Pop Culture Happy Hour – "The Bride! and What's Making Us Happy"

Aired: March 6, 2026
Host: Stephen Thompson (with Glen Weldon, Barry Hardyman, Joelle Monique)
Featured Topic: Review and lively discussion of The Bride! (dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal)
Segments: Film review & roundtable, recommendations ("What's Making Us Happy")

Episode Overview

The main event of this episode is a deep-dive into Maggie Gyllenhaal’s maximalist, audacious new film, The Bride!, a feminist, genre-bending reimagining of Frankenstein’s monster and his would-be Bride, starring Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, and Annette Bening. The episode explores the movie’s wild tone, over-the-top performances, messy (in a good way) plotting, and the film’s celebration of horror, feminism, and cinematic excess. Rounding off is the beloved “What’s Making Us Happy” segment, with book, film, and animation recommendations from the panel.

The Bride! – Key Discussion Points

1. Initial Impressions & General Vibe

• The Bride! is described as a "gory gothic horror romance" that’s simultaneously a pastiche, a celebration, and a feminist re-telling of Frankenstein’s mythos.
• Immediately praised for being wild, fun, and intentionally over-the-top.
• Jessie Buckley plays three roles: a young woman, the Corpse Bride, and Mary Shelley in a sort of purgatory (01:02).

Joelle Monique (02:23):

• “You have three incredible actors having so much fun, and it is such an exquisite joy to watch each of them just like go all out.”
• Celebrates the film’s “over the top over feminist tropes,” and loves how horror can be fertile ground for bold feminist filmmaking.
• Describes a “whooping and hollering” audience, making for an almost Marvel-like moviegoing experience.

Barry Hardyman (03:35):

• Not usually a horror fan, but was “absolutely delighted.”
• Loved the visuals and references (“wanted to turn Bonnie and Clyde back on” after watching).
• Praises Jessie Buckley: “What she’s doing with a really odd role, which is over the top… is so sort of tender.”

Glen Weldon (04:47):

• Admits “this movie's a mess, but call me Marie Kondo. Cause I love mess.”
• Compares his experience to being a judge on Law & Order: “I'll allow it, but you better be going somewhere with this, counselor.” (04:53)
• “This movie doesn’t so much go somewhere as it goes everywhere… kept breaking that leash and bolting into traffic. And yet I kept allowing it.” (05:03)
• The shagginess and vibrance of the film are the point, with references to Moulin Rouge, Bonnie and Clyde, and Young Frankenstein.

2. Theme, Tone & Feminist Energy

• Feminist Filmmaking: The movie is bluntly feminist, intentionally unsubtle (“allows space for you to… just have a blast with it,” per Joelle (02:53)).
• The casting flips expectations: iconic male roles are played by women (e.g., Annette Bening as the mad scientist, Penelope Cruz as the detective).
• Glen Weldon calls it a “feminist fable” that doesn’t feel “academic or intellectual," but instead “raw and emotional and fun” (06:22).
• The Bride’s journey mirrors the Joker’s arc, with “copycat crimes… women of 1930s Chicago painting their faces and going on crime sprees” (06:54).

Stephen Thompson: “I wasn’t expecting a story about the Bride of Frankenstein to so repeatedly conjure the Joker, but, man, this thing is... all over the map.” (07:09)

Movie References & Pastiche

• The film is a purposeful collage (pastiche) referencing everything from Thriller and Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers, to King of Comedy, to the Oscar-nominated Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein (“extremely audacious kind of idiosyncratic visions”…in strange conversation with each other” (07:41)).
• Barry was struck by the choreography and musical elements (“so much reference to Thriller”; "so many different modes of expressing itself" (08:23)).

Emotional Core / Messiness as Strength

• Everyone agrees the plot doesn’t always make literal sense, but the “emotional through line” makes up for that:

  Joelle Monique: “Almost nothing makes sense… But I think the emotional through line…” (09:42)

• Joelle draws a parallel to Poor Things (“what if instead of her starting off as a child… she’s a woman in her own mind, but she’s trying to understand it in connection to the rest of the world” (10:08)).

Gender, Genre, & Horror

• Joelle underscores the empowerment of seeing women at the center of classic horror tropes:

  “How often do you get to see a female mad scientist who isn’t just completely off her rocker?” (14:14)

• Points out The Bride! modernizes both the monster and bride characters, giving them distinct, self-aware arcs.

