Will Ferrell and the Glorious Return of Kinda Bad Comedies

This week:

• The shocking Emilia Pérez Oscars controversy.

• The glorious return of mediocre comedies.

• A good time to be J.Lo.

• You’re going to want to watch Paradise.

• Meryl Streep’s next great performance.

It’s a Good Time to Laugh

There was a time when I was growing up in the [decade redacted] when on any given weekend, you could count on going to the movies to see a completely mediocre comedy. You’d get nauseous from popcorn and soda, have a few laughs, see a generally liked major celebrity on the big screen for 90 minutes or so, and consider it seven or eight dollars well-spent.

That brand of comedy has gone all but extinct as studios focus solely on franchises and existing IP, and movie stars themselves have become less bankable. So it’s to my great delight to see a revival right now of the “totally fine, wasn’t great, wasn’t bad, I had a perfectly nice time” comedy both in theaters and on streaming services. It’s a very specific kind of movie that serves a very specific audience purpose. And it’s back.

Back in Action brought goofy-comedy national treasure Cameron Diaz out of retirement. Is it confusing that she resurfaced for something so middling? Sure, but I don’t care! I got to spend a Friday night drifting in and out of sleep while occasionally chuckling at her new movie. Such a treat!

One of Them Days triumphs solely on the irresistible charisma of stars Keke Palmer and SZA. It’s not, like, a masterclass of comedy writing. But I will say that, in the same week, I saw The Brutalist and One of Them Days in cinemas and the audience clapped after only one of them. And it was not The Bruatlist.

This week sees another entry into this canon. Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell are in a rom-com, You’re Cordially Invited, that is just about as “sure, OK!” as you’d expect a 2025 rom-com starring Reese Withersppon and Will Ferrell to be. What a comfort that is. You should look forward to knowing what every single punchline will be before it comes out of their mouths, and having a great time because of it.

You know what movies are sorely missing these days? Hijinks! These three films have that in spades.

It’s a Good Week for J.Lo

It should surprise no one who knows me even a little bit that I thoroughly enjoyed Kiss of the Spider Woman, the film that includes a scene in which two attractive boys have passionate gay sex while Jennifer Lopez belts an iconic musical theater ballad in their faces.

The film is one of the most buzzed about premieres from the Sundance Film Festival, with everyone I met while in Park City talking about it. It’s insane to speculate this far in advance, but critics, myself included, are already saying that her mesmerizing song-and-dance performance should earn J.Lo her long overdue first Oscar nomination. (C’mon people: Love her or hate her, she deserved nods for Selena, Out of Sight, and, most of all, Hustlers.)

This week also happened to be the anniversary of when Lopez became the first woman to have both the number one movie at the box office, The Wedding Planner, and the number one album on the Billboard charts, Jenny From the Block. I can’t think of another major celebrity who has such wild pendulum swings—the flop of This Is Me…Now, the cancelation of her tour, bizarre social media vilification following Ben Affleck divorce, to this week of triumphs—in their career so quickly.

Also, she posted my review of Kiss of the Spider Woman on her Instagram, which, from what I understand, means that J.Lo and I are now best friends.

Get the Speeches Ready

The first truly great new series of 2025 is already here. Hulu’s Paradise is a juicy thriller that kicks off with the murder of the president, played by James Marsden, and jumps back and forth in time to reveal what led to it and who might be responsible. There is a MAJOR twist that happens at the end of the first episode that I will not spoil, because everyone deserves the same “what??????!!!!!” experience that I had.

Sterling K. Brown and Julianne Nicholson are so, so good in the first three episodes, which are now on Hulu. They’re both already Emmy winners, and I have a feeling they’re about to add to their trophy cases.

Get Cameras Rolling Now

It was revealed this week that Meryl Streep evacuated her home during the Los Angeles fires by cutting a car-sized hole in her fence and driving through it and through her yard, because a tree had fallen in her driveway. Obviously, I’m going to need a movie about this, and I’m going to need Meryl Streep to star in it.

What to watch this week:

You’re Cordially Invited: It turns out that Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon are incredibly likable stars. Who knew! (Now on Prime Video)

Paradise: That twist, y’all! (Now on Hulu)

What to skip this week:

Companion: Sex, robots, and horror should be a much more tantalizing combination. (Now in theaters)

Love Me: Love and light to Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, who I love, but this movie was so stupid. (Now in theaters)

This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by editor Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here.