Peas and Carrots (2025) [Movie review]

Peas and Carrots arrives as a genuinely weird family musical comedy that somehow manages to balance existential questions about identity and purpose with 96 minutes of unpretentious joy, a film where director Evan Oppenheimer embraces the surreal without cynicism and creates space for genuine multi-generational entertainment. Arriving in limited theatrical release October 3, 2025, Peas and Carrots follows sixteen-year-old Joey Wethersby as she navigates both typical teenage confusion and her family’s complicated dynamic after convincing her parents—former members of a 1990s one-hit wonder band—to form a new musical group. What distinguishes Peas and Carrots is its central conceit: that each night, Joey finds herself transported to an alternate reality where every inhabitant communicates using only three words—the film’s title repeated endlessly by everyone she encounters.

I approached Peas and Carrots with genuine uncertainty about how a concept this inherently strange could sustain feature-length narrative without descending into gimmick. What I discovered is a film that uses its surreal premise to examine genuine human themes—family connection, artistic expression, discovering your voice—while maintaining comedic energy and genuine warmth. Peas and Carrots suggests that sometimes reaching people means meeting them where they are, even if “where they are” happens to be an alternate reality where nobody can articulate anything beyond three specific words.

What struck me most about Peas and Carrots is how thoroughly it commits to its strange logic without explanation or apology. There’s no elaborate mythology justifying why this alternate dimension exists or why it operates under its specific linguistic constraints. Instead, Peas and Carrots simply accepts its premise as established reality and explores what happens when a family navigates communication challenges that mirror real relationship struggles. The film’s willingness to embrace weirdness while maintaining emotional authenticity creates something genuinely original within family film landscape.

The Wethersby Family: When Former Rock Dreams Become Parental Reality (Or: How the Past Inhabits the Present Through Unexpected Channels)

Peas and Carrots opens by establishing the Wethersby household—Joey living with parents Laurie and Gordon, who were briefly successful in the 1990s music industry before pursuing more conventional career paths. The film presents this backstory not as tragedy but as natural evolution; achieving one-hit-wonder status doesn’t guarantee lifelong musical careers, and the Wetherbys have built lives that involve music without remaining primarily defined by youthful artistic ambition.

Amy Carlson, best known for seven seasons as Linda Reagan on CBS’s Blue Bloods, brings warmth and specificity to Laurie Wethersby. Carlson plays the character with genuine affection; Laurie isn’t simply a former musician nostalgic for past glories, she’s a complete person navigating the specific challenges of having accomplished something significant young and then figuring out what comes next. Carlson’s performance grounds Peas and Carrots in authentic family dynamics, bringing credibility to the relationships that anchor the film’s more surreal elements.

Jordan Bridges, known for six seasons as Frankie Rizzoli on Rizzoli & Isles and recent work on Palm Royale, plays Gordon Wethersby with understated comic timing and genuine vulnerability. Bridges brings specific energy to the character—a man simultaneously protective of his family’s stability and somewhat wistful about artistic roads not taken. The chemistry between Carlson and Bridges feels genuinely earned, suggesting a relationship of authentic partnership rather than simply co-parenting obligation.

Kirrilee Berger’s Joey Wethersby emerges as film’s emotional center—a sixteen-year-old experiencing typical adolescent identity questions while navigating the specific complexity of having parents with public creative histories. Berger, who received recognition for her lead role in Lionsgate’s Unsung Hero and released her own album Stories, Lies, Allegories, and Fables, brings genuine star quality to Joey. The performance captures the specific energy of teenage creativity meeting parental expectations; Joey’s suggestion that her family form a band emerges not from simple desire for bonding but from genuine artistic impulse meeting teenager’s typical inability to predict consequences of pushing family members toward change.

Peas and Carrots treats this family dynamic with genuine respect. The film recognizes that families contain complicated histories—past ambitions that didn’t pan out, choices that seemed wise at the time but created regrets, the specific weight of parents wondering whether they modeled the right values for their children. Rather than resolving these tensions neatly, Peas and Carrots suggests that families navigate ongoing negotiation between competing needs and desires.

The Alternate Reality: When Communication Becomes Limited and Everything Becomes Clearer (Or: How Three Words Can Contain Infinite Meaning)

Each night, Joey finds herself transported to a dimension where everyone speaks using only the phrase “peas and carrots”—endless repetition of those three words regardless of context or conversational requirement. Initially, the concept seems like gimmick designed primarily for novelty. Yet Peas and Carrots uses this linguistic constraint with genuine sophistication; the film recognizes that when everyone communicates identically, differentiation must occur through inflection, timing, emotional delivery, and non-verbal communication.

