REVIEW: ‘You’re Cordially Invited’ Is Fun Where It Counts

Amazon/MGM’s You’re Cordially Invited by writer and director Nicholas Stoller is fun where it counts. It’s by no means a groundbreaking rom-com. It’s even frustrating at times. But Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, and company bring out plenty of laughs in this take on the wedding gone wrong.

Ferrell plays Jim, a single father to Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan), who is his entire world. They have a slightly sophomoric relationship, but it’s touching at the end of the day. Only when Jenni comes home to announce she’s engaged does it set off a litany of red flags for Jim. He says they’re too young, he’s upset it means that she’s getting older and might move away, and he doesn’t exactly love her immature fiance, Oliver (Stony Blyden). Nonetheless, Jim books them a wedding for the following summer at the same island inn where he married his late wife.

Meanwhile, Witherspoon plays Margot, a Hollywood producer whose younger sister, Neve (Meredith Hagner), is also recently engaged. Margot is somewhat estranged from the rest of their family, but Neve insists that everyone must be invited. Conceding, Margot books Neve and her fiance Dixon (Jimmy Tatro) a wedding for the following summer at the inn on the island where the two of them spend summer with their grandmother as a child. Of course, this is the same inn as Jenni and Oliver’s wedding. And, of course, they accidentally got booked for the same weekend.

The huge cast of You’re Cordially Invited is a huge part of its success.

Ferrell, in particular, is on fire in You’re Cordially Invited. He plays the happy medium between a kind and loving father and an absolute lunatic hellbent on revenge against Margot for ruining his baby’s big day. Witherspoon, on the other hand, is fine. She feels like she’s phoning in a number of scenes, but her moments with Ferrell are always bright spots. It’s also fun watching her interact with her extended family.

The casting for You’re Cordially Invited is exceptional. This is a huge ensemble movie. On Ferrell’s side of the affair, you have Jim, Jenni, and Oliver, as well as several bridesmaids led by Heather (Keyla Monterroso Mejia), who is admittedly the most frustrating casting choice, simply because she is typecast as “the annoying Gen Z girl” and is stuck in that obnoxious role the whole time. It’s a bummer, given the range she’s capable of. Viswanathan doesn’t get as much to work with here as she deserves either, especially given it’s her character’s wedding. But she does pretty well with what she has.

But on Witherspoon’s side of the movie, there’s not only Margot, Neve, and Dixon; there’s also her mother Flora (Celia Weston), siblings Colton (Rory Scovel) and Gwyneth (Leanne Morgan), all of their extended family including a grandfather who hilariously doesn’t speak a word the entire movie, and Margot’s assistant, Davey (Vinny Thomas). Plus, there’s the owner of the inn, Leslie (Jack McBrayer), who gets caught in the middle of everything, a few other smaller characters, and a number of cameos, including a truly shocking one during the wedding.

Thanks to this giant cast, there’s more than just a few laughs to be had. There are family dynamics that add drama and emotion. All of it starts out as expected; Jim and Jinni are too close, and her wedding is tearing Jim’s heart apart, while Margot is overbearing to Neve because she’s the only family Margot likes. The twists and turns of these relationships are easy to predict, but the execution is always unexpected and often genuinely emotional.

Horrendous editing nearly ruins the movie.

Unfortunately, horrendous editing ruins many of Witherspoon’s scenes. In key, emotional scenes, she is clearly not in the same room as the person she’s talking to. Abysmal ADR, bad wigs, the backs of people’s heads, and sharp back-and-forth cuts across the same room make some scenes truly unbearable to watch, especially considering the whole movie isn’t edited this way, only some scenes. It’s fair enough if they couldn’t get a cast this large to stay on set for the entire production, but it’s a big energy drain when key characters can’t properly interact.

It’s also a huge drain on the comedy when the movie repeatedly makes jokes about capitalism. Yes, capitalism is a scourge on our planet and society, but the company that produced this movie is one of the single greatest culprits of capitalism and all of its associated woes. Even if the jokes weren’t written to feel tongue in cheek, the context they’re being told in forces them out that way.

Fortunately, You’re Cordially Invited is ultimately more heartfelt than anything. Its couple of joke flops and bad editing do it harm, but the movie is still mostly funny and even occasionally sweet.

You’re Cordially Invited is streaming exclusively on Prime Video on January 30th.