A Very Jonas Christmas Movie: Are we broken or is this actually funny?

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0:53Ho ho ho hello and welcome back to Bah Humbug, the Christmas movies podcast that is dabbling in pop today because we are here to talk about a very Jonas Christmas movie. Yes, the Jonas Brothers have made a Christmas movie. Now, you may be thinking, dear God, no, run away, run away. I'll be honest, I quite liked it. Here to help me deal with this new side of my personality that I didn't know I had prior to now is Charlotte Harrison, who is a teacher and a film journalist and someone who can hopefully decode the Joni for me. Hello, Charlotte. How are you doing? Hi, Helen. I'm good, thank you. tired but very happy to be here to talk about very important issue of our times will the jonas brothers get home for christmas that being the important issue very very important to me okay so let me just set this up the jonas brothers play the jonas brothers in this film i now have a better grip on which one is kevin which one is joe and which one is Nick.

2:01I'm still not 100 % sure, but I feel at least 99 % sure now after watching this movie. So maybe it has achieved its intended aim. I don't know. But yes, the idea is they have just wrapped up a tour in London. It's a couple of days before Christmas. They plan to obviously get home to their families, to their children for Christmas. But wouldn't you know it, fate intervenes in the form of Jesse Tyler Ferguson playing Santa Claus, who decides to basically screw up all their travel plans to force them to bond as a trio of brothers. What a beautiful idea this is. There are many other celebrity cameos, celebrity roles.

2:37There are roles for literally every member of the Jonas family, I believe. And I was weirdly charmed. How did you feel about this? Yeah, I'll agree with you. I think you mentioned watching this to me a while ago. And I went, oh, that's a thing that exists. Interesting. Huh? And then I think you said you'd quite liked it. yeah I was like okay and you began to worry for my sanity I understand a little bit I know Christmas is a busy time for you with the podcast everything else we you know and I watched it and I didn't hate it yeah yeah it like it someone came in and wrote actual funny lines now I don't know if this comes from the Jonas Brothers themselves or if it comes from a team of extremely talented script writers.

3:22This is written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, directed by Jessica Yu, by the way, who did Quiz Lady a couple of years ago, which was pretty good, actually. But yeah, there were jokes here and jokes kind of throughout and kind of good, I guess, comedy archetypes for all the Joe Nye to play. So we learned that Kevin is the boring one who weirdly has the most stalkery fans, which was a joke that I appreciated, and that his big dream is to really sing a song like lead lead vocals on a song and then we get that Nick is the one who organizes everything and he's the uptight one who has to keep the other two in check and Joe is I'll be honest he's the slut that's what we're basically told about him in this film maybe very unfair but that's the way he's portrayed by his own brothers and his own choice presumably in this film that's why I find it really interesting because the film I want to know all about the writing process i want to watch a documentary about this film because the way it incorporates like you say their real lives with the fictionalized elements we know a bit about his breakup with sophie turner yeah vaguely from what we've seen in the press there's a lot of speculation about it to then have this i'm a slut in my 30s and a father of i think two from what I remember is a really interesting take and I sort of respect it.

4:51Well the weird thing is they are all producers on this film and also just because they're the Jonas Brothers and they're starring in a film called A Very Jonas Christmas Movie you can be pretty sure they've had a hand in approving things right this wouldn't be something that is being done without their consent and they are producers on the movie as indeed are Isaac and Elizabeth the two screenwriters I mentioned and a bunch of other people so they've obviously all taken a hand in this they've obviously chosen to play these roles and it does what it probably intended to do which is it makes me like them more because I like that they are skewering themselves in the way that they are I like that there's a lot of fraternal bickering I like that they are taking the mickey out of each other relentlessly throughout this there's a great moment where they're of course because Santa is against them and therefore fate their car has broken down and they're walking along the side of a road and I can't remember I think Kevin tries hitchhiking it might be Nick and Joe says like hitchhike you know hitchhiking is like the sixth most dangerous way to travel and we are the second most punchable band so the chances are whoever picks us up is going to punch us to death like I enjoyed that I enjoyed that level of awareness I enjoyed that kind of playing with their own reputation i enjoyed the whole running gag that nick had starred in home alone the musical on broadway which is something i know i want to see unfortunately and i don't believe it exists and the fact that he was cast and then said bit of a weird casting choice the film the reason i think the film works and i never thought i'd say this is because you're right the commitment to the bit it's fully committed it doesn't oh we might pretend to poke fun at ourselves you're right they are fully seemingly everything is up for grabs to laugh at but also it's weirdly cinematic there's this moment in amsterdam and there's this shot of these two characters like lost lovers in the night and it's that's yeah it's i'm not saying it's award-winning no probably won't be but it is kind of nice and I have to say I really appreciate this about this film so this film to the best of my knowledge and I haven't done a lot of digging or anything but I've at least looked around a bit and it was just filmed in Toronto right so the film is set it starts off in London they go to Amsterdam they go across Germany you know there's there's a bunch of different locations and they all look pretty good.

