A deadly virus threatens humanity and something must be done. We need a hero, fast. That hero? Dustin Hoffman, of course, in Wolfgang Petersen’s 1995 disease action/mystery/thriller/love/disaster movie Outbreak. Based on the true story of the Ebola Zaire virus being discovered less than 15 miles from Washington D.C. in a monkey warehouse (monkey warehouse?), Outbreak follows the story of the deadly Motaba virus which has made its way from the African jungle to a small American town via a cute little monkey which was smuggled in to be sold. The monkey ends up swapping spit with Jimbo McDreamy, who then swaps spit with his girlfriend, and then a whole chain of really unfortunate and unhygienic shit happens and lots of people start liquifying in this little town. Mostly, they really need to find that goddamn monkey, but McDreamy let it go in a California redwood forest, so Hoffman and Cuba Gooding Jr sherlock the shit out of the case of the spitting monkey so they can make a serum to fix them, SHOW ME THE SERUUUUUUM! Also, there is a love story and helicopter chases and bombs and gunfights. Anyways, this flick is packed with star power featuring: Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr, Donald Sutherland, and Patrick Dempsey as monkey smuggler #1. Made for $50 million, Outbreak made $190 million at the box office and received mixed reviews from the critics. But, does it hold up? Listen in as Jon, Colin, and Brent discuss Ebola monkeys and pandemic protocol and decide if Outbreak is the vaccine we all need, or if we all need to observe social distancing and give this one das boot.
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