What emerges across Peas and Carrots is sophisticated exploration of how meaning emerges even from severely constrained communication. The film demonstrates that people don’t actually require vast vocabulary to connect; relationships function through pattern recognition, emotional attunement, and mutual understanding that transcends literal linguistic content. In the alternate dimension, characters convey everything from aggression to affection, urgency to contentment, enthusiasm to despair using identical words differentiated through vocal delivery.

The genius of this setup involves what it suggests about actual human communication. We frequently mishear each other or misunderstand intent despite using full language; Peas and Carrots implies that what matters isn’t the words themselves but the emotional content underneath them. The alternate reality becomes metaphor for family communication—we speak to people we live with using similar patterns repeatedly, and what creates connection or conflict isn’t the words so much as how we inflect them and what emotional truth they carry.

As Peas and Carrots progresses, the surreal logic of the alternate dimension expands. Characters don’t seem confused by linguistic limitation; inhabitants of this reality treat endless repetition as completely normal. The film suggests that acceptance—choosing to engage with reality as it exists rather than fighting constraints—creates freedom. By accepting that communication will be limited to three words, inhabitants paradoxically discover ways to express complete thoughts and genuine connection.

The Family Band: When Creative Collaboration Becomes Proxy for Deeper Relationship Issues

Peas and Carrots uses the decision to form a family band as narrative catalyst, but the band functions less as simple plot device and more as metaphor for negotiating family relationships. Forming a band requires shared commitment, surrender of individual control, willingness to accept compromise on musical direction, and vulnerability about exposing creative vision to people who know you most intimately.

Joey’s suggestion that her family form a band emerges partly from genuine artistic impulse—she recognizes that her parents possess skills and experience, that music represents shared language—and partly from teenage desire to feel closer to parents who seem somewhat distant or preoccupied with adult concerns. Peas and Carrots treats this motivation with honesty; Joey isn’t simply being noble in suggesting the band, she’s also pursuing what she needs emotionally while attempting to give something to her parents.

The film depicts the challenges of family creative collaboration realistically. Different family members have different musical tastes, different tolerance for conflict, different willingness to take artistic risks. Peas and Carrots doesn’t pretend that forming a band magically resolves family tensions; instead, the film suggests that creative projects provide container for addressing those tensions. The band becomes safe space where family members can express themselves more fully than typical conversation permits.

Supporting the Wethersby family are Andrew Polk (Armageddon Time) as producer Woody, who brings acerbic wit to the ensemble, and Kelly McAndrew (In the Family) providing additional ensemble depth. Their contributions enrich Peas and Carrots‘ portrait of creative community, suggesting that making art involves collaboration beyond immediate family.

Music as Character and Emotional Expression: When the Soundtrack Becomes the Story

What distinguishes Peas and Carrots is its genuine musical foundation, with soundtrack featuring contributions from Marky Ramone of the Ramones, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, and Ryan Miller of Guster. Incorporating music from punk and indie rock legends provides legitimate cultural weight; Peas and Carrots isn’t simply employing established musicians for celebrity value but rather creating genuine artistic collaboration.

Miller composed the song “(We Are) City Kids,” which fictionally serves as the Wetherbys’ former hit in the film’s backstory. The song anchors Peas and Carrots‘ meditation on artistic legacy; the fictional band “City Kids” achieved brief success with this single, and the possibility of recapturing that lightning—or discovering whether that previous success represented genuine artistic expression or simply fortunate timing—motivates the Wetherbys’ consideration of forming a new band.

The incorporation of Marky Ramone‘s contributions and appearances alongside other music legends creates specific cultural resonance. These aren’t simply celebrity cameos; they represent genuine artistic voices contributing to project that values artistic expression as fundamental to human flourishing. Peas and Carrots uses this musical credibility to suggest that family musical collaboration isn’t quaint hobby but genuine artistic pursuit worthy of serious commitment.

Additional music by Garland Jeffreys, a legendary New York musician who received Rolling Stone’s “Best New Artist” designation in 1977, provides additional cultural weight. By incorporating work from musicians with genuine credibility and career longevity, Peas and Carrots creates sonic landscape that validates artistic expression as legitimate life path.

Kirrilee Berger: Star Quality and Genuine Authenticity

Kirrilee Berger‘s performance as Joey Wethersby demonstrates the kind of natural star quality that can’t be manufactured. Reviewers have compared her presence to rising talents like Jane Levy and Rachel Sennott, and such comparisons seem justified; Berger brings effervescent energy to the screen while maintaining genuine emotional vulnerability.