7:26And I have, again, been watching a lot of Christmas movies which take place in small European countries that look remarkably like small Canadian towns, you know. So I'm attuned. I know what I'm looking for. I know what Toronto looks like now. And yet I was watching this going, my goodness. I mean, obviously they couldn't film in literal St Pancras because it's a very big and important station in London and they couldn't shut it down entirely. but they they look like they shot in at least King's Cross next door like the architecture matches King's Cross pretty well so they find a place that's a good dupe for that part of town at least like I'm quite impressed by that and no they were in Toronto and I genuinely don't know how they did all of the all of the Amsterdam scenes unless it was basically with green screen because that's pretty impressive yeah and the fact the cinematography is so again maybe beautiful as an exaggeration but it could have so easily been phoned in on all aspects quick film get it done and instead it's quite nice to watch as well yeah considering i was trying to think of what is this film the closest to and i guess like the monkeys and that tradition of bands self you know self-congratulating self-screaring a blend of everything yeah yeah and yet and also who do you think this film is for was one of the things I was debating what do you think I guess it's well it's obviously for the fans like Will Ferrell who we learn in the opening second the number one fan is a huge fan apparently of the Jonas Brothers and that is Will Ferrell's family playing Will Ferrell's family by the way who he he cheerfully jettisons in favor of the Jonas Brothers so it's obviously for the fans maybe it is for the people like me who you know are willing to listen to sucker on my running playlist but would couldn't name you an album unless one of the albums is called sucker in which case I can name you precisely one album but otherwise like I I am aware that they have existed for a long time I have been aware of their existence I could not hum you I don't think any other songs and I may be wrong on that they may be one of those you know they may have some of those songs that are in the ether and I just don't know that they're Jonas Brothers songs, but I don't know them.

9:43I know a lot about their dating lives for some reason, but I don't know their music really. And I liked many of the, we should get to this in a minute, but I liked many of the songs in this film. And I was like, maybe I am missing out. So maybe it is for literal me, who is open to them as far as having listened to Sucker, but is not au fait with who they are so I was 17 when they were really popular and I loved two songs burning up and SOS but I remember feeling really guilty about liking them I would never have said to someone what are you listening to oh I'm listening to Jonas Brothers even like now I'm laughing a little bit but their band are great acknowledging that kind of cringe element obviously there was the idea of the purity rings they were wearing the disnification um so i wonder if part of it is for like the millennial bracket of writing some of those misconceptions about them or playing on those ideas i don't think it's for the students i teach i'll be honest with you no and actually i think they make quite a few jokes about no longer being a team band i think it's joe uses the word fire and maybe nick says you can't say that you're 36 like i appreciate that as someone who also cannot say fire although i would like to it would be fire there we are damn it it's but i you know i i'd like that they acknowledge that in rather than going out clubbing they actually want to go home and have a cup of tea in the hotel and just go to bed early after having a zoom with their wives and children i mean i don't know that we need another boozy rock star biopic and they kind of do it both ways because they have that one song with joe going out and having the best night of his life yeah but generally speaking this is a film about middle-aged men who want to go home to their families and that's sweet i do wonder so yeah to go back to what talking about with the idea of biography autobiography and fictionalized you've got nick's family is his family kevin's is his family and then joe's is dating chloe bennett who's not playing chloe bennett who's playing their childhood neighbor yes i think that is because joe's life is a little less settled in the wake of a very well publicized divorce which i am aware of despite not knowing his music to to sansa stark from game of thrones basically and it has not i think been an easy divorce for either of them i think it's probably fair to say and therefore there is much less focus on, there is a mention of his daughter as well it's not that he's denying having children and he's very keen to get home to his kids as well but obviously there isn't the same role for his wife that the other two have quite understandably.