3. Performances & Standouts

• Wide agreement that Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale bring new, fresh, and fun approaches to these classic roles.
• Christian Bale’s monster is “riffing on Herman Munster” (12:12), with a sense of big-hearted goofiness.
• Jake Gyllenhaal appears in a surprising role that is intentionally blank:

  “He’s kind of a cipher.” – Glen Weldon (13:58)

• Annette Bening’s performance as the mad scientist is exuberantly praised:

  “The whole time I was like, this woman is up here doing it. It’s kooky. It’s fun.” – Joelle (14:14)

• Penelope Cruz’s detective role is noted as brief but “grounded.”

4. Technical & Storytelling Choices

• The film decisively skips over monster-making technical details (“step into my giant cavernous electrolab”), in contrast to the Guillermo del Toro version that “spends at least a half an hour on the how of monster making” (12:16).
• Glen Weldon likens it to good Star Trek technobabble:

  “All you need is a couple lines of dialogue saying, reverse the polarity, and you’re fine!” (12:51)

• This brevity and focus on spectacle/character are considered a major asset:

  "If Maggie Gyllenhaal had included all of that stuff... it would have just dragged it to a halt." – Stephen Thompson (13:03)

5. Broader Genre & Cinema Reflections

• The recent wave of bold, emotionally resonant horror films suggests a “golden age of horror” (17:11).
• Barry Hardyman—historically “not a horror person”—reflects on being unexpectedly moved by The Bride! and the horror genre’s emotional and narrative strengths (“it sneaks up on you with not sadness, but poignancy and not resignation, but something like acceptance” (22:41)).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Glen Weldon: “Call me Marie Kondo, ’cause I love mess.” (04:47)
• Joelle Monique: “Almost nothing makes sense, but I think the emotional through line...” (09:42)
• Stephen Thompson: “The thought that popped into my head was, Lady Gaga is going to watch this and be so jealous.” (06:47)
• Barry Hardyman: “I, as a movie lover… was in heaven. The visuals, the references…” (03:35)
• Glen Weldon: “Who doesn’t love a big swing? ...Something that feels like it came from a living, idiosyncratic, individual, human mind and not a boardroom? This guy.” (05:55)
• Joelle Monique: “Please go see this at the movies. The IMAX of it all. Oh, my God.” (11:53)
• Barry Hardyman: “It is not lost on me that the movies that I have enjoyed the most recently are Sinners and this movie, which are different kinds of horror … I think I’m gonna have to get tougher is what I learned.” (16:17)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• [02:23] Joelle’s enthusiastic, three-point review
• [03:35] Barry's delight as a non-horror fan
• [04:47] Glen Weldon on loving “mess” and cinematic excess
• [06:47] Lady Gaga/Joker comparison and discussion of thematic references
• [08:08] Dance routines, choreography, and cinematic references
• [10:08] Comparison to Poor Things and discussion of Frankenstein mythology
• [12:12] "Herman Munster" riff and discussion of performances
• [13:03] The film’s brisk storytelling and lack of “connective tissue”
• [14:14] Praise for Annette Bening's mad scientist and diverse cast
• [16:17] Discussion on horror’s emotional resonance and modern relevance

"What's Making Us Happy" (19:38–25:34)

Barry Hardyman:

• Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas (recommendation, with the tip to “slog through the first book because it pays off by book 3 or 4”).

  “There’s a time in book three and four when you will stand up and roar…” (19:46)

Joelle Monique:

• Hemlock in Silver by T. Kingfisher — a gentle, unique romance retelling of Snow White from a side character’s perspective, featuring older heroines and subversive tropes.

  “She writes a whole slew of things, but under this pen name, it’s like romances, dark fantasies, like real adult books.” (21:34)

Glen Weldon:

• Retirement Plan – animated short by John Kelly, Oscar-nominated, minimalist in both narrative and animation (“sneaks up on you with… poignancy and not resignation, but something like acceptance”).

  “You just run through an entire gamut of emotions in just seven minutes.” (22:41)

Stephen Thompson:

• Goose and the Automaton — a rediscovered, early (1897) Georges Melies short featuring what’s believed to be the first screen depiction of a robot. Now available online.

  “You can watch it online… see one of the earliest special effects ever captured on film…” (23:45)

Tone, Language, & Closing Thoughts

The episode is giddy, warm, and highly conversational. The panelists allow for disagreement and swap references with infectious enthusiasm. Their collective “let’s enjoy the wildness” energy fits both the film’s maximalist approach and the show’s characteristic cheer. Listeners are encouraged to embrace big, messy, ambitious art and to support adventurous cinema.

Closing Vibe:

• “If we’re trying to keep cinema alive, this movie’s doing a lot in favor of being like, we should have movie theaters.” – Joelle Monique (15:21)

For More Info & Recommendations

Find full recommendations and newsletter links at: npr.org/popculturenewsletter