Two weeks of cast improvisation; Maya Rudolph's concealed pregnancy; Hamm uncredited; Ted's 90210 house; title troubles; Jill Clayburgh's last film; Vegas rewrite after The Hangover; Rebel Wilson and her on-screen brother as roommates; McCarthy's Guy Fieri model
Titles are hard: The Ringer's name was debated on a whiteboard in a Taft Street house in 2015, while Mina's podcast added her dog Lenny's name. — Bill Simmons
The original script reached Las Vegas for a bachelorette, but after The Hangover Apatow had it rewritten so Annie melts down on the plane. — Bill Simmons
Rebel Wilson and the actor playing her brother ended up living together as roommates. — Bill Simmons
McCarthy told GQ she modeled the role on Guy Fieri and wanted short, bleached, spiky hair, per the GQ oral history. — Mallory Rubin
Jon Hamm as Ted; the gate-swing opening; Wendi McLendon-Covey as Rita; the $12 workout; Annie's store scenes; Jill Clayburgh casting; the cupcake scene and baking; Annie's mom's paintings; money and wedding absurdity; weddings as a movie trope; Helen's stepkids and lines; Wilson Phillips ending; ensemble performances; R-rated scatological humor; Milwaukee
Jon Hamm, in three scenes, escapes the Don Draper typecasting by playing the ultimate douchebag; "I really want you to leave, but I don't know how to say it without sounding like a dick" is the iconic line. — Bill Simmons
The opening gate swing of shame and Annie sneaking back into bed establish her character in two minutes. — Mina Kimes
Ted is a textbook narcissist everyone sees through, and making him horrible at sex is a great choice. — Mallory Rubin
The rich douchebag in relation to a woman reverses usual comedy roles; Hamm looks like an actor on vacation in a well-written part of nine or ten minutes, down to the Porsche.
Jennifer Coolidge was considered as an alternative for Rita but would have been distracting; McLendon-Covey is more subtle and would not be recast. — Mina Kimes
Rita's lines, including the semen blanket and her nine-year-old telling her to fuck off over pizza, remind viewers that married life is not idyllic. — Mallory Rubin
Other holdovers: stealing Terry Crews's class to save $12, Annie's bad store work, the Jill Clayburgh casting, and the Bo Cosby joke. — Bill Simmons
The Fiona Apple song over the cupcake scene is noted, with Maya Rudolph married to Fiona Apple's ex Paul Thomas Anderson; the scene shows how broken Annie is about baking.
Baking in general in the Great British Bake Off era, including the cupcake leaf and the carrot cake, holds up. — Bill Simmons
Annie's mom's celebrity paintings, including Taylor Swift, are a subtle touch; her AA character outs people, including Bo Cosby.
Money, and how dumb and expensive weddings are, have aged well; the wedding industrial complex is real.
Weddings work as a movie trope because they put all the characters in one place; weddings also drive people crazy. — Bill Simmons
One participant recounts the only fight with their dad, three weeks before their wedding, over inviting a cousin's boyfriend to a guest list capped around 100-125. — Bill Simmons
Helen's stepkids and her 11 or 12 passive-aggressive lines, including the drink-passing line on the plane, are favorites.
The ensemble performances, scatological humor and explicit R-rated comedy hold up; Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are underrated cities, and the "cock baby" graffiti is a favorite.
The first hangout lunch between Annie and Lillian opens the category, with Annie's penis impression called first class and possibly improvised.
Apatow understood the value of four-minute hangout scenes establishing why characters are friends, a template later seen even in The Hangover. — Bill Simmons
Jill Clayburgh, a major late-70s star, plays Annie's mom; her chicken-coop scene is longer in the extended version, and the character was toned down after she died. — Bill Simmons
The dueling engagement-party speeches were largely improvised; Rose Byrne invented fake Thai and a sensible Thai sentence was dubbed in.
The rest of the engagement party works too: Megan's introduction (dolphin telepathy, "I survived. I thrived.") and Annie being repeatedly paired with random men, where everyone else, not Annie, raises her single status. — Mallory Rubin
The speeches push secondhand mortification until guests are holding their glasses up waiting to drink. — Mallory Rubin
Asked about memorable wedding speeches, one participant recalls a best-man speech for best friend Jeff 23-24 years earlier that ended on hoping to someday find what the couple had. — Bill Simmons
Every character introduction before the speeches is distinct and funny, including Rita on her teenage boys and Becca with her husband after a Disneyland honeymoon. — Mina Kimes
Rose Byrne is one of the most underrated aspects of the film, also great in Neighbors (on the 2021 schedule); the dueling speeches felt more cringe-inducing than the bridal-shop scene. — Mina Kimes
Per the research, Byrne had been a dramatic actress hired as a Glenn Close-type villain foil, with nobody knowing she was this funny; she has the hardest, passive-aggressive part.
The food-poisoning dress-fitting scene is the iconic one; it was not in the shooting script and was added after Apatow and Paul Feig pushed for one more physical-comedy scene.
Setup details include the stray dog at the Brazilian restaurant and theme suggestions of Pixar from Becca and Fight Club from Megan. — Bill Simmons
The gross-out sequence was written in one participant's outline under most rewatchable scene before the rewatch; favorite lines include "I just need to get off this white carpet" and "Look away." — Mallory Rubin
Annie refusing to concede anything to Helen, looking worse with each cut and inching a Jordan almond toward her mouth, may be the funniest part.
It is one of the funniest scenes of all time for any age; after it was shown to a five-year-old son, "look away" became a household running joke. — Bill Simmons
The immaculate white bridal shop makes the chaos funnier. — Mallory Rubin
Asked which sick character they would be, one participant picks the character who throws up on someone else; another says they would be the "look away" character, like a dog that avoids eye contact.
Megan should have owned using the sink; the janitor's next-morning cleanup was on one participant's unanswerable-questions list.
The plane trip, a spouse's favorite scene, is a great 10 minutes: McCarthy's air-marshal bit and Annie escalating to "Welcome to Germany."
Good ensembles work in any pairing, compared with the Russo brothers' pairings in Infinity War and Endgame; seating Rita and Becca together to discuss their sex lives is a delight. — Mallory Rubin
The film shows up in gifs a lot, like Anchorman: "look away" and Annie's sarcastic reply to Helen's Vegas restaurant offer. — Mina Kimes
Planes are not funny places, especially since 9/11 and now the pandemic, so unlocking comedy there works. — Bill Simmons
Annie getting fired over the fight with the teenage girl at the store is a smaller favorite.
The bridal shower, including the bleached-asshole exchange, is another set piece; Lillian's "talk behind my back like a normal person" line is praised, and Megan takes the golden retriever puppies home. — Mallory Rubin
Megan's pep talk, which opens with Annie watching Cast Away, is nominated as a quieter pick blending humor and heart. — Mallory Rubin
McCarthy was the film's stunning revelation; she was an improv legend largely unknown to the public, compared with a John Belushi documentary, and was nominated for an Oscar.
Annie repeatedly driving past the cop to get his attention is a spouse's favorite. — Bill Simmons
Jon Hamm's scenes are flagged as a likely heat check, including the "open for biz" lap-nap line. — Mina Kimes
