SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Some movies are laser-focused on the family market, like the "Toy Story" films...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TOY STORY")
TIM ALLEN: (As Buzz Lightyear) To infinity and beyond.
PFEIFFER: ...Or the Steve Martin/John Candy comedy classic "Planes, Trains And Automobiles" about two men trying to get home in time for Thanksgiving.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES")
MICHAEL MCKEAN: (As State Trooper) Do you feel this vehicle is safe for highway travel?
JOHN CANDY: (As Del Griffith) Yes, I do.
MCKEAN: (As State Trooper) Now, you got no outside mirror.
CANDY: (As Del Griffith) No, we lost that.
MCKEAN: (As State Trooper) You have no functioning gauges.
CANDY: (As Del Griffith) No, not a one.
PFEIFFER: But some families make their own movie-watching traditions and gather together to see the same films year after year, whether they're marketed as family fare or not. One holiday break, my family went to the theater to see a movie I thought was hilarious, "The Full Monty."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FULL MONTY")
LESLEY SHARP: (As Jean) You and Gaz - strippers?
MARK ADDY: (As Dave) We weren't that bad.
PFEIFFER: Yeah, it's about unemployed men trying to earn some money and get their dignity back by becoming strippers. I thought my family would love it. Turns out all the F-bombs, which I hadn't even remembered were in there, and all the male strippers weren't my mom's thing. Since then, my family has never tried to see a movie together again, but many other families do. So for this week's movie conversation, I wanted to hear what films some of my colleagues go back to year after year with their loved ones. And with me, I have NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour host Stephen Thompson and ALL THINGS CONSIDERED producer Kathryn Fink. Hi to both of you.
KATHRYN FINK, BYLINE: Hello.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Hey. It's great to be here.
PFEIFFER: Before we talk about specific films, do the two of you have the type of families who like to get together on specific occasions and watch movies together - Kathryn?
FINK: Yeah, movies are a huge deal in my family. When the holidays come around, we are always getting together to sit on the couch and watch a movie or go to the movie theater. My parents actually met at a movie theater.
THOMPSON: Aww.
PFEIFFER: Did they really?
FINK: So they instilled in my brother and me a huge appreciation for cinema.
PFEIFFER: And Stephen?
THOMPSON: Yeah, I mean, kind of the same - my parents used to sit me down and make me watch movies, quote-unquote, "for my education," which culminated at one point when I was probably about 15 and they sat me down to watch the best picture winner, "Midnight Cowboy"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MIDNIGHT COWBOY")
DUSTIN HOFFMAN: (As Ratso) In New York, no rich lady with any class at all buys that cowboy crap anymore. They're laughing at you on the street.
JON VOIGHT: (As Joe Buck) Ain't nobody laughing at me on the street.
HOFFMAN: (As Ratso) Behind your back, I seen them laughing at you, fella.
THOMPSON: ...Which was, at the time, rated X. But my parents felt that it was part of my cultural education. And God love them, I wound up going into this career.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: So it's certainly been a big part of my life. In my own nuclear family - me, my partner, my two now-college-age kids - we more likely kind of gather around to watch TV shows. We'll watch a lot of your "Great Pottery Throw Down," your "Great British Baking Show," you know, a lot of kind of twee, maybe vaguely holiday-adjacent programming. But for movies, it's more likely to be something like "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," which isn't necessarily holiday focused, but I think has that kind of playful, childlike, everyone-can-enjoy-it kind of vibe.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE")
PAUL REUBENS: (As Pee-wee Herman) I wouldn't sell my bike for all the money in the world, not for a hundred billion, million, trillion dollars.
MARK HOLTON: (As Francis Buxton) Then you're crazy.
REUBENS: (As Pee-wee Herman) I know you are, but what am I?
HOLTON: (As Francis Buxton) You're a nerd.
PFEIFFER: Yeah and because the holidays are when families are often getting together, sometimes these family movie-watching nights are holiday themes, you know, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"...
THOMPSON: Right.
PFEIFFER: ..."A Christmas Story," "Elf." Do your families, Stephen and Kathryn, have movies that fall into that holiday movie category?
FINK: You know, I do have my favorites, and I would say a lot of them fall into the sort of, like, early-2000s holiday rom-com genre, so "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HOLIDAY")
CAMERON DIAZ: (As Amanda) We switch houses for two weeks for the holiday. She's in LA at my house, and I'm here.
JUDE LAW: (As Graham) People actually do that?
FINK: ..."Bridget Jones's Diary," starring Renee Zellweger.
PFEIFFER: I'm trying to remember, did that happen over the holidays?
FINK: Yes. That was a New Year's movie. Yeah, she has vowed to change her life.
THOMPSON: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY")
RENEE ZELLWEGER: (As Bridget Jones) I decided to take control of my life and start a diary to tell the truth about Bridget Jones.
FINK: But, you know, the one that I come back to every year - and honestly, often not during the holidays - is a really controversial choice I've learned, and that is "The Family Stone."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FAMILY STONE")
DERMOT MULRONEY: (As Everett Stone) You don't have to be nervous.
SARAH JESSICA PARKER: (As Meredith Morton) I'm not.
MULRONEY: (As Everett Stone) They're going to love you.
FINK: So this is from 2005. This is an ensemble cast. We've got Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson. And basically, the premise is a guy comes home for the holidays, and he's brought his girlfriend. She's meeting the family for the first time. He wants to propose. He wants the ring. And everyone hates her.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FAMILY STONE")
RACHEL MCADAMS: (As Amy Stone) She is a total phony. She's completely uptight. She tried to...
