I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't really judge whether it works without that moment. My instinct is to say no, but I can't say that with certainty until I've actually watched it.
What does irritate me is the article calling it a "3,000-year-old joke."
Because it's not just a joke.
It's a trick. It's a deception.
It's there because it demonstrates Odysseus's approach to problem solving. He's manipulative. He weaponizes language. The famous "Nobody" moment isn't memorable because it gets a chuckle. Because it's just a "good laugh". It's memorable because it's a perfect encapsulation of Odysseus as a lying trickster.
The article does eventually call it a trick towards the end, but only after spending most of it insisting it's just a joke or, as Nolan puts it, "a pun."
It misses why the moment has endured for three thousand years in the first place. It's not just because people thought, "Ha, that's a good one."
It's because they thought, "Of course that's how Odysseus would solve this problem."
also
No. Just No. Nope. No.
