You're Cordially Invited
Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon produce and star in a nuptial romcom that is depressingly far-fetched, mean-spirited and cackhanded.
Wedding crash: Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon
Image courtesy of Amazon Prime Video.
It is the most important day of your life. Which is why, according to the nuptial website theknot.com, the average wedding in the United States costs $35,000. The money, the preparation, the planning and the expectation ploughed into just one day of an ordinary wedding ceremony is second only to a royal coronation. Which is perhaps why the event makes for great cinematic drama, as evinced in such classics as The Godfather, The Deer Hunter and, greedy this, Four Weddings and a Funeral. The Big Day is also ripe for comic potential, with so many conflicting variables, and has provided the meat and vegetables for such comedies as Muriel’s Wedding, My Best Friend’s Wedding, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Bridesmaids. But one must tread lightly. It is so easy for romantic aspiration to be transmogrified into nightmare, with plans ruined, the unsaid imparted and the bridal gown torn to shreds. It’s no laughing matter.
There are many profound contemplations at the heart of Nicholas Stoller’s horror film. Father-daughter relationships, sibling rivalry, family feuding and even grief and wish fulfilment. At the opening, one sees devoted dad Jim (a surprisingly good-looking Will Ferrell) baking all sorts of cakes and confections for his daughter’s imminent arrival, while the camera pans across shelves to reveal such edifying literary titles as 101 Secrets a Good Dad Knows, The Joy of Fatherhood (the expanded 2nd edition) and Nigel Latta’s Fathers Raising Daughters. All set to Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t She Lovely’. A widower since his beloved daughter Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan) was just six-years-old, Jim dotes on the young love of his life and only wants the best for her. On his own terms.
So, when Jenni turns up late with a fiancée on her arm, a young man Jim can barely place, his world implodes with a shockwave. A row ensues, and then a reconciliation when Jenni announces that she wants to be married at the same island resort where Jim tied the knot with her mother. The date and place are immediately reserved, except that the receptionist at the venue expires before she can jot down the details in the hotel’s appointment book. A year later, Jenni and family turn up to find that another wedding party, with Reese Witherspoon’s TV exec Margot very much in charge, is also prepped for a weekend of nuptial celebration. The island is small, the accommodation limited and something has to give. It gets ugly. Horrifically so.
Normarily, such a scenario would be the stuff of tragicomedy, but Michael Andrews’ manipulative score constantly reminds us that this is meant to be funny – as do the sitcom performances and Ms Witherspoon’s open-mouthed reaction shots. But before one starts to diss the latter’s recent track record on the screen (think Hot Pursuit, Home Again, A Wrinkle in Time and Your Place or Mine), one must acknowledge the actress’s sterling work on Apple TV’s award-laden The Morning Show. She can still deliver when the material is good enough. Here, pretty much everybody is given little chance to shine, although three of the female cast members go above and beyond: Geraldine Viswanathan as Jim’s plucky daughter, Leanne Morgan as the plain-speaking Gwyneth and Meredith Hagner (daughter-in-law of Goldie Hawn) as the other bride, doing her best to replicate Kate Hudson (daughter of Goldie Hawn). Ferrell himself recycles his traditional facial tics and funny stares, making it even harder to believe where the story is inevitably headed. These are horrid, over-privileged people who, while grappling with the woke demands of the new lexicon, still make the word ‘lady’ sound sexist.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, Geraldine Viswanathan, Meredith Hagner, Jimmy Tatro, Stony Blyden, Leanne Morgan, Rory Scovel, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Ramona Young, Jack McBrayer, Fortune Feimster, Celia Weston, Martha B. Knighton.
Dir Nicholas Stoller, Pro Reese Witherspoon, Nicholas Stoller, Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Conor Welch and Lauren Neustadter, Screenplay Nicholas Stoller, Ph John Guleserian, Pro Des Theresa Guleserian, Ed Daniel Gabbe and Hugh Ross, Music Michael Andrews, Costumes Kathleen Felix-Hager.
Amazon MGM Studios/Stoller Global Solutions/Hello Sunshine/Gloria Sanchez Productions-Amazon Prime Video.
109 mins. USA. 2024. UK and US Rel: 30 January 2025. Cert. 12.