12:37So I thought they trod around that in a way that was well, I mean obviously leans into the myth and bolsters everybody's appearance and probably treads carefully around the terms of any settlement in terms of what they will and will not say about each other in public. But also, I guess, makes hay while the sun shines and sort of goes, well, OK, we don't have him going back to a wife, so we may as well give him a love interest and have a bit of romance in this film. So I think they've been quite savvy slash cynical in that, I guess. I also noticed that actually I've forgotten the name of Joe and Priyanka Chopra's daughter, but you don't really see her face.

13:19So I think there is an element of, you know, Kevin's kids are a bit older. They're obviously already on a reality show, I believe. You see them properly. And I think they've already been seen in that reality show, I guess. But I get the impression that they're trying to keep the baby one out of the spotlight a little bit more. So she's there. She's a presence. But she's not front and centre. You've already touched upon the Will Ferrell playing Will Ferrell. The film is littered with celebrity cameos, some of whom play themselves and some of whom don't. Yes. Did you have a favourite? So who have we got?

13:54We've got Randall Park, who is their manager, who is, I thought, delightful. I like only two scenes, really, but delightful. Billy Lord is their emergency travel agent who is going through a traumatic breakup with KJ Apa from Riverdale and yet trying to do her best. Laverne Cox is their, I don't know, agent, person who is booking them on another six months of tour, given the chance. Who else have we got? Kenny G plays Kenny G. Andrea Martin plays a taxi driver. I really enjoyed Justin Tranter on piano during the sing-off, the Home Alone sing-off. Yes. Then he wrote Good Luck Babe, which is one of the greatest songs of recent times.

14:38Absolutely. Incredible, incredible musician. I was like, so did they write some of the songs in the film? And as far as I can tell, no, they're just Jonas Brothers songs. But yeah, I mean, just to turn up and just sing, just play the piano in the background and have a little sarky moment. And that's basically it. Nice. That's the dream. That's the dream. And is it Andrew Barth Feldman plays the sort of Broadway star and EGOT winner? and Nick's nemesis and what was his joke about he wants to be a double EGOT winner so it'll be E-G-G-O-T-T or something so weird, doesn't make any sense but anyway he starred in Dear Evan Hansen for example on Broadway and gets in a musical duel of sorts with his former co-star I think that's what the film does well including as you mentioned earlier, Our Father Christmas is the film does a really good job of hiring people who are talented and qualified for the role.

15:40Look, other films would get someone who's kind of a big name, who isn't necessarily a good singer or isn't a good whatever. But you've got a real talented cast here. You do. And like Chloe Bennett, she's not just Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She has had a career as a pop star as well. So again, when she sings a duet, she can sing a duet. It's not sort of too much of a stretch. Yeah, I thought it was, it's just a good supporting cast. And again, they all had little funny moments. The little running gag about Randall Parks calling them his boys and they're like, we're actually men. That's cute. It was funny.

16:15I just thought the Billy Lord being heartbroken could have been pushed maybe a little bit further, but still pretty good. KJ Apa genuinely funny as the slightly himbo airline pilot who may or may not be the key to getting them home. And considering he's best known for Riverdale, right? so again reclaiming that teen idol status to be beyond that one identity absolutely and all the Jonas brothers being slightly in awe of how handsome he is was also quite funny to me I also enjoyed all the jokes about the products they've promoted the idea that Joe Jonas is the face of Botox Botox for men amazing and yes the candle so it was Joe's glow or glow by Joe and was it envy by kevin it was something pick him open like that yeah something really like not for wick wick by nick it was wick by nick yeah anyway silly silly silly jokes in the background but i'm here for stupid stuff at this in this kind of film and even i have a difficult time when you say the joke is the joke but for them to acknowledge that they've recreated planes trains and automobiles without saying the name of the film.

