Jack and Nora are joined by film historian and publicist Ally Russell to discuss #34 on Vanity Fair’s list of the 42 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time: The Wedding Banquet. In this episode, Nora is besties with Javier Bardem, Jack is absolutely smitten with Bowen Yang (as are we all), and Ally would like to have words with Ang Lee. Gather your found family, secure your live goose and/or ceremonial wooden duck, and let’s throw a [sham] wedding!

Topics include:

• The original The Wedding Banquet (1993) vs. the reimagining
• Pisces film directors
• Netflix romcoms

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Mysteries we still haven’t solved:

• WHY was that wedding night plot point in the original film?! Like, why???
• Would anyone like to hear our pitch for a Lawyer Sun spinoff series?

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Content Warning: A quick heads up from us — this episode includes a brief discussion of marital sexual assault, in the context of discussing a plot point from the original 1993 film (16:06-18:15). Due to the themes of the film, there are also frequent brief references throughout the episode to pregnancy, infertility and IVF treatments (longer fertility/IVF discussion from 31:23-32:48) and one mention of abortion (22:14-22:25).

Where to find us:

• Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Letterboxd at @whenrommetcom
• Follow Jack at @thejackgregsonshow
• Follow Nora at @norassic_park
• Follow Ally on Letterboxd at @allyrussell

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Find links to our Spotify playlist, the Vanity Fair list, and more here.

Join the conversation! Give us your take on the films we cover, which romcoms you think should be on the list, or your best “would do/ wouldn’t do/ have done” stories on socials or at [email protected].

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