Falling Down

Episode 170: Falling Down (1993)

Theme: Ouch
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, Oz and Curtis wrap up Ouch Month with Falling Down — the movie that plays like Frank Grimes from The Simpsons, Milton from Office Space, the “I’m mad as hell!” energy of Network, a dash of Lethal Weapon (minus all the fun), and The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” stitched together with heat exhaustion and pure suburban rage. It’s the story of one very sweaty man’s cross-city meltdown — a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure of bad decisions, terrible takes, and the most chaotic walking commute in cinematic history.

Join your two favorite “the 405 ruined my life” podcasters as they examine:

• Michael Douglas’s Bill Foster, the patron saint of entitlement, grievance, and sunscreen avoidance.

• Robert Duvall’s Prendergast — the world’s most stressed-out “last day on the job” cop who just wants one quiet retirement cake.

• A Burger-Chain Breakfast Incident so iconic it might as well be in the Library of Congress under “Karen Artifacts.”

• Joel Schumacher’s yellow filter of doom, making L.A. look like it’s trapped inside a dehydrated Gatorade bottle.

• The alt-right fanboys who completely missed the point and adopted Bill Foster like he’s their spirit animal instead of the cautionary tale he very obviously is.

From rampaging through convenience stores to RPG mishaps, from golf-course heart attacks to phone-booth vendettas, Oz and Curtis break down a movie that’s less “relatable anger” and more “therapy session that got lost in traffic.” It’s chaotic, uncomfortable, and somehow even more relevant in 2025 than it was in 1993 — which is its own kind of ouch.

Final Verdict

Oz — All the guns in the world
Curtis — All the phone booths in L.A.
Both — Unconvinced anyone could walk from Pasadena to Venice in one afternoon, even with heat-activated rigor mortis.