Hey everyone and welcome to a brand new review! For this one, I will be looking into a new comedy that debuted on Amazon Prime Video and is from director, Nicolas Stoller. For those who don’t know, he is a British American filmmaker who has been involved in plenty of high profile comedies. This includes directing films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the Neighbors films, and Storks among others and even writing stuff like The Muppets (2011) and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. As you can see, he has quite the eclectic resume and I for one have personally really enjoyed the works he has done, as I find him to be a really clever writer who brings a lot of energy to his filmmaking. Now, he comes back with another comedy in the form of You’re Cordially Invited starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon. I’m a fan of both of them and a high concept comedy with the two of them and directed by Stoller sounded like a lot of fun. Was it able to deliver? Let’s jump right in and see what this film has of offer beyond a solid proposal!
The film follows one overprotective single father, Jim, as well as one LA television producer, Margot. They both find out that beloved family members are getting engaged, with the former finding out that his daughter, Jenni, is getting married with her boyfriend, while the latter sees that her sister, Neve, is getting together with an exotic dancer. Thus, both parties decide to book their weddings at a small, but beautiful, inn called The Palmetto that holds emotional significance to them both. However due to some unforeseen complications, they Jim and Margot end up booking the weddings for the same day. Now they must try and share the venue but not without more than a little comedic mayhem ensuing.
The basic premise is a fun one and right up Stoller’s alley as he is someone who has a knack for taking simple premises and mining their comedic potential. There are definitely times where he succeeds here as there are some laugh out loud moments that were quite effective. He’s clearly trying to dig into the idea of two weddings going on and the chaos that can ensue in regards to over the top scenarios but also how these families would interact with each other. Some of the best jokes relate to this as we see how they would either get along or not get along. That being said, aside from some of those clever moments, this all felt fairly routine for Stoller. I can’t say I was that engaged with the main story as it mostly just devolved into a series of wacky scenarios that are caused by the pettiness of the two leads. Yes, some of them can be funny, but it makes the proceedings more frustrating from a story stand point as there is a lack of likability to a lot of the main players.
They keep making extremely poor choices throughout that just don’t make them look good and while yes, there can be potential value in seeing how they will learn their lessons, I don’t think their arcs were earned in that regard. Its a shame as I do like some of the messaging Stoller is going for in regards to the relationships we have with our families and the value they have even if there is some dysfunctionality. However, even when the movie does try to be sincere and have an emotional moment, it gets undercut by a joke. It also doesn’t help that a lot of the humor does end up revolving around stereotypes with a lot of it not being that clever to boot. I was genuinely surprised as Stoller has proven that he can maintain a good balance between humor and heart while still having these wacky scenarios occur.
Now Stoller does manage to bring enough in regards to energy to keep things from being completely by the books. There are specific scenes that show he has a knack for comedic timing with them being well edited in a way that adds to their comedic impact. The way certain shots are composed also do a good job getting some laughs and when there are moments of physical comedy, there is some amusement to be had. There just isn’t anything that stands out too much when it comes to the big set pieces as they mostly just come and go. Still, the film is well made and has decent production value for the most part. I do also appreciate Michael Andrews’s use of opera music throughout which gives things a fun vibe and fits well with the fact paced editing that can occur at times.
Helping matters is that we have two comedy veterans in the lead roles with Ferrell and Witherspoon. They both manage to provide different energies to their characters, with the former playing the overreactive and over loving father part well while the latter is once again good at playing a strict, by the books individual who has personal issues of her own. They both have played variations of these parts before and do well here as well. There are even times where they have solid chemistry with their loved ones getting marred with Geraldine Viswanathan bringing her usual charm to Jenni and Meredith Hegner providing solid sympathy as Neve. Problem is, I did not like either of these characters that much as while I don’t mind them having their faults in regards to their insecurities towards their loved ones and making decisions that aren’t the best… they keep on doing this and when they decide to become better, it didn’t really feel earned. They end extremely petty and I honestly ended up feeling bad for the rest of the parties involved. Plus, while Ferrell and Witherspoon are solid individually and some amusing banter, I don’t know if I bought them falling for each other given their behaviors towards each other, which made things fairly unsatisfying.
I’ll admit though that some of the supporting cast brings a bit of likability, even when the material is less than desirable. Stony Blyden and Jimmy Tatro bring a decent amount of charm to their roles as the grooms, Oliver and Dixon respectively with the latter especially getting some nice chuckles here and there. I also liked how the former’s relationship with Jenni was handled (or at least the idea of the resolution was refreshing). Meanwhile the likes of Rory Scovel and Leanne Morgan get some laughs in as Margot’s siblings even if there isn’t too much to the characters beyond one joke while Celia Weston is able to bring some nuance to Margot’s mother, Flora, who ends up being one of the more interesting by default characters, if only because she’s not the usual stern, disapproving mother one would see in these kinds of movies. It was also nice to see the likes of Keyla Monterroso Mejia (as Margot’s bridesmaid and friend, Heather), and Jack McBrayer (as the manager of the Palmetto, Leslie) provide some amusing support in their small roles. McBrayer in particular is very funny as the poor soul stuck trying to deal with this nonsense and his reactions make for some of the funniest parts of the film.
In all, You’re Cordially Invited failed to do much for me beyond being watchable enough. It definitely has it moments with solid laughs here and there, promising themes, a lot of energy, and some solid performances. But it is severely weighed down by a paint by numbers execution, quite a few jokes that do much, underdeveloped arcs, and a pair of characters that I just didn’t care to root for. It’s not the worst thing to put on if one wants to kill some time, but I was hoping for better given the talent involved. It definitely is among Stoller’s weaker works as a director as it lacked the spark and well roundedness that his work usually contains. Would I wish it had gone to theaters, if only just to have a big studio comedy out there? Maybe, but I can see why Amazon settled for streaming on this one and I do think everyone involved has worked on so much better. Appreciated the invite, just wish the party was more than I got.
Rating: C
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