Compound subject verb agreement

Hello, I have a question re: compound subject verb agreement. From what I remember, if you have a singular subject and plural together as the subject of a sentence, the subject closest to the verb determines what form the verb takes. For example, "Chris and the Simons are coming over tonite for dinner." However, if you change the sentence, it doesn't sound correct: "The Simons and Chris is coming over for dinner tonite." Isn't the aforementioned "rule" incorrect. Specifically, when you have a compound subject, is it better to consider it as a "they" in order to determine the verb?

Many kind thanks in advance for anyone who replies to this post.