When They Popped - A Y2K Pop Culture Podcast · Kelsey and Mary

Christmas Movies of the 90s & 2000s

·53 min·3 clips

Jon Favreau rewrote Elf for a year and turned Buddy into a PG family character.

1. When They Popped covers Christmas movies of the 90s and 2000s, then opens with a new Jonas Brothers Christmas movie on Disney Plus and Hulu. 2. Kelsey and Mary host the show, trade Christmas shopping updates, and frame the discussion around holiday movies they start watching on Thanksgiving Day. 3. The episode asks which films helped define the holiday-movie template that families still stream every December. 4. The hosts begin with A Very Jonas Christmas Movie, where Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays Santa Claus and curses the Jonas Brothers to keep the band together. 5. They note that the movie sends the band through plane explosions, a detour to Amsterdam, and missed connections as they try to get home from London. 6. The cast list includes KJ Apa, Billy Lord, Laverne Cox, Randall Park, Chloe Bennett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Danielle Jonas, and Denise Jonas. 7. The hosts also mention seven original songs, including “Coming Home This Christmas” featuring Kenny G. 8. They say the film runs 80 minutes, which they describe as a relief compared with longer holiday movies. 9. Their favorite parts include the self-aware tone, the brothers’ heightened personalities, and the choreographed musical numbers. 10. Kelsey points to Joe’s song about going out on the last night of the tour, while both hosts laugh about the “musical version of Home Alone.” 11. The episode then pivots to Elf, which they date to November 7, 2003, and describe as a movie that turned Will Ferrell into a star. 12. They say the original Elf script was written by David Berenbaum in 1993 after he moved to Los Angeles and watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for inspiration. 13. Jim Carrey was the original frontrunner for Buddy, but Jon Favreau only signed on after a year of rewriting turned the film into a PG family story. 14. Favreau’s version leaned on Rankin-Bass Rudolph, and the hosts note that the costume design, workshop sets, and stop-motion animals all echoed that 1964 special. 15. They also say New Line Cinema worried the film borrowed too much from Rudolph and sent lawyers to the set before clearing the production. 16. The hosts explain that Elf filmed from December 2002 to March 2003 on a $33 million budget, then used forced perspective so Will Ferrell could look much taller than Bob Newhart. 17. They describe the real pedestrian reactions filmed in Manhattan, the use of Gimbel’s instead of Macy’s, and the spaghetti-and-maple-syrup scene that made Will Ferrell vomit on the first take. 18. They close the Elf segment with James Caan’s blunt reactions to Ferrell, Jon Favreau’s cameo as the doctor and the narwhal, and the film’s $228 million worldwide gross. 19. They say The Holiday is for listeners who like Nancy Meyers interiors, Christmas rom-coms, and cast stories about Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, and Jack Black. 20. They suggest skipping it if you want a single-plot thriller instead of house swaps, banter, and production trivia.

As heard by us

A relaxed seasonal hangout that moves from holiday-shopping stress to Elf, The Holiday, and other December favorites.

The conversation moves into Christmas movies fast, after a brief stretch of holiday-shopping stress, and then settles into A Very Jonas Christmas Movie and the listeners' go-to picks from the 90s and early 2000s.

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Your holiday watchlist gets a Jonas-brothers-to-Nancy-Meyers detour.

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