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You’re Cordially Invited
My first viewing of a 2025 film is the brainchild of the director of films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. You are Cordially Invited is an overblown and unoriginal comedy that features a lot of unseemly plot elements and a lot of stuff borrowed from other films.
The film stars Will Ferrell as the father of one bride and Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon as the sister of another bride who have double-booked their weddings at the same venue and attempt to co-exist iand figure out a way for both weddings to happen.
Director and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller has chosen a story that is more suited to be a sitcom episode than a feature length film. There's a little too much time spent on setting up the two families and the often bizarre characters on either side of this war. I found the relationship between Ferrell's Jim and his daughter, especially cringy...their karaoke rendition of "Islands in the Stream" was the most uncomfortable father/daughter relationship thing I’ve seen onscreen since Sasha Baron Cohen and Maria Barkalova in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
There's a good ten minutes spent on a fictional game show that Witherspoon's character is the producer of called "Is it Dead" which features former SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan as the host. Of course, the idea that these two weddings could co-exist was ridiculous from jump and pretty much impossible to invest in from the moment Ferrell and Witherspoon arrive at the hotel and Ferrell pulls out a pencil and manages to shade his original reservation made by the recently deceased manager on the day she died. There's so much going on here and it becomes pretty much impossible to care about the seemingly endless plot elements that make the film seem 14 hours long.
In addition to being the stars, Ferrell and Witherspoon are also the executive producers of this mess and their wearing of multiple production hats definitely shows in their over the top performances. Jack McBrayer tended to grate on the nerves as the hotel manager as did Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who was so annoying as Maria Sophia on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and equally annoying here. Celia Weston and Jimmy Tatro, who was so funny in Theater Camp, make the most of their roles as the mother and groom of one of the brides, but the laughs are pretty scattered here.
My first viewing of a 2025 film is the brainchild of the director of films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. You are Cordially Invited is an overblown and unoriginal comedy that features a lot of unseemly plot elements and a lot of stuff borrowed from other films.
The film stars Will Ferrell as the father of one bride and Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon as the sister of another bride who have double-booked their weddings at the same venue and attempt to co-exist iand figure out a way for both weddings to happen.
Director and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller has chosen a story that is more suited to be a sitcom episode than a feature length film. There's a little too much time spent on setting up the two families and the often bizarre characters on either side of this war. I found the relationship between Ferrell's Jim and his daughter, especially cringy...their karaoke rendition of "Islands in the Stream" was the most uncomfortable father/daughter relationship thing I’ve seen onscreen since Sasha Baron Cohen and Maria Barkalova in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
There's a good ten minutes spent on a fictional game show that Witherspoon's character is the producer of called "Is it Dead" which features former SNL cast member Bobby Moynihan as the host. Of course, the idea that these two weddings could co-exist was ridiculous from jump and pretty much impossible to invest in from the moment Ferrell and Witherspoon arrive at the hotel and Ferrell pulls out a pencil and manages to shade his original reservation made by the recently deceased manager on the day she died. There's so much going on here and it becomes pretty much impossible to care about the seemingly endless plot elements that make the film seem 14 hours long.
In addition to being the stars, Ferrell and Witherspoon are also the executive producers of this mess and their wearing of multiple production hats definitely shows in their over the top performances. Jack McBrayer tended to grate on the nerves as the hotel manager as did Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who was so annoying as Maria Sophia on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and equally annoying here. Celia Weston and Jimmy Tatro, who was so funny in Theater Camp, make the most of their roles as the mother and groom of one of the brides, but the laughs are pretty scattered here.