FINK: And chaos ensues. And the chaos really, I think, is why so many people hate this movie.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
FINK: I love the chaos. I think it's really fun. I think we're seeing a lot of these stars at their best. But there's this one scene in particular that I really love. My mom and I always watch this movie together. And Luke Wilson, who plays the brother of the man who's brought home his fiance, who's played by Sarah Jessica Parker - she's very uptight, and I think that's why the family is having a hard time connecting with her. And they're sitting across from each other at the bar, and Luke Wilson goes, you have a freak flag; you just don't fly it. And that is a quote that my mom and I always say to each other to this day that just is, like, ingrained in my brain.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
PFEIFFER: I have a philosophical question. Does it change the meaning of a movie when you see it repeatedly with your family? Or does it become something deeper somehow? Maybe I'm stretching.
THOMPSON: I mean, I think our feeling of connection to the work changes. I think in some ways, you know, I watch a lot of movies and TV shows for my job. You know, I'm one of the hosts of a pop culture podcast. I'm seeing a lot of stuff for work. But when you are kind of strictly taking in a piece of entertainment as a bonding exercise with your family, your relationship with it is going to change. The part of your brain that is critiquing everything you see - or at least, I have that part of my brain where I'm critiquing everything I see - that gets turned off a little bit. And so my relationship to "Frozen II"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FROZEN II")
MATTEA CONFORTI: (As Young Elsa) You've seen an Enchanted Forest?
HADLEY GANNAWAY: (As Young Anna) Wait, what?
ALFRED MOLINA: (As King Agnarr) I have once.
THOMPSON: ...Which I watch with my family surprisingly often is totally untethered from my relationship with it as somebody who might be critiquing that film. I just love it unconditionally because I associate it with my family.
FINK: I think, for me - so I'm the youngest in my family. I have an older brother. And as I said, you know, my family loves to watch movies together. And these days, most of the movies we watch together I would call dude comedies from the 2000s, so...
THOMPSON: "Step Brothers"?
FINK: ...Yes, "Step Brothers," "Superbad," "Anger Management," "Blades Of Glory," "Wedding Crashers."
THOMPSON: (Laughter) Oh, yes.
FINK: "Wedding Crashers," which is always playing on TV when I'm at my parents' house - I don't know why. It's always on TV, so that's a guaranteed watch.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WEDDING CRASHERS")
VINCE VAUGHN: (As Jeremy Grey) John, this is completely against the rules. You have a wedding and a reception to seal the deal - period. There's no overtime.
OWEN WILSON: (As John Beckwith) Oh, no overtime?
VAUGHN: (As Jeremy Grey) No.
WILSON: (John Beckwith) What about the Chang wedding three years ago?
FINK: So these are movies that when they came out, I was probably too young to see in theaters. My brother probably saw them, but it was uncomfortable to watch them with our parents. And then I feel like, you know, I went off to college. We sort of dipped our toes into watching these sort of, like, raunch-coms (ph) together. And now, you know, we're just adults hanging out. And so I think it's kind of fun that we can laugh together about stuff that was sort of off limits when I was a kid.
PFEIFFER: Since we're entering Thanksgiving week, could each of you send us off with one recommendation for a movie people could watch with their families over the holiday break? Stephen, do you want to start?
THOMPSON: Yeah, I'm going to say, if you're going to the theater to see movies with your family, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed "Now You See Me: Now You Don't"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON'T")
JESSE EISENBERG: (As J. Daniel Atlas) In the world of magic, everything that disappears reappears. Whoo. It is very good...
THOMPSON: ...Which is the third installment in the "Now You See Me" movies, which are these kind of heist movies involving a team of kind of vigilante magicians. It's super silly. The lore is kind of ridiculous. But what you're seeing is these kind of elaborate Robin Hood-style heists. And, to me, these movies are frictionless. They're very silly. They're not highly critically acclaimed. But I feel like they're the kind of thing where if you are in a family that is, let's say, mixed in its politics, this is not a movie that is going to start any arguments. And I feel like you're going to all of enjoy it together. It's very PG-13. They're not particularly violent. They're not particularly profane, and they're surprisingly fun.
PFEIFFER: Yeah, you're touching on a key thing that a movie that works for a family has to cover. It has to not be too political. It has to span multiple generations.
THOMPSON: Right.
PFEIFFER: Kathryn, anything comes to your mind that fits that bill?
FINK: Yeah, I'm going to stick with the 2000s theme I've got going today and recommend "Napoleon Dynamite."
THOMPSON: Oh, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NAPOLEON DYNAMITE")
JON HEDER: (As Napoleon Dynamite) Stay home and eat all the freaking chips, Kip.
AARON RUELL: (As Kip) Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day.
FINK: This actually may be the movie I have seen more than any other movie.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
FINK: I was in elementary school when this came out, and my entire family was obsessed with it. You know, it's very offbeat. It sort of defies plot and genre. And I just really feel like it's one of those perfect movies for a family that kind of operates on all of these levels. Like, there are some dirty jokes here and there, but mostly it's just kind of odd. And there are weird characters. There's an epic dance scene. You've got some great '80s music. I just feel like it's such a crowd pleaser and truly one of the most quotable movies of all time.
(LAUGHTER)
PFEIFFER: That is NPR's Kathryn Fink and Stephen Thompson. Thank you very much and happy movie watching to all our listeners who plan to gather with their families and watch films over the holidays. Thanks, you guys.
THOMPSON: Thank you.
FINK: Thanks so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME")
RANDY NEWMAN: (Singing) You've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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