Long time New York City resident Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) exclaims, "Oh please God, not the subway" and they opt to drive instead which is not a thing with real life New Yorkers
A woman portrayed as overly annoying makes a vapid comment, "First I'm freezing, and then I'm sweating. It's like, global warming is so upsetting."
Beckett and Castle are running away from mobsters late at night, but they discount the subway as an option to escape because Castle says it does not have a schedule. Beckett argues with Castle briefly, but his point is accepted that if the subway is *always* late, then it does not technically have a schedule.
Staff Aside
Subways, although not without issues like other transportation, have very reliable schedules especially in larger cities like NYC. And any delays experienced, in the long run are far better than dealing with traffic accidents and lane closures when driving instead.
Rick "Owen Wilson" and Fred's (Jason Sudeikis) friend Ed says "you see the Prius? We're going green!" as the group walks past the Prius that's parked next to a massive gas-guzzling SUV Ed obviously has no intention of getting rid of.
Terrorists setup a situation where, "luckily" only a single -- instead of multiple -- buses is blown up killing scores of innocent people inside.
Andy (Steve Carell) repeatedly gets made fun of for riding a bike as his primary form of transportation.
Islamic extremist terrorists blow up a bus with innocent people on board.
The Dude is depicted as a quintessential caricature of a lazy stoner. He has no job nor desire to get one and would rather spend his time smoking pot, drinking White Russians, and bowling with his friends.
Kenny (Harland Williams) asks the guys what munchies they want him to pick up at the store right after they finish smoking some marijuana together and Brian (Jim Breuer) says he wants "some sour cream and onion chips, man. Some beef jerky. Some peanut butter" and proceeds to list a whole bunch of other random items stoners are caricatured as craving after smoking pot.
On the subway, a man turns to Al Pacino and asks him "what the fuck are you looking at?" and pulls a knife on him after telling him to get out of *his* subway car.
David is depicted as an over-the-top caricature of an environmentalist who is more concerned about someone not putting an aluminum can in the recycling bin instead of the much more pressing concern -- an alien ship intent on destroying earth.
Steve (Jon Lovitz) smokes "a doobie" and then devours a plate of food before ransacking Monica's (Courtney Cox) kitchen where he grabs random foods like taco shells, sugar cereal, macaroni and cheese and gummy bears.
One city bus is blown up and another held hostage by a terrorist who will blow it up if it slows down below 55 MPH unless a ransom is paid. Also, during a confrontation on this bus, a man accidentally stabs the bus driver.
The school is depicted as so overly politically correct that nobody has parties. Droz says, "the majority of students today are so cravenly PC, they wouldn't know a good time if it was sitting on their face, but there's one thing that will always unite us and them. They're young. They may not realize it yet. They've got the same raging hormones, the same self-destructive desire to get boldly trashed and wildly out of control. Look out that window! That's not a protest! That is cry for help! They're begging us...Please have a party! Feed us drinks!"
One protest lampoons a bunch of people protesting against eating red meat because it's "murder."
An over-bearing in your face student protester yells, "gays in the military now!"
Staff Aside
That was a very important issue at the time with "Don't Ask Don't Tell" enacted as policy four months before PCU was released. Rather than serious, normal protests supporting this issue, the movie makes light of it with protesters -- and by extension their causes -- depicted negatively.
An over-bearing in your face student protester yells, "save the whales!" while pushing flyers into fellow students' faces.
The crew at Bayside High were chosen to make an anti-marijuana commercial starring (fictional) teen heartthrob Johnny Dakota. They spend an inordinate amount of time doubling down on the dangers of marijuana and fearmongering that trying it even once can ruin your life. Later on Johnny Dakota has the crew over for a party at his house and - spoiler alert! - starts smoking a marijuana joint with his friends. He even casually offers it to Kelly (Tiffany Amber Thiessen), who is then cruelly mocked for not wanting to smoke by everyone at the party. Thankfully, Zach (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) comes back to the party and saves Kelly. The crew is demoralized to find out their icon is a pot-smoking loser and wonder how they could ever make the anti-marijuana commercial. Thankfully, Mr. Belding swoops in to save the day and produces none other than the actual president of NBC to step in for the disgraced Johnny Dakota and help make the commercial a reality.
Chris (Elisabeth Shue) and the kids she's babysitting are riding in an empty L-Train cart in Chicago when rival gangs enter from opposing sides ready to fight with switchblade knives during which Brad (Keith Coogan) has a knife thrown into his foot which Chris then grabs to make their escape.
19 Tropes
11 Movies
5 TV Shows
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