17:33I was like, you know what? Own it. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. What did you think of, I mean, if you drew up a list of 100 people in Hollywood who might play Santa Claus in a Jonas Brothers film, where would Jesse Tyler Ferguson appear on the names you hadn't put on that list? Yeah, I'm going to say really, yeah, not near my list at all. other side of the world to my list. Did you like him though? Yeah, I mean, he's so charismatic, isn't he? I've seen him at the West End at the National Theatre fairly recently. It makes me happy. So, yes. Yes, yes. You look like you're a butt. I don't know why.

18:15I don't know why. But then, why does it have to answer my why? Why? He also gets a great closing line to the film. There's a little bit of a sort of, you know, a little sort of credit sting, mid credit, you know, bit. But he kind of gets the button on the film, which I very much enjoyed. And I won't spoil here because we do spoilers here, but I won't spoil it. But it's a three word sentence at the end of the film. You'll know when you hear it. Yeah, I just had a good time. I don't know what to tell you. I appreciate I'm probably being manipulated by the Jonas Brothers publicity machine, you know.

18:53But if people are going to manipulate me with their publicity machine, I would like them to be charming and funny and self-deprecating on the way. I mean, when, again, I'm really struggling with the names, but I'm trying very hard. When Nick is wearing a green patterned dressing gown and Kevin calls him J-Lo after her very, very famous, very daring, you know, cleavage plunging green patterned gown. That's funny to me. That is a clever joke that requires a little tiny bit of cultural knowledge, cultural awareness. And I didn't expect even that level in a Jonas Brothers Christmas movie from Disney Plus.

19:31Because it could really, I don't know, how's the best way to put this? It could like aim low, right? It could shoot down. Instead, it kind of includes you in on these jokes. Yeah, I think that's fair. I did think when they were driving, I mean, honestly, the biggest note I had was when they, There's one point where they get to their private plane in an airfield in London or adjacent to London. Now, presumably that would in real life be what Stansted, I think, has a lot of private jets. I don't know. I don't fly by private jet. Maybe, let's be very charitable, it's London City, which is the closest to the centre.

20:07But they have to get a Eurostar from St Pancras half an hour from the time that they are standing on an airfield next to a burned private jet. Now, I feel very strongly that that is impossible. That is literally physically impossible. That is the bit of all of these bits. Santa striking a plane with lightning. Totally fine. Not a problem. I'm there. I believe it. Home Alone, the musical having starred Nick Jonas. Yes. OK. I believe that that happened. someone getting from an airfield big enough to land a private jet that can fly transatlantic to St Pancras for a Eurostar 30 minutes later I don't believe especially since we see Andrea Martin for it is her as the Uber driver driving through open countryside so it can't be London City it has to be Stan Sid Luton Heathrow or Gatwick or Southend on sea but nobody goes there I mean it doesn't make any sense so that is the one point where I'm like oh no no where does this compare to Thor and the Greenwich well if he'd been on a train saying it's two stops would have been very close you know it's just because he was on the tube for some reason at Taring Cross doesn't make any sense I've got to let these things about geography go don't know if we're thinking about this film it's the jonas brothers they could probably get a private jet a lot easier than the film suggests but andrew barth feldman is using them all to go to amsterdam or whatever yeah no it's yes i'm sure they could i'm sure they have money to throw at these problems but i i did think that the film did a good job of trying to convince you that no you know it's just the time of year everyone's traveling things are difficult even throwing money at a problem doesn't necessarily get you there.

22:00I have actually turned up to Amsterdam myself without a hotel booking and found no hotels whatsoever. I had to stay in, I think, Lea Varden, which is like the other side of Holland from Amsterdam. So I did feel for them being forced to share a single room in, you know, in a single ratty hotel in Amsterdam. Again, yes, there's probably a way to throw money at a problem and get the president of their local fan club to, you know, do something. But you kind of go with that, I guess, for the film in a way that the geography makes me struggle to do. I think that's fundamentally how you know the film is successful.

