Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast

We’re back after another short hiatus! This week, Daily Grindhouse’s Preston Fassel joins us to talk about two films featuring our heroes in erstwhile dysfunctional families: A Love Song for Bobby Long and Matchstick Men! In Love Song for Bobby Long, Travolta plays the titular Southern-fried English professor, a hard-drinking, hard-living man dealing with his itinerant ways in N’Awlins, only to have to grow up when a young girl (Scarlett Johansson, not quite yet playing black widows or Japanese people) shows up to claim the house he’s squatting in as hers. Contrast that with Ridley Scott’s masterful Matchstick Men, in which Cage fills the tic-filled shoes of a con man struggling with Tourette’s and OCD, and what happens when a young girl (Alison Lohman) who may be his daughter comes into his life. One’s a sprightly, energetic dramedy with all the power of an actor and director at the top of his game (plus Sam Rockwell dancing!). The other? Well, it’s got Travolta saying “pussy” a lot. Take a listen!