Welcome to The Attachment Point. This is our SlackChat content where volunteers on The Insurance Nerds Slack Channel (join here) discuss various topics. We do very little editing (so excuse the typos) and we try to keep it as conversational as possible. Enjoy!

Nick Lamparelli: Nick set the channel purpose: What are your favorite insurance themed movies?

Nick Lamparelli: Hello everyone and welcome to SlackChat#13. I thank Brent Poliquin for pointing me to a movie which became this motivation for this week’s topic.

Nick Lamparelli: I will start: When people ask me what I do, I usually reference Along Came Polly.

Nick Lamparelli: But my friend Brent Poliquin told me about Cedar Rapids, which if you haven’t seen it, is truly an entire comedy based on the agency system

Patrick Wraight: Got to put some thought into this, but my fave scene is in Groundhog Day when Bill Murray meets up with old Ned Ryerson.

Kyle Babirad: Double Indemnity

Kyle Babirad: 1944 film noir, the “detective” is a claims adjuster

Nick Lamparelli: Kyle Babirad Never heard of it. It’s available on YouTube:
Double Indemnity Full Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-baCbEWGCUk

Nick Lamparelli: I’m sure someone will bring it up, but your reference reminds me of The Thomas Crown Affair (Renee Russo’s character was a loss control expert working for an insurance company):
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ft-XmfxtXU

Brent Poliquin: Thanks for the nod, Nick. Cedar Rapids was a fun flick.

Nick Lamparelli: Brent Poliquin it was surprisingly funny given the subject

Brent Poliquin: About Schmidt is a good one. A bit darker than Cedar Rapids, but a solid film in this super niche category of insurance films.

Nick Lamparelli: About Schmidt – never heard of that either:
About Schmidt Full Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jFDbAZBpGk

Kyle Babirad: Cedar Rapids was funny, my wife asked me at some point something along the lines of “is this what your job is like” and i was like “no, the agents are the cool people in the industry compared to us (actuaries)”

Nick Lamparelli: Kyle Babirad but are they….??? ?

Carly Burnham: I just saw Oceans 8 last night, and there was an insurance nod that I enjoyed.

Nick Lamparelli: Carly Burnham insurance is everywhere…if you look for it

Carly Burnham: The Thomas Crown Affair also has a nod, if I remember correctly. But I’d vote for Cedar Rapids as my favorite, too.

Craig Tappel: After watching The Incredibles 2 (and rewatching the original) this weekend, I have to add The Incredibles to the list. Our Superhero’s, Bob, has his worst nightmare job at Insuricare. His job is to avoid paying claims and make $, but he finds a way to be Incredible by helping people get through the system and deliver the policy promise. We are all working to be that insurance superhero.

Nick Lamparelli: Craig Tappel wow…I never noticed that. Great catch. Tony and Carly Burnham, we’ve got a superhero reference!

Taylor Fay: Cemetery Junction

Kyle Hendricks: Logan Lucky, similar to Ocean’s 8, has insurance play in important role in the course of the story.

Justin Fowler: ok, so this isn’t really about insurance, but it’s about a used car lot so i feel it fits here somehow. <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199054/>

Suckers (2001)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199054/

Justin Fowler: the movie is called “Suckers” and it is required viewing for anyone who has ever been in sales

Kyle Hendricks: Oh! ‘Unsane,’ which my wife and I watched last night, is a bit of a commentary on health insurance practices in the mental health field… :eyes:

Cara Corlone: Yes! I used to reference Along Came Polly when I was an underwriter. People would say, “what does that mean?” and I would say “Remember Ben Stiller’s character in Along Came Polly? He assessed risk for a living. I do that.”

Cara Corlone: I’ve never seen it (or even heard of it until today when I searched for Insurance films), but it made me laugh: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027902/>

Lloyd’s of London (1936)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027902/

Cara Corlone: Lloyds of London!

Cara Corlone: What’s crazy is that if you search for “insurance movies”, there are a ton out there. Some I’ve even seen multiple times and never realized there were insurance references. Memento being one of them!