What distinguishes Berger’s performance is its lack of self-consciousness. Joey navigates the weirdness of the alternate dimension and the family dynamics with credible teenager responses—sometimes joking, sometimes frustrated, sometimes genuinely trying to communicate across difference. Berger allows Joey to be funny without being performed as joke; the character’s humor emerges naturally from how she responds to circumstances rather than from prewritten comic beats.

Berger’s recent release of her own album, Stories, Lies, Allegories, and Fables, suggests genuine artistic commitment beyond acting. This background informs her performance in Peas and Carrots; she brings authentic understanding of what it means to pursue creative expression, what vulnerability that requires, what happens when you share creative work with people who know you most intimately.

Director Evan Oppenheimer: Eighth Feature as Quirky Family Entertainment

Peas and Carrots represents the eighth feature written and directed by Evan Oppenheimer, a filmmaker with demonstrated range across genres and tones. His filmography includes The Magnificent Meyersons (now on Starz), Lost in Florence (2017, distributed by MGM and Orion), the family film A Little Game (winner of Best Feature and Best Actor at International Family Film Festival), and the science fiction thriller The Speed of Thought (currently being adapted for television).

Oppenheimer’s varied background demonstrates comfort across different storytelling modes, which serves Peas and Carrots well. The film requires director confident enough to embrace its surreal premise without feeling need to explain or apologize for its strangeness. Oppenheimer establishes the alternate dimension logic clearly and commits to it completely, allowing characters and audience to inhabit weirdness as established reality.

What distinguishes Oppenheimer’s direction in Peas and Carrots is willingness to let comedy emerge from character rather than forced comedic bits. The film trusts that the inherent absurdity of everyone communicating exclusively with “peas and carrots” generates comedy without requiring additional punchlines. This restraint prevents Peas and Carrots from descending into pure gimmick.

Supporting Cast: When Ensemble Members Elevate Material

Callum Vinson (known for appearances on Chucky) plays youngest Wethersby family member Topper with genuine charm and natural comic timing for young performer. Talia Oppenheimer (The Magnificent Meyersons) plays middle child Mickey with superb comic timing, particularly in scenes navigating the specific weirdness of family dynamics merged with alternate-dimension communication constraints.

Additional supporting performers including Gabriel Rush (Moonrise Kingdom), Ajay Naidu (Office Space), and Laurissa Romain (Top Five) provide additional ensemble depth, creating sense that Peas and Carrots inhabits fully realized community rather than simply following nuclear family.

Where to Experience Peas and Carrots: Limited Theatrical Release October 3

Peas and Carrots receives limited theatrical release October 3, 2025, with specific theatrical availability depending on geographic location and theater booking decisions. Check Fandango or Atom Tickets to determine whether Peas and Carrots is playing in theaters near you; limited release means not all locations will have access to theatrical presentation.

DVD and Blu-ray releases are anticipated for December 2025, providing future home video access for viewers unable to access limited theatrical release. The 96-minute runtime makes Peas and Carrots accessible for family viewing, whether through theatrical experience or subsequent home video release.

Peas and Carrots world premiered at Dances With Films festival in December 2024, receiving festival recognition before transitioning to theatrical release. The October 3 limited release represents broader access following festival premiere.

Existential Themes Within Family Comedy: How Peas and Carrots Balances Levity and Depth

What distinguishes Peas and Carrots is its success at weaving existential questions into family comedy framework. The film addresses genuine themes about identity formation, artistic authenticity, whether following established paths or forging new ones represents better life strategy, what responsibility family members carry toward each other’s happiness.

The film’s approach to these themes remains gentle rather than didactic; Peas and Carrots doesn’t deliver lessons so much as explore questions alongside characters. Viewers watch Joey navigating family dynamics, pursuing her own creative impulses, attempting to reconnect parents with artistic expression they abandoned, and discovering through process that identity formation involves accepting rather than resolving contradictions.

This thematic complexity distinguishes Peas and Carrots from simpler children’s entertainment. The film respects younger audience intelligence while remaining genuinely entertaining. Multi-generational audiences can engage with Peas and Carrots at different levels—children enjoying surreal humor and magical concept, adults recognizing deeper relationship negotiations and identity questions.

