin filming their scene for the Shyamalan film. Dee is upset because she is covered head-to-toe in blood and has to lie facedown. When the camera pans past them, Dee pretends to be a zombie and Dennis answers his phone. Mac is calling, explaining that they've made a movie poster instead of writing a script. Frank enters as their agent and has the director fire them so he can take their place.
In the extras tent, Charlie and Mac show off their poster for the movie "Crime Stinks: The Smell of Penetration". Dennis reveals that the entire time on his phone he has been writing a movie about Mac and Charlie locked in a stairwell. Convinced it will be a blockbuster, he becomes infuriated when he realizes Frank's greasy fingers have ruined his phone, destroying the script. Meanwhile, Frank takes a bite of the sausage in his pocket as the camera pans past him, ruining another take.
Alliances[]
- Charlie and Mac team up to work on a movie script to give M. Night Shyamalan.
- Frank comes up with the idea to be a talent agent and uses Dennis as his first client.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
- Rob McElhenney as Mac
- Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Guest Starring[]
- Lex Medlin as A.D.
Uncredited[]
- Kunal Sharma as Faisal
- Shaun Paul Costello as Dude
Trivia[]
- Frank eats sausage links out of his shirt pocket for the entire episode.
- From deleted scenes we learn that in Charlie's mind, "the most underrated star of all time"
is Angela Lansbury. - In other deleted scene for this episode, Charlie alluded to his terrible first sexual experience with Stacy Corvelli, but does not mention her name.
- The slogan of Mac & Charlie's movie is "He NOSE the truth".
- When Charlie is trying to understand the twist of “The Sixth Sense” he confuses that twist ending with the ending twist in the movie “12 Monkeys” which also stars Bruce Willis
- At several points during the episode, director M. Night Shyamalan is referred to as "that slumdog" (such as Dee calling him "that slumdog bastard!"), based on his Indian heritage and rise to fame and riches. This refers to the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which was directed by Danny Boyle.
- This episode mirrors quite a few things that go on in real life: of course, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney have written many episodes of the show together, and Danny DeVito has years of experience as a producer and director.
- During the meeting that Dennis and Frank have with Mac and Charlie to discuss their movie, Dennis holds a coffee cup from the Philadelphia Java Company, which is the coffee shop where The Waitress works.
- Charlie mentions that their character can smell crime before it happens. This is similar to the premise of the movie Minority Report, where crime is stopped before it takes place.
- The concept of Dolph Lundgren as a "muscular scientist" has parallels in real life: Lundgren, alongside his famously imposing physical build, holds a master's degree in chemical engineering.
- When Charlie says that making up a new name for a person might be confusing he is possibly referencing the fact that Charlie shares a name with his actor, Charlie Day.
Quotes[]
- Charlie: What if he can smell crime?
- Mac: ...what if he smells crime?
- Charlie: Dude dude dude dude dude dude dude! What if he can smell crime before it even happens?
- Mac: Holy shit dude, that's amazing! Smells crime before it even happens! Yes, dude!
- Charlie: WHAT IF HIS ENTIRE HEAD IS JUST ONE BIG NOSE! Write that down, I like that.
- Mac: (disappointed and looking down) Ah, shit...
- Dennis: And then he smells crime again, he's out busting heads. Then he's back to the lab for some more full penetration. Smells crime. Back to the lab, full penetration. Crime. Penetration. Crime. Full penetration. Crime. Penetration. And this goes on and on and back and forth for 90 or so minutes until the movie just sort of ends.
- (pause for 7 seconds while Dennis seeks comments from the gang)
- Frank: That is brilliant, that is the most brilliant movie I've ever heard in my life!
- Charlie: I think the audience is gonna be very uncomfortable seeing Dolph Lundgren's naked penis going into this young girl that you're talking about.
- Dennis: Yeah, just to be clear though, I don't care either way.
From deleted scene:
— | “I HAVE GREAT SEX ALL THE TIME, TONS OF WOMEN... ” |
< Season 4 |
Season 5 | Season > 6 |
1. "The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis" 2. "The Gang Hits the Road" 3. "The Great Recession" 4. "The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention" 5. "The Waitress Is Getting Married" 6. "The World Series Defense" 7. "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops" 8. "Paddy's Pub: Home of the Original Kitten Mittens" 9. "Mac and Dennis Break Up" 10. "The D.E.N.N.I.S. System" 11. "Mac and Charlie Write a Movie" 12. "The Gang Reignites the Rivalry" 13. "A Very Sunny Christmas" |