Nick Lamparelli: Taylor Fay , Justin Fowler, Kyle Hendricks, Cara Corlone, I’ve not heard of any of those. I will make sure I put the YouTube/Amazon links up for those.

Nick Lamparelli: Cara Corlone yup. me too

John Hassan : John Hassan  has left the channel

Cara Corlone: Nick You’ve never heard of Memento? Apparently, Jim Carrey’s character in The Truman Show was an insurance salesman/adjuster too? I need to pay more attention to these things!

Nick Lamparelli: Cara Corlone you are right! In the Truman Show, Truman worked in insurance. I didn’t recall that!

Tony Cañas: Seems to me every insurance reference in insurance is negative. Are there any moves (or any of the above) where an insurance career is referenced positively?

Cara Corlone: Probably not. Which is sad.

Cara Corlone: Ins nerds newest venture? ?

Nick Lamparelli: Tony I think Along Came Polly and Cedar Rapids ultimately were pretty positive. Along Came Polly made risk analysis seem kind of cool I think and Cedar Rapids made being an insurance agent honorable!

Carly Burnham: Agreed about Along Came Polly and Cedar Rapids, and I actually don’t find all “insurance investigators” in movies to be portrayed negatively.

Nick Lamparelli: Carly Burnham I’d want to be Renee Russo’s character in The Thomas Crown Affair!

Jeff Kleid: Tony to further your point, and add some humor. I had a client and friend for several years who was a writer on a well known police drama. He was so frustrated with how one of my own insurers adjusters handled the claim over several weeks, before we learned it wasn’t being handled. When I stepped in, he thought it would be funny to write an episode where the missing victim was an insurance adjuster found hidden in the floorboards. Oh, and by the way it was a water damage claim on the floors. Carrier started with $11k pay out, we ended up with a $180k settlement ?

Lisa Harrington: Top 25 Movies Involving Insurance:
1. Double Indemnity 1944
2. Incredibles
3. The Apartment 1960
4. The Wrong Man 1956
5. Cedar Rapids 2011
6. The Thomas Crown Affair 1968
7. Groundhog Day 1993
8. About Schmidt 2002
9. Death of a Salesman 1985
10. The Truman Show 1985
11. Moments 2000
12. Sleuth 1972
13. Save the Tiger 1973
14. Lloyd’s of London 1936
15. Kafka 1991
16. To Catch a Thief 1955
17. Fletch 1985
18. Obsession 1943
19. The Fortune Cookie 1966
20. John Q 2002
21. Evil Under the Sun 1982
22. Along Came Polly 2004:
23. The Killers 1946
24. Alias Jesse Jones 1959
25. The Rainmaker 1997

Nick Lamparelli: Lisa Harrington wow! nice job!

Kyle Hendricks: I sincerely appreciate Groundhog Day making the list on the merits of Ned alone.

Bob Frady: I consulted for a Toronto company for awhile. They have a university there named Ryerson University. Every time I interviewed someone from Ryerson, I’d think of Ned. It made me (silently) laugh, laugh, laugh. Ryerson? Like in Ned? Needle Nose Ned?

Bob Frady: And my vote is for The Thomas Crown Affair

Taylor Fay: so sad – #cemeteryjunction is undersold. It’s the story of a kid who becomes a Prudential agent and sells a life policy to a working class man. The guy dies within a year and his wife wishes that they would have spent the money for the premium on a last vacation instead. I watched it the week before I got a job at Northwestern Mutual and it gave me serious second thoughts…

Nick Lamparelli: Taylor Fay I’ve never heard of it. Thank you for sharing. Looks like a UK flick
Cemetery Junction trailer – At UK Cinemas 14 April 2010
https://youtu.be/XYDeHIszUqA

Nick Lamparelli: @channel, I am closing this Slackchat. One last favor, please place your vote:

: *Which insurance based movie was your favorite (I can only list 5)* _(Choose one)_

The people have spoken…Thanks @channel