The Alternate Reality as Metaphor: What “Peas and Carrots” Actually Represents

The three-word communication constraint functions as elegant metaphor for family communication. Real families frequently resort to simplified, repetitive language patterns—recurring jokes, inside references, established conversation rhythms—that might seem limiting but actually facilitate connection. Families develop specific ways of talking to each other, and those patterns simultaneously constrain and enable understanding.

Peas and Carrots suggests that accepting communication limitations creates freedom rather than restricting it. When everyone acknowledges that “peas and carrots” constitutes complete available vocabulary, differentiation must occur through emotional delivery, timing, and non-verbal communication. Family members similarly must learn to read each other—recognizing what someone actually means beneath habitual patterns of speech.

The alternate dimension also functions as safe space where family members can experience each other differently. Separated from normal daily routines and conventional social expectations, the Wethersby family encounters each other with freshness. This separation parallels what artistic collaboration creates—space where people relate through creative expression rather than simply navigating daily logistics.

Technical Specifications: How Peas and Carrots Presents

• Format: Limited Theatrical Release
• Theatrical Release Date: October 3, 2025
• Home Video Release Date: December 2025 (anticipated, DVD and Blu-ray)
• Runtime: 96 minutes
• Director: Evan Oppenheimer (eighth feature)
• Screenwriter: Evan Oppenheimer
• Producer: Edward Schmidt, Jay Zellman
• Genre: Family Comedy, Musical, Science Fiction
• Rating: Not Rated
• Country of Origin: United States
• Language: English (and the repetitive “Peas and Carrots” dialogue)
• Primary Cast: Kirrilee Berger (Joey Wethersby), Amy Carlson (Laurie Wethersby), Jordan Bridges (Gordon Wethersby), Andrew Polk (Woody), Kelly McAndrew, Talia Oppenheimer (Mickey), Callum Vinson (Topper), Gabriel Rush, Ajay Naidu, Laurissa Romain
• Musical Contributors: Marky Ramone (The Ramones), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Ryan Miller (Guster), Garland Jeffreys, Ivan Julian (Richard Hell & the Voidoids)
• Original Song: “(We Are) City Kids” composed by Ryan Miller
• Festival Premiere: December 5, 2024 (Dances With Films)
• Theatrical Availability: Select locations in major markets (limited release)
• Distribution: Blue Harbor Films
• Production: Evan Oppenheimer Productions

Comparative Viewing: Family Comedies and Surreal Narratives

For viewers seeking context for Peas and Carrots‘ position within family entertainment landscape, several comparative options provide useful perspective. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory employs similar strategy of surreal journey narrative teaching character lessons about family and identity. Spirited Away creates alternate reality governed by specific logic, using surreal environment to explore deeper character development and emotional truth.

For those interested in music-centered family narratives, Coco similarly uses artistic expression as vehicle for exploring family relationships and cultural legacy. Peas and Carrots shares Coco’s interest in how art functions as family language.

Final Perspective: Peas and Carrots as Genuine Family Entertainment

I found Peas and Carrots genuinely delightful in ways I didn’t anticipate. The film’s commitment to its surreal premise, its genuine affection for characters, its willingness to address existential questions while maintaining comedic energy, and its musical foundation all combine to create something original within family entertainment landscape.

What impressed me most was recognition that family films don’t require talking down to audience. Peas and Carrots respects viewers of all ages to recognize genuine themes and appreciate actual characters rather than stereotypical representations. The film trusts that audiences enjoy weirdness combined with warmth, that surreal narratives can carry emotional authenticity.

Peas and Carrots demonstrates that multi-generational entertainment doesn’t require lowest-common-denominator approach; sophisticated comedy and genuine emotional depth coexist successfully with content accessible to families with children.

Experience Peas and Carrots now on VOD

Peas and Carrots arrives October 3, 2025 in limited theatrical release, making the film available in select locations. Check Fandango to locate theaters near you showing this genuinely original family comedy.

For viewers interested in surreal narratives that balance weirdness with genuine emotion, family entertainment that respects audience intelligence, or films featuring authentic musical contributions from legendary artists, Peas and Carrots warrants theatrical experience if accessible in your area. The film represents genuinely original approach to family comedy—neither condescending to younger audiences nor forgetting to entertain adults simultaneously experiencing the story.

Whether you experience Peas and Carrots theatrically or through subsequent home video release, Evan Oppenheimer’s eighth feature offers the kind of warm, weird, genuinely entertaining cinema that reminds why families gather together for stories—to experience weirdness together, to laugh at shared absurdity, and to recognize that communication, connection, and creative expression matter most fundamentally to human flourishing.

Peas and Carrots is now available on VOD since November 4th