"That’s a movie that was really, really funny. It’s about grownups. It’s about grownups having grownup problems. There’s no bad guys in it. It’s really funny and really moving and really complicated and messy. Honestly, when we were writing The Big Sick, that was a movie that we used as a reference point, to be like, “If we can try and make a movie that’s similar to Broadcast News in tone, then at least we’re trying to the right kind of thing.”"

"Most of my recent essays include a reference to Jane Austen and to my mum. I read and reread "Persuasion" for its painful rendering of love that continues in the absence of an object, and for the delicacy of its heroine’s goodness. Anne, in the sadness of what she believes to be her ruined life, can be concerned to prevent a country walk from being spoiled by her sister Mary-- a marvelous depiction of obnoxiousness. And the happy ending is delicious."

"Another widescreen movie, this one has American cars and roads, drivers and mechanics. The seventies saw quite a number of films with images of automobiles and white lines, and the smell of gasoline and roadkill. None are quite like this one directed by Monte Hellman. At some point, Warren Oates says something like “everything is too fast and not fast enough.” This film is a major reference if I ever need to shoot something in and around cars on roads."