22:38Surprisingly so, is the fact that you sort of buy in. You have that little thought of how plausible is this? Yeah, not plausible. OK, but yeah, it was fun. OK, so let's give it marks for Christmasiness out of five. How are you ranking? not the quality of the film but it's christmasiness it's got messages about family about perception of self about celebrity all the important christmas messages for me what's the rating are we going out of five like five five yeah out of five four four okay okay i might be a three and a half ish i feel like you know we've got obviously santa is a presence but it's not and there are some good Christmas sort of tunes here.

23:21They open with one, but I feel like it's more context than front and centre. Like it's not an elf, you know, it's not like right there in every scene. But you've got Will Ferrell in it, so. That is true. And he does mention elf too. The idea is alive in his head. It could happen. It could happen. It couldn't happen. All right. And then Mark's out of five as a film. And we are somewhat grading on a curve for Christmas films if you want to. you don't have to i feel it's a three yeah yeah i feel like honestly i feel like as a normal film it's a three as a christmas film it's an easy four i have seen a lot of the others this year there's one that we don't have time to cover called my secret santa where a woman basically goes full mrs doubtfire and dons prosthetics to become santa claus at her local like fancy hotel so she can get half-priced ski lessons for her daughter.

24:17You know, that's the level where, that's the competition for Christmas movies. So yeah, by those standards, this is an easy four, I'm afraid. But I genuinely, I'm sorry. Maybe it's because I didn't have previous exposure to the Jo 'Nai and therefore I have been charmed by their persona in this film. I don't know, but I was charmed. I thought it was good. so I'm just going to have to live with that I guess I don't know get your fan club membership card sorted absolutely all right Charlotte before you go a couple of questions I ask everybody I know I've asked you these before but just in case there's anything new your favorite Christmas film of all time has it changed does it remain the same I can't remember what I said before but I'm going to imagine and it still is Muppets Christmas Carol I currently have three year seven classes who are all doing Christmas Carol, the book with film.

25:13So like books, extracts, and then the films, different versions. And Muppet's Christmas Carol is perfect. It is pretty, pretty amazing. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. And do you have any unusual Christmas traditions that stand out from the crowd that you may have adopted? Is it a particular food you have to eat, a particular time to open presents, a particular, you know, bauble that has to hang on the tree? so I get a new pair of pajamas every Christmas Eve from my mum nice and that's going for all of my adolescence through uni and then one year on the 23rd of December my mum went said something and I went oh okay what about my pajamas she hadn't bought me pajamas I had a tantrum I went to Asda I was 23 it happens but I still get pajamas now at least there was a happy ending to that story it's got a lovely pair coming this year I'm sure amazing got to be done and listen Charlotte as a teacher you are my conduit to the youth of today you were the person who told me about six seven and prepared me for that that weird thing to happen my five-year-old niece then confidently explained to me that it is brain rot although she didn't really know what brain rot was but you know hey she's getting there but until she really gets her fingers into the whole of youth culture you're my youth reporter so is there anything else similar to six seven that we need to know about now i mean i got punked this week by reading a note so i threatened my sevens i said anytime i see a note lesson i'm going to take it and read it to the class and one of them wrote out the entire jet to holiday sketch so i then have to read that to the class but i mean that's fantastic work currently nothing I've noticed six seven is still dominating it's still four months on which is frightening and also it doesn't help that both in A Christmas Carol and Jane Eyre the references to six or seven oh well and they've cost me minutes of my life as I try and get restore order wow that's crazy well good luck out there to all the teachers on the final push to holidays Charlotte if people want to hear more from you where can they find you online?

27:29You can find me at Sometimes Movies for a nice blend of the odd teaching anecdote bit of choir bit of film stuff all the good stuff Amazing and with that we are done Merry Christmas with or without the Jonas's Ah but we're lucky to have them

27:56Thank you.